Honestly, the Thrawn Trilogy is well worth a read even without any links to Star Wars current EU. Thrawn makes for an interesting antagonist who challenges the heroes not by being more powerful than them but by being incredibly smart and resourceful. He\'s not perfect though, so instead of coming across as an insufferable genius that only the writer can beat, he feels like a dangerous threat that challenges the heroes in a believable and exciting way. The dark Jedi you found distasteful on the front cover is admittedly not nearly as interesting of a character, but he does help provide a solid obstacle for both Luke\'s character arc and the arc of another new character, Mara Jade. She\'s actually the biggest highlight of the story for me, but I\'ve gushed enough about the trilogy. Long story short, I highly recommend either reading the books or listening to the excellent audiobooks narrated by Marc Thompson.
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Help, I've Locked Myself Out
About 25 years ago my brother borrowed out his first Star Wars novel from the school library. I took one look at the cover, which had a wizard firing a naff laser lightshow
◊ from his fingertips, and said no thanks. This was the start of my petty and unwavering snobbery against the Star Wars Expanded Universe. 25 years on it has finally come back to bite me in the ass.
Ahsoka wasn't made for me. It was made for those who took the time to familiarize themselves with two separate animated shows, based in part off of the same damn book that pre-pubescent me once sneered at. If you are only familiar with the main Star Wars movies (i.e. most adults), then you are not necessarily going to be familiar with characters like Ahsoka, or Grand Admiral Thrawn, or whoever else this show reintroduces to what I assume must be cheers and raucous applause from long time cartoon fans.
In a sense, it is fortunate that the characters are simple enough that a complete newcomer like me can understand what their deal is. But that's also a flaw too. I've watched all eight episodes now and I don't really get much out of the show's characters. Ashoka seems so wistfully smug and content that the story struggles to wrangle any drama out of her. This show should have been called "Sabine", as it focusses more on her emotional arc and her adventures. She's certainly got more going on than anyone else, but she is not up against stiff competition. Most of the characters are flat and boring, and so are their conversations. Despite being an action drama, and each episode running under 30 minutes, the show manages to drag. There are just too many static scenes of characters standing awkwardly opposite each other, chatting with all the passion of work colleagues 75 minutes into their Teams conference call. The show's otherwise impressive high-fantasy inspired visuals just can't compensate for that lack of energy.
The plot itself is also paper thin. You see, the bad guys want to bring Grand Admiral Thrawn back from exile. Oh no, I guess? We don't know why he specifically is such a big deal, considering they've apparently beat him once already. It's up to Ahsoka and friends to stop them. The gravity of this situation, the gravitas of events unfolding the way they do, again depends too heavily on previous shows to have done the ground work to make you care. Meanwhile, I'm just seeing a stoic orange woman trying to stop a placid blue man.
All of this to say, my review is probably going to be useless to any serious Star Wars fan. For everyone else, maybe don't get too excited about Ahsoka. The only impact it had on me was to reconsider trying the Thrawn Trilogy. And that being the case, maybe don't bother with the tv series and go read some books instead.