Special Report: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)

Weary. Wait being gangsters, war lords, monstrous, They're coming for us. Are you scared? You should be. Right now.

The Mandalorian and Grogu. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Culture Cast and the Projection Booth. Another crossover. It's a new movie crossover. That's the only time Mike and I ever talked outside of Mike White.

May I am one of your hosts. Christashue of the Culture Cast. Check out these abs, Chris. I've been working out for eons, me and my big slug body. And in the role of Rota the Hut.

Mike White of the Projection. Both glad to be here. Chris. Thank you for agreeing to do this so I can actually talk about the Mandalorian Grogu with someone who's not a nerd. I was about to say, I think yeah, No, I was to say, what are you thanking me for?

This was your idea. I was not gonna watch this movie. I had checked out of The Mandalorian and Grogu. Frankly, I had checked out of Star Wars about the same time Mandalorian in the Mandalorian the TV show came in, So this would have been like one of the few Star Wars things that would still get me to the theaters as it were to watch it. But on this episode of the Projection Booth Slash the Culture cast we are going to be talking about.

Twenty twenty six is John Favreau directed feature length film question Mark, The Mandalorian and grogu. So the film is written and well, it's written by Jon Favreau, Dave Filonian, Noah Klore and it's directed by John Favreau as well. Stars Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian. Well Latif Crowder probably more importantly as the Mandalorian. Pedro Pascal does the voice.

Jeremy Allen White's also in the film as a giant slug. We also have Brendan Wayn and like I mentioned, Latif Crowder playing the Mandalorian in the suit anyways, Johnny quaint Any. Pleased during the stunts. There's also Brendan Wayne who also is in the suit. That's true.

And then we have Martin Scorsese, who you know they I don't know what they did to get him in this, and Sigourney Weaver's there. Because everything comes to full circle of the world of sci fi, doesn't it. Mike. I'm so curious because you wanted to talk about this film, and I'm never going to say no to an opportunity to talk about films with you. Why why the Mandalorian and Grogu?

Why why did we spend our hardened Republic credits to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu? Well, because I think The Mandalorian is probably one of the least offensive of the Star Wars properties that they've had over the last five six years. I'm trying to remember when it first came out. Was that twenty nineteen, right. It was a little pre pandemic, Yeah.

Okay, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very well done, at least the first two seasons. I really enjoyed third season definitely the Law of Diminishing Returns. And also there was a couple episodes hidden within Book of Boba Fet. Those were the best episodes of the Book of Boba Fet.

I like this idea of this kind of western in space, which the original Star Wars seemed to really play with. I mean, westerns and Samurai film are very similar. I mean, look at fistful of Dollars in Yo Jimbo. But really that whole idea of the stranger coming to town kind of thing is just yeah, it's a trope, but it really plays out well in both of those genres, and this kind of sci fi version of that that was very well done. I mean, the whole idea of the Mandalorian and his ward Grogu.

It's Lone Wolf and Cub. So I love Lone Wolf and Cub and all of the adventures that Ogami Eto and Daggo get into. This was somewhat similar. And yeah, I just enjoyed the TV show and then yeah, I figured why not. And plus I was definitely going to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu because I would watch The Mandalorian sometimes with my oldest granddaughter.

She was very into Grogu, and so when the movie was coming out, I said, let's go see it. So it was the first Star Wars movie that I got to take her to the theater and see, because I don't think she saw any of the sequels, prequels, Rogue One Solo, any of that stuff, so this was her first exposure. Thought it was a nice, non offensive way to get into Star Wars. But I'm curious, Chris, what did you think of the Mandalorian then grow good? So I watched the first and second season The Mandalorian I checked out when it was like and now Luke Skywalker's here.

I was like, oh, man, like that was rough. I'm good. And that was the end of the second season, so I was just like, I'm good. I don't think I need to continue on with this story anymore of this is where we're headed. And then never watched Book a Boba fet kind of again, have not watched a lot of the animated stuff either, where I know one of the characters in this film comes from Several of the characters in this film come from from the animated source material.

I guess Clone Wars and Rebels, I'm assuming, and I got me there. Cards on the table. I never watched any of those either. I've done like base amount of Wookie PDIA research, you know. Yeah, for me, a lot of these characters are coming out of the Ralph mcquarie drawings.

So there's the I guess he's blue and looks like a werewolf. And I know that was the original draft of Chewbacca all those years ago, right, I know he was probably in one of those. He's the one from rep He's the one from Rebels. Okay, yes, zeb Is from Rebels. Yeah, right, and then I think he showed up in one episode of The Mandalorian and don't ask me which season, because I don't remember.

I think you're right as well, which I mean again like it's fun to tie those things in, because for me, Mandalorian and Grogu, I think is the perfect film that you talked about just now, A perfect film for an adult my age or your age to take a child fifteen or younger. I think it's a perfect film for that. Beyond beyond that, I think there's a lot of questions that we have about the reason to make Star Wars movies anymore. There's an interesting discussion to be had there that I'm sure we'll talk about that has more or less not very little to do with the film, but it's part of this discussion I think about Star Wars in general, and it always comes up whenever we talk about Star Wars because we don't talk about Star Wars that much.

I'm not that big of a fan of Star Wars anymore. I was when I was a kid. I loved Star Wars. I was there with everybody else my age seeing those remastered films. I went completely ape shit for Phantom Menace.

I am one of those people that will actually go out on a limb and say that I think the prequels are slightly better than those sequel film because again, I at least they were made by George Lucas for good and for bad, and they weren't made by a committee of people who don't know just those other days. Again, we go back to the George. George Lucas never would have had Palpatine come back to life, and especially not in Fortnite of it All. So I've kind of fallen out with Star Wars. But for me, I think the thing that I will say about this movie specifically, it's perfectly fine as an episode of the Mandalorian and Grogu the show.

Like it's just a it's like a feature length episode. They literally do nothing to make it anything less than that. And you know what, if you go looking for a film about the Mandalorian and Grogu and their continued adventures, this more or less checks all the boxes. So I'm not upset. I'm just I don't know if this needed to be a movie.

That's more my takeaway. I enjoyed it, I just don't know how much I needed this to be a movie, because it does just feel like I'm not saying you could have put it on Disney Plus much. You could have put it on Disney Plus. Like, I don't know. I enjoyed it though.

It's fine. It's perfectly serviceable as a Star Wars movie, and frankly, in a lot of ways, it's better than some of the other Star Wars movies that aren't Skywalker movies that we've gotten. Namely, I would say that this is better than Solo. I would say that this has more charm than Rogue One. Oh, it doesn't take much to have more charm than Rogue one, just not at least there's no reanimated corpses in this one, so.

Far as or Luke Skywalker cameos. Of these, I'm CGI cameos. There are no CGI cameos. Yeah. Yeah, that Princess Leah one in Rogue One is rough.

Grandma f Tarken is really rough. I know some people hold that up as this amazing thing, and I'm like, no, no, it looks awful. It looks like someone walked out of a video game and is there with all of these live action actors. It was really rough. Yeah, this is so I remember going to see the I think it was like the maybe it was like the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, maybe Star Trek films, like not First Contact, but like all of the other ones, especially something like Insurrection, and it's like the f Marie Abraham Well, and I'm just like, okay, well this was it wasn't good, but it was.

It was decent, and I was like, this is basically a couple episodes of the show. It actually wasn't it. I think it was Insurrection was not that Insurrection, I'm sorry, the one where they're watching people from Afar. That insurrection yeah. Yeah, yeah, with that f free Abraham with the stretched back face and they're like hiding behind like the camouflage like towers and stuff.

Yeah, has three different things going out because remember then they have like the thing out in space that they fight on as well, because yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but a mess, I mean everything other than First Contact for me, all of those ones, you. Don't like the one with young with the young young, young young young Tom Hardy pretending to be Patrick Stewart. Well, I thought that was the one with f.

That's that's Nemesis, that's the one that starts with like, it seems like it's just another day at Starfleet, and then by the end of it spoilers, data is dead. Wow, geez, all those films. But you know what they say, Mike, We've got nothing but time, and we could just rewatch all those Star Trek movies because man, okay, no, what's the Avengers? Though, Well, you look at. Something like that, and then you look at something like, for me, Serenity the Firefly movie, and I'm not a big fan.

Yes I'm not a big fan of Firefly the show, but I really like Serenity the movie, and that takes the material and kind of elevates it. It also feels like a really good way to end a lot of the storylines. That also leaves room for more if they ever come back, or if Nathan Fillion just wants to tease us about other shit that isn't that It's like, Okay, yeah, this was really good. Mandalorian and Grogu for me, fits more into the Star Trek of it than the Serenity of it, and just saying like, yeah, this is good. This is a couple episodes worth of the Mandalorian and Grogu.

Maybe this is your season finale. Maybe it's the way that you start off the season two episodes, two bangers, just coming out here, bing bang, let's do it. Okay, great, But I really feel like they just took an entire arc of a series, of a season and cut it down to two hours, two hours and thirteen minutes or whatever and said, Okay, here you go, and it kind of works for me. You know. It's like, yeah, it's like, okay, well, you know, here's this assignment.

Okay, you succeeded well, but you blew up all this stuff. Here's this other assignment, and you're gonna go out, You're gonna, you know, pick up this guy. Oh, things got a little complicated. I mean, it's it's very you know, I mentioned fist full of dollars. It's very spaghetti Western insofar as this bounty hunter going out and getting bouties and seeing what the right thing is to do.

He could have let rot a rot all these kind of things, but it worked. So introduced a lot of characters that I'm not familiar with, brought back characters that apparently other people are familiar with, brought back characters that I'm familiar with from the TV show I was very surprised at certain people like an Amy s Darris wasn't there. I know, Carl Weathers isn't coming back unless they do a horrible post life resurrection of Carl Weathers for his character. I was actually kind of surprised that Ted Baane wasn't back. He might have died in the show.

I don't remember. But there was one guy who, I mean, he's probably a huge character to Star Wars fans, but the guy who had the big disc hat very the three brothers from Lone Wolf and Cub two. Like, I'm like, okay, is he cad Bane. No, he's not cad Bane, but I'm sure he's somebody, just someone. Someone loves him, someone cared for him, took care of him, wiped his nose when he was sick.

And now he's the bad guy in this episode and does a pretty good job, better than the two Huts who are just kind of there to menace and be nasty. I do believe cad Bane was killed in the Book of Boba. Okay, yeah, you could. You could tell me anything about the Book of Bulb of Fat and as long as you said. And then he goes back to the back to tank, I would believe you.

I still haven't seen it. I just I remember that was one of the things that happened in the show that didn't help because people seem to like that character. I think, yeah, and again I don't know where he's from, like he showed up or people are just like yeah, they're like people are losing their mind, and I'm like, yeah, okay, pretty good. Appreciate design. To be fair, I just assume if you don't know what it's from, it's from the cartoon, essentially, because none of the video game stuff has ever really made it screen.

Yeah. I was gonna say, like, nothing is really every Yeah, yeah, not really. Now, dash Rendar was ever in anything, and he was the one that was in Shadows of the Empire. Yeah, no, she's or no, none of those characters, like Thron is a book character more than he is anything else. I guess, you know, and you know, you put an athlete like it is a episode of the show, or a season of the show, or maybe like a half season arc of the show boiled.

Down into a movie. Okay, if that's the way we're gonna do it from now on, all right, I guess, I guess. I don't know what what is more unnecessary than any more TV or any more movie. I don't know if they that's the question. Yeah, it feels like the movies are kind of superfluous at this point.

I mean because the TV show with the and I will say the third season, I was just not a fan of the whole thing, the whole and I forget her name, Boctan, maybe the Katie Sackoff character. I didn't give a shit about any of the things that she was doing and the other people that were in her group. I didn't give a shit about Lizzo's character or Jack Black, Like none of those stories really compelled me. What I forgot about that Mike Oh yeah, oh yeah. Just it wasn't gripping me at all.

And it really felt like it kind of became the Boca Tan Show. And I'm like, no, I signed up for Mandalorin and Grogu. I didn't sign up for Boc Tan. It was kind of like when they sprung Luke Skywalker on us for the end of one of the seasons. I was like, I don't need Skywalker in this.

I just want the Mandalorian and Grogu and their adventures. Maybe occasionally we can go off and meet some other people, and yeah, Bok Tank can show up and do her thing and whatever. But I don't need a whole fucking season of that, Like, I'm just done with that. I just want these two characters and their adventures, please. And I guess for me, that's the thing about the movie that it succeeds at the most is that it's a Mandalorian in Grogu Store, yes, more or less all the way through.

Like, I didn't watch the third season of The Mandalorian, so maybe you can fill me in on this how much agency Grogu now has as a character, Like, Grogu has a fair amount of agency as a character. He's not just a little baby anymore. He's running around doing things. You know, he saves Rod of the Hut at the end of the movie. You know, this is a This is a character with a lot more agency than the last time I saw him, I think, correct me if I'm wrong.

The end of the first season him kind of having that agency a little bit more where he stops the laser bolts with Carl Weathers, right, Like, you know, that's I enjoyed that this movie is as advertised. Maybe a little too much, maybe a little too cutesy and for kids, but at the same time, like Mandalorian and Grogu. Is for kids. It's the it is I think the ultimate bridge to Star Wars. It is like the Settlers of Katan of movies for Star Wars.

Like, this is what you would show your kids if you had kids, or if I had kids. You have grandkids, so there you go, Like it's a part like you wouldn't show them the prequels anymore. You would show them this. You would show them because Grogu is just they wouldn't care what the Mandalorian is doing as long as Grogu is in every scene or every other scene, because duh, it's Grogu and he's adorable. And that's the thing.

It's like they they're still getting a lot of mileage out of Grogu, even with someone who's as cynical as I am. And we joked about it, you know when this when Grogu first came a thing, like I love Grogu just as much as anybody. I'm like, kind of again, like anything else, it's like almost like Mindians. Now, it's like Grogu was minionized in a way, and so I've kind of fallen off on Grogu, but I found myself reacting the way they wanted me to during the movie when Grogu was doing things, so like even someone who's the Cynicals meet can come back around on Grogu, like I see the value. I see what they're doing.

It's obvious, it's very obvious. And it's work. I don't know if this movie's been imminently as financially successful for them as they would like. But also looking at the budget of this movie, I'm surprised it costs that much because the CGI in this movie is not good. It's Disney movie.

My god, Yeah, what did you not like about the CGI? I was not a fan of the way that the huts look okay, which I think is fair right, oh yeah. Yeah, well they're not using puppets anymore. Really seemed to take me to when George was throwing Jaba into Star Wars a new hope and just again completely unnecessary, especially since all of their dialogue is basically repeeded in another scene, and that kind of reminded me of this film. There are two early scenes with Rod of the Hut and like we have Mando come in and Grogu's there and he's talking with Ratta and Rather's just like, you know what, I'm good.

I you know, I'm always under the shadow of my father and and this is really giving me agency and you know, I'm really happy here, and you know what, I'm gonna win my next fight and then I'm gonna be a free man. And then maybe like three four scenes later, they come back and they're talking with Rada and he says, you know what, I have always lived under the shadow of my father, and this is kind of letting me be my own man, and I'm gonna win that fight tomorrow and I'm going to be free. And I'm like, hello, did you guys forget like did you do a copy of paste? And absolutely forget that you did that. There was just it was so similar.

I was like, Oh, we did not need two scenes of this, We just needed one. We needed that, or we needed two scenes that we needed scenes. Yes, we needed scenes to be a little different. So give me something more about Rod of the Hut. There really wasn't that much of his characterization, but the fight that they have I absolutely love that, especially when Rada comes in and Mando gets kind of tricked into being in this fight, and he just screams he's super happy, and he goes, I know him from work.

Right, Yeah? Boy? They really just cop from their own stuff. Huh. What I actually did like about that ladatorial scene and was when they pulled back and I saw the markings on the floor and the shape of the area that they're in, and then when the other creatures got brought in, I was just like, motherfucker, this is the chess game from the Millennium Falcon.

Like two or three of those creatures are all from if not all of them, because you're all. From the game. Okay, that's crazy, because like you know, I mostly remember, of course, the guy who picks up the little guy with no head but his face is down between his shoulders and he throws him down and does that kind of thing. And I was just so happy, and I was just like, oh, this is so great. Here's me as a five year old seeing Star Wars for the first time, and I'm so happy about these creatures are now brought to life.

You know. But it was okay, And I did like that they all eventually escaped and went out and caused havoc. I was like, okay, good. I like when you know, people that are running gladiatorial games get hoisted on their own petart well. And I like, I mean, obviously, I like that they're paying homage to the original series, you know, the original film, And I guess, you know, again we come back to the idea of how much fan service do you need to do in a film like this, and I think that that's probably the right level of fan service for me as a fan, Like I don't need you to beat me over the head with him, No, really, I really don't.

I think that for me is like when you've hit kind of like that perfect note of what fan service can be, what fan service needs to be, and what fan service should be. And I just don't think it needs to get in the way. I don't think they need to draw attention to it. But if you're a fan of the series, or if you understand the franchise and have seen the franchise before, it will I don't know, I guess it'll increase your enjoyment by maybe one percent, you know what I mean. It's not anything like of substantial value, but to your point, it's like, you know, if you've been a fan of this franchise for a long time, then you are going to appreciate some of the things that the film does, including you know that that fight scene.

For sure, I do like that we get to see like where Java's from. Never got to see that before in any capacity as a fan of the shows, I'm sure they've gone there before, given that Rot of the Hut is like a character that's shown up and the animated series effectively went everywhere. But as someone who's only ever watched the movies, I'm glad that that's now somewhere that we've gotten to see in the movies as well. Like that's I don't know, I like when they start expanding the universe because, like you said, i'd I don't want any more Skywalker stuff. I really don't care.

We talk about the Lord of the Rings TV show on another podcast, and this series Star Wars has the problem that that Lord of the Rings TV show does not, which is they can't get out of like one hundred years. There's like one hundred years that they're like stuck in as if there's not all this time before and after all of this. It's just they don't want to get away from the things that they perceive to make the money, which is the Skywalkers, I guess question mark. Yeah no, and a'll ties back to you know, either Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker, so a version of a Skywalker. I mean even when it came to though, I will say maybe the only thing I liked about that, Oh gosh, I'm gonna scrip for a Noora was that her name, the Brosario Dawson character.

She had a real Shoka Tana. Ashoka, thank you, And I'm like, okay, yeah, Nora was the movie that won the Oscar right, yeah, okay, yeah yeah. But it's like when Annika Skywalker showed up in that show, I was like, well, this is actually kind of enjoyable and it's nice to see Hayden Christensen come back. But that was about it, because that whole show was just so fucking boring. And did you didn't part taking that one?

Did you? No? I legitimately have not watched any Star Wars TV shows other than Mandalorian season one and two. I have not watched and or, much to the chagrin of some people I know who keep telling me to watch it and Ahsoka and stuff like that, Like I didn't watch the Clone Wars, so it's just not something. I didn't watch the Obi Wan Kenobi show either, which was something that seemed like it would be right up my alley, and then I heard it was just okay, and it was like, I don't need to watch just okay.

Honestly, as the kids would say, it was mid. It was very mid. Yeah it was us adults still say just okay. That still means the same thing, right, Yeah. Ahsoka was really bad.

I mean the whole series is we need to get to the other side of this galaxy where Thron is. And then they get to the other side of the galaxy and then they go, h we need to. Get back your Thron is in another castle. Yeah, well Thron was there, but yeah, it was bad. And then you know, I'm never going to watch the second season of it.

And then Obi Wan. Came over the second season of it. No, I imagine they're going to do a second season because it was a cliffhanger basically is how it ends. Because after they take the space Whales to the other side of the galaxy and no, you did not hear me incorrectly, the space Whales take them there. After that, yeah, they kind of end on the cliffhanger, and yeah, it was man and then Ben Kenobi.

I have no fucking idea. I don't even remember what happened on that show. I remember a lot of Sith that were trying to track him down, including one guy who looked a lot like that, the guy who they called a dildo. I think it was in Mortal Kombat too. I think the character designs on those the guy with the white face and the big black eyebrows.

Yeah, like that basically was the character design of one of these Sith boards. Oh so hard to take him seriously. Oh the Grand Inquisitor, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, played by the guy who played the hit Man in one of those in the second hit Man movie. Uh, the one that's not Timothy ola font. So there's been the Mandalorian, the Book of Boba, fett Obi Wan Kenobi, and or Ahsoka.

There are two more. Do you remember those two? Did you watch those two? Because those are the last two years. So I didn't watch the one with the guy from Squid Games Sins of the Empire, that's not what it's.

Called Skeleton Crew, Oh skeleton crew? Or no? Are you talking about the Acolyte. I was talking about the Acolyte. That's the one guy.

Has Darth Reeven or whatever. It has, one of the people that they talked about a million times in all the prequel stuff, and he shows up for like two seconds in one. Of the episodes. Sure, sure, right, exactly. So yeah, I didn't watch that, and I didn't watch Skeleton Crew.

But even though I thought that I might want to watch Skeleton Crew. But again, it's you know, another Star Wars for babies, which is absolutely fine. I mean Star Wars. I won't say it's always been for babies, but like you know, after the third movie, when they started doing all of the Ewok movies, it's just like, okay, yeah, they know their audience, they know that little kids are going to enjoy this, so yeah, let's just give them, give them more of that stuff. Is Skeleton Crew for kids?

That's what I've heard? Or are you just asking chat GPT? No, I was asking you. I'm asking AI Mike White. I don't know, is it well, I don't know.

I had not to my sources. Yeah, I had not heard that it was for kid but I guess I'm not surprised because this movie is for children, right, It really. Is though it scared my granddaughter a little bit. Uh sandworm thing or the water worm that a little bit, which again I think as a Drew Strew not true struson Ralph McQuary thing, Yeah, I believe so I've seen it before. Another in yes images, yeah, on him, which is.

Weird, Yeah, because it feels like it feels a little I don't know, like disconcerting. I guess sometimes when you see these images and you're just like, where have I seen this before? Like this is so familiar to me, and then it's like, Okay, it's got to be one of those McQuary drawings. Like in one of the seasons of The Mandalorian might have been season two, there's a giant ice spider and I was like, oh, I've seen this before, and then I had to go back and see that it was the McQuary drawing. But the a mana or Amani I guess they're called, which again goes back to my childhood because a man of Man was a figure you could buy.

I never bought a Man of Man. He kind of reminds me of the David Patrick Kelly character when he turns into a snake in Dreamscape. They're the ones that look like the yeah, like a lizard, but their faces there. And they're the ones that were hanging out in the water where that big white snake was the white snake, you know, the ones that gave us all the hit songs like those things creepy. Yeah, I think those scared my granddaughter.

And the pack of like Java's Throne Room is, Yeah. They hang out in the Throne room. Yeah, there's like one of them hanging out there. Yeah, and they were selling every single person that was on that skiff and in the Throne room, like there were figures for all of them. And after a while, I was just like, where the hell is this kid?

Where's Yakface? I don't know this character, you know. I mean Yakface one of the greats really. Oh of course, of course, yeah, we all remember Yakface. I mean I remember Yakface.

I know exactly what yak Face looks like. And it has a face like a yak. Like a yak. Yeah. It is nice that they do have some of those throwback things to original Star Wars or other Star Wars properties, because and I know, you know, if you know anything about Dave Filoni, which I'm sure you Mike know at least some about Dave Filoni.

A lot of that comes from him, Like he's just the Star Wars guy, Like he's the one who's you know, I don't know, he's like George Lucas at this point, Like I don't know, he probably knows the Star Wars universe better than anybody else, and having him involved, I think, I don't know, how do you feel about that? Because I have my own thoughts, and I think i'm our thoughts may be similar, But what do you think about someone like that being directly involved in like Star Wars project. I mean, the guy's living his best life, right, you know, to get in here. The the cameo slash potentially two cameos that he. Makes in this movie, or it's two, Yeah, it's two.

It's distracting if you know what he looks like. All of a sudden, there's just a guy with a cowboy to do with. The cowboy hat. Hay out first cowboy hat. Yeah, he's the space cowboy.

So some people call him Maurice, but I call him Dave Filoni. And yeah, I've never actually heard the guy speak or anything. I just know so many of the fucking nerds, because obviously, over the years the fan base for Star Wars has just become a bunch of fucking chuds man and just all of the Folony worship and then also Catherine Kennedy hatred. I'm like, Okay, is it because he's a dude and she's a lady? Like, is that why you're so pissy about this stuff?

Is this really who all her fault? So yeah, so for me, just seeing the hero worship of Felony has been a little much. So I don't know, he could be a very nice guy. I like what he's doing with pulling some of those things from the older drawings and you know, kind of combining a lot of the storylines because apparently that's gonna make some people happy. And I also appreciate that I don't have to necessarily know everything about these stories, like they actually gave me a little bit of Well, here's Rod of the Hut when he was just a little kid, and it's like, Okay, I'm pretty sure I recognize that just from absorbing things from pop culture.

We talk about Rad of the Hut for a second, Yes, sure, what a choice. Huh, Yeah, yeah, I've never seen a buff hut. Before Ladies and Gentlemen now coming to the ring Buff Hut. It's a choice. I I'm Jeremy Allen White.

Huh yeah, And again I know you watch The Bear. I am a very huge fan. I'm you know, I'm more of a cub than a bear. I really don't know that much about Jeremy Allen White. He's just a really good actor.

It's a weird choice for him to be in this movie. It's just I thought it was a joke when they were like, he's gonna play a buff son of job of the Hut. I was like, what now? Is in real life? He's actually very buff?

Right? Oh? He's a very good looking gentleman. Yeah. Yeah, well Jeremy so for that nos, other than the fact that he kind of looks like Bruce Springsteen, I mean he doesn't.

But you know, I've heard he plays him in movies and tell. Vide That's what I've heard as well. But I kind of forgot that movie even existed, kind of like the Timothy Shallow may Bob Dylan film. Amen, do you forget? Wouldn't it be?

Would it have been better if it had been? Timothy Shallomey is a buff son of Daba the Hut. I mean Timothy Shallamy can do anything. Including go fuck himself. More most important, I.

Think Jeremy Allen White. It's an interesting choice because the Rod of a Hut character is such a bizarre choice because you already have a CGI mequette creature for Pedro Pascalen his various stunt men to act opposite, and now you have a lot of the movie spent acting opposite a giant buff slug. It's just it's a lot of doubling down in the CGI. I think that the Hut CGI is the least interesting looking of the movie, and it almost it looks cartoony, and I the Zeb character looks cartoony as well, so I can't tell if it's like intentional, it almost seems like it is, and if it is, okay, like I ain't got no problem. But then you have a character like the Fisherman played by Stephen McKinley Henderson or voiced by him, who's more realistic looking.

So it's weird that there's like stylized choices being made, But then you have realistic looking things as well, because Zeb and Rod of the Hutt almost look like they are from that cartoon like from Rebels or Clone Wars, like they're still stylized in that way. And it's weird because Jaba never looked that way. Jaba looked that way, I guess that one time in Return or in New Hope, and then he kind of looked like that in Phantom Menace kind of the one shot of him you see, I don't starts. Yeah, it's just strange. I mean, Jeremy Allen White's a strange choice, not a bad one.

He's a great actor. It's could have had anybody doing that role really well. I actually liked that character. And you know, like even though he had to say what his motivation was a few times, I was like, Okay, yeah, I'm down with this guy. Seems to have a good reason for doing what he's doing.

And you know, after he gets you know, captured by his aunt and uncle, I was like, okay, yeah, no, you have to save him. And I was glad, Like I almost wish that there had been a little bit of him trying to leave him being the Mandalorian, like, oh, we got to get out of here. But there was there was no doubt ever that he was going to go back and save him. Right yeah, the Mandalorian. Can we can we also say maybe the thing for me that the Mandalorian I think just at this point as a character, he's lost any sense of subtlety or complexity as a character.

He's Grogu's dad. Yeah, and they even call him that a few times. That's it, right, Like I remember when the show started, it's like, oh, it is like this Clint Eastwood man with no name character, and now it is just like he's just Grogu's dad, and he can't do any wrong and he'll protect Grogu all the way until the end whenever that is, if there ever is an end for any of this. Like I don't know, right, but it's very like the character is very much like second, this should call this movie Grogu and the Mandalorian because it is ultimately like become clearly Grogu's show and Grogu's kind of whole thing, and Mandalorian is just kind of there. Yeah.

And I was very surprised that there wasn't more advancement of the Grogu character, just because it's like we've seen him start to learn how to use the force and he you know, he's what fifty years old, now, and I know Yoda was at least eight hundred years old, so it's like, okay, well, when do these guys learn how to talk? Like when does that race learn, you know, to not just make the cooing noises and stuff, Which is fine, I mean, this is fucking adorable, But at the same time, it's like, maybe he could use his powers a little bit more or actually start to say a word or something like. I don't know, maybe I'm asking for too much. I don't think so. I like I said, I'm kind of surprised that the character isn't further along.

It further along than where I saw the character at the end of the second season, but not much further along in terms of being a character that has a lot of agency and is able to communicate more. And that's why I think like again goes back to the cute seness of this whole thing, right, like the whole like you said, taking your you know, kids in your life to this film like it's for kids. I don't know if you would have taken to the last Star Wars film if it had been coming out today, but this, for sure it has that entry point of Grogu. Grogu if Grogu grown up is not something anybody cares about. I genuinely don't think that that's a thing anybody has any interest in, just like they don't have any interest in seeing The Mandalorian without.

Grogu at this point. Clearly so, because I'm not sure the Mandalorian is much of a character without Grogu anymore. And that's unfortunate because there again, early on in the show it felt like a Western, there was some shades of gray to his character. And now he's just a good guy working for the good guy. Even Sigourney Weaver's like, yeah, well, are you really just a bounty hunter?

Are you really just an independent contractor? It's like, no, he's one of the good guys now. Sigourney Weaver is also in this movie. Yeah, yeah, and I was glad to see her, glad to see her show up. I mean it kind of plays with the same thing that they've been doing for well since the beginning.

I mean, the person that wanted the baby was Vernda Herzog. So it's like having these cameos from like Hertzog or John Carlo Esposito or yeah, Sigourney Weaver, It's like, Okay, yeah, this kind of works, and it was nice seeing her. I love Ornie Weaver, so having her in this movie was great. I don't know if I bought her actually leading the rescue mission. I was glad to see Oh God, I'm not going to know his character's name, but the guy from was it Fresh off the Boat, the grandpa, the balding, older Korean gentleman, because he showed up in the show a couple of times.

I liked him a lot in the show, and so I was really glad to see him back in this. And then yeah, a bunch of other people that I didn't know, but they probably all have their entries on Wikipedia. They probably all at some point somehow met a Skywalker. Because that's the thing about the extended Universe I can't stand, is how, no matter what, all of them meet the main characters from the Star Wars series. So like, even, like I remember den Gar, one of the guys that gets hired to hunt down Han Solo right in Empire Strikes.

It's like I read his Wikipedia entry and it's like, oh yeah, and then he had beef with Han Solo from all these years ago, and I'm like, why, why couldn't you just be a fucking bounty hunter, Like, does everybody have to know everybody? This is like the smallest time, Yes. Yeah, the smallest universe for sorry Galaxy You're ever going to meet is this one. And they just keep making it smaller because everybody has to track to somebody else. It's like fucking deuteronomy sometimes.

And I don't understand why. I guess I don't understand what the point is because again, like you have this huge sandbox and you don't want to play in it, you just want to just yeah, fucking just sit in this one corner like that's it. And then this guy knows this guy because this guy did this thing over here, and it's like, oh, this is if it was Kevin Bacon starring in The Mandalorian, then I could understand it. And of course I knew at some point they're going to have to take Pedro Pascal's mask off. I kind of wish they didn't.

I kind of wish they did, like the Carl Urban Judge Dread where we just never see his face that I would have been absolutely fine with that. If The Mandalorian had never taken off his mask was. That The whole thing with banning a Mandalorian as you're not supposed to take your mask off? Well yeah, and then they shame him and he's like, well, now I'm gonna have to kill you. And I'm like, okay, good, And I was glad there weren't a lot of other people in that room, because I was like, oh, and I was gonna have to kill that guy.

And that guy and that the. Pacha delivery man walks in. You gotta shoot him too. Did somebody order a twelve inch sausage? Hey?

Yo, Hey, I'm Marty Scorsese. I'm a space Italian alien. Look at me. I'm cooking with four hands. What in God's name, Marty?

What happened? They were just like, Marty, we want to extend Laurel and a hearty handshake to you and an olive branch because you hate our other movies we make, so please, let's pay you SAG minimum for one day's worth of work to pretend to be a fore armed shopkeeper slash cook and Star Wars not MC you Star Wars. Well, it was kind of a it's not the same character, but it's the same race as the guy from Solo, right, And didn't Favreau do the voice of that character in Solo. Oh yeah, did he I'm pretty sure he did, but I don't know. Yes, he was Rio Durant, and the character in this movie, Hugo is Hugo Durant.

So I bet you if we look him up on Wikipedia one it's father and son. Oh my god, please the unknown Durant family line. Yeah, oh my god, this is this is completely unnecessary Star Wars. You do know that. Wouldn't it be cool if that was this guy and then he could do this?

And then he makes a reference and yeah, that'd be cool. Okay, cool? He shares the name with Rio Durant. They're not related, but. Oh just a lot of durance in the of those fore armed huge fan of dark Man?

Yes, yes? What what? What did you think of. Scorsese related to him Kevin to a four armed monster from Star Wars? Hopefully?

Yeah? I hope so too. I mean he is French Canadian? Right right? Sorry?

What was your question? My question was? Did you find Martin Scorsese is distracting his I did? I did? I did?

Okay, good because I was like, it's just it's you know how Martin Scorsese's mom and Goodfellas is not distracting, even when you know it's his mom in this movie. It's like, I don't care if it's if I know it's Scorsese or not. It's very distracted. Well, it doesn't help that he kind of looks like him, you know, with the gray and everything. Looks like insults.

That is not no and we I mean, you've never seen Scorsese with the shirt of he has four arms, so that's how he makes all. His fall out of the chair. That character looks like an old Asian man. Well, he's got the gray going on, so kind of reminded me. And then you know it sounds exactly like Martin Scorsese, so.

Like, well, I mean, yeah, that's intentional. It's kind of wild. Do you think he actually had twelve kids. I think he had five kids, just like Benny from Total Recall. Man, I've got five kids to feed.

Don't kill me. Oh my god. I love that Scorsese is in this. I'm just like you. It was.

I was so shocked when his name came up in the credits. I was like what, and then I forgot that he was in it. And then when Dnjarren goes to find some information and that guy starts talking. I was like, oh shit, That'schssse's voice. You know, he looks less like Scorsese, and you know who he actually looks like if you were to put glasses on him, he looks like Coppola.

He looks like old Coppola, with like the hair and the facial hair, all right, and the turban that the turbine urban or a head covering, and it looks it looks like a turbine. Yeah. Maybe, yeah, you never know. I don't know. I don't know the religions of Star Wars.

All I know is that apparently if Rata the Hut does enough crunches, he can become what I'm assuming some people will probably find sexy, which is mean God is. The other really awful thing to think about? Really, I can't even imagine the fiction that's being written right now. Yeah, probably I would love to imagine it, frankly. Lots of AI videos and things now.

So yeah, what would it be like if you were in a Rat of the Hut sandwich with thin jarn Ooh. Yeah, with with Hugo Durant filming with his fore arms, yes, four different angles? Yeah, get over there, over there, yeah, exactly. You see that window up there. You see that window, that's my wife up there.

Yeah, that's what I would have liked if he started doing that whole speech from taxi driver. Oh my god. Yeah, it's just what did we have? We had Simon pegg in. Oh that was so weird, and Daniel Craig.

Yeah, and then we had this This is another one, and then Werner Herzog is the other big one obviously, like so brandom. Jon Favreau is just like, hey, you want to be in Star Wars. But that's the thing I really like, you know, like I don't know Fuloni, but I know Favreau. Oh yeah, And I like Favreau and I've always liked him, like since ash did I ever? Did I see him in things before Swingers?

I know for sure Swingers? And I really liked him in Swingers. Yeah, I guess he was in Oh yeah, that's right, he was in PCU. I forgot about that one. He's so good in that.

Yes, don't be the guy who wears the T shirt to the band are going to see? Yeah, literally taking that shit to heart, by the way. Oh same same, and then the replacements yeah, oh man, So yeah, I really like him and I like a lot of the stuff that he's directed, and of course Iron Man. You know, you could you could lay a lot of blame at the feet of Jon Favreau, but I I don't. I think he has done a really great thing with his career over the years, and I love that he does acting, producing, directing, writing, and yeah, I like what he's done with the Star Wars properties that he's been involved with, way better than like a Robert Rodriguez, who directed probably the most awful book of Bubba Fette that there was, which is saying something that's like a race to the bottom, I would.

Say John Favreau, I don't know what what is there to blame him for other than having an abundance of these things in our lives more because Star Wars was on the decline when he took over and did The Mandalorian as a show and it took over. I mean he just took over because he created The Mandalorian as a show and that ended up becoming like the overwhelming conversation about Star Wars for like five years. Is just the man warri. I'm just saying him as director of Iron. Man, well saying with Marvel, like Marvel wasn't a thing the way it is then the way it is now, and he's part of the reason.

Yeah, if iron Man hadn't been the hit that it was, I don't think we I don't think Martin says he would have been pissed off about. It, right, Martin Scorsese would not. This is all John Favreau's fault. That Martin Scorsese is a forearmed ape and star Wars. It all comes back to John Favreau in the end.

He was in an episode of The Sopranos, Mike playing himself. Yeah, and I remember that Alicia Wit. Yeah, Yeah, he's it's crazy Favreau. I think Fabreau is a good arbiter of the pop culture world the way a JJ Abrams is not. Yeah, well, it's funny, Like you know, he definitely has taken some missteps as a director.

Iron Man two. Uh, I haven't seen since Thora. You saw Jamonti, right, I saw Jamantu, so I basically saw Thora. Right. Yeah, it's funny because one of his other missteps is Cowboys and Aliens, which kind of is the Mandalorian if you think of it, because it's basically a cowboys show with aliens.

Man that's a movie, you know. Is it bad that I would like to rewatch that movie? Or if I rewatch it, is it as bad as is it as not much of anything as I remember, because I don't even remember it being bad. I just remember watching in theaters being like, huh, I also had I was one of the few people at the time that I had actually bought the graphic novel and read it long before the movie ever came out, And I remember thinking to myself, do we really need this being adapted anyways? Like was it a good graphic novel?

No, because it wasn't great. It was just a novel concept, but like not clearly not novel enough. Right, what's funny? When I saw it, I was really reminded a lot of John Carter parentheses of Mars and parentheses. But I like John Carter better than I liked Cowboys Versus Aliens or Cowboys and Aliens.

I've heard that John Carter movie is not as bad as it was being played out to be. No, No, it's not terrible. I mean, some of the special effects are a little rough, but it's really not that bad, you know, I mean, and I do like that Fabreau really kind of goes above and beyond when it comes to special effects, and a lot of his stuff, like the Jungle Book, the effects in that, which again, did we really need a live action Jungle Book? No, his was decent and I really like the special effects on it. Well, I would say that this is this is redemptive of him as a director, more so than The Lion King, Like, oh boy, yeah, was a misstep.

I mean that is just talk about unnecessary in a way that's I don't know, I don't I can think of few things less unnecessary than that Lion King movie. And you know what's true? What the fuck was even the point? The original one is hand drawn and this one's just animated effectively, what are we what are we doing here, folks? Yeah?

And the lack of of facial expressions. On the animals, the real animals, Like what that was the strangest fucking choice. The year of animals making strange choices was twenty nineteen. We had asshole list cats played by humans and then human beings playing real life animals in what's effectively a David Attenborough documentary but turned into Lion King, Like. What was the point?

I don't know, it's so fucking bizarre and and you know we didn't mention it, but I honestly think John Fabra is one of the few people who's created a modern day Christmas classic with ELF. I mean, you know, Elf is. I think ELF's amazing. Yeah, I think we would both agree, like it's pretty phenomenal Christmas film, like one of the few ones that has been released in the last twenty plus years or twenty twenty five years that actually is as good as the other ones that are remembered as Christmas classics. And that's hard to do, especially organic.

Well, and of course I love the nods to rink and a bass in that one too, right. Right, right, Yeah. I feel like if we could get Jon Favreau on a podcast to talk to us the same, we'd all be able to have the same language. We share the same language with someone like John Favre. I think it comes through with what is successful about this movie.

I think the things that are successful about this movie are the things that someone who's genuinely a fan of Star Wars would want to see and nods back to the old stuff, nods to things that have never happened, new stuff, fun, new creatures, and other things and expounding upon creatures we've seen before in a fun way. Like those all seem like a thing that someone who actually likes Star Wars would want in their movie, and that's what this movie is. Maybe sometimes a little too much, but I can't foresee them not making another one. I don't know if they'll make another Grogu season of TV, but I think we'll get probably another one of these at least. Yeah, because I mean, basically, you know, I love Pitch many things, right, the Ryan George series that's on YouTube right, and I just can hear in his voice, you know, oh what an adorable little marketing opportunity.

When it comes to Grogu, it's like, yeah, that's what he's built to sell toys, you know. And he's cuterer than fucking ewoks, and he has a lot of potential, and he's got some power, he's got some agency. I really like when those little guys take him with him to go rescue Mando. I was like, Okay, this is good. I'm glad that it's actually him doing this, you know, it's not somebody else rescuing Mando.

And I also liked the pretty direct nod I think to want to say to it's either Lone Wolf and Cub two or Lone Wolf and Cub three. When Ogami Eto you know, is injured and Diggaro has to take care of him, and there's a great scene where Daggero was trying to bring him water and he can't figure out how to do it, so he finally puts the water in his mouth because he can't hold it into his hands and walk that far. I was expecting Grogu to do the same thing, but luckily he had that little vial that he could at the water in. But I was like, this is cool, and I also like the kind of I'm guessing it's an instinctual thing for their race to make houses that look like that house that he puts uh Dingjarn in because it's exactly the same as Yoga's house on Dagabah.

Yeah, I love that. I love that was nice. Yes, And then using the force to push him in there and that clanked when his head keeps hitting the wall. I was like, that's pretty cute. I like this this movie is cute.

Right, Like we have the and Zelens, the little I mean, I don't know what they are like, I don't know how cute those little things are the little old manserting. Yeah, they kind of remind me of the I think there's a shrimp character from the Muppets. They kind of remind you, oh yeah, god, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, Pepe yesrrect. Yeah, he's also like Puerto Rican. I'm pretty sure.

I'm pretty sure. Yeah, Pepe the King frown, yes exactly, yea, yeah. Yeah, he does. They do kind of look like that. I mean, there was Babu Frick was in what the Last Star Wars sequel.

I think so he was the one that wiped C three po and I don't know. They remind me of like Hairy or Neon nubs. Okay, yeah, I can see that. But it's a cute see movie. There's like all you know, there's all these like cute things in the movie.

Like I think to your point, like it is a marketing opportunity, but Grogu, I think, for if you, if you were any company making products in the last ten years, like Grogu has been a godsend if you're children facing like my god. Do you know what else? They reminded me of those worm aliens in Men in Black, the ones that like are hang out in the coffee room, like, yeah, those kind of things. Yeah, you want some coffee? Yeah, the right, yeah, yeah.

The worm guys, I guess they're called Yeah. I like Pep. I like the comparison of Pepe the Muppet, Thank you, thank you, Pepe the King brin Jesus Christ. But yeah, I would. Uh.

You know, if you're into Star Wars, especially if you're into The Mandalorian, there's no reason not to go see this movie. Yeah. You know, it's very to me, inoffensive to the to the point where some people might be like, well, it's not taking risks, it's not doing anything new, We're. Not as I saw said that. They were like, it's kind of boring, and you know, it is kind of boring.

But I think it's also like that's if you look at it solely as that's the intention. I don't know how you can't say it doesn't succeed. Is it charming or is it like it's a charming movie. It doesn't need to be any more than that. Like The Mandalorian is pretty frothy television entertainment, is it not.

Yeah, I want to say it's a little bit more grounded. I don't know. Yah, and Laurian's fun. This is finol supposed to sit down with your kids or your family and you watch Mandalorian. Like the movie is the same.

It doesn't like the original. This this recaptures a feeling of kind of fun that the Star Wars sequels really didn't. The Star Wars prequels really didn't. This is like kind of taking what makes the Mandalorian fun, that like charmingness between Pedro Pascal and the little Grogu puppet, and it amplified it, Like that's that's all this is. Like if you were expecting this, if you're expecting to go into this this to be something other than that, Like that's on you.

Yeah, more than I think the filmmakers really not trying to give them a pass, but I think like they're successful and they're successful in achieving what I would be setting out to do with the movie like this, which is make something cute for the whole family, because that's what the Mandalorian was and is, And if they do another one of these movies, that's what it's going to be. It's just going to be more of this, Like it might be a little bit edgier because the people that grew up with Mandalorian are getting older, but I like, Grogu's never gonna die. Mandalorian's never gonna die. Like, get that shit out of your head now, Like there's the most danger any one of them is either ever going to be in is going to be something that can be easily solved by the end of the episode, season, or movie like it, It's it's kind of past that point at point.

It's like Stranger Things. It's just kind of become unto itself, its own thing. And I don't know. If this is the end of the Mandalorian story, I think it was a good way to end it. If it was the beginning of another Mandalorian thing, I think it's a pretty decent jumping off point as well.

Yeah, the only thing that surprised me about the Mandalorian and Grogu was that it didn't end with production drawings, because that's how all the TV episodes end, And I was like, well, kind of would have been appropriate to just end it the same damn way, because this is just a big old TV episode that I paid paid top dollar to see, and that might make people butt hurt as well, just like, oh, I could have just watched this on TV. It's like, well you could, and you can wait like what three months? Maybe not if that. Long, yeah, month and a half probably at. The yes, and then it'll be on Disney Plus and you can just watch it there, so if you don't want to go to this show, you know, I think I finally knocked Michael off of the Pedestal of the Top Earners.

Maybe I don't even. Know that movie. He he heat all the way to the Top Baby. Yeah, yeah, America was talking about it. I guess America loves its pedophiles.

Man loves its little things too, little grogu dancing around making its cute noises. Mike, we just have very over exaggerate how much cuteness sells. Baby. There are a few moments in the movie that I kept thinking of Baby Groot, and especially in the I think it was the Second Guardians of the Galaxy when Rockets trying to explain to him like don't push you know, push this button, don't push this button, YadA, YadA, YadA, And at one point den Jarren gives them some instructions like, you know, don't touch those buttons, or I know what it is, it's you know, remember those buttons. I told you not to touch, like touch those buttons down.

I need you to help me with this stuff, right, And he just keeps firing rockets on all this stuff, and I'm just like, oh, this is the this is the baby Groot moment. Okay, all right, but at least Grogu seems like smarter. But at same time, you know, I'm curious when he will start talking backwards. Oh oh oh like Yoda. Yeah exactly.

I well, that's the thing, like I think, I think the last you know, kind of the question I have for you is where where does Star Wars go for heat from here? As a franchise? Do they keep doing stuff like this? Do they make movies out of their TV shows? Like I just I haven't gotten the sinse people care about Star Wars the way that they used to.

Like this, This was successful, but it wasn't as successful as I think they wanted it to be, like financially, and you know, critically, it's like literally more or less down the middle, like it's like sixty percent the reviews are positive. So I don't know, I'm curious what your thoughts are, because you know, you might be coming at this from a different direction because you're just a little bit older than I am. I have a little bit different feelings about Star Wars than I know you do because I grew up with it in a different way than you do. Yeah, I don't know if they're going to go. I don't know how many more television shows are going to make.

I imagine they will continue to make television shows because I don't see them as costing that much, especially now that they've got that kind of valumetric the volume system, right. I mean, I have to say, you know, other than what you pointed out with the huts looking a little questionable, most of the movie looks really good. Yeah. For the Yeah, I think it looks better than that Punisher thing that they threw out there. Oh Jesus, Jesus.

Christy, that's not John Burnhal falling off a roof, clearly, Oh Jesus. But you know, I know coming up they're going to do well. I can't say I know they're going to do because they've been now so many things over the years that they just are not doing anymore, you know, like there this was supposed to be the fourth season of The Mandalorian, but they're not doing it. I don't think they're going to do a Lando TV show. I don't think they're gonna do what was that There was like a oh, there's another title they kept, like the Something of the New Republic or something thing.

But apparently they're supposed to do one called Starfighter. Well that's coming out, okay, Yeah, that's the one with Ryan Gossling that that that has been I think they're I think they're done filming. Okay, and then yeah, I guess there's also supposed to be one called New Jedi Order that goes back to Ray so Ray Skywalker, so fuck me right. Well, then James Mangold is supposed to direct one as well, and then Dave Filoni is supposed to get his own thing, so all right, I'm you know, I don't know. I I unfortunately think Star Wars has kind of just jumped the shark.

I think those those sequels were really bad, and I think they've only gotten worse in retrospect looking back on them, because I think the things that have been good since, like Mandalorian even it kind of soured itself because you know, the first season of that show fucking amazing. Second season, like immediately it starts being diminishing, returns, and then by the end of that season it's just like, okay, we have to. Get Luke Skywalker involved. So I think Star Wars is best suited kind of trying a couple different things, seeing what works, but always leading with the same foot, which always seems to be cutesy shit like, pair something exciting with something cutesy, and that seems to be Star Wars nowadays.

They even had Porgs and Babu Frick in the new movies What was own BB eight? Do? What was the thing in the first Star Wars seane ABBA's BB eight Porgs and then Babu Frick in that order, and then you know, Baby Yoda is kind of like there there will be nothing as cute for a while as Baby Yoda. Nobody's figured out what that next thing is. Baby Yoda is still kind of that cutesy pop culter thing that you can go back to.

A please don't dead name Grogu. Oh sorry, dead naming Grogu. Does anybody call him Grogu other than Mandalorian. That's a good question. I imagine some of them.

Yeah, I think he introduces him as Grogu and that baby Yoda, because I don't think Mando knows who Yoda is. Right, Yoda is a term that we as people outside of the. Universe, right, I would recommend. Now, I haven't seen the second season of and Or, but I really enjoyed the first season that might eventually start to suffer from the same thing we were talking about with Rings of Power, where it's like, Okay, I know where this is going. And that's that's what I like about Rings of Power, is that we know where things are going in a few thousand years, as opposed to and Or at some point is going to tie right up to Rogue One.

But that first season is definitely pre you know, very pre Rogue one, since everybody fucking dies in Rogue one. Really cheerful movie. I sever mon, Matha, I guess, But yeah, I haven't seen the second season yet. I'm curious if that's good. And then yeah, all the other Star Wars properties, Like, again, I haven't seen The Acolyte.

Is that what you mentioned? It's not coming back. It's canceled after one. Season because people couldn't stand it. And I'm just like, again, I think there were probably too many women and people of color in there.

Oh my god. And I did like that when it comes to Mandalorian and grogu, Like, you could say that Mando is a human and Sigourney Weavers a human, but otherwise it's all creatures or other races that are the main characters. And I was absolutely fine with that same say. I mean, like Zeb, you know, Zeb is not is not remotely human. So no, no, lots of robots.

Was there a shot of R two D two at one point in the movie, Maybe there's droid being put into an X wing it? Yes, it was like, I wasn't sure if that was R two, if that was just another R two unit. And I think R five D four might have been in this one. I don't know, but I didn't look up the I'm sure there's a ton of trivia about this movie and people just flip it out trying to make all the connections. But it's like, yeah, no, I'm good.

I'm good with what I saw on screen, and I don't need to dig dig dig deeper in this. Yeah, I'm with you. I think it's very interesting. Do you remember what the last standalone Star Wars movie that came out was? Was it Solo?

It was solo? Okay twenty eight? Wow? Okay, Rogue One, Solo and Mandalorian and grogu are the three singular films so far that have been Star Wars standalone films. I would put this above those two, Oh you definitely, yes.

I think Solo is still the one that, like probably in the long run, has the most like return viability because Alden aren Reich is such a good actor and I think that, like I think he's actually really good in that movie. I just think that movie is just, I think, a fucking mess because of other things, like so many other things, namely like the Ron Howard of it all will never make sense to me why they just didn't let Lord Miller do their thing. But it least like Rope One is Gareth Edwards movie, but it also had the acts taken to it, Like we know that about that movie, like when we did that episode about it, or at least I did. I remember talking about there's shots from the trailer that are not in the movie, and there's a lot of shots in the trailer that are not from the movie, like they edited the whole movie, don't.

Yeah, this is the first one of these three that feels like this is one, if not two or three people's singular vision and it's executed the way that they want it. Is it as much of a big swing as it needs to be? No, but not everything needs to be a swing for the fences, home runs sometimes and in the park single get somebody home from third base and you score the run and you win. Anyways, it doesn't always have to be this big swing. And Star Wars, i think right now for me, is in a position of like, you can't take big swings because I'm not sure the public sentiment with Star Wars is not where it used to be at all.

I think people have soured on Star Wars and just don't really care anymore. And Star Wars is gonna have to lot to do a lot to make up a lot that it's lost as a franchise because of people that did a poor job with it and thought, let's just give them a bunch of Star Wars all the time and the quality of it doesn't matter, and they'll just eat it up. And it's like, no, they won't. Actually, they will not just eat it up. And they did not just eat it up.

And I'm glad to see that something like this is successful. Is it the most exciting thing I've ever seen. No, But if that's what people wanted, I'm sorry. That was never what this was going to be. Well, Chris, when you're not talking about Star Wars and scouring the Wikipedia for connections between all of these different characters, what keeps you busy?

Sir? You know that there's someone out there who's immensely offended that you're making fun of what they do every day. I don't care any more than you do. That's fine. I am scouring Wikipedia for all of the connections.

I want to know if the salacious be Crumb character somehow ran into Hans Solo before he was in a job of the huts thrown room. I have to know. I have to know. But if you want to hear the things that I'm doing out in the public that aren't done in the secrecy and privacy of my own home, you can add on over to weirdingwaymedia dot com, where this show and all the shows I work on can be found, But most importantly, the ones that I don't work on can be found there as well, like midnight Viewing, eighties TV ladies. Whole host of things can be found over there, Mike Show, the Projection Booth as well, so yeah, what about you, Mike, Where can people find you?

Yeah, pretty much the same darn thing all the way down the line, other than the Patreon, which is patreon dot com slash projection booth where you can get early access to pretty much everything and all the shows that I work on and stuff. I try to post those out there as much as possible. So now we've got a brand new show that we will be announcing probably a few months from now. Yeah, definitely towards the end of the year. You'll know more about it if you're a fan of what we do with Rank and on Bond.

It won't be a Patreon exclusive, like Mike said, but just do'll be able to get it ad free, so. You know, a month early. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us and listening to this episode. Mike. Thanks, thank you for pushing me to go see this movie, getting me out of the house to go enjoy the Mandalorian Wink wink, and yeah, we'll catch you on the next next episode.