From Blurgs to Beskar: The Mandalorian Is The Way.
This story was originally featured on Medium.com (2/2/2021). Forty-four years deep, and the Star Wars universe is still in its infancy.
It’s an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan! In a year that served up one unprecedented nightmare after another, the impossible happened. From the depths of a sarlacc’s third stomach, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and the entire team that worked on this last season of The Mandalorian built on the success of a fantastic first run and proved that it is possible to make good live-action Star Wars in the House of Mouse. Like its animated predecessors, Clone Wars and Rebels, The Mandalorian managed to capture the essence of Star Wars and bridge the gap between that place of origin and the expanding universe that is the future of the franchise.
The Mandalorian created beloved characters and introduced them to those we (fans) have loved for a long time. Hopefully, there’s more of that on the way because no matter how far off into the Outer Rim Territories Disney’s Lucasfilm takes Star Wars, the galaxy will always be centered around the magic that George Lucas(film) created. The narrative can’t avoid it. It’s necessary to remain connected to the Star Wars mythos, but it cannot continue to rely on the Skywalker’s to carry the weight of the galaxy going forward.
Lucasfilm never stopped churning out cartoons, comics, games, and novels between movies since A New Hope debuted. New characters and the more familiar faces from the movie series often crossed paths in different mediums, but we didn’t get to see original characters from cartoons or comics “whizz-bang” blasters in live-action with new characters until the Sequel Trilogy. These characters were diminished by an on-the-fly narrative and inconsistent character arcs throughout those movies. That was a digression, but it’s impossible for me to not compare those three movies — and even the Prequel Trilogy — to The Mandalorian. Six grand disappointments (in general) and a 12-hour running time were put to shame by a half-hour TV show with a fraction of the budget. Search your feelings. You know it’s true.
As a teenager back in early 1999, the thing I was most excited about was the possibility that The Phantom Menace was going to deliver the Star Wars magic from my (then) not so distant childhood. It didn’t. The two other movies in that trilogy didn’t, although I do like Revenge of the Sith. Although it did so by playing cover versions of classic hits from A New Hope, The Force Awakens stirred the spirit. However, the following two sequels seemed at odds with each other and with Episode 7. Rogue One, the first standalone live-action Star Wars movie, was good, and it provided our first glimpse of how a story based on peripheral characters set within the central story could succeed. John Favreau took some notes. Then, he asked J.J. Abrams to hold his beer.
Wherever the franchise is headed now with a bevy of animated and live-action content arriving on large and small screens for the next decade, it will need to continue to strike the balance that The Mandalorian hit. Right there, between the roots of where Star Wars began and the infinite stories to be told in a galaxy. Comics, games, and novels will add fine detail to the larger body of work, and likely provide content for future live-action productions. It should be a layup for Lucasfilm now that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have drawn up blueprints on how to make great Star Wars (again). The magic is found in the balance between giving fans “new” things to fall in love with while also honoring our connection to the beloved heroes from Star Wars past. This is the way.
