TV Discussion Rank the Four Live Action TV Series

I completely agree with you and like yourself, if done well, I too will still be able to enjoy any future live action offering; even if they (producers) don't go to the same extent as Andor-level characterisation. Because after all, it's Star Wars and I frick'n love Star Wars.

But I do hope that Lucasfilm, it's Storygroup, all future directors and producers and other creative minds who dabble in the Star Wars Galaxy, all take note in what made Andor great. And that was a quality story with quality characterisation and relationships, acted brilliantly in quality cinematic-like settings - and so much more. For them, I wouldn't take it as a negative - but rather as the base level of quality to build on from for all future stories. Use it as a basic template and level of expectation.

And Mando season 3 already has this potential with the exploration of Mandalore coming up; as well as the number of Mandalorians in it. Firstly, Din knows very little about his people and their history. Secondly, Din was not part of the night of a thousand years. Thirdly, before Bo, Din never knew there were Mandalorians that removed their helmets. And there is so much more outside of Din that has happened.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that although Din is the lead, alot of these factors (which will be important to the overall narrative and Din's character arc) should be explored outside of Din by two other (or more) Mandalorians who actually have knowledge of this stuff - or who actually experienced these events. If it was to be like Andor's level of characterisation, it should be independent of Din. For example, the issue of Bo being at the Purge and the Armourer and her people not being there or helping to fight the Empire should not involve Din. That's between Bo and the Armourer and their respective people's. It should still feed into the overall narrative, but Din is not part of it.

Not all aspects of the overall narrative should be Din's. There should be numerous side stories, character relationships and arcs that help feed into the overall narrative too. It's all of these parallel side parts, in addition to Din's story, that move the story along too.

It's just like in the OT with Han, Leia and Chewie. After they leave Hoth, their journeys became independent of Luke's; but they're still important to the overall narrative. Han chose to go to Bespin because of Lando, Boba Fett was hunting Han because he worked for Jabba and the Empire went to Bespin because Fett told them they were heading there. Nothing of this has anything to do with Luke's character arc or history other than those 3 being used as bait. This is Han's character arc and history - yet it still weaves its way through Luke's and the overall narrative.

It's what Andor did incredibly well and it's what Mando 3 has the same potential of emulating.

 

Simply, this.

 

1. The Mandalorian. A perfect evolution of Star Wars out of the OT era into new ground. The character arcs of Din and Grogu capture the mythic grandeur of the Saga, the structure, while occasionally veering into a feeling 'side-quest distraction' leads to a huge amount of variety in the action and adventures. Some great large scale storytelling like the battle with the Krayt Dragon. The way it connected back to older SW tv material in Season 2 enhanced things even more, making the world more complex without being empty references. Has Gideon, the best live-action tv villain so far, calculating with a brand of subtle menace.

2. The Book of Boba Fett. Despite some rather large flaws, including pacing, the floaty directing of Robert Rodriguez, Boba's static character, and weakly established villains, it still does the job in a similar way to Mando. The 5th and 6th episodes, despite being Mando in all but name, are a fantastic duology, and the finale has a fun full-scale brawl vibe I quite enjoyed. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of odd choices in the making of this thing, but I think on the whole it's a fun time, in a more chaotic way than its source show.

3. Andor. After 3 ponderous, unengaging opening episodes, the show did begin to pick up steam. The Aldhani heist and Narkina 5 prison arcs were very enjoyable, successfully building tension and releasing it in hugely satisfying ways. The finale with its riot was also a strong episode. But a lot of it dragged for me. The show has a flabby pacing at times, with scenes not really flowing (eg. most of the Mon Mothma or ISB plots, which tend to interrupt Cassian's stuff with little rhyme or reason). Cassian himself shone in the middle episodes, but his backstory was sketched out confusingly, leaving me wondering what actually happened on Khenari. The action, outside of the prison riot, was pretty weak as well I thought. The direction seems more geared towards dialogue over everything, so it lacks a certain visual spark. I was actually hoping for a bit more depth in the political scenes as well. Outside of maybe the Saw segments and the finale, it didn't really give me much to chew on.

4. Kenobi. Unnecessary in the extreme is what I'd say. I really didn't get anything out of the reunions of Vader and Obi-Wan, it felt like nothing mattered emotionally and the duels were shot in bland locations. I was already doubtful anything could match the understated ANH reunion, but I was hopeful for some meat on the bone at least. Reva was underwhelming, the episode to episode plot didn't have much weight. Its themes were vague, the action was overly slapsticky or shaky cam based, the much touted flashbacks lasted barely any time and barely added to the present narrative. It just didn't click with me at all.

 

Note: these rankings are based on what I preferred watching, rather than which is "objectionably the best"

in order of preference

1. Mandolorian
2. Obi-Wan Kenobi
3. Book Of Boba Fett
4. Andor

 

There is no objective criteria for ranking these.

 

Ok, now everyone rank every live action episode.

 

You first.

 

1. Stranger in a Strange Land

Then the rest.

 

Really?

 

Yeah that Mando episode where Boba shows up is better than the whole Boba series. It was so amazing.

 

I do like them all. I'd acknowledge that OWK and BOBF have janky bits and may be a bit too directed towards fans, but hell, I'm a fan and I overall enjoyed them, more than some of the films. I'd say:
1) Mando. The best at capturing the SW feel overall without being slavish to it, and often just strikingly good, streamlined filmmaking.
2) Andor. Quite likely the "best" of the bunch and might take my top spot after S2. I rank it slightly below Mando because it's a little less "quintessential", but that's a fine line. Nailing the "Star Wars feel" would not elevate Mando over Andor if that was all it did (see the other two series), but the fact that it does that and as a totally separate function gets me into the story and characters gives it the slight edge... for now. If Andor stays as good as it is and Mando slips a bit in S3, these would flip for me.
3 and 4 tied) TBOBF and OWK. Just can't decide as the pluses and minuses are very different from each other in these shows. I seem to like them a LOT more than most, and I think I'd need to rewatch both, which I've only seen as they came out, to really decide. I do feel like both are underrated and it's miraculous that they exist -- like, for context, I like Solo as a movie, but I didn't need it exactly; OWK and TBOBF were more things that I wanted to see, and they are on par with Solo at least, so I can't complain that they're not perfect. Both had some absolutely phenomenal moments that should be keystones in the SW experience and I think that gets buried under the low key disappointment in them overall.

 

1. The one with Ahsoka
2. The one with Luke
3. Kenobi's series finale
4. Choose one of the two Boba Fett episodes where Boba barely appears and we see Grogu and Luke
5. Now choose the other one where Boba barely appears but we see Mando and the Armorer
6. The one with Luthen's speech
7. The one in Kenobi where Vader toys with Kenobi
8. The Mandalorian episodes by Taika Waititi, Deborah Chow and Dave Filoni in any order you want
9. The one in Andor with the Eye of Aldhani
10. The rest of Kenobi, Andor, Boba Fett and Mando in any order you prefer
11. The prison break episode in the first season of Mando = the only bad episode out of 41 live action Star Wars episodes

 

The best episode of SW tv is clearly BOBF majordomo's slow chase, everything else is nothing but a footnote.

 

Book of Boba Fett is questionably weird at times, but I like the off beat nature of the show. It had its own identity. I look back on it more fondly as time passes.

I’ve increasingly grown to dislike Obi Wan more and more, it feels more like a corporate check box version of what Disney thinks a Star Wars project should be, if that makes sense.

 

Obi-Wan was blatantly incompetent. Constant shaky cam, underlit environments, bad usage of the Volume, bland, royalty-free music, bad costume design, terrible choreography, terrible action. I don't know why so many people feel outright offended by the Boba Fett show, despite it being at least competently made - with the exception of the slow speeder bike chase. Which was immediately topped by even slower toddler Leia chase. All anyone ever says about Obi-Wan is how they're glad Ewan and Hayden are back, but nothing that merits the actual show. And the climax of the show was blatantly stolen from Star Wars: Rebels. Ugh. That's without going into the intricasies of the writing, and the fact that they got a guy who wrote King Arthur reboot and Army of the Dead to write a script for this. This show was really just a PT nostalgia, and they apparently thought by virtue of that alone it would do fine. But it was by far the most offensive show, and one of the worst shows I've ever seen, IMO.

 

Yeah… it still has a little charm, and I hate to be a negative voice, but I just don’t think it was up to snuff at all on second watch. I was kind of riding high on seeing Ewan back first time around, second time didn’t have that same magic.

 

I rank them like this for the time being...

Andor
The Mandalorian
Obi-Wan Kenobi
The Book of Boba Fett

That said, I think the last 4 episodes of season 2 of The Mandalorian is some of the best TV I have ever seen, and the final episode is the best of them all. but right now, I think Andor is the better show. My ranking could change of course with the next seasons.

 

Obi-wan (and Anakin) shoulda been given the royal treatment, the auteur treatment, not this assembly line Disney+ stuff. That's for unknown Marvel properties, but with your fan favorite characters, with potentially some of the most dramatic story territory in the entire saga? It was their chance to take everything people like from the PT films, the characters, and really execute on a riveting story, instead it had almost no real overall substance, and only a few well executed scenes sandwiched in between a shallow story filled with the same old SW tropes, running around fighting stormtroopers, on a rescue mission, infiltrating an imperial base, more ANH rehash. Is that what they think we want?

We have Rebels and Clone Wars for that kind of saturday morning cartoon stuff. Obi-wan at this juncture had way more interesting character stuff to delve into.

 

I think many simply disagree that BOBF was more competently made than OWK. I personally think it’s the least competently made, though that’s unsurprising to me given that Rodriguez was at the helm.

And when did natural lighting/ low light environments become a sign of incompetence? It’s a stylistic choice. And one I prefer to the overlit/ oddly BTS-looking cartoonishness of a number of BOBF scenes. But that’s about stylistic preference, not competence.

And by far the most offensive? I can understand not loving it (it’s in third place for me) but I don’t see what’s offensive about it…

This is an opinion that warrants further discussion. But very slow discussion. Perhaps one word per post.

 

01) Andor - 9/10
02) The Mandalorian - 8.5/10
03) Obi-Wan Kenobi - 5/10
04) The Book of Boba Fett - 5/10

 

#fact

 

Agreed

 

It's an interesting question because I feel each series showcases different aspects and tones of the universe. Andor is my favourite (but that might be newness bias and more Mon Mothma is great in my book) I love how we got to see a more rounded portrayal of the Empire's inner workings. I'd probably say I love Mandalorian next, for it's skilled decisions of knowing when to be serious, when to lighten it up (but not too much so we end up silly) and when to bring in the heart (of which Mando and Grogu's relationship is filled).
Then probably Boba Fett and then Obi-Wan. But I love all the TV shows so ranking Obi-Wan lowest is not an indictment. I love how dark and serious that show gets, I sometimes wish that we could have R-Rated Star Wars media but... Disney. Andor is getting close.

 

I think Obi Wan is an enjoyable show. i don't quite understand why some people talk about it like its the worst thing ever.

I sometimes wonder how high the standard needs to be here.

I still haven't seen Andor. While the Mandalorian and TBOB i think are fairly similar in tone. the only difference is Mando is a little more heavy in Fanservice and also contrasts of energy. While with TBOB they dared themselves to base the concept on the show purely on Tatooine.

 

If you haven’t seen Andor yet, what are you doing here yapping? Go see it!