Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Season 1: Story 49: The Prince and the Pirate
What is it ? : The Young Jedi are practicing against training droids, but this makes them running late for a trip to The Starlight Beacon, where they are to attend the unveiling of the dedication plaque. They finish and are to be taken there by Nash, who is bored and tired until Lys suggests that there will be lots of starships from across the galaxy for her to see.
Meanwhile Pord and EB-3 are aboard the Iron Talon discussing Taborrs plan to steal the dedication plaque from the Starlight Beacon, he speaks to them over hologram, telling them to be ready to provide a distraction as he has a way aboard Starlight Beacon no other pirate has. As the communication ends, we see him get disturbed by a knocking at the door of the room he is in, so he removes his helmet and puts it in a backpack, revealing that Taborr is actually Prince Cyrus Vuundir and his parents King Pychor and Queen Dafne are awaiting him as they prepare to make a trip to the Starlight Beacon to attend the unveiling.
The Young Jedi arrive at the station, and Nash remains in the hangar to observe the many ships, while the others tour the station. They encounter Prince Cyrus, and he accompanies them after discovering that the dedication plaque is currently in a storeroom somewhere.
They encounter the plaque, and Cyrus/Taborr organises his comrades to make the distraction, and Nash reports that the Iron Talon has arrived outside the station, so the Young Jedi rush off. Taborr dons his helmet, and begins cutting the plaque free from it's container, when the Iron Talon is intercepted by Jedi fighters and needs to retreat. The Young Jedi return and discover Taborr in the middle of his heist, but are worried about their friend Prince Cyrus since Taborr is carrying his backpack.
Taborr frees the plaque and rushes off with the Young Jedi in pursuit, and they end up in a trash compactor which begins to close, but Taborr has trapped his foot, so Kai remains to free him while the others grapple to a high platform and escape.
Once freed, Taborr escapes once more, pursued by the Young Jedi, and ends up in the reactor of the station, the Young Jedi surround him, trying to get him to return their friend. A fight ensues, but Taborr gets disarmed, and the Jedi regain the Plaque. Taborr asks why they want the Prince as he's useless while his parents rule the planet, but the Young Jedi say they've seen the good he can do when he helped his people. So Taborr says he'll return the Prince if they let him go, speaking to Porg and EB-3, who are confused but play along and promise to release the Prince.
Taborr escapes, and the Young Jedi return the plaque to the ceremony, where they are joined by Prince Cyrus.
Yoda congratulates the Young Jedi on their success, telling them that he sees greatness in their future. After they leave, he speaks to Cyrus/Taborr, saying he also sees greatness in his future, if he makes the right choices.
The assembled Jedi all ignite their lightsabers in dedication to the station and the principles it stands for and shout "light and life" as Cyrus looks on. . .
High Points : So the big reveal of the series is that Taborr is Cyrus, a spoiled rich kid who thinks becoming a pirate will prove his worth beyond the status his birth has bestowed upon him. Told properly this could be a inspirational tale, not happy with just being powerful for his name, he's taken another name to prove his own worth.
Low Points : So, the station is targeted for burglary, when all the powerful Jedi in the galaxy are there, and they leave it to 3 kids to solve. I suppose at least they scramble a couple of starfighters when his ship harasses the station, but what are all the other heroic Jedi doing?
Also Taborr does such a terrible job of covering up his identity that it feels as everyone else is humouring him. He carries the same backpack, and I assume he stripped down to his underwear to don his Taborr outfit, which would have been super embarrassing if the Young Jedi had returned earlier.
So what do you really think ? : This episode hangs together as a story, even if it makes little sense, Taborr would have been better taking advantage of knowing that all the Jedi were at the Starlight Beacon to perform a robbery elsewhere. Instead he goes the one place where the people who stop him are, and he knows they'll be there ahead of time.
Final Words : Since I've been reading the High Republic comics, the Starlight Beacon is a major point of interest for me. It gives us an exact date for the series, since we know the Beacon is constructed in 232BBY. But we also know that the Nihil destroy it in 230BBY, and the Jedi are ordered to abandon their outposts and return to the Temple on Coruscant. The Younglings are ordered to focus on learning to fight with Lightsabers, and the Padawans are to take their tests to become Knights as soon as possible. The Outposts become manned by droids which forward all messages onwards.
So we know the Beacon comes to nothing, all the friendships the YJA are forging with people form Tenoo and the nearby planets are all for nothing as they'll abandon them. Unless of course Tenoo is behind the Stormwall and the Young Jedi are stuck with the Nihil and are hunted down by them.
Setting the series in this time period doesn't give much hope for the future, and I wonder if future seasons of Young Jedi Adventures will follow the timeline? Although as of yet, no future episodes have yet been announced, so I guess we'll see if they even continue with the series.
Score : 8.5/10
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