The Mandalorian The Mandalorian Season 1 Discussion (Spoilers Allowed)

I hope the Mandalorian writing team have taken note of the feedback regarding episode ratings. It’s almost universal that the standalone episodes are the least liked.

 

Yeah let’s get more plot driven

 

I hope not. Episode 2 is considered as part of the standalones, I’d say, and it’s at the top of the heap. And 6 is ranked much higher outside this thread. People adored it on the interwebs (as did I).

The problem with some of the standalones (4 and 5, only) wasn’t that they were standalones. It’s that the directing was lackluster, and so they didn’t pop. Episodes 2 and 6, standalones both, were expertly directed by Famuyiwa, and so are better liked.

What I will say, though, is that Lucasfilm should consider the directors a little more carefully. Perhaps give Filoni one episode instead of two, and I hate to say it, perhaps don’t bring back BD Howard.

 

I loved what the whole team did with this series so far. The different directors, the different actors and actresses, the different types of chapters... There was so much character growth and world building in every single episode. I can't wait for Season 2.

 

2 is not a standalone.

 

I know that. But it's sort of considered in that bucket due to it being based away from the political machinations on Navarro, and the story arc of the episode is almost self-contained. In any event, it's my favorite episode, standalone or not.

 

Yes! That's exactly how I want to dress.

 

I think it is. I just watched them all in a row yesterday and it definitely feels like a "side adventure". Just my opinion...

 

Best. Side adventure. Ever. though!

 

One thing I've come to believe is that expectation management is important. A lot of folks clearly thought this was going to be in the GOTs or Breaking Bad model... each episode advancing "the story", and were unhappy when they didn't entirely get that. To me, the only thing that mattered was whether an episode was entertaining, stand alone or not.

I also wonder if age is a factor. In my youth, many years ago, "stand alone" episodes were the norm. Maybe that's made me more accepting of that form. I've noticed a lot of the podcasters and youTubers, who tend to be fairly young, had issues with any episode that didn't "advance the main story", often saying they were bored by those. Again, if an episode illuminated a character's background or personality, or simply told a good story, I was generally entertained.

 

Life isn’t a string of days where every one of your experiences “advances a story.” I like that more life-like pace of the Mandalorian. Makes the world breathe and feel real to me.

 

This is quite true, actually. A lot of the time, each day is basically a "standalone" adventure. I'm going to start describing large parts of my life as a Saturday morning cartoon from now on.

 

I swear, every one of my days is part of the story I started as a kid about becoming a Mars astronaut. Even that one day where I didn’t get out of bed until 3:15pm.

 

Just marathoned the show with my Disney+ trial. Visually I thought it was impressive with some amazing action scenes. I know it has a much lower budget, but it looks better than the ST somehow. I think it's because the characters seem to interact with the environment more?

I think story wise I was a bit less impressed. I think the writing is fine, and the plot is very interesting, but the show's emotional beats didn't really resonate with me. I grew to like the mandalorian, but I never really felt like I empathized with him. I didn't really care that much for Mandalorian culture either, it felt like they were trying too hard to make it cool.

I sure I will have no allies in this, but baby Yoda didn't really impress me that much. The puppet itself was cute, but it was way too obvious that it was a puppet. especially when everyone is always picking him up. That and the fact that BY doesn't talk, made it hard to care about him that much. I didn't dislike baby yoda, but it didn't really feel like he was alive.

All in all, I thought it was a really fun show, but I was mainly watching for the visuals and cool action scenes. I didn't feel that much connection to the characters. Maybe that will change in later seasons as I am definitely interested in watching more.

 

"Way too obvious that it's a puppet"?

The same thing as when every CG shot in anything now is plainly obvious it's a CG shot?

 

No? I'm just talking about this particular piece of special effects.

 

Nailed it. I watched Battlestar Galactica back in 1978 and I kinda tried to pretend it was as cool as Star Wars because I couldn't watch Star Wars on TV. So by the time we got to Episode 4 of this show, I got a familiar feeling, and I wasn't sure why, until I realized, oh, this is what Battlestar Galactica was *in my mind* when I was 8, as opposed to what it really was, which was pretty lame, whereas the Mando was pretty good (in addition to being actual Star Wars which would have made my universe back then). I really liked that aspect of it, but I knew it wasn't very 21st Century.

 

There is something to be said for physical special effects. Its why Jurassic Park looks better than Jurassic World alot of the time. You also don't get that slight cold bluish tint you get on alot of newer films that are heavy with CGI.

Sure alot of episodes have their own narrative but I think season 1 is slowly building a narrative and this is just the beginning. I think this is a good thing and if feels more Star Wars like TCW does but seems to be successfully baking in linear plots. The real story will start with season 2. I appreciate this slow approach to world-building and characters we have going here. I think anything that feels standalone will be more important later.

 

Bingo. 90s movies tend to look better than movies now, for this reason. Yeah, the CG's technically worse, but it's not frickin' everywhere clogging every shot, it's used when you have to use it and the rest is done in-camera.

 

There's another problem. A lot of new blockbusters, such as many of the Marvel films, put filters on the landscapes/ backgrounds so that they adhere to/ gel with the look of the CGI, rather than the other way around (which would be making the CGI look as realistic as the landscapes/ background). It's cheaper and easier. But what that does is make the whole frame look like CGI, even the real backgrounds and landscapes. It's that fuzzy, confection-y look. I hate it. Ang Lee's the Hulk is the only MCU film that completely avoided that. And it's generally been avoided in new Star Wars.

 

I totally despise that in modern movies. I want to see more depth of color. I hope we see somewhere like Felucia on Mandalorian. As is the color is supposed to be dingy on purpose.

 

Just amazing. Its great to see Lucasfilm taking risks and pushing the boundaries of technology again. There was none of that in the ST.

I bet George loved this when he saw it on set. If he’d had this 10 years ago he could have made Underworld work.