Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Season 1: Story 41: Best Friends
What is it ? : Master Zanna takes a group of Youngling Jedi including Kai, Nubs, Lys and Djovi Resmia (the youngling Jedi that Kai was very competitive with) into the wilderness for some training. She gives them all a location they must make it to before sunset, but they must work in pairs as this is a lesson on teamwork. Nubs and Kai are teamed together, as are Lys and Djovi.
Everyone sprints off, with Kai and Nubs thinking that a direct route is best, but they reach a river they cannot pass. Kai wants to go one way and Nubs wants to go another, and they fight over who gets to take the holographic map they've been given, but in the squabble it falls into the river and floats away. They leap onto a tree branch floating past, and paddle towards it, grabbing it out of the water. But they notice they are heading towards a waterfall, so start paddling, but without coordinating, they both paddle in different directions, and the branch just rotates in the water still heading for the waterfall, until it reaches the edge and plunges over.
They land in the river just a few feet below, and Kai comments that he thought the waterfall was bigger, and they paddle to the shore, only to discover the map has shorted out.
They see their destination in the distance so navigate by sight, but come to a ravine with a rickety bridge over it, but take the chance and the bridge collapses under them, but they climb up it's remains to the far side, now dirty and dishevelled from their adventures.
Arguing about what to do next they split up, and Kai climbs a tree to get a better view of their destination, where Nubs climbs out of the valley and meets up with the other Jedi Younglings who realise that Kai is missing so go to search for him.
As Kai climbs down the tree he finds himself menaced by two Ganguls, but the other Jedi arrive and scare the creatures off with their lightsabers. Kai falls from the tree, but Nubs rushes over and catches him, the two hug and make up.
Reaching the finishing line, Kai lets Nubs cross first, and Master Zanna congratulates them on completing their task in time as the sun is about to set. She tells them it was a test of working together, something they accept they nearly failed at, but have learnt to appreciate more now. . . .
High Points : It feels kind of odd to have Lys separated from the others in this episode, but it is nice to have it focus on the friendship between Nubs and Kai. Kai is usually the leader in all situations, but Nubs does seem to have more experience, so in their task it's not clear who is the better to make decisions, leading to the conflict between two characters which have always been shown to be solid friends. And it's nice to have the writers actually come up with a reason why they would squabble in the middle of a task about working together.
I also found the moment of comedy as they go crashing over a waterfall, only to discover it's only a few feet tall to be entertaining, the risk did seem a little much for a kids show aimed at the audience they target YJA at, but that made it all the funnier when the characters themselves comment that they thought the waterfall would have been bigger.
Low Points : The episode is fine, but Lys getting sidelined, rather than showing more of how her and Djovi were working together, to contrast against Kai and Nubs chaotic decisions would have been nice and is a lost opportunity.
And letting kids roam freely in a dangerous jungle with rickety bridges and carnivorous predators does seem a little risky even for Jedi training. Makes me wonder how many deaths are considered too many during Jedi school.
So what do you really think ? : An entertaining enough episode, but one without much use of the worldbuilding Young Jedi Adventures has done so well. This episode feels basic, and very routine, as if it should have come much earlier in the season.
Final Words : The lesson this time, is the lesson they state in the episode, work well with others, so no hidden messages in this one.
Score : 7.5/10
Comments made about this Article!
There are currently no comments for this article, be the first to post in the form below
