Star Wars Misc. Catch-All

FlamingPeasant wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

We know who Mon Mothma is and we know where she goes. I expect her to be actively working on starting the rebellion, not arguing with her husband about dinner plans and trying to being an absent parent. That “origin” story isn’t compelling to me in a Star Wars show.

I don't remember exactly where Mon Mothma's arc is on episode 6, but I know it's a little deeper than that. Her story is showing her sacrificing her family to resist the Empire. I feel like it is one of the most dramatic and compelling story lines in the show. I love the depth it is adding to her character. Based on what you see in Rebels, Rogue One, and ROTJ, she's pretty one dimensional. I really enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of what shapes her. That's true of almost all the characters for me. It's about the people it's not about the space battles.

I do not like the sequel trilogy for the opposite reason. Those are all spectacle and fan service with very little character development or coherent story.

I understand that the Mon Mothma bits were intentional to her arc. I meant that they were obvious and boring for me. Again, considering this is a prequel I guess I don’t care to get all that deep into a character’s motivations and/or sacrifices when I already know the outcome. At least when it seems drawn out when I can already see the outcome. It just isn’t interesting enough to me to spend screen time on. It’s just how my brain’s wired I guess.

Especially when it’s Star Wars. I’m not asking for a re-tread of the original trilogy. But there are certain elements of a Star Wars property that I expect. Else, why set it in this universe? I think there is the potential for something to have the action adventure elements of the sequel trilogy WITH a (way) better story and characters. The closest they’ve come so far, in my opinion, was The Mandalorian.

I'll +1 what Zero said and not rehash his excellent points.

I'll add that for me Andor builds on the promise Last Jedi hinted at that Star Wars can be more than the narrow parameters it has been defined by in (most of) the main media up to that point.

But of course Abrams blinked.
Mandalorian also made a similar promise in Season 1, and they blinked. Although that was probably inevitable.

One result that needs to come out from Andor is they definitely need to get back to location shooting. The Volume works well in good hands, but Boba Fett and Kenobi showed that not everyone can handle it.

Yeah, they didn't use the Volume very well, but both of those suffered a lot from bad writing and directing just as much. The story and acting in Obi Wan helped me overlook some of the terrible writing and directing, but Book of Boba Fett is a steaming turd of a show.

Yeah, I found more to like in Kenobi than Boba Fett for sure, I enjoyed it fine at the time.

But the very stage-like feel of the production was a big factor in why it ultimately hasn't stuck with me.

So, it appears the Prime Minister of Canada likes Andor.

https://www.reddit.com/r/onguardfort...

Just finished Andor. While I agree it's some quality content... You could just have easily made this about the French resistance in WW2... It's just a story... Nothing about it is Star Wars other than the pre existing characters.

I understand folks want content that expands the universe, but this feels like exposition of backstory. Sure it's well done... But did it need to be done in a way that requires special effects... Not really, a book could have been written without losing much.

Only scene that felt Star Wars to me was the mom's hologram. Hope needs to be part of Star Wars. Like Superman and the stupid DC attempts to make him like Batman. It's literally a core part of the reason the majority of fans like it.

Huh, there's a whole channel dedicated to SW music analysis! And he's done episodes on every Andor episode: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...

This review does a good job of analyzing what makes Andor so good and so unique in Star Wars.

I really liked Andor, one of the best things to come out of Disney since they acquired Star Wars. I could only watch the first part though. That guys analysis is just a bunch of word salad. It would have been better if he wasn't gushing his love for the show in every sentence. I am sure there is some actual valid information in the video but I can't get past his narration style.

FlamingPeasant wrote:

This review does a good job of analyzing what makes Andor so good and so unique in Star Wars.

That was terrific, thank you.

kazar wrote:

I really liked Andor, one of the best things to come out of Disney since they acquired Star Wars. I could only watch the first part though. That guys analysis is just a bunch of word salad. It would have been better if he wasn't gushing his love for the show in every sentence. I am sure there is some actual valid information in the video but I can't get past his narration style.

Yeah, it's too flowery at times I agree.

I really think a big part of why it’s so loved among some SW fans is that they managed to tell an interesting dramatic SF story with good actors, a story that had real stakes for those involved who were putting themselves at risk (apart from Andor, whose ultimate fate is known). Had it been any other property, it wouldn’t have been anywhere as impactful. I think part of the nerd gushing is a huge cathartic release after so many disappointing works over the years, movies that couldn’t take chances with the fiction, or make things really seem dangerous. Stormtroopers had become a joke, and it all seemed 2 dimensional. Here, we got an actual dramatic story with people that were interesting characters, and a really evil Empire, without a lightsaber or a goofy comedic fan moment in sight. For me, I absolutely loved it. My only worry is that we’ll never see anything like it again.

Good news, they started filming season 2 last month.

I heard that, and that they have an arc that will abut Rogue One, so there’s a limited story that they want to tell. That’s awesome, just hope the ratings don’t lead to interference and notes that would change the tone/direction, like “we need more Jedis in this scene”

MrDeVil909 wrote:

I'll +1 what Zero said and not rehash his excellent points.

I'll add that for me Andor builds on the promise Last Jedi hinted at that Star Wars can be more than the narrow parameters it has been defined by in (most of) the main media up to that point.

But of course Abrams blinked.
Mandalorian also made a similar promise in Season 1, and they blinked. Although that was probably inevitable.

One result that needs to come out from Andor is they definitely need to get back to location shooting. The Volume works well in good hands, but Boba Fett and Kenobi showed that not everyone can handle it.

I hope they continue the same way with Andor season 2, Gilroy has stated in interviews that they didn’t use Stagecraft at all for season 1.

The only one specific thing I care about them adding to season 2 is K-2SO. Other than that, let Gilroy be Gilroy.

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To me what really made Andor good was how it was more like an Expanded Universe story then a Disney canon story. Almost reminded me of the Xwing series.

Some of the best books ever

Ratings:
Thrawn Trilogy
I Jedi
Thrawn Duology
X-Wing Series

The rest of the legacy books

Vong nonsense

The first half of the Plaguis book is good, but it gets bogged down when Palpatine starts doing prequel stuff.

It's not a story the Jedi would tell you.

FlamingPeasant wrote:

This review does a good job of analyzing what makes Andor so good and so unique in Star Wars.

Man. Too many metaphors.

I really like this video essay. He goes into detail about *why it’s good. Not just how it’s good.

47 minutes!? Watched 3-4 minutes, was glad it seemed to be going fine, then added to watch later. Somewhere between 14 and 25 minutes is my switch from "this'll just take a few minutes" to "I need to reserve some time to watch this thing without distraction".

8 episodes into Andor and my wife declares that this is her favorite Star Wars thing ever (not a high bar) and that she feels like she already wants to rewatch the series (to the best of my knowledge, she's never done this). So congrats, Disney, you made something that's not quite 'Star Wars' but is at least good.

The 'not SW' thing that's really stood out to me so far has been the music. It feels more Blade Runner or even Mass Effect to me with all the synth stuff.

I guess I should amend that to say ‘not quite modern Star Wars’. What Andor really reminds me of is the pre-Disney EU, where there was room for all kinds of stories that weren’t Jedi vs baddie of the week stuff.

And, sure, a lot of it was trash, but at least it wasn’t all the same trash.

Edit: except for the music. The more of the series I watch, the more it stands out as being weird for SW. Not bad, just … unexpected.

Ludwig Göransson (composer for Mando) wrote fantastic music in my opinion. Sure, John Williams' work on the OG trilogy was great but Mando's music is expansive .

Edit: Nandos is a Portuguese chicken style restaurant in Australia

I just finished Ep10 of Andor and Luthen's speech about what he has sacrificed makes the stupidity of killing the New Republic in one shot so much more of a tragedy.

billt721 wrote:

The 'not SW' thing that's really stood out to me so far has been the music. It feels more Blade Runner or even Mass Effect to me with all the synth stuff.

The composer also provides music for Succession. He's top notch.

Bfgp wrote:

Nandos is a Portuguese chicken style restaurant in Australia

It's fast food and doesn't hold a candle to a good barbecued chicken. Still, it's better than MacD.

slazev wrote:
billt721 wrote:

The 'not SW' thing that's really stood out to me so far has been the music. It feels more Blade Runner or even Mass Effect to me with all the synth stuff.

The composer also provides music for Succession. He's top notch.

Bfgp wrote:

Nandos is a Portuguese chicken style restaurant in Australia

It's fast food and doesn't hold a candle to a good barbecued chicken. Still, it's better than MacD.

Good roast chicken is hard to find! Where's your go-to?

Bfgp wrote:
slazev wrote:
billt721 wrote:

The 'not SW' thing that's really stood out to me so far has been the music. It feels more Blade Runner or even Mass Effect to me with all the synth stuff.

The composer also provides music for Succession. He's top notch.

Bfgp wrote:

Nandos is a Portuguese chicken style restaurant in Australia

It's fast food and doesn't hold a candle to a good barbecued chicken. Still, it's better than MacD.

Good roast chicken is hard to find! Where's your go-to?

I feel like my recommendations wouldn't be great for you because they're all in Portugal.
I ate at Nando's when I was in the UK and South Africa because it was convenient.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/VS7Ob2k.jpeg)