Tales of the Jedi (TV series)
| Tales of the Jedi | |
|---|---|
| |
| Format | Series |
| Created by | Dave Filoni |
| Starring | Voice Actors |
| Theme music composer | Kevin "Klux" Kiner |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lucasfilm |
| Distributor | Disney |
| Broadcast | |
| Picture format | HD |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace |
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi is an American animated anthology series set in the Star Wars universe. It was created by Dave Filoni, who also wrote five of the six episodes. All six shorts were released on October 26 on streaming service Disney+.
Production[edit]
After realising that there has been too many live-action Star Wars shows lately, with even more coming soon, one of which he was writing and directing, George Lucas' ex-right hand man, Dave Filoni, thought that there should be a new animated show set in a galaxy, far, far away. With wanting to release it in 2022, due to The Mandalorian season 3 and The Bad Batch season 2 both being delayed to 2023, and with wanting to redeem the let down that was Obi-Wan Kenobi, Filoni had to make the show a series of shorts. After the knitting of the shorts were done, he donated them to the Salvation Army, and then started work on writing six 10-20 minute scripts.
Style[edit]
The show is animated in the same style as The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch, both of which were also created and lead by Dave Filoni. At first, the show was going to have a new and different art style, but Disney wanted to have a consistant look to Star Wars with the live-action shows looking like real life, and the animated shows looking like Filoni's previous shows, not counting Star Wars Rebels. But, similarly to Rebels, Tales of the Jedi is the first (canon) animated show not to be titled with 'The' at the start. If the series did have a 'The' at the start, it would probably make the whole thing sound important, despite just being backstory filler we've already heard about — which it isn't. Right?
Cast and characters[edit]
- Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano: In lieu of Ahsoka getting her own live action seires, we get to see Ahsoka's birth in animation, as well as what happened after the The Clone Wars season 7 finale. Ashley Eckstein returns to role, after being 'replaced' by Rosario Dawson, but barely talks.
- Corey Burton as Count Dooku: A young Count Dooku, who is not yet a Count, and is a Jedi Knight instead of a Sith Lord. With Christopher Lee being dead, Dooku's voice actor from The Clone Wars, Corey Burton, returns — making it a real Return of the Jedi (kind of).
- Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn: After appearing for less then 10 seconds with a single line in Obi-Wan Kenobi, Liam Neeson returns as Qui-Gon Jinn. Presumably for that sweet, sweet Disney paycheque since nobody will hire him to star in any action blockbusters anymore.
- Clancy Brown as an Inquisitor: The coolest looking Inquistior we have seen yet, only for him to die like Maul in Rebels.
- Bryce Dallas Howard as Yaddle: After directing a couple episodes of The Mandalorian, Bryce Dallas Howard earns the honour of voicing the female Yoda who was seen for one scene in The Phantom Menace. Is she Grogu's mum? Who knows.
Episodes[edit]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Life and Death" | Nathaniel Villanueva | Dave Filoni | October 26, 2022 |
| While hunting a goat-kangaroo with her mother, Baby Ahsoka is taken by Diego (the sabertooth tiger from Ice Age), and is eaten alive. Ahsoka is dead. | ||||
| 2 | "Justice" | Saul Ruiz | Dave Filoni | October 26, 2022 |
| Dooku and Qui-Gon investigate a kidnapping of a Senator's son. When the two Jedi find the kidnappers, which turns out to only be like three people, but since everyone in the cantina was drunk, it seemed like the whole town were in on it due to not wanting to feel left out. Instead of Qui-Gon going full Taken-mode, Dooku is the one who looks, finds, and kills the Senator's army when he tries to get his son back, who now has a case of stockholm syndrome. | ||||
| 3 | "Choices" | Charles Murray | Charles Murray and Élan Murray | October 26, 2022 |
| Dooku and Mace Windu have to make the hard choice between having McDonald's or KFC for lunch. Before a verdict is made, however, they have to solve the murder of a fellow Jedi since the local police were too busy plotting to kill more Jedi, since they were the murderers. Whoops, spoilers. Anyway, Dooku and Windu kill a bunch of police officers, as they "racially profiled" Mace Windu for him having a 'dangerous weapon'. This causes Dooku to rethink the Jedi Order, while Mace enjoys a Big Mac after being placed on the Jedi Council for a job well done. | ||||
| 4 | "The Sith Lord" | Saul Ruiz | Dave Filoni | October 26, 2022 |
| Who is the Sith Lord? Is it Dooku? Is it Palpatine? Is it Darth Maul? It's actually Yaddle, but after being killed by Dooku in a short lightsaber duel (I mean, these episodes are shorts), Dooku takes her place by Sidius' side, as Obi-Wan cut Maul in half off screen. | ||||
| 5 | "Practice Makes Perfect" | Saul Ruiz | Dave Filoni | October 26, 2022 |
| In a series of only six episodes, you'd think that there will be no filler. But, you'd be wrong. Despite this, the episode is literally only cameoes, call backs, and additional scenes for a completely different show. | ||||
| 6 | "Resolve" | Saul Ruiz | Dave Filoni | October 26, 2022 |
| Ahsoka fights Mr. Krabs after she burns down the local Krusty Krab. She kills him and takes all of his hard earned money. She also attends Padme's funeral, even though Vader should of sensed her being there since he too was there but don't worry, Dave Filoni knows what he's doing. Also, despite what people say on Twitter, the Ahsoka novel was not retconned. | ||||
Reception[edit]
Reception to the series has been mostly positive, due to being Star Wars made by Filoni. The only criticism of the show is that the episodes are short, everything is out of order, and a couple of novels and comics got retconned. Filoni responded to the short runtimes by saying that it was "better than nothing", to the out of order episodes by saying it was an "anthology", and by quoting CinemaSins saying "the books do not matter" to all the retconning committed .
Season two was confirmed by Dave Filoni in 2023, and was set to be released sometime in 2024. However, in April 2024, it was revealed that this 'second season' was not in fact that, but a sequel series in the form of Tales of the Empire. It will star a young Grand Admiral Thrawn with Morgan Elsbeth, as to set up more untold backstory from The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, as well as answer a ten year plus question of what the fuck happened to Barriss Offee after Star Wars: The Clone Wars season five.
