Review: ‘Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures’ Is Exactly What You Think It Is, and That’s a Good Thing
The time has come to introduce your youngling to Star Wars. The first seven episodes of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures are available right now on Disney Plus in all of their Nubs-filled glory. One of two animated Star Wars shows premiering on May 4, Young Jedi Adventures is the first modern series truly made for those around preschool age.
Set during the High Republic era, about 200 years before the Skywalker Saga, the series follows Kai Brightstar, Lys Solay, Nubs, and their pilot Nash Durango as they go through Jedi training on Tenoo. During this time, they also go to other planets doing what Jedi do best: help people. If you are someone who isn’t of that target age but intrigued, know what you’re getting into. This isn’t Andor. This isn’t The Mandalorian. This isn’t even Star Wars: Resistance. Young Jedi Adventures is unabashedly a show for really small kiddos in intent and execution, and it is all the better for it.
Young Jedi Adventures gets that a kid’s show like this is just meant to be a fun romp with a lesson to take with you as you go about your day. Some of these lessons like the importance of teamwork, helping others, listening, and self-meditation are repeated constantly, but sometimes kids need to be reminded of those things every single day. Even for me as an adult, I still struggle with accepting help from others, so to see Kai wrestle with that in the very first episode led to immediate attachment on my part.
The animation of Young Jedi Adventures is colorful and lively, and the same can be said for its cast of characters. Nubs is, of course, going to take over the world. Dee Bradley Baker brings such a unique voice to the character that plays perfectly off of the hijinks Nubs finds himself in. I love how he just randomly has super strength too. Meanwhile, Kai Brightstar is a worthy lead to this show. He is a Jedi that has a lot to learn about life in general first and foremost. Kai rushes headfirst into everything, but he is always quick to learn from his mistakes. Even if he might repeat those same mistakes at some point, as all children do. I appreciate that this show lets the kids be kids and doesn’t treat them like adults. These characters can make mistakes and they can grow from them.
Lys and Nash round out the core group. They share characteristics with Star Wars‘ greatest heroine, Leia, in how they carry themselves. If Kai is the naive Luke Skywalker, Lys is the one to reel him back in and encourage Kai to make the right move. Nash has a tenderness and a fire to her that embodies who Leia is. Yoda is another character that pops up occasionally, but Master Zia is around for the rest of the time to guide the younglings. On the villain side of things, Taborr is just there. He reminds me of Swiper from Dora the Explorer: annoying and dangerous if underestimated, but ultimately harmless. There’s also a bounty hunter named Ansen Strung that I related to with every fiber of my being. Talk to people? Ugh. No thanks.
Tenoo is the hub of the show, but Young Jedi Adventures showcases many different places and planets outside of that. It felt like every episode featured a new cute critter or species that screamed “make me a toy.” I enjoyed the show jumping all over the place to keep things fresh. Because this series isn’t beholden to any specific throughline, it really has free rein to tell whatever story they want.
However, in saying that, this is where we have to talk about the biggest drawback for me. I won’t pretend that every single episode enthralled me. That was always going to be a given since I’m not the target audience, but outside of the first episode and a couple others, I felt a surprising lack of Star Wars elements throughout. At no point did it feel like I wasn’t watching Star Wars, but it was a discernible absence as the younglings were just searching for the new creature of the day.
Maybe that’s just me because I think it would be awesome to have a fool-proof way to get the next generation into what we all love. That being said, the show is at its best the few times it dives full-board into the Force and the Jedi way. It is here where we issue a spoiler warning if you want to go in with your youngling cold.
As I alluded to earlier, the first episode stood out above the rest. If you aren’t familiar with the formatting of many children’s shows, these are 30-ish minute episodes usually split into two mini-episodes of about 11-13 minutes. Some shows do it differently, but that’s the format Young Jedi Adventures uses.
The first episode of the show focused heavily on Kai who needed to learn two specific lessons across the two shorts: asking for help is alright, and helping others is even better. I especially loved the second of these shorts where Yoda gives the three younglings a seemingly menial task (because what else would Yoda do to teach someone?). While on the mission, Taborr attacks. When Nubs ends up in trouble, Kai chooses his lightsaber to continue fighting over helping his friend.
Later on, Kai found himself in the same situation. This time, he chose Nubs, allowing Taborr to claim his lightsaber as his own. When Kai confesses to Yoda, he is presented with a new training saber. Yoda’s training saber. The series got off on the right foot in terms of lore, action, and lessons to be had.
Another standout episode featured Nubs getting sick. As horrifying as it was to see him unwell, I belly-laughed when he sneezed which ended up flinging him off the bed. Lys and Kai had to learn to listen to each other if they had any hope of getting their friend back to full strength. Aree, of Galaxy of Creatures fame, also made an appearance. He was shooting an episode of his show, so now I’m wondering if we’ll get the flip side of this episode in Galaxy of Creature‘s 2D animation style when that series inevitably returns.
Episodes 6 and 7 along with their respective shorter parts each had something unique to offer. “Squadron” was the short with High Republic vectors so it was a treat to see those and the space slug in action. I liked watching the escape from the slug’s mouth as it was basically shot-for-shot from The Empire Strikes Back. “Forest Defenders” features possibly the cutest thing to ever exist in the Skriffle.
In the last episode of this batch, “The Missing Kibbin” introduced us to Ansen Strung (yes the Kibbin is another absurdly cute creature). “The Jedi and the Thief” brought the focus back onto Kai. This time we get that fabled teaching about how a Jedi shouldn’t rush into a fight. Taborr might exist in this world to do bad, but people like him can still choose to do good. I liked how that was represented through Master Zia as we learned about her past as someone who was also quick to rush into things and judge people when she was Kai’s age.
Overall, Young Jedi Adventures is everything it set out to be. It has fun action, great laughs, vibrant characters, powerful moments that kids can latch onto, and more. Is it the perfect means to enter Star Wars? I’m not going to be able to answer that question for you, but I’m ready for more already. Just don’t hurt my Nubs again, the boy has been through enough already.
The first seven episodes of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures are currently streaming on Disney Plus. The first two episodes are already playing in the Disney Junior rotation, with a new episode being added each Friday, beginning May 12.
Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies in general as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he's not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading a comic, listening to an audiobook, or playing a Mario video game for the 1,000th time.
