IR TV Review: LEGO STAR WARS - TERRIFYING TALES [Disney+]
With the advent of streaming now, it is easier to do specials that live in perpetuity rather than one/offs one would have to catch on a particular night. Disney+ is starting to take good advantage of that to balance with their consistent series such as Star Wars or Marvel. In this way, they have a leg up on every other streaming service because their IP specifically caters to that. "LEGO Star Wars - Terrifying Tales" is a good example of this approach as it is a recurring aspect that can be applied to certain holidays or events. Interestingly enough, the basis is taken from a much darker subsection of the Star Wars/Marvel comics universe in an ongoing series called "Tales From Vader's Castle". It is made much lighter here which takes away from it in a way but this is also meant more for children...but it is a mix because in all actuality the stories are quite dark. Like "What If" it imagines through the pinings of one of Vader's former Sith servants, slightly different progressions of Star Wars lore.
Granted it doesn't seem like these stories will be canon but it has different ideas of why it is what it is. Three tales of caution arre filtered through this 45-minute special, each from a different era of Star Wars. The three stories are entitled: "The Lost Boy", "Dueling Monstrosities" and "The Wookie's Paw". To give away what they are based in specifically would give away some interesting points and spoil the surprise but they have to do with training, recruitment and path with certain characters we have come to know. The overarching superstructure just to give the basis of why we are at Vader's Castle is that Poe Dameron ends up crashing on Mustafar (the planet where Anakin & Obi Wan fought) because he damages his spacecraft trying to be a hotshot in a space fight. A Hutt is building a hotel at the former Sith's castle. The castle came with the caretaker who tells the stories and has a plan of his own. Again the "Tales From Vader's Castle" as a concept is smoothed down overall here (the original incarnation would make a great anime series) but this special is structured as a nice little one-and-done morsel with plenty of horror homages (including a very obvious one from "The Shining"). B
By Tim Wassberg
