The Mandalorian has restored the faith in the future of the franchise in millions of fans. Most of us thought Star Wars was over considering how mediocre the last six movies have been but along comes this well-written, fun adventure that manages to tie together the previous movies, animated series and books. Imagine a new trilogy made by Filoni and Favreau - they would absolutely kill it.

> Imagine a new trilogy made by Filoni and Favreau - they would absolutely kill it.

This is all I've been thinking throughout the series. The writing is damn good, the character development is on point, it's not forceful (no pun intended) or disingenuous in trending social themes, cinematography is amazing, great casting, it's immersive in keeping to canon. It's something you can point to and say, "That's Star Wars".

One could only wish those two get a shot at making the full lengths.

Disney through Fox now owns Firefly. I'd love to see Favreau reboot firefly. I think he could actually pull that off, or at least Something in that 'verse. Especially if he can get Whedon's blessing and some of the original cast members.

is it really well written?

“can you help me?”

“only if you complete this task that makes you look like a bad ass”

repeated 8 times

Yeah, I have to believe this intentionally leaning in to the genre, but it's definitely just about every episode plot line (along with the rescue that comes just at the right moment).

The story is garbage, nothing happens. It's video game questing set in a cool universe. It's hard to feel for any of the characters. It's a bummer because the nailed vibe and visuals and all they'd really need to do is attach a more compelling story to it.

This is the take that Chapo Traphouse made on a recent episode. Though I agree that it is quest-y in its approach to each episode/sub plot and personally don't mind it, what makes it any different from the "hero story" structure?

Sure there's a formula, but few stories, if any at all, are original in their foundations. Their success seems to be more in the execution of such story/production and immersion of audiences.

Or is it more of an issue of the predictability in knowing what the "quest" objectives and items are, and from that extrapolating the outcome? Imo, both cases are understandable, as many times the main story quests can feel on rails/going through the motions, but again those quests seem to be more about the audience's immersion (including player playthrough/execution in games) in the modeled experience.

Tldr: I totally understand your point, and can agree to an extent. Though I believe one can find enjoyment in well curated/executed experiences/productions/writing/immersion, rather than seeking "originality" in story telling, as on rails/predictable as they can be

I agree in that I wouldn't say it meets the standards of great writing. However, unlike the Sequel trilogy, it:

1) Thematically feels like Star Wars and ties into the established world, and

2) Meets the minimal standard for good writing/storytelling.

"I'll allow it."

In the context of an action sci-fi western blend, that’s good writing to me, I enjoyed watching it.

Even though the formula is simple, the events didn’t feel predictable to me.

And I could easily imagine more complex plot that would be less satisfying to watch.

Which books are you referring to? I don't feel like it draws particularly from the EU, though also no big contradictions like episodes 7-9.

If you include The Clone Wars as EU, it draws a lot from that. There's also a little bit from some of the novels.

https://www.thewrap.com/the-mandalorian-ahsoka-tano-star-war...

Rogue 1 was also pretty good. It seems like the Star Wars jinx is that nobody can pull off extensions of the Skywalker story without getting hokey and weird. But the stories that explore other parts of the universe tend to be at least interesting and sometimes excellent.

Rogue 1 is my favorite star wars film overall.

Incredibly well executed and fantastic characters.

Disney dropped the ball on every single thing other than R1 and Mandalorian.

Solo was not bad either, and honestly Revenge of the Sith is a great story too.

RoTS is my second favourite after rogue one. I am just of the age where the prequels were my jam when I was a kid and I love them still to this day.

1. Rogue One 2. Revenge of The Sith 3. Empire Strikes Back

Rogue 1 is great, how many mainstream movies kill off everyone at the end of the movie - brilliant!

I was watching The Mandalorian last night and thinking about what it would have been like to have a new Star Wars movie on broadcast TV each week as a kid back in the 80s.

I think most of my actual exposure was through toys and advertising. The movies were only on TV every couple of years. I remember listening to Star Wars on the radio

> I've also heard good things about the FF7 remake, but haven't played it.

Playing it at the moment, and I'm nearly done with it. I think it's a great game. Its' beautiful, and has a nice mix of carrying forward old storylines and settings and mixing in new things. It also made a lot of characters more authentic to me than the original one - e.g. the turks felt more like real bad guys. Aerith character is great too.

What I'm not too sure about is whether it was the right decision to stretch the Midgar part of the story that much (I'm already at 45 hours in chapter 17). The original FF7 had a lot more places to offer, and climbing up a buildling or moving through sewers or tunnels for 2 hours isn't that exciting compared to that.