March 24, 2025 • 49 mins
This week we dive into a tough topic for most, Banking.. in Star Wars. It's not the most exciting topic, and sure it can even anger fans who never appreciated the lore about the prequels. But it's relevant, and needed, and this week we read through an article that explains a lot of fundamentals about the galactic economics. So let's join Josh and Blake and dive right in.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Time to abandon ship!
(00:05):
Oh no!
Here we go!
Can I persuade you to join us for a drink?
It's a tradition.
Here, here.
Jar Jar, homie, my main man.
Quick!
Before the separatists attack, get into the escape pod.
(00:28):
Hey!
This is escape!
Then where's the pod?
This is escape!
Welcome back to Star Wars Escape Pod.
I'm your host, Josh, and we have our co-host, Blake, in the escape pod this week
to chat all about the economics of the Galactic Empire,
(00:52):
which is actually an article published by Rakesh Sharma on Investopedia about three years ago.
And we've been wanting to chat banking for a little while,
so if you've ever had questions about banking in Star Wars without sounding boring,
oh my goodness, let's just dive right in.
(01:22):
Another happy landing.
All right, welcome back.
Hey, good to be back.
How many listeners are still listening, do you think?
Did they all drop out?
I think they all dropped out as soon as I said banking, yeah.
(01:45):
Ran to the hills.
Exactly.
Did you talk about anything more boring?
You know, it's one of those things, I guess,
and we're going to try and keep this interesting with this article,
which has been very well written in my opinion,
but we've been wanting to talk about,
at least I've been wanting to talk about banking for a little while.
Does that mean this was your suggestion?
It's so long ago, I don't remember.
(02:06):
It is just such a, yeah, it is.
It's just such a big part of Star Wars, you know,
like money and banking have so much to do with the prequels,
it has so much to do with the Empire and how it operates.
It has so much to do with what comes later.
It has everything to do with what the heck happened with the First Order.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
(02:27):
And we're actually going to talk about that.
So, yeah, I thought it was actually like just a really interesting subject
and it sounds boring on the face value side of things.
You know, you take one look at the headline and you're like,
oh, well, you know, screw that episode.
Like, I don't want to listen to that.
Or put a fake title.
We've lured you in.
That's right.
But hopefully we're able to make this somewhat fun and interesting.
(02:51):
And, you know, you might learn a lot more about the inner workings of the lore,
how things like that worked in Star Wars.
We're going to be trying to making connections to...
How did they fund the Clone Army?
Yeah, yeah.
Lots of stories that we can make connections to, things like that.
So we're going to go through this article and, you know,
it's not going to take us all night, but it is slightly longer.
(03:13):
So that's a good thing, though, because it provides lots of evidence
for backing up how the system works.
So this has also been fact-checked by...
Oh, my goodness.
What's her name?
Suzanne.
I don't know how to pronounce her last name.
I think it's Vilhaug, if I'm pronouncing that correctly.
There might be a silent K.
(03:35):
And it's reviewed by a third person, Dorotha Clemon.
So this is, once again, Investopedia.
And if I can remember to put this link down in the description, I will.
But it was updated on August 4th, 2022.
So it's very well that the article could actually be older than that,
but definitely newer than The Rise of Skywalker.
(03:57):
And that's kind of key because what you were saying about the first order
and the final order.
So many questions.
Yeah, so many questions.
Right.
So without further ado, let's just dive right in.
Okay, so here's the article.
The ninth episode in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker,
premiered in theaters around the world in December 2019.
The movie continued the stories of Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren.
(04:20):
Fans were ecstatic to see their favorite characters come back in this film
by J.J. Abrams.
With its themes of intergalactic travel, colorful sets, and quirky creatures,
the science fiction series might seem far-fetched to people
who can't tell the difference between Tatooine and Jakku.
In fact, the Star Wars saga is underpinned by an economic and political system
inspired by and derived from real-world events.
(04:43):
But the economics of the Galactic Empire can sometimes seem as mysterious
as the ways of the Force.
Without a galaxy full of taxpayers,
how is the Empire getting money to fund and making the deployment
of new fleets of Star Destroyers and planet-killing super lasers
like the Death Star?
Apparently, dark-side economics are more effective than supply-side economics.
(05:05):
Alright.
There's your intro.
Key takeaways.
The Star Wars economy is galactic and governed by the precepts of modern trade
where planets exchange products and services
and the intersection of trade routes benefits the closest planets.
Those would be probably the planets close together or planets close to the core.
(05:26):
Yeah, that makes sense.
It's easier to transport stuff between them.
Exactly.
Another key takeaway here.
There are thousands of currencies used on individual planets,
but both the Republic and the Empire support galactic credits.
And it's worth noting that when the Empire becomes the Empire,
the physical credit that they use is different
(05:47):
between the Republic days and the Empire days.
And I only know that because it's come up twice.
Once, I think we've seen it in the Mandalorian
or in the other live-action, the recent live-action show,
we've seen physical Imperial credits.
And two, because Galaxy's Edge and Disney World or Disneyland
sells two separate types.
(06:08):
One of them is the Galactic Republic credits.
The other one is the Galactic Empire credits.
And they do look different.
They're even differently shaped.
Yeah, the Imperial ones have the Empire logo on it
and they're more square and stubbier.
And then the Republic ones are a bit longer
and they have these little notches in them
that have, they're almost like little symbols.
(06:30):
Yeah, those are the ones I was thinking of.
Yeah, a bit more rectangular.
And if anyone's played the board game Star Wars Outer Rim,
you'll be familiar as to sort of the general shape,
although those are about to scale.
So, all right.
Manufacturing operations for multi-planet corporations
are primarily based in the corporate sector.
Oh, I wanted to quickly say,
(06:52):
you can almost think of the galactic credit
as the equivalent of like the US dollar.
Yeah.
Kind of accepted everywhere,
but a lot of places have their own currency.
Yeah, and this is actually something that
I definitely know that this article brings up as well.
Manufacturing operations for multi-planet corporations
are primarily based in the corporate sector,
which functions as a free trade zone of sorts.
(07:15):
So, maybe just keep that in mind.
Several organizations linked,
sorry, several organizations inked trade agreements
to set up consortia or guilds
to maximize profit and wield influence within the Senate.
So, can you think of a...
Trade Federation?
There you go.
Trade Federation, the Techno Union.
(07:37):
Right.
The Banking Clan.
Yeah.
So, we can already think of a number of consortiums,
is the right word?
Is there like a galactic bureau of currency?
I guess one of the key takeaways here is what it's saying
is there's just several organizations that exist
as sort of a unified company of sorts
(08:00):
that operates under a singular umbrella.
And that's something to think back to the Clone Wars
and the Phantom Menace
when we're looking at what Newt Gunray does
in aligning himself with Darth Sidious.
He's not bringing the whole Trade Federation with him,
and that's something that Lott Dodd of the Trade Federation,
(08:22):
who is one of the representatives in the Senate for that company,
he constantly says and reminds the Senate
that Newt Gunray is an extremist and does his own thing.
Right.
He's not representing their entire people.
Exactly.
And Newt Gunray, right until the very end of Revenge of the Sith,
is part of the Separatist Alliance, it seems,
because he's always there.
He's always in the plot of being part of the Separatist Alliance.
(08:45):
And that's the Trade Federation.
And yet, Lott Dodd is still part of the Republic,
and he's there right to the very end as well.
Right, so kind of playing both sides a bit there.
Yeah, and it's one of those weird things.
And same with the Banking Clan.
There's definitely an arc in the Clone Wars
where they talk to...
It's not San Hill,
because he's obviously the Separatist Banking Clan guy
from the MUNES, you know, place.
(09:07):
But there's also a guy
who represents the Banking Clan within the Republic.
And I remember there was a few characters
that talked to him about loaning money out for more clones
and basically, there's only so much money to go around.
And it's like they're funding both sides of the war, essentially.
Yeah, exactly.
Because isn't there a Clone Wars arc
where they go into the bank and it's empty?
(09:29):
Yeah, it was like, where's all the money?
Yeah, because it all had been loaned out
to both sides to fund the war.
Yeah, it was just numbers being moved back and forth, essentially.
Yeah, exactly.
So, next section of the article here,
the similarities between the Galactic Republic
and the modern global economy.
So this is kind of where maybe some of these mysterious things
(09:51):
might actually start to make sense for you guys.
The scope of the Star Wars economy
is galactic and governed by the precepts of modern trade.
In this system, planets exchange products and services with each other.
Trade routes traverse multiple planetary systems.
Not surprisingly, planets located at the intersections
of major trade routes benefit from their locations.
For example, Bothaway, a planet located in the mid-rim of the galaxy
(10:15):
and referenced in the Clone Wars animated series,
is located at the intersection of four main trade routes.
It is known for its trade in technology
and because of its location is a popular venue for trade negotiations.
Not all mid-rim planets are used for trade.
Some are venues for robberies and plunder.
An example is Kijimi, a frigid and mountainous planet
(10:37):
that is home to spice runners of Kijimi, a group of smugglers, and so on.
There are thousands of currencies used on individual planets
and by different societies.
I think some examples might be in the Mandalorian,
we saw one called Calamari Flan, was it?
I always want to say Calamari Flem, but I don't think it's Flem.
I was going to say Flynn, but I don't think it's Flynn either.
(10:58):
I think it's Flan.
And in Solo, a Star Wars story, all that crap on the table,
it's all from different currencies from different worlds.
There's credits as well, but there's also other currencies in the mix.
Not all mid-rim planets are used for trade.
Some are venues for... Oh, sorry, I already said that.
There are thousands of currencies used on individual planets by different societies.
(11:21):
However, both the Republic and the Empire supported galactic credits.
These credits were most useful on inner-rim planets,
which were closer to economic and trade hubs.
Once a ship got farther into space and reached the outer rim of the planets,
credits supposedly would lose their value.
This issue is most evident when Qui-Gon Jinn attempts to buy parts
(11:43):
from Padme's ship from Wado's junkyard,
but Wado refused to take Republic credits.
Which is ironic because they're one planet away from Naboo.
They didn't even have to use hyperspace.
Well, no, it's not one... That was Geonosis.
You're thinking of Geonosis, that is one system or one planet away.
But it is weird that they had to, like... I don't know.
Am I remembering this wrong?
(12:04):
Because they get past the blockade in Phantom Menace.
I don't think they jump.
They're on their way to Coruscant.
I think they do jump, but they have to drop out of hyperspace
because they're running out of fuel or something.
Or the hyperdrive is broken.
There's a leak. That's why R2 had to fix it.
So the closest detour was Tatooine.
If you look at a galactic map, I'm sure there's like a...
(12:27):
They're very close to each other.
Yeah, closer, I think, than one would maybe expect.
Isn't there a story about how...
I forget the name of the system,
but how the fact that Anakin and Tatooine
and Palpatine on Naboo
and Tarkin from Eriadu
are all within a very, very small distance of each other.
(12:48):
Yeah, I think so. I think so.
And if anyone has the Star Wars Timelines book,
I think there's a galactic map, like an updated one,
included with that.
Or maybe it was the one from Celebration,
the last Celebration they did,
which included an external fold-out map.
Really cool. I want one of those.
I wish they sold those.
(13:10):
It's weird that they don't.
It is, yeah.
It's been a while since they've had an updated map.
I do have the original Legends continuity
Star Wars Atlas, is what it's called.
And it's fantastic for seeing the history of the EU
and all the maps, and in each individual map
there's areas where it's zoned sections off
and said, this belonged to that group or that government
(13:34):
and this belonged to these people.
So you can visually see the progression of certain wars
and stuff like that. It's very interesting.
But I would like a new canon version
because at this point it's like 10 years old.
Everything's changed a lot.
Yeah, it has changed a lot.
So regarding Wado, that seems somewhat unrealistic
as the US dollars can be exchanged for local currency
(13:56):
almost anywhere on Earth.
Perhaps Republic credits cannot be used on Tatooine
because of sanctions against planets that violate
the Republic's anti-slavery laws.
Maybe. We've never actually had that detail.
Yeah, that's a good question, actually.
Because we know it's under the rule of the Hutts.
I think another reason is some businesses
in today's society would have a cash-only agreement
(14:20):
with their clientele or their customers.
If you ever go to a food vendor or something like that,
sometimes they might just say cash only.
And they might say that for tax purposes.
They might say that for convenience of not needing
to pay a debit or visa fee whenever they make
a transaction or a sale.
(14:42):
But Wado's just really stubborn.
He just wants cash and he doesn't want Republic credits.
Is there any reason you think that Qui-Gon didn't think
to just go somewhere else and exchange it and then come back?
I guess that was the place in town that had the part
that they needed.
But it doesn't mean he couldn't exchange the currency.
Maybe he had a fee somewhere else.
(15:04):
It must be that the whole planet just has something
against Republic credits.
I think they're onto something here with sanctions
against the core worlds, you know what I mean?
On some planets, economic development was so primitive
that barter dominated trade.
On Jakku, where Rey grew up after being abandoned
by her parents, she worked as a junker.
(15:26):
She sold parts to Unkar Plutt for portions of food
instead of cash.
That's just because he's cheap?
Yeah.
That'll be one quarter portion.
The only thing that matters on a planet with so little
development is eating enough to stay alive.
Some economists have theorized that Rey's profession
(15:48):
hints at an active recycling economy
in the interplanetary system.
She does not scrap for raw metals.
Her focus is on engineered and designed components,
meaning that the Star Wars economy places a high premium
on finished goods rather than raw metals.
In this respect, they are not different from the human race,
which ascribes more value to finished goods.
(16:10):
Also, the economists have pointed to the fact that
constant warfare results in the destruction of metal.
Therefore, there must be an abundance of metal in space.
Well, Jakku has a lot of it, though.
There is that.
Okay, next section here.
A sectoral economy.
Much like multinational corporations whose operations
span multiple economies and geographic areas,
intergalactic firms operate across several planetary
(16:33):
systems and sectors.
However, their manufacturing operations are primarily
based in the corporate sector, which functions as a free
trade zone of sorts.
Located in the Outer Rim, the corporate sector was
established to free businesses from the political
machinations of the Senate.
The corporate sector's tax code is a simplified version
of individual planet tax codes.
Companies with activities in the sector paid a single
(16:56):
tax to the Republic and subsequently the Empire.
Under the Emperor, the corporate sector's operations
expanded to include 30,000 planetary systems,
and the corporate sector authority was established
to administer the sector.
With me so far?
Nope.
That's a lot to take in.
(17:18):
All right, we'll keep going.
To make trading easy, several organizations inked
trade agreements to set up consortia to maximize profit
and wield influence within the Senate.
The Commerce Guild, which we've heard about in the movies,
which pursues trader and business interests,
is the most powerful such guild.
Two of its leading members are the Trade Federation
and the Intergalactic Banking Clan.
(17:40):
I guess the Trade Federation and the Banking Clan
are members of an even greater thing,
which is the Commerce Guild, is what they call it.
As its name implies, the Trade Federation is a consortium
of businesses and traders.
The Intergalactic Banking Clan is a bank system that
controls finances in major parts of the Republic.
The latter played a prominent role in the Confederacy
of Independent Systems, otherwise known as the
(18:02):
Separatist Alliance, that broke away from the Republic
during the Clone Wars.
Both organizations supported Darth Sidious without
knowing he was simply using them to gain power
as Chancellor Palpatine.
So there you have it.
Actually, this sounds, maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong,
but it sounds kind of like the...
So that would have been run because there's obviously
a divide between the two sides.
So the Republic would have been like the SWIFT banking system
(18:25):
and then the Separatists would be basically creating
like BRICS.
You've heard those terms recently.
They've been in the news.
I have indeed.
Okay, yeah.
The SWIFT is the American-based currency exchange
and trade, and then BRICS is, I guess, somewhat Russian,
but arguably they're trying to do it together as a team.
Yeah.
Yeah, here's another guild out there called the Mining Guild.
(18:48):
We've heard about the Mining Guild numerous times
through Star Wars Rebels, some of the books as well.
A lot of the books actually bring up the Mining Guild
for some reason.
I feel like in fantasy worlds and shows, it's just like
an easy go-to.
Yeah, yeah.
It comes up a lot.
It totally does.
I can see it in Middle Earth as well,
(19:09):
the Dwarven Mining Guild.
Yeah.
But yeah, that's a little bit about Commerce Guild,
I guess, as well as many other guilds.
Bounty Hunters Guild.
Yeah, Trade Federation, Banking Clan.
Any group, or almost like a union, right,
where you can fight on their behalf as a full group.
Yeah, yeah.
(19:30):
Okay, so next section here,
how the economic blockade of Naboo transformed
the Republic into the Empire.
Very interesting.
In response to increased taxation of trade routes,
the Trade Federation blockaded the planet of Naboo
with a fleet of battleships.
The exact reason for the blockade is uncertain,
but there are several theories regarding this.
(19:52):
In his novel, Star Wars Darth Plagueis,
James Luceno outlined the possible reason
for the Naboo invasion was plasma energy.
According to James Luceno, Naboo is rich in plasma
and had a major mining and refining facility
financed with a loan from the Intergalactic Banking Clan.
The planet sold plasma energy to the Trade Federation
at fixed prices.
(20:13):
In turn, they marked up the prices for a substantial profit.
James Luceno's novel is no longer part of Star Wars canon
following Disney's restructuring of the expanded universe,
but it makes logical sense.
Remember, Naboo was situated in the outer rim of the galaxy
and probably had little to no taxation.
Taxation of trade routes would have increased
transportation costs for the members of the Trade Federation
(20:36):
and cut into their profits.
That said, their blockade was simply an excuse
for the Trade Federation to invade Naboo.
The Trade Federation was under the influence of Darth Sidious,
who was also Senator Palpatine of Naboo at the time as well,
and the invasion set off a chain of events
that led to Palpatine being named Supreme Chancellor
and declaring himself Emperor.
(20:57):
So I guess the invasion definitely had more than one purpose.
You know, the invasion of Naboo was not only to help cement
Palpatine's role in the election for chancellorhood,
but it was also a very practical way to secure a planet rich
with a resource called plasma.
And that's something we actually talked about, I think,
when we did our novel review for Darth Plagueis, was that...
(21:20):
A while ago now.
Yeah, and the Duel of Fates takes place in the big areas...
In the refining center.
Yeah, I think that is supposed to be plasma,
what we're seeing in those tubes.
Where are they? Just some cool sci-fi place?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure in the novelization it's supposed to be plasma.
Admittedly, I've never put a lot of thought into why they're blockading,
(21:44):
because I just assume it's a non-legitimate reason,
it's just an excuse for them to be there on behalf of Sidious
and his reasons.
Yeah, and this is also in response to the taxation of trade routes as well.
So, I guess there is...
Which, does that mean that that was a new thing before that happened?
There was no taxation of trade routes?
(22:05):
It was something that they...
It's actually...
Increased.
It's actually in the opening crawl of...
Phantom Menace.
Of the Phantom Menace, yeah.
So, the opening crawl reads...
Oh, you failed me, Wikipedia.
It's not there!
Okay, here's the opening crawl.
It's here.
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic,
(22:27):
and taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
That's the first paragraph of the opening crawl to the Phantom Menace.
So, I guess it's just like everywhere, you know?
Like, okay, prices are going up, you know?
Things are getting more expensive.
Guess what?
We're just gonna move in here and blockade the planet.
Because the Trade Federation are essentially intergalactic truckers, right?
(22:48):
You know, honestly, I kind of wish I knew a little more as to what they did.
It sounds like they mostly just do transport between systems.
It sounds...
Like you would hire them to get your...
What are they?
Juba fruits?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
To, like, Coruscant or something.
Like, first and foremost, they are a shipping conglomerate.
Yeah.
Basically, yeah.
(23:09):
I guess they're probably...
I guess they're more like one of the bigger companies
that are doing the ships across the ocean,
as opposed to, like, a trucking company.
Yeah, because they also have their own private military,
which is the droid armies.
Right, which...
I'm just saying...
I'm trying to just compare it to what we have here on Earth.
I could see...
If the oceans weren't protected by countries,
(23:30):
I could see shipping companies having their own armed protection.
Yeah.
And this is part of the reason why Padme's, like,
reason for the blockade not being fair.
You know, like, they're claiming that it's in response...
Or they do it as a form of saying,
hey, like, prices are going up,
we're going to blockade the planet for some reason.
(23:51):
It feels like a big step.
It seems like...
It's like there's a bit of a disconnect there,
but that's why this article goes into detail
with quoting the Darth Plagueis novel,
and that's a very, very smart thing to do,
because I've always personally considered
the Darth Plagueis novel very close to canon.
Like, there's nothing that really overrides that story,
(24:12):
I don't think.
No, it seems to fit pretty well with what we know about Phantom Menace.
Yeah.
All right, so here's how it happened.
Palpatine voted for the trade routes to be taxed,
giving the Federation a reason to invade Naboo.
They had...
That had the effect of making Supreme Chancellor Valorum look weak.
Valorum was kicked out of office with a vote of no confidence.
Basically, they impeached him.
(24:33):
Palpatine was then elected out of sympathy
for the suffering of his home planet of Naboo.
Eventually, Palpatine would convince the Galactic Senate
in a move spearheaded by Jar Jar Binks
to give him emergency powers
to deal with the ongoing Separatist crisis.
Of course, Palpatine was behind the Separatist movement
as Darth Sidious as well.
These new powers and the Jedi eliminated following Order 66.
(24:57):
All of that was a result of that.
Palpatine had little trouble installing himself as Emperor
and reshaping the galaxy in his image.
So, that's kind of where it all starts,
and that's why the Phantom Menace starts where it does.
I think a lot of people think,
okay, why is this movie so fixated on taxes and trade routes?
(25:18):
And it doesn't seem like it's relevant, but it is.
Especially when you think about Star Wars as a series
that's aimed at kids.
I'm talking about taxes and trade routes and stuff.
Let's be honest.
No skeleton crew, that's for sure.
When I first watched Phantom Menace, that went way over my head.
Yeah, it did. It did for me too.
(25:39):
I would have no idea what it is.
But that's the amazing thing about a movie like that.
In general, I find myself watching a lot of movies now,
which are at least very deep movies
that I have a lot to go back to and notice things
or understand things that went over your head
the first time around or the third time around or whatever.
And I always appreciate that about a movie.
(26:00):
There's always something more to notice.
There's always something more to enjoy and understand.
Yes, it might not be the ideal way to start
what most people would expect to be a kids movie.
But it's also just one of those things that
when you go back to it later,
all of a sudden there's just another level of detail there
which is just so wonderfully constructed
(26:23):
into this greater plot line of
why there's a guy that controls the galaxy.
How can this happen?
How did people let this happen?
And it's there in the movie.
So it's great.
The full story is there from the beginning.
And we'll talk about the ending later.
But yeah, I find The Phantom Menace
a very strong foundation for that plot.
(26:46):
And that's what makes The Darth Plagueis Novel so great as well
is that it gives The Phantom Menace
a whole other level of depth as well
because it expands on this plot around the moon.
I feel like The Plagueis Novel did for Phantom Menace
what the 3D Clone Wars did
to the attack of the clones in Revenge of the Sith.
Yeah, 100%.
Just adding detail.
(27:07):
George did such a good job
creating such a deep world
that honestly you couldn't explain all of it
in a two-hour movie.
So they're getting this novel, this series
to really expand that out and kind of explain it all
with more detail.
It brings a lot of that depth
that George had created to the forefront.
100%.
Our next section of the article is called
(27:29):
The Star Wars Economy and Nazi Germany.
Star Wars creator George Lucas once said
that he incorporated aesthetic and thematic elements
from Nazi Germany into his vision of the Galactic Empire.
The comparison is interesting
because both the Galactic Empire and Nazi Germany
came into being on the back of an economic crisis.
In fact, there are several economic and political similarities
(27:50):
between Nazi Germany and the Galactic Empire.
For example, Nazi Germany was characterized
by a readiness for war and its military might.
The National Labor Service mandated that
each German male would have to complete
a compulsory training at the organization.
Typical tasks during National Service included
planting forests, digging ditches on farms
(28:11):
and building a network of motorways.
The autobahn was constructed during this time
and Hitler set a goal to increase the size
of the German army to 500,000.
Trade unions were banned
and everyone was required to enroll
in a central labor organization
controlled by Nazi chieftains.
The Galactic Empire had a similar economy
that was ready for a state of war.
(28:32):
The Death Star, which was a space station
with a planet-destroying superlaser
is the perfect example of this militarization of the economy.
It consisted of state-of-the-art weapons systems
and artillery.
In addition, entire planetary systems
within the mid and outer rims
were dedicated to the construction
of the clones and war machines.
A number of ideas in my head
(28:54):
I'm sure we can all think of a few
but of course a big Star Wars Rebels plot
seeing as that's fresh in my mind
since you and I did Rebels Talk
just about a year and a half ago
was Sabine's story arc
in which it's revealed that she helped
the Empire construct a very powerful weapon
that can rip through Beskar armor.
Yeah, exactly.
(29:15):
Yeah, and fry the wearer, right?
And that was an Imperial weapon project.
Another one, Andor, you know
obviously using prison labor
for the construction of Death Star parts.
We got the shipyards at Fondor and Corellia
both creating Star Destroyers for
(29:38):
And TIE Fighters too.
The Empire, and yeah, TIE Fighters.
I know in Rebels they also go to
they sneak into a manufacturing facility
for AT-STs instead of speeder bikes.
Yeah, and simply put
the Empire loves ruling with fear
and that's maybe one reason
why they upkeep this whole thing
but one would also wonder
what's the need, you know?
(30:00):
Well, in the EU it's because Palpatine
knew that the use of Val were coming.
Yeah, and the old expanded universe
I guess that's maybe one reason.
Within the newer canon though
I guess if we're to try and fit this in
with what we know from the sequels
I guess maybe he's planning for that
whole new, what's it called?
The Final Order movement
that he has at the very end.
(30:21):
Yeah, I think it's something like that.
Yeah, but you know on the surface
it's like I don't think anyone in the Empire
believed that the Rebellion
would take down the Empire.
You know, and I don't think it's a reason
for them to continue making all these
massive ships and stuff, you know?
It's like they
No, but it gives them an excuse
to keep doing it.
Oh, for sure.
They have that to rule over everyone else.
Yeah, 100%.
(30:42):
And you know it's interesting
seeing these comparisons between
clearly the characteristics
are kind of the same.
But yeah, yeah.
Dedicated to the construction
of lots of war machines.
While the Star Wars prequels
make numerous mentions of trade unions
in the Republic
such as references
such references are absent
in the original trilogy
as such they probably were
(31:04):
banned by the Galactic Empire
or George Lucas hadn't yet thought of it.
In fact the production process
for machines was not
labor-intensive.
Instead, it was a process
dominated by droids themselves.
As an example, Star Wars Episode 2
Attack of the Clones
provides a glimpse of humanity's
machine-dominated future.
In one scene, Padme, Anakin Skywalker
(31:25):
C-3PO and R2-D2
are nearly killed trying to make their way
out of a droid manufacturing factory
on Geonosis.
Machines making machines.
That's right.
It's interesting actually to think about it now
because we see that happening
where there's a giant facility
which is pumping out droids
almost like a toy factory, right?
And then in the future we go to Karelia
(31:47):
and there's people making
Star Destroyers, even TIE Fighters
kind of by hand.
They're like cutting sheet metal
and putting it together.
And then there's Elon Musk's
Tesla factory which is like
some crazy percentage of the car
done completely automated.
That's how he's making it cost-effective.
Interestingly, as one moves
away from the core worlds
(32:09):
economies become less oriented
towards machines, like what you were saying.
In the Outer Rim planets, other industries
such as energy and agriculture
dominate. This difference is reflected in
architecture. For example, the core world
Coruscant is a high-tech society
with skyscrapers and flying cars.
The Outer Rim planet Tatooine is a relatively
primitive place in comparison.
On Tatooine, many structures are made
(32:31):
of adobe and moisture farmers
eke out an existence producing
water. The difference in their fortunes
is a testament to the economic
power of the strong central government
based on Coruscant.
How do you explain Geonosis?
Well, I mean
Geonosis is not even
inhabited by humans.
Just the Geonosians, yeah.
(32:53):
I mean, I get that they are crazy, but I guess you could argue
that they're just so crazy within
the engineering, just as a people
that's why they also were chosen or forced
to make the Death Star.
That's the end of the article.
It didn't explain how the
First Order got all that money.
So I guess
that leads us to our final conclusion
here is
(33:15):
I mean, there is evidence sprinkled
through, and I'll just say this up front
because I'm sure we're going to miss some things, but
there's evidence sprinkled through some
of the material leading into
The Force Awakens as to where
the First Order got their money.
One of the novels is called Bloodline.
It's a novel featuring General
Gaia Organa prior to
the whole sequel stuff.
(33:37):
It's about seven years before.
Is Palpatine embezzling the whole time?
No, Palpatine is
completely absent from that book
because this is still
written in a time in which
that wasn't even part of, not even on the
agenda for characters to bring back.
This novel was prior
to The Force Awakens when it came out.
So they
(33:59):
essentially kind of made a story
where very wealthy
individuals or
smaller companies, not
maybe as big as the Trade Federation, but
had almost been put
in this secret
banking thing.
Almost like a group of people that are
all investing into another
empire.
(34:21):
Like a grassroots sort of
building of an empire?
Financially? Yeah, if my memory
serves correctly, I think it was
kind of like that.
Were they legitimate or were they just shell companies?
No, it was legitimate because part
of the plot is she goes to investigate
one of these places where
money is flowing through.
There's some evidence that...
(34:43):
Oh man, it's been years since I've read this book.
But she finds a small militia there
and it's sort of the beginnings
of what would be
like a training
base or training camp for
First Order Stormtroopers, I believe.
I think that's what they were insinuating
in the book.
This is before all the Hux stuff?
Yeah, yeah.
(35:05):
This would have been perhaps
supervised by
Brendal Hux.
So this novel
came out before The Force Awakens
and it's sort of interesting when I think about
it because maybe at some point
I'll re-read it. I remember it being
not bad, but I don't think
the author, Claudia Gray,
I don't know how much
(35:27):
she had to work on at the time because
they were trying to keep the plot of The Force Awakens
very hush-hush. Yeah, there was
basically nothing. I don't remember anything really
getting out before the movie came out.
It left us in all such great
anticipation. Yeah, and
they were also trying to, I mean
it's very apparent when you watch the movie, but
they really tried to stay away from
explanation of
(35:49):
finances and politics
stuff. Yeah, it felt like they were
because they didn't really talk about that much
really in the original trilogy, right?
No. In the prequels, it was kind of
abundant because that was like a central
theme. They were trying to emulate
the original trilogy kind of
take on it. Yeah.
It's harder to explain away.
When you watch the original trilogy, you have
(36:11):
no context. Then watching the sequel
trilogy, you know it came after the original trilogy.
So you're like, where did it come from?
Yeah, exactly.
There is
sorry, it's six years, not seven years.
There is the novel Bloodline. So if anyone
is curious in reading perhaps how the
First Order got their financial
backing, this might actually
be a book for you.
(36:33):
Was the First Order also involved
with gambling, like running
casinos? Am I crazy? I think
they, oh, you're talking about
episode eight? You're talking about Last
Jedi stuff? It might have been
that as well.
It might have also been from that
Resistance animated show.
Yeah, there was
some little tidbits in Resistance about it.
(36:55):
Yeah, and I remember
reading something somewhere
I think it's more or less just
very wealthy individuals that are
essentially supporting
It's hard for me to imagine
that much money coming in to turn an entire
planet into a giant gun.
I know, right?
So, yeah.
I know. I still think the idea
(37:17):
of turning a planet into a giant weapon
is kind of ridiculous.
Yeah.
So, anyways. It absorbed a
sun.
To power it is the only way to power it.
Destroy its own sun.
We don't talk about these movies much.
I often forget
that they did stuff like that.
Wait a minute.
(37:39):
As far as the Final
Order goes,
that was definitely
funded by some contingency
of Palpatine's.
He survived and has had
people working behind the scenes this whole time.
It is interesting too, though, just with
the fact that, as we've seen
in Rebels, the Empire
had to be pretty particular
(38:01):
with what it chose to invest in.
It had a lot of projects, but it couldn't fund all of them.
Palpatine often had to pull the plug
on stuff that he didn't think was worth as much time
and money. Yeah, that's why we had a feud
between Thrawn and Tarkin because
one of them was trying to get the
Death Star project up and
Thrawn was trying to make a case for
his Tide Defender project
being significantly more
(38:23):
strategically better.
Advantageous. Yeah, advantageous.
He was saying,
what we need is better
ship-to-ship combat.
That'd be much better for policing
and running a galaxy than one
giant space weapon. Basically, one
is ruling with
implied force and the other one is
ruling with fear.
(38:45):
Yeah, so
yeah, as far as the final
order, I mean, yeah, I
think it's worth
not reading too much into it because
there isn't going
to ever be enough
explanation for how that works. And I think
that's what's so great about... Do we have an entire
podcast to come up with this?
Like, theories and stuff? This is the answer?
(39:07):
Yeah, I'd probably not. Don't look into it?
I don't want to spend too much time on...
Yeah.
I think the takeaway from
all this, though, is really just out of
the world that George Lucas created
there was a working system, right?
And it was based on reality.
It was based on real-world things
and it can be completely
(39:29):
translated into this
fictional world.
It's just cool to see and it is
understandable. It's not this...
George put a lot of thought into every
single piece of his world. Very much so, yeah.
He had a long time to work on it, granted,
but put a lot of thought into it.
Yeah, definitely. Well, I
think we'll call it
there. Let's just transition
(39:51):
over to the cantina
for a little banter and then we'll wrap things up.
How many bake sales do you think the first order
had to run to fund that thing? Too many.
Alright, so.
That is the end
of our main meet
(40:13):
today. Intergalactic
Banking and Finances, but...
If we did miss anything, especially around the
first order stuff, please
send it to us or we will
bring it up in a future episode
and correct ourselves.
Yeah, or better yet, drop a comment.
I mean, like, you know, we don't get enough people
commenting down below
on the YouTube. That's true.
(40:35):
Or on the Spotify comments.
I mean, that's a thing now.
So, yeah, if you're
listening on Spotify, you can leave
a comment.
But yeah, definitely let us know
or you can send an email, like you were saying.
Just let us know what we missed,
especially with the sequel stuff. We're not as
attuned.
There's been a lot coming out
(40:57):
over the last number of years. There has.
There has, yeah.
Alright, something new
this year
that I think we want to do.
At least, it's been on our ideas
list for a long time and I just wanted to talk
about it. Star Wars
101. It's something that I think
you brought up at one point.
Somebody suggested it and
(41:19):
I think, kind of
like today's banking article, but
more so just our own
explanation, rather than reading through
an article, is
what we'd like to do is start explaining
very basic, fundamental
things about Star Wars
to perhaps
audiences and people
that might
(41:41):
not be as familiar.
Make a little sub-series of...
Darth Vader, bad.
Luke Skywalker, good.
What are
the different sides of the force?
What is the
Jedi Order? What is
the Republic? What is
you know,
what is the...
(42:03):
What's a
clone trooper? I don't know, just like
very basic stuff
that might kind of help
bring someone in.
So, if anyone has any good
ideas out there as to
what you would like to hear a one-on-one,
or sorry, a 101.
Do a 101. A one-on-one.
A 101
(42:25):
one-on-one. There we go.
Definitely let us know.
And we'd love to
get any ideas.
This goes hand-in-hand
with our What Happened series, which we've been doing
for a number of years now.
Which has been very character-focused
and going through
character stories beginning through the end
as to where they are in the canon
(42:47):
so far, and all their appearances
through all the stories. And
normally we try and do those when a new show
is coming out, or when a new animated
series is coming out, or a movie, or whatever
we'll catch people up on that character
and explain kind of where
they've been, what's the character story
looking like. So, the one-on-one is kind
of supposed to be a bit like that, but
a bit more simple and not character-focused.
(43:09):
It's more supposed to be about
something, or like a place,
or like whatever. Something that might
be... A history of YT
1700. Yeah.
Something very
relevant to the movies.
If you were to take someone through
the Star Wars movies for the first time,
what's a very fundamental thing that might
contribute to their understanding of that movie,
(43:31):
right? So, yeah, there you go.
Just something to think about. I think it's something
we might end up doing at some point this year.
Like the Rule of Two? Yeah.
Rule of Two, that's a good one.
I'm sure we'll think of a number
of things, but
just a heads up, that might be...
Taxation on trade routes and banking?
Yeah.
Thankfully this article did all the
(43:53):
heavy lifting for us, so yeah.
But yeah, anyway,
just throwing it out there. If anyone has any ideas,
we'd love to hear from you guys. Other great
sub-series that we have on the show
going into the new year, this is worth
noting. You can find all our previous
episodes on a spreadsheet called
Podcast Archives, and that's
always in the description down below. It's also
found on our link tree, which is also
(44:15):
a link in the description below. And
it's basically a spreadsheet that you can find
You can do a
webpage keyword search
and find titles of different things
that might be relevant to an episode you
want to look for, or whatever. You can also
see the dates as to
when they were published, which will help you scroll
back and find the episode you're looking for in your
podcast app.
(44:37):
And as a little bonus, we've got a column in there
for the YouTube version, which if you like
watching on YouTube, then you can hit that
link there as well. So it's a good way
to find what you're looking for.
Yeah, you can find, what are some sub-series we've
done? What Happened is one.
We've got Rebels.
Clone Wars.
Pretty much all the series, all the live-action ones
that have come out recently. Yeah, the After Shows
(44:59):
for every single Disney Plus show.
We've got a commentary track
series in there. Including
Ewok Adventures.
Holiday Special, twice. There's two
holiday specials. I feel like we need to do it every year.
Oh, jeez.
We're going to get more and more quiet.
Less and less
plays.
(45:21):
We also have
a series that, well,
we did one episode of these called
The Star Wars Archives, and
it's based on
the copies that we have here.
The TASGEN Star Wars Archive books.
So I'd love to do more of those
this year. And we've done
some... Did a LEGO
Star Wars special? Yeah.
(45:43):
Some series we've done, though.
We did a RIP Star Wars one of all the cancelled
Star Wars movies, shows,
video games. We've done various
interviews with people involved
in the galaxy. Special guest episodes.
Yeah, lots of stuff.
You can go to our webpage,
our homepage on the website.
Top link in the description.
And there is a tab
(46:05):
called Subseries, which you can click on and
find all the subseries we've ever done.
There's a whole list of them. And you can also
look up playlists on Spotify.
We've even done trivia, if you like
trivia. Oh, yeah. I don't know if we've made
a subseries for trivia, but... You should probably put them
all together in case someone is just feeling trivia.
Yeah, fair enough.
But yeah, going into the new
year, I just thought, man, it might be worth
(46:27):
taking the time to talk about that kind of stuff
as well. Do you have anything else
you wanted to bring up? Man, just
I guess I'm getting excited for Celebration.
It's so close. Celebration is
April 18th to the 20th
and it's in Japan.
Tickets are completely
sold out across the board. I'm not surprised, man.
Yeah, every version of it.
I think even if you bought a ticket this
(46:49):
late, you'd be having a hard time finding a hotel.
Yeah, yeah. Even kids
passes, it's all gone. Every
variation of the pass for every age
group, every time of day, gone, gone,
gone. It's going to be a packed
event. And for those of you who don't
know, you can actually, well,
for the last two celebrations, I think it is,
they have done online
versions. Like they've-
(47:11):
Streams? Yeah, they've done streams, yeah.
And they haven't streamed every
single panel. No, some of them are exclusive.
Yeah. They often do the
main stage and then
I think some of the big ones with people
from Lucasfilm. Yeah, and they've also
put together what's called, I think it's called
the Star Wars show stage
or something like that. It's the stage
that they have in the sort of main
(47:33):
convention hall. Yeah, they're just,
I don't know if that's the main, I think the main stage is actually
in a convention hall, but like
the stage in which they just bring actors
out for the heck of it for five minutes and then
they'll have that. If it's like the one we
went to, then it is like amongst
all the different booths
installed, people selling stuff. There's like a
big chunk in the corner and it's like a big stage.
Yeah, it's usually like nicely dressed up
(47:55):
and stuff like that.
So yeah, we'll hopefully catch
some of that on YouTube and
I think we'll do our best to,
as the last two celebrations have gone,
we've done like a 20 minute,
30 minute episode recap
kind of thing each day we get
together and just talk about all the
new announcements and stuff like that.
Very exciting, coming up soon.
(48:17):
Very, very exciting stuff. I can't wait to figure out what this new
animated series is going to be. Yeah, and I
think there might even be more than one, so
I guess we'll have to wait and see
if that is the case. Come on, Jedi Adventures 2.
Young Jedi Adventures 2.
With Andor
Season 2 coming out right after
celebration. It's going to be
a fun
April, May to say the
(48:39):
least.
All right, Sir, thank you so much for
joining as always. It's always
a pleasure. We'll catch you in the next one.
See you out there. Keep flying.
All right, thank you so much
to our audience for tuning in. We really,
really appreciate it. And if you're
on Spotify or Apple
(49:01):
Podcasts right now,
you can leave us a five-star review. That really
helps us out a lot. Helps
other fans find the show and
the search results and always
gives us a good feeling when we see that people enjoy
this podcast. So be sure
to help us out with that. That would be amazing.
May the Force be with you.
We'll see you in the next episode of Star Wars Escape Pod.
Time to abandon ship!
(00:05):
Oh no!
Here we go!
Can I persuade you to join us for a drink?
It's a tradition.
Here, here.
Jar Jar, homie, my main man.
Quick!
Before the separatists attack, get into the escape pod.
(00:28):
Hey!
This is escape!
Then where's the pod?
This is escape!
Welcome back to Star Wars Escape Pod.
I'm your host, Josh, and we have our co-host, Blake, in the escape pod this week
to chat all about the economics of the Galactic Empire,
(00:52):
which is actually an article published by Rakesh Sharma on Investopedia about three years ago.
And we've been wanting to chat banking for a little while,
so if you've ever had questions about banking in Star Wars without sounding boring,
oh my goodness, let's just dive right in.
(01:22):
Another happy landing.
All right, welcome back.
Hey, good to be back.
How many listeners are still listening, do you think?
Did they all drop out?
I think they all dropped out as soon as I said banking, yeah.
(01:45):
Ran to the hills.
Exactly.
Did you talk about anything more boring?
You know, it's one of those things, I guess,
and we're going to try and keep this interesting with this article,
which has been very well written in my opinion,
but we've been wanting to talk about,
at least I've been wanting to talk about banking for a little while.
Does that mean this was your suggestion?
It's so long ago, I don't remember.
(02:06):
It is just such a, yeah, it is.
It's just such a big part of Star Wars, you know,
like money and banking have so much to do with the prequels,
it has so much to do with the Empire and how it operates.
It has so much to do with what comes later.
It has everything to do with what the heck happened with the First Order.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
(02:27):
And we're actually going to talk about that.
So, yeah, I thought it was actually like just a really interesting subject
and it sounds boring on the face value side of things.
You know, you take one look at the headline and you're like,
oh, well, you know, screw that episode.
Like, I don't want to listen to that.
Or put a fake title.
We've lured you in.
That's right.
But hopefully we're able to make this somewhat fun and interesting.
(02:51):
And, you know, you might learn a lot more about the inner workings of the lore,
how things like that worked in Star Wars.
We're going to be trying to making connections to...
How did they fund the Clone Army?
Yeah, yeah.
Lots of stories that we can make connections to, things like that.
So we're going to go through this article and, you know,
it's not going to take us all night, but it is slightly longer.
(03:13):
So that's a good thing, though, because it provides lots of evidence
for backing up how the system works.
So this has also been fact-checked by...
Oh, my goodness.
What's her name?
Suzanne.
I don't know how to pronounce her last name.
I think it's Vilhaug, if I'm pronouncing that correctly.
There might be a silent K.
(03:35):
And it's reviewed by a third person, Dorotha Clemon.
So this is, once again, Investopedia.
And if I can remember to put this link down in the description, I will.
But it was updated on August 4th, 2022.
So it's very well that the article could actually be older than that,
but definitely newer than The Rise of Skywalker.
(03:57):
And that's kind of key because what you were saying about the first order
and the final order.
So many questions.
Yeah, so many questions.
Right.
So without further ado, let's just dive right in.
Okay, so here's the article.
The ninth episode in the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker,
premiered in theaters around the world in December 2019.
The movie continued the stories of Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo Ren.
(04:20):
Fans were ecstatic to see their favorite characters come back in this film
by J.J. Abrams.
With its themes of intergalactic travel, colorful sets, and quirky creatures,
the science fiction series might seem far-fetched to people
who can't tell the difference between Tatooine and Jakku.
In fact, the Star Wars saga is underpinned by an economic and political system
inspired by and derived from real-world events.
(04:43):
But the economics of the Galactic Empire can sometimes seem as mysterious
as the ways of the Force.
Without a galaxy full of taxpayers,
how is the Empire getting money to fund and making the deployment
of new fleets of Star Destroyers and planet-killing super lasers
like the Death Star?
Apparently, dark-side economics are more effective than supply-side economics.
(05:05):
Alright.
There's your intro.
Key takeaways.
The Star Wars economy is galactic and governed by the precepts of modern trade
where planets exchange products and services
and the intersection of trade routes benefits the closest planets.
Those would be probably the planets close together or planets close to the core.
(05:26):
Yeah, that makes sense.
It's easier to transport stuff between them.
Exactly.
Another key takeaway here.
There are thousands of currencies used on individual planets,
but both the Republic and the Empire support galactic credits.
And it's worth noting that when the Empire becomes the Empire,
the physical credit that they use is different
(05:47):
between the Republic days and the Empire days.
And I only know that because it's come up twice.
Once, I think we've seen it in the Mandalorian
or in the other live-action, the recent live-action show,
we've seen physical Imperial credits.
And two, because Galaxy's Edge and Disney World or Disneyland
sells two separate types.
(06:08):
One of them is the Galactic Republic credits.
The other one is the Galactic Empire credits.
And they do look different.
They're even differently shaped.
Yeah, the Imperial ones have the Empire logo on it
and they're more square and stubbier.
And then the Republic ones are a bit longer
and they have these little notches in them
that have, they're almost like little symbols.
(06:30):
Yeah, those are the ones I was thinking of.
Yeah, a bit more rectangular.
And if anyone's played the board game Star Wars Outer Rim,
you'll be familiar as to sort of the general shape,
although those are about to scale.
So, all right.
Manufacturing operations for multi-planet corporations
are primarily based in the corporate sector.
Oh, I wanted to quickly say,
(06:52):
you can almost think of the galactic credit
as the equivalent of like the US dollar.
Yeah.
Kind of accepted everywhere,
but a lot of places have their own currency.
Yeah, and this is actually something that
I definitely know that this article brings up as well.
Manufacturing operations for multi-planet corporations
are primarily based in the corporate sector,
which functions as a free trade zone of sorts.
(07:15):
So, maybe just keep that in mind.
Several organizations linked,
sorry, several organizations inked trade agreements
to set up consortia or guilds
to maximize profit and wield influence within the Senate.
So, can you think of a...
Trade Federation?
There you go.
Trade Federation, the Techno Union.
(07:37):
Right.
The Banking Clan.
Yeah.
So, we can already think of a number of consortiums,
is the right word?
Is there like a galactic bureau of currency?
I guess one of the key takeaways here is what it's saying
is there's just several organizations that exist
as sort of a unified company of sorts
(08:00):
that operates under a singular umbrella.
And that's something to think back to the Clone Wars
and the Phantom Menace
when we're looking at what Newt Gunray does
in aligning himself with Darth Sidious.
He's not bringing the whole Trade Federation with him,
and that's something that Lott Dodd of the Trade Federation,
(08:22):
who is one of the representatives in the Senate for that company,
he constantly says and reminds the Senate
that Newt Gunray is an extremist and does his own thing.
Right.
He's not representing their entire people.
Exactly.
And Newt Gunray, right until the very end of Revenge of the Sith,
is part of the Separatist Alliance, it seems,
because he's always there.
He's always in the plot of being part of the Separatist Alliance.
(08:45):
And that's the Trade Federation.
And yet, Lott Dodd is still part of the Republic,
and he's there right to the very end as well.
Right, so kind of playing both sides a bit there.
Yeah, and it's one of those weird things.
And same with the Banking Clan.
There's definitely an arc in the Clone Wars
where they talk to...
It's not San Hill,
because he's obviously the Separatist Banking Clan guy
from the MUNES, you know, place.
(09:07):
But there's also a guy
who represents the Banking Clan within the Republic.
And I remember there was a few characters
that talked to him about loaning money out for more clones
and basically, there's only so much money to go around.
And it's like they're funding both sides of the war, essentially.
Yeah, exactly.
Because isn't there a Clone Wars arc
where they go into the bank and it's empty?
(09:29):
Yeah, it was like, where's all the money?
Yeah, because it all had been loaned out
to both sides to fund the war.
Yeah, it was just numbers being moved back and forth, essentially.
Yeah, exactly.
So, next section of the article here,
the similarities between the Galactic Republic
and the modern global economy.
So this is kind of where maybe some of these mysterious things
(09:51):
might actually start to make sense for you guys.
The scope of the Star Wars economy
is galactic and governed by the precepts of modern trade.
In this system, planets exchange products and services with each other.
Trade routes traverse multiple planetary systems.
Not surprisingly, planets located at the intersections
of major trade routes benefit from their locations.
For example, Bothaway, a planet located in the mid-rim of the galaxy
(10:15):
and referenced in the Clone Wars animated series,
is located at the intersection of four main trade routes.
It is known for its trade in technology
and because of its location is a popular venue for trade negotiations.
Not all mid-rim planets are used for trade.
Some are venues for robberies and plunder.
An example is Kijimi, a frigid and mountainous planet
(10:37):
that is home to spice runners of Kijimi, a group of smugglers, and so on.
There are thousands of currencies used on individual planets
and by different societies.
I think some examples might be in the Mandalorian,
we saw one called Calamari Flan, was it?
I always want to say Calamari Flem, but I don't think it's Flem.
I was going to say Flynn, but I don't think it's Flynn either.
(10:58):
I think it's Flan.
And in Solo, a Star Wars story, all that crap on the table,
it's all from different currencies from different worlds.
There's credits as well, but there's also other currencies in the mix.
Not all mid-rim planets are used for trade.
Some are venues for... Oh, sorry, I already said that.
There are thousands of currencies used on individual planets by different societies.
(11:21):
However, both the Republic and the Empire supported galactic credits.
These credits were most useful on inner-rim planets,
which were closer to economic and trade hubs.
Once a ship got farther into space and reached the outer rim of the planets,
credits supposedly would lose their value.
This issue is most evident when Qui-Gon Jinn attempts to buy parts
(11:43):
from Padme's ship from Wado's junkyard,
but Wado refused to take Republic credits.
Which is ironic because they're one planet away from Naboo.
They didn't even have to use hyperspace.
Well, no, it's not one... That was Geonosis.
You're thinking of Geonosis, that is one system or one planet away.
But it is weird that they had to, like... I don't know.
Am I remembering this wrong?
(12:04):
Because they get past the blockade in Phantom Menace.
I don't think they jump.
They're on their way to Coruscant.
I think they do jump, but they have to drop out of hyperspace
because they're running out of fuel or something.
Or the hyperdrive is broken.
There's a leak. That's why R2 had to fix it.
So the closest detour was Tatooine.
If you look at a galactic map, I'm sure there's like a...
(12:27):
They're very close to each other.
Yeah, closer, I think, than one would maybe expect.
Isn't there a story about how...
I forget the name of the system,
but how the fact that Anakin and Tatooine
and Palpatine on Naboo
and Tarkin from Eriadu
are all within a very, very small distance of each other.
(12:48):
Yeah, I think so. I think so.
And if anyone has the Star Wars Timelines book,
I think there's a galactic map, like an updated one,
included with that.
Or maybe it was the one from Celebration,
the last Celebration they did,
which included an external fold-out map.
Really cool. I want one of those.
I wish they sold those.
(13:10):
It's weird that they don't.
It is, yeah.
It's been a while since they've had an updated map.
I do have the original Legends continuity
Star Wars Atlas, is what it's called.
And it's fantastic for seeing the history of the EU
and all the maps, and in each individual map
there's areas where it's zoned sections off
and said, this belonged to that group or that government
(13:34):
and this belonged to these people.
So you can visually see the progression of certain wars
and stuff like that. It's very interesting.
But I would like a new canon version
because at this point it's like 10 years old.
Everything's changed a lot.
Yeah, it has changed a lot.
So regarding Wado, that seems somewhat unrealistic
as the US dollars can be exchanged for local currency
(13:56):
almost anywhere on Earth.
Perhaps Republic credits cannot be used on Tatooine
because of sanctions against planets that violate
the Republic's anti-slavery laws.
Maybe. We've never actually had that detail.
Yeah, that's a good question, actually.
Because we know it's under the rule of the Hutts.
I think another reason is some businesses
in today's society would have a cash-only agreement
(14:20):
with their clientele or their customers.
If you ever go to a food vendor or something like that,
sometimes they might just say cash only.
And they might say that for tax purposes.
They might say that for convenience of not needing
to pay a debit or visa fee whenever they make
a transaction or a sale.
(14:42):
But Wado's just really stubborn.
He just wants cash and he doesn't want Republic credits.
Is there any reason you think that Qui-Gon didn't think
to just go somewhere else and exchange it and then come back?
I guess that was the place in town that had the part
that they needed.
But it doesn't mean he couldn't exchange the currency.
Maybe he had a fee somewhere else.
(15:04):
It must be that the whole planet just has something
against Republic credits.
I think they're onto something here with sanctions
against the core worlds, you know what I mean?
On some planets, economic development was so primitive
that barter dominated trade.
On Jakku, where Rey grew up after being abandoned
by her parents, she worked as a junker.
(15:26):
She sold parts to Unkar Plutt for portions of food
instead of cash.
That's just because he's cheap?
Yeah.
That'll be one quarter portion.
The only thing that matters on a planet with so little
development is eating enough to stay alive.
Some economists have theorized that Rey's profession
(15:48):
hints at an active recycling economy
in the interplanetary system.
She does not scrap for raw metals.
Her focus is on engineered and designed components,
meaning that the Star Wars economy places a high premium
on finished goods rather than raw metals.
In this respect, they are not different from the human race,
which ascribes more value to finished goods.
(16:10):
Also, the economists have pointed to the fact that
constant warfare results in the destruction of metal.
Therefore, there must be an abundance of metal in space.
Well, Jakku has a lot of it, though.
There is that.
Okay, next section here.
A sectoral economy.
Much like multinational corporations whose operations
span multiple economies and geographic areas,
intergalactic firms operate across several planetary
(16:33):
systems and sectors.
However, their manufacturing operations are primarily
based in the corporate sector, which functions as a free
trade zone of sorts.
Located in the Outer Rim, the corporate sector was
established to free businesses from the political
machinations of the Senate.
The corporate sector's tax code is a simplified version
of individual planet tax codes.
Companies with activities in the sector paid a single
(16:56):
tax to the Republic and subsequently the Empire.
Under the Emperor, the corporate sector's operations
expanded to include 30,000 planetary systems,
and the corporate sector authority was established
to administer the sector.
With me so far?
Nope.
That's a lot to take in.
(17:18):
All right, we'll keep going.
To make trading easy, several organizations inked
trade agreements to set up consortia to maximize profit
and wield influence within the Senate.
The Commerce Guild, which we've heard about in the movies,
which pursues trader and business interests,
is the most powerful such guild.
Two of its leading members are the Trade Federation
and the Intergalactic Banking Clan.
(17:40):
I guess the Trade Federation and the Banking Clan
are members of an even greater thing,
which is the Commerce Guild, is what they call it.
As its name implies, the Trade Federation is a consortium
of businesses and traders.
The Intergalactic Banking Clan is a bank system that
controls finances in major parts of the Republic.
The latter played a prominent role in the Confederacy
of Independent Systems, otherwise known as the
(18:02):
Separatist Alliance, that broke away from the Republic
during the Clone Wars.
Both organizations supported Darth Sidious without
knowing he was simply using them to gain power
as Chancellor Palpatine.
So there you have it.
Actually, this sounds, maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong,
but it sounds kind of like the...
So that would have been run because there's obviously
a divide between the two sides.
So the Republic would have been like the SWIFT banking system
(18:25):
and then the Separatists would be basically creating
like BRICS.
You've heard those terms recently.
They've been in the news.
I have indeed.
Okay, yeah.
The SWIFT is the American-based currency exchange
and trade, and then BRICS is, I guess, somewhat Russian,
but arguably they're trying to do it together as a team.
Yeah.
Yeah, here's another guild out there called the Mining Guild.
(18:48):
We've heard about the Mining Guild numerous times
through Star Wars Rebels, some of the books as well.
A lot of the books actually bring up the Mining Guild
for some reason.
I feel like in fantasy worlds and shows, it's just like
an easy go-to.
Yeah, yeah.
It comes up a lot.
It totally does.
I can see it in Middle Earth as well,
(19:09):
the Dwarven Mining Guild.
Yeah.
But yeah, that's a little bit about Commerce Guild,
I guess, as well as many other guilds.
Bounty Hunters Guild.
Yeah, Trade Federation, Banking Clan.
Any group, or almost like a union, right,
where you can fight on their behalf as a full group.
Yeah, yeah.
(19:30):
Okay, so next section here,
how the economic blockade of Naboo transformed
the Republic into the Empire.
Very interesting.
In response to increased taxation of trade routes,
the Trade Federation blockaded the planet of Naboo
with a fleet of battleships.
The exact reason for the blockade is uncertain,
but there are several theories regarding this.
(19:52):
In his novel, Star Wars Darth Plagueis,
James Luceno outlined the possible reason
for the Naboo invasion was plasma energy.
According to James Luceno, Naboo is rich in plasma
and had a major mining and refining facility
financed with a loan from the Intergalactic Banking Clan.
The planet sold plasma energy to the Trade Federation
at fixed prices.
(20:13):
In turn, they marked up the prices for a substantial profit.
James Luceno's novel is no longer part of Star Wars canon
following Disney's restructuring of the expanded universe,
but it makes logical sense.
Remember, Naboo was situated in the outer rim of the galaxy
and probably had little to no taxation.
Taxation of trade routes would have increased
transportation costs for the members of the Trade Federation
(20:36):
and cut into their profits.
That said, their blockade was simply an excuse
for the Trade Federation to invade Naboo.
The Trade Federation was under the influence of Darth Sidious,
who was also Senator Palpatine of Naboo at the time as well,
and the invasion set off a chain of events
that led to Palpatine being named Supreme Chancellor
and declaring himself Emperor.
(20:57):
So I guess the invasion definitely had more than one purpose.
You know, the invasion of Naboo was not only to help cement
Palpatine's role in the election for chancellorhood,
but it was also a very practical way to secure a planet rich
with a resource called plasma.
And that's something we actually talked about, I think,
when we did our novel review for Darth Plagueis, was that...
(21:20):
A while ago now.
Yeah, and the Duel of Fates takes place in the big areas...
In the refining center.
Yeah, I think that is supposed to be plasma,
what we're seeing in those tubes.
Where are they? Just some cool sci-fi place?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure in the novelization it's supposed to be plasma.
Admittedly, I've never put a lot of thought into why they're blockading,
(21:44):
because I just assume it's a non-legitimate reason,
it's just an excuse for them to be there on behalf of Sidious
and his reasons.
Yeah, and this is also in response to the taxation of trade routes as well.
So, I guess there is...
Which, does that mean that that was a new thing before that happened?
There was no taxation of trade routes?
(22:05):
It was something that they...
It's actually...
Increased.
It's actually in the opening crawl of...
Phantom Menace.
Of the Phantom Menace, yeah.
So, the opening crawl reads...
Oh, you failed me, Wikipedia.
It's not there!
Okay, here's the opening crawl.
It's here.
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic,
(22:27):
and taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
That's the first paragraph of the opening crawl to the Phantom Menace.
So, I guess it's just like everywhere, you know?
Like, okay, prices are going up, you know?
Things are getting more expensive.
Guess what?
We're just gonna move in here and blockade the planet.
Because the Trade Federation are essentially intergalactic truckers, right?
(22:48):
You know, honestly, I kind of wish I knew a little more as to what they did.
It sounds like they mostly just do transport between systems.
It sounds...
Like you would hire them to get your...
What are they?
Juba fruits?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
To, like, Coruscant or something.
Like, first and foremost, they are a shipping conglomerate.
Yeah.
Basically, yeah.
(23:09):
I guess they're probably...
I guess they're more like one of the bigger companies
that are doing the ships across the ocean,
as opposed to, like, a trucking company.
Yeah, because they also have their own private military,
which is the droid armies.
Right, which...
I'm just saying...
I'm trying to just compare it to what we have here on Earth.
I could see...
If the oceans weren't protected by countries,
(23:30):
I could see shipping companies having their own armed protection.
Yeah.
And this is part of the reason why Padme's, like,
reason for the blockade not being fair.
You know, like, they're claiming that it's in response...
Or they do it as a form of saying,
hey, like, prices are going up,
we're going to blockade the planet for some reason.
(23:51):
It feels like a big step.
It seems like...
It's like there's a bit of a disconnect there,
but that's why this article goes into detail
with quoting the Darth Plagueis novel,
and that's a very, very smart thing to do,
because I've always personally considered
the Darth Plagueis novel very close to canon.
Like, there's nothing that really overrides that story,
(24:12):
I don't think.
No, it seems to fit pretty well with what we know about Phantom Menace.
Yeah.
All right, so here's how it happened.
Palpatine voted for the trade routes to be taxed,
giving the Federation a reason to invade Naboo.
They had...
That had the effect of making Supreme Chancellor Valorum look weak.
Valorum was kicked out of office with a vote of no confidence.
Basically, they impeached him.
(24:33):
Palpatine was then elected out of sympathy
for the suffering of his home planet of Naboo.
Eventually, Palpatine would convince the Galactic Senate
in a move spearheaded by Jar Jar Binks
to give him emergency powers
to deal with the ongoing Separatist crisis.
Of course, Palpatine was behind the Separatist movement
as Darth Sidious as well.
These new powers and the Jedi eliminated following Order 66.
(24:57):
All of that was a result of that.
Palpatine had little trouble installing himself as Emperor
and reshaping the galaxy in his image.
So, that's kind of where it all starts,
and that's why the Phantom Menace starts where it does.
I think a lot of people think,
okay, why is this movie so fixated on taxes and trade routes?
(25:18):
And it doesn't seem like it's relevant, but it is.
Especially when you think about Star Wars as a series
that's aimed at kids.
I'm talking about taxes and trade routes and stuff.
Let's be honest.
No skeleton crew, that's for sure.
When I first watched Phantom Menace, that went way over my head.
Yeah, it did. It did for me too.
(25:39):
I would have no idea what it is.
But that's the amazing thing about a movie like that.
In general, I find myself watching a lot of movies now,
which are at least very deep movies
that I have a lot to go back to and notice things
or understand things that went over your head
the first time around or the third time around or whatever.
And I always appreciate that about a movie.
(26:00):
There's always something more to notice.
There's always something more to enjoy and understand.
Yes, it might not be the ideal way to start
what most people would expect to be a kids movie.
But it's also just one of those things that
when you go back to it later,
all of a sudden there's just another level of detail there
which is just so wonderfully constructed
(26:23):
into this greater plot line of
why there's a guy that controls the galaxy.
How can this happen?
How did people let this happen?
And it's there in the movie.
So it's great.
The full story is there from the beginning.
And we'll talk about the ending later.
But yeah, I find The Phantom Menace
a very strong foundation for that plot.
(26:46):
And that's what makes The Darth Plagueis Novel so great as well
is that it gives The Phantom Menace
a whole other level of depth as well
because it expands on this plot around the moon.
I feel like The Plagueis Novel did for Phantom Menace
what the 3D Clone Wars did
to the attack of the clones in Revenge of the Sith.
Yeah, 100%.
Just adding detail.
(27:07):
George did such a good job
creating such a deep world
that honestly you couldn't explain all of it
in a two-hour movie.
So they're getting this novel, this series
to really expand that out and kind of explain it all
with more detail.
It brings a lot of that depth
that George had created to the forefront.
100%.
Our next section of the article is called
(27:29):
The Star Wars Economy and Nazi Germany.
Star Wars creator George Lucas once said
that he incorporated aesthetic and thematic elements
from Nazi Germany into his vision of the Galactic Empire.
The comparison is interesting
because both the Galactic Empire and Nazi Germany
came into being on the back of an economic crisis.
In fact, there are several economic and political similarities
(27:50):
between Nazi Germany and the Galactic Empire.
For example, Nazi Germany was characterized
by a readiness for war and its military might.
The National Labor Service mandated that
each German male would have to complete
a compulsory training at the organization.
Typical tasks during National Service included
planting forests, digging ditches on farms
(28:11):
and building a network of motorways.
The autobahn was constructed during this time
and Hitler set a goal to increase the size
of the German army to 500,000.
Trade unions were banned
and everyone was required to enroll
in a central labor organization
controlled by Nazi chieftains.
The Galactic Empire had a similar economy
that was ready for a state of war.
(28:32):
The Death Star, which was a space station
with a planet-destroying superlaser
is the perfect example of this militarization of the economy.
It consisted of state-of-the-art weapons systems
and artillery.
In addition, entire planetary systems
within the mid and outer rims
were dedicated to the construction
of the clones and war machines.
A number of ideas in my head
(28:54):
I'm sure we can all think of a few
but of course a big Star Wars Rebels plot
seeing as that's fresh in my mind
since you and I did Rebels Talk
just about a year and a half ago
was Sabine's story arc
in which it's revealed that she helped
the Empire construct a very powerful weapon
that can rip through Beskar armor.
Yeah, exactly.
(29:15):
Yeah, and fry the wearer, right?
And that was an Imperial weapon project.
Another one, Andor, you know
obviously using prison labor
for the construction of Death Star parts.
We got the shipyards at Fondor and Corellia
both creating Star Destroyers for
(29:38):
And TIE Fighters too.
The Empire, and yeah, TIE Fighters.
I know in Rebels they also go to
they sneak into a manufacturing facility
for AT-STs instead of speeder bikes.
Yeah, and simply put
the Empire loves ruling with fear
and that's maybe one reason
why they upkeep this whole thing
but one would also wonder
what's the need, you know?
(30:00):
Well, in the EU it's because Palpatine
knew that the use of Val were coming.
Yeah, and the old expanded universe
I guess that's maybe one reason.
Within the newer canon though
I guess if we're to try and fit this in
with what we know from the sequels
I guess maybe he's planning for that
whole new, what's it called?
The Final Order movement
that he has at the very end.
(30:21):
Yeah, I think it's something like that.
Yeah, but you know on the surface
it's like I don't think anyone in the Empire
believed that the Rebellion
would take down the Empire.
You know, and I don't think it's a reason
for them to continue making all these
massive ships and stuff, you know?
It's like they
No, but it gives them an excuse
to keep doing it.
Oh, for sure.
They have that to rule over everyone else.
Yeah, 100%.
(30:42):
And you know it's interesting
seeing these comparisons between
clearly the characteristics
are kind of the same.
But yeah, yeah.
Dedicated to the construction
of lots of war machines.
While the Star Wars prequels
make numerous mentions of trade unions
in the Republic
such as references
such references are absent
in the original trilogy
as such they probably were
(31:04):
banned by the Galactic Empire
or George Lucas hadn't yet thought of it.
In fact the production process
for machines was not
labor-intensive.
Instead, it was a process
dominated by droids themselves.
As an example, Star Wars Episode 2
Attack of the Clones
provides a glimpse of humanity's
machine-dominated future.
In one scene, Padme, Anakin Skywalker
(31:25):
C-3PO and R2-D2
are nearly killed trying to make their way
out of a droid manufacturing factory
on Geonosis.
Machines making machines.
That's right.
It's interesting actually to think about it now
because we see that happening
where there's a giant facility
which is pumping out droids
almost like a toy factory, right?
And then in the future we go to Karelia
(31:47):
and there's people making
Star Destroyers, even TIE Fighters
kind of by hand.
They're like cutting sheet metal
and putting it together.
And then there's Elon Musk's
Tesla factory which is like
some crazy percentage of the car
done completely automated.
That's how he's making it cost-effective.
Interestingly, as one moves
away from the core worlds
(32:09):
economies become less oriented
towards machines, like what you were saying.
In the Outer Rim planets, other industries
such as energy and agriculture
dominate. This difference is reflected in
architecture. For example, the core world
Coruscant is a high-tech society
with skyscrapers and flying cars.
The Outer Rim planet Tatooine is a relatively
primitive place in comparison.
On Tatooine, many structures are made
(32:31):
of adobe and moisture farmers
eke out an existence producing
water. The difference in their fortunes
is a testament to the economic
power of the strong central government
based on Coruscant.
How do you explain Geonosis?
Well, I mean
Geonosis is not even
inhabited by humans.
Just the Geonosians, yeah.
(32:53):
I mean, I get that they are crazy, but I guess you could argue
that they're just so crazy within
the engineering, just as a people
that's why they also were chosen or forced
to make the Death Star.
That's the end of the article.
It didn't explain how the
First Order got all that money.
So I guess
that leads us to our final conclusion
here is
(33:15):
I mean, there is evidence sprinkled
through, and I'll just say this up front
because I'm sure we're going to miss some things, but
there's evidence sprinkled through some
of the material leading into
The Force Awakens as to where
the First Order got their money.
One of the novels is called Bloodline.
It's a novel featuring General
Gaia Organa prior to
the whole sequel stuff.
(33:37):
It's about seven years before.
Is Palpatine embezzling the whole time?
No, Palpatine is
completely absent from that book
because this is still
written in a time in which
that wasn't even part of, not even on the
agenda for characters to bring back.
This novel was prior
to The Force Awakens when it came out.
So they
(33:59):
essentially kind of made a story
where very wealthy
individuals or
smaller companies, not
maybe as big as the Trade Federation, but
had almost been put
in this secret
banking thing.
Almost like a group of people that are
all investing into another
empire.
(34:21):
Like a grassroots sort of
building of an empire?
Financially? Yeah, if my memory
serves correctly, I think it was
kind of like that.
Were they legitimate or were they just shell companies?
No, it was legitimate because part
of the plot is she goes to investigate
one of these places where
money is flowing through.
There's some evidence that...
(34:43):
Oh man, it's been years since I've read this book.
But she finds a small militia there
and it's sort of the beginnings
of what would be
like a training
base or training camp for
First Order Stormtroopers, I believe.
I think that's what they were insinuating
in the book.
This is before all the Hux stuff?
Yeah, yeah.
(35:05):
This would have been perhaps
supervised by
Brendal Hux.
So this novel
came out before The Force Awakens
and it's sort of interesting when I think about
it because maybe at some point
I'll re-read it. I remember it being
not bad, but I don't think
the author, Claudia Gray,
I don't know how much
(35:27):
she had to work on at the time because
they were trying to keep the plot of The Force Awakens
very hush-hush. Yeah, there was
basically nothing. I don't remember anything really
getting out before the movie came out.
It left us in all such great
anticipation. Yeah, and
they were also trying to, I mean
it's very apparent when you watch the movie, but
they really tried to stay away from
explanation of
(35:49):
finances and politics
stuff. Yeah, it felt like they were
because they didn't really talk about that much
really in the original trilogy, right?
No. In the prequels, it was kind of
abundant because that was like a central
theme. They were trying to emulate
the original trilogy kind of
take on it. Yeah.
It's harder to explain away.
When you watch the original trilogy, you have
(36:11):
no context. Then watching the sequel
trilogy, you know it came after the original trilogy.
So you're like, where did it come from?
Yeah, exactly.
There is
sorry, it's six years, not seven years.
There is the novel Bloodline. So if anyone
is curious in reading perhaps how the
First Order got their financial
backing, this might actually
be a book for you.
(36:33):
Was the First Order also involved
with gambling, like running
casinos? Am I crazy? I think
they, oh, you're talking about
episode eight? You're talking about Last
Jedi stuff? It might have been
that as well.
It might have also been from that
Resistance animated show.
Yeah, there was
some little tidbits in Resistance about it.
(36:55):
Yeah, and I remember
reading something somewhere
I think it's more or less just
very wealthy individuals that are
essentially supporting
It's hard for me to imagine
that much money coming in to turn an entire
planet into a giant gun.
I know, right?
So, yeah.
I know. I still think the idea
(37:17):
of turning a planet into a giant weapon
is kind of ridiculous.
Yeah.
So, anyways. It absorbed a
sun.
To power it is the only way to power it.
Destroy its own sun.
We don't talk about these movies much.
I often forget
that they did stuff like that.
Wait a minute.
(37:39):
As far as the Final
Order goes,
that was definitely
funded by some contingency
of Palpatine's.
He survived and has had
people working behind the scenes this whole time.
It is interesting too, though, just with
the fact that, as we've seen
in Rebels, the Empire
had to be pretty particular
(38:01):
with what it chose to invest in.
It had a lot of projects, but it couldn't fund all of them.
Palpatine often had to pull the plug
on stuff that he didn't think was worth as much time
and money. Yeah, that's why we had a feud
between Thrawn and Tarkin because
one of them was trying to get the
Death Star project up and
Thrawn was trying to make a case for
his Tide Defender project
being significantly more
(38:23):
strategically better.
Advantageous. Yeah, advantageous.
He was saying,
what we need is better
ship-to-ship combat.
That'd be much better for policing
and running a galaxy than one
giant space weapon. Basically, one
is ruling with
implied force and the other one is
ruling with fear.
(38:45):
Yeah, so
yeah, as far as the final
order, I mean, yeah, I
think it's worth
not reading too much into it because
there isn't going
to ever be enough
explanation for how that works. And I think
that's what's so great about... Do we have an entire
podcast to come up with this?
Like, theories and stuff? This is the answer?
(39:07):
Yeah, I'd probably not. Don't look into it?
I don't want to spend too much time on...
Yeah.
I think the takeaway from
all this, though, is really just out of
the world that George Lucas created
there was a working system, right?
And it was based on reality.
It was based on real-world things
and it can be completely
(39:29):
translated into this
fictional world.
It's just cool to see and it is
understandable. It's not this...
George put a lot of thought into every
single piece of his world. Very much so, yeah.
He had a long time to work on it, granted,
but put a lot of thought into it.
Yeah, definitely. Well, I
think we'll call it
there. Let's just transition
(39:51):
over to the cantina
for a little banter and then we'll wrap things up.
How many bake sales do you think the first order
had to run to fund that thing? Too many.
Alright, so.
That is the end
of our main meet
(40:13):
today. Intergalactic
Banking and Finances, but...
If we did miss anything, especially around the
first order stuff, please
send it to us or we will
bring it up in a future episode
and correct ourselves.
Yeah, or better yet, drop a comment.
I mean, like, you know, we don't get enough people
commenting down below
on the YouTube. That's true.
(40:35):
Or on the Spotify comments.
I mean, that's a thing now.
So, yeah, if you're
listening on Spotify, you can leave
a comment.
But yeah, definitely let us know
or you can send an email, like you were saying.
Just let us know what we missed,
especially with the sequel stuff. We're not as
attuned.
There's been a lot coming out
(40:57):
over the last number of years. There has.
There has, yeah.
Alright, something new
this year
that I think we want to do.
At least, it's been on our ideas
list for a long time and I just wanted to talk
about it. Star Wars
101. It's something that I think
you brought up at one point.
Somebody suggested it and
(41:19):
I think, kind of
like today's banking article, but
more so just our own
explanation, rather than reading through
an article, is
what we'd like to do is start explaining
very basic, fundamental
things about Star Wars
to perhaps
audiences and people
that might
(41:41):
not be as familiar.
Make a little sub-series of...
Darth Vader, bad.
Luke Skywalker, good.
What are
the different sides of the force?
What is the
Jedi Order? What is
the Republic? What is
you know,
what is the...
(42:03):
What's a
clone trooper? I don't know, just like
very basic stuff
that might kind of help
bring someone in.
So, if anyone has any good
ideas out there as to
what you would like to hear a one-on-one,
or sorry, a 101.
Do a 101. A one-on-one.
A 101
(42:25):
one-on-one. There we go.
Definitely let us know.
And we'd love to
get any ideas.
This goes hand-in-hand
with our What Happened series, which we've been doing
for a number of years now.
Which has been very character-focused
and going through
character stories beginning through the end
as to where they are in the canon
(42:47):
so far, and all their appearances
through all the stories. And
normally we try and do those when a new show
is coming out, or when a new animated
series is coming out, or a movie, or whatever
we'll catch people up on that character
and explain kind of where
they've been, what's the character story
looking like. So, the one-on-one is kind
of supposed to be a bit like that, but
a bit more simple and not character-focused.
(43:09):
It's more supposed to be about
something, or like a place,
or like whatever. Something that might
be... A history of YT
1700. Yeah.
Something very
relevant to the movies.
If you were to take someone through
the Star Wars movies for the first time,
what's a very fundamental thing that might
contribute to their understanding of that movie,
(43:31):
right? So, yeah, there you go.
Just something to think about. I think it's something
we might end up doing at some point this year.
Like the Rule of Two? Yeah.
Rule of Two, that's a good one.
I'm sure we'll think of a number
of things, but
just a heads up, that might be...
Taxation on trade routes and banking?
Yeah.
Thankfully this article did all the
(43:53):
heavy lifting for us, so yeah.
But yeah, anyway,
just throwing it out there. If anyone has any ideas,
we'd love to hear from you guys. Other great
sub-series that we have on the show
going into the new year, this is worth
noting. You can find all our previous
episodes on a spreadsheet called
Podcast Archives, and that's
always in the description down below. It's also
found on our link tree, which is also
(44:15):
a link in the description below. And
it's basically a spreadsheet that you can find
You can do a
webpage keyword search
and find titles of different things
that might be relevant to an episode you
want to look for, or whatever. You can also
see the dates as to
when they were published, which will help you scroll
back and find the episode you're looking for in your
podcast app.
(44:37):
And as a little bonus, we've got a column in there
for the YouTube version, which if you like
watching on YouTube, then you can hit that
link there as well. So it's a good way
to find what you're looking for.
Yeah, you can find, what are some sub-series we've
done? What Happened is one.
We've got Rebels.
Clone Wars.
Pretty much all the series, all the live-action ones
that have come out recently. Yeah, the After Shows
(44:59):
for every single Disney Plus show.
We've got a commentary track
series in there. Including
Ewok Adventures.
Holiday Special, twice. There's two
holiday specials. I feel like we need to do it every year.
Oh, jeez.
We're going to get more and more quiet.
Less and less
plays.
(45:21):
We also have
a series that, well,
we did one episode of these called
The Star Wars Archives, and
it's based on
the copies that we have here.
The TASGEN Star Wars Archive books.
So I'd love to do more of those
this year. And we've done
some... Did a LEGO
Star Wars special? Yeah.
(45:43):
Some series we've done, though.
We did a RIP Star Wars one of all the cancelled
Star Wars movies, shows,
video games. We've done various
interviews with people involved
in the galaxy. Special guest episodes.
Yeah, lots of stuff.
You can go to our webpage,
our homepage on the website.
Top link in the description.
And there is a tab
(46:05):
called Subseries, which you can click on and
find all the subseries we've ever done.
There's a whole list of them. And you can also
look up playlists on Spotify.
We've even done trivia, if you like
trivia. Oh, yeah. I don't know if we've made
a subseries for trivia, but... You should probably put them
all together in case someone is just feeling trivia.
Yeah, fair enough.
But yeah, going into the new
year, I just thought, man, it might be worth
(46:27):
taking the time to talk about that kind of stuff
as well. Do you have anything else
you wanted to bring up? Man, just
I guess I'm getting excited for Celebration.
It's so close. Celebration is
April 18th to the 20th
and it's in Japan.
Tickets are completely
sold out across the board. I'm not surprised, man.
Yeah, every version of it.
I think even if you bought a ticket this
(46:49):
late, you'd be having a hard time finding a hotel.
Yeah, yeah. Even kids
passes, it's all gone. Every
variation of the pass for every age
group, every time of day, gone, gone,
gone. It's going to be a packed
event. And for those of you who don't
know, you can actually, well,
for the last two celebrations, I think it is,
they have done online
versions. Like they've-
(47:11):
Streams? Yeah, they've done streams, yeah.
And they haven't streamed every
single panel. No, some of them are exclusive.
Yeah. They often do the
main stage and then
I think some of the big ones with people
from Lucasfilm. Yeah, and they've also
put together what's called, I think it's called
the Star Wars show stage
or something like that. It's the stage
that they have in the sort of main
(47:33):
convention hall. Yeah, they're just,
I don't know if that's the main, I think the main stage is actually
in a convention hall, but like
the stage in which they just bring actors
out for the heck of it for five minutes and then
they'll have that. If it's like the one we
went to, then it is like amongst
all the different booths
installed, people selling stuff. There's like a
big chunk in the corner and it's like a big stage.
Yeah, it's usually like nicely dressed up
(47:55):
and stuff like that.
So yeah, we'll hopefully catch
some of that on YouTube and
I think we'll do our best to,
as the last two celebrations have gone,
we've done like a 20 minute,
30 minute episode recap
kind of thing each day we get
together and just talk about all the
new announcements and stuff like that.
Very exciting, coming up soon.
(48:17):
Very, very exciting stuff. I can't wait to figure out what this new
animated series is going to be. Yeah, and I
think there might even be more than one, so
I guess we'll have to wait and see
if that is the case. Come on, Jedi Adventures 2.
Young Jedi Adventures 2.
With Andor
Season 2 coming out right after
celebration. It's going to be
a fun
April, May to say the
(48:39):
least.
All right, Sir, thank you so much for
joining as always. It's always
a pleasure. We'll catch you in the next one.
See you out there. Keep flying.
All right, thank you so much
to our audience for tuning in. We really,
really appreciate it. And if you're
on Spotify or Apple
(49:01):
Podcasts right now,
you can leave us a five-star review. That really
helps us out a lot. Helps
other fans find the show and
the search results and always
gives us a good feeling when we see that people enjoy
this podcast. So be sure
to help us out with that. That would be amazing.
May the Force be with you.
We'll see you in the next episode of Star Wars Escape Pod.
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