Attack of the Clones Review

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Gun this cold

war There is nothing wrong with your podcast

player. Do not attempt to adjust the volume.

Hello and welcome back to our studio. You are

now inside Studio 2009. I am, of course, TF2

and Mike, and joining me once again is Mike the

Birdman from This Week in Geek. Hello, sir. Hey,

how's it going, Mike? It is fantastic to be back

here on the show back in the proverbial studio

of 2009 in the year of our Lord 2021 where things

are. Still consistently on fire. It's new game

plus, but hey, that's just how it is. I mean,

we now know when we're going to be getting Loki

and and and all the other Marvel stuff. So there's

that. I don't know. Yeah, I mean. If there is

any bright spot on this year, it's Disney. Although

Disney is fools for thinking we're going to release

Spider -Man in theaters. We're going to release

Black Widow in theaters. Just swallow your pride.

Charge us 30 bucks on Disney Plus and I'll gladly

pay it. I love that thing where it's like, Oh,

we're going to put it on the service after 45

days in theaters. And I'm thinking I, I, I, go

to movies very few and far, like since Karen

and I have been together almost four years now,

I think we've seen maybe three films in theaters.

I do not, I have no, like don't get me wrong.

I absolutely have appreciation and love for the

people that worked at theaters and for the people

that operated them, for the people that do that

job and all of that. However, I do not miss the

theatrical experience because I need the control.

If I want to be able to go to the bathroom, I

need to be able to pause that shit. Yep. Same

here. Like I honestly don't like going to the

theater because as a handicap person, it's an

accessibility issue and being able to go to the

bathroom at my own leisure, being able to pause

and do whatever, come back at it. If I'm tired

is a wonderful. opportunity. Now, that being

said, I'm supposed to be getting my vaccination

sometime soon because I'm an indigenous Canadian

and we're in one of the high risk groups. I might

consider if I get my second vaccination going

to see Black Widow or Ghostbusters, but not before

I'm vaccinated. And that would be heavy, heavy

what our numbers are like. The theater industry,

it's going to look very different in the next

couple years. And seeing what theater chains

survive. Like honestly, I think premium on demand

is the way to go. But I get why they're not doing

it with like all pictures. Although I think HBO

Max is really going to lead the way when it comes

to releasing all their big movies on their service

day and date. Between that and Paramount Plus,

which is now I need to tell people this and they

need to make sure they understand it. CBS All

Access is becoming Paramount Plus. Paramount

Plus is not a news separate. It's not another

thing. It's a rebrand. Right. It's a rebrand.

It's going from one thing to the other thing

kind of thing. But we are here to talk about

Disney Wars. Oh boy. Okay, so as of this recording,

this will be the final and last time I ever watch

this movie, because as of this recording, I have

watched it four times. Cause we had, you know,

it's my, my stuff going on, your stuff going

on. We were supposed to do this like three weeks

ago, whatever doesn't matter. The point is for

me and my brain, I need it fresh in my head.

I need to like, like I literally just finished

it like an hour ago. Cause if it's not, if it's

not fresh in my head, I will not remember it

and I will lose track of everything. Today, we

head once again into a galaxy far, far away.

That's right, we continue the 12 months of Star

Wars spotlight here inside Studio 2009 as we

make our way through the Skywalker Saga. Today,

we will be discussing Star Wars Episode 2, Attack

of the Boring. Yeah, although I will admittedly

come out and say I like this movie actually I

like this movie quite a bit I think the problem

this movie suffers from and we'll get into it

as we go on it's pacing its title And it just

seems like a bit of a jumbled mess because there's

a lot of really good world building going on

here because it sets up the events of the Clone

Wars television show. It expands upon the expanded

universe, gives us an idea of the Jedi at the

height of their power. And it really shows how

things were really that bad within the Republic

that 10 ,000 plus systems were thinking about

leaving. So it sets up this wonderful backdrop.

The problem is. When Lucas and whoever directed

this and wrote this they had like I said cool

ideas But they never followed through on any

one thing and then having Anakin randomly kill

Sam people because they They did some terrible

things to his mom that seems like a side plot

that maybe should have been expanded upon as

opposed to like a 15 minute side quest Yeah There's

just some problems with this, but I do appreciate

how much world building it did, although I wonder

how much of that got retconned by Rogue One,

because evidently the Geonosians designed the

Death Star and then randomly in episode, or sorry,

in Rogue One, they're like, oh yeah, I am director

Krennic and I did this. So again, I don't know

whether that was a soft retcon or I'm just not

remembering it right. Um, but yeah, I mean, I've

got a lot of stuff to talk about here when it

comes to marketing the toys, a lot of the cool

tie in stuff for this. And, uh, yeah. So Mike,

I guess if you want to take it away, where are

we headed to first with this? We're going first

to just the facts and it'll be very, very brief

directed by George Lucas, biggest mistake they

ever made produced by Rick McCollum screenplay

by George Lucas and Jonathan Hales story by George

Lucas. We can talk about the cast here a little

bit even McGregor Natalie Portman Hayden Christensen.

Oh, yeah, even McGregor Natalie Portman They

return new star Hayden not new star but new star

to Star Wars Hayden Christensen is the adult

version of Jake Lloyd and By far I hate this

guy more than I hate and I said last time, you

know when we did episode 12 of the podcast I

said I don't hate Jake Lloyd for the character

he portrayed. What they make Hayden Christensen

do makes me hate that guy, not personally, but

just as the character of... Oh, it's... I think

he was given terrible... direction and from something

about the screenplay just didn't translate well

to the screen where he's, I mean, I get he's

supposed to be arrogant and conflicted and all

this thing, but then he randomly turns into a

psycho and kills the women and children of the

Sam people. Like obviously you're not supposed

to sympathize with Anakin and like there's just

a lot of inconsistencies with the way he's written,

but we'll get to that. Yeah. And the thing of

it is, is as I'm thinking of this and we can

expand on this once we get into plot and things

like that, you put this Anakin next to Kylo Ren,

I wonder which one of them is more emo. Ian McDermid

as the Emperor, Samuel Jackson as Mace Windu,

Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, Anthony Daniels

and Kenny Baker as C -3PO and R2 respectively,

and obviously Frank Oz as Yoda. Music. Expertly

done as always by John Williams, cinematography,

David Tattersall. It was released the Tribeca

Film Festival May 12th, 2002, and May 16th, 2002

was the full release. Running time, 142 minutes.

Budget of 115 million box office, supposedly

653 .8 million. So it made its money back. My

biggest complaint, and I'll just get this out

of the way right now. My biggest complaint about

this movie, the motherfucking love story. I hate

it. I absolutely hate them. It just seems like

it comes so quickly and I mean, like I'm a guy

who's I've dated a bunch of girls and that's

not me bragging and I'm fully admitting I fall

in love quickly, but not over the course of like

hours. But then again, it's the movie you're

supposed to suspend disbelief and fully embrace

imagination. It just it never seems as organic

as it should. And I know this is supposed to

be a love, tragic love story Jedi are not supposed

to have. attachments, although I did read somewhere

recently, Jedis can have sex, but they can't

have relationships. So if a Jedi needs to go

knock some booty, they can do that. But they

can't form a complex relationship where they'd

have an attachment, so to speak. And I'm thinking,

okay, that makes a certain sort of sense. Because,

you know, people have needs, you know, man, women,

or whatever. And it's just Here it's handled

remarkably clumsy, which is unfortunate because

I think Hayden Christensen eventually gets better

with this, but Lucas can't write good dialogue

when it comes to giving emotional weight to his

characters that aren't men. When it comes to

him writing Romance dialogue. It's just, it's

very bad, especially in episode three. It just

comes off as really cringing, which is really

unfortunate because you want to see what makes

Darth Vader, Darth Vader. And obviously the core

of it is somewhat his attachments to his life

and his loves and how they're all taken away

and stripped from him. But it just, it's, it

sucks. Yeah, it does. And the thing with Attack

of the Clones, and I shouldn't have just called

it Attack of the Boring, and you've said this

to me off air. We'll bring this up as we go.

We enjoy this movie for the clones. I will agree

to that much. The rest of this movie, though,

it's basically Spider -Man 3. It's doing, before

Spider -Man 3 was ever even thought of, I bet.

You know, it's basically doing too much. You

have the political stuff. You have the Jedi stuff.

You have... the love story, you have the Clone

Wars stuff, you have all the stuff that's trying

to fit into 142 minutes. As of this recording,

I just, I think I'm on episode two or three of

season five of Clone Wars, and it is so much

better. Like when they reveal to the audience

that they're married, because Clone Wars takes

place between episodes two and three, because

the end of it leads up into months concurrently

with episode three. In the cartoon, I didn't

care that they were married. Hell, I actually

enjoy Anakin in the cartoon. In this movie though,

oh my god, he's such a bad character. Yeah, like

I think a lot of the problem, as we just mentioned,

you've got way too much going on and you have

to focus on one thing. And this, I was actually

just talking with my sister, Kara, before I came

onto this and we were talking how she doesn't

like this. I'm like, Episode two gets a lot of

shit wrong, but it also does a lot of things

right in the guards in In the regard that it

sets up a lot of the expanded universe and a

lot of big lore Going forward. The problem is

you're not allowed to linger on anything long

enough for it to really matter For it to really

matter. I mean they're on Camino for what maybe

15 20 minutes and like oh, yeah, and this Jedi

general just Master Sifo Diaz create this clone

army. Wait, wait, what? And then, oh, yeah, Jar

Jar needs to give us Senate power says we need

a grand army of the Republic. Wait, wait, wait,

wait, what? And just things just happen too quickly.

Like it's the pacing of this movie is all over.

If you could cut one or two side plots out of

this, maybe it'd be a little bit better in the

name Attack of the Clones. It spoils the big

surprise, I think, because, you know, the grand

army of the Republic needs to exist, because

that's the key to Palpatine seizing power. But

when the movie is called Attack of the Clones,

you're like, okay, so they get clones at some

point. And obviously that it hearkens back to

episode four, A New Hope, when Obi -Wan talks

about the clone wars and even I think in Jedi

in Star Wars, um, Apocrypha. You were never allowed

to discuss the Clone Wars. You could talk around

it, but you could never talk about specific events.

And then when this movie detailed, oh yeah, it

was a bunch of clones. And it just, it never

feels as powerful as it should, so to speak here.

And I don't know. I think if I were to change

this movie, I might cut out the assassination

of Senator Amidala just because it seems so unnecessary.

I'd focus on the creation of the army in the

background sort of thing, because it just seems

like Natalie Portman's character is there. She's

just there to be introduced to be a love interest

to, to Anakin. She's just there because the trade

federation has this boner to have her killed.

And I don't get. I don't understand why one Senator

is so important because clearly Jar Jar has political

power to where he can propose stuff to the Galactic

Senate and they can vote on it anyway. So what's

the point? He was acting on her behalf. Like

she essentially, she is still the Senator, but

he, you know, he. She gave him, she said to him,

please act on my behalf. You have the same powers

that I have in order to do this because I'm sorry.

I have to go fuck my future deadly husband or

something. But that's just one thing. I mean,

if we look at the current political system, as

we understand it here on earth, and we'll just

say in the, in the American government and the

Canadian government. One Senator can propose

something, but unless they're backed by a bunch

of their buddies, it's going to die on the Senate

floor before it goes anywhere. So unless it's

going to swing one way or the other, maybe it

matters, but that would fall to the VP or whoever's

in charge of the Galactic Senate. Again, I'm

not sure how Star Wars politics precisely works,

but basing it on Earth politics, one Senator,

yeah, it matters, but at the same time, not really.

They can propose it? And they can want to bring

it into law or whatever you want to say, whatever

legal jargon you want, whatever it's however

it's supposed to be said, because we're not politicians,

folks. You know, Jar Jar can say he would like

to grant Palpatine the emergency powers he needs.

I think the thing of, oh yeah, that sounds good.

Whatever. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All in

favor. Aye. All against. Nay. Well, the ayes

have it. I think they skipped that piece in this

movie because as soon as Jar Jar said that, every

Senator in that room cheered. Everybody from

the other planets cheered. So basically you have

a million or whatever it is, you basically have

a million agreements kind of thing. And that's

kind of how they brushed over it in this movie.

I didn't need star i didn't need politics in

my star wars see i don't mind politics and stars

but i want to make sense and again exactly one

person swinging the entire fate of the galaxy

i'm not sure i buy that but then again. Laser

swords it's just like if if attack of the clones

should have been anything it should have been.

A war movie like maybe introduce the idea how

most of the clones are built upon Django fat

and if you want to show a gritty war movie which

are arguably we got with like rogue one and parts

of solo. Imagine Jedi like just showing the creation

of the clone army showing them getting overwhelmed

by the confederation of independent systems and

have a literal. war movie like the last 1520

minutes of attack of the clones. I adore because

you're seeing phase one clone troopers in the

trenches fighting. Geonosians you actually get

a line of dialogue which ties directly in the

Star Wars Republic commando where they talk about

oh yeah we have a troop we have a clone commandos

looking through the tunnels for Poggle the lesser

and master Yoda's like alright very well and

that ties into more expanded kind of universe

shit like that's what I want to see as much as

I love seeing Jedi and Obi -Wan and Anakin beating

the shit out of people. I wanted to see more

of the clones. I wanted more of a war movie instead

of all this theatrics. They tried to fit too

many film genres in here and they weren't the

right film genres at the points that they tried

to fit them in. You look at the beginning with

the whole assassination attempt. It's basically

Anakin and Obi -Wan as buddy cops. You know,

Anakin is Riggs and Obi -Wan is Murtaugh. Anakin

is the crazy one, Obi -Wan is the sane one. Blast,

this is why I hate flying. And then later you

get a love story, so you get a soap opera, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah. You get kind of a war

movie with the clones, but it's not enough. That's

the problem. The clone stuff is not enough. And

like you're saying, yes, focus more on that.

I loved Obi -Wan the private eye. I thought that

was cool. I thought him trying to figure out

this whole thing. I thought that was great. But

just the rest of it, not so much. So going through

our questions for history, did you watch the

film in theaters? No, I did not. I actually did,

although I did not see it on opening day. I'm

trying to remember precisely why. And I, my memory

of this is actually kind of hazy. So I saw this

movie in theaters about two months after it was

out. And I want to say I was going through a

really bad breakup at the time. So wasn't in

a really good head space to go play space, space

night. And a friend of mine, took me to see Star

Wars and I remember walking home from the theater,

which was like a good four kilometers. So definitely

a good couple of miles home and just kind of

being disappointed with it, but say, well, I

guess that's that. I mean, clone troopers are

cool. Yoda doing his flippy shit is neat, I guess.

And I don't know, I felt not very good. about

this movie and a Star Wars movie in my opinion

should always leave some kind of an impression

upon you. And Attack of the Clones just made

me feel just kind of very meh. It took me years

upon years later to have my opinion change on

this because a girl I was kind of seeing at the

time when the prequel trilogy came out on DVD

finally, she sent it to me in the mail because

we were doing kind of pen pal flirting. I know

I'm that old. And she's like, Hey, I want you

to have this. And I was like, okay, yeah, sure.

I'll give it another whirl. And yeah, that's

how the movie grew on me was because of those

memories. But Ultimately, like I said, I've got

more of an attachment to this on home media than

I do in the theater. And that's really unfortunate

because I don't remember a lot of really big

fanfare for this. I mean, when we get to talk

about the marketing campaign for this, I don't

remember a whole hell of a lot, but I do remember

some things that really stuck out. So once we

once we get to that part of this podcast, I'll

discuss some of the cool things that did happen.

Yeah. So when's the last time we saw it before

preparing for this? I have not watched this movie

since the second time I saw it, which is probably

when it hit home media, maybe. Um, I think for

me, I saw it back in 2012 or 13. I got the Blu

-ray box set for Christmas and I watched it then.

I didn't have the nice setup that I do now. I'm

watching this on 4K Ultra HD via Disney Plus

as I don't have the huge Skywalker Saga box set,

which is ludicrously overpriced, I might add.

I don't know, like I like seeing it more now

that I have a really good sound system, especially

when Django and Obi -Wan are flying through the

Genoese and asteroid belt. There's some really

neat sound effects and sound effects work in

there. But yeah, this movie more so than some

of the prequels has some really good sound design.

And that's something this movie does not get

nearly enough credit for is that but then again,

I think it's Ben Burt does the sound for these

Again some really fantastic stuff and there's

some there's some documentaries that you can

watch on Disney Plus that talk about us I think

they're like 15 20 minutes apiece But yeah, it

this would be prior to preparing for this podcast.

I watched the first half of this movie the night

before I went into the hospital and I thought

I'd be out Friday afternoon thinking, all right,

I'll finish this on Friday afternoon. Here we

are a week and a half later. Um, it's perfectly

fine because as soon as you're like, dude, I'm

in the hospital. Can we, and I'm like, I just,

I just closed Disney plus we can reschedule whenever

you want because the first time when I laid down

to what How I watch these how I'm watching these

movies is in chunks No, not even I'm I want to

lay down and I'm watching on my phone. Whatever

it is what it is I don't have my TV hooked up

yet. It just is it's a thing But it's one of

those things where I'm laying there watching

on my phone and I'm like, okay I'm not totally

hating on it. I'm not totally disliking it. I

don't feel like I need to pause it and go do

something else Oh, there's a love story part.

Okay It's popcorn time or something, whatever,

but I'm trying to watch through the whole thing.

And when you sent that message, I was like, good,

I can watch something I can actually, I actually

enjoy now. That was my first thought after you

had messaged me that first night. I was like,

okay, good. I don't have to waste my time doing

this. Yeah, that's the problem I find with episode

two. There's too many points where you can naturally

take a break. to go to at least not necessarily

go to the bathroom for 10 minutes, but you can

let your attention drift. And like you can almost

come back at this movie at any time. And it just

flows together. And that's not always a good

thing. A movie should consistently hold your

attention where you don't want to be distracted

with this. There's too much going on. So nothing

grabs you. Yeah, pretty much. Absolutely. Alright,

what do we remember most about this film before

catching up with it recently? I remember everything

about it I just remember the stuff I hate more

than the stuff I enjoy and that's why I liked

going back and watching it again So I can figure

out what do I actually enjoy about this movie

because I can rage on about the love story for

45 minutes I'm not going to but I'm just saying

I can For me, it's a lot of expanded universe

stuff. The thing that I love about this is I

love the introduction of the first form of the

stormtrooper with the phase one clone armor.

That is one of my favorite armor designs in science

fiction next to the aliens, colonial Marines

and the Mjolnir armor from Halo. I just love

the way that the kind of T visor looks. I like

the DC 15 blaster, which is the big long one

that the clones use, not the little handheld

one. And I love the look of the Clone Wars gunships.

And more specifically, I love the way they sound

because that's a variation I think of a Vietnam

air helicopter with a couple of things kind of

passed over it. So the thing that I remember

most in this movie is the clone. design and the

sound design also to even further go upon that

lightsaber design because at the time a company

known as master replicas they've now I don't

think they exist anymore but they held the license

for star wars memorabilia early on in the 2000s

and one of their first things that they offered

was the FX lightsaber. Now these are still being

produced under Hasbro and how they essentially

worked now is they have LEDs in them which gives

the blade a sequential light up sequence. Now

when Master Replicas first released these, they

didn't have that technology yet. That would not

come until Revenge of the Sith. But when Anakin

released their lightsaber for Attack of the Clones.

It was Anakin's lightsaber, which is basically

a chrome version of Darth Vader's Empire Strikes

Back version. And how that lightsaber was powered

was using EL wire. EL wire is the same technology

that cars use for under lighting. So if you see

that fast nefarious bullshit with the cars that

glow green, purple, and pink, that technology

is inside the lightsaber blade. So it doesn't

gradually light up like it's going from the top,

like it's going from the hilt to the top. It

just gradually glows until you get to the proper

thing. And that would kind of lead into the motion

technology where you'd swing the saber. It would

make a different sound. You get impacted against

something. It would make it sound EL wires tougher

because problems with early master replica sabers

is if you hit them against something too often

it would break the LED chain and your lightsaber

would only extend so far. So I definitely remember

a lot of the merchandise for this. Another thing

I've always been a huge fan fan of is I love

the look of Count Dooku's lightsaber and it's

taken years like a decade or more to get an FX

version. of this lightsaber. And I used to be

on a forum board for years. I was a moderator,

uh, that talked about lightsabers and I was given

the title of Darth Tyranus Count Adoku. And I

fell in love with the look of his more elegant

dueling saber. because it's that curved blade.

It's that curved hilt. And I love the way that

thing feels. Now I've been fortunate that I've

held a prop replica that's literally built from

the same materials as that. And it's so comfortable

in the hand. Whereas you look at something like

Qui gons. Let me tell you that thing's gonna

cut into your hand more than you think. And Obi

-Wan Kenobi's episode one lightsaber and episode

two lightsaber, there's enough of a difference.

It's weird, but there's a lightsaber book you

can buy on Amazon. It's like 15, 20 bucks. And

it shows Obi -Wan's saber from episode two. And

Obi -Wan's sabers have always been my favorite.

My favorite being his episode two saber, because

it's just... It's more round, but it's also really

comfortable to hold. Again, I've been really

fortunate to hold one and I really like the look

of Yoda's saber, though that does get a redo

for episode three as well. Another thing I do

remember about this is some of the marketing.

Um, I can't remember what the cereal was flavored,

but there was an episode two attack of the clones

cereal that you could get and you could get a

clone trooper helmet. Um, and it was made of

this really thin plastic, but it had the distinctive

T visor. It fit over my big fucking head. And

I actually had two of those buckets up until

last year and they're not hard to find. They're

just really hard to find a good condition because

they're so brittle. Um, but it was really neat

cause you could buy the cereal. And I remember

Walmart's up here were blowing them out at like

$2 a box. So you could So you could buy the cereal

and get a fucking helmet with it. So you could

get like little clone trooper marshmallows and

shit. Um, I remember the toys for this being

really, really, really exciting. There was like

the new, uh, Obi -Wan Kenobi lightsaber. I remember

a lot of the figures were cool, although weird

little bit of trivia sort of thing. If you had

the gunship toy. which is where the clones could

attack and shit. It was re -released under Revenge

of the Sith and under the Clone Wars banner,

and I think even under the vintage OTC collection

later. You had to get the Clone Wars pilot from

Attack of the Clones where it came in the bubble.

The bubble would attach to the side of the gunship,

and there's a spot on the gunship for that to

attach. It didn't come with the toy by default.

That was such a pain in the fucking ass and I've

owned multiple gunships. I've never owned two

clone pilots to come to complete the gun pods

on my thing, which again, if I'm wrong, you know,

email us and tell me, but I remember that being

such a stickling point for me. And I also remember

these toys being a bitch to army build. Because

in the Star Wars toy collecting world, army builders

like myself once upon a time, you would buy multiple

clones to fill your vehicles, to fill your armies,

to fill your displays and dioramas, etc. But

yeah, I mean, I remember that being a big deal.

I don't remember a lot of high end prop replicas

outside of lightsabers. I don't know whether

they ever made Um, a battle droid blaster in

scale. I seem to remember Princess Amidala's

blaster, but that might be an episode one design.

Um, yeah, I, I just, I don't remember a lot of

high end stuff for this. Revenge of the Sith

seemed to, I think get a lot more marketing push

behind it. Cause I don't think this movie was

as successful as they wanted it to be. Yeah.

So yeah, that's. pretty much what I remember.

And I seem to remember they did a big launch,

a big push with the RPG. I think this is when

the saga edition was launching or Revenge of

the Sith was coming along a little bit later.

But yeah, so there was a lot of stuff with the

expanded universe. I know there was Mace Windu

book that came out. There were some comics. I

remember the, the Django Fett comics by Dark

Horse were really good. Um, and the Sam Wessel

ones as well. So, you know, you know, it's funny,

we had, um, this was years ago now over, over

on the pullback, we did, uh, we did, uh, uh,

Django and Boba Fett and Boba Fett is dead. And

that was the first time in my entire life. That

I actually care. I've never cared about Boba

Fett I've never cared about he got his head cut

off by a guy wielding a purple lightsaber. He

didn't do much You know, I mean it's one of those

things where if anyone that's listening to this

listen, you know watches Phineas and Ferb Basically

Django Fett. He's a platypus. They don't do much

You know, that's how I felt. And then I read

those comics that you're talking about from Dark

Horse. They're now under the Marvel banner, obviously,

because Marvel took everything over from them,

because Disney and all that. But yeah, Django

and Boba Fett, and then Boba Fett is dead. And

I really dug them. I'll link that episode in

the show notes, but it's one of those things

where I've never cared about the Fettes. Never.

Ever, ever, ever. I'm a big... Um, Mandalorian

mark, and I have been for years because I love

the look of their armor and Django's armor is

different because like in the comics, it's supposed

to be durasteel, which is not best car. Although

in the Mandalorian, they've kind of retconned

it, um, sort of in a way, I guess, I think, um,

Because Django is not a true Mandalorian, he

was kicked out or something. And there's so much

stuff that exists now in legends, that exists

now in other forms of media. What's canon? What's

not? What's in a novel? What's not? What's in

a comic? What's not? So the history of Mandalorian

is interesting as hell, but it's hard to keep

track of what's what. I thought he was a great

looking character. I wish he did more. And now

the fact that Tamura Morrison is back on the

Mandalorian as Boba Fett, I think gives a chance

to explore that. I mean, I really wish they did

more with Jango and ultimately they brought him

back because he looked cool. And that's why,

you know, I think it's really neat how the entire

clone army is based upon Jango Fett's fighting

style, Mandalorian fighting style, stuff like

that. The Ark troopers are basically Jango Fett

with the Shiro number filed off. Which arc stands

for advanced recon commando basically they're

the guys that have the red skirts and the red

on their helmets. I think there's some blue ones

too i think those are close but yeah it's stuff

like that i think. Django set was supposed to

be cool until committee got a hold of him and

he became a gimmick and a toy. Which that really

bothered me. And now that we have Mandalorian

to explore the history of Mandalore and the Clone

Wars and Rebels goes into the Siege of Mandalore.

It's expanding upon what was laid down in this

movie and what people had talked about for decades

about building up the history of the Mandalorians.

What was talked about in the role playing games.

What was talked about in comic books by Dark

Horse, et cetera. Like Tales of the Bounty Hunter.

short stories, the comics from Dark Horse, etc.

And Django, I think got shortchanged is like

I said, a guy with a purple lightsaber takes

him out in like two hits. Although Django did

kill a couple of Jedi himself, which was neat,

but you never got a lot of characterization about

him other than the fact that, as he says, he's

a simple man trying to make his way in the galaxy.

But he did get his own video game, Star Wars

Bounty Hunter, which you can get on PlayStation

4, I know for sure. And I think you can get it

on Xbox platforms. I'm not 100 % sure, but otherwise

you can go back and get it on the older platforms

in any sense. Yeah for me as again as of this

recording I've just started like I said earlier

season 5 of Clone Wars So season 4 had a lot

to do with the clones Obviously it had a lot

to do with Boba and I actually Boba as a kid

in In the cartoon. I actually I don't I don't

outright hate the kid I don't outright hate the

character, but you know, I actually like seeing

that I actually lean on Like we were saying last

time, Darth Maul didn't really get his his comeuppance.

Well, apparently in Clone Wars, he does because

holy crap, when he came back, I was like, creepy

Spider Maul. See, that's one thing I think that

the prequel trilogy does right in a lot of ways

is they give characters on if when they're on

screen and they get. killed off in really dumb

ways. The expiated universe is there to make

them cooler again. Like I think Count Dooku shows

up in the Clone Wars a bunch, right? Oh yeah,

he's in there a lot. And I have to say really

quick before you continue, as much as I love

Christopher Lee, he didn't get enough time as

Count Dooku. Yeah, exactly. Corey Burton as the

voice of Count Dooku, just as the voice of Cad

Bane. I was like, wait a minute, who is doing

dooku because it literally sounds just like,

like, oh my God, Christopher Lee just came back

from the dead. And it's Corey flipping Burton.

I'm like, oh my God, that's amazing. Yeah. I

mean, like it. It's cool to see these characters

get expanded upon to make them legitimate threats,

to make them legitimately cool characters. If

they're not going to be done well on the big

screen, maybe the small screen comic books, novels,

role playing games, supplements, et cetera, can

really make them expand out and do more. Like

I said, there's so much world building and potential

in Attack of the Clones that just goes to the

wayside, but other more arguably competent writers

in other mediums get a chance to really play

with the the toys that George Lucas created,

and give us something a lot better. Like, for

example, I get this is probably not a unpopular

opinion. But George Lucas obviously gave us the

idea for Mandalorian, but people like Favreau

and Dave Filoni really made it come to life.

So thank you for the universe, George. We'll

take it from here. And the characters and people

who've worked on the clone wars and the novels

and the comic books are like, okay, George, thanks

for the tools. We'll take it from here. Have

made this world come to life. And I think that's

the biggest disappointment about attack of the

clones is it had such potential. To expand the

story to really give us more depth to these characters

But what we're given is the we dip our toe into

a pool that should be infinitely deeper like

if there's anything to say about the prequel

trilogy is you know what they're trying to do,

but it never goes far enough and the sequel trilogy

does what the It tries to carve its own identity,

but it loses itself up its own ass. Like, which

is really unfortunate because the last two movies

are atrocious, but they do have some bright points

and force awakens is a new hope redux. And the

prequel trilogy at least tries. There was a plan.

They knew what the plan was. They just didn't

execute it to the greatest of their ability.

In my opinion, and I've always been a prequel

fan. I'm trying not to use the word apologist,

but there's no other way to say it. I am. I am

an unapologetic fan of the prequel trilogy because

at least you knew what the plan was. You knew

where it was going. You knew where it had to

end up before episode four. You knew Anakin had

to turn evil. There had to be stormtroopers and

the Jedi had to be wiped out. this had to happen.

And this middle part has a lot of heavy lifting

to do. And it farts its way to the finish line.

It basically falls under its own weight. Yeah.

Like I said, there's so many neat ideas here

and there's something that's not talked about

until an expanded universe novel. Um, but they

talk about Jar Jar. post -return of the Jedi.

I think the book is called Aftermath. Again,

if I'm wrong, correct me. But from what I've

read, it takes place on Naboo and they run into

Jar Jar after the Empire's fall and before the

Battle of Jakku. Jar Jar is in exile again and

he's on the streets of Naboo and he's entertaining

children and the adults won't talk to him. Gungans

won't talk to him. Nobody will talk to him. And

he meets this orphan and a story is relayed.

People blame him, directly him, for the creation

of the empire. If he didn't give Chancellor Palpatine

the emergency powers, then the Grand Army of

the Republic doesn't exist. Law and order, as

we know, it doesn't exist. And basically we wouldn't

have the first Galactic Empire if it wasn't for

him. And I think if they could have given Jar

Jar, for example, a little bit more to do, if

you could have shown Palpatine's influence over

him. maybe a little more subtle than him just

looking nervous for a minute. It might have lent

a little bit more weight to this because Georgia

is not. I'm not going to go so far as to call

him stupid. I would call it naive, but not stupid.

Yeah, so after math, it's a it's a Star Wars

trilogy. And it does take place after obviously,

episode six. Uh, it's aftermath, uh, aftermath,

like aftermath life debt and aftermath empires.

And I believe, and yeah, I mean, you know, I

kind of want to read these books because after

re -examining these first two chapters of this

saga again, I'm like, I don't hate Jar Jar. I

don't hate him. I hate some of the things that

he does because he's not listening to people,

but I don't hate him as a character. Yeah. Like,

I think the biggest problem is some of the side

characters in this trilogy were designed to be

toys or they were designed to be gimmicks as

opposed to be given fully fleshed out things.

I mean, even for example, like, okay, unpopular

opinion. People love. Chewbacca, but what can

you tell me about him other than he has a life

debt to Han Solo and he's a really good buddy?

What can you realistically tell me about, unless

you've read expanded universe stuff? Not a lot.

I've read some comics. I've seen him in the cartoon

and he does things, but he's not, the focus is

never on him. Even in the movies, the closest

the focus is on him is when he has to pick up

3PO's parts in Empire. Yeah, I mean, he's not

given a lot of characterization. Now, ultimately,

he's a character who has to react and can't vocalize

like a traditional character, so a lot of it's

got to come through body language. But Jar Jar's

a character that can speak. You could give that

character weight and... a story arc, which again,

they dropped the ball on. If you could see Jar

Jar creating or giving the power to Supreme Chancellor

Palpatine. And someone says to him, do you know

what you just did? That could have given him

a real weight of, of an oh shit moment or something

like that. Realizing I've done good. I've done

good. I've done good. You've doomed us all because

people must've suspected something was up. at

like that point. So again, there's just the prequel

trilogy does some things right with characters,

but it never goes far enough. And that's the

thing I think with George Lucas as a whole, cool

ideas for characters. The stories are there,

but some of them don't go as far as you want.

And I'm not expecting it to expand out into a

seven season television series, which obviously

you're given a lot more time to play with. Over

the nine Skywalker films, you're given enough.

I mean, ultimately Luke has a full arc, Leia's

got a full arc, Han's got a full arc. And the

prequels, Anakin, yeah, to a certain extent,

Obi -Wan, yeah, Padme, eh. I don't know. Like

I said, there's just so much in the prequel trilogy

where things don't go as far as they should.

But I think Attack of the Clones ultimately It

doesn't deserve all the hate it gets. I really,

really genuinely believe that, but I also genuinely

believe it deserves to be harshly criticized

for where it doesn't go. As you mentioned, there's

too many genres here. There's too many cooks

in the kitchen at once. propel a story that makes

you care. Like the fact that Anakin lost his

mom, that should not have been in this movie.

I know it's supposed to show him going nuts,

but you could have shown Padme getting shot by

a battle droid and she's dying and bleeding out

on the ground and he goes nuts on battle droids.

Maybe he goes up against Dooku like he does in

the hangar and gets his ass kicked. And that

could have been him going nuts instead. I'm going

to kill Sam people because it's tattoo. You got

to play the greatest hits. Um, which that's another

thing. Side note, Star Wars movies have a weird

fascination with amputees. Um, Oh, trust me.

I've noticed it. I haven't, I, I've wanted to

actually keep count, but I can't keep count at

this point because I'm doing so much with Star

Wars currently. Like we're doing these episodes

and I'm also just. for enjoyment sake, because

I've never seen it before. As I said, I'm going

through Clone Wars every time somebody loses

an arm, even if it's just a trooper. It's like,

oh, yeah, it's like arms and legs. And I just

realized like the world of Star Wars doesn't

treat all medical. Afflictions the same because

the guy who was married to Schmi Skywalker is

in a wheelchair, but it floats and shit. And

I'm about to say, well, there's no reason why

you can't get a cybernetic, but I guess the same

reason I don't have a prosthetic leg. I guess

there's reasons before, but it is interesting.

It's a weird little bit of representation that

I didn't think I'd see in Star Wars, so go it,

I guess. But anyway, where do we want to go next,

Mike? Okay film breakdown so we got highlights

and lowlights favorite character moments favorite

special effect pacing of the film and favorite

characters Let's start with highlights and lowlights

I'm just gonna say right now for me the entire

lowlight of the attack of the clones is the love

story if you took 90 % of the love story out

and showed me one or two things like if he has

to take her to safety and be on Naboo and whatever

fine as soon as they're there cut away, cut back

to them kissing or to them, whatever, to show,

hey, whatever. But that's my biggest low light

highlights. Honestly, almost every piece of action

in this movie is a highlight. Um, for myself,

a low light is going to be the stuff on Tatooine

just because it seems so weirdly shoehorned in

there just to serve as like, Hey, I'm angry and

I'm bitter. You're telling me the Jedi Order

couldn't give you like a week off to go visit

your mom. Not buying it. But hey, what do I know?

Highlight for me last 15 minutes, anything involving

the clones. There's one scene in particular.

There's like a Trade Federation ship and it's

taking off and there's all this dust being kicked

up and the clones and the super battle droids

are marching towards each other and they're just

exchanging blaster fire. And it looks like something

out of like desert fighting out of World War

II. It looks amazing. And then when the clone

gunship comes down and rescues the surviving

Jedi's from the Geonosian arena, and you hear

the, the sound of the gunship engines for the

first time, that's great. Like there's just so

much cool attention to detail on the clones armor.

You see the different ranks between, um, yellow

blue and red. So, you know, what each thing does,

you see different pieces of technology, like

the ground -based, um, turbo lasers, you see

the altering tactical enforcer, which will eventually

become the walker later on. And yeah, like those

are really big highlights. Plus. I wish this

fight scene had carried on just for 30 seconds

to a minute longer, where Anakin is fighting

Dooku and he's dual wielding lightsabers, not

dual like Darth Maul, like two separate lightsabers,

two different colors. That is cool, but it doesn't

last very long. No, it doesn't. And I just wish

we'd seen more of that. Plus seeing Yoda with

a lightsaber, everybody at the... time when I

saw this was really impressed, thought it was

really cool. It doesn't quite fit Yoda's style,

in my opinion, to have him to be jumping around

and flippy -dippy bullshit, but it's still cool.

Another thing I guess to mention is I don't recall

any really standout music in this outside of

the end, which is very reminiscent of the Imperial

Martry that where you see them getting on the

Acclimate or Star Destroyers. That's about the

only musical moment that stands out to me. Maybe

when they're leaving Tatooine, you hear hints

of Luke's theme. I think it is. I don't recall

a lot. I'm glad you brought the music up because

right before we got on to record this, I actually

have a playlist and I'll probably, it's on Spotify.

I'll probably have to link it in the show notes,

but I have a playlist that basically just says

John Williams, Star Wars. And it is. because

they put all the film scores, even the old films

and the new films on Spotify. And I'm like, as

soon as I saw that, I'm like, oh my God, I have

to add this from Phantom Menace to Rise of Skywalker.

I have to add all of these to this one playlist.

And I went through some of the Attack of the

Clones music. And I think you'll have to go through

it yourself, obviously, after we're done with

this to see. But stuff like the... Zam the assassin

in the chase through carousel as much as we don't

feel like we need the scene in the movie. The

music in that is amazing. Yeah. Okay. I remember

that. I remember some of the battle of Geonosis,

but not a lot. Yep. And the Imperial March themed

one. Those are three pieces. Most of the other

movies I can name more iconic pieces now. When

it comes to the sequel trilogy, I recall almost

nothing. And I'm not saying John Williams has

lost his touch. It's just that those movies have

so much non -memorable moments. You don't give

a shit. So when we get to those movies in a few

months and I talk about them with you, I'll watch

them again with a more critical eye. But I feel

like Attack of the Clones musically didn't have

an identity. Whereas from a sound design standpoint,

it did. Like I said, the war stuff sounds good.

One of my favorite things, it's a small thing,

but it's there, is when the guy from the banking

clan and the techno union are talking. That's

great. Even Poggle the Lesser, who's one of the

Geonosians, how they create his voice sounds

very, very, very distinct. But From a sound design

standpoint. I can't remember a lot about this

movie, although Sidebar, I love the way to more

Morrison portrays all the clones I think he sounds

great. Like they couldn't have cast that role

any better. Yeah Yeah, no, absolutely they really

really knocked it out of the park Um, what's

funny is, is that I'm crazy ladies and gentlemen,

and I don't know if this is actually going to

happen, but, uh, come, uh, coming in dark side,

December of 2021, I have listed for studio. It's

basically all month of star Wars and it's basically

nine episodes in what basically nine days of

star Wars Christmas. And three of these podcasts

will be. the prequel scores, the original trilogy

scores, and then the sequel series scores. So

I'm just discussing the music by itself. That's

why I have this playlist created so that way

I can just go through each phase of the Skywalker

saga and just listen to it. Okay, so favorite

character moments for me. I'm kind of torn because

I want to put it as a character moment, but it

also is a special effect. I'm just going to come

out and say it, and I don't care. Unpopular opinion,

whatever. I, flying R2, fucking love flying R2.

I think it's great because when we get to episode

four, they're old and decrepit and they don't

do anything. And you, again, you mentioned earlier

in this episode. We always heard so much about

the Clone Wars. We always heard so much of the

droids Involvement in it. We finally get to see

it in this and in Episode three when we'll talk

about that next in an episode 19 of the podcast

You know, so it's like we finally get to see

it and I was just like I was 22 years old when

this movie came out in theaters. I was probably

24 when I saw it the first time. It was probably

two years later before I actually saw it. I'm

like, R2, that's so cool. I'd say for me, favorite

moment, almost anything involving Obi -Wan Kenobi,

just because I think you and McGregor bring such

charisma to this role, but my big My big takeaway

from this is I love Tamura Morrison. I think

he's a great Django Fett. I like, he brings a

charisma to it. I like how he's a father. I mean,

he's a father to Boba. Is he a great person?

No, arguably, but he just wants to raise a son.

And you have to read under that layer that, you

know, not all evil men are necessarily, you know,

twirly mustache tie you to the kind of railroad

tracks. Some of them may even have some redeemable

qualities despite doing terrible, terrible, terrible

things. And when the clones start to come out

and do their things, yeah, they're just devices

to move the kind of plot forward. But I think

there's some great moments there too. Moments

that kind of I don't like. I don't like a lot

of how Natalie Portman reacts in this movie as

Amidala. She just, she just reacts to stuff.

She doesn't do anything up until the very end

where she's like, well, I'm going to help Obi

-Wan and you have to protect me. So let's go

to Geonosis because okay. And she's the only

one who figures out how to get out of her handcuffs.

Which you have the fucking force, dude. You can

do that. I've read the role playing books. I

know this. But then again, you know, power at

the expense of plot, I guess. I'm trying to think

of another thing that I like. There's one shot

that I like and it goes back to Tatooine. Hayden

Christensen has just rescued his mom. She's unfortunately

passed away. He cuts his way out of the hut where

the Sam people are and he goes on his rampage

and he ignites his lightsaber. And he just cuts

these two people down, but it's just as he cuts

them down. It's a, it's like a medium shot and

then it cuts away. And then that's it. It's just,

it's literally a blink and you'll miss it shot.

But I love the intensity on Hayden Christensen's

face. That's the only time he ever gets intimidating

in that rule is for like 30 is for like three

or four seconds are I'm evil. And I get it. And

I really like that. Another thing that I liked

about this or another great character moment

is the fight between Django and Obi -Wan on Kamino

because you see an ordinary person can stand

toe to toe with a Jedi, but they got to be clever.

And that's something that the Mandalorian has

shown because all their armor built into. They're

like kind of weapons like cuz sure Jedis can

push back flamethrowers But it takes a lot of

concentration and all it takes is a couple seconds.

Then your robes are on fire So it's it's neat

I like the fact that the Jedi were not shown

as invincible because Jedi because Django kills

some green guy with a blaster beside Dooku just

playing out shoot some doesn't need to do any

fancy things with like rocket darts or his rocket

launcher. No just bang right in the face and

he's gone. So it shows the Jedi are vulnerable.

And I do love that. Yeah. For me, least favorite

moments, I hate to beat a dead Padme, but the

love story again, like, like you were saying

about her, like she just reacts to stuff. I was

finally on her side when she's like, fuck you,

Anakin, I'm going to save the world or whatever.

You know what I mean? At the end, you know, when

she's going to do her stuff. And as far as favorite

special effect, I already mentioned R2 as the

character moment, and I'm just going to say it.

The first time we ever saw Yoda, he was 900 years

old, 9 ,000 years old. However old he is in Revenge

of the Jedi, not Revenge of the Jedi. That's

a completely different movie, folks. You know,

however old he is in return, like I was happy.

Yeah, you're right. Generally Yoda should not

be that character that's flippy dippy and all

around, but whatever one moment out of nine films

or at least six films that he's in, I absolutely

dug it. And so far to my knowledge, and I'm pretty

sure I'm right about this. He has not actively

done anything in the Clone Wars battle wise.

He's always been at the Jedi temple so far to

season five. So one moment in one movie that

really is my least favorite of the prequels.

Yeah. I love the effect that they did for Yoda's

lightsaber battle. Um, I'd say least favorite

for me, again, you're not wrong. The life story

needs to be tightened up. Oh, a little bit. I

mean, rewritten would be in the ideal world.

Um, I think just a lot of the stuff on Coruscant's

a little clumsy, where it just, it just doesn't

seem to jive with the rest of the movie. So that'd

probably be my least favorite thing. And I think

downplaying Count Dooku as to boast to be this

next ultimate Sith badass, but instead he's just

Kind of they're like hi, I'm Christopher Lee.

I'm count Dracula So that's unfortunate. So yeah,

those would be my negative points What would

be your favorite? My favorite character moment

is the clones. The clone, like I said, the clone

battle on Geonosis where they're marching towards

the super battle droids and they're just throwing

wave after wave of bodies at these robots. And

it's just all the dust is being kicked up. There's

gunships going off. There's crab droids. There's

hail, hail fire droids. Shit is going down. It

is literally a war. The first real scale invasion

we've seen since Naboo, but now we're seeing

that on a grander more explosive scale. And that

I thought finally illustrated the intensity of

warfare in Star Wars since the thing is literally

in Star Wars, but we haven't seen a large scale

battle. We've seen skirmishes, but we've never

seen a full out and out battle with battalion

and platoon level units. And I love that. Right.

I think we've already covered this, but again,

we've beaten this film over the head already

pacing of the film. It is horrible. Yeah. Like

it needed a second. It needed a second or third

editing pass. It needed some reshoots just to

tighten things up a little bit. If you could

have delayed this movie by three months and maybe

put some, put some scenes in, taking some scenes

out, tightened it up. I don't think that would

have been a terrible thing. Yeah, me either.

All right. How the film holds up. Did the film

keep your interest throughout? For me, it did

the first pass through. I mean, the first actual

pass through I did with it, not the one where

you were like, can we postpone this? I'm like,

yeah, sure. Whatever. But when I actually did

finally go back and watch it fully. Yes, it did

keep my interest. Obviously, as we've already

said, the love story took me out of it, but I

didn't actually stop it. I just sat there and

like, okay, can we hurry up and get past this?

What about you, Mike? Did it keep your interest?

Yeah, it did. And again, and that's because I'm

looking at it not as a viewer. I'm looking at

it as a writer. And I say that not to be, you

know, arrogant or anything, but because I've

taken so many writing courses and because I have

such A love of Star Wars expanded universe. I'm

looking for things that I know connect to other

things later on. I'm looking for like, oh, that's

what I referenced the clone commandos. Oh, they're

talking about Camino. I know that unit will become

the 501st. I know that unit will defend Camino

when shit goes down. I love, I know what's going

to happen later. I love the world building. So

that's why I really like this movie. I just don't

like how this movie treated me back. It's, it's

almost like I'm an abused person. Please don't

hit me. I love you. And I know that's terrible

to say. But it's just, it's a movie that I think

doesn't deserve the hate it gets. It deserves

a re -examination of what it contributed to Star

Wars, but it needs a lot of love and attention

that obviously can't happen unless we somehow

get a time machine. So yeah, that'd be my opinion.

It does hold my attention, but not for the reasons

you would think. Yep. Are you itching to watch

the next film now? Oh, yeah. Like Revenge of

the Sith is my favorite Star Wars movie, hands

down. Not my favorite Star Wars. property. That's

Mandalorian. But Revenge of the Sith is the movie

that got me into toy collecting. It got me into

props. It got me into special effects. It got

me into sound design. It got me into editing.

That's the movie that led me to college. So Revenge

of the Sith and I have a lot to talk about with

you. Like, holy shit, you won't be able to shut

me up. And yeah, like there's just so much to

talk about. And I like What attack of the clones

led me to believe after Star Wars? Because I

remember a lot of the hype going into episode

three. I was just discovering podcasts at that

time. I started listening to my first podcast

ever, which is a podcast called Star Wars action

news. And I used to listen to how people collected

figures. I used to hang out on websites like

Yoda's news and rebel scum .com yak face .com.

And I used to just be and live in that world.

And it's something fascinating to revisit now

that I'm 20 so years removed from it. saying,

hey, I remember when these toys came out. I remember

what the fever pitch was like when this came

out. And I've got stories to tell you about Revenge

of the Sith. Some good, some bad, some things

I probably shouldn't have done. But yeah, like

I'm really excited to talk about Revenge of the

Sith. And I think your listeners and our listeners

are going to be in for a little bit of a treat

as Birdman gets to really talk about Star Wars

for the first time in a more focused format.

I hope this is focused. I am kind of itching

for this because I remember and I'll, I always

repeat my stories, so I don't care. I'll say

it here. I remember the first time I saw this

was not in theaters. Sadly, it was on a bootleg

DVD. Like literally somebody went to the theater,

camcordered it, brought it home and put it on

a DVD. And I'm like, I'll take that. Thank you

very much. And it was a horrible, horrible copy.

Revenge of the Sith Mike is the first bootleg

I went out of my way to buy because I wanted

to see the movie again. I wanted a very specific

bootleg. There's a bootleg that came out of Malaysia

that was called Backstroke of the West. And Backstroke

of the West is so horribly mistranslated to make

episode three, one of the most hilarious things

you've ever heard, where basically Jedi in, I

guess, Taiwanese translates literally to Presbyterian

Church. There's one point where General Grievous

calls Anakin a smelly boy. are Obi -Wan is talking

to R2 and he's like R2 is you fucking and just

all these other mistranslations and it's fucking

hysterical. So yeah, like it's the only time

I ever went out of my way to find a copy of it.

And it was so worth it. I lost it about 10 years

ago, but it was funny. So go look up online Google

Star Wars backstroke of the West and you're in

for a treat. Absolutely. Would you recommend

this film to people? I'm just gonna straight

out and say it no I'm gonna say yes because it

does set up a lot of world -building But go in

with lowered expectations It's not as important.

I would recommend this over Phantom Menace This

Phantom Menace Sets up things but things that

don't matter other than Palpatine I, yeah, we'll

have to talk about that when we, cause I have

a plan here. We're going to average out like

where, like where we're going to put each of

the films at the end of each part of the saga.

So when we get to episode, episode three closing

next time and episode 19 of the podcast, we will

do a, like, how would we rank the prequels? And

yeah, I just can't. Okay, GCN rating scale zero

to five with half points. What would you rate

Attack of the Clones, Mike? I'm going to give

it a solid three. It's worth your time seeing.

If you go in with medium expectations, you're

not going to get masterpiece theater, nor are

you going to be bored to death, but you will

be giving the what the fuck hands more often

than what you should. Right. And again, I want

to say this really quickly, for our GCR Universal

Rating Scale, which is linked in every episode

of every podcast, we do, at least I try to link

it in there, 3 .0 is average. While the overall

takeaway is positive, you do not necessarily

walk away happy. It does not extraordinarily

succeed in any specific areas. If it does, it

gets weighed down, quite literally, by something

as equally unsuccessful, though overall enjoyable,

it really is disposable. For me, I'm giving this

a 2. A 2 is bad. The positives serve as reminders

to the latent potential that was never fulfilled.

The product is often a victim of poor execution

or an inability to focus on a clear path. It

fails in a large variety of different areas,

but the failures are not to the extreme. Now

here's my reasoning why I'm giving it a 2 and

it's what I've said this whole thing. You take

certain elements out of this. You take all the

love story bullshit out of this. You take the

Jar Jar, even though I don't blame him, you take

that out of this and you just have the clone

war. This would easily get a four and a half

or four for me. Yeah. Like the movie needs a

massive rewrite and massive reshoots, but the

idea is solid. It's just poorly executed. Yeah,

absolutely. All right, we're gonna take a quick

break come back to close the show after this

Do you like retro cartoons then Saturday morning

rewind is the podcast for you? Join them each

month as they talk about classic cartoons and

interview legendary voice actors like Jim Cummings

Cory Burton Rob Paulson How are we gonna find

chaps our size? Nancy Cartwright and many more.

Eat my shorts. So grab a bowl of Lucky Charms.

They're magically delicious. Put on your hammer

pants. Go to SaturdayMorningRewind .com. And

be prepared to feel like a kid again. Once again,

that's SaturdayMorningRewind .com. Saturday Morning

Rewind was voted best podcast ever by its host

Tim Nydale. So it's gotta be good. We talk hello

Julie. What the heck are you doing trying to

make our spot sound more exciting by adding explosions?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have got the

point across with sound effects. Not the real

thing Download the show on iTunes or if simplistic

reviews dot blog spot dot com I'm sure your insurance

company will cover that no they won't no they

probably won't I know what we're doing today

Okay, Michael if we're going to tackle this podcast

thing. We've got to do something really special

it has to be cool daily, in audio form, and undetectable

by radar, something that screams summer. I know,

let's do a Phineas and Ferb review podcast. We'll

call it the Podcast Organization Without a Quill

acronym, or Pauka for short. What do you think?

I think if we're not careful, Candice is going

to bust us. You can find Pauka on the GeekCast,

Radio Network, iTunes, Blog Talk Radio, and all

of the other methods you find podcasts. Okay

then, carry on. All right, no more last words

this time around. We're just gonna leave you

with what we've already said. I think we've said

enough about Attack of the Clones and the best

parts about it were Dippy Dippy Floating Yoda,

The Clone Wars. and flying R2. Thank you for

joining us here inside the studio. If you'd like

to get in contact with us, leave feedback for

the show. There are several ways to do so. Visit

the website, geekcastradio .com, where you can

comment on this and all of our other episode

posts. You can also head over to our Canadian

sister site, thisweekingeek .net. Check out their

content as well. Send any email to feedback at

geekcastradio .com. Put in Studio 2009, episode

16 feedback. Here are all the ways you can listen

to us nowadays. Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify,

and of course, the home where our files exist,

Springer. You can also use any other podcasting

client you choose, but I prefer you use one of

these. Leave the show's feedback in iTunes. I

will have to check this for next time. Follow

us on Twitter at GeekCastRadio is the network.

At It's Studio 2009 is the show. I am at TF2

and Mike. What is your Twitter, Mike? Awesome.

If you want to find me online, where I rave about

cats, politics, and other stupid shit, it is

at birdman .dodd. You can also find me on Instagram

and TikTok, although I will have to approve all

requests that way, just kind of the way it is

right now. But my Twitter is almost always open.

Just don't be a jerk. So yeah, that's where you

can find me. Awesome become a fan on Facebook

go to Facebook .com slash geek cast radio network

You can also search out studio 2009 podcast and

this week in geek as well Join us next time when

Steve and I will be celebrating the 25th anniversary

of happy Gilmore for now I am TF2 and Mike with

Mike the bird man. You'll hear us in the studio

soon put that lightsaber away Destroy the Sith

we must