The Mandalorian Series, When The Series Was Bigger Than The Feature

Note: For Star Wars fans only

Star Wars Cinematic Universe

Star Wars is one of the iconic series in the history of the film medium. The initial trilogy (Episode 4-6/1977-1983) initiated and directed by George Lucas has had cult status with tens of millions of fans. These three films alone are enough to make Star Wars a cinematic legend. Not a single series after this has been able to surpass the achievements of this trilogy, even though cinema technology has developed so rapidly and at a high level.

Lucas then produced Episodes 1-3 (1999-2005), but everything was replaced by CGI, which was so massive that the artificial feel was felt. At the same time, films and animated series were produced (The Clone Wars) with a half-baked animation style, even though the story was enough to provide a new background for the plot of Episodes 2 & 3. After a decade, a sequel to the actual series was finally produced (Eps. 7-9/2015-2019), initially receiving an extraordinary response from its fans. Aesthetically, especially in the setting, this “reboot” series has the same style as the original series, plus more natural visual effects (CGI). Only aside from the nostalgia side, the story is topsy-turvy, far from the soul of the original trilogy.

However, the extraordinary commercial success made its spin-offs produced, Rogue One (prequel to A New Hope) to Solo. Rogue One is listed as one of the best feature films in the series, but not for Solo, which again fell apart and flopped. All Star Wars feature projects were cancelled after this, but not the series. The short animated series thrives, from The Clone Wars to the present, with varied story backgrounds, such as Rebels, Resistance, The Bad Batch, and The Tales of the Jedi. The Bad Batch and The Tales of the Jedi provide interesting story perspectives that fill in story gaps in the more extensive series (theatre). The live-action series is even more enjoyable. Even some of them are the best in the series; one is The Mandalorian (Season 1/2019).

About The Mandalorian

Three seasons of The Mandalorian have been produced; the third season ended on April 19, 2023. The Mandalorian tells the adventures of a hardened bounty hunter named Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) with a baby Jedi named Grogu (of the same species as Yoda). In their adventures, Din and Grogu cross paths with dozens of characters who form and strengthen their bonds and befriend them. Surprisingly even the iconic figures of this series appear in several episodes.

The plot of The Mandalorian series is set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi (Eps. 6), where the Empire has fallen, marked by the annihilation of the Death Star and the leader of the Empire, Palpatine (Darth Sidious). The Mandalorian takes us into the familiar Star Wars universe in its feature series and entirely new locations. The New Republic has now replaced the Empire. It will be difficult for those unfamiliar with the Star Wars universe to follow the story. It should be noted, the Mandalorian is a term not for race but for creed, just like the Jedi. Throughout his story, Din meets many other Mandalorian figures with different traditions; some take off their helmets, some don’t, but all wear costumes made of beskar, which is said to be the most robust metal in the entire universe.

Uniquely, the script for the Mandalorian series was written by Jon Favreau, who also acts as the executive producer. Favreau is, we know, the filmmaker who worked on Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Once again, he plays with the man in the “iron” mask and can fly like Iron Man. Whether this is a coincidence or not, one thing is clear, the filmmaker’s passion is evident throughout this series, as if he got a lot of freedom to process the script than in the Iron Man series. In one series of The Mandalorian season one, he even quoted a fragment of Iron Man’s dialogue when Din saw a Mandalorian flying beside his plane.

Talking about the filmmakers who worked on it, who would believe that each episode of this series is directed by big names, including Favreau himself, like Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriquez, Taika Waititi, Peyton Reed, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howards, actor Carl Weathers who also played Greef Carga, Din’s close friend. All filmmakers have their style, but in all of the series, the mise_en_scene, cinematography, editing and music illustrations are almost in line with the aesthetic approach of the feature. Almost all aspects are flawless. The Western approach, especially the one-on-one duel action scenes, looks thick in action.

Season 1: The Child

The first season tells about the meeting between Din and Grogu (not yet named). This baby is a secret and important package that Din has to deliver to someone on the Empire’s side. After successfully delivering the package, Din felt guilty and decided to take the baby. Din and the baby are being hunted by the Empire and fellow bounty hunters with a large bounty on their heads. The story of the first season is arguably the introduction to the figures of Din and Grogu, including several characters who will be close to them in the following seasons, such as Greef Garga, Peli Motto, Cara Dune, Fennec Shand, Cobb Vants, the antagonist Moff Gideon, and the Mandalorian’s Blacksmith, The Armorer.

Like most other Star Wars films, the mise_en_scene aspect, such as settings, costumes, props, and others, is one of the biggest strengths in this series. We are invited to travel to exotic planets with various conditions, from Tatooine (Obi-Wan and Luke’s home planet), Navaro, Arvala-7, and Sorgan to spaceship interiors with various variations and sizes. Actions and CGI visualization, the achievements are more or less on par with the feature films. It is said that this series, I read in an article, uses giant LED technology, which makes it possible to install any “setting” behind a scene (no longer using a blue/green screen). The results are genuinely extraordinary and natural. This is a breakthrough that will change the industry. You can find it on the youtube channel: on set mandalorian.

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The storyline of the Mandalorian series is like playing a Role Playing Game (RPG) where the protagonist travels to various places, meets new characters (protagonist and antagonist), repairs and upgrades planes, and upgrades costumes and weapons, and most of them are survival. One series even adopts the classic Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai, when a village survives an attack by bandits who take their crops. Although only on a small scale, the story is still entertaining. The series’ best story is The Sin when Din finally decides to break the rules by taking the baby back from the Empire. In the development of this series, it is known that the baby seems to have the power to control objects through his psyche and can heal severe wounds. The baby is a Jedi.

Season 2: Searching for The Jedi

Din received a mandate from his elders (The Armorer) to deliver the baby to his people (Jedi). He also tries to find out where the Jedi are, which are almost extinct due to Order 66 (Eps. 3). To get this information, Din and his little partner have to experience great adventures and meet new characters, such as Bo-Katan Kryze (daughter of the Mandalorian aristocrat), Boba Fett, Ashoka Tano, and one iconic Jedi in the Star Wars universe. They are also still in contact with previous series figures, like Greef Carga, Cara Dune, Peli Motto, and Fennec Shand. Din’s meeting with Bo-Katan and Boba Fett was a starting point for developing the following season’s story.

This second season deals more with the inner closeness between Din and Grogu. In this series, the name Grogu was introduced by a formidable female Jedi, Ashoka Tano (Rosario Dawson). This episode takes place interestingly, set on a unique planet called Corvus which has an Asian nuance with a dark atmosphere a la Tim Burton. For fans who last saw a lightsaber fight a long time ago, they will be satisfied here. The dark and foggy setting makes this battle so dramatic and aesthetic. It wasn’t until the final episode, one of the best scenes in the Star Wars cinematic universe, that it shocked its ardent fans. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) appears with all his Jedi charm to destroy dozens of new technological robots belonging to the Empire. Here we realize how strong the Jedi is. A great warrior like Din’s class desperately tried to kill just one robot, while Luke only needed a short time to finish dozens of robots.

Boba Fett Series: Fight for Tattoos

The series with seven episodes of The Book of Boba Fett is not about Din and Grogu, but this series is arguably Season 2.5 for The Mandalorian series. The figure of Din gets three episodes in this series and almost dominates his appearance. Apart from the plot about freeing Tattoine from anarchist business people who are eyeing the most extensive natural resources on this planet, the story of Din and Grogu’s relationship gets quite a lot of space, even Luke Skywalker.

Luke, who trained Grogu in Yoda’s style, gave us the nostalgic sensation of episode 5, Empire Strikes Back. The Jedi philosophy, which is not coercive and flows in line with the force, presents a new understanding that we have never seen before. Surprisingly, Grogu is given the choice of training to become a great Jedi or going with Din. Unmitigated, Grogu is lured by Yoda’s lightsaber. We also know who Grogu will choose.

While the plot of the Boba series surprisingly alludes to the issue of colonialism. The Trade group wants to take over Tattooine by working with local rulers to control the spice on the planet. Like Tatooine is the story of a small “Dune” won by residents with Boba as the hero; this series is about Boba, not Din and Grogu.

Season 3: Fight for Mandalore

In the third season, Din and Grogu are involved in a significant event related to the Mandalorians, who now intend to take back Planet Mandalore, where they live. Din made all this possible when he set out to restore Mandalorian status. During the second season, Din was forced to take off his helmet. This violates the rules of the old Mandalorian belief that requires that anyone not see the face unless redeemed by soaking in a sacred spring on the planet Mandalore. He goes there with Grogu, and it seems that Planet Mandalore is now habitable, unlike rumors that say the entire planet contains toxic substances.

The figure of Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) is now dominant. The main plot shows Bo-Katan’s efforts, assisted by Din, to reunite the scattered Mandalorians so they can return to Planet Mandalore. The point is just this. The background of the Mandalorian people is discussed a lot, and this is interesting because we have known Din for a long time, but we only know a little about them. The visualization of Planet Mandalore, which is now only ruins of buildings, is also shown very well. The action of battles in the sky and the dominant shooting actions in the series this time are guaranteed to satisfy the fans.

 

The Mandalorian is one of the best Star Wars series that brilliantly references the original trilogy’s story directly and ignores the new story (Eps. 7-9). Overall, The series doesn’t only talk about action, entertainment, and a nostalgic side that will satisfy its fans alone. The story of The Mandalorian has many values about the philosophy of life, commitment, loyalty and friendship. The humanist side feels so strong throughout the three series. Something that is starting to fade and get blurry in our lives now. They can call it anything, the Empire, the New Republic, or The New Order; all ends the same, only to make rules that limit freedom and favor particular groups. Meanwhile, wise men like the Jedi are extinct, waiting for the balance of nature to work in its mysterious way.

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His hobby has been watching films since childhood, and he studied film theory and history autodidactically after graduating from architectural studies. He started writing articles and reviewing films in 2006. Due to his experience, the author was drawn to become a teaching staff at the private Television and Film Academy in Yogyakarta, where he taught Film History, Introduction to Film Art, and Film Theory from 2003 to 2019. His debut film book, "Understanding Film," was published in 2008, which divides film art into narrative and cinematic elements. The second edition of the book, "Understanding Film," was published in 2018. This book has become a favorite reference for film and communication academics throughout Indonesia. He was also involved in writing the Montase Film Bulletin Compilation Book Vol. 1-3 and "30 Best Selling Indonesian Films 2012-2018." Additionally, he authored the "Horror Film Book: From Caligari to Hereditary" (2023) and "Indonesian Horror Film: Rising from the Grave" (2023). Until now, he continues to write reviews of the latest films at montasefilm.com and is actively involved in all film productions at the Montase Film Community. His short films have received high appreciation at many festivals, both local and international. Recently, his writing was included in the shortlist (top 15) of Best Film Criticism at the 2022 Indonesian Film Festival. From 2022 until now, he has also been a practitioner-lecturer for the Film Criticism and Film Theory courses at the Yogyakarta Indonesian Institute of the Arts in the Independent Practitioner Program.

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