Star Wars Tales

[Drunk Monk]

Tales of the Jedi

These are 8 animated shorts about 15+ mins each set in the early clone wars period. I got through the first 3. 

1 Remember baby Yoda? Get ready for baby Ashoka. Painfully predictable fro the get go. This is skippable.

2 Two Jedi rescue a hostage - senator’s kidnapped son. It’s clear that it’s Dooku and Qui-gon, but QG is name is revealed with such drama at the end, as if it’s to be surprising. Both Jedi have distinctly identifiable schnoozes.

3 Dooku & Windu. This ep has the big edged body could as the masses* They go to collect the body of a fallen Jedi and stumble onto a murder. It’s okay. It’s like their struggling to give Dooku a better background that justifies his turn to the dark side.

* I dozed off whilst writing this for just a moment and have no idea what I meant when I wrote this.

[Drunk Monk]

E4: The Sith Lord. This covers Phantom Menace from the perspective of the Jedi Temple, specifically Dooku and Yaddle. I've always wanted to see more Yaddle. Only Yaddle doesn't talk like Yoda. Yaddle talks like some director faking a British accent. That annoys me much more that it should. 

So far, if you only watch one of these, it should be this one.

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E5 - Ashoka backstory. It encapsulates her relationship with Ani but ends amidst her saga in Clone Wars so if you don't know it, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

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E6 More Ashoka backstory picking up with Padme's funeral. This is a better Ashoka story than the previous because it connects up her story well. It's amusing how the CGI Ashoka is looking more like Rosario. Works for me. This one brings a wicked Sith Lord into play and demonstrates Ashoka's resolve (Resolve is the name of the ep)

Still E4 is the pick of the litter... so far.

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Awwwww that's it? Only 6? Waah I was just getting into it. 

If you know Clone Wars (and I didn't watch all of it so I only know it marginally) this is super cool extras. It was kinda cool for me. 

If you only want at taste, watch E4. That was my fav. 

These are short - less than a half hour.

[Drunk Monk]

Tales of the Empire

[Greg]

I saw that and thought it was a game trailer.

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

I should really split this off into its own thread because it’s titled Tales of the Empire but I’m too tired to bother. It’s 6 eps, each under a half hour, done in a similar animation style as Bad Batch. 

The 3 are about Morgan Elsbeth, who was a special guest star on Man at Arms so I’m very happy to see her get an expanded Sw role. Morgan was also loosely based on Elsbeth from the Goodverse. It’s her first animated appearance, having been in Mando & Ashoka live. It paints her as a tragic figure, the lone survivor of her people (dathomir witches), exploited by the empire, and corrupted into being a p.etty tyrant. It starts with a witches of dathomir v droid fight and a teen Morgan. E2 is an adult Morgan pitching a more efficient three winged tie fighter only to get screwed by the empire. E3 is her dealing with a new republic emissary. It’s back story we did t really need.

The next 3 eps focuses on a different character.

[Greg]

Who are you kidding? Everyone knows Elsbeth is a spin off of the Good Wife.

[Drunk Monk]

And The Good Fight ergo the Goodverse

Know your fandom franchises.

[Drunk Monk]

The final 3 eps are about Barriss Offee, the Jedi gone over to the dark side, the betrayer of Asoka, who became an inquisitor that was trained by Vader. This is deep Clone Wars stuff and I don’t remember her arc that clearly. With the previous three, it totally sets up the debut of Elsbeth in the Mandalorian. In the final scene, a distress call goes out to Bo Katan, who sends Mando to investigate in the live action show. 

Barriss is a conflicted character. She waffled back and forth between dark and light, and in these 3 short episodes, it’s clear that she didn’t have a much choice. She was connected to Ventress, who recently appeared in The Bad Batch, and was one of my fav Clone War characters. Like the previous 3 eps, this tale does much to redeem Barriss, but honestly, I don’t remember her character that well. I suppose it should rewatch Clone Wars - all of it - to cement my fandom. 

I’m going to not D00M recommend this Tales of the Empire series because the lord is too deep and it won’t be appreciated by you Star Wars nibblers.

[Drunk Monk]

Tales of the underworld



 Ventress! So much yes!

[Drunk Monk]

Tales of the Underworld is another 6 ep series split in half into two separate tales; each ep is about 15 mins so it’s a quick watch. Both tales lean into Clone Wars lore.

The first 3 are about Asajj Ventress, one of my favs. If you don’t know, she was Dooku’s lead assassin, a nightsister who likes to wield double lightsabers and her blade is yellow. This jumps right into it with an awesome lightsaber duel right from the start (after she’s reborn of course - bit of a long story there). She teams up with a young Jedi boy seeking the Path, sort of an Underground Railroad for Jedi (this is set post order 66). The tale has some good moments and was fairly entertaining yet ultimately superfluous although it leaves the door open for more - Lady Ventress and her annoying Jedi cub.

The 2nd one is a creation story for Cad Bane, the franchise’s homage to the Man with no Name. There’s a good mcguffin halfway through. Ultimately it becomes Star Wars’ take on High Noon. It also leaves the door open for a sequel. It’s ok and the potential follow up opens up some amusing potential.

Not D00M recommended unless you’ve seen Clone Wars. Ventress & Bane are fleshed out much more there, while these could stand alone, they’re more interesting as extensions of CW.