Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy

On the one hand, The Mandalorian season 2 premiere was highly enjoyable. On the other hand, did they have to build on *that* story, or would they have been better off building a new one?

On today's episode of the show, I'm taking some time to meditate on the value of mystery and unclosed story loops in Star Wars storytelling - even as I find it enjoyable to close some of them! - and how Star Wars, in its reflexive approach to define everything, may leave little room for our own wonder and imagination to play. Punch it!

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Merch from Mando Mondays can reveal details about The Mandalorian - including the relative importance of a character to the future of the show. Today, an analysis... Punch it!

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What's coming in Star Wars storytelling in November 2020? The Mandalorian captures the headlines, of course, and the very first High Republic story debuts, "beyond" books and comics. Punch it!

We don't cover all the categories, because there's not notable news in all of them, but for the refresher, here's what they are...

Movies Live Action TV Animation Books Audiobooks Comics Virtual Reality Video Games Experiential (Events/Conventions/Parks) Merchandise

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The Mandalorian Chapter 9, "The Marshal," has so many little winks and nods to all corners of Star Wars storytelling - and to some familiar non-Star-Wars movie tropes, too. Punch it!

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The wait is over! Mando season 2 debuted yesterday, and in addition to closing the loop on a 5-year-old and a 37-year-old story, we also found out the Mandalorian's plan for finding the Jedi. Punch it!

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To help you avoid spoilers for the first episode of season 2 of The Mandalorian, it's a safe zone episode today! We're catching up on the news about a Willow series coming to Disney+, which matters particularly to Star Wars fans because Dave Filoni considers Willow to be part of a larger "Lucasverse" with very subtle connections to Star Wars... Punch it!

Here's the official press release about it: https://www.lucasfilm.com/news/jon-m-chu-to-direct-lucasfilms-willow-series-for-disney/

And here's the behind-the-scenes blog post I mentioned on today's show: https://www.lucasfilm.com/news/forget-all-you-know-behind-the-story-and-creation-of-willow/

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It's nice to know that the writers and filmmakers for The Mandalorian are making connections with other realms of Star Wars storytelling, including Rogue One and The Clone Wars...

On our last deeper dive into the first season of The Mandalorian, we're considering episode #8, Redemption. Punch it!

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Nevarro - the planet from which Greef Karga runs the Bounty Hunter's Guild in The Mandalorian - has been a bit of a puzzle. Season 1's "The Reckoning" puts some pieces together. Punch it!

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The first of the new/regular Mando Mondays events happened, and while toys and merch aren't the focus of our show, what they reveal about characters and story falls right in our wheelhouse. Punch it!

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Word continues to spread about Mando's troubles with Guild, and though "The Prisoner" - season 1, episode 6 - doesn't advance the tale, it gives us insight into Din Djarin's backstory, and how he's changed over the years. Punch it!

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