The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

A Star Wars movie is back in theaters, and we walk out with the most predictable outcome possible: all of us have opinions. Mandalorian And Grogu gives us a big-screen dose of Din Djarin, Grogu cuteness, and creature-driven chaos, but it also raises a real question about what a theatrical Star Wars film should feel like in 2026. Are we here for a simple, rewatchable adventure, or do we need heavier stakes and a clear franchise-shifting arc?

We get into what worked for us, from the Anzellans (big Babu Frik energy) to the surprisingly fun lore bits and the craft that still makes this corner of the galaxy feel tangible. We debate whether Grogu shows real growth, how the story leans into fatherhood, and why some moments land harder when you frame them as a “son protecting his dad” story. We also talk pacing, action fatigue, and why the movie can feel like a stitched-together season run instead of a standalone event.

Then we go deeper on the meta stuff Star Wars fans love to argue about: marketing, trailers that don’t tease a hook, Disney Plus vs theatrical storytelling, and how the “Imperial warlords” thread may be tied to bigger plans like Rangers of the New Republic and the long-dreamed Heir to the Empire direction. Plus, we shout out Ludwig Göransson’s score and the theater audio experience that genuinely elevates key scenes.

If you’ve seen Mandalorian And Grogu, come hang with our takes, then tell us yours. Subscribe for next week, share this with a Star Wars friend, and leave us a five-star review if you want to help Project Geekology reach more listeners.

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Transcript

Welcome Back And The Premise

SPEAKER_06 0:00

Welcome back to Project Geekology. This is episode 164. And today we are talking about becoming our own man. Specifically with Rada the Hutt. This is uh a movie all about Jabba the Hutt Sun uh called Rada and the Hut. And um I I don't know where this is going. I'm just I'm blabbering. We're talking about Mandalorian and Grogu, the new movie, uh the new Star Wars movie that is currently in theaters. Uh we have all seen it, and we have all decided we have thoughts on it, and we will talk about it for, you know, between 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Who knows? We'll we're gonna talk about it, but before we get into any of that, my name is Dakota. Um I am one-fourth of our host.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I am joined as always with Anthony, and you know we gotta talk about Rada.

SPEAKER_05 0:50

Um and joining us on that is Rich, uh, exclusively play by Lucasfilm to be positive about the following movie that we're gonna review. But uh, we can't do that alone. We're also joined by Hey, I'm Gen Guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

How's it going?

SPEAKER_06 1:06

What's your name, Gen Guys?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Jen. That's my Star Wars name. I'm Gen Guys. Gen Guys. Gen Guys the HUD.

SPEAKER_06 1:16

Uh yeah, so we we have a new Star Wars movie. Um it is definitely a film you can watch in theaters. And we're gonna talk a little bit about it. Before we

Games And One Piece Check-In

SPEAKER_06 1:26

jump into that, though, what have we been up to this past week? Um, I've had a crazy week and I don't really want to talk about it too much, so I'm gonna throw it off to Anthony.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Nothing too crazy, honestly. Um a new banner dropped in in TE for a character named uh Lac Lacromosa. She's almost kind of like a vampire because she can turn into a bat.

SPEAKER_06 1:49

She's the one who's like addicted to like tomato sauce.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Oh, I like that one. Yeah, I I actually have seen Dakota play with that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

So so she was officially released, and um was it like after 20 pools, I I I got her, so so I've been um kind of assembling a team around her, and I've been it lit literally this was just today that that I did this. So I've been enjoying that, just been watching watching a lot of One Piece. Um well actually it it it comes in waves. Like there's some days where I'll watch like maybe an episode or two, and then there's some days where I'll watch like four episodes or five, you know.

SPEAKER_06 2:30

Heck, maybe even six.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Sometimes. Who knows? Maybe seven? Sometimes it do be like I might I might no no not seven, only seven. Oh, sorry. Um but yeah, so nothing too much crazy on this front. Yeah, we uh we all saw Mandalorian Grogu, which we will be covering. Um Dakota and Jen were the last in the group to to see it, surprisingly, but um we'll hear their thoughts on it later. We'll uh throw it over to Rich.

FC 26 And The Physical Media Panic

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Rich, you uh what have you got going on?

SPEAKER_05 3:07

Let's see, uh, well, I mean, obviously there's always baseball, but we won't talk about that. I uh I did download for free uh FC 26. I had taken a break from the FIFA series for a while because I became a degenerate and I was playing too many games. Uh because FIFA really I mean, if FIFA Ultimate Team, like the baseball game has a mode that I play called Diamond Dynasty that you know it essentially is the same where you're unpacking cards and then then you can use them. But it's a lot more forgiving, and even though the community has been complaining, the FIFA or the I should say FC, it's no longer FIFA, they lost the title, is honestly just so engineered for money that the only way to earn things is to just dedicate your life to it. So I had to take a break for about four years. But uh the World Cup's coming up, and I can't I can't not have a soccer game when the World Cup is here. So they I downloaded it, it was available for free through the PlayStation. Uh I have like the PlayStation Pro well over the m the the store membership. I think I've got the like the second tier or something. So uh got that in preparation for the World Cup. I'm excited. It's fun to it's fun to play that mode and and kind of get into it. So I'm looking forward to when they release they should be releasing it soon as the World Cup is starting. So I'm pretty excited about that. And then um, you know, I don't know about you guys, but this whole physical media thing is I don't like the fact that some, you know, even with PlayStation, it's not a big deal, but they they have this new thing where every 30 days minimum you have to connect to the internet to make sure that you uh renew your license for a game. And I run a setup at home where Charlie's system upstairs is a PS5, his uh his account is under mine. But I uh I basically kind of download the games up there after I install them on mine, and his becomes like the Anchor PlayStation almost. So if we've had times where we lose the internet for a couple of days and I can't play any of the games that are connected to that are uh downloaded from the PlayStation Store. So today I got an Amazon package and I surreptitiously was opening it, and my son goes, Why would you need to buy Red Dead Redemption 2 when you already own Red Dead Redemption 2, Dad? Just like out loud, like as my wife is an earshot. And I'm just like, Why would you I was like, Do you want to know why? Because I'm concerned that if we lose Wi-Fi for an extended period of time or there's a zombie apocalypse, I won't be able to play my favorite game in the world, so I had to buy a physical copy. So I am excited to say that I randomly bought a PS4 copy of Red Dead Redemption 2.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

I don't think internet will be your issue. I think electricity would be your issue.

SPEAKER_05 5:55

I've got a son and I plan to use a bike, and he's going to make sure I can play video games. That's why I have progeny. That's you know, that's that's why you do it. You're just gonna create energy? Dude, you know what? How how do you think early farmers like made it? You know, like they just had lots of kids and they just made them farm.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

I don't think they played video games.

SPEAKER_05 6:12

I don't think they were collecting electric. I I'm going to just throw it over to you, Dakota. Uh I don't think we should discuss this any further. Uh facts are Fair enough. Like, facts are for the wind. Alright? Like, I don't need that. Um, Jen,

Pregnancy Updates And Comfort Watches

SPEAKER_05 6:28

what have you been up to?

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Um, well, you guys know like that round in Mario Party where like you you like pump a little like a little box or something, or you press a button, and then you just see this balloon growing and growing and growing. That's kind of what I've been doing. I've just been watching myself expand. Um my unborn child continues to grow at an astronomical rate. I'm short, and I don't think he has any room left, but he keeps proving me wrong. So I have another month of this, and I'm really curious to see. I think I think we I'm gonna win this round of Mario party because I'm just I'm getting huge blimp size, and that's that's what I've been up to. It's concerning. Do you swear- I asked my doctor, I was like, I can't possibly continue to grow. And she was like, Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:22

She's like, oh yeah, this is where the fun begins.

SPEAKER_05 7:24

Nikoda, can you can you swear on this podcast that while you're in the hospital on the day, you'll go, ooh ba. Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

He's already done that to me.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

Oh yeah. Um, like like in episode three. Yes. Uh with with the the the nursing droids, the maid droids. Ooh bah. Ooh bah. I'm like it is like a very like comforting sound. Like it is a comforting sound. I've always thought, even when I was a kid, I was just like, ASMR doesn't exist yet, but when it does, that's my trigger. That's that's a tangle for me. Um anyway, uh yeah. So you you feel like Mario Party.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Um, what have you I'm like ready to start speaking Hate's and I'm like, you want a Wanga? Like I'm like Dao Rich.

SPEAKER_06 8:15

I'm like Park Deli? I can't do this anymore. What have you been watching?

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Uh here we go. I mean, guys, you consume a lot of media. I've been watching the same shows as last week. I'm still watching Sopranos and Gilmore Girls. More Gilmore girls than Sopranos. I'm on season four of Gilmore Girls. Rory's going to Yale, Dave Ragowski left, and this is usually the time where I depart the show, because if you know, you know, unfortunate things are about to happen. And I think I might just go over to the OC and watch Dave Ragowski turn into Seth Cohen.

SPEAKER_06 8:52

Yeah. Um we we have been watching some other stuff too. You've been starting up uh season three of Only Murders in the Building.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Oh yeah, that's true. I've heard about it.

SPEAKER_06 9:00

Uh we wa we started watching a Apple TV series that's called Widow's Bay, that is a horror series, but it's also humor, um, which doesn't seem like it fits. Um, and people are comparing it to something like Twin Peaks, like a lot of people are saying like it's a Twin Peaks type show, but it's very different. Um I would say it's more traditional horror. Um, but the humor is like really funny when when it when it actually does land.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Yeah, it's just so scary for me. I'm a scaredy cat.

SPEAKER_06 9:34

Well, what's funny is that it's like most of the most of every episode of this show is like Parks and Wreck. Yeah. Where you're just kind of following this guy, this mayor of this uh this um island, this like supposedly cursed island. And it it feels like a parks and rec episode, you know, like it it just it has that vibe, and most of the episodes are really light, or like most of the episode is lighthearted until they get to the crux of whatever it is that they are trying to uh you know, like they they go to a hotel that everyone's saying like is super haunted, and so like the mayor's like, it's not haunted, I'll I'll spend a night there, and it's just like the worst night of his life.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Um they do have like explanations where it's like it could be you could interpret it in different ways, like it might not be haunted.

SPEAKER_06 10:26

It might just be black mold, guys. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Well, you don't want to it wasn't gonna tone the end of the episode.

SPEAKER_06 10:31

I wasn't, I was just a random thing that I said has nothing to do with the episode.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Oh, okay. Um yeah, that's true, guys.

SPEAKER_06 10:38

Anyway, so uh Widows Bay, um, everyone's saying it's one of the best shows of the year. We've only watched three episodes. It is very good. I don't know if it's the best uh show of the year, but we'll we'll we'll see. Yeah, I think that's all we've been watching.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

I don't know if I can watch anymore.

SPEAKER_06 10:53

That's fine.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Because it's too scary for me.

SPEAKER_06 10:55

Maybe I'll watch, I don't know. I

Dungeon Crawler Carl Takes Over

SPEAKER_06 10:58

have been reading uh my continuing my read of Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's kind of become an obsession. You know how like you get into something and that's all you can think about for a long time. Like if I if I get into Star Wars, I will read and catch up with all the books that have come out in the past six months that I left off on, and that's that's kind of where I'm at with Dungeon Crawler Carl.

SPEAKER_04 11:20

Um I think we call that the I think we call that the Tism, right? When we just it might be just TISM.

SPEAKER_06 11:27

Yeah. It might be a TISM deep dive, yeah. I am definitely in that Tism hole. It gets to a point where like you just start seeing Carl and Princess Donut everywhere. Like I'm watching Mandalorian and Grogu, and I'm like, wow, this is just like Carl and Princess Donut.

SPEAKER_04 11:45

Come on.

SPEAKER_06 11:46

Uh in in in many ways, actually, it is it is very similar. Um at least dynamic-wise. The Princess Donut is a lot more um the the cat, the the the talking, walking uh crawler cat with uh magic missiles that come out of her tiara is um more more talkative for sure than Grogu, but uh they they are they operate on a similar wavelength where Carl needs to protect this creature um and vice versa, the creature protects Carl. Uh so anyway.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Takoda said I'm a lot like Princess Donut, and I don't know how to feel nowadays nowadays?

SPEAKER_04 12:24

I agree.

SPEAKER_06 12:26

Occasionally she'll say uh like Jen will say something that is just like you know what? You definitely are like Princess Donut. Um I forget the what what what I said exactly that was like the example of that, but anyway. It means nothing to you listeners because nobody's actually a lot of people are reading the series. It's one of like the fastest growing series right now. Um and somehow my mom's on book four already. Like she learned about it like two weeks ago, and she's on book four.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

She's a really fast reader.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah, she is. How's she liking that?

SPEAKER_06 13:01

Oh, she loves it. Yeah, no, she she's because she's not a huge gamer. Like, she played World of Warcraft for a little bit, and that's pretty much the only game I think I've ever seen her play. This is only like tangentially like World of Warcraft in the sense that it's like a mul massive multiplayer online thing, but it's in real like IRL for these people. Um and like the chat features, like with the guild and party chats, it's it's kind of like World of Warcraft in that sense. But other than that, it's very different. I've I'm I just started book six, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride. And it's really funny, man. Um they they basically for the floor that they are on now, which is floor eight of the dungeon, um they had to choose a random starting country. So like they took a a snapshot of Earth like a ye a month before the world collapsed. And you're you're you choose like your starting location for floor eight, and they they had an item in their in inventory that was a quest item that had something to do with the Bahamas. So Carl's like, alright, we gotta choose the Bahamas. And because Princess Donut has most charisma, she's the party leader, so she goes to choose, and she chooses a random place in the Caribbean, and she chooses Cuba, and it it it so it's just it's just mayhem. And now they're they're like fighting um really racist mobs in uh in Havana. Um racist character racist caricatures of mobs in uh Cuba. Anyway, it's it's a really really funny book. Um good time. Otherwise,

The YouTube Phishing Scam Breakdown

SPEAKER_06 14:39

uh I've had a terrible week, guys. Uh I have lost access to my YouTube channel. It is no longer on YouTube. I was uh unfortunately caught up in a phishing scam. Uh for those of you who don't who don't know, phishing is when um you you're basically uh scammed into revealing your password uh in some creative, insidious way. Um and basically like someone came up with the notion that if you prey on people's fear, it works better. And you know, if if you're a YouTuber, you're scared of uh being not only copyright claimed, but copyright striked, which you know, three strikes and your channel's gone forever. Um so I saw like that my channel got striked twice and like in my emails. So I I clicked the link and I'm I'm like I'm trying to figure out what the heck I could have possibly sampled that this guy was like striking my video for, and it looked just like the YouTube uh studio backend. So and but like some some things were blurred out and I needed to like sign into the account. So I signed into the account, and like ten seconds later I was completely locked out of my Google account. They changed my my phone number, they changed my recovery email, all my like security passwords um and questions. I I have like I had no means to recover the account, and it was very quick. Um and they they posted something on YouTube which YouTube noted as spam, and they basically just uh removed the channel from YouTube. But I'm in contact with uh team YouTube. They finally got back to me today. Thank god just before the podcast, actually.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Perfect. Did they DM you?

SPEAKER_06 16:26

They DM'd me, yeah. They they messaged me. Um they they basically said, I know this is a really stressful time. Uh d we'll we'll DM you with our next steps, and basically they asked for like a secondary email which they can uh send more information to, and I sent that to them, and we'll we'll see where it goes from there.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Perfect.

SPEAKER_05 16:46

Must have been my uh 500 followers, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Yeah, man. Um the f fishing fishing is in insane, they've been getting better at it um just over time, and with the existence of AI, that that just that doesn't help it out either. People can make super convincing web pages like just really in in the matter of seconds. And so, I mean, I I can I could see why. For those of you out there that have uh anything, just be wary, be c be wary of um also uh spoofing. People can scan can uh copy like uh bank numbers and they can call you directly. Just know that that your bank will never ask for any per personal information. Um and usually they won't really like call you outright unless you have or if you have something set up that you know for you know if you make purchases and they send you texts and all that stuff, then then yeah, that's normal, but they really won't normally call you about like you know potential like you uh you know, I guess purchases on your account. Usually they'll probably you know like send those like text, but always call them directly if you're not sure, or if you get like an email or a call. Usually if if you get a call from your bank and it and they say something about your your account like you know being scammed, then uh um hang up there and then call them back because it could be a uh somebody spoofing.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

What I think is like so frustrating about this experience is for Dakota it was like super early in the morning, like it was like six in the morning, and you know, like we're we're having a baby, like it's a stressful time. He had like a he was working the day before all day. So it just they do prey on your fear. And um the like the payoff for the scammers is just so small that I don't even understand how this is like worth it for them. So like they did all of this, right? Just so that they could post a couple of videos that immediately got taken down as spam. And I looked up a bunch of experiences from other people, and it seems like that's always the case. Like they'll just post a couple of videos and it almost always gets flagged and removed pretty quickly. And like you could really ruin people's lives. Like people have been banned from their accounts or barred from their accounts for like months on end or unable to recover them, and that's some people's source of income. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:26

Yeah. Thankfully, with uh with with YouTube, I I do make money off of it, but it's not anywhere near like a living wage. But there are people who make a living off of YouTube and s and uh you know social media. So if you take that away from them, that's their livelihood. That's that's their and you have no idea when you're getting that back. Because I've seen people who um are doing what I'm doing and getting into contact with YouTube like day of uh and and just like hounding them, and they don't get their channel back for a couple weeks. So if if you're not super like tech savvy, if you have no idea what you're doing, that that could be permanent, you know. Like you you just might you you might think that you could never get your channel back, especially if you're like an older person or whatever. So it's it's really frustrating. It's it's uh it it's a it was uh a bad start to the week. It was a it was a Monday.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah, no, I was thinking that same thing. I was like, man, that was early in the morning. Um you're probably a bit tired, so that uh that didn't help.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

I think yeah, I think that what really helped was in his post today, Dakota wrote, and I quote, help me team YouTube. You're my only hope. And honestly, like I was like, that's perfect, it's gonna work. And hours later, they finally responded. I mean, you just needed to appeal the way that Princess Leia would, which is a perfect lead-in to the rest of our episode.

SPEAKER_06 20:49

I think it is, yeah.

First Reactions To The New Movie

SPEAKER_06 20:51

Uh, because we get a lot of Princess Leia in this room. So much.

SPEAKER_05 20:56

Yeah. Oh, I'm so excited. Are you guys excited? Very excited.

SPEAKER_06 21:00

I'm a little excited. Yeah. We uh it's it's not every day you get to talk about a new Star Wars movie. I'm gonna let you guys start it off. Rich, you you were paid by Lucasfilm to to love this film?

SPEAKER_05 21:13

I was paid handsomely by Lucasfilm. Look, I I'm just gonna start by saying this, okay? I love Star Wars. I the I probably I'm an English teacher because of Star Wars. I read Star Wars, all the books, the legends, all that stuff. Was obviously upset when Disney changed that stuff around. I am a little decidedly less analytical than some of my brethren, and uh I don't know the word for lady brethren in um this instance. Yeah, I don't know. So I'm just gonna continue. But I I'm I'm really uh very accepting of a lot of the content because I'm just so excited about the galaxy and the universe, right? I I just love it. I downloaded it as history. I went into This and you know, my wife and son came, and my son is indoctrinated in Love Star Wars as much as I do. Uh I don't think he I think we have to do a rewatch soon so he can uh be a little bit more uh so he can he can remember more of it. Yeah, he he has it in broad strokes. Um my wife is not terribly a fan, but because Charlie gets excited about stuff she does too, so like she watched Mandalorian, I think they watched Soka. I always watch ahead of time because, you know, they watch too slowly for me because and I'm a mean person. But I'm telling you, this like my Lauren loved this movie. I heard her like giggling and getting excited during the movie in a way that like normally she falls asleep almost every movie we see for at least half an hour. She was like into all of this, and like Charlie was into all of this, and it just felt so fun. It's not complicated, it's not super layered or nuanced, it was just fun. I had a great time at the movies. I had popcorn, I got to hang out with my family and listen to them have a good time watching a movie in the universe of my favorite franchise. You know? Disclaimer, we we have I have a Mandalorian uh I have Boba Fett helmet, Charlie has a Mandalorian helmet, and Lauren has a Bo Katan helmet that we have on display at all times in our house. So maybe we're the right audience for this movie, you know.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

You're the target audience.

SPEAKER_05 23:33

And honestly, I I've I'm so upset with you guys that I don't know their names by heart, but Babu freaking friends, my god. My call them the Babu Freak Show. How about Yeah, the Babu Freak Show is what I am enamored.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Just Dakota! Yeah, yeah. Come on, Anthony, what did you think about it? Is it something exactly like your element?

SPEAKER_00 23:58

The thing I like about them is that they kind of remind me of um minions.

(Cont.) First Reactions To The New Movie

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Love them! Love them! Alright, I'm obviously I'm gonna I'm gonna hand it off to whoever. Anthony, you want to take over before uh Dakota just brings it crashing down with reality?

SPEAKER_06 24:14

No, no, no, I'm not gonna bring it crashing down. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it light. Well, what I will say, um, speaking about the Anzelans, the uh the Babu Fritz.

SPEAKER_05 24:22

Of course, you um you flexing for the third week in what was the other name that you were flexing on? The Jedi name, like Babu Dada Dada Dada.

SPEAKER_06 24:31

Master Eod Eod Ikodio Daki. Damn it, he got it. That was a good one. Um didn't roll off the tongue this time. Uh the Anzelans, they are all voiced by the same uh person. And I think you guys will be very surprised when you find out who that person is. It's uh it's an actress named Shirley Henderson, and she's uh probably most famous for uh her role in um Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as uh Moaning Myrtle.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

No way.

SPEAKER_06 25:08

Yeah, she's the voice of all of the That's so cool, man.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

That's wow. Yeah, she she got that um that like kind of minion babbling. Like it's like babbling with a bit bits of English in there.

unknown 25:25

Hey, hey, hey.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

You got me, you got me.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Yeah, I would have not imagined that was her.

SPEAKER_06 25:31

Yeah, it doesn't actually sound like her. Like I can't, I I I I knew this going into the movie, and I'm I'm listening. I'm just like still doesn't sound like I did not hear that. But um, I do love them. I I think they were uh a really fun addition to the movie. I loved their little ship, you know, like you never really considered small ships like for for other size races, but like it would make sense. Why would they need a ship the size of uh the Razorcrest or anything?

SPEAKER_04 26:00

No, they would they would just need their little small argument, a small argument about that. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 26:06

Just fuel, the fuel capacity, right? That's the only thing that concerns me. Like I understand that the deck doesn't have to be large, but like where are you keeping all the fuel to travel just as far as the razor crust?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

They're probably using their it's probably a bit their fuel's probably a bit different, and it's probably like really like fuel efficient. It's not like Oh, it's like a Prius, you know.

SPEAKER_06 26:31

They've they've figured out dilithium crystal stuff that uh you know the rest of the Star Wars.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

I like their speeder too. It was also tiny.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Yes, they're the best. Yeah, they had so many great one-liners. Hey big guy, this runs on me.

SPEAKER_05 26:51

Yeah, like so good.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I like that uh was that Matt Mando saved one of them. I felt so bad he was being treated like a chew toy.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

Yeah, that was the best though.

SPEAKER_06 27:03

I love when when he's like he's in the mouth of uh that like dog bat creature, and you could just hear, he got me. They were the best. I thought that was so funny. Um I'm surprised he survived. You know, that that did not look like a very like playful dog. I I did like the the scene where Grogu kind of charmed him, you know, like he he used his like beast mastery, like force skill and uh almost almost made it a part of their party, you know, for for a brief period until you know the charm wore off after Embo got uh you know thrown across the room or whatever. But um, yeah, I I I had a lot of fun with a lot of the movie, to be honest. Like there was a lot of like little things in the movie that um made me very happy. Perhaps my my most excited moment, or like the moment where I was just like stunned, um and I hadn't I just never considered it, was when uh Grogu started making the mud hut. And I'm like, is that just innate with their species? Is that just something they know how to do? Is that why Yoda lived in that hut in the f in like the swamp? Yeah, he made it. He just you know started like putting mud down. I was I I had no idea what he was doing at first. I thought he was just like putting mud on a log or like like covering Mando in mud for a second. I I didn't know what he was doing. But as soon as I saw like the shape of the hut, I was just like, that's genius. That's that's such a cool lore. We know so little about Yoda's species. Um that like every little thing that they can give us uh is is just super exciting. Anthony, what are your thoughts on the movie? Uh we haven't heard much uh uh from you in terms of just overall opinion.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

So I'm probably I would say like I'm I'm probably like one of the few out of like the the like hardcore nerds that kinda that enjoyed it more than maybe I should have. I I understand the I understand the gripes. I do feel like the movie felt like a mid-season, um I guess you you know how like they they'll do like um like three you know like a three episode run of like a storyline that that's what this felt like maybe three or four episodes like a serialized story, yeah. Tig together. This and this is what that felt like. So I I kinda understand that gripe. It it definitely had like a a one-off story kind of vibe to it. But other than that, I mean I I enjoyed the action. I mean, you got Mando, you got Grogu. Grogu was absolutely adorable in this movie. You get a lot of growth from him, too. You you see a lot of the abilities that he can use, um and really like how smart and like r resourceful he's actually become, also. And that, you know, that could be part of his species, that could be part of the time that he's spent with uh Denjarin. Um but there there is definitely a lot kind of like what you said that there is a lot that I had fun with in this movie, and I it it there there was a lot to to smile and and be happy with in this movie, aside from like, you know, the gripes.

SPEAKER_05 30:44

Sorry, go ahead, Richard. Just about the gripes, and like you know, I'll I'll just lay it bare what what I think, and you know, we'll obviously go through the movie, but my thing is like I understand that it's not it was there, you know, okay. There they almost felt like there were no stakes, right? That there's no like threat to anybody here. There was no major new Tinkaran gets poisoned. Well well, they're not gonna call off the money. Yeah, and also like if titular first. See, that's the thing. So it does reward people who watch the show, right? But I think it's a it's an interesting entry point because basically, like if you've never watched the show, you can still really enjoy the movie, right? If and I think that that's kind of what's important about it too, because like say, for example, that Disney had actually released uh Skeleton Crew, right? We've been clamoring as a Star Wars universe for what? For content outside the Skywalker saga, right? And then we get something that's outside the Skywalker saga like this, generally, right? Like there was no they re they weren't in this movie, and then it's like, well, that's not good enough. And I and and I'm okay with taking a step out and doing something fun. I loved Skeleton Crew, right? Like that was just fun and I enjoyed it. Um I th I I thought it was well done. And I think the same thing here, like I think this was fun. Like it's it doesn't it didn't have the gravitas of Revenge of the Sith, you know, but I don't think that I think that if we're gonna have an expanded Star Wars universe, it's okay that it's okay for us to have a movie like this. I think the problem is that it's the first one in seven years. So everybody wanted you know, like a rise of the Skywalker or whatever, uh Last Jedi thing type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

I don't want any of that. Well, no, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:36

I think I but I think some people wanted like the gravitas that the the the intrigue, you know, that we s maybe we saw in Andor, and I don't think that this was ever going to be that. It's like getting crocs and being upset that they don't look like tuxedo shoes. Like you order like you got you you got what you wanted. Like this is that's one thing, and this is another thing. Where but who ordered crocs?

SPEAKER_06 32:59

Alright, we're getting off off topic here. There was there was a croc-like dude in that swamp. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Yeah, yeah. It was like for me when I was It was like somebody in the bayou, right? Like it had some like Louisi Louisiana vibe going on. Like somebody living on the bayou like.

SPEAKER_06 33:16

I like the vibe of that. But um Did we ever find out who voiced that? Uh I'm sure we can easily fight figure out. So it felt like Yeah, it sounded like something like we would recognize Gambit.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Wait, actually, you're you're saying that. No, I'm just no, I'm just saying that. Um, for me, like I know when a Star Wars movie comes out, I'm extremely biased and I'm gonna enjoy it. Um, you know, when you look at the people who are making it, I knew they were gonna put in a bunch of stuff that I thought was really cool and interesting. Like, I'm definitely somebody who's going to enjoy a Star Wars movie, because I love Star Wars.

Audience Reactions And Fight Fatigue

SPEAKER_02 33:53

So for me, you know, going in, kind of hearing that this didn't do super well, it's not like performing very well in the box office, was like, you know, sad because I want to see a Star Wars movie take off. Um, and I love these characters. But for me, the um, the real, like, I started looking at the people in the movie theater with us to kind of see what like what they were there for. You know, I was sitting next to this woman who clearly was there for baby Yoda. Every time he was on the screen, it was almost like she was doing a trailer reaction. Every time he was on the screen, she was like ooing and awing, literally aloud. He's so cute. Oh my god, oh look at him, oh look, he's using the force. Oh, like she like and she was kind of being annoying because she just wouldn't stop talking. But then one thing that I noticed was every time there was like a fight scene, she would just go to her phone. Like she she couldn't handle this many fight scenes, like it was just too much for her, you know? So like she would be like super engrossed. I've never seen someone be like 100% engrossed in a film, and then as soon as Baby Yoda like leaves and they start fighting, she just like would pick up her phone and just start like playing on it. And I was like, huh, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_06 35:06

I do think even as someone who doesn't usually like mind fight scenes, there was a lot of fight scenes. There were a lot of fight scenes, like it was kind of an exhausting movie in in certain aspects where I was just like, oh, here we go again. He's gonna he's gonna hit something again. Oh, there he goes. Um so from the very start of the movie, we we have Dinjarin just like taking people out, and it kind of becomes almost two hours, broken up a little bit when he's you know knocked unconscious, but almost two hours of him just going into the next room to kill more people. And that kind of was really exhausting for me. Some

Do The Leads Actually Change

SPEAKER_06 35:49

of it was cool, I liked I liked when he was in the the water pit. I was a little confused on what he was standing on because it was a pretty deep water pit, but I enjoyed the scene. But as far as Mandalorian and Grogu goes, my biggest gripe is that the two main characters don't really have an arc. They don't really learn anything, they don't get anywhere. Uh they just kind of go back to the same exact starting point as when they started the movie. There's no growth for the characters outside of maybe Grogu pressing a button on purpose in a ship. The only real arc of growth that I could, you know, that you could really quantify is Rod of the Hutt. Um, because you know, this is a guy who really wants to be his own man. Um he mentions it a couple times throughout the movie. He wants to be his own man. I'm glad he loved it.

SPEAKER_05 36:45

I was like, why is he doing this? And then he said, Well, I want to be my own man, and I was like, Oh.

SPEAKER_06 36:51

Like you don't want to be like Java because I wasn't I I do like I do like that I knew about the meme before I had seen the movie, of like whenever this whenever Rada was shown on on like online or whatever, everyone would like quote tweet it and says, I hope they make him his own man. I love that. I thought that that was hilarious. I I was totally on board. I did not realize I thought it was just gonna be like a like a stupid line in the movie. I didn't realize it was gonna be a stupid line in the movie twice. Like almost back to back, too. Like it was like scene and then another scene, and he's in the exact same location talking to the exact same two people, and it's almost verbatim the same exact line. I loved it. It was it's so funny. I but I I actually really liked Rada, and I like Jeremy Allen White uh portraying him.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

I love that scene where Rada and Grogu are playing on the beach, just like squash around.

SPEAKER_06 37:44

Yeah, I like that too.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

He just loved babies, like he just he's loved like a little critter, he's just an innocent guy. But before we went to see the movie, um Dakota and I were in the car, and he's like, I just really hope they make Rada his own man. And I was like, Okay, I didn't say anything, and then we were talking, and then a couple of minutes later, he's like, I really hope they make Rada his own man. And I'm like, So is that in the movie? Why do you keep saying that? He's like, No, I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_06 38:11

No, I just don't want it to be like Job of the Hutt, you know. I want him to like, you know, grow into his own person, you know, be his own man.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

So then when the scene came, I laughed the first time, and then when it happened again, I just lost it.

SPEAKER_05 38:22

Like So did you guys so like on the theme of him being his own man? I saw some online criticism about like Huts don't learn basic, uh how it's like the dumbing down of HUTE's, essentially. Like we why couldn't we get subtitles? Uh kind of like did you have an issue with the wheel?

SPEAKER_06 38:45

I mean, we we did because we did get Hutes. We did get Hutese a lot with the twins.

SPEAKER_05 38:50

Yeah, with the twins.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Um but some people like I think But it doesn't make sense for Rada to he like he's why that would be like if I went to Mexico and insisted on speaking English and it and everybody has to speak English with me.

SPEAKER_05 39:02

Why do you think that he did it? Well, I mean, his dad always spoke Hutese, so like why do you think that he chose to not speak Hatese?

SPEAKER_02 39:09

I mean it's uh Oh, this is another rebellion.

SPEAKER_06 39:12

He's he wants to be his own map. Thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

You were trying to get me to say, and I just wasn't following, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 39:23

Um, I do I do like the idea that, you know, Jabba was just probably you know lazy and racist, and that's why he didn't ever decide to learn another language. Which is fine, you know. I mean, that's the character.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

I I'm monolinguistic. I I I only speak one language.

SPEAKER_06 39:43

Right, but in a in a galaxy where Hatiz is not the is not basic, you know, like it's not the basic language.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

I feel like it's just a power play. He's like, you're all gonna listen to me speak, and you're gonna listen to my translators or bring your own. I guess. Like that was just like a power play.

SPEAKER_06 40:00

I do like I I like the twins a lot. Um I like like I said, there's actually a lot of like little things that I was really on board with. I liked Nalhutta, the the Hut Homeworld. I love the the way that their palaces are kind of built out of um like organic materials, like spores almost. You know, they're just they're just nasty spore people that live in the spores.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

I like the way they all like lay on top of each other in rooms.

SPEAKER_06 40:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

They would just like go into their like their little corners and just like all lay. Like there'd be like a couple of huts like all together.

SPEAKER_06 40:40

Yeah, I think they were doing more than just laying.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

I think they were just hanging.

SPEAKER_06 40:44

You think they were just hanging?

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Okay. I think that's just like how they spend their time. They're just hanging.

SPEAKER_05 40:48

I thought there was like a little thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

You think they were hooking up?

SPEAKER_05 40:50

There was like a hut that was like little finger, so maybe it was like a brothel. I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 40:54

I thought it was more of a brothel situation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

I did not, you know, am I 12? I did not gather that at all.

SPEAKER_05 41:00

I was like, that's just how they is bada bing a dance, a dance place? They just go dancing with the bada bing and sapanos.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

Everybody just wants to dance and drink and have a good time. Wait, that was supposed to be a brothel? I think so. I thought that was just like their culture.

SPEAKER_06 41:19

Well, I mean, it is their culture. They're they're kind of just they're they're they're literal sleaze bags. Like, that's that if if you could like picture a sleaze bag, that's what a job of the hot shape would be. Like, you know, like he's a sleaze bag. Listen here, sleamo.

SPEAKER_00 41:34

They're they're they're pimps.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

They are pimps. Man, I missed that. Went right over my little noggin.

SPEAKER_06 41:42

Yeah, I was looking at it, I was just like, oh.

SPEAKER_05 41:43

It's like drags. Like drags. It's just right over your head.

SPEAKER_06 41:47

They're like, they're like rolling on top of each other. I was just like, no.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Yeah, I thought it was like like mud baths or something. I don't know. Like you're like, I literally didn't think it was sexual. Those scenes literally made me feel like I don't know how to sexualize the Hotsley. I'm happy to hear that.

SPEAKER_06 42:02

Um, you know.

Rada’s Arc And Hutt Culture Details

SPEAKER_06 42:07

Yeah, I I'm glad it was just like short glimpses. But anyway, let's um so Gordon Weaver's in this movie. And I thought it was really funny that like it seemed like she could care less that she was in this movie. You know, like she was it, she was like piloting an X-Wing. She's just like, we're gonna shoot that. Alright. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

She's professional, she's unfazed, undaunted.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

Riley, this I was so happy to see Riley in this movie. Like, I just love that Riley was able to survive the xenomorphs.

SPEAKER_06 42:38

For those of you who have not like listened to our alien episodes, um, this is an ongoing skit where Rich calls Ripley Riley. Um, but yes, Riley was in this movie. She just survived.

SPEAKER_05 42:49

I uh I enjoyed uh I also enjoyed uh what's his name? Dri no uh the alien. I can't remember his species. He's he was Zeb, yeah. Oh, I love Zeb. Uh I see like you know what the weird thing is, is like I feel like so much happened in this show, right? That I don't know how you released this movie, right? Like there's like the battle for Mandalore, there was like the different clans of of the Mandalorian uh you know race. Like there it's just like how do you make this movie be more interesting with having like those battles, but you've already done it on a small screen. So like I I just and then you'd you'd have to like accept or do you have to do a recap for people who didn't see the first three seasons? You know, like I feel like they're in a in a hard place. Like that's why I think they ended up going with this Rada storyline as being kind of the crux of everything, because where how do you build off of it if you haven't already established it? As a movie. Like, this is the establishment of Mandalorian as a movie to the I'll call it the normie audience.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

I also feel like people are saying, you know, like not that much. Like it feels more. I mean, I could see why people are saying it feels more episodic in nature. But like Ding Jaren accomplishes a lot in like basically like a week-long vacation. He takes out the Empire Dude. He frees Rada. Then he basically destroys the Hut clan. Like, do we like we need to think about how long the Huts have been in power? Literally, since the beginning, since the original trilogy, the Huts have been dominating and they have so much power. And Ding Jarin just kind of like went through and blew literally like blew their house up.

SPEAKER_06 44:47

He didn't even like loot their corpses or anything. Like, he just he completely decimated their palace. Well, I don't actually don't actually I don't really agree. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Um I didn't really like that they blew up uh the palace on Nowhera. Like I get the idea they were working with the Empire and they're not great individuals. But that seems like a war crime. You sound like a separatist. Because you're not actually at war.

SPEAKER_05 45:17

You're sounding like a separatist.

SPEAKER_06 45:21

Yeah, maybe. Uh I I feel like the separatist of this podcast, actually. Um but uh yeah. I I liked I liked um Radha Rada's arc was for me the most interesting thing in the about the movie. We we we meet him, he's like an indentured slave. He is trying to fight his way out of his uh debts, um, and he truly believes that the galaxy loves him for who he is. You know, like he has made a name for himself, and it's so heartbreaking to see uh those people that he believes loves him turn on him the instant like he loses a battle and they want him to k they want him killed by the Mandalorian. And I think that that's like just the the look of like disappointment that they were able to like put on a hut face was pretty incredible, to be honest. I I I liked that a lot. Um and the character from that point, you know, trying to make his way in the galaxy, trying to be his own man. Um I sorry, I'm I'm gonna keep saying that because it's it's that's kind of like the crux of his arc. But um, I I thought that it was a really enjoyable portion of the movie. And I kind of wish the movie was kind of was was more about him. And uh Mandalorian and Grogu were just kind of like the side characters. I wish I wish uh honestly, this movie would have probably made a a ton of money. Just a movie about a hut, you know, like it's kind of like Ant Man, like nobody thinks nobody thought Ant Man was gonna make any money.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

I don't I don't know if I agree with that. I feel like they were really hoping that the draw of Baby Yoda was gonna get people into the theater.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

I think it's not sure if I know, but I I think that this would have worked had they just kept it in in uh TV format. I really do think that um because they haven't come out with a Star Wars movie in a long time, they're like, okay, you know, we've built up this IP, you know, let's put them on the big screen. But like those characters aren't meant for the big screen. Not all of them are meant for the big screen. I would say the type of event that you put the Mandalorian on the big screen is like because they they want to do this whole Mandovalse thing, right? More with with uh Ahsoka and like all these other characters, you know, maybe a large mashup of those characters. You know, it's gotta be, you know, Star Wars movies usually the draw is by making them an event movie, right? Um a lot of that's why a lot of the the main lines uh movies drew big crowds, whereas like some of the other ones maybe not as much. Though I will say like the only the only one that was really worth seeing that wasn't a main uh a main Star Wars movie was Rogue One, right? The solo one was uh you know, whatever. Am I missing another one? Or is that it? That was it, right?

SPEAKER_06 48:34

Those are the the two Star Wars stories ones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:38

Um I I think you've heard Rich's uh My friend, if it wasn't for Solo, I wouldn't have had the experience of being in a red light and someone goes, I got the same thing. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I rolled down my window and goes, I got the dice too. Because we both had Han Solo's dice that of course we all remember uh only exist because of the solo movie. Dice that he had in his in in in the all of his vehicles.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Also Amelia Clark.

SPEAKER_05 49:06

Oh yeah, well, I don't need to get into that. Nothing else to say that's Amelia Clark. Let's not get into that. This is a different show.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

Um something I wanted to talk about with the the movie that we are discussing is one thing that I thought was really cool was the kind of like I don't know, I'm interpreting it this way, but like the nod to George Lucas personality with the fact that there are so many like old vehicle collectibles in the universe at this point. Um George Lucas has always loved cars, like his first movie was about cars. He loves Formula One. Um and like just seeing that they kind of have like like all of the people have like vintage car collections, and they they like like kind of look at them, spec them out, and talk about that. And the fact that the Star Wars universe has been going on for this long that we could see this fake vehicle that doesn't actually exist and go, oh, okay, that's like vintage from this movie, or you know what I mean? I think that's really cool, especially considering that George Lucas is opening up that museum where we're gonna be able to see some of the vintage Star Wars vehicles. I just thought that was a really cool and fun thing. Where I feel like the the cars in Star Wars, or not cars, like just you know, the ships and like you know, racers and all of that in Star Wars have always kind of had like so much personality and character, and people really just kind of I mean, even you guys can't see this, but behind Rich on his wall is a bunch of different Star Wars ships. People really resonate with these items, and it's cool to see them kind of get carried over into this film as like valuable collector's items.

SPEAKER_05 50:47

I was waiting for Anthony to actually say that it's now Star Galactica. Uh no, I I I know I I I do agree with the I like that the vehicles, you know. I mean, like I've studied the vehicle, I've studied all the different ships and and like pride myself on being able to identify them. So it is really cool when I get when like my nerddom gets rewarded. And I think that Dave Filone, you know, like that's something that we really need to give him credit for. Um I don't think it's just member berries. I I think he like works hard to like find like some like little Easter egg, you know, that it's really for the eagle-eyed person, you know, it's it's not for everyone and he doesn't focus on it. I just think that he like sprinkles it around and I think it makes it uh stronger. And you know, with the whole Lucas idea, I think that also just like the look, like what you you can say what you want to say about Return of the Jedi, you know, and and there are people there are the detractors for that movie, but the this very this felt a lot more Muppety, you know, this felt a lot more like in in that you know universe, right? Because of the the Babu freaks, you know, and uh and and Gorgu. And I think that it it's just a great entry point, man. Like I I really do think it's a great entry point, you know. Like if you bring your kids, you bring the uninformed to this movie, I think they're gonna be like, wow, that was that was really fun, you know, and they're gonna wanna like, oh, what what else is there, you know? And then maybe they'll go and watch the the Mandalorian shows and the fantastic Book of Oba Fett, you know? Like they'll they'll watch those and they'll watch the the awesome Obi-Wan show, you know? And then uh they'll they'll be caught up, you know. Like this is like um top three.

SPEAKER_00 52:32

I did I I did like the puppetry of the Enzelens.

SPEAKER_02 52:36

What about Martin Scorsese's character?

SPEAKER_06 52:39

I I like Martin Scorsese's character a lot, actually. The uh the the little food vendor um who just didn't want to give any information away. I I I really like um I forget the name of the alien species, but um there's also one of those in solo, uh Star Wars story, who's played by John Favreau, I believe. Yeah, so this was Martin Scorsese's entry uh into the Star Wars universe. And um he's such a lovable little guy. Anthony, did did you think that this is a good entry point uh for like if you didn't know anything about Star Wars, is this a good spot to start, or do you need to know a little bit of background?

SPEAKER_00 53:22

I

Movie Or Season And Marketing Problems

SPEAKER_00 53:23

think it's tough because they are they're kind of like they're on the hunt for these, you know, Imperial warlords, and you know, in in a way you're kind of like, okay, like where did I dunno, I feel like the show like establishes that they exist with um was it Moff Gideon by the end of um you know, by the end of like the first three seasons you you get that okay, like you know, you have Moth Gideon, but then there's more of them. And so it's definitely like a continuation. It this this was essentially like a pseudo season four, but maybe with a little bit of missing information, and maybe they needed a a a couple of a couple more episodes, right? Like this felt like it could have been four episodes, you needed like maybe another like four episodes to to make it a full season.

SPEAKER_05 54:25

Yeah, I think that I mean it's obviously I mean I think that Favros come out and said that they kind of had it had a storyboard for the fourth season and just kind of made it a movie, you know? Um you know, and and it's just I I feel like they they I really feel like the movie if you had to make a Mando movie, you make it with is it season three where he finally bests Mothbitty and and Luke's in it and and Soka shows up. Is that season three or is that half the season of Book of Boba Fett? I I think it's maybe half the season of Book of Bova Fett. But either way, like it it's that that would have been the most exciting part, right? Because like when the uh those those dark troopers are showing up and and and and things looking bad and and the darksaber, right? Like those were the the highest stakes, you know. But they had passed that point. Like I I don't know and I can't remember the timing of the pandemic and how that uh impacted everything, you know. But I wonder if if that definitely slowed down the way they were gonna release things, you know. And I do expect, I'm not gonna lie, like I'm gonna I'm gonna put my like my super fandoms, I'm gonna tell I'm gonna tell, you know, Lucasfilm or Disney, like, listen guys, you're gonna have to pay me more to be this positive if I don't get some more nuanced cliffhanger-y stuff, right? Like, I think that's I think that's kind of what was missing from this also. I think it's we've gotten almost every Star Wars movie as a trilogy, and even when we didn't, like, and you know, uh, Rogue One was essentially like sandwiched between two trilogies, right? Like, I think that that's something that was missing. And I'll excuse it now, but I do expect like Starfighter to be more than this.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

When is that supposed to come out again?

SPEAKER_06 56:21

2027, I think. It's next year.

SPEAKER_02 56:24

I mean, I think a like a big issue with the promotion of this film, because like one concern of mine was that not a lot of people were talking about it. Like, there wasn't a ton of hyperanticipation leading up to it. And I think they kind of like I mean, I and I know like the Mandalorian, like Dinjarin isn't just played by Pedro Pascal, but I don't think they had like a ton of star power. Like, Sigourney Weaver is fantastic and we all love her, but like I think the people who are gonna go see her were going to see a Star Wars film no matter what. You know what I mean? Like, if if you love Segourney Weaver, you're like a nerd like us. Like, we love her from all the nerdy, amazing, like strong female characters that she's played. But there wasn't like a star to capture the kind of like random audience. And maybe I and I remember when the trailers came out, Dakota really hated the trailers.

SPEAKER_06 57:16

Here's the thing: the trailers told you nothing. The trailers showed you a bunch of funny, quippy, action-y things that looked fun, but it told you nothing about the story. Basically, what they were showing us in the trailers was this is a story about nothing. Nothing happens to these characters, they go from point A to point B, and then nothing happens there. Basically, most most trailers will give you a hint of a story, a tease, a something that you can latch on to. But there was nothing in this movie worth teasing. There was nothing in this movie worth uh explaining what the story was, what the stakes are, what what they're here to do. And that's why the that's why the promotional didn't that's why the promotion didn't work on this movie. That's why nobody cared to see this movie. It's because nothing happened.

SPEAKER_02 58:14

Nothing See, I don't know. I don't actually agree with that. Like even before you were saying that like they don't have an arc. Like I do see a clear arc, at least for Grogu. It's a st like for both Grogu and Din, it's a story about how like the father was always taking care of the son. And like apparently they literally said that when I went to the bathroom, I miss that scene because I'm pregnant and I can't sit through a movie anymore. But like now it's the son trying to take care of the father. So you have you have Grogu like showing, you know, that he is able, like he cares for his dad, he's able to go and like track him down and try to save him. But I did like how at the end, like, even after he saves him, he's still like a baby who doesn't have like spatial awareness and he doesn't realize his dad won't fit in the ship. Like that was so stupid.

SPEAKER_06 59:02

Oh, in the in the hut, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

Yeah, but now it's like, and they even have lines about how like Din's always kind of been afraid of you know not being able to be a good enough provider for Grogu. Like there were times where he tried to give Grogu away to make sure that he maybe like was taken care of by better people, um, or his own people, right? But now he's kind of accepted, like, no, we are like we are a clan and and I'm training him well, so he's gonna be okay without me. Even at the end of the movie, like you kind of minimized it by saying, like, now he can click buttons, but it's literally he's learning how to drive. When your kid learns how to drive, you're probably gonna cry. Yeah, probably he's learning how to drive a vehicle. Like, that's this is a story about fatherhood, which is what the original trilogy was all about was fatherhood. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 59:51

Maybe it's gonna hit harder in a couple months, Dakota.

SPEAKER_06 59:53

Yeah, Dakota. But but I think I'm I'm right in the sense that there was nothing for them to tell you about the story.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

I think they could have probably played it up as like you're gonna see Grogu go and save his dad, but they didn't do that.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:06

I think they should have focused on the the quest to save Rada. They didn't focus on that for the f at least the first couple trailers. They they showed Rada in a fighting pit, and yeah, wow, he's fighting at the end of the day. Yeah, they showed like cool stuff. He's fighting at the Jerek table in real life.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

Yeah, you took I said that and you I said that in the car, and then you took it.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:30

You thought it was a Sabak table.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:32

I've I just forgot the name of the game. I said Sabah. He's taking my lockers. He doesn't say the sources. It's ridiculous. We've got like an F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda thing on. Like sometimes I say my ideas and then Dakota takes them and says them like they're his own. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:45

Um anyway, what I was saying is uh they they should have told you more about the quest that they were trying to embark on, instead of showing you cute cute scenes with Gorogu, which is important, and action scenes with Din, which is also important. Do you think they were But they there needs to be a hook. Like with uh the past couple Star Wars movies, if you can remember the trailers, there there are lines or there are like mystiques that like bring you back into the fold. The first trailer, their first teaser for The Force Awakens, it's true, all of it. Or like uh uh Chewy, we're home, you know. Like, why why were they away from their ship? What what happened? You know, like there's something um that brought you back, or like with the Rise of Skywalker, you know, say what you will about how the movie ended up, the trailers were like really, you know, feeding into like everything comes down to this, you know, and you you know that these characters exist, you know what they're doing, or you know what they're trying to do, and this is where it's all culminating. Um, and and you have wonderful lines in the trailers, even by like C3Pio.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

My friends.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:54

Yeah, he's just like, What are you looking at? Oh, what are you looking at, Threpio? And he goes, My friends, and it's just that would be like I actually like started crying. There's there's none of that in the trailers. There's none of that in the trailers for Mandalorian and Grogu, because there's none of that in the movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:08

But there's not a lot of dialogue in the movie because you have one like the two main characters barely speak. Ding Jaren, like, I think he doesn't talk like he's a quiet dude. Coming, you're a quiet fellow, actually, also, so you should appreciate that. And and and and Grogu's just a baby boy.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:23

Also, I feel like Dinjarn has kind of regressed a little bit as a Mandalorian because for much of season three, for a good portion of season two, he was, you know, he was taking his helmet off all the time. Um, like it was it was a rarely an episode went by where Pedro Pascal's head was not, you know, on display.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:43

That's kind of what I was getting at before when I was like, they didn't really lean into the star power of Pedro Pascal, where like there should have been maybe a period of time where his helmet was removed for some reason, just even just for the trailers to get more footage. Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:56

Why can't they just do it a Tony Stark thing, man? Solve all the problems. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:02

Like the way that and actually that's John Favreau, you know, John Favorite.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:06

Yeah, like Favreau himself like knew that to make Iron Man work, you needed to like find a way, and they did the in of the like the inside of the helmet perspective where we see Tony's face all the time, but we also see like the tactical readouts or whatever it is, uh right. And like I feel like it's weird to have Favro be involved in this and not know that part because I'm not I don't even need to have Dinjarin like move forward in his openness, like because he's out of the Mando closet and he can take his helmet off or whatever. Like, I I just think that like they could find a creative way to do it without with with without like you know hiding his face as often as they do.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:54

I I just kind of feel that like he's kind he's regressed back to Mandalorian season one uh like logic in terms of like I can never take my helmet off or else I will you know shame my entire race. Anthony, did you think it's a little bit of a few years?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:09

After that point, like say that like a respect thing? Do you guys think that's respect? Like like I I didn't get the feeling here that it was like the religious aspect of like not taking the helmet off. I think it was like you've disrespected me.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:23

Like oh yeah, well they took they took it off specifically to shame him and to, you know, uh disrespect his you know, religious beliefs or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:31

I did kind of appreciate though how Grogu, like when he was nursing him, cut the helmet on out of like a sign of respect for his that was cool. I just thought that was sweet. Like he he obviously doesn't wear a helmet and that's like not part of his faith. What it was kind of like showing faith, like or showing respect to other religions in a way.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:50

Yeah. Although he is he's uh he's a a youngling now, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:54

But oh, is it just that he doesn't have a helmet yet? Like, what's the deal?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:57

Not really sure. How do you put a helmet on that? His little ears stick out. Disney would never can't cover that face.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:04

You can't call it face.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:05

That that is the moneymaker, although not not this time around. Um damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:10

Oh, wait,

Score Praise And The Juicy Review Plug

SPEAKER_02 1:05:11

can I give a shout out to the music? I loved the music, the score in this film. I thought was fantastic. I like that it kind of had a boxing theme, and I remember what's how do I say his name?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:25

Ludwig Jurensen? Lud Ludwig Jorensen, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:28

How he like he did the Apollo movies?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:31

He did the first movie. He did the the he did all the Creed movies, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:34

Yeah, and like so I used to, when I would run, I would sometimes listen to those soundtracks. And I don't know, I feel like he kind of tapped into some of that for this one. I almost like the the score almost had like you you were mixing kind of Star Wars elements, but also like Rocky esque elements that I really loved. I loved the scene where like Din was poisoned. So even though it's this like big battle scene, and like at first it seems Like he's kind of in stride and doing his thing. The music was showing his like personal struggle.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:06

His decline.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:07

Yeah, like the music kind of starts off like a little bit hyped and then it just kind of slowly gets more and more I don't know, somber, I guess, to show his his descent. I thought that was really well done. And um Dakota and I went to see it in the Dolby Theater, and my baby was bumping. Like those, like when the score would come on, he would just start like jumping around like he loved it. We're conditioning him to love Star Wars already.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:32

The the Mandalorian game is coming on, and you just like feel like fist bumping.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:37

It was crazy. Like it was very bassy, and so like the seat was like kind of shaking a little bit, and then I had like this internal base, just like jumping around.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:48

You got the the full 360 experience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:51

I I would say, and I know uh this is this is uh this has nothing to do with um with the Mandalorian, but it is Star Wars. You were talking about how the seats were shaking. The most insane experience that I've ever had watching a Star Wars movie was watching Revenge of the Sith in 4D with like the moving seats. Yeah, I I will I felt beaten up after that movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

You cheated like a title and all I really did, like my back was like getting sore.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:21

Like, I mean, when I say that they were like throwing you around, I thought I was gonna like follow them to see a couple times.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:27

Can I ask you a question? Did after that happened, like after that experience, they at least give you like a little bit of juice so that you guys could get some like energy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

They did have some like water that would spray, so it got a little juicy in there. Oh juicy, you say.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:43

What do you think about that, Dakota? I think you guys should uh stop what you're doing right now, except you know, if you're if you're listening to the podcast, don't stop listening. But you can go to your podcast application, uh, find uh our podcast, and click that five-star juicy review button. You know, uh give us uh give us five stars. Has to be five. If it's not five stars, it's not juicy, guys. It's it's kind of just moist at that point. So it has to be five stars to be juicy.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:12

And anyway, uh I feel like the juicy connection really should have come from that scene where the huts were in a in a debauched state. No, we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:21

Well, we will do um the you know, when when when one of the huts wanted to eat uh Grogu, remember like she the the the the twin sister, like she she came up, she was like, You look delicious. You know, like and he's probably really juicy.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:38

Yeah, he probably is, honestly. He's always eating the amount of frog eggs he consumes.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:43

Yeah, um, but but yeah, guys, uh please be sure to give us a five-star uh review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Uh, it does help the show out a little bit. It helps us push uh helps us get pushed out to more ears. And yeah, uh final thoughts on Mandalorian and Grogu, guys. Uh let's

Final Thoughts And What’s Next

SPEAKER_06 1:09:02

start with Anth Anthony.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:04

Um I think it was a fun movie. Um Mandalorian, yeah. It it definitely felt it definitely felt like it had the the season three vibes. But And maybe it it should have been a season four rather than a movie, but it was still a good time. If you like Grogu, then you'll like this movie because there's plenty of Grogu. Um there's definitely a lot of action, so if you love action, then then you'll love this movie. How about you, Dakota, and uh why do you why do you hate it and why is it your bottom five MCU film?

SPEAKER_06 1:09:40

Uh there's a lot to unpack there. But um I I do think that for whatever reason, um Dave Fallone really, really, really wanted a Rangers of the New Republic show. Um and when that got cancelled by Disney, he did not change his plans per se. He just kind of stuffed that into Mandalorian Season 3, um, stuffed a little bit of that into uh Book of Boba Fett, stuffed a little bit of that into Ahsoka, and is now continuing to stuff that into this movie. Um because, you know, the since Mando season three and Book of Oba Fett, everything within the Mando verse has been uh tangentially or like immediately connected to the Rangers of the New Republic arc, which is, you know, they're trying to take down Imperial Warlords. And I feel like this is a mistake. I I think it's boring. I I know that they're trying to reach uh an air to the empire storyline, but this wasn't the movie to to start that off with. Um I think this was uh a critical error on Lucasfilm's part. I mean I didn't dislike it. I will definitely watch it again. I can't wait to watch it with my kid. But all signs point to this being like a total misfire. Um because they are never going to get that Air to the Empire movie now. They're never going to reach that point. They're gonna have to do it on Disney Plus, which um is a little bit frustrating because I would have liked to see that happen. But anyway, um I think that this was an okay episode of Mando. Probably doesn't crack my top five episodes of Mandalorian, uh, but I feel like you're just mad at YouTube and like taking it out on this.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

My god.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:27

No, I'm being this is these are my honest opinions. Like, I don't think this cracks a top it cracks a top ten episodes of Mandalorian. But I will say top ten MCU film. Yeah. Uh Jen?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:43

Um I enjoyed this. I thought it was fun. I feel like it's gonna be have like rewatchability. I think kids especially are gonna love it. Because it is just like like especially for like if you're like a 10-year-old boy, it's like fighting scene cugrogu, fighting scene cugrogu. I thought that was like really a good time. I liked all the like I liked the artistry of it. Like, I'm a fan of the Muppets. I liked the puppets, I liked the Phil Tibet stop motion.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:10

Yeah, we didn't even talk about the stop motion robots that they they they did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:15

And the like CGI, I thought, like, I don't know, I thought it was just a lot of really cool, fun stuff. I see what you guys are saying, like plot-wise, it was lacking. To me, it felt like it would be a fantastic video game. Um, I would love to play a video game where I'm Dingjaring just like taking down bad guys, and then I get to be Grogu just like going through the forest for a little bit and like, you know, looking for food to feed my dad. I I feel like it would be a really fun video game and just like a fun, rewatchable film. I really loved, and I forgot to say this before Martin Scorsese's character because it felt like a side character from Goodfellas. It reminded me of like the dialogue was very similar to like, uh I thought you said I'm okay, Spider. You know, like where it's like, what, me? Who I didn't say anything. I I I was just talking. I I just I thought it was really fun. I enjoyed myself. Um, and I see what you're saying, like, marketing-wise, and maybe for the overarching purposes of Star Wars as a franchise, um, this might be a setback, but it doesn't mean it's not something I can enjoy.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:21

Here, here. Rich, final thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:24

I think that maybe like younger Rich. I'm 43 now. 29-year-old Rich maybe wanted would want more, right? But I I go I went to the movies, which is let's let's be honest here, a much more expensive experience than it used to be. And my entire family enjoyed it. And it's my favorite franchise. So that brought me joy. Uh, was it the most, you know, was it I love Air to the Empire? I want that so bad in my life, so badly, so badly I want that. But, you know, I I still enjoyed it for what it was, right? Like, do I want more? Do I want Thrawn on the big screen? Do I want those weird animals that they're probably not gonna introduce from the Air to the Empire series, the Yazdrigal or something that were able to block out the force? Do I want Marajade? Do I want, want, want? Yes, I want everything, I want it all, right? But I was also happy to see this and I laughed and I enjoyed it, and I uh I mean it was a little long, and sometimes the fight scenes I thought could be cut shorter. But man, if this is like the first movie that I invite someone over to, and I'm like, hey man, I'm just gonna throw this on, you know. I think like it's got enough hooks that can get people, you know. Is it perfect? No, you know, but it's like I don't know. It's gonna be weird. I'm just like, it's like I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:54

It's okay to like it's okay to like a movie that like not everyone else. I I it's it's okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:59

I would say and I'll I'll just say I'm glad you liked it, honestly. Rip roaring good time. It's rip roaring good time, buddy. That that's what I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:09

We need more Garizeb Aurelius. We need more Zeb. Yes. Um, and I'm I'm sad that like he was kind of just a side character who'd like popped in and out of this movie. But anyway, let's let's close this out. I got work early in the morning. Um, guys, thank you so much for listening to us here for episode 164. Why are you looking at me weird?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:29

Wait, did Anthony get to go?

SPEAKER_06 1:15:31

Yeah, he he was the first one.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:33

Yeah, sorry. Thank you so much for listening to us here for episode 164 of Project Geekology. Not sure what we're covering next week. We will figure that out in the back end, and you will find out when you listen to episode 165. So be there and be square. Bye, guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:49

Bye.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:49

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:51

Wolverine.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:52

Hey hey!