Lucasfilm has long been obsessed with doing something set in the criminal underbelly of a galaxy far, far away. Before George Lucas decided to sell Lucasfilm and “Star Wars” to Disney, the creator had been working on a “Star Wars Underworld” TV show (scripts were written, the project ultimately shelved), Josh Trank’s standalone “Boba Fett” film with writer Simon Kinberg, before it was unceremoniously canceled, centered around the most iconic bounty hunter of them all. Rumors persist of a Guillermo del Toro-developed “Cantina movie” and a Mos Eisley film, both of which would have also featured morally nebulous characters. After all these aborted attempts, something finally stuck — Jon Favreau‘s “The Mandalorian,” the first-ever live-action “Star Wars” series and the flagship program for Disney’s new direct-to-consumer streaming platform, Disney+ — concerns itself with a mysterious Mandalorian bounty hunter, decked out in a very similar armor Boba Fett wore, working on the fringes of the galaxy, during a time of political upheaval and structural chaos. It’s a show that instantly recognizable as “Star Wars,” but also slowly, tentatively pointing towards a new horizon.
A mostly engaging look at a corner of the “Star Wars” universe never explored in depth before—an atmospheric setup mostly centering on mood, texture, and tone rather than story or characters— “The Mandalorian” takes place following the events of “Return of the Jedi.” The Empire has been destroyed, but loyalists remain, and the New Republic has yet to take a foothold. It’s a lawless time, marked by shifting alliances and general unease. And it’s a perfect time for the as-yet-unnamed Mandalorian to make a living as a bounty hunter, like Boba Fett before him. In this regard, it does not separate itself from what a “Boba Fett” show could’ve been, but it’s also just the first episode.
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Everything about the film’s production, from its setting in a dusty town on the outskirts of the galaxy to the solemn central figure to the surprisingly twangy, infectiously compelling and un-“Star Wars”-like score by Ludwig Göransson, gives it the feeling of an old-timey western (given his reluctance to take off his helmet, Pedro Pascal‘s Mandalorian is positively The Man with No Face).
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Episode one has a slightly shopworn, decidedly lower-scale quality to it than the big “Star Wars” theatrical productions, while still decidedly cinematic. It also feels like a return to form in some respects. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” cinematographer Greig Fraser shot the first episode, and the two share a similarly dirty and scrappy aesthetic. Nifty old school model effects, creatures, and masks mingle with cutting edge technology courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic to create something that feels high and low tech, familiar and yet new—like much of the show.
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In episode one, The Mandalorian (Pascal) is given an assignment by Greef Karga (Carl Weathers), the leader of a bounty hunter guild, who hires him to track a valuable asset. This leads to another higher-paying, high-risk job for a mysterious client (Werner Herzog) with an unknown target that eventually reveals itself to have potentially massive implications to the larger “Star Wars” universe (spoilers abound).
Written by Favreau and directed by “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animation veteran Dave Filoni (making his live-action debut here) the storytelling harkens back to the original film and Lucas’ love of old Saturday morning serials, which is ostensibly perfect for the less-than-40-minute runtime of these almost bite-sized episodes of outer rim intrigue. They can be maximized for sensationalism; every moment has the possibility of being wild and unexpected. And nothing is as surprising as the final moments of the first episode. (Stay off Twitter until you’ve watched to avoid the big, potentially game-changing spoiler)
Another way “The Mandalorian” recalls the original films is in the way that it manages to slip in some real-world commentary amongst all of the creatures and droids. Lucas famously slipped his political beliefs into the original trilogy (the Ewoks stand-in for the Vietnamese in “Return Of The Jedi”), and here you can feel the real world blended with the fantasy. The unnamed war-torn planets could just as easily be post-invasion Iraq and themes center around colonialism and children being separated from their parents. These elements aren’t screamed at you, but they’re present in the fabric of the narrative, and the added dimension and texture add to the overall idea of a galaxy in turmoil.
Given Filoni’s background as an intricate world-builder across several animated series and the keeper of Lucas’ flame, it’s not surprising that some of the best moments of the first episode have to do with the Mandalorian and his culture—first explored in “Star Wars: Clone Wars” and then Filoni’s “Star Wars Rebels”— now relegated to the catacombs beneath this deep space outpost. (The planet remains unclear, but it looks like Batuu, from the “Star Wars” section of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Galaxy’s Edge.) These still-unexplained sequences feel vital, if somewhat overly mythological. The rest of the first episode’s direction isn’t as inspired; you can barely tell Filoni’s background is in animation, since much of the episode lacks visual pep. It’s easy to wonder what the first installment would have looked like if they’d put it in the hands of Genndy Tartakovsky, a genuine animation visionary whose “Clone Wars” micro-series paved the way for Filoni’s empire.
While, just a first episode and entrée for more, “The Mandalorian” feels like—at least for the moment—Lucasfilm’s crossroads; a series definitely indebted to its past, yet not overly filled with fan service, and cautiously looking towards a new future. This will ultimately make or break “The Mandalorian” in the long run: Is this a show that will push the familiar, conventional “Star Wars” envelope, or will it be content to use old tropes under the guise of new names (the Mandalorian instead of Boba Fett) and semi novel costumes (instead of IG-88, you have the distinctly new IG-11 bounty hunter, for example. Not the same character, but it might as well be).
Disney and Favreau have been adamant that ‘Mandalorian’ viewers with only passing “Star Wars” knowledge won’t be confused. Still, those with a mere passing understanding of the character would be forgiven for believing this was just a minor upgrade and rewrite on a Boba Fett show—so far, there’s no real reason it couldn’t be that character other than a timeline that makes it impossible (Boba Fett ostensibly died in ‘Return Of The Jedi,’ though fan theories persist). The Mandalorian could easily be Boba Fett in many ways, they’re both mysterious gunslingers, and bounty hunters, taciturn, loners, and they wear the same armor, hold the same profession. Both existed in a grungy world just after the events of the original trilogy. This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but it can be superficial if the show cannot provide depth. For many that want to see “Star Wars” to truly make good on the pledge of delivering something very new and different, it remains to be seen whether “The Mandalorian” can pull that off or whether the show will be a nice, safe, but dependable reset after the failure of “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
Those with a more robust understanding of the “Star Wars” legacy will be rewarded. The series is a painfully lonely one, and The Mandalorian seems particularly adrift, emotionally, psychologically, and otherwise, and perhaps this is where the show will finally delve into some character development and the teased ideas of a morally gray world where good and evil are meaningless. With the universe in chaos, Mando’s presumably trying to make sense of it all. And it’s a testament to the designers of the helmet, and the filmmakers’ ability to light and stage it, that actual emotion read across what is essentially a blank slate. “The Mandalorian” boasts lots of craft and is a promising start, but let’s hope bounty hunting is as complicated and complex of a profession as promised. [B/B+]