A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast

If you rewind the clock by two years, it was today, November 14th, that Ali, Rob, Natalie, and I got in the same group DM and made a decision: Let's do a Clone Wars podcast. Today, our 50th episode releases, and let me tell you: On that day, we could not BEGIN to imagine how much we would be feasting. Today's episode of Andor is a tight, focused 43 minute exploration of revolutionary sacrifice in its many forms. And while I could not call this nearly three hour long episode of our show anything close to "tight," I do think it's one of our best yet. So please, tell a friend, review the show on your podcast platform of choice, and (if you're in a place where you can) go ahead and give us some support on our Patreon. Here's to 50 more episodes of yelling about Jedi hypocrisy, theorizing about crybaby fascists, sometimes, complaining about mid-tier fandom, coming up with our own outlandish AUs, and (every once in a while) offering deep analysis. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 11 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo) You can support the show and gain access to a monthly Q&A cast by going to patreon.com/civilized

14 Nov 20222h 50min

There are many things about Andor that, push come to shove, I think we could have predicted. Self-sufficient (if selfish) rogue slowly warms to a rebellion? Sure. Imperial bureaucracy tightens its snare around the revolutionary and the uninvolved alike? Definitely. Coruscanti political drama? Probably, hell, they had that in Clone Wars. But there are scenes in this week's Andor that never in one hundred years would we have imagined to have shown up. Here? In Star Wars? No. Couldn't be. Disney wouldn't let it happen.  And yet... here we are.  NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 10 Show Notes #Keero Fancam by Patrick Willems Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

7 Nov 20222h 21min

If you made fun of us for going long on a previous Andor episode, well the joke is on you, because you should've waited for this week. In what can only be described as (minute-for-minute and pound-for-pound) our MOST five star runtime episode yet, we delve into all manner of bleak material. There's prison labor. There's a bitter-yet-functional marriage. There's a snare slowly tightening around a rebellion so nascent that even two of its most important leaders can't come to terms about working together. And there's a little terrible man who is, one bad day at a time, learning that the world doesn't work in the the facile, cartoonish way he dreamt it did. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 09 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

31 Okt 20223h 19min

After a nail-biting heist, what could follow for Andor? Unsurprisingly, a talky episode all about the Empire's response to the fledgling rebellion, filled with juicy details about galactic policy decisions, intelligence agency maneuvering, and a bunch of difficult emotional conversations. And, of course... Space Miami. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 08 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

24 Okt 20222h 31min

Wow, what a season. From the opening at the rainy PreMor leisure district to the climactic conclusion in highlands of Aldh- What's that?  You're saying this is only the halfway point of the series? The halfway point of the first season of the series?  No, that can't be right. You're saying that after this—perhaps the best pound-for-pound filmmaking we've covered on the podcast—we get... more?  Wow. A better world really is possible. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 07 Show Notes Heads up that next episode may come a day late, as we're dealing with scheduling difficulties and dental recovery! Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

17 Okt 20222h 30min

We finished last episode with two desires: To sit in on an absolutely terrible dinner evening and to watch the beginning of a high intensity heist. We got neither, and instead have received a feast unlike any we could've hoped for. From Coruscant to Aldhani, we trace four stories about families bickering. A mother dressing up insults in the language of care. A father leaning back and watching in glee as his daughter tears into her mother. Brothers-in-arms at each other's throats. It's drama time, baby. The action can wait. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 06 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

10 Okt 20221h 56min

Three episodes can trick you. It's enough that you think: Okay, I have the gist of the show. I understand what's going on here. I get the moves the filmmakers like to make, I understand tone and theme. I get what the actors have at their disposal. But three episodes is nothing. Sometimes a showrunner handles the introductory arc themself, only to step back afterwards. Budgets dip. The relationship between actors, directors, and others on set can sour. Three episodes can trick you. But Andor first three episodes didn't trick us. Join us this week for our dive into the fourth episode of the series, where we dig into all of our favorite topics, including cultural deterritorialization, the penchant intelligence agencies have for falling into paranoia, and, of course, extremely shitty husbands. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 05 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

3 Okt 20222h 6min

A More Civilized Age has never been a show with a plan so much as a set of interests. We’ve never even really known what is coming in the primary topic for our show, The Clone Wars, and that’s allowed us to have some incredible experiences and, we hope, some fun surprises to share with you that compensates for the fact that we can’t analyze this with a complete knowledge of the text. That also meant that we never really had a plan for “what happens after we watch The Clone Wars?” That was a conversation for the future. We’d wrap up our project and then think about whether or not there were any other shows that we felt so passionately about that we’d want to widen the scope of AMCA. But it turns out that if you spend two years working on a Star Wars podcast the future might just become the present and force the issue before you are ready. As you might have gleaned when we watched the trailer, Andor had all the hallmarks of a show that would speak to the things we were most interested in when it came to Star Wars. And indeed, from the minute the first episodes came out, it was clear we needed to drop everything and let our own excitement be our guide. So: For the next couple months, we’re going to leave Ahsoka on the steps of the Jedi Temple at the end of Season 5 and spend some time with Andor. Now, we have a plan for the rest of the Clone Wars and we’d already started work on Season 6 when we made this turn, so we’re not scrapping the heart of what AMCA has been about. But for the next couple months, we’re going to be hitting the latest episode of Andor every week and continuing with our monthly Q and As. We hope you're as excited about these next few months of AMCA as we are. It’s fair to say that the post-Disney, post-Abrams era of Star Wars has been very hit or miss, but if nothing else it feels like Andor already feels like a show that has paid attention to and is ready to spark more of the most interesting conversations you can have about Star Wars and its fictional history. Will it stick the landing? Your guess is as good as ours, but we’re excited to take the ride with you. -Rob Zacny NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 04 Show Notes Huge shout outs to @XEECEEVEVO for the new art! Go check out their visual novel about murder and mystery in a 15th century convent, Misericorde!   Tony Gilroy on the Screenwriting of 'Andor' ‘What’s the Bodega Look Like on Coruscant?’: Tony Gilroy on Making ‘Andor’ – and Fighting Off a ‘Michael Clayton’ TV Series Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

28 Sep 20223h 17min