– Spoiler Review –
Originally described as tone poems, Tales of the Jedi is a unique new format for Star Wars animation, featuring 6 short, Visions-length stories primarily framed around Jedi like Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku. Due to the new format, I’ve decided to cover the show a different way, focusing on one character’s series of shorts per article, and this one is all about Dooku’s three shorts. Offering tantalizing new glimpses into the fallen Jedi Master’s past, alongside his Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn, his three shorts are an interesting exploration on what drove the Count to join the Sith, all while thankfully being able to fit within the already fantastic Dooku: Jedi Lost, though his Tales aren’t without their shortcomings.
“Justice”
As I said in my review of the Ahsoka episodes for Tales of the Jedi, its opening short “Life and Death,” a largely dialogue-less episode, felt like the perfect distillation of the idea for this show. “Justice” in Count Dooku’s three shorts is the closet his get to “Life and Death,” as it allows the beautiful animation to help tell much of the story. Dooku and (Padawan or maybe Jedi Knight already, as his braid is missing) Qui-Gon Jinn arrive on unnamed planet, a desolate, dirty place, where the citizens of the little ramshackle town they approach scurry away from the approaching visitors. There’s a lot of silence in these opening moments, allowing the quality of life of the town tell an important part of the tale unfolding, aiding immensely by the often stunning animation, where even the muddy streets or broken droids benefit from the fidelity. Entering a local tavern, Dooku and Qui-Gon request information on who is holding the Senator’s son hostage, which is when they meet the gaunt Village Elder…and the fact almost the entire village are the hostage takers. Qui-Gon’s still a bit of a believer in the way of things, but Dooku’s already pretty open to hearing their case, where the Elder reveals the Senator has essentially abandoned them and this is their last-ditch attempt to change their station in life.
It was often in The Clone Wars episodes that the hostage takers were the Separatists, framed usually as the bad people with noble intentions for their planet, but here the villagers aren’t ever really framed as bad people. From the start, it’s clear the Senator is the problem, an important distinction and welcomed change of pace, as the prequels talked a lot about corruption in the Republic and yet we didn’t see it often, only at a grander scale and not how if affected the common people. Both “Justice” and “Choices” reveal more of the type of corruption that plagued the Republic before even The Phantom Menace, which is even more interesting after reading The High Republic, as that’s not quite present yet, but the Jedi are already slipping towards taking more orders from the Senate than just the Force. Either way, I liked how “Justice” didn’t shy away from the fact the Republic and its Senators are already issues festering at this time, though I would’ve appreciated a little more detail into how/why Senator Dagonet ended up so corrupted.
Qui-Gon and Dooku, after meeting Senator Dagonet’s son and seeing he’s actually on his captor’s side, end up defending themselves from the Senator and his men. It doesn’t go well, prompting Dooku’s anger as the situation is getting out of hand, justice potentially about to be routed, and he starts to choke the Senator. Qui-Gon rushes to stop him and Dooku pushes him back, but instead of trying to stop him himself again, he goes to the Senator’s son, who rushes out, despite what he knows of his father, to protect him from Dooku. Combined with Qui-Gon’s calming hand on his shoulder, Dooku relents and justice is served, Senator Dagonet committing, alongside his son, to turn a new hand and help his planet. The calm and measured response by Qui-Gon to Dooku’s actions show he’s used to his Master’s less-than-Jedi tendencies, so while brief, I loved the quality of their interactions to show their bond we’ve only seen in books.
Bonus Thoughts:
- Qui-Gon is voiced by Liam Neeson’s son, Micheál Richardson! I’m sure they could’ve found any voice actor to try and mimic what a younger Neeson would’ve sounded like (the one for audiobook Dooku: Jedi Lost was alright), but there’s a clearer connection between these two of course and I could easily hear a bit of his father in him during “Justice.” Keeping Qui-Gon in the family!
- It was great to hear Vanessa Marshall again, aka Hera Syndulla, this time as the Village Elder!
- Released on the same day as the episodes, Dooku’s Jedi lightsaber hilt and Qui-Gon’s are now available on Shop Disney!
“Choices”
As I mentioned, “Choices” also takes time to put Senate corruption in focus, but also brings into play early inklings of the Separatist movement. I liked both of these aspects, but how they were handled left something to be desired this episode. When Dooku and Mace Windu, not yet on the Jedi Council, investigate the death of another Jedi, they uncover a corrupt Senator and the plot to use his corrupt nature to free the planet from the Republic. However, it’s not what Windu would’ve done if not for Dooku, as Windu is too much of a rule follower, which limits the scope of their mission to simple retrieval of the dead Jedi’s body. I understand Mace is bit of a stickler for the rules, but his portrayal hasn’t always been very nuanced unless one reads books or comics, so it was disappointing for him to be one-note throughout the episode. Especially since we’ve never seen him and Dooku together prior to Attack of the Clones, at least in canon, a little more nuance from Mace would’ve helped build up some of their history and their relationship (he does defend Dooku when Padmé blames him for her assassination attempt), whereas now Mace just feels like a stand-in for the Order overall and easily could’ve been replaced by any other Jedi. This dynamic, where Mace follows the Council’s orders and Dooku thinks more freely, has some unfortunate underpinnings as well, as the Black man can only follow orders and the white man is the one who looks freely at the galaxy. In fact, it goes much deeper than that, though I didn’t quite put it together at first but Abigail James (a big contributor to Eleven-ThirtyEight and was kind enough to add their voice to our The High Republic Phase I retrospective) pointed this out in a thoughtful, eye-opening thread condensed into this post: essentially, the Black man argues to trust the system of oppression throughout the episode against the free-thinking White man.
Even when it’s clear these proto-separatists have good intentions, trying to free their planet from a system they see as corrupt and Dooku already knows is heading that way, Mace is admonishing to Dooku for helping to solve the Jedi’s death by working outside the rules. And then the Jedi Council promotes Mace to one of the seats because he was a good boy and followed the rules, leaving Dooku even more resentful of the Order, making Mace the scapegoat for his feelings instead of maybe a more nuanced discussion/relationship between the two so Mace wouldn’t come out sounding like such a bad guy.
Bonus Thoughts:
- Um, Ki-Adi-Mundi in a hood was plain ridiculous and I loved it.
- I was honored to guest the podcast Star Wars Alliances’ 100th episode, where we spoke around an hour about Tales of the Jedi, but it wasn’t all serious discussion, as we even pondered: what are the purpose of the claws on the guards hands?! Like…they don’t even make him take them off when one is captured so are they just ceremonial or related to some past creature in Raxus Secundus’ history? Or someone on the animation team thought they’d look cool?
- I really enjoyed Theo Rossi in Netflix’s Luke Cage, so it was cool to hear his voice here as Senator Larik. Hopefully he’ll get a beefer Star Wars role in the future!
“The Sith Lord”
If you enjoyed these glimpses of Dooku before the Clone Wars, then I have to point you towards Dooku: Jedi Lost, an audiobook with a full cast written by Cavan Scott (a scriptbook is out, if audiobooks aren’t your thing/accessible to you), that explores in very nuanced, intriguing detail Dooku’s disillusionment with the Order and him finally leaving it, though not becoming a Sith. I bring it up not only because it’s a stellar listen/read, there’s been some concern Tales of the Jedi erases the book to some degree, but I’ve not had such concerns. I rationalized Dooku at the Temple here by the time of The Phantom Menace, which is when “The Sith Lord” takes place, and still being called a Master, despite Dooku: Jedi Lost showing he left the Order prior to the film, as it’s an honorific title he earned and since him leaving the Order was on good terms, it’s easy to see why he’s allowed back in. The group I had the pleasure of joining in Star Wars Alliances’ 100th episode, which included Chris from the Manor, Katie who runs it, and Zach, felt similarly, but you don’t have to take our word for it, even Cavan Scott offered a way to make it all work on Twitter.
Regardless, it’s also worth bringing up because it offers something this episode doesn’t quite with its Yaddle and Dooku relationship: history. The episode begins with Dooku deleting Kamino from the Jedi Archives, a not wholly necessary scene considering how much The Clone Wars went on to explore this aspect of Palpatine’s plans, but a fun one nonetheless, and while there Jocasta Nu tells Dooku about Qui-Gon Jinn’s recent run-in with a Sith Lord (aka when Maul attacks him as he leaves Tatooine with Anakin Skywalker). Dooku tracks down Qui-Gon, finding his old apprentice with Yaddle, talking with him about the Sith he met, while Yaddle helps explain the Council’s downplaying of the incident as a way to prevent panic. Dooku and Yaddle disagree on the approach, considering he’s been warning the council of a coming darkness for years (another part of why it’s easy to think he’s already left the Order), but they do agree their students tend to grow beyond them. The episode flashes forward to Qui-Gon’s death, Yaddle the one giving him an invite to the funeral on Naboo, but he claims he’s already moved on. Yaddle decides to follow Dooku, though it doesn’t feel like she has a good enough reason to but here we are, and she tracks him to his secret meeting place with Sidious as seen in AotC. She fights for him to stay in the light, saying she left the council because she believed a lot of what he was saying, but Sidious’ manipulations are too deep and the disillusion with the Jedi and their ways already too much for Dooku, so they battle and he ends up killing her. Yaddle isn’t that well-known to general audiences, but she was in TPM and is recognizable because of her being of the same species as Yoda and Grogu, so it makes sense why they chose her to be the final straw in Dooku’s fall, but it feels forced here to try and give Yaddle a characterization and squeeze in some familiarity between the two in such a short run time. In Jedi Lost, Dooku’s relationship with Jedi Master Lene Kostana, who had interest in the Sith and was studying them in case they returned, could’ve been a much stronger character to face him against, as she would be in tune to him and his potential for darkness, she was with him when he left the Order so it would be easy to fit she’d eventually understood his point all those years ago, she would also be eager to uncover the truth behind the Sith Qui-Gon encountered, and she also didn’t have a fate determined yet (like Yaddle). Instead, while an awesome performance by Bryce Dallas Howard, Yaddle is sacrificed as a character to fill this role, while putting in Lene could’ve been a great way to use established history and promote the book at the same time (look, more Star Wars for you to enjoy if you choose; why wouldn’t a company like to self-promote?)!
At least the lightsaber battle between Yaddle and Dooku was amazing, as you’d expect from the animation team. I’m glad she wasn’t similar in style to Yoda and put up such a good fight and attempt to pull him back to the light. I was very convinced the door slamming on her was the end, shocked they went with such a brutal death, but I’m glad she survived just a moment longer to hoist open the door, showing Dooku the light was still an option one last time, and get a slightly less traumatic death. And like I said, Howard was excellent in the role, as I wouldn’t have guessed it was her unless I knew beforehand, while those curious about her speaking normal, this was already precedent in The High Republic – Out of the Shadows, though since we know Filoni doesn’t care much about precedent outside his contributions, he decided this path due to some backstory for Yoda from Frank Oz himself.
Overall though, like Ahsoka’s final short, “The Sith Lord” tries to do too much in such a short format, robbing the story of complexity, deeper characterizations, and more emotional depth to the story.
Bonus Thoughts:
- Ian McDiarmid and Liam Neeson back for their respective roles, fresh off doing so in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale?! Alongside Bryce as Yaddle?! What a cast. Very cool to hear Burton’s Dooku with both of those actors, after his many years of voicing the character!
I’ve spoken about the various other cast members, but now it’s time to highlight Corey Burton’s work as Dooku throughout Tales of the Jedi! We’ve come to know his more sinister take on Dooku thanks to his many years as the character for TCW, so it was refreshing to hear him be so courtly, without the edge (even if it sneaks in here or there). And hearing him alongside actors from the films, while his performance is already key to the character, adds extra weight to his contribution to Dooku.
The animation really is something special in these shorts, and I had a few highlights from Dooku’s three. For starters, I really liked the scene at the Jedi Temple’s tree, Dooku standing before it, mourning Qui-Gon and Yaddle behind him. It’s a stark scene due to the cement that surrounds this remaining glimpse of nature, but even it seems to be on its last legs, its leaves falling either because of how the Jedi’s downfall is coming or its crying over the loss of the Qui-Gon. It conveys a lot, the state of the tree and its leaves lazily falling to the ground around Dooku, and his closeness to the tree compared to Yaddle’s makes it seem like he’s closer to the Force, the truth, than she is and the rest of the Order. In “Justice,” the visual storytelling was awesome, the mud, dirt, and decay, as well as the sick looking faces of the villagers, told you all you needed to know about why they are likely ‘napping the Senator’s son, while it makes the bright colors of the Senator’s outfit and his men’s stand out even more, how separate he is from his people. It also had the effect of making Dooku and Qui-Gon’s lightsabers more vibrant, a statement of bringing the light side of the Force to the right side of this conflict. And in “Choices,” the way the forest they visit is in its fall season makes for another interest comment on the fall of the Republic, while the vibrant colors and the evidence regarding the supposed attack on the Jedi Master make the scene pop and show both us and the Jedi something’s wrong with the story we’re hearing.
Overall, I found Dooku’s shorts in Tales of the Jedi the stronger three, in part because its intriguing to get more time with him not as a Sith Lord, but also because it offers more examples of why he wasn’t necessarily wrong about the Republic and Order during the prequels. There are some problematic aspects with Mace Windu and his diminutive role, and Yaddle being key to Dooku’s fall to the Sith feels forced, but there’s a lot to enjoy about the multi-layered villain.
+ Jedi Dooku
+ Diving into the corruption
+ Final lightsaber battle
+ Animation telling the story and the voice acting is top-notch
– Neutered Mace Windu
– Short format leads to lack of complexity many stories attempt to touch or claim to have
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.