Hogan Reviews

This bonus six-episode animated series sort of came out of nowhere. It was revealed, quietly stepping into the background while everyone else talked about the bigger new TV series and then just… came out. If I’m being honest this is a series of two extremes as its split in two halves, one focusing on Ahsoka and one of Dooku. The Ahsoka half seems damn-near pointless and doesn’t really add anything, where as Dooku was a fantastic look at how the Jedi fell to the Dark Side and why. Want to know more? Read on!

Let’s kick off with the Dooku episodes: They’re great! The first one, “Justice” sees Dooku and his Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn (voiced by Micheál Richardson, the son of original Qui-Gon actor Liam Neeson, which is a nice touch) sent to a planet to rescue the son of a Senator named Dagonet but when they get there they find the whole place a desolate wasteland and the people barely hanging on, the kidnapping being a way to try and force the Senator to give them more help. Dooku is frustrated at the innocent people being the “enemies” and offers them help but the Senator arrives with an army and is ready to open fire on the populous until they give him his son back. Dooku flies into a rage, helps the civilians and even Force Chokes the senator until Qui-Gon arrives with the Senator’s son, who admits that he now sides with the people and will do everything he can to change their situation. A perfect look at how the Jedi’s position at this point in time where they help the Senate and the politicians first really was a betrayal of their original ideals.

A young(er) Dooku reaches his limit.

Episode 3 (or Dooku Episode 2) is called “Choices” and once again is a perfect example of the corruption of the Republic at the time. Dooku and Mace Windu are sent to a planet called Raxus to recover the body of a fallen Jedi Master called Katri but Dooku isn’t standing for just a body retrieval and insists on investigating the death himself. There he and Mace eventually find out that Katri was killed defending local Senator Larik from his own guards who betrayed him because of how poorly the Senator is managing the natural resources of their planet. Another shootout occurs and much to Dooku’s secret delight Larik is killed in the crossfire this time, before Dooku and Mace subdue the guards. At the end of the episode we see Mace promoted to the Jedi Council instead of the older Dooku, who implies it was down to Mace’s blind following of the rules instead of his actions that actually achieved justice for their fallen friend. So again, a perfectly understandable reason for Dooku to start to turn…

I’ll get to Dooku’s third episode in the spoiler section but its equally great. This along with the audio drama “Dooku: Jedi Lost” from a few years ago really paint a great picture how it wasn’t really Dooku’s fault that he fell to the Dark Side, he really was trying to fix a broken system.

Looks exciting, doesn’t it? … *sigh*, oh well.

As for the Ahsoka episodes? Well, Episode 1 sees her as a baby get grabbed by a local beast but managing to calm it using the Force, which then led to her being discovered the taken to the Jedi Temple. It was fine. Episode 5 saw her training with Clone Troopers over and over… and that was about it, and the final episode we see her come out of hiding post Revenge of the Sith and join the Rebels, which at least was a story that was fun to see, though the much publicised showdown with a “cool” masked Inquisitor ended up being less than a minute and entirely one-sided, so that was a big let down, especially as it was Episode 6, the series should’ve have gone out on the high of Dooku’s final episode, honestly. The animation is top-notch by the way, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise from the Star Wars CG animations at this point!

Overall Thoughts:

Awww, time to break out the “Baby Ahsoka” merch!

Tales of the Jedi is half great story about Dooku’s fall to the Dark Side and half pretty dull and mostly pointless episodes on Ahsoka, a character who already had seven seasons of the Clone Wars and an up-coming live action show to develop in. If there’s a second season of “Tales” then I really hope they’re more like the Dooku ones and less the Ahsoka episodes, that’s for sure. In fact: I’m going to split the score, just to ram that point home!

Episodes 2 – 4 (The Dooku Story):

Episodes 1, 5 and 6 (The Ahsoka Story):

Episode 4 “The Sith Lord” opens with Dooku erasing the records of Kamino, filling in a nice little continuity gap, and then meeting Qui-Gon (voiced by Liam Neeson himself!) who had just encountered Darth Maul on Tatooine, meaning this is happening in the middle of Episode 1. Master Yaddle also arrives and the three have a discussion on what it all means and how the Jedi Council aren’t taking it seriously. Dooku tells his old Padawan to be careful and the three leave. A short time jump later and Dooku is staring blankly at a tree in the Temple grounds, Yaddle approaching behind quietly and giving her condolences on the passing of Qui-Gon. Dooku is clearly seething but manages to just give a speech about the Council’s lack of action and leaves, with Yaddle secretly following him.

Yaddle literally lets in the light for Dooku, but it’s all for nothing in the end.

Dooku meets up with Darth Sidious and shockingly reprimands him for Qui-Gon’s death, telling him that was never the plan and getting even more angry when Sidious claims the loss of Maul is equally upsetting to him (that was great! Ian McDiarmid reprises his role, by the way, so it was all so deliciously sinister!) Yaddle arrives and claims to want to bring Dooku back to the light and that it isn’t too late. Spurred on by Sidious Dooku attacks and eventually defeats Yaddle in combat, slowly falling ever more under Palpatine’s sway. Yaddle comes back to give one more speech before dying by Dooku’s hands, who now accepts his role as Darth Tyrannus. Brilliant stuff, once again his genuine caring for Qui-Gon was another factor in his fall… Dooku really was a good man corrupted by evil, not just the generic evil “Count” he was in the films and the Clone Wars cartoon. Can’t praise these three episodes enough!