If you have been following Star Wars for uh, the past 40 years, you’ll know that its fans love endlessly debating its various major and minor entries, arguments which sometimes can turn quite hostile and in the modern era of social media, have even spilled over to do active harm to some of the directors and stars of the latest films.

The Mandalorian, the new Disney Plus live action Star Wars show, the first in history, seems different.

While I don’t want to say no one is arguing about The Mandalorian in any capacity, the debates here seem relatively minor. As in, Episode 4 wasn’t quite as good as Episode 2, or The Mandalorian’s statement about removing his helmet may go against canon.

Generally speaking, however, the main split among Star Wars fans is whether or not you like the show, really like the show, or love the show. It seems to be uniting the Star Wars fanbase on a level we have not seen in ages.

If you travel back through time, it sure seems like every major live action Star Wars release has endured either a debate over its innate quality or if the fanbase has been unified, it’s because something was outright terrible. Let’s take a look.

Solo (2018) – Was a rare commercial miss in that many fans simply weren’t interested in a non-Harrison Ford revisiting of the classic character in a prequel. Solo performed so poorly relative to other releases it altered Disney’s entire plan for Star Wars films going forward.

The Last Jedi (2017) – I think this is without question the most polarizing film on this list, which had some saying it was a masterpiece and one of the series’ best, with others citing is the prime example of the Disney era dismantling what “true fans” loved about Star Wars. The discourse around this movie soiled the movie itself it was so severe.

Rogue One (2016) – I feel like this might be the film that was the least controversial among fans, though many argued it didn’t feel like it justified its existence, and some critics felt it got too fan service-y by the end with Vader’s presence capping off a uniquely bleak ending.

The Force Awakens (2015) – Though perhaps not as argued about as The Last Jedi, the first Disney era film was certainly controversial all the same with some believing JJ Abrams had recaptured the magic of the series, while others thought it was far too derivative of past films. Also, like The Last Jedi, a lot of the pushback comes from debates about “social justice” “infecting” Star Wars which seems to come down to...using women and POCs as leads, and little else, and this has been an unfortunate debate point for most new Disney-era productions, regardless of their actual quality.

Revenge of the Sith (2005) – Going back another full decade, most people declared Revenge of the Sith the best of the prequels, yet that was grading on a curve given the quality of the other two.

Attack of the Clones (2002) – If most Star Wars fans agree on anything, it’s that Attack of the Clones is probably the worst Star Wars film by quite a wide margin.

The Phantom Menace (1999) – The prequel that launched a million memes, you may have loved it as a kid, but it does not hold up over time for anything but joke viewing or counter-takes like “actually, the prequels are good,” which is…far from a universally accepted opinion among fans.

Return the Jedi (1983) – Even Return of the Jedi divided fans pretty sharply with its Ewok-laden finale, which struck a much lighter tone than the past two films.

Empire and A New Hope? I mean, again, not to say no one had any issues with them, but I think most fans are united that this was the series at its best.

So now we arrive at The Mandalorian, which after four episodes, is technically the length of a feature film now, and will be essentially two of them by the time season 1 and its eight, 30 minute episodes have aired.

Jon Favreau, writer of the series, has created something special here, drawing on pretty obvious influences from old samurai films and westerns, which were in turn the original inspiration for Star Wars in the first place. The Jedi are based on the samurai, after all, though here our Ronin is a bounty hunter, and the Jedi and Sith are nowhere to be found so far.

The show has already created iconic characters just four episodes in with the blank-faced Mandalorian himself, voiced expertly by Pedro Pascal, who unfortunately may never get to show his face in the series due to the nature of the character. And of course there’s Baby Yoda, the most adorable creation in Star Wars history, but one that isn’t dismissed as “kids stuff” by fans like Ewoks or Jar Jar, who were played for comic relief. Baby Yoda is both too cute to hate no matter how hard your heart, but also incredibly important to the plot of the series and Star Wars lore in general, given how little we know about Yoda’s force-powerful species.

The show simply works. Its tight runtimes are working to its benefit, allowing its big budget to maximize its effect. Its minimalist cast carries the series and these little mini arcs of The Mandalorian saving the day result in many of the best action sequences the series has scene, even if they’re laden with less CGI than their big-budget movie counterparts. That actually works to its advantage, I’d argue. Last episode in particular highlighted how the smaller scale of the show works well, when suddenly an AT-ST, a mech we’ve seen a million times before, can become the most terrifying thing in the world when the stakes are lower.

The Mandalorian is pitching a perfect game so far, and has placated a fanbase that is almost impossible to please. Can it keep this up? Who knows, but so far, so good.

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