I rewatched Rogue One for the first time since I originally saw it in the cinema, obviously inspired by Andor, and curious whether two seasons of an excellent prequel to a prequel would make a difference. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't - I liked the film then, I still do, with a few exceptions, I'm not interpreting things very different from when I was newly introduced to (most of) these characters. I'm still irritated by the same plot element in the opening sequence , possibly even more so post Andor- ( spoiler cut just in case ). I still like and appreciate pretty much everything else. Then as now, I feel the movie is a love letter to all redshirts, and far more original and creative than the one sequel movie which was already released by the time Rogue One premiered, The Force Awakens, because instead of modelling itself on A New Hope and repeating the exact some emotional and plot beats, it told an actually new story within the SWverse.

There are a few differences seeing this for the second time and post Andor does make for me:

- Jyn Erso no longer feels like the main character, Cassian does, with Jyn only guest starring, so to speak

- the delighted shock at the appearance of Saw Guerrera (not so much for Saw's sake but for the fact that up to this point, he had been an animated Clone Wars character, and if he was now big screen canon, then so was Ahsoka) made room for ( a more spoilery reaction )

- I like the Rogue One only (i.e. not appearing in Andor) characters of Bodhi, Chirrup and Baze a lot and in retrospect Bodhi especially forshadows Team Gilroy's ability to create nuanced imperial defectors/undercover-for-the-rebellion people who with not much screen time still make me feel a lot for them (see also Lonni Jung, or even just the maintenance worker Cassian interacts with in the first episode of s2)

- the way fascism works on a dog-eats-dog basis, with groveling towards those above you and kicking downwards, is really perfectly illustrated if you contrast Krennic in this movie (where we mostly see him with people who outrank him, like Tarkin and Vader) versus Krennic in the show (where we exclusively see him with people he outranks, like Dedra and Partagaz)

- yep, the digitally recreated counterparts of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher still look creepy, and Andor with Bail Organa proves you can successfully recast if an actor (for whichever reason) isn't available anymore

- I stand by my observation from my original review that the fact Rogue One as a prequel could not show the Death Star destroying a planet (since Alderaan has to remain the first occasion this happens) was a blessing, because what it shows instead - ( spoilery in nature ) is way more viscerally frightening, only now I think Tony Gilroy might have shown that restraint even without the prequel factor, because the Ghorman arc in s2 illustrated he and his creative team are very very aware of how you buld up to, execute and then show the aftermath of such an event in a way that really affects the audience. (Meanwhile, The Force Awakens went completely into the opposite direction and tried to top the one destroyed planet with multiple destroyed systems and no emotional resonance whatsoever.)

Some more thoughts about Jyn: ( Which are spoilery. )

What Rogue One and Andor between them accomplished for good, though, is to realign the whole focus of the Rebellion era in SW from the force wielding Jedi and Sith characters to the non-force users (Chirrup's belief in the Force notwithstanding), and thereby making it feel far more of a story about Revolution versus Authoritarianism. This doesn't mean I disdain the Jedi and Sith aspects of the story now, btw. Or that I think the only valid SW has to be like Andor. As mentioned elswhere, I adored Skeleton Crew*, which is defiantely aimed at kids and about them, and which is just as much SW. But I am really really glad there is room for both.

*Speaking of which, I hear one young actress is now the new central Slayer in the BtVS sequel? On the one hand, good for her, she was great in Skeleton Crew, otoh, I guess that means it remains a miniseries without a second sason.....

In which the Force was truly with Tony Gilroy and his team, and they created some stunning episodes not just of SW, but of all time tv, full stop. There is a scene that speaks directly to us today, which I'll highlight in a separate lj cut so you can decide whether or not if you want to read it. I don't think the quote I'll give there qualifies as a spoiler, but better to be on the safe side, I myself hate being spoiled, after all. Otoh it is something that is evidently very much written apropos today, here and now - yet also works perfectly in universe - and really really needs to be said and heard. Whether or not it's heard by people who don't already agree is as ever another question, but here's hoping.

( Now, on to the three episodes in general! )

( Mon Mothma speaking to all of us today )

Indeed, Mon. Indeed. Now, on to other aspects of these three episodes.

( Spoilers have given everything for the Rebellion )

You know, oddly enough two shows on the direct opposites of the scale - namely Skeleton Crew on the "firmly aimed at kids" side, and Andor on the "SW for adults, and by this we do not mean the female characters are shown undressed" side are what I like best about the Disney era franchise, while the actual movies are eh, and the other shows trying to strike a balance between the two are hit-and-miss. ( Vaguely spoilery thoughts on the first three episodes ensue. )

Now onto those thoughts I had which aren't about these episodes themselves but were inspired by one of the tropes they used. Because SW, enven Andor!SW, is at its heart optimistic about human nature. And so the farmers are salt-of-the-earth good people being oppressed and of course wanting to help refugees and only obeying the fascists out of fear (in a clear pre-stage of becoming rebels themselves.) This is something even dystopias like the Hunger Games franchise do - it's the big city that harbors the evil (rich) authoritarian elites while the countryside, the districts, are full of good people who only comply with dictatorships out of fear. And because of rl, I was cynically thinking: doesn't said rl prove the salt-of-the-earth farmers would actually be actively rooting for the Empire because hey, sure, they're suffering, but at least they get to "own the libs" and the Empire ensures the "aliens" are treated even worse? That they would buy into the propaganda that all their miseries were actually the aliens' fault and be as much supportive of the dictatorship as the super rich were?

Don't get me wrong: I'm actually glad Andor doesn't go there, that it is despite all the noir tropes optimistic about human nature. But those thoughts do occur.

In which the delightful season ends with much suspense and heartfelt character scenes for everyone, including the droid 33.

( Spoilers have found dangers and good people everywhere )

In conclusion: this series was charming and just incredibly well done from the start to the end, and I loved it.

In which we get the show's version of Treasure Island's Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest song as well as other more spoilery things.

( Yohoo! )

Black Doves: Netflix Miniseries starring Keira Knightley and Ben Wishaw in the leading roles, set in London. She‘s an undercover spy who has spent the last decade as the wife of a rising Tory politician, he‘s a freelance gay assassin (used to have a steady employer), they‘re bff from her early spy days, and things go pear shaped for both of them in the week before Christmas. There are various dastardly organisations involved, and if there‘s a vibe I‘d say early Alias (the tv show, not the comic) without the Rambaldi stuff as our antiheroes go through various suspensefully executed spyfare set pieces, there‘s of course a shady older handler, Mrs. Reeds (though she owes more to Margo Martindale as Claudia in The Americans‘s first season, actually), and the emotional heart of the piece is their passionate loyalty to each other as they come through for each other in crisis after crisis. In the meantime, our antiheroine while trying to maintain her cover (and the family gained therein) also has a fridged-in-the-pilot (male) lover to avenge (shades of Sydney from Alias, as I said) while our antihero can‘t resist reconnecting to the boyfriend he had to leave after said boyfriend discovered what he does for a living, and also there are a couple of very entertaining female assassins who at various points of the plot are foes and allies.

It‘s very enjoyable if you like spy stuff, and Keira Knightley and Ben Wishaw, all of which I do; I think I may have found a new Christmas story to enjoy rewatching in future years.

Skeleton Crew, episodes 1 - 3 (so far): aka a new Star Wars show on Disney + that started three weeks ago and which I had no real urge to watch until hearing good noises. Squarely aimed at children and incredibly charming. I watched with captions on, so when in the very first scene said captions identified a character leading a bunch of pirates as „Silvo“ and a scene later we got introduced to a boy called „Wim“, I thought, hang on, is this a Treasure Island/Star Wars crossover? And the answer so far is… kinda, kinda not?

( Slightly spoilery from here )

In conclusion, I‘m greatly enjoying this, and would like to thank whichever wage slave or freelancer pitched to the Mouse that the world needed not just any but the pirate story in the Star Wars universe.

This article tells me there's a new play on the London stage about the encounter between J.S. Bach and Frederick the Great, titled Score, which causes the article writer, Michael Billington, to muse about other plays about composers (starting of course with Amadeus), and because this is an English article, and thus German language works do not exist, there's no nod to Mein Name ist Bach (German language Swiss film about that very encounter, used to be in its entirety up at YouTube, with English subtitles, no less, but no more, and thus I can't link you to the thing itself, but I did write an extensive review with screencaps; if nothing else, that film has a claim to fame for being the first movie to unambiguously, on screen textually present good old or rather young Friedrich as gay) or the play Mögliche Begegnung der Herren Bach und Händel about an imaginary encounter between Bach and Händel during Händel's last trip home to Saxony, which a couple of years ago was a stage and audio hit back here. Re: this new play Score: Brian Cox as Bach, eh? Not the first actor who'd come to mind, but of course I would love to see his interpretation.

On to this week's episode of Ahsoka: ( In which we catch up with the villains. )

And speaking of villains:

After a month where I had to do other things, I went on with my Discovery rewatch, and four episodes into s3 I'm filled with even more love for the show. I think one of many reasons why I adore the later two seasons so much is that for me, they solved a narrative problem even my beloved Babylon 5 struggled with in its fifth season and which the Star Wars sequel trilogy avoided altogether by skipping entirely over the New Republic era and creating another scenario where it's Evil Fascist Bad Guys vs Plucky Resistance Heroes. It is this: making a period of reconstruction, of rebuilding a society after some cataclysmic event narratively compelling and exciting.

War, as Sheridan says in one of JMS's self conscious meta moments in s5, is exciting. Teaming up in war against a mutual (usually evil and overwhelming, in fiction) enemy is a feell good narrative, as is defeating said enemy after some temporary set backs. But rebuilding, making alliances for the long term, making compromises where no one gets exactly what they want, and without a Big Bad to boo and hiss at? I'm a staunch s5 defender, and not just because the network screwed JMS over, but while the Fall of Centauri Prime storyline is perfect, everything else would have needed some retooling, and I don't think he ever solved the problem of how to make Sheridan convincingly a good president (i.e. the dialogue keep insisting he is, and the story keeps showing us he's not) the way he was a good war time leader. As for SW and the sequel trilogy, I do think it was a simple calculation on the part of Disney and J.J. Abrams, especially based on the reception the prequels originally got (with their reputation thankfully now somewhat better, says this prequel fan): what people wanted from SW was Plucky Underdog Rebels vs The Evil Empire, and nothing else. Not the plucky rebels transitioning to being the people in power and trying to rebuild a society. So they recreated that scenario, never mind that it meant Our Heroes lived to see their efforts smashed to pieces. (For all that the Disney tv shows can be very different in qualitiy, I give credit where due to Filon, Favreu & Co. of actually tackling the challenge of showing us the New Republic and trying to create a believeable scenario where we see why it fails. Of course, they live in an era where we see democracies all over the world full of people fannish about strongmen again, so I think the theme resonates. However, given that the sequels already established that the New Republic is basically Weimar, the ending is perordained, so that's not really comparable to the challenge I mean: making rebuliding, and specifically rebuilding a democratic society, narratively compelling WITHOUT resorting to the next war against Evil McEvil on the horizon.

Which is what Star Trek: Discovery does show in its third and fourth season. Not that the series is suddenly without villains, or threats and menaces, but they're of a different type, not Evil Empires. S3 very specifically shows us a society that emerged from the breakdown of a civilisatiion - and one that already showed fractures before the Burn -, and the rebuilding of the Federation, the reforging of connections, the need to establish trust that was lost, or in the case the 10c to understand what at first seems utterly incomprehensible, those are the tasks set to our heroes. And it's captivating and emotionally stirring and compelling to watch. That's what I mean when I say Disco has solved that particular narrative challenge.

Also: I'm not sure whether I recced this before or not, but it bears repeating: this is a beautiful vid capturing what's best about the show so well:

The first two episodes of the Ahsoka miniseries have been released.

( Spoilers have a wistful longing for Ashley Eckstein unrelated to the actual episodes content )

For Valentine's Day, the Candy Hearts Exchange went live, and I received two gifts, both SW: The Clone Wars stories: give us something to celebrate and yet peace, both stories in which conversations Anakin has with Ahsoka (and Obi-Wan) make fundamental changes.

I also finished reading A Thousand Ships, a, hm, less than a novel than an interconnected tapestry of stories based on Trojan War related myths by Natalie Haynes. Each of the myths is told from a female perspective, and in a non-liniear fashion; for example, the Penthesilea story (near the end of the war) happens before the Iphigenia story (at the start of the war). Like The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, this one's take on Briseis and Chryseis (and for that matter any of the female prisoners taken slaves by the Greeks) pointedly avoids presenting their relationships as romances. I think this is the retelling whose take on Cassandra was most visceral for me, because the author had Cassandra experience her visions of the future as memories. (I.e. like Doctor Manhattan in Watchman, she experiences past, present and future simultanously and all the time. Unlike him, she remains human. Talk about a curse.) I'm reasonably well versed in Greek mythology, but there were some myths I hadn't been familiar with, and afterwards had to google, such as the story of Hecuba's revenge on Polymestor, which I see is from both a Euripides play and Ovid. Though Haynes made one telling change; in her book, as in practically every modern retelling I've seen save for an intriguing Yuletide story from years past, Agamemnon is an unredeemable villain, and thus the Greek hero who sides with Hecuba in her version isn't Agamemnon but Odysseus.

Another decision any author tackling the Trojan War myths has to make is whether or not to use the Gods. Haynes does include them, and provides some intriguing twists, most of all by using the non-linear storytelling to reveal bit by bit the underlying true reason for the Trojan War. There are some surprising yet effective decisions, like ( a spoiliery one regarding Thetis the mother of Achilles. ) Unfortunately, one of the very few intallments that don't work for me are the Penelope passages, perhaps because all the other female povs come across as telling their own stories, whereas Penelope tells that of Odysseus (except for the first time she speaks). I mean, I do see the basic problem - evidently Heynes wanted to include the Odyssey stories and she wanted to include Penelope as a pov, and so she has Penelope tell those stories via letters to her absent husbands where she repeats what she heard from the bards about his adventures with her own sarcastic commentary. But that still makes them not Penolope's stories, and I wonder whether a better solution would have been to divide the Oddyssey tales between Penolope, Circe, Kalypso and Nausicaa.

Lastly, as opposed to some other modern retellings where the brutality of the male characters' actions is preserved, but not of the female characters, here this doesn't happen, which means the various revenge acts by women fall on the guilty and innocent alike (true for both Hecuba's and Clytemnestra's revenges, for example), and thus several the female characters are victims and perpetrators alike. It's a compelling book, but definitely not one for escapist purposes.