Empire Minute 102: Jiminy Lobot

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Date

June 3rd, 2014

Summary

Chewie turns on Lando and starts to choke him.

Guests

Songe Riddle

Notes

Film

• Starts with Lando freeing Leia and Chewie from Lieutenant Sheckil; ends with Boba Fett telling people to put Solo into the cargo hold.

Podcast

• Every character in the Boba Fett sequence is being played by Jeremy Bullock or Alan Harris.
• Lando tells Lobot to keep it quiet - which is mean given that Lobot can't talk.
• Close-up of C-3PO's legs and feet. Which actors are in each costume?
• Sassy Leia is back after being stunned by Han's freezing process previously.
• Leia always tells people off for rescuing her.
• How to pronounce the names Han and Leia.
• Sorry Pete: In the prequels (The Phantom Menace specifically) people were frustrated that Darth Vader has a girl's name - Ani (short for Anakin).
• Leia should have been spelled "Leeahyua".
• This is the first time we see Chewbacca being physically violent.
• Leia could have just shot Lando immediately.
• Chewbacca is thinking about choking Lando the whole time that he's handcuffed.
• Chewbacca is pure impulse but can also fly a spaceship. He can focus when he needs to.
  • Chewie is like a genius golden retriever; he can be trained but won't wear any pants.
• C-3PO insults Chewbacca and all wookiees even while he's being saved / carried by one.
• Racism and speciesism in Star Wars.
• C-3PO is not deaf in this sequence (discussed in a previous minute).
  • C-3PO interprets "choked Lando". Does he also speak choked Leia?
• Do the heroes know where the east platform is? They run off as soon as Lando says it.
  • However later on Lando is leading them - so the must have come back to get him.
  • This could have been a long charade sequence as Lando tried to explain the situation to them.
  • Referenced: SEDA-GIVE in the choking scene from Young Frankenstein.
• Slave I is a strange design for a spaceship. It flies on its side and you sit in it on a rotating seat.
  • The Slave I toy was confusing. The chair was a recliner and was gravity operated so that it would rotate when you picked it up.
  • The B-wing toy was similar to this.
• This is the same spaceship that we see on Kamino in the prequels.
• Is Boba's armor just Jango's armor re-purposed?
  • Its probably the same helmet. Good thing Boba didn't recover C-3POs head by mistake.
  • Jango's head may be mounted on the dashboard of Slave I.
• Boba Fett's voice seems ominous.
  • In the Special Edition, the voices of Jango and all of the stormtroopers is changed to Temuera Morrison's voice
  • This proves that they are all still clones at this point.
  • Technical advancements are much slower in the Star Wars universe than on Earth.
  • Will there be clones and stormtroopers in episode 7?

 This is the minute that Songe specifically wanted to discuss.
 His friend received a Christmas present that was a Star Wars Chess set.
 It contained pewter pieces of characters from the the original trilogy.
 He can't remember which character was which piece.
 When the pieces were placed on the chess board it was very obvious where the characters ranked in the Star Wars universe.
 For example, the stormtroopers were all lowly pawns.
 Lando was a piece but he went on the Empire's side.
 The set was made around the year 2000.
 There are lots of arguments about whether Lando is a good guy or bad guy.
 Billy Dee used to get kicked by his kids' friends for portraying a bad guy in the movie.
 Songe says that Lando is definitively a good guy and was always intended to be.
 His argument is based on Lando losing his cape:
  The Empire Strikes Back is defined by the colors red and blue (or orange and teal).
  Lando wears all blue except for the inside of his cape which is is a reddish gold.
  This indicates that Lando is a friend but something is hidden.
  (Namely Darth Vader and Boba Fett in the dining hall...with a candlestick.)
  When Chewbacca chokes him Lando loses his cape.
  This signifies that all of the evil has gone and he is now a good guy.
  Essentially he's good but just made a bad choice.
  Lobot was almost his conscience - Jiminy-Lobot.
  The cape also represents his responsibility as the administrator of Cloud City.
  The cape is weighing him down and once he loses it then he is free.
  Lando gets a new fully blue cape later on.
 Maybe the chess set was designed by someone who only watched up to halfway through The Empire Strikes Back before assuming they knew how things would turn out.
 This may have led to other interesting assignments of the characters.

Meta Minute

• 26:39 podcast episode length.
• Cold-open: starwarsminute.com/donate.
• Boba Fett's armor is customized Mandalorian armor, reminiscent of his father's but not identical to it. He did retrieve and wear his father's helmet for a time, but later rigged it with explosives and used it as a trap in a failed attempt to kill Mace Windu. The ship is the same ship that Jango flew.
• All the hosts have dot coms - it's the future.
• The word 'Mantle' comes from the Latin mantellum, meaning a cloak or cape. It was only later adopted to mean a burden of responsibility shouldered (as one would have shouldered a heavy cloak) because medieval officials would don particular "robes of office".

Quotes

• Alex: Pete 'I Love the Midi-chlorians' The Retailer.
• Alex: He's choked the administrator before. Pete: So to speak.
• Songe: I think it was based on a streetlamp.. Pete: ...named desire.
• Songe: Boba Fettish!
• Alex: I don't know - its a little Slave-y for me.
• Pete: Mandalorian Repository - that was one of the expanded universe books.

Link

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2014/06/03/empire-minute-102-jiminy-lobot/

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