Animation
Bullet/Bullet
In an apocalyptic future, Gear and his crew are on the run after swiping classified government data. But even they can’t outrun the content issues that speed through each episode.
These Star Wars prequel stories don’t get the John Williams musical fanfare and massive title crawl: They’re a bit too short to need it.
But the six stories that make up Tales of the Jedi stretch the length of the prequel timeline, and they contain those shorter tales that never made the big screen. That’ll include Count Dooku’s slow transformation from Jedi to Sith as well as Ahsoka’s origin story and subsequent training as a Jedi.
The episodes only take up around 10 minutes of watch time, so there’s no need to prepare any popcorn. In terms of concerning content, viewers can expect the typical Star Wars blaster and saber violence, and Episode 1 contains a couple of instances of a woman using a crystal to seemingly strengthen her prayers.
Otherwise, the series is about what you’d expect out of the franchise, in line in both animation and tone to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
One year after Ahsoka Tano’s birth, she is taken on her customary first hunt. But danger lurks when another beast hunts her.
Ahsoka’s mother, Pav-ti, shoots an animal, and then stabs it offscreen to finish it off. A sabretooth tiger-like creature attacks Pav-ti and Ahsoka, scratching Pav-ti and stealing Ahsoka when it flees from blaster fire. We see the animal lick its bloody wounds.
A village elder prays and chants in a foreign language, and she holds a crystal in her hand while she speaks. Pav-ti references “the Spirits,” and she clarifies that she’s talking about their ancestors.
Jedi Knight Dooku and his Padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn, search for Senator Dagonet’s kidnapped son, and they find a desolate situation awaiting them.
People drink alcohol. Opposing sides exchange blaster fire, and a couple of people die or are wounded. Dooku uses the Force to choke a man (though he does not kill him).
Dooku and Jedi Master Mace Windu are tasked with retrieving the fallen body of a fellow Jedi, but they suspect that they’re not being told the whole story of the Jedi’s death.
Blaster fire, whether deflected by lightsabers or not, strikes many, and people are killed.
Jedi Master Yaddle trails Dooku following growing suspicions, and she makes a terrible discovery.
[Spoiler Warning] Dooku attacks and kills Yaddle.
Not content with the results of a droid training, Anakin Skywalker tasks Ahsoka to train with the unpredictable clone troopers instead.
Ahsoka is repeatedly knocked out by stun blasters during her training.
When Ahsoka is forced out of hiding, disaster strikes a town—and Ahsoka is forced to defend it.
Ahsoka attends a major prequel character’s funeral. Haybales nearly crush a woman. A village is burned to the ground (and based on the lack of people around, it seems people died in the blaze). Ahsoka kills a Sith.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
In an apocalyptic future, Gear and his crew are on the run after swiping classified government data. But even they can’t outrun the content issues that speed through each episode.
If Family Law were put on trial, we’d rule that it is best for parents to cut this show out of their family watchlist.
Leanne models the sitcoms of yesteryear, though its frequent sexual banter and view on marriage may leave families saying “I don’t.”
Washington Black has some heavy themes and gets pretty intense, but its TV-14 rating fits right in with a teenage audience.
