Commentary: ‘Tales Of The Underworld’ Offers A Booster Shot Of ‘Star Wars’
by Frank Martin
It’s hard building a franchise. It’s even more difficult to keep such an enterprise going. Storytellers that want to build out a large universe need to constantly deliver new material, otherwise audiences will forget about characters and storylines. However, too much large content can become overwhelming and dilute the quality of the universe. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has run into this problem as it pumps out movies and full length television shows. Another big franchise, Star Wars, runs this risk, as well. But it has wisely developed several short series to bridge the gap, which allow fans a taste of the universe without it becoming too much.
The first of these series, Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi, featured Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and Count Dooku (Corey Burton). It fills in some gaps in their lives while also retaining the universe’s larger continuity. This style of show followed up with Star Wars: Tales Of The Empire. Similarly to its predecessor, this show followed Star Wars villains in a series of standalone episodes shorter than a typical animated series. Recently, a third series, Star Wars: Tales Of The Underworld, features Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman) and how she survived following the Clone Wars. Neither a true agent of the dark side and certainly not a Jedi, Ventress finds herself trying to survive by navigating the shadowy world of criminals.
While these aren’t full blasts of the Star Wars Universe like The Mandalorian or Andor, these series act as Star Wars booster shots for fans. They offer little glimpses to satiate the hunger for content that Star Wars fans enjoy. It’s hard to constantly pump out seasons of television or big budget productions. These short snippets, long enough to be satisfying while also short enough to not be overwhelming, are a great way to provide content while not flooding viewers with too much. The MCU should definitely take note.
Star Wars: Tales Of The Underworld is now streaming on Disney+.
