This review has spoilers for the entire series.

Dave Filoni’s control over all recent Star Wars series, both animated and live-action, is near ubiquitous: if we disregard the ongoing Andor series, and the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series earlier this year, virtually every project that debuted in the last decade or so involved him in some fashion, be it as a main showrunner, director or as a co-creator. The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, The Clone Wars, Rebels, Resistance, The Bad Batch… all of them had a different measure of his touch.

Filoni has been, perhaps rightly, lauded as the true successor of George Lucas when it comes to having a peculiar and unassailable vision over the franchise, both in terms of the stories that should be told, and also their themes. He did, in fact, work with George Lucas during the Clone Wars, and is sure to have acquired some first-hand experience from interacting with the man. His stories effortlessly resonate with people, and I personally consider some of them to be among my favourite Star Wars media.

But not all is well in paradise.

Being such an important figure at Lucasfilm, Filoni and friends have been able to indulge themselves a bit. Filoni’s stories often focus, perhaps too heavily, on his most important original character, Ahsoka Tano. While it was exciting to see Ahsoka pop up during Rebels, and have her Clone Wars story finally finished in Season 7, there is a limit to how much Ahsoka we need in our stories. This became apparent in the Mandalorian’s Season 2, where she has her own dedicated episode that pivots her upcoming solo series of the same name. Further appearances in The Book of Boba Fett further drive home the excessive reliance of this character, which is further exacerbated by very questionable casting choices for the live action version, as well as some issues with the prosthetics in said version (remember the Lekku-gate?). While there are, indeed, many fans who rejoice in Filoni’s indulgence over cameo-ing Ahsoka in everything, some - including me - are starting to get a bit tired.

This is hardly Filoni’s only bad habit, but it will suffice for now. Of course, Filoni’s new series, Tales of the Jedi, follows exactly in this tradition. It is a collection of 6 short animated episodes about two Jedi: Dooku and, to no one’s surprise, Ahsoka. They each have three episodes each, and while they are all standalones, they do form a bit of a thematic narrative across them, particularly for Dooku. These episodes allegedly came out of Filoni’s bag of discarded ideas, where he came up with the stories but couldn’t find any series to fit them in. But are they actually any good? Is there still some of that common Filoni magic at works in here, or do his vices get in the way? It’s a mixed bag, but let us start with the good first.

Dooku’s Episodes

The three episodes about Dooku are the absolute highlight, as they do a wonderful job of portraying his downfall into a Sith Lord using only the scant few minutes of each episode.

The first episode pits a relatively young Dooku and his Padawan, Qui-Gon, against the disgruntled people of a world that is starving due to the greed and incompetence of its leaders. It juggles the political duties of a Jedi - that of serving the Republic and its Senate - to the duties a Jedi have towards every living being. It places the first cracks in Dooku’s faith in the Order, as having to defend a politician from the people he neglected conflicts directly with everything the Jedi should stand for.

The second episode builds on this, as Dooku and Mace Windu are sent to Raxus Secundus, the future capital of the Separatists, to retrieve the body of a fallen member of the Jedi Council. Mace tries to do as the Council commanded, and return her body at once. Dooku, on the other hand, realizes that something is not quite right. He investigates and finds out that she was murdered by people who are implied will someday become separatists. This further drives Dooku away from the Jedi, as Mace gets rewarded with the fallen Jedi’s seat in the Council, despite being adamant in not wanting to investigate the muder. Dooku, on the other hand, is intrigued with the ideas of the proto-Separatists, a faction he will someday rule over, as they call out the corruption of the Republic’s politicians.

The third and final episode is my favourite. It happens concurrently with The Phantom Menace, and it deals with the aftermath of Qui-Gon’s death at the hands of Maul. As the Jedi in the temple are preparing to travel to Naboo to the funeral, Dooku remains in the temple, mourning his Padawan. It is not explicitly mentioned in the episode, but at this point Dooku has left the order. He is, however, allowed to keep his lightsaber, and also to visit the temple at will. This is a really nice example of when storytelling intersects with pre-established continuity, without actually spending too much time acknowledging it and possibly confusing more casual fans.

While at the temple, Dooku is approached by his former master, Yaddle. This was a long time coming: despite having a few brief appearances during the Legends days, Yaddle is a character that is woefully unexplored. Recently, she came into the spotlight a little while in the High Republic books, and it is great to see her have an actual voiced role in an animated show. Yaddle talks to her former Padawan, and notices something is off. She follows him to the Works, where she catches him meeting with Sidious. The resulting confrontation is incredible, and while it results in Yaddle’s death at the hands of Dooku, she does not go down easily. With this murder, Dooku has finally severed all of his ties with the Jedi Order, and is now ready to become Darth Tyranus in earnest.

All in all, it’s an excellent sequence of episodes, and one that paints Dooku as a more tragic figure than we first thought: he is someone who, perhaps foolishly, believes in the ideals of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and on bringing order to the galaxy. It adds an interesting layer to his fall to the Dark Side, and makes his final betrayal by Sidious in Revenge of the Sith all the more meaningful. Finally, it also ties in nicely with preexisting Dooku stories that explored the same themes, the most relevant of which being Dooku: Jedi Lost.

Ahsoka’s Episodes

This is where this series starts to fall apart. While Dooku’s episodes have a clear progression of theme throughout, Ahsoka’s episodes are considerably more disjointed.

The first episode is the best of them, but that is not saying much. It shows us the birth of Ahsoka, and a little bit of Togruta culture. It is very nice to see what I assume to be their homeworld of Shili, and to me it is always amusing to see relatively rudimentary cultures, living in huts and off the land, still have access to rifles and other asynchronous technology. This mismatch of technological levels is a Star Wars staple that I unabashedly love. But what about the story? It’s a fairly simple one: Ahsoka’s mother takes her on a hunt, a big predator attacks and kidnaps Ahsoka, and she uses the Force to pacify the animal and make it bring her home. It’s nothing special, and maybe a bit too indulgent, but the visuals of the whole thing make up for it.

The second episode is a veritable dud. It is based entirely on answering a question that never needed an answer: how did Ahsoka manage to fight her way through a Venator filled with troopers when escaping from Order 66? The answer is in this episode: she trained relentlessly throughout the war by having troopers fire on her until she was hit and knocked out, while trying to improve how long she could last on each attempt. It is uninteresting and void of any theme, and all it does is show us how badass Ahsoka is and how hard she trains to be more badass than everyone else. Maybe I am being a little bit unfair, as I do like Ahsoka as a character… but this episode felt like a waste of resources, which could have otherwise been put into telling new and interesting stories about other characters.

The third episode is by far the most controversial, and while it is not bad in the slightest when looked at in isolation, it raises some massive eyebrows when considered in the context of the wider Star Wars canon. The story is about Ahsoka, who, after attending Padmé’s funeral, gets a space phone from Bail Organa that she can call whenever she feels like going back into the fight. She is not in the mood, though, and so exiles herself to a rural backwater planet, where she works undercover as a farmer. After saving someone from an accident using the Force, though, she draws the attention of an Inquisitor, which she needs to fight head-on. She has given up on her lightsabers, but still manages to defeat the Inquisitor (some would say that is yet more Filoni indulgence, but I think it’s fairly on character, and it was portrayed realistically besides). However, when faced with a burning village and the wanton casualties of the Inquisitor’s visit, she realizes she cannot hide any longer, and finally gives in and contacts Bail.

Now, this seems fine, right? It’s a very Star Wars story: the reluctant hero goes through an unprompted trial that causes them to get back into the action, to do what is right and good, as the price of their inaction is starting to take its toll. And again, it is decent, when looked at in isolation. The issue stems from the fact that this story has already been told. The 2016 novel Ahsoka (lots of Star Wars things named Ahsoka, methinks), by EK Johnston, was based on an old outline by Dave Filoni, and it goes through all of this. You can see where this is going, right?

And now is when Filoni’s second, and most worrying vice comes into play: the disregard for established continuity. The version of events shown in this episode differ significantly from those in the novel. There is the usual small stuff, such as the novel establishing the planet as being a moon with single settlement, while the episode defines it as being a planet with more than one settlement.

Further inconsistencies of these kind exist, but the most concerning of all is the erasure of a major character: Kaedan, a black woman, who is replaced by a white man. The author’s Word of God also says she’s queer, but that is worth what it is worth. And I mean… come on. Representation is never a bad thing, and doubly so when it’s accurate to the pre-established continuity. It costs them nothing to uphold that little tidbit, while also making a lot of people happy at the same time. Continuity is important not only because it’s cool, but also because it can have a real impact into how people relate to and internalize these stories. And to completely break away all of that when there is seemingly no reason to do so feels disrespectful at best. To be extra clear, I don’t think that Filoni and his team are “whitewashing” existing characters to fulfil some weird agenda or anything; but I do think that this is the sign of major neglect, with actual consequences, and that needs to be corrected.

If I was Dave Filoni, and generally the folks at Lucasfilm, I would see this as a wake-up call. Other writers need to uphold continuity, and are adequately guided by the Story Group on that regard. But why is Filoni an exception? This is not the first time. The contradictions in the Clone Wars were what they were, back in the Legends days, but we’ve had some recent ones too: the different lightsaber crystal colors for Ahsoka in Season 7 of Clone Wars are one such example. This was something that also contradicted with the Ahsoka novel, and which was retroactively changed in the ebook version to match the show. Another, more glaring example, was the involvement of the Bad Batch in the battle of Kaller, which was first portrayed in the Kanan comic. Most of the changes do seem to be visual, though, such as different armor color, different time of day, and things of that sort. The lack of the Bad Batch in the comic could also be rather lazily explained by Kanan being an unreliable narrator, with portions of the memory being hidden due to the traumatic experience of Order 66. Still, these semi-solutions are far from perfect, and are still a symptom of the larger problem.

As of now, there is a running theory that the events in this Ahsoka episode and the events in the novel are two separate events, as the show never confirms the name of the planet or the identity of the Inquisitor, or any of the characters for that matter. Even if this eventually ends up as an official explanation, it is still not acceptable, in my view, as having a character go through two very similar back to back events, killing an Inquisitor in both, is just too much. It is silly patchwork for something that should have never required mending to begin with.

Concluding Remarks

Finally, let us conclude this review by examining the title of the series: Tales of the Jedi. Isn’t it funny how it focuses on two main characters who eventually stopped being part of the Order? Tales of Former Jedi, Tales of Fallen Jedi. Even here we tie into Filoni’s overreliance on Ahsoka: he has established, through all the storytelling in recent years, that Ahsoka, despite not being a Jedi after leaving the Order in Season 5 of Clone Wars, is still more of a Jedi than most of those who died in Order 66. There is truth to that, and it is an interesting character arc, but one that is still dwelling too much on past exploits instead of moving forward. Maybe the Ahsoka series will actually do something with it, but who knows. And oh, we could consider Yaddle to also be the third main Jedi character in this, as little as she lasted.

This choice of cast - one fallen Jedi, and one Jedi by-any-other-name - does fall a bit flat after first hearing about this series. When I first heard the name, leaked online as it was, my mind immediately jumped to the old Tales of the Jedi comic series, which showed us the Jedi in the days of the Old Republic, and their fight against the original Sith. Is it too much to expect a series named like this to focus on new things? Show us something from the High Republic, or any of the many unexplored eras, or maybe even something about some of the lesser known Jedi of the Clone Wars (i.e., characters like Yaddle).

It would be nice if once a year or so we got a new season of Tales of the Jedi, with more and varied characters and stories from all walks and eras of Jedi life. Invite new creators, and make a true, spanning anthology series out of this. Otherwise, if this series remains at only one season and one season alone, then I fear this might have been a bit of a miss, particularly with a title like this.

I’ve long since held the belief that Filoni’s Star Wars stuff is like junk food: it appeals to your most basic desires, because you know exactly what to expect and know that it will satiate you. However, if you eat it everyday, it won’t take long until it has a dramatic negative impact on your health. Perhaps it’s high time Filoni started adding in some unexpected, but healthier, ingredients to his decadent food (did I really make this metaphor?).