Star Wars: The Mandalorian [** Spoilers **] [Disney+] (US Pace)

Relikk

Great visuals of the illuminated AT-ST cockpit, looking at it from the perspective of the villagers who would have never seen one before, booming through and destroying the trees, a giant red eyed monster looming ominously over them. A slight "War of the Worlds" feel to it.

Interesting hearing Gina Carano's character talk about what they were doing after Endor... "protecting delegates, suppressing riots." Seems like there was a little reluctance to accept the New Republic in some places which could explain, in part, the rise of the First Order.

1800_Ladladlad

Venom wrote: »

Highlight for me was Baby Yoda

just chilling out slurping his soup while Mando and Cara were kicking the crap out of each other

:cool:

My highlight was when

Daddylorian and the child accepted the deal to protect the villagers and when they were on hoover cart after, mando leans back to relax, the child mimics him leaning back and then looks up at the night sky. The noises that come out of the little had, invokes anxiety-like emotions

The episode also went by really quick. Imo

It was dead obvious the request for protection from the villagers was going to lead to. This episode was to predictable. The sudden bond between mando and the daughter of the villager leader the stereotypical crap. Great to hear info around mando ever taking the helmet off around non-Mandolorians, if he does, he doesn't back on.

As I think of it, I was expecting this series to be more like Band of brothers in terms of quality writing and top-level production. Along 10 0ne hour episodes. Taking into consideration the money that has been put into this, the Band of brothers budget was $125 (12millon p/e) at the time also taking into consideration inflation and the advancements of the times with technology and production, I would have thought what we are seeing now with this series would have not cost so much .

homerun_homer

Is there something wrong with me? I can’t get my enthusiasm for the show above just liking it. I want to love it but only love baby Yoda so far, I’d clearly be insane if I didn’t. For me it has still not raised the bar yet to being the great show I hoped it would be.
I thought the action was weak this week and wasn’t surprised when I saw Bryce’s Name as director after. It felt like it was made by someone who hadn’t dealt with action scenes. I thought it was weird that the AT-ST was made out to behave like it was some monstrous entity rather than a controlled machine.

Can anyone answer how the bounty tracker’s work? How do they pinpoint the bounty exactly? I would get baby Yoda if they planted a tracker in him last week but as the show has shown from the very first scene, those devices pinpoint their bounty when they are near.

Relikk

homerun_homer wrote: »

Is there something wrong with me? I can’t get my enthusiasm for the show above just liking it.

Kind of the same here with regard to only liking it and not loving it, but for me, I'm not that fond of the whole baby Yoda thing and I'd rather it was just about him being a bounty hunter.

Stop moaning ffs

Well it was good while it lasted. Pic for context. The fvck is wrong with these clowns

Tony EH

Thought that episode was quite poor myself and it was soppier than an old grandmother's hanky.

Cara Dune is a bit annoying in places and yeh, we get it, Gina Carano is an MMA fighter. But silly hand to hand stuff looks kinda stupid when you have a distance weapon. The AT-ST looked odd too. But it was nice to see anyway.

All in all, a mediocre bottle episode that didn't really add that much. The entire 30 minutes could be skipped and you'd miss nothing except Carano's introduction.

And as someone else said, these fobs need some serious explanation. How exactly do they track their mark?

PsychoPete

I really enjoyed that episode.

the part when mando tells the kid to stay put, mando turns around and the kid is beside him reminded me of anytime I move around the house and my dog is behind me straight away

NIMAN

I thought this was a weak episode, not a patch on the 3 that came before.

Can't quite put my finger on it why I didn't like it.

A bit soppy maybe?

Why did the AT-ST make growling sounds?
Why did it look like it was a monster rather than a machine that 2 pilots were driving, which is what is is after all?

the_syco

Tony EH wrote: »

And as someone else said, these fobs need some serious explanation. How exactly do they track their mark?

Pretty sure it was explained that when pointed at the target, it beeps faster?

Homelander

I liked it but it started to feel a little Stargate-ish and bit too old-school TV, villian of the week type stuff, not the direction I want it to go overall. It was good though. I don't think it was filler though as it did add some meaningful character development to the Mandalorian himself, even if all the background stuff is ultimately totally irrelevant.

homerun_homer

the_syco wrote: »

Pretty sure it was explained that when pointed at the target, it beeps faster?

And how does it beep faster at the target? Jump forward to the recent trilogy, what was to stop the First Order using these unexplained trackers to hunt down Luke* when no one knew where he was?

*don't say because he was in the unknown region.

IAMAMORON

A bit meh if I am honest at episode 4. I didn't really see any big story development.

I think having baby Yoda at the end of the sniper rifle and one click from death before the big MMA save from <snip> means it is now obvious that he is never dying... where are the big bad scary animal imperial bastards coming with impending doom, I did not see them anywhere. I don't care much for Vietnamese subsistence farmers fishing little blue fishies either, give me more tie fighter mayhem please

Stop moaning ffs

It’s halfway through so I’m guessing you’ll see the stakes raised now with the imperials coming to take BY. This episode probably a breath before the plunge as it were.
Filoni is directing the next one I think.

J. Marston

Tony EH wrote: »

Thought that episode was quite poor myself and it was soppier than an old grandmother's hanky.

Cara Dune is a bit annoying in places and yeh, we get it, Gina Carano is an MMA fighter. But silly hand to hand stuff looks kinda stupid when you have a distance weapon. The AT-ST looked odd too. But it was nice to see anyway.

All in all, a mediocre bottle episode that didn't really add that much. The entire 30 minutes could be skipped and you'd miss nothing except Carano's introduction.

And as someone else said, these fobs need some serious explanation. How exactly do they track their mark?

Wasn't it the exact opposite of a bottle episode?

Walter E GO

Tony EH wrote: »

And as someone else said, these fobs need some serious explanation. How exactly do they track their mark?

Opens door, lobs in a 'Midichlorians/Dna detector' grenade, closes door and runs.

Tony EH

the_syco wrote: »

Pretty sure it was explained that when pointed at the target, it beeps faster?

In a galaxy? That leaves an awful lot of room for error.

Tony EH

J. Marston wrote: »

Wasn't it the exact opposite of a bottle episode?

Well, it's not entirely one, but it was practically a self contained mini story, so from that point of view it was a bottle episode. It didn't add much to the over all story and it looked relatively cheap to make to me.

heebusjeebus

Bottle episodes are defined by the lack of expansive cast, reuse of existing sets and little to no special effects work needed.
This was not a bottle ep.

Stop moaning ffs

It kind of didn’t do anything to move the story along though other than to let mando know that himself and the baby are still being tracked/hunted

I took the tracker in this to relate to the mando btw not baby. There’d be a considerable bounty out him now for breaking guild rules and killing loads of them.

Tony EH

heebusjeebus wrote: »

Bottle episodes are defined by the lack of expansive cast, reuse of existing sets and little to no special effects work needed.
This was not a bottle ep.

Fine.

It was set in a field, cheap to do and had a load of for scale nobodies in a story that you can skip and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.

pixelburp

So when I offered ways and means you could shrink this show to a 2, 2.5 hour movie? I have another candidate for removal: this ENTIRE damn episode. What blatant filler.

When a show is only 8 episodes, no matter the genre, every one should count for something. With any show that short, the sense of "chapters" becomes more pronounced IMO; so even if only by the very end we have a small piece of info about a characters motivation, some action or plot development, make the episode count for something.

Again, this wasn't a bad piece of entertainment by any metric so not actually complaining, but it was completely, narratively pointless; nothing of value was learned or developed (bar maybe some details on Mandorlian culture but hardly worth 40 minutes).

Gotta agree with Tony in that this was probably a budget saver; take the Star Wars license away and this could have been from any number of cheaper TV franchises; from Firefly to Trek to Farscape to Killjoys, this plot has been done to death: agrarian community saved by our reluctant heroes, tempted by the pastoral life but ultimately moving on.

I always bristle a little too when I see an actor has taken the reigns of a TV episode; it's nearly always a sign of dipping a toe in the shallow end of a pool. Bruce Dallas Howard did fine, but her inexperience simply made the episode even more rote than it needed to be.

The worst episode of the show so far IMO, despite being "fine".

Stop moaning ffs

‘I never take off my helmet in front of anyone’


Next shot takes off helmet and stands in front of open window kids playing mere feet away

Gbear

Stop moaning ffs wrote: »

‘I never take off my helmet in front of anyone’


Next shot takes off helmet and stands in front of open window kids playing mere feet away

He was holding a curtain in front of his face.

And it was only a one-way hole in the wall.

NIMAN

pixelburp wrote: »

So when I offered ways and means you could shrink this show to a 2, 2.5 hour movie? I have another candidate for removal: this ENTIRE damn episode. What blatant filler.

When a show is only 8 episodes, no matter the genre, every one should count for something. With any show that short, the sense of "chapters" becomes more pronounced IMO; so even if only by the very end we have a small piece of info about a characters motivation, some action or plot development, make the episode count for something.

Again, this wasn't a bad piece of entertainment by any metric so not actually complaining, but it was completely, narratively pointless; nothing of value was learned or developed (bar maybe some details on Mandorlian culture but hardly worth 40 minutes).

Gotta agree with Tony in that this was probably a budget saver; take the Star Wars license away and this could have been from any number of cheaper TV franchises; from Firefly to Trek to Farscape to Killjoys, this plot has been done to death: agrarian community saved by our reluctant heroes, tempted by the pastoral life but ultimately moving on.

I always bristle a little too when I see an actor has taken the reigns of a TV episode; it's nearly always a sign of dipping a toe in the shallow end of a pool. Bruce Dallas Howard did fine, but her inexperience simply made the episode even more rote than it needed to be.

The worst episode of the show so far IMO, despite being "fine".

It was like the A-Team.

IAMAMORON

In fairness the items concerning head gear removal are setting up for a big reveal later in the series. At some point it will give an opportunity to create tension and excitement around the removal of the helmet. It is classic Darth Vader stuff, who really is the man behind the mask?

NIMAN

Going out on a limb here, but I think he might look at bit like this

_Kaiser_

Just watched it there and quite enjoyed it myself.

I genuinely don't know what some fans expect here. It should be very obvious that this isn't following the tone or scale of the movies, that tie fighter battles aren't the theme, and that it's both a lot slower and more character driven than the flashy but a bit bland cinema outings.

Baby Yoda continues to be adorable, the bond between him and Mando continuing to grow. Nice introduction of a new character with a bit of insight into the days following ROTJ, and the obligatory action sequence for the fans which was no worse than the idea of kid sized teddy bears taking down armoured assault bots - at least here they used guns and tactics.

If this was filler then it was almost as tasty as the slice of black forest I had with it

Foxtrol

pixelburp wrote: »

So when I offered ways and means you could shrink this show to a 2, 2.5 hour movie? I have another candidate for removal: this ENTIRE damn episode. What blatant filler.

When a show is only 8 episodes, no matter the genre, every one should count for something. With any show that short, the sense of "chapters" becomes more pronounced IMO; so even if only by the very end we have a small piece of info about a characters motivation, some action or plot development, make the episode count for something.

Again, this wasn't a bad piece of entertainment by any metric so not actually complaining, but it was completely, narratively pointless; nothing of value was learned or developed (bar maybe some details on Mandorlian culture but hardly worth 40 minutes).

Gotta agree with Tony in that this was probably a budget saver; take the Star Wars license away and this could have been from any number of cheaper TV franchises; from Firefly to Trek to Farscape to Killjoys, this plot has been done to death: agrarian community saved by our reluctant heroes, tempted by the pastoral life but ultimately moving on.

I always bristle a little too when I see an actor has taken the reigns of a TV episode; it's nearly always a sign of dipping a toe in the shallow end of a pool. Bruce Dallas Howard did fine, but her inexperience simply made the episode even more rote than it needed to be.

The worst episode of the show so far IMO, despite being "fine".

I don't think that is a great mindset to go into watching a series, definitely not one that is going to lead to maximising enjoyment of it. If you're going episode by episode of any series of a TV show, looking at how to turn it into a movie, you're going to find a lot of things you presume is 'filler' that you believe can be cut. That may or may not turn out to be the case when you see how the story turns out.

I understand that people are keen to get to the parts that interest them but this isn't a movie. Despite the limited available time to tell the story (if you look at it from an 8 episode season) it should be given time to develop rather than rush there.

homerun_homer

I get the feeling that this whole series is a tester for potential directors to take over a movie, and for the most part inexperienced big budget, action directors to boot. So far I've found none of the action cinema worthy or exciting, just perfunctory. Filoni is used to directing cartoons and no doubt next week is his litmus test, but I worry his won't be any more exciting. Favreau's writing hasn't been great either, it's like he took a first draft and decided not to dress it up any. Give me Star Wars banter in the style of Swingers:pac:

pixelburp

Foxtrol wrote: »

I don't think that is a great mindset to go into watching a series, definitely not one that is going to lead to maximising enjoyment of it. If you're going episode by episode of any series of a TV show, looking at how to turn it into a movie, you're going to find a lot of things you presume is 'filler' that you believe can be cut. That may or may not turn out to be the case when you see how the story turns out.

I understand that people are keen to get to the parts that interest them but this isn't a movie. Despite the limited available time to tell the story (if you look at it from an 8 episode season) it should be given time to develop rather than rush there.

And all that is fine, but as there was literally nothing in that episode that developed either character or story (arguably Mando's helmet philosophy but that didn't DEPEND on this particular story), then what did this episode bring to the table? To my mind, nothing. Honestly? I was bored outta my brains, and whatever else The Mandolorian has been, it has never been tedious.

I'm not watching the show from the mindset of condensing it into a film, more that when no moment could be extracted and held up as an example of "well, if nothing else, THIS happened and furthered character or action", then a question to be asked is "what was the point of this?" beyond some directorial experience for Howard Jr? (and yes, obviously beyond superficial enjoyment for its own sake, so can we assume that this chat extends past that simple metric? ).

Even in 22 episode shows, you'll find "filler" episodes will tend to bookend the wheel-spinning with some element of the broader story fleshed out; usually as enticement to keep watching by means of a cliffhanger - but at least the cliffhanger's there. I actually gawped at the TV when Episode 4 just ended. No surprise of a Star Destroyer hovering over orbit, or Mando's new ally sending a coded message to a mystery listener - nothing. We got 41 minutes of a style of episode even Stargate, Firefly, Star Trek and dozens of other SciFi shows would find a little played out.

And like I said, when the show sets its stall out as 8 episodes, there's a statement being made there about the type of narrative we're going to get - or rather, that could be reasonably expected. To be fair, Episode 3 absolutely nailed that expectation, being a lean piece of storytelling that gave us loads of character, action, plot, everything. Episodes 1 and 2 dithered, and had definite filler (Blerg riding, step forward), but still got the story going. Episode 4 was TNG Episode #426.

TL:DR? You could totally skip this episode.