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

pixelburp

Finished this up and ... uhhhhhhhhh. There's nothing left to say really; a season that was rarely aggressively bad, but watching it was like the worst kind of self-induced fan obligation. If I wasn't a greying 40+ Star Wars fan I'd have dropped it much sooner.

If this is the kind of Star Wars we're going to get as a default - just a bunch of toy-box characters, and video-game plotting - I won't be on board. I don't have any resting fondness for Ahsoka so if it's more of the same that might be it 'til Andor Season 2.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120520839#Comment_120520839

I just couldn't do any more of 'The Ark'. It's a nice idea, but the acting was woeful and the writing (at least on what I watched) left a lot to be desired too. And I, genuinely, know people who could knock out better CGI in their bedrooms using 3D studio.

I suppose I felt that it was just utterly charmless and it had no hold on me. Plus, my time is limited and I just don't have it to throw away on a TV show I'm not enjoying. I'll stick with a movie til the end*. But a TV show is a longer term investment as it were.

And I've still to watch the last series of the bleedin Expanse, so I reckon I'll put the time into that instead.

*tried to watch 'The Rock' a couple of weeks ago. Had to turn it off about 20 minutes in. My god, it was just awful.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120522654#Comment_120522654

I stuck with 'The Mandalorian' only because it showed promise with S01. S02, while decent, started to show cracks. But S03 was a rudderless mess. I'm wondering if Favereux was just treading water and running down a contract here.

But as I said earlier, S02 finished up Din's story pretty well. He handed off baby Yoda to bad CGI Luke. There's now, literally, nowhere for him to go now. He doesn't even want to be on Mandalore.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523062#Comment_120523062

Thing is, there probably was a good story about taking back Mandalore - it's not like the concept isn't intriguing in its own right. But the manner in which it was executed was - at best - a total rambling mess. You'd still struggle to justify Grogu coming back, that'd probably remain the sacrifice to the Merchandising wing of the Mouse House. But Din's contributions absolutely could have been more coherently structured around "let's take back our planet".

Said it before but were this not Star Wars, it'd have been taken out back and shot in the head ages ago. It's hard to escape the cynical interpretation that those running the Star Wars TV wing think they can sling any 'aul shíte on the page and audiences will coo at the cute Yoda, or glowing lightsabers. And I do worry that they might be right and it's just us old farts on Boards who hate it.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523400#Comment_120523400

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Disney have no clue whatsoever how to use this thing they bought. And if anything turns out to be good, it's mostly accidental rather than design. And by "accidental", I mean that the execs have been marginalised to some degree. 'Rogue One' escaped, even though Kennedy stuck her oar in and demanded the ending be changed, but it didn't destroy the movie. I'd still love to see Edward's 'Saving Private Ryan' ending though. In my head that would be epic. 😆

And I think I read somewhere that Gilroy had some tight demands on 'Andor', as in "My way or the highway". Which is probably why that show was so damn good. Sadly, I reckon it'll be in a strict minority amongst Disney Star Wars fare.

Thing is, I reckon Disney thought that they could buy Star Wars and do an MCU on it. Except Star Wars doesn't allow itself to moulded in such a way. I think Disney have half sort of figured that out as this point, but are still clueless as to what they are to do with the whole thing, and every time they try to stray away from the golden era (Empire) they fuck it up.

Like yourself, I've zero interest in Ashoka. I've never found Filoni's creation to be compelling in any way. And while the live action version was fine in her cameo in 'The Mandalorian', I've no desire to sit through an entire series with her. Plus, we're back to Jedi supermen again with Deus Ex Force powers and that alone turns me off.

But if it turns out to be great or even just good, I'll happily be proven wrong.

Brief_Lives

I thought the character Ashoka was brilliant in Rebels.

And its also nice to know in that universe there is more than a couple of Force weilders that exist. Its why we tune in. the more force the better.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523706#Comment_120523706

Each time another survivor of Order 66 crops up, it kinda undercuts the whole arc of Luke Skywalker; and I don't even like the Jedi so certainly this SW fan doesn't tune in for those humourless monks. Though mind you, this show managed to conjure up a grouping somehow even more dour with those Mandalorians.

Brief_Lives

technically she isn't a Jedi, just a kick ass force weilder with weird rubber like growths out of her head, i don't want to get into the "origin of the species" thoughts I had on how they develop.

who survived order 66, Luke, Obi, Ashoka, Kanan, Yoda... is that it?

NIMAN

A summary of the show for me, as a middle aged man who grew up with SW.

S01 and S02 were good. Nothing more. Didn't understand the rave reviews, think a lot of it was just nostalgia and people wanting to like it and it to be good cos it was Mandalorians.

In between we had Boba Fett which was a complete mess. And Andor which was very good.

Then S03 came along, and continued the poor standard set by Boba. Lost interest and could easily have stopped watching except for the fact we sat and watched it as a family.

And there's the kicker, my kids enjoyed all seasons, and also Boba Fett. They never watched Andor.

So perhaps it's hitting its target market ok, and its simply not old guys and traditional SW fans. Hence they will probably continue to churn out mediocre shows like this.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120523728#Comment_120523728

Exactly. There are more survivors of Order 66 than there are victims at this stage. I think I hate the Jedi and the Force at this stage.

As to the Mandalorians and their dumb ass creed, I laughed out loud when the Armourer told Bo Katan it was ok to remove her helmet. Din Djarin must have been like "Wait...WTF?"

"You're not Mandalorian if you remove your helmet". "But Bo Katan, you can remove your helmet, tis grand". 🙄

All of that crap was just really ill thought out. Surely they could have come up with a better line of thought there. Like maybe at communal meal times, the helmet can come off, or when you're getting jiggy with it. 😆

So bloody stupid.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524008#Comment_120524008

The simple rule for the helmets should be no removal in front of non-Mandalorians, or don't take your helmet off in front of a non-Mandalorian therefore identifying yourself. So you can still sneak undercover etc.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524008#Comment_120524008

There were thousands of Jedi before Order 66. Given the powers Jedi have, it is far, far less believable that they managed to wipe out all but Yoda and Obi-Wan.

The Creed is like most religions, there is different levels of following it - some to the exact letter while others more loose. They made it clear in the show that historically the two didn't get along but the Armorer wanted to bring the two groups together to retake Mandalore and Bo Katan was the person that would fit between the two groups.

Plenty to complain about the show but that stuff isnt justified.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524448#Comment_120524448

That's not the point. All the way through the series we've been hearing that if you remove your helmet you're not Mandalorian. Then in the blink of an eye, it's all suddenly ok.

Hey maybe, Bo Bo can waltz around with her helmet off and then just have a bath at the end and everything will be hunky dory again.

Which makes a further mockery of the silly creed.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524008#Comment_120524008

Don't forget the big feast when the two tribes met: did the fundamentalists just disappear into the dark to eat their roast while the Night Owls ate? Once more in a hostile land in the middle of the night? The whole "culture" is so stupidly thought out. It doesn't need to be anthropologically accurate but the Mando stuff has got stupider the more it got detailed.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524469#Comment_120524469

Because they have a greater good of retaking their homeland.

There are plenty of groups in human history that hated each other more that aligned for less potential gain.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120524507#Comment_120524507

Agreed.

It kinda smacks of the whole "rule of two" shite. Something that sounds ok as an idea around a table in the moment, but ends up locking the writers into something awkward that they should have smoke tested at the beginning and eliminated. It's almost inevitable that those kind of hot takes will end up putting characters and scenarios into corners.

It's gas though. I almost spat my tea out when the armourer said that they all should feast to welcome the new guys. My mind's eye conjured up a number of really strained party scenes.

pixelburp

A Children of the Watch feast looks something like this:

Homelander

I enjoyed the season in general despite how silly it was but the last two episodes were shockingly poor. Like the finale of Boba Fett, the action scenes were incredibly badly done, groups of enemies trading shots at 10ft range, clunky choreography, terrible logic to quickly advance the plot, whole thing just felt like it was made specifically for kids rather than audiences of all ages.

Moff Gideon really outstayed his welcome as well, I sincerely hope we don't see him again in any form.

Mandalorian S1, Rogue One and Andor are the strongest things they've made by a country mile, I don't understand how they continuously let these shows and movies with reasonable premises be dragged down by horrible scripting and execution and why they cannot seem to maintain even any basic level of consistency whatsoever.

IMO Boba Fett was absolute crap, Obi-Wan was medicore at best, Force Awakens was lazy but reasonable, Last Jedi had solid ideas and excellent direction marred by some bad creative choices, Rise of Skywalker was absolute irredeemable trash and Mandalorian is now headed down the same path Boba Fett did in the latter half of that season.

Spon Farmer

Only getting to watch season 3 now so no spoilers please for anything after episode 3.

If the answer is a spoiler it will be revealed later then just tell to wait and see ;)

The Children of the Watch is an extremist religious movement wanting to take Mandolore back to the “old ways” but aren’t a lot of the Foundlings that they bring into the group, just not actually Mandolorian ?

Does this mean that they are not believers in a true blood Mandolorian race, just the Creed? Has Mandolore always taken in foundlings?

And do the Children of the Watch not consider ordinary civilian Mandolorians like we see in Clone Wars to be real Mandolorians?

surely they accept that a society cannot be just a warrior class and nothing else?

Spon Farmer

And it is good to see the stunt performers get recognition by listing them in the main credits.

The Duke’s grandson is in Star Wars - cool ;)

Relikk

It's about bloody time.

https://variety.com/2023/shopping/news/mandalorian-loki-wandavision-blu-ray-4k-uhd-release-1235701081/

There better be a physical Andor release soon after.

Full_Circle_81

Steelbooks look sexy, but are always way overpriced!

Relikk

Yeah, I'm hoping there will be some standard package options alongside them. I'm not a fan of steelbooks, but if they're the only option then so be it.

pixelburp

Carl Weathers has died, aged 76. Didn't know he was that old cos he looked well & a little younger.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713408#Comment_121713408

If nothing else, deserves his place in the Star wars pantheon for this bit of p!ss-taking

JP Liz V1

https://tvline.com/news/the-mandalorian-cast-tributes-carl-weathers-death-1235141836/

RIP Carl

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713957#Comment_121713957

Whoa, whoa, whoa. There’s still plenty of meat on that bantha. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby yoda, you’ve got a stew going.

JP Liz V1

https://tvline.com/news/gina-carano-suing-disney-mandalorian-firing-1235143920

Gina Suing

Agent Coulson

Why not when Musk is the one paying her legal bills she has nothing to lose.

She will of course now have completely blacklisted herself even more.

Penn

Carano already posted Disney's entire and valid legal defense:

At the time they gave her the boot, she wasn't employed by Lucasfilm/Disney and even on The Mandalorian she was only a recurring character so they were never under any obligation to bring her back anyway. Even the proposed spin-off was in such early stages that she was never contracted for it.

Relikk

Even though the third series was woeful, The Mandalorian lost nothing the day she was "fired". A terrible actress that brought down every single scene she was in.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121733125#Comment_121733125

Agreed. Physically good, but less charisma than the Baby Yoda puppet. Especially didn't help when Ming-Na Wen was there and ran rings around her both physically and in terms of acting.

Agent Coulson

Disney have set May 22nd 2026 as the release date for when the movie will hit cinemas.

Jon Favreau will direct The Mandalorian & Grogu.

EoinMcLovin

The Star Wars Mandalorian & Grogu movie has added The Bear star Jeremy Allen White in the role of Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta the Hutt, Deadline has confirmed. It’s a notably sized role; no cameo here.

https://deadline.com/2024/12/star-wars-mandalorian-grogu-jeremy-allen-white-1236198894/