WiC Watches—Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian Episode 4 “Technology” – Dave Filoni on the set of THE MANDALORIAN

Chapter 8: “Connections”

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian comes to an end with a look at how various characters, places and things in the show took their inspiration from Star Wars movies, animated series and video games, as well as fun stories from the set of the first-ever live-action Star Wars TV show.

For instance, creator Jon Favreau wanted to make sure alien species that had been previously relegated to the background would get the spotlight. You can see that in how the show highlighted characters like Burg (Clancy Brown), the Devaronian with red skin and horns like the devil from Episode 6, or the lizard-like Trandoshian bounty hunters who ambushed Mando in Episode 2.

Showrunner Dave Filoni also tells a hilarious story about how Favreau insisted that the show feature a wildly obscure prop from The Empire Strikes Back be used by an equally obscure character named Willrow Hood, a citizen of Cloud City. It’s called a camtono, and it’s the container that the Client (Werner Herzog) used to store the Beskar steel he gave to Mando as payment for retrieving Baby Yoda. The prop itself was a repurposed ice cream maker. At some conventions, diehard Star Wars fans cosplay as Willrow Hood:

Some other neat insights:

• Moff Gideon’s Darksaber came from The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, his Incinerator Trooper from the video game The Force Unleashed, his E-Web cannon from The Empire Strikes Back, and his Deathtroopers from Rogue One. He is swimming in references.
• The 501st Legion — a community of passionate, dedicated and costumed fans — was brought in to play stormtroopers because the show ran out of extras. They had to keep their involvement in the show a secret.
• Mando’s rifle was inspired by Boba Fett’s weapon in the animated portion of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

• Mark Hamill voiced the droid bartender EV-9D9 in “Chapter 5: The Gunslinger.”

There were many, many more references to just about every Star Wars project that’s ever been created, and this episode will require a couple more viewings to catch all of the Easter eggs.

All in all, this was a fun look behind the curtain of The Mandalorian, and it only makes me more excited for season 2.

Episode Grade: A

Season Grade: B

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