Nearly two decades ago, ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas failed in his attempt to create his own live-action series with ‘Underworld’ from the galaxy far, far away, but today ‘Star Wars’ live-action Formats is on Disney+ are almost normal: “The Mandalorian”, “Boba Fett”, “Obi-Wan”, “Andor”, now “Ahsoka” – I’m certainly not the only one showing certain signs of wear and tear here.
I don’t want to complain about the “Star Wars” series in general, quite the opposite. I didn’t think “Boba Fett” was bad across the board and I actually liked the much maligned “Obi-Wan Kenobi”. But “The Mandalorian” languished quite a bit in Season 3 — it’s a good thing “Andor” existed and now “Ahsoka”, which for me is actually the best “Star Wars” series yet. Yes, even better than “Mando“Season 1 and Better Than”Andor“!
The lightsabers make the difference
However, I have to admit that “Ahsoka” is only slightly ahead of “Andor”, perhaps by a lightsaber length. Because even though in the past, during discussions in the editorial staff of FILMSTARTS or among friends, I have often expressed the opinion that “Star Wars” should sometimes do without Jedi and Sith and without lightsabers, say after the first five episodes of “Ahsoka” :
Lightsaber battles are great, especially when they’re as variedly staged and fantastically illustrated as they are here and it’s usually not just about the action itself, but also tells a story. Especially in the fights between Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Anakin/Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) in episode 5, where the duel is more of a metaphor for the development of the main character.
I love guiding Ahsoka across the galaxy
By the way, that is one of the strong points of ‘Ahsoka’ that I cannot emphasize enough: the development of Din Djarin from bounty hunter to galactic model father has stagnated lately, and with ‘Andor’ it is already known where that journey is (namely to “Rogue One”).
However, I am following Ahsoka’s development, from the grumpy warrior plagued by self-doubt to Ahsoka the White (you can read more about the Gandalf parallels in this article by my colleague Björn Becher) with great excitement – although (or perhaps: precisely because) I don’t even “Rebels” And “Clone wars” have seen.
In this respect too, Mandoverse mastermind Dave Filoni manages to find the ideal balance in ‘Ahsoka’. While there are moments here and there that are clearly aimed at fans of ‘Rebels’ and ‘Clone Wars’, they never take over. In any case, I never felt left out or insultedsimply because I didn’t understand a nod here or an innuendo there.
Finally, excitement in the galaxy far, far away
But the main reason why I appreciate “Ahsoka” so much is something else: Finally, a “Star Wars” series is actually exciting! From the beginning there is a lot of tension in “Ahsoka”, there is a clear goalwhat the three heroines Ahsoka, Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) want to achieve: namely prevent Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) and her allies from bringing back Grand Admiral Thrawn and at the same time find Ezra Bridger.
The obstacles the three heroines have to overcome are just as clear, whether it’s big opponents like Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) or a missing hyperspace map. And most importantly, all of this happens without the almost infamous idle episodes that happened with “Mando,” “Boba Fett,” and “Obi-Wan.” I’ve never followed a ‘Star Wars’ series week after week with so much excitement.