Andor is such a great show, even if it wasn't taking place in the Star Wars universe it would stand on its own.

So many wonderful details visually throughout the show. It really feels like each scene is truly crafted carefully, physical props and the actors.

Fantastic. Andor recently passed Expanse,Galactica and Babylon 5 as my favorite SF series. The way I describe it is what we should have gotten in the prequels. As a kid I always imagined that the prequels would be the fall of Rome. What we got instead was a reflection of George Lucas’s monetization of Star Wars - purple lightsabers, yippee and Jar Jar.

There was no way to “earn” the payoff with Vader so they masked it over with massacring children and one of the worst romance screen in (then nascent) digital film history.

At the end of Andor, nothing felt unearned. For film folks there were jaw dropping moments, and for history geeks, gasp out loud moments (my favorite being half-track and Wannasee callbacks in not so subtle Star Wars allegory).

Andor is good enough that it makes its sequels better:

https://youtu.be/qzny45Zk05c?si=0fMi8YKgHOPfKV62

Generally it's such a bummer that streaming services (including music) have really diminished the 'extras' that used to be so common with DVDs. Granted, Disney+ has their great "Light & Magic" series. But, one of my favorite things about getting a box set for something like "The Abyss" or "Lord of The Rings" was that it'd be loaded with bonus content and making-of mini-documentaries.

Same goes for albums. But, it's particularly egregious there because there used to be such a rich medium in album art and liner notes. The fidelity of a record's artwork was pretty amazing when you think about it. Very large and immersive, and you'd spread it out while listening.

Apple Music has their neat little animations and visuals on some albums and categories now – but, with all the power of phones it's such a shame that the visual aspect of albums has basically withered on the vine. The early "Cover Flow" UI showed some care of this, but it never went much farther.

Partially I wonder if it has to do with the death of Flash. In the late 90s, it was very common for people to use Director, and then later Flash, to create interactives, and have a relatively widely excepted standard for viewing them. When Jobs killed flash with his open letter, (and don't get me started on HyperCard), nothing really stepped into its place.

And I say this as someone who writes apps for a living. It's way easier to write an app today, and in SwiftUI one can rapidly put an interactive together without a ton of complexity... but, somehow the momentum was lost and we never really returned to the DVD era in terms of bonus content, hidden tracks, or beautiful album art.