The Mandalorian and The Problem w/ Grogu

When season 3 of The Mandalorian was about to start I thought about what it was going to be like. I thought it might be about Bo Katan and the Armorer battling over the true Mandalorian way with Din Djarin stuck in the middle; a battle for his soul.  That did not happen. Instead, the Armorer and Bo teamed up to save all of Mandalore from Moff Gideon and pretty much tied up the three seasons into what could be a series finale.

This season of The Mandalorian was hit with a lot of complaints from fans saying how it wasn't the same quality we had come to see from the previous seasons.  And to that I somewhat agree. But I also think, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's a victim of its own success. We've come to expect such a high level of entertainment in this Disney+ series that when it's just good or fine, we think it's crap.  I feel the same way I feel about the final season of Game of Thrones. I like how it ended, but not satisfied about how we got there.  

Looking back at this eight-episode season, I feel like it could have been a tight six-episode season.  Yes, I'm talking about Episode 4 where Jack Black and Lizzo send Bo and Din on a droid detective hunt.  I didn't mind the story, but just that it was placed in the middle of the season storyline and served no purpose to that story. It was a detour in a season where we already had a semi-detour on Coruscant with Dr. Pershing and Elia.  I didn't mind either of the episodes individually but thought we didn't need a break from an already short season of TV.  Also, that bird story in Episode 4 was pretty bad. Sorry Dave. 

The series main character, Din Djarin, did very little as far as character growth this season. Most of that went to Katee Sackhoff as Bo Katan.  And this was another thing people complained about. In order for Bo to be the ruler Mandalore needed, she needed that development, and I thought Bo's renewed faith in herself, and in Mandalorians, was the highlight of the season.  In the final episode I realized Pedro Pascal probably never once stepped foot on set all season because Din never took his helmet off once this year.  Which is probably why the other two actors in the suit got a little more credit in the credits. Pedro was probably recording his voicework in his pj's at his house.

Having watched The Clone Wars when it aired, I knew the bad Mandalorians were Death Watch, and that the Armorer was leader of the Children of the Watch.  So of course, I've never really liked her, and thought she might be the other spy in Episode 7. But we found out she was more a catalyst for Bo, to push her towards what she needed to do, to bring all Mandalorians together for the betterment of their planet, regardless of their beliefs. That metaphor was a nail on the head.  I'm still not a huge fan of the Armorer, but I'll ship her and Bo over Bo and Din any day.

The return of Moff Gideon this season we knew was coming, but too late in my opinion. Wasn't it Episode 5 when we learned he had escaped his imprisonment? He should have been more of a looming threat throughout the season instead of all these silly side stories we got.  Plus, he seemed less menacing now since we know Din already defeated him once back in Season 2. He just seemed so meek, especially with the talk of Thrawn and the eventual return of Palpatine.  I almost laughed when Gideon started hating on Thrawn.  Gideon isn't even good enough to piss on Thrawn's shoes, and I hope general Star Wars viewers will get to see that in the next few years.

They did wrap up the Grogu storyline this season, for the most part this season.  We know why Gideon wanted him so bad, and we know how Grogu escaped the Jedi Temple during Order 66. One of those plot points I want to see more of, the other I thought was just another Imperial thinking he could be cool as Darth Vader. Ya can't son.  My theory as to why Grogu was thrust back into the show after such a dramatic exit last season was Disney's demand to sell toys.  That's the only true purpose Grogu severed this season, and why this character is becoming problematic.  His appeal is his is small, cute, stature.  Yoda was training Jedi by the time he was 100 years old. Grogu is about 55 years old and can't even talk or wield a lightsaber. But Disney can't let Grogu grow-up. Any sitcom runner will tell you the show starts to lose its appeal when the kids grow-up and aren't cute anymore.  Which is why I think the show should have let Grogu be gone longer and come back more mature, or just be done with the character all together and continue to focus on Din. But, again, they need to sell toys.

Was this season a step down from the previous two?  I believe so.  But I still have faith in where the series could go next season.  I like the character of Din, and I'm excited to see his adventures working for the New Republic, and I'm excited to see the upcoming crossover event that was spawned from his series success.  I'm glad the Grogu storyline is allegedly wrapped up, but I feel now this character will continue to be a weight on this show's developing body, keeping in down in exchange for merchandising.

Who Likes Star Wars? Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 6

WARNING!! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: CHAPTER 6: FROM THE DESERT COMES A STRANGER.   

The problem with living in an age where information can be shared in an instant is that spoilers for media can also be shared in an instant.  I was online this morning for less than five minutes before I saw spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 6: From The Desert Comes A Stranger. But, I only blame myself.  I know better than to look at Twitter or YouTube before watching a new episode of a popular series.  

I also now know the title of this episode refers to the mysterious man who walks in from the Tatooine desert and shoots Cobb Vanth.  For the "Knight fans" of Star Wars and above (I have a system for levels of SW fandom) we know this blue alien is Cad Bane, the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.  His name was never said, but anyone who's seen The Clones Wars or even The Bad Batch know he's one hombre not to be messed with.  That was my favorite scene in this episode.  Because it served the story of the series.  It gave us a new player who is working for the Pykes, he has a history with both Boba and Fennec, and is going to be someone who will be a problem for Boba and his crew.  That is, if we ever get back to Boba Fett.  

I was never a big Boba Fett fan.  I quote Windows from the movie Fanboys, "All style.  No substance."  All Boba ever did in the movies was track down Han Solo, deliver him to Jabba, and then he goes out like a punk in the Sarlacc Pit.  In the Expanded Universe he starred in multiple books and comics that make him a seem like a badass.  But he still ain't no Jedi.  So far in this series we've seen Boba get out of the Sarlacc Pit, get taken in by a group of Tusken Raiders, rescue Fennec Shand, and then take over Jabba's old business.  I honestly think the series has been a snore fest.  However, last week's episode, catching up with Din Djarin, woke me up!  I loved it!  But that's because we know Din, like Din, and can't wait for The Mandalorian season 3! I still don't know who Boba Fett is.

This week we see Mando finally join Boba's clan.  But that was the one scene Boba appeared in the whole episode and I don't think he even spoke!  Again, I'm not a fan of Boba Fett, but in a seven-part season the main character will go almost a quarter of the season without a line of dialogue. And this doesn't set good with me because, aside from his flashbacks, I don't think Boba has had any character growth, or have any sense of character to him at all.  Not even the second lead, Fennec Shand, has had a decent storyline to care about.  In any action movie, you can make the sky fill with people falling off buildings, but if I don't care about those people, it won't be as emotional.  And that's what good storytelling does, try to get an emotional response out of us. Whether it be happy, sad, anger, excitement, or dread.  With one episode left in the season, and a big action sequence coming up, I feel nothing for Boba or Fennec.

Meanwhile, on a planet we have no idea what it is; some droids are building a future Jedi school.  We can assume it's going to be the place that we see get burned down in The Last Jedi, but we don't know that because the episode never told us.  So again, no emotional connection.  Din is going to give Grogu his Beskar chainmail but decides not to give it to him after a brief talk with Ahsoka about Jedi not having attachments.  Did we learn nothing from the Star Wars franchise up to this point?  It was the Jedi's outdated rules that lead to their own destruction!  And it was Luke's attachment his father, Anakin's attachment to his son, that saved the galaxy and brought down Palpatine (for a while). Grogu's relationship to Din, like any relationship, could be a good thing.  Just like any relationship that anybody has, Jedi or not.  

Luke Skywalker is my favorite fictional character ever.  The day Mark Hamill passes, I will cry.  I have no doubt.  Ahsoka Tano is my wife's favorite Star Wars character.  Sure, I liked seeing these characters. But the Grogu training scenes seemed unnecessary in a Boba Fett show. They belong in The Mandalorian season 3.  I liked that Grogu felt he had to choose between being a Foundling or a Padawan.  But after all Luke has gone through would he make Grogu choose just one role? Perhaps it's that narrow view that leads to Luke's own downfall with his nephew.  But what was Ahsoka doing there?  "I'm a friend of the family."  It was a cute line but doesn't explain why she was there. I don't go over to my good friend's house without a reason. Was she there to ask Luke something?  Was she there to check on Grogu?  There was no practical reason for her to be there other than, "Hey, it's Ahsoka!"  Luke could have easily shared those few lines with Din about letting go of Grogu.  SIDENOTE:  The Luke CGI looked WAY BETTER than at the end of The Mandalorian season 2.

It just feels like the storytellers are not focusing enough on its story.  Grogu and Din's journey belongs in their show; The Mandolorian.  This is Boba and Fennec's show.  So why isn't it?  All this diversion away from them is making the audience more against Boba when we need to spend more time with him to care actually about he and Fennec.  This episode had great cameos and moments, but to me it's sideline fan service.  The Mandalorian season 2 had a lot of guest stars and cameos, but the focus was always on Din's journey.  For two great storytellers like Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, they are better than what they're giving us.

I will end on this quote that I think sums up my feelings on Boba and Mando. I forget where I heard this last week, but someone said, "Din Djarin is who we wanted Boba Fett to be all these years."  And I think it's true.  Favreau wanted to do a Boba Fett series.  And he made a great one, and then some with The Mandalorian.  But now what does Boba Fett become? I'm still waiting.  

The Book of Boba Fett's 1st Trailer

       Next week is Disney+ Day. The Mouse House has promised exclusive looks and insight into what the company has in store for the streaming service.  One thing we Star Wars fans figured we'd get was our first trailer for the newest series; The Book of Boba Fett.  So, I for one was surprised when Disney/Lucasfilm released a Boba Fett trailer a week before Disney+ Day.  It was already anticipated, so why not wait another week, or perhaps Disney has another big surprise in store for us fanboys to make us geek out?

     In any event, the trailer runs just under two minutes long and provides us a sliver of what this entry of the Star Wars franchise has in store.  For those who didn't know, there was an end credit scene in the final episode of season 2 of The Mandalorian.  In it, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand return to Tatooine, to Jabba's palace to find Jabba's old crony running the show.  With one blaster bolt, Boba takes the throne and it looks like he's going to be in charge.  And that's what we get in this trailer; Fett and Shand trying to take control of the Underworld that Jabba once ruled.

      At first viewing I was a little underwhelmed.  With the series premiering in less than two months I thought there would be more to it than this.  However, I expect another trailer to be released before the series airs on December 29.  To be honest I've always been one of those guys who thought Boba Fett was overrated.  I never saw the appeal.  But after he shows up in the last season of The Mandalorian looking for his armor, and then helps Din Djarin kick some stormtrooper ass, he thought he finally lived up to his reputation. Though, he did seem a little less ruthless than his reputation would perceive him.  Maybe getting swallowed by a living pit in the desert gives a guy a new perspective? 

      When a spin-off series was announced I was intrigued, but like The Mandalorian, the lack of Jedi and Force ushers didn't get me super excited.  But from this trailer it looks like we getting a galactic Sopranos.  One man's quest to seize and keep power in an area of the galaxy where everyone else is trying to to the same.

      One thing I liked about The Mandalorian was how it connected to other parts of the Star Wars universe.  Din finding a creature of the same species as Yoda, being rescued by Death Watch during the Clone Wars, the status of the Empire years after Return of the Jedi, the beginning of Snoke, and several memorable cameos. So what do I think we could see in this series, or what do I hope for?  For me, Boba's connection to the clones has been his more interesting characteristic. Could we see Temuera Morrison play multiple roles like say a Captain Rex or even a member of the Bad Batch?  What about his "sister" Omega?  As far as the underworld, I'm taking a cue from one of my favorite Star Wars podcasters, Joseph Scrimshaw, and going on "Hondo Watch."  The animated pirate turned Galaxy's Edge host could provide some great comic relief against Morrison and Ming-Na Wen's serious characters.  A live-action Doctor Aphra would be cool.  I would also hope for Cad Bane, but we saw him return not that long ago in The Bad Batch; so I don't want to be greedy.

From this first look, The Book of Boba Fett looks like it builds off the feel The Mandalorian sets up.  But I expect it to be even more gritty.  Either way, it's Star Wars, so everyone knows I'm in.....unless it's LEGO.

Star Wars' Civil War

     Two sides.  Each battling for their principles.  Each doing what they believe is best for the galaxy. The Rebels are good guys and the Empire are the bad guys.  The Resistance are the good guys and the First Order are the bad guys.  The Jedi are the good guys and the Sith are the bad guys.  Can real life ever be that simple?  Even Obi-Wan Kenobi says, "MOST OF THE TRUTHS WE CLING TO DEPEND GREATY ON OUR OWN POINT OF VIEW." 

     I'VE BEEN A STAR WARS FAN MY WHOLE LIFE.  I remember seeing all of the Special Edition films in theaters(along with every other Star Wars film).  I remember my dad taking me and my brother to the comic book store, like he did every Saturday, and seeing the first issue of Dark Empire.  I remember reading a few pages of Heir to the Empire to prove to my dad that I could read well enough to get the novelization of A New Hope.  To this day, The Empire Strikes Back is my go-to sick day film.  I usually post a Han Solo "I Feel Terrible" meme as I lay on the couch resting.  I know I am not alone in my love of Star Wars.  Millions around the world have discovered this franchise at different times in their lives, and has become a myth that has been passed down several generations now. I was 15 when The Phantom Menace was released.  I saw it three times in theaters.  I saw Attack of the Clones four times in theaters.  These are my least favorite Star Wars films, and for a large number of people, thought of as the worst of the franchise.  That is until 2017.

     In 2012 Disney purchased Lucasfilm and announced a new trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII, and IX) would be on the way.  Also, that any existing mythology outside of the seven films and The Clone Wars TV series would be erased from Star Wars Canon as it "no longer counted".  As a person who grew up on the Expanded Universe it had it's good stories and bad, but Star Wars fans also knew it was hours upon hours of time spent that no longer mattered.  DISNEY AND LUCASFIILM WANTED TO START FRESH, and since parts of the Expanded Universe contradicted other parts it was just easier to wipe the whole board clean.  Some fans felt it was Disney saying "you wasted your time."  While Dark Empire, the Thrawn trilogy, Legacy, and Shadows of the Empire are Expanded Universe(or now referred to as Legends) stories I still enjoy to this day, there is a lot of Expanded Universe(and some of the current Canon) I don't care for.  

     In 2014 I remember going to see The Theory of Everything at the Alamo Drafthouse on Thanksgiving weekend to not actually watch the film, but to see less than a minute of footage from the newest Star Wars film that was over a year away.  It was glorious!  But, rumblings started to spread of the shot of JOHN BOYEGA AS A STORMTROOPER.  What I saw was Kylo Ren's cross blade lightsaber and the Millennium Falcon facing a TIE fighter with John Williams beautiful score playing in the background.  Why did the race of a stormtrooper matter?  Millions, if not billions, were part of the Empire.  While we never saw them take off their helmets, you had to assume not all the stormtroopers in the galaxy were white males. 

     In 2015 The Force Awakens arrives in theaters.  Daisy Ridley starred as Rey, the Force-sensitive orphan who became the hero of the sequel trilogy.  BUT SHE WAS A GIRL!  And everything is easy for her!  Some people accused Disney of making the main character a girl who can do anything just as a social justice message.  Anyone ever heard of Princess Leia?  How about the line, "Somebody has to save our skins.  Into the garbage shoot flyboy!"  When Rogue One was released in 2016 I didn't hear much about Jyn Erso in the same way, but I think we where all just mesmerized by the Vader hallway scene.

     THEN, IN 2017, THE WAR ERUPTED.  The Last Jedi was the Star Wars film that finally divided the fanbase.  Up to then, everyone agreed that the original trilogy was great, the prequels not so great, and the last two films were at least ok.  After two years of speculating, nothing I thought would happened did, but I still walked out satisfied with what Rian Johnson gave us.  Others did not.  Sure the Finn storyline can be called pointless(I wouldn't) and killing the Emperor-type villain, Snoke, so abruptly was jarring.  But the biggest critique I heard about The Last Jedi was how the hero of our childhood, Luke Skywalker, had become a bitter hermit who didn't want anything to do with the battle to save the galaxy. All of which I believe are valid points of opinion.

     The lines had been drawn, and while I could understand people's complaints, I DON'T UNDERTSAND WHAT FOLLOWED THE LAST JEDI.  The social media accounts of Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, and Rian Johnson were full of hateful messages.  So many that Ridley and Tran deleted their accounts, and to this day I am still not sure they have returned.  Imagine getting your dream job.  You get to work in Star Wars.  You are told to play a part, and then you do as your told.  Then people personally attack your gender and ethnicity simply because they didn't like the character you played.   Star Wars hate was nothing new.  PEOPLE ACCUSED GEORGE LUCAS OF "RUINED MY CHILDHOOD" WITH THE PREQUELS.  Ahmed Best, Jake Lloyd, and Hayden Christensen were all subjected to personal attacks simply because of the characters they played.  But in the era where billions have a place to interact and voice their opinions, those voices turned vicious by some fans who celebrate films meant to be about diversity, acceptance, and no holding on to anger.

     Since then I feel like Star Wars fans have been divided on everything.  I KNOW ITS TAKEN ME SEVERAL PARAGRAPHS TO GET TO THE POINT OF THIS ENTRY.  I apologize. But we've gotten to the point in fandom where some believe that if you have a different opinion about film, a piece of art, you are wrong and stupid.  I'm not a big fan of The Rise of Skywalker, but when I watch it I try to focus on the things I like about it, and don't lash out at those who do enjoy it.  Or, I just choose just not to watch it again like I do the other Star Wars films. I believe the Star Wars fanbase has become a representation of the bigger divide not about Star Wars, but about the world around us.  

     Of course what prompted me to write this entry was the firing of The Mandalorian actor Gina Carano.  I admit I only read one or two of the tweets she published that led to her getting fired, so I may not have a full view of the situation.  I can only judge from what knowledge I possess.  And while it is her right to speak about the things she believes, it is also her employers right to let her go if her actions jeopardize their business.  If I was a cashier at Target and swore to all the time I would expect Target to fire me.  They would lose business because of my vulgar words and that is not the kind of image they want to project to their customers.  AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED TO GINA CARANO.

     But this is just another incident in the Star Wars fan community within the last few years.  Headlines about fans shouting hatred, treating humans beings like they aren't real, or have no feelings. Believing that if a story does not go how they wanted it too that it is wrong.  And honestly, I'M TIRED OF BEING A STAR WARS FAN. It is so exhausting reading about personal attacks on people who work for Disney and Lucasfilm. People bagging on books that they haven't read.  If you don't like the idea for a book, just say it doesn't look interesting, and move on with your life.  Not everything is for everyone. YOU DON'T NEED THIRTY TWEETS ABOUT HOW THE THING YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN IS GONNA SUCK.  I see so many fans talking not about what they love, but what they hate.  And for the life of me, I can't understand what they fear.  "Fear leads anger.  Anger leads to hate." Is it not getting what they want?  Not being open to something unexpected?  Or just the belief that their opinion is the only one that is right?  

     TO HEAL THE STAR WARS FANBASE WOULD MEAN HEALING THE WORLD.  But we're all too selfish to take a look at ourselves and realize we are the problem.  I've always grown up believing Star Wars was about unity, fairness, understanding, love, and acceptance.  That's why I don't understand people who say they love Star Wars, but don't believe in what Star Wars is.