Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The final trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu is out and gives us some pretty solid ideas of what to expect. Alasdair Stuart signed on with the New Republic and returns with the following briefing:

0.02 – Little guy

Grogu training in that most essential Jedi discipline; meditating on a log.

0.15 – ‘I only hunt Imperial war criminals.’

Interesting to see this clarification. That’s quite a left hand turn from someone who was previously a bounty hunter who by and large didn’t care what the target was.

0.18 – Mando rifle

Is this the first time we’ve seen his rifle in a while?

0.24 – Hutt Twins

A major part of The Book of Boba Fett, warring with Fett for control of their cousin’s territory before bowing out of the conflict. Seeing them show up here is interesting, and speaks to new Star Wars boss Dave Filoni’s years long plan of folding all the various shows together into a coherent new era. See also the arrival of Zeb later in the trailer, the Anzellans and the U-Wing we seem to see Mando operating out of.

0.27 – ‘It’s about preventing another war.’

Colonel Ward is an interesting character and one I’m hopeful the movie will give a little nuance too. She reminds me of the offhand reference Cara Dune makes to being a new Republic Shock Trooper sent to kill Imperial warlords. Morally grey work at best, which in a universe with the Dark Side of the Force in it is an interesting choice and one I hope the movie chooses to explore.

0.39 – Adelphi Base

Yep that’s Adelphi Base, which we saw a few times in The Mandalorian. That means there’s a good chance Carson Teva, fighter pilot and spiritual appa to Star Wars fans everywhere might well be showing up! Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who plays him, is a fantastic actor, and if you’ve not seen Kim’s Convenience or the miracle he pulls off as Uncle Appa in the Avatar live action show, you should.

0.42 – Colonel Ward flight suit

Sigourney Weaver flying an X-Wing. Nature is healing.

0.43 – ZEB!

Garazeb ‘Zeb’ Orellios, everyone. Beloved Rebels character, who looks great in live action and is apparently a major part of  the movie. In fact both Zeb and Rotta the Hutt seem to be, given that Jeremy Allen White, who voices Rotta is second in the movie’s credits…

0.47 – Anzellans!

Babu Frik’s people! Babu Frik is the very very small mechanic from The Rise of Skywalker. Looks like we’re spending a lot of time with his people this time round.

1.01 – AT-AT Walker

The little chicken leg walker Mando and Grogu hop on is apparently an AT-RT. There are already at least two toys of it. I do like how it’s a scaled down AT-ST with Speeder bike cockpit vibes.

1.06 – AT-AT Fight

The AT-AT fight is apparently in the first twenty minutes of the movie. What I really like about it is that it plays to both the exact same strategic weakness the Rebels exploited on Hoth and gives us a major character beat for the Imperial remnant. They’ve got no new ideas, no capacity to learn. Just hatred, old weapons and fascism, all of which can be beaten.

1.06 – ‘What happens when you’re not there to protect him?’

Colonel Ward there, saying the quiet part loud.

1.18 – Babu Frik’s people’s tiny ship

I’m not on the Babu Frik train, but even I will admit their tiny little spaceship is so cute!

1.27 – ‘Mandalorian you will suffer. Then it will be his turn.’

Mando’s response to this is ‘MONSTERS’ and he’s not wrong. What’s interesting is that judging by other reports about the movie, the Hutt twins aren’t the primary bad guys, or at least aren’t set up as such. In fact there’s some strong evidence everything in these trailers is from the first hour or so of the movie, so I wonder what we’re not being shown yet?

1.35 – Gnarly battle droids

Look at these big angry murder clankies! I love ’em! Such a fun, block design!

1.37 – ‘The old protect the young, and then the young protect the old.’

The emotional arc of this trailer, and the one that preceded it, seem to be Mando wrestling with the fact Grogu’s essentially immortal. It’s something Star Wars hasn’t really dealt with before, it plays to Pascal’s fundamentally likable nature and it’s going to be really interesting to see how it plays out.

1.44 – Mando down

I’m about 98% sure they aren’t killing Mando but only 98%. There’s been talk of a fourth season, and if this does well you know there’ll be another movie. But that line delivered over this shot makes me wonder if Grogu’s going to grow into his abilities by healing Mando from some very serious injuries.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is out on May 22nd.