Last Jedi Minute 89: Hard Target

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Date

June 3rd, 2021

Summary

Rey takes off in the Millennium Falcon's pod but there's no escape for guest commentator Hal Lublin!

Guests

Hal Lublin

Notes

Film

• Starts with Finn and Rose listening to Poe's desperate pleas. Ends with the Millennium Falcon coming out of hyperspace and Rey escaping in a pod of some kind.

Podcast

• A "last day of school"-type comedy movie set in Star Wars. Mentioned: Dazed and Confused, Book Smart.
  • It's sort of like the cut Tosche station scenes. Or turning the last 3 minutes of Return of the Jedi into a feature film.
  • Complete derailment: The video for the song "Soul Man" (from the eponymous movie) with Sam Moore (from Sam & Dave) and Lou Reed.
    • Mentioned: Jamie Farr, "Moonlighting", Gumby, the video for Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters".
• How long has hyperspace communication been a thing?
• What Chewie was suggesting that he say to Finn if he sees him before Rey does. Referenced: pop culture catchphrases that are passé (based on speed-of-light delay, note: see below).
  • Of course if Chewie does see Finn first, Finn's not going to be able to understand what Chewie says. If he even bothers to deliver the message.
• Working in the chessboard fan service more organically.

Escape pods

• The Millennium Falcon's escape pod. Incredible cross-sections books not matching up with each other or with the films.
  • Mentioned: the C-3PO action figure case.
  • The Death Star probably didn't have working escape pods at all. Call back to Captain Khurgee in Star wars.

Other notes

• The trope of two kids trying to sneak into a movie theater dressed in a trench coat. But with Yoda.
• The "slapstick setting" on pit droids.
• The "plot hole" of all these people jumping in and out of hyperspace during the chase. There's implausible stuff in literally every movie, not just every Star Wars movie, so you shouldn't necessarily let that interfere with your enjoyment of the film.
  • Pete's not saying "just turn off your brain", but also there is such a thing as suspension of disbelief.
  • Hal saw Hard Target in theaters, and there's a scene where a character stands on the seat of a driverless motorcycle and is able to accurately shoot a firearm. People in the theater accepted that but couldn't get over the fact that a shotgun that he stored in a crate in the bayou was clean after many years.
    • The people who fill out the inconsistencies / goofs section of an IMDb page. Depending on your area of expertise, different things will jump out at you. Mentioned : anachronistic comics in "The Queen's Gambit" (note: see below).
    • Shout-out to Pete's father-in-law.
    • Jean-Claude Van Damme's filmography, and yet another potential podcast idea.
• Plug for the SWMLS on Facebook.

Meta Minute

• 24:23 podcast episode length.
• Pete is infamous for having memorized the first 100 digits of pi.

Hyperspace communication

• According to Wookieepedia, Subspace is a "medium used for communication, capable of sending instantaneous transmissions from over six hundred thousand kilometers away"¹. So although you couldn't send a message across the whole galaxy this way, you could potentially message someone on the moon if you were on the Earth. (cf. subspace in Star Trek). There were also hyperwave transceivers that could send messages through hyperspace, with help from hyperspace relays. These were in use as early as the High Republic era (per the new Disney Canon).
  • Alex is mistaken: the reason that they could not recall the fighters in Rogue One is that they were already entered the planet Eadu's atmosphere, and any communication was blocked by the planet's high-energy thermosphere², not that they had already left into hyperspace.

Other meta notes

• Randall Munroe's webcomic xkcd has a comic that relates to the concept of interstellar memes.
  • As of the release of this episode, "Wasssuup!?!" (which originated with a 1999 ad campaign for Budweiser beer) had traveled 22 ly from the Earth, meaning it had reached the Gliese 105 system. "Can you hear me now?" (from the Verizon series of ads, 2002–2005) had traveled 19 ly, meaning it reached as far as Alsafi (although we prefer it's other much cooler name, Sigma Draconis).
• Alex's book of cross-sections is the first edition of Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections which was published in 1998, written by David West Reynolds and illustrated by Hans Jenssen and Richard Chasemore. This book is now considered Legends.
• OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is in charge of workplace safety in the US. They don't specifically mandate/enforce lifeboats (survival craft). That falls to the US Coast Guard. Additionally, there are a number of international treaties, such as the International Maritime SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) convention that mandate Life-saving appliances and arrangements (see Chapter III).
  • In the dialog of Solo, Lando explicitly refers to the thing in the Falcon's "mandible notch" as an escape pod", but according to the schematics from the YT-1300 Millennium Falcon Owners' Workshop Manual, it is an "auxiliary ship".
• There is no mention of the anachronistic comics on the "The Queen's Gambit" IMDb page. Somebody get on that!
  • Spawn #10 was published May, 1993 so definitely should not be available to someone in 1962
• Dan played Yuri in Maximum Risk (1996).
  • As of the release of this episode, Van Damme had 73 acting credits on IMDb, with The Last Mercenary (2021) being released less than two months after this episode first aired.

Quotes

• Pete: Hot Lips? Hard no.
• Alex and then Pete: *dueling Locust Valley lockjaw noises*.
• Hal: Maximum slapstick please.
• Hal: You're not a "Fan Damme?" Pete: I'm not— Hal:—I'll leave.

Links

Audio only

https://art19.com/shows/star-wars-minute/episodes/ce5b1154-127d-428f-9e04-a95b0e82fd60

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gno4h6ad-78

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