Has anybody watched this yet. Despite me being a bit bored of Star Wars I thought it was quite a good opening episode.
It'll be interesting to see whether they commit to the premise of a lead who never removes his helmet*
It should give Tharg an idea whether Stronty Dog works as a TV show, too - Boba Fake even does a bit of mork (//http://) whispering.
* If they do, I expect them to saddle him a more sympathetic sidekick, like Anderson in Dredd3D or Wulf in Stront. It'd give the viewer a more chatty and expressive character as a point of connection, and it'd mean they can have scenes where someone's able to be shown doing normal shit like eating or going undercover if the story requires it.
From the very opening scene I thought it was just Strontium Dog with a boba fett fan.
Cam Kennedy says it was his idea to get John Wagner in to script his Boba Fett (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Bounty-Bar-Kooda-One-Shots-ebook/dp/B014G89EMQ) book. Smart man:
(https://i.imgur.com/rjuLXPt.png?2)
Here's Grace Randolph's review. Compares the lead to Karl Urban's Judge Dredd so bonus points there. Some might find Grace's delivery a bit ...weird.
https://youtu.be/IH-ILIgSLzQ
Quote from: Frank on 13 November, 2019, 04:47:31 PM
It'll be interesting to see whether they commit to the premise of a lead who never removes his helmet*
It should give Tharg an idea whether Stronty Dog works as a TV show, too - Boba Fake even does a bit of mork (//http://) whispering.
* If they do, I expect them to saddle him a more sympathetic sidekick, like Anderson in Dredd3D or Wulf in Stront. It'd give the viewer a more chatty and expressive character as a point of connection, and it'd mean they can have scenes where someone's able to be shown doing normal shit like eating or going undercover if the story requires it.
Not watched it, but from the trailer I thought maybe the IG robot was doing the Wulf/K2-SO role as a comic relief, although you've still got two expressionless faces there.
In an alternate universe where Rebellion said no, Strontium Dog might have been Edgar Wright's first big film after Spaced, rather than Shaun of the Dead.
Quote from: Steve Green on 13 November, 2019, 08:54:42 PM
Not watched it, but from the trailer I thought maybe the IG robot was doing the Wulf/K2-SO role as a comic relief
Taika Waititi, no less. Pre-publicity reveals Gina Carano shows up, probably playing a sexy vampire.
(https://i.imgur.com/1crhYmr.png?1)
Considering the age of Jon Favreau, it's no surprise some big influences on the themes, music and style of the The Mandalorian (https://youtu.be/xXp4GnC1Z3Q?t=58), other than obvious TV Westerns, are Game of Death (https://youtu.be/Azba3joHlUc?t=12), Kung Fu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvu5YcmYhSQ) (Mando in the forge is very reminiscent of Cain in the Shaolin Temple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzBIGv9atPo)) – and I wasn't surprised it turned out to be Star wars: [spoiler]Lone Wolf and Baby Yoda Cub (can't be Star Wars without orphans! or foundlings as lost younglings are called now)[/spoiler].
Apart from the Robot Chicken style comedy of the opening bounty, it's not a bad start.
The orgy of fan-service continues with retro-fitting vintage camera gear.
(https://i.imgur.com/vjrP2Vs.jpg)
(https://www.internetauctiongroup.com/ops/images/ops006282.jpg)
QuoteIt'll be interesting to see whether they commit to the premise of a lead who never removes his helmet
IIRC, they didn't announce Pedro Pascal's involvement until very late in the day - I think they'd even released publicity stills at that point, so I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't even him in the suit.
How are non-US folk watching this? Thought it was Disney Plus only? Pardon my naivety.
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 November, 2019, 06:27:19 AM
How are non-US folk watching this?
I feel like I've let you down.
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 November, 2019, 06:27:19 AM
How are non-US folk watching this? Thought it was Disney Plus only? Pardon my naivety.
We're all Dutch today.
(Haven't watched it. Probably won't.)
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 November, 2019, 06:27:19 AM
How are non-US folk watching this? Thought it was Disney Plus only? Pardon my naivety.
I've seen some set up VPNs to make the servers think they're in the US and a US Disney+ account, the rest are space pirating it.
I've not watched it, because I really can't be arsed messing about with all that.
The VPN I get (practically de rigeur these days), the setting up and/or faking a Disney Plus account I don't get at all. I had steeled myself to pay for DP (wonderful acronym!) but now I'm fecked off that yet again an entire SW TV series will have aired before I get a chance to watch it legally in March-or-is-it-April. You'd think they'd have sold it to some other service in those territories where theirs doesn't exist yet.
Anyway I'm not torrenting it, and chasing illicit streaming is a PitA: I gave up the later animated stuff because of this. For the umpteenth time I find myself waving handfuls of cash at Star Wars, but they don't seem to want it.
I'm not going to stan for piracy, but the rise in the Earth's mean temperature correlates with the decline in global pirate numbers. That's just a fact.
Anyhoo: no-one says it but Disney want you to download this and then gush about how great it is to boost sign-ups for their service. This is SOP for high-profile shows now - their value is literally in that high profile - but Disney just can't come out and say it any more than they can come out and say they love the racism that surrounds Star Wars. It benefits them, but they have to worry about the optics.
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 November, 2019, 11:28:37 AMchasing illicit streaming is a PitA
I literally just type the word "proxy" after the name of the torrent website, so clearly the UK government is doing as great a job protecting copyright as Youtube does.
Porn streaming sites are so rife with uploads of non-porn movies and tv shows OR SO I HAVE HEARD ETC that Pornhub apparently once tried to bankroll a reboot of Sense8 because so many people were watching it on their website and giving it a high rating. You may now write your own "only wankers watch Sense8" punchlines.
Chrome also has a plugin called HOLA that's a free VPN that sets your location as whatever country you wish, but I can't say I've tried it.
On a related note, is there anywhere you can find full listings for these streamers without signing up? All the press about Apple+ talks abouit the same three shows, but I want more depth of content for a monthly sub - can't find it anywhere!
Quote from: Dandontdare on 14 November, 2019, 05:09:44 PM
On a related note, is there anywhere you can find full listings for these streamers without signing up? All the press about Apple+ talks about the same three shows, but I want more depth of content for a monthly sub - can't find it anywhere!
I don't think Apple offers much more than those same shows at the moment, but they've sunk a huge amount into original content (https://www.macworld.com/article/3245534/list-of-apple-tv-plus-shows-and-series-news-actors-trailers-release-dates.html), which is what they appear to think the strength of their offer is. I'm not sure they're right. Disney+ gets you almost everything (https://www.macworld.com/article/3245534/list-of-apple-tv-plus-shows-and-series-news-actors-trailers-release-dates.html) Disney has ever made or bought.
I pay for my mum's Netflix
*, which, thanks to a complicated system of pulleys and levers, I'm able to watch, too, but I've spent more time scrawling through the menus there than than watching stuff. It's the choice paralysis of staring at box covers in the video shop, but with a wall that goes on forever.
There's more stuff on free-to-air telly
** than I have time to watch and there really isn't much I
want to watch. Renting the stuff I
do want on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=metropolis+) and Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Booksmart-Kaitlyn-Dever/dp/B07V2SLM3K) feels like going to the video shop and makes more sense to me than spunking money on subscriptions I'll hardly use, like a fat guy with three gym memberships.
* Which has replaced buying her The Crown on DVD every Christmas
**90% of the films I've ever seen have been on terrestrial telly, and fibre-optic broadband hasn't changed that arithmetic very much. As part of the first generation of TV babies, I think I just like the idea of someone choosing a film or TV show for me and having to watch it at a certain time and day of the week.
Quote from: Frank on 14 November, 2019, 06:17:15 PM
but I've spent more time scrawling through the menus there than than watching stuff. It's the choice paralysis of staring at box covers in the video shop, but with a wall that goes on forever.
I hear ya - I've got huge watchlist on both Amazon and Netflix, but I still scroll through for ages looking for something I want to watch RIGHT NOW!
Quote from: radiator on 14 November, 2019, 02:55:21 AM
IIRC, they didn't announce Pedro Pascal's involvement until very late in the day - I think they'd even released publicity stills at that point, so I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't even him in the suit.
In the same way that 99% of the time Batman's on screen you're watching a stuntman, while Ben Affleck's in his trailer, on the phone to his agent, trying to get himself out of his three-film deal.
Disney+ Pitch Meeting: https://youtu.be/iFeZx3Xkvgg
Quote from: Dandontdare on 14 November, 2019, 06:52:02 PM
Quote from: Frank on 14 November, 2019, 06:17:15 PM
but I've spent more time scrawling through the menus there than than watching stuff. It's the choice paralysis of staring at box covers in the video shop, but with a wall that goes on forever.
I hear ya - I've got huge watchlist on both Amazon and Netflix, but I still scroll through for ages looking for something I want to watch RIGHT NOW!
I tend to go with a simple rule: if I'm still scrolling and looking after three minutes, I'm wasting my time. Off I go to find something else.
I absolutely haven't seen Episode 2, but if I had then I would have thought its neat swerve from Star Wars spaghetti western into Star Wars [spoiler]Lone Wolf and Cub[/spoiler] worked splendidly and I imagine that if I had seen it, I would now be positively champing at the bit to see Episode 3. I would probably have thought [spoiler]baby Not-Yoda[/spoiler] was the best thing ever.
It's all just bloody rubbish. Watch all of the Akira Kurosawa films and just add lasers.
The Mandalorian Chapter 2 is the most Star Wars '77 since, well, 1977, allegedly.
If you haven't had a chance to watch it through legal means, you could always just watch Samurai Jack until it becomes available.
-PJ
FFS. YOUTUBE thumbnails already spoilers some of the surprises for me.
Good grief, the barrage of unsolicited graphic spoilers from every possible online source (present company being solicited) - including European types, who are presumably publicly admitting to having watched it illegally. I appreciate this is part of a deliberate roll-out strategy to create an illusion of scarcity and demand, and it leaves one grotty taste in my mouth.
So unless I want to have every potential surprise ruined every time I pick up my phone (as with GoT) while I wait 5 months to actually pay for the fecking thing, I have to rejoin the piracy club. Wonderful situation you've created, Disney, cheers.
Quote from: TordelBack on 17 November, 2019, 01:16:29 PM
I appreciate this is part of a deliberate roll-out strategy to create an illusion of scarcity and demand, and it leaves one grotty taste in my mouth.
That, plus international licensing for content and trying to iron-out the streaming/app issues that arise from the US launch. Waiting for deals to expire means some content won't be available even when it launches.
Netherlands (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-disney-quietly-launched-netherlands-first-1243068) was the initial test base for Disney
plus (a month before the US) because of its excellent broadband accessibility.
Netflix didn't roll-out everywhere at once either: it was 2 years before it was available in Europe, and at first only UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.
Quote from: TordelBack on 17 November, 2019, 01:16:29 PM
Good grief, the barrage of unsolicited graphic spoilers from every possible online source
I'd like to apologise for the spoiler upthread. I initially thought that spoilers were fair game (having seen the show being implicit in the thread subject) but quickly decided that that's was the sort of dick move that annoyed the piss out of me over GoT, but I'd missed the edit window to fix it. I've petitioned the mods to whack some spoiler tags on it, but it's a Sunday and I'm sure they have better things to do.
FWIW, though, I'm very sorry and I'll liberally apply spoiler blocks from now on.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 17 November, 2019, 04:38:17 PM
I'd like to apologise for the spoiler upthread.
No complaints from this quarter. If I'm checking in on a thread about a programme that's aired, I expect to run the risk of being spoiled: that's my decision.
It's when ever feed I have from every other source is replete with images and taglines that can't be unseen... that's when I get hacked off. It's just mean.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 17 November, 2019, 01:41:10 PM
That, plus international licensing for content and trying to iron-out the streaming/app issues that arise from the US launch. Waiting for deals to expire means some content won't be available even when it launches.
Nah, I get that - it just annoys me that Disney are using their SW IP as a launch tentpole, but aren't providing an alternative means of viewing it legitimately outwith their international schedule. Depending on the SW fanbase to get subs, but knowingly allowing the digital world to shit on us at the same time.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 17 November, 2019, 12:30:06 AM
The Mandalorian Chapter 2 is the most Star Wars '77 since, well, 1977, allegedly.
A friend told me that
EP2 gets the fun action-adventure aspect of
1977 Wars better than the two most recent sequels, which focus so much on the King Arthur/Tolkien aspect introduced in the first two sequels the action scenes are irrelevant and unimaginative
addenda.
I found a letter under a bush that argued
EP2 was riffing on the ILM catalogue as much as
1977 Wars or
Baby Cart. He was thinking of the [spoiler]vehicle chases[/spoiler] in every
Raiders, specifically [spoiler]Indy vs Tank in
Crusade,[/spoiler]
* and
[spoiler]Willow[/spoiler]** If future episodes rip off
Howard The Duck or
Red Tails, I'll have to rely on fellow boarders to point this out to me. I wasn't going to watch this, but someone on The Internet said it was crap
*** and that made me want to see it -
DAMN DISNEY AND THEIR GUERILLA MARKETING STRATEGY* Favreau specifically bites on the gag where [spoiler]Indy has to duck to avoid being ground into the canyon wall[/spoiler]
** [spoiler]Not just the magical chosen child, but Nearly Fett's Madmartigan dual hero/loser turn in his fight against the hairy rhino[/spoiler]. If that's really Nolte underneath the digital skin suit, filling in for [spoiler]Warwick Davis[/spoiler], it's the most understated and sympathetic performance of his long career.
*** It's not - TordelBack will love watching this around the time the clocks go forward
Quote from: Frank on 17 November, 2019, 06:03:34 PM
I found a letter under a bush that argued EP2 was riffing on the ILM catalogue as much as 1977 Wars or Baby Cart. He was thinking of the [spoiler]vehicle chases[/spoiler] in every Raiders, specifically [spoiler]Indy vs Tank in Crusade,[/spoiler]* and [spoiler]Willow[/spoiler]**
They're the fan-nods, but the way chapter 2 is shot, cut and paced is more reminscent of the first Star Wars (and THX 1138). Lucas's choice to let world/character building scenes play-out with aliens and droids doing their thing without much, or indecipherable, dialogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09VTanKXsWs is more present here than in the too few glimpses we got in the last few decades. To me that's 'Star Wars' in its most basic form.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 17 November, 2019, 06:22:06 PM
... the way chapter 2 is shot, cut and paced is more reminscent of the first Star Wars (and THX 1138). Lucas's choice to let world/character building scenes play-out with aliens and droids doing their thing without much, or indecipherable, dialogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09VTanKXsWs
It plays like a silent movie. Although the score and sound design can't compete with
that ^^^
As someone who can watch the show legitimately, I can say it fucking rocks. Loving it. [spoiler]Episode 2 is the Jawa equivalent of Vader scything his way through the end of Rogue One.[/spoiler] Ten year old blackmocco would have safely pissed himself in unbridled excitement at this point.
It's quite good.
I definitely appreciate the simplicity of it - the modern Star wars films are far too convoluted for my liking, so it's nice to see a return to the more sparse, visually driven storytelling style of the older films. Nice to have the scenes actually have time to breathe vs the breakneck pace of something like The Force Awakens or Rogue One.
Visuals and music are unsurprisingly great.
If I have a complaint its that the story is pretty predictable so far, the dialogue can sound quite stilted and cliched (especially in episode 1) and that the plot hinges on something that is basically a reference to something from a previous film. Would be nice to see a little more originality.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 16 November, 2019, 11:20:58 PM
I absolutely haven't seen Episode 2, but if I had then I would have thought its neat swerve from Star Wars spaghetti western into Star Wars worked splendidly and I imagine that if I had seen it, I would now be positively champing at the bit to see Episode 3. I would probably have thought was the best thing ever.
I live in the UK and so haven't seen any episodes yet, but if I had I'd have absolutely loved the [spoiler]Jawa sandcrawler[/spoiler] in chapter two, and would have been reminded of the bit from [spoiler]Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy is almost crushed against the rocks[/spoiler].
I am really fucked off that i haven't been able to see any episodes yet clearly there is a lovely [spoiler] baby Yoda-species alien[/spoiler] in one episode. How has this been spoiled for me? Cos every other pic on FB is of the cute little fucker!
DAMN YOU DISNEY!!!!
Heh. Yeah I've already had that spoiled for me, but its not a major deal. There is still a lot I don't know concerning what happens, etc. A bit of a pain to have to wait so long though. Okay I don't have to, but it seems to be the right thing to do aside from utilising a VPN*, but that seems to be so much rigmarole.
I never thought I'd be interested in a Disney film service. With their acquisition of Star Wars and the MCU, things have really changed!
*I don't have a moral issue with that as I'd still be paying for the Disney service. I don't want to pay for it then find the VPN didn't work, and it was all a waste of time and money, though. If they have a trial period like Netflix and other services do, (I haven't checked) that might not be so bad, and the waste would just be time, if it didn't work.
As for going the Captain Mardbeard route, I confess I've done it before on occasion, and salved my conscience by promising myself I'd get the Blu-ray when it came out, but I'd rather not. Whatever I finally do, I'd still be supporting an illegal operation in the meantime, and that doesn't sit too well with me.
Four years since Force Awakens and Youtube has been a wall of videos complaining about Disney's feminist agenda ever since.
But Disney go to all the trouble of making an hour of telly with absolutely no women whatsoever*, and are MRAs congratulating them? Come on, Incels - carrot>stick.
* Unless the character we can't talk about is female.
I honestly wouldn't worry about spoilers - it really isn't a plot-driven show.
My pals in the States are raving about this and it's really making this ol' jaded SW fan excited about it again.
Sounds like , with episode 3, it's taking a turn into [spoiler]John Wick territory[/spoiler], which can only be an awesome thing.
Think I'm going to have to find a way to sub to Disney+ when it hits the UK.
Watched the first episode and I can say that it was good and worthwhile to watch. I just find a strange to have a Star Wars title without its classic title crawl. Another aspect I felt was quite lacking was atmospheric music in the background. Still a very solid first episode
My pirate friend insisted I listen to the soundtrack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXp4GnC1Z3Q), as a huge Morricone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT1NJwEi6nw) fan, that (checks youth parlance) fuckin' slaps.
NO seriously https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXp4GnC1Z3Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXp4GnC1Z3Q)
I understand the technical difficulties with globally lauching Disney+, but I'm a bit disappointed there won't be a physical media version of this show by Christmas (it would solve every gift problem for every male relative)
The soundtrack is great
It's funny, I wasn't taken at all with the soundtrack when I watched episodes one and two - but after watching episode three, it's generated one of those ear-worm things. I can't get it out of my head now. :)
I'm based in Australia - and it's nice that Disney + launched here early. It's not often we in the southern hemisphere get something before the rest of the world.
Love the end credits of each episode - the images would make a great coffee-table book. Reminds me a lot of what McQuarrie produced for the original trilogy.
Chapter 3 is my favourite so far, never been the biggest fan of Bobba Fett but really liking Mando. And me in gott [spoiler]the pure unadulterated fan service that was the last 5 minutes of this episode was spectacular, Madalorians everywhere [/spoiler]
CU Radbacker
People calling him 'Mando' is one of my least favourite things about the series so far. Just sounds quite cheesy to my ears.
I know dialogue has never been any iteration of Star Wars' strong suit, but something about the dialogue in this particular series seems a bit wonky, it's probably the weakest aspect of the whole production so far. In fact, it strikes me that they could have basically done this entire series with no dialogue at all, and it would still be perfectly possible to follow the story just fine through music and visuals alone. How bold would that have been?
Quote from: radiator on 25 November, 2019, 02:59:50 AM
People calling him 'Mando' is one of my least favourite things about the series so far. Just sounds quite cheesy to my ears.
Surely this is a deliberate call-out to the spaghetti westerns the series is paying homage to?
It's been suggested that the actor Sebastian Stan has
more than a passing resemblance to Mark Hamill (circa ESB/ROTJ). I wonder what the chances might be of a post-ROTJ Luke making a cameo in the series? :)
Wishful thinking perhaps!
Three episodes in and I'm not sure how this show could have been better.
It's massively surpassed my expectations and proved tonally there is alot of mileage left in both the franchise as a whole and in the grungier side of the galaxy.
I know Lucasfilm had commissioned over 50 scripts for Underworld that never made it. I'm wondering if this show benefitted from all the stuff/pre-viz that didnt get used on that. Cos if not and Jon Favreau started from scratch, he has done amazing George Lucas level work here.
Quote from: matty_ae on 25 November, 2019, 01:15:24 PM
Three episodes in and I'm not sure how this show could have been better.
It's massively surpassed my expectations and proved tonally there is alot of mileage left in both the franchise as a whole and in the grungier side of the galaxy.
Yes, I agree. Really enjoying the show much better than the Disney War movies made the last few years.
Quote from: matty_ae on 25 November, 2019, 01:15:24 PM
Jon Favreau ... has done amazing George Lucas level work here.
Excellent use of the back-hand, there.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 25 November, 2019, 07:28:54 AM
Quote from: radiator on 25 November, 2019, 02:59:50 AM
People calling him 'Mando' is one of my least favourite things about the series so far. Just sounds quite cheesy to my ears.
Surely this is a deliberate call-out to the spaghetti westerns the series is paying homage to?
Could be worse too: I recall 'Mandy' being used as a nickname for Mandalorians in some corner of the Expanded Universe. 'Mando' conveys the correct uneasy blend of respect and contempt for a representative of a once-powerful culture. Or so people who have watched the show legally have indicated to me.
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 November, 2019, 01:56:50 PM
... so people who have watched the show legally have indicated to me.
TordelBack's come over to the Dark Side!
(https://i.imgur.com/dCibGXg.jpg?1)
Quote from: Frank on 25 November, 2019, 02:12:14 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 November, 2019, 01:56:50 PM
... so people who have watched the show legally have indicated to me.
TordelBack's come over to the Dark Side!
(https://i.imgur.com/dCibGXg.jpg?1)
Have ever considering joining the Hutts, their deals are more lucrative......
(https://www.sideshow.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/huttjabba-1.jpg)
Quote from: Frank on 25 November, 2019, 02:12:14 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 25 November, 2019, 01:56:50 PM
... so people who have watched the show legally have indicated to me.
TordelBack's come over to the Dark Side!
(https://i.imgur.com/dCibGXg.jpg?1)
Pffft, the
real Dark Side is ignoring The Mandalorian (even though you'd probably love it) due to Last-Jedi-apathy syndrome.
Stay on Target - with hate. ;)
I'm ignoring it and I loved TLJ - I just can't work up any interest for a TV series based on one of the more boring of the secondary characters from the original movies, and it isn't even him just a clone that looks like him.
Quote from: Frank on 25 November, 2019, 02:12:14 PM
TordelBack's come over to the Dark Side!
Your narrow structuralist view of the Force will be your undoing.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 25 November, 2019, 03:29:53 PM
I'm ignoring it and I loved TLJ - I just can't work up any interest for a TV series based on one of the more boring of the secondary characters from the original movies, and it isn't even him just a clone that looks like him.
It's not a clone... and you're honestly missing a treat. Or you will be. When it comes out over here. So I'm told.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 25 November, 2019, 03:29:53 PM
I'm ignoring it and I loved TLJ - I just can't work up any interest for a TV series based on one of the more boring of the secondary characters from the original movies, and it isn't even him just a clone that looks like him.
My feelings too. Bounty Hunters one of the least interesting bits of Star Wars. But all of these rave reviews are making me think twice.
If I'd seen it, I'd think it was off to a magnificent start.
If I'd seen it.
Disney + and 'The Mandalorian' Are Driving People Back to Torrenting (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjwexw/disney-and-the-mandalorian-are-driving-people-back-to-torrenting)
The Mandalorian is set to become the most pirated show of 2019 (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-mandalorian-piracy)
It's a trap...
I've got a bad feeling about this....
Quote from: Proudhuff on 26 November, 2019, 02:45:14 PM
I've got a bad feeling about this....
Still, the needs of the many...
Soylent Green is people.
Quote from: sheridan on 26 November, 2019, 01:03:41 PM
Disney + and 'The Mandalorian' Are Driving People Back to Torrenting (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjwexw/disney-and-the-mandalorian-are-driving-people-back-to-torrenting)
The Mandalorian is set to become the most pirated show of 2019 (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-mandalorian-piracy)
"Don't pirate comic books!" screech 1000 angry nerds into the cold dark void.
(*whilst torrenting the latest episode of The Mandalorian on their jail-broken iPhones)
So, [spoiler]no Baby Yodas[/spoiler] for Xmas.
Big missed opportunity there.
Apparently, episode 7 will have some sort of reference to Rise of Skywalker?
Quote from: Link Prime on 26 November, 2019, 05:45:37 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 26 November, 2019, 01:03:41 PM
Disney + and 'The Mandalorian' Are Driving People Back to Torrenting (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjwexw/disney-and-the-mandalorian-are-driving-people-back-to-torrenting)
The Mandalorian is set to become the most pirated show of 2019 (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-mandalorian-piracy)
I looked into using a VPN, but when I calculate the cost plus that of Disney plus I wonder if it's worth it.
I guess March isn't too long really, and there are plenty of other things to watch, but seeing the discussions and spoiler online really makes me want to catch it sooner. Gnnn!
Well, that was just bloody brilliant! All eight episodes! Or so I'm told, anyway...
I expect The Mouse will be getting some Baby Yoda dollar off me when the official merch hits the U.K. Or I could just make my own...
I'm on episode 5, and my interest is kind of waning. I can't seem to make time to watch the rest of it.
I feel like the show is pitched quite young - I mean, I know it's Star Wars and all, but I still find it slight to the point where I feel its quite staid and predictable. Someone on another site described it as a 'live action cartoon', and I think that's a fair description. Which is fine and all, if thats what you're after, and its not a bad show (though some of the acting is a bit questionable) i just hoped it would be a little edgier, or grittier maybe, a touch heavier on the drama side of things.
I enjoyed The Mandalorian.
radiator you almost done (only 8 episodes). The last two episodes are the best of the season.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series, but I have to admit that I enjoy it more the less talking there is.
Quote from: TordelBack on 31 December, 2019, 10:01:38 AM
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series, but I have to admit that I enjoy it more the less talking there is.
This is the way.
Quote from: broodblik on 31 December, 2019, 09:05:46 AM
I enjoyed The Mandalorian.
radiator you almost done (only 8 episodes). The last two episodes are the best of the season.
Most All reviews would seem to agree...
(https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/graph/png/The_Mandalorian/0/6819f256e9c6b9c23c85f361bc4efbfa2c361ec0.png)
(taken from wikipedia)
Quote from: radiator on 31 December, 2019, 06:31:10 AM
I'm on episode 5, and my interest is kind of waning. I can't seem to make time to watch the rest of it.
I feel like the show is pitched quite young - I mean, I know it's Star Wars and all, but I still find it slight to the point where I feel its quite staid and predictable. Someone on another site described it as a 'live action cartoon', and I think that's a fair description. Which is fine and all, if thats what you're after, and its not a bad show (though some of the acting is a bit questionable) i just hoped it would be a little edgier, or grittier maybe, a touch heavier on the drama side of things.
It's easier to put the show into context when you watch via Disney+ and see it right next to The Muppet Movie, Pete's Dragon and Escape From Witch Mountain. It's easy to lose sight that it's intended as an old-fashioned all-ages show, one you can (more or less) comfortably watch with your kids. Through that lens, it's a roaring success but I'm not disagreeing with you. There are times I feel like I'm watching an updated Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. I pretty much hated everything about the episode with Bill Burr (although it helps to learn he actually despises all things Star Wars and did it as a favour to Favreau) from the acting to the logic but the show raises itself significantly for the last two episodes. I say stick it out. You'll be happy you did.
Of note, my significant other (just like Bill Burr)
despises all things Star Wars yet
loves this show. The answer is in its simplicity: you don't have to know anything about Star Wars to enjoy it. Who knew that would be a factor in the show's success? It's a Star Wars show that doesn't just appeal to a rabid fanbase. After subjecting myself to ROS, a royal fucking stinker of convoluted storytelling, The Mandalorian - for all the many faults - comes out smelling like roses. At the very least, I ended up caring about what happened next. After three movies of drivel** since Disney took charge, I'll take that as a victory for the show.
(**I've found Rogue One is the only new addition that stands up to - indeed, I'd say actually
improves with - repeated viewings while I've slowly come round to Solo.)
:D
(Spoiler alert)
https://youtu.be/oUhFXwrd3-I
Just finished this and loved it. It does slump a bit mid-season where after the first 3 episodes feeling like a movie it starts to settle into feeling more like episodic TV (and very '90s episodic TV at that - there's a hint of Xena about a couple of the episodes). I don't think it gets bad necessarily, it's just a bit deflating after the prestige sheen of the opening trio when you get a real look at how it'll actually run from week to week.
After that slight slump though I think the last couple of episodes get back to (and exceed) the quality of the opening stuff, absolutely brilliant telly and some great Star Warsy Star Warsness. So good, look forward to more.
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 20 January, 2020, 10:31:22 AM
Just finished this and loved it. It does slump a bit mid-season where after the first 3 episodes feeling like a movie it starts to settle into feeling more like episodic TV (and very '90s episodic TV at that - there's a hint of Xena about a couple of the episodes). I don't think it gets bad necessarily, it's just a bit deflating after the prestige sheen of the opening trio when you get a real look at how it'll actually run from week to week.
After that slight slump though I think the last couple of episodes get back to (and exceed) the quality of the opening stuff, absolutely brilliant telly and some great Star Warsy Star Warsness. So good, look forward to more.
Agree. The episode with the mechanic and the bounty wasn't that strong. I loved the one with the AT-ST though! And Carasynthia Dune is just bloody gorgeous!
I rewatched the last two episodes with my partner, who hadn't seen any of them (I gave her a quick potted history) and the end of [spoiler]the seventh and start of the eighth was so gutting she had tears in her eyes, [/spoiler]bless her.
Plus those two biker scouts - comedy gold!
And who doesn't want their own Baby Yoda? The Star Wars merch team are rubbing their hands together gleefully over that one.
You can safely watch eps 1 and 2, then 7 and 8.
And you should.
I have spoken.
So 4 episodes in and this is ok but not great. There's definitely a LOT of visual cues included to make fan boys go moist. The ATST in Ep 4 is great. But it still hasn't really engaged me.
I have to say, I am enjoying it more than I thought I would because I hate bounty hunters in Star Wars. Boba Fett ? More like Boba Shit.
Anybody else hear the Star Trek motion picture Klingon theme in The Mandalorian theme?
I loved every episode. Just seemed to be Strontium Dog in Star Wars universe as far as I could tell.
I've enjoyed all the episodes so far, but I'm finding some of the acting seriously cheesy. Not the main lead. He is doing very well, and kudos to the actor for leaving his helmet on all the time.* The two twi-lek characters and the devaronian** in the last episode are good examples. I understand that maybe they're supposed to be like that, but I wished they'd toned it down a bit. It felt more like I was watching a (grantedly good) fan-film, with good special effects.
There robot designs in the last episode were pretty cool.
*Although that does contradict depictions of other mandalorians in the clone wars series, and AotC (if you count Jango and Boba, although they're likely not mandalorians themselves) who remove their helmets without ramifications, but maybe this is a specific thing to his clan. I did think maybe something happened between the original trilogy and these events to cause them to keep their faces hidden, but he stated in a previous episode that he has kept the rule since he was a child, which was during the clone wars.
** His species are called that cos they looks devilish. Get it?
Quote from: Mardroid on 18 April, 2020, 11:08:40 PM
Although that does contradict depictions of other mandalorians in the clone wars series, and AotC (if you count Jango and Boba, although they're likely not mandalorians themselves) who remove their helmets without ramifications, but maybe this is a specific thing to his clan.
The series is set well after both those time periods and it's heavily hinted that A Thing has happened at some time since then. I'm not up on what is/is not canon, but I understand that Clone Wars definitely
is and there's a thing in the later episodes that ties strongly back to that series, plus persistent rumours that [spoiler]Ahsoka[/spoiler] is making an appearance in S2...
Jim is correct, but I think it's as simple to just see it as a cultural retrenching: Mandalore is a whole planet with an interstellar reach, its traditions are deep and diverse, and have been buffeted by war and the political turmoil of the past 50 years.
At the time.of this series the people who see themselves as 'true' Mandalorians cleave to a practice of representing themselves solely through traditional armoured dress. They belong to an ancient warrior culture, but it's not unbroken or universal.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 April, 2020, 12:42:03 AM
Quote from: Mardroid on 18 April, 2020, 11:08:40 PM
Although that does contradict depictions of other mandalorians in the clone wars series, and AotC (if you count Jango and Boba, although they're likely not mandalorians themselves) who remove their helmets without ramifications, but maybe this is a specific thing to his clan.
The series is set well after both those time periods and it's heavily hinted that A Thing has happened at some time since then. I'm not up on what is/is not canon, but I understand that Clone Wars definitely is and there's a thing in the later episodes that ties strongly back to that series, plus persistent rumours that [spoiler]Ahsoka[/spoiler] is making an appearance in S2...
He was a child in the clone wars and he apparently took up the practice of hiding his face amongst others at around eight years old. There's still time though. They're dealing with the mandalorian situation in the current arc of Clone Wars season 7 on Disney+) which intersects with the start of Revenge of the Sith so maybe he donned his first armour during that period or shortly after. The mandalorian situation does seem to revolve more around [spoiler]Darth Maul and Crimson Dawn rather than the separatists but a destruction of the government could factor in.[/spoiler]
Quote from: TordelBack on 19 April, 2020, 08:04:08 AM
Jim is correct, but I think it's as simple to just see it as a cultural retrenching: Mandalore is a whole planet with an interstellar reach, its traditions are deep and diverse, and have been buffeted by war and the political turmoil of the past 50 years.
At the time of this series the people who see themselves as 'true' Mandalorians cleave to a practice of representing themselves solely through traditional armoured dress. They belong to an ancient warrior culture, but it's not unbroken or universal.
That explanation works for me.
Quote from: DrRocka on 16 April, 2020, 03:45:05 AM
I loved every episode. Just seemed to be Strontium Dog in Star Wars universe as far as I could tell.
That's a pretty great way of looking at it. Right now tbh, I could without another "How's he going to make some money/get his ship repaired" episode and have something that actually moves the story along a bit, but quite frankly, just throw some more X-Wings in, and I'm on board whatever happens.
Yeah, that was ok.
I did enjoy most of it but it did seem oddly paced at times. Even the characters seemed to be taking leisurely stroll when you'd think they might have some urgency about them (e.g. sewers in finale).
But overall a thumbs up and I'd love to see more. I just hope Tiny Tips leaves his Disney+ password behind when(if) he heads back to wherever he heads to when this is all over.
https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-mandalorian-boba-fett-temuera-morrison/
Enjoying clone wars more, the pacing is a lot better
Enjoyed it...and even the cynic in me cannot be mad at 'baby Yoda'. he cute as hell!
Mandalorian Season 2 Trailer. (https://youtu.be/eW7Twd85m2g)
Pretty excited for this, if I'm honest!
Oh yeah! This is indeed, the way!
Just spotted something at about 49s... MASSIVE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN KEEPING UP WITH THE RUMOUR MILL -> [spoiler]That looks a lot like Rosario Dawson, who's been rumoured to appear as Asohka in this season.[/spoiler]
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 15 September, 2020, 04:01:02 PM
Just spotted something at about 49s... MASSIVE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN KEEPING UP WITH THE RUMOUR MILL -> [spoiler]That looks a lot like Rosario Dawson, who's been rumoured to appear as Asohka in this season.[/spoiler]
It's Sasha Banks, who's rumoured to be playing [spoiler]Sabine Wren[/spoiler]
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 15 September, 2020, 04:28:19 PM
It's Sasha Banks, who's rumoured to be playing [spoiler]Sabine Wren[/spoiler]
Aha. Thanks. Clearly, I'm behind the Nerd Curve on that one! Still, nice to see [spoiler]any Clone Wars/Rebels character cross over into live action.[/spoiler]
NO SPOILERS:
First episode S2 quite excellent, a nostalgia fest with some nice surprises, and making good use of its place in the chronology. Promising.
***SPOILERS***: [spoiler]I wonder how the Disney-isn't-Star-Wars-and-Chuck-Wendig-is-a-Cuck crowd will react to Favreau using the entirety of the Empire's End version of the story of Fett's armour, verbatim? [/spoiler]
[spoiler]ICE CREAM MAKER!!![/spoiler]
What a great start to the new season.
[spoiler]Is it Boba though? Or a surviving clone trooper?[/spoiler]
I've said it before, but this is exactly what I want from Star Wars.
Although, [spoiler]I'd have gone with the exploding suicide bantha as a plan from the start![/spoiler]
Quote from: judgeurko on 31 October, 2020, 10:02:07 AM
What a great start to the new season.
[spoiler]Is it Boba though? Or a surviving clone trooper?[/spoiler]
Wouldn't be much significance to it being [spoiler]
not-Boba[/spoiler], and they've all ready pulled that trick with [spoiler]Cobb Vanth being
not-Boba[/spoiler]. [spoiler]Clone troopers would be too old or dead as they had accelerated aging whereas Boba didn't[/spoiler]. [spoiler]It's Boba[/spoiler].
Existential Biker Scouts!! I had to share this with you - just brilliant.
If you haven't seen season one yet, don't watch it!!
https://youtu.be/gKppwACQ-qk
Two riders in a desert, contemplating probability (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwLEVQGbrM).
Quote from: sheridan on 05 November, 2020, 01:27:15 AM
Two riders in a desert, contemplating probability (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwLEVQGbrM).
I love that film!!
https://youtu.be/u3xIs0aajN4
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 05 November, 2020, 10:41:41 AM
Quote from: sheridan on 05 November, 2020, 01:27:15 AM
Two riders in a desert, contemplating probability (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwLEVQGbrM).
I love that film!!
https://youtu.be/u3xIs0aajN4
Great film, great play. Stoppard has a magic touch.
Yep it is a piece of gold - took me an age to track it down so I could watch it again and its been an even longer age since I've seen the play live.
I've only just started watching the Mandalorian recently, but this being the Covid era, I'm already up to date. It's brilliant, isn't it? Captures the epic feeling of the original trilogy in a way that none of the movies since have managed.
Also, I'm pleased to note, the response to 'may the Force be with you' really is 'and also with you'. I can't remember it from the movies, but Irish people of my generation have been responding to jocular uses of 'may the Force be with you*' this way for years - it's a tic we've picked up from the 'peace be with you' part of attending Mass.
*Or 'May the Fourth be with you' which approximately 5 people will text on that date every year.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 07 November, 2020, 12:43:23 PM
Captures the epic feeling of the original trilogy in a way that none of the movies since have managed.
I would argue that both Solo and Rogue One captured the magic of the original trilogy.
Quote from: TordelBack on 05 November, 2020, 11:18:40 AM
Stoppard has a magic touch.
(https://i.imgur.com/nX2VDen.jpg)
You know what they say about what sorts of things you can and can't polish. And hey, at least it wasn't Attack of the Clones!
Quote from: TordelBack on 07 November, 2020, 02:48:39 PM
at least it wasn't Attack of the Clones!
Which oddly always stirs the most intriguing of memories and interest, and then you watch it.
Mando Chapter 10 seems to be getting a bit of a kicking around the place, but I thought it was fantastic fun. Proper bit of world building, and that Child is a right little shit!
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 07 November, 2020, 12:53:44 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 07 November, 2020, 12:43:23 PM
Captures the epic feeling of the original trilogy in a way that none of the movies since have managed.
I would argue that both Solo and Rogue One captured the magic of the original trilogy.
I completely disagree - they were both total garbage.
Actually I haven't seen either of them. I might now, though, with your recommendation. (In Solo's case, I was sore that that young guy on Youtube who looked and sounded exactly like Harrison Ford didn't get the part, and as for Rogue One, I kept meaning to watch it then let it slide.)
Quote from: TordelBack on 07 November, 2020, 08:00:05 PM
Mando Chapter 10 seems to be getting a bit of a kicking around the place, but I thought it was fantastic fun. Proper bit of world building, and that Child is a right little shit!
Where I think Mando has been consistently hitting the spot is in the moments with him and the lad, and it doesn't shy away from the survival challenge and danger of the SW Galaxy –even down to the simple matter of innocently eating a few eggs– but this season's
story of the week format is working a lot better than last season's. I can't complain.
Quote from: TordelBack on 30 October, 2020, 07:50:48 PM
***SPOILERS***: [spoiler]I wonder how the Disney-isn't-Star-Wars-and-Chuck-Wendig-is-a-Cuck crowd will react to Favreau using the entirety of the Empire's End version of the story of Fett's armour, verbatim? [/spoiler]
Quote from: TordelBack on 07 November, 2020, 08:00:05 PM
Mando Chapter 10 seems to be getting a bit of a kicking around the place...
I like you Mister Back, but you seem much too concerned with the opinion of weird internet weirdos.
'Tis a fine show, a welcome return to episodic adventures. Nutrek and Kurtzmann should take note.
Enjoyed it very much, but I was kind of stumbling on the whole "it's supposed to be funny he's [spoiler]eating her babies[/spoiler]" thing.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 07 November, 2020, 10:10:13 PM
I like you Mister Back, but you seem much too concerned with the opinion of weird internet weirdos.
I will take your views to heart.
;)
Quote from: Professor Bear on 07 November, 2020, 10:33:35 PM
Enjoyed it very much, but I was kind of stumbling on the whole "it's supposed to be funny he's [spoiler]eating her babies[/spoiler]" thing.
I kind of thought the same thing - I'd thought it was leading up to some [spoiler]meaningful moment of empathy toward other desperate children when he was touching the jar[/spoiler]. It was the first time I thought of him as a bit of a little bollix - he also [spoiler][spoiler]caused the spider-attack[/spoiler][/spoiler] with his bullshit.
Quote from: Professor Bear on 07 November, 2020, 10:33:35 PM
Enjoyed it very much, but I was kind of stumbling on the whole "it's supposed to be funny he's [spoiler]eating her babies[/spoiler]" thing.
Yeah, that was a bit weird. I guess it was riffing on [spoiler]how much he liked to eat frogs, and just the fact it's a sometimes naughty child that doesn't know any better[/spoiler] but I exclaimed at the time[spoiler] "You can't eat her BABIES!"[/spoiler] It was quite dark, but I like my humour dark, so I had no problems laughing at it.
I chained the Disney Gallery specials on the first season this weekend. It was both fascinating, enjoyable, and strangely emotional. Everyone involved in the making are clearly enormous Star Wars fans, and that came across loud and clear. Just listening to them chatting about their favourite bits from the OT had me wiping some dust out of my eyes. Plus 'The Volume' - what an extraordinary way to make TV and films! Revolutionary!
These are explicitly unfertilised eggs, though. Even extreme pro-lifers might hesitate to call them babies.
I'd be more concerned with everyone enthusiastically chomping down on the meat of something that apparently lives on Tusken Raiders.
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 November, 2020, 02:39:22 PM
I'd be more concerned with everyone enthusiastically chomping down on the meat of something that apparently lives on Tusken Raiders.
Sounds like a recipe for Kraytzfeldt-Jakob Disease.
I'll get me coat...
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 November, 2020, 02:39:22 PM
These are explicitly unfertilised eggs, though. Even extreme pro-lifers might hesitate to call them babies.
It intentionally played the uncomfortable line but I suppose the other intention was to get away from the kid solely being seen and used as a cute and vulnerable magic puppet – not just a mogwai but also bit of a gremlin.
Nature or nurture, eh? We can't assume all Yodas are born inherently moral and good!
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 08 November, 2020, 03:11:20 PM
... not just a mogwai but also bit of a gremlin.
It's by far the best thing about the Child, IMHO. A true child of the Force, light and dark in balance, and potential to move towards either, as expounded by Old Man Luke. It also plays quite nicely into the idea that it was born at the exact same time as Anakin, as another answer to the Prophecy.
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 08 November, 2020, 07:45:36 PM
Nature or nurture, eh? We can't assume all Yodas are born inherently moral and good!
The wit and wisdom of Dredd on... The Child
"Let me see whether I find a misguided child... or a creature of malice -- I see only... EVIL!"
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 November, 2020, 08:44:26 PM
It also plays quite nicely into the idea that it was born at the exact same time as Anakin, as another answer to the Prophecy.
I missed that bit. Is that calculated by counting back its age or is it made explicit?
Just counting, for now. Mando set about 9 years after the Battle of Yavin with Anakin born about 41 years before that. The Child is canonically 50, so if they weren't born at the same time it was very close.
Just to expand and expound a little, this is all just fun speculating. One of the problems I see with modern SW is that fans*, being fans, spend the time between episodes/movies coming up with their own stories and theories, which on its own is great: it's what has kept me engaged for 40+ years.
But these adult fans (of all genres) don't keep these ideas in their box of Palitoy action figures, or argue about them over a beer with others of similar immaturity. Instead they stick them on the Internet, and build followers and brands around them. Then when the next piece of media inevitably diverges from or contradicts whatever they've made-up and publicly tied their self-worth to, they get upset, and sometimes downright angry. The money-grubbing hacks have betrayed them, misunderstood something that only ever existed in their head. A crusade is in order.
This is the tragedy of publicly-validated private expectation, and it seems to hover over all genres now. And given that it drives traffic, and that's all that matters to both producer and consumer alike now, I don't see it getting better.
Which is a long way of saying, any theorising I do about SW or anything else is purely for fun, and shouldn't be read as serious analysis. I'll enjoy going wherever this show takes me, even if it's just a wild-west space-ronin bumming around seedy backwater worlds without any tie-in to the "larger story", which I rather hope it is.
*I feel your judgement, Mr. Pops. I feel it.
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 November, 2020, 09:39:34 AM
. I'll enjoy going wherever this show takes me, even if it's just a wild-west space-ronin bumming around seedy backwater worlds without any tie-in to the "larger story", which I rather hope it is.
This - I really hope that this is just exactly what we are getting.
Okay, not a massive fan of the Star Wars movies, with the recent additions not doing much for me in any way, shape or form, but... the trailers look excellent, the casting choices - Werner Herzog! - are pretty great, so i'm wondering can i dive into series 1 or do i need to re-watch the movies so i don't miss anything!
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 November, 2020, 09:39:34 AM
One of the problems I see with modern SW is ... fans
I've made a slight edit to your post above, but I think it makes the same point.
This also unfortunately applies to much of comics (2000AD "fan" pages being a good case in point).
Quote from: Rately on 09 November, 2020, 02:15:44 PM
Okay, not a massive fan of the Star Wars movies, with the recent additions not doing much for me in any way, shape or form, but... the trailers look excellent, the casting choices - Werner Herzog! - are pretty great, so i'm wondering can i dive into series 1 or do i need to re-watch the movies so i don't miss anything!
You could have been living under a rock on Mars since Return of the Jedi and watch this without missing anything but some subtle easter eggs, which I probably missed too.
Honestly "there was once an Evil Galactic Empire which was defeated in a big Star War" is probably all the context you need.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 09 November, 2020, 02:30:35 PM
Quote from: Rately on 09 November, 2020, 02:15:44 PM
Okay, not a massive fan of the Star Wars movies, with the recent additions not doing much for me in any way, shape or form, but... the trailers look excellent, the casting choices - Werner Herzog! - are pretty great, so i'm wondering can i dive into series 1 or do i need to re-watch the movies so i don't miss anything!
You could have been living under a rock on Mars since Return of the Jedi and watch this without missing anything but some subtle easter eggs, which I probably missed too.
Honestly "there was once an Evil Galactic Empire which was defeated in a big Star War" is probably all the context you need.
Happy days! Thanks for replying.
I've the time over the next few days to get some episodes watched, so i'm looking forward to giving it a go.
The fact it looks like a Western really appeals to me, and it looks suitably down and dirty to appeal to my sensibilities.
Quote from: Rately on 09 November, 2020, 02:15:44 PM
Okay, not a massive fan of the Star Wars movies, with the recent additions not doing much for me in any way, shape or form, but... the trailers look excellent, the casting choices - Werner Herzog! - are pretty great, so i'm wondering can i dive into series 1 or do i need to re-watch the movies so i don't miss anything!
Probably helps if you know what a Mandalorian is, but I think you could probably dive in without knowing anything at all about Star Wars. I think the easter eggs are just that - little extras for those in the know but unobtrusive to everybody else.
Agreed, it's a fun show that anyone who has seen the original three movies at some point would have no problem getting 95% of the value from. So far, anyway.
Quote from: sheridan on 09 November, 2020, 03:00:15 PM
Quote from: Rately on 09 November, 2020, 02:15:44 PM
Okay, not a massive fan of the Star Wars movies, with the recent additions not doing much for me in any way, shape or form, but... the trailers look excellent, the casting choices - Werner Herzog! - are pretty great, so i'm wondering can i dive into series 1 or do i need to re-watch the movies so i don't miss anything!
Probably helps if you know what a Mandalorian is, but I think you could probably dive in without knowing anything at all about Star Wars. I think the easter eggs are just that - little extras for those in the know but unobtrusive to everybody else.
Cheers!
Ignore my stupidity, but i can tell that Boba and Jango Fett wore similar armour, and that Mandalorians were a warrior race?
Quote from: TordelBack on 09 November, 2020, 03:03:32 PM
Agreed, it's a fun show that anyone who has seen the original three movies at some point would have no problem getting 95% of the value from. So far, anyway.
Cheers!
Quote from: Rately on 09 November, 2020, 03:06:34 PM
Cheers!
Ignore my stupidity, but i can tell that Boba and Jango Fett wore similar armour, and that Mandalorians were a warrior race?
Most people who have watched all of the films (but not the TV series) wouldn't know what Mandalorians are, so don't worry about it. Mandalorians are basically a warrior race, Boba and Jango Fett - we don't know exactly what their relation is, but they did wear Mando armour. That's about all we really know.
Quote from: sheridan on 09 November, 2020, 03:18:13 PM
Quote from: Rately on 09 November, 2020, 03:06:34 PM
Cheers!
Ignore my stupidity, but i can tell that Boba and Jango Fett wore similar armour, and that Mandalorians were a warrior race?
Most people who have watched all of the films (but not the TV series) wouldn't know what Mandalorians are, so don't worry about it. Mandalorians are basically a warrior race, Boba and Jango Fett - we don't know exactly what their relation is, but they did wear Mando armour. That's about all we really know.
Plus it's all presented very neatly in the opening episode(s).
It's also a very different view of Mandalorians to that presented in the animated shows (their main "canon" outings), so being aware of those wouldn't be much additional good. In short, if you know that the evil Empire was eventually defeated by the Rebels, and Yoda could move stuff with his mind but the Jedi are all but extinct now, you're good to go.
I have to admit I came to the series not knowing what a Mandalorian was, or at least had long forgotten. I was very happy, though, to see that the main character was a Boba Fett, because Boba Fetts are awesome. Of course I'd known in advance there'd be a Yoda too.
So, two episodes in and really, really enjoying it. The effects, bit jerky in places which almost adds a bit of charm, are good, acting and design and scenery is lovely, and it is a bloody Western. The Robot Bounty Hunter in first episode was a lovely touch, and the fact it has a lovely streak of humour through it all really helps.
The baby Yoda is brilliant, and i'm looking forward to getting the rest watched.
NO SPOILERS: S02E03/Chapter 11 is quite simply ridiculously good on every possible level. Effects, design, action, awesomely awesome guest stars, wider continuity (I know, I know, I said I didn't care for this, but this is the good kind), costumes, tantalising dangly bits, more Firefly homages... Never did I think would see anything like this in live action telly. Off for an instant rewatch.
Quote from: TordelBack on 13 November, 2020, 07:50:44 PM
NO SPOILERS: S02E03/Chapter 11 is quite simply ridiculously good on every possible level. Effects, design, action, awesomely awesome guest stars, wider continuity (I know, I know, I said I didn't care for this, but this is the good kind), costumes, tantalising dangly bits, more Firefly homages... Never did I think would see anything like this in live action telly. Off for an instant rewatch.
Seconded. Amazing stuff. This just gets better and better. Design-wise, it's Pirates of the Caribbean - face-tentacles and all - only more atmospheric.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 13 November, 2020, 09:29:38 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 13 November, 2020, 07:50:44 PM
NO SPOILERS: S02E03/Chapter 11 is quite simply ridiculously good on every possible level. Effects, design, action, awesomely awesome guest stars, wider continuity (I know, I know, I said I didn't care for this, but this is the good kind), costumes, tantalising dangly bits, more Firefly homages... Never did I think would see anything like this in live action telly. Off for an instant rewatch.
Seconded. Amazing stuff. This just gets better and better. Design-wise, it's Pirates of the Caribbean - face-tentacles and all - only more atmospheric.
Glad I wasn't the only one thinking of Bill Nighy's character - I wouldn't be surprised if the same animation studio / software / models were involved.
I've enjoyed this series a lot so far. Apparently that egg eating gag in previous episode rather upset a lot of people. I don't mea, but apparently on twitter there's been a bit of an uproar. I had a lady have a bit of a go at me too when I defended it somewhat*, but I just backed away from that one.
Yes, loved recent episode. Just brilliant.
Also glad that they explained [spoiler]inconsistencies in way mandalorians are portrayed in this show and the clone wars/Rebels shows in a way that makes sense. Namely the removing/not removing helmet thing and why our Mandalorian and his closer kin know so little about the Jedi when the mandalorians actively fought with/against Jedi in the cartoons.[/spoiler]
* I wasn't trying to say the child was right eating the eggs, just that it was more comparable to my enjoying chicken eggs for breakfast than abortion (like folk on that thread were suggesting) since the eggs were unfertilised, aside from the fact chickens are not sentient. (Granted eating eggs of a sentient intelligent species is a biggee, but I was also thinking of the innocence of the child, just thinking "Food! Yum!")
Queue her response: "So you're as creepy as baby Yoda are you? Oh, and by the way chickens are sentient...". Think maybe I aggravated a vegan there.** She might be right about the sentient thing, maybe I used the wrong word. I did consider trolling her with a Gollum expression: "Yesss we sneakses around the farmyard hen bousessss and plucks the eggses from the hens bottomsss. We lovess eggsesss! GOLLUM! GOLLUM!" Like, you say creepy, you got creepy baby. I decided best not to respond at all though.
That altercation (if you can call it that since I didn't even reply to her) was pretty tame compared to people on twitter yelling "BABY YODA COMMITED GENOCIDE!" It's an off-colour joke. Some people take things way too seriously.
** Not dissing on vegans there. I don't think I could be one, but I respect their decision and it probably does help the environment. Just figure her response suggests she is one.
I'd go a bit further. Not only are the eggs unfertilised, but they're the eggs of what I assume are amphibians - no amphibian 'expects' all of several dozen eggs to mature, it's a high-volume high-loss strategy, so anthropomorphising them as "babies" is doubly crazy.
I fully understand the sensitivities involved in human fertility issues, I've been up close and personal on that one, but this is part of a franchise where the main character butchers not one but two groups of children, before having a loving deathbed reconciliation with the son he mutilated and ascending to eternal life. It also repeatedly makes gags out of individuals being killed in various gruesome ways. I don't think we should be taking these space-wizard stories too much to heart.
My own view is that people have created their own picture of the Child as a sweet and cuddly soft toy to be snuggled, which has nothing to do with how he has been portrayed thus far, which is appropriately amoral, and this is why this looks like a heel turn to them.
This is the same issue that arose with adult Yoda in Phantom Menace where many folk were annoyed that he came across as nasty, judgemental and just plain wrong, and not a loving sage of peace and light that they believed him to be. I can only conclude that these people saw a different version of TESB than I did, 'cos in my copy a maniacal swamp goblin bullied, lied, belittled and manipulated a young man in order to use him in a vicarious act of vengeance. And was proven wrong about basically everything.
Yeah, this came up in a Star Wars FB group enjoyed the world over, but with a heavy US presence. It all got a bit hysterical!
I've been thinking about this a lot. First of all, I want to acknowledge that it must be awful for people with fertility problems who find this a source of upset and trauma in their lives. I get it - my partner and I are going through the adoption process right now for the exact same reason.
The thing is, there's lots to get upset about in this show - robots killing families, robots crushing soldiers against metal vehicles, small people being humorously vaporised, etc etc etc.
There's no way to please everyone, or to stop everyone getting offended or upset about something.
This is one such occasion where a bit of fun that would amuse the vast majority has upset a minority.
Now if, for example, the show abused black people and/or was overtly racist in an an episode, I'd have a problem with the show, as that affects a large swathe of humanity, and we all know the destructive effects of racism on peoples lives on a daily, continuous basis.
But frogspawn being eaten? That doesn't immediately leap out as something that would instantly cause offence, know what I mean?
And it's weird that frog lady is getting a lot of attention, but what about spider lady and her babies? We actually saw the Child eat a baby spider! Actual live young! And those spiders were clearly sentient.
So why outrage at one and not the other? It doesn't make sense.
Regarding being offended, so what do you intend to do about it? You could just switch your telly off, and avoid the show going forward, as it's clearly likely to cause upset in the future.
Or what else do you want done? For Disney/Lucasfilm to do something? What is your objective in pushing your offence here? Getting the episode banned?
TL;DR - the show did something you didn't like, that the majority were fine with. Going forward, don't watch the show.
Quote from: Mardroid on 14 November, 2020, 02:22:52 PMapparently on twitter there's been a bit of an uproar
Welcome to the 21st century.
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 November, 2020, 02:56:40 PM
So why outrage at one and not the other? It doesn't make sense.
Also, no one seemed particularly bothered by [spoiler]the booby-trapped bantha[/spoiler] in the first episode.
(https://scontent.fdub5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/124910120_3503849533062818_6915843699403632051_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=2&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=lkEoDmdAE04AX9waKs0&_nc_ht=scontent.fdub5-1.fna&tp=6&oh=2b6b45c257e481c1b938cabac1e41a1d&oe=5FD6F2F8)
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 November, 2020, 02:56:40 PM
So why outrage at one and not the other? It doesn't make sense.
Possibly alt-right sock puppets trying to make libs look ridiculous?
Disney shills fooling neckbeards into liking Disney Wars to own the libs?
Lockdown fever with a smidge of intellectual dishonesty?
I just didn't know if it was supposed to be funny or not, as the frog lady said these were the only eggs she had left and this was the last chance for her line to continue. I mean, are we supposed to be paying attention and getting invested in what happens or not?
I do wish Disney - and many other corporations, particularly Sony and CBS - would stop paying troll farmers to manufacture a lot of this hysterical garbage. The side-effects are that actual racists and crazy people are thinking this is how it's acceptable to behave online, and that's now having a knock-on effect on society.
Quote from: Mardroid on 14 November, 2020, 02:22:52 PM
** Not dissing on vegans there. I don't think I could be one, but I respect their decision and it probably does help the environment. Just figure her response suggests she is one.
Maybe, maybe not - a lot of meat-eaters have a strange blind spot when it comes to watching representations of one creature eating another creature (or products of other creatures). Not-a-vegan if anybody makes assumptions.
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 November, 2020, 02:53:44 PM
My own view is that people have created their own picture of the Child as a sweet and cuddly soft toy to be snuggled, which has nothing to do with how he has been portrayed thus far, which is appropriately amoral, and this is why this looks like a heel turn to them.
Ah, the Daenerys "haven't been paying attention' phenomena...
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 November, 2020, 02:56:40 PM
And it's weird that frog lady is getting a lot of attention, but what about spider lady and her babies? We actually saw the Child eat a baby spider! Actual live young! And those spiders were clearly sentient.
It's not even the first frog we've seen the Child eat!
Quote from: sheridan on 15 November, 2020, 06:22:39 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 November, 2020, 02:56:40 PM
And it's weird that frog lady is getting a lot of attention, but what about spider lady and her babies? We actually saw the Child eat a baby spider! Actual live young! And those spiders were clearly sentient.
It's not even the first frog we've seen the Child eat!
I thought the mammy looked more like a Salamander.
We should now have a protracted pointless argument about a minor detail in Star Wars.
This is the way.
The Child has the powers of a Jedi and absolutely no impulse control. It's dangerous, and the show is treating it that way. I couldn't be happier.
Plus, this is just the *coolest* slice of Star Wars since Rogue One. It's comic book Star Wars brought to life, which is a wonderful thing.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 November, 2020, 07:03:42 PM
We should now have a protracted pointless argument about a minor detail in Star Wars.
This is the way.
:lol:
I've just seen a Daily Mail* article that says some fans are accusing the baby of 'genocide' and threatening to 'burn their merch'. I'm not quite sure of the demands of their threat - re-shoot the episode and make everyone forget what happened first time around?
Personally, I thought it was a bit odd to see him eating the eggs, but like the man says, they're unfertilised, so couldn't really be classed as murder by any standards.
The Mando also provoked and killed a mudhorn for a single egg. Shit happens in a big galaxy.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 16 November, 2020, 09:49:56 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 November, 2020, 07:03:42 PM
We should now have a protracted pointless argument about a minor detail in Star Wars.
This is the way.
:lol:
I've just seen a Daily Mail* article that says some fans are accusing the baby of 'genocide' and threatening to 'burn their merch'. I'm not quite sure of the demands of their threat - re-shoot the episode and make everyone forget what happened first time around?
Personally, I thought it was a bit odd to see him eating the eggs, but like the man says, they're unfertilised, so couldn't really be classed as murder by any standards.
The Mando also provoked and killed a mudhorn for a single egg. Shit happens in a big galaxy.
*I know, I know.
Finally got caught up on episode 3. Then watched all three again. I thought it was a bit cheeky of Jon Favreau to take sole writing credit for his adaptation of the Tatooine section from KOTOR. The Razorcrest is really developing as a character in its own right.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 16 November, 2020, 09:55:46 AM
... threatening to 'burn their merch'...
Yes, because unsubscribing from Disney+ just doesn't have the same je ne sais quois. Would it not be more sensible to just burn your money
before giving it to Disney?
Quote from: Mister Pops on 16 November, 2020, 03:50:01 PMI thought it was a bit cheeky of Jon Favreau to take sole writing credit for his adaptation of the Tatooine section from KOTOR.
Add to that the whole Cobb Vanth character and backstory is word-for-word from Chuck Wendig's books. But I'm happy to see this kind of synthesis taking place, however credit is apportioned.
Quote from: TordelBack on 16 November, 2020, 06:06:27 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 16 November, 2020, 03:50:01 PMI thought it was a bit cheeky of Jon Favreau to take sole writing credit for his adaptation of the Tatooine section from KOTOR.
Add to that the whole Cobb Vanth character and backstory is word-for-word from Chuck Wendig's books. But I'm happy to see this kind of synthesis taking place, however credit is apportioned.
Can't say I'm all that familiar with that EU* story, but I welcomed Timothy Oliphaunt's performance. Dude has effortless charisma.
*I enjoyed the Thrawn Trilogy and the Dark Forces games, beyond that is a heap of library rentals I didn't care to finish or remember.
Careful with spoilers for those of us who haven't read any EU. :)
My renewed, Mandalorian-inspired interest in Star Wars has just reminded me of how amazing the characters' names are. I don't even think most of those names are mentioned in the films, but it's a tribute to Star Wars' popularity that everyone knows them anyway. I don't even think Bib Fortuna was ever named in the films. And remember Droopy McCool? Not sure how he ended up with a genuine Irish surname as part of his stage-name, but it's brilliant.
I think we got a lot of the names from the toys - Ray Yees, Sy Snootles, Max Rebo, Salacious Crumb etc. Also some species - who knew they were called Gamorreans, unless you had the Gamorrean Guard action figure?
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 18 November, 2020, 12:50:26 AM
I think we got a lot of the names from the toys - Ray Yees, Sy Snootles, Max Rebo, Salacious Crumb etc.
That's Salacious
B. Crumb, ahem.
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 18 November, 2020, 12:50:26 AM
I think we got a lot of the names from the toys - Ray Yees, Sy Snootles, Max Rebo, Salacious Crumb etc. Also some species - who knew they were called Gamorreans, unless you had the Gamorrean Guard action figure?
I don't think the toy (sorry, action figure) of Ray Yees had that name on the box. Because I had that figure. And looking up the name I see that they were originally going to be Admiral Ackbar but it was changed after the filmmakers saw the scuplts (I'm assuming George, but could have been somebody else on the crew).
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 18 November, 2020, 01:20:57 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 18 November, 2020, 12:50:26 AM
I think we got a lot of the names from the toys - Ray Yees, Sy Snootles, Max Rebo, Salacious Crumb etc.
That's Salacious B. Crumb, ahem.
You didn't say "Um, actually" so don't get any points. ;)
You're right about the character design originally being intended for Ackbar, but it's deffo Ree Yees on the toy packaging. Like most of the background aliens, he's named for obvious physical descriptors, i.e. he has (Th)ree (E)ye(e)s. Sometimes this is because it's a version of the name on the shooting call-sheet, but usually it was up to Kenner and Topps Trading Cards to give these guys names, rather than anyone at LFL. West End Games built on this foundation, and being roughly contemporary their sourcebooks had a weird entwined existence with the golden age of the novels, and in our modern era passed into 'canon' via the need to fill endless hours of cartoons.
Um, actually.
Addendum: For example, Greedo was the first alien named on screen, but his species was just described as 'Martian' during production, and later 'a Greedo' in the RotJ production, but his current species name 'Rodian' was invented by WEG in their RPG, before appearing in (I think) the Shadows of the Empire novelisation, then used in the production notes for Episode 1, before finally entering 'canon' in Clone Wars Season 1, 30 years after the character's first appearance.
Quote from: sheridan on 18 November, 2020, 09:21:14 AM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 18 November, 2020, 01:20:57 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 18 November, 2020, 12:50:26 AM
I think we got a lot of the names from the toys - Ray Yees, Sy Snootles, Max Rebo, Salacious Crumb etc.
That's Salacious B. Crumb, ahem.
You didn't say "Um, actually" so don't get any points. ;)
:lol: :lol: :lol:
QuoteLike most of the background aliens, he's named for obvious physical descriptors, i.e. he has (Th)ree (E)ye(e)s.
Well I never. Do you have any other examples? I'd always assumed SW names were kind of random - except, of course, when they sound like something cool like 'Solo' or 'Fortuna', or something nasty like 'Rancor' or 'Salacious'.
Jeez. The stink of nerd in here is overpowering.
Sorry, nerf.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 18 November, 2020, 02:20:25 PM
Quote from: TordelbackLike most of the background aliens, he's named for obvious physical descriptors, i.e. he has (Th)ree (E)ye(e)s.
Well I never. Do you have any other examples? I'd always assumed SW names were kind of random - except, of course, when they sound like something cool like 'Solo' or 'Fortuna', or something nasty like 'Rancor' or 'Salacious'.
Snaggletooth. Hammerhead. Walrus Man. And that's before you've even left the cantina.
Quote from: I, Cosh on 19 November, 2020, 08:52:59 AM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 18 November, 2020, 02:20:25 PM
Quote from: TordelbackLike most of the background aliens, he's named for obvious physical descriptors, i.e. he has (Th)ree (E)ye(e)s.
Well I never. Do you have any other examples? I'd always assumed SW names were kind of random - except, of course, when they sound like something cool like 'Solo' or 'Fortuna', or something nasty like 'Rancor' or 'Salacious'.
Snaggletooth. Hammerhead. Walrus Man. And that's before you've even left the cantina.
Ah. I don't remember them, but yeah, I see your point.
Sorry to derail this thread somewhat, but Disney has refused to pay royalties to Star Wars/Alien author Alan Dean Foster. Pretty despicable behaviour.
https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/11/sfwa-takes-aim-at-disney-for-non.html (https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2020/11/sfwa-takes-aim-at-disney-for-non.html)
Foster is currently undergoing treatment for cancer and this feels like Disney is just being mean for meanness sake. I've haven't subscribed to Disney+ or seen The Mandalorian and now I likely never will.
Back to your regularly scheduled thread.
Why must they be such shits? 'We bought everything except the obligation to pay you for your work.' Fuck's sake.
Quote from: von Boom on 19 November, 2020, 01:56:16 PM
Sorry to derail this thread somewhat, but Disney has refused to pay royalties to Star Wars/Alien author Alan Dean Foster. Pretty despicable behaviour.
You can email Disney's "Corporate Social Responsibility" team via this page. (https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/contact-us/?fbclid=IwAR2jS8CwjmvgcqL8yRr2HYfez_uUTxSOOEzQ906xg7W7J_no8yNFDnasdZg)
Here's mine:
QuoteAs a consumer of Disney products, a Disney+ subscriber and someone who works in the creative industries, I am not merely disappointed but outraged and furious at the recent revelations concerning royalty payments to author Alan Dean Foster.
Regardless of any legal minutiae, this matter is in principle immoral and cynical. As a corporation that prides itself on projecting an image of decency and morality, this is in every respect antithetical to the values you purport to hold.
I would urge you to reconsider this cruel and unjustifiable position, not least because of the moral and intellectual obligations you should discharge with honour and decency towards Mr Foster, but to uphold the most basic principles of fairness in your dealings with the many creative people on whose efforts your enterprise depends for its very existence.
This is an appalling situation. I greatly enjoy Disney's overall output, and between myself and the family have happily shovelled cash at them, despite moral qualms about the impact if their increasingly huge influence. Even aside from the general immorality of their royslties position, I have personally loved ADF's two SW novels (the novelisation was the only way I had to watch SW, pre-video) and two of his Alien ones, as well as his Trek and Spellsinger work, and feel deep anger about his treatment.
This situation has to be remedied, and if it is not I will cancel our subscription to Disney+ and stop purchasing all their licensed products.
Quote from: TordelBack on 19 November, 2020, 03:10:31 PM
This situation has to be remedied, and if it is not I will cancel our subscription to Disney+ and stop purchasing all their licensed products.
Tell them, via the link on the previous page. I fear it's only threats to their bottom line that will change their position on this and the more people who threaten that, the more likely they are to relent.
Meant to say, I had done exactly that. And believe me, between all their various tendrils, Disney get a nontrivial amount of my cash.
Good man.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 19 November, 2020, 03:02:28 PM
You can email Disney's "Corporate Social Responsibility" team via this page. (https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/contact-us/?fbclid=IwAR2jS8CwjmvgcqL8yRr2HYfez_uUTxSOOEzQ906xg7W7J_no8yNFDnasdZg)
Cheers for that link, Jim. I'm going to spread it around after I submit a letter of my own.
I loved Foster's trek books as a kid. Now I feel less guilty about using my sister's log-in to watch it, instead of paying for my own subscription.
Um, actually... I never felt guilty at all
Had to laugh at the topical irony of the first [spoiler]Mimbanese[/spoiler] in a speaking role in this week's Mandalorian (VG, ***). [spoiler]Mimban [/spoiler]was of course introduced in Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye, with numerous other EU appearances, entering Disney canon with a mention in The Clone Wars, before its [spoiler]murky on-screen debut in Solo as notVietnam[/spoiler], with one of its natives in Enfys Nest's Cloud Riders (presume the same rather lovely mask is being used here).
But no, no need to pay Foster piddling royalties on some book that he wrote 45 years ago, his work is completely irrelevant to the acquisitions of Disney Corp today.
Was the [spoiler]Mimbanese[/spoiler] the [spoiler]mechanic who betrayed[/spoiler] Mando?
Quote from: sheridan on 23 November, 2020, 11:45:25 AM
Was the [spoiler]Mimbanese[/spoiler] the [spoiler]mechanic who betrayed[/spoiler] Mando?
The very same. Shit-hot at his job though, [spoiler]string-and-seaweed macramé to shiny chrome finish in the time it takes to wipe out an Imperial base[/spoiler]...
Hadn't thought about that, but fair point. It reminds me of Vikings (WHICH I WAS IN), when they'd ask Floki the boat-builder for a ship, and he'd single-handedly have a huge, fully functioning Viking longboat thrown together for them the next day.
Chapter 13: Surely this show can't get any better than this. This week was a flawless realisation of what could have been a complete disaster. So many questions, but mainly, what awaits us on Tython?
HEAVY SPOILERS: Soooo... [spoiler]Ghost Yoda appeared to Ezra at the former Jedi Temple on Lothal, and to Luke at the former Temple on Ahch-To (Frank Oz voiced both). Is it possible that he shows up to chat to Grogu at the Temple on Tython?[/spoiler]
As to [spoiler]the Grogu business, look, we found out Mando's name last season and it didn't change a thing. [/spoiler]
A bigger deal was [spoiler]that we learnt he was trained at the Temple on Coruscant. Do we think this was during the 10 years before Anakin showed up, and that he disappeared before TPM, or was he there right up to the Clone Wars? Did Dooku snaffle him? If the latter, it must have been quite the secret.[/spoiler]
Think I need a re-watch!
And a re-watch suggests that I'm talking bollocks, which I'm sure will come as a shock to you all. I have the chronology of the Child all arsewise, although actually that makes it even more interesting.
I'm not half as versed in SW lore as you, but that was a belter of an episode. A [spoiler]Kill Bill ninja fight[/spoiler] and [spoiler]a Sergio Leone gun duel,[/spoiler] happening at the same time.
And the kid [spoiler]couldn't be nameless forever,[/spoiler] could he? We've even seen the [spoiler]Mandalorian's face[/spoiler] and he's lost none of his mystique.
Sci Fi doesn't get much better than this.
As a child I used to dream of how a Star Wars TV series would look. Now I'm watching it, and it's so much better than I could have imagined.
It is the TV sci-fi equivalent of all the best drugs - speed 'cos you're wide awake and laser focussed on the show, ecstasy 'cos you're so happy and in love with everything and everyone you see, and coke 'cos you think it has all been tailored just for you.
Plus it allows you to escape from a shitty world for a little while.
Great analogies! I, err, think.
It is genuinely phenomenal, though. Tonight is by far the biggest TV night of the year in Ireland, the annual Late Late Toy Show, and when my youngest girl got home from school she announced that her teacher had given the whole class hot chocolate and marshmallow kits to drink while they were watching it.
Alas, this kind gesture was rebuffed, as my brat and her mate announced that they would be watching The Mandalorian instead* (in the event we stretched it to both).
Quite a thing to feel - and see - this level of excitement every week.
* I appreciate that this may appear to fall into the "never happened" category of internet tales, but if required I can place my daughter on the stand.
You have raised them well, sir. I didn't watch the Toy Show, but apparently there weren't many toys on it and Tubridy dropped an f-bomb in front of a little girl. You don't see the Mando swearing around his little lad.
(Apologies if the following has been raised earlier...)
The emergence of Grogu also plays nicely into the exchange between Ben and Yoda in ESB...
Ben: "That boy is our last hope"
Yoda: "No...there is another."
Yoda would have had knowledge of Grogu's initial training on Coruscant - and perhaps he assisted with Grogu's escape during The Purge?
Yes, yes - no doubt Yoda was referring to Leia. ;) But it makes for a nice 'what if...'.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 28 November, 2020, 09:39:55 AM
You don't see the Mando swearing around his little lad.
(https://i.imgur.com/07hxYJt.jpg)
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 November, 2020, 12:28:27 AM
I have the chronology of the Child all arsewise
I'm not up on these things, but do we know canonically how much time passes over the course of the original trilogy? It
feels like there's at least a few months between
New Hope and
Empire, and Luke seems to be older, wiser, and has a much better command of the Force in
Jedi, compared to
Empire.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 November, 2020, 09:57:58 AM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 28 November, 2020, 09:39:55 AM
You don't see the Mando swearing around his little lad.
(https://i.imgur.com/07hxYJt.jpg)
:lol:
It's just struck me too that there's a massive Strontium Dog vibe to the whole series - apologies if it's been pointed out before. Mando himself is Alpha in a Dredd suit. Kind of.
"but do we know canonically how much time passes over the course of the original trilogy?"
Canonically - nope.
I think the general consensus* is about 3 years between ANH and ESB...and about a year between ESB and ROTJ. You're certainly right about Luke - much more composed and 'with it' when he takes on Jabba in ROTJ, etc.
* The general consensus being greatly influenced by the Expanded Universe and all of its shenanigans.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 28 November, 2020, 10:20:53 AM
It's just struck me too that there's a massive Strontium Dog vibe to the whole series - apologies if it's been pointed out before. Mando himself is Alpha in a Dredd suit. Kind of.
I really appreciate the quite black sense of humour the series is developing — the jet pack gag in the first episode in E2 and the cargo bay one in E4 of this season felt particularly Wagner/Grant to me, plus, y'know, the egg thing.
Quote from: Krakajac on 28 November, 2020, 10:21:19 AM
You're certainly right about Luke - much more composed and 'with it' when he takes on Jabba in ROTJ, etc.
In the old days the TESB- RotJ gap was supposed to be about 6 months, but it has been entertainingly fluid over the years. I think a 3-4 year span for the OT is accurate enough for our purposes.
Definitely see the Strontium Dog thing, but then both come from similar inspiration.
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 November, 2020, 11:58:17 AM
Definitely see the Strontium Dog thing, but then both come from similar inspiration.
Also the endearing wafts of
Eau de Firefly that drift through from time to time.
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 November, 2020, 11:58:17 AMDefinitely see the Strontium Dog thing, but then both come from similar inspiration.
Indeed, and early SD had a fair bit of influence from Star Wars I'll bet.
Quote from: Krakajac on 28 November, 2020, 10:21:19 AMCanonically - nope.
I kept seeing "ABY" in games and stuff Star Wars-related, and eventually cracked and Googled it to discover that it means "after the Battle of Yavin" which is when the Death Star blows up at the end of the original film, so theoretically, Lucasfilm - which seemed to run a tighter ship than most when it came to its multimedia continuity - had a solid idea of when events occurred in relation to each other, even if they didn't always stick to it in every last game, novel, comic book or whatever.
Whether Disney has knocked that continuity on the head during their clean-out is, of course, another matter. I suspect it doesn't really matter for our purposes as viewers.
Canon exists for those who want it.
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_media
I don't see Droids or Caravan Of Courage anywhere on that list, so how accurate can it be?
Always in motion is the canon. Decide you must, how to enjoy it best.
That's just crazy talk.
Tru-Fans know the Rosetta Stone of SW canon is the Holiday Special.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 28 November, 2020, 02:53:21 PM
Tru-Fans know the Rosetta Stone of SW canon is the Holiday Special.
But which one (https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/movie/the-lego-star-wars-holiday-special).
(Now with canonical Jedi Finn! ).
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 November, 2020, 03:07:31 PMBut which one (https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/movie/the-lego-star-wars-holiday-special).
The saga is not yet finished ...
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 28 November, 2020, 12:52:54 AM
As a child I used to dream of how a Star Wars TV series would look. Now I'm watching it, and it's so much better than I could have imagined.
It is the TV sci-fi equivalent of all the best drugs - speed 'cos you're wide awake and laser focussed on the show, ecstasy 'cos you're so happy and in love with everything and everyone you see, and coke 'cos you think it has all been tailored just for you.
Plus it allows you to escape from a shitty world for a little while.
Speaking from experience, I presume...?
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 28 November, 2020, 03:22:26 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 November, 2020, 03:07:31 PMBut which one (https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/movie/the-lego-star-wars-holiday-special).
The saga is not yet finished ...
Oh god, please no.
They found a way to improve perfection.
Quote from: TordelBack on 28 November, 2020, 01:09:40 AM
It is genuinely phenomenal, though. Tonight is by far the biggest TV night of the year in Ireland, the annual Late Late Toy Show, and when my youngest girl got home from school she announced that her teacher had given the whole class hot chocolate and marshmallow kits to drink while they were watching it.
Alas, this kind gesture was rebuffed, as my brat and her mate announced that they would be watching The Mandalorian instead* (in the event we stretched it to both).
That confused me - I thought you were using
Late Late Toy Show as a euphemism for
The Mandalorian :)
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 28 November, 2020, 10:20:53 AM
It's just struck me too that there's a massive Strontium Dog vibe to the whole series - apologies if it's been pointed out before. Mando himself is Alpha in a Dredd suit. Kind of.
It got pointed out when the very first trailer dropped (from a 'oh well, there's no point making a Stront series now').
Never was a fan of [spoiler]Thrawn[/spoiler] playing the role of the [spoiler]big bad[/spoiler] in the EU books but I suppose we can now fully expect [spoiler]a blued-up Lars Mikkelsen[/spoiler] to appear down-the-line in a live-action series/[spoiler]Rebels[/spoiler] sequel.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 28 November, 2020, 10:04:17 AM
I'm not up on these things, but do we know canonically how much time passes over the course of the original trilogy? It feels like there's at least a few months between New Hope and Empire, and Luke seems to be older, wiser, and has a much better command of the Force in Jedi, compared to Empire.
Without looking it all up, six months between ANH and ESB and three years between ESB and RotJ. Though that seems a long time to leave Solo trapped in carbonite, so maybe I have the time gaps the wrong way around...
Quote from: sheridan on 28 November, 2020, 06:59:04 PM
That confused me - I thought you were using Late Late Toy Show as a euphemism for The Mandalorian :)
I may have to adopt this! The Mandalorian already dwarfs recent efforts like Solo and RotS in the arsom toys it has spawned.
It's fun to see the Star Wars talk and positive stuff in here. That said, I only saw the first couple episodes of the first season, and the beginning of the third episode at a friend's house. And I stopped watching, didn't get back to it. I did not like it at all, the stuff like the learning to ride the big nutty animal scene, the style of the humor and direction, the gags with the main character (just cutting to his helmet to make us laugh it seems...), baby yoda... none of it captured my imagination or delighted me at all.
The first episode where he goes into a bar to show us what he's about. There have been countless better versions of that scene. The first episode of the 90s anime Berserk is a great one. It just had this tepid detached lightly humorous tone that I don't really dig. And I love cranky and untalkative characters, but the first couple episodes for me did nothing to make the main character one I'd like to watch. The Witcher for example did a similar idea, the cranky sellsword with a heart of gold (I assume). But that one really worked for me.
I love space westerns, Trigun, Outlaw Star, you name it. The first couple episode to me didn't really feel like that, plus I don't get the benefit of rogue-ish charming protagonists. I get Sam the Eagle from the Muppets essentially, and a nutty sidekick kid. That said, as 2000AD shows us, a couple initially ridiculous or unappealing (to me) characters could end up being great, in a great tale.
Anyways, that's just sharing my experience with it, I know it's a show everybody digs, and I'm genuinly happy that people dig it. And I hear about it a lot naturally. So I'm gonna give it another try sometime. But man I did not dig those first two episodes of season 1. Or the beginning of the third episode. The only character I liked was Carl Weathers. But, I'll give it another go sometime.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 28 November, 2020, 07:01:54 PM
Never was a fan of [spoiler]Thrawn[/spoiler] playing the role of the [spoiler]big bad[/spoiler] in the EU books but I suppose we can now fully expect [spoiler]a blued-up Lars Mikkelsen[/spoiler] to appear down-the-line in a live-action series/[spoiler]Rebels[/spoiler] sequel.
Fair enough; suppose there's no possible way I could have been the first here to note the similarity to SD. But I
was the first to comment on the Avatar / Firekind thing, fair play to me. I'd give myself a A+ on being the first to comment on that.
PsychoGoatee, your opinion is wrong: Consider yourself cancelled. Actually I still don't quite understand the concept of cancel culture, so respect to you for speaking against a near-total consensus - I wasn't quite sold after the first couple of episodes but it grew on me. In a similar way I really didn't get Nikolai Dante till around the Tsar Wars bits, and it took me a full season to start getting into both
Breaking Bad and
Better Call Saul.
None of which is to say that you WILL or HAVE TO end up liking it if you keep at it - there are few things more annoying than the type of person who affects staggering-backwards, open-mouthed astonishment when you didn't like or watch a film they like.
Quote from: Batman's Superior Cousin on 28 November, 2020, 03:47:45 PM
Speaking from experience, I presume...?
Let's just say I haven't had such a dopamine release in my nucleus accumbens since my early twenties.
On a related note, a warning to all - if you're going to drink while watching this show, have someone ban you from the internet for the duration.
Turned up today. *facepalm*
[spoiler]
(https://i.imgur.com/k4mxztu.jpg)
[/spoiler]
Arrr, loth-cat figure :-)
Just got caught up again. The latest episode reminded me of my DnD sessions, where Al (my DM) was pouring so much deep lore into the session, thesping the fuck out if the NPC they had put so much thought into, but I just wanted [spoiler]the cool spear[/spoiler] and next mission checkpoint.
Just watched the latest one and I have to agree that this keeps knocking it out the park. Being pedantic [spoiler]how come she still has her 2 light sabre's ?[/spoiler] I just recently finished Clone Wars and I wonder if they will bring in other characters who survived those especially the one that "died" many years before?
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 30 November, 2020, 06:25:40 AM
Just watched the latest one and I have to agree that this keeps knocking it out the park. Being pedantic [spoiler]how come she still has her 2 light sabre's ?[/spoiler] I just recently finished Clone Wars and I wonder if they will bring in other characters who survived those especially the one that "died" many years before?
She doesn't [spoiler]'still'[/spoiler] have them - they're new ones. The casual observe might think that Ahsoka has had [spoiler]eight lightsabres[/spoilers], but she's actually had [spoiler]two sets of two[/spoiler]. The first one [spoiler](self-constructed) was green, the second, also self-constructed, was yellow-green, they were tinkered with by Anakin and so ended up blue. She left those on a moon after Order 66 to fake her death, but then constructed a new pair from the (red) lightsabre of an inquisitor but purified them and so they ended up white[/spoiler].
In short, continuity is important, dammit! I forgot to say 'um actually' though, so no points to me.
Incidentally, my mention of 'um actually' in the more geeky threads is a reference to an online game show which I advise you all to check out (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVQa3eDp9rFpKw3LZ3AsMCg).
Quote from: sheridan on 30 November, 2020, 11:50:44 AM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 30 November, 2020, 06:25:40 AM
Just watched the latest one and I have to agree that this keeps knocking it out the park. Being pedantic [spoiler]how come she still has her 2 light sabre's ?[/spoiler] I just recently finished Clone Wars and I wonder if they will bring in other characters who survived those especially the one that "died" many years before?
She doesn't [spoiler]'still'[/spoiler] have them - they're new ones. The casual observe might think that Ahsoka has had [spoiler]eight lightsabres[/spoilers], but she's actually had [spoiler]two sets of two[/spoiler]. The first one [spoiler](self-constructed) was green, the second, also self-constructed, was yellow-green, they were tinkered with by Anakin and so ended up blue. She left those on a moon after Order 66 to fake her death, but then constructed a new pair from the (red) lightsabre of an inquisitor but purified them and so they ended up white[/spoiler].
Thanks for clearing that up 👍🏻 Do you know or think the "spikey" one would make an appearance in the Mandalorin as knowing his history with the Mandalores?
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 30 November, 2020, 12:02:08 PM
Do you know or think the "spikey" one would make an appearance in the Mandalorin as knowing his history with the Mandalores?
He's definitely, absolutely, no-kidding, no take-backs this time,
dead at this point in the timeline, but no reason we couldn't have flashback sequences or ghosts...
Quote from: TordelBack on 30 November, 2020, 12:30:15 PM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 30 November, 2020, 12:02:08 PM
Do you know or think the "spikey" one would make an appearance in the Mandalorin as knowing his history with the Mandalores?
He's definitely, absolutely, no-kidding, no take-backs this time, dead at this point in the timeline, but no reason we couldn't have flashback sequences or ghosts...
Then I'm confused as the last scene he is in the clone wars is him flying off after she fights him!
Since we saw the body, and it was Filoni that did the deed, I don't think there's much chance of him coming back.
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 30 November, 2020, 12:37:06 PMThen I'm confused as the last scene he is in the clone wars is him flying off after she fights him!
He's in
Rebels.
NO BACKSIES. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeG215-yu-k)
I will still bet good monay that some people will insist his copping it doesn't count because it happened in a cartoon.
I was never into the EU and still haven't watched most of Clone Wars or Rebels...but even I could hear the sound of a thousand fanboys squeejing in delight during the last episode. :)
I could have done with the [spoiler]lightsaber combat[/spoiler] to have more sizzle but overall, another blinder. If this is the model for Star Wars TV going forward, we might just be on the cusp of Star Wars rediscovering its cool.
Quote from: Professor Bear on 30 November, 2020, 12:40:40 PM
NO BACKSIES. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeG215-yu-k)
I will still bet good monay that some people will insist his copping it doesn't count because it happened in a cartoon.
I hesitate to use the word 'logic' in connection with SW fandom, but by that logic he was never 'resurrected', either, surely?
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 30 November, 2020, 12:38:12 PM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 30 November, 2020, 12:37:06 PMThen I'm confused as the last scene he is in the clone wars is him flying off after she fights him!
He's in Rebels.
That's interesting as I've just started that. I thought that in Clone Wars it gave him a bit more menace than he had in TPM. I actually really started to like the character.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 30 November, 2020, 01:20:30 PMI hesitate to use the word 'logic' in connection with SW fandom, but by that logic he was never 'resurrected', either, surely?
That holds until he appears in
SOLO.
The picture in Solo was so dark, could anyone really say that was him?
There's lots more to do with [spoiler]Maul[/spoiler], we haven't seen the last of him by a long chalk, but it's fitting that his story doesn't extend into the OT. He's the great villain/victim of the Prequel era, and should stay that way.
I'd say the bigger issue is that [spoiler]Ray Park[/spoiler] would hunt you down and kill you if you said it wasn't really [spoiler]Maul[/spoiler] in Solo. He apparently spent months getting back in fighting trim, and then just sat there in studio mouthing lines.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 30 November, 2020, 01:28:22 PM
That holds until he appears in SOLO.
Aha. I'll confess I hadn't considered where
Solo slots into the timeline.
EDIT: Quality nerding in this thread.
I prefer Maul when he has spider legs. Nothing else to add (though I did like the clip posted above that had Obi-Wan simultaneously looking like an older Ewan and a younger Alec).
Quote from: Professor Bear on 30 November, 2020, 01:41:59 PM
The picture in Solo was so dark, could anyone really say that was him?
Yes it was him. Sadly
Chapter 14: Well, it took all of 40 years, but finally [spoiler]live-action Boba Fett did something[/spoiler]. And it was well worth the wait. Still the OG.
Another outstanding episode, with some pretty serious shocks and a lot of plot, and I can honestly say that as the end approached I was desperately hoping the next ship to show up would be Luke's X-Wing, just so someone, anyone, could save the day. Fun to be so involved again.
Perhaps the biggest nerds-only revelation this week was [spoiler]that after 18 years of uncertainty Jango Fett is confirmed as a Mandalorian. Again[/spoiler]. I can't decide if Karen Traviss should be more or less pissed off about that.
When [spoiler]SLAVE1 hove into view [/spoiler] I did a little cheer.
Quote from: TordelBack on 05 December, 2020, 12:04:29 AM
Chapter 14: Well, it took all of 40 years, but finally [spoiler]live-action Boba Fett did something[/spoiler]. And it was well worth the wait. Still the OG.
Another outstanding episode, with some pretty serious shocks and a lot of plot, and I can honestly say that as the end approached I was desperately hoping the next ship to show up would be Luke's X-Wing, just so someone, anyone, could save the day. Fun to be so involved again.
Perhaps the biggest nerds-only revelation this week was [spoiler]that after 18 years of uncertainty Jango Fett is confirmed as a Mandalorian. Again[/spoiler]. I can't decide if Karen Traviss should be more or less pissed off about that.
[spoiler]After Boba shows Din that holographic readout proving his armour was given to Jango by the mandalorians it suddenly occurred to me that father and son wear the same armour. Jango's armour has always been a similar style to Boba's, but the different colours led me to think it was a different set. And even in the original trilogy Boba's was always a bit more worn looking.
Then it occurred to me he probably just slapped on some green paint at some point, and it saw a lot of wear over the years. Dur! (Unless Jango was gifted two sets, but that's probably unlikely.[/spoiler]
Anyway, another very good episode. I wish Din Djarin got to do a bit more in these episodes, as this is the third episode in a row where he seemed to vanish for a fair chunk of time while the guest star characters did most of the botty kicking. Don't get me wrong, it's great to see them do their thing, just a bit more balance showing them operating as a team would be nice. A small peev, as we've seen Din do plenty in the past.
[spoiler]How cool and fearsome were those Dark Troopers? Robots or cyborgs? I'm thinking the latter.[/spoiler]
There are a few continuity issues with [spoiler]Boba's armour being Jango's. For one thing, the gauntlets aren't remotely the same, and for another Boba deliberately blows up the helmet in Clone Wars Season 2.[/spoiler] I choose to believe that either [spoiler](a) Jango kept some spares in Slave 1 (we know he had two jet packs, for example), or more likely (b) Boba had the beskar reforged to his own specs, and more generally, (c) it's Jango's in the manner of Trigger's broom. [/spoiler].Note too that this Armour had been confirmed in Disney canon to not be beskar, but we all knew it was anyway.
On a major positive, I've been waiting four entire decades to [spoiler]see Boba use the knee-darts as labelled on the original Palitoy mailaway action figure [/spoiler]advert, and I was most pleased that they matched a thousand plastic precedents. I clearly remember playing with that action figure while I watched the first Columbia launch (he frequently doubled as an spacesuited astronaut), that's how long it's been.
I really enjoyed that episode but I have to ask, and I'm sorry if I've missed something, but isn't [spoiler]Boba Fett dead[/spoiler]? Maybe there were [spoiler]Fire People with special nets down the Sarlaac.[/spoiler]
I have non problem at all with his [spoiler]face being revealed- it's a kind of Dredd thing, where it's fine if it's all scarred with acid, or even Sarlaac juice. I'll even accept that the Sarlaac makes your accent go all Kiwi.[/spoiler]
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 11:55:29 AM
I have non problem at all with his [spoiler]face being revealed- it's a kind of Dredd thing, where it's fine if it's all scarred with acid, or even Sarlaac juice. I'll even accept that the Sarlaac makes your accent go all Kiwi.[/spoiler]
Given that [spoiler]Boba is a clone of Jango, as are all the troopers in Clone Wars, it's not exactly a surprise that Boba is going to look exactly like Temuera Morrison, is it?[/spoiler]
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 11:55:29 AM
I'm sorry if I've missed something, but isn't [spoiler]Boba Fett dead[/spoiler]?
[spoiler]Boba being alive[/spoiler] has been part of Star Wars lore for decades. If you don't see a body in Star Wars, death is never certain.
[spoiler]Going only by the evidence of what's presented in the OT, of all the characters to return Boba's is the most plausible: he wasn't struck a fatal blow; he has armour and a jet-pack, and Jabba's sail barge blew-up rather spectacularly over the mouth of the Sarlacc – all that fiery debris probably damaged it severely, or killed it.[/spoiler]
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 11:55:29 AM
I really enjoyed that episode but I have to ask, and I'm sorry if I've missed something, but isn't [spoiler]Boba Fett dead[/spoiler]? Maybe there were [spoiler]Fire People with special nets down the Sarlaac.[/spoiler]
Heavy spoilers if you've not read any of the EU/Legends books: [spoiler]After being swallowed by the
Sarlacc Boba encounters the remains of a female Jedi who was swallowed many years prior and after a conversation with her, he manages to kill the creature from the inside and gets vomited back into the desert where he is found by a fellow bounty hunter and rescued.[/spoiler]
It's better than I make it sound!
Cheers
Ah. I see. Thanks, guys. The Mandalorian has awakened a love of Star Wars I haven't really had since I was a kid, so I've missed a lot of the lore in the meantime. I didn't
hate the prequels, and the new ones are ok, but nothing SW has gripped me like this since seeing ROTJ in the cinema for the first time.
QuoteGiven that Boba is a clone of Jango, as are all the troopers in Clone Wars, it's not exactly a surprise that Boba is going to look exactly like Temuera Morrison, is it?
While I do remember Boba's old man being a Kiwi (mainly through a mate gleefully doing impressions of him afterwards) , I'd forgotten Boba[spoiler] himself was a clone[/spoiler]. That said, there's also Dredd 2012 syndrome, where we
know that the big man would look exactly like Billy Butcher and Bones McCoy if he took the helmet off, but we'd still go mental if he did it.
I seem to remember that [spoiler]stormtroopers are all clones of the Fetts too? [/spoiler] Memories are a bit patchy there though.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 01:52:44 PMI seem to remember that [spoiler]stormtroopers are all clones of the Fetts too? [/spoiler]
Only really during the Clone Wars. They had accelerated growth to mass produce soldiers so many would be in old-age by the time of the OT, by which time the established empire just employed norms. [spoiler]Boba didn't have accelerated growth – he was given the chance to grow-up normally as Jango's son.[/spoiler]
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 06 December, 2020, 02:13:50 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 01:52:44 PMI seem to remember that [spoiler]stormtroopers are all clones of the Fetts too? [/spoiler]
Only really during the Clone Wars. They had accelerated growth to mass produce soldiers so many would be in old-age by the time of the OT, by which time the established empire just employed norms. [spoiler]Boba didn't have accelerated growth – he was given the chance to grow-up normally as Jango's son.[/spoiler]
Aye - Rex and his crew pop up in Rebels, and they're all old blokes by then.
Rebels establishes that the Empire is recruiting and training teenagers as stormtroopers in the years leading up to A New Hope, and Solo at least suggests this could be the case 10 years prior with its non-stormtrooper pilot and 'infantry' divisions.
However, one of the interesting tidbits in The Clone Wars is the Season 2 episode where Padme tries and fails to stop a bill to order a new batch of clones from the Kaminoans. Later, we see an attempt by Ventress to steal the original samples of Jango's DNA from Kamino, which appear to still be of great importance to the operation. This is all in the second year of the war, so at let's say 9 years to maturity, these new specimens would only be coming out of the factory when Luke is 6 or 7, almost exactly when the opening scenes of Solo are set, and would only be an effective age of late 30s-early 40s at the time of the OT. So it's reasonable to assume that at least some of the stormtroopers we see in Solo, Rebels and the OT are a younger generation of Kaminoan clones. Whether they are all still clones of Jango is another matter.
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 06 December, 2020, 02:33:51 PM
Aye - Rex and his crew pop up in Rebels, and they're all old blokes by then.
I was unfeasibly happy to see Rex and his 'brothers' turn up in Rebels after some very unhappy turns of events in the final episodes of Clone Wars.
I have to say, it's great to have you lot to fill me in on continuity. I'm a bit clueless.
Also couldn't help notice what an absolute [spoiler]bloodbath[/spoiler] that episode was. Has to be the most [spoiler]violent thing Disney has ever released, though I'm bracing myself for that theory's imminent destruction. [/spoiler]
I really need to watch Solo and Rogue One, don't I?
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 04:50:54 PM
I really need to watch Solo and Rogue One, don't I?
Can't hurt. They're both decent films with good characters, the only real variable is to what extent you feel they are 'Star Wars-y' (despite the endless superficial cameos and "I remember that" references) since both have decidedly different takes on what that is. But then I think Mando has successfully stretched that definition in the directions of both films. I personally rate
Solo as one of my favourites, despite having zero interest in the premise going in, but others hate it.
I don't think either are really necessary in the context of enjoying Mando asa show. If it's a "I feel I should know who that is" problem then the two main cartoons are a better bet, but a
much bigger investment -
The Clone Wars &
Rebels combined total over 100 hours runtime. And even then, the origins of some of the current goings-on are more from ancient video games (KotOR, the TOR MMO and Dark Forces).
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 06 December, 2020, 12:38:30 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 11:55:29 AM
I'm sorry if I've missed something, but isn't [spoiler]Boba Fett dead[/spoiler]?
[spoiler]Boba being alive[/spoiler] has been part of Star Wars lore for decades. If you don't see a body in Star Wars, death is never certain.
[spoiler]Going only by the evidence of what's presented in the OT, of all the characters to return Boba's is the most plausible: he wasn't struck a fatal blow; he has armour and a jet-pack, and Jabba's sail barge blew-up rather spectacularly over the mouth of the Sarlacc – all that fiery debris probably damaged it severely, or killed it.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]It's certainly more plausible than surviving bisection, like a certain other character, although I am glad that they did more with the character in Clone Wars and Rebels. [/spoiler]
Feck, not sure if I can handle 100 hours of the cartoon. Then again, January is going to be quiet...
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 04:50:54 PM
Has to be the most violent thing Disney has ever released, though I'm bracing myself for that theory's imminent destruction.
Well ... since Disney owned the production companies Miramax and Hollywood Pictures, they did release
Pulp Fiction and
Judge Dredd – a film that's still owned by the Mouse.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 07:12:12 PM
Feck, not sure if I can handle 100 hours of the cartoon. Then again, January is going to be quiet...
Definitely
not necessary (although I'm 3 seasons into TCW as part of a complete SW family re-watch, and I'm constantly surprised by how good much of it is) - I think you can just enjoy Mandalorian from Din's PoV, and he's a total outsider to all this stuff, including not knowing what the Jedi are, or even the nature of other Mandalorians. It's one of the reasons the show has broad appeal, IMHO: Mando himself has never seen Star Wars.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 07:12:12 PM
Feck, not sure if I can handle 100 hours of the cartoon. Then again, January is going to be quiet...
Don't look on it as a slog (if you choose to start). 100 hours of the 21st century spin-off animations is less of a slog than the seven hours of the prequels...
Quote from: sheridan on 07 December, 2020, 09:39:30 AM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 07:12:12 PM
Feck, not sure if I can handle 100 hours of the cartoon. Then again, January is going to be quiet...
Don't look on it as a slog (if you choose to start). 100 hours of the 21st century spin-off animations is less of a slog than the seven hours of the prequels...
I agree it's not a slog as you can slot in an episode in 30 spare minutes not having to make 2 hours for one of the films.
I'm halfway through Rebels and really enjoying it. I did enjoy TCW but felt the last 3 seasons really held my interest.
Just watched episode 14 of The Mandalorin and I can't believe they are keeping up the quality. Usually these things have a mid season dip with a couple of fillers that don't add anything but not this.
Quote from: sheridan on 07 December, 2020, 09:39:30 AM
Don't look on it as a slog (if you choose to start). 100 hours of the 21st century spin-off animations is less of a slog than the seven hours of the prequels...
I enjoyed Clone Wars and Rebels more than any of the prequels or sequels. As others have noted, the sheer volume of it can seem daunting, but these things clock in at under 30min an episode, so you can squeeze an episode in before/after/inbetween other stuff. The episodes being short makes the (very) occasional clunker a lot more tolerable, too.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 07:12:12 PM
Feck, not sure if I can handle 100 hours of the cartoon. Then again, January is going to be quiet...
I tried but I couldn't get into it. Then again I'm not really into cartoons.
Quote from: judgeurko on 07 December, 2020, 05:40:36 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 07:12:12 PM
Feck, not sure if I can handle 100 hours of the cartoon. Then again, January is going to be quiet...
I tried but I couldn't get into it. Then again I'm not really into cartoons.
Do you know what, I might give it a shot. Any other Christmas period and I'd be propping up the bar, but, well, you know.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 06 December, 2020, 12:38:30 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 11:55:29 AM
I'm sorry if I've missed something, but isn't [spoiler]Boba Fett dead[/spoiler]?
[spoiler]Boba being alive[/spoiler] has been part of Star Wars lore for decades. If you don't see a body in Star Wars, death is never certain.
[spoiler]Going only by the evidence of what's presented in the OT, of all the characters to return Boba's is the most plausible: he wasn't struck a fatal blow; he has armour and a jet-pack, and Jabba's sail barge blew-up rather spectacularly over the mouth of the Sarlacc – all that fiery debris probably damaged it severely, or killed it.[/spoiler]
The sarlacc kills you by digesting you over 1000 years (which makes no sense as it'd have to keep you alive and feed you that long) so 4 years or so since jedi its probably only digested a part of bobas face, the beskar is probably reasonably sarlacc proof.
[spoiler]The other part is potentially answered earlier in the season. Going from memory but isn't it mentioned the Krait Dragon got his cave by eating a sarlacc from below? Now we don't know if it was 'the mighty sarlacc' but it probably stopped digesting boba when it started getting chewed on itself ? [/spoiler]
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 December, 2020, 11:55:29 AM
I really enjoyed that episode but I have to ask, and I'm sorry if I've missed something, but isn't [spoiler]Boba Fett dead[/spoiler]? Maybe there were [spoiler]Fire People with special nets down the Sarlaac.[/spoiler]
Back in 2016, writer Michael Moreci (writer of many things but notably, for this discussion, of IDW's
Star Wars Adventures title) teamed up with a bunch of artists to put out a free collection of Star Wars comic fanfic. He posited a rather neat non-canonical explanation for the whole Boba Fett/Sarlacc thing, which you can read here. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ocbbqejrmx2mk26/SW_MM_Stories.pdf?dl=0)
As someone who hugely enjoyed the first series of Mando but hasn't seen any of the cartoons and is mildly put off by mention of more direct cross-referencing of stuff I have three questions if anyone could helpfully help me out:
1. Do I need to watch Clone Wars / Rebels to fully 'get' this series of The Mandalorian?
2. Should I watch Clone Wars / Rebels? (NB. My opinion of the prequel trilogy is very low, which is why I avoided Clone Wars in the first place)
3. Assuming (1) or (2) is a yes, which one is best?
One of the things I really liked about the first series was how self-contained it all was: there were little nods and easter eggs all over, but no direct crossover with the films so it was like a little sci-fi Western in the same universe. It sounds like it'd be useful to now know who all these guest-star characters are...
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 08 December, 2020, 01:00:37 PM
1. Do I need to watch Clone Wars / Rebels to fully 'get' this series of The Mandalorian?
My wife was in the same room as me when I watched Clone Wars and Rebels, but it would be a stretch to say she 'watched' them — barring knowing who Ahsoka is, I'd say she gets literally none of the in-continuity references, and she likes it a lot.
If you're not intent on gnawing the Star Warsy bones and extracting every last morsel of canon marrow, I think you'd find the series perfectly entertaining in its own right. There are certainly bits that hint strongly at a wider universe and other stuff going on, but these are no more essential to enjoying the story in front of you than it was to know what the Clone Wars were when you watched
A New Hope.
Quote2. Should I watch Clone Wars / Rebels? (NB. My opinion of the prequel trilogy is very low, which is why I avoided Clone Wars in the first place)
As I said upthread, I enjoyed both Clone Wars and Rebels more than any of the prequels or sequels. Obi-Wan and Anakin both get more flesh on their character bones than in all the prequel movies put together.
Quote3. Assuming (1) or (2) is a yes, which one is best?
Rebels is shorter, with few real clunkers in its run, but it picks up several dangling plot threads from Clone Wars that you probably
do need to understand. Clone Wars had a longer run so there are more duff episodes in there, but there are very few (from memory) that didn't have something worthwhile going for them, and a lot of them are
really good.
Much obliged Jim, thank you!
One of the things I really like about A New Hope, that I also found with The Mandalorian, was the feeling of dropping into a fully working universe where stuff isn't explained and so full of mystery. In my youth I eagerly devoured as much Star Wars comics and books as I could for a period, until I started to find that by giving every minor character in the films a backstory, often that tied into the main plot, that it started making the universe feel smaller and smaller with everything being interconnected so instead of a huge galaxy, everything basically orbited a few planets and events.
I found new Star Wars hit and very miss (enjoyed Rogue One, loved Mando, hated the rest of the Disney stuff) but it's been dawning on me that in Clone Wars and Rebels I may have missed some very cool stuff.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 08 December, 2020, 01:12:23 PM
...I enjoyed both Clone Wars and Rebels more than any of the prequels or sequels...
That's not a great endorsement. I've had slices of toast* I've enjoyed more than Revenge of the Sith. I watched the first two seasons of clone wars during their original run, even though I had seen the godawful movie/pilot. After that I just wasn't invested or interested enough to keep going. I couldn't really tell you much of what happened in any episode I watched. There was a Jar-jar episode I think? I didn't dislike it or anything, but much like the current Star Trek output, there are other shows I would rather spend my time with.
Like I've said before, the only background you need to know is "there was a big evil Galactic Empire which was defeated in a big Star War". Although in the last few episodes, some stuff might excite you more. Like the Jedi in the last episode who was the padawan in that Godawful Clone Wars movie/pilot. I didn't need to know her whole backstory, or even remember her name. Her appearance was more in service of the story than the fans. However her asking where Admiral Thrawn was wouldn't have the intended impact had you not read the books. If you weren't in the know she could well have been asking after Griggly Squibblewigs**.
Even when [spoiler]Boba Fett[/spoiler] shows up, you don't have to recognise the name or [spoiler]the armour[/spoiler], because
he fucking shows you exactly who he is. [spoiler]I've never been a Boba Fett fan boy****,[/spoiler] but the way he milled through those stormtroopers was probably my favourite bit of Star Wars yet.
My main takeaway is the next time they remaster the movies, they should start with the line
QuoteA long time ago, in a teeny-weeny cluster of about a dozen star systems, far, far way...
*to be fair the toast was more of a vessel for delicious unhealthy butter
**I have no fear of Disney pinching this name without paying me***, it is much too sensible a name for Star Wars.
***Like they're currently doing with Alan Dean Foster.
****[spoiler]for a long time for me was just the really annoying boss from Dark Forces[/spoiler]
Quote from: Mister Pops on 08 December, 2020, 02:53:21 PM
That's not a great endorsement.
No, it's not. Let me be clearer: both Clone Wars and Rebels engaged and entertained me in all the ways Eps I-III and VII-IX didn't. I actively enjoyed them, rather than having to sift through the dross to identify bits I liked, which was pretty much my experience for all six of those movies (although, perhaps heretically, I like AotC best of the prequels* — I kind of glazed over for the Anakin/Padme stuff but most of the rest of it, IMO, is really not bad).
*I may be being unfair on TPM, which I've seen exactly once — in the cinema on its UK release. It was such a terrible disappointment that I've never watched it again.
Without sliding into my traditional posture of 'defensive', I don't think The Mandalorian suffers from 'tiny galaxy' syndrome quite as badly as the rest of the post-OT stuff, simply because much of its familiarity is baked into the concept: he's a Mandalorian clearly struggling with what that means, so connecting to other prominent Mandalorians (Boba, Bo-Katan) and the last remnants of the powers that have heavily invested themselves in Mandalorian affairs (the Jedi, the Empire, Ahsoka and from there to Thrawn (and Ezra)) was sort of there in the name.
Same-old-planet-wise, it's really only touched on Tatooine, but as we know the destiny of the galaxy swirls around those twin suns: changing the branding of the whole saga to Tatooine Adventures wouldn't be misrepresenting it much. Other than that we've had a nice run of new or rarely-used worlds, and a good mix of new and old alien species and monsters.
If it was a show called The Bounty Hunter, I'd probably resist the rolling out the usual suspects more.
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 08 December, 2020, 01:00:37 PM
1. Do I need to watch Clone Wars / Rebels to fully 'get' this series of The Mandalorian?
No.
As I muttered upthread, Mando himself hasn't watched any of them, so beyond "the Empire is bad but was defeated and now there are its leftovers and a rather ineffectual New Republic" it's a safe bet anything important will have to be explained to him on-screen (e.g. the Force, the Jedi, other Mandalorians).
Also, not all this referenced stuff is even in those series (e.g. Tython, Dark Troopers, Krayt Dragon, Cobb Vanth).
Quote2. Should I watch Clone Wars / Rebels? (NB. My opinion of the prequel trilogy is very low, which is why I avoided Clone Wars in the first place)
It couldn't hurt. They both have their moments of greatness and dullness, but if Dee Bradley Baker's voice doesn't annoy you, you should be fine.
Quote3. Assuming (1) or (2) is a yes, which one is best?
I personally prefer Clone Wars, but Rebels is probably the better of the two shows if you don't enjoy the Prequels. Although as I saw it put recently, Clone Wars is essentially a major patch for known issues in the Prequels that really should have been implemented prior to release.
What you definitely
should watch is the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series that came out after Attack of the Clones. Not canon anymore, but plenty of it doesn't contradict anything else and explains a fair deal that is otherwise unexplained (Anakin's knighting and scar, the origin of Asaj Ventress etc), but up to Mandalorian probably the best Star Wars since the originals.
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 08 December, 2020, 01:00:37 PM
As someone who hugely enjoyed the first series of Mando but hasn't seen any of the cartoons and is mildly put off by mention of more direct cross-referencing of stuff I have three questions if anyone could helpfully help me out:
1. Do I need to watch Clone Wars / Rebels to fully 'get' this series of The Mandalorian?
...
As someone who hasn't seen the cartoons, I may not have fully got this series but I still absolutely loved it. That said, chatting to people here about some of the stuff I don't know has been very helpful and enjoyable but I'd say watch the series anyway (in fact I'm kind of glad I watched it before realising there were references I didn't get).
EVERYONE will get the reference about the Kowakian Monkey Lizard, right? And that's what sold the show to me! 😄
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 December, 2020, 05:08:02 PM
What you definitely should watch is the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series that came out after Attack of the Clones. Not canon anymore...
I did not know this. This is why I try not to invest in Star Wars Lore. The EU had to die, but when ye get bogged down in things like "Han shot first" and the fact that scenes like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj07qh51zPI) never happened, it makes it hard to get invested in the lore. And Tartakovsky is hugely talented, what eejit at Disney burned that bridge?
Quote from: Mister Pops on 09 December, 2020, 01:47:03 AM
And Tartakovsky is hugely talented, what eejit at Disney burned that bridge?
George Lucas
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 December, 2020, 04:49:11 PM
Same-old-planet-wise, it's really only touched on Tatooine, but as we know the destiny of the galaxy swirls around those twin suns: changing the branding of the whole saga to Tatooine Adventures wouldn't be misrepresenting it much.
Perhaps it's time that Tatooine opened up a second cantina though - one drinking place on the entire planet! No wonder Tosche Station gets used as a general meeting place (the Anchorhead Hunting Lodge doesn't count, as you have to be a hunter).
Quote from: sheridan on 09 December, 2020, 08:24:51 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 December, 2020, 04:49:11 PM
Same-old-planet-wise, it's really only touched on Tatooine, but as we know the destiny of the galaxy swirls around those twin suns: changing the branding of the whole saga to Tatooine Adventures wouldn't be misrepresenting it much.
Perhaps it's time that Tatooine opened up a second cantina though - one drinking place on the entire planet! No wonder Tosche Station gets used as a general meeting place (the Anchorhead Hunting Lodge doesn't count, as you have to be a hunter).
We see a different bar in Mos Pelgo in chapter 9
Quote from: James Stacey on 09 December, 2020, 04:48:01 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 09 December, 2020, 08:24:51 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 December, 2020, 04:49:11 PM
Same-old-planet-wise, it's really only touched on Tatooine, but as we know the destiny of the galaxy swirls around those twin suns: changing the branding of the whole saga to Tatooine Adventures wouldn't be misrepresenting it much.
Perhaps it's time that Tatooine opened up a second cantina though - one drinking place on the entire planet! No wonder Tosche Station gets used as a general meeting place (the Anchorhead Hunting Lodge doesn't count, as you have to be a hunter).
We see a different bar in Mos Pelgo in chapter 9
Another reason why the Mando is great :-)
Quote from: sheridan on 09 December, 2020, 08:24:51 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 08 December, 2020, 04:49:11 PM
Same-old-planet-wise, it's really only touched on Tatooine, but as we know the destiny of the galaxy swirls around those twin suns: changing the branding of the whole saga to Tatooine Adventures wouldn't be misrepresenting it much.
Perhaps it's time that Tatooine opened up a second cantina though - one drinking place on the entire planet! No wonder Tosche Station gets used as a general meeting place (the Anchorhead Hunting Lodge doesn't count, as you have to be a hunter).
There is more than one cantina on Tatooine.
Rangers of the New Republic is the best Star Wars title since Return of the Jedi.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo68lnYVEAAky1u?format=jpg&name=large)
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 11 December, 2020, 03:41:24 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo68lnYVEAAky1u?format=jpg&name=large)
That's a lot of Star Wars coming out - some have sizzle reels already, so it's not just vague plans. Guess the newish streaming service has to keep the new content coming. Probably need a new thread for all that lot!
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 11 December, 2020, 03:41:24 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo68lnYVEAAky1u?format=jpg&name=large)
Sticking Kennedy in front of that graphic probably constitutes incitement.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 11 December, 2020, 03:41:24 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo68lnYVEAAky1u?format=jpg&name=large)
This is clearly fake new. If they hadn't put Willow up there I might have believed it.
I'm wondering about that fourth Indiana Jones film (or TV series?)
Chapter 15: Probably my favourite episode to date. Not because anything earth-shattering happened, but because it was just some SW guys on a good old-fashioned mission, such as we might have played in the West End Games RPG fadó fadó. There was good action, some planets, explosions, a fun if transient character and some redemption. And [spoiler]Grogu[/spoiler] was nowhere to be seen.
At one point, I caught myself grinning stupidly and thinking "I'm watching Boba Fett on an adventure. On my telly. In the 21st Century".
The final scene was a bit silly and pointless, some of the effects didn't seem as polished as usual, but other than that, yeah, this really IS the way.
Quote from: sheridan on 11 December, 2020, 10:59:58 AM
I'm wondering about that fourth Indiana Jones film (or TV series?)
Fifth. Or are you trying to block Crystal Skull from your mind?
You made me think of it.
GODDAM YOU!
I did warn my partner [spoiler] Grogu was unlikely to be in it [/spoiler] and she was gutted when she realised [spoiler]I was right [/spoiler] but I was like a pig in shit having [spoiler]not one, but TWO Mandalorians strutting their stuff, one of whom was Fett! Plus Slave One! I even got excited when he used that armament which came with THAT sound! [/spoiler]. I mean, come on!! If you're a Star Wars fan, and not enjoying it at this point, you're dead inside!
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 11 December, 2020, 08:03:24 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 11 December, 2020, 10:59:58 AM
I'm wondering about that fourth Indiana Jones film (or TV series?)
Fifth. Or are you trying to block Crystal Skull from your mind?
You made me think of it.
GODDAM YOU!
Well, I did bold the number...
Quote from: sheridan on 11 December, 2020, 09:12:52 PM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 11 December, 2020, 08:03:24 PM
Quote from: sheridan on 11 December, 2020, 10:59:58 AM
I'm wondering about that fourth Indiana Jones film (or TV series?)
Fifth. Or are you trying to block Crystal Skull from your mind?
You made me think of it.
GODDAM YOU!
Well, I did bold the number...
Ah, I see. Probably too subtle for my addled brain.
I know this is a show with a little green telekinetic baby and there's been a space wizard with a lazer sword amongst other things... but troopers are too regularly getting sparked out by being punched in the helmet*. It's been happening way to regularly to be ignored and now I'm wondering what benefit the helmets have. They clearly can't aim properly through the visors, and it's hard enough to punch someones lights out when they're not wearing a helmet.
I know I'm nitpicking. This is the way
*stop it you
Even when relatively young, I figured that Imperial armour isn't designed to protect against physical impact — hence their susceptibility to Ewoks throwing rocks at them. I imagine that its main property is deflective or ablative and intended to protect against energy weapons — the need for mobility leads to the armour being insufficient to protect against a direct hit, but probably enough for a glancing hit or a ricochet.
But, as evidenced since the original trilogy, very little use against a right hook from a Wookiee or a well-aimed rock.
Pretty sure Imperial armour is symbolic, acting to dehumanise and anonymise coercive authority while summoning images of warriors of the galactic past.
The final straw for me was when Finn revealed the First Order version didn't even protect against toxic gas. The Clone Trooper version of 50 years before allowed its wearers to operate (for a limited time) in a vacuum! PPE standards are on a downward trajectory.
I don't think Palps had any interest in troops that were actually resilient*, hence no shields in a TIE fighter either, it was all about appearance and numbers. And you can't deny that they look cool as.
*No-one who rules through fear and manipulation wants armed forces that can pose a threat to them - hence the idea of personal control of a single Death Star, instead of investing in a larger fleet, and manufacturing toops with secret chips in their heads that give you direct and absolute control.
I know it's an old trope, and it's even referred to in the Mandalorian, but even crap armour notwithstanding, Stormtroopers really are awful soldiers. They couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo and even when their lasers do hit they seem less effective than bullets. Or maybe it's just that all their opponents are really, really good at fighting and only make them seem bad.
Also, every time I see the word Mandalorian mentioned, I sing it in my head to the tune of the chorus of the Pixies' Velouria.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 13 December, 2020, 12:17:27 AM
I know it's an old trope, and it's even referred to in the Mandalorian, but even crap armour notwithstanding, Stormtroopers really are awful soldiers. They couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo and even when their lasers do hit they seem less effective than bullets. Or maybe it's just that all their opponents are really, really good at fighting and only make them seem bad.
Also, every time I see the word Mandalorian mentioned, I sing it in my head to the tune of the Pixies' Velouria.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 13 December, 2020, 12:17:27 AMsoldiers. They couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo ...
Prior to the Disney era this wasn't really true, outside of spoofs. Oh no, it's after-midnight hobby-horse time! Look away!
The stormies in A New Hope zap the rebels easy enough on the Tantive IV, including Princess Leia, and then offscreen they successfully massacre the Jawas and the Lars family, as well as apparently taking out a sandcrawler with 'precise' blaster work. Not so great at Mos Eisley, but not visibly disastrous. Similarly they make light work of the rebels on Hoth, and don't do
too badly on Bespin either.
Post-mortems on the Endor business always seem a bit unfair. The Emperor's 'best troops'* initially capture the entire rebel strike force, shoot Leia, and kill a good few Ewoks, but it's not an open fight and they are outnumbered planet-to-legion and undone by their inferior knowledge of their terrain and their shitty, shitty armour and vehicles. (The Endor Biker Scouts are admittedly totally awful, as confirmed in Mando, but that's scouts for you).
In fact, in the whole OT it's only on the Death Star that stormtroopers are actual completely barn-door-missing
crap.
Except that this
exactly what they were supposed to do. Vader
lets the lads rescue Leia and escape, so that she can lead him to the Rebel base, which is the plot of the movie from his PoV. The Death Star plans are a secondary if embarrassing issue for Tarkin & Co because they believe completely in the technological terror they've created: finding and wiping out the rebels is the objective, and if it can be done promptly, the plans don't matter at all.
Because of this, the Death Star stormies are really order-following heroes, earning their Obi-Wan-endorsed reputation for precision marksmanship by missing
every shot, knowingly laying down their lives for the Empire. I'm sure they'd all have been decorated afterwards, if only, well, you know.
*This claim by noted liar Palpatine requires us to believe that for some reason he hadn't already stationed, and lost, his 'best troops' on the first Death Star and at the Imperial Vault on Scariff. These guys are the best of what's left.
Is it three years between Star Wars and Return of the Jedi? That's time enough for new crack troops to come to the fore.
All stormtroopers are as good as the plot demands.
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 December, 2020, 11:02:59 AM
Is it three years between Star Wars and Return of the Jedi? That's time enough for new crack troops to come to the fore.
True!
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 13 December, 2020, 12:19:53 PM
All stormtroopers are as good as the plot demands.
Also true! In the case of RotJ, the plot demands an amusing re-run of Vietnam.
I still think the Endor troops aren't as rubbish as made out - it's just that we the audience (like the Imperials themselves) can't see past the cute furry facades to see just how cunning and vicious an opponent the man-eating Ewoks are. The ease with which they come up with bombing gliders, catapults, giant deadfall traps etc.
overnight speaks to either a stone age culture in a state of constant tribal warfare or a preternaturally ingenious species. Either way, I wouldn't want to be TK-19.
rewatched Rogue One again last night. The stormtroopers are pretty good shots in that too, apart from when they are shooting at Chirrut in one scene,
Quote from: James Stacey on 14 December, 2020, 02:18:41 PM
rewatched Rogue One again last night. The stormtroopers are pretty good shots in that too, apart from when they are shooting at Chirrut in one scene,
Yeah, but he's one with the Force and the Force is with him, so that doesn't count.
Quote from: James Stacey on 14 December, 2020, 02:18:41 PM
rewatched Rogue One again last night. The stormtroopers are pretty good shots in that too, apart from when they are shooting at Chirrut in one scene,
Their armour reaches new depths of crapness, mind. Chirrut wipes out an entire squad with a cane.
To be fair, if it wasn't for the remarkable sturdiness of Beskar, the stormtroopers would have nailed the Mandalorian a few times over by now.
Fair points. I'll give the stormtroopers another chance then. (But I'd also say that those lasers they fire seem a tad less effective than bullets - I suspect one of Dredd's armour piercers would get through that armour pretty sharpish.)
I retract my previous statement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agUaHwxcXHY)
Quote from: TordelBack on 14 December, 2020, 02:26:43 PM
Quote from: James Stacey on 14 December, 2020, 02:18:41 PM
rewatched Rogue One again last night. The stormtroopers are pretty good shots in that too, apart from when they are shooting at Chirrut in one scene,
Their armour reaches new depths of crapness, mind. Chirrut wipes out an entire squad with a cane.
A cane wielded by Donnie Yen, lest we forget.
Let's just take a moment to remember Donnie Yen was in a Star Wars movie. And they used him right.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 December, 2020, 02:13:05 AM
I retract my previous statement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agUaHwxcXHY)
Bugger. Who owns 2000AD now, then?
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 December, 2020, 02:44:04 PM
To be fair, if it wasn't for the remarkable sturdiness of Beskar, the stormtroopers would have nailed the Mandalorian a few times over by now.
Not to mention its apparent resistance to a light sabre.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 December, 2020, 02:13:05 AM
I retract my previous statement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agUaHwxcXHY)
How completely random - I know the fella on the receiving end of that shield, we're members of the same non-medieval reenactment group. We had a good laugh at this, it must be said.
Quote from: wedgeski on 15 December, 2020, 10:11:51 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 December, 2020, 02:44:04 PM
To be fair, if it wasn't for the remarkable sturdiness of Beskar, the stormtroopers would have nailed the Mandalorian a few times over by now.
Not to mention its apparent resistance to a light sabre.
My Mandalorian armour theory is that it actually attracts blasts - maybe not completely but it sort of bends them towards the armour (imperceptibly) this explains why, somehow, the troopers are now crack shots, why only some armour is enough (I mean look at the stupid gaps of armour?) and why it's so valuable (admittedly this theory occurred to me before I saw it was also light sabre proof) also, a second theory out of that is that possibly it's force nullifying because it contains no Mandelbrots (or whatever the force things are called) thereby making it even more valuable and useful as armour against Jedi...
Quote from: pauljholden on 15 December, 2020, 02:04:38 PM
Quote from: wedgeski on 15 December, 2020, 10:11:51 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 14 December, 2020, 02:44:04 PM
To be fair, if it wasn't for the remarkable sturdiness of Beskar, the stormtroopers would have nailed the Mandalorian a few times over by now.
Not to mention its apparent resistance to a light sabre.
My Mandalorian armour theory is that it actually attracts blasts - maybe not completely but it sort of bends them towards the armour (imperceptibly) this explains why, somehow, the troopers are now crack shots, why only some armour is enough (I mean look at the stupid gaps of armour?) and why it's so valuable (admittedly this theory occurred to me before I saw it was also light sabre proof) also, a second theory out of that is that possibly it's force nullifying because it contains no Mandelbrots (or whatever the force things are called) thereby making it even more valuable and useful as armour against Jedi...
I've always thought a shotgun would be the best weapon against a Jedi. If they tried to deflect a shotgun blast with their lightsabre, it would just turn it into a hail of molten lead.
Although maybe not, because physics is a bit screwy in Star Wars with all the freezing lazer bolts mid-air and "dropping" bombs in space and emperors surviving after being chucked down a space station shaft and then blowing up the space station which was massive, but the space station's tidal gravity seemingly didn't affect the moon it was orbiting. All this can be hand-waived with "the force", but this makes it hard to make predictions on how things interact.
Anyway, assuming it can't be deflected they
could use the force to stop the blast mid air, a bit like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix, but that would take more effort and concentration.
So a shotgun wielding Mando in full beskar could effectively neutralize a lightsabre's defense and offense.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 December, 2020, 02:32:07 PM....and "dropping" bombs in space ...
>adjusts glasses<
This is possibly the least problematic bit of physics in SW! Resistance bombers obviously have artificial gravity internally, and store bombs in tall vertical racks. When released the bombs start accelerating 'down' under that gravity (just like Rose's sister does), and then continue outside the field at the velocity they have built up. There may be an anti-shielding advantage to munitions that are themselves unpowered or travelling at low speeds (this is the way the Jedi and Clones deal with Destroyer Droid shields in TCW, and sort-of how the Battle Droids penetrate the Gungan shield on Naboo).
The rest, yeah, bobbins. Best to assume that what with it being fantasy an entirely different set of physical laws apply in SW, it saves the noggin.
As to shotguns, maybe, but some kind of fragmentation device would be good too. Note that the Jedi have no obvious defence against the green 'sonic' weapons that the Geonosians use in AotC - suggests that a flashbang packed with random sharp things might settle their hash.
I think PJ's theory about Beskar nullifying the Midiwotsits has merit: Timothy Zahn's increasingly-recanonised novels introduced a creature that could do that, before Midichlorians were a thing.
Canonically Beskar's properties goes back to the Rebels cartoon, and the scales of a Zillo Beast from Clone Wars were impervious to lightsabres too - while it doesn't look it, maybe Beskar ore is formed by organic processes, in the same way that real-life Bog Iron is leached by organically-concentrated acids and deposited in layers?
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 December, 2020, 02:32:07 PM
emperors surviving after being chucked down a space station shaft and then blowing up the space station which was massive
If we indulge and presume
Palpatine managed to survive his fall –through whatever means– he still had plenty of time to get off the Death Star.
Luke managed to get his da, presumably to a lift that took them down the tower, then limped their way to the docking bay where they rested, shared a moment >Williams on harp<, before Luke dragged Vader's body onto the shuttle and took off in time for Yub Nub.
Time there may have been, but there is the small matter of a big whooshy explosion right after he went skydiving.
I'd rather see all the reflux as his Sithly energies escaping and heading off in search of a suitable host. RoS makes the spirit-transfer-process canonically possible, and so potentially Vader/Anakin chucks him down the pit specifically to prevent him leaping into Luke at the point of physical death, as he planned to do to Rey.
Add in post-RotJ clone experiments that for some reason need transfusions from midichlorian-rich infants, and I think a more ethereal escape route is being established.
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 December, 2020, 03:13:03 PM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 December, 2020, 02:32:07 PM....and "dropping" bombs in space ...
>adjusts glasses<
This is possibly the least problematic bit of physics in SW! Resistance bombers obviously have artificial gravity internally, and store bombs in tall vertical racks. When released the bombs start accelerating 'down' under that gravity (just like Rose's sister does), and then continue outside the field at the velocity they have built up. There may be an anti-shielding advantage to munitions that are themselves unpowered or travelling at low speeds (this is the way the Jedi and Clones deal with Destroyer Droid shields in TCW, and sort-of how the Battle Droids penetrate the Gungan shield on Naboo).
I thought it was something to do with the bombs falling towards the nearest gravity well?
Quote from: TordelBack on 15 December, 2020, 04:10:13 PM
Time there may have been, but there is the small matter of a big whooshy explosion right after he went skydiving.
Never underestimate the power of old man gas.
This thread is the Star Wars equivalent of republicans trying to explain what Trump really meant
Quote from: sheridan on 15 December, 2020, 05:08:21 PM
I thought it was something to do with the bombs falling towards the nearest gravity well?
Quite possibly! I try to base my wittering only on what I see on screen with my own fading peepers. There may be official explanations, but I never trust those, having lived through too many Great Resets.
Quote from: Mister Pops on 15 December, 2020, 05:13:37 PM
This thread is the Star Wars equivalent of republicans trying to explain what Trump really meant
Trump is just another fandom.
Anyway, it was nice to hear the sound effect of that seismic charge again, which I felt was by far the best part of Attack of the Clones.
Forget all this derivative bollocks, cop an eyeful of this (https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/amp/culture/video/rare-exclusive-scenes-empire-strikes-back-74735668?__twitter_impression=true). Just drink in every glorious frame. Behind the scenes of the greatest film ever made, with the most extraordinary woman ever to don a novelty plait.
Quote from: TordelBack on 16 December, 2020, 08:11:01 AM
Forget all this derivative bollocks, cop an eyeful of this (https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/amp/culture/video/rare-exclusive-scenes-empire-strikes-back-74735668?__twitter_impression=true). Just drink in every glorious frame. Behind the scenes of the greatest film ever made, with the most extraordinary woman ever to don a novelty plait.
Fantastic behind the scenes and it's definitely the best of all the SW films
Quote from: TordelBack on 16 December, 2020, 08:11:01 AM
Forget all this derivative bollocks, cop an eyeful of this (https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/amp/culture/video/rare-exclusive-scenes-empire-strikes-back-74735668?__twitter_impression=true). Just drink in every glorious frame. Behind the scenes of the greatest film ever made, with the most extraordinary woman ever to don a novelty plait.
Yes sir, I'll take it. Thanks for that, TB. Watching that film in the cinema is one of my earliest memories. Mark Hamill was, and is, a fun, witty and all-round great fella, and of course Carrie Fisher was a superstar.
(I hadn't realised she was so small.)
I feel like a SW prodigal son now with
the Mandalorian on TV - if the franchise continues at this level of quality I'm back in the fold for good. I watched the most recent one last night, and it's kind of like Torquemada and his past selves - it's
all the best action movies ever made.
Mad Max 2 in the mix last night to add to
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Crouching Tiger, lots of good WW2 movies and, well,
Star Wars.
It's been an astonishingly good second season - far surpassing the first one, which was maginificent.
One year until season 3. Deep sigh.
[spoiler]And that cameo: in a nutshell - Holy SHIT!![/spoiler]
WOW. Now THAT is how you do an ending!
And then there's that post credit scene.....
Haven't felt like that since 10 year old me saw Return Of The Jedi. Punched the air.
Blimey.
Good wasn't it? And good of them for [spoiler]keeping that character's appearance under wraps. I'll admit I wondered if he would be the one to turn up, but there were a couple of other candidates they could have used. I'm also sure that those who didn't consider him bad-ass enough in the sequel trilogy* will get a kick out of this. And lovely to see that weapon in action again.
I did find the CGI face a little... uncanny, but I don't think that could be helped. It did the job well enough and overall looked great. Curiously the dark troopers all looked real and solid to me, although I think they must have used at least some CGI. Digital realism has certainly come a long way, but you can still just about see the difference with human faces, most of the time. An observation, not a complaint.[/spoiler]
As for that [spoiler]Boba Fett[/spoiler] end credits scene, [spoiler]before I saw this episode, I'd read online that there was a Boba Fett spin-off teaser. I confess I've felt rather ambivalent concerning a Boba Fett series. While I like the character, and I welcome seeing more of him, maybe a film, or as a guest character again in future series, we've got a cracking mandaloian series already. If they'd done a Boba Fett series in the first place instead, fair enough, but they didn't. In hindsight, I'm glad they didn't as Din Djarin as a more pure Mandalorian type character is different and the show is interesting in its own right.
After watching that teaser though... wow. That set a decidedly different tone to he Mandalorian. Looks like they'll do things a bit different with this. Bring it on.[/spoiler]
*[spoiler]Wrongly I think. He did right in the end, and was never more powerful, just in a different way.[/spoiler]
Don't quite know how to feel about all that! Spectacularly epic stuff, technically brilliant too, but felt a bit like the grown-ups taking the toys away, or like it was someone else's story along. I wasn't done playing!
As for a [spoiler]Boba Does King Conan spinoff[/spoiler], how do they keep these things quiet!
Quote from: Mardroid on 18 December, 2020, 06:31:38 PM
[spoiler]
I did find the CGI face a little... uncanny, but I don't think that could be helped. It did the job well enough and overall looked great. Curiously the dark troopers all looked real and solid to me, although I think they must have used at least some CGI. Digital realism has certainly come a long way, but you can still just about see the difference with human faces, most of the time. An observation, not a complaint.[/spoiler]
Aye, that didn't sit quite right with me either, just as [spoiler] Leia's face at the end of Rogue One didn't. [/spoiler] Still enormously cool though, particularly the epic ness just prior to that point.
Quote
*[spoiler]Wrongly I think. He did right in the end, and was never more powerful, just in a different way.[/spoiler]
He was absolutely totally [spoiler]badass in TLJ, and it was quite frankly the only truly good part of that film. It was a total Bruce Lee moment - the art of fighting without fighting. He proved to be the Master of absolutely everything in that scene. He was literally impossible to beat. Hell of a moment! And for anyone to suggest that wasn't the epitome of a martial art such as being a Jedi, they have no clue what 'master' truly means. [/spoiler]
Anyway, great final episode! Not my favourite, but still epic.
Huh. Well, there was literally only one way they could have ended that series that would have completely ruined it for me... and they went and did it.
I would like [spoiler]just one fucking story in the Star Wars universe not to have anything to do with the fucking Skywalkers. I don't think it's a lot to ask, TBH.[/spoiler]
OTOH, do stay with it until the end of the credits...
All those years people doubted Boba Fett. The faithful knew.
They tread a very fine-line [spoiler]when they go big with the mythic characters[/spoiler] and inevitably step over it, but I like that they at least put a bit of thought into it – even if it is indugling in the old It's like poetry, sort of. They rhyme™ – as [spoiler]Luke's last act intervention is a mirror of Vader's arrival at the climax of Rogue One: both are a tense, shadowy build-up to a reveal, and invole a solo run of cutting down the opposing hordes, while negotiating corridors and doors to reach the McGuffin (Plans/Grogu).[/spoiler]
Let's face it, it's ALL [spoiler]McGuffin[/spoiler] but it's very entertaining [spoiler]McGuffin[/spoiler].
Good catch there, Joe.
I thought [spoiler]Luke [/spoiler]looked great, but [spoiler]R2D2[/spoiler] was really unconvincing.
You could tell it wasn't [spoiler]Kenny Baker[/spoiler].
I really liked that ending. [spoiler]Who else would be able to take care of the wee lad? Not sure how they can make another season of the Mandalorian now though: the shark would appear to have been jumped. [/spoiler]
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 18 December, 2020, 11:55:59 PM
[spoiler]Not sure how they can make another season of the Mandalorian now though: the shark would appear to have been jumped. [/spoiler]
The storyline of the [spoiler]rights to the throne of Mandalore[/spoiler] has been set-up.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 18 December, 2020, 11:55:59 PM
I really liked that ending. [spoiler]Who else would be able to take care of the wee lad? Not sure how they can make another season of the Mandalorian now though: the shark would appear to have been jumped. [/spoiler]
Aye. At the end, my partner turned to me, tears in her eyes, and said [spoiler]"Is that the end of the baby Yoda show then? 'Cos I'm not that interested in all of the other stuff."[/spoiler]
I think Disney are probably not going to keep [spoiler]Grogu[/spoiler] out for too long.
In generally I don't like the small galaxy syndrome but in the year 9ABY there aren't that many other Jedi available to turn up.
I suppose he still has [spoiler]another 850 years in him. [/spoiler] I must admit I had a tear in my eye at the end too.
Haven't heard of the small galaxy syndrome before but it kind of makes sense - that said, there can't be TOO many inhabitable planets in the former empire, and when you have FTL they're all just a jump away.
there's a extra scene after the credits with the final episode
:D
(https://i.imgur.com/kFj7Liq.jpg)
[spoiler]The goodbye scene with Mando and Grogu was very touching.
And maybe another little inversion - "let me look at you with my own eyes"?[/spoiler]
Given the time period, from the moment the Child was revealed the shadow of [spoiler]Luke[/spoiler] hung over the entire series. He had to show up at some point, it was only a question of when: credulity was already being stretched that people who actually knew[spoiler] Luke as a Jedi and Leia as a big-shot Rebel, and had at least seen Yoda himself, (Boba, for one) weren't saying "just phone up the New Republic and ask for Skywalker".[/spoiler]
Personally I'd have liked to see [spoiler]a slightly older Luke and some new gear (the OT transition from white:grey:black costume shouldn't really have remained static), and I'd like to have seen his involvement be more peripheral rather than as a Jedi ex machina climax to someone else's story.
I'd also like to have seen R2 and Grogu tussle over his ball. But it was definitely thrilling, emotional stuff, and if we get to see Baby Ben and Grogu playing force-catch next season, it'll all have been worth it
[/spoiler]
What I find unamazing [spoiler]is the "this is how Luke should have been in the sequels" reaction - as if an unstoppable, unflappable, all-powerful hero would have been of any interest for more than the 10 minutes we got here. Far more interesting to me is whether it's his decision here to ignore the supposed dangers of attachment that leads this self-confident godling down the 25 year path to Ahch-To?
[/spoiler]
To throw something else out there, [spoiler]now that the Imps have Grogu's magic blood, what if the next part of the plot involves Rey's father? Assuming Rey is 19ish in TFA, the show is set about 5 or 6 years before her birth. So Sheev Jr is probably a teenager or young adult, and either a major disappointment or just about to become one. Was Pershing's lab involved in creating him? Do they want to infuse him with Midiwotsits? Or clone him and try again? It seems likely that Snoke would already be in play, so not the current concern. Could crossing paths with Mando be what sets him on his peacenik course? [/spoiler]
He could pop up as a runaway, or a pompous Imperial princeling, and we'd be none the wiser.
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 19 December, 2020, 11:08:40 AM
Haven't heard of the small galaxy syndrome before but it kind of makes sense - that said, there can't be TOO many inhabitable planets in the former empire, and when you have FTL they're all just a jump away.
So... the Star Wars galaxy has 3.2 million habitable systems. I don't know how many of those are supposed to be in the Republic / Empire / etc, but thousands were said to have seceded from the Empire to join the Alliance following the Battle of Endor. If you think about the Senate, every single one of those pods represents either a planet or a collection of planets.
Small galaxy syndrome is where you can travel many light years and end up bumping in to the people who have all the same acquaintances in common. Or more likely they turn out to be your parent, sibling or grandparent.
Having said all that, I do think that, in this instance, [spoiler]Luke is the one Jedi around post-Endor who has expressed an interest in establishing a new Jedi Academy and so would want to pick up on Grogu's signal[/spoiler]. Though note that the only Star Wars novel I've read which wasn't an adaptation of the holy trilogy was Splinter of the Mind's Eye, though I am aware of some of the characters from the extended/legends/new canon.
Small Galaxy syndrome is infuriating, but partly a function of having paid for nostalgia-drenched IP so your shareholders are damn well going to want to see it used.
In this specific instance I feel it's quite reasonably driven by the premise: placing a Mando and a Yoda at the centre of a series set between the OT and the ST means that you're inevitably going to draw in the Mandalorians, Empire and the Jedi, all groups that at that time are virtually extinct beyond the representatives we already know. If Din Djaren was a random Bounty Hunter looking after a random child, accusations would be very valid, but this entire series is set up to be fan service, and this fan at least has enjoyed being serviced.
Now they've gone so far as to pull young [spoiler]Luke Skywalker out of the bag for Mando, I may not be so surprised when General Solo turns up for a score settling confrontation in The Book of Baba Fett. They're shooting the final Indy film in the Spring so Ford will be around the Lucasfilm sphere.[/spoiler]
Was pondering this very alignment meself. If I was in charge of the de-ager [spoiler]I'd use it for some Deadbeat Dad action. Han is watching Grogu and Baby Ben whiie Luke & Leia are on a twinsies' birthday spabreak on Ord Mantell, but accidentally loses the kids to Hondo Ohnaka in a game of Corellian Wild Draw. Han must persuade old flame Q'ira to use her underworld contacts to help find the kids, without arousing Leia's jealous suspicions. Hilarious misadventures and "it's not my fault!" declarations ensue. [/spoiler]
I'd renew my subscription, lemme tell you.
Tord, that actually sounds great. I'd watch that. Played with the light comedy/adventure touch so prevalent in the MCU it would be a hoot (as the padawans say)
[spoiler]Personally, I reckon Gordon is gone for just next season. [/spoiler]
I'm afraid I've developed the premise.
So, Leia is enjoying her sand-baths and dianoga smoothies or what have you (let's say it was on Canto Bight, not Ord Mantell), and decides to holo-comm Han to see how he's getting on, expecting to see their senatorial quarters on Chandrila.
Instead, we see the cockpit of the Millennium Flacon with a harried-looking unshaven Han surrounded by smoke and a cacophony of alarms, with Chewie and 3PO tangled in armfuls of wiring and porgs flapping all over the place.
"Han? What's going on? Where's Ben?".
"Hi honey, uh, had a slight diaper malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?".
Then we hear the unmistakable sound of laser blasts on the Falcon's shields and Qi-Ra's voice from off-holo: "Isn't anyone on this rust-bucket going to shoot back?".
"Han, who's that with you? Where're Ben and Grogu? Should I come home?"
"Negative, negative, uh, big leak, very odourous...", and then nothing but blue static.
"I've got a bad feeling about this", sighs Leia, leaning back in her sand-bath. Why can't she trust that scruffy-looking nerf-herder with anything.
Then suddenly there's a loud BOOM!, and we see the roof of the spa collapse in.
Leia has somehow forgotten that it's not just her and Luke's birthday, it's also the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Empire - and Imperial Remnant loyalists have staged a series of attacks across the galaxy to mark the date.
As Leia struggles to extricate herself from the rubble, out of the dust we see a tall, handsome, well-groomed Jedi appear, silhouetted by light, and with wave of his hand the debris floats aside. "Your highness, I'm Ezra Bridger, I'm here to rescue you".
(See it's also Ezra's birthday and he's spending it at the same spa - and adult Ezra is everything Han's not, competent, respectful, Force-sensitive...). Now we have parallel romantic-tension storylines!
Meanwhile Ezra and Grogu are systematically dismantling Hondo's pirate empire with their innocent hi-jinks, and we hear him wail "This venture is no longer profitable!
Pay me and Alan Dean Foster, Kathleen, and it's all yours.
(Aaargh, Ben and Grogu doing the dismantling, of course. We'll fix it in post.)
Jesus - you've been Scojo all along, haven't you?
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 20 December, 2020, 02:24:47 PM
Jesus - you've been Scojo all along, haven't you?
(https://media4.giphy.com/media/3owzW1VPVGtiFJvxQI/giphy.gif)
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 20 December, 2020, 02:24:47 PM
Jesus - you've been Scojo all along, haven't you?
In the end, maybe the real Scojo was the trolls we met along the way...
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 20 December, 2020, 05:57:32 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 20 December, 2020, 02:24:47 PM
Jesus - you've been Scojo all along, haven't you?
In the end, maybe the real Scojo was the trolls we met along the way...
I would also venture that we travelled the world searching for Scojo's James Bond audition video, when all the time it was at our own doorstep.
(Yep, I haven't forgotten that it was you, TB, that had your, er, sorry, 'his' video immediately to hand when I asked for it once. The evidence is stacking up.)
Nice try JBC, but I think it's clear Scojo was actually Ken Niemand.
We've heard it all before, Scoje, old boy.
In actual fact, I was away from the board for a bit and missed a lot of the Scojo madness - I did read a bit of his Dredd movie script, though, and my word, it was bad (as John Smith told him time and again on other sites). I don't know the context of that James Bond video, but it was a thing of wonder - I can only assume he really thought he was the man for the job.
https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1341015301652180993
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpwrnlAXMAA7BUf?format=jpg&name=large)
Great season,even if bit formulaic at times.
So I'm four or five episodes in (The Jedi was the last one) The level of fanwank is something to behold.
It reminds me of the climax of Time Bandits where everything that shows up is a toy from Kevin's bedroom...
But it's from my bedroom in 1983 and despite being old enough to know better, I'm playing with the toys and smashing them together to make a story.
"And then the stormtrooper transporter crashes into those spiders from the Empire Strikes Back concept art and then the blue guy from the X-Wing game unleashes his squad of Dark Troopers from Dark Forces game... and then... and then..."
Fucking marvellous!
Finally finished this. All I have to add is; I really enjoyed how the robots move like they've been animated by Harryhausen.
Honest Trailers | The Mandalorian (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlxuSILjRl0)
It has taken me a while to accept the fan service but once I did that I liked it more (same with HOBBIT movies, I had to accept it wasn't an adaption of THE HOBBIT before I enjoyed them).
Well I spoke too soon. That finale was a bit too much for me.
Unstoppable Jedi slicing through everything is just dull. Made me glad THE LAST JEDI played out the way it did.
And nicking the end of the show from the main characters is unforgivable... especially after they did such a good job of building the tension for a last stand.
I've zero interest in a Boba Fett spinoff. I never thought I'd find myself in the position of choosing NOT to watch Star Wars content.
But there we are.
I really enjoyed the second series, but I found it a step down from the first. I was hoping it'd basically be about the titular character and his mini-Yoda mate wandering about having adventures whilst the quest resolution stayed mainly on the horizon, in the vein of something like Quantum Leap or Monkey, but solving the quest was the main narrartive thrust throughout and almost every episode seemed to include Jedi, Mandalorians or both with a bit too much expanded universe influence for my liking. Plus the way it wrapped up leaves me fairly ambivalent about a third series if it's all to do with [spoiler]darksabres[/spoiler] and [spoiler]the throne of Mandalore[/spoiler] but I can't see them moving too far away from the core concept?
That's a minor gripe though as it was still mainly very cool, and last episode did see a few tears of excitement shed at the end when [spoiler]Luke arrived[/spoiler] It's still the best thing Disney have done in the Star Wars universe.
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 04 January, 2021, 09:37:30 AM
I really enjoyed the second series, but I found it a step down from the first. I was hoping it'd basically be about the titular character and his mini-Yoda mate wandering about having adventures whilst the quest resolution stayed mainly on the horizon, in the vein of something like Quantum Leap or Monkey...
This is the way.
I read a lot of review and comment during the run about "filler" episodes, reflecting an idea that the only purpose of the show was to quickly get to some destination - whereas it was the journey itself I was enjoying. It is (was) a great setup, why the urgency to destroy it?
I find that the trick is to watch what's being presented in front of you, not what's already in your mind.
Quote from: DrRocka on 04 January, 2021, 05:16:05 PM
I find that the trick is to watch what's being presented in front of you, not what's already in your mind.
That's what watching is, yes, well done.
And I think if Tordel and I had done otherwise we wouldn't have had that minor complaint.
I think Star Wars works best when it's based on old western, samurai and WWII movies and riffing on fantasy tropes. Star Wars is kinda shite when it's based on Star Wars and riffing on EU geegaws.
I think this is why I didn't enjoy the second season as much.
The [spoiler]Ahsoka[/spoiler] episode, while possibly 'riffing on EU geegaws', featuring, you know, [spoiler]Ahsoka[/spoiler], was very heavily influenced by Samurai movies. In fact it pretty much was a short samurai film, except with a [spoiler]glowy sword[/spoiler].
So, not mutually exclusive things. But I think I get what you mean.
I largely enjoyed series 2 and was happy enough with including things from the EU, (if you include the Clone Wars animation as EU, since it is canon. EU in the sense of 'not of the movies' I guess.) because it made sense and didn't feel too crowbarred in. I.e. most of the cross-over stuff involved [spoiler]Mandalorian type characters.... [/spoiler]which a Mandalorian is most likely to encounter at some point. As for [spoiler]Ahsoka and Luke,[/spoiler] well that made total sense from the child thread standpoint. [spoiler]There aren't exactly many Jedi about any more, so who else would they meet?[/spoiler]
But I wouldn't want everything to be based on that stuff, and I appreciate this series was EU heavy
My personal small issue with this series was the sheer amount of time they spent on action scenes based completely on other characters. The characters and the scenes themselves were good, but the main character got sidelined for long periods of time, spending part of that literally flying off elsewhere or unconscious. The last two episodes rectified that somewhat.
I suspect those long Mando-light action scenes were intended to showcase characters involved in the spin-off stories, (Rangers and Boba Fett) however.
Quote from: Mardroid on 10 January, 2021, 06:05:47 PM
The [spoiler]Ahsoka[/spoiler] episode, while possibly 'riffing on EU geegaws', featuring, you know, [spoiler]Ahsoka[/spoiler], was very heavily influenced by Samurai movies. In fact it pretty much was a short samurai film, except with a [spoiler]glowy sword[/spoiler].
So, not mutually exclusive things. But I think I get what you mean.
No not mutually exclusive things, and I suppose it was inevitable that [spoiler]Luke[/spoiler] would eventually show up, but as Tips mentioned earlier, he shows up and steals the glory. We've seen [spoiler]Jedi milling through bots with their lightsabres[/spoiler]* multiple times since the prequels. Also Mando should have had enough sense [spoiler] tell the ladies on the bridge to make a quick jump to lightspeed when he spaced the Dark Troopers. He knew they had jet packs, and has always shown good situational awareness.[/spoiler] I felt it was a bit out of character for him to pull that boner.
Compare that with the climatic action scene at the end of the first series when [spoiler]Mando takes out a TIE fighter with a jet pack, a harpoon and a small explosive[/spoiler], that was way more exciting and something original** compared to what we've seen in Star Wars before. I wanted more of that sort of thing, less light-thayburrrth. The Jedi have been a huge drag since their return in 1983.
Check me out, I'm nitpicking and whining about Star Wars, like a real cool internet guy.
This is the way.
*[spoiler]Also, for reasons unclear to me, I had assumed the Dark Troopers were made of Beskar, since the imps seemed to have a decent stash of it. Obviously not, if Lukes lightsabre could slice through it easily. It would have been more interesting to see Luke deal with them when his lightsabre was useless. Would have been a good demonstration of what the force could really do for Mando and the kid (and the audience).[/spoiler]
**unless you've played Just Cause III, which you should.
Quote from: TordelBack on 17 November, 2019, 04:55:21 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 17 November, 2019, 04:38:17 PM
I'd like to apologise for the spoiler upthread.
No complaints from this quarter. If I'm checking in on a thread about a programme that's aired, I expect to run the risk of being spoiled: that's my decision.
I took the alternative path and avoided this thread until I'd watched every episode - so a year and two months on from your comment, what it means for me is I now have 26 pages of this thread to catch up on 🤣
Quote from: TordelBack on 19 November, 2020, 03:10:31 PM
This is an appalling situation. I greatly enjoy Disney's overall output, and between myself and the family have happily shovelled cash at them, despite moral qualms about the impact if their increasingly huge influence. Even aside from the general immorality of their royslties position, I have personally loved ADF's two SW novels (the novelisation was the only way I had to watch SW, pre-video) and two of his Alien ones, as well as his Trek and Spellsinger work, and feel deep anger about his treatment.
In news I somehow missed, Cory Doctorow reports that Disney reached agreement with Alan Dean Foster, and he has now been paid. Their exploitative shenanigans with regard to other creatives continue, but we should note what victories (and precedents) there are.
Quote from: TordelBack on 01 May, 2021, 09:00:45 AM
In news I somehow missed, Cory Doctorow reports that Disney reached agreement with Alan Dean Foster, and he has now been paid. Their exploitative shenanigans with regard to other creatives continue, but we should note what victories (and precedents) there are.
This is good news, albeit in a limited and specific way, that I'd also missed. Thanks for the update, TB. Here's hoping Disney can be persuaded to drop their shitweasel tactics across the board... although I'm not holding my breath.
Disney accountants have probably worked out a formula for x cases lost over y case won or deferred times the cost of lawyers per unit paid that makes them unlikely to stop trying to keep money from creators. Good news for ADF, but how many others aren't getting paid I wonder.
QuoteI think Star Wars works best when it's based on old western, samurai and WWII movies and riffing on fantasy tropes. Star Wars is kinda shite when it's based on Star Wars and riffing on EU geegaws.
This sums up how I feel perfectly, and it's a large part of why I don't rate Dave Filoni's work, despite most Star Wars fans thinking he's the second coming. Constantly coming back to the exact same set of characters and visual motifs and having storylines revolving around 'explaining' bits of lore or backstory that don't need explaining is exactly the opposite of what I want from Star Wars movies and TV shows.
Everything memorable from the original movies was memorable because it was fresh and creative. The AT-ATs from Empire Strikes Back were cool because they were a striking piece of visual design and unlike anything we'd seen on screen before, not because they were a nostalgic throwback to something we liked from a previous movie.
I can't think of a single memorable or iconic visual from the sequel trilogy that isn't a callback to the original trilogy.
I (more often than not) make a similar type of argument myself: R2-D2 shouldn't have been in the prequels, the Kessel Run and the Clone Wars were better as elements of my vague imagination, and so on.
BUT - I really liked the episode of the Mandalorian featuring the Jawa's Land Crawler, despite the fact that it doesn't make any narrative sense that all Jawas drive the same kind of vehicle, regardless of their location (or even that Jawas are anywhere but Tatooine). It was just too much fun to dislike.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 10 June, 2021, 05:25:55 AM
...despite the fact that it doesn't make any narrative sense that all Jawas drive the same kind of vehicle, regardless of their location (or even that Jawas are anywhere but Tatooine)...
Things like this is why I think the Star Wars is a bit shallow. Whenever an alien appears on screen, whatever they're doing defines that entire species.
See that green, bug eyed bounty hunter that Han shot (first)? His entire species is just green, bug-eyed bounty hunters.
See that chubby blue anteater playing the space piano? All those chubby blue anteaters are musicians.
Hark at the obese slug crimelord! Somehow, despite the fact that they're all obese slugs, they're all dangerous crimelords.
Behold the six-eyed dish washer! All his kind wash dishes all the time! Who makes the crockery? How is there so much dirty delph to sustain the activities of an entire planet load of six-eyed dish-washing weirdos? Shut up and buy toys you nerds!
I sure someone has written an entire thesis about this on wookiepedia.
I think I've only seen one (maybe two) bounty Hunter rodians including Greedo*, but you make good points. (Although I'm pretty much enjoying all the Filoni and co stuff. I like some of the nostalgic stuff but I do hope they don't get stuck there also.)
Amusingly, it didn't click straight away that the episode with jawas and sandcrawler were actually on a desert planet that wasn't tatooine. In their case it doesn't really bother me that they all appear to be scavengers as it makes senses in their desert clan based society. Same with a lot of hutts being crime lords, in a mafioso crime family sense, although it would be nice to see at least one individual in a different role.
While not a fully intelligent being, seeing a [spoiler]rancor in an endearing light was welcome[/spoiler] in the recent Bad Batch series. [spoiler]If it turns out to be that rancor from RotJ, though, I'd feel rather sorry for it. Never thought I'd say that about the rancor! Other canon material suggests it's another individual, but as that material is in books, it wouldn't be the first time that stuff is overwritten.[/spoiler]
I would like to see more different types of alien in future series. You do tend to see the same species reoccur - not a bad thing in itself, as it's not just the humans who are interstellar travellers - but new creatures to continue that sense of Star Wars alien wonder would be great. Frog lady from The Mandalorian and that huge weird creature who runs much of the crime on Correllia in Solo are steps in the right direction, but a lot more different things as background characters would be great.
* Is it bad that the possible pun in his name only just occurred to me?
Not for Star Wars the likes of Sensitive Klegg, eh?
---
Mind you, Stormtroopers have gone from being faceless automatons, slaved to evil and become a ... dance act at Disneyland (https://youtu.be/C8ZvsFCxxCU)?!
Weep! Weep into your cereal!
This cereal:
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5e/0c/10/5e0c103d5eebaf7bff652e5408a9cc0f.jpg)
Very late to the party, but we (me and the boy and girl child) watched the first two episodes of this just now. Results are in:
Girl Child = Good
Boy Child = Very Good
Me = Very Good
Such fun and so far I like the way its structured. Looking forward to watching more.
Well we're all very bought into this now we have finsihed Season 1. There are a few - 'What huh?' moments, but its all such well done rollercoaster stuff that you let that slide, just as you do in the good Star Wars movies.
Was particularly fond of the opening scene with the Scout Troopers at the beginning of Episode 8, just wonderful scripting and we were all hooting with laugher when they started trying shoot the 'can'. This really is the spiritual sequel to the first 3 movies.
Looking forward to getting into Season 2 and hope Book of Boba Fett is as good.
Just popped back and read some of the thoughts here (been avoiding to stay spoiler free) about the first season (still avoiding anything after that) and surprised that some folks think it dipped in the middle. Really liked 'The Gunslinger' and 'The Prisoner' - I've notes 'The Gunslinger' seems unpopular (relatively) over in IMDB land. Think some of the bigger episodes can get a bit carried away action sequences and quite how kick ass characters can be when they need to.
Hmmm so watched the last episode of season 2 and well [spoiler]Luke[/spoiler] showing up was a bit naff wasn't it. The series was doing fine, even if the action continued to stretch credulity to breaking point. Then it had to go and do that.
Like it was so enamoured with its fan success it had to go the whole hog and scream AND WE'D HAVE DONE LAST JEDI BETTER TOO*! None of this character change and development for us! Look he's not even bothered to change in the six years since [spoiler]Return[/spoiler]. The series couldn't help but dig deeper and deeper into existing lore while overexcitedly ignoring the reason it was so good to start with was the fact it was being its own thing, while being centred in the Universe we love.
Silly Jon Favreau.
Mind it was still excellent breathless fun and I still enjoyed it... I was just annoyed that I still enjoyed it.
Silly YNWA.
* I'm a big fan of Last Jedi by the way.
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 04 February, 2022, 09:14:35 PM
Hmmm so watched the last episode of season 2 and well [spoiler]Luke[/spoiler] showing up was a bit naff wasn't it. The series was doing fine, even if the action continued to stretch credulity to breaking point. Then it had to go and do that.
I'm with you on that. I was really enjoying the series right up to that point — I'd really like the entire SW universe to give up on the idea that the whole thing revolves around the [spoiler]Skywalker dynasty[/spoiler].
I mean, dammit, if Mace Windu* had turned up at that point, I'd have been punching the air with the best of them...
*Seriously... not canonically dead. If Darth Maul can come back after being
literally chopped in half and dropped down a lift shaft, then I've got no problem accepting that Windu survived his mangling in Revenge of the Sith...
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 February, 2022, 10:45:39 PM
I mean, dammit, if Mace Windu* had turned up at that point, I'd have been punching the air with the best of them...
*Seriously... not canonically dead. If Darth Maul can come back after being literally chopped in half and dropped down a lift shaft, then I've got no problem accepting that Windu survived his mangling in Revenge of the Sith...
Quote from: The last Star Wars movie
Somehow Palpatine returned
Major Mando Spoilers! (I ain't tagging though!)
I didn't mind the Luke bit. Loved it in fact. I think if the characters had achieved little up to that point in the episode, it would have bothered me. For example, when Ahsoka turned up in an earlier episode, it really showcased how tough she was (a good thing in itself) but Mando did very little that episode.
Likewise when Fett and Shand turned up and were really tough hard-cases, Mando spent a good potion of that time unconscious!
Now I like those characters, and I enjoyed the episodes overall and I even enjoyed how tough they were. I get that they wanted to showcase those characters (spin-off central) but it bugged me a bit how sidelined and ineffectual Mando seemed as a result.
In this last episode though, Mando single handedly takes out a dark trooper, by himself (a major feat considering how tough those things were shown to be) and then defeats Moff Gideon who is wielding a lightsaber... with a spear. It's a tough spear made out of near indestructible metal, but.... point is he'd achieved so much by the time Luke turned up to save the day. I guess it felt earned somehow, so Luke's bit didn't bother me.
That being said, if Windu had turned up instead, that would have been really cool, and I understand why oversaturation of Skywalker could be an issue. I don't think we're there yet in these series, though.
If they do things right in my book, Characters like Mando & Boba and their storylines would mean they could easily bump into or their paths would cross the likes of Luke, Leia, Han, Lando and possibly more from the clone wars but I would not want those others to over power any of the series they cameo in.