The Mandalorian

2019 ‧ Action fiction -A lone gunfighter makes his way through the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic.

Some Spoilers: Wow! What can I say? Disney really knocked it out the park this time. It’s not secret that STAR WARS has become very controversial since Disney took over Lucas Film. The new trilogy has taken STAR WARS in a new direction that not everyone agrees with. At the eve of Rise of the Skywalker Disney has released The Mandalorian series and its exceptionally good. It follows a bounty hunter on the job following the destruction of the Empire. This fits the story in-between Return of the Jedi and The force awakens. The Mandalorian is a character very much in the style of Boba Fett and Jango Fett. A no nonsense man of few words. We get to see him use the classic weapons he has in new and interesting ways as well. A simple man trying to make his way in the universe. The story is basic but sets things up nicely for later episodes. It does a great job at setting up the characters, motivations, the world and the atmosphere. It makes us care about the characters with very little exposition which is no small feat. The episode is full of easter eggs and surprises for fans who know the lore. The new creatures and droids are really well designed and memorable. Perhaps among the most memorable of any in the STAR WARS mythos. I will never forget the very expressive creatures that look like baby dinosaur piranhas. The bounty droid too is very cool. He can look and shoot in all directions by spinning his arms independently 360 degrees. He is miles better than the droid in Solo but seems to use the same motion capture style which looks great. There isn’t much actual space and ship sequences in the first episode but I’m sure the space battles and all that will come later on in the series. We get to see creatures from the original trilogy. Remember Jabba the Hutt’s little laughing critter? Remember the droid that looks like a trash can with legs? The special effects are top notch without being overbearing. The music is excellent with some subtle melodic themes throughout. Wow. This show is great. For anyone who was upset about the new trilogy this show heals those wounds, gives hope to STAR WARS fans for the future and suggests the franchise is far from dead with many possibilities for new and exciting story telling in the future. The Obi Wan series will now be even more anticipated. The thought of an Obi Wan series with this level of quality starring Ewan McGregor is almost too much to bear. It is a STAR WARS fans dream come true. The idea of making STAR WARS content into a live action TV series is the best decision Disney and Lucas Film could of made. BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! Thank you Disney for redeeming yourself and giving the fans what they want. This show is not political. It is not controversial. Its just STAR WARS at its best. I repeat, STAR WARS at its best. If the show carries on in this direction it will be regarded by fans as up there with the original trilogy. The only criticism I have is that the episode was too short. The episodes should be an hour or more each but that’s just me, a fan, wanting more.

Visual effects:

Visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic, a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, opened a new division in November 2018 targeted for streaming and episodic television called ILM TV. Based in London with support from the company’s locations in San Francisco, Vancouver, and Singapore, it is expected that the new division will work extensively on live-action Star Wars television series, starting with The Mandalorian.

Unreal Engine 4, a game engine developed by Epic Games, is used to create the digital backgrounds. It makes the rendering of the visual effects faster than would normally be possible for a live-action series, and Favreau said the technology can be applied to a variety of challenges. So rather than using sketches on a whiteboard to map out scenes, the storyboarding was done on the game engine.^[69][70]

Music:

The music for The Mandalorian is composed by Ludwig Göransson. Each chapter has its own soundtrack album, released the same day. For the score, Göransson played many of the key instruments himself, and then added a 70-piece orchestra. He wrote four hours of music for the eight episodes.