The Mandalorian Chapter Sixteen Spoiler Discussion

Which is funny because it has been doing that in both smaller and bigger ways in almost every single episode this season. I agree that isn't a bad thing though. The sequels aren't going anywhere, so I'm happy they're smoothing out the story in between the trilogies.

 

They did it in Season 1 too now that I think about it, with Grogu using the Force heal power which then surfaced I believe on the same day that TROS was released or right around the same time. Which indicates some communication between the story group and creative teams.

People love to complain about "no plan!!!", but then when things link up, they like to pretend it wasn't on purpose. Oh man, this fanbase sometimes.

 

At this point I think the ONLY thing that will make me accept what was done with Luke in TLJ will be if they flesh out the 30 years in between. I never expected them to do it in Mando/a TV show on a dedicated streaming service, but man am I glad they did. As that Luke scene in the finale was just everything for me that TLJ wasn't.

Give me more Luke in between though and I might even consider watching TLJ again

 

Thank you Jon Favreau for redeeming the Star Wars franchise. The characters in The Mandalorian all worked so much better than anything in the sequel trilogy.

I’m very excited for the future of the franchise. Disney+ is the perfect medium for Star Wars.

This season gets an A+ from me. Even better than last season.

 

No amount of smoothing out or polishing will ever fix or help the ST’s totally **** betrayal and portrayal of Luke’s character. It is honestly one of the most disappointing and stupid decisions ive seen done to a classic character on film. I enjoyed other components of the ST but overall its a flat 4/10 to me.

I do love this show though in how it focuses on the smaller scale stuff and goes into expanded universe type territory

 

I mean...

Mark Hamill probably had to sign over his likeness to Disney for this to even happen. They may even have the rights to his face now in perpetuity. I think we'll see more of Luke. It's kind of hard to put this genie back in the bottle.

I'm not saying we're gonna get a live action Luke series, but I think we haven't seen the last of him in terms of these spinoff shows. I think there are more cameos like this on the horizon. And I honestly think they can spend the rest of our lives telling stories in that 30 year period. It's 30 years. A helluva lot can happen in 30 years.

I still think an animated post-ROTJ show would be the best option, and would eliminate the weirdness of the CGI-Frankenstein monster factor.

 

That Luke scene just goes to show, it’s not about screen time...it’s about screen presence.

 

I know I never want to see Alden Ehrenreich as Han again. He did a very poor job. That movie was very difficult to endure, and his lack of charm or gravitas was a dominant factor in that. Ron Howard’s dull directing style didn’t help either.

Can we please take another look at Anthony Ingruber for Han? He actually played a young Harrison Ford in “The Age of Adaline”.



Oh and I didn’t mind the deep fake Luke, but going forward, they REALLY need to lock down Sebastian Stan. Too many stars have aligned for him to take on the role. He’s the perfect age, he has experience with Disney+, and he looks dead on like Hamill.

It would be a massive wasted opportunity not to act on this. It’s not like Sebastian Stan is too big for the role. It’s Luke ****ing Skywalker.

 

I hope we see more of Luke but after how TLJ treated him who knows. I don’t mind The CGI de-aging thing. No it doesn’t look 100% here, but it did for Sam JAckson in Captain Marvel, so I am sure they can improve it.

And yes a lot can happen in 30 years, honestly I wouldn’t mind if those 30 years are all that they focus on as after TLJ I am just not looking forward to RJ’s trilogy as much. I am excited for Rogue Squadron but we kinda already know what we will get with that.

 

Quickly remembering why Star Was discussion is bull****.

 

Its not though, certainly not always and the same can be said of any passionate fanbase. As long as it’s kept civil it can be fun and interesting like it is here. The points made around this whole series and the ST are great to hear and read about and its fun to imagine and debate what filmmakers and directors might do next

 

Sebastian Stan is just NOT Luke Skywalker to me, and never will be.

 

Yeah, let’s drop the Sebastian Stan talk. Looking slightly like someone doesn’t mean you’ll be able to embody them. Nobody is replacing those original three at this point, and why would you even want that?

 

Anthony Ingruber would be the lamest possible casting as Han. I’m lukewarm on Alden but a dude doing a Ford impersonation is the laziest road you could take.

Han needed to be like Pine as Kirk. Moments of the original actor but overall mostly a unique performance that still feels right. Alden was close, he just wasn’t quite right.

 

Yep. Regarding the decision to ape A New Hope’s in media res style: one of the many nostalgic impulses that holds Star Wars Back is a slavish devotion to a particular style of storytelling where everything is super broad and ill-defined, leaving it to spin offs and books and comics to flesh it out. Even the OT is guilty of this if you view it in a vacuum.

Often times the biggest problem with Star Wars is everything narratively interesting happens off screen.

 

I'm so sick of the Sebastian Stan BS it's not even funny. I like Stan a lot but I think him playing Luke is highly problematic. I think the problem is that fans are just so desperate to see Luke onscreen again because they were somehow deprived in the Sequel Trilogy, and it's not really possible for Hamill to play that iteration of the character again.

I feel like Luke's time is over. It's time to focus on new stories and characters. Cameos like in the finale are about the extent I want to see of most of the central legacy characters.

 

Pine could be an option too. He’s got a bit of that X-factor needed for Han.

 

I wasn’t a fan huge fan of Alden as Han. Always thought Ansel Elgort would have been a better choice. He definitely looks closer to a young Harrison Ford and I loved his performance in Baby Driver

 

This show successfully pulled off the hat-trick of having yet another big name fan favorite guest-star steal their scene, but still ensure they didn’t steal the show or story from Din, and that his story remains the most important. Din’s now shared the screen with Ahsoka, Bo-Katan, Boba Fett, and Luke Motherkriffin’ Skywalker... but his arc, his conflict, and his plot hooks, is what was still central to each and every episode with his guests.

That’s the healthiest approach to old characters in the Disney era so far.

Like... I respect the Luke story from TLJ. I don’t like it, and still think its’s out of character, but I can respect it for being better written than every other character in TLJ.

But functionally speaking, the way he was used there didn’t improve the “health” of the ST’s characters and story, and it wasn’t really supposed to; his story functions as an epilogue there focused almost entirely on him, and the only ST character he was really supposed to help sell to the audience was Ben Solo (who’s treatment by the script is a disgrace to writing, but I digress). Even at its highest evaluation, Luke's story wasn’t there to promote or move along Rey’s story that much, and his involvement in the central conflict was still destined to be more of a moral one than a substantial one (and it clearly acts to dismiss the contributions of Finn, Han, and Poe from the last movie, but again, I digress).

Luke’s story there was really meant to stand by itself and be “valued” for itself and its own strength, not for what it did to the overall story for Rey.

Here? Yes, Luke’s appearance is clearly designed to be more conventional and thus will just have fewer complaints than TLJ, regardless for what arguments that film has. But it also clearly served as a support to Din’s character arc and his quest with Grogu. The climax and biggest emotional beats and plot hooks were Din’s, not Luke.

The Mandalorian managed the twin feat of showcasing the type of Luke that was always more guaranteed to be crowd-pleasing and awe-inspiring... but also have Din’s story leave the episode bolstered and still centrally focused for it. Luke in TLJ wasn’t supposed to make you more excited for the adventures of Rey. Luke in The Mandalorian was meant to leave you more hyped for Din and Grogu’s stories.

That is worth commendation above TLJ in terms of function for the larger franchise.

 

Have to agree with pretty much all of that.

I do think of all the 3 leads Luke had the best ending. However, they could have given him that ending and made him a less depressing character all around.

Strangely, for everything that was wrong with TLJ, that they gave Luke a great finale redeemed the film for me - because there's plenty in there that needed to go. Why was Benicio Del Toro even in that film, just to create a completely unnecessary subplot. Ugh.

Anyway, yeah, great cameo. I mean Luke Skywalker is always going to steal the scene, seen here in his prime he's almost a deus ex machina, but one that feels at home with the rest of the story.

Still, the sheer joy on people's faces was certainly an indication that Favreau got this completely right.

 

The problem with the setup for the ST was not the in media res style, it was that the situation that we were dropped into in media res was so incredibly similar to the OT, especially with TLJ. That is the slavish devotion issue, not the basic conventions or style. If we were dropped into a different unique and interesting status quo, the style would have been fine. It actually would have been super interesting. It would had us all on the edge of our seats wondering how we ended where we were 30 years later.

Also, all of the most interesting things about the OT happened on screen. It was a self-contained story and perfectly satisfying and detailed without any expanded world. Yes, there was often not a ton of details about the galactic political situation, etc., but that was because it was not necessary. It was a simple clear story and the players were well-defined archetypes. The problem with a lot of the sequel trilogy set-up is that JJ went back to the exact same set-up, so the missing detail and information was a problem because that is what separated the two stories. If they had gone with another, simple, DIFFERENT, set-up and core story or political situation, it would have been fine... just like it was with The Mandalorian.

 

Not so sure. They may exist but they can be easily burned - simply there will be no connection to them for next 10 years in SW universe the "diehard fandom" will either stop caring or stop living ;-). I can even imagine that current shows/movies may even build a basis for the remake of ST.

ST is simply weak. Did you really care about the new heroes? Luke portrayal was weak but it was tip of the iceberg.

Coming back to "Mando" - it seems that this direction (i.e. solid grounding in ST) it the only option for SW universe.

 

And yet, the Prequel Trilogy is still around. Just because they are playing around in the time between the OT and the ST, does not meant they are looking at wiping the movies away.

And to dismiss the popularity of Finn, Rey, and Poe just because of the movies is a mistake. I'm sure we will get the Heir to the Empire of the post ST timeline eventually.

 

Almost everything released since the ST has been about cementing the ST in Canon. That goes for Galaxy's Edge and tie ins, comics, TV-shows, promos etc, but especially the stuff aimed at kids. The LEGO game and holiday special, Rollout, Galaxy of Heroes all exist to make the ST a big part of SW for the next generations.

It's not that they'll eventually reboot, it's that eventually people hating the ST will mostly dissappear, just like the PT. Because of that, I'd rather they actually make it more interesting, which they've been doing very well with the Mandalorian. In Jon and Dave we trust.

 

The idea that the sequel trilogy will be retconned or erased is just wishful thinking by the people who hated it. It's never gonna happen