The Mandalorian (Star Wars Live Action Series)

[darth dennis]

They were originally meant to be 'Super Troopers' but army building Mandos wasn't in the budget for ESB.

How crazy is it to think that ESB even had a budget. The global phenomenon that was Star Wars should've given Lucas a blank check at that point. I'm glad we got what we got with Fett though, so it worked out.

 

[ZE_501]

When you have to defend a show with a thesis, or numerous 20+ min YouTube vids to “understand”, that usually means it’s just not good content to begin with

Fan-splaining!

I appreciate reading @MeatHookGekko 's insights but I'm not convinced the writers and showrunners are that intentional. Narratives tend to produce certain elements almost by sheer ... narrative inertia ... the way a given zeitgeist produces similar ideas across authors and media via a weird convergent evolution.

I've always been of the opinion that ideas, themes and tropes are cheap, execution is what makes great work, and there's precious little of that these days.

 

[ZE_501]

How crazy is it to think that ESB even had a budget. The global phenomenon that was Star Wars should've given Lucas a blank check at that point. I'm glad we got what we got with Fett though, so it worked out.

It's been years since I read about it, can't remember if he was financing ESB himself at that point, but yeah ... everything has a budget.

 

[Khev]

It's been years since I read about it, can't remember if he was financing ESB himself at that point, but yeah ... everything has a budget.

Yep he was, and even had to take out loans from multiple banks if I remember correctly.

He was in constant danger of running out of money and had 20th Century Fox constantly offering to give him that oh so tempting blank check...if he would only agree to turn ownership of the IP over to them.

It wasn't until the PT that he was so astronomically wealthy that he could give the movies whatever budget he wanted and look how that turned out, lol. It's good to have limits that force creative solutions.

 

[darth dennis]

Yep he was, and even had to take out loans from multiple banks if I remember correctly.

He was in constant danger of running out of money and had 20th Century Fox constantly offering to give him that oh so tempting blank check...if he would only agree to turn ownership of the IP over to them.

It wasn't until the PT that he was so astronomically wealthy that he could give the movies whatever budget he wanted and look how that turned out, lol. It's good to have limits that force creative solutions.

Ah yes, the IP ownership. Good move on his part...that appreciated pretty nicely over a few decades.

 

[Sassafras]

Meh it’s a droid… no real attachment.. Lucky he got any memorial at all

Guess I see it as the equivalent of a Dino bone

Fight me. I paid full price for that figure.

Anyway it's a tribute to when Taika Waititi was a genius, when SW fans cheered at his appearance.

Before the Dark Times. Before Thor Love & Thunder. Before fans dropped their torches and turned away, like that scene when Conan rolls Thulsa Doom's head at them.

In other news, supposedly the next installment will only be 30 minutes long, to the rousing disgust of some Y-tubers. My own feeling is pretty much WTF, this had better be good *crunches biscuit*.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

As a stern advocate for both series 1 and series 2, I’ve just finished the first 2 episodes of series 3 and am seriously underwhelmed.

 

[Sassafras]

As a stern advocate for both series 1 and series 2, I’ve just finished the first 2 episodes of series 3 and am seriously underwhelmed.

I think this season will slow build into to most intense, complex, and action filled season, leaving viewers wondering how it can possibly get better.

Of course, there's a number of properties like Prometheus, and that-which-shall-not-be-named infamous and mentally scarring (on a global basis) Season 8 of a certain show...and then there's Amazon's ROP, which unbelievably went from bad to worse...

But this time, I'm emotional steel. If the culmination of this season is 1) Grogu almost sez his first word and 2) Bo-Katan reluctantly follows Din D'jarin to Tatooine for a barbecue with the Mods, and 3) and Din D'jarin, Fennec, Peli, and Boba are hanging out in the throne room playing cards, and Ahosoka pops up through the Rancour hatch and *mysteriously* sez "for every light there is darkness" and the season ends, I'll deal with it.

 

[slynger]

I did like seeing McQuarrie’s work come to life.

 

[jye4ever]

Other than the cheap ass Disney short run times and Tie’s missing their shots there is nothing here i’m hating or feeling underwhelmed by.

Have we forgotten how bad things can REALLY get with silly rabbit bullying, sweaty naked Fett, scooter gangs and child Leia running!

 

[MeatHookGekko]

When you have to defend a show with a thesis, or numerous 20+ min YouTube vids to “understand”, that usually means it’s just not good content to begin with

^

The above is as snippet of Joseph Campbell in an interview with Charlie Rose.

We can agree to disagree, and that's OK too. If you don't like The Mandalorian or parts of it, I'm OK with that. I personally love most of it. That's OK too.

Without influences like Joseph Campbell, there might not be Star Wars. He was also cited as a major influence by James Cameron, so we might also not have gotten Terminator and Aliens as well. Cameron was cited by Stan Winston, for some sketches regarding the Predator and it's use of mandibles, so without Cameron, through Campbell, we might not have gotten Predator as we know it.

The "hero's journey" is a road to self actualization. I find that incredibly interesting. Some others might not.

One of the things I despise about the "cancel culture" is it seeks to run a heavy purity test to punish those for loving what they love, especially the things they grew up with and gives them nostalgia. I see as tantamount to carjacking someone's childhood. That's why I'm OK with those who like what they like, even if I don't like it, and I'm indifferent if they don't agree with what I like. Love what you love. Go and do you. It doesn't have to be the same as what I choose to love and enjoy.

 

[jaztermareal]

Other than the cheap ass Disney short run times and Tie’s missing their shots there is nothing here i’m hating or feeling underwhelmed by.

Have we forgotten how bad things can REALLY get with silly rabbit bullying, sweaty naked Fett, scooter gangs and child Leia running!

more the case of those shows being so bad that the bar was lowered to the point that Mando s3 seems fine to some folk.

 

[Sassafras]

more the case of those shows being so bad that the bar was lowered to the point that Mando s3 seems fine to some folk.

Or, IMO, the point could be argued that these days the audience has to be carefully spoon fed; any narrative has to have significant explosions, fights, or pop-up surprise cameo characters roughly every 6.8 minutes; even better if some gratuitous sexuality can be thrown in (tho so far in Mando, everyone except Boba has managed to keep their clothes on, pretty remarkable these days) and the idea of carefully building a narrative is as quaint as gas at 1.20/gallon. No character can deviate from the vision in peoples' heads, so at this point the stoic, courageous Mando is certifiably a wimp for not twisting that stinger off, dragging that robo-critter to the cage, stabbing him, and then using his flames to blowtorch the cage to freedom.

Then he could bathe in the living waters Thor-style, have a vision of being King, and fly back to Bo-Katan "how you like me now? and by the way, I'm King and we're moving to Mandalore". The End.

And when people complain that Mando was stabbed by some robo-spider and had no reaction whatsover, Favreau goes - "well, Mando is like, the chosen one, so there".

 

[chrisstbh]

When you have to defend a show with a thesis, or numerous 20+ min YouTube vids to “understand”, that usually means it’s just not good content to begin with

ACHTUALLY YOU JUST DONT GET IT!

 

[jaztermareal]

Or, IMO, the point could be argued that these days the audience has to be carefully spoon fed; any narrative has to have significant explosions, fights, or pop-up surprise cameo characters roughly every 6.8 minutes; even better if some gratuitous sexuality can be thrown in (tho so far in Mando, everyone except Boba has managed to keep their clothes on, pretty remarkable these days) and the idea of carefully building a narrative is as quaint as gas at 1.20/gallon. No character can deviate from the vision in peoples' heads, so at this point the stoic, courageous Mando is certifiably a wimp for not twisting that stinger off, dragging that robo-critter to the cage, stabbing him, and then using his flames to blowtorch the cage to freedom.

Then he could bathe in the living waters Thor-style, have a vision of being King, and fly back to Bo-Katan "how you like me now? and by the way, I'm King and we're moving to Mandalore". The End.

And when people complain that Mando was stabbed by some robo-spider and had no reaction whatsover, Favreau goes - "well, Mando is like, the chosen one, so there".

none of that goes against what I said, in fact, it is actually kinda more in line with my "lowering the bar" point rather than against it (unless I am misreading your meaning due to you using "or" to start).

This show does spoon feed the plot to the audience via constant spoken exposition (violating the show don't tell principle) relies on plot contrivances in order to move the character from point A to point B where he can fight some bad guys or engage in a space dogfight, all the while throwing in cameos (previous seasons had the likes of Bo, Luke, Ahsoka, Boba etc and this season likely will follow that pattern, or at least throw constant easter eggs like Babu Fricks species etc).

Mando being weak and incompetent would be fine, as would him being incredibly competent and tough, either can work, but this show makes him (and the other mando's) so inconsistent it stretches suspension of disbelief to breaking point. The character(s) can be tough or weak, super smart and capable or completely inept idiots etc depending on what the writer wants to make the next thing happen. This is the sign of terrible writing. Sure, smart and tough characters can certainly make the occasional mistake but when it flip flops this much it is just comical.

This particular series gets the most forgiveness from viewers thanks to timing. Season 1 came when the sequels had messed things up so badly that expectations were at rock bottom, so being just OK was comparatively like being the best Star Wars ever to the viewers. I did argue a lot at the time that it was entirely overrated and I think those who came around to that opinion only did so after enough time had passed and they had seen other stuff such as Andor that reset their idea of where the bar is supposed to be. Now, after the mess of BOBF and Kenobi I think Mando s3 is getting the benefit of severely lowered expectations again.... except this time it is worse so maybe less people are fooling themselves (hence the more mixed response overall this time).

 

[MeatHookGekko]

Mando being weak and incompetent would be fine, as would him being incredibly competent and tough, either can work, but this show makes him (and the other mando's) so inconsistent it stretches suspension of disbelief to breaking point. The character(s) can be tough or weak, super smart and capable or completely inept idiots etc depending on what the writer wants to make the next thing happen. This is the sign of terrible writing. Sure, smart and tough characters can certainly make the occasional mistake but when it flip flops this much it is just comical.

A criticism I do have for the show is Djarin is as bounty hunter by trade. I get there needs to an overarching storyline for the mythology elements, but he's got to go on missions, secure bounties and go get paid.

What made Andor work, much like Rogue One, was it showed the unpleasant daily grind and raw mechanics of how the societies in this universe and world building operate. If the show wants to lean more into the Andor territory, i.e. more hard grit realism, then Mando just can't stop being a bounty hunter.

My take is that if Djarin starts doing bounties every other episode, that would clean up a lot of the fractures of where the show might be veering off from what made it more successful in S1.

It would also help if the episodes were generally longer. If they are going to pay Carl Weathers anyway to be in an episode, then at least show more of him in his new role. And that should operate the same for all the guest stars. If you are going to have Bill Burr back, then really give us more than a half hour.

Personally I don't see more Bo Katan as a good thing. I get that she's becoming more integral to the rebuilding of the Mandalore society and culture, but IMHO they picked the worst possible actress to play her. That's probably just a personal preference there.

More bounties = Bringing back the more fun elements of the show

 

[jye4ever]

My wife said E3 was boring af

Women lol

 

[ScoutingForToys]

My wife said E3 was boring af

Women lol

I kinda agree with her.
I found Andor really engaging but this was so dull.
There were good ideas there but the crap dialogue and crap acting stripped it of what should have been a tense and engaging episode.
If it had better writers and better actors it could have been much better.
I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's down to direction, but it all looked awful too.
If it was filmed the way Andor was, that would also help a great deal.
This volume thing they use needs to be got rid of. Or at least used more sparingly.

 

[jye4ever]

I kinda agree with her.
I found Andor really engaging but this was so dull.
There were good ideas there but the crap dialogue and crap acting stripped it of what should have been a tense and engaging episode.
If it had better writers and better actors it could have been much better.
I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's down to direction, but it all looked awful too.
If it was filmed the way Andor was, that would also help a great deal.
This volume thing they use needs to be got rid of. Or at least used more sparingly.

I call it Andor Lite.

 

[Deinonychus]

It wasn’t even 10% as good as any Andor episode. And the Boba and Obi-Wan shows were total embarrassments next to Andor.