Tales of the Jedi (2022) – review, opinion about the series [Disney]. Additional context

Have you ever wondered how Ahsoka was discovered by the Jedi Order, or why Qui-Gon Jin’s stubbornness and lack of faith in the advice he shared with his master, Dooku? Maybe it was hard for you to understand how Ahsoka, expelled from the Order, returned to the battlefield as a (more or less) gray Jedi? Take it easy, Dave Filoni’s latest proposal will answer these and several other equally intriguing questions.

I’ll risk saying that Disney does more good than bad with Star Wars. Sure, what is most important, that is the trilogy of sequels, they gave a concert and there is absolutely nothing to defend here. “The Force Awakens” was a mega-safe “the best of” of this world, giving very little of itself. But the potential was there! Then Rian Johnson came and said that Abrams’ mega conservative approach can only be put between your legs and if the series is to be something special, and not just a simple coupon cut, decisive steps are needed. A lot was missing and generally he managed to combine the fandom for a moment into one big organism screaming that they hadn’t seen anything worse in their lives, but … He was right. Perhaps if he got the whole trilogy to do, he would be able to build a suitably interesting and fresh story. He’d probably piss off half the world along the way by telling everyone that the Emperor was actually trying to save the galaxy by uniting it against a bigger enemy or something, but at least it would be interesting. Because the finale of the Rey trilogy was a severe misunderstanding from start to finish.

But both during and before that, other developers worked to rebuild the brand’s quality. Simple but atmospheric “Mandalorian”; by all means sloppy “Boba Fett” doing a springboard for the third season of this first series; an interesting but very imperfect “Rogue One”; unnecessary, but most enjoyable “Han Solo”; recently great announcing “Andor”; the final season of “The Clone Wars” and the equally interesting “Rebels”; later the slightly less successful “Bad Batch”; supposedly very addictive “Visions”; and now another animated proposition – expanding on the events of the Jedi Tales prequel trilogy. Yeah. This is not a bad time to be a fan of the star saga.

Star Wars: Jedi Tales (2022) – series review [Disney]. Maybe unnecessary, but how interesting!

I am one of those people who would always like to know everything about their favorite characters, including the scent of soap they don’t like the most. I love reading trivia, canon-broadening stories, official encyclopedias, and the like. The prequel trilogy, the only one where George Lucas could let his imagination run wild and tell the story of Anakin Skywalker as he wished, had many pros and cons. It was definitely spectacular and had its moments – my little boy likes these episodes the most and it’s hard to be surprised. It is the funniest, most colorful and the most spectacular. Unfortunately, it’s also incredibly full of holes.

Books and comics supplemented the mass of understatements over the years, so today it’s hard to look at the situation objectively, but the fact is that the era of the clone wars is still full of gaps and secrets that beg to be answered. For example, fans have long been turning to get a production focused on the young Qui-Gon, a rebellious champion for whom his own beliefs and moral compass have always been more important than official orders. Well, apparently this was also a plot that Philoni was keen to develop as well, as a good portion of the episodes of today’s show focus on the path that Count Dooku, and thus his Padawan Qui-Gon, had to go through to doubt the Jedi teachings. Now I would like a series that would show me what would have happened if Obi-Wan’s master had not died at the hands of Darth Maul in the first episode. Is this the story necessary for the future of the series? Absolutely not. Would I be like a little child like “What if …”? Does Anakin hate sand?

Star Wars: Jedi Tales (2022) – series review [Disney]. Not optimally used space

The whole series is only six, several minutes long episodes, so the whole series can be watched in no longer than needed to watch one movie. Half of the episodes focus on the aforementioned Dooku and Qui-Gon and they are incredibly interesting. We’ll find out how Dooku reacted to the death of the former Padawan, why the Yoda Jedi woman suddenly disappeared between the first and second episodes. Their episodes allow you to understand the distance of both knights from the teachings of the order and even sympathize with this decision.

The second important element of the plot is Ahsoka, although here it is much less intriguing. I understand that Dave still wants to develop Tano. After all, she is his “baby” and despite viewers ‘original reluctance to her, she eventually became one of the fans’ favorites. However, I would say that its episodes are much more … redundant. The whole series opens with a story in which Ahsoka is born into the world and shows signs of sensitivity to power as a baby. In a longer production, I wouldn’t mind such a cut-scene, but devoting one-sixth of the entire production to a story about a baby and animals seems like an ill-considered decision and an unnecessary waste of airtime. Similarly, in the penultimate episode, we observe her training with clones. This second story is, at least properly epically directed, which makes it enjoyable to watch – and it helps to better understand how Ahsoka is such a cutter when we meet her years later as an adult woman. But we could also easily do without this detail. At the time of the end of the Republic, you could tell a hundred more interesting stories (like how it happened that no one ever discovered Darth Jar-Jar!). Fortunately, the season finale is intriguing both from the larger plot and single story point of view.

In terms of the quality of animation, it is still the same style as in the nearly fifteen-year-old “The Clone Wars”, systematically developed and evolving with each new production by Filoni. The chunks of the figures are still hewn rather rough, paying tribute to Gendy Tartakowski’s original 2D designs, but with each passing year the textures of skin, hair, dirt and other materials are becoming more and more perfect, creating a kind of highly stylized realism. I would say that you will not go much higher with this style, but I do not want to have to back those words in ten years’ time. Again, sword fights are beautiful. Is it a duel from the middle of the series, bearing the distinct features of one of the fights from the prequels, or the final, how Cossack, fast and effective clash between Ahsoka and … someone there. The choreography makes an electrifying impression, showing how far the characters (and creators) of the series have come in this topic.

Jedi Tales is essentially a clog. The production is absolutely redundant, adding nothing more than a few marginal notes to the main canon. But these small developments in an extremely satisfying way expand well-known heroes and give known events a new context. If you combine this fact with eye-catching animation, good acting as always (although I do not fully understand why Dooku speaks like Alan Rickman and not Christopher Lee) and the length of individual episodes, it turns out that “Stories Jedi “are a must-play for all fans. The rest will not lose anything if they give up the screening, although with this length of episodes it would be a shame not to give the series even a chance.