STUDIO 2009
Star Wars A New Hope Review
About this Episode
Hi, this is John Delancey and you are listening
to the Geekcast Radio Network. There is nothing
wrong with your podcast player. Do not attempt
to adjust the volume. Hello and welcome back
into our studio. You are now inside Studio 2009.
I'm of course, TFU and Mike. Joining me once
again, almost as always, is Mr. David Draper.
Hello, sir. How are you? Hello. I am super excited.
I have dreamed of this moment my entire life.
I've always wanted to be paid to talk about my
favorite movie, and it's finally happening. I'm
so thrilled. Check's in the mail. Oh, good. We've
already talked about how much I love our United
States mail system. That's right. And think highly
of their abilities. Make sure that envelope doesn't
bounce out of his mailbag. I will. Today, once
again, we head back to a galaxy far, far away.
That's right, we continue the 12 months of Star
Wars Spotlight as we make our way through the
Skywalker Saga today. Somewhere in space, this
may all be happening right now. 20th Century
Fox and George Lucas, the man who brought you
American Graffiti, now bring you an adventure
unlike anything on your planet. Star Wars. Here
they come. Coming too fast! The story of a boy,
a girl, and a universe. It's a big, sprawling
space saga of rebellion and romance. It's a spectacle,
light years ahead of its time. I am C -3PO, Human
Cyborg Relations, and this is my counterpart,
R2 -E2. Hello. It's an epic of heroes. villains
and aliens from a thousand worlds. Star Wars
a billion years in the making. And it's coming
to your galaxy this summer. We will be discussing
Star Wars! What? I thought we were doing Battle
Beyond the Stars. Episode 4, A New Hope. Oh boy.
Alright, so... I'm literally old enough that
I remember when it was just Star Wars. Star Wars.
So am I! No, because they changed that. They
actually changed that pretty quick. People keyed
in on that pretty quickly. I think the first
year it was Star Wars and then when they started
working on Empire, they immediately re -released
it because there's this whole thing about Lucas
always wanted to keep Star Wars in front of people's
eyes, keep it in their minds, which is how the
holiday special came into existence. So it was
a pretty quick changeover. Alright, well I'm
gonna cut this part out because I have to stand
up because I want to go go get my old ass VHS
copies because it didn't change very Soon after
I would think because I have VHS copies that
say Star Wars It does not say anything about
episode 4 on the VHS cover. I have the original
just cover No, yeah, like but Empire was episode
5. Yeah, like we just they didn't have a VHS
version of Star Wars before Empire came out They
didn't huh That's interesting. Yeah, I've got
the original release of Star Wars on yeah, the
cover probably says Star Wars They didn't start.
Okay, they didn't start adding a new hope to
the covers until like I think the re -release
of right. Yeah Yeah, but like the actual movie
has it in there. Yeah Okay, bro, yeah, no, no,
you're right you're right. Yeah. Yeah the actual
movie I was just talking about the cover No,
no. The cover, they only started doing that.
It's like they started doing Indiana Jones in
Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I'm like, what?
Why you do that? It makes you look like everything
else has Indiana Jones in the title. It's like,
ugh, I hate when they do that. Well, that way
you know whose franchise it is because otherwise
people just like that's for stupid people. Okay.
No, no, no No, no. No. Yeah, probably but the
thing is like Raiders of the Lost Ark Temple
of Doom the Last Crusade Because we don't count
the other two. I don't anyway I don't think so.
I Think I would have heard something about them.
Yeah. Yeah fake news dial of destiny Okay, I
didn't even see that one. Yeah, that's how much
that's how much that one turned me up. I was
like But you know what? I already saw you I already
saw you shit on one of my childhood heroes played
by any of it by Harrison Ford I don't really
need to do it again. What are you talking about?
Force Awakens Force Awakens? Huh? No, the Star
Wars sequels happened. Yeah, they're not they're
not quite terrible enough to like and I actually
kind of like some of last Jedi I know, I'm gonna
apostate. We'll get there. I'm a monster. I like,
I kind of like Last Jedi. Some things. And the
funny thing is, I don't remember. What I remember,
and again, we'll get there after these three
films that we do here, but what I remember about
Force Awakens is it's either her or him, and
it ended up being her instead of - Don Boyega.
of Finn, yes. It's either Rey or Finn. And I
was like, oh, it should have been the storm tripper
kid, not the, whatever. I was fine with that.
What I had a problem with, the flaw with the
sequel trilogy is that they never had a plan.
They never had a plan, and you really feel that
with, I think Finn, most of all, you feel that
with. Because once the first movie's done, they
had nothing to do with his character. And, you
know, if it had been Finn, they would have had
nothing to do with Rey's character. With Rey's
character, yeah. So they had one too many characters
in the oven. No, it's just they didn't have a
plan for those characters. Like, you can have
all three of those characters. And then Poe was
never really supposed to... Poe was supposed
to die at the beginning of that film. And, you
know, but people liked his performance, Oscarized
his performance so much they brought him back.
And then they really didn't have anything to
do with him. I mean, he had the dumbest plot
of Last Jedi and then he did nothing in... Again,
they didn't have a plan. I know we'll get to
it when we get to it, but I'm just like... Yeah,
but my thing is, I remember watching those three
movies. I don't remember anything about them.
Other than what I've already said, I really...
The Falcon. But it's The Falcon. Come on! Yeah,
I know, but the problem is they leaned in too
heavily with that. Yeah. I think I said this
when we did episode three. I think I mentioned
it in Rogue One as well, where with Force Awakens
and basically throughout the rest of the Disney
trilogy, all the spaceships are from the original
trilogy. The weird thing is, even in the original
trilogy, when we get to Return of the Jedi, we
get A -wings and B -wings and tie interceptors.
We get new ships. Then 30 years later, we're
back to X -wings and TIE fighters. The whole
thing was they wanted, particularly after the
prequels, they wanted to bring people back with
stuff that's familiar, which is dumb. I mean,
it makes sense. The Falcon makes sense because
the Falcon's an iconic ship and it's not going
to change that much. But they lean so hard on
nostalgia. The Force Awakens was okay, but it
was basically just a riff off of the original
Star Wars. It was a thing that I accepted rather
than really enjoyed because I figured, The prequels
alienated the normies. It was only the die -hard
fans after the prequels. People forget that Disney
didn't really break Star Wars. Disney got Star
Wars already kind of broken. They did. The reputation
was kind of damaged. And the guys are the normies.
The fanboys like me looked for things to love
in the prequels, enjoyed things like Clone Wars.
But it was... It was not bringing in new people.
And I think the Force Awakens did a good job
bringing in new people. And then there was the
thing I loved about Last Jedi was that, like
I said, I didn't like how they kept doing all
this nostalgia stuff in Force Awakens. And then
Rian Johnson just took a baseball bat to everything.
He took all the toys, threw them in the driveway
and drove over them laughing maniacally. And
I loved it. I thought it was great. I love that
they killed Snoke. I love that they did all this
crazy crap. They blew up all the A -wings. They
blew up everything. And I was like, yes. Because
I thought they had a plan. And then we get to
the rise of Skywalker, and it's like, oh, but
we have no plan. And so two -thirds of that movie
is trying to fix everything that Rian Johnson
broke. And it's like, if you guys had a plan,
you'd build off of that rather than scrambling.
If you'd talk to each other and interacted, you'd
know what you were doing. Yeah, that's that's
that's the the biggest issue I have with last
not the biggest issue It's a big issue with I
have with last Jedi is that that he did all this
destructive stuff But there was no idea of where
you're gonna go next And you can't you can go
crazy. You can go wacky You can throw everything
you can throw everything for a loop, but you
got to know where you're going Particularly since
you're not the last if you're the last one in
the series. Yeah, okay go for broke Yep, if you're
not the last one in the series know where you
have a net go for broke anyway, but have a net.
And they had no net. And they also wasted Finn.
And I actually don't... We really should save
this for the... But I was trying to love the
subplot with Finn and Rose Tico, except it was
a bad subplot. To me, the idea of the grunts...
I talked about this with Rogue One, the idea
of the people who aren't the Jedi princesses.
This is why I don't like the idea of Finn being
a Force -sensitive Jedi. I like him being a normal
guy, just a grunt, just a trooper, and he affects
the course of Galactic history. You know? Like,
while the Jedi princess, while the Jedi, the
special, like, Wedge is one of my favorite characters.
Because he's just a guy, he's just a grunt. You
know, like, and that's what I love about Rogue
One, is that the normal guys actually do all
the work, while the kings and queens and princes
and princesses kind of get all the glory. But
they just, they really let him down. And just,
I'll bring it up again when we get to there.
But there is this narrative, at least in my case,
it's not true, that Star Wars fans are racist
and got upset when they saw that a black person
was in Star Wars. I love the movie Attack of
the Block. I think it's either Attack of the
Block or Attack of the Block. I always get that
confused, but I do love the movie. John Boyega
is brilliant. He is amazing. And when I heard
they cast him in the new Star Wars movies, I
was over the moon. Because I was like, Mose is
in this movie? Yes! They did almost nothing with
him. I didn't even realize it was going to be
a comedic role because he's not funny in Attack
the Block. He's scary. He's serious. And yet
the moment that really puts a bow on that movie
is the moment when he smiles because it's the
only time in the whole movie he smiles. That's
amazing. It's just like if you like 80s horror
movies like Gremlins or Critters, Just go watch
attack the block. It is is so good. It's so funny.
I mean, it's funny, but it's also like I mean,
it's a horror movie. I mean, it's a monster.
It's a monster movie I like I don't like horror
movies. I like monster movies. Yeah, you like
monster movies Not one of the best monsters like
there are these black You don't even know what
they look like they're they're they're covered
in super black fur So they almost look like shadows,
but their teeth are like crystal crystals and
they glow So when they show their teeth like
this is glow and it's just it's so good Now that
we've talked about everything but Star Wars Episode
IV, A New Hope. Written and directed by George
Lucas, produced by Gary Kurtz, starring Mark
Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing,
Alex Guinness, and more. The budget was 11 million.
It's made 775 .8 million. 121 minutes, May 25th,
1977. And by the way, that 11 million was over
budget. I'm sure it was Especially for those
days Yeah It's kind of amazing how cheap these
like like I mean obviously inflation and stuff
But look at the price tags on some of these things.
It's like God It's it's like can't even get a
Marvel movie for less than 200 million these
days Nope, can't even get a Batman movie for
less than like a hundred million It's like he
wears a bat suit runs around in a city. He doesn't
even have power I mean, I love Batman Batman
my favorite hero, but like Why do you need all
this money for a guy running around a city? Because
it's to pad Bruce Wayne's bank account so he
can create all the gadgets and get the cars and
the bat wings. Yeah, but once you build the car,
you got the car. You don't have to blow it up
every movie. You got the car already. Well, yeah,
you got to blow it up every movie so that way
you get a new car. It's the insurance premiums
that they're after. It's a scam. So Batman movies
are an insurance scam. That's right. Everything's
as well fault Wait a minute. Oh, right. Yeah,
that's true. Yeah, yep. Yep. Yep. So I I haven't
watched this movie in Probably 35 years Okay,
don't dislike it it's just that I've never I've
never had Okay, no, I take it back not 35 years.
No, I good I was gonna say I I get it like especially
now that I've been to Disney Mm -hmm. I get it.
You either have like this childhood attachment
to something or you don't mm -hmm And that's
like you when were you born? I keep always feeling
80. Oh my god. Yeah, like no, no, no, no Well,
but like for you Star Wars was kind of a past
tense thing and for and for me, I mean, I always
tell a story I probably told this before but
First of all, back in those days, movies didn't
come out all at the same time. They rolled out
across the country, kind of generally. And I
was on vacation in Florida with my family, visiting
my grandmother, and I was staying in the room
with my cousins. And they were all talking about
this great movie that they'd seen, they're gonna
go back to see it, and they had a little booklet
from the thing, and they wouldn't shut up about
this movie. And I was like, can I go? And I was
like, I was six. And they were like, nah, you
wouldn't like it very much. And that movie, of
course, was Star Wars. And then when it actually
came to Durham, we saw it. Technically, I've
seen Star Wars opening night because because
because of the rollout. So and the funny thing
was when the first time I saw it, I didn't really
know. I wasn't really sure I understood it because
it was six. Yeah. So but but by the end of that
summer, like I'd seen it like three times at
least. And it was, you know, I mean, it was the
defining thing of my childhood by 1980. You know,
I mean, we'd even had the first sequel. We'd
had Empire. We'd had. Superman, we'd had alien.
I mean, I didn't get to see alien, but I knew
it existed. But we had the 80s were coming along.
By the time you got to see Star Wars, we talked
about this before, where it was already kind
of your part of your cultural osmosis. You knew
who Darth Vader was. You knew who Luke was. You
knew he used the Force. So it wasn't really new.
And the children of Star Wars, you had grown
up with those. So watching it this time, that
was one thing that really hit me was, As a 53
year old who lives in a world where endgame was
a thing, you know? No, but where all these wonders
that have spawned from this movie, this movie
seems very quaint, you know? Yeah, it does. Even
the special edition where they added... Yeah,
I was gonna say, I was gonna let the audience
know, we both watched the special edition version.
of Star Wars, we're probably both going to be
watching the special edition versions of the
other two films as well. Well, I asked we were
probably watching them at the same time yesterday.
And I specifically asked you, do you want me
to go back in? And because I've got, yeah, I've
got like several different copies of the original
versions. Yeah. Like, do you want me to go back?
No, that's fine, because I'd never seen the Disney
Plus version. It's also just like as much as
I love and champion physical media, which I do
like I I still think streaming has a service
to provide By being easier like to me. It's like
I'm not gonna quit streaming Just because I have
like the physical cop. I want the physical copies
because I want to have them because Streaming
services aren't gonna last forever. They're not
gonna keep every move. I mean we how many times
we have to learn this lesson these online things
Don't keep things with so I'm I'm a part of I'm
a co -host on a YouTube live YouTube channel
show every Wednesday Kai dragon media and we
do the dragons layer We've been talking about
physical versus digital media for the last month
and a half. So yeah, no, I'm right I'm a proponent
of both like I have I recently just got because
I need one of my pet peeves and going off on
another tangent folks is that YouTube and its
infinite wisdom and everyone's infinite wisdom
that's on YouTube has never really uploaded a
proper Looking like clear. I'm not saying like
a full 4k HD whatever but something better than
420p or 240p or something Tron the next day,
which is the little special feature showing RAM
and everything else from Tron legacy That's not
really on YouTube, so I went on Amazon this month
for my birthday and I went and I bought the old
Blu -ray copy of Tron Legacy so I could have
Tron the next day and I can watch it whenever
I want in my Sony 4K Blu -ray player. So no,
trust me, I'm all for both. I agree with you,
yes. The ease of the digital is great, but you
still want the... What if the power... What if...
I think as we're recording this, the entire northeast
part of the country, like AT &T, had this big
outage or something. I got an alert on my phone.
I'm not even AT &T, but I got government alerts
on my phone. I didn't get those. They're like,
well, if you need to call 911, it's like, OK.
Yeah, I've seen that happen before. Half the
country didn't have didn't have internet for
or service or whatever for the last couple of
days or whatever as we're recording this and
I'm like, okay Well, that means that I can go
back to my physical media discs and put them
in my machine, whatever For me the more the more
realistic kind of crisis is, you know, I made
a zazlog joke, you know And obviously he took
a lot of heat for canceling bad girl. Yes now
everyone hates him for like not picking up Acme
versus the Coyote or whatever. Coyote versus
Acme. It could have been worse, Daffy. We could
be Wile E. Coyote right now. I hate to be political,
but relief! Coyote versus Acme! Now that that's
over and by that I mean my career Disney Plus
famously like they they did the willow the willow
sequel series which got panned and then they
just dumped it like I mean, it's it's kind of
lost media now like you can't watch it. Yeah,
and and the way that our society's morals quotes
like Who knows who knows what's gonna be decided
to be problematic and down the road? Yeah, who
knew like and that was always my thing I remember
when Netflix was first a huge thing and I was
like, okay And I was like, I can't find Harry
Potter on this like well, they don't have Harry
Potter on Netflix I'm like, well, so we're getting
rid of our DVDs For this thing that doesn't happen
because it was now it's probably on max or whatever
but like I like what about if you like weird
stuff what if you know, you like old weird horror
movies or old, you know, like the the smaller
stuff that's not gonna get archived that no one's
gonna love like What what if something becomes
declared public like song of the south becomes
declared problematic? What if and again? Ironically
this whole tangent started by us talking about
watching the special editions That's right like
so so Yeah, like I I want to hold on to that
stuff because I I don't want Someone who isn't
me to make decisions about what version of a
thing I am or am not allowed to watch And I say
this every podcast, and people are probably sick
of me saying this, but it is absolutely true.
For me personally, I watch things and I look
at them in the time that they were made. So you
take any perfect example, and I know this is
about movies and in this episode anyway, it's
not about TV shows. The man himself is a monster.
However, I grew up watching the Cosby show. I
learned life lessons from the Cosby show I understand
it's problematic in today's society or He is
as a he was I don't know if he's he's still in
I think he's still Died or whatever but the point
is is that I look at things when they were made
and I look at them under that lens and I try
my best not to to ask the question, does this
hold up today? Because it's not supposed to.
George Lucas did not write and direct Star Wars,
episode four, A New Hope, in 75, 76, 77, I don't
know what was released in 77, whatever he was
working on it, he didn't do that thinking 47?
yeah 47 yeah i'm pretty sure 2024 minus 1977
yep uh i'm i'm pretty sure anyway 40 or 50 years
late he didn't he wasn't thinking 40 or 50 years
into the future like what are people 40 or 50
years from now gonna think about my movie from
1977 yeah 47 huh good math um i looked it up
before the show but i kind of forgot too I did
the math. So that's how I look at these things
and. With the special editions, I understand.
You often want I do it with. I've been doing
it with podcasting for 15 years. I will sit here
and edit a podcast and. Will go back and I will
listen through what I edited to see if there's
anything else I want to fix change whatever before
I publish it So I'm always working on the stuff
kind of thing at the time that I'm working on
it You know what I mean? Like yeah, I'm not gonna
go I mean I may go back 15 years ago and change
something in an old podcast But normally I don't
but I understand the need and want to do that.
However George, man, let's have a conversation.
There's a saying that art is never finished,
it's merely abandoned. But you have to abandon
it at some point. You have to go, okay, this
is done, move on. I think Star Wars in particular
has created this interesting, which continues
to this day, of how much ownership does the fandom
have? I mean, technically, legally, none, right?
We don't want Disney ownership. But but we saw
a movie. We fell in love with that movie. A lot
of us saw it a lot of times. A lot of us bought
the toys. And George decided that he I don't
like this movie. I feel it was very compromised.
I want to change it. That's I mean, that's not
the movie we saw like like it. It's it's a weird
thing. And obviously, again, legally, he can
do what he wants. But like it feels like a dick
move. I think it's fine to change the movie.
I think it's a dick move. to hide the original
movie, to never let us see it again. And there's
got to be something in that contract with Disney
that prevents that from happening, because especially
now, they need money. It is stupid for them not
to release a steel box through Sony now, a steel
box set of the original trilogy, unaltered, cleaned
up and nice. That would sell so well. So it's
funny you mention that, because I was looking
through here on Wikipedia, and I was looking
at the thing where it says something about, on
March 20th, 2019, the deal was officially completed.
Okay. On April 12th, 2018, Blu -ray box sets,
nine main installments of the Star Wars saga
remastered. in 4K was reportedly announced to
be in development for 2020 release. Obviously
2020, we had the pandemic, Hollywood shut down.
But what happened to that? Where is this 4K release
that we were supposed to get? I mean, they went
all in on Disney+. I think that's been the story
about Disney in general, is they've gone all
in on Disney +, and like everything else was
wrong by the wayside. That's why they did the
deal with Sony. Right, yeah. Yeah, that's true.
Well, hopefully so like like you just said Sony
will do something cuz well something doesn't
have don't Sony Sony just makes the thing Sony
doesn't make the call Like it would have to be
a Disney. It would have it would have to be I
mean to bring her up first time this conversation
Right now it would have to be a Kathleen Kennedy
call, right or an Eiger call It would have to
be somebody at the top saying we want to do this
and make the thing Right. That's what I'm saying.
Like if that happened What I would want on a
4K Star Wars original trilogy release is I want
the original copy of the film, how it was intended
in 1977, and then if you want to throw the special
edition version on there, fine, whatever. Like,
you know, Blu -ray and 4K, there's so much room
on those discs. You can do all kinds of stuff.
But the thing with me is, and I was trying to
look and see when we I misspoke earlier when
I said it's been about 35 years. It's more been
about I don't know probably 10 or 15 years Since
I saw it because I know we covered it over on
our other our old movie show that we used to
have Because we did do oh god We we did do the
original trilogy and prequel trilogy a number
of years ago So let's just say 2012 2013 was
the last time I saw Star Wars but I haven't watched
it since then and going back now and Knowing
this is the special edition. I'm like, oh, okay
So I'm like seeing all this stuff that I don't
remember and half my notes are either and we
all know the lines folks so I didn't really have
to write the lines down. I kind of wrote them
down more for social media than for actually
discussing on the podcast but like half my notes
are I don't remember that that creature walking
through wherever or I don't remember that whatever
kind of thing because I don't ever remember watching
the special editions when they came out. I only
ever remember the original ones, ever seen the
original ones. And I'm trying to think, when
did they... It came out in 97. Yeah, 97. Yeah,
the special edition came out in 97. And I'd have
to go back to those old movie we can review episodes
to see which version I watched back then. But
today, now, watching the special editions is
not what... 44 year old Mike does not remember
what seven year old Mike saw With the original
VHS because you're right. Like you said I Did
not see them when you saw them I saw Star Wars
Empire and Jedi all on the VHS copies that I
have behind me I saw them somewhere between 87
and 89 I don't know which way is up when it comes
to which year I saw them in but I remember watching
all three of them on VHS in the late 80s. And
that was the first time I remembered them. And
going back and watching this, I was like, oh,
they added that, or oh, they added that, or I
don't remember this, or I don't remember. You
know, so it's just one of those things. Yeah,
and to kind of jump, because I didn't want to
interrupt you, to jump back to the point about
releasing them. Spielberg famously, you know,
he did his cut of E .T. that nobody liked. Right.
But when he released them on DVD, or he released
it on DVD, but he had like the original cut.
and his cut and they had him side by side, which
is like, you know, I think that's fine. I think
it's fine. Like I said, I think it's fine to
change and tinker with something so long as you
don't try to memory hole the original, because
that's an insult to everyone that has supported
you all, you know, like 47 years. If you're your
film and I'm going to make it better for you.
OK, that's that's what that's what the kids these
days are doing to everything. We're just going
to make we're going to make Iron Man better.
I'm not even going to use the famous lines from
South Park, but it's what they're doing to make
everything better. It's tedious and annoying.
I agree with you. Like I said, Blu -rays and
especially now with 4K, there is enormous amounts
of space on those discs now. This isn't DVD.
This isn't VHS. This isn't Betamax. This isn't
any of the old technology. You can put both versions
of the film or If you can't fit both versions
of the film on one disc, there are plenty of
DVDs that I've done because I... Well, Tron.
Tron Legacy is one. It has the Blu -ray version
and then it has the other version. Whatever,
you know. It's not a space issue. It's a willpower
issue. It's true. They don't want to. And the
question is... And then there is an argument
that I've heard stories that Lucas destroyed.
The original negative has been creating the special
edition. I'm real skeptical about that. I can't
believe you can't find a copy to make of the
originals anywhere in the world. You're Disney.
You have money. You can do it. It's just there
is for whatever reason. And I mean, on one hand,
I kind of go back to George's ego. On the other
hand, like it's pretty clear that Disney doesn't
care about George at all. So I have no idea why
they won't, but they don't want to. Yeah. I said
originally when they bought Lucas, when he sold
out to them or they bought him up or whatever
the hell. He gave them a price he didn't think
they'd match and they'd match it and he was like,
oh, okay. Oh, okay. Yeah, exactly. When they
bought out Lucas I was like, oh, okay He sold
his shit. It's like me and steve if we sold geek
cast radio .com We really don't have any like
we don't have anything any like if we're done
with it. We're done with it kind of thing like
That's it But at the same time I like when companies
or people or whomever still Say, oh they they
recognize the legacy of what he sold them or
what? whatever happens happens anyway star wars
episode four new hope when i watched this this
time i was like that the opening battle man i
don't know what was going on with the choreographing
in that but it just looks weird it's not even
the fact that the blasters The blast effects
are weird. It's just the way the soldiers are
moving, the rebellion soldiers, when the doors
are being blown off before Vader comes in. It
just looks weird, and that's really my only nitpick
for that specific scene. But, no, I enjoyed this.
I thought it was fun. Love Han, love Chewie,
love Leia. Luke's okay. Luke's a little wet behind
the ears, but, you know, you gotta learn sometimes,
somehow. Obi -Wan just steals the show. He really
does. Between him and Threepio and R2, and obviously
Vader, Vader's gonna steal the show too, but
did they do anything different to the Vader costume
for the Special Editions? I couldn't tell you.
I know, famously, it is different in Empire.
There's a cool little detail in Rogue One. We're
like the the the lenses of the eyes Are red in
in Star Wars and I change them to black in Empire.
And so in Rogue one, he's got the red lenses
And I also think they paint like silver on the
chest piece, you know the shoulder chest piece
There's like the little divots the little I think
they paint that silver either in an Empire or
Jedi and then at some point like you see the
cape on the outside So it's got a little chain
like I noticed that this time I probably noticed
it before but I noticed it this time is like
because I remember like the the capes on the
outside with a little chain And this time it's
not that I mean there are you know, there are
differences like you can see the screw Places
on our to like where they put the screws in right
and that's what like like one of the details
that I did that I've always loved about Star
Wars and and really noticed this time because
when I watched it I actually had to I had to
try to I had watched it twice because I I found
myself, the problem is I've seen it so many times.
And I love it, but I've seen it so many times
that like, you do get bored, you know, cause
you know the scene, you know the lines, you know
everything. And so you're like, I'm playing on
my phone. I love that even 3PO and R2 at the
beginning of the movie were all scuffed up and
dirty and scratched. And I love it. Like, and
at the end, they're all nice and clean and shiny,
but just, I mean, that was the thing that Star
Wars brought to the genre. That that from what
I understand hadn't really been there before
And that's one of the reasons I think people
kind of had an issue with the prequels and the
prequels everything shiny and Glossy and new
and Star Wars everything's dirty and dingy and
scuffed like a real universe, you know Spaceships
have rust on them. And that's that there's a
real I can't pronounce the word remiss it starts
with a V I can't pronounce it but like a real
feel to it's a it feels like a real lived in
universe and That was one of things even the
Star Wars movies. I think got away from One of
the things in the Disney films, you don't feel
the grit. And in the prequels, you don't feel
the grit either because everything's CGI and
it's all plastic. I think one of the really great
criticisms of the prequel trilogy, if you've
never heard of Red Letter Media or the Plinket
reviews, they're not just criticisms of the Star
Wars. It's basically a free filmmaking course.
There's just movie making. Knowledge being dropped
in that thing from a couple of weirdos in Minnesota
But one thing he throws out is the idea that
it would have been fine if everything had been
shiny and new and glossy and plastic in Phantom
Menace By the time you get to revenge of the
Sith It should have been like grimy and falling
apart and traffic should have been left You should
have gotten a sense of the toll that the war
took on the galaxy Yeah, but you didn't because
it was still the prequels and it was still CGI
and it was it was all very shiny and plastic
and then So yeah, I noticed. So what I noticed
about this, besides some of the various opening,
like the various creatures and ships and other
things, and the scenes feeling like they're expanded,
I do not remember. And again, I need to find
a way to somehow, Yarr, the original film. Besides
the fact of just going out and buying a VCR.
Yeah, it's been spending a billion dollars on
I have no idea how much it was giving these costs,
but yeah, no, that's that's fine, but I Noticed
3po in the oil bath and I don't remember that.
Oh, that's from the original film. Is it really?
Yeah. Yeah Oh, thank the maker. This is what
about is going to feel so that's what the famous.
Yeah, you've heard about the trading card, right?
The trading card? Oh, you've never heard of the
C -3PO trading card? I don't think so. So when
they released the tops released, I think it was
like the second or third set. I have to look
it up. But there's a picture of 3PO from the
oil bath. And the way they took the picture is
really unfortunate because there's like a pipe
or something. And it looks like his penis. And
that card is not super rare, but it got canceled
and switched out pretty quick. I've got a copy.
But like it's a famous one of 3PO's, you know.
That a probe because it was just the way that
that shot was it was just like be I know the
oil The scenes that are added Some of you can
probably get like that like a lot of the shots
of the dewbacks Like before the looks are droids
if the dewbacks walking around and the ships
taking off and then like that's all CGI and that's
all new Like there was one dewback prop that
was sitting. I don't even think you get a good
look at it because I So to go back one of the
things I remember is back in the day Back in
the day when I was a teenager It's only 20s.
I think it was in my 20s the sci -fi channel
every Thanksgiving Would show the Star Wars holiday
or show the servers a trilogy, but they did it
in letterbox Not okay, and you have to remember
that one. I have to remember but like like Mike
Back then they would format stuff for TVs. Yep
It wasn't even like it's weird that like it's
it's not even an option anymore It's just like
we do it letterbox because that's how that's
how civilized people do it back in the day It
was formatted for TVs and so that's for over
a decade. That's how I saw Star Wars. I my Because
my mom was not gonna pay 70 bucks for a videotape
She didn't care what it was. She was not paying
them because back in the day again Video tapes
even tapes were priced just for rental stores.
They were not priced be owned So there was no
way she was buying Star Wars for me. So when
it came on, I think Showtime, I had a VCR. So
my experience with Star Wars for over a decade
was the Showtime airings of Star Wars, Empire,
and Jedi. Cropped, and then the little Showtime
logo would pop up. And by the time I got to college,
these were tapes I made myself. I had a Betamax,
actually. So they were my little Betamax tapes.
Everything was blurry. Everything were blobs.
Like, you know, it was terrible, but it was Star
Wars, and I loved it, and we would watch it.
So when Sci -Fi Channel would show these letterbox
things, you would see stuff. Like, you saw the
do -back, which was off in the corner. The cantina
scene, like, all the aliens that, you know, you
have the action figures for, but you just, you
never remember seeing them. Like, I was like,
were they actually there? Like, suddenly they're
there in the corner. So, you know, it's it's
sort of doubly weird that scene with the dewbacks
where they're running around and they don't even
look like they're walking on the sand because
That's that's what I realized. Oh, wow a CGI
is not held up. Yeah, the beginning part of that
is different The scene with Java is added They
originally Famously, they film that with a dude
a Human like playing Java big fat human and that's
why when Han walks around he steps on Java's
tail They had to improvise that because he walks
around Jabba in the scene. That's one of the
things I wanted to bring up. In the early 90s,
when the movies first came out, Lucas made a
deal with the University of Southern California
where he went and they did a radio play based
on Star Wars and they did one on Empire. Those
actually came out on audio cassette for the public
in the 90s. So you can listen to them, right?
And I have of course I have all those and then
those those sold so well They actually went back
and and recorded one for Jedi, but it's like
they had Mark Hamill They had Mark Hamill. They
didn't they had like what was his name? He was
on Riptide. That's Han Solo Brock Peters was
Darth Vader and it was really interesting because
the whole first tape the whole first couple episodes
are stuff before the movie Okay, so that that
adds a lot of stuff, but there's there's there's
a scene with Jabba But he's a different character
because they knew by then that Jabba wasn't the
guy, you know wasn't the guy that they filmed
it with. I think his name was Heater. They had
that scene, but they had a different character.
So it's interesting, three different versions.
And then in the comic by Marvel, they also had
that scene, but it was a completely different
alien. You can actually see him in the cantina.
He's a weird Dr. Seuss looking alien, which eventually
gave him his own identity. But he was the Jabba
the Hutt up until, I think, Empire. They brought
him back as Jabba. There's a story arc where
Han repays his debt. He saves Jabba from getting
killed, and Jabba's like, okay, we're even now.
In the comics, they had to go back and get Han
in his doghouse again because it didn't work.
They didn't know. One of your complains is like,
that's it? Well, the comics are like, well, I
guess that's it. We're just going to tell our
own stories now. With the radio drama, there's
another fascinating thing. that we'll get to
when we get there in the story, if we ever get
there in the story. But in hindsight, it's really
interesting when it involves Leia's interrogation.
Mm. OK. Because you actually, you know, it's
a radio drama, so you don't see it, but you actually
experience what happened. Yeah. It's not weird
or anything. It's just interesting in hindsight.
Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, this movie, man,
it I still really like it. I still really enjoy
it. Even the special edition. You know, there's
all the quotable lines and everything else. And
I forget which scene it is. I think it's probably
when they're... Where is it? It's probably right
after 3PO kicks R2 at one point. Yes. I believe
it's right before the Toshi. But I wanted to
go to Toshi Station and get some power. No, I
think it's after that. It's when... R2 won't
play the message again. He's like being coy.
He's like, message, what message? Yeah, yeah,
yeah. That's what 3PO really has with them. Because
when they meet in the sandcrawler, 3PO is happy
to see R2 again. Or maybe he kicks them when
they split up, too. Something like that, yeah.
3PO's got a pretty dysfunctional relationship.
Yeah, that's true. So, again, even though we've
seen the prequels and we know now, Well, okay,
like there are a couple of edges that don't quite
meet right no no no and then and that's why I'm
bringing this up That's why I'm saying it this
way even though we've seen the prequels and we
kind of know now There'll be no one to stop us
this time. My thought was you've done this before
Vader Wait a minute Hmm, I don't know he says
that It's right. So I wrote I write my notes
as I'm watching it. So it's It's right after
the first I'm gonna regret this. I Think Luke
says the I'm gonna regret this line, but there'll
be no stopping us this time It's when they're
looking for the plans or when they're they're
trying to find r2 and 3po because they have the
plans and they're down I think he just means
the way I always interpreted that was It's been
frustrating. Stuff keeps slipping out of his
fingers. This time, because they get away at
the end of row one, and he's chasing them, and
then they launch the escape pod, which is always
a weird thing. It's like, well, there's nothing
on that escape pod, so don't shoot it. We don't
want to waste our laser ammo. Heaven forbid the
price of lasers goes up. Well, hey, to be fair,
the price of Tabana gas might be going up, because
apparently they use that laser production. Just
nerd answered my own nitpick criticism. There's
there you go Okay, what well All right. Well,
so you got Luke you got Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru
Moist your fairy tale. He lives with his and
uncle Mm -hmm moisture farmers. They're on a
desert desert planet, but like I don't know.
Okay, the way it works is they capture moisture
at night, like the condensation, and they grow
crops with the moisture they capture. Okay. There
is some of this thought through, like it's not
all right. Yeah, no, no, no, I know. Look, I'm
willing to acknowledge there is nonsense and
garbage. Like the Millennium Falcon made it in
12 parsecs, and parsecs is a measure of land,
not movement. Yeah, not a measure of time. Um,
like I get there's there's some nonsense, but
like that one that one's kind of solid. No, no,
I know but it's just like I See why Luke wants
more and that's also coming of age thing. Like
I don't want to be like like I Don't know I don't
know where you grew up. Um, Massachusetts Like
like I moved to the Midwest when I was like The
scene where Luke goes out and he looks at the
twin sunset and the music swells Any kid who
has ever grown up in any sort of podunk and maybe
even like maybe even in an urban setting that
Somewhere where they don't want to be and not
be moved by that segment by that moment of I
Wish I was anywhere, but if there's a bright
spot in the universe Right center of the universe,
this is a spot that is farthest from. Yep. Like
that hits to any kid who's not happy where they
are. And I imagine a lot of part of being a child
and being a teenager is not being happy where
you are. It's always thinking that the horizons
are better. The grass is always greener. And
it just it just hits you, man. Yep. I mean, that
could have been that could have been Hoff. That
could have been that could have been probably
could have been anywhere in the universe. Like,
I mean, just they they stack the deck by making
it a miserable little rock. But but it would
you know makes it hurt which it makes them a
little more resonating but like I think any kid
really feels that moment of My god, there's something
out there and I'm missing it being stuck here
Yeah, yeah, no absolutely and I and I get it
and it just it's one of those things where I'm
like yeah, he needs to escape because Life as
a moisture farmer must be awfully boring Because,
like you said, it's a desert planet. Most of
the time during the day, you're probably not
going to be doing too much. You might be doing
some stuff, but you're probably doing too much
because hello. You probably are pretty busy,
but it's busy work. Stuff is breaking down. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. Because I have a friend who is a
real farmer. Oh my god, they have downtime. Oh
yeah, they work all day. They're busy. Yep, absolutely.
So yeah, we get Luke and all that. As far as
I remember, when he eventually meets up with
Obi -Wan saves him, technically. They go to Obi
-Wan's little domicile and Obi -Wan gives him
his father's lightsaber. Fun fact, not to interrupt,
but fun fact. When they filmed Revenge of the
Sith, Lucas had to go back and pick up a shot
because he forgot Obi -Wan picking up Anakin's
lightsaber. They had that they had to add that
in like post because because he forgot that he's
like Doesn't Anakin or doesn't everyone have
Anakin's lightsaber. It's not like a major plot
point of the original trilogy, sir But Obi -Wan
also has his own lightsaber, correct? Yes, it's
not buried Okay, okay Didn't at the end of the
Obi -Wan series he kept it or something Don't
know because I don't know if I made it to the
end of the Obi -Wan series at the end, but I
don't remember I don't remember either. But my
point is in the movie. There are two lightsabers
other than Darth Vader's there are two there's
Obi -Wan's and then there's Luke's former father,
you know all I just wanted to make sure because
the scene where the When we get to the hive of
scum and villainy must easily must easily that's
right when we get there and he pulls out his
light he pulls out the lightsaber i'm like wait
a minute didn't luke oh right there's more than
one yeah no that's obi -wan's like they're they're
different designs yeah that's true there is it
just me or is the effect when when luke when
when uh obi -wan first hands it to him and he
turns it on does the little those effects don't
look that great The original clunky Yeah, I Don't
know. It just isn't I don't know. That's the
same thing Like I said with the soldiers in the
beginning It just looks like they're moving weird
and I don't know if it's me and my old eyes and
whatever else but no because I because I know
That one I don't I'm not sure about but like
I know like when the Tusken Raider attacks him
They like they they res they they I don't know
how to put it, but they kind of like reloop the
shot When he's raising the stick over his head,
they go back. It's on the track. So it's the
same shot over and over a couple of times. And
that's noticeable. And I know there's a lot of
stuff they used to do back in the day where they
would shoot stuff in reverse. If you wanted to
have a thing fly off of you or fly onto you,
you would start filming it with it stuck to you
and then pull it off and reverse it. And you
can always kind of tell. So there's probably
a lot of weird trick shots. that don't quite
look right to our eyes nowadays. Yeah. Absolutely.
What is your favorite scene from this film? I
mean... Probably... I mean, I love Han Solo.
I love the Falcon. But I do... I mean, as a kid,
especially at the Cantina scene, because it was
the iconic scene. You got all the aliens. Funny
story, we don't know if he kills them or if he
just lops off Pondo Bob's arm. But Star Wars
was originally set to have a G rating. And that
would have been the kiss of death in 1977. I
don't even think they release a lot of G rated
movies nowadays. They added the shot of his arm
lying there next to the blood. They added that
specifically to get a PG rating. I remember that,
yeah. Yeah. I guess my favorite scene would probably
be... It's gotta be most of the X -Wing and TIE
fighter stuff. I mean, I like the Jedi stuff.
I like Luke, but, you know, it's really the...
It's the space battles. It's the Falcon. It's
the this. It's the, like... That's like I was
remembering a highlight of film this time around.
Like I said, it was it was You know, one of the
things I like about I we said about Rogue One
at the time was that it kind of explains why
there aren't a lot of ships, right? Um, but it
does feel weirdly Small yeah, you know like like
and like okay. There's not a lot of rebel ships
Why aren't there like a billion die fighters?
Yeah, like that was weird is how little ship
-to -ship combat there was in that final Sequence
it's all Darth Vader and his two wingman. Yeah,
pretty much. Well, especially once they get down
the trench Yeah, they get on the trench. Yeah,
like and well like at one when when red leader
does his run Like Luke Biggs and wed are just
flying around up there. Yeah, we got nothing
to do It was like I shouldn't there be like 10
million There should be absolutely there should
be And that's, you know, we were talking earlier
about applying modern sensibilities to films.
Like, obviously, like, you know, at the time,
you're like, no, this is exciting. You know,
at the time, it was exciting, edgy, or sweet
stuff. Then you see Return of the Jedi when,
like, just a fleet has, like, a billion TIE fighters,
and they're everywhere, and you're like, oh,
okay. So now looking back, you're like, well,
unfairly asking how come you didn't have more
at the time? Because even Lucas felt that because
he has that CGI shot of, he felt there should
have been more rebel ships. Right. Because there's
that famous shot of them going around Yavin that
saw CGI. Yeah. I think, yeah, there were more
TIE fighters when Han and Luke were doing their
gunner battle, part of that. There were four.
Yeah, yeah, there were four there. And then...
And they were described as picket ships, so they
were just like, just... No, but they were just
a little patrol, like a full -out assault. Yeah.
What are you saving them for? You got something
on tomorrow on the schedule that you need to
hold back on the TIE fighters? The whole point
of a TIE fighter is that it's dirt cheap and
expendable. That's why they don't have hyperdrives.
You just throw a billion at them, a billion TIE
fighters at your enemy and enough lasers will
be flying in the air that hopefully they hit
something. By the way, they're blasters, they're
not lasers. This is a classic Star Wars versus
Star Trek argument. Star Trek is like, our spaceships
have special shields that, in the amazing Okana,
it's established that lasers do not affect starships,
or Federation starships, so therefore Star Wars
would always lose because they use lasers. It's
like, no, they use blasters. And if you look
at the gobbledygook pseudoscience of blasters,
it's basically equivalent to the pseudoscience
gobbledygook of Klingon disruptors. Spaceship
disruptors, anyway. Because even though they're
completely different weapons, they call them
disruptors, even though there's a handheld weapon
and a spaceship weapon. Yeah. That always irritates.
And especially because it comes from the amazing
Okana, which is one of the most garbage episodes
of the entire franchise. And I'm including Discovery
with that. Oh, boy. The episode that was a literal
Mary Sue. He shows up and everybody, it's like
Poochy. Everybody's talking about him. When he's
not on screen, everybody's like, where is he?
He's so much cooler than all of us guys, who
are your main characters that you follow every
week. Like, ugh, terrible, terrible. Next generation
took two years to get good, and then it got good.
Oh, those two years. You know what's funny? We
just released, or we haven't released it yet,
but we just recorded season one. Steve and I,
we recorded our season one review of TNG for
Altered Trek, which is our new thing. And there
were only, out of the 26 episodes, there were
only three that I had major issues with. I can't
remember the name, was it a matter of honor?
Yes. Is that the Planet Africa one? Episode four,
yes. That is like, okay, like. Yeah, even with
the standards of the time that was racist as
hell. Yeah So, let's see we got the droids and
the message and and those yes, I am full protocol
droid. Mm -hmm. Sure you are That becomes relevant
later like yes if it does that that's one of
my things about storytelling is you can have
you know character should be superfluous Right
gotta do something sometime to contribute to
the plot that I am convinced. That's why everybody
when nobody ever softened on Jar Jar because
like he never He never did anything significant
except for like kind of give Amidala the idea
to use his people as like shields. Yeah for the
final battle But like 3po 3po comes by me for
most of this movie He's basically comment relief
and he's he provide the translation for our tube,
but his protocol stuff comes in handy later Later.
Yeah, absolutely. And that's cool. Well, and
remember, Star Wars, the original script for
Star Wars was much bigger than the movie that
got made. Right. The ending of Star Wars was
like the ending of Return of the Jedi was supposed
to be the ending of Star Wars, where they find
the planet of the Wookiees, who are a primitive
species that help them fight the Empire, which
was based on Lucas's not direct experience, but
I know he is based on his because he lived through
not lived. OK. I'm stumbling over myself. I know
Lucas interviewed a lot of Vietnam veterans.
Like Apocalypse Now was his project that he was
working on until Francis Ford Coppola stole it.
Which is like where their friendship kind of
fell apart. And someone pointed out, so does
that mean that the Ewoks or the Viet Cong and
the Empire is the United States? And it's like,
yeah, actually, it does. Because that was the
idea, was these primitive people who beat the
big powerful empire that has all the technology.
And thematically, even though he doesn't, he's
ironically better at it in the original trilogy
with thematic stuff than he is in the prequel
trilogy, the idea that the force is a thing created
by living things and these primitive Ewoks who
live, or primitive Wookiees, primitive Ewoks,
primitive creatures that live in the woods surrounded
by life. They're the ones that are triumphant
and the guys that have everything with machines
and it's all kind of cold and dead, they're the
ones that lose. It's all thematic. Like may not
have noticed it, but your brain did yep Absolutely
Just looking through this cast list man just
oh boy So many and I I forgot that wedged is
it wedged that died one of them died Which lives
with each other does he does which lives with
the entire he shows up in a red Skywalker Okay,
so they got Dennis Lawson back. Yeah somehow
He did not want to come he's one of those guys
that was like look I did this I did this job
30 years ago, right and like quit bugging me
about it. Yeah The other reason why I said because
I know he got hit He got tagged and he had to
pull out Okay. All right. That's right. Now this
the now the thing is that if you remember in
the briefing scene Lucas sitting next to a guy.
He's talking to a guy He's a guy who goes I used
to a wamp rat I used to bulls like wamp rats
back home and they weren't that's that's that's
known as fake wedge Because he was originally
supposed to be wedged, but the actor didn't either
show up or couldn't couldn't film that day So
there are two wedges. There are in fact two wedges
in the fake wedge in the real wedge I Know all
this obscure bull crap Yeah, that's good My least
favorite scene out of the whole movie the trash
compactor yeah Yeah, I could do without that
I mean it was good for like the first like minute
and a half Or like the when they first get in
there, but after a while. I was like okay. No,
thanks I remember I did obviously I don't don't
remember correctly, but I swear that battle between
Vader and Obi -Wan was longer. It seemed very
short when I watched it this time. No, and one
thing I noticed that was kind of funny, like,
um, there's a, there's a scar on the wall, um,
which like, and then I was like, oh, well they
must have like, and I noticed and I was like,
wow, this is a brand new Death Star. Why is there
a big burn scar on the wall? And then later,
like a minute later, Somebody either Obi -Wan
or Vader hits that wall and in the exact spot
and it like zaps and burns I'm like, oh that
was just from a previous take. Yeah didn't Re
-fix it like I was like, ah, yeah, it's kind
of cute. It's kind of funny I was just watching
a video that was like all the kind of like little
mistakes and outtakes from um from next -gen
You know like the the the cardboard not the cardboard
but the construction paper on the the panels
in the background To blot out the light stuff
like that and I was like, oh, there's a little
burn mark on the wall like they must have like
They must be shooting that over again. Absolutely.
Okay, so I mentioned it earlier and since we're
kind of jumping around the plot, in the radio
drama, like that big scary needle is full of
like, I don't know, truth theorem or something.
Something to make her in a suggestive hypnotic
state. And so when Vader is interrogating her,
he's like, you know, what'd you do with the plans?
We need the plans. He starts saying, this is
your father. I am your father. Oh wants to know
what you did with the plans and it's so weird.
It's like well, you really are her father like
Like they didn't back then they did not know
but like that was that was weird and kind of
cool Let's block Peters is a good Darth Vader.
Yes the scene where they go with it Luke and
Leia have to Bungie across the the abyss there.
I think it's just a regular rope Whatever it's
probably yeah, but like that's the only thing
I can think of is just what I meant to say was
swing but bungee came out but Yeah, there's that
scene and I gotta say watching solo and then
watching this I Now see why Han is so crazy when
he runs down the hallway Yelling in this movie
and then he runs back That's another one from
the special edition where like they they originally
there was a bunch of stormtroopers in the quarter
and then they like You know, I missed that when
I was watching it this time Like I looked up
again and it was like but isn't it like just
this huge room full of stormtroopers? Yeah Yeah,
no originally was just like the corridor and
like a bunch of them. So they they they expanded
that Yeah, well still I mean, no, no, no, I mean
the joke is the same and it's a good joke. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely Don't know if I checked out
during this time, but it seemed like I don't
remember seeing Obi -Wan turn off the tractor
beam I saw I know he does it I saw him sneaking
around I saw him doing all the stuff But the
next thing I see is him and Vader with the fight
like I don't remember I just watched the movie
last night folks You think I'd be able to remember
this shit, but having brain damage all my whole
life. It doesn't really Some things just don't
compute anymore. Like I said, I've seen it so
many times that it was hard to focus. I remember
seeing the beginning of that scene where he sneaks
into the corridor and the two stormtroopers are
talking about the new land speeder, which they
do a callback to that in Rogue One. I didn't
actually see the scene where he turns off the
power, but I know it happens. So I got distracted
by my phone. I know it happens. I've seen this
movie a million times. It's a Death Star play
set. That little platform is at the top of the
play set for him to do the thing. And then there's
a little thing where they swing across. They
have this tiny little blue rope, blue plastic
rope. And they have the garbage masher because
it's a major part of the sequence. I really am
curious to know, and I don't think we ever find
out, because he just kind of shows up in Empire.
But I want to know where Vader's ship flew off
to when he got hit by Han at the end. That's
in a book somewhere. Yeah, probably. No, it is.
I remember hearing that, like, I think he loses
his one organic arm. Because the Emperor the
Emperor punishes him. Okay There's there's there's
something in a book somewhere he gets picked
also that I think that the advanced ties have
hyperdrives. Oh cool, but again, that's like
that's Like that's that's from somewhere else
too, you know, I think it's only the regular
ties that don't have hyperdrives And like you
said, they're small enough. They don't need them
No, it's basically just you throw a bunch of
stuff at the enemy. So if you had to pick X -Wing
or TIE Fighter, which would you pick? Well, having
played X -Wing versus TIE Fighter quite extensively,
if those are my only options, then I would pick
the X -Wing. If I could branch it out a little
bit, I am a Y -Wing guy. They're slow and they
can take a lot of hits. Okay, I don't I'm I don't
have great reflexes and the Imperial side the
tight offender Which is the greatest imperial
ship and of course Hasbro's never made one because
they're buttholes um But yeah, like the ties
are generally garbage except for the defender
and then I prefer the y -wing the a -wing is
too fast I can't handle it and the beam is weird
Um, this one's fine. I like the x -wing well
enough. But yeah, the y -wing is more like the
y -wing the x -wing are more my speed where they're
a little slower and they're a little more...
It's like playing a brick, which is a little
more my speed. How about you? I like... This
is so stupid, but... I like the sound effects
from the TIE fighter more than the TIE fighter
itself. Yeah, it's a cool sound effect. Yeah,
I like the sound design. We haven't really talked
about the sound design, but, you know, one of
the things that's pretty revolutionary about
this movie is that it has an amazing sound. Oh,
that's the TIE Defender? Holy crap. Isn't she
gorgeous? It's like seven wings of the original
TIE with one. Wow. There's three. Is this just
three around the central thing? Well. I was counting
each piece, but yes, you are correct. But yeah,
man, wow, that's... What movie does that show
up in? It's not in the movie. That's why Hasbro
never made one. It's an X -Men versus TIE Fighter.
Okay, it's just in the game. Yeah, it's like
the ultimate TIE Fighter that you can get. Oh,
wow. And I think it might have crept up like
one or two other places. I mean, I know they
made a LEGO set and they made an action fleet
of it, which I don't think I have the action...
Oh, I do have the action fleet. I gotta remember
what... Well, we'll get to it folks. We're kind
of all over the place today, but it is Listen
to this and you have never seen Star Wars go
see Star Wars Yes, everyone else was like I think
most people listening this have seen stars Oh,
yeah, and we've covered Star Wars plenty of times
over the years Like I said, I the last time I
remember watching the movie was when we did it
for a movie We can review back. I looked at the
date. It was sometime in 2010 because I looked
at the post We did Star Wars Saga part 1 and
part 2. Part 1 was the original trilogy, part
2 was the prequels. And that was 14 years ago,
something like that. I like the X -Wing. I think
the X -Wing is cool. There's a reason that they
reused it in the sequel trilogy. It is iconic.
Oh yeah, absolutely. Mean there's a there's a
famous story that I guess the the Defense Department
Actually went to Lucasfilm and said can we want
to look at the designs for this thing? Yeah,
it's a little too a little too cool I'm not a
little too cool, but they only thought it was
a real thing Yeah, a little too close to to home
there George. Uh -huh That's that's hilarious
No, I I think this movie even though I have several
issues with it. It's not like they're nitpicks
at best yeah I mean I mean there's nothing really
overall objectively watching this movie again
it's a good story oh yeah it's a good first part
of a multi -part story yeah yeah I look I mean
it's hard looking at it from like I said in the
wake of like Endgame and No Way Home the wonders
that we have seen since then like you know, but
but this was mid 70s technology 11 million dollar
budget like it's the story and it's also The
thing that is really hard to convey to people
who have grown up since yeah, it's the tone Yeah,
like it is is a happy optimistic fun tone and
Like I always use the example of the Raggedy
Ann and Andy movie which was dark and depressing
and miserable, and they took us children to it
in the 70s. The Watership Down was a children's
movie in the 70s. The big movies were like Godfather
and French Connect. They were grown -up movies.
They weren't anything for kids. We just had Watergate.
We just had Vietnam. Jaws was the first blockbuster,
but Jaws was a very 70s movie. It was almost
like a Robert Altman film. I know it was Spielberg,
but it was... It was the like my mom when they
re -released jaws. My mom wasn't gonna take me
to it She was never gonna take me to jaws. I
just see that on video because it was a little
too dark and intense Star Wars was fun. It was
light. There were good guys. They were bad guys
It was all very simple. The good guys won You
you cannot Like anyone looking at that film now
is having having not lived through that is not
gonna get it They're gonna go. Oh, this is no
like they'll like the movie well enough Maybe
they'll even love it. But you cannot understand
why that hit like a thunderbolt the way that
it did because we needed that. We needed to feel
happy. We needed to feel good. We needed something
for the kids to enjoy. The parents wouldn't be
too bored watching, you know, and that was it
was the tone is what really makes that movie
what it is. And then it had a good story. And
then, you know, for the time, a lot of that stuff
that doesn't necessarily hold now was groundbreaking.
Yeah, like and then then you know, we haven't
touched on the music because I know we're gonna
do a John Williams episode one day. Yeah, well
music was freaking amazing. It's just the sound
like it's it's It was as done. Well as it could
for the time. I think it exceeded expectations
in several categories But it really was the tone
the tone So I was going on 77, but it really
was the first 80s movie Yeah, look at the movies
of the 80s and they're all kind of fun and upbeat
and happy. I mean, they're not all But most of
the big films had a happy upbeat tone. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Now, we will be doing music
episodes on all nine films and other parts of
Star Wars. But I will say that after I watched
the movie yesterday, I have had the 2018 remaster
from Walt Disney Records on repeat. beginning
to end for a new hope by John Williams and others.
Did my computer just screw up? This might be
an edit point because my screen is not doing
what it's supposed to be doing. It still says
it's recording on my end. Yep, yep. It's just...
Wait, by attending this meeting I consent to
be recorded? What the fuck? Yes, that pops up
all the time. No, because they have to. You're
lucky Illinois has a one -party consent state.
Seriously, seriously, there you go. I think you're
okay. I mean, everything looks okay. It's just
everything else that I was trying to go through
the article. There we go. No, I don't want the
nightlight off. I want it on. My eyes are too
old now and just... I can't handle a place like
that. Yes, I know. It's okay. I'm 10 years older
than you. Yeah, yeah, that's okay. No, you're
not. You're nine years older than me. Get it
right. I am okay. Yeah, I am. You want to be
54 now? No. Okay, then. You're 53. Like, I used
to think I was born to be an old man, and then,
like, the body never held up super well, but,
I mean, like, now it's really falling apart,
and I'm like, ugh. Alright, so I'm gonna bring
it back. I'm gonna so I'm gonna just briefly.
Okay One hour 23 minutes 12 13 14 15 16 So yes
the music we will as I said or maybe I didn't
say yet We will be you did you did you did you
did you did you were listening to the Disney?
Yes. Yes, I was so Yeah, I was listening to the
2018 original soundtrack, OST remaster, the Walt
Disney Records version from cover to cover. And
man, can I listen to this music all the time.
So I have on CD, I have the original. The 77,
yeah, the original 77 version. I mean, it wasn't
obviously they don't listen CDs and just I have
the special edition. I have the Symphonic Suite,
which is the version that they play in concert.
And then on my wall, which I'm looking at right
now, I have the original vinyl copies of Star
Wars, Empire, and Jedi all in a row hanging up
on the wall. Oh, that's cool. Because Empire
is my favorite, I have another Empire on the
wall, too. Oh, of course. It's the back version.
I have it flipped to the back because I love
that. That particular piece of artwork from that
particular poster. Like where we're Han and Lear
kissing and that is that is one of the iconic
images of my childhood Yeah, it's always like
especially back then when you had records and
stuff when you had LPs You always wanted to basically
Even though you couldn't do this, but you would
buy it's kind of like when you buy two action
figures You buy one to open and you buy one to
keep in package Remember in the mid 90s as a
teenager I would buy if they were still available
I would buy two copies of whatever vinyl it was
because basically I Would cut the the the the
sleeve in half to have the two halves showing
Yeah, I know I'm a weirdo folks I get it the
sound design sound in this movie It's all so
interesting and fun and good and it just like
like I said that tie fighter sound effect that
yeah a kind of roar of an animal yeah and The
lightsaber effects even the Falcon the Falcons.
Oh, I love the fall. Oh my god. It's it's so
good, and I think It's I think it's on Disney
Plus I don't know what I'd have to look or you
can look at some point whenever not now, but
there's a series called Galaxy of Sound on Disney
Plus Yep, and they go through Various scenes
throughout the day. It's throughout the whole
of Star Wars all of the Like they made I don't
know if they did an episode on Naboo or whatever
But it's not just the the preep that be young.
Yeah catching that is your own trilogy. It's
all it's everything And I watched that a couple
months ago. I was like, oh, this is so cool cuz
sound to me like I Listen to stuff all the time
half the time I'm listening to my TV because
I've probably seen that episode of forensic files
a million times like I I like hearing things
I like seeing things too, but like I would much
rather listen to something Than have to pay attention
and watch it. I can throw on a piece of music
or a podcaster or whatever. And yeah, I, you
know, in my advancing age, I've become kind of
like my mother where I don't like I have stuff
on just to have noise, just have sound, you know,
like I'll like I won't necessarily watch what's
on, but like I just want the set. Like if there's
no sound, I get edgy and unhappy. I can't work
downstairs in the collection without like putting
on a podcast or something. And I'm kind of paying
attention when I walk like I go to the park.
I've gotten a big sound canceling headphones
and I listen to a podcast and I just, you know,
like silence, you kind of don't appreciate how
much sound plays a part in our lives. And it's
weird when it's kind of gone and everything's
quiet, super quiet. Yeah. There was one moment,
September of last year. I've been live. As of
June this year, I will have been living in my
current apartment for two years now. So September
of last year, in the middle of the night, and
I'm sure everyone else that has to sleep with
a fan on is like this. If the fan turns off for
any reason whatsoever, you wake up from a dead
sleep because the fan turned off. The fan turned
off. I woke up. It was pitch black. the way my
parking lot is that my apartment faces there
are light poles and whatever like around the
dumpsters and obviously from the parking lot
so people can see well it obviously gives off
a certain amount of light because of the artificial
light but seeing it in complete i have pictures
of i don't know if i you've probably seen that
if not also i have two pictures of this and it's
just complete darkness and sigh it was the only
time in a long time where I really enjoyed the
silence because We don't really have Silence
unless you're in the sensory Unless you're Boba
Fett in a sensory deprivation tank There's the
hum of the world of all the artificial stuff,
and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. We need
power We need this we need that But the fact
that there was no power, no nothing, and it was
so quiet, that is the time that I really relish
silence. The only other time is when I'm asleep.
But yeah, I'm right there with you. I need to
have stuff on in the background. I need to, you
know, I'll be editing this podcast. I'll probably
have the score on in the background on my stereo.
But yeah, sound. Soundtrack. All of it is so
great. Let's see here. Is there anything else
that we missed? Anything else you want to bring
up? Not that I can think of. I mean, the one
thing that another minor nitpick is at the end,
you know, everyone has complained for years and
they actually put it in Stupid Riser Skywalker
that Chewie never got a medal. Right. And if
you've read the book. It's written by Alan Dean
Foster, but it's got George's name on it. Right.
Chewie got a medal. It's just that, quote, few
princesses are that tall. Yeah. So Chewie had
a medal. I would become your freaking, he got
a medal. Like I said, I don't, I want the, so
again, going by the whole thing of this is a
trilogy. Yeah, but okay. When it's I understand
when it started it wasn't I know like you said
earlier you got to judge it by the standards,
right? And I like yeah to be fair. It was not
a trilogy It was right. Well, it was it was a
bigger film that was cut down, right? Yeah and
to me Now looking at it in the lens now, I'm
like, oh I kind of wish they had something But
what did you want? Nobody even got medals return
the Jedi they just danced around and ate stormtroopers
What do you think them Ewoks was cooking Like
this is this has always been a thing like what
do you think them Ewoks was cooking? I mean when
they're playing the drums on those helmets Where
do you think those guys went? Good boy Oh my
god, the Ewoks are cannibals, holy crap. No,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no They were eating,
they were, cause we know, like they established
they were gonna eat Han, they were gonna cook
him. They're not eating these people raw, they're
eating them cooked, they're not savages. This
is why I came around on Ewoks. Like I was like
originally, originally I loved the Ewoks cause
I was like 13, I was 12. And I was like, oh,
they're cute little hamster people, they're neat.
And then I was a teenager and I was like, ah,
they're kitty little teddy bear things. And then
I was like, those motherfuckers ate people. There
weren't a lot of prison camps on Endor. There
were farms. So, yeah, those little bastards were
hardcore, man. Alright, folks. Alright, so before
we go to the ad break and all that good stuff
and come back with the closing and everything
else, what would you rate it 0 to 5 with half
points? Boy, I want to leave room for Empire.
Yeah, I don't want to be like I don't want this
whole thing to be like the original trilogy is
all five everything's great everything wonderful
So like I guess if we're if we if we're limited
to half points, I would say four point five Yeah,
if I could like be a little cheated I'd be four
point seven five But it's it's a great movie.
It's it's got issues and we watch a special edition.
So four point five is fair I Think I'm gonna
give it a three point five. Okay, was that just
because the ending? Yeah, pretty much. Ever since
I was seven years old, I've been disappointed
by that ending. Like, I wanted more. I don't
know what more I wanted, but I wanted more after
I watched. Like you said, they blow up the Death
Star, and I understand they have to go back to
the base and whatever, but like, the middle ceremony
is kind of cheesy. Just the way that it's filmed,
the way that it's shot, the way... All I'm gonna
say is that you, my friend, could then put in
another tape and have more. I had to wait three
friggin' years. And I honestly think that's a
good thing, because you get to digest it, you
get to sort of get used to it. One of the issues
I have with the Marvel system is that they're
always like... Like before the next movie comes
before the before the current movie comes out.
They always start to tease the next movie Yeah,
it's like let us enjoy this movie. Let us let's
appreciate this movie and then move on like it's
it's because it it does make you feel like you're
in like a Like it's a marketing thing rather
than an organic thing Like just let us have this
for now and then then when we want the next one
you bring in the next one Why you you're rushing
through it? They because it's all about money.
They want to rush through it and like get the
money while they can Yeah, that's true. So a
4 .5 from Dave, a 3 .5 from me. We're going to
go to a quick ad break and we will come back
to close the show right after this. Your destiny
lies with me, Skywalker. There will be one news
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Joe, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, He -Man, et
cetera. Where are you going to go to find this?
Welcome to star Joe's podcast. I'm your host
Ryan and I'm Chuck. That's right. Everybody.
We're the star Joe's We host a podcast called
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Yes, so what you want to do to find us, you can
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what is it? You know how I liked the 1990s comic
book series, The New Warriors? Yeah, yes. Yes.
Mm -hmm. Yep. And you know how at the long boss
crusade we're trying to get the YouTube channel
going? Yes, yes, also correct. Well, thanks.
So how about you and me do a live stream show
about the new warriors? You've never read the
books before and I have them and so that's a
great setup We could give it a catchy name like
come out to play. Don't you think that's the
greatest idea? Sure, sure, sure Delvin. That's
a great idea Just one question. Yeah? Why do
you have me dangling off this ledge holding me
by only one arm? Oh, yeah. Well, you'll get it
soon, I hope. Come out to play. A new Warriors
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I'm sure your insurance company will cover that.
No, they won't. No, they probably won't Alright
folks, we are back. Episode 77 of Studio 2009
here on the Ecast Radio Network. Star Wars is
in the books. I still really dig the movie. I
really do, regardless of its faults. Regardless
of its crappy rating that you gave it. Hey, wait
a second here. 3 .5 out of 5 is not bad. I'd
give it on 1 .5. Then you then I can see First
of all, if you really don't like something you
really don't like something and there's no If
you get a 1 .5, I would have been less offended
than this this tepid 3 .5 nonsense The only reason
I went low is because you know, you got to give
because you can't be a jerk and go Empire six
out of five Twelve out of ten A billion out of
a hundred. I'm not that kind of guy. It's like
you always gotta leave room. Yeah, but spoiler
alert for episode 80, I guess. Yeah. And ironically
Empire is not my favorite movie. It's my favorite
Star Wars movie, but it's not my favorite movie.
Right. It's not your favorite movie movie. Yep.
Anything else you would like to say before I
run through the closing, sir? No, just I don't
know. So much has been said about the stars.
It's kind of hard to get a fresh take I think
that's why we rambled so much Yeah, this is hard
to get a fresh take on something that's so old
and so iconic to the culture But you know, like
if you haven't if you really have never seen
the movie like go watch it Like it's it's a fun
movie. If you haven't seen it in a while Maybe
go revisit like because that was a thing. I will
say I avoided rewatching the original movies
for a long time Because I was worried I was worried
because I had seen a couple of things I loved
as a kid like thunder the barbarian the cartoon,
right? I loved it as a kid like and you go. Oh,
oh Well that phrase because I was a kid is suddenly
very relevant and I was I was worried the Star
Wars would hold up and I think again you got
a you got a You got to see it for a product of
its time, but even so I think it holds up pretty
well So yeah, absolutely And yes, folks, even
though he says I rated it low, I didn't really
rate it low, because like you said, you have
to have some way of going up and, oh, you're
going to go crazy and give Empire a four. Madman.
Calm down. Can you predict the other one then?
No, because Jedi tends to bounce weird. I think
either people are with it or against it. It's
kind of it's kind of like the the the Indiana
Jones movies you Like each movie kind of bounces
one way or the other either like one or the other
They people either like Jedi or they hate it
because of the Ewoks Kind of is how it goes Mm
-hmm. Yeah, we're gonna be doing this in the
future folks Raiders of the Lost World here on
studio 2009 cuz Shocked the hell out of Dave
and I told him I said that's right Yeah nursing
writers. The only one I've seen is last crusade
I saw like a half a second of Temple of Doom
and scared the crap out of me and I'm like, nope
Never again. I was a kid when I did when that
happened. I was like, nope, never again, but
last crusade You betcha I will say Temple of
Doom trained me to pace my soda drinking I honestly
don't think I ever saw the scene where Indy and
Willie flirt until it came out on video, because
that was always when I went to go pee. Wow. That's
hilarious. This is true. Thank you for joining
us here inside Studio 2009. If you'd like to
get in contact with us, we'll leave feedback
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Visit the website, geekcastradio .com, where
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You can check us out on all the podcasts. Podcatching
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Become a fan on Facebook go to facebook .com
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Ferrari For now, I'm TFU and Mike with David
Raper. You'll hear us back in the studio soon.
You stuck up half -witted scruffy looking nerf
herder
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