As chances are you’ll know I’m the massive nerd from Star Wars. And one among my favorite things about star Wars the media are all of the tiny references and Easter eggs set in every single place. But sometimes this fan service exaggerates and derails the story in a way that alienates or bores non-fans. Andor, the most recent TV show within the Star Wars universe, not only avoids this problem, but additionally finds excellent ways to make use of nerdy Star Wars lore without making it boring or annoying for individuals who just want to observe a superb show.
Andor, which premiered in late September on Disney +, is the most recent entry within the Star Wars franchise and is ready ahead of the events of the unique Star Wars movie and Rogue One. It follows the lifetime of Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna as he roams the galaxy controlled by an evil empire. He isn’t yet the rebel we all know from Rogue One, but over the course of this season, and possibly the subsequent, he’ll transform into the person we met on this popular spin-off.
People on my timeline loved Andorra. Even individuals who previously gave up on Star Wars completely are returning and having fun with every minute of the show. A lot of them are delighted to indicate that the show is not an enormous excuse for doing weekly fan service. But funnily enough, Andor has among the coolest and most interesting bits of deep Star Wars lore out of anything related to Star Wars for years; it’s just handled so well most individuals miss all of it.
A terrific example is how the show handles Cassian’s home planet. In the primary episode of the series, we learn that Cassian was born and raised planet Kenari. It’s newly made for Andorra, which gave showrunner Tony Gilroy more freedom to do with him and his people whatever he needed. But technically, we already knew about Cassiana’s home planet, and it wasn’t Kenari. When Rogue One got here out, Lucasfilm made various book references. One in every of the reference book listed Andorra’s home world as Holiday, the old Star Wars planet that first appeared in the sport Dark Forces. So at first I believed the show just revised that lineage. It didn’t trouble me an excessive amount of as I all the time prefer Star Wars media focus to history fairly than knowledge.
But then, within the second episode of Andor, we learn that Fest was a lie Cassian and his adoptive mother told everyone to cover the reality about where he really got here from, Kenari. For many viewers, this scene wasn’t that big: Cassian was lying because he was attempting to hide where he was from, he understood. But for Star Wars nerds like me, it was a implausible method to revise something using Star Wars knowledge while also honoring a reference book from years ago. And it didn’t get in the best way of the show in any respect, allowing normal, non-Star Wars to benefit from the show without rolling your eyes on some forced fan support.
Andor is filled with knowledge about Star Wars and such connections that it insidiously implements in ways in which make sense to the overall audience, but which have deeper, interesting ties to many years of earlier material within the series. And in contrast to the last Star Wars series, fun (but not that good) Obi-Wan KenobiAndor doesn’t get caught up in fan service that distracts from the true story and characters. References will be present in Andorra for those who care, but it surely’s perfectly superb for those who just wish to enjoy an exciting ride as an alternative.
G / O Media may receive a commission
For instance, Mon Mothma’s daughter, Lieda, just isn’t a totally latest character, but a really deeply sculpted character that hardly existed within the old Star Wars prolonged universe. So her appearance on the show not only introduced her to the canon, but was a really entertaining fan service that did not stand out for many viewers.
Likewise, the kyber crystal that Luthen Rael gives Cassian as payment for his aid within the heist has a subtle relationship to old knowledge of Star Wars. Sure, many viewers probably vaguely know that the Kyber crystal powers the lightsabers. And lots of probably also remembered that we had seen it before The heroine of Rogue 1 Jyn Erso wearing an identical necklace. But while people checked out the crystal and said, “Oh, that is something I do know …” Luthen drops one among the good pieces of knowledge on the show, explaining that the crystal “is celebrating an rebellion against the Rakatan invaders.” It could set alarm bells on the minds of all of the fans who played Knights of the Old Republic.
It is because The Rakatans were made for this game. They were an ancient race of super-powerful aliens who probably invented the hyperdrive and at one point controlled the galaxy as a part of their Infinite Empire. Technically, they have been mentioned before within the canon, but it surely’s actually the primary major reintroduction of the genre. Wondering how they could affect future Star Wars stories set within the distant past excites me very much.
Speaking of videogame references, in Luthen’s store – which is a chock block with fun Easter eggs that might fill a whole separate blog – we see what appears to be a suit Sith Stalker armor first seen in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This game and its fundamental character, Starkiller, aren’t any longer canons, and this armor coming to Andorra doesn’t change that. Nevertheless it might suggest that perhaps in the future the Force Unleashed parts might be reintroduced into the trendy Star Wars universe. I mean if Jaxxon is currently canonanything could occur.
Read more: Lego Star Wars is an antidote to years of toxic fan culture
But all of those deep references and fan service bits and pieces were likely never noticed by 90% of Andor’s viewers, regardless that a few of them link on to the plot or characters of the show. That is a formidable feat to be performed and based on interviews with the creator of the seriesTony Gilroy, quite a lot of it was turned on by the Lucasfilm nerds, not himself. Variety recently said that he works closely with knowledge experts like Pablo Hidalgo to be certain that he doesn’t do anything that breaks the Star Wars universe. But for him, what he really focuses on is the history of Andorra and its heroes, not on references to textbooks or old video games.
“The art department will sneak up on all that crap into the Luthen gallery,” said Gilroy Variety. “I don’t know. For instance,” Oh my God, that thing within the background! ” And folks blow it up. It’s an art department. So many cool people work on the show. Consider me, Pinewood has a deep geekdom.
It must be. If Disney desires to keep making amazing Star Wars productions like Andor, it should bring together more creators and directors like Gilroy. People who find themselves definitely not the most important Star Wars fans on the planet, but have interesting stories to inform. Let these people create fun stuff while the Lucasfilm nerds fill the gaps with fan services that freaks like me can get enthusiastic about while never ruining the show for everybody else.
I admit that it is a difficult balance to attain, and I don’t expect all future Star Wars projects to be just like Andorra. Actually I would like a world where we get each shows like Andor which is for everybody and shows like Jedi talesthat are good, but clearly aimed toward Star Wars nerds like me. Star Wars cannot grow if it’s only focused on its big fans, and Andor shows that if you expand the series and do something different, you not only please longtime Star Wars nerds like me, but additionally reach a complete latest audience. who perhaps never cared about Star Wars. Plus, Andor is just really fun, so more shows like this sound good to me.
Source link
