The Mandalorian is the most PURE Star Wars since ESB

Yes, in my humble opinion, the best thing about The Mandalorian is that it took The First Generation of SW fans back to their roots: the glorious days of ANH and ESP.

There are a whole bunch of reasons for it.

INSPIRATION. The Mandalorian took its inspiration from the same sources as George Lucas did originally -- and it shows. Sadly, after GL's first two films, George's focus changed. When you listen to Gary Kurtz interviews, it becomes clear that George decided he wanted to reprise ANH again rather than stay true to his original vision for ROTJ. It was one of the big reasons why Kurtz decided to leave George. Hey, it was George's baby, he had the right -- but I would argue that ever since he split up with Kurtz, the essence of what made Star Wars so great got lost somewhere in all the hype, the toys, and the money.

Disney's TFA was yet another attempt to reprise ANH. Since it was essentially a 'reboot,' it lacked any depth of character. And worse, this time around, the folks in charge bizarrely didn't have the vision to carefully plot out a three-movie trilogy in advance so the end result was a muddled mess at best.

STORY. Not only did Favreau return to the sources that originally inspired George, he was particularly inspired by the Japanese TV series 'Lone Wolf and Cub' and used it to develop a compelling story about a 'lone wolf,' Clint Eastwood-like bounty hunter and the cutest alien baby in the known universe -- who happens to be Force-sensitive. Where the story goes from here is a big question mark but there's no denying that Mando's quest to find a Jedi who would train Baby Grogu was a compelling one.

PRODUCTION. Thanks to the technological development over the last ten years, The Mandalorian benefits from The Volume which allows the show the most breathtaking scenery imaginable without spoiling the viewer's imagination because it 'looked fake' or, conversely, spending a mega-fortune with on-location shooting. Each episode might be relatively short but they each have the look and feel of a feature-length film. This has been critical because, at its heart, Star Wars is an old Saturday matinee serial -- and episodic TV is the best forum for capturing its spirit.

DIALOGUE. Compare the amount of dialogue in any of the PTs or STs versus ANH. The amount of verbiage has increased exponentially. Sorry, but you wouldn't have seen all the 'yacketty-yacking' in the old TV westerns. That's just not the original Star Wars. Jon Favreau wisely kicked off his show with a bounty hunter, who is a 'man of few words' like Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name who has a baby sidekick whose not old enough to speak yet. On the surface, that would appear to create a nightmare for the writers of an episodic TV show. But in true 'Old West' fashion, Favreau intuitively knew that less was more.

There's more if you're interested -- but this is more than enough for an OP.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

 

With all due respect to Solo and Rogue 1, I don't recall either of them evoking 'original SW vibes' when I watched them. Don't take this wrong, I'm not criticizing either film (although I could never get past the horrendous casting of the actor who played Han Solo) but neither hit me with, "Now THIS is Star Wars!" the way that Episode One of Mando did.

That was one of the special ingredients that made the original SW so special and wasn't really seen again until Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian came along.

 

I will have to rewatch Solo and R1 to comment on those two, but, like you, Viper78, I loved TFA. But from the get-go, I knew it was unabashedly a 'safe' reboot of ANH -- and, like you, I didn't care.

Reboot or not, I thought JJ did a great job of introducing us to the new cast of heroes and villains. Unfortunately, the film lost a lot of its original luster to me when TLJ came out and we learned that Rey wasn't Luke's daughter after all and the Luke we thought we knew and loved had undergone a personality transplant.

I loved the first season of The Mandalorian in a very different way. It 'felt like' the original Star Wars without trying to mirror it. Part of my love for TFA was in the anticipation of where they could go with Luke, Leia, and these new characters. In contrast, The Mandalorian felt like a fresh take on the same galaxy long ago and far far away.

 

As a brief, OT aside, I think the problem with Solo (at least for me) was that the filmmakers worried too much about the actor's appearance and not nearly enough about the character's attitude. Ehrenreich was too impressionable and too enthusiastic for me. A young Harrison Ford would have played this role with an edginess you didn't see from Alden IMHO.

Back OT, I think one of the reasons why The Mandalorian was SO 'Old School' Star Wars is because Favreau DIDN'T try to create a new character in Han Solo's image. Instead he went back to the films that inspired George Lucas. I love the character that Harrison Ford helped create on film, but creating a Han Solo-Mark 2 for The Mandalorian would have been a disaster IMHO.

I've heard some people joke about 'how easy' it was for Pedro Pascal to play the title character because he wears a helmet and nobody can see his face. On top of all that, he was asked to play a character that was a space-age version of Clint Eastwood's 'A Man with No Name,' a character of few words. Easy-peasy for any actor, right? On the contrary, I believe his work over the first two seasons was nothing short of amazing! The fact that the bond between Mando and Baby Grogu resonated with so many fans and was so emtional is a real testament to both the show's writing and particularly Pedro's acting.