Episode 95: KlaxOn! KlaxOff!

0095 Star Wars: The Force AwakensIt was inevitable, dear listeners: this week, we talk about Star Wars: The Force Awakens! If you have not seen it yet, fear not: we stay spoiler-free for the first portion of the podcast, then ring an alarm before we plunge headlong into the spoiler zone.

If you would like to drink along (and oh we were drinking), we recommend either Yellowtail Sangria or Glenlivet 12 single malt scotch. Or perhaps some sort of blue space-milk paired with self-cooking bread powder.

Show notes behind the cut!

Movies mentioned:
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens
Star Trek (2009)
Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

People mentioned:
Ewan McGregor
Hayden Christensen
Harrison Ford
Carrie Fisher
Mark Hamill
John Boyega
Daisy Ridley
Adam Driver
JJ Abrams
Rian Johnson
Colin Trevorrow
Max von Sydow
Lin Manuel Miranda
Daniel Craig
Gwendoline Christie
Domhnall Gleeson

Links:

The Alamo Drafthouse’s “Magnited States of America” PSA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L3eeC2lJZs

Hamilton annotated lyrics:
http://genius.com/Lin_Manuel

Michael Bay “Got Milk” ad / Hamilton remake:
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/20/hamiltons-aaron-burr-recreates-famous-got-milk-commercial

Kiva.org:
http://www.kiva.org/

2 comments

  1. That feeling of relief, I SO GET THAT. Getting up this morning, it was like, “This is the day, after this morning, I can safely go on ALL of the Internet!”

    JJ Abrams, does he know how to reboot a franchise or what? Lots of nods to things fans will recognize! Good character interplay! Complex and inventive yet easy-to-follow action sequences! That said… I’m SO GLAD he’s not doing the next one, because seeing his follow up to this would be like seeing his follow-up to the first Trek reboot movie and… oh, I HATED Into Darkness, lemme TELL ya.

    Now I’ve seen the film, I can enjoy EVEN MORE the geekboy rage over Rey’s Mary-Sue-ness or whatever. So, it’s okay when a boy character is super-good at everything he tries, but when a girl is hyper-competent in a movie, that’s unrealistic/unwelcome? Yeah, eff THAT sideways with a goofily-appendaged lightsaber. Also boy howdy can that woman ACT. The only time you could take your eyes off of her was (sometimes) when Finn was also on the screen, doing something. These leads are oozing charisma and talent. Big thumbs up on casting.

    Finn, though. John Boyega acted the living shit out of this movie. And I loved that while Finn wasn’t terribly good at espionage, they let him be competent in other ways. He WAS a highly-trained soldier in the First Order, so yeah, he’s got some skills. I love that he gets a go at a ‘saber duel. The implication/suggestion that the Force has awakened in at least a couple of new potential-Jedi is DELIGHTFUL yes please more more more.

    We didn’t get enough of Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron, and the fact that I feel that way shows how effectively they used the bits of the script they put him in. The movie would’ve been too crowded otherwise, and we had to get through Han’s arc. I get that. But seriously, Poe looked like he was having SUCH FUN. Yeah, he can stay.

    The continual nods to the previous films hit me in different ways. Death Star Plus Ultra? Complete with trench run? Eyeroll. I get why they did it, though. As you said, it was kind of a palate-cleansing slate-resetting kind of story, so hitting a lot of the familiar beats does the job. (And it wasn’t as egregious as the prequels, granted.) It took me out of the movie a few times, though.

    I, too, really REALLY want to know what happens next. Which I’m 100% certain was (story-wise) the point of this movie. (Making heaps of money was THE point of this movie, but still.)

  2. I know Jedi are supposed to be celibate, but I can’t believe that the last Jedi, the hero of the rebellion, the guy that fought Vader AND the Emperor, didn’t wind up in bed with someone. Or a whole lot of someones – Rey might not be his only offspring. There could be a whole galaxy full of Skywalker kids. So Finn COULD be related to Rey, or Poe Dameron, or any number of others.

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