Tales Of The Empire (D+)

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one…

 

[Techwright]

Beat me to it.  Just learned of it by happenstance, and, wow, what a trailer!  This one is going to answer a lot of questions, some that have been burning for a while, most notably that of "green girl" in that trailer screenshot in the OP:

 

Spoiler

• What happened to Barris Offee @ Order 66?  This one has been bugging fans for years.  It's long been believed that she'd probably become an inquisitor, and the trailer hints of this strongly, though we've never seen her in this role.  That said, we don't know how many inquisitors there are, though it's generally perceived to be under 20.
• Who was the Inquisitor Ahsoka humiliated and beheaded with his own lightsaber, and what species was he (Tales of the Jedi)?  Well, we might not get those answers, but the trailer shows he's in the stories.
• Who was the inquisitor Marrok, the one Morgan Elspeth apparently brought back as an undead thug for her plans?  Again, no promise of any backstory, but he's present in the trailer.
• Who was the Fourth Sister of the Inquisitorius?  This one does seem to have results in this showcase.  The Fourth Sister (the wiki refers to her as formerly "Lyn") was in multiple scenes in the TV show Kenobi, but was silent and woefully under-utilized.  Here, she seems to play a more prominent role. 
• What was Morgan's backstory that turned her from Nightsister to agent of Thrawn?

 

We'll apparently also get to see the training process of the Inquisitors.  In print media, this was supposed to be a brutal process where Vader was involved and deliberately injured the Inquisitors to toughen them up.  The Ninth Sister had limb replacement because of this.  Dave Filoni has gone on record as stating that only what makes it to screen is truly canon, following the guidance set down by George Lucas, so we'll see if this story changes.

 

It sounds like we might have Jason Isaacs back as the Grand Inquisitor.  Hope it's true because he was one of the best things about season 1 of Star Wars: Rebels and the character was completely fumbled in Kenobi.  And of course we'll have the wonderful Lars Mikkelson and Diana Lee Inosanto back as Thrawn and Morgan.  Meredeth Salenger returns to the role of Barris Offee, and the seemingly ever-present Matthew Wood is back as General Grievous (and presumably all the Separatist droids as usual).

 

Potential opportunity:  The destruction of Dathomir and the Nightsisters by General Grievous will not only give opportunity to showcase Morgan Elspeth, this could be opportunity to visually link the canon games in the Cal Kestus series with the mainline shows and movies.  Nightsister Merrin, from the game series, was a survivor of the genocide, and even a cameo shot of her in the attack or aftermath would do nicely.

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Replying to m'learned coll's threads:

Spoiler

• Yes, Jason Isaacs is back as the Grand Inquisitor per IMDB. I'm not sure why he didn't get the Grand Inquisitor gig for live action, unless he already had a series order for Good Sam (a not-good medical drama series that was quietly canned after half a season. Them's the breaks).
• BTW, while Jason might be one of the best bad guys around, he's always wanted to branch out from a life of villainy. Check out Archie, a bio of one Archibald Leach, aka Cary Grant. He's great, and I hope there's more comedy and romantic leads in his future.
• Brainy Smurf looks slightly different from his other appearances, but I'm guessing this is a while back and Chiss age more rapidly. Per Gizmodo, his rank pips have him as just Admiral at this point.
• If Barriss was still in prison for the bomb plot at the time the Republic fell and the Empire rose, that explains her survival. If we're getting real nerdy, here's how Rex called it: "Under this directive, any and all Jedi leadership must be executed for treason against the Republic." Barriss is no longer an official Jedi, and clearly ain't a leader or a threat at that point. Good soldiers follow orders... to the letter.
• Also, per Wookiepedia and Rise Of The Red Blade, Palpatine already had his eye on a few candidates. They were tailed by his agents, and when Order 66 went down, they were given a straight choice: join or die.
• Side note: in real life, Barriss Offee was saved by an editor, which is why you should always thank your editors. Ian McDiarmid's said the original cut of Order 66 was brutal enough to take Revenge Of The Sith beyond PG-13 and had to be toned down. (Yikes. That's a lot of dead younglings.)
• As The Son Of Beard hath said, only that which maketh to screen beith canon, so if it was never on screen, she lives. All Praise To The Hat.
• One thing I noticed from the trailer: out of the candidates, Barriss is the only one to lift her head out of a submissive pose when Vader makes his appearance. Is she planning on rebelling, or does she sense who he really is?

 

Edited April 5 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[biostem]

Man... I wish they woulda adapted the story from TIE Fighter, but oh well...

[Techwright]

I'll answer in the spoiler box:

18 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Replying to m'learned coll's threads:

  Hide contents

• Yes, Jason Isaacs is back as the Grand Inquisitor per IMDB. I'm not sure why he didn't get the Grand Inquisitor gig for live action, unless he already had a series order for Good Sam (a not-good medical drama series that was quietly canned after half a season. Them's the breaks).  I've read that Isaacs wanted to do the live Grand Inquisitor but the phone never rang.  Considering how many other problems were in the production of Kenobi, I chalk this up to one of their really bad decisions.  That said, at least he didn't have to endure the indignity of a head-shape change to the character.
• BTW, while Jason might be one of the best bad guys around, he's always wanted to branch out from a life of villainy. Check out Archie, a bio of one Archibald Leach, aka Cary Grant. He's great, and I hope there's more comedy and romantic leads in his future.  I shall have to do that.  I know a little of the back story of Cary Grant, and Isaacs has always struck me as being a similar monumental acting talent stuck in villain roles akin to the late Alan Rickman.
• Brainy Smurf looks slightly different from his other appearances, but I'm guessing this is a while back and Chiss age more rapidly. Per Gizmodo, his rank pips have him as just Admiral at this point.  At least in Legends material, Chiss do age faster than humans. Probably just as well, since Mikkelson, phenomenal talent and presence that he is, doesn't look quite so cut as his animated counterpart.  We can now chalk it up to Chiss aging and no dietitians in an old galaxy.  Well spotted in regards to his rank for this animation.  That definitely puts their meeting before his first appearance in Rebels.
• If Barriss was still in prison for the bomb plot at the time the Republic fell and the Empire rose, that explains her survival. If we're getting real nerdy, here's how Rex called it: "Under this directive, any and all Jedi leadership must be executed for treason against the Republic." Barriss is no longer an official Jedi, and clearly ain't a leader or a threat at that point. Good soldiers follow orders... to the letter.  It's an interesting take on it, but how does it explain the Order 66 case against Ahsoka?  Rex even pointed out that she'd not been Jedi in some time.  Jesse and the others refused that argument.  I suspect the clone prison guards (likely Commander Fox's red-armored units) were given different orders in handling Barriss.  I strongly suspect Palpatine, fully aware of her treachery, saw uses for her.  However, because she's approached by a trained inquisitor, I'm interested to see how long after Order 66 she's actually given the opportunity.  I know it's before the final scenes in Tales of the Jedi because the inquisitor killed in those scenes is in the room with Barriss.
• Also, per Wookiepedia and Rise Of The Red Blade, Palpatine already had his eye on a few candidates. They were tailed by his agents, and when Order 66 went down, they were given a straight choice: join or die.  Right.  This makes the most sense. Once Order 66 was issued the troopers were essentially zombies.  Without instructions, they'd kill Jedi regardless of any who pled for their lives or offered to turn.
• Side note: in real life, Barriss Offee was saved by an editor, which is why you should always thank your editors. Ian McDiarmid's said the original cut of Order 66 was brutal enough to take Revenge Of The Sith beyond PG-13 and had to be toned down. (Yikes. That's a lot of dead younglings.)
• As The Son Of Beard hath said, only that which maketh to screen beith canon, so if it was never on screen, she lives. All Praise To The Hat.
• One thing I noticed from the trailer: out of the candidates, Barriss is the only one to lift her head out of a submissive pose when Vader makes his appearance. Is she planning on rebelling, or does she sense who he really is?  That is a theory making rounds right now.  It's an interesting dynamic: Anakin took her down, he stands before her, but he's so obsessed with being Vader that he refuses to acknowledge that part of him that was before.  So, does the wrath of Anakin towards Barriss still survive through Vader, or does his compulsion to expunge Anakin mean that he refuses to accept Anakin's views on Barriss, as it would continually acknowledge Anakin?  I suspect we'll get an answer on that.

 

 

[Techwright]

Watched all 6 episodes.  Not as good as 2022's Tales of the Jedi, though certainly not rubbish either.  Personally, I find the first episode to be the best one.  Mostly, the series filled in some gaps for certain characters, fleshed out details on some others, and provided some great cameos.  The first three episodes were focused on one character, while the last three were unexpectedly focused on two characters.

 

The series visuals continue the high quality that came with improvements in season 7 of The Clone Wars.  Some of the battles were on a level almost matching the now-famous mo-cap fight of The Clone Wars season 7.  I've seen reactors commenting that they couldn't tell if the fighting of episode 1 was mo-cap or a very high-quality of animation. 

 

Episodes 1-3:

Spoiler

The first episode really shined.  Not only did it give us the massacre of the Nightsisters, which fans had been hoping for a chance to see in great detail, but it also brought General Grievous back as a true threat, and not some half-comic relief to be out-foxed repeatedly, as some fans have claimed about his appearance in The Clone Wars.  Likewise the droid army, even its most basic units, is seen as brutal and effective.  Nightsisters are shown in a somewhat different light than previously.  Shaved-head ugly crones are shoved to the background, and those in the foreground of the storytelling appear more like Nightsister Merrin of the canon game Jedi: Fallen Order, having less of a storybook witch look and more of a "human" look about them.  Undoubtedly, this is done to help the audience to better emotionally connect with the Nightsisters, as well as to match other appearance changes that have been springing up: Merrin, Morgan, and a late appearance of Ventress in other works. 

 

I think the two best nuggets to come out of this trilogy of episodes are these: the unveiling of the Mountain Clan, and the revealing that Morgan is an engineering genius.

 1) The discovery that what we knew as the Nightsisters (as well as their separated brothers) were only a fraction of the residents of Dathomir, and that instead they are but one clan on the planet.  How many clans remains unknown, but in a surprise move there appears to be a Light-Side counterpart to the Nightsisters, the mountain clan.  Though it was never explicitly stated as Light-Side, we now have one strong illustration of their power, radiant in blue-tinged white, and that one moment suggests these may have had more power than any Jedi.  The potential for storytelling is there: 

• How do they have abilities that Jedi do not?
• How do they deal with the threat of corruption that the Jedi so fear?
• How do they live in apparent peace, if not perhaps friendliness, with the Nightsisters?
• Why do they appear to practice a separation of genders, just like the Nightsisters & brothers do?
• Were they targeted for elimination or corruption by the Empire after Order 66?
• If they survive, will they have a part in Ahsoka season 2, for the Nightsisters of the Old Galaxy have arrived at Dathomir, and they do not look like they would be tolerant of the Mountain clan.

 2) The revelation that Morgan is both a warrior and an engineering genius makes her something of a counter to Sabine Wren's warrior/engineering genius, and gives a more clear understanding, though not explicitly stated in the episodes, of why Morgan in Ahsoka was able to construct the giant booster-ring ship to bring Thrawn's ship Chimera back to the Prime Galaxy (side note; I do wish Star Wars would finally give a name to each of the two canon galaxies).  The notable use of droids explains the "how" of it.  It also gives more detail to the settlement she conquered, providing them with a production, and providing us with a production factories background in higher level shots than we received in The Mandalorian.

 

I suppose a third big nugget is finally the inclusion of Pellaeon in canon Star Wars.  A major in these mid-empire episodes (his rank bar was very clear), Pellaeon in the books on Thrawn, and in a very brief cameo communication in Star Wars: Rebels was a trusted captain under Thrawn's authority.  He was something of a Dr. Watson to Thrawn's Sherlock Holmes, and book fans have wondered at his absence save for a cameo establishing his canonicity.  Here, we get a meaty chunk and find that even when a major, he is a quiet man without bluster and with good observation.

 

Episodes 4-6:

Spoiler

The loose thread I always wanted tidied up, Barriss Offee gets her story advancement.  Surprisingly, this is one Tales Of... that turns out to be a story of two, rather than one, and so we also get the tale of Lyn, the Fourth Sister of the Inquisitorius, or at least enough of it to matter.  Sadly, we don't get a description of her life within the Jedi Order, nor a clarification of how she survived Order 66, though some of the dialog, as well as the timing of certain scenes, seems to hint that she might have left the Jedi Order prior to Order 66 and been trained as an Inquisitor to function immediately after Order 66.  That remains a guess at this point though, unless canon-recognized books or comics exist explaining it.

 

This arc ultimately stands in contrast to that of Count Dooku's arc in Tales of the Jedi.  There, a Jedi gradually grows frustrated with the Order, leaves, and when offered a way back from the brink, willingly kills the Jedi who offered the chance, and embraces the Dark Side.   Here, a former Jedi grew frustrated with the Order, went Dark Side, came back to Light Side, and now stands as the one offering a way back to another fallen Jedi, who strikes her down, but ultimately accepts the way back.

 

We get cameos of the two largely unknown Inquisitor "brothers" who appeared later in the timeline during events of Tales of the Jedi, and even later in Ahsoka.  However, these are voiceless cameos, and we still know nothing more about them, except a confirmation that Marrok was indeed an Inquisitor, and not a merely a Dathomirian brother in inquisitor's gear, as some have believed.

 

The third episode shows a significant passage of time.  How much I'm not certain, but Barriss is looking notably aged, something her contemporary Ahsoka is not, and indeed, her elder acquaintance Lyn also appears relatively unaged in the same shots.  I'm not clear on why this is.  Perhaps Barriss carries age lines from the stresses the Dark Side put upon her, or perhaps life in the harsh wilds has aged her face.   I suspect the time is before the end of the first season of Star Wars: Rebels, for Lyn is shown as something of a right-hand to the Grand Inquisitor, and would be a natural to replace him in the hunt for Kanan Jarris, but she does not appear.

 

Other notes from the third episode:

• Barriss hints at a "she" who can help smuggle the force-sensitive child from the Empire's grasp.  Knowing connections, it's reasonable to guess that she's referring to Ahsoka, and that Ahsoka is tied to the underground railroad moving the force sensitives around for protection.  We're already aware Ahsoka has some tie to this from events in Star Wars: Rebels. 
• While we're left to think that Barriss has died (her breath stops appearing in the cold cave) Lyn's assertion that she'll get Barriss out of the cave, could mean either that she'll be removing the body of a friend out of respect, or that she'll actually be aiding a barely-alive friend.  This would not be the first time we've seen someone seemingly die, only to be brought back *cough*Ahsoka*cough*.   The ending is interesting because it runs counter to the Jedi belief that once one fell to the Dark Side, they never could come back.  Of course, we know this to be inaccurate due to Anakin Skywalker, though that has been considered a prophetical exception.  Now we begin to realize the Jedi were either greatly mistaken or at some point deliberately taught a lie which successive generations believed to be true.

One thing I did not much care for from these three episodes was a sense of choppiness at times.  Like they could have fleshed out the story a bit, let it flow better.  Still, it's a lot of material we fans have been waiting for, so I'm not complaining, much.  I'm also a bit surprised at how easily shackled Barriss survived Order 66, when both shackled Maul and free Ahsoka, neither a Jedi, were targeted for elimination.  This hints that Palpatine already had a prepared list of people to be excluded from Order 66.

 

[Mr. Vee]

I liked e2 the best, but it seemed very book dependent unless i'm forgetting some show info dumpage about the 

Spoiler

Thrawn/TIE defender vs Tarkin/Death Star rivalry

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

There's quite a lot of (political) stuff in the books about...

Spoiler

...the ludicrous cost of "Project Stardust" - I mean, you're building a moon-sized station with a hyperspace drive, after all, and creating giant kyber crystals, and putting grumpy ex-hobbits to work on the parts... 

 

...but oddly enough, that bit  felt real to me having worked in US.mil for a bit. Extra guns? Sure! Can take off from anywhere? Add widgets to make extra cool screechy noises? Great! Pilot survivability? 

....errr...

...is it gonna add weight? Have we costed that? How small CAN we make that parachute?

 

Edited May 10 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

On 5/9/2024 at 4:45 PM, Mr. Vee said:

I liked e2 the best, but it seemed very book dependent unless i'm forgetting some show info dumpage about the 

  Hide contents

Thrawn/TIE defender vs Tarkin/Death Star rivalry

 

 

Regarding your hidden content: there was some.  It was mostly off-screen and referenced by exposition, however it did play an important plot point in the fourth season:

Spoiler

Thrawn had remained cool under pressure regarding his TIE defender program, but Tarkin had, offscreen, applied enough pressure that the Emperor summoned Thrawn to a face-to-face discussion.  Thrawn had emerged successful in his defense, possibly because the location of Lothal was also the site of the special Jedi temple so desperately wanted by the emperor, making Thrawn's forces ideal coverage for two top-shelf projects.  However, the political quarrel meant that Thrawn was not on Lothal at a crucial moment, resulting in Governor Price's ridiculously over-the-top destruction of their vast fuel storage to kill one Jedi.  It effectively nixed Thrawn's project, his funding, and his goal of strengthening the Empire rather than allowing the corrupt to undermine it, as he mentions here.   That is why he made a rare showing of absolute rage towards Price.

 

[Mr. Vee]

You remember stars war scenes bettter than i remember anything ever

[Techwright]

13 minutes ago, Mr. Vee said:

You remember stars war scenes bettter than i remember anything ever

It helps that I've seen the entire Rebels series 3 times and, thanks to watching reactor videos, specific moments an untold number of times.  😉