Ever since I was a kid, Mandalorians have had a special place in my Star Wars fandom. The Boba Fett action figure was just so cool, and he had a rocket pack! Just as they said it would, Favreau and Filoni make it feel like they dumped all their favorite Star Wars toys on the floor and only used the coolest ones in their projects. I still grin everytime I see the Jawa’s Sandcrawler really move in that season 1 episode of The Mandalorian! It reminds me of a friend having a remote control version of the ‘Crawler and racing it around the room, hoping it wouldn’t break down.
We got a special look at The Mandalorian and Grogu during Super Bowl LX. In it, it shows a pack of Tauntauns (and who didn’t have at least one of those figures to go along with the Wampa?) dragging a sled. It’s supposed to invoke the old Anheuser-Busch beer commercials with the Clydesdale horses, plus it’s got Sam Elliot himself, saying this cryptic little bit:
Sometimes we choose our path. Other times, the path chooses us.
Through it all, we keep pushing forward:
Driven by a deeper purpose, guided by an unseen Force.
The journey never gets any easier; the bond just gets harder to break.
This is the way.
It’s got Mando giving the reins of the Tauntauns over to Grogu who takes them in a playfully puppet way. We’re in the snow, we’ve got Tauntauns…are we supposed to infer that this is Hoth? No, it’s just a silly teaser. This scene may not even be in the movie. Now on to the real deal that came out this week…
It starts off looking like Apocalypse Now, Star Wars: The Force Awakens style with lots of reds and droids looking busy. A new Razor Crest, this time with some yellow for a little Naboo hot rod action. Seeing as how the original was blown up, this must be a brand new one Din bought with that New Republic money he’s taking in. Din Djarin tries to take off, but Grogu keeps hitting other buttons. We arrive at a City-Planet like Coruscant, but most of the Internet says this is Nal Hutta. Scum and Villainy. We then get our first big cameo of the trailer/movie. It’s Martin Scorsese as Hugo! He runs a food truck type business, like the chinese guy from Blade Runner and Fifth Element. He plays a guy who kinda looks like Scorsese and is the same alien species as Jon Favreau in Solo.
Ordinarily, given what high regard Scorsese holds for these types of movies, I was surprised to see his voice acting all over the Interwebs. Apparently Din uses him for information. However, even after Din puts down serious Republic credits for info on a Hutt, Hugo wants nothing to do with him and shuts down business. There’s a brief talk with Sigorney Weaver and using playing cards (probably Sabacc) as the New Republic’s Most Wanted. Kinda like what the US did in the War on Terror and different playing cards representing Iraqi war criminals. We see the Hutt Twins like in Boba Fett and there’s talk about Gangsters and The Imperial Remnant. Grogu salutes to Sigourney Weaver.
We then see Din Djarin using his FLAME THROWER on two Snowtroopers (presumably on that AT-AT from the very first trailer) and then double taps them to make sure they’re dead. We see the Adelphi Base, which is where Din, Sigourney and the rest of the squadron works and lives out of. Sigourney’s Colonel talks about revenge (yeah, but for what?) and trying to prevent a second war, the same thing Ahsoka and Leia talk about. Grogu destroys a Winter Mouse Droid (with heavy duty snow tires – exactly the kind of thing every kid wants next Christmas) with the Force and avoids a tire, Iron Man style. We then see Clone Wars-era battle droids running with fast-moving ships flying out.
This reminds me of a possible fake The Mandalorian and Grogu toy, the mercenary battle droid (possible with Mandalorian armor) and a STAP. I have a special love for the STAP because it was the first Episode One toy vehicle I saw on the shelves before the movie came out. I don’t know if this item is real or not, but this would be the place it would shine.
Now we get to the meat of the trailer, so to speak. We see EMBO, a bounty hunter with a cool hat from the Clone Wars cartoon. At first I thought it was Constable Zuvio, come to have his revenge after getting so many pointless action figures from the Force Awakens. He appears to be sneaking up in the rain to Din and Grogu’s house in Nevarro. And the next image shows Din Djarin’s bucket being taken right off his head–rather easily. You’d think he’d have a vacuum seal or explosives on it or at least make it hard to take off his head like a hat.
Uh oh. An enemy has removed Din Djarin’s helmet. According to the mythology developed over the seasons, a warrior who walks “the Way” cannot remove his helmet for any reason, especially being removed by an enemy! Din already went down to the caves of Mandalore to purify his “sin” and barely survived. It looks like he has it off for a while, fighting a creepy white sewer monster. I know nothing about Embo so I’m hoping for some good fight scenes.
From here on, it looks like Grogu is kind of on his own, looking for his father. Opposite of what’s been going on the past several seasons of the show. One of the Hutt twins is telling him he will suffer and Grogu’s next, baby. But why, what did Mando do to these Hutts to tick them off so badly?
“Before going into harm’s way, check your armor.” Looks like Grogu’s got the firefly weapon thing and his big medallion armor with the mudhorn on. He hooks up with the Anzellans and meditates like a Jedi on a tree, becoming more like Yoda by the second. At the same time, Din talks about the fact that Grogu’s and Yoda’s species will live for centuries. Grogu swims and Din picks up out of the water like a good father.
Awww, yeah. Now we meet Rotta the Hutt! He’s the jacked son of Jabba the Hutt. Is he a slave/gladiator to his Hutt Twin cousins? Is he part of this willingly and taken over his father’s empire and just likes to flex his muscles in the ring? Whatever the case, he’s fast with an axe and goes up against Din Djarin in full Mandalorian armor. Still can’t see all of him clearly, but I’m sure that will change shortly. I can’t wait for the giant-sized Black Series figure of Rotta.
Another interesting scene: Grogu talks to some sentient swamp creature who may or may not be a Force sensitive/Jedi master we don’t know about. He asks Grogu if he’s afraid, the same way Yoda does to Luke and gives almost the same answer: “you should be.”
Din, with his helmet off, fights the above-mentioned white sewer creature. Without the helmet to mask his emotions, Din looks terrified. We now run into Zeb from Rebels, attacking Stormtroopers, apparently on Grogu’s side, perhaps to free Din. The next scene’s a little more cryptic. Grogu uses the Force with his hand, while another completely different scene in a completely different time and space shows a transport full of Stormtroopers getting flipped.
The final scene of the trailer shows a creature straight out of A New Hope holo-chess attack a facility, presumably where it’s being held. A Rodian mother takes her little Rodian child out of its fancy pram and runs for their lives. Din tells Grogu to take it for himself, Grogu jumps in and speeds off with Din following with this jetpack. There’s a chase through Nal Hutta and we see lots of neon lights and alien monsters. Hey, perhaps the Hutts were playing holo-chess with full size creatures ala Harry Potter and they got loose?
Absolute final scene shows Din taking away Grogu’s tasty snack cookies, telling him to watch his dinner. Grogu doesn’t seem to care and continues eating a hidden cookie.
Damn, that’s a good trailer! As suspected, Din and Grogu work for the New Republic under Colonel Ward (Sigourney Weaver), picking up bounties on Imperial Remnants (through playing cards). At one point, Din’s after Rotta the Hutt (or his twin cousins) and is eventually captured by said Hutts, causing Grogu to ‘Force up’ and gather allies to free his dad from certain death. I would also presume Thrawn is probably at play here. Given the Sabacc cards as bounties, I would think Thrawn’s the Ace or Sylop. I would also presume that the Ahsoka series comes out right after the Mando movie does and picks up the same general storyline – going after Imperial Remnants. Unfortunately, we know that most of them become the First Order, ultimately leading to failure for our New Republic heroes. I also hope the second season of Skeleton Crew does come to fruition and helps out in this process too.
