CRRRaSh! 257 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian Trailers

By Roy Mathur, on 2019-04-15, at 23:42:49 to 00:48:10 BST, for Captain Roy's Rocket Radio Show, Listen

Introduction

Last time, I was so excited that I forgot to actually talk about what happened in the trailer. Sorry about that. In this episode, I rectify that mistake by expanding my thoughts about the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer. I also do the same for The Mandalorian trailer.

Happy Ram Navami

It was the Hindu festival of Ram Navami yesterday, celebrating the birth of Rama.

And Here We Are Again

...broadcasting only 194.95 milliarcseconds, 16.73 light years, 5.13 parsecs, or 1,058,131.08 AUs from Altair, and occasionally presented by someone, or thing, who is definitely not known as the Scourge of Altair, and who's tentacle is merely a rumour.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer

Production

Directed by J.J. Abrams and the writing credits go to J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio, George Lucas, Colin Trevorrow, and Derek Connolly. Release date: 19th December.

Cast

As well as a lot of the current British actors starring in the franchise, the new film includes Ian McDiarmid, Richard E. Grant, and Dominic Monaghan. So, lots of British actors, and good for our film industry too.

What Happens

Rey (Daisy Ridley) is out in a desert, the voiceover of Luke says that the knowledge of all the Jedi now resides with Rey. She cross draws her lightsaber. It's the classic western standoff before someone draws, but she's not facing off another gunman or lightsaber wielder, oh no, she's taking on a fighter ship. She turns, crouches, fires up the lightsaber and starts running, and, as the ship comes alongside her, she jumps, spins and heads straight for the cockpit.

Then we cut to the Millennium Falcon coming into a rocky, misty, grey-blue valley city.

Cut to Ren laying about him. Cut to Ren's mask being repaired by a pair of hairy arms.

Cut to Fin and Poe somewhere hot and desert-like.

Cut to BB-8 and D-O getting snugly.

Cut to Lando laughing delightedly as he pilots the Falcon into a jump with Chewie.

Cut to C-3P0, Fin, and Poe on a landspeeder in a chase scene with lots of explosions (again somewhere deserty).

Cut to Leia holding one of those medals she gave Luke and Han in the first movie and then hugging Rey.

Cut to Chewie, BB-8, D-O, C-3PO, Rey, Poe, and Fin and a grassy bank looking down onto the ruins of a Death Star in the sea. Voiceover comes in and includes the words "no one's ever really gone", followed by the cackling laughter of Palpatine.

What I Thought

The Voiceover: Luke's spirit now resides in the Force. No surprise, but it's good to hear his voice again. Luke was the one I most connected with as a child seeing the movie for the first time. Now, it's Solo, but that's age, cynicism, and wanting to be a pirate captain for you.

The Gunslinger Scene: In that desert setting, with that stance and cross draw, it's a western... until she does the crouch and the leap, which is right out of a kung fu or samurai movie. It's beautiful and amazing, and only spoiled by...

Running with a Lightsaber: you don't run with scissors or knives, let alone pumping the weapon carrying arm like an Olympic sprinter, and you certainly would never, ever do that with a sword. Seriously, who was the fight coordinator? These kind of errors really bug me. And this is film centred on a warrior; a sword fighter! And also, that voiceover says she has all the knowledge, so doesn't that include learning not to kill yourself with your own lightsaber? To be fair, I saw a lot of dunderheaded action from some of the Jedi in the prequel trilogy, so... actors... huh?

Who's in the Cockpit? It has to be Ren.

Ren's mask being repaired by a pair of hairy arms maybe an attempt by the good guys (those hairy hands doing the welding could have been Chewie's) to create a disguise that can pass for Ren.

Lando!

The Crashed Death Star!

The Emperor, AKA Sheev Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious is the same kind of menacing, "I will return"-type laugh used by the spirit of Ming the Merciless at the end of Flash Gordon (1980).

Who is Janah? This was not in the trailer, but there was a still as the Star Wars celebration panel introduced a new character, played by British actress Naomi Ackie, called Janah. There are a few characters similarly named in the Star Wars universe, most not canon. There have been fan rumours that she's Lando's daughter, but that's too easy an assumption. All I can say is that I think this woman, garbed in a guerrilla fighter's clothing, looks heroic, so it's not a stretch that she's going to be one of the good guys.

The Verdict? The last of the sequels? J.J. directing? I am very excited.

The Mandalorian Trailer

Production

Filmed in LA, with a budget of c.USD100,000,000, 60 minute episodes, produced by Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios, and scheduled for release on the 12 November 2019 on Disney+.

Episodes directed by Deborah Chow, Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard, Taika Waititi.

Writing credits go to Jon Favreau, credited as creator, and George Lucas.

Cast

Pedro Pascal, Omid Abtahi, Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Werner Herzog, Nick Nolte, Emily Swallow, Taika Waititi, Carl Weathers.

What Happens

Trailer 1 starts with the character arriving on some dusty planet and tracking a fugitive.

There's a later scene when he enters a bar, and stands silhouetted, cloak flapping in the wind. The whole scene is totally dirty spaghetti western, with tough guy bounty hunter gunslinger walking into a bar. The only thing missing was those swinging doors.

We also see a new ship, The Razorcrest, not as ironically weird as Boba Fett's Slave 1, coming in for a landing at a starfish shaped settlement.

Then there's the behind the scene stuff with the Pascal, Favreau, and the rest of the cast talking enthusiastically, with excited looking crew in the background, basically confirming that it's a space western.

Behind the Scenes, Favreau says it's set a few years after Return of the Jedi; IMDB says that its setting is the far outskirts or the New Republic.

Then there's the second longer trailer you heard. In it, we see the bounty hunter guild representative, Carl Weathers, helping the Mandalorian arrange a meeting with a client. There's a roll call of things familiar to the Star Wars universe, including a couple of creatures of the Salacious B. Crumb variety, Jawas, and the bounty hunter droid IG-88 in action.

Then there's that meeting with Werner Herzog.

I get the idea all this stuff is just to show off the old school Star Wars universe and the extensive use of practical effects.

What I Thought

If you thought The Rise of Skywalker had elements of a western movie, then The Mandalorian quite simply is a space spaghetti western. That opening scene, with the Mandalorian calmly tracking his pray, walking with that long rifle strapped on: Lee Van Cleef's black clad bounty hunter from Sergio Leone's For a few Dollars More in 1965 and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in 1966, where he played Colonel Douglas "Angel Eyes" Mortimer.

The second trailer is an actual long, coherent chunk of filming. I'm not sure it was necessary, but I suppose the producers want to whip up maximum excitement for their investment.

The Cloak, Armour, the Wastelands? Hyper Light Drifter, anyone?

The title logo looks awesome.

Opening silhouette scene? Hey, don't stand there silhouetted unless you want to be shot, but do that if you want to look dramatic... the second or two until you're taken out. Sure, I know, dramatic licence. But still.

Verdict? Oh yes (big surprise), it's a space spaghetti western, and this is for me.

Did I Do A Better Job this Time?

Hope so.

Stay Tuned

There's a going to be a lot of other podcasting from me this week too because there is just so much geek happening in so few days.

Stay tuned. Subscribe.