+++ Opinion +++
Being a fan of a big franchise can be pretty depressing at times. I love the basic idea of ”Star Wars’, the rich universe, the philosophical superstructure, the iconic designs and legendary compositions. But much of what has been added to the star saga in film and series form over the past few years has made me wander to the dark side of the force. I’ll be honest: All in all, the sequel trilogy is an absolute disaster, from which my “Star Wars”Love will probably never recover and the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” also gave me more frustration than joy. Yet “Andor” has now got me all my negative feelings towards “Star Wars’ completely forgotten for about 45 minutes.
›› “Star Wars: Andor” on Disney+*
Episode 6 of the Rogue One prequel series gripped me from start to finish, thrilled with complex characters, blew my mind with an audiovisually stunning spectacle, and got my heart racing with its suspenseful heist plot.
At the latest after this episode I can say: I love “Andor”! But with this realization, another thought breaks ground: If “Star Wars’ can be so damn good, why is it that Disney has been spouting such gigantic crap all these years? I’ve identified three reasons for this, but before I get into that, let’s just bask in the genius of Andor. Not only because it makes Disney’s failures all the more obvious, but also because it’s just good!
I age”Star Wars”-Naggers just don’t find anything to criticize in the current episode. The heist was staged super exciting, comprehensible down to the smallest detail and the entire rebel crew was already well established in the two episodes beforehand, so that I was really excited to see which of them would make it out alive. On top of that, the setting really impressed me: No more lame desert planets. When a heist takes place in “Andor”, a beautiful shower of stars awaits us, with the indigenous tribe of the Dhani heating up the atmosphere with ceremonial chants on top of that.
The natural spectacle is more than eye candy, but an essential part of the rebel tactics. The acting performances are convincing, even little things like the imperial commander’s too big belly have a deeper meaning and the twist at the end of the episode makes sense in retrospect, but still manages to surprise. In addition, “Andor” shows once again that there is not only good and evil in “Star Wars“-universe there. When rebels threaten a child’s life in order to get hold of a pile of money, the end may justify the means, but then they don’t make bright heroes either.
“Andor” is so fascinating because every interaction between the characters is well thought out, every plot detail is believable and every motivation is understandable. Compare that to episode 4 of “Obi Wan Kenobi‘, where an Imperial base is also invaded, but there is no tension whatsoever because all logic is thrown overboard. But how do these striking differences in quality come about?
If one thing reminds me in the past years “Star Wars” really got on my nerves, then it’s the obtrusive fan service: To have “Star WarsDo lovers really appreciate iconic characters like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan being brought back only to have more uninspired adventures? Was it really worth reviving Emperor Palpatine and ruining the finale of the original trilogy? Do every damn series have to have any Skywalkers? I do not think so.
Disney and its affiliates
“Somehow Palpatine has returned”: Oscar Isaac’s facial expression says it all.
With almost all DisneyStar Wars“ projects seems to have asked the question at the beginning: Which well-known characters do we use to attract the most people to the cinema or to Disney+? Whether it makes sense to bring them back and whether there is even an interesting story with added value to tell based on them seemed secondary.
Not so with “Andor”, which largely dispenses with fan service and with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), an already well-known but not particularly popular “Star Wars“-figure moves to the center. But that’s exactly what takes the pressure off of having to meet millions of individual fan expectations. Unlike Obi-Wan or Boba Fett, most fans didn’t give a damn about Andor. In this way, the makers around Tony Gilroy were able to focus on simply implementing their own creative vision without running the risk of creating an iconic “Star Wars’ character to develop in an undesirable direction.
Admittedly, there is a Bantha stuffed animal around here too and someone is pouring themselves blue milk. But in a universe where banthas exist and where milk is blue, this feels completely natural and, to some extent, necessary to even convey that we are in the “Star Wars“-universe. It is flat Moderate fanservice that lets us enjoy the story and doesn’t distract us with unnecessary cross-references all the time.
The second glaring problem of the Disney era is the time pressure that often arises behind the scenes. After this “Star Wars 8” triggered a gigantic shitstorm (partly because, as mentioned above, an iconic character was developed in an undesirable direction), the “Star Wars“- Those responsible for Kathleen Kennedy in hasty actionism. Instead of taking the time to analyze the mistakes of the past and maybe give yourself another year to come up with a fix for “Episode 9” that “Star Wars 7” and “Star Wars 8” fans, the original plans were completely overturned and yet stubbornly stuck to the theatrical release.
Colin Trevorrow, who was supposed to direct and had already written a screenplay, was reflexively replaced by “Episode 7” director JJ Abrams, who had to massively rewrite the script and direct “Episode 9” within a very short time. The finale of the sequel trilogy was completely redesigned, there were only two years left until the cinema release, which is simply not enough for a blockbuster of this kind with an effects-heavy post-production.
The lack of time is really noticeable in the finished film. For example, the return of Emperor Palpatine, believed dead, was dealt with in the intro text and Poe only succinctly commented with the words “Somehow Palpatine has returned”. No satisfactory explanation, no finesse: It seems as if the very first draft of the script was approved because there simply wasn’t time to work out the finer points.
Obi-Wan Kenobi has a similar problem: the screenplay has logic holes like Swiss cheese, which is also likely due to time constraints and a massive rewrite of the original script. An Obi-Wan film had been in the works for years, but then suddenly a Disney+ series had to be made and the story had to be artificially lengthened. Add to that the sometimes shockingly cheap-looking CGI, which is probably also due to the lack of time that visual effects companies unfortunately often suffer from these days.
I was all the more amazed at how much better the CGI looks in “Andor” and how watertight the script is. No annoying logic hole continuous fire, which is also the most powerful Suspension of Disbelief to bursting, no crude spaceship animations that look like they’re straight out of a last-gen video game. “Andor” looks compared to Disney’s previous “Star Wars”-products are well thought out from start to finish and the effects are also much more polished than with “Obi-Wan Kenobi”. The “Rogue One” prequel was announced four years ago and apparently Gilroy and his team took all the time they needed to achieve the best possible result, not the fastest possible.
Disney+
The glowing sky of Aldhani is reflected in the “eyes” of the TIE fighters: It’s details like these that make “Andor” look very high quality.
Disney is the entertainment company par excellence and it is no wonder that, with few exceptions, it designs its films and series as pure entertainment products without any deeper meaning. It even suffers “The Mandalorian“, a series that I otherwise really like, but in the end nothing sticks with it apart from cool designs and a little green alien.
But that “Star Wars’ by George Lucas is more than mere entertainment. This man wanted to say something about human nature, about the eternal struggle between good and evil, between selfishness and altruism, which is always going on in all of us. Very rudimentary, simple, but mostly correct thoughts contained in “Star Wars“ Are packaged extremely attractively. But Disney doesn’t care.
Rian Johnson was the only one who dared to think further on the deeper Lucasian level of interpretation with his “Episode 8”, but he went a bit too far and was severely punished for it by loud fans. Since then “Star Wars“ A pure brain-out product. That works for a Boba Fett that doesn’t take itself too seriously anyway, but it sinks into obscurity in an Obi-Wan Kenobi that focuses on drama.
“Andor” finally offers stimulating food for thought again. Of course, this happens most clearly through the rebel Nemik (Alex Lawther), who even writes a political manifesto. But the diverse, ambivalent and understandable motives of the individual characters alone force us to make our own moral judgments. “Andor” showcases the decadence and hubris of the empire as well as the brutal methods of the rebels. The supposed hero shocks us with his quick finger on the trigger and a supposed villain finds our pity because he loses his job. Even stone-cold opportunists without any ideals find their place in Andor.
For showrunners Tony Gilroy it was always secondary that “Andor” was a “Star Wars” series is about. He just wanted to explore what motivates a pragmatic lone fighter like Cassian to become a rebel willing to sacrifice his own life for a greater cause – and turn it into a watchable series in its own right.
For a long time I felt like “Star Wars”If I were a Disney fan, I would be nothing more than a dollar sign in Kathleen Kennedy’s eyes. “Andor” gives me hope that well thought-out, profound stories that are independent of fan service will still get a chance at Disney. As a viewer, I feelStar Wars”Finally taken seriously again.
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