LEGO Hero Factory: Rise of the Rookies is a four-part miniseries introducing the newest characters to come out of the LEGO think tank, Hero Factory. The creative team behind the hit line, Bionicles, has abandoned the older series of toys and started up a new one with a very similar look and feel, just with a different story and a brand new set of characters. With that new line of toys came four episodes put together here in a 1.5 hour movie that not only introduces the new heroes and enemies, but a whole new world as well.

Taking place in the distant future, robotic life is in abundance, and it is kept safe by a line of robots produced at the Hero Factory. At the top of the hero list is Alpha Squad, and at the start of the mini-series, they are helping to train a new set of rookies.

Alpha Squad is lead by Stormer (John Schneider) with his team consisting of Bulk (Christopher B. Duncan) and Stringer (Stephen Stanton), while the rookie team contains Breez (Jean Louisa Kelly), Surge (Bryton James) and their de facto leader Furno (Eric Christian Olsen). Throughout the story, the younger heroes will learn a lot from their mentors and eventually rise to the status of a full hero squad. Unfortunately for the rookies, the path won't be easy.

First, they will have to face off against a few lowly enemies like Corroder (Charles Adler), Rotor (Joel Swetow) and Xplode (Jeff Bennett), but others like the Meltdown (also portrayed by Swetow) enter the arena and cause some serious harm. Corroder shoots out acidic liquids, while Rotor has the ability to fly and Xplode is armed to the teeth with projectile weapons. Meltdown, on the other hand, seems to deal the most damage when he infects Stormer with nanites that cause him to turn on the entire Hero Factory.

All of this is buildup to the main enemy behind all of the goons, a former Hero Squad member named Von Nebula (voiced by Mark Hamill, of course). Von Nebula's dark powers allow him to create a black hole over a city that praises Stormer, his former partner, for a heroic deed done many years ago. It is during this time when Von Nebula has the upper hand of Alpha Squad that the rookies really step up and earn their right to be called heroes.

The only extra feature in LEGO Hero Factory: Rise of the Rookies is a short film featuring the LEGO Atlantis line where the crew of the underwater vessel Neptune search the seas for the lost city of Atlantis and face several perils guarding the ancient secret. I enjoyed this extra animated short quite a bit and found it to be a nice addition to what would otherwise have been a special feature-free DVD.

Kids who love Bionicle and are starting to get into Lego Factory are the main target audience for this DVD. If you don't happen to have a kid in your house that is that big on the new toy line, then a rental might be all that's necessary, but there are sure to be quite a few that will want make this DVD one of the ones they watch all the time.