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Dave Filoni quote

You do [Episodes] Four, Five and Six and then One, Two, and Three. So in the vein of that history, when you look at the epilogue of Rebels you don't really know how much time has passed. So, it's possible that the story I'm telling in The Mandalorian actually takes place prior to that. Possible. I'm saying it's possible.”

So the Rebels epilogue scene may not have taken place yet and Ahsoka hasn’t gone looking for Ezra yet but if Thrawn is back then ??? (Insert series here)

For those with kids looking for a fun project?

Babish has done a video on how to make blue Macarons, featuring Mr Favreau.




Video is wholesome and suitable for family viewing.

I found the lightsaber wielding quite slow and laboured in the episode, which could be due to practicality reasons due to Rosario Dawsons lack of specific training in comparison to the standard we expect, it could be due to story telling reasons, namely that Ahsoka is actually getting on in age (though jedi's usually don't slow down all that too much), or and I have an unsupported inkling it was this...

It was due to design, with stripping star wars back a bit from the ridiculous (but cool) acrobatic style of lightsaber combat seen in the recent trilogy. The only issue with that is the inconsistency in regards to Ahsoka in both the clone wars and rebels, she's seen as quite a competent lightsaber duelist in those.

Still, I loved the episode and my comments on the lightsaber welding isn't really a criticism as it didn't ruin the episode for me.

Would a competent lightsaber duelist be faster and flashier or more likely to find the right position and timing from which to strike?

Possibly just rusty skills.

The last time we saw Ahsoka fight someone with a Saber was....well, Vader!

Yes she’ll have fought using her sabers since. But that’s different to duelling someone who can block you.

As a side question for those more knowledgeable...as far as I’m aware, fighting with a sabre is difficult because the blade has no weight - so it’s very different to using a sword as we might. Surely that affects the physics of a scrap when up against Beskar, which can resist your blade.

If you look at her fighting, when blocked all the power is coming from her wrists, whereas the baddie has the physical weight of the Beskar pike to use. Does that not give the baddie the advance?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Would a competent lightsaber duelist be faster and flashier or more likely to find the right position and timing from which to strike?

A fair question, my main observation was the speed of her strikes, which were fairly basic (for a jedi) it seemed like the lightsaber combat from the first trilogy, where they had weight and were more akin to broad swords.

Or... It was an intentional homage to classic cinema.

Jedi does come from the Japanese word for period piece (jedaigeki). I doubt it's any revelation that Japanese cinema was highly influential in American film making and George Lucas has never shied away from acknowledging the influence of spaghetti westerns (a genre that borrow more from Japanese films than most) had a big influence on Star Wars.

I am reminded of the most one sided fight in Star Wars - Obi-Wan vs Maul in Rebels nothing flashy just a jedi master totally outclassing his opponent in the most minimal way possible.

more Filoni quotes

She is, for lack of a term, a master, because she’s largely an independent at this point. I play her much more as a knowledgeable knight. A wandering samurai character is what she really is at this point. I’ve always made comparisons to her heading toward the Gandalf stage, where she is the one that has the knowledge of the world and can help others through it. I think she’s reached that point.”

endlesswaltz123 wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Would a competent lightsaber duelist be faster and flashier or more likely to find the right position and timing from which to strike?

A fair question, my main observation was the speed of her strikes, which were fairly basic (for a jedi) it seemed like the lightsaber combat from the first trilogy, where they had weight and were more akin to broad swords.

I’m okay with that.

 LordofHats wrote:
Jedi does come from the Japanese word for period piece (jedaigeki). I doubt it's any revelation that Japanese cinema was highly influential in American film making and George Lucas has never shied away from acknowledging the influence of spaghetti westerns (a genre that borrow more from Japanese films than most) had a big influence on Star Wars.

Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress is a major influence on the original Star Wars

 DaveC wrote:
Dave Filoni quote

You do [Episodes] Four, Five and Six and then One, Two, and Three. So in the vein of that history, when you look at the epilogue of Rebels you don't really know how much time has passed. So, it's possible that the story I'm telling in The Mandalorian actually takes place prior to that. Possible. I'm saying it's possible.”

So the Rebels epilogue scene may not have taken place yet and Ahsoka hasn’t gone looking for Ezra yet but if Thrawn is back then ??? (Insert series here)

Honestly that feels like intentionally crapping on the idea of a timeline (and coherent storytelling) more than anything else.

I mean, if you consider that the original trilogy was like, 2 years, and Rebels ended just as it started, and hers was pregnant at the time, and her kid looked like, 8-10 years old, and Mandalorian takes place 5 years after ROTJ, I can see it taking place just a bit before.

 Compel wrote:
Or... It was an intentional homage to classic cinema.

Spoiler:

No doubt that episode had 'Samurai film' written all over it. So many touches, from the fight styling, to the (lack of at times) dialogue, to the village design, and even to the prominence of Asian actors.

 LordofHats wrote:
Jedi does come from the Japanese word for period piece (jedaigeki). I doubt it's any revelation that Japanese cinema was highly influential in American film making and George Lucas has never shied away from acknowledging the influence of spaghetti westerns (a genre that borrow more from Japanese films than most) had a big influence on Star Wars.

It's not even that roundabout, Lucas was a Kurosawa fan and (allegedly) wanted Toshiro Mifune to play Obi Wan originally.

Lucasfilm leans into this influence, if the number of times they've remade Seven Samurai in their shows is any indicator.

 Captain Joystick wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
Jedi does come from the Japanese word for period piece (jedaigeki). I doubt it's any revelation that Japanese cinema was highly influential in American film making and George Lucas has never shied away from acknowledging the influence of spaghetti westerns (a genre that borrow more from Japanese films than most) had a big influence on Star Wars.

It's not even that roundabout, Lucas was a Kurosawa fan and (allegedly) wanted Toshiro Mifune to play Obi Wan originally.

Lucasfilm leans into this influence, if the number of times they've remade Seven Samurai in their shows is any indicator.

To be fair, who hasn’t done a Seven Samurai remake? “Round up a band of misfits to save the <blank>” shows up a LOT

endlesswaltz123 wrote:
I found the lightsaber wielding quite slow and laboured in the episode, which could be due to practicality reasons due to Rosario Dawsons lack of specific training in comparison to the standard we expect, it could be due to story telling reasons, namely that Ahsoka is actually getting on in age (though jedi's usually don't slow down all that too much), or and I have an unsupported inkling it was this...

It was due to design, with stripping star wars back a bit from the ridiculous (but cool) acrobatic style of lightsaber combat seen in the recent trilogy. The only issue with that is the inconsistency in regards to Ahsoka in both the clone wars and rebels, she's seen as quite a competent lightsaber duelist in those.

Still, I loved the episode and my comments on the lightsaber welding isn't really a criticism as it didn't ruin the episode for me.

The lightsaber work is actually perfectly in line with Episodes 4/5/6. It's 1/2/3 that made lightsabers insane.

Absolutely, I’m glad someone agrees.

1/2/3 didn't just make lightsabers insane either. Like. In 4/5/6 Luke could do a big flip with the force. In 1/2/3 Anakin could leap out of a speeder fall 100 yards another another speeder going in the other direction and not get instantly turned into a red mist. The running hyper fast. It's insanity what force users are capable of in those movies.

Voss wrote:
Honestly that feels like intentionally crapping on the idea of a timeline (and coherent storytelling) more than anything else.

It's just Filoni being his typical self. Man has never met a question he couldn't not answer with as many words as possible.

It’s just narrative wiggle room. Clearly he wanted to continue Ahsoka’s story, so the final scene of Rebels telegraphed that to us, the audience.

But other than “post-Endor”, there is no time stamp, giving him more to play with.

 Lance845 wrote:
1/2/3 didn't just make lightsabers insane either. Like. In 4/5/6 Luke could do a big flip with the force. In 1/2/3 Anakin could leap out of a speeder fall 100 yards another another speeder going in the other direction and not get instantly turned into a red mist. The running hyper fast. It's insanity what force users are capable of in those movies.

This was intended to accentuate the difference between the 'Jedi' we see in the OT (a teenager with a week of training, an old guy, and another old guy who's half replacement parts) and the fully trained and fighting fit Republic-era Jedi.

Although on a practical note, it was also because the saber props used in the first couple of movies kept breaking if they got too rough with them, so they accentuated a slower, more deliberate fighting style. The more aggressive fighting shown in RotJ reflected a change to more durable props, and then by the time they made the prequels they had access to even better materials (which Ewan Mcgregor still managed to keep wrecking...)


I feel like Ahsoka's more restrained fighting style in the Mandalorian was intended more to be in keeping with her overall bearing, than to harken to the OT specifically. This isn't the headstrong Ahsoka from the cartoons - she's grown up, and centered herself, and her more considered fighting style goes along with that.



Edited for many, many typos...

Lets be honest. The prequel change was mostly because that was the direction we were seeing sword fight action in movies take at the time. This was after all, right in line with the Matrix, the anime boom, and all of the rest.

 LunarSol wrote:
Lets be honest. The prequel change was mostly because that was the direction we were seeing sword fight action in movies take at the time. This was after all, right in line with the Matrix, the anime boom, and all of the rest.

That's part of it, but the advances in technology and materials were what made it possible. Honestly, if George could have included fights like that in the original trilogy, I'm fairly sure he would have.

 insaniak wrote:

 LunarSol wrote:
Lets be honest. The prequel change was mostly because that was the direction we were seeing sword fight action in movies take at the time. This was after all, right in line with the Matrix, the anime boom, and all of the rest.

That's part of it, but the advances in technology and materials were what made it possible. Honestly, if George could have included fights like that in the original trilogy, I'm fairly sure he would have.

Why? During the OT he was channeling Kurosawa, who never had any wire-fu dancefights that I can remember.

Also, he had people who told him, “no”.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Captain Joystick wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:
Jedi does come from the Japanese word for period piece (jedaigeki). I doubt it's any revelation that Japanese cinema was highly influential in American film making and George Lucas has never shied away from acknowledging the influence of spaghetti westerns (a genre that borrow more from Japanese films than most) had a big influence on Star Wars.

It's not even that roundabout, Lucas was a Kurosawa fan and (allegedly) wanted Toshiro Mifune to play Obi Wan originally.

Lucasfilm leans into this influence, if the number of times they've remade Seven Samurai in their shows is any indicator.

To be fair, who hasn’t done a Seven Samurai remake? “Round up a band of misfits to save the <blank>” shows up a LOT

I'm not saying it's not a commonly revisited trope in western media, but the two times Star Wars did it that I recall (in Clone Wars and Mandalorian) they included enough winks and nods to make it clear they knew exactly who they were paying tribute to.

The producers seem very much aware of the yawning gap between Prequels-era dance fighting and OT-era naturalism. Ahsoka, like Bo-Katan and her goons, fight much more in the former style. Everyone else, much more in the latter. But on the whole, this series prefers the latter for everyone.

I’ve heard originally George wanted light sabers to always require two hands to use, as it was needed to control their incredible power.

 AduroT wrote:
I’ve heard originally George wanted light sabers to always require two hands to use, as it was needed to control their incredible power.

They were supposed to be really heavy. It's hard to say now if that was the original idea or the result of having to tone down the fighting style... George is rather unreliable when it comes to which ideas came when, or what his original intentions were.

 AduroT wrote:
I’ve heard originally George wanted light sabers to always require two hands to use, as it was needed to control their incredible power.

I quite like idea myself. And I’ll tell you why; it suggests that they’re so powerful you need to use the force to keep them under control. This might be too comical but with this idea I’ve suddenly got the image of a lightsaber being like a firehose; wildly dangerous and uncontrollable. Like if a non force user or novice activated it would literally floor them, whilst the energy shoots out all over the place.