The Mandalorian Episode 1 Review - 6 Ups And 1 Down
Downs...
1. It Can Get A Little Too Self-Referential At Times
Lucasfilm
This is fairly par-for-the-course when it comes to Star Wars related works, but for all that The Mandalorian's episode delivers a fresh and exciting take on the series, it does occasionally stumble when it comes to paying its respects to Lucas' original works.
Now to be clear this isn't just a Mandalorian problem; countless Star Wars projects can't help themselves when it comes to referencing old bits of dialogue or rehashing shots from earlier works. "I have a bad feeling about this" is synonymous with the franchise for a reason, and while this isn't to say that Chapter One is over-stuffed with nods and winks to those earlier films, there is one shot late on in the episode that mimics the Tusken's attack on Luke in A New Hope that felt a little too on the nose.
That's it though, really. The first episode is pretty much faultless in almost every other regard, and while I personally don't care for those callbacks to the Original Trilogy, there's no doubt someone will enjoy those nods once they spot them.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
