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S02E39: Manically Reacting to Mando!
29 Plays9 days ago
BREAKING NEWS: We have the first trailer for "The Mandalorian and Grogu," so we interrupt the previously scheduled programming to grab the Learning Geeks, Jake Gittleson and Dana Koch, for our reactions to the newness! This is the way!
Before listening, make sure you watch the trailer!
https://youtu.be/_pa1KLXuW0Y?si=ojhYShtD7kOM469K
Join the Short for a Stormtrooper community!
Discord: https://discord.gg/a89TD3XdFX
Email: SFASpod@gmail.com
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Transcript
Trailer Release Excitement
00:00:00
Speaker
Breaking news, we have the first trailer for the first theatrical Star Wars movie coming out in many years, and we're going to talk about it real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short?
00:00:11
Speaker
Aren't you a little short for a Star Trooper? Hello, welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper. And if you were with us last week, I said, hey, next week, I've got a great guest planned. It's going to be awesome. And it is and it was and I have recorded sessions with that guest and it's going to be awesome.
00:00:33
Speaker
But maybe even a little awesomer today because today is like Star Wars Christmas morning when we didn't know that last night was Christmas
Mandalorian and Grogu Trailer Experience
00:00:43
Speaker
Eve.
00:00:43
Speaker
oh I woke up at, well, I woke up at god awful early. I woke up at 5 a.m. and I think it was like 6 a.m. that my phone chained and it was a notification from YouTube of the Mandalorian and Grogu trailer. So I watched it about eight times, immediately started texting with the OGs, the learning geeks, Dana and Jake, and we were texting our reactions back and forth. And then I was like, hey, you guys, let don't you come on to Short for a Stormtrooper and let's do a quick emergency session of Short for a Stormtrooper. No, a breaking news session.
00:01:23
Speaker
So i just to make sure that everybody is clear, we're recording this on Monday, the 22nd. It will be delivered to you all, my loving audience, on Tuesday, the 23rd.
00:01:36
Speaker
So this was yesterday from the time you're hearing this, that the trailer, the first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu was released. Also, you know, a little bit of coverage, ah poster a bunch of stuff. So we got a little bit of a news drop.
00:01:54
Speaker
and we're reacting. And I would love to hear your guys' reactions to the trailer. And I'm going start, Dana, going to start with you because I don't think I've seen you weigh in on text. Like Jake and I were kind of going back and forth.
00:02:08
Speaker
We basically had a podcast episode through text. yeah that's And that's what I was like, we really should record this. Yeah. Actually, let me start with this.
Trailer Spoiler Warning
00:02:17
Speaker
Dana, have you watched the trailer?
00:02:19
Speaker
Several times. You have? Good. Good. And I should say to any of the listeners, if you haven't watched the trailer, you should do that before we go much further. Because if there's such a thing as spoiling trailers, we're going to spoil the trailer.
00:02:31
Speaker
um yeah And I'll put a link to it in the show notes. So anyway. So Dana, tell me, what was your reaction to the trailer? My immediate reaction was the production quality looks phenomenal.
00:02:42
Speaker
i mean, just the opening couple of scenes. Just phenomenal. And then it had that, it had the Star Wars feel, which would you, it's what you would expect. And, you know, Jake mentioned ah this in text, but once you start hearing the music, it just starts, you know, you can't get a lot of your head.
00:03:02
Speaker
you do. Yeah. You flash back to those heady days of Mandalorian season one when it was such a surprise. Right. But right yeah, I'll come back to that theme. So Dana, you were generally pretty positive about it.
Initial Reactions and Production Quality
00:03:14
Speaker
It sounds like. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:15
Speaker
Very excited. Yeah. Jake, how about you know the other the other thing yeah The other thing is i started looking and I thought, how much of this is computer generated? It looks like a lot of it is, but it's still really high production quality.
00:03:29
Speaker
Yeah. Hard to tell. Yeah. I want to touch back on that in a second. yeah Jake, give me your overall reaction. ah My overall reaction, of course, I enjoyed it. ah The first thing I thought of is they're going back to the roots of what I think the story is.
00:03:46
Speaker
yeah yeah Episode by episode or serial, right? Very space Western. um I think you can even get that from the classic poster that they sent out, even with the font.
00:03:59
Speaker
So i that was my general reaction. I'm like, i I think, I don't know for sure, but it feels like they're making a ah movie in the Star Wars universe that just so happens to be ah showcasing some, probably at the start, some early adventures or some random ad you know adventures that happen with Grogu and whatnot. So like I think that's going to happen at the beginning.
00:04:26
Speaker
And then as the story unfolds, there should probably be some ah bad or big bad or whatever the case could be. But I do think that they're going back to the roots of what I thought made that show great and that season one and two and not super connected.
00:04:41
Speaker
That was my first reaction. Yeah. There is not a Bo-Katan in sight. No, no Mando, like Mandalorian lore. Again, just the trailer.
00:04:51
Speaker
They only show what they want you to show, right? Or they they onlyt they only want you to show, but that's what I felt. I did like the ah little tagline at the end. it's It said forged for IMAX. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. But that was clever.
00:05:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I have to share my reaction. I'm going to be completely honest.
Nostalgic and Pulp Elements
00:05:08
Speaker
My first reaction was kind of like, huh. After watching it the first time.
00:05:15
Speaker
That's because you were just waking up. and it wasnt it was It wasn't super positive. and Too much groovy. I was almost about to say, you know people accuse me of just liking everybody. There's really only one person who accuses me of that. So it's probably me accusing myself of liking whatever ah they dispense unto us that has a Star Wars brand on it.
00:05:36
Speaker
But my first reaction was, yeah, I felt like there was a little too much of of Grogu, ah a little bit too much of the Enzelin, who I think is probably actually Babu Frick. I mean, we'll we'll know. Yeah, we don't know for sure. But, you know, of course I love Grogu. Of course I love Babu Frick. But I felt like the trailer kind of overemphasized them and the humor of it. They did have the Grogu swimming in water, which. is Yeah. Okay. That looks you know like when they fight finally came to the point where they had Kermit the Frog dancing.
00:06:11
Speaker
Right. and Wait, he has legs? It felt a little silly to me. And, you know, this coming from a guy who never had a trouble with Jar Jar Binks and always liked the Ewoks.
00:06:23
Speaker
but But here's the thing is when I got to the – when I watched it the second time and I got to the end and I saw that new Logu. Logu. Logu. The Grogu, the Mandalorian and Grogu logo.
00:06:40
Speaker
And I saw how pulpy it was with kind of the swoop. And the way the and and were, you know, with those big brush strokes and everything, i was like, oh, this is getting back to what it was like that first season.
00:06:54
Speaker
It's very pulpy. ah You know, a pulp science fiction adventure. It also reminded me a lot of those early crazy days of the Marvel comic book.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah. yeah yeah And, you know, I was picking up that vibe. So the more I watched it, the more excited about it I became. So now I'm very excited about it. It also gave me, as someone who loved Indiana Jones, and I still do, but as someone that grew up loving the the the movies, that the you know the the original three, um that's the kind of vibe it has. like Again, the movies stand alone. You don't have to watch the first one to watch the third one. You definitely don't have to watch the second Temple of Doom to watch any of the other ones.
00:07:38
Speaker
It was just a standalone movie. And I love that. And you can come if you only like the. Rays of a Lost Ark, you only like the Rays of a Lost Ark. You're not missing anything beyond it. And so anyway, I'm hoping that's what it is.
00:07:52
Speaker
And then your other point around a lot of Grogu, I did mention in text that because they're puppets, more often than not, those are the shots they already have done. It probably could shot a lot it took a lot of those because there's still a lot of work to be done in post, I'm assuming. I'm guessing. that and And also sometimes with teasers, they show a lot of what's probably in the first 15 minutes of Act One anyway.
00:08:17
Speaker
Or it may not be in there at all in the final shot. Yeah, they're not going to show a lot of anything more than just Act One. yeah you're probably seeing a lot of the upfront bit probably than anything.
CGI vs Practical Effects Debate
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's truly it's really true. But that actually brings me to, Dana, your comment about some of the effects look more CG than things have in the past with the Mandalorian. Because Mandalorian very famously was using um practical models and and a lot more practical effects. than they And they pioneered that, what, the 360...
00:08:49
Speaker
Screen. The volume. and The volume. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. um I saw one shot on there where i was like, oh, that feels like the volume. And I hope they're not using the volume because to me, the volume is fine for low production value. Yeah, yeah. Stuff, but I'm hoping they're not using it.
00:09:08
Speaker
But yeah, i I kind of felt the same way, like the scene with the walkers. but oh yeah. When attack the walkers and the walker falls off the cliff. I thought that looked awesome, but it did feel CGI to me.
00:09:20
Speaker
Yeah. Right. On the other hand, again, Jake with the puppets, like the ah Grogu and Babu Frick looked so puppet like. Yeah, I know. You know, again, going back to that's what Star Wars fans love. They love the practical effects. And so I was interested in that.
00:09:41
Speaker
I agree. Yeah. So, Bob, I do have a question for you. yeah and Did you decipher the text that was reflected in the water? Oh, no. Oh, you mean the Orabesh that was in the water, like when they're walking through the city?
00:09:54
Speaker
That scene where I thought, oh, that looks like the volume. i have not done that yet. i will It's going to be backwards and upside down. So I'm sure that's not something to you read real quick, but. I'll get AI to help me do that. We flip it over and reverse it at least. So no, I have not done that yet.
00:10:09
Speaker
I did want to touch on and hear from you guys. What were the, what were some of the, like the key visuals on there that you thought were great or key moments from the trailer that really resonated
Standout Trailer Moments
00:10:19
Speaker
with you? If you have any.
00:10:21
Speaker
I'll share one. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's funny. Cause Bob during text, but you, you shared, ah Zeb's in the trailer. Yeah. And I'm like, what? Really?
00:10:33
Speaker
It so happened to be that that was the scene. I'm like, whoa, who is that guy? Right. Because I couldn't tell. it was really dark in the way that he he did his he did his fighting move.
00:10:45
Speaker
And I thought, oh, is that a bad? is that Is that someone we need to watch? Like, who is it? Because they didn't have a great shot of him until I watched it like the third or fourth time. I'm like, all right, I can tell now.
00:10:55
Speaker
But that was one of my shots originally. it the first two times and like I thought, oh, my gosh, that looks awesome. yeah And then I think at the end with the walker falling down, I think it was just the music.
00:11:07
Speaker
was a perfect timing. But the Zeb moment was actually ah a big one for me. So if you're wondering who is Zeb, by the way, Zeb was one of the main characters of Rebels. He was kind of the heavy of Rebels, the tough guy with a heart of gold.
00:11:23
Speaker
um His species is a Lassat. I had to look it up because I didn't remember. He was a Lassat. Interestingly enough, um his look was based on one of the early um concept designs for Chewbacca for a Wookiee.
00:11:39
Speaker
Oh, I did not know that. Yeah. ah But he was a great character. And, you know, now I think, well, we did see a glimpse of him in Mandalorian season three. Yeah, he was at the end.
00:11:50
Speaker
yeah He did make a little bit of a cameo, but now I think we've seen the entire crew of the ghost from Rebels, um at least who are still alive in this time. In live action. In live action, which is super exciting. Yeah, I loved that.
00:12:03
Speaker
Dana, how about you? What were things that stood out? You both mentioned this one, but the walker at the end falling off the cliff. The thing about that, though, is that could have been from any Star Wars movie, other than I guess i guess you do see um't know if Mando flying out of the top of it and then it kind of blows up, but I guess that's a little different.
00:12:24
Speaker
The other one was, it was fun to see Grogu trying to slide the candy tray or the ashtray or whatever was over. Just, as you know, he's mischievous and you know, okay, great.
00:12:35
Speaker
The mischief yeah is going to continue. Yeah. And the look that Sigourney Weaver gives him when he does that, I thought yeah it was classic. Yeah. And just reaches out and stops yeah from sliding. And he goes, oh.
00:12:47
Speaker
That whole moment was one of my highlights. And I'm so excited to see Sigourney Weaver in this. I thought it was it was kind of funny, the outfit, because I had seen a photograph of her like in an X-Wing pilot jumpsuit, the orange jumpsuit with the white bib.
00:13:00
Speaker
um But I hadn't seen her in that outfit. And to me, it almost looked like she was dressed up like Ripley from Aliens, which I thought was... Yeah. Which I thought was kind of funny. yeah So do we know anything about her character?
00:13:11
Speaker
ah We don't. ah All that we know is she is part of the New Republic and she is the one who hires Mando for whatever the assignment actually is, which I believe has something to do with Rada the Hutt, who we did get a
Sigourney Weaver's Role Discussion
00:13:29
Speaker
glimpse of. a little bit, yeah.
00:13:30
Speaker
Right? He's totally jacked in the arena. I had Thor Ragonrock vibes with the Hulk. Remember that yeah those scenes? That's what i I thought of when I saw that. Yeah. And he's so what yeah what's me is wife from what's his relationship to Jabba?
00:13:44
Speaker
Is there one? I think son, son or nephew. It's one of the two. Okay. um Thank goodness for Wikipedia. um While I'm typing, I'm going to talk at the same time um and say this is one of the things that I really loved was, um,
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, son of Jabba the Hutt. um I loved the new Razor Crest. I'm like, you know, yeah the Naboo M1 Starfighter is my second favorite Star Wars spaceship of all time.
00:14:18
Speaker
ah And it was fun while the Mandalorian had that. But like, that's not practical practical for a bounty hunter. You need that Razor Crest back. And so I love the new Razor Crest that seems to have some Naboo.
00:14:30
Speaker
Starfighter design with the yellow panels. I really hope that Lego releases a you know, a patch You know they will. For Lego model. Not a patch kit.
00:14:41
Speaker
but They will absolutely do a whole new one, but it sure would nice if I could just buy the yellow panels and stick them to the RazorCrust that I've already invested a couple hundred bucks in. So I really like that. um Yeah, I'm looking forward to
Anticipation for May Release
00:14:54
Speaker
it. i think it's going to be I think it's going to be fun. And we don't have that long to wait.
00:14:59
Speaker
May, right? Yeah. yeah So what is that? Eight months? Yeah. Coming up soon. more trailers coming, I'm sure. I'm sure. All right, boys. Thank you so much for jumping on with me. This is the I'm sure we'll be talking more about this. This is the way.
00:15:15
Speaker
And it is also the way to like and subscribe and write reviews.
Podcast Promotion and Farewell
00:15:20
Speaker
We really appreciate it. Also join us on our other podcast, The Learning Geeks. If you are in corporate learning...
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah, see, I can always plug all the way around. If you're interested in corporate learning or learning in general, which everybody should be, come join us on the Learning Geeks. We a lot of fun.
00:15:37
Speaker
And we'll see you next time. So until then, may the force be with you. Bye-bye. Bye. Thanks, Al. Who's that line? Let's do it. Podcasts, hope you see them through. Star Wars is your favorite unit.
00:15:49
Speaker
Let's chat for 15 minutes. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a sporn trooper? Aren't you a little short for a sliver?