[7.0/10] This is the first time I haven't really liked the message of Young Jedi Adventures. In the abstract, lessons like patience and not taking shortcuts are great. But the way this episode dramatizes it left me cold. Kai comes up with a clever way to work smarter not harder -- using the training droids to clean up faster than he and his team ever could. I’d want to encourage that sort of creativity in kids and laud the effort to automate mindless tasks where possible, rather than chasten them for it. So this left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
That said, “character uses science/magic to solve problems and it goes wildly wrong” is an old trope. I’m pretty sure The Jetsons did something very similar, and this is basically the same plot as Mickey’s turn as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Fantasia. There’s a reason shows turn to this idea -- it’s fun watching our heroes wrangle a bunch of unruly droids.
The antics involved are amusing enough. The kids’ solution of luring the out-of-control droids with junk is clever. And this is a good Yoda episode, with the wizened old Jedi master seeming like a badass in his ability to win the “get the droid beacon” game, while also seeming like a caring parental figure in the way he’s forgiving and helpful to the padawans.
Overall, I have my beef with the moral of this one, but the exploits in the episode itself are all solid at worst.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-05-21T00:21:53Z
[7.0/10] This is the first time I haven't really liked the message of Young Jedi Adventures. In the abstract, lessons like patience and not taking shortcuts are great. But the way this episode dramatizes it left me cold. Kai comes up with a clever way to work smarter not harder -- using the training droids to clean up faster than he and his team ever could. I’d want to encourage that sort of creativity in kids and laud the effort to automate mindless tasks where possible, rather than chasten them for it. So this left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
That said, “character uses science/magic to solve problems and it goes wildly wrong” is an old trope. I’m pretty sure The Jetsons did something very similar, and this is basically the same plot as Mickey’s turn as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Fantasia. There’s a reason shows turn to this idea -- it’s fun watching our heroes wrangle a bunch of unruly droids.
The antics involved are amusing enough. The kids’ solution of luring the out-of-control droids with junk is clever. And this is a good Yoda episode, with the wizened old Jedi master seeming like a badass in his ability to win the “get the droid beacon” game, while also seeming like a caring parental figure in the way he’s forgiving and helpful to the padawans.
Overall, I have my beef with the moral of this one, but the exploits in the episode itself are all solid at worst.