Unpopular Sci-Fi opinion: spinoffs (The Mandalorian) suffer anchored to original material (Star Wars)
By: Joel A. Johnson
Tags: Review, The Last Jedi, Star Wars, Sci-Fi, The Mandalorian

Disney+ The Mandalorian

I’ve been a sci-fi fan since…I saw Star Wars: A New Hope in the theaters in 1977. What I saw possible in the telling of a family tale that affects not just a nation…or a world…but, a galaxy(!)…was astounding! Add to that the wielding of a mysterious “force” that is exclusive to certain beings, and I was enthralled! Being a special person in special circumstances that span an entire galaxy kept my attention for decades through rewatching and sharing with subsequent generations.

One aspect of this experience that has become more painstakingly evident over the decades is my place in the Star Wars universe. Every viewer, as a youth, wants to be a Jedi. The thought of handling a lightsaber, despite it’s elegant but hazardous effect in battle, was too exotic to resist. As an older adult, the luster of the Jedi order has gradually faded. Being confined to a life of self-denial and social simplicity with the assignment of an occasional, action-packed mission isn’t as glamorous as the initial movies implied. Also, as a middle-aged adult, access to the “force” hasn’t materialized, much to my realistic dismay. Adulting is…sobering.

Luckily, the storytelling in the Star Wars universe has become more accessible to the unenhanced citizens through the release of the movie “Rogue One” and the TV series “The Mandalorian”. In “Rogue One”, the story revolved around the rise of the Resistance against The Empire’s machinations to establish their “order” in the universe. There are hints of “special” characters who have access to “The Force”. However, the bulk of the work to success is achieved through the cunning, wits, & sacrifice of the “regular folks”. In my initial view, I actually missed the wizardry and wonder of the representatives of the Force. Eventually, this impression faded as I appreciated the rewards from drudge work of the characters in “Rogue One”.

This shift in my sci-fi tastes set me up well for the first season of “The Mandalorian”, which I fell into watching primarily out of the free time I had due to the pandemic’s quarantine. In context, this story is situated in the years after the fall of the Empire that’s initiated in “Return Of The Jedi”. The first season progressed, and I became more invested in the ingenuity of the main character, as well as the cast of characters in his orbit. They were adjacent to the primary characters of the Star Wars movies, but The Mandalorian’s experience with the Jedi was vague, which I appreciated. The only insinuation to Jedi was the character of…”the child”. Even then, it was like an inside track of knowledge for the audience, but lost on the characters on the show, who were fighting the shadows of the Empire, among other threats.

The popularity of The Mandalorian grew, in large part due to “The Child”. This only increased expectations among the larger audience for a more traditional Star Wars focus. From the end of the first season, remnants of The Empire played a larger part in the plot development. More episodes of the second season depicted established characters from Star Wars properties in cameos to advance the arc of the season, due to the need to paint a fledgling Resistance in remote regions of the galaxy. In a way, this started to feel like admiring the brightest star in a solar system, only to have it slowly eclipsed by stars brighter in magnitude as each 2nd season episode premiered. This culminates in the second season finale where it felt like one established guest star went supernova.



In some ways I was pleasantly surprised by the canonization of The Mandolorian. My mind also spun a new web of possibilities from the Mandolorian finale that clashed with the final film trilogy plot. As we grew attached to “The Child”, we now cared for his future to a great degree. That future, however, is now mixed with the revelations of the timeline in “The Last Jedi”. This is where the clash occurs, and it’s glaring, raising plenty of questions about “The Child”, which only dims the fantastic finale of the Mandalorian second season.

I will be interested in the direction The Mandalorian will take as the third season unfolds. Hopefully, the stories will refocus on the exploration of the more common man forging his way through the wondrous galaxy with hints of wizardry, to which I definitely can relate.