DarthDementous

that may be so but it doesn't make for compelling drama even if it's realistic it's very hard to tell how much of this is McTighe dropping the ball versus RTD, but a lot of the mistakes in this episode feel unlike RTD to me and given he doesn't have a co-writing credit I don't think he was super hands on with this particular script like say, The Well in a sense that's actually worse, because by two parter I meant a two parter for telling the story of Lucky Day so these concepts and characters are already fleshed out to then build upon. now we have a very thin and aggravating character who's going to get more screen-time, but maybe he'll be used in a way that won't matter too much, who knows at this point

I'm getting that feeling, and you're right about Luthen expecting this was always the direction things were going to go in. I hadn't really realized until this arc but Luthen is fundamentally incompatible with what the Rebel Alliance has become and yet he's such an important proto-phase of it, but his use especially by 1BBY I think is going to come to an end

that was an incredibly bizarre episode of Doctor Who, and by the end of it despite wanting Russel to be stretched less thin, I'm starting to appreciate his episodes this season a lot more after watching that Ruby was great and her emotional arc of dealing with PTSD from travelling with The Doctor is a really great direction to take the post-companion story in, but everything else was just ??? the boyfriend character was the most one dimensional and unbelievable asshole, unflappable even as he's being schooled by The Doctor which was just very unsatisfying to watch even if Ncuti was giving it his all as usual. the premise of the public turning on UNIT due to conspiracy is pretty brilliant and it's something I could see Big Finish doing but it needs to be a two parter otherwise you end up with an incredibly rushed conflict like this where a movement spawns out of thin air and then is immediately dealt with. Kate also felt way more impotent and imbalanced than I would expect to the point she felt out of character, but I suspect that's a consequence of the condensed timeframe of dealing with all of this as well as the antagonist being a joke I might soften on it later but right now this is ranking as the worst episode of the new era for me, it has the feeling of a Sleep No More where a valiant attempt to do something new ends up being a complete misfire. I almost wanted to rewatch The Well right after as a palette cleanser

that's fair and it was ultimately an unproductive pursuit anyway so I'm much happier disengaging from that particular argument so the discussion environment is better for all for the sake of fairness I will point out the last message I responded to was edited after the fact, so if people want to see the particular message I responded to then take a look at the quote

when people said this was the arc K2 was going to be introduced, I was not expecting it to be like that. was I imagining it or was that Ghorman Front lady's neck completely bent the other way when she landed after being launched in the air? chilling stuff

I heard allusions to the Force theme and I believe one of the Rogue One themes is similar to it, so maybe that's what it was?

the moment when it clicked for me that the Ghorman theme we've been hearing all throughout the series was the Ghorman anthem was really special, and wow those vocal cues were stunning, especially the operatic one in the end credits of episode 7. it gave it this feeling of timeless tragedy. I think it was what Dedra was listening to in episode 2 as well which is especially chilling

I thought I was losing my mind by how much I just openly and loudly wept and sobbed at the end but it's good to know that episode was just that affecting. I'm never going to forget the scene with Syril choking Dedra out of abject horror and Dedra completely breaking down at the end as the weight of what she's enabled hits her all at once I don't think I've ever had a watching experience like it, what made it especially intense is that I've been having issues with hypertension in my upper body, and because of how much that entire episode made me clench my muscles, right around the point the massacre started and Syril absolutely gunned it for Andor the muscle tension was starting to cut off my blood-flow so I felt like I was nearly going to faint. certainly made it more immersive as if I was actually in the chaos of that plaza but jesus christ, I seriously considered whether I should've just waited to watch episode 9 another time but my body eventually calmed down so I persisted I was in a slight fugue state for episode 9 so that's definitely going to need a rewatch legitimately can't stop thinking about this arc even the day after watching, wasn't ever expecting Star Wars of all things to traumatize me

fair, but did you also issue a warning to the person I was responding to that initiated the personal attacks in the first place? I'm blocking him anyway for the sake of my sanity, I can only take so many wildly off-base remarks

from this post it's pretty clear the only person that's part of the low IQ crowd is yourself

don't remotely fathom why this has to be a one or the other situation. you write the best score for the kind of project you're making John Williams' soundtrack for Star Wars works fantastically and is mythic and all the other things people are saying about it because that's the kind of movie that warrants a score like that you may as well be making the case that every entry in the Star Wars franchise has to have the same goals as the Lucas films when you say that every soundtrack should adhere to the way the movies sound. if you're going to draw upon the grand romantic scope of the movies, then by all means write a score that sounds like the movies. the video games do this all the time whilst also drawing upon those original films for many aspects of their presentation and tone if you are fundamentally making something that is not trying to achieve the same goals as the Star Wars films like an Andor, then it's not necessarily appropriate to go with the 'one size fits all' approach. if Williams did write Andor I doubt he would go into the default Star Wars mode and he'd probably tap into more of his spy thriller sound. there's an inherently unreasonable thing in expecting completely different composers to have the same sensibilities as Williams though, and I think that's mostly what people want (understandably so) is for more Star Wars music written by Williams, as opposed to more Star Wars music the best compromise I've seen in this regard is when you end up with someone who adopts similar sensibilities to Williams like Mark Griskey with the KOTOR 2 soundtrack, but is writing to such a different flavour of story that it ends up with its own unique sound whilst still being identifiably Star Wars. this requires a very rare instance where you have a composer that matches sensibilities though, and it's unreasonable to expect that to always be the case. I'd rather have a soundtrack that fits the thing that's being written for it rather than forcing someone to adopt sensibilities that aren't naturally their own because that's when it starts sounding like a pale imitation

I do like that though, ROTJ is first time we've seen Luke with an amount of power and it's nice to see that internal struggle of remaining humble with these newfound and exceptionally rare honed supernatural abilities. even to a naive farmboy like him, that would do something to your psychology it's something I appreciate about Zahn's Hand of Thrawn books, after many stints in the EU where Luke wields godlike Force powers he starts becoming really cautious at using them for fear of what that much power will do to him and whether it's something he could reasonably balance and control. of course the writing on the wall is Zahn trying to make Luke more relatable and grounded again, but it fits very well in-universe too

100%, it's also just more interesting drama to see a bunch of conflicting ideologies go toe to toe. it's funny you bring up Saw, Mothma and Nemik having huge disagreements because that's basically the show's thesis: how do disparate groups find common ground and unite against an existential threat? Andor is just good speculative fiction in that regard I also appreciate that it manages to do it in a way that doesn't lean into territory like 'y'know, the Empire actually has a point'. it's always more from the perspective of 'this is how this stuff happens and let's help you understand why the Empire is the way it is' not unlike the Prequels but with about 100x more sophistication (sorry George)

it is not mutually exclusive to approach things from a leftist perspective whilst simultaneously drawing upon multiple influences from history when depicting the Rebellion and the Empire Saw doesn't extol the Republic, he just says that we'll all be dead before the Rebellion achieves its goal which is to restore the Republic. regardless of how Saw feels about the Republic, they're going to be a clear improvement over the Empire I mean come on, Nemik has written the most leftist manifesto I've ever heard. the show doesn't shy away from it and nor should it, but the impressive part is how it delivers this message in a way that doesn't alienate people

that's because you don't have to politically align with a piece of media to enjoy it, especially when said piece of media is synthesising from many different historical examples of revolutions and fascism it's creating more of a universal resonance rather than aiming to be allegorical to one thing in particular however, it's a show very specifically made from a leftist lens on fascism, and the recent arc with the infighting Rebels is so accurate to the experience of being in those leftist revolutionary groups (e.g. ANTIFA). whether that's by design or not is unclear especially when part of the dialogue was directly informed by a political argument between his family Tony Gilroy witnessed, which speaks to these being recurring human experiences rather than unique to certain political movements. which is why I think it has such a universal appeal. however, what the show critiques and what it values though are completely incompatible with conservatism and even centrism considering the scathing critique the show levels at politicians who are only what Mon Mothma appears to be publically, an ineffectual progressive senator that is ultimately complacent with a system that is inherently rigged I think it's especially noticeable when you look at how Andor treats Saw compared to his previous appearances, so far everything that man has said has been 100% validated, even though he's an extremist the show is not outright condemning him and is even making a case for why people like this are not only necessary but also inevitable