Pc Perk

The Star Wars Journey into the Underbelly of seedy, dark situations- Are they doing a good job?

Star Wars,

So, what’s more fascinating than Star Wars. 

Coming from an 80’s kid. 

Nothing.

Simple as that.

Now, let me get this out there.  I am not one who can tell you Star Wars hidden facts and all the history (Too many hobbies), but I know enough to be involved in conversations. 

That being said, I would be a C,C+ student when talking about Star Wars.

That doesn’t stop me from diving headfirst into the lore. 

Changes…

Star Wars has changed over the years.  Some changes are good, some are bad.

They have made their mistakes- but who hasn’t.  Me, damn; I have made probably 3+ mistakes this morning.  Taking from my day job as a Training Coordinator, mistakes help us learn.  It teaches us what not to do next time.

The change that I see the most, in watching “Andor” (Season 1,2) is the grittiness you knew the Star Wars Galaxy had, but we were never shown.  We saw Vader, Jabba, Tatooine, Darth Maul and some of the bounty hunters, even then it still wasn’t as gritty as it should have been.  The best it portrayed was Jabba’s palace in the Return of the Jedi, but the aurora still seemed as if it was still missing the darkness that it was supposed to portray.  Jabba was still a little funny, and the palace felt like it had a little too much good air to breathe.  The doom wasn’t there. 

Fast Forward-

In the “Book of Boba Fett”, Jabba’s place felt like you were going to die.  You felt the doom of ruthless gangsters; the panic was felt.

  Me, personally, If I was in Jabba’s palace standing with all the different bounty hunters talking greasy to me, I would have had that feeling of fear; painful fear of knowing my life was at the end or the thought of “I need to make changes in life”.  Those scenarios brought to me the breath-taking anguish you have when you know you’re in the wrong place- at the wrong time- and knowing you must deal with this in a nature you are not used to.  That fear that causes either that fight or flight emotion.  I obviously am not Boba Fett.  (One could dream of only being so cool.)  Disney did a good job of making it darker.  Still… but not as dark as we wanted.

So,

I will give you another example-

“Andor”, has done a great job showing a rebellion.  Shades of the Dutch and French resistance in World War 2.

With “Andor” you felt the movement.  It wasn’t the result of the movement; it was the movement in motion.  Hiding, traveling, safe house, words spoken in code.  It made you feel as if you were in the know.  That you were part of it.  The way they have brought the galaxy to you has been a breath of fresh air.  In the second season they were dancing at a wedding, and you felt like it was relatable, you could almost hear someone in the background going “WOO WOO!”   It made you think, “Hey these folks are just like us”.  (They can’t dance as good as me..but close enough.)

I won’t give away any spoilers, (I don’t want that heat from people) but the ambiance of the dance and the joy they were showing just brought a good vibe.  One thing though, you could still feel the stress in the air of a rebellion looming, you could feel the nervousness floating in the air as if you yourself did something wrong, and everyone was about to find out the truth. 

People who I have spoken to about “Andor” season 2 have said it’s too slow.  I believe it must be, to get the full story.  Politics, lies, double crossing, it must be slow to tell the story.   

“Andor” did get going, it got very stressful for me watching it.  If you have ever watched the “The Shield” back in the day it had the same feeling as that, matter of fact here is my ranking on the most stressful shows of all time-

1. The Shield– #1 show of all time to me.  This show still gives me butterflies in my stomach when thinking about it.  This show from start to finish was the greatest show of all time, it ruined all other drama, police shows, or crime shows at that…
2. 24– The first few seasons were great and the way that clock would count, and the beep..Those little things intensified the stress!  It was a good show, but what got me was the stress.
3. The Office—Now this is different, this is a sitcom—but one of my favorites, the only reason it is on the list was because the stress—–more cringe- worse than anything.  The episode of Scott’s Tots—bro, that will make you just sick to your stomach, it was hard to watch, not because it was bad, but because I couldn’t imagine being in that situation.
4. You– Now this Netflix series will have you pulling for the bad guy more than anything.  It’s like you understand his point of view.  The weird thing is that you agree with him and makes you second guess your sanity level and deep down what you really are.  I haven’t watched the last season yet, so don’t tell me anything!!
5. Andor– This series, only 2 seasons, then leads to the  movie Rogue 1.  This is a combination of Bourne Identity, Band of Brothers, Manchurian Candidate.  As noted above, the stress of a rebellion feels like it is on your shoulders.  You become a Rebel against the Evil Empire!! **Special note:  Disney has put all of the Star Wars Movies, Series in chronological order, easy to follow.

Overall-

I believe the Stars Wars Franchise has done a great job with their series.  They have adapted to what viewers have become. We want a series we can follow, my only complaint, I think they need to find a series within Star Wars that can last more than 2-3 seasons.  I know they are filling in the gaps between movies, and that is cool, but we need that “Game of Thrones” type of timeline.  We need something that lasts, that we can sink our teeth into.  There can always be a series that goes on during the same time frame of a movie that is interesting, they can create some side battles we were never aware of, there is a whole galaxy of opportunities, or follow a Spice Dealer, or a Weapons Merchant, ideas are endless.

  We will see where they take this Franchise in the future. Overall, you don’t have to become a Star Wars “nerd” to like the series they have created.  You don’t have to go buy lightsabers, or action figures, you just must let yourself go and enjoy the stories being told.  Eventually you will look up something on the internet and then fall down the rabbit hole.  Like I said before, I am not one who can tell you what every color lightsaber means, or if Jar Jar Binks was actually a Sith Lord .. 

Was he? 

What do you think?   

Once again, thank you all and enjoy your coffee and at the end of the day, enjoy life and each other!

Talk to y’all later,

–Paddy