Disney Plus’s original series, Star Wars Visions, Season 2 Episode 4, “I Am Your Mother,” explores the story of the Twi’lek racer Annisoukaline (Anni) Kalfus (Charithra Chandran) and her mother, Kalina Kalfus (Maxine Peake). Both are involved in the New Republic’s annual family race day, headed by Wedge Antilles (Denis Lawson). However, Anni and Kalina’s biggest race rivals are Dorata Van Reeples (Daisy Haggard) and her daughter, Julan Van Reeples (Bebe Cave). Both Dorata and Julan seemingly have past connections with the fallen Galactic Empire, as seen with Dorota’s attire, ship, and her ship’s mini Death Star-shaped ship gun.
The short episode begins with Wedge Antilles announcing the annual family race day. The race serves as the New Republic’s end-of-the-year family race of the Hanna City Flight Academy on Chandrila to celebrate the pilot trainees and their families. As a pilot trainee, Anni is expected to join the race with her mother but refuses to do so because of her embarrassment for her mother. Despite this, Kalina arrives in time with her spacetug ship for the race, much to Anni’s disappointment.
The race begins on an exciting note. During the race, there were a lot of struggles because of the Van Reeples’ use of dirty tactics to push the other racers out of the race. Another conflict was Anni being embarrassed by her mother because they live in a spacetug ship, owning a barely functioning droid called Z-1, and Kalina’s “embarrassing” behavior. These factors caused Anni to be mocked by some of her peers, specifically Julan. Despite Anni’s beliefs, Kalina and her daughter bond and improve their relationship when they work together to win the race. At the end of the race, Anni apologizes to her mother, and the short episode ends with both mother and daughter hugging as they celebrate their victory.
Star Wars Celebration LIVE! 2023 – Day 4
Director Magdalena Osinska and those involved with the episode “I Am Your Mother” in British studio Aardman Animations Limited did an excellent job creating a Star Wars story of a mother and a daughter working together to win a race. During the Star Wars Celebration LIVE! 2023 – Day 4 event, Director Osinska explained how she and her team were inspired to create a Star Wars story that involve familial relationships. The inspiration came from the relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker: father and son. However, Director Osinska and her team wanted to create a positive short episode and turn it into a love letter to all mothers. The reason is that they believe some young people don’t appreciate their parents and the sacrifice they make for them. In other words, parents are overlooked heroes by their children.
Director Osinska also explained the production process of the short episode. She explained that she and her team had fun “designing the perfect balance between Aardman and Star Wars and my style” before moving into puppet-making and using stop-motion elements to make the short episode. Since the Star Wars Original Trilogy used stop-motion in the past, Director Osinska compared the work to do stop-motion film again with Star Wars as a perfect marriage between Star Wars and Aardman Animations Limited. Overall, Director Osinska and her Aardman Animations Limited team did well in making their Star Wars Visions story “I Am Your Mother” with small puppets and stop-motion to bring their family story to life.
The New Republic
The story takes place during the New Republic Era. It is a time that takes place during and after the fall of the Galactic Empire. The New Republic replaces the Galactic Empire as the new power leading the Known Galaxy and its various world. However, the New Republic faces struggles as the remnants of the Galactic Empire created the First Order in the Unknown Regions and its hidden worlds. The New Republic also face problems in handling conflicts, such as piracy, across the Known Galaxy because of the demilitarization of the New Republic due to the new government’s desire to avoid becoming a military government like the Galactic Empire. Despite this, the New Republic faced corruption like the old Republic, causing some worlds to secretly support the First Order and the New Republic’s later destruction when the Hosnian System was destroyed by the First Order’s superweapon, Starkiller Base.