Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

If we knew more about our sleep What will we do differently Would we go to bed at a consistent time or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep with sleep score Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep duration And then, every morning it combines these factors into an easy to understand score, from one to one hundred So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high Know your sleep score With Apple Watch, iPhone eleven or later required What's up everyone, and welcome to Last Week in Star Wars. I'm Alex. I'm Ollie. And this episode is gonna be a little bit different. I mean, no news came out And there was one big last weekend Canon thing that we're going to talk about. and we're basically just going to talk about the mandalorian and Grogu the whole time Got a lot to say. We usually answer questions at the ends of our episodes We're going to save those for a video next week that is just going to be all about answering questions. So if you have any of your own, put them down in the comments and we'll look through them and choose a bunch of our favorites. I also wanted to show off our two new shirts that we have in our store right now. They're both Mandalorian inspired really happy with how this one turned out, especially. it's kind of like a tattoo inspired design and the back looks great. Yeah, the helmet on the back looks very shiny. I like how they did the color on it. But those are available right now and we're going to have them on sale while we cover the Mandalorian and Grogu. We're filming this on Friday. We usually film Thursdays, but we saw the movie It was my second time last night your third time. My third time. I went to another early fan screening on Monday. three of our friends, which was really cool because the three friends that I took like very different degrees of Star Wars fandoms, so it was cool to get all of their opinions afterwards. And last night we went with like twelve I think there were like twelve of us going to see the movie, which again, yeah, big wide array of People who all like Star Wars But Deinitely some are like, I've seen each movie once and some are like I watch the shows. So yeah, it was fun to get everyone's opinion. There were two other Dragon Con Star Wars trivia alumni there. So yes, varying degrees from the most hardcore Star Wars nerds to the most casual. I walked out of there very happy again. I was a little worried that what if I just liked it because of all the excitement of the premiere and everything? I remember in the theater the first time reallyally loving the first half, not so much vibing with the second half and coming out of it a second time That first half still hit really hard for me. I still loved it And the second half still slows down knowing that was coming did not affect me as much. I feel like on my second watch I was able to enjoy it more. I think a lot of that had to do with just the overwhelming feeling of being at the premiere and being in a room full of the actors and the creators and everything. and like we were still a little bit on East Cast time so it was feeling really late and like by the end of that day, we were just kind of exhausted, but also excited. And our seats were in like one of the very front rows, and so we were kind of like,. That's true. The first time we watched it, we were like almost all the way reclined. It was nice having a great view of the screen last night. I will say I enjoyed my second screening more than the third Interesting I think a lot of that had to do with the vibe of the room. Everyone at that Monday screening, it was just like another advanced screening. so there were a lot of like Hcore fans there There was a lot more cheering and clapping and laughing within the theatater itself, whereas last night the vibe was a little bit more Yeah, there were some laughs and a couple of gasps, but Yeah, it was A lot of it was probably from R row. Yeah. I mean, in the room was pretty full. It wasn't a huge theater. We saw in IiMAax but it was fairly full You said at your fan screening that people cheered for Zeb and that surprised me. Yeah, there were of specific moments within the movie where peopleeople would audibly cheer or clap and like Zeb O Fulloney, of course, Rada. actually. I think there were cheers for Rada. Maybe that was just me. I mean, yeah, last night you clapped when they just showed the little the baby. He is very cute I brought the littlest version of that print that we also have to the theater with me just Because I love it. He's your little guy. He's He's my big guy now. Oh, well. One of our friends said he went from punky muffin to stud muffin? Yes which is a great tagline. Another cool thing about my first two screenings premiere and the first early fan screening previews thing before like the official IMeX Mando countdown that I guess is on every showing Last night's viewing, we were at a regal cinema and we clocked it in around like thirty, thirty five minutes of It was a seven o'clock showtime and it started at seven thirty five And I'm someone who likes previews That was ridiculous. And we were like The whole theater was groaning every time a new preview would start or another truck commercial would come on. and you're like, what is this? It It was a lot. At one point, I was like, you know, I've seen the movie twice already. I got up to go to the bathroom and I was like, surely it will have started when I come back. and I come back and it's a tooy story trailer I was just like, G, what are we doing here? And it was even more frustrating because I knew mostost of the people in the theater were adults. and those trailers were like minions, tooy story, you know, there was like a weird little minion interlude in between every trailer. Right. And I was like, this is too much. It's way too much. Like People pick their theater movie times on purpose knowing how long the movie is so that they'll get out at a decent time. and when you're tacking on thirty plus minutes That's affecting people's sleep and their whole Sedule whole plan. I hate it I agree. That was like putting people in a frustrated mood when that IMAX thing started and it's just like kicking in the Mandalorian theme. I'm like I love Ludwood Goronsson. He might be the best thing to happen to Star Wars in a long time. I mean this movie, I was thinking about how this is a movie that I really enjoy watching because it's so much fun, but we've also had plenty of discussions and we're going to talk about like criticisms here. It's like I can find so much to criticize It's just a blast to watch. and I do think part of it is that Ludwigs score elevates things so much. and I love Rada's theme Yeah that plays during the credits. And so that was part of the reason that I was just like, vibing hard with the end of the movies because I was listening to Roda's theme again. And you compared it to the original trilogy and how John Williams' music really elevated and took those movies to a place that Everyone was like, this is something that we've never seen before. There's a great podcast called Blockbuster that's kind of like a dramatized retelling of the creation of Jaws and Star Wars And there's a scene it's just audio, but it's a scene of George Lucas listening to John Williams music for the first time and George just being so relieved. He's like, oh my gosh This is going to be okay. Yeah. L he's doing it. He's making this movie you's taking it to the next level Yeah, what a great feeling for George. She's like I'm doing something good here and I found the perfect person to do it with. Yeah. So yeah, let's talk about the movie and what we liked and we're also going to get into what we disliked and what didn't work. That's probably just We don't have a super strructure for this, so we're just going to kind of go in and out. but Yeah, like I said, the movie is just a fun time and to me that is okay. I've been saying I think that if we hadn't just gotten some really heavy shows like Andor and Maul that I would probably be more frustrated, but because we had like some really heavy stuff and I was okay with just some light entertainment Yeah, it's interesting because yeah, because we just experienced a show like Andor I feel like some people are going to go into this feeling relieved that it's something different and it's more pulpy and fun And some people are going to be like, I wish it was more like Andor So I think it just depends on the fan and your expectations are going into the movie I've talked before about how I think me as a completionist to watches every show and reads every comic and book tend to I guess not hang all of my hopes and dreams on every Star Wars movie. Like I've been disappointed by Star Wars movies before and doesn't affect me, I think, as much as it does. to people who only experience Star Wars through the movies where they're like, I haven't seen a Star Wars movie in seven years and something lot of substance, which is fair. likeike that is still my biggest criticism for the movie is that I'm like doesn't really have a whole lot to say and there's not like any big character arcs in my opinion I'm okay with just having fun in a theater for a couple hours. Yeah, I feel like that's exactly what I expected the movie to be. I thought it would be fun, I thought it would be entertaining I think Between Favreu and Faloni They know how to make a movie that like the general population, the casual fans will come out of being like, that was cool. Right. But then you talk about the hardcore fans and like the people like the us who think about this franchise just about every single day. And especially the people who feel like they were not rewarded by watching this movie, like the people who have been watching the shows, keeping up with all the lore And then they go into a movie like this and they're like I don't feel rewarded for having seen all that other stuff. right And that that's valid and frustrating. It's like inside of me, there are two Star Wars fans and there was One side of me that was having so much fun watching the Dederick fight. I thought that was sick. Both times that started happening and I was like, I love this And then yeah, there's another Star Wars fan that is frustrated by what feel like inconsistencies with lore and the fact that This is part of a larger universe Within Star Wars, it's part of the New Republic era. It doesn't build up into the next thing. it doesn't really like you don't need to have seen the show necessarily. So Yeahah, I can definitely see people who are like I am a completionist and I do watch everything and I'm not feeling cered to right now. Yeah. I promise we're going to get to more that we liked. It does kind of feel like They made this movie and I don't know, it's almost like they're thinking After COVID happened, everyone just wanted a clean slate Mandalorian guy And that's not at all what we wanted. Right. And they made a Mandalorne and Grogu movie for brand new fans. Yes. There are a lot of fun connections and easaster eggs and stuff, but more just generally to the entire universe and like Easter eggs as far as So Dedrick game and the species and like I feel like Falononey was responsible for all the fun lore connections But none of it tied back into the Mandalorian television show. We didn't see anyone else on Navarro that we knew or recognized. We didn't rewarded for knowing anything that we learned in the show. Yeah Okay, let's like do a rapid fire what we like. So I already mentioned the Dederich fight. I think that is such a Fun idea I mean like we've been in the middle of doing this kind of tabletop RPG game and I. I'm mad I didn't think about that there's no way we would have gotten there, but like I just think it's such a good idea for someone who owns a pit fighting ring to be like, let's make them fight a bunch of chess pieces basically. When I forget at what point we were watching the trailers and we realized that the floor was painted like the Dedrick board. I was like, Oh my God, they're doing the game. They're doing the hollow chess game. And I think at the time we had only seen the Mantell and Savrip and we're like, that's neat. But the fact that they're all there We Yeah, we hadn't seen the other players. Right that it's just it's just neat. Yeah. It's cool and building off like having Rada in there and Rada's theme pumping I love it. I appreciated that there was a line there was the conversation between Mando and coin where Mando realizes it's a Dedric match. And I was like I wonder and I tried to go on Wikipedia, there's like not a lot of information out there about it. Maybe there will be in the future. but What came first? Like was the Hollow Chess always a game Or is the Hollow Chess game itself based off of these pit matches that used to happen. Fun to think about. I think I'm gonna go with Hollow Chess game first because floor match to the board, but It could be the other way around I mean, like originally it could have just been the idea is to get all of the most dangerous creatures that you can find and have them all fight each other, and eventually Maybe someone was like, I'm going to make a board game out of this. Questions like that that are super fun to come out of the theater wondering as a Star Wars fan who knows a lot about Star Wars, that was a new thought for me. And I appreciated that. We both really liked Rada Which I like going into the movie, I was not expecting that I wasn't either and I am like so pleased with how much I liked him And like some people in our group last night were like, oh, I hated the voice. I hated Rada. And I was like, that's fair. I loved him to bits. And he was like, maybe aside from Grogu, he was like the standout character for me in this film. It's just wild to think about we're seeing A Mandalorian and a hut and a tiny yoda Fighting a bunch of droids. like it's just crazy that we have gotten to this point. And I agree that like criticisms that that's all very surface level Star Wars stuff I wish the movie went deeper But it was really fun to watch. I mean Just I found myself grinning ear to ear every time the hutts were on screen because I was like, This is cool to see them fight to see how they would fight. whipping with their tails, rolling, even as someone like me who is like very critical of heavy CGI I was just having such a good time seeing stuff with the hutts that we've never seen in live action before Another reason why I really liked Rata is because we get introduced to him and we kind of know his backstory. while we like Star Wars fans know He was a baby in the Clone Wars. he's Jabba's son And that's pretty much it. We haven't really seen him or heard from him since then. When we see him and the Mandalorine and Grogu He has already done so much internal work and decided who he's going to be He says, I'm not like my father. And like that moment, that line where he's feeding Grogu and he's like, donon't worry I'm not my father. felt so good to hear being introduced to a character that has already done the work and like has decided, I'm going to be a good person And I want bghta gone to therapy. Right. Right And I'm like, wow Rada could really teach Mando a thing or two And that's kind of like when we first started to hear from Rada in the movie, I was like, oh my God, they're using Rada the Hut and using him well to speak to themes and not blah blah blah. And That's why I was a little frustrated that feel like they pushed that far enough, if at all, like I agree that I was like, oh my gosh, Den is going to learn the lessons through Rot of the Hut. This is crazy And I don't know that he did But I still loved what Rada represented. Yeah. and he kind of helped give Grogu a little bit of a voice to like him and Grogu It makes sense that they would bond together. They're both ids I use kids lightly. they're young. They're young for their species. Right. They've both gone through a lot of trauma. We don't know the extent of all of like Rogu's trauma other than Order sixty six, but maybe he's got like specific family trauma. Rada sees this father and son And he immediately looks at the sn and wants to get to know him and wants to help him, wants to feed him, wants to play with him. That just felt so good to see. And you kind of had to have that. Throughout the show of Mandalorian, We've talked about this before There's a lot of you need a third character to help Grogu and Den's story progress Just the two of them, right They can only go so far. You need other characters coming in to help the That the format of the show. like go to a new planet, do a favor for someone, that person kind of changes their relationship a little bit. And yeah, it's like They're taking like these tiny steps every episode And I do think I was hoping for a Bger step for the movie. I love the scene where Roda and Grogu are playing on the beach. Right. Den has this moment where he's watching them and you can kind of imagine what he could be thinking Just imagine had that had been Pager's face. Right we could have really read into a little bit more emotion read the tiny like micro expressions on his face When it's just the helmet? Oh, I'll talk about the helmet in the There's so many people out there that probably saw that scene and didn't think anything about it H that been a human face conveying human emotions, it could have really hit harder. Without any of that, you still get the idea that Den sees the two of them having fun and playing and he's like Maybe We need to take a step back and like take a break and actually like relax and maybe not go on tons and tons of missions. So like eventually that does happen. He's like I'm going to cool it for a little bit and hang out with my son which I would love to see. Yeah, we talked about like they they go back to their house and we were kind of like, that would have been great to see them living a little bit of their lives more. Like I really like that they were working on the razor crest together. the Grogu' crawling in the vents and he's not electrocuting himself anymore justust seeing like Din cook a meal for Grogu because like John Favreau loves cooking in movies and Grogu loves to eat. So like that would have been such a cute way for them to bond I want to go back to you talked about the Hutts and their fighting style and how it was all CG. As much as I love the Dedrich fight, it's also like veryery CG heavy. It's a Mandalorian running around surrounded by computer generated characters. I really love The opening fight in the ATAT that onener where he's just tearing through the Snow troopers and I really like the fight later. in the salt bar with the Ekachi and all of those goons, like I love seeing just a bunch of stunt people go at it. And I wish we got a little more of that Obviously this movie wanted to make Mando look awwesome and cool and like he really knows what he's doing and that is absolutely what the first en did, like all the stuff on the snow planet. A Mandalorian who is like really good at his job and someone who is allowing his little green son to help him. He's not just along for the ride anymore. He's got stuff he needs to do. Go stop the mouse droid. Yeah, that's great. But yeah seeing him fight actual other actors, other human actors was nice. Every time I've seen that scene, we first saw it back at celebration Tokyo, the ATAT scene, but it's just like this big wner The music's great. You have like the imperial siren going off And then he just comes in and tears through that eighty eighty. I'm like, this is so good and I Like just one more scene like that would have been cool. All the shots of him, like the very first couple of shots where you hear the the like the whistle part of his song And you can like barely get a glimpse of him. He's in the shadows, but you can see a little bit of the reflection off the blaster fire coming off of the armor. You hear the boots sound effect, what's it called the the dangles Spurs. The sppurs. Yeah. you hear the spur sound effect And it just, it's like intro For anyone, someone who already knows this character or someone brand new They're both saying That guy' awesome.. And I think I'm about to see him take all these people out John Favaveau has talked so often about how he treats the Mandalorian like he's playing with his toys again and just using his imagination. and some people have really taken that as a criticism which I understand because again, it's very surface level, very self referential But I still do think that As long as that's not All Star Wars does there's a place for it and it's It's just fun to like revel in weirdness and the joy of Star Wars And I've seen some people saying like I guess this is all Star Wars is now. And that again, I think those are people who only watch the movies where I'm like did not watch Andor? Yeah, we just had Andor. We just had Mall Shadow Lord And those were not like just self referential, shallow stories. The Aolyte. Yeah, like all of these stories had a lot of heavy things to explore. and that's not mentioning the books or the comics that we keep up with. I mean like read something like the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire it's like it's crazy good. so I'm glad I'm always pushing for variety in Star Wars. I never want it to be only Andor all the time, even though that's one of my absolute favorite Star Wars things I want to be able to go in and see something different I think, you know, people also want to go into a movie and be surprised The Mandalorian and Grogui wasn't very surprising. and I think that's one of the things holding me back from fully loving it and a lot of people are coming out being like, Yep, that's what I expected. Yeah, fairly low stakes. There was no point in which I thought Mando or Grogu were in real danger of like dying. So that that does affect feeling of the overall story. But like you said Fabau has always been very upfront about what he wanted this movie to be. I think, Like I think he's always been pretty honest about it being like fun and feels like a ride and like something that brand new fans will enjoy. I mean, That's something that I feel like they always say. Yeah. They don't have to know anything before watching this. and I'm saying that about Shadow Lord which is not true. Like, you can watch Shadow Lord without knowing anything about Maul, but you're gonna be confused and This movie is maybe the first time I think that statement is true. You don't have to know anything about The Mandalorian television show or anything about Star Wars really have a good time watching the film Another big selling point for me, a huge thing that I love the puppetry. Absolutely. L all of the practical effects, the creature stuff, the puppetry was fantastic. It it like completely sold me. like Grogu is absolutely co like main star of this film. He has his own little vignette towards the middle ish like second half or whatever. Between Grogu and the AnzZelans, like I just I loved all the little guys. They are incredibly charming The whole time, like there are moments where I'm going, that's clearly a puppet. and it's like it's moving in the best way that it can. Like Grogu's climbing up a pipe, which ye honestly, that may have been CG but like made to look like puppetry. I can't tell sometimes. There were definitely a handful of completely like CG shots of Grobu, which at those times I was like, yeah, I get why That is CG. But I think they did a good job at making me go, Is that the puppet? Like, I can't believe that puppet is doing that or maybe it's not. The point is sometimes you can tell it's a puppet and it's just like as long as you let yourself Be charmed and believe and it's very much like Yoda. and they talk about how Mark Hamill just like committed to This puppet is old and wise and has a lot to teach me. Yeah and it's real inherently silly. But like if you just let yourself buy into that, Puppets are so good. In real life, we've seen fully animatronic grogu puppet doing press tours stuff And so that really helped me, I think not just me like I'm already sold on Grogu, obviously. Are you finally a fan of Grogu? But I think it maybe helped other people really believe that he could be real. As much as you have always loved Grogu, I've loved him too, but I don't think the magic fully hit me until I saw him in person And he squinted at me and was reacting to me Yeah. And I was like Oh my God, this is real. Yeah. So like imagine being an actor and doing a scene with same puppet Peder has said so many times that he's just so easy to act with and even hard to keep up with as an actor. Yeah. He never forgets his lines because he doesn't have any The Anzeelans were super fun the whole time. Again, like there are moments where you can absolutely tell that they are tiny little puppets and it's like who cares? they are again, so charming. saying the dumbest simplest lines like big pipe, huh?. Our whole theater gota chuckle out of that. I love when when they're like leaving in the ship and they're leaving Mando and they're kind of like, we'll come back for you, Mando. Or they're getting off the ship and they're like, donon't be afraid hyping themselves up. But yeah, but a bunch of brave little guys. But they they had a bigger part in the film that than we like originally thought they would. and We have a friend who's like a big fan of NzZllens and he was very pleased with how much of them were in it Also, I am still in love with their tiny ship It is incredible. like we got to see it in person and it's great But also just how light it seems when it lands, it's just like it comes in it's just like think. like that's cute just the idea of having a tiny ship for tiny beings is delightful to me. And that it was like practical. You could tell it was a model, like I'm sure they made like a smaller model to shoot it with and then The full size was practical The inside cockpit was practical. It had switches and buttons and screens and That was So cool to see on the big screen. The comedy of them sneaking onto Nal Hutta with a flock of birds or when they come back and they pop out of hyperspace, and then an X wing and a Y wing and they're just like this little die. They're likeul we' be back. So good And then they shoot that rat and act like it was a big victory for them. Yeah, every time they were on screen, I was smiling and laughing. And John Fabreaux said when he introded the movie at the preremiere that he was like just trying to capture joy and while I do we'll talk about like the potential messaging of the film, what what the story meant and all that. but I think he accomplished just finding some joy, which I can fully appreciate and approve from while the earth is notot a very joyful place right now And also that's a very Star Warsy thing. like part of the reason Star Wars was such a hit when it came out is because The world was not a very joyful or hopeful place. a lot of movies at the time. We're kind of Reveling in that. movies like taxi dririver and kind of like digging into despair and then Star Wars comes along and it's fun and it's hopeful And I don't think that Mando and Grogu had as much to say as George Lucas did, but like it was just trying to spread joy. Yeah. I mean, that first scene alone shows you just how cowardly a lot of these imperial remnant warlords are like they're touting that they are these big shots to offer safety and protection and they're the first ones in the elevator to get out of there and scurry away A lot of this movie just felt like you were a kid in a theme park. like you're surrounded by this universe that is fun and exciting in familiar but also you're seeing something Star Wars on the big screen that we've never really seen before. L it doesn't have the weightiness and the connection to like an overall lore perspective or like the it's not like a galaxy wide problem We're not dealing with a planet killer This feels kind of like it reminded me a little bit of Spider Man being like friendly neighborhood Spider Man, like This feels contained and smaller Despite the fact that we're talking about like big crime syndicates like the Hutts It was more encased and enclosed in a smaller scale story And that's something fairly new, I think for Star Wars films. Kind of kind of reminds me of solo in that way that Yeahah, not galactic stakakes. I do think Solo had bigger stakes, especially with Maul involved and some parts at the end of Mando and Grou, I was kind of like there aren't very many stakes here personersal or galactic. Yeah. you had like the cloud Riter gang and solo connecting everything back to like We have to do this, we have to continue the fight and we're building to a larger rebellion. Exactly. Yeah. So like it had a lot of connections to the larger story. This really just is about Mando and Grogu and like they're up to. and just the missions that they go on, which is exactly what the show is, except I guess the show does connect a lot more to like The Mandalorians and Mandalore, the new Republic side, which is like they're trying to build new Republic, which is a big deal. That's I mean, I think the very end of season two and especially season three kind of transform the show into the larger galaxy stakes when the first two seasons were much more person. And I guess I we could start going into criticisms because I do think that a lot of that builds off of season three and some of my frustrations especially surrounding the helmet come from season three. Yeah. I'm sure some things will pop up as we keep talking. And I like I want to highlight the music again Yeah because Shiakari Rada's theme, all of it was great. Loved the music. Overall, I think I would agree with your rating. I might give it like a six and a half out of ten, verging on seven So I liked it. Interesting. I was thinking of going from like a seven to a seven and a half, but maybe on my third it'll like go even out some more. I don't know. Yeah. I'm going for a fourth time this weekend, so it might change again. You made a great point about just like our relationship to Star Wars as a whole. Oh yeah that it's not yeah, we're going to have our first impressions, but We're not like most people who are going see this movie and be like, I liked it or I didn't like it and then stop thinking about it. You made me think of this earlier when we were talking about general reviews because a lot of the early reviews that were coming out about this movie were from movie reviewers whose job it is to review all movies not just talk about Star Wars. And so that left a lot of people being like, manan, it sounds like a lot of the reviewers didn't like this it must not be good But then hearing from Star Wars fans, a lot of them absolutely loved it And like for us, it's our job to talk about Star Wars. We talk about it all the time and I hate ranking the films because I feel like my relationship to the films and my opinions of them are constantly changing It depends on how I'm feeling that day. It depends a case by case basis. D depends on how old I am. When I was twelve and seeing Fantomenis versus when I' the age I am now seeing Andor, like it's a lot of different factors, but Because we're always talking about Star Wars, I feel like our ratings and our opinions ebb and flow and that's just maybe something that be conveyed more often. Yeah. I mean, I think that some people look to us as if we're professional critics and we are absolutely not. Oh yeah,. We talked about this on our walk today. like when we go see a Marvel movie most of the time we come out of it being like, That was fine I like that Yeah And then we like don't really talk about it much after that. Every movie we see outside of Star Wars, it's like I liked it, I loved it, I didn't like it. And then unless we loved it, it's like I never really think about that movie much anymore, and then someone will bring it up and be like, Ohh yeah, I did like that or. And I do feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the ability to understand the themes and the overall story, what the movie is trying to say what it's kind of lessons it's trying to teach I have a good grasp on that stuff I'm not applying Th rules super heavily to like Marvel stuff. I don't really care about it enough to be like, but what were the themes? Right. I mean, it's kind of like I really like watching fast and Furious movies, especially on planes I D don't know why, that's just become my thing. And every Maybe all the cars distract you from being in a plane ye in the sky. Just about all of them are so stupid, but they're stupid fun and I enjoy watching them and I don't walk away from that going like, What was Vin Diesel trying to teach me? the moment. What was that seen for?ike I'm just there to watch cars race around and crash into each other and now they're going to space for some reason, okay?? And I'm sure there's probably people watching this video or your reviews being like, man, they are taking this way too seriously. Y. And we're about to take it way too seriously So buckle up. Yeah. Yeah, I hope that's what you're here for But that is what we're here for. That's kind of what we do here. So I want to talk about the helmet. I think that something that could have happened in this movie that would have been surprising and would have elevated it is that when the Hutts take Den's helmet keepe it. Don't give it back to him for no reason. Very strange moment when they were like, this is priceless on the black market. And they're like, you're entertaining us hereere, haveave it back. Right. L that seemed raz And if Den had to go without his helmet for half the movie, and then he can get it back from the Hutts at the end. Do you think he would have had Grogu make him a makeshift helmet out of mud Maybe or like just it's kind of like a bag over his head in season two when he had to wear a different helmet or something. But also like I'm just still hung up on the helmet rule. This is like me bringing my own personal baggage into. R they covered the helmet rule pretty well in the show. They made it clear that he's like, I'm keeping the helmet on And then in season three, He has to A tone for the sin supposed sin of removing his helmet. which he did to show his face to his son and to connect to his son in a real way And then I was like, I don't like that he's going to atone for this, but you know, the only way to do that is to go to Mandalore and bathe in the waters. And at that point, it was a really hard thing to do Now The worst case scenario of someone taking his helmet off is that he has to go take a dip in the waters again, but Mandalore has been resettled. It won't be dangerous for him to do that So I'm like, it's not really that ig of a deal in the first place Right. Yeah, the hutts are like We're going to revel in the idea that we've shamed you. R permanently. And it's like, no. And he certainly doesn't have to be happy about it, but like It all just comes off as very clearly like I think Disney doesn't want to pay Pedro Pascal to be in the whole movie And so the Hutts are going to be like, this is priceless. Have it back. right like a couple minutes later. Maybe they don't want to pay him to be full time the Mandalorian It could be that The schedule would never work out for as much as they want to use the Mandalorian like I think they kind of themselves in a corner by making the helmet rule be like or maybe maybe deciding that this character was going to be Pedro Pascal in the first place because he's a busy guy Yeah, now you're stuck with like this character always has to be helmeted. And I think it would have made such a big difference for Den's story for Grogu' story if he had to get out of the dragon snake Den and and he was poisoned and Grogu had to save his life and you talked about how like he doesn't even say thank you. Oh my go after Grogu saves his life. But if that moment was like He's waking up and Grogu and Den are looking at each other in the eyes whole sequence where Den is out for the count and Grogu's taking care of him. It would have hit so much harder emotionally had we been able to see his face, especially like obviously he's just laying there. But when he wakes up That scene had so much potential we had been able to see and read the emotions on Pedrew Pascal's face But we didn't get that and the line delivery of What was said left me so heartbroken for Grogu. Grogu was like, I just healed you, I like sheltered you, I gave you this medicine, like he did all this stuff for him and he wakes up and he's like, Oh my go, my dad's actually alive again. Yay and Den says, Hey kiddo. The old protect the young and then the young protect the old. He's basically just like inststead of saying thank you quotes a Bible verse to him. Right. He's like This is the way. That's their thank you, I guess. And I was just like And the whole like that I mean this is the personal baggage side of things, but like that's he's using his religion as armor and as a mask to hide his true self from his son. He won't ask for help. like He's in this situation in the first place because He told Grogu to leave instead of asking his magic baby to heal him, which he knows. He knows Grou can do. He knows you can heal. He's seen it happen and He's like, go on without me. Right, whichich maybe felt like another thing we talked about where it's not rewarding for someone who has seen the show because someone who's seen the show is like Den should know that Grogu can heal with the force people who haven't seen the show would be like, Den might die. and they don't know that Grogu can heal wounds. And watching seeason three of the show It seemed like they were going to build up to Din like rejecting the helmet rule. He like he learns throughout the season There is no one way to be a Mandalorian. He accepts Bo Katan. The armorer accepts Bo Katan So I thought he was going to be like, It's time for me to really start connecting with my son. And like he obviously would still wear the helmet quite a bit, but like he could take it off and not worry about it I know I'm bringing personal stuff into it but it's just so frustrating to me that I thought like Fabreau had a lot to say in season three about institutionalized religion and I was like, o, I guess not. But then it keeps coming up somehow. Yeah. And I think you keep relating it back to that because of your personal experiences. And that's the thing about stories is we all bring our own personal stuff into it and we see ourselves in these characters,escially I pointed out that you know, Den wears armor that looks like a mirror. so I think we are supposed to look at Den and kind of think about I have a lot of thoughts about in and like the father relationship to it all. but I also want to talk about Grogu. A lot of people have said like, wow, this movie feels really heartfelt. It's a father and son story Rroogu is his son,. he's teaching him blah bl, blah. Multiple times in the movie, he tells Grogu to heal. Right. treats him like an animal, like a dog. He'll stay. He doesn't talk heal Yeah, that was really strange to me. I was like Grogu his pets or his son. I thought it was odd that he kept doing that because I mean, it's like, I think it was played just for comedy sure. but so many times in the show People see Grogu and call him Den's pet. and it's obvious like when Migs Mayfield does that, you're supposed to be like What a jerk. Yeah And you're supposed to think that that would make Den mad. Right And then Ibo shows up with his Anuba And we have like a literal bounty hunter with a dog. And so I was like Oh Den's gonna learn some lessons from Ibo and learn like I shouldn't Grou that way and I don't really think He did that. Yeah. Yeahah, that I feel like that's another kind of missed opportunity. Speaking more about Ebo really quickly I thought He was fine. like I know there's a lot of people that were like, o Oh my go, inboos in this He had just like a couple of lines He had some cool fights, but I felt like that was another missed opportunity to have different bounty hunter because I don't think anyone expected Imbo to die So again, a very low stakes kind of thing Din is on his ship and he's all like chained up I thought that would have been a cool opportunity for Den to have a conversation with the bounty hunter, from his perspective of I've chosen to change my life and yeah, I'm working for the New Republic, but I'm also becoming my own man, similar to Rada. I'm not stuck in this life of being a bounty hunter. And I thought that would have been a cool moment. some emotion and some story development, but Like Ibo said nothing and just electrocuted him and it was kind of like, let's move on. Yeah, I felt about Ibo similarly to how I felt about in Deadpool and Wolverine It was really neat to see Bade and Electra and like those cameos, but except for Laura The X twenty three from Logan The other cameos, I'm like you could have swapped them out for any other like old fox character And the story wouldn't have really changed. And then like Ibo It's neat to see him. He did cool stuff. Lved the hat. Love the hat. But He could have been Denar and. The story wouldn't have really changed all that much. C Except it would have been less cool because Dengar's not as cool. He could have been another human being Right. What is it about like On my third showing of this, it really hit home and I was like How many other humans are in this film as characters like we have Like as in like We see their faces. We've got Colonel Ward You've got a handful of background people on the Adelphi base We God Lords We've got the warlord Wh dies coin I guess and like all the random other guys that work for him that get beat up. and like everything else is a droid. or like a CGI character or puppet or a helmeted and I was just like That bums me out because it just feels like, oh, we're saving money by not having to pay any more actors, especially I love a trapper wolf cameo just as much as the next person, but have multiple cameos from these directors, I'm like, okay, what are we doing here? You could have put actors in those seats. Very self congratulatory. I'm someone who's been pushing for like, I really want to have alien led movies and it was great to see Zeb in a significant role, but he's gone for a lot of it. Like a lot of these characters have pretty minor parts like Martin Scorsesee was builled in the opening credits and he's in two scens. Oh yeah. My friends that I went with on Monday were the movie they were like, who was Martin Scorsseeseze playing? And I was like, oh, he was the food truck guy. and they were like, o, okay. Yeah. they didn't even know. Like the cast is a lot of small parts except for And I thought Sorney Weaver was completely wasted. Yeah Her lines felt so flat I like her as an actor I just If I had been her, And I had seen what that character was meant for, which was only to give direction to Mando and then at the end to like save Mando I would have been bummed. I would been like, can you give me a little bit more? Like why is she here? L what's her motivation? She felt very much like an NPC video game character just assigning you jobs. I certainly think that there's a chance for her to pop up in season four if that happens or the future maybe Yhsoka season two, who knows? Like She can come back, but yeah, in this moment, I was like That's it. like three ish scenes. Two of them are in the Adelphi bar. like somethingomething that I felt was crazy that I heard like multiple of our very casual fan friends say, they were comparing her to Carrie Fisher Like, I don't know why. I mean, it was kind of a likeike a legacy kind of I guess, or I with like a pedigree in science fiction. say you trying to just automatically connect with Sure I think that's what they were getting at and like can be an action hero. but also has the wisdom of Mon Mothma Right. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense, but that kind of like shocked me. I was like, why why It's kind of similar to the way they cast Carl Weathers as Grief Carga. It's like, again action hero, pedigree and science fiction with Predator, right? Like Another another thing that I was bummed, like we got no mention of, you know Sadly, we cannot see that character anymore, but we got no mention of what may have happened to him. And I'm curious if they were if they will ever touch on that. And I also think he would have fit so well in this movie, which I mean this is just obviously a tragedy and But we've always about how delighted we are to see. his deliveries were always so over the top in Star Wars and felt like introduction to a theme park ride. Yes. everyvery time you're in line for a theme park ride and you hear the the looped I dialogue from whatever character is playing on the screen. Mando, you might be surprised to know that I am alive. Yeah. It always made me think of that and I loved it so much because it was never trying to be anything more than that. It was yeah, just trying to be over the top and fun and the episodes he directed, especially Season two episode four like a theme park ride where you're driving the truck away from the speeder bikes and the tie fighters and yeah. One of my friends who came with me Monday, she's a big theme park person and she was like, this movie felt like a ride. It was super fun and I loved it because it felt like going on a ride. She said it felt kind of like Star Tours, like experiencing it through a ride I thought that was interesting and like maybe other peopleeople who are really big parks fans and like specifically like galaxysedge fans would feel similarly somethingomething you brought up that I have been thinking about a lot and really thought about it In my second viewing, Wyon was like staying behind to make this noble but kind of pointless sacrifice is just about the idea of Fatherhood. Yeah, it made me think a lot about my own relationship to my father and I'm not Gx, but My father was much, much older than anyone my age, any of their dad's And so think about it in terms of like GenX, but this could be applicable anywhere where There's a lot of glorification of fathers and fatherhood and how what kind of job It is to be a father and then like sons who have grown up already and then look back and glorify their fathers did for them It made me think about a lot of that and how A lot of boomer dads will just not accept any help from anyone. They don't want to help themselves. They don't want to accept help from anyone else. They're going to do it themselves. They're going to do it the hard way and that's that. And when Den decides to leave Grogu or like W Dy decides to let Grogu go and he's going to stay behind it made me think of that. Yeah. I was like, he doesn't have to do that. It's like they're kind of, I think fathers then especially, but probably still now are raised to believe in like this silent, strong sacrifice of I work and I provide and I That's what I do And it's not necessarily about forming a bond Yeah their children It's about suffering and Yeah. and like They think they're doing a great job when they're doing the bare minimum. whichich is why we were like, it would have been great to see Den cooking for Grogu or something. I do think that like Den is presented as a good father in this movie. I think that's how they want him to be perceived. Obviously he cares and loves for Grogu Obviously he protects him and wants what's best for him. like whether or not it was intentional We're over here thinking about that the downsides in that but you could be having deep emotional connection with your son and the ending is him learning to trust Grogu a little more and like I told you not to press the buttons, but hey, like pop up in my lap and you get to drive kid. Yeah. and it's like supposed to be a heartwarming ending that didn't really land for me because Fatherhood and like the relationship between fathers and sons can be way deeper than that. It can, yeah. And when we were at the premiere John Fabreux came out and like talked about. hisis dad, his dad was there, his dad was the one to take him to see Star Wars and like Your dad was with you when you saw Star Wars and it's like reallyally great like sweet heartwarming stories But I can't help but think yeah, it's just Freau glorifying his father and like wanting to make this tribute to him and being like Look, isn't Den a great father without acknowledging anything that he could be doing that could be better. Right. Yeah, and not to discount like those great memories and those great moments You've told me about like some wonderful memories that you have with your dad, but also like that was a difficult relationship then it could have been deeper Yeah. and it's like seeing a father doing the silent sacrifice thing and saving his kid and wanting what's best for him, but like But also you're wearing this armor. and it's meant to protect you from harm, but it's also stopping you from having a real relationship with your kid. I mean, I talk about Roda a lot and the way that he's done the work I'm not my father. I want to be my own man. like he's done all this internal work and For years, my own dad like refused to help himself in a lot of ways and that affected the entire family. If he was going to have a bad day, we were all having a bad day So it made me think a lot about that. And again, this is like getting really deep into specifics. Rember when we said wet think about this way too much very specific personal like daddy issues, we'll call it. which is very Star Wars. very Stars loveves daddy issues. Another scene that made me think about all that was where we see Grou him work on the razor crest. That was my dad was a big car guy and every once in a while he would ask me to help him But pretended like it was a bonding moment, but in reality he needed small hands It was just a way to like help him and serve him and his wants and needs. And I was just kind of there. onnce we left that situation, he was probably like That was a great. bonding experience and I was like I don't know what I just did Yeah, you didn't learn anything. I didn't learn anything, but like it does seem like Dennis teaching right Grogu. That's I think that scene was definitely presented. and I felt it as a sweet moment and a moment of growth for Grogu that's not inside electrocuting himself, but Yeah. So like I liked that and I don't think there's anything in the movie that is intending to be like could and should be a better father. I think It's like he he is a good father, but what we're bringing to from our own experiences, we're just seeing these things from like this like is stirring something in my heart that is sad. Yeah. it just All it is is like reminding you that it could be better. And that's what a major feeling that I had coming out of this movie, I was like, manan, that was fun. It could have been better. Right Way to bring it home Yeah, had a had a great time watching it. I think it's a blast and Yeah, because this is what we do and we dissect Star Wars and we think about it way too much. It's like I do think that we're picking up on themes of father hood and what does it mean to be a father, but I'm like I don't know if that was intentional The way that we're viewing it. This is super random, but we not too long ago we watched one battle after another. Right Great father stuff in that movie and a lot about like what it is to be a father, especially like a single father, but There are multiple kinds of fathers in that movie that you get to learn about. and it's just it's really interesting. And That movie was obviously supposed to be heavier and like way more emotional and intentional than this movie, but It just makes you like wonder Could we have gotten for the story of Din had maybe some other writers taken a look at the script. Well and that's I think what It comes down to for me, it is. is that I think they announced this movie I do think that it was meant to act as kind of a shield for Starfighter, which is going to be the next step into a new a, We're going into the newew Jedi era. And it was going to be the first movie in eight years And so Disney was like, it's going to have a lot of pressure on it So the beginning of twenty twenty four Just over two years ago, they announced this movie. and John Fabau has talked about like he had to start from scratch because he was working on season four and was surprised about this move and like This is when Corporations and business interfere with art and they set a release date before they were like But what are we going to use these characters and Star Wars to say? Yeah other than makeake it fun, make it joyful I wouldn't even be surprised if Disney was like, donon't make it like Andor. L don't make it political. We don't want it to say anything. We don't want it to take a stance. We don't want it to be controversial. which then makes me think of John Favreau's great movie Chef, which is very much about that, where he wants to cook something risky and the owner of the restaurant is like, No, just do what we know works. like hit him with the greatest hits and he doesn't get to be as creative as he wants. So like that's kind of what I think about is that It's the same issues I have with the Squel trilogy Disney buys Star Wars and they say and on December whatever, twenty fifteen. Episode seven is coming out. What's the story? What are we saying? No clue. Get on it, JJ Abrams I feel like it's the same thing here where if they I made this joke Yesterday, but if they just let John Fabreau cook pun intended then ye maybe he would have had the time to signed what he really wanted to say. Make something unique that like, I mean, this movie does feel kind of unique, but it It just fell flat for a lot of people. I think Mando and Grogu was meant to soften the blow for whatever the next movie is to come out in theaters, which should be Starfighter. I guess right now a lot of people are saying, It's the first Star Wars movie in seven years and Did't Did it deious Y and Z it was is being fun good enough but we're not really going to be talking about that for the movie next year If they had made the Mandalorin in Grogu and it came out in twenty twenty one We wouldn't be hearing any of those kinds of sentences, like so many of the early official reviews from the movie reviewers said that. They were like, This is the first Star Wars movie out in eight years. Did it Did it live up to the expectation? No And it's like, well, you're putting a lot of expectation on a movie that wasn't supposed to be the first The next first Star Wars movie out. We got all this stuff at celebration about The Ray movie and the D Palononey movie and what was the other guy that was doing a movie? James Mgold. The James Mangl The dawn of the Jedi movie They announced Three movies then that everybody lost their minds over and then they were like, who anything about them Never mind, we're gonna to put out a made for TV movie in theaters basically like F But also great point about what if it had come out in twenty twenty one at like if they had that momentum coming off of the Mandalorian season two right where everyone was like This is like the best Star Wars has ever been, whichich I don't agree with, but right They would have had to maybe put Luke in it, I guess then. Right. It would have had, but I'm just talking about momentum wise day. Everyone would have been so psyched for this movie and I think it would have had some bigger probably would have been about what happened in Book of Boba Fet, Grogu coming back to Den, it would have felt consequential But it would have felt like it was building up something, but Disney plus has like the momentum is bad like four years in between seasons of Ahsoka is crazy. Well, and a lot of it, you know, we can't put all the blame and make Disney the bad guy because Maybe they did want to make of Mandalorian movie and put it out earlier, but COVID happened and then the strikes happened and just like Everything in the world has been so crazy and bad Yeah especially in like Hollywood and in the movie making industry It's been so messy Som I get that there's a lot more stuff going on that's probably working against everyone trying to make good Star Wars things We don't know any of the details. R. That's just speculation. We've been talking a lot about this movie just that two of us right Every time we go on a walk It's like we have these discussions and I think we hit a lot of the points that we brought up, but Yeah after seeing it a couple of times we're seeing it again It's just been Very much on our mind. Of course And also like I am exxcited to see it a third time. Like that's again, we walked out of our second viewing And yes, I have all of these thoughts and criticisms and There's so much going on in my head surrounding it But the act of watching it is fun. Yeah likeike And I do not mean that in the pejorative way that some people seem to be throwing that word around. I'm like I'm just feeling the joy and fun of Star Wars right now. It is enjoyable to me have a lot of thoughts, but Gosh, it' C cool to see all this weird stuff happening. Yeah. Again, if this movie had come out in twenty twenty one I think people I think it would have gotten much better reviews And people would have been like, wow, this is so fun and cool and exciting and It wouldn't have had as much pressure. I think that is just what it I think that is what Favreu and Falononey set out to do. They wanted to make something fun. that everyone could enjoy And like, like I said earlier This is the first time that I feel like you honestly don't have to know anything going into this and you will have a good time. And it has been seven years since the Star Wars movie came out. So like I do think that there's value in catering to new fans. Yes. new young fans. It is a very family friendly movie, I would say. True. One of my favorite parts about watching it the second time was looking over and looking at our friends' reactions and I mean, they were like bouncing in their seats excited to see the Dary game and All the Anzelan stuff. So like being able to like take the time and look around and see other people's reactions and seeing how much other people are loving how fun this movie is is like payoff. Yeah That's we talked so much about like all these issues, but I want to at the end make it clear that I'm like I'm still at like a seven seven point five out of ten really, really ennjoy watching it going to see it again on Sunday We didn't get any of the popcorn buckets, but I did spend some time in line considering the popcorn buckets because we had several options and some of them were very expensive. and I was like, you know what This is my choice I saw this little rubber duckie with a little grogu costume on and I was like This is all I need. Well, I need this. He's adorable Had to get something Grogu. hadad to get something. I have so many little tiny grogu toys that What's one more? But that'll do it for last week in Canon probablyroably our longest last week in cananon we've ever done. But we did want to do one quick little last week in fandom. Someone sent us something really fun in our PO box. Yeah, this is from Forged by the Force and they sent us a really nice letter It looks like a little data pad and they said it was kind of inspired by Wim's data pad from Skeleton Crew. His little storybook pad. Yeah Uh, but it's got one of those like little drawing pads that you can drawing and then just hit a button in it It's really cool. like the little three D printed design that that just slides into. Yeah. And it has a little stylus pin that like fits into the back of it, which is neat. So thank you guys for sending us. Thank you forged by the Force. And they have a store where they're selling these and we just thought it was a nice gift. so we wanted to give them a little shout out. But that's it for last week in Star Wars Again, we're going to do an additional video all about questions from the Mandalorian and Grogu. So leave a comments with a question if you have one and we're going to select our favorites or the most frequently asked ones and go over that If you haven't already, please like this video, subscribe to the channel, foollow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Blue sky. And consider checking out our Patreon page. As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you.