– Slight Spoiler Review –
To quote Master Yoda, “Size matters not,” and while the length of a project doesn’t beget quality, Star Wars Visions’ longest short, “The Ninth Jedi,” by Production I.G. is one of its stunning best, thanks to many aspects including its thrilling action, unique concepts with lightsabers, and its great atmosphere. “The Ninth Jedi” keeps viewers on the edge of their seats and eagerly awaiting some type of continuation, as I know I am, considering this is my favorite short so far, just passing “The Village Bride.” Head below for our full review!
Taking place sometime in an interminable future in the galaxy, “The Ninth Jedi,” sort of reminded me of the Dark Horse-era comic series Legacy, which took place some 100+ years after the original trilogy, starring a Skywalker who had eschewed his legacy and a resurgent Sith ruling the galaxy. Where Legacy concerned itself with, surprise, legacy, “The Ninth Jedi” doesn’t have any Skywalker ties and is more concerned with the future of the Jedi in a galaxy where their light has diminished and how it’s continuation doesn’t rely on any one bloodline. In this future, a mysterious man, Margrave Juro, has summoned Jedi to the planet he rules, where he mines kyber crystals to bring the long-lost lightsaber back to the Jedi. The Sith are aware of this plan and are ready to strike it down, to ensure darkness reigns and the Jedi can’t return. While the story follows the Jedi who responded to the summoning, it’s mainly focused on Kara, the daughter of Juro’s lightsaber-smith Zhima, whose proficiency in the Force is put to the test when she’s forced to run from Jedi Hunters in hopes of delivering her father’s sabers to the Jedi. “The Ninth Jedi” is dark and moody, especially in the room where the Jedi wait for the Margrave and his lightsabers, and there’s a sense of mistrust that permeates the scene, as questions arise regarding whether this Juro is someone the Jedi can trust or is he really working with the Sith, trying to lure the remaining Jedi into a trap? His giant servant droid doesn’t earn him any points, as it looks fit to take down anyone in its path, and I love the tension that builds in both the meeting room above the planet and Kara’s escape, which contains a thrilling spin on the Endor speeder chase (from Return of the Jedi) and offers some light humor before it reaches its epic finale. At 22 minutes, like most half-hour shows, “The Ninth Jedi” feels like a complete story but also lone part or episode in a larger series, and it’s easy to see how it could be continued and expanded in more episodes or a novel (like “The Duel” got with Ronin – A Visions Novel).
Outside of its great action and intriguing story, the concept of the lightsaber-smith and how he makes his saber’s work is fascinating enough on its own and I feel like the short easily could’ve about that and that alone and it would’ve been worth watching. Zhima’s lightsabers and the kyber within react to the Force-user holding them, taping into their connection with the Force to produce its color and length. When Kara initially ignites the blade, after it glowed blue for her father, it goes colorless, though her innate and already powerful connection to the Force allows her to shorten or lengthen the blade at will. Later when a Sith gets their hands on one, while it glows menacingly red at first, as a battle rages it turns purple, showing his lack of conviction alongside his fellow Sith. You can lie to yourself or get convinced to give up your convictions, lured to the light or dark side as you will, but you can never lie to the Force, as it sees and knows all, and this felt like a way to manifest the Force’s will in an almost physical sense, as it quickly becomes clear which side someone is on due to their lightsaber. I’d be curious to see if white would be the default for Force-users like Ahsoka Tano, who forges her own path (which sort of makes sense why Orla Jareni in The High Republic, as a Jedi Wayseeker, has white sabers as well) or if they’d be colorless like Kara, which was a neat effect in of itself. It also raises the question of what Kylo Ren’s saber would’ve looked like if it was built this way, would it truly been red or is the wavy, uncontrolled nature of the blade canon’s version of this idea already? How early in his fight with Rey on the second Death Star would it have betrayed his turn already? A lot of confrontations in Star Wars might’ve gone differently with this lightsaber design or at least this would’ve been a cool visual and something to add to big moments of change for characters.
Kara’s flight from her father’s shop to Margrave Juro’s home in space is a stellar sequence from both a pacing standpoint and overall spectacle. Her innate ability in the Force allows her to pull off some tricks not even Luke could during the Endor speeder chase, batting away shots and riding backwards even! It’s hilarious her biggest roadblock isn’t the sinister Jedi Hunters, it’s a lackadaisical droid and his breaktime, which offers some respite from the shorts quick pacing and almost felt like a meta-comment to fans watching, saying rest assured, we’ll get where you want to: a giant lightsaber battle. As eager as I was for a lightsaber battle to happen, it wouldn’t matter if I wasn’t invested in this world or its story. The idea of the Jedi’s light gone out of the galaxy isn’t necessarily new, but the idea they can’t even make or have lightsabers certainly is, but what really pulls viewers in is Kara herself. We first meet her rushing towards the latest mining haul, a weird but awesome system where they pull rocks from the planet’s rings to the surface, and her excitement, enthusiasm, and desire for adventure are palpable, recalling other Jedi heroes like Luke or Rey. The bond between her and her father, a rarity in Star Wars, only adds to the Kara’s reverence for the Jedi and her resolve once he’s taken, as she’s not necessarily fighting for the survival of the Jedi Order, just her father, though she gets wrapped up in the latter when she arrives at Juro’s station. Kimiko Glenn for the English Dub and Chinatsu Akasaki for the Japanese cast both imbue her with resolve, humor, and uncertainty with her role in the larger story, only making her easier to root for.
As for the lightsaber battle?! It was cool to have such a large clash with varying levels of skills fighting one another, as while most of the Sith seemed heavily trained, Ethan is way out of his league so Kara has to hold herself back at times to help him, while Juro displays Jedi Master level skills but even those might not be enough against so many foes. It’s rare to ever have a lightsaber battle with this many participants on screen, but Production I.G. put together a stunning, expansive duel for this many foes, as the pacing continued to impress, while the variety of skills and forms allowed for plenty of interesting and exciting visuals during the fight, plus they managed to provide plenty of shots which helped viewers keep track of all the action. Flipping the designs of characters, making the Jedi look like Sith and the Sith look like traditional Jedi, which per the Filmmaker Focus was done for the fun visuals and to preserve the twist, only added to the uniqueness of the fight. It’s the epic clash at the end that really sells viewers on the desire to want more, if they didn’t already from the great premise, new ideas, and already phenomenal short beforehand.
Here are a few other things:
- The Filmmaker Focus dives a lot into the soundtrack, and how important it was to the short’s story, which I’d LOVE to have to own, as the recurring melody has it’s own beginning than wonderfully molds into Rey’s theme and I couldn’t get enough of it!
- For the English Dub, this marks Andrew Kishino’s second Star Wars Visions appearance is as Juro and now he’s played quite the range of characters in Star Wars, from questionable ethics rebel Saw Gerrera, bandit leader Izuma in “The Village Bride,” and now a master Jedi trying to return the Order to its glory. It also marks Simu Liu’s aka Shang-Chi first Star Wars role, as he voices Kara’s dad, the lightsaber-smith; what a great first role!
- The symbol on the back of the lightsaber Margrave Juro gives to Ethan at one point is a rather awesome idea for a new Jedi Order symbol.
- Think the official poster for “The Ninth Jedi” was great, how about the always excellent Uzuri Art on Twitter with her take on Kara and Juro! If you aren’t following them now, make sure to do so because then your timeline will have constant amazing art on it!
- With the PlayStation exclusive game Ghost of Tsushima (which I’ve almost beaten after 40+ hours, phew!), given it’s Japanese setting and samurai film reverence, it only made sense for them to add a Japanese Dub. A few of those actors appear in this short: Kazuya Nakai, who plays main character Jin Sakai in the game, voices Roden, while Akio Ōtsuka, who played Jin’s uncle, is the short’s narrator.
- The official site has finally released episode guides for the show, much like they do for the other animated projects, so head over there for concept art and trivia galleries from the shorts, but make sure to also watch the Filmmaker Focus extras included on Disney+!!
I had heard and seen a lot of hype for Production I.G.’s “The Ninth Jedi” and it effortlessly lived up to it, skyrocketing to my favorite Star Wars Vision short without a doubt.
+ Lightsaber-smith concept
+ Exciting setting and story
+ Stellar action and pacing
+ Continuation is the only option for something this good
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
STAR WARS VISIONS REVIEWS
“The Duel” | “Tatooine Rhapsody” | “The Twins” | “The Village Bride”