While the first season had several anime production houses animating and delivering the shorts, Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 offers much more of a multicultural and global perspective from its animated shorts. Not only that, but a lot more styles of animation were used, including hand-drawn animation, CG, and even stop-motion animation. But as is always the case with anthology shows, your mileage will vary for certain episodes. So we are ranking the nine episodes of Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 and seeing which ones rise above the rest in the season!
Ranking Star Wars: Visions Season 2 Episodes from Worst to Best
9) “In the Stars” (Punkrobot – Chile)
It says a lot about the quality of this short if I can’t really appreciate the solid stop-motion animation on display because of its flaws. The short follows two sisters as they try to survive on their planet that was polluted by the Empire. One of the biggest crimes that this short commits is that it decides to just drop a huge amount of exposition right on the audience at the beginning about these siblings’ mother, which just comes across as clunky.
Then we have the younger sister, Tichina, who makes several poor decisions and claims that she’s ready to fight the Empire despite that clearly not being the case, making her come across as an annoying kid character who’s more of a hindrance than anything else. It’s not a bad episode, but it’s the one that makes the most questionable decisions that end up hurting more than helping.
8) “The Pit” (D’Art Shtajio & Lucasfilm – Japan / US)
I really don’t know how to feel about “The Pit” since there are moments about this Star Wars: Visions episode I enjoy, but plenty of times I thought it was the most simplistic and basic of the nine season 2 episodes. The premise has a group of prisoners forced to mine for Kyber crystals in a giant hole, only to be abandoned in said hole by the Empire once they’ve found them. There are moments here that are probably the darkest in the entire second season, like how the Empire leaves what looks like hundreds of people to die and outright murders one of them in a brutal fashion.
A dark take on Star Wars is a fascinating one that can work, but then it quickly shifts to a generic message of light and hope and the goodness of people that feels at odds with the first half tonally. When it does shift, it becomes exceptionally corny, and that’s really something for a series that has such great lines as, “Are you an angel?” and “I hate sand.”
7) “The Bandits of Golak” (88 Pictures – India)
“The Bandits of Golak” has a really sincere little plot running through it. A brother is taking his young Force-sensitive sister to a Jedi where she can be trained in the Force, knowing that she will be taken from him. Unlike with “In the Stars,” you really do feel a sense of kinship between the siblings through how they talk to each other and the little games that they play. The desert aesthetics are well done, and you can definitely feel the Indian culture running through most of the major locations in the short.
Once again though, we have a child character that comes across as annoying for getting herself and her brother into trouble for stupid reasons, and the climax is initially confusing since the short keeps things a bit too close to the chest for one of its reveals. It’s a fun little romp overall, but nothing to write home about.
6) “Journey to the Dark Head” (Studio Mir – South Korea)
“Journey to the Dark Head” is probably the most traditional Star Wars sequence here, for better or worse. There are numerous elements here that fans of the franchise would be familiar with, like an initial frosty relationship between allies, a Sith tempting a Jedi to the Dark Side, and a lightsaber duel among several other bits. The short is actually pretty straightforward, showing a mechanic and a Jedi journeying to the mechanic’s homeworld to destroy a statue that she believes is the source of the Dark Side of the Force.
It’s a bit of an out-there concept as it’s explained, but the resolution has some interesting commentary about the relationship between Sith and Jedi that manages to elevate what could have been a fairly mediocre short into something moderately compelling. The great action scene at the end helps too, I suppose.
5) “Aau’s Song” (Triggerfish – South Africa)
This is, without a doubt, the cutest of all of the shorts. “Aau’s Song” follows a young girl named Aau whose singing voice has a strange effect on her planet’s Kyber crystals, all of which have been corrupted by the Sith. The short looks adorable, with all of the characters looking fuzzy and immensely squishable, giving off a more playful and colorful tone. There’s no antagonist whatsoever in the short, which allows it to just focus on showing off its world and Aau’s interactions with it, mostly through her ethereal singing sequences. I can only describe the short as pleasant and bright, making this the best all-ages short of season 2 of Star Wars: Visions.
4) “The Spy Dancer” (Studio La Cachette – France)
It’s not every day we get a look at subterfuge in the Star Wars universe, but “The Spy Dancer” delivers it with some wonderfully fluid animation and style. The short follows a performer, Loi’e, as she performs at an upscale club for stormtroopers, only to discover an officer that stole her child 20 years ago — so she decides to take vengeance on him then and there. This is probably one of the most evocatively animated shorts of the bunch and has a plot that goes in several directions. There’s plenty of tension and spectacle to behold, giving us a twist and climax that really help develop Loi’e’s character. This is her short, and she manages to own it and end on a poignant note that can be open to interpretation.
3) “The Sith” (El Guiri – Spain)
Out of all nine shorts of season 2 of Star Wars: Visions, “The Sith” is the best-looking by miles. The painterly aesthetics and the use of color showcase the turmoil that our protagonist, a former Sith apprentice, is feeling. This is experimental animation at its finest and kept my focus the entire time as we see orbs of color and shifting hues throughout the piece. The lightsaber duel at the end is especially beautiful, with the lightsabers actually looking like laser swords that will destroy anything that they touch. I will say that it can be a bit esoteric at times during the climax, making me question if the events of the short are actually happening or if this is some psychological battle within her mind, but this is still a wonderfully animated and presented short.
2) “I Am Your Mother” (Aardman – United Kingdom)
Sometimes you just need a simple little comedy, and “I Am Your Mother” is exactly that. The short centers on a race in a flight academy where students need to race with their parents. However, our protagonist, Anni, finds her mom embarrassing, so she refuses to race, until her mom shows up, promptly embarrasses her, then forces her to race once they’re insulted by a preppy student and her haughty mother.
Aardman is well known for its expressive comedy, and you get exactly that here. The relationship between Anni and her mother is entirely believable, and you grow to like both women and their droid by the time the race concludes. It’s an action-packed race at that, featuring plenty of comic mishaps and laugh-out-loud moments. Considering how most of these shorts tend to be more serious affairs, something with a bit of levity really does stand out for the better.
1) “Screecher’s Reach” (Cartoon Saloon – Ireland)
Never before did I think that horror and Star Wars would work as well as they do in “Screecher’s Reach,” but the mad lads at Cartoon Saloon manage to do so with flying colors. The short centers on a group of children living in a workhouse sneaking off to go find a ghost in a cave called “Screecher’s Reach,” only to eventually find it and immediately regret their decision. At first, the short starts off like a ghost story that these children are curious about, but you can tell there’s something under the surface that the short doesn’t want to share with us just yet.
Once they do reach the cave where this ghost supposedly lies, everything immediately turns south and we’re left with a character study that presents some complicated feelings. What would you do for a better life? What are you willing to sacrifice to get it? Is it worth it? What will others think of your decision? It’s the story of innocence lost, and with beautiful imagery by Cartoon Saloon, it knocks it out of the park in virtually every way. By far the most complete of the shorts and also the best short produced by Star Wars: Visions whether in Volume 2 or either season of the show, it’s that good.
