Starring: Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers
Directed by: Dave Filoni
Created by: Jon Favreau based on characters by George Lucas
Released: Nov 12th – Disney +
Finally one of the most anticipated shows in the general geek-dom has been released together with new streaming service Disney+. After myriad of unsuccessful logins and error screens, which quite honestly I thought would be way worse considering it’s a launch of a brand new platform, I got to watch the first episode of the Mandalorian.
Show has a very familiar feel to it and is able to throw a viewer straight into this universe quite successfully which I believe is to a huge credit of the crew behind the scenes. Dave Filoni knows how to do a Star Wars story, even though this is his first foray into live action Star Wars it certainly does not look like he missed a beat here. Cinematography; especially during the opening shots of the episode are stellar and are able to throw the viewer straight into the action and what the feel of the series is going to be going forward.
Titular Mandalorian is as everyone has guessed a bounty hunter and as much he is like Boba Fett he is very much his own character in this series which helps him create his own identity and not be marred by the mythology of Boba Fett. What I found exciting in this show and surprised how well the introduction of the lore and the setting has been handled in this first episode. There was no need for extreme time spent on exposition or explanations, the story naturally went from point to point to give us what we needed to know if this is going to be a show a viewer would be interested in or not. There is still a ton of mystery left to solve in this show but the establishing episode certainly has charm and a feel of Star Wars. Thankfully there’s not a lot if any slapstick stupid one note humor that we got in recent Star Wars movies and Marvel movies of late.
Humor seems here more akin to one found in a show Firefly and very much feels like a Western set in Star Wars universe which in itself is an intriguing setting. There is a lot of Easter eggs in this episode as well to please the fans of the original movies. Technically the show is handled really well minus a short segment with a mount creature which kind of look strange and out of place, but never enough to get me out of the immersion that the show is going for. For a first episode the show did exactly what it needed to do and that is keep me engaged and want me know more; not only because it is a Star Wars story, but because it is an interesting mystery at its core.
If you have not subscribed to Disney + this could be a show definitely to check out when you do, either when more episodes become available or when you find something that is more interesting to you as a viewer.
As a side-note about the Disney + service, I would like to state that Original Star Wars Trilogy, prequels and other movies are also available to the service. However they are remastered for 4K with Atmos for the first time anywhere.
So if you are a big fan it is something you may be looking forward to. Mandalorian comes highly recommended and I cannot wait to see where the story goes from here.