While fans eagerly await new live action Star Wars content, Lucasfilm decided to give us a connected series of shorts appropriately titled "Tales of the Jedi".
"Tales of the Jedi" is structured into two different storylines, one following Ahsoka Tano and her training while the other follows Jedi Master Dooku and his turn to the Dark Side. The first thing we realized was how the episodes are structured. You start off with an Ahsoka origin then go to all three Dooku episodes before wrapping up Ahsoka's tale. While this isn't a major deal to most it does break up the flow of each character's journey and growth.
Seeing the early days of Dooku before his demise in "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" was a nice treat but he wasn't exactly used to his fullest potential. His overall storyline felt very dry and was full of gaps that could've been used as more motivation and development for his betrayal. Everything he went through felt very forced and wasn't a natural progression like it should've been. We are only shown glimpses of what causes Dooku's fate. These events do not warrant turning against everything you've ever known.
The other side of the story is Ahsoka. With her character you get to see major points in all 3 stages of her life. You get to see her early on at youth, in Jedi training, and post Order 66. Even though she is given a bit more depth especially in the final episode, it's nothing compared to what she was given in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" or will be given in her upcoming live action series. In all the characters that this universe has developed I feel like there were better options than a character who has already had and is going to have so much more development in future titles.
Even though i've discussed mostly negatives, these shorts are filled with its nuggets of high quality. The animation and sound design was spectacular as well as the voice acting. The fight scenes were very creative and fast pace even though they were short lived and often times wasted.
While "Tales of the Jedi" is a fun and unique idea, its execution in season one is not as thought out or handled as well as we would've expected. If a season two, is ordered I wouldn't be against it. I hope Lucasfilm expands their creative horizons on lesser known characters with future installments.
