The Mandalorian - Chapter Nine - The Marshal

[Phyrebrat]

I agree. It’s nice is you know but not imperative.

Dave did you clock the Krayt dragon skeleton reference to SW when Artoo and Threepio leave the escape pod? That was a nice touch.

 

[ctg]

An interview from The Daily Moth, which was published earlier this year, sheds more light on how that sign language was created for the show -- with the help of a Deaf performer named Troy Kotsur, who played a Tusken Raider Scout in Season 1 of The Mandalorian. According to the interview, Kotsur was approached to consult on the show's sign language, after a hearing person on the show's crew advocated for it.

"I did research on the culture and environment of Tusken Raiders. I researched on the desert called 'sand people'," Kotsur explained. "That is what Luke Skywalker calls them, 'sand people.' Anyway, my goal was to avoid ASL. I made sure it became Tusken Sign Language based on their culture and environment."

"I hope that you keep telling Disney + that you want to see more sign language," Kotsur continued. "I hope that the producers keep an open mind because this is just the beginning."

It's safe to say that Kotsur's attention to detail paid off, as members of the Deaf community have embraced The Mandalorian's approach to its sign language. The inclusion also further expands on the lore of the Tusken Raiders themselves, who some fans have thought were a little underdeveloped in their original Star Wars appearances.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian Enlisted Deaf Performer to Create Tusken Raider Sign Language

Season 2 of The Mandalorian finally kicked off last Friday, and fans are still finding details to [...]

comicbook.com

 

[BT Jones]

I'm late to this party, I know. But this is the best sci-fi show on TV at the moment, and a glaring reminder of Star Wars' potential after the polarising sequel trilogy.

SW is a fantastic fantasy universe ripe for the plundering and Favreau and co. have done a superb job.

That said, I don't think it's as hard as some filmmakers that have tried to tackle it have made it. My son says I make the best scrambled eggs on toast. My ingredients? Eggs, salt, pepper, and toast.

Star Wars worked because it had likeable, relatable characters, snappy dialogue, religious iconography and relatively simply storylines about good versus evil. It doesn't need metachlorians (mispelled that, I'm sure) or pyramid-shaped secret planet locator glyphs.

Just tell a story that people will be interested in.

Obviously, The Mandalorian has a major advantage in that it can dip it's toe in well-tested waters. But it still takes love and care to weave the new story into the existing tapestry.

One of the best things about this show is the space and time it affords the characters, the scenery, and the universe to just come alive and breathe. Too often filmmakers rush through plot points, assuming us viewers don't have the patience to enjoy a ten second landscape shot, or a dialogue-free scene where the interactions are captured purely by the facial expressions of the characters.

Well, good filmmakers trust their audiences.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Epic episode.

This was a great piece of writing, that managed to tie in an engaging story while also referencing the films. Season 1 often felt too much like a comic book series, with all the cliches that go with that - this episode was much more mature and tightly-written.

For a start, Mando drove the story. communicating with the Sand People, and getting the townsfolk to join together with them, made for great viewing - starting with calming the pack of "dogs", changing expectations of how things would develop. Additionally, joining against the dragon avoided a vaudevillian bad guy and gave us something more neutral. We had characters to root for, which was great.

I also loved the Star Wars film references - Weequay was originally seen on the skiff in Return of the Jedi fighting against Han and Lando - I recognized him as soon as I saw the episode still (he was a Star Wars figure). It was also shocking to realize that was Boba Fett's armor the marshal was wearing, but made for another good tie-in - even better that the armor sat badly on him.

There were also nice tie-ins with Season 1 - aside from the woman at Mos Eisley, it's worth remembering that Season 1 Episode 5 ended with a cloaked figure standing over the body of Ming Na Wen's character. So clearly this is a carefully plotted device we are going to see further referenced.