The Pit

The penultimate episode of the second season of "Star Wars Visions" has a Japan based production house for the first time. D'Art Shtajio have an extensive range of credits in both Japan and America and their work on various anime series have been well received. Regular Lucasarts collaborator LeAndre Thomas writes this one which takes a slavery story and put it through the Star Wars slant.

A group of Imperial prisoners are taken to the desert and ordered to dig a giant pit. Eventually they start to turn up Kyber Crystals and as the years pass, a prosperous city develops nearby. When the pit is tapped out the Imperials abandon the slaves at the bottom. Crux (Daveed Diggs) takes it upon himself to scale the shear cliff face. He completes the perilous journey but finds that the city isn't even aware of their presence.

I have to admit, I wasn't anticipating the ending of the short to go as it does. I'd have assumed that the rich city folk would not only know about the pit but be complicit in what's happening there. Fortunately, it's more hopeful than that but not before perhaps the most mentally scarring off screen murder in "Star Wars" since Uncle Lars and Aunt Beru. There are elements of the story that don't particularly make sense to me, such as what the prisoners are eating in the pit or why the imperials wouldn't just move them to another source, presuming there is one.

Visually it's pretty good, it's animation reminiscent of the style I grew up on, which I'd imagine was cheaper then, rather than 'retro' as it feels now. Daveed Diggs voices another character similar to his one on "Snowpiercer" but the performance, and indeed all the performances are good.

Not sure there's much more I'd want to see from this story , but it solid whilst it lasts.

Not since Andy fell into the pit have televisions pits been this relevant. However, this one's less goofy and more emotional. The protagonist does a pretty good job of inspiring the voiceless masses of background characters to do something about their fate. They also do a lot with not many settings. Most of the episode takes place in the pit. I like the use of the pangolin inspired creature to actually impact the plot in a creative way. This one also continues the trend in this season of being pretty dark given the direction of the plot and even the premise itself. My only complaint would be that there is little to no specific character development. It's entirely focused on a group of nameless people getting inspired to better their situation.