Star Wars Andor Series

[Husky_Khan]

If you don't remember Andor by name, he's the main dude opposite of Rebel Girl (Jyn Erso if you forgot her name) from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.



Andor Series came out recently. First three Episidea IIRC. Haven't seen it yet myself because waiting to see if other people were going to find it watchable.

I liked Rogue One a lot but was almost completely uninterested in a series exploring Andor's character regardless to the point I had to keep being reminded that a series about him was actually in the works.

Nevertheless the reviews seem to be coming in and it seems relatively positive?

I haven't seen any of the videos due to potential spoilers but going off their titles:

Eckharts Ladder thought it was excellent.

Critical Drinker in a livestream said it's surprisingly good.

Thor Skywalker seemed guardedly positive as well.

Geeks + Gamers main dude said "It could've been really good" according to the thumbnail.

Regardless it's unfortunate that if true, Star Wars is doing great creating series about characters no one "cares about" like the original character 'The Mandalorian' and now Cassian Andor while (disputedly) fumbling with far better known characters like Boba Fett and Obi Wan Kenobi. YMMV.

Based on the positivity and the fact I again liked Rogue One I'll be giving this series a viewing sooner or later though and Disney can make me interested in a story I'm not interested in.

I just checked to make sure Andor's first name is Cassian btw...

 

[Bacle]

I watched the first 4 episodes in a binge, and...this is going better than BoBF did at this point, is likely matching Mando for quality per episode, and already is bringing in Mon Mothma and political shenanigans on Courscant that include the head office of the ISB, and name dropping Sly Moore as one of Mon's 'dinner guests' in the latest episode.

Also, turns out Mon Mothma has/had a husband; the fact he has shown up nowhere else before this leads me to believe he's going to get off'd inside the show.

As well, it sounds like this is pre-Ghorman Massarce, yet Ghorman was name dropped in here, so we may see another of "Tarkin's Greatest Hits" from the old EU on screen.

 

[Skallagrim]

Haven't watched any of it yet, but if generally critical people conclude that it's woerth watching after the whole season has aired, I'll check it out. If it's less about Andor (a guy I don't really care about) and more about politics and dissent in the Age of Palpatine, so much the better.

As well, it sounds like this is pre-Ghorman Massarce, yet Ghorman was name dropped in here, so we may see another of "Tarkin's Greatest Hits" from the old EU on screen.

"Sir, how shall we deal with the protesters?"

"Land the ship."

"But sir, those protesters--"

"LAND THE SHIP."



(Canon sources only describe it as "Imperial soldiers slaughtering protesters", though, so I fear it'll be less impressively brutal than what Tarkin did in the original continuity.)

 

[DarthOne]

Arch is unimpressed

 

[ShadowsOfParadox]

The title has a complaint that Eckhart's Ladder addressed in his video, and the thumbnail is addressed by "It's the Empire".

Normally I'd give Arch at least some time of day and I might eventually but right now LoL Worlds is going on and I'm only up this late for it.

 

[Bacle]

Andor endorsement from an unexpected source.

 

[Sailor.X]

Not really my cup of tea. I watch Star Wars for action not heavy political intrigue. Give me the Mandelorain, BOBF, and the Bad Batch any day.

 

[Bacle]

So new Andor episode was...kinda brutal, but it gave us a look inside the...inside effects that Andor's heist has had on the Empire and those at it's mercy. Also looks like Syril's desire to get justice for the other corpo's is making him...known by the ISB, and not in a great way either; still, Dedra took him seriously enough to drill down on Andor's home planet, and Bix got snatched because she was trying to send messages to Luthen at nearly the same time.

Also, Mon Mothma became a Senator very young, around the same age Padme was as queen, and was already married to her husband then, as is part of her 'Chandrilian customs'. Which mean on Chandrilia, it seems people are marrying before they hit 18 on a regular basis, or at least the political class is.

That's...kinda odd, and a little weird.

 

[KilroywasNOTHere]

So new Andor episode was...kinda brutal, but it gave us a look inside the...inside effects that Andor's heist has had on the Empire and those at it's mercy. Also looks like Syril's desire to get justice for the other corpo's is making him...known by the ISB, and not in a great way either; still, Dedra took him seriously enough to drill down on Andor's home planet, and Bix got snatched because she was trying to send messages to Luthen at nearly the same time.

Also, Mon Mothma became a Senator very young, around the same age Padme was as queen, and was already married to her husband then, as is part of her 'Chandrilian customs'. Which mean on Chandrilia, it seems people are marrying before they hit 18 on a regular basis, or at least the political class is.

That's...kinda odd, and a little weird.

Not if this is essentially middle ages in space, but still weird to be showing an American audience in 2022.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Finally saw the Andor series off and on these past couple weeks. It's pretty good like everyone says. Definitely worth checking out. Despite all of the buzz about it, I was able to go in without any spoilers which was nice, because there is some intrigue going on.

A primary concern that people had in regards to it is whether its Star Wars or not and they shouldn't worry, this is very Star Wars. It feels like Star Wars. It has the theme and trappings and atmosphere but it's just a different POV. I loathe to say it's too adult for Star Wars. It's really not. This isn't Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones or something. There's no 'mature' themes so to speak that only adults should watch this. But it's probably less interesting to kids because there is a fair bit of political intrigue going on and the show has season long character arcs, side plots and two major 'half season' storylines so to speak.

But the show isn't loaded with political intrigue. There's interesting things going on. There's action and exciting drama going on as well. It's not loaded with boring people talking for long periods of time.

There's a lot of plot threads going on but they're pretty easy to follow and have pretty distinct characters.

The opening episodes were actually quite slow. Not bad... but slow. And the quality of the show went from decent to getting better and better with every episode. The characters were interesting and had complexity to them and the show actually took its time to introduce all of these characters so you kind of know them and won't find them immediately forgettable.

The other concern is that it is a bit like Rogue One obviously, but the reason some people didn't like Rogue One was because it was loaded with "nostalgia" and that isn't really a thing here I feel. Andor doesn't really have those kind of moments in my opinion. It stands on its own merits while still having a Star Wars feel to it. And some of the episodes, especially towards the last half of the season have some real emotional resonance to it.

It's not a perfect series by the way, but quality wise it's probably better than at least everything else Disney Star Wars has pooped out since Season Two of The Mandalorian. Overall would recommend watching it, at least the first half of the season since it does start off slow.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Red Letter Media reviewed the series, and their commentary is full of spoilers.



After stating its the worst Star Trek show ever since it didn't feature a single Andorian, they actually seemed to like the show overall. This is doubly interesting because they rather famously did not like Rogue One due to what they felt was excessive nostalgia/memberberries. Apparently they feel this felt like Star Wars without being overbearing with the easter eggs and nods to the rest of Star Wars lore. They liked the fleshing out of how the Empire operates and the Resistance as well. Ironically they both also seemed to agree that Cassian Andor, the main character, was likely the least interesting major character in the show.

The ending minutes of the episode was great as well. Great blackpill/BSOD moment. 😭