Holy Fuck.
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It's good.
I choose to believe the rest of the Star Wars canon is in-universe lib fan fiction: “oh, if the good Jedi could just get rid of the evil Emperor, we could fix the Empire and everything would be fine again,” etc.
The events in Andor are the only things that actually happened in-universe. And maybe Rogue One.
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.
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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.
but it had me in just a few minutes
Yeah same.
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A couple of cops get merc'd and you're just whoa whoa whoa wait a minute WHAT.
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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
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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
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crushed by capital
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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.
i cant believe this armed revolution was taken over by space wizards and their shitty family feud
also its extremely funny that the yoda puppet from the original movies and andor's labor prisons exist in the same world
saw a tweet about how andor is like the wire, if in the wire there was always a chance that the mayor would show up and just murder everyone with his magic powers. frankly i think that only improves things, but ymmv
I see the "watch andor" proselytizing swarm is keeping up the good work
Heist arc was great, rip to all the side characters who died :rat-salute:
The artefacts dealer front and the sort of guerilla cadre vibe is cool
Bad Guys Cyril and Dedra are both pretty enjoyable performances and plot arcs of their own (pathetic incel failson vs bloodthirsty CIA successdaughter)
I thought the prison planet plotline itself was cool, but retroactively it felt like it had just existed to sideline Andor for a minute while other shit happened?
When the kid was building the pipebomb I was extremely worried for a second that it was a lightsaber like NOOOO
I'd like to see a round-up of all the textual and/or subtextual references to theory and history, that would be cool and helpful for the Disney writers reading this thread
I’ll go down fighting that “Good Star Wars” is:
Andor > Rogue One > Empire > Everything else is slop.
:cat-confused:
There is like 20 percent excellent stuff in clone wars and rebels, and like, if you like spaghetti westerns, season 1 mando
Rogue One felt like someone took the cutscenes from some Star Wars game EA made and put that into theaters
I love the first one but as a low budget late 70s weird as fuck Sci fi thar it was at the time. It's got awesomely bad lines like "Who are you calling a mindless philosopher?" and "Only a master of evil, Darth". People don't really notice that it's a silly mid budget movie that was fucking weird and no one involved thought would work. Rogue One also is retroactively better cause of Andor, it was decent at launch. Empire is fun. I dunno, Andor takes the top spot but it's so different and so much better it's just hard to compare.
I was dismayed by the pacing of the first 3 episodes, but then it went off shortly thereafter.
imo it's ok, good for Star Wars Slop. I found the story interesting enough but found the show suffered for being Star Wars.
if it's not Michael Clayton in space I'm going to be really disappointed.
It pretty much is Michael Clayton in space. It's basically pandering to leftists who liked that movie.
Tonally, it's more inspiring and humanizing than Clayton, but it's pretty smart.
It's still got that bleak darkness to it.
We thought it was boring. We watch a lot of TV, way better shows currently airing. But yea the gravity of it being Star Wars I get it.
First three episodes are a slow burn, but I have no idea how you find the prison break or the funeral boring.
Juan
My wife and I. I felt weird not including her, and I felt weird saying we but I was too lazy at the time and ironically spending more energy explaining it.
its fine, at best. the entire prison planet concept was dumb as fuck and poorly executed, but i haven't seen the final episode.
Prison planet tropes out the wazoo, nonsensical oppression system, zero time to give a fuck about any of the constantly changing cast members, why the fuck does andor keep changing his name and always choose the worst possible option
He took the name Clem because it was his fathers name and using a pseudonym during a crime is good. He used a different fake name after because he is still literally on the run. All star wars names are stupid
Clem was Aldhani, and Keef was prison. No defense for keef girgo, that shit is hilarious
:ok: well that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. but if you don't think an hour is enough time to learn about and get attached to a cast of characters, what do you think about movies?
also andor changes his name because he's a wanted criminal and he doesn't want to get arrested for murder
its not necessarily the amount of time, its what they did with it.
Or rather what they didn't do. because they didn't do anything, because the writers are mediocre.
well you seem to have watched a different show than me, but that's fine
I just downvoted your comment.
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I love tons of things. This isn't one. Don't take it personally, you weirdo.
felt like the prison planet arc existed to sideline andor for a minute while other stuff happened
its what tips him from mercenary to revolutionary, its quite important
It also has big implications for star wars canon lol. Those prison uniforms look a hell of a lot like the ones the rebels use later on
Yeah the orange and white is their whole thing. Combination of the prison uniforms and the shit the scrappers were wearing and you basically have their whole aesthetic
oh like the pilots like luke dresses as, i was thinking the guys who get murkd on Leia's ship at the beginning
Oh yeah, didn't even notice that. Which is the level I'd like my fanservice at.
Yep, the entire series became filler while the B story made shit happen
It was also Andor going from reluctant mercenary to organizer. The floor gimmick is kinda silly but each 3 episode arc is set up like a heist movie. Also it's a shitty way to do security because it's the very beginning of the empire not being complacent and there's the while empire being operated by a inavigable beaurocracy of middle managers and dorks just trying to lay low and get by which doesn't amount to an effective system. As Luke said to Palpatine "Your confidence is your weakness" and that applies down the line. Heist wise it's the laser room around the diamond that the crew has a good plan if not for that, the way around it could have been more creative for sure but whatever, it was cool seeing prison slave laborers do a revolt starting from a factory floor.
I should also add my torrent had a glitch episode 9 so that arc was 2 episodes for me.
