I’m pretty sure I was among the top 1% of Ahsoka Tano fans on the planet before the launch of the new Dave Filoni series.
This is me.
But here’s the thing: after watching the first two episodes…I’m pretty bummed out. I know that this isn’t meant to be your grandpa’s Ahsoka; characters grow and change and have their own metamorphoses, especially when moving from animation to live action, but something about Ahsoka feels fundamentally off in a way that doesn’t feel fixable to me.
Let’s list the culprits, in no particular order:
Her best friend is a droid. A droid with David Tennant’s voice but a droid, nevertheless. Han’s not whispering his sense of paternal loss to R2. Huyang has some cool experience, but he doesn’t look cool. He looks like a State Trooper. Or a minor or something.
I’m a big fan of Rosario Dawson, so this isn’t a knock on her, but her version of Ahsoka seems to be a completely different person than the animated version, popularized by the sublime Ashley Eckstein. This isn’t ASH IS BETTER THAN ROSA, this is what I’ve called ADHD erasure. Original Ahsoka was impatient and complain-y, nebulous and whimsical, but all of it was tied together with a wicked sense of humor and a tenacious spirit. That’s not really coming through with the Dawson version. This Ahsoka is…slow, methodical, patient, and unemotional. Sure, it could just be that she’s a seasoned vet and the impertinence of childhood has blossomed into the wisdom of adulthood. Sure. But even then, Ahsoka was never boring. Ahsoka was never an afterthought in any room. If Ahsoka Tano was in a room, you know it. Now? She’s an afterthought in many scenes. There’s no vim and vigor. There’s no spark.
Functionally, the Ahsoka audience are young adults who are like 22 years old tops, Star Wars fangirls who had only her or Leia to choose from, lesbians, and die hard Gen X Force nightmares like myself who think of Star Wars as more of a religion than a show. Who is this new Ahsoka pleasing?
Part of being in the Ahsoka Tano fan club is wanting to upend the patriarchy and pump your fist in the air at how she defies convention, charts her own path and kicks some fucking ass. Now she feels like something between a corporate middle manager and an alcoholic private investigator. Where’s the smile? Where’s the mischievous grin? Where’s the FUCK YOUR RULES mentality and when, in the first two episodes, have we had reason to point to the screen in recognition and yell THAT’S WHAT I’M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT AHSOKA!
Continuing on that thought line: you know who loves long, boring, art-film style editing? Star Wars fans. And jacked up fangirls. And coffee-drinkin’ lesbians. I mean, the pace? Holy Macanudos. Can we clip this puppy up a bit? Is it really necessary to establish Ahsoka taking her sweet time to consider the best approach to Indiana Jones that Apple of Eden? We have to see her reset every pillar? We have to see Sabine looking at the star map and THINKIN?
Here’s my guess: they have Mando poisoning. They thought “we hit it big with this strong, silent type” but Ahsoka Tano is decidedly NOT Din Djarin. Ahsoka Tano has always been someone absolutely exploding with energy and character and presence and excitement. Disney thought “Star Wars fans want strong & silent” when they really should have thought “we’d be dead in the water without Baby Yoda.” But who’s the Baby Yoda on Ahsoka? Chopper? Chopper’s a motherfucker! That’s like saying Eric Cartman is Baby Yoda.
Sabine is force sensitive? I mean, okay. I guess that’s just going to be something we do now, make regular townfolk force sensitive. You know who else is force sensitive now? Me! I just decided.
I may be in the minority, but Ezra Bridger is a null set to me. I don’t give a rats fucking ass about the right honorable Ezra Bridger. Did he improve throughout Rebels and have a decent character arc? Yes. But he was such a little shit to start that where he landed was nowhere NEAR the place where everyone I love in the galaxy suddenly has to go look for him and put him on a pedestal. I was as grateful to Grand Admiral Thrawn for eliminating Ezra from the show as I was to Ezra for saving the galaxy. The stakes around the return of spoiled force brat Ezra Bridger do not move me.
Dave Filoni wrote original Ahsoka and Ahsoka 2.0 as well, and he’s done marvels for the Star Wars world, but why do I watch the first couple episodes and wonder if Dave Filoni can’t write women? I’m not saying Sabine, Hera and Ahsoka are bad, but their voices seem nearly interchangeable and they’re all a bit of a shoulder shrug. Like, cool, I do love me some Hera but, again, where’s the juice? Is Sabine riding her speeder in a straight line on a road she has all to herself a badass character trait? I don’t know…
For example, compare the relative Vanilla Latte of Ahsoka to the obvious depth and moral wrinkles of Ray Stevenson’s piping hot Americano Baylan Skoll. “To kill her would be a shame. There are so few Jedi left.” COME ON! THAT’S how you build character. Goddamn, I love Ray Stevenson. I don’t know if there’s anything more post-2016 than how fucking amazing Ray Stevenson’s Star Wars character is and that he has left the world in real life so we won’t get any more of him. UGH.
Every Star Wars writer’s room, TV and VIDEO GAME: LET’S HAVE A SCENE IN A SCRAPYARD/SHIPYARD/DROID FACTORY
Are we invested in the story, the characters, the world, the stakes or any of it yet? I think, right now, I’m legit more invested in Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati than I am in Ahsoka! How is that possible?
Hopefully, I’m wrong on every count. Hopefully, I’ve jumped the gun and I’m just howling at the moon and Filoni and company will make this show one to remember. I truly hope with all my heart that’s how it goes and we all look back at these early concerns and chuckle.
