Ultimately, however, all of these issues boil down to a single question: Is stories Using the anthology format effectively, four stories in? The answer increasingly sounds like “no”. Part of this could simply be a character selection issue – both are all four characters stories In the series so far, Barriss is really the only character whose future fate we didn’t know (Ahsoka in JediOf course we knew it would keep going war of stars continuity, but we still knew what direction she was taking in the context of her episodes), and Barriss is ultimately the only character the series did anything particularly interesting with.
But regardless, every character stories concentrates on around 40 minutes of airtime, and even this has to be divided into three delimited episodes of 10 to 15 minutes each. The window to effectively communicate an individual story in each of these slots and build an arc across all three is an incredibly difficult balancing act – and it’s questionable whether Barriss can get past it Richthe series hasn’t really managed to add anything meaningful to the stories of the other characters it stars.
Not everyone war of stars The story must be absolutely definitive. The series is often at its best when gaps are left open for new storytelling and audience interpretation. But there is a difference to an indeterminacy that arises from the ineffective use of form and pace. There’s also something to be said: While it’s good that more can be said about these characters, war of stars really only gets one chance to tell these stories for the first time – and if they’re so limited by the form in which they’re told, were they even worth telling that way in the first place?
It’s not like war of stars doesn’t work in anthology format either –Star Wars visions is a perfect example of how the series takes the idea and implements it. But if stories will become a regular unit for war of stars Whether animation finds new institutions to build stories beyond the Jedi Order and Empire, or returns to revisit these locations with more characters, it needs to find a better way to use its time – be it focusing on just one character instead of two, or freeing itself from the need to be quasi-episodic, or striving for depth rather than breadth. Whatever it decides, with Jedi And Rich Something has to change now.
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire Is Streaming on Disney+.