#mina-rau

[colleybri]

Andor’s Mina-Rau concept art

I think my favourite BTS detail is that the enormous Bier beast puppet was originally intended to be used for the Dhani pilgrimage to see the Eye of Aldhani and I think that makes so much more sense of its long haired Space!Yak look. But it was too awkward to use on Scotland’s hills. So it pops up on Mina-Rau instead. I got a mild telling off from the author for pointing out what I assumed was a typo in the book where the creature is labelled as a Beer Beast because that’s what the design team really did call it. But the digital version has the universe correct name so 🤷‍♀️ .

My other favourite new bit of lore for Mina-Rau is that it’s flooded for three months of the year and the residents and workforce retreat to the hills in groups of 50. So that explains why the silos have that particular design I guess. I wonder if they dismantle the entire store? Or if they just empty it, let the structure flood, then move back in. Only questions fic writers need to ask, I guess, but it’s fun to see. Also, I love this speeder design… 

Chester Carr is the artist for this, and his work really does dominate the book. So, so good. Even more on his website and IG page. 

[colleybri]

Nice little Andor rewatch double irony:

In the s1 finale Dedra deliberately eases air traffic restrictions on Ferrix to lure Cassian back. This ends up helping Brasso, Bix, Wilmon, Jezzi and Bee get safely away in the chaos after the riot. Syril’s investigations in Ep 1 also suggest the Dayvan is too old to be easily tracked by the Empire. And of course they never caught Cassian.

On Mina-Rau, comms are blocked to “stop things are slipping away while we’re doing our counting” as the monstrous Krole tells Bix. When Cassian arrives in the TIE Avenger he clocks a Star Destroyer in orbit, presumably the one the Imperials on the ground want to call to for help minutes later. As what seems to be one of their own ships starts firing at them one Trooper yells “Get the comms back up!”. But it’s too late. By the time Cassian destroys the silo the Imperials on the ground are all dead… and no-one on the orbiting Star Destroyer is any the wiser.

The Empire’s attempts to assert control over a population backfire badly in both these cases. The plot needs it obviously but it’s nice to have two cases of the Imperials being hoisted by their own petard.

[phasma-first-order]

( Everything to be said about the final scene of Andor, about Bix and her baby, has already been said. My take is that Tony Gilroy meant to create an image of hope — but the picture of a (soon-to-be) widow with a baby doesn't really evoke hopefulness. In real life I've met enough women who are struggling to raise an unplanned child on their own. Our society mostly sets these women up for frustration and difficulty. Gilroy writes insightfully about systems like prison labor and military operations, but seems to have a blind spot here.

So it was fascinating to see the first scene of Foundation S3x7. Here is a woman in a field holding her baby. And it's a scene of sorrow, fear, and desperation. Because this unexpected child is another mouth to feed. She cannot provide for this baby. She's in a system where there isn't enough food, despite living on a crop-growing Ag World. Something about the real causes of famines. This child isn't a symbol of hope. )

[reyturnofbensolo]

[thecoffeelorian]

space iowa space iowa space iowa!!