Space cowboy successes, and failures, ahead of The Mandalorian’s Disney+ launch
Go ahead. Make the Mandalorian's day. [credit: Disney Plus ]
What's the likelihood that the next big "space western" film or TV series will succeed? The concept sounds great on paper: two genres colliding like a veritable peanut-butter-and-chocolate combo for nerds. And we'd like to be optimistic about the latest entry into this particular mashup, Disney+'s exclusive Star Wars series The Mandalorian, thanks to some of the sexiest trailers Lucasfilm has ever produced.
But entertainment has been trying to find the right balance between "western" and "space odyssey" for decades. Gene Roddenberry originally pitched Star Trek as a "wagon train to the stars." The hottest guy in Star Wars was one cowboy hat away from going full John Wayne. Yet most attempts tip face-first into the SyFy-style camp of Cowboys vs Aliens.
The Mandalorian wasn't made available for review ahead of Disney+'s launch on Tuesday, so it's hard to know where it will land on the spectrum. Will it be an Empire Strikes Back-like success, or an Attack of the Clones-level bust? While we wait to find out, let us consider those who have succeeded in the space western pantheon, and those who have not.
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