why The Mandalorian on Disney+ Is simply sublime
The Book of Boba Fett is set to debut on disney+ in dec of 2021
The high quality of current Disney+ Star Wars offerings makes it easy to forget that three short years ago the galaxy far, far away was in a perilous and unprecedented state. Up until 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story bombed at the box office with receipts of just $93 million above its production budget – a paltry return to Star Wars standards – it was widely believed that Star Wars films were a fairly bulletproof bet. Depending on which publicly available figures are to be believed, the Han Solo prequel film actually lost Disney money. There are a number of theories as to why historically loyal fans skipped Solo including Star Wars fatigue, internet review trolling and the lack of risks taken within the film’s somewhat sterile story. All contain at least a sliver of truth. The more complete truth lies in the tenets of satisfying storytelling, fan-service, and the dangers of sticking too close to canon.
It doesn’t take a leap to deem The Mandalorian the most universally celebrated interpretation of the Star Wars intellectual property since the OG trilogy (in live action - video games like Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic and animated series’ Star Wars: Clone Wars and Rebels represent a conversation for another day). Anecdotally there are those who prefer The Rise of Skywalker to the Pedro Pascal led Disney+ space western but you’d be hard pressed to make a case that the former isn’t consistently polarizing whereas just about everyone adores The Mandalorian. Place The Mandalorian side-by-side with any film in the sequel or prequel Star Wars trilogies and one comes to the same conclusion. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni brought Star Wars back to life by focusing less on where the property has been and more on charting an entirely new and easily comprehensible path that still feels like home.
The critical and commercial success of The Mandalorian is a product of cohesive, well thought out storytelling, avoiding the more established corners of bloated Star Wars canon, and giving fans what they want. Agree or not, the most common complaint with the sequel trilogy is its disjointed and seemingly unplanned nature. The Force Awakens is a sublime retread of A New Hope and sets the table nicely for a new trilogy. Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi subverts the perfectly reasonable expectations created by The Force Awakens with the baffling decision to make Rey Palpatine/Skywalker a nobody from nowhere. It’s thought of by most as an egregious slap in the face to Star Wars die-hards and the moment the beloved franchise lost some of its way. With The Rise of SkywalkerJ.J. Abrams is forced to course correct Johnson’s curious choices while poignantly wrapping up the Skywalker saga and completing the arcs of close to a dozen iconic characters. Each film is individually wonderful in its own right and a visual feast but this is not how a planned trilogy is supposed to work. It’s even more perplexing when one considers the high stakes (read: budget) of every numbered Star Wars film. The finished trilogy plays out like Johnson and Abrams weren’t in touch with one another. Story execution and plotting in The Mandalorian across both seasons feels downright lucid in comparison. This clarity is the primary reason The Mandalorian is a phenomenon and weekly appointment viewing that has reset for the better what we can expect from television and Star Wars.
The effusive praise heaped onto The Manadalorian is well-deserved. In terms of acting, cinematography, sound design, and VFX the show is at least equal in quality to that of the numbered Star Wars films. This is no small feat considering the gold standard set by the movies and incredible creative thrust necessary to create believable science fiction worlds. It’s not the first to do so, but the multiple Emmy award winning show further blurs the line between what is possible on the big and small screens. The Mandalorian also completes the tricky task of balancing the nostalgia-pop of instantly recognizable Star Wars locales, sounds and characters with the completely new. Add in classical, coherent, fan-friendly storytelling and plot beats that weave perfectly in and out of and pull cleverly from the live-action and animated Star Wars universes and you have a clear winner. Star Wars writing has finally caught up to the VFX and we have The Mandalorian to thank. This is most definitely the way.