Okay, so, the Ahsoka series on Disney+ is over and. Well. It is not very good. I attribute this to Dave Filoni, the showrunner, being completely inexperienced in live action. He's an animation guy, and his animation, though sometimes hit and miss, is generally better written and blocked than this show was.
So, what would I do to fix it? There are a few things before we even get to the show itself.
First of all, Filoni is not up to the task of showrunner. He can be an assistant or consultant, but he absolutely is not the right choice for the top job. Second, I would recast Ahsoka. Rosario Dawson is a great actress. She is, however, a TERRIBLE Ahsoka. She doesn't look like Ahsoka. She doesn't act like Ahsoka, and she is absolutely awful at anything involving action. I mean, at the very LEAST use a stunt double who can keep up with the other actors in fight scenes. And can run in a straight line believably. She's wearing all that makeup. No one would even notice.
Moving on, this is something I'm having trouble explaining to people. Either I'm not explaining well, or they're just not understanding. A story is more than a collection of things that happen. A story is emotion. A story is growth. A story is a struggle against the odds. A story is not just a simple string of things that happen to the same characters. If there's no emotion, the characters don't progress, learn and grow as people. When they don't even act like people at all, and show no emotion there's nothing for people to relate to. When they just overcome everything in their way without any problems that aren't just immediately walked off as if they're nothing, it's just not entertaining to watch. Events have to build upon one another. They all have to lead into the next, raising the tension higher and higher until they reach a climax, thematically, narratively, and emotionally.
Next, this show has a very, very huge problem with relevance. It just wastes SO MUCH TIME on things that don't progress the plot or develop the characters. There is so much filler in this show it feels like the entire thing is just a filler arc in an anime series. The editing is also so, so bad. Why is there so much dead air between characters speaking lines of dialog? I could get up and make a freaking sandwich in the time it takes Ahsoka to reply to something Sabine has said. Why did I sit there for seven freaking minutes watching Ahsoka complete a videogame puzzle in complete silence? That is both irrelevant, AND boring! Why does Ahsoka just wander around and look at things in silence for so freaking long? Why does Sabine ride around on a giant boar thing for twenty minutes and get chased by nomads? Why does Baylon just stand around for the second half of the series staring off into the distance meaningfully?
Okay, with those out of the way, let's get to the show. This is what I would do with the story. This is supposed to set up a movie where all of the Star Wars TV series characters come together to fight Grand Admiral Thrawn. But it completely fails at that, because Thrawn is not portrayed as a threat, and anyone who hasn't read books, or watched the Rebels cartoon (which is MOST Star Wars fans) have no idea who he is, or why his return is so bad. So, to start out with, I would give a recap. I would take relevant scenes from the Rebels and Clone Wars series, refilm them in live action, and do maybe a 10 minute montage at the beginning of the first episode so that people who have not read the books, or watched the cartoons know who all of the characters are, and why they should care about them. Kind of a "previously on Star Wars" little thing like they did at the beginning of Obi-Wan, except it would need to be a bit longer as these are characters that most Star Wars fans are NOT familiar with, and they will need to have things laid out for them.
Next, the first 3.5 episodes are completely irrelevant to the plot and just waste everyone's time. Cut them off. Start with an opening crawl that says something to the effect of "Rogue Jedi survivors disillusioned by the New Republic have stolen an ancient starmap that details hyperspace lanes to a neighboring galaxy from the old Jedi archives in hopes of finding Grand Admiral Thrawn and returning him to power. Ahsoka, Sabine and Hera (NOT Jacen, because why would you bring a child into a war zone!?) have chased them in the Ghost to a remote part of the galaxy in hopes of rescuing the missing Jedi Ezra Bridger and preventing the return of Thrawn, while a Republic fleet gathers to aid them." Then we cut to the Ghost arriving in system and being attacked by fighters and the guns on the Eye of Sion. Them getting shot down, and crash landing on the planet below where Baylon and Shin are analyzing the starmap. Destroying a beloved ship from the cartoon as your opening act sets the stakes early on. This is a dangerous situation and our heroes are outmatched and stepping into things they might not be able to handle on their own.
The character Marrok is gone. He was completely superfluous to the show, and ultimately did nothing important or interesting. Morgan Elsbet can still be there, but she needs to be a bit more threatening, and a bit less cryptic. We go through pretty much as before, Sabine and Hera fighting Shin, and Ahsoka fighting Baylon and Morgan. EXCEPT they all lose. They are just completely outmatched. Shin takes out Hera and Sabine, despite Sabine having been trained by a Jedi to fight Jedi (and none of this you can be a Jedi without the force if you wish for it hard enough BS) And Hera having lived with a Jedi for many years and being aware of their capabilities, the two of them are just no match for Shin. This makes Shin a credible threat. Maybe have her whack a limb or two off of someone just to seal the deal.
Ahsoka is also outmatched because Baylon is just so much bigger and stronger than she is, much like in the show. No matter how good she is, he can just batter through her defenses with brute strength. You know. How it works in reality. Have her use some ingenuity to get the upper hand, showing that she's smart and can adapt to fights where she is physically outmatched, but forgets that Morgan is there, and have Morgan jump in and together, she and Baylon beat Ahsoka. The prisoners are gathered. The calculations are complete.
The Republic fleet arrives, and our baddies use Ahsoka, Hera and Sabine as hostages to get back to the Eyes of Sion and jump to the other galaxy to begin their search for Thrawn. You can keep the dream Ahsoka has about Anakin, since that was literally the absolute best part of the show, BUT it needs to be clearer to the audience what he's trying to teach her in this vision.
They arrive in the new galaxy to find that Thrawn hasn't just been sitting there for ten years getting fatter while Ezra picks off his Stormtroopers a few at a time. Thrawn has, in fact conquered the entire galaxy, enslaved or recruited armies of indigenous people, commandeered their ships and built a massive fleet, just trying to find the right hyperspace route to take them back to the Star Wars galaxy and hand them over to the Emperor. Ezra is a prisoner, because of COURSE Thrawn would just lock him up or kill him. Why the hell would he let him go? Our four heroes are reunited WITH SOME ACTUAL FREAKING EMOTION THIS TIME, in prison. They make a plan to escape, and destroy the Eye of Sion before it can Lead Thrawn's massive fleet back to the other galaxy. Sacrificing their way back home to save their people from the war that Thrawn would revive.
They escape and try to enact their plan, but they are utterly defeated by Baylon, Shin, and Morgan. Thrawn jumps his fleet home, and completely destroys the Republic fleet that's waiting for him. This makes Thrawn a credible threat. Our heroes have been beaten repeatedly by enemies that are far stronger than them. The Republic fleet has been destroyed, and Thrawn names himself Emperor in Palpatine's place, starting his war of conquest. This is the perfect end and the perfect lead in to the movie. You have your heroes at their lowest point. The audience sees that they will need to learn, grow, and recruit more allies if they are ever going to win. Thrawn is a tactical genius in command of the largest, most powerful fleet in the galaxy, and it will take everyone, everywhere coming together to defeat him.
My way cuts out all of the pointless crap. Has the characters acting like actual people, and facing real threats. It makes Thrawn and the other villains credible threats, and it sets up for an epic movie where they can have their big Avenger's style team up that they want this movie to be.
But, I don't know. Maybe I just don't get Star Wars anymore. Which would you like better, my story, or the story they actually went with in the show?
