- Based on ‘Star Wars’ created by George Lucas
- Series created by Dave Filoni
- Disney+
Cast
- Ahsoka Tano-Rosario Dawson
- Sabine Wren-Natasha Liu Bordizzo
- Hera Syndulla-Mary Elizabeth Winstead
- Baylan Skoll-Ray Stevenson
- Shin Hati-Ivanna Sakhno
- Morgan Elsbeth-Diana Lee Inosanto
- Huyang-David Tennant (voice)
- Ezra Bridger-Eman Esfandi
- Grand Admiral Thrawn-Lars Mikkelsen
After the fall of The Galactic Empire, Ahsoka Tano investigates the dawning of a new threat.
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All Star Wars is better than most anything out there. Even the much-derided Star Wars Holiday Special is better than most. Ahsoka is the latest entry in the ever-growing list of streaming Star Wars content. While better than most out there and with plenty to enjoy, the first two episodes were not the strongest.
The first episode starts a bit on the stupid side. I get the need to start the ball rolling but when characters make stupid decisions they know are fraught with flaws and that other options are available that are superior it bugs me. What works in cheesy horror or even a Star Wars rip-off does not work in the real deal.
That episode begins on a ship transporting Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) who is an important prisoner. You’re transporting a significant prisoner and out of nowhere a ship you can’t quite identify shows up transmitting an old clearance code of an order that is extinct. Why bring them aboard? It certainly gets the story rolling but when you think about it a little bit it ceases to make sense. It fails on a logical level even in Star Wars.
I’m also struck by the amount of walking and looking we get starting with the first few minutes of the first episode when Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) comes on the screen. She walks into these ruins and is looking around. I understand establishing the situation, but the amount of walking and looking we get feels more like padding than it does establishing. The point is things go on too long as if they are just trying to stretch the episode out. If there’s some arbitrary set of minutes they need to fill to make something an episode then they need to rethink that rule. You could’ve cut out a few seconds here and there in the opening alone, and just added more narrative. Then again this is a bit thin on actual story and I think if they had cut the padding the two episodes might have been just one.
Get to the point! And there are a great many recaps of previous conversations. Not just from the past episode but within the episode. Characters do need to occasionally note information, but they don’t need to go over the same info again and again in detail that was just discussed.
There are also elements of questionable logic. Such as in the opener when the assassin droids that are sent to kill Ahsoka and retrieve the map activate a self-destruct. If their goal was to get the map, then the self-destruct would destroy the map. If their primary goal was to kill Ahsoka then they should’ve just blew themselves up right away. Which is it? It was most likely to give Ahsoka a badass looking moment in her first few seconds.
And the map. Did nobody try to solve the map? Or was there some feature on the device that if you tried too many random combinations it bricked? If it’s the latter, that should’ve been explained. If it’s the former that’s just stupid. And why did that droid wait for Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) to figure out which slight turn got it to work before trying to kill her? If it failed whatever info she garnered could be used to lead them to their shared goal of locating Thrawn.
As s plots go we really need another map to lead us to another character like we got in the sequel films? In an inversion of those movies this time around it is for the baddies. I am okay with recycling but not when it comes to plots.
The characters currently lack distinct personalities. The lines felt a bit interchangeable. Other than Ryder Azadi I’m having a hard time thinking of anybody that really just sticks out and Ryder sticks out because it is Clancy Brown. If this were a series with brand new characters that would be a bit understandable. But most of these are established characters and the delineation between each is unclear.
Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) shows promise of being an interesting villain. He’s not evil for the sake of being evil which can be good. There is a level of complexity to this former Jedi knight. He is thoughtful and cold. When he comes on he is intimidating and needs to do very little.
His apprentice of Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) is a bit of a blank slate. I’m hard-pressed to even remember her name. She says little and does about the same. Then again characterization is thin here. Often they mistake the characters having attitude for personality or even acting brave. Attitude is not a defining character trait nor is it a sign of bravery. It’s just an element of ego and that amount of ego with every character does not work.
I’ve been a bit harsh in this post but the first two episodes certainly deserve every bit of harshness I’ve given them. It’s adequate Star Wars but not good Star Wars. It just takes so much time getting from Point A to Point B and most of the time is eaten up by establishing shots or people looking at each other or scenes of walking that are meant to be dramatic but just go on for far too long.
I can’t say great yet, but it looks like it will make it to good. But will it rise to the level of Andor? Andor was a high point for me of Star Wars television. Quite possibly the best show since Clone Wars. Andor benefited largely from doing something different with Star Wars that still felt like Star Wars. Ahsoka seems to be ticking off the boxes.
Ahsoka has been getting a lot of praise online. Some are even talking as if this will somehow fix Star Wars. I’m not sure if Star Wars is broken or not. Rather it lacks a distinct vision for what it should be. George Lucas had an idea of what Star Wars was. Disney sees it as a way to make money. That’s not bad as Disney is a business but you need to actually have an idea of what your fictional world is to be in order to guide your assorted and products. That doesn’t exist here.
Ahsoka will not magically give Disney a vision in order to guide their material. It may be a good entry ultimately but it’s not going to fix Star Wars. It’s clearly not a content messiah who will correct all that is wrong. To do that it would have to be an absolute masterpiece, and it doesn’t look like that.
Ahsoka is an adequate start. It’s got the building blocks of something good but I’m not necessarily sure if it will make it to great. Only time will tell.
May The Force Be with You!
Warren Watched A Movie 