The Mandalorian

With the debut of the Disney+ streaming service came an original live-action Star Wars series called The Mandalorian. When it was announced I did a heckuva a lot of speculating, and I'd say most of my safe assumptions were correct. The Mandalorian follows the adventures of a...er...well a Mandalorian, of course. Some years after the defeat of the Empire, the Mandalorian earns his keep and builds his reputation as a bounty hunter without peer. When hired by a mysterious client for an unusually vague assignment, things begin to shift sideways. The reward is what his people covet most, the rare metal beskar which vital for making traditional armor. But to what lengths will the Mandalorian go to obtain such as a prize?

To go more into it would spoil the story, but from what I've seen so far it's all I could have wanted. It keeps itself solidly in the Star Wars universe, but ventures deeper into the realm of a "space western". Star Wars already has flavors of this subgenre, but The Mandalorian takes a hard left turn into Firefly territory. A smart move, and goes very well with the characters and edge of the universe setting. The main character is an impossibly cool Man with No Name type, interacting with all sorts of desperadoes, desert hermits, and innocent settlers. And while westerns in general have gone out of vogue, setting it in the Star Wars universe gives the gunslinger-for-hire ideals some fresh blood. And this slightly different tone and time frame enables it to be its own story, without having to deal with the larger arcs that make up the movies. Enough unifying elements from the rest of the Star Wars universe (background about the Empire and Rebellion, technology, the Force, etc.) are able to tie it back in with the larger universe. So it can stand on it's own, and yet support the larger universe.

But I think what I appreciate most about this series is that it caters to a demographic that has largely been passed over in the rest of Star Wars media. The greater movies are meant to be accessible to everyone, the tone can be serious at times but overall is acceptable to a PG audience of kids and adults alike. The TV series created before have all scaled down their demographics towards younger viewers, with point-of-view characters like Ahsoka and Ezra Bridger essentially headlining the animated Clone Wars, Rebels, and Resistance series. Not to say that these can't be careful and thoughtful stories, but in the end they are still aimed at a younger audience. But something like The Mandalorian (and Rogue One for that matter) is interesting because it orient itself towards adult fans. Which is nice because Star Wars has been around for over forty years now: of course there are adult Star Wars fans. A lot of us. And so it's nice to get an extremely well-executed series with a lot of talent in screenwriting, directing, production design, effects work, etc. that's a sort of tribute to long-time fans. If you have doubts, ask a hard-core Star Wars nerd to point out the Easter eggs in every episode. There's enough of the geek flag flying and quirks in the background, without feeling like pandering.

So yes, I love it, I want more! People tear down Disney as watering down Star Wars, but this series shows that with die-hard nerds and talent at the helm they can bring new, meaningful material to the Star Wars universe.