and welcome to Stanford Cinema, the film discussion podcast where you choose it, I watch it, and we discuss it. As always, I'm your I'm your friend, but I am your friend. I am your host. My name is Andrew. Thank you very much for joining us. I'm a little you know what? We're doing this live. This is the first time we've ever done a actual video version of this podcast.
So, yeah, it's a little bit different. But if you are new to the show, thank you very much for checking us out. Again, my name is Andrew. And yeah, so. We've been doing the show for about, I don't know. I mean, this is the fifth season. We've been doing this for quite some time. But if you are a fan of the show, you know that. My all-time favorite guest slash best friend is Mr. John Rowe, who is with us.
This evening, and I can't wait to officially welcome him on. But I'm going to do a little waffle here for a second. But if you're familiar with the show, you know that. John and I have covered many, many, many things. But about three or so years ago, he said, you know, I really want to do the Star Wars saga. And I was like, I don't know, because I don't know what John is doing right now. But I do like I.
Yeah, there he is. There he is. Again, if you're watching you, if you're listening, you can listen, but you can also watch this episode on YouTube. This is the first time we've ever done a YouTube version of this show. But to backtrack a second. John said, let's do Star Wars. And I said, OK, I'll go on this journey. I'm a little hesitant because there I think I like. fewer Star Wars movies than there are. Actually, I don't know if that sentence made any sense. actual structure.
I like a few Star Wars films and I don't like more Star Wars films than I do enjoy, but. I said, you know what, this will be fun because maybe I'm wrong on these and it'd be fun to kind of like revisit it. So we've done them in complete chronological order. We started with episode one and now. We are going to be doing episode nine, the rise of Skywalker. But a fun fact.
This is now our third attempt at trying to do The Rise of Skywalker. There have been a couple little issues over the past couple of years, and we thought maybe this will just be an episode that remains in the vault. But we're like, no, no, no, no, no. May the 4th be with you is coming on. May the 4th be with you is coming on. So we're like, you know what? Yeah, let's do it. And so here we are. We're going to do it.
I'm so excited because we've got Mr. John Rowe joining us. And John, how's it going, man? Hey, thanks. Thanks for having me, Andrew. Thanks for going pretty good here. It's getting to be kind of a stormy season in central Texas. So there's kind of tornado warnings north of us. You might hear some rain in the background or something like that. But things are going well for me. I, first time on in a while, did want to wish you a happy belated birthday.
I think you just had one pretty recently. Yeah. And so from me and all your fans, happy birthday. And this has been an epic affair that we started. I didn't know. what we were getting into, but we've had a lot of fun along the way. It is true. And I totally know what you mean about... I think you're just disappointed. You keep hoping that there's going to be a good one and the nostalgia of your childhood and the originals and how good they were and stuff.
We're going to talk lots of Star Wars tonight. But I'm excited. Excited to be here. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. And you know what? You know, a wise person once said that... You know, Star Wars, like an episode of Star Wars is a lot like pizza. When it's good, it's really good. And when it's bad, it's...
still pretty good, right? So, I mean, that's really what it comes down to is even though the fact that some of these Star Wars films aren't the greatest, they're still pretty fun because they're Star Wars. And... I can't believe it, man. This is the end of a journey, you know, like now, granted, there's a lot of new content in the Star Wars universe, Mandalorian and or.
uh obi-wan kenobi and lord knows what else will happen but theoretically this is the end of the star wars saga or rather the skywalker saga for the cinematic universe and I'm looking forward to going into a bit of, not necessarily a deep, deep dive, but a bit of a deep dive. And I've got some... some general things that I want to look at, like the the legacy and expectations, character arcs, themes, some of the technical aspects as well.
some controversies. I want to take a couple of looks at some potential controversies that affected this particular film. the trilogy as a whole the bigger picture where this movie stands not just in the overall legacy but the most recent trilogy what your thoughts are is this a fitting conclusion and um you know a little bit of a wrap-up and
Of course, because we've done it many times over, a little bit of a quiz for you. So those are some of the things that I've got. I'm kind of curious, is there anything that you want to bring to the table tonight?
note off the top of my head excited about all those well for sure and the thing is we've had time now i mean in some ways to look at where these people what they've been doing for the past five years i mean it's almost there's been enough time that it's like where are they now are they still working
uh but yeah um but i don't know where you want to start i mean uh director jj i mean is that also the controversy a little you know i thought one of the whole thing yeah i think we'll get i think we'll get i think we'll get to the controversy and bringing jj abrams back I think that's also more about the fact that the original director was fired. But I think we'll get into that.
You've got to start with the crawl. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's what we've done, right? Absolutely. I'll try to bring on my most prepared voice. Here we go. Star Wars, Episode IX, The Rise of Skywalker. The dead speak. The galaxy has heard a mysterious broadcast, a threat of revenge in the sinister voice of the late Emperor Palpatine.
General Leia Organa dispatches secret agents to gather intelligence, while Rey, the last hope of the Jedi, trains for battle against the diabolical First Order. Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Kyle Ren rages in search. of the Phantom Emperor determined to destroy any threat to his power. So what do we get out of that? So, oh, yeah, by the way, Palpatine. Well, he's he's he's back. He's back. Yeah.
You know, Leia is dispatching secret agents while Rey is finishing her Jedi training, which is interesting because her previous teacher is now dead. So she's all that's left of the Jedi Order, right? And Kylo's supreme leader. Yeah, he's in charge. Kyle Ren is a supreme leader and he's seeking out the emperor and determined to destroy any threat to his power.
So you got a little bit of a power struggle that's going on. But I think the first thing that I want to kind of address is right there. The dead speak. The galaxy has heard a mysterious broadcast threat of revenge and the sinister voice of the late. emperor palpatine um So I have thoughts. You know, this was something that was controversial. Not to make this an episode about hot takes, but bringing Palpatine back is a choice, right? I mean, what are your thoughts on that?
I mean, in favor of it, in a story arc, as long as this one, you usually face the big bad, you know, Saruman character. You know, somebody maybe who's even defeated death before. So I didn't I don't have a problem. Would I rather have been? Kylo Ren or some, I mean, they had to have some, if Kylo Ren has a redemption story, somebody has to take the place of the villain. And with Snoke dead, who's all of a sudden going to come out of nowhere in the third film to be the big bad villain?
In some ways, it may just had to have been Palpatine. So I didn't have a problem with it. It is. you know on the left field and stuff like that but uh that's the way i kind of look at it in the grand scheme of things he's always been the bad guy and so whenever they go to face the big bad evil thing like it the grand emperor and it's not one death star every ship has a death star capability so it's it's you know everything to 11 interesting thought like so i agree in that
somebody has got to be like the big bad. You have to have a big bad. Do you think just out of curiosity, obviously we've covered and for the listeners, I'll have a link to each and every single episode that John and I have covered. for every Star Wars film. So, you know what? You've got nothing to do for the next 13 or so hours. Go back and listen to each episode that John and I covered on this very topic. I'm curious, do you think, do you feel they may have...
kind of put themselves behind the eight ball or wrote themselves into a corner by killing off Snoke. And then like, well, shit. Kylo is kind of like the big bad, but he has to have somebody worse than him. And Snoke was kind of the guy that we thought would be. And then by dispatching him really easily. well, shit, what do we do now? Well, I guess we'll bring Palpatine back, even though there aren't really many...
nods within this trilogy. That was something that they could do and if you don't feel that way fine i'm just kind of curious just because of the fact that i do agree there there there probably should be a overall sinister voice but You know, if you're going to kill off said sinister voice and then Kylo is going to take the reins on that. I feel almost, you know, like maybe you've doubled down on that thought. And in this film, he... it's a full-on ascension into Kylo Ren. And so...
I don't know. It's I'm just kind of posing a thought because I can see it going either way. But I'm just kind of curious because, one, do you think they wrote themselves into a corner or do you think. This could have worked or this did work, but it might have been more effective had they, I don't know, teased. a notion uh yeah well no i i get your question and i think
I think the great failure of the series is not having a good showrunner who's going to carry the story from movie to A, B to C. I think there's a lot of what J.J. Abrams did to get... to kind of retcon or to get rid of uh what they you know was in the last one and how they've been working together, you could have a part where, you know, snow.
is slowly revealed or walks into another room and you find out he's possessed by Palpatine. And so you don't even have to go too far from where the story is. So, yeah, there's a lot of that. um i just also think that that's where some of my thoughts though a long time ago when episode three was it's like i just want anakin hunting down the jedi it's like it's like we we all want that movie and they've never I mean, they're starting to give us some pretty dark stuff with Andor, but either way...
I would have liked that. I think that would have been better. Yes, they wrote themselves into a corner. I think J.J. Abrams did a lot to get rid of that. Some of the things he probably didn't like in the last movie. I feel like the only scene, well, I don't know if we want to get into actors, but like we're talking about. Frodo's buddy was it Dominic Monaghan or yeah yeah he's got like one little line and all he says is like
Oh, that's a one in a million move. Really underutilized cameo right there. There's a few underutilized actors in this movie. What I do think with the success – or not success, but – What I did like about the movie is they were able to get everybody that they pretty much had. It wasn't like in Avengers where they had a showrunner who they got them all at the end and it's emotional and great. But you got Luke, Leia, Lando, Han, Chewie, C-3PO, R2-D2. You got Vader's match. You got Palpatine.
So that's really where I want to talk about what I think is good about the movie is they were able to get the whole saga into the movie. They were able to kind of give people their dues. So that's what I did like. Now, what I didn't like is how every scene seems to be like, oh, we lost C-3PO or ooh, we found a dagger or Chewie's dead. Oh, but no, Chewie's not dead. And now we need to get on the ship, which helps us.
move the plot forward so they were jumping scene to scene so that's where i thought the real kind of failure of the movie was, I suppose. Yeah, this, just to kind of even tie into Lord of the Rings, just because you brought, you know, Frodo's buddy, this movie did a little... You know, the return of the king in a sense that there were some deep fakes on.
This person said, no, they're not. I changed my mind. Right. Like, yeah. And, you know, just to kind of like tie into that. But yeah, obviously, I forget what it wasn't. It took it was the the other the other. Hobbit. But anyway, you know, you had some cameos that were kind of brief in the film, but from a story structure. I think some of this, and I apologize, I was looking away because I just wanted to get the filmmaker. So essentially...
Colin Trevorrow, I think, I apologize if I'm butchering his surname, but Colin Trevorrow, he was originally hired to be the writer-director of this film, and he got shit-canned. after like in 2017 and so i think he is only like kind of like a story by credit and his version of the uh the final star wars was supposed to be called like duel of the fate So they kind of like tinkered. So this story does feel a little bit rushed in many ways.
on what they were doing now. I think there's still a lot of things in this movie that do work. You mentioned J.J. Abrams retconning some of the shit that happened in the previous movie. And I have thoughts on the previous film, and I think we've covered it in our last episode. I think over time, I think maybe I've softened a little bit on on. I've already forgot the title of episode eight, but I think I've softened a little bit on it just because I think stylistically it's probably the coolest.
film, just aesthetically, it looks really neat. I think the action sequences are good, even though there's a lot of things that are happening in the movie that I don't quite follow or understand, i.e. Leia floating through space in a coma like I'll never be okay with that that just doesn't make sense to me just from the film I understand maybe that it might may have been brought up in novels and different cartoons, or maybe, maybe it hasn't. I don't know, but.
cinematically it just seems strange it's like oh she got blown up and that's how she dies um but anyway i bring all of that to say is there are things that are going on in this film that I think there is something here. I do feel... that there's an element that the movie was rushed. And I do think there's a lot of like fan service in this film to kind of make audience members kind of happy, which is fine because of the fact that realistically.
Two films of this most recent trilogy critically were kind of okay. The fan reception was kind of murky in many ways. Certainly the previous version where the critics loved it and the audiences hated it. And so I don't know if Colin Trevorrow, like whatever his version looked like, but it felt like J.J. Abrams when he came back to it.
wanted to pay a lot a lot of like homage to some of that fan fiction bringing lando back uh listen i love wedge coming back that's kind of cool um but just you know just other yeah Just some other things. And then even, hey, we're going to kill off Chewie. No, we're not. We're not going to. Which, structurally and story-wise, yeah, it would have been a bummer to kill him. But I don't know. I think there's an element of stakes that... Chewie dying due to Rey.
fucking you know fucking things up might have actually been kind of interesting and been like, Oh shit. Okay. Now I'm, I don't know. I don't know. Um, maybe that's a different conversation for a different time, but. Bottom line is, you know, we're 15, 20 minutes, an hour. I don't know how long we've been chatting. There's a lot going on, and I don't know if there's a clear consensus on what works and what doesn't. So before we get there.
We did the crawl, but I just want to kind of like run through what what this film essentially is about and just kind of like a reader's digest, you know, for the listener that haven't heard. So this. It's kind of like how I would break down Apologize because I kind of like jotted something. So what is this movie about? I kind of like created like a little brief summary of this movie. So.
Essentially, the movie begins with the shocking return of Emperor Palpatine. And Kylo Ren is searching for... for searching him because he wants like the old he wants ultimate power and he finds palpatine in this hidden world of exegol where the emperor reveals he's essentially mask this Sith fleet, which he has called the Final Order. Meanwhile, Rey is still working on her Jedi training.
Kind of through Leia, even though it's kind of unclear that Leia is really doing anything other than having conversations with her. But, you know, she's learning through Leia. But her and Finn and Poe essentially go on this, you know, hero's journey, if you will, to find this wayfinder, like kind of like this. spherical thing which is able to locate exegol and stopping palpatine and and um
Kylo along the way. And then Rey is grappling with this truth of who she is. She doesn't quite know, but we find out that she's the granddaughter of Palpatine because I guess once upon a time, Palpatine was... It was fucking fucking, which is a weird thing to think about that Palpatine, you know, like to.
throw it out i got some questions i don't want to stop you though i got some questions about that uh but then kylo and uh ray engage in constant you know like several different little confrontations uh eventually ray like um Morley wounds Kylo. She then heals himself. And then... Kylo has a vision of Han Solo. He sheds himself of his weak, or rather his dark identity, and reclaims his title back as Ben Solo, so it's his redemption arc.
Whether it's rushed or not, whatever, he does reclaim his identity. And then the resistance, i.e. the rebellion, unite for a final stand. So I'll return to the Jedi 2.0. all over again. And then Ray, with the help of bunch of Jedi spirits, reclaims her own inner strength, confronts Palpatine, beats him, then sacrifices herself only for Ben to revive her. and killed himself in the process. Beatle is defeated. Kylo Ren has his...
He is now Ben Solo. Rey survives. And then she ends by going to Tatooine and buries Luke Skywalker's lightsabers. And then this declares herself as. choosing her own legacy and then her own new path and then fade to black. Why she gets rid of the lightsabers, I don't know. If she's now, like, you know, putting on the gauntlet, like, and the identity that she herself is the Skywalker. But that in itself is the film.
Would you agree? Did I kind of summarize it correctly? I think that's a good one. I just don't have so much to say about it. I feel like all of your talking points, I have something to say about. Okay. Well, I think that's the plot of the film. Yeah, that's the plot. And with that, I'm going to open up to you while I christen something. I went to Orlando and discovered a really lovely brewery. So this would be the phase when you say, hey, Andrew, what are you drinking?
Hey, Andrew, what are you drinking? So I am drinking something called Yacht Money. It is by the Sideward Brewing Company. This is a New England kind of like hazy IPA. And I haven't had it other than I had a sip and a sip was really good. But I wanted to get through the first act of our conversation, turn it over to you. and let you kind of break down some of the things that I just discussed.
Oh, well, for sure. Well, one thing's like what you're talking about with the other with the last film, which is The Last Jedi. It's almost like trying to find the justifications, like the worst scenes, obviously Leia getting blown up into space. But now I'm like, oh, maybe that's how Palpatine lived. You know, if she can get rocketed, shot into space and somehow live, maybe somehow Palpatine getting thrown off the railing. You know, he was able to somehow survive in a sense because.
the big thing with ray and the child is are just i still don't have any idea who she is like they tried to explain it's like okay she's the granddaughter but you know is she older than ben solo right because ben solo would have been born after the rebellion and return of the jedi it seems like he was probably born like leia had almost completed her training when she got pregnant and quit but maybe who knows maybe she had him first and then was doing her training and you know had a vision oh
Speaking of visions, it starts with like they've heard the Palpatine speak from a voice from beyond. It's like. I've just seen a whole bunch of movies where the Jedi have been speaking from beyond. Ben Kenobi was giving Luke a whole lot of help on Hoth. That is true. It's not like the voices and spirits haven't been coming. It's a little one-sided to say it's just the Sith doing it. That's what I got to say, all right? Yeah.
But with the opening and kind of the beginning, you got the Rey doing the training and Kylo's going to war. And the in-between scene is Poe and they get back and Poe's mad. He's like, you should be out there fighting. You're the best one. And that's kind of where you get the two... people who are on this parallel course to meet each other and one is out there fighting and the other one's training and it goes back to the
I think it goes all the way back to the Yoda Luke and just like staying complete your training, which Luke didn't do. So it's kind of the two past that. Luke could have chosen. He could have taken Vader's hand, which is the path that Kylo took. He could have stayed with Yoda and done his training, which is the path Rey's taking now. In all Rey's training, you mentioned Leia. The only other thing I'd want to say is I think she has Luke's journals. that she goes off of and reads from.
But that's a whole nother thing with his saber. It's like his saber breaks in the other one and all of a sudden it's together. You know, it's kind of I would have thought she would have built her own lightsaber to become a Jedi. But. I mean, my big thought and theory with the whole thing is that Ray's pregnant. And that's the reason why she's not only burying Luke's, but also Leia's. I believe she has her own lightsaber, which is yellow. But I just think that...
The whole thing with Kylo and her, I think that there's a lot of tension. I think there's a lot of attraction there. He kind of gives her some force energy. And so you got this force to force swapping going on. There's a lot of that tension and it's all his hands on her belly and stuff like that. But then.
I mean, even the shot of it, like, it kind of sinking down in the sand almost might look like a, I don't know, a sea taking root. Oh, okay. And I did think of for a second, because she looks over and she sees Luke and Leia. But those are also her teachers and mentors, the same way Luke looked over and saw Yoda and Obi-Wan. So it could be that, hey, maybe she's with twins. But it also could be that those are just her teachers and mentors that she had. And she still hears them and sees them.
Yeah, you know, and honestly, that's kind of one of the true things within Star Wars of a motif of just like, you know. Your teachers do live on with you, even if they can't call you on the phone, you know, after they pass, they still you you walk in their ways and you carry their teachings and you pass them on to the next generation. Yeah, for sure.
So I like that question for you, just because I ask this in every episode. Where were you when you saw this film for the first time? Do you remember? I mean, I would have thought I was in Austin. I reckon you were gone by then in 2019. Yeah, I would have. Yeah. Yeah. I would have been in Atlanta. Yeah. uh yeah i reckon i was either i probably went to go see it at alamo i don't i don't off the top of my head but this is a movie like this i'd go to alamo or something um
But I was trying to think about, like, what was going on around then and, you know, what other movies were out that year. Yeah. had COVID started 2019 um I want to claim that it was like baby shark I don't know but I'm in a different mindset you know um You know what? Maybe when I'm going on a rant, I want you to pull up.
Some hit songs of 2019, but here we go. Let's just take a look at it because of the fact that there's a lot going on. There's a lot of conversations, but I think we backtrack and talk a little bit about top team. Yes. What do you think the odds are that somebody would like want a piece of Palpatine? When do you think that would have even happened? that that's the thing with the age is it would have been like whenever he's old like a senator like no
He would have been old, decrepit Palpatine by that, you know? Well, I mean, maybe Rey's father is also, like, 70 years old. Okay. Because, I mean, you think about it, like, who is it? Robert De Niro is, like, 80, and he's got, like, two major kids. Yeah, Clint Eastwood's son's working now.
I mean, I'm sure he's been working a while. But yeah, I'm just starting to think of a guy who's like, you know, a grown man now. Yeah, OK, I could see that. And I can see him being a politician. It doesn't make a ton of sense. It could happen, he asked.
uh it's kind of kind of different but yeah the math like the math doesn't quite make a tennis a ton of sense unless it's like some of these planets are like the inception planet where you're on there for like 10 minutes and you age like seven years or something whatever did you ever see inception not inception uh interstellar Sure. I love Intercell. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. They did the math wrong. Yeah. Yeah. But no, I can see it being that way. But that's the only...
The thing is, or was it a clone? Because where does Palpatine come from now? Where does Snoke come from? Was Snoke a clone of some sort?
apparently he he he built he built snoke um and there were many like yeah again it just seems like a write-off and like kind of cheap in many ways it's just like oh we're just gonna write ourselves out of this uh i built him just say it was a clone just say it was a messed up clone but it was as close as we could get at the time you know because yeah because cloning exists in this in this world now cloning for sensitive beings is not that that common.
But, I mean, where did Rey's parent come from? Where did Anakin come from? You know, is he Palpatine's dad or, you know, did he do something or? Yeah, that in the end. Right. When if I think of. One of the major failures from the original trilogy is introducing this idea of like midichlorians and then abandoning it. And then you're left with really nothing that kind of explains Anakin. Other than like, because the mother, Shmi or whatever her name was, right?
He was a, you know, Jesus baby, right? Like he just miraculously came to be. They never really explore it beyond the first film like that. That's just kind of like, oh, well, you would think that it's kind of something we would want to know. And then if it was. Palpatine that did that, you think there might be an interesting plot to explore his ability to create life and why he chose her, right? I mean, so there are a lot of things that were introduced that were never really explained.
Um, far be it from me to say that George Lucas was really, you know, focusing on like selling some fucking like Taco Bell Happy Meals. But it seems like he kind of lost the big picture on some of the things he was really. some of the ideas that he had because he wanted to have like a political conversation. But when that taco money came in, it seems like some of the things just kind of escape from those sequels a little bit. Yeah.
But because there are, I think there are things that could work. And maybe those are elements that could be explored in some of these. TV shows after. Right. But that doesn't negate the fact that 25 years ago. George Lucas didn't know there would be series of TV show after TV show to fix some of the holes that he had in his own writing. Right. And. I enjoy the space opera, but there are things that were just built up.
that just don't as a result make sense and you know i'm you know yes we're all nerds here trying to analyze you know a sci-fi fantasy adventure but this is also a multi-billion dollar enterprise And it would be good if there were some... I don't know, story structures, especially the fact that when you look at what Star Wars is, which is something that was inspired by Joseph Campbell's, you know, hero's journey kind of idea.
It's a very well mapped structure of what a hero's journey is. And you have the idea of what the bads are and the challenges that one will face before they have their own redemption arc and the sacrifice they'll get. So this is somebody that understands, you know, that understands story structure quite really, really well, especially when you look at some of the other George Lucas works, you know, stuff that he did, obviously, in the 70s now, like.
i'm i'm in i'm in sci-fi mode but uh his high school 50s uh what the fuck is it called um About Graffiti? Yeah, American Graffiti, right? So you have that, and then you had his other sci-fi was a T-Jax 1138, right? So... You know, you have somebody that understands story, that has written story, created a really interesting, compelling arc. Boom, the original trilogy. Sure, there may be a couple holes, but when the new trilogy came out...
Say what you want about the Phantom Menace, and I've got many thoughts. There are things that he was interested in exploring even then, but then...
They just kind of went by the wayside in many ways. And I feel the same thing with this trilogy, even though this isn't George Lucas, this is J.J. Abrams and... um and and and disney but the same problems present itself and now i'm going on a tangent and i'm losing my own way um but i think that's my frustration is the fact that I don't fundamentally understand. what the big picture was by introducing...
certain concepts and then never really exploring in the following films. The prequel trilogy had that issue and this trilogy has that same issue. So, and it's compelling because of the fact that the prequel trilogy was done by the creator. So like he knows what he was doing. And then the, the, not the prequel, the post trilogy.
multiple hats were you know responsible for it so i don't know like i could see that i was also thinking like within disney and harry potter and how they changed out the directors as they went along within the series to try to give it different tones and maybe that was the initial goal and it didn't work And they kind of went back to the kettle. And that's really where I think, you know, Abrams probably had his ideas of where he was going to take it and wanted to, you know, instead of.
instead of analyzing the second film and trying to you know create a merger he wanted to get back to what his probably original plan was or where he was Which I might say that his original plan was for Kylo to die and Rey to basically carry the Skywalker seat into the next generation. Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? there are things that could have very well been mapped and ryan johnson said yeah fuck that like you know it's like that thing
My phone wanted to let me know that I have to go to bed in an hour. That thing where like... When you're a kid, you're like somebody starts a story like so once upon a time, there was an hour and then you pass the next person. And the alligator was actually a fish and he wanted to play our cheesy. And, you know, like, like a story like. No, it's an alligator.
That almost feels like what Rian Johnson did to J.J. Abrams is like, all right, so there's this bad guy and his name is Snoke. And he is kidnapped from this planet. Her parents escape. And Rian Johnson says, yeah, well, Snoke is a piece of shit. And oh, yeah, by the way, her parents were anybody. You're nobody important. And oh, yeah, by the way, he killed his Jedi that we're supposed to care about. So it felt like that kind of like game.
I mean, cinematically, it looks really good and it opens some interesting thoughts. But yeah, The Last Jedi is extremely problematic for trying to find some type of cohesion from... what they posed in this and so when we get to this film It was like a duel of a duel of fates in a sense of what JJ created versus, Hey, this is what Rian Johnson said. So. I'm, you know, I'm... It's... problematic in just the fact that like, yeah, it's
Rian Johnson introduced a whole other world. And JJ is like, well, fuck. Okay. We fired this other guy. I kind of liked what I had, but I have to make sense here. But everybody's pissed off because. We opened this can of worms. So fuck it. So I don't know. I don't know if there was a way that you could have made if you're going to bring J.J. Abrams back into it.
that would have been successful. So maybe that's part of the reason why The Last Skywalker has like the lowest critic score, like among, I think it's among all. Star Wars films. I might be mistaken. In fact, let me take a look here and pull this up. The Internet. Here we go. So if we just look critically. Phantom Menace, 54% critic approval. Attacker close, 61%. Revenge of the Sith, 79%. So at that point, at this point, Phantom Menace is the lowest at 54%. Solo 69%.
Rogue One, 84%. Dude, I love Rogue One. I stand by that. I love Rogue One. A New Hope, 94%. Empire Strikes Back, 93%. Return, 83%. Force Awakens, 93. Last Jedi, 91. Rise of Skywalker, 51%. Yeah, so it's the lowest. It is the lowest. Lower than, again, Phantom Menace. So I think part of that is, yeah, it was a...
A course correct on kind of like an audience backlash to how they felt on The Last Jedi. I don't want to make it seem like I'm being crazy, but there was like critically The Last Jedi was well received, but audience wise. Audiences didn't like it. If you were to go on to Rotten Tomatoes, where I just pulled this, the audience score is 41%. So critics, 91. Audiences, 41. Audiences revolted. So let me just even context rises. Skywalker, critics, 51%. Audience, 86. So that idea of like fan service.
is definitely present when it comes to the rise of Skywalker. That and... There are some badass action sequences. You got to see the Knights of Ren actually do something. Kind of. Kind of, kind of. You at least get to see them, yeah. Yeah, you at least get to see them. And there weren't even anybody. They were just fucking stunt actors.
You know, like, so was it, like, whoop-dee-doo. Like, nobody had a word or anything. Can I also talk about, like, the biggest fucking disappointment of the trilogy was, like, the Chrome Trooper. Like, come on. You're like... she looked badass and then she, you know, whatever. Um, Long history of killing off cool people. Long history. Yeah. I mean, I think three minutes of total screen time.
in Empire and then Return of the Jedi before, you know, like the special editions and then bringing it back. Episode one, everybody's so mad about Darth Maul. Like, why are you killing Darth Maul off? Yeah. Yeah. Like he got solid in half and they showed up again and solo. So yeah, he did. Well, that's another one that where. ratings went down, but these films are probably, I can't, it's hard for me to imagine other films that are scrutinized in the way that these are.
And whenever, you know, just kind of, you know, looking at the other ones, Phantom Menace, Bat, you know, was the other second lowest score, right? So it's like the two bookends of it have the lowest ones. In a way, those are probably some of the most anticipated, excited, you know, oh, this one didn't live up. And that one in, you know, it's a nine part series. We want the finale and everybody. When I think to go ahead, this isn't going to be a part about The Last Jedi, but...
I think it will stand out amongst the three as because it is more artistic. The shots in it are different. The music is a longer movie. And that may be another reason why people. I think it's the longest in this series, but I think that might be a reason why people can't sit there and watch it and have a low opinion of it.
I wish they could have played along and just, you know, obviously for the success of the franchise. I'm sure they would go back and go, OK, I wish we could have done it a little bit better this way. Yeah. But the idea of the two apprentices, because... In this journey, watching Ray and Kyle, it's interesting to me because Luke didn't have anybody else. We watched Luke's story. He's on and on his own. And they have each other and they grow closer to each other throughout it.
You know, there's the diadem and the force, but also I think they look at it as you're the only person like me, you know, and we're the only ones who really know what we're going through. That's just going to bring people together. I think it always kind of has. Yeah. I want to take a kind of a step aside because obviously we've talked a lot about Rey and Kylo and the film. trilogy as a whole but let's talk a little bit about um Finn and Poe, and even to a lesser extent, like Rose.
How do you feel this film worked with them? Do you feel they had fitting art?
in this movie? Or do you feel like they got a little sidelined? And if they got sidelined, that's fine. I'm kind of curious because these are characters that were, well, specifically Ho and Finn were... central characters right what are your what are you what are your thoughts like and it's okay like i said if you feel they were sidelined because they were looking at a larger bigger picture or do you feel they had satisfying arcs for this particular film.
I think you're more accurate with being sidelines. They had to share the screen more. And this is the other flaw with bringing in all the other people, bringing in Lando.
or uh and then c3b goes this is so and so and then put so po instead of getting a cool line goes yeah we know you know like it's like yeah you know just in case anybody hadn't anybody's this is their first star wars film we need to make a line and write in an introduction you know it's like uh there's plenty of that too many droids um even though i did kind of like the idea that You know, the idea of the force healing and, you know, Carrie Fisher or Leia says it's like, you know, you.
Don't underestimate a joy. And she thinks like, oh, well, you would charge them up. And the idea of like that force healing and be able to force somebody came from the idea of a George charging somebody up. I like that little part. That did work. No, continue. Well, I just want to go. But, yeah, with Finn, one thing I'll say about Finn is he's a – man, I think he's going to be okay. Maybe him and Rey end up together now that Kylo's out of the way. But –
I feel like Rose falls in love with him. I felt like the new girl he met. I just feel like Ben's a ladies man and he's going to be OK. Stormtrooper, you know. I was surprised to see, was it Keri Russell was in the credits as Poe's girlfriend? She wears a mask the whole time. Didn't recognize her. I'm sorry. Well, I think that's a little nod to J.J. Abrams because of the fact that she was in Mission Impossible 3. And if memory serves, didn't J.J. Abrams have some involvement with Felicity?
That's it. Yeah. He was the creator of it. Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. So I think that was, that was kind of, but yeah, that again, an underused like, Oh, we're going to introduce somebody, you know, and. She I think she could have been cool. I like Harry. I like Harry Russell. You mentioned some lines and, you know, we talked like the opening crawl, like the dead speak. It's become a meme, but I remember watching this the first time and thinking,
Just I often say how a bit of dialogue can make things work like, oh, they forgot this. If you just put in the line of dialogue, it can make it work. This is an example of where a bit of dialogue just doesn't really help your case. uh poe dameron goes somehow palpatine returned like yeah that you can't just throw that line in there like and yeah we're just gonna accept that it was just such a weird but it
When you explain things like in a technical term, oh, we'll just do this. Well, that makes sense because they said that it was just a little line of dialogue. This is an example in a movie where just a line of dialogue doesn't help, you know, where I've long been like, oh. You can solve so many problems just by putting a line of dialogue in there. But somehow Palpatine returned. What do you mean somehow? Like, what does that mean? Somehow people. And not only that.
He's got a million Death Stars. He's got a million fucking, like, star destroyers. But we're gonna... But they're all stuck in port right now. And now's our chance. We're going to fly. And when we get there, we're going to then call everybody to come around. Why we didn't do it five years earlier, you know. Nobody knows, but now's the time. Now. yeah like again holes and I don't want to make this just beat this movie up because there are you know this is the end of
you know, of a saga. And it's an end of something that you and I have been going on and for years and years. And I remember, you know, I pose the question to you, like, where were you? I remember seeing the movie theater because of the fact that like. I yeah, you know, I I had heard before I saw like this is a little bit like fan, you know, like fan service. And at the time I was kind of ready for it because I was still very, very salty.
When it came to The Last Jedi, you know, there were things about The Last Jedi I really, really liked aesthetically. Again, I think it looked, fuck, I think it was the best looking Star Wars of this trilogy. But there were things that I hated. I hated the Leia thing. I hated... Luke just being a fucking curmudgeon. I wasn't a fan of that.
I did love the taking down of Snoke in the set like that. That fight sequence was just badass with him and him and Ray like going at it. That was that was that was a cool scene. There's a lot going on. The meme that's essentially become, you know, Kylo Ren going more, you know, like just like, and then when Luke does have a little bit of his kind of like moment, you know, doing toward the end, he's kind of like dusting off his like shoulders.
even though that's a 21st century kind of like nod. There are things in the movie that I really enjoy. But overall, like when the credits roll... I did feel unfulfilled. I'm like, well, shit, where are we going to go from here? And I wanted to put myself in the adult mode versus how I felt as a child when I saw...
The Empire Strikes Back for the first time, you know, where that does end on such a bummer. But as a kid, I thought that was the greatest fucking movie ever. You know, like, oh, my God, this is crazy. I remember seeing it several times before Return of the Jedi. before I ever saw Return of the Jedi and loving it. So I was kind of curious just to know. if that was an age thing or a story thing or is that a me thing as i matured but
I remember being soured when I saw The Last Jedi. So when this movie came out, I'm like, all right, let's see where it goes. And there were things that I enjoyed. But when the credits finally rolled, I'm like. I don't know. I don't know. There are things I like in the film. I like Rey. I more Rey and Kylo Ren. I think, you know, I enjoy seeing those. I liked. The, the, what is it? The, the hyper drive, the hyper drive.
what is it? The skipper jumping, hyper jumping. I thought that was kind of cool. You know, like, yeah, I thought that was, I think they introduced some really interesting. things that worked within the arc of things that they introduced in this trilogy. What are some other things I liked about it? I don't know. Is there anything else? That might have been the only thing I really actually liked. They brought John Williams back, but I couldn't even tell you the score. But happy they did that.
lando i'm with you you know he's kind of still kind of cool what i'm curious about it because like you know how much i i like episode one two and three is will the next generation treat these films will this be their trilogy will they will they be having debates with their uncles and grandfathers saying no this is better ours ray was way better it was empowering for people and you know
Because I think that would be the success of a trilogy is if the next generation, they go, no, this is our trilogy and we're going to. We're going to defend it. I'm going to tell you why it's just as good or better than those other ones. I mean, if that's the case, good for them. I mean, they'll fundamentally be wrong. But I support anybody for finding.
personal entertainment in something but objectively storytelling wise the original trilogy is just better you know like yes yes i understand there's a level of bias that i have yes i recognize that But the truth is, There as well, the original trilogy, structurally, storytelling-wise, understanding character arcs, understanding the hero's journey, which is something that's been told for thousands of years, essentially.
is far more crisp and the forces of antagonism are every bit as strong as those that we are rooting for.
Stories don't have to be complex to be good. I mean, shit, music doesn't have to. Listen, I think Rush is a great band, but... fuck nirvana had just as many fucking hints because they understood chord like structure and being able to like it does it you don't have to have 10 000 plots if you understand just beats and being able to move a story forward One of the weaknesses that the prequel trilogy has is
The story arc doesn't make somebody dumb for, like, I don't follow it. No, the story arc just wasn't strong. This story arc just wasn't strong. It doesn't mean that it's not entertaining. It doesn't mean that it wasn't a fun ride or a good movie. But from a just a structure understanding. They just don't have the same thing that the original trilogy had. Yeah. And it's okay. It doesn't have to. But...
But people are still wrong if they want to say the new ones are better than the original. No, I wouldn't say that. I was saying the prequels were better. Oh, fuck off. So I've covered basically what I wanted to cover. I want to pivot over to you and give you the floor because I know that there are things that you potentially wanted to bring to it. But just to recap, I know we've talked, you know, some themes. We've talked character arcs, legacy, the plot.
You know, we kind of teetered into technical aspects, i.e. visuals. You referenced John Williams' action sequences. I discussed controversies. And then I think like the bigger picture, like how does this film compare to the rest? We've kind of covered. But is Kathleen Kennedy responsible for not doing a better job? Well, there you go. There's also there's also that. But.
I do want to, and I know we've been chatting for an hour and I think this has actually been a pretty well organized episode. I think we've done a pretty good job, but I do want, because I know you've had some, some thoughts and questions that you wanted to. to toss in the conversation i'd love to give you give you the floor We've covered most of it. It's just mainly if you like my theory, if you think Ray might be pregnant or not.
if you just don't care like there's a part of it's just like it's done now it's finally done uh and they're doing the great job with the other shows and other movies and ready to move on other stories but there is still a potential so it's like Do you even do you even care about this story going forward? You know, 15 years, another reboot of three more or something. I love that. So what I will say, I think.
With the greatest strength of this trilogy, and I could be on my own here, but I think Daisy Riddler was phenomenal. I really like Daisy Riddler as Rey in this franchise. I think she towed a line of being able to carry an emotional... At least I was... I tracked her story very empathetically. Or maybe sympathetically, because I've never been abandoned by my own parents. But, you know, I followed her on this journey, you know, on this planet. And.
I think she was able to... navigate this world now granted i'm still dumbfounded how she's every bit as good of a pilot as han solo but hey whatever uh cool she you know She is a Jedi slash Han. So she was like literally the best of both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. But I when she was on camera. I was in her, you know, I was along for the ride. So I think as a leading character, I liked Ray personally. Kylo Ren. I like the idea of Kylo Ren.
i would have liked to see i would have liked to have seen more of like the like the knight's friend you know like i would have liked to see like other than just like backstory like oh we're supposed to fear that you know like i would have liked to not to create my own story, but just to see how he separates himself as the leader of that, you know, just kind of like, these are all these badasses, but he's like, no, no, no, no.
I'm the fucking badass and I'm going to take on this throne. And it's just like somebody that's very power hungry. I would have, I would have been intrigued by that. So he's dead now, so it doesn't matter. But if I were to see if this franchise were to continue, it would have to be it would have to be Ray's story, you know, and to see where that goes from for her. I don't know. Would I watch it?
Of course I would. Of course I would watch it. Would I have very high hopes? No. No, but I'd be compelled. I feel this... I feel they introduced some ideas, but they didn't know. They weren't in the writer's room long enough to figure out what they wanted to do because they did want to give. Again, that game, once upon a time, there was an alligator.
all right now your story no it's not an alligator it's it's it's it's a fucking octopus it's a butterfly you know like no but i really want an alligator we're gonna bring it but we're gonna kill everything else Like, the story structure, I think they should have had an idea from A to Z. but allow the filmmaker to have the autonomy to change a little bit here, but know what the structure was. And then you've got...
Lupita Nyong'o, I apologize for butchering her name, but she's this, you know, this 800-year-old alien that apparently, you know, knew a lot of things and she felt underutilized. I thought it'd be a larger piece of this. How did she get Luke's lightsaber? Yeah. Like, yeah. Yeah. Where did that come from as it was calling out? Yeah. Yeah. So there was just these things that were introduced that.
didn't they they didn't stick the landing in the end they they brought up some interesting ideas i mean should critically uh the the episode seven critically Did well. Audience-wise, did really well. Then the next one, it critically did really well in the audience. It's like, wait, what the fuck just happened?
Because they did like Rian Johnson did retcon, you know, everything they set up because it's like, well, this feels a little bit too much like, you know, the first Star Wars. I'm going to do something completely different. But. And I don't want to go back and be a dead horse because I think we've covered this. But this trilogy is just very problematic because... The first and the third film feel very connected. The second film doesn't.
But I do feel the second film is more interesting than either the first or the third. So it's just weird. So if I were to want another trilogy to go back to your question. Yeah, I would want to see Ray, but like, I don't know what it means. I don't know what would be the story. And to follow up on your question, whether she's pregnant. I think they can easily dump that in there because of the fact that everything else is fucking like...
On the table in this franchise, like they could just say, oh, by the way, she was seven months pregnant when they force connected or by doing that force connect, you know, like he made her pregnant. I'd be like, all right, it makes sense. I mean, Princess Leia can flow through space and not freeze to death. I'm fine. Whatever. Fuck it. Let's go.
Well, I got bad news for the galaxy because I was thinking about it and it's been a civil war for about 60 years now. And the imperial government just got overthrown. And I don't know if they're going back to planetary government. But all I got to like at the end of it, all I got to know is like. It seems like all the military forces have been wiped out on both sides.
And we know the good guys won, but I have no idea who's taking charge anymore. The new world order. And then we're now in modern days and it's like it's like 80s hip hop. There we go. NWO is here now instead of first order, last order, new world order. Yeah. Well, we just skipped the final order. Yeah.
Okay, let's get into the wrap up. And I know this is, you know, may the fourth be with you. I don't want this to end. So I do want to periodically, you know, maybe every year we do something Star Wars related. And maybe maybe next year we do kind of a breakdown of all nine films or maybe you're interested in. having that conversation now, but I think-
I think there could be a full episode of us just doing a ranking of the nine episodes. You make your nine. I make my nine. And then we have to come to agreement. Like, like, like we have to agree. Like, no, no, no. This is the number one. This is the number nine. And it's a whole episode. It's kind of like a courtroom. Like, all right, this is your case. This is my case. You plead your case. And when it's done...
I think there could be an episode. I don't know. Maybe I'm thinking of something different. Or if you're interested right now, just say, no, that seems a little too heady. Let's just say how you would want to rank them. So I do want to say, what are your thoughts? Oh, whatever you want to invite me back for, I'm in. Right on. I'm available. I'm here, man. I love talking to you and whatever the plan or idea. I like that. If people want to hear maybe commentary on Andor.
or something like that kind of going a little different direction um or if it could just be with some of the sides like hey talk about obi-wan you know which might mean you got to watch some of the obi-wans or talk about and or talk about You know, we could just talk about Solo or like, you know, Han Solo and what his... because we've now seen most of his life or whatnot, but we get into characters.
or whatever, but I'm here, man. I love talking to you, especially about Star Wars. Yeah, I mean, or we've completed it and now's the time to do like Game of Thrones. I don't know. I don't know. Sure. Well, Night of the Seven Kingdoms is coming out, or I guess I think that's what they're going to end up calling it. Tells a Dunkin' Egg. I'm wearing a shirt for the theme. I've got a little...
Millennium Falcon going on. Absolutely. Definitely. Absolutely. You'd be my captain. You are my captain. Right. Oh, OK. So if you were a character in Star Wars, who would you be? Out of all of them. I mean, I'd want to be Obi-Wan. And I know it seems a little bit of a lonely life and stuff. But yeah, no, he was always my favorite. How about yourself? I mean, are you a fly boy? Are you one of those guys? If I were to be a character in Star Wars.
i mean he he survives all the way through um and he's a hell of a pilot um 감사합니다. I'm not nearly smart-ass enough to be either Han or Poe. I could never be either of them. I don't know. R2 seems to be the most smart. R2 or C3PO. I'm not Luke. I think the right answer that I too would always want to be like Obi-Wan. I think every, every like real Star Wars, like true, like of the legacy, like Obi-Wan.
Although I don't know. No, I'd be like Qui-Gon now. Like Qui-Gon in the end was a dipshit. I love him, but yeah. I'll be Qui-Gon. He seems to be a little bit more of like a hippie mystic. So I'll go Qui-Gon. Or I was thinking I could be Chewy, too, because Chewy's like the fun sidekick that might get a little loud but doesn't talk too much. But I see myself being a Chewy to you being. You'd be my Han. Alright, here we go.
I've got a couple questions for you. We've covered most of these, so I'm going to have to fix that. Please shoot. Yeah, I wanted to see what you got. See how I can do. I mean, most of these we've already covered. But question number one, true or false? This, to date, was John Williams' final Star Wars score. True. True. True is correct. True or false, John Williams plays a bartender in this film.
He gets a cameo as a bartender in this film. I'm going to go ahead and say true. True. That's a good one. Which is an anagram for Maestro. Nice. Trying to think of what bar they were at. But anyway, with with Kerry Russell. I got you. Yep. So he's in the film. No wrong answer, but I'll just see how many you get. How many previous Jedi voices does Rey hear in her final battle? i'll say five okay who do you remember hearing well i was thinking it would be Luke, Obi-Wan.
Yoda and I was thinking Mace might be in there as well Anakin Yoda yep yep exactly but 10 she hears 10 different voices but is it different actors? So like Alec Guinness, uh, also you know, McGregor. Yep. Exactly. Exactly. Um, True or false, Ian McDiarmid knew Palpatine would return before production started. I'll just say false. False. He had no idea. So even if we were beginning to make the movie, he had no idea that he was going to be in the film.
i think that's problematic um again that palpatine was a last minute addition to the story yeah um okay so in what year did carrie fisher pass away 2017? Oh, so close. 2016. 16. Okay. And then just one final. I'm going to change that one and we'll do... Who said the line? They win by making you think you're alone. I don't care if you know the name of the character, but who said that? They win by making you think you're alone.
Well, Poe says it at one point. Remember they... but i thought that kerry fisher's character tells it to him um You are correct. Yep, exactly. So that's where that comes from. A cool looking character, you know, I like the costume, you know, like that was badass. So yeah, what was it? Zori Bliss. Yeah. another part with the scenes it's just where he's just like
I know where to go. Follow me. And he turns the corner and all of a sudden he's got a gun in his head. It's like, Oh, I guess that's how we get, that's how we get out of this. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so there are a lot of things that didn't quite work. Let's see here. One of my favorite lines in the film, which is kind of a little like nod to the previous film.
Again, you know, kind of like that whole idea of retconning, but also retconning some of the stuff in the previous film. A Jedi's weapon deserves more respect.
uh luke skywalker said it because you know like a nod to him throwing it and people were like like what the fuck why would he throw his uh his lightsaber and then his forest ghost says uh a jedi's weapon would serve us more respect um And then the only other quote that I had is somehow Palpatine returned, which again is just a line that it's mean.
Yeah. Well, Lando gets one of those. I got a bad feeling. Yeah. You get your quintessential. I got a bad feeling about this. That's where I did make a note. Who said that? That was on my trivia question, but I didn't ask that one yet. So Lando. I think it was every film somebody said it. But in this movie, he definitely did say it. Great. And Chewie got his medal finally. Yeah. Oh, yes. So one of the best moments of like fan like service was.
Tui finally getting his medal. Okay. A couple of fun facts mentioned Ian McDermott did not expect to return. The film's opening crawl was written last minute, according to co-writer Chris Terrio. The famous Star Wars opening crawl wasn't finalized until just before release. Harrison Ford's cameo was The Secret.
And then the final word, Rey Skywalker. She didn't know until late in production that Rey would take on the Skywalker name. It was a late story decision to provide closure and thematic resolution. And then to answer your question, Ray hears Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Freddie Prinze Jr. I guess he's in one of the animated Rebels show.
just to name a few. And there were a couple other voices, but apparently Freddie Prince Jr. is in one of the animated shows. I cannot confirm that, but he was one of the voices. Okay. Well, if it had Hayden Christensen, it would have had an Anakin. So I don't know if he played young Anakin and yeah. But I'm glad to hear, glad to hear his name. Hope he's still doing well. I still remember what he did last summer. You know, there's another one coming out.
Really? Yeah. There's a whole new generation, but I think Sarah Michelle Gellar returns. I can't remember Freddie Prince Jr. or not. But maybe Michelle Gellar's dead. She was one of the first ones. It's Jennifer Love Hewitt who lives. That's right. That's right. That's right. Freddie Prince Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar are married in real life. That's true. That's what it is. Yes. That is true.
Jennifer Love Hewitt is in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. I don't know about Freddie Prinze Jr. I can't remember. He survived. I'll have to go back and watch that or not. I don't know. But. John, this has been so much fun. Not to say this one was a little bit more succinct, but I think we had some good structure on this episode. I think we raised some really fun conversational pieces. This is our first episode to ever do on camera.
I will get this out on YouTube or if you're watching this on YouTube, you already know that. But what are your fun? What are your final thoughts now that we have done nine of these? What are your what are your final thoughts on this? You know, we did Bill and Ted, you know, we did that trilogy and then we've done nine plus two of these over the last four years, really.
Well, I'm just happy to have been able to spend the time with you. It's been great. I enjoyed how we did the Batman where we were able to kind of break it down a little bit more by genres. So, you know, in hindsight, perhaps he could have. been done but you know um
We were young. We were young and had so much promise. And we tried. We tried our best, people. And thank you for bearing with us and listening to us. It's always a blast and a pleasure to come on and talk to my friend, Andrew. And just thank you. Well, John, thank you. As always, you are always welcome. Anytime you want to talk about any movie or music is we've had a really good episodes just by talking about like soundtracks as well. But dude.
Anytime I get to chat with you is always a pleasure. I love having you as a friend and you everybody, everybody needs a genre. And I'm glad that, you know, I have the real genre as as my best friend. So. Thank you. And to the listeners out there, thank you very much for going on this particular journey. Of course, we've got more episodes in store for you, but that's it for the Skywalker saga. As far as we know, until...
Rey comes back in another episode because Star Wars really likes to stick with even though the galaxy goes You know, we... Long ago in a galaxy far, far away, we like to stick within like a 70 year age gap, even though we can go hundreds of years before that or even 100 years after that. We like this particular time frame. So who knows? Maybe there will be another Star Wars that deals with Skywalker.
But I guess the question you asked for me is because you asked if I would be interested. One, would you be interested in going on another journey with Ray or? Would you rather see another era of Star Wars? Maybe Old Republic? Or maybe post this, where... Skywalker is kind of synonymous with, I'm not trying to be blasphemous, but synonymous with this legacy of a Jesus-like person.
Skywalker is a name that everybody knows in the galaxy. And it's somebody that did something monumental many, many years ago in the form of a sacrifice. People know it, but it's a new era, old Republic, this era. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I would rather go back to the nights of the old public, like from the video game. Go far back.
And then just use the TV series to expand the world around it. You know, you could tell the story about how Palpatine comes back probably in... uh bubba fett or something like that uh because he comes back after return of the jedi so uh yeah i'd rather just go to a whole new world and that's a world too where
I think if you want to have something super artistic like The Last Jedi, it would be set up beautifully for that because it's a more archaic time. But I'm sure you could also have a little fun, fun, friendly things, too, because there's different planets in there. Yeah. I want to go long, long, long ago. Let's go. Yeah. Long, long, long ago in a galaxy not as far back or far away, but still pretty far away.
still pretty far away yeah a little bit further than anything tell the story about when the mandalorians came and tried to take over the empire like It's that same, oh, the Empire's taken over, but it's the Mandalorians this time. And there's a whole bunch of Jedi. So, yeah, I'd rather have some different stories. I'd like to see that other movie just to see if I was right.
Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind 10 years from now being like, I was the one who said that we were pregnant. I told everybody nobody wanted to believe me. I'd be on board. But, yeah, no, let's change it up. Let's get to some new stuff. And I think we will see it. I heard, what, there's a Starfighter coming out with Chris Evans or something like that. I think he's got one.
called starfighter coming out yeah there uh i don't i don't know if it's i i think there's a new there's uh ryan gosling ryan gosling is that who it is yeah yeah ryan gosling's coming uh So maybe that's what we're going to cover is like, I'll believe it when I see it. I know I just saw Ryan Gosling do like, like, wait, Ryan Gosling and Star Wars. fuck that's not fair uh he's already like amazing and now he's gonna be in a star wars movie i'm not ready for this but hey uh if that happens i'll
Definitely see it on opening night just because I do Star Wars films. It's amazing. Like, John, I see all these movies immediately. And like, I want to like them, but it's just one of those like, God damn it. You know, like every day I have enjoyed Andor. I have enjoyed that journey because it's just a different look. because it's really focusing on the rebellion itself. And I'm just kind of...
I don't know. It's the closest thing Star Wars has had to like Game of Thrones in many ways. You know, like it's you're you're you're focusing on, you know, quite literally. like moving moving chess pieces on a board you know and that That to me has been why I've enjoyed that journey is just to see Mon Mothma and, you know, like everything that's going on, like all the, all.
all the manipulation that's going on behind the scenes there. It's just a different level because it hasn't necessarily been... Jedi story, although I enjoy that. This This Andor story has just been, for me as an audience member, quite compelling. I've kind of enjoyed it. Certainly season one and a couple season, a couple episodes or rather a couple scenes in season two that I've like, I love the wedding sequence and.
Sure, I thought I was watching a Florence and the Machines video. Dude, that was badass. I loved it. I loved it. All of a sudden there was this new droid and I go, who's this party droid? Party droid. Yeah, that's your name. Party droid. I'm pumping out the jams. Yeah. It's been great and it'll be fun. We'll give us more to talk about. I think that's how we wrap this episode up. To the listeners, I will be back for another episode. John will be back at some time once he and I...
you know, kind of take a look and see what we would like to unpack with you again. But as always, thank you very much. And if you're still joining us, please visit my website, stampersinema.com. You can take a look at all the back catalog episodes. I've got blogs. I've got ways that you can subscribe. I've got ways that you can donate to the show, leave reviews, whatever.
But it's my website, Sanford Cinema dot com. And of course, you can check us out on all the podcast platforms, Apple, Spotify, wherever you're listening to this now. And. Assuming that everything goes according to plan, you were also able to watch this particular episode on YouTube. So we'll see. But until next time, thank you very much, John. I allow you the opportunity or grant you or, you know, I extend the. send the privilege of allowing you to close this on out.
Well, thanks, y'all. Have a good year. That's all. That's all I got. Yeah, have a good year. Yeah, have a good year. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. We'll see you next time on another episode of Stanford Cinema.