Star Wars: Andor (September 21st, 2022)

[davejames]

Yeah have to admit I've gotten a little tired of the "early days of the Rebellion" thing after Rogue One, Solo, Obi-Wan, and 4 seasons of Rebels. It's like we get it already, we know what this is all leading to. Lol

I'd be much more interested at this point in following a group of Rebels fighting the Empire during the OT who are operating away from Han, Luke and Leia and having their own crazy adventures.

 

[TheBatman]

Thats how I feel about the Star Wars movies. Its all toxic family and daddy issues. Nothing new.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Star Wars -- Its all toxic family and daddy issues. Nothing new.

 

[Mondragon]

just a little confused about the dead republic officer comment when CIS symbols... not sure what is happening there

Yeah I thought the same thing! Wonder what's up with that.

Definitely more to that than they are letting on so far.
Why all the adults are dead,
And why Andors adopted "parents" were the first ones to arrive.

 

[jye4ever]

These 3 episodes had such amazing new music and narrative style added to the traditional SW aesthetics it was all so…

ZzzzZzzzZzzzZzzzz

 

[Wor-Gar]

Watch Episode 2 last night -- or, I should say, I watched the set-up episode for episode 3.

Yes, it is slow. Seems to be going nowhere at the moment. But I'm hanging in there. I know this will be a good show. It's already far and above any Boba shtick or Little-Leia antics. It doesn't rely on "awww so cute" moments to hide its emptiness. It proudly expounds its tediousness, and it does it very well. It's so realistic it seems boring. But is it? Maybe its not.

Slow burn? Gilroy hasn't even lit the match yet.

 

[jaztermareal]

Definitely more to that than they are letting on so far.
Why all the adults are dead,
And why Andors adopted "parents" were the first ones to arrive.

if the gas was gonna ruin the planet and killed the occupants surely Cassian and his friends would have been effected by it. if it dissipates quickly enough to not harm them or the adoptive parents then surely it can't do much to the environment

 

[Cocoboloboy]

Finished Ep.3 Impressive. Quite the departure from the traditional SW feel for sure.

Ep.1 and 3 were outstanding in look and score. Ep. 2 scared me as it started to look and sound like the lesser quality Disney SW they’ve been churning out but I was happy to see Ep. 3 was back to Ep.1 form.

If TLJ is at the goofy end of the SW spectrum then Andor has easily got to be at the far serious side of that scale with R1 a couple steps below it. The best SW content for me is a good balance between the two which ESB hit with R1 second place in that regard. TFA also had a nice balance IMHO.

That being said if I had to choose one extreme or the other then give me all the serious SW you want and keep the 90% goofball SW for the cartoons and kiddos.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Looking forward to Ep 3 now.

 

[jaztermareal]

Finished Ep.3 Impressive. Quite the departure from the traditional SW feel for sure.

Ep.1 and 3 were outstanding in look and score. Ep. 2 scared me as it started to look and sound like the lesser quality Disney SW they’ve been churning out but I was happy to see Ep. 3 was back to Ep.1 form.

If TLJ is at the goofy end of the SW spectrum then Andor has easily got to be at the far serious side of that scale with R1 a couple steps below it. The best SW content for me is a good balance between the two which ESB hit with R1 second place in that regard. TFA also had a nice balance IMHO.

That being said if I had to choose one extreme or the other then give me all the serious SW you want and keep the 90% goofball SW for the cartoons and kiddos.

agree with almost all of that (except I thought TFA was bad on opening night). Gimme more serious, gritty, adult targeted Star Wars for live action. Cartoons aimed at kids can be silly and OTT

 

[davejames]

Watch Episode 2 last night -- or, I should say, I watched the set-up episode for episode 3.

Yes, it is slow. Seems to be going nowhere at the moment. But I'm hanging in there. I know this will be a good show. It's already far and above any Boba shtick or Little-Leia antics. It doesn't rely on "awww so cute" moments to hide its emptiness. It proudly expounds its tediousness, and it does it very well. It's so realistic it seems boring. But is it? Maybe its not.

Slow burn? Gilroy hasn't even lit the match yet.

Yeah I'm not sure this qualifies as a "slow burn" like we got with Better Call Saul, where you're glued to the screen and every tiny thing that happens along the way. This does build up to something good in the third episode, but the buildup itself is pretty tedious and uninteresting to sit through.

 

[ebor]

Episode 3 upped the tempo, the drama and character development. Eagerly awaiting the future episodes. Best SW in a few decades.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Rama's Episode 1 great big, itty-bitty b.s. review:

[I doubt I'll have time to watch the other two this weekend - I'll get to it tho]

*Blade-Runner-esque red light?? district? 'Aight.
*More aliens casually interspersed with the human population. Cool.
*Dark and gritty: okay.
*Depictions of high social inequality and hardscrabble urban environment? let's do it.

All this is good. But there's one huge problem: I dont give a damn what happens to this Cassian guy. I came out of Mando ep. 1 highly invested in what happened next, I liked him and cared about him although he had not even shown us a face. I could not wait to see more.

I felt the same way about Vikings and Breaking Bad. I loved those shows, and they really strung you along, kept you emotionally attached.

I'll watch more of this, but I'm not emotionally invested at all.

 

[jye4ever]

So far Mando S1/S2 BLOW AWAY Andor and no amount of a mature new narrative style with Blade Runner aesthetics and sound effects is changing that for me.

I certainly don’t hate it like I did most of Obi-Wan and all of BOBF!

 

[Wor-Gar]

I certainly don’t hate it like I did most of Obi-Wan and all of BOBF!

Just got off the phone with Gilroy, and that's all he wanted from this.

 

[a-dev]

I felt the same way about Vikings and Breaking Bad. I loved those shows, and they really strung you along, kept you emotionally attached.

Vikings left me cold if I'm honest. A decent show but I didn't actually like anyone in it.

 

[jaztermareal]

So far Mando S1/S2 BLOW AWAY Andor and no amount of a mature new narrative style with Blade Runner aesthetics and sound effects is changing that for me.

I certainly don’t hate it like I did most of Obi-Wan and all of BOBF!

Mando seasons 1 and 2 didn't blow me away at all. The reason is that while the high points are pretty damn high and maybe some of the best Star Wars moments, they are just that: moments. The rest was equal parts filler, cringe and ok/meh. It makes the show very frustrating because when it is good it is amazing, but the progression of the show felt very awkward with constant RPG style side missions and fetch quests (lets teach this village of Walking Dead extras how to fight / I have to assist this James Franco knock off dude catch a bounty) along with Jar Jar level cringe characters (Peli, Blue SNL alien etc). The uneven nature of the show truly holds it back.


Andor thus far has been slow and fails to hook the viewer in the way Mando did but it shows promise, signs that it could exceed Mando going forward. The dialogue, direction, cinematography and action so far are better. So long as the characters get more development and Cassian is allowed to show a little more range I think it can leave Mando in the dust.


Hopefully Mando season 3 will be better yet. I kinda doubt it but I hope the show will finally be able to get a proper narrative going and be allowed to get darker and rely less on cutesie baby alien.

 

[ZE_501]

@jaztermareal I agree with you on Mandalorian, the show makes my personal canon based mostly on moments -- there was plenty of cringe -- but I give it a pass because I expect Star Wars to be mostly uneven and those high points were pretty amazing.

Andor *has* hooked me. The mood and texture of the show have won me over to the point I don't find it slow, rather a world I want to be immersed in. Similar to The Batman -- which many found over-long but I loved every moody minute of it.

 

[chrisstbh]

Mando seasons 1 and 2 didn't blow me away at all. The reason is that while the high points are pretty damn high and maybe some of the best star wars moments, they are just that: moments. The rest was equal parts filler, cringe and ok/meh. It makes the show very frustrating because when it is good it is amazing, but the progression of the show felt very awkward with constant RPG style side missions and fetch quests (lets teach this village of walking dead extras how to fight / I have to assist this James Franco knock off dude catch a bounty) along with Jar Jar level cringe characters (Peli, Blue SNL alien etc). The uneven nature of the show truly holds it back.


Andor thus far has been slow and fails to hook the viewer in the way Mando did but it shows promise, signs that it could exceed Mando going foreward. The dialogue, direction, cinematography and action so far are better, so long as the characters get more devolpment and Cassian is allowed to show a little more range I think it can leave Mando in the dust.


Hopefully Mando season 3 will be better yet. I kinda doubt it but I hope the show will finally be able to get a proper narrative going and be allowed to get darker and rely less on cutesie baby alien.

Well he is a bounty hunter, a gun for hire, people want his help in exchange for favours. I think the video gamey RPG structure works pretty well for it.

All Star Wars is cringe, get over it.

 

[Mondragon]

if the gas was gonna ruin the planet and killed the occupants surely Cassian and his friends would have been effected by it. if it dissipates quickly enough to not harm them or the adoptive parents then surely it can't do much to the environment

Could it be the gas is part of what brought down the ship or just what they were carrying.
And Maarva and Clem had something to do with the ship being brought down?

How is it they just happened to show up first?

More...?