In this blog I have already described my first film experience with Star Wars in 1977 and the unforgetable impact it had on me, and in fact everyone who watched it. And, to repeat, I naturally watched the second and third episodes. These were science fiction filmmaking on an epic scale with superb production values. My next experience came years later when I learned about Rogue One and went to see at a theater in Jupiter, Florida. It brought back that sense that I had when watching the original trilogy.
Again, years went by. As a published author and writer of many articles, I learned long ago I could not have cable or satellite services because it would be a distraction and prevent me from delivering articles or manuscripts on time. So, I completely missed Disney streaming Andor Season 1 several years ago. Then, a review of Season 1 showed up in the YouTube algorithm one day and I decided to watch it. The review was so compelling, I had to order the BluRay Steelbox edition and waited anxiously for it to be delivered, which it was in February of this year.
There were three discs, and I decided to watch all the episodes on Disc 1 in one sitting. If one had never watched Rogue One, the viewer would just be caught up in the story of these characters, the omnipresence of the Empire and its awesome power to control populations throughout the galaxy. But I had in the back of my mind the characters of Rogue One and was puzzled by the absence of Jyn Erso. I had to do some research to learn that Andor covers the life of Cassian Andor five years before his ever meeting Jyn Erso. Once I understood the timeline, I could sit back and get caught up in the story. And what a story it is!
Andor is significant first of all because it introduces most the principal characters leading up to Rogue One, and many characters that do not appear in the sequel film. Andor does establish the characters’ backstory and how the rebel alliance starts to form, but the series can stand alone as a Star Wars story all its own. The way Season 1 is written and structured harkens back to the classic film shorts of the 1940s and 1950s with their cliffhanger endings that left you eagerly waiting for the next episode. This is something George Lucas had mentioned in one of his interviews during the making of the first trilogy.
The following night I watched Disc 2 and the next night Disc 3. Naturally, the last episode on the last disc left us wanting and waiting for Season 2, which is now streaming as I write. I had, of course heard about The Mandalorian and decided to check out my local library. They did, indeed, have Season 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian but only on DVD. The video quality is only acceptable on DVD once you have become accustomed to the high resolution of Blu Ray or 4K. And now that Red Box is no longer, there is no readily available outlet for high resolution physical media to rent, but I digress.
I watched both seasons of The Mandalorian and while the story is interesting, it clearly is a less ambitious production compared to Andor. Theatric release of films are easy to track regarding their box-office gross vs. production and marketing costs i.e. if it is a “success.” It is more difficult to determine the financial success for a streaming series like Andor. In addition, income from streaming takes place over a number of years. I mention this because the original ambitious plans to have five seasons was reduced to two seasons, and a lot of storyline events in Andor will be compressed–or deleted entirely–in the second and last season in order to bring it up to the start of Rogue One. Disney+ was probably looking at the return on investment and perhaps even the means of keeping all the needed cast members and production team that made Season 1 such a spectacular success on so many levels.
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