Star Wars Megathread

[celedhring]

Liked this episode a lot, although I was a bit surprised about Mando not being aware of there being other Mando groups. Anyway, after two "stand alone" episodes it was time to get the main arc back on track.

I love how the show casually casts Titus Welliver as an unnamed one-off Imperial Captain 

[Syt]

General consensus seems to be that Episode 5 is the "real Ahsoka episdoe", because that's the one that Dave Filoni directed.

Also, nice to see a Gozanti cruiser in live action.

[Tamas]

Nice episode!

[Barrister]

That was great.  Really like this show.

[viper37]

Liked this episode a lot, although I was a bit surprised about Mando not being aware of there being other Mando groups.

Well, he was adopted (foundling) into the clan, and there was a Great Purge at some point.  The Tribe may not have told them there were heretic Mandalorian, from a certain point of view...

[viper37]

I like seeing Kathee Sackoff interpret Bo-Katan, I think she nailed her perfectly.

[Barrister]

I like seeing Kathee Sackoff interpret Bo-Katan, I think she nailed her perfectly.

Isn't she the voice actor for the same character in Clone Wars and Rebels?

[Syt]

Yes.

[Syt]

Interesting video about how Mandalorian is using virtual sets via LED screens to significantly reduce the amount of greenscreen shooting necessary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufp8weYYDE8&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=Insider

[celedhring]

Liked this episode a lot, although I was a bit surprised about Mando not being aware of there being other Mando groups.

Well, he was adopted (foundling) into the clan, and there was a Great Purge at some point.  The Tribe may not have told them there were heretic Mandalorian, from a certain point of view...

That's fine, but he has been interacting with Mandalorians across the galaxy during all of his adult life (as seen in season 1). It seems odd he never came into contact or heard about other factions.

Who are supposed to be the oddballs in Mandalorian society, btw? Mando's group or Bo-Katan's group?

I like seeing Kathee Sackoff interpret Bo-Katan, I think she nailed her perfectly.

Isn't she the voice actor for the same character in Clone Wars and Rebels?

Didn't know that. As soon as she took her helmet off I thought the role suited her like a glove.

[Syt]

That's fine, but he has been interacting with Mandalorians across the galaxy during all of his adult life (as seen in season 1). It seems odd he never came into contact or heard about other factions.

Has he? I thought we only saw him with the guys who were on Nevarro and now he's for the first time going out seeking other hidden groups?

Who are supposed to be the oddballs in Mandalorian society, btw? Mando's group or Bo-Katan's group?

Up for debate, but in later Clone Wars and certainly in Rebels, Bo-Katan's group was more "middle of the road". Death Watch was on one end of the spectrum (all about fighting and conflict and being the most awesomest warriors like in their mythical past) - and we see Little Din being rescued by them in the season 1 flashbacks - and Bo-Katan's sister Duchess Satine on the extreme pacifist end. Most Mandalorian clans we see during those shows fall somewhere on that spectrum (often closer to Death Watch), but those are the two far ends of it. Bo-Katan first ran with Death Watch but split off from them when they aligned with Maul IIRC (I need to rewatch CW ...). He character softened a bit after this and becomes more of a "responsible leader" figure going forward - her main goal still remains uniting Mandalore and making it great again.

Keep in mind that even Death Watch weren't as dogmatic in the past. They certainly didn't have the "always wear helmet" rule before the Purge, but there's a good chance they became more radicalized after the purge.

It still leaves questions open. DW rescued Din during the Clone Wars - so he maybe remembers the old days of unmasking not being a big deal? Or maybe there's always been a ultra-orthodox strain within Death Watch that we didn't see in the previous shows.

DW was mostly led by the Vizsla clan. A Paz Vizsla was seen in seaon 1 (the heavy with the chaingun), but allegiances have been known to be a bit fluid between clans. Wookieepedia calls Din's group "The Tribe" .... it's all a bit vague at this point, but I'm sure we might learn more in the future.

Ahsoka was on Mandalore when the Mandalorians pushed out Maul, so she might have more insight to this. She wasn't involved in the retaking of Mandalore in Rebels, but she might know more about the Purge.

[celedhring]

So the story about retaking Mandalore has already been told? I was hoping the Mandalorian show might be going towards that direction.

That's fine, but he has been interacting with Mandalorians across the galaxy during all of his adult life (as seen in season 1). It seems odd he never came into contact or heard about other factions.

Has he? I thought we only saw him with the guys who were on Nevarro and now he's for the first time going out seeking other hidden groups?

He didn't give the feeling of somebody who was interacting with other mandalorians for the first time, certainly. Plus he's been travelling all over the galaxy as a bounty hunter. It feels odd he might think that DW mandos are the only mandos - it's just a nitpick anyway. Seems to me the writers went that route because it was easier that way to explain the existence of these groups if Mando didn't know them either.

Are the KOTOR Mandalorian wars in the current canon, btw?

Yes, I'm excited.

[Syt]

They're not really in the canon. Rebels established that the Mandalorians fought the Jedi a long time ago. Also, that there was a Mandalorian Jedi who was the one to create the Darksaber.

There's a backdoor canonization of Revan in that one of the Sith Trooper divisions in the visual guide for Rise of Skywalker is named after him, but without further explanation. Those books are considered canon, but if retcons were required, I'd assume they would be among the first things to be decanonized (the Force Awakened one had a star chart that had Rakata Prime in it, the Starforge system in KOTOR, but again - no additional info or anything, just a cute thing for fans).

With Mando meeting various people wearing Mandalorian armor so far this season I feel he will start creating his own idea what it means to be Mandalorian, independent from how he was brought up. Might bring him into conflict with the smith from season 1. I kinda want and don't want him to be the next Mandalore at this point.

The IMDB thumbnail for the next episode shows Cara Dune. Gina Carano has had a bit of Twitter trouble recently. She got called out for liking various tweets that argued for voter fraud stealing the election from Trump, she's a known anti-masker. In September she got in trouble with the transgender crowd. Apparently she asked Pedro Pascal why people were adding things like "he/him/his" to their profiles, and he said that it's the preferred pronouns of people, especially transgendered ones. She added "beep/bop/boop" or something similar to her profile as a joke. People called her out on that, and she doubled down on it.

Pedro Pascal was criticized for being exuberant on social media after the election was called for Biden, including sharing and then deleting this meme:

[crazy canuck]

Agree with the consensus.  Great episode.  Glad the story is progressing forward again.

[The Larch]

This time they're not wasting any merchandising opportunities.