Today, Pedro Pascal is back in his Space Daddy role on The Mandalorian. Critics and some fans have gotten a look at the third season’s first episode, and, amusingly, some characters at the start, who have a presence in the sequel films, have recalled an earlier villain.
Warning: Spoilers to follow.
Basically, at one point in the initial episode, Din Djarin encounters some Anzellans. The race Babu Frik of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker fame ends up uttering the word “poodoo” during their time on screen in the Disney Plus project. This was a word first made famous-ish by Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and is basically a way of saying someone is crap.
For those with lives which do not enable them to delve into even the most minute aspects of a franchise, the term in Huttese means “fodder.” This is a reference to the Bantha fodder food eaten by the animals commonly used by Tuskens on Tatooine and it is known for smelling extremely foul. It does not refer to the animal’s waste as some think, and since the word was officially coined, it has been used in videogames and is a major part of the plot on one of the planets you go to in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game.
The realization the term does not refer to excrement but instead a terrible food has been seen as confusing by some fans over time. Online there has yet to be any significant discourse about this reference in the episode as of this story’s filing and, for one commenter in the Gizmodo article linked earlier in this paragraph, it makes sense as cultures can see things very differently.
Essentially, in their view, while we view references to waste with offense, it could be being seen as food to be consumed is more offensive in the Star Wars universe. To be consumed by something lesser, and even a beast of burden could certainly be bad. Luckily, the heroes we know and love have yet to become any and it remains to be seen what the rest of the new season holds.
The third season of The Mandalorian will have eight episodes. They will air every Wednesday on Disney Plus until the season finale on April 19.