Andor is a piece of art and anyone who says otherwise is willfully shooting themselves in the foot. SW isn't a genre, it’s a universe and many different genres, themes, characters, and stories have yet to be discovered in that universe. If someone wants the 'feel' of the old movies there is good news, the old movies still exist, so literally go watch them again. As horrendous as some of the Last Jedi was I have grown to appreciate that Rian was also trying to make something new, his execution in some of that 'newness' was very questionable but the stuff that worked really worked. This misguided unconscious consensus of SW fans that we need to ‘recapture’ those feelings from the first films has led to an over saturation of bad SW trying to live up to something it shouldn’t even need to. Every SW project doesn’t need the same themes, characters, and feeling as the OG trilogy, that'd get repetitive and very boring. Most new projects have virtually become parodies of the source material where nothing is left but references cameos, and generic mic-drop lines that fit in any situation. I love Andor not just because it is full of heart, nuance, and complex storytelling in a thematically dark setting but also because of what it represents: innovation of SW and a new hope that future SW projects don't have to be self referential, sloppily written, poorly executed, mass produced projects rather than pieces of art that stand on their own merit. Disneys and the fans problem has been thinking that SW is a genre and everything must fit into very confined rules. If someone thinks Andor is too boring they need to consider spending less time feeding their dopamine receptors with stuff like Tik Tok and take the time to pay attention to what’s happening between action sequences. They’ll realize that that there is a lot of nuance and character work happening, it is a masterclass of writing and direction. If someone thinks Andor doesn't feel like SW they need to reframe how they understand the IP, it is not a genre of itself. The themes, characters, settings, sounds, textures, virtually everything is straight out of the Lucas doctrine and what story he was trying to tell. If someone thinks Andor stands shoulder to shoulder on equal footing as Obi Wan, Ahsoka, or Boba Fett they need to try and summarize one of those shows and try to summarize Andor, the difficulty to do so for Andor succinctly is indicative of the complex level of detail and care. Andor is lightyears ahead of those shows in virtually every cinema or storytelling criteria. Anyone who loves Andor should be promoting it and recommending it to everyone they know. Systems either change or die and there is only one way out of this SW slump of bad media.
Listen, I have my enjoyment with some of the other stuff that has been made under Disney live action, movies or animated and I think there are ways to look into how we can fix some of the issues it does have. Some of those issues you mentioned in your comment and I'll tell you what, I am pinning it for that reason. Not because of what you said but how you said it. Again I think we might disagree on a few things but the way your phrased your points came out of good faith on talking about the actual things we see and not the contrived talking points of certain people in the fandom. I felt every point in your comment and it felt real, nothing fake but also reasonable in your way of putting it. I appreciate it!
People hate lack of continuity and plot holes. Andor has no problem with that, the sequels and other shows do. That's why fans are upset at many projects.
While most of these are valid points, the idea that Rian Johnson should deserve "appreciation" is a joke. It's one thing to say that we shouldn't try to "recapture" the feelings of the old movies but it's another to flat-out spit in the face of people who have been fans of the OT characters for decades. TLJ is a complete abomination, so bad that TROS was never on my viewing agenda and it still isn't. RJ can take a long walk off a short pier. I do agree with most of what you said about Andor though, it feels like it's straight out of the Star Wars universe and the writing and world building is fabulous. Can't wait for season 2.
Of course it's art, it's a creative process with an outcome, that doesn't make it good or great, personally I think Andor is good but isn't great. As for Rian Johnson and TLJ it was an experiment and it failed, it failed spectacularly, it damaged his reputation which was pretty good, I mean he got the gig in the first place so there's that but it is the movie equivalent of lying down on the floor and some how managing to fall off. Andor is a step in the right direction and as an older fan I appreciate what it's trying to do but that doesn't mean I don't see its flaws, and it has them, quite a few but the good carries it over the line, you're right that there's a lot to explore in the SW universe but whatever Disney choose to do they need to go all in on the darker themes as well as the hopeful, trying to make a show to capture everyone will always fail, lock in your target audience and make a show they will like and pull no punches, until Disney decide to do that SW will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Rian Johnson was not "trying to do something different" He just wanted to "subvert expectations" he literally said he wantes to divide the fanbase because having a crowd half hating the movie and half loving the movie is the type of goal he wants to achive with his movies
We all expected Stellan Skarsgård to turn in an amazing performance in this show, but let's have a round of applause for Genevieve O'Reilly. Who knew when she was cast for the prequels that she would get the opportunity to explore Mon Mothma in such an intimate and challenging way? She has knocked it out of the park.
Hell ya! Someone finally said it other than me! She's AMAZING in this show. Her scene with her old senator friend when she reveals the details about the "charity fund" was so good.
@@filmobsessednerd The bit in the car where Mon frames her husband for the missing money -dang!! good script, very well acted by Genevieve O'Reilly! You see that Mon is just as cold and cunning as Luthen but in her own way.
Ironically, Andor was the one show that nobody expected anything from, but it is by far the best SW live-action series to date, in every aspect. I hope S2 will be released soon.
I don't know why people keep saying this: Nobody expected anything... Everybody who watched rogue one and saw that it was the best star wars since empire knew that Andor was going to be incredible, especially since same team was involved.
Rogue One wasn’t that great and I don’t think the two have much in common. Beau Willimon certainly didn’t write RO. And RO has no, show-stopping, monologues.
@@ricj101 I agree, but first i thought that "Endor" was spelled wrong, until I realized who was really meant. First I saw Mando (great, but a simple storyline), the Boba Fett (somehow ok) and then Kenobi, from what I expected to be very good, because what could get wrong with that character and backstory!?
@@ricj101 I legitimately didnt like Cassian that much. I honestly had no idea why they'd make a series for Cassian of all characters. I was pleasantly disappointed. Absolutely knocked this series out of the park.
"I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!" - probably one of my favourite bits of dialogue on all of SW. Andor is hands down the best thing to come out of SW in many years. I was at the celebration panel in 2023 which was fantastic and I seriously cannot wait for season 2.
@@joelreis5366 you're right and valid point. Lonnie could be an interesting character in season 2 and whether he sticks with Luthen. My gut tells me that the ISB will figure it out
The start of that quote is the very reason I said what I said in the video about Luthen being a terrorist he’s using the terrible tools of his enemies to hurt the people that will help his cause.
@@filmobsessednerd it's such a brilliant scene delivered by a brilliant actor in Stellan, which tells us a lot about Luthen. Any time he was on screen, I was completely captivated. Oh man if, which I seriously think they will find out Lonnie is a double agent, they are going to make the Bix torture experience seem like a picnic compared to what they will do to them - they won't go for him straight away in the hope that he leads them to Axis, but he is in for some serious damage
Luthen is an accelerationist, while Mon is an incrementalist. These are always the allied yet opposing forces of any resistance or rebellion movement, and Andor explores this excellently. Add in Sol Gerrera, the extremist, and you’ve really explored all angles of organized resistance. What makes Cassian so compelling, and Jen from the movie, is that they aren’t idealists. They’re like most people, looking out for themselves and trying to make their way through a bad system. Circumstances place them in a position to take a side and take action, and only when they learn to care about something more than themselves do they become committed to the ideal. Damn good writing!
Luthen is not an accelerationist, he is violently opposed both in method and ideology against the empire. Accelerationist doesn't just mean make things go faster, it is to intensify the internal contradictions of the system by progressing/heightening/accelerating the system till something new is created immanently. If Luthen was an accelerationist you would more likely see him working within the empire, spreading its ideology.
@@stefdelev MAGA is a revolutionary movement. Just because they're not the good guys doesn't mean they're not revolutionary in their aims. Read project 2025.
I'm looking forward to season 2 as well but I'm nervous. My theory is that Andor was good because there was no executive meddling. It was seen as lower profile and therefore not worth their attention. Well, it did well and now it might have their attention.
Until Andor came along, I had always said that Rogue One was the best way to reboot the franchise. Bravo to Gilroy for putting out an engaging story which compliments the series perfectly.
Interesting... I never thought about Rogue One as a film that would "reboot" the franchise as more of it just being the story that set up the original 1977 film.
Even though we know the story was dumb because we know the plans weren't stored at the same place, but several places, and they weren't given Leia physically, but via encrypted comm messages, but the retconning aside, it was the most enjoyable Disney Star Wars film.
And this is exactly why it's so confusing when Star Wars "fans" get mad at "making Star Wars political." It's always been political. And Andor really gets it.
It was a good well written story. The SW content i despise is because the story is poor. Not everybody has issues with the politics, most will have problem with a poor story. Sadly, when there is criticism, it's easier to dismiss it as from fringe elements rather than to listen to the feedback and learn from it and admit it was a poor story. I remember when the last jedi came out and the cast defended it but started changing that narrative years later to admit it wasn't so good. My jump the shark moment with SW was zombie stormtroopers in ahsoka. That completely made me become less engaged in SW and not nearly as interested. (I still haven't watched the acolyte and won't)
That's not the sort of politics people are talking about. This is general, this is universal. People are annoyed with specific, one-side, smug and very modern politics. I think that's been incredibly clear for years. Also, it helps that it is well written and the other shows/movies are not.
Luthen’s dialogue in this scene also recontextualizes the destruction of Alderaan. The Death Star blowing up Alderaan was THE watershed moment during the Galactic Civil War. Because if Tarkin had never given the order to destroy the planet, would the Rebel Alliance have grown to the scale it did by the Battle of Endor? Alderaan’s destruction single-handedly caused the most outrage towards the Empire and inspired those, originally indifferent to the cause, to join the Rebel Alliance. And speaking of historic influences on Star Wars, our world has witnessed these watershed moments like Alderaan where the deaths and suffering of many at the hands of an oppressor, as Luthen put, ends up igniting the spark that will rally people together to defeat said oppressor. EDIT: Also, I’ve always wanted to see an on-screen depiction of the galaxy’s reaction to Alderaan’s destruction. It was the biggest misstep that the Empire took. And the largest lie Palpatine’s ever had to spin. I think showing us how Alderaan’s destruction united the Rebellion on all fronts would absolutely vindicate Luthen for all of his words and actions that may have, at the time, seemed immoral.
I love this! Thank you for mentioning this idea, because even though Andor will not explore it given the time period of the show, I think that would be fascinating to see. The Public Order Resentencing Directive was like an Alderaan of its own but in a smaller way. A thing that made people stand up more to the bullshit the Empire was giving to people.
Idk if people caught it, but Luthen used an Alderaan cargo freight call sign in one of the episodes, then proceeds to destroy the "air wing." It probably added to the Empire's suspicion that Alderaan is supporting the Rebellion with "special" Imperial tech. Fcking brilliant.
What Tony Gilroy did for Star Wars is what Alan Moore did for comics with Watchmen. Years from now more essays and dissertations will be written about this series. Both are twelve part series with each three episodes providing a beginning, middle, and end to a section. Gilroy references Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo in Andor and it is magnificent. What an amazing series, I cannot wait until the next season.
I particularly really liked the new Watchmen series. That and Andor are sort of similar with each other in someways. I hope Andor goes down as one of the all-time shows that gets taught in classrooms.
it was so amazing to be around for Watchmen in real time- waiting an entire year for the story to play out.... re-reading what you had each month before savoring the new comic.
That's what sets apart Andor, from other Disney SW projects: It's not enough for its writers to have good intentions & politics, they need to weave and represent all of that through the dialogues, all the characters motivations/actions, while simultaneously not compromising the worldbuilding or credibility of other storylines. Being earnest and forthcoming can too easily devolve into becoming too convenient, obsequious or superficial. Which benefits no one.
If I may add a point to what you’re saying that I think might exemplify what you’re trying to speak to more, it is the idea that it’s not even the fact that the other Star Wars live action shows had done a terrible job at exploring political elements/commentary of the world, it was more so that they didn’t understand the realities of the very franchise they were in. Shows like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan for example don’t really have any political elements to them at all. They feel way too small in size with how they’re shot and made through their story. They feel like shows that were trying to make a story that would not connect as well if you made it in television format as well. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the movie edit that was made out of the Obi-Wan show, but it made the show way better.
@@filmobsessednerd Using multiple Directors require both an overseer that keep visual/acting consistency but also writers that can give an interesting "angle" to each individual episode, while serving as building block for the rest of the show. When its lacking, you get a strongly uneven series. Andor feels cohesive. The quality of Fett's final episodes don't match its earlier parts, and feels cheaper than the Mandalorian inserts. Compare the Bill Burr arc (S2), to all Mando S3 and it feels like a completely different production. You read the ideas and pathos discussed in interviews by the main Director/writer of The Acolyte, and almost none of that is present in the final product. It's as if they are talking about a different show. Such dissonance can't be attributed to small mistakes, but fundamental issues, starting from the original script.
@@Martell_Dog listen, I am not going to sit here and act like I stand on a pedestal defending everything Disney or Lucasfilm does. I recognize that TV is not their strong suit at all. We got that report last year that for a while under the leadership of Bob Chapek since February 2020 they didn't know what they were doing on the television side of the company. Marvel suffered from that and I feel Star Wars did too. Boba Fett came out in 2021 and Obi-Wan in 2022. So they were under his tenure. I think with new leadership in place now we might get back to what we want to see more of.
@@filmobsessednerd Yeah, every franchise can be "saved", if it releases a string of products that is liked by at least portions of its fandom. SW insistence in creating media attached to known characters/story/timeliness is just not a sound approach. If they want to experiment, they need to go without safe rails. Just a strong, well planned script with new characters in a different region, and start building from there.
The main reason I think this show worked so well is it was written for adults. It took a serious topic and treated it seriously instead of hiding it all in the name of making it kid-friendly
It is a chilling line. In the real world, I can think of one example: The H-bomb has existed for 72 years now and has not yet been used on people. Let's hope it never will be.
Andor is the closest thing we have gotten to an Expanded Universe show. It's the true evolution of a franchise that has been stuck in the past for most of the Disney years.
Andor is the answer to what the franchises problem is. They refuse to allow it to mature. I remember Simon peggs comment that sw shouldn't be "dark." The entire series is about tragedy, oppression, and suffering but presents it in a very dumb down way by focusing on space magic and visual effects to remain family friendly. But really the franchise needs to grow up, you can't get by with bad writing etc. It doesn't need to be "dark" but audience intelligence has evolved and you have to meet that expectation. People want quality and andor is a total package across the board: acting, writing, visuals, directing etc.
They need the people that made Andor to be making Star Wars. They captured the essence of Star Wars so well and then elevated it to new heights with great acting and writing. This show made me fall in love with Star Wars again.
Luthen's confrontation and subsequent escape from the Cantwell class cruiser has to be one of my top favorite scenes in all of Star Wars. It's a masterpiece.
As an intelligence professional and now an academic teaching analysts: Andor is the best filmic representation of the intelligence task. It captures so many of the trade offs, trade-craft, the intelligence-policy interface, and even the intellectual steps in good all-source analysis. Not just "spying"-- *intelligence*. It's just so good.
Wow! That's really cool to hear! Has anyone made a video online about breaking down that kind of thing? I would love to see that. "Intelligence Officer Breaks Down the Masterful Work of Being a Spy in Andor".
Lonni... one of the most underrated heroes of the Rebellion. Luthen meant what he said when he talked about Lonni's investment in the Rebellion being epic. I wish Ebon Moss-Bachrach's character could have stayed in the show longer, but I guess therein lies the beauty of it. None of the character deaths were wasted. Every sacrifice had to be carefully calibrated and weighed to justify its worth... there is so precious little to put in play yet so much to lose. Every single move in this chess game makes the eventual blowing up of the Death Star all the more significant beyond an onscreen CGI scene, as the weight of each additional sacrifice finally pays off. And all that without a single lightsaber, topless Sith, or Mandalorian. The combination of great acting and greating writing is nonpareil. My only regret is that I already know how it all ends with Rogue One.
I love this series so much. It's so far beyond in skill and execution than the majority of nearly all modern dramas. The "What do I sacrifice?" monolog is up there with Rutger Hauer's "Tears in Rain" monolog in my opinion. The acting is amazing too, even smaller roles like Syril's mom are so damn good.
@@Degarth well by comparing to Andor standards is a little different I’d say. It’s all about separating things as best as possible and viewing them through their own lens’s.
11:29 "I'm not the only one out there who considers Andor arguably maybe the best thing that Star Wars has ever done aside from the original trilogy." 🙌
I think the idea is that if you overdue a story long enough then it'll become repetitive and overstay its welcome. What the show of Andor is basically trying to do is set up all the elements of the pre big portion of the rebellion to where we saw it in the original trilogy and a film like Rogue One. Andor's story is obviously the main focus and helps to connect in with other rebellion like stories with Luthen, Mon and so on.
It has an end point. It has a few clear idea's it is striving to portray. Once that is done - there really isn't anything left for the story to do. End a show on a high note; don't milk it until it's ruined. That way - if you ever have more to address that fits in with the flow - you can; and you can leverage the good will to facilitate it. If you milk something to death, you have to start all over again and it doesn't matter how good your message is, how important your ideas it is an uphill battle.
Originally they planned the story arcs as individual seasons, but they ended up going for two season instead. It would have ended with the heist for the first season. This way they can at least tell all the important parts without the fear of being cancelled before it's finished. I hope they get more chance after season 2.
Production reasons. At the ACE Superhero Con in June 2024, Luna explained that it took 2.5 years to get the first season done. Jumping off that, season 5 (which is what they were shooting for) would have them shooting in 2034 with Luna damn near 20 yrs older than he was in Rogue One (2016). No one wants to see that deaging VFX (my words, not his). So instead we’re going to get four separate three-episode arcs, each of which will apparently move the story forward a year.
I love how Luthen's strength of conviction is sought after and relied on in the story with the characters he interacts with. Kleya butts heads with Vel, almost pining for his attention. Mon questions him for her own mental security, while he goes 'You already know what the plan is'. Lonni wanted to leave, but Luthen's starkly honest monologue keeps the ISB informant in the game. Not to mention that even Cassian recognizes that steel, to the point he outright proclaims without hesitation that he'll kill Skeen for the possession of the Kuati Signet, already respecting the rebel leader enough to ensure he gets back something he said he valued more than what anyone can offer for it. Then of course, more direct scenes where his command is thoroughly established. How nobody discusses him seemingly when he's not present, how he gives Vel a ultimatum, giving her a choice... but not giving her a choice as he knows what she wants to do and wouldn't give up on pursuing even if it meant altering the plan for the heist suddenly. He's a great addition to the universe and helps give the Rebels a proper chess master which is essential at this period as they attempt to form the basis of the Rebel Alliance. Great video. I love this scene, though to be fair there isn't a scene I don't like in this show. Gilroy is going to blow my socks off next season, I am sure of that.
Thank you man much appreciated! I think to your first point about the Kuati Signet I never thought of it that way about him wanting it back and that he'd kill for it because of Luthen. I always interpreted it in the sense that it was just worth a lot of credits too but I like that addition to its importance. Like I said in the video, Luthen might be one of the most important characters in Star Wars during the OT trilogy time period of the Rebels and Empire war. He knows so many things and so many people that he's risk that would cause a lot of harm if captured or if he wasn't pleased like how he wasn't pleased with Lonni after he told him he wanted out. I love your breakdown! Would love to see you come back for more on my channel you have a good mind on you with the way you structure sentences.👍
Andor is what happens when you put a huge budget in front of great screenwriters and actors instead of CGI. Finally made me feel like Star Wars has grown up, same as it's audience. 10/10 show.
While this point has no relation to the video topic itself, you bring up a good point about shooting in front of CGI and green screen, that stuff not being as prevalent in this show helped in its quality. Shooting on location, building sets and loosening up on the volume made it feel more real but also grand in scale.
Not really, Acolye production was massively overpaid, all fems including Katleen (according to Google)... in fact, those shows are kind of scams made to extract Lucasfilm money and pay their useless middle management, not the VFX. The final result is not the important part. Andor is what happens when you let whity gentleman run the production, all the writers were kimdly males (according to Google). And you end up with a clever show that blames the rebels for causing the empire regime. Just like Palpatine, they don't care if the people suffer. If that helps their agenda, they decide for everybody, they are not democratic either. That is beyond replicating Lucas's basic good vs evil. They reminded me of WW2 resistance. The resistance was military irrelevant and ended up causing a lot more harm to the population than to the enemy, yet, they are still celebrated just because someone else won the war for them. In a way, their job was just to aggro the population with the enemy retaliations, a form of emotional manipulation. Just like today. Hamas wants Israel to bomb Gaza. Their attack was aimless and pointless unless you understand that... they wanted the retaliation to solidify the support of the population, and to make everybody hate Israel (who was already paying for free water and electricity in Gaze). They don't really care about the population, they care about being the new ones taking the power. For that reason if Israel stops before removing the instigators, the terrorists achived their purpose. But I still think that in Andor's show saying that humans are cheaper than robots to justify the prison was a dumb idea.
Let's not forget Andor's CGI and Photography are oustanding as well. So thing here is that we have someone who knows what he is doing (Gilroy) and who knows what good screenwriting is. In fact screenwriters are not expensive in general, even the good ones. Rest assured they spent a lot more in other areas rather than screenwriting. But the one behind the show knew what was what. This is what you get. Andor may not have the biggest audience, but it has been slowly gathering cult status due to how good it is.
Season one is the greatest season of tv ever produced. The writing, acting, visuals, sound, the MUSIC! It’s perfect. It’s a shame people dismiss it bc they’re not into Star Wars. It’s such an unbelievable show.
Andor was really needed as a series. Since the original movies there had been a growing undercurrent in fandom saying that the Empire were actually the good guys and the Rebellion was evil. It was most often jokes like pointing out all the janitors that were killed when the Death Star blew up, but the idea kept gaining traction with idiots bring up more 'evidence' that the Empire was better for the galaxy even though the movies clearly showed them torturing people and murdering billions. Andor showed those idiots what life would be like under the Empire with all the injustice and tyranny. It's been noticeable how all those fan theories about how the Empire were the good guys have stopped since Andor aired.
Ya it's very clear that the Empire are not the good guys, they are in fact the bad ones. However, that doesn't mean there aren't bad guys within the Rebellion. I don't think the rebels in a New Hope were bad they were simply trying to stop this giant ass space station from blowing up their planet.
@@filmobsessednerd Sure, Lucas wrote "There are heroes on both sides" in the starting scroll of RotS. There were good and bad individuals in both the Rebellion and Empire, but the Empire would naturally by tyrannical and evil overall since it was run by a Sith Lord. It was just really weird seeing fans who started to forget what the Empire meant for the average person until Andor showed them in an amazing and undeniable way.
@@DocOverlord The "heroes on both sides" in Revenge of the Sith refers to the Republic and Separatists. The Empire did not yet exist and logically neither did the Rebellion. That said, I wholeheartedly endorse your point about the Sith attitude permeating the Empire structure. In Andor, you can feel the fear of people on the ground as a lone TIE fighter streaks overhead.
Luthen knows he's a terrorist - his monologue in the lower levels shows he knows the ambiguity of his actions and the fact that history will probably not remember him well... and he also knows his strategy is entirely necessary.
I think it's more than him thinking history won't remember him well - we have the benefit of seeing the fall of the Empire and knowing that he isn't remembered. He doesn't know that yet. But he does know that he SHOULDN'T be remembered. It's a nod to how real-life political movements that celebrate their dark past tend to continue it, while movements that whitewash or disavow their dark pasts are typically the ones that are able to move past it and truly be better than what they fought against.
He’s a member of the classic Leninist vanguard. A revolutionary intent on bringing about social and economic justice via revolution. Not a “terrorist.” You need to study your revolutionary theory, comrade! Terrorists provoke outrage in the ruling class by attacking people; specifically their fellow marginalized and oppressed. Revolutionaries attack the ruling class directly and the structures and institutions critical to their oppressive rule. Your false consciousness for the side of imperialism and accepting the oppressive status quo is showing; you confuse attacks on property and the ruling class with attacks on innocent civilian people who will comprise the future citizens of socialist society. You’re showing why it is that the liberal small property owner is more likely to side with the oppressive hierarchical fascist in times of crisis than with the revolutionary egalitarian socialist, who’d use targeted action to provoke more open conflict with the goal of engaging in revolutionary change. By identifying “terrorism” with attacks on property rights rather than identifying with the common egalitarian rights of all citizens it shows why time and again the typical liberal will side with fascist oppression rather than the socialist revolutionary intent on genuine emancipation.
@@Homjos_Erhas But Lenin wasn't a terrorist, and indeed he thought terrorist tactics as a deviation from the best path to revolution, which would rather come from mass organisation of the working class.
I waited over 20 years to feel the way I did after watching the original trilogy in 1998. Andor gave me that feeling once again. It is a absolute master class in film. I still don't get the hype around the Mandolorian but hey it is what it is.
Mandalorian and Andor are two different kinds of stories and filled with different kinds of characters. Tones are different too and I think both can exist.
The hype around Mandolorian was largely due to it being the first SW in some time to not attack the fans and to tell a decent story. Outside of the context of its time, it wasn't a great show.
An audacious excursion behind enemy lines, in order to provoke an overreaction which would show the hand of the oppressors, causing PR disaster and garnering more support for resistance... is prescient to say the least.
Andor is brilliant and everything I'd like to see for future Star Wars. The concept was supposed to be about fighting the evil of tyranny. Use of the force was secondary.
As an original fan back to 1977, none of the stuff from '83 onward has ever been what Star Wars is about for me. Andor is really what I wanted from Star Wars back in 1999, and pretty much the only kind that's going to interest me moving forward.
Another subtle thing I love is the scene when Luthen dresses up after returning to Coruscant. It shows that his "Axis" persona is the real him at his core. But when when he gets to Coruscant, he puts on the make-up, wig, and extravagant persona that he has there. Absolutely love this show!
I totally agree. This show had some of the best dialog between characters you can watch in any series to date, regardless of genre. It is by far the best Star Wars show ever done. If it wasn't for this show, I would have given up on the whole franchise by now.
I’ve never given up on the franchise and I don’t plan on doing so, but it is certainly a series that I think everyone should be happy to know exists no matter where you stand on loving or not liking Star Wars as a whole. Whether being a casual fan or a hardcore one.
@@filmobsessednerd Just to explain a littler further... I grew up with the original films. Then I read a few Star Wars comics, but I simply couldn't imagine that what happened in those comics had anything to actually do with the world in the films, it just didn't match up. So I disassociated the comics and also the Extended Universe books and such in my head from the "real story". When the prequels came I was very excited at first, because finally we would get some "real" Star Wars again!
@@54tisfaction I think that’s what makes fans like you so interesting is that you have different views of what sides of the franchise work and you’d consider real Star Wars. Lucas himself doesn’t consider any of the books and EU stuff canon or real to his films. At the time of the prequels lots of people didn’t even consider that real Star Wars.
How Star Wars Theory doesn't like Andor, I'll never understand. Touts himself as a SW diehard, but in the end all he wants is a bubblegum lightsaber coloring book version of SW.
Lmao you wouldn't believe me when I say I have an ungodly annoyance for that dude these days. I used to watch him and loved his videos. He has turned into a grifter so fast the likes of which I haven't seen since Anakin turned to the darkside. Not to be on the nose but that's the truth. I don't trust anything he says anymore. He affiliates himself with the worst of the worst people and so ya I can't take that seriously. When he said "bricks and screws" was a problem of Andor boy I was off the rocker laughing my ass at that.
What's super interesting about this show is half of it is just dialogue but also more so then that it's the fact there is no lightsabers and mention of Jedi In this show.
@@thewewguy8t88 if we aren’t getting Duel of Fates level of a lightsaber fight, what is the point!?! Even if we are, it can only be like 5% of a seasons run time. Actual human interaction and conflict is vastly more interesting than laser swords.
The dialog and writing in Andor is genuinely some of the best I have seen in anything ever. It makes the show so good. Also the monologs during the last few episodes are just incredible. I cannot wait for season 2.
This makes me think of Emperor of Dune. The Golden Path pushes people through suffering, controlled and so detaching of what was before, that it will never enable such suffering in the future. It's a very interesting thought, also considered in Foundation: is a shorter period of suffering, more intense, but also more memorable, better for humanity than a slow and more banal type of suffering?
Andor is some of the best of Star Wats EVER. This is re watchable over and over and will age extremely well. I will probably watch this every election year for the next 25.
The acting, the script, and the story, Andor was an overall fantastic production: which just so happened to be set in the Star Wars universe. Yes, ive watched it quite a few times as well, and am still enjoying it.
This show made me fall in-love with Star Wars again. Of all the brilliant streaming programs with a following season in the works, Andor is the diamond that I am patiently looking forward to!!
The thing is, the series has been devoid of the Jedi, which helps give the writing more leeway to be more political and everyday people than focusing on the mysteries of the Jedi.
True, although based on the way George wrote the prequels you could possibly make a series around the Jedi being in the political world of the Senate and what not. We saw many episodes of Clone Wars cover that.
I've watched Andor 4 times now and I think I'm about to do it again next month. It's So good! Not just the writing but the quality of cinematography with the lighting, choice of color of costuming depending on the character and the color lighting for each character, the scale, depth and color of set pieces and the color grade. Just so good!
There are so many things Andor does right. It accentuates the professionalism that makes the empire actually scary. It widens the worldbuilding of the era in a meaningful way. It explores the motivations of an interesting and morally diverse list of characters, deepens the meaning of the events in the galaxy of the time, has great technical execution and an incredibly strong cast. I can't even imagine how strong the franchise would be if every recent Star Wars project would have been as strong as Andor.
Its just the fact that all of these characters are so small in comparison to the empire and the big protagonists. Yet still theyre even more interessting in their stories and reason to their behavior
@@Kr0N05 To me a lot of the emotional weight of "Andor" is precisely because these are NOT people changing the course of the future. They are regular people, not space wizards or Chosen Ones or even smugglers who were in the right place to do a historical deed. They are like us, people who will never be famous but must live lives in a history which they can only affect in their local contexts.
Luthan did what he did not so much as to gain power in itself, but as he said it was a slow process of their will and determination being stripped in the guise of safety. He knows all too well, that he'll pay for what he did. That's my take on it.
I think this is a great point! The idea of him paying for what he did might end in his death. I would not be surprised if he did die in this final season.
@@filmobsessednerd Considering I'm from the 1st generation of Star Wars fans, I've been waiting for stories such as, Andor for a while. While my buddies wanted a more traditional approach, I expressed to them that Andor was a refreshing approach towards Star Wars mythology and there's plenty of room for how it's expressed. You've made a solid essay.
Finally someone else notices this scene! far out, i thought i was the only person and just insane for thinking this is among the best scenes in the entire show and by extension, star wars
Andor is absolute peak Star Wars and this summary is so spot on! Luthen embodies what Star Wars is all about if we break it down to the core, in my opinion. The writers of the show knew this for sure when they chiseled out the Luthen character and they certainly knew they had to find an actor who could carry the weight of the importance of the character. In Stellan Skarsgård they found the perfect actor for the role! He is such a legend! And let's not forget that the whole cast is just phenomenal! I can't wait for the final season to begin!
Another amazing scene in this episode is when Mon Mothma meets Tay Kolma. The staging and camera work is amazing. Moving through the ‘spider web like’ dividers of the room. Saying things without directly saying them and having a way to back track the conversation if Tay did not take her bait. The ‘smile’ to re-apply the illusion of her being a thorn in the side of the sente is just perfect. Honestly this whole show is a master piece. Others have already referenced the ‘EVERYTHING’ scene but there are so many. ‘I can’t swim’ will forever be a prang to my heart thinking of Kino Loy! So exited for season 2!
I know what you mean, the first four times I watched the show I never truly realized how much this scene hit. That’s how good the show is! When I can pick up on something like that after a 5th watch, you know it’s doing something good.
This is one of the only, if not the only, Disney Star Wars live action project where the quality of writing/production/directing/etc. matched the talent of those involved
From a live action perspective I guess it varies for me. I still loved what Mandalorian did for the first two seasons, Boba Fett was just ok and then I enjoyed Ahsoka S1.
I think the phrase "doesn't take itself too seriously" is used too freely by critics. Andor seems like the only Disney Star Wars project to take itself seriously and it shows. Yes the original trilogy could be funny, but never at the expense of the flow of a scene or the emotions of the moment. While Andor is bleaker it actually _does_ feel like watching the original trilogy.
Oh absolutely I don’t disagree that something like Andor absolutely takes itself seriously. Which is funny, because just the other day Donald Glover said that for his Lando movie he wanted to bring the fun back to Star Wars. So in a way it almost felt like he was taking a dig at Andor lol.
Heretical as it may sound Andor kinda made me wish Luke and Obi-Wan didn't exist and the Rebellion was conducted purely by people like Luthen, Mothma and Saw. Just groups of idealistic politicians, pragmatic strategists and gritty fighters. I want the Andor version of the original trilogy.
You know... that's an interesting WHAT IF style video I wonder if anyone would make in the future unless it hasn't already been made. I'd be willing to do that around the time when S2 comes out.
@filmobsessednerd yeah I just kept playing it over and over again. Plus I wanted to show Disney it had value. It upset me that other people were not watching it
This show definitely had great writing and great, nuanced actors with relatable motivations. The coldness of the world, the seeming powerlessness of the characters, it has an amazing atmosphere. This is only possible when people actually understand the source materials and the intentions and don't try to make it “their own”. It fits into the greater story seamlessly.
Technically speaking they did make it "their own". Lots of the characters in this show are new and to the making of the writers. Same with some of the elements of the story.
Everything about Andor is perfection, in my opinion. The art direction, the cinematography, the use of actual location shooting instead of just sets and "The Volume", the musical scoring, the writing, and finally the casting. Andor is why the rest of current crop of Star Wars shows (and even the sequels) fall absolutely flat for me. Gilroy understood the assignment, there is actually a well crafted message to Andor, and he masterfully wove the story beats into the slow and methodical pace of the first third of season one. I had a few of my friends give up initially after the first two episodes and I told them to watch through the end of the third episode and if they weren't hooked they should drop it. Every single one of them completed the first season, as I explained to them the slow pace at the beginning was a deliberate choice and not bad writing or acting. One of the aspects of the story for Andor that goes very unappreciated is the fact that you don't have to know ANYTHING about Star Wars to understand Andor, it isn't predicated on prior knowledge to understand the plot, whereas quite the opposite is true for Ahsoka, for that show I had to give a synopsis of both The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels just to get a few people through the show. I am extremely excited about Season Two of Andor, I know this would be the height of fan service, but I would love it if by the end we get to see Cassian find K2SO and hear Alan Tudyk's voice again.
Good point about not needing to know anything about Star Wars to watch it (even though it would help). I enjoyed Ahsoka Season 1 but I definitely see your point on that.
This show is a gesamptkunstwerk. From the writing, the acting, the costume designs (Mothma’s looks could be worn today and nobody would bat an eye) and even the music. I hope everyone involved in making this are involved with S2 (and nobody more…)
Interesting work lol. Also yes, everyone is coming back including the composer who made I think one of the best musical scores in history, Star Wars or not. I have that on my Spotify it's so good.
thank you for saying it. this show is so quality I can't even believe it's star wars. it's so much more than just a good disney / star wars show... it's lowkey a masterpiece and in the running for best television seasons of all time
Andor is much more important to disney in the sense that it shows them how they can tell adult stories and underlying themes that don't condescend the audience, while also telling stories aimed towards family and kids in particular in the form of Kenobi. It's interesting because Andor is the closest Star Wars has ever come to being Star Trek in asking deep philosophical questions. Andor is important in that it's showing you the function of the empire; in many respects the order 66 coup was a silent transition - the war went on above the skies of coruscant, the outer rim planets continued to be lawless as we see in the mandalorian, but for corsucant life goes on and even on ferrix, life continues apace for Ferrix so long as - and this is key - life continues unabated, and undisturbed. Everyone on Ferrix was content to continue to contribute to the empire, everyone on corsucant was content to continue to ignore the political machine so long as their lives were unaffected, and Luthen is important as an antaognist because he's doing the one thing that's crucial to igniting rebellion; the importance of survival and self interest should never be ignored. It's with perhaps some degree of prescience that he moves cassian into place for him to see how oppressive the empire truly is; how insiduous the plans of the empire and by extension the sith are in opressing dissenting voices within the regime; for cassian being imprisoned may well have been a catalyst, but it I maintain that it was the death of maarva: ruclips.net/video/TaKrm5txGCQ/видео.html that galvanised him and resolved him in the cause. Maarva's speech is just as important as this monlogue by Skaarsgard: ruclips.net/video/-3RCme2zZRY/видео.html - in fact I would argue that these two scenes are probably the most important purely because it shows a man describing the moment the act of rebellion was set in motion, with Maarva's eulogy being a signal fire into momentum. Andor is...Poetry. It's showing the movement and poetry in moving will into motion, and motion into violence for a cause; demonstrating that sometimes...Most of the time an act of rebellion for a noble cause will not, often cannot be peaceful. As a young Briton that grew up as a soldier's son, I never saw that when it came to ireland - in my 40's I see that now. I see it in my own country, those same echoes. Finally, I leave you with my third favourite moment: ruclips.net/video/-asb8zTiuZ4/видео.html
For me, the best moment in the series is the "One Way Out" speech. "You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us." This is him saying he'd rather be helped into the water and drown, knowing he can't swim, than stay here. And to please help him jump. He's making this powerful speech knowing it'll likely be his end. and yet he does it in a way that's only encouraging. It is an almost Tolkienian view on sacrifice. evil is self defeatings as long as good men stand and do as they should
Glad you brought that up because one day relatively soon I am going to do a breakdown of the character Kino Loy. He has now become one of my all time favorite Star Wars characters.
@@filmobsessednerd looking forward to it. He's one of the best characters of Disney Star wars... Then again, isn't it fully how all the best characters are from one show?
@@filmobsessednerd How many well written characters have we got since Disney bought star wars, outside of this show? I'll grant S1+2 Mando, but it's... not been great outside of this one very special show
It‘s my favorite Star Wars work hands down. Andor is beautifully dark, realistic, nuanced and it‘s political scenes are even better then the deleted ones of ep 2&3. While Luthen is right to be credited to tipping the scale, I admire Mon Mothma even more. She has been hiding in plain sight for over a decade and has been instrumental in the fight for democracy since long before the Empire was founded. While not the only ones, Mon Mothma and Luthen perfectly represent the two broad factions of a rebellion. Episode 7 of Andor was in general my favorite, so much happened, so much outstanding dialogue, absolutely cannot wait for Season 2!
Ya Mon more than anyone maybe had a tougher job because she was more interconnected with the Empire and people who work with them than even a character like Luthen.
2:35 I never noticed this in the live shots, but the still highlights it perfectly; Both sides have someone watching them on literal opposite ends of the shot. And while only one can hear the conversation, both can only watch, wait, and act accordingly. Waiting to see where these two will move to next and react.
As amazing as this scene is and the level of writing…it’s Luthen’s monologue about what’s he’s given to the cause gave me goosebumps. His acting and the words spoken…masterclass.
One of my favorite episodes of Rebels is when the crew of the Ghost are tasked with getting Mon Mothma out of Coruscant after she names Palpatine traitor to the Empire on the Senate floor. I am really hopeful we get to see that speech in the next season. Genevieve voiced her in Rebels as well. Mon sitting in her literal ivory tower with her chandelier shaped like a sun above her, wearing all true white(not ISB white)like only very few characters(Ahsoka, Leia)are allowed to wear and contrasting that with Luthen in the bowels of Coruscant wearing all black and speaking of a sunrise he knows he'll never see was such a phenomenally written scene. She is not willing to compromise what she believes in for her goal and ultimately she sees the Empire destroyed without personally having had to compromise that. Luthen lost sight of what it meant and in the end he will become the same thing he was trying to destroy just like Saw. When Saw has the moral high ground over you, you should know you're in the wrong lol.
Awesome breakdown! And also thank you for mentioning the episode in Rebels when Mon gets out for good and escapes with the crew. I do not think that scene will be shown but like you said we might get the speech portion and then when she’s about to escape it’ll cut to black and the next time we see her is on like Yavin 4 for example.
As I always say: Andor IS Star Wars. It’s fantastic. Best written characters, best scene design, best way of filming those scenes… I love Andor as I love the original movies (witch I saw as a little child in Theater) because it put things in perspective. It’s a masterpiece
Andor is the best Star Wars, with Empire Strikes Back and then A New Hope the closest 2. Everything else is far behind. Andor is a labor of love, tended to with incredibly high-level intellect, creativity, and judgement.
Great insight. It recalls to mind Leia talking to Tarkin in A New Hope when she says the more the Empire tightens its grip, the more star systems will slip through its fingers.
But on the other hand, George would've never written this and probably would require a lot of convincing to greenlight Andor. In every interview where he talks about the politics and his vision for Star Wars was an unambiguous good vs evil conflict. One of the major themes for the evil side on this show was the banality of evil, where pawns of the Empire were doing seemingly righteous things, but in a wider context are accomplishing the needs of the evil system. This is a grey area that Lucas never touched in both his art and his interviews.
Mon Mothma is such a compelling character, who is excellently portrayed by the uber talented Genevieve O'Reilly. I would love to see more, how this Senator deceived and evaded a Sith Lord to ignite a Rebellion. Andor had great actors delivering solid dialogue. Plus the visuals were on point. This show delivered, it showed the viewer what it would be like to live in a galaxy, far, far away and a long time ago.
Totally agree with you on that scene. Luthan is one of the best characters of Star Wars, knowing full well that he risked everything for the rebellion as he told their spy. And watching Andor gave us the beginning of the rebellion. Truly something to be admired after Rogue One. Especially seeing how Cassian joined the Rebels in the first place. The show was like a behind the scenes in what went on in the background before the main storyline. The reasons behind the Wars
Outside of the original trilogy, morality is examined quite effectively in Star Wars films. Rogue One was a great example. Lives had to be expended sometimes sadly in the name of the greater cause. Andor shooting an informant in a back alley to protect the information he was given from that informant tell us what horrible things have to be done for victory over tyranny.
Just listened to this scene the first time in english (i normaly watch in german). THE DIFFERENCE IS HUGE The german sync has way les emotions in the voice. In the english version u can hear the fear, the shiver in Mons voice. Everyone that has not listened to that in English should. Now i have to rewatch the whole series in english.
THE BEST thing Disney has done as a Star Wars Disney+ series along with the Rouge One film. Skarsgaard and O’Reilly are incredible in any of the scenes they are in but the hidden secret dialogue that takes place when they are together is so subtle that I can hardly wait for the continuation of this story line.
Andor is AMAZING! One thing I LOVE about it is that there are NO cameos from other films/shows in the franchise. I'm tired of shows doing this when it's often superfluous. If the cameo makes sense within the storytelling, that's one thing, but lots of shows do it just to get "buzz".
Sometimes yes, the fan service can come in just for the sake of it being there and so with this show, you don’t quite need that much but next season could offer us something like that a little bit with a character like Krennic coming back in
Andor is a piece of art and anyone who says otherwise is willfully shooting themselves in the foot.
SW isn't a genre, it’s a universe and many different genres, themes, characters, and stories have yet to be discovered in that universe. If someone wants the 'feel' of the old movies there is good news, the old movies still exist, so literally go watch them again.
As horrendous as some of the Last Jedi was I have grown to appreciate that Rian was also trying to make something new, his execution in some of that 'newness' was very questionable but the stuff that worked really worked. This misguided unconscious consensus of SW fans that we need to ‘recapture’ those feelings from the first films has led to an over saturation of bad SW trying to live up to something it shouldn’t even need to. Every SW project doesn’t need the same themes, characters, and feeling as the OG trilogy, that'd get repetitive and very boring. Most new projects have virtually become parodies of the source material where nothing is left but references cameos, and generic mic-drop lines that fit in any situation.
I love Andor not just because it is full of heart, nuance, and complex storytelling in a thematically dark setting but also because of what it represents: innovation of SW and a new hope that future SW projects don't have to be self referential, sloppily written, poorly executed, mass produced projects rather than pieces of art that stand on their own merit.
Disneys and the fans problem has been thinking that SW is a genre and everything must fit into very confined rules. If someone thinks Andor is too boring they need to consider spending less time feeding their dopamine receptors with stuff like Tik Tok and take the time to pay attention to what’s happening between action sequences. They’ll realize that that there is a lot of nuance and character work happening, it is a masterclass of writing and direction. If someone thinks Andor doesn't feel like SW they need to reframe how they understand the IP, it is not a genre of itself. The themes, characters, settings, sounds, textures, virtually everything is straight out of the Lucas doctrine and what story he was trying to tell. If someone thinks Andor stands shoulder to shoulder on equal footing as Obi Wan, Ahsoka, or Boba Fett they need to try and summarize one of those shows and try to summarize Andor, the difficulty to do so for Andor succinctly is indicative of the complex level of detail and care. Andor is lightyears ahead of those shows in virtually every cinema or storytelling criteria.
Anyone who loves Andor should be promoting it and recommending it to everyone they know. Systems either change or die and there is only one way out of this SW slump of bad media.
Listen, I have my enjoyment with some of the other stuff that has been made under Disney live action, movies or animated and I think there are ways to look into how we can fix some of the issues it does have. Some of those issues you mentioned in your comment and I'll tell you what, I am pinning it for that reason. Not because of what you said but how you said it. Again I think we might disagree on a few things but the way your phrased your points came out of good faith on talking about the actual things we see and not the contrived talking points of certain people in the fandom. I felt every point in your comment and it felt real, nothing fake but also reasonable in your way of putting it. I appreciate it!
People hate lack of continuity and plot holes. Andor has no problem with that, the sequels and other shows do. That's why fans are upset at many projects.
While most of these are valid points, the idea that Rian Johnson should deserve "appreciation" is a joke. It's one thing to say that we shouldn't try to "recapture" the feelings of the old movies but it's another to flat-out spit in the face of people who have been fans of the OT characters for decades. TLJ is a complete abomination, so bad that TROS was never on my viewing agenda and it still isn't. RJ can take a long walk off a short pier. I do agree with most of what you said about Andor though, it feels like it's straight out of the Star Wars universe and the writing and world building is fabulous. Can't wait for season 2.
Of course it's art, it's a creative process with an outcome, that doesn't make it good or great, personally I think Andor is good but isn't great. As for Rian Johnson and TLJ it was an experiment and it failed, it failed spectacularly, it damaged his reputation which was pretty good, I mean he got the gig in the first place so there's that but it is the movie equivalent of lying down on the floor and some how managing to fall off.
Andor is a step in the right direction and as an older fan I appreciate what it's trying to do but that doesn't mean I don't see its flaws, and it has them, quite a few but the good carries it over the line, you're right that there's a lot to explore in the SW universe but whatever Disney choose to do they need to go all in on the darker themes as well as the hopeful, trying to make a show to capture everyone will always fail, lock in your target audience and make a show they will like and pull no punches, until Disney decide to do that SW will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Rian Johnson was not "trying to do something different"
He just wanted to "subvert expectations" he literally said he wantes to divide the fanbase because having a crowd half hating the movie and half loving the movie is the type of goal he wants to achive with his movies
We all expected Stellan Skarsgård to turn in an amazing performance in this show, but let's have a round of applause for Genevieve O'Reilly. Who knew when she was cast for the prequels that she would get the opportunity to explore Mon Mothma in such an intimate and challenging way? She has knocked it out of the park.
Hell ya! Someone finally said it other than me! She's AMAZING in this show. Her scene with her old senator friend when she reveals the details about the "charity fund" was so good.
@@filmobsessednerd The bit in the car where Mon frames her husband for the missing money -dang!!
good script, very well acted by Genevieve O'Reilly! You see that Mon is just as cold and cunning as Luthen but in her own way.
@@helline9 I can't wait for that guy to get it since it seems like that's how she'll get out
@@rhanlon70 I agree some of my favorite scenes and moments in this show are with Mon mothma.
Genevieve and her performance here is why I play Moira a lot nowadays lmao
Ironically, Andor was the one show that nobody expected anything from, but it is by far the best SW live-action series to date, in every aspect. I hope S2 will be released soon.
I’m with you- I didn’t care at all.
Now, after five or six times through, it’s now the gold standard.
I don't know why people keep saying this: Nobody expected anything... Everybody who watched rogue one and saw that it was the best star wars since empire knew that Andor was going to be incredible, especially since same team was involved.
Rogue One wasn’t that great and I don’t think the two have much in common.
Beau Willimon certainly didn’t write RO. And RO has no, show-stopping, monologues.
@@ricj101 I agree, but first i thought that "Endor" was spelled wrong, until I realized who was really meant.
First I saw Mando (great, but a simple storyline), the Boba Fett (somehow ok) and then Kenobi, from what I expected to be very good, because what could get wrong with that character and backstory!?
@@ricj101 I legitimately didnt like Cassian that much. I honestly had no idea why they'd make a series for Cassian of all characters.
I was pleasantly disappointed. Absolutely knocked this series out of the park.
"I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!" - probably one of my favourite bits of dialogue on all of SW. Andor is hands down the best thing to come out of SW in many years. I was at the celebration panel in 2023 which was fantastic and I seriously cannot wait for season 2.
And the last part of that speech is also amazing: "So stay with me Lonnie. I need all the heroes I can get."
@@joelreis5366 you're right and valid point. Lonnie could be an interesting character in season 2 and whether he sticks with Luthen. My gut tells me that the ISB will figure it out
The start of that quote is the very reason I said what I said in the video about Luthen being a terrorist he’s using the terrible tools of his enemies to hurt the people that will help his cause.
@@dansparkes6628 they may figure it out and man the torture he’ll receive could be far worse than what Bix went through
@@filmobsessednerd it's such a brilliant scene delivered by a brilliant actor in Stellan, which tells us a lot about Luthen. Any time he was on screen, I was completely captivated.
Oh man if, which I seriously think they will find out Lonnie is a double agent, they are going to make the Bix torture experience seem like a picnic compared to what they will do to them - they won't go for him straight away in the hope that he leads them to Axis, but he is in for some serious damage
Luthen is an accelerationist, while Mon is an incrementalist. These are always the allied yet opposing forces of any resistance or rebellion movement, and Andor explores this excellently.
Add in Sol Gerrera, the extremist, and you’ve really explored all angles of organized resistance.
What makes Cassian so compelling, and Jen from the movie, is that they aren’t idealists. They’re like most people, looking out for themselves and trying to make their way through a bad system. Circumstances place them in a position to take a side and take action, and only when they learn to care about something more than themselves do they become committed to the ideal.
Damn good writing!
Can you identify 2 accelerationist movements today within the US that are enemies of each other?
Luthen is not an accelerationist, he is violently opposed both in method and ideology against the empire. Accelerationist doesn't just mean make things go faster, it is to intensify the internal contradictions of the system by progressing/heightening/accelerating the system till something new is created immanently.
If Luthen was an accelerationist you would more likely see him working within the empire, spreading its ideology.
@@MonstersNotUnderTheBed Not many revolutionary movements in the US still alive and kicking unfortunately
@@stefdelev MAGA is a revolutionary movement. Just because they're not the good guys doesn't mean they're not revolutionary in their aims. Read project 2025.
100% spot on. This is such a great comment.
Can't get enough of Andor or people analyzing Andor. Best written Live-Action series for Star Wars. Can't wait for season 2. Thanks for the video.
Yeah same, on my eleventh rewatch of this show, this show is the greatest masterpiece I've ever seen...
Best written sci-fi show in my opinion and I am including Battlestar Galactica and The Expanse.
@@phonzyyy7753 Boy, I feel bad. I've only seen it three times. I have some catching up to do before season 2.
Of course thanks for supporting! I can’t wait for the 2nd season too.
I'm looking forward to season 2 as well but I'm nervous. My theory is that Andor was good because there was no executive meddling. It was seen as lower profile and therefore not worth their attention. Well, it did well and now it might have their attention.
Until Andor came along, I had always said that Rogue One was the best way to reboot the franchise. Bravo to Gilroy for putting out an engaging story which compliments the series perfectly.
Interesting... I never thought about Rogue One as a film that would "reboot" the franchise as more of it just being the story that set up the original 1977 film.
Even though we know the story was dumb because we know the plans weren't stored at the same place, but several places, and they weren't given Leia physically, but via encrypted comm messages, but the retconning aside, it was the most enjoyable Disney Star Wars film.
@@tomigun5180 How do we know this? Was it from a book or comic?
@@aerochicc lol no, Vader says it at the very beginning of New Hope
@@tomigun5180 I will need to rewatch as I honestly don't recall that.
And this is exactly why it's so confusing when Star Wars "fans" get mad at "making Star Wars political." It's always been political. And Andor really gets it.
Exactly
It was a good well written story. The SW content i despise is because the story is poor. Not everybody has issues with the politics, most will have problem with a poor story. Sadly, when there is criticism, it's easier to dismiss it as from fringe elements rather than to listen to the feedback and learn from it and admit it was a poor story. I remember when the last jedi came out and the cast defended it but started changing that narrative years later to admit it wasn't so good.
My jump the shark moment with SW was zombie stormtroopers in ahsoka. That completely made me become less engaged in SW and not nearly as interested. (I still haven't watched the acolyte and won't)
@@gjhall99 zombies did it for you? Zombies have been in Star Wars since the EU days of books.
That's not the sort of politics people are talking about. This is general, this is universal. People are annoyed with specific, one-side, smug and very modern politics. I think that's been incredibly clear for years.
Also, it helps that it is well written and the other shows/movies are not.
@@primarybufferpanel9939 George literally put modern politics into his movies too what are you talking about?
Luthen’s dialogue in this scene also recontextualizes the destruction of Alderaan.
The Death Star blowing up Alderaan was THE watershed moment during the Galactic Civil War. Because if Tarkin had never given the order to destroy the planet, would the Rebel Alliance have grown to the scale it did by the Battle of Endor?
Alderaan’s destruction single-handedly caused the most outrage towards the Empire and inspired those, originally indifferent to the cause, to join the Rebel Alliance.
And speaking of historic influences on Star Wars, our world has witnessed these watershed moments like Alderaan where the deaths and suffering of many at the hands of an oppressor, as Luthen put, ends up igniting the spark that will rally people together to defeat said oppressor.
EDIT: Also, I’ve always wanted to see an on-screen depiction of the galaxy’s reaction to Alderaan’s destruction.
It was the biggest misstep that the Empire took. And the largest lie Palpatine’s ever had to spin.
I think showing us how Alderaan’s destruction
united the Rebellion on all fronts would absolutely vindicate Luthen for all of his words and actions that may have, at the time, seemed immoral.
I love this! Thank you for mentioning this idea, because even though Andor will not explore it given the time period of the show, I think that would be fascinating to see. The Public Order Resentencing Directive was like an Alderaan of its own but in a smaller way. A thing that made people stand up more to the bullshit the Empire was giving to people.
Idk if people caught it, but Luthen used an Alderaan cargo freight call sign in one of the episodes, then proceeds to destroy the "air wing." It probably added to the Empire's suspicion that Alderaan is supporting the Rebellion with "special" Imperial tech. Fcking brilliant.
@@jheeettfire3243 I never thought about it that way good catch!
What Tony Gilroy did for Star Wars is what Alan Moore did for comics with Watchmen. Years from now more essays and dissertations will be written about this series. Both are twelve part series with each three episodes providing a beginning, middle, and end to a section. Gilroy references Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo in Andor and it is magnificent. What an amazing series, I cannot wait until the next season.
I particularly really liked the new Watchmen series. That and Andor are sort of similar with each other in someways. I hope Andor goes down as one of the all-time shows that gets taught in classrooms.
it was so amazing to be around for Watchmen in real time- waiting an entire year for the story to play out.... re-reading what you had each month before savoring the new comic.
@carltonyoung where did gilroy reference dickens and Hugo? I'm curious if you have a link!
The beginning of, middle and end would have 4 episodes each.
That's what sets apart Andor, from other Disney SW projects: It's not enough for its writers to have good intentions & politics, they need to weave and represent all of that through the dialogues, all the characters motivations/actions, while simultaneously not compromising the worldbuilding or credibility of other storylines. Being earnest and forthcoming can too easily devolve into becoming too convenient, obsequious or superficial. Which benefits no one.
If I may add a point to what you’re saying that I think might exemplify what you’re trying to speak to more, it is the idea that it’s not even the fact that the other Star Wars live action shows had done a terrible job at exploring political elements/commentary of the world, it was more so that they didn’t understand the realities of the very franchise they were in. Shows like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan for example don’t really have any political elements to them at all. They feel way too small in size with how they’re shot and made through their story. They feel like shows that were trying to make a story that would not connect as well if you made it in television format as well. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the movie edit that was made out of the Obi-Wan show, but it made the show way better.
@@filmobsessednerd Using multiple Directors require both an overseer that keep visual/acting consistency but also writers that can give an interesting "angle" to each individual episode, while serving as building block for the rest of the show. When its lacking, you get a strongly uneven series. Andor feels cohesive. The quality of Fett's final episodes don't match its earlier parts, and feels cheaper than the Mandalorian inserts. Compare the Bill Burr arc (S2), to all Mando S3 and it feels like a completely different production. You read the ideas and pathos discussed in interviews by the main Director/writer of The Acolyte, and almost none of that is present in the final product. It's as if they are talking about a different show. Such dissonance can't be attributed to small mistakes, but fundamental issues, starting from the original script.
@@Martell_Dog listen, I am not going to sit here and act like I stand on a pedestal defending everything Disney or Lucasfilm does. I recognize that TV is not their strong suit at all. We got that report last year that for a while under the leadership of Bob Chapek since February 2020 they didn't know what they were doing on the television side of the company. Marvel suffered from that and I feel Star Wars did too. Boba Fett came out in 2021 and Obi-Wan in 2022. So they were under his tenure. I think with new leadership in place now we might get back to what we want to see more of.
@@filmobsessednerd Yeah, every franchise can be "saved", if it releases a string of products that is liked by at least portions of its fandom. SW insistence in creating media attached to known characters/story/timeliness is just not a sound approach. If they want to experiment, they need to go without safe rails. Just a strong, well planned script with new characters in a different region, and start building from there.
My own TLDR summary: get good writers who write at an adult level with sophistication and subtlety. There’s plenty of them out there.
The main reason I think this show worked so well is it was written for adults. It took a serious topic and treated it seriously instead of hiding it all in the name of making it kid-friendly
To some degree yes, this is no George Lucas fair of the way he always treated his films and The Clone Wars show to be for kids
Done for the generation, now adults, who fell in love with the original trilogy as children. Star Wars grew up along side the original viewers.
Andor makes Star Wars feel real. It’s what a rebellion actually looks like.
🔻
@@breakupgoogle yes !
thanks for breaking down peak - what a great scene. "Has anyone ever made a weapon that wasn't used?" was so chilling and well-phrased
That's one of the best lines ever written because not only is it true but it's so wrapped in social commentary of our real world
It is a chilling line. In the real world, I can think of one example: The H-bomb has existed for 72 years now and has not yet been used on people. Let's hope it never will be.
Andor is the closest thing we have gotten to an Expanded Universe show. It's the true evolution of a franchise that has been stuck in the past for most of the Disney years.
Ironic that it's a prequel.
Stuck in the past? Much of the Disney era has been set in a post ROTJ era.
Not sure about stuck in the past but the EU thing is something I didn't think about originally
@@banistersmind I assume he means thematically and creatively
Andor is the answer to what the franchises problem is. They refuse to allow it to mature.
I remember Simon peggs comment that sw shouldn't be "dark." The entire series is about tragedy, oppression, and suffering but presents it in a very dumb down way by focusing on space magic and visual effects to remain family friendly.
But really the franchise needs to grow up, you can't get by with bad writing etc. It doesn't need to be "dark" but audience intelligence has evolved and you have to meet that expectation.
People want quality and andor is a total package across the board: acting, writing, visuals, directing etc.
They need the people that made Andor to be making Star Wars. They captured the essence of Star Wars so well and then elevated it to new heights with great acting and writing. This show made me fall in love with Star Wars again.
Me too
You got to love how real this show feels
This guy only watched it five times, and he thinks he knows it well enough to make related content!
Yea I never thought I would feel tense watching a star wars show but andor really takes you there.
Luthen's confrontation and subsequent escape from the Cantwell class cruiser has to be one of my top favorite scenes in all of Star Wars. It's a masterpiece.
The dude is packing for sure 99 times out of 100 people won't not be able to get out of that situation but he knows his enemy well
Yep
As an intelligence professional and now an academic teaching analysts: Andor is the best filmic representation of the intelligence task. It captures so many of the trade offs, trade-craft, the intelligence-policy interface, and even the intellectual steps in good all-source analysis. Not just "spying"-- *intelligence*. It's just so good.
Wow! That's really cool to hear! Has anyone made a video online about breaking down that kind of thing? I would love to see that. "Intelligence Officer Breaks Down the Masterful Work of Being a Spy in Andor".
@@filmobsessednerd My colleagues and I have talked about this... worth doing.
@@kristiangustafson4130 please do! Would love to see it!
Lonni... one of the most underrated heroes of the Rebellion.
Luthen meant what he said when he talked about Lonni's investment in the Rebellion being epic.
I wish Ebon Moss-Bachrach's character could have stayed in the show longer, but I guess therein lies the beauty of it. None of the character deaths were wasted. Every sacrifice had to be carefully calibrated and weighed to justify its worth... there is so precious little to put in play yet so much to lose. Every single move in this chess game makes the eventual blowing up of the Death Star all the more significant beyond an onscreen CGI scene, as the weight of each additional sacrifice finally pays off.
And all that without a single lightsaber, topless Sith, or Mandalorian. The combination of great acting and greating writing is nonpareil. My only regret is that I already know how it all ends with Rogue One.
I also find Andor to be my favorite SW made so far.
In terms of overall favorite honestly, I won’t even hide the fact that it probably is my favorite as well
It isn’t just the best SW tv, it is the best tv.
I love this series so much. It's so far beyond in skill and execution than the majority of nearly all modern dramas.
The "What do I sacrifice?" monolog is up there with Rutger Hauer's "Tears in Rain" monolog in my opinion.
The acting is amazing too, even smaller roles like Syril's mom are so damn good.
lol there are some pretty good dramas made always find a way to look for as many as you can
@filmobsessednerd I don't feel like I missed any recent dramas that are substantially better than Andor and I definitely found a lot that are worse.
@@Degarth well by comparing to Andor standards is a little different I’d say. It’s all about separating things as best as possible and viewing them through their own lens’s.
Syria’s mom, what an amazing character…totally underrated. One of the best Mom character maybe second to Sister Maggy, daredevils mom.
@@rodneynoriel1528and don’t forget Beverly Goldberg,
11:29 "I'm not the only one out there who considers Andor arguably maybe the best thing that Star Wars has ever done aside from the original trilogy." 🙌
why "arguably?"
either it is or isn't the best, in your estimation, unless you have arguments with yourself. which is pathological.
Heh, I consider it even better than the OT, as much as I love them. Andor is another level above them.
What happens when you have a compelling story, good writing, good production and directing, and good actors?
Andor
Great actors.
I honestly can't understand why this isn't being made into 4-5 seasons. There's SO much to explore here and dive into amazing depth.
I think the idea is that if you overdue a story long enough then it'll become repetitive and overstay its welcome. What the show of Andor is basically trying to do is set up all the elements of the pre big portion of the rebellion to where we saw it in the original trilogy and a film like Rogue One. Andor's story is obviously the main focus and helps to connect in with other rebellion like stories with Luthen, Mon and so on.
It has an end point. It has a few clear idea's it is striving to portray. Once that is done - there really isn't anything left for the story to do.
End a show on a high note; don't milk it until it's ruined. That way - if you ever have more to address that fits in with the flow - you can; and you can leverage the good will to facilitate it. If you milk something to death, you have to start all over again and it doesn't matter how good your message is, how important your ideas it is an uphill battle.
Originally they planned the story arcs as individual seasons, but they ended up going for two season instead. It would have ended with the heist for the first season. This way they can at least tell all the important parts without the fear of being cancelled before it's finished. I hope they get more chance after season 2.
Production reasons. At the ACE Superhero Con in June 2024, Luna explained that it took 2.5 years to get the first season done. Jumping off that, season 5 (which is what they were shooting for) would have them shooting in 2034 with Luna damn near 20 yrs older than he was in Rogue One (2016). No one wants to see that deaging VFX (my words, not his). So instead we’re going to get four separate three-episode arcs, each of which will apparently move the story forward a year.
@thomaswakefield6889 um... Rogue one, but what a prequel it is!
I love how Luthen's strength of conviction is sought after and relied on in the story with the characters he interacts with. Kleya butts heads with Vel, almost pining for his attention. Mon questions him for her own mental security, while he goes 'You already know what the plan is'. Lonni wanted to leave, but Luthen's starkly honest monologue keeps the ISB informant in the game. Not to mention that even Cassian recognizes that steel, to the point he outright proclaims without hesitation that he'll kill Skeen for the possession of the Kuati Signet, already respecting the rebel leader enough to ensure he gets back something he said he valued more than what anyone can offer for it.
Then of course, more direct scenes where his command is thoroughly established. How nobody discusses him seemingly when he's not present, how he gives Vel a ultimatum, giving her a choice... but not giving her a choice as he knows what she wants to do and wouldn't give up on pursuing even if it meant altering the plan for the heist suddenly.
He's a great addition to the universe and helps give the Rebels a proper chess master which is essential at this period as they attempt to form the basis of the Rebel Alliance.
Great video. I love this scene, though to be fair there isn't a scene I don't like in this show. Gilroy is going to blow my socks off next season, I am sure of that.
Thank you man much appreciated! I think to your first point about the Kuati Signet I never thought of it that way about him wanting it back and that he'd kill for it because of Luthen. I always interpreted it in the sense that it was just worth a lot of credits too but I like that addition to its importance. Like I said in the video, Luthen might be one of the most important characters in Star Wars during the OT trilogy time period of the Rebels and Empire war. He knows so many things and so many people that he's risk that would cause a lot of harm if captured or if he wasn't pleased like how he wasn't pleased with Lonni after he told him he wanted out. I love your breakdown! Would love to see you come back for more on my channel you have a good mind on you with the way you structure sentences.👍
Andor is what happens when you put a huge budget in front of great screenwriters and actors instead of CGI. Finally made me feel like Star Wars has grown up, same as it's audience.
10/10 show.
While this point has no relation to the video topic itself, you bring up a good point about shooting in front of CGI and green screen, that stuff not being as prevalent in this show helped in its quality. Shooting on location, building sets and loosening up on the volume made it feel more real but also grand in scale.
Not really, Acolye production was massively overpaid, all fems including Katleen (according to Google)... in fact, those shows are kind of scams made to extract Lucasfilm money and pay their useless middle management, not the VFX. The final result is not the important part.
Andor is what happens when you let whity gentleman run the production, all the writers were kimdly males (according to Google).
And you end up with a clever show that blames the rebels for causing the empire regime. Just like Palpatine, they don't care if the people suffer. If that helps their agenda, they decide for everybody, they are not democratic either.
That is beyond replicating Lucas's basic good vs evil.
They reminded me of WW2 resistance. The resistance was military irrelevant and ended up causing a lot more harm to the population than to the enemy, yet, they are still celebrated just because someone else won the war for them. In a way, their job was just to aggro the population with the enemy retaliations, a form of emotional manipulation. Just like today. Hamas wants Israel to bomb Gaza. Their attack was aimless and pointless unless you understand that... they wanted the retaliation to solidify the support of the population, and to make everybody hate Israel (who was already paying for free water and electricity in Gaze). They don't really care about the population, they care about being the new ones taking the power. For that reason if Israel stops before removing the instigators, the terrorists achived their purpose.
But I still think that in Andor's show saying that humans are cheaper than robots to justify the prison was a dumb idea.
Let's not forget Andor's CGI and Photography are oustanding as well. So thing here is that we have someone who knows what he is doing (Gilroy) and who knows what good screenwriting is. In fact screenwriters are not expensive in general, even the good ones. Rest assured they spent a lot more in other areas rather than screenwriting. But the one behind the show knew what was what. This is what you get. Andor may not have the biggest audience, but it has been slowly gathering cult status due to how good it is.
Season one is the greatest season of tv ever produced. The writing, acting, visuals, sound, the MUSIC! It’s perfect. It’s a shame people dismiss it bc they’re not into Star Wars. It’s such an unbelievable show.
Andor is great - Star Wars for the adults who, like me, were children in 1977 and came to love star wars.
Andor was really needed as a series. Since the original movies there had been a growing undercurrent in fandom saying that the Empire were actually the good guys and the Rebellion was evil. It was most often jokes like pointing out all the janitors that were killed when the Death Star blew up, but the idea kept gaining traction with idiots bring up more 'evidence' that the Empire was better for the galaxy even though the movies clearly showed them torturing people and murdering billions.
Andor showed those idiots what life would be like under the Empire with all the injustice and tyranny. It's been noticeable how all those fan theories about how the Empire were the good guys have stopped since Andor aired.
Ya it's very clear that the Empire are not the good guys, they are in fact the bad ones. However, that doesn't mean there aren't bad guys within the Rebellion. I don't think the rebels in a New Hope were bad they were simply trying to stop this giant ass space station from blowing up their planet.
@@filmobsessednerd Sure, Lucas wrote "There are heroes on both sides" in the starting scroll of RotS. There were good and bad individuals in both the Rebellion and Empire, but the Empire would naturally by tyrannical and evil overall since it was run by a Sith Lord.
It was just really weird seeing fans who started to forget what the Empire meant for the average person until Andor showed them in an amazing and undeniable way.
@@DocOverlord I don't disagree
@@DocOverlord The "heroes on both sides" in Revenge of the Sith refers to the Republic and Separatists. The Empire did not yet exist and logically neither did the Rebellion. That said, I wholeheartedly endorse your point about the Sith attitude permeating the Empire structure. In Andor, you can feel the fear of people on the ground as a lone TIE fighter streaks overhead.
Luthen knows he's a terrorist - his monologue in the lower levels shows he knows the ambiguity of his actions and the fact that history will probably not remember him well... and he also knows his strategy is entirely necessary.
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
I think it's more than him thinking history won't remember him well - we have the benefit of seeing the fall of the Empire and knowing that he isn't remembered. He doesn't know that yet. But he does know that he SHOULDN'T be remembered. It's a nod to how real-life political movements that celebrate their dark past tend to continue it, while movements that whitewash or disavow their dark pasts are typically the ones that are able to move past it and truly be better than what they fought against.
lenin 2.0
He’s a member of the classic Leninist vanguard. A revolutionary intent on bringing about social and economic justice via revolution. Not a “terrorist.” You need to study your revolutionary theory, comrade! Terrorists provoke outrage in the ruling class by attacking people; specifically their fellow marginalized and oppressed. Revolutionaries attack the ruling class directly and the structures and institutions critical to their oppressive rule.
Your false consciousness for the side of imperialism and accepting the oppressive status quo is showing; you confuse attacks on property and the ruling class with attacks on innocent civilian people who will comprise the future citizens of socialist society.
You’re showing why it is that the liberal small property owner is more likely to side with the oppressive hierarchical fascist in times of crisis than with the revolutionary egalitarian socialist, who’d use targeted action to provoke more open conflict with the goal of engaging in revolutionary change. By identifying “terrorism” with attacks on property rights rather than identifying with the common egalitarian rights of all citizens it shows why time and again the typical liberal will side with fascist oppression rather than the socialist revolutionary intent on genuine emancipation.
@@Homjos_Erhas But Lenin wasn't a terrorist, and indeed he thought terrorist tactics as a deviation from the best path to revolution, which would rather come from mass organisation of the working class.
I waited over 20 years to feel the way I did after watching the original trilogy in 1998. Andor gave me that feeling once again. It is a absolute master class in film. I still don't get the hype around the Mandolorian but hey it is what it is.
Mandalorian and Andor are two different kinds of stories and filled with different kinds of characters. Tones are different too and I think both can exist.
The hype around Mandolorian was largely due to it being the first SW in some time to not attack the fans and to tell a decent story. Outside of the context of its time, it wasn't a great show.
An audacious excursion behind enemy lines, in order to provoke an overreaction which would show the hand of the oppressors, causing PR disaster and garnering more support for resistance... is prescient to say the least.
Yes it for sure is
Indeed! And this is why I truly wish more people watched this show *right now*. So many relevant parallels.
Andor was immense man. Truly, in my opinion, the best piece of Star Wars media since RotJ
I get goosebumps even now when I watch this video..
Andor is brilliant and everything I'd like to see for future Star Wars. The concept was supposed to be about fighting the evil of tyranny. Use of the force was secondary.
As an original fan back to 1977, none of the stuff from '83 onward has ever been what Star Wars is about for me. Andor is really what I wanted from Star Wars back in 1999, and pretty much the only kind that's going to interest me moving forward.
Another subtle thing I love is the scene when Luthen dresses up after returning to Coruscant. It shows that his "Axis" persona is the real him at his core. But when when he gets to Coruscant, he puts on the make-up, wig, and extravagant persona that he has there. Absolutely love this show!
Andor is better than the original trilogy. I said it.
Honestly, when it comes down to choosing what I would rather watch, 9 times out of 10 I am going with Andor.
I agree I am glad I am not the only one who thinks so
No it's not. Its disney 🌈 fan fiction thats extremely boring @jbone5830
I totally agree. This show had some of the best dialog between characters you can watch in any series to date, regardless of genre. It is by far the best Star Wars show ever done. If it wasn't for this show, I would have given up on the whole franchise by now.
I’ve never given up on the franchise and I don’t plan on doing so, but it is certainly a series that I think everyone should be happy to know exists no matter where you stand on loving or not liking Star Wars as a whole. Whether being a casual fan or a hardcore one.
@@filmobsessednerd I'm a hardcore fan of the movies I like, the rest I just treat as "associated merchandising". 😁
@@54tisfaction ok I guess to each their own then on that stuff
@@filmobsessednerd Just to explain a littler further... I grew up with the original films. Then I read a few Star Wars comics, but I simply couldn't imagine that what happened in those comics had anything to actually do with the world in the films, it just didn't match up. So I disassociated the comics and also the Extended Universe books and such in my head from the "real story".
When the prequels came I was very excited at first, because finally we would get some "real" Star Wars again!
@@54tisfaction I think that’s what makes fans like you so interesting is that you have different views of what sides of the franchise work and you’d consider real Star Wars. Lucas himself doesn’t consider any of the books and EU stuff canon or real to his films. At the time of the prequels lots of people didn’t even consider that real Star Wars.
How Star Wars Theory doesn't like Andor, I'll never understand. Touts himself as a SW diehard, but in the end all he wants is a bubblegum lightsaber coloring book version of SW.
Lmao you wouldn't believe me when I say I have an ungodly annoyance for that dude these days. I used to watch him and loved his videos. He has turned into a grifter so fast the likes of which I haven't seen since Anakin turned to the darkside. Not to be on the nose but that's the truth. I don't trust anything he says anymore. He affiliates himself with the worst of the worst people and so ya I can't take that seriously. When he said "bricks and screws" was a problem of Andor boy I was off the rocker laughing my ass at that.
Not everyone who loves Star Wars is smart. Only smart ppl like Andor.
@@1237barcathis is so true. Andor is for history and political science scholars
What's super interesting about this show is half of it is just dialogue but also more so then that it's the fact there is no lightsabers and mention of Jedi In this show.
@@thewewguy8t88 if we aren’t getting Duel of Fates level of a lightsaber fight, what is the point!?! Even if we are, it can only be like 5% of a seasons run time. Actual human interaction and conflict is vastly more interesting than laser swords.
The dialog and writing in Andor is genuinely some of the best I have seen in anything ever. It makes the show so good. Also the monologs during the last few episodes are just incredible. I cannot wait for season 2.
This makes me think of Emperor of Dune. The Golden Path pushes people through suffering, controlled and so detaching of what was before, that it will never enable such suffering in the future. It's a very interesting thought, also considered in Foundation: is a shorter period of suffering, more intense, but also more memorable, better for humanity than a slow and more banal type of suffering?
I have not ready a single Dune book but I will take your word for this lol
Andor is some of the best of Star Wats EVER. This is re watchable over and over and will age extremely well. I will probably watch this every election year for the next 25.
I’m probably going to watch Andor twice a year at this point that’s how good it is
The writing in this show is next level legendary
The acting, the script, and the story, Andor was an overall fantastic production: which just so happened to be set in the Star Wars universe.
Yes, ive watched it quite a few times as well, and am still enjoying it.
i fucking loved andor so much.
The writing in Andor is just amazing there are so many good monologues that actully makes you feel something.
This show made me fall in-love with Star Wars again. Of all the brilliant streaming programs with a following season in the works, Andor is the diamond that I am patiently looking forward to!!
The thing is, the series has been devoid of the Jedi, which helps give the writing more leeway to be more political and everyday people than focusing on the mysteries of the Jedi.
True, although based on the way George wrote the prequels you could possibly make a series around the Jedi being in the political world of the Senate and what not. We saw many episodes of Clone Wars cover that.
I've watched Andor 4 times now and I think I'm about to do it again next month. It's So good! Not just the writing but the quality of cinematography with the lighting, choice of color of costuming depending on the character and the color lighting for each character, the scale, depth and color of set pieces and the color grade.
Just so good!
Agreed all around there man! It's god tier filmmaking that inspires me every day to be a filmmaker of my own.
The conversation Luthen and Mon had made me feel ill because I knew how true it was, like being dunked in ice water. It shook me up.
There are so many things Andor does right.
It accentuates the professionalism that makes the empire actually scary. It widens the worldbuilding of the era in a meaningful way. It explores the motivations of an interesting and morally diverse list of characters, deepens the meaning of the events in the galaxy of the time, has great technical execution and an incredibly strong cast.
I can't even imagine how strong the franchise would be if every recent Star Wars project would have been as strong as Andor.
Its just the fact that all of these characters are so small in comparison to the empire and the big protagonists. Yet still theyre even more interessting in their stories and reason to their behavior
Its like Galadriel said in Lord of the Rings. "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future".
@@Kr0N05 To me a lot of the emotional weight of "Andor" is precisely because these are NOT people changing the course of the future. They are regular people, not space wizards or Chosen Ones or even smugglers who were in the right place to do a historical deed. They are like us, people who will never be famous but must live lives in a history which they can only affect in their local contexts.
Luthan did what he did not so much as to gain power in itself, but as he said it was a slow process of their will and determination being stripped in the guise of safety. He knows all too well, that he'll pay for what he did. That's my take on it.
I think this is a great point! The idea of him paying for what he did might end in his death. I would not be surprised if he did die in this final season.
@@filmobsessednerd Considering I'm from the 1st generation of Star Wars fans, I've been waiting for stories such as, Andor for a while. While my buddies wanted a more traditional approach, I expressed to them that Andor was a refreshing approach towards Star Wars mythology and there's plenty of room for how it's expressed. You've made a solid essay.
@@vargavision thank you I appreciate it!
Finally someone else notices this scene! far out, i thought i was the only person and just insane for thinking this is among the best scenes in the entire show and by extension, star wars
Haha glad to include you in there with me now
Andor is absolute peak Star Wars and this summary is so spot on! Luthen embodies what Star Wars is all about if we break it down to the core, in my opinion. The writers of the show knew this for sure when they chiseled out the Luthen character and they certainly knew they had to find an actor who could carry the weight of the importance of the character.
In Stellan Skarsgård they found the perfect actor for the role! He is such a legend!
And let's not forget that the whole cast is just phenomenal! I can't wait for the final season to begin!
A million thank you for highlighting the most underrated & possibly the greatest dialogue of any movie/OTT of current era.
You're welcome!
Another amazing scene in this episode is when Mon Mothma meets Tay Kolma.
The staging and camera work is amazing. Moving through the ‘spider web like’ dividers of the room. Saying things without directly saying them and having a way to back track the conversation if Tay did not take her bait.
The ‘smile’ to re-apply the illusion of her being a thorn in the side of the sente is just perfect.
Honestly this whole show is a master piece. Others have already referenced the ‘EVERYTHING’ scene but there are so many.
‘I can’t swim’ will forever be a prang to my heart thinking of Kino Loy!
So exited for season 2!
That's also a great scene too!
Thanks for the video, man! That scene is a masterpiece. It is so real that one self see this all days and people seems like not even notice.
I know what you mean, the first four times I watched the show I never truly realized how much this scene hit. That’s how good the show is! When I can pick up on something like that after a 5th watch, you know it’s doing something good.
This is one of the only, if not the only, Disney Star Wars live action project where the quality of writing/production/directing/etc. matched the talent of those involved
From a live action perspective I guess it varies for me. I still loved what Mandalorian did for the first two seasons, Boba Fett was just ok and then I enjoyed Ahsoka S1.
Andor is goated. Best Star Wars we’ve gotten this century.
It’s great but Revenge of the Sith is better, in my opinion. But they’re both great
Andor is just so heart breaking, and that makes it real. Best show I think I have ever watched.
I think the phrase "doesn't take itself too seriously" is used too freely by critics. Andor seems like the only Disney Star Wars project to take itself seriously and it shows. Yes the original trilogy could be funny, but never at the expense of the flow of a scene or the emotions of the moment. While Andor is bleaker it actually _does_ feel like watching the original trilogy.
Oh absolutely I don’t disagree that something like Andor absolutely takes itself seriously. Which is funny, because just the other day Donald Glover said that for his Lando movie he wanted to bring the fun back to Star Wars. So in a way it almost felt like he was taking a dig at Andor lol.
i saw star wars in the theater when it was released when i was 8 years old. i've always known star wars was a social and political commentary.
IN ABSOLUTELY 100% AGREEMENT...THE VERY BEST WRITING OF ANY STAR WARS PRODUCTION EVER !!!
Heretical as it may sound Andor kinda made me wish Luke and Obi-Wan didn't exist and the Rebellion was conducted purely by people like Luthen, Mothma and Saw. Just groups of idealistic politicians, pragmatic strategists and gritty fighters. I want the Andor version of the original trilogy.
You know... that's an interesting WHAT IF style video I wonder if anyone would make in the future unless it hasn't already been made. I'd be willing to do that around the time when S2 comes out.
Andor writers were fucking phenomenal
The show embodies the moniker "the path to Hell is paved with good intentions."
Excellent analysis. Andor is the only Star Wars content I have been able to watch since "The Last Jedi".
Watch the animated stuff man it's good!
Andor was the best Star Wars since the original trilogy. I cant believe people thought it was boring. Incredible. I have wstched 20 times
20 times?! My man I love that!
@filmobsessednerd yeah I just kept playing it over and over again. Plus I wanted to show Disney it had value. It upset me that other people were not watching it
This show definitely had great writing and great, nuanced actors with relatable motivations. The coldness of the world, the seeming powerlessness of the characters, it has an amazing atmosphere. This is only possible when people actually understand the source materials and the intentions and don't try to make it “their own”. It fits into the greater story seamlessly.
Technically speaking they did make it "their own". Lots of the characters in this show are new and to the making of the writers. Same with some of the elements of the story.
I just quoted this scene to someone a few days ago. Has such a huge impact… “that’s the plan”
Cool!
I’ve done that too. Quoted this scene…. “…. That’s the plan”
We need Andor in theaters.
I would kill to see this show in a theater setting with that music blasting in my face
Everything about Andor is perfection, in my opinion. The art direction, the cinematography, the use of actual location shooting instead of just sets and "The Volume", the musical scoring, the writing, and finally the casting.
Andor is why the rest of current crop of Star Wars shows (and even the sequels) fall absolutely flat for me. Gilroy understood the assignment, there is actually a well crafted message to Andor, and he masterfully wove the story beats into the slow and methodical pace of the first third of season one. I had a few of my friends give up initially after the first two episodes and I told them to watch through the end of the third episode and if they weren't hooked they should drop it.
Every single one of them completed the first season, as I explained to them the slow pace at the beginning was a deliberate choice and not bad writing or acting. One of the aspects of the story for Andor that goes very unappreciated is the fact that you don't have to know ANYTHING about Star Wars to understand Andor, it isn't predicated on prior knowledge to understand the plot, whereas quite the opposite is true for Ahsoka, for that show I had to give a synopsis of both The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels just to get a few people through the show.
I am extremely excited about Season Two of Andor, I know this would be the height of fan service, but I would love it if by the end we get to see Cassian find K2SO and hear Alan Tudyk's voice again.
Good point about not needing to know anything about Star Wars to watch it (even though it would help). I enjoyed Ahsoka Season 1 but I definitely see your point on that.
This show is a gesamptkunstwerk. From the writing, the acting, the costume designs (Mothma’s looks could be worn today and nobody would bat an eye) and even the music. I hope everyone involved in making this are involved with S2 (and nobody more…)
Interesting work lol. Also yes, everyone is coming back including the composer who made I think one of the best musical scores in history, Star Wars or not. I have that on my Spotify it's so good.
thank you for saying it. this show is so quality I can't even believe it's star wars. it's so much more than just a good disney / star wars show... it's lowkey a masterpiece and in the running for best television seasons of all time
Andor is much more important to disney in the sense that it shows them how they can tell adult stories and underlying themes that don't condescend the audience, while also telling stories aimed towards family and kids in particular in the form of Kenobi. It's interesting because Andor is the closest Star Wars has ever come to being Star Trek in asking deep philosophical questions. Andor is important in that it's showing you the function of the empire; in many respects the order 66 coup was a silent transition - the war went on above the skies of coruscant, the outer rim planets continued to be lawless as we see in the mandalorian, but for corsucant life goes on and even on ferrix, life continues apace for Ferrix so long as - and this is key - life continues unabated, and undisturbed. Everyone on Ferrix was content to continue to contribute to the empire, everyone on corsucant was content to continue to ignore the political machine so long as their lives were unaffected, and Luthen is important as an antaognist because he's doing the one thing that's crucial to igniting rebellion; the importance of survival and self interest should never be ignored.
It's with perhaps some degree of prescience that he moves cassian into place for him to see how oppressive the empire truly is; how insiduous the plans of the empire and by extension the sith are in opressing dissenting voices within the regime; for cassian being imprisoned may well have been a catalyst, but it I maintain that it was the death of maarva: ruclips.net/video/TaKrm5txGCQ/видео.html that galvanised him and resolved him in the cause. Maarva's speech is just as important as this monlogue by Skaarsgard: ruclips.net/video/-3RCme2zZRY/видео.html - in fact I would argue that these two scenes are probably the most important purely because it shows a man describing the moment the act of rebellion was set in motion, with Maarva's eulogy being a signal fire into momentum.
Andor is...Poetry. It's showing the movement and poetry in moving will into motion, and motion into violence for a cause; demonstrating that sometimes...Most of the time an act of rebellion for a noble cause will not, often cannot be peaceful. As a young Briton that grew up as a soldier's son, I never saw that when it came to ireland - in my 40's I see that now. I see it in my own country, those same echoes.
Finally, I leave you with my third favourite moment: ruclips.net/video/-asb8zTiuZ4/видео.html
Great breakdown I appreciate it!
For me, the best moment in the series is the "One Way Out" speech. "You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us." This is him saying he'd rather be helped into the water and drown, knowing he can't swim, than stay here. And to please help him jump. He's making this powerful speech knowing it'll likely be his end. and yet he does it in a way that's only encouraging. It is an almost Tolkienian view on sacrifice. evil is self defeatings as long as good men stand and do as they should
Glad you brought that up because one day relatively soon I am going to do a breakdown of the character Kino Loy. He has now become one of my all time favorite Star Wars characters.
@@filmobsessednerd looking forward to it. He's one of the best characters of Disney Star wars... Then again, isn't it fully how all the best characters are from one show?
@@shadeblackwolf1508 how do you mean?
@@filmobsessednerd How many well written characters have we got since Disney bought star wars, outside of this show?
I'll grant S1+2 Mando, but it's... not been great outside of this one very special show
@@shadeblackwolf1508 we've gotten plenty of well written characters in my opinion
It‘s my favorite Star Wars work hands down. Andor is beautifully dark, realistic, nuanced and it‘s political scenes are even better then the deleted ones of ep 2&3. While Luthen is right to be credited to tipping the scale, I admire Mon Mothma even more. She has been hiding in plain sight for over a decade and has been instrumental in the fight for democracy since long before the Empire was founded. While not the only ones, Mon Mothma and Luthen perfectly represent the two broad factions of a rebellion. Episode 7 of Andor was in general my favorite, so much happened, so much outstanding dialogue, absolutely cannot wait for Season 2!
Ya Mon more than anyone maybe had a tougher job because she was more interconnected with the Empire and people who work with them than even a character like Luthen.
Every 6 months or so I completely lock in on andor and watch endless videos like this
Great video
Hey thank you I really appreciate it! Glad I could be added to that list, and I plan to do another one very soon so stay tuned for that.
2:35 I never noticed this in the live shots, but the still highlights it perfectly; Both sides have someone watching them on literal opposite ends of the shot. And while only one can hear the conversation, both can only watch, wait, and act accordingly. Waiting to see where these two will move to next and react.
Great way to look at it I never thought about it that way or noticed it!
As amazing as this scene is and the level of writing…it’s Luthen’s monologue about what’s he’s given to the cause gave me goosebumps. His acting and the words spoken…masterclass.
From a singular character moment, I absolutely agree that's the best scene in the show!
One of my favorite episodes of Rebels is when the crew of the Ghost are tasked with getting Mon Mothma out of Coruscant after she names Palpatine traitor to the Empire on the Senate floor. I am really hopeful we get to see that speech in the next season. Genevieve voiced her in Rebels as well.
Mon sitting in her literal ivory tower with her chandelier shaped like a sun above her, wearing all true white(not ISB white)like only very few characters(Ahsoka, Leia)are allowed to wear and contrasting that with Luthen in the bowels of Coruscant wearing all black and speaking of a sunrise he knows he'll never see was such a phenomenally written scene. She is not willing to compromise what she believes in for her goal and ultimately she sees the Empire destroyed without personally having had to compromise that.
Luthen lost sight of what it meant and in the end he will become the same thing he was trying to destroy just like Saw. When Saw has the moral high ground over you, you should know you're in the wrong lol.
Awesome breakdown! And also thank you for mentioning the episode in Rebels when Mon gets out for good and escapes with the crew. I do not think that scene will be shown but like you said we might get the speech portion and then when she’s about to escape it’ll cut to black and the next time we see her is on like Yavin 4 for example.
As I always say: Andor IS Star Wars. It’s fantastic. Best written characters, best scene design, best way of filming those scenes… I love Andor as I love the original movies (witch I saw as a little child in Theater) because it put things in perspective. It’s a masterpiece
Can't deny that, I feel anyone who says Andor isn't Star Wars has no self awareness to what this franchise actually is
Andor is the best Star Wars, with Empire Strikes Back and then A New Hope the closest 2. Everything else is far behind. Andor is a labor of love, tended to with incredibly high-level intellect, creativity, and judgement.
What about Rogue One?
@@carlosm.8058 - I admit missing Rogue One. It is up there with these. But, that's it... no more misses😂
Great insight. It recalls to mind Leia talking to Tarkin in A New Hope when she says the more the Empire tightens its grip, the more star systems will slip through its fingers.
Andor is the application and extension of George's ideas in the hands of much better writers.
But on the other hand, George would've never written this and probably would require a lot of convincing to greenlight Andor. In every interview where he talks about the politics and his vision for Star Wars was an unambiguous good vs evil conflict. One of the major themes for the evil side on this show was the banality of evil, where pawns of the Empire were doing seemingly righteous things, but in a wider context are accomplishing the needs of the evil system. This is a grey area that Lucas never touched in both his art and his interviews.
Mon Mothma is such a compelling character, who is excellently portrayed by the uber talented Genevieve O'Reilly. I would love to see more, how this Senator deceived and evaded a Sith Lord to ignite a Rebellion. Andor had great actors delivering solid dialogue. Plus the visuals were on point. This show delivered, it showed the viewer what it would be like to live in a galaxy, far, far away and a long time ago.
We might see that side of her in S2 if we are lucky
Exceptional Commentary. I agree 100%. --- Star Wars is the most extraordinary story ever told. Andor is the best iteration since A New Hope.
Thank you for the kind words!
Totally agree with you on that scene. Luthan is one of the best characters of Star Wars, knowing full well that he risked everything for the rebellion as he told their spy. And watching Andor gave us the beginning of the rebellion. Truly something to be admired after Rogue One. Especially seeing how Cassian joined the Rebels in the first place. The show was like a behind the scenes in what went on in the background before the main storyline. The reasons behind the Wars
Outside of the original trilogy, morality is examined quite effectively in Star Wars films. Rogue One was a great example. Lives had to be expended sometimes sadly in the name of the greater cause. Andor shooting an informant in a back alley to protect the information he was given from that informant tell us what horrible things have to be done for victory over tyranny.
It's a great exploration of morality I agree
I feel sorry for people that couldn't get into this show or thought it was boring .... Its one of the greater shows ever written for television.
Just listened to this scene the first time in english (i normaly watch in german).
THE DIFFERENCE IS HUGE
The german sync has way les emotions in the voice. In the english version u can hear the fear, the shiver in Mons voice.
Everyone that has not listened to that in English should.
Now i have to rewatch the whole series in english.
Never thought about that but ya in English it's pretty damn good
THE BEST thing Disney has done as a Star Wars Disney+ series along with the Rouge One film. Skarsgaard and O’Reilly are incredible in any of the scenes they are in but the hidden secret dialogue that takes place when they are together is so subtle that I can hardly wait for the continuation of this story line.
I do hope we see those two on screen together for Season 2 more for sure
This is what happens when you let lose a top screen writer in Disney Star Wars amazing what top class writing does.
Andor is AMAZING! One thing I LOVE about it is that there are NO cameos from other films/shows in the franchise. I'm tired of shows doing this when it's often superfluous. If the cameo makes sense within the storytelling, that's one thing, but lots of shows do it just to get "buzz".
Sometimes yes, the fan service can come in just for the sake of it being there and so with this show, you don’t quite need that much but next season could offer us something like that a little bit with a character like Krennic coming back in
Yes, this is my favorite scene in all of Star Wars. It’s simply amazing.
Andor is a piece of art. I'm so mad that they decided to wrap up the rest of the story in a single season. There needs to be 5.
As much as I would love 5 seasons I think you have to know how much is too much versus making it contained just enough
We need a Luthen now. The Emperor is about to take control in just a couple of months.
you can be cassian.
The show is captivating. You legit forget it's a star wars show.
Andor is head and shoulders above the original trilogy.