Tomorrow - Episode XXXV: Emperor Palpatine Rules

Episode Date: December 12, 2015

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to Tomorrow. I'm your host Josh Watsopolski. Today on the podcast we discuss Kendo, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Eating People. But first, a word from our sponsor. Today's episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the easiest way to create a beautiful website, blog, or online store for you and your ideas. Squarespace features an elegant interface, beautiful templates, an incredible 24-7 customer

support. Start building your website today at squarespace.com and our offer code Joshua checkout to get 10% off. Squarespace, build a beautiful. This episode is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a low-cost automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. It works 24-7 to manage a portfolio, keeping it diversified,

customized to your risk profile, and optimizing its trading behavior to keep your tax bill low, all without ever charging commissions. Whether you've got millions or you're just starting out, Wealthfront is the most sophisticated way to invest your money. To sign up and get your free personalized investment portfolio, go to wealthfront.com. Slash tomorrow. My guest today is an old friend, a good friend, a dear friend, a brilliant man. And more than anything, I think, someone who is dangerously obsessed with the Star Wars universe. And that's why I need to speak to him. My guest is Michael Shane. Michael, thank you for being here.

Hi Josh. I'm back. Hey, you're back. Now, I wanted to have you on because the Star Wars is about the new Star Wars The Force Awakens is about to be Released into theaters in a couple days What is the exact date? Well, I guess the exact date of the premiere technically is December 18th But all of the you know the you can get you can see shows on December 17th

That's right in like midnight or whatever. Well, even earlier than that It's at 7 p.m. In all places here. I'll be at a 7 30 p.m. Showing you already have your ticket. You're ready to go Oh, I bought them week. You know the day they were on sale now So I want to talk to you because you're you're probably the person I know Best who is also I mean you're probably the biggest star wars fan that that I know. It's been a pretty big part of my life. Big part of your life. So I want to talk about Star Wars. I basically wanted to talk about Star Wars.

So I'm like, you know, in terms of the new movie, I'm of two minds. Like one is, it looks really, I think JJ Abrams' capable of creating really entertaining movies. Yeah. I wasn't crazy. I've not been crazy about Star Trek movies. In fact, they don't really do it for me,

to be perfectly honest. I think they're a little uneven, right? They're uneven. They're really incredible moments. But it just feels, yeah, I don't love any of the, I'm not loving any of the depictions of the main characters to be honest with you. I think it's a little goof.

They're a little goofy, a little campy. But also, I don't like the way they split the timelines in the first movie. Well, they had to do something to sort of reset, right? I get it. But, uh, they retconned it. Mh-mh. Yeah. I don't like the, also I don't like speaking of con.

I don't, I didn't like the con twist in the, in the other movie. It was a little on the nose, a little on the nose. Also, I don't think that, I don't think that't think that I love Ben and a Comerbatch, but he's no Ricardo Montemont. Let's put it that way. No one is. No one is. No one is, of course.

But Star Wars. Now, I'm not a big Star Wars fan. I've, of course, I've seen all the Star Wars movies. You have an appreciation. I've enjoyed them. When I was a kid, my brother and I loved Star Wars. I think any kid growing up in the 80s, even now, you love Star Wars, but we used to watch the making

of this video. We were kind of into it, but as time wore on, I wasn't really thinking about it. And then the prequels came out, which is Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and the fend of the Sith. And they're not really very good. Not good. So I want to talk about this.

There are people, I know people, I have a friend, my friend Nick, who loves Star Wars. He just likes the films, and he's like, we'll defend those movies. He'll defend the prequels in their existing form. In their existing form. He's never, he's not nerdy enough. Like he likes the movies, he's not like a nerd,

like he'll go find the edited versions. But so let's talk about, so now, but sorry, getting back to the new film before it's awakened. Okay. I think JJ Abrams is capable of creating a very entertaining film. I think Mission Impossible 3, the Mission Impossible he directed, is far and away the best mission possible. I believe in JJ.

He's made some other good movies. He's made some things I don't like, but he's made super eight. He's good. He's done some other things. But, and also, there's a nostalgia factor for the new movie. It's very high for me because it has all of yeah has all of the characters Or a lot of the characters from the original three films original three being and I think that Presents both an opportunity and a risk right right for the original three being star wars the Empire strikes back in return of the

J. False Josh the first movie is not called star wars star wars a new hope it's called a new hope Please a new hope to be for the sake of clarity, but nobody calls it a new hope. It's called a new hope, please. A new hope. For the sake of clarity. But nobody calls it a new hope. Well, that's just like, that's just Star Wars. Let's just quick style note. If you're writing about Star Wars, if you're talking about Star Wars, especially within the context of all the films, so can I actually, you need to call first one a new book. I'm sorry. Can I actually say something?

If you look at Wikipedia entry, Star Wars, later retitled Star Wars episode four, a new hope. So it's actually listed as Star Wars is the name of the film. Well, I think that's more of like a UX decision on the part of Wikipedia, but in terms of where it stands now. I don't think so. They didn't change it. They didn't change it to 2004. It's a new hope. They didn't change it to 2004. That's correct. In 2004, I'll tell you, here they're excited.

That's when they released the DVD. If George Lucas says in the commentary of the DVD, oh, maybe they, I'm sorry, maybe I'm misreading this. Here we go. Oh no, no, no, I'm wrong. I stand corrected. It was called, in 1977, it was called,

episode four of New Hope. Yeah, because that was part of the mystique of it, is this movie came out and everyone was like, wait, what the hell's going on? We're plopping in in the middle of this saga? Let me just I just want to be clear. I misread the footnote. It is called Star Wars, but it was retitled Star Wars episode four in New Hope. I don't know exactly when, but it doesn't matter. The long and short of it is, it's made it's made less money at the box office than the Phantom Menace, if you wanna.

But I believe if you adjust for inflation, it still blows the other movies away. I think that's right, sure. Anyhow, so it's got all the characters from the original Star Wars films. Yes. And I think, and this is like set 30 years after the death of Darth Vader, essentially.

So I think it's very exciting, because you wanna like what happened. Well for me growing up I love the movies and obviously became obsessed with them but I think part of why I love them is they presented this opportunity to imagine what happened after return of the Jedi. And when I would play with toys or read books obviously that's where I was really sort of using my imagination. You're talking about the what do you think got expanded universe? Sure, yeah, yeah, or just whatever happens after return of the Jedi.

Because in some ways, what do you mean whatever happens after return of the Jedi? In some ways, the story is almost more interesting after that. Because if you look at... Well, hold on, hold on, what is it? What is it? Okay. I want to say two things. All right. First off, I'm going to be typing and clicking during this podcast because. I will from time to time as well.

Because I'm going to be doing research because there's a lot, I want to make sure we're getting things right. There's a lot. And I don't think I'm even the biggest Star Wars fan probably listening to this podcast. No, you're definitely not. I expect to be troll mercilessly.

Yeah, people are going to question everything that you say on this. Although I was in a high ranking member of the Embrace Hammer for quite some time. The world's largest time I've starwars. It's about the Embrace Hammer. It was that the world's largest what? Online Star Wars Club. Yeah. Okay, so I didn't hear it. Um, the second thing I want to say is that I guess I you just basically said it for me is that We are dealing with a person who is truly

Beyond the norm when it comes to Star Wars knowledge. Yeah, you oh, yeah, I guess yeah You're beyond you're beyond I mean look I I talk to the norm and you're not yet at look as with most things in my life I go narrow but deep you know what I'm saying I don't I don't know what you're saying. I don't like the sounds of it and I'd like to not revisit that sentiment. So anyhow, so let's just agree that we think that I think the Force Awakens looks entertaining. I'm assuming you're very excited about it because. Look, I'm really excited. I think there's a lot of practical effects. Obviously, they made a big deal about that a while ago in their program movie, which is huge. Yeah. You know, I think that the casting is really interesting. I think that, you know, there's a huge amount of risk with

bringing back all these original cast members because I think it's very easy to to end up on the wrong side of the line there and go hokey or cheesy or or on the nose, whatever you want to call it. I mean, if loose guy Walker becomes like a new Darth Vader, people are gonna to lose their minds, right? I think people would immediately lose control of their bowels in their seats for whether they like it or not. I think that's got to be what happens because it's a pretty amazing twist, right?

I don't know. To me, the symmetry there would feel almost lazy, wouldn't it? Or dope. I mean, it could be both. I think it was revealed in the film that like Luke Skywalker has like turned to the dark side and it's like the person who's behind all of the whatever nasty shit that's going down because as soon as the last issue come out of it. So what I've based on what I've seen thus far.

And yeah, okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I want to go back. I want to go back. I want to go back. I want to go back. I got to pace ourselves. I want to go back to the Phantom Menace. I want to start with the Connect like speaking in terms of canon canonically speaking. Yes Actually, I know if this can and but like that's the first film it is Hey, have you seen the YouTube video where they took Jake Lloyd's voice and put it and then dubbed it onto Darth Vader footage. It's incredible. It's incredible. No, I haven't seen that. You should Google that. Jake Lloyd is the actor who plays

Anakin Skywalker. Yes. In the first film, The Phantom Men. Actor. I'm doing air quotes right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Actor. He's like, he's a little kid. I mean, now look, you really, the person I believe is George Lucas because he chose that actor. Okay. He chose that quote-unquote actor. I mean, he's a nine-year-old kid, but listen, there are good kid actors like the kid from the girl from Mad Mench, it's very good actor. What's her name? I don't know. I don't watch Mad Mench.

The kid who played short-round in Indiana Jones, fantastic child actor. Yeah, so you should watch Mad Men if you really should watch it, unrelated to this at any rate. So, there's this today, sorry, we're recording this on the weekend, but you're gonna hear this on Monday. But people will still be talking about this.

This is something called the, something we released on YouTube, and I'm not sure how they did this. Phanomenis and phanomenis, attack of the clones and revenge of this, revenge of the Sith, anti-cheese edits, which basically takes out all of the stuff. It's not like, it's not the, it's not,

I don't know if anybody's done this before, but it takes out all of the things that suck or as many of the things that suck As as possible, right how long are the movies seven minutes? No First so this is interesting you have such a strong opinion because you think being a diehard star wars fan You're like okay, yeah, they're not great, but I find some good stories. Well, just because I'm a dedicated fan doesn't mean I don't exercise judgment. Sure, okay, so anyhow, the first one is 92 minutes. The second one is an hour and 58 minutes, just a little bit of the times here, and the third is two hours and five minutes. So I don't know what the actual eighth is. I know they cut out a lot from the first one.

Here's the remove. Yeah, well that doesn't surprise me that they removed. They changed the voices for the trade ambassadors, the nine modern racist anymore. They replaced them with like alien dialogue in subtitles, which makes sense. Yeah, they're racist anymore? They replace them with like alien dialogue in subtitles, which makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, they're not racist.

I think they also did the same with Wado. I'm not sure. All fart and poop jokes have been removed. Oh, that's excellent. And with many yippies and woes and wheeze as possible. And all of the midi-chlorian references we're taking out. Oh, thank God. That all sounds like, it sounds good.

Good decision to make. I started watching it, and then I was skimming it before the podcast because I wanted to make sure that I had a, you know, sort of like refreshing my, these, those films are less fresh in my memory than the original films for obvious reasons because the original films I saw many times and they're really good. Right. It's crazy how bad those three movies are. I mean, I was watching bits, just bits of Attack of the Clones before we started. And it's really, I would say, laughably bad. You can't take it seriously.

You can't watch it with the way it's acted, the dialogue. Well, the writing is the real problem, right? The plot points down, but the directing. I mean, it really is kind of insane. They're like, also, the effects that they're using, I know that at the time it was this big deal that George Lucas was doing all this green screening, all this new, all the stuff you've seen now that's sort of the norm, but it looks really bad.

But I never understood that because the prequels, I know that it's supposed to be an earlier time when there's less war and things are better and they're shinier, but it really is like a full 180 from the original trilogy where George Lucas was going for this gritty, dirty, used, weathered aesthetic to the entire universe because people actually live there. But when you make your whole movie with a green screen, it's very bad. I mean, literally there are scenes I'm looking at, I paused on a scene of when Yoda and Duke are fighting spoiler alert, by the way're gonna have separate them in the last spoilers. But like if you haven't seen it, it just looks like it looks like a next box game. I mean it doesn't look even remotely real.

Completely pulls you out of the film. Totally. And I mean then it's like it's like okay maybe if you had the most compelling dialogue and incredible set pieces and you know incredible plot points But you don't have that no you don't have that because because it's all bad So anyhow, so let's talk about the Phantom Menace, okay? Okay, that's been a while since I've actually sat down and watched it I'm gonna basically what it centers around there's a couple questions, okay? Sure, I'm gonna give some of this now. I some of its memory But some of it I'm gonna go off the Wikipedia entry because I I want to raise some of these now. Some of it's from memory, but some of it I'm gonna go off the Wikipedia entry because I wanna raise some of these points. I was a good idea.

Supreme Chancellor Valorum, you don't remember him at all. He's a throwaway character. He sends Qui-Gon-Gin, Qui-Gon-Gin, and Obi-Wan to negotiate with the Trade Federation because they have a blockade of battleships around Naboo. They're blocking trade to Naboo. Yeah.

Okay. I'm not going to get into the details because there are a lot of details. But the main plot of this film is like it's a politics movie. It's about what I can tell from what I can understand is it's about palpatine trying to gain power in the Galactic Senate. Yes. You with me so far? I'm with you.

Does this sound right? Yes, absolutely. I mean, you do. So it's called the Galactic Senate. And that is a ruling body made up of all representatives from all walks of all different planets, all different races. Well, it's all planets who are part of the Republic. Sure. Now, are there planets that are not part of the Republic?

Yes, I believe so. So what would that what are those planets? I guess they're you know like the outer rim territories You know, they're not at this point. I don't think they're really This is exactly like start trek in this in a lot of ways Transnidation of plan structure. Yeah, exactly and they're all like the good guys. They're all like we're all you know buddies and then there's like these kind of outlier, you know, we don't go there, be careful places. Yeah. Okay. So anyhow, so it doesn't even matter what the fucking plot is of this first movie.

Okay. It's, it's, but just, I just want to be clear. Like, Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. Right. They, they basically crash land, they like, like get they get like their engine dies and they land They're like escaping with with Queen Amidala who is played by Natalie Portley played by Natalie Portley Portley direct a poorly directed and poorly written character Poorly played by what is who is a like a really good actress actually so she's incredible

It's confusing very pretty very much performance of her Unbelievably it's unbelievably bad. It's like laughably bad. It's very confusing to watch. Yeah. Anyhow, but like, so then they crash land and they meet Anakin who's like a little little spark plug who built C3PO, which is to me seems like such a strange. Was that always a fact that he that Darth Vader built C3PO? I don't think we knew that before it breaks through that in. They just threw it in. Yeah, I don't know. Like C3PO is really complex.

Yeah. C3PO is like a person. Yeah, although, you know, Anakin, he always had something. He was technically, you know, he had technical talents. He was a great pilot, you know, he could have built a droid. He's nine.

I guess, I guess he's like, would be the greatest, one of the greatest minds that has ever existed, but again, a problem with the casting, but he's got a lot of free time on now. So, he's a slave to Wado, which is a Wado is a character who's basically like a very crass, Jew-style character. I remember in the movie, I was like, really,

he's like a, he's like bartering and it's like a big nose And he's sort of speaks with like a New York accent. I mean, it's like really kind of shocking racist again pretty racist Pretty anti-submit. I can pretty well like and the problem with these choices is I don't think that anyone making Creative decisions around the film is like a racist. No, I don't think so I feel like there was an issue with taste and with somebody. The whole movie is just like downbeats, right? It's just, there's nothing, it's all just hamphisted. The whole thing, every possible decision.

I think I'm just going to try to barrel through this. Yeah, let's go through it. I mean, it's fucking bad. The movie's not good. Not good. Like, I don't, I don't, anybody who defends it as good is, is lying to themselves. Okay. Yep. But the long and short of it is like all that happens, they find an account. First off, is this are we supposed to believe that they crash land on the planet because it was always meant to be?

Crash land their engine doesn't their hype. It's hyper dry. You're talking about you're not talking about how the skywalkers came to tattooing. You're talking about how the Skywalkers came to Tatooine. You're talking about how the other Skywalkers came to. Because according to Wikipedia, Amidala ship is unable to sustain a type of drive. It goes to Tatooine for repairs. Right, for repairs. So this is what I'm talking about. So this is what I'm trying to be.

Yeah. So the ship's hyperdrive continued to work. Nothing, the story never would have happened. There was no Anakin, no Anakin discovery. Correct. Okay, so here's what I hear. So I don't know, you know the universe, okay? Is that like, oh, like it was the midi-chlorians

like flew up and attacked the hyperdrive or something, or is there some kind of reason? Or is it just dumb luck? Well, the shit, the hyperdrive is damaged because they're trying to break through the blockade. You know, so it gets shot with eye on cannon perhaps. There could have been another planet that they landed on to fix that.

I mean, it's just a coincidence. It's a coincidence. It's a coincidence. It's a coincidence. It's a coincidence. Okay, so I'm just saying, in your knowledge of the Star Wars universe, there's no like, oh, it was meant to be, it was a cosmic event. Not to my knowledge.

I don't just want to talk about that for a moment. So as far as we know, Darth Vader only exists because the hyperdrive wasn't working properly on Queen of a Dollar ship. Well, that's to start somewhere. Okay, fine. I just think there it's like he wasn't, it's not like Quigon could, is Quigon or Qui-Gon? I think it's Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon wasn't like drawn to the plan. Could have been like we've had, had, you know, reports of a disturbance, somebody should go check it out, whatever. You know what I mean, it's nothing like that. It's not like, oh, we had to. I mean, the Jedi are supposed to be all powerful.

You know, you think that some of these evil characters might have been like, there's a kid who built a robot. Somebody should go, he's got a real force vibes coming off of him, somebody should go talk to him. Well, I think at that point, there's never been a Jedi or a Sith Lord on that planet. I mean, I think at that point, Anakin's force vibes were not powerful enough for him to be able to send him. Let me read you just a little. Let me read you something. All right. I'm ready. I'm ready. From this is from Wikipedia. Oh, quite gone sense is a

strong presence of the force within Anakin is convinced that he is the chosen one of Jedi prophecy. He will bring balance to the Force. He's not until he was within physical proximity. So my point is, he's the... Okay, alright fine, but that's a pretty... There was some greater conspiracy now. He went from, but he went from finding us, a kid who built a robot on the planet that he wasn't supposed to be on in the first place.

Correct. To being convinced that he is the chosen one. Yeah. Alright, whatever. Let's just move on. Okay, it doesn't matter, but I think it's pretty weak right? I think it's pretty bad. Yeah. I feel like there should have been a little bit more like

meaning behind Anakin being discovered. It's like, literally, it's like, talent scout was like in Times Square and he saw a kid that he thought was good looking. And it was like, you could be on TV. I don't know, Josh, sometimes the smallest little coincidence can change the course of history. I guess so.

Anyhow, long and short is that they end up having a battle with Darth Maul, who's a no character that doesn't matter at all, is a meaningless character. He just gets killed in the first movie. Darth Maul is like, you know, once you know Darth Vader exists, I feel like you can't just bring in a character like Darth Maul and then just off him. You know, it's like pretty weak. Yeah, I mean, every Sith Master is supposed to have a Sith apprentice,

but it was a whole lot of investment for not a lot of screen time. I mean, when you start a Darth Maul, you're like, holy shit, Darth Maul's a crazy badass, but then Darth Maul, I mean, he did some stuff, you know, he did some stuff, but then he just gets cut in half. I got, he got cut in half. He got bisac.

I mean, I feel bad for Ray Park, the guy that played him. I mean, he had to like train for months, the guy's a martial artist or whatever, you know, I mean, for not a whole lot of payoff on the screen. Oh, whatever. The long short is Darth Mull gets killed, but then we discover that, or at some point you discover Palpatine is behind the whole thing. Right. He's a apprentice.

I actually do even discover in that film that he's apprentice is Darth Maul, I guess you do. You know that Darth Maul is, you don't know that it's Palpatine, but you know that he's Darth Sidious's Sith apprentice. And we haven't been to the connection yet. Darth Sidious is the, Darth Sidious, so let me understand this.

Just so I'm clear, I just wanna be really clear. And by the way, I apologize to all the Star Wars experts who are probably very upset about having to rehash this. I mean, at this point, you should just fast forward if you're an expert. Yeah, Palpatine, Palpatine, that's his normal name. Yeah, at this point, if you're an expert,

do you wanna see the first name? Is it like Rick Palpatine? Do you know? Is it like Tony Palpatine? Like, I don't know what his name is. Does Murray, does he have to Murray Palpatine? Does he have a first name? Do we ever hear it?

I'm looking at Wookie P.D.A. right now. And there is no first name for Palpatine listed. OK, so he's just Palpatine. Yeah. He's no first name. Correct. I'm going to say, always a bad sign, by the way. I'm going to call him.

I'm going to say his first name is Bruce. Bruce Palpatine. Okay, so now, so Bruce Palpatine, by the way, I should say this right now. Palpatine is my favorite Star Wars character. He is my favorite character through all of the film. And my true, my one hope, my real hope, my greatest hope for the new film is that Emperor Palpatine is alive. And by the way, he could be. We don't ever see the body. Oh.

Think about it, man. I mean, that would be pretty nice. Fucking think about it, okay. He throw gets thrown down that thing, right? By Darth Vader. Darth Vader's body gets burned up, okay? Yeah. Palpatine just goes down the hole. We don't know where he ends up. He's extremely powerful. This was Darth Vader's master.

He is theoretically the most powerful Sith Lord that has ever lived. He is theoretically the most powerful Sith Lord of all time. Right. Okay. And if there were anybody who was going to read and also, as we know, I think as this is discussed in some of the later films, the new films, the most powerful Sith Lords could control, they have like control over life and death. They can like actually a big plot point in the final film of the Sith Lords have the secret to like bringing someone back to life.

So like potentially he could have, you know, ways of slowing down his aging. He could have ways of recuperating from a very bad injury. It's possible. I mean they put Darth Vader in a fucking robot suit. You know, you think Palpatine can't go get a robot suit? I don't know man. That would be a joke. Did you get chilly? Yes, I did. Did you get chills when I just dropped this on you? A little bit. A little bit. It could be interesting.

I mean, it would be the sickest ever if it was just like Palpatine rolls out of a fucking room and you're like, oh shit, Palpatine is behind it all once again. I mean, there is that weird looking death star thing in the poster. Listen, please God, JJ, please JJ, let it happen. JJ, the force is calling you, okay, let it in.

The force is calling to you and it's saying Palpatine needs to be the bad guy. The force is on the line, pick it up, answer it, say yes, and then hang up the phone. At any rate. So Palpatine doesn't have a first name. Palpatine, Bruce Palpatine. Bruce Palpatine. Okay, I'm not going to belabor every one of the films, okay, because there's too much,

there's too much forward. But I'm just setting the stage because that is like the beginning of our story, okay, you can't get away from it now. You can't be like J.J. Abrams can't be like that film never happened. Like it's in there, right? No, absolutely. It absolutely happened. He's not ignoring those first three films, right? No, I mean, when you look at the first film, the first film and a half, it really is all about political mechanizations. Yeah, which is fine. By the way, which is really fine. It had been done really well. It had been like the most

intense like, you know, political. If it had been like all the presidents' men or whatever, like that would have been awesome. The issues are around execution. Execution is everything, my dude. Actually, and the execution here is bad. Okay, so anyhow, so then we move on to Attack of the Clones. I'm not going to really get into this, but let me just say a couple of things. Yeah, Attack of the Clones basically, like, there's two warring factions. There's Count Dukuku who's a character that is just appears out of nowhere that you never hear about in the first film who's like a new bad Jedi who is maybe that what is he the new apprentice? I mean I would say that Duku is more of a throwaway character than Darth

Maul and that's really saying something. It's really it's strange by the way there's a theory going around that Jar Jar Banks is actually the Phantom Menace Oh no no if you're on the internet and you haven't read this theory yet, then you gotta read it. You gotta read it. It blew my mind. I think it's sheer brilliance.

It was delight. It was delight. To read. It may be, I actually can see how it could be true. There is a part of the theory that's essentially like that with Yoda being like the ultimate most powerful Jedi, their his counterpart was supposed to be this sort of like, this being that seems like kind of a silly, goofy,

meaningless, harmless character, and actually turns out to be like the true evil behind everything. Anyhow, you've got to read this theory if you haven't read it, but I'm sure you've read it if you're listening to this. But the point is, I love the whole part of the theory

about how Jar Jar is actually a master of Ziquan, you know, Drunken Fist, Kung Fu, amazing. No, it all works. And some of the stuff, there's some really interesting points about like some of the things that Jar Jar does that seem like he actually is using the force in some places. I mean, there's like literally places in the movie where like droids are confused by Jar Jar's movements, like he's in one place, then he's in another, and it's like, why is that happening? It's not like an accident.

They definitely did it on purpose. You can see them like looking from one place to the other place, and like Jar Jar has moved quickly, and at any rate. But here's the most interesting thing. The most interesting part of the theory is that Duku was basically dropped in last minute because the reaction to Jar Jar Banks was so negative from the press

and from the public and the fans that basically like they had to get rid of this concept of him being a bad guy in the background. And they just threw in Duku. So any how Duku does seem like a throwaway character. Do you agree? Yes, completely. He's like a bad guy with a beard. He's like literally like he's basically,

he's played by Christopher Lee, who plays Sauron in, no Sauramon, sorry, Sauramon in the, Lord of the Rings films, who's the evil wizard. And he basically just as like the evil wizard, but he has like, he has a lightsaber instead of a staff. Are you reading right now? Is that why you're not speaking? Yeah, some reading.

What are you reading about? I'm catching up with you. Okay, I don't even, this is from memory by the way. I'm like, I'm like not even, I still watch a little bit of the movie today, but maybe I like, maybe I like Star Wars more than I thought. And he had Duke who movie today, but maybe I like Star Wars more than I thought. Anyhow, Duke is, but Duke is like, he's nothing.

He's like building an army. What's the reason he's building the army? Do you know? I don't remember. I would have to look that up. I'm going to look. Master, Jedi Master, Count Duke. So he's a Jedi.

Former Jedi. He's a former Jedi. Yeah. He's got a separ separate his movement. Okay, so he is It's he is he is he is a Sith Lord. He is and he because his name is is No, he's a he's a Sith Lord. He's a Sith Lord. No, he doesn't have a Sith name true, but he's a Sith Lord I'm reading on On his a human male Sith Lord the political leader of the Confederacy of Indian

other Phelps I'm sorry how the fucking count duku not have a Sith name They all have Sith names like Palpatine has Sidious. He's a Darth, right? You tell me duku is not a Darth Ah, no he is actually he turned to the dark side and became the apprentice of Darth Sidious taking on the name Darth Tyrannus and reclaiming his title as Count of Sereno, which is his home world, by the way. Okay. Okay. Um, but anyway, he gets killed by Yoda. Yes. Sorry. Uh, spoiler alerts. I think I, yeah. No, no, he flees. Wait, does he flee? He flees. He doesn't get killed by Yoda. When does he get killed by Yoda? Let's see. When is he gets killed by he gets killed by Anakin I think What's this all now this is where it gets very fussing away in the weeds? I don't think he was he was killed. Yeah, yeah, Anakin kills doko. Yeah at Palpatine's urgent. Yes

I'm reading that's how Wikipedia. Okay, so anyhow, long and short of it, this is, this is, we're just talking about Anakin's trip from Anakin Skywalker to his dude randomly found on a planet to be Darth Vader. These movies are indescribably bad. They're actually describedably bad. I take that back there. Describably bad. I will say the third one is the best of all of them because it's really dark. I mean, it is like, it is like one of the darkest films I've ever seen.

It's dark, but it still feels like, you know how when you're when you have a baby and you like put a rubber thing on the corners of your coffee table? Yes. It feels like it's got those, even though it's dark. It doesn't go dark enough. It's like the coffee table's black, but there's no sharp edges. No, I'm saying. I hear what you're saying.

I mean, we're going to take a quick break. Okay. And then we're going to come back. I'm going to get to the original films and talk about their relationship to the Force Awakens. And you've got some trivia that I understand that we're going to do. I did. I bookmarked a page.

I have a book here. You're going to do some trivia. Yeah. I have the ultimate on authorized Star Wars trivia. Is that mean you're going to quiz me? Yeah. Star Wars Trilogy trivia challenge. This will be about four, five and six, the original trilogy only.

Okay. But it's unauthorized. We'll just do it until it's boring. Okay, we'll be right back with more of this, I'm sure, would you consider to be a gripping conversation about Star Wars? Okay. I wanna quickly talk about wealth front. Now look, you know you should be investing your money for the long term.

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battlefield and even practical tips for entrepreneurs like tips for surviving a tech bubble. Check them out on iTunes or SoundCloud by searching Ventured. It'll be worth a listen. Okay, we're back with Michael Shane. We're talking about Star Wars, all of the Star Wars. Yeah, we're going to speed up though. We've got to get to the new movie. We're going to get to it. I'm starting to get PTSD from talking about the prequels. They're very bad. Let's just leave it at that. I don't know. There's nothing more to say because they're very bad. And these D-cheese versions don't make them that much better. That's the thing that stands out is that you can take out all the things that are like

just egregious, like things that are really embarrassing like face palm worthy and it's still not good. Now, have you seen phantom edit? Have you heard of this? I have not seen the phantom edit. Okay let me see if I can send you the link to that. I understand the phantom edit was done by the actor Tofer Grace. Do you know this? I did know. Is this his edit?

No it's not. It's by getting an Andrew Kwan. That's right I'm sorry. The The fan. There's another one that Toe for Grace did. Yeah, a different edit. I didn't know that. Oh, you can get the phantom edit on it's on YouTube. Yeah, yeah, it's in 1080p. How's this stuff on YouTube? Are they are they monetizing it? I don't know. It's fucking cool. Maybe look at the film. Just doesn't care. YouTube's the shit. Oh, look, I've had a whole weekend filled with YouTube. I don't want to get in. Let me understand this. The Phantom Edit takes all three of those movies

and compresses them into one film. Yeah, theoretically, removes all the bad crap. No, it's just the Phantom Menace. Yeah, no, no, it's all three. They call it the Phantom Edit, though. It's all three movies. No, you're wrong. I'm reading the Wikipedia entry right now.

What? Yeah, look, look. Sorry, getting back to the point. Now, have you seen the one word at it's all three together? I've never sat down and watched the whole thing. I've jumped around so that the honest answer is no. I wonder if it's any but if it's any good. Maybe we should see it.

It seems like it can be very difficult. We should do one of those episodes of the podcast where we watch it and we talk about it and people can watch along. Not now. This is even available in 1080. I think there is a 1080 version. I think the 1080 version came out a while later so by then a lot of people had already seen it. Wow, this basically opens with the Mace Windu battle between Obi-Wan and, or not, sorry, not Mace Windu, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. Yes.

Yeah, it comes. I'm already, I'm already, I'm hooked, I'm hooked already. Yeah. It seems like it's mainly just, wow. I mean, this is wild. Okay, I'm gonna have to watch this. Anyhow, it's only two hours. Yeah, I mean, they really sort. Okay, I'm gonna have to watch this. Anyhow, it's only two hours. Yeah, I mean, they really sort of

eviscerate the first movie. Well, they're all full of shit. I mean, there's a bunch of crap being cut out there. Okay, let's get back into this conversation. Magnus, I hope you can find some way to make sense of that and just cut down some of us randomly searching and not understanding which one is which. Yeah.

But the long and short is there's two versions that you can watch. There's now three versions, because there's a D-cheese version. There's like this phantom edit, which is an edit of the phantom edit, but then there's also this other edit, which condenses all three of the films into one film. Yes.

I think we can agree that any version of any of these films where you edit out some of the things is going to be an improvement. Yes. OK. So let's talk about the Star Wars episode 4, 5 and 6. Okay. I don't think there's a lot to say here. They're considered to be some of the greatest films of all time.

I have a couple of things I want to bring up. Okay. First, I want to say that I think we can agree the return of the Jedi hasn't pretty cheesy and silly parts in it. Yes, and we can also agree that the strongest movie by far is the Empire Strikes Back Can we also agree? I actually like the Return of the Jedi That's my favorite of the three because the reveal the Darth Vader reveal is like a real important moment in my childhood But um, it's just I would love to hear you talk about that Well, I will but it's more nostalgia than anything. I've never got that. You know, I remember I was born in 1984

Right, you never had that experience. Well, I don't know. Okay, so hold on. So, somebody brought this up. I saw a tweet about this. The e-walks were going to eat. They were eating people. Is that correct? Well, they were going to...

They were going to cook and eat. Yeah, they were going to cook and eat. They think it was hot solo and looks good. We're going to have them. They had them tied up on like spits, right? It's pretty messed up. It was only C3PO that saved them you know when you think about it. It's like wow the walks are fucked up Well, they're wild animals, you know, I guess well they have they can wield guns. I mean, so they're not that wild Also one thing we have to we have to talk about and this is not my idea, but I can't remember where I heard it we realized that like

after remember where I heard it, you realize that like after, when they blew up the Death Star, which is the side, not only is the return of the Jedi Death Star larger than the Death Star from a new hope, they literally blew something up that was bigger than a small moon, not far from the planet endor where the Ewoks live. They definitely all died in like a nuclear holocaust,

a permanent winter. Is that for sure? Is that a scientific fact? Well, there's no way that they survived. It's not a planet. It's not a planet. It's just a structure. What if it was mostly hollow?

Even so, look how big it is. It's big, but it's just not that much mass. Maybe it's got a, I don't know. It seems like it's also pretty heavy. Exactly. But maybe it's made of like a super lightweight metal, mostly, you know, some kind of like crazy lightweight metal. Maybe. Anyway.

I mean, I don't know if that would matter, but it definitely exploded in space. I think I know that. It was like a planet-sized thing that exploded in space. Yeah, not a small boom. And so the Ewoks, yes, they're wild animals. Definitely were prepared to eat people. They need to get their protein somewhere. Yeah, okay, so so then The other thing that I wanted to say is is

Brought up a couple people brought this up. I think it's obviously silly But there's some contrarian arguments that have been made lately about how the rebels are like the Jedi and the rebels are basically like jihadists. Oh yes, my mom Nancy sent me this piece, the radicalization of Luke Skywalker, a Jedi's path to jihad. Yeah, okay, that's the one that I read as well. And I gotta say, it makes some pretty compelling points. Yeah, I love, I love, yeah. It makes some pretty compelling points about that. I don't I love, yeah. It makes them pretty compelling points about that.

I don't agree with it, but I can see that the Empire is, it's a fun exercise, right? But the Empire is like, faz, like it's like Nazis, they're like fascists. Yeah, they're definitely fascists. I mean, I don't know what they want. What is it that they want? Do we know what Darth Vader's after?

I mean, they want complete and they want galactic domination. I mean, there may be more esoteric desires, you know, on the part of the Sith, but the Empire itself is xenophobic. It definitely is hostile to any non-human life form. Is it xenophobic? Well, I guess racist, but I don't know how you term racism when you're racist. Is it racist? Species? Species? Species? Well, I I want to know No, it's definitely a fact that the Galactic Empire, you know, Consider's human life to be superior to all other alien life Things of that nature. Well really? Yeah. Oh, yeah So you're saying I mean this is in the books. I think so I'm pretty I yeah

I think that's where I'm now. I'm sorry, I'm researching for a belief. I can find a belief. Galactic. System here. Yeah. I mean, I understand the parallels with Nazism, but what I don't know is where it's ever shown in the film.

I don't think it's shown in the film. Oh, here it is. I love this. Star Wars.wikia.com. Speciesism. Speciesism alsom also in his xenocentrism was a belief that one species was inherently superior to another or all other species. Okay, so what does that mean? It definitely I believe is more it's explored much much more in the books. Yeah, I want to say this here that George Lucas sought to make the Black Empire aesthetically

and thematically similar to Nazi Germany and to appear to be fascist. The question, I guess my question is, what is their goal? Because I don't feel like it's made clear. It's clear that they want to get rid of the rebels. But I understand that. If you're the ruling political body of the empire, you're not going to want to have people rebelling against you. But is it ever clear that they're actually trying to wipe out other species or anything like that?

Well, I mean, they created the Death Star in episode four and the idea was to be able to immediately and utterly obliterate any planet in the... I guess so... ...with the galactic empire. And where is that coming from, Palpatine's racist? I think it's... they want absolute control. It's not necessary, because they don't necessarily target aliens. They blew up Alderan, which is all... is a human planet. Spoiler alert, they blew up Alderan. I'm sorry. Okay so anyhow so let's let's move on yes we're not gonna talk about the three movies but a lot of interesting stuff going on I guess the deeper you look the more you find let's start with a new film

okay well let's talk about what we know about the new film all right we know that Emperor Palpatine is gonna make a surprise appearance letting the film and be revealed as the ultimate evil force behind. So Adam Driver plays the new, his name is what is it? It's like Mars Vulta, there's something to say. It's Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Mars Vulta, fairly simple. Kylo Ren, interesting choice.

Adam Driver, who is most best known for playing lean Adonam's love interest on the show Girls. Right. Not a guy you'd automatically go like this is, but I can see it, this is the bad guy, but he's the bad guy, he's got a cool helmet. Now it appears in this film from what I can tell, I don't know what's going on,

this is like 30 or 40 years after Darth Vader is killed. Yeah, 30 years later. Presumably the fall of the Galactic Empire. And yet, what I see in this film is that there are stormtroopers. Well, this is what I'm saying. This is why this part of the storyline has always been the most interesting to me. Because what actually happens after the destruction

of the second death star? It's not like, I mean, as a kid, of course, you're like, oh, wow, the good guys won. There's the credits. Let's go home. But the reality is, it's much more complicated than that. You know what, what are you? No, so what do you know?

You've read the books. Can you give us a little insight? Well, I've only read some of the books. I've read my favorite books were the X-Wing Rogue Squadron series. Most of those books were written by Michael Stackpole. And so they're a little narrow. I haven't done a very broad survey.

And also remember that all that expanded universe cannon has been reset. Well, but it's up for grabs. Right. It's up for grabs. They like the sound of something. It is definitely true that the destruction of the second death star, it was a, it definitely cut the empires legs out from under it. However, there are still plenty of very powerful characters.

Grand Admiral Thrawn, Thrawn, you're saying a sword from the Rogue Squadron stuff. There are still plenty of very powerful characters grandad moral thrawn You say in a sword from the rogue squadron stuff. They're still super star destroyers Oh, no, not that we know of and again, they're all part of this expanded universe that's been completely reset What about grand what about grand moth will huff-tarkin? He was killed That's boiler I believe he died in the destruction of the first death star really what about Garmbel Iblis of Coralia? Wow Hmm on mon mon Mothmov Chen Drilla now Mothmo Should still be alive at the conclusion of return of the Jedi What about bail Organ of Alder on He's dead

See the guy with the crazy that crazy head No, he'd be a human See the guy with the crazy that crazy head. No, he'd be a human. Okay, fine. Oh, right. Because he's a bag of it. There are non-human, galactic empire people. Well, there are in, there are some.

There are more in the books, I believe, but in the movies, there definitely aren't any main characters who are part of the empire who are human. Now, there are some, some stringers, you know, they hired bounty hunters. Boba Fett is obviously humanoid, but BOSC, theers. You know, they hired bounty hunters. Boba Fett is obviously humanoid, but BOSC, the Trans-Dotion bounty hunter, definitely not human. IG88, the droid bounty hunter, definitely not human.

IG88, sure. You know, who could forget him? Right. This is all the kind of stuff I was looking for right here. This is the kind of info I wanted to get out of you. Yeah. So we don't, so well the point is that the destruction of the second S.T.R. absolutely positively did not end the Galactic Empire.

In fact, if you really look at it on a long timeline, it was simply the Rebels' most significant victory up to that point. Which to me is why the stuff that comes after it is by far the most interesting part of the of the Star Wars saga Because it things get a lot less black and white then I can't get over I can't shake this feeling that Palpatine is is there That he's still there. I mean we just don't see him die. We really don't we see him fall But we don't see him. I mean, that's a very the very long Tube he felt yeah, it's a long tube, but he also should be able to

He wasn't like he was very injured at that moment. He was all that happened is that Darth Vader picked him up. True, he was surprised. He actually, right, actually think about it. He's electrocuting Luke Skywalker with the best force move of all, which is like force electricity or whatever you call it. Yeah, Sith Lightning.

Sith Lightning, it's so cool. And then Darth Vader picks him up, absorbing the lightning. Yeah. And throws him down the tube. Yeah. So if he's powerful enough to, and we know that the force jump is something that that that very powerful Jedi's, all Jedi's can do, and clearly Sith Lords as well, why wouldn't he be able to like create some sort of like way to stop his fall? You know, suspend him, you know, you know, suspend gravity around himself or something. Here's what I will give you. It is not impossible. I mean, you can't write it off out of hand. If anything, I'd say it's probable. I don't know if I would go that far.

Well, let's put it this way. He's the most powerful Sith Lord in the world, in the universe. Let's put it this way. He's the most powerful Sith Lord in the world, in the universe, okay? And he's not injured. He's just surprised. He's thrown down a tube, okay? The tube is not full of fire. There's not robots in there that are attacking him.

There's not a, somebody standing at the bottom of the tube with a lightsaber waiting for him to fall on it, as far as we know. Yeah. What actually happens? Hold on, I wanna see this. Now, okay, so in the expanded universe, in some books, I believe he ends up in a different body somehow.

Oh, really? Yeah, but again, this is all crazy stuff from the books. Oh look, here's an article. I'm watching this right now. Here's an article from a year ago on Cinema Blend by a guy named Mike Reyes and the headliners. Here's how Emperor Palpatine could return in Star Wars Episode Seven.

I haven't read this article, I just googled for it. I'm watching this scene right now. Unfortunately, if anything, I would say he's a peak power here. Yeah, that's true. I mean, he is so powerful that he can, he's Luke Skywalker who is, who is the son of the most powerful, supposedly the most powerful Jedi that exists

or second most powerful Jedi. Definitely. And especially the most powerful, crowns on the dark side, being trounced by Palpatine. He's got nothing. He's writhing on the floor like a maybe. Well, Here's the thing to remember is that yeah Luke Skywalker looks really powerful, but something that was important to George Lucas and which I think he He mismanaged when he went back to do the prequels was that you know Obi-Wan and Darth Vader are both all in busted They're all in busted right Luke Skywalker Isn't he maybe a Jedi master?

Quarant quote by the time you get to return to the Jedi But he is not as powerful as any of the, as Jedi masters in their prime were during the period of the first three movies. Oh, a second. So there is an explosion. He falls into some sort of like what looks like some kind of like force, some sort of like power source, power source, and there is an explosion. There is an explosion.

Now, we don't know if that's the explosion that's created as he formed some kind of force field around himself using the electricity to stop from the explosion, from harming him or whatever. We just don't know. We don't know. I mean, there is an explosion, but it doesn't, you don't see a body, you don't see a head fly out of there. There's no body, it's like Jimmy Hoffa.

Could be anywhere. It's, well, no. It's unlike Jimmy Hoffa, this guy is the most powerful Jedi, the most powerful Jedi in existence. That was Sith Lord, rather. And he's in the prime of his life. I wouldn't say prime of his life. He's very old. But yeah. Look, I'm not going to write it off. it's entirely possible you know it's possible that smart that smart you wouldn't write it off I'm watching the again now in HD just be sure guys the Palpatine so cool I mean there's no getting around it like everybody else it seems like a bozo comparatively yeah anyhow so okay getting back to this this third movie so Adam driver plays the

bad guy then you've got so Han Solo's in it layers in it Looks guy walkers and it's guy Walker is well We see something that could be his hand in one of the trailers and We hear his voice I think in one of the trailers We do hear him in voice over and I'm I think it's safe to say that the mechanical hand that reaches out in touches The R2 unit is is Luke Skywalker We just don't know what's going on. It's his buddy, right? All of the I mean any but Chewbacca's in it. Yeah, there's a rumor that Chewbacca dies in this film

So in the books Chewbacca does die 25 years after the Battle of Yavin He's actually on a planet as a moon collides with the planet I believe and he like stares the moon in the face as the planet gets obliterated, and it's pretty insane. But I don't, obviously, that's completely reset, and he's obviously in this movie, which takes place 30 years after the Battle of Yavin. So there's no telling what could happen.

I do know that Peter Mayhew can barely walk, so, you know, we'll see. Yeah, okay, so anyhow, I'm gonna... Can I also talk about how Max von Sydau is in the movie. Max von Sydau, whose greatest role in my humble opinion, was in the Sylvester Stallone Judge Dread movie. Max von Sydau pretty much only plays evil, tall, evil characters.

Yeah. He plays some good characters too, actually, yes. Yeah, and then there's some newcomers. There's, what are the names of the new actors? So we've got Daisy Ridley and John Boyega right and Ken right and and they're playing a Daisy Ridley is that her name yeah we don't know who she's playing she's like kind of a scavenger so we don't have a whole lot of a lot of background and then John Boyega is playing is that right as I was

last time is playing a he'll be a stormtrooper who who abandons the Empire? Right, as far as we know right now, it's unclear exactly what is going on with him, but he definitely... There's a character named Captain Phasma in it that looks kind of like Boba Fat with a metal suit. Right, and that's played by what's her name? She's fantastic.

Gwendolyn Christie from Game of Thrones. Captain Phasma is a woman. Well, this I'm a little confused about. I think Captain Fasmo is a woman. The character is a female. I'm looking here at the image of Captain Fasmo who looks amazing. It's kind of like a metal stormtrooper suit I guess.

Yeah. And it's cool, very cool looking. Yeah, not a whole lot of detail, which is exciting. But it looks like from what I can tell some of these photos I'm looking at, Kylo Ren and Captain Fasma is a soldier for Kylo Ren. Yeah, partners in crime. Partners in crime. It could be a little love situation, a little romance situation going on. It's possible. I don't know. The dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark, the dark. The dark, the dark, the dark, you know, are pretty disciplined about, you know. Yeah, you never see the Sith getting it, getting on. No, you don't. No love making on the Sith side except with Anakin, of course,

and Padman. But he wasn't a Sith yet, you know. Right, pre Sith. And I was definitely, you know, I'm like, you guys need to have a little bit, I'm like, you have a little bit of a, a little romance between the evil characters. Is that too much to ask for? Look, even evil people. Carriages. And they get urges.

At any rate, so that's probably not going to happen, but at any rate. So, uh, in some of these old, a lot of old people in it, because they were young and the old movies and now they're old. Yeah. Um, anyhow, we don't know, we don't know what's going on. The force has awakened. That's what we know. Well, I think. Anyhow, we don't know what's going on. The force has awakened. That's what we know. Well, I think for 30 years, we think for 30 years that things have been quiet in the universe. I don't think they've been quiet, but again, this is why this is the most interesting part

of the timeline for me. How, how, how, how, sexually excited are you right now about this? Right now, I don't have any physical manifestations of set excitement. But mentally, there's definitely a lot of brain chemicals flowing around. So here's the thing, is that? Yeah. Yeah. I'm just going to browse some images right now.

Okay, you just keep it, you know, keep it in the control. I want to browse some force awakens images to get, to get my juices flowing. There's this segment in the trailer, trailers that everyone is clamped on to. Obviously, we're not the first people to talk about this. Where Han Solo says something, you know, the stories about the force, the Jedi, et cetera. It's all true. It seems like somehow, and this, I think, is something

that a lot of people are waiting to see if they have a good explanation for, given what they've implied. Somehow, you know, like I said, it hasn't all been sun shines in rainbows starting the Tuesday after the second death star was destroyed. The Jedi haven't come roaring back to dominance. Clearly the Galactic Empire is still a force to be reckoned with.

I think this is what a lot of people who are just more casual fans don't realize is that the destruction of the second death star and the death, or not death, of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, that was simply a major loss for the Empire. They didn't lose the war. They lost a battle. And in some ways the war was just beginning, you know what I'm saying? And so when you think about it, really what you've probably have going on, and I'm just speculating here, I don't know anything, but when you think about the Sith and the Jedi, that's really like the big story for most people in the universe is not the Sith and the Jedi, that's really like the big story for most people

in the universe is not the Sith and the Jedi. The big story is the Empire versus the Rebels, right? And the Sith and Jedi portion of it is just sort of like a much more focused, sort of religious battle in a way. Right? Within the political battle. Because if the Empire is this fascist regime,

hell bent on cleansing the galaxy, and the rebels are the only people who are fighting against, and the rebels are Jedi and non-Jedi alike, right? So it just turns out that like evil aligns with evil and good aligns is good, right? I think that's like, so you've got, okay. So you've got people who are trying to restore sanity to the universe, to the galaxy. You've got people who are trying to cleanse the galaxy. It wouldn't stop if Darth Vader and Palpatine died. Absolutely.

Not. You would feel like they would take their place. All you have is a power vacuum. But what might happen if that person was not, and it's possible considering that it seems like the jet Jedi have been fairly thoroughly wiped out and the Sith had been pretty wiped out, that the last real remaining sources of Sith and Jedi power, if they were to go away, for the rest of the universe, Jedi and Sith may be not really very important, you know. Right, because the reality is- Really not, it's really not a big, it's really not part of the equation anymore.

Even if you have innate force abilities, someone's got to train you to use it, right? And in books in the expanded universe, you know, Luke Skywalker establishes another Jedi Academy and all these things at a certain time, but clearly, at the beginning of this movie, that absolutely hasn't happened. So I would say that the future of the Jedi is definitely up for grabs at this point, right? Right. So one thing that was interesting is that there is, so next week on Tuesday, December 15th on ESPN, there's a tie-in called Star Wars evolution of the lightsaber duel hosted by Mark Hamill. It's documentary and they sort of examine

the fictional history of lightsaber duels and then they tie it into things happening in real life that it's supposedly based on like they go to Japan and they watch I think is it the 2015 Kendo World Championships? Now, this is gonna get real nerdy, but I find that a little ridiculous, because if there is a Jedi samurai parallel, Kendo from a Marshall point of view is kind of a joke. It's a sport with a point system, and the techniques you use to score points don't really have much of a martial basis.

Really, if you were looking for... It's almost like dancing, right? Yeah, well, you strike areas, specific areas that are protected by specific gear. Right, right. And it's a sport. It's like fencing. It's like fencing. Conceptually in that way, obviously.

But I mean, you know, fencing is like like it's nobody would fight like that with exactly exactly So if you wanted if anyone's interested in this if you wanted to really find the actual martial parallel that they should be comparing it to It would be an old Extant Japanese martial art called Katori Shinto Ryu which is Founded in the 14th century. It's the oldest extant Japanese martial art, I think. It's incredibly respected and revered in Japan. And anyway, if you are really interested in

where sort of the samurai Jedi connection would be authentic, in my personal opinion, just Google, Katoori Shinto Ryu, K-A-T-O-R-I-S-H-I-N R I S H I and T O R Y you what is this have to do with anything? I was just making the point that this special that's on next week where they connect lightsaber duels to kendo is a little bit of Feels a little flimsy This point was not very vital as far as I'm concerned. What are you other stuff you with other things? What I just want to say I'm really excited about the music. John Williams is incredible. Well, yeah, I mean, I mean, well, you know, he's the original composer.

Yes. I mean, he's, what else can you say? The music is practically trained. Yeah. Musician. You of course have a great appreciation for orchestral music. I do. Film scores I would imagine. I also have a photo signed by John Williams that says, Dear Michael, best wishes and good luck in your musical career. Wow. Well, really worked out, didn't it?

Yeah, exactly. It's great luck. Well, let's see, you play with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Sure, I did. OK, for a while. All right, let's do a piece of trivia. All right, let's just review it. Ident identify Luke Skywalker's childhood friend from Tatooine, who piloted an X-wing in the Rebel Attempt to destroy the original Death Star Battle station.

Okay, is there a multiple choice here? No, you just have to know the answer. Denny, his best friend, Denny. No, that we were looking for Bigs Dark Lighter. Bigs Dark Lighter is the answer. Bigs Darklighter, that was not. His nickname was Denny though, I think. I don't think so. All right, let's do another. Okay, here will be multiple choice. What was the common unit designation for Luke Skywalker's X-Wing

during the Battle of Yavin? A, Red Four, B, Red Five, or C, Red Six? That's right. That is correct, it is Red Five. Okay, nail it in it, I've nailing it too. I'm one for two. Here we go. One out of two. Which alliance commander was put in charge of the X-wing starfighter group

after Red Leader's death during the Battle of Yavin? Is it A, Nara, B, Willard, or C, Fire? Is this from the original three movies? Yeah, man, Battle of Yavin, episode four. Sorry, was the first option Nara? Yes. That's who I think it was. That's a good guess.

That's correct. Is it? Okay. Yeah. Keep going. I feel like I remember the line, and keep going. This is great. This is exciting.

I hope our listeners, whoever has stayed listening to a few of the three people who remain. I hope they're playing along. The happy few. Yes, please play along in a home. Okay, I just got to get to my place in the book. Wow. Okay, here we go.

Identify the Rebel Gunner who died when Luke Skywalker's snow speeder took a hit from ATAT weapon fire during the assault by Imperial forces on Hoth. Just think it's all in the dialogue. It's got to think to the dialogue. This is Danny. He was especially optimistic before the battle. Was it Danny? No, it was DAK.

They cracked the answer in his DAK. Not bad. DAK, DAK, yeah, he got killed. Okay. Who was the lead pilot of the Y-wing gold squadron during the battle of the adon Y-wing's very important there are a lot of battle stuff. They sort of, it's all battle, trivia. Maybe. Let me talk about the Y-wing.

Y-wing's very hardy, a little slower. They sport Ion cannons and proton torpedoes. They're for bombardment. The Ion cannons clutch, though. Okay. I have no idea. So who was the lead pilot? The lead pilot was Dutch? Oh

So there's a DAX and there's a Dutch and there's no Denny is that what you're telling me there's duck and Dutch There is there's Dac and Dutch. Sorry a little okay. Yeah, let's see you there. Dac and Dutch all right We're back to multiple choice now. I hear we're comfort zone. Yeah, who was the general who planned and coordinated the I'm sorry. This is just all Battle stuff. I don't want to just do battle trivia. You don't want to do battle trivia. This is all, maybe, rebel trivia. Okay, let me find something else.

Look, I can't do that. I was just real trivia like, you know, what was Darth Vader's favorite pet or whatever. Okay, here we do. We're going to do the section from Farm Boy to Jedi Knight. Okay. This is all about Luke Skywalker. Okay.

This is Imperial Security Bureau dossier number 487818. Kish all about Luke Skywalker. This is Imperial Security Bureau dossier number 487818. Okay. Okay. Luke believed that the moisture farmer on Tatooine was his natural uncle. What was that man's name? Ben. No. Sorry. His name was uncle. I will need a first name and a last name because right cuz like They call it Obi-Wan Kenobi Ben Kenobi, right? Is that his actual name? That was I mean, I think Ben is a is a nickname is it?

How to go Denny? It was Owen Uncle Owen and Owen Owen that's right Owen and Aunt Baroo the last name is Lars. Yes, okay. Yes. Of course. What else you got from it? What was Luke Skywalker? What was Luke's childhood nickname among the joy-writing crowd from the nearby town of anchorhead? Is it a dreamer, b. Wormy, or c. Luki? Dreamer. We were looking for b. Wormy. Wormy is what we're looking for. Sure. okay. Well, let's go. Okay, last one. Here we go. Make a count. Identify the power distribution facility located near anchorhead that served as a meeting place

for young Luke and his friends. I definitely have no fucking idea. Here we go. I got multiple choice. Yeah. Is it a, a, diet industrial plant, b, Tashi station, or c, Dacquolan Depot? It's c, Dacquolan Depot. No, I'm afraid it's Tashi Station, or C, Dekuolan Depot. C, Dekuolan Depot.

No, I'm afraid it's Tashi Station, B. Okay, that's pretty good, pretty good guess. Wait, so when are you seeing the movie? I actually have been invited to a screening. Ooh, so a vibe. No, no, no, but not early, later, later, like the 23rd. Okay. But I would not want to later like the 23rd, but I but I

I would not want to go in the first few months probably Because I do not want to I'm If you know me and you do know me I don't wait in lines. I'm not there's nothing I'll line up for right I would line up for absolutely The last thing I lined up for was the iPhone, the original iPhone, and I only did it because I had to do it for work. You were getting paid to line up. I was getting paid to line up. This is the last thing I literally stood in line for,

I think, I mean, you know, like in a real line. Like, I'll wait, you know, if I have a wait in a restaurant line or something like that. I don't know, I don't really wait until you get a restaurant. So yeah, I have my tickets for December 17th. I'll be taking my much better half. Mm-hmm.

You know, we'll see. Are you gonna wear, are you going in costume? Or are you gonna get on your own? I don't know. I mean, I have a Boba Fett helmet. You do. I do. I have a Don Post mask, Boba Fett helmet, which is not pretty hard to get these days. What does that mean?

Is that like at the brand? Don Post was a shop that used to make all the helmets, but at some point they lost their license from Lucasfilm and then they may have even gone out of business, but they were in terms of non, like not, to be worn, they were some of the best masks you could get without spending thousands of dollars. I'm gonna Google this right now. Don Post.

Masks, yeah. Don Post. Boba. Yeah, there you go. Look at this. Wow. I don't think I'm gonna take that to the movie theater. No. Cause you're afraid somebody else will steal it. Yeah, you know, Look at this. Wow. I don't think I'm going to take that to the movie theater. No, because you're afraid somebody will steal it. Yeah, or just punch me.

But you know, I'm there to go see the movie. I'm not there to show everyone else how big of a fan I am. I'm going to wear comfortable clothes. I'm going to go watch the movie. I'm going to enjoy it. And then that'll be that, you know. These are pretty amazing.

How much does this sound? Oh, they're wonderful. They're really great. They have a real of life size R2D too. Yeah, there used to be some amazing stuff. And like, let's put it this way. I've had this Boba Fed helmet for maybe, all probably maybe almost 20 years.

I let's put it this way. I had to order it from a catalog made out of paper that came in the mail. Ah, man, I'm looking at this website. There's a website called Star Wars Helmets.com. I'm sure you've been there. They have comparisons of all of the helmets. Oh, this is awesome.

Of all the different manufacturers and people who have made their own. Yeah. This is another podcast, but there is a whole subculture of prop replicas for Star Wars and for all other films that is just amazing, incredibly smart, driven, talented people making amazing stuff. There's a question. Why do they decide? I mean, I'm looking at Darth Vader's helmet.

It's weird. Who made the decision to give his helmet wings? I mean, like in the universe. In the universe universe, who was Palpatine was Palpatine, like, can you do wings on the helmet? I feel like it would really set this thing. You know, he's like, dude, you know, however he talks, he's like, do wings. I don't know how he talks, but he has to, but somebody was like, hey, don't give him a regular helmet. Put some wings on that thing. Yeah, I don't know. It wasn't it wasn't Anakin. He was you know, look just because you're a you know, handicap doesn't mean you can't live life in style. I don't think handicaps is the right word and also He seemed pretty handicapable once he got in that suit

You know True because he had the power of the force. I'm looking here at I'm looking at the I'm just looking here at the boba fat Don post do you have the Don post Deluxe boba? I don't I don't think I have the Things sticking up on the side. Oh, yeah, and it moves up and down sure. I think you have is it a little kind of scuffed up Oh, yeah, it's got some weathering. It's got a you. Is it a little kind of scuffed up? Oh yeah, it's got some weathering. It's got a a little extra. It's very good looking. Very good looking. At any rate, this is great stuff. And I hope that people have really enjoyed this this chat we had. And I hope everyone enjoys Star Wars. I hope everyone enjoys Star Wars too. I'm very excited now. I have to say

having had this conversation, I feel like I'm more interested in Star Wars than I thought I was. And so I'm kind of excited. Look, I think if we're honest, we all are. Wow. You know what? The, uh, the force is calling to you. Let it, it is right now. Let it forces calling to you, pick up the phone and make Palpatine be part of the film. That's all I'm asking. That's my plea. All right, Michael, thank you for doing this. I really enjoyed the conversation. I'm so glad that you could, you could make it and I'm so glad you could nerd out. It's my pleasure. It's, well, it's my pleasure. And it's the pleasure of all of those who listen to this. And if you made it this far as a listener, we salute you. Yes, we're saluting you right now by ending the podcast and letting you get back to your very, very busy life. Michael, thank you again. And I'm sure you'll be, you'll make another

round in the very near future. I mean, a force to be with you, Joshua. Well, that's our show for this week. We'll be back next week with more tomorrow, of course. And as always, I wish you and your family the very best, your family, who goes on Alderaan. you