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S02E32: Repeatedly Reminiscing on Early Star Wars with Doug Carter
40 Plays2 months ago
Our final week of looking back on the early days... for now! Join Bob and his new friend Doug Carter as they remember days gone by, review the new stuff, and reflect on being a Star Wars dad.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Intro
00:00:00
Speaker
We got two old dads talking about Star Wars and we're doing it real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a Star Trooper?
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper and the third in a three-part mini-series reminiscing about the glory days of Star Wars with some old friends.
00:00:25
Speaker
For the last two weeks, I've talked to an old, old friend, Steve Gross, and today I'm talking to a new old friend, or an old new friend, Doug Carter.
00:00:36
Speaker
I was introduced to Doug through my son Harrison. Doug was Harrison's boss for a while, And even though they're no longer working together, Doug is still an avid listener of this podcast. And so I wanted to have him on and just talk about our experience as Star Wars fans and also our experience as dads growing up with kids in the Star Wars fandom, kind of.
00:00:59
Speaker
You'll hear what I mean. So here are me and Doug.
Introducing Star Wars to the Next Generation
00:01:04
Speaker
All right. It is so good to talk to a star wars a fellow Star Wars fan of a certain age.
00:01:10
Speaker
this ah This is what Harrison's, I said to Harrison, like, hey, I'm talking to Doug. Like, we were just going talk about like our lives as Star Wars fans. What should you talk about? And he's like, well, you know, like two old guys, like, what's your experience as Star Wars with kids? i'm like, okay, thanks, you punk.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah. oh he was my He was my work my work son. Yeah. I appreciate that. but Yeah. um yeah So i my kids are... I have two daughters. um One is turning 13 this week and the other is 16 and off at a music band camp.
00:01:46
Speaker
and And she is the Star Wars fan of the two. The the other one wants nothing to do with anything ah Star Wars related. And it it is it's been fun introducing my oldest, Elise, to um to to the the franchise. And it it started through um the Clone Wars, um Bad Batch, and more more importantly, Star Wars Rebels, which is one of my all-time favorites. Same.
00:02:19
Speaker
Same. And same with my kids. You know, I tried. i i of course, I want them there to be be be passionate Star Wars fans. And I bought them all the picture books and toys and pajamas and stuff. And they really didn't weren't that interested at all. It was Rebels that was the gateway drug for them.
00:02:39
Speaker
That's when they started getting interested. Yeah, it was the most connective of all of the Star Wars franchises. And it was the easiest for her to just kind of fall in love with. I had been watching it live as it was coming out um weekly.
00:02:55
Speaker
and And she sat in with me one time and said, I really like this. um Where can I see more? And so we started watching it together. and Then we started watching the original episodes and I bought the DVDs and, you know, so have that nerd collection for her to jump into as well.
Bonding Through Star Wars
00:03:12
Speaker
And so ever since then, she's gone back in arrears to watch the original movies, the prequels and the other ones we saw in the theater together. And yeah she's been sitting next to me for, for everything from the Mandalorian to the,
00:03:31
Speaker
recent Andor series. and So great. You know, and so she's been growing up with the, the accessory Star Wars films.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah. It's been really great. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting because I was just talking with a friend of ours. Well, the daughter of a friend of ours who I think she's probably 22, 23 or so.
00:03:54
Speaker
And when I saw her at our 4th of July party, she was like, I started watching star Wars. I'm like, really? That's great. And she's like, well, I'm really kind of into it.
00:04:06
Speaker
Um, I think she started with clone wars as well, but she said right now her passion is, um, is the prequels, which I thought was really interesting. Like those were her favorite movies were the prequels as she is now like just maybe over the last several months kind of dove into everything.
00:04:26
Speaker
But she's whole hog, man. She was sitting there with ah with a Nintendo 3DS. And i was like, what are you playing? She's like, Lego Star Wars. Like, wow, you got it girl. You are really into it.
Star Wars Nostalgia and Critique
00:04:36
Speaker
So, Doug, tell me more about your journey as a Star Wars fan. what do What do you remember from, you know, at first coming into your consciousness? Oh, sure. Well, I i think you and I are ah pretty close to the same age. Yeah. um So I was...
00:04:50
Speaker
I was seven or eight when the first movie came out and I remember seeing it in the theater and, um and it was one of those things that, um it it was, it was kind of a game changer for me. It was, it was life altering as much as a seven year old's life could be altered.
00:05:12
Speaker
Um, it was just one of those things that we all fell in love with. you know i don't think there was anybody anywhere that wasn't touched by it. And then so you know that that gave rise to the Star Wars figures and the toys and the clothes and the bed sheets and all the other crazy things that went along with it.
00:05:36
Speaker
um i i was one of those kids that sent in the proof of purchase squares from the back of the of the the star wars figures to get the boba fett boba fett figure i still have it you know it's um and that was yeah i i'm a huge boba fett fan yeah have been um since what 1980 And, um you know, that was one of those things that just kind of grew and grew and grew. And for no reason, like a character, a side character with two lines shouldn't be everybody's favorite, but it was for me. And and that was ah that was something that's carried on till today. And yeah.
00:06:19
Speaker
I would say Elise and I both watched the book of Boba Fett with great disappointment. Yeah. It was kind of a flat. was a flat ending to to something that I thought should have been much better. Considering the people who made it um and the people who wrote it, I expected him to be the best bad guy villain bounty hunter. When he came back, it was like, oh, he's kind of overweight, pudgy, and he's not as mean as he was. and i don't know. That's not what he should have been. i don't think that was what what i had in mind.
00:06:57
Speaker
Well, that's a really interesting viewpoint. What did you think of the episode of the Mandalorian season two, where we, where he first came back. Yeah. was directed by Robert Rodriguez. Yeah. I was so excited. And Robert, I was, ah you know, Robert right Rodriguez fight scene and, and all the stuff that went along with it. Like, yes, this is what it's supposed to be. He's supposed to be that guy.
00:07:20
Speaker
And then it just kind of got squishy after that. It was like, yeah. Yeah, that's kind of not what I thought it was. I actually, with Book of Boba Fett, I liked the first few episodes. I liked him coming back out of the Sarlacc pit with the exact beat as Patton Oswalt's speech, which is just amazing that they did that. It was awesome.
00:07:41
Speaker
And, you know, when he's living with the Tuskens, I was down with that. I liked that part. But... when it started getting into, you know, the whole Damio bit of Tatooine, the thing that made me sad, yeah, yeah.
00:07:55
Speaker
The thing that made me sad about it was I felt like the episodes that were directed by Robert Rodriguez were the weakest ones out of all of them. Yeah. didn't make sense. yeah it was a, it was a big disappointment for me. Um,
00:08:08
Speaker
i I thought the episodes where the Mandalorian came back in were saved by the Mandalorian being the Mandalorian. I thought that was great. I'm a big fan of Cad Bane, and I was like super excited for that, and that was just kind of... o You know, you're leaving it open for ah another sequel of some sort spinoff thing that I guess that's fine. But yeah, it was flashing at the end. Yeah, it it just it wasn't what I thought it should
Exploring New Star Wars Narratives
00:08:38
Speaker
have been.
00:08:38
Speaker
It's really funny because I was never that much of a Boba Fett fan. I mean, I thought he was OK, but I didn't have that passion about it. I remember being at Star Wars Celebration before the Mandalorian started, the one in Chicago.
00:08:51
Speaker
And I was in the panel where they were doing the preview of the Mandalorian and all of the Mandalorian mercs were sitting together on the main floor, you know, in their costumes and they all had their helmets and they were going, Mandalore, Mandalore.
00:09:05
Speaker
And I was so excited for them. You know, it was like, this is a group of fans that are so passionate about this. And finally the show is like basically being made for them.
00:09:16
Speaker
and it was so great seeing the joy on their faces. And then, yeah, that first season of the Mandalorian, I would say really the first two seasons, the Mandalorian, fantastic. Uh, third season of Mandalorian. I don't hate it, but it's not, you know, so something weird happened. I don't know.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, I, always feel like the corporate, um, heads get in the way and then, you know, they're making, they're making, um, money, money pits and and money movies that it's just a cash grab. And, um, I hate to think that about my favorite franchise, but it makes you wonder though, what was your reaction to Andor then as a, as a gentleman about my age too?
00:09:57
Speaker
Oh boy. i really loved it. So I, I'm a very, uh, a proponent. I i rank, uh, um Rogue One up there highest with my favorite all-time movies.
00:10:08
Speaker
sure I thought it was done beautifully well. I love the the little um
00:10:16
Speaker
Easter eggs of of Rebels. I thought that was great with yeah with Chopper. and you know Just seeing those things come together and I was like, oh this is this was really well done.
00:10:27
Speaker
and it was I think what my favorite part of it was is that it was a movie without... the Jedi lightsabers everywhere, right? it was that it We didn't have those high priests of weaponry.
00:10:41
Speaker
and And that was what made the first season of Andor so wonderful is that I watched it and I thought, this is a Star Wars tale for adults. And it's not just drown in lightsaber fights.
00:10:55
Speaker
And yeah oh, it was so good. It was so well-written and so beautifully done. And the second season just one-upped it in every way. And I love the way that they connected it to the from the end of season two of Andor to the beginning of Rogue One and and how it was almost seamless. It was just beautifully done.
00:11:16
Speaker
So amazing. And I agree with the, um I think it was Tony Gilroy even who said, You know, don't go around saying now all Star Wars projects should be like this moving forward. This is just showing that Star Wars can be in so many different genres. You know, I still want the Saturday morning serial version of Star Wars, and I would love to have more adult things. I would love to see more horror in Star Wars. Yeah. um More comedy, you know, bring it on. It's all good for me.
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think whatever they do with it, I mean, there's so many different ah avenues for it that i that they've shown ah from animated to, you know, um live action and and kids to adults. And and I think they've but they've all been um really done well for what they what they set out to do.
00:12:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. How are you looking forward to ah the Mandalorian and Grogu movie coming up? And then Ryan Gosling's Starfighter after that. what are you What's your expectation? I'm not sure that the Mandalorian story wasn't...
00:12:19
Speaker
um done with, with closure and, you know, a nice bow on it. I was really happy with the way it ended and said, all right, we don't need any more. I thought, you know, it was great.
00:12:30
Speaker
Do whatever you want with Ahsoka. And I love that character. And I love the the arc that that took, um, seeing her from a young child in the clone wars, all the way up to, to the, the, the, uh, the individual shows. I thought those were great.
00:12:48
Speaker
Um, but, uh, Yeah, I don't know. i'm I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I really, I'm happy when when there's closure with movies and shows and and and long running series like that. and And I like it when it ends.
00:13:02
Speaker
And that there's a nice ending to it. And if you want to pick up like you did with Rogue One and, you know, connectivity that way, and think that's great. um But you can let it go anytime.
00:13:14
Speaker
It's kind of like Return of the King had like 18 endings, right? Like, when is this movie actually going to end? Not that as bad, but like it just kept so many endings. And Mandalorian ended at the end of season two. yeah And again, at the end of season three. and now we got another movie.
00:13:26
Speaker
So... yeah Yeah. I was fine with it ending. I loved it. I love the series. My daughter did too. We had a ah ah great time watching it when it would come out every week. It was, it was appointment television for us. We were, we were, um, waiting for that new episode to come out every week and, and, uh,
00:13:45
Speaker
I think that she used to sneak behind and during after school or during lunchtime and she'd watch it on her phone or something. And she knew what was going on before we watched it in the evening. And she never told me most of the time. but um I was just happy that she was engaged in it and that she liked the same things that I like. And while I don't want to live through my kids and I don't want them to be like me necessarily, it is often um really fun when they they kind of ah follow that path and and and like the stuff that
Family and Fandom
00:14:14
Speaker
you like.
00:14:14
Speaker
It is. It is. I felt the same way at the end of ah the Galactic Star Cruiser voyage I took with both of my boys. I was just, you know, I don't know how much they liked it. um I think they did. I think they had a good time.
00:14:27
Speaker
i think Jackson definitely had a good time. Harrison, I think kind of endured it, but it was just a great thing to share with them. So that's a great thing about being a parent in, you know, the Star Wars fandom.
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
Closing Remarks and Next Episode Preview
00:14:40
Speaker
All right, thanks Doug for joining us and we'll be sure to have him on again. Now next week, we're gonna be heading down to Gen Con, the big gaming conference. So my plan is to scope out all of the Star Wars games. Now these are not gonna be video games, they're gonna be board games and tactical games and that kind of stuff.
00:14:58
Speaker
ah collectible card games. We will find out what's going on and we will report back to you next week. So join us then. In the meantime, hit like, hit subscribe, tell all your friends, write us a review for Crying Out Loud.
00:15:11
Speaker
May the Force be with you. We'll see you again soon. Bye-bye. I got mindless toys to do. Podcasts help you see them through. Star Wars is your favorite in it. Let's chat for 15 minutes.
00:15:23
Speaker
Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a smorntroover? Aren't you a little short for smorntroover?