#Rogue Rebels Podcast
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roguerebels · 7 months ago
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Rogue Rebels Podcast 194!
The Bad Batch : Into the Breach!
Secret plans! Toy layouts! Underestimated! Omega cannot be stopped!
Check out the FULL podcast for more wherever you listen!
#StarWars #StarWarsPodcast #disneyplus #IntotheBreach #Omega #Tantiss
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imgonnagetkilledbynutstink · 6 months ago
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Hey podcast listening ppl I need help please!
One of my summer resolutions is to get back into listening to more fiction podcasts that I haven't heard yet. Under the line will be a complete list of podcasts I have listened to or am currently listening to (I will specify) and I'm gonna color code the names based off how much I liked them and I'd love it if y'all could suggest shows based off of that, thank you :)
Green = favorite
Orange = enjoyed
Blue = meh
Red = bad
Juno Steel (still listening)
The Magnus Archives
The Magnus Protocol (still listening)
ars PARADOXICA
The Bright Sessions
The Orphans
Camp Here And There
RADIO: Outcast (still listening)
EOS 10
Archive 81
CARAVAN
Brimstone Valley Mall
Look Up
The Second Citadel (haven't finished but gave up)
The Strange Case Of Starship Iris
The Bridge
StarTripper!!
Wooden Overcoats
Red Valley (still listening)
The Sheridan Tapes (also gave up)
Midnight Burger (still listening)
Dreamboy
Malevolent (still listening)
Bridgewater
Rebel Robin: Surviving Hawkins
Victoriocity (still listening)
Zero Hours
The Riddler: Secrets in The Dark
Hot White Heist
Rogues! The Podcast (still listening)
Desert Skies
Mount Olympus University
The Adventures Of Sir Rodney The Root
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goingroguepod · 3 months ago
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(fun fact the last episode of Going Rogue originally included a section about EK Johnston's book Ahsoka and how it successfully made agricultural degradation as a result of imperial occupation into a compelling plot device and it ended up being cut for time but I am glad to have sparked joy in her life)
words cannot express how obsessed I am with the Keira Knightley/Jack Davenport audio commentary on the first Pirates of the Caribbean film
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ad15124 · 1 year ago
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My friend shared this with me when i started my starwars journey
Now i am sharing this with you 🥹
Pass it on
Hope it helps
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StarWars Movie/Series Order to watch in for aalu
.
• Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith - MOVIE
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Series
• Star Wars: Rebels - Series
• Star Wars: Rouge one - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Solo - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker - MOVIE
• Star Wars: Mandalorian - Series
• Star Wars: Bad Batch - Series
• Star Wars: Book of Boba Fett - Series
• Star Wars: Kenobi - Series
• Star Wars: Andor - Series
• Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - Series
• Star Wars: Mandalorian S3 - Series
• Star Wars: Ahsoka - Series
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew - Series
here's what I have done:
classic star wars trilogy at a young age
being dragged to a single sequel movie at the cinema and going “why”
being dragged to another one of those and going “why x2”
oh no! I have forgotten! the original trilogy was awesomeee (rewatching the classic trilogy as a teen (aka Leia is so cool Leia is so cool Leia is so cool))
watching the prequel trilogy and falling in love (do not judge do not judge do not judge. actually, judge if you must I'm trying to abandon shame)
watching the first and second season of the mandalorian
getting OBSESSED
watching half of rogue one thinking it was solo
actually watching solo
discovering the ship dinluke and rbing art
damn near breaking a wall down when season 3 of the mandalorian comes out and I don't have Disney plus
discovering the magic of piracy (and feeling completely justified cause Disney)
binge watching mandalorian season 3 throughout 12th exams like an idiot
listening to a single star wars podcast
watching obi wan
this was very helpful tho I wish I'd done this
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lost-in-derry · 8 months ago
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Got tagged by @heart-of-a-rebel16 and @mystical-salamander !
Last song/podcast: The Magnus Archives episode 8: Burned Out
Currently watching: Star Wars Rebels (I’m still on season 1, damn you finals week)
Three ships: Kalluzeb (my beloved), Foxiyo, Entrapdak
Favorite color: it changes every week but right now it’s phthalo green
Currently consuming: I’m about to make myself some chocolate chip cookies
First ship: this is bizarre (I was like 7), but Rogue and Quicksilver from X Men Evolution
Place of birth: Hawaii
Current location: kitchen
Relationship status: single and that’s how I like it
Last movie: Dune Part 2
Currently working on: chapters 3 and 4 of I Know You Can’t Hear Me (But Baby I Need You To Save Me Tonight), Kallus’ Backstory (still need a title), Requiem of Ascension, and a new WIP I don’t have a name for yet! ;}
No pressure tagging: @seth-shitposts @mayawakening @foxxxtransformer123 @nicki0kaye @loth-creatures @martianbugsbunny @candiedstardust @sunatsubu and anyone else who wants to play!
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mostthingskenobi · 1 year ago
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BETH REVIS IS GOING TO BE A GUEST ON MOST THINGS KENOBI!!
I'm thrilled to announce our upcoming guest on the Most Things Kenobi podcast!! New York Times best selling author Beth Revis joined me for a chat the other day and gave me an inside view of what it's like to write for Star Wars 💜
She's known for writing Rebel Rising, The Princess and the Scoundrel, as well as short stories for the From a Certain Point of View collections. She's the author of Museum of Magic, House of Hex, and the Across the Universe series (just to name a few).
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I can’t wait to share this interview with you!! We talked about really interesting stuff: the process of writing a Star Wars novel, getting to read the Rogue One script before almost anyone else, witch hunting in Germany, and so much more 💜
I'd like to thank @bethrevis once again for coming on the show. Everyone, check out her new book Night of the Witch! It has romance, fascinating history, intrigue and, of course, witches -- the perfect cozy spooky season read 🎃🍁🧙‍♀️ It releases October 3 but you can pre order it now.
Our interview with Beth will be out in the next few weeks. Keep an eye on our social media for exact dates.
Fire effects provided by vecteezy.
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allgirlsareprincesses · 2 months ago
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Such a fun episode to record! Listen for:
👨‍🦯 Personal disability experiences
🚫 The problem with using disability as metaphor
👓 Blind characters in Star Wars: Kanan, Chirrut, and more!
🌘 Blindness in mythology
📚 LOTS of stuff for Legends/old Expanded Universe fans!
Transcript available as well!
Blindness as Disability in Star Wars
Join our hosts Marie-Claire Gould and @allgirlsareprincesses and special guest for this episode Ryan Looney (https://x.com/RyanLooney8) to discuss Blindness as Disability in Star Wars discussing both how it is used as metaphor from a myth and symbolic perspective and how lived experience compares.
youtube
LinkTree:
https://linktr.ee/wtforcehttps://pic.x.com/fdp8lpdc26
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22drunkb · 2 years ago
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in which I am forcibly reminded that when I’m really invested in something, I inevitably have to complain about the reviews:
this is my own fault for not watching Andor in real time when I could have just talked to people, but obviously I feel the need for some kind of way to process beyond the confines of my own head after each episode. and since the Age of Recaps ended years ago, and there are few options: this basically means the Vulture recaps (and one podcast I found, which is sometimes good, but sometimes very annoying). and the person doing those recaps? is......not good at it. I speak as someone who used to do that job too. they did not deserve to cover this show, lol. it is some comfort that the commenters were evidently also dissatisfied, since it would be truly unhinged for me to comment now, weeks later. but this is what blogs are for, baybee!
so. the connective throughline for all the subplots of episode 10 (One Way Out), which said recapper claimed did not exist, is sacrifice for the cause and falling short of realizing it for oneself even as one makes its outcomes possible for others. (which! let us recall! was the entire gorgeous point of Rogue One! that final scene with the Vader rampage was never fanservice Vader porn, it was the relay race of nameless Rebels dying to pass the files to the next man, and anyone who says otherwise is telling on themselves!) more specifically: dying in some way (including killing a part of yourself) to bring the future into being. this is made explicit verbally with Luthen, and visually with Kino. like, it is not some hidden grace note. they want the viewer to get it.
Luthen has his “burn my decency” speech. Mon Mothma is, despite her deep revulsion, considering a "traditional" marriage for her daughter. no less than three people who kick off specific, essential stages of the prison break don’t make it to the next: the man who started the fake argument, the man Cassian had been plotting with for a long time who was the first to start climbing, and Kino. Kino standing at the edge of the prison, helplessly saying “I can’t swim,” is staring directly into his own version of the sunrise Luthen will never see. not everyone who can bring down this world can survive in the next, and those wanting to live in the next world are pulled, sometimes inexorably, to stick with the old. you know: revolutionary struggle.
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ier-6d · 5 months ago
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This time it's just Shamila and Jasmine, and that's not all that's different about this episode. Here we discuss a lesser known work by Nella Larsen, and the recent film adaptation starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson. Settle down with a nice drink and some jazz music as we discuss all the various ways the characters couldn't live authentically, how this story reminds us of modern day thrillers, and the less tragic endings we can imagine for the two protagonists. Content Warning: The following podcast, along with the usual swearing, also contains references to racism, murder, and suicide. 
Point of intersection found: This is a Degree 5. Forest Whitaker was a producer for Passing and played Saw Gerrera in Rogue One, Rebels, and Andor.
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the-lark-ascending69 · 8 months ago
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Listening to ep 2, a few more takeaways
Robin being so angry on behalf of Mary Shelley because Frankenstein isn't included in the curriculum just because it was written by a woman. She clearly relates to the monster, too. She gets adorably rambly in this segment.
She wants her teacher to "go rogue" and fight the board of education. She hates the system and wants to go against it (ronance be soulmates fr fr)
She has no friends :(
When her teacher calls her out for "working within the system" by "camouflaging" despite insisting that he "fights the system", she tells him she's frankenstein's monster in that scenario, that there's no system that serves her and all that's left of her is to flee into the arctic and tbh mood
She's scared of rebelling for real :'(
She calls her parents "domesticated hippies"
She calls herself "an easy kid"
Her parents took away her bike after Will and Barb went missing
She claims she's not interested in dating, in part because she doesn't want someone to "tie her to Hawkins forever"
She feels like she and Barb diverged when she started to hang out with Nancy, and that Barb chose Nancy. But the main reason she cites for their departure is that she felt she didn't fit in with Barb anymore, because Barb wanted to be an overachiever, and Robin wanted to "dream of something more".
He tells her that if she can name 3 people she'd go to Europe with, he'll help her talk to her parents about her plan. I wonder if these "3 people" will be important, if they're characters from the book, if they'll be mentioned in the podcast or if it refers to characters from the show. If it's the latter, one of these people is certainly Steve. Another could possibly be Nancy, because those are the two only friends Robin has by the end of season 4. Maybe this little bit is refering to 3 important people in Robin's life that the writers had planned for her character, and the third character will probably be her future girlfriend from season 5.
At the end of the episode Nancy shows up, though she's played by Maya Hawke doing a Nancy impression and it sounds quite funny lmao. Robin acts annoyed when Nancy shows up, and then sounds bashful when Nancy thanks her for leaving so she can speak with the teacher alone (I just thought that was very ronance of her). Nancy also knows who Robin is at this point. Then Robin just stays outside listening to them lmao. Nancy is just talking about the whole deal with Will and Barb, so Robin, Nancy and Barb all go have free therapy with the same teacher lmao this guy just knows all the details about their little lesbian polycule.
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kudosmyhero · 9 months ago
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TMNT: Utrom Empire (IDW) #2
Read Date: May 31, 2023 Cover Date: February 2014 ● Writer: Paul Allor ● Art: Andy Kuhn ● Colorist: Bill Crabtree ● Letterer: Shawn Lee ● Editor: Bobby Curnow ●
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**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers
Reactions As I Read: ● am I actually going to feel bad for Utroms? ● Baxter is a bastard ● Fugitoid ftw!
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● Fugitoid built in a self-destruct on the Technodrome. and this book predates Rogue One ^_^ (that is the movie where they retroed the weak point on the Death Star, right? if not, oh well. you know what I meant.) ● 👏👏👏👏👏
Synopsis: The Fugitoid is nervous. He has just knocked out Baxter Stockman in order to prevent the genocide of the last remaining Utroms. Fugitoid isn't convinced that Stockman's plan of killing all the Utroms to eliminate Krang's motivation will work, but now he has to refill the vials with ooze and the power is still down. Fugitoid stashes Stockman in a storage closet before seeking help from Krang himself. Krang, upon seeing Fugitoid walking about freely, immediately sets Traag and Granitor on him. Fugitoid tells Krang about the danger to the Utroms in stasis and Krang hears what he has to say. Fugitoid shows Krang the stasis room and tells him that somehow the ooze has leaked out, but the generator to get it online is outside in the storm. Krang tells him that he will face the storm to repair it.
In Dimension X, many years ago, Krang's ship enters Utrominon's orbit. Upon landing, Krang is greeted by Councilor Drexl, one of the newly instated councilors. Drexl escorts Krang through the city and attempts to tell him about the political happenings but Krang stops him. He tells Drexl that he's just there to witness the execution of the rebellion leader who was recently captured, then returning to the battlefront. Drexl tells Krang that his father Emperor Quanin had intended for Krang to accompany them to the Grand Concourse where a parade and games were being held in Krang's honor, but Krang is not concerned.
Krang heads to the detention center where the rebel leader is being held. The guard asks Krang if he can take him to him but Krang tells him that he instead wants to see the deposed Ruling Council. A short while later, Krang arrives at the Grand Concourse where the parade is being held. Krang orders everyone out of the viewing booth so that he can speak with his father privately. Krang tells his father that he spoke with Councilor Lorqa, and Lorqa told him of his father's depletion of their planet's natural resources, how their homeworld is dying while Quanin builds new palaces and erects new statues. Quanin does not want to hear anything Krang has to say, and instead tells Krang that he is a newly appointed member of the Royal Council. Krang tells his father that him serving on the council is ludicrous, and he intends to return to the front line to help end the war. Quanin tells his son that the war will never end, and the ceaseless expansion of their empire will be their defining feature, their legacy. Before Quanin can say anymore he is interrupted by Drexl, he informs him that Zog has escaped his cell in the detention center.
Krang, Quanin, and Drexl take a short flight to the detention center and witness Zog tearing his way through the guards as they land. Zog, spotting Krang, makes a beeline for him and manages to take him hostage.
On Burnow Island, present day, Krang takes a look at the power breaker that has shorted out due to the hurricane. Fugitoid guides him through what he needs to do to repair it, but before Fugitoid can finish giving him the information, their connection is lost. That's because Stockman has escaped and sicced one of his flyborgs on the Fugitoid. Stockman reveals that he never trusted the Fugitoid, and had planned to frame him for the murder of the Utroms. When the Fugitoid had worked for Stockman, as Chet Allen, he had thought Stockman was amoral. Now however he sees that Stockman is undeniably evil. Fugitoid is forced to wrestle with Stockman's flyborg. Fugitoid manages to break free, grab a gun left by a guard, and shoot the flyborg. Fugitoid tells Stockman not to follow him and he leaves.
In Northampton, Donnie is impressed by what he reads in the Fugitoid's work journal. Don realizes Fugitoid is practically its creator, having designed most of it from the ground up. Don excitedly shows schematics for its self-destruct sequence to Raph and Mikey, who are sparring. Mikey, distracted by Donnie, gets a punch square in the face. Raph points out that even though they now have some idea of how to shut down the Technodrome, they have no way to get to Burnow Island to do so. Donnie tells him he will come up with a plan, eventually.
On Burnow Island, Krang is nearly finished with the power breaker repairs. Just as he connects the final two wires, a jolt of electricity throws him backwards, his mechanical body shorted out.
In the past, on Utrominon, Zog orders the Utroms to lower their weapons, or he will kill Krang. Krang, unperturbed, tells him to do it. Quanin however cannot hold out and orders his men to surrender. Zog commandeers the Utrom ship and orders the pilot to take them up. Zog tells Krang that it's not too late for the Utroms. Krang tells him that it is too late for him and the Triceratons, that they will never win their war. Zog tells Krang that they don't have to win, just outlast his father. With that, Zog drops Krang to the ground and escapes in the ship.
Krang wakes up in a hospital bed. His father tells him that they found the ship Zog commandeered, the pilot dead. Krang asks Quanin how he could have let this happen, telling him that if they had executed Zog like Krang wanted then the rebellion would have been seriously demoralized and their victory would be that much nearer. Quanin tells him that there was nothing he could have done, because Zog was threatening his very legacy, his heir, his only son. Krang tells him that the Utrom race is a whole is more important than their family, that he should have let him. Krang tells his father that he would sacrifice anything for the preservation of their race.
On Burnow Island, present day, Krang struggles to his feet, but is knocked down a cliff by the strong winds of the storm.
(https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles:_Utrom_Empire_issue_2)
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Fan Art: Krang by danielmchavez
Accompanying Podcast: ● Shellheads - episode 62
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roguerebels · 9 months ago
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#RogueRebelsPodcast 188!
#TheBadBatch: The Return!
Big sister Omega FINALLY SAID IT!!!
Check out the FULL podcast wherever you listen for MORE!
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fanthatracks · 2 years ago
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For five years and at a number of events across the country, Fantha Tracks have proudly raised funds for Angelman, the chosen charity of Rogue One director Gareth Edwards. Last year at London Film and Comic Con 2022 Fantha were part of a larger group of sites, podcasts and costume groups who over the weekend of the show collected £1000, all of which went to Angelman. The groups involved were Fantha Tracks, All The Cool Stuff, Star Wars Sessions, Generation Skywalker, Jamie Richards, Darth Elvis, UK Garrison, Mando Mercs and the Rebel Legion, and Lisa Court from Angelman got in touch to pass on her and Angelman's thanks. [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="large" ids="143964,143962"]   We're working up our plans for the 2023 edition of London Film and Comic Con, so be sure to stay tuned to the site and Fantha Tracks Radio for news as it arrives. [amazon box="0593597915"]
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ravenya003 · 4 months ago
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@jadelotusflower
I have written a dissertation in return! Long story short; I loved this show and it's a pleasure to talk about it some more.
But I was pleasantly surprised as how much this show felt spiritually and aesthetically in tune with the original trilogy, and especially A New Hope, as opposed to Disney!Star Wars. Even if the tone and content of Andor is very different, it feels in conversation with the OT in a way the rest of Disney’s output has not - building on the story we already know, rather than trying replace or rewrite it as something else.
I noticed this too, and it was a relief to enjoy practical effects and actual sets instead of the damn Volume, which still looks obvious to me. I don’t think people realize how much of a relief it is to the brain to just accept reality instead of working around CGI and bluescreen all the time.
So many people have to die for Cassian to make it to the Rebellion - just like Cassian himself will die for the Death Star plans to make it to Leia, like Obi-Wan will die to ensure those plans make it to the Rebellion, and squadrons of rebel pilots will die so Luke can ultimately destroy the Death Star.
This is what I loved about the show in its entirety; that “passing on the torch” effect. That moments that are so tiny and inconsequential ending up having these massive, far-reaching outcomes. It’s pretty mind-blowing to consider that Cassian being unable to resist eyeballing some imperial officers at a seedy brothel starts a snowball effect that leads to the destruction of Death Star.
Of course he's also a credited screenwriter on Rogue One, and I understand his contribution was mostly to the infamous rewrites/reshoots. I desperately want to read a full breakdown/bts of what went down with that film (well all of Disney-led Lucasfilm really) and see the deleted/original material, because I am fascinated.
The closest we’ve got at the moment is Tansy Gardem’s Going Rogue podcast, which is a fascinating listen, but obviously not something told from the inside. Disney will probably have the real story and footage locked up in a vault for some time, though if Andor is any indication of quality, it’s difficult not to mourn the loss of what might have been if Gilroy had been involved from the ground floor.
But first things first. B2EMO made it to the end!
I remember seeing you worrying about him, and had to refrain from providing any reassurance. But really, has anything bad happened to an important droid in a SW film/show? I can’t think of any. They're like the franchise equivalent of pet dogs: too beloved to get killed off in what's (on some level) a story for young people.
Overall I thought the show was excellent (with a few caveats). What's impressive is the sheer number of characters and plots interwoven together, every conversation servicing character, the overall theme or setting something up that will pay off later, playing with coincidence and fate (the will of the Force), the interlocking domino effect.
For me, it was almost dizzying to watch/listen to dialogue that was both intelligent and naturalistic, especially on a mainstream franchise show. I think I’d forgotten what it was like to be treated as an intelligent viewer, and for the writers to assume I was paying attention instead of spoon-feeding me what I needed to hear. Things! Have! Consequences! There’s Cause! And! Effect! I think one of the most rewarding parts of the viewing experience was looking back and thinking “ah, so THAT’S why you spent time on that particular thing.” And sometimes the pay-off doesn’t come until the very end of the season, to stuff that was seeded right off the bat. Watching people complain that it was slow to start with made me roll my eyes, as there’s not a single second wasted on this show.
I love the dialogue in Andor too - which rightly gets high praise, and while it's arguably tighter, in many ways it's no more naturalistic than Lucas's, it's just pitched differently because this is a different genre (and the acting is uniformly excellent because they are actually interacting with each other and being competently directed).
The interactions between Cassian and Bix were particularly good: their entire fraught history was there, in their terse communication and body language. It was SO NICE to be allowed to figure things out for myself, and utilize my own imagination in filling in the blanks.
The Empire casts people out while the Rebellion draws them in.
This is a recurring theme across the franchise; one of my favourite examples is in Star Wars Rebels, when Zeb and Kallus are forced to work together for survival – but when they return to their respective crews, Kallus watches Zeb greeted back with hugs and cheers; when he returns to his ship, nobody had even noticed he was gone.
Contrast this to the jockeying over position and territory and power in the ISB - they serve the Empire, but never at personal cost.
I’ll never get tired of watching Imperials being on the backfoot due to the in-fighting among them. Yet even here, this motif was played with a little on a personal level – the personnel under Deidra’s command were treated with respect, and she got ahead as a result.
And yet we're not there yet - it's important that this is still a Rebellion and not an Alliance, a disparate collection of segmented sedition with a myriad of agendas we see run by Saw Gerrara, Anton Kreegyr, Luthen Rael.
This was also interesting to me; that the piecemeal nature of the Rebellion at this point is reflected in the uncertainty of Cassian himself: he doesn’t know what he wants or who he wants to be at this stage – the Rebellion grows in strength as he grows in conviction, which is a nice Doylistic mirror between the macro and microcosm – AND is further demonstrated in the opening title, during which the music becomes more booming and powerful and structured with each episode.
While much has been said of the moral ambiguity and nuance of Andor, it's not incongruent with the OT, if anything it reinforces its power and message.
So true. This is why I’ve been a little on the fence about The Acolyte (admittedly I haven’t seen yet; I’m only responding to what I’ve heard) which seems to be about how the Jedi are deeply flawed and the Dark Side makes some good points. And yet when one side is unleashing weapons of mass destruction, and the other side is… you know, NOT doing that, I remain skeptical about trying to infuse too much moral ambiguity into this universe.
I love that this show is proving that (like you said) things can be nuanced and complex while also operating within very clear and established definitions of right and wrong, light and dark.
HOWEVER, I have my nits to pick - the lack of aliens is a serious flaw (and in particular, the lack of familiar aliens).
It didn’t bother me as much as it did you, though I can definitely see your point. I can easily imagine that Gilroy cut down on the amount of aliens that could have been involved, since he wanted this to be a “serious human drama.” Which… okay dude, but it’s Star Wars. It reminded me a bit of how all the weirder elements of Frank Herbert’s Dune were removed for the recent films, seemingly because it’s meant to be “serious sci-fi.” And yet the Empire would have certainty been using alien slave labour every chance they got, and places like Coruscant should have at least had some alien extras in the background. And would it have killed them to have at least one person on the Aldani heist with antennae or an extra hand or something?
Which is of course because this was only intended to be season 1 of 5, with each arc a year of Cassian’s life leading up to Rogue One. But sadly Andor has been given a second season only, leaving 12 episodes to wrap everything up, so ultimately I fear the show will feel like a slow setup and rushed conclusion, which is a real shame.
Aw man, I didn’t realize this. I guess we can say goodbye to ever finding out what happened to Cassian’s sister, or any more context to his relationship with Maarva and Clem after their kidnapping of him. There was clearly going to be more meat to these plots, though I imagine they’ll be the first on the chopping block given the limited time-frame and all the pieces they have to put in place for Rogue One (namely K2).
Still, I’m a trilogy-minded person. Two seasons and Rogue One is the trilogy of Cassian’s story, and that works for me..
Diego Luna has such a charismatic presence and it is nice to have a more internal, insular character, but it’s kind of sad that Cassian is really the least developed character in a show ostensibly about him. It’s not really his story, but he’s the fulcrum (pun intended) around which most of the other characters pivot; this is a story of the rebellion of which he is just one part.
Here’s my first big disagreement with you! As a fan of this character, I was pretty happy with what we got, though that’s because I understand Cassian to be a very understated protagonist – not just here, but in Rogue One as well. I remember a bit of a ruckus in the fandom when Jyn repeated his “rebellions are built on hope” line to the rest of the rebels and accusing her of appropriation (*eye-roll*) when I think that very much encapsulates Cassian’s character – he observes, he encourages, he works in the shadows, he puts other people where they need to be without ego or the need for validation. You see this particularly well with Andy Serksis in the prison arc: just like Jyn, Serksis repeats Cassian’s words across the intercom system, while Cassian himself looks on.
In other words, he’s not a leader or a hero in the obvious sense of the word, or what we’d expect from a Star Wars protagonist. I found that really interesting, to see someone at the center of the story who is not a big, flashy character as we’d expect, but rather more like an impetus to spur on other characters. It’s clearly a deliberate choice.
I also didn’t think he was undeveloped; in fact, I was pretty riveted by how he went from someone who was largely content with gnawing at the edges of the Empire (stealing their stuff) to becoming fully committed to the cause – that definitely counts as development in my view. As he says at one point (paraphrasing): “why fight a losing battle, why not just take the money and do what you want?”
This is said in the gap between the heist and his arrest, and of course after learning what he does in the prison complex, the answer to his question is obvious: there is no peaceful living under an oppressive regime. They will always come for you, even if you’re just minding your own business. (Like you said, the Empire forges the weapons that’ll be used against them).
In many ways, this is a story of radicalization: how and why it happens, and whether it can be considered a good thing. We already know that he’ll eventually be all-in on this cause and that it will cost him his life, but that it won’t be a sacrifice made in vain. Hovering over this entire show is the question: “is it worth it?” For me, this tracking of an individual’s radicalization was the crux of his arc, and one of the main points of the show.
And it does feel a little bit skeevy that the actual Axis (pun intended) of the show is Luthen in his middle age white man glory, with a whiff of Gilroy’s self-insert about him.
I often wonder how Luthen would have played if he’d been a woman or an alien or a person of colour. I feel by the end he was deliberately positioned as a foil to Maarva, who was able to incite a riot without any deceit or manipulation, but by only speaking the truth, a point which may well come into play in the second season.
I also have an inkling (or perhaps it’s just wishful thinking) that Luthen will share his philosophy with Cassian at some point: that they’re all destined to die alone, that they’ll have to sacrifice their moral compasses to the cause, etc. And of course, the beauty of this being a prequel is that we already know Cassian doesn’t COMPLETELY give up his sense of right and wrong, and he won’t die alone as a result.
Which is to say, I also think Luthen will get a death scene in season two that will reflect his philosophy: he will indeed die in ignominy, in contrast to Cassian being able to give/derive comfort from Jyn in his final moments.
In other words, I don’t feel that Luthen is being held up as any sort of ideal. I was fascinated by the way he was introduced in a very Sith-like cloak: the dark side of the light side, so to speak. And I think (or hope) Gilroy will commit to NOT glorifying his point-of-view, as a jumping off point for Luke's idealism, though that remains to be seen.
We get a strong start to Cassian and Luthen that peters out - he's intent on recruiting Cassian, but then writes him off when Cassian flees after Aldhani and wants him killed, then goes all the way to Ferrix for him, but is about to leave without actually doing anything? I know Luthen's meant to be ambiguous, but this is one area where plot is obviously driving things not character.
My take was that Luthen was more rattled than he cared to admit by Maarva’s speech – like I said, here’s a woman that is able to incite rebellion WITHOUT any Machiavellian schemes, and – knowing she was Cassian’s mother – decides to let him go.
Cassian is without a reflective character pairing because his true mirror is Jyn Erso, and seeing Cassian’s struggles here does give real weight to his “you’re not the only one who lost everything” speech - in many ways the show is his journey from being Jyn, to being the man who says to her “we don't all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something.”
In a way it’s a shame that this is a prequel to a prequel; imagine if we got to watch this unravel in the correct chronological order, with Rogue One as the grand finale. Damn. Still, it DOES give us more insight into that Cassian/Jyn rapport, making what the film was going for with the two of them even clearer. Cinta telling Vel that “I’m a mirror; I show you what you need to see,” is how Diego Luna described how Cassian saw Jyn, though in that case it’s “he doesn’t like what she reflects.”
The artifact Luthen gives Mon represents “a sun goddess and a serpent sharing the same mouth” representing their differing philosophical approach to fighting the Empire.
Hey, nice catch. I didn’t twig to this one.
“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. No, the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror, or an audience, or the light of gratitude."
Like I said, I guarantee he’ll eventually say some sort of variation of this to Cassian, or that “we will die alone,” the irony being that because Cassian still clings to a semblance of humanity – he at least won’t be alone when he dies.
Ultimately, the Rebellion needs people like Luthen and Cassian to make not only the physical sacrifice, but the moral one as well (noting our first introduction to Cassian is him killing an informant so he can escape) - people who play the Empire's game so Luke can ultimately reject the Emperor's.
It’s interesting, because I knew at least one viewer who disliked Rogue One precisely because of this mentality – the idea that the Rebels had to engage in underhanded tactics in order to secure their victory, when he believed that the OT was so based upon very “clean” black and white moral underpinnings that depicting the Rebellion as guerillas and saboteurs and assassins was undermining the story as a whole.
I can’t say I agree as Star Wars is very compartmentalized in a lot of ways, but I do enjoy the question it poses: it’s easy to make your life a sacrifice, but what if your morality/humanity IS the sacrifice?
I’m surprised Gilroy has said he wrote Deidra to be relatable - she skeeved me out from the first, someone clearly ready to step over anyone and everyone if it served her purposes rather than someone gradually drawn further into an authoritarian regime. There's the slight subtext of sexism - there's only one other women in the ISB briefing and Pendergast alludes to it, but that certainly didn't engender any sympathy or admiration from me.
RIGHT??!! I was rather baffled by this, as well as the actress’s interview in which she states the audience was meant to initially see her as the underdog up against the sexist work environment she was surrounded by (and subsequently root for her) only for her torture of Bix to make you realize “oh right, she’s a victim of sexism AND an evil imperial. You can be both!”
Because I seriously did not see her as the underdog in any of her pre-Bix scenes. From the actress’s facial expressions to the fact that she didn’t really seem to be a target due to her gender, I was actually completely surprised by this take on the character. Which is a shame, as it’s not a bad premise.
I just hope they’re going somewhere more interesting than his creepy crush.
Yeah, I’ve no idea what they’re doing with that one.
Andor happily treats its women as characters, not faux-empowering meme-fodder.
Honestly, for me the best moment of this entire series was when Vel was depicted as completely terrified and on the verge of calling everything off when she and Cinta had to abseil down the dam. What a great moment, and it humanized her so well.
The whole anti-woke crowd are profoundly tedious, but I also get sick of the whole “girlboss” phenomenon, in which girls are never allowed to have any sort of flaws or foibles or weaknesses to overcome. Those few minutes watching Vel force her way through her fear and then finding her courage were such a great antidote to that.
I also noticed that the fact Vel and Cinta were in a relationship went completely unremarked upon by fandom – because hey, when you make same-sex relationships an understated part of how humanity works instead of something to do a big song-and-dance number over, people just accept it and get on with it! Amazing!
In Vel and Cinta we have two more sides of insurgency - from wealth and privilege in Vel, the cousin of Mon Mothma struggling with the weight of it all, to Cinta with her cold fire and unwavering drive, her family killed by stormtroopers and for whom the struggle will always come first.
This show didn’t do Easter eggs, but I do like to think on some level they wanted to get in a “hitherto unknown familial connection between two characters” link as a homage to the Skywalker twins. And of course, the fact that it really doesn’t make much of a difference as to whether Vel/Mon were cousins or not was somehow very funny.
I loved Ferrix as a location, with its own distinct aesthetic, culture, and populace - the work gloves all hung on the wall, the metal tapping warning system, the daily hammer and anvil (the Time Grappler, according to Wookieepedia), funerary practices. etc.
This was SO GOOD. Love me some world-building that’s integrated neatly into the story.
But again there’s a disconnect with the history we’re shown - Maarva and Clem kidnap/save Kassa from Kenari but we don’t really get any sense of how Cassian feels about it or the connection he has to his heritage/childhood.
Yeah, they dropped the ball on this one. A fascinating setup, and they might get into it a little in season two, but it’s the most obvious fatality when it comes to cutting down the seasons from five to two.
The difference, for me, is does inclusion of a known character/object/trope/line of dialogue serve the character and/or story, or is it Leo DiCaprio pointing meme, designed for “hey it’s the thing” nostalgia and YouTube compilations with no substance behind it? Ultimately, is the inclusion Watsonian or Doylist - and if the latter, what of the former justifies it.
I know I’ve said this to you before, but Rogue One itself had the perfect examples of this: the little cameo from C3PO and R2D2 was fine, because it made sense they’d be there and it was only a few seconds long, but earlier in the film everything grounds to a halt so they can showcase the two cantina aliens from Tatooine – which makes NO SENSE, because Jedha is about to be blown to smithereens! We’re just meant to point and say “hey, those guys!”
Not all fanservice is created equal.
This is my fundamental, and possibly at this point, irreconcilable, issue. Disney wanted to get away from Lucas-associated Star Wars as quickly as possible, replacing every character, planet, and theme with their own wholly Disney counterpart, killing off Han, Luke, and Leia so the old and classic couldn’t distract from the shiny and new, tearing down the conclusion of the original trilogy only to try and tell the exact same story (just not as well).
Strange comparison, but it’s a bit like how the writers for the BBC Robin Hood were so eager to get rid of the old guard and shoehorn in their bright shiny new characters that they forgot to give anyone a reason to care about Kate, Tuck, Archer, Isabella, etc. They just plonked them in and hoped no one would notice they’d just thrown out everything we’d invested in for the past two years.
The massive difference being that the RH audience bailed MUCH faster, and the show got cancelled before ever having the chance to fulfil its new vision. Star Wars obviously has more staying power, but even that’s clearly starting to wane. All anyone can do is shake their heads and ask: “why do that?”
It’s funny: when things are good, there’s a myriad of explanations as to why, but when things suck, it’s usually because of just one or two similar reasons.
(I promise I did not bring up Robin Hood just to point out that the Aldani leader who led the pilgrimage under the Eye was the same actor who played the Abbott in the third episode of season three).
So I finally watched Andor...
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...and naturally I have thoughts (hey, it’s me). Maybe they're belated, seeing as this show was released almost two years ago, but I've been on the outskirts of the Star Wars fandom for a while now. This in and of itself isn't usual - I tend to drift between my core fandoms in phases, but since TLJ the GFFA hasn't really been a pleasant place to be so I haven't really had a reason to drift back to it for any length of time.
Which isn't to say I've avoided Star Wars altogether, dipping in when something piques my interest like Obi-Wan Kenobi (which I liked aspects of but ultimately felt like just a setup to the show I actually wanted to watch), and have absorbed some of the rest through cultural osmosis. Andor is a show I've been meaning to get to for a while, although it has been praised to the point of being overhyped (and there was a whiff of Not Like Other Star Wars to the critical reception) so I was concerned it would not meet expectations.
But I was pleasantly surprised as how much this show felt spiritually and aesthetically in tune with the original trilogy, and especially A New Hope, as opposed to Disney!Star Wars. Even if the tone and content of Andor is very different, it feels in conversation with the OT in a way the rest of Disney’s output has not - building on the story we already know, rather than trying replace or rewrite it as something else.
Aesthetically, we have the 70's vibe of the set design and costuming in middle-class Coruscant, the stark white jumpsuits and surrounds of Narkina 5 evoking Lucas's early film THX-1138, even the way we are plopped right into the middle of the story with very little exposition, but still eased into the narrative is very reminiscent of the first act of A New Hope. Thematically, of course we’re seeing the Rebellion in its earlier stages - small disparate cells of seditious activity directly acting against Imperial interests that will become the somewhat ragtag but nonetheless organised and unified Alliance.
While Star Wars was a cinema pastiche throwback to Flash Gordan serials and Campbell’s hero’s journey as an antidote to the grimdark antiheroes of the 70’s, in many ways Andor brings things back full circle to the grit of neo-noir. It holds a mirror up to the OT and lets us see the other side of the coin - and the full cost of victory. So many people have to die for Cassian to make it to the Rebellion - just like Cassian himself will die for the Death Star plans to make it to Leia, like Obi-Wan will die to ensure those plans make it to the Rebellion, and squadrons of rebel pilots will die so Luke can ultimately destroy the Death Star.
A stone is dropped in a pond, and we see the ripples but the stone itself sinks.
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Overall thoughts
Tony Gilroy is the showrunner here, a veteran screenwriter notable for the Bourne films, and we can certainly see this influence at work. He also wrote The Devil’s Advocate, which is by no means good but I do enjoy in all its ott mythological monologues-and-accents glory, and seminal romcom (of my childhood at least) The Cutting Edge. He also wrote and directed Michael Clayton, which I have not seen but was nominated for several Oscars, including Original Screenplay, Director, and Best Picture (Tilda Swinton won for Supporting Actress).
Of course he's also a credited screenwriter on Rogue One, and I understand his contribution was mostly to the infamous rewrites/reshoots. I desperately want to read a full breakdown/bts of what went down with that film (well all of Disney-led Lucasfilm really) and see the deleted/original material, because I am fascinated. It's also interesting to note that Gilroy took over showrunning duties from Stephen Schiff pre-production. The show does very much feel like Gilroy wanted to make his own stamp on the Andor character and use him as a vehicle in his spy-thriller/political intrigue wheelhouse.
Reading some of Gilroy’s comments around the series had made me wonder how much of Andor being reflective/referential to the OT was intentional (on his part at least), and arguably Gilroy did overwrite the character of Cassian Andor so…there’s nuance. But as a story, to me it felt in tune with what I love about Star Wars rather than at odds with it, and that's what I appreciated most.
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But first things first. B2EMO made it to the end! Finally, my expectations are subverted in a good way, because I love this little droid with all my heart. There are several key elements of Star Wars to me that separate it from other sci-fi/space fantasy and that is Jedi, distinctive aliens, and sentient droids. Obviously there's no Jedi here (nor does there need to be), my issues with the lack of aliens I'll address below, but when it comes to droids B2EMO fits right in, and we can assume is a precursor to Cassian's relationship with K-2SO.
Overall I thought the show was excellent (with a few caveats). What's impressive is the sheer number of characters and plots interwoven together, every conversation servicing character, the overall theme or setting something up that will pay off later, playing with coincidence and fate (the will of the Force), the interlocking domino effect. Arvel Skeen recognising the tattoo on Cassian's arm leads to a conversation of his history, but also sets up Skeen later offering to take and split the haul with Cassian (and getting killed for it). The raid on Aldhani triggers the Empire’s harsh new measures that gets Cassian sentenced to six years in prison, but also inspires the rebellion on Ferrix (via Maarva). The Aldhani heist is a triumph for Vel, but traps Mon’s financial contributions to the Rebellion by the Empire’s crackdown on banking, leading her and her daughter into an unwanted family alliance.
I'm a big proponent of Star Wars Dialogue is Good, Actually - not saying there's not clunkers or stilted scenes (the PT moreso than the OT) but there seems to be this weird consensus that Lucas-era dialogue sucks despite being some of the most quoted/referenced movies of all time. Lucas was creating a modern myth, of course a lot of it is arch and operatic. I love the dialogue in Andor too - which rightly gets high praise, and while it's arguably tighter, in many ways it's no more naturalistic than that of the Saga with everyone constantly speaking in metaphor, it's just pitched differently because this is a different genre (and the acting is uniformly excellent because they are actually interacting with each other and being competently directed).
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There’s layers of meaning in almost every scene and subtle moments of foreshadowing that I really enjoy - Karis Nemik muses on the role of mercenaries in a rebellion that must use every tool and weapon at its disposal, and obviously Cassian starts out as that mercenary who will be pulled into the wider struggle, but this also foreshadows the importance of Han Solo - at first only out for the promise of a reward but ultimately instrumental in bringing the Empire down. But it’s not because he’s treated as a tool - as the Empire treats its workforce as tools - but because he’s treated as worthwhile, he’s valued as a person. The Empire casts people out while the Rebellion draws them in.
We also see this in the arc on Narkina 5, and the Empire’s tightening grip backfiring against them. In order to force the prisoners to speedily produce parts for the Death Star they work in close-knit teams, creating a close camaraderie ultimately allowing them to escape - because when you turn people into cogs of a machine, the machine can be turned back against you. Contrast this to the jockeying over position and territory and power in the ISB - they serve the Empire, but never at personal cost.
We see the Republic of affiliated systems from the PT turn into an Empire of conquered planets, where local cultures are subsumed into homogeneous Imperial rule. Even Corpsec is replaced by Imperial oversight, and we know that the Senate on Coruscant will be dissolved completely in ANH. But ultimately this ferments rebellion and unites the outcast and oppressed - the Keredians on Narkina 5 hate the Empire for their prison polluting the waterways, and so let Cassian and Melchi go. Cinta’s whole family was killed by stormtroopers turning her single minded focus to destroying them. The people of Ferrix respond to Maarva’s call and riot against the Imperial forces even though it will mean violent reprisal.
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The Empire forges the weapons that will be used against them. As Nemik’s manifesto states: “The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.”
And yet we're not there yet - it's important that this is still a Rebellion and not an Alliance, a disparate collection of segmented sedition with a myriad of agendas we see run by Saw Gerrara, Anton Kreegyr, Luthen Rael. They won't be a genuine threat to the Empire until they join forces, share resources and intelligence, and unite behind a collective goal. Although there may be sacrifices in this as well - Separatists, Partisan Front, Sectorists etc mentioned by Saw will either coalesce under the Alliance to Restore the Republic or be driven further to the fringes.
The thrust of Nemik's manifesto is that freedom is a natural state of being, while oppression is unnatural, and even though Andor has nothing to do with the Jedi it nonetheless echoes their philosophy: that the Force is in a natural state of balance, while the existence of the Sith who tap into the Dark Side upset this balance. As we see in Return of the Jedi, the balance is ultimately restored by the return to that natural state buffeted by the most powerful forces - friendship, love, sacrifice - forces that ultimately drive Cassian as well. While much has been said of the moral ambiguity and nuance of Andor, it's not incongruent with the OT, if anything it reinforces its power and message.
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HOWEVER, I have my nits to pick - the lack of aliens is a serious flaw (and in particular, the lack of familiar aliens). In some cases they can get away with it and make subtle commentary - Coruscant is stark and grey as the centre of bureaucracy in stark contrast to the vibrant metropolis of the PT. Seeing the streets populated almost exclusively by humans where once it was a melting pot underscores the Empire’s segregationist policies. However the dearth of non-humans elsewhere - Ferrix, Aldhani, even the prison labour camp Narkina 5 - is disconcerting. These are places meant to depict the oppressive rule of the Empire and this undermines the strength of the rebellion as a group of diverse species fighting against the Imperial monoculture. It's odd, for example, that we see all the characters from Ferrix return except Vetch, the muscle employed "just to stand there" by Nurchi (a nice moment with Cassian!), and that Maarva's funeral procession seems entirely human.
Ultimately, I think the setup is much stronger than the payoff, and while I appreciate the slow burn, the show does have sometimes have difficulty juggling the plots. Once set up, characters are parked waiting to be incorporated into the narrative (it feels like we watch Syril stare at his cereal forever) and looking back not much actually happens to a lot of them- there are a lot of threads left hanging and not much resolution. Which is of course because this was only intended to be season 1 of 5, with each arc a year of Cassian’s life leading up to Rogue One. But sadly Andor has been given a second season only, leaving 12 episodes to wrap everything up, so ultimately I fear the show will feel like a slow setup and rushed conclusion, which is a real shame.
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Cassian Andor
I’m went into this as someone who doesn’t really have a strong connection to Cassian as a character - I certainly liked him in Rogue One! But let’s just say he’s not my blorbo. And this not the backstory I would have expected for the character five years before Rogue One as someone who has “been in this fight since [he] was six years old.”
Diego Luna has such a charismatic presence and it is nice to have a more internal, insular character, but it’s kind of sad that Cassian is really the least developed character in a show ostensibly about him. It’s not really his story, but he’s the fulcrum (pun intended) around which most of the other characters pivot; this is a story of the rebellion of which he is just one part. So, I can see if Cassian fans may have been upset by his lack of focus, and I personally would have wanted to delve a bit deeper into Cassian Andor on a show called Andor, you know? And it does feel a little bit skeevy that the actual Axis (pun intended) of the show is Luthen in his middle age white man glory, with a whiff of Gilroy’s self-insert about him.
I do wish LFL would abandon simply naming their shows after the main character - presumably it’s for general audience recognition and algorithmic reasons, but my god how boring. If the show had been marketed as the ensemble it actually is I would take less issue with the lack of Cassian focus. But sadly I’m not sure we know that much more about Cassian at the end of the show than we did at the end of the first three episodes - or really, what it adds to his character and arc we see in Rogue One.
Yes he’s further radicalised by his experiences and is now presumably "all in" on the rebellion, but the events of the show are kicked off by Cassian searching for his sister which is a motivation that is all but dropped thereafter - although at one point I was half-expecting (dreading) it to be revealed that Luthen's assistant Kleya Marki was Kerri (and sidebar, Kleya - what a stone cold bitch! I love a stone cold bitch).
This plot will likely continue in season 2, but it felt a bit undercooked and too deep in the subtext given the prominence it had in kicking off the narrative. We get a flashback to Cassian’s childhood, but ultimately it feels like lipservice to his Indigenous heritage rather than true engagement since we don't see him reflect on it in any way, nor does it seem to have any impact on his choices throughout the series that seem primarily motivated by his life and relationships on Ferrix.
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We get a strong start to Cassian and Luthen that peters out - he's intent on recruiting Cassian, but then writes him off when Cassian flees after Aldhani and wants him killed, then goes all the way to Ferrix for him, but is about to leave without actually doing anything? I know Luthen's meant to be ambiguous, but this is one area where plot is obviously driving things not character. I get that it was important for Cassian to be the one to go to Luthen at the end and choose the Rebellion unfetted, but the relationship is undercooked. I almost feel like the series is a procession of things that happen to Cassian rather than a journey I was on with him. There's external forces, but very little internal focus.
However, what I did love about the show was the thematic resonance that was happening on a macro and micro level - while the show as a whole is a mirror/reflection of the OT, we also see dichotomy in the character pairings that are mirrors and/or foils of each other in various ways - we have the two sides of the conflict being Empire and Rebellion (with Cassian stuck in the middle), and we are also shown conflict within those two sides.
Cassian is without a reflective character pairing because his true mirror is Jyn Erso, and seeing Cassian’s struggles here does give real weight to his “you’re not the only one who lost everything” speech - in many ways the show is his journey from being Jyn, to being the man who says to her “we don't all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something.”
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Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael
The most obvious mirror/foil pair as the two sides of the Rebellion, although arguably we have a third prong in Saw Gerrara, and kind of a mirror in Luthen as Cassian’s mentor as Saw was Jyn’s - and I do wonder about the show that was a two-handed prequel with Cassian and Jyn growing up in different factions of the Rebellion, but alas.
The artifact Luthen gives Mon represents “a sun goddess and a serpent sharing the same mouth” representing their differing philosophical approach to fighting the Empire. As mirror characters they are alike in many ways - both of the privileged class and living double lives on Coruscant, but while Mon makes political efforts to move the needle on the Empire's activities in the Senate while also funneling money to direct but small rebel efforts, Luthen outright pokes the bear, sacrifices allies, and knowingly making things worse to swell the ranks of the rebellion on the hope it will speed up progress. There's more than a hint of the incrementalism/revolutionary dichotomy here.
It also raises a lot of interesting questions without (rightly) providing many answers - the struggle of the oppressed, the moral weight of insurgency and revolution. Is it right to intentionally provoke an oppressive power into reacting with violence in order to fuel a greater pushback against them? Is short term suffering justified if it achieves eventual victory, and is it right for the few to decide what is a justifiable sacrifice? What are our responsibilities to each other under the threat of/struggle against authoritarianism? As social commentary it's more timely than ever.
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Whether Mon or Luthen is right for the viewer to decide, although as Leia tells Tarkin in ANH: "the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." On the other hand, we know Mon survives to the end of the Empire while Luthen (I assume) will not. She will become a leading figure in the Alliance, and eventual Chancellor of the New Republic, while he will be another stone at the bottom of the pond.
This is foreshadowed in the dialogue (with a direct mirror reference):
“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. No, the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror, or an audience, or the light of gratitude."
Arguably however, the mirror is the show - we are the audience.
We know Cassian joins Luthen at the end of season 1, and will meet Mon in season 2, so it will be interesting to see him struggle between these two philosophies, although we can infer from Rogue One that he aligns himself (out of necessity) with Luthen's veiwpoint:
"We've all done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion. Spies, saboteurs, assassins....And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself it was for a cause that I believed in. A cause that was worth it. Without that, we're lost."
Ultimately, the Rebellion needs people like Luthen and Cassian to make not only the physical sacrifice, but the moral one as well (noting our first introduction to Cassian is him killing an informant so he can escape) - people who play the Empire's game so Luke can ultimately reject the Emperor's.
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But I had mixed feelings on the Mon Mothma storyline. It feels a bit off for Luthen to be her entrée into the Rebellion, when we know she’s been on the ground from the very beginning with the Petition of the 2000 (cut from ROTS, but still canon I assume). She just felt very isolated and fragile which is at odds with her quiet steel that we see in Return of the Jedi and Rogue One. I could maybe see this Mon in the early dark days, but only 5 years before ANH? A scene with Bail Organa would not have gone amiss just to give breadth to her rebellious activities.
We get to see Luthen visit Saw Gerrara on Segra Milo, why not give Mon a scene with Bail to show she has other irons in the fire rather than relying on Luthen? In Saw we see the rough and tumble of disparate rebel factions, I would have liked to see the political machinations of Mon and Bail to serve the metaphor even further.
She is more than just a bank for the rebellion, and I think in the effort to contrast Luthen and Mon there was a bit of disservice done to the latter.
And Mon’s loser husband - ugh. Okay they’re in some kind of arranged marriage but there’s very little substance, nothing us particularly revealed about Mon by including him. Other than her cleverly using his gambling debts to deflect her rebellion spending at the end, the story wouldn’t really have changed by him not existing, and in fact would have been improved by focusing more on Mon’s difficult relationship with her daughter.
But on a purely shallow note, I want her wardrobe!
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Dedra Meero and Syril Karn
In some ways Cassian and Syril are the narrative foils and there are parallels between them - their conflict instigated in the first episodes, their maternal relationships, both essentially exiles for the middle section before both end up back on Ferrix where Cassian saves Bix and Syril saves Dedra. But I feel Syril and Dedra work better as mirrors, and their arcs also parallel and intersect.
In the Empire, Dedra and Syril are two sides of the other coin (there's quite a few coins in this metaphor). Regimes need bureaucracy, and you have the true believers, the status-climbers, and those just going along to get along. In Dedra we have the talented star of the prestigious Imperial Security Bureau, and in Syril the over eager Corporate Security officer, two arms of the Empire’s control, although the latter we see becoming obsolete as the former gains more control.
But they're both middlemen who chafe against the inaction of their superiors, both desperate to rise above their station (although those stations are quite far apart). Throughout the series their plots are mostly in parallel; they are reflections of each other without even having met.
It's uncomfortable to watch both of them on screen - all unblinking stares, sucked in cheeks, and pursed lips - fittingly repellent. I’m surprised Gilroy has said he wrote Dedra to be relatable - she skeeved me out from the first, someone clearly ready to step over anyone and everyone if it served her purposes rather than someone gradually drawn further into an authoritarian regime. There's the slight subtext of sexism - there's only one other women in the ISB briefing and Pendergast alludes to it, but that certainly didn't engender any sympathy or admiration from me.
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In episode 7 Syril’s mother Eedy says “Everything says something, Syril” and chastises him about tailoring his uniform (just as he did in the first episode, a neat little character tell), and immediately after we see Dedra donning her uniform perfectly in sync with the rest of the ISB. He’s trying to stand out from the crowd, she’s trying to fit in - or, from a different perspective, Syril adjusts his collar to resemble the Imperial style as a signifier of where he wants to be, while Dedra is already there and still looking higher.
But both are thinking outside the rigid Imperial lines and command structures, both on the hunt for Cassian - although for Syril it's personal and Dedra it's about climbing the ranks. Both take it upon themselves to investigate against orders, but Syril’s attempts are clumsy and random while Dedra’s are clinical and targeted.
She identifies that “systems either change or die” to push the ISB’s fragmented and bureaucratic inefficiencies into a cohesive power structure, but while it wins her approval it doesn’t earn her any loyalty; her troops abandon her to the mob on Ferrix. Inexplicably though, Syril does manage to gain the loyalty of Sergeant Mosk, who was also punished for the initial blunder on Ferrix, but ultimately draws Syril back there to in search of Cassian.
The point at which they first intersect in episode 8, Dedra is on an upswing, she holds the power and sends Syril further down, but when they meet again in episode 11, the roles are reversed as he is the one to save her from the mob.
I just hope they’re going somewhere more interesting than his creepy crush.
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Vel Sartha and Cinta Kaz
One of the major faults of Rogue One was its Smurfette Syndrome, where Jyn is a great female character surrounded by men, but Andor has pleasingly course corrected from this. See what happens when you don’t have one woman having to embody everything and bear the weight of her entire gender in the narrative (and therefore, also bear the criticism)? Andor happily treats its women as characters, not faux-empowering meme-fodder. Although there is perhaps some valid commentary that it’s still white women on the whole - Dedra, Mon, Vel, Maarva - who get the meatier roles, and I have my issues with Mon’s characterisation, but one thing I will give Disney LFL credit for is it’s ongoing efforts towards gender parity.
In Vel and Cinta we have two more sides of insurgency - from wealth and privilege in Vel, the cousin of Mon Mothma struggling with the weight of it all, to Cinta with her cold fire and unwavering drive, her family killed by stormtroopers and for whom the struggle will always come first.
Cinta’s cool reserve is a contrast to Vel’s nerves (as seen in the Aldhani raid); they’re coming from very different places even if their cause is the same. There may even be a bit of classism in the subtext - Vel leads the mission on Aldhani after asking for the mission from Luthen, when really Cinta is the one who is most committed, and she has to push Vel though several times when she falters.
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Vel still has one foot in the Imperial world and the complications of rebellious machinations - worried for Mon and her family, wanting to prove herself to Luthen, jockeying with Kleya - but for Cinta none of that matters, she loves Vel but there's often a sense she's disappointed in her. There's a dichotomy within Cinta - she's not unfeeling, showing kindness to Cassian when he joins their group, yet accepting the mission to kill him later without hesitation.
It seems to me that Cinta is the revolutionary Vel wants to be but can't quite divest herself of enough to become - the metaphor is made explicit with these two - Cinta tells Vel: “I’m a mirror. You love me because I show you what you need to see.”
Which is a pretty interesting dynamic, especially as a romantic one, and I’m interested to see where it will go (and hope that Cinta will get more focus, even though I do love Vel a lot too).
Their storyline did run out of steam by the end through, was there any point to either of these characters being on Ferrix at the end? It very much felt like all the plot lines were being forced to intersect at the climax without all of them necessarily needing to. Although Cinta stabbing that guy in the heart was pretty cathartic.
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Bix Callen, Maarva Andor, and Ferrix
I loved Ferrix as a location, with its own distinct aesthetic, culture, and populace - the work gloves all hung on the wall, the metal tapping warning system, the daily hammer and anvil (the Time Grappler, according to Wookieepedia), funerary practices. etc. The first few episodes set up Cassian’s community on Ferrix which we come full circle on in the final two, but I did have some trouble keeping track of who was who at that point.
It is interesting that the trope of “just another brick in the wall” is turned on its head here - rather than representing a cog in the machine, in Ferrix ashes of the deceased are mixed with brick and added to a wall in remembrance - a literal touchstone for Cassian as he remembers his adoptive father Clem. A wall is strong, a bulwark against outside forces, and every brick added makes it stronger. Stones dropped in a pond, bricks built into a wall - reminders of the dead that spur the will to fight.
I do love the relationship between Maarva and Cassian, especially in a franchise that has never really had an interest in mothers and sons. And we have another mirror in the overcritical and cold relationship between Syril and Eedy as the inverse of Cassian’s complicated but loving one with Maarva - contrast the reception Syril gets when he returns home to the one Cassian gets from Maarva, as ultimately Eedy's pointed disappointment is sharp where Maarva's is borne from love and concern for Cassian.
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But again there’s a disconnect with the history we’re shown - Maarva and Clem kidnap/save Kassa from Kenari but we don’t really get any sense of how Cassian feels about it or the connection he has to his heritage/childhood. I’m not saying I need everything spelled out, but sometimes I feel the show does err too much on the side of subtext, and as a result we don’t delve as deep into some of the relationships as we could have. Even her final message to Cassian - that she loves him more than anything he could ever do wrong - is a beautiful sentiment, but is it earned? He hasn't really done anything wrong, arguably she did wrong by him by taking him from Kenari but it's never even mentioned, it doesn’t even seem to be a factor in their relationship as adults.
On the other hand, I didn’t mind the treatment of the post-romantic relationship between Cassian and Bix - there’s a sense of history there but it didn’t need to be explored further. Bix's involvement in the Rebellion is interesting though, it's implied she was recruited by Kleya through the black market but are her motives purely profit or does she have rebellious fervor? Luthen knows of Cassian through Bix - did she see him as a candidate for the Rebellion or just another person from whom Luthen could obtain tech? What piqued Luthen's interest from what Bix said about him?
I don't think all these questions need answers, but it is unfortunate that she does get a bit Damseled, spending most of the runtime threatened, captured, and then tortured. On the other hand, there's less to criticise in employing that trope when it's not the only one at work and the breadth of female characters on the show.
I do wonder if we will see Bix, Brasso, and B2EMO again though, or if they’re a part of Cassian’s past he had to leave behind to fully commit himself to the Rebellion.
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On nostalgia, fanservice, and the state of the Star Wars universe
A tangent into my frustrations with the sequel trilogy, skip if you’re allergic to salt.
Andor has been lauded for its lack of fanservice, although I’d actually argue it’s a show that (perhaps despite Gilroy's intention) is rooted in nostalgia. Well, perhaps not nostalgia per se, but it’s a show that relies on the audience’s knowledge and affection of Rogue One and the Original Trilogy, and it’s successful because it manages to feel authentic and fulfilling rather than ham-fisted and overly meta - a story set in the Star Wars universe, not about the Star Wars universe.
I know Gilroy intended this to be able to stand alone, but would the story have the same resonance if we weren't aware where Cassian's path leads, that the efforts and actions of Mon and Luthern, Vel and Cinta, Nemik, Bix and Kleya, are ultimately justified? Perhaps it would work in a generic sci-fi setting rather than the GFFA, but would we feel as much watching it? Personally, I think not.
Because nostalgia isn’t inherently bad. It’s a vital part of how we consume media - the stories that resonate with us in childhood will continue to resonate in adulthood because they are foundational, it's a shortcut to that incredible feeling of discovering something new that's nonetheless something very old. It's partly why Star Wars was such a success in the first place - a mix of myth and fairy tale, matinee serial and Kurosawa - a familiar story told in a new way. And like in Hadestown, "we're gonna sing it again and again."
The problem with nostalgia is when it’s empty; window dressing intended to evoke that feeling but without any substance behind it, so it feels cheap and unsatisfying. Andor doesn’t completely escape from this (blue milk, mouse droid), but most inclusions feel organic.
Sometimes I think we go to far decrying fanservice, and of course it's subjective - as I like to say, everyone hates it until they’re the fan being serviced. But there is criticism, and then there's dismissing any references to existing material as mere "fanservice" and therefore contemptible. For example, I’ve seen the treatment of Luke, Han, and Leia in the sequel trilogy defended because to actually have them interact at all would be “silly fanservice” rather than natural because, you know, they’re family.
The difference, for me, is does inclusion of a known character/object/trope/line of dialogue serve the character and/or story, or is it Leo DiCaprio pointing meme, designed for “hey it’s the thing” nostalgia and YouTube compilations with no substance behind it? Ultimately, is the inclusion Watsonian or Doylist - and if the latter, what of the former justifies it.
Mon Mothma or Saw Gerrara in Andor doesn’t feel like fanservice even though they’re existing characters, because it makes sense to include them in a story about the Rebellion’s beginning and they had a part to play in Rogue One, to which Andor is ostensibly a prequel. Conversely Leia and Vader’s inclusion in Obi-Wan Kenobi (even if I did enjoy them both) tip over in the side of fanservice because they really have no place in Obi-Wan’s story at that point and require fanwanking around their dialogue in ANH (and to be fair, Lucas was guilty of this as well). I don’t need to see random object or minor character no 6 from the PT/OT/Clone Wars, iconic catch phrase shoved where it doesn’t make sense, or obscure Legends reference divorced from context, just tell me a good story! Give me characters to care about! Make me feel something! Andor did that, where much of the other Disney Star Wars content has not.
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This is my fundamental, and possibly at this point, irreconcilable, issue. Disney wanted to get away from Lucas-associated Star Wars as quickly as possible, replacing every character, planet, and theme with their own wholly Disney counterpart, killing off Han, Luke, and Leia so the old and classic couldn’t distract from the shiny and new, tearing down the conclusion of the original trilogy only to try and tell the exact same story (just not as well). They did it so quickly and so shoddily that many were understandably unsatisfied, leaving Disney to frantically course correct, going back to the well and shoving nostalgia bait into every conceivable project even (especially) if it had no place.
If they’d actually had any sort of plan for the sequel trilogy, if they’d made their focus to conclude the Skywalker Saga in a way that even approached emotional resonance, imo the vast majority of the audience would be happy to move on and embrace the next chapter - new characters, new stories. But people can’t move on from the characters they love because the treatment of those characters and the post-ROTJ timeline was so unsatisfying. Luke wouldn’t have needed to show up in The Mandolorian to try and placate the fans if treatment of the character in the ST hasn’t been so abysmal.
So LFL have been stuck in this weird ancillary storytelling space, where every project seemingly needs to be adjacent to the Skywalker Saga but not actually engaging with the Saga direct - Han has a prequel film no one asked for, Rey is a Skywalker for name recognition only, Luke pops up in pointless cameos but isn’t there when he arguably should be (just recast the damn role already!), we get young Leia in a story where she has no place rather than in one she does, who knows what’s going on with the whole Ashoka/Thrawn/Heir to the Empire stuff, Boba Fett is There with a parade of Hey it’s that character/ship/thing with no contribution to the actual storytelling.
What does this have to do with Andor? Well, Andor is perhaps the only quality tv product of the Disney era, which is fitting since Rogue One is imo the only quality film of the Disney era (TFA being retroactively diminished by what came after). Andor is the type of story Star Wars should be telling - expanding the universe, using known elements and characters where it makes sense to do so, not a collection of ideas on a whiteboard thrown in front of an LED screenstage and a bunch of meaningless easter eggs.
To be fair, this does seem what they are attempting to do with The Acolyte (which I am actually enjoying!) but the planned Rey-focused post-ST film…eh. Admittedly I never bothered to watch Rise of Skywalker, but where can the story possibly go? Is there any investment at all after the mess that was the sequel trilogy? I can’t see how the narrative can possibly be redeemed at this point, which is a shame because I do believe it started with a lot of promise in The Force Awakens that was squandered by a lack of vision, planning, and oversight, and the bizarre need to brutalise and kill off the legacy characters, marginalise the genuinely original and interesting new characters, and waste the immense acting talent they had at their disposal.
They’ve made no meaningful in-universe progress after the ST, the New Republic and Jedi have to be rebuilt again, except Rey is going to do it this time somehow, so what what the point of the last 30 years in the timeline? It’s different with Andor - we know where his story ends, but the series only makes Cassian’s sacrifice stronger, there’s emotional resonance in seeing his journey to Rogue One in knowing that it’s in service of the overall victory of the Rebellion (however undermined that victory is made by the ST).
But I digress. This rant really ended up being kind of off topic - apologies.
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Anyway. Andor is good! I liked it! Looking forward to season 2!
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roguefunpodcast · 4 years ago
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NEW EPISODE OF ROGUE FUN OUT NOW! Join your hosts as they break down the council scene, wax poetic about “welcome home,” and talk extensively about classism.
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authorclaribelortega · 5 years ago
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S2 Episode 6: Axie Oh & 90s Kpop
WRITE OR DIE PODCAST S2 E6: Axie Oh & 90s Kpop is live! This week @KatCho & @Claribel_ortega talk to @axieoh, about the New Visions Award, MFA programs & her books Rebel Seoul & Rogue Heart! + lots of k-pop fangirling!! #WordieMondays #Writingpodcast #RT
This week Kat & Claribel talk to Axie Oh, the New Visions Award winning author of Rebel Seoul & Rogue Heart! Axie discusses submitting to the New Visions contest, MFA programs, and the experience of writing her own heritage into her novels! Plus lots of k-pop fangirling!
About Axie Oh:Axie Oh is a first generation Korean American, born in NYC and raised in New Jersey. She studied Korean…
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