Show Vs. Business
Show Vs. Business
SvB E207 Is the Star Wars Franchise DOOMED?
Kathleen Kennedy is out of Lucasfilm!
We break down her impact, the Star Wars sequels controversy, and what’s next for the franchise.
Plus, an in-depth reaction to the Andor Season 2 trailer, Oscars discussion, and the latest Trump media storm.
Don’t miss this packed episode of Show vs Business!
00:00 Introduction and Weekly Catch-Up
00:51 Vegas Adventures and Observations
06:24 Pen and Sock Obsession
09:18 YouTube Success with Kendrick Lamar Short
17:41 Oscars and Award Shows Discussion
31:03 Trump and Zelensky Meeting Drama
37:24 The Hidden Spiciness of Politics
38:10 Trump's Transparency and Market Reactions
39:35 Kathleen Kennedy's Legacy at Lucasfilm
42:13 The Controversial Star Wars Sequels
59:16 The Mandalorian and Disney+ Success
01:03:34 Andor Season 2 Trailer Reaction
01:10:37 Podcast Wrap-Up and Future Plans
YouTube link to this Podcast Episode:
https://youtu.be/p9Dk0JvCSMA
#StarWars #KathleenKennedy #Andor #Oscars2025 #Trump #Hollywood #PopCulture
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Introduction and Weekly Catch-Up
Theo Harvey: This is show versus business where pop culture meets pop money. We host the real Theo Harvey and Mr. Benja. So, Mr. Benja, how was your week?
Mr.Benja: Week was good, man. Week was good. Got a, got a chance to get in touch with myself. Uh, you know, sat down and was in peace. Um, no, not that kind of in touch with my I know the Instagram algorithm messed messed up and started giving me all this craziness, but that's not what I was talking about.
Um, no, I was just, uh, really getting into my, um, meditation practice and, you know, feeling out work and still being calm during work, you know, instead of agitated. So, uh, it was a good week, man. Got a lot of stuff done.
Theo Harvey: Good, man. Good, good, good, man.
Vegas Adventures and Reflections
Theo Harvey: Um, man, you know, my week, I was out in Vegas, baby. So, uh, yeah, [00:01:00] man, Vegas is not as fun when you don't drink, you don't gamble.
It's just, it's just there. I mean, you just meet interesting people. I mean, I stayed kind of off the strip a little bit at a Hilton and I was just hanging out and I ran into some students who were in the industry and they were from all over the country and just. Talks about insurance was hilarious. Is that a tick tock dance about insurance?
So, um, yeah, man. So it was kinda, you know, it was just there. I went there to just learn about like business and basically how to sell your business and other things like that. But, uh, it was just. Just, it's just so massive and so many people, sometimes you just can't comprehend all these are happening. And so, uh, so I really do much, man.
I mean, you know, I got up extremely early cause I'm still in the East coast time. I don't like to mess up my sleeping habits from only on the West coast for a couple of days. So I'm getting up here at three o'clock in the morning, did that whole thing where I'm getting my coffee, people coming back, [00:02:00] stumbling from the club or, I mean, literally.
So, uh, I was staying at one hotel the night before I left, I woke up and like, yeah, that was it. Let me go get my coffee. Four o'clock in the morning, I go to the lobby and someone's like sitting there snoring right there by the elevators, man, full clothes on, and he just passed out. I was like, Oh Lord, welcome back to Vegas.
So it's yeah, man, I'm coming out and I'm seeing like, Oh, here's the after hours club, you know, they started the bouncers out there. So yeah, man, it's just an interesting look when you just not immersed in that whole sin city vibe, but, uh,
Mr.Benja: it
Theo Harvey: was cool, man.
Mr.Benja: It's fun, man. I've been on the opposite side of that.
Um, I was in New Orleans and we were doing the whole late night in New Orleans thing. And I remember, you know, sun was coming up and the guy was cleaning the bar. He was like, Hey guys, we're going to clean up for a little bit, you know, hang out, stand outside or whatever, you know, just we're going to clean up for a second.
Right. All right. Cool. We were outside and you know, all the sunlight hits us and we're just like, ah, [00:03:00] Vampire, basically.
Theo Harvey: Oh, I've been there. I've been in Vegas. I've been in New Orleans there too, man. When, um, I'm getting up early, go get my coffee. Yeah. Urban street is like, oh wow, this is
Mr.Benja: not good. Yeah. So, uh, so yeah, I was coming out of this place.
I forgot where it was. We started walking, um, We're walking down, I can't remember where it was exactly, but there were like a couple old ladies walking down the street, you know, in their nice clothes and everything. Um, I can't even remember if it was Saturday or Sunday, but they just seemed nicely dressed and were out to have a good day.
And they were like, oh, oh, look, look. You know, they're pointing at us and we were all just like drunk and laughing and being loud. And we're like, Oh, good, good, good morning. Good morning. And they're like, Hey gentlemen, watch out, watch out. There's a little hole in the, in the cobblestone there. Don't trip.
And they were like laughing at us. And we're just like, Oh, we're okay. We're fine. We're going to get a guy, you know, they were just so nice. And it's funny, you wouldn't expect. These old ladies who are [00:04:00] like going out to the flower gardens to have a nice little cup of coffee in cultural downtown New Orleans.
And here come us, you know, a bunch of, a bunch of black dudes just like ha
Theo Harvey: ha
Mr.Benja: ha. And they're, they're cut, old ladies cutting it up with this. It's great.
Theo Harvey: I love it. Yeah. Hey, look, don't get it twisted. I've been on that side too, when I'm coming back late at night, uh, little knee braided and probably finished at the, at the local diner to kind of soak up some of that remnants of the night before, but yeah, so I've been on both sides, but yeah, it's, you know, like I said, as it's just interesting to be on the other side of that, you know, and just like, Hmm, okay, this is, this is what it's like just living a regular life in a place that's known for a party all the time.
Mr.Benja: Yeah.
Theo Harvey: I love it, man. If y'all
Mr.Benja: got any activities in Vegas or New Orleans or whatever to do when you're not, uh, you know. Out it. You just wanna enjoy the city for what it is. Yeah. You know, let us know. Oh yeah. Low key. I found, I found a places, [00:05:00]
Theo Harvey: yeah. Low key. I found a hot, uh, all you eat sushi spot. I was like, oh, this is awesome.
I told, I was so giddy. I sent it to my wife. I'm like, look at this menu.
Oh yeah. That was awesome. .
Mr.Benja: Yeah, they, uh, they had a. They have a few, like they had a retro arcade, um, out there that I checked out at one time. Um, fruition and undefeated clothing shops. I don't know if fruition is still out there, but yeah. So there's some stuff to have to do. Yeah.
Theo Harvey: Yeah.
Mr.Benja: Outside
Theo Harvey: the normal go to club or drinking or whatever.
Yeah. There's tons of stuff. I mean, I was even looking at that. They were like there's some, uh, like you said, art places go check out. There's some places in downtown Vegas. They always, people recommend. So, so yeah, like I said, I wasn't trying to do the whole, you know, What's it called a tour scene, but it was just like, Hey, is there anything else to do besides I was even thinking about a show, but I already saw the sphere when I went there a couple of years ago, we talked about that, but there was like, eh, I'm not trying to see another blue man.
Do I really want to [00:06:00] pay that much to go see Michael Jackson? And I'm good. Let me go, let me go watch the Lakers play sports bar and watch the Lakers play. I did. Okay. I almost, I didn't do it though, but I should have gambled on the Lakers for, for, for the championship. I didn't do it. Um, But, uh, you know, that's always what I like to do.
Just pull a couple of chips on like, uh, you know, my favorite teams and see what happens. So,
Mr.Benja: so yeah, man.
Pen and Sock Obsession
Mr.Benja: Um, but yeah, outside of, uh, just, you know, doing my normal meditation thing also bought like a gang of pins. I've been buying pins from different stores and online and, you know, finding different brands like, Oh yeah.
Steadtler. They usually make these pins for, and they had this other variety. I've never seen before. Huh. Okay. Let me try it. 8 a pin. All right. Well, let me see what happens. And I was doing that because it's not a revelation, but if you are doing something all the time, like a lot, [00:07:00] and you know, I write a lot and I'm like, you know what, let me see if I can change up my pen.
Let me see if I can change up the paper I use. I'm buying different legal pads from different places. And I'm like, you know what the paper and the way the brightness hits, it just works well with this pin. And when you start fine tuning these little things that you do every day, it just changes everything.
Like once you find something good, I'm like, Oh, screw this. That's why I was looking for my pen a second ago. I was like, I threw all my old pens out and I'm like, Hey, where's my, Oh yeah, that's right. I got rid of them because I'm on some new ish now.
Theo Harvey: Nice. Are they different colored pens? Is different style?
Is there a certain type of pen you like? You have all these different pens or, you know, Yeah.
Mr.Benja: 0. 3 micro, uh, Steadler. I think I'm saying that right, I don't even know how to say it. It's an art pen, but I'm actually using it for writing because it's very light in the hand and it's a felt tip pen, just flows great.
Uh, I don't use black, I'm using brown. [00:08:00] So, the brown slash sepia ink, just it's not so, it's not such a contrast on the paper, so I can stare at my page a lot longer while I'm writing. And not get that harsh contrast.
Laugh: I
Mr.Benja: love it. I love it,
Laugh: man.
Theo Harvey: Okay. I'll just a little simple things, man. Don't take much. You're a pin guy.
Now you're a pin guy.
Mr.Benja: You know, it's been like two months by trying different pairs of socks from different places and like, you know what? I found the socks. I like I'm walking everywhere now. It's just, I'm serious. It changes your life.
Theo Harvey: I ain't nothing wrong with that, brother. That's how I look at it because I'm uh, yeah, man, you know, just, you just want simple things, man, life.
And so that's pair of socks. I'm starting to become a sock person. Like I wore purple Laker socks. I had on, you know, so Uh, you know, I flashed that got the nice little, you know, shirt on, you know, the, the, the, the sports jacket [00:09:00] and then I, you know, I put the, I flashed the ankle and I showed, they showed them purple socks, baby.
Everybody went, Oh, you got some color in them legs, boy. So, yeah, I love stuff like that, man.
Mr.Benja: Good stuff. Good stuff.
YouTube Success with Kendrick Lamar Short
Mr.Benja: So, uh, you were telling me about one of our shorts kind of went wild, huh?
Theo Harvey: Yeah, man. Um, Hey, everyone. If you don't know, we've got a YouTube channel business. So if you don't know, if you listen to it as an audio, but for those that do watch us on YouTube, uh, we got a lot more followers.
Thank to one, uh, short that just went viral. We did a 30 second short last week. It was about Kendrick. Lamar, we talked about what does Kendra Lamar's chain mean? Um, and, uh, we got, as of recording of this video, 56, 000 views on it, 102 comments, almost what 4, 600 likes [00:10:00] about this, uh, short that we did Mr.
Benja and, uh, yeah, it just went super viral, obviously, you know, if you. Are fans of our podcast. Yes, we talk about nerd stuff, no nerd culture, pop culture, you know, but we also talk a little bit about music and Kendrick Lamar and this whole Drake thing. It's just kind of accelerate things. And, um, after the most recent, uh, Superbowl performance by Kendrick Lamar, we went kind of deep dive into him on one of our podcasts and that short from it just went viral, Mr.
Benja. Um, you know, I think you did a great job of just talking about the different. Things around his jacket that was interesting And commented and a lot of commenters, you know, maybe you can Give me a few here. But, uh, we have a few commenters that said, Hey, this is interesting. Uh, I have a take, you know, some, some lambasted us and, you know, thank you for your comments.
Look, we, we take all, we take the haters. We take the lovers. We don't care. So all the smoke. Yeah. Send it all man. But you know, this is our opinions [00:11:00] and some, a lot of folks. And so reason why I said this was interesting, cause I think even got shared by like, you know, it got shared out to, uh, other people.
And so that's kind of helped the, the go viral even more for us. And so I know a lot of people have, um, opinions about, you know, Kendrick Lamar and his fashion sense, but yeah, Mr. Benja, what are some of these commenters saying and what are your. You know, do you have any high level thoughts and you're the one that kind of brought me, you know, Mr.
Benji, if you guys don't know, Mr. Benji is the most fashion forward guy of the partnership here. And so he, he has a little bit
Mr.Benja: on the podcast, but
Theo Harvey: yes, I mean, come on, you go back, Mr. Benji, you know, you break it down for me. So, so what, so tell me a little bit about what your thoughts were, you know, some of the commenters, what they're saying and you know, what your thoughts are.
Look guys, look, we're not going to lambast you, but we may give you a shout out. So, you know, if you listen to this, give us a shout out back.
Mr.Benja: Yeah, we're not in the habit of just blasting people, so don't, don't be afraid to comment. Um, you know, we'll let people [00:12:00] blast you in the comments, but, you know, we won't do it ourselves.
Not much. Maybe. Um, no, a lot of, you know, positive comments and a lot of people in general, we're still talking about the Wheezy thing, you know. Uh, Lil Wayne. They were like, man, it should have been Lil Wayne. Ah, man, you know, this is why, this is good, man. Lil Wayne would never have done something like this.
So, a lot of people still commenting on that. But, you know, uh, the part about him being a fashion icon, people picked up on that a lot. And I don't know, really, right now, if there are any I mean, you've got, um, you've got, what's his name? Oh gosh, I can't remember his name now from, uh, there are a lot of fashion guys out there, uh, not just Pharrell, not just Ye, um, but I was trying to think of the guy.
Not offset is offset. No, who's the one with Cardi B. That's a, [00:13:00]
Theo Harvey: I couldn't tell you.
Mr.Benja: Yeah, exactly. Uh, uh, I'm, I'm so out of it right now in case you didn't know, I had a, I had a night speaking of Las Vegas needs anyway. Um, yeah, there, there's a lot of fashion icons in, in hip hop, but one of them. Uh, Kendrick Lamar isn't usually thought of as one of them, and it's slowly becoming more of a thing because he's so conscious about, like, what outfits he wears, how he puts his clothes together, and so, yeah, uh, Keto the Easy Recipes 106, interesting name, uh, said, Fashion Icon.
You kidding me? It's like, Hey, you know, uh, you don't have to be loud and Lady Gaga, Met Gala outfit kind of fashion person.
Theo Harvey: Meat, meat outfits. Yeah, yeah. I remember that one. Yeah, you know, it's
Mr.Benja: exactly, uh, oh, meat, literal meat, like protein. Yes. Um, yeah, exactly. [00:14:00] You don't have to wear like a protein outfit.
But, you know, very subtle nods. And instead of just having random chains, you know, a lot of people were talking about the, the chain that he was wearing, uh, you know, chief chief co main comanican 83 says, uh, he rocking an Amazon chain, you know, that's a very particular a, and it does look a lot like the Amazon a.
So I got to call that a, yeah, that's a, I wondered if he, I wonder how much he thought about that. Like, man, say it looks like the Amazon a. Oh, well,
Theo Harvey: well, you know, I thought, I think they got to think about somewhat, but to you, you never know of artists, right. You know, it could have a dual meeting.
Mr.Benja: Yeah, exactly.
And, uh, well, that's the thing with art. It's like, you're putting all this stuff together. You're saying, Hey, this flows and this flows and you know, this detracts a little bit too much from the look, or this adds to the look or the feel and the vibe, and as you're putting this stuff together, some guy could just come in the room and, you [00:15:00] know, chewing it, chomping an apple and being like.
If you turn that to the side, you know, it looks like, uh, it looks like somebody's junk and it's like, Oh crap. Oh, we got to take it out now. Sometimes that happens, but I figured with the Amazon aid, they're like, eh, PG Lang, eh, it's still the same, whatever. And this kept going. Um, the big one, uh, the name on his jacket, a lot, a lot, not a lot of people asked about Gloria.
I thought they would, but, um. Glory is a song from his album G and X that he's basically his new album G and X that uh came out and Seems like a love song kind of but the more you listen to it it seems like he's talking talking about the industry and hip hop and his His relationship with the craft, I wouldn't necessarily call it exactly one or the other out of those, you know, Um, but it's all kind of in there [00:16:00] together as his art.
He's in love with his art, basically. And Gloria was the name given to this persona that he gave his art. So, you know, if you're talking about his fashion and him showing up to the Super Bowl, it's like, yeah, it's My art is with me. My, this presentation is, is part of me. It's, uh, it's my love. It's, it's what I'm doing.
And he's literally out there presenting it, you know, like not just me. It's also the love of the game out here in front of you.
Theo Harvey: I love it, man. So I, you know, look guys, this we'll do this from time to time, you know, thanks for all the love and the viewership. And so, um, look. Please comment. We want to build a community around what we're talking about.
So if there's things you guys want us to talk about, uh, let us know. We'll go into deep dive. We got, we got one that we're talking about latest on this podcast later on, I think a little bit controversial, especially if you know [00:17:00] about this person in the In the, uh, the culture space, I think it's going to be interesting to see what people think about her.
Um, so yeah, we'll talk about her later, but yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll give us shout outs for these and our shorts, but then if you want to listen to more context and more nuance. Flavor, you know, most of the ones that listen to our law form podcast. No, we tend to go a little bit more detailed than that. And we have, we have receipts guys.
Look, we don't come out here just talking noise. You know, we've got a few receipts out here, right? Mr. Benja. Yeah. So we don't just run our mouth
Laugh: complete nonsense. It's at least some, some,
Oscars and Award Shows Discussion
Theo Harvey: so, uh, anyway, Mr. Benji, are you, are you an Oscars watcher?
Mr.Benja: Uh, Cardi B's husband was offset and he had a, he was on a fashion TV show with, um, some other people, but yeah, fashion icon anyway.
Uh, am I Oscar watcher? Uh, no, [00:18:00] I do not watch Oscars. I stopped watching award shows and I don't know. My life got better.
Theo Harvey: It's not that bad. No, no, they're fine. They're fine. They give you back your time. That's true. I got stuck. I don't know what happened. Uh, do you ever watch the SAG awards?
Mr.Benja: Award show not watching it.
Okay.
Theo Harvey: Well it's on watch. I don't it now. Yeah, it's on Netflix now. So it's basically, uh, uh, what's it called? The Actors Guild, uh, screen Actors Guild Awards. Yes. And so basically all the actors give each other awards and you know, you did a good job. No, you did a better job, you know, kind of thing, you know.
Yeah. Um. It's kind of funny reason why I like watching that one. And it was on Netflix. So it was easy to watch this year is that wasn't on just a normal, you know, NBC or something, which I would miss. But, uh, the thing about that, they do two things always interesting. Number one, they always start, uh, the telecast where the actor gives a story about where they started from, right.
They'll tell, yeah, I was at the deli. You know, counter over at [00:19:00] Publix Hollywood in Vine and this one guy came by, he threw some deli meat at me and I said, never again. And that very day I got my, my, my, uh, agent and I was on my way. And so it's just funny hearing these, you know. Quote, unquote, famous actors that we know now that work, they all started from crap, right?
So that's always funny where they do the little story at the beginning, which is hilarious. And then they do, uh, they do like where they all started from, right? They, they did like a whole montage of all these actors that were on, uh, law and order, you know, that, that long running. TV show, law and order New York.
Everybody's been on there, man. They said the whole Sopranos cast has been on the new black cast. So they did, I mean, they had literally like, it was like at least 400, you know, 200 people, uh, that was in. The, uh, law and order. And they, and they had a fun drinking game. They showed all the little actors up there and they say, Hey, have you been in a law and order episode, have a sip.
And then I was drinking, [00:20:00] so it's just hilarious, man, that, that kind of stuff. Just, it just gives people hope that, Hey, people started from somewhere. So, yeah, I digress. So I'm talking about award shows in general, but Oscars is like the grand baby of them all. Be honest with you. Oscar is like the Superbowl.
Oscars. Um, I think there's another big event to up there. Those live events are still kind of driving, you know, old traditional interest because advertisers, right? If you watch the Oscars telecast, you'll see a lot of Super Bowl type commercials pop up on the Oscars where they're, you know, they're tweaking the commercial to, to talk, you know, saying, Hey, do you like this beer was even better if you, you know, drink it with a Hollywood star, you know, that kind of, I do remember
Mr.Benja: that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Theo Harvey: So, you know, it's, it does get watched by quite a few people. And I got to look at the numbers, how many people watched it last year. But so like I said, I mean, but the challenge has been the Oscars is the reason probably a lot of people are not watching as much because these movies that they nominate.
Nobody's watched them. It's like they're these [00:21:00] niche little movies. Um, that unfortunately, you know, not a lot of people watch and or care to watch. Right. And, um, that's always been the challenge with these Oscars. I mean, Mr. Benja, let me, let me go run down these best picture movies. I guarantee the one that you probably, you probably saw one of these.
Um, Oh, wait, and
Mr.Benja: it might be, um, everything, wait, anything everywhere all at once. The, that one was, no, that
Theo Harvey: was last year, man.
Mr.Benja: Last year. Well, I'm tapped.
Theo Harvey: I'm out.
No, I think you saw maybe one of these, maybe two. So I'm going to guess. So, so a Nora, do you know what that is? The brutalist.
Mr.Benja: I know of it.
Theo Harvey: Okay. Complete unknown.
Mr.Benja: Uh, for a second there, I thought you were asking if it was a complete unknown to me about the last one.
Theo Harvey: [00:22:00] Conclave. Dune, part two. Yes. Perez. No of it.
I'm still here.
Mr.Benja: No
Laugh: clues.
Theo Harvey: Nickel boys.
Laugh: Never heard of it. The substance on, on my watch list. Okay.
Theo Harvey: And wicked.
Laugh: Oh yeah.
Theo Harvey: Okay. So two of the 10 and that's the problem. So the rumor was that, you know, I don't know if you remember the controversy was way back in the day when, um, the dark night. Um, premiered and they get nominated for best picture.
Cause at the time there was only room for five nominations of big pictures and it was like, you know, Heath Ledger won the Academy award for his portrayals. Um, we had, uh, the joker we had, uh, it was like, uh, you know, at the time, I don't think it made a billion dollars, but it made quite a, it was up there, it was like one of the top movies of the year.
Right. And so, but it didn't get nominated for top movie and [00:23:00] people were pissed. So they said, we've got to expand the number of movies and that's to get room for like, Movies that did what like Wicked or Dune 2, but unfortunately we all know those are movies that never get nominated by this academy body, which tends to go a little bit older and a little bit more artsy fartsy where you get little random movies.
Um, you know, like last year, every, every, uh, Everything, everywhere, all at once, you know, it was kind of like a little money movie that could, it was kind of a genre movie, but it made like over a hundred million dollars. So that was something that kind of got people interested a little bit. Um, but yeah, man, it's, uh, you know, and so I think that's, was kind of dying up, you know, the movie business.
And when you think about that, we talked about this before the. Young actors are where the young actors coming from. The only actor under 30 does nominate this year, Tim Timothy's Chalamet, and he's, he's very rare. I mean, someone like him in his twenties, you would see him more or less on a podcast as opposed to being a movie star.
So it's kind of like. If you, you, you, you got [00:24:00] charisma, your guy, whatever, either, if you're below 30, you're either a, a, a, a celebrity on, on, you know, social media, influencer, or you're a sports star. Very rarely. Are you a movie person, a movie star, and that doesn't happen anymore. Like you used to back in the day.
And that goes to show you where we are in society. But the thing about Timothee Chalamet on the, did you saw the, the mean where he, he went viral talking about college football? Yeah. So he's this big time Hollywood actor, right? You know, everybody's like, Oh, he's the next Paul Newman or whatever. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. He goes on, uh, ESPN, uh, college game day. And he's just like spouting out like he's like a podcast YouTube channel. Yeah. They got the backfield. He was like hype, man. He was more hype about that than probably anything he's ever been in the movie. And it was hilarious. It was like, That's his age group.
That's what his age group is doing. We'll listen to, you know, watching ESPN game day, you know, gambling on sports. We talk about this, they're not [00:25:00] watching his movies. And so, but he knows that, so he can kind of, you know, pivot and go in these different areas to kind of talk about stuff. So I'd say all I have to say is like, you know, I still watch the Oscars, you know, I'm a fan of them, but you know, I can see why a lot of folks don't watch them.
Um, you know, it just seems like these movies are things that people don't care about anymore.
Mr.Benja: Yeah. You know, the MTV awards went on hiatus for 2024 and there, cause I always hear a little bit of something from them and I was like, Hey, what, uh, what's going on with that? And I found out they're, they're on hiatus in 2024 so they can re imagine it for 2025.
So I don't know what they're going to try to do, but they could be thinking what you're thinking, got to do something different.
Theo Harvey: Yeah, I think so, man. It was, um, you gotta, you know, reimagine things and kind of come, you know, do what, what, what happens. Um, so I'm looking at the dark night, it made 500 million in the U S.
Then [00:26:00] a billion dollars worldwide in 2008. Mm-hmm . So you got this year, uh, you only got two movies that made, uh, I think Wicked made a billion and then, um, dune two made the billion. That's it. You know, everything else, some of these other movies, they barely, uh, they went to Netflix. A lot of them. I mean, looking at you, Amelia Perez, but some of them to be lucky, they made $10 million.
Right. You know, in the box office. So who's watching that? So, um,
Mr.Benja: yeah, it's, it's weird out there and I think a lot of it's just a media transition, you know, um, we're, we've been talking about tick tock and podcasts, you know, more than we talk about what, what ABC is doing or what, or what, uh, you know, universal is doing as a, as a movie studio.
So
Theo Harvey: it's interesting. I mean, you know, and then also everything, so there's not a monoculture anymore. There's nobody watching. A thing. I mean, if maybe sports, I think everybody's kind of watched the certain things that people are watching or sports, but it's hard to find, you know, we talked about paradise, that movie, that [00:27:00] TV show last week, uh, I was, I was surprised my wife started watching it.
I'm like, Oh, you're watching it. I'm, I'm, I watch these little movies, these TV shows. I'm assuming I'm the only one, the whole world's watching them. So, Ooh, yeah, this is good. And I'll say to some folks, but I don't, you know, you just don't know. And all of a sudden. Now that's, it's becoming a thing now. So my wife is watching this.
Okay. We can talk about it, but I make no assumptions on any TV shows anymore that anybody's watching it.
Mr.Benja: You know, you make a good point about, um, you just, you were just brought up the point about timing also, you know, where we used to have these, not only were there limited numbers of channels, um, outlets, there are also limited number.
of times when you would get excited about this stuff.
Laugh: Like
Mr.Benja: if there was a new, you know, 25th anniversary of Star Wars or whatever, then everybody would get up and get all excited and go watch it again, go rent the movie again, go see the, you know, go to the theaters again. It was all at one time. But now it's like a person just.
randomly starts talking about, let's say, you know, the [00:28:00] walking dead or whatever. And suddenly there's a small spike in people watching the walking dead. You're seeing videos. Let's analyze the walking dead on YouTube. And it's like, what, where did this come from? Why is everybody doing this again? So it's very bizarre.
Theo Harvey: Yeah. Uh, animated movie, uh, flow. I don't know if you saw that. That's, that's, uh, some, that's probably. On the top line to win, but I saw inside out too, which was a billion dollars. Pixar. That's probably not going to win and the route robot really good. That was a good one. Um, so, you know, those are kind of some of the anime features, you know, get a little shout out here and there, but I'm looking at this, um, What they're going to do to kind of make the telecast, the TV show more interesting, they got Colin O'Brien, um, doing the monologue, you know, he can, he's of a, of an age where we remember him being funny.
So I don't know if this next generation original, one of the original writers for, uh, what's that show, uh, the Simpsons, you know, his own show for a while, but [00:29:00] sure, that's, that's going to bring the people in Colin O'Brien. Right. Um, you
Mr.Benja: know, uh, You know, you said Colin.
Theo Harvey: Oh, Colin.
Mr.Benja: Conan.
Theo Harvey: Conan. I said Colin.
Well, see, there you go. Conan.
Mr.Benja: He's that much. Uh, yeah. Yes.
Theo Harvey: Yes. Yes. So, um, the rumor is they're going to kind of do like a wicked kind of, uh, Introduction to the movies, you know, so basically that's, you know, I think we all seen wicked. So they're gonna have to sit there and do her, you know, her little singing thing at the beginning to get everybody hype.
But all these other movies, man, I don't, like I said, I mean, some of them, I saw conclave that was pretty decent, but like I said, there's nothing here that I would just say, Mr. Benji, you got to go see this movie. There's a change of life. I wish, I think I talked about anything everywhere all at once at one time.
That was pretty good, but I wish that, you know, I think so.
Mr.Benja: Yeah. Yeah. We only watch. Well, I only got [00:30:00] into that because I was all up in the multiverse at the time. Yeah.
Theo Harvey: Well, the, on the substance, I would definitely highly recommend it. We talked about this on the pod, you know, to go check it out. And because it's definitely body horror, you like that kind of stuff that, that, that would open your mind up a little bit.
Um, but Mr. Benji, you know, we look to, to move on from this topic. Uh, you know, who else was nominated on this for the Oscars this year, Sebastian Stan for a little movie called the apprentice. And do you know who he played in the apprentice?
Mr.Benja: No,
Theo Harvey: Donald J. Trump. Oh,
Mr.Benja: oh, that apprentice. Right. Right.
Theo Harvey: You cannot escape Donald Trump in the Oscars, man.
What is going on? Uh,
Mr.Benja: sorry, I couldn't help that segue along. I, I was just, as I said, I had a night.[00:31:00]
Theo Harvey: I'm trying to segue, man, I'm trying to say we're here.
Trump and Zelensky Meeting Drama
Theo Harvey: So yes, Donald J. Trump is in the Oscars, but he was also in our hearts when a recent meeting went haywire, Mr. Benjamin, what happened in this meeting recently?
Mr.Benja: So, so listen, we're not political pundits. We don't really jump into that arena. We talk about these characters a lot because they're starting to affect media and they're becoming this, they're.
You know, at the forefront of media, you know, the news talk shows and everything, these people are now at the forefront. So now we get a guy who used to be a TV celebrity, ran reality shows and was all up in beauty pageants and all this other stuff that he's got going on. Suddenly he comes to the white house.
And of course. It's going to be a media circus. The first term he was kind of playing around now he's in there and he seems like he's in his zone. He seems like he's [00:32:00] just, that's not good for us maybe, you know, but he's in his zone. I just. I just see him and I'm like, Oh, he's doing what he wants to do. And especially in this meeting, what he had with Zelensky president Zelensky from Ukraine, there's a war going on between Ukraine.
US is backing Ukraine or, you know, there's there's support there going to Ukraine. And it's interesting because Donald Trump has, I'll say ties friendly or otherwise to Putin. So. You know, there's a little bit of a play there with Russia dealmaking. And man, if you wanted. If you wanted a boring Oval Office talk to go viral, here's how you do it.
I don't know, I suppose we've got a clip of Trump just saying something, cutting him off, um, you know, making hand gestures while not really looking at the guy. [00:33:00] It was a, it was a media circus, I don't even know how to describe it, but this is not something we're used to seeing in the Oval Office.
Theo Harvey: Well, even the vice president sitting there, you know, like a little lapdog JD Vance talking about, Hey, have you even thanked us since you got to this room just, just, uh, who does this man?
Um, I mean, you know, look, it's. It's a wild time. I mean, is this a good thing? It's a bad thing. I don't even know anymore. Mr. Benjamin, you know, I think it just is what it is. Now, someone made a good point. Zelinsky should, uh, I was watching, uh, Fareed Zakaria. If you don't know, he does a nice little kind of international flavor, uh, news show on CNN.
He talked about it on Bill Maher's podcast last night. He says, listen, let's get shit there with all these other global leaders do, you know, kiss Trump's booty. Just be like Trump. You're the best Trump ever. You know, you're the best president ever. Matter of fact, we have a medal for you as our, you know, civilian award for, you know, [00:34:00] and then kiss his butt and then say, Hey, Oh, by the way, can we have 5 billion?
And he would do it. You know, he just, he just, I mean, It's just, everyone knows that's how Trump is. And you just kind of just flatter him a little bit. He'll give, get you what you want. And I think people got realized that's just kind of what it is right now. And, and, and it does make for, um, a sad kind of case of state of things where we have to, it's almost like a dictator, you know, where you kind of, kind of kisses, but a little bit to get what you want,
Laugh: you
Theo Harvey: know, if you don't, then you're not going to get what you want.
And it's like, we're all kind of reduced to that, unfortunately, right now,
Mr.Benja: man. I gotta point out with that, Trump has this, I'm in control, but I'm disinterested and I'm above all this look that he makes. It's just like, he's, you know, he's leaning forward, hands on his knees. He's got the hand, he's just kind of like,
you know what I'm [00:35:00] talking about? It's, it's weird, man. And uh, And yeah, it's the whole thing of like, you know, I don't have to say it. You get in line. If you don't get in line with the way I'm doing things, you're going to get punished. They don't like any type of retort. And, um, in fact, the question that the reporter asked, you know, asking why he wasn't wearing a suit.
So I was wondering who this reporter was. Apparently he's some guy from the very prestigious organization called, uh, Real America's voice. Yeah. Yeah. That's a that's right up there with the BBC and the Wall Street Journal and New York times real America's voice. Hey, it could just be something that went, you know, went under my radar.
And I didn't know anything about it, but yeah. Um, concert, it's a conservative cable network.
Theo Harvey: All [00:36:00] right. Well, you know, he's giving more place to all these conservative podcasters. Now, I don't know if you saw the latest. viral thing, these podcasters walked out the white house with the Epstein tapes, right?
You know, Oh, we got the real deal. I don't know if you saw that. That came, that became a meme people like, Oh, what's in these? He's going to reveal all these. highfalutin, uh, government officials who were involved in Jeffrey Epstein's case and, you know, became a nothing burger. But it's just stuff like this.
Just it feels like we're just in a banana republic where they're just showing us anything just to kind of make us believe whatever. And it's frustrating. You know, it's just like, man, you know, but I mean, how is this different any other time? I guess, you know, maybe the government was already, you know, they may not have been so blatant with it, but it was more hidden.
I mean, we just talked about Biden. People were complaining that Biden was older than he appeared and they kept lying to us about that. So it was kind of like, yeah.
Mr.Benja: So apparently from some reports and you know, I don't know enough, uh, political [00:37:00] baseball, you know, maybe you guys can help with that, but apparently.
A lot of these discussions happen like this in general, they make it a point to not do that in certain public forums, right? So, you know, you have a public forum with all these people. It's like, okay, there's a certain dance we do, but then behind closed doors, or if I know that it's not going to get publicized at all, then that's when it gets spicy.
The Hidden Spiciness of Politics
Mr.Benja: So apparently it's always spicy. But we just don't see it until now. Yeah,
Theo Harvey: good point. Yeah, I think that's the case that things that get spicy is just not as shown or they try to hide it or they try to be a little bit more, you know, sanctified. Well, because, you know, it's just like, I think there's a, there's a, there's a piece of this where people, they don't want to spook the, the, the, you know, there's probably a lot of bad stuff goes on, but they try to, they don't want to spook people too much because confidence goes down, people start buying, you know, it just slows cause let's be honest.
It's all about the money. So if the economy goes down, the stock market goes [00:38:00] down because people are afraid that, you know, World war three is going to happen, God forbid. But, you know, they feel like our world leaders are just at odds with each other.
Yeah,
it's his perception at that point.
Trump's Transparency and Market Reactions
Theo Harvey: And so that's why they probably try to hide a lot of stuff, but Trump is not hiding nothing and, you know, and so I guess it's baked into the cake a little bit, so the stock market is not moving as much, but it may get to a point where he just does something just too crazy.
Or something breaks too bad where it's just like, even he's going to have to backpedal because once things start, once the confidence is gone in the economy, it's, it can get bad quick,
Laugh: you know? Yeah, exactly. And
Theo Harvey: that's, that's the thing I think people are leery of when they see things like that. Right. Um, so say anyway, more, more to come on that.
I mean, yeah, I don't know if we want to go deep into the Trump world.
Mr.Benja: No, no, real quick though. I just wanted to say that. Um, not wearing a suit. That's not unprecedented. Um, during wartime, like a lot of times when I shouldn't say a lot of times. There are times when wartime presidents will [00:39:00] decide to not wear a suit when they're doing press and everything.
They're like, Hey, listen, you know, I'm not going to dress up and be all highfalutin when I'm at war. So Winston Churchill, uh, most famously. Did that as well.
Theo Harvey: Good point. I love it. Mr. Benjamin. Um, who else is, uh, out here making people upset? Mr. Benjamin,
Mr.Benja: let's just, let's just jump straight to the cut. We had a lot.
We had other stories. We're going to talk about with, uh, you know, Disney and YouTube and Amazon, but you know, who's, who's getting some talk right now.
Kathleen Kennedy's Legacy at Lucasfilm
Mr.Benja: Kathleen Kennedy, the news is out that she might be plotting her retirement. And I'm sure there are a lot of videos out there already cheering. Um,
Theo Harvey: well, let's talk about who's Kathleen Kennedy.
Let's talk. Oh, right.
Mr.Benja: I forgot. Uh, Kathleen Kennedy, the, uh, what's her actual title now? [00:40:00]
Theo Harvey: President Lucasfilm. Yeah.
Mr.Benja: She was a producer, basically the head producer of all the things going on at Lucasfilm, which covered, you know, Star Wars and, uh, Indiana Jones and all that business. But now she's president and basically running things.
George Lucas stepped out. Uh, to do whatever he was doing. And then Kathleen Kennedy stayed on during the Disney transition.
She applied for retirement. Is that what I'm hearing though?
Theo Harvey: Yeah, Mr. Benja. Um, yeah, she, uh, she started, uh, with George Lucas, uh, you know, and I think her husband is Frank Marshall. So if you watch any of like, uh, star Wars films back in the day, or even now, or, and, um, Indiana Jones, it was like, you know, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank, um, Frank Marshall.
And they were kind of like a producing pair and they work with George Lucas. I, you know, it sounds like they were kind of like more of the, the, the doers, you know, there's a producing [00:41:00] team, right? There's always the high vision guys like, I want to make a star wars show where there's people in space and there's a father and you know, his son and they fight.
Make it happen now. They got what color will start with, you know, Star Wars look like, you know, what's the color palette who should, what kind of artists would bring in to make it look like, you know, so it sounds like she was like the worker bee, right. To kind of make. The vision of George Lucas happened.
And so when Disney bought them, what, 13 years ago, so, uh, she's remained on and kind of helped Disney kind of shepherd, you know, she was basically the, uh, you know, kind of like, uh, what's his name, um, for, for Marvel, for MCU, um,
Mr.Benja: Feige forever.
Theo Harvey: Yeah. Feige. She's like the Feige of the Star Wars verse, right? She kind of handpicked the directors, the storylines.
I mean, yes, the creatives are the ones who do all that, but she's kind of shepherding it. No, this is Star Wars. We don't have the color pink in Star Wars or [00:42:00] something like that. Right. You know, it's just like the, the whole brand, you know, you know about this, uh, you remember like, uh, Procter and Gamble, they had brand managers, right.
You know, you're over, uh, Uh, you know, you're over skittles or something like that, right?
The Controversial Star Wars Sequels
Theo Harvey: There's no such thing as a purple skittle or something Yeah, I think there is but you know, they they manage what what makes a star wars movie what doesn't so that was her role For for all these years, but um as we all can attest star wars is in bad shape.
I mean um, we had these three, uh sequels that came out, um too much fanfare, but Uh, what the force awakens. Let me get this right. I always get the ones and that's how bad it is. I don't
Mr.Benja: even know all
Theo Harvey: those.
Mr.Benja: Don't forget. Uh, you can throw rogue one in there too.
Theo Harvey: Yeah. Okay. Good point. So, I mean, let's look at all the Star Wars movies that she kind of produced here.
Right? So we look at them. I got them in front of me now so I can kind of look at them. So, uh, [00:43:00] Obviously, after it got sold, right, the first thing was, and they kind of had to, right, because think about it, they bought it for like 4 billion in Disney, but, so they had to kind of make movies to kind of justify the investment that big, right?
So they need to make, these movies need to be made billions of dollars. So the first thing she released was the force awakens in 2015. Um, as much fanfare, people excited, new casting always felt a little overwhelmed when I watched it. It felt too much like a new hope. The, you know, the one, the original star wars I saw back in the day, but it still made a billion dollars.
People were fine with it. I think you were okay with it, right? For the most part.
Mr.Benja: Uh, no, no, no. Uh, She broke the, they broke the rule. You know, you'll hear creative say, give them what they want. But then when producers hear that, they try to give them what they want. It's like, no, no, no, no. We don't give them what they want.
We give, we don't give them, we give them what they want. Right. But when producers hear that they say, oh, we give them what we think they want. [00:44:00] We give them what they don't know that they want. That's what creators are saying. So the creators are saying, yeah, they don't know that they want this, but we're going to give this to them.
And they try something new when Kathleen King was like, yeah, we'll, you know, give them what they want, a new hope. That's like, uh, for
Theo Harvey: my, yeah. Yeah, it was kind of, but you know, it was good to have star Wars on the big screen again. I think we hadn't had it since, um, what's that? The, uh, revenge of the SIF that was like in 2005, which was the prequels, you know, and I think a lot of folks, uh, you know, I think we were excited about those prequels.
And that was the last time George Lucas was actually over star Wars, but then kind of left us a little overwhelmed, but quiet as cat. We talk about this.
There's a
growing group of young fans that that's their Star Wars. No matter what you can't don't talk bad about no prequels boy around these little
Mr.Benja: a
Theo Harvey: linear
Mr.Benja: run the rerun the clip of, you know, the guy who played Jar Jar Binks [00:45:00] and Hayden Christensen coming on stage crying and tears and everybody, everybody throwing roses and screaming their name.
They love it, man.
Theo Harvey: Don't talk bad about no Jar Jar. Yes. So, anyway, uh, after the new Force Awakens came out, uh, the Rogue One, which came out in 2016, I think a lot of folks, uh, liked that. Me included. It was, it was a different kind of like the Dirty Dozen set in Star Wars. I mean, let's be honest, that's pretty much what it was.
But it was, it's basically a Star Wars story, so the rumor was they were gonna have like, you know, ones that follow the Skywalker, you know, you know. Jedi and the story of that. There's, they have a movie that's just set in the world of Star Wars, right? To kind of get more flavor. So World War One was a success.
Um, but was. You know, met with a lot of, and that's, uh, the, why I think people are kind of gelling with, um, and we'll talk about it later when we do our trailer or breakdown, right. With the latest, um, uh, [00:46:00] what's it called? The latest, uh, show yeah. Disney plus show. Um, And or right, which is kind of of that spirit.
Same actor basically who was in Rogue one is showing up in a TV show. So I think that's kind of in this Kennedy era. That's kind of one of the ones that's beloved, right? Rogue one people liked it. So yeah, so we kind of moved on. Um, Mr Benji, see if you know at the top of your head. What came after that? Uh, after Rogue One was that, um, after the Force Awakens, it was the La Last Jedi, um, very controversial.
Uh, r uh, rain Johnson did the directing. He's the fame of, uh, all the different, uh, mystery movies that's coming out. Um, people love him. Uh, people hate him, but he did his own version of Star Wars after JJ Abrams did his version, and Laos did not like La Last Shadow. I, I have won. I like it. I saw what he was trying to do.
He was trying to expand beyond the Skywalker and I like the fact that he told a complete arc of [00:47:00] like Luke Skywalker being disillusioned in his older age and trying to come back to it. A lot of people don't like it because Luke Skywalker basically was an asshole and didn't, you know. Drink some blue milk and then died on the hill.
So I get that part, you know, he's Jedi mass. They didn't do nothing. People were mad about that. I don't know, Mr. Benji, I guess you weren't a fan. Is that correct? Oh, my gosh,
Mr.Benja: I am. So it let me be clear. It was not bad. It was well constructed. It was proper, you know, properly laid out. There was just a lot of it was well done.
It was well made. There was a. It was a properly put together story. Everything went together, right? There's just one simple fact. I didn't want any of it. I'm sitting here thinking, wow, that is a very beautiful shot that I don't want. It's just like the entire thing was just it's [00:48:00] yeah. You know, I'm, I'm dredging up old feelings here, but, uh, no, it was fine.
And if you liked it, that's cool and everything, but. It was not my cup of tea because of the, the decisions he made going into it. So,
Theo Harvey: yeah, I mean, he, he definitely tried to just make Star Wars his own, which I ain't mad at him. Right. And so Ro uh, you know, the, the new hope, I mean the, uh, the, uh, what's it called?
The, uh, first one came out, um, you know, people were excited about it. The Force Awakens, you know. the same storyline, but yeah, the last Jedi, I mean, they introduced new force powers, right? Basically a telephone call, a telehealth visit where you're, you're, you're using the force to talk to people, right. With their shirt off.
Right. And I think a lot of people like, what's this, we can do that with the force.
Mr.Benja: You can, there are lots of things you could do and see, that's the thing. It actually fits in with the story. It's just the way it was [00:49:00] presented. It was almost presented to me as a, Oh, you didn't know you could do this. And it's like, surprise.
And it's like, why are you surprising me, dog? I just said, just set up the story and didn't do it. I don't know.
Theo Harvey: I mean, there's some things in there. Like Leia was blown into space. And then she used the, I didn't even know she used the force at first. It wasn't set up. Right. I think that, remember when she used the force to kind of, Brought herself back into the, I thought, I was like, why is she flying?
I didn't understand that for a second. So I'm like, cause
Mr.Benja: she married poppers y'all.
Theo Harvey: But yeah, right. I mean, he had that cool scene where they went to when they went to hyperspace, man, remember that scene? It was like quiet. It was like, and then, you know, it was like, that was amazing. That was a great. Why are you bringing up bad memories?
That was either like that star cruiser going into hyperspace,
Mr.Benja: as I said, very cool, very interesting. I didn't want it
Theo Harvey: anyway. So, so very diverse. So, so now that's when kind of the wheels fell off. Let's be honest. [00:50:00] I mean, you can see based on this discussion,
Mr.Benja: you could tell. Yes,
Theo Harvey: you can tell. That's just like, Oh, hell no, this is not my Star Wars.
Right. Then they got the broom kid out here doing. So yes. Breaking Dances with the broom. breaking two, elected Boogaloo with the broom. I was like, oh my goodness. What? What are they doing here? .
Mr.Benja: So . Yeah, this, this brings up a very good question. And you know, star Wars is like pizza. It's like all pizza's good to an extent, to an extent.
It's pretty, all pizza's pretty good to me. So I'm not worried about whether you liked it or didn't. It's still Star Wars still good. So the thing that makes this seem. This whole situation, interesting, is wondering one thing, did Kathleen Kennedy intentionally stir the pot with Star Wars fan base to get clicks, views, people talking about it and into the seats to drum up more fan base excitement or energy?
[00:51:00] Did she do that intentionally?
Theo Harvey: I think she did. I think what happened was, you know, they brought JJ Abrams to come back in to kind of get Star Wars back on his feet. I remember they had that whole black and white photo with they had the legacy guys sitting over here, Han Solo and Carrie Fisher. And, um.
Mark Hamill. And then they had the new folks that they hired right to kind of get them excited. And it was just, Oh, wow, stars is back, baby. They about the film. And so we saw the movie. It was okay. But this is great. It's a new trilogy. They're gonna do what's right. You know, just like Phantom Menace. You know, we got fooled by the first movie, and then she gave it to Uh, rain, what do I want to say his name?
Ryan, excuse me, Ryan Johnson. And, you know, it does seem like there was no plan. I think that was the thing. And I think maybe she thought that they could give the artists more free reign and do what they wanted to do to make Star Wars their own. Cause you know, she's not creative. We talked about this, right.
And George Lucas [00:52:00] is probably the creative person with the visionary. She does not, I don't think that she's not that type of producer. She needs a creative partner. That's going to have the vision. And we talked about this on the last podcast, right? You got to have one. Kind of out there and when it does the work and I think she was looking for that
Mr.Benja: exactly and and to the point about You know, um, I remember I told somebody I, I liked, uh, I didn't like the force awakens.
And the first thing they said was, you don't like Ray and like really got upset with me. And I'm like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. You're like, how'd you jump there? And then I started thinking about the way that this stuff was presented. It's like, for the first time we have, you know, you know, a female Jedi coming out there.
She had the shirt, the force is female. And I'm like, okay, this is not. This is something that didn't come from a purely creative place like it was
Theo Harvey: an agenda.
Mr.Benja: Yeah, I didn't want to use that word.
Theo Harvey: I mean, you know, the first awakens if she was such a Mary Sue character, man, it's just [00:53:00] like you had no training.
You know how to do all this stuff. I'm like, I was even I was like, she can, she can, she can, uh, Do the, uh, uh, Melina Falcom just as well as Han Solo. She can yield. She was going against a Jedi Sif Lord. Right. In the first, I'm like, what is going on here? That's what threw me off to a little bit. I was like, you know, it's just like, this is too much too fast.
I mean, let's show some development,
Mr.Benja: but yeah, that kind of controversy, I think. You know, wouldn't bother her in terms of like planning, like you're coming up with this stuff, like, yeah, let's do this and do this and, and show people that, you know, we can have a, you know, the force is female, strong, female lead.
And it's like, okay. Once again, like with, uh, you know, Ryan Johnson, the last Jedi, it's like, yeah, you're doing that. It's fine, but it's not what and how and the way I wanted it, like you could still tell that story and it didn't stop there, which is why I, I continue to think that she did this [00:54:00] a little intentionally set this whole thing up because it didn't stop there.
It went into the shows, it went into, um, we've been saying it's Disney, but I'm like, Hey, maybe she went over to Disney and was like, Hey, Disney, I feel what you're putting out there. Let's do this. Let's stir some pots and I'm like,
Theo Harvey: okay, well, so you think she did intentionally what to create an agenda or intentionally stroke, uh, anger of the fan base a little bit when they did the, by making agenda type storytelling.
Mr.Benja: Uh, no, I'm, I'm saying what was intentional to me was just. You know, let's stir the fan base up. Let's shake things up this idea of, you know, let's really shake things up. Let's, uh, take, take what we have and, you know, shuffle it around, see what we can get coming out the other side. Let's get people excited about it.
If they don't like it, that's cool. We're getting people talking about us. All publicity is good [00:55:00] publicity. So I'm not going to, I'm not going to worry so much about the backlash. And then when there's a lot of backlash, it's like. Well, I didn't expect all that
Theo Harvey: classic corporate motto, right? You take a risk and then the risk didn't pan out.
Oh, I don't I didn't mean to do that. That was that was Ryan Johnson. No, we're going to go back to what worked before. Let's get J. J. Abrams back. Right. So it's like what's the last Skywalker was? I mean, was not received well, you know, I think. Then, you know, she kind of backtracked and went back, you know, forward.
And then I think it was that, and also the whole, um, uh, what was it? The whole, uh, issue with, um, solo came out right after that too. Right. Uh, yeah, yeah. The star, another star Wars story that didn't. Get received with the casting of the guy who played Han Solo. People didn't like that. It was just a, it was a whole thing, man.
So after the last Jedi, it just seemed like, you know, and then no, that's not the least of [00:56:00] all the sad, sad case of star Wars did let the rise of Skywalker, where they brought back JJ and basically they kind of spackled together some story. So if you watch all three of those movies, these sequels, there's no cohesiveness and you could tell it was just kind of.
Slapdish together and that's
Mr.Benja: backled together. Just
Theo Harvey: it was I mean, you know, the stories are disjointed They basically did something different the second one, which is fine. It killed the main guy Smoke that they introduced in the force awaken. You thought that was gonna be the big bad And so Kathleen Kennedy was like sure go ahead Ryan do that.
No, wait a minute So there's this big bad you to do so you're not gonna bring that big bad back in a second. He's gonna kill him That's your controversial. That's your Luke, I'm your father moment in this trilogy. Get the f out of here, man. Come on with something better. And so it's like that. I think that was gonna be their kind of controversial thing to kind of get people to come back.
But there's no, there's no, uh, antagonist anymore. So they had to kind of make up in [00:57:00] one movie, the rise of Skywalker that Palpatine some kind of way came back. And that Ray is, you know, his daughter and all this other crap. And it's like, they were doing all that. And so I can't even remember what the story's about.
Mr.Benja: No, it's funny though.
I, I give people a wide berth on what, what they like about Star Wars and what they don't. And you may say this is mad sour taste, but of the final of the final three, the rise of Skywalker was the best. Oh,
I got, I got lightheaded. Just saying that, are you serious? I'm watching it with popcorn. Like, man, that's bad, but yeah, it's, it's, it's bad to me, but not offensive. If like, You know, it's like, uh, no matter how bad it is, it's like, it didn't [00:58:00] offend me in terms of what they were trying to do and what they wanted to do.
Um, it just rolled off the tongue bad. Uh, you look at something like The Force Awakens and Last Jedi, those are two different extremes of played it too safe, played it too loose. And yeah, please flame me in the comments.
Theo Harvey: I love it. I love it. Uh, yeah, I can, I'm, I'm trying to rack my brain on what happened. I mean, we had at the end, you know, also sadly, there was a force
Mr.Benja: on a starship.
Like on the side of it.
Theo Harvey: Yeah. Yeah. It was a bunch of stuff going on. They had, they had the girl, I think she was Lando, uh, they had, uh, Lando Carissian popping up, you know, his daughter, they were doing some side project, I could, couldn't tell you what it was about, I mean, so it was just like a whole thing and a sad part was that, um, and, you know, also I think, you know, the pass and carry, I think that was going to be her, remember every, every one of these sequels, it was going to be featured, like the first one, the force awakens was Han Solo, the second one that was about.
Luke Skywalker and, you know, quote unquote, they all [00:59:00] died. It's each individual story. I solo die, they lose Skywalker and then they had Carrie Fisher, right? Um, but she passed away in real life, you know, tragically before they could film the rise of Skywalker. So, so yeah, it just seems like we just slap dish.
There was no story.
The Mandalorian and Disney+ Success
Theo Harvey: And then, you know, the only success, and we're just going to wrap this up that she started to have was in Disney plus when. The Mandalorian, for whatever reason, with Jon Favreau and David Filoni, who's, let's be honest, is probably the creative driving force at Star Wars right now, you know, came up with this kind of like, uh, between what, uh, the Empire Strikes Back and the Return to Jedi kind of look at, you know, uh, a Mandalorian, you know, someone that's, you know, in the bubble fit.
Line, uh, going out here, doing what he does cry, you know, uh, what's it called a body hunter, right? Work. And that kind of popped that save Disney plus that put it on the map. And so this is what she's been writing for the last, you know, what. Four or five years [01:00:00] and so much so that they're going to create a movie around it.
Right. But other than that, there's been so many misses with star Wars on TV. Uh, The less we say about Shoka, which has some promise, but you know, or unless we say about, uh, the alkalite, which definitely put down flames. It doesn't seem like she's been Kathleen. Kennedy's had a great run here
Mr.Benja: real quick. If you really wanted to do something, you know, big and out of the box, you could say, you know what?
For the next, this next generation coming up, let's say star Wars. Isn't about Jedi. Let's say it's about smugglers and bounty hunters. And you start there because you've got that seed of a character. And so you start re restart the whole thing from like the Mandalorian side, the bounty hunter side, the huts, you know, the, um, I forgot their name now, the crime syndicate banking plan.
Yeah. You know, the banking clan and all that stuff,
Theo Harvey: which is an interesting concept. Solo kind of dabbled [01:01:00] in it, you know, a little bit. And I'm there for it. I mean, I do miss, you know, sprinkling in some Jedi stuff in there because they do give you more of a visual palette. Let's be honest, you know, the crime syndicate.
They're just shooting people, you know, shooting now, but be honest with you, the one that's been getting the most flavor is the whole political intrigue stuff, which is Rogue one. And, um, what's the show? Um. And, or those are, those are pretty interesting. Those are becoming they're, they're, they're kind of like the, the, the spackle, okay, this is how Star Wars really works, right?
You want to know how trade works, how currency works, how politics works in Star Wars. Go watch Andor and rogue one. And those are becoming, um, better quality shows and movies, because I think there's, there's more there, right? It's not just about fantasy. Yes. You got crime. Yes. You got, so it does seem like there's these three camps now of Star Wars.
It's probably some more, but it's like the, the Jedi stuff. Which, you know, hasn't been successful, let's be honest, since Luke [01:02:00] Skywalker. Maybe you should just go back to one Jedi again, because this ain't working, all these Jedis out here. Then you got, and they're getting some weird stuff, thanks to Dave Filoni, right?
The great Jedi, and the time travel, and the force whales, it's just like, it's I mean, I know I get it, but it's just, it's a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah. Then you got the crime syndicate, right? Which is, you know, Han Solo, which I think is cool, but they still keep trying to bring in Jedi when they bring back, uh, what's his name all the time.
Um, uh, Mall. They always bring back Duff mall. I'm like, just keep the Jedi out of here. Let's get some huts. And then finally they got the, then they got, then they got the, um, the whole, uh, what's it called? Oh. And, uh, the skeleton key kind of had some of that crime syndicate about it. I don't know if you watched that.
That was pretty good. Um. But it's still some Jedi mixed in there and then finally got the whole intrigue the political stuff, right? Which I think people are jelling with the whole rebel and what it means to be a rebel and all that Which I think [01:03:00] in this political climate might make more sense to kind of have Star Wars around that because there's a sense that you Know there's a resistance.
There's something we have to resist against
Yeah,
so does that make sense these three kind of modes of Star Wars or am I missing an angle here?
Mr.Benja: No, that's, uh, that that's, that's, that's pretty much it. I think, um, the big camp. So,
Theo Harvey: well, Mr. Benjamin, this is, uh, interesting. So Kathleen, Kendi, you know, uh, deuces, we'll see, we'll see what happens next.
Andor Season 2 Trailer Reaction
Theo Harvey: So, uh, Mr. Benjamin, speaking of which, do you want to get into, we talked about star Wars. Do you want to get to the trailer of and, or, and see what they got planned? Let's
Mr.Benja: let's do this trailer reaction. Uh, and, or. Quality show, whether you like it or not, it's a quality show, meaning a lot of time was put into it.
Time care study. And in fact, some people say it's almost too good for the [01:04:00] average star wars person because you have to sit down and actually follow it. It's not just like pew pew and jam jam with the laser swords and lightsabers and stuff like that. So, um Season two is coming out and it's got a lot of the, it's got a lot of the hardcore people hyped up.
I have not seen this trailer. It came out. Um, but you've seen it. You've seen it. Um, I haven't seen it though.
Theo Harvey: Yeah. I can't remember what was in it, but yeah, let's do it.
Mr.Benja: All right. So, uh, we are going to get into the and or season two trailer streaming April 22nd on Disney plus, and we'll start this in three, two, one play.
Oh, oh,[01:05:00]
Laugh: don't look at explosions.[01:06:00]
Yes.
Okay.
Mr.Benja: Yeah, man. Anytime you get Saw Gerrera in your face, you know, yelling at you. You know, it's
Theo Harvey: serious. Yeah, that gnarly beard and that offsetting. Yeah, man. I love it, man. Uh, Saw Gerrera, you know, shout out Clone Wars, which, you know. Dave Filoni, he put all this together. So, um, yeah, I don't think we're going to see any Jedi in this.
I'm trying to think, um, they didn't show any in the first season, did they?
Mr.Benja: Were there any Jedi in Andorra? No, I don't think there was any Jedi action. Uh, we got a little Sith action with, uh, you know, the, the guy in his, um, his ship. [01:07:00] Where he has like, he had the, the Kyber crystal energy coming out of the
Theo Harvey: ship.
Gotcha, and then we saw what he was building in the first season in the, um, the Death Star, right? Which is not really the, you know, uh, They were in that prison. I remember they were building a panel for the deaf star, um, in the rogue one, they kind of had like a, uh, a Jedi Jason, you know, the blind monk, you know, he was Jedi Jason, um, you know, was it for sensitive, I guess you would call it, but, uh, yeah, man, um, I'm excited for it.
I think people. You know, some people consider it a little bit boring show, but I think of all the Star Wars, it gives you the most interesting take on, you know, what does it mean to be a rebel and fight against something you believe in that. And then you saw, um, what's her name? Moth, um, Mothra. What's her, what's the leader of the revolution?
Mon Mothma. Yeah. So, you know, she's over here in Lily fair, right? Dancing.
Mr.Benja: Yeah, this, [01:08:00] uh, it's, it's, it's funny. It's definitely an older vibe, like for an older audience, like, okay, we're going to double down on this. And, uh, you can tell by the, by the music and the styling, it's like, let me see, what, what did, what did they, what did they say? It's like critically acclaimed the first season of Android was hailed by critics everywhere.
It's like, who are you talking to? Have Star Wars fans ever cared about the critics? Exactly! And the second blurb says, emotional, thrilling, and exciting. You're like, once again, better be, uh. Yeah.
Theo Harvey: Well, then the thing was that this was, uh, a show, uh, nobody was checking for, right? But, um. Guess is it Tony Gilroy?
I think that's the director. He's like a big time director He just say hey, I want to make a quality Star Wars show and it's so funny Like all these directors man don't quite as kept let's be honest You know matter what you've done before I bet all of them have a Star Wars story [01:09:00] inside of them I guarantee you man.
It's just like, you know, Cody any director Ryan Coogler's got a Star Wars story inside of I guarantee you I guarantee is, you know what,
Mr.Benja: you know what, that is an amazing concept if you want just to take some random, I mean, I know they kind of did it with, you know, you got your different directors on stuff like, um, on the Mandalorian where they played with getting in different directors to different, different shows and, you know, Hey, let's have a different writer and you do that all the time, but the way they presented it and the way they followed through with it was really interesting.
And I think. Yeah. They could kind of keep doing that with, with the, with shows and maybe one offs anthology series or whatever, where you get a certain director, like you're saying Kugler and, you know, Kugler does a Chewbacca story, a story of, you know, the Mon Calamari, and it's just like some one or two episodes.
Three [01:10:00] maybe one even and it's just like yeah all these different angles on Star Wars It could really that could really do the thing of helping grow the base, which is what? Ryan Johnson was uh was doing with broom boy and all that other stuff. I like the casino planet I really do like the casino plan.
Theo Harvey: I liked it, too It was a little too kiddie for me though, but you know was it cantor bright? I don't know how I remember that sometimes I can't remember anything, but I remember that cantor bright It was just like you right it was just like hey, you know This is star wars. Yeah, there'll be a casino people out here trying to get that money.
So, um, yeah, I liked it man.
Podcast Wrap-Up and Future Plans
Theo Harvey: Um, mr. Benjamin, I think this has been a good episode man. Anything else going on for you this week?
Mr.Benja: Oh, man Uh, I still got more pins coming in from amazon. So i'm going to be trying them out and uh Banging out some writing.
Theo Harvey: I love it. Yeah. Same here, man. Back in the saddle, sell, sell, sell.
So I'm about running my mouth, get these cells [01:11:00] going. Spring break is coming up. So I might be out town here in a little bit, but yeah, trying to hit it hard, man. Things are warming up. So super excited about that. Well, everyone, thank you for listening. Hope you enjoyed the podcast and what we had to share.
Look. If you like what you're hearing, please like, subscribe and comment at show versus business on X thread, YouTube, Instagram. Listen us at Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you listen to podcasts and get a chance. Go check out our website show versus business. All right, Mr. Benja. Have a good one. Peace. All right, let's do the intro.
I gotta go. Yeah, we ran long here, but it was, it was good. It was good conversation. .
Mr.Benja: Uh, yeah, we didn't do, we didn't do that much setup, so I think it worked out.
Theo Harvey: All right. Let's do the, uh, intro and keep it moving. Tell me when you're ready.
Mr.Benja: So, um, you want to kind of focus on Kathleen Kennedy.
Theo Harvey: Yeah, I'll probably talk about that.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You know, we give [01:12:00] everybody shout out and then Kathleen Kennedy is the big one. Disney. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Good point. All right. Let's see. Ooh, I look dark. Hold on. Let me see if I can get some more light on me.
All right. That's better. All right. And three, Two, one. What's up everyone. Well, come once again, the show versus business. This is the real deal Harvey. I'm here with Mr. Benja. Look, we have an exciting podcast that we're getting into all things Star Wars, but more specifically, this person is out of here.
We're talking about the current president of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, and we'll get into more details about what she's about, but Mr. Benjamin, what are your thoughts about what's happening in Star Wars right now? And are you excited about changing? [01:13:00] And what's happening for the future there,
Mr.Benja: uh, changing, not really excited about that because I don't know about these last changes that they've been doing for a while, but all star wars is like pizza.
So, you know, we're going to gobble it down, eat it up and be happy about it. So we're not here to just bash on anything. It's not like that. But, uh, it was a good little discussion, man. I like what we, what we brought up. And that question about Kathleen Kennedy was a lot of the stuff that went down with Star Wars intentional.
That was a really good question. Like how much of this was done intentionally with shaking up the audience and getting a lot of backlash and that kind of, you know, publicity seeking, I don't know, it was just an interesting discussion. And, um, we also did a little talk with, we. We led into it with the Oscars and some talk about Trump.
So, uh, in the media, not just Trump, Trump in the media in particular. So a lot of good stuff in this podcast, but, uh, stick around for the Kathleen Kennedy business.
Theo Harvey: Oh, yeah. And stick around [01:14:00] for our analysis and breakdown of and or season two trailers. So we really went into that and talked a little bit about excitement potentially of this new one.
So yeah,
Mr.Benja: we didn't break it out too much, but
Theo Harvey: yeah, we did a breakdown. We did deep dive. No, hold on now.
Mr.Benja: I don't want the screen crush fans, you know, in the comments saying you guys didn't break nothing down.
Theo Harvey: You're right. We don't. We just have fun talking about it, guys. But anyway, we also look. Like we always say please like subscribe to our channel, you know, show versus business We did a shout out to some of the commenters on one of our large viral short that we just did on Kendrick Lamar So you may get your name shout out if you just go ahead and put a comment out there guys So again hit that like button subscribe and mr.
Benja. Let's go. Let's do it.
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