Phantom Menace Minute 96: There's Math For This

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Date

April 4th, 2016

Summary

The wind whips at Anakin as he listens to the Jedi.

Guests

Jacob Sirof

Notes

Film

• Starts with Obi-Wan explaining the dangers of Anakin, and ends with Qui-Gon explaining Midi-chlorians.
• A very appropriate minute to have a Prequels defender on.
• Trailer line "the boy is dangerous..."
• Jacob's favorite line in all of Star Wars "Your focus determines your reality"

Podcast

• Jacob is not a Prequel apologist specifically, he is a Lucas apologist. He ranks all six of the Lucas films equally, and higher than the post-Lucas films.
• He believes that if there is any spirituality in the universe, it is probably something like the Force.
• The Jedi are talking about Anakin when he's standing right there.
• Shoutout to the great work by John Williams.
• The opulence in the Prequel era vs. the rundown aesthetic of the Original Trilogy.
• The mistakes of the Jedi in the Prequels led to the scaling back later on.
• Nitpicking the Original Trilogy.
  • Callback to "the Jabba's Palace plan" from Return of the Jedi.
  • Jedi training padawans young, before they devote attachments.
• Mentioned: Too old.
• What if Qui-Gon had never trained Anakin, or if Luke had gone to the Academy.
• Profound, philosophical lines in the Lucas films vs. in TFA.
• Jacob believes Qui-Gon let himself get killed, much like Obi-Wan.
• Lucas will never admit that he changed his mind about aspects of the story.
  • Discussed: From a certain point of view.
• The Midi-chlorians.
  • Jacob likes the "scientific explanation" of the Force (as opposed to a faith-based ideology).
    • Referenced: the E-meter from Scientology.
  • Pete's theory that the Force does not exist.
    • Referenced: the illusionist David Blaine.
  • The idea that the Jedi are wrong about Midi-chlorians.
    • Shoutout to former guest of the show Eric Carney (see minute 52).
• Star Wars as Space fantasy, rather than science fiction.

Meta Minute

• 40:29 podcast episode length.
• Jacob misconstrues the meaning of the word "apologist". An apologist does not apologize for something but instead defends it from attack.
• As of May 2017, neither Midi-chlorians nor Padmé have been mentioned in the new Star Wars films.
• The concept that "your focus determines your reality" is a form of cognitive bias, and closely resembles the phenomenon of Selective perception, the tendency of expectations to actually alter your experience of the world. See also [

Quotes

• Pete: Deco officer.

Link

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2016/04/04/phantom-menace-minute-96-theres-math-for-this/

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