Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Season 2: Story 20: The Jumping Jetpack
What is it ? : Kai is asked by Nash to get some parts from Marlaa Jinara's scrapyard, but when he turns up a jetpack is flying out of control, and he tries to use the Force to hold it in place, but fails and it goes shooting off into the jungle.
Marlaa introduces him to the owner of the jetpack, her friend, Maz Kanata. Kai is impressed as he's heard of her adventures, and Maz tells him that Marlaa used to accompany her on these adventures, something Kai finds hard to believe that this older, quiet woman was once an adventurer like Maz.
They set off it find the Jetpack, sharing stories with Kai, until they come to a chasm with a rickety bridge over it, Maz and Marlaa urge caution, but Kai begins to cross it anyway, until it collapses under his weight and the two women have to rescue him.
Maz spots some vines, which she and Marlaa use to swing across the chasm, but Kai is hesitant, and almost falls, once again being rescued by the women.
As Kai and Marlaa speak, Maz rushes ahead, and they hear her calling from help. As they move to help her, they discover she has located the Jetpack, but become stuck in a large pool of tree sap.
Kai tries to use the Force to lift her out against Marlaa's suggestions, but the sap is especially sticky, and when he tires she ends up stuck deeper in the sap. Marlaa suggests he uses the force to get the Jetpack from the tree it is stuck in, and when he does, she uses it to rescue Maz.
They return to the Scrapyard, and Marlaa repairs the Jetpack, and Maz leaves to return to her Castle, as Kai asks Marlaa to tell him more of her adventures.
High Points : This is one of those stories where to make characters seem more intelligent, others have to behave like idiots, and Kai is the idiot in this case. And without that, there's not really anything to this episode, Kai doesn't believe that Marlaa could be heroic, and again and again she rescues him until he believes her.
Low Points : And I'm a long way in age from the target audience, so perhaps Maz Kanata is what all the kiddies are just dying to see more of. But she's just not that interesting to me, a character who is wise and smart because we're told she's wise and smart, not because she actually does anything which is particularly wise or smart. And in this story as mentioned above, she's made to look smart and wise by making Kai look foolish.
So what do you really think ? : While the whole idea of the show is that these are Young Jedi, so have a lot to learn, this episode really just makes Kai act totally outside his normal behaviour to make Maz and Marlaa look better, and since Kai is the hero character, it really doesn't make this episode a joy to watch.
And the message of this episode seems to be respect your elders, as while they might look to have dull lives now, they might have once done exciting things.
Final Words : What a real down note to end this batch of episodes on, the rise of the Ganguls last episode would have made a far better cliffhanger for us to wait for the new episodes on, rather than just relying on us being excited to see Maz Kanata.
Score : 6.5/10
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