@@Fusion_4000 I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth. (gropes you).
Agreed. Even normal cities in real life have different districts, boroughs etc. A city covering a whole planet would look different from area to area architecturally for sure. Otherwise, the lack of traffic and colors are probably because of the Empire.
Please remember, the empire pretty much only existed for like, 25 years give or take. They didn't demolish and put up new sky scrapers just to change their 'motiff' in that time. Coruscant was always a brutalist concrete sprawl. Just imagine the prequels only show us the equivalent of "skyscraper penthouses" and broadway doing Cirque du Soleil which are so far out of reach of the common citizen they may as well be cloud city.
I kind of like it, the Coruscant from the movies looked like a 1950s pulp sci-fi comic city, this one is grittier, rougher and in a certain way looks cooler
Didn't the planet also take a mauling from space debris and such during the battle of Coruscant? The Separatists even landed some troops to secure the Chancllor. The rebuilding during the Imperial Era would explain a lot.
This is one of the best observations. In fact, it flows well with one of the challenges the Empire had that was emphasized in the original EU: financing. What the Empire wanted to do - effectively occupy and pacify the galaxy - was incredibly expensive and in some ways impossible. The Tarkin Doctrine was devised to deal with the impracticality of funding a military large enough to directly take over the galaxy. Therefore it stands to reason that one thing the Empire definitely would not do is spend any money it didn't have to. Even if they were a bunch of happy people, they wouldn't be able to spare a credit for luxury or ornamentation - outside some fancy red guard uniforms. It fits with the Empire's simple, brutal aesthetic, and also fits with what would happen to Coruscant during recovery from the planetary-scale orbital battle.
The whole planet is a cityscape with thousands of years of history behind it. There should be variance, it would be very boring if every district looked identical.
What’s interesting is that this is totally how I imagined it when first reading the Zahn books back in the 90s. Grey, sharp, brutalist and totally aligned with the Empire’s lack of aesthetic charm in terms of the vehicles and structures we’d seen in the OT.
I was about to write out the same comment. So many are decrying this coruscant because it doesn’t look like the CGI-cartoony Coruscant of the prequels. But this is the precisely Coruscant I envisioned when I read Heir to the Empire way back in 1990.
@@dagger1580 I mean, the lower portions still look like Blade Runner. I remember in one of the books (I think it was one of the Young Han Solo trilogy) they go to the underportion and the description is distinctly cyberpunk. And I remember them noting the contrast between the 'pristine' (not an exact quote, just a feel they gave) upper section to that. The Empire is all about optics. They don't actually deal with the debauchery on Coruscant, they just cover it up by putting their buildings in the place most people will see. Likewise they can't actually win the minds of the people, so they cover up their dissent with propaganda posters and military parades.
Also in prequels they often show Coruscant in warm sun light or glittering lights of a mega city at night. Every reflective surface shines. Whereas in Andor they use the cloudy white/grey sky and monotone lighting to emphasize how sterile the city has become. Even the decorative metallic edges on the buildings in that shot where Mon walked up of her car looked bleached. I think it's a smart artistic/filming choice.
I also noticed that in Republic-era Coruscant, the buildings look more shiny & polished, at night, there's lots of colorful neon/video signs, like the Vegas Strip in places. Now, it's all dull, concrete, the color's gone. I can see the Empire doing that - imposing color ordinances, making everyone repaint, doing a slapdash job just to make the Imperial officer with the stick up his ass go away. Throw in a whole mess of noise ordinances, signage ordinances, crackdowns on the bars, curfews, censorship of this and that due to "subversive influences", a network of Stasi-like ISB goons & their snitches making everyone try to grow eyes in the backs of their heads, and now you have a city with all the charm of Cold War era East Berlin.
I think it inherits it's "war documentary" color pallet from rogue one = which is why space looks nicer than in the other shows too (IMHO) Rogue One's vision of space is by far the nicest compared to any other Star Wars space scenes they look very different but Rogue One feels visceral and realistic to me. even something like Gravity looks fake and videogamey by comparison to me. So for God or ill in Arts Design & Photography Andor totally rocks and beats everything else including the movies. It m akes the sequels look especially bad but then they have especially lousy Cinatography in the 2 JJ ones anyway = The 2nd one isn't exactly sot bad it's just well "insane" in it's understanding of how objects move (arcing fire in space is so dumb it just makes me face palm - that is Star Trek Discovery levels of Pew Pew Pew stupidity. 1990's Videogames had a better understanding that that and they may as well be pure fantasy. To much fantasy is to much fantasy when it's so silly it is a lump hammer to the head knocking you ouf of the movie. Andor draws you in the sequels push me out.
@@meldroc It's very fun, it reminds me of the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner which was a beautiful art deco ship in its vacation days before being painted as a warship in 1941, an amazing site to see, this massive fast oceanliner canvased in all gray, being a target for german submarines.
@@WitchKing-Of-Angmar Indeed. Others were noticing the shift in Andor from an Art Deco aesthetic to Brutalism. That would be kind of like the QE being turned into a troop transport.
It looks different because this is Coruscant in the Empire, not the Republic. Much like how all the Clone Troopers were told to remove their colors on their armor, the color and life is drained away. Now it is darker colder and it is reminiscent of the Soviet era.
Yeah. You can even see that in Republic tech the Empire kept like walkers and starships. Say what you will about the Galactic Republic in the Clone Wars, but at least it treated its military as something to respect and inspire hope, not fear. While the clones didn’t get this treatment from the government and are only how they are thanks to the Jedi and each other, it still shows how the militaries of the Republic, Separatists, and the Rebellion are treated differently than the Empire and First Order. There’s a life to their forces, a story. With the Empire and First Order though, everything is so uniform in comparison. Totally throws off the balance between unity and individualism.
How can it look so much different with about 13 to 14 years of difference from episode III and Andor show, 19 BBY and 5 BBY? I personally think it looks off, not so much to not like it but they should have kept the prequels look. This new architecture reminds me way too much of ours, or what we will have in about 100 years or so.
In the prequels we saw mostly the upper levels. They had an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne inspired style. In Andor some of the buildings have a Brutalist Architecture...especially as we descent lower into the city. Those style buildings were used quite a bit in late 60s to mid 70s SciFi shows & movies...especially the dystopian kind.
@@Amazetbm This may be borrowed from the EU, in which the ISB was such a huge organisation (being the Empire was a repressive government) that they needed tonnes of space to house their staff and equipment. It's easier and more cost effective just to start moving into previously-unused space in buildings you own than it is expand outward and only use top. Even by the time Yisard was in charge and they were actively expanding the complex outward, they were only doing that because they'd started using all the building space they owned from top-to-bottom. EDIT: Also in the X-Wing series, it's mentioned they're doing this for security reasons, as it means they can completely secure the entire building and don't have to worry about people getting in through lower portions. Plus it's... (SPOILERS) Housing a giant star destroyer under it, which they'd rather people not find out about.
One thing this design of Coruscant made me think of is the high-rises in somewhere like New York, which fits with the motif of the wealthy elite class that we're seeing. Mon Mothma, even seems to be hiding behind the facade of the Star Wars equivalent of a wealthy Manhattan socialite who has liberal views but doesn't really do that much to advance them, in order to try an hide her true nature (seeming like an annoyance but not a direct threat.)
I agree I’m from New York City and that’s exactly what the city reminded me of like midtown museum of natural history and all those old design buildings from 1940’s
The appearance fits the description perfectly from the book Tarkin. Soon after the empire rose, drastic changes came to the Coruscant cityscape with buildings stripped of its elegant adornings in favor of more sleek and block like designs.
I think it also comes down to the cgi, with today’s technology it is able to look way more realistic as a planet and city, but back in the prequels everything has sort of a sheen and shininess to it, both still look good though
even looking at the special effects from the OT ,they are obviously outdated ,but hey i still watch those movies and they still have a charm that is unbeatable, its like hearing that needle in a old vinyl record ;).
@@347Jimmy He's impling that CGI back then was better at rendering shiny pristine stuff which is why they intentionally made Courscant look that way back then
Many of the cityscape shots from the prequels were actually hand-crafted miniatures, not CGI. The prequels used way more miniatures for its sets and vehicles than most people realize, totaling more than the OT, even. If you're curious, EC Henry made a compilation of miniatures in the prequels here: ua-cam.com/video/DvpMVirLsY0/v-deo.html (he said he included as many as he could find, but I know for a fact that there are more) It's understandable that people would assume the backgrounds are CGI when you can tell the actors are green/bluescreened into the shot, but I'm tired of people complaining that the prequels overused CGI when they used it way less than people realize, and also because the CGI looks amazing for the time. Many modern movies use way more CGI in worse looking ways.
i personally think it’s just the style. in the prequels coruscant was always shown at golden hour or beautiful times while andor is just showing coruscant as it lives and breathes on any regular old day. I do love that they made the buildings in that aerial shot so similar to New York. there was one or two that felt straight out of a like a neo-new york
The fact that we’ve only seen it so far in broad daylight adds to its creepiness, it’s just so stark. I hope we do see it at night and other times of day in the series, but I hope they can find a way to keep that feeling if so
I love this scene when the adjunct inspector takes the elevator and we see the light fades as it go deeper and deeper in the underground districts, which are poor. It makes a link with his life generally going down after the events on Ferrix
Also the use of practical sets made coruscant feel so so different and much more real. In the prequels coruscant had a much more glossed and saturated tone to them. Vibrant CGI buildings and dramatic sunsets etc. Here it seems at least some of the buildings/structures are actually real which drastically changes the feel of the planet. For me this change is good, although I do love the prequels. I don't know where the security building is on the planet relative to the other locations we've seen in the past, but I think it's also important to keep in mind that we've really only spent time in a couple buildings so far. It makes sense to me that the imperial security headquarters would be particularly imperial, and that the various different places we saw in the may past still have their unique vibes. But if this is symbolic of a larger shift on coruscant, that also makes sense to me and I welcome it. We've seen many worlds change throughout the history of starwars, so new developments on coruscant feel right to me.
Your analyses are genuinely consistently brilliant. So many UA-camrs in this sphere will notice a change, point out why the original works, and say that's what makes the new one bad, however you consistently endeavor to actually examine why the change was made. Subscribed!
Looks like how I imagined it would as Imperial Center from the X Wing novels. I dig it. Makes sense architecturally we’d slowly get some more Imperial looking buildings. Plus lighting makes a big difference and angles. Golden hour really shows off the splendor of the Republic and were mostly above the skyline. These shots so far are mid day and from the perspective of the lower levels looking up. Gives off a different power dynamic graphically.
In most U.S. cities of 2022, the exteriors of new buildings are composed of glass and metal. I see few clear windows and natural sunlight on Andor's interpretation of Coruscant. It looks like a parody of late 1970s architecture.
A lot of it was filmed in London in exactly those 1970s buildings. They used the barbican centre, the Brunswick, but also the more modern canary wharf station
Despite what you said, I do think we're just seeing a different side of corusant that we didn't get to see much of in the prequels. I mean, the only parts we see are the ISB hq and a shop corner, plus Mon's apartment.
My brother, Coruscant is a gigantic planet almost the size of Earth (Maybe bigger). That part of the city that you see in Andor might have been on the other side of the planet where the prequels were set. One space the size of a country cannot be the exact same as another one. But you do have a point.
I actually wish when the planet was identified as Coruscant (even though we all recognized it right away without being told) that it instead said Imperial Center with below in parentheses (Formally Coruscant). I don’t know maybe that’ll come up in the series Senate meeting or something about it being rebranded.
When they showed the scene where the ISB officer was walking towards the building, it reminded me more of the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies and Star Trek Picard, using a more Earth-like look.
I thought Coruscant looked amazing. Sort of a mixture of old architecture and new. I saw towers that looked like old New York stuff mixed in with modern and post modern architecture. The ISB HQ looked neat, and stood as a stark contrast of New vs. Old.
Also in the prequel episode we were seeing the very highest and finest areas of Coruscant. In Andor we're seeing the more mundane work-a-day areas of Coruscant. It's not a bad area, but won't be so fancy.
It makes sense this is the Imperial Era of Coruscant and since the Battle of Coruscant destroyed many buildings which was shortly before the Empire was created then it makes sense that most of these buildings were build with “imperial architecture”
I figured it looked different because we are looking at an older section of the planet, and the parts that we see in the Prequels that are glistening and sleek is the government sector where all the wealthy politicians live.
I also liked the fact that it says "Capital of the galaxy" instead of "Capital of the empire". I know, it's just a small detail but I love to see things like that. Just a nice comparison to the days of the Galactic Republic.
I've always noticed that the aesthetic and design of the original, empire era, was always boxier and squared off. Whereas the prequels are significantly more round and smoother looking. From spaceships to buildings and everything. Interesting point about the more rigid designs being oppressive, it makes sense
It’s definitely a more brutalist architecture style, but it really sells the fact that this is imperial Coruscant, not the Coruscant we knew from the republic, the empire prefers function over form and you can see it in their architecture
Honestly I think it’s some of what you’re saying but also as a cinematographer the first thing that caught my eye as far the difference in visuals is the quality of sunlight. The buildings in the prequels example clips you showed are still kind of that grey vibe, it’s just either nighttime with signs and lights on or sunset with golden light, shadows and silhouettes causing a scale of different light and color, compared to andor which which is overcast and at mid day. I still agree with what you say in the video though! Very intentional and it’s emblematic of the mood of the show and the era it’s being told in. V doom and gloom.
Never even gave it a thought but it fits the dystopian tone of Andor. That side of SW that you're referring to is the 'SW scifi fantasy' element in keeping with the fantasy tone of that SW story arc. Andor is a graphic novel set in the SW universe and it's damn brilliant.
It kinda feels like soviet flats, like there was this are with lots of old buildings so they demolished them and made more houses without really caring for aesthetics
Coruscant looks more like New York City/Chicago with the art deco and brutalist style architecture as compared to the more curvaceous and futuristic looking depictions from previous films. I just chalked it up as being a different part of Coruscant that we haven’t seen before
It looks mature, harsh, and more grounded in reality, this show is a lot about the visuals, and the genius of the director is obvious when you can tell the ambiance and the story only by looking at the visuals : For exemple : Ep.1: the 1st shot: a long ass bridge with lonely Cal, represents the journey to come. Ep.3: the man in the tower with hammers: The beginning of the adventure Ep.3: cal looking at the back of the man in the ship while taking off, the light at the end of the tunel, the liberation, hope Ep.4: poor bad guy who was fired of the private police, alone in corucent, made small by the oppressive architecture in opposition to his « greatness » of Ep.2 Basically every 2 shots is telling a story without any dialogue by using exceptional photography, color accuracy and composition. This is technically better than the mandalorian series, TECHNICALLY. The mandalorian stills get the 1st place because of The Alchemy in between baby yoda and mando, and the story as well. But Andor is a true Gem with better storytelling skills than the whole Fing last trilogy
I think the ISB chamber resonates with the Spartan facilities seen in the Clone Wars animation for the Army of the Republic both on Corscant and Kamino, which we don't see much in the movies (we see Clone Troopers "deploy" but outside the Kamino facility we don't see them based anywhere). I like the Battle of Coruscant reconstruction theories to bring the civilian areas more in line with the more austere skylines we see in Andor. That said, the gallery is more a merchant district, so a hustling district that caters to luxury, not necessarily luxurious itself, And I'm not sure how much we see of the exterior of Mon Mothma's residence, but it's pretty swanky. A detail I liked was her curt treatment of the servant while arguing with her husband, I think putting some of the class tensions out there, even within someone who's trying to foment rebellions, was nice touch. Hoping we see Bail who I think has a similar level of privilege but more tact in relating to folks outside his station, which makes you wonder of the Rebellion's internal issues after Alderaan.
I really don't mind the idea of Coruscant's architecture changing to become more imperial. Makes perfect sense and shows that the writers of the show are acknowledging the progression of events in not just it's rulership and characters, but in the galaxy's planets as well.
I could see this scene passing off as one of the planets in the corporate sector authority or other urban planets in the rim. I also noticed it lacked the expected traffic Coruscant is known for! It almost looked like lockdowns were occurring in the Andor series!
One theory that would make the most sense is a combination of the rebuild from the battle of Coruscant atmospheric fallout of debris and the "progress" from the Empire years to follow.
Possibly a different area they've just never shown before. It would be cool if this would be explored along the lines of different areas have different architecture styles, maybe reminiscent of ancient Curoscant building styles, or even off-world Human and non-human building styles.
Just because one big part of the planet looked elegant doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the planet has to look the same. You don't get places looking like New York everywhere on Earth do you? The only part of the planet we saw in the prequels was near the jedi temple and the senate, meaning they were obviously located around the best part of the planet not to mention the changing hue was due to different time zones we saw the planet in. The place we are seeing now is rather dull due to the fact that it's around a commercial area where the artifact store is located and since it's not evening time there are no fancy lights that would be turned on, that is if the empire allows them at all in it's era in the first place.
Well if you read the Star Wars novels, it's explicitly stated that most of the Coruscant sets in the prequels take place in the VERY rich part of the world. Especially the building Padme lives in and where the senate is located. I thought it was pretty obvious that we're now finally seeing another neighborhood of Coruscant. The less fortunate one :P
I mean given that it's been so long since the Empire took over, I think it makes perfect sense that Coruscant would look so lifeless and dull. Especially since that's where the Senate is.
Even though we saw coruscant in the prequels and clone wars TV show for the republic era of that time, and probably read some imperial era as well in Vader comics from canon and other books from legends... But I was actually amazed to see the imperial era of coruscant and the impact of what the empire has changed it in so many ways.
CG scenery shots aside, a lot of the walking shots (both the blonde lady and fired investigator guy) are again, actually on set. I was surprised to see walkways that look more like our modern day architecture than the prequels, but it made a lot of sense once I remembered how much they're doing practically. In some places it's weird, in other places it looks pretty good
I did catch this but.. the entire freakin planet is a huge city... it will have differences in architecture for the needs of what it serves... but yes, I did catch the fact that some of these city shots from above look like re-used footage from real life places on Earth but modified with CG to look more sci-fi but I know I've seen some of these overhead shots before of buildings from other recent movies in the past 10+ years. And some people mentioned the place looks a bit more older/run down... because it represents the Empire's take over, upkeep hasn't been a huge priority to look as glamorous.
You'd have to go back and look very carefully since it's only a brief shot but to save money ILM could be recycling some of the Hosnian Prime assets from Force Awakens, Coruscant did look more concrete than usual here like Hosnian. But since the latter is based on Ralph McQuarrie concept art of Coruscant anyway it's not a big deal. It would be kind of like how they recycled the R1 Star Destroyer for the Xystons in Ep IX. Andor is a tv show so they'll want to save money where possible. A lot of the D+ series recycle assets both practical and digital from the newer films.
After watching Edgerunners and replaying Cyberpunk 2077, Coruscant (and by extension the corpo world) feel very cyberpunk in design and execution. I love it.
It looks so much better than it did in the prequels. Also looks more true to the work of Ralph McQuarrie. The production and set design of this show is incredible, even Mon Mothma's apartment looks more retro-futurist than anything in the prequels.
I think there would be socioeconomic difference in parts of the planet-city as well - some of the areas we have been are likely to be intentionally more suburban (i.e. Syril's mother's apartment)
I think in the movies we only really saw Coruscant near the jedi temple and the senate, which I think are in a similar area. The area in Andor is probably far from there, in a less luxurious part.
I don't like how Earth-like the architecture was None of it looks anything like any of Ralph Macquarie's work, at all Or anything terribly original It just looks like modern Earth cities, but with less browns and more greys
Andors Coruscant architecture stands witness to the shows attention to detail. I love it. While the prequels show mostly the upper crust and Clone Wars also the seedy underbelly, I really liked the drab brutalism, where Coruscants middle class lives.
In Tarkin by James Luceno it mention that the empire changed the architecture of courascant to be more angular to reflect the new regime. I think this is a reference to that.
It's great... similar enough to what we've seen in the prequels that it's believably the same planet. Different enough that it feels like we're getting some good quality world-building just from establishing shots. *chef's kiss*
Let's see what Coruscant looks like at night in the show. The elegance is still kinda there judging by the apartments where Mon Mothma and her husband live, at least. In a stark contrast to, for example, the completely nondescript apartment that Karn's mother lives in, somewhere below the upper city where you still have some sunlight in places.
Perhaps it was a part of the megalopolis that was damaged during the ground and space Battles for Coruscant in RoTS, and was subsequently rebuilt and heavily remodeled in the Brutalist style of the Empire.
More likely the VFX Budget did not allow for the true scale and distance of an endless city planet which is why all the shots of Coruscant never point towards the horizon.
I thought it looked different because there was less traffic. Meaning The Empire has higher restrictions on airspace, in legends there is a high abundance of traffic of cargo ships and I was surprised to see no Imperial Star destroyers guarding the atmosphere. It looked pretty easy to get in Coruscant without any clearance.
Yeah, I think it’s just a different section of Coruscant. It is huge and the Industrial District looks MUCH different than either of them, and it makes sense that there would be some architectural variations across the planet.
Honestly I'm just glad they finally acknowledged that coruscant exists for once.
Wait so your telling me Star Wars doesn’t revolve around tatoonine
@@Fusion_4000 I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth. (gropes you).
it's about time we got to see a "post Order 66" Coruscant
@@Fusion_4000 Disney made me hate Tatooine now
We see it constantly in the comics
Coruscant is a planet with a global urban landscape, so it makes sense that there’s some architectural differences as you go from place to place…
Agreed. Even normal cities in real life have different districts, boroughs etc. A city covering a whole planet would look different from area to area architecturally for sure. Otherwise, the lack of traffic and colors are probably because of the Empire.
Dont say that. It makes this guys video pointless lollol
@@Captain_Brown_Beard this one kind of is. It's not really a valid criticism but more of an esthetic preference.
@@Captain_Brown_Beard it's completely pointless
@@Captain_Brown_Beard It makes it pointless from a watsonian perspective. The dolyan dimension is still worth discussiong...
It certainly looks sterile, oppressive and drab. Makes sense given the empire took over.
Also given the tone the show wanted to set for that episode it makes sense
It reminds me of the Death Star from ANH. It is pure technology, devoid of soul.
Please remember, the empire pretty much only existed for like, 25 years give or take. They didn't demolish and put up new sky scrapers just to change their 'motiff' in that time. Coruscant was always a brutalist concrete sprawl. Just imagine the prequels only show us the equivalent of "skyscraper penthouses" and broadway doing Cirque du Soleil which are so far out of reach of the common citizen they may as well be cloud city.
It looked bad in the kenobi show too. Disney just has no talent. Everything looks bland.
I kind of like it, the Coruscant from the movies looked like a 1950s pulp sci-fi comic city, this one is grittier, rougher and in a certain way looks cooler
Didn't the planet also take a mauling from space debris and such during the battle of Coruscant? The Separatists even landed some troops to secure the Chancllor. The rebuilding during the Imperial Era would explain a lot.
This is one of the best observations. In fact, it flows well with one of the challenges the Empire had that was emphasized in the original EU: financing. What the Empire wanted to do - effectively occupy and pacify the galaxy - was incredibly expensive and in some ways impossible. The Tarkin Doctrine was devised to deal with the impracticality of funding a military large enough to directly take over the galaxy.
Therefore it stands to reason that one thing the Empire definitely would not do is spend any money it didn't have to. Even if they were a bunch of happy people, they wouldn't be able to spare a credit for luxury or ornamentation - outside some fancy red guard uniforms. It fits with the Empire's simple, brutal aesthetic, and also fits with what would happen to Coruscant during recovery from the planetary-scale orbital battle.
And then there’s the Invisible Hand Cantina.
Could of been sidious' plan to help remodel for the empire.
Maybe there was a large enough swath rebuilt to hide a Super Star Destroyer 😈
@@spencersholden wait what-
The whole planet is a cityscape with thousands of years of history behind it. There should be variance, it would be very boring if every district looked identical.
no
@@violetwhite6875yes
What’s interesting is that this is totally how I imagined it when first reading the Zahn books back in the 90s. Grey, sharp, brutalist and totally aligned with the Empire’s lack of aesthetic charm in terms of the vehicles and structures we’d seen in the OT.
I always imagined it looking like Cybertron from the Transformers.
I was about to write out the same comment. So many are decrying this coruscant because it doesn’t look like the CGI-cartoony Coruscant of the prequels. But this is the precisely Coruscant I envisioned when I read Heir to the Empire way back in 1990.
same here! I always imagined imperial coruscant as being being cold dark desolate much like L.A in blade runner or fritz langs metropolis
that's exactly my feeling when I was reading the book when I was 8 years old
@@dagger1580 I mean, the lower portions still look like Blade Runner. I remember in one of the books (I think it was one of the Young Han Solo trilogy) they go to the underportion and the description is distinctly cyberpunk. And I remember them noting the contrast between the 'pristine' (not an exact quote, just a feel they gave) upper section to that.
The Empire is all about optics. They don't actually deal with the debauchery on Coruscant, they just cover it up by putting their buildings in the place most people will see. Likewise they can't actually win the minds of the people, so they cover up their dissent with propaganda posters and military parades.
Also in prequels they often show Coruscant in warm sun light or glittering lights of a mega city at night. Every reflective surface shines. Whereas in Andor they use the cloudy white/grey sky and monotone lighting to emphasize how sterile the city has become. Even the decorative metallic edges on the buildings in that shot where Mon walked up of her car looked bleached. I think it's a smart artistic/filming choice.
I also noticed that in Republic-era Coruscant, the buildings look more shiny & polished, at night, there's lots of colorful neon/video signs, like the Vegas Strip in places. Now, it's all dull, concrete, the color's gone. I can see the Empire doing that - imposing color ordinances, making everyone repaint, doing a slapdash job just to make the Imperial officer with the stick up his ass go away. Throw in a whole mess of noise ordinances, signage ordinances, crackdowns on the bars, curfews, censorship of this and that due to "subversive influences", a network of Stasi-like ISB goons & their snitches making everyone try to grow eyes in the backs of their heads, and now you have a city with all the charm of Cold War era East Berlin.
I think it inherits it's "war documentary" color pallet from rogue one = which is why space looks nicer than in the other shows too (IMHO) Rogue One's vision of space is by far the nicest compared to any other Star Wars space scenes they look very different but Rogue One feels visceral and realistic to me. even something like Gravity looks fake and videogamey by comparison to me. So for God or ill in Arts Design & Photography Andor totally rocks and beats everything else including the movies.
It m akes the sequels look especially bad but then they have especially lousy Cinatography in the 2 JJ ones anyway = The 2nd one isn't exactly sot bad it's just well "insane" in it's understanding of how objects move (arcing fire in space is so dumb it just makes me face palm - that is Star Trek Discovery levels of Pew Pew Pew stupidity.
1990's Videogames had a better understanding that that and they may as well be pure fantasy. To much fantasy is to much fantasy when it's so silly it is a lump hammer to the head knocking you ouf of the movie.
Andor draws you in the sequels push me out.
@@meldroc It's very fun, it reminds me of the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner which was a beautiful art deco ship in its vacation days before being painted as a warship in 1941, an amazing site to see, this massive fast oceanliner canvased in all gray, being a target for german submarines.
@@WitchKing-Of-Angmar Indeed. Others were noticing the shift in Andor from an Art Deco aesthetic to Brutalism. That would be kind of like the QE being turned into a troop transport.
good explanation
It looks different because this is Coruscant in the Empire, not the Republic. Much like how all the Clone Troopers were told to remove their colors on their armor, the color and life is drained away. Now it is darker colder and it is reminiscent of the Soviet era.
Yeah. You can even see that in Republic tech the Empire kept like walkers and starships. Say what you will about the Galactic Republic in the Clone Wars, but at least it treated its military as something to respect and inspire hope, not fear. While the clones didn’t get this treatment from the government and are only how they are thanks to the Jedi and each other, it still shows how the militaries of the Republic, Separatists, and the Rebellion are treated differently than the Empire and First Order. There’s a life to their forces, a story. With the Empire and First Order though, everything is so uniform in comparison. Totally throws off the balance between unity and individualism.
Yea
How can it look so much different with about 13 to 14 years of difference from episode III and Andor show, 19 BBY and 5 BBY? I personally think it looks off, not so much to not like it but they should have kept the prequels look. This new architecture reminds me way too much of ours, or what we will have in about 100 years or so.
More like Nazi Germany era
The empire is not representative of the soviets. It’s a representation of nazi fascism.
In the prequels we saw mostly the upper levels. They had an Art Deco/Streamline Moderne inspired style. In Andor some of the buildings have a Brutalist Architecture...especially as we descent lower into the city. Those style buildings were used quite a bit in late 60s to mid 70s SciFi shows & movies...especially the dystopian kind.
I mean why should they build the Imperial Security Bureau in low zones?
@@kaju-san5086 I don't know. To make it easier to tap the communication hard lines?
@@Amazetbm it’s all theory the truth is Disney screwed it up
@@Amazetbm This may be borrowed from the EU, in which the ISB was such a huge organisation (being the Empire was a repressive government) that they needed tonnes of space to house their staff and equipment. It's easier and more cost effective just to start moving into previously-unused space in buildings you own than it is expand outward and only use top.
Even by the time Yisard was in charge and they were actively expanding the complex outward, they were only doing that because they'd started using all the building space they owned from top-to-bottom.
EDIT: Also in the X-Wing series, it's mentioned they're doing this for security reasons, as it means they can completely secure the entire building and don't have to worry about people getting in through lower portions. Plus it's... (SPOILERS)
Housing a giant star destroyer under it, which they'd rather people not find out about.
One thing this design of Coruscant made me think of is the high-rises in somewhere like New York, which fits with the motif of the wealthy elite class that we're seeing. Mon Mothma, even seems to be hiding behind the facade of the Star Wars equivalent of a wealthy Manhattan socialite who has liberal views but doesn't really do that much to advance them, in order to try an hide her true nature (seeming like an annoyance but not a direct threat.)
Ehhhhh
That last line tho
I agree I’m from New York City and that’s exactly what the city reminded me of like midtown museum of natural history and all those old design buildings from 1940’s
I really love how the interior of the ISB building evokes that 70's Star Wars vibe. That's attention to detail and source material.
The Andor Coruscant looks like New York, heavy on the 1920's and 1930's art-deco architecture. I LOVE it!
Same! Can't wait to see more of this part of Coruscant!
It even looks like it has the Manhattan grid
The appearance fits the description perfectly from the book Tarkin. Soon after the empire rose, drastic changes came to the Coruscant cityscape with buildings stripped of its elegant adornings in favor of more sleek and block like designs.
I think it also comes down to the cgi, with today’s technology it is able to look way more realistic as a planet and city, but back in the prequels everything has sort of a sheen and shininess to it, both still look good though
even looking at the special effects from the OT ,they are obviously outdated ,but hey i still watch those movies and they still have a charm that is unbeatable, its like hearing that needle in a old vinyl record ;).
Somehow the shiny videogame looking of the prequels felt alright for me. It was the way it supposed to be.
Glass-fronted skyscrapers ARE shiny, what have you been smoking?
@@347Jimmy He's impling that CGI back then was better at rendering shiny pristine stuff which is why they intentionally made Courscant look that way back then
Many of the cityscape shots from the prequels were actually hand-crafted miniatures, not CGI. The prequels used way more miniatures for its sets and vehicles than most people realize, totaling more than the OT, even. If you're curious, EC Henry made a compilation of miniatures in the prequels here: ua-cam.com/video/DvpMVirLsY0/v-deo.html (he said he included as many as he could find, but I know for a fact that there are more)
It's understandable that people would assume the backgrounds are CGI when you can tell the actors are green/bluescreened into the shot, but I'm tired of people complaining that the prequels overused CGI when they used it way less than people realize, and also because the CGI looks amazing for the time. Many modern movies use way more CGI in worse looking ways.
i personally think it’s just the style. in the prequels coruscant was always shown at golden hour or beautiful times while andor is just showing coruscant as it lives and breathes on any regular old day. I do love that they made the buildings in that aerial shot so similar to New York. there was one or two that felt straight out of a like a neo-new york
Yeah it felt like New York during the day
@@Xenlacasa45 exactly yeah
The fact that we’ve only seen it so far in broad daylight adds to its creepiness, it’s just so stark. I hope we do see it at night and other times of day in the series, but I hope they can find a way to keep that feeling if so
I'm just happy to see Coruscant again besides it's a planet wide city some places are bound to look different.
I love this scene when the adjunct inspector takes the elevator and we see the light fades as it go deeper and deeper in the underground districts, which are poor. It makes a link with his life generally going down after the events on Ferrix
Also the use of practical sets made coruscant feel so so different and much more real. In the prequels coruscant had a much more glossed and saturated tone to them. Vibrant CGI buildings and dramatic sunsets etc. Here it seems at least some of the buildings/structures are actually real which drastically changes the feel of the planet. For me this change is good, although I do love the prequels.
I don't know where the security building is on the planet relative to the other locations we've seen in the past, but I think it's also important to keep in mind that we've really only spent time in a couple buildings so far. It makes sense to me that the imperial security headquarters would be particularly imperial, and that the various different places we saw in the may past still have their unique vibes. But if this is symbolic of a larger shift on coruscant, that also makes sense to me and I welcome it. We've seen many worlds change throughout the history of starwars, so new developments on coruscant feel right to me.
In prequels, many special effects had different design, but a lot of them weren't cgi. Also Andor did used real life footage
Your analyses are genuinely consistently brilliant. So many UA-camrs in this sphere will notice a change, point out why the original works, and say that's what makes the new one bad, however you consistently endeavor to actually examine why the change was made. Subscribed!
it’s so surface level
This channel is really bad
@@sillyhetzal no u
I am just thanking the Force that we got Coruscant back. That orbital shot made me want to cry, it was so beautiful
Looks like how I imagined it would as Imperial Center from the X Wing novels. I dig it. Makes sense architecturally we’d slowly get some more Imperial looking buildings.
Plus lighting makes a big difference and angles. Golden hour really shows off the splendor of the Republic and were mostly above the skyline. These shots so far are mid day and from the perspective of the lower levels looking up. Gives off a different power dynamic graphically.
In most U.S. cities of 2022, the exteriors of new buildings are composed of glass and metal. I see few clear windows and natural sunlight on Andor's interpretation of Coruscant. It looks like a parody of late 1970s architecture.
A lot of it was filmed in London in exactly those 1970s buildings. They used the barbican centre, the Brunswick, but also the more modern canary wharf station
I love how it looks like a New York with the muscle car styled speeder and storefront. It feels more gritty to me.
Just the fact the Coruscant is mentioned, yet alone SHOWN, makes my day
Despite what you said, I do think we're just seeing a different side of corusant that we didn't get to see much of in the prequels. I mean, the only parts we see are the ISB hq and a shop corner, plus Mon's apartment.
Coruscant looked as it would appear in the original trilogy; at least according to how Ralph Mquarrie and Joe Johnston initially imagined it to be.
it doesnt look weird, it looks beautifully terrifying in its gloominess and emptiness. a Fantastic change to show how the times have changed
My brother, Coruscant is a gigantic planet almost the size of Earth (Maybe bigger). That part of the city that you see in Andor might have been on the other side of the planet where the prequels were set. One space the size of a country cannot be the exact same as another one. But you do have a point.
Coruscant looks like a futuristic New York.
I actually wish when the planet was identified as Coruscant (even though we all recognized it right away without being told) that it instead said Imperial Center with below in parentheses (Formally Coruscant).
I don’t know maybe that’ll come up in the series Senate meeting or something about it being rebranded.
Sneed’s
(Formerly Chuck’s)
@@dunamoose3446
More like Sheev’s.
I don’t believe it formally becomes Imperial Center until they abolish the Senate
When they showed the scene where the ISB officer was walking towards the building, it reminded me more of the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies and Star Trek Picard, using a more Earth-like look.
I thought Coruscant looked amazing. Sort of a mixture of old architecture and new. I saw towers that looked like old New York stuff mixed in with modern and post modern architecture. The ISB HQ looked neat, and stood as a stark contrast of New vs. Old.
Also in the prequel episode we were seeing the very highest and finest areas of Coruscant. In Andor we're seeing the more mundane work-a-day areas of Coruscant. It's not a bad area, but won't be so fancy.
I've been thinking this from the first shots we got of Coruscant! Glad you made a video to offer some rational behind this.
Even on Disney canon they said the same as the old EU of how the Empire preferred brutalist architecture over sleek architecture.
Coruscant in Andor has the same feeling that limbo from inception gave me
It makes sense this is the Imperial Era of Coruscant and since the Battle of Coruscant destroyed many buildings which was shortly before the Empire was created then it makes sense that most of these buildings were build with “imperial architecture”
I figured it looked different because we are looking at an older section of the planet, and the parts that we see in the Prequels that are glistening and sleek is the government sector where all the wealthy politicians live.
I also liked the fact that it says "Capital of the galaxy" instead of "Capital of the empire". I know, it's just a small detail but I love to see things like that. Just a nice comparison to the days of the Galactic Republic.
I've always noticed that the aesthetic and design of the original, empire era, was always boxier and squared off. Whereas the prequels are significantly more round and smoother looking. From spaceships to buildings and everything. Interesting point about the more rigid designs being oppressive, it makes sense
It’s definitely a more brutalist architecture style, but it really sells the fact that this is imperial Coruscant, not the Coruscant we knew from the republic, the empire prefers function over form and you can see it in their architecture
I haven't watched Andor yet but looks great
It is
Honestly I think it’s some of what you’re saying but also as a cinematographer the first thing that caught my eye as far the difference in visuals is the quality of sunlight. The buildings in the prequels example clips you showed are still kind of that grey vibe, it’s just either nighttime with signs and lights on or sunset with golden light, shadows and silhouettes causing a scale of different light and color, compared to andor which which is overcast and at mid day.
I still agree with what you say in the video though! Very intentional and it’s emblematic of the mood of the show and the era it’s being told in. V doom and gloom.
Never even gave it a thought but it fits the dystopian tone of Andor. That side of SW that you're referring to is the 'SW scifi fantasy' element in keeping with the fantasy tone of that SW story arc. Andor is a graphic novel set in the SW universe and it's damn brilliant.
It kinda feels like soviet flats, like there was this are with lots of old buildings so they demolished them and made more houses without really caring for aesthetics
Rey during her first visit to Coruscant from the prequels:
“I didn’t know there was this much CGI in the whole galaxy.”
every Star Wars fan wants more of Coruscant....they need to show a lot more of the planet!
The Mandalorian 3x3 :D
We’re getting it in Jedi survivor
I honestly think this is the best the planet has ever looked from a vfx standpoint.
Coruscant looks more like New York City/Chicago with the art deco and brutalist style architecture as compared to the more curvaceous and futuristic looking depictions from previous films. I just chalked it up as being a different part of Coruscant that we haven’t seen before
The vibe is realistic vs fantastical. I noticed as well. The prequel style is like futuristic sci-fi art. The Andor style feels real.
It looks mature, harsh, and more grounded in reality, this show is a lot about the visuals, and the genius of the director is obvious when you can tell the ambiance and the story only by looking at the visuals :
For exemple :
Ep.1: the 1st shot: a long ass bridge with lonely Cal, represents the journey to come.
Ep.3: the man in the tower with hammers: The beginning of the adventure
Ep.3: cal looking at the back of the man in the ship while taking off, the light at the end of the tunel, the liberation, hope
Ep.4: poor bad guy who was fired of the private police, alone in corucent, made small by the oppressive architecture in opposition to his « greatness » of Ep.2
Basically every 2 shots is telling a story without any dialogue by using exceptional photography, color accuracy and composition.
This is technically better than the mandalorian series, TECHNICALLY. The mandalorian stills get the 1st place because of The Alchemy in between baby yoda and mando, and the story as well.
But Andor is a true Gem with better storytelling skills than the whole Fing last trilogy
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this but I feel the same about the coruscant we’ve seen in Kenobi I miss that fullness and orange tint to it
I think the ISB chamber resonates with the Spartan facilities seen in the Clone Wars animation for the Army of the Republic both on Corscant and Kamino, which we don't see much in the movies (we see Clone Troopers "deploy" but outside the Kamino facility we don't see them based anywhere). I like the Battle of Coruscant reconstruction theories to bring the civilian areas more in line with the more austere skylines we see in Andor. That said, the gallery is more a merchant district, so a hustling district that caters to luxury, not necessarily luxurious itself, And I'm not sure how much we see of the exterior of Mon Mothma's residence, but it's pretty swanky. A detail I liked was her curt treatment of the servant while arguing with her husband, I think putting some of the class tensions out there, even within someone who's trying to foment rebellions, was nice touch. Hoping we see Bail who I think has a similar level of privilege but more tact in relating to folks outside his station, which makes you wonder of the Rebellion's internal issues after Alderaan.
I really don't mind the idea of Coruscant's architecture changing to become more imperial. Makes perfect sense and shows that the writers of the show are acknowledging the progression of events in not just it's rulership and characters, but in the galaxy's planets as well.
Disney: Coruscant? wait that doesn't compute, oh wait up. You're under arrest!
I could see this scene passing off as one of the planets in the corporate sector authority or other urban planets in the rim. I also noticed it lacked the expected traffic Coruscant is known for! It almost looked like lockdowns were occurring in the Andor series!
I like that it looks less oversized. The Eagle’s eye view shot looks like NYC.
One theory that would make the most sense is a combination of the rebuild from the battle of Coruscant atmospheric fallout of debris and the "progress" from the Empire years to follow.
Man, I never thought of myself as a city planet fan, but coruscaunt is BEAUTIFUL
Possibly a different area they've just never shown before. It would be cool if this would be explored along the lines of different areas have different architecture styles, maybe reminiscent of ancient Curoscant building styles, or even off-world Human and non-human building styles.
we're mostly seeing Coruscant from within the Imperial core, so it's gonna look much more austere and industrial, even haunting.
I love that Coruscant looks like a normal place.
It's so cleansing seeing planets that aren't a desert for once
Just because one big part of the planet looked elegant doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the planet has to look the same. You don't get places looking like New York everywhere on Earth do you? The only part of the planet we saw in the prequels was near the jedi temple and the senate, meaning they were obviously located around the best part of the planet not to mention the changing hue was due to different time zones we saw the planet in. The place we are seeing now is rather dull due to the fact that it's around a commercial area where the artifact store is located and since it's not evening time there are no fancy lights that would be turned on, that is if the empire allows them at all in it's era in the first place.
Well if you read the Star Wars novels, it's explicitly stated that most of the Coruscant sets in the prequels take place in the VERY rich part of the world. Especially the building Padme lives in and where the senate is located. I thought it was pretty obvious that we're now finally seeing another neighborhood of Coruscant. The less fortunate one :P
It was nice to finally see Coruscant
I mean given that it's been so long since the Empire took over, I think it makes perfect sense that Coruscant would look so lifeless and dull. Especially since that's where the Senate is.
i think the use of real locations for coruscant in Andor makes it the most real it’s ever felt
Even though we saw coruscant in the prequels and clone wars TV show for the republic era of that time, and probably read some imperial era as well in Vader comics from canon and other books from legends... But I was actually amazed to see the imperial era of coruscant and the impact of what the empire has changed it in so many ways.
Regardless, I loved the shots with the characters framed by the architecture.
CG scenery shots aside, a lot of the walking shots (both the blonde lady and fired investigator guy) are again, actually on set. I was surprised to see walkways that look more like our modern day architecture than the prequels, but it made a lot of sense once I remembered how much they're doing practically. In some places it's weird, in other places it looks pretty good
Some of the best art direction in a TV series ever
I did catch this but.. the entire freakin planet is a huge city... it will have differences in architecture for the needs of what it serves... but yes, I did catch the fact that some of these city shots from above look like re-used footage from real life places on Earth but modified with CG to look more sci-fi but I know I've seen some of these overhead shots before of buildings from other recent movies in the past 10+ years. And some people mentioned the place looks a bit more older/run down... because it represents the Empire's take over, upkeep hasn't been a huge priority to look as glamorous.
You'd have to go back and look very carefully since it's only a brief shot but to save money ILM could be recycling some of the Hosnian Prime assets from Force Awakens, Coruscant did look more concrete than usual here like Hosnian. But since the latter is based on Ralph McQuarrie concept art of Coruscant anyway it's not a big deal. It would be kind of like how they recycled the R1 Star Destroyer for the Xystons in Ep IX. Andor is a tv show so they'll want to save money where possible. A lot of the D+ series recycle assets both practical and digital from the newer films.
After watching Edgerunners and replaying Cyberpunk 2077, Coruscant (and by extension the corpo world) feel very cyberpunk in design and execution. I love it.
The whole series itself is very blade runner esque
I think they actually addressed this when they look at the window and they probably were in penthouses way above the republic municipal buildings
It looks so much better than it did in the prequels. Also looks more true to the work of Ralph McQuarrie. The production and set design of this show is incredible, even Mon Mothma's apartment looks more retro-futurist than anything in the prequels.
I think there would be socioeconomic difference in parts of the planet-city as well - some of the areas we have been are likely to be intentionally more suburban (i.e. Syril's mother's apartment)
Coruscant has been the imperial heart for 15 years there. I totally get the change
0:38 wow I never spotted those before!
I think it symbolizes how the Empire's rule is making places less lively. It kind of has the same color as the Death Star.
When it came on screen it was like seeing an old friend
Makes sense that the architecture slightly changes depending on where you are. I thought it looked great.
I think in the movies we only really saw Coruscant near the jedi temple and the senate, which I think are in a similar area. The area in Andor is probably far from there, in a less luxurious part.
I don't like how Earth-like the architecture was
None of it looks anything like any of Ralph Macquarie's work, at all
Or anything terribly original
It just looks like modern Earth cities, but with less browns and more greys
What? They're not using the same architecture across the whole 471,000,000 square km surface of Coruscant? No fucking way bro, that's insaaaane!
Andors Coruscant architecture stands witness to the shows attention to detail. I love it. While the prequels show mostly the upper crust and Clone Wars also the seedy underbelly, I really liked the drab brutalism, where Coruscants middle class lives.
Different lighting I think, more daytime overcast shots as opposed to prequel-style nighttime/dusk. At least that was my first impression lol
In Tarkin by James Luceno it mention that the empire changed the architecture of courascant to be more angular to reflect the new regime. I think this is a reference to that.
IMO, imperial coruscant looks like an endless new york in a superflat minecraft world
It's great... similar enough to what we've seen in the prequels that it's believably the same planet. Different enough that it feels like we're getting some good quality world-building just from establishing shots. *chef's kiss*
Coruscant has changed in 15 years. The infrastructure, the neon colors and lights. It’s become fleshed out of any elegance it once had
Let's see what Coruscant looks like at night in the show. The elegance is still kinda there judging by the apartments where Mon Mothma and her husband live, at least. In a stark contrast to, for example, the completely nondescript apartment that Karn's mother lives in, somewhere below the upper city where you still have some sunlight in places.
Brutalism at its finest! Especially the corridor scene with Karn.
Perhaps it was a part of the megalopolis that was damaged during the ground and space Battles for Coruscant in RoTS, and was subsequently rebuilt and heavily remodeled in the Brutalist style of the Empire.
More likely the VFX Budget did not allow for the true scale and distance of an endless city planet which is why all the shots of Coruscant never point towards the horizon.
I thought it looked different because there was less traffic. Meaning The Empire has higher restrictions on airspace, in legends there is a high abundance of traffic of cargo ships and I was surprised to see no Imperial Star destroyers guarding the atmosphere. It looked pretty easy to get in Coruscant without any clearance.
i'm in love with everything about this series
Yeah, I think it’s just a different section of Coruscant. It is huge and the Industrial District looks MUCH different than either of them, and it makes sense that there would be some architectural variations across the planet.