The Mandalorian – SPOILERS

Topic

Just going to create a separate thread for this, considering it won’t be available legally for a lot of users for five months.

Replies

Anonymous wrote:

The episode set up a prison heist crew,  heist, double cross, and resolution in 40 minutes.

And surprisingly enough, they still managed to make it pedestrian and boring. You’re right, the elements on paper sound like a great combination for an episode, and yet it’s not.

I’m thinking part of the problem with this show is the main characters… you have a guy who’s always in a helmet ’cause “that’s the way”, and to top it off, he doesn’t really talk all that much, and when he does, it’s always the same bored monotone voice. And the second main character is a fuckin’ puppet with like, 2 or 3 expressions… oh and it only coos…

So yeah, they’re trying to carry a very padded & paper-thin plot on the shoulders of two un-relatable main characters… I’m not sure who thought that was a good idea…

Tim’s a fan and even he just described it as “a mindless romp”.

So we’re agreed it’s mindless. We’re differing on the “romp” aspect of it?

The closest thing I can compare it too is those games with amazing, immersive environments where people occasionally choose to ignore the missions and just wander around, enjoying all the details.

The real story is happening to other people, somewhere else.

SteveUK wrote:

games with amazing, immersive environments

 
Yeah, I think you’re right with that… feels like the actual point of the show is not the story of Mando or baby Yoda, but rather the “where” and the “who” of each episode, as in where will they end up next, and who will they meet… problem, for me at least, is that those two things tend to be fan-service-related… as in “oh they went to tattooine (or whatever planet/place)” and “oh look they met a wookie (or whatever character/species)”.
 
But in the end, I just don’t give a shit about mando or baby yoda, cause they haven’t given me a reason to. Season is almost over and I have no idea who mando is… and the baby is just a fuckin puppet baby, and me being the asshole that I am, I find it neither “cute” or interesting. It’s just two reactive characters getting into X or Y situation.
 
So yeah, the show’s been seriously dependant on both the fan-service AND the guest characters of each episode… who happen to be, more often than not, the “silent badass” type or the “funny quirky” type… so yeah… =/
 
But hey, ’em helmet designs are really fuckin sweet, so whatever… =P
 
Anyways, I can see how and why SW fans might like this a lot… but as a TV show, it’s REALLY, but REAAAAAAAALLY thin. I’m honestly just watching it so I can talk about it with people.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Unrelated:

Hey, that looks like a pretty cool structure for a show. I think I will give it a shot.

SteveUK wrote:

Tim’s a fan and even he just described it as “a mindless romp”.

So we’re agreed it’s mindless. We’re differing on the “romp” aspect of it?

The closest thing I can compare it too is those games with amazing, immersive environments where people occasionally choose to ignore the missions and just wander around, enjoying all the details.

The real story is happening to other people, somewhere else.

So, you don’t want a Star Wars Tv show, you just want to watch movies about the Empire and Rebels?

I’m not really a huge fan.  Maybe im not conveying my point, but I don’t really understand your criticisms. The action scene in the corridor with the droids was great, I thought but the sneaking up on the guy used a really overused trick, but the music was still great in that scene.

I think this comes down to the fact that I didn’t have expectations and am enjoying what is being thrown at me.  The writing isn’t the Sopranos or Breaking Bad but I wasn’t expecting it to be.  There’s half a dozen TV shows I’ve watched this year which this is at least as good as, and plenty people on the board seem to have enjoyed those more.

I definitely dont agree when I read comments like “the story is happening elsewhere”, or “It’s all style over substance”, and that they’re just placating the audience by using Star Wars references. I find myself wondering if you guys have a properly developed idea as to why you don’t like it. I don’t get 70% of the references and I’m enjoying it. I thought Fans didn’t like it because Gina Carano and Amy Sedaris weren’t ‘Star Wars.

Each to their own but I fully don’t understand why your haters.  The show is probably a 7.5 out of 10 and that’s fine.

Well I guess we’re done discussing it then Tim. We’ve all been pretty clear what we think is wrong.

Enjoy the show!

You wouldn’t be like that if I agreed with you.

(I think you’re just sad because of Brexit)

No, actually, we’ve given fairly elaborated reasons for our thoughts on it, even though you seem to have conveniently ignored them.

Ok mate.  I get the tone. Sorry and enjoy. Or Dont.

So, I don’t really mind that this is a side story with little or not connection to the main Star Wars plot.

But outside of the Star Wars elements to the show, there’s very little to it.  Every episode is basically The Mandalorian walks into an old movie cliché, and walks out of it 30-40 minutes later.  And almost everything is perfunctory. Pedro Pascal is great, Baby Yoda is adorable, the music is fantastic especially.

If this was a TV show called SPACE MERCENARY, in which an armoured bounty hunter finds a mysterious baby alien and decides to go and the run take care of them instead of handing them over, by Jon Favreau and starring that guy from Game of Thrones.  Same production values, same dialogue, same direction – just everything that makes it look like Star Wars is replaced with something generic, I don’t think it’d be getting the same reception – people would be putting it on the same tier as Dark Matter or Killjoys or something like that. To my eye, the fight scenes especially aren’t great – compare Ming-Na Wen’s fight against the Mandalorian to any of her fights in Agents of SHIELD, and The Mandalorian comes out lacking.  And as much as I enjoy AoS, it’s a low-budget network TV show, Mandalorian should have better fight coreography than it.

All that said, the most recent episode was the most enjoyable thus far.

My feelings about it are similar to Lorcan’s.

For me, with any show, it comes down to “Do I enjoy watching this show? Do I look forward to watching the next episode?” If the answer to both questions is “yes”, then it is a good show and I am satisfied with that.

In the case of The Mandalorian (and Watchmen and Dublin Murders, which make up the three shows I am currently watching), the answer is yes. I could nitpick, but the bottom line is I am enjoying watching these shows (so far) and appreciate the quality of the performances and craft that go into each episode.

If any show feels like a chore to watch, I don’t see the point of watching it anymore (see American Gods and the later seasons of Walking Dead). I certainly don’t see the point of watching it just so I can come here and trash-talk it every week. Life is too short for that shit.

Then again, I’m an old curmudgeon.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

If this was a TV show called SPACE MERCENARY, in which an armoured bounty hunter finds a mysterious baby alien and decides to go and the run take care of them instead of handing them over, by Jon Favreau and starring that guy from Game of Thrones.  Same production values, same dialogue, same direction – just everything that makes it look like Star Wars is replaced with something generic,

njerry wrote:

If any show feels like a chore to watch, I don’t see the point of watching it anymore (see American Gods and the later seasons of Walking Dead). I certainly don’t see the point of watching it just so I can come here and trash-talk it every week. Life is too short for that shit.

so what I am getting from this thread is if didn’t have STAR WARS in its title, there would be less bitching and moaning and more people would treat it like Jerry. Just Because it is STAR WARS, it should be better. Maybe it is as good as it is because DISNEY gave it the budget it got. Just because it is Disney does not mean it should have a bigger budget than everything else. Maybe this is a red flag for the Marvel shows as well. Just because it is Marvel doesn’t mean Disney is going to spend money on it just like it may not spending $ on Star Wars TV shows.

Rocket wrote:

so what I am getting from this thread is if didn’t have STAR WARS in its title, there would be less bitching and moaning and more people would treat it like Jerry

What I’m getting from this thread is that if it didn’t have STAR WARS in the title, hardly anyone would be bothering with it.

Says you.

 

Baby Yodo from SPACE MERCENARY is marketing genius!

You mean green Gizmo…

I’m liking the show. It’s a good, simple western set in space. It’s an adventure/genre show that the whole family can enjoy together – something that’s a complete rarity these days. Everyone in my house, from the 3-year-old up, can lock in and enjoy one thing on television together once a week.

I think the biggest problem is the B plot has all but completely disappeared. I get it, they’re going for (mostly) standalone episodes, but the lack of background tension leaves a hole in the structure.

Jake wrote:

I think the biggest problem is the B plot has all but completely disappeared. I get it, they’re going for (mostly) standalone episodes, but the lack of background tension leaves a hole in the structure.

Yeah, what’s Werner up to while this is going on? What was his big plan? What about the lab guy? And how about… ok… there wasn’t much else going on.

Because of TRoS, the seventh ep is out today. Mostly just setup for the finale next week, but fun enough.

I think you’ve more or less hit the nail on the head, Jake.

I was thinking about what this would look like if it was Lorcan’s SPACE MERCENARY show and I think you’d have a lot more world building and a defined supporting cast.  The show skips the world-building because it’s on the back of Star Wars and assumes that’s not needed, but there’s otherwise no supporting cast.  We’ve been led to believe that Gina Carano and Taiki Waititi would be more involved than they were, and maybe the show would have been better for it if it was.  Or maybe they’ll be recurring characters throughout the series like Christina Hendricks was positioned to be in Firefly.

I haven’t watched the new one but probably will this weekend.

Anonymous wrote:

like Christina Hendricks was positioned to be in Firefly.

And now there is this great, cloudy sadness in my heart again.

I honestly thought the newest episode was better than rise of skywalker

Heh heh heh

That bit with the biker scouts almost made up for all the pointless, boring bits thus far.

Overall, I think I’d have been into this in a big way if it had come out in 1996.  It feels like one of the Star Wars comics or novels that didn’t have the main cast in them.  But a couple of decades of mediocre Star Wars products has dulled my desire for more in that vein, and so… eh.  I might come back for series 2, I guess it depends on how I’m feeling at the time.

Yep. Pretty much.

Favreau was better writing comedy than drama. Still lots of dumbness and lots of cool ideas. The villain is an example of dumb, the Ferry-R2 was cool.

But wow, being a droid in that galaxy is the worst!

To be fair, racism against droids has been a part of Star Wars since the beginning.

Well it ended as blandly as it began… honestly that should’ve been a movie… it feels like it would’ve been a decent movie. I liked the storm trooper chick though.
 
Also, that was probably a nice check for Got-guy… wasn’t impressed with his voice acting overall… Oh and lastly, I’m REEEEEALLY over chicken-guy being the surprise villain in every frickin’ show… u_u

And then the droid is scrapped and the Brin enslaved as the Falcon’s nav computer.

There is disagreement on the internet

Why Steve and Jon are wrong and also why Rise of Skywalker is a dumb turd poo film

 

I’ll give that post a “like”, Tim, but I’m not clicking on that link. 

I promise this time it’s not just a picture of me with a sign that says “Mandalorian = Grate       TROS =  dumb turd poo”

After the 2nd episode I gave up on this. Yeah baby Yoda is cool and all, but it doesn’t grab me. There seems to be a video game vibe to the whole thing, with a succession of missions to be completed and no deeper meaning. Collect bounty. Fight random thugs. Chase Jawas. Fight rhino monster. Whatever.

Look, if you want to say it’s crap, say that.

Seems to have been an explosion of people likening crappy stories to videogames.  This tends to prove only one thing – the people invoking the term haven’t played any vidgames of note!

Yeah I will violently defend the integrity of videogames and videogame storytelling as a worthy medium.

 

On topic, I haven’t actually seen the final yet, but where would the board be without reams and reams of gently irritating debate?

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah I will violently defend the integrity of videogames and videogame storytelling as a worthy medium.

 

On topic, I haven’t actually seen the final yet, but where would the board be without reams and reams of gently irritating debate?

Pretty sure you’ll like the finale.

I kind of have to otherwise ill be forced to offer up the mother of all concessions.  I did see that it was directed by Taiki Waititi which is an automatic plus

More internet about how great Mando is!

To be honest, I’ve enjoyed it. It’s a throwback to my childhood when The Rifle Man and Wanted:Dead Or Alive were half hour morality plays.

1. I watched the finale and liked it. I thought it was the best episode of the series and seems to address some criticisms I’ve seen levelled at it here (but nowhere else )

It is a dumb show though but it’s overall coolness and sweetness is it’s redemption. The part where all the Mandalorian THE UNIVERSES GREATEST WARRIORS die offscreen to a bunch of stormtroopers NOT THE UNIVERSES GREATEST WARRIORS and then this one Mandalorian takes out 10 stormtroopers with a pair of tongs was especially dumb.  Also the way the creed was kind of contrived to make this a lone wolf and cub thing but that’s forgivable because it’s been signposted. Frankly, Star Wars has always been kinda dumb so it matters not.

It goes to show how a great director like Waititi can elevate the material.

dp

Anonymous wrote:

It goes to show how a great director like Waititi can elevate the material.

Actually I thought the direction was pretty shitty… I was a bit surprised when his name came up, but then the “humour” at the begining of the epsiode made more sense (even if the rest of the episode didn’t)…

Yeah, but: blah

Well I mean, the show starts by very clearly showing the incompetence of storm troopers… yet a few minutes later it wants you to believe ALL the mandalorians got wiped by the very same bozos that can’t shoot a can on the floor… ooooooookay…makes sense…

Cinema Sins can get fucked.

Morgan, have you been hurt by Cinema Sins before? This is a safe space.

Anonymous wrote:

Morgan

I hate my phone.

Anonymous wrote:

I hate my phone.

It’s only ever said nice things about you

It would.

It’s notoriously two-faced.

By the way, from now on, all the shitty posts from me are my phone’s fault.

So I got access to Disney+ and watched the first two episodes.

Man, that was some boring TV there. I see they’re trying to do a sci-fi Sergio Leone style show (the music is pretty much an homage to Ennio Morricone) crossed with Lone Wolf and Cub. Unfortunately, the talent is just not there to pull it off. Does it get better as it goes along?

And “Baby Yoda” does nothing for me. It feels a little too “Disney” for me.

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Uncle Retrospective

The pace remains the same.

There’s some repetition as they go along.

I know some people who absolutely love it, but for me it’s just ‘pass the time’ TV, with occasional flashes of something great.

What really got me was how bad at his job Mando was in the first couple episodes (which is all I’ve seen). He’s constantly screwing up or getting one put over him. The weird part was the show didn’t seem to realize it.

Yeah. The Man With No Name didn’t have to be rescued by his people every other time he got in a jam. Let alone being saved by a green, pointy-eared baby.

Mando is pretty incompetent throughout most of the series with an occasional flash of brilliance.

Having finished the series, that really should have been a 2 hour movie. There was so much filler in it. I was bored with this series. The guest stars were wasted on this series.

Overall though, I think I may simply be done with Star Wars. Any passion I may have had for the franchise is gone. I loved the original trilogy in its original form but, not the “enhanced” versions that are the only ones available. I have lost my connection to it.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

Ben wrote:

Seems to have been an explosion of people likening crappy stories to videogames.  This tends to prove only one thing – the people invoking the term haven’t played any vidgames of note!

Well, you could always say it’s like a bad video game. Or like an average one twenty ago, when you last played a video game.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Cinema Sins can get fucked.

At least they’re fast and concise. Whereas other criticism channels, like RLM, spread about ten  minutes of actual content over an hour, padded out with inane rambling and giggling at their own stupid jokes, and it’s not even worth watching at 2x speed.

Mileage varies but I’m drawing a blank on any of these videos ever being worth watching.

If I want pointless snark I can go to Twitter, and they have funny cat pictures there too.

I really like Wisecrack because they stay focused and they delve into the potential deep philosophical meanings of things. It’s a very intellectual look at pop culture that is very accessible.

Jason wrote:

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Cinema Sins can get fucked.

At least they’re fast and concise. Whereas other criticism channels, like RLM, spread about ten  minutes of actual content over an hour, padded out with inane rambling and giggling at their own stupid jokes, and it’s not even worth watching at 2x speed.

Amusingly, Cinema Sins increased the length of their videos a few years ago to better game the algorithm.  They’re still only like 13-20 minutes per episode, thankfully.

SteveUK wrote:

Mileage varies but I’m drawing a blank on any of these videos ever being worth watching.

If I want pointless snark I can go to Twitter, and they have funny cat pictures there too.

Yeah, I don’t know who has time for this stuff. I’m not a big Twitter person either but at least that’s a quick, easily digested version. Watching long videos like that is not my idea of fun.

And to tie it all together:

Sasha Banks Set For Role in The Mandalorian Season Two

[Todd]

Wrong thread.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Todd.

It’s the right thread, Todd, but the wrong post.

He’s posting in all the right threads. But not necessarily in the right order.

Star Wars Exclusive: ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 2 Casts Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano

That’s actually a pretty spot on casting… I don’t know who the character is, but looks just like her…

Love Dawson.

Totally behind casting her.

Jon wrote:

That’s actually a pretty spot on casting… I don’t know who the character is, but looks just like her…

Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ahsoka_Tano

Oh alright, I’ve seen her in pcitures, but didn’t really know who it was… well.. it’s a good fit… visually at least.

Ahsoka Tano popping up in a real-life TV series will be a big thing for my kid. She’s an important character in the Clone Wars.

2 users thanked author for this post.

JRCarter, Uncle Retrospective

Yeah, Soph got really excited when she heard the news. Ahsoka is HER Jedi, and then they backed it up by making this week’s new Clone Wars episode an Ahsoka story!

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Christian, Ben, Uncle Retrospective

I’ve watched the first two episodes of The Mandalorian now. They were pretty good. There is a lot of stuff you could nitpick over, I suppose, but it was just good fun. Rather more slapstick than I would have expected given the Man with No Name western mood – Mando has gone from being the deadly, invincible, silent gunslinger to guy who is getting thrown around and stuff thrown at him a lot rather quickly – but I’m rather glad for the goofiness. It’s a kid’s series at heart, I suppose.

So, only the first two eps are on the Disney+ trial in the UK?

Ben wrote:

So, only the first two eps are on the Disney+ trial in the UK?

It’s being rolled out weekly in the UK as I understand it.

Ben wrote:

So, only the first two eps are on the Disney+ trial in the UK?

The third one is out in the UK now I think.

I just watched episode one. I thought it was ok. It leant a bit heavily on recognisable Star Wars stuff early on, and didn’t really feel like it came into its own until the last ten minutes or so, but it was still quite watchable and the production values are pretty great for a TV show. I’ll probably give episode two a look at some point.

Urgh, morons – how are Disney fucking this up so badly?

Thanks for the info.

I imagine it’s to stop people from signing up to the seven-day trial and using it to watch all the episodes of the only thing on there they really want to watch.

There’s a better solution – get more content.

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Todd

Ben wrote:

There’s a better solution – get more content.

That’s just crazy talk!!!

Just caught up with the fourth episode. Having liked but not loved it at first I’m still pretty much in the same boat, but I’m finding it likeable and watchable enough to continue.

I like that it’s fairly unambitious – this is a pretty bog-standard TV series premise of the mysterious stranger moving from place to place and helping/fighting people as he goes, like an old Western or Samurai story (or the Incredible Hulk or the A-Team or Quantum Leap or any one of those numerous shows that follow the same basic premise), which suits Star Wars.

And as with The Witcher it’s a nice return to a more episodic style of TV, with each episode self-contained enough to be enjoyed in its own right rather than it all feeling like one long story stretched out over too many hours.

They’ve even dialled down the movie callbacks to a reasonable level. Although the suggestion that a village full of people couldn’t battle an AT-ST when the Ewoks took one out easily feels like a bit of a stretch. It worked, though.

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Christian, Todd

Also, the opening horn fanfare sounds like the beginning of the theme tune from Allo Allo which always amuses me greatly.

Dave wrote:

Just caught up with the fourth episode. Having liked but not loved it at first I’m still pretty much in the same boat, but I’m finding it likeable and watchable enough to continue.

Same here.

I liked Cara Dune, too. Hope she’s recurring.

The kid complained that none of the villagers got killed. They certainly don’t mind getting the Mandalorian into situations where he has to fight an overwhelming force and gets out of it relatively easily…

heh heh heh…

 

..So true… So true…

 

heh heh 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉

Dave wrote:

the Ewoks took one out easily

An ewok can take out the Emperor, with a fuckin’ bow and arrow!

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Todd

Christian wrote:

I liked Cara Dune, too. Hope she’s recurring.

 

I think she’s the worst actress I’ve seen since I accidentally caught a glimpse of Rebel Wilson in Cats. I’m out if she’s recurring in season two.

edited to add: I didn’t dislike her acting quite as much in Deadpool, but I’m unsure if she even had any lines in it.

Hah! Well, that’s certainly a strong reaction. I don’t know, man, I didn’t mind that for some reason.

Which reminds me, I always meant to watch Haywire. I think it’s still on Netflix…

Christian wrote:

a strong reaction

I don’t have any other settings.

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Todd

I watched episode five at the weekend. The return to Mos Eisley felt like a pretty weak bit of over-reliance on familiarity and the story itself wasn’t much cop.

It has its moments but it feels pretty inessential and fluffy.

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Todd

Anonymous wrote:

Christian wrote:

a strong reaction

I don’t have any other settings.

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Todd

Yes, but the opposite.

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Christian, Todd

Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian, Disney+’s signature series, is getting a behind-the-scenes look in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, an eight-episode docuseries set for premiere on Star Wars Day, May 4.

Hosted by The Mandalorian creator and showrunner Jon Favreau, each chapter of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian explores a different facet of the television show through interviews, never-before-seen footage, and roundtable conversations.

‘The Mandalorian’ Docuseries Set For Star Wars Day Premiere On Disney+

I finished watching this today.

I enjoyed the early couple of episodes and the final two-parter, but I did feel like it sagged a bit in the middle, and I can’t shake the feeling that without the trappings of Star Wars and the high production values this would be some sub-Xena generic sci-fi adventure series on a channel I’ve never heard of.

It’s fun enough for a half hour a week though, and there were some memorable moments.

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Todd, Ben, lorcan_nagle

Yeah. I’m up to ep 7 now and will have to wait a little until I can see the rest, but it’s been entertaining enough, and my kid’s enthusiasm for Star Wars made watching this kind of special, but in the end, it’s just an okay show.

Dave wrote:

half hour a week though,

Half hour!?