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The Mandalorian - a general discussion thread - * SPOILERS * — Page 59

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jedi_bendu said:

My feelings on Mando season 2 have actually soured over the past few months. Part of that is maybe bitterness at how much Disney seems to be capitalising on its success, and that possibly taking away from a future for animated shows, but in general I’ve come to see the plot of season 2 as too contrived. It’s playing join the dots with its special character appearances, there are too many coincidences, the sidequest structure is a little formulaic, and when Grogu gets kidnapped it’s not actually as emotionally compelling as it should be. Season 2 has some of my favourite episodes - The Marshal, The Heiress and The Believer, and I still find those outstanding - but now I might prefer season 1.

I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but I do feel that a loot of these are problems that come with all types of storytelling after a certain amount of time. Plus, since modern series are less episodic and more like very long movies cut up into smaller pieces, I feel this way about most streaming series. Ironically The Mandalorian gets criticized by some for being too episodic, and compared to something like GOT it’s much more retro in this regard, though it does still have that single overarching narrative. I personally wouldn’t have minded if it was even more episodic, but I suppose that would have alienated a lot of the modern audience.

Also, as for the use of EU characters, as I’ve said previously in this tread, the real irony about it all is that it’s only SW geeks like us that actually know that they are EU characters in the first place, so it’s only us who can get thrilled or annoyed about their inclusion. Both my mother and uncle watch the show (both are in their sixties), and like most casual fans of their age they only remember the basic gist of the OT movies (and maybe a little of the PT), and they were both quite surprised when I mentioned that season 2 had several “guest-characters” from other SW shows.

Could season 2 have been just as good or better without these characters, sure. But to me personally it didn’t sour my enjoyment of the show, and I though they managed to integrate them all into Din’s character arc really well. I think both Bo Katan and Boba Fett were characters that made sense in Din’s journey to learn what it really means to be a mandalorian. Ahsoka was a bit more random, but it too had that episodic side-quest feel to it, and even acted as a bit of a mini-backdoor pilot of sorts.

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 (Edited)

I definitely prefer season one. For me, it’s much more removed from The Saga. It’s truly an adventure away from what we’ve seen for the past 40+ years. It’s familiar, but at the same time entirely new. It’s exactly what I’d hoped it would be.

If I had to pick a favorite episode so far; Season One, Episode Two would be it. It feels very much like a story in a galaxy far far away. Disconnected from the rest of either season. I particularly like the Mudhorn portion. I also really like that Mando has no idea what is happening when the beast levitates or how the child does it. That works perfectly in the non-saga story line.

Soured is too strong a word for my season two feelings, but I only really like the episodes with Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano. I’d waited nearly that same 40 years to have Fett’s depth and dignity restored. For that, I’m very grateful. I also loved the Ahsoka Tano episode. Outstanding work all around. Her entrance was perfect. I also enjoyed The Passenger episode. Again, removed from the Saga. Interesting and well done with the X Wing pilots leaving him behind.

The rest of the season shrinks the universe a bit too much. Particularly seeing Luke. To me, that was an unnecessary tie-in and story shrink. If season three stays in the smaller\Saga universe, I’ll be disappointed.

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I also prefer season 1, though I don’t consider 2 bad or disappointing by any means.

S1 just has a simplicity to it that makes for a welcome and overdue change of pace. And is very audience-friendly both for hardcore and casual fans. When recommending Star Wars to a friend that might have a preconceived bias against the movie saga, I always suggest starting with the Mandalorian S1, because it’s a simple yet engaging and beautifully told story that happens to be situated in the SW universe.

Though S2 is perfectly comprehensible for non-fans, arguably a bit of its impact is lost when you don’t know the relevance, backstory or fan-following of characters like Boba Fett, Bo-Katan, Ahsoka, etc, even though I loved their respective episodes.

I’m not gonna lie, I was almost moved to tears by Luke’s appearance at the end (except for maybe the CGI effects…). But now that the Jedi quest storyline is resolved by now, I don’t expect the future path of the show will rely on galaxy-shrinking cameos. Ahsoka and Boba are getting their own spin-offs, the show now has to build up to the retaking of Mandalore and the Imperial plot (even if Grogu is not with Mando anymore, we still need resolution to what are the Imperial Remnant’s plans).

In a way, The Mandalorian is shaping up to be like Rebels. A self-contained first season, a second one full of cameos, returning characters and a powerful climax involving a major saga player, and the third onwards gradually go back to the beginning, developing the main characters and building up to a conclusion that pays off their personal arcs rather than a galactic-scale event.

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Exciting news: “Lucasfilm and ILM have hired Shamook, a YouTuber who specializes in deepfaking Star Wars and other big-budget movies, showing up their CGI” (The Verge). This seems very promising for future appearances of Luke in Star Wars TV series.

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That’s great! People kept saying they should hire him, so it’s nice to see that they actually took that into consideration.

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I agree, it’s great to see Lucasfilm taking fan creators seriously! Good for Shamook, I think I’ve watched a lot of his work and he deserves this new job.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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Are they fixing all this jank with his help SE style? Or just making sure he can’t upload their content any more…

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Interestingly, Shamook is actually a deep fake researcher, and it seems like his YouTube content has become more of a byproduct of his research. So at first this hiring feels like Lucasfilm hired a fan with a interesting hobby, but Shamook is actually a professional in his field, to my understanding.

It’s possible he’ll be doing work for future Star Wars projects down the road (him improving older effects is possible but I doubt it), I think they’ve brought him on now for the new Indiana Jones film. There will probably be flashbacks to young Indy, so I imagine Shamook will be working with ILM to make the effect look as believable as possible. I’m pretty excited to see what they’ll cook up.

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Star Wars: See Mark Hamill in costume as Luke Skywalker on The Mandalorian set’:-

www.flickeringmyth.com/2021/08/star-wars-see-mark-hamill-in-costume-as-luke-skywalker-on-the-mandalorian-set
 

 

‘The Disney Gallery : The Mandalorian - Season 2, Episode 2’ airs on 25th August.
 

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'“A Good Feeling” Official Clip | Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian | Disney+':-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F-6h50Y3q8 - a 50 second clip from the official Star Wars youtube channel.
 

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Re Part 2 of Season 2’s ‘Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Mandalorian’

I thought Jon Favreau nailed it when talking about the deep emotional response so many of us had on seeing Luke return.

An enjoyable watch - and good to see Mark Hamill interviewed too.
 

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It’s certainly nice to see the franchise getting back at winning most technical awards.

So long 🙌

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 (Edited)

OK guys, I have finally caught up and watched both seasons. My thoughts:

The first two chapters were pretty meh, but chapter 3 is were the series really got me hooked. I love the fact that this series is for the most part disconnected from the main saga, although season 2 gets a little too fan service-y for my taste. I also like that they do away with the moralistic narrative of Good vs Evil and keep things simple. Din Djarin isn’t a hero, he’s just a bounty hunter doing his job, and since he’s now Manda’Lor, a role he clearly has no interest in, it will be interesting to see how this will pan out in season 3. As many have posted, I also hope season 3 takes the series back to being its own story away from the main saga.

The only episode I didn’t really like was The Jedi, mostly because I’m fed up with Ahsoka popping up in every single piece of expanded material, and since she’s Filoni’s pet character it’s not surprising that this particular episode was directed by him. That being said, props to Rosario Dawson for making an effort to sound like Ashley Eckstein.

About Luke appearing in the season 2 finale, I felt indifferent, and one thing that soured it was the internet comments using the cameo as an excuse to throw further shade at TLJ. “This is the Luke Skywalker we wanted to see. Shame on you Rian Johnson.” Please let it go.

Really looking forward to season 3, and I hope Kevin McKidd can reprise his role as Fenn Rau.

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ZkinandBonez said:

THE EMMY-WINNING SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS OF THE MANDALORIAN: SEASON 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd39daKZCI8 - from the official ILMVFX YouTube channel (4 mins long).

Only just got around to watching that - love these type of cool and insightful videos from ILM. 👍
 

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fmalover said:

The only episode I didn’t really like was The Jedi, mostly because I’m fed up with Ahsoka popping up in every single piece of expanded material

Outside of The Clone Wars where she originated, she’s in a handful of Rebels episodes and one episode of The Mandalorian.

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Rodney-2187 said:

fmalover said:

The only episode I didn’t really like was The Jedi, mostly because I’m fed up with Ahsoka popping up in every single piece of expanded material

Outside of The Clone Wars where she originated, she’s in a handful of Rebels episodes and one episode of The Mandalorian.

She’ll also be in multiple shows going forward.

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RicOlie_2 said:

Rodney-2187 said:

fmalover said:

The only episode I didn’t really like was The Jedi, mostly because I’m fed up with Ahsoka popping up in every single piece of expanded material

Outside of The Clone Wars where she originated, she’s in a handful of Rebels episodes and one episode of The Mandalorian.

She’ll also be in multiple shows going forward.

Multiple?

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Maybe I’m just thinking of rumours, but in addition to ‘‘Ahsoka’’ and future seasons of ‘‘The Mandalorian’’, I recall there being something about her showing up in future seasons of ‘‘The Bad Batch’’ and ‘‘Rangers of the New Republic’’. The last might just have to do with the fact that they’ve said the three New Republic live-action shows will be interconnected, so maybe they’ll keep Ahsoka out of it. She’ll no doubt be in the movie that’s supposed to wrap them all up, though.

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RicOlie_2 said:

Maybe I’m just thinking of rumours, but in addition to ‘‘Ahsoka’’ and future seasons of ‘‘The Mandalorian’’, I recall there being something about her showing up in future seasons of ‘‘The Bad Batch’’ and ‘‘Rangers of the New Republic’’. The last might just have to do with the fact that they’ve said the three New Republic live-action shows will be interconnected, so maybe they’ll keep Ahsoka out of it. She’ll no doubt be in the movie that’s supposed to wrap them all up, though.

Yeah those are rumours right now. I don’t think there’s any confirmation she’ll be in The Mandalorian either. Plus, if you haven’t heard, we’re pretty certain Rangers of the New Republic is effectively cancelled, judging by a recent interview with Kathleen Kennedy.

The way I see it is that Ahsoka is one of quite a few main characters in TCW, a side character in one season of Rebels, a cameo appearance in The Mandalorian and now she’s getting a series which may not even be centred on her but on the search for Ezra Bridger (I know that seems strange because of the series name, but I feel like they’ve just named it that because she’s so popular, it is what it is). So I think the amount of big appearances she’s had is often exaggerated. Besides, I never see people complaining that other beloved characters like Luke, Leia etc show up all the time in expanded universe content.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”