I grew up watching the OT on home video. I loved it dearly then and I love it dearly now (Despecialized, of course 😉)
As a teen, I was excited to see the PT in the theaters when the time came. At first, I didn’t love the PT, but I also didn’t hate it. Ep. 1 was fine and had lots of memorable moments. Ep, 2 was largely forgettable, and Ep. 3 was kind of awesome, but not all of it. However, as I grew older, I came to harbor more disdain for the PT and now I can’t be bothered to revisit it or any media closely associated with it.
When Disney announced the ST, I was once again filled with excitement. Once again, their opening episode, Ep. 7, was fine. Sure, it was a remake of Ep. 4, and it was filled with J. J. Abrams’ mystery boxes, but it had its moments. I didn’t love it, but it was serviceable-enough relaunching point. However, Ep. 8 absolutely annihilated any hope I had for the future of the franchise. How anyone can say Ep. 8 wasn’t a complete insult to everything Lucas (and to a lesser extent, Abrams) set up is astonishing. I never saw Ep. 9 and I hope I never do.
Years later, I heard good things about their new Disney+ venture, “The Mandalorian”. So, I decided to give it another go. It was mostly fine. They did some dumb stuff with it, but it had its moments and I liked the western-style, adventure-of-the-week format. Mando S2 was even more dumb stuff and it really started to lose its appeal, but the way they ended S2 rekindled my SW fire and I was cautiously reinvested. Then, “The Book of Boba Fett” happened and not only was the Boba Fett storyline unfaithful and atrocious, but the Mando S2.5 storyline they injected into it was a complete about-face to how they ended Mando S2.
Now, I’m truly, honestly, DONE with new Star Wars. Someday, I hope to read the better EU books and attempt to reset my headcanon so I can finally put this franchise to rest with honor and dignity.
I fell asleep during ep 9 in theatres and have never been down to rewatch it. Mandalorian i gave up early on when a guy flew by a spaceship and gave a thumbs up… but you should check our Andor! It’s pretty good!
I don’t even remember the thumbs-up scene, but that falls in line with the “dumb stuff” I mentioned before.
As for “Andor”, I heard it’s (maybe) the best Disney SW content yet. My problem with it is, but why Cassian Andor, and why should I care?
Like, don’t get me wrong. Rogue One was a solid SW film. A bit bland, but solid nonetheless. However, Cassian Andor wasn’t that interesting in it, so am I just supposed to just accept that his story was more significant than I originally thought? It sounds like a bad fandom-based news article headline. The same logic could easily apply to “Gonk: A Droid Story” and how if it wasn’t for Gonk on the Sand Crawler, R2-D2’s message from Leia to Obi Wan would never have been possible.
“Andor” or “Gonk” might be masterful storytellings, but ultimately, what’s the significance in the grand scheme of things, and is Disney milking this emaciated cow well beyond what we as audience are willing to go along with?
I didn’t actually know Cassian was from that movie! Someone else mentioned that to me when I was mid season lmao. I was watching it as a true one off kind of show with a totally new character!
I think the simple answer to why Andor, is that he is the type of character Tony Gilroy wanted to write about. His being situated in the star wars universe is mostly unimportant, aside from being an avenue to get disney funding. Andor could easily be sci-fi unrelated to Star Wars at all, there are some misc easter eggs and the Empire exists, but it’d be super easy to file the serial numbers off, and change some of the aesthetics and names.
Andor isn’t significant to “skywalker saga” Star Wars, he’s just some dude who is pretty competent who starts as a self interested disaffected lowlife dude, and who becomes radicalized to join the nascent rebel alliance. It’s just a good story, and I’m glad Tony Gilroy was able to get disney bux to fund it. Its easily the best Star Wars that Disney has made, maybe that anyone has made if I take off my rose-tinted glasses. It’s honestly kind of surprising to me that the script got past disney, given how they’ve gone about Star Wars.
Well said. If it was unaffiliated with the SW universe, I can see how it might benefit artistically and purely if its own merits, but its popularity probably would have suffered by being an obscure sci-if drama with no existing fan base to draw from. For that reason, I can’t say I blame Gilroy for working within the confines of the SW universe for this passion project. I just wish Disney would allocate this kind of talent with more creative freedom to their flagship productions. It seems an awful waste.
I’m a bit younger than you but I grew up with the '95 box set and saw the PT in theaters, similar experience, and I agree with your assessment of TFA, it’s not great but has its moments. Personally I really liked TLJ despite its flaws and it made me hope the series was finally about to go somewhere new. But yeah don’t bother with RoS, it’s a disjointed mess of a film made of IRL petty grudges played out on screen strung together with lame maguffin storytelling and “plot twists” from left field.
I can definitely see how Ep. 8 was a drastic departure from what preceded it. What I can’t see is where it was supposed to go. Its scorched-franchise approach suggested something better was ahead, when in reality, it squandered vital SW creative resources for shock value. That’s just my take, though.
Still, I thank you for your input and honesty. Also, I agree that, from what I know about Ep. 9, it was a begrudgingly petty film in response to the disruption that was Ep. 8. Two filmmakers in a squabble over the future of a franchise where one had nowhere to go, and the other had nothing left to deliver.
This is basically my starwars story too, though I skipped book of boba fett, and watched obi wan. Obi wan was a huge miss for me, felt like it was 3 times longer than it really had the juice for.
All that said, I loved Andor and am excited for season 2, though I have basically no interest in any future Star Wars beyond it.
I grew up watching the OT on home video. I loved it dearly then and I love it dearly now (Despecialized, of course 😉)
As a teen, I was excited to see the PT in the theaters when the time came. At first, I didn’t love the PT, but I also didn’t hate it. Ep. 1 was fine and had lots of memorable moments. Ep, 2 was largely forgettable, and Ep. 3 was kind of awesome, but not all of it. However, as I grew older, I came to harbor more disdain for the PT and now I can’t be bothered to revisit it or any media closely associated with it.
When Disney announced the ST, I was once again filled with excitement. Once again, their opening episode, Ep. 7, was fine. Sure, it was a remake of Ep. 4, and it was filled with J. J. Abrams’ mystery boxes, but it had its moments. I didn’t love it, but it was serviceable-enough relaunching point. However, Ep. 8 absolutely annihilated any hope I had for the future of the franchise. How anyone can say Ep. 8 wasn’t a complete insult to everything Lucas (and to a lesser extent, Abrams) set up is astonishing. I never saw Ep. 9 and I hope I never do.
Years later, I heard good things about their new Disney+ venture, “The Mandalorian”. So, I decided to give it another go. It was mostly fine. They did some dumb stuff with it, but it had its moments and I liked the western-style, adventure-of-the-week format. Mando S2 was even more dumb stuff and it really started to lose its appeal, but the way they ended S2 rekindled my SW fire and I was cautiously reinvested. Then, “The Book of Boba Fett” happened and not only was the Boba Fett storyline unfaithful and atrocious, but the Mando S2.5 storyline they injected into it was a complete about-face to how they ended Mando S2.
Now, I’m truly, honestly, DONE with new Star Wars. Someday, I hope to read the better EU books and attempt to reset my headcanon so I can finally put this franchise to rest with honor and dignity.
I fell asleep during ep 9 in theatres and have never been down to rewatch it. Mandalorian i gave up early on when a guy flew by a spaceship and gave a thumbs up… but you should check our Andor! It’s pretty good!
I don’t even remember the thumbs-up scene, but that falls in line with the “dumb stuff” I mentioned before.
As for “Andor”, I heard it’s (maybe) the best Disney SW content yet. My problem with it is, but why Cassian Andor, and why should I care?
Like, don’t get me wrong. Rogue One was a solid SW film. A bit bland, but solid nonetheless. However, Cassian Andor wasn’t that interesting in it, so am I just supposed to just accept that his story was more significant than I originally thought? It sounds like a bad fandom-based news article headline. The same logic could easily apply to “Gonk: A Droid Story” and how if it wasn’t for Gonk on the Sand Crawler, R2-D2’s message from Leia to Obi Wan would never have been possible.
“Andor” or “Gonk” might be masterful storytellings, but ultimately, what’s the significance in the grand scheme of things, and is Disney milking this emaciated cow well beyond what we as audience are willing to go along with?
I didn’t actually know Cassian was from that movie! Someone else mentioned that to me when I was mid season lmao. I was watching it as a true one off kind of show with a totally new character!
I think the simple answer to why Andor, is that he is the type of character Tony Gilroy wanted to write about. His being situated in the star wars universe is mostly unimportant, aside from being an avenue to get disney funding. Andor could easily be sci-fi unrelated to Star Wars at all, there are some misc easter eggs and the Empire exists, but it’d be super easy to file the serial numbers off, and change some of the aesthetics and names.
Andor isn’t significant to “skywalker saga” Star Wars, he’s just some dude who is pretty competent who starts as a self interested disaffected lowlife dude, and who becomes radicalized to join the nascent rebel alliance. It’s just a good story, and I’m glad Tony Gilroy was able to get disney bux to fund it. Its easily the best Star Wars that Disney has made, maybe that anyone has made if I take off my rose-tinted glasses. It’s honestly kind of surprising to me that the script got past disney, given how they’ve gone about Star Wars.
Well said. If it was unaffiliated with the SW universe, I can see how it might benefit artistically and purely if its own merits, but its popularity probably would have suffered by being an obscure sci-if drama with no existing fan base to draw from. For that reason, I can’t say I blame Gilroy for working within the confines of the SW universe for this passion project. I just wish Disney would allocate this kind of talent with more creative freedom to their flagship productions. It seems an awful waste.
I’m a bit younger than you but I grew up with the '95 box set and saw the PT in theaters, similar experience, and I agree with your assessment of TFA, it’s not great but has its moments. Personally I really liked TLJ despite its flaws and it made me hope the series was finally about to go somewhere new. But yeah don’t bother with RoS, it’s a disjointed mess of a film made of IRL petty grudges played out on screen strung together with lame maguffin storytelling and “plot twists” from left field.
I can definitely see how Ep. 8 was a drastic departure from what preceded it. What I can’t see is where it was supposed to go. Its scorched-franchise approach suggested something better was ahead, when in reality, it squandered vital SW creative resources for shock value. That’s just my take, though.
Still, I thank you for your input and honesty. Also, I agree that, from what I know about Ep. 9, it was a begrudgingly petty film in response to the disruption that was Ep. 8. Two filmmakers in a squabble over the future of a franchise where one had nowhere to go, and the other had nothing left to deliver.
This is basically my starwars story too, though I skipped book of boba fett, and watched obi wan. Obi wan was a huge miss for me, felt like it was 3 times longer than it really had the juice for.
All that said, I loved Andor and am excited for season 2, though I have basically no interest in any future Star Wars beyond it.