ThaOGDreamWeaver

Stolen from Twitter. Trust Ahsoka to cut through the difficult bits (…and the roof…) It doesn’t look like a live action replica of Lothal, but there’s a lot of the World Between Worlds symbolism going on.

It reminded It did remind me a little of WandaVision or Firefly in that respect. Ep 4 (well, the back half of Ep3 for Andor) is where the action kicks in, once the worldbuilding's done. But I don't mind being dropped into a chaotic situation with fully-fledged characters, and then rewinding a bit to find out how they got into that particular mess. Trust the audience to catch up.

Halfway house on this one. Yes, Tony went very much his own way, which is good. But mayyybbeeee a little light rework on the first three eps could have dialled up the action enough to keep more fidgety butts on seats. It might have wound up as 13 episodes (full half-series) if I'd done it... For example: Tie the Kenari flashbacks closer to the scenes with Maarva throughout the series. (And more Maarva generally). Play out on screen one or two of the dodgier things that Cassian's been up to over the years. How did he land in jail the first time round? More Luthen. Maybe move the Kreegyr sacrifice subplot into Eps1-3: Give Dedra an early cheeky win which establishes her efficiency (but also hacks off her peers). After which she's assigned to looking into the missing parts to "keep her busy", but also from her supervisor's gut feeling she's good with detail. Show Luthen as both ruthless and desperately in need of a win... ...giving him motivation to hire Andor to guarantee the success of the Aldhani op... ...and more tension around whether our ISB mole is loyal or not. I don't honestly know if this would have improved the series.

Tony Gilroy on pacing complaints re first 3 eps…

Cue “nice package” jokes…

Yep, that kinda goes right the way back. Metropolis, Gold (about the last German SF movie before the Nazis banned it), the Flash Gordon serials, quite a few others. Oh, and HG Wells' Things To Come, which... ...well, better novelist than a screenwriter, let's put it that way. It's not for everyone (looking at you, JKR.) But you might spot a few influences that little movie's had.

I’m kind of the opposite. I grew up in a very old city (at least 450AD as a known settlement, with evidence of large scale habitation in the area well before that). I’m comfortable around old stone, trees, grass, open space: canyons of ultramodern, clinical buildings make me nervous. You build spaces for people, people will live in it. You make spaces to herd people…

On the bonkers Star Wars Theory “no bricks or screws in space” thing that’s been roundly mocked on The Interwebs… …kinda missing the point. As one of my assorted Twitter folks put it: “[A New Hope] gave us a setting that felt established and real, because people had evidently been living in it. We saw the grimy underside of SF.” In Andor, we see both shine and grime, and it’s very much by design. The Empire is all surface gloss, steel, chrome, cold clinical maddening (and occasionally electrified) order, until you get down to Coruscant’s grimy underbelly. Aldhani is grass, natural stone, forests, curved valleys, plus one sodding great concrete dam dropped in the middle of it, jarring, out of place. Ferrix is brick, stone, rust, mud, old recycled tech, warm tones, down-to-earth, imperfect… human. The contrast between these settings sets the tone for the people who live and work there and their characters.

Utah Saints x Kate Bush - Something Good

Opus III - It's A Fine Day

Together - Hardcore Uproar 12" Mix

Mark Governor - Stadium Rave (aka Jellyfish Jam from Spongebob)

Mark Summers - Summer's Magic (Unit Mix)

Normally, boardroom shenanigans don't necessarily affect the kind of content us peons enjoy. However, in, this case it may well do, if you're a D+ subscriber. Longtime CEO Bob Iger has been recalled to his role and his handpicked replacement Bob Chapek promptly, dismissively iced. For people whose companies are share-listed, many industry prognosticators will set what they think you'll earn, as a multiple of the number of shares in circulation. It's based on what you've been telling the market, plus wider market analysis, so you'd better hit it. Q3 was expected to grow by around half to 56¢ per share and $21bn in revenue, compared to Q3 2021. They missed. For stonks fanciers, that is bad news. While the revenue wasn't that short - $20bn - the cleared earnings total was only 30¢ per share, due to a loss of $1.47bn across all their streaming platforms (D+, ESPN+, Hulu), originating from content and marketing spending. That wiped 13% off DISN stock - or about $24bn in value. Stonks people not happy, and out for blood. They got it. That was the nail in Chapek's coffin, but the mishandling of the Don't Say Gay affair, the public spat with Johannson, a general dislike for Whollyodd schmoozing, and a fairly blunt management style had pretty much put him there. Iger now has two jobs - get back in and turn around those losses, and fend off a bunch of notorious activist investors hungry for profits, even if it means breaking the company up. Key things that may happen as a result: Changes or cutbacks at D+. They've got a vast library now, they can afford to dial down the acquisition spending for a bit, and they've racked up impressive subscriber numbers. D+ are also adding an ad-supported tier like Netflix. Cutbacks generally. Anything underperforming is likely to get sold if someone thinks it's worth it, sidelined or redlined if not. Buy out Hulu completely from Comcast, and deepen the content partnership with FX. Sell off ESPN. Chapek held off doing another Star Wars tentpole movie, favouring Obi-Wan and Andor to drive people to D+. Mando S3 is in the can and hopefully S2 of Andor is safe, but Chapek had already cut it back from 5 seasons. It's possible this is why Patti Jenkins dragged her heels on the Rogue Squadron development.

So that was, indeed, pretty damn special. Some surprises: welcome ones, to be sure, and quite a few things left unresolved. All in all, that one slightly saggy plot device aside, the only thing I'm narked about in this episode is that we've got about two years to wait till the next one. And pray to the Makers that the changeover at Disney doesn't get a big, expensive, critically acclaimed but under-audienced show redlined, or D+ doesn't bite it and get merged with some other platform I can't get at in the UK. But for now... it's very rare that a series leaves you feeling anything, let alone... that damn good.

Thoughts thereon:

Nylon Admirals - In A World…

On this day, 44 years ago, one of the most (in)famous entries to the scifi canon dropped out of hyperspace... and then vanished again, its memory carried on only through word of mouth and the most dedicated of nerd archivists. It had very little to do with Lucas, and was instead created by CBS's Saturday night variety teams, as a thinly-veiled Thanksgiving event. It also includes musical segments and "comedy", including guest stars like Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman. It is, for the most part, exactly as bad as it sounds. According to Wikipedia, Carrie demanded one of the very few remaining official copies in exchange for recording DVD commentaries, so that she could show it at parties. (Especially when she wanted people to leave). But there are a few gems in this trash compactor of a show: Carrie Fisher sings! The song's not great, but Space Mom had pipes. Pretty decent track from Jefferson Starship The Tale Of The Faithful Wookie: a Nelvana-made cartoon short about Chewie trying to find a cure for Han, who's contracted a deadly virus, and includes the very first canon appearance of everyone's favourite bounty hunter scum. (If you don't fancy suffering through the whole thing to get to that, this is the only part of the Special released "officially", on D+.)

Jefferson Starship - Light The Sky On Fire Jefferson Starship - Hyperdrive

Star Wars - Life Day Lofi Happy Life Day!

The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian https://theconversation.com/why-the-discovery-of-cleopatras-tomb-would-rewrite-history-194481

/em holdbattorch