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CLL #32 - Past/Future Tense
103 Plays1 year ago
CLL #32 - Past/Future Tense
Captains’ Logs and Lightsabers Podcast is back for its final episode of 2023 and we take a look in the rear view mirror at our favorite Star Trek and Star Wars projects throughout the year. Jonathan waxes poetic about a video game, Chris and Jonathan rehash their adoration for Picard Season 3, and more! The hosts also mention some of the things they’re looking forward to in 2024 from both franchises, despite an overall lack of information about what’s to come from either franchise. Before Chris and Jonathan discuss past and future things, they catch up the audience on their personal and professional lives, Jonathan talks about seeing John Williams conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Chris and Jonathan discuss their coverage of Steel City Con for Geek News Now as well as talk about their personal experiences at the December show.
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Transcript
Introduction to Captain's Logs and Lightsabers
00:00:00
Speaker
Captain's Logs. I'm Solo. I'm Captain and Millennium Falcon. This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise. I already have one message from Starfleet coming in on secured channel.
00:00:28
Speaker
You're listening to Captain's Logs and Lightsabers, part of the Geek News Now podcast network.
Hosts Welcome & Personal Updates
00:00:34
Speaker
Hey, welcome to episode 33 of Captain's Logs and Lightsabers podcast. This is the podcast on the Geek News Now network that discusses both Star Trek, Star Wars, and some other geeky things at the same time. So my name is Jonathan. I'm the host of the podcast, but I could not do it without my co-host, Chris Stau. How's it going, man?
00:00:57
Speaker
Hey Jonathan, I'm doing well. How are you, sir? Oh, it's, it's been a while since we recorded. I'm kind of glad that we're getting back into it. I know we're trying to do better and record more often for you guys. So.
00:01:10
Speaker
2024, we're really hoping to get back on track with that, and we figured, you know, what better way to kick off our New Year's resolution for 2024 with a look back at the year that was 2023 and Star Wars and Star Trek, and then look ahead a little bit to 2024 and talk about the things that we're excited for in the next year.
00:01:36
Speaker
Chris, anything new with you in life in general? Life in general. Not much. Keeping busy with what's the private practice, my caseloads significantly increased in the last, I'd say two months. So now I'm up to at least 71 clients, which I don't see 71 clients a week, but it's now pushed me to 30 plus.
00:01:59
Speaker
per week, which is really, really good. It helps financially, definitely. You know, but it's nice to see the practice finally growing. I was told that it would take about four years for things to finally stabilize it at a healthy level. And I'll be hitting four years in private practice in February. So it's it's all coming together once and for all. It's just it's slow and steady, you know. But career wise, everything's good. Cats at the house are doing well. And they keep it up with my geek nerdy stuff.
00:02:29
Speaker
Continuing my role as the XO, the Stella Pirata in Starfleet International. We just had our Christmas party yesterday, which was really good. It was a little cleaner this year than it was the previous year. We played a filthy game where you made like you saw a picture and made like filthy memes out of it. Yeah, it was it was really something last year. This year was a little more low key, which was really nice.
00:02:51
Speaker
But that's it. I'm looking forward to Christmas in the new year and getting started into a new year with new goals and expectations. So how about you? What have you been up
Jonathan's Musical Adventure
00:03:01
Speaker
to? Not a whole lot. Kylie and I have been doing kind of a good many like cool things over the past several months.
00:03:10
Speaker
You know, we've seen a lot of movies, I guess, for the year so far. I crossed over 150 new to me movies, movies that I've never seen before. I've seen 150 this year. So, crazy for doing that. Somehow I'm proud of it. I don't know. What else do we... Oh, this week, earlier this week on Tuesday, I got to cross one of the things off of my bucket list that
00:03:40
Speaker
I never knew if I'd have another opportunity to see him. I got to see John Williams in Pittsburgh guest conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as they played several of his compositions from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and even the movie The Adventures of Tintin, which was a deep cut and fantastic soundtrack and a fantastic movie if you've never seen it, Chris.
00:04:07
Speaker
It, it's, yeah, it's an animated film. It's based on a Belgian comic called Tin Tin. So it's not Rin Tin Tin, like the dog, you know, from, you know, fifties and sixties television in America. It's Tin Tin. He's a, he's a detective. And yeah, it's, it's a Belgian comic. It's very, very popular in the world. And probably 20 years ago, they made a movie out of it. And it's, it's still one of the best animated movies I've probably seen in my life.
00:04:36
Speaker
Oh, check it out. Yeah, yeah, I was really shocked when that song came up in the program. But yeah, so it was wild staying in the same room as Sean Williams, man. It's
00:04:51
Speaker
I can't even describe how awesome it was. Yeah, I mean, that's music royalty right there. I mean, as much as I'm a big Star Trek fan, and I love Jerry Goldsmith's themes, I don't know if he made as many memorable soundtracks as John Williams. I mean, I think he's the king of soundtrack. Yeah, yeah.
00:05:09
Speaker
I mean, he's done so much and then it wasn't just John Williams, you know, as the the feature part of the show. Actually, I kind of I guess you would kind of describe her as John Williams muse as of late on Sophie Mutter. She is a.
00:05:27
Speaker
world-class violinist. I think she has every possible international accolade from every major symphony orchestra in the world. She has won award after award. She is basically the John Williams of violin playing in our modern world.
00:05:51
Speaker
And John Williams has worked with her on several occasions, including at the show on Tuesday. They've recorded albums together. He has reorchestrated a lot of his songs so that it heavily features violin with her.
00:06:07
Speaker
Oh, wow. Nice. Yeah, it's it's wild. And I could probably go on forever and ever about this.
Steel City Con Experience
00:06:14
Speaker
But I don't know. It was just it was just the probably one of the greatest experiences of my life. Oh, that's wonderful. Did you take a lot of pictures? Oh, yeah, plenty of pictures. I'm sure you did. Did you post any? I guess I do believe I did post several on Facebook.
00:06:34
Speaker
Okay. I'll go back and look at that. Cause that would be, that would be intense, man. See something like that and hear it. Yup. Yup. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Did your wife enjoy it as well? Oh yeah. Oh, absolutely. Well, she's a big star Wars fan too. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. It was a great night.
00:06:52
Speaker
But I guess before that, you and I did something together over the weekend, actually. And we went to the third of the year, the third Steel City Con in Pittsburgh for the December show this past weekend.
00:07:11
Speaker
featured quite a few cast reunions, right? I mean, you had the cast of A Christmas Story 40 years later. You had the cast of the original Scream movie. You had some cast members from Charmed. Yeah, it was a pretty crazy convention and they really pull out all the stops for the December one because that tends to be the busy one.
00:07:34
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. And it's actually my personal favorite of the three per year because of that Christmas vibe. I love walking around and seeing people wearing different ugly sweaters based on their favorite movie genres. You know, I can't tell you that we're probably at least two or three Merry Christmas, you filthy animal. A couple of those ones, I think I was home alone, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, wasn't there? I think there might have been one or two Yippee Ki-Yay, whatever.
00:07:59
Speaker
Nice. Of your Star Trek Star Wars ones that you see all the time, too. But I mean, there it's fun. There's a different air vibe in the air at the December one, which is really special. And then you see a lot of the characters that are cosplays are not only their favorite characters, but they're dressed up in Christmas gear.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I know on Saturday, we kind of went our separate ways. We really didn't see each other at all during the show at all. So I don't think you, yeah, you wouldn't, you didn't see my, the sweater that I wore on Saturday. You would have loved it. It is, it is a, it was a Christmas sweater. It had Spock, bro goo and group all on the same sweater. Oh man. You have a picture of it.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'll have to send it your way. Please do. Please do. Yeah. My wife and I actually ordered some ugly Christmas sweaters as well. So I have a Star Trek one coming. Hopefully it'll be here before Christmas Day. But she also for the first time ordered one. It's a New Kids on the Block one. Nice. Yeah, so I'm sure your wife will probably want to see a picture of it. But yes, we haven't, we've been trying to track everything online, but I haven't heard about either order.
00:09:09
Speaker
So hopefully they'll be coming shortly. Those will be fun to wear with family. Yeah, you know. Yeah. I was hoping to have it for yesterday because yesterday was my Christmas party for my Star Trek club, the Stella Parada. We had a really good time, but I ended up just wearing a basic hoodie instead. But I mean, last year I wore a Star Trek.
00:09:31
Speaker
ugly sweater that a friend of mine had mailed me. And but I grew out of it. So one of those situations, I wasn't able to wear it this year. So but hopefully next year, I'll slim back down and I can get back into it. Plus, but this one, I bet that's coming. I made sure I bought it for X. Nice. You know, when you order things. Yes. Into a Forex. But you know, you order that stuff online, you put it in the dryer and then it shrinks two sizes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I made sure that I'm going to have comfort once it shrinks.
00:10:00
Speaker
That's right. That's right. There you go. That's important. Always, you know.
00:10:06
Speaker
I know we went off on a Christmas tangent. No, no, no, it's all right. That's all right. No, nothing wrong with that. So yeah, go ahead. Well, but yeah, still city con was a lot of fun. The first I I've told people here before that I tend to think of myself as the king of bargain boxes. And I found action figures for cheap. I think I got the very last Star Trek first contact action figure, which was Picard in the spacesuit. I got it. I got it for 50 percent off. I got it for 250.
00:10:34
Speaker
Look at you go that I got a couple. Let's see. What else did I get? Got a couple of Star Trek books that were $5 a piece that this really great Star Trek metallic mug, like not a mug, but like a cup that you can put pens and stuff in for $2. Thought a few of the old Star Trek ornaments from Hallmark.
00:10:53
Speaker
One of them was Voyager from 1996. I already have it, but I bought it so I could put it and display it in my office at work. Nice. Find some lights for that and got a couple of the Star Trek ornaments that I never had. The boxes were kind of beat up, but I don't care about that. The ornaments all that matter. Right, right. Yeah.
00:11:10
Speaker
So then a whole bunch of other stuff on top of it. And so it was a really good time. You seeing the Christmas story panel was really, that was really cool. Seeing them all together. You can tell that they still really a lot of, they're really good friends in real life. This movie means something to them even all these years later.
00:11:27
Speaker
I mean absolutely just. It's incredible that the phenomenon of a christmas story you know movie that didn't do well at the box office and didn't do well once it was on home video and it wasn't until the late nineties when. TBS started playing at twenty four seven.
00:11:46
Speaker
year after year after year that it became a cult classic. Exactly. What was really interesting, what they said was is that all the other movies that TBS tried playing 24 hour marathons have failed. Yeah, I heard that. Yeah, that was that was an interesting part of the panel. I was not expecting that. And I didn't remember, you know, from years ago, you know, the 24 hour marathons. But yeah, you know what, it was it was really like, I can't believe how they all
00:12:16
Speaker
look the same as they did in a Christmas story just older. Yes, very much so. The guy who played Flick was he's he's got a pretty good sense of humor. Yeah. Yeah. Having a grand old time up there.
00:12:30
Speaker
They all were. Yeah, exactly. The one I think stayed the calmest the whole time was Peter Billingsley. He kind of seemed like the we could tell he's the leader of the group, obviously, just by, you know, just because he was the lead. He's out of all of them. He seemed the calmest and most just kind of not down to earth, but just kind of.
00:12:49
Speaker
I'm not sure how to word it. It's just grounded, I guess, is the best word to say. Yeah, I think he's one of the few of that cast who has consistently remained working in Hollywood. He's a director, he's a producer, he's a writer.
00:13:07
Speaker
Yeah, so I just think he has that air of confidence and about him that, you know, is somebody who is a consummate professional in the world of film. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And it was it was just it was just nice to see them all together. This is a little side note. Three days after Steel City Con.
00:13:26
Speaker
they at the cinema theater that right there at the mall right next to the convention was that they did the 40th anniversary rerelease of a Christmas story. So my wife and I got to see it on the big screen for the first time. Nice. Were any of the guys still around?
00:13:41
Speaker
No, not really. I think by this point, it was Wednesday. I think everybody was long gone. And there was only about 13 of us in the theater. I thought it was going to be packed. Yeah. But it wasn't. It was it just okay. We actually made it very nice because there weren't anybody talking or anything like that. Just was nice and peaceful. And it was just great getting to see it so huge. So that was cool. Did you see any other panels while you were there? Just the Alec Baldwin one. Okay. What did you think of that one? Because I missed that one.
00:14:11
Speaker
He, I actually thought it was pretty good. It was interesting. He brought his own person, I guess you could say, to go on stage and be the moderator. Kind of like what Kelsey Grammer did last August, right? Yes. And I think it was, yeah, and that same guy who was with Kelsey Grammer was also there, but he sat off to the side. There was a different guy that was up on stage with Alec Baldwin. And I'm thinking part of the reason they did that is they didn't want us to go into the whole
00:14:37
Speaker
Incident was on rust. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah We were told very specifically do not talk about his personal life at all But what was really interesting was even though we were told not to say anything about that Alec Baldwin didn't bring that up But he talked a lot about
00:14:54
Speaker
Take shootings and stuff on different sets. He's been yeah, I would look to brandy and i'm like what the Wow, i'm surprised he was bringing that up I mean if you were him though, wouldn't you address it head on? Why let people let their minds wander and about what they think about it and instead let him Tackle it and address it right in front of the audience and own it
00:15:15
Speaker
Yeah, well, it wasn't he didn't bring rough stuff specifically he was just making general comments about how they have to do like shooting and like scenes and fake all that stuff in different Hollywood projects. Yeah, talking around it instead of directly addressing it. Nobody, nobody didn't know what he was talking about. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, he was he was very pleasant on stage. He even took a large group selfie with the with the crowd at the end.
00:15:41
Speaker
Nice. So he seemed like other people were posting pictures that they had gotten with him over the weekend. He seemed to have been very nice and cordial and, you know, which was which was nice to see. Yeah, some of the other panels I didn't get to go see.
00:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, were you there? Did what time did you get there on sad or no? Wait, was it Saturday or I can't remember what if it was Friday or Saturday? McKenna Grace, the the girl that played Phoebe in Ghostbusters Afterlife and will be picking up the role again in Frozen Empire.
00:16:14
Speaker
Oh no, I didn't know that. The girl whose character was Egon's granddaughter in the movie. Oh, okay. You know, I haven't seen the movie yet. Oh, well, I just, I'm sorry. I just spoiled something for you. That's okay. No, I knew that his granddaughter was going as a character and I knew that part.
00:16:32
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well, nothing to worry about. Yeah. The actress that played her was at Steel City Con. She was doing autographs, photo ops, and she had a panel. And you could tell she was just so happy to be there. And she just, she was so appreciative of every question. Like,
00:16:50
Speaker
You know, and and for this panel, it was Friday because they had kind of changed up. They kind of went back to the traditional where, you know, you line up on either side of the room to ask questions. But for Friday, they were going around the room with the microphone. So, yeah, it was it was on Friday that her panel was. But like she wanted every person that asked a question to stand up so that she could see them and say hi. Like she was just so happy to be there. And she's just.
00:17:15
Speaker
She's she is such a fan of Ghostbusters. Like she was geeking out the whole time. It was so cool. Nice. Yeah, I think I caught like a tail end of her her thing when I went. I went in to sit in the back and I think she was on and I just kind of missed it. But I didn't know who she was. Yeah. Blonde hair. Right. That that was her. Yes, that was her. OK.
00:17:36
Speaker
OK, good, good, good. Yeah, I'm going to have to check out and see if I can find her panel on YouTube. I know a lot of times people post the panels on YouTube, so maybe I'll check it and give it a shot. But you said she's going to be in the new one. Yes, she'll be in the new one. Same role. OK, good. And you have to see Ghostbusters Afterlife, man. I'm telling you, you will you will love it.
00:17:59
Speaker
Does it stand up along with the other two? Yes, it does. I think it does. I think it's a great continuation because it picks up, you know, years and years after the second Ghostbusters film, but it is in the canon. It's in the, you know, it's in the timeline.
00:18:15
Speaker
OK, all right, sounds good. Now, just a quick question that that Ghostbusters from 2016, that's not connected to these other three, right? No, no, it it that one was meant to be a reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise and it just didn't go anywhere because it was very terribly received.
00:18:33
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Yeah, it was. Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure. I heard that a lot of people didn't like it. I'm not sure if it's because it's of the cast. I think it's probably more of the story. Look, when Chris Hemsworth is the best part of the movie and he's in about 10% of it, you know, you got issues. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. I've never seen that one either. And I'll have to check it out just to see what the hype was all about, you know? Yeah.
00:18:59
Speaker
Look, it's it's from the director of bridesmaids. It has, you know, several of the cast that was in bridesmaids or the roles of the Ghostbusters. It seemed like it could work, but it just didn't. Mm hmm. Yeah, I think people were just more interested in wanting to see the original group together and.
00:19:18
Speaker
You know, you can't blame them again for years. People wanted a Ghostbusters three and it was in like development hell. You know, so I guess that's really what people want to show the third, this third movie show. There's still the audiences out there.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I wanted to talk about this one vendor in, in artist lane that was really cool. I don't remember seeing her at some of the previous shows. Her name is Heather fighter. And actually I interviewed her. So I, her, her clip should be on the GNN socials and tech talks somewhere, hopefully at some point, but I, you know, I interviewed her. She takes my little pony figure or.
00:19:58
Speaker
you know, characters and kind of gives them a dark and twisted side. Like they're very like it's kind of like.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah. She, she basically takes my little ponies and turns them into demons. Cause the name of her business is my little demon. Oh, and it's just really cool. Like she's, you know, it's like basically she's kit bashing. If you're familiar with that, with what people do sometimes with action figures, right? You know, they, they take them and they swap parts and make, make custom action figures. And that's kind of what she does, but she uses my little pony. And then she has this other line that she started.
00:20:37
Speaker
Called horrific park and it's a it's a riff on Jurassic Park and what she does is Whenever Jurassic World released they had these like young kids toys like maybe like the three to six year age range Called imagine next and they were these little like cute T rex things and they were kind of like I guess it's kind of like if weeba wobbles met
00:21:06
Speaker
a dinosaur toy that you'd find on a store shelf. It was just like these cute little dinosaurs. What she does is she takes those dinosaurs and paints them and turns them into horror movie slashers like Jason, Freddie, Michael Myers, all of those. It caught my eye because that is right up my alley. I had to stop and see if she was willing to talk about her business and she was.
00:21:35
Speaker
She was just really cool. So if you, if you go to GNN's tech talks and, you know, or Facebook and find our reels, it should be there hopefully. But it was, it was a cool interview. So, uh, any, anything else that you have to say about Steel City Con? You know, to be honest with you, not really. For me, it was just kind of a general Steel City Con. I just saw the two panels and I did mostly a bunch of shopping. And one thing that I'm happy about though, is they got the crowds under control.
00:22:06
Speaker
Saturday, we can finally move through without having panic attacks. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it was so busy on Saturday, but yeah, it was better than previous December shows. Absolutely. Absolutely. But yeah, what about you? Any last minute thoughts on the show?
00:22:21
Speaker
Just the last thing, and I know I've been on record seeing this on this podcast before, and maybe it's just me going soft in my old age, but Kylie and I did our first professional photo op with a star. We actually, well, actually, I should say we did with two stars. We took a professional photograph with Ming Na Wen and Giancarlo Esposito, which was called the Mandalorian duo. So, you know, we got to meet Fennec Shand and Moff Gideon. So that was a lot of fun.
00:22:49
Speaker
That's a really cool picture. I did see that one that you posted on Facebook. That was really nice. You two lit up like Christmas trees in that picture. The genuine excitedness was there. Yeah. Yeah. I remember you telling me when you met William Shatner for your photo and you had that brief moment just to say something and you were like, I like your shirt. Yes.
00:23:13
Speaker
I kept thinking of that in my mind as I was approaching the line and you know, I had my one chance to say something and Giancarlo Esposito was dressed in like a sports jacket slacks and he had a night like a tweed bowler cap on and I was like, I feel a little underdressed for this. That was my line. His response was now you look great.
00:23:40
Speaker
cool. So you had your William Shatner moment. Yes. Yes. They actually mirror each other. Yeah. Yeah. In a way. That's really cool. Well, I'm happy for you guys. I mean, I know you had said that wasn't really your thing, but this time it was something special for both of you.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It was something that we definitely had wanted to do. Kylie really wanted to get a chance to just meet her. And I think in a future show, if she was at a future show, we'd maybe do an autograph to get a little more time to interact with them. Sure. But you can pay for a selfie with them at the table, too. Right. Right.
00:24:21
Speaker
Maybe we'll do that in the future. I don't know. We'll see. I don't know if I have the bug for photo ops or autographs yet, but that remains to be seen. Yeah. Give it time as you look at it, it might grow. Yeah.
00:24:32
Speaker
All right, so I think that's enough about Steel City Con. We had a great time, both of us. You got your merch as usual, and I got some pretty good content.
Star Wars & Star Trek Highlights of 2023
00:24:43
Speaker
I filmed some stuff from the panels, and that should be on GNN Socials. There should be all kinds of stuff. So to check out our coverage of Steel City Con, after you listen to this episode by hitting up those GNN Socials. But on that note, we're going to move on to the main topic of our episode today, and that is
00:25:01
Speaker
a look back at what we loved most about Star Wars and Star Trek in 2023, and then a look forward at our most anticipated upcoming projects in 2024 from both franchises. So Chris, do you want to kick us off? I'll let it up to you if you want to talk Trek or Wars first in 2023.
00:25:21
Speaker
Well, you know, I'll start with Trek since we basically we started the year out with the third season of Star Trek Picard, which had a lot of positive praise from fans, from critics. It just it was a wonderful, perfect reunion of the next generation cast having one big final adventure together with a sprinkle of some of our other characters that we've known over the years, like Seven and Nine, to see what she's been up to and Raffy and
00:25:49
Speaker
Getting to see the enterprise D come back. I mean, just for those 10 weeks, like every day I was like, is it Thursday already? Is it Thursday already? You know, cause it was just, each episode just left you wanting more and more and more and the hour would be up in 30 seconds. Right? Yeah. I mean, where, where do you begin talking about Picard season three? I mean, this was my most loved thing about 2023 and Trek as well. So.
00:26:13
Speaker
I had a feeling you and i would agree on this one honestly absolutely absolutely i mean just the fact that you got a lot of little wishful things that the fans of the wanting over the years we finally got like it. Behind the scenes record and crusher romance that which led to them having a child we got some more clarification on this.
00:26:33
Speaker
Iromotic syndrome that they were hinting at at the end of the next generation and during the first season of Picard and we find out that it really wasn't Iromotic syndrome, but it was some sort of Borg virus that was implanted in Picard and got passed on in his DNA into Jack, which is why he was having all these weird hallucinations. And finally we realized that the Borg Queen was actually had a connection to him and was calling him to be her equal like hard was when he was locutus.
00:26:59
Speaker
and actually getting to see Picard finally defeat the Borg Queen once and for all, and having the crew reunite, and they got the Enterprise D back, which was really incredible to see the ship. And they finally got, instead of it ending with the ship being just destroyed and not knowing what happened to it, got rebuilt, and it's actually now in the Fleet Museum where it belonged, where it deserved to be. Right, right. And I loved how they justified bringing the Enterprise D back. I mean, you know,
00:27:27
Speaker
It's like the equivalent of a manual transmission versus an automatic transmission. You have to go old school or analog versus digital, I guess. Either one is an apt comparison, but that was the only way that they could defeat the Borg is by being disconnected from the web.
00:27:51
Speaker
that ignited all the Starfleet vessels together, the modern ones. Exactly. And then just some of the things that they added in there for the fans are just bringing Ro Laren back and finally having a conclusion to her story. Heck, they even brought Shelby back. Now she was an admiral, but it was very interesting in the fact that Shelby was basically in command of this fleet that networked
00:28:10
Speaker
the entire fleet into one when she was the one fighting the Borg 30 years earlier. So you would think that she would have been like, I don't think we should have our ships connected kind of like a little board collective. She was the one on board with it and then she gets killed as a result. Yeah, which was kind of ironic. I mean, yeah, it was just
00:28:30
Speaker
It was just such an example of the most compelling TV I've seen this year, probably, honestly. I mean, there's other shows out there that I haven't seen that are probably more compelling than Star Trek Picard season three was, but I just haven't watched them yet. So, you know, I can't speak to that, but, you know, just having having Terry metallus come in and write and, you know, be the showrunner for this season was exactly what
00:28:58
Speaker
Star Trek needed. I mean, you know, somebody who had such a love for Next Generation and Deep Space Nine and even Voyager, right? You know, all of the Trek that we got in the 90s and early 2000s. And, you know, it's just, you know, we got to see a true finale, a true ending for a lot of these characters that, you know, a lot of fans after Star Trek Nemesis were like, that's all we get.
00:29:23
Speaker
Exactly and I know that's one of your favorites, but you know Yeah, and I know that's one of your favorites tonight and I don't have anything really against it either I just it's been a long time since I watched it. But yeah, it just wasn't a satisfying ending to that crew
00:29:39
Speaker
Absolutely not. And the way they brought Data back was just phenomenal. Yes. And he finally brought the character all the way around. Now that he's back, he's in that Gollum body and he finally got to achieve his goal being human, basically. Right. The body gives him all the emotions, all the feels, everything, you know, which is really nice. And then we got to see Riker and Troy, we saw that they were having some marital discourse, but they were able to pull themselves back together.
00:30:03
Speaker
We saw Dr. Crusher getting to kick some butt with the Borg Cube with the Enterprise at the end of the end of the series, which was really fun. You don't usually expect to see Dr. Crusher firing phasers and photon torpedoes, and she was flinging that ship around like the Millennium Falcon in Return of the Jedi. Yeah. Going through the Borg Cube. It was just it was just amazing. And one thing that they were saying I was worried about, I should say, is
00:30:26
Speaker
worried they were going to kill off some of the characters, which I wouldn't have been totally upset with simply because this is probably like the last hurrah and would have given some conclusions to the characters. But I love the fact that they're all still alive and they're all together playing poker at the end of the series. Yes, yes. I mean, and why not end the show that way? That is a perfect ending. And it is a lot of what
00:30:51
Speaker
was so unique about Next Generation, you know, seeing the crew playing poker was just such a wonderful, you know, anytime that happened on screen, you were like, yep, exactly. No, it fit the group perfectly. It was a callback to the finale of Next Generation. They just amplified it more because they were all playing. We got to see more of it. Yes. And we saw Worf, of course, was losing like he always does.
00:31:16
Speaker
War is always losing or always needs four cards, you know? Right. Right. But the other thing that was really good about it was you were going back to Terry Metallis and his love for the next generation. I think it also expanded on that because I showed a love of the franchise that he had. I mean, we go back, even look at the sleep museum.
00:31:33
Speaker
We got a lot of answers to what happened to a lot of classic shit so we see enterprise from enterprise but we actually see it in its refit that they were planning on doing in season five. Now that's happened we see an old school constitution class ship there that doesn't look like the strange new world when it looks like.
00:31:51
Speaker
supposed to look like. It was really nice to see. We found out what happened to the Enterprise A. We found out what happened to the Klingon, the HMS bounty that was there. Chronos One was there. And I'll be honest with you, this actually teared me up more than seeing the Enterprise D Bridge. When Seven and I was talking to Jack Crusher about Voyager, you could just see the tears in her eyes, the love that she had for that shipping crew. I just, that, that is probably one of the most touching scenes for me the whole season long.
00:32:19
Speaker
Show to see how much that when she first got on board or how much she hated that she was separated from the board collective and then she Is five being human then we saw her become human as this series went on and then you see now how much that That crew that ship meant to her those four years. She was on it. Yeah
00:32:37
Speaker
Yeah, and the fact that we're still talking so lovingly about this show, what, five, six months after it wrapped up is just incredible. Yeah, it's it was it was a true. It felt I mean, Trek was back, right?
00:32:52
Speaker
Yes. And then, you know, people were saying, oh, it's full of member berries and stuff. It needed to have it. Yeah. This season needed it. That was the whole point of it was to have all these callbacks and so that the conclusions would be satisfied. Correct. Yes. So but my last little comment on it is I did buy the third season on Blu-ray Steelbook a couple of months ago.
Discussion on Physical Media & Collectibles
00:33:13
Speaker
Nice. I don't have a Blu-ray player in my man cave. Maybe with Christmas, I'll get a Blu-ray player. Yeah.
00:33:19
Speaker
I mean they're cheap now so yeah they're not they're nothing but yeah so I'm gonna be doing a complete rewatch of that as soon as that happens very cool yeah by that physical media man because you never know what might happen to shows nothing I mean
00:33:33
Speaker
When they first talked about streaming, nothing ever disappears. Once it's there, it's there for life. Then when streaming services are starting to hemorrhage money year over year, quarter over quarter, they end up writing things off. They write something off and then it has to disappear from the service so that they can take the loss.
00:34:00
Speaker
This is the world we're living in now. The streaming bubble is certainly collapsing. So buy that physical media, guys, if you love something because, yeah, things you love could disappear. Exactly. All right. I'll get off my physical media soapbox now. Was there anything else from Star Trek in 2023 that you wanted to talk about?
00:34:26
Speaker
The other thing I really enjoyed with being Lower Decks back for its fourth season now, I will say that even though I'm a big Star Trek fan, I have not watched every episode of Lower Decks, which is weird for me because because I'm such a nerd with all this, but I'm not a big fan. I have a hard time staying focused on watching stuff on the computer. Yeah. Like sound. Sure. I guess a product of, you know, the 80s and 90s, you know, watching VHS and everything on our TVs.
00:34:54
Speaker
So I mean, I've rented them out and caught up a little bit, but the fourth season I didn't. I enjoyed the episodes that I saw. What I really liked about it was the overarching storyline. If there was this weird alien vessel going around, attacking randomly, attacking and just appear to be destroying all these ships.
00:35:12
Speaker
But what was really neat is we actually got to find out what happened to Nick Locarno from The Next Generation. He was in that this season episode, I believe. What was it called? The last flight or the next flight or? Yeah, something. Something like that. And that's where Wesley Crusher and Nick Locarno and their Nova Squadron performed what was called a Cobalt. Colbert's Starburst, I believe it was called. And it caused the death of a cadet.
00:35:37
Speaker
because it was actually that move was outlaw, but they decided to do it so that they could surprise the attendees at graduation. And they lied about the whole the whole scenario. And Wesley finally turned them all in. Nicole Carno got kicked out of Starfleet. So we find out that he basically kind of went rogue and was kind of creating his own little separate fleet for I can't remember the exact reasons. But I know that he ended up in the end, he ended up getting hands on a Genesis torpedo.
00:36:05
Speaker
Right, which was kind of odd. You would think that after what happened with Genesis, that would have been completely outlawed. But I guess Starfleet never learns. And so they created another torpedo and apparently looked like Nick Locarno was trying to shut down the Genesis device. Yes. The frangi had I guess the frangi were the ones who had it and they put a paywall up. He basically was being asked to pay to shut it down.
00:36:30
Speaker
I'm so the ball, you know, I don't know if there's a new plant in it or what. I'm hoping they'll pick up on that in season five. But like I said, even though I hadn't gotten to watch all season four, I did like that overarching thread through the episodes I did see. Yeah. And I thought now in next generation, it was next generation, right? With the character. Yes. Yes. So who played him in the in TNG? It wasn't Robert Duncan, Neil, was it? Yes, it was. Oh, OK. So he did reprise his role.
00:36:59
Speaker
You know doing the voice acting for the character this season. Okay. Yeah, that's why they were making the jokes in the episode Yes, like Tom Parro. Yes. Yes Yeah Did you watch the Ferengi episode? No Oh my gosh, you know what now that I'm up in my man cave and I had the laptop up when we're done recording tonight I think I'm gonna put it on. Okay, Ram and Lita were in it
00:37:24
Speaker
Yes, yes, exactly. I mean, this Deep Space Nine geek was so happy when that episode was on, when we watched it. So exciting.
00:37:35
Speaker
Yeah. And why did we still have the actors that come back and reprise these characters? Right. And you can tell how much they loved the characters all those years ago, the fact that they're still coming back and playing them and talking about them. So I'm sure it was a good episode. Yeah. And I mean, it would have been nice to see Nog, but, you know, of course we lost Aaron Eisenberg.
00:37:57
Speaker
But that would have been, you know, that would have been just, that would have been the icing on, you know, more icing on the, the, the, the already delicious cake. Yes. If you don't mind, I have a real quick story about Aaron, Aaron. Yeah, go for it. So it wasn't, I never got to meet him at any of the conventions.
00:38:13
Speaker
Two months before he died, we were at Star Trek Las Vegas in 2019. And there was some sort of virtual reality game that was being advertised. And I was waiting in line and I was next up to play it. And he comes walking in the room and they shut the whole line down to let him play it. And he kept playing and playing and playing. And I'm like, oh, this is great. I get to see Nog doing this at the same time. I'm like, you just fucking took my turn.
00:38:45
Speaker
You know, so I was just like, oh, man, you know, but I mean, and so I finally I just walked out because I didn't know how long they were going to have him doing it. Yeah. And it was just and then two months later, he was gone. I actually cried when he when he died because it was it was at that time it was it was the actual first Deep Space Nine recurring or regular actor who had passed away. And Deep Space Nine was the first next Star Trek series I was able to watch all the way through because I was old enough to.
00:39:13
Speaker
I was in 6th grade when Deep Space Nine premiered. Nog has always been my favorite of the recurring characters. There was so much growth with that character. With him being that little petty criminal to being this decorated Starfleet war hero at the end who was a lieutenant.
00:39:32
Speaker
You know, yeah, like a genuine decent guy all the way around. And for sure, you know, to see him lost like that. And just two months after I saw him healthy, you know, it was odd. Yeah. But, you know, at least you got to see him. At least you had that experience. You know, it's so close to his final days. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, if anybody was going to take my turn, if the VR simulator was him. Yes. Well, that's a cool little side.
00:40:00
Speaker
Yep, absolutely. I can't remember if you've told that story in the past or not, but it's, I mean, it's still amazing every time. I think I did. It was one of our earliest episodes. Probably. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So anything else from Star Trek that you wanted to bring up from 2023 or should we move on to the wars?
00:40:20
Speaker
Well, you know, I'm trying to think if there's anything else from Star Trek. I don't think so. OK. You know, the only real story that this is kind of a sad story, though, is that I guess Playmates isn't going to be doing the Star Trek action figure line anymore again. What? That's what I just heard about two weeks ago was on Trek Core.
00:40:38
Speaker
Oh, that's a shame. Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest with you. When I first got some of the new figures, I really, I liked them. I didn't think they were as good as the ones from the 90s. Oh, okay. But as I've been, as they've been sitting on my shelves in here, they're really loose and don't stand very well. I actually have Con standing, standing on my top of my TV. And I can't tell you how many times he's fallen over like he's been drunk.
00:41:06
Speaker
over and he just flops over like, you know, like he's, he's like drunk on tequila or something. Okay. They're very loose and they just, they just are not sturdy like the other ones were. And then I do have the enterprise, the original enterprise that they, they made, which the ship itself is great. Stand that they have it on though is cheap. Yeah, go figure. Very wobbly. It's not like the ones in the nineties where they were hard, you know, right.
00:41:33
Speaker
Right. But basically the action figures are about the same price now as they were then maybe a couple of dollars more, but everything has gone up in manufacturing costs. So yeah, you're getting inferior products for
00:41:47
Speaker
you know, not a whole lot more, but you're still getting an inferior product compared to the nineties. Exactly. Exactly. It's sad. I mean, cause we, it was exciting to see them back now. I did hear a rumor that they're going to keep making ships and role play accessories, but I think the figures are done. Okay. Well, at least they got something, you know, they get to keep the license for a little while. Yeah.
00:42:07
Speaker
Okay, yeah, yeah. All right.
Exploring Jedi Survivor & The Bad Batch
00:42:10
Speaker
Let's talk about the our favorite things from Star Wars in 2023 I'll kick this one off and I know I know Chris you're not a gamer but I you know several times on our early episodes of this year I was so excited for Star Wars Jedi survivor, which is the the second game in the Star Wars Jedi series on on
00:42:34
Speaker
Xbox and PlayStation and yeah, I am happy to say that it definitely lived up to my expectations. I just want to highlight a few of the things that I really loved about that game this year, just playing it. There was this like about a third of the way through the game. There is one of the most exciting and nail-biting and frustrating sequences in all of video games and I loved every minute of it.
00:43:01
Speaker
You are in the game, your Cal Kestis. He's a survivor of Order 66. He was a Padawan. He watched his master killed in front of him, and he had to escape and survive and hide from the Empire. In the first game, he meets up with Maren, who
00:43:17
Speaker
like Cal is a survivor as well, but she was one of the Nightsisters and she survived the Nightsisters execution at the hands of Palpatine and Clone Wars. Somehow she survived and she turns up in the game and you befriend her and she becomes part of your crew. But in the second game, there's a section of the game where she accompanies you and it's like
00:43:41
Speaker
This sequence is kind of like an interactive cutscene where you have timed button presses.
00:43:48
Speaker
while you're playing through the game. It's cinematic, but you have to pay attention because you have to hit buttons to keep things going. And it was just the sequence where your Maron has the ability to teleport all across the map. And then she takes you on these teleports with her. And you have to hit the button prompts. And you're taking out this Imperial installation. At the end, it is just one of the craziest set pieces in video games I've ever played. I don't even know if I'm describing it well enough to do it justice.
00:44:18
Speaker
Yeah. And you know, because it's another thing, you know, because this game is considered canon, right? The story of this game is considered canon. It fits into the narrative that the Disney and Lucasfilm have been building since 2014. Do you remember the, in Obi-Wan series, the, the hidden path? Yeah. They were, they were rescuing the, the Jedi and other force sensitives, kind of like an underground railroad. Yeah. Well, that's in this game too. Oh, cool.
00:44:44
Speaker
So it makes an appearance in this game. That's a that's a heavy kind of story thread that runs through the game that you find out. And then, you know, with with the other thing that's going on in Star Wars with the High Republic, you know, that that whole publishing initiative, that's books, comics and all that and like all that kind of stuff that, you know, a lot of the things in the High Republic make appearances in the game, too. So it's I love how this game is connecting stuff that we've seen in all of Star Wars, you know,
00:45:14
Speaker
from TV to video game to printed word. I love this energy and it was great how that story brought all of that together.
00:45:25
Speaker
And then, oh, I guess the other really cool thing about the game that I really enjoyed is towards the end of the game, you know, the story of this game is very dark, you know, it's the middle chapter of a trilogy, much like Empire Strikes Back was a very dark film, the narrative in Jedi Survivor is also very dark.
00:45:46
Speaker
You know, and it's a lot of, you know, Cal is tempted by the dark side of the force throughout the game. And eventually there's a point in the game where you are forced to tap into the dark side to progress. But from that point forward, after you're forced to use the dark side,
00:46:02
Speaker
The game gives you the choice for the rest of the game. Do you want to follow the Jedi path and play through the last several sections of the game where the enemies are much more difficult? They're the most difficult enemies you faced up to this point. They have more health. They're harder to take out.
00:46:24
Speaker
So do you continue to use your Jedi abilities or do you tap the dark side button and just obliterate everything in the room?
00:46:33
Speaker
Oh, wow. Right. So you have that choice and that's always hovering there. You can just with a with the press of one of the buttons on your controller, you can tap into the dark side. So, you know, it's kind of like it echoes Yoda's words in Empire Strikes Back, you know, that the dark side isn't stronger, but it's quicker, it's easier, it's more seductive. And that that ability is right there at all times in that last section of the game to just tap into it. So, you know, do you or don't you?
00:47:02
Speaker
Wow. That's a really cool twist of the game. Right? Definitely. The one thing it didn't do is have any consequences on the ending of the game tapping into the dark side, to my knowledge. I don't think there were special endings or anything like that, you know, that you got if you didn't use the dark side. So maybe, you know, in a future game, they could potentially add some consequences. I don't know. Because they are doing one more game in the series, at least. All right. When's that one supposed to come out?
00:47:32
Speaker
Oh, I mean, with the way that games develop now, it probably won't be for another three to four years. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it'll be a while. Considering the game just came out in 2023, I wouldn't expect a new one until 2026 at the earliest. OK. So all right.
00:47:51
Speaker
I know, okay. I've, I've kind of droned on and on about Jedi survivor. And I know you're not a gamer, so you really didn't have a whole lot you could really offer to the discussion. So I want to give you a chance to talk about your favorite things from Star Wars in 2023. So floor is yours, sir. If I remember, wasn't the bad batch, didn't that premiere this year?
00:48:14
Speaker
We did get season two of The Bad Batch, yeah. Like, I wanna say it was February? Yeah, I knew it was way, right around Picard time, I thought it was, yeah. And I really enjoyed it. It's been a while since I've watched any of the episodes, so I don't remember a whole lot about all of them, but I did do a rewatch of two of them that were around like episode seven or eight with the treatment of the clones that the Empire wants to phase them out
00:48:40
Speaker
and retire them and replace them with the storm to voluntarily join them. And basically them trying to, this one Senator trying to get rights for the clones, but also trying to unravel the hidden mystery of what happened on Camino. Right. Yeah. The Imperial Senate was basically told that there was some sort of storm that destroyed Topoka City or whatever, but it's discovered that
00:49:06
Speaker
Obviously, we know the Empire destroyed the city to keep the clone secret. Was that right? The clone secrets they were trying to...
00:49:15
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. OK. OK. So I thought and what I really loved about the ending of the second part is it was Admiral Rampart was his name, correct? Correct. OK. And basically, so we know he was the one responsible for the attack. But the emperor comes up out of nowhere, which I guess he doesn't come to the Senate very much. He basically threw Rampart under the bus. Right. It was the way the story had it written is Palpatine's is perfect when it comes to calculating and twisting things.
00:49:44
Speaker
Oh yeah he's always thinking how many steps ahead that's why he's my favorite villain even over Vader because the mental stuff that he's capable of twisting things is he's just unreal but I mean I can't remember how they threw him under the bus but basically they they said that he was responsible for it and it was against orders or whatever and he ended up getting carted away.
00:50:05
Speaker
you know but that was that was probably the most interesting out of all the season episodes i enjoyed i did also enjoy the the finale i did feel bad obviously we lost which was a tech yeah yeah now yeah i'm
00:50:19
Speaker
I'm wondering how that's going to play out going into season three. Are we going to find out somehow that he survived or? I mean, I can't really see how when he fell from like, yeah, but you never, you never know. People have a way of creating things and. Right. I mean, didn't the, didn't they find his body? Didn't the empire find his body and take it away? Maybe they did say I have to do a rewatch it. Yeah.
00:50:43
Speaker
It's been so long. It seems February seems like so long ago. It was. It really was 10 months ago. Hard to believe. Yeah. You know, so. But yeah, just so who knows? Maybe they'll resurrect them in some way. I still want to find out there was like, wasn't there there was a female character at the end? Wasn't she also a clone or she was in bed? Yes. Yes. Tech space or I mean, not tech. I'm sorry. Omega Omega's half sibling, right? A sister. I believe this. Yeah.
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah. What? Yeah. Yeah. And then the third season is the final season of the show. And I have no idea when we're getting it because nothing has been announced for 2024 about Bad Batch. Exactly. Yeah. As of now, I think it's what only skeleton crew in the acolyte. Yeah. And we haven't even got anything confirmed for certain about skeleton. Oh, no, no, no, no. They did. Yes. They have confirmed the skeleton crew as a coming at some point in 2024. Okay. Okay.
00:51:40
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I feel bad that the bad batch will be ending after season three. It's a good show, good, interesting characters. We're getting to see the very early years of the empire, which is a lot of fun. There were a couple episodes and I know you don't like this word, but there were a couple episodes I thought were filler, interesting to me, but some of those basic ones I told you about the overall story arc I thought was really cool and I'm loving, I can't wait to see what happens. I'm hoping this is in season three where we finally see the clones phased out and shut out once and for all.
00:52:10
Speaker
and how that happens right right yeah the very big interesting question mark that's never been shown before i'm dying to see how that goes yeah it'll be interesting to see how they wrap that up because then you know you could then in season two they were starting the conscription of of citizens of the empire yes absolutely i think didn't we actually see the very first yes for uniforms that we've never seen before
00:52:34
Speaker
Correct. Yes. Yeah, we thought that they were just the ones that we've always seen. But no, they they had something pre that which was really it was interesting to see. So yeah, that's that's the unique part about the bad batch is just getting to see this very early empire, this phase getting filled in. And it's just it's just been fascinating. So I can't wait for the next season.
00:52:54
Speaker
I've got one more thing from Star Wars in 2023 that I want to bring up and then we can move on to what we're excited for in 2024. Ahsoka, we got the Ahsoka series this year and, you know, I know you and I have talked offline about this and, you know, I was kind of lukewarm on the show, but, you know, I really, really, really liked the fact that we got the character of Balan Skull in
Ahsoka & Mandalorian Season 3 Review
00:53:17
Speaker
that show. He was easily the most compelling thing about that series for me. You know, he was he was intriguing.
00:53:24
Speaker
Brilliantly and and brilliantly portrayed by Ray Stevenson and it's so so Sad that we lost him this year and we don't get to see What becomes of the character or maybe we do I don't know I don't know if they'll find some way to work it out I have no clue, but just you know a former Jedi he essentially, you know survives order 66 and Essentially is a mercenary for the Empire right? He's a mercenary for hire, but he uses his Jedi abilities and
00:53:54
Speaker
So it's revealed that he's working for Morgan Elspeth and Grand Admiral Thawne, but yet it seems like he has his own motivations. And the only way that he could realize those is by working with Thrawn and Elspeth. Just such a brilliantly written character and easily one of, if not the best thing about Ahsoka.
00:54:17
Speaker
Right, absolutely. Now, is Ahsoka... has it been renewed for season two? Do we know that? I don't think it's been renewed for season two. I know Dave Filoni has certainly given a season two a thought. I'm sure he... I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he has the season sketched out already knowing him. Sure. Actually, you know what? Going back to our Steel City Con discussion of Mingna Wen, I learned a fact
00:54:44
Speaker
that just completely blew my mind at Still City Con. Did you know Ming Na Wen is from Pittsburgh? Yes. Okay. Now, did you know that although they were a few years apart, Dave Filoni and Ming Na Wen went to the same high school? That I did not know. They both went to Mount Lebanon High School. Oh, okay. Yep. Yep. She's a little bit older than Dave, but
00:55:09
Speaker
I was, I was just blown away. That is, that's really neat to hear. Yeah. Didn't she, she went to Carnegie Mellon for college, right? She did. She did. Okay. Yeah. About thankful. I didn't know. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Actually at her, her panel still city con. She was wearing a CMU jacket. She must've been happy to be back in her home. Oh, for sure. Yeah. We're a little high there. Yeah. Well, her family, her family, her brother and brother-in-law, maybe,
00:55:37
Speaker
took over and run their parents' Chinese restaurant. Still, to this day, yeah. Where's that at? I think it's called Chinatown Inn, if I'm correct. I'm not sure exactly where it is. Okay. But I think it's called Chinatown Inn. Okay.
00:55:53
Speaker
Wow, that's really neat to know. Right? Sorry, completely got distracted and off on a tangent like we're wanting to do. You know what though, but that's what makes, I think that's what makes these discussions fun. For sure. And seeing all the little things.
00:56:08
Speaker
Yeah, so we were talking Bayland, Skull and Ahsoka before we got distracted. So yeah, Dave Filoni, I wouldn't be surprised if he has his second season sketched out. We just don't have confirmation that it's happening. Exactly. And the reason why I'm asking that is because I there is a season two I can't see how they care. They're gonna they can write that character out. Yeah, I don't I mean,
00:56:28
Speaker
the character's too important to the story. For sure. I'm sure there are plenty of actors who could fill that role and look very similar. Of course, they'll never get the performance we got from Ray Stevenson, but the character's too important. Right. Right. Do not include. Oh, absolutely. I just don't know how they're going to do it. Yeah. And considering that Ahsoka and Sabine are on the same planet with him. Yeah.
00:56:53
Speaker
in the galaxy that's not the Star Wars galaxy that we are led to believe. Yes, exactly. And that's a lot of fun. The fact that they actually went out of the galaxy for the first time. Right? I mean, you figure our even our own world has multiple galaxies. So why isn't it conceivable that Star Wars also has multiple galaxies?
00:57:14
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah, it's really cool. Part of the fun of this was to see what happened with Ezra and with Thrawn. And you saw all the Stormtroopers had all that red, whatever it was. Was that like paint or was that like like ribbon that they wore like symbolically or? No, they were basically reanimated Stormtroopers. I think that was just like a visual indication that they weren't
00:57:42
Speaker
that they were undead, essentially. Is that what that OK? I gotcha. I gotcha. I know that they had hinted at like undead stormtroopers and stuff. I didn't know that basically they essentially were. Yes, yes, they absolutely were. Yeah. So we got stormtroopers as zombies in the Star Wars galaxy. Very interesting. OK. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing if that goes on. What what Ezra's story is going to be like, what kind of knowledge from the other galaxy that he brings to the Republic and
00:58:10
Speaker
See what house Soak and Sabine, what their new role is going to be on this new planet. They can just take the whole show is going to go in a different direction with a lot of the focus being in that new galaxy and on that planet. Plus we got to learn a lot more about the Nightsisters of Dathomir. That was good. They've always been kind of an interesting little sect in the Star Wars lore.
00:58:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's I mean, just like with, you know, different people that heck that can tap into the force, right? You know, the the Jedi is essentially a religion, right? It's it, you know, the force, I don't know, this is a crude comparison, but think of the force as Christianity and think of the Jedi as Baptists or Methodists or, you know, a just a, you know, a Christian
00:58:54
Speaker
faith, but they're an organization within the religion of the Force. Oh, I'm blanking on what they are called in Rogue One, the ones that guarded the Jeddah.
00:59:13
Speaker
Oh, the wit with no, no, no, no, the windows, the companies of the windows, the wheels. Yeah. Yes. Yes. The guardians of the wheels. That's also essentially, you know, another religion that, that follows the force.
00:59:26
Speaker
So the Nightsisters are no different than, you know, a different sect that, you know, that taps into the dark side of the forest, much like the Sith do. Mm hmm. Absolutely. Yeah. So it'll be I can't wait to see more of how their their story grows with everything we go for sure. You know, so now I do have a question outside of Ahsoka for you. Yeah. What did you think of Mandalorian season three?
00:59:52
Speaker
I would say that it was of the season threes that we got this year. It was certainly the most inferior. Yeah, I just it was it was a weak season overall. Like, I mean, there was some cool stuff in it. I'm glad we kind of got to see, you know, some resolution for Mandalore, you know, after
01:00:14
Speaker
after the night of 1000 tears, you know, and the Empire's massacre and what they thought, you know, they thought they had raised the planet to the point that it was no longer viable to live on yet. It was. And they made some discoveries and they were able to fight off the Empire. Yeah, I mean, I liked some of the things that we got story wise, I just think that the episodes as a whole, we're kind of middling. No, I agree with you on that. It just
01:00:42
Speaker
I think, and I've said this in a previous episode earlier this year, I think part of it too was it was airing at the same time as Picard season three. Yeah. And I think Picard season three, because it was so, it seemed so superior in terms of quality. I think Mandalorian kind of got lost in that. Oh, absolutely. So is it fair to say that, you know, considering that the holidays are coming up here, that they were giving a lump of coal to Mandalorian season three?
01:01:09
Speaker
I would say, yeah, I would say so after the seasons. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm hoping that they'll have one more one more season of it. I know there's there's stuff online that's saying it could be a movie. But I mean, if you think about it, the ending of season three with with Mando and Grogu basically becoming father and son and a house together. And Amanda's got what, that that new like sheriff job or whatever. Yes. They could easily end it right there. But I guess right. A little more story to tell. Right. Yeah, for sure.
01:01:40
Speaker
Do you have anything else about Star Wars in 2023 or should we start our look ahead? I think we should look ahead. Okay. Let's talk about Star Trek because let's be honest, there ain't much. Exactly. I mean, I know that the production of season three of Strange New Worlds has basically just started. There have been a couple of pictures online of the clapboard and nothing beyond that, nothing really, but just reports.
01:02:07
Speaker
Right. And, you know, the writer and actor strike, of course, you know, that, you know, that kind of delayed everything. Yeah. You know, I'm not kind of talking about Stranger New Worlds. I didn't I actually didn't bring that up in our 2023 review. Yeah, that's all right. You know what, to be honest with you, I'm not.
01:02:23
Speaker
And you know where I stand in terms of like continuity and stuff like the strange new worlds. And I'm not. This isn't a secret for me. I don't. It just it doesn't resonate with me. Yeah, that's fair. You know, with the story changes and the look. I mean, the looks and everything. It's just it's just I don't feel connection. Yeah. So I mean, it's a good show. I did watch some of the episodes. It stands good for what it is.
01:02:49
Speaker
You know, if I would, I think I would enjoy it more if they actually said, you know what, this is a separate kind of alternate reality, something like that. They could do whatever they want, but I don't have any ill will toward the show. I just have no real excitement for
Discovery's Final Season & The Acolyte
01:03:02
Speaker
it. Right. And that kind of goes along the lines here for Discovery season five. You know, I think right now, really, that's the only major thing that's confirmed. Right. Right. And I mean,
01:03:15
Speaker
I do like, I've been looking up a little bit about it now that we're closer and closer to its premiere. I do like the, at least on the surface, I like the direction it seems to be going for its final season. It's going to be less about these freaking universe shattering stakes where if they don't solve the crisis, the whole world gets blown up. I'm kind of over that four seasons of that and that's enough.
01:03:44
Speaker
But yeah, I do like how, you know, we've gotten some word from, from the EP and producing director Olatunde Osun-Sami that the fifth season would be a little bit more inspired by themes and storytelling approach from the original series and P&G, you know, with a focus more on exploration and adventure.
01:04:03
Speaker
And I know, I know it looks like Jonathan Frakes had made some comments. So, you know, undoubtedly he's directing at least an episode or two in the final season. He said it's, uh, he likens it to the Indiana Jones franchise rather than the quote unquote heavy emo tone of the fourth season.
01:04:20
Speaker
Okay. Well, then maybe they're, they're going in the right direction. They just waited five seasons. Again, and we've said this before, the show is called Star Trek discovery and fans for four seasons have been saying, let's go discover something. Right. I mean, there's little, little explorations here and there, but I mean, you're right. It had these earth shattering or universe shattering plots and, and twists and turns that people just want.
01:04:46
Speaker
exploration in their Star Trek. Yeah, that's a big component of it. That's why it's called Star Trek. Right. Right. So, you know, so I'm glad that they'll they'll end it personally. I probably I don't know if I'm going to watch it or not. I'm again, I don't have anything against the cast or the characters, any of that kind of stuff. Sure. It again goes back for me with Strange New Worlds. It just never matched from the beginning. If they would have started in the 32nd century, I think I would have been totally on board with it.
01:05:13
Speaker
Right. Well, I mean, you can kind of pretend that that the first and second seasons don't exist really. Exactly. I know what you mean. I mean, I only watched like three episodes of season three and I haven't touched season four and I never thought I'd be not wanting to watch Star Trek. So right. Right. You know, it's just I guess I don't know with me having OCD, my OCD brain just can't wrap around the changes. I don't know.
01:05:36
Speaker
Some fans can do it. I think it's great, but I just never, just one that I ever got into. So, but I wish them all good luck. I hope they have a good season. I'm happy that the fans are going to get their final year. That might actually be really good. And I feel bad for them that their shows being canceled.
01:05:51
Speaker
Right. There are fans who really love it. So yeah, yeah, I would never disrespect it in that in that regard or those hands, right? I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, no, no, no, no, not been important. Oh, okay. Well, and then really the only other project I heard this is gearing up is Star Trek Section 31.
01:06:10
Speaker
OK, it's been a while since we heard about anything about that. Yeah, I think actually there was a story about it recently. I guess they're getting pre-production ready to go. So it's it's going to happen. Cool. It won't be a series. It'll be, I think, what, a TV series or not? There's a mini, either mini series or like a two hour movie or something like that. Yeah, something like that. I mean, it'll be good to see.
01:06:34
Speaker
Michelle Yeoh kind of come back to Star Trek for one last time. Yes, yes. She's an excellent actress. And what she did with Emperor George over, she played her very, very well. I don't like the character. I don't like the idea of a space Hitler in Star Trek. And now space it was getting her own movie.
01:06:53
Speaker
For her, yeah. I mean, she deserves it. She did a good job in that role. So I, you know, all the power to them. And I know that they're still planning the Star Trek Starfleet Academy series, which apparently takes place during the 32nd century with Discovery. So who knows? There's not really much detail about it or when it's going to be released, but it's in, that's in pre-production too.
01:07:14
Speaker
Alright, well as we kind of wrap up here, let's talk really quick about our one thing each that we're looking forward to from Star Wars in 2024. Do you care if I take the lead here? Absolutely, go ahead. Alright, so I'm really excited for the acolyte.
01:07:31
Speaker
It's set pre-prequels, so it's before the fall of the Republic, before the fall of the Jedi Order, it's in the waning days of the High Republic, and it's gonna be featuring a Darkseid character, and I cannot remember the character's name if they've discussed it, but I do know that the actor that's playing the character is Amandla Stenberg. She is absolutely captivating. I love watching her and stuff. Did you watch the first Hunger Games film? I've never seen any of them.
01:07:59
Speaker
Okay, well, that's kind of one of her first big roles. She was a fan favorite character from the book. She portrayed that character in the movie and she did really well, but she was, you know, she was a good bit younger then.
01:08:12
Speaker
But where I really enjoyed seeing her is in this, it's a film. It's one of the movies I saw this year. It's kind of like a Gen Z whodunit film, kind of like knives out, but with young actors. It's called Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. And she was one of the, well, Amanda Listenberg, I believe. Yeah, they were in the movie as one of the main characters and the film also had Pete Davison.
01:08:41
Speaker
You know, if anything with Pete Davidson, you know, you're kind of in for something weird. Yeah. So, yeah, if you if you have a chance to see it, if you like a little whodunit, that's that's a pretty good movie. Right. It's it's called Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. OK.
01:08:57
Speaker
Alright, what are you looking forward to from Star Wars in 2023? I'm definitely looking forward to the Acolyte. I always look forward to any project that's coming out just to see what comes from it. The Skeleton crew, from what I've heard about it, seems pretty interesting. It kind of reminds me a little bit of the plot of Star Trek Prodigy. Yes.
01:09:17
Speaker
I don't know a whole lot of the detail, but I guess it's a group of kids trying to find their way home or something to that effect. Yeah, I kind of have heard it compared to Star Trek Prodigy with a little bit of Goonies flare. Interesting. Okay. Okay. They're kind of on an adventure, I think, as well.
01:09:40
Speaker
So, okay. Yeah. I mean, I'm looking forward to it. It's something different that we haven't seen in Star Wars. And that's, you know, that'll, that'll be fun. I'm sure they'll bring in some sort of parts with the Jedi or Sith or something in it. I'm sure. And you know, and we get space Jude law. So exactly, exactly. That'll be cool.
Anticipation for 2024 & Podcast Future Plans
01:09:58
Speaker
Um, the acolyte, I think it's going to be a lot of fun because we've never seen this era of Star Wars before visually, except maybe in video games and obviously in our heads in the book.
01:10:07
Speaker
Right. So it's going to be fun to see Coruscant, to see what the Republic was like at that time, and maybe the beginnings of the downfall, plotting of the downfall of the Republic and of the Jedi stuff like that. It'll be a lot of fun. Yes. Yeah, I'm looking forward to both shows. I think, I mean, it's not going to be nearly as exciting a year as 2023 was for Star Trek and Star Wars, but 2024 has got some good stuff. You know, it's
01:10:34
Speaker
It's, you know, unfortunately we had a pretty lengthy actor strike that really has going to have a big impact on 2024 in our franchises, but you know, we'll get through. I mean, Hey, you know.
01:10:47
Speaker
20 years ago, we didn't have any Star Wars or Star Trek, so. Right. Absolutely. So a little bit better than nothing. That's for sure. Right. For sure. Okay. So I think that's going to do it for episode 33 of Captain's Logs and Lightsabers. Do you have any final thoughts there, Chris?
01:11:06
Speaker
No, I'm just looking forward to seeing what the new year is going to bring and just enjoy what's coming along. I'm looking forward for us continuing our show, trying to make some fresh, new, exciting episodes. We have a couple of things we've been talking about that are going to bring into play, so that'll be good. Obviously, we'll report on the three Steel City cons that happened during that time. Sure, sure. If there's ever any fun stuff going on about the Stella Parada, I'll tell you guys about that. And Jonathan, I keep thinking about you if you're going to join the 504.
01:11:37
Speaker
Well, I mean, much like a lot of my plans, that's kind of in the future thing. I'm not, you know, it's definitely not happening anytime in the next six months for sure. Oh, absolutely. That's a big commitment. It is. It is. So, all right. Yeah. I think 2024 is going to be a good, a good year for us, for the podcast. Our next episode, we're recording in
01:12:00
Speaker
very early January. So we're going to be bringing back that captain series that we started last episode with Cisco. And this time, we're going to talk about Han Solo. So I'm looking forward to that. We're going to have a special guest on the episode as well, that we just lined up and you know, he's he runs
01:12:19
Speaker
A very large facebook group and has a podcast of his own that talks about star wars so i'm kind of excited to have him on i think that's great and i'm also hoping that. I know we had a certain actor that we were hoping to get last year but yes writer strike so we're gonna keep it quiet for who it is but well i think we already kind of had talked about it. When we did our when we did our parkard episode.
01:12:42
Speaker
We had talked about Todd Stashwick, but we are still working to try to get him rescheduled, guys. So I know we promised you that it's going to happen, that unfortunately that actor strike put everything on hold. But, you know, we're trying to get him rebooked. I'm sure he's trying to get, you know, trying to be very busy himself, you know, after having not worked for how many months? It may be a while until we can get him on, but trust us, we are going to continue working behind the scenes to make it happen. Absolutely.
Conclusion & Teasers for Next Episode
01:13:12
Speaker
Alright, so yeah, that's gonna do it for episode 33 of Captain's Logs and Lightsabers. Thanks again for listening, and we'll catch you in early January. Alright, sounds good. May the Force be with you. And live long and prosper. Good night. Good night.