ANDOR - A New Hope for Star Wars | Video Essay

[@PentexProductions]

What do you think of Andor so far?

[@GeezNutz]

Star Wars has been my key fandom since childhood. Star Wars taught me to love stories. I've read the books and comics, played the games, have the tattoos, gone to the cons..done it all. I have incredibly mixed feeling with Disney's treatment of the franchise and, as such, stray further from the material every year. I haven't watched Andor at all because I didn't really care for some reason. YOU, of all people, making a video with this title though has convinced me to go watch it all tonight before watching your video. I hope you're right. I truly, deeply do..I need hope.

[@bikehubjapan]

my only comment would be that even though it is a TV show, if they released it as a 8/10 hour movie, I think I could watch it all in one sitting. I'm absolutely loving it so far!!!

[@eddymonies8302]

I watched the first three episodes and I thought it was, well better than most Disney Star Wars stuff. I do appreciate it is different tonally to things like how goofy a lot of parts of Boba/Obi Wan were. I do appreciate the more mature levels it has to it and they are trying to be original in many ways with it. I’m just finding it hard to stay interested and invested in it the way I did with the first season of the Mandolorian. I will watch the 4th episode tonight and see if it helps pull me in to appreciate it but the first three episodes(not that they were terrible) just didn’t generate enough attachment for me to even remember when the fourth one was airing, it was kinda bland in the way I wasn’t excited to see anymore of it and all but forgot about it completely. I am willing to give it another chance and I do respect your opinions on it and hopefully I will have a change of heart about it. Thanks for your content bro!

[@prismsmoviecavern]

Can you please do a whole video discussing the alternate version of Episode IX?

[@Torta--is--PLUR]

@@GeezNutz lmfao you're a sheep make your own decisions

[@federov100]

Andor has raised the bar. No other Star Wars production comes close to the level of authentic world-building Andor achieves. The people and dialogue feel real. The locations feel real. The cultures feel real.

[@palmereldritch_6669]

And, frankly, it doesn't feel like it's for children. Neither did Rogue One. I freaking loved that movie. The star of it was the Death Star.

[@larsickenroth7169]

Yes, and more importantly no! Here's why: Star Wars - in the past - has fallen into the same temptation as any visual series: wanting to 'raise the bar' everytime, coming up with 'bigger baddies', 'greater heroes', more epic plots and action. It's the trap that comics fell into as well during the eighties: Superman had to be bigger, better and more with every new issue. But there's only so much room 'upstairs' before you have to make a conscious choice to go 'downstairs'. Where everyone is primarily busy with surviving, and any high ambitions are often just useless. But it's also the area where more believeable characters live, much more akin to what 'regular humans' experience everyday in our world. With the laws of the SW -universe firmly set, Rogue One and Andor have been free to explore what it would actually feel like to live in this universe. Which is a perspective much more in tune with the average viewer, were they to get stuck in that world. A bold choice that paid off handsomly. It should be obvious: I absolutely adored Rogue One and the bold choices it made. And that's not because it's a 'nostalgia-thing', but because that was the first movie since the original trilogy that actually felt like Star Wars. So yes: it raised the bar, but only by making the conscious choice to drop it first. grt!

[@s.patterson5698]

This is the way!😊

[@starc0unter]

Agreed. Like Jon Favreau said when making Mando "we want to be influenced by the stuff that influenced George", Andor really goes back to the roots and takes it into a fresh pasture. I love that, like you mentioned, the filmmakers all clearly understand that writing for TV is far different than structuring a movie, and I hope future SW projects take this approach. It definitely re-kindled my interest for the franchise, hope it can keep it.

[@SmartypantsTutoring]

Smart. Well written. Superbly acted. Beautifully shot. Impeccable production design. Really digging it.

[@daniellebcooper7160]

Agreed. Youve summed up perfectly how most of us feel about the way Star Wars had been going, and of how Andor has revitalized the adventure again.

[@LootVac]

Andor has blown me away. Watched Episode 5: The Axe Forgets, and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that it has the best piece of Star Wars cinema and storytelling in it. At least that's my conviction and I will stand by that. I'd talk about it further and at length but I will not spoil anything. Bravo

[@PentexProductions]

I just caught up on E5 and I absolutely agree. It's brilliantly written and looks fantastic. The series just keeps getting better.

[@s.patterson5698]

Hands down, the best. It is the complete package!!!!

[@mnm8818]

I like how the imperial work office is well lit- as in 'evil' people don't have better night vision than 'good' people like most films that show dark evil work places...

[@Wolfie_2045]

Andor is criminally underrated, period.

[@fanboydee]

We’ve gone from my least fav live action Star Wars (Fett/Kenobi) to easily some of my fav. Even if Andor somehow deteriorated (which I doubt) the first three episodes are strong enough. I would argue part of the appeal of it is that it takes place during the era of the Empire though. I get that people want to explore different time periods and corners of the galaxy, but I think that’ll be harder to get right.

[@buttscarlton1490]

Spoiler: it did not in fact, deteriorate

[@s.patterson5698]

​@@buttscarlton1490lol. I was about to post the same. It ROCKED!!!

[@TheStOne1]

Andor is just the best Star Wars has ever been. It's way better than the prequels, way better than the sequels and even better than the original trilogy. Andor is just the best Star Wars product ever created. Periodt. And I demand MORE.

[@Klokinator]

This video instantly made me pause about 10 seconds in, watch all of Andor's episodes, and come back. What's that? You say it's a series very different from the other crappy disney shows? It doesn't "feel like star wars"? It's competently crafted and well-written? I'M IN! Yeah, I watched all 4 episodes and I really enjoyed them. It's not a flashy show, it's gritty and feels realistic. It has a strong atmosphere that doesn't feel studio movie-fied. It's great!

[@a_agadir3964]

update on opinions on ep5,6 and 7?

[@Klokinator]

@@a_agadir3964 I literally forgot this series was airing. Gotta get back to it!

[@multipass113]

“Disney’s Star Wars has been inspired by Star Wars.” NAILED IT. Really enjoyed your analysis and for spelling out so eloquently why, as a casual SW viewer, I’m so invested in this show and its storytelling. Risk-taking may not always be successful but trying something new is what keeps things from going stale. Thanks for the video.

[@PentexProductions]

Agreed, the thing about taking risks is they sometimes won't work. But sometimes they do, and create something brilliant. Disney has the money to afford a few risks.

[@PauLtus_B]

I do think it needs to be said that it's a rare case where it really had the chance to. Taking risks is good, but with a fandom that can be as petty as Star Wars' actually trying to do something with a popular character is gonna get you death threats.

[@she_who_dares9713]

I am loving this series so much. Tight dialogue. The actors are soo good. I love the slow burn, it's morally gray. It's really so right up my alley.

[@s.patterson5698]

Writing, writing, writing...epic...simply smart!

[@TheGentlemanWake]

It's infuriating to me that Andor is seen as a flop. By far the best Star Wars has ever been. At least since Empire. I don't understand people who complain that Andor is slow when every scene is dripping with tension and conflict, bolstered by incredible performances delivering well crafted dialogue and brilliantly illustrated by astounding design and cinematography.

[@PentexProductions]

I love it so much, as you can tell. I made this just four episodes in - before we even got to the prison storyline! It's so brilliant and just gets better as the story goes on.

[@elizabeth6154]

Totally agree with your take. After the deep disappointment of Obi-Wan Kenobi and BOBF, I am delighted by the careful world building and character development in Andor. Looking forward to seeing where it goes next.

[@pawnee68]

This video aged very well.

[@blainetoms]

andor is everything star wars should be.

[@bigm8785]

Fantastic commentary. Is it possible that Andor the best thing that came out of 2022?. Man what a shyt year. Bravo to the team involved in making this captivating show.

[@joebear1964]

I was a kid when I watched Star Wars back in 1977, 25 times! Almost everything on Disney+ has disappointed me except the Mandalorian and now Andor. Andor is exceptional and the actors are phenomenal!

[@cheekster777]

Waiting until all episodes are available then shall binge watch the whole season. Thank you.

[@PentexProductions]

Fair enough, although one of the things I am enjoying is the 'slow burn' of the show gradually revealing more and more about the world and characters.

[@s.patterson5698]

So how was it?😊

[@cheekster777]

@@s.patterson5698 - Didn't think of this much to be honest. It was probably the weakest of the live-action Star Wars tv shows imo followed by Kenobi.

[@s.patterson5698]

@cheekster777 Well, it's a good thing there is variety because in my eyes, none of the other SW shows can stand under the same sun as Andor. It's just not even close. Cheers for variety!!!

[@TheStOne1]

@@cheekster777you can't be serious 🤨

[@earthflex]

Tony Gilroy is the real savior of star wars

[@lyamb90]

Nice one mate. Enjoyed listening to your take and hopes for the show as it progresses through the rest of the season. If nothing else it's nice to finally get back to sets and film locations the quality shows. Take it easy bud.

[@k2sworld]

I'd like to see you do a follow up to this, now that season 1 is done. Personally, this is the best Star Wars has been since Empire.

[@jimmypena3317]

Agreed, this seems like authentic SWs and story telling made by a talented crew

[@LudosErgoSum]

Great vid! Love the series😄

[@Aresmar]

Channel deserves more views :)

[@christophercarroll]

What can I say that hasn’t already be said? The writing is top-notch, the story telling seems to be straight from George Lucas’s own mind. The acting is perfect. The special effects all feel real and authentic. It’s the perfect build-up story and the Empire actually feels big and invokes fear. It goes to show that Disney CAN make fantastic Star Wars when in the hands of the right person and they are given the time to develop a great story.

[@Adones09]

I really appreciate when a spoiler alert is given, I can shelf this video and visit it in 3-4 weeks. You would be surprised on how many people will tell you that... you see, how easy it is to spoil something!

[@PentexProductions]

I pretty much always put a spoiler alert in unless the film/show is quite old, but I think it's especially important with a new show. There's only really one plot point I talk about that could be considered a spoiler, and I use clips from every episode, so the spoilers are mild but by all means return once you've caught up on episodes 1-4. Hope you enjoy the show!

[@motorheadabega]

We have had a villain like this in Star Wars. His name is Grand Admiral Thrawn and I love that Andor paves the way for Thrawn to appear in live action. Can't wait! Cool video. Thanks.

[@s.patterson5698]

....and sadly what a crap Ahsoka's version of Thrawn turn out to be...such a disappointment.

[@olsjonaspetterolsson3220]

Great summary of the first part of the serie. I am already looking forward to the second season. Rogue One was the first Star Wars movie that really impressed me since the original three, and this series continues to add more depth to the galaxy far far away.

[@RickDesper-v8z]

Strong agree, and I'm guessing that now you've seen the entire season that, if anything, the show has surpassed even the high expectations given by Ep 1-4. Like you say, the key here is that this is a story that just happens to be set in the Star Wars Universe. It isn't propping itself up on the Star Wars mythology. If Rogue One had never been made and there were no tie-in to A New Hope, Andor the series could still easily stand alone. Andor brings back the full possibilities of the space opera genre, which the Star Wars universe had lost by its lazy recapitulation of the original trilogy. New things are happening, new people are in conflicts for entirely new reasons. It's great!

[@Delerane]

You are TOTALLY right. I agree so much with you.

[@TheInfamousJosh]

Please increase the volume of your videos. I have headphones in and the volume at max and still have difficulty hearing you if there is any background noise. Thanks, love the videos!

[@PentexProductions]

Sorry about that, I thought I had resolved it. Will look into it more; it seems to be very dependent on the device being used which makes it hard for me to test.

[@Theegreygaming]

I would love to see a retrospective on this now. I still maintain it's by far the best disney era series to go along with rogue one as the best disney era movie, but it does definitely start swinging more into the lore building and wider galaxy referencing as the series progresses, but not in the obnoxiously MCU style that keeps getting more pervasive as time goes on.

[@domstafford1894]

Pentex: "Star Wars can't just be bunch of references to previous movies" Also Pentex: *Fills this video with references to previous Star Wars movies* But seriously, great video, you may have convinced to restart my Disney+ subscription...

[@PentexProductions]

Haha, that's fair though in my defence the references in Kenobi were almost all established musical cues tied directly to characters appearing in that show, so I feel they were justified in the context of an intentionally nostalgia-fuelled story. Andor is great for me because it's focusing on a story entirely removed from the Skywalker Saga, and is taking advantage of that fact to use a new storytelling style.

[@mcnooj82]

While I certainly think Syril is a great and compelling start to a villain-ish character so far, there’s nothing terrifying about him yet. I wouldn’t even consider him a villain or an antagonist just yet (6 episodes in), even though the path is definitely being paved. But I think that’s a strength. There’s time being given to making him a person first (also, I think the first two episodes were largely skippable. Aside from Syril, the plot/story was not compelling at all despite the strong aesthetics and performances. But the last three episodes by Susanna White are exactly the ‘movie’ that ROGUE ONE tried to be, but couldn’t)

[@markfisk7124]

Andor was amazing. You earned my subscription.

[@PentexProductions]

Welcome!

[@Rk-w03]

She didn’t disappoint one bit

[@random-person1]

my opinion of andor is this. of all the new series coming out of disney, andor was on the low side of my attention, whereas mandalorian was top tier. and after bobo fett joined din djarin for a couple episodes and rosario dawson as ahsoka coming into season 2, there was hope that it would lead the way. except, it didnt, at least not for me. andor was, by far, a much better series, with season 2 promising to be much better (according to its producers). long live the star wars franchise and may they milk it for all its worth. at almost 57, i remember waiting in the cold (very cold) winter of 1977 in coventry (uk). there was a thick layer of snow on the ground yet the line to get into the theatre was nearly a mile long (as was reported in the local paper the following day). i went back with my new girlfriend 2 days later with my pocket money. and then again with my mates the following saturday. i would have gone more but ran out of money and it was too hard to sneak into the theatre back then!

[@anarionelendili8961]

Andor is great. However, I think a small improvement could have been made: I think the first 3 episodes could have been consolidated into 2 longer, but faster paced episodes mainly by dropping the Kenari flashbacks, which were not paid off in this season. If the sister comes up in season 2, the flashbacks could have been at the start of season two. This would have made it 'lag' less, and hopefully lured more people in. I also thought that the Aldhani heist lagged a bit in the intro and setup. Especially there was a lot of repetitive 'who is this guy and what is he doing here'. However, I am not sure it would be possible to cut it down to two episodes, even longer ones, and episode 6 was already great. Similarly, episode 7 and after would be hard to change anything. You could maybe shuffle some things around a bit to consolidate another episode's worth overall, but that would really take some doing and might not be worth it. Still, this would turn Andor from 12 episodes to 10, and especially speed up the beginning to keep people watching. Also, as people told me when I made a similar comment on another Andor commentary video at the time, there is little incentive for Disney to put out longer but fewer episodes, when they can get an extra week's worth of watchers with the shorter episodes. And it matters less when you binge it, too.

[@ChrisWright75]

Even the blaster sounds are all new or so heavily modified they do not sound like the Sam blaster sounds we have had for almost 50 years now.

[@michaelhervey9689]

Do a follow up video on the rest of the season! Please 🫡

[@diegosoriano2166]

Fantastic show

[@bebo2629]

5:00 I think this point falls kinda flat. Yes, the filmmaking technics are inspired by war movies and are new but a lot of the writing is not. The Vader scene and the 3PO and the Dr. Evazan cameo are pure fanservice. Contradicting the more grounded style of the movie. We are ment to really feel for the rebels and the last big scene is Vader slaughtering them and the fans celebrating that. The entire plot explains the "design flaw" of the deathstar, like that needed to be explained. The movie is also really paced strangely and most of our characters have little development. I think that the movie is good and there are new ideas in there (the camera work that we know from modern war movies) but I would not really praise its creativitty to much. It is a lot like Solo, ment to fill little gaps in the lore that should not be filled. As with The Last Jedi, a movie that also tried to do something different and had non-Star Wars influences (Kurosawa movies like Ran and Rashomon and silent movies), I think the fact that movie split the fanbase and Andor does not, has to do with the TV scale and the fact that Andor has not fan favorite characters in it. It is obviously great that both try to do something new but the truth is that the Star Wars fanbase is okay with new as long as it has not much to do with the old. Changing the status quo of fan favorie characters and given the universe and those characters real development leads not just to normal criticism but an insane amount of personal insults and borderline conspiracy theories. I think Lucasfilm will learn the wrong lessons. My fear is that they will think that the problem is the fantasy, fairy tale aspects of Star Wars and try to make a bigger focus on more mature stories (I like that stuff but Star Wars needs its fantasy in the long run). I also think that they will learn to be creative only when it is smaller scale stuff. Not movies with fan favorite characters, which is also bad.

[@grantcriddle1326]

Best star wars in 40 years

[@BrianHartman]

I'm writing this after seeing episode 7. Yes, it does get better, but I think the pacing in episodes 1-5 was really uneven. Syrill's mother is insufferable, and makes her scenes hard to watch. I know that's intentional, but it's a weird choice if you actually want people to keep watching and not skip over her scenes. I *do* think this is one of those "Wait until episode..." shows. I think that's why they released the first three episodes all at once, and I think episode 4 and 5 really suffer from the 3-episode arcs. I was happy to see that episode 7 didn't fall into that trap. It's not a bad show. I would say it's shaping up to be better than Obi-Wan and The Book of Bobba Fett. But they need to pay more attention to plot progression and ease up a little on the character development. It's not that character development is *bad*. Far from it. But one of the problems I had with episodes 4 and 5 was we got a lot of character development for characters who died immediately. The writers could've eased up on some of that, gotten the exact same points across, and kept the plot moving along more quickly. Not coincidentally, this is the same problem I had with Rogue One. I liked the beginning, and I liked the end, but it sagged in the middle. It seems like the 3-episode arcs for episodes 1-6 were doing the same thing.

[@DanielPelis]

I bet when you got Rey you complained

[@playgroundchooser]

Wow, now that Season 1 is over; I now realize that this video was made *before* Andor even got good!! 🤯🤯 #never>12

[@PentexProductions]

You could tell it was something completely different after episode two. By the time the Aldani arc began in episode 4 it was already becoming exceptional (and I made this). By the time of the prison break it was possibly my favourite Star Wars story. I wanted to make this video early on since I had recently made two videos quite critical of Kenobi and BOBF, so it was nice to have something Star Wars to be positive about again.

[@madsketchy9261]

Turns on Andor - my bro *what’s this?* Me *hope* 🥺

[@warsincs]

Rogue one copies all three of the original trilogy.

[@Pendji]

Ive watched 3 episodes and have zero fucking interest. It's good world-building but it just lacks any real incentive to keep watching. There is no hook, and the fact star wars fans hate it underlines how FUBAR the fandom is

[@Jordie_42]

No one is watching Andor. The results are in

[@Obiter3]

It only took 3 weeks for this video to age very poorly

[@danoriron4975]

But the show stinks...

[@robotic2000k]

I can't for the life of me, see how Andor is considered Star Wars.

[@foxskyful]

"could save star wars" it doesn't even feel its Star Wars. This show is just mediocre, coming out after so many crap that Disney did that people now think this is great or something we need after 45 years of the first movie. So big potential Star Wars have and we getting this as one of the best thing in last 6-7 years just sad.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Go read New Jedi Order man. Leave the good Star Wars to us.

[@foxskyful]

@@thomasffrench3639 "to us" no wonder disney made so many shit

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@foxskyful have fun with your mediocre EU.

[@foxskyful]

@@thomasffrench3639 have fun with disney Star Wars shit

[@starwolven]

I applaud anyone able to sit through this show. Ya'll can watch paint dry and be entertained.

[@Romancefantasy]

As it’s own thing it’s okay but I hope this is not the future of Star Wars. If Star Wars turns into a dark grim gritty generic dystopian genre then I’m out. I am not into that and quite frankly dystopian is done to death.

[@cristinavuscan5610]

Andor is a very stupid, boring, sad and depressing show. I said show because you can not even say it is Star Wars. Buddy... Karn is not even working for The Empire, he is working for a security company. Beside as you said "Disney Star Wars was inspired by Star Wars" yeah it is not even Star Wars; it is something similar. The people producing Andor do not know Star Wars and they are just using the people's love for Star Wars. Just because you build sets to look like Star Wars and dress people to look like Stormtroopers it doesnt mean it is Star Wars.

[@palmereldritch_6669]

Andor is excellent whereas most of the rest of Disney Star Wars is mostly just a bunch of fun.

[@ja37d-34]

Nothing Star Wars is good after Return of the Jedi, which was the least good of them all... So.. No.