Post by backroadjunkie on Jan 23, 2020 18:44:03 GMT
All right, I've watched the entirety of season one, and I have to admit, I've been amused. So I thought I'd write up a review of sorts, so long as I'm doing some disk rearranging and reorganizing. (I may be buying a new computer now that MS has eol'd my Win 7 machine...)
This isn't going to be an episodic review, but a series review. Sorry for some of the obscure jokes . And this will be spoiler free until I specifically mention spoilers...
If you ever wondered what an episodic version of Star Wars would look like, this is it. (Caveat: I haven't seen any of the animated shows. I probably will now that I have access to them via D+, but it's not high on my To-Do list.
) It is without a doubt Star Wars, but has an entirely different feel to it. It's not the hyper-paced Lucas trademarked edit, but at times feels more Sergio Leone. (Well, a television constrained Sergio Leone.)
Since this is an AoS forum, it's easy to compare Mandalorian to Agents Of SHIELD. It may be set in the Star Wars universe, but it's disconnected from the movie personalities. There's almost no mention of the Jedi, and only a passing knowledge of The Force. On the other hand, it's almost shameful the way they've provided every reference to the movies conceivable, from Mos Eisley and the Cantina from New Hope, to the stereotype that Storm Troopers can't hit anything with their blasters even if they're right next to it. It doesn't have the extreme pacing of the movies, but the producers have taken great pains to make sure the viewer knows this *is* Star Wars, and more to the point, it's George Lucas' Star Wars, with Storm Troopers, X-Wings, Jawas, Land Speeders and... The Baby. I'll get into this almost disgustingly adorable puppet later.
Before we go any farther, we should address the star of this show. No, it's not Pedro Pascal or The Baby. It's Jon Favreau. I'd argue he launched the MCU, showing what a Super-Hero movie should and could feel like. Agreed the genius of the MCU is Kevin Feige, but the tone and much of what the MCU is/was based on was created by Favreau's Iron Man. Now I think he may have been completely successful in creating a Star Wars story line that doesn't involve a Skywalker in some way, and may be successful in showing how to use Star Wars now that the Skywalker saga is complete. (Is it complete? After finally seeing Last Jedi, I can wait for Rise to come to D+. Heh.)
Favreau has literally replace the Jedi order with the Mandalorian culture in the already established universe, and throws in an adorable puppet that completely ties it into the first six movies, even though it has nothing to do with any of the movies.
Considering Favreau's done projects for Marvel, Disney and now Lucasfilm, he just needs to do a Pixar flick to be the first to complete the grand slam.
And just a note, Disney needs to get Favreau involved in the Parks side of the business. I think he'd easily fit into Imagineering... 
Back to the Mandalorian, one of the things that make the show Star Wars is the money Iger is spending to make sure his pet project (i.e. Disney+) succeeds. The estimated cost of season one has been reported at $15 million per episode. If you compare _Last Jedi_ to season one, Mandalorian cost 1/3 of Last Jedi, with 3 times the runtime.
It shows how good you can make some sfx for the small screen (both CGI and practical) if enough money is thrown at it. (The visual effects are being done by a spin off from Industrial Light and Magic called "ILM TV", which will specialize in sfx for shows like this, so I suspect they'll be doing the sfx for the Marvel series coming up. Makes sense. The more done in-house, the less the cost on the final line on the balance sheet...)
And it may have been well worth the money. It's been well accepted by the fans, especially those who rejected the Kennedy era of films. This show exists right between the Lucas/Kennedy boundary, so the environment we see is more Episodes 5/6 than the prequels or sequels. Also supplying the fan support is the Mandalorian lore that's canon from the animated shows.
Of course, much of this will be subsidized by Baby Yoda merchandising. It's been reported that the puppet cost $5 million. Worth every penny, lol.
I also like the pacing of the episodes, especially how they don't contain any obvious commercial break points (and thus don't need any small gotcha's every 12 minutes to attempt to keep you tuned in) which gives them more of a cinematic feel than a television show. And the episodes are only as long as they need to be without filler. (Which I often complain about.) The episodes have ranged from 33 to 49 minutes.
Spoilers follow. I mean big juicy ones...
There are two main characters in the show, with a few side-characters who actually live past season one. I envision this conversation sometime in the future:
The Mandalorian: When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long.
Baby Yoda: I notice when you get to dis-likin' someone they ain't around for long neither.
The Mandalorian: This is the Way.
(Okay, this will ever make it into the show. But it should. Oh, apologies to Clint Eastwood. )
The titular character is literally A Man With No Name. It was finally revealed his name is "Din Djarin", but honestly, he might as well be "Blondie" or "Vin". (Or Dad. HAhahahaha...) The actor portraying him is Pedro Pascal.
He is a Mandalorian (and thus is often referred to as Mando), a culture of warriors something akin to Jedi, but without the Force or the disdain for blasters. His back-story plays out over a number of episodes.
While the Mandalorian is a race from the planet Mandalor, they accept "Foundlings" into their culture. Many Foundlings were orphans whose parents were killed by the Empire. (While the Jedi and Mandalorians are enemies (or at least has had a history of such), they were both against the Empire. The enemy of my enemy, donchaknow.) Din Djarin is one of these "Foundlings".
The Mandalorians have a "Creed", a set of traditions/rules/cultural laws which makes them a Mandalorian. (This leads to their mantra of "This is the Way" you will hear between Mandalorians.) One of these says he cannot reveal his face to any living being other than their immediate family. If they take the helmet off in front of others, they can never put it back on. (This doesn't seem to be true in the animated series, however.)
I do feel for Pascal. Because of this little gotcha, he gets something like 30 seconds of face time in season one. Apparently, he isn't always the one under the mask when filming, either. I mean, I could have played several of the scenes...
The other main character, which I initially thought of as a macguffin but may turn out to be a co-star, is The Baby. Immediately labeled by everyone Baby Yoda, it is obviously of Yoda's race, supposedly 50 years old, but still a child. It can't communicate (that we've seen), but seems to completely understand its surroundings, circumstances and even conversation. We are witness to the child's ability to use the Force very early in the series.
It is a complete mystery. It could be one of Yoda's race, a clone, even Yoda himself reincarnated by the Force. But one thing is clear. It pegged the adorable and cute meters on the Internet to 11, something that hasn't happened since... Baby Groot. Hmmmm....
They considered doing a CGI Baby, but decided a physical puppet would be better, and they were right. It was kept amazingly quiet right up until the reveal. There was absolutely no clue in the pre-release material. Because they wanted to keep it a secret, no merchandising was started until after the reveal, and it was something like an agonizing two months before Disney got the merchandising arm fully activated.
And the finally revealed big-bad from the post-Empire command structure is named "Moff Gideon", and really wants the little guy for some reason. He arrives commanding Storm Troopers in this really cool Tie Fighter...but I digress. He's had his Troopers wipe out almost all of the other local Mandalorians, which is going to put him right up on the "gonna die" list. The ending shot of season one shows him holding The Darksaber. I'd imagine some fanboys had an orgasm over that...
Ming-Na was in Episode 5, where she played a character named "Melinda May". (Or at least the equivalent, "Fennec Shand", from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...)
She was apparently killed in the episode, but I suspect she might still be alive.
Really spoiler territory. This will probably ruin all of season one if you haven't seen it.
The entire plot of the series was defined 30 minutes into the last episode. Since the Mandalorian are a Warrior race, the Armorer is the leader of sorts. Djarin and his group are being chased by "Imps", or Imperial Guards (i.e. Storm Troopers.)
Armorer: Show me the one whose safety deemed such destruction.
Din Djarin: (Shows her The Baby.) This is the one.
Armorer: This is the one you hunted, then saved?
Din Djarin: Yes. The one who saved me as well.
Armorer: From the mudhorn?
Din Djarin: Yes.
Armorer: It looks helpless.
Din Djarin: It's injured, but it is not helpless. Its species can move objects with its mind.
Armorer: I know of such things. The songs of eons past tell of battles between Mandalore The Great, and an order of sorcerers called Jedi that fought with such powers.
Din Djarin: It is an enemy?
Armorer: No. Its kind were enemies, but this individual is not.
Din Djarin: What is it?
Armorer: It is a foundling. By Creed, it is in your care.
Din Djarin: You wish me to train this thing?
Armorer: It is too weak. It would die. You have no choice. You must reunite it with its own kind.
Din Djarin: Where?
Armorer: This, you must determine.
Din Djarin: You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers?
Armorer: This is the Way.
(The group discusses how to escape, the Armorer explains the way out.)
Greef Karga: I think we should go.
Din Djarin: I'm staying. I need to help her and I need to heal.
Armorer: You must go. A foundling is in your care. By Creed, until it is of age or reunited with its own kind, you are as its father. (Baby Yoda looks at Dad, lol.) This is the Way.
(She pours some metal and turns to Din Djarin.)
You have earned your Signet. (Attaches Mudhorn Signet to his armor.) You are a clan of two.
Din Djarin: Thank you. I will wear this with honor.
So here's what I think we'll see in the future. We could sub-title the show to "Have Baby, Will Travel to the Stars."
Pascal will get more face time, since Baby is his... child? ward? and part of his family and clan. So he doesn't have to wear the helmet in it's presence.
They will have to try to find The Child's homeworld. In the time frame of this show, the Jedi is Luke Skywalker and a bunch of force ghosts. But in the hunt for The Baby's homeworld, there'll probably be a seasonal story arc. Like Moff Gideon, and possibly the backstory of The Baby and Djarin. (For instance, it was hinted Djarin was much more violent in his past. Did something change his outlook?)
There will also be the development of the relationship between The Baby and Djarin. That should be fun. (It's already been fun.)
The Mandalorian. Who does it refer to, Din Djarin or The Baby. If The Baby is a foundling, it could become a Mandalorian. Like, what if Yoda became a Mandalorian instead of a Jedi...
This is the way.
This isn't going to be an episodic review, but a series review. Sorry for some of the obscure jokes . And this will be spoiler free until I specifically mention spoilers...
If you ever wondered what an episodic version of Star Wars would look like, this is it. (Caveat: I haven't seen any of the animated shows. I probably will now that I have access to them via D+, but it's not high on my To-Do list.
) It is without a doubt Star Wars, but has an entirely different feel to it. It's not the hyper-paced Lucas trademarked edit, but at times feels more Sergio Leone. (Well, a television constrained Sergio Leone.)And with good reason. This is Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek revisited, though The Mandalorian is more of a Have Gun Will Travel or Wanted Dead Or Alive than Wagon Train to the stars. There's already been a number of comparisons that this series could have been a western. That's okay by me, I'm a fan of Western's...
Since this is an AoS forum, it's easy to compare Mandalorian to Agents Of SHIELD. It may be set in the Star Wars universe, but it's disconnected from the movie personalities. There's almost no mention of the Jedi, and only a passing knowledge of The Force. On the other hand, it's almost shameful the way they've provided every reference to the movies conceivable, from Mos Eisley and the Cantina from New Hope, to the stereotype that Storm Troopers can't hit anything with their blasters even if they're right next to it. It doesn't have the extreme pacing of the movies, but the producers have taken great pains to make sure the viewer knows this *is* Star Wars, and more to the point, it's George Lucas' Star Wars, with Storm Troopers, X-Wings, Jawas, Land Speeders and... The Baby. I'll get into this almost disgustingly adorable puppet later.
Before we go any farther, we should address the star of this show. No, it's not Pedro Pascal or The Baby. It's Jon Favreau. I'd argue he launched the MCU, showing what a Super-Hero movie should and could feel like. Agreed the genius of the MCU is Kevin Feige, but the tone and much of what the MCU is/was based on was created by Favreau's Iron Man. Now I think he may have been completely successful in creating a Star Wars story line that doesn't involve a Skywalker in some way, and may be successful in showing how to use Star Wars now that the Skywalker saga is complete. (Is it complete? After finally seeing Last Jedi, I can wait for Rise to come to D+. Heh.)
Favreau has literally replace the Jedi order with the Mandalorian culture in the already established universe, and throws in an adorable puppet that completely ties it into the first six movies, even though it has nothing to do with any of the movies.
Considering Favreau's done projects for Marvel, Disney and now Lucasfilm, he just needs to do a Pixar flick to be the first to complete the grand slam.
And just a note, Disney needs to get Favreau involved in the Parks side of the business. I think he'd easily fit into Imagineering... 
Back to the Mandalorian, one of the things that make the show Star Wars is the money Iger is spending to make sure his pet project (i.e. Disney+) succeeds. The estimated cost of season one has been reported at $15 million per episode. If you compare _Last Jedi_ to season one, Mandalorian cost 1/3 of Last Jedi, with 3 times the runtime.
It shows how good you can make some sfx for the small screen (both CGI and practical) if enough money is thrown at it. (The visual effects are being done by a spin off from Industrial Light and Magic called "ILM TV", which will specialize in sfx for shows like this, so I suspect they'll be doing the sfx for the Marvel series coming up. Makes sense. The more done in-house, the less the cost on the final line on the balance sheet...)
And it may have been well worth the money. It's been well accepted by the fans, especially those who rejected the Kennedy era of films. This show exists right between the Lucas/Kennedy boundary, so the environment we see is more Episodes 5/6 than the prequels or sequels. Also supplying the fan support is the Mandalorian lore that's canon from the animated shows.
Of course, much of this will be subsidized by Baby Yoda merchandising. It's been reported that the puppet cost $5 million. Worth every penny, lol.
I also like the pacing of the episodes, especially how they don't contain any obvious commercial break points (and thus don't need any small gotcha's every 12 minutes to attempt to keep you tuned in) which gives them more of a cinematic feel than a television show. And the episodes are only as long as they need to be without filler. (Which I often complain about.) The episodes have ranged from 33 to 49 minutes.
Spoilers follow. I mean big juicy ones...
There are two main characters in the show, with a few side-characters who actually live past season one. I envision this conversation sometime in the future:
The Mandalorian: When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long.
Baby Yoda: I notice when you get to dis-likin' someone they ain't around for long neither.
The Mandalorian: This is the Way.
(Okay, this will ever make it into the show. But it should. Oh, apologies to Clint Eastwood.
)The titular character is literally A Man With No Name. It was finally revealed his name is "Din Djarin", but honestly, he might as well be "Blondie" or "Vin". (Or Dad. HAhahahaha...) The actor portraying him is Pedro Pascal.
He is a Mandalorian (and thus is often referred to as Mando), a culture of warriors something akin to Jedi, but without the Force or the disdain for blasters. His back-story plays out over a number of episodes.
While the Mandalorian is a race from the planet Mandalor, they accept "Foundlings" into their culture. Many Foundlings were orphans whose parents were killed by the Empire. (While the Jedi and Mandalorians are enemies (or at least has had a history of such), they were both against the Empire. The enemy of my enemy, donchaknow.) Din Djarin is one of these "Foundlings".
The Mandalorians have a "Creed", a set of traditions/rules/cultural laws which makes them a Mandalorian. (This leads to their mantra of "This is the Way" you will hear between Mandalorians.) One of these says he cannot reveal his face to any living being other than their immediate family. If they take the helmet off in front of others, they can never put it back on. (This doesn't seem to be true in the animated series, however.)
I do feel for Pascal. Because of this little gotcha, he gets something like 30 seconds of face time in season one. Apparently, he isn't always the one under the mask when filming, either. I mean, I could have played several of the scenes...
The other main character, which I initially thought of as a macguffin but may turn out to be a co-star, is The Baby. Immediately labeled by everyone Baby Yoda, it is obviously of Yoda's race, supposedly 50 years old, but still a child. It can't communicate (that we've seen), but seems to completely understand its surroundings, circumstances and even conversation. We are witness to the child's ability to use the Force very early in the series.
It is a complete mystery. It could be one of Yoda's race, a clone, even Yoda himself reincarnated by the Force. But one thing is clear. It pegged the adorable and cute meters on the Internet to 11, something that hasn't happened since... Baby Groot. Hmmmm....
They considered doing a CGI Baby, but decided a physical puppet would be better, and they were right. It was kept amazingly quiet right up until the reveal. There was absolutely no clue in the pre-release material. Because they wanted to keep it a secret, no merchandising was started until after the reveal, and it was something like an agonizing two months before Disney got the merchandising arm fully activated.
And the finally revealed big-bad from the post-Empire command structure is named "Moff Gideon", and really wants the little guy for some reason. He arrives commanding Storm Troopers in this really cool Tie Fighter...but I digress. He's had his Troopers wipe out almost all of the other local Mandalorians, which is going to put him right up on the "gonna die" list. The ending shot of season one shows him holding The Darksaber. I'd imagine some fanboys had an orgasm over that...
Ming-Na was in Episode 5, where she played a character named "Melinda May". (Or at least the equivalent, "Fennec Shand", from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...)
She was apparently killed in the episode, but I suspect she might still be alive.
Really spoiler territory. This will probably ruin all of season one if you haven't seen it.
The entire plot of the series was defined 30 minutes into the last episode. Since the Mandalorian are a Warrior race, the Armorer is the leader of sorts. Djarin and his group are being chased by "Imps", or Imperial Guards (i.e. Storm Troopers.)
Armorer: Show me the one whose safety deemed such destruction.
Din Djarin: (Shows her The Baby.) This is the one.
Armorer: This is the one you hunted, then saved?
Din Djarin: Yes. The one who saved me as well.
Armorer: From the mudhorn?
Din Djarin: Yes.
Armorer: It looks helpless.
Din Djarin: It's injured, but it is not helpless. Its species can move objects with its mind.
Armorer: I know of such things. The songs of eons past tell of battles between Mandalore The Great, and an order of sorcerers called Jedi that fought with such powers.
Din Djarin: It is an enemy?
Armorer: No. Its kind were enemies, but this individual is not.
Din Djarin: What is it?
Armorer: It is a foundling. By Creed, it is in your care.
Din Djarin: You wish me to train this thing?
Armorer: It is too weak. It would die. You have no choice. You must reunite it with its own kind.
Din Djarin: Where?
Armorer: This, you must determine.
Din Djarin: You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers?
Armorer: This is the Way.
(The group discusses how to escape, the Armorer explains the way out.)
Greef Karga: I think we should go.
Din Djarin: I'm staying. I need to help her and I need to heal.
Armorer: You must go. A foundling is in your care. By Creed, until it is of age or reunited with its own kind, you are as its father. (Baby Yoda looks at Dad, lol.) This is the Way.
(She pours some metal and turns to Din Djarin.)
You have earned your Signet. (Attaches Mudhorn Signet to his armor.) You are a clan of two.
Din Djarin: Thank you. I will wear this with honor.
So here's what I think we'll see in the future. We could sub-title the show to "Have Baby, Will Travel to the Stars."
Pascal will get more face time, since Baby is his... child? ward? and part of his family and clan. So he doesn't have to wear the helmet in it's presence.
They will have to try to find The Child's homeworld. In the time frame of this show, the Jedi is Luke Skywalker and a bunch of force ghosts. But in the hunt for The Baby's homeworld, there'll probably be a seasonal story arc. Like Moff Gideon, and possibly the backstory of The Baby and Djarin. (For instance, it was hinted Djarin was much more violent in his past. Did something change his outlook?)
There will also be the development of the relationship between The Baby and Djarin. That should be fun. (It's already been fun.)
The Mandalorian. Who does it refer to, Din Djarin or The Baby. If The Baby is a foundling, it could become a Mandalorian. Like, what if Yoda became a Mandalorian instead of a Jedi...
I know there are Season 2 spoilers (or at least some leaked information), but I haven't read/viewed anything about it. I'll wait the 10 months... 
This is the way.
