Hey Star Wars fans! Did someone say “world-building?”
The Mandalorian has that.
Would you like to see new characters and situations that are not connected to the main stories?
The Mandalorian has that.
Would you like to see movie-quality effects, settings, and costumes in a television series?
The Mandalorian has that.
In fact, The Mandalorian directly answers several things Star Wars fans have been asking for in the past four decades.
I found nearly everything about The Mandalorian to be refreshing, interesting, promising, and well done.
As suspected the creators of this new series have taken the “man with no name” Western concept and plopped it right in the middle of the Star Wars universe. It works exceptionally well.
This “man with no name” is a Mandalorian, which is not explained much, but if you follow Star Wars lore you know they have a reputation for being ass-kickers. They also are known for a metal called Beskar and those iconic suits of armor made famous by another guy… who was not a Mandalorian.
Series honcho Jon Favreau has been touting the “holodeck” technology that allows them to film someone in an immersive environment. If that’s what I saw on the screen, then I’m impressed. This first episode dripped with atmosphere.
The production design was right on target with Star Wars, maybe even better than the new films, in my opinion.
I really liked the original music by Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther, Creed), which was an interesting combination of electronic music and some Western riffs thrown in. It’s modern and evocative. I’m looking for it on Spotify as soon as I get done writing this.
This first episode has plenty of action, a little allusion to the main character’s backstory and disposition, plus a few members of the supporting cast. There’s much more comedy here than I expected, but I liked it, and that’s also a recurring element of Star Wars.
Did they really make a reference to the damn Holiday Special? Yes. Yes, they did.
I got a kick out of seeing Werner Herzog as the shady underworld boss. It was cool to see one of those assassin droids in action. And the little reveal at the end was awesome! It gave me chills.
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip into the Star Wars universe. In fact, The Mandalorian has the potential to be one of my all-time favorite Star Wars properties.
I’m completely on board with The Mandalorian. I have no idea where they are going with this series—and that’s pretty damn wonderful.
Dirk Hooper
Dirk Hooper is a professional writer who has done work for many high-profile online magazines, has won the Top Writer Award at Quora for the past two years, and a Moore Award for copywriting in 2017.