Ahsoka Season 1, Episode 1 Discussion

So why is there an ancient hidden map that happens to point at the location where Thrawn is? That made no sense to me but maybe I missed a detail.

At the end of Rebels, Thrawn and Ezra were carried off by purrgil - giant hyperspace whales.

Presumably, it's an ancient purrgil migration map or something.
I really hope they adress that at some point soon
I think the ancient map is just to the distant Galaxy, which is where Thrawn also is.

I thought the pacing was good. I want more slow burns like Andor and Mandalorian, and I think Filoni knows what he's doing with his beloved characters.

People lauded Andor for its lightsaber-free action, and I get it, but I felt like this handled it really well too. Ashoka got to flex on some trivial droids, dark Jedi show how absolutely terrifying force users are to everyday soldiers, and we got a battle of apprentices that actually felt like two apprentices going through the forms they learned and really hoping their (probably) first combat against another actual Force user ends in their favor.

I loved seeing more of the New Republic, with their ships and uniforms. I loved seeing the ancient temple. They claimed it was Dathomiri but I got series Zeffo vibes from Jedi: Fallen Order. I loved seeing a live action Hera, Sabine and Huyang, and their respective actors did a fantastic job. Overall, a strong first episode; I just hope they finish as strong as they started.

I literally joked "here, we find Ahsoka midway through a Fallen Order level" to my roommate when we watched it.

I didn't mind it. It felt a lot like Rebels Season 5, which is interesting.

I think Sabine's actress did a great job. I didn't mind Hera once I got used to her. Ahsoka herself still feels a bit more harsh than I remember, but she's always kind of had that streak to her.

I liked the entire section on Corellia, I liked seeing Lothal, I liked the Dark Jedi bad guys. Sabine being stabbed was a questionable decision, but otherwise I didn't mind anything.

Chopper is still an 11/10 droid.

It felt a lot like Rebels Season 5, which is interesting.

I wonder if this is gonna continue once we start making progress on this intergalactic chase.

I liked the entire section on Corellia, I liked seeing Lothal, I liked the Dark Jedi bad guys

Yeah it's cool what this show is doing with force users. Baylan and his apprentice are clearly not sith, he shows more emotion and she has a padawan braid. Sabine being a jedi with no force ability is also intriguing and new.

Really cool to see how much nicer Corellia looks under Republic rule. Ridiculous that folks would prefer the Empire but believable.

I liked it but I do hope it picks up a bit. The mystery has me hooked and I'm really excited to see where it goes. I also like the live action version of the characters more than I thought I would.

I agree. I like that they’re taking their time, but I hope the entire season isn’t just the search for Ezra.
- Ahsoka literally say in the first episode, "this isn't just about the search for Ezra, this is about preventing another war." And Sabine responds "you don't think I don't know that?"
I think now that anyone who didn't watch Rebels has all the information as someone who did, we'll get into new stuff as we explore the mystery. Another galaxy is super intriguing.

I won’t write the show off based on one episode but there’s definitely room for improvement. The pacing was really plodding. This has been a recurring problem with recent live action SW but it’s also streaming in general. No set time slots have lead some to slacken their narrative discipline. There’s no reason this couldn’t have been 45 minutes.

Also I’m not convinced this had to be live action. I spent a lot of time this episode mentally adjusting to thinking of these as the same characters from the same story. Sabine was perfectly cast, but I’m not sold on the others. Rosario as Ahsoka looked good on paper but feels wooden on screen. Hopefully Feloni didn’t inherit George’s facility with actors.

Andor also proved to me that they need to stop leaning so heavily on the Volume. The sets on Andor had that classic Star Wars lived in futurism, the sets here felt mostly sterile and empty. But then Andor spoiled us on a lot of things.

I’m rooting for Filoni and want this to succeed so I hope it gets better.

I didn't feel like the pacing was bad, it was just slow, especially in comparison to a show ostensibly aimed at kids like Rebels was. I also think this show is starting out better than Kenobi or Mando s3, for instance.

I also felt the Volume a lot more in Kenobi.
I've heard of the concept in the streaming space of "number of minutes watched", like there's a different way of judging success. This has me wondering if there's a demand from up top to make these shows longer in order to increase that metric. I say this because while slow pacing can be an artistic choice and I'm perfectly fine for it for the right story. I lapped up Oppenheimer, and movies like Only God Forgives.

When it works, it works. Ahsoka felt like it was stretched way out of pace, a 25 minute show elongated into an hour. Every. sentence. was. laborious. and. plodding. when. it. didn't. have. any. reason. to. be. Not to mention the delivery of the lines felt so wooden and forced, and I think if you're going to build around a slow paced story, then you need to lean on the emotion and body language to fill it out. This had none of it.
- Yeah the pacing should be tighter, it’s Star Wars, not a Tarkovsky film

I don’t mind the pacing at all, and live action Lothal is very cool. It feels like Lothal.

Can’t say the same for any of Phoenix Squadron save for Chopper, but I’ve always had difficulty seeing live action and animated characters as the same. It doesn’t help that Rebels’ art style was not particularly faithful to real humans, and the voices don’t match up. They also just… don’t feel right? I have to consciously remind myself who they are. The cast still did a great job though, I don’t think any of them are miscast unlike the Grand Inquisitor.

All to say, better than I expected. Kenobi was a massive disappointment, I disliked that since episode 1 whereas I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about Ahsoka.

I only felt like I was seeing Hera towards the end of episode 2, and it has a lot to do with her pink undertones on her face.

I was very disappointed in this. As someone who didnt watch Clone Wars or Rebels, this show is incomprehensible and does a really poor job of relaying the information you need to digest the plot. Im happy for fans of the animated stuff if they liked it but this isnt bringing in any new fans or satisfying the people that appreciated Andor.

While I'm in the same boat as you regarding not having seen Clone Wars or Rebels, Star Wars has always referenced things that have happened off screen. Remember watching the original film before the prequels were announced? Everything they spoke about that had come before had to be imagined between you and your friends.

At least now, if we're intrigued about who people are, or past events, we've got a cartoon to go back and watch.

That being said, this show does feel a bit 'run of the mill' to me. Especially after the brilliance of Andor. But at least now there's something for everyone. I would be interested to see the ages of people who prefer Andor to show like Ahsoka. I have a feeling older people prefer the former. Although this is social media, so that means every exception to the rule will now appear in the comments, haha!
I've specifically wondered how this would have played for someone unfamiliar with the animated shows. I loved Rebels, watched seasons 2-4 as they aired, and when it was revealed this show would follow up on that I was excited.

What did it do that was incomprehensible to you? I felt that the exposition was delivered while a character was doing something instead of just like, walking or standing around.

I just can’t get excited for this. I just feel like it’s been Star Wars overload, and it’s crazy to think of feel that way: I had every damn book that came out as a kid and couldn’t get enough Star Wars. But the rapid acceleration over the past decade with something new coming on TV or in the theater multiple times per YEAR has just burned me out.

Marvel did the same thing. I just can’t care about anything post Infinity War.

I’m not feeling it, but I understand. If it makes you feel any better, it looks like it’s slowing to 2 seasons (of 8-10 episodes) and 1 movie per year. The movies also don’t start until 2026.
Did you watch Rebels? For me, I like secondary worlds and I would rather spend more time in a few of them rather than less time in a lot of them, so I don't think I'll tire of SW in the way I've also burned out on the MCU.
- No, I only watched like two episodes and it seemed too “young” for me at the time, and then my kids never got into it.

Filoni really tricked KK into a big ass budget for the 5th season of Rebels. I really loved it but there was definitely some slow paced scenes. I also think there should be a bit more exposition for new viewers on who these people are. I of course knew but my wife was a bit confused and lost interest for the characters she’s never heard of but was supposed to care about.

I also understand Ahsoka being a lot more quiet than her Clone Wars self but I really hope some of that personality comes out as the show continues

That’s the problem here, there aren’t any stakes to the story if you don’t know the context. I saw people compare the temple scene to Raiders, but unlike Raiders there was no suspense to the scene. She just moved some furniture around until the robots showed up.
I think Ahsoka having put up walls at this older age is gonna be a theme and arc for her character this show/season.

I knew the characters and tbh was more intrigued by all the new stuff. It felt like it was playing catch-up for people who didn't see the end of Rebels with all the Sabine and Lothal stuff.

I dont understand peoples complaints, theres 3 major action sequences in the first episode alone. And we've already found out about the big story thing. The acting isnt like oscar defining but I feel like there hasnt been a weak performance among the bunch.

I'll never think "but that acting was bad" when considering Star Wars, considering some of the flubs and campy lines/deliveries going back to A New Hope.

The pacing isn't bad imo either, it's just slower than a lot of action movies and shows now, but this isn't just an action show.

Something was off about the production. It felt like I was watching a fan-made film instead of something from the actual Star Wars universe. Too clean and well lit? Too cheap looking? Incorrect use of the new “green screen” tech? Not sure — it just feels wrong. I also couldn’t get invested in the heroes.

Mandalorian, Boba Fett, and especially Andor production values and direction didn’t feel this way to me.

Ray Stevenson has gravitas the rest of the cast seemed to be lacking. He will be sorely missed. Rosario was fine in the other shows but here she’s just monotone. Lots of sighing and long blank pauses after lines. Honestly the droids and pets had more life and character than many of the actors.

Also please spend some money on the military badges. They all look like someone opened a package of cepacol cough tablets and stuck them to the uniform with double-sided tape. I don’t remember them looking this way in the movies, but I’ve noticed it in the TV shows.

Mandalorian, Boba Fett, and especially Andor production values and direction didn’t feel this way to me.

I really felt that way about Kenobi. I didn't think the Volume was noticeable as much in these two Ahsoka episodes, but what I really felt was off in production value was Hera + the mural recreation from Rebels.

Hera looked like they didn't finish putting the actress in Twilek makeup with her pink blush and lipstick.

The mural of the Rebels team that they made also looked like they meticulously recreated Ezra and the Loth-wolves, then were rushed to fill out the rest of it with half as much time. I think they even knew it sucked because they don't linger on it and obscure most of the faces most of the time.

Catching up now before Ep. 7 drops... So happy to see Last Jedi get another kick in the head.

One of the worst scenes was Leia giving a little tracking stone to Rey and explaining that she'll be able to find them wherever they go.

Then, in the exact same scene, with no cutaway, we're told the First Order tracked them through hyperspace and "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

Even though they LITERALLY just explained, in the same scene how it was possible, and in fact Tarkin and Vader used a tracker on the Falcon in Ep. IV to follow it back to Yavin.

Here we have Chopper tossing one on about the size of a DVD.

Keep on burying Last Jedi! I don't think it's dead yet!

Couldn't get through the first episode. I got 10 minutes in on my first view and then to about 35 minutes on my second before switching it off. I know nothing of Rebels or the cartoon shows, so these are new characters to me, though I know of Thrawn from the books.

I found the script/acting/pacing awful and the main reason I couldn't watch. The plot was trite and not enough to keep me wanting to watch. Another map hunt for a missing and possibly dead person? Again. Why? If the pacing/script/acting was fun then I'd be fine with just a sci-fi fantasy adventure, but the actors looked like they were working on sleeping medication, it was just painful to witness.

Felt like there were some rumblings of this being a strong tent-pole effort for Star Wars after so many misfires, but I guess unless you're super invested into the greater story then this is not the redemption it was talked up to being.

Another map hunt for a missing and possibly dead person?

I didn't like that either - but the context around it is different and I think it will be developed in a way that is far more satisfying than the map to find Luke in the Sequel Trilogy.

I found the script/acting/pacing awful and the main reason I couldn’t watch.

I didn't think it stood out particularly worse than any of the acting in the recent run of shows. I thought it was slow, but it didn't bother me. Definitely think they jumped the gun and made it rely too heavily on the audience having seen the end of Rebels.

Felt like there were some rumblings of this being a strong tent-pole effort for Star Wars after so many misfires, but I guess unless you’re super invested into the greater story then this is not the redemption it was talked up to being.

I hadn't gotten that impression. I've always thought this was Filoni's shot at continuing his carved out section of Star Wars stories, themes, and characters.