Star Wars Minute 60: Simple Tricks and Nonsense

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Date

August 23rd, 2013.

Summary

Luke swings the lightsaber around blindly missing the seeker, which fires off a laserbolt and hits Luke square on the seat of the pants.

Guests

Ryan Haupt

Notes

Film

• Minute 60 - the 1-hour mark!
• Starts with Han calling The Force a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.
• Ends with Han still dismissing The Force, even after a demonstration of its power by Ben and Luke (i.e. defending against the remote training device). Han - "Good against remotes - that's one thing; good against the living - that's something else.")

Podcast

• A discussion about luck and whether it exists in Star Wars. Pete suggests that there definitely is luck and Ben knows it; while Alex suggests that Force believers would probably say that everything that happens is the will of The Force.
• Ben could have chosen a much better demonstration of the power of The Force. Luke blindly defending against a remote seems a bit tame (and lucky); why not levitate things around the Falcon. Ryan compares the approach of starting with a small demonstration and then building to something bigger with another famous example in the real world.
• Jedis saving up The Force for later use.
• Obi-Wan's voice constantly being in Luke's head in normal, day-to-day life.
• The helmet that Luke uses and the purpose of a full-face blast shield. Is this even useful? Is it like a welder's mask or a novelty item (like a giant sombrero)?
• Helmet laws in the Star Wars universe.
• The concept and tone of The Force and the way that it is portrayed has a very 70s (in America) feel.
• The quality of the special effects in the original version of the movie really stand up.
• Is the training remote a droid?
• The training remote shoots Luke in the foot. Poor Luke!
• Is Ben controlling Luke to deflect the laser bolts as a way of impressing Han given their debate about the power of The Force? (Note - This is a classic Pete question.)
• Luke's connection to The Force presumably being stronger than Obi-Wan's due to Annakin / Vader being Luke's father.
• Jedi not breeding with each other and therefore The Force gene (midi-chlorians) having to be a dominant trait.
• The Force being an inherited trait based on the movies.
• Given this, is Luke inherently good at The Force at this point (Ryan's view) or is he just being controlled by Obi-Wan the whole time (Pete and Alex's view)?
• What the Millennium Falcon smells like. A garage, a frat house, a rental van, pets, the humus that Han is eating, oil and electrical wires, a neutral odor, poop?
• The composition of the interior of the Falcon.
• The smell in the smuggling compartments must be overpowering.
• The blasters do not seem at all accurate, regardless of who is using them. Also, Stormtroopers get hit by blaster bolts a lot without hitting much themselves.
• Blaster vs lightsabers. How can a sword possibly be a better weapon than a gun? Maybe blasters are completely random.
• Greedo surviving being shot by Han.

Meta Minute

• 20:54 podcast episode length.
• Referenced: the smell of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
• How smell works, especially on space ships.
• Pete refers to an earlier draft of the script in which, just after the lightsaber training scene and Han's "nothing like a good blaster" line, Obi-Wan uses The Force to make Han's blaster shoot while its still in the holster on its leg - thereby making Han do a little dance of surprise. Alex is glad that they didn't actually do that in the movie.
• Ryan's first memories of Star Wars:
  • The VHS tapes were always in his house and he watched them over and over again.
  • He also remembers when the Special Editions were released and just barely recognizing that the changes weren't necessarily better.
  • The prequels were released when he was in the 7th or 8th grade and therefore in the target market.
  • He already liked Star Wars so he remembers being excited before their release and then slightly disappointed after seeing them. (Note - a common tale!)
  • He was a fan of the idea of the prequels and expected good movies.
  • He thought the lightsaber duel choreography in Episode 1 had definitely improved from the originals, and remembers actively disliking Episodes 2 and 3 in the cinema.
• Pete raises the following:
  • He has a view that is potentially more controversial than simply not liking any of the prequels.
  • By this point of the podcast, he has been called out on his blanket dislike of the prequels.
  • Episode 1 is his favorite of the prequels. (Note - this is followed by a moment of - stunned - silence on the podcast.)
• Alex counters with:
  • Revenge of the Sith (RotS) is has favorite movie of the prequels.
  • He may like RotS more than he likes Return of the Jedi.
• Ryan talks about episode 26 of his podcast Science... sort of in which the cast:
  • Explores a number of Star Wars items from a scientific point of view, including R2-D2 flying (which doesn't work scientifically).
  • Discusses their general feelings about the prequels.
• Pete reveals that they no longer ask guests which other minute/s they want to come back for as scheduling is a nightmare. However theoretically Ryan says that he would really like to come back for the first appearance of Yoda - in TESB - which is one of his favorite moments.

Quotes

• Ryan: In the intro - "I'm Ryan Haupt and I forgot to come up with something clever..."
• Pete: I had a different idea of why that theory didn't work. Alex: Because midi-chlorians are stupid? Pete: Yeah.
• Pete: ...when they go into those smuggling compartments, its just gotta be like all farts in there. Ryan: That's what those compartments actually are - the fart compartments. They're the compartments that store all the farts. Alex: Comfartments you mean.
• Ryan: Wow - I feel like I'm uncovering some deep truths here.
• Alex: Stretch out with your feelings.
• Ryan: I assume that you guys are gonna do all the prequels minute-by-minute. Alex: Hmmm. Pete: <clears throat> I don't know what you just said.

Link

http://www.starwarsminute.com/2013/08/23/minute-60-simple-tricks-and-nonsense/

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