Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Mandalorian and Grogu hit cinemas this weekend. Many fear it could be the worst opening weekend for Star Wars in the franchise's history. So has the world finally reached peak Star Wars? Film reviewer and Star Wars fan, who's actually seen the new installment in the franchise, joins me now in the studio.
Cara O'Doherty, you're very welcome to the programme. Thank you for being here. You've seen it.
Chapter 2: What are the concerns about the new Star Wars film's opening weekend?
I have seen it.
How is it?
I really enjoyed it. Now, it is dividing critics. And I think one of the big problems is fatigue is setting in, without a doubt, across the board. We have 50 years, almost 50 years worth of Star Wars, nine main films, three standalones, over 20 different TV series between the animated. And there's a lot. And one of the things with Mandalorian is that it isn't very plot heavy.
There isn't a huge amount of the Star Wars lore. You can kind of go into this blind. And a lot of people think you need to know everything. You need to have watched the three series on Disney Plus. You need to watch Boba Fett, which was kind of in the middle of those. And in the case of this, you actually don't.
They've designed it in a way that you can walk in there as your first time Star Wars experience and enjoy it. It's quite a simple, old fashioned adventure story. And I think that fear is putting some people off, but other people are just they're finding it hard to relate to a character whose face we never see. So anyone who doesn't know Mandalorian, he basically wears a helmet at all times.
There's a reason for it. It is part of his tradition and culture. He cannot take this thing off. But underneath that, it's Pedro Pascal and his fabulous voice. And he puts a lot of emotion into it. But if you're not used to the series and then you sit down to watch big screen, this guy who you can't see, people are finding it a little hard to relate to that.
But if you are a fan, you will love it without doubt.
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Chapter 3: How does Cara O'Doherty describe her experience watching The Mandalorian?
Can I ask you about that? Because you said you could go in there and watch this as somebody who has never seen a Star Wars movie. If you're somebody who is a fan, then is that off putting that it doesn't have the intricacy maybe that you might want and expect?
I think it's nice to have a break from that as well. Some of the, particularly with the TV series, a lot of the different shows, there's a huge amount of lore in that.
Chapter 4: What factors contribute to Star Wars fatigue among fans?
There's a huge amount to follow. And I think it's nice as fans to be able to walk into something that you actually don't need to have seen everything for. I mean, I love Star Wars, but I have to admit, I haven't seen all of the shows on Disney Plus because there just isn't time in the world. Yeah. The nice thing is, though, they're always there. They're streaming.
You can go at a different point in time and watch them. So I think for somebody who is a Star Wars fan that isn't diehard, it's nice to know they can walk in. They don't need to have seen everything to slot into this. And if you are one of the diehards who are completely completely wholeheartedly embedded in the lore and the legacy.
I think, again, it's nice to just have a little bit of break from connecting all of the dots to be able to watch a standalone story to enjoy it. But there's enough nods in there as well. There are, there's, I won't be, no spoilers here, folks. But, you know, there's little nods in there that for people who are huge fans, they'll recognize that, they'll get that connection.
They might be familiar with somebody who might appear at some point So it really does have everything.
Chapter 5: Is The Mandalorian accessible for new viewers without prior Star Wars knowledge?
I mean, it is too long. It's two hours, 10 minutes, and it is stretching it. There are a few scenes that you're like, come on, lads.
Well, sometimes when you watch a longer movie like that, you don't notice it. You're saying you do.
Yes, you do. That's a problem. people have been going on about this for a while now films are getting longer and longer for no reason it is a bit unnecessary there's so many good films that if they had lost 10-15 minutes they would have been perfect but they're just not because they're keeping going so I think everybody in Hollywood is suffering from the make them long
It's a bit of a... Not making best use out of their editors. Yes, absolutely. So why has there been a gap of... 2019 was the last time when we had a great big movie released from the Star Wars franchise. Is that a normal gap or was there a reason why we had six years in between? I mean, it's a combination of things.
Disney Plus is growing from strength to strength. So makers and writers and creators are looking to it to create. Like Jon Favreau, who created The Mandalorian, he normally directs film. He saw this opportunity to create a world in streaming and held his cards away until now to make this. But there has been some backlash to the later Star Wars films.
And that's a really, it's a mixed up quagmire of different things. The people loved the original trilogy so much. I mean, people, I mean, people have tattooed on their heads practically that's how much they love this thing. And the later iterations, there has been all sorts of issues. I mean, there was a certain segment of menfolk who were annoyed that there was female characters taking the lead.
There was issues with diversity, all these things. And it's quite ironic to think that a whole world that is made up of diverse creatures, species, colors, looks, every flavor of humanity then got annoyed when people of diversity were in the films. I mean, that's Anyway, that's a whole other.
There's a very big irony there, as you pointed out. And people are saying that or a listener says here that since Lucasfilm sold the rights to Star Wars, that they've gone from bad to worse. And there is a school of thought out there that says they just milked us and they've annoyed people with the milking of it because of all the series that you've outlined earlier.
I mean, there's two sides to that. At the end of the day, Hollywood is an industry. Disney is a business. They do want to make their money. But you also have people, again, I'm going to use Jon Favreau as an example, a director who grew up loving Star Wars and wants to be part of this world. And now he gets to play in it and he gets to make things.
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