Andor vs Obi-Wan Kenobi - A Scene Comparison (Part 1: Action) 

Andor in the final arc made Stormtroopers terrifying. Up until the final shootout, the show only dealt with backwater rent-a-cops, regular cops, and regular military. Yet in the last episode when Stormtroopers and Death Troopers show up, it felt like a threat; and when the shooting started the threat was real. Stormtroopers were efficient, accurate, and deadly. They dropped so many people with ease that would have been a struggle to any other fighting force up to that point in the show.

One of the things I’ll always hate is how they canonized the “storm troopers can’t aim” joke, it just cheapens them even more than they should be

Few years ago where I live there was a road rage incident at a gas station where a guy was punched in the face, and he fell and hit his head on a concrete podium for a fuel pump. Died instantly. So the "headbutt, fall and die" thing doesn't seem so implausible. This kind of thing does happen in real life.

The most infuriating thing of all is how well Kenobi performed and how positive it was recievied despite beeing the actual worst attempt at action or any logical sequence of actions I have ever seen. And nobody watched andor… this makes me so sad for the future of Star Wars…

When I began to watch Andor I expected nothing, mostly because Kenobi delivered so little stakes I ended watching it with one eye doing other stuff at the same time. Then I was baffled by the grounded tension Andor had. That felt REAL, dangerous from the beginning and the scene you use to compare.

Andors action sequences are so hard hitting they feel more like a scene out of Heat than SW

The second Andor fight felt like an encounter in X-COM. Taking initiative by moving or firing back felt extremely dangerous, but they couldn’t hunker down because the Rebels were outnumbered and needed to escape, so the fight seemed truly desperate. It was tense, even stressful, and that it made it impactful.

Hi man, Danish army veteran here. I can confirm that your points on the hangar shootout scene are totally valid. Some have made the point that Skeen didn't provide sufficient covering fire, and that it might have been intentional. From what I can see in the scenes, Skeen does not have clear line sight on the guy shooting Taramyn. Uncovered angles are an ever present danger in urban combat, and it requires a lot of training and cohesion in a unit to identify such areas and communicate it to the rest of the unit. Otherwise you have a Taramyn running into a kill zone and getting dropped.

Andor was shot in the UK using actual locations across the entire country and at Pinewood Studio's where the original movies were produced. Made by British directors, crew, and mostly British and Irish actors used outside the main cast, utilising British standards in film production. As far away from Hollywood as it needed to be, on top of the excellent writing these are the main reasons it kicked absolute ass over the other efforts !! Well done to Disney for having the balls to let a bunch of guys 5000 miles away get on with their jobs undisturbed, please take some more risks with the franchise.

The only 2 characters in Andor that we know needed to live were Andor and Mothma. Everyone else was up for grabs and that's why it's so great.

I wonder if Disney wasn’t making so many Star Wars shows at once, than maybe the Kenobi show could of had more money and effort put into it. Quality over quantity.

Im so tired of these Disney shows that don't seem to care. Andor cares, Season 1 of Mando cared, Rogue 1 Cared. I miss that

I love how sparingly Andor used Stormtroopers. As Obi-Wan said in episode 4 they really are elite troopers. This was kinda shown in Solo where we are introduced to the actual imperial infantry, which are all conscripts instead of elite proffesional soldiers like the Stormtroopers are. And even then, the imperial troppa in Andor are still a threat to the rebels.

The more you see and hear about Kenobi, the more you realise how little care was given on all fronts

Andor is so good! It’s not good just because it’s in the Star Wars universe, it’s just simply the best political scifi drama on television ever!

When I saw Andor announced two years ago I wasn't interested in it but god was I wrong, I watched Andor and wow, it's the best thing that has ever happened to star wars, everything was so polished, the photography, narrative, dialogues, etc... People should really consider watching Andor, best star wars show hands down

As someone who was an infantryman, I loved the cover fire. It’s a small thing, but such a vital part of gunfights.

I think the reason Skeen doesn’t stick with his covering fire is not just cowardice but also a tactic; he explicitly says to andor that fewer survivors means a bigger cut for him.

16:05 Also that less likely event of the cop dying from falling is excusable for another reason. It's not just any old plot contrivance made up to allow Andor to escape an obstacle. Rather, it's the inciting incident of the entire show, meaning that the show is less saying "Andor faces this situation but gets out with this unexpected event", but rather "Andor does this thing accidentally; what are the consequences?"

Quick reminder guys, according to Star Wars lore and yes, this is deep, the stormtroopers are the highest quality troops widely available used for special missions, whilst they're not the standard imperial infantry. The Star Wars writers don't get that there's a lot of them but not that many. Also the stormtroopers don't have bad aim, the writers are just feeding the memes. last point, the stomtroopers are widely misunderstood, please spread my message :>

I thought having the Stromtroopers at the checkpoint being lazy or not taking the Jedi Hunt seriously might fix the scene with minimal changes, but I forgot about the rest of the scene. While it would help explain the troopers recoiling in surprise at the beginning, it doesn't cover the rest of the fight.

Andor is what I was always hoping for. No Force or Skywalker baggage. And it takes its characters and story seriously, giving the story weight and gravitas. Great show!

Rewatch Andor: it gets better Rewatch Kenobi: it gets worse

I think Andor's strong writing and people responding to that proves that it doesn't matter if you have Ewan, Hayden, and more people watching your show. Bad writing never wins.

Legit Gorn's death is so unceremonious it's literally a "blink and you'll miss it" moment. I watched Andor's 6th episode several times and have not once noticed that he got shot down immediately, always wondering what happened to him. It wasn't until watching this video that my question was answered.

The reason Obi-wan doesn't use his lightsaber is simply because the director didn't want it being used before the Vader confrontation later in the episode, rather than for any logic reason for it not being revealed earlier.

As far as consequences go, the first Obi-wan scene destroys the consequences _twice._ After Obi-wan takes out the Stormtroopers, _another_ batch of troopers show up immediately. No consequences. Then Tala immediately shoots them. No consequences, again. None of it meant anything!

How has this video not gotten more views this actually felt like a professional video and it is.

Kenobi doesn't treat you like an adult (I'm happy kids enjoyed all the flashy lights), whereas Andor treats you almost like an actual character in the story who has critical thinking skills and rewards your patience.

You hit the nail on the head. Excellent breakdown. Andor feels like there’s something big at stake… that there’s consequences. That feeling builds throughout the show and never goes away. Kenobi was such a disappointment minus the Vader vs. Kenobi duel in the the last episode.

One thing I love about the heist episode is that once things get bad, a lot of the major characters get shot and you're given no time to process it, and in some cases, you might not even realize it happened. When the shooting started in the hangar, I loved not having so much as a second to internalize that tamaryn and gorn just died. Love that the show doesnt give much time if any to let the audience or the characters dwell on it or else theyll die too. It always hits the hardest when you forget about it entirely and after the shooting stops you get slammed with remembering who didnt make it...

The thing I liked about Andor the most was that it made this Science Fantasy world appear real. Instead of rolling out Stormtroopers at every occasion who are supposed to be a elite corp. selected for their cruelty, competitiveness, and teamwork ability Andor uses sector police and the regular Imperial Army, the soldier types follow their roles and where they would be placed. Combatants act as if they could die instead of wearing massive plot armor or cracking of one shot and then letting the protagonist kill them. It was the first time in a long time the Galactic Empire felt real and the Rebels had their work cut out for them. Extra: in Andor an old woman dies of pneumonia complications and a young man dies after being crushed and not getting medical attention for at least 15min, while in Kenobi Reva got ran through with a lightsaber and left for dead twice only to come back fine.

Remember when Obi-Wan said: "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise"?

Gotta love that little Pitch Meeting reference 😂

Geeze Andor was bloody incredible. I'm so pumped for the second season.

Funny how Andor makes the Stormtroopers surprisingly scary. It deepens the Star Wars world since Stormtroopers are no threat against Jedi or Mandalorians but a terrible tool for oppressing the regular people.

Excellent video. I was so relieved to see action scenes that made sense in Andor.

"What do you notice the characters in Andor doing during the fight scene?" Well, I'm noticing a LOT of them dying.

The scene when andor gets picked up by the storm tropers while hes on vacation going to the store is so good, it shows how unfair and terrifying it was to live in the empire, having your life ruined without any evidence is terrifying. And he actually gets put in prison he doesn't just cartoon fight his way thru a soldier unarmed 😂😂😂 it makes it real. for regular people in the empire life was shitty and they couldn't just mind trick, laser sword or telekinesis their way thru the empire they had to deal with the evil shits

Man you’re really putting out one banger after another respect

About the "Storm troopers cant aim meme" we go about. - If you watch New Hope. ObiWan comments the aiming skills of imperial stroopers. He explicitly says "only imperial troopers can make this shot" - Then there is the whole party of Imperial troops missing their targets. But Everyone forgets the scene/dialog that comes after. - VADER HAD placed a tracker on the ship Like, Leia and Han are escaping on. And Han or Leia explicitly says they are unsure of this 'escape'. - Troopers were never meant to shoot those three. They were supposed to put up a fight, but let escape, because Vader suspects it will lead the empire to the rebel base. Which is what happens on Empire Strikes Back immediately.

Stormtrooper are very accurate. In the oh trilogy they killed ever non main character they faced.

Another cool thing about how Andor overcomes the wannabe cops is that his first attack move is the most efficient thing he could have done. He manuevered his opponets into a position where, with a single headbutt, he temporarily incapacitates one of them and moves completely out of the line of fire of the blaster aimed at him. Two birds with one stone. Efficient, effective and believable.

10:51 Bro had no chill for the pre mor guards 😭

Great analysis! Can't wait to see the next part! 👍 And it's kind of funny on how the Kenobi series irritates you so much that you did tons of analysis 😂 I enjoyed each and every one of them

I'll never understand how Tala's stormtrooper helmet slap made it past the editing room. They really thought that looked okay... I've seen better action choreography and editing in no-budget fan films.

"They see Leia climbing trees and think, 'yeah, we need a backup.'" So good.

Andor was acted, written, produced, shot with so much reverence for the source material, that now I'm hopelessly spoiled. I grew up with SW, and comics, but as a mature more discerning adult, I crave Andor's level of quality in my nostalgia fixes more often. Cringing hard at several similar Disney series, that just feel lazily rushed, flash with no soul. Just hope for a few well directed thoughtful intelligent non pandering SW and Marvel series, now and then. You served me a fine wine, now I have no desire for anything lesser.

That scene in Obi-wan was just stupid...like for real. Let me tell you how smart and capable imperials from Andor would've handled this...ready? Let them go! Nope I'm not joking...here is the thing, stormtroopers are supposedly well trained in matters needed for a soldier. They can do roadblocks, checkpoints, being facist supressors etc. what they aren't trained for however is detaining or fighting a jedi, that's what the inquisitors, and for the tougher cases, Vader is for. So just stop at the checkpoint, give the person in command there a (the) sign, disable the barrier and let them drive on.... Aaaaaand just when they are far enough away, radio in their superior and report the suspicious individual. Then tell said superior that you send the probe droid to keep an eye on them, of course far enough away to not be noticed. The report "possible jedi sighted" will get signaled with premium-platin-express speed to Fortess Inquisitorious, where inquisitors will get dispatched (or if they do actually supsect this to be a master, or Obi-wan himself, get Vader involved) all while the suspect is, best case scenario, still oblivious. Once the inquisitors arrive (or vader) it's their problem to deal with. And no, I don't expect for every random, rank and file stormtrooper to be that smart. I do however expect those in command (for example ISP or Inquisition officers) to be smart enough to create such protocols to follow in a "Jedi scenario" situation.

honestly, something i really liked in andor is how omnipresent is the shadow of death. you just feel the tension in those life and death situations. you just feel that rush, that survival instinct in the characters. the characters act as if death can really be upon them, as if they really care for their lives and have to fight for it. in kenobi and many other series, writers seem to have lost their grasp on reality, they seem to have forgotten that death exists or haven't faced it, or even the possibility. you can't even justify kenobi not wanting to kill stormtroopers off because he's a jedi and he cares for the living because life and death does not exist in that narration, it is fictitious, and thus, kind of sterile. (i mean, the fictitious can work sometimes if you just plan for the series to be fictitious and act accordingly. but you can't aim to be realistic and deal with topics such as trauma and it's consequences if you, writer, don't seem to fathom that death exists and can't use it to leave a definite mark on the story. i mean. if your character is free to do anything, have fucking fun with it and play around and just create something entirely new! just go and make something entirely escapist and imaginary, free of our earthly worries. at least present the series you write for what it is, and not as if you really dug up the psyche of the character and such, because in order to do that, you have to face reality, death, and changes.

Andor really is amazing and left an impact. Literally just today I was thinking about the scene where ol’kid gets crushed so senselessly. Yet his words go on to inspire like damn. It could all end so quickly that’s why you gotta get the message out. Meanwhile I honestly haven’t thought about any of the scenes/memes from obi wan until this video.

Watching that scene in andor I had wondered where that skinny guy was. I thought what he’s just getting up slow for some reason. When it turned out he was dead I was so surprised bc that’s the most random and accidental death probably in all of Star Wars. It might be the most immersive as if these are humans who are fragile like us who at any moment can die. Really cool scene and idea just a great show.

Also, excellent use of a clip at 21:29. “‘Matter at hand.” 😂

Andor is 100000000000000000000000 times better than any other Disney show in every way possible

Master Samwise, you are not looking too much into the scenes. You are showing us exact details that we, viewers, notice with the back of our brain but can't fully process the thoughts into wholesome arguments we can put on the table. But yet, we definitely SEE when the scenes are bad, we just can't tell why. And there you are for that. Thank you.

What a great video! Keep up the quality.

Somehow…Leia has returned.

A new hope had at least an explanaition for the stormtroopers incompetence, their leaders ordered them to let the princess escape

I don't know why, but I smile every time when someone analyzes and critiques a show.

What makes the Stormtroopers even more ridiculous is something we saw those blasters have in the very first Start Wars movie to ever grace the screen. Those blasters have stun-modes! Some people might have argued that they didn't want to shoot Obiwan at the first sign of trouble, because they had orders to take him alive... but that is a non-issue if you remember Star Wars: A New Hope and how they captures Leia! Just put the blasters to stun and pull the trigger the very moment he does anything suspicious! No need to try to take a little girl hostage either: Just blast him with a stun-shot and DONE.

This is a very good breakdown of how these two shows were made. Thank you for making it. Also: That Ryan George reference and the following Disney joke made me laugh in way few videos can :)

If you want an example of a character acknowledging they are damned the best is the operative from Serenity. He is Luthien, he is just coming at it from the other direction. His "I am not going to live there" conversation with Mal is chilling.

What great about ANDOR is that it also had amazing spectacle as well. Andor is among the best television I’ve ever seen. I really felt like I was in the Star Wars universe

This video and your writing comparison between the two shows just earned you a sub :)

This seems relevant: Years ago I took a stage acting class at community college. Not trying to be an actor or anything, just needed 3 credits, so why not? Anyway, I performed a monologue in the class and I wanted to show how angry my character was. So I set up two chairs next to each other a table. I sat in one, and then when it was time for me to be angry I got up and backhanded the other chair across the stage. After I was done, my teacher complemented my delivery and expression, etc., but she asked me "Why was there a second chair?" My answer was something like "I needed it." And her response was to basically tell me to never have a prop there unless it makes sense for it to be there. Basically, never have things set up a certain way just for the convenience of the story or the characters. It needs to make sense for something to be there. And if it doesn't, then find another way to do it. If I learned that in COMMUNITY COLLEGE as a young 20-something, why do professional writers working on Kenobi not seem to get it?

The humor here is so awesome... I don't know how often I had laughed so far, but the "Getting back to the matter at hand" cut at 21:10 was awesome :D As was the reference to "Barely an Inconvenience"

Lol, Andor even made Storm Troopers look horrifying.

This is a nice and detailed criticism of the scenes. I'm also glad that I wasn't the only who noticed this when the show came out. It earned you another subscriber. :)

Lol "getting back to the matter at hand" - I see what you did there.

Love the vid, made me laugh at the in depth analysis lmao. Andor treats the Empire like more of a threat. And the action, while still definitely flawed in some episodes, is still pretty well thought through. Andor took a step towards allowing stormtroopers to act like soldiers, but there were still some scenes that made me shake my head and laugh. Like the one guy getting spartan kicked off the tower lol, kinda takes you out of the moment for a few seconds. But I love how all the soldiers (army/ISB/stormtroopers) walk and act like they are trained/professional. Andor is one of my favorite shows, and its plot and story are the true amazing parts. It really helps when the action is more thought out and not mindless bullshit, aka kenobi, parts of BoBF, and parts of mando season 2. Also, I don't even remember finishing Kenobi. I watched some reviews and stuff between vader and obi wan on youtube and thats it. Dropped out after seeing that tower escape and 75 stormtroopers in a cave shooting at exposed rebels literally 15 feet away and missing. That was the last straw in this shitty show. What a waste of McGregor and Christiansen.

7:30 whats worse about this, anytime they use the lightsaber in the dark they dont even CGI over it, its just what they use during filming (obviously the scene being discussed is in the light)

I remember in the hangar scene I was nervous for the entirety of the shootout because it felt dangerous, which should be the usual, but not in star wars XD

Andor felt like it made real sense, with characters having agency, their choices mattering, and the gunfights feeling like you could die at any moment.

Andor is an "anyone can die" kind of show, and it does it right. There's a right and a wrong way to do it. In Andor, people die for predictable reasons, or they die when they do something dangerous and get unlucky. In bad shows that try to imitate the "anyone can die" feeling, characters die for seemingly no reason. Compare to Game of Thrones (spoilers ahead). The early seasons kill characters because it makes sense, and the later seasons kill characters to create drama. Ned Stark, Catelyn, and Robb die because of the logical consequences of their actions. Roose Bolton, Doran Martell, and Rickon Stark die because the writers thought it would be cool.

Great vid Master Samwise, you made many excellent points.

It was sad seeing Kenobi kill itself episode by episode, it had so much potential

Kenobi walking around with his lightsaber exposed is infuriating. If your trying to hide you would never let anyone see it

I don't know how to explain this but, even though I know Andor isn't going to die in an action scene, I can really feel the danger he is in and that he can die at any moment. They made action scenes so realistic that you don't even think about MC's plot armor.

So right. SO RIGHT. Excellent breakdown and comparison !

It's super fun how Obi Wan tries to go unrecognized but dress himself like an extremely evident jedi master and despite that nobody can even imagine he is a jedi master. Ultimate plot armor script.

The super easy barely an inconvenience bit was pure Gold

Fantastic video in general man, really nicely analyzed and I loved your explanation for why it matters at the end. Love to see more content!

There are hundreds of things Obi Wan could have done by using the Force to get out of the face scan and somehow the so-called Jedi Master just did took the dumbest course of action (and bad choreography allowed him to get away with it). Let's see... - Jedi Mind Trick both Stormtroopers so they blank out for a brief moment, THEN shoot the probe droid, then do whatever he needs to with the 2 troopers. - Force Push the probe droid into one of the troopers, Force Push the ankle of the other one to make him fall to the ground, shoot each of them. - Force Push the probe droid into the laser fence, Force Pull blasters from everybody's hands on the scene other than Obi Wan himself, then shoot them. - Actually enable Force Speed (Phantom Menace clearly established Obi Wan can do this) and fool around with them like Quicksilver does. - Whip out lightsaber and kill all of them including the probe droid in one quick slash. Fuck it.

A Jedi using a blaster should look like Deadeye in RDR2; making incredible shots with unbelievable speed and accuracy.

Not to mention the extreme inconsistency of NO INQUISITOR TROOPERS - a group that not only can be found here (fallen order) BUT ARE TRAINED HERE AND ARE IN EXTREME ABUNDANCE!

I like that in Andor, people just die. Not as heroes or gracefully, they just die, often for nothing.

I am dreading the next shows and films will repeat the trend. -If the show is based on a new or obscure character then it's a masterpiece. -If the show is based on a fan favorite character returning then it will be a disaster.

Antagonists in Andor feel like people, because they are. Antagonists in Kenobi feel like the CGI background fodder in a Marvel movie

Andor reminds me of the quote from Futurama " when you do everything right people won't be sure you've done anything at all"

I think Sgt Johnson said it best in Halo CE: “goddamnit Jenkins, fire your weapon!”

11:38 the storm trooper in the watch tower is just standing there watching as his fellow soldier get killed. lmfao

It feels like the Obi Wan show was almost doing it on purpose sometimes. Remember when Leia was kidnapped in the forest chase scene? That shit was unbearable, like I get that she knows those woods but that really only works for like hiding places or something, she doesn't know literally every square inch and branch and she's also what, like 7 years old or something and all these grown ass adults cant catch her on these mostly open and easy to traverse trails??? And they didn't even try to hide it, you could see them close to Leia and they just couldn't get to her, it looked goofy sometimes, like Home Alone levels of incompetence

I agree with you except for one point. Stormtroopers are not normal soldiers they are special forces. This is perfectly portrayed in Andor where only a few actual stormtroopers are deployed for the finale. Even when they accompany a high-ranking ISB Officer. You can see in Solo and this is one of the few good things about this film that the Empire actually has a whole army of normal soldiers those guys in the grey armor and the helmet with the long neck shield. Sure, Stormtroopers are often portrayed as cannon fodder, but they are the top elite of the Imperial Army, with only a few even more specialized units, and the Senate Guards being better trained and higher ranked. That totally change nothing in your argument except that this are even more reasons for the stormtroopers to be more skilled.

Long story short: With Rogue One, Andor and The Mandalorian, Disney shows that they „can Star Wars“ if they want, but as soon as a classic character is involved in a way that would demand them to be more than a side note in the storyline, they drop any trace of commitment to - or even actively work to demolish - the legacy. It’s almost as if they paid billions of dollars for the rights to Star Wars for a single specific purpose, which is to flip a giant finger towards George Lucas, the old cast and/or the fanbase.

Viewers: man RU-vid recommendations are being boring lately Kenobi Clips: *Hello There!*

the four troopers on Zack Braff's truck are my favourite of all the stormtroopers, because they sing The Ballad Of The Clockwork Man and it's beautiful

Nothing kills a story faster for me than destroying my suspension of disbelief

I would also like to add the fact that Yoda was training Obi Wan during his time on tatooine to learn how to force ghost. He was literally training in the ways of the force, no shot he couldn't use it cuz he was sad

Lol “back to the matter at hand”, I see what you did there, that’s too morbid 😂

Andor was the best Star Wars, because the Empire is competent. I particularly liked the scene with Luthen Rael and the Interdictor Cruiser. The guys on the cruiser did everything right. They were calm and quiet. Orders were given and followed without excitement. They did everything right, and they still failed, and it made the scene just so much better.