Just some nice pictures of the Razor Crest and Grogu.
I like that they let directors bring their own visual style to the show. The way the combat scenes are shot are much more visceral than we’re used to - I wouldn’t go for canted angles and slow motion moments every episode, but I thought it worked beautifully in this one. It’s just a one-off.
This is the great thing about having a live action show like this - one week we get slow pacing, atmospheric build-up, and Samurai film style scenes, the next we get exaggerated gunfight action. I see lots of people online losing their minds at how much they enjoyed Chapter 14, and some who say it wasn’t for them, and that’s fine. There’s something for everyone. It’ll never get dull.
I still think that Temuera Morrison swooping in with Boba Fett armour and defeating all the Imperial forces is one of the best moments in the show. Right now I’m wondering, would it have been even better if Mando had had his jetpack when Grogu was captured, and his impulsive reaction was to try and rescue him? He could have got beaten away like a fly by the Darktroopers, THEN Boba would have flown after them. But maybe that would have made it too drawn-out.
So Robert Rodriguez replaced him at the last minute, and it shows. Directing felt very haphazard.
I’m curious, could you elaborate on this? Do you mean inconsistent, was it the shot types or the acting, and were there any particular moments that stood out to you?
Cam Kennedy is awesome! Here’s some more while I’m in the mood.
‘Replica’ by Brian Rood.
‘Boba fends off fellow bounty hunters’ by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt.
Also another Hildebrandt brothers piece I just found while surfing. Leia’s looking good!
The Empire Strikes Back, eh?
I don’t agree with the criticisms at all, I loved this episode. Probably the heaviest action we’ve got in Star Wars and I think Robert Rodriguez did a great job making it dynamic and intense. For some reason I had a feeling Rodriguez would handle the Boba Fett episode. Boba’s fighting is so brutal, I thought they were setting him up as a villain - but seeing him ally with Mando is something I wanted to see since he was first rumoured to be involved. We’re finally getting to see live-action Boba Fett at full fighting capacity, but also with more humanity, a continuation of that process that started in The Clone Wars. I also appreciated the small instance of backstory, especially about Jango Fett being a Mandalorian foundling.
What they’re doing with Grogu, showing how as a powerful infant he can misuse the Force (like his force choke from chapter 7) I find very compelling. His capture is not only bad news for his fate in general, it may be damaging to his personality.
Sad to see the Razor Crest go. I liked that ship.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m playing Dark Forces for the first time at the minute and was very excited to see the Dark Troopers in full force! They’re clearly battle droids, so those bodies in the tanks from chapter 12 may well be something else, like experiments on Snoke. I’m also glad that the concept artists have followed on from the design of the Imperial Sentry droid from Rebels, which was based on the Darktroopers anyway. They’re very sinister.
Staring into the eyes of death… and baby yoda kidnappers!
I hear the man himself is in this week’s Mandalorian episode (haven’t watched it yet - doing so after posting this) so here’s some Boba Fett artwork by the legendary Tsuneo Sanda: ‘Boba Fett’ from 2009 and ‘Boba Fett the Hunter’ for a 1998 Insider magazine.
Maybe influenced by the teachings in Luke’s ancient texts, Rey could have gone on to found a new kind of order to correct the wrongs of the old one after Luke failed to do so.
This kind of thing happened beautifully in the original Duel of the Fates episode IX script, but don’t even get me started on that one.
Sparky, what new canon content are you thinking of, for content that makes it out like this particular line of pupils and masters were the enlightened ones? I didn’t know that was specific to the new EU.
Barriss Offee also realised the dark path of the Order, although it must have driven her a bit nuts.
Oh, and what new EU stuff shows Obi-Wan as very critical of the Jedi? He’s always been a stickler for the rules, and in the Siege of Mandalore arc he seems reluctant to say even the scandalous phrase “Ahsoka, the Council… isn’t always right.” So this sounds very interesting.
Very grateful for Marquand for including Yoda again - although it is a little convenient that Yoda happens to die as soon as Luke shows up (I always found that quite funny - LUKE: “see, I returned for your guidance, just like I promised!” YODA: “too late you are, just about to die I was. Mmmm. Know what you, just go fight Vader again you should, THEN a Jedi you are!”) that’s a hell of a nitpick in light of how touching that scene is. I love ROTJ Yoda. It’s a shame my 2004 edition DVD has a scratch and refuses to play that particular scene.
I don’t think it will be answered anytime soon, but my main question at this point is who got Grogu out of the Jedi temple before order 66? I wonder if it’s someone we know, or someone new?
Out of pure speculation, how about a collective effort of the youngling friends from The Clone Wars season 5? I pick them mainly because what ruins those episodes a bit, is watching them with the assumption that these kids are going to be murdered by Anakin Skywalker in about a year. Although it would be more compelling if the person who hid Grogu was then themselves killed, so actually maybe an individual adult would be best.
I see a lot of people upset about that because of Luke talking through Vader to his father in Return of the Jedi, but, ever the insufferable Rian Johnson defender, I agree with his decision. The reason Rian included Yoda’s force ghost was because we’ve seen Luke’s relationship with Yoda a lot more and a reunion of the two was much more powerful in that moment; arguably, in the films, Luke never REALLY got to meet his father. I bet Luke has interacted with his father’s force ghost post-original-trilogy, but it’s what the audience has seen that’s important. Yoda, the man of great wisdom, was the best choice for a guiding force for Luke in that scene. And including both Yoda and Anakin in the film would have felt forced and too confused.
Now, in my mind Anakin should have appeared to speak to Ben in TROS no question, but that’s another rant.
That would make a great Disney+ series.
Big Love: A Star Wars Story
There are a minority of Star Wars fans who talk of wanting a 15+/R-rated rated Star Wars project, probably about Darth Vader murdering rebels or Jedi with extreme graphic violence (in George’s words, a “real guy movie”)
Imagine if an R-rated Star Wars project came along, and it was just a romance about Ki Adi-Mundi and his five wives, with lots of sex scenes. It’ll never happen, but I’m enjoying imagining the reaction to it!
To get back on topic… I’ve no theories for what’s about to happen next in The Mandalorian because we really are entering uncharted territory. Going into Chapter 13, I already had a visualisation of what might happen: a lush forest planet, with Moff Gideon’s forces arriving and Ahsoka having to fight off force-sensitive darktroopers. That didn’t happen; I did the same for Chapter 10, and both times I set myself up for disappointment. But now - we’re utterly clueless about what will happen in the season’s finale, which I’m sure will be spectacular.
so , do you think we will finally get to see Thrawn in live action in this series ? If so , who would be the best choice to play him ? I always picture James Bond era Pierce Brosnan in the role when I read the original Thrawn trilogy from the early 90s.
This may be common knowledge, but Jason Palmer - in his 2019 SW Celebration mural - would agree…
I don’t think we’ll see live-action Thrawn in The Mandalorian, because it would ruin the opportunity for the Star Wars Rebels sequel story that’s been set up (same goes for live-action Ezra Bridger - I can’t see it happening), but if any show could pull off a good live-action version of the character, this is it. My vote is for Lars Mikkelsen because he provided such a chilling and iconic voice in Rebels; a few prosthetics maybe on a sharper chin, and he’s there.
http://chng.it/RMN9pQwxhc
Petition to get a David Prowse statue on the Colstonian plinth, and his daughter Rachel approves!
https://twitter.com/prowse_rachel/status/1333388613661437952?s=20
This Vanity Fair interview with Rosario Dawson and Dave Filoni pretty much covers everything I would have wanted it to! From how Dave feels about the transition to live action, to why he chose a burnt-out, bleak forest over the lush Endor-like planet I was expecting (basically: he lives in Northern California, alongside forest fires), to how he views Ahsoka at this point in the timeline. It even covers the allegations of a transphobic attack made against Rosario and her family. I’d still prefer definitive answers to that, but we might have to be satisfied with Rosario’s vague explanation and insistence that it never took place.
I’ve been waiting to hear from Dave and this article is it. For those like SandMTV wondering about Rosario’s makeup process, it covers that too.
There’s a clone helmet graffiti and her fulcrum symbol in the back.
I didn’t notice that at first, well spotted! Rosario Ahsoka looks great here, but then all the character posters have been very good. Time to update my phone wallpaper.
Reckon she’ll be back for the season finale, like how some characters came back together at the end in Mando Season 1? Or is her backdoor pilot done and awaiting the Rebels sequel series to be announced?
I always assumed she’d be a one-episode guest appearance, but Rosario Dawson recently posted an Instagram story with a photo of her and Simon Cassianides from another film premiere and said it was great to work with him again. It might not mean anything, but then again it might… we could be seeing another teamup of Ahsoka and Bo Katan in the retaking of Mandalore, you never know.
I’m not sure if I want to see Ahsoka again in this season or not. One part of me wants to see her back in animation again, or maybe in live-action with Rebels-accurate head tails, but another part of me feels that Chapter 13 was more small-scale than I was expecting and she should have another appearance in the show.
I’ve been happy with most of the Star Wars content to come out of the Disney era, but as a corporation they have some horrible, unethical business practices. These cases are typical of how they treat creators. Moreover they’re buying literally every successful film company or franchise and so much of their stuff is unoriginal. I can’t think of a bigger threat to art as we know it today.
Is it known what they fell out over?
Was just watching this short clip from a BBC interview, broadcast June 1980. Prowse is clearly lovely both for Jackie Collins to talk to and anyone to listen to. Particularly funny to hear of the horny ‘fan mail’ sent to him from fans who’d managed to fall for Darth Vader! Definitely one of the weirdest fetishes I’ve ever heard of…
Unfortunately he’s accompanied by a background rendition of ‘Rule Britannia’ from Musician’s Union protestors. After about a minute’s research, from what I can tell they were protesting because of the BBC’s decision to axe some of their house orchestras due to a deficiency in income.
Some behind-the-scenes photos from the set of Star Wars.
David Prowse acted out arguably the most iconic villain in cinema history, yet he was most proud of playing the Green Cross Code Man from 1975, encouraging road safety in the UK.
That says a lot. R.I.P. to a legend.
If you want to contact him about why there are unreleased tracks from TCW, I suggest you go to this link here.: https://kevinkiner.com/contact/
Thanks! I might just do that. Don’t know if I’ll reach him or not, but it would be great to have some light shed on the issue by him personally. Also nice to thank him for all his work over the years.
I’m very against Yoda having a lightsaber, but this is a great post and it deserves replies, so I’m leaving one:
Okay, you got me. These are fantastic points.
I wonder how long Rosario has to turn into Ahsoka… (The hair andmake-up, prosthetics, and wardrobe).
I’m sure interviews will be coming soon, Katee Sackhoff had one with Entertainment Weekly very shortly after her episode.
Brian Matyas, LFL character concept designer, briefly addressed the head-tail length on Twitter, if anyone else is interested:
https://twitter.com/brianmatyasart/status/1332426506480406530?s=20