Cantina Banter #3 | SDCC 2025 - Lucas Museum Coming Soon | New Publishing & More - Star Wars Escape Pod

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Star Wars Escape Pod is the pod for you.

(00:25):
There's the Republic's choice of podcast anywhere in the galaxy.
If you are tuning in right now, don't go anywhere.
Leave a review and make it a good one.
Empire Today.
Empire Today.
I thought that was a pretty good take.

(00:47):
Pray I don't alter my performance any further.
Alright, welcome back to Star Wars Escape Pod.
And our third Cantina Banter casual Star Wars conversation all fun right here on Star Wars Escape Pod with your host Josh and your co-host Blake.

(01:08):
And our friend Darian on the other end of the line here.
We are a little focused on San Diego Comic Con, which just happened, just wrapped up less than a week ago.
And a number of other things we're going to be glossing over.
Some Acolyte article here and a little bit about a video game I've been playing recently.

(01:31):
And a few other things.
So, how are you all doing?
Are we live?
Yeah, we're live.
We're doing an official intro.
Welcome back.
Thanks, Chut Chut.
Good to be here.
Chut Chut.
And Chut Chut Darian.
Sakai Gar.
Hello.
So, I'm not sure what the correct response to that is.

(01:55):
I don't know what the translation of that one is.
It's the Mandalorian greeting.
Oh, okay.
We got to figure like a...
Oh, wait.
Chut Chut is Huttese, isn't it?
Chut Chut's Huttese, yeah.
Oh, okay.
I was going to say the Huttese.
I'll give you a little yub nub.
I'll give you a little yub nub in response.
Give me a little nub yub.

(02:16):
Yub yub.
Isn't that celebration, though?
Sorry?
Isn't that celebration, though?
Celebration, yeah.
It's a very excited hello.
It's a very...
Yeah, it's a very excited...
Yeah.
Ah!
Yeah, we got an Ewok over here.
I love the...

(02:36):
Wisties.
Wisties.
I love Wisties.
I love that they brought that into Battlefront, too.
I'm glad it's re-canonized as much as it annoys me.
So good.
Except they didn't really make it obvious that there's supposed to be like fairy things, right?
In the like...
Well, if you've seen Ewok Adventures, it's like...
That's...
You know, you get a good look at them, and that's what they are.

(02:58):
But yeah, if you only play the video game, it's not that obvious as to what it is.
It almost looks like...
They're very different in the Ewok movie.
Yeah, it almost looks like they're a bunch of insects, and so...
They adapted it pretty well, but only when they're kind of flying around and they're
doing their motion thing.
But yeah, it was cool.
It was like Tinkerbells.
Such a nice little cam...
Like a little nod of the head to Ewok Adventures.

(03:18):
Yeah, it was good.
They were probably also like, what do we do with the Ewoks?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, what do Ewoks throw?
Rocks?
Sticks?
Yeah, wisties.
What's a wistie, George?
Well, it's just all of my fairy things that, you know...
It's like Tinkerbell, but Lucasfilm...
They stuff them in a sack, and then they throw the sack, and then they all blow out, and

(03:39):
you know, they ignore the crap out of you.
And then people die.
For the brilliant mind, George Lucas, everyone.
Yeah, speaking of George Lucas, George Lucas was actually at San Diego Comic-Con this year.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Man, when is the last time he went to any con?
Well, okay.
2007?
So, specifically Comic-Con, the last time he was at Comic-Con was 1976.

(04:05):
Okay, so the first Star Wars hadn't even come out yet?
Yeah.
Oh, man, they went there to try to get hype for the movie, right?
Yeah.
Right, yeah, they had a big panel.
Yeah, he was at the first San Diego Comic-Con in 1976.
It was the first one?
That was...
Not the first one, but that was his first and only appearance until this year.

(04:26):
George Howard ago, never again.
Yeah, you know, he's not a big guy on crowds, you know what I mean?
No, which is fair.
Yeah, he's not big on it, but...
After the movie did really well, I was like, I can't go back there.
All those nerds.
I'm not going back.
Don't swarm me.
I did it to market the movie.
That was it.

(04:47):
You know?
Didn't care.
Didn't, yeah, did it for the fans.
Before there were fans.
Before they knew they would want my movie.
And then, you know, ruin everything.
Oh, George.
So, what did he do there?
Was he just hanging out?
Did he have a panel?
Yeah, so...
Was he wearing plaid?

(05:08):
Actually, yeah, he was wearing plaid.
He was always wearing plaid.
That's why we love him.
He had his trademark look about him, you know, which is great.
And, uh...
Even in, like, if you see him in the wild, like, there's that picture of him in that mall food court.
He just looks exactly the same.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's awesome.

(05:29):
That's one of my favorite pictures of him.
I want to get that framed on my wall.
Just him sitting in the McDonald's, like...
It's classic, man.
It's awesome, dude.
Yeah.
Yeah, so Hall H panel hosted by Queen Latifah, of all people, which is super random, but I guess, you know, they want to bring...
You know, like, Comic-Con's so Hollywood now.
It's kind of crazy.
Yeah, but the movies, and then there's all this extra hype.

(05:51):
Yeah.
It went mainstream, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, it's no longer just the nerds.
And that's why he's back, is to promote the opening of his museum, which happens next year.
He's been working on that for, like, 10 years.
Yeah, it's kind of been his, like, big investment project since he sold the company to Disney.

(06:12):
Like, I think that's where a lot of money went, was towards his museum, so...
Did you know the story behind that?
Because it was supposed to be in L.A.
It was.
It kind of moved a few times.
Like, the plan...
Yeah, the city wouldn't give him the land to do it.
Yeah.
And so he said, like, to hell with it, and he went to, like, Chicago.
Yeah.
They bought, like, a whole island or something.
And, well, and now it's...
Yeah, is it still in Chicago?

(06:33):
I thought it was...
Or did he move again?
I think it moved again, and it was, like...
Now it's, like, somewhere else.
Anyway, here, let's take...
All right, so go ahead, Darren.
I thought it was in Anaheim.
Yeah, yeah.
Went back to California.
Yeah.
They put it right next to the park, so they'd be like, screw you!

(06:55):
Throwing tomatoes over the fence.
On the side of the building, the giant building, it's just, like, suck it.
It's just, like, painted on the side of the building.
No, it's...
It would be funny if it was, like, right behind Galaxy's Edge.
There's, like, a back door for him to go in and out.
Yeah.
And on the side is written, Star Wars was mine.
That's right.

(07:16):
So, yeah, it actually is in Los Angeles now.
It's in L.A.'s Exposition Park.
They have an 11-acre campus.
Extensive new green space designed by Studio MLA will embrace the museum's 300,000-square-foot building,
which will feature expansive galleries, two state-of-the-art theaters,
and dedicated spaces for learning and engagement, dining, retail, and events.

(07:40):
There's some of the most, like, some of the craziest stuff that you would never think you would find there is there.
So, let's take a quick listen to this little audio clip here that they shared from the event three days ago.
Please welcome for the first time ever at Comic-Con, George Lucas!
This was sort of a temple to the people's work.

(08:01):
Piero Leto!
Doug Jay!
All right, yeah.
Who's the guy in the middle?
Gilmer Dottoro.
Oh, the director.
Yeah, the director, yeah.
And then also Doug Chang, of course.

(08:23):
You know, big on design.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I heard he likes design.
If you're listening to this podcast, you know who Doug Chang is.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, Robin loves Doug Chang.
Anytime we watch any of those behind-the-scenes, like, right now we're, we finally started getting around to watching Light and Magic Season 2.
And, yeah, anytime Doug comes up, she's like, I love Doug.
Like, just seems like such a good guy.

(08:44):
He does seem like a very genuine good person.
Yeah, and he's, like, a really talented guy.
He's a, like, soft-spoken character.
Very humble.
Yeah, very humble guy, you know.
And I like him a lot.
He's, he's, yeah, he seems nice.
He's the kind of guy I would love to just go out to lunch with and just, like, ask him a bunch of questions.
But, yeah, things about this, this place is you'll see Luke's X-34 land speeder, the full thing.

(09:10):
A one-to-one replica of General Grievous' TSMEU-6 wheel bike, as seen in Revenge of the Sith.
This is so random, that one.
A full-scale version of Anakin Skywalker's N1 Starfighter from The Phantom Menace.
That's cool.
Yeah.
And the collection will also house speeder bikes from Return of the Jedi and concept art from the production of the first six films in the Skywalker Saga.

(09:35):
Those two theaters, I assume one's going to be all original trilogy on repeat and the other one's all prequels on repeat?
Yeah, probably.
It says these pieces will be displayed as part of a collection that includes the first drawing of Flash Gordon from 1934.
So, I think George must have, you know, he's a big fan of Flash Gordon.
He must have acquired this drawing at some point.

(09:56):
That's where his first billion went.
Yeah.
In bulletproof glass in his new museum.
Original art for Marvel's Iron Man's debut comic cover in 1968.
Illustrations from...
It's just a museum of George's stuff.
So, it's not just George's stuff, but it's like, but most of it, yeah.
So, like, a lot of it's George's stuff, but a lot of it's also housing, I think, donated pieces that are kind of given to the museum on loan sort of thing.

(10:22):
Yeah, pop culture, historical things.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's kind of the idea of the museum is a lot of pop culture.
And, obviously, there is a, you know, big theme around George's work in cinema, but it is called Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
So, technically, anything that is in that narrative art category, it will likely be present in this museum, which is cool.

(10:46):
So, my question is, like, a lot of the costumes and props and stuff from the first six movies, is that owned by George to put in the museum or is that owned by Lucasfilm?
You know, I think it is.
I think when he sold the company, I think there may have been things that were not included in the contract.
So, like, obviously, the company itself and the rights to Star Wars and all that, the intellectual property is sort of Disney's.

(11:17):
But, at the same time, I think there's a lot of pieces that he may have just kept for himself.
So, like, the archives, for example, on the ranch.
Yeah, I think that's all his.
That's all his?
I think that's all his, yeah.
So, it's very, it's kind of ambiguous in that sense because you don't, there's also a lot of shared territory there.
Because his company that he.

(11:38):
Sorry, I just realized, like, you know how it was, like, a bad divorce?
Sometimes the breadwinner will start to, like, hide away money in, like, weird places to, like, get it out of, like, the divorce attorneys.
Yeah, yeah.
I feel like that was George with the ranch, like, hiding stuff in the archives.
So, you can, like, keep it after the sale.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stuff and stuff in there.

(11:58):
It's on my land.
Yeah, I like this Georgia mask.
Hey, can you, hey, Doug, can you put that in the barn?
Put that in the back room.
It's mine.
In fact, Doug Tang, you just stay there.
Yeah.
That's all I can keep you, too.
Oh, man.
But, yeah, it also says illustrations from the Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schultz, and paintings from other works from Norman Rockwell, Jack Kirby, Frida Kahlo, just to name a few.

(12:27):
Lucas, who first began collecting art when he was in college, told the audience that part of the idea for the museum came from his affinity for buying art and his aversion to selling it.
I refuse to sell it, Lucas told the crowd.
I'm not one of the typical high art collectors that buys and sells it off.
I could never do that.

(12:48):
It's not what I think art is.
For the last time, dear, I am not a hoarder.
But, yeah, it's like, man, I can relate to that.
Like, anything Star Wars that I've bought, I haven't really sold.
Like, I've sold some three and three quarter inch action figures in the Millennium Falcon that went with it.
But that's, I think that's it.
I don't think I've sold anything else that's Star Wars in my entire life.

(13:09):
I've only acquired.
Have you ever dumpstered something?
Dumpstered something?
Yeah, like threw it away.
Anything Star, like Star Wars?
Yeah.
I don't think so.
Do you still have your Jar Jar Pop?
Maybe just some candy, candy wrappers.
No, I never had a Jar Jar Pop.
My mom didn't let me eat sugar.
Oh, right.
Yeah.
Took my cousin, like, slipping me some Skittles to get my first dose.

(13:31):
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
That was at a family barbecue.
He's, like, passing you drugs.
He's, like, I was, like, away from my mom.
He's, like, hey, Josh, want a Skittle?
What is that?
Dude, that's, like, the Simpsons.
Because, like, Rod and Todd had never had candy, and then Bart Simpson, like, gives him, like,
Pixie Stix.
We're not allowed to have sugar.

(13:51):
Don't worry.
There's no sugar in Pixie Stix.
It's just raw sugar.
It's raw sugar.
It's just flavored sugar.
Oh, man.
Yeah, Darian, what was your exposure to candy?
Did you ever have any, like, limitations at home?
Oh, I didn't have candy until I was, like, 20-something, and it was just, like,
I remember the first time having a Dr. Pepper just not being able to sit still.

(14:13):
I'm, like, this is weird.
I feel warm.
That's crazy.
Man, I was just, like, the drug kid then, because I was just drinking.
I don't remember a time where I didn't have, like, soda and candy and sugar and stuff.
Yeah.
I was eating it before I could actually make memories.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love what George said next here.

(14:34):
So, like the enduring appeal of his Star Wars storytelling,
the creator of Galaxy Far, Far Away went on to discuss the importance of art
and resonance defined by personal connection.
I think it's more about the connection, an emotional connection with the work
and not how much it costs or which celebrity did it or whatever.
It's more of a personal thing.

(14:56):
And I don't think it's anything that anyone can tell you, you know,
if you have an emotional connection, then it's art.
So, there you go.
So, George Lucas, everybody.
George Lucas.
Thank you, Mr. Lucas.
There is over 40,000 pieces.
Oh, dang.
That's going to be a big building, huh?
Yeah, he's collected a lot of stuff over 50 years.

(15:18):
It's going to be really funny.
So, you know how the ranch, the house was, like,
the design of it was, like, a copy from, like, another director's house?
Oh, was it?
I believe so.
Maybe it was, like, maybe the style, maybe, I guess.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, like, architecture, the look of it.
Yeah, it looks like another house.
Right.
He's like, I want one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It would be really funny if his museum was basically just, like,

(15:40):
a scaled-out version of, like, the Louvre.
Yeah.
Just the same thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, the story is his buddy, Ford.
Francis Ford.
That's what it was.
Francis Ford Coppola.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I think, I don't know if it was necessarily the style of the house.
It was, like,
I think it was just the idea is, like,
oh, you've got your own winery and vineyard.

(16:01):
Like, I want one of those, too.
Yeah, so that was, like.
I thought the house was supposed to, like, look, like, almost the same.
Yeah, maybe.
I mean, this is possible.
Look it up.
Definitely like the,
he definitely liked the idea of having the luxuries, though.
That's for sure.
So, what a guy.
It's just weird that somebody that is so well-known for creating different universes

(16:23):
and, like, genres,
that would just be like,
ah, just give me what Coppola's got.
Yeah.
Unless he respects the man's style.
Yeah, definitely.
But, yeah.
It's not, this might not be it.
I need to find his ranch, right?

(16:44):
Ranch house.
Yeah.
Yeah, Skywalker Ranch.
The museum looks crazy, man.
Like, I don't know if you've seen a photo of this,
but it looks like a spaceship landed in L.A.

(17:05):
Okay.
No, they look different.
So, I think it's just the idea.
Yeah, just the idea of having one.
George's is definitely bigger.
Well, of course.
Well, I mean, you have to one-up, right?
You know?
I mean, that's how it works, right?
When you have unfathomable wealth,
you're going to outdo your friends just a little bit

(17:26):
so that they know who's in charge.
Yeah.
That's true.
Yeah.
I'm going to make the exact same house as them across the street,
just bigger.
Well, I think after the awful success of Megalopolis,
I think Francis Ford is going to be selling his vineyard
sometime down the road.

(17:48):
Regrettably, I don't think that movie did very well,
like, financially.
Megalopolis?
Yeah, like, nobody saw it.
And the one person that I knew that saw it said it was awful.
That's unfortunate.
Yeah, which is too bad.
I like...
Yeah.
Say again?
I like Adam Driver, but, man,
has he cursed any film that he's in.
That's like...

(18:08):
But he was, like, one of the people...
Everyone said he was, like, the best part.
That's like Nick Cage, man.
Like, Nick Cage is, like,
such a great part of most movies that he's in,
but the movies always kind of blow.
It's like when you're at a party,
the best music's Nickelback,
but everyone hates Nickelback.
Yeah.
But I love how he honed in.
I love how he honed in on the fact that, like,

(18:29):
okay, you know, that he is Nick Cage.
And then he made the movie that he made,
which is, like...
What's that Nick Cage movie about Nick Cage?
The unbearable weight of some talent.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The unbearable weight of, like,
yeah, awesome talent or something like that.
It's a better word than that.
Yeah.

(18:49):
Yeah.
So, anyway, this movie is so good.
It's like...
It's Pedro Pascal,
who is basically a fanboy of a fictional version of Nick Cage,
who plays himself.
Massive talent.
The unbearable weight of massive talent.
Yeah.
So, Nick Cage plays himself.
He plays himself,
but he plays himself in, like,
in a world in which he is just, like,
a total different person, right?
Like, he's, like, you know,

(19:11):
he's, like, a total dick.
Super narcissistic.
Super narcissistic.
And I love it because, like, you know,
it's just, like,
not what you would expect, right?
And then Pedro Pascal is, like,
playing this, like, fanboy
who's basically just, like,
so in love with him, right?
But, yeah.
It was a good movie.
And it's, like, a trust fund child, basically.
Yeah.

(19:31):
Yeah.
It, like, pays him to come out to,
like, a private island for an event.
Yeah.
That's the setup.
Such a good movie.
Oh, man.
It was awesome.
It was a fun one.
So, yeah.
I'd like to go to this next year.
I'd like to see the museum.
What's the opening date?
I don't know if there's, like,
an opening date date, like, as of yet,

(19:53):
but it's definitely next year.
Because it's been talked about for 10 years.
It's been a long time, man.
Yeah.
It's been, like, it's been a while.
And, you know,
if anyone is kind of curious
to know the happenings
of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art,
they have a X account in Instagram,
LinkedIn, YouTube account, and Facebook.

(20:15):
So you can go and find the socials.
And the handle is atlucasmuseum.
So definitely go and check that out.
Give them a follow.
And, you know,
I'm sure you'll sort of be in the loop
when it comes to when they're going to open the doors.
And, you know, how exciting would that be?
Because, you know,

(20:35):
when I think of museums,
and I've been in,
I've been at a few museums,
but...
I've been to a museum.
There's only been one
that I've been blown away by,
and it was in New Zealand,
and it was in Wellington.
And the local museum there was fantastic.
And they had an exhibit,
which was the Gallipoli Museum exhibit.
And they had these massive, like,

(20:57):
recreations of these real people
that existed in that war.
And they were made by Weta,
Weta Workshop.
And the detail was insane.
Like, it was such a good exhibit.
And then on top of that,
you saw these things that just marveled you.
Like, for, you know,
there was, like, six of them

(21:17):
throughout the exhibit.
And it was kind of this, like,
narrative exhibit that you walked through.
And you were kind of brought through the war,
like, from in chronological, you know,
perspective, so to speak.
And I was very impressed.
And I was like, you know what?
Like, museums can be very, very interesting.
Like, they're not necessarily just

(21:38):
what you would picture to be,
like, an art gallery in a giant room
with a bunch of stuff behind glass, right?
They can be super cool
and they can be really interesting.
And there's no museum
that is for pop culture lovers
and fans of narrative art,
which is another way of saying,
you know, you love movies.
You love, like, pop culture things,
you know, like,

(21:59):
and I feel like,
like, George Lucas's museum
is just gonna be kind of a classy version
of housing some of those early roots
of what has evolved into pop culture today.
As long as it doesn't turn into
a Library of Alexandria situation
when we just lose everything
in, like, one fire.

(22:19):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, man.
Yeah.
But, yeah.
I mean, like, you know what I mean?
Like, it's just,
it's gonna be a one-of-a-kind situation
where it's like,
Yeah.
I say a little tongue-in-cheek,
but it's a,
it seems a well-timed,
it feels like,
to become a,
something in a museum
because just the,
the number of people going to theaters

(22:40):
is starting to dwindle so much.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like becoming a pastime thing
that well belongs in a museum.
I mean, it's just like,
you know, I think,
I think of,
I think George is like,
he's got this,
he's got this idea
that he wants to leave this,
I don't know if he's ever thought about it,
this way,
but, yeah,
he clearly is like,
on a path to leaving a,

(23:01):
I mean,
if he hasn't already with Star Wars,
like,
he's on a path to leave a lasting legacy,
you know,
and,
and with his,
I still think he should have carved his own face
into a side of a mountain.
Oh,
maybe,
I mean,
it could fit that fit up there,
you know,
he would look like one of them.
Who else would you put on the mountain?
Wouldn't it be Star Wars characters

(23:21):
and then George Lucas?
Just like George Lucas,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Hayden Christensen,
Ewan McGregor.
I was going to say,
uh,
Keati Moody.
Yeah.
Can you imagine,
can you imagine trying to carve,
like,
a Chewbacca out of there?
Can you imagine,
like,
his head is like,
that's like the peak of the mountain.
That's what I was thinking,

(23:42):
yeah,
it's like the tallest part is just Keati Moody.
Mommy,
what's,
what's that big spire up there?
That's the Moondy peak.
Only Moondy.
The only,
this,
the tallest Moondy in the whole world.
Oh,
geez.
Okay.
Um,

(24:02):
so other stuff happened at Comic-Con.
Um,
uh,
begun the Clone Wars half
with Hasbro's San Diego Comic-Con
Haslab announcement,
which was kind of cool.
You like Black Series.
Uh,
the helmets?
Yes.
I,
I,
I just like in general,
like,
like,
I'm depending on the figure.

(24:23):
Uh,
yeah,
I should like,
so I should specify it.
They pretty much call everything Black Series.
That's what I mean.
That's like a,
that's a huge,
that's a,
a very large category.
Yeah,
it is.
I,
I kind of hate that the fact that they call everything Black Series now,
cause it makes no sense.
But,
um,
but yeah,
uh,
the,
uh,
the panel revealed,
uh,
like a series of cool stuff.

(24:44):
So,
uh,
the Acolyte Stranger is making his Black Series debut as an action figure.
This is the,
specifically a,
a six inch format.
Um,
also a Mace versus,
Sidious,
uh,
dual pack.
Like,
okay,
look at the detail on this Ian McDermott head from the six inch action figure.

(25:05):
That's crazy,
right?
Oh man,
giving hot toys a run for their money.
Like,
yeah,
like it's,
that's insane.
If they just do something about the seams between the joints.
Oh man,
yeah.
Uh,
there was also a 2025 SDCC exclusive,
which was a Anakin versus Obi-Wan Mustafar battle,
uh,
scenario pack.
So they were like standing on a lav on a platform.

(25:27):
With that.
Yeah.
And that floaty platform.
Oh man,
that's awesome.
Like it's stuff like that,
that goes for like three,
400 bucks.
Like once the convention's over,
cause you can only buy it there.
Yeah.
Uh,
there's also a Luke versus Vader pack coming out,
which is both figures on the platform from empire strikes back,
you know,
the circular platform where he loses his hand.

(25:49):
Uh,
there is an Anakin and Captain Rex.
Yeah.
I used to have one actually the three and three quarter inch Luke Skywalker
Bespin.
He had a magnetic hand that came off.
Yeah.
But it was kind of useless though,
because the magnet wasn't very strong.
So just so awful time.
Sometimes when I was like pretending to like walk him around my room,
just his hand.
If it was like holding a gun or a lightsaber or something,

(26:10):
you just drop off.
So,
uh,
they got bounty hunter Ventress.
They got a Django Fett coming out.
Uh,
of course,
come here as the stranger looks totally sick.
Oh,
neat.
The best thing that came out of that show easily.
And no merch for that character,
even though people really like him.
Yeah.
They're also releasing a special action figure set for force ghosts,

(26:34):
where you can swap the head of Hayden Christensen to Sebastian.
That's so funny.
I feel like they did that just like,
cause they thought it was funny.
Oh yeah,
probably.
Probably.
Yeah.
I wonder if there's maybe everyone will be our friends.
I wanted,
like they'll all like it.
I wonder if they were having like a fight in like Hasbro,

(26:55):
you know,
like in the conference room,
like,
okay,
we're going to do a force ghost set everybody.
And then like half the rooms,
like you,
you're doing Sebastian,
right?
And then the other half's like,
no,
like it's gotta be Hayden.
Like 25,
30.
Yeah.
But see,
I think it's that maybe it's the same situation where it's going to be
magnetically attachable and detachable.
So you move around and it's going to roll off.

(27:16):
Yeah.
His head's going to drop off.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Who knows?
Right.
They're also doing a full size.
They also have like fish tank,
a miniature,
miniature fish tank,
put the head in like it's from like Futurama.
Yeah.
They're also doing a three and three quarter inch scale lat gunship,
which of course the,
that is really sleek.
The scale for the three,

(27:37):
three quarter inch stuff is always like on point.
That's artwork,
right?
Not the actual product.
That's a prototype.
That's a digital rendered of digital render of the product that they will
eventually make.
And I think they're doing this kind of like all the other ones.
They're doing it as like a Kickstarter thing.
So,
right.
Yeah.
So they,
as long as they get enough people buying into it.

(27:59):
Cause that's what happened for the barge,
right?
Yeah.
Barge.
Yeah.
And they also did it for the razor crest as well.
Um,
and,
uh,
all of which,
you know,
skyrocket in value afterwards,
you know,
don't take any financial advice from me.
I'm just kind of throwing it out there,
but,
uh,
but this is your opportunity.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But,
uh,
yeah.
If there was a $600 toy I was going to buy,

(28:22):
this is it.
The laddie.
Nice.
Yeah.
It's the ball turrets are actually proper and everything.
Like I sat and stared at this longer than I want to admit it as a 41 year old man.
I mean,
it's pretty impressive.
Like George said,
if you like it,
it's art.
Yeah.
It's pretty sick.
Um,
and it's also just thinking outside Lego,

(28:42):
when's the last time they made it like any sort of toy laddie?
Oh,
that's been a long time.
Uh,
they have,
they have made one.
I think like the pre like attack of the clone.
They definitely have made one before,
but it's been a while,
like a long time.
They made the commands laddie.
Uh,
I want to say like 12 or 13 years ago.

(29:02):
It was the black one.
Like all the paint on it was black.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Is that,
that's from the 2d clone wars,
right?
They have like the stealth one.
No,
it wasn't a stealth one.
It was,
they just called it the command ship.
Um,
they,
it was released in very low numbers.
They didn't like publicly say anything about it.

(29:25):
I found out about it like a year after and they couldn't find it anywhere.
So shark mouth.
Oh yeah.
I see a picture of it.
It's kind of like,
okay.
Yeah.
So there's somebody who did a YouTube video of every gun chip ever made.
And it's got like that,
that teeth paint on it.
That's from like,
uh,
that is the 2d clone wars.
The 2d clone wars.
Yeah.
That's the Genndi version.

(29:45):
That's cool.
man.
I want to show.
So I have that in,
I have that in the,
uh,
micro squad galaxy.
Oh,
cool.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So they've done like five,
six.
That's far more than I thought.
Seven.
Seven.
This will be the eighth.
This will be the eighth one that they've ever made.
And they can only do one more after that.

(30:07):
It looks like it could be the biggest one.
Like it looks like it's amped up a little bit on scale,
which is,
which is nice.
Um,
yeah,
they said it's more proper to scale how it would be in real life.
Yeah.
And that's nice because,
uh,
that's how they did the razor crest to like the scale was pretty on point,
which is from the show.
Yeah.

(30:27):
Which is very impressive because there's three and three quarter inch figures are
like,
you know,
it's a scale to the main.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's pretty crazy.
Yeah.
Like these things are huge.
So very,
very impressive.
Be cool to do some.
Um,
the one I bought for,
Oh yeah.
The one I bought for revenge of the Sith doesn't fit anywhere.
So I can only imagine how bad this one's going to be.

(30:48):
Oh man.
Yeah.
So yeah,
totally.
Getting a bigger house.
They are doing a crowdfunding platform to launch this product though.
And,
uh,
which includes two clone trooper pilot figures,
uh,
two interchangeable nose art panels and two vehicle stands.
Uh,
and as with all sticker of Padme,
Nope.
As with all has left campaigns,
the stretch goals are worth stretching for unlock three tiers to build out members of

(31:13):
the Jedi council,
including additions to the vintage collection,
including Coleman,
Trevor,
sassy tin and agent Kolar or Agen Kolar.
Um,
and,
uh,
you can back the gunship from July 25th,
2025 until September 8th,
aiming for the fall release next year.
So the,
the,
so the campaign runs from right now until September 8th this year,

(31:36):
and then it shuts off.
And then people who funded it,
get the product next year in the fall.
So you have to wait like a full year.
If you don't fund it,
you don't get an opportunity to buy it.
If you don't fund it,
you don't get an opportunity to get it easily.
Right.
Cause I think they still run.
Yeah.
Cause they,
it's a,
it's a fairly small run that they actually like do,

(32:00):
I believe.
So,
um,
don't quote me on it,
but anytime I go to Toys R Us,
like I don't exactly see the Razor Crest floating around on the shelf.
Right.
Yeah.
So it's like,
yeah.
Like if you want it,
you got to back it.
Even then you probably only buy it online.
I know it'll be at stores.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um,
yeah.
Highlights from the Lucasfilm publishing panel happened as well.

(32:23):
So,
uh,
Lucasfilm publishing creative director,
Michael Siglain hosted a panel of all-star authors,
including artists,
uh,
like Tessa Gratton,
Sue Lee,
George Mann,
Ian McKaig,
Kevin Scott,
Charles Soule.
We all love Charles Soule.
And a Harvey,
uh,
Tula Bayo at SD CC 2025.

(32:43):
The highlights being the finale of the high Republic phase three coming soon from the likes of Marvel.
Uh,
they also unveiled a young Jedi adventures,
uh,
training sessions,
uh,
series,
which,
um,
I guess that's like a,
it's like a,
like a graphic novel sort of picture comic book series,

(33:05):
I guess.
And,
uh,
that's based on the animated show,
the young Jedi adventures.
How are you up to date with that?
Uh,
you know,
admittedly,
I think I'm like half a season or a full season behind.
It was,
it's hard to get ahead of me.
If you don't have young kids,
it's hard to get through.
Um,
yeah.
Uh,
there's also an art of the acolyte book coming out,
but we knew that from star Wars celebration.

(33:28):
Uh,
there is a comic series from dark horse coming out called tales from the night lands,
which is very curious because it's,
it says they'll introduce fans to the night lander,
a star Wars boogeyman designed by legendary concept artist,
Ian McKegg,
that seeks to possess a living host and bring misery and despair to the galaxy.

(33:49):
Get ready to hide under your covers for the first issue of tales of the night
lands releasing September 5th,
2025.
So it's a Canon.
Yeah.
Um,
and I don't know what exactly this will entail when it comes to the story story.
Could be a ghost story story.
Yeah.
It could be a story about a ghost story.
Maybe.

(34:09):
And maybe it's something else.
Tale of the tale.
Yeah.
Maybe I guess we'll find out.
So we're not introducing like the exorcism.
Yeah.
That's the one.
That's it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Um,
the star Wars version of that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe,
um,
star Wars hyperspace stories.
Grievous is coming out.
Uh,
that's going to be sort of 88 page original graphic novel in early 2026.

(34:37):
Uh,
this is going to be about Grievous as he stalks a Jedi Knight and his battalion of
clone troopers on a jungle planet of Katu.
And that's all it says.
Uh,
so that could be interesting,
I guess.
It's the fact that we got something with Grievous as a protagonist character.

(34:58):
Yeah.
And this also sounds like just the way that they set up the,
the idea of this plot.
It sounds like it's what maybe what people may have wanted from the character
during the clone wars,
which he ended up being a lot of like,
you know,
running away and not being as scary.
He was,
he basically became like a mustache twirling villain to be defeated every week.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was very useless.

(35:20):
They're also doing another hyperspace stories launch from dark horse.
It's a starting with an issue.
Number one,
it's a series called tides of terror,
uh,
which is going to be about master kid Fisto exploring a distant ocean planet and
fending off fierce beasts that swim in the depths.
So that's kind of cool.
Uh,
behind the scenes fans got an inside look of the ILM 50th anniversary book coming out

(35:42):
this year.
Um,
I believe it does publish in within the next like month and a half or two.
So those you can buy from every bookstore imaginable.
I've seen it listed,
um,
um,
at our bookstore up here in Canada and,
uh,
looks,
looks awesome.
I think it could really fit in well with my star Wars archives books over there.
It's a nice thick,
nice thick,
um,

(36:03):
uh,
sort of spine.
Yeah.
Lots of big pictures and yeah,
good spine.
So yeah,
yeah,
it could be interesting.
Uh,
you don't have a shelf behind you with all this stuff for your,
yeah.
Yeah.
With guests and whatnot.
Maybe we should like switch spaces here on the table.
That'd be a good idea.
Uh,
visual guide for the Mandalorian encompassing seasons one through three.

(36:25):
Uh,
this is written by the one and only Pablo Hidalgo.
And,
uh,
it's going to be a great visual guide for fans who want to have a commemorative,
uh,
compendium to the series before going into the Mandalorian and Grogu movie next
year.
Um,
and,
uh,
with that also comes a rhyming board book.
You're my little Grogu from author Grace Baranowski and,

(36:49):
uh,
uh,
artist,
uh,
Kaylee McCab.
Um,
so that's for the,
the younger readers,
I guess the super younger readers is actually more like a parent reading their
kid kind of book.
Um,
yeah,
just in time for the Mandalorian guru coming out next year.
Uh,
let's see.
We also have more hyperspace stories from the bad batch,
uh,
coming out,

(37:10):
which covers their time during the clone wars.
Um,
and more from Dr.
Aphra chaos agent,
legacy of Vader,
as well as the,
uh,
Jedi Knights series.
All three of those are Marvel properties.
And the final thing was another Mike Shen book.
Now,
the last time that we read Mike Shen,
that was the brotherhood book with,

(37:31):
um,
Anakin and Obi-Wan between,
uh,
attack of the clones and the clone wars TV show.
Uh,
the newest thing that Mike Shen has been working on is a star Wars outlaws book
called low red moon.
And,
uh,
this is a prequel novel to the video game,
uh,
coming out to bookstores February 3rd.

(37:52):
It's a story that,
uh,
encompasses,
uh,
the characters,
uh,
the characters,
uh,
and Jalen Vrax on a,
uh,
mission,
I guess.
I don't know.
I guess we'll,
I guess we'll find out.
Uh,
so if you haven't played the game,
then,
uh,
you know,
maybe,
maybe wait a little longer.
Cause you can read the prequel novel first and then,

(38:13):
then dive into the story.
And by then the game will be discounted another $20 or so.
So there you have it.
Uh,
anything that you're looking forward to reading?
I don't know.
Like,
is there any star Wars book that I guess really just the one that you recommended
recently?
Yeah.
Force collector.
Yeah.
That one sounds pretty neat.
Cause I love those books that are kind of outside the,

(38:37):
the norm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
To like break it up and small scale.
I prefer small,
like,
um,
low stakes.
Yeah,
exactly.
Thank you.
Like low stakes.
I find those that are just more interesting.
Cause they fit into the world better.
Right.
Yeah.
It doesn't have to be some like massive thing.
So I definitely want to read that one.
Yeah.
That was a good one.
Yeah.

(38:57):
Yeah.
Darian,
you planning on reading anything anytime soon?
I just picked up the Mace Windu comic book series by Mark Bernard.
And so I'm going to be reading that in the next few days.
I think.
Oh,
great.
Okay.
How about yourself?
Um,
well,
when you're done that,
uh,
let me know and then we'll,
uh,
you know,
you can,
uh,
you can chat about it here and get your full review.
Um,
yeah,
personally,

(39:17):
I'm trying to,
so I wrapped up force collector and,
uh,
I'm just trying to finish,
uh,
guardians of the wills.
It's like a junior novel,
uh,
which is a prequel to rogue one.
And it's a story about cheer in way and,
and base.
Um,
what's the last name again?
Anyway,
base,
the other guy.
And,

(39:38):
uh,
it's about their time on Jeddah before the whole place explodes.
Man.
So it was,
wasn't it 10 years ago?
Rogue one came out.
Yeah.
So this book is a while ago.
Same thing.
10 years ago.
Uh,
yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
That's crazy.
Yeah.

(39:58):
Just not on the record,
but,
uh,
but yeah,
I'm,
I,
you know,
I'm,
I'm kind of going back and I'm like,
Oh,
which books came out that I'm like wanting to read that were,
that are quick reads to get through.
Right.
Which is why I've been reading some junior novels because I find junior novels very pleasing to get through because they're quick.
They're not as complicated.
Some of the,
I don't feel like they try to get too much.

(40:19):
Yeah.
They do.
They stuff too much in.
And sometimes it takes a weird direction that,
that you're like,
man,
that was like kind of boring or something like that.
Right.
And it's like,
that was all fluff.
Yeah.
And,
and just the junior novels just are kind of to the point.
It's like almost like too immersive to the point where it just feels like it's dragging on a bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah,
exactly.

(40:39):
And,
and I feel like I'm not a huge fan of like overly descriptive books.
So you don't read Lord of the Rings,
huh?
No,
I haven't yet.
No,
I've,
I've read the Hobbit twice.
I've not read Lord of the Rings yet.
Um,
well,
it's basically the junior version of Lord of the Rings.
Yeah.
Can't say I was a huge fan of the Hobbit either,
but you know,
it is what it is,
but,
um,

(41:00):
I'm going to strike that from the record.
Yeah.
That's going to say that's,
that's kind of painful,
man.
The Hobbit's like one of the best books ever written.
I think we might've just lost a few subscribers.
I don't know.
I mean like,
uh,
you know,
okay,
here's the thing.
the Hobbit is written for an audience which existed like 40,
50 years ago.
Like,
I mean,

(41:20):
I read it in middle school.
In fact,
I read it again recently.
I liked it both times.
Yeah.
Like kids are different now.
I just,
all I remember thinking was when I was in school,
like we read a lot of like books,
like,
you know,
like older books,
like George Orwell and all that stuff.
And it's like,
man,
like,
you know,
we've been reading the same stuff in school for like decades now.
Like,
you know,

(41:40):
kids are,
kids want other kids,
want newer stuff.
And that's why Harry Potter was a big hit because it was the first fantasy genre that was actually good for that for that age group.
Right.
And so like,
you know,
Aged with that generation.
Yeah.
And I don't mean to criticize Tolkien as a writer and author or anything like that because,
you know,
he's,
he's,
he's a brilliant writer and,

(42:02):
and father of fantasy as everyone knows.
Yeah,
yeah,
exactly.
And,
and in the same way that I would criticize George's,
um,
THX one,
one,
three,
eight,
um,
like,
you know,
it's just like,
okay,
it wasn't for me,
you know?
And like,
it's a great world and I love the space and I love the story,
but,
and the mythology and everything.
But when I,

(42:23):
when I read the Hobbit,
it does feel like I'm reading a children's book that was written for kids that,
that were kids like 40,
50 years ago,
you know?
Um,
so it's like times have changed.
I like,
I'm not really down to read that kind of pace of story.
You know what I mean?
Like I'm like,
I want something to be a little more actiony,
a little more upbeat.

(42:43):
You just got to grow up a bit,
Josh,
when you become an adult,
then you might start to like these slower pastes.
Yeah,
maybe stories a little more.
I got to stick to Tom Bombadil instead.
Um,
no,
I don't know.
I mean like,
obviously like,
you know,
pacing of storytelling has changed,
right?
Like you can,
you can see it in book,
you can see it in movies,

(43:03):
you can see it in music,
you can see it in video games.
Um,
and,
uh,
not that I need to be overly stimulated.
Like,
you know,
like some people need to be,
but it's just,
I don't know.
It's just like,
it's a very,
very slow paced story.
There's a lot of songs.
I hate the songs.
When you're reading songs in a book,

(43:23):
it sucks.
Like it doesn't matter.
Do you ever try to guess the tune?
No,
I don't need to guess.
I can't.
I've read both like I've done the audio book.
So I've heard someone singing in my ear and it's awful.
How dare you say that about Andy Serkis?
And you know,
it's a lovely voice.
You know,
you know,
one of the best things was,
is when I was watching rings of power,

(43:44):
I think one of the best things that that show has done so far,
cause I,
I do have my complaints like most other people,
but,
um,
but they made an actual good song based on the lyrics that he made for,
uh,
Tom Bombadil.
And it was so good,
man.
I was,
I was listening to,
I was like,
Hey,
that's the,
that's the song.
Like that's like a,
it's like a song that they used lyrics from and they,

(44:05):
they did change a little bit,
but like,
it's,
it's,
it's adapted,
you know,
from a song that Tolkien made.
And I was like,
Whoa,
this is,
this is cool.
Like,
this is awesome.
Um,
and,
uh,
to them for doing that.
Dude.
Yeah.
Huge props.
Like,
have you not,
have you not heard this or you have,
you never finished it?
Did you?
Um,
I'm,
I have half an episode left season two.
Really?

(44:25):
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I'm like,
I'm like literally talking about like the finale episode.
In the last 10 minutes.
Yeah.
Like literally the last 10 minutes.
The only thing I didn't watch.
Yeah.
The only thing you haven't seen.
That's pretty funny.
All right.
Check this out.
Listen to this.

(44:48):
Now let the song begin.
Let us sing together.
This is catchy,

(45:10):
right?
Played at a headed in a local tavern.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then in the show,
like,
I mean,
that's the,
in the spirit of doing kind of like how the Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings did,

(45:31):
where they have a vocalized version of a song that was sung in the,
in the,
you mean like acapella?
Well,
I mean like kind of like how I think it was at fellowship that had Enya in it.
And then each Hobbit movie had like an art,
like one of them had Ed Sheeran.
One of them had Billy Boyd,

(45:52):
you know,
and then the other one had somebody else that I can never remember the name of.
But each,
each one,
when,
when the credits drop,
you get somebody who's like singing a song that's like a modern day artist.
Right.
So the song that the song that has about,
I think it's the end of the first one.
It's about Gollum.
The first one,
it's like,
it was like the Dwarven.

(46:14):
Sorry,
Lord of the Rings.
There's one where like,
Oh,
the Lord of the Rings.
Yeah.
They're singing,
singing about Gollum,
I think.
It's like something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So in the show,
like this is the song that they sang,
but then this,
yeah,
this is the one that came in the show.
And then the one you heard first is the one that drops in the credits,
but like,
man,
look at it.
Look at the soundtrack.
What a killer soundtrack.

(46:43):
Like whoever composed this show,
like I think it's,
what's his name?
Bear McCreary.
I feel like he would be a good,
a good composer to,
to bring in,
to do a,
to do a Star Wars show if they ever did.
Pretty cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cause I just liked his style.

(47:05):
And when I was watching the show,
I was like,
man,
this is like,
he's got,
he's like talented guy.
Like,
you know,
I mean,
if he's going to do Star Wars,
he needs to use more trumpets.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sure.
Yeah.
I listen to this.
Mary doll,
derry doll,
ring-a-ding-dillon,
sand flies in the grass,

(47:26):
bees around the willow.
Just two dudes singing together.
That's a hobbit song for sure.
Let us sing together.
Sun,
stars,
moons,
rain,
and cloudy weather.
Light on the budding leaf,
dew on the feather.
Wind on the open hill,

(47:47):
bells on the heather.
Very good.
So these are from the books?
Yeah.
So the lyrics can't come from the books.
Could you imagine?
Man,
that's a tough job.
I'm very impressed
because it must be so difficult
to try to write music for lyrics
if you have no idea what the tune was.
Oh,
yeah.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
And like the lyrics aren't completely one for one,

(48:07):
but there's like entire lines that are.
Probably for that reason.
There's like,
yeah,
just to try and fit it into the tune,
you know,
that tweak some stuff.
But yeah,
most of it is like directly out of the original.
That's cool.
So that's the song.
But yeah,
very cool stuff.
All right.
Yeah,
we should probably get back here.
Never before unseen art from 20 years of Lucasfilm animation.

(48:28):
So Lucasfilm animation celebrated 20 years as of this year,
which is bonkers because I guess,
you know,
that was a while ago.
You know,
you remember 20 years ago?
Yes.
Darren's like,
yeah,
yeah.
Yeah,
I would.
Okay.

(48:49):
Well,
20 years ago,
we were in the theater,
you know,
watching Revenge of the Sith.
Yeah.
I guess that was technically last year,
but was the last year?
That means that it just came out on.
Oh,
no,
it was this year.
It was this year.
It was this year because we,
the three of us went actually,
yeah,
the three of us went with it,
with our larger group to the theater to watch Revenge of the Sith.
But anyway,
that was 20 years ago.

(49:09):
Yeah.
so shortly after Revenge of the Sith came out,
Lucasfilm animation was,
I guess,
conceptualized and created because that's when.
you're going to spin up Clone Wars.
Yeah,
exactly.
That's when Dave got the job.
Oh,
and that's when they put out that,
the,
the movie to release it.

(49:31):
Uh,
yeah,
well,
that was two years,
three or two or three years later.
but,
but it was 2008 that that came,
came out,
but it was between 2005 and 2008 that the,
that the movie and the show was conceptualized,
worked on and then released.
And,
uh,
cause it takes a long time to make an animated feature,

(49:51):
you know,
like 3d.
Yeah.
Disney,
it takes like between four to six years,
uh,
or seven,
you know,
DreamWorks,
it's like same thing.
Um,
so yeah,
it takes a long time to do feature animation.
And,
um,
you know,
it's,
uh,
it's a lot of work.
So 20 years later,
uh,
Dave Filoni sat down to sketch,
um,
uh,
well in 2011,

(50:12):
sorry,
Dave Filoni sat down to sketch a clone trooper.
And he wrote a few names beside him,
Hunter,
Wrecker,
Tech,
and Crosshair.
Uh,
that drawing has,
uh,
journeyed over the years from Filoni's desk at Luke's film animation to the production of
Star Wars,
the bad batch 10 years after that drawing was made in 2021 and all the way to a booth at this

(50:33):
year's San Diego comic-con,
where you can see it for yourself at the 20 year anniversary Luke's film animation panel.
So,
uh,
they had a big booth set up.
They had artwork displayed.
Uh,
they had props from the animated,
uh,
series that they had kind of brought to life in a way.
And they had stuff from Ahsoka there as well.
Uh,
you can scroll through some pictures on starwars.com.

(50:56):
Uh,
they've got some miniature models,
uh,
showcasing,
uh,
some really cool stuff.
They had a miniature model of the Colossus from Star Wars resistance.
So I thought this,
I thought this would kind of pique your interest here.
Yeah.
The ship.
It's the best part of that show.
Yeah.
Yeah,
it is.
Yeah.
Uh,
here,
I'll send you,
I'll send you the link in the chat here,
Darian.
So you can take a look at these,
these images here.
Um,
but,

(51:16):
uh,
I thought it was kind of cool,
uh,
that they had all this stuff.
Uh,
they had some ships from the resistance show.
They had,
uh,
maquettes for some of the face sculpts for some of the characters.
Uh,
they have Sabine's helmet in a display case along with her blasters.
They've got Anakin's lightsaber show,
or does it's a replica from the animated series?

(51:37):
I think it's,
I mean,
it's,
I think it's both in a way like,
um,
but I,
I mean,
yeah,
I don't,
I don't really know.
That's a good question.
I guess somebody out there is going to have to do a side by side comparison,
but,
uh,
Oh,
I see Zeb.
Oh yeah.
There's Zeb's face sculpt.
So this is all stuff by Dave.

(51:58):
No,
it's not all stuff by Dave,
but it's,
it's,
it's by the Lucas animation team that,
would,
you know,
asset development stages and stuff like that,
uh,
that would make these facial sculpts out of clay.
And,
uh,
before they actually model in 3d and then,
you know,
then it would go to 3d,
but then they have screenshots after that,
which,

(52:18):
um,
you know,
it's kind of like a museum sort of section where they showcase some pieces and
early concept art and renderings and stuff like that from major moments.
And that's cool.
Just a nice way to commemorate 20 years of,
of,
of,
uh,
Lucas animation shows.
So,
uh,
should have got really high resolution photos of them all so you can print them

(52:41):
out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um,
but yeah,
I mean,
it's all kind of in anticipation for a Soka season two next year,
as well as a Darth Maul shadow Lord.
Um,
and I'm really looking forward to shadow Lord quite a bit.
Um,
and the Soka season two announced that's,
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's an,
they actually showed a image of a man if Stani and,

(53:02):
uh,
in his costume for season two recast.
So they did a re yeah,
they did a recast.
They did.
They showcased a photo of,
uh,
what's his name as Balan skull now.
So that's kind of crazy.
Um,
yeah.
I don't know.
What's your,
uh,
what's your favorite,
what's your favorite show?
Lucas animation show.

(53:23):
Me?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Both of you guys.
It was definitely originally clone wars,
but I'm going to be honest that rewash of rebels.
I really liked it.
So I might be moving a little bit in that direction.
Oh,
okay.
All right.
What about you,
Darian?
I'm,
I'm definitely going to say clone wars,

(53:45):
uh,
rebels had more heart,
but clone wars was a better vocation for telling more diverse stories.
You really got into like more interesting characters.
It broke the mold of the type of characters you've got in star Wars.
That's true.
Yeah.
Clone Wars did a lot for a lot of stories because they were able to tell so many different things.

(54:09):
That is like by far the strongest part about clone wars.
Yeah,
definitely.
Yeah.
I know we've talked many times about how we want them to figure out how to do that kind
of style of story.
Oh yeah.
Again.
Yeah.
I just never seem to be able to,
I think they,
they modeled too much of the,
uh,
original trilogy style of just like close knit,

(54:31):
close knit,
uh,
handful of characters.
For sure.
Uh,
I was just,
I brought up an article called the take home,
the standout star was exclusive from San Diego comic-con.
Um,
I don't really want to go through this entire list because there's a lot,
but,
uh,
the thing that stuck out to me was,
uh,
was two things.
Uh,
one of them was this really sweet,

(54:52):
do you remember at Disney world where I got that leather bracelet engraved with
Orbesh,
like my name on it.
And,
and,
uh,
it was just like a leather,
leather bracelet.
Fagley.
Okay.
Uh,
well anyway,
the name tags and our passion,
the guy like,
yeah,
let me,
I wanted to be,
I was going to be like R four or something.

(55:14):
Right.
Or like R seven.
Yeah.
Like wouldn't let me do it.
Yeah.
That's weird.
Yeah.
I was so annoyed.
So I was trying to find like a loophole.
I was like trying to convince him that my name was some like obscure thing.
Roger four.
Yeah,
exactly.
Roger the fourth.
I think it,
I can't remember what I ended up doing,
but yeah,

(55:34):
it was just some like nonsensical thing.
Yeah.
Uh,
my name's Richard the third,
but can we just,
can we just shorten it to our,
our three?
That'll work.
Uh,
well they have,
um,
rock love was there.
Rock love makes a lot of jewelry and stuff.
And,
uh,
they have this,
uh,
this booth where,

(55:55):
uh,
you could get live or ambition engravings on some of their stuff,
like some of their nice,
like pendants and things like that.
So you can see like,
you know,
that,
that thing right there.
Oh yeah.
So it's like dog tags.
Yeah.
So I felt like,
Oh,
that's really cool.
Um,
you know,
pretty awesome.
And,
uh,
the other thing that stuck out was,
okay,
other than the Duonovo Vader helmet from empire,

(56:18):
which looks absolutely sick,
uh,
is a limited edition Darth Vader Tamagotchi.
Do you guys remember Tamagotchi?
Yes.
That was a long time ago.
Surprise is still around.
So I used to have one as well.
And,
uh,
did it die?
Yep.
Uh,
this one is a limited edition,

(56:38):
uh,
Tamagotchi puts Anakin Skywalker's path in the palm of your hands.
You don't need Anakin.
Does he die?
Yeah.
Showcase like a shiny metallic shell.
You can get him,
uh,
to take him,
uh,
sorry.
You can take him through lightsaber training and your interactions will determine what light or dark side character he meets.

(56:59):
Uh,
this,
uh,
SDCC exclusives also comes with premium black,
um,
Android box packaging for display.
And I don't know.
I,
I just thought it was like,
it's really cool that they've done,
they've done these star Wars collabs with Tamagotchi before they've done an R2 one.
And I think they've done a Grogu one,

(57:19):
if I'm not mistaken.
Those are more Tamagotchi ish characters.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anakin is pretty funny,
but which version of Anakin is it?
It's literally like,
well,
the,
the thing is metallic and it has like a Darth Vader,
like armor print on it.
If you don't feed him,
does he turn into Darth Vader?
Possibly.
He's like neglected.
Yeah.

(57:40):
I kind of like,
I kind of,
I'm going to be honest.
Like when I saw the R2 one,
I was like,
okay,
that's pretty tempting.
But when I saw this and I was like,
okay,
I would totally buy that.
If it wasn't an exclusive,
like I would love to find out,
you know,
for a thousand dollars,
it could be yours.
Oh man.
Yeah.
You know,
stupid exclusives.
I'm sure there's going to be like a Vader,

(58:00):
you know,
published to everybody,
but it's not going to have this like nice Chrome look to it.
Right.
Um,
I'm,
but I imagine if they put in the work to make the sprite and that
entire like virtual path for Anakin,
like all that work,
like there is no way they're going to let that go to waste.
So,
um,
they'll,
we'll probably see a Darth Vader one at some point brought to the

(58:21):
masses,
but it's not going to have this like,
you know,
very polished look about it.
Um,
but when it comes out,
I'm,
you know,
I'll probably pick one up.
I'm sure your wife will love that.
I'm sure she will.
Uh,
all right.
So,
uh,
last thing I want to mention,
uh,
is,
uh,
two things before you,
uh,
you know,
can start to close out here is,

(58:42):
um,
because the high Republic is ending,
you know,
a lot of people might be thinking like,
Hey,
I want to,
maybe I want to go through this,
you know?
Um,
that's a monumental task.
It is.
It is.
And you can kind of pick your pieces to be honest,
like at least from what we read,
uh,
it's not overly terrible to skip the junior books.

(59:05):
And the young adult books are,
are kind of weirdly cemented,
cemented in like a bit of a staple kind of,
if you don't read it,
you,
you miss out,
but there's,
well,
there's two like very main storylines.
Yeah.
It's the adult and the junior.
Yeah.
Well,
there's three,
there's three,
there's,
there's the juniors,
the young adults and the adult.

(59:26):
And like,
you can totally skip the juniors,
but the adult and the young adult are kind of like necessary.
Um,
but if you're,
so they overlap story a little bit too,
right?
They do.
Yeah,
they do.
They do kind of trade hands a little bit.
And,
uh,
and then of course there's the Marvel comic book series,
which is also a big sort of slide lining thing that,
that goes along with that between the main events.

(59:48):
Um,
but if you're really just kind of getting the,
you just want the gist of it.
Um,
you know,
I think a good place to start is the light of the Jedi book that we read.
Uh,
that's a phase one book.
Um,
phase two books have the blue label.
Phase one books have the gold and phase three have the black.
And the reason I say it in that order is because phase two are all prequel to phase one.

(01:00:11):
Yeah.
I was going to say,
wouldn't it be better reading phase two first?
You can.
I just,
um,
the reason I can't recommend it is because I haven't read any phase two books and they are like hundreds of years before phase one takes place.
And they're,
I,
from what I've gathered,
they're very preliminary Jedi during this time on missions that don't concern the plot of the Nihil and so on and so forth.

(01:00:39):
So I would be very surprised if there's any overlap with that story.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it might with the drinker or whatever.
Uh,
possibly,
possibly.
Yeah.
I,
I mean,
I haven't read it to know,
but,
um,
but yeah,
there is a,
there's a big event in there called the battle of Jedha,
which plays into the big Jedi statue crumbled on the ground that you see in rogue one.
Uh,

(01:00:59):
that's also tied into this particular era and a battle that happens there.
That's one we were planning to read.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's an audio,
uh,
it's an audio exclusive.
Which,
um,
I think they published a book version of it,
the script version,
I guess.
But,
um,
but yeah,
there's,
there's some books in there which look kind of interesting.
And then of course there's the big event of the series,

(01:01:21):
which is light of the Jedi,
which is phase one.
And that goes through,
through,
uh,
now all the phase three stuff that they've done,
which is,
uh,
I think a smaller wave in general of content,
but,
um,
still sizable.
And,
uh,
do you think because they released in that kind of wonky order with the prequels?
Of it being in the middle kind of dampened the momentum it had.

(01:01:44):
I,
I think so.
I think honestly,
if you ask me,
and I think we did talk about this a little bit in one of the episodes that we've done in the last number of weeks,
but just my,
my general opinion on it was that they released too much stuff for the high Republic.
I think it was a little too grandiose,
like almost too big,
you know,
um,

(01:02:05):
a very comparable,
uh,
arguably more successful multimedia push was probably back in the nineties when they did,
um,
the,
uh,
what was it,
Darian,
that,
uh,
the big multimedia project.
Shadows of the empire.
Yeah.
Shadows.
Yeah.
Cause to this day,
shadows is still remembered.

(01:02:26):
Uh,
I mean,
not that higher public is going to be forgotten,
but like it's,
it's,
um,
I think it was just like,
it was a smaller scale.
So I only remember the game.
There's like a bunch of stuff that came out with it.
Yeah.
It was like toy lineup and,
uh,
a video game.
There was a bunch of novels that sort of coexisted around that same time period,
which played into the,
the time period that the game was set in.

(01:02:49):
Um,
there was also some novels.
I finally understand why Phil is so obsessed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All very engaged with this whole like narrative push.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And,
uh,
that,
I don't know.
Darian,
did you consume any of that stuff when it came out?
Oh,
I was huge into it.
So I read the book and got the video game right away.

(01:03:10):
I've still got quite a few of the toys.
I gave away the outrider and some other stuff to like my friends,
kids,
but,
uh,
yeah,
yeah,
it,
it meant a lot to us because there was just nothing forever.
And then all of a sudden one of the best stories in star Wars came out
with like just tons of material.

(01:03:31):
Everyone thought there was going to be a movie for it eventually,
but it just never did anything.
Yeah.
So like part of,
part of this push was,
uh,
like you said,
the video game,
which,
uh,
which had four parts to it.
Uh,
there was an official soundtrack that was released to sideline with that
game.

(01:03:51):
Uh,
there was also two novels is it that came out and a comic book series.
And there were of the same name.
The sequel novel,
I think was,
uh,
called evolution.
And there was also Kenner action figures,
uh,
Boba,
Chewbacca dash Rendar.
That is,
uh,
Leia,
Luke,

(01:04:11):
Prince,
she's or,
and,
uh,
Prince she's or with Darth Vader.
And then there was the vehicles outrider slave one in the swoop bike.
Uh,
there was also a big push from the trading card side of things from the
tops trading card company.
And,
uh,
that was it.
Like that was,
it was a,
it was a big marketing push with not a crazy overwhelming amount of
literature.

(01:04:32):
You know,
and I think that was a very successful multimedia push,
you know,
like you got,
you got a big thing coming out.
It's like,
okay,
let's,
let's do a bunch of things surrounding this item and make it all,
you know,
accessible and good and easy to follow.
And the smartest move was the game.
Definitely.
Yeah.
Lots of people like,
Oh,
the Star Wars game.

(01:04:52):
And then they find out about all the books and stuff around it.
The more likely to pick that up.
Darian,
do you remember if the,
if the video game advertised the books by any means?
Like,
do you know if there was like a nod of a head in the credits or like
anything in the main menu that may have like been a little toast
advert advertisement to the books or anything exists.
Yeah.
Anything at all.

(01:05:13):
Yeah.
There,
there,
there was a line on a lot of the commercials in like fine print based on
the book and,
and on a couple of commercials,
there'd be like a picture of the book at the end of it.
But,
uh,
it each,
each different iteration told a slightly different story or like from a
different perspective.
So the video game is like dash Rendar telling the story of shadows,

(01:05:38):
the empire over beers at like Cantina when he retired,
the book is kind of more from Luke's perspective.
And then the comic books are for like the bounty hunters perspectives more.
Okay.
I did not know that.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Um,
successful though.
Like I said,
I mean like,

(01:05:58):
I feel like that was a successful multimedia push.
Right.
And it,
and it was more manageable.
Mind you,
the company was like,
you know,
this is way smaller back then.
You know,
Luke's film was probably like a handful of people in an office.
Uh,
but at the same time,
it's like,
okay,
for a consumer to follow that,
that's a bit more manageable.
Right.

(01:06:18):
Yeah,
for sure.
And,
uh,
I feel like high Republic is just like,
you know,
it,
it,
it,
it just went kind of off the,
off the deep end.
It was too much too fast.
And it was all,
it was all narrowed,
like written.
Yeah.
Like you have to read it or audio book.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There wasn't like a single story that was more compressed.

(01:06:41):
And they should have lost,
launched some games.
Yeah.
It made a huge difference.
I feel like each.
Yeah.
Go ahead,
Darren.
The philosophy of how they came up with the stories between shadows of the empire versus high Republic is totally different with shadows of the empire.
They,
it,
the story evolved several times because they were doing the best idea wins.

(01:07:05):
Like originally it was actually supposed to be set between a new hope and empire strikes back.
But one of the major writers was like,
Hey,
no,
there's,
there's much more fertile ground after empire strikes back before Java's palace.
There's so many stories.
There's a more open timeline that,
that hasn't been explored at all.

(01:07:26):
So that's why we should go into it.
And that was the attitude of like,
whoever has the best idea wins.
How can we incorporate it?
And whereas the,
uh,
the high Republic,
it just seemed like,
Hey,
we have to get this out no matter what.
Hmm.
Yeah.
And,
uh,
it had a lot of cooks in the kitchen too.
Yeah,
it was.

(01:07:47):
And it was big,
big authors.
Definitely.
Yeah.
And,
and it was,
it was also,
you know,
like you said,
like in,
in ways that were different from shadows,
like there was a big emphasis on it being a literary push rather than it being like a,
a dedicated multimedia kind of thing,
because they didn't go into this thinking like,

(01:08:08):
we're going to make toys,
you know,
like they went into it thinking George wasn't in control.
Yeah.
Yeah,
exactly.
And they went,
they went into it thinking like,
we're going to make books and we're going to make comic books.
And then it just kind of went in different directions from there.
And,
and I appreciate some of the weird niche areas that they started to go in.

(01:08:28):
Like obviously Jedi survivor started touching up on the high Republic a bit with the subplot in that game.
Uh,
there was a game that was,
it's allegedly still in production.
It's called star was eclipse and,
and,
uh,
by Quantic dream.
Um,
and,
uh,
the website is still up.
It's still active.
It's still supposed to eventually come out.

(01:08:48):
Um,
and it looks visually fantastic.
Um,
the trailer looks super epic and,
uh,
I am very,
very keen to play this game whenever it comes out.
It's just,
you know,
when it comes out is the question.
Um,
and,
uh,
yeah,
there was a VR game called tales from the galaxy's edge that I played through the campaign on that.
And,
and there was a side mission that was high Republic era.

(01:09:11):
And so,
you know,
there's some cool stuff that has come out of the,
the,
the,
the push,
but it's,
I just feel like it was very scaled up in ways that a lot of people would have just not consumed all of the stuff,
you know?
Um,
but no,
I agree.
And it was a daunting amount of books to be honest.
Yeah,
it definitely,
definitely was.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Cause also,

(01:09:31):
sorry,
go ahead.
Sorry.
I was going to say,
because we are adults.
Could you imagine being in like middle school and trying to keep up with all these books?
No,
I would not have the attention span.
Like I remember in middle school,
like,
well,
you're,
you know,
middle school,
elementary school.
I remember,
um,
very,
very actively,

(01:09:52):
keeping up with a specific junior novel series.
That was an ongoing legacy project from the Jedi apprentice books.
And that was like the Qui-Gon Obi-Wan series by Jude Watson.
And then they,
and then that same author went on to write the Jedi quest series,
which is 10 books.
And then the last of the Jedi series,

(01:10:16):
which was also 10 books.
And they also,
uh,
Jude also did,
um,
legacy of the Jedi and secrets of the Jedi.
And you read all of those.
I read all of the quest and last of the Jedi books,
as well as the last two novels that I mentioned.
And,
uh,
some special,
special novel,

(01:10:37):
like mini novel that also took place in,
in,
uh,
one of those series.
And I read a handful of the Jedi apprentice books,
but not the whole series.
Cause that series went for like 20 something books,
I think.
Or a lot.
That was a lot.
What's the time period though?
Uh,
each,
each one.
So a print Jedi apprentice was pre episode one Jedi quest was between two and

(01:10:59):
three.
And then the last of the Jedi was after episode three.
Sorry,
but how long did it take you to read all those?
Oh,
it spanned,
it spanned,
uh,
like,
you know,
between two.
Well,
I mean,
at least when I started,
when I latched onto the apprentice book,
that was after the whole series,
it kind of ended.
So that was like 2002,

(01:11:21):
I want to say.
And then that's also when I started getting into quest.
And then that brought me all the way through to like,
I want to say like 2009 or 10 when the,
like the last one came out for the last of the Jedi book series.
Yeah.
So it's like roughly seven years,
roughly like,
yeah,
it was a good chunk of like in my growing up years,

(01:11:43):
you know,
when the prequels were coming out and,
um,
you know,
that was,
you know,
I,
I,
that's not exactly on multimedia.
Uh,
thing,
but it was,
it was part of the larger marketing push for the prequel books,
right?
Or for the prequel movies.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Prequel movies.
But I guess the point I'm trying to get at then is that age category,

(01:12:06):
uh,
I think myself,
and it sounds like you,
that was it.
That was it for that age category.
There was like very little else.
So you,
would you have read more if there was more?
Probably not.
Like,
like,
that's what I was getting at is like the capacity of how much one can read.
Yeah.
I mean,
like keep,
interest.
That's the thing,
right?
Like,
I mean,
I feel like in order,

(01:12:26):
in order for it to be special,
you know,
it's just,
this is the same with anything.
Like in order for it to be special,
you can't have everything.
So consistently coming out all the time.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's just,
it is what it is.
Right.
Like,
I mean,
I think even as we release these podcast episodes,
like not everyone is going to be as dedicated as some people listening every single week,

(01:12:47):
but you know,
some people will like pick and choose based on the title and be like,
Oh yeah.
Okay.
This one,
you know,
sounds interesting to me.
And that's how I picked my Star Wars books.
Right.
Yeah.
You know,
it's the same way where like anyone might,
you know,
browse YouTube and not watch every single video from any particular creator,
but watch the ones that they want to make.
And it's just because there is simply not enough time,

(01:13:08):
too much stuff.
And,
but then there's some creators out there or some channels that are very inconsistently
putting stuff out.
And then because it's coming out on a very less frequent basis,
you do watch everything.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
And so that was Star Wars books at the time for me.
And now there's just so much.
I just like,
okay,
can't keep up,
you know,

(01:13:28):
which is,
it's too bad,
but it is what it is.
well,
I'd like to suggest that for one of our next books,
maybe because episode 400 is coming up,
we do Shadows of the Empire.
Shadows.
A novel?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think that'd be a lot of fun.

(01:13:50):
And it's in my mind,
it's the most canon book I've ever read.
Interesting.
Okay.
I've never read it.
So I'd be down for that.
Yeah.
Josh,
I think is the wild card.
Cause I don't think you read a lot of non-canon stuff.
I just have a hard time keeping up with canon as it is that,
um,
this is history,
Josh,
that I,

(01:14:11):
that I rarely find myself going back and,
and reading kind of older stuff,
but I know I'd be,
I'd be down to,
I'd be down to do it though.
Um,
and I think we should inform Phil and,
Oh yeah,
definitely got to get Phil.
Yeah.
And we'll do,
we'll do like a,
we'll do like an event,
an event,
uh,
review of,
um,
Francis story.
Yeah.
So I mean,
we talk about it.
The council together.
Yeah.

(01:14:32):
Yeah.
Uh,
all right.
Uh,
two,
two little things here and then we'll wrap it up.
Uh,
there was an article from gaming Bible that came out that,
uh,
that I saw it and it was headlined as star Wars fans torn over the real
reason that behind the accolades cancellation one year on,
uh,
they go on to say a year on from the accolades cancellation fans are pretty

(01:14:53):
torn on the real reason behind Disney shutting down the production.
Accolade was a decent show when it first aired,
uh,
while vocal minorities seem to have a problem with it.
It was generally a good show that expanded the star Wars universe and
give us a fresh perspective on an earlier part of the timeline.
Uh,
this is written by,
uh,
Ollie Smith.
Um,
after getting only one season of eight episodes,
Disney made the decision to cancel the acolyte August,

(01:15:14):
2024 with low viewership being a key reason as to why.
Now a report from a data company known as parrot analytics has suggested
that this decision may not have been the wisest move from Disney.
Uh,
this is a credit to screen rent.
Uh,
the,
uh,
the company reports that the demand for the acolyte has been pretty high
combining viewership with things like social media engagement,

(01:15:37):
wiki clicks and search trends.
It turns out that the show is actually one of the top trending Disney plus
shows back in February and March.
This gives it an overall rating of outstanding on parrot analytics
website and indicates that the show may have been more popular than we were
led to believe.
Uh,
so they may have permanently prematurely acted by canceling the acolyte,
uh,
wrote one fan on Reddit.

(01:15:58):
It continues to perform and is at the top when it comes to shows that are
still being talked about.
Uh,
this is why you don't make business decisions based on cries,
uh,
of the phantom chuds.
Um,
however,
it's also worth noting that the acolyte went notoriously over budget with a
projected,
uh,
cost of around 180 million USD.

(01:16:19):
That's extremely high.
When you consider,
uh,
a season that the,
of the Mandalorian that only costs 120 million,
the unsustainable budget and nature of streaming definitely,
uh,
will have been the biggest reason behind the cancellation reads a comment in the
replies,
but I wouldn't be suggest surprised if the initial lower viewing figures and,

(01:16:41):
uh,
uh,
chuds basically review bombing on the show.
Whilst the biggest star Wars YouTuber does videos by,
uh,
taking the,
and then it stars it out of the show and,
uh,
tearing it apart each week led to Disney deciding to pull the plug as early as
they did.
Um,
and,
uh,
another person writes something scathing about reasons that it was taken down.

(01:17:05):
And,
uh,
that they claimed the show needed space and time to grow and many other
things.
And then they cap it off with either way.
It's a shame that we probably won't get another season of this show.
There's always the possibility of its plot threads being wrapped up in a book
or another show entirely,
but we'll have to wait and see what happens there.
Uh,
so what do you guys think of that?
Like,
would you,
do you think it's,

(01:17:25):
I mean like pair of analytics,
obviously that's not critics.
That is simply statistics of online engagement.
Right.
So like,
do you think that's a result of the failure of the show?
Now people looking stuff up after the fact,
or do you think?
I would also be curious,
uh,
percentage of people that are very active on social media and a percentage of

(01:17:47):
them that liked the show versus people who don't use social media who maybe
didn't like the show.
Yeah.
That's my only,
I'm curious about that too.
I'm just curious if there's a bias there.
Yeah.
Cause I'm not a social media person.
I don't know either.
And you know,
and it's like,
we had things to say about the show.
Like,
I mean,
obviously we don't,
we keep things pretty,
pretty positive and pretty,
you know,
overall neutral when it comes to trying not to be negativity out there.

(01:18:11):
But yeah,
like I really liked the era and I'm really glad they made something.
Yeah.
And I'm,
I'm,
I definitely enjoyed like good chunks of it,
but I also do wonder if we're only going to get so many shows if we're
perhaps better off with a different storyline.
Right.
Cause you got to pick and choose.
You can't have everything.
Yeah,
definitely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I certainly had my fair share of problems with the show as well,

(01:18:34):
but it was like,
there was some pretty wicked stuff that came out.
But yeah,
the only thing is like,
then you get to the finale and that's where you actually are like,
Oh,
I'm more.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you know,
and again,
I think it was too late.
I could have gone without a,
like a bunch of stuff,
but at the same time,
it's like,
okay,
like,
you know,
if they shifted gears with season two,
kind of like how they shifted gears with the halo show.

(01:18:55):
I think maybe something really good could have come out of it.
Yeah.
You know,
if they learned from the lesson and gave it another chance,
but I don't know,
maybe they,
maybe they called it and they're like,
Hey,
let's not learn from our lesson.
Let's just call it a loss and move on.
Right.
It's also tough just with streaming and being so expensive and not a lot of
return value.

(01:19:15):
Right.
As it is.
So in fact,
it was over budget and everything.
And then I just had a really rocky start out of the gate.
It was kind of.
Yeah.
I do wonder if this going against the tide.
Yeah.
And,
and I do wonder if this plays into the reason that we haven't seen a
steel book produced like the Blu-rays have kind of been put on pause

(01:19:36):
for a while.
Like the last ones you're able to buy Mando season one through three,
Ahsoka season one and Kenobi.
That's it.
Like those are the only ones,
right?
I've seen Andor.
Oh,
and Andor and Andor.
Sorry.
Yeah.
We own Andor season,
season one.
Oh,
they don't do too yet.
So yeah.
So season,
season two of Andor is missing.

(01:19:57):
Season,
uh,
skeleton crew,
uh,
acolyte and book of Boba Fett.
Those are the four that we currently have no Blu-rays for other than Boba
Fett.
I feel like they're pretty new.
Cause they're usually pretty slow to release those usually,
but it's older than Ahsoka season one.
And we got the Soka season one.

(01:20:17):
So like,
I think,
Dave Filoni's orders.
You know,
to me that just says,
okay,
they have avoided doing the least profitable shows so far.
I think the only ones that that doesn't apply to necessarily is Andor season two.
Cause that literally just came out this year as well as skeleton crew is fairly new as well.
Yeah.
But overall,

(01:20:38):
the skeleton crew I thought did really well.
I mean,
so did Andor.
Yeah.
So like,
I don't know overall,
maybe,
maybe they wanted to wait till a very successful season of a show came out to pair it up.
Cause they've been releasing them in pairs.
I was going to say,
yeah,
maybe they want to release a bunch at once.
It's probably cheaper on manufacturing.
Yeah.
Maybe they want to pair something that was like less popular up with the very popular Andor so that they can have both on the shelf.

(01:21:01):
Right.
And it's like,
maybe they'll get more people going to the store,
picking one up and be like,
Oh,
I'll pick that one up too.
Right.
Maybe.
Grandmother going to get your Christmas gift and gets the wrong one.
Yeah.
It's like,
like I want an Andor grandma.
I didn't want Boba.
It was just as good.
And it was half as much cause nobody wanted it.

(01:21:24):
It was in the discount bin.
Yeah.
Oh man.
But yeah,
I mean,
like I,
I mean,
I buy that.
Like I would too.
I buy all of them.
I buy all of them.
I bought rise of Skywalker on steel book Blu-ray.
That's true.
Still bought it.
I'm a sucker.
We've got to keep complete the collection.
Yeah,
exactly.
That's why I'm a sucker.

(01:21:47):
But yeah,
I mean,
you know,
heck I'd,
I'd buy it and you know,
they'll make a little bit of money back from,
from the sales of,
you know,
we're not the only ones.
A lot of people want to just have the whole collection.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah,
exactly.
Like,
you know,
we want,
you know,
yeah,
totally.
Yeah.
Darian,
what's your thoughts on all that?
I guess,
you know,
acolyte and,
and online engagement and stuff like that.

(01:22:10):
Have you,
have you noticed anything that might sort of insinuate like,
okay,
you know,
some people are loud out there,
but like,
does it,
does it warrant season two?
Maybe like,
do you think,
do you think they're right about this or,
or do you think they should leave it be?
I have seen so much confirmation for season two posted online the last two months.

(01:22:31):
Oh,
they're definitely doing it.
They're definitely doing it.
It's like,
no,
they're not.
I mean,
every,
they've also been talking about a firefly show with the original cast came back together for the last 20 years.
There's no way.
there was one point that almost happens about four years ago where no,

(01:22:55):
no,
they,
when they actually started casting people for it and it had a listing on IMDB and everything.
They got really close.
You mean the reboot,
but yeah,
yeah,
I heard.
Yeah.
There was,
there was talk about there being a firefly reboot,
like a full,
so not the original cast.
No,
no,
it wouldn't be the same.
They would have rebooted the whole universe.

(01:23:16):
Same P same main characters or like different,
same different,
different people,
different cast members,
same characters,
different story,
you know,
what I heard was that the,
uh,
like Malcolm Reynolds was still running around the world.
So he was now basically like in charge of her own little empire in the underworld.
So it would have been a spinoff.
They were going to,

(01:23:36):
that's better.
I'd be more kind of.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
That's better.
It was like a soft reboot.
Yeah.
Cause they were still making comic books and not like,
they're still making novels and yeah.
Yeah.
So like the,
the,
the universe has expanded in the literature.
The only thing is that show is so about the characters.
I'm not sure how well it would do.
Hmm.
I think that's exactly why they canceled it.

(01:23:58):
Yeah.
It was that fans were not happy about what they were hearing coming out of it.
Yeah.
It's,
it's,
it's very hard to get a spinoff successfully working for any kind of very successful show.
I think there's going to be directly compared.
There's very few that have worked out,
you know,
like,
I don't know,
like friends was one of the most popular shows from the nineties till the two thousands.

(01:24:19):
And Joey was like,
nobody's seen it.
Right.
I mean,
I've seen it.
Isn't that like the fish restaurant?
Joe,
no,
Joey,
Joey,
Joey,
the spinoff,
like fish,
right.
What are you talking about?
Joey was a spinoff show about Joey.
And it was simply that he went off to LA to become an actor and he left all his friends

(01:24:44):
behind in New York.
And,
um,
you know,
it was a comedy show that lasted two seasons because it just didn't succeed.
You know,
it didn't succeed.
It's because again,
it's a ensemble.
It's a cast.
Yeah.
It's the whole,
whole group and how they interact in relationships.
And firefly is that too,
to be honest,
it was the same with,
uh,
suits.

(01:25:04):
Uh,
they had a spinoff called Pearson,
which was just about Jessica Pearson going to Chicago.
And,
uh,
that lasted for one season.
Uh,
now they have a new spinoff called suits LA and it has appearances from the original
cast members,
but it's a completely different new cast.
So I'm curious to see how long they'll keep it up.
Is it one of the actresses from firefly in that show?

(01:25:26):
Uh,
yeah.
So he was,
I thought so.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Uh,
here's my argument.
Joss Whedon has always succeeded with his spinoff shows.
I mean,
angel did really well.
That's true.
Yeah.
Buffy.
That's true.
I'd say angel was better than Buffy because it took a more adult approach.

(01:25:46):
Um,
I will agree with that because I finished angel.
I didn't finish Buffy.
Uh,
yeah,
I know.
I,
I guess,
I guess if the,
you know,
if the proof is in the pudding,
then,
then yeah,
sure.
Um,
but Joss do it though.
Cause that's the real question.
I don't think dads would let him like people still are really angry at him,

(01:26:07):
even though they love his work.
but yeah,
I mean,
it's,
uh,
you know,
it's tough.
Um,
it's,
it's tough,
I guess,
to,
to get a spinoff functioning and working,
you know,
like when people have really loved the original show,
but yeah,
you can look at all of the star Wars,
Disney plus shows and spinoff shows,
right?
I would watch maybe a spinoff show that still had Malcolm Reynolds as like the main character,

(01:26:30):
but then he's got like a different crew,
but then you start seeing some of the other characters come in in like intermittently.
Let's like a time jump later.
Yeah.
I,
I,
I feel like Mal was such a solid person in the show that they could pull together.
Hmm.
Got it.
Yeah.
Without him.
I don't think it would work.

(01:26:51):
Right.
Which,
which version of Mal do you like the best?
Do you like the dark and fruity broken Mal or do you like the happy kind of like sappy Mal?
Well,
you need the mix.
That's why he has depth.
Makes him like a real person.
I like the mix too,
but you did.

(01:27:11):
I noticed in part of season one,
he just is like happy and goofy all the time.
Right.
I think it just depends how life's going.
Do he's got a job or if he doesn't.
Yeah.
Tough times.
Tough times.
All right.
I'm going to,
I'm going to try and wrap things up here.

(01:27:33):
I'm going to finish off with something pretty light.
I've been playing the Indiana Jones and the great circle video game,
which was published by Bethesda just last year in December on December 9th.
But it did come out earlier.
Sorry.
It came out earlier this year on PlayStation on April 17th.
But it was a,

(01:27:53):
it was a last year game to anyone running PC or Xbox.
The reason why I'm only just playing it now is not because I play PlayStation,
but because I got a free month of Xbox game pass ultimate.
And randomly I was like,
Oh,
I haven't purchased or played this game yet.
So I'll give it a go because,
you know,
Bethesda is a Microsoft company now and it happened to be on the library of

(01:28:16):
games that I have access to.
So I've started to play it.
The game takes place in 1937 and it's set between the events of Raiders and
the last crusade.
So just to give you an idea and it's awesome.
It's like so far,
it's really,
really good.
I played maybe an hour or two of gameplay and it's very cinematic.

(01:28:42):
It's very like immersive and it's first person as Indiana Jones.
The first person part is kind of bizarre.
I never would have pictured an Indiana Jones game.
Yeah.
The cut scenes are all as you would expect them to be.
Yeah.
But the gameplay is all first person.
And I think that's probably my biggest,

(01:29:02):
so far my biggest complaint about it is because I really love third person
RPGs.
And that's,
I think it's just a preference.
So like,
as far as the first person aspect goes,
they've done it very well,
but I just prefer a third person gameplay,
you know?
So I think when you're dealing with a,
a character who's like a known character from a series like Indiana Jones,

(01:29:29):
I think third person makes more sense thematically because the first person is
like,
you're assuming that person,
you are that person.
Yeah.
Third person,
you still feel more of a disconnect of who you're playing.
It's like,
you're,
you're watching their story.
Right.
Right.
Yeah,
I agree.
I agree.
And I think like the whole point of this game was really to put you in the
shoes of Indiana Jones,

(01:29:49):
which feels weird.
It's as a concept.
Uh,
yeah,
you know,
like,
and there's things that I can see that they've done,
which would not be the same if it was third person,
but I feel like you'd lose all of your,
uh,
all the humorous moments.
Yeah.
Um,
yeah.
Like,
I mean,
I don't know.

(01:30:10):
There was something very like,
I don't know.
There's something very satisfying about looking around the room in first
person,
finding something on a desk,
picking it up.
And it's a clue,
you know,
like,
whereas in third person,
it is not the same.
That's true.
Yeah.
It's not the same story that's unfolding before your eyes,
but at the,
on the other hand,
combat and scaling around the map,

(01:30:32):
like running around and then exploring the environment.
I,
I would,
would say that third person,
I like more.
Um,
but,
uh,
as first person,
it's a little tougher to do that.
And when you are climbing up on your whip,
scaling buildings and stuff,
it does zoom out into third person.
So there are things that's like,
it does force you into the third person perspective.

(01:30:52):
Right.
Um,
and that's where it makes it worse.
That's where the limitation of first person is.
Right.
And that's where,
that's where it doesn't hold up.
And that's not like first person games.
You go up the ladder.
So you just like look up and then you just start to move upwards.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Slide up the ladder.
Exactly.
It's not like that.
Yeah.
So,
uh,
so yeah,
they've,
they've,
you know,
they've tried to piece together a fairly successful first person.

(01:31:14):
And they have great reviews for the game.
Like people love it.
And so,
you know,
as,
as a Lucasfilm games title,
which very few have come out under the Lucasfilm games title.
Um,
I just wanted to bring it up and,
you know,
let people know,
like I'm playing this game and you know,
when I'm done,
and we'll,
uh,
let's do a full chat about it.
So did you ever play the Nathan Drake games?
Uh,
Uncharted?
Uncharted.
Yeah.
No.

(01:31:34):
Cause I'd be curious how it would compare to that.
Cause I feel like that's a more recent Indiana Jones theme.
Yeah.
It's also,
it's also a third person game though.
From what I,
well,
from what I know,
um,
I remember first season first.
Sorry.
I mean,
third person,
third person game.
So,
uh,
is it first person?
I thought it was third person.

(01:31:55):
I might be getting mixed up with another game.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Um,
there's also tomb Raider,
which is kind of a similar,
similar thing.
That one's,
it's more campy,
but yeah,
that one's first person.
I think,
I think not the original,
the new one is.
Okay.
I,
I'm not sure about the new one.
I think I could be wrong.

(01:32:17):
Actually,
maybe it's first person only when you're like using the bow.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Whatever.
That'd be weird too.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I forget.
But anyway,
we'll do it.
We'll do a chat on that at some point,
but,
uh,
okay.
Anything you guys want to bring up right before we wrap up here?
Do you guys want Luke Skywalker to be,

(01:32:37):
uh,
digitally face replaced or recast as Sebastian?
Not that whatever his name was face,
face replace.
Yeah.
You,
you'd rather do that.
Sebastian Stan.
That's the one.
Thank you.
I was going to say,
shut up.
Face replace.
earlier face replace a hundred percent.
Um,
I find it incredibly jank when they replace an actor midway through and then go back to the

(01:33:00):
original actor.
What about the solo movie?
What do we do now?
That's the thing though,
is that we haven't seen Han played by Harrison Ford in a state of a pre solo world.
So it still makes sense to have a younger,
like younger solo,
just like how we have a younger Obi-Wan played by a different actor.
But if they start doing stuff like,

(01:33:21):
okay,
now you and McGregor is playing Obi-Wan after episode four events.
Now it's weird.
Right?
I feel like that's going to happen,
but yeah,
I know what you mean.
Like,
I hope it doesn't happen,
but you know,
that's where it gets kind of strange.
So I feel like,
you know,
they got to stick with Mark Hamill.
They got to,
and I feel like that's why and or season two is just so strange in my mind for them recasting

(01:33:45):
bail because you see bail as the old actor again in rogue one.
So you go from the prequels to and or season one.
Has anyone checked Disney plus?
Maybe they face replaced him.
Yeah,
they've,
somebody's already done on YouTube and it's so bad.
We talked about this.
They've just,
they've just whipped it up in an AI.
It's because they did it fast so that they could get the clicks.

(01:34:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah,
totally.
Yeah.
Anyway.
All right.
Darian,
thanks for dropping in as always.
Good hanging out with you and we'll catch you in the next one,
sir.
This is the way.
And Blake,
thank you for your time and dedication as always,
as our co-host here on the show.

(01:34:26):
We'll catch you in the next one.
We'll see you out there.
Keep flying.
All right.
A huge thank you to our audience.
We are approaching 400 episodes of Star Wars Escape Pod.
Huge milestone for the show.
So go and follow us on the socials using our handle at SWEscapePodcast.
On Blue Sky,

(01:34:47):
we have StarWarsPodcast.ca.
You can also use that in your web browser to check out our website,
www.StarWarsPodcast.ca.
And go and check out our AI experimental podcast called Star Wars Launchpad,
which we recently also did a drop for that after about two months of no episodes,
all about SDCC 2025.

(01:35:10):
Send us an email,
SWEscapePodcast.ca.ca.
All the links are in the description below.
And we will see you in the next episode of Star Wars Escape Pod.
May the force be with you.

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Cantina Banter #3 | SDCC 2025 - Lucas Museum Coming Soon | New Publishing & More

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Cantina Banter #3 | SDCC 2025 - Lucas Museum Coming Soon | New Publishing & More