The Mandalorian

Started by Alethia, August 24, 2019, 11:10:32 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Alethia

Watched the first episode, enjoyed seeing Werner, but it's pretty rough going. Crappy CG, visually standard tv coverage. I won't be checking out the rest.

polkablues

https://www.gq.com/story/werner-herzog-baby-yoda
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/11/werner-herzog-baby-yoda-cowards-puppet-cgi-1202192502/

Apparently, Herzog wept when he first saw the Baby Yoda puppet, calling it "heartbreakingly beautiful."

And when they tried to shoot clean coverage of the scenes without the puppet, in case they decided they needed to replace it with CGI down the line, he stopped them, saying, "You are cowards. Leave it."

I haven't seen the show, but I can't imagine it could possibly entertain me on the level that these stories entertain me.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

Tired: Baby Yoda

Wired: Loth-cat


polkablues

Good to see someone was able to re-use the original Sonic the Hedgehog design after all.
My house, my rules, my coffee

wilberfan

Quote"The Mandalorian" is a $100 million show about nothing. There's no overarching plot, no character development, and, six episodes in, still no emotional stakes or any indication that these issues will get resolved. It's about a walking action figure and his merchandising-friendly pet, doomed to endlessly receive jobs that pay well enough to fly to the next episode's location, team up with a celebrity cameo, get betrayed by bounty hunters, save Baby Yoda from said bounty hunters, and set off to the aforementioned next episode's location.

Source

Yeah, I'm out.  Someone let me know if the MacGuffin the Kid turns out to be worth the trip the budget.

Jeremy Blackman

I haven't seen today's ep, and Mandalorian is not great, but I'll say this. Baby yoda was definitely not created for the merchandise. In fact, the character is notable BECAUSE he has no merchandise yet. Favreau had Disney agree to that to prevent leaks (which worked). There will be no baby yodas for Christmas. Pre-order a baby yoda now, and you'll get it May 2020. I'm not sure we'll all be talking about baby yoda in 5 months.

Was baby yoda created for the memes, then? For the word of mouth? No, probably not, at least not by Disney; they went on a copyright claim rampage, taking down baby yoda memes for the first several days they were being created.

jenkins

it's not because they care about us or the character, they just don't want to oversaturate the market. they want to play a long game, that's it, it has to be, because why else would they protect it in this way

Jeremy Blackman

Like I said, it was a choice by Favreau to prevent leaks, because merchandise is usually how Star Wars leaks happen.

Jeremy Blackman

Bob Iger: Sit down. You have 5 minutes.

Disney marketing exec (let's call him Steve): Thank you, sir.

Bob: So what's this about?

Steve: Are you familiar with four-dimensional chess?

Bob: No.

Steve: Well, it's like regular chess, but in four dimensions.

Bob: Hmm. And the fourth dimension is, what, love? I like it. Is this going on our Netflix thing?

Steve: Sir, I work in marketing. I don't pitch shows to you.

Bob: Oh, okay. Proceed.

Steve: In four-dimensional chess, you look at what's happening on the board, but you must consider time as well.

Bob: So the fourth dimension is time?

Steve: Yes, sir.

Bob: Fascinating. Is this like that back to the future film? Do we own that?

Steve: Sort of like that. And I'll make a note to check.

Bob: Very good. Continue.

Steve: I think I have a better analogy. Have you heard of "galaxy brain"?

Bob: Galaxy brain. Galaxy brain. Is that a nintendo or a film?

Steve: It's a meme, actually.

Bob: A meme?

Steve: Yes, sir. It's the hottest meme right now.

Bob: Very well. Continue.

Steve: Essentially, a "galaxy brain" idea is one that's brilliant but also counter-intuitive.

Bob: Interesting. And we're making this into a show?

Steve: No, sir, it's just an analogy I'm using.

Bob: Very well. Continue.

Steve: I believe we have what you might call a galaxy brain idea regarding The Mandalorian.

Bob: Mandalorian...

Steve: It's the show Favreau is working on.

Bob: Oh, right. Is that a Jungle Book or a Star War?

Steve: It's a Star War, sir.

Bob: Very well. Continue.

Steve: Mandalorian has a "baby yoda" character. And according to our calculations, it's going to be all the rage. A real sensation.

Bob: Yoda... Yoda... Is that the monkey or the tiger?

Steve: Star Wars, sir.

Bob: Oh, okay. Is that the race of hairy tall fellows?

Steve: No, sir. The yodas are short and reptilian.

Bob: Interesting. But their babies are cute?

Steve: With respect, sir, all babies are cute. And this one in particular.

Bob: You've got my attention. Continue.

Steve: Favreau pitched us a number of merchandising options. But we'd like to go in a different direction. Something you might call "market scarcity."

Bob: Interesting. Continue.

Steve: When the show airs, this "baby yoda" is going to be all the rage. A real sensation, like I said. Folks will be churning out memes by the dozens—hundreds, even. But we're going to shut it down.

Bob: I like where you're going with this...

Steve: First, we'll launch a full barrage of copyright strikes, protecting our intellectual property.

Bob: The way we do with Mickey?

Steve: Absolutely, sir. But here's the twist.

Bob leans forward in his chair

Steve: We're going to let it go. We'll open the floodgates. Memes will pour into the streets. Baby yoda will be the talk of the town.

Bob: Fantastic. And the merchandising?

Steve: You've anticipated the second twist, sir. There will be no merchandising. At first.

Bob: I'm listening...

Steve: Every child in America will want a baby yoda for Christmas. They'll beg for it. But we won't make it available for five months. According to our research, when a child wants a toy, their interest in that toy increases by 28% each month. By the end of the five months, in May, obsession will reach critical levels.

Bob: So we're aiming for a May 4th release? For the Star Wars day?

Steve: I'm frankly surprised you know about Star Wars Day, sir, but no. May 20th. We're going to need an extra 16 days to maximize the effect of market scarcity.

Bob Iger takes a long sip of his coffee

Bob: Steve, my friend, you've played a real game of three-dimensional chess here.

Steve: Four-dimensional chess, sir.

Bob: I expect this plan to be executed exactly as you've described. Well done. You can see yourself out.

jenkins

lol. totally. it's also my guess that whoever made that was smart and nerd enough to embed a star wars conversation with a star trek the wrath of khan reference on purpose

Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: jenkins on December 14, 2019, 11:16:04 AM
lol. totally. it's also my guess that whoever made that was smart and nerd enough to embed a star wars conversation with a star trek the wrath of khan reference on purpose

Whoever made that? I mean, it was me, this morning. But I haven't seen Wrath of Khan. Apparently it's pervaded my brain enough through osmosis.

I should also provide this update: Amazon is selling several baby yodas, available now. One catch—they are pre-existing large-headed (arguably baby-ized?) versions of OLD Yoda. Complete with old yoda hairs and deep scalp wrinkles. These are some of the deepest scalp wrinkles I've ever seen.

HACKANUT

this show is bad. but bill burr was pretty enjoyable. was surprised how much of the episode he was in. his biggest role yet?

Drenk

Baby Yoda.

QuoteWhen Disney+ launched Nov. 12, there were some technical glitches due to extraordinary demand. But the main story audiences were talking about was the reveal of Baby Yoda. Favreau had gotten the idea of keeping the character a secret from Donald Glover while working together on The Lion King. "We were talking about music and pop culture and he was saying that what people really like now is to be surprised, because it doesn't happen that much," Favreau says. "When Beyoncé did an album, she would just put it online and everybody would react to it. Just putting it out there spurred a conversation that would become more viral and bring more genuine attention than any marketing."


The Beyoncé strategy worked. Disney deliberately withheld The Child from marketing and merchandising plans, sacrificing holiday toy revenue so as not to spoil the revelation. But by the time the second episode hit the service, Baby Yoda was ubiquitous as a meme. The phenomenon that had been pioneered by Grumpy Cat took hold for Baby Yoda, as fans shared memes of Baby Yoda sipping from his tiny mug and Baby Yoda messing with the switches in a spaceship to play Lil Jon's "Get Low." By late November, Baby Yoda mentions were outpacing any of the Democratic presidential candidates on social media. On Saturday Night Live, Baby Yoda visited "Weekend Update" to talk about feeling "blessed" by his sudden fame. Disney has said it expects to amass 60 million to 90 million global subscribers for the service by 2025.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/features/baby-yoda-represents-past-present-future-hollywood-1263588?__twitter_impression=true


Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

The middle episodes were pretty awful, but the last 2 are quite fun. The finale was directed by Taika and has his fingerprints all over it. He almost manages to nullify Jon Favreau's bad writing.