In this conversation, the host and guests discuss their plans for Star Wars Day and share their first Star Wars memories. They also talk about their favorite Star Wars scenes and characters they would be friends with. The conversation then moves on to the order in which to watch the Star Wars movies, with suggestions for introducing the franchise to children and the debate between chronological and release order. The conversation covers various topics related to the Star Wars franchise, including the growth of characters like Ahsoka, the use of CGI in modern films, the diversity of the cast, and the worst scenes in the franchise. The hosts discuss their favorite standalone films and TV shows, with mentions of Solo and Rogue One. They also express their dislike for certain scenes and storylines.

Overall, they have a deep appreciation for the Star Wars universe despite its flaws. The conversation covers various topics related to including the Death Star, the character R2D2, the series Andor, the prequel trilogy, the characters that are the glue of the franchise, and the feel-good moments of watching Star Wars films. The panel shares their personal experiences and opinions, discussing their favorite moments and characters. They also touch on the prequel trilogy and its impact on a new generation of fans.

Welcome everybody to the star Wars edition of you're still doing that today. I'm joined by lifelong star Wars fans, young and old. May the force be with you guys. Yeah, I love it. Uh, that's right. I love it. Uh, for some people it may be very liturgical.

And also with you.

Thank you. And also with you, yes. Liturgical Star Wars.

Uh, today's podcast is inspired by star wars day, may the fourth, let's go around the room and, uh, you guys can introduce yourselves and let us know if you've got any plans for may the fourth.

We'll start with Hannah. Go ahead, Hannah.

I'm Hannah. My plans for May the 4th is that I'm giving a tour that day so I'm gonna put as many Star Wars puns in there as I can.

I love it.

I'm Kyle Wiltshire. I am an author. I wrote a book called the Dead Rock Stars, co -wrote a book called the Dead Rock Stars and lifelong Star Wars fan like you said, Matt. Yeah, I won't be doing necessarily anything on the fourth, but on the third, my sons and I are going to go see the the re -release of the Phantom Menace in the movie theater.

So we're super excited about that. My son actually, my oldest son is actually gonna do a marathon. We watched the first one, then we're just gonna go home and watch the rest. I don't know how far he'll get, but he's got high hopes.

Nice.

Wow.

How old is your son? Nice. Oh, he's plenty young enough. He can do that.

He's 15.

That's just if he doesn't get, you know, like, like bored of it. Not because he doesn't enjoy it, but you know, when you sit there for that long time, it's a long time. Yeah. But he loves it.

It's a long run.

Yep. Awesome. And for me, your host, Matt Miller, my big plans for May the fourth include going to a bee festival with the family earlier that day. But I've got a couple, I got a Lego star Wars set I'll do and watch probably some of the prequels while I put it down. Cause I keep going back to see how much they stack up against the other ones. So.

Hmm.

I'm giving them another shot. Also, if, if anybody's in Sanford, North Carolina, this Wednesday, uh, they were going to, they're going to be showing the original star Wars, uh, 1977 version on the 33 millimeter. I think it's what it called. I'm not up to speed on that jargon, but on film, uh, just like it was originally shown in the seventies. Yeah.

unaltered? like the original?

Unaltered the original on film is what I've been told. And, uh, and a mission is free because, you know, it's star Wars, but they just encourage you to buy some concessions when you come in. So I have a feeling.

That's fantastic. That's the only one I think I've never seen original, the original one in the movie theater. All the others I've seen in the movie theater, original, the original cop versions.

Yeah. I was trying to think, I was like, have I seen all three originals in the theater? And I was like, well, I was only old enough to see Jedi when it came out. And I was like, but I don't know. I think I saw the re -releases in theaters, but they were, you know, altered and they made more special effects, but not them like original. So, but yeah, if you're in Sanford, go to spring lane cinemas.

Yeah. Right.

Check out Jared Campbell over there. He does a good job. All right, folks. So let's see how you became Star Wars fans. Can you describe your first Star Wars memory and how old were you? Where were you at at the time? And what was the film? Cause the original Star Wars may not have been your first Star Wars memory. Kyle, I'll let you take this one.

Alright, well, y 'all may or may not believe me. I was born in 1978. Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980. And I remember going to see that movie in the movie theater. Now, my recollections are fuzzy. They're vague. I have this memory of Yoda.

in Dagobah, you know, like in the swamps of Dagobah. I remember that because I think I had to get up and go to the bathroom during that time. So I remember sort of coming and going. But I also remember Darth Vader and just, you know, it was it was like I'm afraid.

Yeah, right.

but I can't look away, you know, like it was, it was fear and awe, like all wrapped into one. And, and, you know, it wasn't like it was even that little, little guy age, you know, I was, I was afraid, but I knew like, I didn't have to be afraid. Like it was like this, like this is not real, but it's, you know, but it still kind of made me nervous, made me scared. So.

Right.

But I might, I might get force choked if I don't pay attention.

It's possible. It's possible. You know, like I remember, I remember when when Luke and Vader had the confrontation in the cave and how when he cut his mask open, you could see Luke's face in there. And that confused me so bad. Like I didn't understand what that meant as a little guy. Now, like I said, it came out in 80s. It might have been 81 because, you know, movies, they ran forever back then. It wasn't like now where if you see it, if you don't see it the first two weeks, it's gone. So it could have been 81. So I was two or three years old.

Yes, I sure did.

probably Empire Strikes Back. That's my first Star Wars recollection.

All right, Hannah, uh, I'm sure yours is not going to be empire strikes back. What's your first, you know, what's your first memory?

Hahaha!

No, I definitely wasn't. So I'm not sure, because I think I was like really young when I was first introduced to Star Wars. My dad's the one who got me into it. I remember him telling me, seeing the first movie, The New Hope, he's like, I went there with my dad and I was sitting in the seat and all of a sudden he heard, da, da, da, da. And he's just like, whoa. But I think he introduced me and I got into it. But I remember.

Star Wars The Clone Wars the series when it was back on Netflix like every morning I would wake up purposely early in the morning so I could watch a little bit of it for everybody else came down I was like so enthralled with it like there were certain stories I was like really wanting to watch like I just love the clones because they're so cool and I'm really sad they ended the bad bash because that means we don't get any more clone stories but

Yep.

I remember since watching then, I remember watching more of the movies and being more enthralled of those. And when the sequels came out, like that's when I went to see them in theaters. Ray's, I thought Ray was really cool. Like a first female Jedi, like on screen was really cool.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Right. Yeah, no, I definitely, I was big into Ray coming in. I was like, yeah, it's about time. Uh, cause that wasn't something they did in the seventies or in the eighties really was the other person for me, my first star was experience was a return of the Jedi. Uh, I'm assuming my family, I was born in 76 and, uh, and so I'm assuming we saw Jedi opening weekend or right about, because we waited in line.

And I remember having the set and a long line going around the theater, uh, going into watch it. And I remember loving the Ewoks that was, you know, you know, so I was less than 10. Uh, but I would remember the Ewoks were my favorite. Uh, I don't know how people felt about them, the adults, but I was gung ho on Ewoks man. And, um,

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

And that was the first movie I ever saw twice in the theater. I remember that I saw it twice. It was so good.

Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. Definitely a Jedi and the Ewoks. I loved all of that. I don't remember if I saw the first two beforehand because we had VHS at the house and I know we rented movies at the time, but that was still very new concept. So I don't know if I got a chance to see him before him, but yeah, man, uh, Retainer of the Jedi and the Ewoks. All I wanted were those toys. You could get the whole.

Mm -hmm.

Ewok Village, you know, and the trees and that's all I wanted was that. I loved it. All right. So another hard quote. Well, that one's an easy question, but a hard one. I had to really think on this one. What is some of your favorite Star Wars scenes from any point in the franchise? They can be more than one. I've got three that I really stick out to me.

Those were classic. Those were so good.

Honestly, the first one that... Oh.

jump in or go ahead Hannah ladies first I should have let you go first sorry

The first one that came to my mind was Revenge of the Sith and the classic Moustafar scene where Anakin's, you know, seeing Padme and Padme's now unconscious and Obi -Wan's like, you... That whole, oh, crap, why is it that when I'm trying to remember the scene I blank? But they're given that iconic speech and they're fighting and you get... Yes!

Yeah. You are the chosen one.

Yeah.

Oh yeah. All I read. What's so funny about that is that meme where they do the marshmallows. You see the guy on the burner. Right. And the marshmallows on fire. It's like, Oh man, this is what the internet's for right here. That's that one's the funniest thing that is so good.

Yeah.

I need this one.

That was very funny. I showed that to my kids. They laughed so hard. They thought that was hilarious. Have you heard now same scene, same concept, but have you heard that scene with Mickey Mouse as Obi -Wan's voice and Donald Duck as Anakin's voice? He's like, don't try it, Anakin. It's so funny. Oh, it's hilarious.

You

Oh no, I haven't.

Oh my, I'll have to look that one up.

hahahaha

Oh my gosh.

And he goes through the whole thing, you know, he cuts his arms and legs off and yeah. It's so good. It's hilarious. They really are.

Oh, I can hear the Donald duck voice. I hate you. It's funny. Uh, people are clever. People are clever. Um, uh, what sticks out to me, and this might be blasphemy for some of these hardcore, you know, the originals are the only star Wars fans, but two of my favorite scenes is from the last Jedi. And that's the, um,

Mm.

Uh, the battle where Ray and Kylo Ren team up against, I forget what his, uh, his name was. Uh, but that was Snoke. Yep. Uh, that whole scene, I was like, man, this is like some of the best star Wars ever. That lightsabers battle, the whole thing. And then, uh, when they are, we're on that planet, uh, at the end, that little salt planet.

Yeah. Yeah.

Been solo?

uh, Snoke, Snoke. Yeah.

Yeah.

And the red that comes up from underneath it. And you've got the Luke Skywalker comes back and we're all fooled that it's the real Luke, Luke Skywalker. And those ad -ats are firing at him and Kylo Ren's raging out, just throwing a complete fit up in there. And, uh, and he's still there and he's all, uh, I was like, man, I was like, this is, this is what the force is right here, man. Uh,

Yeah. Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I am so conflicted by Star Wars Episode 8. We may talk about this more. But it, you know, it literally, when I first watched it, it made me nauseated. Not because, you know, not because I'm like one of these angry Star Wars fans or whatever, but it was just like, you know, just like the commercial said, this is not what you expect, you know? Everything about it, you know, kind of went against my expectations.

That said, that scene with Ray and Kylo fighting Snoke, when they cut him in half, I'm like, what are they gonna do now? You know, like they just killed the big bad of the whole series in the second movie of the trilogy, you know? I'm like, what on earth are they gonna do? And clearly they had no idea because the ninth one was The Shambles. Again, we may talk about that later, but.

Yes.

Right. Yeah.

It's funny.

Well, yeah. Well, what they were going to do was, was the director had a second one to he had more storyline and, uh, and the, the bass got through such a fit about that movie that they moved away from them and, uh, went back to, yeah.

the proper.

Hmm. Well, that scene was so good, though. I mean, you know, my my feelings of conflict, you know, for the for the movie itself aside, it's probably the best the best lightsaber battle maybe other than Anakin. Like you said, Hannah, Anakin and Obi -Wan and Mustafar. It might be it might be the best lightsaber battle in the whole all all nine of the Skywalker series. Yeah.

Yes.

Yes.

It's definitely the best, best shot one for sure. Um, no, it was, it was good.

I think for me, my favorite scene still remains always the climax of Return of the Jedi, you know, Luke and Vader in the throne room there and...

Right.

You know, this is so sappy and so corny, but I get choked up every time I watch it. You know, because, you know, Vader looks at Luke and then he looks at the Emperor and he looks at Luke. He looks at the Emperor and he chooses Luke, you know, like he chooses his son.

Right? Right?

Right? Yep.

over the one who's ruined his life, you know, and he finally puts it all together that this guy's ruined my life. And he chooses the he makes the right choice at the end. You know, when he throws him over, I don't I don't care about you know, they resurrected him later and all these other things. You know, for me in that moment, like that was it. That was the end and it was so good. And how it all culminates, you know, three fronts, you got a ground battle, you've got an air battle and you've got a

Yep.

you know, a lightsaber battle going at the exact same time. I mean, people can quibble about Ewoks or whatever they want to say about Return of the Jedi, but never had a three front battle been done so well and end in such a satisfying way. So I, my favorite and it will never be beat is Luke versus, versus Vader in the throne room, the climax of that whole thing for sure.

right?

I always thought when Luke was holding him, he's like, he's always, I always thought he should have said something like, well, it's about time dad.

Now that was another moment of just complete confusion as a child. Like he pulls his helmet off and he's Humpty Dumpty under there. You know, he's like, what happened here? You know, it was kind of, that was a little confusing. Who is this guy and why is he so pasty? You know, it was kind of funny.

Where you been?

Right?

Ehh

Yeah.

Uh, in, um, uh, and one of the Kevin Smith movies, I forget, I think it was the chasing Amy. He has this great speech where this guy's talking about how, how star Wars is racist. And, uh, and he's talking about Darth Vader and he's the big black man. He's powerful. But then when you remove his helmet, he's a crusty old white man.

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a hilarious scene and of course it you know it taints you know every time I see that it makes me think about that and guess oh he is a crusty old white man underneath underneath that beautiful beautiful black armor.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yep. So funny. Um, all right. Uh, at the end of the cannon, the, uh, star Wars franchise, which character do you think you would be good friends with?

It would make a good pal.

That's a good one. I feel like I've talked a lot. Hannah, why don't you answer that one? If you've got an answer on deck.

answer because there's many that I would like to be friends with. I would like to be friends with Padmaid because I love her wardrobe and I would be casually stealing from it. But I think she would be really...

Yeah.

Right? It gets smaller the longer she wear it. You ought to be careful. That was the run and joke of the last film. It was like, where's her clothes going? They get less and less.

to me stealing her wardrobe. But I think she would be like a really good, you know, friend to lean her shoulder on and, you know, hang out with. I'm also a huge fan of Ahsoka Tano, so I was like, I would love to be friends with her and get in trouble with her, because I just love her character and I loved her, like, growth. It was so cool to watch.

That's funny. I mean, I think a lot of people... Go ahead, I'm sorry.

That's a good one.

nips. I think, you know, guys my age, you know, we, a lot of the first answer is always, Oh, Han Solo, of course. But man, honestly, Han Solo is probably not fun to hang out with because the dude, he's too good looking, you know, and he knows it, you know, he's kind of, he's a little selfish. He's kind of smarmy, you know? So honestly, when I, when I thought long and hard about this question, I think the best hang.

Yeah, that's a good one.

That's it.

Right.

Right? He's selfish. Selfish, yeah.

Yeah.

When you think about all we know about her would be Princess Leia. She seems like so much fun from, you know, if you want to talk about mischievous little Leia in the Obi -Wan series to...

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Yeah.

For sure.

Oh, isn't that so great? Yeah.

I mean, it's talk about subverting expectations when it turned out to be Leia that he was searching after. That was so good. But you know, from from, you know, you're a little short for a stormtrooper is your first interaction with Luke, you know, and all that. And I mean, you know, just how fun she is even into the in the sequels. You know, she's she's older, but she's still got that spunk and fire and she's, you know.

Yes.

Yep.

but she's going head to head with Poe, you know, in episode eight, you know, all that. I would definitely say Leia would be the best hang. She'd be so much fun.

Yep.

Yeah, yeah.

I think Leia definitely inherited more of Anakin's genes than Luke.

Yes, for sure. Uh, my pool is definitely is one of my favorite star Wars characters. Obi -Wan he's my favorite. I was like, that's the guy. Cause that seems like he'd be my, you know, similar personality types. I was like, definitely go with Obi -Wan. Uh, he'd be my, definitely be my hang. Of course I would say Samuel Jackson too. Mace Windu. Uh,

Mm -hmm.

Cause I was so, when the prequels came out and I was like, Samuel Jackson's going to be a Jedi. I was like, man, that's the coolest thing ever. But then they didn't let him.

It's hard to divorce the cool guy, Samuel L. Jackson, in real life. And Mace Wendy is really not that cool. He's kind of a stick in the mud. He's always fussing at Anakin or somebody. He's always mad about something. Yeah.

Right.

Not so much, a little bit.

And then they killed them off. And the third one, while you think he's killed off, I mean, he falls out the window.

Right. Armless though. I mean, I don't know. I guess they somehow managed to let Darth Maul live a bisection.

Yeah.

I mean, and if Palpatine can still be alive, then Mace Windu can be. That's for sure. I was so hoping in, in, in Sith that Mace Windu was a Sith. I think it was the third one. He's got Dooku down there or he's got Palpatine dead. And then he, I was waiting for him to drop an F bomb right there. I was like, if you're going to do it in Star Wars, this is the character. This is the time. Yeah.

Right, yeah, that's true.

Now's the time. I think on the bottom of his lightsaber is initials BMF. So it's there, you just gotta look for it.

BMF. I hope so. I hope that's true. I hope that's true.

He carve it in there. Yep. So if you're going to watch the star Wars, what see a sequence to you watch your star Wars in it, whether you're going to marathon it or you're just going to take a week to knock them out. What sequence would you watch them in?

instead of squint, like, we're there.

Yeah.

For me, it kind of depends on the audience. So if you're trying to introduce a child to Star Wars.

You know, I think you've got to watch four five and six first and the reason is because I think it's confusing if you watch if you watch them Chronological one two three then four five and six. It's like why did it get worse? You know Like why did the technology get worse? Why did the the the you know, just the screens and stuff It just it's not the same and so you got a not worse as in storytelling

Yep.

Yes.

Yep.

It worse is in just graphics and special effects and those sort of things So I think you've got to start with four or five and six when you're introducing a child Let them get sucked in let them, you know, let them get excited about the magic of Star Wars Then go back to one two three and then you know Six seven and eight or seven seven eight nine, excuse me And then all that, you know, then as you want to introduce, you know Rogue one and and or and you know the side stories and all that stuff That's I think that's how I personally feel it's

it's best.

What's your take Hannah? If you're going to watch the Star Wars franchise, what order would you watch them in?

I do agree that if you're going to introduce it to a kid, start with 4, 5, and 6. However, I got a friend who's wanting to watch Star Wars 2. She's my age. So I had this debate with her. I was like, okay, do I start you with 1, 2, and 3 to really kind of get you into this series? Like, okay, this is stuff that happened before the main story line. Or do I go ahead and start you off with 4, 5, and 6, but you're the first to come out? And I'm conflicted because it's like 4, 5, and 6, they're original. They're classics. They're...

good quality in storyline maybe not in animation but I'm watching Phantom Menace last night and I'm like Jar Jar Binks looks so out of whack I would not let that be the someone's first movie to watch Jar Jar Binks does not look good

Right?

That's funny.

Mm.

Yeah.

So I think I would start with four, five, and six just for like storyline and quality wise, then go back to four, one, two, and three.

Right.

What's interesting is, you know, I mean, every one of a certain generation, you know, or if you have any finger on the pulse of pop culture has heard the phrase, you know, Luke, I'm your father, even though that's not the line in the movie, you know. So if you watch one, two, three, then four, five, and six, you lose the Luke, I'm your father moment from episode five. So if you show someone four and then you show them five, then they have that genuine moment of like,

Yeah.

Right.

That's his father? For real? You know, like if they have little exposure to Star Wars, if they haven't put two and two together, then they're talking about Star Wars when they hear that phrase, you know, I am your father, whatever. So that's another reason I would say to start with four, five, and six, not just the special effects, but also so you can have that genuine moment of surprise when it's like, wait, that's his dad? You know, cause you lose that after episode three, you know, moving forward.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, you sure do. Yeah. That's a good point of, uh, waiting to get that moment. And then you go back and you're like, Oh, I know what's going to happen. Watching all this stuff happening. Yeah.

No, I mean, that's the definitive way because you know, if you do want to do it in the storytelling way of watching it, you know, in an order, I'd love to, I'd love to meet someone who actually has the ambition to like truly watch them. And I mean, every bit of content. So we're talking Clone Wars, we're talking, you know, all the cartoons, all the, the, the, the other shows in a chronological order. That would be pretty amazing to see and, you know, and watching it that way to say,

Hmm. That's a lot. Yeah.

You know, who's the real hero of this story? Kind of the question we'll talk about in a minute. Who's the, you know, who's the, you know, what's the, what's, what's the story really about? Who are the characters you like the most, you know, versus the ones, you know, if you watch them, you know, just, just the, the nine Skywalker films, you have a different opinion of, you know, the universe than if you watch everything. Of course that would take forever to try to watch it all in some kind of order, but that'd be kind of a cool, a cool, a cool thing to try to do.

Yep.

Yeah.

Well, you can do that on Disney plus they've got a little section. It says in chronological order and they've got it all mapped out.

And you have to like stop like halfway through season seven, watch Revenge of the Sith, then finish season seven.

Yes. Yep. You have to bounce around between shows to watch it in actual chronological order.

Yeah.

That was a big bridge, that was a big barrier to entry for me with Clone Wars. I'm gonna admit, I've never watched the Clone Wars, simply because I didn't have children at the time when they came on. And so it wasn't like, I didn't have a reason to watch it. And at that point I was like, late 20s, early 30s, I was like, I can't really watch a cartoon, can I? Am I allowed? I don't have kids yet. But then, once I had kids, Star Wars Rebels was...

Right.

Appointment television like we watched it when it came on, you know, like the old school like it was the 1980s again You know forget streaming forget whatever like we watched it when it came on together. We didn't miss an episode So, you know, so that was a big barrier to entry because there's so many of those episodes and they're not in chronological order You know, I've googled it several times the order to watch Clone Wars and we've gotten maybe you know a little bit into into

you know, into maybe a third of the way through, but we've never, we've never been able to finish because it's just so long, so much.

There's a lot. Yeah. There's a lot of clone wars. Yeah.

It's a lot. I'm someone who's like, I'll go back to watch episodes that I like the best. Because I think like the first season or something like that is really kind of kiddy. It's childish. But then afterwards, you get to see more of the heavy stuff, like, you know, more Senate talks, more murders and crimes happening, more violence. But it does give you some good depth to a character because I think, you know, you get to see Anakin and Ahsoka's relationship and kind of how...

Yeah, yeah.

I'm really kind of sad we didn't get to see that in Revenge of the Sith, but I'm seeing why we didn't see it in Revenge of the Sith. And just the whole story, the Anakin and Obi -Wan relationship had made an Anakin's relationship, and it's really cool to see that kind of growth, and it's cool.

Yeah.

Well, that's the genius of Dave Filoni that he was able to tell this beautiful story, you know, and make you care so much about Ahsoka, a character who wasn't in a movie. It still hasn't been in a movie. She's been in TV shows, like live action TV shows, but she's still never been in a, you know, a standard movie and make you care so much for her as a completely side character, not even mentioned in any of the prequel movies or anything like that. So it's really pretty cool. He did an amazing job with that.

Yep.

Nope.

The elevation.

Yeah, it's a smudge of Vaseline underneath the the land speeder so you can block the arm that's holding it up. Yeah.

Yep, Luke Speeder.

I have six people inside a puppet to make it look like it's walking, you know, like they did.

That's the good stuff though.

random scene in Hoth where some guy's carrying like an ice maker machine, like an ice cream maker.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I think that's investment. He's escaping best movies got an ice cream machine. That's so funny.

Yep.

Yeah. And, uh, and then return to the Jedi was a lot of that was filmed like with a model, you know, they filmed all of the background stuff and I, they did a green screen version of what they had at the time of Luca Lea and all those speeders, but all the trees and stuff. A lot of that was just models just built really big.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, the matte paintings, you know, like anytime you see like this shot from a distance, it's a painting. And then there's a, you know, there's like a tiny little piece of live action, like the celebration of the Ewoks at the end. That's a painting. And there's a little live action piece of, you know, Ewoks dancing in there. Yeah, they wouldn't do any of that. But that's that's the tragedy, though, because probably Vader would have been CGI.

Yep.

Yep.

Yep.

Heheheheh

You know, he wouldn't have been a man in a costume. You know, it'd probably be, you know, like, maybe in the way that, like, the Marvel guys, like, if you watch... That's true. That's true. Yeah. But, like, you know, like, you watch Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, you know, he's got blue dots everywhere. It's all his whole costume is CGI'd.

I don't, Mando's in a costume. Yep. Like the whole time.

Thank you.

That's all CGI. Yeah, that's all.

Yeah. He only wears a couple pieces of his uniform. He's got a helmet and I think he's got some hands, but everything else he's just, yeah. He's just got a, a CGI suit on.

Yeah.

I think that's something they definitely would do. But I mean, it is what it is. I think one thing we'd see is that the cast would be a little more diverse. It wasn't until Lando that there was anybody of a different color or race.

Budgeting?

that came on. Now, of course, you could say there's a million different aliens of different varieties in the Cantina, you know, in the episode four, but, you know, like human, human people. So that would, that would be a little different. It's possible that Luke would have been Leia and Leia would have been Luke, you know, in terms of who's the, who's the, the chosen one, the main character, whatever.

Right. Yeah. There's tons of them.

Yep.

Right. Yeah.

That's right.

I think there might have also been diversity and like, you know, sexual orientations, I know, and um, remind me again of the ninth movie because my brain's last Jedi. There was a quick kiss between two female characters and people were happy about it, but it's like, it's really quick, it's in the background, why are you upset about it? It's Star Wars and it's 2020.

Right. And it's people that live in worlds all over the place. Yep. Our rules don't apply everywhere. I was trying to think of technology. I was like, I like what people have been carrying around, like some sort of a phone device, you know, I was like, I was trying to think of what technology stuff would be different, uh, that they used.

Yeah.

all those like janky looking panels, you know, like on the Death Star or, you know, the like moo thing when they're powering up the blaster, whatever, you know, all those janky looking panels would have been tricked out, you know, all kinds of like special effects and digital effects to make it look so much cooler than, you know, than what it was in the seventies.

Yep.

Yeah. Right.

Yes.

Yeah, that was kind of a weird sound for the Death Star to make before it blew up a planet.

Was it really scary?

Ehh...

Growing up though, anytime my buddies and I would, you know, you go into one of those houses that has a turn knob to dim the lights, we would always go, moo! Anytime we're turning the lights up or down.

Right. That's funny. All right. Here comes some drama. What is the worst scene in the franchise? I know exactly what mine is. I harp about it every time I see it. Mine is floating princess Leia in the eighth movie by far.

Let's hear it.

Yeah.

I can't stand, I love, I think last Jedi could have been the best film in the series, except it had two of the worst things in the star Wars series in it. Uh, floating princess Leia. I was like, come on now. I was like Kylo Ren or about to kill his mom and then, but doesn't, but then someone else does it's like, let her be dead. I was like, that's a really good.

part of the story and it could really affect him. Uh, I was like, let her be dead, but no, but the floating thing and her raising her arm and then forcing herself back. I was like, come on. I was like, that was awful.

Yeah, that was very much like, what am I watching? You know, like...

When I first saw it on open at night, I was like, no, this is no, what are you doing? Come on.

And honestly...

I thought she was dead for sure. Like that's it. That's the end of my life.

Yeah.

I thought it should have been, I thought it, I thought that was, that would have been a good, good part of the story.

And in hindsight, honestly, it probably would have been a better idea, you know, in that nobody had any idea that Carrie Fisher.

the actual human who plays her, you know, was going to pass away before she could complete the, you know, the ninth movie. Well, you know, you read all these articles, you hear all this stuff like episode one was Han's story, episode, or excuse me, episode seven was Han's story. Episode eight was Luke's story. Episode nine was supposed to be Leia's story. And we didn't get a chance to see that because, you know, the actress actually died. Um, so controversial opinion, but I think they should have recast her. I know people would probably throw things at me and burn me at the stake, you know, for that in Star

Yes.

Right.

but I heard, you know, who knows if it's true. I heard Meryl Streep was willing to play Princess Leia because she and Carrie were friends in real life. And she was like, I would do this for my friend. I love her so much. Yeah, I don't know if that's true, but I, you know, they said whoever they are, they said, so she could have made it work. It would have been so good. They could have found a way to make it work. Now what they tried to do was noble with the.

Oh my goodness. She was, she's great and whatever. Yeah.

Yep.

you know, the leftover footage from the Force Awakens. But, you know, in hindsight, if they would have let, even if it didn't die, if she didn't die in that moment, she died at the end of the film, you know, that would have been better for the story, I think, moving forward, you know, if they had to.

Yeah.

had to do it that way. Mine also comes from Star Wars Episode 8. And it is the whole reason of my conflict is that, you know, you watch Episode 7, it ends on a literal cliffhanger. Rey is standing on a cliff holding...

Yeah.

the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker. And you think this is it. This is everything I've ever dreamed about in my life. I get to see fully formed Luke Skywalker as a Jedi in action, right? Never got to see that until Mando did it for me. You know, he showed up and saved, saved Grogu anyways. Um, but he shows up and she hands him the labor, the saber and the first scene in the next movie. He throws it over his shoulder. I hate that so bad.

Yes, yep, yep.

Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yep. He's a mess. He's a complete and utter mess.

Oh, I hate it so bad.

See, I gotta chuckle all that soon. I was just like, he's tired of everything. He doesn't want anything to do with the Jedi. Goodbye lightsaber.

Yeah.

He's like, whatever. I'm done. I'm done.

I have a whole theory about this and and I don't you know, it's it's kind of a it's kind of it's kind of sad but like, you know, when you think about how the story is unfolding with with the Mando verse and with, you know, Grogu going to Luke choosing Luke and then choosing going back to Mando. That's his first student. His first student rejected him.

Like the mando.

His last student was Kylo Ren who, you know, he could sense the darkness in him. You know, they had their great conflict. Whatever point of view you want to choose to believe the story happened from, whether it was, you know, Kylo genuinely felt he was going to, or Ben Solo genuinely felt his uncle was going to kill him or Luke was just tempted in the moment and whatever, however you want to believe that went down. But...

Yeah.

part of me is like, I can kind of understand when I think about it, because he failed. The thing Yoda told him to do was pass on what you have learned and he couldn't do it. And then Leia, his own sister is like, I can't do this. The end of, you know, if you want to go with what they said in episode nine, she's like, you know, the end of this leads to the death of my son and I can't do this. So I have to stop training as a Jedi. So everyone he's ever tried to train, it hadn't worked. He has not been able to pass on what he has learned. And so as a complete utter failure, he's like, I'm done, I'm out of here. And he pieces out.

Yeah.

So I can kind of see it from that angle. Still, I hated that scene. I hated him throwing it over his shoulder. I hated him calling it a laser sword and all that junk. Like, I hated that with so much fury and passion.

Eh.

Yeah, they called it a laser sword and Phantom Menace too. And young Annie said, Oh, is that a laser sword? I remember going out. I was like, what, what does a laser sword? What is that? It's a lightsaber. Yeah. All right, Hannah.

Mm -hmm.

I'm gonna go.

It's safer.

Hannah, did you give us yours? Yeah, I'm curious what you think, Hannah.

Oh, it's episode nine, the whole, the everything about it, about Rush, Palpatine coming back. I thought he was dead. And episode three, like that's the, not episode three, episode six, like that's it. Palpatine's dead, he's gone, we don't have to worry about him anymore. And then he shows back up and I'm like, how are you alive? Did somebody catch you or something? Why are you alive? You should not be alive.

Yeah.

Right. Did somebody catch you? Yeah. Every, I was thinking, you know, yeah. And I'm thinking, you know, everybody in star Wars, if they fall down that shaft with that electrical lightning down in it, everybody dies when they fall down that shaft. There's all kinds of people that die in the original. They fall down the long shaft. That's like a staple. And I was thinking, how was he alive?

Yeah, and Poe, somehow he's alive.

Yeah.

Cole looked so exasperated saying like somehow Palpatine's alone. It's like, yeah, he, yeah. And then making Bray his granddaughter.

It's kind of like a...

Yeah, I guess he was a pulled some horror cruxes out from Harry Potter and he kept his soul alive.

Yeah. Yes, exactly.

I'm sorry.

That's what it was. It's some kind of Voldemort thing, you know. I think you've got to read like 16 comic books, you know, to get the full story of what really happened. But it was some type of like he transferred his essence into something else, but they couldn't, the body kept rejecting it and all that stuff until they finally found that last host, the dark magic or whatever, you know, whatever they called it. The dude from Lost, who shows up for the last movie, he's like, it's dark magic, you know, whatever.

Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yes.

All those things, that's the, I think that's the explanation of how he came back, which we didn't get in the movie, you know, so yeah, just a disaster.

Ugh.

No, and we never got, I always hated. We never got, I mean, they could have written in a books or comics because I don't have any knowledge of those, but like, where did snow come from when he was a bad guy was like, do we know where snow came from? He's just there.

Yeah.

The phone?

right? You're supposed to infer when you see him in those tubes, when Kylo Ren shows up the very beginning of episode nine and Exegol, you're supposed to infer that he was a clone of some sort that was imbibed with great force power, you know, but he was just a clone. He was just a, you know, an experiment of some sort.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Palpatine 1 .0.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Uh, yeah, I also didn't like still an episode eight, the whole storyline of the, uh, the planet with the gamblers and they're trying to get the gets trying to get the code, you know, I'm like, did we need any of that storyline? What was the purpose of going there and coming back and them talking about how Republican empire, they're all the same thing.

Yeah, can't toe bite.

I was like, what's the point of any of that storyline? It doesn't seem to do anything. We could have just zeroed that out and just had somebody else been a code breaker, which I didn't like that name.

Well, the biggest tragedy of all that to me, I mean, I could take or leave the CantoBite scene, you know, it's kind of fun seeing a Las Vegas of the Star Wars world, whatever, but.

you know, is that what was so good about episode seven, one of the things that was so good about episodes, let me tell you, I stand by episode seven. It's, it's still so good. But one of the things that was so good about it was the relationship between Finn and Poe. And so they send Finn on this adventure with this character, you know, Rose that we just don't know who is this person, you know, and they, they, they worked really hard to kind of give her a compelling backstory with their sister, Diane, in the first act of the film. And she's got the necklace and all that, like there's, they worked really hard.

Yep.

That's good.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was really good too.

Yeah.

hard to make you care about her. And so you do to an extent, but it's like the real chemistry that I wanted was Poe and Finn, you know, the bromance, you know, that's what I wanted from, you know, the same from from episode from episode seven. And, you know, if you want to think about the archetypal roles, you know,

Yeah.

Ray was Luke, Po was Han, and Finn was Leia. Finn was the one who constantly needed rescuing, as in episode four rescuing. And so keep that dynamic together, not in a romantic way, but just in a, they're funny together, hilarious, they've got good rapport, they've got good chemistry. We need to see those two on film together, and the whole movie, they're separated, because of this storyline. So that bugged me too, as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's true. There was a lot of, I stopped listening to podcasts because of episode eight. They just roared and yelled the whole time about how they're done with George Lucas and done with star Wars and what have I been doing with my whole life? They ruined it.

here even even with as as as sick as episode eight makes me and it just the storytelling choices is what I mean by that. Like it's like pizza. It's still really good. Even when it's bad it's still really good. That's how I feel about Star Wars. You know it's really it's so so good and I just I enjoy it. I love it. Even if it didn't do it. If they didn't do it the way they want. I wanted them to do it. It's still pretty awesome. I still enjoy it.

Yeah.

All right. Standalone films and TV shows for Star Wars. What are some of your favorites and your not so favorites?

Everything but everything but the nine movies

Go for it, Hannah.

She's thinking I'll go what she's thinking. Uh, mine might not be a popular choice, but my, uh, favorite and it's because of my son is the Han Solo movie. Uh, cause we went to go see the Han Solo movie and I was super jacked and excited to see this early Han Solo movie. And my son yelled and screamed and put his arms up and hollered and just had a ball in the film. Exactly.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

exactly what you want the kid to do in a Star Wars film, right? He did all of it. He was just hook line and sinker the whole way through. And I thought the flick was good. I mean, it wasn't serious. It wasn't heavy. It was just one liners from Han and Chewie. And, uh, I just dug it and I was like, man, that was a good flick. Woody Harrelson was in it. You kind of love Woody Harrelson. Um, and then Darth Maul was at the end and I was like, what?

Yeah.

Hehehehe.

And I was like, I'm so jacked to see what happens after this. And well, they killed it. Cause like.

Yeah.

Yeah, I was that was going to be one of my answers because I didn't think anyone would say that one. So I'll say something else, but let me just let me just, you know, stand for solo for a minute. I actually watched a good part of it like three or four nights ago. It just happened to be on television. I was flipping through the channels. I still have a remote and channels, you know, I have not cut the cord yet. I'm that old, but it was on. So I sat there and watched it now and I was like, this is so much better than I remember it.

Yep.

Yeah, it's a good flick.

And it was exactly what you said. It was fun. It was light. I think two things. I thought a lot about this. I think the troubled production.

You know, people, people just wrote it off before they saw it because of the trouble production, firing the directors, bringing in Ron Howard, you know, reshooting most of the movie, whatever they end up doing. I think people turned it were turned off from it because of that. And two, because all in Aaron, right? Doesn't look anything like Han Solo. He doesn't look anything like like Harrison Ford, which really stinks because he gave an amazing performance. Like he captured the essence.

Yeah.

He did. Yeah.

of Han Solo. He didn't look like him necessarily, but his smirk, his bravado, his irrational confidence, and all that. By the end, I was like, that dude's Han Solo. I thought he did a great job, honestly.

Yes, he did, yep.

Yeah.

Yeah. I wasn't mind that he was, you know, that he wasn't didn't quite look like him. I was like, he's got the whole Han solo essence going on about him and Lando Calrissian. I was like, he's got the whole Lando vibe going on. I was like, yeah, I'm fine with those choices. I would have really liked to have seen what happened later on.

Yeah.

It really would have been good. I think they set up some cool stuff. And like you said, when Maul showed up at the end, the guy sitting next to me in the theater, I don't know who he was, stood up out of his chair, because he had not seen any of the Clone Wars and that stuff. He was like, what? Like he freaked out in that moment. How is he alive? You know, like it was one of those like truly like memorable like, oh wow, that's so cool.

Yep.

Heheheheh

Yeah, I was doing the same thing. My eyes were bugged out. I was like, Oh man, it's on. What is that?

Lose!

Yeah, Solo was good, a lot better than what people gave it credit for. And I wish it did better so that they could have continued telling those stories.

You lose!

All right, Hannah, what's your favorite in -betweeners?

I loved Rogue One. It was really good, just standalone and it kind of really explained the story of how the Death Star plans got to Leia. And Alan Tudok as the droid was just a sad little droid. I loved him. But the chemistry...

I'm one with the force and the forces with me. I'm one with the forts and the forces with me. Oh, he's, he's my favorite. That was my favorite guy in rogue one.

That's it.

That whole scene where I'm on the beach and they're trying to get this signal, the satellite, back up and they're all dying and I'm like, no, stop dying, please, I love you all. Like, it hurt. It's like I grew an emotional attachment to them and I was like, no.

Dude.

Yeah. The ending to rogue one. I mean, you can't get any better than the ending to rogue one. That was just perfect.

It did.

Mm -mm.

And I'm kind of happy that while the two main characters, you know, they had a little bit like a chemistry, but I'm kind of glad they didn't like express it anyway. They just kind of hugged and it was actually really nice.

Right, right.

Yeah. I have as a writer, I have written a sequel to that movie, Rogue Two, in my brain, and I managed to get two or three of them who actually somehow survived. I figured out a way. The dude in the, gosh, what was his name? I can't remember. He was like the...

Yeah. I'll tell you what.

Right?

Oh.

trader he was with the Empire and he came over and he was the pilot and he was trying to connect the connection so they can make the communication. He gets blown up in the shuttle. You know and you don't ever you see the shuttle blow up but so in my mind I was like they could find a way that he slipped out of there somehow survive so get him survived and what Stardust father what was her what was his name Galen or so the dude that that created.

That's it.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's it.

Right?

Yeah.

Yes. The Death Star.

the Death Star, somehow he survived. Like he got shot up, you know, on that deck or wherever he was with the rain. They brought him in, they threw him in the back of the tank, he survived. And then they could upload the memories of...

Thank you.

K2SO, the droid, and have him and have him and so I could have three people from the original movie. And so then the whole line from Return the Jedi, many both inside to bring us this information, we could finally find out what that means. We call it rogue two and everything. So I've already written it in my brain. Call me Lucasfilm. I've got it. I've got the idea. Oh, man. Yeah, rogue one and and or less. I mean, let's not let's not.

Yes.

I love it.

I didn't watch Sandor, unfortunately.

Oh, you need to log off this podcast right now and go turn on Disney Plus and watch Andor right now. It is so good. It is so good.

Oh man, that is.

It is so different. It is so different than I was like, am I watching law and order? What am I watching here? This is a drama. I was like, where's my poo poo poos. Yeah. I mean, I mean, there's so little of the action stuff. I mean, it is a, like a crime drama all the way through.

I got time, so.

Yeah. Yeah.

Wait, so is it?

Yeah. It's a heist. Yeah, the f -

I heard it started off kind of like slow and dry and then like picked up. I think that's why it's like

Hmm. It's pretty slow the whole way through. It is like a, a simmer of just like dramatic, like, yes, I always thought I was like, this is a hardcore crime drama. I was like, this is so different.

Yeah, I mean, it is prestige TV, if you know what that means. It is Star Wars prestige TV, like more so than anything Star Wars has ever done. And you know, I won't spoil it for you, Hannah, but at the end, stand up and fight! Like I had chills running up and down my whole body in that moment. It was so.

Yeah.

Yep.

Good. And or is fantastic. Like yes, the first four or five are basically a heist movie, the build and then, and then a heist. And then the second, the second three or four or five, I don't remember exactly how many it, yeah. It's like a prison break. Yeah. The prison break element is so good. So seriously, Hannah, stop what you're doing. When we get up, when we log up this podcast, go turn it on and go watch it. It's so good.

Yeah.

Prison break, prison break.

Love a good person, Brooke.

Yeah. And it's long too. You know, most of these things we get six, eight episodes. This was longer and it really was like two stories. You've got this one part. I'm not going to ruin it for you, but you have the, they're on this quest to go do this thing. Right. And then they get in trouble and now there's, you know, then they have the consequence of that quest that they got to break out of too. Uh, yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Yeah, it's so good. And it does give you an appreciation for Cassie and Andor, you know, and sort of like, you know, sort of the non -glamorous, the non -Jedi side of the rebellion, you know, sort of how the gritty sort of how it really happened behind the scenes, how the sausage was made, you know, kind of thing. That's right. That's right.

I shall give it a watch.

Yes.

Yep. This is what everyone else was doing besides Jedi's. This is out the rest of that. All right. Uh, so what character do you think is like the real glue of the story? Who's, who's like the most real to the storyline? Who's the most important person, uh, you know, for the franchise, who really is like, man, if there were that person at any point had fallen off, we don't know what would have happened. Who do you think?

I think if we're talking like episodes one through four, what's the story been for? Obi -Wan? I think if he weren't there, Anakin would not have been Anakin and we wouldn't have got that brotherly relationship. Also, it's Obi -Wan Kenobi. He's the king of sass. I think we would have missed an important storyline with Obi -Wan and his character death. I don't think Anakin would have had been Anakin. He just would have been Anakin, not the chosen one.

Yep.

Right. My pool is, uh, R2 D2, uh, actually in watching, uh, Phantom menace, uh, they're on this plane trying to get out and they're about dead. And R2 is the only droid that survives and fixes the ship from Naboo and they get through the blockade and they like give them a medal and a ceremony. They're like, yeah, without this R2 unit, we would have never made it through.

Yeah.

Oh!

Yes.

And I was like, how many planes is our two fixed at the last second? And that's it's like almost one, every film that he's in, he fixes of, uh, fixes a plane and then.

He really is the secret MVP. He's always doing something behind the scenes to make the thing happen.

four or two.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I love an episode seven where they had BB eight do the same thing. Fix a plane at the last second. I was like, that's classic R2 right there. I was like, I'm glad they did that. Cause R2 saves the day with saving planes all the time.

Hmm. I have a hard time with this question. I mean, cause you know, cause the right answer is probably Anakin Skywalker, right? I mean, if you, if you're looking at it from a, from a, you know, sheer like his presence, even in the films he's not in episode seven, eight, nine, his presence still looms large, you know, with his burned up helmet, you know, and all that and kind of.

Yep. Oh, that's so good. The helmet.

Kylo becoming sort of the proto or the next version, the next iteration of Darth Vader. So much so he wanted to wear a mask, you know, all those things. Yeah. But for me, the old version of Vader as a kid in the eighties, you know, some kids wanted to be Han Solo. I just wanted to be Luke Skywalker, you know, like I want to be the kid who did the right thing.

millennial version.

You're right.

who cared, you know, who would give up his life, you know, to save, you know, to save his dad or whoever it was that mattered to him most, you know. So for me, I think the glue character is Luke Skywalker. And I got really excited in the, Hannah, you might appreciate this, in the Star Wars Rebels, the Rebels episode where Ezra Bridger actually goes to Tatooine.

Yep.

and he meets Obi -Wan if you've not seen this episode. Have you all seen this episode?

I've only watched like, more tropes as a rebel. I didn't.

Rebels is just Clone Wars 2 .0. It's just the sequel to that. So yeah, watch Andor first and then Rebels. There are some episodes you're like, eh, you know, is this one really necessary? So you could probably do a search. Just search the web and be like, yeah, what are the episodes of Rebels that I really need to watch? And, you know, watch those. You don't have to watch them all. But since you hadn't seen it, I won't spoil everything that happens. But...

Okay, I'll add it to the list.

I think I watched the ones with a soga in them.

there's a character that has a conversation with Obi -Wan in that episode about Luke and asks him, is he the Chosen One? And he says yes. Obi -Wan says yes, meaning not Anakin is the Chosen One, Luke was the Chosen One, because Luke was the one that actually brought balance to the Force. So that's my defense of Luke being the actual glue guy of the whole series.

Yeah.

All right. So a burning question for a lot of people is Grogu Yoda's kid.

I don't know if I want him to be Yoda's kid. Like, I don't know!

Heheheheh

I think he's Yoda's clone. He's Yoda's clone. Yep. Because, you know, in Mando, there's some type of, you know, they're trying to figure out this cloning technology. Cloning is a part of the story. And so I think there's a secret possible that possibility that Grogu is actually Yoda's cloned self. That's, that's my theory. So no, I don't think he's his son. I think he's his clone.

You think he's Yoda's clone? I like that version.

That's scary. That's really scary.

Yep. Yes, it is.

Definitely could have been.

yeah. if this wasn't yoda like the only one of his kind or whatever yeah.

Yeah, cause...

What's the only one we know of?

Well, there's actually another one called yaddle. All right. So boy, I'm just flying my flying my, my nerd flag here. Yaddle was in the Jedi council and episode one, you can see her in the circle with Mace Windu and you know, all the other like and Yoda and all the other. So yaddle's in that one. And there's actually a star Wars short on Disney plus. So you can see, I can't remember what they're called. It came out last year.

Yeah

Yes you are.

I um, Carol's with the Jedi. That's actually where I remember her from. Yeah.

Yes, Tales of the Jedi, where it shows Yaddle's fate, what happens to Yaddle in one of the Count Dooku stories. They're really short, they're maybe like 10 or 15 minutes each, but they're really good, like they're really, really good, and they fill in a lot of holes between how did Dooku become Dooku and how did Qui -Gon, you know, what were some of his choices and those sort of things. So Yaddle is in one of those episodes, you see what happens to her.

I'll have to check that out.

Right.

Yeah. Cause I was thinking, I was thinking on this, uh, question of Grogu being Yoda's kid thinking we get that scene in Mando where, you know, where he gets to see his memory of when order 66 is put out and they're killing everybody off and people are trying to save Grogu and protect them. And there's other young Jedi dying, trying to get him out. I was like, so he's really important. And they shuffle them out. And I was like, the timeline fits. I said,

I was like him and Yoda have to be somehow connected. He can't just be our another random yodeling or whatever their species is called. I hope it's yodeling.

Supposedly, supposedly there's been a Yoda origin story film kind of bandied about for several years and they keep scrapping it. I imagine we'll see it at some point, maybe not a film.

Yeah.

Subpoint.

Disney Plus story or of some sort. But yeah, somebody will explain where he came from. It'll be disappointing. We don't really want to know. That's the best part about it. We don't really want to know where he's from, his backstory. Just that he is and that he's awesome. That's the most important thing.

Yeah.

Here's Yoda.

Um, uh, best feel good moments you've had, uh, watching any star Wars film, either in a theater at home. And you can might have several of them. I've got a couple that come to mind, uh, myself and they're all theater related. Uh, but what are some of your best feel good moments?

Mm.

So I watched the series finale of Bad Bites yesterday and when Himlock died, I kid you not, I was practically dancing the entire episode. I was like, Himlock's dead. Himlock's gonna die. Best character death ever. But I think it was when I went to see episode nine in theaters with my dad and we...

Hehehehehe

washed it, we went to Whole Foods afterwards to have some lunch and we're just sitting there discussing theories of how how did Palpatine come back? How is Ray related to Palpatine? How did that happen? And we're just talking and I'm like I'm bonding with my dad, he's bonding with me and we're having a really good time talking about something that we love and it was really nice.

Yeah, that's, that's similar for me. It definitely involves going to movie theaters with my children and, and seeing, and seeing movies. So I was, uh, you know, again, I will stand for episode seven. It's so good. Um, you know, I, I, people say it's just a clone of episode four. It's the same story. It's not, it's different. It has similarities, but it's not the same thing. Anyway, all that to say I'm, I was sitting at home and I get a call from a coworker.

on it's like Thursday, you know, the movie comes out on Friday, but you can go see it on Thursday. And it's like Thursday at like six o 'clock and a coworker says, Hey, I've got an extra ticket to see Force Awakens tonight at the theater in your, you know, in your community. Do you want to go see it? And I had to like get a green light from my kids. I had a green light from another buddy that I was going to go see it with the next day. We'd already bought tickets. Everybody's like, yeah, that's fine. Go ahead. You know, so I got to see that movie, you know,

Yep.

Yep, right, right, right.

So, on opening night with a packed crowd, unbelievable. Well, the next day, I went to go see it with one of my buddies.

And he's a huge Han Solo guy. You know, I'm Luke Skywalker guy. He's a Han Solo guy. So we're sitting there and the scene when they're on Jakku and they're running from the, from the first order and they're blasting, they're blowing things up and Ray and, and, and Finn run towards the ship. And also you see that it's the Millennium Falcon. And I remember my buddy just freaking out, you know, just being so excited. So that, that always feels good. And then the next day after that, so Thursday, Friday, Saturday, three days in a row, I saw the force awakens. I took my sons. I took my two sons, fine.

Yeah.

Ah, nice.

my daughter was too little, you know, but I took my two sons and just, you know, to see the excitement and the joy, you know, in their life. Of course, I was probably a little bit too mean. I was like, you guys got to go to the bathroom. You can't see anything. You know, you can't drink anything for like six hours before this movie. That's right. And they were little guys. They were like, you know, three and five at the time. It's no seven at seven and seven and five at the time. And it was just so much fun. So yeah, just.

Right, right, right. Right. I'm not taking you to the bathroom at all. Nope.

Ha ha.

You know, going to see Star Wars with my kids, you know, has been one of the most like feel good, feel good memories. But I've got tons, I've got tons of Star Wars feel good memories, tons and tons of them, but those are, those are the best, the ones with the kids.

Yeah. Mine is a definitely when force awakens comes out. I was like, Oh man, I don't know how many times I watched the trailer. I was like, I can't believe we're getting Luke. We're getting Leah. We're getting Han. I was like, it's coming back and my kids can watch it with me and I was showing them the trailer and as we went and we saw it and I had all this like hope that they were going to be diehard store. We're fans just like their dad. And now I cry a little bit cause they're not, uh, but we all went and it was just, yeah.

And hearing the music on the screen and I was like, I can't believe it's like, I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime again. I just never, never thought it would happen. Um, uh, yeah.

Yeah.

Matt, I had the exact same feeling. I remember sitting in, and when episode three came out, I remember saying, take this in, you're never gonna hear this song again in a movie theater, for a movie you've never seen. It's never gonna happen again. Take it in, and then when it happened, episode seven, I got a little misty, I gotta admit, I'm a sappy guy, I got a little choked up when the fanfare played, and it was, oh gosh, I got so excited, my eyes were definitely watering.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yep. I definitely got t -shirts for the kids. Cause the merch was out, you know, before the flick was and they all little star wars shirts and we were all going in. There's a big family. Yeah. So it was fun. I also remember when Phantom menace came out, we were, I was in Florida with my family and, uh, my brother and I went to go see it on opening weekend and every, there was lines, everybody was dressed up, you know, for the.

prequels and everybody was super excited. And we get in the theater and it's this massive theater. We were at Disney in Florida's massive theater and they had people like lightsaber battling in the front, hyping everyone up. And it was just, that was just spectacular. And then the film ended and I looked at my brother and I was like, I don't know if I liked it. Did you like it? On official, I was like, what do we watch?

Thank you.

I was like, I don't know if this is what I expected. Do we like this? My brother's like, I don't know if I like this or not. I don't think it was meant for us.

Yes, that's exactly right. It was not meant for the generation of kids that grew up watching it in the 80s. It was meant for the generation underneath. That's right, for children.

Uhhh...

No.

from my generation. Woo!

And now, and now my son, he's 17, uh, Jar Jar is like one of his favorite characters, right? And I was like, Oh, I was watching Phantom Menace today when I, uh, and every time I was putting Legos together, I was watching Phantom Menace and there's just a couple of times I'm like, Oh my God, Jar Jar. I really don't like you. I was like, Oh, but to like a five year old kid, seven year old kid. Um, yeah. So.

Well, think about the kid who's 10 years old, who goes to see, or 11, however old Anakin was supposed to be, who goes to see the Phantom Menace. He wants to fly that pod racer. He wants to get in that ship and actually win the battle. So he totally sees himself in Anakin. Three years later, he's starting to like girls. He sees Padme. He sees Anakin. He's like, man, I'm feeling what he's feeling. I like her. And so he's starting to have these feelings.

George Lukya.

Yep.

Yep.

Good.

Three years later after that, man, he's dark, he's brooding, he's mad. And so is Anakin. I mean...

Yeah.

You can say whatever you want about the stories weren't as good or they were too overly reliant on special effects, whatever you want to say about the prequels. But Lucas was a genius in how he told that story to rope in a whole nother generation of boys, especially who could see themselves in Anakin, you know, who could who could relate to him and be like, that dude's my hero. I know he's the bad guy, but he's still my hero. I love it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, they didn't need our, uh, our, well, they didn't, they didn't make to make the films for us because they knew we were coming, whether we liked it or not. They were roping in the next generation. That took me several years to accept what Phantom Menace really is. I was like, it's not what I wanted, but it's not for you. It's for the next crew. I was like, Oh,

That's right. That's right.

I'm weird. I loved it. I loved it the first night it came out when I was in college when I went to go see it and when it's coming out. I mean, I wasn't like, yeah, that was as good as Empire Strikes Back or anything. I didn't feel that, but I was like, man, that was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. That was great. It wasn't till years later and people were like, you know, those movies kind of suck, right? And I'm like, really? Oh, maybe they do, you know, really.

Yeah.

I was conflicted when it came out, but now they've got a whole nother, like, um, there's a whole surgeons of people talking how great the prequels are, but it's those younger generation that's gotten older and now they've got a voice.

Yeah.

and Christian.

That's right.

I think I was watching like TikTok or somewhere on Pinterest, but it's like Hayden Christian. He got all this hate for playing Anderson Skywalker. It's like, it's not him, it's the writing, it's all that. So he's here at the Star Wars conference and he's like, you know, I'm Hayden Christian and the crowd just goes wild and you can see his face tear up. And it's like the kids who grew up watching you are now louder than the adults who grew up watching the original.

Yeah, he sure did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And yes, yes. And then Hayden was, um, reprised his role. And it was at an Ashoka. Was that where he pops? Okay. Yeah. That was just spectacular. Right.

That's okay, yeah.

Yes! So good.

My 15 year old son took a picture of him when he showed up in his clone wars outfit and he was just like, he's so beautiful. It looks so good. Like he was so like, this is what I've always wanted to see, Anakin in live action, you know, in the clone wars. Oh, he loved it. It was so funny.

That was amazing.

Yep.

Yeah.

He's magnificent.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. But I got to say, yeah, I was really conflicted. I coming out of that first one, but now watching it today. Uh, so yeah, some of the writing I'm like, what I was like, Natalie Portman, why are you having her giving her these lines? I mean, she's a spectacular actress. I was like, and she's totally just like, you know, not anywhere. Her character is not anywhere close to what she can do. I was like, I really wish it would have been nice if.

Yeah.

I mean...

I guess there was another voice on this set to really push the dialogue a bit better, but.

Yeah, it was flawed, but in terms of a story, at least.

it had a beginning, middle and end that makes sense. Unlike the sequels who, you know, the beginning makes a lot of sense. The middle is like, what are we thinking? And then the end is like, I don't know what we're gonna have to do. You know, it's, have you seen that there's a meme of like a horse and it's like beautifully drawn. The first one, the second one gets kind of janky and the third one, it looks like it's like a three year old finished the picture is like, this is the sequel trilogy. This is exactly what it is. It's really funny.

Yes.

Yep. Yeah.

Hehehehe... Hehehehehe

The ninth movie felt so like crammed together like they were throwing ideas everywhere and I'm like I don't know what to do with this information.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, the last one is probably, well, it's not my least. I still think Phantom Menace is my, I don't know which one's my least. I'll have to watch the last one again. Cause the pod scene, pod racing scene, the first one is really glorious.

Yeah, I mean, I think the way most people feel now is that episode two is the worst of the prequels. That episode one is actually better than episode two. But I think they're all kind of about equal. Three is better. And honestly, from the point when Anakin tells, in episode three, when Anakin tells Mace Windu that Palpatine is a Sith.

to the end of the movie is some of the best Star Wars that there is. It was so good. The beginning leading up is in, but from that point on and the music, the John Williams score of that like, you know, that like eerie feeling that, oh, it's about to happen, you know? Oh gosh, it's so good. Fantastic.

Ah.

Thanks for watching!

Yep.

That was one of the best things, um, about episode one hour. Yeah. Uh, dual the fates man was so good. We bought the soundtrack came out. We all went to Walmart in college and got the soundtracks before the film came out and we are looking at the titles and we all started screaming. Cause the last soundtrack, it says like death of Qui -Gon Jen or whatever.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, Qui -Gon's noble end.

Yeah, Dan, we were like, no, spoiler, what? He's gonna die?

Imagine a world before spoilers, you know, before people were like super worried about it. You could you couldn't learn everything about something before it comes out, man. Yeah, that's so funny.

Yeah.

Yeah, that devastated us. We're like, Oh no, but, um, yeah. Um, I, yeah, I'm all for the next round of star Wars. Whenever that starts popping out. That's for sure.

I know they've said the Skywalker trilogy or the Skywalker saga is over, but man, come on. Just give it 10 years, just like you did before. Give it 15, whatever, and let's do it. Let's do it, episode 10. I think we all want it. Everybody wants it. Just tell a good story. Figure out how to tell a good story, and let's do it.

Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. Tell a good story. Well, you know, raise already said she's back to continue and they're supposed to be another flick with her, but whether it's a Skywalker flick or not, I don't know, but I know whatever it is, Tatooine will be in the middle of everything. That's the most important plan in the franchise.

Yeah.

Right.

We'll be right back.

probably the answer. Yeah, Tatooine is probably the answer. What is the glue that holds the whole thing together is Tatooine.

Yeah, it's like...

I know Lucas said, it was like, why are all your stuff, you know, in the desert? He was like, well, I says I could shoot in the desert for almost no money whatsoever. And he says, so we just had a lot of desert scenes. He says it's the closest thing to an alien planet and that would fit our budget.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's true.

All right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, thanks for coming on the show tonight. There. I was thinking, I was like, there's so much more star Wars we could talk about. I mean, we didn't even talk Harley about Mando or any of the other stuff. I mean, there's so much, uh, that's great, but we'll save all that for another day. And, uh, uh, Hannah, thanks for coming on. Kyle. Thanks for coming on. Uh, yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, go by the dead rock stars.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's rusting.

Thanks for having us, this was a lot of fun.

Uh, and, uh, Kyle wrote a fantastic book. I don't read a lot of novels, but that one was, was a really great read. So you will love the dead rock stars and, um, and guys, we might do this again next year.

Thank you for that.

Count me in.

Looking forward.

Yep. Everybody go watch some star Wars and, uh, may the force be with you.