Star Wars Megathread

[crazy canuck]

The whole "what happened on level 2?" mystery is amazingly handled. Man, this show is so great.

My only complaint is that the "we release someone and put him back on a different level" seems very obviously flawed. It's not something that's going to stay secret, even if they make up new charges that would keep someone there. Might as well keep them where they are and invent new charges. We learned in the last episode that everyone already on the inside had their sentences extended. I mean sure, the Empire is generally shown as uncaring and callous and they believe that they have the perfect slave camp figured out, and dsiregard that the main motivator these people have is not fear of punishment but hope to get back out, but it still seems off.

Of course this could have been a recent change/attempt to extend prisoners' stay at the facility (what with the recent clamp down by the Empire) - but it's implied that with a stronger grip and extension of sentences these facilities are basically overflowing with new arrivals.

They said expressly in the episode that this was a recent change, it's all quite neatly tied together in the speech in the Senate where the lights start going out.

Also think about the scene in which and/or tries to explain to everybody that the empire is not actually listening to what they're talking about. Nobody believes him. Not surprising the empire officials thought they could get away with inserting an inmate onto a new level without people talking about.

[FunkMonk]

I'm going to have to rewatch Rogue One because I honestly didn't like it when I first saw it.

But now, after Andor, I think I might change mind about that movie.

It has taken years, but we finally detected a small flaw in FM

I'll go and say that I find the first two thirds of Rogue One rather plodding. But the final act is fantastic. Still, it's by far the best Star Wars movie since the OT.

I also think that Solo is a decent action adventure film saddled by all the fanservice.

Absolutely agree with this. But I also didn't like that they jammed in Vader and a CGI Princess Leia at the very end. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Like, why add that??

And agree on Solo. I enjoyed it more than Rogue One at the time. It just didn't meet people's expectations of "Star Wars" and it had a lot of bad buzz before it released. Damn shame.

I wonder, if it were released now, would it have a better reception?

[celedhring]

Also, the actress playing Mon Mothma is simply fantastic in the role. The mix of frailty and determination is spot on. And it's the same actress they originally cast for Revenge of the Sith, and whose scenes were all cut... She hasn't had much of a career since, which makes the decision to bring her back for Rogue One/Rebels such a stroke of genius in hindsight.

[celedhring]

I'm going to have to rewatch Rogue One because I honestly didn't like it when I first saw it.

But now, after Andor, I think I might change mind about that movie.

It has taken years, but we finally detected a small flaw in FM

I'll go and say that I find the first two thirds of Rogue One rather plodding. But the final act is fantastic. Still, it's by far the best Star Wars movie since the OT.

I also think that Solo is a decent action adventure film saddled by all the fanservice.

Absolutely agree with this. But I also didn't like that they jammed in Vader and a CGI Princess Leia at the very end. It left a sour taste in my mouth. Like, why add that??

And agree on Solo. I enjoyed it more than Rogue One at the time. It just didn't meet people's expectations of "Star Wars" and it had a lot of bad buzz before it released. Damn shame.

I wonder, if it were released now, would it have a better reception?

I think they'd probably make it a Disney+ show, much in the way they turned Boba/Kenobi (originally movies) into TV shows. The problem with Solo is that it didn't have the kinda galaxy-threatening plot people expect in these kind of blockbusters, and it also ate all the blowback from The Last Jedi. But I thought once they got all the fanservice checkmarks out of the way (how  he meets Chewie, how he gets the Falcon, etc...) it was a nice little frontier story.

[Syt]

Disregarding the fan service it was a fun heist movie with a plot that could have been a Firefly episode - which makes sense because Firefly initially gave me strong Star Wars/Han Solo vibes.

[crazy canuck]

Also, the actress playing Mon Mothma is simply fantastic in the role. The mix of frailty and determination is spot on. And it's the same actress they originally cast for Revenge of the Sith, and whose scenes were all cut... She hasn't had much of a career since, which makes the decision to bring her back for Rogue One/Rebels such a stroke of genius in hindsight.

I am also impressed with the actor playing the ISB director - the twitch of revulsion just as she was turning her "witness" over to doctor was amazing.

[Syt]

There's so many good performances in this. Skarsgard switching from his insurrection persona to his arts trader persona in Ep. 4(?) was great, as was Saw's rant last episode, or Serkis's acting in this one, where his character slowly comes to realize the truth of the situation he's in, mostly told in changes in his demeanor and facial expression. It's a lot of subtlety we're not used to in this setting.

[Syt]

I think they'd probably make it a Disney+ show, much in the way they turned Boba/Kenobi (originally movies) into TV shows. The problem with Solo is that it didn't have the kinda galaxy-threatening plot people expect in these kind of blockbusters, and it also ate all the blowback from The Last Jedi. But I thought once they got all the fanservice checkmarks out of the way (how  he meets Chewie, how he gets the Falcon, etc...) it was a nice little frontier story.

It's one of those - in hindsight - galaxy brain moves. Just like hiring Temuera Morrison in 2000 to play Jango and him now being old enough to play veteran Boba Fett.

Oooh! Which reminds me of last week's discussion about actors playing multiple roles: Temuera Morrison. Duh.

[celedhring]

Also, the actress playing Mon Mothma is simply fantastic in the role. The mix of frailty and determination is spot on. And it's the same actress they originally cast for Revenge of the Sith, and whose scenes were all cut... She hasn't had much of a career since, which makes the decision to bring her back for Rogue One/Rebels such a stroke of genius in hindsight.

I am also impressed with the actor playing the ISB director - the twitch of revulsion just as she was turning her "witness" over to doctor was amazing.

She's one of those British actors with a million plays in her resumé and multiple stage acting awards. Seems like you find a dozen of those under every stone in the UK 

Her boss (Pertagaz) is also perfectly cast.

[Solmyr]

Also, the actress playing Mon Mothma is simply fantastic in the role. The mix of frailty and determination is spot on. And it's the same actress they originally cast for Revenge of the Sith, and whose scenes were all cut... She hasn't had much of a career since, which makes the decision to bring her back for Rogue One/Rebels such a stroke of genius in hindsight.

I am also impressed with the actor playing the ISB director - the twitch of revulsion just as she was turning her "witness" over to doctor was amazing.

She's one of those British actors with a million plays in her resumé and multiple stage acting awards. Seems like you find a dozen of those under every stone in the UK 

She also voiced Yennefer in Witcher 3.

[celedhring]

As expected, today's jailbreak episode was very good. Kino Loy might be Serkis' most remarkable live action character (granted, not much competition, but he was good in this, once more the show has a gift for creating memorable characters with just a few strokes). Luthen's scene with their spy was also a standout, we kinda needed an insight on his mental state and the price he's paying.

Nice to see the Empire is big on using renewables, too. 

[Syt]

Yeah, the final scene was NOT what I expected, but I liked it a lot. I've seen it remarked that there's too few aliens in Andor, but with this glimpse of the underbelly of Coruscant we see that there's still plenty, just more out of sight and away from "polite company".

Loved the command center. Flashbacks to similar control centers in Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games.

[Syt]

Two more things: in hindsight the prisoners could have staged a break at any point. They just needed to be put into a truly hopeless situation to cause them to snap. As long as they had hope they were kept in line.

Secondly, I'm glad that the nouveau riche gaining legitimacy by marrying into old, prestigious families in financial troubles is alive and well in the Star Wars universe.

[Syt]

Also, two fun little details.

In Rogue One, K2 tells Cassian to climb.
In the heist episode, Nemik tells Cassian to climb (with the ship).
In this episode ... they climb.

I feel there's a pattern, somehow.

In the heist episode, Nemik said he couldn't sleep the night before, while Cassian slept quite well. This week, Cassian isn't able to sleep before their breakout attempt.

[Eddie Teach]

the animated shows.

Funny you should mention it - Tales of the Jedi is out on Disney+.

It's ... ok? A bit of a mixed bag, really. Mostly filling in some gaps for Dooku's and Ahsoka's stories.

It started off with my least favorite episode, but I've never been much for overly romanticized "living in spiritual harmony with nature" tropes. I liked the Dooku episodes, though the first two were kinda the same story twice. The Ahsoka flashback was pure nostalgia (and a nice - voiceless - cameo) and it was a bit awkward to see her and Anakin's season 1 personas and bickering again. Final episode was all right (reiterating a bit on a theme from Kenobi , but it had an absolutely awesome soundtrack during its climax. Episodes are between 13 and 19 minutes, so it's a quick watch at least.

It was bittersweet to see Yoda in some scenes, and I was worried they'd give him dialogue - thankfully they didn't. It would be really weird without Tom Kane's excellent performance.

Not much to say except that it's another great episode. And we finally learn of Val's family. And Syril is starting to give off serious serial killer vibes.

Btw, saw a neat comment about last week's episode re: the prison reminiscent of THX-1138.

There's 7 persons at 7 tables in 7 rooms on 7 levels in 7 complexes in the prison. The budget for THX-1138? $777,777

Is that 7 persons, total, or 7 ^ 5?