Featuring Matt Anderson and Ben De Bono
Our huge Star Wars hodgepodge episode is here!
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Episode 407: Star Wars: X-Winging It
November 4, 2015- Categories: Main Topic,
- Podcast
April 17, 2024
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Still in the middle of the episode, but had to say I’m surprised John Williams’s score didn’t make either of your top 5 good things from the prequels. Battle of the Heroes is great, and I think Duel of the Fates is as good anything from the originals.
Matt, you’re not alone – My 14-year-old son still maintains that Episode II is not only the best of the prequels, but his favorite of all the Star Wars movies. I would probably agree (grudgingly) that Ep II is the best of the prequels, since Anakin’s “arc” in Ep III barely makes sense and mostly depends upon us being told things about him rather than seeing them for ourselves; but that insufferable, terribly written and badly acted love story really wrecks it – as you say, Matt, ZERO chemistry! – so I can’t wholeheartedly endorse any of those three films.
It’s not just the younger crowd that likes the podracing, though – that’s my favorite sequence in Episode I. It *is* cool.
Ok, Ben, you are wrong about the “Where is Padme?” moment. I agree with you about the rest of the scene, but hearing James Earl Jones speak Padme’s name *did* bridge the two trilogies for me, and I thought it was a chilling moment. Again, I’m not saying the rest of the scene was good; but that particular moment worked for me.
If you want to see Anakin as a good guy, you’ve got to watch “The Clone Wars.” Stick with it past the first season – it really ratchets up the drama after that, and gets into some meaty (and sometimes darker, but usually fun) storytelling. Likewise, you should be watching “Rebels.” Don’t write off the cartoon Star Wars – lots of good stuff in there.
Funniest moment this episode? Not even Star Wars-related – Ben’s analysis of Lorraine McFly’s “tough cross to bear.” How true, how true! (Unless the first altered, for the better 1985 timeline maybe somehow corrected Lorraine’s memories of “Calvin Klein”… did she think she knew the fashion designer when he was a teen?!)
Ben, if blue was supposed to be the lower order of Jedi lightsaber color, why would Ben have a blue lightsaber? Had he not achieved Master rank? He was on the Council, wasn’t he?
(Matthew’s ranting about a teenaged pirate squirrel is pretty good, too… what a series that would make!)
Thanks, guys!