Transcript
Speaker: Sia! Hi! Who is your favorite character from The Clone Wars Season 1 Episode 19? Ahsoka this time. We've gone back for Ahsoka because she's got such an arc this episode where she kind of has this like barreling in being all overconfident thing and then she gets humbled very, very quickly in quite a dramatic, nasty way for a child to be humbled. Let's just remember she's a child. Let's always come back to that.
Speaker: And then, yeah, and then she gets that push from Anakin again to, no, you can do this and off you go. Yeah. So she goes on a journey. So that's why I went there. Yeah. Mmm. Branwen. Yes. Who's your favorite character from The Clone Wars Season 1, Episode 19? Martuk.
Speaker: Nice. Because I just love seeing a Neimoidon that was a bit clever. You know, he's quite smart. And I love his headgear and his whole, like, weird look, which we can talk about. Yeah. He does have a good look.
Speaker: You're listening to the Sisters of the Force, a Star Wars podcast with me, Branwen. And me, Sia. Hello. We talk about all sorts of Star Wars things, but this week we are wrapping up season one of The Clone Wars. We're covering amazing arc about Ryloth, which is really exciting, and then a one-off finale episode. Yes. And we have a very special guest with us. Yay! Hi, Amanda. Welcome to Sisters of the Force. Hi. It's lovely to be here. We've been chatting to you on and off for a very long time and finally we have you the pod. You're
Speaker: You're here with a fantastic background. I'm loving all of your Star Wars background that's going on. Audio medium, but you know, I can admire it while we record. Just imagine it. I'm in my own like Barbie Star Wars galaxy. It's great. Flawless, no notes. Yeah, you've got like beautiful gold stars and then there's like her Star Wars, it's a New Republic symbol. Yes. I had more like the wooden cutout symbols that I've covered in paint and then covered in more glitter and they were all up the wall.
Speaker: Okay, straight away, i just found out some super exciting stuff that I'd forgotten or didn't know that you were part of. so tell us about Fulcrum Fashions that you did. Yeah, I was running it, I was looking at yesterday. So I started Fulcrum Fashions. It was way before lockdown. I think we're looking at 2018 and I ran that for probably about five years so yeah there's a few pieces of my Star Wars jewelry floating around and every now and then when I pop to a con and I get recognized and people will come up and show me what they're wearing which is still lovely um because it it started from a selfish place of there was nothing and
Speaker: being produced here in the UK. yeah Like you had Her Universe was just starting out, but you couldn't get hold of it. And still can't, from what I can tell. Yeah, you can't really. they they get Very few items are made under UK licence. right so she can't sell it here you have to buy it direct from america and import which i have done but it's normally twice the price when you get the customs charges on top so yeah it came out of a selfish pace of there was nothing really on the market that was girly and star wars and i went So I started making bits and bobs for myself and then people were like, oh, I really like that. Like, could you make me one? And it just kind of went on from there. And it was really lovely when I opened my Etsy because I had customers like already waiting for everything to go up. So, yeah, it was it was really nice. um Hopefully it will come back.
Speaker: yeah ah But I was diagnosed with cancer. a few years ago i think we're talking like four years ago um and it kind of it kept me going throughout that but afterwards it's just kind of died off it's just too much yeah lot to do yeah it's so much responsibility um I take everything very personally because sure if I'm sending someone something I don't want them to be disappointed yeah and uh we've had massive issues with royal mail losing things yeah it was more stress the enjoyment came out of it it became very very stressful because you are relying on other people to get you know these pieces either across the ocean or you know of course around the UK and it
Speaker: They just weren't arriving. So I just ended up knocking it on the head. because I'm always sending out two or three parcels to the same customer. so Yeah, yeah. That's such a pain, isn't it Yeah, that and Etsy's charges just read and read. They take up 30% off everything you sell.
Speaker: Not ideal, but hopefully it will come back. i' still got plenty of stock. You've got two customers here, for sure. At some point, I'm definitely considering taking it out on the road yeah we currently don't have a car at the moment but at some point I'd i'd love to take it back out to comic cons because for me yeah that was the best enjoyment is seeing people react to it like in yeah real time or come up to you and be like oh I bought something from you last time and yeah that was really really lovely Sia and I went to Force Fest last weekend. And light there felt like there was a gap. I feel like I was looking for your stall. Yeah, definitely. like There are a few pieces. but oh that's sort of be Yeah, I've had a few people say that. like
Speaker: When they've seen me at Cannes, they're like, oh, is your stall here? And I'm like, unfortunately not. No. There does seem to be something missing. Because again, they might make sci-fi themed jewellery in the States. yeah They just won't grant the licenses for the UK and the EU. So we we're constantly missing out.
Speaker: That's true. So tell us about Star Wars generally with you. How did you get into it? When did you get into it? So Star Wars for me started off with my obsession of Indiana Jones. Ah, cool. I remember being quite little, always watching Indiana Jones and my dad.
Speaker: and kind of wanting to be the damsel in distress because at that point they did seem quite cool. yeah However, he was sat one afternoon watching another film and I ah saw Han Solo and i was like, I know him. I'll watch this. And I can remember just seeing Princess Leia completely handle everything herself. He bossed the guys around and went...
Speaker: No, that's who I want to be. That's better, yes. That's who I want to be. That's the one. but Because, yes, she was in distress, but she saves herself. Yeah. And she's just as glamorous, but she's got way more attitude than any of the in Indiana Jones. Definitely. yeah but She kind of was the one that started it for me because seeing that I probably was only about seven or eight seeing that at that age yeah and I had always adored She-Ra, Thundercats, that kind of thing but I'd only ever seen those kind of women in cartoon. yeah I'd never seen anything like that in live action yeah.
Speaker: Carrie for me will always be the reason fell in love with Star Wars. Nice. That's so awesome. I love fun that. That is great. Okay, we've got four packed episodes of Clone Wars to get through. Very busy episodes. So we better get on it. Before we start, Amanda, do you have a favourite character from episode 19?
Speaker: see i would say ahsoka as well because it's the amount of growth she has in this episode this is a real make or break moment for her yes and yeah it's just you see how everyone treats her and also then how she gains respect towards the end of the episode as well so yeah huge arc yeah huge arc for ahsoka what's another one in for my tally chart yeah Yeah, this is quite a heavy episode. Like you say, you both picked Ahsoka and yes she does have this massive learning experience and she has to grow really quickly. i feel like it's like a really big character arc in a very short amount of time. Yeah. I don't think I've ever had a day at work like that where you've had to, you know, you've epically failed and then note back on it straight away. Straight in. You didn't get any chance to kind of digest it. No, and the stakes are so high here. Yeah. Such such losses in her first run out.
Speaker: So this Storm Over Ryloth. It's the first of a trilogy about Ryloth, which is partly why you're on here, Amanda, because I think you chose this as a... But it seems like you're a come on. Specialist subject. Yeah. As a big Rebels fan, as know you are, this feels like an origin story for Hera, really, in a way. It is. Yeah, totally. I mean, who knew that, you know, after Clone Wars, what would come out of it? Yeah, what we were going to get. good. But yeah, this intro, this first episode is like the intro. It's the above the planet. I love how they do this in the Clone Wars. Within arcs, they often show you these different stages of war. So we've got this kind of blockade and how do we get through the blockade that we can then go on in the next two episodes to rescue refugees and...
Speaker: refugees and yeah All of that stuff. So this is the space one. and it was a big space battle, like two big space battles. Yeah. Loads going on. This is one of the episodes where I always go, if they were going to remake like live action ones, yeah two out of the four we watched, I would totally watch in live action, like put it in the IMAX. You know, the space battles just were so good in them.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the visuals are always incredible in Lucasfilm animation. It's just mind boggling. Yeah. Filoni and Gilroy talked a bit about the fact that, and oh, by the way, yeah, I always go that extra geek level. And on YouTube, they've got all the little behind the scenes featurettes that used to be on the DVDs. yeah, fab. So I've been watching them and there's some good no-goats. Yeah. Filoni and Gilroy were talking about the casualties of war, which this really shows we lose pretty much an entire squadron in a very short space of time.
Speaker: We lose Axe. Yeah. Just getting to know him. Yeah. And he's gone. And had kind of rewind it and I'm like, is that? Because often there'll be a hero clone, you know, out of the yeah batch of clones that you get in this particular episode. There'll often be one that makes it through. but Yeah. No, it's it's very hard hitting because I like the way they make sure they introduce them all by name when they're given their call signs. And that immediately like humanizes them, makes you realize, like you know, they are all equally important. Yeah. And not like the clankers. Or like stormtroopers. Stormtroopers never get named, do they? Exactly. No, not like stormtroopers. They just get a number. So they're so clever how they write it. And they just put these little things in there. And it just plants those seeds that you know, every single one of those gave themselves a name or were given it by their brothers.
Speaker: And they were just wiped out within seconds. Yeah. Horrible, horrible. We get an incredible line right at the beginning when Ahsoka's off on her mission, which is did you train her not to follow orders? Yeah,
Speaker: I wrote that one down and it's like underlined. Yeah. She does kind of come from the Anakin school of I'm going to do this my way. Exactly. And the other one I wrote down was when she turns around him, she goes, call your jets, for Admiral. And I thought that was such an Anakin thing to say. ah To Admiral Yalaren, you know, he's like, hes not he's not a small contender in the Republic. He's a big guy and call your jets lover. Great.
Speaker: So Martuk, right? Yes. Tell me about Martuk. Plunkett, you know, the designer. Yes. He was like, we wanted Mick Jagger meets Donald Rumsfeld. Great.
Speaker: great I was trying to find a way to describe his look because he has got this really distinctive face. He's a lot so skinnier looking than like Newt Gunray and the others who are a bit more, maybe a bit more, not human exactly, but their proportions are a bit more human. Whereas he's got this, he's almost like one of the moon, the banking clan. He's got quite a narrow face. He is quite narrow, isn't he? But it is about his lips. And I was loving his skin texture, like from an animation standpoint, he's really, you just see this like weird detail of Neimoidians, which you get with the live action ones, but there's something awesome about the way they do in animation. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. I noted that he has like a really distinctive silhouette as well, which we've talked about a few times on the pod. Yes. Which is I think it's a George Lucasism. Design thing. He's always like Yoda, Darth Vader, you know, they've all just got such distinctive silhouettes. And Martuk could have been just another Nemoidian, but they decided to make him very unique, which I loved. Yeah. I'm just flicking through to find my picture of him so I can remind myself what he looks like having him. I can't remember his exact look, but he sounds like a vampire. Yeah, he does.
Speaker: He also looks a little bit more regal as well, isn't he? Yes. He's got a different hat. He's very much control. and yeah Yeah. So he's dealing with Wat Tambor, like they're kind of collaborating on this Ryloth blockade. Wat Tambor is just Emperor Zurg from Toy Story, right? Pretty much. I mean, the dna test hasn't been proven. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: They're definitely related somehow. yeah There's an election going on, a by-election in Clacton, or going to be, isn't there? Oh, yes. I'm not going to get into politics, but his opponent, I can't remember his name, but he's like... He's Count Binface. Count Binface. Is that another Wattenberg cosplayer? I don't know. He's got a same bit triangle. Like, rectangle head. You know he is a cosplayer in his spare time, let's put it that way. He just... really probably walks around in an epic Darth Vader costume, but, you know...
Speaker: Professionally, where's been? So Wat Tambor, I mean, we should really be talking about Martook, but Wat Tambor comes up again and again in this arc. He's in this arc, yeah.
Speaker: He's a great example of like a character that just had one line in is it Attack of the Clones? I think he says one thing. And he does the thing where he adjusts his voice translator thing with the little burbly sound, um which I think in the captions, i was watching it with captions on it, said something about burbling, droid burbling or something. Yeah, it did. It did. I didn't realise he was voiced by Ben Burtt originally in Attack of the Clays. Oh, was he? surely scans because I think Ben Burtt edited Attack of the Clays maybe as well as sound design. like Ben Burtt is just all over it basically Star Wars yeah in a person. He's all it. But Matt Wood said, because he'd worked with Ben Burtt so much over the years, he was like, I think I can have go at this. so i can be this character. Yeah.
Speaker: He took over Wattamble really well. I wouldn't have noticed the difference. really I know it's a very processed voice. Amanda, we get very geeky into sound here because both Sierra and I are like know sound sound people. and I've always think it's so fascinating how they choose the voices for the characters. yeah It feels very organic, but it does come from some strange places. You're just like, okay, that's how you got there. Yeah, every time I read an anecdote about Ben Burtt, I've just recently bought, there's a book called The Sounds of Star Wars, which is amazing. It comes with a little audio player that you can plug your headphones into the angel and listen to each one. They're like numbered in the book. And every story you read is like, oh my God, how the journey that Ben Burtt went through. yeah and I think with Star Wars as well, you often get the fact that it's a voice actor who's making some decisions and that yeah very often is a supervising sound editor or something as well, because they often do end up doing the characters.
Speaker: But then you've also got what they do to the voices afterwards. And sometimes they use pitch changes and things like that. And sometimes with the droids, they often use these things called ring modulators, which is what the Daleks in Doctor Who are doing.
Speaker: It kind of makes the voice sound less human, more electronic somehow. Yeah, it's all fun. Talking of droids, we had a little 2-1-B, like the medical droid, which they keep popping up in different places. They do. She was looking after Anakin. Yeah, it was a touch and go for Anakin for a little while. It was indeed.
Speaker: He had a very, very risky plan going on. Yeah. Yeah. What, his plan to fly, single-handedly fly Defender? Just sacrifice a cruiser? Yeah. It was just the way he kind of stood there, so like stoic when it was just heading. You were like, get off, like just go. off. would have been long gone. What are you doing? What are you doing? When you're like, your getaway vehicle is just an escape pod. I mean, that's a big wrist on its own. It doesn't have much. I think just has a couple of thrusters and that's it, isn't it? You're kind of stranded. He's got so much faith in Ahsoka though and that's what gives her her confidence back after this massive...
Speaker: mess's up Another beautiful thing about the Clone Wars that if you don't watch the Clone Wars, you know, if you just watch the films, the Anakin's arc in the Clone Wars is so interesting. yeah And you just see that like you would never see this side of him in movies. There just isn't enough time.
Speaker: There isn't enough time. And he's just a little bit annoying. Clone Wars for me has always added to the trilogy. yeah yeah When you just watch the movies, Anakin's arc seems quite extreme as well. yeah You add Clone Wars into it, you kind of go, oh, kind of see where it's that's why you chose the dark side. Because there's so much more nuance involved than just yeah the fact he wanted save Padme. He was also witnessing where the Jedi were going wrong. yeah constantly yeah and you can see why that was also causing resentment because there were a lot of choices where the Republic probably could have won the war but it wasn't the Jedi way so so they didn't yeah yeah Yeah, I love how the writers have leaned into that in writing the club because they could have just like written a load of fun battles, you know. and
Speaker: But every episode has some, like like you say, like it fleshing out, fleshing out, building on and expanding on what we already knew, which wonderful, as well as introducing loads of new stuff. What I liked about this episode was the difference between Rex and Ahsoka because having seen all of these stories again and again,
Speaker: We know by series seven that Rex and Ahsoka are like inseparable and, you know, there's a bond there. But he was so dismissive of her mistake. Yeah. He was really like, there was something in what he didn't say you could feel the hurt. And again, it's really clever writing.
Speaker: He didn't go to her. didn't console her at all. He was just giving her orders. It wasn't until towards the end where... things were changing then he seemed to respect her so yeah thought that was really interesting because you do forget that she's had to i mean she's what 14 she's a kid she's a child to earn the respect of these grown men yeah I know some people argue all the clones are only like 10 years old or something because their aging process but they are still grown men and you know they're having to report to her and she is having to earn that yeah from them and losing a whole squadron that's not going to help what so She steps up. The plan that she strategizes with the tilting the cruiser thing, I'd forgotten that this was in the very, well, not the very first, but like some of the original expanded universe novels back in the 90s in Air to the Empire, Admiral Thrawn, who was a character that
Speaker: we never thought we'd get in the Disney campus. He's like the arch villain of those books. And he did that same strategy. So the writers have given that to Ahsoka, which everybody knows Thrawn is like an incredible strategist. So to have Ahsoka doing that is a really strong story point for her for her to come up with a a kind of slightly off the charts plan that yeah definitely makes Rex and I can't remember who the other clone is on the bridge.
Speaker: But yeah, that's it's pretty bold, but a bold move, but it pays off. And I love the way Yelaren comes in and like speaks up for her yeah but Yelaren kind of breaks my heart because he always seems like a really great guy in Clone Wars but then he ends up as part of the ISB you know he's just like yeah yeah worse yeah again i feel like there could be a spin-off series and find out you know what changes yeah because like you said he's always seemed to be especially in the earlier series of like Clone Wars you've
Speaker: always see him rooting for the good guys yeah he said he'll have a soaker's back he takes the clone side so what changed what was going on with you yeah was it money you know it aber what was it yeah i wonder what it was radicalization i mean the empire was very very good at that yeah I love the right at the end of this, we've got Obi-Wan beaming in just to be a sass pot just for a second.
Speaker: He beams in in hologram form to sass them all and then yeah goes away again. Which leads us nicely onto episode 20. The next episode. Which is much more Kenobi centric, which yeah we love. Innocence of Ryloth, episode 20. Sia, did you have a favourite character? Obviously. don't even know how I'm asking, to be honest. Another Obi-Wan.
Speaker: Yeah. Is this the one where we had, yeah, we had this like really dramatic overhead shot of him doing a flip? Yes. So wild. We had some incredible shots of him, this one. We've got a yeah dramatic overhead shot of him doing a flip. We've also got a smash zoom, one of those smash zooms on him. Yeah. We haven't had a Smash scene for a while. No, we haven't. It's on Obi-Wan. He gets one in this, and I love it.
Speaker: Yeah, no. I nearly went for Waxer, actually, but Obi-Wan cinched it. Yeah. And do you know what it was? It was the shot of him holding Numa as they come out of the thing, and was like, yeah, that's it. Oh, my God. That's a Wi-Fi.
Speaker: Amanda, who is your favourite character in Innocence of Rinal? Mine is Numa. Numa! Yeah, has to be Numa. I think she's very courageous and brave. She's in a terrible situation and the way she seeks out help yeah um And again, the writing is brilliant because, you know, they really understood how a child that age would maybe act, you know. They could have written it where it was a bit more, you know, like she was thinking like a grown-up. But no, they kept...
Speaker: how they animated her, you know, her body language, her speech was all kept very, very childlike. And I think that makes the episode really hard hitting. Yes. I normally get quite upset watching this episode. It is quite hardcore. Yeah. It is really hardcore. They said that Stuart Lee, who's one of the regular, like, parts of the Clone Wars team, he wasn't directly involved. Like, it's directed by Justin Ridge and Randy Shradley and Henry Gilroy wrote it But they gave that scene with Boyle and Waxer when they first meet Numa to him because he was a father, because I don't think many of the team were fathers at that point and so it's the perfect scene for a father to write it's just heartbreaking the way that they kind of they're a bit dismissive of her at first but then she just wins them over as she wins everybody over yeah but I think they're so used to rocking up on different planets and seeing war that you almost become hardened to it. yeah This episode makes you see it through a child's eyes. and yeah
Speaker: yeah This always hits so hard for me. I'm like, this is a kid's cartoon, but this is really communicating what it would be like to be a refugee and get them with nothing.
Speaker: yeah The use of Twi'lek language in this, I really love the way that they drop that. And they use that as like the hook of the episode where it ends with Kenobi explaining what nera nera means, which if you're not crying by that point, then I don't know what you're going to As soon as he says it, you are, yet yeah. Yeah, no, I think having watched these episodes again, obviously Kenobi reveals what it means at the end. But when you know from the get-go, as soon as she sees them when they take off their helmets, yeah she calls them.
Speaker: It's like, oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's lovely. It's beautiful. It is. My note with the taking off the helmets was that Boyle has incredible facial hair that I haven't seen on his clone. It's pretty rocky. It is great.
Speaker: They must just have like endless like brainstorming sessions. Yeah, yeah. How do we make this phone look different? Each time there's a new clone. What can we do to this one? I just think some of them must have impressive grooming kits at this stage, though, like in their knapsack that they're taking with them.
Speaker: You know, we're designer stubble. That takes some sort of maintenance when you're out. Yeah. yeah On tour, having a beauty regime, I'm really impressed with some of clones.
Speaker: So good. This was apparently one of the first episodes where they had an alien species, the Twi'leks, which we've already seen before, but we've never seen so many of them at this point. And Filoni talked about the fact that they were able to, for the first time, make the crowds of aliens very diverse and give them their different yeah physical builds and different facial structures and stuff within an alien species that have a stereotypical thing and usually in in the movies and even in the live action you might get one or two of an alien but in the animated series they had that freedom and this is a real turning point episode for that where there's just loads of different types of twillocks everywhere
Speaker: And by the way, I meant to mention last episode, Anakin called them Twi'leks. And I've always pondered that. yeah And it's a whole thing about how do you pronounce? But then I've heard more people on average say Twi'lek.
Speaker: so I used to say Twi'lek until chatting to you. Yeah, Twi'lek or Twi'lek, isn't it? a echo yeah I've always said Twi'lek. I don't know if that's a British thing because I've heard more Americans say Twi'lek.
Speaker: I don't know, but it's like with Han and Han. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It changes throughout the episode. So I'd literally sit on the fence and say both of them have got to be correct. They're both in Star Wars. It's just whatever one you prefer, I guess. Whichever one rolls up the tongue better. I've heard on, I listened Pod of Rebellion, which is like the Rebels rewatched podcast.
Speaker: And Tia Serkar and Taylor Gray were talking about, because they were new to Star Wars when they got cast, and they were talking about how when they were the studio in the first few episodes with, well, i'm ongoing and with Filoni, and there'd be a new Star Wars word. And they'd always say, Dave, how do we pronounce this? And he's like, how do you want to pronounce it? And then you just let them do that. And so he's very much of that thing of like different people in the galaxy use different. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: ways of saying which is true we mispronounce stuff all the time yeah you know i can think of lots of names of countries that we might not say correctly we definitely don't say it how they would say it in some languages yeah so yeah i guess it's huge galaxy you it's gonna be a you know a learning curve that's gonna be using the right term Is this the first time we ever saw rlo Is it? I feel like it might have been. It's a very beautiful, it's really sad at how Battletorn it's looking, but I do know that it's a really beautiful place. Yeah, that's another thing in the behind the scenes. They talked about desaturating the landscapes intentionally to show the decimation and how Numa then pops because she's this bright colour, which I didn't realise at the time, but only this morning I was rereading through my notes and I thought about Schindler's List, which is black and white.
Speaker: But occasionally you see the girl in the red dress, i think, if my memory serves, which is, again, it's a child. It's that innocence thing and it's yeah also hope in children and that colour of gives you that hope. And Numa is a very... Numa, Numa, oh my gosh, here we go again. She's another like character that brings you that hope. And as you were saying when you were describing why you picked her, Amanda, like we're seeing it through a child's eyes.
Speaker: And so she really stands out in the colour scheme of this episode. We're getting really into visual cinematography. Yeah, because I think it's interesting because, like you said, when they're panning across the landscape and you're seeing all the dead trees and then you're seeing like all... the decimation of like their town and everything.
Speaker: Whenever you then see the Twi'leks, they are all quite bright and colourful, which is kind of showing you that you know there's a stark difference. So without the war, this would have been a bright, colourful, thriving planet. yeah So, yeah, it's it's a very hard watch, this episode. I mean, I've always had a soft spot for Twi'leks as well, so seeing a child Twi'lek was like... these I think other than Grogu, probably the first time i I watched Star Wars and felt very like maternal yeah nothing and Nothing can happen to this child. Otherwise, waxer and boil, I will deal with it. You have to guard her. yeah Is this the first time we've met a Twi'lek child then?
Speaker: I believe so, yeah. Okay, yeah. Pre this point, I think we'd only really seen Bib Fortuna and Ula the Dancing Girl. Didn't we have the pod racing Twi'leks as well? There was a set of twins. yeah And then we would have had, can't remember her name, where even though she's on my shirt, the Jedi Twi'leks.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not Isla Secure. is Isla. It is Isla. Yeah, at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Yeah, because we see her in Order 66. R.I.P. another Twi'lek. We do see a few Twi'leks around, but they've always been more there just to add like an alien entity. We've never really gotten to know them. Yeah. And we really get to know them in this episode and the next episode. And particularly we get to know some of the politics of what's going on on Ryloth.
Speaker: but They've just had such a raw deal as a species. There was epic slavery going on before, you know. yeah And then they were just used as disposable pawns in this war. yeah I think what's worse with the Twi'lek story is as you get further into the Cain Wars, they do the other slavery arc. I mean, obviously it's a kid's show, but it is hinting.
Speaker: at why Twi'leks in particular are being people trafficked which I was just like again it's a hint of these things on a very low level but you know grown-ups watching it can pick up these things so I find that really sad and I think you get it in a lot of the books as well it's kind of confirmed that Twi'leks were generally sold as sex slaves yeah I feel it's Hera is so much of an icon. Like how we are so invested in her as a character. Yeah. She is the survivor, the the changer. She's so awesome.
Speaker: Can't wait to do Rebels. Mm. The thing I find with Hera, though, is I find she's kind of shed a lot of the culture, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because she doesn't have and the accent. We only ever hear her speak in Twilight a few times when she's on Ryloth.
Speaker: So, yeah, she's almost shed everything, which I wonder if she's done that deliberately because she did want a different outcome. And I also love the fact they picked her to be green.
Speaker: Yeah. Because most people, when they think of a green twilight, will think Ula, who is pretty much helpless. Yeah. And then they chose to make her a green. Yeah. So I thought that was a good choice. They could have picked any other colour. Yeah. But it was nice to just have a...
Speaker: So, you know, this could have been Ula's story if Ula had had the same opportunities. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I thought that. That's amazing. Oh, oh my gosh. Lots of stuff going on.
Speaker: Honourable mentions for this episode before we move on. Yeah. My honorable mentions are Tactical Droid Laughing. Oh my gosh. TX20. He's even got a name. He has a name. knows about Obi-Wan. He's like, oh, he file on him. Yeah, get me the files. to yeah He's a deceptor. Get me the Obi-Wan files. Yeah.
Speaker: I love the fact that they can all just download a file and like a new jedi. I mean, how cool would that be? Just Wikipedia sort of up on the cloud. but That's clever as well, being able to. Yeah. As a droid, I love how he's just not having it with Wat Tambor. ah Like Wat Tambor is trying to tell him what to do and he's like, nope, I'm just going to carry on with my own plan. We also get to see some B1s scrubbing floors and hating it. Yes. That was my favourite line. yeah This is about the worst job.
Speaker: So good. B1s just continue to bring me the joy. I don't remember them being so awesome the first time watched Clone Wars, but this rewatch. That's so funny. They're really hitting me. I love them. They're usually are the ones with the one-liners. It's almost unfair because... You always think, no, it's normally Kenobi being sassy or like Anakin giving attitude. But no, be one, George. You've really got listen to what they have to because they're funny. They are really funny. It's the episode before where they suddenly realise there's no one in charge and they're like, what's the deal here? What do we do?
Speaker: wrote down, I think it's in the next episode. Yeah, it's in the next episode. They're like mourning Yeah, they were basically slagging off an old droid. Older model, yeah. They were like, you're not the older model. this is rubbish. They're like, we don't follow orders.
Speaker: like I love that they put that in because I think it was a few episodes ago we were talking about why is it that this droid control ship got blown up but the B1s carried on working and making decisions and stuff. Yeah, because they're not controlled by social computer anymore. yeah But no, the line was, not us, we're independent thinkers and then they all go, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger. yeah Oh, they do you comedy so well.
Speaker: such a good life. I'll tell you what, everybody talks about Dee Bradley Baker and fair play, he is incredible and I meant to pick him out in the last episode, there was loads of radio chatter going on on the bridge of the cruiser and like he just does such a brilliant job of filling out the world of the clones and his individual clones everything, he's brilliant, we're going to talk about him endlessly, especially when we get to the Bad Batch, but Matt Wood, who does the B1s, and he does Grievous as well. like The B1s have all got the same voice. He hasn't got the same like freedom that Dee Bradley has got to go and do all of those different clones. He's having to do B1s, always they're the same B1s.
Speaker: But he just brings so much like comedy to their performance. So good. Yeah, and you do start feeling for them at times as well. Yeah, when they get driven into a corner. Isn't he the same guy that does Perry the Platypus?
Speaker: I don't know. Very probably. Yeah. Because I'm just thinking if he can do that with no line, just does that, I don't know, the weird platypus noise. That's all he does. But he can put enough emotion into it to make it sassy or make it... Yeah. I've got a good feeling as him. I have to have a few more. I'm sure he is the platypus. That's the level of skill we've got. No one-liners, but still funny. Still funny. Still all these...
Speaker: Yeah, it's only really through this rewatch and like digging into the who's who and all of that, because I've always just thought him as a sound editor or one of those sound jobs. But like discovering how many of the little background voices he's done. Yeah, he just gets it. He really gets it. So should we move on I mean, we could talk on a whole episode. Oh, my gosh. There's just so much. There's the creatures. as the There's the music. Did we ever find out what the creatures are called? Yeah. I did. Of Bramon's going to tell you, shouldn't Because they never, I didn't hear them name them. I kept watching it going, I must have missed what they named them. But they were really odd looking. Oh, they're called Gat-Kur.
Speaker: She calls them Gat-Kur. Oh, it's what? Numa calls them. that's the name they've been given. yeah Cool. Carnivorous insectoids. Obi-Wan has an incredible but that again it's the creature charming thing I like it yeah yes yeah he's on it he leads them all up you know it's just his presence isn't it everyone's kind of in awe of Kenobi when he's like yeah very heroic very heroic so good i love the end of the episode where like numbers cling into him and he's trying to cover her eyes yeah and then all of the villagers come out to attack and he's there trying to shoulder from it and she's like no i'm watching this is fine that's as they're pulling the tactical droid apart which is also great yeah Those tactical droids, you know they're going to end with their heads off at some point. They all have their heads ripped off. yeah yeah
Speaker: Before we do leave, I do want to talk a bit about the music. There was some beautiful flute themes for New World. I think it was Indian flute, like a Bansuri or something. i'm not sure. sounded like it. But there was also that this other theme that they used for her. And I don't know whether it was specifically for Numa or maybe for Ryloth in general. With this sort of like vibraphony, glassy thing. i don't it a synth or a vibraphone. I thought that was the Ryloth theme and the flute was Numa's theme. but I feel like you're right. yeah Which would make sense. I mean, she's definitely flute. Yeah.
Speaker: The way that develops, it starts off as like a very simple flute melody with not much else going on. But then as the episode develops, it gets more orchestrated yeah and bigger and bigger as we get more attached to her. yeah i think there's a moment where they find the Tuka Cat toy in the rubble. yes And she goes to wax her like she gets a hug for the first time. And then Boyle gets a hug as well. And that's where the the music really kind of... Yeah, it comes in. I mean, again, they're so good at playing on the emotion of that episode. I think any grown-up seeing that just knows how tragic that tale is. But then wait until we see her later. yeah Her story arc is incredible.
Speaker: Lush. So, Liberty. Liberty on Ryloth. yeah Yes. Who has a favourite character for Liberty on Ryloth. Oh, this one was hard. This was harder for me.
Speaker: but I have gone Mace Windu. Yeah, same. Mace Windu. I'm sorry, the opening sequence, again, that needs to be in live action. is's just so cool. Yeah, it's just absolutely, the whole episode, like Mace Windu, is just kind of battling in style. I don't know what else you can call it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I feel like we were all waiting for this episode, yeah having watched the prequels. It's like we knew we were going to get one at some point. And this is it.
Speaker: Who did you go for, Brahman? I went for Cham Syndulla. That was my second choice. Yeah, yeah. It's our first kind of introduction to him and we get see him loads ongoing beyond the Clone Wars she like She's got a very interesting arc that takes many twists and turns. And yeah, this is is such ah an origin point for Rebels. It is. I feel like. I always see this one as like Rebels lore almost, you know. yeah He could have been ah such a throwaway character. So to have that thread from Rebels that can go all the way back to Series 1 of Clone Wars.
Speaker: Again, the writing is incredible. I'd love to be in that writer's room. Yeah. Just see how they literally pull all these threads together. It's just beautiful.
Speaker: Yeah. Nice. Henry Gowell talked about how Mace... was It was just a beautiful opportunity, as you've just both picked him, as a powerful warrior, but also as a negotiator, the way he works with charm through the episode and takes some chances, but it all comes good, obviously. yeah ah yeah He's just unbelievably cool and... that's That's not fair. Leave some coolness for yeah the rest of us, please. You kind of think his colleagues with Kenobi, yet he can still outstow him whenever he shows up, you know. It's just, absolutely, just aura farms. Yeah. We get see him riding on an AT-RT, which now having watched Mandalorian and Grogu, we've got this new kind of appreciation of them. Having seen Mandalorian and Grogu at the IMAX, I'm going, no, I want to see Mace Windu do this now. Leonard Birx as well. Yeah. Because I mean, even if you are a droid, you're going to be terrified seeing that coming at you. yeah There's like one shot of them marching on and there's like ah RTTs, sorry, ATTs, the RTTs and blurgs. And the whole dialogue between the resistance Ryloth people and the clones and like comparing rides. yeah And you know you're then going to see some clones on blurgs. Yeah, yeah. it's good natured banter isn't it but again it kind of grounds it in realism because you know that would happen you've got these professionally trained soldiers with essentially like insurgents and they're like we've got the right equipment you're like on a farm animal i mean essentially it's like riding a cow into battle and they're like what are you doing
Speaker: So you could always you fully understand where the clones are coming from. at the same time, the Twi'leks just, again, they just make it look cool. so Yeah, they do. Blurgs are always going to be really close to my heart. I love them. Yeah, again, I think seeing um Mando, series one of Mando, we got to know the blurgs quite well, didn't we? So now i I look at them completely differently when I i see them in the animated series.
Speaker: yeah Have you ever seen Ewoks Battle for Endor? No. No. It's an 80s movie. There were two Ewok movies, one called Caravan of Courage. I've seen the Caravan of Courage. The sequel to that is Battle of Endor, which is even more outlandish and haywire. And Blurgs are in it. This is where Blurgs were originally on anddoor on the Endor moon. yeah And they're like stop motion animation. And it's actually pretty cool, like considering this is kind of mid 80s or even before that. i can't remember exactly, I think 84, 85-ish.
Speaker: But yeah, that's the origin story. Yeah. I love a blurg. Like, I've got really attached to banthers as well. I'm really attached to banthers, really attached to blurgs. It's because I'm a horse girl, isn't it? This is what the problem is. I was attached to banthers until my husband brought me some Star Wars candles, but they were all weird scents and one of them was banther smell. I no longer want to ride a banther.
Speaker: I really don't. I would compare it to a Wookiee in Comic Con at 35 degrees. It's a lot of nice mouth. I mean, that kind of tracks for me as well. i'm I used to ride horses a lot when I was a kid, and then I'd go to London to visit my aunt, and I could have not been near a horse for like two weeks, and she'd still be like, you stink of horse! And every single time, like, haven't...
Speaker: been anywhere near horses for ages. But that's just what I smelled like, apparently. I spent enough time around them that I always smelled a horse. I smell like a banter.
Speaker: So I understand that banters would also smell. like yeah It makes complete sense to me. Sushing on Tatooine. Yeah, was going say, like, a desert planet and there's so much hair. like But no, it was the funniest gift ever. You think scented candles, lovely, but it was like inside an X-Wing. And again, that kind of just smelt sweat and leather. i don't know who these are the perfect gift for. you Not a Star Wars fan that you like. Yeah, yeah. Come on.
Speaker: that's so funny i'm gonna have to go and research these out of curiosity i knew they were sold in hmv because i then went back to smell them to make sure like mine weren't broken they all did smell that because the other one smelled of blue milk which again can go sneak that in my fridge if i could get the milk
Speaker: That's so foul. So yeah, we do get some some cool merchandise under yeah UK license. Candles you'd never want to like. Oh oh my gosh.
Speaker: No, i don't like it In this episode, we've had this before and we've asked this question before. The B1s are using binoculars. They're droids. Why do they need to use them?
Speaker: What's going on? can't we not Can we not program them be able to do that? It's something my kids pointed out. because they went Would they not just have like a zoom in their eyes? They've not got real eyes the way they're using them.
Speaker: So what's going on? I'm assuming, and this is just my headcanon, and I'm sure I'll get told it's completely wrong. I'm wondering if they're thermal ones, so maybe they can zoom, but they don't have... like The thermal or like yeah equivalent to some sort of night vision where it would pick up on things that they can't pick up on. But then... Interesting. They need to upgrade the jewelry. Yes. Clearly. They need to be built with the tech. Because then they fight over them as well. They're like, hey, give me a good... what You're just putting your B1s in danger by... i'm guessing like when the Geonosians designed them, and there were two aspects. One is just like keep them as simple and light as possible. Yeah, yeah. yeah and Because they knew they're going to be a disposable... soldier at the end of the day and yeah yeah from a cost point of view as well just don't bother to put all that tech in just give them basic photoreceptors and they can see what they need to see and one of binoculars between yeah to share yeah say favorite thoughts exactly we've
Speaker: we solved it we've solved it love it yeah was expensive Speaking of disposable battle droids, there's the one on the plasma bridge.
Speaker: Yeah. And it's like, you know, it's setting up the stakes for later on. But sorry, you've got to demonstrate the stakes to us. Well, he didn't have Mace Windu there, did he? No. I mean... Oh, my God, that moment. It's like, can you even force lift, bro? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: The sound design, like they took away all the music and stuff and the sound. Oh my gosh. yeah It's like a weird silence thing. It's not really silence, but it's like, how do we portray silence? It's like they suck the sound out.
Speaker: Yeah. So you know the force is present. yes Yeah. It's a weird drop because it's all been very dramatic. Yeah. Yeah. yeah There was a great Filoni quote in the behind the scenes. He said, we're inside the focus of his mind. Yeah. Oh, nice. yeah Yeah, that makes sense. That's lush. And he's like, he's so zoomed in that he's not hearing anything. Oh, gosh, you wouldn't want to be inside my mind. It's really loud in here. Can we have a sound a sound like design thing of your mind? You want a sound design of my mind? Yeah. You've probably heard it. Yeah.
Speaker: Mine would be the same, too many tabs open, just yeah constant noise. We're blue-screening in here a lot of the time, actually. Maybe that's why i can't use the force. Yeah. Not a quiet enough mind. much going on.
Speaker: But we've got this whole beautiful bit where we're witnessing the Twi'leks dancing and oh yeah we're juxtaposing that with droids literally committing war crimes while we've got this kind of like celebration going on and Shamsundugala's talking about they need this because it's stressful living the way we do. And you're like, yeah, obviously. Again, they're trying to keep their traditions and everything, yeah their identity yeah that has been stripped away. You know, they've lost their planet piece by piece. So there's one little thing that they can do that just kind of, like you said, it gets rid of stress. But yeah it's also giving you something normal, something happy, joyful.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm only disappointed we didn't see Numera again in this episode. Yeah. Because i felt like we connect with her so much. Even if it it had just been a passing shot that you saw her with her family. Yeah. I need, for me, I need to know this again. Yeah. That would have been amazing. We saw other Twilight children though, didn't where we? saw We did see. And there was a little girl, isn't there? Yeah. At the end who's in like part of, I guess you could call it like parade that they do at the end. Yeah.
Speaker: But again, really, the fact they chose to animate her and make her look malnourished. Yeah. Yeah. you know, they' they're bold choices when you're when you're making something you know that's going to be shown on a kids' channel because this started out on what, Cartoon Network, wasn't it? Yeah, I think so, yeah.
Speaker: So, I mean, I don't know how I i would sell this to the execs, be like, oh, by the way, we're going to wrap up the series on focusing on children in war everything. You know what I mean? It's like... It's wild. It is really, really wild. Yeah, because this and this is early on as well, because often with shows you know that have multiple seasons, you can gradually get more into the weeds as you go along. Yeah. but This is season one still. Yeah. Starting off with the Clone Wars movie, introducing Ahsoka as a child soldier. yeah Yeah. But everyone seems to forget that very quickly because she is wiser than her years. But then i think we'd all be that clever if we had Master Yoda, you know, to... Yeah. Give us all that knowledge. that's That's all they do in the Jedi Temple. They've been prepared and prepared for this. yeah But yes, seeing children and watching my children watch it
Speaker: when they were similar ages, not much older than Numa and the other little twilight girl that we see. yeah And they're also getting it and realizing, you know, what a horrible, horrible thing this is. So it's teaching you empathy without, you know, making you lift a finger, isn't it? It's very, very clever. Yeah, it is really clever.
Speaker: There was a beautiful aspect to that where I say beautiful, it's not beautiful at all. It's pretty horrific. But there's like the aspect of seeing this campaign, this particular campaign from the Republic's point of view with there's like a hollow conversation earlier on in the episode with Mace and Palpatine's there and Yoda and Yalaran and Orn Freetar, the senator from...
Speaker: ryloth who's on yeah coruscant there's a sequence where he's chams talking to them and he says something about so glad you could join us from comfortable coruscant yeah which again is this sort of like how war is played out yeah and like who's on the front line they're like in a cave almost aren't they where they literally they've had to leave everything behind yeah But yeah, it's such a juxtaposition. The fact this is his own planet, he's still choosing to be on Coruscant and be away from this. And it happens without getting too political. It happens in the real world, doesn't it? You have the leaders that are never on these battlefields. They're not the ones that are having to suffer the repercussions of their wars. Yeah. I did note down that this is a very kind of politics-heavy episode. And again, didn't watch this as a kid. I'm watching it now. I'm watching this at 33, thank you. And yeah, I can conceptualise all that now, but I wonder how much of that goes in as a child, really. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Again, my kids are growing up on Star Wars and I've always said, you know, Star Wars always is political. Yeah. um Whether you choose to take those things on board. But I like to think my kids are empathetic and caring and engaged in what's happening yeah in the real world.
Speaker: And I like to think that links back to Star Wars. Because if you grow up rooting for the rebels, we should be fighting for injustice wherever we see it. Yeah, exactly. That's the closest we're going to get to joining the rebellion. So that's where we should isn't it? That's where we should be on it, yeah. I never, never fancies being in the empire. Grey's not my colour. It's not my colour.
Speaker: it's not Parenting done right. Yes. humling oh Definitely. I do remember those conversations, though. I do remember the whys because I did a lot of Star Wars with my mum. That was who was into it. and And I remember asking a lot of questions and she had some really like she would explain things in like a child friendly way. So, yeah, I do remember having those conversations. There's the current joke that goes around, isn't it? Like, how did a war start with a trade blockade? And we're like, if we go to 2026. Yeah, let's have a think about this.
Speaker: like mapping Star Wars back through the last 50 years and watching how the storytelling in it has changed as the world has changed and the wars have changed, which is, I guess, what Dr. Chris Kemshaw's book, The Rise of the Galactic Ampire, which we're desperately trying to get him on the pod. Yeah, it's a third of the way through. It's a big read. It's a lot because he's written it as a historian and,
Speaker: Yeah, the parallels, like, it's very difficult to not talk about the parallels, really, from Lucas's original vision of why he made Star Wars in the first place. George wrote it in, didn't he? He literally pulled from history and real world experiences. And then Stallone has carried that through to Clone Wars, through to Rebels. It's really hard, I think, if you're politically prepared engaged and switched on not to go all that's like that and that's like what's happening here so yeah hopefully it teaches people empathy and yeah that makes the world a better place we need more star wars yeah so we have a little trojan horse style thing going on here as the plan
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They have to get into the capital. Yeah, across the f bridge. So they they Trojan horse it by getting inside one of those things. Because what Tambor is so focused on, I'm going to steal all of the treasure before I leave. So it's kind of epitome of like...
Speaker: coloniser greed really it kind of reminds me of sort of a medieval villain you know like if it was a sheriff of nottingham or someone busy like looting the tower knowing that his end is inevitable but i'm gonna get out of here as rich as possible and then die yeah so yeah very interesting because i also saw him more he's more droid like yeah so it was funny to see him with like a human instinct of greed yeah that was to the point where the tactical droid is like no i'm leaving you here yeah and the tactical droid was like i have no interest in that bye yeah he says start my ship what tamar is a fool yeah and then just yeah i didn't know the tactical droids could even do that that's like very he did the calculations didn't he clearly gone there's no point we just need to go yeah that's for another time just leave yeah Wild. What an episode. What great episode. What a great trilogy of episodes.
Speaker: yeah Introduction to Ryloth, loads of amazing storytelling and lots of origin stories. yeah I love that this three episode arc is like, we're with the Jedi at each point, but we're with a different Jedi. Different Jedi, yeah. It's just... And the styles are so different as well, which yeah we do see in the prequel trilogy.
Speaker: But when you're doing this as a cartoon, it would be so easy to be like, right, we'll be with a Jedi, we'll be with clones, and it's just battle and then some moral resolution at the end. yeah But they really think through all of these battles and how different they are depending who is the commanding Jedi. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I love it when they do back-to-back episodes. There's quite a lot of filler in Clone Wars, which needs to be there because it does build on something, but ah normally a lot later. But when they do these like mini arcs, I think they're perfect. But for me I would have ended on this episode. yeah Yeah, it's really odd to have this one as a finale. Yeah. Oh, I love this as a finale. Yeah, let's talk about it. I mean, yeah, like at first I think I was like thinking, what is this doing here? But then as the episode evolved, I'm like, actually, again, it's another introduction, isn't it? A big introduction. It's a huge introduction. Yeah, I got excited. I like bounty hunters. Yeah. Yeah. yeah i I think like George's plan for his Star Wars Underworld live action, which is what he the last thing he was thinking of doing when he decided to sell, this is almost like an iteration of that. Like if we can't have that, then let's have this because this starts to get into that in a big way. yeah And it has sown the seeds for loads and loads of other stuff. Absolutely. Also completely bold move to be like, okay, this is the last episode. It's 25 minutes long. Have like a dozen new characters. Yeah. but And they are new, new characters. So this is the first appearance of Cabin. Yeah. Wild. Who knew he was going to become an instant fan favourite? I mean, Cad Bane's like iconic.
Speaker: Yes. And then they throw in Aura Singh, who yeah we only saw Boona Eve. You know, I think yeah she was up on a rock with some binoculars or something. Yeah. what's just a po around And now she's, you know, this master mercenary. Yeah. So what fantastic introduction. good. Yeah. But also giving a slight recap of some of the new people we've met in season one, like Zero and some of the senators. trying to remember the Rodian senator's name. Can't remember. Anyway. Oh, and something far. Uncle Ono. Yeah, yeah. Uncle Ono. Uncle Ono as well. Uncle Ono. Yeah, and having Bale as well. Oh yeah, these are all the people that you've met over the last 21 episodes. Let's have them in this one story together with Padme. And Anakin and new people.
Speaker: Okay, so favourite characters? Zero, obviously. You're the biggest Zero stand. I am not Zero. Zero's incredible.
Speaker: He's the b**chiest b**ch that ever b**ched. He's so good. So stripped back Zero. They took away his little headdress. They did take away his little headdress. He's a prisoner though. Yeah, I think they talked about giving him some prison tattoos, but they were like, no, we can't. can't do that Zero. They should have had him in the prison Yeah.
Speaker: he could have come out all like barfkening ah anyway i went with aura singh just i was so shocked by how diabolical she is she's she is cut right yeah absolutely cuts right i think she out does everybody yeah i can't yeah how about you amanda who did you pick I was torn between Cad Bane or Aurra Sing. I would probably lean more to Cad Bane just because it's so cool.
Speaker: I mean, he's also diabolical. Yeah, but if you grew up with Westerns, I just kind of think you've got to have a soft spot for him. Do you know, we met a Cad Bane cosplayer at Force Fest and I was instantly terrified, but also really attached. So. He was lovely. He was so nice. Yeah, nice there there is one going around. I've never seen him with his face off ever. He didn't make it off all day and it was sweltering. But quite often when I'm fennec, I'll get a few pictures with him. But yeah, in person, he is generally quite terrifying. Yeah, I'm not fazed by Vader.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And quite often you'll see like Inquisitors. And I mean, my garrison has got some very like stern Imperial members. Yeah, yeah. And Stormtroopers, yeah, they don't faze me. But that cabane generally takes me back to being about five. And I find him utterly terrifying. Oh, he's lovely. He's doing his job. He's so cool. I got the feeling he is such a nice guy. He's probably absolutely lovely. I showed him a message because I took a photo with him and sent it to my friend Mary, who loves Cad Bane. And she messaged back saying, oh, that's two of my favourite people. So I showed him the message. You and Cad Bane. So bounty hunters are scary though. I mean, I've made children cry being fennec unintentionally because I try not to smile, just keep sort of poker face. Might do a bit of like a raised eyebrow. But yeah, there's been times where I've walked the con floor and little kids just looks at me and going, that's the Abe though. And I thought, do you know what? At least I'm doing this right. Yeah. I always get, I've got anyone behind me who's more terrifying. It is you, yeah. to be fair, my rifle is almost as tall as me. So you see me walking the conflore with that, I can understand. Oh, gosh. I had forgotten that Cad Bane is based on Lee Van Cleef. That was Lucas's original thing. It's like we want Lee Van Cleef from The Good, Bad and the Ugly, but Aduros. The Blue. Right.
Speaker: Yeah, I love how he just picks pop culture references and just like, that we're going to completely switch it Brilliant. Yeah, and I hadn't also realised, again, behind the scenes thing, that he's got this sort of like...
Speaker: breathing apparatus he's got I've always thought it's some kind of to do with Juros anatomy but then like we've seen other Juros without it but it's to protect himself from force choking from the Jedi it's like specifically an anti-Jedi it's like an anti-choke mechanism yeah interesting okay I used to think, because you used to see cowboys with cigars and stuff, I used to wonder if it was more like a vape. Yeah, yeah. You know, like, he was somehow piping a bit like Saw Gerrera. Like, he had a pipe staff for the gas. He's just huffing Rido in the dress. Yeah, well, the gas. Yeah.
Speaker: ah wild starship fumes m I mean, Cav Bane, I could see him like doing this as like a strategy against Jedi, but then being like, oh of course, I can just pump whenever I want through this. We always see him with like a toothpick, which is quite iconic. yeah Instead of the little cigar. Yeah, I did just think maybe it was because we did always see them with either chewing tobacco or smoking something. yeah Maybe that was what it was. But no, anti-charm device, who knew? That's great. it's clever of you knew And actually, why aren't they everywhere? if they're available... Yeah, you should be patenting that. and I mean, if he made that himself, ah you know, he needn't have become a bounty hunter. I think a lot of people would have brought one. Yeah, half the Imperial Army would have...
Speaker: Nervous about Vader? or the office i he choked Not today, Vader. Yeah, he's got jet boots as well, a rocket boots, which again, we don't see them in this episode, but I think we do in future episodes, which again is an anti-Jedi. It's a bit like the Mandos, you know, their armour is all that anti-Jedi. yeah He's doing his own version of that. Clever. So this is a completely wild episode in that we've got this massive group of bounty hunters breaking in to take Senate hostages to release zero. And you're like, how can zero possibly have, from money, it's a big bounty. like this could have been a prison break episode instead because it would have been harder, surely, to take Senate security out than prison security, you would think. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, the prison looked like it was guarded by similar droids. Yeah, the same. Isn't it? The blue commandos. Which are humans, like we met Argaeus the other week. So they're not clones, but they're like Coruscant-y military times. I feel like it probably would be similar.
Speaker: i don't know. There's this thing, Dave Filoni was talking about it. does Palpatine know what is going on here? And he didn't answer the question. but He just sowed that seed and I wrote Intrigue Confirmed in capital letters. I did wonder that, yeah. I want Palpatine to go on the traitors, right? Yeah. Go on the traitors. Make him a tra... He would be amazing. No one would know. He would always win the money. But I feel like he does know because there's never any panic.
Speaker: Yeah. He's always a case of, oh, no. He's always calm. He stays calm throughout. And a lot of people would be like, oh, that's just his personality type. But yeah I just think you have to know. So with that in mind, throwing that into the mix, that question of Palpatine and and is he doing this, this is much more of a spectacle in a way. If you've got a bunch of senators from...
Speaker: key Republic worlds who are then in this precarious situation that is so Palpatine build the drama build the hype it's like optics I also thought it's just the flex isn't it I almost feel like he would have hired those bounty hunters to see if they could do it rather than the prison break which probably would have been easier yeah make it more dramatic make it more but then he's almost you know thinking ahead who he can yeah what he's gonna because he's got stuff for cad bane to do and yeah exactly i think this is almost like a job interview and that's why they're so many of them it's a bit like when we have the episode where they have that bounty hunter
Speaker: assault course the only thing I've yeah I don't know how else you call it but they all go in because Kenobi have to shave his head and he becomes someone else yeah when he's undercover yeah he goes in undercover so I feel like this is Palpatine literally just having an extreme this is the third round of the job in interview you need to break into the senate can you break into the senate can you release this prisoner or negotiate the release of this prisoner well They absolutely do.
Speaker: They smash it. They do. They're such a team. It's such a cool... All of it is cool because they're just... They best Anakin instantly. Admittedly, he doesn't have his lightsaber, but also yeah they just overrun him, essentially. Yeah. Can I just say, I really don't like Anakin in this episode. i feel like he's gaslighting Panamé a lot. Oh my god, yeah, we're back to like a type of clown's game. We need have summer Yeah.
Speaker: I wrote down that that's a relatable argument. I've had that one with my partner many times, but like, I literally have to work. If you want this roof over our head, we have to work. Yeah. It's like his binary thing. Is it more important the way you feel about me? You know, just like emotional blackmail. No. And the points I'm like, yeah, keep that lightsaber, but like put it somewhere he would never find it. And then he'll have to go back to Kenobi and be like, I've lost my heart. Yeah. but yeah no i really don't like him from the get-go of this episode just the way he talks to me just yeah it's not nice no red flag love i did laugh out loud wow it's heavier than i thought when she takes the lightsaber come on just stop playing his game yeah yeah stop it stop it
Speaker: Also, can I just say Padme putting a whole lightsaber up her sleeve. We know her outfits are amazing. Who thought tailoring could do that? Yeah, it's quite impressive. Because only mean, how how was how did that work? She must have had her hand on it, but then that would have looked weird because her hand wouldn't been out of her sleeve. yeah yeah I want to know she has special lightsaber pockets. Pockets in her sleeves.
Speaker: Kind of makes sense, I guess. I had a question. Why do the clones break into Palpatine's office? Is it just to check if he's okay? Because they like really dramatically break through the windows at one point and come in and they're like, oh my God, is everything all right? And he's like, yeah, I'm fine. yeah I'm just sat here watching it all on the monitor. I think it wass just like the mid kind of siege situation. yeah can't actually remember what the reason was. Because the clones are like, they're coming in to to try and save the senators, but they instantly go for the one that's not being held. Maybe they thought he was the target. Maybe you were just shooting the fact you've got these elite bounty hunters. Because Cad Bane's already taken off who he wants at that point to go and get Zero.
Speaker: Yeah. Maybe it's just the clones being slightly too late. but But then they also, Bane does leave Palpatine there. So maybe there is a... He's 100%. He's in, yeah.
Speaker: He's already in the mix. Yeah. Yeah. I love the ah helios Helios duo. What are they? The two droids, 3D and 3E. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They got names like the IG, yeah, with the fancy paint jobs. One them's got like white kind of, he's the one that doesn't make it, I think. Yeah. The white diagonal stuff across him. Helios 3D and Helios 3E. Yeah.
Speaker: They're pretty serious, those assassin droids. You do not want to mess with them. No, exactly. not at all. character that always makes me laugh in this one is the fish bounty hunter. The fish guy, yeah. Robonino. He reminds me of Ed the Duck from Marvel. I can't... So like it. I think it's because his fins look like the quiff and then his other quiffs look like the beak. But I can't unsee it. And so in my head, I'm like Ed the Duck now in that universe. His whole vibe is like Ed the Duck. Like the way he talks and moves and everything. Yeah, Cap Bain calls him bubble brain. Yeah. Which is really nice.
Speaker: But again, he's very efficient. He does his job. I love his voice. he's got Yeah, his voice is wild. I love the fact they always add that kind of weird, funny character, Jess. Yeah. kind of breaks, even though they're doing something quite serious and he was still quite formidable. You know, it's fun to watch. Yeah. It's the cartoon, but it's a cartoon. It's not too serious, guys, honest. Yeah. okay It's everything. It's a kidnap clock and a jailbreak better than that.
Speaker: But yeah, it ends with Zero being free again. And coming out complaining. That's what I love about Zero. He's like such a diva. He's always like, oh, the sun's too bright. And it's like, you're out of prison. Why couldn't we do this at night when it's cooler? yeah That's love it. But yeah, well I'm sure we're going to get to see him. Well, we are getting to see him again. getting see Cad Bane again. my gosh.
Speaker: So exciting. We finished season one of The Clone Wars. Oh my goodness. What ride. They said it couldn't be done. did five, six episodes, I think, of podcasting. No, it's incredible. Which is pretty ridiculous. Yeah, five. Well, six if you include the movie. Yeah, we've done it. So fun.
Speaker: Amanda, thank you so much for coming on and bringing such cool insights. Yes. It's nice being able to chat Star Wars. Yeah. ah I can't do this at work. Well, we hope you'll come back because we've got more Clone Wars to talk about. we want to talk to you about cosplay, if you're up for that some point. Yeah, no, absolutely. We'd love to talk about cosplay.
Speaker: yeah Speaking of, we're going now, we finished season one, we're going into two episodes of Journeys into Wild Space. Wild Space. We've got a couple of wild very wild ones coming up. Next week, if you want to play along, listener, then you need to go and watch a film called Logan's Run from the mid-70s, which we talked about ages ago on the podcast. It's come up a few times. It came up when we were talking about Guns for Hire in Mando season three, because that's very Logan's Run.
Speaker: It's an amazing vintage sci-fi film. yeah And yeah, you need to go watch it. So that's what we're covering next week with another couple of guests. Yeah. And then we'll tell you what's coming the week after that when we do that. wet We're not going to tell you about that yet.
Speaker: Too soon But yeah, go watch Logan's Run. Come back next week. Follow us on all the things. We're on Insta. We're on um TikTok. We're getting few new TikTok followers. We're getting a few new subscribers on YouTube. and I forgot to shout out. We're going to have a shout out now. We got a shout out ChrisCoaster1 on YouTube. Thank you for a little comment. yeah Thank you for following us. And Amanda, where can people find you on the socials? Oh, you can find me postcardsfromscariff on Instagram and TikTok. or you can follow me on Falken Fashions because I still post a few Star Warsy bits over that. Nice.
Speaker: Cool. Go do that. Lovely. We'll see you next week for Logan's Run. Yay! See you soon. Bye. Bye.
