Mandalorian Season 3

Watched the first episode last night. I really enjoyed it, but it made me appreciate the writing in Andor a little more.

Some small spoilers in here: 

I thought that this particular episode of Mando was rather heavy handed on the "this is a WESTERN!", in a good way. I felt like the dialogue between Mando and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) was lifted straight out of a Bonanza episode, or maybe Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone? Anyone else have that feeling? 

Grogu in the chair was awesome. 

Definitely thought the Alligator scene was a flashback.

/small spoilers

In reply to mtn :

100% agree with the alligator scene in thinking it was a flashback, and I chuckled to myself when it did a "death roll."

Thinking back on it, yeah it really did seem like they want to cement the story as a western–perhaps as a way to separate it from Obi-Wan and Andor.

And, speaking of Andor, watching the first episode of the Mandalorian definitely made me appreciate Andor (even) more.

I like watch shows like the Mandalorian as if someone is retelling me a story–there might be a few embellishments here and there, but still a great story–as opposed to Andor, which has a vibe that is closer to "here's what really happened."

Good to have Mando back, but I'm afraid "Andor" may have spoiled me. That was such a good show.

I got a gunfighter showdown, a spaceship dogfight, physical comedy (no squeeeeze), and a crawling Terminator. I enjoyed it.

Also:

Who watches this nerd E36 M3? Not me.....

I'm sure you guys caught the Rebels Easter egg...

Iusedtobefast said:

I'm sure you guys caught the Rebels Easter egg...

I must confess I've never watched any of the animated shows. My son keeps telling me I need to, but man... that's a lot of hours of TV.

We're planning to watch Andor but didn't get to it before this season of Mando dropped.  We did watch Boba.

I agree with the analysis so far.  Good but heavy-handed space western writing.  Not necessarily a problem, yet.

Iusedtobefast said:

I'm sure you guys caught the Rebels Easter egg...

Definitely. 

I enjoyed it a lot.  Definitely thought the giant gator scene was a flashback and was a bit surprised it wasn't. 

If you plan to watch the upcoming Ashoka live action show, then the animated series are pretty much mandatory. Especially Rebels as the going theory is Ashoka will likely continue those plot lines.  You can probably watch Rebels without watching the Clone Wars before it, but a few characters and plot lines will make more sense if you do.  I think you can search and find a "need to watch" list of Clone Wars episodes so some of the current series will make more sense. This seems like a decent one.

It's still a lot, but they go quickly. Bearing in mind it was originally made for half-hour broadcast commercial TV, so each episode is only around 20 min.  A lot of them are stand-alone stories that don't really apply to the overall plotline. 

While Thrawn was created in the Timothy Zahn trilogy, he was remade a bit in Rebels. 

For anyone wanting to do the cartoons that hasn't yet, I would start with The Clone Wars, in a selective order as Ian mentioned above, in the order of the list in the first post here, and all of Season 7. (Sorry Ian, can't get to your link, but likely similar to mine). I'd argue that maybe you should watch the Mortis Arc at some point, but that isn't very important to the story itself. 

After that, Rebels goes really pretty quickly. Or it feels much quicker than TCW, because there is very little filler comparatively. Season 1 is a little slow because it is more of a kids show. 

But the fastest way to get the understanding for Ahsoka would be reading the wookieapedia page on her.

Aw, man, I've got a side quest to my side quest.

I kind of hope Migs Mayfield shows up again. The way Burr portrayed what the other side felt like was unexpected and sobering in the episode The Believer.

Appleseed said:

Aw, man, I've got a side quest to my side quest.

I kind of hope Migs Mayfield shows up again. The what Burr portrayed the other side felt like was unexpected and sobering in the episode The Believer.

I absolutely agree. I need more Space Boston in my life.

If I remember correctly, Disney + used to list the most essential  episodes of Clone Wars so you don't have to watch them all. Rebels did kind of start as a kid show but as it goes on, the story got much more involved. I'm kind of mad that they used Thrawn the way they did. I would have LOVED to see him on the big screen.

Two things... Who didn't realize that the Mandalorian is "Rifleman in Space" halfway through the first season, first episode? 

Second, I'm going to have to struggle deeper into Andor if you guys say so, but the first half or two thirds of the first episode left me cold.  I had no idea at all what the hell was going on, nor who anybody was, or would be, or whether those were flashbacks or a parallel story...

And, I guess, third, Boba Fett sure didn't have enough budget for special effects.  Those flyin' biker dudes looked awful.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Andor took a few episodes. I was bored out of my mind for the first coupt, but then it all made sense. 

I didn't watch Book of Boba Fett, and heard that Mandalorian S-3 won't make as much sense if you haven't.

I don't have time for things that play those kind of games with me.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

In Andor, not knowing anything was great because you have to learn everything. You don't come into it with preconceptions, aside from what you know from Rouge One. What I dig was Cassian isnt the PG hero you want to see save the day, hes the Rated R guy, the guy you're not sure you like or not. Hammer through the first half, the end is worth it.

BRING BACK IG-88.

Beer Baron said:

I didn't watch Book of Boba Fett, and heard that Mandalorian S-3 won't make as much sense if you haven't.

I don't have time for things that play those kind of games with me.

This article sums it up pretty good. You're not really missing much outside of what is described there.