!!SPOILERS!! The Mandalorian Spoilers Allowed Discussion Thread

Snaketibe

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Yes, I noticed Bossk's gun too. I love the fact that Favreau is taking the time and trouble to include these nods and winks to the original trilogy. It adds so much more flavour to proceedings when you spot them :)

As for this episode, I agree with the comments. Yes it was certainly the weakest episode so far, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it or thought it was poor, because I certainly didn't. And I also agree it definitely kicks the **** out of the anything the sequel trilogy has delivered thus far.

I was pleasantly surprised to see 'the child' (to give him his official Lucasfilm name!) or baby Yoda (as everyone else calls him) not getting left behind and continuing on the journey with Mando. However, the one thing I now really want an answer to is how those damn tracking fobs are supposed to work! Apparently they can track any target, anywhere in the galaxy in real time! That's quite a feat, and unless they come up with at least a semi-plausible in-universe explanation for how they work, it's always going to annoy me by its inherent impossibility. If the child was implanted with some kind of tracking device, why hasn't Mando removed it? If it monitors the child's movements in some other way, what is that? Unless they answer this question satisfactorily, I'm going to be taken out of the story every time I see one of those damn fobs!
 

stormcab

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Watched 3 episodes, unfortunately I'm finding it very weak and feel like we're being spoon fed what we think we want. Stormtroopers, sandcrawlers, speeders, and lots of recognisable characters.

Just so you know, I was one of the few who disliked TFA, but loved TLJ. Also loved Rogue One.

Fish man out of Star Trek.
Obvious bar room fight scene taken from a million other films.
Speeder taxi who has survived this far in life suddenly gets eaten by ice sea creature??
Mando finds baby Yoda with apparent ease even though it's made such a big deal he will be hard to find.
Mando's fight skills has you wondering how he has lived this long so far. Would have been killed if not for Baby Yoda.
IG-88 keeps wanting to self destruct? How has it even lasted this long without doing it already?
Jawas throwing stuff at Mando to knock him off the crawler, then suddenly all have guns at the top. Couldn't have done that out a window?
He put his ship back together mighty fast considering the way it was stripped apart?
Mando keeps leaving his ship unguarded meaning Jawas pull it to bits, and Greef hiding in there waiting for him.
Kept feeling the whole Mandalorian tribe stuff is too much of a Predator rip off
Other Mandalorians dislike him and one tries to kill him, then suddenly they all come to his rescue?
"I've got to get one of those" (rocket pack) so he's the best & richest Mandalorian and doesn't only one without a rocket pack?

Think that's most of my issues. Sorry :D

I won't be a hurry to watch any more, especially as I'm hearing episode 4 is the weakest.
 

UKS

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I'm really enjoying it - pretty much for the reasons above!

Star Wars at its heart is really simple Flash Gordon stuff.

So massively ripping off samurai films and westerns is what made SW and it is exactly what mandalorian is doing. I could nit pick (some of it is a bit "on the nose") but for me it captures a Star Wars spirit that the Disney sequels do not. (I loathe this films)
 

TK-7785

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Is it me or does it feel like Disney have massively dropped the ball with The Mandalorian? And I don't mean the obvious lack of rolling put Disney+ so everyone can see it, but the lack of merchandise. The internet is ablaze with love for the show and its characters, ships, worlds etc, "baby Yoda" is possibly one of the highest trending topics on the interwebs, yet the lack of official merch is conspicuous in its absence.

Every day I see fans creating and putting out some amazing custom pieces, be it a "baby Yoda" sculpture, a Razor Crest model you can 3D print yourself or some sort of Mando artwork, yet all Disney seem to have managed is a couple of Black Series figures (to the best of my knowledge anyway). They'd be rinsing it with "baby Yoda" items right now and I'd personally love a Razor Crest model kit to make of the Christmas break. Is this day and age we're used to having action figures and all sorts out in the shops a month or so at least before the film/show premieres. I can't even find any Mando tumbleweed!

In some ways it feels a little like '77 all over again when no one knew the potential success story they had on their hands and so didn't have much more than a few pieces of related merchandise to offer. But at the same time, what the ****, Disney! The excitement and anticipation for Mando has arguably outstripped that for Rise Of Skywalker and it seems like Disney have been caught slipping. This is probably symptomatic of the changing of the guard that is needed in the leadership at Lucasfilm and, to be honest, if you've been keeping up with all the production news and rumours and also reading between the lines, I think it's fairly clear that that is what is going on behind the scenes.
 

Snaketibe

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TK-7785 said:
Is it me or does it feel like Disney have massively dropped the ball with The Mandalorian? And I don't mean the obvious lack of rolling put Disney+ so everyone can see it, but the lack of merchandise. The internet is ablaze with love for the show and its characters, ships, worlds etc, "baby Yoda" is possibly one of the highest trending topics on the interwebs, yet the lack of official merch is conspicuous in its absence.

Every day I see fans creating and putting out some amazing custom pieces, be it a "baby Yoda" sculpture, a Razor Crest model you can 3D print yourself or some sort of Mando artwork, yet all Disney seem to have managed is a couple of Black Series figures (to the best of my knowledge anyway). They'd be rinsing it with "baby Yoda" items right now and I'd personally love a Razor Crest model kit to make of the Christmas break. Is this day and age we're used to having action figures and all sorts out in the shops a month or so at least before the film/show premieres. I can't even find any Mando tumbleweed!

In some ways it feels a little like '77 all over again when no one knew the potential success story they had on their hands and so didn't have much more than a few pieces of related merchandise to offer. But at the same time, what the ****, Disney! The excitement and anticipation for Mando has arguably outstripped that for Rise Of Skywalker and it seems like Disney have been caught slipping. This is probably symptomatic of the changing of the guard that is needed in the leadership at Lucasfilm and, to be honest, if you've been keeping up with all the production news and rumours and also reading between the lines, I think it's fairly clear that that is what is going on behind the scenes.

I don't know whether you've seen it by now, but 'The Child' (aka baby Yoda) merch has been announced and pics have sprung up on various websites over the past couple of days. I think much (if not all) of it are pre-orders, but it is there to be bought now. Apparently the way Disney chose to keep 'baby Yoda' spoilers from coming out before his first appearance in 'The Mandalorian' was to not have any merch for him in production... which is a slightly strange choice from a marketing standpoint, I agree!
 

Twin30mm

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Perhaps they got cold feet, after the lacklustre sales of the ST merch.
Who knows. Does seem a bit short-sighted though.
Par for the course with Lucasfilm at the moment. Needs a new broom. Fast.
Hopefully Kennedy will be out within the year.

Seen a few bits pop up, t-shirts, calendars,Funko Pops (ugh!) etc.
That AT-ST Raider looks pretty nifty. ****ed if I'm paying £78 though :shock:
 

Dantooine

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Episode 5 was great! Mando on a Dewback, so good. They even copied that famous shot of a Stormtrooper on Dewback that wasn't in the film. Amazing. A proper bounty hunting episode as well. So many callbacks to the OT that it felt a bit like a fan film, but who cares, it was great to be back on Tatooine.

Compared to other episodes this felt a bit cheaper. Looked a lot more digital that the first 3. Back on form after an average episode 4.
 

jayums

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If I was a kid I would no doubt think it was fantastic, but for me the storylines are just too simplistic to really grab me, besides the fact it's Star Wars and I'm a fanboy! You could write the plot on the back of the fag packet - it reminds me of 80s tv in its simplicity, like an episode of knight rider or the A-team. I'm still gonna watch it, but it doesn't stir any emotions besides nostalgia.

Star Wars needs to be interesting to kids, but personally I would love to have something set in the star wars universe that appeals to non Star Wars fans. I get the feeling Disney have shy-ed away from a more adult direction by dropping the GOT writing team.

Im sure Star Wars is a bit of a nightmare for Disney to know what to do with. I love the OT, I know plenty of teenage relatives who recognise the PT are a flawed but actually enjoyed them as kids, and I guess someone out there likes the Sequels... it's hard / impossible to keep everyone pleased. I can see why they want to expand the universe like marvel and cash in, but I think they would have been better to have just stuck to a big event movies every 3-4 years (and actually writing decent scripts beforehand). But I guess that approach wouldn't rake in the $$$
 

Cazza

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jayums said:
If I was a kid I would no doubt think it was fantastic, but for me the storylines are just too simplistic to really grab me, besides the fact it's Star Wars and I'm a fanboy! You could write the plot on the back of the fag packet - it reminds me of 80s tv in its simplicity, like an episode of knight rider or the A-team. I'm still gonna watch it, but it doesn't stir any emotions besides nostalgia.

Star Wars needs to be interesting to kids, but personally I would love to have something set in the star wars universe that appeals to non Star Wars fans. I get the feeling Disney have shy-ed away from a more adult direction by dropping the GOT writing team.

Im sure Star Wars is a bit of a nightmare for Disney to know what to do with. I love the OT, I know plenty of teenage relatives who recognise the PT are a flawed but actually enjoyed them as kids, and I guess someone out there likes the Sequels... it's hard / impossible to keep everyone pleased. I can see why they want to expand the universe like marvel and cash in, but I think they would have been better to have just stuck to a big event movies every 3-4 years (and actually writing decent scripts beforehand). But I guess that approach wouldn't rake in the $$$

Pretty much exactly how I feel about it. Enjoying it, but every episode seems so basic and the fobs are annoying me- how the hell do they work?!! The 80's TV analogy hits the nail on the head.
 

Twin30mm

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Hmmm. Bit torn on this episode. Enjoyed the OT callbacks (although the oddly friendly Tuskens seemed superfluous), but they really need to get the story moving.
This episode seemed to be treading water, with only the mysterious figure at the end hinting at any plot development.

Totally agree that there needs to be an explanation how those tracker fob thingys work. Bit of cop out if we don't get one. Much like Lukes sabre and Darths helmet in the ST.
 

chiffy

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Blame this on the beer but I'm gettin the feeling this is all leading up to a Fett final chapter! The mysterious figure stood over Fennic Shane'a corpse at the end? Is the great one tracking down the Mando also tied in with the pending release of the black series Boba lid or am I miles away?
 

jayums

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I'd be amazed if there is a good explanation for the tracker fobs because it's a really daft idea. It's a plot device to explain how you find somebody really quickly when they could be literally anywhere in the entire universe.

The imperials and the bounty hunters could certainly have made good use of one when trying to find entire rebel bases / fleets a few years earlier, and it could have come in handy when everyone was looking for Luke in the sequels too!

I think it's fair to say that SW universe has never taken itself that seriously in terms of the science (which to me is not a bad thing!), but I do want to have a universe which works in a way that is consistent with itself.

The tone of the show doesn't quite work for me. whilst it looks and feels very grown up in one sense, the plots are not quite sophisticated enough for me as an adult. It feels like a (brilliant) Saturday morning cartoon dressed up as something I'm supposed to take more seriously. I think it would be much better if we had more scenes with the bad guys, the other mandalorians, the bounty hunter guild etc so we could see the various plots come together.

There is a lot of fan service for the sake of it, and each episode does feel like it has a checklist of stuff from the OT: last week ATST; this week it was speeder bikes, the cantina, And sand people. I wouldn't be surprised if we get gammy guards, Rancors or Ewoks in the next episodes. In fact I propose the forum should set up a game called Mando bingo so we can guess what OT fossil they will dig up next :lol:
 

Dantooine

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To me it's weird that there have been a lot of negative reviews of this episode, especially after last weeks effort which was full of ham fisted writing. Lots of youtubers don't seem to know what a character arc is, or they think a couple of lines of 6th form dialogue are more important that actually watching what the Mandalorian does. Everything you need to know about this character can be learned from his actions, not from what he says. It's so great to have a show that isn't dialogue heavy for once.

I don't care about his upbringing, I don't want to know, I like the mystery. As for the fobs, who cares how they work? Star Wars is a made up thing, so if someone from Lucasfilm makes up a reason as to why they work would everyone be happy? Were you happy when Lucas explained what the Force is?!? I don't get it, just accept that these thing exist. How does a landspeeder work? I don't care, I want one.

This is a throwback to episodic tv shows from the 80's. I love it, keep the "fan service" coming, at least this way we know it's actually Star Wars.
 

Twin30mm

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Dantooine said:
To me it's weird that there have been a lot of negative reviews of this episode, especially after last weeks effort which was full of ham fisted writing. Lots of youtubers don't seem to know what a character arc is, or they think a couple of lines of 6th form dialogue are more important that actually watching what the Mandalorian does. Everything you need to know about this character can be learned from his actions, not from what he says. It's so great to have a show that isn't dialogue heavy for once.

I don't care about his upbringing, I don't want to know, I like the mystery. As for the fobs, who cares how they work? Star Wars is a made up thing, so if someone from Lucasfilm makes up a reason as to why they work would everyone be happy? Were you happy when Lucas explained what the Force is?!? I don't get it, just accept that these thing exist. How does a landspeeder work? I don't care, I want one.

This is a throwback to episodic tv shows from the 80's. I love it, keep the "fan service" coming, at least this way we know it's actually Star Wars.

Yeah, I agree that not everything needs to be explained. It's a space fantasy, after all.
But I think the Landspeeder comparison is a bit unfair. The tracker fobs are an important plot device in the series and therefore need at least a passing explanation IMHO. The Landspeeder was just a background item, not integral to the plot.

The same with the gravity bombs in TLJ. They work, I just accepted it. But a major plot device such as Lukes lightsabre just happening to be at Maz's Castle, where the protagonist just happens to bump into it. No explanation :roll:
Just comes across as lazy writing.

I was never a fan of the Force's Midichlorian explanation. Ruined the mystique and totally unnecessary.

Overall, still loving the series so far. It's up there with Rogue One as my favourite Disney era offerings.
 

Snaketibe

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Twin30mm said:
Dantooine said:
To me it's weird that there have been a lot of negative reviews of this episode, especially after last weeks effort which was full of ham fisted writing. Lots of youtubers don't seem to know what a character arc is, or they think a couple of lines of 6th form dialogue are more important that actually watching what the Mandalorian does. Everything you need to know about this character can be learned from his actions, not from what he says. It's so great to have a show that isn't dialogue heavy for once.

I don't care about his upbringing, I don't want to know, I like the mystery. As for the fobs, who cares how they work? Star Wars is a made up thing, so if someone from Lucasfilm makes up a reason as to why they work would everyone be happy? Were you happy when Lucas explained what the Force is?!? I don't get it, just accept that these thing exist. How does a landspeeder work? I don't care, I want one.

This is a throwback to episodic tv shows from the 80's. I love it, keep the "fan service" coming, at least this way we know it's actually Star Wars.

Yeah, I agree that not everything needs to be explained. It's a space fantasy, after all.
But I think the Landspeeder comparison is a bit unfair. The tracker fobs are an important plot device in the series and therefore need at least a passing explanation IMHO. The Landspeeder was just a background item, not integral to the plot.

The same with the gravity bombs in TLJ. They work, I just accepted it. But a major plot device such as Lukes lightsabre just happening to be at Maz's Castle, where the protagonist just happens to bump into it. No explanation :roll:
Just comes across as lazy writing.

I was never a fan of the Force's Midichlorian explanation. Ruined the mystique and totally unnecessary.

Overall, still loving the series so far. It's up there with Rogue One as my favourite Disney era offerings.

I quite agree. I certainly don't require an explanation for everything in Star Wars, but major plot devices / points which also seem to contradict established canon, do warrant at least an attempted explanation, IMHO. As has been stated already, if all you need to find someone in the Star Wars universe is a tracking fob, why the hell did the Empire bother sending out all those probe droids at the start of The Empire Strikes Back? Surely they could have simply switched on a fob and headed straight to Hoth.

It is ignoring or rewriting of established canon that is one of the (out of a very, VERY great many) reasons why I detest TLJ so much. It rewrote the rules on hyperspace tracking, travel and weaponry in such a ridiculous, needless and stupid way, which was utterly at odds with everything we already knew about these things from all of the previous films, that it immediately took me out of the film to marvel at its sheer idiocy! It did exactly the same thing by rewriting Luke Skywalker's character and personality in the most unforgivable way imaginable, that again, it took me crashing straight out of the film and made me question whether I was even watching Star Wars. And so the tracking fobs do warrant some kind of explanation regarding how they work in order not to fall into this same trap, as otherwise it looks like the writers simply moved the goalposts and hoped no-one would notice.

The Mandalorian remains a superb show for me and one I am thoroughly enjoying overall. Do I wish the episodes were both longer and a bit more adult in tone? Yes, certainly. But then again, this show needs to cater for everyone, both adult and child alike, and both established fans and newcomers, and I think it's doing a pretty decent job all in all. I personally would like to see the story start to pick up a little pace now as we head towards the end of the season (just 3 episodes left!), and I hope they manage to resolve the whole 'Child' arc satisfactorily and don't carry it over into Season 2, but even if they do, I'll still take this show over anything else Disney is producing in the Star Wars universe at the moment.
 

TK-7785

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All valid points and whilst I agree that certain plot devices, such as the tracking fob, would be helped with some basic explanation I think as fans we can also fall into the pit of over analysing. There was mention in the first or second chapter about a code as well. Maybe these things co off some kind of ID code?! Who knows. For me it isn't quite a big of an issue as hyperspace ramming and the complete 180 of a known character.

One of the things I love about the Mandlorian so much is it has really pared Star Wars back to what it is at its core and what started the whole thing back in 77. Which is timeless myths of heroes and villains in a really comic bookey, 50s Saturday morning serial kind of style. Let's face it, the entire OT was exactly that.

In the subsequent decades Star Wars has become something far greater and although we started as fans when we were kids, we've all grown up and our sensibilities have changed. Our expectations of what makes a good film/story etc has changed. Yet at the same time we all still yearn to feel that same feeling we did as a kid watching the OT. For me The Mandalorian has done about a good a job as anyone could have expected to try and merge those two worlds. Is it perfect? No. Does it make me feel like I'm watching a new Star Wars film in the vein of the OT circa 1980 something? Hell yeah it does!
 

Dantooine

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Snaketibe said:
It is ignoring or rewriting of established canon that is one of the (out of a very, VERY great many) reasons why I detest TLJ so much. It rewrote the rules on hyperspace tracking, travel and weaponry in such a ridiculous, needless and stupid way, which was utterly at odds with everything we already knew about these things from all of the previous films, that it immediately took me out of the film to marvel at its sheer idiocy! It did exactly the same thing by rewriting Luke Skywalker's character and personality in the most unforgivable way imaginable, that again, it took me crashing straight out of the film and made me question whether I was even watching Star Wars. And so the tracking fobs do warrant some kind of explanation regarding how they work in order not to fall into this same trap, as otherwise it looks like the writers simply moved the goalposts and hoped no-one would notice.

I completely agree about TLJ. It really didn't make sense with regards to what had happened in previous films with characters, space travel... and even gravity. You can't contradict something that has already been shown in a movie - personally I don't care about the cartoons etc.

But "canon" does get thrown around a lot by some fans when comparing stuff from the OT to the PT or whatever, and Lucasfilm tie themselves in knots trying to explain everything when the reality is 20 years separated certain films and they hadn't been written yet. It's weird how they want to maintain that everything in the Star Wars universe makes perfect sense and is all interconnected and worked out - then let some dimwit write and direct TLJ :D

I think the fob will get an explanation somewhere down the line, probably to do with the Star Wars version of a fingerprint. We don't know if baby Yoda was scanned at some point, that's what Herzog did when he first saw him. Maybe all prisoners get scanned? Aren't all the bounties we've seen criminals of some kind? Maybe they've all bee locked up in space prison. Maybe baby Yoda has already done porridge!
 

db94

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Just watched episode 6 and I hate to say it but for me it's running out of steam. Found myself checking my mob quite a lot during it and not glued to the screen.

Think the last 3 haven't been that great, not a fan of cameos and recognisable faces/voices and this one is bursting with them.
 

Cazza

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Really liked this episode, but wish they would cut back to what is going on elsewhere, e.g. back at the Guild for the aftermath of the shootout etc. Would round it out a bit more and expand the story. The episodes seem to be too stand-alone.

How on earth did the Devaronian survive the second door closing on his head? Was a bit stupid TBH.
 

Snaketibe

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Cazza said:
Really liked this episode, but wish they would cut back to what is going on elsewhere, e.g. back at the Guild for the aftermath of the shootout etc. Would round it out a bit more and expand the story. The episodes seem to be too stand-alone.

How on earth did the Devaronian survive the second door closing on his head? Was a bit stupid TBH.

The very final scene shows he has lost the ends of his horns, so presumably the door didn't close on his head, but rather on his horns, presumably knocking him out, judging from the way he was coming around in the cell:

Clancy - 01.JPG


Overall, whilst I certainly agree (and as I've said before), I would like the story to advance more quickly with respect to resolving The Child's arc, I absolutely loved this episode! I thought it was genuinely exciting; they didn't re-tread old ground, but instead showed us something new with the prison break, we got to see Mando in action showing what he is capable of, I didn't see the double-cross coming, and we had Clancy Brown and Richard Ayoade as guest stars, and even Dave Filoni in a cameo :-D

Terrific stuff!
 
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