TV Review: "Star Wars: Visions" Volume 3, Episode 6 - "The Lost Ones" Follows Up On "The Village Bride"
Today saw the release of Volume 3 of Lucasfilm’s animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions, and below are my thoughts on the sixth installment from this third batch of short films, entitled “The Lost Ones” from Kinema Citrus.
Despite having just rewatched “The Village Bride” from Visions Volume 1 this morning, I still have to admit that I struggled connecting with (or really even fully comprehending) the story of its sequel “The Lost Ones.” I know it opens with a direct homage to Back to the Future, of all things, and then we follow some rebels rummaging through the wreckage of a planet that was decimated by the Empire during its search for carbonite. When an earthquake strikes, two of the workers are saved by the enigmatic F (voiced by Karen Fukuhara in the English dub) when she uses the Force to prevent them from being crushed to death. Then we’re up in space on a refugee ship which is ambushed by an Imperial star destroyer demanding them to turn over F or be destroyed.
F, of course, voluntarily gives herself up in exchange for the refugees’ lives, but she is joined by Ron (Ryan Potter) who tags along in an effort to sabotage the star destroyer. While on the Imperial cruiser, F is confronted by her former master, Shad-Rah (Mark Strong), who she thought to be long dead, while Ron plants bombs around the ship. I dunno, I guess I did follow it okay, but– like its predecessor– “The Lost Ones” just didn’t really do much for me. I was always surprised that “The Village Bride” was chosen to represent Star Wars: Visions in theatrical screenings and Academy Award submissions, as since 2021 I’ve thought it was just so-so. It looks nice, as do all of the entries in this series, but there just isn’t a whole lot to it beyond that. I keep thinking that maybe on rewatch I’ll get something more out of “The Village Bride” but I’ve seen it like four times now and it still hasn’t moved the needle for me, so I suspect the same will be true for “The Lost Ones.” It’s fine, I suppose, but I can think of other Visions shorts I would have preferred to see continue with follow-ups.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is now streaming in its entirety, exclusively via Disney+.