LEGO and Star Wars have already teamed up before with previous televised specials. Now with “LEGO Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures” we are getting a full on series, which may not be canon, but does feel as if it could be. Sort of.
In much the way LEGO video games tell and retell familiar scenarios from the movies, but in a way that isn’t necessarily representation of what we saw in theaters, “LEGO Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures” feels like a Star Wars story that could actually have been taking place, only with the usual LEGO twists.
After the destruction of the first Death Star things were looking up for the Rebellion and their kind. Only that wasn’t really the case as we saw during subsequent films. “LEGO Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures” tells a side story of three siblings who are trying to get by scavenging the galaxy for busted ships and performing repair work.
Against this set-up we get the typical Star Wars story. One of the siblings is drawn to The Force, a quest is undertaken to find pieces of a mythical lightsaber. This of course sets off a series of events that goes across the galaxy, including a few familiar locations. There are a few familiar faces that show up as well, including Darth Vader of course and Luke Skywalker. This is, however, a complete side-story focusing on the Freemaker siblings.
As a LEGO series there is plenty of humor, and much of it is done in a way that shows how this series isn’t going to be considered canon. Vader and the Emperor are shown as evil but also bumbling fools at times. We know from the films the characters are highly competent so this is meant to be a humorous diversion and to that extent it succeeds.
“LEGO Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures” looks like a LEGO cartoon series, it isn’t highly detailed but it does not look bad at all. The voice cast is decent, but that’s not really the selling point for the series in the first place. There are only two special features, together totaling three and a half minutes. I think these may have been interstitials for the Disney XD network to promote the series.
Set well within the Star Wars story “LEGO Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures” is much more of a fun ‘what if’ scenario than anything else. Over the course of this first season and its 13 episodes we see familiar places (Hoth) and faces (Lando) along with a host of new characters and situations. How does this fit in to the overall larger (canon) Star Wars story? It doesn’t really need to. Actually, if you remove the expectation of canon “LEGO Star Wars the Freemaker Adventures” is much more enjoyable.
While the second season has yet to be announced, this season ends in a way that it could be considered complete. Do not let the lack of a second season put you off.