Season 2 was quite an enjoyable watch (only 3 episodes, chiming in at under 3 hours of content) - though I did find myself more invested in stories highlighting ILM’s work on the films outside of Star Wars (though even that was quite ‘showcase-y’ / PR-like).
The sale and closure of the model shop are covered, as well as the final curtain for it in 2023 (The 32Ten Studios) - you could really sense the emotions there from the numerous talented people who’d worked there over the years.
I felt S2 glossed over previous films which used cgi characters and digital films (Windhorse, Young Sherlock Holmes, then that 2000 Clooney comedy - ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’) - if we didn’t know any better this portrays George as the founder of all that (instead of being a fellow pioneer and innovator who embraced and enhanced it). We also get another ‘quicker, better, cheaper’ quote from GL again too re the digital process - though was it really ‘better’? We all know in certain places the 1997 SEs and Prequels look awful in places (unsurprisingly not shown in this).
The pre-1997 SE scenes were shown in the worst quality - though the 1997 SE and PT seemingly in the best quality. It turns out John Knoll may have been a bit of cheat, too 😉 (in trying to prove what can and can’t be done digitally - and how quickly it takes; the story of this did raise a few smiles).
The art departments and what they came up with for the PT were just superb - their fantastic art (and even the storyboards) are shown very well in this - all kudos to them - and for the other films since.
Found it a little weird that the digital Yoda was ‘bigged up’ as being so much better in TPM - though not too much on how bad and inferior the TPM puppet sculpt was… and how it affected filming and Frank Oz’ performance (+ using a heavier and denser silicon based Yoda instead of a re-sculpt with the materials used in the unaltered theatrical OT).
It does come across that George couldn’t reign himself in with the 1997 SE (and Prequels) when it came to inserting digital alterations - playing with all his new toys just because he could - yet seemingly didn’t take into account the effect of the different tone and that impact in and upon the story.
Overall, I’m glad I watched it - an enjoyable 2nd season and an intriguing watch for anyone interested in film history and Lucasfilm… though as posted above… the non-SW content captured and held my interest more than the SW material (probably because much of the SE and PTs have been covered well before - and non-SW work by ILM less so).
One thing I would say… Andor is proof there is much to be said from using real sets and locations in Star Wars - and simply using digital technology as a quality and useful tool to enhance the immersion of the story where/when needed - to say nothing of the negative impact the digital process / endless greenscreen sets had on the actors and the acting performances in the PT era (which was not mentioned in the series). Balance and control are key ingredients in attempting to make compelling storytelling - who knew? 😉
