Tails of the Jedi Review
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, launched on Disney Plus with six short episodes, focusing on Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano. This new animated series shepherd by Dave Faloni, the creator of the Clone Wars Animated Series, has provided more depth to the story arcs of Ahsoka and Dooku.
The series takes place before the events of the original Star Wars film, set within the prequel era that is rich with fascinating characters and mythology. Each episode, except for the third, is written by Faloni with such knowledge and attention to detail of knowing the world and language of Star Wars from the inside out.
More than ever before, Ahsoka and Dooku have been given the time to explore the origins of their past. With the end of the Clone Wars Animated Series in 2021, these short stories leapthrough different timelines of these characters, either traveling to the years of novice and mastery within their craft.
The Ahsoka episodes are a journey steeped with familial bonds that are the essence of Star Wars story telling. These episodes aren’t heart pounding adventures, but they enriche the experience of understanding who this character is and where she came from. Ahsoka has become a landmark character for Star Wars, since being introduced in the animated film The Clone Wars (2008), she has cemented herself as one of the most fully realized heroes of the franchise.
Her origin had never been seen nor spoken about in depth before. Dave Faloni, one of the creators of Ahsoka, has given the audience a glimpse of her home world and what her life was like prior to the Jedi academy. It is a rarity in Star Wars to be given the opportunity to peer into the foundation of a major character.
The same treatment is showed to Count Dooku. His story is based in his past choices and ideologies that spurs into the man we see in the main animated series. We get to understand Dooku’s struggle between being loyal to the stern system of rules taught by the Jedi Order, and the new uprising of power that is inching closer by Palpatine.
Respectively, Ahsoka and Dooku’s narratives are layered in discovering the beginnings of what they stand for and why the chose to fight. Because of the episodes’ anthology format, the audience swiftly explores the moments in their journey that are poignant in their philosophies and how they perceive the war. Both characters are marred by grief that is expressed and processed in several ways.
Although this series is brief, its invaluable contribution to the exploration of the world of Star Wars makes this a pleasant viewing experience.