I feel like every time a big piece of media comes out now there are a lot of people who come out of the woodwork to say "Yeah yeah, the rest of it is bad but this one is good" or in the case of video games it's often "This piece of DLC or patch fixes it" and I usually find myself still saying "No, actually it's still not for me." Or it's still just bad. All of this is doubled when you're talking about Star Wars. I loved it as a kid, but I outgrew it. Hence my reluctance to even watching it.
Also, I'll be honest here, the more radicalized I become the less I can stand the taste of most media.
This show is different. It is incredible. The writing, acting, plot, themes, visuals, all of it. It's borderline offensive in the sense this is what Star Wars could of been.
This show is different. It is incredible. The writing, acting, plot, themes, visuals, all of it. It’s borderline offensive in the sense this is what Star Wars could of been.
lmao, totally. watching it made me realize just how much star wars stuff is mostly a bunch of fan service mixed in with high dollar special effects of weird beasts, laserswords and telekinesis. then fuckin' Tony Gilroy shows up and puts us in the living places to tell a story about living characters in living communities changing under the heat and pressure of a pervasive, ascendant oppression. for shit's sake, he made me fear tie fighters.
spoiler
the sequence on aldahni where occasionally one would scream overhead triggered a memory i had from 15 years ago, when i worked outdoors in a field in the middle of nowhere on an undeveloped flat coastline, but was maybe 50 miles from an army base with an air wing. and like once or twice they would be doing some weird low-flying manuevers where with only 4-5 seconds warning of sound, some gunship hauling ass would scream overhead less than 1,000 feet off the ground. exhilarating and terrifying, the experience coupled with the knowledge that if they had wanted to, i would be in pieces on the ground. i literally hadn't thought about it in years until they recreated that perspective on the show.
i was in the same boat, having just come out of Obi Wan (on a friend's recommendation) thinking like, "man, who even gives a shit about this anymore?" i thought Moses Ingram was compelling, but i was so fatigued on it all. i started the first ep of Andor fully expecting to not give a shit and quit, but it had me in just a few minutes and only set its hooks deeper over time.
The optimistic young revolutionary Nemik dying because someone forgot to secure a load was soul crushing but so real. They purposefully chose not to let him die in battle and become a martyr because whether or not we like to admit it most of the people that die in that sort of fight don't get to be martyrs. He won't be remembered in the annals of the revolution for many years and if he ever is it will be for the unfortunate accident, not some heroic sacrifice to save his comrades.
Even extras in many of the other Star Wars films and shows get a more glorious death lol. The unnamed rebels at the beginning of A New Hope at least die with blasters in their hands fighting a dark lord but there's none of that in Andor.
I was right there with you when this show first starting airing. I did not trust other people. There was no way it could be good. I haven't given a shit about Star Wars in soooo long (like you, I kinda just outgrew it).
I had a friend recently recommend the Obi-Wan Kenobi show to me, giving me the same spiel. I watched it, and was ALL THE WAY back out of Star Wars after watching it. It was awful. Truly abysmal. I like that he liked it, it honestly brings me joy when someone really likes a thing. But I just assumed Andor was going to be another Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Same EXACT scenario as me. My brothers were telling me Obi-Wan was high quality, after already convincing me there were parts of Boba Fett worth watching (there were not). They were both awful with basically no redeeming qualities. The absolute epitome of "we made these not because there was a good reason to, but because we think it will maintain subscribers between other content".
Andor is truly unique and probably the only Star Wars worth giving a shit about in the Disney era.
It's basically a space western / lone wolf and cub in Star Wars. I think the main appeal of it comes from it being the 1st SW TV show, and the mystery of how it will fit into existing canon, which is all very fan service adjacent stuff. IMO it is no where as good as Andor. There's a bit of world building around the Mandolorians, but that's mostly in the same category. Basically, if you were really into the KotOR games, you might enjoy enough. If you aren't into SW universe canon etc, probably not worth it.
Damn. If only they had andor level of quality for all of star wars. I really like the star wars universe as a backdrop for this, it's pretty great imo. Just so wasted on kids shows
I have a friend that likes to compare SW and Star Trek, saying that SW is more 'realistic' because it is less utopian. I really hope Andor cracks open a whole new crop of TV shows in the vein of David Simon style stuff.
Exactly how I felt about the show. I was so ready to hate it. I've gotten some minor enjoyment out of the other shows but my brain couldn't tune out the shitty Disney slop fan service stuff. Andor took me a minute but then I was like, wow they're really making you pay attention to the dialogue. It's the first star wars thing I've watched that feels like it was created mostly for adults. I don't have a problem with writing space fantasy movies for kids or anything, I just personally prefer things that have a little more to them. Andor was great in that regard.
I feel like every time a big piece of media comes out now there are a lot of people who come out of the woodwork to say "Yeah yeah, the rest of it is bad but this one is good" or in the case of video games it's often "This piece of DLC or patch fixes it" and I usually find myself still saying "No, actually it's still not for me." Or it's still just bad. All of this is doubled when you're talking about Star Wars. I loved it as a kid, but I outgrew it. Hence my reluctance to even watching it.
Also, I'll be honest here, the more radicalized I become the less I can stand the taste of most media.
This show is different. It is incredible. The writing, acting, plot, themes, visuals, all of it. It's borderline offensive in the sense this is what Star Wars could of been.
lmao, totally. watching it made me realize just how much star wars stuff is mostly a bunch of fan service mixed in with high dollar special effects of weird beasts, laserswords and telekinesis. then fuckin' Tony Gilroy shows up and puts us in the living places to tell a story about living characters in living communities changing under the heat and pressure of a pervasive, ascendant oppression. for shit's sake, he made me fear tie fighters.
spoiler
the sequence on aldahni where occasionally one would scream overhead triggered a memory i had from 15 years ago, when i worked outdoors in a field in the middle of nowhere on an undeveloped flat coastline, but was maybe 50 miles from an army base with an air wing. and like once or twice they would be doing some weird low-flying manuevers where with only 4-5 seconds warning of sound, some gunship hauling ass would scream overhead less than 1,000 feet off the ground. exhilarating and terrifying, the experience coupled with the knowledge that if they had wanted to, i would be in pieces on the ground. i literally hadn't thought about it in years until they recreated that perspective on the show.
i was in the same boat, having just come out of Obi Wan (on a friend's recommendation) thinking like, "man, who even gives a shit about this anymore?" i thought Moses Ingram was compelling, but i was so fatigued on it all. i started the first ep of Andor fully expecting to not give a shit and quit, but it had me in just a few minutes and only set its hooks deeper over time.
Yeah same.
spoiler
A couple of cops get merc'd and you're just whoa whoa whoa wait a minute WHAT.
spoiler
Yeah the way the first cop dies unceremoniously just sets the tone for the show. And same for the heist. People don't get some heroic death
spoiler
The optimistic young revolutionary Nemik dying because someone forgot to secure a load was soul crushing but so real. They purposefully chose not to let him die in battle and become a martyr because whether or not we like to admit it most of the people that die in that sort of fight don't get to be martyrs. He won't be remembered in the annals of the revolution for many years and if he ever is it will be for the unfortunate accident, not some heroic sacrifice to save his comrades.
Even extras in many of the other Star Wars films and shows get a more glorious death lol. The unnamed rebels at the beginning of A New Hope at least die with blasters in their hands fighting a dark lord but there's none of that in Andor.
A More Civilized Age (lefty Star Wars pod) loves the fact that he was literally
spoiler
crushed by capital
spoiler
And in that very first scene they treat that blaster like it’s a gun that kills people
I was right there with you when this show first starting airing. I did not trust other people. There was no way it could be good. I haven't given a shit about Star Wars in soooo long (like you, I kinda just outgrew it).
But its good. Glad you enjoyed it!
I had a friend recently recommend the Obi-Wan Kenobi show to me, giving me the same spiel. I watched it, and was ALL THE WAY back out of Star Wars after watching it. It was awful. Truly abysmal. I like that he liked it, it honestly brings me joy when someone really likes a thing. But I just assumed Andor was going to be another Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Same EXACT scenario as me. My brothers were telling me Obi-Wan was high quality, after already convincing me there were parts of Boba Fett worth watching (there were not). They were both awful with basically no redeeming qualities. The absolute epitome of "we made these not because there was a good reason to, but because we think it will maintain subscribers between other content".
Andor is truly unique and probably the only Star Wars worth giving a shit about in the Disney era.
Have you seen The Mandalorian? I haven't watched anything else star wars but was wondering if it was worth it cause Andor was so good
It's basically a space western / lone wolf and cub in Star Wars. I think the main appeal of it comes from it being the 1st SW TV show, and the mystery of how it will fit into existing canon, which is all very fan service adjacent stuff. IMO it is no where as good as Andor. There's a bit of world building around the Mandolorians, but that's mostly in the same category. Basically, if you were really into the KotOR games, you might enjoy enough. If you aren't into SW universe canon etc, probably not worth it.
Damn. If only they had andor level of quality for all of star wars. I really like the star wars universe as a backdrop for this, it's pretty great imo. Just so wasted on kids shows
I have a friend that likes to compare SW and Star Trek, saying that SW is more 'realistic' because it is less utopian. I really hope Andor cracks open a whole new crop of TV shows in the vein of David Simon style stuff.
It is easier to imagine e space wizard fascism than the end of Capitalism. - Mark Fisher
Exactly how I felt about the show. I was so ready to hate it. I've gotten some minor enjoyment out of the other shows but my brain couldn't tune out the shitty Disney slop fan service stuff. Andor took me a minute but then I was like, wow they're really making you pay attention to the dialogue. It's the first star wars thing I've watched that feels like it was created mostly for adults. I don't have a problem with writing space fantasy movies for kids or anything, I just personally prefer things that have a little more to them. Andor was great in that regard.