The Mandalorian Is The Star Wars You’ve Been Looking For

Updated Nov 18, 2019 2:14 PM EST

There is no doubt that the Star Wars franchise is one of the strongest on our own outer rim planet, but there have been signs that some of its luster may be fading. With potential storm clouds hanging over Disney’s banner sci-fi investment, all eyes on are the franchise’s first live-action Star Wars television show, The Mandalorian . In an era where the real possibility of “Star Wars fatigue” seems to be a potential symptom of a greater ailment within the House of Mouse, and in which the company has so much riding on its new streaming service, Disney+, of which The Madolorian is the ‘E-ticket ride,’ the stakes really couldn’t be higher for the Jon Favreau-helmed space adventure series.

So, with two episodes of The Mandalorian streaming away, what’s the verdict?

I can confidently say that this is the Star Wars you’ve been looking for.

Author’s note: There are no major spoilers in this review! I wanted to talk about the show’s broader strokes and bigger implications, so read ahead even if you haven’t seen it yet, you won’t be harmed!

Everything that the J.J. Abrams-era sequels have lacked is omnipresent in The Mandalorian . Let me rephrase that—this show wipes the floor with the new movies. It is not another ‘as massive a market as possible’ Star Wars adaptation. It doesn’t have a rushed, over-stuffed, and often nonsensical storyline that relies more on the public’s demand for anything new Star Wars than actual quality or even coherent storytelling. As a result, it can take chances. It can be remarkably violent when it needs to be. Above all else, it can take its time to bathe in a key ingredient that makes Star Wars so great—the incredibly diverse and texture-heavy environments that make up a galaxy far, far away.

And yes, the show is gorgeous. The production values are right up there with the films and in some ways seem to exceed them. Pedro Pascal playing the helmet-clad bounty hunter of remarkably few words works great too. The concept puts a lot of weight on his voice acting, which doesn’t disappoint, and allows viewers to focus their attention elsewhere more frequently from scene to scene.

All this contributes to an amazing world-building opportunity, which the show is capitalizing on in spades even this early on in its run. So many Easter eggs and connections to all aspects of Star Wars canon are packed into two episodes that it is abundantly clear that the showrunners have no intent to dumb things down for the casual viewer. In fact, if anything else, this is a super fan’s show and that is really exciting because, hopefully, it won’t be afraid to tell a story that connects back with Star Wars past and future in creative ways as it is set in between Return Of The Jedi and The Force Awakens . That would be different than most movie franchise television adaptations, where they were more of a ‘ship in a bottle,’ not allowed to have major consequences on the high-grossing movie side of the portfolio.

Many reviews are declaring that The Mandalorian proves Star Wars works for television. This is entirely untrue . Star Wars has worked for television for over a decade. The Clone Wars , a cartoon that aired on the Disney Channel, is the best and most in-depth Star Wars storytelling I have seen. It was able to write vast amounts of Star Wars canon and it actually made the George Lucas’s often maligned prequels far better retroactively. New characters that eclipse nearly anything J.J. Abrams has brought forward in terms of depth and likeability originated from this show.

The series was a war saga that was heavy in politics, and at times seemed out of place on a children’s network for all the right reasons. Then came Rebels , which built upon The Clone Wars with a story of a bit smaller scope , and did some amazing things while still being a children’s show. The live-action Mandalorian has been able to do what always needed to be done, to take a blaster to the confines of ‘children’s entertainment’ and use the same awesome storytelling abilities for a more mature audience.

It just so happens the guy behind both of those animated series, Dave Feloni, is an executive producer on The Mandalorian and directed the first episode. The George Lucas apprentice became the ‘Chosen One’ to carry the Star Wars brand forward for throngs of Star Wars fans long ago, but because he was relegated to the child’s cartoon medium, he seemed to get passed over for less invested and knowledgeable, but more prominent behind-the-camera talent. Now that has changed and there is no going back. Finally, Feloni has been given a mature medium to showcase his amazing talents and, as a result, I believe he will officially become the mind behind Star Wars for years to come. At least I can only hope so.

As for the nuts and bolts of the show itself, it’s relatively genius. The whole bounty hunter series idea has always been a thing, but Favreau read the landscape perfectly and basically ported over the western/samurai genre directly to the Star Wars universe. It works so well that I found myself watching and thinking, ‘man this really works!’ The series is setting itself up already to become something of an iteration on Ogami Ittō’s Lone Wolf And Cub , the iconic Japanese manga from the 1970s that turned into a series of films that defined a genre.

In more recent times, the John Wick franchise has reached new heights of success by reframing the western or samurai revenge genre for a modern era. I did a separate review that talks all about this, that you can read here . And yes, Mandalorian is John Wick with hyperdrives to some degree, but that is not a bad thing. Quite the contrary actually. Large swathes of the Star Wars universe has been built up around the bounty hunter mystique. Developing it into its own property is quite literally a long time coming. Pairing it more deeply with the western/samurai genre is logical for obvious reasons, so it’s not just a convenient derivative, it just happens to be a hot genre right now.

Like John Wick , The Mandalorian is already hard at work building out the colorful underbelly subculture of bounty hunters and assassins in the Star Wars universe. Also like John Wick , the set-piece fight sequences take center stage and they are remarkably violent for Star Wars, giving the series a far more edgy and unpredictable feel.

All this comes together to do something that has seemed elusive to many Star Wars fans since The Force Awakens hit theaters, it makes the post- Return Of The Jedi world that has been built in an endless stream of books and comics, as well as the two sequel films, actually interesting. Clearly, the fall of the empire was welcome to many, but there are always winners and losers in such a grand scheme, and the vacuum of order, regardless of its intentions, is still a vacuum that invites chaos and nefarious acts. Like the wild west, the reality that the The Mandalorian inhabits, even earlier on in its first season, really does feels lawless and uncertain.

I also have a feeling that some of our old friends from Feloni’s beloved cartoons will show up in live-action form. Rebel’s set up this possibility rather brilliantly. One character that spans both The Clone Wars and Rebels , Ashoka Tano, could very well make a cameo, which would be a huge win for diehard fans and doing so would introduce likely the most beloved character of the animated Star Wars realm into the live-action environment. Another Mandalorian that was a key character in Rebels has a high chance of appearing, as well.

It’s important to remember that The Mandalorian is really a pilot for a whole new Star Wars television ecosystem that is slated to roll out in the not so distant future. We know for sure that a Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor is in development, as is the Obi Wan Kenobi series with Ewan McGregor, but that could just be the tip of the iceberg depending on how valuable The Mandalorian proves to be. Considering Disney will know exactly what gets watched and by who on its streaming service, the areas where more dollars will flow content-wise will be crystal clear as time goes on.

The Mandalorian is truly gorgeous. The production values are right there with the movies, if not better. , Disney

And dollars flowing into Disney’s war chest is what this is all about. I have heard over and over again that Disney CEO Bob Iger’s legacy rests on the success or failure of Disney+. If that is even somewhat the case, you can imagine how much focus this new platform is garnering across Disney’s core business units. It could redefine a very significant portion of the company’s revenue model and thus how it manages its intellectual property, which impacts everything from merchandise sales to theme park attendance downstream.

With this in mind, in some ways, Disney is along for the ride with us when it comes to The Mandalorian . So far that ride has been a thrill in all the right ways. If it sticks the landing at the end of its eight-episode run, the future of Star Wars on the small screen could eclipse that of the big screen.

I, for one, am totally fine with that.

Rogoway’s review rating for The Mandalorian : 8G out of 9G

The Mandalorian is streaming now on Disney+, which is available for a free trial month. You can sign up here and start streaming.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2019年11月18日下午2:14

毫无疑问，《星球大战》系列是我们这颗外环星球上最强大的系列之一，但种种迹象表明，它的光芒似乎正在逐渐褪去。随着潜在的风暴阴云笼罩着迪士尼的这部科幻巨作，所有人的目光都聚焦在了该系列的首部真人剧集《曼达洛人》上。在这个“星战疲劳”似乎预示着迪士尼公司内部更深层次问题的时代，该公司将大量资源投入到其新的流媒体服务Disney+上，而《曼达洛人》正是Disney+的重头戏。因此，对于这部由乔恩·费儒执导的太空冒险剧集来说，其成败可谓至关重要。

那么，《曼达洛人》两集已经播出，结论是什么呢？

我可以自信地说，这就是你一直在寻找的《星球大战》。

作者注：这篇评论里没有重大剧透！我想谈谈这部剧的整体脉络和更深远的意义，所以即使你还没看过这部剧，也可以放心阅读，不会有任何问题！

JJ·艾布拉姆斯时代的续集电影所缺乏的一切，在《曼达洛人》中都得到了弥补。换句话说，这部剧集完胜新电影。它并非又一部为了迎合大众口味而仓促制作的《星球大战》改编作品。它没有那种为了迎合大众对新《星球大战》的渴望而生硬堆砌、逻辑混乱的剧情，而是真正注重质量，而非叙事的连贯性。因此，它敢于冒险，必要时也能展现出惊人的暴力。最重要的是，它能够从容不迫地展现《星球大战》的精髓——构成遥远星系的丰富多彩、层次分明的环境。

没错，这部剧集画面精美绝伦。制作水准完全可以媲美电影，甚至在某些方面更胜一筹。佩德罗·帕斯卡饰演的这位头戴头盔、寡言少语的赏金猎人也十分出彩。这种设定非常依赖他的配音，而他的配音也确实不负众望，让观众在观看不同场景时能够更频繁地将注意力转移到其他方面。

这一切都为构建一个精彩绝伦的世界观提供了绝佳的机会，而这部剧集即便在播出初期也充分利用了这一点。短短两集就埋下了如此多的彩蛋，与《星球大战》正史的各个方面都有着千丝万缕的联系，显然，剧集主创们并没有为了迎合普通观众而降低难度。事实上，这部剧更像是为超级粉丝打造的，这着实令人兴奋，因为我们希望它能大胆地讲述一个与《星球大战》过去和未来紧密相连的故事，毕竟它的故事发生在《绝地归来》和《原力觉醒》之间。这与大多数电影改编的电视剧截然不同，后者更像是“瓶中船”，无法对票房大卖的电影系列产生重大影响。

许多评论声称《曼达洛人》证明了《星球大战》系列在电视领域也能取得成功。这完全是无稽之谈。《星球大战》系列在电视领域已经成功运作了十多年。迪士尼频道播出的动画片《克隆人战争》是我见过的最优秀、最深入的《星球大战》故事。它构建了大量的《星球大战》正史，并且实际上让乔治·卢卡斯那些经常被诟病的《星球大战》前传三部曲变得更好。这部动画片中诞生了许多新角色，他们在深度和魅力方面几乎超越了J·J·艾布拉姆斯之后创作的所有角色。

这部剧集是一部战争史诗，政治色彩浓厚，有时在儿童频道播出显得格格不入，但这恰恰是它应有的特色。之后推出的《义军崛起》在《克隆人战争》的基础上，以略微缩小的故事格局为基础，在保持儿童节目定位的同时，也取得了令人瞩目的成就。真人版《曼达洛人》则做到了它一直以来都应该做的事情：突破“儿童娱乐”的局限，运用同样精彩的叙事技巧，为更成熟的观众带来震撼的体验。

巧合的是，这两部动画剧集的幕后推手戴夫·费洛尼，正是《曼达洛人》的执行制片人，并且执导了第一集。这位乔治·卢卡斯的学徒，很久以前就被誉为“天选之子”，肩负着将《星球大战》品牌传承给无数星战粉丝的重任。然而，由于他之前一直专注于儿童动画领域，似乎被那些投入程度和知识储备都略逊一筹，但却更受瞩目的幕后人才所掩盖。如今，一切都已改变，而且势不可挡。费洛尼终于获得了一个成熟的平台来展现他惊人的才华，因此，我相信他将在未来数年内正式成为《星球大战》的灵魂人物。至少，我衷心希望如此。

至于剧集本身的具体细节，它堪称天才之作。赏金猎人题材的剧集由来已久，但法夫罗精准地把握住了市场脉搏，将西部/武士题材直接移植到了《星球大战》宇宙中。这种移植如此成功，以至于我在观看时不禁感叹：“这真的太棒了！”这部剧集似乎正在朝着类似大神一刀的《带子雄狼》的方向发展——这部70年代的日本经典漫画被改编成系列电影，定义了一个类型。

近年来，《疾速追杀》系列电影通过将西部片或武士复仇题材重新定义为现代题材，取得了新的成功。我曾专门写过一篇评论详细探讨过这一点，你可以在这里阅读。没错，《曼达洛人》在某种程度上可以看作是带有超光速引擎的《疾速追杀》，但这并非坏事。恰恰相反，《星球大战》宇宙的很大一部分都是围绕赏金猎人的神秘感构建的。将其发展成一个独立的IP可谓是水到渠成。将其与西部片/武士题材更深入地融合是合情合理的，原因显而易见，所以它并非简单的衍生作品，而只是恰好符合当下的热门题材。

与《疾速追杀》一样，《曼达洛人》也着力构建星战宇宙中赏金猎人和刺客这个形形色色的地下亚文化群体。同样，与《疾速追杀》类似，该剧的重头戏是精彩的打斗场面，而且这些打斗场面对于星战系列来说异常暴力，赋予了该剧更加前卫和难以预测的氛围。

这一切最终成就了一件自《星球大战：原力觉醒》上映以来，许多星战迷一直渴望却又难以企及的事情：它让《绝地归来》之后的世界——这个在无数书籍、漫画以及两部续集中构建的世界——变得真正引人入胜。显然，帝国的覆灭令许多人欣喜，但在如此宏大的格局中，总会有赢家和输家，而秩序的真空，无论其初衷如何，依然会滋生混乱和邪恶行径。就像狂野西部一样，《曼达洛人》所展现的现实世界，即便在第一季的早期，也确实给人一种无法无天、充满不确定性的感觉。

我也预感，费洛尼那些深受喜爱的动画剧集中的一些老朋友会以真人形式出现在大银幕上。《义军崛起》巧妙地埋下了伏笔。阿索卡·塔诺这个角色贯穿了《克隆人战争》和《义军崛起》，她很有可能会客串亮相，这对于铁杆粉丝来说无疑是个好消息，而且这也意味着将动画版《星球大战》中最受欢迎的角色之一引入了真人电影的世界。另一位在《义军崛起》中扮演关键角色的曼达洛人也很有可能出现。

值得注意的是，《曼达洛人》实际上是一个全新的星战电视生态系统的试播集，这个生态系统计划在不久的将来全面展开。我们确切知道，由迭戈·卢纳饰演卡西安·安多的《侠盗一号》前传以及由伊万·麦克格雷格主演的《欧比旺·克诺比》剧集都在开发中，但这可能只是冰山一角，最终取决于《曼达洛人》的价值。考虑到迪士尼对其流媒体服务的观看情况了如​​指掌，随着时间的推移，哪些内容领域的投入会更加明朗。

《曼达洛人》真是太美了。它的制作水准完全可以媲美电影，甚至更胜一筹。——迪士尼

而这一切的本质，就是资金源源不断地流入迪士尼的资金库。我反复听到这样的说法：迪士尼首席执行​​官鲍勃·艾格的功过将取决于Disney+的成败。如果真是如此，你就能想象到这个新平台在迪士尼的核心业务部门中占据了多么重要的地位。它可能会重塑公司收入模式中非常重要的一部分，进而影响其知识产权的管理方式，最终波及从商品销售到主题公园游客数量等方方面面。

考虑到这一点，从某种程度上来说，迪士尼也参与了《曼达洛人》的制作。到目前为止，这段旅程精彩纷呈，令人兴奋。如果这部剧集能在八集完结时完美收官，那么《星球大战》在小荧幕上的未来或许会超越大银幕。

我个人完全没问题。

Rogoway 对《曼达洛人》的评分：8G（满分 9G）

《曼达洛人》现已在 Disney+ 上线，并提供一个月免费试用。您可以在这里注册并开始观看。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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