New shows pop up on Disney+ all the time, but it’s rarer for something to show up with little in the way of fanfare, let alone a new Star Wars series. But while Galaxy of Sounds might not exactly be The Book of Boba Fett, it’s a lovely, weird little celebration of just how cool Star Wars sounds. And full of Skywalker-approved sand ASMR.
Released on the streamer today unannounced — sandwiched between last week’s Star Wars Visions and this week’s Lego Star Wars Terrifying Tales — the eight-episode miniseries is similar to the previously released Biomes and Vehicle Flythrough series dropped on “May the Fourth this year.” With no dialogue, and made up of edited footage from the saga’s live-action projects, the focus is on, well, the sound. There are different “themes” for each episode — nebulous ideas like “wonder,” “excitement,” the light side and the dark, but honestly aside from “this one has more lightsaber noises instead of blaster noises” they all kind of blur into one another, perhaps intentionally.
What’s more wondrous than exciting about the sound of the Millennium Falcon flying towards Maz’s Castle in The Force Awakens than Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter undocking from its hyperspace ring in Attack of the Clones? “Connections” might be the most fascinatingly weird one of all, as it’s essentially the sound of various Star Wars characters hugging or gesturing at each other, the dialogue and music tracks removed. Peculiar yes, but as odd as the idea of official Star Wars ASMR is, Galaxy of Sounds is an oddly-endearing celebration of Skywalker Sound, the way all these little clicks, whistles, beeps, and blaster bolts all come together to create that ephemeral feel of the galaxy far, far away.
It’s Ben Burtt’s legacy writ large, from the explosive crackle of a lightsaber’s ignition (and its unearthly hiss and hum as it burns in the air) to the primal gurgles and chirrups of everything from Grogu to Porgs. There’s no John Williams to be found here and yet, still, there’s that latent buzz of hearing the very noise that makes Star Wars feel the way it does, sounds that, regardless of how isolated in context they become, trigger a recognition that makes them as vital to that Star Wars universe as the aesthetics, themes, and characters are.
Plus, some days you just really want to hear the oddly satisfying bounce noise those giant Gungan EMP balls make rolling about in The Phantom Menace. Good Star War, that. Star Wars: Galaxy of Sounds is now streaming on Disney+.