Has Andor ruined Star Wars by being actually good?

I've had a heck of a week, which in part has kept me from seeing the season 3 return of The Mandalorian. What I have seen, however, is a lot of comments online from Star Wars fans grappling with returning to Mando after enjoying Star Wars series Andor last year.

It's simply not as good. And to be fair to The Mandalorian, it's generally fun to watch - up there with the most enjoyable Star Wars shows/movies released since the original films. But then Andor came along and ruined Star Wars for everyone.

The problem being that Andor delivered something Star Wars fans hungered for: Smart dialogue, storytelling with layers of complexity, and genuine human drama. It also helps that the show was talking about a downtrodden poor at a time where so many of us feel like our lives are just playthings for the rich and powerful.

After that, it is a bit hard to go back to something built to be enjoyed by ten year-olds.

Is the problem with Star Wars fans who simply refused to acknowledge that they are celebrating a franchise that is best enjoyed by kids? Or is it that Star Wars has refused to grow up with its audience? The answer lies somewhere in the middle of all that.

I'm looking forward to watching the puppet fighting bad guys with their space laser guns - but I know that what I really want is to be in the muck with Andor and co.

Some related reading:

Warp speed

Nobody has put in more hours on screen in Star Trek than actor Michael Dorn. A regular on both The Next Generation and later seasons of Deep Space 9, Dorn brought the fan favorite character back in multiple Star Trek movies and is now back for the series Picard.

Dorn's work as Worf is the focus of a really good feature interview with Polygon. If you're a Trek fan, I encourage a read:

It didn’t take the show’s producers long to realize that Dorn’s gruff, joyless performance could effectively turn any bit of throwaway dialogue into a laugh line. Dorn recalls an incident while shooting the early episode “Justice,” in which Worf is welcomed to an idyllic alien world by an embrace from a beautiful, scantily clad woman, and retorts, simply, “Nice planet.” He hadn’t thought much of it, until he learned that the producers had been watching the take on repeat during dailies, laughing their asses off. From here on out, writers would attempt to insert deadpan “Worfisms” into scripts, producing some of the character’s most memorable moments, but also forcing Dorn to occasionally lay down the law about his character.

“That’s been one of the big issues about Worf’s character that I’ve tried to keep consistent,” says Dorn regarding writers’ tendency to play him for laughs. “Worf does not think he’s funny. He doesn’t say funny things. It’s the people’s reaction around him that’s funny.”

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