Star Wars: The Mandalorian

A religious order with magical powers that existed for thousands of years would be known, at least in myth, by everyone. Perhaps as scary stories around the fire ("Storm's brewin'. Must be that old wizard I heard tell of in the valley"), or as parental warnings ("If you don't finish your wamp rat, the Jedi will take you away"). And wouldn't the recruiting arm have posters up in all major space ports? ("Is your child keeping you up at night? Stop levitating and send a holo to 555-JEDI")

There are remnants of the Greek and Roman Empires that still influence western life today, such as egg and dart crown molding.

Even quality fascism couldn't wipe out the memory of something like that in 20 years.

The sequel trilogy also didn't start until 30+ years after the events of ROTJ, so the specifics of how the Rebellion beat the Empire have had a lot more time to spread. Rey was kind of obsessed with the Rebellion, and the planet she was on was the scene of the last major battle between the Rebels and the Empire, so Itcs not surprising she knew of it. Finn, though, should have been raised on New Order propaganda.

Another factor is inner-rim vs outer-rim. Jakku was an inner rim-world, Nevarro and Tattoine are outer-rim worlds. Even during the era of the Republic, information on current events was pretty slow in making its way to outer-rim worlds.

IMAGE(https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand.png)

Extrapolate to a galactic scale.

I've learned not care so much about the details of Star Wars continuity anymore. I just check my brain and try to enjoy. It's probably why I really dug The Rise of Skywalker too.

I think it's because I was so deep on Extended Universe lore before it all got thrown out. I never cared enough to check out any of the extended material since.

I think the show does a great job of storytelling for people who don't know any back story so far.

Sorbicol wrote:

And I’ll be honest, in storytelling terms my heart has sunk a little because it’s a throwback the show doesn’t need. It’s spent a season happily showing you don’t need Jedi for Star Wars to be Star Wars, and then it’s throwing all that away again.

You mean other then the first season being about a force sensitive kid which Din is protecting?

kazar wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

And I’ll be honest, in storytelling terms my heart has sunk a little because it’s a throwback the show doesn’t need. It’s spent a season happily showing you don’t need Jedi for Star Wars to be Star Wars, and then it’s throwing all that away again.

You mean other then the first season being about a force sensitive kid which Din is protecting?

Ah, but he's taking Baby Yoda back to his "kind". That doesn't necessarily mean the Jedi, it might just mean the same species. And lets face it, that would be a whole load more interesting than taking him back to the Jedi.

I thought he was taking him back to his kind and was a little surprised that they meant Jedi.

Sorbicol wrote:
kazar wrote:
Sorbicol wrote:

And I’ll be honest, in storytelling terms my heart has sunk a little because it’s a throwback the show doesn’t need. It’s spent a season happily showing you don’t need Jedi for Star Wars to be Star Wars, and then it’s throwing all that away again.

You mean other then the first season being about a force sensitive kid which Din is protecting?

Ah, but he's taking Baby Yoda back to his "kind". That doesn't necessarily mean the Jedi, it might just mean the same species. And lets face it, that would be a whole load more interesting than taking him back to the Jedi.

Thing is...

Spoiler:

...they're actually not taking baby yoda to a current Jedi. :)

Vector wrote:

I thought he was taking him back to his kind and was a little surprised that they meant Jedi.

The Jedi are the closest thing to his kind that the Armorer knew of. She didn't know what species he is and was thinking a Jedi will either be good enough or can tell Din what species he is and where they live.

Stengah wrote:
Vector wrote:

I thought he was taking him back to his kind and was a little surprised that they meant Jedi.

The Jedi are the closest thing to his kind that the Armorer knew of. She didn't know what species he is and was thinking a Jedi will either be good enough or can tell Din what species he is and where they live.

Yes but that wasn't stated I never clued in what the Armourer was implying.

Vector wrote:

I thought he was taking him back to his kind and was a little surprised that they meant Jedi.

I don't think Din even knows there's a difference. He's got a kid with crazy magic powers, the Armorer tells him the Mandalorians have legends about people with similar magic powers called Jedi. That's literally all the information he has to go on.

Besides, I'm not sure that even the Jedi ever knew much about Yoda's people. The child is what, the third canonical member of Yoda's species? Lucas refused to even give the species a name he was so intent on keeping Yoda's origins shrouded in mystery. Din's trying to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the universe and he doesn't even know what the heck a Jedi is.

Hell, he barely knows what a Mandalorian is.

muttonchop wrote:

Besides, I'm not sure that even the Jedi ever knew much about Yoda's people. The child is what, the third canonical member of Yoda's species? Lucas refused to even give the species a name he was so intent on keeping Yoda's origins shrouded in mystery. Din's trying to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the universe and he doesn't even know what the heck a Jedi is.

Hell, he barely knows what a Mandalorian is.

He has practically no curiosity either.

Unrelated to everything, I want him to hang out with a Sullustan. I love those guys.

Hot take: This show is not Sad Nerd sh*t. Sad Nerd sh*t is when nerds sh*t on a show that other nerds LOVE.

I hate the feeling I get when someone tries to tell me why the thing I love is garbage. Don’t harsh my mellow. Don’t yuck my yumm. Go find something that YOU love and enjoy it. Leave me the f*ck out of it, and let me love what I love. For f*ck’s sake! This is Star Wars, not f*cking William Shakespeare.

Go start a new thread about sh*tting on Star Wars. I promise I won’t show up and tell you that you’re wrong.

it’s just a show. chill the f*ck out.

Vector wrote:

Unrelated to everything, I want him to hang out with a Sullustan. I love those guys.

I want to see some Ithorians, they're my favourite.

muttonchop wrote:
Vector wrote:

Unrelated to everything, I want him to hang out with a Sullustan. I love those guys.

I want to see some Ithorians, they're my favourite.

KOTOR 2 has a healthy helping of Ithorians and, for whatever reason, that always sticks with me.

RawkGWJ wrote:

it’s just a show. chill the f*ck out.

While I love the theme song to MST3K, one thing I've found very freeing as I've aged is letting folks feel their own way about things while not erroneously making them responsible for mine. (They're not, and their valid experiences are not.)

RawkGWJ wrote:

Hot take: This show is not Sad Nerd sh*t. Sad Nerd sh*t is when nerds sh*t on a show that other nerds LOVE.

I hate the feeling I get when someone tries to tell me why the thing I love is garbage. Don’t harsh my mellow. Don’t yuck my yumm. Go find something that YOU love and enjoy it. Leave me the f*ck out of it, and let me love what I love. For f*ck’s sake! This is Star Wars, not f*cking William Shakespeare.

Go start a new thread about sh*tting on Star Wars. I promise I won’t show up and tell you that you’re wrong.

it’s just a show. chill the f*ck out.

For context, quoting the post that originally brought the phrase "sad nerd sh*t" into this thread:

Sorbicol wrote:

My conversation with Mrs Sorb - not any particular affinity with Star Wars - went something like this:

‘So, who’s this Ahsoka person?’
‘She’s a Jedi’
‘When was she in the films?’
‘She wasn’t, she was Anakin’s apprentice in that animated show I’m watching. You know before he became Darth Vader’
‘Oh. OK. And what’s the deal with that funky lightsabre thing the bad guy has’
‘I dunno. It’s got something to do with the Mandalorians’
‘Ah. Sad nerd sh*t then’
‘I guess so....’

I just think they’re taking that sad nerd sh*t a little too deep into the story on this one. They could lose that lightsabre from this show and they lose nothing in the story for 90% of the people watching.

While the phrase "sad nerd sh*t" was used, the above post does not call the show in its entirety "sad nerd sh*t." In context, I would also not describe it as rising to the level of "sh*tting" on the show. And no one, to my knowledge, has used the word "garbage" to describe it.

It is possible to enjoy a thing with reservations. It is possible to enjoy a thing while still being critical of some of its elements. In fact, I would posit that part of the enjoyment of watching something imperfect is sometimes teasing out exactly what its imperfections are. Like, perhaps, over-relying on franchise continuity in a way that is off-putting to newcomers.

If the way that you have found to best enjoy this show, Rawk, is to be uncritical of it, then more power to you. Do not let the fact that others of us are critical of it, while still enjoying it, stop you.

By the same token, however, I will not "chill the f*ck out" if by that you mean "shut up and enjoy the show in exactly the same uncritical way Rawk does or else get out of the thread."

Geeking out over minutiae only adds to my enjoyment of shows like this, so I welcome people that feel the need to pick it apart, so long as they don't mind hearing that the thing that bugs them actually has an explanation (if it does). Not knowing what happened in some other show is fine, but some of it comes off as someone who has been looking at their phone the whole show getting upset that they don't know what's going on.

Stengah wrote:

...some of it comes off as someone who has been looking at their phone the whole show getting upset that they don't know what's going on.

Eh, if by "the whole show" you mean "an entirely different and very long show in an entirely different medium."

I get feeling that thrill of recognition when a show calls back to something you member from that other thing you like.

I think it can be done well, in a way that gives that thrill to the initiated while remaining invisible to the newcomer. I think it can also be done in such a way as to be distracting and make a new viewer feel excluded.

I would say that this particular show's track record on such things is mixed.

hbi2k wrote:

By the same token, however, I will not "chill the f*ck out" if by that you mean "shut up and enjoy the show in exactly the same uncritical way Rawk does or else get out of the thread."

I mean, sure, you don't have to do anything technically, but don't be shocked if another thread pops up that's the thread for people not to pick it apart.

Sorry for spazzing out.

I'm talking about the phenomenon of watching a show or movie with someone who's not paying attention and then starts asking "who's that?" "why are they doing that?" "what happened to that guy?" midway through the final act.
Many of the things people are complaining about as references to other shows have been provided with a good-enough-for-now explanation from this show itself. Sure they might not know the background info of why something is important yet, but the show makes it pretty clear that it will be important and you'll likely get an explanation when they become important. Yes, Bo-Katan & the Darksaber do have backstories, but so far they're not relevant to Din's story. Knowing them only lets you speculate a little bit further than someone who doesn't know them.
People looking for a show that isn't full of inside references and lots of lore connections probably shouldn't be looking anywhere near one made by both Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. To quote Elysium, "It's like getting on the train to Cleveland and saying, 'I hope this train doesn't go to Cleveland!'"
Though I do understand that Baby Yoda has made it virtually impossible to ignore it.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/gHrvZ7k.jpg)

I'll admit.

I squee'ed real hard when

Spoiler:

Sasha Banks took off the Mandalorian helmet.

Stengah wrote:

People looking for a show that isn't full of inside references and lots of lore connections probably shouldn't be looking anywhere near one made by both Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. To quote Elysium, "It's like getting on the train to Cleveland and saying, 'I hope this train doesn't go to Cleveland!'"
Though I do understand that Baby Yoda has made it virtually impossible to ignore it.

I understand where you're coming from, but I wonder whether you're being entirely fair to the producers or consumers of content.

First, as a consumer I tend to make purchasing decisions on entertainment based on trailers and reviews from sources I trust. That goes for tv, film, music and games. Unless a reviewer draws my attention to something specific about the content-makers (e.g. controversial statements, problematic works), then I almost never engage in deeper study.

Now that may be a deficiency on my part, but I'm sure many other consumers are the same. We ask "Is this thing good?" and "Am I likely to enjoy it?". We don't ask "What are the writer's/director's/producer's characteristics and foibles".

As a result, before this discussion, I'd never heard of Dave Filoni and I was only aware of Jon Favreau as a name in the credits for Marvel films.

Second, I wonder whether your statement allows for the capacity of content-makers to grow and change. For Favreau and Filoni to want to drive the train through Cleveland on the way to somewhere new and different.

Yeah, nothing about this show has been advertised as, "you know that middling CGI cartoon that's been running on Cartoon Network off and on for 12 years? Here's an unofficial sequel to that!"

So I don't know that the "train to Cleveland" metaphor flies. The show is clearly intended to be a jumping-on point for people at many different levels of familiarity with SW lore.

And it largely succeeds at that. But on those occasions when it winds up being off-putting to newcomers, I don't think that's the newcomers' fault for not Googling the names in the credits before watching.

I mean, it's a bit circular, innit? The only people who would know who the hell Dave Filoni is are exactly the people who are probably going to get all the inside references anyway.

1. It’s Star Wars. Just have fun with it.

2. I disagree that Clone Wars was middling, and there are millions of fans who would agree with me.

3. It’s two animated series not one.

4. The Mandelorian is not a sequel to anything. There is merely some crossover from Filoni’s other projects, as well as crossover from plenty of things that Filoni had nothing to do with. Is Star Wars not allowed to reference Star Wars?

5. It’s Star Wars. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Or maybe don’t watch it. That’s always an option.

RawkGWJ wrote:

It’s Star Wars. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Or maybe don’t watch it. That’s always an option.

If I only watched things that I loved entirely without reservation or criticism, I would miss out on a lot of wonderful but imperfect fiction.

I'm glad that you're enjoying the show so much. I'm less glad that your enjoyment is apparently so fragile that the mere presence of people who enjoy it differently than you do is so distressing to you. You might want to think about why that is.

RawkGWJ wrote:

1. It’s Star Wars. Just have fun with it.

2. I disagree that Clone Wars was middling, and there are millions of fans who would agree with me.

3. It’s two animated series not one.

4. The Mandelorian is not a sequel to anything. There is merely some crossover from Filoni’s other projects, as well as crossover from plenty of things that Filoni had nothing to do with. Is Star Wars not allowed to reference Star Wars?

5. It’s Star Wars. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Or maybe don’t watch it. That’s always an option.

Agree with all of that.

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