When It Comes To Brilliant World-Building, ‘The Mandalorian’ Understands That Less Is More
By Rafael Motamayor/Nov. 26, 2019 9:00 am EST
Disney+ is officially here, and with it we finally got the live-action Star Wars show we were promised all those years ago. A gritty space western that dives into one of the most interesting corners of the Star Wars universe – Mandalorians – and also features the cutest little creature since Salacious Crumb? The Mandalorian should be every fan’s dream come through. And sure, for the most part people are raving about Ludwig Göransson’s score and of course, the aforementioned cute little 50-year-old creature. But even outside the complaints over the short runtimes for the episodes released so far, one particular argument made against the show has proven a bit baffling to me.When we first meet the titular bounty hunter, he quickly dispatches some thugs, and captures his target, who he freezes in carbonite. When the Mandalorian goes to collect his bounty, he meets the leader of his bounty hunter guild at the all-too-familiar sight of a cantina. In-between the shots of a variety of cool-looking aliens, the Mandalorian and his guild leader talk about something called a fob, a chit, and a puck? This prompted a lot of talk on social media and amongst critics who argued that the show is too dependent on the viewer’s familiarity with the vast Extended Universe of Star Wars. But really, this is what makes the series quintessentially Star Wars in the first place.Heavy spoilers for the first two episodes of The Mandalorian follow.
A Mandalorian Walks Into A Bar
Which takes us to The Mandalorian. The Disney+ show instantly looks and feels more similar to the original trilogy. No, this isn’t about the use of practical effects or puppets versus CGI, but about the lived-in feeling you get when you step into the show.One of the things that made the original Star Wars movies so unlike anything seen at the time was how old and broken-down things looked. Unlike the utopia of Star Trek, the story of Star Wars happened “a long time ago.” The ships, the towns, everything in the original movie looked old, dirty, like it was just put together from scraps. This served to sell the idea that “it is a period of civil war,” as the opening crawl tells us.The Mandalorian takes this idea and runs with it, throwing us into the first few years of a post-civil war galaxy. The Empire might be gone, but things are definitely not great. In the span of a single casual conversation we learn The Imperial Credit is worthless and clients are no longer willing to pay the high Bounty Hunter Guild prices, which has led to very few, low-paying gigs (they won’t even cover fuel these days!) and too many bounty hunters fighting for scraps. This, of course, brings to mind the scene in Mos Eisley cantina in the original Star Wars where Luke and Obi-Wan try to get off-world, but have very little money to afford a smuggler. It’s a simple, off-handed way of telling us about the state of the galaxy in casual conversation. But even more importantly, like the original movies, it does this through the eyes of a regular guy just trying to make a living in a cruel galaxy. That the Empire has fallen is not what matters, but that the fall of economic stability is forcing our main character to take under-the-table, dangerous jobs is what’s important to the story.Likewise, in that same scene we get a whole lot of name-dropping to things like chits, fobs and pucks without an explanation as to what those mean. Of course, like many writers have expressed, this could be seen as a nod to fans of the Extended Universe, rewarding them for decades spent reading books and comics – but forcing everyone else to pause the show every 2 minutes to google the meaning of a term. On the other hand, you don’t need to google these things. Just as beskar iron is a piece of lore that has been established before and is definitely an easter egg, things like fobs and pucks are new to this particular story, so you won’t find it on Wookieepedia (well, you can now, but only due to the show). These things serve to expand the world of the show in the same way power-converters, blue milk and parsecs made the world of the original Star Wars feel lived-in without the need to overexplain everything to the audience.If you haven’t seen the animated shows or read a single book or comic, The Mandalorian is slowly giving you everything you need to know about its titular character, his work and his culture. We don’t need to know how it all connects because it makes sense for the titular character. He knows that a credit chit or a fob is, so we don’t need to know. What we do need to know is how these things affect the characters and their motivations, and just like the original Star Wars did 42 years ago, The Mandalorian is using a little guy to tell us the story of a massive galaxy far, far away.
When It Comes To Brilliant World-Building, ‘The Mandalorian’ Understands That Less Is More
By Rafael Motamayor/Nov. 26, 2019 9:00 am EST
Disney+ is officially here, and with it we finally got the live-action Star Wars show we were promised all those years ago. A gritty space western that dives into one of the most interesting corners of the Star Wars universe – Mandalorians – and also features the cutest little creature since Salacious Crumb? The Mandalorian should be every fan’s dream come through. And sure, for the most part people are raving about Ludwig Göransson’s score and of course, the aforementioned cute little 50-year-old creature. But even outside the complaints over the short runtimes for the episodes released so far, one particular argument made against the show has proven a bit baffling to me.When we first meet the titular bounty hunter, he quickly dispatches some thugs, and captures his target, who he freezes in carbonite. When the Mandalorian goes to collect his bounty, he meets the leader of his bounty hunter guild at the all-too-familiar sight of a cantina. In-between the shots of a variety of cool-looking aliens, the Mandalorian and his guild leader talk about something called a fob, a chit, and a puck? This prompted a lot of talk on social media and amongst critics who argued that the show is too dependent on the viewer’s familiarity with the vast Extended Universe of Star Wars. But really, this is what makes the series quintessentially Star Wars in the first place.Heavy spoilers for the first two episodes of The Mandalorian follow.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
A Mandalorian Walks Into A Bar
Which takes us to The Mandalorian. The Disney+ show instantly looks and feels more similar to the original trilogy. No, this isn’t about the use of practical effects or puppets versus CGI, but about the lived-in feeling you get when you step into the show.One of the things that made the original Star Wars movies so unlike anything seen at the time was how old and broken-down things looked. Unlike the utopia of Star Trek, the story of Star Wars happened “a long time ago.” The ships, the towns, everything in the original movie looked old, dirty, like it was just put together from scraps. This served to sell the idea that “it is a period of civil war,” as the opening crawl tells us.The Mandalorian takes this idea and runs with it, throwing us into the first few years of a post-civil war galaxy. The Empire might be gone, but things are definitely not great. In the span of a single casual conversation we learn The Imperial Credit is worthless and clients are no longer willing to pay the high Bounty Hunter Guild prices, which has led to very few, low-paying gigs (they won’t even cover fuel these days!) and too many bounty hunters fighting for scraps. This, of course, brings to mind the scene in Mos Eisley cantina in the original Star Wars where Luke and Obi-Wan try to get off-world, but have very little money to afford a smuggler. It’s a simple, off-handed way of telling us about the state of the galaxy in casual conversation. But even more importantly, like the original movies, it does this through the eyes of a regular guy just trying to make a living in a cruel galaxy. That the Empire has fallen is not what matters, but that the fall of economic stability is forcing our main character to take under-the-table, dangerous jobs is what’s important to the story.Likewise, in that same scene we get a whole lot of name-dropping to things like chits, fobs and pucks without an explanation as to what those mean. Of course, like many writers have expressed, this could be seen as a nod to fans of the Extended Universe, rewarding them for decades spent reading books and comics – but forcing everyone else to pause the show every 2 minutes to google the meaning of a term. On the other hand, you don’t need to google these things. Just as beskar iron is a piece of lore that has been established before and is definitely an easter egg, things like fobs and pucks are new to this particular story, so you won’t find it on Wookieepedia (well, you can now, but only due to the show). These things serve to expand the world of the show in the same way power-converters, blue milk and parsecs made the world of the original Star Wars feel lived-in without the need to overexplain everything to the audience.If you haven’t seen the animated shows or read a single book or comic, The Mandalorian is slowly giving you everything you need to know about its titular character, his work and his culture. We don’t need to know how it all connects because it makes sense for the titular character. He knows that a credit chit or a fob is, so we don’t need to know. What we do need to know is how these things affect the characters and their motivations, and just like the original Star Wars did 42 years ago, The Mandalorian is using a little guy to tell us the story of a massive galaxy far, far away.
