In honor of May the Fourth, this review of “Maul: Shadow Lord” digs into the dark world of Darth Maul. Set in 18 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), “Maul: Shadow Lord” focuses solely on Darth Maul, an adept and feared Sith in the Star Wars universe.
Released April 6, “Maul: Shadow Lord” is the first character-based show in animation compared to the other five shows created in live action and based around a villain, Darth Maul, who only shows up a couple of times in the Star Wars franchise. His first appearance came in “The Phantom Menace.” While short-lived, he returns to the “Clone Wars” series on and off.
Maul is introduced as a Zabrak from Dathomir and a powerful Sith Lord, having been trained in the ways of the dark side of the Force as Darth Sidious’s first apprentice.
He also killed Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn during the Battle of Naboo before being cut in half by Qui-Gon’s Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. While being thought to be dead, he makes his return in the animated “Clone Wars” series in season 4 episode 21 called “Brothers.”
So far, Maul has a rating of 8.5/10, being rated third out of six total character-based shows. It’s doing really well compared to other character-based shows, with Obi-Wan at 7/10 and The Mandalorian at 8.6/10. The difference with Maul being that this is the first that isn’t live action, unlike the others, which were live actions.
“It’s closer, it’s kinda like a clone wars arc. More related to the clone wars rather than the single off shows,” said OH senior Brandon Czerwinski. Because of its storyline and animation, this makes the series more of a spin-off of the “Clone Wars” rather than focusing on one character like some of Disney’s other shows.
Expanding the character list in a Star Wars show means that true fans will see many different rivalries and also friendships that they’ve seen before. Maul is known to have beef with Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, meaning that fans will be drawn into the show even more when they see past events come up again.
OH senior William Wilkins-Jones said, “I think it has potential to be great, but to make it better, like throw in other characters.” Having a wider character base gives the story more depth and can change many aspects of the show. Putting more characters gives the author more opportunities to have lots of different events throughout different parts of the show.
There has been little talk about whether the show would be better as animated or a live-action, but according to stats, the live-action one-character-based shows or movies do better, and also, would the older generation of Star Wars fans like the animated Maul or possibly do live action like in his first appearance in “Phantom Menace?”
When asked about more shows like this, Czerwinski said, “Yes, but this one specifically is the vision of the voice actor of Maul, so it’s what he wants to do.” This means that the actor who voices Maul had a lot of his ideas put into this show rather than being told to do one thing. This changes the show a lot because the main actor got to put forth a lot of his own ideas, which is very rare in the entertainment community.
All in all, Maul is looking like a really good show, but only time will tell what fans really think of it. We will also see if Disney keeps making the show or if they stop after one season, like many others. May the Fourth be with you all.
My name is Gavin Baker, I'm a senior at OHS and this is my first year as a Journalist. I enjoy playing racing games, playing airsoft and racing my Traxxas RC car. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org.
Hello my name is Jydun Browder I am a senior at Oswego high school. This will be my first year on the 42fifty staff. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
