The age of streaming, as it turns out, has a lot of problems -- streaming trounced cable something fierce in 2022, but more and more services of late report losing subscribers (not just because of the lack of cricket games, mind). But when it's still awesome is when it gives an outlet to smaller creatives who may have gone unnoticed in the past (as is especially true of sites like Shudder), even giving us entire variety shows where each episode gives a different creator/studio the time to shine (while also satisfying those darn output quotas). Hence we have Love, Death & Robots on Netflix and Star Wars: Visions on Disney+.
Now, Visions is more limiting than something like LD+R. The stories, of course, need to remain somewhere within the realms of Star Wars and there seems to be some kind of mandate for episodes to either focus on kyber crystals or have a scene where a family gets torn apart because one of the characters has to go train to be a Jedi (ergo personal connections are forbidden).
Still, the show does allow for several creators to do some truly out-there and visually unique things with this world and its mythology. In the first season/volume, the shorts were various types of anime -- including one that goes full Kurosawa (appropriate, since Kurosawa was one of Lucas' main inspirations when conceiving the saga) -- but here, the animation styles are a lot more varied, hailing from many corners of the world. Of course, they also range in quality:
The second might be my favorite. Done by Cartoon Saloon (Wolfwalkers), it has a distinctive hand-drawn look -- that also plays around with the frame rate in a fascinating way -- and is equally distinct in its Irish-ness (not just the accents but also the inclusion of a banshee-like specter, whose often minimalist scenes are a highlight of the season). The third, made in Chile, is quite good to look at (combining Laika-esque stop-motion with CGI) but features a pretty grating performance and a decidedly clunky way of delivering its backstory. We also get the clichéd but very delightful I Am Your Mother, made by Aardman Animation with all their signature British claymation charm -- and a cameo by the robot from the first-ever Wallace & Gromit short that made me giddier than any vacuous fanservice moment from The Mandalorian combined.
The worst of the bunch is the seventh episode, which looks like a janky, second-rate Clone Wars copy where nobody moves very naturally or seems to have much gravity to them (there's also a shot of CG water that looked straight out of a mid-2000s direct-to-DVD movie), but its character designs and settings give it a distinctly Indian feel (the studio is the Mumbai-based 88 Pictures) that I found interesting -- my friend also noted that its main antagonist gave the impression of a Bollywood villain. Aau's Song, by the South African studio Triggerfish, closes the season on a sweet note and another mesmerizing use of stop-motion.
Bottom line: the further away from Disney Star Wars gets, the more interesting and imaginative it gets to be. Go figure.
Now, Visions is more limiting than something like LD+R. The stories, of course, need to remain somewhere within the realms of Star Wars and there seems to be some kind of mandate for episodes to either focus on kyber crystals or have a scene where a family gets torn apart because one of the characters has to go train to be a Jedi (ergo personal connections are forbidden).
Still, the show does allow for several creators to do some truly out-there and visually unique things with this world and its mythology. In the first season/volume, the shorts were various types of anime -- including one that goes full Kurosawa (appropriate, since Kurosawa was one of Lucas' main inspirations when conceiving the saga) -- but here, the animation styles are a lot more varied, hailing from many corners of the world. Of course, they also range in quality:
The second might be my favorite. Done by Cartoon Saloon (Wolfwalkers), it has a distinctive hand-drawn look -- that also plays around with the frame rate in a fascinating way -- and is equally distinct in its Irish-ness (not just the accents but also the inclusion of a banshee-like specter, whose often minimalist scenes are a highlight of the season). The third, made in Chile, is quite good to look at (combining Laika-esque stop-motion with CGI) but features a pretty grating performance and a decidedly clunky way of delivering its backstory. We also get the clichéd but very delightful I Am Your Mother, made by Aardman Animation with all their signature British claymation charm -- and a cameo by the robot from the first-ever Wallace & Gromit short that made me giddier than any vacuous fanservice moment from The Mandalorian combined.
The worst of the bunch is the seventh episode, which looks like a janky, second-rate Clone Wars copy where nobody moves very naturally or seems to have much gravity to them (there's also a shot of CG water that looked straight out of a mid-2000s direct-to-DVD movie), but its character designs and settings give it a distinctly Indian feel (the studio is the Mumbai-based 88 Pictures) that I found interesting -- my friend also noted that its main antagonist gave the impression of a Bollywood villain. Aau's Song, by the South African studio Triggerfish, closes the season on a sweet note and another mesmerizing use of stop-motion.
Bottom line: the further away from Disney Star Wars gets, the more interesting and imaginative it gets to be. Go figure.