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The Mandalorian

Started by Malcy, November 12, 2019, 02:55:57 PM

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Malcy

Just watched the first episode of this. Really enjoyed it. Looks great, feels different but still Star Wars-y with a few recognisable things. Only downside I found was one ropey bit of CGI but otherwise no issues.

38 min runtime which is a bit shorter than I was expecting but it flew by. I had heard that this was out on the 20th and also that 5 episodes would be coming out then weekly after that. Don't know if that's the case.

Swoz_MK

I wish to see this. ILLEGALLY. Help.

madhair60


Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Captain Corellian's Mandalorian

Dex Sawash


Small Man Big Horse

I didn't love this and it took me a little while to warm to it at all, but by the end I was growing vaguely fond of it, enough to watch one more episode at least.

What I want to know is, if this is a universe where they've created spaceships and lazer guns and all that stuff, why are their telescope things so goddamn shit?

Alberon

The next one is out on friday (I think) and the rest weekly after that.

It's certainly the best Star Wars since Rogue One which that isn't saying too much, admittedly. I liked it, though it wasn't fantastic, but this is just the prologue I suppose. What happens next? Does it turn into a Sci-Fi version of Lone Wolf and Cub?

Another question is whether Pedro Pascal is doing a Dredd and keeping that bucket on his head for the whole show?

chveik

wow Werner Herzog is in this

Alberon

And when he dies his obituary will start "Star Wars actor..."

Head Gardener


Malcy

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on November 12, 2019, 07:42:34 PM
I didn't love this and it took me a little while to warm to it at all, but by the end I was growing vaguely fond of it, enough to watch one more episode at least.

What I want to know is, if this is a universe where they've created spaceships and lazer guns and all that stuff, why are their telescope things so goddamn shit?

It seems to be quite a common thing in sci-fi and future set stories. Shite scopes/binoculars etc and holographic communication is always full of blips and stiff like that. DS9 is the only one I can think of with a steady resolution.

Jim Bob

#11
Having seen the first episode, I'm not too sure about this series.  I'd be willing to say that it was the best Star Wars thing that the Disney-era has produced thus far, but let's face it, that's an incredibly low bar to meet.  I enjoyed the general vibe (although it was too on the nose with its Western influences I thought) and it was interesting to see some of the darker and more mundane corners of the universe, away from the epic space battles of fate and destiny.  Also, I must say that it was nice to see the production make use of traditional models for the shots of spaceships flying through space.

However... the cinematography was too dark (something which this shares with Solo: A Star Wars Story and an unfortunate number of other modern Hollywood productions); if you're going to spend all of this money on elaborate sets and costumes, how about you light it so that your audience can actually see them?  Another thing which irked me was the standardised use of carbonite for transporting bounties.  I thought that The Empire Strikes Back made it quite clear that it was highly unorthodox to use carbonite to freeze a living being and that it was a gamble as to whether the subject would survive the process or not.  This series seems to be under the misapprehension that carbonite freezing was a standard method for capturing bounties, rather than an improvisation made using the tools available at Cloud City.  There would be a lot of pissed of clients when 50% of the Mandalorian's bounties die in transit, despite the contract explicitly stating that the bounty be brought in alive.

Having said that, overall I was onboard with the episode but they ruined it for me with the Mandalorian having altruistic traits.  I wouldn't mind them moving the character towards being a good guy as the series progresses (à la Han Solo in the movies), but to have that be his arc in the very first episode?  Urgh, just no.  Whether it was the Mandalorian insisting upon offering credits to the ugnaught unsolicited because "he deserves it" or saving the child's life at the end, it rubbed me up the wrong way.

When the IG unit raised his gun for the second time to shoot the child and we hear a blast, I thought (as the episode wanted me to) that the Mandalorian had stood by and allowed the IG unit to carry out the bounty.  For a brief moment I was sat in awe at the bravery and balls of this creative decision (what an interesting character conflict it could be for the Mandalorian to have to wrestle with his inaction at this decisive moment; to be haunted by it as the series progresses and to ultimately redeem himself when faced with a similar situation at, say, the end of the first season).

Instead, we got the classic fake-out-reveal trope, where we're shown that the blast came from the Mandalorian's gun and that he's shot the IG unit in order to save the child's life (incidentally, how convenient that the Mandalorian's single blast instantly destroyed the IG unit, when a hail of direct hits from blaster fire within the compound had previously failed to do so).  When that reveal occurred, my hopes for this series, like the IG unit, were destroyed.

I get that the flashback and dialogue suggests that the Madorlorian has a great deal of sympathy for children, given his own background and history and that's why he'd save the child's life but this isn't a documentary, they could have just not written it that way and not have him have that background and history, or more to the point; not have him be confronted with a contrived situation where he must choose to save a child's life at the end of episode 1.

I thought we'd be getting what would essentially be a Boba Fett series and already we've had our "expectations subverted" and been given a series about a tough guy with a heart of gold.  One episode in and this is a series about a bounty hunter who values morals over credits.  This is not what I wanted at all.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS:

The Mandalorian uses the same type of prong weapon that Boba Fett used in his very first onscreen introduction in The Star Wars Holiday Special...


I was inordinately excited to finally see an actual onscreen toilet in the Star Wars universe.  It elicited a wave of nostalgic joy within me, as it took me back to being a kid, when I was playing the classic DOS game Dark Forces and stumbled into a room full of stormtroopers stood at the urinal...


Dex Sawash

Do their cod-pieces flip down for them to pee?

(also st.edit glitch removal)

Jim Bob

I just had a further thought which rather contradicts what I was previously saying; didn't Werner Herzog's character say that the preference was for the child to be brought in alive?  I think that would imply that the IG unit was under a separate contract to the Mandalorian (because his contract was for the child to be outright killed)?  I don't feel that this really absolves my complaint, mind.  We're still being presented with a bounty hunter with a strong moral code in episode 1 either way, which is an issue for me.

Another thing which I found odd was that a 50 year old member of the same species as Yoda is not only deemed as being a child but also seemingly behaves like one (defenseless and unable to verbally communicate).  That doesn't really jive for me.  Yes, 50 years old for a species which lives to be 1000 years old would be a child, relatively speaking to humans, but that's still 50 years of existence; more than enough time to learn languages and develop cognitive thought processes, you'd have thought.  When it was revealed that Yoda was 1000 years old in Return of the Jedi, I always took that as a way of explaining why he was so wise; 1000 years is a long time to learn from experience and develop one's wisdom.  I certainly didn't think of it as being in a 'dog's years' kind of sense.

gloria

Sorry there wasn't enough baby-killing in Disney's The Mandalorian for y'all.




Jim Bob

#15
Quote from: gloria on November 13, 2019, 08:39:18 AM
Sorry there wasn't enough baby-killing in Disney's The Mandalorian for y'all.

I knew someone would come out with such a retort.  As I said; it's not a documentary.  They could have just not written it the way that they did.  They could literally choose to have anything happen; the possibilities are endless.  There didn't need to be a baby at all, just like there didn't need to be a scene where the Mandalorian attempts to pay a stranger money for helping him and then the stranger says no, but the Mandalorian insists that he deserves it.  There didn't need to be a scene where the Mandalorian shows his soft-hearted good guy side by choosing to kill a fellow bounty hunter from the same guild as himself in order to save a baby's life.

Character arcs should occur throughout the series.  Instead, we start episode 1 with a ruthless bounty hunter; a loner who's only in it for the credits.  By the halfway point of the episode, he's making friends with and offering credits to a stranger who helps him out and by the end of the episode, he's saved a baby's life and is making E.T. finger love with it.  All within the span of 35 minutes and all within episode 1!  It would be like if in A New Hope, Han met Luke and Obi-Wan in the cantina as a scoundrel and smuggler, then in the very next scene he's warmed to them and is offering them money for being good eggs and then by the time they're onboard the Millennium Falcon, before even encountering the Death Star, Han's renounced his smuggling ways and has pledged allegiance to the Rebel Alliance.

It's just a baffling creative choice, that leaves the writers nowhere to go in terms of character development.

gloria

Maybe he'll start nice and then go bad.

Norton Canes

It's things like this that make me look forward to the next season of Doctor Who

Alberon

Did he shoot the droid to save the baby or to save his bounty?

There needs to be a third dimension (at the moment there's barely a second) to his character so there will be some moral dilemma for him I'd expect. Obviously Yoda's love child will play a big part in that.

Jim Bob

Quote from: Alberon on November 13, 2019, 11:04:27 AM
Did he shoot the droid to save the baby or to save his bounty?

To save the baby.  Herzog told the Mandalorian that the bounty (i.e. the baby) could be brought back either alive or dead, so he wouldn't have lost his bounty, had the IG unit executed it.

Alberon

He did say the bounty would be cut if brought back dead, though.

Jim Bob

Quote from: Alberon on November 13, 2019, 11:19:35 AM
He did say the bounty would be cut if brought back dead, though.

Ah, okay.  I missed that.  I still think the scene played out as him saving the baby out of concern though.  It didn't come across as a self-serving act of him securing the greatest financial reward at all.  I'll be very surprised if this particular story arc doesn't conclude with the Mandalorian ensuring that the child ends up in safe hands.

I wanted a series about a ruthless bounty hunter with flexible morals, provided the money is good.  Instead we've got The Interstellar Adventures of Space Nanny.

Kelvin

Quote from: Jim Bob on November 13, 2019, 11:40:20 AM
I wanted a series about a ruthless bounty hunter with flexible morals, provided the money is good.  Instead we've got The Interstellar Adventures of Space Nanny.

That's not a fault with the show, though, surely? That's your personnel preference and/or expectation. The show should be judged on what they do with their chosen charachter, not whether they fell short of your own hopes for him.

poloniusmonk

Quote from: Jim Bob on November 13, 2019, 11:40:20 AMI wanted a series about a ruthless bounty hunter with flexible morals, provided the money is good.  Instead we've got The Interstellar Adventures of Space Nanny.

Perhaps Disney is not for you.

Chollis

Disney? Star Wars? No thanks!

Jim Bob

#25
Quote from: Kelvin on November 13, 2019, 12:47:48 PM
That's not a fault with the show, though, surely? That's your personnel preference and/or expectation. The show should be judged on what they do with their chosen charachter, not whether they fell short of your own hopes for him.

Aye, it's mostly a personal preference thing.  As I said, it's not what I wanted from the show.  I can only speak for myself.  Having said that, I stand by my assertation that it's not a great writing choice to have the character start out as a bounty hunter with a heart of gold.  Surely it would be better to have that aspect slowly develop over the series?  Wouldn't that be more interesting to watch?  As to my expectations, given what we see of bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, when Disney announced a Star Wars bounty hunter TV series, I don't think that it was unreasonable of me to have an expectation of a darker, more ruthless and self-serving protagonist.  Disney loves to subvert those expectations though, I guess.

Note that Disney are making an Obi-Wan series, so they've already got their bases covered for a Star Wars TV series about an altruistic good guy character.  A show about a bounty hunter was an opportunity to do something different and give us a really down and dirty anti-hero protagonist, but already, they've defaulted to a much more standard hero template.  Whether there's a valid objective criticism there, or whether it's merely a subjective grievance, it still ultimately leaves me disappointed at the loss of what could have been.

Still, if I was going to put those aspects aside and rate the first episode on its own terms and upon the basis that this is a story about a bounty hunter with a strong moral compass; it's still a big pile of nothing.  There wasn't really a lot to go on in the first episode.  Very little dialogue and what dialogue there was, was perfunctory.  It was basically just a bunch of action scenes strung together by a threadbare plot, with no characters to root for or to be invested in.  Outside of the Baba Yoda, there wasn't really any plot to speak of.  It was just a bounty hunter collecting bounties.  To be fair, it was just the first episode though, so I'm reserving judgement until I've seen more episodes but my initial impression is one of being thoroughly underwhelmed.

Dex Sawash

I'm probably going to pay the $7 to see this. Can facetime it live or something.

Dog Botherer

this was fine. not good. but fine. enjoyed Herzog, obviously. doesn't help that i'm mainlining The Expanse right now and this definitely feels like kiddy shit in comparison.

momatt

I liked this.  Really exciting.  Loads of 'member-berries for the geeks like me.  Perhaps over-did those references a bit, I dunno?
But laughed my arse off when I saw the Kowakian monkey-lizard being barbecued.
My girlfriend pretended to not be impressed that I knew it's name.  But I know she was.

I was delighted and surprised with all the references to the Holiday Special!  At least three that I noticed.  Hopefully we'll see Mr. Mando riding on the back of a Mythosaur in a later episode.

The IG droid was fucking bad-ass as well, the way it moved was excellent.  Nice touch of humour too.

I have spoken.


Quote from: Jim Bob on November 13, 2019, 02:48:05 AM
However... the cinematography was too dark (something which this shares with Solo: A Star Wars Story and an unfortunate number of other modern Hollywood productions); if you're going to spend all of this money on elaborate sets and costumes, how about you light it so that your audience can actually see them?

Turn the brightness up on your TV mate, looked fine to me.

Quote from: Jim Bob on November 13, 2019, 02:48:05 AM
  Another thing which irked me was the standardised use of carbonite for transporting bounties.  I thought that The Empire Strikes Back made it quite clear that it was highly unorthodox to use carbonite to freeze a living being and that it was a gamble as to whether the subject would survive the process or not.

This is years later.  Maybe Boba Fett started a trend and they all realised Carbonite was a good way of storing bounties.
That's good enough for me.

momatt

Quote from: Jim Bob on November 13, 2019, 08:57:27 AM
It's just a baffling creative choice, that leaves the writers nowhere to go in terms of character development.

Not really.  Not murdering a baby isn't nice.  It's just not being a psychopath.
Anyway, you could also reason that he is an evil nutter bad man, but only spared Baby Yoda's life as it would earn him more money.

I'd say the arc of a bad selfish character redeeming himself and becoming nice is fairly clichéd anyway.