How Count Dooku wipes Kamino’s navigation data
Henchman of the Sith Lord: Count Dooku (left) as a young Jedi
Source: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Contrary to expectations, the Star Wars series “Tales of the Jedi” is not a synthesis of “Andor” and “The Clone Wars”. In six short episodes, Disney solves some of the saga’s greatest mysteries. In animation, characters like Yaddle and Ahsoka Tano finally become clearer.
Ahen Disney announced the new animated series “Tales of the Jedi”, one would have expected a counterbalance to the live-action masterpiece “Andor”: the usual animation style from “The Clone Wars” and lots and lots of power, lightsabers and noble robes. The calculation, it was assumed, would be to appease those who would find Tony Gilroy’s show, which tells a lot about everyday life in the galaxy under imperial thumb, with an extra dose of science fantasy.
In fact, there are discussions about “Andor”. Critics love the series, praising it as the best coming-of-age installment in the ever-growing franchise. The viewing rates, so we can hear, are falling steadily – there are too few complaints about “Star Wars”, i.e. space battles, quirky aliens, “I have a really bad feeling about that” romance and, of course, Jedi. It’s a good thing that the second season is almost in production, because “Andor” is just great.
But again the mouse undermines all expectations. “Stories of the Jedi” is very different than expected: the six episodes (available from October 26 at Disney +) are a kind of deluxe fan service. They fill in gaps in the plot that only nerds were really interested in. For example, when exactly was it determined that Ahsoka Tano (who will also have her own series in 2023) is Force-sensitive – namely at exactly one year.
Or how Count Dooku under his pseudonym Sifo-Dyas deletes the navigation data of the clone planet Kamino from the Jedi library on Coruscant. And how Yaddle, so far the only character of her kind besides Yoda and Grogu, dies and by whom. If none of this interests you at all – then you can safely skip the series.
But for Star Wars aficionados, it’s a source of great delight as the puzzle continues to piece together. The episodes, which are only ten to 15 minutes short, tell, only loosely connected, episodes from the biographies of Tano and Count Dooku, portrayed in the prequels by Christopher Lee, who develops from Jedi master to student and henchman of Sith Lord Darth Sidious. The motivation that has been left in the dark up to now, his sympathy for the separatist planetary systems, is at least sketchily indicated.
And there is a reunion with many old acquaintances from the Jedi Temple Qui-Gon Jinn, the librarian Jocasta Nu, Anakin Sykwaker, Mace Windu, Captain Rex and so on.
What is really surprising, however, are the narrative style and pace – because compared to “Tales of the Jedi” “Andor” is almost a roller coaster ride and “The Clones Wars” is a cinematic strobe. The episodes (written by David “Mandalorian” Filoni) are told at a slow, almost lazy pace, like no other franchise before.
By the way, that’s not a criticism, on the contrary: The series gets a very idiosyncratic, meditative style, comparable to the Japanese masterpieces by Akira Kurosawa. He was already a role model for George Lucas when he invented Star Wars and brought it to the screen in the mid-1980s.
Like “Andor”, “Tales of the Jedi” is therefore not for children, they would simply be bored. Somewhat older Star Wars boys will have to wait until shortly after Christmas: On January 4, 2023, the second season of “The Bad Batch” will start, the rough-and-tumble bomb series about clone soldiers with a conscience.