Star Wars: Andor

[FishyFish]

22 minutes ago, Girth Certificate said:

The reveal of what those space asterisks are used for is going to be a thing.

 

I presumed they're

Spoiler

Part of the centre spokes for TIE fighter "wings"

?

[Girth Certificate]

ah yeah, looks like it

 

[Thor]

13 minutes ago, Vespa Alex said:

Yep, it’s got the look and feel of things like Logan’s Run absolutely perfect, and the mundane brutality of the Empire couldn’t be clearer. 

THX 1138 is what sprang to mind for me.

[Delargey]

I'm really enjoying this, the sets are so glorious. It's so rich.

 

I felt that last week had more character plot moment while this was a bit more of Andor being silent while we get to know a new bunch of supporting characters, one of whom he will bond with before they cruelly die at the hands of the empire.

 

Loving Syril and the empire intelligence meetings.

 

I wish we'd get a bit more of Mon motha and her douche husband their interactions all seem the same  from the first episode. I'd like to see something a bit deeper there - like in GoT where Cersei and King Rob had a peusdo honest conversation with each other that moved them beyond the casual terse conversation of two people trapped in a loveless marriage.

[lolly]

Also

Spoiler

Switching off the comms set and not running to the rescue, this is not a  Saturday morning serial , it's seems based in the ugly practicalities  of what would need to happen. And Andor's shock  on day 1 at the conditions he  is now going to have to endure  was superbly done by Luna.

 

[Sabreman]

^ 

Spoiler

There's a wonderful "How the fuck did this happen" vibe from him throughout the opening. The fact that he is responsible for one of the boldest strikes against the Empire, but ended up in pokey on completely unrelated back luck is so fatalistically grim.

 

[hub2]

Spoiler

I thought the part where the prisoners sentences being doubled and their wondering with hope what the outside galaxy knew of it, or their reaction to it as particularly dystopian. But then doubly so when some prisoners blamed the rebellion and the attack Cassian was part of.  Rang true but also adds a lot more nuance and complexity you normally would not see in a similar show.

 

[Bucky]

I think this is marvelous, rivetting and bleak.  

 

Spoiler

I've never seen a more terrifying depiction of prison.  That brutal routine, where even the joy of showering is removed from you.  Harsh lighting, punishing work, total disassociation from the outside world.  Just dreadful and I could feel Andor's dread and regret and sense of being utterly trapped by it all.

 

I think you're probably right about what they're building being for TIE fighters but I also at one point thought that these would all be Death Star parts.

 

As a completely unrelated aside, I think that actress playing Binx is absolutely beautiful.

 

Another strong Mon Mothma week.  Zero on the pew pew count.

 

Also, costume and set design off the charts.

 

[Steve McQueef]

Holy shit, this just keeps getting better and better. 

 

 

[Benny]

Fuck me that hit the spot.

 

Spoiler

One of the most terrifying dystopian nightmare sci-fi prisons I've seen on screen, and I've seen a few!

 

I particularly enjoyed the music that went with all the prison scenes: Tangerine Dream eat your heart out!

 

[Vulgar Monkey]

3 hours ago, Sabreman said:

I guess that's how fleets of Star Destroyers, and eventually Death Stars, get made.

 

3 hours ago, Girth Certificate said:

The reveal of what those space asterisks are used for is going to be a thing.

 

It'd be fitting if theyre building the very automated production line that'll replace them.

[Benny]

Did feel like it was a real homage to

 

Spoiler

THX 1138. Which is quite fitting considering who made that film.

 

[lolly]

 This has probably already been said many times before but  this is the adult Star Wars that I've been waiting for since the original trilogy back in the 70s-80s , Lucas' vision has always been to continue that  fairly lightweight  goodies vs baddies  scifi that he originally created and when the Prequels came out a lot of us had (probably) matured but Star Wars hadn't .Which is why it probably resonates with kids at that time  than those of us who watched the OT.There's always hints of the darkness at the heart of the franchise in the various  series, Alderaan, genocide on Genosis, bodies in tanks on display etc but this has fully embraced that dystopia  and actually gave me 1984 vibes somewhat.

[SM47]

This is so good. 

[monkeydog]

7 hours ago, lolly said:

Lucas' vision has always been to continue that  fairly lightweight  goodies vs baddies  scifi that he originally created

 

Feel like raising the waggling finger of clarity on that point.  The prequels are are loaded with politics.  On the nose kids stuff and other failures of execution shouldn't obscure that.

[Pob]

9 hours ago, hub2 said:

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I thought the part where the prisoners sentences being doubled and their wondering with hope what the outside galaxy knew of it, or their reaction to it as particularly dystopian. But then doubly so when some prisoners blamed the rebellion and the attack Cassian was part of.  Rang true but also adds a lot more nuance and complexity you normally would not see in a similar show.

 

Yeah, I really liked that. Clinging on to hope that the outside galaxy would surely not accept such an act, then realising that Andor didn't even know what they were referring to. Again, so relevant to today, especially when that Public Order order bill recently went through the Commons with hardly any comment.

[Pob]

8 hours ago, Benny said:

Fuck me that hit the spot.

 

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One of the most terrifying dystopian nightmare sci-fi prisons I've seen on screen, and I've seen a few!

 

I particularly enjoyed the music that went with all the prison scenes: Tangerine Dream eat your heart out!

 

I was getting Deus Ex Human Revolution vibes from both the prison setting and especially the music. There's a real cyberpunk feel to this show.

[Jammy]

On 26/10/2022 at 07:43, SpagMasterSwift said:

They mention both Palpatine and The Emperor in this, but I can’t remember how or when that deception is revealed, if it ever is?

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I thought it was in one of the prequels but then was that only to the Jedi? As you say, Vader and the Jedi may as well not exist in this world, tho I expect they’ll need to at some point due to Rogue One. Very occasionally talked about, but never shown would be much more effective as they have done so far. I have faith.

 

He appears to the Senate in Revenge Of The Sith in his emperor garb after his disfigurement - the whole “I love democracy” speech where he announces the first Galactic Empire. I don’t think the population at large are ever aware of Darth Sidious though.

[Benny]

One of my favourite scenes in the episode was 

 

Spoiler

A wonderful bit of "show, don't tell". When Andor first enters the prison and those three guards rock up to them, "Why are they wearing those weird boots?" Then moments later: "Ooooh."

 

It's also just such a brilliantly immersive bit of world building because it grounds (heh) you in it with a real-world concept.

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

I like how they are trying to show Andor's ability to process everything he sees instead of being Andor who doesn't say much and just looks a bit spaced out. 

Spoiler

Introduced with him knowing who was left handed in the gang, to how he picks up on the boots and studies how the machine parts are put together. It's his 'Bourne Identity' power. He can see all the angles, which is why he is so broken on entering the prison as there are none.

 

I was wondering why Syril smiled after seemingly getting nowhere with his meeting with Dedra, but I guess it's because he knows she's the sort of person who will follow up on his info and is effectively doing his job for him. 

 

[Pob]

9 minutes ago, Benny said:

One of my favourite scenes in the episode was 

 

  Hide contents

A wonderful bit of "show, don't tell". When Andor first enters the prison and those three guards rock up to them, "Why are they wearing those weird boots?" Then moments later: "Ooooh."

 

It's also just such a brilliantly immersive bit of world building because it grounds (heh) you in it with a real-world concept.

 

 

Spoiler

I thought it was interesting how many prison guards were there at the start. There was a whole bunch of them present just to process one guy who didn't even have any shoes, and a whole kerfuffle about them being a man short for 30 seconds. But once Andor was in the system, Serkis says "you'll never see them again" and they're only heard via the PA from that point on. I guess it shows some fear of the the very small chance of the prisoners kicking off prior to them getting locked into the work house.

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

Spoiler

The processing part was great, the guard being late had me thinking it was gonna be a jail break, then it was gonna be an assassination attempt, to then being just another instance of the Empire being a little tardy as usual.

 

[Thor]

45 minutes ago, Pob said:

There's a real cyberpunk feel to this show.

Indeed:

On 26/09/2022 at 11:27, Thor said:

Anyway ... somewhat OT, but based on the first episode of this Tony Gilroy could do a good live action version of Cyberpunk. The aesthetic and style in those early scenes looked like something straight out of Cyberpunk 2077. 
 

They even refer to the two dead imperials as "corpos". 

[Stanley]

How good is this show, seriously. I keep expecting it to go crap, just because of how they’ve handled Star Wars in the past, but no it just keeps getting better. 
 

I felt really uncomfortable during the prison scenes.

[Pob]

Ooh, another thing I love about this show as a Star Wars nerd: it goes to some lengths to show how planetary security works during the time of the Empire. In other shows characters tend to teleport around and simply go wherever they need to go without much thought, but in this you see stuff like Luthen having to land some distance away from the town on Ferrix to avoid detection, we see Syril going through the air traffic control logs to retrospectively find an unauthorised ship (Andor's) in episode one etc. Luthen's customised ship is able to land on Aldhani undetected but, again, has to be in a remote location, and a day's hike is then needed.

 

Then in the latest episode

Spoiler

they make it clear that in order to close the net on a planet, you need to get it signed off at the top levels and divert resources from elsewhere. So now the citizens of Ferrix have the microscope on them and Bix's message is detected.

I love that the procedural detective work makes some kind of real world sense despite being in a galaxy far far away.

[Quest]

Music thing:

 

Spoiler

Hard to hear it clearly, but the background music in the Mothma scene at around 30 minutes in sounded like a more ambient version of the end credits theme from the last episode. Score has been really great in this.

 

[Stanley]

Yes the soundtrack is superb, really helps bring home the tone and feel of the show I think. I’d quite like to own a vinyl version. 

[Steve McQueef]

I'd like to see the war against The Empire going forward, through the same prism as Andor. 

 

No space wizards and laser-swords, just normal people on both sides of the conflict, struggling to survive. 

Does that sound boring? 

 

IDGAF

 

The idea of a cyborg sith lord swinging a lightsaber about in this universe, seems no more plausible than Superman popping in Hollyoaks. 

[Vulgar Monkey]

Besides which, the contrast makes those kinds of figures look as threatening as they should whenever they do show up, be it in this series or anywhere else. But without the focus on the low-level nobodies, you dont get that contrast.

[FishyFish]

It will be interesting to see how this series portrays stormtroopers. It will be interesting (if contravening the usual) if they are shown to be professional and competent soldiers, rather than the somewhat amateur, bad-at-shooting cannon fodder they are often portrayed as.