Star Wars Expanded Universe Thread

[NorthCyd]

I watched Rogue One last night, followed by the opening scene of A New Hope.

I have adored Rogue One since its release. It's a gorgeous movie and the characters are compelling.
But...my goodness! Everything is now richer and has more depth. Jyn Erso feels less like the main character (I didn't hate that like some fans did) and Cassian feels fully formed.

One unexpected treat was that the opening crawl of A New Hope is now completely informed by Andor/Rogue One. I mean...

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If you want the full experience you could read Catalyst, which essentially tells the story of the Erso's and Krennic. It basically tells the story leading up to the first scene in Rogue One. The book itself is just ok, but I read it before going to see Rogue One in the theaters so it was cool knowing the entire background leading into the movie.

 

[bos]

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid" - Han Solo
-Cassian Andor

"Unless you go to shoot Kylo and he freezes that **** mid air" -Poe

 

[Clonehomer]

If you want the full experience you could read Catalyst, which essentially tells the story of the Erso's and Krennic. It basically tells the story leading up to the first scene in Rogue One. The book itself is just ok, but I read it before going to see Rogue One in the theaters so it was cool knowing the entire background leading into the movie.

Thinking about it more today, I wish they had more Krennic in this series. He was so good in these episodes. Rogue One just showed his end and ineptitude. Seeing him in a higher regard and wrecking Dedra was masterful.

 

[houjix]

Thinking about it more today, I wish they had more Krennic in this series. He was so good in these episodes. Rogue One just showed his end and ineptitude. Seeing him in a higher regard and wrecking Dedra was masterful.

Catalyst does show how driven he was to get the Death Star completed. I think the third Thrawn book overlaps with this as Thrawn's Tie Defender program was competing for funding.

 

[WISCY1895]

Catalyst does show how driven he was to get the Death Star completed. I think the third Thrawn book overlaps with this as Thrawn's Tie Defender program was competing for funding.

Catalyst is a great read for those who love Rogue One. Brings so much more depth to the story.

Star Wars: Bloodline is still my favorite book in the new era. Incredible book about the days of the New Republic post Episode 6

 

[NorthCyd]

Catalyst is a great read for those who love Rogue One. Brings so much more depth to the story.

Star Wars: Bloodline is still my favorite book in the new era. Incredible book about the days of the New Republic post Episode 6

I liked Bloodline, but I think Lost Stars is my favorite. I've always thought it would make for a good tv series in the right hands.

 

[houjix]

I liked Bloodline, but I think Lost Stars is my favorite. I've always thought it would make for a good tv series in the right hands.

Lost Stars was really interesting. It did a good job of subverting expectations with the characters' reactions to certain major events. There were some close-ish parallels with the Dedra and Syril relationship in that book. The only difference is would Syril have gone full Rebel had his hatred for Andor not gotten him killed.

I don't know if they ever did a novelization of it, but the storyline in the second Battlefront 2 would be awesome to see as a series as well. Things focusing difference perspectives on the late stages of the war from Endor to Operation: Cinder to the Battle of Jakku would be cool.

 

[Frak]

I wish there were more show runners that took it seriously like Gilroy. It doesn’t have to all be so serious and gritty, but it can be and this is the first time we’ve actually seen it. To me, that was a masterclass in character development, storytelling and acting.

 

[Triggermv]

I wish there were more show runners that took it seriously like Gilroy. It doesn’t have to all be so serious and gritty, but it can be and this is the first time we’ve actually seen it. To me, that was a masterclass in character development, storytelling and acting.

I agree. Star Wars can look a lot of different ways and after the success of Rogue One, I think we've waited long enough to get another more serious movie/series with similar tones. Now we've finally gotten it and hope we eventually get some more.

 

[ISUChippewa]

So...I had mentioned earlier in the thread that due to a very busy week I wasn't going to be able to watch the final 3 episodes as soon as they came out, and I originally thought I was going to have to wait until Sunday. I decided I couldn't wait anymore and watched them between yesterday afternoon and this morning.

Wow...I guess I wasn't really sure what to expect from the endgame of this series. I think a part of me thought that there might be an awesome action set piece to end things, but looking back on it that was silly of me to think that would happen (although the escape from Coruscant at the end of 11 and start of 12 was certainly thrilling). But, the way it wrapped up the storylines for all the main characters, and with the way it used pure tension along with the storytelling was just masterful.

I am going to have to rewatch "Rogue One" on Sunday now. Best Star Wars movie IMO, and the action set piece on Scarif at the end is the best action scene in all of Star Wars IMO as well.

 

[NorthCyd]

I watched the last episode last night and since then I'm not quite sure what to say other than I'm sad it's over. Star Wars has always been my favorite franchise by a lot. I guess I feel lucky that such a talented storyteller like Gilroy felt inspired to do something special with it. I remember listening to a podcast with Kevin Smith and he was talking about Gilroy for something unrelated to Star Wars and said he always thought he was one of the best writers and storytellers. After Andor I have to agree. Smith specifically mentioned Michael Clayton as an example. I've never seen it, but I may have to go check it out. I wish Gilroy wanted to do more but it sounds like he is done with the franchise. Andor is sort of the Godfather of Star Wars and it seems hard to imagine that happening again.

 

[Clonehomer]

Watching Rogue One, why didn’t Andor get into Saw’s storyline more? He was essentially non-existent in the final episodes and then in Rogue One he’s on a breathing tube and missing a foot. I assume the breathing is from the chemicals they talk about in Andor, but I assume there was a battle that he was involved in that wasn’t shown? Just with how quickly the series went from Andor to RO, he went downhill quickly from a physical and mental state.

 

[NorthCyd]

Watching Rogue One, why didn’t Andor get into Saw’s storyline more? He was essentially non-existent in the final episodes and then in Rogue One he’s on a breathing tube and missing a foot. I assume the breathing is from the chemicals they talk about in Andor, but I assume there was a battle that he was involved in that wasn’t shown? Just with how quickly the series went from Andor to RO, he went downhill quickly from a physical and mental state.

Two years passed from the time you see him huffing Rhydonium fumes in episode 5, so I'm sure a lot happened. He was probably in many battles and it seems has a bit of a drug habit huffing fumes on top of it. Hell, maybe he's huffing rhydonium fumes from that mask and it's destroying his mind and body so that's why he is the way he is in Rogue One. You can come up with your own head canon. They can't cover everything that happens to every character in the show.

 

[HarryClone]

Watching Rogue One, why didn’t Andor get into Saw’s storyline more? He was essentially non-existent in the final episodes and then in Rogue One he’s on a breathing tube and missing a foot. I assume the breathing is from the chemicals they talk about in Andor, but I assume there was a battle that he was involved in that wasn’t shown? Just with how quickly the series went from Andor to RO, he went downhill quickly from a physical and mental state.

I think Andor was originally conceived as 4-5 seasons before it was condensed (and formatted in those story arcs) for 2 seasons so maybe his story was a victim of that change. Or maybe Filoni asked Gilroy to leave some of that for a future Filoni-run show?

 

[NorthCyd]

I ran into these interviews last night with Gilroy and the guy who wrote the last 3 episodes Tom Bissel and it's a pretty deep dive into the process of creating Andor. There are actually 5 of these in all about season 2, but I have only watched the two Iinked here. Pretty interesting insights. Each one is around an hour so its a lot, but a couple of tidbits I found the most interesting:

-There was going to be a whole episode about K2S0 taking over a ship that got pretty far through the process but had to be cut due to budget.

-The Ghorman heist was going to be a much bigger action set piece, but again had to be cut due to budget.

-There was a script where Mon Mothma sees her husband for the last time and he tells her that he had known she was part of the rebellion the whole time and he had kept it secret even though the ISB had been interogating him regularly. A moment where she painfully realizes he could have been trusted the whole time. Cut for creative reason.

I guess one of the overall takeaways I have is that many decisions are made for practical reasons like budget and timing and I feel like we as fans usually assume it's creative. For example, there was a brief mention of Saw and how much it cost to have him (Forest Whitaker) on screen, which may explain why you didn't have a lot more Saw in the show. Its also pretty interesting to hear about their overall writing process and how they think through writing a good story.

 

[bos]

I ran into these interviews last night with Gilroy and the guy who wrote the last 3 episodes Tom Bissel and it's a pretty deep dive into the process of creating Andor. There are actually 5 of these in all about season 2, but I have only watched the two Iinked here. Pretty interesting insights. Each one is around an hour so its a lot, but a couple of tidbits I found the most interesting:

-There was going to be a whole episode about K2S0 taking over a ship that got pretty far through the process but had to be cut due to budget.

-The Ghorman heist was going to be a much bigger action set piece, but again had to be cut due to budget.

-There was a script where Mon Mothma sees her husband for the last time and he tells her that he had known she was part of the rebellion the whole time and he had kept it secret even though the ISB had been interogating him regularly. A moment where she painfully realizes he could have been trusted the whole time. Cut for creative reason.

I guess one of the overall takeaways I have is that many decisions are made for practical reasons like budget and timing and I feel like we as fans usually assume it's creative. For example, there was a brief mention of Saw and how much it cost to have him (Forest Whitaker) on screen, which may explain why you didn't have a lot more Saw in the show. Its also pretty interesting to hear about their overall writing process and how they think through writing a good story.

Man, I think that would have added some nice closure, I know they had a brief closing scene of him, but this would have added some depth to his character.

 

[CycloneErik]

It took forever to get back to it, but I finally did push through those first 2 episodes of Andor. Like the whole world says, it really ramps up in episode 3 and never lets up from there.

1 season down. 1 more to go.

 

[Frak]

It took forever to get back to it, but I finally did push through those first 2 episodes of Andor. Like the whole world says, it really ramps up in episode 3 and never lets up from there.

1 season down. 1 more to go.

That’s what I’ve been telling people. If you can get through the first 2 episodes, it’s some of the best tv ever. Actually season 2 starts out slow too.

 

[CycloneErik]

That’s what I’ve been telling people. If you can get through the first 2 episodes, it’s some of the best tv ever. Actually season 2 starts out slow too.

Not as slow.in season 2, but they are definitely deliberate putting things together and people in place.