The Cantina's 40-day countdown to The Mandalorian S3

Ha! You beat me to it @Lazarus Dei ! I know that concept art is nothing new, but the use of it in the closing credits on The Mandalorian is magnificent. I imagine the sheer joy it must bring the artist and the crew when the actual scene is SO close to the artwork...



I also love seeing the little differences in some scenes, how they evolved and developed during production, like these

 

Absolutely. Me too. I love one episode per week, specially with Star Wars. There is so much information, speculation and aspects to comment and discuss. With the whole seasons we surely could miss a lot of things and a lot of talks during the week.
Once there, we can watch it again whenever we want.

I absolutely love it too. It was a great decision. Refreshing and original. And sure illustrators are grateful to see their works like this in shows. Star Wars has always been attached to great illustrations and matte paintings. In fact Ralph Mcquarrie was the first to give the look back in 1975. and 48 years later they are still important. Hope to see more of his unused ideas in the new shows.

The Art of Star Wars books have been my companions since the early 90's too. So this is perfect to me.

 

I can't see your pic, @DarthSnow, but here's one of my favorites:



(Bonus:



)

 

Fun Fact: The performance actress who played Kuiil also played the Frog Lady in Season 2.

 

I also have seen all episodes again in a matter of days.
Really great show XD
Maybe first season has more sense of unity but season 2 has better individual episodes.

I can see why 2x07 The believer is one of my favourites. Is very similar to Andor's final arc episodes, full of tension fighting the Empire. That's why i loved Andor and this chapter so much. Star Wars is ancient religions but for me it will always be related to the Empire. When I see those bastards with their cool ships and cool suits automatically I am transported to SW with joy. Also the dialogs of Mayfeld and Valin Hess (incredible performance from both) are so powerful that has nothing to envy than Andor.

And for me The tragedy is the worst of all by far (same opinion after first view). Specially for the direction, cause visually it has nothing to do with the rest of the 15 episodes. Loved the brutality of Boba but the special effects (explosions, smokes, stones) look so fake and the fight against all those troopers missing all shots and the good ones hit all of them is totally exagerated. The cinematography is wrong cause it has a totally different pattern from others. While others are so cinematic, this one is the opposite. But I guess it's me, I look to much in these details.

The deep fake could have been better though. If it's something on the net for streaming, why can't fix it?

The show also sets the story for future Ahsoka series. Cool!

I guess it was mentioned back in the day but I can't remember. In the final episode Giddeon says he has already what he needed from Grogu, some of his blood. These events take place 5 ABY and Rey Skywalker was born in 15 ABY. Both are the only ones who have the same healing power. I wonder if the clone thing (also seen in The Bad Batch), Palpatine, Grogu's blood and Rey's birth are all related.

And to finish this. I wonder if all mandalore clans, before killing each other, will fight together against the reminiscents of the Empire or the beginning of the First Order and set something for a future new show.

All is so interesting and can't wait for it. Almost there!

 

There's not a single episode of The Mandalorian that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. But that said, I believe Rodriguez is one of the lesser directors we've seen work on the series. I too loved the brutality of Boba Fett (and obviously, Favreau agreed --- which is why he became the showrunner for TBoBF.) But that series highlighted many of RR's failings.

But I disagree with you about the cinematography. One of the beauties (IMO) of Mando's planet-jumping is that each show was visually and often tonally quite different from one another. Look at Season 2: Chap9--dark underworld then desert; Chap10--snow world; Chap11--water world; Chap12--mountain ravine; Chap13--desolate burned out forest; Chap14--rugged terrain in the sunlight; Chap15--Southeast asia-ish landscape; Chap16--spaceship interior.

 

I think part of the charm of the show is the different styles each director brings. Look at Rodriguez's episode vs. Filoni's Asokha episode. They were consecutive, both were action-packed, but they were night and day. I absolutely loved The Jedi and it's look. It's probably one of the "prettiest" episodes so far. RR's The Tragedy is a great episode, but his look is very comic book-ish. It's pulpy, very much like his Desperado or From Dusk til Dawn, both are great movies, but seeing that aesthetic mixed with Star Wars was different. Not really bad, but it didn't meld as well as the previous episode did with the Samurai look. I think RR tends to get caught up in trying too hard to have his stuff look like RR stuff, which makes sense since his mentor Tarantino has become known for just that. They are both great, and I'm a fan, but they can come across as trapped by their own style. I think that's why some of the best episodes of this series have been helmed by Filoni, Howard, and Weathers. They don't have those expectations to hit a particular note.

 

Well, I absolutely agree with this. I LOVE the different looks of all different environments from the show.
I love the sense of travelling through galaxy in SW and find different kind of planets. And in Mando are so realistic and so damn cool. I love the cinematography in Mando. That's why The Tragedy doesn't seem to belong in the same category.
I was talking the "look" and cinematography/photography from The Tragedy. Is totally different from other chapters.
Agree the chapter reflects the RR weak points. I love some of his older works but here was not that accurate.

Agree. The Jedi is also one of my favourites. I absolutely love the visual part in this and its dark tone. The contrasts are so powerful.



Also one of my favourites is The Return of the Mandalorian in TBOBF 1x05.
Love the visuals and the originality of the ringworld (and remember that long shot at the begining, astonihsing work from Bryce). And I always dream in have my own ship and travel trough space and spending 20 minutes in building a new ship and testing it is pure joy. And I didn't even like those ships in The Phantom Menace but I love the new Mando ship. Not very practical but looks soooo cool.

 

To me, this episode is when Dave Filoni went from being a good SW writer/director to a great one. The Jedi is about as close to being a perfect episode of a television series as I've ever seen. Everything about it---The story...the acting...the directing...the cinematography...the set design...and the sound design...all of it was brilliant!

I agree again! The Mandalorian has made me a HUGE Bryce Dallas Howard fan. Her attention to 'the little things' always makes her episodes 'feel more Star Wars-ish' than the other directors (okay, with the exception of Dave Filoni.)

LOL, Again, I agree. I hated them in TPM but LOVED seeing one of them turned into a 'hot rod.' Great stuff!!!

 

It's been waiting for you. In my book, the closer we get to March 1st, THE BETTER the countdown 'favs' should get!!!

 

I second that emotion.

Okay, so when that episode hit, I was not on any forum or really didn't even watch any rumor/speculation stuff anywhere. I didn't even have anyone but my brother overseas that was watching the show. The X-Wing didn't trigger me at all for some reason, so when I saw that green lightsaber... Not ashamed to say I had to pause because I was in tears. I was 10 years old again for about 15 minutes. I am dumbfounded by anyone who criticized the way Luke looked. So silly. They virtually time traveled and brought back 1983 Luke friggin' Skywalker. "It looked like CGI, blah, blah" Guess what, dummy... it WAS. Guess what. So are the blaster bolts and lightsabers. 10 year old me didn't care, and neither did 45 year old me. It was amazing. If I had not already been so, this moment would have cemented Jon Faverau on my personal Mt. Rushmore.

I'm gonna go watch that episode right now.

 

At least once a week, I watch one of those compilation of reaction videos for that episode. The look of shock on fans' faces as they began to realize who had come to save our heroes began to kick in was priceless. Everybody was in disbelief that Favreau actually "went there."

 

Come ON, Mandalorifans, this is the point where this thread needs to be picking up steam, not running out of gas!

It's...Countdown DAY 16!

How about a shoutout to Mando's Mandalorian Covert flying in to Save The Day in Season 1: Episode 3 The Sin?

That was the point where I realized this show was going to be much more than a lone bounty hunter and the child. It had the 'feel' of The Clone Wars but in live action.

 

A'ight! I'll grab this one (too).

One of the things I love 'bout Mando is the good old-school campy weirdness: from jawas muching egg yolk, to pit droids goofin' 'round, to the show's obsession with Grogu's food, and a hundred other things beside. The show can be dark and the show can be gruel, but there's always some stupid little thing to laugh about, as there should be in Star Wars, IMHO.

 

So good. For me, specifically, the "precocious" child gags are golden. I couldn't find GIFs to my liking, but my top 5 Grogu gags:

1. "Stop touching things" scene. Grogu responds by looking at Din while slowly reaching back and flipping a random switch.
2. Episode 4 when he spits out the frog after the reaction of the other children.
3. When the droid Zero finds him and he puts his little hand up to use the force. Daddy blasts the droid and the look Grogu gives at his hand, like, "did I do that?"
4. The "Come on baby, do the magic hand thing" his reply just owns me.
5. When Din and Cara come to a rest in their "howdy fight" Grogu just stands there and sips his soup, like, "ok, y'all done?"
5. Season 2 opener, when Din kneels and is about to set off the whistling birds... Grogu has that "oh, sh!#, here we go" look and shuts his little egg shell.

Ok, so top 6, but c'mon. Those golden little moments... I have always had to laugh when my kids, nieces and nephews did it, and same with Grogu. It's quite a feat to convey that mix of curiosity, defiance, and wonderment with a human actor, much less a puppet. Kudos to the team that is Grogu.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 13, 2023, Original Post Date: Feb 13, 2023 ---

Ok. I got Day 15 and I'll "randomly" call out someone for the next day, then they can do the same. Let's try that so we can make a strong run into the last 2 weeks.

 

Love those. Let's make it a TOP TEN list by adding:
7. Grogu stealing a boy's cookies after he refused to give him one. S2:E:4
8. Grogu's unsuccessful attempt to plug in the red and blue wires to help Din fix his ship.
9. Grogu getting 'caught' by Master Luke sneaking an afternoon snack when he was supposed to be meditating. TBoBF S1:E6
10. Force connecting with Ahsoka Tano. S2:E5
10. Grogu getting distracted by butterflies when he was supposed to be 'sending out word' to a Jedi

Ok, so its a top 11.