Punkrobot’s story of Force-sensitive sisters delivers action and emotion.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 is here! New episodes of the anthology series are now streaming on Disney+, featuring original shorts from some of the world’s best animation studios. In Visions Revisited, StarWars.com picks the greatest moments from each short.
Spoiler warning: This article discusses story details from the Star Wars: Visions episode “In the Stars."
Hope and family are constant themes in Star Wars, and Punkrobot’s Star Wars: Visions short, “In the Stars,” is a beautiful exploration of those motifs. The story follows two orphaned sisters, Koten and Tichina, who have seen the Empire pillage their planet and destroy their people, including their mother. While Koten has grown somewhat cynical, the younger Tichina still believes they can win, and finally challenges their occupiers. Directed by Gabriel Osorio Vargas, “In the Stars” was created with gorgeous stop-motion animation, and pulls at the heartstrings with a layered script. Here are five highlights from “In the Stars,” now streaming on Disney+.
1. Meeting Tichina.
There’s no dialogue in the introduction to Tichina, but we still learn so much about her. Her heart clearly breaks as the world around her continues to die, but when a TIE screams toward her, Tichina doesn’t run. She stands her ground, seemingly attempting to stop the ship through the power of the Force. The sequence shows that she’s a good soul and someone to root for.
2. “Mom became a star.”
Tichina’s retelling of her planet’s tragedy is both visually stunning and emotionally sobering. The young girl’s inner strength and sense of a continued connection to her mother make the biggest impact, however.
3. Escape from the Imperial facility.
As the sisters run through the Imperial water facility, they prove to be formidable, acrobatic fighters, and the exciting sequence makes great use of factory design, as they climb gears, scale pipes, and ride on conveyers. And it looks fantastic thanks to Punkrobot's inventive 3D animation, made to look like stop motion while incorporating actual model sets.
4. The AT-ST falls.
This is the moment of “In the Stars.” The sisters stand together, reaching out through the Force to bring down a water tower and topple an AT-ST — possibly the very one that killed their mother. It’s a powerful scene, as Tichina and Koten find justice for their people, fulfill their potential, and end the Imperial occupation with the very resource that was stolen from them.
5. “We will never be alone.”
This beautiful final scene finds Tichina and Koten back on the shores of their island, but now the sun shines and the flowers begin to grow; the handprints of their people glow along the rocks, and their mother’s star sparkles above. The sisters and those they lost have all found peace, and it’s a moving statement on another Star Wars theme — that the ones we love are always with us.
