Star Wars: Andor (2022) - released episode spoilers allowed

[Chen G. 3,949]

I like my movies serious, but that doesn't mean they're not fun. Its a balacing act.

 

I think both Episode 3 and Episode 5 are fun...at least, parts of them are. That does not mean they're frivolous.

[Pellaeon 593]

Wow, I knew there were RotS fans!

[DarthDementous 1,059]

It’s all about balancing the tone. Humour and light-hearted situations can endear us to the characters but you run the risk of clashing with your underlying tone (Revenge of the Sith does this constantly) or messing with the believability of the characters

 

There’s been moments of humour in Andor but they’re few and far between because a lot of scenes are very tense, and humour breaks the tension. We’re also focusing on regular people so we’re not oft dealing with larger than life characters

 

Contrast that with KOTOR 2 which is incredibly grim overall, but you meet some seriously weird beings in that game and that’s where most of the humour comes from - misfits interacting with each other. Character driven humour that often does double duty as character exposition or world building. Games in general have different standards when it comes to maintaining tone because of how dissonant player actions can be from the intent of a sequence, so they get more leeway for this in general

 

Bane Trilogy and Plagueis are an interesting case study because there’s pretty much no humour in either but they don’t feel cold and lifeless

[Faleel 5,346]

Funny thing I noticed: the most recent episodes (as of this writing) of this and Rings of Power share the same title.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

6 hours ago, Roll the Bones said:

Funny thing I noticed: the most recent episodes (as of this writing) of this and Rings of Power share the same title.

I did notice that, unlike Andor I have no idea why the Rings of Power is called that beyond it being some kind of vague reference to being in the 'eye of the storm' because it's the episode before the finale

It is kind of interesting comparing the two shows, both with ensemble casts but Andor handles it way more deftly because every character has direct relevance to each other, whereas you're practically screaming at the scream for characters to come together so it stops cutting away to completely irrelevant shit in the case of Rings of Power

[Oswin Pond 58]

19 hours ago, Chen G. said:

I like my movies serious, but that doesn't mean they're not fun. Its a balacing act.

 

I think both Episode 3 and Episode 5 are fun...at least, parts of them are. That does not mean they're frivolous.

 

Well if you go with that definition I find Andor very fun despite being serious. I had a smile on my face at the end of each episode because I feel I'm finally getting Star Wars back, I haven't felt like this since Lucas left (except for Rogue One)

 

19 hours ago, Pellaeon said:

Wow, I knew there were RotS fans!

 

I'm surprised to see people not liking it. Everywhere I go I see praises for it and it's often at the top of polls for best Star Wars movie with Empire. But to each their own haha.

[Fargo 297]

2 hours ago, Oswin Pond said:

I'm surprised to see people not liking it. Everywhere I go I see praises for it and it's often at the top of polls for best Star Wars movie with Empire. But to each their own haha.

 

People have tricked themselves into thinking the prequels were decent, and that RotS was the most-decent of them. The greatest trick George Lucas ever pulled.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

No tricks involved, I enjoy those movies!  Sure, they're a bit daft and stilted, but in a loveable way.

[Oswin Pond 58]

43 minutes ago, Fargo said:

 

People have tricked themselves into thinking the prequels were decent, and that RotS was the most-decent of them. The greatest trick George Lucas ever pulled.

 

Or you know, everyone has different opinions and some people genuinely love them ? I was raised with the original trilogy but I knew after watching Sith that it was the best Star Wars movie. And it still is!

[Edmilson 7,436]

The only things I like about the prequels are:

1. John Williams' music;
2. The memes.

That's it.

[mstrox 6,651]

3 hours ago, Fargo said:

 

People have tricked themselves into thinking the prequels were decent, and that RotS was the most-decent of them. The greatest trick George Lucas ever pulled.

I don’t like any of those three movies, but that’s some horseshit!  There is zero objectivity when it comes to the quality of art, and I know plenty of people for whom those movies are very meaningful.  They’re certainly not tricked!

[Fargo 297]

Some movies are objectively bad, though. Not everything created has merit. 

[Jay 37,352]

2 minutes ago, Fargo said:

Not everything created has merit

 

6 minutes ago, mstrox said:

that’s some horseshit!

 

[Edmilson 7,436]

30 minutes ago, Fargo said:

Some movies are objectively bad, though. Not everything created has merit. 

Like the movies from the franchises Transformers, Twilight, Fast & Furious and, yeah, the prequels. People may like them, but that doesn't make them good.

 

And I'm not saying I'm immune to that either! There's plenty of crap movies that I like despite being objectively bad.

[Oswin Pond 58]

Except objectivity doesn't apply to art, and if it did the prequels would be objectively good. They're masterpieces.

 

It's all a matter of opinions in the end. But I find it funny that so many people are hell bent in taking down those movies and Lucas to the point it became an obsession but the dude is just an independent artist making movies he enjoys. I feel like even if people despise the art, they should encourage those types of projects instead of big corpos movies.

 

Yet some people swallow Disney's products (not just Star Wars), a company that treats its people like objects and is doing harm to the industry and the world. 

[Fargo 297]

19 minutes ago, Oswin Pond said:

They're masterpieces.

 

[Edmilson 7,436]

28 minutes ago, Oswin Pond said:

a company that treats its people like objects and is doing harm to the industry and the world. 

I can agree with that (and I say this as someone who used to enjoy the MCU)

[Oswin Pond 58]

6 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I can agree with that (and I say this as someone who used to enjoy the MCU)

 

Yeah it's a shame because the concept itself is quite brilliant. And it's not a jab at anyone that likes those movies, to each their own. But Disney is gross and it's buying more and more company it's actually scary. Even Alien is Disney now lol.
I'm myself in a similar industry and every time we have to deal with Disney it's an unpleasant experience.

 

I feel this is kind of off topic though. The point is that Andor is awesome 

[Pellaeon 593]

So Disney is paying you, you admit it!

[JohnTheBaptist 57]

Barring any serious mistakes in second half, like a lightsaber igniting or someone saying "the force", I feel pretty good about saying this is the best Star Wars media since ESB.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

There is a high possibility someone says ‘may the force be with you’ if it has not been uttered yet…

[mstrox 6,651]

Random thought I had while i was falling asleep.  We know from trailers that Saw Gerrara shows up this season.  I’m not familiar with any of the ancillary Rogue One-adjacent material (besides the Cassian/K2-SO meetcute comic).  Is there a chance that Jyn Erso will be around (pre whenever her falling out with Saw was?).  No clue where on the timeline that happens 

[JNHFan2000 2,959]

1 hour ago, mstrox said:

Random thought I had while i was falling asleep.  We know from trailers that Saw Gerrara shows up this season.  I’m not familiar with any of the ancillary Rogue One-adjacent material (besides the Cassian/K2-SO meetcute comic).  Is there a chance that Jyn Erso will be around (pre whenever her falling out with Saw was?).  No clue where on the timeline that happens 

No. Jyn & Saw were estranged for more than 5 years before Rogue One.

[GerateWohl 4,357]

Anyway, they could make her accidently walk through the scene and steal an apple.

[Gabriel Bezerra 302]

This last episode kept the high, it's the one with most connections to other media I think? Hey, we even got shore troopers.

It appears we have a new Imperial motif, the one that plays when the BSI headquarters first appeared is used again when the star destroyer flies above Cintha. It reminds me of Ross' new Vader motif.

[JNHFan2000 2,959]

I lpved seeing the K2SO droids!!!

[mstrox 6,651]

Loved the 90s techno vibe of the score for the new planet.  Yes!  Yes!!!

[Faleel 5,346]

2 minutes ago, mstrox said:

Loved the 90s techno vibe of the score for the new planet.  Yes!  Yes!!!

Starting to notice a pattern emerging

[Gabriel Bezerra 302]

9 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

I lpved seeing the K2SO droids!!!

Then one choked Andor against the wall... should go to a doctor after that whiplash

[Tallguy 3,385]

It was like Star Wars meets THX-1138 meets Miami Vice! Who knew I wanted such a thing?

[saulocf 79]

We’ve had some great shows this year (Stranger Things S04, The Boys, Westworld, and now House of the Dragon), but for me, Andor is the winner. I really wish more people were watching/discussing it.

[Tallguy 3,385]

Maybe this just hits a lot of my sweet spots. But this is really a slam dunk. Lucas said he wanted the Star Wars universe to feel lived in. This is the most lived in Star Wars has ever felt. Lived in and populated.

 

I'm really intrigued by the stories that are kind of dangling. Karn keeps showing up. You assume it's because he's going to have a confrontation with Andor. But it's in a really weird place while you're waiting for it to happen. And the brief shots of Kaz back on (I refuse to go look that up) seeing the repercussions of the heist is interesting just because it's keeping this stuff present.

 

I've heard complaints for ages about how small the Star Wars universe can feel because you can't go to a random planet without running into people from Mos Eisley. This feels huge.

 

I loved the scene with Mon Mothma and her friend from back home so much. This is really what I signed up for.

 

OMG that was Patrick from Coupling!

[JNHFan2000 2,959]

It took me 6 episode to feel it was good. I only cared for moments in the fkrst 5 episode but thought that the pacing was too slow and not enough interesting stuff happened.

 

But I think episodes 6 and 7 are really really good and I hope that the show continues in that way. And the scenes on Coruscant are especially interesting. Great to be there after the Clone Wars.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Is it weird to say that episode 7 is actually my favorite episode yet?

[Jay 37,352]

Literally every post before yours since it came out is praising it, so probably not

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I actually thought episode 6 was only ok.  For me, every time the show is on Coruscant it comes alive.  Everything off Coruscant I like but I'm not excited by it like I am the Coruscant stuff.

[Arpy 4,145]

If nothing else grabs you as Star Wars in this show, it should be the affectation and reverence the filmmakers have put into the aesthetics, of which in some scenes look like they've been pulled from Empire. Mothma's Dinner was reminiscent of Lando's quarters in Empire.

 

I thought this latest episode was particularly good, from the writing, the acting and the production - the only thing I'm not yet sold on is Andor's character, so I'm hoping it develops into something meaningful...

[DarthDementous 1,059]

13 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Maybe this just hits a lot of my sweet spots. But this is really a slam dunk. Lucas said he wanted the Star Wars universe to feel lived in. This is the most lived in Star Wars has ever felt. Lived in and populated.

 

I'm really intrigued by the stories that are kind of dangling. Karn keeps showing up. You assume it's because he's going to have a confrontation with Andor. But it's in a really weird place while you're waiting for it to happen. And the brief shots of Kaz back on (I refuse to go look that up) seeing the repercussions of the heist is interesting just because it's keeping this stuff present.

 

I've heard complaints for ages about how small the Star Wars universe can feel because you can't go to a random planet without running into people from Mos Eisley. This feels huge.

 

I loved the scene with Mon Mothma and her friend from back home so much. This is really what I signed up for.

 

OMG that was Patrick from Coupling!

What I'm curious about is whether this Bureau of Statistics is actually a really low level of Imperial government (the design certainly makes me think so), because if so I think he's going to be climbing the ranks in the Empire to maybe even eventually work with Dedra which would be a cool development for his character

It was very cool to see the immediate effects of the radical policies the Empire enacted straight after the Rebel attack in action, 6 years for being in the wrong place at the wrong time is horrific and the Shoretrooper was clearly acting like he didn't have to answer to anyone. It being on a resort planet just goes to show how far the Empire's reach has become as well, very curious to see how Andor gets out of this one particularly with the Rebellion actually wanting him dead

[GerateWohl 4,357]

In the last episode on Corruscant I found it especially irritating at the party that there were no aliens (except one) as on Corruscant there were always lots of aliens. The alien rate is definitely too low in this show for my taste.

[Faleel 5,346]

29 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

In the last episode on Corruscant I found it especially irritating at the party that there were no aliens (except one) as on Corruscant there were always lots of aliens. The alien rate is definitely too low in this show for my taste.

Imperial parties have a no aliens allowed policy.

[Pellaeon 593]

39 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

In the last episode on Corruscant I found it especially irritating at the party that there were no aliens (except one) as on Corruscant there were always lots of aliens. The alien rate is definitely too low in this show for my taste.

 

There’s one way of looking at Star Wars, based on the first two movies, which says the Empire is a Human Empire, and other spacefaring species have got other empires off the edge of the map, and that’s okay. And that’s why Mos Eisley Spaceport which is “farthest from” the “bright center” of the Empire has got all these alien pilots hanging out — it’s literally on the frontier. Imperial Center, then, would naturally be human-dominated (if not, indeed, the human homeworld).

 

The franchise as it developed largely moved away from this, of course, throwing in ever more aliens. But there’s nothing wrong with one (out of dozens) of these Star Wars projects giving us a sensibility closer to the original.

[Positivatee 327]

The Empire is typically racist towards non-human alien races. It is very rare for aliens to serve in the military. Many non-human aliens were enslaved after the fall of the Republic and rise of the Empire, including the Wookies and Calamari, but these are not in the Andor story yet. 

 

This series serves as a contrast between the high number of colorful aliens seen in the prequels' Republic and the Empire seen later. There aren't many, if any, aliens in the core worlds like Coruscant or Ferrix. Most of the aliens were chased away. Very few alien senators are seen. Maybe their positions were forcibly reassigned. 

 

Procedural racism. 

 

The show seems to be saving aliens for the frontier planets (the places where The Mandalorian and BoBF visit) and where the Rebels have a presence. The 4-armed doctor (Doctor Quadpaw, if you have closed captions on) is clearly alien. Andor is arrested on a vacation planet with lots of aliens. 

 

If we get to see the Emperor, will his devil horned attendant Mas Amedda still be by his side? Doubtful. 

 

Yes, we all know about the blue skinned Thrawn, but he was created for the Extended Universe, and even in-universe, he was a very rare exception. He was popular enough to be cherry picked for Disney Canon.

 

It's quite nice to see a woman in the ISB, Dedra Meero, because human female officers are also very rare in the Empire. The EU had very few.

 

Of course, if we remember the Obi-Wan show, it also had very few aliens. 

[Faleel 5,346]

44 minutes ago, Positivatee said:

The Empire is typically racist towards non-human alien races. It is very rare for aliens to serve in the military. Many non-human aliens were enslaved after the fall of the Republic and rise of the Empire, including the Wookies and Calamari, but these are not in the Andor story yet. 

 

This series serves as a contrast between the high number of colorful aliens seen in the prequels' Republic and the Empire seen later. There aren't many, if any, aliens in the core worlds like Coruscant or Ferrix. Most of the aliens were chased away. Very few alien senators are seen. Maybe their positions were forcibly reassigned. 

 

Procedural racism. 

 

The show seems to be saving aliens for the frontier planets (the places where The Mandalorian and BoBF visit) and where the Rebels have a presence. The 4-armed doctor (Doctor Quadpaw, if you have closed captions on) is clearly alien. Andor is arrested on a vacation planet with lots of aliens. 

 

If we get to see the Emperor, will his devil horned attendant Mas Amedda still be by his side? Doubtful. 

 

Yes, we all know about the blue skinned Thrawn, but he was created for the Extended Universe, and even in-universe, he was a very rare exception. He was popular enough to be cherry picked for Disney Canon.

 

It's quite nice to see a woman in the ISB, Dedra Meero, because human female officers are also very rare in the Empire. The EU had very few.

 

Of course, if we remember the Obi-Wan show, it also had very few aliens. 

Don't forget, quite a few of the separatists were Aliens

[Positivatee 327]

Of course. This deep into the reign of the Empire (10, 15 years?), any surviving Separatist cells should have been flushed out and eliminated. Refer to Darth Vader's first Away Mission off planet. Their purpose was to install the Empire. 

 

That's why it was strange to hear Mon Mothma small talk about still dealing with the Separatists. I wasn't paying attention enough to know how recent that was. 

[GerateWohl 4,357]

8 hours ago, Positivatee said:

The Empire is typically racist towards non-human alien races. It is very rare for aliens to serve in the military. Many non-human aliens were enslaved after the fall of the Republic and rise of the Empire, including the Wookies and Calamari, but these are not in the Andor story yet. 

 

This series serves as a contrast between the high number of colorful aliens seen in the prequels' Republic and the Empire seen later. There aren't many, if any, aliens in the core worlds like Coruscant or Ferrix. Most of the aliens were chased away. Very few alien senators are seen. Maybe their positions were forcibly reassigned. 

 

Procedural racism. 

 

The show seems to be saving aliens for the frontier planets (the places where The Mandalorian and BoBF visit) and where the Rebels have a presence. The 4-armed doctor (Doctor Quadpaw, if you have closed captions on) is clearly alien. Andor is arrested on a vacation planet with lots of aliens. 

 

If we get to see the Emperor, will his devil horned attendant Mas Amedda still be by his side? Doubtful. 

 

Yes, we all know about the blue skinned Thrawn, but he was created for the Extended Universe, and even in-universe, he was a very rare exception. He was popular enough to be cherry picked for Disney Canon.

 

It's quite nice to see a woman in the ISB, Dedra Meero, because human female officers are also very rare in the Empire. The EU had very few.

 

Of course, if we remember the Obi-Wan show, it also had very few aliens. 

That is all very interesting and makes absolutely no sense. 

Because

• even though the empire might be racist against non-human species Corruscant remained the capital for all worlds and all people
• at the party, that I was referring to, there was an alien guest. Why just one? According to your explanation it should not have been there.

By the way, in the last episode I found, the series is increasingly getting a Hunger Games look and feel.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

5 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

By the way, in the last episode I found, the series is increasingly getting a Hunger Games look and feel.

 

I’ve watched all the Hunger Games movies and read the books and I have no idea what you mean

[Positivatee 327]

6 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

That is all very interesting and makes absolutely no sense. 

Because

• even though the empire might be racist against non-human species Corruscant remained the capital for all worlds and all people
• at the party, that I was referring to, there was an alien guest. Why just one? According to your explanation it should not have been there.

By the way, in the last episode I found, the series is increasingly getting a Hunger Games look and feel.

 

Cool! 

[GerateWohl 4,357]

2 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

 

I’ve watched all the Hunger Games movies and read the books and I have no idea what you mean

For the books it is clear, as they don't really have a look and feel. I am just referring to the movies. And this setting with the totalitarian system, the politics and intrigues in the capital, the rebels in the field making plans, the career discussion in this intelligence organization, but especially the way how the discussions of personal matters are intervowen remind me of it.

One example is Andor's remembrance where a a friend of his tries to calm down the people in the crowd, that are throwing stones at the stormtroopers and the last row turns around to shoot the inciters down.

But hey, this is nothing objectively mesurable. Just my personal impression. But if noone else can relate to it, then it is probably wrong.

[mstrox 6,651]

Really digging the new prison/war manufacturing environment and its rules.  Serkis was a treat.  Also enjoyed the Mothma intrigue, and am looking forward to what direction things go in with the husband.  A little less interesting this week were Skarsgard’s trip to Saw-land (although I thought the initial exchange with neither taking credit for the heist was great) and the stuff on the original planet with Bix and the heist rebels.  I’m sure it’ll pay off in interesting ways.
 

Interested to see whether we’re still following the three-episode-arc thing, because nothing seems to be moving towards a conclusion for next week. .  Feels like we’re just getting the status quo established.  
 

Noticed a few more moments of score that were pretty cool.  Looking forward to album 2.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

8 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

For the books it is clear, as they don't really have a look and feel. I am just referring to the movies. And this setting with the totalitarian system, the politics and intrigues in the capital, the rebels in the field making plans, the career discussion in this intelligence organization, but especially the way how the discussions of personal matters are intervowen remind me of it.

One example is Andor's remembrance where a a friend of his tries to calm down the people in the crowd, that are throwing stones at the stormtroopers and the last row turns around to shoot the inciters down.

But hey, this is nothing objectively mesurable. Just my personal impression. But if noone else can relate to it, then it is probably wrong.

I think I see what you’re getting at and it’s technically correct, but the thing to keep in mind I think is that these are all pretty standard sci-fi concepts so I don’t think we can attribute this to Hunger Games specifically

 

Its definitely taking a more ground-level approach to depicting fascism like those movies, but this has also been an approach of the old EU for a while and probably before even the Hunger Games books were written