The Mandalorian (Star Wars Live Action Series)

[greygoose]

OWK is a strange series, but I will readily admit I think it worked. BARELY. But it worked.

The quality is so wildly inconsistent. So many scenes take place on tiny sound stages or sets with cheap-looking props and terrible lighting that are in the ballpark of amateur fan film territory. Andor coming out soon after makes it look even worse. The pacing is hilariously shoddy (love the “I fixed the Leia chase” scene that just cuts right to her being kidnapped). Most of the acting ranges from average to just bad. Suspension of disbelief is constantly shattered (oh no! A laser fence they can walk around! Oh no, they’re doing the “hide the kid in the trench coat” routine!).

But, dang, if Ewan isn’t acting his ass off and treating it like an honor to step back into the role, and Hayden gives a performance that shut up so many “he’s wooden and a bad actor” claims. Every moment these two are together - even on badly lit sets - is electrifying. Vader’s rampage in the village took decades of desensitized and sanitized portrayals of him and gave us the coldest reminder of why he was considered one of the scariest and most impactful villains in film history. And their final duel I truly believe worked as an emotional climax that even elevated the original trilogy in some ways.

Those bits are so good that I mentally forget that “oh yeah, Reva is here too”.

Somewhere out there, a fan is feverishly editing the series into a kickass 90 minute film without any of the junk. And it’s glorious.

Would like to see that fan edit. Think this would have worked much better as a 2 hour film (with a bigger budget).

 

[Khev]

Rey isn't even born for another 6 years so I think it'll be fine

Oh you thought there was only one Rey clone?

 

[Garlador]

Oh you thought there was only one Rey clone?

“Who are you?”
“Rey.”
“Rey who?”
“…Reydalorian.”

“This is the Rey.”

 

[jye4ever]

It’s easy to go on a rant, and I don’t entirely disagree…

But Boba Fett was always a joke. *gets knocked into a hole by a blind guy. Cue the Sarlacc burping*

Legend.

I digress. LF needs to know when they have a GOOD THING going and leave well enough alone. People like Mandalorian. They by and large don’t like the ST. They also liked the Mandalorian for not being tied to the ST. LF may be hoping they can redeem the ST by tying it to the Mandalorian.

… People will instead stop liking the Mandalorian if they start tying it to the ST.

When you’re picking your dodgeball team, there’s a reason you don’t want the dumb kid who eats glue and throws the ball at his own teammates to be on your lineup. You’re not propping him up; he’s dragging your team down.

“THIS IS THE WAY” secret meaning finally revealed!

Always meant a path towards the ST!

 

[jedibear]

When you’re picking your dodgeball team, there’s a reason you don’t want the dumb kid who eats glue and throws the ball at his own teammates to be on your lineup. You’re not propping him up; he’s dragging your team down.

I love this metaphor - sums up the whole situation perfectly.

Some passionate rants in here. Not people hating just to hate. That's what makes the whole downfall of SW under Disney so tragic and baffling. People still want to care about this saga! They want to enjoy the stories and characters and experience well considered, smartly produced continuations and extensions of it.

That is what made Andor so special to me. I know it wasn't everyone's cup of tea around here, but even those who didn't like it could hopefully admit that the show didn't come from a place of sheer exploitation and naked agenda but instead from a true desire to try and bring SW forward while looking back. I just rewatched it again over the last week and it is still stunning to me how the show just seems so incredibly different than all of the rest of the output from Disney/Lucasfilm. So clear that NONE of the usual suspects were involved.

I think what might be happening with Mando is the unfortunate effect of the "higher ups" noticing it's popularity and seeing an exploitable asset with Googoo and no longer caring about anything else but tying it to their own poorly received choices and projects. It is likely inevitable that all roads will lead to that dreadful Sequel trilogy no matter what the cost. It isn't about creativity and longevity. It's about immediate profit and agenda right now. And that is way so many of the franchises many of us grew up on and grew to love are evaporating into forgettable, mindless, empty spectacles before our eyes.

If I want to enjoy and remember Mando, I'll just check out a few episodes of the first season and pretend like it was one of those old TV shows I liked that ended up getting canceled before it could self destruct.

 

[Jaycepticon]

“Who are you?”
“Rey.”
“Rey who?”
“…Reydalorian.”

“This is the Rey.”

A simple “Somehow Rey returned” should suffice for the Disney story group.

 

[SpiderBat]

Well, thanks to that hack known as Filoni we now have canon time travel, and with Rey being a super saiyan Jedi I'm sure she can tap into that crap.

 

[Garlador]

Well, thanks to that hack known as Filoni we now have canon time travel, and with Rey being a super saiyan Jedi I'm sure she can tap into that crap.

Time Travel is my answer to avoiding the sequel trilogy. It takes place in an alternate timeline. Boom.

 

[Jaycepticon]

Time Travel is my answer to avoiding the sequel trilogy. It takes place in an alternate timeline. Boom.

I don’t even need an alternate timeline. I’m ok with them setting the seeds for the FO and then the Favreau-verse veering left to dabble into the unknown regions going forward.

Hell, Ahsoka can be an old wrinkled Jedi force whispering to Rey from the other side of the galaxy when all of the Jedi are whispering to her at the end of Episode IX

 

[SpiderBat]

Time Travel is my answer to avoiding the sequel trilogy. It takes place in an alternate timeline. Boom.

Doomclock, is that you?

Veering off into an alternate timeline has been a fan theory for years but I feel that's pure copium. There's no way Disney is going to take that L and basically admit their own trilogy sucked.

 

[a-dev]

OWK is a strange series, but I will readily admit I think it worked. BARELY. But it worked.

The quality is so wildly inconsistent. So many scenes take place on tiny sound stages or sets with cheap-looking props and terrible lighting that are in the ballpark of amateur fan film territory. Andor coming out soon after makes it look even worse. The pacing is hilariously shoddy (love the “I fixed the Leia chase” scene that just cuts right to her being kidnapped). Most of the acting ranges from average to just bad. Suspension of disbelief is constantly shattered (oh no! A laser fence they can walk around! Oh no, they’re doing the “hide the kid in the trench coat” routine!).

But, dang, if Ewan isn’t acting his ass off and treating it like an honor to step back into the role, and Hayden gives a performance that shut up so many “he’s wooden and a bad actor” claims. Every moment these two are together - even on badly lit sets - is electrifying. Vader’s rampage in the village took decades of desensitized and sanitized portrayals of him and gave us the coldest reminder of why he was considered one of the scariest and most impactful villains in film history. And their final duel I truly believe worked as an emotional climax that even elevated the original trilogy in some ways.

Hmm. I've just realized I watched ANH recently with my brothers after Andor finished and not one of us thought to bring up the events of this show (Obi-Wan). Like it just didn't factor in at all.

 

[chrisstbh]

A simple “Somehow Rey returned” should suffice for the Disney story group.

They’ll have her give a speech in Fortnite first too.

 

[Dark_Knight_89]

Seeing as this is set 20-25 years before those movies (not sure how much time is supposed to be passing between Mando seasons, but S1 is set 25 years before the ST), one would hope that there is more than enough of a time gap to avoid having to go anywhere near the ST.

I don't mind if these guards appear per se, as it does stand to reason that the remnants of the Empire at this point would have some kind of guard, but I really hope that's it and that there is nothing ST related shoved down our throats.

At some point, the post ROTJ Star Wars story that is continuing through The Mandalorian and Ahsoka needs to have some kind of ending that could be seen as "definitive" or "final" so that the ST can be nicely omitted from head canon.

 

[chrisstbh]

Seeing as this is set 20-25 years before those movies (not sure how much time is supposed to be passing between Mando seasons, but S1 is set 25 years before the ST), one would hope that there is more than enough of a time gap to avoid having to go anywhere near the ST.

I don't mind if these guards appear per se, as it does stand to reason that the remnants of the Empire at this point would have some kind of guard, but I really hope that's it and that there is nothing ST related shoved down our throats.

At some point, the post ROTJ Star Wars story that is continuing through The Mandalorian and Ahsoka needs to have some kind of ending that could be seen as "definitive" or "final" so that the ST can be nicely omitted from head canon.

 

[a-dev]

 

[Mondragon]

View attachment 617530

Clearly Rey's fathers, cousin was a proto-Snoke fusion of Palpatine and Grogu's stolen DNA.
Snoku the great.

Making Shtar Worse had some exclusive concept art.

 

[Dark_Knight_89]

View attachment 617530

Whilst I get the reference here, for someone who is watching this in chronological order and will never watch the ST, this could be just a failed clone attempt, it doesn't necessarily have to be Snoke or an iteration of Snoke. It could be a cloning story that gets resolved and wrapped up without having to go into ST territory.

Cloning is part of the original sequel trilogy in Zahn's books, I hope they go down a similar route with the above if they have to.

I guess my point is, hopefully there is nothing explicitly or unavoidably ST shoved down our throats.

 

[chrisstbh]

Whilst I get the reference here, for someone who is watching this in chronological order and will never watch the ST, this could be just a failed clone attempt, it doesn't necessarily have to be Snoke or an iteration of Snoke. It could be a cloning story that gets resolved and wrapped up without having to go into ST territory.

Cloning is part of the original sequel trilogy in Zahn's books, I hope they go down a similar route with the above if they have to.

I guess my point is, hopefully there is nothing explicitly or unavoidably ST shoved down our throats.

Sure, but we all know full well what it's supposed to be a hint towards. We've already watched the ST, so we know.

 

[Khev]

I guess my point is, hopefully there is nothing explicitly or unavoidably ST shoved down our throats.

Even if there is you don't have to accept it. Just like when Luke says "You fought in the Clone Wars?" to Obi-Wan in ANH I know that he wasn't really talking about the PT and 2008 animated series and in my mind I still imagine a different Clone Wars that Lucas would have envisioned in the 70's that never came to be. So if you want to strike the ST from your head canon but then Mando introduces "Clone Snoke" or something you can just pretend that it's a new Snoke character that will be part of some new story that takes places far after Mando that will never come to be.

I mean just imagine if for some reason someone watches the ST as their very first Star Wars and hates it. Then they watch Mando and love it until the end of Season 2 they go "oh crap they just introduced a young version of that loser on the island. Now these stories are linked." No they can just pretend it's a different Luke like everyone else. Nothing has to tie Mando Snoke in your mind to ST Snoke just like people are separating OT/Mando Luke from ST Luke.

 

[Garlador]

View attachment 617530

What a clever Resident Evil reference.