The Mandalorian (TV series)

This is the IMO most important stuff as pertains to The Mandalorian if someone wasn’t interested in watching for any other reason.


TCW
5:14 Eminence
5:15 Shades of Reason
5:16 The Lawless
5:17 Sabotage

7:9 Old Friends Not Forgotten
7:10 The Phantom Apprentice
7:11 Shattered
7:12 Victory and Death

Rebels
3:15 Trials of the Darksaber
3:16 Legacy of Mandalore
4:1 Heroes of Mandalore Pt 1/2
 
I’ve been hearing this from several other fans. Odd, because Robert Rodriguez directed this episode. Maybe the production team was tight on time when they were adding in the after effects. Maybe Rodriguez was overly absorbed in finishing up his Netflix movie with Pedro and couldn’t devote enough time to the Mandalorian. It also looks like they could have shot this episode anywhere in Southern California, Nevada or Arizona, and not some exotic location.

I think that’s the issue, the location. Because a lot of the cinematography with things like the henge, the Dark Troopers approaching, Slave 1 pursuing them, is good. Everything with Fennec and Boba on the ground fighting the troopers felt like the myriad fan films shot in Southern California at places like Vasquez Canyon. I’ve made the Power Rangers comparison before and this episode definitely had that low budget feel for the smaller action scenes.
The location feels cheap, yes, but not only: it's the way it's filmed mostly in close-ups, the sluggish edit doesn't help either and the lighting rounds it all. The constant up and down the hill is not very dynamic and interlocking 3 scenes (no less) of the mando trying to cut through the force field... We got it the first time. Grogu needs not finish the force-call just seconds before Din (finally) decides to fight back so we understand he is now vulnerable. But that's just a pacing detail, it's just that overall, it felt.. well, like a fanfilm. Bad choice of location primarily but you'd expected they'd make up for that other than with sfx.
I have to say though, Temuera's fighting and acting was awesome, it makes up for the fact Boba's been a little bit shoehorned (IMHO. Actually, I expected Ashoka levels of "this is becoming a guest-of-the-week show!"-reactions from you guys lol). Not to mention Fennec "You actually killed me and left me to rot in the desert but ok, I'll help you because Mr. Fett here got me badly CGI-ed mech-abs.." but maybe that's because I like the character and this is down-writing her, again IMO.
Anyway, it did get better towards the end, what with the dark troopers and all.. I wouldn't say it was a bad episode but.. the title was on point, let's leave it at that :lol: . Still loving the show though, and things should get interesting now the asset's back in imperial hands!

Edit: just rewatched chapter 5 "The Gunslinger" and it's actually the bountyhunter wannabe kid Toro who shot Fennec, so what I said about her motivations being shallow doesn't stand, my mistake.
 
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...Not to mention Fennec "You actually killed me and left me to rot in the desert but ok, I'll help you because Mr. Fett here got me badly CGI-ed mech-abs.." but maybe that's because I like the character and this is down-writing her, again IMO...

We still don't know exactly how nice a guy fett is. Always possible she was messed up enough or he knew she'd bail on paying him back for the save, and had part of her mind cyborged up to, to keep her around until he felt paid off. :p

Doubtful though. probably just more of a case of "both these characters are ****** but kind of honorable to their own ****** kind, so for the sake of moving along with all this, they're gonna be helpful"
 
I wish they wouldn’t have shown Fennec’s robo guts. It opens up more questions than if she was just wounded with the blast or had body armor. It’s mostly unnecessary to go to such lengths for a throwaway situation
Cause if they hadn't, half the people would've been ok with a 'body armor' explanation, & the other half would've went into the realities of ballistics, the tolerances of the human body to soft tissue damage, the thickness of armor necessary to protect at close range, & then done the math to conclude that Disney sucks & Dave Filoni is the Antichrist.

Lol
 
You know what? I'm gonna say it.


I don't like a live action Slave-1.


It moves silly. I like star wars ships that move like WWII planes with a "hover mode". This whole "the front is also the roof" crap can sit and spin.
I enjoyed it in the comics because I never had to watch it moving around doing silly things :p
 
So those Imperial landing craft. Are they a new design? At first glance they looked suspiciously similar to the First Order landing craft.
 
So those Imperial landing craft. Are they a new design? At first glance they looked suspiciously similar to the First Order landing craft.

I think they're new. I assumed they're supposed to look like the precursor to whatever the FO was using. punching "star wars landing craft or assault craft" type searches into google gets you different versions of the lambda, or the FO landing craft from #9.
 
I loved this episode, it really made Boba Fett the badass that he was never was shown to be in the films. I really liked how they showed bits of Stormtrooper armor flying off with nearly every hit, like he was really hitting them hard. But I was a little surprised that he was able to stab through their armor though. The armor always seemed liked it would be strong enough that a regular human couldn't possibly simply stab through with an unpowered melee weapon. But no biggy, it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

As for the Razor Crest, all Din needs to do is pick up all of the pieces and take it back to that Mon Cal planet. They'd be able to fix it up good as new in a couple of week, no problem. :p
 
The Mandalorian works best when it steers clear of known characters. That is its greatest strength because it has the potential for growth. If it relies too heavily on what we already know then it could lose viewers that only gave it a chance because it promised to be different. [...] I want them to stay away from as much of the OT, PT, ST, Clone Wars, Rebels, etc as possible. I'm interested in the new characters the Mandalorian created. If they are allowed to develop further I might one day love them. If this show has any real legs to stand on then it will take the chance and rely on new material without having to constantly rely on the old.
I have to disagree with you on this one, my friend. The arc has been a smooth one for me. At the start of the show, Din was a local big deal. But when he took the bounty that led him to Grogu, he got himself into some serious higher-level-campaign stuff. His starting gear needed upgrading, he needed leveling. He took his first step into a larger world, if you will. It turned everything on its ear. Episodes three through eight of season one were an ongoing upending of the applecart. The covert was revealed, the Mandalorians in it had to bas'lan shev'la -- strategically disperse. By the end of the season, he had lost his support structure, all his familiar foundation, the safety blanket of the Armorer... She told him to get out and quest, stop grinding levels hunting local bounties. Season two has shown him how narrow his starting skillset was, how much he has to learn. He has to contend with both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant.

As with the OT, he's got characters to help him on his way. Old Ben has a backstory only hinted at. Han has a backstory more subtly hinted at. Et cetera. He's been quested to find more Mandalorians. Since Gideon has the Darksaber, that practically guarantees Bo-Katan or someone associated with her will cross Din's path. That they were as sparing with her presence pleases me. Leaves me wanting more, rather than disgusted at such a small morsel (seriously -- it was only a half-hour episode and she was in maybe half of it). Bo sending him on to the only Jedi-trained person she knows makes total sense. My only gripes with the Ahsoka episode were her headpiece and a little of the dialogue. Like... Most glaringly for me, I feel it should have gone something like:

MAGISTRATE: [says something about Ashoka slowing down or something, after knocking one saber away]
AHSOKA: "I'm holding back because I need you alive. You know where the Grand Admiral is, and you're going to tell me."

Or like that. More natural. Less forced.

I also like how they've now, with this latest episode, tacitly "recanonized" Open Seasons vis-a-vis Jango. But I'm mad they've leaned into Boba inheriting Jango's armor. Never mind the sizing issues, they were completely different. It would have involved adding a lot of material on, as well as adding one whole piece, while ignoring all six pieces of leg and boot armor Jango had. Never mind Boba blew up Jango's helmet in Clone Wars. If he's got a new helmet and groin armor and backplate and kidney plate and knee pieces and gauntlets... Can he legit say it's the same set? I wanna know where that displayed info was stored. That's not his ESB left-gauntlet, or Jango's left gauntlet. Ditto different helmets and such. Is each piece lojacked individually?

Aaaaanyway. It all is in service to broadening Din's capabilities and expanding his viewpoint from what little he'd experienced and been taught over the last quarter-century. He's becoming a person now, instead of an NPC. I don't expect him to start hanging out with Luke and Wedge and Lando and so on. I don't expect him to pick up a droid companion at some point who is a lost R2-D2. That said, I wouldn't mind him -- plausibly -- running into a young Poe or something. This show is doing a good job of showing us some of what's going on around Our Heroes™ of the films, the impacts of their actions, and what people do as a result of them. I mean... Galactic politics for the last three thousand years has had three edges -- Jedi, Sith, Mandalorian. Mandos have been allies of, betrayed by, and used by both factions over that time, except when they've tried to stay out of it, which never lasts. In any story where Mandalorians are involved, galactic-scale matters will eventually come into play. Possibly, depending on era, also Jedi and/or Sith. If you want an "ordinary joe" story about a random guy trying to make his way hauling cargo... Well then you've got Han Solo, I guess. Bad example. Heck, you can't even tell Ice-Cream-Maker Guy's story without Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and an Imperial occupation in the middle of it.

It's hard to find a time and place enough removed from the stuff stirred up in the films to tell a story that's still recognizably Star Wars. I wouldn't mind seeing with the writing chops take it on, but whatever that might be, it's not this show.
I feel sorry for anyone compelled to pay that much for a Hasbro toy that could easily cost less than half that price if Hasbro released it at retail. Pulse is a rip off.

Not remotely -- not for what you get. The Khitanna was massive, amazingly detailed, and came with a buncha nice extras. As will the Razor Crest. The "Legacy Collection" (which I miss) Falcon and X-Wing were also properly scaled -- or, at least, moreso. That Falcon was almost the size of the five-foot filming miniature and cost three hundred bucks, plus having a bunch of electronic bells and whistles. For all the play value you get? Removable panels and dismountable engines, escape pod, four carbonite blocks, new Din and Grogu figures, on top of the size and detailing? When a current "Leader" level Optimus Prime action figure is close to a hundred, four hundred is a lot, but close-ish to reasonable. I've spent more for less.
 
**Blows Away Dust**

fett.jpg
 
I loved this episode other than the redesigned Darktroopers. They look like they based them on a mobile game called Star Wars Commander rather than the cool version we've always seen. It just made me and my nephew go "Why?!?!?!". Also they could have made the Imperial mortar look and work more scifi because that seemed out of place.
 

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