Star Wars: Forces of Destiny (2017-2018) (Mini-Series Review)

  Star Wars is arguably the most unique of my favorite long running franchises because it can take so many forms from movies, to animated TV shows, to video games and novels that are all part of one big space opera. It also gives me the opportunity to discuss and review things I wouldn’t normally watch or talk about. Case in point for today’s review is an animated mini-series from the Disney Junior channel that I’d normally have no interest in, but sense it’s part of the “Star Wars” universe, of course I’m going to view it and give my two cents on it. So, let’s take a quick look at the 2017 animated Mini-Series “Star Wars: Forces of Destiny” to see if there’s anything worthwhile about it.

  This show is an anthology series that spans all across the Star Wars timeline, and gives us short stories revolving around various characters from the different live action movies and other animated shows. The main selling point of this series is that it focuses specifically on the female characters of the Star Wars universe, and through these shorts we explore the little details and events that shaped them into the characters we’ve grown to love.  

It’s about as simple as they get, with no real high stakes, no famous villains, just little moments with these characters and the basic morals they have to convey. Half the time this series feels like a collection of deleted scenes that could have fit within the events of the films. Want to know how Princess Leia got either her Bounty Hunter disguise or her woodland dress from "Return of the Jedi" ... this series will show how it happened. 

While it's nothing important, there's still some novelty to seeing these tiny details. Other times it feels like small expansions of both “The Clone Wars” and “Rebels” animated shows, which is great because Ashoka, Hera and Sabine are some of my favorite characters. Personally, I love that we now have an animated series that brings together all the Star Wars girls together into one program. It’s cool to see their individual stories, and it’s especially fun to see the various crossovers between these characters. It almost gave the impression that this might just be the next best line up of female characters sense the Disney Princess line up.    

  It’s also great that the majority of the voice cast are the same talents from the movies and shows, with some small exceptions. Princess Leia naturally had to be voiced by someone different, and while Natalie Portman didn’t reprise her role as Padme Amidala, she’s at least voiced by Catherine Taber, who was the voice of the character in both the animated movie “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, and the animated TV series that followed. 

Both Daisy Ridley and Felicity Jones reprise their respected roles of Rey from the sequel trilogy and Jyn Erso from “Rouge One: A Star Wars Story”, which is very welcome. Even Lupita Nyong’o reprises her role as Maz Kanata, who was a supporting character back in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. When the show aired on Disney Junior, her scenes acted as wraparound segments for the shorts, in which she acts as the storyteller linking all these shorts together. 

In one case, she was butting heads with Hondo the pirate, who's another fan favorite. While this series mainly focuses on the female characters, we do still get appearance from other hero’s including Han Solo, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Chewbacca, The Ewoks, and obviously the droids C-3PO, R2-D2, Chopper and BB-8 are all present. John Boyega reprises his signature role as the voice of stormtrooper defector Fin, and even the great Mark Hamill reprises his signature role as the voice of Luke Skywalker, who has his own standalone episode without any female accomplices.    

 

  Of course, it's great to see select crossovers between these established characters. We see Princess Leia join Sabine on a mission against the assassin droid I-G88, and Ashoka and Padme get more surprise ventures together. Too bad for Rey, she's in a time period where she can't really meet anyone. I think I covered enough of the show's premise, but let’s talk a little about the quality of the show. 

This series is actually the first 2D animated Star Wars project sense the animated 2003 Mini-Series “Star Wars: Clone Wars”, but still “Star Wars: Forces of Destiny” is very different as it’s much lighter in tone and geared more toward little kids. There aren’t any intense battles, or high stakes, and the action on display is very basic, but fun if you keep a humble perspective. The animation itself is fine, but nothing special either. Actually, half the time the animation looks like the equivalent of what fans can create on their home computer and upload to YouTube. I should give the animators some credit, they at least convey the right amount of emotion in the faces, and the way the characters move in the environment is passable, as opposed to other cheaper 2D projects in which things can look very sloppy if not handled with care.

 The show ran for two seasons from 2017 through 2018, with 22 shorts total, and four package airings with wraparound segments. With all that addressed, I'll keep things simple and rank my personal, top 10 favorite shorts from this series. 

 

 #10 “Tracker Trouble” 

As stated above, many of these shorts feel like they could have been deleted scenes from the movies, and here’s a nice little example. Set during “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, we further explore the time in which Rey and Finn were aboard the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewbacca, and it’s so wonderful to see more of that team friendship that was built between those characters. There’s some mild excitement with our characters discarding a bomb, but it’s really just the novelty of getting more interactions with these characters during this part of the adventure.

 

#9 “Monster Misunderstanding” 

Most of Padme Amidala’s shorts see her paired with Ashoka, but this marked a nice solo outing for her, and highlighted that she can hold her own quiet well. On a visit to her home planet, she works to unravel the mystery of why a giant Aqua monster is attacking the docks, which is revealed to involve poachers stealing the creature’s baby. Like I said, this little short highlights the strengths of Padme’s character, as she calms a sea beast without any Force powers.  

 

#8 “Teach You, I Will” 

Speaking personally, Ahsoka Tano is my absolute favorite character of all the Star Wars girls and seeing more of her story from the timeline of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”, as well as the return of voice actress Ashley Eckstein is an instant joy. In the episode titled “Teach You, I Will”, we see Anakin and Ahsoka lightsaber training together in the Jedi temple, while also working off each other’s personalities, before Yoda comes in to finish the lesson. Again, it’s all so simple, and I would have loved to see this in an actual episode. One little detail that just put a smile on my face was hearing Anakin refer to Ahsoka as “Snips” once again, which was his little nick name for her back in the TV series.

 

#7 “Accidental Allies” 

Again, one of this shows novelties were the one-off crossovers between characters, who really couldn’t meet in their other respected films or shows. One of the more novel crossovers for me comes in the form of “Rouge One” anti-hero Jyn Erso meeting “Rebels” freedom fighter Sabine Ren. Seeing those two characters briefly interact with one another was great, and their conversation was perfectly in-character. I almost feel like this brief encounter could have potentially been expanded into a twenty-minuet episode, but I’m content with what I got.

 

#6 “An Imperial Feast” 

Time for another pleasant crossover, this time set during the epilogue of “Return of the Jedi”. In this short we see Captain Han Solo meet Captain Hera Syndulla from “Star Wars: Rebels”, and seeing those two banter with each-other on who’s got the best ship is like the greatest of fan fiction come to life. Actually, just seeing the Millennium Falcon parked right next to the Ghost ship was a fan boys dream come true. This was also our first confirmation that Hera, Chopper and the Ghost survived through the original trilogy, which was very satisfying.

 

#5 “The Starfighter Stunt” 

Set during the events of “The Clone Wars”, we see Ashoka teaching Padme how to piolet a jet fighter. During their exercise, their ambushed by droid fighters, forcing Padme to put her newly learned skills to the test. It once again highlights how quickly Padme can adapt to a situation, and it’s nice to see the young Ashoka in a teaching position. Overall, this is probably my favorite of the joined, ladies day out episodes.     

 

#4 “Triplecross” 

While this mini-series launched before the movie "Solo: A Star Wars Story" came out, it did manage to bring Han Solo’s first love Qi'ra into the show for her own short. Best of all, she shares the episode with my favorite pirate Hondo, who thankfully is still voiced by the distinguished Jim Cummings. In this appearance, Qi’ra is voiced by Olivia Hack, who had previously voice acted alongside Jim Cummings back in “The Clone Wars”, so it was like a little mini reunion. This happened to be the last short of the series, and it was a fine little novelty item to close on.

 

#3 “Traps and Tribulations” 

Following after the battle of Endor, we see Luke and Leia aiding the Ewoks, which marks the first time they or Wicket appeared in the “Star Wars” universe sense the 1980’s “Star Wars Ewoks” cartoon show. Even the characters from that show, including the pink coated Princess Kneesaa are all present. Things heat-up with a surprise attack from the giant Gorax monster, who was the main villain from the live action Ewok movie "Caravan of Courage". Seeing Luke and Leia work together with the Ewoks to defeat the beast is honestly more satisfying than it should be … but I also grew-up with all those vintage, 80’s “Star Wars” products, and this was just a cool little tribute to that time.  

 

#2 “A Disarming Lesson” 

While Ashoka was mainly exclusive to “The Clone Wars”, she still made select appearances in the animated “Rebels” series. Truthfully, I always felt we could have gotten more scenes of her bonding with that shows cast, and in this little short, we get a nice sampling of what could have been … and what should have been. Padawan Ezra Bridger, voiced again by Taylor Gray, gets into a surprise training lesion with Ashoka, and it makes for a great moment for these characters to both bond and grow ... something that I wish we got more of in the actual series.  

 

Before I reveal my #1 favorite short, here are some quick honorable mentions …

“Ewok Escape”

“Bounty of Trouble”

“Beasts of Echo Base”

“Run Rey Run”

“Bounty Hunted”

 

#1 “Unexpected Company” 

Of all these disposable little shorts, this is the one I most wish was part of the original animated series “The Clone Wars”, as I feel this little sequence adds quiet a lot to the characters involved. Ahsoka travels with Anakin and Padme, essentially being a third wheel, but after a tense situation, she gets her first clue of Anakin and Padme’s secret marriage, and just like that … Ashoka figuratively becomes one with the family. It’s an awesome detail, and like I said, it’s one that I wish could have been in “The Clone Wars” series itself. 

 Overall, “Star Wars: Forces of Destiny” is nothing demanding and can never reach the same heights of most other animated “Star Wars” programs, but it’s still perfectly harmless, and it’s even cute and appealing in its own simplistic way. I would only recommend this Mini-series to die hard Star Wars fans or to little girls that are just getting into the series. If you keep your expectations low, yet open for whatever the show has to offer, you might just find it kind of appealing, as I did. More than anything, this series is a great little excuse to bring all the Star Wars girls together into one program, and it’s still respectful to the continuity of the saga. It’s charming, humble and a perfectly welcome add-on to one of my favorite franchises, even if it’s nothing really spectacular. You can watch the shorts grouped together on the Disney Junior channel, or just pull up the individual shorts on Disney YouTube, they aren’t long and harmlessly passable for us longtime fans.

Thanks for reading my review of the 2017 mini-series “Star Wars: Forces of Destiny” ... and continue to enjoy the shows you Love!