Usual deal applies here, I think. Expect spoilers for everything aired and avoid the thread if you haven't watched the latest episode. I'm going to spoiler-tag my comments below (even though there are no real spoilers in there) but after that it's fair game. You have been warned!
[spoiler]I'm not sure about the near-universal praise I've seen for this. I've watched the first three episodes, and I understand why they dumped the first three on Day One: because basically fuck-all happens in the first two episodes.
Don't get me wrong — the whole thing looks great and the actors are all excellent. But the first two episodes are barely twenty minutes of plot spread out over eighty minutes. You're going to have to stick with it, because episode three is actually pretty good but, honestly, getting there is a slog. There are still a few "Wait? What?!" illogicalities, but I've resigned myself to those in most modern TV.
It's a handsome show, with a brilliant cast, which I hope will finally get to shine from Ep4 onwards...[/spoiler]
I liked it a lot. But it's not really Star Wars. (Whatever that is)
[spoiler]Bladerunner[/spoiler] (even down to the diegetic music), followed by [spoiler]Wall-E[/spoiler] with a bit of [spoiler]Lieutenant Gorman[/spoiler] (though that character is quickly changing). We loved it.
I'm loving this take on the SW universe.
I really enjoyed episode #1 - a Star Wars spin-off that stands on its own two feet.
I agree it takes too long to get off-planet, but on the plus side, the setting is given some real room to breathe. There's also a refreshing 'everyman' feel to the characters since [spoiler]we haven't yet gotten into any of that pesky Rebellion backdrop[/spoiler]. And of course it looks and sounds fantastic, which quite frankly, when you're in the Star Wars universe, is often enough to hold the attention.
The corporate stooge villain is really good too. Unusually nuanced for this sort of thing (especially his reaction to the ass kicking his team received)
Like a cross between Agent Cooper (standing in for Gorman) and the marines being handed their asses in Aliens. Really enjoyed the payoff in the third episode.
Great production values, but I just don't care about the character or story.
Slow first couple of episodes but I'm liking it so far.
Main problem I have is we know Andor [spoiler]dies!!!!![/spoiler]
New season of Rick and Morty has been hitting it out of the park so far 2 for 2 and watching ep3 tonight
Shulkie is pretty good despite a complete lack of overall bad guy or story ark you usually get in these Marvel shows (which honestly is what they were going for).
CU Radbacker
Shit sorry just ignore second part of my post I thought this was box set thread 🫣
CU
I thought the latest episode was fantastic. Stellan Skarsgård's transformation from gruff, behind-the-scenes, insurrection facilitator to Coruscant high society antiques dealer was worth the price of admission alone.
There was a lot more to like here, though. The pace is picking up, the plot thickening, and the scope expanding. Genuinely pretty excited for the next episode.
Yeah, really enjoying. I think of it as a sideways glance at Star Wars.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 29 September, 2022, 07:59:46 PM
I thought the latest episode was fantastic. Stellan Skarsgård's transformation from gruff, behind-the-scenes, insurrection facilitator to Coruscant high society antiques dealer was worth the price of admission alone.
Yes, I thought that was a great bit - if I'd blinked during the wig-on-getting-in-to-character scene then I'd have thought it was an entirely different character (I'm not overly familiar with the actor in the first place).
Quote from: sheridan on 30 September, 2022, 09:47:11 AM
I'd have thought it was an entirely different character
The little practice smile is just perfect.
Quote(I'm not overly familiar with the actor in the first place).
He's had a lonnnng career, but probably most likely to have crossed geek/nerd radar as Orlando Bloom's dad (under a lot of CGI) in a couple of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, recurring MCU character Erik Selvig, and Vladimir Harkonnen in Villeneuve's Dune.
I've settled into the pace of this now and am really enjoying it.
Slow? Abso-fecking-lutely. Star Wars? Barely.
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 09 October, 2022, 11:19:28 PM
Star Wars? Barely.
I think that's this show's greatest strength. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away is a cool setting, it's nice to see stuff outside of Jedis, skywalkers and stormtroopers. So far we've just seen the odd TIE fighter at a distance and it works really well. I just like stories that focus on small cogs in a big machine.
To that end, it's taking spoofs like Star Wars Undercover Boss (https://youtu.be/FaOSCASqLsE), Darth Vader in Love (https://youtu.be/T_ycf8IokKM) or (most pertinently, and not really a spoof) Death Star Contractors (https://youtu.be/iQdDRrcAOjA) and running with it.
Absolutely - I think that's why I'm enjoying it.
But I wouldn't want all Star Wars to be like this. I want most of the content to be about space wizards. You know, for kids!
The Eye: Absolute corker of an episode. Very well played out heist with gorgeous visuals and pacing and twists.
Did anyone else get GTAV vibes from the soundtrack during the heist?
Really good episode again this week, I thought. A change of pace from last week's heist, but tense, exciting, with lots of plot in motion. Plus, as always, it looks fantastic.
I really like this take on expanding the Star Wars universe — it's not telling us how Han Solo got his gun, or who built C-3PO. Instead, like Rogue One, it's filling in a whole layer of stuff that meaningfully informs the universe — it's showing us how the crushing, bureaucratic fascism of the Empire came to the critical point of rebellion, and it manages to feel desperately relevant right now.
Plus, as I've mentioned before, the hives of scum and villainy were always the most interesting part of Star Wars for me, even as a kid, the first time around. The grimy back alleys full of crooks and spies, the bars awash with smugglers and pirates, many of whom were weird-ass aliens — that was always the Star Wars that excited me, far more than the dynastic space wizard stuff.
Got to agree with Jim here. I'm properly enjoying this series, it feels like Star Wars for grown-ups.
This series is just the best thing ever. I can't say enough good things about it.
Really enjoying this - even the slow start I was engaged.
I love the building of ambition of characters from the empire slant who will they stamp on to get to where they want.
Hope this runs a couple of seasons to build on the line in Rogue One "we've all done things we're not proud of ..." just before jetting off to get the Death Star plans and ultimate end
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 20 October, 2022, 10:04:03 AM
Hope this runs a couple of seasons to build on the line in Rogue One "we've all done things we're not proud of ..." just before jetting off to get the Death Star plans and ultimate end
I'm sure it was announced as three seasons, each one jumping forward a little in time until the last season pretty much directly leads into Rogue One.
The careful placement of characters, each with their own problems; the hints at who may be connected in unexpected ways; politics everywhere, from family to friends to bureaucrats changing the destiny of an entire planet just to score points over one another. And it looks amazing, to a level that the previous TV series have only intermittently managed. To someone disappointed with Kenobi, this is a dizzying bounce-back.
I thought Rogue One was the best Star Wars feature since Jedi. And now this is the best series - although I've got a lot of time for The Mando.
Uh-oh - this means it's time to re-watch the Vader hallway scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxL8bVJhXCM).
Yeah that was cracking. So many great things going on. I was never a big fan of the bounty hunter and smuggler stuff myself but this is pushing the right buttons for me.
I don't reckon George thought through any of this when writing Star Wars... It was all fairy princesses, evil knights, good farmboys and kindly wizards.
That they have reverse engineered something like Andor out of it (when most of the other movies and shows just go for more of the same) is just great.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 20 October, 2022, 10:05:27 AM
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 20 October, 2022, 10:04:03 AM
Hope this runs a couple of seasons to build on the line in Rogue One "we've all done things we're not proud of ..." just before jetting off to get the Death Star plans and ultimate end
I'm sure it was announced as three seasons, each one jumping forward a little in time until the last season pretty much directly leads into Rogue One.
Andor will have 2 seasons. It was originally 5.
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 20 October, 2022, 10:43:16 PM
Andor will have 2 seasons. It was originally 5.
My bad. I should have looked that up...!
Disappointing, though. I could totally go more than two seasons. Especially since we'd been pre-warned that K-2SO wouldn't turn up in the first season.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 20 October, 2022, 11:02:12 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 20 October, 2022, 10:43:16 PM
Andor will have 2 seasons. It was originally 5.
My bad. I should have looked that up...!
Disappointing, though. I could totally go more than two seasons. Especially since we'd been pre-warned that K-2SO wouldn't turn up in the first season.
Gilroy and Luna decided during the making of season 1 they didn't want to be tied to the shooting schedule for several years, so Gilroy compressed the story into 2 seasons, which is where the idea of season 2's time-jumps between episodes came from.
I'll take two seasons of this quality, then consider Rogue One as the third part. Very happy with that thank-you. :)
Well episode 8 was another goody. Shawshank 1138 meets Handmaid's Tale levels of depressing telly. Love the contrast between the worlds of the prison and Coruscant and Ferrix. I kinda like seeing all of the bit part Brit actors appearing. Andy Serkis turning up was also a treat. Diego Luna is great - really selling the steps of his journey from where he started this to Rogue One.
Yep enjoyed this as the intrigue deepens on how the feck does Andor get out of his incarceration as I don't think they can jump 6 years.
The other threads are continuing and for me still engaging.
Does anyone know how many episodes are in this season?
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 27 October, 2022, 10:01:04 PM
Andy Serkis turning up was also a treat.
Somehow Snoke returned.
Another cracking episode this week, I thought.
The show's inspection of the grinding, petty, bureaucratic machine that drives a fascist state is an interesting and relevant take on the Star Wars universe, as is its depiction of the many small acts of rebellion that it takes to reach the tipping point of actual "Rebellion".
Andy Serkis, unsurprisingly, is brilliant, but the whole cast is excellent and multiple storylines are juggled deftly. This is some pretty damn good TV.
Totally agree. The "slow" start is vindicated (I was hooked from episode 1) this is the best Star Wars off shoot yet and we know what happens to Andor in the end.
On a side note I also enjoyed (not as much as Andor) the Tales of the Jedi especially the last scene of episode 5 for those that watched the full Clone Wars series. These wee shorts tried to fill in small gaps in characters stories.
I think this nearly beats out The Mandolorian as my favourite Starwars TV series. The slow burn and quality of the writing nearly puts it up in the top tear of all TV up amongst the House of the Dragon for top TV this year. The acting is superb from everyone, FX are great and considering the low action count the last two episodes have been edge of seat entertainment. I really hope all f there is only 2 seasons the second season gets a bit of a time jump and ends flowing into Rogue One which is my favourite of the new Starwars movies.
CU Radbacker
It's a toss-up between this and The Mandalorian. Andor is great and feels like a grown-up Star Wars, but the Mandalorian literally had me bouncing up and down in my seat and feeling like I was 6 years old again watching Star Wars in the cinema with my Dad.
Quote from: Pyroxian on 04 November, 2022, 07:36:24 PM
It's a toss-up between this and The Mandalorian.
I'm happy for both to exist and not to have to choose between the two. I wouldn't want
all Star Wars to be like Andor — it's largely escapism, after all, and The Mandalorian's spaghetti western take on the universe is very much to my liking.
At the same time, I think the expansion of Star Wars into the realm of TV allows for alternative investigations of the implications of the canon, and Andor has found a fascinating sideways look at the whole mythos that expands it without undermining it.
Another corker this week, methinks. Building nicely.
Oh, and somebody mentioned Tales of the Jedi, which I hadn't heard of - thanks for that; loved it.
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 09 November, 2022, 08:47:02 PM
Another corker this week, methinks. Building nicely.
Terrific episode. This prison arc has been tremendously well-written, acted and superbly paced. Two more episodes to go — I simultaneously can't wait, and don't want it to end.
"What have I sacrificed?"
Fantastic to have stuff like this sharing episode with a great [spoiler]prison break[/spoiler]
I notice the writer was Beau Willimon who I think I've seen on House of Cards. The Coruscant threads of the episode could have come from that show.
That was a great speech.
Another cracking episode. Wonder if Serkis will turn up at some point along the way?
Quote from: Trooper McFad on 10 November, 2022, 04:20:07 PM
Another cracking episode. Wonder if Serkis will turn up at some point along the way?
I was wondering why we didn't see his fate.
Really enjoying this series. And it was great to see Serkis playing someone not covered in CGI. He's like a gruff Dexter Fletcher.
Brilliant show, and I reckon the best SW on TV so far. Well written, fine cast, great settings, slow burner of a plot (at the start), but just keeps building and getting better every week.
Quote from: Funt Solo on 10 November, 2022, 04:49:55 PM
I was wondering why we didn't see his fate.
I imagine he'll pop up again somewhere :)
Quote from: Pyroxian on 14 November, 2022, 05:58:23 PM
I imagine he'll pop up again somewhere :)
"How come you didn't drown...?"
[spoiler]
SNOKE ON THE WATER...[/spoiler]
(Horatio Kane sunglasses gif here.)
the last 2 [spoiler]prison[/spoiler] episodes have been soooo good
now everyone needs to watch the KIPO cartoon on netflix -upbeat and awesome, a happy experience for these unsettling times
Lots of threads coming together in this one.
The interlude with the two aliens felt nicely slightly off kilter Star Wars and Luthen's tustle with the tractor beam was nicely tense.
I'm really gutted this is finishing next week.
Quote from: Tiplodocus on 17 November, 2022, 12:02:39 PM
...Luthen's tustle with the tractor beam was nicely tense.
I re-watched that scene several times. I don't really do that these days, so it stood out.
Enjoyed that. Impatient for the next series.
Yeah. I am in awe of how the writer's drew (nearly) every little thread, arc, and side character, together in one place and satisfying finale.
Naturally Mon Mothma remains physically separate on Coruscant but her commitment, or rather committing her daughter, mirrors Cassian's choice.
Brilliant, different Star Wars. Really hope we get more and more.
Really enjoyed this take on the Star Wars story and looking forward to next season.
The set design clothes are straight out of 70s SYFY - brilliant 🤩
Wonderful show, and a tense final episode.
It really stuck the landing with that last episode. Nice little coda after the credits, too.
Yes... The[spoiler] things they were making in the prison[/spoiler]