Star Wars Tales
“I am no Jedi.” – Ahsoka Tano
- “Star Wars Tales” is a charming animated anthology of short stories set within the existing Star Wars universe, following important but often less explored characters such as Ahsoka Tano, Count Dooku, Morgan Elsbeth, Barriss Offee, Asajj Ventress, and Cad Bane.
- Created under the guidance of Dave Filoni and featuring a visual style familiar from “The Clone Wars” and “The Bad Batch,” the series offers simple, short, and easy-to-watch episodes that nicely expand the broader Star Wars mythology.
- Although it is not revolutionary or overly ambitious, “Star Wars Tales” is a worthwhile addition for fans, especially because it gives more depth to familiar and morally complex characters in a quick and enjoyable way.
“Star Wars Tales” is a charming anthological animated collection in the SW universe. Unlike “Visions” where some (excellent) alternative SW worlds were created by animation production houses from around the world, “Tales” is an American production that follows the existing SW world.
This collection is quite simply conceived. There are three seasons, each with six episodes (averaging 10-15 minutes), and always three episodes follow a specific participant in the SW world in some rather specific (and challenging) situations.
What awaits us here?
The first season is “Tales of the Jedi” and follows… well, logically, the Jedi. Specifically, here we’ll have the opportunity to see an unusual event that followed Ahsoka Tano as a baby, what her mentor Anakin Skywalker did to make her capable of surviving on the battlefield, as well as what she did after the death of Anakin’s wife Padmé (and his final transition to the dark side). The story of the second Jedi concerns the legendary villain (and Palpatine’s apprentice), Count Dooku, from the period when he still believed in the light side of the Force and was a powerful Jedi Master, but how he was constantly disappointed by people’s greedy behavior and their (un)willingness to strive for peace, which ultimately convinced him that the dark side was (perhaps) the “correct” path to peace.
The second season is “Tales of the Empire” and follows two figures who aren’t exactly “goodies.” The first is Morgan Elsbeth, a member of the mystical Nightsisters of Dathomir, who survived the destruction of her people by General Grievous and the Separatists, and then, ironically, it was precisely within the Empire that she charted a vision to achieve her ambition (for a potentially very high price). And the second (anti)heroine is Barriss Offee, a former Jedi who turned against her order, for which she served a life sentence in prison, but the Empire decided to give her a new “chance” to become part of the Inquisitors who serve the great Darth Vader. However, one inquisitor’s decisions influence Barriss to reconsider her future as a servant of the dark side.
And finally, the third season is “Tales of the Underworld” which deals with murky and morally questionable characters. The first is Asajj Ventress, who was a Sith assassin for Count Dooku, and who was mysteriously brought back to life at the cost of losing her heart’s greatest desire (love for a man) and who now tries to use her second chance living low-key, but an encounter with a young Jedi complicates her life. And the second character is the well-known bounty hunter Cad Bane, and here we’ll follow his story of how he actually started down the path of the “business” he pursued and who important he lost at the beginning of that path.
The creator of this series is the experienced Star Wars veteran Dave Filoni (who has been working on SW live-action and animated projects since 2008), who during his work on “The Mandalorian” got the idea to write short stories about less mentioned (but equally very important) characters from the SW world. The animation team that worked on the series “The Clone Wars” and “The Bad Batch” was engaged (so you can know what visual style to expect), and a similar team was engaged for the music.
Although no particularly big names lent their voices (if we exclude Lars Mikkelsen and Steve Blum), this element was done at a very decent level.
All in all, “Star Wars Tales” is a nice addition to the SW universe that would be a shame to skip (especially if you’re a SW fan). The episodes are short format, not tiring to watch, and are a beautiful complement to the animated (and live-action) SW world.
And you, dear reader, have you had the opportunity to watch these Star Wars tales? 😁
Imdb | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic
Format: Series
Number of episodes: 18 (three seasons)
Premiere: 2022
Average episode runtime: 15 minutes
