Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi

[Techwright]

Trailer:

 

 

Couple of things caught my eye:

 

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1.  Looks like we're getting Yaddle in action.  If you're not familiar with the character, Yaddle is the only canon female of Yoda's race to be seen so far in canon material (there may be others in video games and what not, I'm not sure.) Yaddle was originally a puppet in some of the Jedi Council scenes in the Prequel Trilogy, and there were a few writings about her in the now de-canonized books.  One prevalent theory in the last few years is that Yaddle might be Grogu's mom, but we know so little about these characters and the species, including how many there are and where they come from, it's just guessing at this point.

2. If the onscreen text isn't a fake, and it is hard to miss, it looks like we're getting another Inquisitor, this one masked and sounding like he's being voiced by James Arnold Taylor using a variation on his Plo Koon voice.  I'd very much like to learn more of the Inquisitorius: exactly how many, at what point did they go extinct as an order (or if any survived to become part of the First Order), etc.  We'll probably just get a brief summarization of this guy's story, but it is still something.  ALSO:  "And who might you be?" Heh, if she told him she was his boss' first and best pupil, he might not be so cocky.

3. I was not aware that I needed an Ahsoka origin story.  I remain cautiously optimistic, and hope that Dave Filoni is behind it.

4. Dooku sounds very different.  I realize they're portraying a younger version, but in these clips he sounds more like they're imitating Alan Rickman than Christopher Lee.  I'm not even sure at this point if Corey Burton is returning to the animated role.

5. More Qui-Gon Jinn inbound.  I'm here for it!

6. More Anakin, Bael Organa, Mace Windu, and Rex.  This is feeling a bit like "Lost Episodes of Clone Wars".   My only concern is that they're short and only six.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Techwright

[Mr. Vee]

First ep was really unnecessary. Practically counter-productive. And slow even at the 3x speed I wound up at. Rest of it was fine at 2.5x. Interesting story fill-in if not terribly entertaining.

[Techwright]

  On 10/26/2022 at 7:16 PM, Mr. Vee said:

First ep was really unnecessary. Practically counter-productive. And slow even at the 3x speed I wound up at. Rest of it was fine at 2.5x. Interesting story fill-in if not terribly entertaining.

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I agree, mostly, that the first ep was unnecessary.  It was probably created to satisfy the rabid Ahsoka fans who want to wring every drop of her story from Dave Filoni.  That said,  the episode did give us a small taste of Togruta culture, something that has been absent in Star Wars to this date.  As Togruta are supposed to be one of the more populous species, it probably needed to be done, at least the cultural bits.

 

I've just completed episode 4.  It's the best so far by far, though the progression seen in 2, 3 and 4 has been better than I hoped.  I'll do a full comment when done.

[Techwright]

Finished.  Overall,  I thought the time-jump arc of episodes 2, 3, and 4 were the strongest, though episode 6 did cover some desired ground.

 

Episode 1: Life and Death

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Not much to discuss here, except that it added some much needed volume to the Togruta culture, and provided a few tidbits from Ahsoka's life.

• We gained the names of Ahsoka's parents: Nak-il and Pav-ti.
• Her force connection was manifest shortly after her first birthday.
• Her earliest force manifestation was animal control, something for which Ezra Bridger is well-known but which Ahsoka apparently has never used again.  Perhaps that will change in the miniseries Ahsoka.  Or...could this suggest that at least some Jedi have an ebb and flow to force specialization?

As to Togruta culture:

• They take their infants on ceremonial hunts to introduce them to death early, at least, those who follow the "old ways".  Apparently, these hunts are done solo and without someone to aid in carrying the kill or watch their back.  Talk about embracing death... 🙄   I do find it a tad odd to think a 1-year-old would remember the life and death struggle of an animal they'd never previously known. 
• The old ways religion includes the honoring of spirits though Nak-il and Pav-ti seem to indicate there are two different schools of thought in that:  The honoring of animal spirits and the honoring of ancestral spirits.
• They appear to be a matriarchal society, or at least Ahsoka's home village is.  I'm unclear whether "Gantika" is a name or a title for the matriarch.
• Togruta villages seem to be a curious mix of old techniques and new technology.  Their structures appear to be wattle-and-daub with wood shingled roofing, yet they've communication antennae on the top and droids helping in building maintenance.
• Togruta not of the Jedi seem to like multi-colored, multi-patterned clothing.
• And they have pets that appear to be part dog, part panda, and part loth-cat. Curious.

 

Episode 2: Justice

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First off, they got Liam Neeson's son, Micheal Richardson, to voice young Qui-Gon Jinn.  Major cool points for that.

 

• I think this is, so far, the "oldest" story in the visual canon of Star Wars.  We're aware of older stories, such as Yoda training Dooku, but we've never seen them...yet.
• Cory Burton's interpretation of Dooku's younger voice sounds like a curious cross between Christopher Lee and Alan Rickman.  I know wish a young Alan Rickman had actually played a young Dooku.
• I noticed they created a distinct difference of costuming between Count Dooku and Qui-Gon Jinn.  Dooku remains impeccably dressed in finely tailored clothing, while Jinn has a touch of the shabby warrior monk look.
• What's fascinating to me is that Dooku is portrayed not as a hothead who broke from the order, but as a cool, quiet, and calculating type who is slowly falling to the dark side.  Quite a contrast to Vader's fall. 
• Dooku sees the imbalance needing radical correction and acts.  Qui-Gon sees what can radically restore balance and acts.  This actually is Qui-Gon character in action.  He's the one to find and bring Anakin to the Jedi understanding he's the one to bring "balance" to the force.  QGJ just doesn't truly understand what that means.  As Dave Filoni pointed out, everything that fell apart did so because QGJ didn't live to train Anakin, else he probably would have helped train Anakin in balance.
• This story, and the subsequent ones establish just how bad thing became under the Republic in the last days, and that genuine change is needed: both the Jedi and the Senate have become corrupt. Unfortunately, the change that happened only made the Senate worse.
• It's interesting that everything Dooku stood for here, the people, is everything he stood against upon becoming Sith, yet he still wore this as a "mask" when leading the Separatists.
• New droid no model, just a name: "Two Ton".  Kind of like this one.  Hope the model shows up more.
• Not a very deep story, but then its all about Dooku's character development.

 

 

 

Episode 3: Choices

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In which we see Mace Windu was a real jerk even before he had a seat on the Council.  And to think they named a clone "Dogma".

 

• It's fascinating to see that it's Windu here who is lacking in empathy.  Dooku genuinely cared about the fallen Jedi master.  Windu instead humored Dooku, at least until he too began to think something was off.
• They took a page from the old school of villain foreshadowing and gave the lead bad guy heterochromia. As mutations (and mutilations) are a time-honored way to show a twisted soul, it practically screamed "lead villain" as soon as he came on screen, despite being so seemingly helpful.
• Deceased Master Katri was a Mirialan.  Though not mentioned, this makes me wonder if she trained Luminara.  I don't know if it is still canon or not, but at one time it was suggested that due to cultural pressures, Mirialan only trained other Mirialan.  Luminara for example was training Barriss Offee.  (I'm still convinced, years later, that they derived "Barriss Offee" from "barista coffee".)
• They're giving Master Tera Sinube a lot more voiceless screen time in this anthology.  I'm guessing that's to visually reinforce his shocking  cameo in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• Ki-Adi-Mundi leads the funeral here.  I'm not sure, but it seems to suggest he is the ranking Jedi, though with Yoda present, maybe he serves as some sort of chaplain?
• Several familiar faces and profiles in the funeral scene, such as Saesee Tiin and Plo Koon (Dave Filoni's favorite).  There's also two dark-skinned, white-haired human women who look very familiar, but I cannot place them.
• Windu confirming in the last shot, at least to Dooku's mind, that the Jedi are firmly in the Senate's pocket.  He doesn't even bring up the plight of the planet they left after having been informed of it.  He's just unhappy that Dooku's investigation got a Senator killed.

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 4: The Sith Lord

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In which we see that Yaddle is a very different creature from the other member of her species, Yoda.

 

• First off, Bryce Dallas Howard voices Yaddle.  Great choice.  The lady is doing great things in Star Wars.
• Second, Yaddle shows that not all of her species have the backwards speech of Yoda.  This more or less confirms the soft canon of the video game The Old Republic which had some members of Yoda's species talking in a normal voice.  Which now beggars the question: how did Yoda come to this odd way of speaking?  Was he from a different subculture/continent or something? Or does he just do it to drive everyone nuts?
• This episode answers the question raised in the middle Prequel Movie by Kenobi, I think it was:  how did no one know about planet Kamino?  Well for one, it's in an intersecting dwarf galaxy (little known plot fact).  But now we know it was erased from the Jedi archives.  (This still doesn't explain how every navigation system in the galaxy didn't know about.  Sith handwave.)
• The mighty Jedi archives possess the weakest security passcode system in the galaxy: 3 buttons to activate the system, 3 pushes on 5 button to enter a passcode. No two-step authentication, no randomized number key fob, no retinal scan, no fingerprint, palm prints, tentacle prints, blood type, DNA sampling: nada.  It didn't even require a second Jedi to agree to the purge of vital data.
• Kudos for integrating this story into that of The Phantom Menace.  I'd always wondered how Darth Sidious could recover so quickly from the loss of his apprentice Maul, and now we know:  he cares nothing for the Rule of Two and is always grooming at least one extra apprentice to elevate to the number two position as soon as a previous one falls.
• Dooku appears surprised that there was another Sith apprentice.  See the point above.
• Another appearance of librarian Jocasta.  There's a relatively short list of Jedi we don't know the fate of, and I've long wondered if she was the Jedi that finally got Grogu out of the Jedi temple (we've seen others that attempted to protect him and fell).  To that end, a refresher appearance before Grogu reappears in The Mandalorian might be the reminder casual fans need should it be shown that she indeed was the rescuer.  (There's still a few other major names it might have been.)
• Another appearance of the force-connected Great Tree in the Jedi Temple.  I believe the last time it was shown was when Yoda had a vision of a still-friendly Dooku and a host of Jedi gathered round it (season 6 of The Clone Wars, if I recall correctly).
• Qui-Gon Jinn confirmed to be a native of Coruscant.
• The scene with Yaddle tailing Dooku in the skies over Coruscant feels drawn from Blade Runner in music, colors, and world look.
• Here we see how Sidious hooked Dooku.  With Anakin he exploited Anakin's fear of family being hurt.  With Dooku he presents his will as a design to redesign the Galaxy for better balance and order, something that's now bugged Dooku for two episodes and a very long time span.
• The one thing I had a problem with:  Yaddle steps willingly right out in the open to confront a Sith Lord and one who has already stated he's in league with the Sith.  Had she common sense, returned to her ship and called for major Jedi backup, Everything that happens from Prequel Episode 2 and beyond could have never happened.  In a sense, Yaddle's recklessness plunged the galaxy into decades of death and suffering.
• Yaddle survived the toothed door crush.  One wishes to now see what she was like long before this.
• Yaddle's death seals Dooku's fate, just as Windu's death sealed that of Anakin.

 

 

 

Episode 5: Practice Makes Perfect

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Not really much to say about this one.  It's pretty straightforward.  It does give information that Ahsoka was naturally great at fighting, but she really had to earn her elite-level fighting skills which reach their zenith in Clone Wars season 7 and Star Wars: Rebels.

 

• Apparently lightsabers cannot redirect stun blast energy like they do blaster bolts.
• Curiously, Ahsoka is only fighting with one saber until she finally understands her master's desires and digs in for a serious combat round.  Then her second saber comes out.  I'm not sure why this choice was made.  I thought the point was to have her using one saber so the fight remains challenging.
• This explains her lightning-fast deflections on the control table after Order 66 is issued.  I was surprised they didn't show that bit, rather than her entry into the hanger deck.
• Of course it would be Rex with the cheap shot after standing outside the circle the full time.

 

Episode 6: Resolve

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• Tying Ahsoka into the main movies by sneaking her into the funeral scene was a good move.
• Note they faked Padme's pregnancy in the open coffin to maintain the illusion that her child died with her.
• Bail Organa and Mon Mothma present at the funeral.  What surprises me is that they didn't have a cameo from Senator Riyo Chuchi as well.  She was often the fourth member of their little group.
• My man Bail being all whip-smart and realizing the fastest way for a Jedi to reach the river is from the high balcony.
• White w/ Red clone troopers:  This are clone shock troopers of the Coruscant Guard.  Elites.  Not sure why they'd been on back paths sentry duty, but obviously they're there because senators are there.  How they didn't know Bail Organa as a result is just weird.
• It's unclear to me which Inquisitor this is, he's not named, not even in the closed captioning, but this could be a re-imagining of the Sixth Brother, whom Ahsoka was supposed to have slain in the Star Wars comics.  It was the red crystals from his double-bladed weapon that Ahsoka purified to white and used in her new set of lightsabers, seen in Star Wars: Rebels.  If we did just see a reimaging, then this weapon is reforged as Ahsoka's two sabers.
• So now we have at least some idea of what Ahsoka was up to before becoming Fulcrum.

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Liked it, though wouldn't say essential. Feels like Filoni and co doodling in around the edges. Did give a little more scale and scope to Dooku - perhaps what Christopher Lee would have deserved to be acting with.

 

Did love Ahsoka getting her own Spaghetti Western-style badassery music in Ep6, and the almost disdainful way she dealt with the problem.

Hopefully she gets something that good for her own series.

 

If I had a thought...

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Yaddle speaks normally whereas Yoda has that very peculiar speech pattern. Strange.

Then again, when 800 years old I reach, make as much sense, I will not.

Frankly I don't most of the time now...

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

  On 10/27/2022 at 8:35 PM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Liked it, though wouldn't say essential. Feels like Filoni and co doodling in around the edges. Did give a little more scale and scope to Dooku - perhaps what Christopher Lee would have deserved to be acting with.

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Actually, this is what I hope this anthology series will be going forward:  pithy vignettes of Jedi we know of, but know little about, as opposed to the Ahsoka episodes where we knew much about the character.  For example, with season 2, do 3 episodes of the life of Yaddle, and 3 episodes of the life of Quinlan Vos, the Jedi who uses the force to track, and whom we learned in Obi-Wan Kenobi was probably still alive.  Or better yet, if we want another Jedi who fell to the dark side as a contrast to Yaddle, do 3 episodes on The Grand Inquisitor, for whom we know nothing, not even his name, save that he was a temple guard at some point.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Could be fun. BTW, we have an official explanation for why Yoda and Yaddle sound different. Yaddle is roughly 400 years younger, and Yoda never bothered to learn modern Galactic Basic. So he's speaking the equivalent of Chaucer-era English...

 

...not, in any way, that it's just a pain in the backside to script and play and gets in the way of the story.

[Techwright]

  On 10/28/2022 at 7:29 PM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

. So he's speaking the equivalent of Chaucer-era English...

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Huh.  That's actually kind of cool.  Never thought of it that way, but yes, if I had a 900+ years lifespan and was born the year after the Conqueror, I'd grow up speaking a mish-mash of Anglo-Saxon and Norman.  Some things I'd have to change, but not necessarily all.  I'm in my 50s and though I'm aware of much of the trendy words and phrases of my nieces' generation, I've no interest in incorporating most of them.  Add 850 years to that mindset.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Tiny side note: Filoni doodling always has plenty of detail. One of the trainees watching Ahsoka get her backside kicked in training is Caleb/Kanan.

[Glacier Peak]

Not spoilery - how about those set designs and background shots! Holy cow I love the settings in Asokas childhood episode.

[Glacier Peak]

  On 10/27/2022 at 11:15 PM, Techwright said:

 

Actually, this is what I hope this anthology series will be going forward:  pithy vignettes of Jedi we know of, but know little about, as opposed to the Ahsoka episodes where we knew much about the character.  For example, with season 2, do 3 episodes of the life of Yaddle, and 3 episodes of the life of Quinlan Vos, the Jedi who uses the force to track, and whom we learned in Obi-Wan Kenobi was probably still alive.  Or better yet, if we want another Jedi who fell to the dark side as a contrast to Yaddle, do 3 episodes on The Grand Inquisitor, for whom we know nothing, not even his name, save that he was a temple guard at some point.

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He's actually in a scene in Episode 1 when Jar Jar steals food from the street vendor on Tatooine. Quilan Vos is drinking around a table. Interesting that Qui Gon didn't give him a wave or say anything in that scene though. 

[Techwright]

  On 11/1/2022 at 1:32 PM, Glacier Peak said:

He's actually in a scene in Episode 1 when Jar Jar steals food from the street vendor on Tatooine. Quilan Vos is drinking around a table. Interesting that Qui Gon didn't give him a wave or say anything in that scene though. 

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@Krimson's explanation is on the nose, An in-story explanation might be, however, that Vos is known secondarily for being something of a spy for the Jedi, so it would make sense that the others wouldn't react to him in the field, unless they had specific reason to meet with him.