Mando season 3

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Awfully easy to break into a junk yard.

In real life, getting in to decommissioned military scrap yards is not easy. That was one of many clues for me that something was up.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, my wife and I finally saw this episode last night and we found it kind of a headscratcher. I remember the doctor's face and that, I think, he was there to set up the stupidity in Rise of Skywalker, and that the comms officer was shady and not to be trusted (honestly, her behavior was textbook espionage stuff).

The re-integration stuff was interesting, but two (?) seasons after the first appearance, we weren't sure why we were seeing any of this stuff or what it means. If it's just laying some breadcrumbs to the idea that the Emperor still has some loyalists around, it's an especially unwelcome detour.

The episode did drive home how great it would be to see Disney telling stories with new characters in underexplored areas (i.e. not Tattooine).

The Mandalorian does some of that, but we don't need to see, say, Luke's would-be R4 unit show up on the show, and we certainly don't need more time on Tattooine. Let it go back to being a forgotten corner of the galaxy.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Whilst Thrawn would use clones if it served his purposes, it wouldn't be out of character for him to be opposed to a Resurrect-Palpatine faction.

Thrawn has always been a sort of juxtaposition to the megalomania and mystical fervour that the Emperor embodies, being literally anti-Force in the old EU and certainly mostly seeming affronted by the Force in the new canon. Indeed him being undone by the Force in a very unexpected way at the end of Rebels seems unlikely to make him any more of a fan.

So yes I'd be absolutely unsurprised if that was the angle - that he was working against the Bring Back Palps faction. Or equally he might not be directing it, but might link up with that non-Force faction when he gets back from his unscheduled vacation to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.

 

[Zardnaar]

Thrawn has always been a sort of juxtaposition to the megalomania and mystical fervour that the Emperor embodies, being literally anti-Force in the old EU and certainly mostly seeming affronted by the Force in the new canon. Indeed him being undone by the Force in a very unexpected way at the end of Rebels seems unlikely to make him any more of a fan.

So yes I'd be absolutely unsurprised if that was the angle - that he was working against the Bring Back Palps faction. Or equally he might not be directing it, but might link up with that non-Force faction when he gets back from his unscheduled vacation to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.

In hindsight I think he was subverting expectations that work.

Emperor and Vader force users. Thrawn no.

Superweapins vs no superweapins.

Massive fleets vs 3-4 Star Destroyers+support ships.

Zahn was also very good at getting the dire straits of the Empire over. JJ "look huge fleet mwa ha ha".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I am also hoping that they save Thrawn for the Ahsoka series.

I strongly suspect that they will, but that's coming fairly soon - this year, apparently (finished filming last October, is in post). So it may well be that Thrawn will enter the story soon, and I don't think Favreau has a tight vision of what he wants to do with The Mandalorian. I think he's more of a general SW fan who just wants to play with fun SW toys. And once Thrawn is back in the toybox he may have difficulty not playing with him (unless Filoni slaps his hand when he tries to, but they seem pretty matey).

In hindsight I think he was subverting expectations that work.

Emperor and Vader force users. Thrawn no.

Superweapins vs no superweapins.

Massive fleets vs 3-4 Star Destroyers+support ships.

Zahn was also very good at getting the dire straits of the Empire over. JJ "look huge fleet mwa ha ha".

That's one way to look at it.

I don't think that it was intended as a subversion, though. Rather, Zahn is a military SF writer at heart, not really a space opera writer. military SF is it's own subgenre with different tropes and ideas, and the Thrawn books are more in-tune with military SF tropes than space opera ones (there is crossover - Mass Effect being a great example but that ultimately engages more with space opera tropes). Interestingly this also kind of happened with Michael Stackpole and the Rogue Squadron books, and arguably with Karen Traviss' stuff too.

 

[Ryujin]

Would have been nice if they hadn't kept escalating the size of the doom machines. It's a moon. No, it's a bigger moon, but doesn't look quite finished. No, it's a PLANET! Next will be making stars go nova and taking out entire solar systems.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Would have been nice if they hadn't kept escalating the size of the doom machines. It's a moon. No, it's a bigger moon, but doesn't look quite finished. No, it's a PLANET! Next will be making stars go nova and taking out entire solar systems.

Already been done in the old EU - I present the incredibly lame Sun Crusher

 

[MarkB]

Would have been nice if they hadn't kept escalating the size of the doom machines. It's a moon. No, it's a bigger moon, but doesn't look quite finished. No, it's a PLANET! Next will be making stars go nova and taking out entire solar systems.

If by "next" you mean "done quite early on in the Expanded Universe".

 

[Ryujin]

EU isn't "canon" for Disney, except when it is.

 

[Zardnaar]

I strongly suspect that they will, but that's coming fairly soon - this year, apparently (finished filming last October, is in post). So it may well be that Thrawn will enter the story soon, and I don't think Favreau has a tight vision of what he wants to do with The Mandalorian. I think he's more of a general SW fan who just wants to play with fun SW toys. And once Thrawn is back in the toybox he may have difficulty not playing with him (unless Filoni slaps his hand when he tries to, but they seem pretty matey).

That's one way to look at it.

I don't think that it was intended as a subversion, though. Rather, Zahn is a military SF writer at heart, not really a space opera writer. military SF is it's own subgenre with different tropes and ideas, and the Thrawn books are more in-tune with military SF tropes than space opera ones (there is crossover - Mass Effect being a great example but that ultimately engages more with space opera tropes). Interestingly this also kind of happened with Michael Stackpole and the Rogue Squadron books, and arguably with Karen Traviss' stuff too.

Wwll they were also some of the better EU authors although I didn't get the Stackpole love.