ALL ENCOMPASSING STAR WARS THREAD

[EVA]

Watching the first two episodes of season two of ANDOR has just reaffirmed my belief that I really should’ve rewatched the first season beforehand.  SO MANY characters and relationships to remember, and the show is NOT holding your hand.

[Eivion]

I didn't have too much trouble remembering the faces and relationships, just the names. 

[J.H.]

Rewatching select episodes of The Mandalorian with Sandra Violet. She has developed an intense dislike of Paz Viszla for some reason. However, like her Daddy, she cheers when The Armorer kicks ass in "The Pirate".

I'd be all for an anthology series, like "Tales of Mandalore" with every episode being framed by The Armorer telling stories to foundlings.

James

Edited April 29 by J.H.

[Eivion]

Thought the second arc for Andor was better than the first and had a nice thematic connection in terms of how the Rebel groups operate so differently. Also ended on a much more cathartic note.

[RandomAct]

Episode 8 of Andor was every bit as powerful as the prison stuff from season 1, if not moreso. I knew what was coming, but it didn't make it any less gripping.

Episode 9 was also great, and Mon Mothma's speech REALLY hits home.

[Eivion]

Those last two episodes might have been my favorites in the series so far. Definitely for this season at least.

[Craig H]

Holy shit. Those last two episodes man...Fuck, this is the best Star Wars has ever been and kinda what I've been dying to see for so long. Mando is really fun and all and it does pull back the curtain on the ineptitudes of the New Republic which I also wanted to see, but Andor is like watching a documentary about how it really all came crashing down. And of course, everything comes crashing down because fucking bootlickers who know in their brains and in their hearts what is the right thing to do don't do it and choose to stick with a regime and a leader that they should know would dispose of them at any given second.

Huh, weird, now where have I seen that before.

[Log]

It’s almost obscene how much better Andor is than pretty much any other Star Wars thing. 

[RandomAct]

I still can't believe how good this show ended up being, because I couldn't think of a character that I'd be less excited to see a show about when it was announced.

[Craig H]

Same here. Like, Casian Andor? Really? Why do we need a series just for him. And ultimately the series is more about what happens between Palpatine declaring himself emperor. Casian doesn't even need to be there, but it doesn't hurt that he's there.

[Eivion]

Cassian is fine, but its more the exploration of citizens, politics, and events that led to the rebellion in full force that makes it work. Its the stuff Lucas could never quite do right. Its fantastic though I still prefer my classic Star Wars stories. I do like Andor being so different from the rest as it helps it stand out more.

Edited May 11 by Eivion

[Craig H]

I’m glad Andor continues the long tradition of showing that the leadership of the Rebel Alliance/New Republic are dumb as fuck and it’s a fucking miracle that they were able to overcome the Empire/First Order. Although I suppose you could chalk that up to an equal amount of hubris and stupidity on the part of the Empire and First Order.

[Raziel]

The most depressing thing about Andor/Rogue One is that that hard work by Cassian and crew to basically set the table for the Rebellion and end of the Empire was pissed away by the New Republic within months.

 

Every good project makes me hate the Sequel Trilogy even more.

[RandomAct]

For all the hate that "Disney Star Wars" gets from the worst parts of the fandom, they produced probably the best thing in the entire franchise with Andor. It completely recontexualizes A New Hope and just turns Rogue One into a crushing gut punch. Luthen's story ended on an extremely appropriate note, with no extravagent scene or dramatic final moment. He lived in the shadows getting no credit, and died the same way.

 

I really hope season 2 gets the steelbook treatment like season 1 did.

[Craig H]

The other striking thing was that the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance council blew off Cassian’s warning that the Empire was building a super weapon and almost begrudgingly accepted that maybe something was happening and then they do the exact same thing to Leia when she tried warning the New Republic about the rise of the First Order and what they were up to.

So many pointless and needless sacrifices and deaths from the Alliance/Republic. Like, wtf do you think they need that much kyber for? A giant lightsaber?

They are just frustratingly dumb to the point where I hate they’re written that way because it makes me feel like they got what they deserved which is definitely not the message they’re trying to send with those movies and tv shows.

Can we please just start writing the leadership of the good guys in a way that they suffer setbacks or deaths or tragedies because fighting against a machine the size of the Empire and First Order is incredibly hard and not because they’re just so fucking naive and stupid.

[Craig H]

But yeah, like RandomAct said, these two seasons were just beautiful and peak Star Wars. I really need to give Rogue One a rewatch tonight or tomorrow.

[Craig H]

And K-2SO still rules.

[RandomAct]

Idk why I was so invested in this, but I was very happy to see that B2 was happy and loved. The only droid with depression and an existential crisis. I was going to be so upset if they all just forgot about him.

[Eivion]

Loved how the finale played out and led straight into Rogue One which I watched last night. It hits even harder after Andor.

As for the Alliance's stupidity you have to remember a weapon like the Death Star is such a ridiculous thing in theory its hard to buy into without strong evidence. The Empire regularly ran campaigns to entrap rebel groups like they did on Ghorman. Beyond that the Rebel leadership had a lot of politicians who weren't used to actual fighting or intelligence wars. Much of the situations suck but do make sense pre sequel trilogy. Its the sequel trilogy that went too far in making the Republic complete utter morons.

[Craig H]

I don't buy that. They had a mountain of evidence that the Empire was acquiring massive amounts of exotic materials that would only be used for energy and weaponry and both. You don't go through the hassle they did on Ghorman to just acquire another power source. You don't stockpile and acquire all of the kyber for nothing. They also had more than one source saying the empire was building a super weapon. They didn't know it was a planet killer, but there was too much evidence and too many voices pointing towards the Empire plotting something very cataclysmic. I would accept the Alliance taking everything at face value and then being skeptical of what the weapon is and if it would even work. Hell, I just watched Rogue One and even Tarkin, the Emperor, and others were skeptical if such a weapon could actually work until they test fired it using only one reactor. I think the wording used was something along the lines of that they needed proof of concept and weren't at the stage of sending a message just yet.

It took Jedha and a significant portion of the planet being destroyed for the leadership of the Alliance to say, oh, ok, yeah, they're making a super weapon. Like, no shit. What else were they doing? Manufacturing a shit ton of lightsabers and creating a power source for the galaxy and not for their own nefarious purposes?

And that stupidity continued to trickle on down even after the second Death Star and the Emperor were killed. Despite the Empire having a large presence throughout the galaxy, they decided to disarm or rather have a reduction in arms because they thought their work was done. As dumb as JJ's entries into canon were, something like Starkiller Base isn't created in secret and the formation of the First Order doesn't happen in secret. I mean, how are you going to disregard what Leia, a general, is saying to you? Even if some of the dumber parts of the sequel trilogy don't happen, leadership would have to know just how metastasized the Empire was throughout the galaxy, Thrawn was lurking out in exile, and the wealthy were selling weaponry to both the Republic and someone else. Who would they think that someone else was. PRIMARY MON MOTHMA!

If anything, the First Order did the entire galaxy a favor by wiping out the seat of the Republic and a bunch of other planets.

Sorry, me disagreeing turned into a long rant about some of the idiocy of the writing for Star Wars.

[Eivion]

4 hours ago, Craig H said:

They had a mountain of evidence that the Empire was acquiring massive amounts of exotic materials that would only be used for energy and weaponry and both. You don't go through the hassle they did on Ghorman to just acquire another power source. You don't stockpile and acquire all of the kyber for nothing.

The mountain of evidence were disconnected things happening over the course of a decade and involved multiple rebel groups that were not fully aligned until the couple of years in Andor. No one even knew why Ghorman was screwed over the way it was until a year later with Jung's revelation to Luthen. The kyber mining on Jedha was seemingly the last move.

4 hours ago, Craig H said:

And that stupidity continued to trickle on down even after the second Death Star and the Emperor were killed. Despite the Empire having a large presence throughout the galaxy, they decided to disarm or rather have a reduction in arms because they thought their work was done. As dumb as JJ's entries into canon were, something like Starkiller Base isn't created in secret and the formation of the First Order doesn't happen in secret. I mean, how are you going to disregard what Leia, a general, is saying to you? Even if some of the dumber parts of the sequel trilogy don't happen, leadership would have to know just how metastasized the Empire was throughout the galaxy, Thrawn was lurking out in exile, and the wealthy were selling weaponry to both the Republic and someone else. Who would they think that someone else was. PRIMARY MON MOTHMA!

If anything, the First Order did the entire galaxy a favor by wiping out the seat of the Republic and a bunch of other planets.

Sorry, me disagreeing turned into a long rant about some of the idiocy of the writing for Star Wars.

Eh, none of this was stuff I was defending. This was purely a stupidity created by JJ with the sequel trilogies because he couldn't come up with an enemy beyond an even dumber yet somehow more powerful evil empire. In turn it forced them to make the New Republic look like even bigger morons &/or cowards than before. I find it frustrating as well despite my lack of rant. While I enjoyed parts of the sequel trilogy its something I very much feel they should have just decanonized to make SW easier to write in the future. Now its an albatross that they will always have to deal with.

Edited May 15 by Eivion

[Raziel]

At this point I'm just ignoring everything taking place past Mandolorian.  Yeah, that show also has evidence of the New Republic being beyond incompetent, but it doesn't have all the egregious shit the trilogy has.  If your writing is so bad it makes us pine for the Vong, you probably need a way out.  At least the New Republic in the Legends books died of their own hubris to a juggernaut they underestimated  because they had their own Jedi Order and the remains needed the what was left of the Empire to bail the galaxy out.

 

It really is hitting a point where the best SW stuff has little to no Jedi. 

[EVA]

Serious proposal: Disney should let Tony Gilroy remake ROGUE ONE. Like, fully make it the way he wants, not just Frankensteining his ideas into Gareth Edwards’ finished movie.

I NEED to see that version.

Edited May 17 by EVA

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, EVA said:

Serious proposal: Disney should let Tony Gilroy remake ROGUE ONE. Like, fully make it the way he wants, not just Frankensteining his ideas into Gareth Edwards’ finished movie.

I NEED to see that version.

Not sure there is much more Gilroy could do with it as Rogue One is more Jyn's story that ended up serving well as an end to Cassian's as well after the work Gilroy did with Andor. Honestly Rogue One itself probably would have worked better as a mini-series than a movie. Still pretty sure Gilroy is done with Star Wars now so its likely a moot point.

[EVA]

I just don’t think the first two-thirds of RO are good at all. You can tell it’s crudely stitched together from two different ideas of what the story is about. I’d just be delighted to see Gilroy and his team get a crack at treating the whole movie with the same precision that they handled ANDOR with.

I am going to invest in an army of obnoxious GilroyVerse bots to astroturf this into reality.