The Mandalorianis a welcome smash hit for Disney’s take onStar Wars. It not only establishedDisney+as the marquee streaming service, but it brought fans a desired version of the galaxy far, far away. Unlike some of the preceding material, theLast JediorSoloas examples,The Mandalorianhas been universally acclaimed by both fans and critics alike – an unexpected alignment. However, despite being the benchmark for Disney streamingStar Wars, there is still one major criticism of the show: that its formula relies on side quests too much. Episodes of season one regularly diverted Mando from his main mission. Considering the core team behindThe Mandalorian, the answer may be found in viewingStar Wars: The Clone Warsseason two.
The Clone Warsran for five seasons, 102 episodes, from 2008 to 2013 when it wasabruptly canceled amidstthe Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. Then, season six resumed on Netflix in 2014 with a thirteen-episode compilation calledThe Lost Episodes. Theteam behind the show continuedanimatingStar Warsby applying everything they learned fromClone Warsto the excellentStar Wars: Rebels, which ran from 2014 to 2018. After the launch of Disney+, a seventh and final season ofClone Warswas released in2020 to the surprise of fanseverywhere.
RELATED:Did The Mandalorian Already Hit Its Peak?
At its outset, though,Clone Warswas not a popular show with fans. Many derisively considered it a kid’s show and criticized its animation style. It took a few seasons for it to grow on the audience. More importantly, it took a few seasons for the creative team to find its way with the show. Evidence to this is found all throughout season two as it tries to explore the reaches of theStar Warsgalaxy, to test the limits of what type of stories can be told with this franchise. The exact same method of discovery was used onThe Mandalorianin season one.
Season two ofThe Clone Warsexplored stories using various cinematic genres.Star Warsas a franchise is predominantly science fantasy. Being a long-form television series, it gets repetitive using the same formula repeatedly. The creative team no doubt quickly hit the ceiling of the galaxy. Season two was a twenty-two-episode laboratory as much as it was a playground. Instead of keeping to the straight and narrow, Dave Filoni and the team ofThe Clone Wars, with George Lucas’ blessing and encouragement, played with theStar Warsuniverse in vastly different ways.
The experiment was to see ifStar Wars, as in Jedi, Clone Troopers etc. could successfully thrive in seemingly opposing genres. In season two, they wrote horror, heist, Whodunit (murder mystery), and kaiju stories. They also paid homage to the most influential director on theStar Warsfranchise, Akira Kurosawa. Fans expecting to see a conflict between Jedi vs Sith or an episode about the Clone Troopers combating the Droid Army, instead metcharacters like Inspector Tan Divo(first seen in episode 15, “Senate Murders”) or watched the city of Coruscant get trampled on by the Zillo Beast, an obvious reference toGodzilla. The first episode of season two is a heist starring bounty hunter Cad Bane, who steals a Jedi holocron under guard by Ahsoka Tano.Clone Warshorror referencedInvasion of the Body Snatchersin episode 8, “Brain Invaders,” and fought zombies in the previous episode, “Legacy of Terror.”
The Mandalorianis a space western, but it is still subject to the sametrappings of theStar Warsuniverse. So, much in the wayClone Warsused its second season to discover its capacities, season one ofMandalorianused the side quest framework to figure out its own style. Each episode explored a different genre than traditionalStar Warsright down to the homage to Akira Kurosawa’sSeven Samuraiin “Chapter 4: Sanctuary.” It played with the heist scenario in “Chapter 6: The Prisoner” and mixedit with a prison break. The final episode of the season was much akin to John Carpenter’sAssault on Precinct 13.They did not use a kaiju until season two’s first episode, “The Marshal,” but it was likely considered earlier. Perhaps the mudhorn in Chapter 2 was the chosen substitute?
The Mandalorianfound its way in season one, fans still criticized the same techniques used in season two. Somehow it still managed to dip into side quests. Yet this time it did so within the story confines. Season two was more focused in its trajectory having beenestablished by the errant first season. Though the conclusion of season two felta lot like a series finale, the series will continue in a third season afterThe Book of Boba Fett. Considering the path in which the show has followed thus far, and the template set forth byThe Clone Wars, it is presumed that season three ofThe Mandalorianwill stay on target.
The Book of Boba Fettis set to premiere on Disney+ in December of 2021.
