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Andor |  | |
The ReWatchers
Re-watching the 1st season I stop to take some notes lest it all get forgotten again.
Several elements of confused story through half of the 1st season,
Somewhat baffled at how Andor, after the big heist thought he could stroll about in public on an Imperial controlled world. He already knew about the two men he had killed as well as several more as he shot his way out of town. Upon his return to Ferrix He was told they knew and were looking for him.
Maybe they did not know about the big heist, where he and his friends barged their way onto an Imperial facility, got several more people killed and presumed he had not been photographed at some point by a security camera? Hard to believe, then upon his breaking company with Vel, who should have at least said, lay low and don't immediately go to any Imperial controlled world. chaulk up to inconsistent writing, The character is a hot head, not the most prudent of men, we get that but also is shrewd and intuitive.
He felt the Empire did not care, petty theft, walk right in and take what you want and they are more prone to cover it up. Killing men, mixed in with a major heist - he should have differentiated. And he had been in the system. He should have known they could tie his name to his image and not risk getting picked up by some storm trooper, which is what happened but they dealt with it in a manner to introduce the prison sequences.
Luthen likewise seems to be inconsistently handled. After organizing the heist the next more would have been for him to go wherever the money was taken (presumably Yavin) and run his show from there. He did not need Mon Mothma or her money anymore. He certainly felt the desire to deliver yet another bloody nose to the Empire and could easily have sweetened the pot in the scene with Saw Guererra with some cash on top of the spare parts he was offering in return for air support for some rebel Saw did not want to deal with. To continue to hang out on Coruscant playing the part of the antiquities dealer, at risk when he could have been safer elsewhere and more easily communicate with the various operatives in the network he had made reference to.
ReWatcher General Notes.
2025 Rewatch The Phantom Menace Episode 1 (1999). We start the story at a point in time where the Trade Federation of Newt Gunray has attempted to usurpt the planet Naboo in order to force a treaty that allows their presence on the planet to use as a base. (Taxation of trade routes - a Colonial issue from the 1700's however in Star Wars the Trade Federation has ships to transport materials in and appear to at least have some value added unlike the English who just wanted a cut) Having sided with Darth Sidious (and his apprentice Maul) we see them attempt various stratagems to take over Naboo, using Droids and the nasty shielded roller attack platforms) . Annikin is a child, albeit one with a pod racer, the convergence in the force.
2025 Rewatch Attack of the Clones Episode 2 (2002) takes place 10 years later, the boy has become an apprentice under Obi-Wan his weak acting a grind on the nerves as we go through the courtship with Amidala as the Separatists now led by Count Dooku or Tyrannus forms an alliance with The Trade Federation, still with Newt Gunray who felt betrayed by Sidious 10 years earlier for having pulled the rug on Naboo. We're not privy to the details through we do know the "Courts" try to get rid of him 3 times alluding to Seperatis malaise with the Republic though Gunray and the Federation are with the Separatists so it doesn't make any sense. Malistare and the banking guild join the pact. The vaguely defined Separatists consisted of what? The vast Trade Federation and it's various subject, dependent and associated worlds? The Insect planet of Genosia providing the Droids that the trade federation was to take possession of. At the end of the movie both sides appear with an array of tanks, transports, air and space ships without any introduction much less the all important question of "Who paid for it all?" But that is Star Wars for you.
2024 Rewatch Revenge of the Sith Episode 3 (2005) (1 year later) The action speeds up as we race to conclusion after 10 years of Clone Wars, Anniken decapitates Dooku- Clone Wars over, turns to the Dark Side and attacks the Jedi Temple, Sidious overcomes Yoda in the Senate pod room. The transition from Coruscant to nasty lava world where we see Obi-Wan & Anniken fight was harsh.
2025 Watching Andor Season 2, Rogue 1 (2016) and A New Hope (Episode 4 -1977) Given the roughly 37 year gap between Andor and New Hope, not a bad job of keeping the continuity. In Rogue one I wonder about the tactical need or rationale to visit to the Death Star base planet. (Of course other than to film Star Wars while it is raining) They knew where the Death Star plans were being kept, time was of the essence why not go straight there? Yet we sidetrack in a hopes of capturing the chief scientist of a heavily guarded Imperial facility so he can personally explain to the folks on Yavin about his booby trapped Death Star (the message was specific enough) or kill him? - Andor's secret orders which is likewise baffling, the thing was already built! Also watched 1/2 of Season 1. Season 2 brings a level of granularity that to my mind sets the standard against which all should be compared and strive to attain.
Interregnum
Hardbound books from the early 1980's featured various science fiction images ensconced by commentary which in my case discussed the science fiction genre and some make-believe history of the Galaxy, probably as an extension of Issac Asimov's World and with it's various Interregnums. Later came "Dune" which took place hundreds of thousands of years in the future in which the mechanical minds of computers had been outlawed. It had been so long since Herbert's "Butlarian Jihad" that no one even knew what a robot was. Subsequently Star Wars genre of starting us off on a desert planet complete with Fremen (Tuscan Raiders) as well as worm people might have been seen as a take off of the Dune series. Conscious of this we introduced the Tatoonine's 2nd sun and "A long time ago.." byline to make it look and sound like any similarities to someone else's work was just a coincidence. I feel Star Wars in similar manner to Dune takes place hundreds of thousands of years after Dune - Itself covering several thousand years and that we exist several hundreds of thousands of years after Star Wars. At least "A long time ago.." is felt to be accurate, but it's the same Galaxy. (Closer to our timeline it all somehow devolved into humanity being pursued by inhuman Cyborg creatures aka Battlestar Galactica) In similar manner we introduce breakages of more than several years in the Skywalker saga.
1st Interregnum Between 1983's Return of the jedi and 1999's The Phantom Menace - a 16 year gap in direct Skywalker - related storyline.
2nd Interregnum Between 2005's "Revenge of the Sith" and 2015's "The Force Awakens" - a 10 year Skywalker gap. Book literature. Noteably: John Jackson Miller's 2014 novel A New Dawn and Chuck Wendig's Trilogy: Aftermath (2015), Life Debt (2016) and Empire's End (2017) deal with filling the 30 year gap between the events after the "Return of the Jedi", Briefly, the core worlds flock to join the Alliance forming "The New Republic", the remnants of the Empire collect, battle and are defeated a year later and flee to the outer rim and so-called "unknown regions" where they attempt to re-organize, rebuild and are infiltrated and pre-empted by Sidious and Snope and returning as "The 1st Order" utilizing new tactics and methods.
Later Movies
Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2018)
The Force Awakens Set 30 years after the end of the original trilogy, the indecisive Republic vs. the "Empire" or "First Order". Hoping to catch elements of the original Star Wars (Disney acquired the Skywalker Saga in 2012) it's the Rebellion against the Empire with a new set of characters Poe, Rey and Finn, (a disgruntled stormtrooper). That this often overlooked movie needs re-watching is an understatement. It is the worst of the lot. The main male lead characters meet, hit it off then are separated until the end of the movie. When I first watched Star Wars I was about 13 and then only dimly aware of why I liked it so much - the interaction between the two lead characters. The fanzines such as Marvel's "Epic" magazine raved about this. Where would the entire franchise be without it? We can only guess.. Perhaps in the dump heap along with other science fiction big ticket productions such as John Carter of Mars - which was going well enough until they killed off Bryan Cranston's character or that Green Lantern movie where one of the leads clearly disliked the other. Both are well forgotten. Had they hit it off they could have been great. So why in The Force Awakens the main characters are separated is beyond my comprehension.
Notes on Episode 2
The Cloners of Kamino The pseudo creepy aliens of Kamino drew a gasp from my 4 year old who up to that point had taken in stride the array of cuddly aliens thus far introduced. That the Kaminoans would train, feed, equip and arm an entire army on the 10 year earlier promissory of the typographical siphu-diaz (Sidious) without any sort of payment and include a fleet of ships makes absolutely no sense. Later allowing their highly regarded cloning technology to fall into Sidious hands. They clearly believed both it and the clones to be their "property" and seemed sophisticated enough to make sure whoever might try to do so be unsuccessful in raising so much as one clone. The movies like to grab you with their "in the nick of time" saves - which I've come to expect and enjoy as well as their shock and awe fleet expansion - from talking about it to realization all in the same movie! A repeating motive.
Cowboy/007 Obi-Wan When Fett got away from Obi Wan on Kamino, he should have called it and gone back to Coruscant for instructions, certainly to invade a sovereign world as if he was James Bond (007) does not at all seems Jedi-like, especially after his ship was shot up. A 3 man delegation should have knocked on their front door demanding answers. There is enough materials in the 2nd movie to cover 3 movies or a one season mini series.
Fringe Elements
The Shroud of the Dark Side, Yoda senses Annikin's anguish half a galaxy away for having killed the Tuskans though he and Windu are unaware of Sidious' aura while sitting in the same room with him. Some high level masking was going on and I believe it was emanating of that Father/Son/Daughter Force world Annikin and Obi-Wan visited during the Clone Wars series. Annikin's balancing of the force did not have to do with him throwing Sidious off the platform. I think the Clone War's cool calm and collected Annikin returned to the Force world, created a permanent "stand in" who later became Darth Vader. And from there balances the Force. (Idiotic that Obi-Wan would ever refer to his former apprentice and friend as "Darth" - it isn't even a name.) In one of the later movies we see Luke Skywalker, while on another planet project an image of himself to concentrate the Imperial's fire. That is what I am talking about albeit a much more permanent and autonomous duplicate.
Exegol In one of the later movies Sidious raises a fleet of Star Destroyers. I believe this is the same fleet that, after the third movie's Death Star destruction, receive orders of some kind to report to the Sith world Exegol where they are put on ice until later called for. The way they are portrayed - an entire fleet, whipped up out of thin air with little or no background or explanation. Going back to the 3rd movie- what would they have done? Return to Coruscant and elect a new leader. Empire and Rebellion conflict going on.
Who is Annikin's Father? Shmee Skywalker said their was no father. To which I say poppycock.
In the later movies we are introduced to the Force ability to move matter across distances. Krylo Wren in particular comes to mind having "died" but not before making a strange noise. Did you notice? I believe he force impregnated his female companion. Either that of Annikin's line died with him. Somebody was Annikin's father. Who? The Toydarian Watto? Not a force guy and not of the same race. Jabba the Hut? unlikely, again, not the same race. The force world's father? Fits better. His "son" was falling to the dark side (thus unbalancing the "living" force) Of all the Clone Wars I watched it was a complete reversal to hear the otherwise "jedi committed to the cause" Annikin express interest in helping the guy. Yes I had to watch it twice to confirm that it was Obi-Wan who expressed his interest "let's get out of here" in leaving the force world. They were immortal with god-lie powers.
Force concentrated planets I believe some planets emanate more Force than others, Certainly Tatoinne and Lothal, where the Jedi temple had some time/space incursion device which we see Akosha utilize. Truly a very powerful device. One you would not find at all Jedi temples. The Force world of Mortis, existing outside the usual space/time continuum, topping the list. Others include Dathomir, home of the Nightsisters and Exegol, the planet we find Sidious on in the latter movies with his stolen cloning technology and mystery fleet.
Jedi Indifference By the end of the 2nd movie the Jedi knew their powers had been lessened. This was at the beginning of the Clone Wars. Common sense would have indicated that a secret base on some forgotten temple world be established and over time as Jedis "retired" move some of their operation and training there.
The Space Whales Somehow in the quest for Grand Admiral Thrawn we find ourselves in the Andromeda Galaxy where our intrepid band hitches a ride amongst a pod of hyperspace enabled whales that can travel between Galaxies. Where did they come from? In an attempt to bridge the Dune universe with this one we have to come up with a science fiction explanation for Tatoonine's 2nd sun. Late in the Dune series, it was felt that the planet was becoming far to watery, lawns, lakes, tourists. At some point they commissioned the Transportation Guild to locate and transport an appropriate sized sun and move it to co-orbit around The planet's main sun. A task never before attempted. The navigators realized it would take a considerable number of ships forming a grid around the star and that they might have to go outside of the vehicle in order to fold space around such a large and dense object so they surrounded their bodies with sand-swimmers, the juvenile sandworms and got to work. The endeavor once started transformed, elongated and metamorphosed their bodies into the space whales. Once the star was moved and with no longer any need for air, food, water or being within a ship they ventured off into the stars.
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