Tag Stormtroopers (Star Wars)

Catching Up With The Mandalorian – “Chapter 8: Redemption”

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

The Mandalorian, season 1 posterSERIES: Star Wars:  The Mandalorian
EPISODE: S1:E8 – “Chapter 8:  Redemption”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Giancarlo Esposito, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Taika Waititi (Voice)
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR:  Taika Waititi
PREMIERE DATE: December 27, 2019
SYNOPSIS: Trapped, the Mandalorian and his allies struggle to keep the child out of Moff Gideon’s hands.

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Taika Waititi, who directs this episode, and is also widely known for directing Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder, serves as the voice of IG-11. Fitting, as this episode is a big one for the repurposed droid.

That scout troopers punching the child in the bag is one of those things that makes you hate the bad guy, but where you also can’t help but laugh a little. What can I say? It was funny. As was the target practice bit moment later.

This episode is the first time we hear the Mandalorian’s given name: Din Djarin. Not the worst name, by Star Wars standards. “The Mandalorian” has more mystique, of course.

The appearance of the super battle droids in the flashback sequence was a nice touch. It set the period.

It was pretty bad-ass to see IG-11 riding through that town on a speeder bike, twin guns blazing. Question: If his new base function is to nurse and protect, why does he bring the child into a town occupied by Imperial troops? Granted, none of them can shoot…

It’s funny to me how none of the stormtroopers can hit a target, as this episode makes light of. But when the episode needs him to be, Moff Gideon is a crack shot.

Din Djarin, The Mandalorian, Redemption, Pedro Pascal

I’d never seen or heard of Pedro Pascal prior to The Mandalorian. So what he looked like was news to me. He didn’t necessarily look how his voice suggested he looked. But that’s not a good or a bad thing, per se.

The armorer tasking Mando with reuniting the child with its own kind was a great hook for season two. As the last of the Jedi, the obvious implication was Luke Skywalker. Or perhaps Ahsoka Tano. But we couldn’t have realistically expected to see either of them…could we?

The big moment in this episode is when IG-11 sacrifices itself to save the rest of the group. I’ll say this much: The episode does a great job making us care about the repurposed robot, which we didn’t see again until the previous episode. It feels genuinely sad as he walks through the lava.

Something I appreciated about this group mission as opposed to some others we see in Star Wars is that there were consequences and casualties. Kuiil and IG-11 didn’t make it, and Mando was wounded to the point that he wouldn’t have survived if left to his own devices. The bad guys come off threatening and dangerous even in defeat.

Mando taking on Moff Gideon in the TIE fighter was a cool climax for the season. Suitably suspenseful, as you’d expect a man in a jetpack trying to take down a plane to be.

Din Djarin, The Mandalorian, Redemption

The one thing I didn’t like about this episode was how rushed everything was after said climax. Mando literally lands from taking down the TIE fighter, and everyone announces what they’re going to do going forward. Felt uncharacteristically clumsy.

The revelation of Moff Gideon with the Darksaber at the end was a fun little moment. Star Wars geeks knew what it was, obviously. And those who didn’t know would come to know as the series progressed.

Disney bet a lot on this first season of The Mandalorian. The first episode premiered with the launch of Disney+, so it was a great added incentive to give the service a try. But beyond that, it set the standard for all live action Star Wars TV projects to come. And thankfully for the fans, that standard wound up being pretty high. The Mandalorian season one isn’t just great Star Wars television. It’s great television, period. It’s compelling, intriguing, gorgeous to look at, and perhaps most importantly, very accessible to those not well-versed in Star Wars. (I’m trying to get my parents to watch it to this day.)

All in all? It was a home run for everybody involved.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Star Wars: Obi-Wan #5 Micro-Review – Doing the Best with the Least

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Star Wars Obi-Wan 5, cover, 2022, Phil NotoTITLE: Star Wars: Obi-Wan #5 (of 5)
AUTHOR: Christopher Cantwell
ARTISTS: Adriana Melo, Wayne Faucher (Inker), Dono Sanchez-Almara (Colorist), Joe Caramagna (Letterer). Cover by Phil Noto.
RELEASED: September 14, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This final issue is the best one to come out of this Obi-Wan mini, and yet it’s the one where the least actually happens. It’s simply a tale of our hero showing compassion to an injured stormtrooper.

On the cover, Phil Noto looks like he’s channeling a little bit of Mike Mayhew’s take on the character.

All in all, this mini-series wasn’t mind-blowing. But it did make for a nice companion to the Obi-Wan Kenobi show on Disney+.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Astonishing Art: Neal Adams Draws Star Wars

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The comic book industry continues to miss the legendary Neal Adams, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 80. The world of comic books will likely always miss him. Recently, I found myself missing him a little bit more when I stumbled on to this little gem…

I was totally unaware that Adams had done any Star Wars work. But low and behold, here we have a variant cover for Marvel’s adaptation of The Force Awakens from 2016 (shown below left). I love the red trail that he gives Kylo Ren’s lightsaber. That’s a unique little touch we don’t see too often. And just to see him render Kylo and the stormtroopers is fun.

For those with more of a taste for the classic trilogy, Adams would go on to do a variant cover for Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – Alpha (shown below right), which allowed him to draw Boba Fett.

It’s a shame Adams didn’t get a chance to visit the Star Wars universe more often. It looked damn good under his pencil. Then again, most things did…

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Rob Watches Boba Fett – Emerging From the Pit…

Rob Siebert 4 Comments

The Book of Boba Fett, posterSERIES: The Book of Boba Fett
EPISODE: S1:E1. “Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land”
STARRING: Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, David Pasquesi
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
PREMIERE DATE: December 29, 2021
SYNOPSIS: Years after escaping certain death, Boba Fett takes over Jabba the Hutt’s criminal empire.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Disney kind of screwed Boba Fett over. I mean, think about it. They took the basic concept of the character, costume and all, and repackaged it into The Mandalorian. And obviously, that repackaging paid off. The Mandalorian is the best Star Wars content to come along in years. But it didn’t leave much for them to work with as far as a Boba Fett TV show is concerned. He couldn’t be a lone gunslinger traveling the galaxy and having adventures. Mando was/is already doing that.

So what does Boba Fett do if he’s not a bounty hunter anymore? That question could have been the thesis for an entire season. But coming into The Book of Boba Fett, we already knew what the character’s new goal was: To take over Jabba the Hutt’s criminal empire.

But why? Why does he want to be the head of a crime family? That’s my big question coming out of the first episode, and that’s what I hope The Book of Boba Fett tells us. At this point, Boba has either been a bounty hunter or been around bounty hunting for most of his life. To an extent, it’s all he knows. So why the change? And why now?

As they’re both overseen by Jon Favreau, and their main characters are so similar, it’s difficult not to compare The Book of Boba Fett to The Mandalorian. Especially at first.

I loved the first episode of The Mandalorian, particularly the opening scene in the cantina. It captured our intrigue, set the tone for the show beautifully, and is generally just a fun scene. This episode doesn’t give us a scene quite like that, but it does show fans something they’ve always wanted to see: Boba Fett escaping from the sarlaac pit.

Even George Lucas didn’t believe Boba Fett died in the pit. He said so on the Return of the Jedi DVD commentary track. So this escape scene was a long time coming. I feel like that image of Fett’s hand bursting out of the sand has been in the fandom’s collective consciousness for decades.

So Fett’s armor (mostly) protected him from the sarlaac’s stomach acid, and he was able to breathe thanks to some leftover oxygen from a doomed Imperial stormtrooper’s helmet. The question, of course, is what a stormtrooper was doing at Jabba’s palace to begin with. It’s not a pressing question, though. We saw stormtroopers walking around on Tatooine. One could have easily gotten on Jabba’s bad side.

Jawas proceed to steal the armor off Fett’s unconscious body. To make matters worse, that white body suit he was wearing isn’t exactly dignified.

So how old is Boba Fett supposed to be at this point? Let’s say he was about 8 when we saw him in Attack of the Clones. And that movie takes places 22 years before A New Hope. So, factoring in the four years between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, that would make him…about 34 years old when he crawls out of the sarlaac pit, and 39 during the events of The Book of Boba Fett.

I’ll say this much: I don’t necessarily envy Temuera Morrison. He’s over 60 years old, and has to play someone 20 years younger. He manages to pull it off, though.

After being captured and enslaved by Tusken Raiders, Fett is able to loosen his bonds, and offers to free a fellow prisoner. Said prisoner then screams for his captors, foiling Fett’s escape attempt.

Something about Fett offering to free that prisoner rubs me the wrong way. The man is supposed to be a mercenary. What does he care about what happens to anyone else? Particularly in that scenario.

On a geographical note, I never knew Jabba’s palace was in Mos Espa, a city we originally saw in The Phantom Menace. We saw him pop up in that movie during the podrace. But I had no idea he lived there. From exterior shots, the palace always appeared to be in a fairly remote location. Maybe it’s just outside city limits…?

The referral to Boba Fett as the new daimyo is interesting. The word daimyo refers to a lord or leader in feudal Japan. A nod to George Lucas’ appreciation for Akira Kurosawa films, perhaps?

The blue pianist in the cantina is indeed Max Rebo, who we saw in Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi. A random choice. But not an unwelcome one.

After the fight with the assassins, Fett tells his gamorrean guards to get him to his bacta tank. Bacta, of course, being the universal stand-in for medicine in the Star Wars universe.

As he’s moving a bit slow in the fight against the assassins, we see Fett is still feeling the effects of the sarlaac pit even five years later. Presumably he’d be fully healed if he’d started bacta treatments sooner. I’m wondering how long he’s supposed to have been doing bacta treatments. Since he installed himself as daimyo, perhaps? That might make sense, as Jabba would have had the resources to come up with a personal bacta tank like that. Except his would have been much bigger. His would have been, like…a bacta vat.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Star Wars #19 Micro-Review – Now This Is More Like It…

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***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Star Wars #19
AUTHOR: Charles Soule
ARTISTS: Marco Castiello, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz & Rain Beredo.

RELEASED: December 8, 2021

This issue is more in line with what I personally want to see from a Star Wars comic going forward. It focuses in on Luke and his learning more about the Jedi. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind a whole series like this that takes place after Return of the Jedi.

I still don’t like the gold lightsaber. I do, however, like this cover. For some reason I’m attracted to the outfit Luke is in. The outfit obviously has a very Jedi vibe to it.

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Toy Chest Theater: Stormtroopers by Ryan Mitchell

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By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Well, you knew we had to do something with Star Wars today, what with it being May the Fourth. I’ve always liked Ryan Mitchell‘s shots. Obviously, he has a knack for images that look like old timey war photos. This one in particular has always stood out to me. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s an action shot. It looks like there’s just been an explosion nearby…

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Rob Watches The Mandalorian: An Icon Returns

Rob Siebert 6 Comments

SERIES: The Mandalorian
EPISODE: S2:E6. “Chapter 14: The Tragedy”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Temuera Morrison, Ming-Na Wen, Giancarlo Esposito
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Robert Rodriguez
PREMIERE DATE: December 4, 2019
SYNOPSIS: Mando takes Grogu to the planet Tython, where he’s intercepted by Boba Fett and Fennec Shand.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I wonder who came up with the name Grogu, and how long they’ve had it. You think they had that in mind from the get-go?

Slave I gets an awesome entrance in this episode. Not overstated. Just a simple fly-by. The ship is so iconic to Star Wars fans that a simple appearance, even from a distance, does all the work.

So what is that energy field that comes up around Grogu? Are we to believe it’s Force energy? That seems like the most likely explanation. Especially since Grogu passes out afterward.

“I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me.” Nice little callback to two different lines there. The first from Jango in Attack of the Clones. The second from Luke at the end of Return of the Jedi.

This stormtrooper ineptitude is becoming a problem for me. The fact that Mando, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand were able to fend off more than a dozen of them is pathetic.

Also, when a giant boulder is rolling toward you…MOVE OUT OF THE WAY, IDIOTS!

The sequences with Boba Fett and the gaffi stick were a sight to behold. Aside from the few swings we saw in the original Star Wars, I believe this is the first time we’ve seen one in action. Certainly to this degree.

The fight between the newly re-armored Fett and the stormtroopers is obviously some great fan-service. It did bring to mind memories of the Darth Vader slaughter from the end of Rogue One. The difference? In Rogue One, that sequence was there to bolster up the end of the film because it had so little in the way of character and story. In contrast, this Boba Fett stuff has been set up since the beginning of the season. And to say the least, The Mandalorian isn’t lacking in depth.

Moff Gideon wants to be Darth Vader. Bad. Real bad. To the point that he carries around a lightsaber. It’s kinda cute, actually.

They blew up the Razor Crest! I didn’t see that coming…

I’ve never liked Temuera Morrison as the voice for the helmeted Boba Fett, especially the way they swapped out Jason Wingreen’s voice for his in The Empire Strikes Back. I have no issue with Morrison playing the role at large. But when he’s got the helmet on? Give him a voice like Wingreen’s. If Darth Vader can have a voice modulator, so can Boba Fett.

Some questions that still haven’t been answered: How did Fett survive the Sarlaac Pit? I think the general consensus is that he climbed out. But did somebody rescue him? When was he rescued?

If they do end up doing a Boba Fett series, this is some of the ground the first season should cover.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Rob Watches The Mandalorian: An Attack of Conscience

Rob Siebert 2 Comments

SERIES: The Mandalorian
EPISODE: S1:E3. “Chapter Three: The Sin.”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers, Werner Herzog, Omid Abtahi
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Deborah Chow
PREMIERE DATE: November 22, 2019
SYNOPSIS: After returning the child to his client, Mando has an attack of conscience.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I assume those stormtroopers have to keep their armor on full-time, as if they were still on duty. One would think they’d want to avoid outfits that would get them recognized. But I suppose you can’t be recognized if you don’t go out in public.

I wish we had something to call the Werner Herzog character besides “the client.” Even the mad scientist character has a name: Dr. Pershing. Granted, that sounds like the name of somebody’s podiatrist. But at least it’s there.

While we’re on the subject, are we to assume Baby Yoda has no name? See, that one I’m okay with, as we can assume he’s been in Imperial research facilities for much of his life.

Carl Weathers’ Wikipedia page says that he took the Greef Karga role on the condition that he be able to direct an episode in the second season. Take everything you read on Wikipedia with a grain of salt. But if it is true, that’s some clever bargaining on his part.

With this episode, Deborah Chow became the first woman to direct a live-action Star Wars project. Those kinds of milestones are a double-edged sword for me. Yes, you obviously want diversity in the director’s chair. But the fact that it took more than 40 years for it to happen is cringeworthy.

Then again, it’s not like there’ve been a massive surplus of live action Star Wars projects. The Mandalorian is, after all, the franchise’s first live-action TV series.

Don’t get personally involved. That’s got to be, like, the first rule of bounty hunting, right? If it’s not rule #1, it should be rule #1A.

One of the big themes in The Mandalorian, and Star Wars at large, has to do with fatherhood and parenting. We’ve had Luke and Vader, Boba Fett and Jango Fett, Han and Ben Solo, etc. And now, we’ve got Mando and the child. Heck, even Mando himself has some lost parent issues.

What I like about this episode is that we’re with Mando as he makes the decision to become a parent, albeit a surrogate one. We see the struggle between his mercenary instincts and his conscience. And we get through the whole thing with minimal dialogue from him. It’s beautifully done.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Rob Watches The Mandalorian: #FireGinaCarano?

Rob Siebert 1 Comment

SERIES: The Mandalorian
EPISODE: S2:E4. “Chapter 12: The Siege.”
STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Horatio Sanz
WRITER: Jon Favreau
DIRECTOR: Carl Weathers
PREMIERE DATE: November 20, 2020
SYNOPSIS: Mando reunites with Greef Karga and Cara Dune to take out an Imperial base.

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I’m happy to see Cara Dune again. But I had no idea her actress, Gina Carano, was such a heat magnet. #FireGinaCarano is apparently a thing on Twitter because of her views about the trans community, COVID-19, masks, and the Democratic party. Instead of spouting off about this, I’ll simply invite fans, viewers, and readers to come to their own conclusions…

Mrs. Primary Ignition popped for Baby Yoda putting his arms in the air as the ship lands. Cuteness quota: Reached.

Carl Weathers, who plays Greef Karga, directed this episode. He’s got several directing credits. But nothing as high profile as this. Based on how well this episode turned out, I imagine he’s got many more directing gigs coming his way.

“The Siege” has a lot going for it. We’ve got familiar faces from last season. But we’ve also got a really nice balance of action, excitement, and intrigue. I wouldn’t put this episode in the same league as “The Prisoner” last season. But it was still a thrilling watch.

Listen carefully during the classroom scene. You’ll hear the protocol droid say the New Republic is headquartered on the planet Chandrila, as opposed to Coruscant. Makes sense. Coruscant had become synonymous with the Empire. Best to start fresh somewhere else.

Writers need to start being careful about stormtrooper dialogue. Specifically, parroting lines from the original trilogy. Remember, these movies have been ingrained into people’s minds for 40 years now. So a seemingly harmless line like, “Alright men, load your weapons” can harken back to a very specific moment, and take you right out of the episode.

Another stormtrooper gripe: During the shoot-out sequences I found myself wishing one of our heroes, specifically Karga or Mythrol, would take a non-lethal blaster bolt. Just to show that these stormtroopers can in fact hit a target more than once in a blue moon.

So our base, it turns out, is actually a lab. We don’t find out what exactly they’re doing, but we know it involves blood from Baby Yoda. Given the child’s strength in the Force, that means these experiments could involve the creation of Snoke, or even the Palpatine clone we see in The Rise of Skywalker. On the other hand, it could simply be a matter of Moff Gideon creating clones to serve as the Dark Troopers we see at the end of the episode.

And yes, Dark Troopers were a thing in the old canon. I’m anxious to see them in action.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Alex Ross Spotlight: Star Wars and Star Trek Collide

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By Rob Siebert
Space Pacifist…who just happens to be right.

Happy May the 4th, everybody!

As a kid, I never understood the whole Star Wars vs. Star Trek thing. Mind you, I’d never seen Star Trek. But I understood how the two universes were different. It’s apples and oranges.

Star Trek, when it’s done right, is designed to ask us questions. Most good science fiction is. Ideally, you’re supposed to come away asking questions about yourself and your world, i.e. “Who are we as a people, really?”, “What would you do in this situation?”, etc.

Star Wars on the other hand, is more about the thrill of the adventure. Yes, all that stuff that’s been written about George Lucas, Joseph Campbell, and the hero’s journey are true. And I love all of it. But at the end of the day, we want to be along for the ride.

But as I got older, it started to make a little more sense. For my money it’s not about pitting the two franchises against each other. It’s about how you like your science fiction. Are you an intellectual or an adventurer? Both worlds have a certain amount of each, but there’s nothing at all wrong with leaning in one direction over another.

This is all a really long-winded introduction to this painting by Alex Ross.

Ross has depicted the two worlds separately (shown above). But obviously this is his first time mixing them. I admit, I have no idea why this piece exists. But I ain’t complaining.

Note that the Enterprise crew members have beamed in alongside the rebels. Han Solo isn’t pointing a blaster at Spock, and Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t swinging a lightsaber at Kirk. All our heroes are standing together against evil.

That says it all, right there.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.