The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: April 27, 2025
The only Star Wars newsletter featuring John le Carre
Hello there
Last week, the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter dropped on a Sunday because I had a crazy week. This week, it’s dropping on a Sunday because I had a lazy week. Wordplay! It’s a busy newsletter this week. The first three episodes from Andor season 2 are here, and the show is starting with a bang! Revenge of the Sith is back in the theaters, proving that once again the high ground is unbeatable and that Star Wars was meant to be seen on the big screen. Finally and most importantly, you may have noticed there’s a 2nd author here. That’s right, there’s a podcast. Friend of Death Star HR
asked me if I wanted to talk Star Wars with him. So we spent an hour chatting about The Acolyte. Check it out!It’s almost May the 4th. Get ready!
This Is Where The Fun Begins
I’ve talked in the past about how Disney wanting Andor to be a hit has moved into something more like Disney needing Andor to be a hit. And part of that is always putting the stars out on a media blitz. If you’ve ever even clicked on a single Andor related video on YouTube, the algorithm is going to be serving you tons of interviews. The way Disney sent all the Andor actors out into the world to answer questions, I actually think Death Star HR could have had an exclusive with…well, maybe not Diego Luna. But I bet I could have gotten Dave Chapman to answer some questions about voicing B2EMO.
Not gonna lie, Denise Gough seems like she would be an absolute blast to have as a drinking buddy. Denise, and I assume you’re just subscribed under a burner email. Hit me up, Oga’s Cantina is calling.
Also, I got 10/10 of the questions right. I think that over-qualifies me to be in a Star Wars TV show. Jon and Dave, hit me up as well. Or you can just find me in Oga’s Cantina, pounding Fuzzy Tauntauns with Denise.
Dedra and Syril are the power couple that Star Wars needs. Sorry, Anakin and Padme. Move over, Han and Leia. Get lost, Jar Jar and Queen Julia1! Dedra and Syril are the hot new ‘ship of the galaxy.
This Is Where The Fun Begins, Part 2
Can we all agree that at this point, social media is garbage? Except Substack of course. The only reason to keep a Facebook account is for Marketplace and Star Wars memes.
Anyone know when “Andor” was first used as a name in the Star Wars universe?
Yakkin’ About The Acolyte
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that friend of Death Star HR
and I had a project where we were doing a colab on The Acolyte. If you’re not familiar with Shane’s newsletter Feats N’ Faults, you need to sign up. Shane takes a look at all the nerdy pop culture out there, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, the MCU, Dr. Who, etc. and using a proprietary and top secret rankings system, determines which characters are the best based on their deeds or their misdeeds.Shane asked me if I wanted to do a guest with with him about Star Wars and suggested we either talk about The Acolyte or Skeleton Crew. Because I know what people love, I suggested The Acolyte. A Star Wars show everyone loves. I also suggested we do it as a podcast because as most readers of Death Star HR know, my day job is I’m a lawyer and therefore in love with the sound of my own voice. I had a lot of fun talking with Shane about The Acolyte in general, going through each of the characters, and what if Nubs had been in The Acolyte.
Also, you can’t actually see me fiddling with something on camera, but there are points where you can see me lean towards the camera and I’m picking something up or putting something down because I have to do something with my hands.
NOTE FROM SHANE:
What do we have here: more Star Wars, a cross-post with Death Star Human Resources, and a face reveal? Who am I kidding? This is probably the first time you have heard of Feats N' Faults, and I am honored to appear on DSHR. For those of you unfamiliar, my Substack is filled to the brim with the nerdiest things imaginable, Pop Culture and Statistics. Since I absolutely despise myself and having free time, I developed a point system that can be utilized across fandoms to give ourselves a new way to compare our favorite heroes and villains. Sure, power scaling is fun, but I wanted to figure out who impacted their universes the most and how their actions stand up to the rest of the multiverse. We give official scores, do fun matchups, and build Top Tier teams for any and every IP. What would the best Avengers Team look like? Who would make up a perfect Tardis Team? Did Mr. Peanut score higher than Gandalf? We can and are answering those nerdiest of questions every week on Feats N' Faults, so if you are as crazy as us, subscribe to stay up to date! Now, let's get back to our regularly scheduled Star Wars report.
Check out the the Feats N’ Faults: The Acolyte.
The First Andor Movie Is Here
OK, maybe it’s actually the 2nd Andor movie since we do have Rogue One. The first three episodes of Andor season 2 dropped on the 22nd. It’s not quite 3 hours worth of TV but it’s close. I read that when you take out the credits, it’s roughly 140 minutes which is more or less the length of an IP driven blockbuster these days. And we’ve still got 3 more weeks!
Reviews have generally been very positive, I saw a few that suggested the episodes were too slow or lacking action. A lot of reviews centered around Bix and we’ll get to that. There has been a criticism of Andor that it’s slow. I’ve mentioned here before that Emperor Palpatine’s #1 Fan and I will sometimes watch Star Wars shows with our neighbors. A few years ago when we watched Andor, the wives dubbed it “Snordor.” Which was pretty clever, give credit where it’s due. I think it was during the lead up to the heist on Aldhani.
Andor is a slow burn, punctuated by moments of violence. Similar to a Tarantino movie or a John le Carre novel. I don’t know if he’s ever said it, but I have to believe that Tony Gilroy was influenced by le Carre. In le Carre’s world, especially his Cold War period, The Circus is at best getting by more on luck than skill and at worst filled with petty bureaucrats more interested in fighting among themselves than fighting the Soviets. A critique that Senator Palpatine himself would agree with. After “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” was published, the British reading public at large viewed it as endorsement of the MI6. In response, le Carre wrote “The Looking Glass War” which, at least in his mind, left no doubt about the petty the turf arguments between agencies and the pointlessness of creating work to justify your own existence. A theme I think that repeats in “The Tailor of Panama.” The author himself referred to both books as satire. I wouldn’t say Andor is in satire territory or even dark comedy, but the first three episodes had more humor than all 12 episodes of season 1 combined.
Another criticism of Andor is there’s a lot less action than your typical Star Wars movie or TV show. Is there an episode over 3 seasons where Mando doesn’t pull out his blaster? I don’t know, but I’d be surprised if there was. Just as George Smiley is not James Bond. Cassian Andor is not Din Djarin. There’s going to be more action simply because television is better suited to action than a book, but the violence is Andor is more deliberate.
So that’s four paragraphs and I haven’t even touched on the show yet. Let’s get into it:
Plot 1: Cassian and the Rebels
Cassian and the Rebels kind of sounds like a forgotten rock ‘n roll band from the late 1950’s/early 1960’s that opened for Jan and Dean but have long been forgotten to the sands of time. They could have been big, but then The Beatles came along and changed everything. Their one charting single “Hot Rod TIE” is pretty easy to find in the record store bargain bins, especially the Columbia release. If you can find a Decca Records pressing of it, snap that up. It’s worth some Republic credits. Anyway, enough constructing a backstory for a fictional band.
The opening scene where Cassian steals the TIE Avenger is pure, uncut Andor at it’s best. A secret mission, a disguise, and an inspiring speech. If you had watched the first scene that Disney released, you’d know escaping with the TIE doesn’t go as planned. I guess the Avenger controls are a bit wonky. But after he escapes, we get to the meat of Cassian’s story for Year 1. The hopeless band of Maya Pei insurgents. They’ve already killed Cassian’s contact and can’t look past the fact he’s wearing an Imperial pilot uniform, despite his claims that he’s one of them. Whatever Luthen is paying those guys, it’s too much.
The entire time I was watching them, all I could think of was Monty Python’s Life of Brian and the People’s Front of Judea. Supposedly the Pythons took inspiration from the various London socialist groups of the 60’s who spent more time fighting with each other than fighting the capitalists. Which is how they ended up with Emperor Palpatine/Margaret Thatcher.
There’s probably a parallel to US politics right now. Fascism currently revolves around a strongman cult of personality while those opposing him squabble among themselves as to who the purest is. Attempting to settle their differences with a game of Space Rock-Paper-Scissors.
I was a little puzzled by the inclusion of Maya Pei insurgents. Nothing in Andor happens by chance though, so there’s a reason for them. Maybe establish Yavin 4 was a base of rebel activity since the beginning, but more like they’re going to cross paths with Fascist Barbie. More on this below.
Plot 2: Gotta Dance At The TradWife Wedding
If you asked me, and you’re reading this so you at least implicitly asked me, Mon Mothma’s story was the highlight of the first 3 episodes. Mon is, to put it simply, in a bit of a pickle. She’s a respected (sort of) member of the Senate and she’s helping fund the Rebellion. She’s also got to deal with her TradWife daughter entering what appears to be an arranged marriage to the son of a white collar criminal. Said marriage was arranged by Mon because rebellions are expensive and money must be laundered. She’s got a husband who really needs some Prozac and thinks Mon is cheating on him with her childhood friend and maybe ex-boyfriend? Said ex-boyfriend is at the wedding and being really whiny because funding the rebellion is again, expensive and he’s feeling unappreciated and drinking too much which could cause him to start running his mouth. And who should show up at the wedding but Luthen, a man who never met a problem he couldn’t murder his way out of. So yeah, she’s got a lot on her plate right now. It reminded me of Goodfellas, when Henry Hill has to get Sunday dinner ready, make the pickup at the airport, keep everyone happy, and all the while there’s a helicopter overhead.
Genevieve O'Reilly was spectacular in these episodes. As the episodes go on, you can see she’s wound tighter and tighter. She finally gets a quiet moment with her daughter just before the ceremony and lets her guard down. Telling her she doesn’t have to do this, they can call it off and everyone can just go home. It’s strongly implied that Mon’s unhappy marriage to Perrin was a Chandrilan arranged marriage as well. Leida’s reaction to her mom opening up for once? To say she wishes that mom was drunk.
Kids these days.
It’s a great moment from O’Reilly. She softens, she’s able to be honest. And in that moment when Leida rejects it, Mon’s face snaps back to her game face. And she does the only thing she can think to do in the moment. Get drunk and dance it out.
Plot 3: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner
Before Andor started, I floated an idea that Dedra Meero and Syril Karn could potentially have the most interesting stories. Both are true believers in the Empire, but as the Empire becomes THE EMPIRE, would they stick with it? Or is there a conscious in there? If Dave Filoni was the showrunner, I think we might see it. The man loves a redemption arc almost as much as he loves cowboy hats. Tony Gilroy on the other hand? I’m not sure.
All the speculation from the trailers appears to be correct. We’re going to get a Ghorman Massacre and it sure looks like Dedra is going to play a big part in it. She seemed reluctant to do so when Orson Krennic (so glad he’s back) asked her to. Whether she doesn’t want to get involved because it takes away from her mission of looking for Luthen, or because she’s having second thoughts remains to be seen. It’s currently the former, I really do wonder if it will turn into the latter.
The highlight of course though, was not ISB shenanigans but Dedra and Syril playing house. And Syril’s overbearing mother Eedy coming for a visit. I’ve thought Eedy was basically George Costanza’s mom but dropped into the Star Wars universe. Sure, being stuck in the middle of a riot on Ferrix is bad. But your boyfriend’s overly attached mom, who no doubt views you as the woman who stole her son, is going to be even worse.
Much like Mon, Dedra has to put on a fake face to deal with her problems.
Dedra and Eedy are two sides of the same coin though. The both love Syril and they both think their actions are how they show their love. Dedra is a problem solver, Eedy is a problem because she makes Syril sad. You don’t get to be an ISB supervisor without having some insight into what makes people tick. Dedra figures out pretty quickly that the only way to keep Eedy in line is to control access to Syril. I doubt we’ll get any more scenes like this one, which is too bad. I’d watch 8 episodes of a Dedra and Syril sit-com.
I mentioned we’d return to the Maya Pei insurgents. Dedra tells Krennic it would make things easier for the Empire if there was some Rebel activity on Ghorman. Rebel activity is just a good excuse to drop a garrison of Stormtroopers on the planet. Of course, you don’t want the rebellion to actually succeed. If only there were a group of rebels out there that were long on passion but short on skills…
Plot 4: Green Acres Isn’t The Place For Me
And, we get to the plot that has generated the most controversy/chatter. A year after the Rix Road uprising, Brasso, Bix, Wilmon, and B2EMO are hiding out on Mina-Rau, living a simple life of harvesting wheat (seriously the planet seems to be nothing but wheat. It’s Kansas as a Star Wars planet) and fixing stuff. Bix has PTSD but Brasso and Wilmon have some local women they’re sweet on. Even the long suffering B2EMO has some kids to play with. Unfortunately for our heroes, they’re illegally on Mina-Rau, seemingly like a lot of other farm workers on the planet. We gather than the Empire normally just looks the other way because workers are needed for the harvest and it’s best not too ask too many questions about how the work gets done. But now there’s an Imperial audit and if Bix and company are caught without the proper papers, they’re in trouble. The show doesn’t specify what kind of trouble, but considering that in season 1, Cassian got 6 years in Narkina 5 for just standing around, it doesn’t seem like it will just be a slap on the wrist.
Lieutenant Krole, who appears to be in charge of the Imperial audit takes an unhealthy interest in Bix. She tries to rebuff him the first time, telling him her husband will be back. The second time, he’s not really interested in taking no for an answer, and attempts to assault Bix. A pretty graphic fight, by Star Wars standards ensues and Bix smacks Krole in the head with wrench, he hits his head on the way down, and dies. When the Imperial driver who was with Krole investigates, Bix screams “he tried to rape me!” while the other Imperial looks more concerned he’ll get blamed for Krole dying, than anything Krole attempted to do.
I cannot imagine the fight Tony Gilroy had to get this scene in the show, and to actually use the word “rape” to describe what Lieutenant Krole attempted. I know Gilroy has said Disney largely left him alone and let him back the show he wanted to, but I have a very hard time believing there wasn’t push back from the Mouse. I’ve seen some commentary that this is going too far, it’s a show for kids, Star Wars isn’t Game of Thrones, and so on. I see their point, to a certain degree. Sex is something that isn’t discussed in Star Wars, it’s really not even hinted at. Sure, there’s children being born. Padme is pregnant with Luke and Leia in Revenge of the Sith. Kylo Ren is the son of Han and Leia. A kiss between characters is the most you’re going to see.
But Andor is pretty clearly not a show for kids. This is a show for adult Star Wars fans. And it’s a show about what happens when authoritarian regimes are in power. That the people in power are allowed to rape and murder and hurt people without consequences. That it’s not just Palpatine and Vader as the bad guys. A random lieutenant working on an Outer Rim planet doing a wheat audit thinks he can sexually assault someone without any consequences because he’s an Imperial and she’s an illegal. Because unless someone hits him on the head with a wrench, he would have been able to get away with it.
Everything goes to hell, the Imperials kill Brasso as he tries to escape on a speederbike. But then Cassian, the who nominally the show is about, comes back in the TIE fighter to save the day. Watching him swoop in and blow up a bunch of Stormtroopers was very satisfying.
I’m just sad B2EMO got left behind. Poor guy/droid.
Lava Planets - So Hot Right Now
So yesterday I fired up the landspeeder and headed out beyond the Jundland Wastes (aka leaving Dallas) to catch the 20th anniversary showing of Revenge of the Sith with a good friend. I know that we just had the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace last year, but that one was released in 1999, which is so far away. Revenge of the Sith was in 2005, which if you asked me a week ago, I would have said it wasn’t more than 5, maybe 7 years ago. Tops. But no. Time waits for no one. Not in our galaxy. Not in the galaxy far, far away.
Three quick thoughts after seeing the movie again.
Star Wars is meant to be seen on the big screen.
I would betray the Jedi Order and the Republic for Natalie Portman.
The Jedi come off poorly in this movie.
Look, I really do enjoy Disney+. There’s something to be said for the WALL-E style convenience of turning on my TV and having essentially the entire Star Wars library at my fingertips. I can watch everything from the Original Trilogy to the latest season of Andor to the Ewok Adventures cartoons. I think the only thing missing is the Holiday Special. But for all the convenience, you just can’t beat seeing Star Wars in the theaters.
I was a little curious what the crowd would be like. When I went and saw The Phantom Menace last year, there were like seven other people in the theater. Now, granted that was seeing a 11:30 AM show on a weekend versus going on a weekend. But as I’ve said before, the state of Star Wars fandom is a little uncertain. Would people show up? Turns out that yes, yes they did. Revenge of the Sith is expected to earn $20 million at the box office this weekend. The theater I was at was probably 2/3 full. There was one family dressed up. The husband and kids in Jedi robes, the wife in a Padme dress. People cheered for the fanfare and the opening crawl, laughed when Obi-Wan said “hello there”, and clapped when the movie was over. At least a few people chuckled when Palpatine brought up Darth Plagueis. Nobody cheered when Anakin slaughtered the Younglings, which was probably a good sign. If anyone was on their phone, I didn’t notice it. We even got a welcome message from Darth Vader himself that had some people clapping.
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about whether movie theaters are still relevant and how you can get people back to the movies. I don’t have the answers. But I know movies can be a great communal experience. Sixty people in a room, most of whom don’t know each other, all there for the same reason and just there to have a good time watching their favorite space wizards. I don’t know how it would work or if it was even feasible, but I wish Disney could show the TV shows in the theaters. How great would it be to take a day and watch The Mandalorian on the big screen surrounded by other Star Wars fans. Sounds like a blast, until one guy dressed as Mando gets in a fight with another guy dressed as Mando about taking your helmet off simply to eat some Junior Mints.
As far as Revenge of the Sith itself, it’s generally agreed upon that it’s the best of the Prequels and you can’t really argue with that. The movie starts off with a bang and has pretty of action. I like the opening shot where it’s just Anakin and Obi-Wan in their fighters about a Republic cruiser, and then it pulls back to see the epic space battle that’s raging above Coruscant. There’s plenty of action, and the film moves along at a pretty good pace. It never feels like it gets bogged down. If anything, I actually wish Revenge of the Sith would tap the brakes a little bit. I’ve also thought Anakin’s fall happens too quickly. Although maybe you could argue it his downfall starts during Attack of the Clones when he murders a bunch of Sand People after his mother is killed and continues through The Clone Wars when his Padawan gets framed for plotting against the Jedi and leaves the Order. Not great things for Anakin and his abandonment issues.
There is allegedly a four hour cut of Revenge of the Sith. There are numerous ROTS fan-edits that incorporate the deleted scenes and things from The Clone Wars. The ROTS novelization by Death Star HR favorite Matthew Stover also incorporates the deleted scenes and additional parts to the story.
Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side and reemergence as Darth Vader was kept rather simple in Revenge of the Sith’s final cut, but numerous additional sub-plots were initially included, making his fall even more robust. Anakin gradually became disillusioned with the Jedi Order’s philosophies, slowly became swayed by the Republic’s transition into authoritarianism, became paranoid of an affair between Padmé and Obi-Wan, and felt disrespected by not being made a Jedi Master, which would have granted him access to otherwise-restricted Jedi tomes that he believed could save Padmé. These sub-plots, which enriched Anakin’s arc, were included in deleted scenes and the Revenge of the Sith novelization.
This hits on what is probably my biggest complaint of ROTS, Anakin’s fall. As I noted above, it has been going on for a while but it really feels like Anakin gets back from rescuing Palpatine, finds out Padme is pregnant, has a bad dream, and becomes a Sith in a matter of 45 minutes. Maybe spreading that out in a 2 hour 20 minute movie really isn’t that bad, but it’s always felt a little rushed to me. It had actually been quite a while since I had watched ROTS and I remember a lot of Anakin’s fall happening later in the movie. So in conclusion, Disney, stop being cowards and release the four hour cut!
The other thing I’ve always thought about this movie, and maybe could be fixed with an extended cut, would be that they did my girl Padme dirty. In The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones she’s out there as part of the adventure. And not in a #GIRLBOSS way like Rey. She’s more like Leia in the sense of she’s a woman but that’s not the defining characteristic. I don’t know, I should take this part out. Going to get myself in trouble. Anyway, in ROTS she mostly reduced to looking sad and/or worried about Anakin. She does get her famous line in the Senate, but she doesn’t even get to give a speech. It’s just an aside to Bail Organa.
Again, there was a plan for Padme, it just stayed on the cutting room floor.
A criticism of Revenge of the Sith is its underuse of Padmé, a key Star Wars prequel trilogy character. Padmé was originally intended to lead a vital subplot in which she and other Republic politicians, witnessing their government’s gradual transformation into an authoritarian regime, form a movement to peacefully protest it. This movement, called the Delegation of 2000, was the first iteration of the eventual Rebel Alliance, and it would have further driven a wedge between Anakin and Padmé. This sub-plot, like Anakin’s additional characterization, lived on via deleted scenes and the Revenge of the Sith novel.
There was even an idea to have Padme attempt to kill Anakin after his fall to the Dark Side. Not a very Padme-like action. But it at least would have given her something to do besides dying of a broken heart. The deleted scenes are also the first of a younger Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma. She is listed in credits even if her scenes aren’t in the movie.
And finally, if there’s ever a movie where the Jedi Order comes off looking bad it’s this one. Can’t see the the Sith Lord who’s been in front of their faces for years. The Chosen One breaks all the rules regarding attachments and then falls to the Dark Side. The vast majority of the Jedi Order2 gets wiped out by slightly deadlier Stormtroopers. That’s a lot of L’s to take one movie. Oh, and as the two remaining Jedi (at least at the time), Yoda and Obi-Wan decide the correct course of action in response to Palpatine’s rise to power is to give themselves a time out? After Obi-Wan tries and fails to kill the person he considers a brother.
Some of these issues are simply unavoidable from a story-telling perspective, especially the last one. There’s not much George could really do in Episode III when he needs Obi-Wan living in a cave and Yoda living in a swamp in Episodes IV and V respectively. You can’t actually have Obi-Wan kill Anakin. So instead you just have Obi-Wan chop off Anakin’s legs, watch him catch on fire, and think to himself “no way he can survive, no reason for me to stick around and make sure.”
Revenge of the Sith is not as critical of the Jedi as say Knights of the Old Republic II, The Last Jedi, or The Acolyte. I don’t think George is going to give the Jedi some side-eye the way other projects might. A more charitable explanation for George’s choices might be Revenge of the Sith is a warning of what can happen to institutions when they become complacent. The Republic and the Jedi Order were so set in their ways and so sure of themselves that they can’t imagine they could fall. And especially fall in the manner they did. Padme’s famous quote and Anakin telling Obi-Wan”if you’re not with me then you’re my enemy” is of course George’s commentary on the war in Iraq and President Bush’s comment that “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." George has always been more political than people give him credit for. The Rebel Alliance was based on fighters in the Vietnam War, and spoiler alert, they’re not based on the Americans.
Maybe the moral of Revenge of the Sith, and the Prequels in general is that dogma for the sake of dogma is a bad idea. Imagine if the Jedi Council hadn’t been so opposed to Anakin joining. Imagine if they would be a little more understanding about his relationship with Padme. Maybe Yoda and Mace Windu could have told Anakin that while it’s a little unconventional, they understand that he came to the Jedi Order in a pretty unconventional manner so they’re willing to cut him a little slack in his relationship with Padme. If Anakin and Padme didn’t have to hide in the shadows, would he have been so eager to seek out Palpaine when he could have just asked Yoda for help? Of course Anakin is going to choose the Dark Side when Palpatine says “I’m the only one who understands you. I’m the only one who can help you. Everyone else is against you.” Boy, it would be really scary in America if we had any politicians engaging in that kind of rhetoric, right???
After reading through this, doing what passes as “editing” here at Death Star HR, I think this comes off as not necessarily too negative, but maybe a little too nitpicky. Which isn’t my intent. Sometimes it’s easy as Star Wars fans to miss the Kashyyyk forest for the Wroshyr trees. Writing about Star Wars to an audience that’s mostly Star Wars fans to varying degrees, it’s sometimes easy to take for granted that most of us can agree on the cool parts of a movie or TV show. Here there’s the epic opening space battle. Obi-Wan and Anakin going through the ship to fight Dooku and you first see Palpatine show his true colors. The Mustafar duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, even if the high ground has been meme’d to death. Regardless of Vader’s appearance also being meme’d to death, the scene with the helmet going on is pretty great.
My point is, Revenge of the Sith is a pretty good movie. And sitting in the theater watching it on the big screen is a pretty good way to spend a Saturday. I highly recommend.
Or maybe, the real point of the movie is when women make you talk about your feelings, it leads to the Dark Side and the fall of the Republic
This Day in Star Wars History
Some births and some books on April 27th in the Star Wars universe.
Francis Batsoni was born in 1927. He played a moisture farmer in A New Hope. Wookipeedia says he is “presumably English.”
David Davies was born in 1934. Not the same David Davies who was the lead guitarist of The Kinks. Instead, this David Davies voiced Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Trilogy Arcade Game, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.
Voice actor John Cygan was born in 1954. Cygan voiced Dash Rendar, the Diet Coke version of Han Solo, in Shadows of the Empire, X-Wings Alliance, and Galactic Battlegrounds. He also voiced Canderous Ordo in the Knights of the Old Republic games.
Canon novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good is published in 2021. Timothy Zahn goes back to the well with yet another series about our favorite blue-skinned Grand Admiral. It’s the 2nd book in the trilogy which explores Thrawn’s early days.
Canon novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising was published in paperback in 2021 as well. I was a bit surprised that these novels weren’t used to bring the Yuuzhan Vong back into canon. The Grysks are sort of similar but not really.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
It’s also a good day when the Wookieepedia randomizer gives me some kind of Star Wars music. Not as good as when I get food, but much better than getting “Star Destroyer Hex Nuts” or something like that. This week I landed on Cold Dawn.
"Cold Dawn" was a song performed by Starburst on their album Only In Your Dreams. It was given a Scarlet rating by the Imperial Board of Culture.
The Imperial Board of Culture seems to be the Empire’s version of Parents Music Resource Center.
News From the HoloNet
It’s a ROTS and Andor heavy News From the Holonet today.
Revenge of the Sith Was Actually Great—And Paved the Way for Andor
It’s not exactly a revelation to say Revenge of the Sith was great.
‘Andor’ Star Genevieve O’Reilly Talks Mon Mothma’s Boozy Jig and the Chaos Inside Her Head
Disney needs to do a “Mon Mothma’s Dance Party” YouTube channel where it’s just the song on a loop for 10 hours.
Empire state of mind: 'Andor' stars discuss their complicated 'Star Wars' romance
“The great thing about putting them in this arrangement with each other is they retain all their Dedra- and Syril-ness,” Love it.
‘Revenge of the Sith’ Supervillain Ian McDiarmid on His ‘Star Wars’ Heel Turn
Fireside chat with Palpy himself.
‘Andor’ Episode 3 Reintroduces the Greatest Star Wars Villain of All Time
Is Eedy the scariest mother since “Psycho?”
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
Why doesn’t she have a more “Gungan” name?
Although at the way things have been retconned, we’re probably to the point where more Jedi survived Order 66 than were killed in it.
 | A guest post by
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I also got 10/10 on the quiz. Most of the questions were surprisingly easy, which makes the actors struggling funny and also kinda sad? (The one about Padme's handmaiden was the only one I wasn't completely sure about).
Great recap of Andor!
You know what “Revenge of the Sith” needed? Darth Jar Jar. Not on screen: in the theater. I’m serious: between this and the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff running the original trilogy next weekend, it’s time for a decided need for cosplay weirdness on a Saturday afternoon.