Tag Archive: Jon Favreau


Disney Gallery–Pared-back show looks behind the scenes of Season 2 of The Mandalorian

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December 27, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

In the hour-long second “season” of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian–Making of Season 2, executive producer/director Jon Favreau says he hoped to bring all the kinds of Star Wars fans together for a special moment, and he seems to have done that in this year’s superb second season of The Mandalorian, although it’s difficult to compare Disney Gallery‘s eight-episode first season of behind the scenes glimpses to the single, albeit packed, episode fans got from Disney+ this year, released on Christmas Day.  As far as making all the groups of fans happy, expect that fans of the last episode’s special climactic scene won’t get to see a “making of” feature on that component yet.

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The Mandalorian–Three Season 2 episodes are the third greatest Star Wars movie

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
December 5, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

With the second season opener “The Marshall,” I thought the new season would be more of the same (see my review here).  A bit light on plot, and so similar to a few episodes from the first season, I figured Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, & Co. were going to deliver some more good entertainment, but not take too many risks.  Not one week later I had to take that back, as the episode “The Passenger” delivered a spectacular single-story episode reminiscent of Alien and The Thing.  The fourth episode of the season, “The Siege,” was a return of characters from season one and more of the single most important, far-reaching draw for any age group or other demographic, Baby Yoda, given the name Grogu in last week’s episode.  But if you take a look at this season, especially episodes 11, 13, and 14, what you may find is the third greatest Star Wars movie.  Or at least your third favorite.  I’ll avoid spoilers for yesterday’s new episode “The Tragedy” below except to mention the director and that the episode blew me away, but let’s dig into this season so far.

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Review–The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian tops four years of the best Star Wars concept art books

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November 23, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

It really is the ultimate holiday gift for your favorite Star Wars fan.  The nostalgia in the ideas for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, as illustrated and explained in The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian, is exactly what fans were hoping for in their next Star Wars experience, probably dating all the way back to the anticipation of the release of Return of the Jedi back in 1983.  There’s a reason for the universal praise for the series, and why it’s one of the best television series of the past ten years, if not one of the best Westerns ever.  Jon Favreau, Doug Chiang, & Co. figured out how to please a diverse fandom.  By including the concept artwork in the end credits for each episode, they took us back to the Ralph McQuarrie paintings that inspired the first Star Wars film.  But those images are only the beginning.

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Revisit Katee Sackhoff’s character from The Mandalorian and more in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

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November 19, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Even if you couldn’t muddle through the first six seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which aired from 2008 through 2014, fans of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian now have one reason to take a look back at the animated series.  Earlier this year executive producer and creator Dave Filoni presented a fill-in-the-blanks, seventh and final season of The Clone Wars for Disney+.  Last week on The Mandalorian, Katee Sackhoff (Longmire, Battlestar Galactica) reprised the character Bo-Katan, a Mandalorian she voiced in 2012 and 2013 on the series, with a reference to fan-favorite spin-off character Ahsoka Tano, voiced by Ashley Eckstein in the animated series, and soon to be played by Rosario Dawson (Marvel’s Luke Cage, Men in Black II) in The Mandalorian.  If you want to see some interesting connections between the past in the Star Wars movies–the prequels, the animated series Star Wars Rebels, and more–and the current happenings on The Mandalorian, it’s time to revisit the 2020 season of The Clone Wars.

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Retro fix–Netflix sneaks in two episodes of The Movies That Made Us for the holidays

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November 15, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Following up on The Toys That Made Us (previously reviewed here at borg), Netflix’s surprise hit documentary series leaning on viewers’ nostalgia with a look behind select high-profile toy lines of the past, last December the streaming provider added a new series based on the same formula, The Movies That Made Us.  The series looked at four movies in four hour-long episodes, including the modern Christmas staples, Home Alone and Die Hard.  This December, Netflix is adding two new surveys of holiday movies to the mix: Jon Favreau’s Elf (2003) and Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).  Check out a preview below.

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Preview–Go behind the scenes of the hit series in The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian

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November 7, 2020

If you’ve been watching the new season of The Mandalorian, you might agree that this week’s new episode, The Passenger, may be the best episode yet.  Heck, if we’d have seen it back in the 1970s and 1980s with the original trilogy, we might have rated it even better than the films.  When we reviewed Abrams Books’ last behind the scenes look at the Star Wars franchise in The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we mentioned we were hoping that the publisher would get the rights for The Mandalorian series so we could get a close-up look at the costumes, props, and production art–and continue with a sixth volume of Abrams’ superb series of behind-the-scenes looks at the franchise.  Well Star Wars fans are in luck.  The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is now available for pre-order here at Amazon, and we have a preview for borg readers below.

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The Mandalorian–Season 2 begins heavy on throwbacks, light on plot

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
October 31, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

One of the oldest sayings of actors is never take a role with an animal or a child, because you’ll always get upstaged.  That’s where the Disney+ series is currently stuck–they created a character in The Child (aka Baby Yoda) that we’d all probably rather see more than Pedro Pascal’s title character.  Yes, The Mandalorian is back this weekend with the first episode of Season Two, more than welcome fun in the year of COVID-19 and real-life, high-stakes politics.  The series is full of Easter eggs and good throwbacks to the original trilogy, the prequels, bits and pieces of the entire franchise.  But the plot for the season opener is a retread of themes and scenes from last year, light on our favorite young green-eared friend.

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The Mandalorian–Season 2 is looking better and better, and yes, lots more Baby Yoda

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October 20, 2020

Disney+ shared a new trailer for The Mandalorian late Monday, adding more great clips and images from the coming season, tying viewers back to the original 1977 Star Wars.  The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), who we now know as Din Djarin, flying around with his backpack?  Check.  Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) putting an Imperial troop transport through its paces?  Check.  Someone found Yondu’s Yaka Arrow?  Check.  The Abyssin cyclops from the Mos Eisley cantina?  Check.  More of The Child (we know, you know him as Baby Yoda)?  Check.

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The Mandalorian–Now with more Banthas, Gamorreans, and yes, more Baby Yoda

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
September 16, 2020

Every new glimpse, new scene, new image from the Disney+ incredible, monumental hit series The Mandalorian provides another dream come true for any fan of the original 1977 Star Wars.  Take a look at this week’s trailer for the second season below, and see if you don’t think this is one of the best trailers from the entire franchise.   Now with 100% more Banthas, 200% more Gamorreans …and throw in a cyclopsian Abyssin straight out of the cantina at Mos Eisley.

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Inside The Mandalorian–Go behind the scenes with Baby Yoda and more in new Disney+ docuseries

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
April 25, 2020

Baby Yoda 1

Plenty of genre television is out there right now for viewers at home to consume.  But discovering that one that is so exceptional is truly an exciting thing.  So you might stumble through Tales from the Loop or Locke & Key or Briarpatch and give up before you even get to the halfway point, but then you land on The Mandalorian and know what great genre television has the potential to be.

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