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

Agent Coulson

The White Wolf wrote: »

Well I question that now. The shills on YouTube have been speculating for awhile that the Ren/Rey trilogy is going to be decanoned, this might be the start of it.

We can only hope.

The Expanded Universe was the way they should have went not the Ren/Rey nonsense

Nice way for Disney to make a few billion more out of Skywalker story.

The White Wolf

Agent Coulson wrote: »

We can only hope.

The Expanded Universe was the way they should have went not the Ren/Rey nonsense

Nice way for Disney to make a few billion more thought out of Skywalker story.

They'll be pumping Grogu for a long time whether he's on the screen or not.

Gbear

The way they should've gone was to actually plan literally anything. It was to tie this new era of Star Wars to a vision of either one talented person, or at least a clear consensus. It wasn't to spurt out something, anything, in order to claw back some of the billions they spent acquiring the IP, and hang it entirely off a good cast, newer, fancier CGI and nostalgia.

And the depressing thing is it worked. The excecs are probably asking "what's the problem?". The sequel trilogy made the cost of the IP back just in box office receipts, if not more.

The newest, non-film stuff isn't perfect. The Mandalorian isn't perfect. It's leaned too much into self-referential nostalgia and tie-ins, especially in S2, but it has good fundamentals of acting, production, story, characters, a new iconic musical theme, etc. You do that, and you can be as indulgent as you want with the fan-****.

Agent Coulson wrote: »

They gave us Baby Yoda only to know now that he will be murdered by Emo Kylo Ren that's so disappointing really.

No point in wasting money on buying Baby Yoda merch now that he will end up being murdered.

They can soft-recon this kind of stuff pretty easily.

He can be an earlier class of jedi students, or he might have dropped out of jedi school, or he, unbeknownst to Luke, managed to escape (perhaps his closing himself off from the Force turns out to be a useful plotpoint with hindsight).

EltonJohn69

Delete the sequels... get Luke out there chopping things up with his light saber

PhiloCypher

The White Wolf wrote: »

Well I question that now. The shills on YouTube have been speculating for awhile that the Ren/Rey trilogy is going to be decanoned, this might be the start of it.

No way are Disney gonna decanon their own films, they've sunk too much money into them and the merch to basically tell everyone they no longer count. They’ll try and rehabilitate them through the Mando, Ashoka and Rangers series , like what Clone wars did (for some) with regards to the prequels.

Conall Cernach

PhiloCypher wrote: »

No way are Disney gonna decanon their own films, they've sunk too much money into them and the merch to basically tell everyone they no longer count. They’ll try and rehabilitate them through the Mando, Ashoka and Rangers series , like what Clone wars did (for some) with regards to the prequels.

Well they have 30 odd years to catch up with where they were at the start of The Force Awakens so there's loads of stuff they can do in the meantime. Grogu could have matured by then and become a Jedi master himself.

AMKC

Just seen it. It was ok. A bit dragged out and long. Why would your ones laser gone jam? That's just stupid it's a lazer gun it fires bolts of energy nor physical projectiles.
Also I knew as soon as Mando jettisoned the Dark Troopers into space that they would be back. There robots that can fly in space and don't so of course they were going to be back. I thought the ending could have been done better. A bit boring that Luke Skywalker just turns up kills all the dark Troopers saves them and very anti-climax. I think Boba Fett coming back would have been better. I was looking forward to see how they were going to get out of it sure Mando had the dark sword so just use that and he could have gave the spear to one of the others. Also did anyone else thing Mandos armour was not looking as nice as usual it looked duller.

flazio

For all we know Luke could have brought Grogu to the same hiding spot where he found Yoda. Or maybe he was hiding out on Skelig Michael with Luke.

Loafing Oaf

flazio wrote: »

For all we know Luke could have brought Grogu to the same hiding spot where he found Yoda. Or maybe he was hiding out on Skelig Michael with Luke.

For the directors' cut of The Last Jedi, they might CGI him in on Luke's back when he's teaching Rey to fight or something

Rob2D

I'm glad they finally moved Grogu on. TBH it was past time and now they can focus on new storylines.

But the show is getting a bit too busy for my liking though. It's not really my Star Wars and all that Rebels stuff was after my time. I grew up with the books which were, criminally, all just discarded. I miss the original premise of a weekly space cowboy show set in interesting parts of the Star Wars galaxy.

I would of course love to see Thrawn show up. But I'd hate for it to be some watered down for-TV version of him....

Patser

flazio wrote: »

For all we know Luke could have brought Grogu to the same hiding spot where he found Yoda. Or maybe he was hiding out on Skelig Michael with Luke.

There wouldn't have been a Porg left alive with that little green fecker walking around scoffing them

Loafing Oaf

Patser wrote: »

There wouldn't have been a Porg left alive with that little green fecker walking around scoffing them

Now we know why he needed to catch such massive fcukoff fish:P

Mr.Nice Guy

It was okay, but I was expecting better really. It didn't blow me away. Disappointed to see Sasha Banks and the other one turn up. Didn't feel they were good characters when introduced and they brought little to this. I would have preferred to see Timothy Olyphant involved again.

The initial attack on the ship went far too easily to create any sense of drama. It reminded me of when the Power Rangers used to take on the Putty enemies and how you never sensed they were a threat. I don't think any of the female characters sustained damage prior to Moff Gideon using the blaster. It was as if someone deliberately wrote this to wind up those who complained about Rey being a Mary Sue. The whole thing was a doddle for them.

CGI Luke was very dodgy indeed. I fully expect them to tweak that in the years to come. At least it was a big character reveal as I was afraid they were going to swerve us and have the Jedi woman we met previously come back.

It was a weird season structurally. The first half of the season was basically dull filler episodes, and then the second half was pretty good action. I feel like they could have organised it a bit better.

One other thing: will Mando continue wearing his helmet now he has taken off voluntarily? I know he did so in the previous episode but I guess that could be considered a situation under duress. This episode was him doing it of his own volition. Hasn't he broken the code now if he continues wearing it? I recall there being a conversation about this with Bill Burr's character in the last episode. He might as well go back to that widow from last season and reveal his face to her finally.

Midnight_EG

I'm probably the only one that thought CGI Luke was absolutely fine... Compared to Mandos ship falling through the ice and crashing

delly

A couple of follow up points now that I've watched it again.

First is the score, although we all love the main theme, the score also needs props in each episode. In the ending scenes here, it's perfect to stir those emotions.

Second is R2D2, who's featuring gives light relief to the sad situation, good for Grogu to have a playmate. We know he wasn't with Luke on the island, so if he survived the Kylo massacre, then there is a whole host of possibilities for Grogu.

Wibbs

expectationlost wrote: »

its the age of the material they are using

It can also be time and money. The deep fake youtube clips etc might take one person weeks or months to make and get right, but for TV and even film and even with big budgets they've a schedule and budget to work with so that can impact the results.

Tony EH

Wibbs wrote: »

It can also be time and money. The deep fake youtube clips etc might take one person weeks or months to make and get right, but for TV and even film and even with big budgets they've a schedule and budget to work with so that can impact the results.

In fairness, someone just knocked up this and already it looks a wee bit better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBMIKe2G5H4

Venom

Could it be down to legal issues that Disney didn't use the Deepfake tech?

Loafing Oaf

The script in The Mandalorian has generally been very smooth, but this has to be one of the clunkiest bits of exposition I've ever heard:

Mando: “How many troopers do they have armed in those suits?”
Pershing: “These are a third generation design. They are no longer suits. The human inside was the final weakness to be solved. They’re droids.”

flazio

That video just made him look like he's in better focus rather than more realistic. The mouth still looks very unnatural.

Padre_Pio

flazio wrote: »

That video just made him look like he's in better focus rather than more realistic. The mouth still looks very unnatural.

That's the limitations of the deepfake. It can only match the movement with different graphics, it can't improve the movement.
Though that says a lot about the original CGI version. The actual animations are bad too.

Mollyb60

The original version looks like they've overused the blur tool. That deepfake shows what should've been possible. Looks better to me. Not by much, but better.

Gbear

Mollyb60 wrote: »

The original version looks like they've overused the blur tool. That deepfake shows what should've been possible. Looks better to me. Not by much, but better.

Importantly, it's made by some guy, who doesn't have access to the source footage.

I really enjoyed that.
I also enjoyed Game of Thrones finale.


Maybe there's something wrong with me

Relikk

MikeOxsgreen wrote: »

I also enjoyed Game of Thrones finale.

Guilty as charged here, also. A little rushed, sure, but it was never going to go any other way. I enjoyed this series of The Mandalorian much more than the first series as well.

expectationlost

maybe we'll get some answer here https://twitter.com/CNET/status/1340779617209225216

homerun_homer

They used Deepfake technology rather than the Tarkin tech that was more costly. That Deepfake video above just boosts the contrast and clarity, they haven't created anything new on top of the footage to be able to say they bested Disney on the cheap.

This is definitely an area where if they update the video/episode in the future with better versions of effects (ala Special Editions) that it would be welcomed. The fact it wasn't perfect didn't ruin the moment, as I enjoyed that story beat and don't want to let some dodgy CG take away from it.

It will look worse over time as this tech improves, particularly for television budgets, so I would hope they update it at some point like they did with removing the stage hand a few episodes back.

pixelburp

Venom wrote: »

Could it be down to legal issues that Disney didn't use the Deepfake tech?

I would reckon that's precisely the reason deepfake has yet to be adopted by Hollywood. Without knowing for sure I imagine actors' contracts are very heavily detailed as to the reproduction of their face and likeness - and that while a CGI face might exist as a case that it doesn't count (being as it is a copy, technically), deepfake literally uses photographs and footage of the subject. Nobody wants to be that precedent case where an actor sues a studio for a deepfake without "permission". That's just me speculating but I have been surprised at how slow media has been to take up the technology.

Am grateful too mind you. Cos as fun as it is seeing young Like, or putting Nicholas Cages face on everyone else, the ramifications for such accurate fakery may yet be huge. Fake news may seem quaint in comparison if any rival can be seen and heard doing the thing. Privacy rights will also go nuts once again.

Am only even posting because the wider internet could shut up about Luke appearing. One of the few times spoiler protocol fell down with folks' hype getting the better of them. 2 episodes behind and already know the big surprise (am not immediately enthused about it but will reserve judgment til I see the episode)

Tony EH

^
TBH, this Deepfake malarkey scares the crap outta me. Because in 20 years time, when it's nearer perfection, the ramifications of such tech in the wrong hands could be devastating.

expectationlost

why do you suggest they are not using deepfake technology, deepfake is using previous footage, matching the angle of the face and wrapping it to the face you are trying to replace and then colour and light matching. Is that not what the Mandolorian did too. Aswell as the Irhsman and recent Starwars trilogy (Leia in Rise of Skywalker aside that would have had to been more extensive).

I think the Mandolarian looks more like they used old footage, but thats because they specifically have it for him because he played the same role before. It doesn't mean that didn't used the same deepfake process of algorithms and 3d cgi wrapping over an actors face.

while a lot of the deepfake on youtube don't have direct access to the actor and lots of motion capture animators, Mandolorian do and it should be better.

I think Mandolorain should be better again its the age of the material they are using thats that problem it makes it look blurry within the face.

A lot of CG just lacks a bit more contrast so its sits in the scene better, thats the problem.