With three episodes already under its belt, The Mandalorian started to really hit its stride.
Chapter four, entitled “Sanctuary” is the first episode of the Disney+ series that functions essentially as a standalone story, sending the unnamed bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) to save a village of farmers from murderous bandits.
The Mandalorian didn’t sign up for hero duty, of course – he arrives on the planet Sorgan with Baby Yoda by his side, looking for a quiet place to lie low for a while.
But they find their hopes of a peaceful retirement shattered by the return of Klatooinian raiders, terrorising the village. Teaming up with tough-but-decent mercenary Cara Dune (Gina Carano), the Mandalorian defeats the bandits, but it’s clear he and the Child will be hunted as long as they stay in one place.
Here are 9 of the Star Wars Easter eggs you might have missed in “Chapter 4: Sanctuary”...
1. AT-ST
The bipedal assault vehicle used by the bandits to attack the village is an AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport), one of the most iconic vehicles in Star Wars. Most casual Star Wars fans will recognise them from the Ewok defense of Endor in Return of the Jedi, when the AT-STs fell prey to the natives’ guerilla warfare tactics.
2. Endor
Speaking of Endor: Cara Dune name-checks the famous planet with a forest moon at one point during the episode.
3. Womp rats
At one point in this episode, the Mandalorian refers to Baby Yoda as a “womp rat” – the same type of creature Luke Skywalker once boasted about shooting down in his T-16.
4. Shock Troopers
Cara Dune reveals that she used to be a shock trooper, the high-class imperial soldiers first seen in Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
5. Loth-cats
The feline animal that hangs around one of the houses on Sorgan is called a Loth-cat. Star Wars afficionados might recognise the creature from the animated Star Wars: Rebels series.
6. “Hunk of junk”
When battling the AT-ST, the Mandalorian derisively calls it a “hunk of junk” – the exact same phrase used by Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back, referring in that instance to the Millenium Falcon.
7. Relby-V10 gun
The rifle used by Cara Dune to defend the village is a Relby-V10 mortar gun, the weapon of choice for reptilian bounty hunter Bossk in the original trilogy and Star Wars video games.
8. Seven Samurai
The original Star Wars films owed a huge debt to Akira Kurosawa, with George Lucas’ A New Hopecribbing much of its plot and characters from The Hidden Fortress. “Chapter 3: Sanctuary” draws from a different Kurosawa film: his 1954 opus Seven Samurai. Despite the “samurai” in this case being just the Mandalorian and Cara Dune, the episode’s story closely mirrors the film, in which a village rises up against attacking bandits.
9. “Bounty Hunters”
The plot of the episode also closely mirrors the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode called “Bounty Hunters”, in which Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker enlist the help of some bounty hunters to defend a village of farmers from attack.
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Disney+ launches in the UK on 24 March 2020.
