By George & Josh Bate
At some point in their lives, every Star Wars fan has pondered an intriguing ‘what if’ scenario. What if Anakin never turned to the dark side? What if Luke failed to destroy the Death Star? What if Qui-Gon didn’t die at the hands of Darth Maul? Star Wars has a fairly limited history of exploring these kinds of ‘what if’ scenarios, such as in comics like Star Wars Infinities and Jonathan W. Rinzler’s The Star Wars and alternate endings for the video games Revenge of the Sith and The Force Unleashed. Otherwise, the franchise has not ventured into this realm of the theoretical with the depth that other series (like Marvel) have. This trend changes, however, as Star Wars explores ‘what if’’ scenarios more overtly than it has for years with the new Disney+ special LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy.
The four-piece miniseries follows Sig Greebling (voiced by Stranger Things’ Gaten Matarazzo), a scruffy-looking nerf herder desperate for adventure. No, this is not an insult labeling Sig as a scruffy-looking nerf herder (like Leia did to Han in The Empire Strikes Back). Sig actually is one. Also living mundane lives on a mundane planet are his more adventurous older brother Dev (voiced by Spider-Man: Far From Home’s Tony Revolori), their friend Yesi (voiced by Black-ish’s Marsai Martin), and their trusted gonk droid companion. Things quickly go from mundane to insane for Sig after he discovers an abandoned Jedi temple, which houses an ancient relic called the Cornerstone. When Sig displaces the Cornerstone, he accidentally turns his entire universe upside down. Suddenly, there are Ewok bounty hunters, oceans on Tatooine, rebel AT-ATs, and his very own brother Dev is now a Sith lord. The changes are widespread, forcing Sig to team up with the elusive Jedi Bob (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) in a desperate attempt to undo the work of the Cornerstone.
In recent years, LEGO Star Wars specials have offered refreshing counter-programming to the array of live-action and other animated shows on Disney+. 2020 saw the release of the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, which was followed by the Halloween themed LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales and then LEGO Star Wars: Summer Vacation. Existing (seemingly) independent of canon, these specials featured engaging animation and achieved a light-hearted tone that both honored and poked fun at the Star Wars universe. But there are some differences with LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy. While the last three LEGO Star Wars specials focused on existing characters like Rey and Finn, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy constructs a brand new protagonist to follow. Not only that, but the story is presented in four 22-23 minute episodes, rather than a single 40+ minute special.
Most of all though, the selling point of LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is its delightfully unique and entertaining premise. If you’re like us, you grew up building LEGO Star Wars sets and had fun combining pieces that weren’t intended to go together. This may have manifested as attaching one character’s head onto the body of another character or envisioning an entirely distinct setting with characters from multiple eras intersecting. The team behind this Disney+ series beautifully captures the fun of what it was like to exercise your creativity in building LEGO Star Wars sets with a story featuring all sorts of mash-ups and remixes. Some of these mash-ups were revealed in promotional material for the mini-series, but there’s a lot more to them than initially meets the eye (plus there are many mash-ups that have been kept out of promotional material).
Writers and executive producers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit take full advantage of the genius premise at play here. There is a randomness and appropriately chaotic feel to the ways in which the Cornerstone rewrites reality, while also giving fans all sorts of crazy ‘what if’ scenarios they’ve wanted for years (Darth Jar Jar here we come!). But the creative team also gives fans all sorts of ‘what if’ scenarios they didn’t even know they wanted, which allows the mini-series to deliver the perfect combination of fan service and unpredictability.
Special commendation must go to composer Michael Kramer, whose musical score brilliantly fuses together different themes to further convey the various mash-ups and crossovers in the story. A particular highlight of Kramer’s work is the way in which he remixes Rey’s theme with the dark side theme (appropriate, given that Darth Rey is one of the villains in the series).
The story itself unfolds much more like a traditional Star Wars television show than the other LEGO Star Wars specials in recent years. That is, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy follows a more concrete narrative structure and gets less side-tracked with jokes or subplots that overtly affirm the story’s place as existing outside of canon. Much of this has to do with the more focused storytelling here, which enables greater investment in the characters.
This greater investment is particularly commendable given that the leads here are not established characters. Yes, if you can name a Star Wars character, they probably show up in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy in one way or another, but the story remains very much focused on Sig and Jedi Bob. Thankfully, this focus is never at the detriment of wild, reality-bending mash-ups (which, rest assured, the miniseries is full of).
Through clever writing and excellent execution of these various mash-ups, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy excels in its reverence for and willingness to make fun of Star Wars. The opening moments of the first episode sees the lead character Sig recount the Skywalker Saga in a fun montage that embeds all sorts of fun easter eggs and hidden details, while also generating some laughs at Star Wars’ expense. This beginning nicely sets the tone for the four episodes to come, all of which similarly honor and mock Star Wars.
If there’s any complaint to be had about LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, it is that there isn’t enough of it. It is not long after we’re introduced to Sig and the rewritten Star Wars universe that the story resolves after four ~20 minute episodes. The miniseries is unlikely to win over people who did not enjoy the previous LEGO Star Wars specials on Disney+, but, for those that did, there is so much to be had here.
VERDICT: 8/10
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy allows Star Wars fans to experience wild ‘what if’ scenarios like never before. The four-part miniseries beautifully captures what it was like to play with Star Wars LEGOs as a kid and create all sorts of mash-ups and crossovers. It simultaneously honors and makes fun of Star Wars, featuring all sorts of hidden details and easter eggs along the way, coupled with that classic brand of LEGO humor. The story is more structured than recent LEGO Star Wars specials, in part due to its positioning of brand new characters in lead roles. But, ultimately, it is the established characters and stories that make this series so much fun to watch. From Darth Jar Jar to Ewok bounty hunters to rebel AT-ATs to all sorts of surprises not revealed in promotional material, LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy is exactly the sort of reality-bending, universe-altering ‘what if’ story fans have been yearning for.