What sets The Mandalorian apart from other SW live-action content??

the episodic nature of mando is neat, but I also like the more longer format story style. I think episodic works better with mando with having a few more episodes per season. But I like that we have both styles.

Hopefully they strike a good balance going forward. Both, i feel, have their strengths.

 

The episodic style or "the monster of the week" style starts to bore me. Yes, there are a few series which work better with that formula, for example Supernatural or X-Files.

But for the SW live action series this style is not for me. The first season of 'The Mandalorian' was kinda good because it was focused and tight. In the second season we went from episodes to episodes in which nothing really happened. It was honestly a waste of time.

In the Kenobi show episode 4 was the least liked episode because it was pretty much a filler or a "the monster of the week" episode. Nothing really important happened. I personally would even add episode 3 and 5 to that list. You only needed the first two and the last episode. These three episodes told one big story.

Which show is the most successful at the moment? Stranger Things. This show tells a straight forward story. I prefer my shows to be like that.

To answer your question though- "What sets The Mandalorian apart from other SW live-action content?"
Well, 'The Mandalorian' was the first live action series, which in a way felt fresh and unique. But that only counts for the first season. Other than that there is not much difference between the shows. They all feel like they have potential which isn't used properly and thus feel like a missed opportunity.

There is still a series to come which clicks with me. Maybe it's Andor or maybe it's Acolyte. I will see.

 

The score.

 

Agreed. The single dad-thing is surprisingly engaging, I find. There is real vulnerability there, and Djarin isn't some superhero who waltzes through every hurdle on his way, but rather, he actually fails quite a lot, becoming a get-back-up-and-try-again kind of role model. I like the dude

 

I hate to sound cynical but the combination of ersatz Boba-Fett and baby Yoda are pretty hard to ignore when defining the reasons for Mando's success. They are definitely number one and number two.

I can't think what sets it apart from the other stuff except the baby-Daddy dynamic.

 

What was great about season 1 of Mando was that we had a live-action story that took place in the GFFA, our favorite setting. But it was an all-new story with all-new characters. Sure, we had some lookalikes--Mando, Baby Yoda, IG-11, Moff Gideon, and of course stormtroopers--but all the characters were ones we'd never known before. Not a legacy character in sight. The focus was on the new character and his own conflicts (mostly with himself). I related to quiet, middle-aged Din in a way I never related to any other SW character in 40 years. I really loved the mystery behind his covert and what happened to the Mandalorians after we left them in TCW/Rebels. I loved that the helmet and the nonspeaking child forced so much show-don't-tell storytelling.

It was an independent Star Wars story!

It was like Rogue One if they left out Vader and Leia! (And maybe Andor??)

And then came season 2. Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed season 2. But less than season 1, because it was disappointing that it was a vehicle to spin off the other series to come, and to presumably culminate in a big old Marvel-type teamup someday. Instead of monster-of-the-week, it was legacy-character-of-the-week. We even got my greatest fear--yet another tie to the Skywalkers. (I don't think Star Wars is ever going to "progress" until it stops riding the Skywalker shirttails.)

Once they whipped out the darksaber at the end of s1, it was inevitable that Din's story would collide with that of the Mandalorians we already knew. But the Jedi... I mean apparently now there are about a dozen Jedi or Jedi-trained Force users out there that Grogu could train with, so couldn't we keep this story small, and keep Luke's development as its own special thing? I guess not. It makes sense that if Luke knew there was a little Jedi kid out there who needed help, he'd come. But did he have to be the one, writers?

Anyway, plainly the idea is not to have small stories but big ones that appeal to lots more people and sell well. I can understand and accept that, but I don't have to like the trend.

 

I would be more agreeable with the "all new....non legacy" character praise if the main character wasn't virtually indistinguishable from most of the audience's perception of Boba Fett and his co-star wasn't a Muppet Baby Yoda. To say that this series started without relying on any links to existing characters and movies is just plainly untrue. Set five years after Endor and the Nevaro is crawling with Stormtroopers in episode 1 and 3? Not really independent of what already appeals to Star Wars fans was it?

 

The main character is perfectly distinguishable from Boba Fett, just like the legacy settings are perfectly distinguishable from legacy characters.

 

Not really. Not until we're given a back story for Din.

But when he's introduced, he's just a taciturn, Mandalorian armoured bounty hunter. The sum total of Boba Fett's characterisation in the OT. Oh and he flies a different spaceship.

It's no secret that the audience was enticed with a sort of Boba Fett series. Din turned out to be something else (and so did Boba Fett himself, to the chagrin of some fans). But it can't be denied that his Fettness was the main attraction to the show for many.

 

It's certainly not the writing. I hate to say this, but as much as I love "The Mandalorian", it still has a writing problem. Favreau and Filoni need more lessons in tightening up their writing. Yes, I love the relationship between Mando and Grogu, but it's not enough. The series needs more clean up in terms of writing.

Really? Ever since Season One, it felt more like a space Western than anything.

 

Not like "The Mandalorian". For me, the only thing "Western" about "A New Hope" to me was the Mos Eisley cantina sequence.

 

I don't know if I can agree with that. It's just a feeling.

 

I think what sets "TheMandalorian" apart from the other Star Wars content is the relationship between Din Djarin and Grogu. Or . . . Grogu.