Andor: That '70s Scifi Show

I've written a few blogs now about Andor, the latest streaming TV series in the Star Wars universe. I've written about the plot and the writing but not much about the setting— i.e., the Star Wars universe.

The good news about Andor is that it's immediately obvious the series is part of the Star Wars universe. As with earlier spinoffs The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett it's full of rich visuals that so thoroughly evoke the look and feel of the original movies. While the writing may seem like the producers cheaped out and hired college interns, they sure didn't stint on set design, costumes, or special effects.

The odd aspect about this faithful recreation of the original movies' setting is that it's so obvious dated. Humorously dated. In this futuristic vision from the 1970s, mechanical technology is cheap and plentiful. Even working-class families on backwater worlds have hovercraft and droids. Space ships can be fixed with spare parts by the local mechanic in dirty overalls. A panel fell off? Bang it back into shape with a hammer then weld it on. Now it's space-worthy again! Meanwhile communication technology is rare. Next to nobody owns anything like a phone. A few have basically walkie-talkies, but those have to be jerry-rigged by someone who understands circuits and soldering. And computers? They're small and special-purpose.

The vision of scifi as a futuristic version of 1977, where spaceships are like old motorcycles that can be fixed by shade tree mechanics while overseas phone calls are still prohibitively expensive so only the wealthy even think about calling, is comical by modern standards. Yes, it's very faithful to the original setting and it's good for establishing familiar territory, but it's verging on slavish devotion.

Fall Weather. What?

Have you ever felt like you're unaware of a seasonal weather change? Have you ever felt like you're aware of it now but somehow didn't notice for, like, the past several years? I have the latter feeling right now. We're in the middle of Autumn here in the SF Bay Area, and I'm like, "LOLWUT?" I feel like I've never seen Autumn weather here before!

There's an element of reality in that. California's climate gives us two dominant weather patterns. In the Bay Area our summers bring predictably clear skies and warm weather. In the winter we have cooler temperatures, frequently overcast skies, and frequent light rain.

What's awesome about the summer is that it can go on for months. When I moved to California years ago an older friend who'd lived here for years quipped, "In California the 4 seasons are Early Summer, Mid Summer, Late Summer, and I Can't Wait For Next Summer!"

In between these long summers and the few months of winter are short spring and fall seasons. Like, usually just a few weeks; so fast a change that you barely even think about them. And that's what's disorienting about being in fall right now. We're having distinct fall weather... and it's lasting for a long time!

Fall here means pleasantly warm temperatures in the daytime with cool evenings. Most days have had highs of 72-80 F (22° - 27° C) while overnight lows have generally been around 53-55 F (about 11° C). We've had cloud cover most mornings that burns off sometime before noon. Light rain falls occasionally, maybe once every 7-10 days. This may seem like a reasonable fall weather pattern elsewhere, but here in California it's like, "Whoa, what's happening??" I'm not used to more than 2 seasons.