Last Jedi Minute 33: The Godzilla Principle

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Date

March 17th, 2021

Summary

Guest commentators Joe Dator & Suzen Tekla Kruglnska are the first responders to Princess Leia’s big blow out!

Guests

Joe Dator and Suzen Tekla Kruglnska

Notes

Film

• Starts with General Organa opening her eyes in SPAAAAAAACE, and ends with porgs roasting over an open fire.
• The "Carrie Poppins" scene.
  • Leia flies through the hologram of Snoke's ship, foreshadowing the Holdo maneuver later.
• PZ-4CO on the job.

Podcast

• Referenced: "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire)"

Carrie Poppins

• Is it more Mary Poppins, or more Superman?
  • Discussion of the pose used while flying. Like ziplining maybe.
• Our collective reaction upon seeing this the first time: "Okay... what did I just see?"
  • If you like this movie, this scene grows on you. Suzen personally does not care for this movie, it's a matter of taste.
  • The Last Jedi departs from expectations much the same way that Empire did.
• We are affected by the baggage of knowing that Carrie had passed away.
  • We want her to be treated with dignity. Is this scene dignified?
  • Although these scenes were filmed prior to her death, it still feels like this moment is about Carrie Fisher and our relationship to her. Joe feels catharsis from seeing Princess Leia essentially die and be resurrected.
• Or they could have made this scene way more slapstick with all the tropes.
• Mentioned: "When Havoc Struck".
• Comparison between this and the Chewie death misdirection in Rise of Skywalker.
  • How Rian Johnson might have handled it differently had he directed Episode IX.
  • We want Leia to have a badass moment.

Other notes

• This whole movie is visually stunning.
• Leia using Force powers. We want her to have her own strengths and her own deal. Compare with Yoda in Empire vs. in the Prequels
  • Leia is the first living person who Luke reaches out to on Cloud City. Is Luke just using his own powers or does this hint that she is Force-sensitive?
  • Female politics in this movie: trying to preserve lives rather than the hubris of being a trigger-happy flyboy.
    • It would be nice to have more female Jedi, it just didn't have to be Leia.
  • A lot of these issues could have been avoided if Luke and Leia were never brother and sister. Pete blames Return of the Jedi.

• PZ-4CO

  • Everybody loves her.
  • She is based on the Godzilla principle of having a very long neck with the actor's head inside the neck.
  • According to Wookieepedia she helped Leia write her memoirs. Comparison with Carrie Fisher's memoirs.
  • The way droids are treated in Star Wars.
  • The only toy that Pete bought from TFA was a PZ-4CO figure.
• It's lucky everyone happened to be at the door when Leia got back to the ship.
  • Referenced: "O.P.P".
  • Finn's one character motivation — that he's concerned about Rey.
• When Leia dropped her cloaked binary beacon, was that intentional, and did she intend Finn to get it?
  • It didn't come off during the explosive decompression or the return flight.
  • She was probably in the middle of taking it off so she could give it to someone more responsible when she passed out. Referenced: "The Simpsons", medical alert bracelets.
• Suzen wore her hair as a messy Rey hairstyle.
  • Rey is sleeping outdoors.
• The idea that the Force can be accessed by anybody and that anyone can be strong with the Force is undercut by the next movie.
• Compare to Chirrut Îmwe. Referenced: Verruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• Plugs for the hosts' other podcasts. Alex and his brother host the Godfather Minute. Pete is a co-host of ABCD:TOS.
  • Shoutouts to John Ingle (Alien Minute), Tom Taylor (Indiana Jones Minute), and Joe Mazel.
  • Suzen has finished Rosemary's Baby.

Meta Minute

• 37:57 podcast episode length.
• In Ancient Egypt, the classic 'mummy pose' (arms crossed over the crest) was actually reserved for male members of the royal family; women and other nobles not of the royal family would be mummified with their arms at their sides or with one arm straight and the other (typically the left) bent at the elbow.
• This is the only Rey sighting of the week.

Quotes

• Joe: I like a Wookiee that doesn't get captured.
• Pete: The worms were already opened in Return of the Jedi… Alex: That tube of toothpaste: already sailed.

Links

Audio only

https://art19.com/shows/star-wars-minute/episodes/f08efd4c-b393-41ac-8969-931f9a1a5a5b

Video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dIFRbwt0H1M

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