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The good, the bad and [The Mandalorian] OPEN SPOILERS

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  • lwt1973lwt1973 King of Thieves SyndicationRegistered User regular
    Another thing I saw was if you look at the trailer again, you can see that he has full Beskar armor which is different from his current armor. So at some point he gets the steel.

    "He's sulking in his tent like Achilles! It's the Iliad?...from Homer?! READ A BOOK!!" -Handy
  • KrieghundKrieghund Registered User regular
    Well yeah. You complete the bounty and get your truck load of beskar and on to the next bounty.

  • KamarKamar Registered User regular
    Complete your bounty as per the contract, walk out with a truckload of beskar, walk back in shooting on personal time

    Warrior cultures are big on precise interpretations of the letter of the law, right?

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Kamar wrote: »
    Complete your bounty as per the contract, walk out with a truckload of beskar, walk back in shooting on personal time

    Warrior cultures are big on precise interpretations of the letter of the law, right?

    In the good the bad and the ugly, lee van cleefs bad guy kills a man and then when he goes to his employer kills him too, because the first guy he killed put a bounty on the other guy.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    Finally saw the first two episodes.

    So... is there a place to get an IV of this show somewhere?

    But seriously, it's so damn good. Probably because it's Star Wars, but not. It has all the trappings of the franchise, but the structure of each episode (barring the Burrgh training) is very different from standard Star Wars. Even Rogue One, which started off pretty uniquely, slowly transformed back into a standard SW film as it went on.

    Here, though, violence is sudden, and serves to punctuate the silence. And there's a lot of silence, and wide angle, lonely, desolate shots. The Mandalorian is living a lonely existence.

    I really, really want baby Yoda (Boda) to be raised as a Mando. Complete with a helmet with ears.

    I have spoken.

  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    Susana Polo at Polygon made a comparison of the latest episode to Samurai Jack, and I can't say that I disagree.

  • NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    I like that the show doesn't go too far in the direction of undermining the Mandalorian's credibility. It's really easy to pay lip service to competence, but never show it (see: Star Trek: Enterprise). Instead it wisely highlights that he's hyper competent in a narrow set of skills, but naive/inexperienced elsewhere.

    Which is good. The show has gone out of its way to highlight how lonely, sheltered, and detached he is. His life is incomplete in all respects. It's pretty obvious that Boda will force (heh) him to become a more well-rounded and healthier person.

  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    I don't think we can say he alone, detached, or sheltered at all. If they're going by the material from the books, Mandos take care of each other which means somebody has to be out there earning credits to take care of the young, old, and sick/injured; the blacksmith Mando says the beskar offering is very generous, which suggests the main character could've justified getting more for it except he's expressly supporting new foundlings. It looks to me like this guy is out on a mission to figure out his sigil and to work up to full beskar armor, which he can't do hanging around other Mandos at camp. And somebody had to take him in and train him up, plus he also tries to hire He Has Spoken to crew his ship; he doesn't seem to mind company, he just doesn't talk to bounty heads.

    I'm betting he'll take on the kid as part of the continuation of the Mando tradition in the same way he's looking to get a full beskar suit together, not as a way to "complete" his life. It's just stuff Mandos do.

  • King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    I like thats he's competent against people but monsters just beat the shit out of him. It really rells you what he focused on in learning to fight

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  • BloodySlothBloodySloth Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    I don't think we can say he alone, detached, or sheltered at all. If they're going by the material from the books, Mandos take care of each other which means somebody has to be out there earning credits to take care of the young, old, and sick/injured; the blacksmith Mando says the beskar offering is very generous, which suggests the main character could've justified getting more for it except he's expressly supporting new foundlings. It looks to me like this guy is out on a mission to figure out his sigil and to work up to full beskar armor, which he can't do hanging around other Mandos at camp. And somebody had to take him in and train him up, plus he also tries to hire He Has Spoken to crew his ship; he doesn't seem to mind company, he just doesn't talk to bounty heads.

    I'm betting he'll take on the kid as part of the continuation of the Mando tradition in the same way he's looking to get a full beskar suit together, not as a way to "complete" his life. It's just stuff Mandos do.

    Ehhhhh for what it's worth, I hope not. That's a very flat character arc: a fulfilled and stoic person doing stuff that his people do just for tradition's sake alone.

    BloodySloth on
  • MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    I don't think we can say he alone, detached, or sheltered at all. If they're going by the material from the books, Mandos take care of each other which means somebody has to be out there earning credits to take care of the young, old, and sick/injured; the blacksmith Mando says the beskar offering is very generous, which suggests the main character could've justified getting more for it except he's expressly supporting new foundlings. It looks to me like this guy is out on a mission to figure out his sigil and to work up to full beskar armor, which he can't do hanging around other Mandos at camp. And somebody had to take him in and train him up, plus he also tries to hire He Has Spoken to crew his ship; he doesn't seem to mind company, he just doesn't talk to bounty heads.

    I'm betting he'll take on the kid as part of the continuation of the Mando tradition in the same way he's looking to get a full beskar suit together, not as a way to "complete" his life. It's just stuff Mandos do.

    Ehhhhh for what it's worth, I hope not. That's a very flat character arc: a fulfilled and stoic person doing stuff that his people do just for tradition's sake alone.

    "Slavish adherence to tradition is a sign you've got nothing better to do." - Natasha Kerensky.

    I'm fine with traditions influencing a character, but yeah, a character that runs on tradition like it's the core programming of a flesh robot, is a pretty ordinary premise.

  • NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    The Mandalorian being grateful to those that took him in and trying to pay it forward doesn't mean he's happy or fulfilled. It simply means he's meeting obligations. The way both the narrative has gone so far, and the way it's been filmed shows him to be lonely. I mean, when he gets the beskar, he simply makes a beeline to the Mandalorian building, waits for the pauldron to be forged, and leaves immediately after it's done. He only interacts with the blacksmith, despite there being other Mandalorians lounging in the compound. He doesn't so much as give them a nod, nor do they do anything to acknowledge him.

    And the show is just filled with shots of him (and Boda) alone in a barren wasteland, which also implies loneliness.

    I firmly believe that the baby is going to be the impetus that changes him from an emotionally stunted duty bot to a person that figures out that there's a lot more to life (and himself) than that. I mean, we've already seen an example of a Mandalorian that is a fully rounded person - Sabine Wren in Rebels (which is 100% canon - see also: Rogue One and a ship that at least looks like the Ghost in the trailers for Rise of Skywalker). And since Dave Filoni has created both her and this nameless Mandalorian, I'm pretty confident that we're going to see why he's so different than her (and all the other Mandalorians we've seen in Filoni-run shows. There's been a lot.).

  • King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    I assume he has PTSD if the flash back is any indication.

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    I don't think we can say he alone, detached, or sheltered at all. If they're going by the material from the books, Mandos take care of each other which means somebody has to be out there earning credits to take care of the young, old, and sick/injured; the blacksmith Mando says the beskar offering is very generous, which suggests the main character could've justified getting more for it except he's expressly supporting new foundlings. It looks to me like this guy is out on a mission to figure out his sigil and to work up to full beskar armor, which he can't do hanging around other Mandos at camp. And somebody had to take him in and train him up, plus he also tries to hire He Has Spoken to crew his ship; he doesn't seem to mind company, he just doesn't talk to bounty heads.

    I'm betting he'll take on the kid as part of the continuation of the Mando tradition in the same way he's looking to get a full beskar suit together, not as a way to "complete" his life. It's just stuff Mandos do.

    Ehhhhh for what it's worth, I hope not. That's a very flat character arc: a fulfilled and stoic person doing stuff that his people do just for tradition's sake alone.

    Conversely, it's an extremely stale and outdated story element that unexpectedly having a kid on your hands turns you into a better, more fulfilled person.

    I don't see any reason at all that our Mando can't just be occupied with a goal right now and takes on the kid because that's a completely normal thing for Mandos to do. Then the kid is how we see Mando culture passed on to the next generation and get to see a lot of this guy's personality, not the story mechanism where our Mando is "fixed".

    The Mando clearly has an attachment to the kid already, so it's already not "just a tradition" thing.

  • BloodySlothBloodySloth Registered User regular
    I don't think we can say he alone, detached, or sheltered at all. If they're going by the material from the books, Mandos take care of each other which means somebody has to be out there earning credits to take care of the young, old, and sick/injured; the blacksmith Mando says the beskar offering is very generous, which suggests the main character could've justified getting more for it except he's expressly supporting new foundlings. It looks to me like this guy is out on a mission to figure out his sigil and to work up to full beskar armor, which he can't do hanging around other Mandos at camp. And somebody had to take him in and train him up, plus he also tries to hire He Has Spoken to crew his ship; he doesn't seem to mind company, he just doesn't talk to bounty heads.

    I'm betting he'll take on the kid as part of the continuation of the Mando tradition in the same way he's looking to get a full beskar suit together, not as a way to "complete" his life. It's just stuff Mandos do.

    Ehhhhh for what it's worth, I hope not. That's a very flat character arc: a fulfilled and stoic person doing stuff that his people do just for tradition's sake alone.

    Conversely, it's an extremely stale and outdated story element that unexpectedly having a kid on your hands turns you into a better, more fulfilled person.

    I don't see any reason at all that our Mando can't just be occupied with a goal right now and takes on the kid because that's a completely normal thing for Mandos to do. Then the kid is how we see Mando culture passed on to the next generation and get to see a lot of this guy's personality, not the story mechanism where our Mando is "fixed".

    The Mando clearly has an attachment to the kid already, so it's already not "just a tradition" thing.

    You're not necessarily wrong there, but I don't see it as just having an unexpected kid and becoming better through that. He's processing his own trauma as a foundling through having a foundling forced upon him. It may not be wildly original, but it's solid.

    Having a character with no arc as an anchor for other characters to grow and change around him can work, Dredd did it, but this show has not been set up for that. We're absolutely on a journey with the main character. When the show goes to such great lengths to accentuate his isolation, and then lingers on quiet moments with the kid, or forces him to break out of his stringent routine in strange situations dealing with Jawas or domesticated animals, the show is introducing its themes to us. If it were to go back on those unspoken promises, it would be poor storytelling.

  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    Story archetypes exist for a reason. Being different just to be different is not a good story, either. See: Game of Thrones

  • BloodySlothBloodySloth Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    The Game of Thrones show failed in many places through execution, but the bones of its story are great precisely because ASoIaF actually does know how to execute classic storytelling archetypes. It just spends a time obfuscating it with a lot of extra characters, and then prunes them off in order to underline the brutality of the setting, while giving the reader/viewer extra thrills and twists along the way. Underneath all that, though, are classic hero journeys. It's just not clear at first who is on those journeys because the cast is such an ensemble.

    Structurally, it's almost like a classical myth and a murder mystery had a baby, in a strange way.

    BloodySloth on
  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    I was referring to the show writers' inexplicable decisions to stray from the source material and do something because it was unexpected rather than because it fit the characters or plot.

  • BloodySlothBloodySloth Registered User regular
    I was referring to the show writers' inexplicable decisions to stray from the source material and do something because it was unexpected rather than because it fit the characters or plot.

    Well then never mind! :P

  • QanamilQanamil x Registered User regular
    Frelling Jawas yo.

  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
  • NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    It’s also pretty clear that the Mandalorian already cares about the baby. The contrast between him in the cockpit with the first bounty vs. him making a point of checking on the baby is pretty staggering. It’s not just another bounty.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Visual story telling is great in this. Like they feel incredibly sure of themselves to have like an opening where no one says anything. Or have a fight scene where its just the main character versus the non verbal creature

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • Inquisitor77Inquisitor77 2 x Penny Arcade Fight Club Champion A fixed point in space and timeRegistered User regular
    What I really like about this show is that they easily could've just gone extra grimdark bounty hunter assassin and instead went, "Why don't we just tell a really compelling story and let the scenes speak for themselves?"

    I'm so glad they put Favreau in charge of this.

  • KamarKamar Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    Some rumors floating about a possible cameo
    Rumor says Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan is going to show up in a flashback.

    Which is plausible, given his ties to Mandalore during the Clone Wars.

    Kamar on
  • Doctor DetroitDoctor Detroit Registered User regular
    Can you edit to provide some context that the spoiler is speculation on a possible guest star appearance?

    That might influence if people want to click through.

  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Visual story telling is great in this. Like they feel incredibly sure of themselves to have like an opening where no one says anything. Or have a fight scene where its just the main character versus the non verbal creature

    It's honestly such a fucking relief to have a show willing to just have people... not talk, and act instead. Doubly so when it's someone in a helmet, so it's all in the body language. (Which reminds me i need to rewatch Dredd).

    Less is more people! Less is more!

    Let your cast have time to shutup and just breathe!

    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Visual story telling is great in this. Like they feel incredibly sure of themselves to have like an opening where no one says anything. Or have a fight scene where its just the main character versus the non verbal creature

    It's honestly such a fucking relief to have a show willing to just have people... not talk, and act instead. Doubly so when it's someone in a helmet, so it's all in the body language. (Which reminds me i need to rewatch Dredd).

    Less is more people! Less is more!

    Let your cast have time to shutup and just breathe!

    It's confidence in the story they are telling and the visuals. I could easily see "star wars show has a third of an episode with no dialogue" as a huge "AND THIS IS WHY I HATE NEW STAR WARS!"

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • Atlas in ChainsAtlas in Chains Registered User regular
    I'm not convinced yet that it is a great story. Baby Yoda is right up there with space whales, time tunnels, and Force wolves when it comes to Filoni adding goofy stuff. Time will tell, but so far, it's getting by on style over substance.

  • valhalla130valhalla130 13 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered User regular
    Krieghund wrote: »
    I don't know if I would have been able to resist strafing the sandcrawler once I got my ship together. Kudos to Mando discipline.

    I dont think his ship has weapon systems. None seem visible at least. It doesn't have a security system at any rate

    Liok at the second scene in the Yards. When his ship is sitting on the ice. If those aren't giant blaster cannons sticking out the front of his ship on either side of the cockpit, I don't know what is.

    asxcjbppb2eo.jpg
  • King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    Preacher wrote: »
    Visual story telling is great in this. Like they feel incredibly sure of themselves to have like an opening where no one says anything. Or have a fight scene where its just the main character versus the non verbal creature

    It's honestly such a fucking relief to have a show willing to just have people... not talk, and act instead. Doubly so when it's someone in a helmet, so it's all in the body language. (Which reminds me i need to rewatch Dredd).

    Less is more people! Less is more!

    Let your cast have time to shutup and just breathe!

    It's confidence in the story they are telling and the visuals. I could easily see "star wars show has a third of an episode with no dialogue" as a huge "AND THIS IS WHY I HATE NEW STAR WARS!"

    I've seen that take. Google keeps suggesting the article to me

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    Episode being 30 minutes kind of actually bugs me

    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    Episode being 30 minutes kind of actually bugs me

    Well, little over 28 (about 33 with credits) but why?

  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    Episode being 30 minutes kind of actually bugs me

    Well, little over 28 (about 33 with credits) but why?

    30 minutes is really not enough time for a meaty show with due development and it showed. Half hour shows are the realm of comedies and sitcoms.

    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
  • valhalla130valhalla130 13 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered User regular
    I want to see the blue guy from the first episode, the IG droid and the ugnaut again.

    asxcjbppb2eo.jpg
  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    I guess I don't see any reason to stretch out an episode to an hour if the story it's telling doesn't need it.

    I mean if we have other characters to deal with I could see it needing more time but I feel like a story that's being told from a single viewpoint probably doesn't suffer from being less than the 42 minutes an hour long show tends to get.

  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    edited November 2019
    I mean the idea isn't to stretch things out. Its to use it.

    Styrofoam Sammich on
    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    A full half hour is completely fine to me. That's the equivalent of some 45-50 minutes of broadcast TV these days, with the incredible amount of commercials they shove in there. Plus, 30 full minutes of worthwhile material better than 30 minutes of materials bloated out to 60 minutes to fill a time slot.

    The Tartakovsky Star Wars shorts were collectively only a couple hours of material and individually no more than 15-20 minutes of material for each story, and yet they were all head and shoulders above the entire Prequel Trilogy as well as most of what has been released since. If the material they have for this piece of the arc takes 30 minutes, that's the time it takes.

  • Styrofoam SammichStyrofoam Sammich WANT. normal (not weird)Registered User regular
    A good example is the part where theyre repairing the ship. The amount of talent on this show and the best they can come up with is a rushed montage, there was nothing more they could get out of all that?

    First episode was great, but this last episode just felt like the week's adventure.

    wq09t4opzrlc.jpg
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