Why Andor Feels So Real

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Andor was like a home cooked meal after eating nothing but fast food for 2 weeks

My biggest problem with Andor is that I now have to wait probably another 2 years for season 2

Besides the eating and drinking, to me a great scene that emphasized the fact that these are all just normal people was when the two Imperials were asking to get the night off to see the eye of Aldhani. Just like a normal conversation you'd have with your boss at work.

The reason I adore Andor so much was the depiction of The Empire. I have worked for some big bureaucracies, and the meetings, inside competition, power play, etc. were chilling for me. Unlike movies like Avatar which slaps you in the face with "THIS IS AMERICA MILITARISM AND THAT IS BAD" it felt like Andor just gave you a peak inside the middle management of the empire and let you figure it out for your self. I have rarely enjoyed squirming so much.

From the acting to the pacing and cinematography, Andor is easily one of the strongest (if not THE strongest) Disney Star Wars entries. I really hope Disney learns the right lessons from it.

Andor has an immersive experience overall. The mood and atmosphere just draws you in.

The tie fighter scenes on aldhani are what really sold me on the show. I already loved it, but seeing those things fly and actually be terrifying an not just fodder was so nice.

The good thing is how it transitions from crime to a war movie to a heist, then back to crime, a prison break and essentially Les Miserables in space. It's like you're watching three different movies in three different genres, that somehow exist inside the same continuity.

A lot of this reminded me of techniques we saw in Dune, from the sound of the water glass sliding across the table, to fingers running through sand, to the views of the desert through the ornithopter windows—but I love how these techniques in Andor specifically contribute to the theme of the show as you’ve pointed out here. It makes it feel less like a copy/paste and makes it clear that this was a meaningful creative decision.

It's quite clear that Andor is a character-driven narrative while the other Star Wars projects are plot-driven. You can see that plots take centre stage in the original trilogy, the three prequels and the three sequels, the characters there are just plot place-holders. While in Andor, Toni Gilroy focuses on the causality of characters. We care so much about the people in this world, even if their screentime is just a few minutes. Even the robot makes us emotional. Andor is simply good writing.

For the first time in any Star Wars lone TIE Fighters were legit terrifying, rather than simply cannon fodder. I especially remember the scene where one TIE runs super low to the river, kicking up a fantail, and then flies right over the crew’s heads letting them know they could have just have been strafed if the pilot wanted to. The noise alone, which has always been iconic, was so well edited and engineered - like at a race track when you’re near a high output engine revving LOL but it’s a TIE Fighter 👍

Another note on sensory details: I can tell you didn't add it out of sensitivity lol, but the moment when all the racks of metal credits slid in the aircraft and hit the kid was BRUTAL to watch. They really made it feel real there.

One of the stark differences I found between Andor and other Star Wars media that really hooked me from the start was the dialogue. Whenever you hear a conversation in Andor it genuinely feels like people talking with one another vs what a lot of the other movies/shows in SW have done. A huge step up coming from Obi Wan...

The other thing I really love about Andor is the tension that is missing from literally every post Disney Star Wars media. The empire is a true threat to the characters, and the characters react as such. Not having the omnipotent view makes the audience take the ride with the characters and also creates tension. Having grand, epic battles is great and all, but if the audience doesn't care about the characters or the story, it's largely just eye candy. The Andor team did an amazing job with this prequel when the audience already knows what happens.

What they did with the Ti fighters in Andor sent chills down my back almost everytime. They were absolutely terrifying

The term I always use to describe Andor when people ask me what exactly it is about is "a study of fascism, but with blaster rifles, and damn well written" and that usually gets the kind of people I know excited for it

I really liked all the liminal and interstitial spaces in the show, I think Coruscant has never felt more real than in this show and those spaces have been important in that.

The visuals in Andor definitely reminded me of Dennis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 and Dune. But while those films had big grandiose shots, Andor takes that style and gives it more ground perspective.

What I love immensely about Andor is that the rebels are not just these goody two shoes but they are actually desperate and will do questionable things to start a rebellion.