As promised, here is my Ahsoka two part premiere review, and I have to say, so far so good. Bit of background on where I came from with this. When the show first began filming we had heard some rumors around Ahoska which gave me cause for concern. Now, I think those rumors will end up being true, but context is everything. Anyway, the point is, that ever since the first trailer dropped, my opinion has changed. I thought, ‘this looks like a damn good time’. Ergo, I did come into those with some hope in my old, cold, dead heart.

Let’s start with NO SPOILERS. I’m going to try and stay away from them. If I have to get into SPOILERS for an episode, then I will mark it clearly before going there. That being said, I can’t see any need for that so far.

Part One

I’ve read a few criticisms about the pacing of this show, and I’ll guess this comes from the opening episode. Here is what I’ll add to that conversation, it depends on your tastes. I don’t have a short attention span, I like when a director lingers on a shot here and there, or when there can just be moments of silence between characters for the actors to do their jobs. I also think that the pacing of that opening episode may hit you differently depending on whether you’re a Rebels fan or not.

Some time was taken to establish the relationship between Ahsoka and Sabine specifically, but also how Hera fits into that model herself. Ergo, perhaps if you are a Rebels fan you may have felt like this wasn’t needed. This is the difference between live-action and animation though, and I appreciate the slower build up. I never once felt disengaged.

There’s a lot of little details here that are taken from Rebels and that’s a good thing. The characters in Rebels worked, and they work here together as well. I especially think that Filoni nailed his choice for Sabine Wren as Bordizzo just seems to have come straight from the cartoon. It took, me till episode 2 to feel the same about Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera, but he nailed that one as well.

Villains

I am also pleased that so far Ahsoka is not simply focused on the protagonists. What I mean by that, is that we have a sense of the antagonists being ever present. We do spend time with them and their plans. Inevitably these groups we follow are meeting up here and there, and that’s when the action kicks in. However, I appreciate us following the story from both angles, not something that was even that effectively pulled off on Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was a missed opportunity for this fan.

As for the action, things do pick up, and you’re not going to be longing for more Lightsaber fights in this one, on both sides of the group dynamics. Those group dynamics are interesting. Sabine and Ahsoka are clearly the leads, but it seems Baylon and Shin are their antagonist counterparts. Whereas, we also have Morgan Elsbeth as the anchor in the bad side with Hera as the anchor in the good side. It works!

RELATED: Early Reactions Say Ahsoka Is Live-Action Rebels Sequel In All But Name

I guess my only slight criticism is that I’m not a huge fan of the new Lightsaber design from Disney. I get it’s likely easier to film, but the ones in the movies just still look better. That’s am ore a current Lucasfilm criticism than anything specific to Ahsoka though.

Overall, as said in the title, it’s so far so good. Intriguing premise, well shot, pretty, well acted, mature, but with plenty of Star Wars action. Oh and a shout out to David Tennant who as always, is brilliant, and is once again brilliant reprising the role of Huyang. When is Hollywood going to wake up on this guy, if anyone’s ever seen his Purple Man, Doctor Who, Crowley and the UK version of Broadchurch, then you need no explanation. He may be at this time my favorite actor and I can’t believe Hollywood isn’t using him more whilst he’s still young enough.

Grade A-

Part Two Chopper

Okay, so I covered a lot of what I had to say about Part Two in Part One. The dynamics the quality all carried over. However, dare I say, the pace does pick up a little and I especially enjoyed the end of episode action sequence. A big part of that enjoyment was seeing the myth, the legend, the war criminal, and mass murderer, Chopper. I’m not sure which is my favorite Astromech droid, or droid in general in Star Wars. However, there is only two candidates, Artoo and Chopper.

I was not sure whether Chopper would make that jump to live-action work as well. I was mistaken, because I thought the action sequence involving Hera, Chopper and the Ghost was excellently executed by director Steph Green. Hera totally grew on me as the mother of the group and also the General of the New Republic and a good one. As I said above, it took me till episode, 2, but Winstead is great as Hera. Mainly though, it’s just good that those who don’t watch animated shows can discover the joy that is Chopper. If you’re not sold yet, wait a bit. I’m sure Filoni will have him commit many murders before the Season is over. Don’t mess with Chop.

Grade A

What did you think of my Ahsoka two part premiere review? What did you think of Part One and Part Two so far? Comments below as always.

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