Disney’s streaming service Disney+ launched in United States and Canada on Tuesday with some technical difficulties. For hours, people could not access the website and received errors stating, “Sorry something went wrong. Please try again later,” “We are having a problem. Please exit the app and try again” or “Unable to connect to Disney+” due to traffic.
Some people who managed to get onto the site could not load specific shows, movies or features. On Twitter, @DisneyPlusHelp said “Consumer demand for Disney+ has exceeded our high expectations. We are working quickly to resolve the current user issue.”
One subscription to Disney+ allows seven profiles and viewing on four devices at a time. A monthly subscription costs $6.99, however a yearly subscription of $69.99 is only $5.83 per month. Disney+ also offers a bundle including Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99 a month.
Disney+ features content from Disney, Disney Channel, Pixar and National Geographic as well as a majority of Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean and Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
One of the main reasons for the site’s traffic is the anticipated Star Wars show, “The Mandalorian,” which launched alongside Disney+. Even after managing to load the home menu and selection of shows and media, clicking on “The Mandalorian” would bring up the same errors from before.
The show takes place after “Return of the Jedi” and the fall of the galactic empire. Without an established government, people must fend for themselves. A skilled bounty hunter, played by Pedro Pascal, travels the galaxy making short work of his targets.
The first live-action Star Wars series deepens the lore of the expanded universe and shows the unseen effects of collapsing the totalitarian government. The show was created by Jon Favreau, director of the “Iron Man” movies, “Elf” and “Chef.”
The first episode was directed by Dave Filoni, who worked on “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” movie and television series.
Episode two is set to release today. From this point forward, episodes will be released weekly until the end of 2019. This is different from the usual streaming-service-full-season-dump Netflix and Hulu shows tend to do. Weekly episodes require fans who want to stay up to date keep their subscription for longer, giving Disney more money, rather than bingeing a full season during a free trial.
Produced with a budget of $100 million, there will be eight episodes. This equals $12.5 million per episode, making it one of the five most expensive television shows based on episode cost. That is until the Disney+ Marvel shows start to roll out.
“I like [“The Mandalorian”] a lot,” said Jack Gombatto, a freshman criminology major. “It’s a different approach than most movies. I didn’t expect the ending.”
Sam Adams, a senior editor for Slate, was disappointed with the show’s premiere. He felt the large budget was wasted and wrote, “It feels uninspired from its very first scene, a confrontation in an intergalactic cantina that ends with the show’s titular bounty hunter… collecting a bounty.”
However, the overall reception has been positive. IMDb gave the first episode a 9.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes scored it 94% and Google users are at 97% thumbs up.
Comic illustrator Gavin Guidry tweeted about the first episode, “Well, that was an awesomely unexpected ending.”
Spoilers: During the episode launched on Tuesday, the Mandalorian is hunting a bounty, and all he knows is that it is 50 years old. When he finds it, he is surprised to see a baby. It is revealed to be a baby of the same species as legendary Jedi Yoda. Another bounty hunter is about to shoot the baby to take it in for the reward; however, the Mandalorian shoots the other bounty hunter and extends his hand to the baby.
ancilljm19@bonaventure.edu
