Liked Book o' Boba Fett, but...

[Orrex]

Really really REALLY dislike the unaccented English of the Twi'leks. An unambiguously terrible choice, the delightful Jennifer Beals nothwithstanding. The groveling servant guy is awful. Also don't car for the "translated" voice of the Mos Espa mayor. It's weird when it sometimes seems like everyone understands multiple languages, and some aliens speak alien languages, but then a bunch of different species for some reason speak like normal humans. Further...

If you're going to stuff prosthetic fangs into an actor's mouth, for god's sake re-dub the dialogue in post! It's greatly off-putting when the character sounds like an actor struggling with fake teeth, rather than a character for whom those teeth are natural. It happens in many vampire movies, too.

Still can't stand Peli Motto, played by the generally solid Amy Sedaris. The character is seemingly written as a conscious attempt to be distractingly and ineffectively over the top, and any more than five consecutive seconds of her is unbearable.

Too many of the minor roles and extras seem like minor roles and extras in any film at all, with no distinctive Star Wars flavor. Every character doesn't need to be a Jedi or a star pilot, but a certain vibe is missing from the bit players that really breaks the illusion for me.

The bike/land speeder "chase" between the Mods and the so-called Twi-lek seemed incredibly slow, like "I can go faster on a unicycle" slow, and I can't even ride a unicycle. When we've previously seen bikes and speeders zipping around at hard-to-follow speeds, it really seems anticlimactic to use them to recreate George Costanza's rascal-mounted escape from angry senior citizens.

But lots of good stuff, too. In particular:

Temuera Morrison is really enjoyable. Strong screen presence with an effective portrayal of both the reluctant killer and the aspiring local leader. Also, you won't hear a negative word from me about Ming-Na Wen.

Very glad that they ended the flashback-in-a-dream nonsense. Pick a story and run with it; don't tell two half-stories, because they don't "mesh into one" no matter how much the writers want to tell us otherwise.

I know almost nothing of the Star Wars universe beyond the films and recent live-action TV series, so I had no idea who Cad Bane was, but I liked him. Good overall design, and none of that "take your fake teeth out so I can understand you" stuff.

Love Mando. Also really like the surprisingly strong Emily Swallow as The Armorer. And who doesn't love the dubiously-named Grogu?


The series finished much stronger than it began

[EarlG]

1. I liked the Tusken stuff

The crime lord story didn’t really work for me. I would have liked to have seen Boba leave the Tuskens and spend a few episodes hunting down his armor, so we could learn how he got from Tatooine to that planet where he finally caught up to the Mandalorian.

It was also weird that they spent two full episodes on the Mandalorian, but at the same time I was glad cuz those were cool episodes and they filled in a lot of backstory very efficiently. That means Mando season 3 can hit the ground running without having to explain how he got a new ship or what happened to Grogu.

If you like this stuff you need to check out the Clone Wars animated series. You will love it (just bear in mind Season 1 is a bit iffy, it gets way better).

[Orrex]

2. I've tried, but I have no stomach for the animated stuff

Utterly fails to resonate with me, though I won't diss it for those who enjoy it.

Regarding the Tuskens, although I wasn't entirely thrilled to see this kinder, gentler version of them, I was glad to see them at all. And although I was bummed about their fate, I was gratified that they weren't rallied as reinforcements in Mos Espa.

The Mando episodes were terrific IMO.

[EarlG]

3. Fair enough

And yes Mandalorian is my favorite so far.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

4. The Tusken part

On one hand, I loved it. The ceremony and the train robbery were so cool. But it also had this white savior tone, even though Tem Morrison is BIPOC. I also red that a lot of the ceremonial stuff was drawn from Māori tradition at his request, so I think they tried to make it less Dances With Wolves.

And I don’t care what anyone says, those punks on space-Vespas were awesome.

[EarlG]

5. I know what you mean

The Tusken stuff had a white savior feel to it, but on the other hand he didn’t exactly save them, in fact he ended up getting them all killed. The story was basically that outsiders with superior technology wiped out an indigenous tribe.

[Aristus]

8. The music for the funeral pyre scene was extraordinarily moving.

I never thought I'd mourn a Tusken Raider, or cry when they were burned, but I did.

[we can do it]

7. Totally agree about Clone Wars. It keeps getting better and better.

The last four episodes as good as most of the feature films IMO.

Does start off slow but becomes addictive quickly and fills in much backstory.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. I enjoyed The Book of Boba Fett

[Dr. Strange]

9. Peli Motto is Jar Jar Binx, but with the annoying factor dialed down.

I still feel like Boba Fett wasn't as cool in his own series as he was in The Mandalorian. I suspect that Fennec Shand will be cool in any series she pops up in. Maybe she should have her own series. Set on Tatooine, of course, because that's just about the only interesting planet in the Star Wars galaxy apparently.