For many fans The Mandalorian has veered significantly off course since it first appeared on our screens. The Kung Fu influence (and episodic Western format as a whole) has been abandoned and replaced by overly-treaded franchise tropes, locations and tedious screen-time wasting. How did we get here?
Star Wars is an iconic franchise that has been captivating audiences since its inception in 1977. However, in recent years, the franchise has become more focused on telling stories that are overly significant to the lore, often at the expense of exploring smaller, more intimate stories about characters that are not central to the saga’s central plot. This trend is evident in The Mandalorian series, which would have been better served by focusing on smaller, episodic stories centred on the titular character as a gun-slinging bounty hunter in the outer rim territories.
After the Disney aquisition and the release of the new trilogy films (and the Disney+ series’) the focus shifted to where each character is significant to the central Star Wars story, outlined in the original trilogy. While there is certainly merit to this approach, it has come at the expense of exploring the vast, diverse world of Star Wars.
Even Andor (by definition) couldn’t get out of the way of it’s own relevancy to the central Star Wars story lore….
The Mandalorian
The Mandalorian is set in the years following the fall of the Empire and centres on a bounty hunter who is hired to track down a mysterious child. While the series has been praised for its Western-inspired visuals and gritty tone, it has also been criticized for its lack of focus on the wider Star Wars universe. Instead, the series has been mostly concerned with telling a single, overarching story about the Mandalorian and his quest to protect the child.
The Mandalorian is set in a lawless region of space where the influence of the Empire is minimal. This is a perfect setting for exploring the diverse world of Star Wars, full of strange creatures, dangerous criminals, and fascinating cultures. Instead of focusing solely on the Mandalorian and his quest, the series should have told smaller, episodic stories that centred on the bounty hunter as he navigated this dangerous region of space. By telling smaller stories, the series would have been able to explore the wider Star Wars universe and introduce audiences to new and interesting characters.
By telling smaller stories, The Mandalorian would have allowed the franchise to tell stories about characters that are not overly significant to the lore but are still fascinating and worth exploring. This approach would have allowed for more creative freedom in the storytelling. Instead of being constrained by a single, overarching plot, the series would have been able to tell a wide range of stories, from heist adventures to tales of revenge. Granted, these themes have been touched on, but all to briefly. This would have made the series more dynamic and exciting, keeping audiences on their toes and engaged in the story.
The series initially promised to be a standalone story about a gunslinger in the outer rim territories. Instead, it has become embroiled in the larger story of the Star Wars universe, including appearances from beloved characters like Boba Fett and Ahsoka Tano. While these appearances can be exciting for fans, they ultimately detract from the focus on The Mandalorian as a character. Instead of allowing The Mandalorian to stand on his own and grow as a character, the show is more focused on fan service and callbacks to other Star Wars media. This not only takes away from the narrative but also inhibits character development and world-building. In contrast, smaller, episodic stories would have allowed the series to focus on The Mandalorian as a character and his experiences as a bounty hunter. This would have allowed for more in-depth character development and world-building. The show could have explored the politics of the outer rim territories, the dangers of bounty hunting, and the relationships between the various characters The Mandalorian meets on his travels.
Clone Wars
There are examples of other Star Wars media that have successfully used this approach. The animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a great example of a show that explored the wider Star Wars universe while still telling compelling stories despite being rooted firmly in the core lore. Each episode of the show was a self-contained story that focused on a different character or group of characters. While there was an overarching plot, the show was not afraid to tell smaller, more intimate stories that were not central to the main story despite being firmly rooted within that placing.
Conclusion
As the Critical Drinker rightly points out (below) – the writing is largely based on wasting screentime and giving the characters busy work. We saw this in the more recent Star Wars films with the plot centering around treasure hunting. These type of scripts use time-wasting as a basis – finding a person…..who has a map……..that leads to a Mcguffin……..that then points to a place……..that might hold the answer……….to an irrelevant question. The whole process is tedious.
The issue with The Mandalorian and modern Star Wars in general, is that each character must be significant to the central Star Wars story, outlined in the original trilogy, when in fact it would be better to tell stories about characters that are not overly significant to the lore. The Galaxy is an expansive place but we always seem to end up back on Tatooine, talking about the Skywalkers.
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