May 4, 2023 • 27 mins
The adults get a chance to talk Star Wars in this interview with the producers are writers of the NEW animated Star Wars series: Young Jedi Adventures.
Join David as he talks the High Republic, growing up with Star Wars, the importance of the next generation and favorite Star Wars memories with James Waugh (Executive Producer), Michael Olson (Showrunner) and Lamont Magee (Screenwriter) the FIRST animated Star Wars series developed for preschoolers!
Looking for more episodes? https://podfollow.com/tatooine-sons-a-pop-culture-podcast/home
Join our Facebook Community SPECIFICALLY for Star Wars Dads! > https://www.facebook.com/groups/starwarsdads
Join David as he talks the High Republic, growing up with Star Wars, the importance of the next generation and favorite Star Wars memories with James Waugh (Executive Producer), Michael Olson (Showrunner) and Lamont Magee (Screenwriter) the FIRST animated Star Wars series developed for preschoolers!
Looking for more episodes? https://podfollow.com/tatooine-sons-a-pop-culture-podcast/home
Join our Facebook Community SPECIFICALLY for Star Wars Dads! > https://www.facebook.com/groups/starwarsdads
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey Tattooine Sun's family. It's likedeja vu all over again. This is
our second episode released today, butit's a good day for it because it's
Star Wars Day. So again,May the fourth be with you. This
is the second part of the interviewseries that we were able to participate in
with the production a team and thecast of the new Star Wars animated series,
(00:26):
Young Jedi Adventures. Now, YoungJedi Adventures is specifically for very young
kids, preschoolers, and this issomething that makes it very exciting for me
personally because there was a time whenSam and Nate just didn't like watching Star
(00:48):
Wars with me, and so Iknow that if they would have had access
to a show more geared towards theirage when I wanted to introduce Star Wars
to them, that they would haveresponded much more quickly to a galaxy far
far away. And so I'm veryexcited to have this conversation with executive producer
(01:11):
James Whah. He was on ourshow about a year and a half ago
when Star Wars Visions Origin are actuallya couple of years ago now, when
Star Wars Visions originally released, wehad him on and then We're also joined
by Michael Olsen, who is theshowrunner for Young Jedi Adventures and the screenwriter
for the very first episode, thepilot, Jamal McGee. We had an
(01:34):
amazing conversation. It kind of startsoff talking, you know, all business
Star Wars, Young Jedi Adventures conversation, but then towards the end makes you
stick around because there are some reallyspecial moments when the guys start talking about
growing up watching Star Wars, starttalking about watching it with their dad or
(01:57):
their mom, and the different impactthat Star Wars as a child had on
them and the future of their career, and then how excited they are to
kind of pinch yourself type moments thatthey still have because they get to work
on Star Wars today. I'm veryexcited about this. Thank you so much
for being a part of the TattooingSun's family. If you do listen to
this on May the fourth, makesure you stay plugged into our socials this
(02:23):
evening because we have a huge announcementthat's coming at like seven pm Eastern,
six pm Central. I can't waitfor you guys to hear about that something.
We're very excited about that. Enoughtalking about what we're going to talk
about. Let's talk about what we'retalking about. It's true love. Was
the name of the pork on theMillennium Falcon Forces strong in my family?
(02:53):
Well do you think his name is? It's a big moment. I'm a
Jedi, like my thought before me, maybe Turbos do? Oh? Do
not the least? No, tryTurbis, Pablo. If you're listening to
(03:17):
this live stream, that pork's nameis now Turbis. It's a good Star
Wars name. We're not done yet, these guys recorded plus a podcast sis
(03:37):
everybody was we're dealing with a StarWars High Republic era when we think about
young Jedi adventures, and which hasbeen up to this point primarily a publishing
initiative since its launch, has beenhighly successful with this. So my question,
I guess, is, when youdecided to produce a animated show for
(04:01):
preschoolers, why did you decide tochoose this era of the Star Wars timeline
for these stories? Now that that'sa really good question, I mean,
first week this doing this show wassomething that we always felt, well,
A, it's the youngest we've evergone, and I think we all felt
that we did it we had todo it right. So there was a
(04:25):
lot going in involved in making decisionsto do that this. Some of it
was to ensure quality, sure thatwe were like maintaining the legacy of Star
Wars, and that it felt like, you know, this was no way
to step down. This was anhonest expression of the franchise, and we
felt like the perfect first step on, you know, into a large,
(04:45):
larger world. Um. But aswe were assessing the different points of the
timeline, you know, as amatter of where where's the best place to
suit this and the thing about theHigh Republic that we always loved was that
it it really can be the eraof the Jedi at their height, the
Republic when it's functioning and working beforecorruption is sort of set in, um,
(05:09):
you know, a time where likeyou know, Jedi are truly aspirational.
And so for a kid show,for a kid show really going into
that Jedi fantasy, it felt likethis is the time to celebrate that and
to mean in the other element ofthe High Republic that we always thought was
(05:29):
really great. It was this ideaof Jedi temple outposts, right, and
the idea of being out and connectwith the with the outer rim and different
cultures, this hyperspace lanes are becomingconnected, and it felt I was just
saying this to Michael, it feltlike, you know, it was the
perfect metaphor for kids taking their firststeps into school, preschool, going out
(05:49):
into the world, first few grades. It felt like that concept really lent
itself well to to little kids goingout and and letting the Jedi teachings become
um, great teachers for life ingeneral. So it's an era that's that's
bright and hopeful. Um, andfelt like the right you know, the
(06:12):
right place for this, mind you, the Nile won't be attacking, so
none of that is happening here inthe show. Time. That's awesome.
Well, uh, Michael and Lamont, thank you for being on the show.
We're super excited to have you aspart of the tap Queen Sun's family
(06:35):
now, so thank you for beingon here. I'm curious, you know,
I'll start with you, Michael.Um. You know they're we're dealing
with, like James was just talkingabout, we've got scary stuff in the
High Republic. I mean, Ihaving conversations with Cavin Scott in the past
and some of the crazy things thathe's done with this right. Uh,
(06:55):
you know, you can you thinkabout having a story for little kids in
this and and it's seems like itmay not always fit, but there are
so many amazing principles and themes withinthe High Republic that actually really fit into
trying to teach children life lessons andabout teamwork and all of those different types
(07:16):
of things. Names can you sharesome of the things that you guys were
specifically trying to bring in from theHigh Republic, those principles and how you
brought those into into the show.Sure, yeah, I mean definitely.
I love Kevin. He's amazing,but boys, he can get a little
intense sometimes. Yeah. You know, one of the wonderful things about,
you know, being in the HighRepublic is that, you know, the
(07:38):
Outer Rim is largely unexplored, andso we got to find a little corner
of the Outer Rim where our Jedican kind of exist almost in their own
little pocket of the galaxy and havetheir own adventures without being impacted too much
by the by the events around them. But in terms of the themes of
(07:59):
the High Republic, I think thosethings are actually also also themes that are
core to Star Wars in general.Things like optimism, teamwork, selflessness,
self discipline. You know, theseare kind of timeless universal values that George
Lucas worked so intentionally into Star Wars, and you know, really it felt
(08:20):
important to everyone here and everyone onmy team that we kind of carried those
values forward if this was going tobe a Star Wars show and really feels
star Wars. We wanted to havethe starships, the Lightsabers, the Jedi,
all the fun stuff, but itreally also had to speak to those
core values, both in the lessonsof the episode and the overt lessons,
(08:43):
but also in the way that ourcharacters interacted too, so that we saw
them treating each other with kindness,helping each other out, keeping an open
mind and an open heart. Soit's been a real pleasure to set the
show in this time, this timeline. Uh and also just a real uh
(09:03):
you know, I'm still pinching myselfthat we get to get to tell stories
in this galaxy and variety of thosevalues. Yeah, it's wild, wild,
Yeah, that's pretty awesome. UhSo Lamont, you know you uh,
you got to write the first episode, the pilot of this and you
get to introduce Um, the battyeof this story. In Tabor on this
(09:24):
So, how did you manage tocreate a story that has an antagonist,
right, a cool looking antagonist whichis central to uh to star Wars.
Right, Um, that is apirate. So you've got very nihil vibes
with that, Um, but youdon't he's gonna get away. He's gonna
He's not gonna, you know,be defeated in in in the traditional sense
(09:48):
at the end of every episode.What was it like writing that character in
there and kind of developing that inthat pilot? I think, uh,
Tabor is the kid. He's thebad kid in school that you know,
it's not really a bad kid,you just got a bad day or like
if you just get give him enoughpatience, enough love, and he eventually
(10:09):
come around. So I kind ofwrote that character as acting out for attention
but not really a bad person.And the kids, he's a really good
mirror for the kids, so wherethey are disciplined and self controlled, he's
literally running on emotion. And Ifeel like eventually we'll see the kids.
(10:37):
They have to learn patience, andkids watching the show will learn to be
patient. And sometimes things don't gothe way you want them to go.
Sometimes your little brother steals your toyand runs away and hides it, but
you can't hit him for it.Like it is, you have to be
patient and you have to show loveand eventually, hopefully you know, come
(11:00):
around. But if they don't,it's okay too. But hopefully they come
around. But Tabor is just thatkid. He's I really feel like,
you know, he's gonna take youon some swifts and turns this season,
but it'll be interesting. Let's justlet's just flit it that one. So
(11:20):
whenever we watch any new Star Warsbad guy, right, you've got I
can remember specifically, this was thebig argument with Kylo ren Right, it's
now the argument with cross Hair inthe bad batch. Is there a redemption
story in store for those bad guys? So is there a redemption story necessary
(11:41):
for Tabor or can we see himcome to the light side? Do you
think obviously speculative at this point forboth, for any of you, all
your thoughts on that, I'll takeI'll take this look. Redemption stories are
certainly core to what Star Wars is. I'm not going to say whether or
not he'll be redeemed. I think, like Lamont said, we've got some
(12:01):
pretty big surprises in store with thischaracter. But one of the great things
I'll say is his relationship with Kaiis interesting because Kai h much like Luke
Skywalker, especially in the Return ofthe Jedi, UM sees, will come
to see a light and table uhsome goodness, some tiny spark of hope
(12:22):
within him. I think you know, Kai will uh maybe see it as
his Jedi opportunities, Jedi challenge tobring that light out, you know,
from within him. Whether or nothe'll be able to fan those flames or
not, I don't know, butuh, but I would just say that,
Yeah, redemption arcs are certainly somethingthat uh is core to Star Wars.
(12:46):
So at the end of every oneof our podcast episodes, we um
always have what we've what we've cometo call a dad moment, where we
take something from our conversation that Ihave with my two sons every single episode
and I synthesize it, uh.In a final thought for this, what's
(13:09):
the dad moment from season one ofYoung Jedi Adventure? What's the big life
lesson from this year? This season? Oh? Wow? Do you want
to audiencewer for that? Oh?Yeah? Whoever wants to answer? Yeah?
I think, yeah, yeah,I can I can do that.
I mean this look I have.Yeah, you talk about the dad moment.
(13:31):
I call it our Danny Tanner momentfor yeah. Um uh yeah.
Look every episode, almost every episodehas that moment where we kind of summarize
the theme. Um. But man, there's a lot of undercurrent themes in
the whole season. But I thinkthe one that would sort of you'll see
(13:52):
recurring a lot um in subtle waysand not so subtle ways, is that
we're always stronger and better together.And that's something that we see even in
that first episode, Kai has tocome to grips with and he'll keep kind
of learning that lesson in varying waysthroughout this season. So I would just
(14:13):
say the power of teamwork and thepower of working together. Yeah, I
mean, I think that's right.I think it's good, just important to
say that all the episodes really docome from a place of, you know,
some reflection on a human experience anda lesson from it. I think,
you know, Michael works really hard. Michael and his team are really
(14:33):
hard to show that, and Ithink that they might be Jedi young wings,
but they're still young things. They'restill kids dealing with the emotional reality
of that, and I don't know. The one that that I love is
the one on one be the secondpart of the first episode, and it's
(14:54):
really the idea that I thinks heneeds his lightsaber because you know, and
he chooses that or saving his friendat the opening, and it's not really
from a selfish place as much asit is from a place of you know,
he doesn't want to fail, andboth choices seem like it's a fail,
but ultimately his what he learns isthat his friends aren't matter the things.
(15:20):
No one's going to judge you bythe object, right, it's really
the choice that's going to help others. And it's that sort of classical Star
wars, you know, selfishness versusselflessness and moaning um. But then it's
okay, you know. He realizesthat, like the failing in the opening
is okay, and he will growand he will learn from that, and
(15:43):
that's always what you hope for yourkids, you know. I think,
to piggyback on what Jake said andwhat Michael said is that's the thing.
It's like, it's like we're strongertogether. I think the subset under that
is it's okay to fail, mlike and learn from it and put one
foot in front of the other andjust try again. It's okay to fail.
(16:07):
No one is perfect. But againhe has he, she and you
know nubs. They all have theirtheir friends to pick them up and be
there with them to catch them whenthey fall. It's it's such a it's
a It's something I wish when Iwas a kid that I had I had
(16:29):
this show that you can watch andyou can watch with your friends and just
for from a Star Wars point ofview, because I'm gonna fan my entire
life. So it's an honor tobe a part of this little the ball
we have going. Why is itimportant, um for the future of Star
(16:52):
Wars for this type of a seriesto be released. Yeah, I think
that's the question to ask in manyways, And I think the beauty of
this moment, I think for thefranchise is that there truly is a Star
Wars for everyone, And I thinkwe look at it that way internally,
and I you know, Star Warsis such a cross generational experience and everybody
(17:17):
has their Star Wars. My littlecousin that you know loves Rex, that's
his Star Wars. That's his hero. You know, mine was the Skywalker
non solo. Um. You know, old generations that are come from the
prequels and have those those reference points, and that will forever be I think.
(17:37):
And the one thing we realize isthat, you know, as a
dad, I wanted to share StarWars like right out of the womb.
My kids went at the right timebecause this meant so much to me.
And having the an ability to kindof bond through this galaxy I love was
a big part of it. Sothe little Golden Books where it was my
(17:59):
little lifeline. But I wanted somethingthat could could be the show that they
could love for them, not justdad passing by and passing it back and
saying, hey, you have towatch this thing I love. I wanted
there to be something that they love, and I think you all felt that
that was an important thing on thepath of Star Wars content, you know,
UM, something that could help groundthe elements of Star Wars, the
(18:22):
themes, the values, the thingsthat really you know, are foundational to
the experience of what Star Wars wouldbe. So kids could see themselves in
it and fallen in love with contentthat's made for them and then graduate to
the different forms of content that's outthere. Um, you know, I
fro amazing content with bad Batch ortales of the Jedi. Um, you
(18:45):
know to all the Deeples shows andall the movies are gonna make I think
these things live in concert together anda part of a cycle of vandom,
and so I think it's important tokeep that cycle going. UM, so
that you know, thirty years fromnow, some kid raised on this show
who went down and experienced all theamazing things we have to come is sharing
(19:08):
something with their son born daughter.Yeah, that's it's interesting because we were
uh when when my son Nathan wasinterviewing um uh Juliet and and then earlier,
one of the things that he wastalking about was when he was a
kid, you know, which he'sseventeen, so he's still a kid.
But anyway, UM, when hewas a kid, dad wanted to watch
(19:32):
Star Wars, but he didn't likeit. He didn't like the original prig.
He didn't enjoy watching it as sixyears old. And how he wished
that there was something like this umout there back then and now he's excited
that that's that's going to be available. Um. When it's crazy this I'm
gonna jump in really quickly. Justfunny, I think though quick. Yeah.
(19:52):
Juliet, who plays List, hada similar experience, and uh,
you know she she's been a partof our show now for what almost three
years of we've been working on this, and she went back and revisited the
original trilogy late last year and Iwas like, wait, oh, that
that's in our show, but that'sbut that's in Star Wars and I was
like, that's it. That's that'swhat I wanted. So she I think
(20:15):
she got a new appreciation for thefor the original trilogy because of her experience
on our show. And I certainlyhope that, you know, other kids
get that same experience. Yeah,one last question before we let you guys
get back to all of these otherconversations that you still have to have.
I'm sure um with it. Doyou have a memory or recollection of being
(20:38):
a kid watching Star Wars with afamily member like a dad or a parent,
or an older brother or sibling oraunt or someone like that that you
look back and you're like, man, that's that made it really special?
And if not, what would thathave been like for you had you had
that kind of an opportunity. Myfather took me to go see Empire Stories
back when I was three years old. He loved the first Star Wars.
(21:00):
My dad made documentary films and reallyloved movie. Um, and what he
loved about it was like, youknow, George is such a that film
is such a collage. There's somany incredible cinematic influences, and so he
was really inspired by the movie craftof it. So he took me to
get PARTI Strikes Back and had noidea really what to expect. And my
(21:22):
brains like blew up, like,oh my gosh, look at all those
alia. This is so is real, Like this feels so real to me.
Um. And then the thing thatwas so cool about it was I
shared that with my father. Butthen I came home and for Christmas,
I got a bunch of Star Warstoys and I was able to continue the
storytelling, and I was making thestories, and these these stories kind of
(21:47):
lived on and my dad would askme, you know, what, what
was it what happened in Star Warstoday? And I was making it up,
you know, and telling him um, and so you know that all
He's been a lot to me andhad the idea that other kids can have
that experience. It's something that itfeels very satisfying and and I hope it
(22:11):
brings them the wonder it brought meso. Um. I remember, I
was probably eight years old. Igrew up in a pretty bad neighborhood in
south central LA during the eighties.Was not a fun place to be sometimes.
And I was I love. Ihad a big imagination, and my
(22:33):
mom knew that. I used tomake up stories and run around and just
create all this like I was creatinghavoc in the house. But it was
fun. Um. So my bedtimewas like eight thirty, I remember this
perfectly, And a New Hope cameon CBS, and it was it's like
probably like eighty three because right aroundwhen Jedi came out. So my mother
(22:56):
let me stay up late. Andshe did not like sci fi. She
didn't like Jotre, but she satup with me and let me watch the
entire Star Wars and New Hope becauseI mean the fact that it was coming
on TV we didn't have to rent. It was like right here. She
was like, you're gonna watch thisand let's see if you love it.
(23:17):
And my mother passed away years ago, like twenty years ago now, but
that is a memory. I willalways have her sitting next to me and
she's not watching a New Hope,She's watching me watching New Hope. And
I did. I was not tired. I was up the end. She
(23:41):
regretted it the next day because Iwas just I fell asleep at school when
she got a call. But itdidn't matter like it was. It was
a moment that I will literally neverforget. And it just like James was
saying, it just made the likealiens existed and the world was so big
and my world so small where Iwas because it was like go to school,
(24:02):
come home, don't leave our block, like and when you grew up
in those neighbors usually you don't getout. So like dreaming of something outside
of where I was, that's whereit started. And to now have a
show because of these gentlemen coming outon many of the fourth and then other
(24:22):
little kids who were in my situationcan see this show no words, wow,
wow, thank you for sharing that. That's a fee. I feel
like we could just close on that. I'm gonna give two very quick examples
for me because I had for bothmy parents. The first one is,
(24:44):
uh, when I was in highschool. That's when Fantom Menace came out,
and my mom knew how much ofa fan I was, and she
surprised me by pulling me out ofclass and we waited in line for hours
together right there exactly. It was. It was pretty awesome and we got
to share that experience together, whichwas a blast. I mean just getting
to watch that in the theater withthe fans, it was amazing. And
(25:07):
training out with my mom was incredible. And then the the other one wasn't
necessarily my dad wasn't with me.I mean, he's alive, so but
but um, I bet in theeighties we had a VHS player and we
had recorded Empire Strikes back as probablythat CBS airing that you that you had,
um, But it was my dad'sfriend who had all the technology back
(25:29):
then, who recorded it for us, and he put at the beginning of
that VHS a short film that mydad and him had made in Heights.
And they're in high school, andso in order for me to watch Star
Wars, I would have to watchmy dad and his friends and the short
film they want that they won afew regional awards with up in Oregon and
U and so for me, thenotion of Star Wars and filmmaking and my
(25:55):
dad and all of those themes.It's all inextricably linked and so um so
yeah again, like Lamont, it'svery surreal for me to be here.
I mean, that's really what inspiredme to become a filmmaker. And even
though that that could that was somethingthat someone could could do for a living.
And so to be here, uh, presenting a Star Wars show for
(26:18):
that young kid, uh is mindblowing and it's such a get David.
You know what I'll say is thatit never gets old. I've been here
seven years now and worked on alot of Star Wars and uh, it's
still you feel the honor and youfeel the specialness of it. It's not
like you know, you'd think I'dbe like another star. No, it's
(26:40):
always special special. Yes, hopefullyhopefully I can say it's always special in
two or three years. Yeah,exactly. You know what it's all,
it's always it's always special. Thankyou gentlemen for being part of Tattooing Signs.
You guys are great. They thefalse should be with you all the
(27:02):
way. This party's over. Ilike that, Mokie, don't get takenical
with me. Tony please ye
Hey Tattooine Sun's family. It's likedeja vu all over again. This is
our second episode released today, butit's a good day for it because it's
Star Wars Day. So again,May the fourth be with you. This
is the second part of the interviewseries that we were able to participate in
with the production a team and thecast of the new Star Wars animated series,
(00:26):
Young Jedi Adventures. Now, YoungJedi Adventures is specifically for very young
kids, preschoolers, and this issomething that makes it very exciting for me
personally because there was a time whenSam and Nate just didn't like watching Star
(00:48):
Wars with me, and so Iknow that if they would have had access
to a show more geared towards theirage when I wanted to introduce Star Wars
to them, that they would haveresponded much more quickly to a galaxy far
far away. And so I'm veryexcited to have this conversation with executive producer
(01:11):
James Whah. He was on ourshow about a year and a half ago
when Star Wars Visions Origin are actuallya couple of years ago now, when
Star Wars Visions originally released, wehad him on and then We're also joined
by Michael Olsen, who is theshowrunner for Young Jedi Adventures and the screenwriter
for the very first episode, thepilot, Jamal McGee. We had an
(01:34):
amazing conversation. It kind of startsoff talking, you know, all business
Star Wars, Young Jedi Adventures conversation, but then towards the end makes you
stick around because there are some reallyspecial moments when the guys start talking about
growing up watching Star Wars, starttalking about watching it with their dad or
(01:57):
their mom, and the different impactthat Star Wars as a child had on
them and the future of their career, and then how excited they are to
kind of pinch yourself type moments thatthey still have because they get to work
on Star Wars today. I'm veryexcited about this. Thank you so much
for being a part of the TattooingSun's family. If you do listen to
this on May the fourth, makesure you stay plugged into our socials this
(02:23):
evening because we have a huge announcementthat's coming at like seven pm Eastern,
six pm Central. I can't waitfor you guys to hear about that something.
We're very excited about that. Enoughtalking about what we're going to talk
about. Let's talk about what we'retalking about. It's true love. Was
the name of the pork on theMillennium Falcon Forces strong in my family?
(02:53):
Well do you think his name is? It's a big moment. I'm a
Jedi, like my thought before me, maybe Turbos do? Oh? Do
not the least? No, tryTurbis, Pablo. If you're listening to
(03:17):
this live stream, that pork's nameis now Turbis. It's a good Star
Wars name. We're not done yet, these guys recorded plus a podcast sis
(03:37):
everybody was we're dealing with a StarWars High Republic era when we think about
young Jedi adventures, and which hasbeen up to this point primarily a publishing
initiative since its launch, has beenhighly successful with this. So my question,
I guess, is, when youdecided to produce a animated show for
(04:01):
preschoolers, why did you decide tochoose this era of the Star Wars timeline
for these stories? Now that that'sa really good question, I mean,
first week this doing this show wassomething that we always felt, well,
A, it's the youngest we've evergone, and I think we all felt
that we did it we had todo it right. So there was a
(04:25):
lot going in involved in making decisionsto do that this. Some of it
was to ensure quality, sure thatwe were like maintaining the legacy of Star
Wars, and that it felt like, you know, this was no way
to step down. This was anhonest expression of the franchise, and we
felt like the perfect first step on, you know, into a large,
(04:45):
larger world. Um. But aswe were assessing the different points of the
timeline, you know, as amatter of where where's the best place to
suit this and the thing about theHigh Republic that we always loved was that
it it really can be the eraof the Jedi at their height, the
Republic when it's functioning and working beforecorruption is sort of set in, um,
(05:09):
you know, a time where likeyou know, Jedi are truly aspirational.
And so for a kid show,for a kid show really going into
that Jedi fantasy, it felt likethis is the time to celebrate that and
to mean in the other element ofthe High Republic that we always thought was
(05:29):
really great. It was this ideaof Jedi temple outposts, right, and
the idea of being out and connectwith the with the outer rim and different
cultures, this hyperspace lanes are becomingconnected, and it felt I was just
saying this to Michael, it feltlike, you know, it was the
perfect metaphor for kids taking their firststeps into school, preschool, going out
(05:49):
into the world, first few grades. It felt like that concept really lent
itself well to to little kids goingout and and letting the Jedi teachings become
um, great teachers for life ingeneral. So it's an era that's that's
bright and hopeful. Um, andfelt like the right you know, the
(06:12):
right place for this, mind you, the Nile won't be attacking, so
none of that is happening here inthe show. Time. That's awesome.
Well, uh, Michael and Lamont, thank you for being on the show.
We're super excited to have you aspart of the tap Queen Sun's family
(06:35):
now, so thank you for beingon here. I'm curious, you know,
I'll start with you, Michael.Um. You know they're we're dealing
with, like James was just talkingabout, we've got scary stuff in the
High Republic. I mean, Ihaving conversations with Cavin Scott in the past
and some of the crazy things thathe's done with this right. Uh,
(06:55):
you know, you can you thinkabout having a story for little kids in
this and and it's seems like itmay not always fit, but there are
so many amazing principles and themes withinthe High Republic that actually really fit into
trying to teach children life lessons andabout teamwork and all of those different types
(07:16):
of things. Names can you sharesome of the things that you guys were
specifically trying to bring in from theHigh Republic, those principles and how you
brought those into into the show.Sure, yeah, I mean definitely.
I love Kevin. He's amazing,but boys, he can get a little
intense sometimes. Yeah. You know, one of the wonderful things about,
you know, being in the HighRepublic is that, you know, the
(07:38):
Outer Rim is largely unexplored, andso we got to find a little corner
of the Outer Rim where our Jedican kind of exist almost in their own
little pocket of the galaxy and havetheir own adventures without being impacted too much
by the by the events around them. But in terms of the themes of
(07:59):
the High Republic, I think thosethings are actually also also themes that are
core to Star Wars in general.Things like optimism, teamwork, selflessness,
self discipline. You know, theseare kind of timeless universal values that George
Lucas worked so intentionally into Star Wars, and you know, really it felt
(08:20):
important to everyone here and everyone onmy team that we kind of carried those
values forward if this was going tobe a Star Wars show and really feels
star Wars. We wanted to havethe starships, the Lightsabers, the Jedi,
all the fun stuff, but itreally also had to speak to those
core values, both in the lessonsof the episode and the overt lessons,
(08:43):
but also in the way that ourcharacters interacted too, so that we saw
them treating each other with kindness,helping each other out, keeping an open
mind and an open heart. Soit's been a real pleasure to set the
show in this time, this timeline. Uh and also just a real uh
(09:03):
you know, I'm still pinching myselfthat we get to get to tell stories
in this galaxy and variety of thosevalues. Yeah, it's wild, wild,
Yeah, that's pretty awesome. UhSo Lamont, you know you uh,
you got to write the first episode, the pilot of this and you
get to introduce Um, the battyeof this story. In Tabor on this
(09:24):
So, how did you manage tocreate a story that has an antagonist,
right, a cool looking antagonist whichis central to uh to star Wars.
Right, Um, that is apirate. So you've got very nihil vibes
with that, Um, but youdon't he's gonna get away. He's gonna
He's not gonna, you know,be defeated in in in the traditional sense
(09:48):
at the end of every episode.What was it like writing that character in
there and kind of developing that inthat pilot? I think, uh,
Tabor is the kid. He's thebad kid in school that you know,
it's not really a bad kid,you just got a bad day or like
if you just get give him enoughpatience, enough love, and he eventually
(10:09):
come around. So I kind ofwrote that character as acting out for attention
but not really a bad person.And the kids, he's a really good
mirror for the kids, so wherethey are disciplined and self controlled, he's
literally running on emotion. And Ifeel like eventually we'll see the kids.
(10:37):
They have to learn patience, andkids watching the show will learn to be
patient. And sometimes things don't gothe way you want them to go.
Sometimes your little brother steals your toyand runs away and hides it, but
you can't hit him for it.Like it is, you have to be
patient and you have to show loveand eventually, hopefully you know, come
(11:00):
around. But if they don't,it's okay too. But hopefully they come
around. But Tabor is just thatkid. He's I really feel like,
you know, he's gonna take youon some swifts and turns this season,
but it'll be interesting. Let's justlet's just flit it that one. So
(11:20):
whenever we watch any new Star Warsbad guy, right, you've got I
can remember specifically, this was thebig argument with Kylo ren Right, it's
now the argument with cross Hair inthe bad batch. Is there a redemption
story in store for those bad guys? So is there a redemption story necessary
(11:41):
for Tabor or can we see himcome to the light side? Do you
think obviously speculative at this point forboth, for any of you, all
your thoughts on that, I'll takeI'll take this look. Redemption stories are
certainly core to what Star Wars is. I'm not going to say whether or
not he'll be redeemed. I think, like Lamont said, we've got some
(12:01):
pretty big surprises in store with thischaracter. But one of the great things
I'll say is his relationship with Kaiis interesting because Kai h much like Luke
Skywalker, especially in the Return ofthe Jedi, UM sees, will come
to see a light and table uhsome goodness, some tiny spark of hope
(12:22):
within him. I think you know, Kai will uh maybe see it as
his Jedi opportunities, Jedi challenge tobring that light out, you know,
from within him. Whether or nothe'll be able to fan those flames or
not, I don't know, butuh, but I would just say that,
Yeah, redemption arcs are certainly somethingthat uh is core to Star Wars.
(12:46):
So at the end of every oneof our podcast episodes, we um
always have what we've what we've cometo call a dad moment, where we
take something from our conversation that Ihave with my two sons every single episode
and I synthesize it, uh.In a final thought for this, what's
(13:09):
the dad moment from season one ofYoung Jedi Adventure? What's the big life
lesson from this year? This season? Oh? Wow? Do you want
to audiencewer for that? Oh?Yeah? Whoever wants to answer? Yeah?
I think, yeah, yeah,I can I can do that.
I mean this look I have.Yeah, you talk about the dad moment.
(13:31):
I call it our Danny Tanner momentfor yeah. Um uh yeah.
Look every episode, almost every episodehas that moment where we kind of summarize
the theme. Um. But man, there's a lot of undercurrent themes in
the whole season. But I thinkthe one that would sort of you'll see
(13:52):
recurring a lot um in subtle waysand not so subtle ways, is that
we're always stronger and better together.And that's something that we see even in
that first episode, Kai has tocome to grips with and he'll keep kind
of learning that lesson in varying waysthroughout this season. So I would just
(14:13):
say the power of teamwork and thepower of working together. Yeah, I
mean, I think that's right.I think it's good, just important to
say that all the episodes really docome from a place of, you know,
some reflection on a human experience anda lesson from it. I think,
you know, Michael works really hard. Michael and his team are really
(14:33):
hard to show that, and Ithink that they might be Jedi young wings,
but they're still young things. They'restill kids dealing with the emotional reality
of that, and I don't know. The one that that I love is
the one on one be the secondpart of the first episode, and it's
(14:54):
really the idea that I thinks heneeds his lightsaber because you know, and
he chooses that or saving his friendat the opening, and it's not really
from a selfish place as much asit is from a place of you know,
he doesn't want to fail, andboth choices seem like it's a fail,
but ultimately his what he learns isthat his friends aren't matter the things.
(15:20):
No one's going to judge you bythe object, right, it's really
the choice that's going to help others. And it's that sort of classical Star
wars, you know, selfishness versusselflessness and moaning um. But then it's
okay, you know. He realizesthat, like the failing in the opening
is okay, and he will growand he will learn from that, and
(15:43):
that's always what you hope for yourkids, you know. I think,
to piggyback on what Jake said andwhat Michael said is that's the thing.
It's like, it's like we're strongertogether. I think the subset under that
is it's okay to fail, mlike and learn from it and put one
foot in front of the other andjust try again. It's okay to fail.
(16:07):
No one is perfect. But againhe has he, she and you
know nubs. They all have theirtheir friends to pick them up and be
there with them to catch them whenthey fall. It's it's such a it's
a It's something I wish when Iwas a kid that I had I had
(16:29):
this show that you can watch andyou can watch with your friends and just
for from a Star Wars point ofview, because I'm gonna fan my entire
life. So it's an honor tobe a part of this little the ball
we have going. Why is itimportant, um for the future of Star
(16:52):
Wars for this type of a seriesto be released. Yeah, I think
that's the question to ask in manyways, And I think the beauty of
this moment, I think for thefranchise is that there truly is a Star
Wars for everyone, And I thinkwe look at it that way internally,
and I you know, Star Warsis such a cross generational experience and everybody
(17:17):
has their Star Wars. My littlecousin that you know loves Rex, that's
his Star Wars. That's his hero. You know, mine was the Skywalker
non solo. Um. You know, old generations that are come from the
prequels and have those those reference points, and that will forever be I think.
(17:37):
And the one thing we realize isthat, you know, as a
dad, I wanted to share StarWars like right out of the womb.
My kids went at the right timebecause this meant so much to me.
And having the an ability to kindof bond through this galaxy I love was
a big part of it. Sothe little Golden Books where it was my
(17:59):
little lifeline. But I wanted somethingthat could could be the show that they
could love for them, not justdad passing by and passing it back and
saying, hey, you have towatch this thing I love. I wanted
there to be something that they love, and I think you all felt that
that was an important thing on thepath of Star Wars content, you know,
UM, something that could help groundthe elements of Star Wars, the
(18:22):
themes, the values, the thingsthat really you know, are foundational to
the experience of what Star Wars wouldbe. So kids could see themselves in
it and fallen in love with contentthat's made for them and then graduate to
the different forms of content that's outthere. Um, you know, I
fro amazing content with bad Batch ortales of the Jedi. Um, you
(18:45):
know to all the Deeples shows andall the movies are gonna make I think
these things live in concert together anda part of a cycle of vandom,
and so I think it's important tokeep that cycle going. UM, so
that you know, thirty years fromnow, some kid raised on this show
who went down and experienced all theamazing things we have to come is sharing
(19:08):
something with their son born daughter.Yeah, that's it's interesting because we were
uh when when my son Nathan wasinterviewing um uh Juliet and and then earlier,
one of the things that he wastalking about was when he was a
kid, you know, which he'sseventeen, so he's still a kid.
But anyway, UM, when hewas a kid, dad wanted to watch
(19:32):
Star Wars, but he didn't likeit. He didn't like the original prig.
He didn't enjoy watching it as sixyears old. And how he wished
that there was something like this umout there back then and now he's excited
that that's that's going to be available. Um. When it's crazy this I'm
gonna jump in really quickly. Justfunny, I think though quick. Yeah.
(19:52):
Juliet, who plays List, hada similar experience, and uh,
you know she she's been a partof our show now for what almost three
years of we've been working on this, and she went back and revisited the
original trilogy late last year and Iwas like, wait, oh, that
that's in our show, but that'sbut that's in Star Wars and I was
like, that's it. That's that'swhat I wanted. So she I think
(20:15):
she got a new appreciation for thefor the original trilogy because of her experience
on our show. And I certainlyhope that, you know, other kids
get that same experience. Yeah,one last question before we let you guys
get back to all of these otherconversations that you still have to have.
I'm sure um with it. Doyou have a memory or recollection of being
(20:38):
a kid watching Star Wars with afamily member like a dad or a parent,
or an older brother or sibling oraunt or someone like that that you
look back and you're like, man, that's that made it really special?
And if not, what would thathave been like for you had you had
that kind of an opportunity. Myfather took me to go see Empire Stories
back when I was three years old. He loved the first Star Wars.
(21:00):
My dad made documentary films and reallyloved movie. Um, and what he
loved about it was like, youknow, George is such a that film
is such a collage. There's somany incredible cinematic influences, and so he
was really inspired by the movie craftof it. So he took me to
get PARTI Strikes Back and had noidea really what to expect. And my
(21:22):
brains like blew up, like,oh my gosh, look at all those
alia. This is so is real, Like this feels so real to me.
Um. And then the thing thatwas so cool about it was I
shared that with my father. Butthen I came home and for Christmas,
I got a bunch of Star Warstoys and I was able to continue the
storytelling, and I was making thestories, and these these stories kind of
(21:47):
lived on and my dad would askme, you know, what, what
was it what happened in Star Warstoday? And I was making it up,
you know, and telling him um, and so you know that all
He's been a lot to me andhad the idea that other kids can have
that experience. It's something that itfeels very satisfying and and I hope it
(22:11):
brings them the wonder it brought meso. Um. I remember, I
was probably eight years old. Igrew up in a pretty bad neighborhood in
south central LA during the eighties.Was not a fun place to be sometimes.
And I was I love. Ihad a big imagination, and my
(22:33):
mom knew that. I used tomake up stories and run around and just
create all this like I was creatinghavoc in the house. But it was
fun. Um. So my bedtimewas like eight thirty, I remember this
perfectly, And a New Hope cameon CBS, and it was it's like
probably like eighty three because right aroundwhen Jedi came out. So my mother
(22:56):
let me stay up late. Andshe did not like sci fi. She
didn't like Jotre, but she satup with me and let me watch the
entire Star Wars and New Hope becauseI mean the fact that it was coming
on TV we didn't have to rent. It was like right here. She
was like, you're gonna watch thisand let's see if you love it.
(23:17):
And my mother passed away years ago, like twenty years ago now, but
that is a memory. I willalways have her sitting next to me and
she's not watching a New Hope,She's watching me watching New Hope. And
I did. I was not tired. I was up the end. She
(23:41):
regretted it the next day because Iwas just I fell asleep at school when
she got a call. But itdidn't matter like it was. It was
a moment that I will literally neverforget. And it just like James was
saying, it just made the likealiens existed and the world was so big
and my world so small where Iwas because it was like go to school,
(24:02):
come home, don't leave our block, like and when you grew up
in those neighbors usually you don't getout. So like dreaming of something outside
of where I was, that's whereit started. And to now have a
show because of these gentlemen coming outon many of the fourth and then other
(24:22):
little kids who were in my situationcan see this show no words, wow,
wow, thank you for sharing that. That's a fee. I feel
like we could just close on that. I'm gonna give two very quick examples
for me because I had for bothmy parents. The first one is,
(24:44):
uh, when I was in highschool. That's when Fantom Menace came out,
and my mom knew how much ofa fan I was, and she
surprised me by pulling me out ofclass and we waited in line for hours
together right there exactly. It was. It was pretty awesome and we got
to share that experience together, whichwas a blast. I mean just getting
to watch that in the theater withthe fans, it was amazing. And
(25:07):
training out with my mom was incredible. And then the the other one wasn't
necessarily my dad wasn't with me.I mean, he's alive, so but
but um, I bet in theeighties we had a VHS player and we
had recorded Empire Strikes back as probablythat CBS airing that you that you had,
um, But it was my dad'sfriend who had all the technology back
(25:29):
then, who recorded it for us, and he put at the beginning of
that VHS a short film that mydad and him had made in Heights.
And they're in high school, andso in order for me to watch Star
Wars, I would have to watchmy dad and his friends and the short
film they want that they won afew regional awards with up in Oregon and
U and so for me, thenotion of Star Wars and filmmaking and my
(25:55):
dad and all of those themes.It's all inextricably linked and so um so
yeah again, like Lamont, it'svery surreal for me to be here.
I mean, that's really what inspiredme to become a filmmaker. And even
though that that could that was somethingthat someone could could do for a living.
And so to be here, uh, presenting a Star Wars show for
(26:18):
that young kid, uh is mindblowing and it's such a get David.
You know what I'll say is thatit never gets old. I've been here
seven years now and worked on alot of Star Wars and uh, it's
still you feel the honor and youfeel the specialness of it. It's not
like you know, you'd think I'dbe like another star. No, it's
(26:40):
always special special. Yes, hopefullyhopefully I can say it's always special in
two or three years. Yeah,exactly. You know what it's all,
it's always it's always special. Thankyou gentlemen for being part of Tattooing Signs.
You guys are great. They thefalse should be with you all the
(27:02):
way. This party's over. Ilike that, Mokie, don't get takenical
with me. Tony please ye
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