Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
MANDOVERSE MONDAY - The Mandalorian Chapter 1 (S1:E1)
34 Plays17 days ago
Today, we go back to where it all began with The Mandalorian Chapter 1... the premiere that launched Disney+ and redefined Star Wars for a new era. Before the MandoVerse expanded into spinoffs like The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian Season 3, there was just one story: a lone bounty hunter navigating the galaxy far, far away.
We’re taking a trip down memory lane to revisit what made The Mandalorian’s first episode so special — from Pedro Pascal’s stoic performance as Din Djarin, to Jon Favreau’s western-inspired storytelling, to Dave Filoni’s direction that perfectly balanced mystery, action, and heart. And of course, we can’t forget the iconic debut of Grogu (Baby Yoda), a moment that instantly became a cultural phenomenon.
Looking back, it’s striking how fresh and focused the series felt at the start, before Disney+ leaned fully into interconnected spinoffs and the larger “MandoVerse.” This discussion isn’t just a review of The Mandalorian Chapter 1, but also a reflection on what it meant for Star Wars in 2019, a time when fans were optimistic and the future of Star Wars TV felt wide open post-The Rise of Skywalker.
MANDOVERSE MONDAY E1
This is the Wayseekers is a Star Wars podcast, with new episodes every Thursday on YouTube and audio platforms. Join your hosts Austin SWE and Scotty Holiday SW as they navigate their ways through the Star Wars galaxy.
Follow the Podcast:
- https://tiktok.com/@wayseekerspod
- https://instagram.com/wayseekerspod
- https://bsky.app/profile/wayseekerspod.bsky.social
- https://twitter.com/wayseekerspod
- https://facebook.com/@wayseekerspod
Listen to the Podcast: linktr.ee/wayseekerspod
Follow Austin SWE:
- https://instagram.com/sweaustin
- https://twitter.com/sweaustin0
- https://www.youtube.com/@AustinSWE3
- https://threads.net/sweaustin
- https://bsky.app/profile/sweaustin.bsky.social
Follow Scotty Holiday Star Wars:
- https://www.youtube.com/@ScottyHolidaySW
- https://bsky.app/profile/scottyholidaysw.bsky.social
- https://twitter.com/scottyholidaysw
- https://instagram.com/scottyholidaysw
- https://tiktok.com/@scottyholidaysw
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to The Mandalorian's Unique Appeal
00:00:00
Speaker
A faceless Mandalorian walks into a bar and somehow it changed Star Wars forever. The Mandalorian had no skywalkers, no lightsabers, no epic fanfare, just a quiet bounty hunter, dusty sand planets, and a vibe straight out of a space western.
00:00:14
Speaker
The Mandalorian was not just the first show on Disney+, plus it was also the first live action Star Wars series and my god can I just say they started off with a bang. It wasn't just a first episode, it was a promise.
00:00:25
Speaker
One that made people believe Star Wars could actually evolve into something more. Whether or not the rest of the Mandovers kept that promise, well, we've got a lot of Mondays to figure that out.
00:00:40
Speaker
Can I just say, Scotty, that I'm so glad we're doing this, going back and watching all these episodes of The Mandalorian, because feel like it's so easy to get caught up in what the show has become with all these spinoffs and you know different seasons of the show that you kind of forget that magic of what it was from the beginning with you know first following The Mandalorian and first seeing Grogu.
00:01:01
Speaker
It's like this magic that you just forget about because it was a promise of something more to
The Mandalorian's Impact on Star Wars Legacy
00:01:06
Speaker
come. What do you think going back and watching these episodes? Do you remember how you felt back then? Do you feel different about it now?
00:01:14
Speaker
I think for me, I did not realize how intense the show began right out the gate. yeah man It was pretty ruthless, like just in the first few minutes and it it really sets a tone. And I think another thing I didn't really know what to expect because this was the first live action Star Wars anything that wasn't a movie.
00:01:33
Speaker
yeah So we were all just kind of hoping for something good. no it came out in a really weird time period too. There's lots of discussions in the fandom between the sequels and then, you know, Star Wars future on Disney plus, because it's so funny now we're going back to movies.
00:01:49
Speaker
But back then it was okay. Now we're not doing movies anymore. We're going into series and live action. It was a really interesting time. And yeah I just kind of went into it just hoping for a good story.
00:02:00
Speaker
hmm. Yeah. And looking back, I think we got a good story. I think we got something incredible, something that it's like, wow, this is how this entire Mandoverse monster started with chapter one of the Mandalorian that felt like a really intense adventure, but it was also like this standalone adventure. And like you said, it came out at this time where the sequels were ending and it was like, what is the future of Star Wars? Is there a future of Star Wars? You know, people were really jaded by the sequels. So and don't don't forget the fact that like they toted the Rise of Skywalker as like the end of the Skywalker saga.
00:02:36
Speaker
And it was like, yes, that's ending. But we're going to go back into this little era between episode six and episode seven. And we're going to tell this new story. Yeah. So yeah while while the big story is ending, we're going to jump into this little pocket and try something new.
00:02:50
Speaker
hmm. Yeah. And I don't think anybody expected it to become as big as it did. I mean, it became like a cultural phenomenon back then with the introduction of Grogu, with the introduction of Din Djarin into things. When we first heard about the Mandalorian, it was like, OK, there's a bounty hunter. He looks like Boba Fett. We've seen the Mandalorian lore get expanded and things like the Clone Wars and, you know, the creator of the Clone Wars is involved in this. This is it felt like it could be good, but it didn't feel like this was going to be the future of
Grogu's Introduction and Character Development
00:03:21
Speaker
Star Wars. In fact, I don't even think Lucasfilm thought that this was going to be the future of Star Wars, at least in the way that it became. I mean, Grogu blew up.
00:03:30
Speaker
the entire internet like Grogu was everywhere people that I've never ever heard talk about Star Wars but all of a sudden interested in Baby Yoda as he was referred to at the time oh yeah we didn't even know his name yet it was and but and honestly in this episode it was the asset yeah yeah the asset we didn't know who anybody was we didn't know Din Djarin's name and know a lot of these characters we never even found out their name like the Mithral he's still just the Mithral to this day Oh, or um the client, the client. Yes.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, something interesting that the Mandalorian does just never names its characters. I don't know if that's I mean, it's kind of fun, but it's it gets a little weird when they come back and they still don't have a name like they come back for another episode and it's still the myth role and we're like,
00:04:18
Speaker
OK, it's the blue guy Right, exactly. Well, before we get too far into this discussion, I just want to give a little refresher. It's been a while since these episodes came out. So, you know. Yeah.
00:04:30
Speaker
Well, episode one throws us right into the Mandalorian. Ruthless bounty missions, big fights and some giant monsters to then gets a secret job from a sketchy ex-Imperial and heads to a very classic looking Star Wars planet.
00:04:43
Speaker
Along the way he meets Quill, who helps but only after Din tames this awkward little creature called a Blurg. When he gets to his target, he teams up with IG-11, storms a compound, and finally reaches the inside.
00:04:56
Speaker
But, here's the twist. The bounty's not some scary bad guy. It's a tiny 50 year old green baby and suddenly everything changes. The bounty hunter story just flipped. Scotty, I want to ask you, you know, we're following this journey of like you mentioned the asset.
00:05:13
Speaker
What was your expectation for what the asset could be? This 50 year old bounty seems kind of dangerous. You know, they're even saying like you can bring them in debt if you want. What were you expecting?
00:05:25
Speaker
I think and it's kind of hard. I really tried to put my mind back into, OK, here's me sitting down to watch this show for the first time. What did I expect? And I mean, obviously, i thought it was going to be a 50 year old person.
00:05:37
Speaker
And i think or at least this time around, what I where I thought my mind was going because we kind of got the introduction of the Imperial remnant for, we really knew it.
00:05:49
Speaker
I was expecting like a, a high up Imperial officer who like, and it's funny cause that's kind of what we've gotten into with where the show's gone. But I expected like somebody that was still in part of the Imperial military, some high off officer who was necessary and kind of,
00:06:07
Speaker
getting to the First Order, something like that. Because going back to the sequels, we expected this to tie into how we got to the First Order and that story in the sequels. Right. Yeah. ah Kind of in that same vein, I actually thought, weirdly enough, that it was Grand Admiral Thrawn.
00:06:22
Speaker
Even back then, this was before anybody was like... caught up in the the brain rot of thinking Grand Admiral Thrawn would be brought into this show. And then it actually ended up happening with Ahsoka.
00:06:33
Speaker
um But I was like, OK, kind of along the lines you said, maybe somebody that would be important for the First Order. But, you know, we didn't actually know where Grand Admiral Thrawn was yet because of Star Wars Rebels. So i was like, OK, Dave Filoni is involved.
00:06:48
Speaker
And then when that wasn't the case, I was like, OK, maybe the Mandalorian isn't that type of show where we're going to connect it to everything. And that was the case for season one. yeah um yeah i was very much like, oh, OK, I was so surprised when it was Grogu.
00:07:03
Speaker
Because I feel like Star Wars has been, at least at that time, too, they were very scared of Yoda species as a whole. We just saw Yaddle and we saw some characters in like the Knights of the Old Republic games, but those characters were no longer canon. Master Bandar. Right, exactly. So i was like, oh, is Star Wars is going to explore Yoda species here are we going to get a name drop you know this is a very interesting way to do this but I actually
Exploration of Mandalorian Culture
00:07:30
Speaker
remember when I first saw Grogu I didn't think that he was going to be force sensitive I thought that he was just going to be like a random baby that wasn't exactly important which thinking back I don't know why I didn't connect the dots with them cloning and everything but again when this show was so standalone at the start you weren't expecting big connections to everything else you know what i mean
00:07:51
Speaker
No, it's so hard to go back and like kind of put ourselves in the bubble of what we knew of in the Star Wars story at that time, because this was also the first like Star Wars dad gets child changes his life where we've kind of seen that get really repetitive since this show.
00:08:10
Speaker
But this is where that kind of all started. And I don't necessarily think I thought that Grogry was going to be force sensitive or force sensitive either. It was just more of why the hell do they want this 50 year old baby? Right. And, and on top of that, you know, mentioning going back to the sequels.
00:08:28
Speaker
And this was the first story that was really new post sequels. it was like, oh my gosh, are they finally touching Yoda's species now that George Lucas isn't involved? and So it was like, are we going to go down that rabbit hole? Because he was very like, we're not talking about Yoda's species, no name, no planet, no nothing.
00:08:44
Speaker
So it was very interesting to see them take this big of a risk. One that really came out of left field because, you know, they kept Gerger out of the marketing. Nobody knew about Progu. No toys, no nothing. yeah And so then they were kind of going into this lone bounty hunter gritty kind of show.
00:09:00
Speaker
And then, oh, here's Baby Yoda. yeah It was kind of like, where are we going with this? What is this show actually? yeah what could happen? Yeah, it was very bold, but you start to see like what it could become because, you know, we see Din Djarin when once he gets some Beskar, he goes to the armor and he goes to the Mandalorian clan, which is so interesting to see, especially in context of what we know now with the Night of a Thousand Tears and everything else with the Mandalorians versus the Empire. When the armor is forging his armor, that's when we first start to see those flashbacks of something happening to him as a kid. So you can kind of connect that to the point where we see him standing over Grogu and he does that little thing with his finger.
00:09:42
Speaker
It's kind of like the first moment where we see him have any type of sympathy, because from the very beginning with the myth, we're all we see that he has absolutely no sympathy. The myth role he's kind of shown as someone who's probably mostly innocent. I think his crime was like stealing from grief cargo. He was like an accountant and took some money, but he's like a family man. He's like, I want to get back home and like he's just bluffing.
00:10:05
Speaker
Yeah, for life day. But maybe he's just bluffing. i don't know. But he's kind of shown as like this sympathetic character in The Mandalorian is not having any part of it. The only thing he has is bounty hunting.
00:10:17
Speaker
He's Dennis so cold. I forgot how cold he was like. Yeah. And just like he doesn't even respond. yeah Granted, the myth role was being really annoying in the ship. It's like trying to make casual conversation. It's like, dude, shut the fuck up. Like, I'm taking you in. I'm getting turning in your puck.
00:10:34
Speaker
I'm getting my payout and then I'm moving on to the next one. Literally. Yeah. And that's crazy to see is just how didn't like literally there was nothing to him. And then we get that kind of peek into his backstory and that's where it's like, okay, clearly this guy has some trauma
Creative Contributions and Cultural Shifts
00:10:50
Speaker
and I'm really excited to see what that's going to be.
00:10:53
Speaker
I mean, even going into that too, like the whole helmet thing, mentioning Dave Filoni's involvement, we're like, wait, Why don't they take their helmets off? Yeah, because they learn to take their helmets off.
00:11:05
Speaker
And if Dave Filoni is involved, that's not right. Are they retconning it? Like we didn't know what to think. It was this whole Mandalorian foundling covert sewer brat vibe they had going on at the armor. We're like, I don't know who this lady is. Is she with death watch? She's got horns on her helmet. like Yeah, that line that the Mithral says about, is it true that you guys don't take your helmets off?
00:11:28
Speaker
That caused a lot of controversy in the fandom. Now, I don't think it was like bad controversy, but people were discussing like, okay, what the fuck do you mean? Because Bo-Katan takes off her helmet in in the Clone Wars.
00:11:40
Speaker
So what are you talking about? They all take off their helmets in the Clone Wars. Sabine takes off her helmet in Star Wars Rebels. So what are you talking about? But... Little did we know what would actually come from this series.
00:11:51
Speaker
But I want to kind of go back to before Grogu was introduced when we're just first following the Mandalorian and we see that he just has bounty hunting in his life. He's just going from one job to another. He finishes a job and immediately goes to the next, even though grief cargo is like, you need to take a break, dude. He's like, absolutely not.
00:12:08
Speaker
but I almost forgot how little time we spend with Din Djarin before he has this big life changing arc happen in front of him with the introduction of Grogu. But I feel like it's not something that, you know, I needed more of. I kind of got the point, like he's kind of this ruthless bounty hunter.
00:12:26
Speaker
don't know. How did how did you feel? Uh, that's so tough because as I was going back and watching it, I was really enjoying the like gritty tone and how ah just like din was, yes, he was just going on his jobs and he was just basically killing people and, you know, getting bounties and stuff. But I really enjoyed almost seeing peek into that side of the galaxy, which we know Star Wars has been trying to do for so long. You know, there's the Star Wars underworld show. There was 1313
00:12:57
Speaker
And I kind of wanted more of that. Like now going back and watching this, I was kind of like, Was I enjoying my more intrigued about what was happening prior to Grogu?
00:13:08
Speaker
Hmm. And maybe it's just because like now we've explored what happens with Grogu. But I'm like, maybe I kind of want to know more about what would have happened if didn't did not take that job.
00:13:19
Speaker
Didn't did not run into Grogu. And like, to be honest, I am not like obsessed with Grogu like some people are. hmm. I'm not somebody who's also like, oh, my God, he's so cute. Like, watch him do the flip.
00:13:33
Speaker
Not that either. So like and it's probably because I don't have children and I don't want children. So like that storyline in their connection, just not it's not something that i really relate to.
00:13:47
Speaker
maybe that's why I'm kind of like, oh, I kind of what it would have been like without Gregor coming into this. Not to say that the story is not good and I don't like where it's gone, which we'll get into at the end of Manoverse Monday.
00:14:00
Speaker
um But you wanted to follow the cold heartless Din Djarin all along. I think that's what was more intriguing. And that's probably because that's what was teased. And yeah, I did want to see the cold heartless Din Djarin a little bit more.
00:14:14
Speaker
And I don't know. I also think going into it, like we mentioned, I was thinking I'd be getting more Pedro Pascal, which we did not. Yeah, I mean, that that makes sense, I guess. i just oh i like I mean that more with the helmet. like I was expecting to see more of Pedro's acting, not just this stone-cold bounty hunter who like has no personality and his armor definitely ah reflects his lack of a personality at this time.
00:14:44
Speaker
No, yeah, I guess that makes sense. and And when when we didn't see much of Pedro Pascal, it was like, wow, you got that star power just to put a helmet on him 99% of the time. But it was an interesting choice. It was a bold choice. And it was a really cool way to tell this story with the main character not even being able to express himself.
00:15:04
Speaker
um He was just able to have body movement and just his dialogue. It was a very bold choice. And I feel like that's why this story, you know, intrigued people so much. It's about a puppet and a faceless character.
00:15:18
Speaker
and it's like, wow, this is this is really cool. and it it works so well that he's faceless as well because yeah like we said, he's very cold. He's very stoic. And then we're kind of seeing that armor being taken off of him throughout the entire thing till eventually in season two, he takes off his helmet for Grogu ultimately going against, you know, the creed.
00:15:38
Speaker
But, well, I think this all kind of goes into the fact that some people like to argue the point that the Mandalorian is not Din Djarin. The Mandalorian is Grogu. Which I don't necessarily. character, like the title of the show is about Grogu?
00:15:55
Speaker
Yes, like Grogu will be the actual Mandalorian that we're all talking about. I don't like that theory personally, but some people. I've never heard that. Some people say that Grogu is going to be. They say Grogu is going to tame the fucking mythosaur.
00:16:08
Speaker
Well, he probably is, but you know, okay group they change who the title is about every time they make a new season of the show. Maybe, maybe I do not like Grogu that much.
00:16:21
Speaker
I've been talking about this with you. i feel like that's what's coming out of me and I wasn't mentally prepared for that. Well, that's sad and unfortunate, but I mean, it it makes sense, I guess.
00:16:33
Speaker
But at the same time, it's not like Grogu's story was 100% cuteness. I don't know. We'll get into this more in the following episodes. We literally only got a glimpse of of Grogu. at I
Mandalorian History and Din's Character Complexity
00:16:44
Speaker
know.
00:16:44
Speaker
So at this point in in the timeline, we don't know what Grogu's about.
00:16:49
Speaker
But I get what you're saying about, you know, seeing more of what Din Djarin was before Grogu, because I feel like that stuff is very interesting with like the the Mandalorian um covert. Is that what you would call it?
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah. so that that kind of sewer rat vibe that you said it was very intriguing, especially because we know what the Mandalorians were like in the Clone Wars. They had the entire Mandalore and it's like, wow, what has happened?
00:17:17
Speaker
um It kind of made me look at the Mandalorian as a victim, like the reason that he's just so involved in bounty hunting and that's his entire life is because that's all he has. He's part of a culture that no longer is allowed to exist. Basically, you know, I know the Empire is dead, but the Empire existed for 25 years or however long and completely erased these people from the galaxy.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah. And it's to your right. And it's to the point where they literally have nothing left. They once had a whole planet. They were super technologically advanced. These people created weapons to combat the Jedi and like were actively active combats with them or combatants. And now they're literally in a sewer and just bounty hunting.
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And the, and the series, like you mentioned before in the series does make it a point to talk about the Mandalorians and their past. Like even quill says, you know, you're a Mandalorian, your people rode the mythosaur, like people know what the Mandalorians were, but to see where they are at this point in time was definitely a big, I don't know if I want to say it was a shock, but it was just kind of like, what the hell happened?
00:18:26
Speaker
Yeah, because they're almost like a myth, like the way Quill talks about it. It's like like he read about the Mandalorians in a storybook or something. You know what I mean? That's kind of what the Jedi are like at this point as well. It's a very interesting thing to follow, kind of showing the fallout of the Empire and the effects that had on the galaxy, the effects it's had on the cultures that were once super rich earlier, like in the prequel era.
00:18:50
Speaker
it was thriving and fantastic. Well, don't know if Mandalore was thriving, but I mean, the planet maybe the people but definitely better than they are here though but we didn't even know what was going to happen with there being other factions i thought boca ten was probably dead at this point or something and that this was all mandalore had left turns out they were never even actually part of mandalore right this show really did it ah I feel like we really didn't know what to expect to go into it. And it was, and that was a part of the intrigue of it too.
00:19:27
Speaker
Like not only were we getting the show that was, For the average people, like we've watched the animated shows. We knew about Mandalorians. The average people knew about Boba Fett.
00:19:38
Speaker
Right. And Boba Fett's dad that they retconned into or his clone or whatever, whatever crap that in the prequels. But and now it's like, okay, now we're exploring this Mandalorian culture. So some people didn't even know.
00:19:51
Speaker
And then there's so us who were like, but wait, Dave Filoni said in the Clone Wars, he told us about the Mandalorians and they take their helmets off and where's Bo-Katan and Yeah, all we needed to have was patience, of course, but...
00:20:04
Speaker
So true. Something else I really enjoyed within this episode is the introduction of Quill and Mando and their relationship, because in watching it back, I was getting super Luke and Yoda like Dagobah Empire Strikes Back where Quill's kind of kooky at the beginning when he first finds Din and he's like, well, I guess I'll help you deal with this crap. And he they kind of go through that training montage of learning how to ride the blur. And I don't know, it was getting really I was getting Yoda and Luke vibes from it. Did you catch on to that at all?
00:20:38
Speaker
No, I definitely, I definitely agree with you. I don't know if I specifically was like Luke and Yoda, but it was of a very good moment and it kind of serves the same purpose where Mando and Luke, they're kind of hot headed before they come into this. They're like, yeah true i know i know already know what i need to know and then they find this character that you really don't expect much out of you know they're tiny and short and it's like okay what do these people know and then turns out you're actually needing to slow down and and learn something for once and it was nice to see that because you know to see dinjar and kind of embrace learning something and slowing down like
00:21:14
Speaker
oh, maybe he doesn't know everything about this galaxy. And there's some great foreshadowing because we know that he's going to learn a lot in the next, you know, year or however long season one was. So it's kind of like this great moment of foreshadowing for Din Djarin to just slow down, learn something new, realize that you don't know everything. And also, i feel like it was another moment that we kind of start to
Authenticity Through Practical Effects
00:21:40
Speaker
see the cracks in the armor where like he can be sympathetic. He's not just this cold hearted, you know, horrible person that's just looking for money. He's forced into that position, like I said earlier, by the Empire, by what his culture is allowed to do in this era of the galaxy. I even liked the little bits of like lore we got with Quill and just seeing his perspective of the galaxy.
00:22:07
Speaker
Um, you know, we, we saw Dins now we're getting another perspective of the galaxy in the post empire world. And I think that also just spoke to the way I really loved how pulpy and funky this episode was too.
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. We're dealing with this puppet or not a puppet man, but he's like practical effects. There are so many practical effects in this. And I really loved seeing all of that in this episode, but especially with this character, because that was also correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't think of any super practical effect alien characters from the sequel trilogy that were like up in like, i don't want to say a main character, but like front and center.
00:22:47
Speaker
Right. Can you think of any? Because I can't really. No, there definitely weren't like even a lot of those characters that would be puppets were CGI, like Maz Kanata on Car Plot, you know.
00:23:00
Speaker
So, yeah, it was kind of like that first mechanical face, mechanical movements. And it was really cool to see that with Quill. um And I, I think another good part about that was a lot of people saw this show as hearkening back to that OT era kind of feel where everything was a little more gritty and it wasn't flashy and new, like in the sequels and then they're doing all these practical effects. So people really liked that. So there's a lot of good stuff going on that was really popular. I feel like with all types of fans, except for the fact that it ignored the prequels, but you know,
00:23:35
Speaker
So we've kind of been talking about the blurgs and I feel like this is a good time to kind of point up each episode of our Mandoverse Mondays for each chapter. I'm going to discuss a fun fact from the episode and this one happens to be about the blurgs themselves.
00:23:49
Speaker
This is something i didn't even know, but basically the blurgs themselves first appeared in the 1985 made for TV movie, Ewoks, the battle of Endor as full stop motion puppets by Phil Tippett.
00:24:04
Speaker
And he's super famous. He did the animation for the Djeric chess pieces on the Millennium Falcon, Tauntauns, ATAT walkers of Hoth. And in general, they really felt straight out of the original trilogy, kind of hearkening to what we were just talking about with it look being so OT with just having those practical effects.
00:24:26
Speaker
But they were done so well. Yeah. Like the blurbs, they had a lot of character in them. I really enjoyed them. They it's kind of like those things on Naboo, the Anakin rides on.
00:24:38
Speaker
They don't make any sense. Like, yeah, those creatures would not be able to stand up and have people ride them and like hop around like they do. But it's just like a funky pulpy kind of sci fi Star Wars ness of it all that. Yeah, it has that charm. That's the word for it.
00:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. The anatomy of those things are ridiculous. I don't know why I thought that they were introduced in the special editions. Like, I don't know if it's because we're seeing them on this sand planet here. So I just assumed they were part of the CGI special editions from Tatooine. Star Wars loves the sand planet.
00:25:12
Speaker
But I guess they were not. They were from the Ewok movies. So. very different setting to be on the forest moon of Endor to now this desert planet. But hey, they feel very Star Wars in nature. Like, yeah, it doesn't feel like they came from the Ewok movies. Not to shit on those and say that those don't feel like Star Wars. But I mean, well, I've come. more seen Those who've seen them will say that they're not the most Star Wars thing ever. But I've actually been seeing a lot more love for them on Twitter recently.
00:25:44
Speaker
Well, maybe we'll have to watch them if we ever start a Patreon. ah
00:25:50
Speaker
That could be fun. um Another thing that I want to talk about here with Din Djarin, especially because it gets brought up a lot in the future, is his kind of resentment towards droids and seeing him work IG-11 here.
00:26:04
Speaker
I'm kind of still confused about... what his relationship actually was to ig 11 because he says that they could split the prize that they can work together but we know he doesn't trust droids was his plan always to kill ig 11. i think so because he's just annoyed at the fact that there's a bounty droid there i mean they already bring it up at the beginning which i forgot that he had like this droid trauma and technically at the time we didn't know He was like, oh, this guy hates droids. But it was like, I get it. He wants to wear work with another life form, whatever. Droids can be so particular. We think about C-3PO and everyone's just quick to
Collaborative Storytelling and Episode Impact
00:26:40
Speaker
shut him up because he don't stop. very true
00:26:43
Speaker
But yeah, you pointing that out. I could totally see Din being like, yeah, um I'm going to work with this droid until I get to a point where I don't need his help anymore. Because I mean, even when he's looking in that little minocular or whatever the hell you want to call it, like there's way too many people for Din de Anil on his own, just with like what he has. And I don't think of the whistling birds yet. So.
00:27:07
Speaker
Right. It was out of necessity. And at the same time to thinking about it now, he didn't know what the asset was actually going to be. He didn't know it was a baby, so he didn't know if he was going to still need an assassin droid with him or not.
00:27:20
Speaker
And that's the baby and he's like, I'm going to kill it. But I still feel like there was a part of him that. wanted that killed him because he was going to kill Grogu. Like I oh refuse to believe that it was solely out of, Oh, I just fucking hate this droid anyways. And I was always going to kill him even though that was the case, but it just like feels like it discounts that whole moment with Grogu.
00:27:43
Speaker
But then he does the little finger thing. So it's like, there's no way. No, think, uh, I definitely think he didn't want I G 11 to kill Grogu because even from the beginning, i G 11 had said that like he needed he was going to bring in the asset like dead, like to kill him on site. And then it's like, um, that's not what I was told. Right. So.
00:28:05
Speaker
Yeah. And I actually went back and watch because I G 11 did say they said to bring him in debt. And I'm like, I could have sworn that the client told Mando that you could bring him in debt, but for a lesser reward.
00:28:17
Speaker
Well, yeah. And Dr. Pershing is like, I'm actually like, don't kill it We need him. Right. Exactly. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, in the future, we know that he becomes very sympathetic towards Grogu. So I think that it's safe to say there was some sense of that there.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think something the most interesting part about this episode that I did not know until we just rewatched it was that it was directed by Dave Filoni.
00:28:46
Speaker
Oh, you didn't know that? No. I remember it being a big deal back then. Like, oh, wow, he's directing something. It's very interesting because in a few weeks we'll be talking about his other episode that he directed in this season, which was not the same quality.
00:29:02
Speaker
It makes me wonder if this episode was more like a group project, like everyone was in involved because there's no way that he just got it out of the park immediately like that and then kind of yeah fell down in quality later on.
00:29:17
Speaker
i I, I don't know what it was. i thought Filoni's first directed episode was the Ahsoka introduction in season two. Really? i was completely wrong.
00:29:29
Speaker
And I thought Dave was just there like shadowing the other directors the whole first season. But I mean, there's a giant monster in it. So i shouldn't be surprised because we all know Dave Filoni loves a giant space monster.
00:29:43
Speaker
That's very true. It it very much had Dave Filoni's DNA all over it. I feel like that's when, you know, Star Wars animation was always valid, but this is when it started to feel really validated because we're actually getting, you know, references to that in live action because the sequel trilogy did not do that besides the very end when they included Ahsoka. And then who knows if that's even canon, according to Dave Filoni.
00:30:08
Speaker
so So here's the real question. Okay. Which part of the show is Dave's and which part is John's? Because I'm like, I always thought Jon Favreau was the Grogu route.
00:30:20
Speaker
And then Dave Filoni was like the reef building Mandalore. But now part of me is like, but the Grogu part feels more Dave Filoni. No, the Grogu part is very much Jon Favreau. Jon Favreau got the idea.
00:30:33
Speaker
By the way, I'm an expert on this. I have a whole video essay documentary about the rise of Grogu. oh Hopefully your assistant links it in the cards. Well, Jon Favreau was working on this sort of gremlin project. It was like a CD project and it had a creature that looked very similar to Grogu with big eyes, big ears. And he was like, oh, we could include that in here. And then Dave Filoni's part was very much Mandalore because For those that don't know, the the genesis of The Mandalorian was that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni were working on separate projects at Lucasfilm.
00:31:07
Speaker
Dave Filoni was working on something with Mandalorians and then Jon Favreau's kind of had something to do with Mandalorians, but was something else. And then Kathleen Kennedy said, hey, why don't you guys work together? And they already kind of had a relationship because in 2008 they're working on the same lot.
00:31:24
Speaker
Jon Favreau was working on Iron Man. Dave Filoni was working on Clone Wars. They showed each other these projects. So yeah, that's how let's that came be. Let's not forget everyone's favorite Mandalorian, Pre Vizsla, who Jon Favreau voiced in the Clone Wars. Very true. See, yeah, they already had this existing relationship.
00:31:40
Speaker
But then Kathleen Kennedy was like, hey, you guys just so happen to want to make these projects that involve Mandalorians. So let's put you guys together. Mandalorians are like really in right now. So John, Dave, we're going need you to do the baby Yoda Mandalorian Mandalorians takeover Mandalore show together. Yeah.
00:32:02
Speaker
And I think for better for worse. yeah Yeah. Well, in 2019, it was for better. 100%. I think that the Mandalorian had a fantastic start. Honestly, i would say that this episode was like a 10 out of 10 for me.
00:32:16
Speaker
Not to put you on the spot. and say what I was like, do I have to rank it? I don't know if I would exactly say it's 10 out of 10 either because I don't think it's the best episode of The Mandalorian, but this it was a great start.
00:32:28
Speaker
I'd give it a seven, I think. A seven? Okay. because Because it had a lot of good action and a lot of good suspense. And I really like, I like i like a little bit of action, but I like a lot of good story and a lot of buildup. And that's exactly what this was.
00:32:42
Speaker
And I loved the fact that we had that kind of, and want to call it a cliffhanger ending, but it was like, we just got the reveal and then it was like credits immediately. Right. Yeah.
00:32:53
Speaker
But it was that thing, that that hook that made you want to come back. And it gave us the introduction of one of my favorite things that the Mandalorian series has done is the concept art credits. Very true. Very true. I love seeing all that each each episode.
00:33:07
Speaker
Well, I think this has been a first great episode talking about The Mandalorian Chapter 1, but if there's nothing left, Scotty, why don't you send us out of here? We'll see you next week to discuss The Mandalorian Season 1, Chapter 2, The Child, and make sure to stick around for our regular episodes on Thursdays.
00:33:23
Speaker
Thank you all so much for watching, and remember, this is the way. and