House of R - 'Skeleton Crew' Episode 4 Deep Dive

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

No more fighting! Jo and Mal are here to dive deep into the fourth episode of 'Skeleton Crew'! They break down all the new hijinks these crazy kids get up to and discuss their favorite Easter eggs. Later, they're joined by Ben Lindbergh for a Lore Corner! Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Guest: Ben Lindbergh Producers: John Richter and Steve Ahlman Video Editor: Steve Ahlman Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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wide and everyday low prices on 365 brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring, save at Whole Foods Market. This episode is brought to by Paramount Plus. Beth and Rip are back in a new series, Dutton Ranch. Kelly Riley and Cole has a return, and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption, danger, and a ruthless rival ranch willing to protect its secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dunton Ranch starring Colehauser Kelly Riley.

Annette Benning and Ed Harris now streaming on Paramount Plus. Come with us, Hannah. My house has plenty of room. It's anna. It's peaceful. No. Perhaps someday

when I'm leader of the Troik, I will remember your ways. I see now. Your weakness. It makes you kind. My world could use some kindness. Neil, I hate to interrupt, but come on, move your trunk. Greetings and welcome to House of Arr, a ringerverse podcast on the Ringer podcast Network.

I'm Mallory Rubin and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you to the fallen sanctum and back into the House of Ar. Joining me today to see if I'm okay after hearing that I fell on the credenza and sprained my trunk. It's Joanna Robinson. Malarvon, quick question. Can you briefly explain to me the rules of the ballgame that Neil is the best at? I think it goes a little something like... Man, I don't know. Can I explain it to it depends.

What flag do you fly? Great question. Joe, we are here to dive into the Neiltastic fourth episode of Skeleton Crew. But before we initiate babysitting sequence, some quick programming reminders. Over on the ringer voice. Just became Oz Cobb for a minute. The ring of voice.

Boids. Talking about points? Ring a voice. Soight and Lee. Over the ring of voice. You miss us, truly. Over on the rigorverse. I'm definitely coming down with something and I don't know if that has anything to do

with why I'm slipping into Oz Cobb. We'll find out as the rest of the pod goes. Who can say? Let's discover together. Let's discover it together. Exactly. Beautiful journey that we're going to share. The Midnight Boys, pew, pew, pew.

As we pod. In real time right now, they are also potting. They are breaking down the brand spanking new Superman trailer that just dropped this morning. You will have a Midnight Boys breakdown on this highly anticipated teaser trailer on the Ringervverse feed on the Ringervverse YouTube channel. Obviously, that's going to be a must watch and a must listen. So check that. Out. Junior Mintz also has something to look forward to because Mint Edition will be here at the end of the week with Sonic 3 Pod. As previously mentioned, this is a movie that Jomi was anticipating so seismically he delayed a holiday family vacation to ensure that he could see it and pot about it. That's wonderful. news of Sonic 4 this morning that has Jovi.

The group chat is blowing up. Yeah. Yeah. World. Wonderful stuff. Here on the House of Hour, we will be back in mere days to conclude our conversation about Dune prophecy. And that is a thing we are doing.

We're going to wrap that up. After Christmas, there's a little scheduling update, a little holiday scheduling update. we're getting ahead on banking our top 10 moments of the year pod, one of our favorite annual traditions that we love. We're really looking forward to recording that. And then that will be waiting for you after Christmas. There will not be a skeleton crew episode five pod next week because of the holiday. But the week after, we will be back on the onyxcinder with our faves to talk about episode five and six together in one pod on Thursday, January 2nd. So the skeleton crew pods are not ceasing, just a brief one week holiday break. You can watch full episodes of the House

of Our and the Midnight Boys Pew Pugh on Spotify and on the Ringervor's YouTube channel. We did a team up pod this week. The whole gang got together. It was a House of Midnight. Yeah, we Brady bunched it. On Craven, we did. We all had our little boxes to talk about Craven and say farewell to this particular era of Sony superhero cinematic experimentation. And, you know, what, we had a blast. A time was had. A time was had by all. Check that out if you haven't yet. Joe, how can everybody follow along during the holidays? How can everybody follow along in general? What recommendations are you here to provide? What a great question. And I have an answer for you. It goes something like this. Why don't you subscribe to the pod? Our pod, House of Our, the Ring of Voice, too, if you prefer.

The Ring of a Voice. But mostly, no, everyone. Also, follow us on socials. I think that's a good thing to do. We're over on Twitter. We're on Instagram. We're on TikTok. As long as as as as long as that's still a thing and we're on Facebook. So follow us on all of those. You can also email us, Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you over the holidays. I think that sounds like a delightful thing. And that's about it. Back to you, Mallory Rubin. What's our spoiler warning today? Spoiler warning is as follows. Skeleton crew episode four, everything that's happened in Skeleton Crew to date and anything that's ever happened in Star Wars. It could come up today. Some other shows might come up if you hear the mentioned,

and you don't want to hear anything that happens in them. You know, you hit the fast forward button once. But broadly, it's just a Star Wars, a Star Wars, a Star Wars spoiler warning for everything and anything that's ever happened in a galaxy far, far away. So that's that. Yeah. Joe, how did you like the Superman trailer? We're not doing the breakdown pod, the Midnight Boys are, but give me your 30-second vibes check. You go first because you're really, really excited, and then I will go first with my caveat. I loved it. I really thought it was great. As you go, I'm very much looking forward to the movie. It is one of my most anticipated releases of 2025. I will not let it fall far in the House of Our Hype Draft. Though I don't know that I'm going to have as much competition for it as I might for some other properties given the crew we've assembled. So I'll have to factor that into my strategy. But yeah, I thought this trailer was really fun. I love James Gunn's movies and superhero fair. I am really excited about the cast.

What a genuine delight to see our shared wife, Rachel Brosnahan, Mijel herself. She looks great. And her little, like, T-shirt and vest situation? Genuine No-Notes territory. Also, my husband, Nathan Philean, is here. There is a starring teaser trailer role for Crypto the Dog. Are, you know, a lot of patron saints of House of R are in this trailer featured prominently our guy, Nicole, just crushing it as Lex Luthor. So, yeah, this was a teaser trailer.

It was mostly a vibes trailer. Obviously, the next trailer that we get will be a more narratively driven detailed. This is what the movie's going to really be about trailer. This was really, like, establishing the tonal and visual template for what this film is going to do. And you know what? That Clark Kent mop a curls, everything got me. Really mopping. Really mopping.

Yeah, mopping it up in the streets. Dude, I'm jazz. Like July 11th. I really can't wait. I'm excited for the new. D. Sierra, I'm excited for this movie. Yeah, what about you? I thought Nick Holt looked great as Lex Luther. Give him a Bond franchise. It's like Nick Holt or Dev Patel for me. You know, like put them in suits and give them guns and I would watch it. What is it? I don't care.

I'll watch it. Yeah, like Nick Hold is to me as Crypto the Dog is to you in Van, I think. is how I responded to that trailer. I don't know. I have a lot of question marks around this movie, but it looked. I liked how colorful it looked. And I did, you know, above and beyond Crypto the dog,

the shots before of Superman just like crushed and winded in the snow was quite effective, I thought. I was just sort of like, here's the strongest. With the electric guitar coming in on the score? The most, overpowered, you know, character in every comic book ever is just, like, defeated in the snow. What got him there?

Tune in to find out. Okay. So when I'm taking away is I will have to battle you to the death for thunderbolts in the hype trap, but I don't really need to worry about you or Superman is concerned. Notice. I mean, I'm not giving way any strategy. But you've known this about me for like ever since this movie was announced. We'll see. I'm open and hopeful to be pleasantly supportive.

surprised and blown away. I'm not going in saying this is going to be bad. I hope it's great. I hope it's everything you and Van want it to be. I hope it's everything Superman fans want it to be. I have some questions, comments, or concerns. And, you know, I've been wrong many a time before. So here's hoping I'm wrong in 2025. What a year of content we have ahead of us, Joe. Can't wait to share it all with you. Genuinely. Fantastic four. I can't wait. I mean, I can't wait. Really. Night of the Seven Kingdoms, last of us. Yeah. My God. What a time to be us. White Lotus, severance? I just can't believe we get to watch Goggins and White Lotus together.

It's just going to be the thrill of my fucking life. I just honestly can't believe it. I don't know how we were going to survive. And a promise, I don't know if I extracted this promise from you, but I did already extract it from Rob that we're going to podcast every episode with the Goggins goggles. The goggles. Yeah. It's a lock. It's in.

Yeah. It's in. It's an absolute guarantee. Cocktails in hand. Goggins goggles. on face. Do you think we can get Bill to wear the Goggins goggles? No.

Let's work on it. Okay. A goal for 2025. All right, Joe. I see you train with spirits, my boy. Let's pot. It is time. Four.

The opening snapshot. Joanna Robinson. As in real time, I succumbed to whatever illness. about to claim me. Are you saying it's like the air is kind of ashy? Yeah. Is that what's happening? Oh, God.

Episode four, can't say I remember Noah at Atten. Listen, I want you after this podcast to go on Instagram, repost the reel from last week and just say flex. Like, just flex on them. Because you nailed it. And as soon as I saw the episode of name, I was like, fuck. As soon as I saw the episode 10, I was like, yeah. Let's ride. We did it. Written again by John Watts and Christopher Ford, directed by the Daniels, checking in at 38 minutes,

including the credits. Again, these episodes are all similar-ish length. That's been a nice part of the experience, actually. They all feel very consistent and well-calibrated. Joanna Robinson, what are your opening thoughts? Just give us a little taste before we go scene-by-scene on episode four. We had both been watching a thing that was challenging for us to watch. And I was complaining to you about it over text, and you said, I have good news for you. The palate cleanser at the end, the light at the end of this tunnel is a Neil episode of Skeleton crew. And I was just like, oh, my God.

I was mere moments ahead of you in our shared duel watch. And so I knew that a salve and a bomb for the soul awaited. I was tearing my hair out by the roots. So more Neil. Who could ask for anything else? Like, we are thrilled. We love Neil. The world loves Neil.

Everyone agrees. Like, this is a divided world we live in, but everyone loves Neil. And that's what matters most. And this is sort of exactly what I asked for. I can't remember it was like in our episode three pod or our first pod. But this sort of Mandalorian-esque planet hopping adventure. We have like an adventure of a week. on a different planet.

And at this point, I'm wondering if we're just going to, like, bounce around at, at planets until we get, until we get home. And that gives it an almost like Rick and Morty feel of like, this is, this is our universe, but here's what's different in, in this one, or sliders, if you're a fan of 90s television. So, yeah, I really loved it. Is this, is it like, I don't know, like some people are calling it like a slider, a thinner episode, but I think all of the episodes are going to be about this depth,

and I think that's fine. This is just an adventure show, and I think that's wonderful. Yeah. How about you, Malirman? I am in active morning that we're already halfway through the season. Yeah. The passage of time. It's a wild thing.

As is literally always the case when we're covering a show that we're loving, I am confronting the fact that it will end. in a predictable time frame that has been presented to us on a schedule. And I'm struggling with that. Don't worry. Because I don't want to say goodbye. It's not going to end until next year. That's true.

That's true. That way. It can bridge the years. For the rest of the year, you'll have a skeleton crew. Yeah. Great way to think about it. And Neil lives, I can say with confidence already, forever in my heart. I think Jod also likely to live forever in my heart and maybe some other places.

Wow. Bad, baby. Oh, boy. This, I thought this episode was great. The Mando-esque adventure of the week, planet hopping, nature of the pacing of the story is really working well for me. And also, I think it just has, like, on the Mando front, it is very reminiscent of Mando season one to me as well, just the charm. And, like, it's very confident sense of mission and intent. sense of self. It's like this is the show we're making and we're making it well. And the only

thing that feels, the thing that feels different to me about the Mando one experience versus this is Mando was like build very much as like that darker, grittier Star Wars. I was about to say. I was about to wait for? And then it like kind of wasn't that. And this is the opposite. We were like, oh, is this going to be like for everyone? I want everybody like to even decide to watch this in the first place. And it, you know, it really has just been like an incredibly wonderful Star Wars experience that people seem to be loving. I hope more people check it out and catch up with it over the holidays who maybe haven't opted in yet because I'm hoping that like the word of mouth is starting to really

get the Star Wars fans to tap in. You're talking about Chris Mandy. If you were not able to convince them this week with the guest starring role and connection to the bureau, I don't know if anything will. We did not get a fourth name for Jod in this episode, Joe. We did not get a lot of Jedi stuff, though we have some Jedi theorizing to do in absentia. Point of order. Would you not say, baby, get on the ship, baby, come on, baby, is in a sense a new name for John?

I will allow it. I will accept it as a formal entry in the new names for John. Yeah. Wonderful. You're right. The street continues. We obviously did not go to Adetan and spend any time with the adults there, but there's plenty of Adetton still present. So yeah, I just thought this was delightful.

And like, in addition to once again, really heightening and moving forward the mystery in a way that I love, this can be the point in a season if a show is not well made where you start to get you, the collective view, like, starts to get annoyed. All right, you're showing us a statue and there's no face just so you can keep this like, keep kicking the can down the road longer. But it was perfect. It made complete sense. Yeah. In that context that that would be one more clue with another, like, mysterious element around it. So it's just like a smartly well-made show on the mystery front. The intrigue is building really compellingly and naturally.

And the characters are wonderful. They are just wonderful. And the ability to like week after week with Kim last week with Haina and Stricks this week to introduce new characters who in a very limited time really make an impact on us without it compromising the time that we're getting with our main character set. Like this Neil experience was genuinely. meaningful and wonderful. It reminded me of the conversation we had around the episode of Agatha all along where they

introduced the Kaplan's in such a short time. And it's just sort of like you watch, you know, Ford and Watts or whoever else, you know, is crafting some of these episodes, give you an unforgettable character inside of one episode. It's something that Lost could do really well as well. And you wonder, like, more, I feel more emotional attachment to this character in, like, like, you know, 10 minutes of screen time. Yeah, 10, 12 minutes.

Yeah, and I do some characters in like a season of television. Yeah. You know? And so just, yeah, for lovers of story, just really like breaking down what do they do. Like Tyrion and Monaster? Yeah, you know, what's more important than breaking down story with the House of R? But like, what do they do to make Haina, like a character we are emotionally invested? Well, like, have a character we already love be emotionally invested.

invest in her. That's that's a good shorthand. Uh, so, you know, it's a, it's a real accomplishment. And I think to your Mando point, I think that's so, I was thinking the same thing where it's like Mando took itself, has always taken itself a bit more seriously than it really ought to. Um, and that's okay. Like, I love that for Favre Favre's like, I'm making the great intergalactic Western look at these storyboards. And it's like, I'm having a great time with it for the most part in Mando. But like, yeah, Watson Border like, guys, we're going on an adventure. A real adventure. Let's go.

What a time. I received a box of Neil merch this week, Joe, and I immediately texted you. I thought you were responsible. What'd you get? To the person in the world who set this to me, I would just like to say thank you. This is wonderful. I got a Neil pop, a Neil action figure, a genuinely beautiful Neil print. I got laptop stickers.

I got a Neil pin. No, no plan. I mean, I don't mean to nag the box. The box sounds amazing. No plushy though. No, Neil plushy. Not yet. It really feels like that's something I would most want is like a Neil plushy.

Were any of the stickers or images the poster, were they the shot of Neil in this episode when he's looking back and the wind is blowing through his little elephant hair? Dude. Okay, so I'm not going to lie. I rewatch that to see if it was just like the force of the EOPI herd moving past him that lifted his hair or if an EOPI had farted. Like, you know, this is like a prominent part of the EOP canon. They stink. Obviously, who could forget the fabled stretch of cinema where Jarjar responded so memorably to the gaseous omission.

But that was just, that Neil Mom, it was so darling. The quivering trunk is the one that just sent me. I marked the exact timestamp in the dock in case anybody wants to go back and look at the quivering trunk when the kids are hiding out in the bus. It is at, I believe, let's see, the nine minute and 42 second mark on Disney Plus. If you miss this in real time, check it out. In his terror, Neil's little trunk is just this quivering. It's perfect. Everything about Neil is perfect.

If anyone wants to make a gift of this and send it to Mallory, Hobbes and Dragons at Gmail.com, my gift making days are slightly behind me, but I might make an exception for this. Okay. A very important order of business we have from the inbox today is that we put out a call for folks to come up with a pirate name for Mallory. And I have a few candidates here that I would like to hear your favorite. Okay, I'm thrilled. Okay. We've got Maelstrom Rubin, you know, like, Mal, Males sort of.

Yeah, I love it. Mailstrum Rubin, not Malesstrom-Mell? Yeah, I like that a little better. I think the alliteration of Mailstrom-Mal is good. But, yeah, I always love a Malesstrom. Maleshram one of my favorite Battlestar Galactica episodes. I'm into this. I like it.

Okay. What's next? Promising start. Malicious the vicious. That's your drafting name. Would you not say so? You know, I think it's fair. It's tough but fair.

I do think that the other Star Wars nickname that the listeners have already presented of Darth Mal maybe has us covered there tonally, but it's an acceptable and reasonable submission. Okay. What's next? Randy Mal. I mean, yeah.

I mean, that's a, that's a great one and then I really like this one like malicious Ruby and then just then Ruby Mal like sort of like as a short for malicious Ruby I like it yeah it's uh

I think we should these are great submissions I think we should keep the inbox open and keep on the hunt Randy Mal Randy Mal and Males from Mal are both really good They're all great those are my two favorites so far fantastic stuff

We also got a lot of emails actually from listeners that there's a New Hobbit-themed cafe in Maine. When are we going? Called Elevenzies. When are we going? I also would like to know when we're going. You let me know. Under what pretext can we get ourselves to Maine?

Let's think about it. Sarah, our listener, Sarah, sent us another Nosferatu sarcophagus pose with the email subject line, Nosferatu, Meet You. No notes for you, Sarah. You're the best. Thanks so much. Keep them coming. We've got several more days of the year for you to send me photos of you next to a cardboard sarcophagus in the lobby of a movie theater.

And last one at least is sort of like yes and correction we got from a few listeners, but I'll read the one that we got from Willoughby who said. A fun fact about the character name Benjar Pranick. He is named after two hosts of the Star Trek recap podcast, The Greatest Generation, Benjamin R. Harrison and Adam Pranick. Anika. The writers of the skeleton crew wrote into the show to let them know that there'd be a greatest gen Easter egg in episode three is. They're also listeners to the Star Trek podcast and Ben conferred it on blue sky after the episode drops.

So my question to the universe is when will they be a Star Wars character or a Marvel character or a goddamn rings of power lord or a house of the dragon character named after us. Wow. We're waiting. We're waiting. Okay. I don't mean to sound hubristic.

I normally wouldn't say this, but if other podcasts hosts are getting Skeleton crew characters named after them, I would like Amaljo somewhere in the Rings and Power Season 3 seems like the most likely. Okay, great. Right? Of the stress, yeah. Yes. If you're listening, JD and Patrick, probably Patrick, we would love to see it.

Thanks so much. That's it from the mailbag. We have a few more mail letters to get through in the rest of the outline today. Delightful. Sensational. Our listeners are the best. The bad babies. Another great year.

Another great year from the bad babies. Bad babies. They're the best. Bad bunnies. That's right. All right, Joe. We all have a place of the great work. It is time for the deep dive.

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All right. We're beginning where the episode begins. Arriving home, heavy air coats, big question mark. Our beloved onyx cinder, guided by the coordinates stolen from Kim. Okay, quick question. And I don't mean to drag us down. We've got a lot to get to you. You have, you both wrote it here and then you said it with your own mouth,

beloved Onyxcinders. Yes. Yeah. Yes. No. Would you make your home on the reeky, rattling, onyx cinder? I am at war with myself over this one because, like, Wham, I love a ship. You know, I love a Lego set.

There's already an Onyx cinder Lego set. The idea of inhabiting a starship in Star Wars is a thrilling one. But I am also obviously Team Neil on the, like, hygiene and stench front. I don't really want to be sleeping among the rancid and dead. Personally, that's just not for me. So I guess my question would be, what do we think the supply of, like, Clorox wipes and Purell on the Onyx cinder is?

And what sort of shape could we get that in? Yeah. Knowing that you don't wear outside pants indoors, maybe... The first thing I do when I walk inside is take my clothes off. I know that about you. It made me feel like the Rikis Onyx cinder wasn't for you. But listen. Yeah.

You know, and a couple scented candles. Who knows what's possible? That's only going to put a sickly sweet bug over the stench of the cinder. Okay, anyway, we've landed somewhere. Yes, in our maybe, but it's too soon to say, beloved onyx cinder. With emerged from hyperspace, we are in front of a planet that looks like from a distance at Aten. some, I thought, beautifully colored gaseous blooms, like a nice, dark, rich turquoise color. But Joanna, there's also just a fuckload, an absolute fuckload of satellites surrounding the planet.

Now, we are shown these, obviously, for a reason. Early in the season, when Ben joined us, he speculated, you know, could the tech that we had glimpsed on at Aten be generating these nebular gases that are hiding the planet? So seeing these here, that's something that's obviously still on our minds, are these monitoring stations? Are they here not only to track who's coming or going on planets where that is not allowed, not supposed to happen, but also to just monitor activity on the jewels of the old republic? Are they fail safes? Are these Operation Cinder, palpi contingency-esque satellite weapons there to destroy the plight? planet. Will you tell listeners who aren't aware what Operation Center is? So this is a part of Palpatine's contingency, which you've heard us chat about on other pods, but the very, very, very quick version of

a complex bit of canon is that Palpatine, uh, just will shock everybody to hear was like, listen, if you all fail me and let me die, I'm going to, I'm going to take a lot of it with me, right? That's like that's a very, very reductive log line of a complex contingent. No one can. Yes. And so these satellite weaponry positioned around certain planets could eliminate the planets. And the question, we've already been, we were speculating pretty heavily by last episode, by episode three, about potential future ties to exigal to the Sith Eternal, to the rise of the first order. that's obviously on our minds just based on where we are in the timeline, the question of whether

there's some prior tie to the Sith with the jewels of the old republic and the great works. This is just such a visual match to something that Palpatine was behind, that it's, like, difficult not to wonder if this was there to eliminate these planets if they got out of hand, basically. It is interesting because it's not as if Operation Center is like a massive. main, which is not to say it can't be this, but it's not like a main in the main films or anything like that, Star Wars thing. You find it in like novelizations or comic books or video games or it was like mentioned in the Mandalorian but not sort of appearing. So

it would be sort of one of those like extended Canada details that they would sort of develop here. But if you're a Star Wars man, you're forgiven if you're like, I'm sorry, what is Operation But it is interesting to invoke something like that that like hardcore Star Wars fans know in a property that has a ship called Onyxinder. Like I'm just trying to figure out for myself whether that makes it more likely that that's what this is or less likely. I don't know if I have an answer for that. Yeah, yeah. That's a great call. And also just in general, this question of like, okay, eight of these jewels were destroyed.

How? Like we're on the grounds now on one of them in this episode without action. We leave the episode without, we leave the episode knowing that things are a mess there, but not knowing how it got to that state. Was this an external force, an internal matter? Like, did the- No really asks either. There's the, there's the, like, what happened here? Slightly shocking lack of curiosity around, like, because we're like, why are we fight?

We'll get into the war in a second. Yes. Why are we fighting? Well, this is the current reason. What started it? Yeah. What started it? Good follow.

It would be a good follow-up question. Fair note. Fair note. How long you've been fighting? We are working our way toward Neil getting a kiss on the cheek. And so there's other stuff to focus on. God damn it. Great point.

Joe, Jod, our guy Jod, is so odd by briefly, very briefly thinking that they have arrived at Atten that he invokes Renaut's ghosts. And we don't really need to talk about this, but it's like one of the, I just wanted to quickly mention it because it was a little, literally two-word thing that felt emblematic to me. of why I love the show, right? It's like a just, it gives the world texture. That's a legend in the pirate world. That's a person that someone knew at some point. Like, we don't know who it is, but it doesn't matter. It's just like these little bits of depth and mythology and like the kind of thing people say to each other that would be normal for someone else to hear. It just helps

make the world feel full. The common sort of Reddit theory, though the creators have not confirmed this is that this is a little nod to Richard Donner. Renaud is Donner backwards and then it's like a little Easter egg for Richard Donner who directed among Superman also the Goonies. So, you know. The Goonies. I'll be out of it lots. Did you know that they're doing a riff on the Goonies in this show? Some great Goonies references in this episode. They see Houses. Neal is absolutely thrilled. He shouts home, my heart melted. Melt it. Not for the last time in this episode. But Wim! is not as excited. He says just when things were starting to get fun. Wim's, Wim is not arched out yet. He's not yet ready to go home. That will be, I suppose, where we end

with Wim. But right now, he's like, oh, man. We're having an adventure. I am more character development to do. We've talked a lot about the Jedi-specific stuff with Wim and how it feels clear that part of what Wim is going to have to confront is that the Jedi are flawed. Being a force user doesn't necessarily make you a hero, et cetera, et cetera. But this also clearly feels like it's going to be part of Wim's journey, right? He couldn't wait to escape. He felt trapped, misunderstood. Whim returning to his family and, like, embracing the idea of home. And for Nio... When you say there's no place like it? Is that what you'd say about it all? I don't know if I would say that about Atten.

Well, and I think also this is going to land on Wendell as well. Like, what home is he coming home to? Is he coming home to a father who has gone on his own arc and learned. hey, maybe work-life balance is a good thing, and I should look into it. You're never too old to hear an appreciative bedtime story. Wendell. And then for Neil, who like we love and adore and cherish and want a cradle and protect it all costs, he's got a journey to go on too, like stretching out beyond his comfort zone. So all of the characters, they're on a shared journey, but individual ones too, and that's just really lovely.

The ship is rested out of 33's control. They are locked in an autopilot sequence. It does seem that 33 is able to break out of that and land the ship where he wants. But in addition to the just genuine high comedy of John's terror, is that normal? Is it normal? Do you know? It's just wonderful. We have this, okay, the jewel planet's protection against unwanted comings and going.

So if a ship enters, it's going to be pulled in where we can control it. I mean, and even, and that is in place even in a place where everything has sort of falling apart. Right. But that that still lingers is fascinating to me. And fuel, certainly for your theory that like, like, an auto program, a computer or program of some sort is behind this, right, that that would linger beyond whatever human life force might have left.

It made me wonder, like, if this is part of what led to the cinder's crash on Ad Aten. And we still don't know exactly when that happened or what caused it. We get some interesting insights from 33 in this episode, but we have a lot of mystery still. An entire body's decomposition to go. That we do know. We're skeleton grew up. Enough for dirt to settle and grass to grow. And the hillsides and take shape.

When they disembark, when they leave the ship, they see just immediately that this is not, in fact, home. It's wrong. It's smoky. It's empty, though, with the alarming presence of an explosion of the distance. rubble everywhere, a creepy playground right away, just to freak everyone out. Not whim. He's like, I'm ready to go. It's simply a no for me. Creeply playgrounds are always a no for me.

It's simply get back on the ship and go time for me. Would you have left immediately or would you have continued on to explore and look for clues? You're there to find clues for the path home? I would have been like, I'll be on the show. I'll babysit John. You guys go ahead. You take S.M. I'll stay with hot John. I'll do Operation Baby, and you guys go ahead. This is why you're the best.

You're an innovative thinker and a problem solver. It's a real win-win for me, honestly, if I have a John babysitting duty. Speaking of, Jod emerges slightly on delay and looks around, takes it all in, wipes his hands together, smacks his lips, and says with absolute disgust on his face. John? So, this is At Atten? It tastes like ashy dust. It's a lot like my home planet, actually.

I love that you could hear, and like, thanks for prepping us about the rubbing of the hands and the smacking and lips, because you can hear both on the audio track. And the rubbing of the hands, you and I both, John is like so, like obviously wearing gloves in weird circumstances inside of this episode

that you and I had the same exact, though, distinct from each other instinct, to wonder, have we ever seen his bare hands? because why is he wearing the gloves? When he's fumbling with sort of intricate things, he's got those gloves on. We were like, why? And then you and I both looked at different parts of earlier episodes to see, yes, indeed, we have seen his beautiful naked hands.

And so what's up with the glove work in this episode? I don't know. I don't have a good answer. Yeah. I like that we both immediately went to a different scene to check. I went to the mixing of the bowl for the meal, and you went to the key grab. The key crap. Because I was like, we're doing hand-for stuff.

Yeah. Hand-stuff, go. Hand-stuff, go. One of my favorite sub-genres of the Harrison Ford acting canon, hand stuff, go. Hmm. That was it. That's Blade Runner, in case you're wondering. Oh, I know.

So, Joe, in addition to the comedy, we get a little morsel. Oh, tiny deuce. You are on one today, and I love this for you. Another colonel. We're not ghost. Where's it from? Of an insight into Jod's history. Looks a lot like my home planet actually.

Do you take this to mean that his home planet was a dusty, ashy wasteland, a ruin? L.A. L.A. Smoog Central? Could it be that he's commenting on the city planning? Could it be that? You know, this would be utopia that didn't quite work out. My husband also has creaky, deserted playgrounds.

It seemed more weather patterns to me, weather pattern-based. Everyone and their uncle has been looking up like, what's an ashy, smoggy, dusty, choke-your-trunk planet. There's a Moosephar's theory, which I find wildly uncompelling, but it exists out there. I don't know why it would be interesting that he's from Misfar, but, you know, could be. Yeah, I don't think that seems very unlikely to me for a number of reasons. I just thought I would say it out loud with my mouth, but I also don't believe in it. Yeah. Okay, so it's not home actually.

And sweet, smart, Neil. Clever Neal. Who is not only a capable detective, but an observational journalist who seems like he will win a Pulitzer one day. Yeah. And a leader and a mover and a shaker and a thinker. He's the one. He's like, I see a clue. Let's run toward it.

I'm about to explain to you why I know for sure this is not home. And the gang follows. Jod very feebly yells after them. No, no, don't go off. Don't run where I can't follow. Ed Fern tells SM 33 to keep him here. This is shortly after she told him no adults allowed in the cockpit and he humored her with the, yes, Captain Fern. Their dynamic continues to be delightful.

This is where we initiate babysitting sequence. Come on, baby. On to the ship, baby. Don't make me count. I hope Nick Frost had a great day when he recorded that. How could he not? Babesitting sequence being initiated for the one adult in the story and not any of the kids is a great little touch. Did this make you think of our beloved nurse droid IG-11, who has sparked some of the fiercest debates in the history of House of Arm?

I'll leave that to you and Steve. Yeah, Steve's not here to join me discussing IT 11. So we'll move on. He's always on my mind, though. Did you have any laments watching this episode for the first time that Jod and the kids were splitting up so quickly? I mean, it was a good adventure for the kids who were a little Jod Light in this episode, but he makes up for it in how he returns. So I will save my thoughts and feelings for that.

Oh, boy. The kids enter a house. It's covered in foliage. It's covered in. Looks like a log cabin has been placed on top of a metal structure. Detroitus abounds, structurally unsound, as KB notes. Everyone's cautious except for whim who just charges right in. Neil points to the tree in the middle of the living room.

And he is like, first of all, I have been to Skylight Books in Los Angeles, and I am an enthusiast of this particular style. And I said, Neil, same. Same. Then Neil said, this is just too big of a tree to be our home. Like, it's in the middle of this living room. Clearly, whatever happened here happened long ago. And I would like to tell you in the interest of candor, I am not too proud to admit that I, very briefly, just a second or two, like Wim was like, well, I mean, you know, could they be pulling an interstellar?

Like, space. Time. I had the same thought of my brain went to the flight of the navigator, which is, which they have already, you know, maybe they're making Nolan references, but they've definitely. I definitely already made Flight of the Navigator references. And that is a story, spoiler loop for Flight of the Navigator, where a boy hops on a spaceship accidentally goes out into space, finds his way home, and a lot of time has passed. And the tree is a helpful timeline for us, though,

because if the question is, how long ago to the Onyxcinder crash on Annaten, well, they had to come here first, was it already war turn when they got here, where trees are already growing through houses when they got here? Or was there arrived? It was that pirate ship. Was the Onyxander arriving there? The inciting incident for the collapse of the civilization on this particular planet.

We don't know the answer. But if it was, that tree has been growing for a while. So it meant that was a long time ago in a galaxy near, near away. So, you know. SM33 has a lot to work through. It's got a lot to process. Got a lot to tell us. Yeah.

Obviously, this is not in this stretch of the Star Wars canon how space travel works up on the timefront. So very quickly, we all moved on. Also, it's very clear we're going to go to all of these planets or at least a good chunk of them. So here's what we see. First, we get a quick Tales of the Knights' Mansion from Wim. And we've been tracking, like, what are we seeing on his iPad? What's he mentioning? How many of the stories that are stories in Wim's life are also going to prove to be stories in our lives as Star Wars fan?

like, is he talking Knights of the Old Republic? That was very fun. I did not enjoy Fern calling him a dummy and saying this isn't a story, which is very reminiscent of Wendell saying that he's too old for bedtime stories, was not a fan of that, quite rude, quite mean. Wim points out that this looks exactly like their home planet. And Keeb agrees, but also reminds them, hopefully, of what Kim shared last episode, which was, no.

No, you got to read this. You got to do the Kim voice. Treat us to it. So maybe this is another planet co-founded with At Atten. Is that what we're talking about? Continue with the quote below from last episode. Take us back. There we go.

Sorry. Okay. No, this role depicts the jewels of the O' Republic. Planets of wonders kept hidden for their protection. Long ago, they were all destroyed except for one at Atten. Now only remembered in children. stories pirate shanties and rumors believed by fools but i've always believed i hope we find an excuse every episode the rest of the season to get your kim voice in there is just wonderful absolutely

wonderful i was reminded the way in which it's like the exact same house yeah uh made me think about like because we already got that shot of the sprawling suburbs in the first episode made me think of like the 1980s like housing developments planned communities these like cookie cookie cutter homes on different planets. I mean, obviously we're, we're dealing with something else entirely because we've got the same tower. Like, we're dealing with like exact same layout. Same school, same tower. Yeah, same bus. But yeah, I was thinking about that about like, you know, which also makes me thinking back to the future. Okay. Not for the last time today. Nope. On the back to the future front. This question of like reminding us that these planets were

destroyed all but at-at-at and eight of the nine. This will be on our minds throughout this entire episode. Destroyed when and destroyed by whom? Like, did this planet kill itself? You know, we're witnessing warring clans. Did they tear the places apart internally? Did the leaders of this old Republic Jewel Great Works mission decide to eliminate eight of the nine?

Did outside forces come into play? Here's the problem is for me to you. If we ever encounter an owl cat or some other wise being that is giving us a little, like, You're going to ask a follow-up question. And they use passive voice. They were all destroyed. I will say, by whom? By whomst.

Like, you've got to tell me. And Kim, like, would have at least some insight. Some action. Kim's a cat owl librarian and collector. Nothing could be more wise. Oh, man. We see Joe, speaking of notable historical documents. the exact same mural that we spent a lot of time remarking upon and discussing in previous pods.

It is in the background of this sequence, it's like everything else kind of battered and destroyed, but we see the same figures in this mural. So we wondered, we speculated the last pod, okay, were these the founders of Hadaten? And now it seems like are these the, we pan back, right? The people behind all of the jewels, whatever the great work, proves to be old Republic forces, etc. Do each of the planets? Did they have their own individual leadership?

Is the supervisor a figure who loomed over all of them? Can't wait to talk about King Nohead? Yeah, there's King No Head and then there's like, it's not a corresponding statue, but there is a statue of Niels Races extraction on at Atten, like a big statue. And so I don't know if like, it's not exactly the same, but in terms of like a huge figure, a statue, there is one, I think it's around like eight something minute mark in episode one of On Ataten. So yeah, we're like did each of the figures in those murals like are the founder of a different Hogwarts house. Who's to say, you know? Wonderful stuff.

Wonderful stuff. Joanna. What else would you like to say about? this here? Well, we don't want to spoil the core premises of a few shows. So skip ahead if you don't want to be spoiled by potentially a show you've never seen. But hit the button two to three times. That's just sufficient. Yeah. But Silo, a show that you and I both seen. Incredibly difficult to not think about Silo throughout this entire episode. Or fallout, a show that you have seen and I planned to catch up on. The fallout vaults were very much on my mind.

I planned to catch up on. Our listener Jake wrote in and says, People trapped slash kept in a mysterious place, prevented from leaving by mysterious unknown powers, only to find there's life outside the silo slash barrier slash lumin offices, which is more dangerous slash confusing than anyone anticipated, especially now that we discover there are other mysterious planets, silos outside of Adden, that were once the same, but have progressed and wholly unexpected in horrific ways. So Jake was like noting the silo reference and the severance reference. So I thought that was interesting. And also, like, the characters, at least in, you know, the band of warriors that we find ourselves with the Troikes, they've got these seven dot sigils. And I'm just going to, I'm just curious. I was curious about the seven dot sigil that they're all wearing, because I'm like, which is presumably what their flag is, etc. Is it, why would it be seven and not nine?

Because we're talking about like the nine planets. Is it seven because they're the seventh planet? If we go to other planets, will we see similar sigils with different numbers based on whichever planet they are in the system? That could be kind of fun. But that made me think about like the lost in the Dharma initiative and the different like sigils for different stations. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Love that. Yeah. And we had talked last week about the, because we, it was actually like branded as a numeral. And we were de layering and decoding the numeral when we were with Kim, like that question of, okay, if that matched. That was pulled from Fern's badge, top of class. Does that mean it's one? Like, is that at planet number one?

So we have now a couple bits of potential, yeah, evidence to support this idea. So that's, I mean, I think if we get it in a third planet next week, it'll be a lock. That's just, yeah, really, really fun. Have I ever told it? I'm sure I have. I know that I have. Because we've been podcasting for years. But my high school English teacher always used to say three trees make a row.

Like when you're trying to prove something is true. with supportive evidence from the text, you want three, at least three examples because that's what, that's how you make a row. Three trees make a row. I love it. If you just have two, you can be going in any direction and you don't know which direction.

But if we have a third next week, we'll know. I can't wait. We'll have to wait another week. We will have to wait. I will have to wait, but I will have to wait to talk about it with you because we won't be potting on Skelet Carey next week. But we can send each other Padito

voice memos to tie ourselves over. Podcastitos. That'll be nice. Joanna Fern, you know, deduces, hey, somebody here might know about our home. All these similarities, right? Let's go looking. But before we go on our little excursion with the kids, we got to pop back to the onic cinder. We're going to go slightly out of order here just to put these two mini Jodd SM 33 scenes together here before we go back to the kids. Jod is just immediately. going through all of the kids' possessions. Gloves on. He finds the little, the hollow with the holiday special circus that we saw Neil's siblings enjoying and then the first episode of a different form.

He finds the daddies. He does the little like, let me test it by biting it. A classic pirate move right there. But I had to ask, Joanna, you've been enjoying some seasons of Survivor. Did this give you the palpable go? going through a tribe mate's bag the second they're away vibes that it gave me. This was so like looking for an idol in somebody's backpack to me. It didn't ping that for me, but I do want to say I do know who won Survivor and I'm

not going to say it on this podcast. I haven't watched last night's episode. Don't tell me. Then I'm not going to say a single thing to you. Don't tell me. I'm like living in terror of spoilers. And the Penn Ultimate episode last week was so good. And I'm terrified.

I'm going to get a spoiled for me before I watch the finale. What if I had spoiled you on Survivor? I would have been. I have had survivor outcomes split for me before, and it has not had an impact really necessarily on the dramatic tension inside of the finale. But I would prefer not. So I'm not going to get to watch it just because of the workload this week until Friday night. And I'm like so scared. It's going to be spoiled for me.

If someone finds an idol in someone's bag. Yeah. Are you like, why didn't you hide it on your bodies, you fool, or tuck it under, you know, a rock somewhere? Plenty of crevices to shove it in on the island or your own person. Sometimes people are looking for like, it could be a clue, right? It could be a piece of paper, an advantage, an idol, anything, just anything to tell you what somebody has. But yeah, if people are leaving things in their bag and then leaving their bags at camp, it's difficult to take them seriously as a player of consequence. Great, great, great.

Oh, man. SM 33 shows up and he's like, you're a thief. Stop stealing shit. And John's like, it's me, John. That does not mean, to be clear, though, that he is not a thief who was stealing shit. I thought that was so funny. Yeah. take us through what we hear from 33 here because we start to really dive into the Joanna is right.

We are going to see quickly that we've got some program to lie, malfunctioning memory stuff going on with our guy 33. So he knows we're not at Atten. He knows we're at Akron, at Akron, Ohio. And he's like, it's a dangerous place. I know it well. And he's like, oh, ataten, this place does remind me. And then just then the rat that lives in his head sort of like, not just emerges and squeeze, but also maybe like Fs around with his circuitry.

Yeah. And then he says the classic, can't say I remember no at Atten. So listen, the rat that lives in his head, a clear pal of ours, whose name, I guess, canonically is snowball. Delightful. Is he helping to make sure that SM33 doesn't give up the goods? Let me say this. I can't handle it.

If that's what happens, I'm not prepared to cope. Anyway, can't say I remember Noah at Atten is the name of this episode. Sure is. And as it turns out, we were right about something. That's so exciting when we are because sometimes, maybe more often than not, we're wrong. Okay. And then we see Jod gingerly leading S. M. 33 out of the ship being like, all right, anything look familiar? Holding his elbow and treasure.

Yeah, so I love to. We're going out of order with the scenes, but we got in the actual order of the episode the cut from Strick's like pounding his staff to 133's pegline. That was great. But he's like there was a tower. That's what SM33 remembers. Warriors like these are they. And then we're about to get the warriors emerging from the fog, the Hattons. But like when he says we encounter warriors like these, snuck past him we did, was that on this planet at Akron or did they sneak past him on ataten?

We don't know. I just thought this was wonderful. I thought Jude Law's acting with a droid was fantastic. The angling of the head like up to kind of encourage him and look at it. It was so funny to me. I loved it. Yeah. And then can we hear one of the greatest lines in all of Star Wars history when the Hattons confront John, please?

You there. What flag do you fly? You know what? Just shoot me. Ast astonishing. Jude knows exactly what his assignment is in this project, and he is completing it with gold stars. With grace and dignity. A plumb, honestly.

But yeah, you wanted to point out that John, doesn't use the force here, right? Well, we don't see actually what happens. We hear what Jodd says happens when he shows up with the OVs. He says he spent the dateries on them. Did he? Does he still have them tucked in his boot, though? Like, did he kill a bunch of people? Did he dup them with the force? But in this moment, he doesn't use the force. He's just like, go ahead and kill me. And I think more crucially, he was taken by surprise by people who were mere feet away in a thin layer of mist. SM3 clocked them,

and he allegedly forced sensitive, Jod, did not. So I think that's fascinating. Very notable. I mean, obviously he's quite preoccupied with the, despite saying last week, you know, just a small reward, still very preoccupied

with the prospect of treasure. But yeah, just the, again, like the lack of instinct to try to use the forces is very, I like what you're pointing out, though, that we don't know what he does after, Does he use the force to attack? Does he Jedi mind-trick people?

Conveniently. We have no clue. We have no clue. We don't. We don't. We don't. Well, and I think what's interesting is this question of like, we've been talking about like, okay, was Jada Jedi or not a Jedi? Was he a Padawan? Was he a Padawan? And like, a lot of characters that we know in the Star Wars universe sort of like ran off around Order 66 and went into hiding and that sort of stuff. Or was he never a Padawan at all? And was he just like a force sensitive kid with like a teeny tiny M count? who nonetheless he had his ability

because any M count at all is enough to get you snapped up in this era. I don't think there's anything time. I like the idea that he could have been pre-Padawan, like never, the skills were never cultivated,

but tiny M-count, I don't know. Nothing tiny about Jodd. Like this is BDE and this is BDE and this is MIDI energy too. For like a microem his micromiddy.

His mini- mini, you know? I just can't believe it. I can't believe the Rattie is a gnarc, and I can't believe that there's anything microbe, not John. But who knows?

Just ask me questions. Oh, man. All right, Joe. Let's meet the Troik. We're back with the kiddos. Wham is, of course, playing lightsaber with just like a rusted metal rod.

Neil is wheezing from the air. quality. The smoke is clogging his trunk, Joanna. And if I had stronger lungs myself, I would offer them to Neil to take. But you're asthmatic. So it's a no. The allergies and the asthma. It makes me ill-suited as a source of aid for Neil. But if he could, you would. In this circumstance. But if I could, I would. The kids have not seen any people yet despite hearing some fairly alarming sounds in the distance, but they do happen upon this just super normal, totally chill and cool, giant headless statue that we recently discussed, King Nohead.

We love a mysterious, looming, partially missing statue, Joe. Were you thinking about Lost here? Of course. Always thinking about Lost. Same. How could we not be? Lost. What a great TV show.

You should watch it if you haven't. Anything else that you want to say? We already talked about the statue a little bit. Do you think this is like the planet-specific leader and supervisor? Could this be like a front, you know, a false figurehead for the machine that is actually in control and in command? Anything else on the theory front here with the statue specifically? I will say that there was, you know, they're sort of someone fires a shot at the statue and they're all sort of standing there and they duck for cover and KB is just standing there. It's still staring and a really interesting, like a zoom in on KV kind of shot.

And, you know, I've seen some people interpret this as like a lack of special awareness from KB, but like KB who is currently like clocking and calculating everything that like seems less likely to me than like some sort of echo of a recognition or analysis that will come to fruition later is my question. And that takes us to is KB actually for sensitive theory quarter? We got a number of emails about this. I won't read them all out, but shout out to Chris and Declan and Trevor, who all brought up this theory of like, KB is wearing this device. We have heard from her parents that she has, you know, a serious medical condition. Right. And that is seemingly the reason that she has this device on her.

But like, is she being, does she have, let's say, a massive swinging M count that would put a jaw to shame. And is that, is, is she being suppressed? Has she, have they put a force dampener on her in some way and they being whoever, the, the supervisor of the droids, the power that be? Why would you do that? Would you, would you, would you, would you dampen a force sensitive child because it's too dangerous to have someone who's force sensitive?

They would figure out things that are going on. Would you do it to block anyone from seeking them out in the galaxy? in finding them and kidnapping them. Right. You know, would it be something that was done for protection but becomes kind of insidious over time? Because the true reason for it is not being given. I think this is really compelling and interesting as a theory. We don't have to have strong, force, sensitive characters in a Star Wars story to make it that exciting.

You can get by on a micromid, like, jod. But I think it's really compelling this idea of like dampening, blocking her force powers. Because we see things throughout, like, later when the kids are doing target practice, KB is a crack shot. The other kids are swinging wide and she is just like can after can. That could be like the visor. It could. It could.

And a lot of her stuff can be chalked up to the visor and her ability to sort of like calculate things. But like, I don't know. The other thing is our listener, Dan Ronan, to mention that KB was the name of a toy store in the 80s. Sure. And I just need to let you know and to let Dan know that every time someone says KB, I do in my head here, KB toy store. Where a kid can be a kid. Yeah. So yeah, we're on the same page with that.

Anyway, so are you, where, like, scale 1 to 10, where are you on this is KB for sensitive and being sort of? clamped down and controlled in that way. I really like this. I'm also quite compelled by this, for a number of reasons. I think, yeah, the tech does give us a lot of cover for the various things that happen, the heightened senses and awareness and precision that we see from KB. But, you know, first of all, it would be a very fun little payoff on the prior fern

Jod, KB, like, I guess KB can use the course to moment. I really like that. the idea of whim in terms of whim's journey, having to confront the fact that a person he knows, a person who has become a friend, can use the force, like that this was maybe around him on his planet all the time. But in terms of that sinister suppression from the controlling forces on this planet, that just feels like so of a piece with what they are stitching together here. The lies that they are telling the inhabitants of these planets about the place they live and also about themselves, like the truths that they are depriving them of, about their role,

their place in the galaxy about what the galaxy looks like, what happens in it, who they are or what they can do. It feels like this would fit in quite, in a way that really enhanced all of that because it would be not only so personal and direct for one of our now primary characters, but it would connect to just such an obviously, like, central primary thing in the Star Wars canon and then really amplify, I think, the horror of it. So I don't think we need one of the kids to be forced sensitive. I agree with that.

But I do think this would really feel like a way to heighten the story that they're stitching together. I like this. It reminds me of the... There's a story of Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut where everyone is made quote unquote equal by various, like handicapping various things. So like if you're a graceful, beautiful ballerina, you had to wear like weights and a mask on your face to like hide your beauty, hide your grace and stuff like that. So it's just sort of like this equalizer. We're all equal under the supervisor. And if you've got the force, you've got this gear on your head to sort of hold you down. Yeah. I think that's kind of interesting. I think that point about like the threat of detection. feels really intriguing to me.

But then also just on the sinister front, like, okay, it would be bad enough, horrible enough, to stifle and dampen somebody's force power, but then you tell their parents they're sick. They have a medical condition. Yeah, exactly. That is, like, horrific, if that's all of it, would be horrific if that's what's happening.

So I'm intrigued. Great theory corner fodder. Wonderful stuff. Our group has been detected. Neil gets a little poke in the bum from a blast. and then on the other side of the group, Haina arrives. We are treated to a very amusing little exchange about the name of the group. We're like, none of our kids can understand the accent, the French accent, that Haina has.

This was very cute, very funny. Our listener, Olivia, when Hanna shows up with her thick French accent and her gun and her sort of scraggly beauty Olivia said Please tell me I'm not the only one Who saw the badass blaster

tooting French girl in the woods And immediately thought Minnie Rousseau That's another lost reference. Lost. It's a great show. You should watch it. I do want to say

on the accent corner front Yeah. This actress is American. She was in Venom 3 among other things. Uh-huh, sure. I can only presume that they cast Matthew Kassavits, who is a French man,

and then asked this actress to sort of match his accent. But I have seen this accent described in and around the interwebs as Russian, Israeli. French is pretty low. Anyway, it's a wild little accent, but listen to their space French. So who's to say what they actually sound like? But it did sound somewhat Israeli from time to time, I will say. Oh, man. She did her best, and she was lovely.

She was wonderful. And she's with another character who I will be referring to as just a little asshole based on a subsequent scene that we'll get to in a few minutes. But, you know, like demand the names. Who are you? Wham, as usual, is not only not afraid. He's excited. Are you guys like an army of kids battling the adults over control of the planet? What do you think Wim is going to make of Andor when he finally gets to catch up on newer Star Wars stories?

and he's like Canari. This seems dope. Frankly, I think it's going to ruin all other Star Wars stories for him. Oh, it changes the iPad consumption forever for when after he gets to partake in and or. There's a sound. Hanna tells them to take cover and she just unloads this sick, like swinging kick move to load into a bus. She will later slide down. But later when she flips.

way for no reason. Hanna's just like, if I can parkour it, I will. And that feels like very love Daniels of, like, you know, that's a real Daniel's touch. Every time she did one of these things, wham shouted, whoa, and frankly so did I. The hiding out in a dilapidated bus was real Stranger Things season two for me. I was like waiting for the Demagogues to show up as our pals huddled in their bus. What did this, what did this ping for you? Yeah, I can't tell if it's because I'm 72 hours away from our annual Lord of the Rings watch party. But I was thinking of our hobbits under cowering under the tree. That's usually what happens when people are cowering and someone walks behind them.

I'm like, that's cool. Dark riddance. Fewer scary bugs and insects in this sequence, thankfully. Though the Hattons, the enemy patrol as it passes, they've got like a fucking tank. They're armed. It's genuinely scary. A lot of their gear is like old imperial gear, which I guess backs up this later claim that they do trade occasionally on this planet. Got to get those munitions somehow.

I have so many questions about that, General Stricks reveal. That bus sequence is where Neil's trunk is quivering in the most precious thing I've ever seen in my life. If anyone again missed that, would like to check it out nine minutes and 42 seconds. All right, let's go meet General Stricks. Hena uses hand signals to gain entry to. the Troika base, which is Joanna the school. They're not taking assessment in this school. All kids left behind.

All kids left behind on that act. Fertile. Whether it is the camp in the entryway, the camp up on the roof, it is rough stuff for Troik H.Q. On your knees, little asshole says, you kneel before General Strick's leader of the Troik and the one true king of Westrose. sorry, I did get Stanis vibes here.

I did. Titles, titles, titles. The one true ruler of Akron. Joanna, please tell us again who we are seeing here. And why it's a meaningful moment for you and Chris and Andy.

Okay, it's for different reasons. So this is Matthew Kassavits, who Chris and Andy know best from the Bureau Le Bureau, the French version of the agency. This guy is basically in that show played the Michael Fass under roll, the lead. So it was my bait to try to get Chris and Andy interested in skeleton crew

ongoing. They both got excited, though. I mean, they are obsessed with the Bureau. Their obsession led to a specific version of the watch logo made in the image of the Bureau at one point in time during COVID. I miss that entire thing. I will send it to you. It's amazing. I'm going to send it to you. For me, when I saw his like telltale, like Gallic nose, I was like, I know that face. Mati, Cassivist is also the male lead in Amelie. He is the Nino Cacampbois, the, the, like, original manic pixie dream boy who works at a porn shop and also at the carnival and is just the dreamiest French boy of the early odds. Ue Kwon, indeed.

But yeah, he's here in a wild, like, I don't know, it's a wild casting choice for this, like, surely microscopic role. And again, I think most actors anywhere in. the global cinematic space, if you say, will you come to a star world? They'll say, yeah, sure. Yeah. Anyway, Matykasovica should also say directed a wonderful French film called Le Hain. So just thrilled to see him here. What a joy.

He was sensational. Delightful. You know, I dream of you always. So here it is. I'd make a plum cake for you in a second. It's fine. Joe, was there anything about the language of... Troik Hatton that you wanted to

tell him to here. Well, I was just curious. They're so distinctive and Hatton is so close to Atten that it's just sort of like, and Troika or Troika or Troika, I was just sort of like, what, you know, often when you, and we'll get to sort of this trope of this like ongoing war kind of sci-fi plot we've seen before in certain things, but often the names of the warring factions

either come together to form something or or have a distant connection to something. So I can't quite make it make sense here. Maybe it will come to nothing. But I just wanted to sort of flag it as like if we meet people in another planet and they've got factions that sounds sort of similar to just something to think about. Yeah. And the language of the planet names is so interesting too with Atkron and Atten and the others we eclipse this episode. I saw someone, I think it was on Reddit, say, like they were wondering if AT stood for like artificial terrain or something.

You know what I mean? Like if there was just like a, you know, a preface. fix to these plaintiffs that meant was an acronym for whatever this project was, you know, at acronym. Fascinating to learn that they all start with that. Hatton is giving me Hatfields, but Troik is not giving me McCoy's. I don't know. Troich.

McCoy's, Matrox? I can see the vision. Oh, I like that. That's my favorite thing I've heard so far. So I support it. The Hapfield's of the McCoys. Great stuff. These off-worlders little asshole says have offered their meaningless names.

But General Stricks, he likes the energy. When Fern is like Captain Fern, actually, he bangs his staff in what we will learn is signature fashion. And he wants to know, hey, small, strange children, are you warriors? Like, normal. Neil is, of course, incredibly alarmed and points out that they are kids, Strix is unfazed. He says, we treat our kids like adults here. We acknowledge their strength, he says. He adds, if we didn't honor our children, then my daughter, Hena, never would have saved you. And I thought this was a fascinating mix. Because on the one hand, this is like kind of what Fern and whim are after, right? A parent who lets you be independent, who takes you seriously.

Yeah, who respects you like an adult. But then obviously what is the, we swing quickly into like, and then. To poise you as a child soldier, which is obviously just objectively not good. And we've had this note for the Jedi Order for some time. It's just not good. Yeah. It makes it think of Coraliner. There's other versions of inside by fantasy of like the other mother.

Like what's the bizarro version? You meet the like bizarro version of your parent, often played by the same actor, who is, like, like exactly what you've always wanted and then you find out, oops, that's not actually what I wanted. Yeah, exactly. What I really want is a workaholic father who shames me for my desire to read fantasticalsores. Hands me a wad of datteries and sends me about my day. Honestly, not bad. The life of a latchkey child. General Stricksey calls them brave. He goes down the entire line, he pinches the hill's cheek. He asks them what they seek and they say home. Directions, home.

Strix tells them, this is what you referenced a few minutes ago, sadly we do not concern ourselves with off-worlders beyond trading hides for munition. I thought this was so interesting because obviously that is not the same as what we see on Atten, which is you cannot go beyond the barrier. You cannot leave. They've never seen stars. They don't know what's out there.

They've never interacted with anybody outside of their planet. The citizens of Ad Akron are trading hides from munition. are engaging in space trade, that means they have some means of contact with the outside world? My theory is that the onyxender broke the seal on the barrier here. And then like a bunch of pilots, because doesn't it sound like something you would get from pirates. We trade hides for like random war bric-a-brac junk that they've collected from various, like, you know, from Jaku or wherever else they're finding this stuff.

I don't know. It's very interesting to me. This is absolutely fascinating. Fascinating. When Mass after maps, star charts, anything that could help. And Hena mentions the knowledge hidden in the fallen sanctum. Capital F, capital S, fallen sanctum. This is the supervisor tower from at Atten, as we will see. Coordinates to other planets await.

And her father says, Strix says, it's too dangerous of a road to travel. But if you all train with my warriors and prove your worth, if you can. For at least like a few hours. 20 minutes. At least like one meal. Yeah. The time it takes to secure and consume one daily ration, proof that you can be of use, which of course means as weapons of war,

then we'll consider taking you to the sanctum. So it's time for some tiny warrior training. And Fern, KB, and Wim are moving through this training course, but not Neil. He is uncomfortable with this. And Hena calls him wise for not wanting to join in with his friends. And initially, we think that we're going to have some sort of like tender moment that we will eventually build toward. But here, at this moment in time, it is just because she thinks he wants to see a bigger gun. She pulls him by the trunk, and frankly, this was outrageous.

This is a relationship that I was very won over by very quickly, but the pulling by the trunk was not acceptable. The trunk is so interesting because, like, when John says move your trunk, right? So it's like, move your butt. Like it's your ass, right? Is the trunk? Can someone plug his trunk out on top with my trunk? My trunk is clogged by the air. Like, what appendage is the trunk at the end of the day?

You know? But it's a very intimate moment. And Neil didn't seem to mind. Oh, man. She takes Neil to the roof, Joe. There's another encampment up here. We see an Thorian yet again. We get to see a little bit of the rhythm of life here.

Somebody is, like, hanging laundry to dry on an old pipe. There's a meal station for the daily ration. And Hanna takes Neil over to secure that daily ration. And as they wait for their portions, Neil shares a very important observation. He says, this planet is so different from mine. Why are you in a war? And I just really loved, like, in this episode, tracking how each of the kids is processing what they're confronting here because WIM is like, it's exactly the same.

And for Neil, he's like, okay, the thing that matters when we're assessing what's the same and what's different is not what buildings are here. Is there an RX series droid on the bus? It's how are people living their lives? And so to him, it's not the same at all, right? It is radically different. And that just told us so much about him. So I really loved that moment. On the second part, though, why are you in a war?

What does Haina say? Um, she says that they stole their aopies, right? That's the current battle. Uh, and then they'll burn down their granaries and retribution. She says, quote, the old ones say each generation grows weaker, but when my father dies, it'll be the one to lead my clan to victory, right? So the old ones say, generations grow weaker. We have questions about what happened in that, Attena and then the older generations and memory and how it works on these planets. My grandpa says. Yeah. And I, um, I have questions about this as it relates to a couple shows we love. Because I was reminded of an episode of Doctor Who and an episode of Avatar The Last Airbender. And an episode of Doctor Who, the doctor's daughter, the doctor and his companion is crash land on a planet where there is a war, an ongoing war. And they've been warring for, quote, generations. And then what it turns out is that they're clones and it's met on your own. many generations of cloning and it turns out the war has only been going on for about a week.

Now that's not what's happening here, obviously. Right. This has been a long time. But in terms of like many generations in time and since time and memorial and we can't even remember how the war started, there are House of the Dragon-esque sort of big ideas you could assign to that in terms of like, who knows what started the war. You know, that's certainly worth thinking about. Rainies would love Skeleton crew and so with Sir Simon Strong. But in a sci-fi-fi fantasy world, is it possible that the war started, you know, were they manipulated into war? You know, can they not remember for more insidious reasons?

In the Avatar the Last Airbender episode, The Great Divide, when they meet two factions of the Earth Kingdom that have been warring for an incredibly long time, they have this whole story about how the war started. And Eng, who, if you don't know, an Avatar The Last Airbender has been on ice for a very long time, is like, actually, I know this story. It was a game. It wasn't a battle. You're talking about a game that two kids played, and you've crafted this whole generational war around it. So again, I'm curious.

I don't know if we'll ever know, because I don't know, I presume we're leaving this planet quite quickly. I feel like we said goodbye to characters on this planet already. So, like, I don't know how deeply we're diving into the source of the war here, but I just think it's worth thinking about in the context of memory and generations and forgetting and all of that, you know? And what is the story you've been fed? Right. All of that is interesting to me. I love that. Those are both great comps to consider. And like, especially in the context of the story where in general, there's this looming specter of

like how little awareness there is, right? Miss the War, you know, Corrosol and Alderan. Like, so little awareness about the state of Galactic Affairs. Like, these characters are even more ripe to just inherit and accept something without knowing, truly understanding the root cause of it. And so just like, I agree with you. I think we're, my assumption is that we'll leave this planet at the beginning of the next episode. Maybe we'll already be in transit.

And we will go to another one of the aats that they did discover coordinates for and on the pillars and basically go planet to planet to see our, okay, are the ad, at and coordinates blasted off on all of them or can we find them on one of them? That's my, like, assumption about. the ensuing travel. And so I think the question of whether we will learn exactly what the origin of the conflict was on this planet on At Akron, I don't know. But the question to me is like, is the answer different from whatever the circumstances are on all the others? Or is it the same across those eight? So I do think we'll get that like, what led to the destruction of the eight?

And then is there specificity inside of that? I don't know. I have a theory. I have like two theories that ping off of this as we as we let Theory Corner bleed into the episode, I will say, like in terms of what happened to lock at, at and down, so no one can come in and no one can come out,

whether it's an algorithm or droids or whoever running this, or it's an insidious, a human with an insidious plot, who's to say, but there's a possibility, if we're analyzing data constantly on adatin, if that's our job for constantly running scenarios and that sort of stuff,

Is the question of like, how do we build a utopia? And is the answer, if you break the seal on the planet, war is inevitable. Yeah. It's human nature. There will always be a star war. And the only way to have star peace is to just completely isolate ourselves via the algorithm. That's what the algorithm has told us is true. Yeah.

That was just sort of the theory that cropped up in my mind is, is the war that is at Akron, a cautionary tale of what can happen if we let outsiders into the planet. And so in order to preserve our dystopian but utopian suburban existence, we have sort of blocked ourselves off from everyone. Yeah. I think that seems most likely to me as well that the nine jewels are intended as like a reserve. A social experiment. Yeah. An experimental, isolated. separate society that will be kept free of all of the other things more and otherwise than plague the rest of the galaxy like the other shows we mentioned earlier in the episode and told people if they didn't want to hear, we wouldn't, that they should hit fast forward.

So I won't mention that my name again, but that's like, that's like why it's most on my mind with those shows. Totally. The other possibility that's on my mind after this episode, though, is like, and these are, these are sinister in different ways. On the experiment front, could one of the planets have been intentionally set up to test, like, warring tribes, clans, factions? You know, the idea of munitions being so central on this planet, that massive roof cannon. Now, we both think, like, okay, check off school roof cannon is probably on at Atten 2 and going to come into life.

That seems most likely to be clear. that Neil got to see how you pulled that up out of the roof. Crank that out. Yeah. That seems most likely, I think, for sure. But it's not like impossible to me that the heavy cannon fire is like specific to the setup of this planet. And that's one of the things they're testing here. Like on the language front at Akron, Akron being similar to like the Greek, you know, river of Hades, the idea that this could have been like a hellscape planet and part of an experiment. And then like, what are the tests maybe that are specific to each? Like if at Aten is like the finance center, et cetera, like we speculated, like does each planet have a specific purpose or a thing that the great work is testing about society? I think the former thing that you're outlining seems more likely to me. But this doesn't seem impossible. It's like this is the banking planet.

This is like war planet. This is the, I don't know, agriculture planet. Can't wait to go there and have a snack. Speaking of snack, meal gives away His meal in like the most I'm not trying to impress you But I've just really impressed you I can't help it

Gives away, it's just who I am Gives away his meal Even though he's a little Cute boy who loves a meal And a snack Gives away his meal To these starving kiddos In a true

Riff-Ref Street Rat Aladdin move Loved this for meal Our guy This was so cute I do believe that Neil should roll the galaxy. I don't think it's too soon to see that. Maybe that's, maybe that's the end of the social experiment. Maybe Neil is actually the giant statue on at-at, and it's supposed to be Neil as

an adult and he is the quitsat, Tatarach of this experiment. I'm in. Bring out the water of life. Let's go. Let's go. Pairs wonderfully with some onycinders space gruel. It's the Lishanaoib, Neil. Madi. We see the, the canon. This weapon still works from the, the old days, capital O, capital D. My goodness. And Neil wonders if this is fair. And it isn't, Joe. He says, this isn't fair.

You shouldn't be at war all the time. He looks over. He points to the neighboring building. He's like, that's where on my planet, my mom works. And he says, quote, when I'm done with school, the supervisor will give me a job there too. It's peaceful. And this was an important moment in the episode.

Yeah. Because, you know, again, we're mostly like so in the bag for Neil and we're really odd in this episode by his courage and his bravery and the things that he knows. He's willing to say what he believes is right. And that's a hard thing to do. But this moment, it's like a push-pull thing. Wanting that, accepting that, longing for that, like, controlled existence is not, that's not true piece. That's false piece. That's peace because you don't know that you have anything else on.

offer to you. And so Neil breaking out of that really like sheltered, contained existence, I'm excited to see the rest of that journey for him. Yeah. Sweet Neil. I love him. We get kind of a like, tell me the waters of your homeworld. Hussle. A Johnny moment from Hena here. She's like, at it and like no conflict there. What's up with that? This is where Neil explains slapball. It's an incredible moment. This kid is so good. I absolutely love that he's like, you can't fact check me on this. And so I'm just going to say that I was the best. I thought this was fucking great, though it was pretty tough when she's like,

your clan must be very weak then. However, it did lead to a wonderful moment. Yes. Can I just say really quickly before we do that? I was looking up interviews with Robert Timothy Smith, who voices Neil, because I just find him so darling. And I was just sort of like, this kid is so good. Like, how does it? And he.

was clear to credit Casey Barrowman, who is like the performance. So similar to the Mandalorian, I don't know how often we're seeing Robert Timothy Smith as Neil and how often we're seeing Casey Barrowman as doing like the movements for Neil. But whichever one of them did the slapball gestures, 10-10, no notes. But that was you, Casey, great job. If it was you, Robert Timothy Smith, even your name is adorable. Great job. Wonderful. That is a cute name. Isn't it? Robert Timothy Simey.

Darling. Timmy. Oh, man. Neil sits on the edge of the roof, and he reflects, and we just need to hear this entire thing, John. We never have to fight for anything. We have always had a fight just to survive. We fight for fools. We fight to protect our friends.

We are strong. Fighting is... Fighting is bad. If you just keep raiding each other, do you think it'll even ever end? Yes. If it was me, I'd just say I was sorry. No more fighting.

But that's probably just because I get too scared. Because I'm from a weak clan. Never mind. You shouldn't listen to me. And chill and zoom and hold me. Oh my God. I mean, this was, I honestly could barely handle this. So, so, so sweet. We got this email from our listener, Kevin, who says,

to quote slash paraphrase the great Mallory Rubin, the preeminent television historian of our time, quote, is the moment Neil scooted over on the bed, it was alleged, but sure, scooted over on the ledge a bit just to be slightly closer to his crush, the greatest moment in TV history. I think it might be certainly the cutest. Yes, the little scoge. Unbelievable stuff. It was the way that Neil sits down on that ledge cross-legged, which does not look like the way a child sits to me, which made me think it was the like performance artist sort of. There was something quite adult about the way that they, but the scoge over, the little minute scoge over to be closer to her.

Oh, yeah, it's so cute. Well, Neil is very emotionally mature. So perhaps that's why it seemed like an adult-like gesture. This was just wonderful. I just thought this was so sweet and heartwarming and, like, Neil, knowing that this is the fight is bad and wrong and saying, like, let's just make peace and say sorry, but also, like, having to learn to push for what he thinks this is right. It's just, like, an incredible thing to watch. It's just beautiful. That was, like, not even the most emotional Neil moment of the episode, which is really saying something.

Unbelievable. We get the story about how his little brother knocked him in the credence on. He sprained his trunk. Do you think that it's too soon to formally inform Runa that Neil and Hena will be getting married? What do you think? A little child soldier stole your man, Runa. I'm so sorry to tell you of this bad news, but it's over. My very favorite comment I saw on the right boards this week,

who someone wrote, no one's going to believe that Neil has a girlfriend on Space Canada. Oh, man. incredible. How many people saw it a little peck on the cheek? That's really. I don't know. That's what we need to know. But I feel like only Wim will really back him up. Maybe KB. Furn won't. Oh, man. God. Speaking of Firm, KB. and Wim, they are training below. When Neil and Kinaina returned, like, where were they? Great little moment there. Real middle school energy. Wim can't wait to show off, you know, adjusting the strength on the blaster setting, immediately knocks himself on his ass. Great stuff. Strix is like, you guys are ready to go to war. To war then. To war then.

It's always nice when Aragon can join us for the pod. You know, Fern's like, thanks for the generous offer, but no thank you. And Strix makes it clear that that is not an offer. No thank you is not an offer today. So that's alarming. And one of his lieutenants is like really happy to point out that even talking of desertion will get you shot. So you know, all that like, hey, yeah, you let us go to the mall on our own, cool dad energy really recedes in a, with a quickness in this episode. Tough stuff from our guy, General Stricks, particularly when he is, like, menacing toward Neil, right? He rows at him. He, like, pressures him. And his own daughter, Hena, moves forward to stand by Neil's side. Neil tells her she doesn't have to, and she says, I thought you might be

nervous. And he replies, I'm terrified. And she says, when I feel that way, it's better to be with friend. That's like... I might cry. I was actually genuinely moved to tears by their parting in a few minutes. Like, I was so touched by their relationship in the episode. I just really thought it was lovely. But like his little monologue, right as he's walking forward, it is better, it is better to be with a friend. Well, let me just say as a friend, this isn't right. I don't know. It's just saying this because I'm scared, even though I am scared, but I mean,

fighting in a rain, I don't want to hurt anybody. The really brave thing would just make peace already. He's the best. He is the best. He's obviously right. I loved the filming of this sequence where he is the reluctant party. Yeah. But he has walked without even realizing it toward the front of the group.

He's a leader. Like he's embracing his role as a leader. And that is just that's so, so, so cool to watch. You said earlier that hearing Jodd say like to shoot me already was one of the most important things that we got to hear in this episode, but I know it was second on your list. Please take us through what happens next. I think we should just hear this without any set up. John Lee, but.

Wow. Sometimes we hear something without the visual accompaniment when we're potting, and it is even more astonishing than we remembered. Holy shit. Two-time Oscar nominee, Jude Law. committing to the role as he calls the aopee, right? He emerges from the, first we hear that in the distance. And we think it's something like menacing coming for us when in fact it is, it is

John and SM33 and the herd of aopies coming out of the mist where John says like, here's the OPs you were looking for. And, you know, Strix is like, you can have everything you want. He's like, these four, the little ones. The little ones. I need them. And it's just like so charming. The boys come and like hug him.

The girls stay behind, which felt like a really nice echo of earlier when he asked them their names. And the boys are like, wham! Nail! But the girls don't. He's like, now we know each other. But even first, she's like, God, you came. Like, you saved us.

The Neil hug. Here's the, here's an email from a listener, Mark. They all just want to be you, Mallory. Mark says, I'm not prone to hyperbole. So I feel confident saying that when our new best buddy in the whole world, Neil gave Space Daddy Judelaw a hug in this most recent episode. I believe we witnessed the greatest moment in Star Wars history. I know what you're thinking.

That's crazy. But of all the great moments in the galaxy far, far away, has a single one included a kind and understanding elephant who will support your desire for adventure, come up with a secret handshake, play fake lightsaber battles whilst making the whoosh noise, even though all he really wants to do is homework, graduate and go to work, hugging Jude, quote, once put glasses on in a movie and made the entire audience moan law see the holiday. Spoiler alert. No, they fucking don't.

Oh, did I mention the hug is the result of Jude, quote, literally received an Oscar nomination because I am too hot to handle law, saving Neil from people who wanted to turn our sweet boy into a soldier. I rest my case. Mark, a compelling email, if ever I heard one. Yes. And the fact that you included an allusion to Dickie Greenleaf, the hottest human has ever looked. earns you extra points. So thank you so much for that email. Fantastic email from Mark in a fantastic moment in the history of story.

Of cinema of our culture, our lives as interior thinkers. John, can we hear it one more time before we move on? I think that needs to make it to the soundboard. That needs to become a permanent staple. Let's get that memo of Steve. That's a bust. So good. So good. Joanna, it is time to head to the fallen safe.

I'm sure everything will be fine there. Do you think that's going to be what they're going to call in the next Jurassic World film Jurassic World, colon Fallen Sanctum? Fallen Sanctum sounds pretty cool. It really does. Yeah. It's good branding. It is.

Like I don't want to go to the fallen sanctum when I hear that it's called the fallen sanctum and yet I can't stay away, which brings us to. Hena, helpfully reminding her father, we did make a pledge. They're heading. She is going to guide them toward the fallen sanctum. And as they go, this is where Jod, like, regales them with the tale of his bravery, freely telling on himself in the process by revealing that he went through their shit and stole their datteries. That's why I'm like... That's why I have, like, some questions.

Did he actually spend those dataries? Or does he still have them? I don't know. I like it. It seemed awfully sloppy. So they're going to discover, in turn, the horde that he has kept. Maybe. I like it.

I like it. Haina points to the sanctum. It is the same tower as on at Atten, as we noted, the Supervisors Tower. And KB reminds us like, on at Atten, no one's allowed up there. Okay, can't wait to go to the Supervisors Tower on at Atten. Excited to find out what's waiting up there. Yeah. Great and powerful us.

Sounds great. Indeed. A musical number, perhaps? Could be. Okay. S.M. 33, of course. We get the little like, can't say I remember no Ad Atten. Fern is getting pissed.

Like we know her frustration with this repeating line is mounting. Anything on the visual front here? The tower looks exactly. It is the identical tower on an at and on at Akron. And they both look like the, I'm going to try to pronounce this. It's a tower in East Berlin. The Berliner Femcichem. Wow, that sounded like fancy term in a shitty accent.

Anyway, it's a TV. Tower in East Berlin. But I like if that is a visual reference that they were using because, and there's also some like brutalist architecture around in these sort of planned development areas. And I am, yeah, I wonder

if they're going for that sort of like rigid lockdown East Berlin war-torn sort of a look. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. It's a beautiful tower in Chalmany. Less so in its fallen sanctum state here, certainly.

Haina says this is where I leave you. And Neil's like, run away with me. Run away with me. I have plenty of room in my home. Wait until you see how big the bathtub is. We've got space. And we're treated to the clip that we opened today's episode with, which was perfection in every respect. She is determined to stay, but she makes it clear that Neil has had an impact on her.

Perhaps someday when I am leader of the Troik, I will remember your ways. I see now. Your weakness? It makes you kind. And my world could use some kindness. Joanna, Neil got his wear it, like, armor moment. Like this thing that other people might make him feel bad about can be a source of not only goodness, but inspiration for others.

Like, this was so beautiful. And the way we moved right from that to the comedy of Jod cock blocking him by interrupting. And the way that that felt so, like, seamless and natural was just the show in miniature to me so far. I loved it. It reminded me of it. I don't need to get too personal here on a Thursday morning before our holiday break, but I will just say that like growing up I was told again and again by like everyone that I was too sensitive, which is true. But then I had a therapist once to tell me that like the sensitivity was my strength. And even if that was just like a lie she fed me, really like did great things for me in my life to like be told that the thing that you think is like your biggest flaw, your weakness is actually like a strength. I was like. what? And she was like, yeah, she really convinced me. And I'm like, so I choose to believe it's true. It is true. And I feel like Neil got the same treatment. Your sensitivity, your kindness is not weak, it's strong, actually. Like your open heart, your empathy. And you get a little smoochoo and a little like flip kick from your, from your crush on her way out the door.

Absolutely icon. Love it. Every other crush in Neil's life is going to have a tough time measuring up. Bruna, I am rooting for you, genuinely. But we'll have to see. Our crew makes their way, Joe, to the tower. Jod hotwires the lift. And like everywhere else on this planet, it is a ruin. And when Neil asks if anyone sees a map to Adatin, SM33 and Fern do their same little dance routine.

Again, it is building, building, building, building. And then we find some writing on the pillars. Jod translate it. that says at A2. And these are galactic coordinates. And then they start going pillar to pillar at Akron, where they are, at ERISA, at Aruven, at Akota. So presumably the equivalent tower on all nine of the planets, all nine jewels, have these coordinates, right? This is like a network inside of the great work, we assume.

When Neil finds the Adatin pillar, though, the coordinates are gone. They've been struck. And who struck them? Because we are asking follow-up questions. We sure are. And SM33 is just like, oh, yeah, I do. It was twas me. Tough stuff.

Take us to rip. Furt also asked like when. Again, we're asking good follow-up questions. When do you do? When I was here before with my old captain is what he says. And then he gets confused and he's sort of glitching out. And KB's like, hmm, memory repair, like in her sort of tech savvy. And then Fern flips out.

And she marches off. And she's like, this is too much, too scary, too overwhelming. And I love this sequence between them. And like, Fern. Fern in the first two episodes, like, I understood what they were going for. And I kind of, I love like a bossy tall girl in general. But like, Fern was like coming in so hot in those first couple episodes. in a way that, like, I didn't love, but her, we loved a character on an arc and the way that

she's arcing here is very satisfying. And, like, her vulnerability and her tears here and letting whim of all people. See her. See her be a scared kid. Again, that reminds me of the Goonies in terms of, like, as they go through the caves and stuff like that, there are characters like Mikey or whomever or Andy who have these, like, moments of, like, where you were just, like, you were really reminded they're just kids. on this extremely dangerous adventure.

Yeah. And then she's like going back and forth with women. She's like, wait a minute, there was that moment in the first episode that Mallory and Joanna found extremely problematic when I forced my nanny droid to alter her programming. That was a tough one. And it turns out it was there for a reason. And that to me is further fuel for your theory that everything that Fern says in that first episode about the rumors. So like that is going to wind up paying off. Because again, this is a kind of show where, like, nobody says anything unless it's going to pay off later.

I can't wait to find out who the proctor sent down below the school. I truly can't wait to find out. I love that, like, epiphany came on the heels of, like, you're saying, the vulnerability, breaking through the bravado. But then also, like, Fern saying, in response to that, that just kind of astonishing level of praise from whim, like, I don't want to have to be the one to figure it out all the time. That was so interesting and cool. Yeah, like it's a lot. It's a lot for anyone to carry. She doesn't want to, and she doesn't want to be, like, top of the class,

home on her, like, all the things that her to be. That's the pressure on her. Exactly. Yeah. So I really, I really liked that. Like, you want to be the leader, you want to be the captain, but also then that means you have to be the one who makes sure everyone else is okay. And, like, that, that's hard.

That's actually really hard, no matter how old you are. So I really like that. Okay. It's the moment of Joe's theory bearing fruit in real time. I can't say that he remembers. know at added because he has been programmed such and not only programmed for that programmed to rip limb from limb. Lipp from fucking limb.

Anyone rend them limb from limb. Anyone who comes asking questions poking around. I'm getting real big. I loved your, if you're not watching some video, Mallory just made herself big. Real big. Big Mal. You know. And again, that's a payoff for something we've seen before.

We've seen him do this, make himself big to intimidate John. make itself big to attack the pirates. And so like to see him do it here against our kids, our heroes is just like, again, that's like a great payoff. Pull him apart. Lim from Lim. We have questions. We don't know if SM33 and his unnamed captain and the crew went to the other jewels or if this is the first place they went and they took these coordinates, struck them off the pillar and went straight to Ataten from there. or if we're going to find similar coordinates struck off of the pillars,

the corresponding pillars and the other planets that we presume we're going to go to. The captain killed any of his crew that saw the coordinates. Killed them dead. That's a Treasure Island moment. That's a Captain Flint and Treasure Island moment. So like he makes it so big. And then if you're like, I wonder if the Daniels directed this episode. We got what's called the Snorikam, which is this.

like rig that you can put on a character that we saw a lot in everything everywhere all at once. You also see it in some of their other work. And so this is like an iconic Daniels visual of, and it's scary. SM33 looks very scary. Yeah. Jod is trying to save the day a bit, but his blaster is not working. The kids are scared. They're hiding behind.

It's that micro-Mittie. God damn it. John. Well, function. John was tracking this whole. exchange too with such interest. Like you know he's picking up every clue to try to he's doing, he's podcasting, right?

He's like, what am I going to find? Come on House of Ar. Come on House of Ar, John. Please. You can keep the gloves on. It's fine. So all this happens. And then our beloved Neil,

in case you were, at any doubt this is a Neal episode, Neil hurls a bit of rubble. Oh my God. Over at SM 33. a real like Neville Longbottom moment for our guy Neil. Ten points to Neil! Yeah. And then he gets in trouble and he's like, oh my God, my God.

I'm just a small little elephant. Oh my God, oh my God. And then John does like a very like athletic lunch for the off switch. This was unbelievable. No, no. Like we're in the red zone. He dove over the goal line and didn't fumble. I know what all of those words mean.

Extended. Always go for the off switch. I loved when he said. stood up and he's brushing himself off feeling like hot shit and like waiting to be praised and then all the other kids I just rolled out of her. Neil, Neil, Neil, no. Oh my God. Neil, like, I was, I was, I was rewatched. The fact that it's just like, the last one of the episode is like, oh, he fainted. And it's just like, it's over. Oh, my God, sweet Neil. What an episode of television. It was delightful. Absolutely delightful. Had a great time. I'm really going to miss talking about it next week.

I can't, but then we'll have the pleasure of talking about two episodes at once. Yeah, great stuff. Joanna, it's totally wizard, a totally wizard episode. And you know what else is totally wizard? The Easter eggs. I just want everyone to know that Mal said is totally wizard off pod earlier. That was great. It was the thrill of her lifetime.

I felt so alive. Easter eggs. Did you have a favorite? So I think it has to be, When Wim blasts himself backwards on his bum after cranking up the dial on the blaster that he's using, it's very Marty McFly and back to the future, blowing himself back by the amp. So that has, I think it's back to the future. Yeah. That's a good one.

Yeah. I was thinking of you because if there were so many, like, the treasures. Treasure Planet and Treasure Island references and Goonies in this episode. I think I just really I'll go with an Easterer just inside of this series I really got excited by the identical mural in the living room that was thrilling

It was really fun It was really fun that this is all like Your planet But a war To wall then Yeah That's at my mind Like racing I really liked that

Yeah Captain Flint, Ben One-eyed Willie when I'm willing great stuff delightful oh yeah that was the thing

the Goonies thing that I was thinking about like we have the looming threat of the other pirates space urkel yeah brutus etc etc like are

on the lookout bounty hunters and I was thinking about and people they were talking about at aden and spilling you know batteries all over

sloppy you know tough so I was thinking in the Goonie as our kids are going on this adventure, blah, blah, there are the villains that are the Fratellis who are sort of tracking hot on their heels.

Yes. And so this idea that like we've got the other space pirates as sort of the Fratellis who are like, a few steps behind them on this adventure, are they going to show up at Akron? Are they show up at Kim's and then at Akron sort of tracing them on their way? Right.

Yeah. And if they make their way to that fallen sanctum, they're going to have a set of coordinates to consider for where we might be heading next. Exactly. Okay. Fun stuff. Joanna, due to a scheduling quirk as we bank 5,000 podcasts ahead of the holiday. Yeah.

I am actually going to be doing our weekly Allure segment with Ben. Without you. Oh, give my love to Ben Lindberg, who is the very best. And I'll see you later this week. I'll see you. We'll see you. Very soon. For multiple other pots.

I can't wait. I love you. Love you. Bye. Goodbye. Okay. Joe has left us, but we have a new member climbing into the onyx cinder.

It's Ben Lindberg. Hi. Hey, buddy. What are you here to talk about today? Can't say I remember, but I will do my best. Here to talk about robots repressed memories. And as with the lost planets lore from Ross Week, this is something with a lot of precedents, not just in Star Wars, but also in sci-fi.

Some that I'm sure come to your mind quickly, but robots being programmed not to know that their human is kind of a trope. Battlestar Galactica, very dear to us, of course. Westworld, dear to Joe, at least some parts of it. Probably Blade Runner. We don't have time to have the whole Is Deckard a replicant conversation right now. But SM33's... Just call me whenever you want to discuss it.

Yeah, sure. I certainly have my position on that one. But SM33's can't say I remember no adatin is kind of the equivalent of Westworlds. It doesn't look like anything to me. It also reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Manchurian Candidate, the original, where Frank Sinatra or Denzel in the remake has been brainwashed. And whenever he's asked about another member of his battalion, Raymond Shaw, he's compelled to say, Raymond Shaw is the kindest bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life. So as I'm 33 has, which is what I say about you and Joe. Yeah. I'm not even brainwashed. It's just how I actually feel.

But 33 says that phrase five times in this episode, some great mean potential. Fern is like, cut that shit out. We get it. He said it twice in earlier episodes. And it's kind of clever because, of course, the first time we heard him say it, it sounded colloquial just, oh, I can't say I remember. But now we know that he's literally unable to say that he remembers it. He's been forbidden, which makes sense because, of course, he was on at Aten, possibly for centuries. And even if he doesn't remember landing and being deactivated, the crew must have been searching for the planet. So I was kind of confused about that. At first, I chocked it up to the fact that he has a rodent living in his eye socket, which seems like not factory specifications. So that's maybe done some

damage. And that little stutter that he has at the start of the phrase suggests that he He's malfunctioning somehow, but no, he's forbidden to share any info on Adadden. However, it keeps slipping out, maybe because of the rat living in his eye socket, maybe because he's very old and unmaintained. And this is the droid equivalent of sundowning, you know, he's just losing it every now and then, or maybe because Fern had her Captain Phillips moment and set on the captain now and overrode his orders, just like she did to the droid in her home in the first episode. So there's precedent for this in Star Wars.

We've got a lot of memory wiping going on. And when memory wiping doesn't happen, droids develop quirks and idiosyncrasies. They get further removed from their factory settings. They start to possess a personality. Some of the droids who are nearest and dearest to us, chopper, of course. Chopper, chop from rebels. L3 from Solo, our favorite film. And the Empire, the First Order, wipe their droids memories regularly and even do the same with stormtroopers who get out a line like Finn, who is going to be sent for reconditioning before he escaped in the Force Awakens.

And this is one reason why Artu is the way that he is. His memory never gets wiped. Aside from that one time when Cadbane, the bounty hunter wipes a specific incident from his and three-pios memories. But that's it. But this is why- I was just like, fuck everybody's security protocol. Don't touch Arta. Exactly.

No, he matters too much to me. And this is why George Lucas has said that he thinks of R2 as the narrator of Star Wars. What we're seeing, what we're watching is actually R2 narrating events to the keeper of the journal of the wills way far in the future because he still remembers and was present for all these things. And 3PO has plenty of personality too, but his memory does get wiped a few times. Bill Organa, of course, has it wiped, which is good. because it would be a pretty significant plot hole, if not why. It does explain why 3PO doesn't remember being built by Anakin, so that would be troublesome otherwise.

And then, of course, in The Rise of Skywalker, 3PO's memory is wiped again on Kajimi so that he can translate the message on the Sith dagger. Yeah. He has to have a complete redacted memory bypass, which is, I guess, like jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting an Android, just really get in there. and do whatever you want. And fortunately, R2 has backed up his buddy's memories.

So 3PO's memories are not lost. Yes. Star Wars is... Rise of Skywalker couldn't take everything from us, Ben. I know. No, not entirely. And, you know, Chewy, he's not actually dead. It's okay.

And 3PO, his memory is not wiped. It's okay. Sometimes they played with our emotions a little bit there. But I did just write about the five-year anniversary of the Rise of Skywalker at the ringer. What a great website. I know. It still feels fresh in my minds. Unfortunately, we can't wipe those memories.

Yeah, from our memory banks. But Star Wars is not usually the type of sci-fi that digs into these deep, profound, philosophical questions about personhood and sentience and droid rights. But when it does, it can be pretty poignant. And there's a one-shot Marvel comic from 2016 that explains how 3PO got the red arm he has in The Force Awakens. and also some of these questions come up because he's talking to this other droid and they're musing about how they're on this side of a conflict, but for all they know, they could have been on the opposite side at some point in the past. And this droid that had his memory wiped, Omri, says, it is said that a being who loses a limb sometimes feels as if that limb were still attached to the body and can be moved, a phenomenon known as a phantom limb. having had my memories erased is like having a phantom limb inside my memory banks. So that gives us some insight into what SM33 might be feeling here.

And this droid goes on to say, it's the curse of protocol droids like you and me, C3PO, that our tasks require an extra degree of sentience. I think that added awareness causes us to question flashes of past events. Were they grand events or nothing to speak of? How important have I been? These questions nag at me. And 3PO says, I see flashes for just a moment, places, rocks, a factory of droids, an arena in the middle of a battle, my body, not my own, a green world with hills, underwater cities. He goes on for a while, basically listing things from the prequels that he doesn't really remember that we do.

And he says, yes, I have memories too. And yes, sometimes I allow myself to wonder about them. But I also accept it is a droid's lot in life to be in service of its master. So that suggests that even if you had your memory wiped, even if you are under strict instructions, not to mention something, it might surface sometimes. Those memories might come up unbidden like the memories of the Rise of Skywalker for us. And there are a couple other examples. By the way, Babu Frick, he's still out there in this part of the timeline because he's in his 80s in the sequel trilogy. He's in the blue of youth here.

Yeah. Yeah. So if they want to hunt him down and take SM30. to Babu, that would be great. Maybe he can unlock those memories. And a couple other examples from the canon. Of course, in the great game, Knights of the Old Republic, there is a legendary droid named HK47. And I won't go into detail here.

I'm reluctant to mention the twist from Kotor, even though that game is old enough to drink, because it is one of the best twists in gaming history. And there must be someone listening who's waiting for the remake or wants to play someday, hasn't got around to it, doesn't want to be spoiled, so I won't be the one to ruin that for you. But HK47, memory core was wiped of all knowledge of his original master, and that becomes important at some point in the game. And you still retain some sense of your kind of core programming yourself as a droid, but you forget the specifics.

And that comes into play in that game in a very important way. And even though HKs is not canon anymore, in my head canon. and HK is still very well to me. Yes, absolutely. And there's a book called The Legends of Luke Skywalker, a manga story called I-Droid, a construction droid named Zeta, whose construction site gets raided and Zeta gets captured

and taken to a mining complex where she's modified with an override chip that turns her into an enforcer droid, and the override chip makes her enjoy the suffering of other droids. But she's aware that her programming has changed, that she's being made to enjoy that suffering, which sounds sort of awful. And fortunately she gets rescued by Luke, who removes the override, and that's that.

But there are some examples like that, you know, Eve 99 at Jabba's Palace, right, who's kind of a torture droid. There's a story where Artu kind of frees Eve's mind and, you know, dissuades her from getting her memory wiped if she's a she. And that ultimately leads to her becoming a little less of a torture, which is nice. And I guess lastly, I'll mention that in season three of rebels, there is a kind of infiltrator droid, the XD series, that camouflages its true nature. So Grand Admiral Theron sends out these droids to search for the rebel base, and it poses as a protocol droid. But once it's discovered, it enters attack mode where it sort of extends itself and reveals its weapons, kind of like SM33 does in the scene where limb from limb. Fortunately, he has an off switch conveniently located, which seems like a design plot, I guess. Just one very graceful, lunged from John.

Yep, off a go. One little leap and an assist from our guy Neil, who steps up in that moment. I still question why SM has a babysitting sequence. Was 33 a nanny droid at some distant point in the past? Was there daycare on the pirate ship? Was that one of the perks for the crew? It made me think of IG-11, and you know, you can go for assassin-droid to nurse droid if you want. Yeah, so you can get reprogrammed.

And, of course, everyone's familiar with the idea of the restraining bolt that prevents Artur or any other droid from doing what they want and they have to follow orders. And this is sort of a similar thing, except clearly there's conflict here, you know. It's like Vader wrestling with the good inside and SM33 pulled between two kids. captains and, you know, sort of the steam is coming out of his ears a little bit, and he doesn't know which master to obey in this moment. Sometimes you just need a friend, you know, like AP5 needed chopper and that genuine bond to start living differently, you know? Yeah. So I don't know. It raises some questions, which I don't know if you and Joe have already considered, but basically who's this old captain who gave these orders. What's your current, what's your current quick theory on this? People have speculated that maybe the old captain is the supervisor and maybe the captain installed himself.

I think SM33 refers to the captain as a he. We have talked about maybe it's a droid, maybe it's an AI. Maybe this is the way that we call SM33 a he. Who knows? I guess the flaw in that theory or one of the flaws is that if that old captain is still around posing as the supervisor, then they'd have to be pretty long in the tooth probably at the this point, depending on how much time has elapsed. And I don't know, could be some long-lived species, could be that the captain set up a supervisor or something. So I don't know if I totally buy this, but it does raise the question of, well, where did that captain go, unless the captain

is one of the corpses on the ship potentially, but ordering SM33 to kill everyone like a pharaoh, you know, killing all the people who built the pyramids or something to preserve the location. of this place and also having this sort of failsafe where someone comes asking about Adatin and it triggers this agro mode for SM33, which I guess it's nice that that didn't happen the first time they asked SM33 about Atten. It took a little while for that to be activated, but it's possible, right? So I wonder whether KB will be the one to maybe dig into those memory circuits and see what depths can be plumbed there, because KB did open the hatch to the ship originally and has that cybernetic implant.

And honestly, KB should be running the show for me at this point. KB seems like by far the most confident kid here. I mean, no shots at KB, but how can it not be Neil after this episode? Neil's like, let's just make peace and say we're sorry. Neil had a very special episode, is true. Co-ruled KB and Neil? Really rose to the moment. Yeah, when Fern tells Wim that he should have been captain, I'm like,

Why are we sleeping on KV as captain here? This is your friend, by the way, and she has her shit together. So that was, yeah, that was not who I would anoint at this point. And I guess there's also the possibility that we could go galvanting around to these other at locations. Sure. We've got the coordinates. Let's do it. We've got to see if the ad ad and coordinates were blasted off every pillar, right?

Exactly. Exactly. Right. And maybe we'll find out the naming convention of these planets. What's the deal with this at? Is it some sort of programming like? at like an at symbol or something and this is some sort of network of planets they're all just instagram handles at the end of the day exactly and what happened to this planet you know we see

at the beginning of the episodes some some some yeah did you get operation cinder vibes i did yeah i was going to mention that too and i guess not to be confused with the the onyx cinder the ship but operation cinder yeah darts is uh destroying the planet's system Yes. And maybe it's not that, but maybe it's sort of similar hardware because we had speculated previously about whether the barrier is technological in origin. Seems like there's some blinking lights up there. And so maybe someone shot him down. Who knows? We'll find out. But yeah. What a show. What a show. It continues to thicken. It's amazing. It's great. It's great. Yeah. And I'll mention one other theory, if you haven't, which is just the parallels to the Wizard of Oz here. I don't know if that's come up. But I saw this first on the. the Star Wars subreddit and credit to user inspect your gadget who noted that, you know,

we've got a bunch of people who are trying to get home and we kind of have a corresponding qualities where Fern is Dorothy, sort of like the leader trying to get back. And then Neil is the cowardly lion, no courage, except that clearly he digs deep and does have hidden depths here and really rises to the moment. And then Wim, I guess, is sort of the scarecrow. like no brain. I guess that's a little harsh for Wim, but hasn't distinguished himself in that area.

And then KB, maybe is the tin man not showing a whole lot of emotion as of yet. And then I guess the question is who's the wizard. Is it Jodd, who might be sort of a charlatan in some ways? Or is the wizard the supervisor? The man behind the curtain, the droid behind the curtain, the captain behind the curtain. Who knows? Yeah. But it all kind of fits.

Some strong eyes energy here, for sure. Yes, very much so. Okay, Ben. Thank you, as always. What a delightful rundown of a frankly very distressing topic with these memory wipes. We will miss doing this next week because we are not going to be chatting in real time about episode five due to the holiday, but we will be back right after New Year's for a double episode on five and six. So who knows how much more there will be to dive into then. But we will have twice as much to talk about. We will find out together. Can't wait. Thanks, buddy. All right, friends, that is a wrap on today's pod. John's asking, if that's normal, do we know? Thank you, as always.

To our space pirates, our skeleton crew, Steve Allman and John Richter, for producing and editing this episode. Arjuna Ramgapal for additional production supervision and Jomea Denneron for the social media. We will see you on Sunday night to wrap up Dune Prophecy, and then we will be back after Christmas for our top 10 moments of the year. Always one of our favorite pods. And then after New Year's, a double skeleton crew dip. Episodes 5 and 6 in one deep dive.

Until then, remember, you kneel before General Strix.