Newcomers: Sports, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - Star Wars Ep. I - The Phantom Menace (w/ Nick Wiger)

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

In a shocking turn of events, Nicole and Lauren are now Star Wars heads? Phantom Menace stan Nick Wiger (Doughboys, How Did This Get Played) joins them to recounts the historical hype for Ep. I, Liam Neeson's rumored huge dick, lightsaber continuity between trilogies, and their love/hate for the new CG look of the series. Plus, the girls rank the all Star Wars films they've seen so far.Be sure to check out Nick's other Headgum podcast - Doughboys.Like this show? Rate Newcomers 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and write in the review what Star Wars media you'd like us to cover.Sources for this episode:The Phantom Menace WookieepediaRoger Ebert ReviewRolling Stone ReviewThe Phantom Menace Production FactsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it's this boy? He can see things before they happen. He can help you. The Force is unusually strong with him. He was meant to help you. Anakin! Come on, take off!

Will I ever see you again? What does your heart tell you? Are you sure about this? Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know? Anakin Skywalker, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi. I sense much fear in you. The boy is dangerous. They all sense it, why can't you?

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. oh boy oh my god it's another episode Oh, boy. Oh, my God. It's another episode. Another episode where we watch Star Wars. It's me, Nicole Byer. And Lauren Lapkus.

This is Newcomers. We've never seen Star Wars. Nope. And we're doing it. That's not true anymore. No, we've seen it. We've seen four of the movies at this point, and we have a lot to say about them. We watched The Phantom Menace.

I have to tell you, yesterday I was in the car with a couple friends, and I was talking about how we're doing this podcast and how we've had some ups and downs with liking things and not liking things. And then I was talking about this movie, and I was like, look, these are all my problems with it, because it's not as good as the first one, and the first one I didn't even like. And then I talked for three minutes straight without stopping, I was like, look, these are all my problems with it because it's not as good as the first one. And the first one I didn't even like.

And then it was like, I talked for like three minutes straight without stopping and then no one responded. And then everyone was like, what the fuck has happened to you? So I'm now a Star Wars head. I also had the same interaction with my roommate where we were arguing about Star Wars. And I don't really know about this universe. He knows way more than me. But I was like, John, no, this is like,

this morning I was like, Anakin's Jesus. He ain't got a daddy. Wow. And John was like, all right, leave the house. Go about your day. I was like, you don't like that revelation? You don't want to really like riff on it a little bit? He's like, no.

Oh my God, we're obsessed. Oh boy. This is a shocking turn, honestly. It really is. So we watched The Phantom Menace and we have a guest. Oh boy. We have Nick Weiger. He's the host of Doughboys and How Did This Get Played?

Two fantastic podcasts. And you are a rare Phantom Menace super fan. I am. Look, The Phantom Menace is not a good movie, but it is one of my favorite movies. Wow. I know that it is one of my favorite movies. Wow. I know that it is objectively bad. It has a lot of issues, but I have a huge smile on my face when I'm watching it.

Did you watch it in theaters on May 19th, 1999? Oh, I was in line on May 18th, 1999. Were you really? Left over? So did everyone do that at the time? Because that's 10 years between the movies or more? It was more than that. It was closer to 20 years.

I think Return of the Jedi came out in 1983 and people just thought that was going to be the final Star Wars. When George Lucas announced that Phantom Menace was coming out, the hype was unreal. I went to see multiple bad movies just to see the new Star Wars trailer because that was before things were like always on, were online, you know.

So I saw, I saw. That was dedication to try to see a trailer. Yeah. No, I saw The Siege, a Bruce Willis terrorism movie, like, but pre 9-11. So it like had a very different idea of global terrorism. And so I watched all of that. And then they did an insidious thing where they showed the trailer at the end of the movie because they knew people were coming just for the trailer.

Oh my God. That's so rude. And did you know they were going to or were you like, oh, I guess they're not showing it. And then you just stuck around and then they started playing it. No, we knew. Like everyone knew going into that was the deal. And then I also saw Wing Commander, which is the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater.

And that was just to see an updated version of the episode one trailer. I've never even heard of Wing Commander, which is the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater, and that was just to see an updated version of the episode one trailer. I've never even heard of Wing Commander. Oh, it's an adaptation of a video game, and it's really poorly made. It's like if they tried to make Star Wars, but didn't have a script or a budget. So it's so cheap looking, and it sucks. Well, the budget for this was $115 million. Wowie zowie. That's crazy.

Okay, yeah, it was 16 years after the previous movie. Yeah, so I guess people must have been freaking out. We're losing our minds. Did you watch, like, do you remember the hype that existed? I do. I remember this one coming out because I remember it being a big deal and I remember everyone being upset about Jar Jar Binks.

Yes. Yes, that I remember. Gotta say, I like Jar Jar. Look, I couldn't believe Jar Jar. He was so annoying and a literal cartoon. Right. It was so dumb,

I couldn't believe it. But I have to say, one of my big problems with this movie and what I was ranting about yesterday is that it doesn't feel like

they care that this is supposed to come before episode 4 like there are jokes that are so current there are like

ridiculous cartoon images that are just I mean not even trying to look real Yoda I was pissed about how Yoda looked. I didn't like how Yoda looked at all.

Oh, my God. That really bummed me out. I was so mad about Yoda. I was like, we have grown to love this figure. If that cartoon died right now, I'd feel nothing. Yeah, you'd be like, whatever. If the puppet died, I was like, no. So I believe that he was still puppeted in episode one and became CG only in episode two and beyond.

I could be wrong. That was weird. He looked like a cartoon to me. Yeah. I'm going to find out about that. It is a different, like they de-aged him a little bit, whatever it is, which is weird because he's been alive for hundreds of years. So you would think that the 20-year difference wouldn't make a huge effect his appearance hugely. The difference wouldn't make a huge effect as appearance hugely.

But the hype for this movie was insane. And then the palpable disappointment that followed for a lot of fans was also it was a real roller coaster ride because I saw it opening day three times in a row. And then and I loved it at first. And then I saw it again a week later in a row. Yeah. Three times in a row. And then I saw it again a week later. Three in a row? Yeah, three times in a row. And then I saw it again a week later. So this is your fourth viewing? My fourth viewing.

And that was the point where it started to lose me. And I was kind of in the wilderness on episode one for a while. Didn't like episode two, didn't even see episode three at the time. And then some more time passed and I returned to it with an open mind. And I was like, you know what?

These movies are great. And I love them again. Yeah. So, but the, it's not just Jar Jar was the huge thing but also the immaculate conception that you mentioned and I imagine we'll talk about this in sequence and then the midichlorians the concept of midichlorians

those three elements kind of like really the first one was just people were just annoyed by him and thought he was unfunny but the other two were this undercuts the coolness of the Force. Wait, what is the midichlorians? I'm looking at my sheet. Okay, I'm sorry.

Midichlorians is the... I'm like... Midichlorians is the point where... So he talks about how there's no father for Anakin Skywalker. And then so they test his blood. I don't remember that sequence. Sends it up to Obi-Wan. His midichlorians level is off the charts. It's like 20,000 above even Yoda's. And then

he has a scene where he explains what midichlorians are to Anakin. And it is basically like the force is like this cool mystical energy that exists. And then it becomes like, well, there's these little bugs inside your cells and that's why you have the force and it's just like well that's less fun it's cooler to leave it unanswered I agree about Yoda really quickly you were right so the

guy who was the puppeteer was pretty upset with this I think they built a puppet for episode one but made the mistake of trying to update Yoda they re-sculptured him and made him out of a different material which was heavier then because he was transparent instead of opaque, it meant light didn't hit him the same way

so his color wasn't the same. So, eventually, it looked like a cartoon. Ah, okay, yes. Because it did look just very different. Yeah. There wasn't as much depth to his face. Yes. And you couldn't really see his expressions as much,

which bummed me out. Yeah, I agree. I actually really care about the Force now. Right. I think it's a powerful tool that i could imagine someone holding on to in a dark time in their life right so yeah that's interesting i feel like i have a new i have a new brain i don't know what's going on with me it's very weird okay so the opening uh homework that you got to do to read was a little clunky.

It was a lot. So there's a trade war. Yes. And then galactic senates. And that was a lot for me. I agree. The opening, I was bored from the scrawl, scroll, whatever you call it. But then we meet Kui.

I don't know. How do we say his name? Let's talk about, oh wait, which one? Kwee John Jin. Qui-Gon Jin. This is Liam Neeson's character. Yes.

I didn't know Liam Neeson was in the movie. I thought they looked hilarious in this movie. He's the protagonist of this movie which you maybe after, you maybe forget

if some time passes between viewings. And then he dies. It's all about him. He dies, yeah. I cared about him and then they kill him. So yeah,

we'll just get rid of any old person. Yeah. I think maybe that if there's a flaw about this movie, and I think this kind of speaks to what you were saying earlier, Lapkus about like it, it exists as if the previous movies exist instead of being like, this is what happened before. It doesn't,

it doesn't really live in it chronologically as it should. It kind of like has a lot of winky stuff. But I think overall just like this movie doesn't need to exist. There's nothing that's being told here. Like what happens? They go to a planet. They find a small boy. He wins a race.

They go back to their planet. They go back to their home planet. That's pretty much it. The race is insane by the way. I mean I think you liked it, right? I liked it. But George Lucas insane, by the way. I mean, I think you liked it, right? I liked it, but George Lucas has a thing about real time.

At one point, they said, Anakin has two more laps, and then we see him do two more laps. I like it. I love the Padre sequence. It's one of my favorite parts of the movie. I hated the announcers. Yeah, they were real corny. What I kept picturing was,

imagine if they had taken the time to create practical sets in the same way they and like and costumes and all the things with no cgi that you have in the first movie how but like updated to the abilities of 1999 or whatever that would be the coolest thing yes and then it's like oh this happened right before that one i would really love that i think getting too swept up in the technological advances is like a real misstep. Well, that's why it took so long to get made. Because he was waiting and he was like, ah, now the special effects have arrived to where I deem it okay to be in my movie. Which I think is an insane logic.

I have to say Roger Ebert also loved this one. Biggest George Lucas fan. An astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking, Lucas tells a good story. I mean, wow. I remember his review, and I loved Roger Ebert, and I remember that was like a thing that when I liked the movie, like, reaffirmed me.

I was like, yes, I'm right. See, Roger Ebert likes it. But one thing he talked about that sticks with me, and I think sticks with you on future viewings, if you ever rewatch this thing for whatever reason, you're shaking your head. Okay, you're not going to rewatch it. There's no way. There's no way.

The movies are too long. No, yeah. They're so long. I was watching it all day. Yeah, it's long. I mean, wow. But he does talk about how, like, every frame is packed with something interesting.

And so you see, like, there's just shots where it's just like, oh, here are the tall flags walk across the pod racing platform. And you just sort of see there's just little droids running around. There's a little weird alien over here. There's a spaceship flying by. Just every frame is packed with some little detail. I liked when Jar Jar went underwater. I also liked when Jar Jar. I liked a lot of Jar Jar.

I thought he was great. Jar Jar was pretty funny. You know who did not like this movie? The New Yorker. The Phantom Menace is at once childishly unknowing and rotten with cynicism. I would call it the disappointment of the decade, except that along with many other people,

I had a sneaking fear that it would turn out this way. What is this? Crap, say it out loud, crap. And a sneaking fear that it would turn out this way. What is this? Crap. Say it out loud. Crap. And will it make the magic billion dollars? You bet. Wow.

I remember standing in line, waiting for Phantom Menace, and another guy near me in line had gotten a newspaper that had a review of it. It might have been the New York Times. It might have been USA Today. It doesn't matter. But it was a negative review or a mildly negative review, like a two-star review and the guy was just like it's bullshit like he was like he's like already doubting that this Star Wars could possibly be bad I love it so um you mentioned Jar Jar Binks do you know the saga of Ahmed Best the actor who played him no so he basically and and we're seeing he was in Stomp he was in Stomp yeah he's he's like still running in

uh in New York by the way which I'm like amazed by he's got a ton of you know he's in Stomp. He was in Stomp, yeah. He's still running in New York, by the way, which I'm amazed by. He's got a ton of, you know, he's had an esteemed career, but I think he's been in the kind of thing where the Jar Jar Binks, the specter of that character because it was so hated, haunts him in the same way as the, I'm forgetting the actor's name, but the actor who played Rose Tico in the most recent movie, she's had the same sort of thing where people are just treating her like shit because they don't like the character. Same thing happened with Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd as well, the little boy who plays Anakin.

He has a very dark journey. He had a dark sort of history. Well, it says he retired from acting because of peer bullying he received after playing Anakin along with the critical panning of his role. Yeah. He did do the voice in the Star Wars video games, but that's devastating. Isn't that awful? He got a role of a lifetime in a Star Wars movie as a child, having no fucking clue what is going on, basically. Right. And does his best, and then he has to retire because people don't like it.

He's like six. It's really sad. He's very young. I don't think he's great in the movie, but I don't think that's on him. He's not the person who made the decision to put himself in the movie. I thought he was great. He's fine. Yeah.

He's a little kid. Yeah. I mean, look, do I wish it was Haley Jo Osmond? Yeah. Yeah. I think if there's an issue with Jake Lloyd's performance, it's that we don't see the darkness within him. He just seems like a whimsical child.

Wholesome kid. He's so wholesome. Yeah. He's adorable. He looks like he's on Leave it to Beaver. He's adorable. And I like his haircut. I really, I liked him. It was hard for me to keep remembering that he was

Darth Vader. Correct. I kept having to rewrite that in my head because I thought it was Luke. I don't know. And I feel like they wrote lines to be like, remember he's gonna be bad. Right. He was like, I miss my mommy. And they were like, well, feelings, that could make you turn to the dark. Right. He was like, I miss my mommy. And they're like, well, feelings that could make you turn to the dark side. And I was like, what?

Okay. Can we talk about Natalie Portman? Yes. Okay. The Queen Amidala, right? Yes. Her voice is altered in the movie. Why?

That's what it was. I was like, these are some deadpan line reads. Oh, my God. I know. Just dead. I think they changed it like it's deeper so what I remember reading at the time is that they used like Lucas was so obsessed with what he could do with digital editing and VFX that he was taking line reads

from different takes and then change altering the lip sync on ones that looked better visually and so like he was like a lot of it I think was, was just to try to Frankenstein a bunch of elements together. And so a lot of it feels unnatural. I will say that one thing that disappointed me about the marketing of this movie is they just told you Natalie Portman is Queen Amidala. But the way the story is structured, it's like you don't realize that she's... It's meant to be that it's a misdirect where you don't realize that she's it's it's meant to be that you it's a misdirect where you think she's Padme right assistant and then she reveals that I'm

actually the queen this is my decoy but you just knew that going and you knew this huge spoiler but for a minute one I know and it did bother me as a viewer for the first time that like I just knew that she was so I was like why is she not in the makeup like I kept getting confused about why she was confused and then I was like wait so is she not in the makeup? Like, I kept getting confused about why she was. I was also confused and then I was like, wait, so she got a whole bunch of friends who follow her around who have the same face as her?

Yeah, I did not, it was really hard to follow because I knew that that was her. Yeah. But also, it looks like her. Yes.

Like when she's in the makeup. It's Keira Knightley is the main decoy. Right, but she's, when you see her talking in the beginning, it's Natalie Portman,

It is her, yeah, so she has the makeup on sometimes and other times it's Keira Knightley or I think. so sometimes you see her talking in the beginning, it's Natalie Portman, right? It is her, yeah. So she has the makeup on sometimes, and other times it's Keira Knightley. Oh, so sometimes you see Keira Knightley before the end. That's correct, yes. Oh. Well, that tripped me up. They're the same person.

Yeah. That's really weird. The way, how do we say his name? Qui-Gon Jinn, which character, yes. Qui-Gon Jinn. That's, what a hard name. It's a difficult, do you guys know, like, I'm sorry this is off topic,

but every time I see Liam Neeson in a movie, I just think about his rumored huge dick. Oh, I think about how he trolled the streets looking to beat up a black man. Oh, yes, okay. That's a different side of him. What a psycho. That was so wild.

I was like, there was no need for you to ever say that out loud. Why did he tell that story? It was like years later, right? Yeah, I was like, you take there was no need for you to ever say that out loud. Why did he tell that story? It was like years later, right? Yeah, I was like, you take that to your grave. You don't say that out loud. You're a psychopath and racist. I hope he was in his Qui-Gon Jinn costume.

Ewan McGregor's ponytail was so dumb. It looked like he went to Six Flags and got one of those wraps. He got a hair wrap. It was truly so weird. Also, when Qui-Gon Jinn dies, he doesn't really react. He's just like, ah, nuts. I guess I gotta finish this fight.

Then he finishes the fight, and then he's like, oh, boo-hoo, I guess I cry now. There's a lot in these movies, a lot of moments where people die and no one wants to really deal. I think George Lucas is a weird man who doesn't quite understand

human emotion. And which I can relate to. Like I get it. But you know, he maybe that becomes a deficiency in him directing actors. And if you look at like

the previous trilogy, which everyone is like, this is the, this is why we love Star Wars. These three movies, what you just watched four, five and six. Lucas only directed the first one,

and the second two, I feel like, they just get better performances out of the actors. I agree. We noticed that, too. I feel like something that's kind of interesting here is so Lucas directed this one, but the role of director was offered to Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Robert Zemeckis. All three turned down the position

as the film was Lucas' baby. Yeah, they basically told him, like, you should direct this. Really? Yeah. At least that's what he says. Okay. So who is in charge of asking someone to direct it if it's his thing? Do you know what I mean?

Like, the studio. They're not initially going to George Lucas because he didn't do as well as other people. Probably. So they were like, let's go to a bigger name, you know? Spielberg was involved. Let's go to him. I'm fascinated by people taking this away from him in all these different ways.

Like, he has this thing that he created that people are obsessed with, but they're so critical of him and all of his choices. But it was his idea. I think it might be just the tinkering. I think it's really expensive to redo all of the stuff that he keeps redoing. But even like the fans like want to go against him. Like it's so fascinating. Like I kind of assumed everyone would love him.

There was a backlash. And then now there's a backlash to the backlash where now people are like, Lucas is great. He gave us Star Wars. And so that's kind of progressed because of, and I think it's just generational dissatisfaction of like people grew up with the original trilogy. Then those people came of age and saw the prequel trilogy. It was like, this isn't the Star Wars I remember. Well, now the people who saw the prequel trilogy have grown up and they're watching the new trilogy. And they're being like, the J.J. Abrams trilogy.

They'll be like, this isn't the Star Wars I remember. So it's just like some weird nostalgia thing that's making you have, you know. Right. So, of course, it's not going to be this thing you loved when you were 12 years old, you know? It's just not going to hit you in the same way. I think, from what I understand of the production, that George Lucas independently financed this,

and he had a lot of creative control. Wow. That he basically put up the money, for the most part, himself. It's technically, I think, the most expensive independent film of all time. I think he did that on the last one as well. Yeah. And so, but I believe, I could be wrong. I don't know how much of it came from the studio

or how much of it came from George Lucas just being like, I don't want to direct this because I feel like these movies work well when someone else directs it, which he's right about. And then they were like, no, no, no, you do it. And he was like, okay. Fun fact, Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises

as he dueled. That is a fun fact. That's funny. It's so funny that George, as a director, would go, we'll do it in post. You don't have to do that. Why did the lightsabers look futuristic? This bothered me.

Because then in episode four, they're fatter. And I just didn't like that it was like these are sleeker now and then they'll get worse when they get older or something Darth Maul Darth Maul yes he's the one who's like really into face paint yeah so Darth Maul's lightsaber was

it was two yeah he's got a double saber but I was like how does he have a double one but we didn't see that later yeah so this is another thing that trips up the whole prequel versus, you know, the original trilogy, the OT, is that, yeah, just stuff looks better. It looks cooler. And then just like the fighting is like, oh, well, so they were super good at fighting in episode one. And then you watch the episode for the Star Wars, like lightsaber fight between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan, old Obi-Wan.

It just looks like shit. It's just like these two old guys. Oh, it's so slow. Yeah. Yeah. Also, Darth Maul, pretty badass looking until he hops on a scooter.

His vehicle of choice was a scooter. I was like, no, thank you. Who plays Darth Maul? Darth Maul is, Ray Park is the actor who, the physical actor and then he was voiced by Peter Serafinowicz.

Oh, cool. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Who I think was later banned from Star Wars because he shit-talked the movie. Oh, amazing. That's fun.

Okay, so we'll erase the first few episodes if we want to try to get into a later movie. No, but then they'll like, they'll hear how much we grew to love it. And honestly, I loved Jar Jar, so that should give me some sort of points. Yeah, you really got to get a lot. Everyone hates Jar Jar.

I thought he was just so fun and funny. I thought he was really annoying, but I also- The voice isn't great. Well, and I remember from that time, I guess I was like 14 when this came out. I remember people going crazy, being upset about Jar Jar. And it was like a joke. So I could ironically joke about Jar Jar at that time in my life. That was like a funny thing to do.

But so I remember that being like such a it was like such a part of my experience that I came into this hating Jar Jar. So I was like, oh like oh great there he is he's so annoying like a first second see i knew jar jar that people didn't like jar jar and i knew what jar jar looked like but then watching the first three movies i thought jar jar was going to be a boba fett thing where people talked about boba fett but he's not really in the movies yeah i kind of did expect it to be a smaller role. But then I was delighted at how much Jar Jar was in. Yeah. Man, I like Jar Jar.

But there are points in this movie that just look like a bad video game. Yes. Where there's like, I feel like Jar Jar's standing around with a other, I can't remember where it was. Most of Jar Jar's interactions look insane. Yeah.

And then it looks like Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor just like walked into some weird like computer game you only get at school. Yeah. Like like Math Blaster or something. I don't even know what this is, but I'll play it. It's a weird typing tutor I got to play. Yeah, it's.

Well, what did you think of the what we're talking about characters and a lot of the criticism of Jar Jar Binks was like the people thought he was a was a stereotype in alien form. Also criticism of the trade federation uh people thought he was an alien stereotype you know like uh what like a racial stereotype yes there was there was a lot of like like so the the trade federation and then also the uh watto the the bug creature who has uh anakin as a slave also, where they were like, that's anti-Semitic, the, you know, the Rune, Hakko,

and Newt Gunray, the Trade Federation, those guys are like kind of talking and they're kind of like made them Asian aliens. Yes. And people were like

kind of upset about a lot of those elements. I thought that was strange. Yeah. Especially because it's not a feature of any of the previous movies where like,

nothing is familiar in any way with these alien characters. Agreed. You're not like Chewbacca is Hungarian. Right. It's not like a direct one-to-one parallel. But here you've got like this you've got like this greedy shop, this greedy slave owner

who's like only cares about money and then kind of is it's, I don't know, he is like a Jewish bug. That's like kind of the way it's, I feel like he's been. That went right over my dang head. Yeah. I worried about it with Jar Jar, but I was like, I don't know. Yeah.

Also, Boss Nass, he was a strange character for me. I didn't really, he spoke so strangely, and I was like, what is your point? I never really, I kind of like Boss Nass, but I never really understood why he looks so different from the other Gungans. He looks like he's from Dinosaurs. He does look like the daddy from Dinosaurs. Looks like Sinclair.

I'm really actually looking at this Yoda picture I'm really relieved that it was a puppet because I feel like that would have been such a bold move to make him fully CGI. Right. But yeah I'm so surprised that it didn't look right and that the puppeteer was mad too. I don't know, it's interesting.

Did either of you see the trailer in like 1997, 1998 when this movie was being hyped? Do you remember seeing that? I don't remember it. So this is, if any, and I think part of why I like this movie now is as much as nostalgia for the film is nostalgia for the trailer experience,

which was just seeing it within, if you rewatch it, it might be interesting to just check it out and see what you think, because it got people so unbelievably hyped, and it is a really well-cut trailer, but there's a few moments that you hit in the movie that are clear trailer moments, like Anakin Skywalker meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, where people are just like, yeah, and the same sort of thing, like when Yoda first appears, I almost just called him Yoga. When Yoda first, that's in Spaceballs 2, is Yoga. I'm trying to think about, oh, when you see C-3PO

and he's partly built, like you see always like, who is this brave droid? That's R2-D2. There's all these moments that are just basically fan service. You are right. That was pretty funny for me. When they were like, what's this droid. That's R2-D2. There's all these moments that are just basically fan service. That was pretty funny for me when they were like, what's this droid?

And they were like, ah, R2-D2. And I was like, ah, there you go. There's R2-D2. I know, it's kind of cute. It's kind of funny. We have to take a break.

We'll be back with more Star Wars right after this short break. And we're back. I love this review from The Rolling Stone. The actors are wallpaper. The jokes are juvenile. There's no romance. And the dialogue lands with the thud of a computer instruction manual.

Wow. I mean, I did think most of the performances were a little flat. Yeah, and I mean, I kind of agree with the romance, even though I wasn't thinking about it in the moment. But it was keeping me going with a lot of the other movies that there was this will they, won't they, or what's going to happen here. Even though it's always just like a kiss. But like there was no, nothing that I could really like look to as like a. Yeah, you're just rooting for this little boy to like figure out how to become a Jedi yeah I like the conversations between Natalie Portman and the

little boy I gotta say sorry I was just gonna say if you if you're looking for romance I'm interested in your take on episode two that's all I'll say they gonna be fucking I hope they fuck weird is Natalie Portman Luke's mom yes oh okay yeah she's older than Anakin

I think her character is meant to be like 19 or 20 wait walk me through her being the mom I feel like I should I should just let you watch it

okay I feel like she's in the next one yeah you just asked a question and that was a spoiler. Oh, okay. No, because we did hear that she was

in the movie. I vaguely knew but then watching the movie was a little bothered by this huge age gap. It is jarring.

Right, because she fucks him. Yes, and it is a thing to think like you are like why did Lucas feel the need to establish this?

Why did he feel like I want to show this element of they met when he was a young boy and later on they're going to be fucking. So weird. I don't love it. I wish she was a child as well. But think about if that little boy saw that he was going to look like that when he died. He's like, my head becomes purple. I'm in the back of its bubble gum.

he's like my head becomes purple I'm in the back of it's bubble gum Anakin's mom is one of the saddest characters I think in cinematic history dude she's so depressing yeah

a bummer they did her no favors no they were like no makeup for her she's fine yeah I thought that was rude

no makeup I think some of the men look better in this movie than she did and she's like a pretty woman it was just not right her life just sucks too yeah her life's depressing We're not going to look better in this movie than she did. And she's like a pretty woman. It was just not right. Her life just sucks, too.

Yeah, her life's depressing. She's a slave on the sand planet. Also, I really love speaking of sand when Anakin was like, the sandstorms are so dangerous. And then they're walking through the sandstorm, essentially, that's starting and nobody's struggling. Not one person struggles that whole that whole sandstorm sequence is like kind of indicative of of the overall clunkiness of the movie because there's like a scene where it's just obi-wan is just like looks like there's a sand

sandstorm coming in then captain binaka just replies it seems bad like it's just like there's no you can just show the sandstorm rolling and you don't need this clunky dialogue. I wonder where they filmed this one. I'm going to Google. I assume they filmed a lot of the desert stuff in Tunisia. I feel like that's where they've normally done that. Tunisia. London, they usually, is a filming location for these.

Oh, Italy and the UK and Tunisia. So one thing that I think is, for me, and just creatively talking about this movie as a prequel, I i love the planet of naboo i think it's really cool i like that they've got these underwater cities and they've also got like this lush greenery like each of the environments is just so distinct but i think there is something to because they blow up alderaan in episode four and and they kind of there's kind of almost a case of like well why isn't this story set on alderaan why isn't this set on this planet so we can kind of see the before here? Alderaan is the place that Princess Leia was like, that planet. Yeah, they have no weapons.

No, don't do it. And then Peter Cushing, Grand Moff Tarkin's character, blows it up with a Death Star. So that's the planet. Yeah. So, I mean, that's kind of like, I don't know, inventing this whole other world. But then also, like, we're seeing all our old friends are back. It's an interesting way to handle it. And then also, Anakin leaves the sand place where he's a moisture farmer to become a Jedi, but then returns right back to the moisture place?

He'll get back there eventually, yeah. And then his uncle and his aunt, who are they? Where did they come from? They died. They died in episode one. Four. Four. So where does his mom go?

A lot of this you'll see in episodes two and three. So I think, yeah, I think just that arc will be answered. Okay. I'm trying to, oh, did you like, because we talked about Darth Maul and everything. I think the thing, even just like as far as scenes in isolation, and part of why I really like this movie, I think that whole last battle sequence is super fun that whole third act where they've got like these three different again like return of the jedi we've got three different set pieces that

are going on at once on three different battles and you've got the gungans outside fighting the the droids um you've got the you know they're the palace insurrection and then you've got the lightsaber battle which i think is the best lightsaber battle in the entire series. That was the coolest one. There was flips. It's so awesome. It was very physical. I just, the whole shield thing was confusing to me

as to like why Ewan McGregor couldn't get to the fight. What were those shields? Force shields. Yeah, I don't know. A plot device. Force shields. A plot device. No, that's one of those things where it's just like some weird sci-fi gobbledygook that's thrown in there to, you know, whatever, make the story play out the way he wants to.

But yeah, it doesn't really have a – it would be useful if you – it would be better if you saw that it had some sort of purpose established. But yeah, that whole fight sequence is awesome. And I think Darth Maul's death is rad. I did enjoy it. He gets split the fuck. He gets split in half. Yeah, that was really fun

and his legs fell off. Yeah. It's great. And we got to see his two pieces fall down. It was very funny. I enjoyed it. Yeah, I liked it too.

In the director's cut, Obi-Wan says, say goodbye to your dick. He's like, what? Oh no! When Obi-Wan is looking at Qui-Gon Jinn,

Qui-Gon Jinn. When he's looking at his lightsaber, he does it twice. And at that point, I was like, well, Darth Maul, you're bad at this. Why aren't you following where his eyes are going? You should have anticipated that he's gonna pick up that lightsaber that really bothered me there's a lot of there's a lot of editing choices like that where it's just like this shot is lingering for an extra beat someone delivered their line of dialogue you cut to Shmi Skywalker you hold on her

for a full second and then she says Anakin you hold on her for another second and then you cut away it just feels like paced very odd. And that's the sort of thing. Yeah, you could have just we could have just seen it once. I want to know about your relationship with these movies growing up. So, yeah, go ahead. Oh, I was going to say like like I we had, you know, the the original trilogy on VHS. I don't remember.

In fact, I would not have seen any of the original trilogy in theaters. So but I just grew up with them and I watched them obsessively. And even, you know, as a kid, then some time passed and then as a teenager came back to him, was like, these movies still are awesome and watch them over and over again. They kept re-releasing new editions

of the movies on VHS. And so I'd buy those. And then they had a special edition, which I would have been the version that you watch, would have been the cut that you watch. would have been the cut that you watch. That was re-released into theaters, and that was the first time I saw Star Wars in the theaters, and I was so, so hyped for that. Oh, that must have been neat.

Yeah. I didn't know that it was put in theaters with the changes. That is cool. Yeah. I mean, even though we kind of were critical of a lot of those. The changes are completely unnecessary. The special edition, I think, is really pretty dumb. They didn't need to do that.

It would have been cool just to put it in theaters again as an anniversary thing or something. Yeah, just remaster it. Just make it look a little sharper. Yeah, adding extra sequences and then just changing things arbitrarily. Not arbitrarily, but just changing things. It makes those movies worse. And then so I was beyond hyped for the prequel trilogy, as I mentioned earlier. And I think that my fandom started to tail off a little bit as I was very disappointed with these prequels initially.

But as time passed, I've grown to appreciate them as like, oh, you know what? It's just more Star Wars. And I like Star Wars. And if you like Marvel, there are Marvel movies that are not as good as other Marvel movies but you're always happy to see more of them and just approaching it from that standpoint it's just like I like every Star Wars movie to some degree just some more than others and did you have like toys yeah were you like merchandising because we keep hearing that's like a huge thing yeah so my brother is older than me four and a half years

older than me and so he was the guy with the big Star Wars toy collection but we had a lot of shit and we had a bunch of the Kenner action figures we had AT-STs and AT-ATs the big mechanical walkers I had an X-Wing didn't have a Death Star in fact I'm not sure if they made a Death Star toy it would have been certainly big but we had a bunch of

wait they didn't make a Death Star toy? I guess if you're doing it like relative to the other toys, it would have to be as big as a room. Right. Okay. Yeah, but they probably did make one. But then we had play sets.

We had the Ewok village play set and shit. That was a thing. We like the Ewoks. They're cute. I want to buy that on eBay. I love the Ewoks, and I know we're not talking Episode 6 here. We're not talking Return of the Jedi, but people are like, that was the first thing that people were like.

That was our favorite. Yeah, Ewoks are great, but that was the first thing where people were skeptical about Star Wars. They were like, Star Wars sucks now. The Ewoks are stupid. And that was the narrative for a long time before the prequels came out. But the Ewoks are fucking, they're great. They're incredible. They're so wonderful.

They're cuddly. I love them. And guys, Jar Jar, just enjoy. Like, I just. You're a Jar Jar stan. Apologist. I sure am. I love Jar Jar.

Like, in the fight where he almost falls down, that made me laugh. I jam. When Anakin was like, don't touch a fucking light thing. It'll make you numb. And then his head hits it and he's like. That made me laugh. Yeah, that is funny. It's stupid.

Oh my God, I just found the Ewok treehouse toy on eBay for $500. How much is it? Oh my God. Get it. I'm gonna play with that.

Get it. You gotta get it. Boy, we shouldn't have put all that stuff on it. Oh my God. We shouldn't have given all that to Goodwill. Yeah, I know, right?

Keep that shit. Dude, these are cute. The toys are so good. 500 is like not cool. Is this what it is to be a Star Wars fan? Yeah, you spend a lot of money. Here's one for 100. Oh, there you go.

That one's fine then. Now we all played with. I know, it's all sticky. Yeah. I don't know what I'm expecting that to be, but. C3PO. Yes. He gets gold

I assume in the second one it's yes he you see his transition into being like a fully built robot

I will say that this is another thing that I think is just like dumb about the movie is that there's no reason you can put C-3PO in it it doesn't have to be Anakin building him

I don't see what that adds that to me is just like... It's just a dumb bit of lore slash misguided attempt at fan service. Well, I thought it was to justify why he's so loyal to Luke.

Because the loyalty was hereditary, if you will, from Anakin to Luke. That was my thought. That's giving it a lot of credit, I feel like. I think so, Luke. Right. That was my thought. That's interesting. Why not? That's giving it a lot of credit, I feel like. I think so, yeah. I think you're doing some work for the movie.

Me just sitting on my couch being like, no, this has to make sense. Because they put this for a reason. Everything's here for a reason. There was also a female C-3PO lady. Oh, yeah. At the beginning. Not C-3PO, I guess.

Were they all C-something? Are they called C-2123? I think she, well, I don-3PO, I guess. Were they all C-something? Are they called C-2123? I don't remember what her number is, but I think people are just screaming in the Twitter mentions right now, it's TC-14 or whatever. We can't wait. Oh, the comments for this are going to be

a delight to read. I'm so scared. I cannot wait for people to really attack me for liking Jar Jar. I really, I don't, he's so fun. Can someone do fan art of Nicole riding Jar Jar being seen? Please! That's not a thing that he does. I think the, we're talking about toys

and the other element of Star Wars fandom beyond the movies is video games. And Star Wars has some awesome video games and one of them, one of the best ones

came from this movie and is, even for people who don't like episode one, they consider it a redeeming factor. There's an episode one pod racing video game

that is so fun for Nintendo 64 and PC. It reminded me of Mario Kart. It is like Mario Kart, yeah. It did look like a Mario World, too. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds fun. I mean, yeah, I actually didn't mind the racing scene.

It was long. It was long, and I felt like it went on way too long. And again, the CGI elements were so silly, and that was what i didn't really get like i think in the previous movies it felt like the humor was mostly with like there was like there was humor for sure but i liked how a lot of it was like between the actors yeah there were some jokes with like the some of the like alien characters but this felt like they were leaning on it a lot for like the CGI to be like the funny part. Yeah, it felt like the CGI was like a secondary character

as opposed to a tool to make something more believable. Yeah. And I do, I think people would have liked Jar Jar. I won't stop talking about Jar Jar. I think people would have liked Jar Jar if Jar Jar was in a costume. I actually think so too. I think that would have been more likable.

Yes. It's also just more real. It's not just an, like there's something about CGI where like you can do whatever you want to it as the creator.

So if you make it annoying, it's like you're going out of your way to do all of these things that make this character annoying. Whereas if it was just a guy in a suit, we'd be like,

hey, that's all they could work with. This is fun. Honestly, you'd probably leave being like, this is a great physical actor. Yeah. Because I mean, mean he did all of that but then you just put a sticker on it and it felt weird right i like characterizing a 3d cg model as a sticker but it's true but it was uh that that everything you're saying it is, but this movie is the template, especially the other prequels, is a template for how movies ended up being made in the 21st century. Look at the Hulk or all the CG-created characters, all the ones that exist in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

It's all basically derived from the prequels of like we'll shoot we'll get these actors we'll shoot them on blue or green screen this was like the first it was like the first big one with the big CG character oh that's actually really interesting

it is interesting because I do think as an audience member you'd be more excited about that since you haven't seen that over and over this felt more like in the Marvel universe to me

where I was like yeah I get it like it's easier to write off characters and stuff but that's another thing that Ahmed Best kind of like gets overlooked where everyone talks about like Andy Serkis' Golem was like, he was, you know, this amazing motion capture actor is like, well, Ahmed Best did it first.

You just didn't like the character, you know? That's not fair. Yeah. Also, I can't believe Andy Serkis is who he is because I actually know him more from 13 Going on 30, which is so weird. He just plays like a character in it. Wow. He's just in that. But then I'm like, he can be all of those physical yes right i mean i can't talent it's a real

talent he's amazing i can barely sit straight it's tough right now i just want to lay down also why didn't they test jar jar's voice i'm sure if they had a focus group every single person would be like you gotta do something about that. I feel like they can never trust anyone to keep it a secret if they tested something with this movie. Like, don't you think people would just immediately tell everyone? Yeah. But you just lie. You animate a little short or something to show it to

people. You're like, do you like this voice? No, no. Excuse me. Bad. Yeah. It really makes me upset. Would you like it more if it was part of the star wars canon yeah no gotta say samuel l jackson i feel like you don't hire samuel jackson just to like sit underused and softly say lines yes so my understanding is that samuel jackson reached out to george lucas was like i want to be in a star wars and so that's he kind of like got cast

in this character as Mace Windu, who's one of the best characters in the prequels, ultimately. But he got cast as Mace Windu, I think, to serve this sort of functionary role, because that was just, you know, there wasn't really a space for him. But he could have been Qui-Gon Jinn. You know, why not?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. That would have been fucking great, I think. I only know the name Mace Windu because my friend's child years ago would be like, Mace Windu. And that's the only way I've ever heard it. So whenever I hear it, I think of that. I've never heard it before. I wanted to say there was a rumor that Tupac wanted to be,

or expressed interest in reading for a role, but his murder in September 1996 prevented any such meeting from taking place. You know, he would have been a great Anakin. He was a Star Wars fan since childhood. I think that's very sweet. He would have been a great Anakin. He was a Star Wars fan since childhood. I think that's very sweet. Would have been a great Anakin. I would have loved to have seen Tupac as Anakin. Oh my God.

Yeah. He's 30. I mean, how old was he when he passed? I don't know. But I think part of why this movie, and you talked about it being focus tested, and obviously that was an issue with people were worried about leaking.

But I think also in 19 in the late 1990s uh was considered like this genius this infallible sort of art you know artistic guy and so i think people were i think he just was surrounded by people who were not willing to or not able to say like hey maybe don't do this you know and that's why there's a lot of weird choices in this film that's what's so tricky about people like that. Like, once you get to a position where you are, you've created something, and then everyone just kind of is afraid to

mess with it. Because then there are things that, like, I just feel like it was kind of universally agreed for the most part. Like, a lot of the criticisms most fans would agree with. So then the people making it probably thought that too, where they're like, oh man, this is not right. For sure. Yeah, that's hard. But like, you know, there's things

and by the way, I realized the word I was looking for was auteur, but I landed on artistic guy. That's just me in my head. There's things like the vehicle design in this movie. I think like a lot of the ships look awesome. That totally reflective ship that the Jedi use is really cool. The droid

station that's orbiting the planet I think just has a cool design to it. A lot of the alien creatures look cool. There's like, just again, the Roger Ebert thing, there's all these visual nuggets just like, oh, that's a fun thing to look at. Fun, yeah. It's visually delicious is what I was

saying to myself at 1am as I watched it. I was like, ooh, this is visually delicious. And I was like, I have to go to sleep. Yeah. But I mean, I think because we're so familiar with this kind of filmmaking now, it felt really easy to watch passively for me because I was like, oh yeah,

I actively don't watch movies that look like this all the time. So I had to like really focus to try to get the plot. Whereas with the earlier ones I feel like even though I might have been bored at times it was more clear what was happening.

The plot was so much more simpler than in this movie. Also, Anakin like saves the day but like by mistake. Yeah. Oh yeah. I think a better choice

would have been like for the force to help him save the day, to showcase that he is powerful, as opposed to like, oh, zoops, oh, wow, I flicked something. Oh, zoom, gotta get out of here. And then they cut to the other people being like, I don't know who's doing that. He was so cute, that little kid.

I can't believe that people were so mean to a child. Yes, they can. Yeah, but I get it. I get it. I get it. Imagine going to school with the kid who's got the role that you would kill your mother for. Oh, yeah. You love these movies so much. Of course you're going to be so nasty to this kid.

Oh, so it was children who were mean. I think it was children. I don't think adults were mean to his face. I guess it said peer bullying, yeah. But also, I guess that continued on into college, because I remember reading he'd go to parties and stuff, and people would give him shit and tell him that his movie sucked. That's so unfair.

That's so stupid. It's so rude. Yes, so jealous. That's just all it is. I was a child. I don't know. It happened to me. Is this his only acting role?

I forgot to look that up. It said he retired after this. Dang. Oh, but maybe just, he retired from acting. He doesn't say it right after this. Yeah. I'll look at a design movie.

In addition to how great it looks, I mean, the sound in this movie, both the John Williams score, but then also just the sound design is so good. Like, there's so many good,

there's so many awesome, just sound effects. The pod racing sequence where they drop out the score entirely just everything like the hum of the the pod racers and everything it just it's it really sits in well and I

feel like just like the the world building beyond just like the visual like just like the the distinct sound of every element is really really sticks with you yeah he stopped acting after this he was in stuff

around that time but then he just did it he oh no he was just a production assistant on a short. Oh okay. He's getting back in there. He's doing it from the other angle.

Maybe that's better. What is Darth Maul is a Sith? Wait what are they? Yes. The evil Jedi are the Sith. And then

somebody was like Yoda says when there's one there's two. Yes. So that is Palpa Boop Boop? Wait what's his name? Senator Palpatine?

Is he the, he's the second one? Yeah, this is another clunky thing about the movie is that there's no mystery about who the Phantom Menace is. It's just like you see this guy with the, you know, with the hood. It's Darth Sidious and it's just like, that's just Senator Palpatine who's trying to be good over here. Like I immediately connect them.

And I also know that because I've seen The Emperor in the previous movie and it's the same actor. So it's, again, I'm just not sure why the story needs to be told, ultimately. But I did think it was neat

that it was the same actor. Yeah. I like that. I like any chance they could do, any chance they had to do that. He's good. Ian McDiarmid, I think, is his name.

I like that guy. Yeah, that was cool. So, Lauren, overall, you seem indifferent. I don't really care for this one. This one, can I rank them in order as my favorites as of now? Ooh, I like it. Okay. Right now, it's Return of the Jedi, Empire Strikes Back, New Hope, and then Phantom Menace.

Whoa. Wow. Is that normal? Maybe. That's pretty, a lot of, I think usually, most people put Empire first, but Return of the Jedi first is pretty common as well. Okay.

Return of the Jedi, Phantom Menace, Emperor Strikes Back, or Empire? Empire. It's good, we're learning. Empire Strikes Back,

and then A New Hope is not even on my list. Wow. I really, man. I honestly would watch A New Hope, and by the way,

hated it, would watch that before I would watch this again. Wow. I'm going to go home and watch Jar Jar until I die. I liked it.

By the way, I don't want to watch either one again, but that's what would happen if I had to, if someone was holding a knife to my leg. I made it as, like,

to your leg as possible. Honestly, if someone held a knife to my leg. I made it as tame as possible. Honestly, if someone held a knife to my leg and was like, watch this again, I'd be like, cut it. Just a little slice, cut me. Speaking as a Star Wars fan who knows Star Wars fans, Nicole, you saying you like Jar Jar and then ranking the Phantom Menace above Empire Strikes Back. It's like you're begging to be docked. This is the best thing I've ever heard. I mean, it's great. I just, I don't know what people's problems were.

I thought it, I did not think the story, any part of it was necessary to the three movies I've seen. But I thought it was a fun rump, if you will. And I was saying earlier, before we started recording, I was like, this movie could have ended so many times. It was very long, and a lot of epic things would happen, and you'd be like, I was like, this movie could have ended so many times. It was very long

and a lot of epic things would happen and you'd be like, oh, cool, so this should be wrapping up and then you'd pause it and go, there's an hour

and 20 minutes left? Okay, well, let's get in. Oh, well, it's not gonna end. Yeah, it was long. It's too long. I liked it.

It's too long and there was a thing, I know we're wrapping up here, but Topher Grace at one point recut the movie, I think it's called The Phantom Edit. We should try to get him on here because I know we're wrapping up here, but Topher Grace at one point recut the movie, I think it's called The Phantom Edit.

We should try to get him on here because I know him. Oh, yeah. That'd be fun. Yeah, let's do that. He put it all together how he thought it should be, right? And this movie's like

two hours and 20 minutes and I think he got it down to around 90. And if you look at it, there's so many scenes you could just lift out of here. I've never seen it, but apparently it's well done.

I will say that this is, I love this movie. I love all the Star Warses. This is probably my least favorite of the mainline Star Warses. So I would put this at the bottom. It's either this or episode seven is kind of competing for the bottom slot.

Okay. How would you rank the first three? The first three, I go five, six, four. So Empire, Jedi, and then star wars classic guy yes yeah yeah yeah um okay this is really exciting for us i mean okay what's the next one called um uh everybody get in here we're about to start the wars again i honestly have no idea. I think it's called Darth Takes a Break. Darth needs a little napsies. The next one is Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones.

Oh, okay. Is this where we see the Clone War? Maybe. I think we're going to see a Clone War. We might see it. But I've been warned that the Clone War is not as interesting as I think it's going to be. Yes, we were told that. Yes. I can't remember.

But then I think Gemberling said, or maybe it was Gabrus who said that we might not like the pod chasing. Yeah. And I was like, no, I liked it. That was fun. Yeah. It's fine. It's fine. Episode two, I will just say, I think is the most distinct of all of the mainline Star Wars.

And which one is the most hated out of these, this trilogy? I think this first one. Okay. So people might like this one or one or two. Okay. So the next one is going to be possibly bad in our opinion, but you might love it. Sometimes I really wonder if I have bad taste and I think that's being confirmed right now. I don't think there's such a thing as that.

No. Yeah. It's just different. I don't think there's such a thing as that. No. Yeah. It's just different. I can't believe people hated this movie so much. I know. But also I'm delighted in insane things like

when Darth Maul got on that scooter I squealed. Yeah. But if you actually cared you would have been like no. I was like why is he on a Vespa?

Yeah. I could imagine being upset about that. Well Nick do you have anything you'd like to plug? You know, you mentioned my podcast, Doughboys, me and Mike Mitchell,

and how did this get played with me and Heather Ann Campbell? First one covers chain restaurants. Second one covers bad video games. Check them out. Yeah, and both are really great. And what is your Instagram and Twitter? I'm just at Nick Weiger on whatever social media platform you use. Well, great.

Thank you so much for being here. Everyone can please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Mike Weiger on whatever social media platform you use. Well, great. Thank you so much for being here. Um, everyone can please rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Of course, if you like how we're talking about this, please rate and review us. And honestly, when you criticize me for loving this movie,

please be kind. And then like, I I'm, I'm open to constructive criticisms as to why my opinions are wrong. Oh yeah. We're, we're open to constructive criticisms as to why my opinions are wrong. Oh, yeah. We're open to constructive criticism. Just please be kind. Just don't go crazy.

You don't have to call me a name. Right. We don't need name calling. Yeah. We're prepared. And by the way, none of these have come out yet. We're just anticipating all of them. I mean, you're right.

When we started from the jump, we're like, the people are going to be very mean. They're going to be mad. The people will be mad. Okay. And where can we follow you online? Oh, at Nicole Byer on Twitter and Instagram. And you have a book coming out that people can pre-order. You can pre-order.

The links are, it's a link in my bio. It's a very long name that I can't remember right now. But it's a how-to guide on how to be brave as a fat lady. It's tongue-in-cheek. Some people have taken it literally oh my god it looks amazing thank you

and it's like amazing pictures of you thank you me in a bikini by Kim New Money who's a great photographer yes she's wonderful and Lauren

where can people find you and what do you have going on oh you can find me at Lauren Lapkus on Twitter and Instagram I just started a Patreon I saw so follow my Patreon

I'm gonna be doing my own stuff that I just changed up from Wait Till You Get My Short Film you can watch there I directed it and it's all improvised by really hilarious people that you might know from other podcasts and stuff. So go check it out. And it's all under my name on Patreon.

And I hope you find it and follow me. All right. Well, we love you guys. Yes. We love Star Wars. It's our favorite thing. So thank you for listening. Bye bye. So thank you for listening. Bye-bye.

That was a HateGum Podcast.