Star Wars: Andor

[BT Jones]

I'm surprised no one's started a thread on this yet.

I'm really looking forward to this one. Hopefully it's got better bones than Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

[BAYLOR]

It actually looks quite good.

 

[Rodders]

I’m hugely impressed by this teaser. Andor looks like it could be very good indeed.

Great cast and the design work looks exceptional.

I think using a relatively minor character is a good idea, too. Less opportunities for disappointment.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Just seen the trailer for this - actually looks interesting.

 

[CupofJoe]

A prequal to Rogue One?
I'll never see it but the trailer looks good.

 

[BAYLOR]

Just seen the trailer for this - actually looks interesting.

Well, t given the event's in Rogue One , we know how things are ultimately going to turn out Andor . But, I do agree, it does look good.

 

[Toby Frost]

Hmm. I watched the first episode of this last night, and had slightly mixed feelings. I liked the toughness and the moral complexity of it, as well as the lack of Jedi and "high-level" characters. However, it feels slightly false, perhaps because there's no real swearing, no blood and all the drinks/drugs/guns/machinery are sci-fi talk. It's a bit like shows that claim to be set in hard reality and go out before the watershed. And for some reason, I found the dialogue quite hard to hear.

However, overall I rather liked it. Watching Andor walking around being seedy is entertaining, as are the police. It might be a slow burner, but it's got promise.

 

[paeng]

Warning: spoilers

 

[Toby Frost]

I gave this another go yesterday and watched the first six episodes of Where Rebels Dare all the way through. It's a slow-burner, perhaps too slow, and some of the voices are still quite hard to make out, but it's really good. It's odd how the setting can be quite cartoonish (the Imperials seem to be literally wearing a mixture of German and Japanese WW2 uniforms, as if we needed a clue that they were up to no good) but the characterisation is strong and rounded, and there's a real sense of events having consequences. And the Scottish policeman swore!

I think this is as "dark" (ugh) as Star Wars could really get without turning into something entirely different. It's certainly not a children's show, or high-quality jolly fun like The Mandalorian. I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to the next episodes of Secret Space Army. I hope the makers are able to resist the temptation to include the Jedi or turn it into another story about the Skywalker family. I did have an issue working out what Andor actually was in the beginning - a thief, a resistance hero, or a mixture of the two? - and why so many people seemed to loyal to him when he didn't seem to do anything useful.

There was one moment that really encapsulated it for me: Andor's friend, a worker in the spaceshipyard, rigs a trap to destroy a police shuttle, which explodes, killing the pilot. Later, we see him drinking in a bar, with a facial expression that says "What have I just done?". Star Wars with consequences.

 

[ctg]

Of all the various Star Wars projects announced over the years, Andor arguably generated the least excitement. While Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a hit with fans, the nature of it being a prequel meant that audiences weren't entirely enthused by that movie itself getting a sequel, especially since we knew all the characters died in that film's finale. In fact, it's largely due to these humble and unassuming origins that allowed the series to be a genuinely thrilling and unexpected adventure.

Showrunner Tony Gilroy has often expressed that he never had much reverence for the galaxy far, far away and that, while the series would include Easter eggs, his lack of awareness of the franchise at large meant we shouldn't expect the "fan service" that other Star Wars projects offered. Instead, we were given an experience more akin to his work on Michael Clayton or the Jason Bourne films, with its Star Wars elements becoming the least compelling components of the experience.

The entire ordeal ignited with the worst day in Cassian Andor's life, as he found himself in a no-win situation where he had to decide between his own future or those of security officers. His quick thinking forced his hand and immersed himself in the Rebellion deeper than he ever intended, showcasing to audiences how heroes aren't always borne of moral conviction and are reluctant and the result of self-focused choices. Throughout the season, Diego Luna offered audiences a pained performance as a character who, with every small decision that offered him short-term safety, only dug himself deeper into opposing the Galactic Empire.

On the other side of the spectrum, Kyle Soller's Syril Karn and Denise Gough's Dedra Meero explored the same scenarios that Cassian found himself in, yet from positions of power. These characters weren't abjectly evil, with their daily tasks coming from places of protecting their colleagues and showcasing their own talents, as each small decision entrenched them further into fascistic organizations. While a majority of Star Wars stories paint in broad strokes, with the heroism of the protagonists being a reflection of the antagonists' treachery, Andor entirely lived in the grey; Andor wasn't morally superior to those around him, he merely had a more powerful will to survive at any cost.

The 2022 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best TV Series

While it's easy to reflect on 2022 as a challenging time for content on the small screen, as movie [...]

comicbook.com

 

[Rodders]

I saw the first six episodes this week.

I really like how they've taken the time to set up the story and the characters. Some of the set pieces are superb, (such as the Ferrix firefight with the dropping machinery), others are too contrived to be believable. I'm enjoying the machinations of Mon Mothma as well. I hope the show has legs as Star Wars without the Jedi is what's needed now.

The music is quite interesting, too. More "The Expanse" than "Star Wars", but still very enjoyable.

 

[pogopossum]

Binged the series over the holiday week while visiting my daughter.
Yes quite dark. The minor detail that got to me was when the fellow prisoner most responsible for a successful prison break is forced to jump into the water to get away. Unfortunately he can't swim. One fewer character to be concerned about.
The acting is excellent.
The atmospherics are notable.
Particularly on Andor's home planet the scenes are filmed at a large budget scale. The same thing is true of the prison scenes. Disney certainly spent a bundle.
Wikipedia says, " It received critical acclaim from critics, who praised its writing, directing, performances, action sequences, musical score, and the darker, more mature tone compared to previous Star Wars projects"

 

[HareBrain]

I'm very keen to watch this and might sign up to Disney+ just to do so.

I saw a video review of it containing something that cemented its quality as far as I was concerned. It showed a bomb or something going off, and it was shot as an actual realistic explosion rather than the usual Hollywood petrol fireball. A small detail, but it really impressed me.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I think I have a spare log-in I can send you via D.C.

 

[HareBrain]

I've now watched this. Overall I think it's superb, 9/10. I only have a couple of real quibbles. One is that the search for Cassian's sister, which begins the story, is never explored and only referenced again once. The second is that Cassian's arrest seems a bit ridiculous and partly played for comic effect, which doesn't match the tone of almost everything else.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about how it fits with the rest of Star Wars. I'm not a real SW fan, and would have had no interest in this if I hadn't seen reviews, but I have watched most of the films and the Clone Wars series. This feels completely different, because it doesn't feel like it's meant to be fun in the same way that everything else is. The only elements that feel "fun" are the aliens (not often used) and the droids, and to me these feel really jarring in this. The little red droid is cute and engaging, but everything else in this world feels so thoughtfully realistic, it seems ludicrous that a robot would have been programmed to have that kind of personality and sentience. OTOH I wouldn't have wanted the show to be completely independent from the rest of SW because the familiarity of the Empire elements, the TIE fighters etc, adds a lot to it. Again, their use feels a lot more serious than in the films. And the mid-credits sequence at the very end, where we find what the prisoners have been making, is knockout. I'll get boos and hisses from certain quarters for this (you know who you are), but it made me really want all the rest of SW to be remade in this mode, original trilogy and all.

I highly recommend this to anyone.

 

[Phyrebrat]

How, pray, did you manage to watch And/or without a Disney sub? You must have a very generous friend (or something)…

I liked the series but Andor himself is a wholly unlikeable character.

Obi Wan is superb, too. And Mando. Actually I think you’ll prob like Mando most as it’s not particularly linked to the OT the way the CWs and Rebels are.

 

[HareBrain]

You must have a very generous friend (or something)…

Or I'm part of a network of spies with tech that can bypass Imperial signal jammers.

Andor himself is a wholly unlikeable character.

I can see why you might say that, but it didn't bother me. He almost feels like he's there just to provide a reason for the other characters to be in their scenes. That sounds like death for an MC, but because the other characters are all so good, it isn't.

 

[Dave]

I think you’ll prob like Mando most

I agree that the Bunny probably will.

You must have a very generous friend (or something)…

(Something) I watched Mando today while childminding at my daughters, and while the granddaughter had her midday nap.

 

[HareBrain]

I watched some of Rogue One yesterday and it made me appreciate something about Andor which I hadn't really noticed at the time -- the score. In Rogue One, much of the music in the action scenes has John Williams's fingerprints all over it, and for me its major-key blariness robs the action of tension (it doesn't help that the violence is also a bit more cartoony and the stormtroopers New Hope level inept). In the skirmish in the hangar in Andor E6, on the other hand, the music is tense and driving but almost aurally invisible (if that makes sense) and much more effective.

It got me wondering about the different approaches. Is the JW style meant to be more effective in cinemas? Or was it just assumed necessary that a Star Wars film should have it? It made me think of how many BBC nature documentaries now have overblown string orchestras: "Behold the wondrousness that we're bringing to your screens, you oiks! I bet you wouldn't have noticed it otherwise." Modern Doctor Who is also very bad at this, with intrusive background music telling you how you're meant to be feeling. I appreciate Andor only suggesting it.

I agree that the Bunny probably will.

I will try it at some point, but I have no real interest in the SW universe as such. Plus there's all of Futurama and Simpsons S2-8 to get through. (Thanks, generous friend, whoever you are...)

 

[Rodders]

Would it be possible for the moderators to seperate the Star Wars TV series in the same manner as the Star Trek ones?