CONTACT ME:
Writing from Alter-Space
  • Home
    • Free Read: An Angel in the Mirror
  • Books
    • The Nightmarist and Other Stories
    • Exodus Sequence >
      • Wired
      • Reflected
      • Walked
      • Spooked
      • Suicided
      • Crashed
      • Woken
      • Experienced
      • Caged
      • Drowned
    • Exodus Sequence 2 >
      • Shattered
    • Fleet Quintet >
      • Transference
      • Flesh for Sale
      • V. Gomenzi
      • Commences
    • A Doorway into Ultra
    • Diamonds on the Moon
    • Clarendon House Anthologies
    • Microfiction
  • Blog

​Watching TV through the pandemic

11/28/2020

0 Comments

 
I love The Mandalorian!  It’s just absolutely the best tonic for the pandemic, working on so many different levels, for so many different age groups.  I’m quite sure I’m only one of billions who thinks it’s utterly brilliant!
 
I love that cowboy feel to it – every planet is a desert, every town a mongrel outback.  One town even has a rectangular entrance arch, reminiscent of every cowboy movie you ever saw.  And the theme tune is a split second away from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.  Humanoids and droids of all kinds live on the edge, both literally and figuratively.  We’re back in the familiar territory of the original Star Wars trilogy, a world that I first discovered in my youth (I was 14 when Star Wars:  A New Hope came out) and now seems long lost.  The Empire struck back and lost but things aren’t exactly peachy.
Throw into this the Mandalorian himself.  I know nothing about Mandalorians or Mandalor as I’ve not watched the animated series, The Clone Wars.  But you know what?  It doesn’t matter.  You get fed enough information to work it out.  Remembering bits and pieces from Star Wars movies gives the story resonance but I’m quite sure you’d be able to watch this without knowing anything – I’m thinking particularly of younger kids here, who may not (how?!) have ever seen a Star Wars movie.  I can’t get over the fact how much you love the main character, the Mandalorian himself, played by Pedro Pascal, because YOU NEVER SEE HIS FACE.  What does the actor have left to act with?  His voice (gruff and sexy), his body, his armour, but mostly his stillness.  Even hidden behind a helmet, his emotions are plain to see.
The main story arc has been unfolding slowly (I’m currently halfway through the second series) and what a brilliant story it is.  I’d be quite happy for this tale to go on for 100 episodes.  As it is, it gets eked out in only eight episodes per series, which is a killer.  And sometimes those episodes are very short, barely over half an hour.  Yet every episode is packed with plot, with action, with humour, with fantastic characters, and also quite a lot of beasties.  I could probably do without the monster-of-the-week (those spiders aaaargh) and does food always have to be alive in sci-fi stuff these days?!  I love that it can be REALLY funny without anyone cracking a joke. 
There really is something for everyone.  Thoughtful moments as well as big action sequences, without ever resorting to swearing or gore (both of which have been done to death and lack imagination).  There are moments of terror, of great sadness (“I have spoken!) and air-punching joy.  The delight I feel in watching each episode has been a tonic during lockdown2.
Now hang a sec.  I’m sure I’ve forgotten something.
Ah.
Baby Yoda.
As if the rest of this show isn’t wonderful enough, we get a small green alien child of unknown origin, about whom nothing is known except that we know he’s the same species as Yoda.  And oh dear God, he’s the cutest thing ever invented.  I’ve been a diehard fan since the first moment I saw him in endless clips on YouTube.  When I finally got around to watching the first series, it occurred to me that his darling sweetness might be, well, a bit saccharin.  But I needn’t have worried.  There’s nothing sentimental in this series.  Unlike another sci-fi TV series that continues to disappoint (Star Trek:  Discovery), there is no dripping, gushing sentiment at work.  The Child does not take over the story at all, though it is basically at the heart of the story arc.  And there’s no deliberate cuteness.  There’s no cutesy babyness.  He’s adorable, he’s funny, but he also pukes up blue biscuits. 
 
There’s just one thing I’ve wondered about though (other than what Din Djarin looks like after a bath) is why the Child has not been named.  People have an innate desire to name things.  Even a stray dog gets a name, or a cat who visits you once a week, or a squirrel you see regularly in the park (oh, okay, only me, then).  If you are going to have a small child-creature with you for any length of time, wouldn’t you name it? 
 
(The drawing is by my daughter)

Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I live in Bloomsbury.
    I write.
    Sometimes it goes quite well.

    ​

    FOLLOW
    You can follow
    Diary of a
    Bloomsbury Writer
     
    on ​
    ​wordpress.com
    where it's called
    Writing from
    ​Alter-Space

    ​​

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    Commences
    Everlast
    Lent
    Life
    Life In Bloomsbury
    My Coronavirus Diary
    New Novel
    On Editing
    On Publishing
    On Writing
    Review
    Second Draft
    The Difficult Novel
    The End
    Writing Tips

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Markus Trienke, eflon, Larry Smith2010, __MaRiNa__, elminium, InvictusOU812, PaulBalfe, Rina Pitucci (Tilling 67), ANBerlin [Ondré], Sumriana Babyana, stevecadman, Darling Starlings, Saku Takakusaki, Rubén Díaz Caviedes, Ric Capucho, aquigabo!, Key Foster, Mrs Airwolfhound, my little red suitcase, Joe Le Merou, freestock.ca ♡ dare to share beauty, bluebirdsandteapots, the bridge, Flower Power girl, Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon, chakchouka, archer10 (Dennis) 85M Views, this lyre lark, Secret Pilgrim, Hunky Punk, waaanderlust, takkle K, michaelmueller410, paweesit, Rick Camacho, Gidzy, J.J. Verhoef, Honza M., HDValentin, kthypryn, Pfauenauge *back to school...on and off*, diana_robinson, indigoMood, enrico.pighetti, Maria Eklind, timsackton, docoverachiever, Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon, bjpcorp, matty_gibbon, katya_alagich