Has 'The Mandalorian' on Disney+ Redeemed the Star Wars Universe? (salon.com) 242
Today a staff writer at Salon argues "The Mandalorian" has redeemed the Star Wars universe:
The Disney+ series "The Mandalorian" has been both a critical triumph and commercial success. In my judgment, it's the most compelling live-action story in the "Star Wars" universe since 1983's "Return of The Jedi".
To that end, the story in "The Mandalorian's" first two seasons about a mysterious bounty hunter and "the child" (who is actually more than 50 years old) he's entrusted with as they navigate their way through a dangerous world — rife with "scum and villainy," where the remnants of the evil Empire still terrorize the galaxy — has accomplished something difficult in science fiction and other genre entertainment. Longtime and serious "Star Wars" aficionados are enthusiastic about "The Mandalorian's" attention to detail and obvious love and respect for George Lucas's "Star Wars" universe. More casual "Star Wars" fans can enjoy the series for its story of family, friendship and adventure, and of course for "baby Yoda," aka Grogu, "the Child," a character described by legendary film director Werner Herzog as "heartbreakingly beautiful...."
Where does "The Mandalorian" go next? Why is it such a compelling TV series and story? Is there such a thing as too much "fan service" in a genre film or TV series? Why has "The Mandalorian" been such a success, compared to the most recent "Star Wars" films? Disney and Lucasfilm have recently announced plans for 11 new TV series and at least three more feature films. At what point does "Star Wars" become overexposed and made into something common, a parody of itself?
In an effort to answer these questions I recently spoke with Bill Slavicsek, one of the writers and developers of the much-beloved "Star Wars" roleplaying game from West End Games. He is also the author of the "Star Wars Sourcebook," "A Guide to the Star Wars Universe," many guides to RPGs and, more recently, "Defining a Galaxy: 30 Years in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...." He was one of the main game designers for the Dungeons and Dragons RPGs and is currently the lead writer for the massively multi-player RPG Elder Scrolls Online. Fair warning: This conversation contains spoilers for Season Two of "The Mandalorian," which is now available on the Disney+ streaming service.
Meanwhile CinemaBlend shares some commentary from another source, writing that "We need more Star Wars discourse like this." No arguing about bloodlines, or one director undoing the plotlines laid down by another. Just all of us, being amused by a cat who delightfully thinks that he or she can catch the lightsaber that a brooding Kylo Ren is tossing away during a pivotal moment in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker... And it even has Mark Hamill's seal of approval...
Kitty cats aside, it's a very good time to be a Star Wars fan. The Mandalorian just wrapped up an incredible season of television on Disney+ and Kathleen Kennedy recently ushered in a wave of new programming that will keep Star Wars on our radars for years to come.
To that end, the story in "The Mandalorian's" first two seasons about a mysterious bounty hunter and "the child" (who is actually more than 50 years old) he's entrusted with as they navigate their way through a dangerous world — rife with "scum and villainy," where the remnants of the evil Empire still terrorize the galaxy — has accomplished something difficult in science fiction and other genre entertainment. Longtime and serious "Star Wars" aficionados are enthusiastic about "The Mandalorian's" attention to detail and obvious love and respect for George Lucas's "Star Wars" universe. More casual "Star Wars" fans can enjoy the series for its story of family, friendship and adventure, and of course for "baby Yoda," aka Grogu, "the Child," a character described by legendary film director Werner Herzog as "heartbreakingly beautiful...."
Where does "The Mandalorian" go next? Why is it such a compelling TV series and story? Is there such a thing as too much "fan service" in a genre film or TV series? Why has "The Mandalorian" been such a success, compared to the most recent "Star Wars" films? Disney and Lucasfilm have recently announced plans for 11 new TV series and at least three more feature films. At what point does "Star Wars" become overexposed and made into something common, a parody of itself?
In an effort to answer these questions I recently spoke with Bill Slavicsek, one of the writers and developers of the much-beloved "Star Wars" roleplaying game from West End Games. He is also the author of the "Star Wars Sourcebook," "A Guide to the Star Wars Universe," many guides to RPGs and, more recently, "Defining a Galaxy: 30 Years in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...." He was one of the main game designers for the Dungeons and Dragons RPGs and is currently the lead writer for the massively multi-player RPG Elder Scrolls Online. Fair warning: This conversation contains spoilers for Season Two of "The Mandalorian," which is now available on the Disney+ streaming service.
Meanwhile CinemaBlend shares some commentary from another source, writing that "We need more Star Wars discourse like this." No arguing about bloodlines, or one director undoing the plotlines laid down by another. Just all of us, being amused by a cat who delightfully thinks that he or she can catch the lightsaber that a brooding Kylo Ren is tossing away during a pivotal moment in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker... And it even has Mark Hamill's seal of approval...
Kitty cats aside, it's a very good time to be a Star Wars fan. The Mandalorian just wrapped up an incredible season of television on Disney+ and Kathleen Kennedy recently ushered in a wave of new programming that will keep Star Wars on our radars for years to come.
But not a great time to be a Star Wars writer (Score:5, Informative)
Considering how they stiffed Alan Dean Foster [sfwa.org] on his royalties. But hey, entertainment and all.
I'll reserve judgement... (Score:3, Interesting)
until they figure out how to get it to DVD. Sorry, little bitter about exclusives.
Not exclusive (Score:2)
I find it a little hard to say The Mandalorian is "exclusive" given how many different devices you can watch Disney+ on...
Fun != Vapid (Score:2)
The writing is vapid,
After watching all two seasons of The Mandalorian I simply cannot see how anyone could say that - the writing is well done. but it's meant to be fun and not serious... fan too many people today take that to mean something is vapid, without realizing how clever yo have to be to actually make a show entertaining and contain both humor and emotion.
Nope. (Score:3, Insightful)
What it has done is made the wedge between Star Wars and Stupid Star Wars permanent.
Stupid is a good word and we need to use it more. Episodes 8, and then 9, were just plain Stupid, from so many angles, and I dont just mean how the stories were immediately stupid as told, but that it was also completely stupid in the franchise harming sense of building a grander multi-movie story/universe in that instead of building upon, it destroyed and/or otherwise ignored, the grander multi-movie universe.
Basically, the people put in charge from 7 on did not understand, at all, that they were making actual sequels to actual stories. How it can happen that so many involved must not of understood that, is a matter of the word of the day. Stupid.
Disney spent billions of dollars, and then there very next step was to maximize being Stupid at every level of it.
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Lol who made you the gatekeeper of Star Wars?
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Re: Nope. (Score:3)
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The main issue with The Mandalorian is that it relies too much on nostalgia. There are some interesting stories and good action sequences in there, but a lot of it is just fan service that brings back popular characters and locations.
Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed a lot of it. It's nice getting some droid characters fleshed out a bit, or learning what happened to people. But by the end of season 2 it's reached the point where they need to give the original characters some real development and purpose beyond delivering the nostalgia.
My children have no nostalgia for Star Wars. They're seeing it fresh, and they loved The Mandalorian. You may be generalizing from your experience. The series is successful in part because the nostalgia has meaning beyond the memory older folks associate with it. The kids cracked up watching the "expert" Imperial soldiers repeatedly miss hitting a can at close range in one episode. They didn't need the context of the inept stormtrooper trope to just enjoy it. So no, it doesn't rely too much on nostalg
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Fans are the problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe Star Wars nerds should just grow up and realized they got older and doing the old man thing of complaining about how everything was better.
The prequels were fine. The sequels were fine. The original trilogy was fine. None of them were masterpieces, except for creating a whole industry around visual and special effects.
It's okay to just enjoy things for what they are and like what you like without it alwaus being the end.
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The sequels were fine.
I don't think they really were.
Re: Fans are the problem (Score:3)
Even just taking away all the other complaints that may or may not have been based on real or perceived biases, the stories for 7-9 pretty much just sucked (I include 7 because 7 was basically 4 all over again). 9 was a complete mess, with plot holes big enough to drive a Death Star through.
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Re: Fans are the problem (Score:2)
The prequel stories kind of sucked too, but nowhere near as bad as 7-9. 1-3s issues were more about characters and execution than story (Jar Jar, Anakin being a whiny little bitch, etc).
Oh, and the pod racing. That was stupid.
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Wow, such analysis. I'm so convinced.
Do you really want another rehash of why the prequels were terrible? I mean surely you've seen that by now.
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People hated Return of the Jedi too, back when it was still new.
The fact is, per my witness, people feel compelled to hate the prequels due to nothin
Re: Fans are the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
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still deeply resonate with me
Good for you.
Who did the prequels and sequels give us
Bait and switch. You can't talk about resonating with you, and then switch to talking about "us".
Forty years later the names Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Yoda, Darth Vader, etc. still deeply resonate with me as amazing, interesting, and original characters.
Yeah, if you're a nerd who never reads anything outside of a few nerd franc
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The films are all most people ever see (including myself). And you didn't answer my question. Forty years later MANY fans were excited to see Luke Skywalker on screen again (and boy did Rian Johnson fuck that up). What characters originating from the prequels a
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Rogue One was fantastic.
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IMHO: No. It had a few good fight scenes, great special effects, one very memorable character, and a fantastic last ten minutes.
It is a heck of a lot better than Episodes 6-9.
But if you rewatch it just for the story (which I did a couple months ago), you'll notice that the story is bolted onto those fight scenes and fairly incoherent.
Face it. The entire franchise hit a peak with The Empire Strikes Back, and it's been mostly down hill since then. Rogue one was just better than the movies that came just b
Re: Fans are the problem (Score:2)
Watch Rogue One for what it is: a war movie. You don't watch war movies for the story(well, most of them anyway). To me, it was an excellent war movie that just happened to be set in Star Wars instead of WWII or Vietnam.
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Star Wars: The Porn Series. Don't watch for the story either. :-D
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Rogue One was fantastic.
Except for cartoon Tarkin and cartoon Leia, but fortunately she wasn't onscreen for too long.
Otherwise I didn't hate that movie. It was kind of interesting.
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Re:Fans are the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
They were. Any criticism leveled at them can similarly be leveled at the original trilogy.
What about this: the plot for episode 7 was just a copy of episode 4. How do you level that at the original trilogy?
The first 6 episodes had a relatively coherent plot. The last three did not.
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The first 6 episodes did not have a coherent plot either. Anyone can make assertions, and you must be hiding under a rock if you think there are no prequel haters out there who thinks half of the first 6 episodes had no coherent plot.
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> Which Kurosawa film?
It's a brilliantly unconventional angle for a galaxy-spanning sci-fi adventure, but George Lucas, the writer-director of Star Wars, didn't have to think too hard to come up with it. As he has often acknowledged, he simply borrowed the idea from Akira Kurosawa's 1958 samurai classic, The Hidden Fortress. "The one thing that really struck me about The Hidden Fortress," he said in 2001, "was the fact that the story was told from the [perspective of] the two lowest characters. I decided that would be a nice way to tell the Star Wars story, which was to take the two lowest characters, as Kurosawa did, and tell the story from their point of view, which in the Star Wars case is the two droids."
https://www.bbc.com/culture/ar... [bbc.com]
Re:Fans are the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
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if the emperor can just create an invincible battle fleet
It wasn't invincible, by the very fact that it got defeated.
their defeated remains building a far more powerful weapon
Why not? The empire built the Death Star in the 20 years in the gap between the first two trilogies. The gap between the second two trilogies was 30 years. Unlike the original empire, they basically had free reign over the resources of the unknown regions, as well as kidnapping children and indoctrinating them for those 30 years. And then add that to the fact that they've had experience and the scientific knowledge of building a Death Star type wea
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4-6 were classics that have stayed with me my entire adult life. Of course they looked flawed now that forty years have passed, but in their time they were original and gave us unforgettable characters and an unforgettable story. I will never forget seeing the Empire's assault on Hoth in the theater. The AT-ATs alone blew me away.
Everything after has been a disappointment, which may have been inevitable but they could have at least tried to modernize the story, take risks, and give us something original. Th
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I will never forget seeing the Empire's assault on Hoth in the theater. The AT-ATs alone blew me away.
Plenty of people who grew up the prequels feel the same way about the prequels. That's the problem with Star Wars nerds, they lack the ability to look at things from outside their own perspective and thinks their own experience is the only valid one, completely unaware that people exist outside of their solipsistic view of the world.
the dialogue was particularly atrocious.
Have you actually sat down and watched the original trilogy? The dialogue there was also atrocious. Star Wars dialogue is always atrocious. In fact, I'd say most sci-fi dialogue
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Every movie (practically every movie) follows a structure. The original trilogy was not predictable. The attack on the death star (thou
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Every movie (practically every movie) follows a structure.
Yes, so don't pretend that the original trilogy was so imaginative when it wasn't. It is literally an opera set in space. That's it.
The attack on the death star (though it involved a ridiculous engineering flaw) was original and very exciting
Funny how people can so easily forgive the ridiculous flaw needed for the movie to work, but don't allow the same brush off for the problems in the prequels or sequels. But no, it was not original. It was literally what many WWII fighter pilot movies were about. Other than the fact that it was a Death Star, it is just a WWII air battle and bombing run but in space. That was eve
Are fans the problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
Except, that's not true. You can't say the fans are NEVER happy, especially in response to an article about "The Mandalorian" which has been universally well received by new fans, old fans and critics. The originals were great because Lucas had a great team (Brackett, Kasdan, Kurtz, Kershner, etc) who were not afraid to give honest input. The prequels were OK but were very much one man's vision and suffered because of it. The sequels in contrast were a "too many cooks" situation with no overall plan or leadership. That's not the fan's fault.
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which has been universally well received by new fans, old fans and critics
That's wrong, right out of the gate. Plenty of comments here, alone, already shows that a lot of people hate the Mandalorian.
The originals were great
The originals were not great. The only thing that saved them were the special and visual effects. Put the original trilogy into a wobbly Doctor Who set and we'll see how bad they actually are.
The sequels in contrast were a "too many cooks" situation with no overall plan or leadership. That's not the fan's fault.
Yes it is, because the sequels are what you get when you try to satisfy all the "fans" who hated the prequels. Just look at the comments - The Force Awakens gets shit on because it is a copy of A
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That's wrong, right out of the gate. Plenty of comments here, alone, already shows that a lot of people hate the Mandalorian.
"A lot of people." Come on. Rotten Tomatoes site is an exceptional barometer of critic and audience enjoyment, and according to that site [rottentomatoes.com], The Mandalorian has exceptional scores of 93 and 91. People *love* that show. "Baby Yoda" probably carries a lot of that. A few haters on some internet forum where nerds argue with each other just for something to do is not going to change that. It's a lot like Nipplegate, "a lot of people were upset", but actually, almost nobody gave a shit.
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Rotten Tomatoes site is an exceptional barometer of critic and audience enjoyment
Critics, yes. Audience, no. Comments, where people don't think others are paying attention is where people's real views come out. You can find plenty of people in Youtube comments disliking, to hating the show. Yes, you should ignore the cesspool of the internet to maintain calm and sanity - but you have to accept the flipside that you simply do not see what people really think about the show, and that their "criticisms" are mostly the same whiny bollocks they trot out against the prequels and the sequels a
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They seem pretty happy with The Mandalorian.
No they aren't. Have you seen the comments here?
The 2008 TV series The Clone Wars was also well liked.
After hating the main character for a long time because SHE didn't act like some badass Jedi master out of the gate.
The Rebels TV series wasn't as popular
Exactly.
Disney just needs to focus on writing good stories and stop using Star Wars as a vehicle for wokeness SJW crap.
Having watched all three of the prequels, I did not detect any "wokeness" in them. All I detected were salty "fans" who pick up on the smallest trivial thing and blow it all out of proportion, with the flimsiest of made up connections and "theories" to justify their irrational hatred of "SJW"s. It's no secret that fans hated Ahsoka in the
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Having watched all three of the prequels,
I meant to write "sequels".
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There are entire youtube channels
Full of whining fucking nerds.
Which is literally what the rest of your comment is also. It's just whining.
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It never was about bloodlines anyway... (Score:2)
No arguing about bloodlines
Star Wars has never been about bloodlines, it's always been about family. And that is what, in many facets, has made The Mandalorian so amazing.
The Mandalorian has not really redeemed anything... but what is has shown, is the highs that Star Wars can reach when done really well, and with a ton of respect and understanding of the history and many worlds that encompass Star Wars.
I'm one of those people who can enjoy pretty much any Star Wars, including the prequel and sequel trilog
Re: It never was about bloodlines anyway... (Score:2)
Yeah, but Mando at least takes Star Wars back to its space western roots. At best, it doesn't take itself too seriously either, bringing in actual Star Wars critics to come in and play what is probably one of the most entertaining Star Wars characters in recent memory, plus the little bits of humor spread throughout (I'm sorry, baby yoda eating those eggs wasn't "genocide", he was just hungry and it was funny). And with it being a TV show and not a movie, the way they are able to work in all these differen
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It's simple. (Score:3)
It's not a retread of the prior stories. Although it clearly uses blatant Western Tropes, it's not as though the writers are attempting the match any of the original films "beats". The three new films match the originals with "beats", which include the THIRD world-destroying world in 9 films. The Mandalorian includes mystery, suspense, and characters you care about.
A new hope for the hopeful... (Score:3, Interesting)
It comes down to whether some of the rumors are true, depending on who you believe.... Rumors reported about infighting inside Lucasfilm. A Kathleen Kennedy (KK) faction, and a Jon Favreau faction.
Some think he (JF) is walking a fine line that has been sanctioned by the Disney brass and has the backing of George Lucas for a shared vision on how things should be, story-wise. In that same camp, people think KK is apathetic about the stories, and more interested in agenda casting and stories take a back seat to that. There are even rumors that she said if she doesn't get her way she will, quote "burn this silliness to the ground" on her way out. Her contract was rumored to expire by the end of Q1 2021. This is also a reason they cancelled the next SW Celebration convention until after she was gone, but it might have just been a fear Covid was going to be with us longer than expected at the time.
Then there are those that think she (KK) is doing a fine job and it's all thanks to her wonderful leadership and things are humming along just fine in the walls of Lucasfilm and she'll get all the credit, and her contract re-newed.
Either way, they seem to have seriously taken a lesson from the ratings and box office results. The Force Awakens: 2 billion. TLJ: 1.33. TROS: 1.07. That likely set off alarm bells along with the merchandising numbers. Mandalorian stuff has probably eclipsed TLJ and TROS plastic shit. Very little was made. The people in their 40's and 50's are the ones spending all the money now for action figures they remember and liked (the expensive ones). There are videos of Rose Tico action figures being shredded by the palette so they can claim the losses on taxes. All this leads into what has been announced for the new shows. Most of them are in the Episode III-VII timeline. Not one of those shows is known to extend past TFA or TROS. There are rumors now circulating that KK's influence in shaping the theme park timeline stuff for Galaxy's edge is now recognized within Disney ranks as a huge blunder and they will see some refitting over the next couple of years to put it back compatible with the "safe sells" of Luke, Han, Chewie, Leia, etc... Personally, I think they should be mos eisley and mos espa for the two current parks and a minimum of re-vamping done to the aesthetics to make them look compatible with Tattooine instead of Batuu or whatever it's called.
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If you have a few hours to kill, check out some of the "Fandom Menace" channels. Let's be very clear. They are rumors. They KNOW they are REPORTING and COMMENTING on rumors. They are EXPLICITLY ADMITTING they are commenting on RUMORS.
THAT SAID, they are doing their best (from what I can tell) to weed out the chaff and analyze the franchise with level heads. In order of "seriousness" and "credibility" I PERSONALLY favor the Midnight's Edge guys. The ME guys try to play it pretty straight and not inject a lot
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I honestly don't understand why the instant assumption of misogyny. The numbers on those box office results are NOT lies. If you think she's been managing the franchise perfectly, go back and check out how many directors she has had to fire after hiring them because they don't match her vision for the franchise. Some fans hate women. Some fans hate America. Some fans hate Jews. It's a BIG fucking franchise with HUGE numbers of fans. Big fucking surprise. As far as making shit up, if even HALF of the rumors
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I honestly don't understand why the instant assumption of misogyny.
Because the previous guy running the show does not get the same level of vitriolic hate, even though he created the prequels. Hell, she even gets the blame for "discarding" the EU canon, even though Disney has brought more of the EU into actual canon than Lucas ever did, or wanted to. When two people in charge, who do basically the same thing, gets treated the differently and the only difference between them is their gender (not to mention liberally sprinkling the letters SJW everywhere while spewing vitrio
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Sir, are you a troll, Kathleen Kennedy's mother or just retarded? Perhaps you weren't alive during the "Lucas ruined my childhood"(Han shot first, the prequels, adding Jabba to ANH), but let me tell you, there was vitriolic hate. Quite frankly some of the hate stems from the belief that KK was the safe insider to run the ship after the Mouse bought ol George out, and to watch the dumpster fire that making 3 sequels with
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there was vitriolic hate.
You, are an idiot, because I said:
the same level of vitriolic hate
You are joking if you think Lucas got the same level of abuse as Kathleen Kennedy does.
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You should try Googling Kathleen Kennedy petition. And then the same for George Lucas petition. "Fans" hate Kathleen Kennedy so much they want Jar Jar to come back.
It makes me long for Firefly (Score:5, Insightful)
Firefly had better characters, better writing, and more original themes. If you want the best episodic space western out there, Firefly was it. Imagine if they'd had access to Mandalorian-level production.
The Mandalorian was entertaining, but I can't see each episode being memorable almost 20 years later the way Firefly is.
Re:It makes me long for Firefly (Score:4, Interesting)
Imagine if they'd had access to Mandalorian-level production.
Have you watched expanse?
Re: It makes me long for Firefly (Score:2)
The expanse feels closer to Mass Effect to me than Star Wars or even Firefly. Great show though.
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Yes, just the first season. We're about to re-watch it and catch up on the newer stuff. It's different - much longer story arcs, rather than self-contained episodes - but it's excellent.
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Hate to be the "book is better... " guy, but:
The Expanse as a book series was a page turner. Then I watched the tv series, and it was somehow VERY LONG. We never even finished it.
Re:It makes me long for Firefly (Score:4, Informative)
I'm actually glad at how little they made the belters look like belters. Anything Saru-like, st: discovery, in terms of costumes, would've been very distracting.
The accent, tattoos, way of life is enough to convince me they are the belters of the book.
I don't need funny giraffe looking cgi/costumes.
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Have you watched expanse?
The Expanse is awful. I'm 1/2 way through season 3 and am pretty much finished with it.
I'm a Rush fan, so I knew from the moment they named their spaceship the Rocinante that the story would eventually have them fly into a black hole (or similar).
The writing feels like one pot-smoked idea after another, barely held together. The writers literally dropped half a dozen plots in the middle of season 3 and jumped 3 months ahead on the calendar, barely trying to explain what happened to the plots and characters
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FIrefly was great, but those of us who loved it have to accept that it just wasn't that popular.
Sorry, Firefly stories didn't match the promise (Score:2)
I did like characters (and great cast, I don't think they could have done better there) but the scripts/plots never matched my expectations of what could be done in the Firefly universe.
For the Sci-Fi/Western analogue, I'd recommend "Cowboy Bebop" over Firefly.
The people that love Firefly, really love it but for most people the show was "meh".
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The people that love Firefly, really love it but for most people the show was "meh".
Yes. I had a friend who loved it and kept going on and on about it. I finally got around to watching the show, and honestly, it was alright. I didn't hate it, and I didn't love it.
Man, it had a devoted following though.
Re:It makes me long for Firefly (Score:4, Interesting)
If you want the best episodic space western out there, Firefly was it.
*cough* Farscape *cough*
NO (Score:3)
Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
The Mandalorian is the most pathetic example of stupid writing I have seen so far in this franchise. It is full of tired old cliches. The hero is dumb, the enemies are dumber and are obviously shooting themselves routinely, because there is no other explanations for the outcomes of the fights. This is really a story for small children, pretending to be one for adults.
mod parent up (Score:4, Interesting)
Many many things today have been lowered to the level of children's programming and then re-themed as adult programming.
The irony is that some actual children's programming comes out more sophisticated just to appeal to the adult creators hoping to advance their career or to help the suffering parents who have to watch. I suppose you'd call this quality family programming which Disney used to be pretty good with even without the now formulaic innuendos or cynicism (which the kids actual pick up on a simple level; it's odd to see them parrot this when they don't have a clue about it.)
STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago. Not letting go is why we will see it run into the ground and cheapened for anybody who is not exposed to it in the proper order (without prequels.)
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STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago.
It did for me anyway. In fact I'd say it ended in about the middle of Return of the Jedi, so 38 years ago.
I was only 8 years old, but I remember thinking how stupid it was that there were teddy bears running around fighting against the storm troopers. It was a huge disappointment to me. I didn't think of it as just another stupid kids movie. I thought Star Wars was serious and cool before that.
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STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago.
It did for me anyway. In fact I'd say it ended in about the middle of Return of the Jedi, so 38 years ago.
I was only 8 years old, but I remember thinking how stupid it was that there were teddy bears running around fighting against the storm troopers. It was a huge disappointment to me. I didn't think of it as just another stupid kids movie. I thought Star Wars was serious and cool before that.
Yes, for the movies that was pretty much the point where it was over and excessive commercialization killed it all.
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STAR WARS ENDED. almost a half century ago.
For the mainstream, most assuredly it did. I do think that some games carried the thing a bit further, but even there is only a small selection of what was made.
Betteridge's Law (Score:2)
No.
Seriously, is this where /. is still?
I find TV-scale drama boring (Score:2)
The only TV I've watched in the past two decades has been Futurama. I find TV shows boring compared to movies - more flabby, more filler, clear that they're scrabbling to get enough material to fill their allotted showtime with a low enough budget for effects and actors and locations. So different from movies where it's clear they have to tell a leaner taughter story and then trim yet further to get it to fit in the 2hr showtime.
I've loved Star Wars all my life, turned up at midnight showings in costume for
I care again (Score:2)
I didn't care about Star Wars much anymore after The Last Jedi. Such a bleak and horrible story. Then The Rise of Skywalker was truly a dog's breakfast... just such a mess start to finish that by the end I just didn't care anymore.
We got a free trial to check out The Mandalorian and I told my wife "don't cancel our Disney+ membership; this show, just on its own is enough to justify the expense."
The Mandalorian is made by people who are really deep Star Wars fans. Way deeper than I am. They well and trul
Boooooring! (Score:2)
I'm completely unimpressed with the series. YMMV, but to me, this series doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same conversation as Star Wars. The plot is stupid.
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Oh, and I almost forgot. Fuck Disney. Fuck them for replacing people and making them train their replacements or lose their severance. Fuck Disney for price gouging at every opportunity. Oh, and fuck Disney.
Never needed redeeming for most important demograp (Score:2)
As a parent of a 7-year old and an uncle to 10-13 year olds, all of which are obsessed with Star Wars, I can confidently say that Star Wars is doing just fine among its most important customer base - kids. The opinions of the middle age demo are great for short term movie revenue, but appealing to kids is what locks in another generation of merchandise consumers, a classic Disney tactic.
Here's the mind-blowing part to me: my 7-year old knows more about Star Wars than I do (of course I'm a fan), and she's ne
Why bother? (Score:2)
For the life of me I cannot understand the continued fascination with this franchise.
I mean, sure I loved it as a kid when the original movies started coming out. But in the end all Star Wars boils down to is two good movies and a bunch of crap.
I was disappointed in the Mandalorian (Score:2)
It was great to see a well produced series. It was great to see Star Wars.
I'm almost 50. Star Wars was base. ESB was awesome. Half of RoTJ was ok. 1,2,3 were crap. 7 repeated 4, but not quite as good. 8 was bad. 9 I enjoyed. Rogue One was really fantastically great. I'll stop there. I'm used to the idea that most of SW is crap. It's not good, it's not aimed at me.
I was disappointed in the writing. This is the golden age of television, streaming media. This was the ONLY original streaming conten
I don't know but (Score:2)
If a story does not have an ending before they start filming the first episode, it's probably gonna turn out rubbish after the first season.
Mando is a better sequel story and fanservice (Score:2)
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Rey is 5 years old or 5 years from being born, at best in the Mandalorian timeline. (can't remember if it's 15 or 25 years from TFA)
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The final scene of the season finale pretty much left me with the impression that they could give a flying fuck about anything and they think their viewers are mindless idiots
You got that impression only there? I got it in the first episode.
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and they think their viewers are mindless idiots
Well, they're not wrong.
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Conversely, you'd be a fool to ignore everything that multiple sources are doing their best to report on just because it is on the internet. What would you prefer? Newspapers? TV news networks? Yeah, those are some real bastions of integrity these days.
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Insults is particular relevant in this new era of information - anyone who doesn't recognize how to tell bullshit from genuine issues should be shamed. As this past year shows, when it comes to misinformation, we can't have kiddy gloves on dealing with your type anymore. You either have real evidence backed up by reliable sources, or you're a gullible fool. Playing along with your delusion only gives you undese
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The only true revenge on KK for filling the franchise with boring girls who can't act is to make 10,11,12 with old white guys who can.
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The only true revenge on KK for filling the franchise with boring girls who can't act is to make 10,11,12 with old white guys who can.
Honestly, I don't think it really mattered too much what actress they chose for those movies. Imagine if there had been a great actress playing in episodes 7-9 instead.
Those movies would still suck.
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I completely see your point of view. Knowing that Dave Filoni is involved though, I would guess that a season three would integrate more of the Clone Wars and Rebels stuff, as season 2 began to.
I don't want to give away much for those who haven't seen it, but there's a pretty big plot thread left haning between Mando and Bo-Katan, right now. That'd be a pretty good jumping-off point for a new arc.
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The Star Wars universe can only be redeemed by pretending the last 15 years didn't happen.
The last 21 years you mean.
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