Podcast: A Discussion with the Creator of Andor

Posted on by onespaceman2000

You are in for a treat if you are interested in a deeper dive into the world of Andor. Reason magazine’s podcast The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie has a eye-opening interview with Tony Gilroy, the creator, writer, and director of Andor. The series is without doubt the best of the Star Wars television series. The podcast discussion covers bureaucracy and the surveillance state as portrayed throughout the Andor series.

One of the questions discussed the lack of light sabers and the Force in the series, to which Mr. Gilroy noted:

One of my original questions to them, to the experts there, was, “In the galaxy—in this huge galaxy—how many people would have ever encountered a Jedi? How many people would ever know about the Force? How many people know about this family you keep rotating these movies on?” And the answer is: nobody, or almost nobody. If you’re living in the galaxy, if you’re a being in the galaxy, you’ve probably never had any encounter ever with Jedi or even know what it is, or the Force.

This type of thinking was made the series worth watching. The series did not need to be saved by Darth Vader or a Yoda plush toy anymore than a good Star Trek series should need to be saved by the Borg.

Andor also touches on something real happening just outside our windows rather than a galaxy far, far away. Mr. Gilroy notes it in this way:

The parallels to what’s happening in our world right now are even beyond moralistic…There is a giddy rush—you’ll see people cravenly move toward power because it’s gonna benefit them, or it’s warmer there, or they have no spine or moral commitment to really back up…People getting on board something—getting on board a train that’s on fire that they know is heading toward a cliff. It’s just amazing to watch the sort of giddy rush of people stripping off their clothes and jumping onto the fire here. It’s quite amazing.

Andor is the antithesis of getting along. It is about pushing back at the cost of everything so that others may someday have something worth holding. It is something we seem to have forgotten in our current situation even though we know the broken norms will not somehow reassert themselves via some outside Force. If we cannot see that we are the Force, then we are all truly lost.

Andor is possibly the one series that makes Star Wars relevant to a new generation. Gen Z does not need Jawas and Ewoks. It needs a new hope.

Mr. Gilroy understands this and shares all of his insights via the podcast. You will not be disappointed.

Television: For All Mankind & Star City

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Apple TV

While all the talk right now is ranking the TV shows of 2025 (which I have yet to do), I am already looking forward to 2026.

If you are not happy about the two-year delay in the return of season five of Apple TV’s For All Mankind, you can rest easy knowing that 2026 will not only have season five of this favorite, but also the premiere of a spin-off called Star City. Yes, the premiere of Star City was announced by Apple TV two-and-a-half years ago with the season five news, but it seems 2026 will see both shows break loose

So what is Star City about? That earlier announcement shared this from executive producers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi:

Our fascination with the Soviet space program has grown with every season of ‘For All Mankind…The more we learned about this secret city in the forests outside Moscow where the Soviet cosmonauts and engineers worked and lived, the more we wanted to tell this story of the other side of the space race. We could not be more excited to continue building out the alternate history universe of ‘For All Mankind’ with our partners at Apple and Sony.

Wolpwert also had this to say about where season five of For All Mankind was heading:

We can say that, obviously, season four ended with an asteroid being stolen, and so there are a lot of people on Earth who are pretty pissed off about that. I think that more than anything, I would say the thrust of the season five story is how a rift is forming between the people who live on Mars, and more and more people are now living on Mars, and the people who have stayed back on Earth. And so, this show that started with a US versus USSR Cold War is now developing into a Mars versus Earth political schism, and how that impacts all of the characters we’ve come to know and love is really fun.

Okay, after that preamble, what are the premiere dates of these shows? That is unclear, though Apple TV already has a placeholder forStar City on its website, or at least this is the case in New Zealand. I know, very odd.

I am not sure why Apple TV is so quiet about all of this. The secrecy is worst than a classified Russian space program. The delays only frustrate the fan base, though it was smart that the creators showed up at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 to share more about these shows.

Maybe Pluribus is sucking up all of the oxygen in the room at the moment, but I think it is time for Apple TV to start talking about these other shows given that a very eager fan base is getting antsy.

Television: Pluribus

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Apple TV+

The sixth episode of Apple TV+’s Pluribus dropped this week. If you haven’t heard of the new series, you may want to check in. It starts like the movie Contact, has elements of 3 Body Problem (including the clock), and turns into The Last Man on Earth, though in this case its an angry, lone woman dealing with Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Interested? Oh yeah, it comes from Vince Gilligan, the same guy who also gave us on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. It also stars Rhea Seehorn from Better Call Saul.

It all starts when a radio signal from a civilization about 600 light-years away is intercepted by Earth. This signal contains a RNA sequence. Of course, the dumb Earthlings find it necessary to recreate this sequence, lose control of the experiment (alla Jurassic Park), and thereby release a virus that turns the human population into the Borg. The rest of the story is how one woman and twelve other unaffected humans make their way in this new world.

It’s an odd start to a very odd show, but it is fun and thought-provoking in its own way. It also doesn’t have simple story lines where the everyone agrees there is a problem with the new human state, or at least not all of the 13 remaining people agree. We know the collective mind seems to work in nature, be it bees or ants, so it is not impossible.

It is too early to know whether this show has a soft landing or even a future, but it’s the type of show, like Severance, that is sure to be discussed at the virtual office water cooler.

Okay, that’s enough references to other shows and movies. I counted eight, but I can also say that Pluribus is unique enough that none of those references really does it any justice.

Television: Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy is Almost Here

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Some of the new characters in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. (Paramount+)

You only have to wait until January 15th for the latest Star Trek series on Paramount+, but you may want to see this most recent trailer because it sets up some of the background on the characters.

Paramount+ has already shared quite a few details about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy on its site, so here are some important items:

  • Plot: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is about a young group of Starfleet cadets navigating friendships and rivalries, as well as first loves and a new enemy that poses a threat not to just the Academy, but to the Federation.

  • The Names of the Cadets:
    • Caleb Mir is an orphaned human who hasn’t yet declared his major, or focus, at Starfleet Academy.
    • Jay-Den Kraag is a Klingon cadet whose focus is the sciences.
    • SAM is a hologram – a Series Acclimation Mil, or SAM, for short. She’s the first of her kind at Starfleet Academy. SAM’s focus is operations.
    • Darem Reymi is a Khionian from a well-to-do background who aims to be in command – hence, the focus of his studies at Starfleet Academy.
    • Genesis Lythe is a Dar-Sha, a species new to the Star Trek universe. She’s the daughter of an admiral, and is also studying command.

  • Time Period: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set in the 32nd century, at the upper end of the Star Trek timeline. More specifically, it takes place 125 years after The Burn, a catastrophic event that ravaged the galaxy, and hobbled the Federation. The cadets we meet represent a fresh start for the Federation; they belong to the first Starfleet Academy class since The Burn. You will need to watch Star Trek: Discovery season three to understand The Burn.

  • Key Actors in Season 1:
    • Holly Hunter as Capt. Nahla Ake Hunter’s character is the Chancellor of Starfleet Academy – and the captain of the U.S.S. Athena.
    • Tig Notaro as Jett Reno Notaro reprises her role as Jett, an engineering whiz, from Star Trek: Discovery.
    • Robert Picardo as The Doctor Picardo reprises the role he originated on Star Trek: Voyager.
    • Gina Yashere as Lura Thok Yashere is billed as a recurring guest star. She plays a Klingon/Jem’Hadar hybrid who serves as the Chancellor’s First Officer and Cadet Master.
    • Stephen Colbert as the voice of Starfleet Academy’s Digital Dean of Students The Emmy® winner (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) will be heard as the faculty member who makes daily announcements – and issues alerts.

  • Number of Episodes: Season 1 will have 10 episodes.

  • Number of Seasons: A second season has already been green-lighted.

  • Your Mission: Simply enjoy this new Star Trek series.

Movie: The Astronaut

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: The Wonder Company/Grinder Monkey

The recent film The Astronaut did not stay in theaters very long, but then again very few films do these days. Even so, if you are looking for something inspiring, such as a space adventure that takes us away from Earth, you will be disappointed. This astronaut is from the International Space Station, not Mars, so we do not even make it to the Moon.

If the trailer is not clear enough, here is the main story from Deadline:

When astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) returns from her first space mission, she’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. General William Harris (Fishburne) arranges for her to be placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.

Without giving away the whole plot, just think of it as a gruesome ET: The Extraterrestrial. Critics were not impressed, with the Tomatometer showing only 42 percent approval. In general, a rating between 40 and 59 percent is considered mixed or mediocre, with the average film achieving something in the low 70s.

Matt Donato from Collider did not have high praise for writer/director Jess Varley’s first film:

The Astronaut has sky-high ambitions that go up in flames during the home stretch. Everything’s chugging along fine, then the tone implodes, and Varley’s command over scenes disintegrates...I haven’t seen a movie shoot itself in the foot like this in a wee bit, and that’s a shame.

The selection of films of this genre are slim, so you may have a desire to see it anyway. That’s fine, but you have been warned.