A/V Just Announced 7 Years Ago: Andor!! It happened!!!

Take note of the Senators present in that shot:
- Bail Organa of Alderaan
- Ask Aak of Malastare
- Onaconda Farr of Rodia
- Toonbuck Toora of Sy Myrth
- Gorothin Vagger of Andosha II
- Gume Saam of Tibrin

Out of all of them, Bail would go on to support the Rebellion. Meanwhile, all the other senators' species (except maybe the Rodians) would suffer under the Empire.

 

I've always wondered why Palpatine invited Bail Organa, to be honest. He was originally part of the "inner circle."
- Was it due to the prominence of Alderaan? (Which the new EU has never really touched upon, to my surprise, so far.)
- Was it due to Bail Organa being one of the fiercer "Loyalists" (as I think AOTC described) when it came to the Separatist crisis, before it turned to war?
- Was it due to Bail perhaps being the leader of one of the major coalitions/factions within the Senate, he represented many other Senators who were ideologically aligned, and one from each of them is with Palpatine?

Also, between Andor and Rebels, I really wonder how Bail Organa didn't face that many consequences or that much scrutiny/surveillance. Did Palpatine think he (and/or Alderaan) was that admired? Or did he think he was insignificant? I'm kind of surprised the Imperial Senate apparently doesn't have their own listening devices (or security cameras?), to overhear or see what Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were talking about.

I forget how canon it is, in old or new, but there was also something about Palpatine not wanting Alderaan destroyed and upset with Tarkin over it.

My new head-canon is that Palpatine had a Force-vision that his Empire could begin to crumble if they killed or imprisoned Bail Organa, without knowing too many details.

 

Are people familar with the youtuber swft?

They do montages and some good ones from Andor, spoilered for spoilers.

Spoiler

 

That's not true. How Alderaan was portrayed, including the dialogues on that planet, in the Obi-Wan Kenobi showed the prominence of that planet in new canon.


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They didn't write 5 seasons and compress the last 4 into 1. They wrote the first season with the original plan that each of 5 seasons would cover a year. The plan changed to 2 seasons before writing on the second season started. There are no scripts for other episodes, except for the unused K-2SO horror episode 9, and presumably an alternate version of episodes 7 and 8.

 

Honestly, I was thinking of the Obi-wan Kenobi show when I typed that. A missed opportunity if that's what we're supposed to think. To use an Earth comparison, it used to seem like if Coruscant was NYC/DC, then Alderaan was Boston or San Francisco, but now it's a Connecticut suburb of NYC... if Coruscant was the United States, then Alderaan was France or Japan, but now it's Panama (sorry Panama). It's supposed to be part of the beating heart of the galaxy, but its presence isn't felt or talked about on other planets, and it doesn't seem like many people live in or visit Alderaan.

 

I don't think Star Wars movies or TV have ever made specific planets feel particularly prominent outside Coruscant. That's always been the provenance of novels and comics.

You never really get a strong sense that this planet is an important center of trade, this one is an important cultural center. Ghorman is the only planet that has ever really come off as truly important to the wider galaxy in a Star Wars movie or TV show.

 

He’s an evil wizard. He wanted to rub it in one of his political enemy’s face.

 

I always figured the army had assembled on Coruscant to receive their Jedi Generals before mustering out to the various battlefields across the Galaxy. Palpatine likely invited a select group of Senators to observe the troops boarding their ships and launching for space. Less of a ceremonial parade and more of a mustering of the troops that just happens to have some civilian observers.

He was also pretending to be a benign, democratic Chancellor who had been forced to assume emergency powers. He probably invited Bail to maintain that illusion and to make Alderaan's Senator feel that he was still part of the inner circle. Bail publicly supported Palpatine for decades and did a pretty decent job of it. It's telling that Palpatine never seems to learn of Bail's rescue of Yoda. If Darth Sidious knew that a Senator had helped spirit the Jedi Grand Master to safety from Order 66, Alderaan would not have been unscathed for two decades.

 

At the time, Bail was a political ally. Even if due to the deception.


Anyhow, back to Andor, we really need some follow-up with Bail.
-was it his "people" that turned the rebellion on Yavin into a true fighting force, and one with friction with Luthen? (this is the part I really wish we had gotten an episode for, probably more than anything else)
-how did he escape Imperial surveillance/punishment/imprisonment/execution

It's interesting for him to be depicted as anything less than a saint, which was a brave move. Not that he's unreasonable or bad, just that he was more of an obstacle and than a help to at least Cassian in particular.

I also guess Leia must have taken over the job as Senator just months before Rogue One / ANH?

 

I think we can fairly say that Luthen isn’t responsible for the formal military elements. Maybe he connected, say, an Incom warehouse supervisor with the defectors off the Rand Ecliptic, but Luthen didn’t sit down and decide what the rank structure for the Rebellion is or how HR is handled on a Hammerhead corvette. That’s where I’d give Bail (and Mon and Raddus and Dodonna) the credit; they took the raw materials Luthen gave them and forged it into a weapon.

 

Oh I know Luthen isn't, but clearly there was something there in Arc 3, before Mon Mothma or Bail Organa arrived. Draven was already there. I don't feel like Draven would have been one of Mon's people, so maybe Bail? I just wonder how that part in particular got set-up. That's the biggest missing piece in Season 2 for me, even more important than some of the things alluded to have happened with Cassian or Bix between arcs, or a conclusion to Mon Mothma's family stuff before going to Yavin.

 

Leida is one of those characters who is just screaming out to star in a EU book.

 

Those two other Senators... do they have anything "redeeming" in the EU yet? Did they survive the war? Did they stay with the rebel alliance after Yavin, after all?

I've seen people half-joke that maybe they are the reason why the New Republic's flaws are already so apparent in its first decade.

I assume they were Senators inspired by Mon Mothma, who then quietly left the Senate to join up.

I get what they represent, but still... useless. What did they think being in a rebel alliance would be like?

The absence of Senator Chuchi doesn't bode well for her character, but I think that's been a given for a while. The cameo of Villecham was also disappointing, and indicative of how he wasn't the strongest chancellor in the lead-up to Episode VII.

 

The "Andor" senators have less information than the CW-BB-Rebels-Ahsoka combined. At least at the moment.

I'm currently doing Named Senator rosters (involving original EU stuff but meh) and there really isn't much on Andor senators (particularly with names -- we got more in "Welcome to the Rebellion" then the entire show).

In Season 1, we got:
Mon Mothma, Chandrila (Core Worlds)
Dhow, Unknown
Slorda, Unknown
Teenar, Unknown
Vivyn, Unknown

In Season 2, we got:
Mon Mothma, Chandrila (Core Worlds)
Bail Organa, Alderaan (Core Worlds)
Dasi Oran, Ghorman (Colonies)
Den Gane, Roona (Expansion)
Nico, Unknown
Karloo, Unknown
Erveen, Hodi
Ton, Unknown
Tynnra Pamlo, Taris (Outer Rim)
Nower Jebel, Uyter (Mid Rim)
Vasp Vaspar, Taldot sector (Mid Rim) *

* Absent from S2 (likely the actor was unavailable) but he was present in Rogue One.

Then there are numerous unnamed ones. At least until the next Visual Guide comes out. Bring it on!

 

Spoiler

Considering that Krennic's career was in a rather unstable state at the end of Catalyst, maybe Partagaz helped him during that time, maybe even to the point of helping to find Galen. Really hope that Reign of the Empire series will provide some new info about them.

Seems rather possible that Luthen originally fighted during the Clone Wars. Maybe the massacre, in which he participated, was one of the those Tarkin ordered during the Western Reaches Operation. That was noticeably before, but now Luthen is even more similar to Berch Teller.

 

Are worlds limited to one senator from each? Or could Alderaan have two or more senators? Considering Leia's age, I'd be fine with her being a junior senator learning the ropes under Bail.

 

Andor consistently mentions a Senior Senator, implying a Junior Senator, which I think would be Leia

 

Spoiler

Bail is referred to as Junior Senator in the most recent issue of Jedi Knights, set pre-TPM.

Just watched Rogue One again. It's a touch jarring post-Andor because this movie really is Jyn's story rather than Cassian's. However, the added history of Cassian, the Rebellion and Mon Mothma really adds so much. Just like Rogue One did for ANH when it came out.

Something I think a lot of people miss in Star Wars, especially when complaining about how incompetent Imperials seem in stories focused on our main heroes, particularly Force-sensitive characters, is that the Force really does seem to have a kind of protective effect for those heroes. It cannot be any better illustrated than in Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One. The man is literally chanting a Force mantra while previously highly effective Death troopers are shooting and missing him at nearly point blank range!

The same could be said for Cassian throughout Andor, right up until he fulfills his destiny.

Spoiler

Particularly in light of the Force healer's sense of Cassian being a "messenger." She says that in 2 BBY, and you can tell she sees him moving towards his destiny as she watches him head out for the Rings of Kafrene in the finale.

 

I think it's one Senator, but possible associates that can stand-in, like how Jar Jar Binks was a Representative, who can be a recognized constituent who doesn't have voting power but can act as "substitute" with voting power when their Senator is away. Palpatine was definitely the only Senator of Naboo, which at least in older law was actually an entire sector of the galaxy (with Naboo being the most populated).

"Senior Senator" I assume is based on tenure (maybe like you've been in the Senate at least 10 or 20 years, something like that).

But in the past, it was clear it was One Senator, but they may have changed that lore.

 

I could see the Empire making more senators "senior" while simultaneously making such a distinction less relevant.

 

I would assume that somewhere like Alderaan - old and respected and with a storied Republican tradition - has more political weight then a Naboo or whatever.

 

Well it was also that single influential planets had their own Senator, while other Senators (especially beyond the core) would be the Senate of a sector instead. Which is one reason why the Separatists thought the Republic was so unfair. But I don't think "Senior Senator" is anything more than tenure. Especially since we never see more than one Senator per "pod" and Bail Organa went from junior senator to senior senator.

Anyhow, this may be interesting for this thread too:


CNN person has a real, non-joking segment on how we need to re-evaluate Palpatine, defends destroying Alderaan, and says its politics are outdated. This is real.

 

I hate reality sometimes.

 

In or around Episode 1, it's implied that Baskol Yeesrim and Ainlee Teem are Senators like Aks Moe (though by Episode 2, the term had become "Associate Planetary Representative" per the HoloNet News articles) and around that time Orn Free Taa had two fellow Twi'lek senators in the form of Chom Frey Kaa and Cronnus Tel.