While I tend to lightly graze the grasstops of the internet discourse about Star Wars (I’m not on what was once Twitter, for example, and cannot make heads or tails of Reddit), even I became aware that there is a strain of conversation about the length of Star Wars television episodes. I think it goes sort of like this: if an episode is below 40 minutes, fainting chairs are required. If an episode is close to 50 minutes, things have been set right somehow, and the Star Wars makers have finally given us what we deserve.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but I just want to say to whomever was upset when Ahsoka Part 3 “Time To Fly” clocked in at around 30 minutes, and whoever is about to be happier because today’s episode of Ahsoka will undoubtedly be longer (it’s being screened in theaters after all) : size matters not.
The amount of good stuff in an episode is unrelated to the length of the episode. In fact, efficient, tight editing can make a story flow and feel more compelling than languid lengthy moments that fill up more time. Especially in a series as dedicated to speed as Star Wars, it’s what a moment made you feel, not the length of the moment, that has real value.
There was once a standard length for an episode of television because each series was built around time slots and advertising. A single episode of The Dukes of Hazard or Dallas or The Love Boat would have been around 44 minutes, to make room for adverstising and fill up a single-hour time slot. Now, with streaming-only series, creators are freed up from the rigid constraints of time-slots and have new constraints, like budget and data. There’s great stuff on TV that’s short form (I Think You Should Leave on Netflix is bite-sized and stellar) and long form (episodes of Apple’s Foundation clock in at over an hour). The question isn’t ‘are we getting enough,’ but ‘is what we’re getting succeeding at telling its story?’
In the context of Star Wars, there’s more to unpack here, because how much is so entirely unrelated to quality. The original trilogy is actually the shortest of all, three trilogies, for example. I don’t think anyone would argue that their comparatively modest lengths made them less satisfying than if they were somehow longer. In fact, they are cultural touchstones, more than any other part of Star Wars.
By contrast, The Mandalorian alone has an average episode length of around forty minutes and there have been eight episodes for three seasons. Forty minutes at eight episodes a season is around three hundred and twenty minutes or nine hundred and sixty minutes over the course of three seasons. That’s about sixteen hours+ of The Mandalorian alone. Andor had twelve episodes - it’s about eight hours long altogether, longer than any individual triology.
The original trilogy is about six hours and change. The entire Skywalker Saga episodes take around twenty hours to watch, just under a day. Add up Boba Fett, Andor, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian, and there’s no question that we’re far past that, and we haven’t even finished Ahoska. Skeleton Crew is still on the horizon. (This doesn’t include animation, which is even more Star Wars.)
So, if you approach each episode with appreciation, something special you get delivered to you to enjoy, as opposed to viewing with deprivation the extra ten minutes you could have gotten if the episode were fifty minutes instead of forty? I guarantee you’ll have a better time each week. It’s a little gift to give to yourself: let go of everything you fear to lose.
Plus, portion size isn’t the best way to assess the quality of a meal. Ask any foodie. (Ever heard the joke: “Waiter this food is terrible! And there’s not enough of it!”) You can have one bite of a perfectly cooked dish that is more memorable than eating half an overcooked turkey covered in gravy.
This is all to say, remember to enjoy the things you love. If you focus on the good fortune of living in an abundance of Star Wars, you’ll find you’re getting joyful treat after treat. If you focus on everything you’re not getting, you can create and foster disappointment in yourself.
Here’s Qui-Gon Jinn’s advice. Always remember, your focus determines your reality.
I’m looking forward to a big dose of mythology for tonight’s Ahsoka! Can’t wait to talk about it with everyone!
it was interesting reading this after this week's lengthy episode. also, that's what she said!
Discourse around Ahsoka has been strange. Casual viewers are perplexed by Ahsoka and complain about things that are clearly answered in the animated shows. Die hard fans, like myself, seem pretty happy but Star Wars can never win. It's either people complaining that they don't want to have to know all the lore to enjoy it or on the other side, it's not true enough to SW lore. Ahsoka feels like a gift to fans even if it wobbles at times but what doesn't?