The launch of Disney+ has been anticipated globally by many. And for those of the Star Wars fandom, the debut of The Mandalorian basically made the cost of subscription worth it.
The first of multiple live action TV shows set in the Star Wars universe, The Mandalorian diverts the attention from the Jedi and Sith, turning the audience eye to the “smaller” stories of the galaxy. And it is befittingly a show about a Mandalorian.
After all, if there has arguably been any character capable of stealing the show from Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader themselves–and with minimal effort–it would be the very first onscreen Mandaloiran: Boba Fett.
While Boba’s gone through a fair bit of head-scratching revelations since his debut in 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special, his legacy’s remained largely intact. Fans have clamoured for more of the character despite his considerably low profile in the films. With The Mandalorian, we get to fulfil our hunger for more Boba, without actually messing with the character himself.
Fans of the Mandalorians from the expanded universe of yore, will be especially pleased that the series seems to be headed towards further exploring their elusive culture.
Right off the bat, the most noticeable thing about The Mandalorian is the successful merger of all things Star Wars as well as an original look and feel for this world. Creative team Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni aren’t shying away from the western outlook of the series, and it works.
While it can be argued that The Mandalorian need not feel particularly Star Warsy, the use of various alien species and familiar environments helps ground the original content within the universe.
While the action and visuals of the show are close to perfect (or as perfect as the budget could have allowed) the acting and script has room to improve. Blame it on this being a pilot that may need to pull in fans new to the expanded lore Star Wars, but the episode’s moment of exposition gets a little blatant. It also doesn’t help that the protagonist has his face covered throughout.
Perhaps this may change over the season, but it’s pretty clear that The Mandalorian will need it’s large cast to balance the extreme stoicism of the main character.
While the episode certainly entertains with great action, the plot is still largely slave to clichés and the ending moment is a tad predictable.
Nevertheless, The Mandalorian is a welcome addition to the new Star Wars canon and promises to be great fun at the very least.
The Mandalorian is currently exclusively available on Disney+, which is expected to launch in this region some time in Q1 or Q2 of 2020.