The Mandalorian review

Here's rounding out this month's Star Wars themed blog. Firstly, "Baby Yoda" is incorrect. Yoda is an individual who died several years before the incidents of The Mandalorian. The Child in The Mandalorian is a baby, yes, but a baby of Yoda's unnamed species, separate from Yoda himself. So, he should be called The Child, or A Baby of Yoda's Species. Calling him Baby Yoda is like calling your infant Baby Donald Trump. OK, maybe more like Baby David Attenborough as Yoda was a great person. Anyway, pedantry aside...

What's most interesting about The Mandalorian is it brings Star Wars back to its original inspiration, Flash Gordon and its ilk. The Mandalorian takes a break from grand spectacle and focuses on more intimate, more episodic storytelling. With the move to Disney+, the crew have been afforded the liberty to craft each episode with its perfect runtime. In the end, episodes run anywhere from 25 to 40 minutes. This allows for each episode to be tightly edited with pretty much no filler material. At the same time, it breaks free of the shackles of feature films, which don't have the time to flesh out worlds and characters.

While smaller television shows of this type in the past kept their scope small due to budgetary constraints, with The Mandalorian, it's purely a creative choice. There are no compromises, and plenty of big budget spectacle on show where it's required. It's more like The Irishman in that sense - big budget, zero compromises, but it's very much a personal drama that usually command much smaller budgets. It turns out to be an excellent choice, and reminds us that Star Wars is about memorable, fleshed-out characters.

The Mandalorian is also an unlikely Season 1 which does not need to concern itself with short term storytelling, instead focusing on developing a multi-season long arc. All considered, The Mandalorian is a rare work which has the confidence to deliver exactly what it sets out to, with no compromises on any fronts. The Last Jedi hinted at some of these things, but The Mandalorian finally delivers on it. The result is something that feels more Star Wars than Star Wars ever has, and a fresh change of pace from the usual CGI spectacles that dominate this genre.

It's certainly not for everyone, and is indeed something different from the Star Wars universe. But if you liked shows like Firefly or spaghetti westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Mandalorian is a must watch. Season 1 is pretty good, but looking at the big picture, it has the potential to be the start of something great.

It's telling that we live in a year when the TV show and video game from the franchise far surpasses the Hollywood blockbuster in terms of creativity and quality.