The Mandalorian
Broadcast November 17th, 1978, though now largely and understandably sidelined in the larger continuity, the Star Wars Holiday Special was the first television spin-off of the hugely successful film which had been released the previous summer, the official sequel The Empire Strikes Back not to be seen for another two years.
Besides the musical numbers, terrible comedy sketches and the abstract dance numbers to celebrate Life Day on the Wookiee home world of Kashyyk, there was also an animated sequence which introduced a new character, Boba Fett, the Mandalorian warrior who would make his live-action debut in what was little more than a supporting role despite his prominence in publicity and merchandising.
Star Wars having returned to the cinemas and television in the following decades as a series of prequels, sequels and spin-offs, the feature films have been predominantly live-action while the television versions have been exclusively animated until now, so perhaps it is appropriate that the character who launches the new series created by Jon Favreau and broadcast on the Disney + channel is known simply as “the Mandalorian.”
Set approximately five years after the battle of Endor which saw the destruction of the second Death Star and the fall of the Empire following the (apparent) deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, The Mandalorian is set in the distant reaches of a galaxy far, far away, beyond the authority of the New Republic and before it was challenged by the rise of the First Order.
The Mandalorian played by Game of Thrones‘ Pedro Pascal, he is masked throughout the first episode in the traditional armour of those of his people who work as mercenaries and bounty hunters, far from the only familiar image in the pilot episode written by Favreau and directed by Star Wars Rebels‘ Dave Filoni, populated by landspeeders, Jawas, Nikto and somewhat worse for wear Stormtroopers.
Running to less than forty minutes including titles and with the first season only eight episodes long, what is less apparent is an urge to present something of the urgency and excitement which might be expected to launch a major science fiction adventure series, the pacing laconic and the drama offering nothing significant beyond setpieces already played out in the movies, bar brawls, carbonite-frozen bounties and shoot-outs.
The latter the standout scene of the opening episode, undertaken in the company of versatile bounty droid IG-11, voiced by What We Do in the Shadows‘ Taika Waititi, their alliance forces the previously teutonic Mandalorian to become momentarily more engaging, but like Boba Fett he is a character of few words which will make it difficult for him to carry an extended dramatic narrative unless it is to be dependent entirely on the visuals.
The bounty hunter ethic lending itself to the template of the western, the locations so far have been predominantly deserts and worn and dusty cities created physically rather than digitally, and with the main theme played to the beat of a galloping horse even the Mandalorian’s Razor Crest vessel is obviously influenced in shape and detail by another science fiction western, Firefly.
With other guests in voice or in person including comedian Horatio Sanz as a mark who offers exposition in the form of tiresome commentary, Carl Weathers as Greef Carga, the Mandalorian’s contact in the Bondsman’s Guild, and Nick Nolte as Ugnaught moisture farmer Kuiil, perhaps the most unusual casting is director Werner Herzog as the mysterious client who engages the Mandalorian.
A mission which will presumably play out over the season, like his predecessor the Mandalorian is coasting on a reputation which precedes him and which is so far unwarranted, tracking his quarry efficiently but failing to capture attention beyond the cursory in a show which represents the best and worst of Star Wars, stunning design and exemplary production values let down by shallow characters and large-jawed monsters thrown in to please the younger viewers who would otherwise drift to another channel.
