The Mandalorian: This Is The Way to Season 2

[Jaxom 1974]

That was an about face from last week and shows how much filler it really was, which seems odd given the short season...

But I liked that there was story advancement. That there was the semblance that there is a story...

 

[SpaceChampion]

1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said:

Fairly small, I think

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But if it does happen. I wouldn't mind if they did a repeat of what they did here with Bo-Katan, and brought back Lars Mikkelsen. 

 

No. But then again, not sure for how many guest stars there were announcements and how many were leaks.

Spoiler

Did Katee Sackhoff do the voice for Bo-Katan in the cartoons?  If so, cool they brought her to play the live action version too.

 

[VigoTheCarpathian]

Really enjoyed the episode - it was great to see a maritime planet (desert and ice are pretty played out across the SW-verse).

I was slightly outraged at the crack at the mechanic, and the state of Razorcrest at the end of the episode.  Honestly having a hard time remembering - weren’t the mon calamari some of the best battleships in the original rebel fleet?

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, SpaceChampion said:

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Did Katee Sackhoff do the voice for Bo-Katan in the cartoons?  If so, cool they brought her to play the live action version too.

 

Yes

[Toth]

3 hours ago, VigoTheCarpathian said:

Really enjoyed the episode - it was great to see a maritime planet (desert and ice are pretty played out across the SW-verse).

I was slightly outraged at the crack at the mechanic, and the state of Razorcrest at the end of the episode.  Honestly having a hard time remembering - weren’t the mon calamari some of the best battleships in the original rebel fleet?

They were. Though it should be noted that their battleships have always been stated to be repurposed cruise ships, they initially weren't exactly in the military business.

I guess given that this is not the shipyards of Mon Cala, but instead just some random dock worker on a random backwater colony, working with scrap parts and duct tape. I guess there wasn't more to hope for.

Though I find it at that point hard to believe what punishment the Razor Crest is able to take and still manage to not burn up when attempting to lift off. It was already absolutely ridiculous that he managed to fix it after it having been entirely taken apart by Jawas in the first episode and now it got completely trashed to the point of only the cockpit barely holding together. I think by now he is better off buying a new ship...

7 hours ago, Veltigar said:

One thing that is a bit irksome is 

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how terrible Stormtroopers are. At least Mando took a few hits to the Beskar, but before that they were missing left and right. I sometimes think that Existential Troopers was right that it really sucks to be an imp. They just get shit on the entire time, I wish their menace was preserved a bit better. Or if not, that they had made proper use of Finn's character in the Shitty trilogy. If they had built on the idea that most of the Storm Troopers are abducted children than their humanity would make it excusable. 

The worst part is that at this point the Stormtroopers shouldn't be abducted children, but actual trained military dudes who stick around what they think is the legitimate resistance against those terrorists who violently overthrew the government.

The whole "Stormtroopers are a joke" thing is annoying me to hell and back as well. It is also the only part of Rogue One that I hated. They are supposed to be elite shocktroopers, so having the villains use actual military tactics and be scarily effective (against anyone without plot armor) would be a great way to have there actual stakes. And The Mandalorian actually did that at one point, remember the AT-ST being treated as a major threat!

Though to be fair, the stormtroopers in this episode had little chance to pull anything worthwhile off. They were trapped on a cramped freighter with four Mandalorians whose armor is impenetrable to their regular guns. The only thing I kept yelling at the screen is that they should have opened their weapons crates to see whether they have some more hard-hitting toys in there to even the fight. They should have barricaded themselves with E-Webs and rocket launchers once it was clear that they had no chance to hold them back.

[Veltigar]

8 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Fairly small, I think

  Hide contents

But if it does happen. I wouldn't mind if they did a repeat of what they did here with Bo-Katan, and brought back Lars Mikkelsen. 

 

No. But then again, not sure for how many guest stars there were announcements and how many were leaks.

If you have to go with a 

Spoiler

Mikkelsen, than why not pay for the premium model? Mads for everything  

 

2 hours ago, Toth said:

The worst part is that at this point the Stormtroopers shouldn't be abducted children, but actual trained military dudes who stick around what they think is the legitimate resistance against those terrorists who violently overthrew the government.

The whole "Stormtroopers are a joke" thing is annoying me to hell and back as well. It is also the only part of Rogue One that I hated. They are supposed to be elite shocktroopers, so having the villains use actual military tactics and be scarily effective (against anyone without plot armor) would be a great way to have there actual stakes. And The Mandalorian actually did that at one point, remember the AT-ST being treated as a major threat!

 

I agree with you completely here. It would really do wonders to keep the tensions high across the SW spectrum!

[Rippounet]

6 hours ago, Toth said:

The only thing I kept yelling at the screen is that they should have opened their weapons crates to see whether they have some more hard-hitting toys in there to even the fight.

To be fair, they might have blown out the ship if they tried that.
Point being, good armor is an insane advantage when you're inside a ship, since you opponents can't just use any weapon in the first place.
OTOH, in many sci-fi universes, units tasked with defending a ship do have weaponry that's adapted to the task to circumvent that problem.

Anyway, yeah, it's annoying that stortroopers are cartoon villains.

9 hours ago, VigoTheCarpathian said:

I was slightly outraged at the crack at the mechanic, and the state of Razorcrest at the end of the episode.  Honestly having a hard time remembering - weren’t the mon calamari some of the best battleships in the original rebel fleet?

Yes, but not by original design:

Quote

The Mon Calamari cruisers were originally built for civilian purposes, serving in numerous peaceful roles like passenger ships and deep space exploration vessels by the Mon Calamari species. Yet, when the Galactic Empire invaded and conquered their home system and enslaved their people, the Mon Calamari converted their ships to capital warships. Admiral Ackbar convinced his people to join the Rebellion. They in turn donated their fleet of cruisers to the Rebel Alliance, while many Mon Calamari joined to serve in the Rebel Fleet. These cruisers were powerful enough to rival the Empire's Star Destroyer.

 

[Toth]

34 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

To be fair, they might have blown out the ship if they tried that.

Certainly, but desperate times ask for desperate measures. You can't worry about the ship if you are dead either.

[Werthead]

On 11/9/2020 at 6:29 PM, Corvinus85 said:

The spiders were first created for Empire Strikes Back, but Lucas never used them. An ice spider appears in an artbook. It was originally envisioned for Luke to have an encounter with the spider on Dagobah. Filoni used such spiders in an episode of Rebels.

https://collider.com/the-mandalorian-disney-plus-ice-spiders-explained/

So even if Alien still precedes all this, but barely, I would not call it an Alien ripoff. After all, they are just giant spiders, not xenomorphs bursting out of people's chests.

They actually precede Alien; Empire started filming in March 1979 and McQuarrie produced his concept art for it between late 1977 and late 1978. Alien was not released until September 1979.

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The concept of the Mandalorian not taking his helmet off either? Feels old now too. So many of these scenes with just him and the child or him and one other can go without dialog for to long and not seeing his facial expressions during the stress times makes things feel too...safe...?

This comment aged well

I always thought it was slightly premature all the people saying that the two people closely involved in the making of Clone Wars and Rebels didn't know about the background lore they themselves created. Of course they did. Since they started work on Season 2 long before Season 1 aired, this wasn't some retcon either.

[Corvinus85]

Nitpicking time - one part that about the mission premise of this episode that could be questioned:

Spoiler

Where was the New Republic? The Imperials are blatantly caring smuggled weapons on a transport no one can possibly miss, and no one is reporting it. Bo-Katan does mention Trask is a place with a thriving black market, but still. Just the previous episode we see that the New Republic has claimed this sector, so you would think that there would be some X-Wings buzzing around.

I suppose at this point the treaty between the NR and what's left of the Empire is in effect, so they're not at war anymore, yet this must be a breach of said treaty. 

 

[Werthead]

I was wracking my brains to think of another example. Is this the first time that a voice actor who originated a character in an animated series has then played them in live action?

The only other example I can find is Kevin Conroy playing Batman in The Animated Series and then cropping up as an alt-universe Bruce Wayne in Crisis on Infinite Earths (in the Arrowverse family of shows), but he didn't originate the character.

Someone suggested Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime in the animated Transformers series and then the live-action movies, but even in the movies, he's still only a voiceover role.

As a deep dive, someone else pointed out that Gollum's voice actor from the 1978 Lord of the Rings also played the character in the 1981 BBC Radio series, but obviously that's somewhat different.

[Paxter]

10 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I was wracking my brains to think of another example. Is this the first time that a voice actor who originated a character in an animated series has then played them in live action?

The only other example I can find is Kevin Conroy playing Batman in The Animated Series and then cropping up as an alt-universe Bruce Wayne in Crisis on Infinite Earths (in the Arrowverse family of shows), but he didn't originate the character.

Someone suggested Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime in the animated Transformers series and then the live-action movies, but even in the movies, he's still only a voiceover role.

As a deep dive, someone else pointed out that Gollum's voice actor from the 1978 Lord of the Rings also played the character in the 1981 BBC Radio series, but obviously that's somewhat different.

This has (sort of but not quite) happened in the anime world, with original Japanese voice actors returning for the dubbed version of the live action remake. Ghost In The Shell comes to mind. 

ETA: Another solid episode, though as pointed out the Imperial forces were depressingly insipid. I was relieved that the Child didn't eat any Frog babies!

[SpaceChampion]

Has anyone considered Din Djarin might one day become the next Mandolorian Jedi?

[RumHam]

25 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

Has anyone considered Din Djarin might one day become the next Mandolorian Jedi?

I think Din would argue that is not the way. It's interesting to think where they're going with this.

spoilers and speculation for The Mandalorian only:

I don't think baby yoda is going anywhere, but I can't see the show turning into The Mandalorian & Ahsoka Tano. I think she'll give him some information and advice, stress she's not really a Jedi and send our two main characters on their way. Logically she should send them to Luke but that won't happen, or at least they won't make it there. I don't see her getting involved with the Moff Gideon plot, because (assume he's not some secret force user, which I guess we can't rule out) she'd just slaughter him in duel.

Then they'll maybe give her a spin-off? Possibly set before this.

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

18 hours ago, Toth said:

 

The whole "Stormtroopers are a joke" thing is annoying me to hell and back as well. It is also the only part of Rogue One that I hated. They are supposed to be elite shocktroopers, so having the villains use actual military tactics and be scarily effective (against anyone without plot armor) would be a great way to have there actual stakes. And The Mandalorian actually did that at one point, remember the AT-ST being treated as a major threat!

Though to be fair, the stormtroopers in this episode had little chance to pull anything worthwhile off. They were trapped on a cramped freighter with four Mandalorians whose armor is impenetrable to their regular guns. The only thing I kept yelling at the screen is that they should have opened their weapons crates to see whether they have some more hard-hitting toys in there to even the fight. They should have barricaded themselves with E-Webs and rocket launchers once it was clear that they had no chance to hold them back.

Maybe the empire didn't put enough resources into ST combat training; what with the building of fleets and fighters and Death Stars and whatnot. A stormtrooper might be super intimidating to an average imperial citizen, but If you're a super badass Mandalorian warrior, "Storm Troopers are a joke" is probably a common expression.  It comes right after, "This is the way" and before, "Amen" in the Mandalorian Lord's prayer.

[RumHam]

Obi-Wan's observations about blast marks aside, haven't storm troopers always had shit aim? Pretty sure Rebels even jokes about how "you can't see anything in these helmets." 

Edit: I would also add that at least half of what Obi-Wan says in Star Wars is not true. 

[Corvinus85]

Yes, Obi-Wan did some exposition for us about how "precise" Imperial Stormtroopers were. But Lucas was lazy with some of the storytelling, and put the heroes in situations where they couldn't possibly escaped unscathed unless the villains were shit. Then the running joke began.

Of course, old man Kenobi could have simply been remembering the excellent clone troopers he fought alongside, and had no idea the new Imperial conscripts were a pale shadow of those guys.

[Rippounet]

3 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

Yes, Obi-Wan did some exposition for us about how "precise" Imperial Stormtroopers were. But Lucas was lazy with some of the storytelling, and put the heroes in situations where they couldn't possibly escaped unscathed unless the villains were shit.

Wasn't them escaping part of Vader's plan at that point?

Granted, the idea that the stormtroopers were deliberately missing is only a theory, but it's one I like, and it is supported by a line from the movie...

[karaddin]

You can also head canon that Vader's squad of STs are actually decently trained as this is the squad that were in ANH, all the rest are useless and just there for intimidation.

[Kalbear]

Or obi wan is assuming the storm troopers are as good as clone troopers instead of being basically shlubs.