The folks over at pop-culture comedy channel The Warp Zone have written lyrics to the end theme of The Mandalorian, and at first, they might not seem all that different from Stephen Bishop’s “Animal House” or MC Hammer’s “Addams Groove,” a song that merely describes the plot and characters of the story in question.
“Here’s a man in a Beskar suit who’s a walking armory / bounty hunting just to just make do in the gig economy” croons a maskless Mando lookalike in the music video. It’s cheeky, self-referential, and like the Grogu puppet perched on his backing musician’s keyboard, “cute.”
But what starts as lighthearted becomes full-on critical as the lyrics begin pointing out the Western/sci-fi/Japanese-cinema pastiche of The Mandalorian and the Star Wars universe in general. “There references, like No Name Trilogy, go on and on like CVS receipts,” belts fake Mando at one point. “Plus they did Seven Samurai when they saved the village folk / and confirmed that his storyline is all based on Yojimbo,” he continues. “They just ripped off Japan / like the Westerns have done, too.”
In the final verse, The Warp Zone admits that the tapestry nature of The Mandalorian has been a defining characteristic of the franchise from the very beginning: “But this whole plagiaristic trope’s been in Star Wars since day one / Hidden Fortress inspired New Hope / Lucas added laser guns.”
Of course, these guys are clearly fans who know the minute details of the show, so it’s all in good fun. But it’s always refreshing to be reminded that the Star Wars universe is far from infallible, and we maybe don’t need to take it so seriously.
Watch the whole video below:
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