Latest / Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast / Issue 380: Thanksgungan 2024

Transcript

Issue 380: Thanksgungan 2024 · Aggressive Negotiations: A Star Wars Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Not Palty.
0:06
Speaker 2: Hi.
0:06
Speaker 3: This is Nick and Astasu, story editor on Star Wars,
0:10
Speaker 3: The Clone Wars and Star Wars bad Batch, and you
0:14
Speaker 3: are listening to Aggressive Negotiations.
0:23
Speaker 1: Well, hello, and welcome to Aggressive Negotiations, that podcast that
0:29
Speaker 1: every year does your favorite annual tradition as we celebrate
0:35
Speaker 1: Thanks Gungan, and I am just one of your hosts,
0:39
Speaker 1: Matthew Rushing and with me as he is every single episode,
0:44
Speaker 1: and especially for this esteemed episode of Thanks gun and
0:47
Speaker 1: the one the only Jedi Master Chef John Mills.
0:53
Speaker 4: And I'm putting my final touches on my shack and
0:59
Speaker 4: Banta flank stage Urducan style combination with Dungan eggs, and
1:07
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be slathering some extra Jaha gravy on it,
1:11
Speaker 4: while we also have some very delectable colo clawfish eyes.
1:16
Speaker 1: Oh oh my goodness, such delicacies. Man, You've really spared
1:20
Speaker 1: no expense this Thanksgungen.
1:22
Speaker 4: You know, honestly, this Thanks Gungen might be the most
1:25
Speaker 4: affordable according to some that I've ever had, because I've
1:29
Speaker 4: learned how to make all of these delectable dishes last as.
1:34
Speaker 1: Long as I mean less than fifty nine credits for
1:38
Speaker 1: five people. John, So it's fantastic.
1:41
Speaker 4: H you know, honestly, I think I think we'll be
1:44
Speaker 4: able to feed at least thirty Jedi. This Thanksgungan Matt
1:49
Speaker 4: for And it's just absolutely an amazing and amazing, isn't.
1:53
Speaker 1: That Because normally this time of year, Jedi or on
1:57
Speaker 1: their annual fasting retreats.
1:59
Speaker 4: And so you know, I don't make the rules. Okay,
2:02
Speaker 4: that's not that's not my call.
2:04
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, yeah, well, I guess maybe we should
2:07
Speaker 1: do that math after that retreat. But we're so excited
2:10
Speaker 1: to have you with us. And this is one of
2:13
Speaker 1: our favorite times a year. We get together and we
2:16
Speaker 1: talk about all the things we are thankful for in
2:19
Speaker 1: Star Wars. But before we begin, we want to say
2:23
Speaker 1: how thankful we are for you, everybody that has listened
2:26
Speaker 1: to the show so consistently. We appreciate it. This is
2:31
Speaker 1: actually our three hundred and eightieth episode, which falls on
2:36
Speaker 1: things gun gain and I don't know if either of
2:38
Speaker 1: us can believe that we've been going that long.
2:41
Speaker 4: I can't believe that we've been going that long without
2:43
Speaker 4: killing each other.
2:44
Speaker 1: Or without performance enhancing drugs.
2:46
Speaker 4: But you know, hey, you know so midichlorians are the
2:49
Speaker 4: ultimate performance enhancing drugs. Master Rushing, you know that it's true.
2:53
Speaker 4: We've you know, I mean, just ask MAF Gideon. That's
2:57
Speaker 4: basically what he was trying to do as he was
2:59
Speaker 4: trying to make it so that the midicurs for his
3:01
Speaker 4: ultimate performance in hand.
3:03
Speaker 1: Yes, this is true. That's that's actually what he wanted
3:06
Speaker 1: and unfortunately just never never happened for him. But as
3:10
Speaker 1: a thank you to us, if you wanted to say
3:12
Speaker 1: thank you to us, one of the best ways you
3:14
Speaker 1: could do that is by following us and interacting with
3:18
Speaker 1: us all over social media. Of course, you can find
3:20
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at the Jedi Masters, or on Facebook
3:25
Speaker 1: and Facebook dot com, slash the nerd Party with all
3:27
Speaker 1: of the different shows on the nerd Party on Instagram
3:30
Speaker 1: at the nerd Party dot com with the entire network,
3:32
Speaker 1: and of course we're online at the nerd Party dot com.
3:36
Speaker 1: And if you do love us and like us and
3:38
Speaker 1: want to give us a huge thank you, spend this
3:41
Speaker 1: season by you know, a couple of minutes just giving
3:44
Speaker 1: us a star rating and a review over there on
3:46
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. Help people find the show. You know, again,
3:52
Speaker 1: we do this for the love of Star Wars, but
3:54
Speaker 1: it is always nice to have a little shout out
3:56
Speaker 1: here and there, and so somebody could really help us
3:59
Speaker 1: out by by giving us some new reviews and you know,
4:02
Speaker 1: helping people find the show, which is another thing you'd
4:05
Speaker 1: do if you love podcasts in general, but if you
4:08
Speaker 1: like ours, best way to share a podcast is word
4:11
Speaker 1: of mouth and also sharing us on social media, so
4:15
Speaker 1: you know, do those things that would be really helpful.
4:18
Speaker 1: But otherwise, again, thank you so much for joining us
4:22
Speaker 1: here on this episode. This thank's Gunkin and John. As
4:25
Speaker 1: we were kind of like talking here on the other
4:28
Speaker 1: side of the lightsaber, one of the things that we
4:32
Speaker 1: were noticing is that in many ways it was kind
4:36
Speaker 1: of a light year for Star Wars. That was not
4:38
Speaker 1: a ton of content that was coming out. But I
4:42
Speaker 1: still think that there are a lot of things for
4:44
Speaker 1: us to be thankful for. So I'm gonna throw it
4:46
Speaker 1: to you, my esteemed co host, what was something that
4:51
Speaker 1: you were just really thankful for this year in Star Wars.
4:55
Speaker 4: You know, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm going to
4:57
Speaker 4: come in and I'm going to pick something that it's
5:00
Speaker 4: sort of a dark horse candidate, but I'm going to
5:03
Speaker 4: say that the micro Galaxy series is something I'm very
5:06
Speaker 4: thankful for that specific line. The toys, the collectibles, I'm
5:13
Speaker 4: sorry that they are producing are of superior quality. I
5:19
Speaker 4: have an Imperial Shuttle and I have the what I'll
5:23
Speaker 4: essentially call the Season two Marauder, but it's I think
5:27
Speaker 4: it's like the Marauder Rescue mission. It has the teeny
5:30
Speaker 4: tiny little Hunter on record fantastic as a part of it.
5:34
Speaker 4: And I mean, I think that all of us can
5:38
Speaker 4: be very thankful for the fact that there are still
5:40
Speaker 4: manufacturers out there that hold themselves to a high enough
5:43
Speaker 4: standard that it's worth a couple of bucks to pick
5:47
Speaker 4: up something like one of your favorite ships, because you
5:50
Speaker 4: just like to maybe hang it from the ceiling or
5:53
Speaker 4: have it sitting on a desk and be like, man,
5:55
Speaker 4: that takes me immediately to a happy place.
5:58
Speaker 2: I like looking at that.
5:59
Speaker 4: I like seeing it, and so I can have it
6:02
Speaker 4: displayed and just you know, I need that little pick
6:04
Speaker 4: me up, that little dopamine bump. I can go and
6:07
Speaker 4: I can see the Marauder and I'm like, ah, yeah, okay,
6:10
Speaker 4: that works. So I am thankful that there are still
6:13
Speaker 4: manufacturers making Star Wars products as difficult as they seem
6:17
Speaker 4: to be defined nowadays. But we still have some good,
6:22
Speaker 4: good collectibles out there that are that are nice and great.
6:25
Speaker 2: To get your hand down.
6:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I totally agree. You know, it's something that
6:29
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for this year. And it's funny that you
6:31
Speaker 1: kind of went with the toy line because you know,
6:33
Speaker 1: I've been collecting Hallmark ornaments for Star Wars, Star Trek
6:38
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff since about ninety five
6:40
Speaker 1: ninety six, so very long time. And this year was
6:43
Speaker 1: a really fun year for the ornaments that they had
6:46
Speaker 1: come out for Christmas. And so we had a Sabine
6:50
Speaker 1: Wren from Ahsoka come out. We had Admiral Thrond from
6:54
Speaker 1: Ahsoka come out. We had a great twenty fifth anniversary
6:57
Speaker 1: of the Phantom Menace Qui gon Gin as well as
7:01
Speaker 1: a twenty fifth anniversary Phantom Menace Darth Maul with his
7:06
Speaker 1: Syth Probe on his speeder, Sith Speeder, very cool. They
7:12
Speaker 1: had the tenth anniversary of Star Wars Rebels with the Ghost.
7:18
Speaker 1: They had the Mandalorian wielding the Dark Saber. They had
7:22
Speaker 1: the second set of ornaments for the bad Batch Helmets
7:25
Speaker 1: with Echo and Tech. I mean, it was a great
7:29
Speaker 1: year for Star Wars ornaments. I always love when those
7:32
Speaker 1: come out, you know. It definitely brings warm feelings to
7:37
Speaker 1: my heart every time the wish book comes out there
7:40
Speaker 1: in July, yes, I know, and the excitement of what
7:44
Speaker 1: are they going to be celebrating in Star Wars this year?
7:47
Speaker 1: And so one. I loved how much love they gave
7:51
Speaker 1: to Ahsoka, the fact that Star Wars Rebels got love
7:55
Speaker 1: for its Tints anniversary, and of course the twenty fifth
7:58
Speaker 1: anniversary of The Phantom Menace, which John I got to
8:01
Speaker 1: talk about. I hate to even not throw it to you,
8:05
Speaker 1: but like gosh, the twenty fifth anniversary of the Phantom Menace.
8:09
Speaker 1: It was back in theaters and Matt Ferguson did an
8:13
Speaker 1: incredible poster for it, like he's been doing for all
8:16
Speaker 1: these anniversaries. And I've got one hanging on the wall
8:19
Speaker 1: in my office at work that is just it's so gorgeous.
8:24
Speaker 1: It's front and center. It reminds me how much I
8:26
Speaker 1: love the Phantom Menace. And seeing it again in the
8:28
Speaker 1: theater in Pristine four, k Oh, my gosh, it just
8:32
Speaker 1: made my my little Star Wars heart so joyful.
8:36
Speaker 4: I'm right there with you because I saw it in
8:38
Speaker 4: the theater again, of course when it came out, and
8:41
Speaker 4: I managed to go see it with my oldest daughter
8:43
Speaker 4: who saw it with me on the.
8:46
Speaker 2: Last re release, which I believe was twenty twelve, and
8:51
Speaker 2: was that like saw edition when the.
8:53
Speaker 4: That was the three D edition, the first time we
8:56
Speaker 4: saw redne Yoda, so that he looked a little lookily,
9:00
Speaker 4: let's be honest, a.
9:00
Speaker 2: Little more Yoda.
9:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, And then seeing this release in the theater, like
9:06
Speaker 4: it took on a whole different nostalgia feeling because it
9:09
Speaker 4: wasn't just reliving the twenty fifth anniversary of The Phantom Menace.
9:12
Speaker 4: It was reliving a moment from my daughter's life with
9:16
Speaker 4: me that we.
9:16
Speaker 2: Shared exactly and it was just us.
9:19
Speaker 4: And I think that, I mean, Phantom Menace is a
9:23
Speaker 4: freaking stone cold classic that people sleep on and so
9:27
Speaker 4: many people sort of like dismissively like, yeah, well, you
9:29
Speaker 4: know that was the one I really loved what I
9:31
Speaker 4: was No, No, Phantom Menace is a freaking great movie. And
9:35
Speaker 4: I love the fact that it came out in theaters
9:38
Speaker 4: and it didn't just do well it did for the
9:42
Speaker 4: limited release that they had, it actually did really well.
9:46
Speaker 4: And so I'm thankful that people manage to go out
9:50
Speaker 4: and see it and prove that re.
9:52
Speaker 2: Releasing these is a good plan.
9:56
Speaker 4: And that means that I'll get to see Attack of
9:58
Speaker 4: the Clones in the theater again and then with Ends
10:02
Speaker 4: of the Sith back in the area, which if Ferguson,
10:06
Speaker 4: you know what, if Ferguson is doing those posters, I'll
10:09
Speaker 4: piggyback on you there for the thankfulness for those posters,
10:12
Speaker 4: because I have a book that is dedicated to the
10:16
Speaker 4: history of Star Wars posters, and I know in the
10:20
Speaker 4: prequel era they became a unified thing. There was one
10:23
Speaker 4: poster and it was everywhere, and it was one poster.
10:25
Speaker 4: It was everywhere for all of the movies and everything.
10:29
Speaker 4: But man, those Ferguson posters transport me back to that
10:33
Speaker 4: time of multiple movie poster styles where you could just
10:38
Speaker 4: really fall in love. I mean, we all love a
10:42
Speaker 4: New Hope style d poster.
10:44
Speaker 2: Everybody gets a big kick out of that.
10:46
Speaker 4: Like I just I'm grateful that I'm getting new Star
10:51
Speaker 4: Wars posters to admire and love, yes, because that artwork
10:55
Speaker 4: means the world. And so yeah, very very thankful for that,
11:01
Speaker 4: much like you are. So that's just me piggybacking on that.
11:05
Speaker 4: I'll shift gears, you know what, I'll keep it in
11:07
Speaker 4: the toy and Merchandise aisle. The Star Wars Lego sets,
11:12
Speaker 4: I don't get them all, but man, I light up
11:16
Speaker 4: when I'm walking along the aisle and I see a
11:18
Speaker 4: new Star Wars Lego set, because Lego is.
11:21
Speaker 2: Really bringing their a game. They've got the little.
11:27
Speaker 4: Mystical area that where they activate the map in Ahsoka.
11:32
Speaker 2: That's a Lego set.
11:33
Speaker 4: Now they have stuff from Rebuild the Galaxy up there,
11:36
Speaker 4: and they're really cool little sets and everything like that.
11:39
Speaker 4: And it's like, I live forever in the eternal hope
11:43
Speaker 4: that these Lego sets at least are keeping the the
11:48
Speaker 4: you know, sort of like the Star Wars mojo alive,
11:50
Speaker 4: as difficult as it might be to find it in
11:52
Speaker 4: the toy aisle. Now, those Lego sets will keep coming
11:56
Speaker 4: out so long as people keep buying them. And I
11:57
Speaker 4: know they are because I keep seeing them up on
12:00
Speaker 4: the shelves, and yeah, every so often I'll indulge in one, yes,
12:04
Speaker 4: you know. So I'm thankful for the Lego sets being
12:07
Speaker 4: up there and keeping that Star Wars presence on the
12:09
Speaker 4: toy aisle shelves and in kids' minds in this sort
12:13
Speaker 4: of like fractured media landscape that they're navigating.
12:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I agree with you. I absolutely love
12:20
Speaker 1: the work that they have been doing on the Star
12:23
Speaker 1: Wars Lego front. You know, it's so funny because every
12:27
Speaker 1: time I think of that, all I can think of
12:29
Speaker 1: is just how joyful my little childheart would have been,
12:33
Speaker 1: you know, to half those as a kid, and the
12:38
Speaker 1: fact that you know, missed out on those as a
12:42
Speaker 1: kid is kind of frustrating. But at the same time,
12:45
Speaker 1: you know, there's a joy of being an adult and
12:48
Speaker 1: being like, I want that Lego set. I shall buy
12:51
Speaker 1: that Lego set, and I don't have to ask anyone,
12:53
Speaker 1: you know, So there is that joy. But no, I
12:56
Speaker 1: totally agree with you. I did forget to mention, and
12:58
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. I don't know why. But there there
13:01
Speaker 1: was a great limited edition Padme Madala ornament that came
13:07
Speaker 1: out as well, where she's holding the blaster there and
13:10
Speaker 1: you could just kind of picture her being like, now
13:12
Speaker 1: we will discuss a new treaty and it's like.
13:15
Speaker 2: Huh, so great.
13:16
Speaker 1: Anyway, No, I couldn't agree more, John, I think that's
13:19
Speaker 1: a fantastic addition, and like you were saying earlier, I
13:23
Speaker 1: think that is one of the things that I find
13:25
Speaker 1: incredibly special about this. And obviously Star Wars continues to
13:29
Speaker 1: make an incredible amount of money because of its merchandising right,
13:36
Speaker 1: and when it's done right, it's phenomenal, you know, And
13:41
Speaker 1: and I am, like you, just kind of incredibly grateful
13:45
Speaker 1: for the fact that you know, we can continue to
13:50
Speaker 1: get a chance to enjoy these things all of these
13:53
Speaker 1: years later. You know, it's just a lot of fun.
13:56
Speaker 1: And so, you know, I think one of the things
14:02
Speaker 1: that I think both you and I were incredibly grateful
14:07
Speaker 1: for was the fact that The Bad Batch wrapped up
14:13
Speaker 1: this year and with season three. You know, we're not
14:18
Speaker 1: incredibly glad that it wrapped up. We're incredibly glad that
14:22
Speaker 1: the finale and the way in which they wrapped up
14:25
Speaker 1: that show was phenomenal. They did such a great job
14:32
Speaker 1: of bringing that series to a close. And I swear,
14:38
Speaker 1: if we don't get that in a four K home
14:43
Speaker 1: release all three seasons, I riot.
14:47
Speaker 2: I riot. Oh, I don't understand why.
14:50
Speaker 4: As we record this, we're coming up on the Christmas
14:54
Speaker 4: holiday season. It's like Disney hates making money, because if
14:59
Speaker 4: you released a ad batch, full run four K set,
15:02
Speaker 4: they would clean up because that is a show that
15:06
Speaker 4: you ask any Star Wars fan and they will say, oh, yeah,
15:10
Speaker 4: I loved it. I would love to see the whole thing.
15:14
Speaker 4: I think the unfortunate thing is we're still in that
15:17
Speaker 4: streaming tug of war right now where they're still figuring
15:23
Speaker 4: out that these home releases are like vinyl records for
15:27
Speaker 4: audio files. They've got to figure out that you can
15:31
Speaker 4: make a dollar in a cent by releasing these things.
15:34
Speaker 4: Just release them in more limited quantities, That's fine. Don't
15:37
Speaker 4: try to blow the doors off the way that though
15:40
Speaker 4: Wicked discs are going to come out in three months
15:43
Speaker 4: or anything like that. Make it a limited release.
15:48
Speaker 2: Put it out there.
15:48
Speaker 4: And by limited release, I don't mean like only make
15:51
Speaker 4: a hundred of them. I mean like, just make it targeted.
15:54
Speaker 4: You know what your demand is, You know that people
15:57
Speaker 4: are going to buy it. And I would love not
16:01
Speaker 4: just season three, but I want I want to return
16:06
Speaker 4: to the sets where you have interviews with the creators,
16:08
Speaker 4: where you have interviews with the people that put it together,
16:11
Speaker 4: where you under where they go through the process and
16:13
Speaker 4: they explain it to you. And they explain the challenges.
16:15
Speaker 4: Because Bad Batch was made during the height of lockdowns
16:18
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. I'd love to learn how they
16:20
Speaker 4: had to overcome that, and how they overcame it, and
16:23
Speaker 4: how they managed to make things happen in such difficult circumstances.
16:27
Speaker 4: Because we saw how it affected the live shows, I
16:30
Speaker 4: love to find out how it affects something like an
16:32
Speaker 4: animated series. I want to see firsthand what it's like
16:36
Speaker 4: to have to resort to a teleconference to go over
16:41
Speaker 4: edits and stuff like that. Like that would be fascinating
16:43
Speaker 4: to me. I want to see those things. That's the
16:46
Speaker 4: type of release that Lucasfilm was known for for decades.
16:50
Speaker 4: All of that to say, I'm sad that Bad Batch
16:55
Speaker 4: wrapped up when it did, but what I'm thankful for
16:59
Speaker 4: is that it knew how to wrap up. So many
17:02
Speaker 4: shows don't know how to tie that bow and Bad
17:06
Speaker 4: Bat and the thing is Clone Wars. We had to
17:09
Speaker 4: come back for it, We had to wait for it.
17:11
Speaker 4: They had to come back and truncate it a little
17:14
Speaker 4: bit and do all those sorts of things. With Bad Batch,
17:17
Speaker 4: there was a very clear creative vision there that said
17:21
Speaker 4: this is how it ends, and they stuck the landing
17:26
Speaker 4: so well that the ending with Hunters sitting there and
17:30
Speaker 4: Omega going off to fly off to her own adventures,
17:36
Speaker 4: that will always stick with me. I'm getting goosebumps just
17:39
Speaker 4: thinking about it. So many people talk about inspiring and
17:45
Speaker 4: important role models who are female in series. Omega, you know,
17:53
Speaker 4: is in the tradition of Ahsoka. That show ostensibly is
17:58
Speaker 4: about the bad batch, but it's really about Omega growing up.
18:03
Speaker 4: And this is another girl that I've watched grow up,
18:08
Speaker 4: and as the father of daughters, like it really lands
18:11
Speaker 4: pretty hard to like look at it through that lens
18:13
Speaker 4: and be like, yeah, wow, that's a that's a moment
18:17
Speaker 4: I'm going to go through at some point. You know,
18:19
Speaker 4: I did the best I could to get you here.
18:21
Speaker 4: I wasn't perfect, but I hope I made it possible
18:25
Speaker 4: for you to go out and have a good life
18:27
Speaker 4: Like that. That really that really lands and that that ending,
18:31
Speaker 4: that coda, like so many shows would have ended with
18:34
Speaker 4: that group shot of them in front of the tree.
18:38
Speaker 4: That coda was so important, and it was so because
18:42
Speaker 4: that was that was the whole point of the show,
18:45
Speaker 4: was making sure Omega was okay and she made it
18:49
Speaker 4: off to live her own life. That's so beautiful. And
18:54
Speaker 4: speaking of beautiful, let's stay in the animation era.
18:56
Speaker 1: Well can I can I add one thing to that,
18:58
Speaker 1: just because as you're talking about that part with the
19:01
Speaker 1: bad Batch, I'm thinking too, you know, the way in
19:04
Speaker 1: which it kind of blew all of our minds of
19:07
Speaker 1: you know, bringing a Sage Ventriss back into the game
19:11
Speaker 1: when we all thought her to be dead because of
19:14
Speaker 1: the Dark Disciple book. And you know, again, I think
19:18
Speaker 1: that's the kind of thing where, you know, almost like
19:23
Speaker 1: the Clone Wars bringing back mal you know, to do
19:27
Speaker 1: this in this way, it's like, Okay, this is there's
19:30
Speaker 1: a reason for them doing this, and it's going to
19:32
Speaker 1: be amazing because I trust them implicitly, especially when it
19:36
Speaker 1: comes to the animation, because they've proven themselves to be
19:38
Speaker 1: able to do this kind of thing. And so it
19:41
Speaker 1: just makes me so excited the fact that one they
19:43
Speaker 1: brought her back and two hopefully we'll be getting that
19:47
Speaker 1: story at some point.
19:48
Speaker 4: You know, there's a part of me that's like, what,
19:50
Speaker 4: you know, hey, man, Like, whatever they want to do,
19:53
Speaker 4: I trust them no matter what. Like Animation has it
19:56
Speaker 4: in such a way that if they do a little
19:59
Speaker 4: like Jedi hand wavy thing. I'm like, yeah, okay, that's fine.
20:02
Speaker 4: And it's like, well, that's just not the story we're telling. Okay,
20:05
Speaker 4: I don't care, because it's great that she's here.
20:08
Speaker 2: Awesome. I like it.
20:10
Speaker 4: You know, it's just like mal coming back in the
20:13
Speaker 4: Clone Wars. I don't know how he got there. He
20:16
Speaker 4: doesn't know how he got there. How did you get here?
20:19
Speaker 2: I don't know. Okay, that's fine.
20:21
Speaker 4: Like it's okay, yeah, it just it just works, and
20:24
Speaker 4: it's you had to be a great storyteller to.
20:26
Speaker 2: Let it just work. You do.
20:29
Speaker 4: And you know, speaking of great storytelling, Tales of the
20:33
Speaker 4: Empire sticking with animation, I loved that series. I love
20:40
Speaker 4: not past tense. I still currently love that series. Tales
20:43
Speaker 4: of the Empire again, just like Tales of the Jedi,
20:49
Speaker 4: is that essence of getting to experimental storytelling, of leaning
20:56
Speaker 4: into it and saying formats have changed, audiences have changed,
21:02
Speaker 4: Let's see what we can do this different. We're not
21:05
Speaker 4: locking into it's got to be a twenty two minute
21:07
Speaker 4: show with commercial breaks. We're not locking into it has
21:10
Speaker 4: to be an hour long show that's dropped weekly. We're
21:12
Speaker 4: not locking into it has to be a two hour movie.
21:14
Speaker 4: It's looking at the landscape and saying, you know, people
21:18
Speaker 4: consume things differently, Now, what can we do again? Just
21:21
Speaker 4: like the Tartakovski series where it's like, tell me a
21:25
Speaker 4: story in three minutes? Yeah, and Tartakovski said, okay, let's
21:30
Speaker 4: do this well. I think Lucas's original mandate was one
21:32
Speaker 4: minute and Tartakowski was like, eh, one's a bit much.
21:35
Speaker 2: Can you give me three? And three minutes worked? Fifteen
21:38
Speaker 2: minutes works.
21:40
Speaker 4: Star Wars thrives when you let it find new ways
21:43
Speaker 4: to tell the story, and Tales of the Empire proved
21:46
Speaker 4: that this story towelling format is something they should be
21:49
Speaker 4: leaning into. And I really hope they keep leaning into
21:53
Speaker 4: it and they keep saying okay, and I want them
21:57
Speaker 4: to continue it in animation. I want them to move
22:00
Speaker 4: on to live action as well and say, you know,
22:03
Speaker 4: why can't we just do shorts? Why does it have
22:06
Speaker 4: to be a big, hour long production. Why do we
22:09
Speaker 4: have to spend three hundred million dollars on a show
22:12
Speaker 4: we don't We can tell all of this story in
22:14
Speaker 4: fifteen minute segments. Eight episodes Boom, Quick, rapid fire, Get in,
22:20
Speaker 4: get out, get your point across.
22:22
Speaker 1: You know, I think what you were saying there with
22:26
Speaker 1: just the fact that you know, we had two things
22:30
Speaker 1: in animation come out with Tales of the Empire as
22:33
Speaker 1: well as Bad Batch season three, and you know, it
22:36
Speaker 1: makes me thankful that Lucasfilm has continued to invest in
22:43
Speaker 1: the animation. But I do have to say, I think,
22:48
Speaker 1: you know, I know, this is our thanks gun Ganneck
22:50
Speaker 1: episode where we talk about things that we're thankful for.
22:54
Speaker 1: But I think I think what I would just challenge
23:00
Speaker 1: Lucasfilm with and any listener with, is that there what's
23:09
Speaker 1: been the downfall of Star Wars animation at any point.
23:13
Speaker 1: The only series that really didn't work was Resistance, right,
23:19
Speaker 1: And I think we could all tell by Resistance that
23:22
Speaker 1: it almost felt like a mandate of saying, hey, we
23:25
Speaker 1: have to make this show, so make this show. There
23:29
Speaker 1: wasn't a real reason to make it. There wasn't a
23:32
Speaker 1: lot of passion behind it in the sense of like
23:34
Speaker 1: because it really is a story that needs to be told.
23:38
Speaker 1: One of the things that's always made these shows work,
23:41
Speaker 1: whether it's been the It Tells, the Empire Tells, the
23:44
Speaker 1: Jedi Clone Wars Rebels, and even the Bad Batch, right,
23:51
Speaker 1: is because all of these stories, there's such heart behind it,
23:55
Speaker 1: and you could feel the beating heart of the creators
23:57
Speaker 1: behind every single frame. And you know, obviously Rebels was
24:03
Speaker 1: one of those shows where I think it started off
24:05
Speaker 1: as a mandate and then became a labor of love
24:09
Speaker 1: where it was like, no, we are making this work.
24:11
Speaker 1: It's going to be amazing, you know, And so so
24:15
Speaker 1: I guess if there's anything in here I would I
24:18
Speaker 1: just want to challenge Disney please start investing more in
24:24
Speaker 1: Star Wars animation, because as you were talking about, you know,
24:26
Speaker 1: doing things in live action in shorts, you know, the
24:30
Speaker 1: amount of money that it costs to put on a
24:32
Speaker 1: live action show as compared to an animated show is minuscule, right, Like,
24:38
Speaker 1: it's just minuscule comparatively in the cost, and yet the
24:43
Speaker 1: actual production value only continues to get better. The storytelling
24:48
Speaker 1: has only continued to get better, and the medium has
24:51
Speaker 1: completely proved that it can tell some of the absolute
24:54
Speaker 1: best stories of all time in Star Wars with just
25:00
Speaker 1: a little bit of investment, you know. And it's like,
25:03
Speaker 1: let's just hope that they continue that.
25:06
Speaker 2: Well.
25:07
Speaker 4: In the irony of the fact that Disney, their parent company,
25:09
Speaker 4: now has lost sight of animation in general.
25:13
Speaker 2: I mean, this is a.
25:14
Speaker 4: Whole thing, whole rabbit hole you can go down to
25:17
Speaker 4: begin with. How did Disney revitalize itself after a very
25:21
Speaker 4: difficult nineteen eighties decade was they said, Okay, let's lean
25:27
Speaker 4: into animation. Let's take some stories that people like identify with,
25:35
Speaker 4: they that work for them, and let's just lean into it.
25:39
Speaker 2: Now.
25:39
Speaker 4: Back then they were like, let's get something in the
25:41
Speaker 4: public domain. We don't have to pay anybody squat for
25:43
Speaker 4: the rights. Well, you own Star Wars. You don't have
25:46
Speaker 4: to pay for the right, you own the rights. Great,
25:50
Speaker 4: and to your point, animation, you could even make animated
25:55
Speaker 4: movies for Yeah, and you know, like and the way
26:00
Speaker 4: the production process is, you'll expose any problems in the
26:07
Speaker 4: lead up instead of being forget me for throwing another
26:12
Speaker 4: Disney powerhouse under the bus, but like instead of being
26:15
Speaker 4: like Marvel, where all of these stories we hear about,
26:18
Speaker 4: like where they're completely reconfiguring things up until like well
26:23
Speaker 4: passed where you used to lock picture and they're like,
26:26
Speaker 4: oh no, no, no, we have to fix that. Oh
26:28
Speaker 4: no no no, like they just they get in this
26:30
Speaker 4: revision doom loop. Yeah, animation actually solves that for you
26:35
Speaker 4: because you have to plan it out so much. Your
26:38
Speaker 4: doom loop is done by the time you get into
26:41
Speaker 4: the production part of it, unless it's Frozen two and
26:44
Speaker 4: you're just making it up as you go. But that's okay,
26:48
Speaker 4: it was successful enough. But you know, like it's that
26:51
Speaker 4: sort of thing. And it's like all of this to
26:53
Speaker 4: say how thankful we are for the animated stuff, so
26:58
Speaker 4: thankful that we want more were.
27:00
Speaker 2: Of the animated stuff, please give.
27:04
Speaker 1: Us saying I hear it again. When you look at
27:09
Speaker 1: the track record of Star Wars animation, it's ridiculous compared
27:15
Speaker 1: to the track record of other things in Star Wars
27:19
Speaker 1: at this point.
27:20
Speaker 2: Uh.
27:20
Speaker 1: And I do think, as you were mentioning, one of
27:23
Speaker 1: the reasons of that is because the kinks have to
27:28
Speaker 1: get worked out before you start animating. You know, you
27:33
Speaker 1: can't you can't do that in the middle of animation
27:36
Speaker 1: because it costs too much to go back and reanimate
27:39
Speaker 1: something because of all the time it takes an area.
27:41
Speaker 1: So all that to say, yes, please just just give
27:44
Speaker 1: us more, you know, I think it. One of the
27:46
Speaker 1: fun things to this this year, John, is that John
27:49
Speaker 1: Jackson Miller returned to the books and gave us the
27:53
Speaker 1: Living Force, which was a really fun Jedi romp uh
28:00
Speaker 1: in the prequel era before episode one, and it was
28:04
Speaker 1: you know, it just had a lot of fun with
28:06
Speaker 1: the book. And I think what it kind of proved
28:08
Speaker 1: is that you didn't have to be ultra serious with
28:18
Speaker 1: Star Wars and the Jedi in this time period, while
28:21
Speaker 1: at the same time subtly reinforcing what some of the
28:25
Speaker 1: issues there were for the Jedi in that time period.
28:29
Speaker 1: And I think John Jack Similer really walked that tightrope
28:33
Speaker 1: and allowed us to be able to spend time with
28:35
Speaker 1: all these Jeddak characters. Of course we know in the
28:38
Speaker 1: prequel era, but we didn't even you know, with the
28:41
Speaker 1: Clone Wars. We didn't necessarily get a chance to know
28:44
Speaker 1: as well as we might have wanted to. And so
28:47
Speaker 1: it's it was a great book. It was super fun
28:50
Speaker 1: in that sense, and what it really made me want
28:53
Speaker 1: there is like, let's do an animated series in that
28:57
Speaker 1: time period.
28:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, okay, this is where I waded into
29:03
Speaker 4: dangerous territory. This is drunk Uncle at the Thanksgunkan Tables
29:07
Speaker 4: of Territory. So bear with me, everybody, as I have
29:16
Speaker 4: spent more time in my head with Miller's The Living Force,
29:22
Speaker 4: the more I've enjoyed it, Like when I first read it,
29:26
Speaker 4: I was like, it's good. But to your point, the
29:30
Speaker 4: more I've sat with it, the more I've really thought
29:33
Speaker 4: the way you have where it's like, you know, it
29:37
Speaker 4: really drives home the point about how the Jedi had
29:41
Speaker 4: lost touch and their awareness that they kind of had
29:46
Speaker 4: and not knowing quite how to fix it, and it
29:51
Speaker 4: does it in a more fun way than a lot
29:55
Speaker 4: of other Star Wars stuff has that's live action.
30:01
Speaker 2: In recent times.
30:04
Speaker 4: That that's why I think, as I sat there with
30:06
Speaker 4: it in my head for a longer period of time,
30:08
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, no, you know what, this.
30:10
Speaker 2: Actually really worked really really well.
30:12
Speaker 4: And you know, just as in a side, I'm reading
30:14
Speaker 4: Miller's sequel to the nineteen eighty nine Batman Batman Resurrection,
30:21
Speaker 4: and it's in that exact same thing where it's like
30:24
Speaker 4: it's like somebody sat down, and in this case it's
30:27
Speaker 4: Miller and said, you know what, if we just had fun.
30:30
Speaker 4: Everybody remember fun? Everybody, remember just having a good time
30:34
Speaker 4: with everything and not overthinking it. And I think that's
30:37
Speaker 4: really the strength of the Living Force is, like you're
30:40
Speaker 4: saying it's like, you can have a good time with this.
30:43
Speaker 4: You don't have to try to make it so dour
30:47
Speaker 4: and heavy and even you know, even the stuff like
30:52
Speaker 4: because the thing is that that's at the core, like that,
30:53
Speaker 4: that's even in Bad Batch season three, that's even at
30:56
Speaker 4: certain points of Tales of the Empire where there's that
30:59
Speaker 4: sense of fun where it's it's not a direct wink,
31:05
Speaker 4: but it's a nod to the audience of like, I mean,
31:07
Speaker 4: we're kind of we're doing something kind of crazy here, right,
31:11
Speaker 4: I mean, let's just sort of like lean into that, right,
31:14
Speaker 4: and you, as an audience member, pick up on that
31:16
Speaker 4: signal and you're like, yeah, you know what, You're right,
31:19
Speaker 4: this is this is a bunch of like deadly flashlights
31:23
Speaker 4: and magic powers.
31:24
Speaker 2: Let's yeah, let's just let's just relax everybody.
31:27
Speaker 4: Let's not uh, let's not make it too overwrought, and
31:32
Speaker 4: let let's lean into it sort of thing. And I'm
31:35
Speaker 4: actually thinking of rereading The Living Force because I think
31:38
Speaker 4: that I might have just been very cranky, because as
31:41
Speaker 4: I keep going back to it in my head, I'm like, no, you.
31:45
Speaker 2: Know what, I actually really liked a lot of this books. Yeah,
31:48
Speaker 2: so much.
31:49
Speaker 4: I still have to get to Mace wind the Glass Abyss.
31:52
Speaker 4: But I'll go ahead and say that I'm grateful at
31:56
Speaker 4: the very least that there's another Mace wind Do book
31:58
Speaker 4: out there, because you know how much I love Master Window.
32:01
Speaker 4: I do, and so no matter what, I'm looking forward
32:05
Speaker 4: to reading that book, and I'm thankful that they decided
32:08
Speaker 4: that there should be a book about Mace Windu out there.
32:10
Speaker 2: I'm like, you got it absolutely.
32:13
Speaker 1: You know, that's one I'm not going to comment on
32:15
Speaker 1: because I have read it. So we'll wait until you know,
32:18
Speaker 1: John reads it, and then we'll have a maybe discussion
32:21
Speaker 1: about at some point in this.
32:23
Speaker 2: But foreshadowing, So I got to say to you know,
32:27
Speaker 2: I think.
32:31
Speaker 1: I appreciate, you know, as we're kind of talking about
32:33
Speaker 1: in the call for please Disney give us, you know,
32:39
Speaker 1: like the animated series on four K releases, right, we
32:45
Speaker 1: want to see that. We want that, you know. One
32:48
Speaker 1: of the things that I'm really appreciative of is that
32:51
Speaker 1: as we record this in about a week or so,
32:55
Speaker 1: they're releasing uh, season one of Ahsoka and season three
33:00
Speaker 1: of The Mandalorian on a four K release, So that
33:04
Speaker 1: means all the seasons of The Mandalorian about all the
33:07
Speaker 1: seasons of the Mandalorian will be out, and you will
33:10
Speaker 1: have the season of and Or that had come out
33:12
Speaker 1: as well, and then Ahsoka. And so I appreciate that
33:16
Speaker 1: they are leaning into home releases, you know, and that's
33:22
Speaker 1: one of the things one we've been calling for. And
33:25
Speaker 1: so you know, my encouragement to fans is show your
33:30
Speaker 1: thankfulness to this company by rewarding them with your money
33:37
Speaker 1: for the things that, yes, they have done well, and
33:41
Speaker 1: this is something they're doing well in that those four
33:44
Speaker 1: K releases are beautiful. This shows look fantastic on them,
33:49
Speaker 1: The presentation is great. It's an awesome steal book. So
33:54
Speaker 1: you know, don't don't do the thing where you punish
34:00
Speaker 1: a studio for the things that you don't like by
34:04
Speaker 1: punishing with everything that and not supporting what you do like.
34:09
Speaker 1: Because we don't support when we do like, well, we
34:12
Speaker 1: won't keep, we won't get it. And so this is
34:14
Speaker 1: a place where I'm incredibly thankful for Disney to leaning
34:17
Speaker 1: into that and getting back into the home the home
34:21
Speaker 1: release market. And I hope that they will continue because,
34:25
Speaker 1: my goodness, the presentation on these discs and the shows
34:29
Speaker 1: look better than you've ever thought possible.
34:33
Speaker 4: People have lost sight of the fact that the compression
34:36
Speaker 4: rates to stream to you are robbing you of quality.
34:41
Speaker 4: And that's that's something that people have forgotten. But again,
34:44
Speaker 4: going back to like something I was saying earlier, like
34:47
Speaker 4: just lean into the fact that it's like the vinyl market.
34:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, they keep.
34:50
Speaker 4: Releasing record albums. Yeah, and yeah, nerds like me pick
34:55
Speaker 4: up Van Halen's four Unlawful Carnal Knowledge for a couple
34:58
Speaker 4: extra bucks. Even though I've heard the thing of billion
35:00
Speaker 4: times and I can stream it because I'm looking for
35:03
Speaker 4: hearing that sound. I remember the sound that was so distinct,
35:08
Speaker 4: so unique, so perfect because it was a format built
35:13
Speaker 4: for that and there was zero compression on it. No
35:16
Speaker 4: matter what you do with digital, no matter what you
35:20
Speaker 4: do with digital, there is a limit to it that can't.
35:24
Speaker 2: Touch certain things.
35:26
Speaker 4: And granted, discs and streaming are both digital, but the
35:32
Speaker 4: degradation is still there for streaming. So yes, the home releases,
35:39
Speaker 4: you know that Mando season three, Ahsoca season one, Are
35:44
Speaker 4: you kidding?
35:44
Speaker 2: Yep?
35:45
Speaker 4: I'm gonna buy the hell out of a Sosoca season one.
35:48
Speaker 4: I can't wait to see what it looks like on
35:51
Speaker 4: uncompressed four K. It's gonna be mind blowing, I bet
35:55
Speaker 4: how good it looks. And so yes, I'm very thankful
35:58
Speaker 4: that we're getting that. I you know, I'm thankful in
36:03
Speaker 4: a large way that and this will sound snarky, but
36:11
Speaker 4: you know, give me my moment here. I'm thankful for
36:16
Speaker 4: the fact that overall production on Star Wars seems to
36:24
Speaker 4: be a little bit slower, because I think we can
36:28
Speaker 4: all agree that they came out of the gate way
36:31
Speaker 4: too fast about a decade ago, and that's why we
36:36
Speaker 4: had the problems that we had had. They overcompensated and
36:40
Speaker 4: slowed down a little bit too much. Maybe I think
36:44
Speaker 4: for books, they could release more books. We're all used
36:48
Speaker 4: to getting tons of books, release trade paperbacks and release hardcovers.
36:54
Speaker 4: Will buy them all, we'll read them all. You know,
36:56
Speaker 4: you have us go ahead and do it, and especially
37:00
Speaker 4: with digital books now you can, you know, take them
37:03
Speaker 4: out a whole new door, as the Joker might say,
37:05
Speaker 4: so increase production there. But I am grateful for the
37:09
Speaker 4: fact that what does make it seems a little more
37:13
Speaker 4: thoughtful and at a little more intentional, because it's easy
37:18
Speaker 4: for me to complain about, oh there are no Star
37:21
Speaker 4: Wars movies coming out, well, right, I once lived through
37:26
Speaker 4: an era where there were eighteen years between Star Wars movies,
37:31
Speaker 4: and I survived and it was okay. And I lived
37:35
Speaker 4: on the books and the toys and all of those
37:39
Speaker 4: other sundry things that had no movie attached to them. Okay,
37:44
Speaker 4: that's fine, and it's it's not a big deal. And yes,
37:49
Speaker 4: I know my math is off. It wasn't eighteen years.
37:51
Speaker 4: I think it was sixteen years whatever. I'm speaking on
37:53
Speaker 4: the fly here, be gracious, but it's okay if we
37:58
Speaker 4: go a while before another movie comes out. The only
38:00
Speaker 4: reason that Disney cares so much about a movie coming out. Sorry, Disney,
38:04
Speaker 4: please don't issue a drone strike for my house is
38:09
Speaker 4: because the board of directors is like, well, I need
38:13
Speaker 4: my stock shares to go up. You need to release
38:14
Speaker 4: movies for my stock shares to go up. Yeah, look
38:17
Speaker 4: at what's happened with Marvel, you guys. The Muppets are
38:20
Speaker 4: pretty much like Okay, I can live with Star Wars
38:23
Speaker 4: being in a more intentional space. And if this is
38:26
Speaker 4: what a more intentional space looks like, where I get
38:31
Speaker 4: more books than series and more series than movies, that's
38:38
Speaker 4: not a bad space to be living in. Yeah, is
38:41
Speaker 4: it frustrating. It's frustrating in the sense that sometimes there's
38:46
Speaker 4: a live action series that gets greenlit that shouldn't because
38:50
Speaker 4: if cooler heads prevailed, they'd look at it and say, yeah,
38:54
Speaker 4: maybe that's a TV of the TV movie of the Week,
38:57
Speaker 4: hour and a half thing we toss out there, and
38:59
Speaker 4: maybe if it's not a great success, it's drawing less
39:03
Speaker 4: attention to itself, you know. And I will be thankful
39:05
Speaker 4: if it means we're living in a more intentional space
39:07
Speaker 4: with Star Wars.
39:08
Speaker 2: Okay, I can live with.
39:09
Speaker 1: I think that's good, you know. I one of the
39:12
Speaker 1: things that because we kind of didn't have as many
39:15
Speaker 1: things coming out in Star Wars, I kind of wanted
39:20
Speaker 1: to do a thing where, you know, this year we
39:22
Speaker 1: talk about people that have made Star Wars possible that
39:26
Speaker 1: we're thankful for, and one of them. And the reason
39:29
Speaker 1: it brought this up is, you know, you and I
39:32
Speaker 1: John got to go to hang out together with our
39:34
Speaker 1: good friend Nick Anastasio in San Francisco just a few
39:39
Speaker 1: weeks back, and you know, to be able to come
39:44
Speaker 1: together and we've talked about this, you know, many times
39:47
Speaker 1: about in one of the things we're always thankful for
39:50
Speaker 1: every year is the way that Star Wars actually brought
39:52
Speaker 1: us together and made us friends, because it's a thing
39:55
Speaker 1: that brought us together, but then we realized there was
39:58
Speaker 1: more to it. And standing with Nick on top of
40:02
Speaker 1: a hill just kind of overlooking Big Rock Ranch, I
40:06
Speaker 1: was struck by how grateful I am for somebody like
40:10
Speaker 1: him who continues to work in Star Wars animation, pours
40:15
Speaker 1: his heart and soul into every single thing that he does,
40:19
Speaker 1: and the way in which from all the conversations we had,
40:24
Speaker 1: the way in which he makes Star Wars is all
40:30
Speaker 1: because of the humility lessons that he took from working
40:34
Speaker 1: with George Lucas, and so I just I'm so incredibly
40:38
Speaker 1: thankful for him, and I'm thankful for Star Wars, you know,
40:43
Speaker 1: for bringing the three of us together for all of
40:47
Speaker 1: these years and all the funs conversations we've had. But
40:50
Speaker 1: I think too just just appreciate that it's deeper than
40:56
Speaker 1: Star Wars now, and so just really thankful for him,
40:59
Speaker 1: you know it again, somebody who who definitely works every
41:04
Speaker 1: single day to keep the Star Wars home fires burning.
41:09
Speaker 1: And so yeah, just you know, as a shout out
41:12
Speaker 1: to somebody behind the scenes and Star Wars that I'm
41:14
Speaker 1: grateful for Nick. You know, we're incredibly grateful for you
41:20
Speaker 1: and your friendship, and and just for the fact that
41:25
Speaker 1: every single day we know that you're working to make
41:29
Speaker 1: the best possible episode, moment frame that you can of
41:37
Speaker 1: Star Wars, and you know, that's what more could you
41:40
Speaker 1: ask for.
41:42
Speaker 4: I couldn't agree more obviously, And I think that the
41:48
Speaker 4: thing that I am very thankful for is that I
41:52
Speaker 4: know somebody who's dream came true. Yeah that sense, yeah,
41:58
Speaker 4: but not us that somebody's dream came true, because I
42:02
Speaker 4: know that you know, everybody who works on Star Wars
42:05
Speaker 4: that's a dream come true sort of thing, especially you know,
42:08
Speaker 4: in our age range and stuff like that. But what
42:11
Speaker 4: I'm very thankful for is, just if I can, you know,
42:14
Speaker 4: to add a personal note onto that, is that Nick
42:17
Speaker 4: is such a personally wonderful and generous and caring and
42:23
Speaker 4: intelligent person that it makes me happy to know that
42:28
Speaker 4: somebody like him add his dream come true in terms
42:33
Speaker 4: of working on something he loves and making that contribution
42:42
Speaker 4: to the lore of something that means that much to him,
42:46
Speaker 4: because I understand how much it means to him, because
42:50
Speaker 4: of how much it means to.
42:51
Speaker 2: Us absolutely, and you always love to see a good guy.
42:54
Speaker 4: Yes, basically, like that's what we're all in the games,
42:57
Speaker 4: were right, is to see the good guys win, and like,
43:02
Speaker 4: like you know, like you said, like knowing him personally
43:07
Speaker 4: is to know a great person. And it's even better
43:11
Speaker 4: because I know that he's doing great yess Yes, for
43:15
Speaker 4: a great reason. And it's like that, that's like every
43:19
Speaker 4: tumbler lining up, and I'm thankful even to be even
43:24
Speaker 4: a minor part of his journey through that and know
43:28
Speaker 4: him as he goes through. So yeah, I mean, and
43:32
Speaker 4: then bringing that all back, I'm thankful that a minor
43:36
Speaker 4: midlife crisis years ago spurred me onto podcasting that brought
43:42
Speaker 4: me eventually to this show after a conversation where I
43:45
Speaker 4: was walking around talking to you after we had spent
43:49
Speaker 4: some time podcasting over on the six zo't two Club
43:52
Speaker 4: and coming up with this idea of you know, I'm
43:56
Speaker 4: always on talking about the you know, the Star Wars stuff,
43:58
Speaker 4: and you're like, yeah, you are. You know, why don't
44:00
Speaker 4: we start our own Star Wars show. It's like, yeah, great,
44:03
Speaker 4: and here we are three hundred eighty three eight zero
44:07
Speaker 4: everybody eighty more than three hundred and twenty away from
44:11
Speaker 4: four hundred. That's an insane number of shows. We've taken
44:15
Speaker 4: a week off here and there too. Because I'll let
44:18
Speaker 4: every you know what, you and me, you're better at
44:21
Speaker 4: math than I am.
44:22
Speaker 2: I suck at math. Okay, I want.
44:26
Speaker 1: Plus Mathew, you are my friend. Then we're in real trouble.
44:31
Speaker 2: Trust me.
44:32
Speaker 4: There's a reason they don't let me near the budget.
44:35
Speaker 4: But like, that's so many years where I know that
44:41
Speaker 4: on average, once a week the two of us can
44:44
Speaker 4: sit down and no matter what type of week it is,
44:46
Speaker 4: it's like, you know what, at least, at least I'm
44:49
Speaker 4: going to get to talk to my buddy and we're
44:51
Speaker 4: going to have a good time. So I'm very thankful
44:54
Speaker 4: for all of that. And ladies and gentlemen, that's about
44:59
Speaker 4: as mushy as I ever get. So there you go,
45:02
Speaker 4: take it or leave it. That's that's me opening my
45:05
Speaker 4: heart to my dear friend, Matthew Rush Dude.
45:08
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it is it's so crazy, like
45:11
Speaker 1: you said, just when I think about the fact that
45:14
Speaker 1: it's been that many episodes, it is it is almost
45:18
Speaker 1: hard to fathom that we, you know, have been at
45:21
Speaker 1: this this long and part of this is really Look,
45:28
Speaker 1: do we we have outrageous listening numbers? No, like we don't,
45:34
Speaker 1: But that's not the point for us. It is about
45:36
Speaker 1: two guys who really love a thing, coming to it
45:40
Speaker 1: and enjoying it and doing it for the love of
45:43
Speaker 1: this thing and for one another, you know. I mean,
45:46
Speaker 1: the fact that we've been doing this since twenty sixteen
45:50
Speaker 1: is just crazy. And in fact, our very first episode
45:55
Speaker 1: was dropped on the twenty seventh of January and twenty sixteen,
46:01
Speaker 1: and so, what, that's a long time that we've been
46:05
Speaker 1: doing this And I think.
46:06
Speaker 4: That's literally like, what what is that? That's two presidential
46:10
Speaker 4: terms ago.
46:11
Speaker 2: Or something like that. That's crazy, my goodness.
46:14
Speaker 1: So you know, and so I was thinking about this too,
46:17
Speaker 1: and in that sense, and like people behind the scenes,
46:20
Speaker 1: and one of the people that I'm really thankful for
46:24
Speaker 1: is that, you know, Dave Filoni accepted the job of
46:28
Speaker 1: CEO at a lucasfilm. I'm excited to see what he's
46:33
Speaker 1: going to do in that arena, and I'm incredibly thankful
46:37
Speaker 1: for him and his dedication to Star Wars. And like Nick,
46:42
Speaker 1: he's a man who he's never tried to influence Star
46:48
Speaker 1: Wars in a way that was not consistent with the
46:51
Speaker 1: rules that he learned from the Master, and he learned
46:56
Speaker 1: what the rules were so well so that then he
47:00
Speaker 1: could influence Star Wars in the ways in which were
47:03
Speaker 1: important to him, which we've seen. You know, Dave has
47:06
Speaker 1: absolutely influenced Star Wars with things that he loves, with
47:10
Speaker 1: his love of things like Lord of the Rings, uh
47:15
Speaker 1: and and things like that, his continued love just like
47:18
Speaker 1: Lucas of of like Kirosawa type of films, you know,
47:22
Speaker 1: and and and those influences. And it was always interesting
47:26
Speaker 1: because the things that that Dave has been a part
47:30
Speaker 1: of from the beginning or in the exception or anything,
47:34
Speaker 1: I was never worried about. And I'm thankful for that
47:38
Speaker 1: being the case. I'm just thankful for him as a
47:41
Speaker 1: person who who is is so high up in the
47:44
Speaker 1: ranks for Star Wars, for sticking to it, for sticking
47:47
Speaker 1: with it when I knew, you know, it can't be
47:51
Speaker 1: easy all the time. Uh and you know, playing the
47:55
Speaker 1: higher you get, the more politics you have to play.
47:58
Speaker 2: Uh.
47:59
Speaker 1: And so just incredibly thankful for Dave Filoni and the
48:03
Speaker 1: fact that he's a man you can tell who just
48:06
Speaker 1: completely loves this storytelling universe, and it's his dedication to
48:14
Speaker 1: trying to make the absolute best for that storytelling universe,
48:19
Speaker 1: which has given us some of the things that we
48:22
Speaker 1: love the most. So, you know, if you're listening, Dave,
48:25
Speaker 1: we hope you are. We're thankful for you. We appreciate
48:29
Speaker 1: the hard work, sweat and tears. I'm sure that you've
48:33
Speaker 1: put into this over the years, and we just hope
48:37
Speaker 1: that you will continue to do that because there are
48:39
Speaker 1: people out here who appreciate you, and dude, you know,
48:46
Speaker 1: great job man.
48:48
Speaker 4: And I think this Thanks Gungan, is evidence that no
48:53
Speaker 4: matter what you might think about the you know, how
48:57
Speaker 4: much stuff is coming out or blah blah blah or
48:59
Speaker 4: anything like that, we still have a lot to be
49:01
Speaker 4: thankful for as Star Wars fans. We really do, and
49:04
Speaker 4: it is it might not be anybody's golden era from
49:09
Speaker 4: this aspect or that aspect, but I'm just grateful overall
49:13
Speaker 4: that we've still got Star Wars to talk about, and that,
49:17
Speaker 4: if anything, means more than the world because of the
49:21
Speaker 4: fact that we still have Star Wars to talk about.
49:25
Speaker 4: That's new and that's fresh, and that's good and you know, honestly,
49:31
Speaker 4: not many franchises are still meaningful to people after basically
49:38
Speaker 4: five decades. That's a long time everybody. That's longer than
49:43
Speaker 4: some people get on this earth. So let's be grateful overall,
49:49
Speaker 4: every one of us that we have so much to
49:51
Speaker 4: be thankful for. And Matt, something I'm thankful for is
49:57
Speaker 4: that people can come to you online and also listen
50:01
Speaker 4: to you on other outlets. So where can people express
50:05
Speaker 4: their thanks for those things?
50:07
Speaker 1: Well, I'd absolutely love to catch up with you all
50:09
Speaker 1: over social media under the name Matt Rushing zero two.
50:13
Speaker 1: Find me, contact me. You would love to hear from you.
50:16
Speaker 1: We would absolutely love to hear you know the ways
50:19
Speaker 1: that you're thankful for Star Wars, the things that you've
50:21
Speaker 1: really been digging into. We didn't even talk about the
50:24
Speaker 1: fact that, you know, got to be thankful for the
50:27
Speaker 1: fact that the darth Plagus book still exists and it's
50:30
Speaker 1: still phenomenal, you know, things like that. You could also
50:34
Speaker 1: find me over on another show here on the network
50:38
Speaker 1: called Owl Posts It's completed, did that with Dray Kaufman
50:41
Speaker 1: as we talked about the entire Harry Potter series one
50:45
Speaker 1: chapter at a time, and then you'll find me over
50:48
Speaker 1: on the TFM network with a lot of different shows,
50:51
Speaker 1: a lot of Star Trek talk and over on the
50:53
Speaker 1: six of two quote which John mentioned earlier, where we're
50:55
Speaker 1: talking about all of the franchises that we love, not
50:58
Speaker 1: just one. So you can show that out and hope
51:00
Speaker 1: you will. But John, if people wanted to catch up
51:04
Speaker 1: with you and just tell you how thankful they are
51:08
Speaker 1: for you, where could they find you.
51:11
Speaker 4: Well, you can find me out there on the wilds
51:12
Speaker 4: of the Internet as Kessel Junkie, and you can find
51:15
Speaker 4: me right here on the Nerd Party Network on a
51:19
Speaker 4: show called house Lights that I co host with Tristan
51:23
Speaker 4: Riddell and Darren Moser, and I would love to have
51:26
Speaker 4: everybody give a listen over there. And Frankly, Matt, I
51:31
Speaker 4: think it's time for us to go back and get
51:34
Speaker 4: to get all these wonderful Gungan turkeys lined up and
51:40
Speaker 4: ready to eat in front of all of those thirty
51:43
Speaker 4: Jedi you mentioned earlier that were fasting, because if anything,
51:47
Speaker 4: me gorging myself in front of somebody who's refusing to eat, Frankly,
51:53
Speaker 4: I think that's what Thanks Gungan is all about. So
51:55
Speaker 4: I think it's time to close these negotiations.
51:57
Speaker 1: Well, as long as we've got that pepper. I'm my
52:00
Speaker 1: cocoa calf. I'm super excited, John. Negotiations are closed. Join
52:23
Speaker 1: the Revolution, Join the Nerd Party.