Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (2022) TV Show Review

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. Last night I watched the animated mini-series, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi on Disney+ and I'm gonna review it today. There will be some spoilers simply because there are story points and character stuff that I need to talk about, so if you haven't watched the series yet, and plan on doing so, please be aware that there WILL be spoilers in this review. Also, before I get into the review, I did start to watch Power Rangers Turbo on Monday night, but the first five episodes were rough to get through, so I'm taking a break from Power Rangers until the New Year so I can focus on other reviews, such as this one, and so I can watch some other shows like Andor (2022-) and season 1 of Stargirl (2020-2023). And yes, some more comic book reviews will be thrown into the mix as well. So without further ado, let's get into Tales of the Jedi!

Tales of the Jedi is a six episode anthology mini-series produced by Lucasfilm Animation and created by Dave Filoni, who also created Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020), Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018), and The Bad Batch (2021-). Like those shows it's an animated series, and it focuses on two key characters from the movies and the other shows, Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano, who was created by Filoni back in 2008 to be Anakin's Padawan in The Clone Wars. Ahsoka's stories happen in episodes 1, 5, and 6, and Dooku's take place in episodes 2, 3, and 4. And I have to be honest, I enjoyed the Dooku episodes more than I did the Ahsoka episodes. Simply because there's so much with Ahsoka right now since she's been on The Mandalorian (2019-), and The Book of Boba Fett (2022), as well as her own series, Ahsoka, which is set to debut sometime in 2023. And because I haven't seen The Clone Wars past the second season and I haven't seen Rebels beyond the first season, the character just doesn't interest me as much as she might've had I seen both shows all the way through. Plus, there was so much about Dooku that we didn't get in Attack of the Clones when that came out twenty years ago, and even at the time the novels being published around the release of Episode II didn't delve too much into Dooku's past.

I know there's an audiobook called Dooku: Jedi Lost that gives details on his past, as well as his time as Yoda's apprentice, but it doesn't show Dooku's final turn to the Dark Side, or instances where his faith in the Jedi Order and the Republic are shaken. Which is where his three episodes come in. I also appreciate that it actually shows the corruption in the Senate as well as in the Jedi Council with characters like Mace Windu, the senator of the planet that Dooku goes to in Episode 2 with his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, and the senator of Raxus Secundus, the planet he goes to with Mace Windu in Episode 3. Throughout the Prequel Trilogy we'd heard about how corrupt the Republic was, but, aside from Palpatine and his minions, we never got to see it on a smaller planetary level. Even in the Expanded Universe/Legends novels coming out in the 2000s.

The Ahsoka episodes are fine. I don't hate them. I just found the Dooku episodes to have something more to them. The Ahsoka episodes feel like a combination of material that couldn't be used in The Clone Wars and Rebels, and stuff Filoni's setting up for Ahsoka. Which is fine, I mean Lucasfilm has been trying to make Star Wars a much more cohesive franchise since The New Jedi Order started publication back in 1999, especially because the prequels were coming out around that time. So I'm okay with Star Wars being more interconnected than it was before.

I was talking to a friend of mine last night after I finished the show, and he was telling me how Ahsoka feels like the Batman of the Star Wars Universe these days. I'm not sure I would go that far, but I do agree that Lucasfilm is marketing her much harder than they did back when the character first appeared in The Clone Wars back in 2008. 

My favourite episode was episode 4, "The Sith Lord". It takes place during the end of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), and not only was it a good companion to the end of the movie, but it was a great progression from episodes 2 and 3. In the previous two episodes we'd seen Dooku go through things that really made him re-evaluate his opinion about the Jedi Order and it's role in the Republic. But the Council not taking Qui-Gon's Sith theory and then his subsequent death was the breaking point for Dooku. By the way that was basically how it was in Legends too, but this show not only made that element canon again, but it also made things a bit clearer than it had been previously. Plus the Lightsaber duel between Yaddle and Dooku was pretty great. Speaking of Yaddle, I don't know anything about the character, because, aside from being in the council chamber in The Phantom Menace, she didn't appear much in Legends, and never showed up in the movies again. So I liked that she got a little bit of a spotlight in this episode. 

I will say that one thing I appreciated about Ahsoka's episodes is that it finally filled in the blanks as to how she survived Order 66 in terms of the whole getting killed by Clone Troopers versus not getting killed by Clone Troopers thing. Because, don't forget The Clone Wars originally went off the air in 2013, only returning for a sixth season on Netflix in 2014 before Rebels started that same year. So Ahsoka shows up in Rebels without much info about how she survived Order 66. It wasn't until season 7 of The Clone Wars, which came out in 2020, that we saw Ahsoka escaping Order 66. Here, we just see her practicing a Lightsaber technique that Anakin taught her and that she practiced throughout her training with him. 

Overall this was a great series. I have no interest in the other animated Star Wars anthology series, Star Wars: Visions, but this was great. I do wish that more characters could've been the focus of the show, because if you're not a fan of either Count Dooku or Ahsoka Tano, this series isn't going to be for you. Not to mention there are plenty of Jedi from the Prequel/Clone Wars era that could be followed, so maybe it'll end up getting a second season? Doubtful, but anything is possible. I do think Ahsoka was chosen because not only did Filoni create her and he created this show, but the live action series is coming out next year so this was kind of a last opportunity to do anything with Ahsoka before that series starts coming out. And Dooku was just a very pleasant surprise. I recommend watching this show if you're a Star Wars fan and haven't seen it yet.

Alright my friends that's gonna be it for me for today. I'll be back soon, probably tomorrow, with another review. Not sure of what yet, but it'll be something. Until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.