The Memorial Day and Grogu

It’s Memorial Day! I’m definitely enjoying the holiday and taking advantage of the long weekend to get some much-needed rest and... okay, I’m moving, so I’m also using the 3-day weekend to pack. There’s a lot to be done, but I’m still making time to squeeze in a viewing of The Mandalorian and Grogu and, weather permitting, maybe even cook out.

Of course, regular posting resumes tomorrow as usual, and I’ve got a fun week in store for your eyeballs! Thank you all for reading and supporting Zone Base. Please share the site with your friends, and as always, be excellent to each other!

Oh, and speaking of Star Wars, keep checking this space. There’s incoming thoughts on the movie coming as soon as I get the chance to write it... likely on my phone!

The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

We caught an early showing of the movie Monday morning before the theater got packed with holiday traffic. We wasn't aware when buying the tickets earlier in the week that it was actually the 49th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars, but that made the viewing a little more special once learned. As someone who's been watching Star Wars his entire life, The Mandelorian has been great. Really captures the spirit of Star Wars, feels more true to the original spirit, and yet... manages to be something new and not just a retread of what came before. A streaming series season feels like a long movie broken up into parts, so a movie that feels like a big budget season of the show is perfect. 

I won't go into spoilers as the movie was just released, but will say I love how Grogu got his own moments to shine.  Totally adorable, and capable on his own. The new characters felt natural and like they've been there all along. One thing I took extra notice in was how the special effects mirrored the original sagas in a way. Several shots felt like stop motion animation and that was special. Now, it could have just been well done CGI that mirrored the look of stop motion, but it was enough to warm my heart. The aliens and creatures were fantastic and as a kid who played with his Kenner Jabba the Hutt daily, I was very happy with the Hutts getting such a large role.

Overall, I felt the movie was excellent and hope the future of Star Wars movies follow its lead. Truly awesome in every sense of the word. 

Warriors In The Stars

It's Christmas time, I'm sure you've noticed. Another thing you may have noticed is all The Mandalorian merchandise available while you've been Christmas shopping. Star Wars has been synonymous with Christmas my entire life, which is probably why I was so welcome to the Disney movies (aside from Solo) being a Christmas season thing. It just seemed natural for new Stormtroopers to raid Walmart just in time for seasonal shopping.

The Mandalorian now has two seasons under it's belt, both of which dropped just in time for all those cool toys to be on wish lists. After all these years of my wife tolerating my love for Star Wars, now she's enjoying it quite a bit herself. So I can't help but to indulge her with every Baby Yoda thing we can get. 

I think one thing about the show I definitely love is the redemption of Boba Fett. Trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible here, but he's on the show. He's on the show and he's a badass. I won't go into too many story details or anything, because a few of you may not know more than seeing folks talk about him on social media. But he's alive and he's the Boba Fett we all wanted him to be in the original movies.

Like others my age, Boba Fett was always the biggest bad ass in the galaxy. This was 100% due to him looking cool and having the best action figure. In the movies he was awesome, but didn't live up to the fanfare dorks like me produced. The prequels built on that a bit with the introduction of his father, Jango. 

The various cartoons did as well with other Mandalorians. Then The Mandalorian comes along with a hero in that familiar armor and he's the bad ass my old Kenner action figure was. Though the actual Boba didn't get to shine as much as we wanted. Until now, anyway. Now he's the character we all said he was thankfully. 

There's always a contingent of self righteous nerds who'll crap on Boba and anything else that has the nerve to be popular. They'll still have a problem with him... and The Mandalorian. Magically, go figure. But for us who love the guy, we're happy to see him get his moment. Also the show, it's a good show that does the legacy proud.