Everyone seems to be making their rankings of Star Wars Visions episodes, and I feel a little left out, so I wanted to share mine. I want to say that this is really just a ranking on how much an episode appealed to me personally. There are no bad episodes of it in my opinion, and episodes very low on the list are ones that I think are just absolutely phenomenal! It's just that other ones touched me a little bit more. Honestly, this ranking is based on my favorites, not which ones I think are the best.
In a comic book store a couple of weeks ago, someone asked me for my favorite Star Wars movie. Then, he asked me for what I thought was the best Star Wars movie. Both of those questions had different answers (A New Hope and Rogue One, if you're curious, though the first one changes very often for me and has been almost every movie at some point), and that's something I try to keep in mind for rankings like these. I could do a ranking of the best Visions episodes, but that's where people's lists always seem to overlap a lot, and there's a little more pressure to include other people's thoughts. I think it's a lot more interesting to see what people's favorites are, what ones struck a chord with their tastes the most. That's where the variety is, and it's a lot more fun!
Okay, enough lecturing. Let's start the list! And don't forget to listen to our podcast episodes where we discuss Star Wars Visions!
Spoilers ahead for Star Wars Visions!
9: The Twins
The Twins, while low on this list, is still a great episode. I did enjoy the light-dark dichotomy of Karre and Am, and thought the visuals were absolutely beautiful. And I did really like the clear inspiration from A New Hope, but not just sticking with a retelling of that story. Plus, it does get bonus points for having jawas in it. However, this is an episode that just didn't work for me as much. I can't put my finger quite on why, because it's by all means very cool, but other episodes just stuck out to me more. But still, a very great episode with an incredibly stunning fight scene .
8: The Elder
The Elder is another episode that was just amazing. I loved all of the characters, it was a really interesting story that drew me in, and it included one of my favorite parts of Visions as a whole- katana lightsabers. The fight scenes were really cool to watch. This is one I wouldn't even say didn't appeal or work for me personally, because honestly it did. It's just a testament to the other episodes that they did even more. I loved the concept of this episode though, even if it's so low on the list.
7: The Duel
Okay, okay, please don't get mad at me for having The Duel so low on this list. I loved it, and I am super super super excited for Ronin to come out. It was a cool episode, and I think the greatest one to start with out of all of them. The visuals were absolutely gorgeous, and I loved how much it resembled classic samurai stories like the Kurosawa films that inspired Star Wars in the first place, while putting its own individual twist on it. It was very cool, but again, just like The Elder... other episodes just appealed to my personal tastes a little more.
6: Akakiri
Akakiri was beautiful, and if my list was of what I thought were the "best" episodes, this might be at the top. The tragedy reminiscent of pairs like Anakin and Padmé or Obi-Wan and Satine makes for such a story that will tug at my heartstrings every single time. Of the darker episodes, this probably had to be my personal favorite. It's pretty close to the middle of my favorite episodes overall, but don't get me wrong- I loved this episode. Just... loved some others a little bit more.
5: T0-B1
T0-B1 was just absolutely adorable. The bubbly, cute character design perfectly matched the personality of T0-B1 and his droid friends. It was a sweet and inspiring story about someone with dreams, facing hardship but continuing to make the world a better place, and rising up in the face of great danger and evil. It also asks us as viewers to re-evaluate how we think about the Force. We've always assumed that droids, like T0-B1, can't be Jedi, but... why not? Why couldn't the Force decide to grant a droid this power if it wanted to? This episode was just great, and I really loved it.
4: Tatooine Rhapsody
This was one episode I knew just from reading the title and short blurb about it before Visions was released that I would like. It's a new kind of Star Wars story, one pretty far from the great wars we know of and one just about a band trying to make it in the galaxy with their (very great) music. I love this story about "regular people" in the galaxy far, far away. The characters were very endearing, and this episode had amazing designs. Plus, their song at the end is amazing, and the fact that it (and the rest of the Visions soundtrack) has yet to be released anywhere continues to plague me. I have looked for it every single day on Spotify since Visions came out. Every. Single. Day.
3: The Ninth Jedi
I loved The Ninth Jedi, and it seems like everyone else did too. The visuals were beautiful (I really liked the last shot, where they turn the base upside down to make it look like a lightsaber), and it set up an incredibly intriguing plotline that managed to be both satisfying here in this little story, and have me dying for more. I also loved the changing lightsaber colors depending on the wielder, that was such a cool idea. This was another episode that makes us think differently about the Force, and challenge some of our preconceived notions about Jedi and Sith, the light and dark sides of the Force.
2: Lop & Ocho
Lop & Ocho was an episode that I instantly fell in love with, mostly because of how much I immediately loved Lop and her design. She is ADORABLE! This episode's sweet story about the pair of adoptive sisters coming together with this father, and then ultimately being driven apart by the Empire and having to fight. I loved Lop using the family saber, even though Ocho believes it belongs to her because of her bloodline. It really enforces the message we see in so much of my favorite Star Wars- that family and legacy is about far more than simple genetics.
1: The Village Bride
Finally, my absolute favorite was The Village Bride! Mostly because of F, who I just think is an amazing character, and I love her the more I think about her and her story. She's inspiring, as are the other characters in this story, like the titular village bride herself, who is ready to sacrifice herself for her grandfather and her village from the group of raiders tormenting her town. Then, of course, there's the Force aspects, where we see the connection of the Force, the nature of the planet, and the people of the village as well as the importance of that. It's a beautiful story with a great soundtrack that I also need uploaded to Spotify like, yesterday. Plus, katana saber! There's so much good about this episode, I just completely adore it.
That's my ranking of the Visions episodes! Again, this is more about which ones appealed to me the most and were my own personal favorites. Visions is an amazing series, and I hope we get more of it, or at least certainly more like it. I'd highly recommend giving it a watch if you haven't yet, it's not a very long series and is well, well worth the time you'd put into it.
If you have watched it, what are your favorites? I'd love to hear from you and find out where everyone's personal rankings fall!