The Mandalorian- Season 3

 

9/10

In the third season of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin/The Mandalorian/Mando (voiced by Pedro Pascal) and his ward Grogu go on a quest to the abandoned world of Mandalore.

I like this as much as the last two seasons. though the show is still fairly episodic, there's more of a connecting plotline this time around. After spreading tidbits of the fall of Mandalore and how the Mandalorian people are scattered, this season puts them at the center. Though maybe more time could've been put into adding a little more detail of the Mandalorian history and culture, it's rather interesting to watch a bunch of space warriors with a code, but they have different factions with differing ways of interpreting those codes.

We get to see a lot more of Bo-Katan Kryze (played by Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff), former leader of Mandalore. The character has excellent chemistry with Din as two fellow warriors who respect each other. Sackhoff gives a great performance, there's just something about her delivery. Bo-Katan is a character originally from the computer animated shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. It'd probably help to know about her if you watched this shows, but The Mandalorian provides easy access for the unfamiliar, throwing Bo-Katan in there and making her feel natural without going too heavy on her backstory.

You don't see a lot of Carl Weathers' Greef Karga, now the governor of a planet, but it's always great to see Weathers in anything.

The show feels like it's doing a lot more world building for the general universe of Star Wars this time around. I admit, I was getting tired of a lot of Star Wars taking place in deserts and other desolate areas. Finally, the show remembers that SW has populated cities. We finally visit places that look fancy, and they all look impressive (a lot of money obviously went into this.) 

We also see building blocks of how the first order from the current film trilogy rose from the ashes of the original Empire. I felt the show did a valid job of showing how the New Republic dropped the ball in wiping out the Empire's influence.

Again, the action, effects, and design are all exquisite. The finale may the best and most action packed of them all. 

One episode does have a plot point that may frustrate many as it's far too cartoonish and implausible for its own good. You know the parts of The Book of Boba Fett that felt goofy? it's like that. It especially doesn't compare well to the plotting of the recent and far more serious and grounded Andor, making the two shows kinda feel like they're taking place in different realities.

A lot of fans didn't like Chapter 22: Guns for Hire. I'm not seeing it. I thought it was a fun little diversion and again a decent world builder.

Highly recommended, The Mandalorian continues to be a pretty impressive space adventure.

Star Wars: the Bad Batch- Season 2

8/10

In this second season, the members of the genetically unique clone squad known as the Bad Batch continue taking whatever jobs they can to support themselves while trying to stay out of the eye of the Empire.

I felt that this was stronger than the last season. Some may be annoyed that this is more episodic-heavy, but it worked for me. The various situations the characters are thrown into keep things fresh. (The only weak spot would be the episode Retrieval. Not bad but it's the type of story that's been told plenty of times.) Not to say there is no ongoing plot. The show continues to look at how the clones were decommissioned after Revenge of the Sith but before A New Hope. The plight of these soldiers and how they were disposable pawns works surprisingly well as an analogy to the treatment of vets. Though a lot of the stories were misadventures, when things get serious, the writing especially pops; the last two episodes make for a hell of a finale.

I think the writers realized the cyborg Bad Batch member Echo (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) had the least amount to do last time around, so he gets some development as the one clone who feels they should be acting against the Empire and not just hiding. Tech (also Dee Bradley Baker cuz' y'know clones), the very smart and logical member, is getting a lot more time to shine and it works.

The various locations and background designs make for a real sci-fi visual delight.

Recommend. Can't say the show is as engaging as much as the recent live-action ones, but it's a well written and animated affair.

Star Wars: Visions

9/10

This Disney+ anthology contains nine Star Wars-themed, non-canon anime short tales.

This is a really, really good looking show. The nice thing about short animation projects is that you can visually achieve stuff and fluidity you're less likely to get in a long form project. Each episode has a distinct look. The most stylish and best executed one is the first The Duel, which goes for a black-and-white old-school film look with excellent fighting scenes.

Admittedly, most of the episodes want to focus specifically on Jedi and lightsaber fighting rather than keeping the content more varied. (I know that Tatooine Rhapsody, about a space band, is the least liked episode, but I liked that this was the only one that really went for something different.) However, every episode manages to do things differently enough that this never becomes an issue (okay, there are two pairs of episodes that cut too close to each other in basic story, but I still liked them all). In fact, I think all the ideas here are decent. I particularly recommend The Ninth Jedi, Akakiri, and The Elder.

The English dub cast is surprisingly strong, including many known names, such as Lucy Liu, Henry Golding, and Joseph Golden Levitt.

The music to this is all pretty good, too, and definitely has that Star Wars/John Williams feel to it.

Highly recommended. This is a short and entertaining program that one can quickly breeze through.

Maggie Simpson in The Force Awakens from its Nap

 

8/10

In this new Simpsons short on Disney+, Maggie Simpson is put into a daycare that takes place in the Star Wars universe.

This is a fairly amusing quickie (only 3 minutes). Not a whole lot of complexity, just a bunch of good-spirited Star Wars visual jokes. If I'm not mistaken, the director and writers are all from the Simpsons golden-age and this short has that classic satirical, smart feel it did back then. The short's not afraid to even poke one light jab at the franchise.

Now my memory could be playing tricks on me, but the animation doesn't feel as ambitious as the last two shorts. This is probably because it was always meant for television and not to be shown on the big screen. Definitely seems to have the same animation as the show. I do miss the perspective coming from Maggie's point of view and the adult characters' faces mostly hidden. Still, I guess it can't be helped in order to utilize the Star Wars characters.

How does it compare to the other two Maggie shorts? It isn't as strong as the The Longest Daycare, the clever first one which set up this film series, but is more original than Playdate with Destiny. Overall, I recommend it. It's an amusing, and like I said it doesn't take up too much time.