The first season of Tales of the Jedi released in full on Disney+, and the six shorts most definitely help to flesh out the backstories of two famous Jedis to give fans deeper perspectives on how they became such iconic characters in the Star Wars franchise.
The first season is around 80 minutes long and features three shorts about Ahsoka Tano, and three shorts about Count Dooku. If you appreciate these characters and the animated worlds Dave Filoni has created, then you will love Tales, but if you need more prodding, or just want to validate your own opinions of the series with other fans, then please head on down below to check out our full review, episode rankings, and some of the standout moments from Season 1.
Tales of the Jedi Review and Episode Rankings
Script
The first season of the Tales of the Jedi anthology series has arrived, and based on its six shorts, Star Wars fans should hope that there are more seasons to come.
It truly is a work of art on all levels from Dave Filoni and his team, and a reminder of the magical and mystical feelings Star Wars can provide with its deeply rich, interconnected lore and plot lines.
There is something for every type of Star Wars fan across its six shorts. Those who love to learn about new lore that affected stories they already knew and love will appreciate this content.
Those who loved the animated Clone Wars series will also love this content.
Those who want to learn more about Ahsoka directly after her and Rex survived Order 66 will adore this content.
Quite frankly, the feelings of appreciation and wonder aren’t a result of over the top fan service either.
Each of the six shorts are smartly crafted to reveal moments in the lives of Ahsoka Tano, and Count Dooku that fans have never seen or heard about before, but served as great windows into why each character chose the path that they ultimately followed.
The pacing was smart and helped build cases for each of their chosen destinies, and seeing the stories play out really helped to flesh out the prequel era and the early days of the Empire.
The Dooku thread is without a doubt the highlight of Season 1, mostly because his time as a Jedi was not developed in the films or The Clone Wars, so for the first time fans really got to see how and why he chose to leave the order for the Sith. I do have to say, I sympathized with him a bit, and his turn in just three shorts was handled so much better than Anakin’s turn to the dark side in two live action films. While he and Anakin shared reasons for their turn, Tales did a great job at providing clear examples of his disenfranchisement, so his fall felt very justified, and not a last second choice like how Anakin’s was presented.
The Ahsoka stuff was fantastic too, especially the tie ins into the final season of The Clone Wars, but she’s a character we have had ample time to spend with and get to know inside and out over multiple series, so that’s the main reason the Dooku stuff hit a little bit harder.
If you need an official episode Ranking I’ll give you one, just know it’s not a best to worst, because none of the episodes are bad. It’s more of which ones packed in the most interesting content in terms of their rankings.
At number six I have Practice Makes Perfect. It was a nice quick episode, but it literally was nothing but training montages. It’s end was awesome thanks to the lead in to Victory and Death, but new lore in general wasn’t offered up.
Coming in at number 5 I have Justice. It was a solid episode and featured Dooku and Jinn teamed up as Master and apprentice, but it just didn’t hit as hard as the other two Dooku episodes. Let’s be real though, these rankings are separated by the tiniest of margins, so it was still a treat for fans of the Count.
Choices comes in at number 4 on my list. I really appreciated seeing how much different Dooku was from Mace, as well as how Dooku was thinking at this period in time. You could really see that he was beginning to question the Republic, the Senate, and in turn the Jedi order itself, so it provided great insights into his mind before he fully broke bad.
Resolve comes in at number 3 because it not only provided some insightful lore moments towards the end of the prequel era, but it also revealed a bit about Ahsoka’s life directly after the trauma of Order 66 and the loss of all of her friends and colleagues. She tried to live a simple life, but that just isn’t an option for a former Jedi in Palpatine’s Empire.
Life and Death takes the two spot, and I mostly credit that to me being a parent of a daughter myself, and a big fan of Ahsoka Tano in general. It was hard not to get emotional seeing her as a baby and being in danger, while also witnessing her using the Force for the first time. It was a great little origin story packed with heart, and a great kick off to the series.
Finally, at number one is The Sith Lord. To me, this was Dooku’s Revenge of the Sith. In fact, this short mirrored many moments from that film, in particular Anakin’s fall from grace. It was wild to see just how similar Dooku’s and Anakin’s paths were, and it really helped to further justify Anakin’s own turn, which again, was poorly handled in the live action movies. Thanks to this episode and the two Dooku ones before it, one could really see why he made the choices he did.
This episode also really shined thanks to all of the new lore it added to the time lineThe Phantom Menace took place. Imagine how much more rich that movies plot would’ve been if george included Dooku’s journey in it? Those moments really help to paint a clearer picture of Palpatine’s long game, but also of how far removed the Jedi truly were from knowing what the sith were up to. A fallen Master was free to roam the Temple and do as he pleased and none of them were the wiser besides Yaddle, whose fate was finally made clear thanks to this top notch Tales of the Jedi episode.
Top 15 Moments from Tales of the Jedi Season 1
Script
Hey now, after this make sure to check out our review and episode rankings breakdown for Tales of the Jedi by subbing to the channel.
Alright, let’s get to those top moments from the first season of Tales of the Jedi.
I’ll start in episode order, which isn’t my final rankings, those are featured in another video, so don’t skip out on that.
Starting with Life and Death, which featured two top moments for fans, with the first simply being seeing Ahsoka’s birth and the culture of her village and people. I really appreciated how they were similar to Native Americans with their connection to the land and beasts, but also with tradition and rituals. The whole deal that little kids have to go on a hunt with their Mom after their first birthday was very interesting, and showed us a lot about where Ahsoka came from, and why she turned into the hero we know she becomes.
I also really enjoyed and at times had tears of happiness watching Ahsoka tame the beast and have it carry her home. I’m sure the emotions stem from me being a parent of a little girl and what that can do to a man, but it was just a beautiful moment to witness in the life of Ahsoka Tano.
Moving on to Justice, the first moment that really stood out was just seeing Dooku and Ginn together as Master and Apprentice. They’re both iconic Force users who have great impact on the Skywalker saga, so seeing them as partners for the first time was a treat.
This episode also featured some great moments of Dooku flirting with the dark side and his desire for order, which further helped to explain how Jedi can think or do dark things when they think they’re in the right. Of course seeing Ginn save him from himself only added to these moments, and it also yielded a great callback to an exchange Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan have down the road when Dooku tells Ginn that he is a much wiser man than himself.
When it comes to Choices, its first standout moment is when Dooku tells Mace that he follows the rules too much. It not only showed that Dooku was more of a rogue in the order, but it also showed how by the book Mace is, which bites him in the ass in the end. Mace really did feel like the Syril Karn of the Jedi, and definitely led to the downfall of the Jedi thanks to his Dudley do right demeanor.
This episode also featured a great moment in Dooku realizing that the Jedi were ultimately the pawns of the Senate to do the bidding of the rich and powerful. He went as far as telling the prisoner that people have the right to defend their planet. You could clearly see the ideals that led him to leaving the order and teaming with the Sith. He saw the writing on the wall with all of the corruption in the Senate, but once again, his peers refused to listen.
It was also neat to see how Mace ascended to the Council in this episode thanks to his by the book approach and the Death of Master Katri. But even this scene offered a glimpse at Dooku’s burgeoning disdain for the order and their by the book ways, so it continued to add layers to Dooku’s inevitable turn.
The Sith Lord episode is a banger, and it’s first top moment was simply seeing Dooku do Palpatine’s dirty work at the temple. We got to see him delete Kamino from the library using Syfo-Dias’ codes, which was a big mystery in AOTC.
The next moment of note was when Dooku learned of Ginn fighting a sith. As a die hard fan of Star Wars, it was just really exciting to see all of these moments play out during the Phantom Menace’s timeline, because it really adds to the mysteries of that film and beyond. Scenes like this really brought context to Palpatine’s long game, because based on TPM and then what is exposed in AOTC and ROTS, Dooku’s actions were never really clear during the events of TPM, so unless you have read his book, or are a super fan, you probably weren’t aware that he was still with the order during the events of The Phantom Menace.
Continuing with that theme, seeing Dooku grieve Qui-Gan’s death was also a choice moment, and one for the lore books. He clearly still cared about the order and his pupil, but by this point he had already committed to Palpatine’s plans, so the pain of Ginn’s loss only confirmed to him that he was doing the right thing by turning to the sith.
This episode last top moment was another doozy, because it further fleshed out just how deep Dooku was in league with Palpatine during the TPM timeline, but more importantly, it finally showed what happened to Yaddle in between TPM and AOTC, which has been some sort of a mystery up until now.
Now onto Practice Makes Perfect, which kicked off with a fun top moment during Ahsoka’s droid remote training when you can see young Caleb Dume, aka, Kanan Jarrus, getting all hyped watching Tano kick the hell out of the training remotes. If you blinked you missed it, but I found it to be a very cool nod to Caleb’s time at the temple, which is barely covered in any Star Wars medium.
Honestly, this episode’s best and final top moment was the end in which we see a new perspective of a scene featured in the final season of the clone wars and learn that thanks to Anakin’s brutal training methods, Ahsoka was able to survive Order 66 on that star cruiser. That’s just great storytelling on Dave’s part, and a perfect example of the interconnected nature of Star Wars narratives.
Let’s close out the top moments with the final episode, Resolve, which kicked off with a great moment featuring Ahsoka at Padme’s funeral. It’s just a great little lore nugget that adds more to the scene and her legacy, not to mention her journey directly after Order 66. The cherry on top is learning that she and Bail met up at the funeral and he more or less planted the seeds for her to join the rebellion when the time was right for her. Oh, and this moment even led into seeing Rex again, who seemingly became Ahsoka’s uber driver after they crash landed the republic cruiser in TCW’s Victory and Death.
And the final top moment from this episode was simply seeing the moment Ahsoka officially joined the rebel cause after she phoned into Bail to pickup the survivors of the Inquisitor massacre. Once can say with confidence that this was her first step in becoming Fulcrum, and that’s rad.
Nick and I will talk more about Tales of the Jedi on next week’s episode of the SWTS, so don’t forget to tune into the Star Wars Time Show on a weekly basis via our podcast platforms or via YouTube if you prefer the livestream angle.
