The Mandalorian The Mandalorian 1.01 - Chapter 1 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

7 different people have told me they have spoken at work this morning.

 

I had an opportunity to watch it a few more times last night, I really focused on the music ; I liked the music when he first enters the bar, I liked the part where he is walking into the Mandolorian enclave , and I really liked everything during the final battle and discovery of the asset. Certainly different from the usual music from John Williams but I felt it had a nice western feel to it.

 

I suck at rating I rated most episodes of Rebels a like 9 when they obviously deserved lower.

 

Episode one, scene one: Mando who never takes off his helmet bellies up to the bar. Kinda a giveaway that he wasn't going to get a drink.

 

I thought about it. I think he just went to the bar in order to ask the barman for some info about his bounty rather than having a drink. Meanwhile, the two bad guys realize that he was probably a competitor (as he was), it wasn't really for the spilled drink. He wanted to know who they were before attacking, but he had no time since they came to him directly.

 

Vader didn’t even care about the damn space turtles that could effect

 

But only chrome metal straws. Or better yet, beskar. That’s his next ask for the blacksmith.

 

You CAN enjoy a beverage and wear a helmet in Star Wars:

 

Have not seen it. But if this show takes place around 5 years after ROTJ, and this Yoda creataure is 50 - well, Anakin would have been 50-51 at the time. Maybe he/she is a child of the force too.

 

Two things I forgot to mention:

1) I'm sure this has been mentioned a bunch of times, but I really appreciated the lack of John Williams' references in the score. Look, I love John Williams, Star Wars music is some of my favourite movie music ever, but I'm a little worn out of the themes. If it makes sense for the themes to be there, then fine (e.g. the Imperial March when Kylo is talking to Vader's), but I don't like it when it feels forced... or when everything needs to begin and end with some variation of the opening crawl music. This show has very little connection to the characters and events of the Saga films, so it makes sense to use completely new themes.

2) I actually like that this didn't go too dark. It's up there with the darkest, grittiest aspects of the films and animated shows, but it doesn't really exceed them. I wondered if the streaming shows would feel different and more "adult" like how the Marvel Netflix shows feel in comparison to the MCU and I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be or not. I think it's cool that kids can still watch this despite it feeling a little more grown up.

 

Or Yaddle's kid.

 

'And'.

 

watched it again last night. Even better the second time. Wow I cannot wait for episode 2 tomorrow.

 

I bet Yaddle hasn't had this many internet searches since 1999, if at all ?

 

I'd probably give it a 7/10.

Bits I liked:

-the homage to the original landspeeder shots from ANH, with that flat profile style being reused, that was a fun reference
-The Mando himself, great from any angle, instantly cool in every shot, just enigmatic enough with some personality leaking through
-Baby Yoda, quite interesting
-The painted credits, actually made me sit through them. That's legitimately a first for SW, I though all the previous credits sequences were unanimously kinda dull (blue text on black background for every movie and both TCW and Rebels, yay)

One thing I did think was that the pacing was a little slow. I know, it's the style they were going for, but I did think that, say, TCW and Rebels in their 20 minutes slots managed to feel like they had more going on in that time. The live-action's probably part of this, the slower pace is more natural for that context. I'm sure it'll pick up in later eps, as this is just the intro.

My favourite part was the Mando forge scene. The chills on seeing the infamous sigil, the awesomeness of finally seeing the 'female' Mando helmet style from TCW and Rebels in live-action, the idea of charging in the chip for a piece of armour (to slowly build up the whole set over time), the juxtaposition of the forging with the blasts in the flashback. Just great

 

Ok, so which droid would win in a duel, the IG-88 or the fleshless T-800 model from the original Terminator? I mean no offense to those who like the IG-88, but it didn't seem all that imposing to me other than its fancy shooting.

 

The boldest choice the series could make would be to force the Mandalorian to carry yodababy around in a sling for the rest of season one. Holding a baby. Every scene. Portacrib in the cockpit of his ship.

 

The droid that took out like 30 dudes with perfect aim, seemingly without the need to even look at them, didn’t seem imposing to you? OK. Well, you must be a bigger badass than the Mandalorian.

 

Really want it to be death stranding in space

 

But that's my point; if it wasn't for his ludicrous shooting abilities he didn't seem all that imposing in hand-to-hand combat. Funny thing, I remember a TCW episode with the IG-88, and they seemed more imposing IMO.

 

I agree that there didn't need to be references to John Williams' themes. I could never say I am worn out on any of the Star Wars themes I love, but I do think they should be used when it makes sense from a story and world perspective. I will also say that the music and the themes should be good. And after one episode (I know, it early) they don't seem to be good at all.

 

Are they different models? I assume they are...

 

Oh, OK. But since he didn’t get a chance to do any hand-to-hand combat in the scene, we don’t really know how deadly he is in that context. We shall see!

I understand that you disagree, and don’t like the score. However, it’s not really possible to have a conversation about it if one of the main criteria you offer for a score is that it “be good,” and one of the main criticisms you give for the Mando score is that “it’s not good.” I mean, you can’t not elaborate on that and expect a reasonable exchange of views. What do you mean by “not good,” and what in your view constitutes “good?”