Star Wars Road Trip

Female Speaker: In [indiscernible] [00:00:02] Male Speaker: It will be great if they have one of those for our 2D too, every time there's new interactions like heard you like a… Female Speaker: And then you have to wait for the translation. Male Speaker: And every time it’s like recalculating. Beth Accomando: Welcome to the KPBS Cinema Junkie Road Trip. We are on the road going to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens up at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles. Let’s talk to the mastermind of this plan first. This is Joshua Sutton who decided to put this together. And how did this all come together and start? Male Speaker: Actually, you could say this started back in when Star Wars first came out. Joshua Sutton: When I was a kid, that was my kind of get away movie. I loved it. I used to have a poster of big banner Star Wars El Capitan theater with the line going around the building. When I got the chance, I thought this is like “a bucket list thing”. They actually go Star Wars movie, the first Star Wars movies with the original cast at that theater and I couldn’t get enough. I went online. Tickets were there. Alright, okay, great, I got a bunch and I went – oh I wonder few of the people want to go, so I brought more and that’s pretty much how it’s happened. Beth Accomando: All right, so tell us you’ve rented a large van, how many people are going up for this and what are – what are you hoping for from this film? Joshua Sutton: 13 of us are going, lucky 13. Rented this fan, because I thought it would be cool instead of having two, three cars, we all can sit and do it in one big nice van and I guess what I’m really looking forward to is just something that I got from the originals that the prequels didn’t give, that since a wonder and just that world that I was hoping that I would have seen whenever those – there is other ones came out and that’s pretty much I mean it’s just hope, it’s just desire and hope to get back into a world that I absolutely loved when I was a kid and, yeah. Beth Accomando: So, Jose, you’ve been running the CPTO navigator for this trip, so what are your hopes and expectations for this film? Jose Iturriaga: Oh first, the navigator takes us to the right place. Now it’s good – kind of similar to what Josh said, I think the prequels were kind of like a missed opportunity. I’m not as PKS, some fans I like certain aspects of it, but then only enjoyed better the originals. So I’m really hoping that they captured that [indiscernible] [00:02:49] and that magic that sense of wonder that you were like back in a theater and like really be wowed and have just a good time because that’s ultimately what these type of movies are about, entertainment and having a good time. And what better way to do it with a bunch of friends that are in like like-minded people. So that’s what I’m hoping. Beth Accomando: Miguel, you actually snuck out last night and saw the film. So what were you thinking out before you went in and what was the crowd like last night? Miguel Rodriguez: Well, we saw it at the Gaslamp riding theater in downtown San Diego. There was a long line waiting to get seated and the Gaslamp very wisely let people in in small bursts. So they didn’t just ride into the theater with blood shed and stumping on heads. The crowd was especially nerdy, which I think was kind of a boon to the experience. Because it was one of those types of experiences where as soon as the logo pops on screen, the entire theater erupts in applause and cheers and when familiar faces appear on screen, the same kind of thing happens. So even if I weren’t as keen on seeing the film as I was, it would have been a more fun experience because that kind of enthusiasm can be contagious. And I’m hoping for the same kind of experience here, but it was definitely a riders kind of just joyful crowd. Beth Accomando: Have you been in other Star Wars lines before in the past? Miguel Rodriguez: There, I say yes, for a film that I think was called the [indiscernible] [00:04:32] we were all so excited. So excited, I feel like I have PTSD talking about this. It’s like we’re trying to recount some her in this tragedy of the past and one that when after some her in this tragedies, sometimes the brain will go into a defense mechanism where you think yourself for a day or so, maybe that wasn’t so bad. And then the truth dawns and you are crouched in agony with tears streaming down your face about what really happened. Yeah, so that was my last experience actually waiting in line to see a Star Wars film. Beth Accomando: Oh, what I was going to ask you is now with online ticketing and reserved seats, I was really curious what lines were going to be like, if it was going to be the same with people camping out. I mean I remember camping out for days out in front of the Valley Circle Theater. Do you think it will have the same kind of level of standard and nerdiness and people waiting in line quite as long? Miguel Rodriguez: I can’t answer that with firsthand knowledge because I only waited in line for about 45 minutes and I suspect the person who is at the front of the line may be was there two or three hours. So I think you’re right. I think it’s a different experience because of online ticketing and virtually everyone there had their tickets pre-printed from Fandango. So it isn’t that I didn’t see any beach chairs out and tents or anything like that that I actually did see back when the [indiscernible] [00:06:22] came out. Yeah, I mean it also depends on the theaters too. Like some theaters now are fancy schmancy and they have reserved seating like the El Capitan tonight and so you don’t have to get there super early and it’s kind of like the – being able to stream video online and we are kind of babied now. Everything is just a little too easy I think. Beth Accomando: Okay. Miguel brought up The Dark Times”. No, no, no, it’s perfectly fair. So, I’m curious. Is anybody going into this film and in the back of their minds feeling Jar Jar Binks is like tugging at them, going like, “Don’t forget Lisa” and feeling a little – like trying to temper their excitement. How is Phantom Menace affecting your anticipation? All right, this is Dante, who happens to be a filmmaker also, so Dante, what are your expectations for this? Dante Moran: You know, I’m just kind of go in and just enjoy, hopefully. Because I mean there has been a lot of movies like a last couple of years I’m like, Oh man I can’t wait to see that and we drive up to Spectrum or LA, we go see it and it’s so quiet and when we’re all driving home. We’re all whooping and all and the music is going and we’re like excited and we come home and it’s like oh, nobody wants to say because that's sort, but it’s just one of those things. And this is one of those movies whereas – okay, everybody in this car who is over 35, I know you know this feeling when you go to movies like you people are [indiscernible] [00:07:55] to death, you have no care for the source material, all you care about is money and it’s like if you actually made a good movie, imagine how much money, more money you would make. And so I’m hoping that we don’t get there. I’m hoping that people will make this movie and I’m just like okay I remember the first film, I remember seeing it in theater and I remember just that spectacle, that wonder, like what Josh was talking about. And that’s what I want. So many movies that I’m seeing now, it’s like $200 million budgets, but yeah they come on and they just feel so hollow, they don’t have that camaraderie that the first one had. That’s the one thing that I loved about the cast. Everybody was cool and like when Han Solo came back and he saved, to that theater when crazy, dude. I mean you couldn’t hear yourself for like 15, 20 seconds. Everybody was just screaming and hollering because it was just wow, I mean now that would be cliché but back then when I was a kid, I mean I was out of my scene, I was cheering and we are all high-five and stuff like that. It was so cool and I want to get back to that. So I’m hoping at JJ and Mr. Abrams, Mr. Child of the 80s who was not born in the 80s, but do this justice. Because I mean the trailer looks cool and that’s what I’m hoping, in other way, I’m hoping that Lando Calrissian makes in appearance. Phillip Lorenzo: It is possible that Lando would make it appearance. I think… Beth Accomando: Introduce yourself. Phillip Lorenzo: Oh, yeah. I am Philip Lorenzo. And I think the biggest thing so far that has affected my judgment positive for this film is just seeing certain sequences and shots that look and remind me of episode four. But however, I do see this film even before I was told, it could be like the new hope, but the last hope or whatever because it feel so much like what episode four of it was like. The character of Ray in the trailer looks like, look Luke Skywalker, when she is in a desert, she is looking up at the dreams of launching into the sky and those things, those images are iconic and I think that, that is where the power this would be, which is kind of like you’ve actually mentioned at carbon paper where you’re kind of tracing over, this kind of thing that works and… Male Speaker: [indiscernible] [00:10:15] Phillip Lorenzo: Oh I’m sorry, I steal Miguel’s thunder, but Miguel can mention it again. I mean, but and you see the other thing about Star Wars and this where it differs very much from other franchise films. I think franchise films should all have expiration dates. I think they should eventually end. I don’t like franchise films that go on forever and ever and ever and ever. They should eventually go. And James Bond is an example of that, [indiscernible] [00:10:43] an example of that, they should die, they should just be done. But Star Wars in and of itself that’s one of the few that has an archetype where dare I say this and I know I make it something through out of me, the story doesn’t have to be perfect for it to work. Because the characters and the imagery from the original films are so iconic that it is Return of Jedi which is technically not the best film. Beth Accomando: But we don’t forgive him in manners. Phillip Lorenzo: We definitely don’t to be, what I think in years of thing, George Lucas forgot his – what hit the model of his films were. I think with Phantom Menace but I dare say, the prequel – anyway, the prequel should have been ending with and it can be born, it should have been a completely different universe, a completely different time and at the end of that trilogy, it should have been [indiscernible][00:11:29] and then some [indiscernible] [00:11:31] saying okay here is what’s coming next. Because what happened was in that original trilogy, you’re going to rush to make a dark theater, so everything they’re trying to do with this [indiscernible] [00:11:40] character is contrived because you’re like when we know these going to be come [indiscernible] [00:11:45]. The prequels, I still don’t know what to think of them, even though I watched them last week, I was like I don’t know what to think of you, I don’t know how to process you, I don’t know how to.. Beth Accomando: Dante has [Indiscernible] [00:11:55] because they’re hollow. Phillip Lorenzo: Exactly, it’s problematic for sure. Beth Accomando: Okay, this is Jas, what’s your Jas – what do you say about this prequel? Jasmine Gipson: Oh, for me, the prequel is where they’re very hollow and I am most looking forward to the particular effects. I drove eight hours to be with you guys from San Francisco to experience this because I remember waiting in those really long lines to see the prequels because I was really excited and… Male Speaker: [Inaudible][00:12:27] and another five hours. Jasmine Gipson: So, I drove to San Diego to drive all the way back to LA to see this with a group of my friends, but that’s how I much I believe in this being for me the last hope of being truly excited to see a Star Wars film and it’s because of the visuals for me, a lot of films for me are about the visuals and I was really excited to see that JJ was using practical effects. Because for me, all of the prequel stuff hollow because it was like an orgasm on the screen of CGI and that does made the acting feel hollow and the visuals feel hollow and I just never get pass that. So I had a very similar feeling to Miguel of – I really wanted the first film to be, the first peek would be great and I left going, well you know, it wasn’t that bad, it was okay. And I told my friends, it was okay and then a week later I just was like, yeah, it was really, it was not a great to – it was just bad. And I had to reconcile with myself and eventually I saw this I can in third films, but I just never got that feeling of amazement in wondering wow that I got with the original trilogy and I’m looking for that and I’m searching for that and that’s why I joke with all my friends and I call this at the episode 7, The Last Hope. Because for me, I need to see something that will sort of knock me over in terms of the visuals. I’m not that caught up with the story line. I don’t get that bogged down with the story line because really, to be honest, it’s kind of silly and I don’t want it being silly but I needed to have some kind of wait and that’s what I’m looking forward to. Beth Accomando: Okay, let’s go to Jose for a quick comment. Jose Iturriaga: Yeah, just regarding the prequels and I think – one thing that was telling for me was like in episode 3, the best scene is the one where there is no dialog and [indiscernible] [00:14:37] is looking through the window knowing that [indiscernible] [00:14:42] at the temple ready to kill the young ones and that seems, I thought it was probably the only one in the whole prequel trilogy that had some power to it because he was like just no dialog, just music and that’s when you know that’s when he goes totally to the dark side. And I thought that was kind of like weird, a scene that has no dialog and no, nothing going on. Well as the best scene while prequel trilogy because everything else has such a terrible dialog. But anyway I just wanted to bring that out. Beth Accomando: Okay, we’re returning to Phillip. Phillip Lorenzo: The prequels were made in that island called George Lucas Island and no one is invited to this island unless your name is George Lucas and the biggest trait of the best film in the series, which is episode 5, is that it was a different screen writer, is that it was Irvin Kershner even though I’m not going to mention but other pop culture for me directed that disciplined me, but with impressed six-pack, there was collaboration and with this film apparently there is collaboration, this film we are about to see tonight. So that’s always a good sign. You have to let other people in. You know you’re operating your own silo and your own planet, you’re not going to know what’s bad or good because you think in your head everything is good because you created it. George Lucas had created so many characters and so many different things, but because of budget and because of other factors, he couldn’t do all that in the original trilogy. And that’s what made it ironically very good because there are things he couldn’t put in there and then when he started messing with it and retouching it and putting new characters in and new songs and all that stuff, it was like for his own amusement. It wasn’t really for us the fans and I think that’s where when we talk about films are in the middle budget, but that expand their creativity because they have landed and they have to make choices and I think it wasn’t – nobody was going to tell them no, for anything he was doing. When George came up as an idea, I could not even imagine anybody that would say no to him at that point because it still passed like it got through, this whole concept, the art, the accent, everything got through. Someone approved and someone said this works and it was like… Male Speaker: [Inaudible] back on us. Phillip Lorenzo: Exactly, so that’s the big problem with the trilogy is that it was – there were the people, it was George Lucas saying this is what I think of my world and there is nothing you could do about it and it’s like no. Miguel Rodriguez: Well, the funny think about all of that is what took me to get through all of that is just to realize that these movies weren’t made for me. The first three, or from four through six, that was my film. Those were films made for me. The new ones were made for the new generation and I think with these movies coming out hopefully they will try to make a film that’s good for both, for all the generation. So it’s almost like going to a Rolling Stone concert, you see a guy at 70 and he is bringing his son and he was bringing his son, and he was bring the other son, hopefully it will be that type of we’re talking about collaboration. But another thing I think that was a problem of the prequels is it didn’t have a villain like Darth Vader. That’s a villain that you just cannot talk and no matter how hard you try and for me, a good action movie is just good as just – and if your villain is me, which I’m seeing in a lot of movies these days, it’s going to be lukewarm, at least for me as a film fan, does it make of sense. Male Speaker: [indiscernible] [00:18:24] Miguel Rodriguez: [indiscernible] [00:18:28] is a bit of an exception, he was kind of cool… Female Speaker: And they killed him. Miguel Rodriguez: And he was gone in three seconds, that’s through. Male Speaker: It makes me think of good fellows and pause of the character where he doesn’t have to move, he doesn’t have to do anything. He goes to a phone booth, he makes a call and then he goes back and he is like the most powerful gangster in that movie. He doesn’t do anything, with Darth Vader it’s so funny when you talk about the lights or battles and if he was able to say well how come these battles are so much different to [indiscernible] [00:18:53] he could throw stuff actually with his mind, I mean that’s a powerful villain, this is the guy, who can choke a guy just for, with a stab of a finger, that’s an amazing villain and I think what Darth Marr, when General Grievous and Count Dooku and all these other villains, it’s like well we have to fight with life so much first, no you don’t, if you’re powerful enough, you could just words took everybody out, you could force push everybody and gets a wall, you don’t have to do everything, so… Miguel Rodriguez: I was joking about the [indiscernible] [00:19:26] that was one of the things that I guess most fans really hate it. Female Speaker: Right after Jar Jar Binks. Male Speaker: Yeah, right after Jar Jar Binks and little and you’re an angel anyway, so that mean [indiscernible] [00:19:46] was there like slap in the face, I think for the fans because you have the original movies making you believe like okay you maybe sensible to the force, but if you work hard enough you can accomplish it like look really work he is as have to be able to control the force and become a Jedi and then all of a sudden it turns out it’s like genetics and you’re like oh okay, I guess the – we’re in the 99% that are, gets crewed and didn’t get the mid clearance, so I felt that was kind of weak. I thought I was really weak writing, a weak idea and you’ve kind of like broke all the mysticism of the force and how it works and made it something kind of like oh, guess you have blue eyes and are blonde, I guess you got your – you got it started out. Male Speaker: Do you think that’s the statement of the society today? Male Speaker: I think it does, it’s kind of reminded me of [indiscernible] [00:20:49] kind of like that’s how it is, so I thought it was kind of like a cheap thing I don’t know I was finding the pseudoscientific explanation for the force with these [indiscernible] [00:21:01] which is kind of like I guess mitochondrial living in yourselves or whatever. It also completely works, it is your own story, your own world, because we grew up with our the first trilogy talks about the force as a kind of almost religious thing and it’s mentioned over and over that the force is something that is around every living thing and surrounds us all. This is a breakaway from that. You’re breaking your own rules all of a sudden and whenever a world, a fictional world breaks its own rules like that, it’s jarring for the audience, especially, yeah for all the reasons what they said it’s actually kind of disappointing. Because there is kind of a storytelling aspect to the idea that if one trains and if one believes and one has a cause then they can alter, they can make a difference, but this is more like AI, the [indiscernible] [00:22:08] is almost like an area rise chosen one... Male Speaker: It’s selective. Male Speaker: Yeah, it’s a little bit weird and actually it’s despise, the midichlorians are the worst things ever, as ridiculous and stupid as Jar Jar Binks is, I do think the midichlorians are kind of in storytelling terms, the worst part of the original film, the original scene, the episode one. Yes, Joshua. Joshua Sutton: I think really the biggest thing that George did was mucking and changing the original three to somewhat fit his prequel and then refusing to ever release the actual prince, the real prince of copies of the originals and shot first. So what’s wrong with that? It is a pirate, why change that? That made no sense. Why change [indiscernible][00:23:06] voice, why include Amee [indiscernible] [00:23:06]? Why do all that. I mean I get it you can’t do it, sometimes if you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do it. And I think that’s worst problem really I think what he was is he is a child, they got a mutual way and he broke it because he used it too much and yeah, so that really – the prequels are what they are. But I think more the thing that I just could not take is the way he just – he messed up the originals and he didn’t mess it up completely, but and then refusing to allow us to at least see or go and get to like blue ray, the originals of blue ray, which I hear is changing hopefully, but I saw my original copies of VHS, I’m going to keep forever, so all that I will get to see, but there was people out there who haven’t seen the originals, who haven’t seen the way it really was and I just have a problem with that. I feel bad for Greedo. I feel bad for Greedo, I do. I feel bad for Greedo because not only does Greedo end up dead on a table, but Greedo, after the special editions, is the official worst bounty hunter in the entire galaxy. If Greedo shot first from across the table and misses, that makes no sense. I would like to play a little bit of the devil’s advocate regarding the prequels because obviously they had a lot of bad things, but there is also a very interesting element to them and I think it is regarding the story line. One of the things that I do like about the prequels, even though the storytelling isn’t great, it’s how part of the team rises to power. I’m not talking about the [indiscernible] [00:25:10] you know you’re going to be a savior or whatnot, no, that part doesn’t matter. But how since the beginning, he is seen, he is so complex in a way that he manages to have everybody doing what he wants them to do in order to finally accomplish being the emperor. I think that’s the only serving grace of the prequels even though if it’s in the movies it is executed a little bit of like haphazard. The body review, analyze it, as a whole plot how complex he planned everything like creating the clones and all that stuff in order – and manipulated everybody, everybody he manipulated like [indiscernible] [00:26:02] he manipulated the ZI council, he manipulated all the centers, everybody in order for them to trust him and let go and give him all the powers for him to start the war, which is kind of like a reflection of what happens in politics, in reality, how all these people that are in power kind of do all these crazy things in order to get to that point. Male Speaker: I always expected, I always expected [indiscernible][00:26:43] raised the power and all the points you’re making to have been on George Lucas', been in his mindset since the 70s and I think that’s why some of the things that happened at least in terms of some of the subtext behind it, is interesting because that’s the George Lucas who gave us like THX and some of the George Lucas’ better output and you know the execution in my opinion is really horrendous, but it is interesting that you do see some of George Lucas' like hyper liberal stuff come out and some of that like how does it start, it starts with economics. It’s unfortunate that they gave us one of the most boring storylines of all time, it’s true… Male Speaker: And one thing it’s funny, I don’t want to get it to like politics, but I’m doing, but it’s funny that it kind of happened during the 9/11 era. There is one phrase when they give the emperor basically free reign over everything and promises this phrase that I love and that’s how democracy ends with a thunderous applause. And that’s what happens when you see like certain politicians and it’s kind of relevant right now because you are seeing all these crazy candidates – so, it’s funny because that’s what happens like when the markets die or the liberties dies with everybody clapping to it. I thought those are some of the elements that I do like about a prequel. So that was just trying to play with little bit of devil’s advocate on some of the saving grace elements of it. It’s bad, but it does have some moments that are like – but that’s it, right, I’m out, peace. Male Speaker: The only thing I would say I [indiscernible] [00:28:33] against Donald Trump because Donald Trump has got all the establishment Republicans against him. I think he is more definitely got marker will be a George W Bush where he pursues you into this kind of idea that this makes sense and this works even though it’s going against every principle you could possibly imagine. And also playing on fears, which is an important part of that mechanism of the prequels, which is genuine fear. Like these Senators and these citizens have this fear of a new thing happening, the threat of these droids and the threat of the [indiscernible] [00:29:08] like ices, I mean they’re like – they’re own little plan and they’re kind of – they have these, but again, but that is economics, which you alluded to and as supposed to some kind of ridiculous ideology but still it’s just kind of fear we’ve known let’s give him all these power because we don’t know what to do, again that goes against the tenets of a space operating too, a space operation have C span seems in it. I was waiting for the C space logo to come up when the Senate hearings happened or like Wolf Blitzer is like doing a segment, we’re here alive and [indiscernible][00:29:51] has just gotten control of the armies and it’s like, so that was a big problem with the prequels too and I think speaking to the new generation now and to here is the new generation – I want to give a more credit that they can’t appreciate an offer like we did when we were kids. I want to give them more credit in that because again it goes back to George Lucas maybe thinking, he understood what the new generation wanted and it not being with the new generation wanted… Male Speaker: And it was the most successful ones out of all of them. Male Speaker: Oh no because – well the reason was most successful because like I say it’s a built in wear program because of that original challenge in those characters… Beth Accomando: So, all of my friends they have kids, they do not like the original trilogy as much as they love the prequels, they love Jar Jar Binks, they love all the characters that we hate like so – no I have friends that have small children and they go over the prequels and they think that the original trilogy is either silly or boring. Male Speaker: Well that’s what [indiscernible][00:31:02] two-fourth classes and they both love [indiscernible] [00:31:06] they love those characters too, so for me, I needed data driven metric before I would determine that the next generation… Female Speaker: I’m not saying the whole next generation, but I know that I have lots of friends that have small children and they love the prequels, so every time I go I do not came over them, they go what are you talking about, they’re great and I just – I don’t find by the reason that they give me why they like the prequels and why they don’t care for the original trilogy. I mean I can understand possibly why they may not like episode 5 as much because I’ll give it to them that episode 5 is slow and their eyes if they are used to seeing a later like shift, you know what I’m saying, where it’s more [indiscernible] [00:31:52] as a Star Wars film could be, but I guess I could see where they’re coming from, but it still like knocks me over where I hear that. Male Speaker: I would look at the panel of kids watch episode 1 and 2 because I think it would be 2, but episode 1, but episode 2 has like a [indiscernible][00:32:16] romance novel in the middle of the film. I don’t think the kids would like that. Male Speaker: [Indiscernible][00:32:20]. Male Speaker: Where I think it’s complaining about the sand and tattooing being two course and that takes like literally minutes like – it’s like I went out like and audience and kids to watch that out, so they go what is this, what is this [indiscernible] [00:32:33] ? Female Speaker: They also love the dresses that Amidala wears, so she has fantastic makeup and fantastic care and she wears multiple dresses that are fabulous. So you have to think about that also, you’re not thinking like a little girl. Male Speaker: No, no, I think… Male Speaker: I hope not. Female Speaker: The thing I feel is that generation got cheated. It’s like they love those movies and part of the reason I think they love them is because they were passed down to them by their parents. I mean a lot of these kids it’s their parents who took them to see those films and introduced them to and built them up with this home mythology. But I feel like their generation that got cheated because they got the bad Star Wars. Cristal, you’re in the front there and you haven’t spoke and do you want to say anything? Cristal Salinas: So, I happened to be in that generation where I grew up, my parents took me to see Star Wars. I loved the originals. I dragged my son to go see the new ones and made him watch the old ones, maybe he has something to say about it, but literally I’m in that class of, I took my kids and my parents went today at 12:30 to see the movie. So I’m really excited to hear what they have to say and I’m really excited about this movie. Beth Accomando: How did you feel about the prequel? Cristal Salinas: I mean they – it really wasn’t – I wasn’t that bad, I’m glad and went to go see them, it’s a movie, so I’ll go, but no, nothing desirable in there. It was great I guess to experience it with Tyler, so I’m really glad we’re getting to see this one together as well. Beth Accomando: To focus on something a little more positive, does anybody have any really geeky thing that they did in regards to like the first Star Wars movies? I know that I bought a super A projector and a film, which was 20 minutes of the movie, which I ran like every single night I had that memorize backwards and forwards. I went to the center three [indiscernible] [00:34:32] at noon and stayed through to the last film at the end, hiding in the bathroom because this is when multiplexes were new, hiding in the bathroom to like get-in, those really kind of things that I was doing and I joined the fan club, I don’t know if anybody else doing the fan club that they used to send you a record, a little plastic record that you would cut out from the newsletter to play, so I’m just wonderful if anybody else has anything embarrassing from their Star Wars Phantom. Male Speaker: I own the A track of the whole movie. So I would listen to it and I got to a point, it is to a point where I really can’t watch the original with anyone because I tend to say the lines, when they release them, I took my friend who never seen before and they were watching, they were sitting and next thing I know she pats me on the shoulder and she is like, Can you sit over there. I was like what what’s going on? She is like, You’re saying all the lines before they happened. I was like oh really and I do it, I don’t even notice I do it sometimes, so I guess that’s my thing. Male Speaker: I probably go lose some nerd [indiscernible] [00:35:39] because I don’t remember the name of this book, although it’s nothing enough to say I read some of the Star Wars novels, but when the first Star Wars came out, before they knew there was going to be any others, there was a novelization for a possible sequel. Has anyone heard about this? One of the things I did was I tracked down that novel and I read it and I tried to talk to other people about it, but the novel completely makes no sense. First of all, of course, we don’t know that Luke and Leia are brother and sister. So there is more romantic stuff that goes on between them, things like that. They spend the entire time lost in a small planet, which ends up becoming Dagobah later on in the film and I think one of the – I’m failing here because I don’t even remember who wrote it, but it’s a fairly prominent science fiction author who was tagged to write this, but they didn’t think that they were going to get money for a sequel, but maybe they would get a little bit of money, so like no space ships, the whole thing takes this in the swarm and I think Vader shows up at the end, but it’s just like Luke and Leia are lost in some planet and getting like in trouble, relating to a literature and I think can be – when it comes to a Star Wars franchise, it’s pretty down and dirty. Miguel Rodriguez: In my case, I guess that would be, in Mexico, there was a company called [indiscernible] [00:37:16] which have the right, to put in use of the action figures down there. Now a days, they are like highly sought after and they’re like super expensive and you can find them like original in the package and everything like that. So my dad [indiscernible] [00:37:33] once to the factory where they would make the Star Wars toys and it was great because they had a showroom with all the figures there and you could buy them cheaper than in retail. So that was a great geeky moment, so I actually go to the factory that makes Star Wars toys in Mexico. Now, here is a nerdy part of it, I remember at that point getting an R2-D2 figure and when I went back home and I opened it, I realized that the sticker wasn't screen accurate. So, I was silly enough to take this sticker out and make my own copying exactly as it was from the actual R2-D2 and years later I realized that was kind of a dumb things, but back in the day that was kind of like my highest level of geekiness as a kid to have a screen accurate R2-D2. Male Speaker: Actually, it’s a circle and three dots, not a circle and four dots. Male Speaker: Yeah, like the dome is totally wrong, so but anyway, that was it. That was it. Anybody else? Beth Accomando: Okay, wait, we got to stop because I have to change my batteries. Jas, do you have a geeky thing to reveal? Jasmine Gipson: Sure, I have two, you could pick one. So, I was not born until the third original trilogy Return of Jedi came out and I wasn’t really old enough to realize that 20th Century Fox logo actually comes up at the beginning of all of their films. So I just thought that, that means Star Wars are starting. So every time I saw a 20th Century Fox logo, I thought Star Wars is coming on. So usually in my house that Star Wars was coming on in some shape or form, so anytime I saw that logo, I would shout Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, as a kid and my family thought it was hilarious even if Star Wars wasn’t coming on, but generally my household Star Wars was getting ready to come on. What I was saying earlier before there were court that was turned back on was that I was going to naval office candidate school when Episode 3 was coming out and I was still really holding out hope that they were going to do the transformation to dark theater correctly and I was like I’m going to miss Episode 3 coming out and I really want to like have some part in this. So I picked up the book companion to Episode 3 and I read it and I thought well this is really kind of good and actually this is great and they did the transition of Darth Vader like [indiscernible] [00:40:25] and like everything that I ever envisioned like for years and I was so excited and I was like yes, I cannot wait to see this movie because this is supposed to be the companion to the film and then we got our eight week or 10 week liberty call and I’m wearing this horrible, what we call ice cream suits, which are all white like liberty clothes for office candidate school, I’m in Pensacola, Florida. It’s like a 100 degrees outside and I’m wearing a uniform that doesn’t breath, I go to the movie theater. They are still there. I’m the only one there. I watch the film and it was like wa wa and I just couldn’t believe it because the book was so good and the film didn’t translate. So for me, those were sort of my geeky movements with Star Wars. Male Speaker: And I had the [indiscernible] [00:41:22] at one point of my life, but that’s about it. That's about it. No, but you know the thing about it, do you remember it being geek culture or do you just remember it just being science fiction culture? Jasmine Gipson: Well, I don’t know if we, I would just specifically refer to it is geek when I was doing it. But I know that it was weirder than what the other kids were doing. What did you do on the weekend? Oh I sat the Sunday three cinemas for like 12 hours and watched Star Wars six times. Oh. But I had friends who did the same thing that we’re really into it and waited in line forever and I was going back then too so to me, it seemed kind of like just what we did and also when I was 16 when Star Wars came out and I actually asked to go to the Academy Awards and they gave me tickets, so my friend and I got tickets to the Academy Awards and we got to see Star Wars [indiscernible][00:42:32], which I think is part of the reason it took me so long to like getting out. We were in the last row of the last balcony and the last seats like way up in the rafters and we got to see George Lucas arrive and it was great and we were so pissed when it didn’t wait, we’ve brought for sure, but anybody else feel do you have a geeky Star Wars memory? Male Speaker: I think it was before Empire Strikes Back and I actually the day that I was supposed to go to Empire Strikes Back I played with all my action figures and it [indiscernible] [00:43:03] seems from a new hope, so I did like – I tried to do like the ex-wing with the [indiscernible] [00:43:11] that star even thought I didn’t have a deck star, so I had a like create a box, so I check call the deck star and that stuff and then I got to the theater and my biggest memory was – I was thinking in my head what’s going to happen in this film? And the moment that I could remember because I was like five then [indiscernible] [00:43:28] came out was Darth Vader said he would looks at [indiscernible] [00:43:36] by the way, when that happened, my little brain was in complete shock. Like I was really upset. Like I was crying after the movie and my mom is like why you’re crying? Because, because, because Darth Vader looks dying and that’s terrible, like I was just – I don’t remember everything, I just remember crying about it and thinking that how is this possible, how is it possible this [indiscernible] [00:44:04] this person I see is like there is spiritual robotic evil thing is dead. It just freaked me out and I’m like, Oh my God, this whole concept is crazy. So I think that was my baby’s geeky moment because it was a big day, I was really excited, I was like, oh my gosh they got a [indiscernible] [00:44:22] and then to get that bomb shot dropped on you, that was like what – it’s like pulling and that’s why I still favor to this series because that movement is still amazing, I could watch that movement, I’m like oh my gosh, it was amazing and then Lucas kind of like and you’re just thinking all the time like what? So, and especially of course when you hope bends OB1 and OB says your dad was be threat and killed and that’s it, you just missed the dad and you’re done and that was brilliant because then you don’t remember him, don’t think about him and when he says, it’s like yeah, so that was it. Beth Accomando: Tony, my son is here in the car with us. He is 22. Do you have any – remember he is at Star Wars, what is this mean to you to go to this film? Tony Weidinger: I mean I have lots of memories of Star Wars. I don’t think any of them is geeky as anyone else, but I did see the prequels as a kid. I liked them, but I rarely watch them since then. I remember [indiscernible] [00:45:28] think I did was one Christmas where I asked for [indiscernible] [00:45:33] Beth Accomando: And did you get that? Tony Weidinger: I got to do some amount, not as many as I wanted because that’s a kid I wanted like as many as the empire had in the one scene, there is walking through all, yeah exactly they got like 12 and I wanted a couple 100, so… Beth Accomando: Do you know how had that was for your mom, I defined off like 34-year-old men when they opened the boxes at [indiscernible] [00:45:58]. Male Speaker: They were like a real life jingle all the way. Male Speaker: Yes exactly. Tony Weidinger: When I said that, I actually thought that was going to be easier for people because I thought they wouldn’t have really look for anything red because I was like oh stormtroopers – they’re pretty common and it was like simple, everything is just the same thing for everyone. So I thought that would be easier, I didn’t mean it to be hard. I think the only think I’m looking for in this movie is just something entertaining. Beth Accomando: All right, so let’s around and wanting to rank the Star Wars films as to, which is your favorite? Miguel Rodriguez: Oh well, I mean I hate to be what’s probably going to act go here a lot, but my favorite is The Empire Strikes Back. Why do I think The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite? I think for one reason is when I still have memories of first watching it and similarly to film, I don’t think I cried, but it definitely – it definitely is the film that packs the most punches emotionally because it goes to most of the darkest places and it’s a film where consequences happen and the consequences, which was an interesting thing for me when I was younger, the consequences happened from the first film. Like the second film the The Empire Strikes Back are consequences of the first film and I found that really striking when I was younger. It’s like the first film ends with a [indiscernible] [00:47:23] award ceremony with necklaces being put on the characters necks, but then you get The Empire Strikes Back and that kind of award is completely reversed, yeah the tone is different plus you got the empire theme and that one and it’s awesome, but I think it’s just that idea of consequences and revolutions that are really strong in the second one, stronger than any of the others. Male Speaker: For me, yeah it’s the same, empire is my favorite. I also think it had to do with the fact that that was actually the first one I saw in theaters because when Star Wars came out, I was three years old [indiscernible] [00:48:07] I saw it in Super 8 at our neighbors house and I love that, seeing empire in a big screen was just totally an experience like looking at that battle of half is still my favorite like the ships, I served just amazing and how you see as Miguel said like the consequences of the strain, the death star here counts the empire will all of its power to try to crush the rebellion was like whole account. These guys are more powerful than we thought because and the first when you think like, oh everything – it’s done, but now it isn’t you know. There is like a whole lot going on. I told of the Yoda, Yoda was still to this day, it’s silly for some people but for me, a lot of things I learned when I was growing up came from Yoda and… Male Speaker: You know, that was my real dad. Male Speaker: And Mr. [indiscernible][00:49:17], those were like my movie mentors. Male Speaker: Well, they’re basically the same character. Male Speaker: Yeah, they’re basically the same characters, but I found it fascinating, getting into a little bit more of the visuals, my favorite sat from all of these Star Wars movies is the – the carbonate chamber and cloud CD and I think that battle is visually mesmerizing and the whole thing and how we dance and all that. I mean the scene obviously of the reveal of Vader to look is just one of those iconic moments in movie history reality, so yeah I’ll go with empires is my favorite as well. Beth Accomando: Cristal? Cristal Salinas: Empire and I’m going to pass it Josh. Joshua Sutton: Okay, well, let me first submit totally that empire I think is the more superior element technically-wise, story-wise it is. But if I’m going to go on full total emotion – yes, because I am deeply alluded in trade and negotiations, no really. New hope because it’s a first one it introduced me this world, these characters and this is pure emotion. I mean like I said I love them all, probably not all, but it really when you think and look at all four movies or three movies, the first one was really the only one were all four of them where all the characters basically worked together totally because in Empire should expect their split off, which on the Jedi, has been saved. A New Hope is kind of more… Male Speaker: A New Hope is like the [indiscernible][00:51:00]. Joshua Sutton: Yeah and like I said this is not enough on the other two because by far I think if you want me to ask me what the superior movie, the better movie was? It’s empire definitely because like I said it’s got the most emotion, it’s got the most, it’s dread, it is a wonderful movie, wonderfully read movie, done, like I said the half battle scenes, everything about that movie is wonderful, but if you want just emotion and my favorite and when I watch pretty much twice, three, four, five times a year, it’s A New Hope. Beth Accomando: Jas? Jasmine Gipson: I think this is a trick question honestly. I really know how anybody is answering this question, but when I was a kid, I would have said A New Hope, I think for the same reasons that Josh just said. But as I grew up, I think that I became more appreciative of empire for the simple fact that I sort of reconciled myself that Lando was a backstabber. Because when I was younger, I really didn’t like the fact that like the only minority character in this film was a trader and it really hurt my eye that like he became sort of like this sort of willing character and it was just sort of like oh man really the only black dude has to like stab on in the back like really. I know that it was a set up for like bigger and better things for, to tell the story and push the story further along. But as a kid, I just like – I was like really and it was really sort of a heavy, it was really heavy for me as a child in part, but as I grew up in like really saw more the value of what was going on. I could appreciate Empire more and that type sort of became more of my favorite film when I go home and I think when I watch Star Wars, I definitely pop in A New Hope first and if I get around to it, the Empire goes in and the next thing, the next thing and I end up watching the whole trilogy. So… Male Speaker: Three favorite one pie definitely have to be Empire, I liked it because it’s just dark, it was a darker film and I like that – I mean I’ve always liked that of all films even when I was young. I thought it was a nice continuation of the story also and especially once, I mean we didn’t have the Internet back then, but when you get more information and you find out that then you may expect the first one to be a success, and so they hadn't planned on making any others and the fact that I thought it was a smooth transition and plus you get the [indiscernible] [00:53:59] we’re all like what no way, almost beat up some relatives in my because they were talking toward in the movie and I had to get on a man, as they – you don’t come to my movie and you start talking, so yeah that was a great one. Male Speaker: What are you thought on Lando Calrissian? Male Speaker: Oh dude lovely Lando, come on man Billy Dee, he was a kid [indiscernible] [00:54:27] I’m just… Female Speaker: [indiscernible] [00:54:35] Male Speaker: Dude, are you kidding me then, I had to [indiscernible] [00:54:43] Female Speaker: I had no choice, but it’s to tray. Male Speaker: Good stuff. Male Speaker: You just think about the Lando thing, I say before I mentioned – that’s interested is the Lando character though, it’s easy to – and I love that Jas mentions the Lando character because it is the one minority character in the film that backstabbed [indiscernible] [00:55:10] but it speaks to a bigger truth about when you are a minority in this country and you are agree with certain things, we accept certain things about the circumstances you have and you become very self-protective and you become very self-protective your neighborhood, for him cloud city is what his God and then here is this evil empire coming in and telling them if you don’t do this, you’re going to lose your land, you’re going to lose everything you have. And do you know, it becomes a situation of, I don’t know I’m fascinating anyway that because it goes back to how come impact like there more like a stores and let staff like always we talk about justification and stuff like that, I almost like it and [indiscernible] [00:55:46] forgive me, but it’s almost like he was like the Magic Johnson of the Galaxy, he was like owning of the Starbucks here and like and then all the sudden of the empires like you got to gave [indiscernible] [00:55:54] so I felt for Lando, I actually felt bad for him when [indiscernible] [00:55:59] chocking him in that film, I felt that from where I was like C through PO, let him go, this guy had no choice. Male Speaker: He had to choose between everything he had built and it’s [indiscernible] [00:56:12] it was still just like old gambler buddy that he knew. Male Speaker: All right, but my favorite is definitely Empire because it just – it has everything, it is still the package, it’s what you want to stars [indiscernible] [00:56:28] if you imagine your favorite stars want to be – to me that it’s Empire, it set to me the director of one of my sequels of all time is also the director over the war sequels I ever seen, I just woke up too, so I always think about this is the guy that director of The Empire Strikes Back and… Male Speaker: [Indiscernible][00:56:50] Frank Miller. Male Speaker: Oh I know. Female Speaker: But still he doesn’t have the director credit too. Male Speaker: [Indiscernible][00:56:55] Male Speaker: And also the idea that the Empire can go anywhere. When they have to [indiscernible] [00:56:59] they’re great, they’re fine, they’re doing okay and everything looks cool and it’s pretty and then no [indiscernible] [00:57:04] in the dinner table and is ready to take your soul. Male Speaker: [Inaudible][00:57:10]. Male Speaker: That seems amazing and there is [indiscernible] [00:57:12] it’s like hello there and that’s – that whole sequence is amazing, so yeah it’s got to be Empire Strikes Back. Female Speaker: And then the empire ends up screen Lando anyways, which is perfect, which is why I love it because it’s like he does all these things, he traces friend and then you know, does this like our deal is just changed to you, I love that, like to me, that’s just perfect, that’s perfect evil. Female Speaker: And that is [indiscernible] [00:57:40] for how minorities are treated. At the end of the day, for example, think about that movie Will Smith in Six Degrees Of Separation where he is trying everything to fit it, but he still doesn’t fit in right and I don’t know I think of those things, it’s like no matter what he would do for the empire, the empire doesn’t it’s like whatever it is like… Male Speaker: The one thing I liked about Lando’s character is that well he played a character, I didn’t necessarily look at him as a minority having grown up on like a lot of the classics then you see minorities play a certain part where is you have a guy here, he is the boss is the same way with the black expectation films, lot of those did not get a lot of the respect I think they deserve, but there were lot of good ones man, there were like black actors playing characters and like if you saw Black Caesar, the director of that Jack Hill, white guy and he said I wanted to make The Godfather or like a good father or something like that, but I’m just using black actors, I don’t want stereotypes or anything like that. I want people to play characters, real characters and those type of films always resonated with me and that’s one of the things I liked about Lando as he was the guy who one had power, he was the main guy no matter how much power you had, you always appointed to answer to someone else, he may answer to the empire [indiscernible] [00:59:01] I mean, I grew up on Billy Dee and he was always a person that wanted to be a swab character. Female Speaker: I didn’t think that he was like a stereotypical like oh he is a minority, so he has to be bad character, I was just like why – what it really [indiscernible] [00:59:22]. No. Male Speaker: As the camera pants off. Female Speaker: Because he was supposed to be like [indiscernible] [00:59:33] do you know like that… Male Speaker: There is say he is one of the more complex characters of the movie like just the things he has to deal with that we don’t even see like he says when he is walking them through clouds that he has administer the entire city I mean he is essentially like a president, and so, when a greater power comes into to take over it, it does messes with your mind and… Male Speaker: Lando was not born into governorship. He was a gambler and he was a hood like Han Solo. He was a Han Solo basically, but he is a Han Solo who is able to grow out of that and build this, probably one of the most beautiful planets that we’ve seen in the universe. So, I mean Lando is a really interesting character, I agree with that. Beth Accomando: So, Tony is one of the younger ones here, do you, how do you rank the films? Tony Weidinger: I don’t know. I’m not, I never thought about ranking them so far. I don’t know. As a kid I did really like I’m Empire [indiscernible] [01:00:31] made me sad, I like to Return of Jedi, the best as a kid but … Male Speaker: Ah, you love the [indiscernible] [01:00:36]. Tony Weidinger: Yeah, as a kid I did, and it looks kind of stupid now. But back then yeah, I was, I was enjoying all the celebrating teddy bear cuteness, but… Male Speaker: They threw [indiscernible] [01:00:51] parties, I heard. Male Speaker: Do they’ve got a New York brothel? Male Speaker: Do you ever see a female in New York? What does a female in New York look like? Male Speaker: They’re like pretty like all the others. Male Speaker: It’s like the dwarfs, you get the seven dwarfs. Male Speaker: With those little nubby fingers. Beth Accomando: All right, I think on that note, we’re going to end part one of this Cinema Junkie Road Trip. These are our thoughts going into the screening of The Force Awakens. We’re probably still a couple of hours away from LA, our screenings is going to be, I believe at 10:15 and after the film on the car ride back, we are going to check with these people again to see, if The Force Awakens lived up to their expectations or not. [Background unknown audio presentation] [01:01:51] [Background conversation] [01:01:53] Male Speaker: I got to get to the theater. Male Speaker: We got reserved seats? Male Speaker: No, we arrived at reserved seats. Male Speaker: I know we got reserved seats, but it’s going to be insane, don’t you guys want to check that up? Male Speaker: Check insanity? Male Speaker: Yeah. That’s way you could [indiscernible] [01:02:04] … Male Speaker: Actually all of the seats at the whole theater is reserved. [Movie Starts] [01:02:10] – [Movie ends] [01:02:26]. Beth Accomando: Great so, we have all just finished watching The Force Awakens. I think it’s about 1:30 in the morning and we’re heading back … Male Speaker: 2:15. Beth Accomando: Oh, my God, it’s 2:15 in the morning and we’re heading back on the road to San Diego, and now we want to find out what people thought. So this first part of the reaction will be spoiler free, it will just be the general response to whether or not everyone liked the film. So let’s start with Miguel, because he’s closest to me in the car. Miguel Rodriguez: This was my second time seeing it, and I actually enjoyed it as a film more the second time, this might tick some people off, but I like it better than the Return of the Jedi. Beth Accomando: So, Josh, now that we’re going in the correct direction on the freeway, what did you think? Joshua Sutton: I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a Star Wars movie, it’s a real Star Wars movie. It’s the first ones since Jedi in my opinion, yeah, I plan to see it again. Beth Accomando: Cristal? Male Speaker: Cristal. Cristal Salinas: I loved it. Jose Iturriaga: A women of few words. I am Jose. And I have mixed feelings. I have very strong remixed feelings. There’s a physics that I really enjoyed and the orders have me baffled, they need to adjust them a little bit more. So I think a second viewing might help to clear that out, but right now I’m, I have mixed feelings, that’s all I’m going to say for now. He’s drying his tears. Blanca Osorio: I loved it, I really like it. Beth Accomando: Okay, introduce yourself. Male Speaker: Hey, you’re new. Blanca Osorio: Okay, Blanca. Male Speaker: So, Blanca was a hitchhiker. Blanca Osorio: I jumped into the van. I don’t know anybody here. Male Speaker: But she’s very pretty, so she just kind of flew in through an open window. Blanca Osorio: Yeah. But yeah, no, it really reminded me of you know the original Star Wars movies since like where the Red robe is also very modern, it’s just action packed which is what I love in the movie, and yeah, I freaking loved it. Beth Accomando: Alright. And for one of the young one’s reactions? Tony, what did you think? Tony Weidinger: It’s very entertaining. I liked it. Beth Accomando: Another person of few words. All right, Dante, what did you think? Dante Moran: It was great, it was a lot of fun. It had the great chemistry between the actors and of course is great seeing the old school actors, the original actors come back and in cameos here and there, and the story moved you know forward. John Boyega was very good, Daisy Ridley, she was very good. I liked her. And she had a nice presence as a heroine and I think this is her first role, so imagine you know being in the Star Wars movie as your first role the pressure there. It was good, it was very entertaining. Again like I said, the comedy was, was fun. It wasn’t stupid. That’s the one thing I’m hating about a lot of movies that are coming now a days, they choose silliness over wit. The story felt like a Star Wars film and the effects were great. A lot of practical effects mixed with the nice CG and I’d like the fact that they had a lot of practical make-up too. And you see a lot of the features from the older episode, so that was great. I enjoyed it, I can see that again. Beth Accomando: Jas? Jasmine Gipson: I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed it mainly because I could feel like I said before, I could feel the weight of it, I enjoyed the practice effects, I enjoyed the visuals but like Dante was saying, there’s comedy when that needed to be comedy, but there was also, it brought out certain emotions for new and old Star Wars fans, I feel. I think that this is sort of a film that more probably do that bridging of the gap that we’re talking about with the young and old Star Wars fans, I hope at least. I was happy to see something that I was not disappointed when I walked out of the film. Tyler Salinas: Hello, my name is Tyler. And I liked it a lot. It was funny and good and everything good about the movie and I enjoyed the crowd that we had around us. They were all energetic also. I thought it was great. Oh, yeah, I’m sorry it’s a [indiscernible] [01:06:45] I’m still processing it and I did enjoy it a lot, and it just feels like it you definitely know it’s going in a new direction. I felt like even though there is a lot of familiarity. To me the style was yeah, I’ll get into a more in this spoiler part of this I guess, but I enjoyed it a lot and I was at the edge of my seat, which I have been in a blockbuster in a while. Beth Accomando: All right. So, anyone listening to the podcast right now, if you don’t want to hear any details at all about the script and I suggest to turn this off, until you’ve seen the film and then you can come back and listen to the rest of it. But if you’re a true Star Wars fan, you’ve must have seen the film, on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. So, we are now going to talk about the film in a little more detail. So, who would like to be the first one to tackle the spoiler? Male Speaker: We’ll go in the same order. Some of the things I wanted to say about my, my reactions felt like they were possibly spoilerish, so I felt like I could get into them but one thing that could be seen as a fault but probably isn’t seen as a fault by fans is, you know, this movie, seeing it the second time it feels like it almost could be for all intents and purposes, almost a kind of remake of the A New Hope, just like it hits all the exact same beats, it has the lot of the exact same story things. I think that was completely on purpose to kind of bring us back around for circle. It’s funny if you read any of the reviews. One things I’ve noticed is there’s a pattern that everybody is saying that it’s fun but doesn’t break any new ground. Something along those lines. And most of them are using that as a positive thing that we are back to form. But a couple of them are using the exact same observation as a deterrent or as a negative. I think it just depends on, if you really love the original series, it has the, it is a return to the tone, the feel, the way it looks, then world feels the same, and one thing I have to say is for JJ Abrams, I really feel like he left the JJ Abramsness out and it just feels like a Star Wars movie which personally I really appreciated. Female Speaker: Well, one of the things I think about that notion of it, repeating the original formula, I think if this had come right after Return of the Jedi, like at the point in which the prequels came, I think it would feel more of an imitation and more of a detriment, but the fact that we went through the dark times in the prequels and it took so long for us to get back to it, and that fairly, I mean, that line from the trailer, you know till we were home, I think kind of sums it up for me, which is it’s returning back to these things and saying okay, we know you were not happy with the other films. This is a comfort film for you to make you feel better. And then I’m feeling that possibly in the next one, there may be of a break with that formula or there may be an attempt to do something a little bit different. But I think this was really kind of the necessary film, the healing film. One of my friends posted on Facebook, she described it as like, having had a horrible breakup or you know a lover who betrayed you and then not being able to trust anyone anymore. So like this was the film to rebuild trust. So, alright, who else would like to make a comment about something that you might be revealing a spoiler in order to talk about…. Male Speaker: Let the negative … Male Speaker: I’m holding it up some one grab it. Male Speaker: No, not negative necessarily, there were several I want to end that word, deterrent like that, throwback to specially the first Star Wars, like a lot of elements as Miguel mentioned like you know having BBA it carrying the important information like Rey kind of stumbled up on him and now she’s in a mission to deliver the robot to the Resistance which is kind of like the Rebel Alliance now. So that kind of like sounded, I felt like really familiar, what was different was the character of John Boyega. Finn, I thought was an interesting, taken a character of a Stormtrooper that actually has a face and a conscience because, you know, in the original movies that you just see them as you know cannon fodder and this then we’re on this like okay, there’s actually something behind that’s having us also Captain Phasma. Further we’re going to explore a little bit more, I thought that was kind a like a missed opportunity and it turned out into being just like a bubble head kind of thing. But I would have like to see a little bit of the character. Then let’s move on to like Kylo Ren. I thought at first it was a great character. I thought his much evasions were a little weak. Yeah, I mean, it kind of felt like, I might get some flack for this but it kind of felt like the motivations of Anakin, that there were really not motivations at all. So… Female Speaker: It’s built in their DNA. Male Speaker: Yeah, maybe that’s what it is. I don’t know, it felt kind of weak like oh, I just want to finish what just started was like what… Male Speaker: This film that he’s the least, he’s the most contrived character. Male Speaker: Yeah, and on the, and you can tell because you know Darth Vader when he was pissed off he would kill any of his officers, and this guy would just go on a 10 per 10 and destroyed it’s controls on the computers. So I thought that was kind of like… Male Speaker: It seems like this guy is costing me millions. Male Speaker: Exactly, like so, I felt that was kind of like a weird thing, like he’s still like probably too young to be even trying to, to become a Sith, and he’s a little clumsy in that regards. I mean, you can tell like his way of fighting. Male Speaker: It is mentioned explicitly that he has not finished with his strength. Male Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you can tell like, for example, somebody like Darth Maul, whose still an apprentice, but he is like in tune with what he’s supposed to be doing and these guys are still having a lot of conflicts. I kind of like was a little disappointed with that. The other thing and the biggest spoiler of all was Han Solo’s fate, and I thought it was weak and I thought it was pointless. Male Speaker: Yeah, yes, I completely disagree with that. Male Speaker: Yeah, I disagree with that. Male Speaker: Han Solo is the, is the [indiscernible] [01:13:41] movie, yeah. Female Speaker: Yeah. Male Speaker: I know from a standpoint like oh, yeah, like a fodder I’ll do anything, but, yeah, he did sacrifice himself but for not I mean, didn’t really cause any major change in Kylo Ren’s, except it wasn’t for Kylo Ren’s benefit it was for Rey’s benefit. Yeah, his death is what supercharged Rey at the end. So it’s the Sith, and again, this is going back to this being kind of a carbon copy of A New Hope, and I’m sorry guys, I didn’t call that Star Wars, it’s just called Star Wars, where Ben Kenobi meets the fate like that, it follows the kind of, but the heroes journey, the Joseph Campbell archetype of and this is actually a flaw in this movie as well. But the archetype of the sage, the person who is the mentor has to fall in order for you to grow and that’s what happens in the first Start Wars film and Han Solo in this is on that track. He’s is basically Ben Kenobi of this film, in fact he calls Kylo Ren Ben. So, he even named, he named his son after Ben Kenobi, but he is the mentor for Rey. The side flaw is that they don’t explore that mentorship enough and they just try to allude to it, while Rey is getting tortured about how he’s her surrogate father and that kind of thing. Male Speaker: And in that regard. Male Speaker: But his fate had to happen. It was not pointless, there were certain things that were rushed, like all of a sudden he becomes a mentor. If there’s not a buildup on that, it just like oh, she knows how to do things in the Millennium Falcon, okay in that line, you’re my mentor kind of thing. And then the fact that originally the only one is sacrifices himself in order for everybody else to escape, here what Han Solo did, it kind of puts everybody in Han’s way, because you know those surrounded by [indiscernible] [01:15:54]. So, it kind of and you know because in the other one like they close the door on Darth Vader, so he cannot come after them, and this way he goes, Kylo Ren actually goes after them and you know you see what the fate of the film is. The film was also about Rey and then there’s the other thing that bothered me a little bit is they were pretty savvy with the light saber skills considering it is the first time they’re handling it. So, that kind of bugged me a lot. Female Speaker: The Dark Force. Male Speaker: Everything happened really, really fast. Overall you know the effects were great, the storyline was clever, I loved how they bring Han Solo back, all this series of reunions were great, the last three union meeting was, Luke Skywalker was perfect, I wish we could have seen a little bit more of him, I didn’t know he was going to be just that just a cameo. Male Speaker: With no lines. Female Speaker: Yeah. Male Speaker: Yeah, with no lines, I was kind of expecting him to like use the force and grab the light saber and then there is a couple of reasons and they’re picking about a couple of questions is like how did they recover the light saber that he lost and that’s been, and how did they recover Darth Vader’s helmet that only Luke Skywalker knew where it was. So, but those new picks of mine. Male Speaker: I think, as far as the light saber goes, it seems like there’s going to be a story of that. Male Speaker: Yeah. Male Speaker: I do have the exact same question about Vader’s helmet. Male Speaker: Yeah, it only look new unless he told Kylo Ren when he was training him and also it kind of felt a little bit out of character for Luke to leave when Kylo Ren turned into the dark side. I don’t know that kind of felt weird for me. Male Speaker: That maybe an incomplete story to you? Male Speaker: Yes, we don’t know the whole story of that. Male Speaker: Yeah. Male Speaker: Because you know he has been mentored by dead people. So, it’s very possible that maybe a Yoda or OB1, said to him for balance you need to leave. No, it’s not, it’s not a complete story yet. The story isn’t over yet. So I think a lot of these questions that we have might have answers. Male Speaker: I have to admit though, I felt a little bit the same way. Like when you watch the original trilogy, ultimately the trilogy is about the story of Luke, and how he grows in character and by the end he’s finally mastered his character and we don’t know what happened to make him leave, but on the surface right now, it does seem rather petulant that he did. I’m going to be, be myself on an island. Male Speaker: The whole thing was that, I guess the legend was, he was going to look for a Jedi temple, which could also on a very beautiful water planet, and you know maybe that will have more of a story ahead, maybe there is something there that needs to find or get to bring balance. It’s also knowing that also is what the whole thing like the beginning was that he was to bring balance to the force. Technically he did, yeah, he saved his dad, but obviously there’s still things out there. Male Speaker: Ultimately that the whole things is about daddy issues. Female Speaker: Yes, all of them. Male Speaker: It’s either all of that way, and that’s kind of where it comes back down to Han and Kylo Ren as well. I do want to say as long as I'm on iceland island or whatever that the island where Luke Skywalker is. One of the things I love about this film is the real settings and it just shows with all of the green room bull crap that was in the prequels, trying to make these cool looking things, nothing as impressive as those stairs going up, the natural beauty of that island and the, when they go into the greenery to go to that temple with, what’s her name, the little orange lady, that was on the other side of the island and it was beautiful, just use real motherfucking scenery. Male Speaker: You know what’s for me, it’s going to film the little more a Lord Of The Rings in that regards then Star Wars for some reason. Male Speaker: Probably because Lord Of The Rings has come between them and it’s interrupting your brain sauce. Because the originals had real scenery. The back of the van or bus has stalks. Beth Accomando: Dante, you have anything you want to talk about, that’s might reveal spoiler? Dante Moran: No, I mean, everything was pretty cool. My only problem is Jose has already mentioned it was the fighting. I’m like not that, you guys have never seen a Sho Kosugi movie, only a Ninja can kill a Ninja and that’s exactly what it should be with the Jedi and I’m sorry but she is not trained and how Boyega’s character even stood five seconds with this guy? Female Speaker: Oh, she was kicking somebody’s butt in the very beginning of the film. Dante: She wasn’t kicking Jedi’s ass so. Female Speaker: Wait, wait, wait, he wasn’t a fully trained Jedi. Female Speaker: He’s not fully trained either. Dante: Do this guy stopped a laser bullet in the middle of the air? Female Speaker: We don’t know his skills with the light saber. Male Speaker: Yeah. Female Speaker: And he was, he was not using the, see that was my problem with that whole fight scene was that he was not using his skills with the force. He wasn’t using a light saber. So he wasn’t using his bad ass skills with the force, he was trying to battle her with just using his light saber. Female Speaker: And emotion. Female Speaker: And that’s part of his, I think he was more emotional, then he was… Female Speaker: Exactly. He was being a pet to a child when he was fighting her, so he was trying to save, I don’t need to use the force to beat you and I feel like that’s what was happening at that moment. Dante Moran: You know if she had a couple of days maybe training, yeah, like Luke, maybe but no. Female Speaker: I’m not disagreeing I’m just saying that I’m at least giving it somewhat of a defense. Dante Moran: Yeah, I mean, I’ll watch the movie again, but again that was my only problem. Male Speaker: Let’s not forget, he was injured, he got shocked. Male Speaker: Yeah, that’s true. Male Speaker: So, he may not have been in full strength. Male Speaker: You know what that is a good point. Male Speaker: It was to weaken him for those fights. I mean, I still don’t think it makes perfect sense, it doesn’t really work, but I think that was an attempt to give us a fight, because otherwise we wouldn’t have had a fight. Male Speaker: We could just be waiting for Jean Claude Van Dame spin kick and then Boyega… Male Speaker: Boyega should need to do this waiting in the trees. Male Speaker: There you go. Male Speaker: Time copy. Female Speaker: See, I would have been upset of John Boyega was like kicking his butt, but he got his butt handed to him, so I was happy with that, because that’s what, what should have happen. Male Speaker: That had to happen, yeah. Male Speaker: Past stories, you know they train them as children right. Male Speaker: Yes. Male Speaker: So, maybe there is some, she did have some past training that kind of all because, you know, there was maybe there was that recognition all of the sudden, you know, like that won’t you close your eyes and it was like no way. Male Speaker: Take it easy. Male Speaker: I know how to do so. Male Speaker: Repress memories were coming to the force. Male Speaker: Yeah, there was a repress memory I’ve seen. It was. Male Speaker: In the movie. Male Speaker: She gets abandoned. Male Speaker: She gets abandoned. Female Speaker: We don’t know what her lineage is yet, Rey and Finn do not have last names and we’ve been told by Abrams that’s very deliberate, so their parent is just probably important and what if she is Luke’s daughter, she might have had some training as a child and it’s coming back. I don’t know, but I do think that all three of them are meant to be very young also, and so I don’t think any of them are like have awareness of what they’re… Male Speaker: Including Kylo Ren. Female Speaker: Yeah, including Kylo Ren and that’s, that’s his weakness. Male Speaker: We can tell because of his half as light saber because it’s made out of scraps from Darth Vader’s light saber who he also happen to somehow get a hold of, next to the mask, against we went to Endor and he’s like [indiscernible] [01:24:34] and think he was just scavenging in Endor and found the mask and the light saber and kind of like has to have it. One thing I’m very happy about is like this puts to a rest of all those nonsense rumors that people were saying about the Kylo Ren was Luke Skywalker. Female Speaker: Okay. Just look at him physically, how could he be Luke Skywalker? Male Speaker: He, I don’t know. Female Speaker: Taller and half of his way. Male Speaker: And the same thing with the saber, Luke Skywalker makes this beautiful saber in the Return of the Jedi, and now you’re telling me he kind of made a freaking a light saber out of Darth Vader’s one. So that’s what kind of gave it away. So the one thing I’m going to come back to that you said before that I completely agree with is the last opportunity that was Captian Phasma. Kylo Ren is kind of the weakest link in this film and he could have been set up as a good villain for a future film, when he’s more ready which would have made, it’s a great place for Captain Phasma that come and step-up as the main villain of this film. And it’s so funny because Phasma is like center field for the poster and the toys, I thought, I really thought that Capital Phasma was going to have more of a role to play and she turned out just kind of being immediate relief. I was disappointed. Male Speaker: You know it’s just like a Boba Fett kind of the thing in Return Of The Jedi. Male Speaker: Yeah, yeah, when Boba Fett gets like smacked into the [indiscernible] [01:26:05]. Female Speaker: Throw her into the garbage. Male Speaker: Yeah. Although I do like the little massacring, but yeah, that was, I can agree completely with Phasma on that. I do want to, also before I pass the mic back again, I want to repeat props though for the actors. I think the actors are both stronger, John Boyega and what’s her name, sorry guys… Female Speaker: Daisy Ridley. Male Speaker: Daisy Ridley. They’re awesome characters and they sell it and I think they’re the strongest for the film. Female Speaker: And… Male Speaker: You know what the BBA thing, I was so scared when we saw him in the first teaser, I was like, Oh my God, the BBA is going to be the new Jar Jar but now, BBA was the new R2-D2, sweet, it was awesome. Male Speaker: Did, anybody felt or noticed that C-3POs are more less like totally different? I mean that’s mean in picking the… Male Speaker: You might, you maybe even recognize him because his armor is red now. Male Speaker: No, but like the armor itself is like a completely different thing, everything was different. Well, it’s changed like seven times. Male Speaker: It’s 30 years. Male Speaker: You know, no, I know, it certainly look a little more, more or like I don’t know, like more clean cut, little bit more, I don’t know. Female Speaker: Little bit more like for Ria from Metropolis? Male Speaker: Yes, actually yeah. It didn’t look as you know to be C-3PO that I don’t know, more, more softer lines. Female Speaker: I just have like one thing that I guess, just bothered that had got to me and that was the scenes between Han and Leia, they just felt so disingenuous to me, they felt kind of placed there, because they had to be there and not necessarily that they were actually genuine, romantic sort of scenes like they actually cared for one another. Tthey were just sort of like cheesy scenes to be there to… Male Speaker: Dance a bit. Female Speaker: Yes, exactly and they were just like, I, it almost like I didn’t even need them to be there, because I felt like quinidine, because it just didn’t feel right. I don’t know, it just it felt wrong at times and for the film that was so hard hitting in comparison to the original trilogies where you’ve noticed like there’s actual blood in this and like the action and the violence and just taken up to like you know eleven on this, in this film, which is great, if you love action, but it’s just, it’s different for a Start Wars film and I don’t mind that did it all, it’s just that the mistake in those sort of like romance scenes, where it’s not really authentic as you were saying, it just felt awkward. Male Speaker: When the Crystal Skull, the Mary and, no the chemistry [indiscernible] [01:28:58]. Let me finish. Male Speaker: I know what he means though. Male Speaker: No, the chemistry between Mary and Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones wasn’t the same. Male Speaker: I think we can blame Harrison Ford. Female Speaker: Okay, wait as the oldest person in this car, I found the scenes actually to play well, because to me it was like, if they lose their kid, the way they did, that’s really difficult and makes the relationship really awkward to me. It didn’t feel like they were meant to be romance scenes. They were meant to be scenes between people who can, who really would like to be together, but can’t, like there’s just too much... Female Speaker: Romance is maybe the wrong word, I guess. But just there seems together, like I don’t know if that was the dialog or there were something there like the chemistry between them, just fell off for me, and I get the like, I get the losing the kid dynamic and really feeling like they messed up in some way like we had to stay together and we love them so much and he’s still out there and we want him back, I got that, and I can feel that, but at some point like, some points in the film which is felt like this doesn’t feel right, like either the placement as well, like the placement is wrong or I don’t know, it’s just something just felt off to me. Male Speaker: Second viewing? Female Speaker: I’m definitely going to see it again. Beth Accomando: Phil, you haven’t said anything? Male Speaker: I know, if I would had a chance to. Phillip Lorenzo: No, I’m glad actually he didn’t get anything because I love [indiscernible] [01:30:31] all the input, my, I have a lot of divergent views for sure about this. For one thing, I think we’re giving OB1 too much credit in the original movie for being a mentor to Luke. I think he didn’t get a lot of time to mentor Luke at all. I think he, there was some good pivotal scenes, of course, but it wasn’t, I think his mentorship to Luke is very similar to Hans mentorship of Rey. They didn’t get a lot of time together. And they did, I say, he even though, he’s not going to be a ghost in the second film and guide her and I think that ultimately the relationship is very similar to mentor relationship in that death, and the way happened is the carbon copy of that Star Wars. So, I definitely felt like we’re assuming that things are paced in a certain way, but I think Star Wars, once it ramps up it is paced pretty quickly. And then also I think, what’s interesting is the resistance is way more matured than the First Order. The First Order is this remnant of big empire and it’s all young, it’s all youth. If you listen to Domhnall Gleeson, I cannot forget his character’s name, the way he speaks to this troops, he’s very angry and emotional and he’s getting them to say, We will finally crush this resistance. It’s a very young led, youth led movement, it feels like, even though it’s the Hitler youth. So, it’s so interesting, how those two roles are reversed because the resistance feels a lot more mature and aware and is already doing missions and very confident in a strange way even though First Order manageable this is amazing web in which I still trying to figure out, okay, how do they do that. But what’s interesting is again, it just felt like, there was a reversal in the, in the performance in the, in the ages of the characters in the dark side and the characters on the light side. I just felt like, there was a big difference in this film for that as well. I felt like, it was a very young and angry movement in the empire or the First Order as opposed to and there was a lot of anger in that group, I mean, the Stormtroopers are pissed, I mean, they’re calling Finn traitor which they don’t see him and it’s like, usually the Stormtroopers are very like, oh, there is nothing to see here, but they’re pissed like, this is a very activated group. What I did love about the film for sure was Kylo Ren’s amateurity was the struggle with the dark side. I do think that, it makes him, it prepares him for a sequel to be a very conflict, because it’s the Skywalker way man, like you have to have conflict constantly. I think that’s why Luke ran away too, I think he’s a Skywalker and sometimes you do stupid shit when you’re a Skywalker. You know either become Darth Vader or you run away after you can’t, you know you lose your Jedi temple training. I don’t know, it just feels like that, that does makes sense for Luke to do and he does retreat when he has to. So that’s a very common thing, thing I felt about Luke, it’s such an interesting pace of the film, I think that my favorite character actually is Poe Dameron and because he is the most confident, the most assured, he knows who is and he’s not Han either, he’s not even close, he’s like this is super-duper, awesome pilot. He’s just, he just does amazing stuff and I know if he has the force in the morning thing, but he is just awesome, he was just a great character. Male Speaker: [Indiscernible] [01:33:54]. Male Speaker: It’s amazing. Male Speaker: It’s fantastic. Male Speaker: It’s fantastic chemistry and I love those together and I want to see more of that. Captain Phasma was a huge disappointment for me because although, technically she is still a Stormtrooper, I don’t know how to feel about that yet, she is a key Stormtrooper, she is a silver Stormtrooper, she is a cape, she has all these cool things but, I wished there would have been more for her for expect to just putting in a garbage suit that we never see here and all that you know, and if I meant, last thing is, I think Han and Leia, I have to say their chemistry, Harrison Ford saves that more than anything else. I still think there is chemistry between them, and I still think, their moments together are just so full of damage. So, full of so much of awesome and so much, you know, their relationship is already complicated, I don’t think anybody was going to make a mistake that their relationship ever is going to be great, even if they fall in love or whatever, because they’re still two very different people. And even at that point, what she says, you do what you’re going to do and I’m doing what I got to do. I think that is placed very plays. I just think Harrison Ford is a better actor, and I think that’s what kind of carries that through. Beth Accomando: Well, Jas, one thing you had mentioned was you were happy about the midichlorians? Jasmine Gipson: Okay, I guess I mentioned that before, we start regarding. Yeah, I really liked the fact that this film sort of just says, screw the prequels. And I think people will be happy to know that they went back to old school, explorations of the force, the force is all around everyone, it flows through everything and it surround everyone, there is no discussion of midichlorians anywhere. And that was great. I almost like wanted to do little happy dance in my seat. So, I was really happy to see them kind of next the prequels version of what makes you, what makes the force go around and what makes you a Jedi and things like that. So, I was really happy about that. Beth Accomando: All right, anybody else have any additional thoughts or comments on the film? Female Speaker: My problem was the Kylor Ren’s face. Male Speaker: I was wondering when this was going to come up and [indiscernible] [01:36:08]. Female Speaker: You know the character is awesome, as long as he’s wearing a mask and he just want to laugh when he takes it off and he has these huge ears that just distracted me when the wind was blowing. And that I thought he, he looks kind of like Amy Winehouse. So, that was, that was my issue. I really like the spaceship, spaceships and all the air fights and all that, that was really, really cool. Male Speaker: The TIE fighters and the design of the First Order type pilots are so awesome and the way they had the, the lighting inside the cockpits, it just look so amazing. And I think, it was the, I think, did I say, I’m glad that we saw in this projector because the blacks were so black and the light it just really contrasted fantastically and I just love that, the way of the look, I just, and I like the look of the X-Wings too, they’re darker and I’m kind of disappointed about Luke, but at the same time I’m not shocked that it was just the end, it’s like this kind of bridge character. I just want Mark Hamill to keep living so that we can make sure he is in the sequel. I’m concerned about this, stay alive bro, because we really got five second of him like we need more. Male Speaker: That’s kind of, well, this is in really regarding the movie, and so, if I kind of surprised, there wasn’t any kind of teaser for Rogue One considering it’s the next one coming out and it’s coming out early next year, right and there, I know they’re in filming it. Male Speaker: They promised there would be no after, there would, well they no crossover and also no after credit sequence. That was a big deal. Male Speaker: Well, I was [indiscernible] [01:37:56] like a trailer or something like that. Beth Accomando: Did anybody noticed that the, Disney was on the opening? Female Speaker: And either was 20th Century Fox. Beth Accomando: Right. Well, that wouldn’t be there. Female Speaker: I know that it felt weird. Beth Accomando: But I guess everybody was thinking that they would show the Disney Castle, you know, so I was kind of glad that they enjoyed it. Male Speaker: It started with Lucas Film and yeah, that was nice. Beth Accomando: Yeah. Female Speaker: I think they do with the Marvel too, don’t they Marvel does it? Male Speaker: And Marvel does it, Marvel shows the Marvel, yeah, maybe that might be in the contract agreement and even, even bad robot didn’t come on until after the credits, not before the credits, so that was interesting to me too. Male Speaker: So, they’ll never, you’ll never see a Disney logo in front of anything that remotely can conceive a violence. Male Speaker: But we will have a [indiscernible] [01:38:44] with Mickey Mouse series. Male Speaker: Yes, you will. Since the merchandise is different. Female Speaker: We’ll have. Female Speaker: Well, I do have a one other thing that I really loved about this that I, I have to bring up because I am an engineer and I have to say that, I did not jump out of my seat, but I was squealing inside that Rey’s character was a fix it, get it done kind of girl and I was just like yes, finally a Star Wars character that is female that is fixing stuff that is like don’t hold my hand, I don’t need you to hold my hand, I can run by myself, I can fight by myself, I can fly without your help and I can fix this damn ship without you. I love that. I was just like thank you JJ, and everyone else for creating a female character that is a self-rescuing sort of princess character. So, that was like for me like, from the get go, I was just, I was, I was all in with this, with this film. Female Speaker: There was a female X-Wing pilot, so I was really need to... Male Speaker: Leia, they kept on to call her princess and they cut themselves off, and they call their general, which is represented of course of not just of the changing of the, you know, it’s the resistance but there is point to say why don’t you call a princess, but she is a general and she makes no bones about it. So that’s another thing too, that’s really important key, there's no princesses in this film and for a Disney film that’s awesome. Male Speaker: As far as the princess thing, can you say something a little more technical, the sound design. The sound design and the music, I think are excellent, and especially the sound in Star Wars is so iconic, especially the TIE fighter sound and they actually use that as, as the story point of kind of in there, when Boyega and Rey are in the tent, and you, he hears them first and that’s how he knows to get out of there before they start firing, it was like, it’s that sound, that, I know that sound, and we all know that sound and I love that. I thought that was awesome. Beth Accomando: And since we are in spoiler territory, does anyone want to talk about some of the cameos that were in the film that people might want to look for? Male Speaker: So, there is a sequence in the freighter that Han and Chewie pick up the Millennium Falcon in where they seize rival gangs that are going after Han for those three creatures of, whether they called already, but they are awesomely designed. And two of the gangsters, two of the gangsters were from the Raid, one was the cop in the Raid, the lead actor Iko Uwais, I think his name is, I forget, and then the other one was this character name Mad Dog in the Raid who is this unbeatable super villain in the film, in that film and it takes two guys to beat him to death. But when I saw him I thought, what this movie should be over then, because like he could just destroy everything in the film because he’s Mad Dog, like what’s the arguing here? Male Speaker: It’s the fighting those monster. Male Speaker: When did you see him fight those, I want to see him fight and kill one of those monsters. Male Speaker: See like an attack the block where you kind of way you come back and it’s just like a Hollywood film with blood and he’s just standing there with the dead monster. Male Speaker: Yeah, that would have been amazing like, I don’t think, he would just Rey, Kylo Ren, I’m just saying he’s Mad Dog. So, that was, that made me squeal a lot for sure. Female Speaker: Except they didn’t let him fight, that was kind of, that bothered me. Male Speaker: There was a rumor that, one of the Stormtroopers was Daniel Craig. Male Speaker: That’s been confirmed, you know which Stormtrooper it was? Male Speaker: Yeah, which one? Male Speaker: Beth, do you want to say? Beth Accomando: Well, apparently Daniel Craig denied that he said something a long lines like why would I be an extra. So turns out he’s the Stormtrooper that Rey uses the force on to set her free. So, that is supposedly Daniel Craig and then we also have Simon Pegg in the film. Male Speaker: Which one was Simon Pegg? Beth Accomando: Simon Pegg was the like the salvage dealer I guess. So that’s I mean, if you’ve seen the film once, I mean, it doesn’t really spoil it, I don’t think to know that, I think it’s kind of enjoyable. Male Speaker: We’re in the spoiler territory anyway. Beth Accomando: Yeah, we’re in spoiler that, we’re so far in the spoiler territory. So, I think it’s fun to see the film and know that those people are in it. So, any final comments from anyone? Male Speaker: I’m going to see it a third time in 3-D just to see if there’s difference in experience? Beth Accomando: I will too. I want to go to a luxury cinema. Male Speaker: Yeah, let’s go to, let’s go to Cinépolis. Beth Accomando: Let’s go over to 21 screening. Male Speaker: Yeah. Male Speaker: We can bring Broncos Rum. Beth Accomando: I want to thank everyone whose been on this road trip with Cinema Junkie and partaking and ensuring your hopes and expectations and then your reactions to the Force Awakens. So thanks for listening to this KPBS Cinema Junkie Podcast. I am Beth Accomando and I want to thank everyone whose been on this car right, and if haven’t gone to see the Force Awakens yet, go and if you’ve already seen it, go again and look for some of those Easter Egg cameos. And see you with the movies. Male Speaker: What I want to know is, when are we getting our salacious Crump’s Solo movie? [Music]