The Star Wars VR Boom | Battlefront II's Last Stand | Star Wars Soundboard | The Escape Pod's Unexpected Detour to the Grid! - Star Wars Escape Pod

Episode Transcript
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(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, quickly.
Before the separatists attack, get into the escape pod.

(00:28):
Hey!
This is escape.
Then wear the pod.
This is escape pod!
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
for a little chat about a few different things on the Star Wars headlines.

(00:51):
And we are keeping it fairly casual this week.
We have the release of Beyond Victory, which eventually I think we'll do a
sort of more in-depth review with a friend of ours who is actually going to be able to play that game.
We have a little bit of news about upcoming novel,
an update on Battlefront 2 players, a new audio book hitting the digital shelves,

(01:13):
as well as some little extra things,
and a bit of an off-topic chat later about the upcoming Tron movie.
Let's get into it.

(01:39):
Another happy landing.
Well, hello there.
You're brainless?
Hey, good to be back.
I think I missed the first word.
Yeah.
You're brainless?
Instead of the R you're brainless, it's just, you're brainless.
You're brainless?

(02:00):
Well, we are back and we have an updated soundboard going forward, so that's kind of exciting.
Right.
Yeah.
It's Star Wars.
We know what's going to make all the money.
All right.
Great.
I'm very, very excited for this one.
Age-turners?
They were not.
Oh, man.
We're going to be able to use that a lot in our book reviews.

(02:21):
Yeah.
Unless they step it up.
There's been a lot of mediocre lately.
Yeah, yeah.
I feel like we could have used that one a lot during our good, the bad, and the ugly with Francis.
Just basically just keep hitting the button on repeat.
What are we going to be using if they were good?
Maybe this one?

(02:42):
Maybe if they were ugly, this one?
I felt a great disturbance in the force.
Come on!
Oh, yeah.
That's a good one.
Oh, wait.
I know.
Of course.
Use this.
There we go.
It's funny.
It's going to be Lando from Jedi instead of Han.
Right.

(03:03):
I mean, this kind of, I guess, adds to the conversation.
But you didn't know that there was an official Star Wars app.
I had no idea.
At all.
And it's pretty dated.
So when did it come out?
Oh, it says it was launched July 7th, 2015.
So it's been...
It's 10 years.
10 years old.
Actually, that makes it the perfect, perfect reason why we're talking about it today, everybody.
It's 10 years old.

(03:24):
Happy, happy anniversary to the Star Wars app.
Plus a few months.
Plus a few months.
Yeah.
But yeah, you can get a soundboard and a feed of official news, official videos, a selfie
tool, stickers.
Do they actually still post stuff on here?
They do.
So if you click on the official news...
I probably can figure out how to turn that off.
Yeah.
If you click on the official news, there's like a whole like scroll.

(03:47):
It's basically...
It's plugged into StarWars.com.
But that's where you do that.
And yeah, because it's got a pretty retro design.
I actually like the green one better.
Is that the light side?
Yeah.
So if you click on the helmet up top, that button right there can turn on or off your
sound effects.
And then you can change your theme.
You can go dark side, light side, or droid.
And that's basically like the skin to your app, I guess.

(04:10):
And man, the red one looks pretty sick actually.
Dark side looks pretty good.
I keep it on green.
Keep it on light side.
Big fan of the green displays.
Yeah.
That's what I was thinking too.
Yeah.
That retro monochrome look.
Right.
If you give the app permissions to view your location, it gives you the weather update
and tells you what planet it feels like.
So...
So it's going to be Camino for the majority of the year here.

(04:32):
Yep.
It's currently...
Camino yesterday felt like Endor.
Um, but, uh, it says dish the lightsaber, carry an umbrella.
And then, uh, you know, 12 degrees and that's Celsius, everybody.
And, uh, yeah, it's just kind of funny.
But, um, I think one of the coolest things about the app, other than soundboard, of course,
is, uh, that there is this little, uh, feature up top in the top right, which says

(04:56):
this day in Star Wars.
And this is something that has been, uh, sort of one of the better features of StarWars.com,
but there's a countdown to Star Wars Celebration 2027.
We are currently 538 days, two hours, and 23 minutes away from that 50th anniversary.
What is that?
The golden anniversary of Star Wars, I guess?
The 50th?
It's golden, right?
Aren't they all good?

(05:17):
Not golden.
Not good.
Golden.
There's like a golden and a...
Whatever, whatever.
What about 50 implies golden?
Uh...
Is that the official age you become a golden girl?
It's just like a name for golden anniversary.
Yeah.
If you look up golden anniversary, it's the 50th anniversary of a significant event.
So this will be Star Wars' golden anniversary.

(05:38):
I had no idea.
That's what they, that's what they nickname a 50th anniversary.
If anyone's celebrating a 50th anniversary, they, they call it their golden anniversary.
Um, and then above that is this day in Star Wars.
And this is one of my favorite features because it recounts, um, to any day amongst any year in history that something significant within, within Star Wars happened.

(06:00):
And I love that book that I have that I bought, like called year by year, um, Star Wars year by year.
It's a visual, I guess, recount of everything that sort of major that came out and released over the last, you know, 40 something years.
Uh, which is great.
Um, but this app, it's, it's, it's great.
Like today, for example, October 9th, as of today's recording, uh, Jedi Training Academy begins training younglings at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, Florida in 2007.

(06:27):
So like you're able to see, you know, you can scroll ahead of days.
So seven.
Yeah.
So like back in 2007, you know, October 8th, 2010.
So that was yesterday.
Um, in 2010, the Star Wars, the Clone Wars, third season episode called corruption aired on Cartoon Network for the first time in the U S uh, or October 7th, 1983 actor Felicity Jones, Jen Erso is born.

(06:50):
Right.
Uh, October 6th.
Man, this is just like training for Star Wars trivia.
Right.
Star Wars opens for the first time in Puerto Rico.
And then they have like the poster there.
October 5th, Del Rey publishes Vector Prime.
That's the episode that Chewbacca dies in.
Uh, so you're not going to go through this and make a bunch of questions for the trivia area.

(07:11):
No, but I think, I think it's kind of funny that I could, you know, like, it's like, wow.
What year did Star Wars open in Puerto Rico?
That's actually a good idea.
Maybe I will start doing that.
That's going to be really hard.
The answer will be given to you every day.
You just have to memorize 365 answers.
Um, and you know, I do wonder if they ever rotate these answers out because there are
some days that multiple things happen.

(07:33):
That's what I was just wondering.
So yeah, I don't really know, but, uh, but yeah, here, let's, let's take a look.
Um, okay.
My, uh, oh my goodness.
Okay.
So my birthday, right.
A couple of years later on my birthday in 2003.
So a while later, uh, Hayden Christensen dones the dark armor of Darth Vader for his
first time for his first take as the fully transformed Sith Lord on set of episode three.

(07:56):
So he, he did that on my birthday.
It's like two years after that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Post production is so long back in the day.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A hundred percent.
Uh, okay.
So September 9th in 1937.
Yeah.
That's who I mean, that is Bryce's birthday.
Wow.
Archie Goodwin comic legend and writer of over 30 original Marvel star Wars comics is born.

(08:20):
The Bryce shares the birthday with, uh, Archie Goodwin.
Anyway, it's cool.
Right.
It's pretty neat.
I wonder when they, if they've ever updated it, if it's been the same for 10 years.
Uh, yeah.
I mean, well, they do update it.
Uh, the most recent update was from this past week.
So they do continue to push out like optimizations and, you know, I'm in for the days of Star
Wars.

(08:41):
Oh yeah.
For the calendar.
That is a good question.
But I believe there are 365, you know, like there's never a day that something isn't on
there.
Right.
So like they have the full calendar fleshed out.
So some people have the lunar calendar.
Some people have a solar calendar.
Some people have, people have the Roman calendar.
We have the Star Wars calendar.
That's right.

(09:02):
Impressive.
Most impressive.
All right.
So, uh, let's transition here.
Next thing is, uh, beyond victory.
We've talked about this for a few weeks now, building hype.
It's finally out.
Have you tried it?
Quest systems.
Uh, no, I have not tried it, but, uh, but we have our friend Dan, who's
kind of occasionally been, been on the show.

(09:24):
And, uh, he's, he's, well, I, I don't know if he was planning on getting in or not, but
I just, I assumed he was.
So I, I messaged him.
I said like, Hey, you want to do a full, uh, yeah, he has the three, the three, the
latest headset, which is the quest three.
Um, and it's available for quest three and three S exclusively.
So I messaged him thinking that he's, he's all over this, you know?
Right.

(09:45):
And he's like, yeah, I guess I can check it out.
And I thought, man, like, wow.
Um, okay, great.
Thanks.
Like, like, I mean, no obligation or anything.
I just, I just assumed, you know, like, cause I'm sure if you had the opportunity to be
able to run it, you would have bought it like probably the first hour.
Oh yeah.
Dude.
Like I'd be there.
I'd be all over it.

(10:06):
Like day one.
Like this is the day that I'm reserving my evening to play this game.
You know, I'm surprised it's not on the quest too.
Oh, I know.
I'm, I'm kind of, I'm kind of, you know, kind of peeved to that.
Like, I guess it's always a matter of catering to the technology of, of the now.
And these days technology advances.
So, so quickly and changes so much.

(10:28):
And it's also just the, the nature of the business.
Like they're always inching things forward sometimes.
And, and all of a sudden that extra two gigs of Ram is a make it or break it for being
able to run this game.
Right.
And it's like, okay.
It just opened up the, for other, uh, game producers to use that.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(10:49):
It doesn't seem like a lot by today's standards, but I guess headsets already have pretty heavy
limitations there.
Yeah, for sure.
So that's the unfortunate situation there.
Um, I know at once upon a time when Meta was still doing the quest, uh, how, what's
it called again?
It was before the quest.
It was the, uh, the Oculus, the rift.
Oh, right.
So the Oculus rift, which is the com Oculus, the company that they bought, um, when they

(11:14):
still operated through the PC, similar to how, uh, like third party headsets could operate
through steam VR, um, Oculus had their own kind of thing going on.
And when Meta turned that into their own store and started selling their own apps on there.
And so I think Oculus did sell stuff on there as well.
But, um, when they, when they started developing for themselves, uh, the Vader immortal games

(11:36):
launched on both.
So like you could get them on the quest, but then you also got the ability to play it through
your PC.
If that makes sense.
Um, and at the time I didn't have a quest headset.
So I actually found a way to emulate the game through my HTC Vive VR headset, which there
was a little software called revive.

(11:57):
And it was able to trick the Oculus software into thinking that I owned an Oculus headset
or an Oculus.
Right.
Yeah.
So you spoofed it.
So yeah, basically.
Yeah.
And, and like the, the, the displays weren't optimized of course for that software.
So like when I played the first couple of Vader or first one or two Vader immortal games,
like I played it at a very dim setting.
Like I, like it was naturally just darker when I played it, but it was like, it was

(12:20):
fine.
Like I could play through it.
But then finally when I did end up, you know, I was like quest two came out or he was coming
out.
And so I was like, okay, you know what?
I'm just going to sell my vibe and, and I'm just going to like try something wireless,
try something new.
Cause you know, I was very intrigued by the idea of wireless VR headsets.
And so I, that's what I did.
And then I was able to play the games natively on the headset cord free.

(12:41):
And I was like, Oh man, like this is unreal.
Like this is, this takes me back to when you and I did the hyper reality experience in
the Disney parks.
Right.
It was super cool.
Exactly.
And it was a sequel to that, to that game, like the environment and the story and everything
is sort of a loose continuation.
So, um, I was like, ah, this is sick.
And, um, yeah.
And now we're kind of at another, another point.
Now a couple of games has launched since then, you know, the tales from the galaxy's edge,

(13:04):
the galaxy, the galaxy's edge, Disney parks sort of based experience.
Um, you tried that one too.
That was like, I had the virtual, uh, Ron core rap.
Yeah, that's right.
Um, I wish, uh, but yeah, the, the high Republic short stories in that.
And, um, you know, it was a cool experience, I guess.
And, and then they did the VR pinball star Wars game.

(13:26):
And, and now finally the beyond victory on mixed reality headsets.
And there's reviews out there now because the game has launched, but I'm hoping that we
get our first, uh, our firsthand player kind of coming on and giving their two cents on
it.
Maybe we can even go over there and play it.
Yeah.
Maybe, maybe we can have, yeah, we can go over there or maybe Dan come out here, you
know, whatever, whatever the case, but, uh, that would be, that'd be cool.

(13:48):
Cause I am curious with the fact that it's AR and a VR.
Yeah.
I think like, I think that's where it's sort of misses the mark in my opinion, just like
with doing a pod race game.
Cause I've, I've like, I think a lot of people have thought what's the best star Wars VR experience
that you could possibly have.
And everyone gets motion sick when in space battles.

(14:10):
Yeah.
And, and that's, yeah.
And that's the thing I have done that.
I have done star Wars, um, uh, squadrons in, it has a VR mode.
If you buy it on, um, on PC or, or I think even the PlayStation version might have the
PS VR thing that was there for like a hot minute.
Um, but I've, I've played it in VR and it is vomit inducing.
That's what I've heard.
The moment that you do any kind of slight yaw to the right or the left, it's like, you

(14:36):
know, like, it's just like, it makes you sick.
And, uh, not like a roll.
You mean like a, like a scooting motion?
Just like, yeah.
Like going side to side.
Okay.
Yeah.
Rolling in it to any degree.
Like, it's just like, man, like, yeah, get me out of this.
Yeah.
Like, which is unavoidable.
Any sort of space battle.
Right.
Right.

(14:57):
Like, uh, some sort of like, oh man, you're doing a dog fight and multiplayer like that.
That was it.
Like I did like one round and I sucked so bad.
And then I was, and then I also felt sick too.
And I was like, this wasn't worth it.
Do you think people playing that?
Like if you have the open headset, I know people still do that these days, but back in the
day we used to like Halo three.
Oh yeah.
We have open, open mic headset and just hear people vomiting.

(15:23):
Too much, too much mountain dew.
Just from like the VR.
Just yeah.
Oh man.
That guy's playing the VR mode.
Yeah.
Uh, I don't know.
But, um, you know, I, I think when it comes to, um, Star Wars games are always pushing the
boundary, you know, whatever it is.
And it, it goes back to like some of the first Star Wars games to come out.

(15:44):
Like the Star Wars games have been coming out since the first movie was released.
And I feel like whatever the technology was at the time, there's, there was a Star Wars
game that was in that generation of gaming.
And Star Wars gaming in general tends to hit a certain spot within Star Wars fans where
it's like, that was their gateway.
Like that was their entry to Star Wars.
That was their introduction to this story or this bigger expanded universe.

(16:05):
Do you remember joysticks?
Joysticks.
And oh man, like I, I, I'm not a fan of joysticks, but I mean, yes, I do remember them.
I just like.
Do they even sell those anymore?
I mean, they.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can still.
They're not common.
They used to be.
I mean, they're, they're not sold with new hardware.
No, but like you can.
I recall seeing those on shelves at Walmart.
You can still buy Atari's.

(16:26):
Like they're like reprints from the official company and they still sell.
No, I mean like a PC joystick.
Oh man.
If you, if you Googled it on Amazon, a hundred percent.
Oh, I'm sure.
But I remember them being commonplace, I guess is what I'm getting at.
So, and I'm pretty sure you can play the old like X-wing and TIE fighter games with
those.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, for sure.
Um, you know, popular with the, when 3d games became a thing, I think those started to

(16:48):
become a little more popular, but.
Cause I had the old steering wheel and the pedals.
You put the pedals underneath your.
Oh yeah.
I know they still sell that for racing games, but I had like the nineties version.
So it was pretty jank and playing these really bad monster jam games.
It's not Star Wars, but, uh, yeah.
Retro gaming.

(17:09):
Anyway.
Sorry.
There's always been a Star Wars game for like most generations of consoles, you know,
like handhelds and TV consoles and arcade machines and pretty much the works, you know, and, and
VR is no different.
It's a, it's a form of, it's a form of gaming, uh, console or otherwise it's kind of its own
thing.
Almost like the, almost like the switch.

(17:31):
It's not a handheld.
It's not a, it's not a true handheld that you could pocket.
It's not a true console that you can play, you know, graphics.
Right.
It's limited.
It's a little more limited, right?
Like graphics and like intensive games is what I meant to say.
Um, and you know, and VR is kind of in this other category as well.
It's like, yeah, there's games that are only available on that platform and they are made

(17:53):
for that platform and you can only play them if you have, you know, this particular console
device.
Right.
Um, so, you know, it's just the way things are.
And, um, you know, if anyone does want to play it, I guess you'll have to go out and
get yourself a quest three, but, um, but yeah, I guess that's a really long run, but way
of getting to the thing that one would look forward to in VR, you'd think would be a pod

(18:14):
racing game.
Yeah.
Basically like when I imagine a pod race game, I imagined it more like you're in the
cockpit of the pod racer and you're going left and right.
And there's maybe a few little bumps in the road, but that's mostly the idea.
Right.
Yeah.
Kind of like the, the arcade style.
Yeah.
Arcade pod racer.

(18:35):
They had back in the one that we were all wanting to get in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
For sure.
And, uh, you know, I, I, they did it like a top down arcade style, holographic looking
race game.
And it's kind of hard to describe unless you watch the videos for it.
But the full, there's like full is cut scenes, I guess, where you're then put into the scene,
into the world.

(18:56):
And all of a sudden your world around you transforms into the space.
And then there's other sections of it, which are just characters standing in your living
room.
As the backdrop for talking with these characters.
That's where they lose me.
And that's kind of weird, right?
Like, I don't know.
It just kills the immersion.
I get that they want to try this hardware, but at the same time, it's like for a Star Wars
experience, it doesn't really make any sense.

(19:18):
Yeah.
I would much rather be fully immersed in a Star Wars experience.
Well, technically now it could make sense.
It's just, it would have to take place on, um, skeleton crew planet.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
At Aden.
At Aden.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
Oh man, that's a good one.
I mean, it's canon.
Qualifications for playing this game.

(19:40):
You must live in a town that was constructed during the 1950s.
But with a kind of like futuristic style.
Right, right.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, that's that.
That's, that's all.
That's all I wanted to talk about when it comes to Beyond Victory.
But yeah, we're looking forward to maybe trying that at some point.
And, uh, you know, we'll get Dan on board and he's, uh, he's always kind of the, uh,

(20:01):
the guy, my, our friend that we go to for VR specifically.
We've, I think, uh, I've spoken with Dan.
I think on every single previous Star Wars VR experience that, that has come out since
we've had this podcast up and running.
So I actually didn't hear his opinion on the Vader games.
I think he, oh, you know what?
I think either he did come on for the third one of those, or maybe we got his opinion

(20:25):
kind of later when he did either the VR pinball or the galaxy's edge one.
Um, but he has, he has talked about it before, but I think if, if I'll go back and take a
look, um, Reed was our main guest on those three because, uh, he was actually over at
the house one time when I was playing the first one.
I was like, Hey, do you want to be a guest on the podcast?
Play through this thing.
So I sat there on my couch and he played for like, for like 45 minutes and then we did

(20:47):
the chat.
Um, and so we did that like three times.
He may have joined us at some point for one of those three, but, um, but yeah, maybe
we'll have to do a revisit of those.
They're pretty cool.
They were cool.
Um, but yeah, let's, uh, let's transition gears here and, uh, get into the next little
thing here.

(21:11):
So, uh, Lucasfilm publishing, uh, new star Wars legacy novel revealed before Lucasfilm

(21:35):
publishing panel at the New York comic-con.
Uh, most recently New York comic-con took place and, uh, I guess not a crazy amount
of news came out of that, but a new, not a new novel titled star Wars legacy, uh, which
is being published from random house worlds.
That's the Canon staple Del Rey novels that have been coming out, you know, maybe once
or twice a year for the last while, um, is going to be hitting shelves July 28th,

(22:02):
2026.
And there was still a year away.
Yeah.
And there was no cover, nothing.
Just, just the text, just the, the title of the book and, uh, speculation, I guess.
What was the title?
Star Wars led legacy.
Star Wars titles are so generic.
You can't get anything from that.

(22:23):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can't, you can't really get anything from that, but, um, but star Wars legacy.
Um, I guess there was a legacy of the force series back in the day with the expanded universe,
you know, or, uh, or was it legacy of the Jedi?
I think there was probably both legacy of the skywalkers.
Yeah.
Uh, there was, um, yeah, Marvel.

(22:45):
Um, also another thing is, uh, Marvel is re-releasing legacy inside a omnibus collection.
Cause of course there was also the Marvel star Wars legacy series.
Um, and, uh, that's coming out next May.
Uh, that was the Darth Talon.
Oh, right.
Um, yeah.
Like the Cade Skywalker.
I mean, maybe it's related to that.
Cause, uh.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Wasn't there like a Darth Maul-y Twi'lek?

(23:07):
Uh, yeah.
And, and also Darth Maul Shadow Lord is coming out next year in, uh.
I was in the trailer for that, wasn't it?
May.
And Darth Talon is speculated to be like a kid in that.
Yeah.
Trailer or something.
Right.
Um, yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of neat.
And so I might, maybe it's a novel that'll like bridge the gap between the Clone Wars

(23:30):
and the beginning of the Darth Maul animated show.
If there, if there is some kind of gap in there.
Um.
Cause we were, we kind of talked you and I, uh, outside the podcast at one point,
talking about how there's like this weird window now, Darth Maul,
where there's a number of years post be before rebels, but after the solo movie.
And then another chunk after the Clone Wars animated series.

(23:53):
And then the comics from the extended storyline, uh, from the Clone Wars, uh, 3D series up
to when we meet him in that solo.
Like one of the cameo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was like, we have like a point in the middle and then the two giant unknowns.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
There's a, there's a giant space between, yeah, there's like a, almost a 10 year gap

(24:16):
between the end of Clone Wars and his appearance in solo.
And then another four ish years or five.
Um.
That's actually less than I would have thought.
Before he shows up in rebels.
So he changes a lot between solo and then being called old master.
Yeah.
Yeah, he does.
Like four year window.

(24:37):
Uh, yeah.
Uh, so, you know, a lot happened to him, you know, uh, in those, in those four years and
then in those 10 years as well.
I mean, this is a character that's a prominent character, prominent villain of the first movie,
um, you know, of episode one and, and for him to be floating around all that time and
not to have a story about him is weird, you know, and knowing that he exists in this space

(25:01):
and in this time.
And so, you know, I have heard the opinion.
Well, especially considering how fleshed out a lot of it is nowadays.
For sure.
And, and I have heard the opinion, like, of almost kind of exhaustion that we are getting
a show that takes place about Maul.
But at the same time, as long as it's done well and it's done in a savoring way that still honors
the character and, um, still feels like the character.

(25:24):
Mm-hmm.
Cause some of those Clone Wars episodes with Maul are some of the best.
Um, that I don't see any.
They made it way deeper.
He was a very shallow bad guy in Phantom Menace.
For sure.
I, I don't see why not, you know, like, I don't see why we shouldn't be excited about
it.
If he's the main character though, he's probably not going to be that bad of a guy.
Like he's probably going to be more of an anti-hero, I would think.

(25:45):
Yeah.
You know, it's, it's hard.
It's hard to imagine any kind of Star Wars story where the main character is the villain
because that's never been, that's never happened before.
I don't want there to be a empire based show like that.
And they just refuse to do it.
Every time it looks like they're going to do it, they always turn into rebels.
Yeah.
And Darian, Darian said that at one point, you know, it's like, I will, I just want there

(26:07):
to be a Star Wars story where, where the bad guys stay the bad guys.
I'm like, don't, don't become a good guys.
Right.
Like, and you know, I, in, in, I think in a few ways I can definitely, I can definitely
share that opinion.
Cause I think we've, we've discussed the episode nine alternative scripts.
We did a series of three episodes in a row that talked about the various different possibilities

(26:29):
that could have happened with that movie.
And one of those was the Colin Trevorrow script.
And that was the director of Jurassic world dominion.
And, you know, he's done a lot of things and that script ended up not getting used.
Is that the one we found out that Ray was an Android the whole time?
No, no, you know, it's not, but, but yeah, like in that script, Kylo Ren really pushed himself

(26:53):
to the limits and he like really committed himself to the dark side and never had a redemption
story.
He just kept doubling down.
Yeah.
And, um, and I felt like that was in some way, I, I almost had like a greater appreciation
for that character knowing that that's where his story was going because it's less of a
repeat of Darth Vader.
It's first off.
Yeah.
It's a less, it's less of a repeat of Darth Vader.

(27:15):
But then secondly, I think there is something almost like depressingly relatable about that.
You know, like some people are just out to in some subconscious way, destroy themselves,
you know?
And, and like, I felt like that was a really powerful story to be told, you know, especially
within, within this fictional world.
And, uh, that would be a difference between him and Palpatine who just likes being evil

(27:36):
for the sake of being evil.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think as someone who idolizes Vader to the point of having a pedestal and
a helmet and, you know, like a, like a shrine, basically like it, it's like, that's
like, that's some intense stuff, you know?
And like, I can imagine somebody like that who goes as far as he does and, and, and commits
the acts he does in pushing himself further and not redeeming himself.

(27:58):
You know, like I can, I can see that, you know, I can see that being a thing for the
character, especially after two films kind of committed to that story.
And especially last Jedi being how it ended with like, Oh, maybe he's not such a bad guy.
And maybe he's just like this because of the things that have happened to him.
And we gave, we got some understanding for why he is the way he is.
And then you get to the point of like, okay, he's out to kill the last Jedi.

(28:20):
You know, he's out to destroy the resistance.
He might have some respect for Ray, but it doesn't look like he's getting better.
It doesn't look like he's going to redeem himself for anytime soon.
Right.
And then we got a time jump of a year.
And then all of a sudden he's like in that movie, in the final movie, he's, he has the
redeeming beautiful moment, by the way.
And, and I, and I loved how they brought Harrison back.
But I, I also really, I also thought to myself, man, it would have also been really cool to

(28:44):
have seen the other outcome of him just kind of committing to that, that, you know, there's
some people that just won't see the good in things.
And maybe he's one of those people, like maybe he didn't want to see or ignored the fact
that his grandfather was redeemed in the end.
Right.
Like maybe he just wanted to keep going.
Right.
And, and I love that about him.
I was like, man, this is just a relatable guy.
The issue you write into is this is supposed to be a family friendly franchise.

(29:08):
Yeah.
But I don't think he, he wasn't going to win.
It's just, it's just like, you know, Ray would have ultimately had to have beat him.
But I think it also kind of played up on that legends story of Jason and Jaina.
And even though Ben Solo and Ray are not related, like there was still this, even the, even
the JJ Abrams script, uh, did this whole thing with the dyad and they had this dynamic link.

(29:32):
You know, between the two of them.
And, um,
For so long, I thought we're going to find out that they were related.
Right.
For so long.
Um, but yeah, like I, I think, um, because of all that, I think there, there was still
this mirrored parallel between how Jaina had to ultimately kill her brother.
Yeah.
In the end, because he was not going to be redeemed.
You know, he committed to that role and he took it to the grave.

(29:55):
And I think like, there was something very moving about that possibly being in a, in a
Star Wars movie, you know?
And, um, and that, that's what makes Revenge of the Sith.
One of my favorite movies is like the good guys don't win, you know, necessarily.
Right.
There's hope at the end, but it's like, it's, it's ultimately a tragedy and lost.
Yeah.
It's ultimately a very tragic story.
And I'm a big fan of that kind of storytelling, but, um, but yeah, I think there would have

(30:18):
been something very, uh, I don't know, almost like respectable about him not being redeemed.
Right.
I can see where you're coming from.
You know what I mean?
Um, but yeah, uh, it's, uh, yeah, it's cool.
Sorry.
We went on like a kind of a tangent there.
Um, where were we?
Oh, legacy, legacy novel.
Right.
Right.
Uh, okay.
Speaking of new novels, I'm adjusting my volume here.

(30:40):
Uh, speaking of new novels, there's a new Star Wars, uh, uh, audio book coming out
called, uh, I think we talked about this already.
It's called the jaws of Jakku.
Okay.
Have you, have you ever been curious about sand shark?
What was Ray up to between episode eight and nine?
Have you ever wondered and kind of she hunting sand sharks?
Uh, well, I don't know.
I mean, like I've, I've read the books that take place.

(31:02):
Kray dragons, I suppose.
Yeah.
Well, it's Jakku.
So I don't know if Kray dragons are in Jakku as well, but yeah, I don't know.
Uh, the, there is a few books that go between episode eight and nine, uh, which they released
before episode nine came out.
Um, not very many.
There was the man, it was called something resistance, man.
I wish I remembered the title of it.
Obviously it was, it was very mid, uh, as far as it goes, I did.

(31:26):
I read it.
Okay.
This was before we even did the podcast.
Cause we did the.
Oh, right.
Okay.
Yeah.
I don't know if I would've read it then.
We started up this podcast like four months before episode nine.
Okay.
And this book came out, uh, a couple of months earlier than the movie.
And I think it was called, it was called resistance reborn.
I think, I think, I think.

(31:47):
I think I read that it sort of bridged the gap between episode eight and nine, at least
with Poe Dameron.
And I think Finn was in the book and it sort of smoothed the gap a little bit, but not a
crazy amount.
Crazy amount.
And then there were some other little smaller junior novels, which came out.
And, uh, this audio book, which is available on audible is, uh, an audible exclusive.

(32:11):
And, uh, I think you can only listen to it with a subscription.
So like if, as long as you've like subscribed for a month to get a credit, this is like free,
but.
Oh yeah.
You need some of the freebies.
Yeah.
So there's one of those, like.
They're short, like a couple hours or something.
Yeah, exactly.
And this is not the first Star Wars one to come out.
There was also a higher public one that came out a while ago.

(32:32):
Um, I think there's actually like, like three or four of these things now, but this is the
latest to join that roster.
And, uh, I think this is written by Kevin Scott, who is one of the, uh, well, he wrote
some higher public books.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He wrote some higher public books.
Um, yeah.
One of the authors known for, for that project.
And, uh, they, uh, they tease on screen rant.com that Jack, who is more important to Star Wars

(32:57):
than you think.
I think.
And so, you know, and again, this is all like post episode eight.
So there's some additional lore that's been constructed seeing, seeing as there's been
a lot of time now since between those two movies, I think, uh, you know, some authors
have had the chance to go and I guess bridge the gap a little bit more.
And so there's some kind of more important critical, critical things, I guess, in the

(33:19):
plot line that, that might actually help, uh, between those, between those movies.
So definitely helped.
I feel, I feel like there wasn't a big time gap between eight and nine though.
There's only a year.
Yeah.
It's pretty short.
Yeah.
It might happen.
But then again, the whole ongoing Star Wars Marvel series that they did, um, for like
40 something issues or more at this point, you know, that's, that's also in like a very

(33:42):
small timeframe.
Is that the one between four and five?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That went on for a long time.
So, I mean, it's only supposed to be a few years, right?
Yeah.
And then there's novels.
One year, like, like between four and five, it's like, what is it?
One year or two or something?
I don't know.
The whole, the whole original trilogy is only like five years worth of time.

(34:03):
Right.
So it's not evenly distributed in terms of that time, but it's just, uh, yeah, it's worth
noting.
Anyways.
I was trying to think how you fit that entire like four 40 or 50 episode, uh, like comic
series and then multiple novels.
Yeah.
All within this very tiny time span.
Right.
Luke is a very busy guy.

(34:24):
He, he certainly is.
Yeah.
He was just trying to, this is like the one thing that really stands out for me for in
that timeline is that novel where he's like first trying to use the force.
Oh yeah.
I think, um, yeah, I have it down there.
Area to the Jedi.
Yeah.
Remember him trying to move his bowl of noodles.
Yeah.
You know, the, the, the funny thing about that, that book that not a lot of people know

(34:46):
is that it was originally, it was being written before the Disney acquisition and it actually
came out during the Canon Disney period of time, but, uh, it had to be edited a little
bit and changed and, and altered, I think to fit whatever story they were trying to tell
within the new Canon because originally it was not supposed to be a Canon book.

(35:08):
Did they ever say were they altered?
Well, probably lore related factual statements inside the book that reference things that
happened in the expanded universe.
Because I mean, you, you like me, I've read a lot of expanded universe material and, uh,
there's a lot of those books that do reference things, characters, places from all of this
other expanded universe lore, right?

(35:30):
Like all the, all these books, despite there being a current Canon today that is allegedly
watched, you know, sort of supervised and kept relatively, you know, canonized to each
other.
Um, that's still sort of what happened back in the old EU.
It was maybe just slightly less, uh, would you call it like less permanent, I guess?
Like, yeah, it was, it was always this kind of like stacking pile of stuff.

(35:54):
Yeah.
Like the most recent thing to come out was what was considered accurate.
Right.
Yeah.
Like what the most recent thing always tended to override whatever was previous.
And now it was just a new layer to the cake.
The old Star Wars Canon was just a whole bunch of white out really.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sort of.
It's like, you know, you get stories like force unleashed coming.
I was like, wow.

(36:15):
Okay.
So this fits in somewhere and you're just kind of compressing, compressing, compressing.
Right.
Yeah.
It basically was like George one tell story.
Like, I don't know.
And then you gave him the check.
He's like, all right.
Yeah.
All right.
That's for the fans.
Yeah.
A couple more zeros.
Uh, but yeah, I mean, so I, I think when they first started doing the

(36:38):
Canon books, they were really nervous because, and this is just my speculation, but, uh,
doing those, it was that initial wave of Star Wars books back in the day.
That was like a new Don.
That was the first one to come out.
And then there was, uh, air to the Jedi.
It feels recent, but so long ago.
Yeah.
It was like 10 years ago.
Yeah.
Um, and then there was rogue one, the rogue one book catalyst.

(37:02):
That one was pretty great.
That one was one of the later wave one ish books.
Um, there was a Tarkin and Lords of the Sith.
Tarkin.
Yeah.
Lords of the Sith.
Um, there was a Tarkin book, the first Thrawn book in the Canon.
So not like the one by Timothy, Timothy's on, but the first Thrawn book still.
Yeah.
Um, because at this point I think it was like, it was either, ah, man, I forget the, I forget

(37:25):
the year that that Thrawn book came out, but it was, you know, it had to do with him coming
back and rebels.
Anyway, I did do Tarkin.
I thought so.
Yeah.
And there's, you know, we have the Barnes and Noble exclusive black cover edition of that
one, uh, that we got signed, but, um, all right, but it was, uh, yeah, it was
like a lot of those initial books, you know?
And then of course the aftermath trilogy, which then came out the Chuck Wenday aftermath

(37:48):
trilogy.
Did I ever, we, I've never talked to this on the podcast.
When we got those books signed, I remember my plan was to bring the hardcover book of
the original, uh, Zahn trilogy for the original Thrawn trilogy.
Try and put the cover of the new book on it and then get the old one, the old one signed.
No, no.
Cause he was just signing anything, right?
No, he was signing.
No, you let me finish the story.

(38:10):
Cause he wasn't.
Oh, okay.
All right.
I forgot to bring it.
Forget to, I forgot to pack it.
And so we bought the new books and I was in line to get that sign.
Cause I just liked Timothy Zahn's.
I wanted something signed.
And there was a girl in front of me and she had the hardcover book I wanted to bring
and he, and she put it down and get it signed.
And he was like, ah, a real fan.
I was like, ah, burned into my memory.

(38:37):
Oh man.
It was exactly what I was going to do.
I'm like, that could have been me.
Ah, geez.
That sucks.
Yeah.
So that was back at, uh, that was Star Wars celebration eight years ago in 2017 in Orlando.
And, uh, there was a convention exclusive copy of the book that we were hoping to get, but
we missed those ones.

(38:58):
Oh, shoot.
So the, the ones that we ended up having to get were the massive pile of the Barnes and
Nobles editions.
Just a regular one, right?
Basically the original.
Yeah.
It's basically the regular one.
It doesn't have any fancy blue pages or anything, but, um, but the cover is the same
other than the fact that it's got the black background instead of a white background.
That was like, it was just, they flipped.
I didn't know that.

(39:19):
Yeah.
They flipped the contrast on it, but the, the regular version has an all white background.
So, uh, so we did kind of get a sort of a half step up the, uh, you know, to that,
that, you know, for the signed copies, but yeah, we missed out on the, uh, the exclusive
convention.
Yeah.
And, but at least we scored fast, man.
It does.
Yeah.

(39:40):
I mean, we gotta be ready.
We gotta be like, gotta bring the full, like full stop at that next convention.
You know, like 50th anniversary only happens once, man.
That's true.
We've got to bring the tent and everything.
People, people were tenting in the gym.
I think that was, that was when they did the whole like first come first serve for the
wristbands.
Yeah.
And now it's, now it's a lottery system and yeah.
So now you just got to cross your fingers and I think it's much better.

(40:02):
Give everybody at least one, but you pretty much only get one.
Yeah.
You, you pretty much get access to like one or two of the bigger ones and you're just
hoping that you get into the ones that you want to get into.
Right.
So it's, it's kind of a more fair way of doing it to be honest.
But, um, yeah, I mean, uh, those, yeah, funny, funny story though.
But yeah, man, that sucks that you didn't bring that book.

(40:23):
I know.
So upset.
And now he's written six thrown books within the Disney canon.
So, um, I hate to say it, but I still like the original.
Uh, yeah, you know, that's fair.
A lot of people would agree.
And, and so like next time, next time we're at a convention, maybe you'll remember to bring
it just in case he is there.
You'll have to.
And then afterwards we went to the Disney parks and I saw him there and he had an Imperial

(40:44):
officer hat on.
We made eye contact and nodded at each other.
I don't remember this.
Yeah, man.
I was like, I think I was doing these on and you're like, just a big crowd.
So.
Oh man.
I don't know why I was wearing like an Imperial officer hat.
So random.
That's just what he's rocking these days.
Yeah.
He just wears that every day.
It's just his, his regular hat.

(41:07):
Um, all right, well, uh, let's, uh, yeah, let's move on here.
You may fire when ready.
All right.
So, uh, we're firing out with this battlefront two news online.
The player count is currently down to about 1,942 in a 24 hour peak.
And this comes off the back of the hype that we saw earlier this year back in June.

(41:30):
Drop.
Yeah.
Back in June, there was a big resurgence of people.
Uh, I guess technically it started in May and then it kind of escalated into June.
I wonder what snowballed it.
It reached a peak of 35 and, and, and a little more thousand players online all at the same
time.
What snowballed it was this, just this a big, I mean, like, so one thing was like and or

(41:51):
came out and or season two, but I think it was just a lot of people all, all at the
same time being like, we want to start with shooter again.
And then they'd all just started playing the most recent one that came out again.
You know, I would do wonder if part of it was people were maybe playing it on Twitch
or something and other people are seeing it and they're like, Oh man.
For sure.
Yeah.
I think that certainly helps that like the movement tends to snowball, you know?
So whoever was the first influential out there to kind of get the ball rolling, there

(42:15):
may have been a couple kind of simultaneously depending on how people are influenced and
what to play, you know, subconsciously.
And, and then, yeah, and then it just kind of kept going and, and there's a whole generation
of people that didn't play this game when it first came out that now have exposure to
this game.
They start playing it.
So I think that's why we're seeing numbers kind of teeter out to a little bit more of a

(42:37):
realistic average.
But the good news is it's still fairly consistent, I guess.
Is there not people for the big games or is that like the hype is over?
Sadly.
Yeah.
But like, at least if you jump on right now, you'll probably find a match.
Like it's that part's nice.
The party's over.
Yeah.
The party is sadly, sadly over.

(42:58):
This app cuts off the first word for some reason.
That kind of does.
Party's over.
I was just going to say there.
Oh, there.
I wonder, I wonder if it's just a delay in like the, just like the cable or something
like that could still do the whole word.
I don't know.
Like, I don't know.
Like if I play.
I play.
It's me.

(43:19):
Hey, it's me.
Yeah, that was fine.
Hello there.
That one's fine, too.
I don't know.
Maybe just some of them.
Anyway, strange.
Well, that's Battlefront 2.
Are you still playing it?
No.
I mean, like I've got other things I'm playing now, right?
Like the problem.
I mean, well, I don't like I wouldn't say that.
Like, I mean, I would love a Battlefront 3.
Like, I mean, if they if they made a Battlefront 3, like I'd be I'd be all for it.

(43:43):
I just I just don't think it's going to happen.
It was also that we talked about last week.
There's the purchase.
Right.
Yeah.
The purchase of EA.
I don't think that's not necessarily it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Like maybe that's a good thing.
Because like, I mean, how great was your idea of EA before the buyout?
Well, they made Jedi Survivor.
Right.
So like, I mean, like, I don't think anyone had like the highest opinion of EA in general

(44:05):
for the last little while, like because like that was the biggest complaint was they got
an exclusive license.
Yeah.
And it, you know, it ticked a lot of people off because it was like, OK, where like where's
the games?
You know, like it was like four years and all of a sudden there's like, I think that was
the least amount of Star Wars games to come out ever.
Ever.
Yeah.
Like that period of time.

(44:26):
Yeah.
Dark times, man.
It was crazy.
There was way more when George was at the helm.
It was there was nothing coming out.
It was almost like they tried to starve fans of Star Wars games.
And then they were like, let's just, let's just launch ours and then launch it with loot
boxes.
So we get like the most amount of exposure, you know?
Wow.
Like, you know, don't be a Jabba.

(44:48):
Like, I mean, in my opinion, that's a little, you know, it's like being a little, a little
hot.
Yeah.
Don't be a hut.
It's just a, there's a plan.
Don't be a scum and villainy about it.
Not so gangstas.
Yeah.
Uh, but yeah, I'm, I'm hoping that, you know, whatever comes about the Star Wars license
with EA cause they still have the ability to make Star Wars games.

(45:10):
It's just now it's not exclusive, which is why we've had games from Oculus on VR.
We've had outer, uh, we've had, uh, uh, outlaws by, uh, Ubisoft.
When did that license get, uh, pulled in?
A couple of years ago.
A couple of years ago.
It was, uh, cause the, the, the initial agreement for the exclusivity, I think was
like between five and seven years or something like that, which is a long time.

(45:32):
And in that time they only launched like three or four games.
Yeah.
It wasn't very many.
It was Battlefront, Battlefront II, Star Wars squadrons, and then Jedi Fallen Order.
And then that was it.
Survivor came out after the license change.
Yeah.
And, and also.
There's a lot of canceled games though.
They did a mobile game as well.
Uh, two, uh, or maybe one.

(45:53):
Wait, what about Lego Star Wars?
The one.
Uh, yeah.
Well that's, that's where things get kind of weird.
I think, I think Lego technically is its own license.
Like Lego has its own license with Star Wars, like with Lucasfilm.
That they've had since like the nineties.
And I think it involves also making video games.
Smart.
Yeah.
I don't know.

(46:14):
It's like 2003 or something.
Yeah.
Like don't quote me on it, but, but yeah, cause they did, um, a force awakens Lego game,
which everyone always forgets about.
Cause it was possibly, possibly one of the worst.
Possibly.
I never actually played it.
Did you ever play Lego Island too?
No, but, um, but, but yeah, I think it was like, it was also the only Star Wars movie
to get an exclusive Lego game.

(46:36):
But I mean the force of the force awakens that when it came out, like some, I guess some
people might, might not remember.
Cause maybe, maybe they're not old enough to know, or, or like maybe people forget, but
the force awakens was an event in the way that not in the same way that the Phantom
Menace was an event, but it was similar.
I think in, in like, how not.
Well, it was a different period of time.
I mean, like the call.
I guess I mean that the hype factor was it, was it different?

(46:59):
Well, it was different.
Cause Star Wars was still very much alive when force awakens was coming out.
Like we, we had right.
Clone Wars still coming out right up until force awakens.
Like the fandom had not been pop culture was already revolutionized after the prequels.
Like it was already, it was already different.
Yeah.
Um, so it wasn't quite the same, but it was still.
It wasn't like a huge drought and a handful of books and then the next movie.

(47:22):
Right.
Right.
And, um, and also the fact that like, okay, the series was done.
Like it was complete.
Like with the circle is complete.
George had finished his movies, you know, and, but after episode six and the, the wait
for episode one, because people knew that it was only four or five.
That's true.
Actually.
Yeah.
That was also something that played into that as well, which was like, when is he
going to finish this series?

(47:44):
Right.
You know, people waited like a long time for, for those movies to come out.
So yeah, the hype was different.
Like it was a different, not quite as up there, but.
Foretold it was.
Yeah.
But it's still to the same degree of like force awakens had a lot of merch, like a lot
of stuff, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like so much.

(48:05):
So to the point where you still find new phantom menace stuff on like discount racks
and like older toy shops and stuff like that.
Right.
So much stuff, man, man.
I wonder if that was similar because I know the store, like the, the arc, the story arc
of phantom menace and force awakens.
I feel like we're pretty similar.
Like all this buildup hype.
And then afterwards people start to get kind of grumbly about it.

(48:26):
Yeah.
I wonder with the massive push of toys for phantom menace, if they also had the same issues
force awakens of what they call them, like shelf warmers or something.
Yeah.
Something like that.
I love that.
Just like the, usually they're like more of the obscure characters, but, or they just
like made too many toys.
Yeah.
They're all, they're all wheezeys.

(48:47):
You know, wheezy from toy story.
No.
He's the little penguin, the squeaky penguin that sits up on top of the shelf and the dusty shelf
of the forgotten.
Oh yeah.
There you go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like that.
Left to be forgotten on the top rack.
How many, how many, how many water, water toys do you think were just left on the shelf
after phantom menace?
Oh man, probably, probably, you know, like I, I think when it comes to a character like

(49:12):
Wado, like, I don't know if he was going to be left on the shelf.
I think it was like, like, I don't know, like, like Captain Typho or something, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or like, Oh man.
I don't know.
I'm trying to think of some other like side characters from phantom menace.
That was like Captain tacos.
They did everybody.
It's Captain tacos.

(49:33):
They did like all those, like all those other Jedi that were just kind of like in the background,
you know, in the council perhaps.
And people know them right now, but like back then it was like, who's that?
Right.
They were just there for that one scene.
Right.
But yeah, they had a, you know, like pretty sure you can get like a phantom menace even peel.
There's probably a lot of battle droids left over.
So probably way too many of those.

(49:54):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Like, um, maybe like, uh, I don't know.
Oh man.
What?
So with the trade federation, what's the, what's the name of the sidekick?
You know what I'm talking about?
Oh, one of the gun ray.
Yeah.
There's new gun ray.
And then what's the.
Oh yeah.
I forget.
I forget the name of that other.
Yeah.
Like a pit droid maybe.
Okay.
Um, just like random pod racers.

(50:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe random pod racer.
Like, I don't know.
Like what the heck?
Right.
Like there was, there was so many, uh, Oh, here, here.
What's his name?
Hopefully it was Rick.
Rick only.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Like who, who's buying a Rick only?
Like, like, are you worth a lot of money now?
Like what kid wants the Rick only?
Like, Oh wow.
We got a Rick only.

(50:37):
See, I know.
Right.
Like, and like, I don't want to be that guy.
That's like throwing shade at like characters like Rick only or anything like that.
But I mean, that's great.
Well, Star Wars, those, you get these like super random characters.
Like obviously if you, if you only get one or two, you want the big names.
Right.
But if you have a lot of them, it's fun to be able to set stuff up because you have
right.

(50:58):
Yeah.
And, and you know, other than like the kids who are out there asking for every single
thing imaginable, it's, I think it's, it's definitely the adults who are buying
the Rick only's, you know, like it's the one of the collection.
They want the collection or they want, you know, that guy, like, like, it's like, I
don't know.
I don't know what, what seven year old who is probably in love with Star Wars even knows

(51:20):
Rick Goley's name.
Like in, you know, it's just like, yeah, they're after kids and they made an action figure
for him.
Like, like that blows me away because I mean, as a Star Wars fan, we should, we should be
in my head.
We should like, I know I'm used to it now.
Like, I know that this is a thing, but like, if you just take yourself out of that mindset
for just half a second, what movie at all makes any kind of toy for a character that

(51:43):
showed up for like one sequence of events.
Right.
Right.
It's not worth the money.
That's where Quinn, the boss came from to design and manufacturer.
And like, yeah, like by camera once and that was it.
Right.
Exactly.
And, and it's just cool.
It is like tattooed yellow stripe.
Yeah.
And like make him, it blows me away to be honest.

(52:06):
Like it always, it's just, it's so unique.
It doesn't happen like with any other movie, you know, like what other movie can you say?
Like, I feel like it all came down to George made his money on the back end for the first
movie.
So he just, it's like, George, we need more action figures.
If you can't make it, let's put it out there.
Yeah.
It's like, yeah.
It's like, if he wants to make his money back on the toys, you know, somebody is clearly
talking to George going like, Hey George, look, you only have like, you know, three main

(52:29):
characters and you know, Yoda's pretty cool.
I mean, we can throw Sam.
Before that, this is a new hope.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
New hope.
Like the original action figure lineup for a new hope wasn't even that big.
Uh, was it not?
No, was it?
I guess it was, was it an empire?
They did the mass.
So the original Kenner action figure lineup was, I want to say like six characters.
Um, we had a Tusken Raider, C3PO, Han, Chewie, Luke, Leia, R2D2, Stormtrooper, Ben Kenobi

(52:59):
and Darth Vader.
That was it.
Like that's, that's the original lineup, right?
Like basically the big push show up.
Empire.
I think that probably was empire.
Like, you know, you had the original like Boba Fett with the non firing rocket, which
sells for like millions of dollars now for the movie.
I think.
Um, yeah.
You can order that one via the magazine.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(53:20):
Uh, the original empire.
Okay.
So this is when they started doing like the cool card backs and stuff.
Um, but they did, they also did the same things.
They had the death star, uh, like trooper, Tusken Raider.
They had a Jawa.
Oh, that's right.
Uh, they had a Ponda Baba.
They had, so they, they went back and they did some more side characters for a new hope
when empire came out.
That was when I think that's, I'm getting mixed up with that.

(53:42):
That was when I think they started doing like more, you know, bridging, you know, branching
out, I guess.
But also star Wars was re-released in the theater, you know, that same year, right.
Or the previous year or something, it re they did a whole campaign of relaunched again.
So that's also something to keep in mind was like the, the toys for empire also reflected
the last movie that came out only because it was the only other one, but they kind of

(54:06):
recapitalize on it.
Right.
And yeah.
So that's, I think what started the trend.
It's like, okay, now all of a sudden you can buy that rando that hit the button to blow
up Alderaan, you know?
And it's like now kids know who that is because I guess like the hype at the time was, was
pretty significant.
That makes more sense.
Cause then they're like recognize it, man.
Yeah.

(54:27):
Yeah.
For sure.
And, and especially if you do have like the play set, that's like, okay, I got the death
star play set, you know?
And it has like a little computer terminal where you can put that guy, you know?
Right.
But man, like nobody, like who's buying the Rick Holy, you know what I mean?
Just like, I can't get around it.
Um, but yeah, I mean, not that he's a bad character.
Yeah.
It's just, he's such a random character to have an action figure.

(54:50):
Cause that's where you get characters like prune face.
That was Jedi.
Oh yeah.
Prune face.
Yeah.
That was a real action figure.
It was.
Yeah.
I love that robot chicken prune face, man.
Like prune face was like just legendary, legendary prune face.
And like the fact that they actually called him prune face.
I know.

(55:11):
I think it was, was like, man, that should be at the most valuable Kenner action figure.
Like, how is this one not selling for millions?
You know?
Just because of the name?
Minton box prune face?
Do you think it's because before, uh, Ponda Baba had, uh, before he was named and everyone
just called him butt face.
Do you think that's?
Oh, butt face?
Yeah.
Do you think that's why they named this guy prune face?

(55:32):
Prune face?
His, his case.
So his actual name is Ori Marco.
Okay.
Prune face in brackets.
But they printed that on the card.
They actually printed it?
Yeah.
Wait, does that mean the other one have in brackets butt face?
Uh, I guess so.
Oh my gosh.
Squid head?
$260 on Amazon.
Oh my God.

(55:53):
Dude.
Like if, okay.
That's not the original though.
No, this has got to, this has to be, no, it's not the black series, but it has to be.
They did a, they did a card back retro.
I think it has to be, it has to be a reprint.
Okay.
That is definitely worth looking into because like, man, I, I, I want to, I want to mount
one of these on the wall.
Oh man.
Like.
It's just like mail one to Bryce or something.

(56:15):
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's had a, he's had a few surprises in the mail, hasn't he?
Yeah.
All right.
So, um, yeah, let's, uh, okay.
Let's shift gears here to the, uh, the last thing on the menu or one of the last things
on the menu.
Um, Drew Struzan, artist of the original Star Wars posters as, uh, there, there's a

(56:37):
company out there, uh, geek tyrant.com wrote about this.
Um, the original three posters are being re-released in a cool limited edition design.
And, uh, they are being printed at a place called bottleneck gallery.com.
So this is where you can get the posters, I guess, for a limited time only.
Uh, the prints drop at noon Eastern standard time on October 8th.

(56:59):
So that was yesterday.
And, uh, hopefully they're not sold out already, but, um, they have these prints here.
So you'll recognize the artwork from some of the VHS.
Yeah.
So they've changed the original box set.
They've kind of unified the text underneath to be a little more like modern, but also keeping
the retro style.
Right.
And then they also have text list versions here, which just, they kind of look weird.

(57:23):
Cause you're so used to seeing the text down there, but the more you look at it, the more
it kind of just sinks in as I think those were the posters for the nineties.
They were.
Yeah.
So, um, those posters are being sold in, in, I guess, high, highest, highest possible
grade print and, and quality, um, paper, I assume is, is what they're being printed on.
But, uh, yeah.

(57:44):
And then they also have a brush stroke variance edition, which has sort of this kind of rough
edge look, you know, around the, around the frame.
Okay.
So it's like forced to make it look vintage.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sitting in someone's attic.
So they're not cheap.
They're like around 260 us dollars.
Um, the addition of, uh, well, these variant editions without the titles, um, are, oh man,

(58:07):
is this like a hundred to $290 for the set?
USD.
And then the first main edition with the, um, the logo, like the full like text and everything.
That's also like $240 to $5 for the set.
These are, are they just a poster paper?
Um, I, I think so.
I think so.
Um, I don't, I don't believe that they, they would print these on metal or anything like

(58:29):
that, but canvas or something.
Yeah.
I don't think so.
Uh, there's other star Wars prints on this website, by the way, bottleneck gallery.com.
But, um, you can buy some posters that are, you know, Marvel comic, uh, covers and there's
some that are like kind of, uh, lenticular, like 3d style.
They're pretty cool.
But, uh, yeah, man, it's, uh, pretty nice.
And, uh, the textless art version, $290 for the set sold out.

(58:53):
Oh, wow.
So even if you're listening and you're excited, sorry.
Yep.
Yep.
Um, and the text version sold out $245.
What is left?
Uh, individual posters, return of the Jedi sold out.
And probably should have mentioned his last page.

(59:15):
Well, I didn't know about it till today.
Uh, the, a new hope poster sold out.
And that probably also means empire is sold out.
So it's sold out everybody.
You're welcome.
You are welcome for the news.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
To stay on top of the latest.
Come here.
Come here for your gag.
We're a little late.

(59:36):
Anyway, but very cool stuff on this website.
There is a ton of cool, cool stuff.
And, uh, yeah, just so that my failure is complete.
The Empire Strikes back poster is also sold out.
All of them.
Every single one.
Every single one.
Every single one of them.
And not just the text, but the text list.
Is that in here?
And the rough edges too.

(59:58):
I bought all of them.
Can you imagine they're just all Hayden?
Hayden just bought every single one of them.
Every single one of them.
Everything they had.
Oh man.
All right.
Well, uh, okay.
We've had our laugh.
All right.
Um, final, final thing, final thing on the matter.

(01:00:19):
We got to wrap things up here, but, um, it's a big week for Disney, you know, mother
company of, uh, of Disney now of, of Star Wars nowadays.
And, um, it's not the only science fiction fantasy series that they, that they produce.
Um, another big one that was once upon a time trying to, um, not compete, but I guess

(01:00:40):
gain the audience of Star Wars was most likely Tron, which was released back in July 9th of
1982.
Uh, only, uh, a year before Return of the Jedi came out.
Right.
So, uh, I'm not just so I don't sound like a complete idiot.
Double Jack.
I'm just going to like quickly look that up.
Yeah.
Uh, but yeah, it's, um, it's only a year, year prior.
Uh, so that came out, you know, between empire and episode six and the film was a, only a

(01:01:05):
moderate success back in the day.
Um, and this was a Disney produced film.
I heard they got kicked out of the Oscars, the Oscars.
Yeah.
So, uh, people complained that it was just the whole move was computer graphics.
Well, yeah.
So at the time this received mixed reviews from critics who praised its groundbreaking visuals
and acting, but criticized its storyline as being incoherent.
Uh, Tron received nominations for best costume design, best sound at the 55th Academy Awards.

(01:01:32):
It was, however, disqualified from best visual effects category because at the time the Academy
felt that using computer animation was cheating.
Yeah.
Tron spawned.
Oh, how times have changed.
Oh my goodness.
Have they?
Uh, Tron spawned multiple video games, including an arcade tie in released shortly after the
film and as it became a cult film, a multimedia franchise, including comic books, uh, a sequel

(01:01:58):
titled Tron Legacy directed by Joseph Kocinski, uh, was released in 2010 with Jeff Bridges and,
uh, Box Leitner reprising the roles and Leesberger acting as producer.
He was the guy who did the first Tron movie, um, a commercial success.
Um, I believe that this was on par best costume next to star Wars.

(01:02:19):
Star Wars.
I know.
Isn't that crazy?
It's clearly a hockey helmet.
Oh yeah.
For sure.
Uh, must've been a dry year.
Yeah.
I remember, I remember Tron Legacy not having big fan, the most fantastic box office back
in the day, but allegedly this, this piece of text that I grabbed off, off, uh, off the
internet says it was commercial success.

(01:02:41):
So whatever that means.
Um, it was because they'd never made a sequel off of it because it wasn't a flop, but it was
also like kind of, kind of a mid box office.
Maybe it was similar to solo or just, it was too expensive to make.
The reviews were also, also very mid.
Like it was like, like it's a movie that's held in high regard by the fans, but the critics
have never liked Tron ever.

(01:03:03):
Like never, ever, ever.
Um, hopefully that changes.
Um, only slightly.
Um, only slightly.
Uh, it was followed by the Disney XD animated series called Tron uprising in 2012.
Also has its own dedicated following.
People love Tron uprising.
Those who have watched it, um, set between the two films.
So it kind of bridged the gap between the first and the second movie.
Um, and finally a third installment now called Tron Aries is scheduled to be released as of

(01:03:27):
October 10th officially, but it came out tonight.
Oh, and, um, cause movies always tend to come out on Thursday, you know?
Right.
Keep sneaking in a day ahead, presumably Wednesdays.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, I just thought it was worth talking about because only because it's kind
of in this space of people who are interested in star Wars might actually really be interested
in Tron.
And there's a lot of overlap.
Yeah.

(01:03:48):
And like the first, I thought it was really interesting.
The first one did come out kind of in this star Wars hype sort of territory.
Like no doubt that when star Wars was being done, Disney, Disney do like, Hey, we, we
gotta like try and come up with something that gets that kind of pop culture audience,
you know, into sci-fi is really big right now.
Yeah.
Or it's just something that's like, I don't know, franchisable and exciting.

(01:04:10):
And like, they've been trying to franchise Tron since the eighties.
Right.
Yeah.
And like, I feel like Tron legacy was like, that was, they, they, they hit the mark,
you know, with that movie.
They had Daft Punk do the soundtrack.
Yeah.
That was awesome.
And to be honest, the, the art design looks awesome.
Oh yeah.
I think that's why they kind of stuck to that going forward.
Yeah, for sure.

(01:04:31):
And it's got such a unique look Tron.
Like it's, there's no other movie that looks like Tron.
Right.
And, um, Joseph Kocinski, who did Tron legacy, the sequel, he is known for directing incredible
movies.
Like he did, he's directed Top Gun Maverick.
He directed Tom Cruise's other oblivion movie.
Oh yeah.
And he most recently directed F1 with Brad Pitt.

(01:04:53):
He's done some insane movies.
And that was, that's the guy who directed Tron legacy.
So, you know, does that mean it was a Disney thing, a Disney thing to, to like, like Bob
Iger or whoever was giving him too many notes.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know.
I guess.
I mean, I personally wouldn't consider Tron legacy, uh, a bad movie by any means.
I think I just doesn't.
You think it was more just an audience thing timing.
Um, well audiences really like it, but it's just the critics who never seem to connect

(01:05:17):
with the movie.
And then I, I still try to connect the dots to why it was not considered success then.
Cause it sounds like it checked all the boxes.
It does.
I just don't know if it made quite.
Uh, so another thing is Tron Aries, like the third Tron movie has been in, in like a pre-production
in the script phase, trying to get off the ground for 10 years.

(01:05:38):
Oh, sorry.
Am I getting mixed up?
Was this what you're talking about for the areas or for legacy?
No leg legacy, which came out in 2010.
Yeah.
That one director for who did that's the director.
That's, that's the legacy.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's right then.
Yeah.
So, um, you know, why Disney didn't jump on making a second one, like, or a third one,
sorry, like immediately is kind of, I don't know why.

(01:06:00):
Like, like it's, it's, it's very strange, I guess.
Was it during the purchase of star Wars?
No, this was 2010.
So this was like a few years before that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it's just, they couldn't seem to lock down a script at the time.
And, and maybe, maybe it's also a box office related thing.
Disney is known to have really high expectations with their box office.

(01:06:21):
Like a number of animated movies over the years have not received sequels that probably
could have had like treasure planet, for example, you know, we're big treasure planet
fans here and, um, would have loved to have seen a sequel, like a, like a big theater
release.
Box office wise though.
But I think it had some pretty heavy competition.
They did.
Yeah.
Even, even movies that were very successful back in the day, like Lilo and Stitch that

(01:06:44):
never got a theater release sequel.
They, it got one of those cheap to at home sequels.
Disney was kind of doing that for a long time.
Cause like, yeah, they didn't do any sequels for a long time.
And then the nineties, they started putting out these weird straight to VHS sequels.
That changed with Toy Story 2.
Toy Story 2 was supposed to be an also and delivered to home video.

(01:07:09):
I didn't know that.
I didn't know that.
And because Pixar was actually not, they were still doing it.
Right.
So like it was unlike, unlike the Disney animated sequels that were third partied out to another
overseas animation studio and done like at a budget and then shipped to direct to home
video.
Um, like beauty and the beast.
Right.
A Sunday brunch.

(01:07:30):
Everything.
Like the Lilo and Stitch sequels, the Lion King sequels, the Aladdin sequels, like everything,
everything got at home.
Lion King.
Where has the pride gone?
And, uh, and yeah, Toy Story was supposed to be like one of those many, many things,
but there's, there was always a, there was a, this was the pre Disney ownership of Pixar.

(01:07:52):
So it was only like a weird distribution kind of thing.
And so they wanted an at home sequel.
Pixar wanted to do their own thing.
Right.
They started making this.
Pixar is a 3d at the time.
It was like pretty expensive and hard to do.
Yeah, for sure.
And that's why they were doing it.
Cause they were the only ones who could do it.
Right.
Then if you're putting that much money into it, it's not really going to be a VHS.

(01:08:13):
That's exactly the problem that they ran into.
So, so when they, when they did, they were like almost done Toy Story 2 and it ran into
so many problems.
So what we're saying is Toy Story is the reason that we're stuck in the sequel.
Yeah.
So, so like Toy Story, no Toy Story 2 specifically.
So, so that movie, it ended up being so good that they were like, okay, well this just

(01:08:34):
deserves to be in the theater.
And this was also after a number of other problems.
Like I'm losing half the story here to save time.
But, um, the movie was almost like deleted by mistake.
There was like some crazy stories with Toy Story 2.
What's the, what's with the second things in this being an issue?
Because I don't know.
The same thing happened with Halo 2.
Yeah.
Um, also, I don't know if you remember, do you remember Toy Story 2 very much?

(01:08:57):
Do you remember some of the toys that were available at the time?
I remember Stinky Pete.
Do you remember seeing this Chrome Buzz Lightyear toy back in the day?
Chrome Buzz Lightyear.
I don't remember this.
You don't remember that?
He's more machine than man now.
Yeah.
So, um, this was actually part of the original plot in Toy Story 2.
And then when it got-
It was like evil Buzz or something?

(01:09:18):
Uh, yeah.
This was the Buzz that ends up fighting Buzz that we see in the movie.
He, uh, like another Buzz Lightyear traps him in a box.
Right.
And so there was a different version of those events where it was like a Chrome Buzz Lightyear
instead.
But in the, that wouldn't have worked for him to fit in with the rest of his friends pretending
to be Buzz Lightyear because he obviously looks different.
Right.
So it was a different set of events.

(01:09:39):
But, um, I actually have a little Buzz Lightyear ship toy.
With a Chrome Buzz.
Chrome Buzz.
It opens up and it's like Al's Toy Barn inside.
Okay.
And it has a little, it has all these little teeny tiny like peg style action figures that
kind of position themselves around Al's Toy Barn.
And there was one that is this Buzz Lightyear.
It's the Chrome Buzz.
Yeah.
It's like a Chrome Buzz.
So it got really close to being a certain way to the point where some of the toys were

(01:10:03):
already developed and ready to release.
And then all of a sudden changed.
They had to re-render so many scenes.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
They did.
And so, uh, and it still ended up being an amazing movie.
Like Toy Story 2 to this day is still one of my favorites.
You're saying it was a close call.
That change from the Chrome Buzz to regular Buzz as a real risk.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(01:10:24):
Yeah.
Um, but, uh, yeah, but anyways, that's why we're stuck in this, uh, you know, it's
like, Oh wow.
Sequels actually can work and they actually can make money.

(01:10:45):
And so, you know, like that's, that's why all Disney animated shows now get sequels in
the theater and not direct at home.
But, um, but yeah, for, uh, for Tron.
I think it was the expectation.
The bar was so much higher being a live action movie and a live action budget.
And nowadays the expectations I think are not quite as high as they used to be for movies
performing in the theater.
It's like not as many people going, but, um, but yeah, it did also take a while.

(01:11:09):
Well, I guess it's kind of gone full circle.
Now it's direct to home via streaming.
Yeah, it totally has gone full circle.
Yeah.
But as far as Tron 3 goes, that's kind of the, you know, that's kind of the situation.
And, um, then the director doing Tron 3, he directed Pirates 5 and Maleficent Mistress
of Evil.
All Disney.
As well as the Disney movie called Young Woman and the Sea that featured Daisy Ridley.

(01:11:32):
And there's another Star Wars connection there.
Oh, interesting.
Was that Disney?
That one?
Yep.
All three.
Inside the Disney organization director.
Uh, yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Definitely feels that way.
Bob Iger's personal apprentice.
Yeah.
I got a little video, which I'll play here.
And, uh, I don't know.
I thought, I thought it was kind of interesting.
Some of the stuff that, that he was saying about it.
With Tron, it was important to raise the bar to the next level, taking Tron into the real

(01:11:58):
world.
Perfect.
It was important for me to shoot as much as possible in camera.
We shot down Vancouver for six weeks of nights shooting these amazing light cycle sequences.
I love Tron.
You know, you saw this film as a kid and there you are standing completely lit up and you
hop on the light cycle.

(01:12:20):
Military AI is the future.
I would like you to meet Ares, the ultimate soldier.
So Ares, like, is in the God of War, Ares?
Yeah.
Cool.
You're Greek.
That's awesome.
He's the dangerous machine.
What are you?
Colliding with the real world.

(01:12:42):
War is coming.
Tic-tac!
Seeing Tron progress from the original to Tron Ares is just fantastic.
The program who wants to live.
It's just a feeling.
Fascinating.
You think you're in control of this?
You're not.
The scope of this film is so big.
All the sets are massive.

(01:13:03):
We shot this for IMAX and it's an incredible experience.
Hang on!
You feel the grid all around you with the sound and the music.
Nine inch nails, may I?
I just can't get enough.
Give me something to believe.
Randy, there's no going back.
Give me something to believe.
Yeah, featuring a wicked soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails.

(01:13:35):
So that was kind of cool to see a rock band, you know, brought in to do the whole soundtrack.
Very much in the theme of doing Daft Punk to do a soundtrack.
It would be nice to have Daft Punk back.
But isn't this a Star Wars podcast?
It is a Star Wars podcast, yeah.
Yeah, I don't know.
I guess normally this kind of thing would be reserved for Cantina Banter.
But I just...

(01:13:57):
We're already...
Worlds colliding.
Yeah, worlds colliding.
I don't know.
There's some Star Wars connections there, you know, with the Daisy Ridley thing and also
the first one being released kind of in this hype of the original trilogy.
That's a reach.
And...
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah.
But man, it's...
You know, it's the kind of cinema that I feel like Star Wars goers would probably want
to go see.

(01:14:18):
Fair enough.
And I think...
I just wanted to encourage everyone out there to go and see it.
Because, you know, if we don't go and see it in the theater, they don't want to justify
making any more.
Because that's where the big bucks are made.
It's not made at home on streaming.
It's in the big screens, in the theater, in the IMAX.
That's where...
That's where the justification is made to make more.
And so, you know, so goes, you know, the proof lies in the pudding, you know, with Solo,

(01:14:40):
right?
Like, we've had this conversation about Solo many times.
Nobody went and saw that Solo movie.
It was supposed to be a trilogy, maybe even two or three.
And the problem was everybody went Solo and they should have brought...
Exactly.
So what the...
Yep, should have brought a friend.
That's where it went wrong.
They misread the title.
Hey, I went and saw it.
I mean, I'm not a fault for that.
You know, yeah.
If you go see it, you can't feel that fault for it, right?

(01:15:01):
Because then you're like, hey, well, I mean, I gave them my...
You did your part.
Yeah.
I gave them my 15 bucks or $20 or whatever and...
Inflation, man.
That is what it is.
Have a good time.
But yeah, go and do that on a Friday night or a, I don't know, Saturday or something
like that.
Go see Toronto Aries.
Cool.
All right.
What else?
Anything else you want to bring up or...
When does this Darth Maul show coming out?
No, it's next year.

(01:15:22):
Is there a date on it?
Next year in...
Yeah.
No.
Yes.
Maul Shadowlord comes out on Disney Plus in 2026.
And I think they were targeting May, if I'm not mistaken.
Okay.
I feel like we definitely have talked about it before.

(01:15:44):
I think it did get some kind of release date, but it's being weirdly hard to find one online
at the moment.
So yeah.
Maybe they're being coy with it.
Next year in spring, though, is kind of the forecast, I guess.
Right.
Is, yeah, like April, May kind of thing.
Okay.
So I think it's safe to assume that that's when it'll come out.
It does surprise me that they announced it like this far in advance, because normally

(01:16:05):
with the animated shows, they don't do that.
Yeah.
It's usually pretty short.
Like once...
Yeah.
Solid trailer.
Usually it's like a month or two and it's like, oh, okay, cool.
Like...
A little more than that, but...
Yeah.
Maybe four, four or five.
Like Bad Batch, it feels like it just came out of nowhere and then it just like, boom,
it just dropped.
Clone Wars wasn't even ready.
Like Clone Wars...
They just like all of a sudden there's a movie out.

(01:16:26):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's...
Well, I saw the trailer a couple months in advance, but I mean like as far as the Disney
era goes on streaming, like Clone Wars ended with season seven and then it was like a
few months later or something that...
Or maybe it was like the same, like...
Was it like the finale?
Like, I don't know.
I feel like there was some sort of teaser for the Bad Batch, like the same week or something
that the finale dropped or something.

(01:16:47):
I feel like there was something there.
It was very shortly after, I think.
Yeah.
Like Bad Batch season one.
It wasn't too long.
It wasn't too long.
Because they had just finished the...
Completing the Bad Batch episodes when they did the final season of Clone Wars.
Yeah.
So it came out May 4th, 2021.
Clone Wars season seven came out in...
I want to say it was 2020.

(01:17:09):
Yeah.
February, 2020.
And it ended in May.
So yeah, it was like basically a year later that Bad Batch came out.
But I feel like there was some sort of teaser at some point between Clone Wars and Bad Batch
that was like very closer to the Clone Wars.
So I guess that one was kind of teased like way in advance, I guess.
Maybe they wanted to catch all the Clone Wars fans, you know, before they lost hope.

(01:17:30):
Because the final season of Clone Wars was on Disney+, right?
Yeah.
Well, that's where it launched.
You still can't buy a Blu-ray for it.
Disney.
I know.
I'm still like...
Because you have every other one, right?
Yeah.
They're like right over there.
Like I'm still waiting for...
VHS.
We've gone over this.
I'm still anxiously waiting for Andor Season 2.
Yeah.
I'm surprised.

(01:17:51):
Book of Boba Fett.
It's pretty new.
Skeleton Crew.
Yeah.
And The Acolyte.
I think they'll wait and do a big push.
Yeah, maybe.
Do them all at once.
I mean, do it for this Christmas.
Book of Boba Fett is overdue.
I do wonder...
Book of Boba is way overdue, man.
Like they already put out season three of Mandalorian.
Yeah.
I do want...
Man.
I'm still waiting for it.
I feel like that one's getting...
A lot of the stuff we're on is getting shelves, which is annoying because I do want to see

(01:18:14):
what happens.
Yeah.
And like, okay, at the very least, I want to...
I do want to own it.
I do want to own it.
I want to own these 4K copies, you know?
Like...
Well, some of the old ones aren't 4K.
You got to rebuy those.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
Okay.
Those are 4K upscales.
I don't care as much about 4K upscales.
But like, it's...
You know, it's not...
Like when these streaming services get released on disc like this, like it's a rarity, you

(01:18:37):
know?
Especially seeing as like...
Like think about it this way.
They do some Marvel stuff like this.
That's pretty much it, right?
Yeah.
And like for anyone at home who's just like, okay, what's the big deal?
Like, you know, if you find like, let's say like, you know, if you came across digital
copies, you know, like on the internet and they're like taken from someone's Disney account,
if you know what I mean.
Like it's not the same as...

(01:19:00):
It's not the same quality as like, you know, the master files being published on a 80 gigabyte
disc, you know?
Like it's really not the same.
It's not the same quality.
It's not the same audio channel.
It's not the same video bit rate.
It's like nothing's the same.
And like you get, it's the best, the best, most, well, it's the largest like data version

(01:19:23):
that you can have at home is these versions, you know, being released on disc.
And if there is no disc for these to be released on...
Right, yeah.
You get to do with the compression, yeah.
Yeah.
Like people, people always, and I think this is a big deal within Star Wars in general,
because people always say to me, like, I wish that the original Star Wars movie that
was released in 1977 was released, right?

(01:19:44):
Right, yeah.
Right, yeah.
People want that because they want the highest quality possible for that copy of the movie,
but there's no version of that.
Laser disc is the closest you'll get, yeah.
Yeah, laser disc is the closest you'll get, but then, but then it's just like you're getting
a digital copy.
There's piecemeal versions out there people have made.
Yeah.
They pull every scene from the highest resolution they can get.

(01:20:05):
Right.
So then you're jumping between like the Blu-ray version and like the special editions.
Yeah, yeah.
And then you're jumping to the laser disc and then...
But then, but then here's the other thing is like you're getting, even if you got, even
if somebody had the, had the hardware to scan their laser disc copy, which by the way, any
kind of physical copy in general degrades over time.

(01:20:27):
And so like you're getting a degraded laser disc copy of this original film.
And laser disc is not exactly cutting edge technology.
So you're already getting...
I feel like it would last longer than cassette tape.
And cassette tape.
Yeah.
And cassette tape's already like so, so crappy, man.
Like, like, I mean, like, like the, the film...
The film...
Don't diss my analog technology.
Film quality.

(01:20:48):
Okay.
And I don't know why people think records sound so great.
Like it's, it's not even that...
It can upset a lot of people.
I know I'm ticking off a lot of people, but like, it's just, it's just plastic that's
vibrating up a needle.
Like it's, it's literally, that's what, how it works.
Like, you know, when you get like flack level digital files or like a CD, even it's like
way better quality than you would otherwise.

(01:21:09):
Right.
And I feel like that's the pinnacle of that technology.
But when it comes to movies at home, 4K Blu-ray and especially things that are filmed for
that, you know, for that format, um, trumps every previous version of hardware possible.
And so we're lucky that, you know, some of these film companies do go back and upscale
things, you know, or, or, or even do full like re scanning of original films.

(01:21:30):
And then putting that through the edit again.
And, you know, very rarely does that happen.
But, um, but yeah, I mean, I feel like it's like a, it's like, it's an important thing
to be able to own like the highest quality format of something on disc that you can.
And with streaming services, it opens up this avenue of like not being able to do that.
And then perpetually never being able to watch that thing that you love very much in

(01:21:51):
the best quality.
Imagine if there's like a solar flare or something and then everything digital just shot.
Yeah.
Like, you know, laser disc doesn't exactly have 80 gigs of storage on that.
Like that thing is like, you know, it's like, it's like a floppy desk.
Like we're talking very, very, very little storage, which means that the, the, the movie
had to have been compressed down and then you're losing a ton of like audio and, and video.

(01:22:15):
It was higher quality than VHS.
VHS, I think.
Yeah.
Like, well, maybe.
Yeah.
It was like a form of digital, I guess.
But yeah.
It was like very early digital.
Yeah.
But still, it's like, it's still being compressed down to like, even a, even a modern CD doesn't
have more than four gigs on it.
Right.
These movie theater versions of movies that you watch in the theater right now.

(01:22:36):
Like if you went and saw Tron Aries right now, you're watching like an 800 gigabyte digital
file in, in their system.
Like that's why, that's how big the master file.
That's the movie theaters.
I didn't know they were that big.
Yeah.
So like when you own a movie at home.
So is that what Disney has that you're streaming?
No.
What you're streaming is basically pennies on the dollar, like money optimized formats.

(01:22:59):
Yeah.
We're talking YouTube level compression.
YouTube's in 4K now.
Yeah.
Whatever.
You know, like, like YouTube 4K is not the same as like Blu-ray 4K.
Right.
And so, yeah, it's just like, it's just one of those things.
Like, man, it's, it's very important because like, can you imagine in 20 years, like people
complain, people complained for a while, like, oh, we can't find the holiday special.

(01:23:21):
Like that's because the only reason you can find it is bootleg copies that people took.
Right.
But can you imagine if it was like officially released?
Like it would actually not look so blurry and like, well, it looked better.
It would still look like not great, but it was, it would look way better than the copies
that you can find on YouTube, you know?
And, uh, it's just important to preserve that history.
No, I think so too.
Yeah.

(01:23:42):
Archive of it.
Yeah.
For sure.
Is it George making a museum for this exact reason?
He's making a museum of, uh, modern, modern art and yeah, pop culture things.
And, and yeah, but yeah, when it comes to movies being distributed and, you know, things, especially
around the Star Wars IP and everything like that, I think there's this real like rabbit
hole for like streaming services to kind of suck a lot of that away to, you know, we're

(01:24:05):
never going to be able to consume this in the best, highest quality format.
Right.
It's also always just that concern too, of like being locked away like that.
Yeah.
Like, you know, you remember the old Disney vault?
Yeah.
Now they've got a real Disney vault where it's like, if, if you're not paying your entrance
fee to get into that vault, you don't get access to it at all.
Right.

(01:24:26):
You can't have a, you copy a home.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
But I don't know.
It just makes me feel like, like when you own that movie.
It changed into an amusement park.
You got to pay your access ticket every month.
Right.
Taking, taking like a six to 800 gigabyte file and like going down to like 80 gigs, 4k,
80 gigs at home.
Right.
You know, that's, that's something special.
Like it's, if you've got the DVD, that's down to like eight gigs.

(01:24:50):
So that's like even super compressed and that's even better than the laser disc, which
is probably even less.
Yeah.
So, you know, like laser desk copies, like no way.
Like, I mean, like sure it's close enough to like watching what the original was like, but
it's not the, not nearly the quality that you're, that you want to expect from an at-home
version.
The original reels from the original films, original trilogy, does George still have those

(01:25:11):
or did he give those to Disney as part of the sale?
I think I, I think I read a piece of news recently that they were inducted into the library
of, of something of like, I think it's like the library of Congress has like a, like a movie
archiving area where they take film reels or, or original like master edits and they

(01:25:33):
like preserve them.
And this feels like a library of Alexandria situation.
Something is wrong and you just lose everything.
Everything.
Yeah.
I mean, it, it, like it's, it's one of those.
Did George already buy like an abandoned salt mine?
And like, Oh man, I, I, I down there.
I have no idea.
They wouldn't age cause there's no moisture.
No idea.
I've always heard that.
I don't know if it's true.

(01:25:54):
Like that's like how like Walt Disney's body is like buried beneath the haunted mansion.
You know, like it's, I feel like it's one of those.
He's clearly cryo frozen Josh.
So they can bring him back with technologies there.
Yeah.
People will be saying the same thing about George Lucas one day.
Do you know that Bob Iger is actually a clone from his, from his DNA.
I heard.

(01:26:15):
That's why he's been in power for so long.
We're going to, we're going to have by Bob Iger as CEO for the next 60 years.
Yeah.
Cause as he ages out, they just bring up a new clone of Bob Iger.
Oh man.
They just train each other.
That's good.
It's a good laugh.
All right.

(01:26:36):
Well we, we should probably wrap things up here.
Um, but, uh, yeah.
Thanks for coming back on as always, you know, great, great.
Having a, another Star Wars chat with you.
This party's over.
Yeah, there we go.
We heard the whole thing.

(01:26:57):
It's always fun, man.
Always a good time.
And, uh, yeah, I guess, uh, if there's anything in the next month that we're looking forward
to, it's, uh, getting together and watching, uh, some Star Wars visions volume three.
Um, I would say it's coming up quick.
Um, also our 400th episode on the, of the podcast is coming out.

(01:27:21):
Dang.
Okay.
Towards the end of November.
And, uh, uh, Darian is actually going to be hosting a bit of a, uh, bit of a game for
us here on the podcast.
And, uh, we're going to be having some, uh, yeah, some friends of ours join us for that.
So we're going to have a bit of a, uh, just a, a very sort of mini event, I guess.
And, uh, I guess news of how we're going to prepare for this game will be released on the

(01:27:46):
next, uh, episode or two of the podcast.
And, uh, yeah, it's going to be a good time.
And, uh, hopefully, yeah, hopefully people enjoy the show and, uh, you know, we're looking
forward to the 400th celebration episode and, uh, um, yeah.
So just wanted to hype that up.
So, you know, stay tuned for that and stay tuned for any news in the next four or five episodes

(01:28:08):
that, that kind of, uh, uh, pre come out before that episode comes out.
So that makes sense, but yeah, cool.
All right.
That's everything.
Well, I'll see you out there.
I'll see you out there as well.
Keep flying.

(01:28:30):
All right.
Big.
Thank you to our audience for coming on as, as always a huge.
Thank you to our lovely cohost.
And, uh, and, uh, we do appreciate those five stars from all of you guys at home, uh, listening
on your, uh, car radio or your phone or, uh, your watch.
I mean, uh, there's so many things that you can access this podcast through so many platforms
across the galaxy.

(01:28:51):
Uh, we always love to hear that great feedback and, uh, we just do this as a, for our love
for star Wars.
We don't, we don't, uh, we're ad free and unmonetized and, and all that, all that jazz.
And, uh, you already know that.
Um, so those reviews definitely help us keep going, helps other people find the show and,
uh, stay tuned for episode number 400.

(01:29:12):
We will see you in the next episode of star Wars escape pod.
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