Andor TV Series

[Captain Craig]

Andor - finished, binged it after it dropped cause I don't do week to week cause it's not 1995.

Grade: B+/A-

Very good series, on par with some of Mandalorian which remains for me the best live action entries. Obi-Wan is really close as well.
The only middling entry for live action has been Book of Boba Fett. So when I read all the headline blurbs about ANDOR being "THE BEST THING EVAH!!" I'm smh.
Yes, it was very good, I enjoyed it. I also think it could've been 8-10 episodes and not 12. Too much time making widgets for the Deflector Dish on the prison planet.
Dedra was/is a good character but she is immediately on the heels of having just had a tough as nails female antagonist on Obi-Wan with Inquisitor Reva.

What was it that had so many people, or was it just media, raving that this is THE BEST EVER!!! ???

The street fight finale was well done. I'm eager for more Mon Mothma.

[Tobei Miyake]

What was it that had so many people, or was it just media, raving that this is THE BEST EVER!!! ???

Different things connect with different people in different ways.

Some people love the The Mandalorian. I despise that show and disparagingly call it the "Baby Yoda" show, and will not watch it again. When the CGI Luke Skywalker picked up the puppet baby Yoda that was my cue to leave too.

Some may wonder how I could possibly feel that way.

Different things connect with different people in different ways.

Andor was a Star Wars drama/thriller that connected with some of us and hit us in an entirely different way, and on an entirely different level.

Variety dubbed it Star Wars for grown-ups. Some may have taken a little bit of objection to that.

I just call it like I said, a Star Wars drama and thriller. And handling Star Wars as a drama and thriller may have been just the thing that some of us were looking for, and thereby making it the best Star Wars ever.

It's reshuffled my list on what I think when it comes to Star Wars.

1. Star Wars: Andor
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
3. Star Wars: A New Hope

Rogue One had already topped A New Hope to me, and Andor just topped everything.

And that's my list. All other Star Wars just exists after watching Andor. And nothing else matters after Andor.

It just hit some of us that hard. And so I'm not surprised by what some people and some in the media are saying.

EDIT:

That said, I do have hopes for The Acolyte.

Like many, Jedi are what I love most about Star Wars. And I'm surprised by how much I enjoy Andor in spite of that. But The Acolyte sounds on paper like something that I will like.

[Frontier]

I think this show definitely had one of the most consistent (and consistently excellent) writing, direction, and acting of the entire Disney Star Wars live-action shows.

[Tobei Miyake]

Aside from my unhealthy love for Mon Mothma, I would say the other thing that Andor gave me was Coruscant.

Coruscant in the prequels was fine. Some really cool moments, some less so. When Star Wars went to TV though Coruscant was what I was most curious about, insofar how they would depict it. And if they could depict it given the time and budgetary constraints of a television show.

Andor I felt did an adequate job. The locations of the scenes that they chose were remote enough to do on television, but still satisfying enough to my eye.

It all felt like 70s science fiction. It had bit of brutalist architecture. And obviously a little of that "THX 1138" feel. It worked.

Next season Yavin 4. That's going to be awesome.

[inisideguy]

Aside from my unhealthy love for Mon Mothma, I would say the other thing that Andor gave me was Coruscant.

Coruscant in the prequels was fine. Some really cool moments, some less so. When Star Wars went to TV though Coruscant was what I was most curious about, insofar how they would depict it. And if they could depict it given the time and budgetary constraints of a television show.

Andor I felt did an adequate job. The locations of the scenes that they chose were remote enough to do on television, but still satisfying enough to my eye.

It all felt like 70s science fiction. It had bit of brutalist architecture. And obviously a little of that "THX 1138" feel. It worked.

Next season Yavin 4. That's going to be awesome.

The 70s sci fi is an apt description. I think pound for pound best Star Wars show ever.

[Captain Craig]

Thanks for some feedback.
I look forward to a S2 and as good as it was I just don't fall into the "best SW show ever/to date" camp.

Someone stated the thriller aspect of it and it is time SW embraced other story telling venues within their world. I feel that is one thing Doctor Aphra brought in the comics.
Feige was right that with superheroes you could tell a variety of genres within the superhero medium and Star Wars, starting with Andor, looks to be exploring that.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Andor, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Better Call Saul are the holy trinity of how to write a prequel.

Sony should be taking notes lol.

I'm excited for season 2 and I'll probably rewatch it next year.

[Surf]

Just finished the finale, probably the most violent Star Wars outing I've ever seen, that was a massacre. The number of fools catching blaster shots over this series was an all-time high. I was a little worried my #1, I thought Dedra was gonna get Dawn of the Dead'd and get pulled apart like Captain Rhodes. That look between her and Syril was, anti-climactic imo. I get it, save it for the sequel but cmon', Maddie and David (Moonlighting for the young folks) ruined will they won't they TV relations forever, I see this as a little correction. Only thing here is we have two Maddie's, wait til she meets his mother.

It happens in episodic television writing that characters can be catalysts or motivations for actions and those characters are never shown. Off the top of my head I can only come up with Dickie Moltisani and The Gooch from Diffrent Strokes. Yes we eventually got Dickie but that it wasn't worth it. So when the sister is brought up I feel it's just a starting point, or a cut scene down the line. Anyway, didn't the last time Cassian saw Maarva she told him she didn't exist?

Yes I believe Maarva's speech did change Luthen. On the low his culmination as a badass is forming hard, rolling out on that hover bike thing with that hood, that **** landed. Cassian will clearly allieve some of the ruthlessness out of him. This stage of the rebellion requires some different measures.

I dug all of the Mon Mothma arc, she was pretty hot in parts btw, she's a good actress. Poor space-nazi benefactor Perrin, he will forever be remember to me as saying, "Does everything have to be so saad?"

Fantastic series, now that it's over I have a few questions though.

[krazijoe]

I loved the last 4-5 episodes and was not fond of the first 4-5 episodes. For me it took too long to set up but after the successful raid it really took off.
Some things in the last episode that really had me confused though...
1. When did Stormtroopers learn to shoot? They killed so many in the last episode by shooting them. Then again, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.
2. I am so annoyed by the ineptness of the Empire. I get that all the backstabbing etc literally kills all the brains in the organization but damn. The one that isn't inept is taken out by an overzealous underling. I am shocked that people like Thrawn and Tarkin stuck around with all the ineptness around them. Sure it made them look better but it's amazing they got anything done.

And the BIG reveal at the end...Yeah, who didn't see that coming?

[thwhtGuardian]

I loved the last 4-5 episodes and was not fond of the first 4-5 episodes. For me it took too long to set up but after the successful raid it really took off.
Some things in the last episode that really had me confused though...
1. When did Stormtroopers learn to shoot? They killed so many in the last episode by shooting them. Then again, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.
2. I am so annoyed by the ineptness of the Empire. I get that all the backstabbing etc literally kills all the brains in the organization but damn. The one that isn't inept is taken out by an overzealous underling. I am shocked that people like Thrawn and Tarkin stuck around with all the ineptness around them. Sure it made them look better but it's amazing they got anything done.

And the BIG reveal at the end...Yeah, who didn't see that coming?

There was a reveal?

[Frontier]

There was a reveal?

The Death Star?

[Ramsay Snow]

Andor - finished, binged it after it dropped cause I don't do week to week cause it's not 1995.

Grade: B+/A-

Very good series, on par with some of Mandalorian which remains for me the best live action entries. Obi-Wan is really close as well.
The only middling entry for live action has been Book of Boba Fett. So when I read all the headline blurbs about ANDOR being "THE BEST THING EVAH!!" I'm smh.
Yes, it was very good, I enjoyed it. I also think it could've been 8-10 episodes and not 12. Too much time making widgets for the Deflector Dish on the prison planet.
Dedra was/is a good character but she is immediately on the heels of having just had a tough as nails female antagonist on Obi-Wan with Inquisitor Reva.

What was it that had so many people, or was it just media, raving that this is THE BEST EVER!!! ???

The street fight finale was well done. I'm eager for more Mon Mothma.

Andor is definitely the best Star Wars TV series, although it dragged with the assembly scenes as others have pointed out......The reason it's the best is it's the only one that's been consistent. Obi-Wan had too many goofy aspects to it, and Mandalorian is overrated. It had some solid episodes like the Ahsoka Tano episode, but there were so many average episodes I didn't get the hype.

Thing is, the aspects of Obi-Wan & Mandalorian that I disliked, are things a lot of Star Wars fans either enjoy or choose to overlook, so it doesn't bother them.

[Jokerz79]

This show does emphasize that the "wokeness" of Disney SW is simply the hatred of Diversity by some. First off, this show is fantastic on every level arguably SW best tv show although I still like Mandalorian a little more. But the usually crowd of voices of decent against Disney SW are relatively quiet about Andor either begrudgingly admitting it's good or calling it boring and ignoring it. At the end of episode 7 Cassian is basically profiled, choke held, and given an obscene mandatory sentence for a trumped up charge. If Cassian had been played by a black actor does anyone think there wouldn't have been video after video about the show being "Woke"? Much like when there was that scene in Falcon and the Winter Soldier where Bucky and Sam had a verbal argument and the cops interjected themselves to ask Bucky if there was a problem. By the by as a white guy who grew up in a predominantly African American neighborhood, I can tell you from 1st hand experience Falcon and the Winter Soldier called that scene perfectly.

As much as some want to argue their arguments are about Story and Politics and not Race or Gender it really is given Andor more political than any other Disney SW product so far. I hated TLJ, TROS was a hobbled together mess, TBOBF was meh IMO, Obi-Wan was slightly lacking but over ok IMO. My point is Disney SW is far from perfect and deserves criticism. But Andor IMO does show how flimsy the "Woke" argument is though.

[Tobei Miyake]

As much as some want to argue their arguments are about Story and Politics and not Race or Gender it really is given Andor more political than any other Disney SW product so far. I hated TLJ, TROS was a hobbled together mess, TBOBF was meh IMO, Obi-Wan was slightly lacking but over ok IMO. My point is Disney SW is far from perfect and deserves criticism. But Andor IMO does show how flimsy the "Woke" argument is though.

The diversity of Andor I think is actually one of its strengths. No matter the situation in the show, it was all of these different people coming together for a common purpose, a common goal. Men and women of all colors, and shapes and sizes.

And Star Wars is a big galaxy, so it would only seem like a natural thing to do.

And the politics in Andor are the most purest form of the George Lucas Star Wars politics. That of course is due to the setting of the show.

I used to be a Jedi first, last, and always Star Wars fan. And then Andor happened. And the politics of Star Wars was done better in that than George Lucas did it. And now I have a hard time caring about the Jedi. It would have to be a Jedi project with as serious of a tone as Andor to interest me. Or any future Star Wars project now for that matter.

And in that regard, Andor was a blessing and a curse. A blessing that it exists and shows the possibilities within Star Wars. A curse though because it's unlikely Star Wars will continue like this. Star Wars will most likely go back to or continue with its Saturday morning matinee roots.

A Jedi series or movie though done with the tone and seriousness of Andor would be the ultimate. A Jedi drama, basically.

As for the "woke" argument, when it comes to Star Wars with a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color) lead or majority cast, Andor is the furthest we've gone, and there was Rogue One. Both were well received. The Acolyte is the next one to be put to the trials.

[Ascended]

The "too woke" argument is almost *always* about bigotry and not actual content. I mean, it's (usually) a pretty big red flag when someone says anything is too woke, isn't it? Because that's typically not a critique of the story, it's a complaint about what the leads look like. Otherwise the complaint would be specific, instead of a blanket tossed over everything. And the screaming is always louder than the reality. Remember when people boycotted Black Panther and Captain Marvel because the lead actors weren't straight white guys? Or whatever the excuse was that those people gave? Both films made a billion. Aquaman made a billion with a PoC lead too, and the source material is a white dude. You know "those" people were pissed about the blonde white guy being played by Mamoa, but their rage was as impotent at the box office as they are elsewhere.

There's more of us than there are of them. They're just louder because they know it too.

Anyway, I do agree with Tobei that Andor has ended up something of a blessing/curse; amazing story but one that raises the bar for the rest of the franchise in a way that might not satisfy. But I don't know if it'll be as bad as all that. Mandalorian is a spaghetti Western, Andor's obviously a political/thriller drama, and I read somewhere that Acolyte isn't going to fall in the same narrow genre confines as standard Star Wars too. Plus they've done things like Visions.....the SW guys are experimenting with new genres and storytelling mechanics, and given how popular some of those efforts have been I don't think they'll stop.

I think we're entering an era where Star Wars can be many things, and while we're never gonna escape the more kid-friendly, whimsical elements (nor should we) I think it's been proven that the franchise can do other things and still be successful. Star Wars is for kids and families, and always should be. The day Disney forgets that is the day SW is in real trouble. But we've seen that not *every* Star Wars story has to be for kids and families too, and being able to carry that kind of versatility is good for all of us, even if some projects aren't our personal cup of tea.