Running low on funds, the Ace’s talk Captain Doza into letting them travel to a casino to try to win a race in, The Voxx Vortex 5000.
This article contains plot points from Star Wars Resistance The Voxx Vortex 5000.
After last week’s satisfyingly big step forward, Star Wars Resistance took another frustrating stumble back. Halfway through season two and now there’s a racing episode. Why? Because they’re still low on money and need to find a way to recoup their finances. They have no problem finding a casino to race at which is run by another sketchy Hutt by the name of Vranki the blue, but still cannot or will not find a resistance ally to join up with. Star Wars Resistance is consistently inconsistent, and it’s becoming a chore.
Story First
One of the issues with Star Wars Resistance is that it has too many characters to showcase appropriately, and with only two seasons, there’s no way each one will get its chance to shine. Exploring a resource like Griff Halloran, an ex-imperial pilot, should be a no-brainer. There is advice he could give Tam on what’s likely to happen to her if she decides to stay with the First Order. Like Venisa said to Tam in Rendezvous Point, the First Order doesn’t care about Tam’s goal of being a pilot, and Griff could vouch for that. Griff even admits this is why they lost the war. The Lucasfilm Story Group is all about using ideas that are absolutely essential to the story. Using the experience of an ex-imperial pilot would make complete sense in this situation. Moreso than introducing another character (Vranki) that won’t be seen again and wasn’t necessary in the first place.
There is still hope that this season of Resistance will plot its course and find its way. The potential is there. The better episodes are so good, but for some reason, Star Wars Resistance just can’t keep the momentum going, nor can it seem to remember what happened in previous episodes. After narrowly escaping the First Order, two members of the Ace’s (Hype and Bo) are play-wrestling out of boredom, and the solution to that and to earn some financial help is to find a race to win. Okay, but what about Venisa Doza? Instead of overlooking Venisa’s involvement and going in a completely unrelated direction, why not make that a story arc? Find Venisa, try to get a signal back to General Organa, or at least Poe Dameron. Do something!
Getting to Know Hype Fazon
The upside of The Voxx Vortex 5000 is that it focused on a secondary character, Hype Fazon, and now more is known about a background character. It’s now known that Hype used to race for a casino boss named Vranki the Blue and that he had a rocky relationship with Tam that didn’t end well. In fact, the aforementioned “ship” could’ve been used in getting Tam back to the Colossus. If Hype is willing to help Tam, that would give his character a deeper level of maturity, and it would show Tam that even Hype wants her back.
Star Wars Resistance is like that professional sports franchise that overachieved in its debut season, and now there’s pressure to prove that wasn’t a fluke, hence the sharp criticism. The kid-friendly content was accepted because that’s how it was promoted, and that’s what was created. The Clone Wars and Rebels were supposedly for kids but clearly had adult themes, which drew some ire from fans because of its identity crisis. But the drawbacks of last season could be overlooked because it was the first season, and the target age-range was explicitly stated, but once it incorporated more adult elements of the films, there was no going back. But it has. It’s like the Hosnian Cataclysm never happened.
The Ace’s
For all of its story-related miscues, The Voxx Vortex 5000 featured what the strong suit of Resistance is, and that is the racing element. It’s the one part of the series that brings everyone together. Once Doza, Yeager, Kaz, and the rest of the Ace’s arrive at Vranki’s Hotel and Casino, it’s immediately noticeable that there’s no one there except a couple of Kowankian monkey-lizards bus-boys and one patron playing a slot machine. Vranki says things have been slow, but how does he maintain the business if everyone is going to Canto Bite instead? Also, it would’ve been fun if Vranki name-dropped Could City as well. Why not?
On the official Star Wars website, Pablo Hildago says he was given the name Vranki the Blue because he wanted to differentiate himself from criminal stereotype Hutt’s are known for. Well, if his name differentiates him, his personality certainly doesn’t. Vranki pulled every sneaky move he could to prevent the Ace’s from winning the bet. Vranki is just as crooked and corrupt as his Hutt counterparts. Vranki is more like Ziro the Hutt than Jabba or Gardulla, he’s not as intimidating or cutthroat. By the end of the episode, Vranki actually pays up which is highly unusual for a Hutt. It would’ve been fun if a couple of Muun’s from the InterGalactic Banking Clan were there. Anything to make The Voxx Vortex 5000 more interesting, although Vranki’s racer’s looked like modified Droid starfighters.
Conclusion
The Voss Vortex 5000 was entertaining in and of itself. How the Ace’s were going to win the race and earn the money they came for was engaging enough. However, in the overall scope of Star Wars Resistance, it appears to be another episode in an increasingly long line of episodes filed under, “No Direction Home”. There’s a quote by George Harrison that goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Sooner or later, that road will end.
Once upon a time in a town no one’s heard of, there lived a boy who enjoyed Star Wars from the quiet of his bedroom. A time came when a new comlink allowed the boy to hear that there are others like him. Overjoyed, the boy wanted nothing more than to join in the conversation. So he did. The rest is HIStory. Besides Star Wars I also enjoy Marvel and Game of Thrones (I dabble in all sorts of geeky fun). You can find me on the couch watching one of several streaming services, reading or writing. Let’s go, Bruins!