Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - The Complete Second Season - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - The Complete Second Season

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

​

Movie
Disney is doing what Disney does best when the acquire a new franchise. Saturate the market with every variation of the intellectual property to the point of popping. When they acquired the rights to the Star Wars universe for a whopping $4 Billion we all knew this was coming, and Disney has followed their pattern to a T. We have a whole new trilogy about the base plot, with extra “solo” movies (pun intended) interspersed between the main series, along with a bunch of new animated (and soon to be live action) series to fill up every screen imaginable. One of the biggest losses to the Star Wars universe was when The Clone Wars was immediately canceled and summarily replaced with Star Wars: Rebels (which has actually grown into an amazing series), but there have been these little “offshoot” animated adventures too. The Yoda Chronicles was a Lego oriented Star Wars “mini” show on Disney XD that actually got WAY more popularity than expected. After the acclaim from the little series, Disney XD put their heads together and came up with The Freemaker Adventures.

The show revolves around a brother/sister trio made up of Zander (Eugene Byrd), Sister Kordi (Vanessa Lengies) and their little brother Rowan (Nicolas Cantu). Last season Rowman found out his destiny as a Jedi apprentice, and is walking the path to becoming one, but things keep getting in his way. While he wants to tell Luke Skywalker about it, and continue his training, the force has other plans for the young boy. He begins dreaming of a new super powerful ship that can help the rebellion defeat the empire, but it hasn’t been invented yet. Using his force premonitions, Rowan and his family of scavengers track down the individual pieces needed to created this Khyber Crystal powered starship that may turn the tide of the war.

However, Vader and the Emperor are still looking for the Khyber Saber that Rowan discovered and will do anything to get him in their hands. The Emperor is a bit tired of Vader and his methods, so he creates a new imperial bounty hunter droid named MOC to track the boy down himself. Also, the trio have to escape the clutches of the business devoid Graballa the Hutt (played by Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Dana Snyder) as well as various other villains throughout the galaxy (a few visits by our animated friend Hondo, as well as Maz Kanata).

I actually really enjoy The Freemaker Adventures. The show isn’t meant to really stay in canon with the regular story like The Clone Wars and Rebels are, but be a little side story that little kids can follow along with and still have fun in the same universe. Taking place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is actually a really neat little trick, as that is a section of time that none of the other shows and movies have gone into, which gives them the perfect little window to tell the story of Rowan and his kind coming into Jedi powers. it’s cute, fluffy, and pure Lego Star Wars goodness.

The voice acting is actually quite good, and the inclusion of the goofy Vader persona from the Yoda Chronicles is a breath of fresh air. My only complaints in this season is that most of the 13 episodes are spent doing a repeat of the episode before it in part. Rowan finds another part he needs for his super amazing ship, and each episode has them fighting off MOC or the other bounty hunters before escaping and doing that in the next episode. The last 1/3rd of the series does pick up with a change of pace though, and those last 4 or so episodes are the highlight of the season.




Rating:

Rated TV-Y7




Video:

It looks like this year Disney decided to forego the Blu-ray release, so we have a drop from 1080p to 480p for the video. Similar to how the Blu-ray looked, The Freemaker Adventures in DVD looks really nice. The glossy colors and shiny digital Lego bodies looks crisp and clean, with lots and lots of individual detailing marks for the characters. Blacks are deep and inky, but I did notice some banding, especially on the characters arms and in really dark shots (outside in space etc). Primary colors take up the majority of the spectrum, but soft shades of blue and gray are a staple in any Star Wars show/movie. The animation still isn’t super duper high quality (this IS a little kids show), but it holds up well in 480p and I have very little negative to say about it.








Audio:

Once again, the audio mix for the show is a bit anemic. Season one used a 5.1 Dolby Digital track instead of a lossless track, but for the DVD it’s given an even lower bitrate of 384 kpbs (instead of the 448 of the first season). Even though it’s dropped a bit, there’s really not a whole of difference between the two. The audio is a bit soft, and the volume is recorded a good deal lower than one would expect. Vocals are still crisp and well defined, but you have to turn up the mix on the receiver a bit more than I wanted. The LFE is there and gives us some nice whomps, but it’s also doesn’t have that really heavy, deeeeep, bass that Star Wars thrives on. Surrounds are full and active with the sounds of starships screaming overhead, or the flash and hum of a lightsaber. It’s a GOOOOD track, but the above mentioned issues keep it from really standing out as a great one.








Extras:

• Five Shorts
- Home One
- Thrown Into Battle
- Rowan's Secret Adventure
- Zander Freemaker, Superstar Pilot Guy
- Beware The Gamorrean Flu

Final Score: ​

Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures is a fun little series that really took me by surprise back in 2016. The first season was a lot of fun, and the second season continues on in it’s wake. While I have a love affair with Star Wars: Rebels, The Freemaker Adventures is a nice little side watch that is meant for the little Star Wars fans among us, but appeals to adults enough to have some good fun. I was a bit disappointed that the second season didn’t get a Blu-ray release like the first season, but that was to be expected. I was honestly shocked that the first season got a Blu-ray release considering the niche Disney XD nature of the show (The Yoda Chronicles never got a Blu-ray release). However, the specs are solid, and it even has a few more extras (as minimal as they are) than the previous season. Definitely a good watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Vanessa Lengies, Grey DeLisle, Nicolas Cantu
Creator: Bill Motz, Bob Roth, Carrie Beck
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish, French DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
Rated: TV-Y7
Runtime: 267 Minutes
DVD Release Date: March 13th, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. We are big fans of Lego so we will get this.