– Last but certainly not least is the classic Imperial Star Destroyer that Pershing and Kane sneak into the Coruscant junkyards. While the New Republic dismantles this particular battleship, Star Destroyers are best known as the capital ships of the Imperial fleet. They’re also one of the oldest ships in Star Wars movie history, having been introduced in the very first scene of A New Hope.
Batman ’89 Homage?
This may just be me, but it definitely looks like the episode sneaks in a little homage to the Batplane scenes from Tim Burton’s Batman. In one combat sequence, Mando pilots his Naboo Starfighter straight up into the air, with the camera tracking its ascent. When it reaches a certain altitude, the ship brakes for a beat, seemingly floating in place high above Kalevala, before Mando lets the ship slowly drift back down to get the drop on enemy fighters. Doesn’t that look just like the famous “Bat eclipse” shot from Batman sans moon backdrop?
Galaxies Opera House From Revenge of the Sith
Dr. Pershing gives his speech about cloning to a crowd of New Republic elite at the Galaxies Opera House. This is the same concert venue from Revenge of the Sith where Supreme Chancellor Palpatine first told Anakin Skywalker about the tragedy of Darth Plagueis of the Wise. That time, they were actually watching the opera, not a mad scientist talking about the benefits of kidnapping Baby Yodas for the good of the galaxy.
Kaminoans, Cloning, and Strand-Casts
During his speech, Dr. Pershing references the Kaminoan cloners first introduced in Attack of the Clones. They were, of course, responsible for creating the Grand Army of the Republic from Jango Fett’s DNA. In The Bad Batch animated series, which takes place decades before The Mandalorian, we learn that the Empire destroyed those Kaminoan cloning labs right after the Clone Wars.
Pershing also mentions “strand-casts,” which are apparently imperfect clones or some mumbo jumbo introduced in The Rise of Skywalker. We’re not going to try to pretend to know how the fake space science works, but this strand-cast research in the hands of the Empire is pivotal to creating a perfect clone vessel for Emperor Palpatine. Moving on.
Mon Calamari and Admiral Ackbar Reference
Several Mon Calamari is featured in the episode. The most famous member of this race to Star Wars fans is, of course, Admiral Ackbar from Return of the Jedi. The episode actually features a fun little homage to the Admiral when Pershing yells at the Mon Calamari mind-flayer quack that he was caught “in a trap!” We don’t have to tell you what that’s about, right?
Coruscant Accords and New Republic Tribunal
A bit of New Republic law tidbits being thrown around in this episode:
– The Coruscant Accords seem to be the name for the laws of the New Republic as a galactic entity. One of these rules, as Dr Pershing learns, is no cloning or genetic engineering is allowed. In Legends, the Coruscant Accords were the rules planets needed to follow to join the Old Republic.
– One former Imperial soldier mentions a rumour that Moff Gideon escaped before facing the New Republic War Tribunal, which is the court where Imperial war criminals are tried and convicted for their heinous crimes. This special court established to punish Imperials was first mentioned in Legends continuity and was reintegrated into the canon in the novel Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig.
Mind Flayer
One of the punishments for crossing the Empire or the New Republic seems to be the Mind Flayer, some sort of electroshock therapy meant to torture prisoners, even though that Mon Calamari quack on Coruscant assures Pershing it isn’t used like that by the new and “benevolent” galactic government.
Fun fact: this device gets its name from one of the most feared monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons universe.
Skydome Botanical Gardens
The Skydome Botanical Gardens is one of the many sights on Coruscant that Dr. Pershing learns about from that overly helpful taxi droid. This location was first introduced in the Legends novel Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson in 1994.
Umate
Umate is one of the highest mountains in Coruscant and the only original natural landmark still visible after the mass industrialization of the planet. Citizens can only really see its peak at this point. This landmark was first mentioned in Legends, but these days you might know it best from an early scene in the novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh liked to visit this landmark during times of trouble in the centuries before the Skywalker Saga.
Benduday and Taungsday
Yes, the Star Wars galaxy has its days of the week! Five days to be exact: Primeday, Centaxday, Taungsday, Zhellday, and Benduday. There are seven weeks in a standard galactic month and 10 months in a standard year.
Taungsday is apparently a rough day of the week (and yeah, Wednesdays do kind of suck) and is named after the Taung, a humanoid species that once existed on ancient Coruscant. Benduday is named after the Bendu monks, an order of ancient Force worshippers who were the precursors to the Jedi. George Lucas originally referred to Kane Starkiller and his ilk as “Jedi Bendu” warriors in the very early drafts of A New Hope.
Mantabog of Malastare
First introduced in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Wizards of the Coast in 2003, the Mangtabog seems to have been some kind of snake-like creature before it went extinct. However, you can still find a hologram of this species at Coruscant’s Holographic Museum of Extinct Animals.
Resistance Theme Song at the Carnival
While Pershing and Kane visit the carnival surrounding Umate, you can hear a band playing John Williams’ “March of the Resistance” Theme” theme from the Sequel Trilogy.
Travel Biscuits
Pershing and Kane both remember those dry-looking travel biscuits fondly. These were standard rations for Imperial personnel and go all the way back to Legends.
Photon Fizzle
While on Coruscant, cool off with a photon fizzle, one of the planet’s signature cocktails. It’s green in colour and contains little floating edible orbs that might make you think of real-world bubble tea. You could find this drink at Dex’s Diner in Attack of the Clones, although it was first mentioned in the Droids animated series in 1985.
Twi’lek and Bufopel
Since we’re on Coruscant for most of the episode, and the planet is the central social hub of the galaxy, it’s no surprise we encounter many different species while touring city streets. While we see Barbadelans, Frigosians, Ishi Tib, Ithorians, Mimbanese, Pantorans, and Rodians, let’s give a special shoutout to Bufopel and Twi’leks, who appear most prominently in “The Convert.” Twi’leks were introduced in Return of the Jedi, while Bufopel first popped up in The Last Jedi.
The first three episodes of Season 3 of The Mandalorian are available to stream exclusively on Disney+. New episodes are available weekly, on Wednesdays.
