The Mandalorian: First Trailer

[Peelee]

So, I'm sad twice over.

First, because it doesn't look like I'll be able to sign up for Disney+ the way I'd been hoping, owing to RL issues. And second, it turns out that Freeform won't be showing the first episode tomorrow as I'd originally assumed; they'll be giving a "sneak peek" which is probably nothing more than a compilation of all the trailers.

Ah well. At least I have Frozen 2 to look forward to. You can't take the sky ice from me....

Look, I'm like 90% sure that if I can burn the land and boil the sea, I sure as hell can take the sky. Imean, I already have your land and your love. This is like a game of monopoly where you own Baltic Avenue and I have everything else.

ETA: New TV spot. IG-11 speaks.


Toot toot.

ETA: IT'S SO GOOD WHY HAVE YALL NOT WATCHED IT YET

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I was really not expecting IG-11 to go out so quickly. Also, that's gotta lead to some repurcussions down the road. Can't have Guild members offing each other.

[Palanan]

I just came by to ask if anyone had seen it yet, but clearly you were up late last night.

Glad it's off to a good start. No telling when I'll be able to watch it, but at least I have some hope that it's a quality product.

[Peelee]

I just came by to ask if anyone had seen it yet, but clearly you were up late last night.

Glad it's off to a good start. No telling when I'll be able to watch it, but at least I have some hope that it's a quality product.

More like early this morning.

But yes, it's everything I was hoping for and more.

[Palanan]

Well, that's a solid endorsement. Now I'm just aching to see this.

Disney posted a short scene last night, with a mini-trailer attached. I may have missed it in earlier trailers, but I'm getting a strong Seven Samurai vibe from one shot in particular.

When was beskar first introduced as the material in Mandalorian armor? It was heavily referenced in the Karen Traviss novels, and it's great to see the mention here, but I'm wondering if it was established in her novels or sometime earlier.

[hamishspence]

Well, that's a solid endorsement. Now I'm just aching to see this.

Disney posted a short scene last night, with a mini-trailer attached. I may have missed it in earlier trailers, but I'm getting a strong Seven Samurai vibe from one shot in particular.

When was beskar first introduced as the material in Mandalorian armor? It was heavily referenced in the Karen Traviss novels, and it's great to see the mention here, but I'm wondering if it was established in her novels or sometime earlier.

The notion that "Mandalorian iron" is incredibly tough, even lightsaber-resistant, goes back quite some way - it comes up in the Tales of the Jedi comics. Traviss simply gave it a name when making the Mandalorian language.

[Peelee]

In Legends, it was also famously difficult to work with, with Mandalorians being among the few that possessed the skills necessary to really do anything with it, IIRC.

[Droid Tony]

so....anyone else watch epsiode one?

Spoiler: Spoliers

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Well.....it was not bad. Space Western very Old School Star Wars feel.

It has at least a dozen 'easter eggs' to..well, only the first three classic movies. We only see the ''old" classic droids, for example. And mostly see 'classic" aliens too. And every planet...well, er....kinda looks like Mos Eisl on Tattonne.

It was kind of nice that it had less action...and they avoided making Man a super space ninja...yet.

The whole ''wearing the armor all the time" is a bit.....odd. It's kinda no fun to not see the actor.

The storyline is basic enough....but then it's what you'd expect from a bounty hunter: "Ok go grab this guy for money".

The special effect are a bit low....but this is good. Getting away from CGI spam.

So for an epsiode one.....well, it's got me hooked.

[Dienekes]

So saw the first episode, liked it enough. But I think I'm probably in the minority here that I actually dislike it when I see a lot of references to the EU Mandos, largely because I found Karen Traviss' culture building pretty ridiculous and annoying while desperately trying to show us how cool it all was. That said, ignoring all that and you've got a solid enough first episode. Best part was watching the droid fight.

While I frankly love the decision to keep the armor on in a work context (too many movies have heroes conveniently disregard their helmets in the thick of battle because they're idiots), stepping into a Mando clan and seeing everywhere still wearing their helmets when they're just playing or working is pretty jarring. Maybe the blacksmith would make sense if there were a lot of sparks flying in her face, thus, needing a helmet. But most of it was just put things into machines and then hammering out a nearly finished product.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Dienekes
But I think I'm probably in the minority here that I actually dislike it when I see a lot of references to the EU Mandos, largely because I found Karen Traviss' culture building pretty ridiculous and annoying while desperately trying to show us how cool it all was.

I had a very different take on Traviss' books, but for now I'll just say that I'm glad the show is referencing her work.

...As opposed to, for instance, the thoroughly silly view of Mandalore that we were given in Clone Wars. (However much fun it was to hear Katee Sackhoff as a Mandalorian fighter.)

Originally Posted by Dienekes
...stepping into a Mando clan and seeing [everyone?] still wearing their helmets when they're just playing or working is pretty jarring.

This doesn't sound too out of character for Mandalorians, who pretty much live in their armor.

.

[Dienekes]

This doesn't sound too out of character for Mandalorians, who pretty much live in their armor.

.

That's kind of my point. For Traviss the idea of people living in their armor is so totally cool. It's dumb and uncomfortable. No warrior society in the world ever spent their entire life in their armor. It's ridiculous.

Also, every one of them would be sickly pale white and probably suffering form vitamin D deficiency. And they would smell, so bad.

[Mechalich]

Mandalorian armor is actually fairly high-tech, especially the helmets. Notably, the helmet feeds in a lot of additional data to produce a continual heads-up-display that they rely on and offers additional viewpoints - the visor, which would appear restrictive, doesn't actually limit field-of-view at all. As a result, removing the helmet is rather like willfully putting on an eyepatch and the Mandalorians feel deeply uncomfortable without it (this is also, to a somewhat lesser extent, true of stormtroopers). That said, they do remove the helmets and armor in private and when completely secure. It's notable that this first episode fades to black during the period of time when the titular Mandalorian is alone onboard his ship with nothing but carbonite corpsicles. He probably took his armor off then.

Also, Traviss is hardly the only source, or even the principle source on Mandalorian culture. Dave Filoni, who directed this first episode and whose stamp is all over it, did his own work with Mandalorians in TCW that did not mirror Traviss' take (and I don't mean Satine's crew, but rather Bo Kataan and her bunch), and seems to be drawing from throughout the EU for inspiration.

This episode is very solidly in the Star Wars as space western camp, which feels right for a TV show. It also very much has the feel of a number of EU stories about bounty hunters, and not just Boba Fett. Both aesthetically, with a lot of practical effects and a bunch of familiar non-human species, and thematically it feels much more like a story set in the EU timeline shortly before and after ROTJ than anything previously produced by Disney. Personally, that's a very good thing.

[Muz]

As someone who really only knows of Mandalorians through KOTOR & KOTOR2, is Traviss's and Clone Wars portrayal roughly the same? Granted, KOTOR is a 4000 BBY, so there's a lot of room for drift...

Just curious.

[Peelee]

KOTOR Mandos were oversimplified, for the most part. Canderous Ordo and Mandalore were perfect examples of them nailing what a Mandalorian was.

[Mechalich]

As someone who really only knows of Mandalorians through KOTOR & KOTOR2, is Traviss's and Clone Wars portrayal roughly the same? Granted, KOTOR is a 4000 BBY, so there's a lot of room for drift...

Just curious.

It's actually quite different, in certain ways. The Legends continuity history of Mandalorians is complex, and involves multiple different cultural groups claiming the title over time. The Mandalorians you fight in KOTOR and KOTOR II are primarily 'Neo-Crusaders,' part of a mass-movement to drastically expand the Mandalorian ranks through essentially limitless recruitment for a campaign of endless conquest. This movement may or may not have been a natural development among the Mandalorians, depending on how much behind-the-scenes manipulation and mind whammy you're willing to credit a small group of high-powered Sith. In KOTOR II Canderous Ordo takes the position of Mandalore the Preserver and moves away from the Neo-Crusader approach and back towards the classic culture.

The actual hard-core Mandalorian culture that was greatly expanded by Traviss' works would be the Mandalorian Crusaders, who fought alongside the Sith in the Great Sith War (as told in the very old Legends Tales of the Jedi comics). A version of this culture is also portrayed in SWTOR, which includes both a group of Mandalorians fighting as mercenaries on behalf of the Sith and the surviving Mandalorian clans later allying with the Outlander under Mandalore the Avenger (aka Shae Visla). Mandalore's Revenge, a chapter in that game's Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion is probably the purest distillation of Mandalorian culture that is widely available (finding a playthrough on youtube should not be particularly difficult).

The Mandalorians in TCW are split into multiple factions. The larger faction is the New Mandalorians under Duchess Satine, who have rejected the old warrior codes and are nominally pacifists. Smaller splinter groups and independent clans retained the warrior approach however, but these in turn split into competing factions known as Death Watch and the True Mandalorians. Jango Fett was a true Mandalorian and at points their leader in the struggle against Death Watch. Kal Skirata and the other clone trainers who appear in the Republic Commando novels were also True Mandalorians and they imparted the older cultural mores and warrior code into many of the clones.

Later in TCW Darth Maul managed to briefly take control of the New Mandalorians and murdered Duchess Satine. The majority of the surviving Death Watch members were killed but Bo Katan (voiced by notable science fiction actress Katee Sackhoff) and a group of loyalists broke with the Death Watch, formed a truce with Obi-Wan, and took her loyalists back to following the old ways again. There is considerable fan speculation regarding an appearance by Bo Katan at some point during the show, the character would be older (probably in her fifties) but as she might very well retain the nominal position of Mandalore, potentially very important.

Mandalorians also feature in Star Wars Rebels. Bo-Katan appears as the leader of the surviving clans and, alongside Sabine Wren - one of the principle Rebels leads - is involved in a rebellion by the surviving Mandalorians against the Empire. This was well before Endor, but Rebels ends without any further resolution of what happened to surviving Mandalorians during the Rebellion Era. Sabine Wren's personal story is also unresolved, and she could hypothetically appear in the show as well.

[BWR]

But I think I'm probably in the minority here that I actually dislike it when I see a lot of references to the EU Mandos, largely because I found Karen Traviss' culture building pretty ridiculous and annoying while desperately trying to show us how cool it all was. .

Minority, perhaps, but not alone. RC: Hard Contact was good, but she got worse e the more books she was allowed to write.

[Peelee]

Spoiler: Episode 2

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I really like that they're not making him overpowered and able to handle whatever is thrown at him with ease, it's a lot more realistic when he's faced with sudden challenges that he's not prepared for and has to struggle to overcome.

Also, in loving the baby. I'm calling it Lidl.

[bobthehero]

Spoiler: Episode 2

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I really like that they're not making him overpowered and able to handle whatever is thrown at him with ease, it's a lot more realistic when he's faced with sudden challenges that he's not prepared for and has to struggle to overcome.

Also, in loving the baby. I'm calling it Lidl.

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Yeah, they've managed to strike a nice balance of making him not too overpowered, but not too underpowered, either.

[Leewei]

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For a moment, there, I was expecting it to be a krayt dragon. Plenty nasty, regardless of that!

Also, seriously, screw jawas.

[Mechalich]

Spoiler: Episode 2

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Also, in loving the baby. I'm calling it Lidl.

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The Yoda Baby is absurdly, ridiculously cute, it's like a little green force-using kitten video. And Disney needs to get off their buts and get toys into stores in time for the Holidays. Failure to do so is setting a giant pile of money on fire (not going to lie, there are people on my Christmas list who will be getting little plush baby Yodas assuming I can actually purchase them).

[Peelee]

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The Yoda Baby is absurdly, ridiculously cute, it's like a little green force-using kitten video. And Disney needs to get off their buts and get toys into stores in time for the Holidays. Failure to do so is setting a giant pile of money on fire (not going to lie, there are people on my Christmas list who will be getting little plush baby Yodas assuming I can actually purchase them).

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There is no way in hell they don't have a mountain of plushies already. You remember in Jurassic Park when Gennaro is hammering Hammond about all the liabilities they have the lawsuits they're facing from injured and dead workers' families, the investors wanting to pull out, just all sorts of problems, and then he sees the bracchiosaur, shuts the hell up, and finally just says in disbelief, "were going to make a fortune on this place"?

That's gotta have been every Disney exec on seeing baby Yoda.

[Bowerbird]

Spoiler: Ep 2

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It's honestly my favourite character moment for the Mandalorian when he crests the hill, sees all these Jawas dismantling his ship, and his immediate response is to drop to one knee, load his rifle, and start calmly disintegrating Jawas one at a time. It just felt really businesslike in the moment, which I felt was perfect.

While I'm on the subject, is anyone else curious how an entire Jawa Sandcrawler made it off Tattooine? I guess there's not much in canon about them anymore, I'd be interested in knowing more.

Also, my 2 cents: Loving that he keeps the armour on the whole time, adds to the character's mystique. Hell we don't even know his name yet. Too many times the studio is like "We paid all this money for the actor, show off his face!" and it's detrimental. Glad they're sticking to their guns.

[Peelee]

Spoiler: Ep 2

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It's honestly my favourite character moment for the Mandalorian when he crests the hill, sees all these Jawas dismantling his ship, and his immediate response is to drop to one knee, load his rifle, and start calmly disintegrating Jawas one at a time. It just felt really businesslike in the moment, which I felt was perfect.

While I'm on the subject, is anyone else curious how an entire Jawa Sandcrawler made it off Tattooine? I guess there's not much in canon about them anymore, I'd be interested in knowing more.

Also, my 2 cents: Loving that he keeps the armour on the whole time, adds to the character's mystique. Hell we don't even know his name yet. Too many times the studio is like "We paid all this money for the actor, show off his face!" and it's detrimental. Glad they're sticking to their guns.

I almost didn't respond to this, solely because I get up really early on Fridays now so I can watch the new episode while it's still dark, but can still engage with people who've seen it throughout the day. So really hoping someone responds after this so I don't go crazy waiting for someone to talk on Friday so I can post again.

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We actually do know his name; Pedro leaked it.

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Dyn Jarren

It hasn't been officially confirmed, but I'd be surprised if it was nixed for a different name.

The old canon was that the Sandcrawlers were taken over by the Jawas and were brought in by failed mining expeditions, so it's possible that same thing happened on Arvala-7 as well, but it seems unlikely at best. Also, the Jawas themselves are a bit different - they have red eyes and are labelled as off-world Jawas so far.

[Yora]

Sandcrawlers are not that big. Jawas and R2D2 are just very small. They should fit quite easily on a large freighter.

KOTOR Mandos were oversimplified, for the most part. Canderous Ordo and Mandalore were perfect examples of them nailing what a Mandalorian was.

In the comics, it's pretty clear that a good number of Mandalorians think the whole Neo-Crusader thing is a mockery of their ancient traditions.

[Droid Tony]

Theory Time:

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So we a ''prequel" in a baby force demi god like Yoda. It's established and accepted Star Wars cannon, especially by the white males that Yoda is one of the top most powerful Force uses of all time.

The little baby.....is a GIRL. Lets call her Yoga. So Yoga is now the most powerful Force user in the universe...as she is a girl(and Yoda and the Emperor are dead).

But wait...there is more. In 30-40 years, baby Yoga will be (roughly) tween Yoga. So Yoga can be in all the new and current Star Wars movies. They just need a short girl actress, give her some pointy ears, and wow: you have the most powerful girl Jedi demigod Mary Sue of all time.

And see because the white guys will accept the the yoda people are all powerful force uses' and they will accept ''the Mandalorian as a cool guy like space western"....so they ''have" to accept girl Yoga.

Wow...what a plan!

[druid91]

That's a terrible theory. If they wanted to bring in a female Yoda, Yaddle is still alive and already a Jedi master. Or well.... Former Jedi master? She left the council prior to Order 66 and retired/went into hiding.

[Clertar]

That's a terrible theory. If they wanted to bring in a female Yoda, Yaddle is still alive and already a Jedi master. Or well.... Former Jedi master? She left the council prior to Order 66 and retired/went into hiding.

Doesn't strike me as a new cool Yoda successor for a new SW trilogy

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[Peelee]

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When I saw Chapter 2, I thought a good amount of people would be disappointed in it being much more slow than expectated. If anyone was, well, Chapter 3 is going to make up for it and then some. It's basically just telling us two things - this is who Mandalorians are, and this is why you do not **** with them.

Thise two things are, of course, pretty intertwined.

[Yora]

I just watched the first movie again last weekend and noticed that it's incredibly slow paced. It takes 15 minutes for Luke to appear for the first time. 45 minutes for Han Solo. The first big action scene after the opening scene comes after 70 minutes. The Empire Strikes Back has most of its big action in the first half hours. Old Star Wars was originally slow paced. And particularly in the first movie often visually minimalistic.

[Peelee]

I just watched the first movie again last weekend and noticed that it's incredibly slow paced. It takes 15 minutes for Luke to appear for the first time. 45 minutes for Han Solo. The first big action scene after the opening scene comes after 70 minutes. The Empire Strikes Back has most of its big action in the first half hours. Old Star Wars was originally slow paced. And particularly in the first movie often visually minimalistic.

That was my biggest problem with the prequels and sequels. A lot of older movies are slower paced and focus on characterization. Rocky, Jaws, some of the best movies are great because they focus on who the people are and how they act and react to what happens. Star Wars, an adventure movie, is pretty actiony, but seems slow-paced by today's standards. It's not really slow-paced, it just seems that way compared to movies made today.

An Evening with Kevin Smith has a story which illustrates this really well. He was offered the opportunity to write Superman Lives, Jon Peters was pegged to direct, he tells this story amazingly well and I highly recommend everyone to watch it (or hell, watch the whole Evening, it's fantastic. The man can tell a story like you wouldn't believe), but the short version is he turns in a quick and dirty draft of about 70 pages, mostly dialogue. Peters says they need an action scene every ten pages.

You don't need an action scene every ten pages. That's ridiculous, but that's what some people expect these days, and unfortunately those people are in charge of making the dang movies.

[Leewei]

Kurasawa movies such as The Seven Samurai tend to be slow-building, with deep characterizations, ample focus on setting, and a downright meditative examination of a terrible situation, just before the powder-keg gets lit off under the whole thing. The Hidden Fortress (inspiration for the original movie) was less so - and more light-hearted, but still came out of the same school of cinematic thought.

The Mandalorian strikes me as being very much akin to a live action Samurai Jack set in the Star Wars universe. I'm eating it up.