Online Series: Star Wars Andor on D+

[Arthur Morgan]

If anything this is Disney paying out the ass to try to salvage the reputation of the IP more than it is a "cash grab." I mean its fine if you want more thrills and adventure beats per minute. I can't say I don't entirely judge but whatever, different strokes for different folks. But a cash grab, to me, is a half baked and soulless continuation of a legacy property that is so artistically deficient that its only purpose is to capitalize on nostalgia/familiarity rather than to tell a compelling/entertaining story. Something like the Matrix 4 or Dumb and Dumber 2, just off the top of my head.

It's fine if you didn't like Andor, but classifying it as a cash grab is really puzzling. Most people agree it exceeds the quality of the title that inspired it (Rogue One) and actually enhances that original project. Disney took a risk investing so heavily in a series like this precisely because of the demographic you seem to be a part of, fans that won't like a slow burn with added layers of complexity and nuance Star Wars has honestly never attempted outside the old EU. If there were more fans like you, substantially more, it could've been a financial disaster for them. They took the risk anyway. I don't know how that aligns with the concept of a cash grab.

I was referring to Rogue Out as the cash grab, I just think the idea of Rogue One is stupid. who really cares how they got the plans to destroy the death star, feels like a cash grab and yeah almost everything Disney has released has been pretty bad overall. I understand Andor is prob the best they have made I just dont like it lol
I did really like the jail break episode but other than that, for someone who watches tv pretty late and wake up early, I found it difficult to not fall asleep to

 

[HanSolo]

I was referring to Rogue Out as the cash grab, I just think the idea of Rogue One is stupid. who really cares how they got the plans to destroy the death star, feels like a cash grab and yeah almost everything Disney has released has been pretty bad overall. I understand Andor is prob the best they have made I just dont like it lol
I did really like the jail break episode but other than that, for someone who watches tv pretty late and wake up early, I found it difficult to not fall asleep to

Well. That probably contributes but you do really have to want to buy in on what the series is selling to appreciate it completely.

As for Rogue One, I have my gripes with it but I don't think it's bad enough to be a pure cash grab. And we can disagree. To me, it's a fine level supplement that gave fans a taste of "classic era" (e.g. the original trilogy era) Star Wars with a story that, yeah, didn't HAVE to be told. But if you want to be granular, the majority of star wars media is stories that didn't have to be told. We didn't need the prequels to expand Darth Vader's story and some might argue that the prequels hurt the character's legacy to a degree.

For me Andor helps me enjoy Rogue One a bit more as taking the show, Rogue One, and A New Hope as one continuous stream of events. And the last arc of season 2 helps sell that.

But if you enjoyed the prison break arc you might enjoy episodes 7-9. The problem is you can't fully appreciate it without watching the first six episodes. It is a slow burn and a gradual build up but a superb crescendo that makes the patience worth it if you can manage it.

 

[LarKing]

hows 2nd season? is it like the 1st season? I hated every episode of this show other than the jail break one.

I just found it incredibly boring and not very interesting overall. the jail break was really the only time I wanted to watch more. then I feel asleep multiple times trying to get through this snooze fest

Yeah, Michael Bay movies are probably more up your alley.

 

[Jack Straw]

Personally I like Rogue One; I think it's one of the better Star Wars films since the original three. And I like it better than any of the streaming content other than Andor. Did it need to be told? Of course not. Very few films or TV shows NEED to be produced. Did the prequels need to be told? No. Did the sequels need to be told? Hell no.

Andor is certainly no cash grab. LotR RoP, now there's a cash grab. The sequels were all cash grabs imo (although I sort of enjoyed the first one). But yeah, if you want light sabers and force lightning and all that Jedi shit, Andor is not for you.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Well. That probably contributes but you do really have to want to buy in on what the series is selling to appreciate it completely.

As for Rogue One, I have my gripes with it but I don't think it's bad enough to be a pure cash grab. And we can disagree. To me, it's a fine level supplement that gave fans a taste of "classic era" (e.g. the original trilogy era) Star Wars with a story that, yeah, didn't HAVE to be told. But if you want to be granular, the majority of star wars media is stories that didn't have to be told. We didn't need the prequels to expand Darth Vader's story and some might argue that the prequels hurt the character's legacy to a degree.

For me Andor helps me enjoy Rogue One a bit more as taking the show, Rogue One, and A New Hope as one continuous stream of events. And the last arc of season 2 helps sell that.

But if you enjoyed the prison break arc you might enjoy episodes 7-9. The problem is you can't fully appreciate it without watching the first six episodes. It is a slow burn and a gradual build up but a superb crescendo that makes the patience worth it if you can manage it.

I watched all of season 1, I just had a hard to getting into and u make alot of good points. I dunno I kinda lost alot of my star wars fandom over the disney years unfortunately.
I might give season 2 a chance though, just need to resub to Disney+ again lol

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Yeah, Michael Bay movies are probably more up your alley.

sounds horrible. just because I don't like this slow burn of a show doesn't mean I have bad taste in movies, I got around 4-500 blurays/4Ks and I have a hard time thinking you would dislike them all

I honestly thought Star Wars has been pretty terrible all round since the originals, Mando was fun for a few seasons but fell off imo too.

 

[HanSolo]

I watched all of season 1, I just had a hard to getting into and u make alot of good points. I dunno I kinda lost alot of my star wars fandom over the disney years unfortunately.
I might give season 2 a chance though, just need to resub to Disney+ again lol

Maybe you might be better served taking a little more time off from it and trying again watching the full series, committing real time and attention to it and trying to watch not thinking about the fact that it's a Disney product. In my opinion it's the strongest Star Wars project since the original trilogy. It doesn't have the same pace of adventure, thrills, and humor that defined Star Wars before so anyone's mileage will vary on its place among the best Star Wars stories ever told, but if you can be open minded to a different tone and presentation style, in my view it's the strongest piece of filmmaking and visual storytelling in the entire franchise.

A couple weaker story arcs (episodes 1-3 of both seasons) hold it back from genuine masterpiece but relatively speaking it's still a master class in writing, directing, characterization, and yeah even pacing. Some find the slow burn difficult to deal with, but to me the use of ramping tensions and fleshing out of characters and scenarios makes the big pay off moments far more worth it.

I can't guarantee you'll have the same experience but I do think you can have a good time with the series if you commit patience and full attention to it.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Maybe you might be better served taking a little more time off from it and trying again watching the full series, committing real time and attention to it and trying to watch not thinking about the fact that it's a Disney product. In my opinion it's the strongest Star Wars project since the original trilogy. It doesn't have the same pace of adventure, thrills, and humor that defined Star Wars before so anyone's mileage will vary on its place among the best Star Wars stories ever told, but if you can be open minded to a different tone and presentation style, in my view it's the strongest piece of filmmaking and visual storytelling in the entire franchise.

A couple weaker story arcs (episodes 1-3 of both seasons) hold it back from genuine masterpiece but relatively speaking it's still a master class in writing, directing, characterization, and yeah even pacing. Some find the slow burn difficult to deal with, but to me the use of ramping tensions and fleshing out of characters and scenarios makes the big pay off moments far more worth it.

I can't guarantee you'll have the same experience but I do think you can have a good time with the series if you commit patience and full attention to it.

I always kinda viewed Star Wars as a no thinking just watch and kill time type. but ur prob right. I am open mind to alot of stuff and even have gone back on stuff I disliked as a teen and now love. so maybe Ill rewatch it from season 1 again.

I recently did some renovations and went through all my movies and found my Star Wars was thinking about doing a prequels and originals rewatch. maybe Ill watch everything cannon, I'll prob skip 7-9 though lol

 

[Hasbro]

Personally I like Rogue One; I think it's one of the better Star Wars films since the original three. And I like it better than any of the streaming content other than Andor. Did it need to be told? Of course not. Very few films or TV shows NEED to be produced. Did the prequels need to be told? No. Did the sequels need to be told? Hell no.

Andor is certainly no cash grab. LotR RoP, now there's a cash grab. The sequels were all cash grabs imo (although I sort of enjoyed the first one). But yeah, if you want light sabers and force lightning and all that Jedi shit, Andor is not for you.

As a companion to New Hope, Rogue One gave me more of a feeling the Rebellion hung on by the skin of their teeth, fleshed out the empire as baddies and let you know why Vader was having none of it on Tantive IV.

History buff so all the allusion are heroin to me.

 

[kingsfan28]

I just thought the slow burn Star Wars was boring, It's find of people love it, I just don't.
I also didn't like Rogue One so I had next to no interest on something involving a character from it.
I just thought it was a giant cash grab

I've never seen it at all as a cash grab. The story of Rogue One right there in the 2nd paragraph of the opening crawl of Star Wars.

Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the DEATH
STAR, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet.

The movies last act is as good of Star Wars as there is. The action rivals anything in any of the Original Trilogy.

This is not directed at you, but I think today the movie fans have been put into action addiction . That is if something exciting isn't happening in every scene, they can't get behind it and dismiss it. The slow build of a really good story, with great character development leading to the big payoff at the end is something they can't wrap their heads around. They can't fathom letting a movie breath between scenes. The Rise of Skywalker suffered from this greatly, it was one battle after another and exhausting.
Trying to get my nephews to watch "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly " was an absolute chore until the ending when the payoff happened. They both loved it.

If you want to talk about cash grabs, look no further than "the Fast franchise" . What are they up to now, 12 films with another on the way?

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I've never seen it at all as a cash grab. The story of Rogue One right there in the 2nd paragraph of the opening crawl of Star Wars.

Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the DEATH
STAR, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet.

The movies last act is as good of Star Wars as there is. The action rivals anything in any of the Original Trilogy.

This is not directed at you, but I think today the movie fans have been put into action addiction . That is if something exciting isn't happening in every scene, they can't get behind it and dismiss it. The slow build of a really good story, with great character development leading to the big payoff at the end is something they can't wrap their heads around. They can't fathom letting a movie breath between scenes. The Rise of Skywalker suffered from this greatly, it was one battle after another and exhausting.
Trying to get my nephews to watch "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly " was an absolute chore until the ending when the payoff happened. They both loved it.

If you want to talk about cash grabs, look no further than "the Fast franchise" . What are they up to now, 12 films with another on the way?

well im sorry I just thought when Rogue One released thats exactly what it was, I also didnt like it very much, it was okay dont get me wrong but the idea behind it I thought was stupid and lazy, a story about something no one really needed to know. Fast has been a cash grab for a very long time lol.

and Good The Bad And The Ugly is prob my fav movie of al time.

I do agree with you about todays movies fans, personally I have a tough time getting into most new movies now a days.

I already said Id give Andor another try though and be open minded.

 

[Sanderson]

well im sorry I just thought when Rogue One released thats exactly what it was, I also didnt like it very much, it was okay dont get me wrong but the idea behind it I thought was stupid and lazy, a story about something no one really needed to know. Fast has been a cash grab for a very long time lol.

and Good The Bad And The Ugly is prob my fav movie of al time.

I do agree with you about todays movies fans, personally I have a tough time getting into most new movies now a days.

I already said Id give Andor another try though and be open minded.

There was nothing stupid or lazy about it, nor was it a cash grab.

"I don't like the idea, therefore it is a cash grab" is also about as useless an argument as it gets.
As is "the story didn't need to be told". No story needs to be told. The original Star Wars didn't need to be told. Empire strikes Back didn't need to be told either, as the original was a self-contained movie.

Rogue One took big risks. It didn't have big stars headlining it, nor were the main characters well known characters from the franchise. It was also a very different kind of movie compared to the saga-movies that came before. That's the exact opposite of a cash grab, because a cash grab takes something you know will work and draw in the audience, using famous characters and a known formula, not entirely new characters and a completely different approach. You normally don't go and kill off your entire cast of heroes either.

This movie was actually a passion-project from John Knoll, mostly known for his work at ILM and not someone usually involved with story-telling. He pitched the original outline, and it was developed from there.

 

[Jack Straw]

As a companion to New Hope, Rogue One gave me more of a feeling the Rebellion hung on by the skin of their teeth, fleshed out the empire as baddies and let you know why Vader was having none of it on Tantive IV.

History buff so all the allusion are heroin to me.

Andor + Rogue One does add a sense of history to the story. You realize that Luke, Solo, and Leia aren't the only heroes. Cassian, Kleya, Jyn and her father, and especially Luthen... they all played vital roles in the rebellion. Obviously you can enjoy Star Wars without knowing about any of them, everyone did when the first film came out, but adding some meaningful history (as opposed to fanservice trash... looking at you again Rings of Power) to a story is certainly a reasonable thing to do.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Got a little sidetracked and wasn't able to follow season 2 week by week, but I finished it this weekend.
Man, this season really took off after the weak first act. Episodes 8, 9 and 10 was an incredible string of episodes. Maybe the best Star Wars content ever made for those 3 episodes.

I think I'd put it above season 1 now, but it's close. I really should have re-watched season 1 beforehand; I regret that.

I of course also re-watched Rogue One for the first time since 2016 after finishing it as well, and it definitely increased my appreciation for it. Outside of the original trilogy, it's the best SW film.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

There was nothing stupid or lazy about it, nor was it a cash grab.

"I don't like the idea, therefore it is a cash grab" is also about as useless an argument as it gets.
As is "the story didn't need to be told". No story needs to be told. The original Star Wars didn't need to be told. Empire strikes Back didn't need to be told either, as the original was a self-contained movie.

Rogue One took big risks. It didn't have big stars headlining it, nor were the main characters well known characters from the franchise. It was also a very different kind of movie compared to the saga-movies that came before. That's the exact opposite of a cash grab, because a cash grab takes something you know will work and draw in the audience, using famous characters and a known formula, not entirely new characters and a completely different approach. You normally don't go and kill off your entire cast of heroes either.

This movie was actually a passion-project from John Knoll, mostly known for his work at ILM and not someone usually involved with story-telling. He pitched the original outline, and it was developed from there.

a story about getting the plans to destroy the death star felt like a lack of ideas to me

well I dont care if they took big risks I didn't like the movie that much, I thought the idea of it was stupid and something that wasn't important. its fine if you disagree but thats my thoughts on it.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Really liked S1. I watched season 2's first 3 arcs thinking it felt too close to human everyday life (some examples come to mind, but mostly from the later part of the show: the hotel clerks and check in, the alcohol flask, the dog's collar, - lots of details that didn't feel really aligned with previous Star Wars world building). That being said, episodes 7-8-9 are absolutely fantastic. And the last 3 episodes are just about as good, and rang true to the Star Wars universe so it all comes together very well.

 

[Hivemind]

Rogue One took big risks. It didn't have big stars headlining it

Yes and no.

It didn't have big A-list Hollywood Stars, but it did intentionally try to draw in the foreign box office by tapping foreign stars. Casting Donnie Yen and Wen Jiang was a pretty obvious play at raising interest in Asia, and Diego Luna had a pretty solid start to his career in Mexico and Spanish-speaking markets. It also leaned pretty heavily into some up-and-comers (Luna and Riz Ahmed) and actors with indie and/or film buff clout (Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker, and Felicty Jones who was fresh off her BAFTA & Oscar nominations for The Theory of Everything). Even Alan Tudyk has a cult following. It wasn't a bunch of A-Listers, but it definitely wasn't a cast that nobody had ever heard of.

Further still, the only time Star Wars has ever really gone for established A-Listers was the prequel trilogy.