Star Wars: Andor

[Bucky]

We're nearly at the end of the season before I have to say, reluctantly, something Star Wars-ish, but that space ship battle with its dials, robot assistant, cannon noises and space weapons were all fucking pew-pew amazing.

 

Hopefully normal service will resume soon and Mon Mothma's existential crisis will deepen further or something.

[SpagMasterSwift]

It was the first episode where I didn’t get that better than the last one feeling, but it was still good (and the last one was incredible). The Mon Mothma scene seemed really strangely out of place for this show as it seemed to only recap stuff we already knew, unless I missed some subtle subtext to it. 

Spoiler

The Imperial guys face was epic. It’s not often you fuck up so badly they have to completely redesign their spaceships to address it. 

 

[Waggo]

Yeah totally agree with the casting for the Imperial Commander, who brilliantly portrayed arrogance, disdain, disbelief, and resignation in a less than 2 minute cameo.

 

I honestly don’t think this series has put a foot wrong in the casting department, which has been consistently excellent, and is just one of the many reasons why the show is so damn good.

 

Best Star Wars since TESB for me.

[Pob]

Spoiler

It was strange to have Maarva dying off-screen having not been in the last few episodes. I guess it allowed us to mirror Andor's experience of not being able to say goodbye, but it still felt a bit odd so I can understand why people might think she's not really dead (I initially thought that but Andor's not that kind of show). I think we all expected her to go down fighting in an act of rebellion but it's a very Andor-esque death that she simply succumbed to a combination of failing health and poor living conditions.

 

I feel like the show might've steered clear of non-human characters to preserve it's serious credentials, but B2's scenes this week showed how much emotion you can get across via anthropomorphism alone. The exchange of "do you want to be alone?" followed by "I want M-M-M-Maarva" was quite heartbreaking. The start of that scene showing things from B2's perspective was interesting too. An attempt at showing droid grief? Anxiety? Quite affecting. I laughed later on when Brasso was trying to get him to leave and he said "I'm recharging!" to which he replied, "you've been there all day". It's really is like hearing the articulated thoughts of loyal old dog.

 

On a similar note I liked the Cornish fisherman aliens and they way they spoke. I think they called the fish "squigglies" . Not sure why they let Andor and Melshi take their ship though! Perhaps Andor promised to return it.

 

I did love the space action scene - the space stuff is why I love Star Wars, and it looked suitably beautiful. It felt well-deserved after so many weeks of hardship but I agree it was a bit superfluous. It's always nice to get a bit more on Luthen though. Makes you wonder what he did before - Republic spy? Officer? I liked how calm he remained throughout.

 

Not quite the 'season finale part 1' I was expecting, let's hope next week's has a decent run-time! I wonder if the action will be split between Ferrix and the power station assault? I've no idea what's going to happen with that second thing, but it seems like none of the key characters will be there so maybe it won't get much focus.

 

[Darwock]

Regarding the aliens

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I really struggled to make out what they were saying, partly because I didn’t think it was English at first and hadn’t tuned in to it - I just got the gist of it that they dislike the empire for killing squid babies, and so anyone the empire had locked up was alright by them?

 

I also assume that they gave a lift rather than a spaceship

 

[Pob]

26 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Regarding the aliens

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I really struggled to make out what they were saying, partly because I didn’t think it was English at first and hadn’t tuned in to it - I just got the gist of it that they dislike the empire for killing squid babies, and so anyone the empire had locked up was alright by them?

 

I also assume that they gave a lift rather than a spaceship

 

Oh yes, that makes sense re. getting a lift. Either it's my cloth-ears or dodgy sound from my TV, but I tend to watch the episodes once with my son and then later alone with headphones, and I catch a lot more of the dialogue. I could hardly make out any of the whispered dialogue when you see things from B2's perspective first time around.

[FishyFish]

I ended up putting the subtitles on for that scene. It made a lot more sense!

[Girth Certificate]

B2 makes so many little creaks and sad-dog pant noises. It's heartbreaking and if something terrible happens to him I'm taking back all my praise and going back to watching the live action cartoon series instead.

 

The only thing that would have made Luthen's encounter

Spoiler

with the space-polis better would be if he'd released a big comedy bomb with 'BOMB' written on the side or a black spikey mine to get sucked in by the tractor beam instead of a load of flechettes before shooting off at hyperspeed but leaving a smokey outline where his ship had been.

 

looked beautiful though

 

[Don Rosco]

Just a heads up on the imperial ship for those that didn't cop it, it was based on a design by Colin Cantwell, who also designed the x-wing, tie fighter and more:

 

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/colin-cantwell

 

Quote

Cantwell began working with George Lucas in November 1974 — likely only days ahead of concept artist Ralph McQuarrie — on what would become Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). He was, quite possibly, the first employee hired on the Star Wars project. Coming from a varied design and space background, Cantwell was tasked with bringing Lucas’ ideas for various ships to life. His staggering number of designs and prototype models essentially formed the visual Star Wars starship lexicon, and include the X-wing, Y-wing (the first approved design, according to The Making of Star Wars), TIE fighter, Star Destroyer, Death Star, landspeeder, sandcrawler, and blockade runner (a design originally intended for the Millennium Falcon). Notably, Cantwell’s T-16 skyhopper model — which was intended for a cut racing sequence on Tatooine not unlike the podrace sequence from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace — actually ended up in A New Hope as the model Luke picks up and plays with while in his garage. 

 

 

[womblingfree]

Maarva unveiled as next Haslab project.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Girth Certificate]

I'll wait for the Lego version.

[ZOK]

Spoiler

 

[Vulgar Monkey]

8 hours ago, Pob said:

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INot quite the 'season finale part 1' I was expecting, let's hope next week's has a decent run-time! I wonder if the action will be split between Ferrix and the power station assault? I've no idea what's going to happen with that second thing, but it seems like none of the key characters will be there so maybe it won't get much focus.

 

 

Spoiler

With all the power-station stuff being set up offscreen so far I had assumed it'd stay that way, but it'd be interesting if not. In fact, now I can't help wonder what happens if Kreeger gets thrown to the wolves but survives. That would rather complicate things.

 

Also, to add to the alien fishermen bit, just wanted to point out I liked how their 'nets' were clearly inspired by the coca-cola six-pack webbing you always get unintentionally trapping sealife irl. They'd just made it intentional.

 

[jonamok]

That was superb. Every scene. Especially the pew-pews. In fact, I was bouncing in my seat at that scene like 9-year-old me did in Tuebrook’s Carlton Cinema back in 1977.

[sid]

Radiant silver gun go

 

amazing 👌

[Phantoon]

Who is the best Star Wars character, and why is it Luthen?

[ZOK]

I don’t think Luthen is particularly interesting really, he’s one of my least favourite characters in the show as he’s basically trad jazz Star Wars - and I’m not overly impressed by Skarsgard’s performance when ranked against everyone else. He mumbles a lot of lines.
 

I’d happily have half as much as him, and twice as much as any of the ISB in the show, especially Dedra.

[Hamus]

On 16/11/2022 at 15:13, Scribblor said:

 

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It's going to memory hole the last few episodes, from Andor's point of view anyway.

After being in prison, Cassian goes straight back to Space Cleveleys, gets his gun and money, and is right back where he was before his stint in the clink. He doesn't seem to have changed in terms of his beliefs, so it's not like he's emerged a true believer in the rebellion. Feels like they just needed him out of the way for a while to progress other characters' stories before killing off his mother to get him back to Ferrix for the finale, along with Luthen's lot and the ISB (with Syril tagging along).

 

I hope not though, as that would be disappointingly conventional.

 

 

Considering Rogue One I find the above doubtful, and also what he's seen in the prison.

His chat with guy from Dream team seemed to cement his path, and we know they'll meet again. Don't know where, don't know when. But we know they'll meet again. At the start of May.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Spoiler

Spoiler

Andor started the show on the run tho, escaping prison isn’t going to massively change his situation. Going back to get his stuff gave us a glimpse at how the “world” has changed since he’s been inside. The crowded beaches now empty, it may of course have been off season, but you still get the feeling that the Empire has either locked everybody up or deterred people from having any fun. I think the big change for Andor happens when he calls home to tell his mother how proud of him she should be…he often comes off as still that little boy who had everything taken from him - the funeral is going to be the end of that side of him I expect.

 

 

[Alan Stock]

Not much really happened this episode but I enjoyed it, especially some of the performances:

 

Spoiler

Mothma probably being the highlight, followed by Forest Whittaker (Guerra). Her silent breakdown whilst still trying to maintain the mask was brilliant, and Whittaker's mannerisms and energy really make Saw come to life.

 

I'm also curious how series 1 will conclude, they're setting up for a funeral showdown of some kind so that will probably be the big climax. They have been focussing a lot on Mothma's side story without much movement, so I'm wondering if something will kick off there, like the inspectors coming in early or her husband betraying her. 

 

Sadly, I too think BB will be going the way of the junk heap via tragedy, although maybe his brain lives on in the droid from Rogue One?

 

I agree with whoever said that there might be blowback from the raid that Luthen is going to sacrifice to preserve his ISB mole. They have put quite a bit of attention on it over the season and although it reinforces the tough decisions the rebels must make, I feel like they've focussed on the raid a little too much for it not to have consequences.

 

The score's really grown on me, but the musical intro this week I didn't really get the reference with those strange-sounding instruments, usually the intro ties into the theme or location of the episode. Did I miss something there?

 

 

I especially noticed this week how many Scottish actors they have on the cast, which is great. At first in the show I thought it was just them diversifying the Evil Posh English Empire a bit, but then more Scottish actors popped up in other roles as well. They are drawing on a broad international pool of accents in Andor, but I just can't remember an American show with this many Scottish folks in it, I wonder if the casting director or some other higher up has some Scottish connection?

[Vulgar Monkey]

On Saw

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He only pops up intermittently throughout the various shows, and usually with a decent time gap between each, but he is always consistently more erractic, impulsive and paranoid than the last time we saw him.

 

Upon seeing him slowly piecing things together during his meeting with Luthen and drawing his conclusions, though, I wonder if that particular conversation was the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak, and sent him fully off the deep end to become the guy we see in R1? Even with all he has gone through before, you could almost sense the palpable change in his worldview here compared to just minutes previous.

 

[jonamok]

I love how Luthen referred to Saw’s henchman as “Tubes”. 😂

[Don Rosco]

That was hilarious. I love tubes. 

 

Prediction for the finale - Marva's brick ends up somehow violently connecting with an imperial head, fulfilling her desire to rebel. 

[scottcr]

calling it

 

Spoiler

Luthen is a deep hiding Jedi - or perhaps even a Sith.  Would be great if it turned out that the rebellion was started by a Sith tbh.

 

[Vulgar Monkey]

Dunno, I still like the idea of

Spoiler

him being some Bond-esque seasoned republic spy who only survived the transition because he was deep cover on the far end of the galaxy at the time, but was unable to come back in from the cold because space-M was 'retired' and probably burned all his records for his own sake.

 

Basically a grey jedi without the jedi part, I guess, from a morality perspective. All the cool tricks and characterisation but without the wanky force stuff.

 

[The Grand Pursuivant]

On 16/11/2022 at 23:36, Stoppy2000 said:

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Grey Jedi stuff just reads like the ultimate fan fiction nonsense. There's no way Luthen should be any form of force user. I'm convinced he won't be. 

 

 

I really hope you're right, and I'm wrong. The complete lack of anything even force adjacent is what has enabled this series to be so good.

 

I'm cynical and jaded though, so I'm fully prepared for Disney to completely fuck it up at some point, like they have done for all their Star Wars IP.

[JohnC]

His ship's little secret, or one of them

 

Is that 

Spoiler

basically his ship dual wielding industrial sized lightsabres? We know he has access to Khyber crystals. Or has that kind of more mundane laser appeared in the EU before?

 

[Steven]

4 hours ago, jonamok said:

I love how Luthen referred to Saw’s henchman as “Tubes”. 😂

 

I think the character's name is Two Tubes if it's the one from Rogue One.

[merrychan]

2 hours ago, Steven said:

 

I think the character's name is Two Tubes if it's the one from Rogue One.

The name's Tubes....Two Tubes

 

[Phantoon]

21 hours ago, ZOK said:

I don’t think Luthen is particularly interesting really, he’s one of my least favourite characters in the show as he’s basically trad jazz Star Wars - and I’m not overly impressed by Skarsgard’s performance when ranked against everyone else. He mumbles a lot of lines.
 

I’d happily have half as much as him, and twice as much as any of the ISB in the show, especially Dedra.

He's a rich guy who acts like a bit of a berk as his disguise in everyday life. In reality he's a cape wearing badass with a ridiculously cool ride who has done some extremely dubious things in the name of justice.

 

What I'm saying is he's Star Wars Batman