Andor

[BobaMike]

Anyone watching the new Disney+ Star Wars show, Andor?

It's 6 episodes in, and it might be the best Star Wars thing in years. No Jedi, no force, no lightsabers, but a slow building, tension filled show. Filmed on locations (not inside the void or whatever the led screen thing is). Tons of money was spent on this, and it shows (unlike the cheap seeming Kenobi show). So many scenes on Coruscant, which I love- seeing the inner workings of the Empire. The Empire comes across as competent- when you finally do see a single TIE fighter, it's intense.

Lots of nice callouts for Star Wars fans (and even Indiana Jones fans)- the first few episodes invovle the Coporate Sector (from the old Del Rey Han Solo/ Lando books from the early 1980s).

The only thing bad is the music. Totally unmemorable, simply droning in the background. Too bad they wasted John Williams on Kenobi instead of this.

Hopefully they stick the landing, but for now, highly recommended.

[AndyDursin]

I haven't, I've seen the mostly good reviews but the concept, following the guy who dies in Rogue One, doesn't interest me, nor does seeing a "realistic" stripped down version of the universe. Maybe at some point.

[BobaMike]

Yeah, I totally understand that point. It's more the other characters in it that hold my interest..they would have been better off not calling it Andor, calling it "Rebellion" and just having him show up in it. Some episodes he doesn't show up in it till 20 minutes in!

I like my Star Wars more with less "Force" stuff in it. The Prequels and Sequels turned it into so much Harry Potter magic junk that it lost the "serious"-ness of it that the original trilogy has.

I always liked Dark Forces better than it's sequel Jedi Knight (to put it in video game terms).

I realize I'm probably in the minority!

[AndyDursin]

It's not the lack of lightsabers and Force stuff -- I don't have an issue with that at all, I've long thought they need to move away from "Skywalker family" story lines -- it's more the whole "it's STAR WARS with an edge!" and "it's got a scene in a BROTHEL" or whatever. I definitely don't need an R rated STAR WARS, but I'm fine with a show focusing on Han Solo-like rogues or bounty hunter characters who aren't using the Force.

I'll probably get to it at some point. I just didn't find the initial ROGUE ONE prequel premise compelling or that character per se.

[BobaMike]

I think the "Star Wars with an edge" thing is more talk than anything. Aside from a 15 second brothel scene (which shows nothing I wouldn't let a kid watch), there is no blood or guts, only 1 curse word I remember, or really anything that wouldn't be in Mandolorian. It's definetly a slower paced show, but it has a lot of different story lines playing out.... sort of Game of Throne-ish in that respect.

[AndyDursin]

They REALLY want you to watch.

[John Johnson]

They REALLY want you to watch.

I have heard the first two episodes aren't that great. It doesn't really get going until episode three.

[Monterey Jack]

Four episodes deep...



Is something interesting going to happen at some point?

[AndyDursin]

Doomcock and his friends -- even the ones who thought it was "ok" -- said it goes off the rails in the very last couple of episodes. I just have no interest in it. More invested in TULSA KING with Stallone on Paramount+ right now.

[jkholm]

I'm eight episodes in and agree with BobaMike, it's far better than Obi-Wan though not as fun as The Mandalorian. It took me a while to get used to the show's format which is more in line with a Netflix style "binge" show that what we've seen before with Star Wars. The pacing definitely could've been handled better. I understand what they're doing in the first few episodes (setting up characterizations and doing lots of creative world building) but it's awfully slow. The characters we meet in the beginning are the least interesting. The better characters are not introduced until the later episodes. One of the Empire villains, a blond girl, is far more compelling than the woman in Obi-Wan, partially because she is better written, but mostly because she is a superior actress.

MJ, the pace definitely picks up in episode 5. The writers appear to be working in mini arcs. Something really big happens in episode 6, then the next one is slower, setting up the next storyline.

[AndyDursin]

If something doesn't happen by Episode 5, that's too late for most viewers to stay invested.

[Monterey Jack]

If something doesn't happen by Episode 5, that's too late for most viewers to stay invested.

This is what I hate about the "binging" model that has been established over the last decade...TV programs used to have episodes that offered a satisfying, stand-alone story, but now every season of every show is like an eight-hour movie chopped into segments. There's no ebb and flow, nothing that says, "This installment is over", just a cut to black at an arbitrary point. Even a show like Lost (which pioneered the "tell a giant, novelistic story over years" model) had individual character dramas or side plots that would generally be resolved within the episode you're currently watching. It makes for tremendously unsatisfying storytelling, like pausing a two-hour movie every fifteen minutes, even in the middle of dialogue exchanges.

[AndyDursin]

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't -- but even the "binge" model has to get the story going faster than 5-6 episodes in. Who cares if "all 10 episodes are available to stream NOW!" if there's nothing compelling in the first half of those shows.

Most people will have tuned out long before then -- which is apparently what's happening with ANDOR, which has the lowest viewership ratings of any Disney+ Star Wars product yet.

This "kickstarter" on ABC broadcast/cable platforms seems geared to try and increase exposure for the show...a desperate move.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/a ... tings.html

[Monterey Jack]

Well, it took SIX episodes, but finally got to the actual heist portion of Andor. Be like if we didn't get to the casino in Ocean's 11 until 90 minutes in.

[John Johnson]

I saw this on Lukas Kendall's Blog. Disney+ should have gone in this direction.