Ahsoka Brings a Classic Animated Tactic to Live Action

Ahsoka has made huge strides in representing animation in live action and bringing back this classic tactic continues that trend for Star Wars.

Ahsoka has continued to dazzle fans and bring back memories and feelings of the Prequel era and the famous animated series. Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels brought a freshness to the decades old franchise and told some essential stories. Ahsoka has taken many hints from the animated projects already and Season 1, Episode 3 "Time to Fly," continued the trend. Not only did it channel the flying of Prequel era space battles, but Ahsoka followed in the footsteps of her Master, Anakin Skywalker, and took the fight to the starfighters in an unusual manner.

One of the big requests that fans are always looking for in Star Wars, is more space walks and fights. It seems that Star Wars has often wanted to avoid the concept of having characters actually physically fight in space. This "rule" has been broken occasionally in animation and the scenes have been stunning. Not only is it incredibly fun to see Jedi deflecting massive starship blaster bolts, it also adds a new dimension to space warfare. Ahsoka has now joined the ranks of space walks in Star Wars by bringing this classic tactic finally to live action.

Space Walks Have a Legacy in Animation

Whether for practical or budget reasons, up to this point space walks as a battle tactic have only existed in animation. The first was in The Clone Wars Season 2, Episode 2 "Cargo of Doom," which saw Anakin and Ahsoka infiltrating Cad Bane's Separatist ship. In order to make the infiltration successful, the Jedi devised a bold strategy. They placed AT-TE Walkers both on surrounding asteroids and on the Separatist vessel. The AT-TE's provided a surprise advantage and cover fire while Anakin, Ahsoka, Captain Rex and other clones stormed the ship. The strategy was one that nobody assumed would work, but as usual Anakin pulled it off. The scene was truly spectacular as the AT-TE's rained down fire and the Jedi and clones fought through countless battle droids on top of the spaceship.

Fans next saw a space battle like this in Star Wars Rebels Season 3, Episode 21 & 22 "Zero Hour." These episodes focus on Thrawn discover Chopper base on the planet Atollon. While many of the members of Phoenix Squadron are left to fight for their lives under Thrawn's assault, Ezra manages to escape in order to find help. He turns to Sabine Wren and the other Mandalorians, and they come to Chopper Base's aid. When returning to the planet, Bridger and Wren land their strike force of Mandalorians' on the back of an Imperial Interdictor. They take out the ship all while blasting ships and Imperial jumptroopers. The scene shows how adding in these types of combat scenarios can truly change the course of a battle in Star Wars.

Both these scenes are a wonderful experience for Star Wars fans. They bring something fresh to the franchise which has primarily focused on either ground battles or starfighter battles. Combining both of these things is something truly unique though. While animation is able to achieve far more than live action in terms of scale and stunts, it's wonderful to see how animation has inspired this type of combat to make the jump over to Ahsoka.

Ahsoka Remembers Anakin's Teachings

In Ahsoka, Sabine and Ahsoka are being hunted by Shin Hati and Marrok as they approach Morgan Elsbeth's secret project, the Eye of Sion. Obviously the villains are looking to keep Ahsoka from discovering the truth of the giant hyperspace ring. Yet as Ahsoka's ship becomes more and more damages, she takes a page out of Anakin's playbook. She dons a space suit and gets onto the outside of her ship. She deflects blaster and blaster before leaping into open space and destroying one of the fighters. The move was unexpected and shocked Sabine and her opponents.

This is a move that clearly is an homage to Ezra and mostly to Anakin. Ahsoka learned everything from Anakin. She had an incredible amount of natural talent and Anakin was able to show her how to harness and use that talent and power. Many of her out-of-the-box ideas and tactics are all signs of Anakin's tutelage. Many Jedi wouldn't think to get on the outside of the ship as it may not be standard procedure. Anakin taught Ahsoka from very early on that leaving procedure behind is the only way to succeed. Ahsoka knew that without drastic thinking, her, Sabine and Huyang would be dead. Not only was seeing Ahsoka take on starfighters single-handedly stunning, it also was a reminder that she is still very much a student of Anakin.

The Importance of Bringing Animation to Live Action in Star Wars

While carrying over small things like fighting on top of a starship may seem small, it represents something much bigger. Dave Filoni is largely responsible for the success of Star Wars animation, and it makes sense that he guides his creations through both animation and live action. By having characters and styles in both mediums, both animation and live action are elevated. Showing a space walk in animation then bringing that to live action creates a synergy. It shows that animation is just as valid a storytelling medium as live action. They both tell amazing stories and can convey the same visual tone and style.

Ahsoka's space walk was not just yet another showcase of her incredible skill, it was also a wonderful callback to two animated series. Both Clone Wars and Rebels have featured space walks as a means of fighting previously and the addition to live action was long overdue. By bringing the classic tactic into live action, Star Wars has once again shown the deep connection between live action and animation that exists within the franchise.