I once read that the early rounds of a photo contest are largely based on snap judgements. If an image doesn’t make a strong immediate impression, it’s game over for that particular entry. Of course I’m not a judge and this isn’t a photo contest, but Star Wars has always been jam packed with iconic compositions so I thought it would be fun to pick out my favorite frame from each episode of the latest season of The Mandalorian.
The Apostate
The sight of Bo-Katan Kryze lounging on her throne has sparked its fair share of jokes and memes, but I actually liked this frame quite a lot. As a former photographer, I’ve always appreciated when a single image could convey a story. This shot definitely checked that box, as it perfectly summed up Bo-Katan’s character arc up to this point.
The Mines of Mandalore
The Convert
I’m always partial towards all things original trilogy, and couldn’t resist this epic shot of a decommissioned Star Destroyer. One of my favorite aspects of The Force Awakens was seeing familiar looking ships (including but not limited to Star Destroyers) in an unusual context, i.e. as wreckage in the deserts of Jakku. Here we had that again, this time in a New Republic junkyard on Coruscant. Very cool.
The Foundling
While not being a part of the current story arc, the Order 66 flashback was one of my favorite sequences of the season and of course I had to go with a shot of Kelleran Beq totally kicking butt. Having watched a ton of Asian action films in my day, I tend to be partial towards stationary wide angle fight choreography. Plus, dual lightsabers!
The Pirate
There were many scenes I liked from this action packed episode, but unfortunately all the movement resulted in heavy motion blur in most of the frames I wanted to showcase. I hardly had to settle though, as this shot of our heroes hurtling through hyperspace was particularly striking to me.
Guns for Hire
Perhaps it isn’t a total coincidence that my least favorite episode of the season also didn’t do much for me as far as visuals. On paper, Bo-Katan igniting the Darksaber would have been the ideal choice but the backdrop just looked way too much like my neighborhood park. The super battle droid chase scene came across as slightly goofy to me, but it did end in a fairly interesting overhead shot.
The Spies
The penultimate episode of the season had plenty of great scenes to choose from, yet this dark and gritty shot of an Imperial Viper droid hovering above Elia Kane was an easy choice. I really liked the huge amount of intrigue captured by this one frame, whether within the episode or if viewed without any context. The fact that it looked like a scene straight out of Star Wars 1313 didn’t hurt either!
The Return
The season finale was a visual feast of spectacular action sequences, and I legitimately had a difficult time narrowing them down to one single pick. I very nearly went with the midair shot of a hovering Koska Reeves firing her blaster and knee darts, but the TIE interceptor/bomber attack edged it out. At a glance it may look like a fairly standard Star Wars space battle, but I liked the unusual sight of Imperial ships attacking one of their own. Of course, the light cruiser was being piloted by Axe Woves at this point but still made for low key unique visuals that we’re not likely to see too often.
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