Anchorhead

Great artwork, as usual. 25 cents - very clever. 😉

As has been the case since I was a child, motorcycles are my passion, my escape. It is a rare day when I’m not on one. I enjoy all types: day rides, short runs, bike nights, charity rides, etc. However, a favorite type of ride for me, possibly my most favorite, is long-range touring/camping. This was a particularly cold one not long ago. Hard to tell, but the ground still had frost.

Man, those one-sheets are fantastic. The thought of what the series could be is certainly making this one of my favorites of all those announced shows. I agree that a Billy Dee Williams narrated show starring Glover would be top notch.

Mocata said:

Z6PO said:

Has The Mandalorian Succumbed to the Dark Side?

Very interesting and some very valid points. Maybe goes a bit off track and overboard in the second half of the analysis though.

Some of that may be valid (not that I agree), but to me the good in the series far far outweighs the shrinkage. I dropped out after what looked like the halfway point. Dude starts to drone on while trying to prove his bona fides as a fan. It becomes repetitive and somewhat anti-Disney.

As I mentioned earlier, there were a few scenes where I thought the score was odd. One spot where he knocked it out of the park is the Book Of Boba scene. As he’s walking up the steps and pulls the body onto the floor, it goes from awesome to even more awesome as he sits down. One of the best musical passages of the past two seasons, I think. Perfect music for Fett.

canofhumdingers said:

I really enjoyed it. Is it perfect? Nah. Are there nits to be picked? Sure.

But this show, like Rogue One before it, just hits all the right Star Wars notes for me and I’m just along for the ride at this point. I’m beyond caring about critiquing this on any kind of intellectual level. I’m ready to just let it wash over me like ocean waves and enjoy the experience.

Can’t wait to see where next season goes and I’m genuinely intrigued by the Book of Boba Fett.

That’s exactly how I feel. I’m watching and going along for the ride. I don’t analyze every line or character to see how they fit with other trilogies, or Canon A, B, C, D, E, F, etc, etc, or any EU. If I recognize a character, know their past, and it works each week - great. If it doesn’t or I don’t know the reference because I’m not familiar with the Prequels - that’s fine too.

I’m not someone who has ever spent much time trying to force a connection between characters and stories into some sort of mental or personal canon. I’m certainly not going to start now. Star Wars, as a franchise, is way too big of a mess for that.

I’m enjoying this new adventure and new characters. This makes me happy the way 1977 made me happy. I don’t need or want more than that.

idir_hh said:

That’s not the story of the ST. You both proved my point.

Edit: I honestly don’t want to get into long posts about semantics. Let’s just move along.

Particularly since they have nothing to do with this show.

adywan said:
And the change in the music style in this ep felt so wrong with some of it being more like a 90’s hallmark film

Yes. Of all the criticisms of this episode (some I agree with, some I don’t), the music struck me as being way off with respect to what was happening on screen. It was as if Göransson wasn’t involved. Very odd.

To the other points; I think it felt a bit rushed also. They could have left off last week with Mando discussing plans with Bo in the bar and them leaving as the last scene. Also, I don’t find the Cybermen terribly interesting or threatening.

The stuff with Luke being the one who answered the call, as well as his leaving with the baby - that all worked well for me.

I am LOVING Fett since his return. I’ve been waiting for this serious and three dimensional version of him since 1983.
“Power up those shields, princess. I’ll put on a good show.”

That is hilarious. I’d dig it if he hadn’t circled the extra.

Thank you, sir! 😀

ZkinandBonez said:

I also think its a nice little detail that both the “Frog-Lady” and “Dr. Mandible” (as Peli called him) both appeared in the season 1 Tatooine episode, implying that there’s not much happening on Tatooine anymore.

I felt like Peli calling him Dr Mandible was a fun nod to the same sort of less-than-respectful attitude of Solo when he refers to C3PO as the professor. Peli isn’t exactly cheating him outright, but she is getting one over on him to win the game. She’s similar to Solo that way. She’d have to be to survive in that same harsh environment.

Speaking of which: I’m extremely happy that the show has restored Tatooine to its original version. There isn’t much happening there, just as there wasn’t when we first discovered it in 1977.

sade1212 said:

Anchorhead said:
People seem to go back and forth on how (or if) Fett is alive and will be in the series. I’m not up on most EU or any Lucas SE whatever-the-fucks. Is there any real reason to assume he lived beyond ROTJ?

Yeah, the cameo character at the end of the episode was played by Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett in Episode 2. In case you’ve cleansed the prequels from your mind: Boba Fett is a clone of Jango Fett…

I only saw Phantom once (in ‘99). I never bothered with the other prequels. I’m unfamiliar with the story or the actor Morrison. I didn’t know who that was at the end of the episode.

People seem to go back and forth on how (or if) Fett is alive and will be in the series. I’m not up on most EU or any Lucas SE whatever-the-fucks. Is there any real reason to assume he lived beyond ROTJ?

I thought his armor making an appearance from scrap dealers and someone who purchased it was a nice send-off to the 80s and an equally interesting way to give us Fett closure. Something I’m very happy about. He went from cool in Empire to wildly over-exposed/explained by Lucas.

His cool factor was ruined by Lucas. To me, this episode restored a bit of that somehow.

Z6PO said:

Did you catch the format change? It went from CinemaScope aspect ratio to full screen HDTV for the action sequences!

Thank God. I thought I was losing it. While I was watching, I was caught up in the story, but also had a moment where I thought I was either seeing a change or imagining it. Great episode and I agree with all the points made so far.

Likewise on appreciating that they’re letting the needs of the story decide the length of the episodes. This was a more complex story, so it got the time to tell it.

Cobb was a likeable character and well played by Olyphant. I like that he was a bit puffed up when they meet, as you would be if a known gunslinging killer shows up in town asking questions. It may not have been intentional, but I like how Cobb looked a little silly wearing the armor particularly since he didn’t have all of it.

It was nice to see Peli again and I really liked how they didn’t pad any of that portion with unnecessary retelling of their meeting from last year. They wouldn’t do that in real life, so it worked that they didn’t do it here. He goes to see someone who he knows is honest, she’s happy to see them again, helps him as much as she can, and he’s off to tend to business while leaving his ship somewhere safe. To me, that was a perfect way to handle a revisit like that.

I agree with the other points too about the cinematography. Really well done and more than holds its own with the films. As someone mentioned earlier, this was like a one-hour film. As it was last year, the franchise is in excellent hands.

I waited until after dinner to watch it so that the day’s stresses would be over and I could relax and raise a glass to the return of the show. It was even better than I expected. I’ll watch it again tomorrow.

Apologies if this is in here already and I missed it. A short bit with Gina on how she was approached for the job.
https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2019/11/how-did-disneys-the-mandalorian-actress-gina-carano-learn-that-she-was-first-in-line-for-the-role-of-cara-dune/

She’s ended up being one of my favorite parts of the show. I love her humility.

Try not to drag this off-topic again. I don’t want to have to do a second clean-up to keep it focused.

SilverWook said:
Had Splinter been made into a film, it could have been equally as dark.

No doubt about it. There are some scenes with Grammel that are as graphic as anything in the franchise. That said, since it’s the original sequel to Star Wars, it’s still my favorite novel. It’s a yearly read every Summer. Leia is a much deeper character here than in anything Lucas came up with later.

oojason said:

Fantastic! 😄

clarapatrick said:
i cant seem to upload pictures here either lol. i dont know how to show my collection since uploading on drive is too much work for me. i guess im even more tech illiterate lol

Here is the code to display a pic.


Bang, Bracket, Bracket, Parenthesis, URL of picture, Parenthesis

JadedSkywalker said:

I have to say i went back and watched this again and i liked it a lot better than the first time i watched it.
Alden does a pretty good Harrison impression in one or two scenes. And of course Donald Glover was fantastic.
I think this film was unfairly maligned due to the Last Jedi backlash. Ron Howard is a talented guy and he got good performances out of the actors. I really liked Woody Harrelson and Thandie Newton. And the stand out by far and most interesting character for me wasn’t Han at all it was Enfys Nest.

Agree on all points. It needed a fresh start as opposed to a very messy late-production course correction.

Also to echo, the finest part of the film (For me) is envy’s. I’m truly sorry the film was such a mess and failure. We are being cheated out of more Enfys. Also, no issue with Alden. He’d be fine in a sequel. It’s the film itself that was such a mess.

For the love of God, no more Vader. A once interesting and mysterious villain in 1977, completely back-storied to death.

I’d much rather see them venture into new worlds and new characters. I’d love it if they went with animated features, particularly if it were in the style of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I’m not a Marvel person, but I’ve watched that 3 or 4 times already. Fantastic story and an animation tour de force.

An all new sector of the GFFA with entirely new characters, unrelated to The Saga, in the style below - I’d be all in.

Love it, love it, love it. Just listened to it about two months ago. That’s my favorite telling of the story.

StarkillerAG said:

Anchorhead. I know you probably don’t want to buy the official Special Edition versions in order to obtain them ethically, but it’s so worth it.

It’s hard to explain, but I’ve become very soured on all of Lucas’s bullshit. I’ve moved on from the OT. If Disney releases Star Wars in its proper 1977 form, I’ll gladly buy it and watch it.

Also hard to explain is how if I think about scenes or listen to the soundtrack, I instantly have that same feeling I had in 77. I remember all of it - film, story, experience, sounds, lines, etc - the magic - the atmosphere - as though it were yesterday.

A proper release would be icing for sure and I’d welcome it, but it’s not necessary for me to enjoy 1977. I lived it while it was happening. As I’ve said before, my emotional connection to Star Wars is perfectly captured in the original trailer. I remember this trailer as well as I remember the movie.
https://youtu.be/WcfYsJ1FRWU

The last time I watched the original trilogy as a complete trilogy, it was the 1995 Faces VHS box set. That would have been around…1995. 😉

We used to have something we called Lunchtime Theater at work. We’d gather in the lunchroom, which had a TV, turn off the overhead lights, only ambient light from a glass wall to the rest of the place, get our lunches ready and watch movies in two-day, one-hour, installments. There were typically about ten of us in there.

That was the last time I watched The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. It would be another ten years before I watched Star Wars again (day of the GOUT release). That one time was also the last time I watched Star Wars. I don’t own that set anymore.