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'LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - Complete Season One' Blu-ray Review: Everything is awesome in a galaxy far, far away

January 3, 2017Ben MK



FEATURE: 
A Star Wars movie need not focus on the adventure of a Skywalker to be entertaining. Case in point: Rogue One, or, to provide an example from the small screen, Disney XD's LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, which is but the latest TV series to continue the franchise's exploration of other parts of a galaxy far, far away.

Set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, The Freemaker Adventures follows 12-year-old Rowan Freemaker (Nicolas Cantu) and his older siblings, Kordi and Zander (Vanessa Lengies and Eugene Byrd), who — together with their trusty, reprogrammed battle droid, R0-GR (Matthew Wood) — run a salvage and repair shop aboard a space station called the Wheel. When Rowan meets a Jedi named Naare (Grey DeLisle), however, the Freemakers become embroiled in a quest to retrieve the fragments of the long-lost Kyber lightsaber — the most powerful weapon of its kind — before it falls into the clutches of the evil Emperor Palpatine.

Season one of The Freemaker Adventures unfolds across thirteen 23-minute episodes:

  • A Hero Discovered - While Kordi and Zander salvage for parts on the planet Nal Kapok, Rowan and R0-GR encounter Naare, setting them on a journey to reassemble the scattered pieces of the Kyber Saber.
  • The Mines of Graballa - Commandeering Zander's Z-Wing, Rowan and R0-GR head for the Belgaroth Asteroid Belt in search of a Kyber Saber crystal, where they run into Jabba the Hutt's cousin, Graballa.
  • Zander's Joyride - Kordi and Rowan mount a rescue mission to free Zander from the clutches of Darth Vader, after Zander takes an N-1 Naboo Starfighter for a joyride and is taken aboard the Star Destroyer Vendetta.
  • The Lost Treasure of Cloud City - The Freemakers are hired by Lando Calrissian to retrieve some precious cargo from a Cloud City besieged by Imperial forces, where they once again encounter Graballa's henchmen.
  • Peril on Kashyyyk - While on Kashyyyk to obtain Wroshyr wood for a job, the Freemakers end up on a mission to rescue a Wookiee prince from his Trandoshan captives.
  • Crossing Paths - The Freemakers meet Rebel Alliance leaders Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa and end up on the run from the Empire.
  • Race on Tatooine - The Freemakers travel to Tatooine to do a job for galactic pod racing champion Ben Quadinaros, but they soon discover that it's a trap.
  • The Test - After Naare's true nature is revealed, the Freemakers make a rough landing on Takodana, where they end up doing a job for the pirate Hondo and are aided in their quest by Maz Kanata.
  • The Kyber Saber Crystal Chase - Naare teams up with Graballa the Hutt to find the Freemakers, as they travel to the planets Ningoth and Naboo in search of more Kyber Saber crystals.
  • The Maker of Zoh - Heeding Maz Kanata's sage advice, the Freemakers journey to Zoh, where Jek, the Maker of Zoh, schools Rowan on how to wield the Force, before facing off against Naare.
  • Showdown on Hoth - The Freemakers set a course for the ice planet Hoth, in an attempt to locate the final Kyber Saber crystal.
  • Duel of Destiny - To protect his family and to keep the final Kyber Saber crystal out of Naare's hands, Rowan exiles himself. Meanwhile, Naare tries some different tactics to try and coax Rowan out of hiding.
  • Return of the Kyber Saber - As the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance, Rowan summons all his Force powers to fight Naare, while Naare's ambitions for the Imperial throne pit her against the Emperor himself.
 Following in the footsteps of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, The Freemaker Adventures never misses an opportunity to integrate elements from the larger Star Wars universe into its storylines, as fans of the classic trilogy, the prequel films, and even The Force Awakens can look forward to seeing characters, events and locales from their favorite installments make an appearance. Likewise, LEGO fans will also find much to love here, as the show's humor feels very much in step with that of the LEGO video games, not to mention The LEGO Movie.

The result makes for a fine addition to the Star Wars franchise, and that holds doubly true for younger viewers, who will find the show's lighter take on the familiar Star Wars formula to be quite appealing indeed. As for older Star Wars fans, they may still prefer a less immature series, like Star Wars: Rebels; however, that's not to say that The Freemaker Adventures isn't worth a watch, if only for the fan service it delivers.

AUDIO & VISUALS: 
Season one of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures arrives on Blu-ray with a vibrant 1080p transfer. And even though the image doesn't possess the same degree of three-dimensional depth as some computer-animated films, this doesn't appear to be a fault of the transfer itself, which is otherwise plenty crisp, clear and bursting with colors, from the red and blue glow of lightsabers to the bright yellow paint job on a Naboo N-1 Starfighter. As for the show's lossy audio mix, there's definitely room for improvement here. Still, the episodes' Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks do an adequate job of conveying the show's galaxy of sound effects, from TIE Fighter and X-Wing thrusters, to pod racer engines, to the thunderous footsteps of an approachng AT-AT.

EXTRAS: 
Disney's two-disc Blu-ray release includes the following Blu-ray extras:

  • The Freemaker Adventures: Meet the Freemaker Family (2:21) - Vanessa Lengies, Nicolas Cantu, Eugene Byrd and Matthew Wood talk about their characters, Kordi Freemaker, Rowan Freemaker, Zander Freemaker and R0-GR the battle droid.
  • Freemaker Salvage and Repair (1:02) - A faux ad for "Freemaker Salvage and Repair," starring the show's LEGO characters.

LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - Complete Season Two is available from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment as of December 6th, 2016. The Blu-ray features English Dolby Digital Audio 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. The film is presented with English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. The total runtime is 4 Hrs. 59 Mins.






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