The Mandalorian and Grogu was awesome. It had elements from multiple Star Wars sources, but stood just fine on its own. Finally, it seems everyone involved remembered- Star Wars can be enjoyed by everyone but is primarily for kids. It also had a weird narrative structure, therefore I need more time to think about it before fully commenting.
Fortunately, there was additional excellent new Star Wars content out there. it was a bit less for kids, and more for those who were kids during the prequel era, but I had a good time too-
The Prequels started off by introducing us to Darth Maul, and he was awesome, mysterious, and practically feral.
And then he died before that film ended.
Bummer.
However, a while before selling it to Disney, George Lucas (working with the current holder of Star Wars reins, Dave Filoni) brought Maul back in the Clone Wars cartoon. As he has with all the characters on his watch, Filoni added levels of depth to Maul, having him react to his (admittedly massive) injuries and betrayal by Palpatine to become both more driven and more contemplative.
The Maul Shadow Lord season (hopefully the start of a series) was an outstandingly well done mix of things that made it feel like a part of Star Wars lore (quirky droids, a city planet, Jedi on the run , Imperial take overs) with several fresh takes we'd never seen in Star Wars before. (Such as how the Police handle both the rampant organized crime in the Star Wars universe, and how they handle Imperial involvement in their jurisdiction.)
This was some of the best writing and action in animated Star Wars work I've seen. It told a fantastic story over the episodes. I cheered out loud when Maul faced the Inquisitors with their "pinwheel lightsabers" and showed them what a real double edged lightsaber master looked like.
I still maintain Episode 1 had the best live action lightsaber fight choreography. The other prequels had too much wire and cgi enhancement. The originals used them more for story and while they are great dramatic moments, the fights tend to be lower energy and secondary to the dialogue. The sequels had a mix with a fair amount of inexperienced wielders leading, once more, to drama instead of intricate dueling, but some good moments. (Kylo and Rey teaming up against the Pretorian Guard in Last Jedi was in the running.) Nothing fully reaches the combination of intensity, skill and connections in the Maul/ Qui-Gon/ Obi Wan three way battle in my eyes. This cartoon follows in that tradition with top notch lightsaber duels throughout.
The fire fights were awesomely executed as well, with opponents displaying clever use of their abilities in varied ways. The show also had a lot of StarWarsian chase scenes, at both high and low speeds, that varied between straight out excitement, and nail biting suspense.
Spoilers (or bigger spoilers anyway)-
Darth Vader shows up at the end of the penultimate episode and returns to the terrifying force (ha!) he was in his original appearance. It honored the passing of James Earl Jones to have him silent in his first return after his voice actor has left us. This only added to his menace. Vader was shown as unstoppable in lightsaber combat and a master of multiple dark side force powers. Although, his dominance allowed Maul to show his cleverness, ingenuity, and ruthlessness in surviving.
It is possible that this ending led directly to the appearance of Maul in Solo.
And yet, there are a huge amount of directions these characters can progress before that point is reached. It has the main characters Devon and Rylee, both young enough to grow through complex character arcs in surprising ways, while Maul remains a catalyst and ... Maul.
I could also see Two Boots deviate further and further from his standard Droid programming while making his way through a galaxy that is far darker and more complex than he first believed.
The show could easily combine touching base on current canon with many cool elements from "Legends" which could now reappear.
Darth Talon here we come!
Click for season index of Clone Wars, Rebels and Bad Batch
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