Star Wars: Andor (September 21st, 2022)

[jye4ever]

Reports are stating that the viewer base is rising (Slowly but surely) And this makes me happy, this show deserves the views, it makes the Book of Boba look embarrassing.

Well I hope the numbers increased with no more ROP, HOTD and She-Hulk being the competition.

Had they remained the same it would’ve been really bad and yes BOBF is trash next to this pinnacle of craftsmanship.

 

[Khev]

Well I hope the numbers increased with no more ROP, HOTD and She-Hulk being the competition.

Had they remained the same it would’ve been really bad and yes BOBF is trash next to this pinnacle of craftsmanship.

Well said now go read my Thor Love and Thunder review, lol.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I do appreciate the adherence to 70s tech today in Star Wars. It was used well in Rogue One and here as well. The displays on Luthen's ship were great.

I love his navigation droid, showing it takes time to calculate coordinates just like Han and K2 said, and time to charge his weapons.

His ship is small and was underestimated, but it has teeth and she's got it where it counts.

 

[Khev]

I can't even imagine what BOBF would have been like with Gilroy at the helm.

 

[Johnny Utah]

It would have been written well like the 90s Dark Horse Boba Fett comics and EU novels. Instead we got the Vespa squad, random twirls mid battle and this.

 

[Mandible]

Okay, I'm going to kick the hornets nest...

Rogue One is very average (and gets worse with each viewing). I remember coming out of the cinema with my jaw hanging on the ground saying something like "the SW movie we've been waiting 30 years for."

Then I watched it again and the "goggles" fell off.

No doubt the aesthetic, feel, coloring, everything... is a really beautiful match to SW 77, but nowadays my admiration is limited to a few great scenes, surrounded with a LOT of awkward, disjointed, oddness (no doubt, fallout from the massive reshoots).

The dialogue in many scenes is ridiculous or doesn't flow, with bizarre segues and there's a monstrous lack of logic sometimes.

Let's go from the start and I'll mention just a few of the things that grind my gears:

Krennic's ship at the start lands in the middle of nowhere (because it looks insanely cool - as does the troopers and him walking all that way in the rain). And, it flies over little Gyn, but she makes it back to the house before the thing has even landed????

The mom leaving her daughter (and if she had even half a brain, would know she's going to her death), to try and get back Mads. Mind blowing??? I've got no idea what sort of a parent/person would ever leave their child, on an obvious fools errand. She just runs up there like an imbecile and points her gun at him. Even her dialogue delivery is awful. She's shaking her head "yes" while saying something that means "no" at one point. Weird.

Gyn wakes up in the cell, water drips on her head, she angrily wipes it off while staring at the alien opposite her. The way that's edited and acted, it feels like she's pissed at the alien because it made the water drop on her head, like it's its salvia or something. It's just weird.

Same when the rebels are interrogating her - the way she's acting/the look on her face, again really odd, making context feel off.

The stupid fan service scene in Jedha with Walrus man dude.

Why did the Donny Yen character call out to her about her necklace??? There's never any context given again as to how a blind man called out to her in a crowded place and knew she was wearing a necklace. He's not a Jedi? And he doesn't pull any wizardry out of his ass again like that - especially when it could have saved lives (actually he does say there's someone in the other cell, but either way, just feels odd and doesn't flow).

The segue to "You seem really tense - to - this town's about to blow" What? What? Why is it about to blow? Everyone's just walking around doing their thing. There's no pre-cursor to his line or why he's acting this way in the blink of and edit????

The scene where she's watching the hologram of Dad - mother of god that's REALLY bad. He's supposed to be delivering a message to Saw, then starts waffling on all this bloated BS (even looking in another direction, as to look directly at Gyn) - just so the Death Star sequence can happen.

Anyway, there's so many more, but I can't be ****** anymore.

All Andor does for me, is reenforce my issues with Rogue One.

 

[ZE_501]

Rogue One is very average (and gets worse with each viewing). I remember coming out of the cinema with my jaw hanging on the ground saying something like "the SW movie we've been waiting 30 years for."

Then I watched it again and the "goggles" fell off.

I think it's above average and like most Star Wars, has flaws. I've always said it's tonally off and weird but nonetheless I enjoy the experience.

No doubt the aesthetic, feel, coloring, everything... is a really beautiful match to SW 77,

Probably one of my favourite things about it.

Krennic's ship at the start lands in the middle of nowhere (because it looks insanely cool - as does the troopers and him walking all that way in the rain). And, it flies over little Gyn, but she makes it back to the house before the thing has even landed????

Never thought of that. I feel like it was circling or something but didn't pay much attention to be honest.

The mom leaving her daughter (and if she had even half a brain, would know she's going to her death), to try and get back Mads. Mind blowing??? I've got no idea what sort of a parent/person would ever leave their child, on an obvious fools errand. She just runs up there like an imbecile and points her gun at him. Even her dialogue delivery is awful. She's shaking her head "yes" while saying something that means "no" at one point. Weird.

Suicide-by-Death Trooper is definitely odd. That one's one helluva reach given ... what did she hope to accomplish and leaving her daughter in the first place was weird.

Gyn wakes up in the cell, water drips on her head, she angrily wipes it off while staring at the alien opposite her. The way that's edited and acted, it feels like she's pissed at the alien because it made the water drop on her head, like it's its salvia or something. It's just weird.

Never read the scene that way myself.

Same when the rebels are interrogating her - the way she's acting/the look on her face, again really odd, making context feel off.

She's a pretty messed up character in general, but again -- not something I've noticed.

The stupid fan service scene in Jedha with Walrus man dude.

Yeah that's dumb.

Why did the Donny Yen character call out to her about her necklace??? There's never any context given again as to how a blind man called out to her in a crowded place and knew she was wearing a necklace. He's not a Jedi? And he doesn't pull any wizardry out of his ass again like that - especially when it could have saved lives (actually he does say there's someone in the other cell, but either way, just feels odd and doesn't flow).

So ... inside of a film I love are Chirrut Imwe, Saw Gerrera, Bor Gullet and Bodhi Rook. I never liked any of those characters. They didn't ruin the film for me but I didn't like their roles in the narrative or how they were portrayed. They didn't make sense to me on various levels. Saw in Andor is a better character, IMO.

The segue to "You seem really tense - to - this town's about to blow" What? What? Why is it about to blow? Everyone's just walking around doing their thing. There's no pre-cursor to his line or why he's acting this way in the blink of and edit????

I bought it. He's seeing things that aren't quite right with trained eyes. All super-spy like. I give it a pass.

The scene where she's watching the hologram of Dad - mother of god that's REALLY bad. He's supposed to be delivering a message to Saw, then starts waffling on all this bloated BS (even looking in another direction, as to look directly at Gyn) - just so the Death Star sequence can happen.

Didn't love that scene.

But I still dig the movie, and Andor is something one step removed even from that. It does feel like an old EU novel.

 

[ebor]

It would have been written well like the 90s Dark Horse Boba Fett comics and EU novels. Instead we got the Vespa squad, random twirls mid battle and this.
View attachment 608787

Someone need to put this gif to Madonna’s ‘Like Virgin (Bantha)’…

 

[Wor-Gar]

Okay, I'm going to kick the hornets nest...

Rogue One is very average (and gets worse with each viewing). I remember coming out of the cinema with my jaw hanging on the ground saying something like "the SW movie we've been waiting 30 years for."

Then I watched it again and the "goggles" fell off.

No doubt the aesthetic, feel, coloring, everything... is a really beautiful match to SW 77, but nowadays my admiration is limited to a few great scenes, surrounded with a LOT of awkward, disjointed, oddness (no doubt, fallout from the massive reshoots).

The dialogue in many scenes is ridiculous or doesn't flow, with bizarre segues and there's a monstrous lack of logic sometimes.

Let's go from the start and I'll mention just a few of the things that grind my gears:

Krennic's ship at the start lands in the middle of nowhere (because it looks insanely cool - as does the troopers and him walking all that way in the rain). And, it flies over little Gyn, but she makes it back to the house before the thing has even landed????

The mom leaving her daughter (and if she had even half a brain, would know she's going to her death), to try and get back Mads. Mind blowing??? I've got no idea what sort of a parent/person would ever leave their child, on an obvious fools errand. She just runs up there like an imbecile and points her gun at him. Even her dialogue delivery is awful. She's shaking her head "yes" while saying something that means "no" at one point. Weird.

Gyn wakes up in the cell, water drips on her head, she angrily wipes it off while staring at the alien opposite her. The way that's edited and acted, it feels like she's pissed at the alien because it made the water drop on her head, like it's its salvia or something. It's just weird.

Same when the rebels are interrogating her - the way she's acting/the look on her face, again really odd, making context feel off.

The stupid fan service scene in Jedha with Walrus man dude.

Why did the Donny Yen character call out to her about her necklace??? There's never any context given again as to how a blind man called out to her in a crowded place and knew she was wearing a necklace. He's not a Jedi? And he doesn't pull any wizardry out of his ass again like that - especially when it could have saved lives (actually he does say there's someone in the other cell, but either way, just feels odd and doesn't flow).

The segue to "You seem really tense - to - this town's about to blow" What? What? Why is it about to blow? Everyone's just walking around doing their thing. There's no pre-cursor to his line or why he's acting this way in the blink of and edit????

The scene where she's watching the hologram of Dad - mother of god that's REALLY bad. He's supposed to be delivering a message to Saw, then starts waffling on all this bloated BS (even looking in another direction, as to look directly at Gyn) - just so the Death Star sequence can happen.

Anyway, there's so many more, but I can't be ****** anymore.

All Andor does for me, is reenforce my issues with Rogue One.

Nooooo! Take your poison back, please.... get it out of my head.




I'll still say, in its day, it was the BEST thing to happen to Star Wars since The Empire Strikes Back, if for nothing else the last 40 minutes. I have seen nothing theatrically yet that has changed my opinion.

 

[pixletwin]

The only thing a fan edit could improve on with Rogue One is to remove that awful Doc Evazan scene. Otherwise it is peak (non-OT) SW for me.

 

[goatchumby]

Uncanny Tarkin and AARP Vader were the only major detractors for me.

 

[GaryPool]

I've got one episode left of this and I've gone from why the F is there an Andor show to please let there be more Andor shows. It's really broadening the great aspect of political and personal strife of what the Rebels have to do to take down a Dictatorial Empire and everything is extremely well done for it. Definitely wanting more of this type of Star Wars. The Imperial board meetings are fantastic.

In Comparison Obi-Wan was the biggest steaming pile of freshly ground Bantha maneur. How does a show like Obi-Wan look so awful, be scipted terribly, have nothing of interest in it, and a show like Andor have great tension, scriptings, setting etc.

Oh well.

 

[Johnny Utah]

How does a show like Obi-Wan look so awful, be scipted terribly, have nothing of interest in it, and a show like Andor have great tension, scriptings, setting etc.

They brought in Tony Gilroy to run the show, he brought in Beau Willimon to write it with him.

Combined with stellar performances and the Rogue One aesthetic, and here we are.

 

[GaryPool]

It goes beyond the writing, though also. I was struck by even just the opening of him walking the long pier, it looked like he was actually there. Characters actually look like they inhabit other worlds and places (Coruscant flats and office space look phenomenal). In Obi-Wan they looked like they were stood on a stage with fake backgrounds added in and sparse characters to make it look populated.

I Don't understand, did Andor receive more funding than Obi-Wan? Andor absolutely had no right to be as good as it is, a lot of it obviously comes from the show running and writing down to the actors they choose.

Just makes you wish that they gave similar shows like Obi-Wan to actual credible people.

Very much looking forward to watching the final episode, the cohesion of the various plots all tying together to fit into the narrative of how a rebellion started in the universe is incredibly well done, and believable on all fronts. Even simplistic yet effective storytelling as the prison scenes (obviously done to save on money for the show to havea stretched part dedicated to one space), but in what these scenes say as a great show don't tell part of how the Empire treats and views people, in how the Empire is able to get a lot of manufacturing done etc. is all great world building.

All in all this is successful Star Wars, brining in new ideas and stories but building on the existing universe.

Star Wars is at its absolute worse when it's just pointing out HEY REMEMBER THIS? THIS IS FROM THE OTHER STAR WARS THING! And not really contributing much to a new storyline.

This show is the one, definitely a contender against Mando season 1.

 

[jaztermareal]

It goes beyond the writing, though also. I was struck by even just the opening of him walking the long pier, it looked like he was actually there. Characters actually look like they inhabit other worlds and places (Coruscant flats and office space look phenomenal). In Obi-Wan they looked like they were stood on a stage with fake backgrounds added in and sparse characters to make it look populated.

I Don't understand, did Andor receive more funding than Obi-Wan? Andor absolutely had no right to be as good as it is, a lot of it obviously comes from the show running and writing down to the actors they choose.

Just makes you wish that they gave similar shows like Obi-Wan to actual credible people.

Very much looking forward to watching the final episode, the cohesion of the various plots all tying together to fit into the narrative of how a rebellion started in the universe is incredibly well done, and believable on all fronts. Even simplistic yet effective storytelling as the prison scenes (obviously done to save on money for the show to havea stretched part dedicated to one space), but in what these scenes say as a great show don't tell part of how the Empire treats and views people, in how the Empire is able to get a lot of manufacturing done etc. is all great world building.

All in all this is successful Star Wars, brining in new ideas and stories but building on the existing universe.

Star Wars is at its absolute worse when it's just pointing out HEY REMEMBER THIS? THIS IS FROM THE OTHER STAR WARS THING! And not really contributing much to a new storyline.

This show is the one, definitely a contender against Mando season 1.

While the high points in Mando may be the highest peaks in Star Wars, I honestly feel that Andor beats Mando overall due to having little to no cringe and being mostly logical (not to mention better dialogue).
Mando has frequent cringe moments and things that don't make sense such as: the tracking fobs that seem to defy any sort of logic and can somehow track anything despite no trackers being on the targets (as stupid as the sequel trilogy's hyperspace tracking), the unfunny blue alien guy who belongs on the Orville, any scene with Peli Motto, "This is the way" being repeated as if it was the "greater good" village cult line from Hot Fuzz, the Disney Park acting style of many extras such as the waitress on blue shrimp planet, the same planets extras who look and act like they walked off the Walking Dead set etc etc etc.
I am truly glad Andor exists. It shows that Star Wars can be well written and mature. It is about time we got quality Star Wars for once. It may have some flaws (bit slow, not enough aliens/droids etc) but the ratio of good to bad in Andor is the best out of all Disney Star Wars and it exceeds the Prequel era too. Best Star Wars since OT isn't an overstatement. More please!

 

[Johnny Utah]

I rewatched the Mando season 2 finale after 11 episodes of Andor.

Luke moments aside, God the acting and line delivery from Ming Na Wen and Gina Carano is terrible.

 

[GaryPool]

While the high points in Mando may be the highest peaks in Star Wars, I honestly feel that Andor beats Mando overall due to having little to no cringe and being mostly logical (not to mention better dialogue).
Mando has frequent cringe moments and things that don't make sense such as: the tracking fobs that seem to defy any sort of logic and can somehow track anything despite no trackers being on the targets (as stupid as the sequel trilogy's hyperspace tracking), the unfunny blue alien guy who belongs on the Orville, any scene with Peli Motto, "This is the way" being repeated as if it was the "greater good" village cult line from Hot Fuzz, the Disney Park acting style of many extras such as the waitress on blue shrimp planet, the same planets extras who look and act like they walked off the Walking Dead set etc etc etc.
I am truly glad Andor exists. It shows that Star Wars can be well written and mature. It is about time we got quality Star Wars for once. It may have some flaws (bit slow, not enough aliens/droids etc) but the ratio of good to bad in Andor is the best out of all Disney Star Wars and it exceeds the Prequel era too. Best Star Wars since OT isn't an overstatement. More please!

Honestly, I'm going off my memory for how much I enjoyed those two seasons, but yeah, I do also remember hating the village planet and the acting from a fair few amount of people.

Rogue One is probably my second favourite Star Wars film, but in terms of shows, yeah this one might edge out as the best. It has a through line that feels like these people are actually on a trajectory of how the Empire is in A New Hope. I mean, for me Vader isn't scary in a New Hope, after all he answers to Moff Tarkin, and this shows just nails the malice and preciseness of the Empire and the people operating in it. It feels mature, but it also doesn't feel dumb which I think is more important.

I've only really just realised that each episode isn't a flavour of the week also, it is just one long coherent story which makes it even more better. I love slow burns, I can understand why people may not like this show as a slow burn but in its defense it offers up great settings and dialogues from various people of power that I'd take over explosions that serve no purpose every day of the week.

Really hope the show gets the numbers it deserves.

 

[Stront]

Rewatched the latest episode again because I wanted to see Luthen in action. I really like his character, he’s got this Bruce Wayne/Batman thing going on that I think is awesome.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Hard to believe the same guy played bumbling Erik Selvig in Thor running naked around Stonehenge.

 

[ScoutingForToys]

Hard to believe the same guy played bumbling Erik Selvig in Thor running naked around Stonehenge.

Must be brilliant, playing a serious character, in a show with excellent dialogue. Especially after being in those silly superhero movies playing a comic relief character.