Uncategorized | At Home with Tech

May 25, 2025

Why Andor’s Success Makes Rogue One a Better Star Wars’ Movie

I never liked “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Back in 2016, this movie seemingly broke all the rules of traditional Star Wars’ storytelling. It changed the narrative on what it was to be a rebel hero. It was dark. It was bleak. It was depressing. This was not the Star Wars’ movie I wanted.

The truth is I wasn’t ready. A lot of fans weren’t. I couldn’t handle a gritty expansion outside the cozy cocoon of Force-fueled characters.

When the “Andor” prequel series came out in 2022, I first rolled my eyes. What was the point? We knew how it all ends. How can you build a successful prequel based on that?

Well, I could not have been more wrong.

Put “Andor” at the Top of your Disney+ Streaming Cue
“Andor” is arguably the best Star Wars’ vehicle out there. Certainly, the best series. It’s mature. It’s thought provoking. It’s jarring. It’s not really Star Wars as we know the nine core movies. It’s more… Star Wars-adjacent.

And if you don’t already know the premise… it focuses on the early years of the rebel alliance that lead up to “Rogue One” and then the original “Star Wars: A New Hope.”

Headed up by actor Diego Luna, “Andor’s” entire cast is fantastic. Luna plays spy Cassian Andor who is recruited to join the rebellion after a series of encounters with the evil empire. All the characters are properly developed, both the rebels’ and those serving the soul-crushing dark side. That’s because this well-written series takes its time to do exactly that.

They spent a ton of money on this series, and every dollar shows. It’s as cinematic as any of the movies.

Why my Family hasn’t Watched “Rogue One” Yet
For the past two and a half years, I’ve successfully delayed a “Rogue One” screening for our 15-year-old son until after the conclusion of “Andor.”

Why?

I didn’t want his enjoyment of “Andor’s” two seasons to be marred by the knowledge of what happens next. (He agreed to my subtle but clear warning that we should wait.)

I worried that he would have that same pit in his stomach as I’ve been carrying about for the past several years.

Throughout the many cliffhangers of “Andor’s” season two, both my son and wife (she hasn’t seen “Rogue One” either) repeatedly asked me about the movie. My only response was simply, “I’m not talking about “Rogue One.” (It became a recurring joke.)

Frankly, I’d been dreading watching the final two episodes of “Andor,” because I thought I knew what would happen to many of the characters.

Wrong again.

Why “Andor’s” Finale is So Good
“Andor” creator Tony Gilroy gave us (minor spoiler alert) an uplifting and satisfying finale that entirely sticks this series’ landing. And it happily broke an unwritten rule that if you don’t see a character in the future story, that spells doom for them today. There are, in fact, other ways to disappear into a galaxy far, far away.

Just as importantly, both seasons of “Andor” provide the necessary backstory to better enjoy “Rogue One.”

The idea of any rebel alliance can’t be a two-sentence plot point. This one really needed two seasons to fully set up the context and conflict of “Star Wars.”

And with that knowledge, rewatching “Rogue One” will be an entirely different experience.

“Andor” Makes “Rogue One” Better
I’m glad I delayed “Rogue One” in the Lester household for as long as I did. But now, I realize it was never about ruining “Andor” for our son. (I think that’s probably faulty parent logic.)

Waiting for “Andor” to wrap simply makes “Rogue One” a better movie to watch.

It’s Finally Time for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
MCU fans often talk the proper order to screen Marvel movies. With “Andor’s” conclusion, I feel the entirety of Gilroy’s work from “Andor” through to “Rogue One” is now required viewing ahead of “Star Wars: A New Hope” (for anyone who’s may have avoided this movie since 1977).

Next up for our Lester movie night at home: “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

We’re finally ready. And it’s going to be good!

Thank you, “Andor.”

March 23, 2025

I’m Going Mad Trying to Find a Mystery Sound in my Kitchen

I used to recognize every sound throughout our house. Then, a faint digital tone began pinging. I can’t locate this ghost in our kitchen, and it’s challenged my very existence.

I grew up in an apartment in Manhattan. The background roar of New York City flowed through me day and night. Our apartment building also echoed the nosy lives of dozens of people living around us. Strange creaks, bangs, bumps and even occasional screams were just a normal part of existence. I mostly tuned it out, but every so often, a new alien-like sound would pique my interest.

Then I moved out of the city, and throughout most of my adulthood, I’ve lived in houses in suburban neighborhoods. Though not exactly the wilderness, there was always enough quiet ambience that allowed me to mentally catalogue the origins of every sound my home made.

The click of the furnace kicking into gear
The low rumble of our garage door opening
The high-pitch whoosh of water flowing to hydrate our lawn
The happy tune from our LG washer machine when it’s done with its cycle
The thump of the cat jumping off our LG dryer
The three pings from my new Behmor Brazen Plus 3.0 coffee maker after brewing

I knew our house’s every mechanical, digital and biologic whisper and where it came from.

Until one day recently… I didn’t.

Smoke Detector Madness
The only problem I’ve previously had with noises in my house was tracking down the annoying cry of my smoke detector looking for fresh batteries. Sure, I’ve got a more advanced Google Nest Protect monitoring the second floor by our bedrooms, but our first floor and basement still host old-school First Alert models.

And honestly, I could never tell which sibling puck was in distress. So, I had to painfully wait in front of one of them for 90 seconds until the next piercing chirp. And of course, that always happened after I’d been rudely awakened by this cruel (but necessary) warning at 2am.

Fortunately, even these basic smoke detectors have evolved over time, and the most recent First Alert model I’ve installed has a 10-year lithium battery sealed into the unit. So hopefully, my excruciating dead-of-night searches won’t be so frequent.

You Can’t Find Me
But recently, a ghost ping has cropped up in my house, and it is completely unknown. The sound is faint and just one ping. I hear the digital note only every few days, and there is no pattern to it.

It’s entirely infuriating, and I feel this brief tone is taunting me.

Sure, I could ignore It. (This innocuous accent isn’t loud enough to wake me up at night.)

But its existence challenges my control… my authority… my human dominance over our little kingdom.

The Digital Ghost in our Kitchen
The best I can tell, this evil ping comes from somewhere in our kitchen. The faint digital heartbeat doesn’t give me enough information, because it’s too infrequent. (I can’t stand around for a day waiting for the next one.)

Logic tells me the culprit is one of our newer devices… my Brazen coffee maker or perhaps our Instant Pot.

They’re both usually plugged in. Perhaps this is just a little friendly reminder that one is unnecessarily sucking energy in standby mode.

So, what’s the big deal?

Open the Pod-Bay Doors, HAL
Well, I can’t stop thinking about this silly audio ping that currently remains outside my control. I consider it a form of defiance.

As I’ve worked hard over the years to make our home ‘smarter,’ that also means I’ve bolted in more tech to track. Most of it is ‘set-it-and-forget-it.’ But that can’t last forever. So, isn’t this a problem just waiting to happen down the line?

Eventually, your home may take on a life of its own. It can start with a little mystery ping. But it probably won’t end there.

Life isn’t set-and-forget. Your tech shouldn’t be either. And now we’ve got AI to improve everything. See where I’m going?

Don’t Lose the Manual
I’m no Luddite. But it’s clear to me that as we continue to embrace technology in every part of our existence, we must pay attention and not lose too much control. AI is allowed to occasionally hallucinate, but we can’t afford to do that even once. (Humanity doesn’t come with that disclaimer.)

If you think my concern is only worth considering as a screenplay plot device for your next Sci-Fi blockbuster, please considering offering me a screen credit.

Otherwise, I’d recommend you always track down that next digital phantom that crops up in your house. Sure, it may just be an innocent ping.

But when your home talks to you, it’s always best to understand what it’s saying.

January 26, 2025

Star Trek: Section 31 Tries to be a Dumpster Fire and Succeeds

If you’ve also been waiting since 2020 to see what happened to Michelle Yeoh’s Emperor Georgiou from “Star Trek: Discovery,” she’s finally reappeared in “Section 31.” Here’s my review of this crazy TV movie.

There’s been a hole in my Trekkie heart ever since the very first episode of “Star Trek: Discovery” back in 2017. My heart broke early in the episode when Starfleet Captain Philippa Georgiou played by the wonderful Michelle Yeoh shockingly died with a Klingon blade to the heart.

More than a plot device, it was a clear message from the showrunners to all Trekkies that the old Star Trek you knew and loved was dead.

I was all set to watch another five-year mission with Captain Georgiou at the helm. But no, that wasn’t the plan. That said, this unexpected Trekkie betrayal also contained a hidden twist… with a lifeline to a future redemption.

It didn’t take that long. Soon we had a mirror universe replacement of Georgiou. And I’ve got to admit that Yeoh’s Emperor Georgiou from the Terran Empire was a blast.

Yeoh was unleashed to embody a delightfully naughty version of Georgiou. Every scene with her was always a bright spot through the entire “Star Trek: Discovery” series until she was banished by the writers through the Guardian of Forever in season 3 (another disappointment).

But wait. Trekkies then heard the producers were going to create a Section 31 series with Yeoh as part of this sinister and secret Federation spy division that has popped up in so many Star Trek series, including “Discovery.”

But no… the series ended up just being a one-off TV movie, which has finally arrived.

Back to the Future
Running just over an hour and a half on Paramount+, this ‘extended episode’ feels somewhat Star Trek adjacent. It’s filled with the quirky characters you might find in a “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie but pulled from the back pages of a “Star Trek” encyclopedia.

When the movie begins, Georgiou has already been transported back to the past a few decades before “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” She’s set up shop running a ritzy space station bar just outside of the Federation. The opening credits explain she had previously joined Section 31 but then disappeared (to apparently follow in the ‘legendary’ footsteps of Quark from Deep Space Nine).

But a threat of galactic proportions sends a Section 31 team led by Agent Alok Sahar (played by Omari Hardwick) to find and re-recruit Georgiou to help save the Federation.

It’s Good to be Evil
Section 31 isn’t as scary an organization as I remember, and the team that finds Georgiou initially acts like a second-rate band of misfit thugs.

Thank goodness they’ve got the ‘evil’ Georgio to save the day. Clearly Section 31 needs her anti-hero vibe to stop a terrorist with an uber-destruction device called the ‘godsend.’

As the story likes to remind us, you can’t escape your past, and so the Terran Empire plays a prominent role in the story.

Warped Sense of Fun
“Star Trek: Section 31” is sometimes clever, but often silly. The writers are clearly Trekkies, but tonally, this story is out of control. The closest parallel might be “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” And that’s a cartoon.

The Terran Empire in the mirror universe used to be the place where the writers and directors allowed the actors to chew up the scenery, but the producers have flipped that equation on its head. Here, all the Terran Empire scenes feel like normal Star Trek. And now it’s the Federation that looks like an extended frat party.

Does that mean “Star Trek: 31” is bad?” Not necessarily. It tries hard to be irreverent, fun and completely over the top. Yes, it’s mostly absurd, which is not your typical Star Trek formula. And you’ve got to be a Trekkie to really appreciate all the hidden references in plain sight.

This movie ends up being an absolute dumpster fire, but intentionally so (both figuratively and literally).

Mayhem with a Touch of Heart
In the middle of the mayhem highlighted by near-constant fighting, shaky camera work and fire spitting out of almost every orifice in the scenery, you can find a small core of Star Trek humanity still aglow. It takes the form of lost love and impossible redemption. This gives Yeoh her only opportunity to stretch her role a bit.

For a movie specifically built for her character, the script doesn’t really offer her enough and instead needs to focus on the new characters, especially due to all the twists in the plot.

Plus, the script requires the film to burn precious minutes with an opening Terran Empire flashback sequence featuring a younger Georgiou played by Miku Martineau.

A Guilty Pleasure
The final scene with our newly congealed team feels like any TV series’ pilot, and as Shatner’s Kirk liked to say, “There are always possibilities.”

Is this gritty, crazy but imperfectly lightweight “Star Trek: Section 31” good enough to stream?

Sure.

It’s a nice diversion… perhaps even a guilty pleasure. And it’s always great to watch the awesome Michelle Yeoh. And yes, I could get used to spending more time with the new characters, who thankfully became more likable by the end of the movie.

No Future for “Section 31?”
But is “Star Trek: Section 31” deserving of getting its own sequel ahead of the non-greenlit “Star Trek: Legacy” spinoff from “Star Trek: Picard?”

I’m not totally feeling it, and no sequel has been announced. But it doesn’t matter, because we’re all going to “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” soon enough with Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.

Happily, next up is season 3 of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”

Hit it.
(please)

Category: Uncategorized

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