"How much canon do I need for the Mandalorian?" Topic

Star Wars.
I've seen the first trilogy. IV, V, VI. The only decent one.
I watched the "first" trilogy. The one that sucked.
I never bothered to watch the last movie, so only 2 of the last trilogy. It just seemed like they felt compelled to have a sequel, and had to be "edgy".
I never watched the cartoons. Excuse me. The animated series.
Never read the books.

So.
Would I be terribly handicapped in watching The Mandalorian? With Lockdown 2.0 I'll need a new series to binge watch.
Will I be totally confused by weird important people I have no clue about?
Can I follow it missing vital "canon" without being totally confused?

Or, should I just sit back, like I'm watching The Deluge in it's original Polish, and just enjoy the sword fights?

OFM, I dunno. Sorry to be so terribly culturally
illiterate, but I ain't seen a Starwars movie (or book,
tv show, street play, what have you) since the first
one.

Mind you, one of my gaming buddies and his wife have
populated their big game room with all sorts of strange
(to me) paraphernalia relative to the Star Wars mythos.
No idea what it all means.

You really don't need any. The story is self-contained with a lot of call outs and easter eggs for those in the know, but one of the reasons it really works so well is that it doesn't require you to have knowledge of the Star Wars universe for it to work.

It's heavily influenced by Spaghetti Westerns and the Samurai movies that inspired those (and is basically Lone Wolf and Cub in space). If you like those influences, you will probably like The Mandalorian.

Agree – self contained story, if you watched the first trilogy you are in good shape

Enjoy it for what it is, a western in the Stars Wars universe.

If you wanted to choose one thing to watch I would pick Rebels (animated series). A lot of the characters that are showing up/referred to in the Mandalorian were on that show. It isn't necessary though.

You'll be OK, if you like the style of films it's copying. It mostly covers new ground – even the protagonist doesn't know much about Jedis, the force, etc. For a Star Wars product, it's not bad.

If you can binge watch Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels it's applicable to the show.

You're good. I'm vaguely aware of the animated series(es), but I've never seen ‘em, and my wife knows nothing of them. We both love The Mandalorian. It's set an indeterminate amount of time after the original trilogy (but not much after), with the remnants of the Empire apparently trying to hang on without the Emperor, while the New Republic appears to be in the process of forming— not that the latter matters that much to the series.
Thankfully, if there are any references to the "prequels," I've missed ‘em entirely, and there are no clear links to the dreadful new trilogy at all.
Tune in and enjoy.

I agree, the animated series The Clone Wars, and Star Wars:Rebels are excellent, and will make the Mandelorian much more understandable (Back flashes with Super Battle Droids, etc)

Mandalorian takes place a few years after Return of the Jedi so you don't need to watch the newer films at all as they take place in the Mandalorian's future.
Some characters tie in to the animated series but you don't need to watch 11 seasons of them to enjoy/understand the Mandalorian.
If you are really compelled to know a characters backstory you can find multiple videos on YouTube that will catch you up in a few minutes.

That seems to argue that Baby Yoda isn't really Yoda.
I read Google News Entertainment.

Knowing about the other series (Clone Wars/rebels) enhances the viewing experience, but it not necessary for it. You should be able to watch & enjoy without it.

BTW, The Mandalorian is probably the best SW experience to come out since Rogue One, IMHO.

As an aside, if you have not seen Rogue One, that is not necessary at all to this show. But you should watch it because it was very, very good.

Damon

I agree w/ Garand about Rogue one.
I have never seen any of the others mentioned (Clone wars/animated series, etc.) and I think Mandalorian is great.

And since it takes place like 5 years after Return of Jedi,
it obviously isn't Yoda. Just same species.
Baby Yoda is a fan nickname – they don't call him/her that in show.

I found the description "baby Yoda" confusing. It made it hard for me to place the time period. After a while I figured out that baby Yoda wasn't him – just the same species. It's just been revealed what the child's real name is but I won't spoil it.

The time period as others have said is just after the fall of the Galactic Empire.

As mentioned above, the term Baby Yoda is never used in the series, but was instead the moniker used by fans. In the show, he's simply called 'The Child' if he's referred to at all.

Figuring out who this child is and what they are about is one of the major mysteries of the show.

Ok. As soon as we get Lockdown 2.0, I'm getting Disney +.

I binged 5 seasons of Ray Donovan, and absolutely hated having to watch the last season one week at a time, like … civilians.

Since you are getting Disney+, you might as well watch Rebels. Give it a few episodes before you decide to stop watching. In fact you have all the animated and film series and films to look at for Free. You're just paying to see the Mandealoeian. I like the stand alone film Rogue One.

Matthew

I did see Rogue 1. What impressed me most was that as a stand alone movie, it felt no need to keep popular and likable characters alive. A heroic death was allowed. And that's what Harrison Ford thought needed to happen to Han Solo in ESB. Projected toy sales kept him alive.
And among other things, that shut down the inclusion activists from tiresomely demanding why their favorite characters were not dragged along to the end of Ep 9. Which I didn't see, but I do read the papers.

If you watch the "reaction videos" on YouTube, its pretty clear that having the full 411 from Clone Wars and Rebels will SIGNIFICANTLY deepen your appreciation of The Mandalorian Season 2. We've already been treated to the return of 2 characters, and its clear another 1 and perhaps 2 more are coming, tho perhaps not this season.

Would binge watching the animated movie/series afford you the same investment in the story? Probably not. The "reactors" are "reacting" to the return of characters they haven't seen in years, and probably doubted were ever coming back. Going back will provide perspective, but a deep attachment isn't likely. Well, maybe for one of them…

The animated movie and 11 seasons of The Clone Wars and Rebels series comprise many hours of viewing. They were young adult oriented, so a lot of it is pretty juvenile. It is often pretty tedious. There are some compelling story lines. The Clone Troopers are granted much more humanity than the prequels.

You should be able to make sense of The Mandalorian with a Googled outline of the older material, but the story will lose some (strike that) A LOT of its resonance.

If you binge all the Clone Wars and Rebels material you will get a much richer experience of the story.

If you want to get the max effect, watch the older material. Go live in the upper Amazon River wilderness for 2 years, then come back and binge Mando.

If for no other reason, you should eventually watch Clone Wars and Rebels because they are within the recognized Canon of the verse.

Its actually a good gateway into SW since the Mandalorian isn't very knowledgeable about the Galaxy beyond the backwater region he is operating in. He has no idea Jedi or that force abilities exist, so his knowledge is expanded as the series goes on.

I would just enjoy it as we as a family do. I love the way characters come and go, also the pace of it .

Familiarity with the rest will make you like it even more, but as others have said, it's very good on it's own.

I really like The Mandolorian, but if the price of admission was to watch the SW cartoons I would give it a pass. I recommended watching it without prior expectations and preparations. You can always google anything that raises interest.

John,
Go to Netflix and search for Sci Fi and Adventure. You will be spoiled for choice of things to watch.

Well, I don't want to!

I don't feel like watching cartoons… excuse me, animated series… to inform me of what I'm watching.
Those are just preaching to the choir.

You can look down your nose at cartoons all you want, but if you don't watch Clone Wars or Rebels, you are missing out on some of the best Star Wars writing and character development out there. It's 2020. There's no need to pretend that animation is some inferior form of entertainment any more.

With that said, Mandalorian is good stand alone material. Watching it knowing who some of the characters are from the animated material makes it that much more enjoyable.

Clone Wars is probably the best Star Wars outside the first 3 movies (Ep IV, V and VI).

Rebels is pretty good.

For Mandalorian you only need Ep 4, 5 and 6. Even then you don't NEED to but it would help a lot to give some more meaning.

You could also download them (depending upon your county's laws and you not selling them (selling them would be piracy)).