Disney + Launch : The Mandalorian Review

Today is the big day for the launch of Disney + streaming service and with it was released  the first awaited episode of The Mandalorian, and from what i'm being told this first episode is pretty good and looks like Star Wars original series ( Episodes 4-6 ), but if you're expecting space opera battles you won't find it in The Mandalorian as it is not the same budget or story as a Star Wars movie. But you'll find the same quality of visual effects whether it is for the ships or the creatures. Game of Thrones actor Pedro Pascal is playing the Mandalorian and legendary German director Werner Herzog, who directed the great movies with Klaus Kinski is playing an Imperial sympathizer who tasks the Mandalorian with a mission to find someone 50 years old. ( Note: the visuals below  in this article are artworks shown in the end credits )

The Mandalorian is apparently closer to a western, a genre where "you take your time without losing it" to quote the famous quote of François Truffault about John Ford, and for me who always rant about nowadays fast editings it sounds perfect.

There is a major twist at the end of this first episode, i know what it is but i won't spoil it to you, that won't be cool. NOTE: If you're among the ones who already watched this Episode 1, PLEASE don't reveal what we discover at the end of it, thanks!

Laughing Place just posted an enthusiastic review about this first chapter of The Mandalorian that you can read HERE.



There is 8 episodes for The Mandalorian - with an action happening in a time between Star Wars Episode 6 and 7 - and the second episode is coming as soon as this Friday, and then one episode per week. The first episode is a bit less than 40 min long which is a bit short but may be the next ones will be longer. In the meantime, here is a bit more from Entertainment Weekly:

"The Mandalorian is going to fill in some of the backstory of a big mystery in the current Star Wars trilogy. The upcoming Disney+ series is set to explore some of the early origins of the First Order — the dictatorship commanded by Supreme Leader Snoke that rose up to succeed the fallen Galactic Empire that was defeated in Return of the Jedi.

“This doesn’t turn into a good guy universe because you blew up two Death Stars,” Mandalorian director Dave Filoni quipped. “You get that the Rebels won and they’re trying to establish a Republic, but there’s no way that could have set in for everybody all at once. You have in a Western where you’re out on the frontier and there might be Washington and they might have some marshals, but sometimes good luck finding one.”

“Also, what could happen in the 30 years between celebrating the defeat of the Empire and then the First Order?” teased showrunner Jon Favreau. “You come in on Episode VII, [the First Order are] not just starting out. They’re pretty far along.”

“Pretty well equipped,” Filoni added.

“So somehow, things weren’t necessarily managed as well as they could have been if [the galaxy] ended up in hot water again like that,” Favreau said dryly.

In The Mandalorian, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) plays Moff Gideon, a former Imperial governor now set adrift in the wake of the Emperor’s downfall. So one possibility could be that Gideon seeks to re-unite the scattered, broken factions, but that’s just our speculation.

There has been an explanation of the rise of the First Order in the Expanded Universe. The books Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig and Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray told of how Imperial remnants fled to the Outer Rim, waged a cold war against the New Republic, and solidified into the First Order six years before the events in The Force Awakens. The Mandalorian plans to use elements from across the Skywalker saga films, The Clone Wars and other animated series and the Extended Universe in its storytelling."


Pictures: copyright Lucasfilm