The Mandalorian (TV series)

[Jaitea]

I really dread the future of Mando if it turns into Filoni world,....everything he touches turns into the prequels

Can Star Wars not be Star Wars, the entire EU was based on the Original Trilogy, yes the Prequels & Clone Wars are better respected than the ST as a whole, but to me the only Disney Star Wars that got the feel right was Rogue One & Mando

Yes it's cool to have flashbacks to Battle Droids etc, but Dark Sabres & the Mando lore from the Clone Wars cartoons make me roll my eyes

J

 

[HMSwolfe]

I really dread the future of Mando if it turns into Filoni world,....everything he touches turns into the prequels

Can Star Wars not be Star Wars, the entire EU was based on the Original Trilogy, yes the Prequels & Clone Wars are better respected than the ST as a whole, but to me the only Disney Star Wars that got the feel right was Rogue One & Mando

Yes it's cool to have flashbacks to Battle Droids etc, but Dark Sabres & the Mando lore from the Clone Wars cartoons make me roll my eyes

J

Thank you! Enough with Filoni stuff!

 

[justinrowan]

I really dread the future of Mando if it turns into Filoni world,....everything he touches turns into the prequels

Can Star Wars not be Star Wars, the entire EU was based on the Original Trilogy, yes the Prequels & Clone Wars are better respected than the ST as a whole, but to me the only Disney Star Wars that got the feel right was Rogue One & Mando

Yes it's cool to have flashbacks to Battle Droids etc, but Dark Sabres & the Mando lore from the Clone Wars cartoons make me roll my eyes

J

Agreed to some extent, but you've got to keep in mind that the target audience isn't necessarily folks like us. For every one of us, there are probably a dozen that couldn't care less about the "feel" of the productions compared to the original.. they just want a well produced, engaging sci-fi experience... and I think every film/show has delivered that in its own right.

 

[RodanAZ]

And there are many of us who appreciate both. IMHO, if the Mandalorian had just puttered around on the edges of the SW galaxy, it could have been good, but would have rapidly become repetitive and dull. They chose to include remnants of the Empire searching for the Kid, which draws us right back into the central themes of everything SW. Incorporating some of the loose ends from CW/Rebels will bring in more fans and make the series more successful in the long run. I think many fans are looking forward to seeing what has become of characters from the earlier series, as long as they're treated with dignity whether they've suffered, or prospered. If they continue to get the feel 'right', all the better.

 

[HMSwolfe]

And there are many of us who appreciate both. IMHO, if the Mandalorian had just puttered around on the edges of the SW galaxy, it could have been good, but would have rapidly become repetitive and dull. They chose to include remnants of the Empire searching for the Kid, which draws us right back into the central themes of everything SW. Incorporating some of the loose ends from CW/Rebels will bring in more fans and make the series more successful in the long run. I think many fans are looking forward to seeing what has become of characters from the earlier series, as long as they're treated with dignity whether they've suffered, or prospered. If they continue to get the feel 'right', all the better.

Then just finish those loose ends somewhere else. Just because one demographic of fans is more interested in some cartoon characters doesn’t mean that the Mandalorian is the place to tell this stories. Just let the show be about him. Seriously. If it’s such a huge draw, why don’t they just keep making Rebels/Clone Wars content? Leave it there. Let Mandalorian just be Mandalorian. Not everything has to have a thousand cameos and callbacks and references in it. Relying on existing characters to “connect things together” only serves to make the universe feel smaller and less real. Why does this show have to pander to the demographic that loves Filoni’s cartoons, but the demographic that can’t stand them has nowhere else to turn to? We have to just constantly get this stuff thrown in our faces.

 

[RodanAZ]

You don't like it... I get it. My point was that a lot of folks do. None of us is going to get exactly the stories we want.

 

[justinrowan]

Then just finish those loose ends somewhere else. Just because one demographic of fans is more interested in some cartoon characters doesn’t mean that the Mandalorian is the place to tell this stories. Just let the show be about him. Seriously. If it’s such a huge draw, why don’t they just keep making Rebels/Clone Wars content? Leave it there. Let Mandalorian just be Mandalorian. Not everything has to have a thousand cameos and callbacks and references in it. Relying on existing characters to “connect things together” only serves to make the universe feel smaller and less real. Why does this show have to pander to the demographic that loves Filoni’s cartoons, but the demographic that can’t stand them has nowhere else to turn to? We have to just constantly get this stuff thrown in our faces.

I'd argue that they aren't "pandering to the demographic that loves Filoni's cartoons," I think they are pandering to their largest demographic, which is people that couldn't tell you who Filoni is, or anything about canon or the EU or probably the franchise in general. I know far more people that watched and loved The Mandalorian who had never cared for (or had even seen) Star Wars before than I know people who are (I guess) "purists" like you.

 

[DARTH ANIBAL]

...yes the Prequels & Clone Wars are better respected than the ST as a whole...

Not by all of us.

 

[Frogfreak]

Not by all of us.

Yeah! Some of us actually appreciate the ST. (Unpopular opinion though)

 

[justinrowan]

Yeah! Some of us actually appreciate the ST. (Unpopular opinion though)

And some of us genuinely enjoy the entire franchise, recognizing that each has it's own strengths and weaknesses but are all enjoyable nonetheless.

 

[Frogfreak]

And some of us genuinely enjoy the entire franchise, recognizing that each has it's own strengths and weaknesses but are all enjoyable nonetheless.

Yess!!! I love all of the franchise! Unfortunately one time someone (no one on here) asked me if I liked star wars?, I said yes, then he said, what movies? I said all of them! Then he said that I am not a real fan then.

 

[justinrowan]

Yess!!! I love all of the franchise! Unfortunately one time someone (no one on here) asked me if I liked star wars?, I said yes, then he said, what movies? I said all of them! Then he said that I am not a real fan then.

This type of attitude is just absurd. Of all the things to make a stand for, you choose hokey religions and ancient weapons as your hill to die on.. And try to suck the fun from others at the same time. Bunch of nutjobs, those folks are.

 

[DARTH ANIBAL]

Yeah! Just because you like the ones that suck, it doesn't make you or anyone that does, less of a fan!

(Obviously, kidding.)

Like what you like, man. You're allowed to enjoy something I don't, and vice versa.

 

[cboath]

I find it sad we have to complain about what hasn't happened yet.

This is a TV show, right? Ever heard of Spin-offs? Bring in some characters, see how they do and spin them off to their own show. Happens all the time. I'm not saying that's what this is, but who knows. It hasn't been the LFL pattern before, but they've never had more than 1 show before and they are now looking to do multiples.

Maul, Rex, and Asohka didn't take over rebels, but their inclusion was fun nonetheless.

To this point the only ongoing friend for Mando seems to be Gina. Asohka may just be the 'friend of the week' and that's all. Casting to me implies otherwise - seems a big 'get' for a one-off, but who knows. I can at least wait and see what they do before trashing it though. The whole things been great so far and if I don't see Favreau just rubber stamping it because it was Dave's idea.

 

[HMSwolfe]

To me, this would be like bringing Walter White’s wife into Better Call Saul. A character I wouldn’t want to ever see again, taking up screen time on a show that “exists in the same universe”, but has no valid reason for even mentioning her, let alone derailing the actual focus for an extended cameo. I don’t care if you liked Asohka. I don’t care if she’s a “fan favorite”. It reeks of the same desperation as TROS just to through things in so fans will say, “I saw something I recognized and I CLAPPED!” Why not have Chewbacca on the show then? Or Padme? Because “no one’s ever really gone.” Or how about we bring in another “fan favorite”, Aang from Avatar? I really think fans will be excited to see this cartoon character come to life in live-action, even if it is in a different show that has nothing to do with him. Let’s not try to tell new stories with new characters. Let’s just follow Bob Iger’s patented Disneystalgia formula where everything you’ve seen before gets resold to you over and over again, and no creative risks are ever taken. I’ve lost hope for season 2, not to mention the Obi-Wan and Rogue One shows they’ve announced. Especially those two. They’re primed to be absolutely stuffed to the brim with pointless callouts and endless cameos of cartoon characters. I don’t want any more Star Wars trying to convince me to like the prequels! I don’t want to constantly go back to the same freaking characters again and again just because seven seasons of Clone Wars wasn’t enough Asohka and Rex for fans! The best parts of season one of the Mandalorian stayed away from all of that. It was just a dude, trying to survive in the galaxy, trying to follow his own code of honor. It had the trappings of Star Wars, to be sure, but it was trying to tell a new story. The weakest episodes focused on cartoon stuff. That terrible cat thing in the Seven Samurai episode. That whole episode (especially considering they’d already done the same thing on Clone Wars). The cartoonish Twileks in the prison break episode. Some of the silly-looking Mandalorian extras in the culvert.

Whatever. I guess my rantings are falling on deaf ears. I’m “ruining” it for other people because I’m not as excited that the show is relying on lower-quality storytelling and characters, because obviously the point of watching something isn’t to appreciate the story being told or the characters being portrayed, it’s to shout with wild abandon because something you saw before is on the screen again.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Regarding the pic Usagi Pilgrim posted... I rolled my eyes Tony Stark hard when I saw everyone going nuts about a piece of art that was a print at Celebration five years ago and has been Filoni's Twitter banner for most of the time since. This is from the time Rebels was in production, before The Mandalorian was even a thing Dave and Jon were talking about. This is not something created for The Mandalorian.

That said, if Ahsoka's in S2, I wouldn't mind seeing Tem come back as Old Rex. One of those big loose threads is still dangling out there, and I can see it tying in. Poe's dad was another one of Han's commandos on Endor. Poe's parents retired from active service in the Rebellion after that battle. Luke gave Poe's mom one of the two surviving cuttings of the great tree from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant (itself presumably grown from a cutting of the tree on Aach-to) to plant when the settled down on Yavin IV.

It's tenuous, but there's more linking material there than some other things that have happened.

Switching tracks. Regarding Filoni's "prequel-y-ness", bear in mind when he was doing Clone Wars, he was making George's show. George mandated many of the storylines and plot points, Katie Lucas wrote several episodes and arcs, and Dave executed. Rebels was one of the first things to come out of the New Canon, and was still informed by George's feedback pre-sale. As with Clone Wars, though, as Dave got a freer hand further in, it got better -- and seriously dark. Despite Disney-mandated limits on violence and such, I find myself going back to re-watch seasons 3 and 4 of Rebels a lot -- not so much 1 and 2.

ETA: HMSwolfe, I almost treat early Ahsoka, late-Clone-Wars Ahsoka, and Rebels Ahsoka as three different characters, I couldn't stand her for most of the first couple years of CW, but I like who she became. Enough so that I heartily welcome seeing what her presence does to this story. Same argument I could use for Obi-Wan in Star Wars, after how he was presented in the Prequels and CW. I don't like everything to be connected in Star Wars, but this makes as much sense to me as Ben in Star Wars. It's not random. Heck, if I can say one thing about Filoni that I know for sure, it's that he's an utter Mando fanboy. He worked to get them into CW... Then he worked to undo the damage George did to their rep in CW. One trusim that holds from the old EU to the New Canon is the observation that the power balance in the GFFA for the last four or five thousand years has been a three-edged sword -- Jedi, Sith, Mandalorian. If one is involved in the story, the other two will be relevant in some way at some point.

 

[justinrowan]

I’m “ruining” it for other people

I think you've got it backwards here. Those of us enjoy it for what it is don't think you're "ruining it". You're free to rant about it as much as you want, and I can guarantee that won't make us enjoy it any less. No one thinks that you're "ruining it." On the flip side, the impression that you're giving with your rants is that the production staff is "ruining it" because it doesn't fit precisely into what you think is objectively better or worse than previous parts of the franchise.

Again, you're totally free to have those opinions and express them.. but don't fool yourself into thinking that your opinion is somehow diminishing the enjoyment that others have for the franchise. I promise it doesn't matter.

 

[Jamesfett]

Joe versus the Volcano is one of the greatest films ever made. I love it and don't care what anybody says.

 

[HMSwolfe]

I do have to say, props to you guys for responding so courteously. It’s never my intention to make anyone personally feel bad, and I was worried my rants would come across that way. In fairness, execution is half the battle, so I could end up eating my words if they do manage to incorporate things I consider to be annoying or lower quality well into the show. The track record however…doesn’t seem promising to me. The Star Trek style of “Mando culture” where everything is so alien and unnaproachable, like Vulcans or Klingons, simmered below the surface the whole season for me. Luckily, Pedro Pascal is one of those actors that brings some gravitas to even goofy dialogue, but a lot of the extras couldn’t. The cringey Twileks made me feel like I was watching something on Disney XD, what with their bright pastel skin and cartoonishly exaggerated features and overacting. It’s this kind of stuff I was hoping season 2 would go away from.

Heck, I think execution has been the big difference from the two Filoni cartoons and Mandalorian for me. A lot of people always bring up “But they’re better than the prequels!” “They’re darker than the prequels!” “They’re actually really good!” To me, having some decent concepts doesn’t mean much if it isn’t translated well onscreen. Aside from the fact that I think Clone Wars managed to get clones wrong entirely, and that it would make no sense both for Anakin to have an apprentice, and then to take her away during the purge so she could show up in another show, they’re just soo cartoony. Not that Star Wars is high art, or super serious all the time, but it’s meant to be grounded, and there is a line for the suspension of disbelief. The visual aspect of the shows, the voice actors, the music. Couldn’t stand them. Mandalorian might be technically the same from a writing standpoint, but having a strong lead, a clear vision, and excellent production design for most of the show made the difference. (Not to mention having real music. I know some people haven’t liked the Mandalorian’s score, but at least doesn’t sound like it’s being played off of a child’s keyboard, and can actually be qualified as music).

As a final side note, as stupid as it would be to have either Rex or Boba Fett on the show, I wouldn’t mind it (as much) if they managed to get Temuera Morrison. He actually managed to make Jango Fett cool (at least in the Bounty Hunter video game), and he’d be a heck of a lot better than Dee Bradley Baker’s terrible half Aussie/half Kiwi impression of Morrison.

 

[Jaitea]

I just don't like the Clone Wars though I actually liked the Tartakovsky series,....I just don't find them interesting or exciting, when Disney bought LFL, the first thing they did was cancel the 3D film projects & the CW cartoon,....soon they refocussed on the OT era & Rebels was released

I enjoyed the first series some nice space battles, chirpy dialogue etc, but pretty soon it started slipping back to the characters & storylines of the Clone Wars, heavy on Jedi, Mando lore, Maul...I gave up on it when I was embarrassed watching Vader flying standing on top of his TIE & bad guys flying with lightsaber helicopters....

I hope that Jon Favreau will keep the right mix in the series, so that it stays as a general audience favourite that it is now, & not slip into a Filoni nerdshow

EDIT: the lowest rated episode was the one written & directed by Filoni.....just sayin'

J