Podcast Intro and Previous Episode Reflection
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Just Shillin. I'm one of your hosts, Sean Hoffman, and across from me is the lovely Andy Bell. We're going to mix up the intro a little bit today and I'm going to try to do a little bit of business in the front because I don't want to do it at the tail end. So just so you know, you can send us emails and voicemails at feedback at justshillin.com
00:00:24
Speaker
or anywhere else. If you know how to get ahold of us, you can find the links to all that on our website at just shilling.com. Um, but yeah, that was, I probably should have written out an intro ahead of time, but that's what you're going to get this week. Uh, yeah, let's jump into it. Andy, how's it going, buddy? Expertly done. Brilliant. Very well. Thank you. I'm very well. Thank you. Good evening. All how are you, mate? How was your week?
00:00:48
Speaker
Pretty good, pretty good. I want to take a minute and apologize for how terrible our podcast was last week. I mean, we jumped in with the scruffy. I'm just totally kidding. That was awesome. I had a lot of fun. I really appreciate them having us on and sharing the episode with us so we could post it as well. I don't know what your thoughts were on it, but...
00:01:07
Speaker
I loved it. I spent some time with the guys anyway and I always have fun when I'm getting abused by them. And so that's always a lot of fun. But no, it's great. It's always great catching up with them. They make, I mean, they're equally as disorganised as we are.
00:01:28
Speaker
It's great to know that the quality bar can be actually quite low for us to achieve. But no, it's really, really good fun. And they got us out of a hole, if I'm perfectly honest with you, because...
00:01:41
Speaker
You were away the previous week. I was away with work as well the previous week. And then the idea of us coming together as one last Sunday evening seemed like a blessing. And it was, like I said, it was really, really good fun. And I thoroughly enjoyed. I always do enjoy catching up with them.
00:01:59
Speaker
same same they're good they're good dudes they're good dudes over there but besides that I like you said I did I did I was gone the week prior I don't know I don't even know what dates are anymore I was in Puerto Vallarta with Madison we went on a little trip that was fun
00:02:15
Speaker
That was a good little time. Recently, a couple days ago, I started a fake fight with our friend Eric, which is a good time. I'm looking forward to continuing that. All because he is a Taylor Swift fan, obviously. And somehow, just briefly, Madison somehow got me sucked into this online drama of people theorizing that there is beef between Taylor Swift and Casey Musgraves. And obviously, I'm a Casey Musgraves fan through Madison. And so therefore, Eric is my enemy. And
00:02:46
Speaker
then and we'll see we'll see what happens from there but now it's all it's on it's on good fun unless unless it is serious then then we'll see but other than that um just hanging out vibing you know what's uh
00:03:02
Speaker
Anything else new with you before we jump into exciting stuff? Yeah, I think I told everyone last week on the Scruffy's collaboration last week that I'd been abroad for work the previous week. This week, I took a week off. So I had some time to use that before the end of our fiscal year, which is the end of March.
00:03:26
Speaker
And so I had to use some time up before otherwise I'd lose the holiday. So we were planning to have a very quiet and
00:03:37
Speaker
very quiet and intimate week, myself and Lucy at home. But we decided on Tuesday morning, or sorry, I say we, I mean, the boss decided Tuesday morning, let's go to the coast.
Andy's Devon Getaway
00:03:49
Speaker
So we packed our bags, jumped in the car and went down to Devon, which is by the coast in the UK. The weather is still not great this time of year, so it was very, very much a case of wrapping up and taking plenty of layers and waterproof garb with us in the car.
00:04:07
Speaker
But we had three or four days down there by the coast. Very, very quiet time of year. Everyone's at work, everyone's at school. So there's no public holidays per se to make it particularly busy. But it was good fun. Really, really good fun. We did very little. We drank an awful lot of the wrong stuff. We ate an awful lot of the wrong stuff.
00:04:32
Speaker
We had the dog with us and we did plenty of miles and it was really, really good fun. And because the weather was so bad, I don't know if you remember last week I told you that I'd treated myself to a little bit of Lego. I managed to build at night in the dark evenings. I built the Lego ornithopter from June, which was a riot to build. It's the first Lego set with, I would say, the most
00:05:01
Speaker
with a lot of techniques.
00:05:08
Speaker
gubbins in it. And for a simple brain person like myself, I found it quite a challenge. But I really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it. And it flaps its wings. So I must have done something right because it all works. I didn't have to rebuild it. I didn't have to go back and recount my steps or anything. But that was really, really good. And I've sent you guys some photographs of
00:05:33
Speaker
It flaps its wings and they stay attached. It's not that they flap and they're flying off and stuff. It's connected. Exactly. So that's been my week. It's been, it's been, you know, totally different. It's the total polar opposite of the previous week. Not a lot going on at all. It's been lovely. It's been really, really good. That is awesome to hear.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think the Scruffies did us a favor, because I know last week I was like, all right, all I can talk about is Puerto Vallarta, and you could talk about your misconnection with your airport stuff, and I had a whole, I'm like, the only time I've ever come into an episode where it's like, I know the title ahead of time, it's gonna be Sunburns and Misconnections. It's gonna be fantastic, because I was super fried, because like you, I'd also drank all the things, because I know, I remember, I think it was in the pre-show last week when they were like,
00:06:24
Speaker
Uh, what, what'd you have? Oh no, it was during the show. I don't remember any more during the show. They're like, it's like, Oh, what'd you have? And it's like, I just had booze and more booze. And I feel like I'm finally like dried out now. And so I'm in, I'm in, I'm in a better place. So that's awesome.
00:06:43
Speaker
So, my friend, what news have you caught up with or what news have you found in the last week or so? I must admit, I've been somewhat incommunicado, so I don't have an awful lot. I do have a few things, but I'll let you lead this, mate.
00:07:00
Speaker
I'm finally for once prepared with some news this week. It's not because I went out and found it. It's just because I've been playing with that stupid blue sky feed and I just keep seeing it repeatedly. So I'm trying to fix a bunch of issues. So there's been a handful of things. So specifically in Star Wars news, that's what most of my news is. It's not new, but like the Battlefront re-release games have come out. Apparently it's been plagued with issues.
00:07:29
Speaker
I can't really go much deeper than that, because that's all I really know. It sounds like they didn't launch enough servers. People were pissed. They had a ton of people playing. If you didn't work, tons of bugs, lots of other stuff. And so yay, yay for that. Hopefully it gets resolved. Because I'd love to jump back in. I haven't played those games in forever, but it'd be cool to kind of hop back in for a hot minute.
00:07:51
Speaker
If they re-release any games, they really need to go after, in my opinion, Twisted Metal and remake those into an awesome game. I would say there's so much fun. I can't even go down that path. I'm not even gonna do it. One of the things I'm really excited about, I won't buy them because I have enough as it is. As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of the Micro Galaxy Squadron toys. I'm a big ship guy.
00:08:19
Speaker
all those fun things. I love that scale. It's what I grew up with. That's probably why I'm obsessed with modeling. And they've recently announced or they released, I don't think they were announced that they released them. A B wing, a U wing. Those are the only ones I really care about. But they also have a Darth Vader starfighter and a Naboo starfighter. They're pretty sick. They're pretty cool. The B wing and the U wing, like a small scale U wing. I need that I want it. I can't buy it. I can't buy it. But
00:08:50
Speaker
I love those toys. If you have little ones that are maybe in that kind of stuff, I highly recommend looking into it. Don't go after all the stupid Chase ones and stuff because they're always expensive on eBay, but your local store should have them. They're pretty cool. The B-Wing is my favorite fighter of all time ever.
00:09:11
Speaker
I know we were talking recently about E-Wing and the vintage collection E-Wing that's coming out and I have actually pre-ordered that because it's already sold out. Great. Well done Hasbro. But of all time ever, it's the B-Wing because it's so radically different to everything else at that time. And also,
00:09:38
Speaker
my fascination with the tertiary, sorry, the secondary or tertiary characters, Nien Nam has always been a number two to Chewie as my guys. It's always been the alien co-pilot. Chewie number one, Nien Nam number two. And I still to this day have a pristine legacy collection, Nien Nam, in his B wing.
00:10:04
Speaker
flight suit as seen in Return of the Jedi when they're being briefed on the on-home one. So he's actually kitted out as a B-Wing pilot, not in the vest that you see him later on in the Falcon. And I've always wanted to put him in something and I can't afford the vintage B-Wing.
Sean's Star Wars Collection and Budgeting
00:10:29
Speaker
So this might be a cheaper substitute for me.
00:10:33
Speaker
Well, this doesn't solve that problem. No, it doesn't. If I ever get my head in its proper place again, I have a Bandai special edition B-Wing kit inside my cabinet behind me that is waiting to get built and now I have a recipient for that. So sometime in the next 45 years,
00:10:56
Speaker
that may, that may end up in your hands. I've even tried to, sorry, I'm going to, I'm doing the usual and going off with tangents already, but, but, but this is all good stuff. Um, I've always, I've always coveted the, um, the Lego UCS, um, B-Wing as well. And if you look at the price of those now,
00:11:15
Speaker
crazy money, crazy, crazy money for an inbox, you know, mint inbox, um, uh, MCS, uh, Lego B wing. It's, um, you're talking at least four or 500 bucks, which is the same price now as the, as the UCS millennium Falcon, which is significantly larger anyway. So I think that's, so I think that's why I get sucked into the models because it's like, I want the high quality detail.
00:11:40
Speaker
But I also I can't have I have me see here I don't have room for any UCS I don't have size for the non UCS ones it's like I need I want like really high quality small and plus that means I have to build them so that's pretty easy to store them when they're all in boxes in that cabinet show because it's now now it's all on my shoulders it's like well I have them
00:12:00
Speaker
I just have to build them and make it. So it's kind of like a self arrest kind of way of dealing with a shopping compulsion. And for the techie nerds out there, I've also blocked big bad toy store on my router through DNS. So I literally can't access it.
00:12:19
Speaker
on my phone, like if I try to go to BigBadToyStore.com on my phone, I can't. I can't even access it on my phone, nothing. It just doesn't work. That's how much of a problem it is. I was gonna say, is that some sort of therapy for you?
00:12:34
Speaker
Uh, it's, you know, it's, do you get those emails that are always really good and really tailored and they're like, they shouldn't send you a picture. It's like, we have a cool new Ninja turtle. Sure. And so it just adds a barrier. Cause then I click on it and it's like, and it just fails. And I'm like, Oh, that is gonna, like, I could turn it off, but that's an extra step. Like it adds it a barrier to getting to it.
00:13:01
Speaker
that's like, it kills that instant gratification. Yeah. Well played. You gotta set boundaries for yourself. Yeah. The other, only a couple other quick things. Star Wars Unlimited, the deck building trading card game came out from Fantasy Flight. I think that came out March 8th. They started with their Spark of Rebellion starter pack. I will probably check this out. I don't have anybody to play with here, but that's also because I haven't gone to the game store in a long time.
00:13:31
Speaker
I probably don't need to get involved in that again, although the being social in-person and sense of community would probably be nice. But if it's anything like my X-Wing miniatures stuff, it'll be fun for the first hour. And then it's like, I really would like to go home now and sit on my couch and not be standing over this table or sitting here. So, but that's cool. It's cool that their fantasy flights really kind of pumping out more
00:14:00
Speaker
More stuff love that board games didn't um So the entertainment didn't didn't Sony entertainment as alongside Star Wars galaxies didn't they have a digital Trading card game like I think like there's that one the collectible trading card thing like the digital one where like they've had a
00:14:24
Speaker
like artists from all over create little digital cards? No, this is no, this is an actual game. This is an actual game. But I can't because what they tried to do is they tried to they tried to incorporate it actually in Star Wars galaxies in the MMO. And it never really worked out. It never really works after the new gaming experience. They they they they introduced this new
00:14:49
Speaker
Side lines galaxies trading game. There you go. There you go. And it was really really odd because you would get You get awarded cards to play outside of the MMO experience, but they would also yield
00:15:05
Speaker
gifts and, and, um, wearables or, or, um, animals that you call rides. Sorry. Mounts rides mounts. I mean, and it would gift you something actually in game as well. It was really, really bizarre. And it was good for some funky stuff that you could play in the MMO, but the, the, the, the trading card side of it, I don't think ever took off. It never was particularly.
00:15:32
Speaker
how can I say it never really no one really understood what it meant if that makes sense it wasn't particularly intuitive it's like a bolt-on thing it's like so it sounds like we can blame that for the rise of NFTs because it sounds like it could be you know maybe somebody's inspired
00:15:50
Speaker
But, rolling along, there were some comics released recently, Darth Vader 44, High Republic Adventures number four, and Mace Windu number two. I have not read them yet. I am not a good source for comic or books. You should go over to Jam Transmissions or Rogue Rebels for that. Our friends over there, they're cool. They're a lot smarter with that literary stuff than I am, but they're cool. They're out there. The covers look neat.
00:16:13
Speaker
And there's also one thing I did check out was a preview of the new Visions one shot, which I think have very confusing names because it's called Visions Takashi Okazaki number one, which I thought Takashi Okazaki was the name of the comic, but it's the name of the like the story, the writer, whatever the proper term is. But the comic name is Ronan and the Droid.
00:16:38
Speaker
Basically it's taken all the vision stuff and it's contained like it's not continuing that story But it's part of the Ronin like it's the dual The dual character guy and it looks it looks sick. There was a previous one called visions peach Momoko number one, which is obviously done by peach Momoko
00:16:59
Speaker
They're pretty cool. I like the visions comics. I like them. I really like one shots. Like I've never been a huge comic person, but the one shots are really neat because it's just you read it and you're done. It's not like read. And then I got to wait three months and then try to remember what happened. And it's like the one shots are really, really cool. But yeah, those are cool. And they look really neat. The arts neat. And
00:17:23
Speaker
That's what I, that's cool. That's cool. I, I, I did like, I really, really, I mean, what an opening as well. I mean, we, we didn't really know what we were going to get with, with, with visions and the jewel, if I remember rightly was actually the first, the very, very first, um, um, anthology in, in that first season.
00:17:44
Speaker
Um, and it was, it blew my mind. It blew my mind. The artwork I thought was phenomenal. The story I thought was great. And then I bought the book, which was the expanded, which takes it beyond the initial jewel where the Sith lady is, is, um, is, is killed or supposedly killed. And then his sport is everyone resurrected again, resurrected, uh, by an entity of some kind or another and carries on to, to pursue the, the, the Ronin across the galaxy.
00:18:11
Speaker
I didn't finish it. It got really, really, it got... Same. While I enjoyed the anthology, I enjoyed the episode itself, and it was really, really good as a one shot. The book, I found really heavy going. And I do mean to finish it, but I'm going to have to start all over again. It is a bit beyond my young adult reading enjoyment level, but I had the same kind of thing where it's like,
00:18:42
Speaker
like the short was really good. The novel was like, this could have been half as long. Like I'm a big fan of world building and stuff, but it was just like, it just got so, like, what are we?
00:18:56
Speaker
What are we, it sounds like it was something really good and they tried adapting it and making it longer. And it's like, it filled in. It also, to your point, it requires a lot of brain power as well. You've got this, you've got this, um, mast, um, this mast curious.
00:19:13
Speaker
chat that joins them and you don't know whether there are force users themselves, whether they're a good person or a bad person, you've got this mystery around this particular person and it just got too complicated and I kind of gave up. And I will go back at some point.
00:19:35
Speaker
Just need some more vacations, just sitting on the beach, man. That's what you need. Exactly, exactly, exactly. I've got three, four things, sorry. So in gaming, gaming news I picked up this week, and it's been out for quite a, this news has been out for quite a while, but I've only just picked it up.
Upcoming Dune MMO and Fallout Series
00:19:53
Speaker
And that is, and it kind of lends itself nicely to my current love for anything Dune. Dune's getting its own MMO, Dune Awakening, and the beta is out there at the moment. I don't know any more than that, but the visuals that I've seen at the moment on
00:20:13
Speaker
on YouTube, look absolutely spectacular. I like a good MMO that I can get involved in that's not particularly time sensitive and particularly story driven, shall we say. I can just go off wandering and do my own thing. So I'm quite looking forward to checking that out when it's available.
00:20:31
Speaker
In toys, I noticed there was a really sweet Gotham City skyline set that's coming out. Now, I know I've been talking a lot about Lego over the last couple of episodes and I do have a fair amount, but I wouldn't say call myself an avid collector. But this has come almost like a 3D painting, a very, very shallow painting, albeit in 3D.
00:20:56
Speaker
of the Gotham City skyline. That's sick. I bet we're going to now. That's cool. Have you got it? Yeah. It looks like a bookend, right? It looks like something that you can have on your bookshelf, just as a piece of art, if you like. It's like a backsplash on the shelf. Exactly.
00:21:16
Speaker
Exactly, exactly. So that caught my eye. And then lastly, when it comes down to our televisual entertainment, Fallout, a game that I loved, certainly Fallout 4, a game that I loved is getting its interpretation to live action. And that coming out as a TV series on April the 12th, so I'm looking forward to that. Yet another gaming franchise is finding its way to the
00:21:43
Speaker
to live action. So we'll have to make sure that we diarise that pod soon where we talk about translating comics and video games to live action, what's landed well and what hasn't. But I'm looking forward to that. And then lastly, in the last couple of days, I believe that Pally Jenkins has said that Rogue One, sorry, Rogue Squadron,
00:22:10
Speaker
the original film that may or may not still be a film or indeed may or may not be a TV series now we're not quite sure what's going on but she's very much saying that it's still very much in development and that she owes Kathy and the guys over at Lucasfilm a second draft of her script so that's a surprise to be sure but a welcome one
00:22:37
Speaker
And for me, I know, I have caught up on a few pods this week and I know that they've been, a few of our friends have commented about it and
00:22:48
Speaker
I wouldn't say there's an awful lot of enthusiasm out there for this kind of show because I think all of us thought it was done. That was it. It was gone. But I'm looking forward to it. Again, this goes back to my fascination with the secondary and tertiary characters out there, the Eddy amount story and the relative breather we can get from force users that seem to be
00:23:10
Speaker
overpopulating the galaxy these days. So I'm looking forward to something like that. And if it goes, and I've got a bit of a crush on the rebel pilots anyway, the bigs, the porkins, the wedge antilles of the OT, and then of course Oscar Isaac's character, whose name I've forgotten at this moment in time. I'm just going to let you stay with it.
00:23:43
Speaker
Poe Dameron and his team in Black Squadron. I love that. I love that stuff. And the idea of a Top Gun-esque type of show or maybe less Top Gun-esque and more Memphis Belle and Masters of the Air kind of show coming up in the set in the Star Wars universe would be sick.
00:24:10
Speaker
Um, and that's it from me, mate. Um, so, so it's like, you were talking about rogue squadron and how people aren't excited for it. Like I'm, I'm pumped. Like, but then again, I'm, I'm over here, you know, wink, wink, nod, nudge, nudge, just chilling, you know, just hanging out, just waiting for my Disney check. Uh, dude, I'm pumped for it. Like, cause I guess I'm in that stance of like mediocre star Wars is better than no star Wars because.
00:24:39
Speaker
Like, but I think it'll be good. Like, I think it'll be good. Because it's like, dude, it's ships. It's more here. I'm a ship guy now. It's more close ups of starfighters. It's more. It's something it's more characters. It's more this is more that I'm. I guess I'm I guess I'm in a way I'm saying I'm glad I didn't get my my didn't get my blood pressure up when they originally kind of speculated that it was not
00:25:05
Speaker
going to continue forward. So I'm like, I never left and I'm still sitting in the camp of like, hell yeah, dude, I'm excited. This is gonna be cool. And if it's not, then I just won't watch it again. But it's still, it's something new and I like something, I like new things. And if I end up not liking him, I don't repeat him. But if it's good, cool. Merch, merch that will come out a year later, more toys maybe, a year later.
00:25:33
Speaker
Cool. More, more, more. It keeps me... I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. And you made the comment last week, actually, with the Scruffies is that, you know, look at the impact and the power that Andal had.
Appreciation for Andor's Storytelling
00:25:49
Speaker
The impact it made, the fact that it wasn't...
00:25:52
Speaker
It was it was what was going on behind the scenes you know we have these amazing legends of our really really amazing characters and the heroes of the rebellion. But at the same time there was a huge huge.
00:26:08
Speaker
military engine behind them that had an awful lot of people and that would have had their own stories as well. And that's the kind of stuff these days where I am in my Star Wars fandom, I want to hear a lot more about. So yeah, I'm up for it. Well, and I think there's one final piece on that. If you're not feeling excited about it,
00:26:31
Speaker
Like there's always one thing you can keep in mind and why I think is one of the aspects, one of the many aspects of why Andor was so successful. You never hear people talk about what is and is not canon when you talk about Andor because it doesn't, it doesn't, it's not that it doesn't matter. It's just, it's not, you're not packing more stuff into that same singular line of like mysticism. It's like, it's just a story. It's just,
00:26:58
Speaker
It is what I mean. Well, we already know how it ends like and it's still able to be compelling because it doesn't have to fight all of these other things. So I think Rogue Squadron is in there as well of like. It doesn't it's not who's got a lightsaber. Oh, let's add some more force users that aren't dead. It's like, no, this is it can be independent and it's got no strings attached and it could just be whatever it wants to be. Now, I'm excited for that. I mean, I it's cool. So good, good on it.
00:27:27
Speaker
Um, the other thing I wanted to joke with you, you, you had me, like, I think I blacked out for like a split second when you started talking about the Gotham city skyline Lego set. I missed the Lego set part and I got really excited actually, because Madison plays a game called city skylines where it's like, it's like, it's like a Sim city. And I'll do your, I heard Gotham city skylines and I was like,
00:27:50
Speaker
Yo, am I gonna have to start playing that game? Like, because that would be awesome if I could make a Sim City game with, but it's actually Gotham City. That would be awesome. And then every once you're playing, all of a sudden, like the bat signal goes up. It's like, oh, it's happening. Yeah. But I got very distracted in my head for a minute. And I was like, that would be so cool. Then I heard the word Lego and I was like, ah, but the Lego is still cool. But it's like, damn, that would have been that would have been cool, too.
00:28:19
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So that's, that's the news. Sorry. I just, I had to say it cause it just keeps distracting me. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That would be cool. No, no, no, no, not at all. So what have you been watching this week? So.
00:28:33
Speaker
I've watched a ton. I'm not going to talk about the bad batch yet. We're obviously punty on that. And just so everybody knows, if you're listening to this podcast and whatever, I put podcast chapters in it. And so if your podcatcher supports it and you just want to jump straight to the bad batch stuff first and then come back.
00:28:52
Speaker
Feel free. You can bounce all around. It should it should be labeled for you. So just a fun tip there. But what I've been watching, I've watched a ton of stuff, watched a ton of stuff this week. We I'll try to blaze through some of the ones that I just have like quick thoughts on to share with you. And some of them obviously have spoilers for you that I don't want to spoil. But we did finish our Oscar watch through. Two of them, two of them were after the Oscars, but we don't we don't care.
00:29:19
Speaker
One of them was the Zone of Interest. Yeah. It's a very good movie. Very well shot. I will say, I highly recommend people watch it. It does have to do with 1940s Germany, Holocaust, concentration camps, but it doesn't get into
00:29:45
Speaker
It's not like similar to what I said about Masters of the Air. It's not like war porn. It doesn't show anything, like it's all implied. And that to me is what makes it. And the audio design is unreal in this movie. If I could suggest a way to watch it for anybody, watch it with headphones.
00:30:12
Speaker
If you want the true experience, watch it with headphones, especially like an over-ear sound, like a noise canceling. It's a different movie. It's not one to have on in the background. It is a sit and watch this and take it. But it's very good. It's very, very good.
00:30:34
Speaker
The next one was American. I would say that that's the one. That's that's the one that I'm that Lucy and I in particular have got racked up for this weekend because the story it's a little bit like other films that I've fallen in love with recently. The story behind the making of it and the purpose. Oh, yeah, I totally forgot. It is as interesting as the movie itself.
00:31:00
Speaker
Yeah, when you finish watching it, watch the extras. There's a specific extra where they talk about it, and it's not a spoiler, but they'll talk about how they wanted it to be kind of isolating in a way. And so there's not a film crew on set. It's cameras are kind of stationary, and there's not a film crew behind them. So if you see somebody in a room by themselves, they're there by themselves.
00:31:28
Speaker
acting and doing stuff. So it's hearing about that was like, wow. That that just makes it so much. It's so much more. I don't know. You just have to watch. It's real. It's really good. The next one we watched was American fiction. This is one. That obviously I'm not I I'm not the the right demographic to speak about.
00:31:52
Speaker
what it means in some of the concepts, but I would say it was very good. It's all over the place emotionally, intentionally, but stick through it. The ending is fantastic. It is not what you think it is, but it's got a lot of social commentary. It's very well written, very well acted. It's a very interesting story.
00:32:16
Speaker
Um, but I, like I said, it's like, I'm not, I'm not the one, I'm not the one kind of, I'm not the type of person to comment on what it, what it, what it really means. But I can say it's a very, it's a very good movie.
00:32:29
Speaker
I've also watched, I watched this on a plane. I read the book, but I forgot it because my reading retention is horrible. I watched the Hunger Games, Songbirds and Snakes movie. And it was, it was, it was, it was better than I thought it was going to be. It just seemed to kind of come and go and disappear. I think I probably would have never heard anything about it, but I am a fan. I do enjoy Rachel Zegler's work. Yeah.
00:32:58
Speaker
I thought it was I thought it was really a really good adaptation. Like, I forgot everything that happened in the book, but then you kind of get into it and it's like that. It's it's good. I like it. I'm hope I that's it. That's a universe I want more out of, not necessarily like the same window of time, but the Hunger Games universe. I think there's an element of it that scares me because it's like, are we are we headed for this? But it's it's just a very rich and interesting
00:33:28
Speaker
universe to dive into and I thought that movie was better than I think the reviews and stuff have said it was. Good, good because I mean we talked before about those the books in particular was
00:33:47
Speaker
media that I bonded with my daughters on. So yeah, I'm looking forward to watching that at some point. Heavy, heavy connections to the the future. I'm not gonna spoil anything. But
00:34:04
Speaker
there are things in that story that make, that enhance the originals. Because like, I'm sure, you know, it's like, it's about, it's kind of about snow. And so it's like, it's, it gives a lot of context to like, who he is and things like that. And it's very interesting. The other one's all rapid fire through master the air wrapped up, I won't spoil anything. I know you just, I believe you just started watching it. Just started. I will say it.
00:34:35
Speaker
it. The curve goes like this whoosh that straight this kind of this parabolas itself right on up through the roof because those last the third last third last episode is really good. Second last episode is like, Oh, buddy, here we go. And that last episode is top top notch. I
00:34:55
Speaker
It's different, don't go in thinking it's, for other people, don't go in thinking it's gonna be Band of Brothers or the Pacific, they're all three different, but it is worth it to get through it, and it's really good. Excellent. The only other things are Shogun, which we'll talk together.
The Shogun TV Series: Historical Insights
00:35:13
Speaker
If you're not watching that show, people, you should be. If you like Game of Thrones, but in like, I'll call it Raccoon Japan.
00:35:22
Speaker
I'm so glad you found it. I'm so glad you found it. When it first, it kind of slipped out. Like I said, a couple of weeks back, it was this
00:35:36
Speaker
81 it originally came out with Richard Chamberlain was the original version. It was very romanticized, very, very romanticized because it was a production for the time, shall we say, and it was Richard Chamberlain who was a particular type of productions at that moment in time. This is gnarly and I love it. I absolutely love it.
00:36:03
Speaker
I enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it all the way through. I think it's because one, there's an element of like, I'm excited for celebration. I've been doing Japanese lessons and do a lingo for a while. It's just kind of very present. So I think there's an element that got me into watching it. But I think after episode four, and not for not for specific reasons in that episode that people would immediately jump to. But
00:36:28
Speaker
like the marbles are racing down the track now. Like it's like, okay, we've got the setup and now shit's happening. So exciting. Without giving anything away to those of you that haven't watched it yet, this is the proverbial shit hit the fan in episode four where if you think about
00:36:58
Speaker
the period in history in feudal Japan where we were at, there's this very, very unbalanced and very, very fractious relationship between different members of the Japanese council, the ruling council that are essentially in charge of the country while the regent, am I being right here? The council of regents or whatever it's called,
00:37:25
Speaker
Well, no, no, no, no, no, there is a successor to the old emperor, isn't there? Oh, yeah, yeah. But he's a baby, or he's very, very young. And there's a council of regents that are basically ruling the country and they have to vote on everything. And there's a very, very fractious relationship between these disparate lords that own big chunks of the islands.
00:37:53
Speaker
and that's all gone to shit by the by episode four and it's fantastic it's absolutely brilliant but i think you made me realize like one thing that they do really well in it it's like they do a really good job at like setting the scene letting you like teaching you about like the the relationship with maybe uh
00:38:13
Speaker
Portugal, Spain, like in the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, but it's not like it doesn't beat you over the head with it. Like it gives you pieces here and there and sets the stage but then it's also teaches you about like what Japan was like at this time for those who are maybe unfamiliar with it and how very different it is from modern day Japan and
00:38:33
Speaker
It does a really good job of like ramping you into this instead of just like tossing you and being like, well, you don't, you don't know about feudal Japan. Well, best of luck. And like, there's, it's not spoilery, but like, there's, there's characters who don't know what it's like in Japan and you kind of like learn along with them in a way that's, that's subtle.
00:38:55
Speaker
It's part of the story and it's so good right now. I'm really hopeful. I didn't know it was based off something originally.
00:39:05
Speaker
Well, to your point, it's a really good history lesson as well for anyone to understand imperialism. Especially Western Europe and imperialism, you had essentially a race. I think of it as the original space race, albeit it was about new continents and new countries.
00:39:27
Speaker
across the globe where you had Western Europe, the UK, France, Portugal in particular, Spain in particular, the Ottoman Empire heading east and not west and they were heading east
00:39:43
Speaker
And the Indians were the first areas of contention. And obviously, the UK had a massive foothold in the Indians. And then you go even further still, and then a lot of the Asia Pacific region.
00:40:00
Speaker
was next on their radar. And it was all about power. It was all about control. And in most cases, it was all artificially fabricated as being something to do with spreading the word of God. So on both sides, I mean, it was all about capitalism. I mean, it always has been. Let's not mince our words here. It was about exploiting what the West thought as
00:40:27
Speaker
should we say, more subservient countries and exploiting their land, their resources to bring riches back for the betterment of their home nation. Like I said, they masked it in some sort of nonsense around it being spreading the word of God and the local
00:40:48
Speaker
the local religion at the time, and at the time you had the influence of Rome on the Catholic Church in Spain and Portugal, and in the UK you had the Protestant, or the Church of England at that moment in time, so very, very much it was a case of the Catholics versus Protestants, which as you know in the UK has been an ongoing problem for many, many, many years.
00:41:18
Speaker
But ultimately, it was all about capitalism. The religious part was a smokescreen. And then they've introduced that
00:41:30
Speaker
that kind of atmosphere into this amazing feudal Japan which has already got its own politics and its own belief system and its own customs and it's all like this amazing... It's dripping with feudal Japanese kind of customs and it's just...
00:41:50
Speaker
It's it's it's like it's like a bunch of explosives just about ready to go off. It's just all this tension and all this Conflicting views this conflicting culture and it's I just love it. I love the tension That's the spice to it. I think that's like the special ingredient in my opinion It's like there's so many there's so many shows that are similar this like Game of Thrones and whatever but they they follow
00:42:16
Speaker
the Western kind of norms of storytelling or behavior of what is honor or strength, yada, yada, yada, going to war or whatever. And this is just like, you don't know what's going to happen because it's mixing these two cultures alike. It's all kind of blending at the same time. So if you're not watching it, watch it. Yeah, I love it. I have to take away.
00:42:45
Speaker
I love it. And in so many ways, and in so many ways, you've got the arrogance of the West coming to what they call the Japans at the time, which is an old name for the region, and the absolute arrogance of the West on all sides of them being superior, but in many, many cases, feudal Japan being so much more superior than the West's idea of culture, of civilization, of what it is to be
00:43:15
Speaker
to have honour, to be proud, to be polite. I mean, the most extreme to even bathe, you know, it's amazing that our hero, our hero from the UK, you know, finds it strange that people
00:43:30
Speaker
in Japan bathe once a day and not once a week. How interesting for you to assume that the guy from the UK is the hero. I guess we'll just have to find out. We'll have to find out. Exactly. How arrogant. How arrogant. I'm just messing with you, but I do have a question for you. I'm going to see if I can, because I don't want to spoil it because it is new, but it's like I have a question that's been eaten at me and I kind of looked on the internet. I'm like, I don't know. I'm not the kind of person that's like, I'm going to go Google for answers because it's just a cesspool out there.
00:43:59
Speaker
near the end of the latest episode, is the shadowy figure a courtesan, an actual courtesan, or somebody else, or a known character, in your opinion? I think it's a courtesan. I think it is. I think it's a courtesan. So there are three
00:44:29
Speaker
prominent female characters in the last episode, all of which have an interest in with our, the protagonist. One is obviously the widow of, that is his translator, which there are clearly- Monarch sister. Yeah, which clearly he's gonna have, yes, of course it is, which clearly is gonna be, the second is his,
00:45:02
Speaker
I know it's a C word, I'm like, C, oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is the widow of the gentleman that disgraced himself and therefore had to take his own life and the life of his eldest son. Sorry, nobody's gonna understand what we're talking about. And then obviously, lastly, to make him relaxed, they hired a courtesan. Now, maybe there's a twist to this, but I think it literally is.
00:45:33
Speaker
I think it was you think it was a courtesan. Yeah, and not and not one of the other not one of the others to for sake of spoilers. I could be completely wrong, but yeah. And I guess it was it's with the exchange that they had or it's like. Yeah, I know what you mean. And yeah, yeah, I know. I don't know. I don't know.
00:45:58
Speaker
Cool. I have to have to wait and see. Hey, it's good stuff. I'm not good at waiting. I got that. So Matt, I don't know if everyone's audience, but Madison has this rule where she doesn't she doesn't like to watch shows until the series is over. You told me you told me. Yeah. Yeah. And so I'm really grateful for this podcast because now it's like a reason for me to be like, I got to I got to stay current. You know, yeah, I got to watch it.
00:46:23
Speaker
So I get her to watch some stuff. I got to watch Masters of the Air and things like that. And we have in any of the Star Wars Disney shows or whatever, some of the Marvel stuff we'll show watch. But it is interesting. It's like, oh, what do you want to watch? It's like, well, I think we could watch the Sopranos now. It's like.
00:46:38
Speaker
Yeesh. Let's go. It's a battle there, isn't it? That's some commitment. Again, another reason why I'm liking this is it's, again, one of those programs that I've watched with Lucy and that she's quite eager to watch with me. It's one of our programs in air quotes.
00:47:03
Speaker
And when we find our program in air quotes, it's, it's usually a good time. So, um, yeah, that's another reason why I'm liking it as well. Speaking of which, what are you watching? I want to hear, let's hear your, uh, good segue. Um, so like you Shogun, um, I watched it quite
For All Mankind Season 4 Wrap-up
00:47:21
Speaker
early. I watched the first two episodes, uh, a little bit before you and then you leapfrog me and I've kind of spent the last week catching up as well. And, uh, caught up on episode four.
00:47:30
Speaker
And again, thoroughly enjoying it. I won't spend any more time on that. I have finished For All Mankind. So we used the last week in between busting open Lego bags. We finished For All Mankind, again, a show that Lucy and I thoroughly enjoyed together.
00:47:50
Speaker
Really really good really really good. There is a season five on its way, which is great which will take us into the 2010s So we've kind of almost caught up with ourselves they have Every every series is a is a decade jump to the next stage of of man's
00:48:19
Speaker
advancement into space into the galaxy and it's really odd it's really really odd because
00:48:28
Speaker
I really enjoyed season four. I think I said to you, I enjoyed seasons one and two more than I did three because three got a lot more fantastical in that the technology is not only caught up with us now, but also surpass us now because obviously there is the urgency of the space race, which hasn't stopped since Russia was the first country to
00:48:52
Speaker
to uh to land on the moon um and it's gone even further with with with season four uh but what i like about it now is that you have a colony now on mars i'm sorry if it's a spoiler but it's it's kind of it was a natural evolution from the moon to it's inevitable yeah yeah yeah and so there's a colony on mars and it's it's really really interesting because
00:49:19
Speaker
I don't know if you ever read the books or watch the TV series The Expanse. I was actually gonna bring it up. I'm like, have you ever watched The Expanse? Because that was a really good show. Yeah, yeah. So it's got to a point in season four where you've got a new
00:49:36
Speaker
a new population, a new demographic of people that see that Mars is there. They come from Mars now. They're not born there. They're still very much shipping people out there, but their home is Mars. Their life is Mars. And there's something that happens during season four that really underlines that and they unionize. They start looking out, they start getting together and the workers,
00:50:04
Speaker
that are keeping the colony and keeping the civilization together on Mars are starting to think about A, their rights, but B, the importance that the civilization that they've built with their own blood, sweat, and tears is really, really important and that they should have an awful lot more concessions or, if you like, a lot more respect from the Earth.
00:50:32
Speaker
And it only happened towards the end of season four. And I thought, it's almost like a preamble or a prequel to The Expanse. It'd only take another 100, 200 years. And I could see what's going on in For All Mankind being this
00:50:52
Speaker
the independent entities that are the Terrans, the folk from Mars, the Belters, because I tell you what, it's a very, very similar kind of dynamic going on there. I had to even look it up because I honestly thought, is this in the same universe? You know how they say, for example, and I'm sorry, we're going off topic a little bit,
00:51:18
Speaker
But I do say that, for example, that there's enough Easter eggs in the modern day Alien prequels that Ridley Scott put in that suggests that Blade Runner and Alien live in the same universe. They're actually the same universe. So Tyrell from Tyrell Corporation that creates the replicants new
00:51:42
Speaker
Weyland, Weyland Yutani, the guys that create the androids in Alien, they're both on a similar trajectory of developing artificial intelligence in the same universe. And I felt the same thing about when I finished For All Mankind about
00:52:02
Speaker
the relationship between that and the expanse, because it's so familiar. Unfortunately, it's not related, but good God, it could be, it could be. And another reason why I employ anyone that enjoyed the expanse, not just for the shooty shooty laser laser rockets, but also the story and the political machinations of what was going on, the terrorism that was going on,
00:52:28
Speaker
with underground movements and activists, both with the Belters and with Mars. If they like that kind of stuff, it might be an idea to watch For All Mankind as well. So I finished that. I'm sorry if it went on a little bit, but honestly, it's four seasons. So I feel as if I've opened the stripes on this one. Have you ever read the theories that they think all of the movies in the Pixar universe are connected?
00:52:56
Speaker
like they all lead up to like Wally thought dude I'll send you a link it's a it's a it's a fun time that they say all the Pixar movies are are all one big universe you know I'm kind of depressing in a way but you know everything you send me I actually read and watch yeah I'm honestly stop it just stop it
00:53:15
Speaker
Anyway, sorry, moving on from there.
Masters of the Air: Initial Impressions
00:53:18
Speaker
So what's taking the place of that as our show is Master of the Air, which at the moment we're only three episodes in, enjoying it. It's quite, to your point, and remember you talking about this when you were first kicking off with it as well, it's very different at the moment in that it's still quite,
00:53:46
Speaker
clean cut, I would say, at the moment. They've been through a few scary missions, but I'm expecting it to all go to Rat Ship pretty soon. But I am enjoying it an awful lot.
00:54:01
Speaker
Um, so for mankind must the air still watching the usual scrubs, but I saw Galactica, um, Shogun watching. Oh, there's, there's two new things come out on them. Oh, sorry. There's two other things I've been watching recently. Um, there's a, there's a UK comedian called Noel Fielding. Um, for some of you guys in the U S you might remember the mighty Bush.
00:54:27
Speaker
And if you don't remember, it's quite a niche British sense of humour. It can be quite
00:54:38
Speaker
Sorry, isn't he the bake off guy? He's on there for a while. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he said he still is. So he's also the one of the comedian presenters of the Great British British Bake Off as well. But prior to that, he's very much an alternative comedian in the UK.
00:54:57
Speaker
very very he can be quite um divisory in terms of his his he's not a particularly um mainstream comic it's a very very different um type of type of humor but i like his humor and um apple tv have um him um
00:55:16
Speaker
There's a bunch of writers in the UK that are responsible for many, many different types of comedy programs like Spaced, for example, amongst others. And they've come up with a historical or an inaccurate historical sitcom called The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. Dick Turpin being a very famous highwoman in the UK many hundreds of years ago.
00:55:41
Speaker
And he plays the part of Dick Turpin as our hero, albeit what we're seeing in the program is he's not a particularly good highwoman, and in fact, he's a bit crap, actually. But somehow, by means of his cunning or his clumsiness, he ends up winning the day. And it's quite funny. It's my kind of sense of humor.
00:56:05
Speaker
It's quite like I said, it can be quite alienating because it's not it's not it's not a particularly mainstream type of sense of humor, but I'm enjoying it. The other thing I saw was see how they run. See how they run is a 2022 film starring one of my favorite actors of all time. Sam, Sam forgot the guy's name. Don't let us don't let to be a correction next week. We know we got a streak of one.
00:56:38
Speaker
Hang on, hang on. Sam Rotwell, sorry, Sam Rotwell. I forgot, I just forgot his name for a second. Sam Rotwell. And it's, it's, it's interesting. And it was recommended to me from someone that listened to the pod a few weeks back. You remember I went to see the, the Mausprat at the theater, which was the Agatha Christie play. Anyway, there's a film called See How They Run, which is basically a whodunit about someone that gets killed
00:57:07
Speaker
during the stage play of The Mouse Trap. It's really odd. It's a film producer or director that's looking to make The Mouse Trap into a film, which of course it never has been. And it's a story behind his death. And by watching the play, someone recommended this film and I watched that and actually quite enjoyed it. It's actually, it's quite an interesting
00:57:36
Speaker
interesting take and actually it's quite interesting how close the film gets to the actual plot of the mousetrap which i thought was meant to be kept secret but anyway um and i saw that as well and that's really been it apart from our main
00:57:52
Speaker
conversation. Oh, there's one thing I wanted to talk to you about. I don't want to go on for too long. I'm really getting into retro Star Wars art at the moment. So this goes back to, if you remember some of the conversations we had in our very, very early episodes. Very early episodes. Check me out. We haven't even done 10 episodes yet. And I'm talking about early episodes. Anyway, the point being is that I was talking about
00:58:22
Speaker
at my stage in life getting really, really loving the flamboyancy of some of the old retro Star Wars art and comics and the rest of it. Anyway, I'm really going down a rabbit hole at the moment, looking at YouTube, looking at eBay, looking at artists that are really taking some of that 70s camp, flash Gordon camp, which was applied to Star Wars in the media realm and turning it into pieces of art. And I'm going down that rabbit hole and I know that
00:58:52
Speaker
Certainly, in the immediate future, I may be making one or two purchases because I love it. I absolutely love it. Anyway, I thought I'd let you know. Yeah. Got a couple poster tubes showing up at the house and be like, oh, Lucy, it's okay. It's not. It's a gift. I got it on sale. Exactly. Exactly. Or a canvas. Dude, that just reminds me.
00:59:20
Speaker
Uh, I, there is, so I obviously worked at Disney and yeah, I don't know if you've ever, I think it's like ha.com. Have you ever heard of heritage auctions? Yes. They're the, they're the other guys that they're the, the other, the alternative to, um, prop store, right?
00:59:38
Speaker
Yeah, but they do a lot of stuff. So word of advice, don't ever sign up for an account for them unless you want to be inundated with things that you cannot afford, but really, really want.
00:59:53
Speaker
I made the mistake one time of they did a huge liquidation and like estate sales for a bunch of like old Disney stuff. And they had one of the original. So I used to work at Madison I met working at Country Bear Jamboree, and they had one of the original Disneyland posters that sit out front for the attractions up and I was like,
01:00:12
Speaker
I got outbid during the auctions, but they were selling like Skyway cars, like actual ride vehicles. They sold everything down to just stupid little stuff, but I bid on it and I didn't win it, but I didn't realize that like people who don't pay just keeps trickling down to like highest bidders and highest bidders. So it eventually got down to me.
01:00:30
Speaker
and I was like, it was my whatever bid, and I actually paid for it. This thing is frickin' massive. I don't know. I'll have to show you sometime, but it's outside this window that the cat usually jumps in, and it's on this wall. This thing is like...
01:00:44
Speaker
four feet by six feet big and it came in this monster frame. It showed up one day and like a crate. And Madison's like, what the hell is that? I'm like, you're gonna surprise for you. I hope we got a wall. And so it's it's out there. It's ridiculous. But yeah, now now they're like, hey,
01:01:05
Speaker
All the time they sent they send me these like 400 page by catalogs full of like Star Wars stuff. And it's all like, yeah, this will probably go for 2 million. It's like, Oh, well, good thing you sent it to me so I can get that. That's exactly what I want. Let me just rob the neighbors and sell everything. And
01:01:29
Speaker
There's a, there's a pod I follow and it's, um, and they're sponsored by heritage actually, which is the reason why I knew the name. It's a pod called, um, heritage. Let me guys sponsor us, please. That'd be freaking sick. No, no, the, the, the stuff dreams are made of. And it's, um, it's, um,
01:01:52
Speaker
two collectors, David Mandel and Ryan Condal. The point being is they're both writers in the film industry. Ryan, for example, is it Condal? Condal, Condal.
01:02:11
Speaker
Anyway, he's the guy that wrote Pass the Dragon. So he's the guy that, yeah. So these two characters have their own, and David Mandel wrote Curb Your Enthusiasm. So these are good guys that know their stuff. And their hobby has turned into such a habit that they've had to create this podcast. And it's hilarious.
01:02:38
Speaker
Well, it's hilarious and depressing because these guys' beard have got so much...
01:02:48
Speaker
disposable income, shall we say, that they bid on pretty much. I mean, they're like you and I. They're fanboys, like anyone else. But they've just got a different level of disposable income. And they buy so much stuff. And it's honestly awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, and depressing when you listen to these guys talking about what they've bought. I think it's...
01:03:13
Speaker
For example, I might have to check that out so I can live vicariously through them. Yeah, they've annotated their pods really well. If you can check out the one where David wins an XWIM, screen used XWIM model. Was that in like the last six months or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:03:35
Speaker
I know, I watched that auction go down. That was wild. That was the prop store auction, right? Yeah. He ended up buying, he ended up originally, he ended up buying himself a
01:03:56
Speaker
A stunt, I wouldn't call it a stunt X-Wing, you know, one that was going to be blown up. A non-hero, like a non-hero one. That's the one, that's the one. And then, and then while that was satisfactory in his mind, he ended up going for the, for the, for the hero one.
01:04:11
Speaker
Um, which is interesting because apparently there are markers there to indicate that it was at some point, something like red, three, two, five, and one, because they use, obviously use it for different shot shots and then took away a certain amount of decals to make it look like a different ship.
01:04:27
Speaker
it's the stripes on the top of the wings I never knew it until I got into modeling and it's like oh there's actually like bands yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so if you check out the stuff dreams are made of that they're the guys that buy all the stuff um you know they buy things like you know the original
01:04:45
Speaker
original Indiana Jones whips and Indiana Jones hat. They're the guys who, as I'm watching those auctions, because I obviously get a lot of emails and stuff about it. Who is buying this stuff? They are. Well, there's a conspiracy theory, not conspiracy theory, that they've got a theory that they know when they're up against Peter Jackson, for example. Peter Jackson is one of those fanboys, again, that has a really, really good collection of his own.
01:05:14
Speaker
Um, and, and, you know, I wouldn't say money is no object, but money is a very, very different, their circumstances are very different to mine. They have a lot more objects than we do. Yeah. It's really, really interesting that stuff. I mean, some, some of it is, yeah, exactly. Some of it is quite, um, a bit weird. Um, but, but it's, it's kind of like where money is, is.
01:05:38
Speaker
no object to the point where it becomes, to me, bizarre. It's not relative anymore. It's kind of like, wow, I, I, I don't even I don't even know what world you live in. It's a question I always ask Madison all the time. It's like, Okay, when you get to be like Taylor Swift or Peter Jackson level, like, do they do they actually use like a normal credit card? Like, what? How do those finances like even work? Like, I know they have accounts and stuff like that. But like, what is
01:06:08
Speaker
How does it even behave? It's like, oh, here's my wall and I have my debit card in. How does it work when you're a billionaire or whatever? No idea. I think it's probably a wave of... It's a bit like the whole Jedi mind trick. It's just a wave of two fingers. You just have one big line of credit that everybody just sorts out. I will never know. It's one of those questions. Anyways. Do you want to talk about Batch?
01:06:38
Speaker
Yes. I've, I've recently tried to, I can't, I wish I was a graphic designer cause I was going to make a whole graphic and I had it on my head and I was going to call it like D brad batch, but, Oh, yeah. Very good. Very punny. We found the title. Yeah. The D brad batch, but I do wonder, okay. There's, there had to be a lawyer when they were doing that show. They're like, okay.
01:07:08
Speaker
There's one actor and he's gonna play like 37 characters. Like how does that work? They're like, does he get paid extra? Does he get paid like?
01:07:19
Speaker
what kind of credits does that involve? Because I know I read a book one time that was talking about how the names on posters and stuff works and why they do featuring and starring and introducing and all that stuff and why the names don't line up necessarily with where the people are standing because it's all part of the contract. How does the Dee Bradley Baker stuff work when you play 470 characters in a show and it's
01:07:45
Speaker
Like it just fascinates me. It's like, there's gotta be somebody writing a contract. They're like, this is irritating. Can we please stop doing this? It's a pain in somebody's side, I'm sure. But anyways, yes, let's talk bad batch. Sorry. I got excited for a minute. No, not at all.
01:08:03
Speaker
So we had, we had, we had our two episodes this week, um, which, uh, is a, is a welcoming is a surprise, but a welcome one again. Um, so we started off with infiltration.
New Bad Batch Episodes: Plot Developments
01:08:16
Speaker
And again, like, like the first time we did this, um, I've just made loads and loads of real time notes that may not make much sense, but, um, so I have a proposal. Let's do, let's do high level, high level thoughts.
01:08:32
Speaker
Yeah. Per episode. We'll do one episode at a time. High level thoughts, high level thoughts on the next episode. And then we'll get into the, cause I know I have a tendency to be like, let's talk about theory for 45 minutes in the middle. I'll save all mine for the, for the end. Once we get through the high levels. Oh dude, I did a, I did a Sean Hoffman. I've got four, I've got at least 45 minutes on, on, on, on Starship design that I've got. I put my notes in a separate notes document so you couldn't see them ahead of time. So you don't know what's coming.
01:09:02
Speaker
That's how. That's how. Oh, look at that. What, what is, what is that thing? Is that your phone? It's my phone. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Right. Goodness. We might not, one day we might not want to be doing. Um, okay. So high level infiltration. What do you think?
01:09:26
Speaker
I only have three thoughts on this. Okay, four. One, it's dark as shit. But two, I have a recommendation for people. If you have the opportunity, don't watch it on a TV. Watch it on a laptop in a dark room. It makes the whole episode way better, but that's not here nor there. It is dark and it sucks and I wish there was a way to do it. Disney Plus should have two versions. It's like real version and like super enhanced bright version. Okay, here's my real thoughts. Rex's initial animation was silky smooth and impressive in the beginning with like
01:09:54
Speaker
There was just something about, I'm like, there's something about the Clone Wars and animation where it's like, then they, there's no like horizontal movement. I know I talked about it last week. It's all vertical, like walking like stick figures. The way they did that was, was really cool.
01:10:09
Speaker
I got my heart skipped a beat for a second at a point where Echo and Omega were kind of talking in the beginning. It was very ominous. It was very much like leading down that path of like, dude, that goes not coming back. He's gifting her guns. It's weird. It's sentimental. It's like, what the hell is happening here? I was like, what? I mean, there's times where I'm like, dude, somebody put Echo out of his misery, like,
01:10:34
Speaker
I'm on my team, like, can we please fix Echo? He doesn't look good, does he? He does not. And my only other thought is, at the end of it, I just, I verbally said out loud, like, fucking wolf. Seriously, like, can we please stop putting wolf imagery in Star Wars? Like, I'm, I'm positive about it, but it's like, please, please no more. But that's, that was my only thoughts.
01:10:58
Speaker
So is that extraction you, you, you, you, you're combining both of them. If you're talking about Wolf, you can money. He, he, I thought he was at the very end of episode six, cause it was in my episode six notes at the very big, I think he was like right before the credits. They showed his portrait and I'm like, Oh yeah. It was like, is that wall? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. You're right. I'm glad he's in there because this is connected tissue, which, um, I don't know that I'm, I'm not.
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah, anyway. High level thoughts. Loads and loads of notes, which I'll go through very, very quickly. Later, not now. I really enjoyed it. I'm really glad they were bunched together because I feel as if it's...
01:11:42
Speaker
I really, I really like the pacing of this, of this, of the way they've done this season. And originally I thought they're doing it because they want to make way, make room for May the fourth for something else. But after speaking to you and the Scruffy guys last week, I kind of, I've, I'm at peace with myself to not expect anything for around that time. It's literally a breather before we roll into the, uh, into the acolyte, which I'm looking forward to. But, um,
01:12:14
Speaker
I actually think the pacing's really, really worked. It doesn't feel like an afterthought or having to do this at the expense of the schedule or to make room for something else. It actually feels purposeful, which I really, really appreciate. I listened to another pod today, actually. It was the, oh, Nick, the guy from Bayside, his podcast. Thank the maker.
01:12:37
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I listened to them today and they were actually speculating whether it had something to do with the way that you license, you know, licenses for episodes. You can't make it an extended one. You can't make it a 40 minute feature. You have to still make it two, two lots of 20 in order to satisfy some sort of regulations or whatever. And I thought that's actually quite smart, smart thinking, but I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. I'm really glad, you know, we didn't end up with a cliffhanger, cliffhanger, cliffhanger, cliffhanger.
01:13:05
Speaker
You know, we kind of concluded that story, albeit it probably asked more questions than it answers actually, but I really, really enjoyed it. I thought that it was...
01:13:18
Speaker
really well done. It certainly wasn't any slower than any other episode we had, and it really sets it up for which left two... I came away from that, from those episodes thinking two things. One was Crosshair's redemption is well in the way now, and his brothers that he's fought
01:13:47
Speaker
both within and outside the bad batch are really getting where he's at now, which I appreciate, and I don't think they're questioning his loyalty anymore. And secondly, I loved the way that it turned into something, it turned what seemed so very provincial and very, very small into this very simple introduction of Rex and his, and his, what he's trying to achieve with the
01:14:14
Speaker
all of his brothers out there, regardless of where they are, it turned into such a larger, larger problem they're trying to address, or situation they're trying to address. And I thought that, you know, we talk about every week about episodes serving a purpose, and I thought they did it perfectly well. Can we talk about Starships yet? No, no, we cannot. For episode seven extraction, my notes were...
01:14:42
Speaker
More on the animation style. I know I'm beating this dead horse. Micro movements were very critical in this one. There's very subtle.
01:14:53
Speaker
very cool. My other high level thought was, dude, stop using flashlights. And it made it even funnier. Because when later in the episode, they were using infrared with the like the heat signature predator style. Like, yeah, stop walking around with flashlights. Like, there's the there they are. It's always like, it's funny. The crosshair and omega relationship is super cute and endearing. How that's turned around so quickly.
01:15:18
Speaker
Not that the quickly part is a criticism. It's just like, I really appreciate the banter, the brotherly, sisterly, fatherly, daughterly kind of like banter. I thought that was really well done. I have a note that I don't really remember what the hell it means, but it's like, why did the first shuttle leave? I don't remember what that was about, but I'll figure it out later.
01:15:38
Speaker
Wilhelm Scream, another classic. Yay. Wrecker saving and kind of looking after Batcher. Adorable. Love it. Love to see it. Good stuff. And then at the end, I just couldn't help but chuckle at the waterfall-ish scene where it reminded me of the days when I used to play Goldeneye with my friends or like other games. It's like snipers only and you're in close quarters.
01:16:03
Speaker
And it's like, can't even look down the scope because you're 10 feet away from each other. You're just trying to shoot them. And you can't because it's just like a sniper's only gold knife fight way too close. We only have rifles. It was just it was funny. It just reminded me of that. It felt like a play on it. So then you have to get they become slappers only. Those are my my don't let Sean deep dive thoughts on both episodes so far. But yeah, you mentioned
01:16:34
Speaker
go back to Amiga as well is that she really has saved Crosshair. She really has saved him and Crosshair is someone that I am really liking. I really like him now.
01:16:49
Speaker
He's the core of the season and he's really turned around. Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, to the point where Hunter's really taking a backseat, isn't he? Which I don't think is a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing at all because it's about a batch, not an individual, which is good. But I think that
01:17:12
Speaker
She has literally saved him without sounding too dramatic. I think that she's been good for his soul, but also in bringing him back and realizing there are people that love him. And even the people that love him needed to be reminded that they loved him, which again is down to her. So that steps into one of my thoughts a little bit. I'd love to hear. I don't know. I get the feeling he's not in the clear yet.
01:17:40
Speaker
with the calling him brother. I don't want to go too far into one of my thought here, but it's like I have a feeling. He didn't necessarily wash out as quickly as they say he did with the assassin program necessarily. And OK, I guess I can't really phrase it in a way without talking about the larger thing. It's.
01:18:05
Speaker
There's a part of me that wonders, what do you think the Assassin's Hemlock in my continued theory of dark troopers? It's like, one, are Assassin's Hemlock side project similar to what they did with the dark troopers with, oh gosh.
01:18:23
Speaker
Giancarlo Esposito, his character. Like, is he working on the Palps project, but also creating his own elite force on the side by doing, is he somehow, is he using the genetic stuff? Is he stealing abilities, stealing air quotes? Is he stealing abilities genetically and implanting them in other living clones? Because they're all really good snipers for some reason. And it's like, it's very similar to crosshair. And did that mess up crosshairs
01:18:51
Speaker
Like I don't want to go too far on that path of like, okay, did they like steal it from him? And so he's like damaged or did he get injured? And so then they, he's no longer useful and put him over there, but like, are they using something genetically to like make super soldiers based on like, are they turning them into like a bad batch based on the good qualities from other things? Could be, I don't think it's a self serving as Gideon. Um,
01:19:18
Speaker
I don't think Hemlock is... I think his ambition is towards his... His self is about his greed and his self. It's about his promotion within the structure. I don't think he has...
01:19:39
Speaker
aspirations to rule like Gideon does, for example. I don't think he's looking to create the ultimate soldier and his own guys as Gideon did, which was not such a great plot point. But anyway, it's what we've got to go with.
01:19:55
Speaker
I do think, sorry, take him one step back. To your point about Crosshair, about him not being fully in the clear, I don't think he ever will be. I think he's like every person that's gone through trauma and gone through some sort of PTSD or extreme PTSD. I don't think he ever will be.
01:20:16
Speaker
right. I think he always will be somewhat on the periphery or the outside and that's what makes his character for me at the moment so compelling because I've known people like that myself in my own life in that they never will be the same again. Life has
01:20:36
Speaker
has spit them up you know chewed them up and spit them out and they never will be the same again does that mean that they can't be a they don't have a function or that they can't be a
01:20:48
Speaker
still an upstanding person in society? No, of course it doesn't. And I do think that his story is on... My feeling and my hope is that he contributes a great deal in some sort of... I know I hypothesized that maybe he might have become the leader at some point, but the fact is that, you know, will he become a brother again? No, I think he's too much of an individual.
01:21:14
Speaker
because of the trauma he's been through. But that's not such a bad thing, especially when it comes down to breaking away from the shackles of being a clone and the implications of being a clone of having the same kind of thought process, the same kind of belief system and so on and so forth. Anyway, there's that.
01:21:34
Speaker
I apologize for taking it deep. I totally jumped over your stars. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Shut up. No, I'm being serious. I was like, oh, shit, I totally blew past it. No, no, no, no, no. But to your point, can I see if you think of the bad batch as being
01:21:58
Speaker
a, you know, five, well, four now, well, three now. Maybe, maybe. Yeah, four, four, maybe three. Defects, defects, but having remarkable qualities that make them stand out and make them in many ways more superior than a standard clone.
01:22:20
Speaker
Can I see Hemlock using his process to serve two reasons? One is obviously the project that Palpatine has with him. The second, to create the ultimate
01:22:33
Speaker
Trooper, Assassin, whatever you have, that has the qualities of the snipering ability of Crosshair, the tracking and the tracking abilities of Hunter, the physicality of Wrecker, and the technical abilities of Tech, and so on and so forth. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, I can see that.
01:22:53
Speaker
which basically means that if you consider your baseline as being the standard clone and then the bad batch being above the baseline because of their skills, but ultimately it's only in one particular area, you combine that into one donor, into one shell, then yeah, you've got one hell of an army on your side. I got no idea. I actually think that there's... I think Rex called them shadows. I think they're sick. I think they're absolutely sick. And one thing I did write down, which I will talk about,
01:23:23
Speaker
is that I love their aesthetics, I love their design. And I've heard a lot of people talk about their design and their aesthetics.
Speculation on Shadows and Death Troopers?
01:23:31
Speaker
And I think I'm on my own, maybe I'm on my own, but all I kept thinking of was that they look like the flesh and blood version in my mind of the assassin droids.
01:23:43
Speaker
that the Separatists used to use. They're very live, very, very, very slight in frame, very tall, very thin. But rather than the T-visor or the visor that you expect from normal troopers, they've got a very snug-fitting helmet with two very, very separate eyepieces. For me, they look like a
01:24:03
Speaker
They look like a, and I know that, you know, everything in Star Wars lends itself from an aesthetic point of view to show some sort of progression, technological progression or historic progression. But I loved it. And I honestly thought that the mannerisms as well just reminded me very much of the assassin droids from the old Clone Wars cartoon, amongst other things.
01:24:27
Speaker
I didn't think I that's that's a really good call because it's like I kept getting stuck in the realm of like their their their helmets look like canons when he when he goes blind but that that's actually I think what I was thinking of it's like no they look like those those I remember him from Jedi fallen order and stuff it's like those stupid bouncy assassin droids they just jump all over the place and they're so they're so bouncy and it's like yep that's
01:24:52
Speaker
the faceless anonymity. I mean, that's what all stormtroopers and stuff are, but it even seems even more so. There's not a lot of contrast. It's very assassin ninja-ish. I'm still personally in the camp of these could be death troopers. Is that too connected? Are they leading into the... Because I remember the old Rogue One book.
01:25:17
Speaker
visual dictionary book was like, oh, they're like genetically modified to be yeah. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, I mean, I mean, that would be sick if it was the case if they if they if they are the
01:25:29
Speaker
early death troopers, then great. Cause there's something about, I mean, you mentioned it a couple of episodes ago, you know, you've got the commandos, which is probably the elite, but they look, I mean, they're so over proportioned. Like a football player, like a football pad. Yeah. They look like a, a berserker. And yet in the game, they're meant to be in, you know, the, the, the, the premium infiltration and, and, and, and ordinance. It's like not in that suit. They're not going to be anywhere. What I loved about the rogue one piece was they're all slight. They're very, very tall.
01:25:59
Speaker
But they're all they look like Navy SEALs, right? They look like they look like I mean, that's the point. They look like they look like Navy SEALs. And that's kind of what what I loved about that. So if that's the case, if this is the preak, if this is the the proto, you know, the proto. Before they really mess them up, like this is kind of the path. I mean, if it's not that I won't be disappointed. I just like theorizing stupid stuff that never happens.
01:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah, we all do. We all do. Right. I'm going to go through, I'm going to go through this list of my very, like super, super quick, which I know is rare for me, but I'm going to do it super quick. And then, and then, then starships. No, this is part of it's infiltration. This is my notes for infiltration. So again, there's no rhyme nor reason for this. I'm reading it out as I wrote it down.
01:26:47
Speaker
Master assassin in brackets. Sean will be happy. Close brackets. Senators Singh and Chuchi. We've seen them again. So Chuchi was the young, the one who cares about the clones and organized a lot of the liberation in the Senate. That was great.
Clone Armor and Character Analysis
01:27:12
Speaker
I then wrote down Hauser, Greer, Rex, Gregor, Wolf, and Samson, all named, if not seen, during this episode. I also wrote down, surprised they're still wearing clone armor in the open, bearing in mind that they were there to protect those senators, they're a little bit
01:27:36
Speaker
over, aren't they? They're not particularly bearing in mind that besides his indoor hoodie thing, his poncho he had on.
01:27:49
Speaker
But they all were. They were all wearing their old armor, which I'd have thought that at least dumb it down a bit or disguise it down a bit. I was a bit surprised they were wearing their claymore armor, but bearing in mind, it's a production. They already have the assets. Why not? But surprise me a little bit. They've built up a number since the last time we saw them. So Fireball, Samson, as I said, I've written down similar master, the assassin droid head. We've already spoken about that.
01:28:19
Speaker
Um, oh, you, you were right. Wolf was there in the first episode. Wolf is still a bad guy. So bearing in mind that the next time we see him is in rebels and he's on the Walker living with Gregor and Rex.
01:28:33
Speaker
in, in harmony in this episode. And certainly the next episode, he's still a bad guy. Although we see that he shows them, you didn't see in the next episode, which is interesting because if you remember in rebels, Wolf was the guy that dubbed them in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, so he's clearly coming around to the idea of not working for the empire, but even, you know, 10 years from now.
01:29:01
Speaker
from where it's set now. He's still tipping off the Empire because obviously Kanan and Ezra, sorry, he tipped them off on Kanan and Ezra. Then I get into the ships. Okay, so here we go. So I like Echo ship.
01:29:19
Speaker
Echo Ship reminds me, it's got the bridge of the Ebon Hawk. If you remember the original Kotor game, it's got that very rectangular type of bridge of the Ebon Hawk. It's got the body of an extended stock freighter. So if you imagine a stretched Millennium Falcon, so rather than being circular, it's a little bit more rectangular, albeit with the curves of a Corellian freighter. Then it's got the engine configuration of a V-Wing.
01:29:48
Speaker
you know, the four, you know, the, the, on top of it. And I thought it looked really sick. I thought it really, really good. And I actually quite like it. And I think that, oh, if they could make a model of that, or if they could do something with that, I'd be, might be interested. The Assassin ship. The Assassin ship.
01:30:08
Speaker
Did I like it? I don't think I did. I knew it felt to me like it had the, it was like a crossbreed between the, is it the Eclamator Republic cruiser?
01:30:22
Speaker
the original, the very, very first wedge-shaped Star Destroyers that they had in the Clone Wars, at the end of the Clone Wars. The Venators? Pardon? The Venators? Is that what they were? They were probably... I thought the Venators were in the... Revenge of the Sith.
01:30:43
Speaker
They all acclimated. I think you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the smaller one, the smaller really small, more of a triangle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it reminded me of, it's like, it's almost like a scout, a fighter version of that cross between, sorry, cross between that and the second Nubian or Naboo Naboo ship that, um,
01:31:10
Speaker
Padme had in Attack of the Clones. It's that kind of dart-shaped, wedge-shaped ship with a very slight cockpit on the top, albeit in a triangular shape like the Acclimator Republic Cruiser. I'm not sure if I liked it. It was almost a bit too on the nose without much
01:31:34
Speaker
without much design ethic or story got into it. A lot of what I appreciate about the industrial design in Star Wars is the story as to why it's designed a certain way or why it's weathered a certain way. And I didn't feel that with the Assassin's ship.
01:31:58
Speaker
So it's like when I, when I saw, I don't remember exactly what it looked like, but I remember my thought when I saw it. When I first saw it, I was like that, I thought it was a Sith or like, I thought it was like, Oh, this is going to be a massage. Cause it reminded me, I don't remember specifically was, but it's like, I thought it looked like Darth Maul ship a little bit. Oh, the infiltrator. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, but then he stepped out. It's like, that's, it seemed like a bit much. Like it to me felt like too much ship to be giving to.
01:32:25
Speaker
people that they see as cannon fodder. Like, yeah, it's like, oh, these are really important sasses.
Assassin Ship and Design Critique
01:32:30
Speaker
We send them out. But why why'd they give him such a nice ship? It's like it's Kylo Ren level like Thai silencer. It's like, oh, it's this big monstrosity. It's got all these shoulder pads, wrist on the things that he could control with. It's like they wouldn't have done that for expendable individual. I mean, hell, the Thai fighters, most of them don't even have shields. Like, so why does this?
01:32:53
Speaker
Why do these assassins all of a sudden get top tier ships? Yeah.
01:33:02
Speaker
So that was my notes on that, on, on the first step. And the second one I've got extraction I've got. Um, and again, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's equally as half baked as the, as the first or the previous episode, um, crosshair keeps missing was my first comment. Secondly, the assassin's a bad ass. Yep. Thirdly.
01:33:27
Speaker
Rex and the team escape in a Lego brick. Again, it's a Starship Comet, but the escape craft that they use to get away from their camp looked like a leg... It didn't look particularly erod... It didn't look like it served a purpose at all, in fact. And it felt like they were escaping in a Lego brick, which I thought... A cool concept, but I just didn't
01:33:54
Speaker
again it didn't convey a story to me and if it I'm not really sure I want to know what the story that was it looked like an escape like an escape pod they bolted onto the side of the mountain yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it wasn't going anywhere quickly right um and then uh will hem screen you're right got that caught that as well um and then the next one um was um
Bad Batch Tactics Discussion
01:34:21
Speaker
my language. Holy shit. Bad batch not using stun anymore. I don't know if you noticed, but in the first couple of seasons, they were using, you know, we're not going to hurt our brothers. Everyone was stunned, you know. And they were killing pretty much everyone getting in their way in this episode until it came down to the assassin, in which case they stunned him.
01:34:46
Speaker
And I'm like, he was, he was drowning a dude too. And he was. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, so they were killing pretty much everywhere. They had live fire for everyone apart from the assassin, in which case they stunned him, which I thought, well, okay. Okay. Moves the, moves the plot forward and the assassin is still alive.
01:35:04
Speaker
But it didn't make much sense at the time because actually quite impressed that they were killing people. And then lastly, my last thought was actually quite a sensible adult adult thought, which was wolf has let them go. What are the consequences for wolf? And that was it. Then my notes. So I'm going to I'm going to I see your adult comment and I'm going to bring it right back down again to I think the only way my thought when I saw that waterfall fight scene was like,
01:35:30
Speaker
This needs a bear, like a big bear to make it like the fox and the hound. I'm like, this is fox and the hound all over again. We got, got these two fighting and then the bear is going to come in and it's like, Oh no, we got a, we got player three entering the game, but that didn't happen, but it's so cool. I enjoyed it. Okay. Okay. Oh, I'll write to Dave. Hang on. You can howl at him. Is that how you get some howl mail? Can we have a bear? You like your wolves. Can we have a bear, please?
01:35:59
Speaker
Like a big, like a big bear. Real big bear. But no, all joking aside, I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. This is really good telly. Really, really good telly. I am. I remember hearing on one of one podcast earlier, I don't remember who it was, but they compared the assassins to like a terminator because that was a big, big fall off that waterfall.
01:36:20
Speaker
Oh, yeah, dude is still like you get crushed by the rocks and just I thought it was weird. I was just like flick flick the rocks off like no big deal. Like when they when they first collapsed the whole thing and it just like kicks them off. I was like, wait a minute. Is that intentional or is this just like cartoon magic of like, I got to get out from underneath the rubble?
01:36:43
Speaker
Well to your point earlier on, weren't the, and I haven't read either the art of or the Rogue One stuff for ages, the behind the scenes stuff, but didn't they have cybernetics?
01:37:01
Speaker
They were they were they I think they said that they were augmented They were like experimented on and augmented so that can mean anything so I did see somebody I try not to listen too many podcasts that talk about it before hours because I don't want to come and be like Here's everybody else's theories, but I couldn't help it here. Yeah, exactly I mean, hopefully next hopefully next week. We'll be back on time again, you know, you and I aren't going anywhere So we'll be back on time
01:37:25
Speaker
It's like I did see somebody theorize that like you couldn't see the heat signatures legs of the assassin. So they're like, it could that be tech? Could his legs be robot legs? It's like, I mean, I don't know why his legs would be robot legs from a fall. I mean, I feel like his everything would be would be robot. But it's like, do we do could the weekly check of do you think tech is dead?
01:37:53
Speaker
isn't that isn't that actually technically accurate because I know what we see in predator is one thing but when it comes down to heat signatures isn't it the the heart area in the head that resonates the most heat so in theory you don't need anyway sorry I'm going to I have no idea could be could be could be what else so I have
Asajj's Potential Role in Star Wars Lore
01:38:26
Speaker
one major minor thing left that's kind of my, I think I don't want to have any other deep dive stuff, but it was kind of an epiphany halfway through the episode, and it's kind of based on some feedback we've heard from everybody else, like how everybody kind of gets frustrated that they keep calling it M count, M count this, M count that. It's like, why don't they just say midichlorians? And I think episode seven was the one that made it clear of like, oh, it's because they don't know what the hell it is. And this is where Asajj comes in,
01:38:56
Speaker
they're gonna come across Asajj and she's gonna be the one, in my opinion, this is all theory, that she's gonna be the one who explains to them what m-count is, what it signifies, and then now they're all gonna get introduced into midichlorians. And my takeaway is I'm interested to see how deep they go with that explanation, since this will kind of be the first time they really kind of get into, besides episode one,
01:39:20
Speaker
getting into midichlorian so I'm like I'm very excited if this is true I'm very excited to see how they what they do here because they've never really addressed it in visual media of like okay somebody's literally gonna ask what the hell is a midichlorian and I'm assuming Asajj is gonna be the one who's gonna be like well it's whatever
01:39:47
Speaker
whatever it is, but that that's my that's my theory. That's my other crazy Sean theory of like that. OK, the Assange connection makes sense. So so so yeah, but going back to that, I mean, I mean, let's use the time we've got left to speculate. So so assuming that. How do we explain this? How do we? I think they're going to try. I think they're going to track her down.
01:40:13
Speaker
I think it's not going to be her coming in and like being a bounty hunter, which I've, what I've always assumed. I think at the end they tailed off with like, Oh, she's talking about M count. And they're like, and Rex, like, you got to figure out what the hell, why they want her. And somebody somewhere is going to be like, Oh, M count. You need to talk to, you need to track down this person and they're going to go find her on some remote planner or whatever it is. And she's going to be pissed. Be like,
01:40:38
Speaker
I'm going to kill you whenever I send a trailer. So you think, yeah. So you, so you think that, um, by now let's be done. Do you think, um, do you think that, um, um, she will serve the purpose of being a segue way to the
01:41:00
Speaker
Bad Batch's journey? Or do you think she's actually going to be her story explaining how she survived death is going to be actually important? What's your gut feeling? My gut feeling tells me she has a hermit on some planet.
01:41:19
Speaker
off living by herself and that they're gonna have to track her down. And I don't think we're gonna get any answers to how she survived. Which may lead into, but going back to our hair brain, hair brain shit from a couple episodes ago, I think, similar to my what if theories of how they use this as a way to lightly introduce concepts to later be used. I wonder if Asajj is gonna play in a role in Ahsoka.
01:41:44
Speaker
or other other downstream mediums. But this is their way of being like, oh, by the way, a soak, a massage is just like she's pissed and chilling somewhere as a hermit because they love the we love the we love a hermit. Hermits are very popular. And so it's like she's living in her cave or doing her thing. By then, being being mad at something, they're going to stumble into her and she'd be like, well, what are you doing here? I'm pissed.
01:42:10
Speaker
Well, I'll just say, I do like Asajj. I make it sound like I don't, but I do. And I think they're gonna be like, hey, we weren't told to find you because you know what an M count is. And then she gets to turn into like the wise and dull term and be like, that's a term I haven't heard in a long time. It's actually midichlorians, blah, blah, blah. Now get the hell out of here. And they're gonna be like,
01:42:28
Speaker
Maybe what they say to her as a catalyst for her to get back, get involved again in something. But I, my gut is that we don't get answers of like, yo, what happened to you? I thought you were like taken to like, like Winnetonka and like give them back to your people. And now you're, you're here just chilling and whatever. I mean, Dooku killed her, right?
01:42:52
Speaker
He, he's lightening to her. Yeah. There's like weird stuff that happened in the end of that. It's like, she's, she's dead. Like going, she's like, take her here and like, do she was, she was saving, she was saving Quinlan. Yeah. She hits some lightning from Dooku. She died. And then she was.
01:43:19
Speaker
redeemed posthumously by the council, and then they buried her on Dathomir. Is that right? I have read it a long time. Yeah, yeah, it's been ages. It's like, but I thought there was some weirdness where you like her, there was an ambiguity, I thought, at the end of that, where it's like, there's something that makes it seem like she's
01:43:47
Speaker
her spirit lives on. But at the same time, with what we've seen in Ahsoka, I think all bets are off. Even in Chloe Wars, mother tells her she raised all the dead witches and stuff, didn't she, to fight Dooku the first time. So we've seen it before, so I can see why it could have happened again. But that was just that
01:44:11
Speaker
She was she'd be dead. Maybe she's maybe she's trapped. Maybe she's trapped on death. Maybe they're going to do some weird thing of like she's she's in a state of in between where like she can't leave Dathomir. It's like, oh, I'm I just hope I just hope that she's not she's more than a bounty hunter because, you know, to kill someone off, to kill someone off in such a
01:44:37
Speaker
huge way, albeit off screen, because of where they were at the time. And then I'm hoping they turn the segues for information and then her profession is still a bounty hunter. It's like, I'm hoping they turn her into the wisened old grumpy
01:44:56
Speaker
Yeah, grumpy mother. Yeah, mother, just mother. Yeah, next next. She's the witch that lives in the woods that you like the movie, the movie Big Fish, where it's like, oh, that's so scary. But then you like, yeah, they're not that they're not that bad. But they're, they're, they're grumpy. Yeah, I like that. I like that. You guys want to see how you're gonna die? And they're all like, yeah, let's do it. I like that a lot. We'll see.
01:45:25
Speaker
So we're all wrong. It's all wrong. Oh, yeah. We're going to be completely wrong. And it probably ended up being the most underwhelming thing ever. And we're still there. It's still great. It's great. Hey. Um, so where do you think, so we've got, that took us up to seven, right? So we've got eight left, eight left. If my mouth is, yeah, it is, um, eight left. So where do you think this is taking us now?
01:45:55
Speaker
I think I think the. There's I think there's going to be an what people call the episode of the week where I think it's going to be a go. They right now, they have nothing. I think the next couple of episodes are going to be finding a size and like figuring out why people want. Omega, like I'm trying to think of how many more arcs you can stuff into this. It's like, OK, we've got we've got to figure out why Omega is important.
01:46:22
Speaker
We've, uh, we've obviously probably got a couple go to random planets and have big monsters attack us kind of things. Um, and then we have the lead up into the, the big episodes. The last two are the released together, correct? Like it's going to be a super episode again. No, no, the finale is actually on its own. It was, um, I worked this out last time, didn't I? I think there's, um, Hey, uh, sometime in April, I think it's April. Um,
01:46:51
Speaker
I gotta pull that figure out. It's loading. There it is.
01:46:56
Speaker
Yeah. So it's actually as a separate one. So that surprises me. Cause I would have assumed that the last episode would have been a double. So that way you don't have to try to do like the, the after the aftermath, like clean up stuff. And actually get to a point where every single week, you know, the last five, for example, are literally one bang, bang, bang, bang. End of the story. You know, it's like ramping it. That, that is the final ramp.
01:47:22
Speaker
towards your Avengers moment. I don't know. But what I would like to see is, I mean, obviously Rex has... He's playing with... Hunter wants to go home. He's got everyone with him. He just wants to go home and protect Omega.
01:47:46
Speaker
Rex is saying, dude, you're in the fight now and the only way of protecting Amiga is to find out why they want her. Um, so that's going to turn around Hunter and the rest of the batch, I guess, turn around their focus towards, yeah, we're going to have to see this through now to the end rather than try and hide out on our, on our island. Um, you know, in the, in the Pacific. Um, and, um,
01:48:11
Speaker
And I think you're right. I think that Ventress will be one of those stepping stones to understand why they need Omega. Um, and then once that's, you know, that that's the case, I guess either one of them gets, one of them gets captured again and they have to get, and they, and that forces their hand to, uh, to, to go back to Tantus again and, and, and wreck ship or what I would hope for, which is.
01:48:38
Speaker
We follow Omega's leadership here and go back and break out our boys. My prediction is there's three pieces left. Saj now will quickly lead into, I'm on team tech as alive, but he's been, he's not, he's not great. Um, I think, I think there will be a, a holy shit moment of
01:49:02
Speaker
Tech is the one, he's an assassin, and it's gonna be an emotional crisis for them. They're already mad, they gotta go save their brothers, but I still sense some hesitation. Everybody's not like, oh, Mega, where they're like, we have to go back. They're still, it's not as explicit, and I think that whatever, I believe it'll be a tech moment, then they're all gonna be like,
01:49:32
Speaker
Oh, what have they done to you? Oh, hell no. Like, and then that's where it's like, get everybody. Let's all, let's all do this. Like we have to do it now. Like the, um, okay. That's my theory. It's, yeah. Yeah. But I mean, the fact that we're speculating the first place says that we've got vested interest in this whole thing is brilliant. Great. Yes. Really, really good. It is made. Anything else? Any other thoughts on, on bad batch?
01:50:03
Speaker
No, only that it's going to be good next week that we're back to normal time again and that we can avoid other folks' opinions and avoid the media until we talk again next week and at the right time so that we can actually come into it fresh. So we're looking forward to that. We're looking forward to that. But no, all good, mate. All good. I think on that note,
01:50:33
Speaker
I think that's all we got. Yeah. In true form, we aim for an hour, we end up with two. So we've done well. Watch it on, listen on 2x speed this week. Hey guys, have a great, have a great week ahead. Although we hope to be speaking to you again in less than five days.