Though it was released in 1977, the original Star Wars was somewhat different from other science fiction movies that came out in the ’70s. It wasn’t as slow paced, it wasn’t more intellectual than action-oriented, and it wasn’t set in a world that was clean to the point of feeling sterile.
Which is why it’s interesting that the Disney+ show Star Wars: Andor — the first season of which is now available on 4K and Blu-ray as Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season — would be the most ’70s-esque entry in the Star Wars canon, despite being made in the ’20s.
A prequel to…
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — which was itself a prequel to Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope — Star Wars: Andor shows us how Cassian Andor (Y tu mamá también‘s Diego Luna) became radicalized and ultimately a member of the Rebel Alliance.
Though it also gives insight into the status of both the Rebel Alliance and the Empire just before the rebellion kicked into high gear (i.e., the same time as the latter seasons of Star Wars: Rebels).
This includes how the Empire prompted Senator Mon Mothma to become involved, as well as how such people as Imperial Security Bureau agent Dedra Meero tried to crush the Rebellion.
Not surprisingly, it’s the cast of Star Wars: Andor that really helps sell it. And while it stars with Luna, it certainly doesn’t end with him.
For starters, Fiona Shaw [Fleabag] is excellent as Cassian’s adoptive mother, and a real take-no-shit kind of gal, as is Denise Gough [Colette] who plays Meero with a determination that makes it seem like she takes her job way too personally.
Then there’s Andy Serkis,
who was unrecognizable as Supreme Leader Snoke in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but here gets to go make-up free as a fellow prisoner at a forced labor Imperial factory.
They also got a couple of Luna’s Rogue One co-stars to reprise their roles, including Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma.
Though the most impressive, alongside Luna, is Stella Skarsgard, who is as magnetic here, as a spy named Luthen Rael, as he was as Baron Harkonnen in Dune and Dune: Part Two (albeit in a very different way).
Of course, every Star Wars show has had impressive casts. And Andor, of course, has the same level of excellent special effects and pitch perfect music.
What sets Andor apart from other Star Wars movies and shows, however, is its tone. Not only is it deliberately paced, but it’s also more mature and serious. It has, for instance, none of the cuteness or situational humor of The Mandalorian.
Because of this, it’s some people’s favorite Star Wars show, and other people’s favorite Star Wars anything.
Not me, though.
While I may have been alive in the ’70s — I was nine when I saw A New Hope in theaters, back when it was just called Star Wars — and like such slow paced sci-fi as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris, I’m decidedly more of an action person than an intellectual, especially where sci-fi is concerned.
Though all that means is that I need to be in the right mood to watch it. Star Wars: Andor is still impressive, and engaging, and helps fill in the time between Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope in a very different way than Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi or Star Wars: Rebels.
I also think it might be even better when the second season comes out next year, given how creator Tony Gilroy has said it’s not a second season so much as it’s the second half of the story.
As for the 4K and Blu-ray versions…
of Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season, like other Disney+ Star Wars shows that have gotten physical releases — Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian — these Andor collections have pristine sound and video, with none of the visual glitches you can sometimes get when you stream.
In addition, discs are always easier to fast forward and rewind, and don’t come with the inherent fear that your Internet might go out, or that some bean counter might remove this show from Disney+.
Now,
along with its dozen episodes, the 4K and Blu-ray editions of Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season also include some making-of featurettes.
In “Ferrix Part 1: Imperial Occupation,” Gilroy, Executive Producer Kathleen Kennedy, and Luna talk about how the show came together, while in “Ferrix Part 2: Fight The Empire,” Luna, Gilroy, and other members of the cast and crew discuss how the show was made.
Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season also has a featurette called “Coruscant: Whispers Of Rebellion,” about the scenes on that planet and the characters in those scenes; “Aldhani: Rebel Heist,” about that part of the show; and “Narkina 5: One Way Out,” which does the same for the prison parts.
Not surprisingly…
(unless you’ve never watched a making-of featurette before), these featurettes pair cast and crew interviews with behind-the-scenes footage, and are interesting without ever approaching the technicality of film school.
Though I do wish they had been placed on the last disc, instead of the first, given how you shouldn’t watch them until after you’ve seen the show.
This is not the only thing I wish was different about the 4K and Blu-ray versions of Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season.
For starters, the Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season 4K and Blu-ray don’t have the original trailers, nor episode commentaries by the cast and crew.
Also, given how the Star Wars: Andor‘s second and final season is currently in the works, part of me also wishes they had waited and just released Star Wars: Andor: The Complete Series instead.
Even so,
for fans of Star Wars, and especially this show, the 4K and Blu-ray versions of Star Wars: Andor: The Complete First Season are the best way to watch this engaging chapter of the Star Wars saga.
SCORE: 8.0/10
