Andor (Star Wars: Andor) - Disney+

[Roy Focker]

On 3/26/2025 at 5:43 AM, Dynaman said:

Well, Phantom Menace gave us that and based on that the answer is NO!

I admit to watching CSpan coverage of the House and Senate from time to time.

Prequels also tried to be very kid friendly. You can't mix serious cerebral political discussions with a kid racing goofy looking cgi critters. They are too far apart. 

[TangledThorns]

1 hour ago, Roy Focker said:

Prequels also tried to be very kid friendly. You can't mix serious cerebral political discussions with a kid racing goofy looking cgi critters. They are too far apart. 

How about a show based on pod racing?!! It'll be like Speed Racer but in Star Wars form!!

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

Prequels also tried to be very kid friendly. You can't mix serious cerebral political discussions with a kid racing goofy looking cgi critters. They are too far apart. 

The space politics is best left to the Expanded Universe novels and whatnot.

I learned the other day there is apparently a novel released specifically as a tie-in for Andor last month - Reign of the Empire: the Mask of Fear - which gets into the political side of the early rebellion.

It does, I am reliably informed, continue the rather unflattering depiction of Mon Mothma as a naively idealistic to the point of being ineffective. 

Spoiler

She spends much of the story putting together a bill in the Senate to curtail Palpatine's executive power, only for Palpatine to then use his executive veto power to veto the line items that curtailed his authority while letting the various unrelated riders on the bill pass into law so that she'd lose all her negotiating power.  She is very surprised the self-proclaimed Emperor won't just meekly allow the senate to strip him of his autocratic power.

 

[pengbuzz]

27 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The space politics is best left to the Expanded Universe novels and whatnot.

I learned the other day there is apparently a novel released specifically as a tie-in for Andor last month - Reign of the Empire: the Mask of Fear - which gets into the political side of the early rebellion.

It does, I am reliably informed, continue the rather unflattering depiction of Mon Mothma as a naively idealistic to the point of being ineffective. 

  Hide contents

She spends much of the story putting together a bill in the Senate to curtail Palpatine's executive power, only for Palpatine to then use his executive veto power to veto the line items that curtailed his authority while letting the various unrelated riders on the bill pass into law so that she'd lose all her negotiating power.  She is very surprised the self-proclaimed Emperor won't just meekly allow the senate to strip him of his autocratic power.

 

And she's supposed to be one of the leaders of the Rebellion?

Are we sure she isn't related to a stormtrooper or something (she can't seem to hit her targets either)?

[Dynaman]

2 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

How about a show based on pod racing?!! It'll be like Speed Racer but in Star Wars form!!

We had a Speed Racer movie, the world pretty much agrees that was bad...

[Seto Kaiba]

36 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

And she's supposed to be one of the leaders of the Rebellion?

Are we sure she isn't related to a stormtrooper or something (she can't seem to hit her targets either)?

Yeah... despite everything, she is still supposed to be one of the leaders of the Rebellion.

Her role seems to be more political than anything, maintaining a Republic government-in-exile claim to legitimize the Rebel cause.  

I'm hoping they either scale her role in Andor's second season way back or that they actually give her something meaningful to do to advance the Rebel cause.

[Duke Togo]

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Her role seems to be more political than anything,

Are we watching the same show? Her entire plot in the first season is centered around her trying to hide all of the credits she's been funneling from her family fortune to the Rebel Alliance. She's financing them. Whatever she's doing in the senate is performative.

Edited March 28 by Duke Togo

[Big s]

7 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

Prequels also tried to be very kid friendly. You can't mix serious cerebral political discussions with a kid racing goofy looking cgi critters. They are too far apart. 

Tell that to Jar Jar. He was the ultimate politician 

 

6 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

How about a show based on pod racing?!! It'll be like Speed Racer but in Star Wars form!!

I’d watch it

 

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Are we sure she isn't related to a stormtrooper or something (she can't seem to hit her targets either)?

That whole bad shooting storm troopers thing has been totally debunked. They just got too cocky and were attempting to shoot left handed and over estimated their abilities. If they just fired right handed, Luke would’ve been toast

[Seto Kaiba]

On 3/27/2025 at 4:54 PM, Duke Togo said:

Are we watching the same show? Her entire plot in the first season is centered around her trying to hide all of the credits she's been funneling from her family fortune to the Rebel Alliance. She's financing them. Whatever she's doing in the senate is performative.

Pretty sure we are.

Like you say, her whole plot in the first season of Andor is centered around her trying to cover her own arse because she did an inadequate job of laundering the money when she gave 400,000 credits to the Rebellion from her own accounts.  She's not trying to cover up continuing contributions, just the one she's already made.  Her only other involvement with the story is to complain about Luthen's team actually advancing the Rebel agenda.  It doesn't present her as leading anything, really.  The people actually leading the various rebel cells seem to consider her annoying.

Her role, respective to Luthen, seems to be very similar to her role in other Star Wars media.  That of the figurehead who is mostly just in the way or underfoot while the Rebellion's actual leaders are trying to get things done.

 

Incidentally, I decided to pick up a copy of The Mask of Fear since it's supposed to be a tie-in to Andor and such.  By the end of the first Mon Mothma section, it definitely feels like it's continuing the trend in other post-reboot Star Wars media.

Spoiler

Partway in, The Mask of Fear makes note that Mon Mothma is a widely and increasingly unpopular senator both galaxy-wide and among her own constituents.   So much so that members of her staff are quitting without notice.  She's also depicted as being very judgemental in a holier-than-thou sort of way.  Her interactions with other senators always seem to involve her mentally complaining about her colleagues at length and branding them hypocrites for one reason or another.

There's a second in her second part where she goes almost directly from looking down her nose at people who are willing to compromise to reach a solution that doesn't strictly align with their values to musing about how her position is so unpopular she'll have to rely on the returning Separatist senators to have any hopes of passing a bill which curtails Palpatine's authority because their views already align with hers.

It offers another dimension to her relationship with her husband Perrin, though.  His ability to get along with anyone that so irritated her in Andor is depicted as an essential feature of her office.  He's the one who does the schmoozing at social functions because she's too stiff to be likable.  

 

The book definitely seems to be leaning hard into the idea that the real Senator leading the Rebellion was Bail Organa... though even he is the less popular replacement for the late Padme Amidala.

 

 

On 3/27/2025 at 7:26 PM, Big s said:

Tell that to Jar Jar. He was the ultimate politician 

I don't think anyone saw that twist coming.

Jar-Jar Binks, acting Republic Senator for Naboo and unwitting instigator of Palpatine's master plan to overthrow the Republic.

 

On 3/27/2025 at 7:26 PM, Big s said:

I’d watch it

Just cast Vin Diesel as the lead and have him talk about family like it's a Fast and the Furious sequel... nobody will notice the difference.

[Duke Togo]

7 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

400,000 credits to the Rebellion from her own accounts

It's actually more than that. The 400k is what she hasn't been able to cover for. 

[sh9000]

Do or Die.

 

[Big s]

3 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Do or Die.

 

There is no why 

[sh9000]

Stealing the TIE Fighter.

 

[Duke Togo]

The season 2 reviews are in, and to the surprise of no one, they're stellar.

i wish they weren't holding this thing until 9PM EST tomorrow. I go to bed at 10.

[Big s]

2 hours ago, Duke Togo said:

i wish they weren't holding this thing until 9PM EST tomorrow. I go to bed at 10.

I guess I’ve got Last of us for Sundays, Gundam and maybe Andor for Tuesdays. Feels a little like network days again 

[Duke Togo]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

I guess I’ve got Last of us for Sundays, Gundam and maybe Andor for Tuesdays. Feels a little like network days again 

Yeah, but we're getting three episodes every Tuesday night. I can get one in, but not all three. 

Edited April 22 by Duke Togo

[Seto Kaiba]

I got my parents started watching Andor tonight after months of bending their ear about using those streaming services I pay for... 

They absolutely loved the first three episodes, and are keen to see more. 😁

I can hardly wait for S2.  

[Big s]

31 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

They absolutely loved the first three episodes

I’ve never heard that before about Andor

[Seto Kaiba]

Just now, Big s said:

I’ve never heard that before about Andor

It works way better if you watch all three in one sitting, rather than the two and then one that Disney did on launch.

[Big s]

4 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It works way better if you watch all three in one sitting, rather than the two and then one that Disney did on launch.

Yeah, that was a massive mistake 

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

Yeah, that was a massive mistake 

Indeed... it would not be unreasonable to assume Disney's three-at-a-time release plan for Andor's second season is built on understanding why that was a mistake.

Still, Andor holds up REALLY well in rewatching.  My folks enjoyed seeing it enough to ask me 'round tomorrow specifically for the next three.  They're not even really that into Star Wars fans, but Andor seems to have really hooked them.

Edited April 22 by Seto Kaiba

[tekering]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

They're not even really that into Star Wars

That's precisely Andor's market.  There aren't enough space wizards and dogfights and laser swords and aliens to satisfy the hardcore fandom... at least, here in Japan.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

That's precisely Andor's market.

Unfortunately it wasn’t for season one. Hopefully this season will be just as god if not better and actually gain a major viewership this time around 

[Seto Kaiba]

12 hours ago, tekering said:

That's precisely Andor's market.  There aren't enough space wizards and dogfights and laser swords and aliens to satisfy the hardcore fandom... at least, here in Japan.

Like Rogue One, it's a more mature kind of Star Wars story that eschews a lot of the inherently self-limiting concepts found elsewhere in the franchise.  

Aiming just for the hardcore fandom is a self-limiting strategy too... you have to try new things if you want to bring in new viewers, and the various tropes surrounding the Jedi and other Force users are so old and so well-trodden that they feel quite stale.

My earnest hope is that Andor's second season will prove that Star Wars doesn't NEED the glowstick society to be embedded in every aspect of storytelling to succeed.  It's a big galaxy, and the Jedi can't be involved in everything interesting or momentous going on.

 

10 hours ago, Big s said:

Unfortunately it wasn’t for season one. Hopefully this season will be just as god if not better and actually gain a major viewership this time around 

Andor was one of those few Disney+ titles that steadily gained viewers as it went, rather than losing them with each episode.

With reviewers raving about it (a 98% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes so far), and the series being pretty favorably looked-upon in general, I have a good feeling about season two.

[sh9000]

Season 2 Episodes 1-3 Declassified.

[Duke Togo]

I stayed up to watch all three episodes and am glad I did. Good start to the season.

[Mog]

Yep, brutal in a bunch of different ways (including that idiot faction and the mother-in-law dinner from hell).

Luthen knows what needs to be done.

And now we know why Cassian is so damn surly by Rogue One.

Thank goodness they’re releasing each arc together.

Edited April 23 by Mog

[Roy Focker]

I don't think they needed to release the episodes in batches like this.  One of the complaints I heard from people who couldn't get into Andor was that is the start was too slow. First episode of this season was action pack and full of adventure and so were the other two episodes. There's action to keep people coming back one episode at a time. I'm fine with the episode being releasing in batches as only have to subscribe to Disney Plus for just 1 month this time.

[Mog]

Being forced to stay with the idiot faction for three weeks would have driven me nuts.

Even poor Andor didn’t have to endure that length of time.

[sh9000]

Season 2 Episode 1 will air on ABC tonight at 10/9 central.

[electric indigo]

On 3/24/2025 at 11:19 PM, Duke Togo said:

Is there a force choke in this thing?

I'm pretty sure now
 

Spoiler

it's Dedra trying to remember who else she put in that Signal group chat...

 

[Roy Focker]

I have theory. B2emo's brain will be installed in K2so. Like how Lando's droid was installed in the Falcon. It would explain how they override the deflaut Imperial programming from taking over and how k2so acts.

[Hikuro]

6 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

I have theory. B2emo's brain will be installed in K2so. Like how Lando's droid was installed in the Falcon. It would explain how they override the deflaut Imperial programming from taking over and how k2so acts.

Spoiler

After watching Episode 3, I'm gonna venture probably not, I mean, they left B2 back on the wheat planet and all that. Who's to say they'll even come back? 

I dug the three episodes, 3 being the best one of the batch so far, but episode 1 was interesting. 2 I could not stinking believe 

Spoiler

They were all gonna settle it playing F*)(&H rock paper scissors, my god....dumbest wanna be rebels I've EVER seen. 

 

[Mog]

Someone referred to B2 as a loyal doggo that misses his human.

I never get that feeling from K-2SO.  Bastard loves Cassian, but will happily kill anyone else (either physically or with his sarcasm).

Edited April 24 by Mog

[Seto Kaiba]

Caught the first three episodes of Andor S2 in my weekly watch group.

It's good.  It's real good.

I am a bit disappointed, but not the least bit surprised, that Mon Mothma's part is once again a largely unnecessary sideshow about covering her own arse.

Spoiler

Cassian's theft of that TIE Fighter prototype is delightfully awkward.  Everything's fine until he has to actually fly the bloody thing and discovers its controls are nothing like what he trained for, leading to some really spectacularly undignified figuring-things-out on the fly.

Even more undignified and entertaining is that rebel group who accidentally spoils his attempt to hand the TIE off.  Never mind a boot, those idiots would struggle to empty water out of a colander.  I'm not sure what part drives it home best... that they're trapped in the jungle with no survival training to speak of, that they almost immediately fall out over the question of command and start killing each other, or that they try to settle the matter with an elaborate game of rock-paper-scissors that not only distracts the whole group enough for Cassian to escape but also leaves them defenseless against the local predatory fauna.  With allies like that, who needs enemies?  

The Imperials on that farming world are surprisingly scummy even by Star Wars standards.  Hasn't Bix suffered enough?  First her idiot boyfriend sells Cassian out driven by meatheaded misplaced jealousy, then he gets shot dead attacking Pre-Mor security, then she gets captured and tortured by the Empire, and now an Imperial officer attempts to sexually assault her after she refuses his advances?  Yeesh.  Brasso doesn't make it out alive, and B2EMO is left behind.

Mon Mothma's portion of the story is rather disappointingly still focused on covering up her early financial contributions to the rebellion.  She's not really involved with any of the day-to-day business of running the rebellion.  She's just one of their sources of funding now that she has a proper money laundering apparatus in place.  She spends her segments of the story this time fussing over her daughter's arranged marriage to the son of the guy who's laundering the money for her... perhaps nonsensically so, as she's upset about it even though her daughter is clearly and unambiguously indicating she's not just a willing participant she's an eager volunteer who would be actively seeking out such a traditional union anyway.  The only thing keeping it relevant to goings-on at all is that her middleman for the arrangement starts getting cold feet about it due to how the rebellion is affecting his business, and so she has a breakdown and gets white girl wasted at the reception and starts drunk dancing while Luthen deals with that liability she's created. 

All in all, a pretty damn great story.  

 

Between this, Rebels, Ahsoka, and The Mask of Fear, I'm really starting to think that Disney or someone in charge of the creative team (e.g. Filoni) has something against Mon Mothma as a character though.