1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,640 This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:13,760 at MJMunoz.com. Welcome to my fully operational Star Wars podcast. I'm going to do a mini 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:20,000 episode where I reintroduce myself to the Star Wars fandom and reintroduce myself to 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Star Wars in some way, shape or form. So I am one of those people who has sort of dipped 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,000 out of Disney Star Wars. No, I don't demand that Kathleen Kennedy be fired. I wouldn't 6 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:39,400 be surprised if she was at some point for a lack of competency. However, I don't think 7 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:47,560 she's destroying Star Wars. And even if she is, I know that as a rebel and as an independent 8 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:56,200 actor, I have the ability to just remove myself from Star Wars and reject what they try to 9 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:02,920 give me and support the things that I like because I like them not as a protest against 10 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:11,560 some lady. And whether that be some lady or some man, whether that be Bob Iger or was 11 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:16,600 it Pearlman or Pearl Mother, I don't know who these people are. They don't matter to 12 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:23,200 me as far as this is concerned. What matters to me is the story of Star Wars. And I don't 13 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:29,280 care that Mark Hamill has his crazy views and I don't care that, you know, whatever. 14 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:34,440 I'm in this for the story. I'm in it a little bit for George Lucas or at least George Lucas's 15 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,640 perspective of wanting to make stories for 12 year olds or I hope the 12 year old and 16 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:47,120 all of us that talk about basic morals and life lessons and, you know, a good mythology 17 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:53,640 based in psychology so that it will have a deep effect on the minds of the children, 18 00:01:53,640 --> 00:02:01,640 which I guess, to break political for a little bit, I guess if George Lucas was always a 19 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:06,240 Democrat or maybe some sort of regressive, then in today's political landscape it makes 20 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,840 sense that he was going after the hearts and minds of children back then. But I believe 21 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:19,080 that what Lucas implanted or indoctrinated or whatever kids with at that time was good. 22 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:26,400 And you know, the concept of being selfless and having bravery and courage and determination 23 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,760 to do hard things and help people in need, those are all good things. And I'm happy for 24 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,920 children to have those things inculcated in them by structures of the culture and whatnot. 25 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:43,720 Even, well, yeah, I'm happy with those things, but this other stuff, not so much. So anyway, 26 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,040 if you can't stand listening to me because of that, controversy will take, then I guess 27 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:52,480 goodbye. And if you don't mind, great. And if you think I'm going to be, you know, voting 28 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,120 for Trump and throwing red meat out there for people, I'm not going to. I will try to 29 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,760 keep this as apolitical as possible and just talk about the things that I enjoy and like 30 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:05,080 in the movies, in the books, in the comics, in the games, in whatever Star Wars story 31 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:10,280 I want to talk about based on the fact that it's a story and how I am affected by it as 32 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,960 a story or as an audience member, you know, enjoying the story or not, you know, because 33 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:22,040 sometimes I don't enjoy Star Wars things and I'm willing to say that. So yeah, I, I'm so 34 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:30,600 off of stuff with Star Wars today that while I watched Mando one and two in the book of 35 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,160 both of that, I did not watch Obi-Wan Kenobi. I don't know if they had another Star Wars 36 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,840 show besides that. I watched the first season, but not the second season of the bad batch. 37 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,400 I don't really care about the bad batch. I like Clone Wars. I like colonies work on that 38 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,480 a lot. But I don't know, some of the bad batches rubbed me the wrong way. And I thought, why 39 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,040 don't we just get more Clone Wars? Why are we getting this instead? And well, I like 40 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,120 the clones, especially because of episodes like rookies, which I believe that was the 41 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:59,840 very first episode with, with Yoda in it. And you know, some rookie storm troopers are 42 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:04,800 rather clone troopers, which was fabulous. And anyway, not to get off too much on the 43 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:10,120 tangent, I'm trying to keep this short. I have a very selective enjoyment of things 44 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,720 from Star Wars, but the things that I like in it, I like a lot. And I like basically 45 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:22,280 the six main movies, the core movies, the movies and the other ones. I liked solo. Okay. 46 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:30,160 Rogue One was all right. Was there another one? No, there's 11 movies total. The Clone 47 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,240 Wars movie was decent. Not amazing, but decent. I actually took my wife to go see that with 48 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:39,080 me, which is kind of funny. It was that long ago and we were young enough and just married 49 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:42,040 and just about to get married. And she actually went with me to go see that. So that was fun. 50 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,480 And then we ended up watching Clone Wars with most of, yeah, pretty much all Clone Wars with 51 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:53,040 a kid or two along the way. So I'm a huge Clone Wars fan and I don't know. There's a 52 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,680 lot of interesting stuff in Star Wars that I like. I read all of Star Wars legacy, which 53 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:03,600 is with Luke Skywalker's great grandson, I believe, and his interesting journey in that 54 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:09,640 galaxy far, far away. I read like the first, the first three omnibuses of Kotor, Knights 55 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,960 of the Old Republic. I really liked the game. I liked John Jackson Miller a lot, but the 56 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:19,000 art in that at some point got hideous and I didn't want to read it anymore. And yeah, 57 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,720 that was, so that was not something I forced myself to do. Although I might at some point, 58 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,480 because I'd really like to know that whole story and I don't want to read a wiki. I just, 59 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:32,240 I'd rather experience the story for myself. So honestly, being a big Clone Wars fan, well, 60 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,440 sorry, one more thing. I really love John Jackson Miller's Kenobi book. It's an amazing 61 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:41,380 book as well as the New Dawn. And I don't think when I had fully operational running 62 00:05:41,380 --> 00:05:48,040 before that I did a lot of books and I have been listening to the EU books in my spare 63 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:52,720 time and absolutely, well, I've been enjoying them. I haven't been absolutely loving all 64 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,040 of them, but I've been enjoying them all a lot. And I like the interconnected universe 65 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:01,800 that existed in those books and how they force themselves to all have a conversation with 66 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,840 each other and deal with each other. And I think that's a great thing. And I want a interconnected 67 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:10,280 Star Wars universe where the things that happen in one story actually affect the things 68 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,800 in another story and where it all matters. And that's what I thought we were getting 69 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:19,640 when I cheerfully, when I gleefully cheered for the destruction, the shutting down of 70 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:24,600 the EU, because I thought Disney was actually going to take care of Star Wars and I don't 71 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:34,440 think they really have. I don't think they really have. Anyway, so what's my point? Oh, 72 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,360 Ahsoka's coming up. I really like Clone Wars. I really, Rebels was okay. Clone Wars is a 73 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,840 far superior show. Rebels is okay. It has some decent things in it, but it's not as 74 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:46,120 strong as Clone Wars for several reasons. One, I can't believe they didn't just give 75 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,200 it the budget, which I think it should have had, but that's neither here nor there. The 76 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,520 story was still pretty strong, pretty interesting overall. I just don't like some of the things 77 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,960 that happen in it based on the fact that it's new canon and they're going forward and making 78 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:04,440 shifts and changes that I don't really agree with 100%. So that's a little unfortunate. 79 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,160 And Rebels is marred a little bit by some weird things and it being, I think, pushed 80 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,840 at a younger audience as opposed to trying to grow up with the audience that was with 81 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:17,200 it because it was, what, four seasons and it didn't really feel like it grew up gradually, 82 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,280 whereas Clone Wars did, especially with Ahsoka. I think season three is when they have the 83 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,320 big shift. She gets her model changed. It's a couple of years into the Clone Wars. She 84 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:29,880 gets the newer model. Anakin gets the newer model. Everybody gets newer models, I think, 85 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,480 in that season and it's really good. That one has the Mortis arc, which is crazy and 86 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:40,400 fabulous and wonderful and weird and there's a lot of good stuff in there. But I'm definitely 87 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:45,680 a fan of Ahsoka's character arc and her story and I like everything that has gone into it 88 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,880 pretty much. The E.K. Johnston book was okay. I liked it overall, but there was just some 89 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:55,040 weird stuff in it. And I'm interested to see, you know, I loved seeing Rosario D'Aston playing 90 00:07:55,040 --> 00:08:01,120 her portraying Ahsoka, bringing the character to life to the, you know, the small screen, 91 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:08,120 to the TV show screen in, what was she in? She was in Mando and show up in Bookable, 92 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:12,120 I don't remember. I kind of think yes, but I don't actually remember that. Anyway, but 93 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,080 I'm definitely interested in seeing her, you know, show up in Ahsoka, which is also, you 94 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:22,000 know, the next season of Rebels, it seems. And I want to talk about that show as it's 95 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,920 coming out, even though I skipped out on Mando season three. I'll get back to that at some 96 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:33,960 other point. But for now, I'm going to softly relaunch myself back into that universe and 97 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:42,000 I'm going to watch and talk about shortly the first six Star Wars movies. And then I 98 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:48,240 will, I'll get all those episodes released in time to catch up with Ahsoka and, or not 99 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:53,200 to catch up, but to follow along with Ahsoka as it's going episode by episode. And I'm 100 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,480 honestly looking forward to that. Why am I not catching up on Rebels and Clone Wars and 101 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,960 all that stuff? Cause it's been a long time since I've actually sat down and just enjoyed 102 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:07,120 one of the, you know, Star Wars or, you know, Skywalker saga movies. And I'd like to do 103 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:14,320 that again, cause I love Luke, I love Anakin. They're my main focus and they're my favorite 104 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,400 characters in Star Wars. And like I said, I'd like to spend a little more time with 105 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,120 them. So I'm going to do that in the run up to Ahsoka because it takes place in the context 106 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:27,000 of, you know, the war against the empire has been won by the rebellion. And now we're in 107 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,360 the aftermath, you know, sort of in the Mando time period, but also sort of not in the Mando 108 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:38,120 time period. So, uh, yeah, that's what I'm thinking to do. That's what my plan is to 109 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:43,080 do. And I will get those episodes made and then start releasing them. At some point, 110 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,880 you'll be able to find links to them everywhere on mgwunios.com. You'll be able to find links 111 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:54,440 to them on mgwunios.com and I will make the podcast feed official like I have with all 112 00:09:54,440 --> 00:10:01,320 the other podcasts that I have going over on my website as well. And yeah, I think that's 113 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,760 pretty much all I have to say for this introductory episode. Hopefully I gave you a good feel 114 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:13,280 of who I am and what kind of my taste is in Star Wars and what I think about it. And if 115 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:22,560 you want to follow along with me in, you know, the Ahsoka discussion, but also get my perspective 116 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:28,000 on that might be actually a good idea. Get my perspective on the main movies to see how 117 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,200 that all gels together and works together. And I invite you to check out the following 118 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,720 episodes, which should be coming out pretty quickly after this one. So anyway, until next 119 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:39,520 time folks, take care. This is MJ signing out. Oh, also you can expect the episodes 120 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,800 to be like less than 30 more than 10 minutes and less than 30 minutes. That's, that's the 121 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:52,160 plan because I'm doing a lot writing and other podcasts and living a life. So I hope you 122 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:58,600 enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other feedback 123 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:05,200 you might have there. You can find all of my analysis, art and fiction. I cover books, 124 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:11,640 anime, and more. Look around. You're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as 125 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:39,000 well. This has been a story over everything production.