By Andrew Martinez
Correspondent
“Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi,” which was released on Disney + on Oct. 26, has received an uproar of approval and has left many fans wanting more from the six-episode anthology series.
When Disney first announced this series was coming to their platform during Star Wars Celebration back in May, I was intrigued and very excited to see what they could do with the series. Having seen director and writer Dave Filoni’s incredible work with the hit animated “Clone Wars” series, “Star Wars Rebels,” and his work on both seasons of “The Mandalorian,” I had high expectations going into it. Needless to say, Filoni and the team at Lucasfilm Animation indeed delivered and once again gave me some of the best Star Wars content I’ve seen since Disney acquired the franchise.
The series follows the story of two Jedi: Ahsoka Tano, voiced by Ashely Eickstien, and Jedi Master Dooku (Corey Burton). We are greeted with many familiar faces and voices, such as Liam Nesson returning to his role as Qui-Gon Jinn and Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker.
The first episode with Dooku covers a mission with his padawan Qui-Gon Jinn as they search to find the kidnappers of the son of a senator. As they investigate, they discover the kidnappers are in fact citizens of the Senator and are suffering due to him ruling with his own best interests at the expense of them, letting their village rot without precious resources. The Jedi sides with the villagers and attempts to kill the senator for his crimes against his own people, but is stopped by his padawan, Qui-Gon. As the episodes progress, Dooku’s views toward the Jedi order start to become more apparent and lead to a well-executed character arc.
Seeing the hypocrisy of the Jedi and a new perspective on how they’ve lost their way was really refreshing. It paints the Jedi order at this time in a way that we haven’t seen before in the other movies and makes the character that much more compelling. The “Star Wars” prequels never really covered Dooku’s ideas on the order being corrupt and why he left. Seeing him fleshed out in “Tales of the Jedi” completely elevates not just the prequels, but the entire “Star Wars” story for me.
From the fight scenes to simple shots of planets that just make you say “wow,” audiences are left mesmerized by the awe-inspiring visuals and how far animation has come in “Star Wars” since the debut of “The Clone Wars” movie back in 2008.
While Dooku’s episodes were much stronger, the Ahsoka ones were also very well put together. Especially episode five’s “Practice Makes Perfect” as one of my favorite episodes in the series with a neat tie-in with the final season of “Clone Wars” that fans will definitely love.
However, the series wasn’t perfect. For instance, while I loved the sixth episode, “Resolve,” I was a little disappointed with the retcon of the Ahsoka novel by E.K Johnston. It was one of my favorite “Star Wars” novels I’ve read, so discrediting essentially the entire thing and erasing characters from it, no longer deeming it canon to the overall story, was a bit of a downer for me. Though, that did not spoil my enjoyment of the episode. And for viewers that have never read the novel, it certainly won’t take away from their experience.
While these episodes are very short, spanning 10-15 minutes on average, it certainly doesn’t feel like that when you’re watching and they really make the most of it. Seeing the amount of compelling storytelling they were able to achieve in such little run time, I can only imagine what Lucasfilm could do with even more, or other beloved characters that could give some amazing stories, especially with that outstanding animation.
“Tales of the Jedi” is proof that animation can bring the best out of “Star Wars” and deserves much more recognition from the casual audience. It's safe to say that, as long as people like Filoni are still involved in upcoming projects or in creative control, the future of “Star Wars” media is looking very bright.
