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"The Mandalorian"...Is It Just Me?


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I get Disney+ because I have a subscription with ad-free Hulu. I like Star Wars (although not without qualification - I think Rogue One was better than the last two "official" Star Wars movies), and I'd heard buzz about the Mandalorian. So I watched the first episode.

 

And then I was hooked, so I watched the second...

 

Now, I didn't have high expectations, so maybe that colored my perception. But I thought it was excellent. I would pay the normal $6.99/month Disney+ charges just for it, assuming it continues on this level. Like the original Star Wars, it's more like a Western...it even quotes the theme of the lone gunman antihero bringing justice. I feel it's arguably truer to the original Star Wars ethos than the sequels/prequels.

 

But I also HAVE to mention the music. Those who saw my comments about Solo may remember that I felt the single biggest problem was the music, which was unrelenting. It's different in Mandalorian. The orchestral aspect is minimal, it's more about cinematic percussion and an overall more modern feel. IMHO it's a real asset to the visuals, and part of why the show succeeds. If the same person who scored this had done Solo, I'd be willing to bet the movie would have fared differently.

 

Of course, to see the show, you have to subscribe to Disney+ (or Hulu with HBO). But if you do, and you've seen the Manalorian...is it just me, or is it pretty damn good sci-fi in the Start Wars mold?!?

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I have not seen it, but one of the assistants in my classroom is a giant Star Wars fan, and he was going on about how surprised he was that he liked it, and recommended it to everyone.
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I haven't seen it.

 

But as to your comment about "Those who saw my comments about Solo may remember that I felt the single biggest problem was the music, which was unrelenting" reminds me of a similar issue I had with Star Trek Discovery. I tried watching that show twice, first when the first episodes were on broadcast TV, and then when the first episode of season 2 was put on YouTube by CBS. I couldn't stand that season two premiere. The music was, as you say, unrelenting. I found it unbearable. Friends of mine who love Trek say that show has gotten really good, but I simply could not get past that barrage of music. I was like, "stop it already!" I didn't even finish the episode. I planned to try again but then they took it offline. It made me fear that this is a new trend in Hollywood and will ruin other productions for me.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I have not seen it, but one of the assistants in my classroom is a giant Star Wars fan, and he was going on about how surprised he was that he liked it, and recommended it to everyone.

 

I'm shocked that I like it, because I'm not a fanatical Stars Wars fan...just a casual one. Frankly, my favorite movie series is the Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone :)

 

But I checked out Episode 3 tonight. I'm hooked. The fact that I would spend time staring at a screen that's NOT in my studio speaks volumes. I can think of very few better uses of time than making music in the studio, but they got me on this one.

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I've watched all three episodes released to date and would argue The Mandalorian is one of the best stories in the whole franchise. Absolutely loving it.
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I have not seen it, but one of the assistants in my classroom is a giant Star Wars fan, and he was going on about how surprised he was that he liked it, and recommended it to everyone.

 

I'm shocked that I like it, because I'm not a fanatical Stars Wars fan...just a casual one. Frankly, my favorite movie series is the Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone :)

 

But I checked out Episode 3 tonight. I'm hooked. The fact that I would spend time staring at a screen that's NOT in my studio speaks volumes. I can think of very few better uses of time than making music in the studio, but they got me on this one.

 

A good sign.

 

Now my assistant who is the giant Star Wars fan was shocked that he liked it because many of the Star Wars outings have suffered from inferior screenplays and histrionic overwrought music and situations. :D

 

I think a lot of Star Wars fans love the characters, but feel that much fo the execution is poorly done, and don't trust The Mouse to do it right.

 

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Now my assistant who is the giant Star Wars fan was shocked that he liked it because many of the Star Wars outings have suffered from inferior screenplays and histrionic overwrought music and situations. :D

 

I think a lot of Star Wars fans love the characters, but feel that much fo the execution is poorly done, and don't trust The Mouse to do it right.

 

The Mandalorian is almost like the Star Wars equivalent of nouvelle cuisine - lighter, tastier, and you don't feel bloated afterward :)

 

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So far, this is about the only reason I would have to get Disney+ and it hardly seems worth it. Hopefully down the road sometime it is available on other sources or on bluray. Otherwise, I'm ok foregoing.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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So far, this is about the only reason I would have to get Disney+ and it hardly seems worth it. Hopefully down the road sometime it is available on other sources or on bluray. Otherwise, I'm ok foregoing.

 

Fortunately, I didn't have to get Disney+. I have the version of Hulu that also does HBO and now, Disney+ is part of it. Those three are all the streaming I need or even want. They'll probably raise the rates in a few months to something I don't want to pay any more, but hopefully the Mandalorian will be over by then.

 

I wouldn't expect to see it on Blu-Ray, though, or DVD. Seems like that's the next physical media to bite the dust. DVD sales have gone down by some huge amount -- I don't remember exactly, but I think it was something like 80% since 2010. I also assume Disney won't license it to competitors. But hey, what do I know...

 

In any event Disney+ has definitely fired a shot across the bow for streaming prices. It reminds me of when Apple was able to drop the price of Logic to $199 because it had the world's most expensive dongle :). More and more, it looks like streaming is going to turn into an add-on for other things. Amazon Prime has already set that precedent. If AT&T wasn't run by bumbling idiots, they would have already figured that out when they bought DirecTV.

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Disney is asking musicians to take a 75% pay cut to record music that will air only on Disney+. I hold no illusions that other companies are any more moral, but something that blatant will not get my money. Of course, despite loving Marvel Comics and Science Fiction, I personally thing the MCU and Star Wars as franchises are lame.

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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My big issue is the fragmentation of content providers. A Disney account to watch the new Star Wars series. A CBS account to watch the new Star Trek series. An Amazon FireTV account to watch old Star Trek series. A Netflix account to watch old series that are not on Amazon. etc... I'm getting tired of it. What if music providers decide to go their own way. Instead of using Apple Music or Amazon you end up with an account for every major label?

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Disney is asking musicians to take a 75% pay cut to record music that will air only on Disney+.

 

Well it's not quite that simple, and it's both better and worse than you might think. From Cynopsis.com:

 

The American Federation of Musicians and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers get back to the bargaining table today to hash out a new deal, which would cover residuals from content made for streaming services. 'Musicians working on late-night, award, and other live television shows, as well as the musicians who score for television and films, are fighting to be paid industry-standard wages and residuals for 'new media" production,' the union said in a statement. 'Major entertainment companies including CBSViacom, Disney/ABC, MGM, NBCUniversal, Sony and Warner Media pay actors, writers and directors for streaming work, but refuse to pay musicians industry standard wages and residuals for streaming. This represents a 75% pay cut for musicians.' Rallies for a fair contract will take place today outside NBCU"s NYC headquarters, and AMPTP"s Sherman Oaks HQ.

 

I didn't get points when I was doing studio work (and I tried!), so getting any kind of residuals is welcome. I think it's about perceived value. Netflix (or whoever it was) didn't shell out for Friendsbecause of the music, but because of the actors, writers, and the direction. At the negotiating table, Jennifer Aniston can say "I want X amount of bucks, or I walk." If the person who plays bass says "I want X amount of bucks, or I walk," I'm sure they'll open the door, say goodbye, make a few phone calls, and have a replacement in 24 hours. If the union musicians in motion pictures and TV can get residuals, more power to them but I think the bargaining position (and precedent) works against them..

 

OTOH whoever's doing the music for Mandalorian might be able to drive a harder bargain because the music is different from the norm, and the show is successful. Execs might be scared to mess with a winning formula. But I don't know if that would trickle down to the musicians any more than residuals trickle down to, say, the costume designers - who are also talented, and important for a highly visual medium.

 

The money in streaming is from Spotity more than TV. Ariane Grande and Imagine Dragons each made about $14.4 million from it last year. Liam Payne hasn't even released his debut album, but pulled in $4.8 million from 665 million streams. Drake made $50.4 million. At least other avenues are opening up.

 

 

 

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My big issue is the fragmentation of content providers. A Disney account to watch the new Star Wars series. A CBS account to watch the new Star Trek series. An Amazon FireTV account to watch old Star Trek series. A Netflix account to watch old series that are not on Amazon. etc...

 

There will have to be a shakeout, unless the streaming stuff is pretty much free - for example, maybe AT&T bundles DirecTV the way they used to give you cheap phones, so if you're on AT&T, you get what they have if you have a phone. But they could also make the service ad-free for AT&T customers, or with ads for non-users. Disney could license the Mandalorian, like they licensed Star Wars to Netflix.

 

So it's going to be a mess for a while. Ultimately, the most TV I watch in any given day is maybe an hour max, so to have 14 quadrillion hours of viewing time a click away is pretty much meaningless to me.

 

What if music providers decide to go their own way. Instead of using Apple Music or Amazon you end up with an account for every major label?

 

I think the music biz went through the "death of physical media" crisis before the movie/TV biz, so there's already been a bit of a shakeout. People stream Spotify or Pandora, and a few outliers. Maybe that's what will happen with video streaming.

 

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Of course, despite loving Marvel Comics and Science Fiction, I personally thing the MCU and Star Wars as franchises are lame.

 

Now that you mention it, I think the concept of franchises is a problem in itself. When the first Star Wars came out, it was different - a kids movie adults could enjoy, the visuals were stunning for the time, the sound design (mostly done with TEAC 4-track recorders) was exemplary, and it used a zillion cultural reference points. But when you repeat the same formula over and over again, that's just not going to cut it. "The Force Awakens" was really just a remix of the first Star Wars.

 

I have a lot more admiration for Bladerunner 2049, which was a very different movie compared to the first one.

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I now occupy a fog of utter burnout regarding sequels beyond a very minimal level. Another "Planet of the Apes" reboot was just announced. Yawn. All of this makes the streaming wars issue all but moot for me. The lack of originality and corporate greed means I can stream or buy DVDs piecemeal. If "They" are too lacking to inspire me into a theater visit... :idk: The term decadence means "the decay of a society as defined by the drop in the quality of its arts." Seeing yet another remake smells like the point at which douche met bag. "Star Wars" and "Avatar" are pastiches of numerous old-sci fi stories, so in this case, my literacy is a liability. :sick: Lucas lifted so much from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars series, Ed should rise as a zombie and eat him. Lucas tried to buy the rights to "Buck Rogers;" King Features refused. I'll bet some of them went to sleep gnawing on their arms after George thinly rewrote it and made the big bucks. I do still enjoy movies, such as "Green Book," but sheesh, the sequelitis..... Patton Oswalt posted this and said "Three call-backs and they still hired the f**king puppet!" :laugh:

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 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
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I now occupy a fog of utter burnout regarding sequels beyond a very minimal level. Another "Planet of the Apes" reboot was just announced. Yawn.

I predict it will be a box office failure. At least, I hope so :)

 

The term decadence means "the decay of a society as defined by the drop in the quality of its arts.

Wow, then we have certainly gone past that tipping point.

 

Lucas lifted so much from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars series, Ed should rise as a zombie and eat him. Lucas tried to buy the rights to "Buck Rogers;" King Features refused. I'll bet some of them went to sleep gnawing on their arms after George thinly rewrote it and made the big bucks.

At least Lucas always gave credit in interviews to his sources...or at least, as many of them as he could mention in the time allotted to an interview :). I thought it was interesting with the Star Wars prequels where he went in a political direction. Of course, no one wanted that, nor was it executed as well as it might have been. But at least he tried.

 

I think a lot of what you're seeing isn't just about the corporations, though - it's "fear of the fans." These days they are truly a case where the word is short for "fanatic." Some of the online comments about "The Last Jedi" had nothing to do with hating on the movie, but hating on the people who played the characters. It seems that with a few exceptions, people WANT to see the same thing over and over again.

 

The much-excoriated (and deservedly so) "Solo" movie was originally supposed to be almost a comedy, and played like a heist movie. When you look at it that way, the idea of casting people like Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover made sense, and having the love interest be a robot could have been truly funny. Instead, it seems like the studio got cold feet, tried to surgically implant gravitas, and make it feel more "Star Wars." I don't have facts to back this up, but I think they were afraid of the fans, and they were afraid a departure from the formula would kill the franchise.

 

That's probably why I like the Mandalorian...it stole from something different, Westerns-built-around-antiheroes. instead of sci-fi :)

 

 

 

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I found out why it has that different "look" - there is NO green screen used at all! The backgrounds are projected, via an LED wall.

 

Technology is amazing...

 

Fascinating. Sort of a new take on an old technique. I've only seen the trailer, but whatever they're doing looks really great.

 

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I found out why it has that different "look" - there is NO green screen used at all! The backgrounds are projected, via an LED wall.

 

Technology is amazing...

 

Fascinating. Sort of a new take on an old technique. I've only seen the trailer, but whatever they're doing looks really great.

 

Yes...nothing has to be masked/matted, and it makes a major difference.

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