The Mandalorian Episode 1 Review - 6 Ups And 1 Down
4. The Effects Really Hold Up
Disney+
One of the biggest challenges that was said to prevent a live action Star Wars show from becoming a reality was the fact that any series would find itself over-budget and under-equipped. Disney have encountered no such issues with The Mandalorian (owing to the fact that, y'know, they're Disney), but it's still a pleasant surprise to see the scale of Star Wars translated almost effortlessly to the small screen.
There's a perfect blend between practical and computer-generated effects, and one thing that's also nice to see is that the show also has plenty of aliens involved too - most, if not all, rendered entirely through makeup and not CG. Given the Sequel Trilogy hasn't featured so many alien faces (at least not in any ancillary roles), it's actually pretty cool to see actors decked out in makeup and adding to Star Wars' roster of unique aliens.
Even the CG, which is only really used to showcase the Mando's ship (the Razor's Crest), Taika Waititi's IG unit, and the totally-not-horses-but-basically-they-are creatures the Mando uses to find their target in the episode's final act.
It's a major success, and illustrates the weight Disney are throwing behind their content going forward.
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.
