Even Pedro's delivery of his famous line in the first scene set the tone so well...he was so menacing when telling them they can be brought in warm or cold. The father figure arc works really well when you have a genuine tough guy at the start.
i can totally understand not vibing with the acolyte, but are we really to the point of dogging on star wars for having... cool, well choreographed martial arts scenes?
I enjoy the acolyte. But have you seen Matrix? You can’t watch the opening scene without thinking about matrix. The fighting style, the camera, the acrobatics, THE FUCKING ACTOR, …
S1E1 of Mando ending was so cool. I had gone to celebration the previous year where they showed the unfinished trailers and footage for the show. I was so hyped for it. When it finally released, my expectations were blown out of the water. That final shot is awesome.
Most logical direction for the sequels IMO, Lucas understood that and originally planned for them to be about Darth Maul as a big time crime lord offering Galactic Empire fugitives refuge on the planets under his jurisdiction, the New Republic getting set up, Luke Skywalker rebuilding the Jedi over a period of 20 years. In typical Lucas fashion he ruined that whole concept by by making the story entirely about midichlorians and ‘whills’ and that makes me kinda glad he never made the sequels, although I’m not sure the sequels we actually got used those ideas any better 💀
Very glad we get a look at a similar kind of story with The Mandalorian and its spin-offs though.
Werner Herzog was great. There was no need to bring in Giancarlo Esposito at the end of season 1. Could have given Werner Herzog a bigger, better ending and saved Giancarlo Esposito for season 2.
Madness reigns. The first challenge your soul must endure is stark contrast between Din Djarin and the universe where life is treated as little more than ephemeral. A Bounty Hunter’s payday.
The once proud race of Mandalorians have been reduced to a swirling vortex of fear and pain, avatars of death.
After enduring countless battles, the Child is delivered, seemingly at the cost of morality and dignity to Mando. But it is then that the effervescence spark of humanity and morality, in line with his personal code, that we see Mando take the Child, and a Baby Yoda emerges into the zeitgeist of the viewers. The conscious mind cannot endure more, so thus, the tale is ended for the week.
He tends to pop up in a lot of shows in small parts, which I love. American Dad, Rick and Morty, Metalocalypse, Parks and Rec. And then Mando. He seems to appreciate a fun cameo.
Man mando was so good. Do you think season 3 was that bad or that season 1 and 2 built up to such an incredible moment that it was hard to top expectations?
I think it's both. Season 1 was a tight story, clearly all planned out ahead of time, with a lot of effort from the pre-production, all the way through to the final edits and marketing of the show.
Then flash forward, it's a huge hit, the Disney plus subscriptions are rolling in, it's a social media sensation. Pedro Pascal is at the peak of his career, and "The Child" merchandise is selling like hotcakes. Everyone and your grandma is talking about how cute Baby Yoda is, and fans are theorizing about his home planet, why the bad guys want him, and what Mando will do with the little guy in season 2.
The turn around for season 2 and 3 certainly did not allow for as much planning and execution, they had to capitalize on their golden goose while also managing other Star Wars projects. Dave Filoni and Jon Faverau are working their asses off.
Season two is another banger, Ahsoka Tano and Bo Katan in live action, the mention of Thrawn, The Child reveals his name is Grogu, and Mando is quested with reuniting him with a Jedi master to train. Fans are collectively losing their minds as a CGI deepfake Luke Skywalker boards the ship and saves the day, taking Grogu to start his new Jedi Order. It's a tear jerker of a finale, our once hardened bounty hunter sheds his helmet and takes one last look at his target-turned-friend and the credits roll. What a season!
Then we get BoBF. A show where the main character is neutered beyond belief, low speed Vespa chases and unnecessary 180 blaster shots plague the volume set that it obviously was filmed on, and two episodes are completely dedicated to Mando. In those episodes, he not only reunites with Grogu, but does so in such an anti-climactic way that it detracts from Mando's own arch and the previous two seasons decisions. This is also not mentioned in season 3 of Mando, as grogu just appears like he never left. For those who didn't watch BoBF, this creates a major WTF moment.
Then Mando season 3 drops. We spend most of the first half of the season doing fuck all, trouncing around the Galaxy meeting space Lizzo and Jack Black, helping them with their droids, while a swamp monster space pirate flies his ship right above the now bustling Navarro. Besides that, I don't remember ANYTHING except that they liberated Mandalore. Season 3 really was that bad imo, but it was largely to do with the re-inclusion of Grogu in BoBF, which I believe was an executive decision to increase merchandise sales and little to do with the story.
Couldn’t agree more. The reintroduction of Grogu kinda fucked the whole series. It’s obvious that was supposed to be the end of Mando and Grogu’s story together at that point but baby Yoda just makes too much money. Season 3 lost alot of the gritty western feel as well. Mando lost alot of his badass charm as well
Idk if S2 is really a banger. Halfway through S2 it became clear there was no plot and every episode was just playing fetch with no stakes. That’s not always bad, I love Monk and each episode is the same plot. I just couldn’t get into it the way S1 made me think I would
I think it had fantastic secondary characters and adventures. Cobb Vanth and the Krayt, running from Carson Teva and fighting ice spiders, Bo Katan, the amazingly shot Ahsoka episode, the return of Boba Fett (and Fennec), the return of Mayfeld (I love Bill Burr) and the incredible finale with Luke. It was different than season 1 but I think nearly as fantastic.
Season 3 however..
I love both Star Wars and Monk and I have to say that I think Mandalorian works because Star Wars is not a comfort show to me, it's for exciting me and getting enticed into a story. Monk is a comfort show: the overarching plot isn't visible in most of the episodes, I put it on in the background to see my favorite lines and jokes I've heard a thousand times watching the show.
I get what you mean, but we got enough self referential content to keep the clone wars fans like myself happy. Ahsoka and Bo in live action was sick. *was*.
That’s fair. I’d only seen a few seasons of TCW and didn’t know that it was necessary watching so I guess I didn’t have the same connection to the characters
I knew those characters by name and general look, but could not give a shit about them when they appeared
And then season 1 of the Bo-katan show hit and Jesus wept, I did not care about the Mandalore/Darksaber stuff, I just wanted Din to go bounty hunting with his son like before
Yep, executives ruined what was a tight story arc for the Mandalorian and without the episodes from the Book of Boba Fett the story just doesn’t make sense.
I would’ve preferred that they just killed off Moff Gideon off screen and instead made the story fully about reclaiming Mandalore and uniting the disparate Mandalorian groups, and when they go to finally try and take back Mandalore it’s the New Republic who gets in their way as a resurgent Mandalore with a warrior culture would be a perceived threat to the New Republic. However there’s for some reason a need for all Star Wars projects to tie back into the main films which really hampers storytelling. It was fine for Grogu as it’s simply the reason the Imps want him but the show was mostly about Din and Grogu’s relationship up to that point. The Imps simply served to get in the way of their relationship, after season 2 they served no purpose but Disney execs are still scared of doing projects that don’t focus around the iconic parts of Star Wars which is why the high republic is set so close to the Prequels and it’s mainly centered around the Jedi. The truth is that Star Wars storytelling suffers because Disney is scared that without the iconic parts of Star Wars then it won’t make as much money.
S3 is still fine but S1 was honestly so magical. It was so fresh and cool. Just talking about E1 shows it’s iconic already, baby yoda was such a cool surprise that really put this show on another level. S2 got maybe a little overboard with the fan service but overall still worked and again iconic with the ending sequence. It was hard not to feel something about seeing Luke like that.
S3 was just always going to have a hard time living up to what the show had already accomplished.
S2 felt like his journey came to an end, S3 suffered heavily by having an important part of his story being in the Book of Boba Fett. Also bringing back Gideon and having the Imps be the bad guys of the season again was a truly bad idea, I would’ve preferred if it was the New Republic trying to stop the Mandalorians from reclaiming Mandalore since the Mandalorians have a stigma against them and the New Republic wouldn’t want to deal with a possible resurgent Mandalore with a militaristic culture.
However Disney couldn’t give up the financial gain of having Grogu continue to be marketable for the near future.
It has nothing to do with expectations. Season 3 was just a different show. Go back and watch Season 1. The tone and the structure has changed *drastically* from its roots, and in doing so has become so much more generic. The show started out as a fun adventure-of-the-week sort of sci-fi western with a very loose throughline of being on the run with Grogu. It was somewhat humorous and cheesy in an old-school western fashion and that was part of the fun, but it never took it too far. Then, season 2 had a much tighter throughline that now had an end goal of delivering Grogu to his people, but still maintained its adventure-of-the-week roots and for the most part maintained its tone (even if it got a little bit sillier at times). The stakes were bigger, but it didn’t detract itself from its smaller-scale humble foundation. It built up to a perfect, emotional finale where the series goal was accomplished. The show should have ended there, with two incredible seasons and a complete story. Perhaps Mando himself could have shown up in other things, but that should have been the end of his story for the moment, and it definitely should have been the end of Grogu’s story for a while.
But no, Disney wanted more of that Baby Yoda money, so they reunite him and Mando in two episodes of a different show so they can start out Season 3 like nothing ever happened, completely undercutting the emotional weight of the finale. And then they’re faced with a problem. The series plot is over. It concluded, so you can’t continue that anymore. But then you also can’t just go back to having a very loose throughline because that would feel like a step back. So your only choice is to go bigger. Which they do, making the series into this gigantic spectacle that it never was before. It was like watching a reanimated corpse. All the elements were there. Mando was there shooting stuff and getting shot in his invulnerable armor. Grogu was there doing force stuff and making cute noises. The dark saber was there whooshing about. People were saying “this is the way” all over the place. It had all of the elements, but none of the purpose. It was like watching an AI describing what the first two seasons were. Mando himself became a side-character in a huge plot, there was so much gratuitous fan-service, and the tone was so, so much sillier than it ever was.
So no, it has nothing to do with expectations. The show that was *The Mandalorian* Season 1 and Season 2 literally just didn’t have anywhere else to go, so they had to turn it into a new show.
It was the moment Star Wars changed forever. Suddenly, you had a whole lot of fans who had only seen the movies hooked for a Star Wars TV show. It's one of the most iconic moments in Star Wars now.
Came out swinging and showed the stakes. Loved the “back to basics” Han shot first style intro. Where he just bodies and Chen Chops in half the guy who gets in his way.
Not to mention the coups des grad of the Baby Yoda reveal which Miracously and meticulously managed not to get leaked.
Just watched the Grizzly Man narrated by Werner Herzog. It was an excellent documentary, and he nailed it with his narrating.
I would definitely watch a nature show narrated by him
Mando S1E1. The fact that they were able to keep Grogu a secret until release is insane and none of the other shows have a cold open anywhere near as good.
Andor’s cold open is not only better, it’s way way more important to the story.
the first action scene in Mando is just him tracking down a bounty and taking him in. The first 7 minutes of Andor isn’t just an action scene to get you hooked, it’s quite literally the inciting incident that kicks the entire plot, hell it kicks the entire OT into action. If Syril doesn’t disobey his boss and go after Andor, Luthen doesn’t pick him up, Aldhani doesn’t happen, Cassian isn’t Imprisoned, and then Cassian doesn’t join the rebellion. Then Cassian doesn’t steal the Death Star plans so the Death Star doesn’t get blown up.
The opening of Andor starts a chain of events that sets up Star Wars (1977). Without the scene, the plot of the entire show doesn’t work. You can replace the action scene to Open Mando with any scene and it changes nothing about the story being told.
If you aren’t captivated after that first scene of Andor, idk that’s on you. It’s technically one of the important decisions in the entire franchise. Then we get the INSANE Show don’t Tell approach to Braso and Cass’s friendship where Braso ADDS details to the alibi without stopping to go “hey Cass you got a cut on your face” he just adds it to the alibi.
Mando is a guy who’s often so badass he’s taking 15 shots to the armor as he’s walking towards his target. It’s cool but it’s lacks tension. From the first confrontation, Andor is having to crawl and scrape to get by. He’s a man running out of favors and friends.
Idk I just don’t get how someone can watch ep 1 of Andor and not already thinking it’s the best Star Wars writing period.
Andor is absolutely the better show but the beginning episodes weren't as immediately gripping/iconic like Mando Season 1 was. It required a lot more trust and patience from the audience to really be impactful.
This is very accurate. Mando E1 was great imo but the lack of stakes and eternal game of fetch going forward hurts the quality of E1. It’s ok to have a comic book style show where every episode has the same plot, it’s fun, but it just doesn’t have the impact of something like andor
I get it, some people don’t like “slow burns” (even though I think the first episode does plenty to get you hooked) I get some people have shorter attention spans and I get people have expectations that Star Wars has a lot of action in it.
But Andor is fundamentally the best show/movie created in Star Wars. There’s not a line of dialogue that either isn’t relevant to the plot or doesn’t say something about that character. What fucking other show is going to have multiple scenes of Syril eating cereal while being chastised by his mom and it be completely captivating? Only this show has pulled that off.
Mandalorian season 1
I remember watching the bar fight and being like, wow. They might have actually made a great Star Wars live action show
The fact it’s not based any of the characters or events of the films as well, it was so fresh and just felt like modern day OT Star Wars
also the fact that it was the very first live action star wars show. not everyone was convinced that star wars could make the leap from movies to a tv show format (again live action, a far less portion of general audiences watch animated shows) while still feeling like star wars. everything hinged on the success of Mando season 1.
I would say the other shows have proved mando to be the exception not the rule. Most of the shows like obi wan and boba fett don’t feel like real lived in worlds but i guess i would attribute that mostly to the writing not necessarily the format
i think those shows all have the issue of being too tied into the skywalker saga/pre existing content.
Obi, Boba, Ahsoka, Andor all existed and people had ideas of the characters etc. whereas Mando was brand new and could do whatever and we all watched the new character grow episode to episode.
peoples main complaints of the new shows to tend to be characters not acting like how we’ve seen them before but these shows also try to force them to go through character arcs even though we’ve literally seen them do that in what they were in originally. (minus Andor because we didn’t see him too much in Rogue One and getting to learn his back story has been great)
I feel like Mando S1 is the rare occurrence when Disney accidentally lets personal vision and artistry dictate the direction of a story rather than formula and profit.
Definitely. Even mando is kinda subpar by season 3. Andor is the true masterpiece as it stands rn, it's very much so in league of its own compared to the other shows
To the credit of Mando S1, it's a pretty damn strong season in its own right. Not as good as Andor of course. But it holds solidly in comparison. Both are just going for different things, and both doing a very good job achieving them
One is adventure and relationships for any age. The other is political and personal intrigue that more likely is for adults only.
Both did their job perfectly. The rest seem too E for Everyone to the point of being uninspired.
I think the reason is that Andor is such a more grounded show.
In most of Star Wars you see someone shooting someone else it’s just another mindless action scene where you turn your brain off
In Andor it takes a while for you to realize this is a man that committed manslaughter and it is the inciting incident for the rest of the show
Thank you. The fight that leads to the first death is MAAAAAYBE something you can argue about, but as soon as that's over, he's already made the decision and executes the other corpo guy.
For sure. Mando needed no plot development to rock our worlds with the wrist rockets in episode one because BOOM is easy. It was actually comical how like every other episode it would be Mando outnumbered, then wrist rockets, then the little high-pitched two-tone law and order noise. :)
I liked Mando but it was a shallow action story
Andor took several episodes to understand. "Why are their literal prostitutes? Where the fuck are the jedi? Is this a heist movie? Jesus it's a drama. Omg I'm in love."
Maybe this is my bias as a huge Tony Gilroy fan but E1 of Andor is still better than every other show. That dialogue between Syril and his boss is quite literally better writing quality than like 80% of Star Wars just from that one scene. That’s ignoring the killer first 10 minutes at the Brothal, Braso’s introduction which is even better dialogue than the Syril dialogue, Nerchi, Pegla, Bix, and Timm all get introduced in very great scenes.
I get some people don’t have the attention spans for a slow burn drama but Ep 1 is already some of the best Star Wars ever. The scene of Syril telling the underlings to pull up a table to monitor anything is such a Gilroy/Bourne-esk scene. Every little scene or moment tells you about the characters.
S1 of Andor is better than most shows, period. It was probably the best show to come out that year. I still choke up thinking about that band at Maarva' funeral.
Dude that speech!
And Luthen's speech.
And "never more than 8"
"I can't swim"
The show was an all time great show and I wish they would catch on. There is a massive untapped market for mature star wars content.
We don't need caricatures of good and evil with zero nuance. We like gritty.
I consider BCS and BrBa one long 11 season show that just happened to turn into flashbacks by S6(BCS S1) the level of quality across 11 seasons will likely never get replicated again.
But of shows created 2020-present, Andor is king.
People whine about the writing in Acolyte but can't be bothered to sit through the characterization that MAKES the writing in Andor so good. I don't get it, people just throw "bad dialogue/writing" at anything.
Cassian guns down two relatively innocent security guards begging for their lives in the first episode, how the fuck are you bored. I also think the worldbuilding with the corpos in Andor is one of the most interesting things added to Star Wars in the Disney era.
You hit the nail right on the head. Idk how you are bored with Andor.
Also don’t get me started about how Andor is quite literally the only Disney Star Wars property outside of the Droid rebellion in Solo that’s inherently political and that solo subplot was played for JOKES! And not taken seriously.
Disney Star Wars is honestly devoid of politics. The ST / JJ Abrams hated Politics so much he fuckin blew up the CAPITOL of the Galaxy and then shrugged his shoulders on that having any ramifications in the universe.
The Mandolorian is about Fatherhood. If anything it’s a conservative leaning show.
BoBF is devoid of any themes besides Boba wants to not be like his dad. I guess there’s an anti-drug message??
Obi Wan is about internal depression? I think. Again themes are very lose and just Star Wars porn.
Ahsoka is about Internal depression? And finding Ezra. The only “political” scene with Mon Mothma is a guy not believing Star Wars things exist. Uh I guess that’s politics?
The acolyte is a murder/mystery. Haven’t seen a political message yet.
Andor is quite literally the only show where Politics is the central theme. It asks questions like What makes someone rebel against fascism? What role does accelerationism have within the rebellion? What roles do non-believers have in a revolution? Fuckin right to repair gets thrown in there. Trad Cath movement is represented and critiqued through Mon Mothma’s daughter.
And all of these themes fit within George Lucas’s world view. Him and Gilroy are honestly VERY VERY similar when it comes to cynicism and leftist ideology
Yeah it’s weird to me how the same people praising the prequels which have notoriously horrible dialogue and are pretty political are upset at Andor, or Acolyte for that matter.
Star Wars has always been EXTREMELY political and outside of stuff like Mando that’s very character focused, the political themes are the central part of the narrative.
What’s even weirder or sadder is the same people who are in the “The People vs George Lucas” documentary have turned around a decade later and praise the prequels and go on YouTube and say how Disney is ruining George’s vision
As if these people didn’t do the same thing TO George a decade prior. So they can hate Andor or The Acolyte (which isn’t even political outside like some vague dialogue about the Senate) but they are all hypocrites anyways.
I agree. How could you watch a Star Wars Show where the protagonist is looking for his hooked sister in a brothel and then murders two cops? I mean Jesus christ I was captivated by the depth and maturity yo show two sides of the main character.
Andor doesn’t make sense if you try to watch passively. Which if you watch alot of streaming shows they don’t require you to go in paying attention. So Andor suffers from other Disney shows teaching viewers that they don’t need to pay attention.
Secondly while things constantly happen, the action and tension is constantly interrupted with the kenari scenes, which honestly overstay their welcome. There’s nice payoff when you realize that Andor was crashing in the ship Marva and Clem took to Kenari, but that scene isn’t until episode 3.
I'm with you. They need to hand some of filoni's shit over to Gilroy and let a real artist work.
Mando and the rest are very poorly, shalowly written. They are all about style over substance. And the worst part is their adherence to the exaggerated and childlike good/evil dynamic where there's no nuance.
I liked them but I'll never even consider rewatching them because I remember all 5 interesting plot points lol.
Andor? HBO in the 90s level greatness.
The only debate is what show has the 2nd best premier episode. Mando is for sure #1. That pilot episode hooked everyone. Had the perfect mix of action, cool new stuff, like his insanity rifle, the Razorcrest, tapped into nostalgia, like the IG assassin droid, a baby yoda, his collection of bounties in carbonite, and MOST importantly, it felt like Star Wars. It fits in well with original Star Wars content. It was original yet wasn't breaking any lore. Only adding to it.
Mando S1 is easily the top, Mandalorian bounty hunter is a recipe for success anyway, but it just felt awesome, and it was so fresh compared to the sequels.
Mando sets the bar too high. The last scene is one of the most iconic of the whole franchise. Most of the other shows did double premieres to bolster engagement. Heck Andor is the best actual show and it needed a triple premiere because of how slow it starts.
There’s some of us that love the slow start to Andor. I seriously wouldn’t have minded it it released them one at a time to start bc Ep 1 is THAT good.
i think the way Andor was almost done in 4 slots 3 eps slots was great. you had the intro, the heist, the prison and then the rebellion growing/return to ferrix. basically 4, hour and a half movies which is imo the best way to watch them
I genuinely believe that the Mando series premiere is some of the best Star Wars since the OT. I remember watching it and thinking that we were destined for a new renaissance of Star Wars content and that Disney+ was going to be the single best streaming service on the market if they kept up this level of quality. …that wasn't quite true, but Mandalorian S1E1 still holds up.
I don’t think every D+ show needs to be a 10/10. The EU certainly wasnt all bangers. There’s going to be highs and lows. They have to take risks and the more fans cry over 6-7/10s, the less Star Wars we will get all together.
Not saying we should be praising mid but also understand that even the worst of the D+ Star Wars shows still look, directed and acted better than most shows from 20 years ago.
Mando season 1 episode 1 easily. I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold.
Probably the best bounty hunter line from any star wars media ever. No beginning episode has come within 14 parsecs of it, past or present.
I agree Mando 1.1 was a great start, all the feels!
Wild West bounty hunter vibe, very starwars
But Andor deserves a mention, it has a strong starwars vibe with it's 'nazi totalitarian state occupation thing, and outlaws / non conformists creating the resistance.
Which is also very starwars
Everyone here loves mando season 1 and while I also love it I do have to throw mando season 2 in the ring. All around incredible episode.
Although if we treat the premiere of Andor as all three episodes I’m not sure anything else matches up to that.
In a show on DISNEY streaming, in the first 5 minutes our protagonist kills one guy in the heat of the moment, then executes the witness in cold blood.
I was barely even interested in a prequel featuring a character from a spin-off movie, before that.
Andor only really took off for me when Luthen met Andor in episode 3. However I fricking loved the scene in episode 1 with Syril and his boss. That was hilarious and well written.
For me it's Mando and Ahsoka with the prison break scene.
Mando season 1 premier is the best.
I was really pumped for the Book of Boba Fett after the end credits teaser in Mando season 2. But the show was a let down.
Mando S1 opening just hit hard and set up a great expectations for the live action star wars content to come.
That fight in the bar, then "I can bring you in warm... or i can bring in cold" made me excited about Star Wars again.
Edit; At this time, every single top comment is Mando S1.
The first episode of Mando ever. I remember it premiering in TV a couple of days earlier to market Disney plus and the hype was crazy. Also it’s a really solid episode in general atleast compared to rest of the garbage Disney has been pumping out these last few years.
Mando season 1 for sure. It’s such a great introduction to the era and the character. That first scene is so well directed and the final scene is mind blowing. Everything else is great too. I really like Obi-Wan’s season opener too though. I loved seeing his mundane Tatooine life.
The first episode has better writing than 99.5% of Star Wars and I’ll die on this hill. There’s nothing “boring” about anything from the first 2 episodes. Some of the best world building and character dialogue ever.
Braso’s introduction is even better than Syril’s scene.
Every fuckin TV show and movie will have two best friends meet and go “hey you remember that time is saved you in glaratron?” “Yeah that’s when we became best friends” in the most TELL not SHOW way possible.
But what is Braso’s first scene? Andor asking him what where he was last night, and when Braso responds, Andor goes, “No you were..” and gives him their alibi. Braso without going “hey did you know you got punched?” Just responds by ADDING to the Alibi the cut on Andor’s face.
Now THAT is how you introduce a best friend character. You SHOW their relationship. Star Wars never does that. “And not for saving your skin for the 9th time” or whatever Anakin says in RotS that’s pure Tell not Show.
For real. It’s the not only the best SW show, it’s most captivating show thats come out since 2020. And hey I will gladly admit I am biased. My favorite movie of all time is Michael Clayton, also by Tony Gilroy. I love his writing style and slow burn tension through dialogue as well as his breakdown of organizations & structures.
Michael Clayton, Nightcrawler(Dan Gilroy, produced by Tony), Bourne, Beirut, State of Play. Almost all of Gilroy’s movies are so good. His writing is so killer.
Mando s1 or s2 definitely had the strongest premier. Nice camera work, set design/costuming, and enough action to engage your attention in just the first episode.
I just started a rewatch of Mando for the first time since it released. Damn, I forgot how good it was. That first episode, opening fight scene, introducing new aliens, the quiet western/samurai vibe, Werner Herzog and Nick Nolte are awesome, IG droid brought to life, baby yoda kept secret till the premiere, and honestly some damn good cinematography and fight choreography for a TV show. I really wish we could get back to that level on Disney+. It felt like someone had taken my childhood playing with StarWars action figures, and the stories we would come up with, and brought them to life in the best way possible.
Also, it’s somehow still some of the best usage we’ve gotten of the Volume. So many of the shows now I can really tell it was filmed in a 20ft space where the physical props just end. It’s still there in Mando, but much better utilized I think.
Mando Season 2 episode 1 annoyed me the first time I watched it because I was too hyped to see Boba. It’s now my favorite single episode of all live action series. It’s perfect, and I think only misremembered by many because of the Tatooine overkill of BoBF
Andor released three episodes first, right? It’s kinda difficult to judge its first ep because of this. My initial impression was way more than just the first episode.
Because of this, I’ll give it to Mando.
My top 3 are:
1. Mando s1
2. Obi-Wan
3. Andor
Andor is easily the best show but starts off slower and the first episode of kenobi I really liked but it really suffered in the middle.
Mando season 1.
Apart from it just being a great episode of TV, it was also just great to once again have some Star Wars you could get excited about with your friends and family again after the Sequels. It was a much needed shot of optimism and positivity into the franchise and came just at the right time. Took some of the sting out of TLJ and TRoS.
How I'd rank the premieres:
1. Mandolorian S1
2. Obi Wan
3. Andor
4. Mandorian S2
5. Boba Fett
6. Mandalorian S3
7. Ahsoka
N/A - Acolyte. Havnt seen it.
It's between Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi for me.
The opening of Andor had that great Blade Runner like vibe, the script and visuals are fantastic, all the characters are interesting, and it all felt very fresh and new for Star Wars.
Obi-Wan was just my flavour of Star Wars though, sure the episode had its issues (The Leia chase, GI's redesign) but Obi-Wan is my favourite SW character and I'm a sucker for a Jedi/Sith story - I loved how this premiere dealt with hermit Obi-Wan, his mundane life, his interactions with Bail and Owen, being haunted by memories of Anakin, etc - and Vivien Lyra Blair was fantastic as a young Leia.
I have to admit Mando took a while to click with me, I think because it aired in the UK about 6 months later I'd heard how incredible it was and seen all the Grogu memes, so by the time I was able to watch it it just felt whelming rather than spectacular - if I'd been able to go in blind maybe it would have landed better for me.
mando season 2 delivered, what an impeccably strong starting episode to get everyone back onboard with the show after the first season while also introducing a much bigger budget and better production design!
*The Mandalorian* had the strongest premiere, *Andor* had the strongest overall build.
An honorable mention goes to *Ahsoka*'s flashback sequence and the later-season development, which had many standout qualities, and probably Hayden and Ewan's face-off in *Obi-Wan*, from a sheer let-the-actors-cook perspective.
As a fan of Andor and The Acolyte, I have to be objective...
1. Mando S2
2. Mando S1
3. Andor
4. Book of Boba Fett
5. Ahsoka
6. The Acolyte
7. Mando S3
Mando season one was such an amazing start to the series it has to have my vote
Even Pedro's delivery of his famous line in the first scene set the tone so well...he was so menacing when telling them they can be brought in warm or cold. The father figure arc works really well when you have a genuine tough guy at the start.
I still remember the first scene at the bar. I can only remember acolytes because I had to laugh because I was watching Matrix and not Star Wars
i can totally understand not vibing with the acolyte, but are we really to the point of dogging on star wars for having... cool, well choreographed martial arts scenes?
I enjoy the acolyte. But have you seen Matrix? You can’t watch the opening scene without thinking about matrix. The fighting style, the camera, the acrobatics, THE FUCKING ACTOR, …
It reminded me more of the restaurant fight from Crouching Tiger Hidden. Also I regret that we don’t get to see more of Carrie as a Jedi.
S1E1 of Mando ending was so cool. I had gone to celebration the previous year where they showed the unfinished trailers and footage for the show. I was so hyped for it. When it finally released, my expectations were blown out of the water. That final shot is awesome.
How do you beat Werner Herzog in your premier episode? The moment I heard his voice I knew we were in for a good show.
It totally nailed the aesthetic of like Nazis hiding out in South America post WWII
Buenas noches, mein Führer
Most logical direction for the sequels IMO, Lucas understood that and originally planned for them to be about Darth Maul as a big time crime lord offering Galactic Empire fugitives refuge on the planets under his jurisdiction, the New Republic getting set up, Luke Skywalker rebuilding the Jedi over a period of 20 years. In typical Lucas fashion he ruined that whole concept by by making the story entirely about midichlorians and ‘whills’ and that makes me kinda glad he never made the sequels, although I’m not sure the sequels we actually got used those ideas any better 💀 Very glad we get a look at a similar kind of story with The Mandalorian and its spin-offs though.
Well…the sequels were just fancy looking original trilogy story & scenes.
I would like to see the baby.
I love that he called Disney cowards when they wanted to make it cgi instead of a puppet.
Specifically he called Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni cowards. It’s my favourite moment in the making of season 1!
Is the baby in the pram?
“May I offer you a *libation*?”
Unforgettable performance honestly. The way he says “How uncharacteristic of one of your reputation” is ingrained into my memory!
100% agreed.
Werner Herzog was great. There was no need to bring in Giancarlo Esposito at the end of season 1. Could have given Werner Herzog a bigger, better ending and saved Giancarlo Esposito for season 2.
Doubtful he would have wanted more screentime tbh, it's a lot of work and he's up there in age
Eh, they shoot that show in that big CGI screen room...you don't even have to go anywhere.
You should listen to his review of Trader Joe’s.
You should listen to his rant about the enormity of a chicken’s stupidity
I would listen to that.
There you go: https://youtu.be/QhMo4WlBmGM?si=42IJlR5cOz4By1N1
I only came here to make sure someone brought up the chicken thing.
You should listen to anything Herzog has ever said.
Madness reigns. The first challenge your soul must endure is stark contrast between Din Djarin and the universe where life is treated as little more than ephemeral. A Bounty Hunter’s payday. The once proud race of Mandalorians have been reduced to a swirling vortex of fear and pain, avatars of death. After enduring countless battles, the Child is delivered, seemingly at the cost of morality and dignity to Mando. But it is then that the effervescence spark of humanity and morality, in line with his personal code, that we see Mando take the Child, and a Baby Yoda emerges into the zeitgeist of the viewers. The conscious mind cannot endure more, so thus, the tale is ended for the week.
Christopher Walken in your next premier episode.
He tends to pop up in a lot of shows in small parts, which I love. American Dad, Rick and Morty, Metalocalypse, Parks and Rec. And then Mando. He seems to appreciate a fun cameo.
Man mando was so good. Do you think season 3 was that bad or that season 1 and 2 built up to such an incredible moment that it was hard to top expectations?
I think it's both. Season 1 was a tight story, clearly all planned out ahead of time, with a lot of effort from the pre-production, all the way through to the final edits and marketing of the show. Then flash forward, it's a huge hit, the Disney plus subscriptions are rolling in, it's a social media sensation. Pedro Pascal is at the peak of his career, and "The Child" merchandise is selling like hotcakes. Everyone and your grandma is talking about how cute Baby Yoda is, and fans are theorizing about his home planet, why the bad guys want him, and what Mando will do with the little guy in season 2. The turn around for season 2 and 3 certainly did not allow for as much planning and execution, they had to capitalize on their golden goose while also managing other Star Wars projects. Dave Filoni and Jon Faverau are working their asses off. Season two is another banger, Ahsoka Tano and Bo Katan in live action, the mention of Thrawn, The Child reveals his name is Grogu, and Mando is quested with reuniting him with a Jedi master to train. Fans are collectively losing their minds as a CGI deepfake Luke Skywalker boards the ship and saves the day, taking Grogu to start his new Jedi Order. It's a tear jerker of a finale, our once hardened bounty hunter sheds his helmet and takes one last look at his target-turned-friend and the credits roll. What a season! Then we get BoBF. A show where the main character is neutered beyond belief, low speed Vespa chases and unnecessary 180 blaster shots plague the volume set that it obviously was filmed on, and two episodes are completely dedicated to Mando. In those episodes, he not only reunites with Grogu, but does so in such an anti-climactic way that it detracts from Mando's own arch and the previous two seasons decisions. This is also not mentioned in season 3 of Mando, as grogu just appears like he never left. For those who didn't watch BoBF, this creates a major WTF moment. Then Mando season 3 drops. We spend most of the first half of the season doing fuck all, trouncing around the Galaxy meeting space Lizzo and Jack Black, helping them with their droids, while a swamp monster space pirate flies his ship right above the now bustling Navarro. Besides that, I don't remember ANYTHING except that they liberated Mandalore. Season 3 really was that bad imo, but it was largely to do with the re-inclusion of Grogu in BoBF, which I believe was an executive decision to increase merchandise sales and little to do with the story.
Couldn’t agree more. The reintroduction of Grogu kinda fucked the whole series. It’s obvious that was supposed to be the end of Mando and Grogu’s story together at that point but baby Yoda just makes too much money. Season 3 lost alot of the gritty western feel as well. Mando lost alot of his badass charm as well
Idk if S2 is really a banger. Halfway through S2 it became clear there was no plot and every episode was just playing fetch with no stakes. That’s not always bad, I love Monk and each episode is the same plot. I just couldn’t get into it the way S1 made me think I would
I think it had fantastic secondary characters and adventures. Cobb Vanth and the Krayt, running from Carson Teva and fighting ice spiders, Bo Katan, the amazingly shot Ahsoka episode, the return of Boba Fett (and Fennec), the return of Mayfeld (I love Bill Burr) and the incredible finale with Luke. It was different than season 1 but I think nearly as fantastic. Season 3 however..
Indeed, I especially loved the Mayfeld episode, so incredibly well made!
“Too bad you’re not joining us, you have such a sunny disposition!”
I love both Star Wars and Monk and I have to say that I think Mandalorian works because Star Wars is not a comfort show to me, it's for exciting me and getting enticed into a story. Monk is a comfort show: the overarching plot isn't visible in most of the episodes, I put it on in the background to see my favorite lines and jokes I've heard a thousand times watching the show.
I get what you mean, but we got enough self referential content to keep the clone wars fans like myself happy. Ahsoka and Bo in live action was sick. *was*.
That’s fair. I’d only seen a few seasons of TCW and didn’t know that it was necessary watching so I guess I didn’t have the same connection to the characters
I knew those characters by name and general look, but could not give a shit about them when they appeared And then season 1 of the Bo-katan show hit and Jesus wept, I did not care about the Mandalore/Darksaber stuff, I just wanted Din to go bounty hunting with his son like before
Yep, executives ruined what was a tight story arc for the Mandalorian and without the episodes from the Book of Boba Fett the story just doesn’t make sense. I would’ve preferred that they just killed off Moff Gideon off screen and instead made the story fully about reclaiming Mandalore and uniting the disparate Mandalorian groups, and when they go to finally try and take back Mandalore it’s the New Republic who gets in their way as a resurgent Mandalore with a warrior culture would be a perceived threat to the New Republic. However there’s for some reason a need for all Star Wars projects to tie back into the main films which really hampers storytelling. It was fine for Grogu as it’s simply the reason the Imps want him but the show was mostly about Din and Grogu’s relationship up to that point. The Imps simply served to get in the way of their relationship, after season 2 they served no purpose but Disney execs are still scared of doing projects that don’t focus around the iconic parts of Star Wars which is why the high republic is set so close to the Prequels and it’s mainly centered around the Jedi. The truth is that Star Wars storytelling suffers because Disney is scared that without the iconic parts of Star Wars then it won’t make as much money.
S3 is still fine but S1 was honestly so magical. It was so fresh and cool. Just talking about E1 shows it’s iconic already, baby yoda was such a cool surprise that really put this show on another level. S2 got maybe a little overboard with the fan service but overall still worked and again iconic with the ending sequence. It was hard not to feel something about seeing Luke like that. S3 was just always going to have a hard time living up to what the show had already accomplished.
S2 felt like his journey came to an end, S3 suffered heavily by having an important part of his story being in the Book of Boba Fett. Also bringing back Gideon and having the Imps be the bad guys of the season again was a truly bad idea, I would’ve preferred if it was the New Republic trying to stop the Mandalorians from reclaiming Mandalore since the Mandalorians have a stigma against them and the New Republic wouldn’t want to deal with a possible resurgent Mandalore with a militaristic culture. However Disney couldn’t give up the financial gain of having Grogu continue to be marketable for the near future.
It has nothing to do with expectations. Season 3 was just a different show. Go back and watch Season 1. The tone and the structure has changed *drastically* from its roots, and in doing so has become so much more generic. The show started out as a fun adventure-of-the-week sort of sci-fi western with a very loose throughline of being on the run with Grogu. It was somewhat humorous and cheesy in an old-school western fashion and that was part of the fun, but it never took it too far. Then, season 2 had a much tighter throughline that now had an end goal of delivering Grogu to his people, but still maintained its adventure-of-the-week roots and for the most part maintained its tone (even if it got a little bit sillier at times). The stakes were bigger, but it didn’t detract itself from its smaller-scale humble foundation. It built up to a perfect, emotional finale where the series goal was accomplished. The show should have ended there, with two incredible seasons and a complete story. Perhaps Mando himself could have shown up in other things, but that should have been the end of his story for the moment, and it definitely should have been the end of Grogu’s story for a while. But no, Disney wanted more of that Baby Yoda money, so they reunite him and Mando in two episodes of a different show so they can start out Season 3 like nothing ever happened, completely undercutting the emotional weight of the finale. And then they’re faced with a problem. The series plot is over. It concluded, so you can’t continue that anymore. But then you also can’t just go back to having a very loose throughline because that would feel like a step back. So your only choice is to go bigger. Which they do, making the series into this gigantic spectacle that it never was before. It was like watching a reanimated corpse. All the elements were there. Mando was there shooting stuff and getting shot in his invulnerable armor. Grogu was there doing force stuff and making cute noises. The dark saber was there whooshing about. People were saying “this is the way” all over the place. It had all of the elements, but none of the purpose. It was like watching an AI describing what the first two seasons were. Mando himself became a side-character in a huge plot, there was so much gratuitous fan-service, and the tone was so, so much sillier than it ever was. So no, it has nothing to do with expectations. The show that was *The Mandalorian* Season 1 and Season 2 literally just didn’t have anywhere else to go, so they had to turn it into a new show.
It was the moment Star Wars changed forever. Suddenly, you had a whole lot of fans who had only seen the movies hooked for a Star Wars TV show. It's one of the most iconic moments in Star Wars now.
Sadly it’s been a mixed bag since. At least Andor was great
Came out swinging and showed the stakes. Loved the “back to basics” Han shot first style intro. Where he just bodies and Chen Chops in half the guy who gets in his way. Not to mention the coups des grad of the Baby Yoda reveal which Miracously and meticulously managed not to get leaked.
Just watched the Grizzly Man narrated by Werner Herzog. It was an excellent documentary, and he nailed it with his narrating. I would definitely watch a nature show narrated by him
I quote “I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold.” Twice a week at a minimum.
Mando S1E1. The fact that they were able to keep Grogu a secret until release is insane and none of the other shows have a cold open anywhere near as good.
IG-11
That too! We had no idea we were going to see an IG unit either.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
When I saw mando pull that dude through the door and have him decapitated, I knew it was gonna be amazing.
Andor’s cold open is not only better, it’s way way more important to the story. the first action scene in Mando is just him tracking down a bounty and taking him in. The first 7 minutes of Andor isn’t just an action scene to get you hooked, it’s quite literally the inciting incident that kicks the entire plot, hell it kicks the entire OT into action. If Syril doesn’t disobey his boss and go after Andor, Luthen doesn’t pick him up, Aldhani doesn’t happen, Cassian isn’t Imprisoned, and then Cassian doesn’t join the rebellion. Then Cassian doesn’t steal the Death Star plans so the Death Star doesn’t get blown up. The opening of Andor starts a chain of events that sets up Star Wars (1977). Without the scene, the plot of the entire show doesn’t work. You can replace the action scene to Open Mando with any scene and it changes nothing about the story being told. If you aren’t captivated after that first scene of Andor, idk that’s on you. It’s technically one of the important decisions in the entire franchise. Then we get the INSANE Show don’t Tell approach to Braso and Cass’s friendship where Braso ADDS details to the alibi without stopping to go “hey Cass you got a cut on your face” he just adds it to the alibi. Mando is a guy who’s often so badass he’s taking 15 shots to the armor as he’s walking towards his target. It’s cool but it’s lacks tension. From the first confrontation, Andor is having to crawl and scrape to get by. He’s a man running out of favors and friends. Idk I just don’t get how someone can watch ep 1 of Andor and not already thinking it’s the best Star Wars writing period.
Sounds like you really like Andor and that's awesome. Different perspectives are great
Andor is absolutely the better show but the beginning episodes weren't as immediately gripping/iconic like Mando Season 1 was. It required a lot more trust and patience from the audience to really be impactful.
This is very accurate. Mando E1 was great imo but the lack of stakes and eternal game of fetch going forward hurts the quality of E1. It’s ok to have a comic book style show where every episode has the same plot, it’s fun, but it just doesn’t have the impact of something like andor
I get it, some people don’t like “slow burns” (even though I think the first episode does plenty to get you hooked) I get some people have shorter attention spans and I get people have expectations that Star Wars has a lot of action in it. But Andor is fundamentally the best show/movie created in Star Wars. There’s not a line of dialogue that either isn’t relevant to the plot or doesn’t say something about that character. What fucking other show is going to have multiple scenes of Syril eating cereal while being chastised by his mom and it be completely captivating? Only this show has pulled that off.
Mando season 1 had the coldest open. No competition.
Coldest or warmest.
It could bring you in warm, or it could bring you in cold.
Literally!
I'd say Mando season 2 gives it some stiff competition
Mandalorian season 1 I remember watching the bar fight and being like, wow. They might have actually made a great Star Wars live action show The fact it’s not based any of the characters or events of the films as well, it was so fresh and just felt like modern day OT Star Wars
also the fact that it was the very first live action star wars show. not everyone was convinced that star wars could make the leap from movies to a tv show format (again live action, a far less portion of general audiences watch animated shows) while still feeling like star wars. everything hinged on the success of Mando season 1.
I would say the other shows have proved mando to be the exception not the rule. Most of the shows like obi wan and boba fett don’t feel like real lived in worlds but i guess i would attribute that mostly to the writing not necessarily the format
i think those shows all have the issue of being too tied into the skywalker saga/pre existing content. Obi, Boba, Ahsoka, Andor all existed and people had ideas of the characters etc. whereas Mando was brand new and could do whatever and we all watched the new character grow episode to episode. peoples main complaints of the new shows to tend to be characters not acting like how we’ve seen them before but these shows also try to force them to go through character arcs even though we’ve literally seen them do that in what they were in originally. (minus Andor because we didn’t see him too much in Rogue One and getting to learn his back story has been great)
I feel like Mando S1 is the rare occurrence when Disney accidentally lets personal vision and artistry dictate the direction of a story rather than formula and profit.
Definitely. Even mando is kinda subpar by season 3. Andor is the true masterpiece as it stands rn, it's very much so in league of its own compared to the other shows
Mando S1E1 by default. (Andor is a way better show but there is a reason they released the first 3 episodes and not just 1 episode)
To the credit of Mando S1, it's a pretty damn strong season in its own right. Not as good as Andor of course. But it holds solidly in comparison. Both are just going for different things, and both doing a very good job achieving them
One is adventure and relationships for any age. The other is political and personal intrigue that more likely is for adults only. Both did their job perfectly. The rest seem too E for Everyone to the point of being uninspired.
From the first two episodes, I was a bit bored but the third brought it all together.
I think the reason is that Andor is such a more grounded show. In most of Star Wars you see someone shooting someone else it’s just another mindless action scene where you turn your brain off In Andor it takes a while for you to realize this is a man that committed manslaughter and it is the inciting incident for the rest of the show
The Death Star is eventually blown up because two mall cops decided to bully a random stranger for the crime of being served earlier then them
Which is incredibly realistic progression, honestly.
>committed manslaughter I love Cas, but that was a murder. If not the first, then definitely the second. It's why he's interesting!
Thank you. The fight that leads to the first death is MAAAAAYBE something you can argue about, but as soon as that's over, he's already made the decision and executes the other corpo guy.
For sure. Mando needed no plot development to rock our worlds with the wrist rockets in episode one because BOOM is easy. It was actually comical how like every other episode it would be Mando outnumbered, then wrist rockets, then the little high-pitched two-tone law and order noise. :) I liked Mando but it was a shallow action story Andor took several episodes to understand. "Why are their literal prostitutes? Where the fuck are the jedi? Is this a heist movie? Jesus it's a drama. Omg I'm in love."
It is a show that cannot be watched passively because so many little things are crucial to the plot.
Maybe this is my bias as a huge Tony Gilroy fan but E1 of Andor is still better than every other show. That dialogue between Syril and his boss is quite literally better writing quality than like 80% of Star Wars just from that one scene. That’s ignoring the killer first 10 minutes at the Brothal, Braso’s introduction which is even better dialogue than the Syril dialogue, Nerchi, Pegla, Bix, and Timm all get introduced in very great scenes. I get some people don’t have the attention spans for a slow burn drama but Ep 1 is already some of the best Star Wars ever. The scene of Syril telling the underlings to pull up a table to monitor anything is such a Gilroy/Bourne-esk scene. Every little scene or moment tells you about the characters.
S1 of Andor is better than most shows, period. It was probably the best show to come out that year. I still choke up thinking about that band at Maarva' funeral.
Dude that speech! And Luthen's speech. And "never more than 8" "I can't swim" The show was an all time great show and I wish they would catch on. There is a massive untapped market for mature star wars content. We don't need caricatures of good and evil with zero nuance. We like gritty.
[удалено]
I consider BCS and BrBa one long 11 season show that just happened to turn into flashbacks by S6(BCS S1) the level of quality across 11 seasons will likely never get replicated again. But of shows created 2020-present, Andor is king.
People whine about the writing in Acolyte but can't be bothered to sit through the characterization that MAKES the writing in Andor so good. I don't get it, people just throw "bad dialogue/writing" at anything. Cassian guns down two relatively innocent security guards begging for their lives in the first episode, how the fuck are you bored. I also think the worldbuilding with the corpos in Andor is one of the most interesting things added to Star Wars in the Disney era.
You hit the nail right on the head. Idk how you are bored with Andor. Also don’t get me started about how Andor is quite literally the only Disney Star Wars property outside of the Droid rebellion in Solo that’s inherently political and that solo subplot was played for JOKES! And not taken seriously. Disney Star Wars is honestly devoid of politics. The ST / JJ Abrams hated Politics so much he fuckin blew up the CAPITOL of the Galaxy and then shrugged his shoulders on that having any ramifications in the universe. The Mandolorian is about Fatherhood. If anything it’s a conservative leaning show. BoBF is devoid of any themes besides Boba wants to not be like his dad. I guess there’s an anti-drug message?? Obi Wan is about internal depression? I think. Again themes are very lose and just Star Wars porn. Ahsoka is about Internal depression? And finding Ezra. The only “political” scene with Mon Mothma is a guy not believing Star Wars things exist. Uh I guess that’s politics? The acolyte is a murder/mystery. Haven’t seen a political message yet. Andor is quite literally the only show where Politics is the central theme. It asks questions like What makes someone rebel against fascism? What role does accelerationism have within the rebellion? What roles do non-believers have in a revolution? Fuckin right to repair gets thrown in there. Trad Cath movement is represented and critiqued through Mon Mothma’s daughter. And all of these themes fit within George Lucas’s world view. Him and Gilroy are honestly VERY VERY similar when it comes to cynicism and leftist ideology
Yeah it’s weird to me how the same people praising the prequels which have notoriously horrible dialogue and are pretty political are upset at Andor, or Acolyte for that matter. Star Wars has always been EXTREMELY political and outside of stuff like Mando that’s very character focused, the political themes are the central part of the narrative.
What’s even weirder or sadder is the same people who are in the “The People vs George Lucas” documentary have turned around a decade later and praise the prequels and go on YouTube and say how Disney is ruining George’s vision As if these people didn’t do the same thing TO George a decade prior. So they can hate Andor or The Acolyte (which isn’t even political outside like some vague dialogue about the Senate) but they are all hypocrites anyways.
Yea Lucas himself literally said the empire mirrors America in the Vietnam war… yet people act like Star Wars is suddenly “woke” lmao.
I agree. How could you watch a Star Wars Show where the protagonist is looking for his hooked sister in a brothel and then murders two cops? I mean Jesus christ I was captivated by the depth and maturity yo show two sides of the main character.
Andor doesn’t make sense if you try to watch passively. Which if you watch alot of streaming shows they don’t require you to go in paying attention. So Andor suffers from other Disney shows teaching viewers that they don’t need to pay attention. Secondly while things constantly happen, the action and tension is constantly interrupted with the kenari scenes, which honestly overstay their welcome. There’s nice payoff when you realize that Andor was crashing in the ship Marva and Clem took to Kenari, but that scene isn’t until episode 3.
I'm with you. They need to hand some of filoni's shit over to Gilroy and let a real artist work. Mando and the rest are very poorly, shalowly written. They are all about style over substance. And the worst part is their adherence to the exaggerated and childlike good/evil dynamic where there's no nuance. I liked them but I'll never even consider rewatching them because I remember all 5 interesting plot points lol. Andor? HBO in the 90s level greatness.
The only debate is what show has the 2nd best premier episode. Mando is for sure #1. That pilot episode hooked everyone. Had the perfect mix of action, cool new stuff, like his insanity rifle, the Razorcrest, tapped into nostalgia, like the IG assassin droid, a baby yoda, his collection of bounties in carbonite, and MOST importantly, it felt like Star Wars. It fits in well with original Star Wars content. It was original yet wasn't breaking any lore. Only adding to it.
Mandalorian Season 1 by far. Hell, the first damn scene. The cantina, the spurs, the colours, the vibe, the music. Just so damn classic Star Wars.
Season 1 Mando was, and still is, the best opening episode of any Star Wars show IMO
Mando S1 is easily the top, Mandalorian bounty hunter is a recipe for success anyway, but it just felt awesome, and it was so fresh compared to the sequels.
Mando. But one scene stuck on my mind is from Ashoka E1. Ray Stevensons Baylan Skoll: "You're right about one thing, Captain. We are no Jedi." Epic.
The scene with Baylan storming the ship with that epic piano score was badass
So sad we likely won’t see the story played out that they planned for him. Was by far the most interesting character in the series.
Mando season 1, defo.
This is the only right and acceptable answer! This is the way!
Mando sets the bar too high. The last scene is one of the most iconic of the whole franchise. Most of the other shows did double premieres to bolster engagement. Heck Andor is the best actual show and it needed a triple premiere because of how slow it starts.
There’s some of us that love the slow start to Andor. I seriously wouldn’t have minded it it released them one at a time to start bc Ep 1 is THAT good.
Yeah but if half the people bailed the second season might have been canceled so it’s got pros and cons.
i think the way Andor was almost done in 4 slots 3 eps slots was great. you had the intro, the heist, the prison and then the rebellion growing/return to ferrix. basically 4, hour and a half movies which is imo the best way to watch them
I genuinely believe that the Mando series premiere is some of the best Star Wars since the OT. I remember watching it and thinking that we were destined for a new renaissance of Star Wars content and that Disney+ was going to be the single best streaming service on the market if they kept up this level of quality. …that wasn't quite true, but Mandalorian S1E1 still holds up.
I don’t think every D+ show needs to be a 10/10. The EU certainly wasnt all bangers. There’s going to be highs and lows. They have to take risks and the more fans cry over 6-7/10s, the less Star Wars we will get all together. Not saying we should be praising mid but also understand that even the worst of the D+ Star Wars shows still look, directed and acted better than most shows from 20 years ago.
That’s certainly true! I was just overly optimistic at the time, and I do still definitely enjoy most of the newer stuff we get.
I’ll take you in warm, or I’ll take you in cold.
Mando season 1 episode 1 easily. I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold. Probably the best bounty hunter line from any star wars media ever. No beginning episode has come within 14 parsecs of it, past or present.
I agree Mando 1.1 was a great start, all the feels! Wild West bounty hunter vibe, very starwars But Andor deserves a mention, it has a strong starwars vibe with it's 'nazi totalitarian state occupation thing, and outlaws / non conformists creating the resistance. Which is also very starwars
Everyone here loves mando season 1 and while I also love it I do have to throw mando season 2 in the ring. All around incredible episode. Although if we treat the premiere of Andor as all three episodes I’m not sure anything else matches up to that.
Spot on description for the Andor comparison.
Mando and it's not even close
Mandalorian has the strongest premier by far
The Krayt dragon in Mando season 2 was a lot of fun.
Hmmm Andor?
In a show on DISNEY streaming, in the first 5 minutes our protagonist kills one guy in the heat of the moment, then executes the witness in cold blood. I was barely even interested in a prequel featuring a character from a spin-off movie, before that.
It caught us all off guard!
I was getting nervous cause this was so far down. Andor was truly something else.
Andor only really took off for me when Luthen met Andor in episode 3. However I fricking loved the scene in episode 1 with Syril and his boss. That was hilarious and well written. For me it's Mando and Ahsoka with the prison break scene.
I'm glad someone agrees Mando episode 1 was great but the vibe of Andor was just so much cooler to me I was instantly hooked by the end of the episode
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Mando episode 1 and the entire first season, but the first episode of Andor had me hooked in a different way.
Mando because of the ending. For the rest the first few episodes are always the weakest to me.
Mando Season 1.
After the first scene of Mando you knew exactly what you signed up for.
Mando season 1. Easy.
I watched Mando episode one the day it dropped and I think I can speak for a lot of people. It was absolutely game changing
Mandalorian hands down. It was the big thing Disney was pushing for Disney+
Mando season 1 premier is the best. I was really pumped for the Book of Boba Fett after the end credits teaser in Mando season 2. But the show was a let down.
Mando S1 opening just hit hard and set up a great expectations for the live action star wars content to come. That fight in the bar, then "I can bring you in warm... or i can bring in cold" made me excited about Star Wars again. Edit; At this time, every single top comment is Mando S1.
Mandalorian S1 by FAR
Mando for sure.
By the numbers it was Mandalorian
Mando all day
the opening of Mando
Just Mando S1 honestly.
Mando. It's not even close.
The first episode of Mando ever. I remember it premiering in TV a couple of days earlier to market Disney plus and the hype was crazy. Also it’s a really solid episode in general atleast compared to rest of the garbage Disney has been pumping out these last few years.
Mando season 1 for sure. It’s such a great introduction to the era and the character. That first scene is so well directed and the final scene is mind blowing. Everything else is great too. I really like Obi-Wan’s season opener too though. I loved seeing his mundane Tatooine life.
The Marshall is peak, basically everything Star Wars tv should be
I really like the Krayt dragon!
Andor. First five minutes are better than 95% other star wars content. Also that Syril scene is amazing.
The first episode has better writing than 99.5% of Star Wars and I’ll die on this hill. There’s nothing “boring” about anything from the first 2 episodes. Some of the best world building and character dialogue ever. Braso’s introduction is even better than Syril’s scene. Every fuckin TV show and movie will have two best friends meet and go “hey you remember that time is saved you in glaratron?” “Yeah that’s when we became best friends” in the most TELL not SHOW way possible. But what is Braso’s first scene? Andor asking him what where he was last night, and when Braso responds, Andor goes, “No you were..” and gives him their alibi. Braso without going “hey did you know you got punched?” Just responds by ADDING to the Alibi the cut on Andor’s face. Now THAT is how you introduce a best friend character. You SHOW their relationship. Star Wars never does that. “And not for saving your skin for the 9th time” or whatever Anakin says in RotS that’s pure Tell not Show.
I agree with you 100% I was never bored watching Andor, not for a second.
For real. It’s the not only the best SW show, it’s most captivating show thats come out since 2020. And hey I will gladly admit I am biased. My favorite movie of all time is Michael Clayton, also by Tony Gilroy. I love his writing style and slow burn tension through dialogue as well as his breakdown of organizations & structures. Michael Clayton, Nightcrawler(Dan Gilroy, produced by Tony), Bourne, Beirut, State of Play. Almost all of Gilroy’s movies are so good. His writing is so killer.
Mando s1 or s2 definitely had the strongest premier. Nice camera work, set design/costuming, and enough action to engage your attention in just the first episode.
I just started a rewatch of Mando for the first time since it released. Damn, I forgot how good it was. That first episode, opening fight scene, introducing new aliens, the quiet western/samurai vibe, Werner Herzog and Nick Nolte are awesome, IG droid brought to life, baby yoda kept secret till the premiere, and honestly some damn good cinematography and fight choreography for a TV show. I really wish we could get back to that level on Disney+. It felt like someone had taken my childhood playing with StarWars action figures, and the stories we would come up with, and brought them to life in the best way possible.
Also, it’s somehow still some of the best usage we’ve gotten of the Volume. So many of the shows now I can really tell it was filmed in a 20ft space where the physical props just end. It’s still there in Mando, but much better utilized I think.
Mando s1 and Andor
Mando season 2
Mando!
I love a space dad series. Mando and the bad batch features space, dads.
It’s *The Mandalorian* Season 1. …though I still love me *Obi-Wan Kenobi*, especially Lars Owen dressing down Ben with, “Like you trained his father?”
Mando Season 2 episode 1 annoyed me the first time I watched it because I was too hyped to see Boba. It’s now my favorite single episode of all live action series. It’s perfect, and I think only misremembered by many because of the Tatooine overkill of BoBF
Andor released three episodes first, right? It’s kinda difficult to judge its first ep because of this. My initial impression was way more than just the first episode. Because of this, I’ll give it to Mando.
Mando season 2 for me
Mando s1 was great. Kenobi ep1 was just like the rest of kenobi: bland
Mando s1. But I did enjoy Joel Egerton back as Owen.
Season 1 of Mando for sure.
My top 3 are: 1. Mando s1 2. Obi-Wan 3. Andor Andor is easily the best show but starts off slower and the first episode of kenobi I really liked but it really suffered in the middle.
I love how unanimous the comments are. But yeah. Mandalorian Season 1
Mando 1. He’s just so cool
As much as everyone loves Andor, it's gotta be Mando E01S01
As a self contained, one episode only, The Mandalorian hands down.
Mando season 1 > Mando season 2 > Andor > Ahsoka > The Acolyte > Mando season 3 > boba = obi-wan
Mando. I love Andor, but it took time to get good. Mando was a man of few words. Morally ambiguous, and an absolute badass.
As much as I loved Andor the aesthetic of Mando and the fact it was the first one was amazing
As amazing as Mando was, andor was phenomenal on so many levels.
Droids
Mando season 1. Apart from it just being a great episode of TV, it was also just great to once again have some Star Wars you could get excited about with your friends and family again after the Sequels. It was a much needed shot of optimism and positivity into the franchise and came just at the right time. Took some of the sting out of TLJ and TRoS. How I'd rank the premieres: 1. Mandolorian S1 2. Obi Wan 3. Andor 4. Mandorian S2 5. Boba Fett 6. Mandalorian S3 7. Ahsoka N/A - Acolyte. Havnt seen it.
It's between Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi for me. The opening of Andor had that great Blade Runner like vibe, the script and visuals are fantastic, all the characters are interesting, and it all felt very fresh and new for Star Wars. Obi-Wan was just my flavour of Star Wars though, sure the episode had its issues (The Leia chase, GI's redesign) but Obi-Wan is my favourite SW character and I'm a sucker for a Jedi/Sith story - I loved how this premiere dealt with hermit Obi-Wan, his mundane life, his interactions with Bail and Owen, being haunted by memories of Anakin, etc - and Vivien Lyra Blair was fantastic as a young Leia. I have to admit Mando took a while to click with me, I think because it aired in the UK about 6 months later I'd heard how incredible it was and seen all the Grogu memes, so by the time I was able to watch it it just felt whelming rather than spectacular - if I'd been able to go in blind maybe it would have landed better for me.
Even though everyone is saying Mando. The first episode of Andor was such a new breath of air for the universe.
“I can bring you in warm…. Or I can bring you in cold.”
Mando S2 is the only option of these that I would say could possibly be the best episode of its season, so, that!
Obi one was soo great I got to see so much Vader & thst epic showdown again with his former master amazing
mando season 2 delivered, what an impeccably strong starting episode to get everyone back onboard with the show after the first season while also introducing a much bigger budget and better production design!
Mandalorian S1 and 2
I'd say Mando, but Disney+ wasn't available in the UK yet so that got spoiled for me. Due to that, for me personally it's Andor.
Obi wan was the best of the shows imo
I can bring you in warm. Or I can bring you in cold.
Definitely Mando. I wasn't sure how star wars would be on tv/streaming but the pilot exceeded all my expectations. Andors pilot was great too.
Boba thicc
Mando S1 Ep 1 Andor’s was nice but a slow burn.
BOBF was probably the biggest let down we’ve had since the rise of skywalker
Mandalorian S1, and it's not really a discussion
*The Mandalorian* had the strongest premiere, *Andor* had the strongest overall build. An honorable mention goes to *Ahsoka*'s flashback sequence and the later-season development, which had many standout qualities, and probably Hayden and Ewan's face-off in *Obi-Wan*, from a sheer let-the-actors-cook perspective.
Mando S1, S2, Andor, and Ahsoka were all great premieres but I’d probably choose either Mando S2’s or Andor’s.
As a fan of Andor and The Acolyte, I have to be objective... 1. Mando S2 2. Mando S1 3. Andor 4. Book of Boba Fett 5. Ahsoka 6. The Acolyte 7. Mando S3
Wow just now realizing they mostly kinda sucked. Mando S1E1 was the best easily.
I think Mando gets extra credit for going first and adeptly setting up what a Star Wars show could be but Ahsoka is the best premiere in my opinion
Mando 1 was just different
Mandalorian s1e1 was great and then I was quickly reminded why I hate Disney with the following episodes
Mandalorian gave the chills🔥
I mean it’s gotta be The Mandalorian season 1
Mando and it's not even close