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Reaction to THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU with the Siblings of the Force - CONTAINS SPOLIERS! | 031
1 Playsin 8 hours
Join Branwen and Seah as they deep dive into all things Star Wars. Follow along as we fly off exploring all the wonders and geekery of a Galaxy Far, Far Away, chatting nostalgia, worlds, lore, sound, music, story, behind the scenes, and much more with each other and some very special guests.
This episode we share our reactions to The Mandalorian and Grogu (includes spoilers!), then in the second half we're joined by our lovely Siblings of the Force Cellan, Jessika, Rebecca, Suzanne and Mary who came to watch the movie with us at Odeon Cardiff Bay. That part of the conversation was recorded in the Red Dragon Centre outside the cinema, so please forgive the background noise.
Sisters of the Force is a weekly, UK-based, Star Wars podcast, produced with joy and love by Seah and Branwen. Sisters of the Force theme by Seah and Branwen.
Follow us on Instagram @sistersoftheforcepod, Bluesky @sistersoftheforce.bsky.social, TikTok @sistersoftheforcepod, https://www.youtube.com/@SistersoftheForce, and https://www.facebook.com/sistersoftheforcepod.
Merch now available: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/174934721 and https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/180297825
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Transcript
Spoiler Alert: Mandalorian & Grogu Film Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, dear listener. This is your fair warning that this episode is going to be about the Mandalorian and Grogu film, and it will contain spoilers. So, if you haven't already watched the film, please pause this and go away and do that at your earliest least convenience.
00:00:18
Speaker
Thank you!
Cinema Experience: Tired but Fulfilled
00:00:34
Speaker
Hey, Branwen. Hi, Sia. How are you feeling around about 18 hours after our group cinema trip? I'm still buzzing. I'm very, very tired. Yeah, fair. Having driven to Cardiff and back from my house, which isn't very far, but it's, you it's a drive. It's pretty far.
00:00:52
Speaker
And yeah, just like emotionally tired. It was really, really beautiful. One of the best days I've had for a very long time. Yeah, it was. Both in terms of The company, especially the company. Yeah. Meeting up with that gang of people. It was so nice to meet people in 3D. I haven't met some of these people. I haven't seen their legs before.
00:01:13
Speaker
It was weird and weird seeing them like talking to each other. Meeting each other. Yeah. Yeah. Who some of them definitely didn't know each other. No. At all. No. Before. They might have heard each other's voices. Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:26
Speaker
but That's it. Yeah. Like listen to them talking about Star Wars. Yeah. Yeah. That's all they really know of them. Yeah. But now they know each other
Immediate Reactions: Post-Movie Thoughts
00:01:34
Speaker
much better. and as you will hear later on in this episode, siia and i are going to talk to you a little bit about our reaction to the Mandalorian in Grogu, which is why we're here. Woo!
00:01:44
Speaker
on Sisters the Force today, but yeah, later on we're going to hand over to a recording that we made yesterday outside the cinema. Straight after. Yeah, literally minutes after leaving the Odeon. We were still in the foyer of the Odeon. Yeah, so you'll hear some lovely background ambience. We were trying to find somewhere quiet, but there just isn't anywhere. No. But you'll hear all of our sister's gang that came with us yeah chatting about Star Wars in real time. And it's one of the most wholesome conversations I've been a part of in a while.
00:02:15
Speaker
It did feel incredibly special, didn't it? it was a I was just completely mind blown all day. Me too. Oh my goodness, we're all in the same place. This is so nice. And then factor in the film, which is... Yeah, which is great. What? I just had a lovely day. Yeah.
00:02:31
Speaker
And indeed, that is why we are here. So we've had a little bit of time, like you said, 18 hours-ish. We've had about 18 hours, yeah. Yeah. To digest. To digest and, yeah, ruminate on The Mandalorian and Grogu. How, yeah, now how are you feeling now? Because we're going to hear you... feeling now?
00:02:48
Speaker
Now, get, I'm very tired. Very tired. I think I'm not very good at containing my own excitement. Yeah. So I go hard on the excitement and just ride that wave and then have steep drop-offs. Yeah. I get that. I'm like, oh my God, what did I do? But it was just so joyous. And I just, I've just laughed so much.
00:03:11
Speaker
ah Everyone was so funny. And like, the film's really funny. I laughed throughout the whole of that. I made so many involuntary noises yeah throughout the whole thing. Yeah. That was really I think we were the kind of the noisiest group in the cinema. We were the noisiest group in the cinema, but I don't think kind only think people minded. no not at all. I think we brought other people in the cinema into our vibe. That's true, actually.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yeah. Some other people were joining in. When we applauded at the end, some other people joined in. Yeah, definitely. I can't believe I spontaneously, as Lucasfilm came up, the logo at the beginning, I shouted, this is the way. you did. Which I'd never do things like that.
00:03:51
Speaker
I think to be fair, there were a few other people in the cinema aside us. I mean, there were plenty of whoopings sounds yes coming it was whooping group. Yes, there was whoopings. But they were from other places as well. So I didn't feel Too too bad about it.
00:04:04
Speaker
It was very funny. So I was sat behind you, directly behind you, in between your dad and Ketlan. And so Ketlan got all of my... Oh no! oof Ah! All of my little reaction noises. Just like, I could feel him laughing every time I did it, so he could definitely hear me. Oh, my God.
00:04:27
Speaker
Just great vibes between everybody sitting in a group like that, watching this film. fun. What did you make of the film?
Film Tone: From Intense to Light-hearted
00:04:36
Speaker
Oh, I loved it. It was so fun. yeah It was so fun. And that is exactly what I wanted. i wanted i wanted something really fun because I've just come off the Amdor train, so... I've done Dark Star Wars now.
00:04:50
Speaker
I've just finished it. And there I, yeah, my heart has been ripped to sunder. And now i was ready for like something completely different and something completely fun. And that's exactly what this was. yeah There was loads of peril. I actually spent quite a lot time clenching as well. It's quite a lot of like, oh my God, what how are they going out this? What's going to happen? And just so many really, really cute
Sound Design & IMAX Experience
00:05:14
Speaker
moments. And the score, I was completely blown away by the score. Okay, yeah, that's my first note. it. of Yes. I haven't any notes about it. I've just written score and sound. Oh my gosh. Oh, it was gorgeous. Okay, one thing about IMAX.
00:05:29
Speaker
potentially a tiny bit too loud to think at times. Yeah, but then I'm quite sensitive. So I think that might be why. Yeah. I haven't seen something in IMAX for a long time, but the last couple of things I've seen in the cinema, I've had to wear earplugs to bits of it.
00:05:44
Speaker
yeah And it's normally because I watch a lot of horror in cinema and that's all loud and jump scary and blah, blah, blah. So that's always a thing. But there was a couple of moments where I was like, ooh, fingers in ears a little bit. But I think that's just because of the frequencies. Yeah, yeah. More than anything else. It was lovely to hear it. And it was in like Dolby surround. was great. Yeah. That amazing.
00:06:06
Speaker
Are there any musical moments that... Yes. Yeah, because... Oh, yeah, I started saying it in the conversation yesterday and then I stopped and I didn't. Yeah. So now we get or I get You get to hear it. No, everyone can hear it now. and Yeah, I went and looked it up later. It's the Do We Run or Do We Fight queue. Oh.
00:06:24
Speaker
And halfway through that cue, it starts off very, very like classic Mandalorian theme. Yeah. And then we get this moment where the visuals is ah fighting these giant droids that were very Labyrinth, actually. the Yeah. The kind Guardians of the Door droids. The stop-motion droids, yeah. Yeah. They were stunning, stunning to look at. But that music cue is insanely good.
00:06:49
Speaker
Awesome. it. So is that like a continuous cue from, because when he delivers that line, they're on the ship. Yes. Yeah. I didn't know it was a continuous cue, but I listened to it afterwards. I was listening to it my cycle home yesterday and I was like, oh, there it is. What's this bit? Oh, we're still on the same cue. So it is about halfway through that cue.
00:07:09
Speaker
That's got to do a big job because we've gone from that point at the end of Act Two, really, which is Grogu's world, which is, I think, interestingly, my favourite music cue, which comes to people... It is gorgeous. Which is the exact opposite, in a way. Yes. And it's a real one of many, many big swings that they've taken with the... The structure of the movie of having this really mellow, low-key bit that goes on for quite a long time just before we go into this ramp up to the finale film. Final kind of battle. So that cue from there onwards has a lot to It does a lot. It does a lot. But I think a lot of this was my pure joy at having electronic elements in a Star Wars film.
Musical Cues: Enhancing the Experience
00:07:56
Speaker
Yes, orchestral scores. Love it. But oh my God, hearing that was just, it was beautiful. I love all the synths. I love all of the electronic massive yeah kits. I love all of it. So good. And then that battle that they have with these stop motion, you can't tell what sound design and what score. Amazing, yeah. That was just stunning. And even when you listen back, go and listen to the soundtrack. It's amazing. but Yeah. It's such a good soundtrack. But if you're listening to that, you get all of those little noises of the droids in the score and it's just like, that's beautiful. Ludwig is great at that. He's done a bit of that in the TV show. i I know we've talked about it multiple times about the fine line between sound design and music. And yeah, he definitely did that. but i've just said That's just reminded me of a music cue I'd forgotten, which I don't what it's called, but it could be called Big Pipe, huh? When the Anselm and Grogu go into the pipe and there's this like...
00:08:49
Speaker
It's all pipey percussion. It's all like metallic things. That stunning too. And it's like he really storytells with his timbre choices. I mean, I know with an orchestra you can do a bit of that because we associate different families of the orchestra with different emotions and different things.
00:09:05
Speaker
But with electronic music, you've got way more ways of doing that using sampling. Sure. Yeah, that's incredible. I think I found the big pipe cue. I think it's called We Got to Find Him. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah.
00:09:17
Speaker
Just judging by the order of where it is in the soundtrack. Definitely. I need to go and listen to all of it. I noticed a lot more... than I expected to, considering how much there is going on in the film. It's a non-stop ride. All the yeah. It's just constant, isn't it? And there's music through a good percentage it. be interested to see what the, yeah, like, timespan of the music is. Yeah. But I too, yeah, love the synth side of things. That is so good. I think at the beginning, that opening scene on the Snow Planet, which we still don't know what that is. No. It's quite...
00:09:51
Speaker
traditional orchestral in some ways, I think, at first. But then think it's just as he's about to go off the edge on the walker, the little mini walker, and some synths kick in in this sort of like polyrhythm thing. And I'm like, oh, here yeah. I was literally starting to dance at that point. We've got synths. Yes. It was so good. And while we're on the topic of synths, the Shikari music. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. It was like full on analog acid house. Yes.
00:10:20
Speaker
That's so good.
00:10:24
Speaker
i loved all of it. What about sounds? Were there any like sound design things that you liked? The creatures were all fab. I really enjoyed like listening to all the different creature sounds, but quite often it's the creatures that have a frequency and that doesn't agree with me. okay. A lot of it is like, there's a very specific frequency that seems to not to gel well with my ears. but yeah But it's a kind of quite a screechy one as well. And a lot of these creatures are a bit like, yeah they've got that high screechy thing going on. But I loved listening to what they all did. Quite similar to like Attack of the Clones.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah. The Reek. Big Pit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of those creatures. And I hate those creature sounds as well, actually. But like, it's not that hate them. I love them. But I also, find them difficult on like, on a big screen. And I remember finding them difficult as a child. So it's been there the whole time, this difficulty with Star Wars creatures. get that. I do get it. They are a very specific thing, especially in quotes like enemy creatures. Yeah. Because they differentiate those between friendly creatures. And it's usually enemy creatures are in that kind you Let's just make it really horrible frequency. 2k to 6k. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
Ow. Let's make that slightly painful. Yeah. But I also loved the huts. I think we spoke about this yesterday and the way they speak. Yeah. And oh, just gorgeous.
00:11:50
Speaker
And so nice to see that in the cinema and hear that in the cinema because they rumble through you. Yeah, yeah. And that was incredible in a way that they just wouldn't on home system. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe yours, actually. You've got quite an impressive home system. I've got a quite over-the-top system for the size of my room. Because I want my hat subs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need the subs. While we talking about voices from Hutts and other aliens and sounds they make, I want to shout out Shirley Henderson for being the unsung hero of this movie. Oh my gosh, she's incredible.
00:12:27
Speaker
The detail in those four characters. and yeah I know i need to see this multiple times because there are so many little throwaway little lines that are mixed very low in the mix because they're all just chattering whenever they're on screen. They're all yeah they're all talking to each other constantly, aren't they? and She has brought so much to those characters. And I'm not taking anything away from the puppeteers because that's incredible as well. Oh, yeah, of course. They're gorgeous. she I'm glad to see that she was in those opening credits. It was really nice to see those opening credits, actually, the way they yeah credited Brendan and Lateef yeah just after Pedro and Jeremy Allen White. you know They were third and fourth credits, which I think is yeah awesome. yeah But to see her in there...
00:13:08
Speaker
and yeah I just got so excited when I saw her name because I was like, that's a lot of Anne Zellen content if we've got her credited so high. And she's the only one. She's got a job for life because we are going to have Anne Zellen's. I feel like they're the element of the movie that got
Character Highlights: Anzellans & Babu Frik
00:13:24
Speaker
the most consistent reaction.
00:13:25
Speaker
oh they're so good. People just love Anne Zellen's. All the different other podcasts that I listened to about Star Wars over the last few weeks and stuff, talking about trailers and film previews and everything else.
00:13:37
Speaker
The one thing that all podcast presenters seem to have in common is that the Anselans are a good element of Star Wars. Love them. No one's ever saying we don't need any more Anselans.
00:13:48
Speaker
yeah I've loved them since we met Babu Frick. yeah I've loved them for so long. Babu is pretty much the star of Rise of Skywalker, I think. he Yeah. What a character. What an intro.
00:13:59
Speaker
Whoever came up with that species. Shall we talk about some of the other cast while we're talking about cast? Sure. I loved Sigourney. I had a horrible feeling that Sigourney was going to hardly be in it. And I know she was still only in a few scenes. She wasn't like a constant player in the film. No. But I love how straight she played it. She didn't overdo Yeah.
00:14:22
Speaker
I know characters in The Mandalorian can sometimes be larger than life and it is yeah designed to be like that. It's kind of quite comic book-y, pulpy. The way this film was structured totally feels like that. But she just brought this real authenticity to it and I kind of really bought into it. Even though it's one of those situations where it's a big star that we already know that doesn't always land in Star Wars. Sure. Immediately I wasn't thinking of her as Sigourney Weaver, I was immediately thinking of her as a New Republic pilot, which is really weird because yeah you know she is so iconic. Yes. I think just yeah she just played it really straight and I loved that. And it gave a great payoff then to her scenes in the X-Wing at the end where she was a little bit larger than life by that point. and so yeah some of those lines that like you can only deliver in certain way. Very messy. yeah Yeah, messy, very messy, which is absolutely right.
00:15:14
Speaker
yeah It got messier and messier as the film went on. As it went on, yeah. It was fun to see all of the directors, not all of the directors, I
Director Cameos & Bryce Dallas Howard Speculation
00:15:23
Speaker
have thoughts about that. No, no. But see Rick Famuyiwa and Deborah Chang and Filoni, obviously, and Lee Isaac Chung, who yeah he's already had a little cameo in season three, just a very brief moment on Adelphi.
00:15:34
Speaker
So see him there, and Doug Chang, I think, was with them as well, sitting in bar. Yeah. But I am going to say justice for BDH because Bryce House Howard is a fan favourite. We love her. She's already an actress. like incredibly Where was she? Yeah.
00:15:49
Speaker
Where was she? So maybe she's very busy doing other things. but She might be very busy. She only needed a few hours just to go and quickly put on an X-Wing suit. Unless they're saving her for another role. For something else. I'd be down for I'd always be down for that.
00:16:03
Speaker
I loved Scorsese's Ardenian character. Oh, he was lush. He, again, he took it really seriously and he had yeah those two scenes. There's quite a lot in those scenes and he felt it felt like he was improv-ing. I don't know. Yeah.
00:16:17
Speaker
Well, it was just really quick delivery, wasn't it? And it was very like... Very like, on it like again, sort of honest and authentic as though he's just, yeah things are just popping into his head, which is that perfect actor skill of making it sound as though you're just thinking of Yeah. which could just be his skill as an actor or it could be the fact that he was riffing a little bit, which he could have been.
00:16:37
Speaker
But whatever he did, i feel like it was great the animators of, I presume that was a CGI character, I don't know. He looked quite CGI. Yeah, but whoever did it, whether it was puppets or CGI, it felt like they picked up on his vibe. yeah in the way that he moved his hands and arms. And obviously those are the kind of thing that we focus on with Ardillians because there are four of them, which is yeah what makes them unique. Yeah, whoever did that, it really gelled well with his voice performance in a way that you don't always get.
00:17:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I've got a lot of joy from that. A lot time for that. Yeah. While we're on Shikari. While we're on Shikari, yeah. Oh my God! I haven't heard that noise for ages. Who knew we were going to get West End Geek Girls? we We're not retiring West End Geek Girls, but I have said, I think between us, and I'll probably talk about it in future episodes, that we're not going to have every time this time because there just aren't enough things in the Clone Wars that are going to be in there. That's true. And I certainly didn't think I was going to do it for this movie, but there are two West Geek Girls moments. Oh my gosh.
00:17:44
Speaker
Do I get the sound both times? ah No, just them all in one because this is going to be a short episode. Okay. Allegedly. enough. So the first one is one, I feel it may be a stretch. Okay.
00:17:57
Speaker
Go on. But I'm going to drop it anyway, just in case it does turn out to be something. We'll probably never hear of it again. On Shikari, as we're there, yes Scorsese's character sends Mando to the salt bar.
Plot Speculation: Arcona Species & Salt Addiction
00:18:10
Speaker
Yes. As a possible place to try and find coin. And the salt bar is labelled salt in red arabesh outside. Nice. And i was like, salt Why is that ringing a bell? and Then during that scene, we find out that salt is a precious commodity Shikari. It's rationed. shikari yeah Yeah. What is that all about? and Then it started to hit me about the fact that in Galaxy Guide 4, Alien Races from the original West End games, which if you're a new listener, you're probably wondering what is going on here. Don't worry about it. Just go back and listen to some other stuff. What we're talking about is the West End Games, Star Wars role-playing game, which was out in the ninety s late 80s and early 90s. And yeah, I'm a great fan of it. And so we're constantly finding little moments. Anyway, salt.
00:18:57
Speaker
In that book, we've got a description of the Arcona species, which we've talked about before on the pod. They're the species that we first see in the cantina with the little kind of weird T-shaped head with eyes on the end of each T-bar yeah thing.
00:19:10
Speaker
Apparently, according to Galaxy Sniperic 4, they are... notoriously capable of becoming dangerously addicted to salt. It's like a big part of their psyche. It's quite relatable, really. So I was trying to scan the bar for an Arcona, but it was mostly humans, apart from the Touchy Heavy who Mando got in a fight with.
00:19:32
Speaker
yeah But I don't know. i just It made me think, why is salt valuable? sort of implying it's because it's scarce, but maybe it's scarce because the Arconan species keep coming in and keep naked and consuming it Okay, that was a stretch, that one. That was a stretch. Okay. i enjoyed it though. It was an interesting one.
00:19:51
Speaker
I love that sort of side of the West End Games stuff, is they just go into these really niche specifics. Niche things. na not have any May or may not have any consequence ever. So the other one, I'm going to give a quick shout out again, as we often do, to Rick Villanueva of Jan Transmissions. He sent me a message. just He didn't say anything. He just sent me a screenshot of some text.
00:20:12
Speaker
Talking about the Amani, who are the kind of weird monsters that are in the water. Oh, they're the creature in Nalhuta. Yeah, not the dragon snake, but the one Din fights people. There are three of them and then fights them again later on. yeah They're called Amani or Amanin plural. Okay. Although I think they've changed that for the kind of current canon. In Galaxy Go 12, Aliens, Enemies and Allies, this is what the screenshot was about. They are listed, yeah, as Amani singular and Amanin plural. Right. And sometimes people call them Amanaman. Okay. Which I think one of the characters says in the film. I'm not 100% sure about that.
00:20:52
Speaker
But it's a bit like calling Ithorian hammerhead. It's like a sort slang name for them. Okay, yeah. I wouldn't want to call an Amani anything other than its real name. Because I don't want to get those teeth. They're scary looking. Pretty scary. Yeah. But the thing that Rick sent me was about the fact that in the galaxy guide, it explains how they can roll up like, ah it depends what you call those creatures. In the UK, they have many names. I call them wood lice.
00:21:16
Speaker
I know people call them chubby pigs as well. Yeah. Little things I'm talking about. Yeah. I know wood lice. Little insects. I'd call them wood lice or yeah, they they're are a lot of things, aren't they?
00:21:26
Speaker
Yeah. Pill bugs. They can roll up and roll along and and that's what the Amanis do. Anyway, so yeah thanks Rick for that. Reminded me a bit of Droid Decker's. Yeah. When they did that. yeah Absolutely right. Yeah. Like, ooh, is this where they're getting their designs from? Yeah. They can close their arms and legs and they just go dook, dook, dook, dook. We only see one roll once, I think, when they attack him on the gun runner's ship. That's cool. Thank you. Yeah. That was lovely thought. of The fact that we're He now knows that we're obsessed with West End games.
00:21:58
Speaker
Just another little, i don't know if it's a an Easter egg or what, but was Rota, Rota, rota Rata, pronouncing his was he feeding Grogu Spotchka krill?
00:22:13
Speaker
Oh, he was they were blue. Little blue, yeah, they looked like crustacean things. They looked like little blue balloons to me, like tiny little water balloons. Yeah, or like those little rubber toys that you throw at your window and they kind of roll down the window. And they stick, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like them, their texture and the way they flew looked like that. Yes. Oh, maybe they were. We did get some reasonable looks at the Spotska krill in Sanctuary episode.
00:22:38
Speaker
I'd have to go back and watch that. I think we need to, yeah. And then go back and watch that again. And go and watch the film again and then and go watch Sancho again, which is, I'm here for that. I mean, that's fine. I feel it would be a thing. Like, Spotska, as we know, I did see some Spotska. I think Deborah Chow's character was drinking some. Was drinking a Spotska, yeah. And so it is, you know, it's an outer rim drink.
00:22:58
Speaker
I could imagine it being around Rutter and Shikari. They'll have, yeah. They'd have some. So it could be. Could be. But, I mean, do you get the Spotska effect from eating the raw krill? Yeah, because then that's irresponsible to feed that to a baby. That's pretty bad.
00:23:15
Speaker
I'd assume not because it's like the same thing as like eating apples and drinking cider, isn't it? It has to be distilled first. And it has to be fermented and it has to have all of the stuff done to it That's a good way of looking at it.
00:23:26
Speaker
i like that. And while we're on the topic, thought I feel like this is one of the things I took away from the movie. And I talk about it a bit in our group conversation, you're going to hear in a few minutes. But I feel like I took away this thing of...
00:23:38
Speaker
wholesome wholesome and kindness as well as all the wacky you know wacky stuff that's wild swings and the incredible fight scenes and the non-stop action and all of that. There was a lot of kindness and kindness and heart in that relationship between Grogu and Rata. That to me feels like a big part of the film because we're talking about coming of age for Grogu which he absolutely does in this film ah in a big way.
Grogu's Coming of Age & Future Storylines
00:24:04
Speaker
I mean I know he's got plenty more growing to do but he has... He's still only small. Yeah. but
00:24:10
Speaker
And the same thing is true of Rotter. We hear about the way he has done that in his life and separated himself from his family trauma and everything else and found himself. And he's still young in Hutt terms. I guess he's like a teenager kind of thing. Yeah. Well, he is quite little, isn't he? Well, he's he's huge. but He's huge, but yeah, he's still a kid. I mean, they repeatedly call him kid. and And the fact that we got Zeb saying, I like this kid and realising, oh, he's talking about Rotter. We all thought he was talking about Grody. Anyway. But like that... that just emphasizes the parallel between them as characters and that that is kind of the heart of the film is like this kind of growing beyond your child you know your parents and on all of those things which is really interesting very sweet i liked rotter i love rotter and i know again i was i just thought he was going to be a little cameo yeah didn't know was going to be this much yeah this much part of it he's a real core part of the film yeah Which I guess, yeah, leads me on to my my kind of last... Last point....but it point thing that I wrote down, which is the fact that although a lot of people are saying this is kind of a standalone, and in many ways it is, it's like designed to be seen by anyone, even if they've not watched the show. And there are a few things in it that I think Star Wars fans are like, why are we seeing this now? And why is Din not wearing a helmet now? And not, why is he not wearing a helmet? Why is he still wearing a helmet? Like there's so many... yeah If you've watched all three seasons multiple times...
00:25:34
Speaker
yeah There are some questions, there's no doubt about it, but obviously they've designed this film to bring in new fans, which is perfect. And in that sense, it's kind of a one-off story, but yeah I feel like there are tracks being laid still for the future, things that could recur. Like, we've still got lots of cards left in the Sabacc deck.
00:25:56
Speaker
Yeah, and that's true. And what's going to happen with Rutter? are we ever going to see him again? Yeah, where's he going? He's joined in the Republic. Yeah, he has, yeah. He's kind of befriended Zeb now, and he's certainly friends with Grogu, and they're not going to not see each other again, I'm sure. Yeah. There's also a void in the Hutt cartel.
00:26:14
Speaker
Yes. You know, the twins, I'm i'm guessing, were pretty high-level Hutt cartel... I'm guessing they were the head, weren't they? Because they were... it feels like it, yeah. They were trying to keep power. But then my other question would be, what happened to all of the rest of the huts? Because we saw more of them than just the twins and Rotter. Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
Well, I'm guessing all the ones in the palace probably didn't make it. I mean, they could have done because the palace kind of collapsed in on itself and maybe they just got buried and I'm pretty sure huts can tunnel their way out of things. Tunnel their way around things, yeah. But there would have been other huts elsewhere on Nelhuta, lots of them. I think the fact that we saw more huts in the background just in that palace makes me feel like there must be lots elsewhere. There must be loads of them.
00:26:58
Speaker
And I think it's fair to say, from a canon point of view, that Jabba was the head of the Hutt cartel overall. Yes. I think that's mentioned in Clone Wars, possibly. We'll find out. Yeah, Find out when we get back in.
00:27:10
Speaker
ah But they were trying to, as you say, steal his inheritance away from Rotter, who had gone off to try and do his own thing. But there are other Hutt families within it. like Yeah, yeah. Like not just... There's more. Yeah. There's more of them. There must be more of them. But like this power vacuum might create some interesting dynamics in the underworld generally, not just in the Hutt side of the underworld, but in all the crime syndicates. Yeah.
00:27:35
Speaker
because i can imagine that other crime syndicates would see this happen to the twins and be like oh okay we can now step up and take over some of the business that the huts were yeah anyway i i'm just like looking forward as to like how there's more story points ah we we don't even know if we're ever going to get any more mando i'm pretty sure we will i can't believe we won't get any more. They're not going to retire the Grogu puppet just yet. Grogu is, yeah. as There's 800, 900 years Grogu, potentially, in real time.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah I feel like fans unanimously loved Anzellans and they loved Rotter. We've got to get more of those yeah those characters. yeah We'll see. That'd be lovely.
00:28:23
Speaker
Or we can just watch this one again. Yeah, just keep... you I will. Later this week. Yeah, yeah, later this week. I'm hopefully going to go again on Tuesday, but we'll figure that out. Aw, hope you get a chance, too. We'll figure that out later. Yeah, I just had so much fun.
Escapism vs. Reflection: Film vs. Andor
00:28:40
Speaker
It was so much fun. and Just what we need in these times... Sometimes we do need that reflective mirror show that you know makes us feel like Andor, where we're like, oh, we feel seen, we can see what's going on in the world. and yeah But also we do sometimes need to escape. and It was a beautiful bit of escapism. Perfectly crafted bit of escapism. I loved it.
00:29:00
Speaker
So um I think it's time for us to hand over to the whole siblings of the Force. The whole Oh my gosh. And just find out what they all thought. Yeah. We will see you here, just us two again, in a week's time.
00:29:15
Speaker
Yay! Enjoy! Welcome to a very special episode of Sisters the Force with me, Branwen. And me, dear. Hello! And our excellent siblings of the Force.
00:29:27
Speaker
Hello! Hi! Hi! We have literally just come out of watching Mandalorian and Grogu and we are in Cardiff Bay, which is our local IMAX, if you live in the middle of nowhere in Wales. And yeah, we are just here to gather some immediate thoughts, immediate responses,
Group Discussion Setup: Spoiler Alert
00:29:45
Speaker
reactions. This is going to be a spoiler-filled interview. So if you haven't seen it stop listening now.
00:29:53
Speaker
Exactly. That's your fair warning. Yeah. We're just going answer the questions as well. It's just a freeform interview. We've got two mics, so this could get wild. We'll see what happens. From our siblings of the Force, we have Suzanne. Hello. We have Mary. Hi. Rebecca. Hello. Jessica. Hiya. I'm Kasha. Hello. The Dream Team is in the bay.
00:30:13
Speaker
um What was your favourite line from The Mandalorian and Grogu? I'm going to say the first round's on me. Which was what the Anzellans said when they went to the bar. Poor Anzellans went to a bar.
00:30:30
Speaker
My favourite was, um he's had a growth spurt since then. Absolutely brilliant reference to Rotter's image being from his Clone Wars. That whole conversation was... Yeah, it was beautiful.
00:30:44
Speaker
Anybody else got a favourite line? Big pipe. Big Pipe! That's it. That's as much as it needs to be. Big Pipe. The timing. Comedy timing. over the answer I can't remember any specific lines. Remembering lines is hard. We need to do this more times.
00:31:00
Speaker
The lines aren't the thing that doesn't really stand out about this film as we will surely get into. I'm with Rebecca. Mine was Big Pipe as well. After your first viewing, what are you taking with you out of the cinema?
00:31:13
Speaker
Like what sticks in your head? Sigourney Weaver and an X-Wing. Yes, please. Also all the Clone Wars characters who we all know and love. yes so right like Did you spot anything other than Rotter and Embo? oh No, I suppose not specifically from Clone Wars. So those two, but then also we got Zeb. So like grab yeah I'm linking the two, but it just brought me lot of joy. I'm totally with you on Sigourney. The first shot we see of Sigourney in flight is some kind of magical thing. Anybody else?
00:31:46
Speaker
I'm analysing the fact that when mature and several hundred years old, this creature from Yoda and Grogu species is an apex swamp predator, but when young, they have somewhere lower in the food web. Tiny and They're not at the bottom as was claimed in the movie, but yeah, you know, he's he's not quite up at the top eating everything in the swamp at that point. It's just interesting to see how a creature develops over its lifetime and where it fits in a food chain. There's definitely some kind of like parallel with the huts as well, because the huts are kind of swamp creatures that a lot of years as well. Yeah, and I'm not sure what that means. What is it with the Hudson torturing people for thousands of years, whether it's dropping them in the Sarlacc or hooking them up to Electro's sleepy machine? They're a little bit grim, aren't they? It's horrible, yeah. And they're obsessed with dropping people into pits with animals for entertainment. Like, they've got one vibe and they need to branch out.
Humorous Speculations: Biology of the Hutts
00:32:38
Speaker
Yeah, to be fair, they do. But in fact, because they're kind of pit-dwelling creatures and they're like, let's just build bigger pits to drop more people in. I mean, I don't know what they dwell in. You reckon it's made of mushroom. I thought it was made of their secretions because they're like some slugs and lots of bug-like creatures. There were sinew and stuff. Yeah. Like a cocoon. Yeah. But it was quite fun it was quite fungal. quite fungal.
00:33:02
Speaker
Maybe it's their secretions and then a fungus lives in it, binds it together, like symbiotic. I don't know. I don't know. But pretty grim. I think what I took away from the film was was not ready to learn so much about Hutz. Yeah, it was interesting. And don't know how I feel about how excited I am about what learned because it's all pretty repellent.
00:33:21
Speaker
The way they roll, there was some stuff going on the alcoves. The whole movement was incredible. Yeah. heart fighting Her sleeping. I noticed they were sleeping in the yin and yang position. Yeah. Anybody else have anything else that they're taking with them? yeah I would like to just say ah we've seen ah many different ways of killing. i don't know if killing is the right word when it's robots, but Mando seems to have come up with... He's mastered every method. Yeah. With his four arms, which I think he must have hidden away.
00:33:55
Speaker
Mando's secret had a pair of arms. He's terrible at fighting. There's an awful of ways of destroying... troy Creatures, creatures, monsters, androids. It was great at killing everyone except for Embo.
00:34:08
Speaker
It was really bad against Embo. Every time you fought Embo, it was just bad at it. He's got a special hand. It made me think of Kung Lao out of Mortal Kombat. When they were facing up against each other. The music there was like, Kung Lao wins.
00:34:26
Speaker
Oh, Embo. I'm so glad got away. Okay, anybody else? For me it's the humour. think the comedy. Because when it finished, me and Sia literally said, we haven't laughed so much in ages. It was so true. Full of humour. Didn't expect it to be so funny. I was sitting in front of you both and I was really aware of my body shaking the whole way through. thinking Am I having the right reactions to this film? I don't know.
00:34:46
Speaker
Rebecca? I'm going to go for the growth of Grogu. Not that actually growed that much, as in height, but actually like independence, maturity, he's just owning it a little bit more, bit more confident, making some more assertive decisions. was like, yes, Grogu, bring it on. 100%. I've heard people criticising the fact that there wasn't character growth in the movie, and like, did you watch movie? I was going to wish me to watch
Character Development: Grogu's Independence
00:35:07
Speaker
the movie.
00:35:07
Speaker
Because I clearly saw loads in that. Grogu more than didn't save Grogu. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. He did so much. and And I have to confess, this is my second viewing. And having watched it again, you see the
00:35:20
Speaker
I'm hiding because I didn't tell anybody that I'd sneakily seen I knew. But watching the timeline of Grogu through the movie, he just keeps doing new thing after new thing after new thing. yeah And I love that for him. Yeah.
00:35:32
Speaker
And he's kind of owning it. And like his salute at the end, I think, is almost like, I am now a warrior of the New Republic. Absolutely. That's brilliant. Music. Music. that writing Music or sound. what Any moments of music or sound. Music from start to finish. It was just It was just changed for each scene. The music just... It might be the same notes, but the actual sound of the music is different and it's fabulous. And I'll have it my head now the next three. There's three or four themes that we know and love. Maybe a couple of new ones as well, but reinvented in so many ways. Yeah. Fabulous music.
00:36:10
Speaker
I got really annoyed by the sound right the start because the first two alarms that went off in the Imperial base were not the official... It was not Imperial alarm. It wasn't until we heard the alarm inside the AT-ATs that we had the correct Imperial alarm. And I was like, no wonder this guy's base is falling apart his people are backing over. He's got the alarms. He's like, oh yeah, long live the Empire, haven't even got the right alarm system. I've got... He's got an over-enthusiastic tech who's just been rewiring the oscillators. really rate his alternate mouse droid. Oh, yeah. Absolutely brilliant. Off-road wheels. Love that mouse droid. ATMD, I guess. Love it.
00:36:49
Speaker
Any other favourite music or sound moments? I liked the music where Mando got poisoned and he started to succumb to The music was really nice there. From a sound point of view, I enjoyed the voice quality of the Hutz, Embo, people's voice quality was really nice. of lines but it just sounded so embo don't know it sounds really obvious to say that and definitely they've kept the same processing they put on Jabba in Return the Jedi yeah the same chain of effects pitch shift whatever it is that we figured out i know what it is you know what it is I know what it is figured it out but also it can't be I know what it is now but it can't have been the same thing that they did them back then right now it's little altar boy sound choice but does exactly that well back then it would have been an even tied harmonized yeah which would be doing a similar type of thing. thing But they kept the same sound for Jeremy Allen White, which yeah really made it. And fact that we've got like multiple huts talking, some in hutties, some in... And they sounded different enough from each other, while still having a hot sound. Definitely. Back to the huts. We're going to come back to the hut by lot. I've just had a really good toddler moment thinking of Kroger. Well, I think it was a toddler. When he had made the little cave and put... The little hut. The little house. Somehow got the... So cute. Mando in there. And then...
00:38:11
Speaker
the fishing area i say he could yeah He couldn't quite believe that he hadn't made it big enough. And he could not be bothered to finish it. just but but doesn see Is that like a natural species ability? Because it looked like Yoda's hook. Exactly. This is how I built my home in the swamp. I think we learned a lot about yeah the species in that moment.
00:38:32
Speaker
Interesting. interesting i love the music in that whole sequence. I think on the soundtrack it's called Grogu's World, which is based on Grogu's theme that we've seen when he was looking at the eggs in season two, episode two, whatever it is. yeah And it's just like an extended ambient remix.
00:38:49
Speaker
which and that It was quite a wild swing to put a scene like that at that point of the film. It's the end of Act 2. You're getting hyped for the Act 3 finale. And we have like a 10-minute chill out. Yeah. yeah Which is wild. But it's like Hossic Story beat. We're at the lowest point. Yeah. Like, is Mando going to live? Can Grogu do this, this, this? Was that the same frog that lives outside Jabba's Palace? It looked like It looked very similar. And it was kind of an ironic turnaround for Grogu to get swallowed by a frog briefly when he swallowed so many frogs.
00:39:18
Speaker
I thought too the end when um they came out for Paris and had to jump down into the wash. I was a bit disappointed it wasn't Seb passing by with the open ramps. To catch them. Yeah, yeah.
00:39:34
Speaker
It's been done. Was it a callback to Andor episodes? Yes. That's what I thought of. I thought of the prison break. Yeah. I was expecting one of them to say, I can't swim. One way out. Yeah. Too soon. You've hurt Mary. Still too soon. It's been three, four years, but it's still too soon. We did have a small creature in the foreground. Yeah. Multiple. I know. Every time I saw it, I was like, I know you like to strike that kind of thing. If you're a regular Sister of the Force listener, you will have shouted out, no doubt, establishing shots with little creatures. There were some little crickets. I think that was on Navarro in rain, was it? Yeah, little bugs. Yeah.
00:40:17
Speaker
And then there was various other ones. I only noticed this time that when the Anzellans turned up and they're flying in with the X-Wings, they blasted the little creature. Yeah, the rat.
00:40:29
Speaker
It's just creature overload. Any favourite creatures? There were so many creatures. I liked the scorpion thing that Grogu ate. I was like, that's a danger bug, that's a danger bug. And then Grogu ate it. Yeah, I'm a bug expert. I know which bug's a danger. That was a dangerous That was a dangerous bug. Yeah, definitely.
00:40:45
Speaker
Anybody else got a favourite creature or bird? Did you count that the lizard monster in the arena? Yeah, 100%. They're all the Jarrick creatures. They're all from the hologram board. That's what I was thinking. I really can't wait to go and watch that scene again.
00:41:00
Speaker
Yeah, in New Hope, because it does the same move. yeah It picks up the big thing. like When Chewie does the move and D3PO grumbles and Han says, oh it's best to let him win. no one ever lets droids win. Well, droids don't tear your arms off when they lose.
00:41:14
Speaker
as the same move that the creature does on the board that it did in the arena to the exact same opponent, which is a very... A shout out that only me a real nerd would notice. That was a good one. I feel like those creatures were my favourite. I think that's my favourite creature then.
00:41:34
Speaker
That whole sequence. The centipede thing there was horrific. Terrifying. Absolutely not. It had a table and face and a centipede body. It's like a bad combo. Grim, grim. I don't like centipedes anyway. I love centipedes. I don't like tables. Fair.
00:41:50
Speaker
Okay, overall feelings. How you feel? you want see it again? you kind of... Yes. I feel great. I feel generally euphoric having watched
Emotional Impact & Humor: Parallels to Return of the Jedi
00:42:00
Speaker
it. feel wonderful. Yeah. I've really done his job. I think that's the purpose of the movie.
00:42:06
Speaker
Yeah. I think I feel the wackiness and the heart. Those two things together, which I feel like Return the Jedi is up there for me as one of my faves of the Star Wars movies. And it's wacky in similar ways. You've got the Ewoks, which is like a wild swing. where Everyone forgets how wild a swing that was. Yeah. and all of the Jabba's Palace creatures and everything else.
00:42:27
Speaker
But the heart of it as well, with Luke's you know discovery of his sister and Leia's reaction to that and all of those things, this did some of the same things to me emotionally. Coupled with a slight obsessive, uncomfortable feeling about Hutts.
00:42:41
Speaker
Have you ever had a comfortable feeling about Hutts? That's a very good question. Well, I think I've had a few of those. I think this is the trouble because we've got Rotter. Rotter is your listen book, like.
00:42:57
Speaker
Honestly, no but like Rotter got me so many times in that film. It made me realise How rare it is to see one being be kind to another one in a film.
00:43:11
Speaker
Like, it's just unashamed. I was just ah waiting for the catch. Like, he's being all nice to Grogu and tap on his head and all like that of thing. And look after him, I'm like, where's the sort of snappy one-liner or all some evil twist or whatever? It's just like, no, it's just a nice scene where people are being nice to each other. And I know that doesn't sell cinema tickets on its own. But it is nice to see a bit of it in a movie. It's also incredibly wacky and bizarre disturbing.
00:43:35
Speaker
I'm definitely going to go see it again. I want to take my partner, she's a big Grogu fan. I want to take your partner. Yeah, it'd be great. For Grogu fans, it's gold. I got an extreme amount of joy from such a little thing though. Obviously I knew going in that the Anzellans and Grogu were extremely technical animatronic puppets. I had read that the big robots were done in stop motion. Yeah. And I was looking forward to seeing them. But then I noticed on several shots of the Anzalan spaceship, that was a miniature. Yeah.
00:44:06
Speaker
Like compared to all the other CG spaceships that you could see the Anzalan one, it was wobbly when it came down because it was obviously on wires. But seeing those robots fight and knowing that that was all done like Aardman and like, you know, stop motion, that's been such an amazing part of cinema since before Star Wars. Like, you going back to like Harryhausen, the Clash of the Titans, like, and they looked so good and they looked so real as a result. They look more real than the little battle droids that were CG. yeah And loved that. It gave me so much joy as someone who makes minis. I love that.
00:44:41
Speaker
Just great escapism. justice Just it's funny, charming, just gave you everything you need. And I am a huge Grogu fan. So for like bang on the money with that. Brilliant. I'd absolutely see it again. i think just don't overthink it. So just go and enjoy it. Be entertained. yeah That's perfectly great in the Star Wars universe as well. Yeah, that's great.
00:45:03
Speaker
Same. I think my main thing is the humour in it and the comedy. I didn't expect it to be so funny. I mean, Star Wars is quite, you know, it doesn't take itself too seriously, is As in it's a big entertainment. But don't know, this one just felt even more so in terms of just go and enjoy it rather than, it didn't feel like needed to think too much about the lore or anything. 100%. But yeah, that's what I'm taking from.
00:45:27
Speaker
I think it's interesting you're saying that because it's showing, again, the breadth that the Star Wars universe can have. You've got incredibly serious, gritty things like Andor and Rogue One. And you've got really fun romps that have got a load of heart, like you say, like Jedi and like this.
00:45:41
Speaker
And they both feel Star Wars and they both feel right and they both give me
Light-hearted Entertainment: Beyond Overthinking
00:45:46
Speaker
a thrill. I i teared up in this. like It doesn't need to be Andor to make me be like, oh, my God. And, yeah, brilliant. brilliant. Merry Christmas.
00:45:55
Speaker
I'm just grinning. She's doing a wiggly dance. My face hurts from That gives me great joy as well. My belly hurts from laughing. I did a lot of laughing. I also threw skittles at Bramwen, but missed both times. witnessed this. We have to say before we wrap up, we had Sisters the Force biscuits made Sazam. That was lovely. Which were incredible. She's run away now. She's run away. She's got a cup of tea. She's very on brand. And we have Sisters of the Force stickers, which we are going to be sticking everywhere in a neighbourhood near you. And yeah, we are going to be back very soon. Depending on where you are.
00:46:31
Speaker
we're We're going to be kicking off season three all of Sisters the Force. I'm not allowed to say that, sorry. Get ready. You can bleep me. writing Buckle in for a year-long ride through Clone Wars and Wild Space.
00:46:46
Speaker
We'll tell you more about it next
Teaser for Next Season: More Star Wars Awaits
00:46:47
Speaker
week. We are so excited. Until then, from Cardiff Bay, bye! This is the way. This is the way.