Bounty hunting is a complicated profession.

August 24, 2019 9:55 AM

The Mandalorian [YouTube] [Trailer] Live-action Star Wars is returning to TV with The Mandalorian, the first non-animated Star Wars TV project since the infamous Caravan of Courage. Now, we finally have a look of what to expect from Disney+ and Jon Favreau’s mysterious tale of a wanderer on the outer rim of the galaxy far, far away. [via Gizmodo]
posted by True Final Boss (48 comments total)

"I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature. To me, there is no such thing as a secret world of the rancors. And this blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in food."
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:00 AM on August 24, 2019 [21 favorites]

WERNER HERZOG!

"And what haunts me, is that in all the faces of all the ewoks that Lucas ever filmed, I discover no kinship, no understanding, no mercy. I see only the overwhelming indifference of nature."
posted by rory at 10:00 AM on August 24, 2019 [15 favorites]

Too obvious, eh. Still... Werner Herzog in Star Wars, how good is that?
posted by rory at 10:01 AM on August 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

I'm mildly excited about this.  The fun part of Star Wars for me has always been more about the weird and varied civilizations and species, and all those fantastic ships and oddly anachronistic technologies than about some human-centric noblesse oblige wish fulfillment story.  It hadn't occurred to me until seeing this trailer, but a live action series may just let me soak in the parts I like that much more.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 10:15 AM on August 24, 2019 [8 favorites]

I am very barely a star wars fan but wow the cast looks amazing? can't believe i might have to watch this now.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:23 AM on August 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have little to no interest in Star Wars stuff, but I have to say that The Mandalorian is a fucking excellent title. No idea why, but it really is.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:23 AM on August 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

I misread that as "The Midichlorian" and, well, ick.
posted by chavenet at 10:24 AM on August 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

The blaster sound still gives me chills. So embedded in my memory from childhood.

Also, WERNER HERZOG!
posted by blakewest at 10:27 AM on August 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

I too, was initially thrilled at the prospect of a Werner Herzog/Star Wars mashup. Then a friend reminded me that Disney+, the platform for the show, is yet another streaming service I would need to pony up for. The $7/month might seem like a bargain compared to Netflix, but the counter-argument is that the Disney shows are released weekly, not dropped all at once.

Also, if you don't think that this price is being heavily subsidized for the first year or two by Disney, then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
posted by jeremias at 10:45 AM on August 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

At last, I will start getting some recognition beyond just my own household for my dead-on Werner Herzog impression.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:58 AM on August 24, 2019 [8 favorites]

This Disney+ news sounds cool and all but where I'm losing my mind is the slate of EIGHT MARVEL TV SHOWS. Some, we already knew about: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; Loki; Hawkeye. Some, we knew about, but did not have the info needed to appreciate how marvelous they may be: WandaVision, in which the Scarlet Witch and Vision are in a show that is supposed to be a sendup of classic sitcom tropes, mixed with MCU action, mixed with a Doctor Strange-like head trip; and the animated What If? which will bring the Marvel classic's alternate universe twists to the MCU films (Peggy Carter gets the super serum instead of Steve Rogers!).

But maybe most exciting of all are the three new shows announced: Ms. Marvel in which a Pakistani-American Muslim girl is our superpowered hero; She-Hulk, which will bring the giant green superpowered lawyer to the screen; and Moon Knight, which will hopefully draw on the recent iterations of Marvel's Egyptian-mythology powered Batman analogue. (In recent runs, Moon Knight is never entirely sure whether he's really a superhero or maybe a mentally ill inmate at a psychiatric hospital. Or maybe a space adventurer. Or a movie star.)

Disney/Marvel is going to be crazy ambitious with their tv universe and I am here for it .
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:59 AM on August 24, 2019 [16 favorites]

There's also news that Ewan McGregor will be reprising the role of Obi Wan Kenobi for a new Disney+ series.

So basically: WOW.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:05 AM on August 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Basically the Boba Fett show folks have been waiting for for most of their lives.
posted by sammyo at 11:11 AM on August 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

I'm annoyed by the row of guys frozen in carbonite. It's the classic star wars thing where something in a scene from the original trilogy becomes something used everywhere in later movies (tatooine robes are jedi uniform, the ad hoc exercise thrown together on a space ship of deflecting laser ball shots with a helmet with no eye holes becomes standard jedi training, etc).

That's the best I can do to be cynical. It looks pretty cool.
posted by Reyturner at 11:16 AM on August 24, 2019 [19 favorites]

I'm here for the Death Star franchise of Los Pollos Hermanos run by Grand Moff Fring.
posted by Nelson at 11:24 AM on August 24, 2019 [9 favorites]

Needs more VROOOOM.
posted by srboisvert at 11:51 AM on August 24, 2019

I can't believe I've been reduced to this, but

*pushes glasses up nose*

The Battle of Endor is the last live action made-for-TV Star Wars thing. It's actually a full length movie and gives us this absolutely killer trivia question:

Which feature-length Star Wars film has an appearance by actor Wilford Brimley in a crucial role?
posted by Kattullus at 11:53 AM on August 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

The $7/month might seem like a bargain compared to Netflix

Because of Disney+, 3 years from now there might not a Netflix to compare this service to.
posted by sideshow at 12:11 PM on August 24, 2019

By the end of the year, it may be dark horse HBO Max who could have the largest streaming catalog, as it will have all of the shows from HBO, Cinemax, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, DC Universe, as well as huge swaths of the Warner Media holdings, including tv shows like Friends and Big Bang Theory, decades worth of Warner Brothers films, New Line Cinema films, the Looney Tunes library... Plus originals they have in production.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:22 PM on August 24, 2019

Gus Fring AND Bill Burr, it's Breaking Bad Jedi Style.
posted by dbiedny at 1:33 PM on August 24, 2019

So will we be able to buy a Werner Herzog posable action figure?
posted by octothorpe at 1:49 PM on August 24, 2019 [8 favorites]

Werner Herzog?!? Okay, really digging that trailer. Surprisingly, the global rollout has New Zealand at the front of the queue; it’ll be available here and Oz as of 19 November. Yay!
posted by lemon_icing at 2:05 PM on August 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

But maybe most exciting of all are the three new shows announced: Ms. Marvel in which a Pakistani-American Muslim girl is our superpowered hero

The Marvelous Ms. Marvel; crime-fighter by day, mild-mannered, stand-up comedian Kamala Khan by night.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:10 PM on August 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

Fuckin' IG-88 with the no-look behind the back shot.

I'm assuming no-look, anyway. Where even are that dude's eyes?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:20 PM on August 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

Which feature-length Star Wars film has an appearance by actor Wilford Brimley in a crucial role?

This assumes any roles in The Battle for Endor were crucial...
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:24 PM on August 24, 2019

I'm annoyed by the row of guys frozen in carbonite. It's the classic star wars thing where something in a scene from the original trilogy becomes something used everywhere in later movies

In The Empire Strikes Back, it's implied this is actually an experimental process - Fett has to be reassured by Vader that he will be compensated if Solo doesn't survive the freezing. I kind of like the idea that with proof of concept established, carbonite freezing has now become the standard operating procedure for bringing in violent criminals, bounties, etc.

....Maybe that's how the First Order funded their rise - legacy royalties from the patent on carbonite freezing.
posted by AdamCSnider at 2:30 PM on August 24, 2019 [8 favorites]

In ESB it was an experimental use of a vast industrial complex. In this trailer, it's just a reference.

One Agent Smith fighting Neo was tense. A million was just dull. One rogue frozen in a weird metal ingot was novel. Three just seems lazy.

Let's not spend all our time in the Star Wars universe re-living the original films, ok?
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:44 PM on August 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

In the absence of the mega thread we are reduced to re-litigating the carbonite.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:53 PM on August 24, 2019 [22 favorites]

Disney+, the platform for the show, is yet another streaming service I would need to pony up for

oh yeah no i won't be paying for this, that's ridiculous.
posted by poffin boffin at 3:28 PM on August 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

I kind of like the idea that with proof of concept established, carbonite freezing has now become the standard operating procedure for bringing in violent criminals, bounties, etc.

If they devote a whole episode to a rags-to-riches and then fall from grace of the carbonite freezing guy, capped off with an ironic end, frozen in the titular Mandalorian's cargo hold, that'd be great.
posted by Reyturner at 4:04 PM on August 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Guess I'm the only one stoked to see Gina Carano, then? I hope they give her lots of cool action scenes...
posted by suelac at 5:45 PM on August 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Yeah looks good. However, like CBS and Star Trek, no, no cash for you, Disney.
Not that I would stoop to finding an online streaming service (perhaps from Russia!)
No, no, no, that would be erm...
EVIL!
Oh right it's 2019,
I mean Double Plus Ungood! (read your classic dystopian literature kiddies).
posted by evilDoug at 7:34 PM on August 24, 2019

TheWhiteSkull: my mister was also thrilled about the badassedness IG-88!! Apparently all IG-88 had done previously was give a side-eye to Darth Vader?
posted by lemon_icing at 9:15 PM on August 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm always a bit nonplussed by complaints of "WHAT!!!?? One more streaming service?" I mean, the alternative is a cable television/satellite subscription where you pay an average of $107 per month for a package of 120 channels, and maybe watch 10 of them. Each new streaming service is an additional item on the a la carte menu that I always dreamed of.

Now, Disney gradually expanding to absorb all of the world's pop culture... there's a complaint I think is probably worth voicing.
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:41 AM on August 25, 2019 [5 favorites]

I have little to no interest in Star Wars stuff, but I have to say that The Mandalorian is a fucking excellent title. No idea why, but it really is.

For me the sound of it has the echo of place and history. Like Merovingian X Bangalorean, maybe. It feels like there's a rich grungy world-weary texture. It took somebody a long time to earn that moniker, and they went through a lot of shit. That's my assumptive head canon, anyway. Speaking of which I remember also having a weird thrill whenever they spoke of "the Merovingian" in the Matrix sequels (sigh).
posted by xigxag at 7:51 AM on August 25, 2019 [3 favorites]

Merovingian is a real word though! They're a group of Franks who ruled most of modern France in the 500s-700s, after the Roman empire weakened. The name is thought to mean "sons of Merovech" (Wikipedia says), maybe a king. The name also shows up in the deliciously ridiculous book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (aka the book that Dan Brown stole from); I'm guessing that's where the Wachowskis picked up the name.

Mandalorian is something made up for Star Wars, and not even the movies. Mandalore is the Planet of Bounty Hunters and they all wear badass armor and shoot people. One wonders how an economy bootstrapped up to that.

(I love both words too. They suggest a more ornate time.)
posted by Nelson at 9:43 AM on August 25, 2019

Fuckin' IG-88 with the no-look behind the back shot.

That's not IG-88, it's IG-11, and will be voiced by Taika Waititi.
posted by Pendragon at 12:30 PM on August 25, 2019 [3 favorites]

Honestly I never understood the sub-fandom of Boba Fett. I just....really don't get it. What an uninteresting character. Don't @ me.
posted by thelonius at 12:43 PM on August 25, 2019 [3 favorites]

To be clear, this series isn't about Boba Fett. It's Pedro Pascal as another dude wearing that kind of armor.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 12:51 PM on August 25, 2019 [6 favorites]

Yes, I'm sure it's a very important difference..
posted by thelonius at 1:05 PM on August 25, 2019

Maybe this has been changed since they rebooted the EU, but weren't the Mandalorians pretty much extinct and the Fetts basically cosplayers?
posted by ckape at 4:12 PM on August 25, 2019

but weren't the Mandalorians pretty much extinct and the Fetts basically cosplayers?

There's a ton of Mandalore stuff in SW: Rebels, and from what I recall Mandalore is still around but there's a lot of internal strife. The armor is common to what I assume is the upper class/military caste, and not just a Boba Fett thing.

So I disagree that Mandalorian=bountyhunter, but it does kind of look like Disney is doing a Boba Fett show about someone other than Boba Fett.

Now I would be super excited if we got to see Sabine Wren in this!
posted by suelac at 5:38 PM on August 25, 2019

I assumed it was a Bobb Fett show. I'm mildly glad that it's not, even though it just seems like a Boba Fett show with a different, but essentially identical, character.

It still looks cool to me, despite some obvious fan service stuff, and this is the first thing that's made me actually consider a Disney+ subscription.
posted by asnider at 3:15 PM on August 26, 2019

I want to see this but the nauseating Disney+ blitz (including coopting of news programs under the umbrella) and the affect it's going to have on the competing services kinda makes me feel olbiged to yeet it (or 'find' it by other means.)
posted by snuffleupagus at 4:53 PM on August 26, 2019

Honestly I never understood the sub-fandom of Boba Fett.

Yeah a mysterious hunter of sentient prey, member of an ancient warrior caste that took on the Jedi, with cool gadgets and an awesome ship, who is called upon by renowned bad guys like Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt and has a penchant for disintegration

So boring

(Be sure to comment in other posts about things that don't interest you about how they don't interest you, it's super interesting and so very droll. Don't @ me tho)
posted by some little punk in a rocket at 8:10 PM on August 27, 2019 [4 favorites]

Also, his backpack's got jets.
posted by team lowkey at 12:11 AM on August 28, 2019

some little punk in a rocket: "Yeah a mysterious hunter of sentient prey, member of an ancient warrior caste that took on the Jedi, with cool gadgets and an awesome ship, who is called upon by renowned bad guys like Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt and has a penchant for disintegration"

I sense a Boba Fettish
posted by chavenet at 3:19 AM on August 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Suckadelic's Star Wars Breakbeats: a Bobadelic Remix
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:28 AM on August 28, 2019