Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Not much going on in the episode with the snow spiders, but it was still fun (appreciated the nod to Alien), and looked great. I'm pretty impressed by the effects, particularly the way they seem to be designing their green screens/digital backgrounds to look like matte paintings, which is a cool retro application of state of the art FX.

Saw a cool behind the scenes on YouTube about how they do it. They’re not using green screens much but huge LED backdrops with benefits being how they can control the angle of the background and crucially how the light of the screens reflects off his armor (and anything else). It makes it more realistic and adds a quality to it and otherwise the green would be reflecting everywhere.

One thing that annoyed me: it was called The Siege and it didn't involve a siege.

also i like how it’s mostly an “adventure of the week” show w a smattering of overall arc & i am deeply down w that

the gum-snapping lava tide line was so 77 OG that its nonsensical content was therefore necessary, because lol 77 OGness

Otoh i want s2e1 and e3 over e2 and e4 every time. 🤔

We're all caught up now. The one with Katie Sackloff was fun, as was "The Siege" (though yeah, why was it called "The Siege"?).

Did I hear a mention of "M Counts?" As in, I assume, whatever those Jedi genes are called? Anyway, I wonder whose idea it was to lean off the mythology pedal and press down on adventure instead, since that's key to this show's success. Yeah, there are callbacks and hints at the big picture, but they seem to be there in service of a good time rather than some portentous soap opera plot line.

You did indeed catch that "M counts" reference. I mean, if this has already been brought into the mythology for better or worse, at least it's a slightly more oblique reference.

By the way, neither of my kids have ever been particularly into Star Wars, but the one I've been watching this with turned to me and said "they should really train better Stormtroopers, these guys can never hit anything." On the money, second child.

i think more stormtroopers died in this one episode than in the original trilogy

who didn't love the motorcycle chase starting with half of them dying off the bat

Wondering if a stormtrooper has ever got on a speeder bike and *not* died in the next couple of minutes or so

Well, at least now we know why not everyone carries a light saber, they'd all be cutting their own limbs off left and right.

xpost really shows you that deregulation killed the Empire. they hadn't the proper license or training to drive those

OG77 lol at "it doesn't even have a guard rail!"

My wife laughed at that, and I didn't even really "get it" at first!

It's pretty (wonderfully) absurd how they have to shimmy around to the dangerous side of that column to reach the control panel, for no reason other than standard Empire blueprints.

I am of the opinion that ‘siege’ refers to what comes next, not the ep itself

Oh no, baby Yoda has a name, and it sucks!

Haha. Great episode tho

any name they gave was going to not live up to expectations at this point

nice echos back to other scenes where it's decided whether a child would be trained

also, nice switch on who Ahsoka was asking the location of

man that was a great ep - this season feels like it has really stepped up using inspired direction/design/atmosphere to compensate for the often insubstantial plotting - I don’t mean that as a diss in any way either, it’s a really compelling arrangement for a show like this

Oh no, baby Yoda has a name, and it sucks!

For a sec I was all "Wait, they named him Roku?"

man that was a great ep

Really was and I wasn't surprised that was a Filoni script/direct effort, talk about tying in things to the animated side pretty thoroughly. And yeah that was an unexpected thing for me when it came to what the big reveal of what's being sought was.

Three left to go for the season, right?

Stupid Mandalorian making me tear up at the end. Gah.

I loved the panpipe Mando Theme as he walks up to sleeping baby Grogu. Lovely scene.

yeah, music really excellent throughout

Gotta love a Yoda theme nod or two.

btw, during the episode I kept thinking.. is that... Michael Biehn? And it was! Double the stunt-casting! Woohoo!

was he sober? the cast of a show I was in once bought a Cameo from Michael Biehn, and he appeared to be in the middle of a bender when he recorded it.

his line readings sounded a little impaired

fuck i love this show so much

Rosario Dawson is a mighty warrior irl so it is v correct that she should be one here

Stoked about Michael Biehn! - dude has been in b-movie purgatory for too long, it was great to finally see him in a big-ticket show like this. I think the last good thing he’d done before that was Planet Terror in 07.

anyway gonna rewatch og 77 bc i am full of great feels for this kickass show

Feels like they’re setting up another big character reveal (for the season finale?), but I can’t imagine who it would be. Well, actually, I have a guess...

(Oh wait, that character’s dead already... never mind, lol)

I refuse to recognize the name Grogu I’m still calling him Bartles and the shiny guy James I don’t care what anybody says

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) November 28, 2020

I like it cuz it sounds like “Grover,” so there’s sort of a deep Frank Oz connection.

Gordo

Gavin

For all my "Jesus, I hope we don't get bogged down in a whole load of boring Jedi bullshit" stance, the second I heard the lightsaber power up, I got a tingle along my arms. A function of age, probably.

An excellent episode. Obviously the name is a letdown, but oh man, when Rosario Dawson talked about things going dark for him when he was (presumably) being held and experimented on, and the revelation that his powers are shaky because he deliberately hides them to keep himself safe, well, that just broke my heart for the little chap. The cynical bit in my head is going "typical bloody Disney", while I'm trying not to cry at the fucking Mandalorian, of all things.

It also shows just how much he wanted those blue macarons.

Grogu the youngling who lived

Typical Disney is right but in all the best (classic) ways. OTM post. This one hit so many things for me that are the best parts of the essence of SW past and current. And my heart broke for the little guy, too.

Stylistically this ep was a peak.

Easy enough to speculate that the Jedi that might respond to Grogu (how can this be a bad name?!) will be de-aged Luke although I guess it could also be Palps as Snoke or however that stupid idea might almost work

I was hoping his name was Minch

xp probably not

going to be really sad if the coda ending text of The Mandalorian is “Grogu joined the new jedi academy at was later slaughtered by Kylo Ren several decades following our tale”

I don't get the emotional connection with Baby Google that others are having here but I appreciate the construction, the design, the acting, the tone and the state of constant crescendo. The initial novelty of being back in the star wars universe sans cynicism is waning under the weight of this season's consistent fanservice and integration of first trilogy history but they're mostly keeping it light enough that I don't feel the need to check a wiki. Considering the demographic they're trying to reach, that feels like a triumph.

xp His absence in the new movies (which are otherwise “all hands on deck” in terms of surviving characters) does sort of raise the question.

I think the whole series makes the case that there are just other stories/other people out there doing their thing on their own terms. If anything, the encounter with Ashoka -- pretty much on that path as well -- underscores it. Combine that with the fact that Grogu isn't going to be that much older comparatively by the time of the sequel trilogy and I'm good with it (because he's already 50 years old and still a baby).

That’s true, though the last movie gave a hint as to even Ashoka’s fate.

I thought this series would very much be an “other stories” kind of thing, but it’s being pulled by the Filoni centrifuge back into the core narrative again!

A pal (who’s more into this stuff than me) theorized that the next Jedi reveal may be Ezra Bridger

Would love an Ezra and Baby Groguda series with Rebels folks popping in

As somebody who has no knowledge of the Star Wars universe outside the main movies, I just want to attest that this series totally works if you treat all of what's apparently fanservice as "here's a new cool character."

^ agree. that’s where I’m at

also btw Elspeth Morgan was played by Diana Lee Inosanto - a great martial artist in her own right (who I first came to know as Buffy’s stunt double in the tv series) ... she’s also Dan Inosanto’s daughter & Bruce Lee’s goddaughter, so she has the ~receipts~

so ALL the cool kids came to the party this week