“It’s like poetry; it rhymes”. While this George Lucas quote has long been a Star Wars cliche, it did ring particularly true in Chapter 16 of The Mandalorian The Rescue with so many scenes serving as visual reminders of Star Wars past. We are certainly making no claims that any of these were intentional (chances are good that many were not), nor is this by any means any sort of comprehensive list; they simply jumped out to this particular Star Wars fan.
Rogue One ranks high on my favorite list of Star Wars films, but the absence of the hovering TIE fighter from the trailer has always been a sore spot. While we are unlikely to ever see how this showdown would have played out, this incredible shot of Slave I went a long way to scratch that itch.
This one was a bit of a no-brainer. Mando’s beskar spear scored an assist in what’s possibly one of the more brutal deaths in Star Wars.
This very brief shot of Gideon backing Mando out the prison cell door had a bit of visual similarity to Anakin backing Obi-Wan down a hallway on Mustafar.
Okay, this one isn’t canon but it’s still a great nod (intentional or not) to the incredible fan-made SC 38 Reimagined duel between Vader and Obi-Wan.
This was surely just a coincidence, but the similar framing jumped out at me. Nothing more to see here.
Luke entering the frame in this scene instantly looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. Over a day later it finally hit me: Qui-Gon attacking Maul. In both cases the Jedi stepped in front of a stationary camera, which then began slowly following the action forward.
Another superficial resemblance to an unused trailer shot. What stood out to me as similar was the contextually unusual one-handed lightsaber stance used by Luke. Also, the hood.
Did they both learn this from Obi-Wan? Either way, such a great move.
The entire scene after Luke stepped out of the elevator reminded me of Vader’s iconic onslaught in Rogue One. Both were a joy to watch.
The Force Unleashed II isn’t canon (anymore) either and there’s wildly different framing here, but both were striking scenes. It was jolting to see Luke force crushing a dark trooper, and I mean that in the best way possible.
Another obvious one.
A son seeing his father’s face for the first time, knowing their time together is about to end.
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