The Mandalorian (Disney+)

[jon-el87]

Watched the first episode. Found it quite interesting. Will probably watch the second episode tomorrow. Disney+ have only made those two episodes available (in my region). Seeing some people online getting upset by that, but I'm okay with it. I don't care for bingewatching. You just run through all the episodes at once, no time to digest each episode, then forget about the show a week later (often I don't rewatch Netflix originals). This way, I'll have new things to watch on Disney+ each week (and will have only finished season one, shortly before season two).

[darkphoenix21]

I loved the first season. I always watched each episode multiple times prior to the following episode. I thought the varying runtimes would be a detriment but, it made it easier to rewatch; the episodes were as long as they needed to be without being bogged down by unnecessary filler.

I did review each episode but, due to the site crash early in the year, the posts were all wiped out (both times, the effected posts were ones created in the fall/winter months)...so, I’ll try again with S2 and this time save my posts somewhere on my iPad just in case.

[jon-el87]

Watched the third episode on Friday. At times, it sounded like Pascal was making a Clint Eastwood imitation with his voice. Of course, I've heard that Favreau had the cast watch The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, before they started filming the first season (I always appreciate it when filmmakers go to pre-1977 films for inspiration). So, it makes sense for Pascal to be influenced by Eastwood in his performance.

Liked the ending bit, where the other Mandalorian was flying with his jet pack beside the ship and saluted the main character. Reminded me of a shot in The Rocketeer, which was directed by Joe Johnston (the guy who designed Boba Fett). This is the type of reference that I can get behind. It's integrated into everything. They don't just stop everything, with the main character calling attention to the reference by going "hey, it's just like in The Rocketeer!".

[jon-el87]

"Chapter 4: Sanctuary"

Michael York: "There is no sanctuary."

Beats the Magnificent Seven remake from a few years back. The original being an American remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (with A Fistful of Dollars being an Italian remake of his film Yojimbo). It's nice to see this series drawing inspiration either directly from Kurosawa (whose Samurai movies heavily inspired Lucas while doing the original trilogy) or from the foreign remakes of his films.

Cara's comments about AT-STs make them seem more dangerous than they appeared in RotJ, where several were destroyed by Ewoks (of course, the two (non-canon) Ewok TV movies established large and dangerous creatures living on the forrest moon... so the Ewoks would be used to defending themselves against big and dangerous things).

[jon-el87]

Chapter 5

Is there some Disney mandate that Ming-Na Wen must appear in every major, Disney-owned franchise? Not complaining, thought she did a good job.

The mysterious figure, at the end, peaks my interest.

[jon-el87]

Chapter 6.

I like that they established that Xi'an (and the other two) is still alive. Means that she could return in season 2.

The three X-wing pilots, at the end, were played by Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa (the director of this episode and Chapter 2) and Deborah Chow (the director of Chapter 3 and Chapter 7).

Liked the cameo by a member of Rio Durant's race. A nice little nod to this show's creator.

[jon-el87]

Chapter 7.

Given the cliffhanger ending, I feel like I should wait until I've watched Chapter 8, before commenting on Chapter 7. Though, I liked Chapter 7.

[darkphoenix21]

[jon-el87]

Chapter 8.

Liked Din Djarin getting his own jetpack. Tied back to his line, at the end of Chapter 3. Making the Chapter 3 bit a set-up for this episode, rather than just a throw-away line/reference. It was a moment that we get a pay-off from. Not just some idiot standing next to a Delorean, essentially going "hey, remember Back to the Future?", with the car having nothing to do with the story.

We now know the name of the Mandalorian. And Moff Gideon has the Darksaber. Looking forward to season 2.

[jon-el87]

Chapter 9.

Holy crap, [SPOILER]then the mysterious figure, in Chapter 5, was Boba Fett... Unless it's a fake-out (and it'll turn out to be a different Jango Fett clone).[/SPOILER]

[darkphoenix21]

Chapter 9: The Marshal

After finding out about another Mandalorian from this Gor Koresh ([SPOILER]John Leguizamo was unrecognizable [/SPOILER]) at a fight club, Mando heads back to Tatooine. If I’m getting this right...Mando has to locate other Mandalorians that will guide him through a network of them, that somehow will lead him to reuniting baby Yoda with his race!?!?

Anyway...

Back in Tatooine in the small village of Mos Pelgo, Mando meets Cobb Vanth aka “The Marshal” ([SPOILER]wearing Boba Fett’s armor[/SPOILER]) who traded crystals for armor that the Jawas somehow acquired. Cobb Vanth than uses the armor to protect the small village from a creature called the Krayt Dragon and other enemies. Mando must than have to team up with him (to get said armor back), the towns people and the sand people to kill the Dragon.

I can’t believe the quality of this show...that ending could rival any big screen production. This is how you do a Western for a genre that doesn’t get much love.

Holy crap, [SPOILER]then the mysterious figure, in Chapter 5, was Boba Fett... Unless it's a fake-out (and it'll turn out to be a different Jango Fett clone).[/SPOILER]

Most reviews have him as [SPOILER]Boba Fett[/SPOILER], I assumed that was him since we saw his figure at the end “The Gunslinger” episode. So now, is he tracking Mando for the armor or is it for something else? Whatever the case may be, I really hope they team up in search of baby Yoda’s kind. [SPOILER] I never understood the fandom for Boba Fett, especially when he got very little screen-time and when we did meet him for the very first time he was supposedly killed off (evidently not). I’m looking forward to actually finding out if this character is as great as the fandom suggests.[/SPOILER]

[jon-el87]

[SPOILER]Well, it was actually in Boba's third appearance (after the Holiday Special and Empire). Though, you're right that he didn't have much screentime. Really demonstrates that you don't need massive amounts of screentime (or even do much) to develop a fanbase (heck, when TFA came out, a lot of people obsessed about the random stormtrooper, who briefly fights Finn with a type of nightstick). With Boba Fett, I have often seen people attribute his popularity to his armor: kids in the 70s apparently thought that he looked cool. The basis for his fandom would then have nothing to do, with anything he did onscreen, but because little kids thought that he looked cool. So they bought his action figures. Resulting in the EU doing a lot of stories about him, where he's played up as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy.[/SPOILER]

I'm guessing that [SPOILER]they'll play Boba as having thrown away his armor in disgrace (due to how easily he was taken out), after getting out of the Sarlac pit. Then turning his back on his former life. He'll probably regain and re-don the armor, before the end of the season. He'll probably be reluctant to help, as the Child is a force wielder, and Boba's dad was killed by a Jedi.[/SPOILER]

[jon-el87]

Chapter 10.

At first, I was worried that [SPOILER]the ice planet would turn out to be Hoth and that the cave would turn out to be inhabited by wampas.[/SPOILER] (Thus shrinking the galaxy. Not to mention, risk end up feeling like they're trying to play too much into nostalgia.)

If they end up introducing more Mandalorians, I'd quite like to see legends character Goran Beviin.

[jon-el87]

From CBR:

According to Deadline, a Star Wars TV show is kicking off principal photography in the final weeks of 2020. Speculation has mounted that this could be the third season of The Mandalorian, filming under the name Buccaneer. However, Deadline noted a rumor that a miniseries starring Boba Fett would actually film in that timeframe. After Boba Fett's show finishes filming, The Mandalorian Season 3 would then begin shooting.

TBH, at the moment, I don't see the point of having a second show, centered around another Mandalorian bounty hunter in Mandalorian armor. Maybe, if this rumor turns out to be true, things will change once we've seen more of Boba Fett on this show. But, at the moment, it feels like we'd be offered more of the same.

[darkphoenix21]

Chapter 10: The Passenger

It was mostly filler to set up what’s to come.

This season I guess they’re serializing the episodes but... I hope it doesn’t become the “Creature-of-the-Week”. There has to be more than Mando having to square off against a giant creature every episode.

[SPOILER]The “Passenger” part of this episode was a Frog Lady... who’s husband had supposedly seen other Mandalorians needs Mando to transport her and her eggs to his location.

This is the first episode that gave baby Yoda more to do than being carried around or sitting in his bassinet for most of the episode. He’s a toddler at the end of the day and so he’s curious and likes to put things in his mouth and a very hungry kid at that.

The ambush at the beginning was a bit silly and the jet pack gag was fun. The X-Wing chase scene was a nice action piece, which had a surprise call back to the Prisoner episode from last season. Even the alien Spider-creature scene was cool and felt very familiar.[/SPOILER]
.