8.5/10 At the time of posting this review, we are one week out from the premiere of season two so I figured it was time to take the plunge into a galaxy far, far away. While Kathleen Kennedy was busy doing her best to destroy the Star Wars franchise by way of new films that were made up as they went along, writer/director Jon Favreau was doing his best to save the franchise by way of the first, real live action Star Wars TV series (I might just forgive him for his awful “The Lion King” debacle). Favreau writes almost the entire series and he does a fantastic job of blending memorable characters, action and humor with great pacing that will make you not want to stop watching as you jet pack from episode to episode. A slew of directors were brought on board to bring Favreau’s vision to life and they all did a wonderful job in executing what was written on the page. Academy Award winning composer Ludwig Göransson has a full eight episodes to deliver some of the best, most memorable TV music with his unique score here. Following “Devs”, I feel spoiled to have back to back shows with incredible scores advancing them. Göransson’s main theme is catchy and will get stuck in your head and after this year’s “Tenet”, I am now officially a fanboy. Disney spared no expense and created new technology to bring this series to life and the visuals are extremely impressive. The cast puts in phenomenal work and I loved how certain actors make cameo appearances as Storm Troopers (Jason Sudeikis and Adam Pally), carrying on the tradition of other famous actors making cameos in Star Wars films (Daniel Craig, for example). I followed the Baby Yoda memes closely when this series was released a year ago but to see Baby Yoda onscreen is a whole new level of adorableness that I wasn’t anticipating. Between Baby Yoda and jokes in the season finale regarding how Storm Troopers have awful aim, the humor the show has was equal parts unexpected and delightful. The show is entertaining, fun to watch and appropriate for all ages. As for the first season’s faults, I’m a huge Bill Burr fan but he felt miscast since I could only see him as Bill Burr and not his character. The fifth episode of the season, “The Gunslinger”, was the weakest episode of the season and not only did it have the most annoying character in the entire season (Jake Cannavale as Toro Calican) but it felt like a filler episode that in no way advanced the overall plot of the first season. Finally, as much as I loved Göransson’s main theme, I felt the main theme and some of the other music he wrote got overused at various points, becoming slightly repetitive, despite its effectiveness. That being said, the perfect blend of practical effects and CGI, a likeable cast to root for, pacing that keeps you entertained from start to finish, humor paired with heart, strong action and a score you won’t soon forget makes this the best TV show or film that was made exclusively for Disney+. You can decide if you want to pay for Disney+ or not but if you do, this is a must watch. If you want to know how to do a live action Star Wars series done right…this is the way. I have spoken.
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