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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19 Comments
My memory for dopey lyrics is keen enough to ensure I’ll never listen to this. I’m already ruined on the Mega Man 2 opening, no way I’m letting these folks take Mando’s music away from me.
You’re not missing anything. Really, really bad, and I tend to like adding lyrics to instrumental theme songs.
Well I liked it. The lyrics were actually pretty funny and clever, at least by the standards of these kinds of things. But then again, what do I know, I’m just a lowly gray 🙁
This one’s easy to remember
That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, and I laughed all the way through it.
The plot’s not really Yojimbo, it’s Lone Wolf and Cub.
It appears season 3, at least, won’t be.
They’ll find a way to bring him back. Baby Yoda (er, Grogu) has been a goldmine for Disney.
It’s gonna be a Baby Max Rebo in the next two seasons.
I expected an unpolished turd. It did not disappoint.
This was good. I miss the old-timey-style theme songs that explain the premise in the opening credits.
Ah, so the show (and franchise) takes inspiration from things that came before it, just like 99.9999999999999% of all the creative works of humankind.
““They just ripped off Japan / like the Westerns have done, too.””I thought that was the other way ‘round, that Japanese cinema was heavily influenced by Hollywood westerns (coming full-circle, of course, when the Western-influenced Seven Samurai was made into The Magnificent Seven).
Don’t forget A Fistful of Dollars, an unauthorized Italian remake of a Japanese film with an international cast pretending to be American cowboys.
Wow Warp Zone is still a thing!?
Got a feeling that it’s time for Mando
I still want to hear Liz Lemon from 30 Rock’s lyrics to the song the cantina band plays.
a few more cacti and a lot more aridity in that ecology. Too much green, disgraceful.