Will Rose and Christian Ashley dive headfirst into the cosmic whirlwind of Star Wars history, embarking on a journey to review every nook and cranny of this legendary franchise. They kick things off by reflecting on the rich tapestry of Star Wars, from its groundbreaking debut in 1977 with "A New Hope" to the dizzying ride of the prequels, sequels, and everything in between. With a blend of nostalgia and irreverent banter, they explore how this galaxy far, far away has shaped pop culture over the decades. The duo even teases the upcoming 50th anniversary celebration of Star Wars, hinting at the return of the original film to theaters. Buckle up, because as they sift through the highs and lows of this sprawling saga, it's clear that the Force is strong with these two—though they might just have a few disagreements along the way!

Takeaways:

1. The podcast kicks off a new series dedicated to exploring every aspect of Star Wars, showcasing books, movies, games, and more.
2. Will and Christian emphasize how Star Wars revolutionized pop culture and the film industry since its debut in 1977, marking a pivotal moment in cinematic history.
3. Listeners are taken down memory lane, reflecting on iconic moments from Star Wars history, from the original trilogy to modern adaptations and expansions.
4. The duo discusses the significance of the legacy characters and how they shaped the narrative, emphasizing the emotional connection fans have with them.
5. They explore the impact of the prequels and the evolution of fandom, highlighting the mixed reactions to the newer films and series from Disney.
6. The episode wraps up with a teaser for future discussions, inviting fans to share their thoughts and memories about Star Wars as they journey through its expansive universe.

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Be sure to check out our merch, find extra content, and become an official member of Systematic Geekology on our website:

https://systematic-geekology-shop.fourthwall.com/

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Check out our other Star Wars episodes:

https://player.captivate.fm/collection/8a69b978-b30c-4515-9e5d-a38a84cc367f

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Check out other episodes with Will:

https://player.captivate.fm/collection/4559ab55-4b6a-4432-b0a7-b61540df8803

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Listen to every episode with Christian:

https://player.captivate.fm/collection/ebf4b064-0672-47dd-b5a3-0fff5f11b54c

Mentioned in this episode:

Systematic Geekology

Our show focuses around our favorite fandoms that we discuss from a Christian perspective. We do not try to put Jesus into all our favorite stories, but rather we try to ask the questions the IPs are asking, then addressing those questions from our perspective. We are not all ordained, but we are the Priests to the Geeks, in the sense that we try to serve as mediators between the cultures around our favorite fandoms and our faith communities.

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In this present time in a galaxy right here. Can Will and Christian talk about all of Star wars in under an hour? I don't know. Maybe. You'll have to listen and find out.

Welcome, fellow geekologists. This is going to be a lot of fun.

Christian, I feel like that the reason that systematic ecology exists, all that we have done hundreds and hundreds of episodes of systemic has led to this moment to have you and I geek out about Star Wars. And if we nail this podcast and it's the perfect podcast, we might just retire. Systemic ecology right off onto the sunset.

Hidden hyperdrive, going to the next galaxy, living happily ever after with gold medals around our neck. And we're going to give Chewy a medal, too. So there you go. He deserves it. Yep, he deserved it. So. So here we are. I'm really excited about this.

The part of the reason systematic geekology exists is because I was geeking out with comic books and Star wars and with Joshua and then we had this idea and then here we are. And so, yeah, this is an episode that's an intro to Star Wars. I mean, our listeners out there, we know Star wars, we knew Star wars and pop culture.

We know the history of the ins and outs, but there's so much there. Christian and I are just going to introduce this series. We've done some series like this before.

We've talked about my hero, academia and one piece, just kind of walking through episodes. And so we're going to try to do this with Star Wars.

We're really, really excited.

So Christian and I are going to walk through down memory lane, five decades, six decades of Star wars, and just reflect on each decade and what came out and what impressed us. I'm a Christian, but I know he was there from the very beginning of the original trilogy as well. So.

So that's the premise and that's what we're going to do in this episode today. I can't wait. I have a long list of notes. We're going to see if we can do this in under an hour. I can't make any promises, friends, but.

But we'll do our best. The Force is with us. But before we get into the episode, I really want to hear what Christian is geeking out on.

Christian, what are you geeking out on these days? There's A. There's a lot out there in this new year.

Yeah, I re picked up Arkham Origins. It was done by a different studio, not by Rocksteady, but I think it's an underrated gym. It's still janky, but it's still fun.

All right. And that's a video game.

Yes, sir.

All right. All right, cool. Yeah.

I'm watching the new Game of Thrones spin off series Night of the Seven Kingdoms, and I was not familiar with this little novella, I guess the Hedge Knight or something like that that he wrote. And I adore this show. If, if you're a little squeamish of Game of Thrones because of the sex and violence, beheadings and gore and.

And all that stuff, this one has a little bit, but it's not as heavy on that. It's a little bit more light hearted. I care for these characters so much. Sir Duncan is. Is just a fantastic character. Little Egg is a great character.

And a handful of episodes in and I love it. Can't see what happens. What happens next. I can't. Who turn a Game of Thrones gore and explicit here any moment around any corner.

But I. I really adore the show. Can't recommend enough, so. Geeking out on it. Christian, are you familiar with this little short story?

Yeah, it's a fun one. It's kind of atypical for Martin. It's. I mean, there are more hopeful parts.

I haven't finished everything, so I don't know exactly where things are going. So he could always, you know, Martin himself out and be himself. But, you know, for right now it's fine.

Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I can't wait to see where it goes and how it ends. And it might make me want to just pick up the.

The little novella and read it when the series is done to spend more time with these people. That's what we're geeking out on. Hey, on social medias and on where wherever you can find systematic ecology.

Share with us what you're geeking out on. If there's an episode you want us to do that we haven't done yet or something we haven't explored together, let us know. We'll be happy to do that.

There's so much to geek out on and we're glad to geek out with you. Hey, and also we want to encourage you and review the show. It really helps us out there in the podcast galaxies that are out there spinning.

And we hope that you can share us with a friend or an enemy or wherever you have your podcast rate and review us. It really, really helps out a lot. And so we want to thank you. We want to send a thank you out to Russell Gentry for supporting the show.

Thanks so much, Russell. You do a great job following us and chiming in. And thanks for your support. Really helps us keep the, Keep the ship flying in the air. This.

This hunk of junk that we call systematic ecology that. That has saved the galaxy more than once. Thanks. And if you want a shout out, you can support the show, subscribe to the show.

And if you want extra content, subscribe, support all those things. And you can even get. Get merch. Get merch. Systemic ecology, merch.

Now I'll make the statement that it's not that Star wars created pop culture, but it changed, changed it. And so there's tons of stuff before Star wars that influenced Star Wars. It didn't. You know, there were plenty of geeks before Star Wars.

You had comic books, you had Lord of the Rings, you had Buck Rogers, you had Flash Gordon, you had a lot of space movies, Star Trek, you had all this stuff. And so George Lucas wanted to tap into this and some of the histories. He wanted to do a Flash Gordon movie, couldn't get the rights to it.

So he said, I'm going to make my.

And there's a lot of documentaries and books and information out there of his struggle of how he barely got this thing made with duct tape and a few dollars, but with support of people like Spielberg and his friends there in California and Hollywood really supported him and all this. And. And that's how this got off the ground. And when it hit the.

When it hit the theaters and people saw the opening scene and the opening line a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And that big ship chasing that small little T. Minds were blown.

But then building on that, here we are, the game changer that the first episode or first movie came out. A new hope. Christian, what's your experience with this? The. The original Star wars movie?

Yeah, I would have been a similar age to you when my dad first showed it to me back in the day when he would tape things off on TV with VHS and we'd watch it together and we went through the entire series and then eventually we got into the re releases in 97 in preparation for, you know, the new trilogy, the prequels. Star wars has always been a part of my life and this movie is. I mean, it's perfection to me.

Not because it's a perfect movie, but because of what it brings to my life. Without this series, I mean, I'd be the lesser because it's so much fun.

You pack science fiction and fantasy together and this brave new world he's making of these different planets with these different alien species. You've got a classic fight between Empire and rebels and you got the force being introduced to Jedi. What does that all mean?

And it's a little four or five year old. Watching this, I'm like, this is what I'm all about from now on, the rest of my life. I love this franchise. Some parts.

Yeah, yeah, we'll get to the future decades that's right around the corner. We'll talk about that. But yeah, it was, I've shared before. It's the first movie I saw in the. The theater or remember seeing and it blew my mind.

I had all the action figures, I had the comic books, I had all the merch.

I even came home from school one day in elementary school and my mom had put up Star wars posters in my room and all my bed sheets were Star wars bed sheets. My pillowcase was Star wars and. And I was just like mind blown. Well, I don't even think it was like a holiday or a birthday or anything.

She just did it because she saw it, she knows, like Star wars and there it was and entered my room and it was all Star Wars.

And you know, the build up to the movie, I know in order promoting this at Comic con in the 70s and then Marvel got the license to do the comic book, so that was that. I kind of preluded some of that or came out around the same time or a Little bit before they're really trying to. To hype this up.

And then the action figures came out and it changed how. How toys and merch was done and to supplement this movie.

And, and part of George Lucas was that he didn't want to give the rights to anyone or big studio. He wanted all on and you know, he made a big gamble and he's going to put this into. In the toys and made bank.

And it literally exploded like a death star across pop culture.

And then, you know, then as you move through the 70s and the hype that was there and the toys and action figures, they had records, they had vinyl, they had soundtrack, they had books, they had.

I remember getting books in elementary school that had like a little short story and then a little tiny 45 record that you can put on your record player and listen to the voices. There was the Cabinet game where you sat in the. The video game and you, you. Your joystick was you flying. Flying through space.

I mean, the graphics weren't great, but you can still go to the Asheville Pinball Museum in Asheville and find this game and it's got. It's the best. And they had the original voices of the actors in your ears as you're playing this cabinet game in the. In the 70s, early 80s.

So yeah, yeah, I mean that's. That's the one. I don't know what else we can say about. About New Hope other than.

You have immediate out of the gate, this kind of action and lasers and lightsabers and dogfights in the sky. It's a World War II space fantasy movie all into one. But within that, you. You knew that you were starting in the middle of a story somewhere.

There's something that happened before. There's history. Who is this big, you know, menacing Darth Vader character. You hear people talking about the Force. What is that?

There's other people on the Death Star in this cabinet meeting going, yeah, your ancient religion is. Is, you know, ancient is. Is gone. We have the power now. And then you have Obi Wan talking about Anakin Skywalker and the Clone Wars.

So there's this mystery box that you could build upon a boy. Did they build upon it. So it is this combination of. It is a long time ago. It's ancient, it's mystical, it's spiritual.

It's religious, but also futuristic with science fiction with lasers and spaceships and hyperdrive and robots that talk and. And sentient robot beings that feel existential dread like C3PO. So all that mashed into one was just incredible. Incredible.

Absolutely.

So as we work through the 70s, we had to do that set up. We're not out of the 70s yet.

I was just stoked to see my Star wars characters on the screen on the tv. I do remember a weird cartoon with Boba Fett on it. I was like, oh, that's neat.

I can only imagine what my parents were thinking as they made me a bowl of popcorn to watch this and they watched it with me. I, I wish dad's no longer around to ask them and my mom has she. I don't know but I don't know if they will remember Anyway.

Maybe they blocked that out but I can only imagine them being like 35 year old new parents with this kid watching this holiday special. What's your experience with the holiday special, Christian?

Yeah, my dad tracked this down back in the day. Heavy bootlegging with old VHS releases and stuff like that.

That was, that was never released but people taped over the years and he eventually got himself a copy and it's like just one of those rights of passage. And Star wars fandom is still to endure the holiday special. It is, it is of its time.

Yeah.

All the variety shows of the era.

That's right.

And there's, there is a plot, but it's more an excuse just to. Hey guys, Star wars is still around and we're coming back.

That's right, that's right. And the fact that it happened and, and the lure around it.

George Lucas shortly put it in the vault, put it away, never to see again and still wants to forget about it.

Forbidden fruit.

Forbidden fruit. I mean it's done but yeah, you can catch it on YouTube and catch is magical in a, in a weird, weird way. But you won't, you won't.

Maybe there's agreement when George Lucas sold it to Disney never to put that, the whole thing on, on Disney plus you can find the cartoon with Boba Fett on Disney plus the, the really thing that the first appearance of Boba Fett, this bounty hunter, they're one of the best characters in Star wars history debuted in the holiday special. So we do have the holiday special to thank for that. But. But yeah, so, yeah, that it's a part of you move through more through the 70s.

You know, the Star wars hype was real. It's on the Muppet Show. It was on all kind of variety shows, the. The comics and action figures and all that stuff. But then.

Then you have a novel also that same year called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Christian, have you ever read that book? It was one of the first books ever written.

I've got it right on my bookshelf over here. I mean, it's a serviceable novel. I mean, it's going to be. The idea of Harrison Ford didn't come back.

That was going to be new Empire Strikes Back, essentially. And I'm much, much more grateful that Harrison Ford came back because it's a far better story.

Not to say it's a bad story, but you know, it for being the first book in the eu like, it's. There's something to be said about that. And it. It's a fine enough story.

Yeah. And kind of expanded universe is. Is. Is there. They still play around. I mean, in that. In the New Hope. I don't think. Spoiler alert.

All this is spoiler alert. If you haven't watched Star Wars. But. Come on. But you know, like Luke and Leia being siblings, you know, they hadn't gotten to that point yet.

So there's this kind of romantic tension. Chemistry. Chemistry. You know, does she like me? Does she not like me?

In the book, which, you know, as you read it now, you're like, oh, wow, this is weird. But you have to block out your mind. Maybe you just have to block out when to read this book. That George Luca hasn't made that decision yet.

And maybe they're not siblings in an alternate timeline or universe, but it's pretty cool to see him still learning about the Force and figuring out the learning curve of what this bigger universe is and building on the legend or the mythical figure of Luke Skywalker in that universe who blew up the Death Star and them hunting him down. And who was this that defeated the Empire or had them on the run was really, really cool. So, yeah, if you haven't read that book, I recommend it.

It's A lot of fun. All right, so that's. There's a lot to talk about, the 70s.

With what story they could tell next, what's going to happen? The Empire is striking back. What has happened.

We were al up around the movie theaters, double time, and then we would see the movie and then turn around and see it the same day or the next day. The rewatch will think we didn't have vhs. We couldn't restream it. It was just like you had to go to the theater and see it.

I probably saw it in the theater like 10 times as. As a kid. We just went every weekend. Any chance we get. We wanted to go see this movie.

The big reveal of Darth Vader's past and him being Luke's father. And that whole big, like, gotcha moment blew people away. You finally got to see Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader fight with a lightsaber duel.

Meet who Yoda is, the tension between Han and Leia, and you split up the group. It was just. To me, it's close to being the perfect sci fi movie. And it's not just nostalgia. I think you can still watch it.

There may be a few things here and there, but in terms of the beat, the movement, what they lay out, how they tell the story is pretty. Yeah, it's my favorite, so my favorite movie all time. It's at the top. Christian, how about you?

Yeah, objectively speaking, this is the best film in the original trilogy, I'd argue in the franchise.

Yeah.

It's not my favorite, though. We'll get to that in a bit. But this right here, if you want to build up the stakes from.

Build up for the previous stories you've told and get more people interested. So this whole thing. Who's Darth Vader? Who's Anakin Skywalker? What's his relationship to Luke like? Why does he care so much? Oh, this is why.

He's his daddy. Yeah. Obviously that wasn't the plan originally, but not everything needs to be planned out forever. And you can make things up on the fly.

This is one of those decisions that works really well in hindsight. And of course, you got the Battle of Soth, Luke studying with Yoda and Dagobah and learning more about the Force. You get a Little bit more.

Because you're wondering, what is the Force about? What were the Jedi? Like, who were they? And we get to meet one of them.

We met Obi Wan, but now we meet, you know, another master who is this little muppet who's a really fun guy, but also, like, really strict, but also quirky and weird. And having him teach Luke in his own special way. And Han and Leia and Lando Calrissian showing up for the first time. Oh, man, what a film.

And then of course, we leave on a cliffhanger like Han in carbonite. But what does this mean?

And I think part of that, I mean, I. I can't remember if I knew that it was gonna be a trilogy. Three, you know, it's just Empire Strikes Back, another Star wars movie. But when it ends, you're like, oh, there's gonna be a third.

There's gonna be another. We get another one where this is gonna be a saga, not just a one off. And. And not only did.

Was Star Wars a game changer in terms of how it did movie and pop culture and summer blockbusters, but also how you do a trilogy, how you do this long story telling drawn out in the movies, not only just sequels, but. But a trilogy. And.

Yeah, and you also hear, we know it's kind of martial art and Eastern influences on Star wars as well, with swords and sabers and lightsabers. But then you have the small little kind of kung fu master as Yoda.

Very, very small, but yet really, really big in terms of his wisdom and, and how he uses the Force. And. And him talking about, there is no try, there's only two.

The great sage Chip Ashley has repeated to me multiple times over in my life.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that size, in terms of size, you underestimate the small things. A small band of rebels, this small little ship beats the Death Star.

And you have a small little Yoda who is powerful in the Force. And. And you know, there's got this menacing tall Darth Vader standing over Luke and Obiwan and others, but maybe, maybe it's the. The small.

Small things do matter.

And I, I love the myth and how they build upon the lore there in Empire Strikes Back and only expanding when it comes to comics and toys and merchandise. And then you have the video games on Atari and Nintendo's that build through the 80s. I even did a.

A mail away Boba Fett mail away offer action figure like, like before the movie came out, you could. You can mail off and get a Boba Fett action Figure in the mail and I got it. I wish I kept it in the package.

I'd be really rich right now if it stayed in. This package was in mint condition. But no, I wore the paint off that thing when I played with it, so. So, yeah, Empire strikes back.

I'll let you take the lead with this one. Yeah.

This is my favorite movie of all time. This heavily flawed movie is my favorite movie of all time.

I love it because it's the culmination of everything that came up from the other movies, like building up to Luke becoming a Jedi Master, the Rebellion, fighting against the Empire, meeting the Emperor in person after just seeing it on a view screen in Empire Strikes Back and wrestling with Vader's love for his son, but also the dark desires of his in his present. Like, what's he supposed to do with that? And, of course, we get another Death Star. Is it the exact same thing as the first film? Kind of, sort of.

But you know what? We get to see it blow up again. So it looks cool.

He walks as cool as it would have been if we got to see, you know, the Wookies, as the original plan was. No, they're not as cool. But you know what? They're still cute. They're fuzzy. They're their own thing, you know, they're meant for children.

You know, because this film franchise is meant for children. Not primarily, but it's part of the franchise.

They're part of the intended audience, but they see the space battles, the lightsaber duels, the force light man, like. And then the culmination of this film franchise is built on hope and the desire.

Like, that's why the fourth film is, you know, given the appellation of a new hope. So that when we get to the end of the franchise, it means we've won. That doesn't mean you defeated evil forever.

It doesn't mean that there's never going to be problems from here on out.

But, like, what you were primarily worried about, they're not in any state to do what they used to do because the Emperor's dead, Darth Vader is gone. The Empire is in shambles. The Rebellion has a hope of, like. Like becoming a new government that can bring more peace to the galaxy.

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, again, Empire Strikes Back. You saw a hologram of the Emperor. You know, you heard about the Emperor in the first one Never saw him.

Then you saw a hologram of the emperor. And then you get to meet him in person in Return of the Jedi.

And, and that whole lure of him and the whole, the opening scene of them everybody bending the knee and building a new Death Star, that opening crawl, you're like, oh, man, here we go again. But, but, yeah, I, I think some of the, I think you and I will both say that Luke Skywalker is our favorite character in Star wars.

And there's lots of them. There's some that we, we could care less about. But, but Luke, he was a whiny kid and kind of bratty in the first one. And here we do see him mature.

The opening seam in Jabba's palace of him, you're like, oh, because there's these three year gaps between movies, but also three year gaps in the history of like. So it's not like, oh, one after another, one chapter, the next, oh, the next day. No three years have passed.

So there's a history there, there's more training, there's adventures. And they could build that in with books and comic books and expanded universe and video games.

And so when Luke shows up as a Jedi Master, you're like, is he, what's he doing? Is he playing here? But then you, you, you see him in action, you're like, yep, yep, he, he's come a long way and he's, he.

Maybe he can stand toe to toe with Darth Vader. Maybe he can stand toe to toe with the Emperor. And the fact, the hope that he still sees good in his father.

He did not listen to Obi Wan and Yoda, and he did go to his friends. He was not afraid of attachments that we'll later see. That was a flaw in the Jedi religion itself. He's dedicated to his friends.

He sees hope in his father.

And that's the redemption arc that comes around for Darth Vader and Anakin, that he is redeemed through the love and sacrifice of his son, believing in him and guiding him back to the light side of the Force, which is great storytelling. Yeah, I wish they were Wookiees. Hindsight. But, you know, Ewoks are cute.

That whole, like, theme of the small and insignificant standing up to the big and mighty with the most resources, the most power, and still going toe to toe and, and winning in the end gives hope for some of us who feel like we can't stand up against, against the piety, the, the mighty, the powerful, the rich, you know, what chance do we have? Well, the, There are Stories like this in Lord of the Rings and Hobbits and Ewoks, that they give us hope that, that we, we can, we can do that.

And so, yeah, so, yep, that's it. Return of the Jedi Knight 3. And then star wars is over. No longer a part of pop culture. There's no more stories to be told.

We just kind of put a bow on it and that's it. Right, Christian?

Of course.

Yep. No, no, there's not. There's not. There's more comics, there's video games. And then we have.

You know what, Once again, a film that is the primary audience is actually children. It's fine. Both of the movies that came out for that I haven't watched. You also got the droids and you want cartoons. I haven't seen those.

I've heard that they're actually pretty good, but I've never actually seen that for myself. But like, yeah, Star wars, big with children. You were, you know, five at the start. You were eight and 11. Like it. The kids grew up with this.

They want more. What do you do? Give them what they want.

Yeah. And I guess for the late 80s, for me, I was becoming a teenager and I wanted a little bit more grown up. Star Wars.

So then, you know, the late 80s, mid to late 80s, you had the Ewok TV movies, Battle for Endor, Ewoks. And then you had Star wars droids and Ewok cartoons. And they were meant for kids. And for me, I just didn't connect with it.

Yeah, there are some books expanding the universe that you could explore. Some video games was cool. We think in our mind, you know, what were the Clone wars like? What were the prequels like?

What was Anakin like when he was younger? And so we built our own head canon of what the stories would be like and what we would tell if we were to write the story.

In Florida.

So when you go down to Disney, you can have this immersive experience with Star wars, not only playing video games, not only reading the books and watching the movies, but you could be take.

Have a Star wars ride and immerse yourself into the universe, which is pretty cool in the late 80s and thinking about theme parks and what that could be. So a lot going on in the 80s. Big, big decade for Star wars, if not the biggest decade for Star Wars.

But up here come the 90s and starts off a little slow, but yet there's this book that is kind of a game changer. What happened after Return of the Jedi? What did that universe look like? What happened with Luke and Leia and Han and the gang and.

You're an author yourself. You write stories. What's your experience with Heir to the Empire?

I mean, this is what got me back into Star wars again, reading these books. Like, again, movies were always there. I love the prequels too. But then after that, I kind of went through that phase. Well, I'm kind of done.

But then my dad told me about these. I found them in the library. And I was blown away because there's always those questions as a fan, like, yeah, they beat the Empire.

They blew up the Death Star too. But, like, what about after that? The Empire's not gone. Like, surely something's gonna happen.

And you get this really great villain in Thrawn who's a magnificent antagonist who uses art to, like, decipher how someone would work in battle as a great threat against our heroes. Because you just don't want to make Palpatine 2.0. You make someone different. And Zahn did a great job with that. The introduction of Mara.

Jade is Luke's love interest. Eventually wife later on is handled extremely well.

You get the whole backstory of being the Hand of the Emperor, being Force sensitive herself, doing the dirty business. And now she's been left with the final command, the last command command of Kill Luke Skywalker.

But, like, she's been free of the Emperor's influence for years, so what does she do with that? And you've got, of course, crazy Joris, Sabaoth and the Salamiri and their ability to negate the Force. And he wants to control everyone.

Thor wants to use him to. For his own ends. But also the Rebellion has become the New Republic. And now they're in charge but the Empire's still out there.

And like all the fun stories that get told from here, like the Bantam era that comes from this, it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but you get a bunch of different writers coming in with their own ideas of this is what I think should happen with Luke and the gang. And most of the time it's well done. There are some stinkers out there, I'm not going to lie to you. But most of the time it's well done.

Yeah, I mean, it's not Star Peace after Return of the Jedi. It's still Star Wars. So they have to create conflict. There's a battle between good and evil and the light side and dark side of the Force.

And you got to keep that going somehow. And so they do so with, with these books, Expanded Universe and of course they have the video games as well.

And there's a lot of great comics from the early 90s, mid-90s through dark horse that are building upon the lore and the myth and the legendary stories of way before the battle at Yavin and way after the battle at Yavin, which is how Star wars tells time and the continuity before and after the battle of Yavin. And so a lot of cool comics there in the early 90s. And then you have this build up rumors.

There's rumors that there could be a prequel, that maybe George Lucas is going to tell the story of Anakin Skywalker. But before he do that does that, there's this kind of technology with computers and computer generated images and cgi.

Spielberg is using it for Jurassic park and we were like, golly, those dinosaurs look real. It's almost like they exist. It's like I can walk outside and see him right there outside of my, my, my door.

And so you have Industrial Light and Magic, which worked on all these things. Tap it in the cgi. Well, what do they do? George Lucas plays with his own art.

He plays with his own action figure and he changes things up a little bit. He's like, man, if I had this technology back in the 70s and 80s, this is what I would do with those movies.

What drew us back to see, not only to see Star wars in the theater again, but also, man, he's playing around with the, he's adding stuff to the film. He's adding images and spaceships and aliens with this new tech.

And some of it was really cool to see how, how he filled in the gaps and filled in the scenes with technology. But they then, but then he started playing around with, with lore and legendary stuff.

And there was this thing that happened in a cantina that, that maybe, maybe Han didn't shoot first. Maybe Guido shot and then he shot. Oh, we're starting to see some fans.

Not only were some fans kind of like, ah, why cute Ewoks, but now we're seeing you're playing with Han Solo. Of course he shot first. Why would you change that? You have these Star wars fundamentalists. Like, how dare you change the.

It's like me at a church where they're like, how dare you play that hymn at Christmas. We always, we always sing this one particular hymn. How dare you ruin my childhood and not sing that hymn at Easter or Christmas, George.

How could you do this and ruin our childhoods? You're starting to see that there's some cool stuff.

And then you're starting to see some fandom, some toxic fandom growing out of the swamp of their own head cane and what they believe Star wars should be. Christian. How about you? Is this the first time you saw Star wars in the theater?

Yes. Like I said, I'd watched them on VHS with my dad before.

But like when they released, like for every film that came out, including the prequel trilogy, we were actually just talking about this last night.

He, he would take me out of school along with my siblings, and we'd go and watch them when these were re released in 97 and then when, you know, Phantom Menace came out, then the next two after that, I knew I wouldn't be at school all day long because we were going to the theater, we were going to watch some Star wars and he was going to play hooky from actually being a teacher that day too.

That's fun. That's a great memory. Yeah.

Again, I went back in the theater and saw these a handful more times in the theater with these special editions just because you could. And you went. And I remember being. I was.

This is me coming out of being a camp counselor in college and making friends with people that I worked with at camp, but also other people that worked at camp that had young families And. And my dear friends, the Troutmans, they had little kids, and I would go visit them when I had different breaks and weekends.

And I remember taking them, the little ones, into the theater to see Star wars for the first time and look through their eyes. It was a lot of fun. So again, there was kind of like, oh, that's neat. That's neat technology. But then there. There's some.

There's some disturbance in the Force when it comes to fans and some of the things that. That Lucas was doing. And you're starting to see this tension in the midst of all this. This, you know.

Yeah, we're talking about Star wars, but I think in pop culture, there are a lot of copycats, people trying to chase Star wars as.

As well, the Star wars money, the Star wars hype, whether it's Battlestar Galactica or even Star Trek stepping up a little bit, you had the tension between Trekkies and Star wars people and the different conventions and going back and forth. So in the backdrop of all this stuff in pop culture, you see what was going on behind the scenes as well, with these denominational allegiances.

When it comes to your pop culture fandom, whether it was Lord of the Rings, Star Trek or Star wars, all that stuff was a part of that. Did you experience any tension, Christian, between, like, Trekkies versus Star wars people?

I was too young. My dad is a Trekkie and he's a huge Star wars head. So I grew up on both. So it was like, yeah, they're both great for different reasons.

And I was always able to carp. Compartmentalized. But not everyone's like that. And if you really care about something, it becomes your thing.

So if something changes, like, say, Han is no longer shooting Greedo first, or I want to debate whether Star Trek II is as good as Empire Strike Back, you're going to have differing opinions.

There's also going to be that certain part of the fandom that likes things the way they are and rejects all forms of change or doesn't like what happens because it's not what they remember and they can have their own feelings, and that's okay. Just don't. Just don't spread the toxicity elsewhere.

And unfortunately, this is during the rise of the Internet, where it's a lot easier for people to do that compared to back in the day. Yeah, those people still existed, but they weren't able to be as vocal about it.

Right, right. We had our small groups. We talked about and bitched among those things. But then you got the Internet.

The Phantom Menace and the hype leading up to it. The trailer that dropped and we saw Darth Maul open up that double bladed lightsaber. The crowds went wild.

It was one of the best trailers ever crafted together to get people hyped up. And then the movie landed on, on the screen and yeah, there, there's some.

I remember seeing this with my brother and I, and I could, I couldn't believe I was back in the theater. See, Star wars and the opening credits, opening crawl, we were just the hype and the expectations were through the roof.

And then, then the movie happened and there was definitely mixed reviews. Before we leave the 90s. Oh boy, the Phantom Menace. That is the Phantom Menace. Christian, what do you remember? You're a little younger than me.

Where did you. Were you greeted when you saw this movie first? Were you like, yep, loved it, or was it like, oh boy, I have a conflict within me.

Where were you on that spectrum of where you felt Phantom Menace in 99?

I was about nine when it released, so this was perfect for me at that age. In hindsight, I can look back and say the prequels are heavily flawed. That doesn't mean they're bad. It just means that George Lucas needs an editor.

And after he decided not to have one as much this time around, his decisions always win. Not every decision he made was the best, but at the end of the day, it's still Star Wars.

I got to see, you know, Jedi in their prime fighting against this evil Trade Federation. And then Anakin showing up on scene, of course, the double bladed lightsaber, Darth Maul.

Of course there's a reason you mentioned it because, like, you can have two. And in the comics, this had happened before him, but not everyone had been introduced to those. I hadn't.

So I see him and go, oh my gosh, this is amazing. This Anakin's the guy who's going to become Darth Vader. How does this happen? Let's see what goes on here. And it built up a lot of hype in me.

And yeah, once again, I can look back on these and say, okay, I'm not big on that decision. That should have been done differently. But you know what? I don't hate it by any stretch of the imagination.

I can acknowledge a film has flaws and yet still love it.

Yeah, yeah, I definitely fell victim of, of someone in seminary at the time in, in my mid, kind of late 20s when this was. Came out and the canon, I, I.

The head canon and what I wrote in my head and who I expected Anakin to be, what I wanted this story to be, really got in the way of me enjoying this film.

And, yeah, I will say, when the Trade Federation, the viceroy started talking and they had this really bad, like, Asian Chinese accent, I remember just literally thinking in my head, oh, what are we doing? What? What is going on? Like, even that right at the beginning, like, this is problematic. What? Oh, and then. And then I'm like, oh, cool, Qui Gon, cool.

Oh, young Obiwan. This is the coolest thing ever. And then Jar Jar shows up like, what are we doing? I can't.

Okay, I see what you're doing with the cgi abandoned practical effects for what you can do with CGI technology, and you're making it faster. But then, then you have Darth Maul and then you have Duel the Fates, which one of the best lightsaber duels of all time.

Soundtrack of all time changes Star wars history with the death of Qui Gon. That storytelling is really, really good. So, yeah, there's disturbance within me with this movie, but I think it's held up over time.

What is going on? Maybe I like it better if I see it again, maybe. And. But the fans were really, Were really, really mixed at this point.

So much so that the Ahmed Best who played Jar Jar Binks, the backlash of the.

There's all stories about that, too, of him literally being suicidal for the backlash of people coming after him about ruining Star wars, which is why we do this podcast and why our posture is different than that. You know, we're our flagship podcast. The whole church, there's lots of geekdoms and denominations and.

And everybody geeks out on different kind of things. And even if you don't like it, we can at least come together and be geeks together. And so hopefully we've learned from some of these mistakes.

How do you say his name again?

Christian Guinea Tartowski.

Yeah.

Tarkowski.

Yep, yep. So he does this micro series on. On the Cartoon Network of the Clone Wars. It starts to build upon the legend of what happened with the Clone Wars.

You have the Phantom Menace, you have the Clone wars, but then you have Revenge of the Sith with.

With the duel I've been waiting for, Anakin vs Obi Wan is seeing how he turned to the dark side, why he turned to the dark side, and the tragedy that is Anakin Skywalker. And then. But. But they stuck to landing. They stuck to landing. Where are you?

I was about. I was 12 when attacked. The cones came out. Objectively speaking, it's the worst of the original trilogy. Excuse me, the prequel trilogy.

But it's also my favor. You get a lot of really cool action scenes. Yes. The romance between Anakin and Padme is the cringiest thing you've ever seen in your life.

You know, I don't like sand. It's rough, of course, and irritating. Gets everywhere. You know what? It still works for me.

Then the Animated Series, I wasn't big on the animation itself, the style, but the stories being told there. It's like, oh, man, I'm so ready to watch Revenge of the Sith when that comes out. Because this is our introduction to General Grievous.

He's like this posing, intimidating figure that would get really nerfed and. And later on media. But you know what? At this point, like, he kills like 6, 8 Jedi in one scene. It's like, oh, man, that's amazing.

The Revenge of the Sith comes out. I mean, I love it. I think it is the best film out of the prequel trilogy.

You go seeing the fall of Anakin, you know, the fall of the Republic, the rise of The Empire. Great.

Order 66.

Yeah, order 66. The video games during this time, amazing. Like, from the 90s, we had rogue Squadron and the like and Dark Forces.

Here we have, you know, Knights of the Old Republic. Knights of the Old Republic ii. My favorite game of all time, that we're exploring other parts of the Star wars mythos.

The Revenger Sith game is pretty fun too. Republic Commando is great. So, yeah, this is a fun time to be a Star wars fan when you're actually, you know, being calm about matters.

Yeah, I remember Attack of the Attack of the Clones. My friend. Spoiled for me. Lightsaber fight with Yoda at the end, that whole surprise of him.

Like, he goes, oh, dude, I heard that Yoda has a fight scene.

I'm like, dude, I wish he hadn't told me that, because when he's hobbled in on the cane and then dropped it and got his lightsaber out, it blew my mind. It was the best. We've got to see Yoda yet. Master Yoda and his prime. Like, not his prime, but like, just how much of a badass he is.

And I.

I wish that hadn't been spoiled, but. But, you know, know, it was still fantastic when it. When it comes to that. Yeah. You mentioned the video games and. And Revenge of the Sith.

You know, it was. He. He locked up and. And finished his prequel trilogy.

Still a lot of fans back and forth, and I'm sure the expectations he had to meet with, what the story he wanted to tell and. And what fans truly wanted was there. There's some tension there. But I do think, you know, Lucas, he could build a universe. He's a great.

A great world builder and a visionary when it comes to technology and how to illustrate it on the screen. Yeah, acting, dialogue, really leaning into the actors and the romance and the thing that wasn't a strong suit. And you could tell that in.

In the story itself. But. But yeah, he. He stuck the landing with Revenge of the Sith. And then you, you know, again, you think it's over, what's going on. But guess what?

Anything else you want to add there? I know there's a lot going on,

but yeah, this is when we transition from the Bantam era to the Delrite era and the novels and the new Jedi Order, which is something that should have printed money considering a certain company acquired these things. But you know what? They decided not to. And we got what we got. But we get a great series.

Yeah, it's grim, dark at times, of the Yuuzhan Vong coming in and their inability to be affected by the Force and all the tortures they would in view on people and planets. Like the death of Chewbacca. Of course, Salvatore got death threats for that too, because, like, what does it take to kill Chewbacca?

A giant moon falling on him. Like, nothing else is going to be able to kill Chewbacca with that.

But we'd had novels with younger readers, with Jason and Jaina Solo, Han and Leia's children, but now they're Anakin Solo. They're becoming into their own. This is my favorite period of Star wars literature. Nice. Yeah. Also not gonna say everything in it is great.

There are some stinkers, but for the most part, this is tremendous.

This is where actually Luke is probably my favorite character in the films, but Janusola becomes my favorite Star wars character overall because of what happens in these novels.

Yeah. Yeah, I like that. Expanded expanding universe. And building upon that, there's still a lot of Star wars content going on in.

And I think as we get further and further away from that decade, we'll. We'll know more, maybe appreciate more. Some things will age well, some things will not.

No, actually, this is one thing I haven't seen.

Yeah.

And it really boils down kind of the history of fandom and how popular Star wars got, and then the fallout from the Phantom Menace and how the fans and the prequel Trilogy with George Lucas and the, the People versus Original really, really highlights the toxic fandom. And, and it doesn't even point a lot of blame at the fans. It points a lot of blame at George Lucas, whoever made this.

And, and it ends on a sour note where if you watch it, you understand the tension there and what happened with Jar Jar and the prequels and George Lucas and whether he's listening to the people around him or the fans or not and the story he wants to tell. But really after watching that, I felt like, you know, Star wars is truly, truly dead. I mean, it's gone. George Luke isn't going to make any more.

Why would he if the fans are going to treat him that way? He's got plenty of money.

And so the fans are like, great, all right, we get more Star wars, more Star wars stories, more Star wars wars movies. There's going to be a theme park. George Lucas sells his baby, his child to Disney. And, and, and so there was a hope.

There's a new hope when it comes to that. And, and then we Star Wars. I mean Disney puts out an anime series called Rebels kind of built in kind of their animation, which is pretty good.

It's hit and miss. And some things they linger on, some things too long. But other it really is good storytelling.

I think the movie this is before the movie I was going to see it in didn't have like pre reserved seats. So I literally for that movie that night I had had tickets for the seven o' clock show.

I went and sat in the theater like at 2 o' clock and brought books and work with me to make sure that I wouldn't be crowded out on the sea. I sat all afternoon waiting. I'm glad it because it got full. But anyway, that's how hyped it was for, for the Force Awakens. Christian thoughts.

Yeah, yeah, this is one of those. A new hope was exactly right because that's exactly how I felt initially was oh, Disney's got this. They're taking care of the MCU right now.

They're doing such a great job with that There's a plan. They're bring in the best writers, the best actors are going to have everything so tight. It's going to be great.

And I got to the Force Awakens and I enjoyed it. You know, I was like, okay, this is definitely feeling very a new Hopey again. A little too nostalgia baity for me. But like it's a fine film.

I mean, Rey is very poorly defined unfortunately and grasp onto things way faster than she should. Like, Finn is shafted not as bad as he would be in a later trilogy. But like it's not well done.

But there's enough of a start there to why I can believe in this continuing and caring about these characters. And that's taken away from me fairly soon after this. But, you know, yeah, I. I had the hope at the start.

Yeah. And I think I do like JJ Arums. I like his storytelling. I like his mystery boxes and I think he set this up.

It was a little too retread for me of a new hobby, Hope and the same beats. I wish it could have been a little different or tell a different kind of story.

You had the legacy characters again with like my head canon of what I hope they do with a younger Anakin and. And the prequels. I was kind of having. I want to get the band back together again, the legacy characters back in the Millennium Falcon again.

And I really think they missed the boat when it came to that. Now Carrie Fisher's death threw them for a loop, I think. But they also killed off Han Solo in the Force Awakens.

So it's like how do you get all them on the Millennium Falcon back, the band back together again without. You can still have cool new characters that have no problems with the new characters. Yes. I have no problem with Rey and Finn and POE and.

And BB8 and all that. Have no problem. They're great characters. I love to see them play out.

But I don't think you needed to downplay or nerf the legacy characters just to uplift them. And so I think that's somewhere of Disney's hubris and ego came in. We're going to tell our story and it's going to be great.

We're going to do these things the way our. And they felt the same backlash that George Lucas did when it comes to fans. But Force Awaken was good.

Star wars came back to Marvel since Disney now owns Marvel too. Star Wars Comics came back to Marvel. There's some good storytelling there with Jason Aaron and John Cassidy on art.

Christian, what do you think?

I do.

Yeah.

I think that's with this magic right here, something that shouldn't have worked and yet did.

Yep.

And that's where my headcanon really played out because, like, dude, I really hope that this movie ends and immediately Star Wars a new hope starts again. I hope it ends. Ends with them Cha. I hope Rogue One ends with them chasing down that.

That starship with Leia on it, and doggone it if they didn't do it. And I was like, yay, I did it. But, yeah, Rogue One was. Was fantastic and, and, and loved it.

Then you have the sequel to A Force Awakens, and you have the Last Jedi. We know how polarizing this movie is. We both know. We've taught on other episodes.

Christian and I feel the same way about this movie, and I know there's other people out there who really, really love it. On this is my Geekology host. You can listen to other episodes. We're going to go in a lot of detail.

For me, I still go back and watch parts of it, and I'm like, they had some potential there. I understand kind of what they were trying to do. Seeing the forces for everyone, I didn't think you needed to re.

Do Luke's whole character in nature and put him off another island. Even when Mark Hamill is like, like, are you sure you want to do this with Lou's character? This doesn't seem. It's working right.

This doesn't seem like it's in character of where he was. And in the original, they didn't listen to him and he went along. He was a team player. But for me, I kind of lean in to Mark Hamill's thoughts.

I would rather be on his side of Star wars history than others. And so I'm really disappointed kind of how they did that. I understand.

You had Solo, a Star wars story that came out really too soon before Last Jedi. And it was. I think it was a kind of a miss. Although there's a lot of Parts of that movie that, that I like.

Then they had a cartoon resist cartoon resistance, which is awful in my humble opinion. It's really, really bad.

It's terrible.

They needed a win big time. And the Mandalorian season one and two with baby Grogu and baby Yoda and way it blew our mind and got us back into universe the way it felt.

The original kind of felt it was a big win and they needed it. They needed it.

Yes. This one helped bring a little bit more hope back after we had the anti hope film before it.

Yep, yep. And then. But I think the first two season Mandalorian are just nailed out of the park now.

And then with the way they wrapped up season two with the emergence of a de aged Mark Hamill. Luke Skywalker coming in. That's the Luke Skywalker we really wanted to see.

One of my favorite moments in, in all of Star wars is watching that on the TV really early in the morning by myself. My daughter walks out and go, what are you watching? I was like, well, this thing came out, I'm watching and we, we were like, is that him?

Is that really going on? My reaction to that is there should have been a video of me. My, my video reaction of, of.

I've rewatched that multiple times over just that scene.

Yep, yep.

Because that's what I wanted.

I know, I know. All right.

Kind of back and forth, up and down, no steady plan inconsistencies, not having a locked in time frame or a group that's. They're just kind of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

And that's kind of frustrating for us fans and really confusing for, for fans that are on the surface that know a little bit about Star Wars. They're like, my wife, she loves Star wars, but she's like, where is this? What timeline is this? Who is that character? Where are we going? Who is this?

Some inconsistencies and not having a core, core story line to really center and root down on there. This was trying its best to really Keep things going. So, so yeah, Rise of Skywalker, there's more, more conversations about that.

But we're kind of left this, this first decade with Disney at the helm, Christian, you know, we have a little fandom whiplash from being pulled back and forth.

Very much so. After we have like the anti Hope film, we suddenly have everything's fine guys, the galaxy can get together.

Even though that was the exact opposite message from the Last Jedi. And it's like I love, you know, the, the Avengers, everyone shows up and the portals kind of ending, you know, because I'm a team up guy.

But that was built up, this wasn't. And it's a muddled film. I mean, what else can I say? I'm not trying to beat down on anyone who do, who does enjoy these films.

I'll say it again, like I said on other shows, like if you like it, like it. I just can't bring myself to it because this is inconsistent with previous films, with itself, with characterization, with world building.

It's, it's just awful to me and I, I get no joy from it. And I don't get joy out of complaining about it either.

Right, right. You know, we've had a whole series of finding the good and I think we can find the good in, in Star wars and, and I'll still be a fan.

I'll go to everything, I'll watch everything.

But when you stick the landing with Infinity War and Endgame, you know, it's kind of where do you go from there and where Star wars version of that was kind of what fans were saying of Disney. You're doing so well, well with the mcu. Why can't this happen in Star wars as well?

There's some hit and misses in there too. But I think overall fans just Love to go to Galaxy's Edge and feel like they're a part of the Star wars universe.

I went there for my 50th birthday and had a blast. That was what I wanted, and that's what I got. Cool.

Hey, Christian, remember at the beginning of this episode she said, can we do this in under an hour? Well, we failed, But we're gonna keep going because we have a whole nother decade.

And here's some of my ups and downs down book of Boba Fett. I. I tried there starts alike, but I really think, man, putting like Mandalorian 2.5, season 2.5 right in the middle of Boba Fett.

Why did you do that? I know you're what you're trying to do, but let it be its own thing. You just stuck the landing with season two. Why are you pulling it in here?

But I know Boba Fett showed up in Mandalorian and that was cool. I love seeing Slave 1 and the Starship and so maybe that crossover. Yeah. Anyway, Star wars visions up. I like anime. I like this story. Good. I loved it.

The high Republic books and comics. Meh. Mid down. I tried to. I really tried hard. I liked Charles Soul. Soul who. Who kind of crafted that. And that first book was decent. But.

But that whole different era that Disney tried to do. Didn't. Didn't stick for me. Bad batch match up. I think that's a good swing. I liked it. Then you had the Obi Wan streaming series.

Middling.

Middling. Yep. There's some hopes for that. And some of the things I really liked, some things I didn't animate bad.

It wasn't good.

Mostly up.

11 out of 10.

11 out of 10.

Knocked it out of the park.

Prestige TV even won in an Emmy with season two. Or the writers did. So you have these ups and downs, ups and downs, downs. And then andor.

And then there's some people who would even say, like, andor's too serious, too slow. It's not the Star wars that I'm really looking for. I want. I want lightsabers. I want laser fights. I want the big war.

But this kind of spy espionage deep dive into these characters of the Rebels behind the scene. I think is. Is really cool and what. What the world needs to see right now.

There's all these things that from the outside influence that are putting pressure on how all do you tell stories also make money, also keep fans happy but also take it a direction you feel like is healthy for the franchise. All those things come into being and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Yes, there you go. Cool.

I've seen a couple. They're fine. They're not for me but no, they're for children and that's what they're meant for. It's like the. The Spidey and his friends.

Amazing friends. Right. The newer one. It's not for me, but they love it.

Where this fell short was it really wanted to be another season of Rebels and not focus on.

On Ahsoka where people who are watching this, like those in my family who knew a little bit about the characters but not Rebels and didn't know the Lord in history. It was very confusing for them. Had some really, really cool moments. And I really like the storytelling Filoni but I think.

I think his attachment to the Rebels characters Animated Series and doing another season of Rebels Live Action and calling it Ahsoka was a little bit of a miss for me.

Yeah, this is mostly a good. To me it's. It's a prequel of sorts. Whatever going to do with the air the Empire things with Thrawn. Ahsoka's fine.

I don't really care what they did with Sabine here. And Ezra was. I think it's pretty perfect for the most part. And Thrawn of course was great.

Yep. Yep. And so way back we talked about the heir of the Empire and Thrawn being the next big villain.

People really love seeing him in Rebels kind of portrayed. But they. Then the Animated series but then live action Thrawn here. I'll be curious to see what they do with the next season of Ahsoka.

Then you have kind of again, ups and downs Whiplash. Hey, Disney, pick a lane. You have the Acolyte, you have Skeleton Crew, and then you have Andor all in the last couple of years.

So Acolyte, what do you think, Christian?

Acolyte belongs in the trash compactor with the Dianoga. Skeleton Crew was very fun and whimsical. It was very. Even a kid focused show was great. Andor season two almost.

I'd argue season one's better, but it's still great.

Yeah. Yep. And I, I really like Skeleton Crew. This kind of Goonies pirate adventure. I, I really, really like that show. And I.

And I'd love to go back and watch it if I had time, and I probably will. Um, but again, I think this epitomizes and it's a good icon of what Disney and Star wars are like together. You have the Acolyte fan base, Fallout.

Okay, we're not gonna do that. We're gonna go Skeleton Crew. Okay. All right, now we're gonna go to Andor.

It's just like pick a lane of an era and really lean into a certain story rather than this kind of story. Whiplash of where are we in the story? I don't mind diving into these, these different eras and, and genres of Star wars, but you don't.

So out of all those things, Christian, what are you most looking forward to?

They're really re releasing the original. The original cut. I'm gonna see that. And see, there's the day one.

Yep, yep. As soon as those tickets become available, I'm buying them and gonna go see it. I am looking forward to Mandalorian Grogu to see how they do.

Do I think they need a big win in the theater and get people in the seats in the theater. I. I like it that they're not just doing season four on streaming, that this is going to be like Mando Season 4 as a movie form. I'm ready for that.

And then I'm curious to see what Starfighter does and what they're going to do. There's a lot of rumors about different timelines in Rey and maybe a Rey movie and a new Jedi Academy. Different things. There's a lot of speculation.

I think you have some new leadership at Disney. Star Wars. Kathleen Kennedy is gone. Dave Filoni is now taken over. I think that's a good move.

Collating with someone else. I can't remember that.

Yeah, he's co leading with someone else who I think has a pretty good reputation around those parts as well. And favorites doing Mando and Grogu. So I'm hopeful. I need to keep my expectations. I think I would learn to keep my expectations and check.

I think that's why I enjoyed the solo movie because after Last Jedi, it beat me down. I went in with no expectations and I liked the movie. I had fun. Same way with Rise of Skywalker. So we're going with no, no expectations.

I had fun when we were watching now going back and looking at the stories and if they could have told a different story, sure. But yeah, man, what a journey. Christian, through the decades, all of Star Wars. What do we leave out? What do we leave out?

I'm sure there was something.

I'm sure there's something. And so I want our listeners. I'm sure there's something that you disagree with as well with.

I know there's, you know, Joshua, you probably have a hot take or a bad opinion about something in Star wars that we can't wait to hear about on an episode. But folks, what. What do you love about Star wars throughout the decades? What did we forget? You have a memory of Star wars that you want to hold dear.

And we're gonna have a bonus question here in a little bit that we're gonna over. You can hop over on our. Our website in the show notes over at Fourth Wall. You can. You can hear how Christian I are to going to answer this question.

Our bonus questions is all right. If Christian I could go back in time and go to any Star wars premiere, what would we go see? Is it.

Is it the premiere of the Acolyte out in California and la? Christian's probably not going to that one. But. And, and hopefully he's not going back in time and.

And breaking Rian Johnson knees so he can't write the Last Jedi. I'm gonna discourage that. Kind of villain. Villain. But. But yeah. So we're gonna answer that question later on before we leave.

Recommendations of all the Star wars stuff we've talked about, those we've talked about or not talked about. Christian, what's, what's your recommendation for people out there? If they say where do I, I respect these guys take on Star Wars.

What if they gave me a recommendation for Star Wars? What should I do?

I think one that's applicable here.

If you're really hyped up for Ahsoka Season 2 and Mandalorian Grogu and what they're planning around all that, I'd recommend going and reading the Heir to the Empire trilogy because a lot of what is built in there is what is being built up now. And it's a really fun series that brought the EU into the world and made a lot of new Star wars fans.

Nice. Nice. My recommendation is I listen to a lot of podcasts and I'm not afraid to. To share other podcasts on this podcast.

So Rebel Force Radio is my favorite Star wars podcast. I think those guys do a great job in thinking critically about Star wars but still being fans and loving it and want it to succeed.

They're not just out there to troll and slam it and degrade Star wars. Their fans first. And they're not afraid to share their opinions if they feel like they don't like something.

They have strong opinions about less Jedi like we do. But they wanted to succeed and they're really excited about. They get hyped about Star wars wars all the time. So I really love it.

And then I'll also recommend There's a book. It's for the 40th anniversary of Star wars the New Hope.

There's a book of a collection of Short stories called 40 stories celebrating 40 years of Star Wars.

It's called From a Certain Point of View and it's a bunch of authors talking from the perspective of lesser known characters in the Star wars universe from their perspective of what's happening. And it is absolutely wonderful. Wonderful. You have Greg Rutka, you have Charles Soul, Glenn Weldon, you have Will Wheaton, you have Matt Fraction.

You have a lot of authors in here sharing stories. Says even a story. What did you say? What's the trash compactor monster's name? Alien species.

Dianoga.

Dianoga. You have a short story called Christian, get this. Called the Baptist. And it's sharing the short story of how she was captured.

Captured and put in the trash compactor. And from her perspective, what was happening in the trash compactor when that.

That our Mary band of rebels, Hana Lukle and Chewie got thrown into a trash compactor. It's a cute little story. I love it so much. So I go get this if you want to like just good short stories. Star wars is. Is a lot of fun. Cool.

All right, friends. We did it in little over an hour. Not less than an hour, but a little over. I can't believe we got it all in and yeah, hop over.

Hop over on our website and check out our extra content and merch and and and hear how we answer the question. We could go back to any Star wars premiere in the history of the decades since the 70s.

What will we do Again, Russell Gentry, thank you for your support. If you want to be a supporter, hop over there and get a shout out. We'd love to meet you over there. Rate and review the show. Thank you everyone.

And Christian, I'll let you what's your favorite Star wars quote to send us off this?

Why would you cripple me with choice like that?

I know.

May the force be with you always.

And also with you. Sa.