Andor [Disney+]

PokeHerKing · 22-12-2022 12:09am

Truly epic star wars series. Definitely the best since rogue one. Which I'll be rewatching tomorrow after finishing Andor tonight.

Drama of the highest quality. Gripping, tense, brilliant. Every character had credibility. Can't wait for season 2.

MisterAnarchy · 26-12-2022 2:19pm

I can only echo what others here have said, Andor is a truly outstanding show.

The first 2 episodes were a bit slow but it picked alot in episode 3 and never dropped after that. A brilliantly crafted show, with grounded and conflicted characters, tight well written plotlines dripping with suspense.

Everything had weight and there was no forced comedy or annoying characters like Finn or Rose. The acting is superb.

I liked the minimalistic use of CGI, using as much real sets as possible gives it a very grounded feel.

The soundtrack by Nicholas Britell is brilliant.

In many ways it reminds me of Battlestar Galactica, particularly the New Caprica arc.

This was a hugely refreshing change from the childish cartoonish like Star Wars material Disney has previously churned out and its a huge improvement on Rogue One which was a bit of a mess.

Looking forward to series 2.

breezy1985 · 26-12-2022 3:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120034798#Comment_120034798

Even Andy Serkis managed to not be annoying for once.

peteeeed · 28-12-2022 10:44pm

Atlanta season 4 added

Slydice · 29-12-2022 10:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120042164#Comment_120042164

Secret Reveal of another Andor Fan! 😀

Atlanta Thread here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057645741/atlanta-donald-glover-fx

29-12-2022 10:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120034897#Comment_120034897

It’s weird how Andy Serkis’ character was left. He said he couldn’t swim but we never saw him jump or fall or or go back inside or anything after that statement. Strange to leave a reasonably notable character with such a loose end. Makes me think we will see him in S2, unless it’s just sloppy writing or else I missed something

breezy1985 · 29-12-2022 11:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120045031#Comment_120045031

Just because he is a noticable actor doesn't make him an important character. I don't think it's sloppy to not know what happened to him.

delly · 30-12-2022 11:12am

Nothing sloppy about it, he was a character we changed our view of, so not knowing what happened would be well intended. It's payback for our investment into the characters.

CastorTroy · 30-12-2022 11:56am

Possibly they didn't think people would have such a positive reaction to his character so now they can address it in the next season. Or maybe they planned to anyway, whatever the reaction.

pixelburp · 30-12-2022 11:58am

I think Serkis' character's fate can be easily implied: he either fell or was pushed into the water and drowned, or stayed put and was the only prisoner left when the Imperials arrived - and yeah was probably killed.

I like that his fate wasn't presented to the viewer, this was the intent IMO. Who he was or will be was irrelevant; his Identity became defined by what the Empire did to him and the institutionalisation he underwent as part of the industrial prison complex (why hello allegorical storytelling). He couldn't rejoin the real world because he was no longer part of it. Christ it's possible he lied: he could swim but was terrified to leave.

Tony EH · 30-12-2022 12:10pm

Seeing what happened to Serkis' character after he noped out would have been a terrible move. As it is it remains a mysterious speculation, which to me is a good thing. Perhaps he'll show up in S02. Perhaps it's the last we'll ever see of him. I'd be ok with either scenario.

In any case, his character was one of the best in the show. A man who's become used to being a prisoner, while still hating the fact seemingly. A man who keeps his head down and does his time on the hope that his "good" behaviour will end with a release. But his realisation of what's actually happening in the Imperial prison facility and what he now has to do to achieve freedom is excellently revealed in the simple line "Never more than 12". The epiphany that he's never going to get out of that dreadful place unless he helps Andor follow through with his plan is delivered with a facial expression, three words and a number.

breezy1985 · 30-12-2022 12:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120046019#Comment_120046019

Did we ever know why him or any of the others were in prison ?

Not that it matters to the story just wondering.

pixelburp · 30-12-2022 2:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120046105#Comment_120046105

I'm moderately sure we never found out anyone's past, bar Andor himself obviously.

We can certainly infer from events that the offences were trivial, either way.

Slydice · 31-12-2022 10:13am

Given the roles Serkis has played in the past and how dark the empire can be, I can see him returning. Maybe just not as whole as he was.

.. just hopefully not headphoned .. NOT THE HEADPHONES! 😲😁

CastorTroy · 31-12-2022 11:28am

It was the true origin of how he became Snoke.

Slydice · 01-01-2023 10:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120049000#Comment_120049000

😲 Didn't even think of that!

DrZeuss · 07-01-2023 4:06pm

I held off watching this in fear it would be another Obi Wan / Moon Knight / Disney mess, but I will hold my hand up and forgive Disney (temporarily at least)....it seems they are capable of putting out a coherent and engaging show.

This is binge'able in a day type of show, characters that you can care about....hell, even caring about a battered old droid. I would gladly watch a few seasons of this, but glad that it wont be a cash grab and is set for the 2 seasons and done.

De Bhál · 09-01-2023 12:46am

7 in

This is great

TheIrishGrover · 09-01-2023 12:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120078467#Comment_120078467

And you would be forgiven for thinking so. While I didn't dislike Obi-Wan as much as some, I certainly didn't think it was nearly as good as it could have been. (Enjoyed Leia kid, enjoyed McGregor and other elements but overall it was quite "Meh"). And I did not like the Boba Fett series.... at all.

However this was great. Unassuming. No spoon-feeding. No Jedi or Sith. No "Roger Roger" droids. No Skywalkers (And they certainly CAN introduce elements that would make sense and not be pandering).

One issue people had was with the "Torture Headphones". I didn't have a problem with this: When you really thought about it, they were playing back the death-songs of children they were torturing to death. Pretty freakin' bleak for Star Wars.

I didn't even hear any complaints from the perma-outraged about how many women there were in it. Maybe because they were all fantastic.... And maybe because they were mainly Irish so WE just didn't hear it here 😀.

I don't know how it was received overall but I know they are already in pre-production for Season 2 (As initially planned). I would like to think that it was well enough received for them to take such an interesting path again. As I have said before, that universe is big enough that there is scope for wildly different takes.

For me, the show was worth it for the droid and the TIE Fighter SCREAMING down the valley alone. The droid reminded me or TARS in Interstellar. Just a fantastic creation. Then watching them clutch their ears as the TIE fighter roars past them reminded you that these were fighting machines. I know that sounds silly but you got used to seeing them going pew pew pew and being blasted into bits willy-nilly. It was awesome to see these as "real" fighter aircraft with scratched paint ROARING past and being terrifying to everyone as they watch it go.

ohnonotgmail · 09-01-2023 12:22pm

I was reading something last night that said the destruction of the Death Star can be linked back to cassian andor being harassed by 2 security guards. without that event would the rebels have won?

pixelburp · 09-01-2023 12:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084974#Comment_120084974

For me, the show was worth it for the droid and the TIE Fighter SCREAMING down the valley alone. The droid reminded me or TARS in Interstellar. Just a fantastic creation. Then watching them clutch their ears as the TIE fighter roars past them reminded you that these were fighting machines. I know that sounds silly but you got used to seeing them going pew pew pew and being blasted into bits willy-nilly. It was awesome to see these as "real" fighter aircraft with scratched paint ROARING past and being terrifying everyone as they watch it go.

Same for myself: what Andor nailed was that even for the plucky rebels, the machinery and institution of The Empire was scary; almost impossibly large and indestructible. That a single TIE fighter flying past at the wrong moment would be a death sentence. As you say, we had got so use to the fighters being cannon fodder and something to sound cool then explode. This automatic assumption that no worries, it's just some TIE fighters who cares. Instead, Andor was a slap around the head that no: these people were only moments away from immediate, anonymous death at any point.

My own personal favourite moment? It's rather macabre if I'm honest ... but I have kept thinking about that little moment when the Base Commander just ... collapsed from a heart attack in the middle of the fight when the robbery went awry. Even outside of Sci-Fi it's so rare to have something that real, something that horribly mundane and likely. Yeah, of course a man used to a life of comfort and ease would find the intensity of stress too much. He wasn't an evil man as such, just someone used to using the mechanics of colonialism to his advantage. A lesser script would have had him pick up a gun, snarl at our heroes and go down in a blaze of glory - something hackneyed like that. Instead, he just ... keeled over. As any of us would, in all likelyhood.

breezy1985 · 09-01-2023 1:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120084974#Comment_120084974

It made TIE fighters scary in a way they rarely have been. Maybe not since the canyon run on the Death Star.

Sad Professor · 09-01-2023 4:26pm

When Rogue One came out I remember saying that it was what Episode 3 should have been. This series confirmed for me the feeling that Lucas may gone down the wrong path when he decided to make SW all about the Skywalkers and their Jedi powers instead of the Rebels vs the Empire, which was such a fundamental part of the original film but seemed to gradually recede into the background as the series went on. Even when JJ rehashed it in the sequels, it still seemed secondary to the family drama. The prequels doubled down on the Jedi stuff when really they should have been like Rogue One/Andor, i.e. more grounded and focused on the early days of the rebellion. The problem with the Jedi is that they aren't relatable enough to be main characters. Luke was just a kid but once you have guys in robes doing magic... It's like if Tolkien had made Gandalf the main character of LOTR. One of the things GRRM really nailed in GOT was using magic sparingly and keeping a good balance of fantasy and realism. Andor provides the much needed dose of realism that SW has been lacking.

walkonby · 10-01-2023 12:42pm

Rogue One feels very like a spin-off to me (which of course it is.) The whole reason to make the prequels in the first place—the central dramatic question—is how does Luke’s father turn from the light to the dark side, from being Obi-Wan’s friend and protege to his nemesis? Whatever Lucas did with the prequel trilogy, the 3rd film has to culminate with the answer to that question, or there is no point in making the prequels at all.

10-01-2023 12:52pm

Yeah, prequels are locked into certain story points and endings.

Stories which happen to be set before a recognised time period have much greater leeway to stay separate, and use the existing empire setting, or lean in at points.

All Andor has to do is have him locked up in Rouge One, and that doesn't actually even have to happen during Andor's run.

breezy1985 · 10-01-2023 12:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120089325#Comment_120089325

There was nothing wrong with the story for the prequels. It was the execution let it down.

Pretty much the other way round for the sequel trilogy.

Flinty997 · 10-01-2023 1:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120086214#Comment_120086214

I think Lucas thought he need to add more weight to the story and characters. Which he didn't. but he started adding "filler" and lost all perspective. The story lost all sense once he started to trying to make it more complicated. He tied himself up in trying to make everything connected. Disney doubled down on those mistakes.

Rogue did a great job of staying connected to the main storyline, while telling its own story and having its own independent characters. I think Solo did this well also. I like the robot rebellion. It's a fun diversion.

GOT has problems. It starts so many story arcs, magic being one, that ultimately goes nowhere. Which is disappointing. It's not intrinsic to the world. It's the gritty realism and strong characters that are the main draw. The world itself is a patchwork of fantasy/medieval tropes. The said it's not something I'd lose sleep over. Works well enough.

pixelburp · 10-01-2023 2:36pm

The Prequels also suffered, IMO, from the problem that no matter how good bad or awful the final films might have been - there was no chance the things could ever match the imagination that had cultivated over the years in people's heads about what the past history between Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker was or wasn't. 20+ years of hype, speculation and levels of fan intensity that has rarely been matched before or since in pop-culture. Sometimes it's better to leave some stories untold.

Nothing was ever going to satisfy. Maybe in the end the best thing that happened the prequels was in being almost(?) objectively bad films; they gained notoriety, a degree of analysis that bordered on obsessive - and some latter-day retrospection. What if the prequels were merely banal, forgettable films that swung mild and failed to flatter? Instead they became these Curate's Eggs that gained a mythology all of their own.

Flinty997 · 10-01-2023 2:58pm

I think thats making excuses. While there was hype there wasn't an expectation by most that the prequels would flawless.

TheIrishGrover · 10-01-2023 3:02pm

Agreed. The prequels had a story to tell. Hell, I remember when Jedi came out, we all KNEW that Lucas was going to next make Episode 1-3 and that it would culminate in a fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin on the side of a volcano (And, that was pretty close). However the sequels could have gone off in their own direction. Sure, again, in the early post-Jedi days there were rumours that immediately after the prequels were finished (Around 1990 or so) he was gonna start on the sequels. They were gonna be around Leia and Han's kids and all that kind of stuff. So the sequels WERE locked in a bit but not nearly as tightly as the prequels. There was much more scope while STILL involving Skywalkers etc..... But that conversation is well trod on many other threads.

So Andor was great because, for once, it EXPANDED that universe in an organic way. While STILL getting us from point A (Introduction of Andor) to point Z (Start of Rogue One, build up to A New Hope)

Andor [Disney+]

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