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Why The Mandalorian Feels Like Star Wars — and the Sequel Trilogy Doesn’t
(Note: Some spoilers through Season 2, episode 6)
When George Lucas filmed a battle on Geonosis for his prequel trilogy, he took inspiration from Saving Private Ryan. When he and Dave Filoni created a new battle on Geonosis for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, they quoted the same source. It was not a singular occurrence. Indeed, The Clone Wars frequently riffed on various war movies, B-movies, and other genre fare. A Godzilla-like monster ravaged Coruscant. A crucial arc borrowed the premise of The Fugitive, with episode titles riffing on Hitchcock films. Another adventure copied liberally from The Seven Samurai.
That last one was also stolen by The Mandalorian, in its first season’s fourth episode. With The Clone Wars’ Dave Filoni acting as an executive producer and occasional writer/director, it’s no surprise that the two spin-offs share some DNA. But this particular bit of DNA explains why The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars succeed, while Disney’s sequel trilogy ran into so many creative difficulties. In short, the TV shows borrow from the same sources as George Lucas.
Star Wars, for all its acclaim, is not the most original franchise ever created. George Lucas wore his inspirations on his sleeve, from samurai films to Flash Gordon. And the diverse number of precedents…
