Written by Juanita ‘Obi-Juan’ Bonner  It’s scary season kids and the long-time collab buddies at LEGO, Disney and Star Wars have put together one heck of a spooktacular special for us to enjoy. Written and directed by David Shayne and Ken Cunningham – the same LEGO story extraordinaries who brought us last year’s The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, covered here – take us to Mustafar this time around. The perfect place to give us a main narrative brimming with three Sith tales… from… yep, you guessed it… the Dark Side! DUN, DUN, DUUUUN!! Insert diabolical play on words laughter here… LOL!! So, before you become a “Worry Wampa” (*WINK*), let’s take a peek, shall we? Opening with a small backstory, we see Darth Vader (Matt Sloan) on Mustafar selling the love of his new castle (too funny!!) to Palpatine (Trevor Devall) right before they leave to… um… conquer the galaxy. We all know how that turned out!! LOL! But… do you remember Vaneé (Tony Hale), the Imperial Inspector turned Vader’s personal servant on Mustafar?? It’s okay if you don’t. He’s mostly featured in the Star Wars comics and novels and is briefly shown (Mark Gordon) at Vader’s castle in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Sinister and just plain crazy, Vaneé, or: “Darth Hideous,” as Palpatine calls him… lol, is left to keep an eye on the place. It’s here I feel compelled to say: “Two eyes, as often as I can spare them” (Gandalf the Grey; Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; New Line Cinema; 2001)… LOL!! Sorry… wrong show! Back to the spooky tale at hand… LOL!! As the Sith Lord and his apprentice depart, the scene appropriately fades with Vaneé laughing hysterically followed by scary lightening and the title card. YES!! Many, many years later… The First Order has been destroyed (YAY!!) and we open on a lone flight where Poe Dameron (Jake Green) and BB-8 are pursued by five Tie Fighters who apparently didn’t get the memo after the Battle of Exegol… lol! Together Poe and BB defeat the fighters, but their X-Wing is damaged in the process forcing an emergency landing on Mustafar. With the coms down, the duo goes in search of help and discover a castle under construction. Wait… what?? The First Order Plan B? LOL… no worries. The Sith aren’t hard at work. WHEW!! Instead, we find the gangster Graballa (Dana Snyder), a greedy Hutt (big surprise there!! – LOL!!), overseeing the creation of “Castle Vader – the galaxy’s first all-inclusive Sith inspired luxury theme resort.” Because… Hutts, am I right?? LOL!! We also see numerous B1 Battle Droids from the decades earlier Clone Wars repurposed as slow and dumb construction workers. And there’s lots of little jokes surrounding them throughout. I mean… it’s ALL so totally silly yet plausible… LOL!! Wanting Poe for a celebrity endorsement of the resort (LOL, of course!!), Graballa leads Dameron on a tour where we get to see a Hall of Troopers (VERY COOL) and a malfunctioning Vader robot. It’s here we meet a young wanna be pilot from the mechanical crew named Dean (Raphael Alejandro) who offers to fix the clunky Vaderbot. Realizing Dean could help fix the X-Wing, Graballa sells a reluctant Poe on the endorsement in exchange for the kid’s help. Though, Poe doesn’t trust the Hutt (can you blame him?) and only agrees if the X-Wing gets fixed first. By now, the LEGO jokes and puns are in full swing, or full Force if you’re really feeling the puns… lol!! Plus, Castle Vader is Vegas-like and obviously a poke at the commercialization of Star Wars. Especially Galaxy’s Edge. Because the quick yet hilarious gift shop scene is perfect!! And I’m super happy to report, this ghostly special doesn’t disappoint on references and Easter eggs either. But well beyond all of that, Mustafar serves as the perfect back drop for a Vaneé inspired Star Warsy story! I mean… what a great character to pull from the shadows!! Because of course his devout and dark ways would keep him slinking around Vader’s castle decades later! And true to form, watching the events unfold from the tower, Vaneé believes Poe might be the pilot from an ancient Mustafar Prophecy who is said to show the way to unlocking the secrets of Vader’s Castle. Cue the eerie music and a sinister laugh here… lol!! Back downstairs, just as Poe and Dean begin to leave to repair the X-Wing, Vaneé makes his entrance as the “creepy caretaker” who Graballa irritatingly notes: “came with the place.” DUH… he’s been lurking around all these years waiting for his prophecy to be realized… lol! My mind wanders to an alien real estate agent (LOL!) showing Graballa the castle as Vaneé reluctantly follows… LOL! Ooops, back to the story! Vaneé entices the group with three terrifying tales. Each revealing a dark lesson that only a Sith would entertain. Uh… this can’t be good!! The group, consisting of Poe, Dean and Graballa and his two weird and creepy twin Iktotchi minions, gather round. The first tale is a backstory of how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren (both voiced by Matthew Wood). It’s not exactly like the comic origin, but then again, why should it be?!? Titled The Lost Boy, the story is modeled after a personal favorite – the vampire flick The Lost Boys (Warner Bros.; 1987). NICE!! The title card even mimics the movie title… YES!! And the story hilariously introduces the original Knights along with their master Ren (Christian Slater) in a total Kiefer Sutherland with his vamp crew style and it’s awesome!! Hells yeah!! Jabs at Star Wars, such as Ben’s comment about 20 minutes of training on Dagobah aimed at Luke Skywalker (Eric Bauza) and Han Solo (A.J. LoCascio) clearly mocking The Rise of Skywalker by making note of dream sequences, are just fantastically whimsical!! But mixing them with scenes from The Lost Boys like holding on to the train rails and a shirtless Bith playing the saxophone make it even better!! By the end, Kylo Ren is born and I’m laughing my ass off!! Interesting!! I never really imagined that tear filled humor could accompany Kylo’s turn to the Dark Side… and yet… LOL!! The Sith lesson: “There is much to be taken by those unafraid to take it.”  Reaching an open chamber in the castle, Vaneé reveals the prophecy as a means of pushing Poe to open a locked door that leads to Sith artifacts. Poe plays along with the intent of stopping Graballa from getting his greedy hands on the artifacts. With Dean’s help, the door is released, and the group make their way through the large corridors to an Ancient Light Saber Repository. WHOA!! Amongst the blades is the Saber of Scardont. Huh, this is new!! And apparently, this Saber is so powerful that anyone who tries to wield it will be driven mad. YIKES!! It also leads Vaneé to tell the next Sith story – how the Saber was recovered. Entitled The Dueling Monstrosities, this anecdote pays homage to Frankenstein (Universal Pictures; 1931) in both the title card and by featuring a duel between two famous monsters in the Star Wars Universe – General Grievous (Matthew Wood) and Darth Maul (Sam Witwer). Both of which are amalgamations of their former selves mixed with animatronic technology making them an excellent avenue for another Sith lesson to be revealed. Insert more sinister laughter here… LOL!! Maul’s mad scientist creators – The Night Sisters (too cool!!) – are shown with ample jokes surrounding the different types of legs used to replace Maul’s bottom half. My favorite being the legs of a Probe Droid…HAHAHA!! Family Guy Star Wars (Fox; 2007) pops in my head… LOL!! We also get a small look at the Lair of Grievous and the medical droid who plays his own form of Dr. Frankenstein with Grievous before he’s summoned by Palpatine to retrieve the Saber of Scardont. This exchange is overheard by Maul who presents himself to Palpatine afterwards. The whole thing is crammed full of quips and puns, but the Grievous, or should I say, “General Wheezius” (LOL!!) versus Maul trash talk during their fight is even better. And Palpatine’s whistle at the end of this storyline might very well be my favorite thing in the whole show!! Apart from Vaneé continually referring to himself in third person. Because… nooo… that’s not crazy at all!! Back in the castle, the Scardont Saber, broken by the grubby hands of Graballa, is repaired with Dean’s mechanical skills during Vaneé’s narration. Dean interrupts the end of the tale as he turns on the newly fixed Saber. He is then immediately taken into a trance like state. Sheesh, I guess Vaneé wasn’t kidding about the Saber controlling people. Hopefully Dean won’t try to wield it like Maul and Grievous! The Sith Lesson: “Power comes not from serving others, but from serving yourself.”  Still in a trance, Vaneé instructs Dean to let the Scardont Saber guide him. This steers him to open another passage that leads even deeper into the castle. Vaneé remarks to his droid NI-L8 (and yes, in third person… LOL!!) that he may have chosen the wrong pilot. Yeah… I guess so!! Obviously, Dean is Force sensitive!! No wonder Poe needed Dean’s help to open that last door, eh!! As the group enters the large room, they see piles of artifacts and Vaneé explains that they’ve reached the First Temple of Mustafar. WHOA! The throne looks quite similar to Palpatine’s on Exegol. YIKES!! Graballa wastes no time telling his twin minions to load up with artifacts. He also hastily grabs the Scardont Saber from Dean shaking him loose of its hold. WHEW!! Simultaneously, Poe tries to reason with Graballa on the potential dangers of the Sith artifacts. Dean sadly wanders off only to discover a Sith Holocron calling to him from a hole in the castle wall. NICE!! Super strong Star Wars Rebels vibes here!! Frothing with excitement, Vaneé says the Holocron has the power to make dreams come true. When Graballa says nothing has the power to grant wishes, Dean says: “A Wookie’s Paw can…” leading us to our third and final featured narrative titled… you guessed it… The Wookie’s Paw. Another excellent play on words, titles and tales, The Wookie’s Paw is adapted from the short story by W. W. Jacobs entitled The Monkey’s Paw. First published in 1902, multiple adaptations, variations and parodies exist making it a very fitting choice here! Additionally, the title card and Vaneé’s Rod Serling-like narration are an excellent nod to the TV classic The Twilight Zone (CBS; 1959) and I LOVED IT!! But the best part is the story itself. Picking up in Tatooine, a young Luke Skywalker is offered the paw by none other than Watto, the slimy junk dealer and slave trader. Anxious to leave the moisture farm and become a pilot, Luke wishes he was off Tatooine and is immediately approached by a recruiter for The Imperial Academy. WOW!! Robot Chicken Star Wars (Adult Swim; 2007) thoughts anyone… LOL?!?! And just like that, down the line of wishes, Luke advances through the ranks, including training with Vader, to become the most powerful pilot in the galaxy. The Easter eggs, references and jokes really excel here with some of my favorites including Luke carrying Vader on his back during training (like Yoda) and Vader giving Luke a kiss on the cheek for luck (like Leia)… HAHAHA! And I absolutely love that the story of the first Death Star explosion still ends with Luke, but in a whole different way. Plus, all the things surrounding Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) are fantastic as well. Bravo on several levels here!! The Sith lesson: “This Holocron will grant whatever you desire.”  Returning to our group in the castle, Poe tries to stop Dean, but under Vaneé’s direction, Dean opens the Holocron. Realizing his dreams have come true, Vaneé seizes the Holocron and uses its power to pair together Sith artifacts into a giant mechanical body. Ooooo, very Transformers-like (Claster Television; 1984). As the pieces come together, both literally and figuratively, it’s spectacular to watch the group come to the realization that the stories and lessons were all for Vaneé. Though, with what I assume is a fitting tip of the hat to R2-D2, BB-8 knew the whole time… LOL!! AND… as if all the fun in the three tales isn’t enough, NI-L8 (as in an-ni-hi-late!) activates a beacon turning all the B1 Battle Droids into zombie-like drones with red eyes and a wobbly march complete with a slower “roger, roger,” played like a stretched-out recording. It’s ZOMBIRIFIC!! But one of my favorite scenes comes in the form of a tribute to The Shining (Warner Bros.; 1980) when Graballa is hiding behind a wooden door that’s cracked through with an axe to reveal a droid saying: “Heeeere’s B1496-1138,” (HAHAHA!!) before he’s toppled by Graballa’s minions. Who themselves, sometimes resemble the actions of the twins also seen in The Shining… YIKES!!
From there, chaos ensues until the end, where of course, Poe and Dean defeat Vaneé by using the TRUE lessons of the show. That everyone gets scared and that you can’t control fear. BUT… “you CAN choose what to do with it.” Because without it, you can’t have courage. YAY!! Now that sounds a lot more like Star Wars lessons to me… lol!! Not to mention the inclusion of some excellent AT-ST and AT-AT action all while the jokes and references continue to dazzle. The final battle ends with Vaneé being knocked into the lava river in a Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (New Line Cinema; 2003) Gollum death kind of way… LOL!! Perfect!! When all is said and done, Graballa, scared off by Poe, packs up and decides to open a bed and breakfast (LOL!). Dean decides to leave with Poe to become a true pilot and hopefully learn how to hone his Force sensitive skills. AWWW YES!! Finally – closing in true terrifying tale fashion – the final scene shows the sliced top half of NI-L8 pull her way out of the lava river (Anakin anyone??) spouting how she failed her master. Suddenly, a hand reaches up from the glowing magma all Carrie-like (United Artists; 1976) and grabs NI-L8’s arm. The End!! Cue the lightning… NICE!! WOW… what a fun and spooky adventure!! Jam packed with faboolous (*WINK*) Star Wars AND horror genre Easter eggs, I LOVED IT and I hope you do too!! Happy Halloween kids and May the Force be With You… Always!
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