Newcomers: Sports, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - Star Wars: Ep. IX - The Rise of Skywalker (w/ Matt Gourley)

Episode Date: April 28, 2020

It's the final film of the Star Wars saga! Matt Gourley (Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Superego) joins us to answer our questions about the highly divisive Rise of Skywalker film. Who did Palpatine sleep with? Why is it dangerous for a droid to speak Sith? Will this really be the last film? Plus, Matt also explains all the cool puppeteering used in the film, the hot multiple romances going on, and so much more!Check out Matt Gourley new podcast - Bonanas for Bonanza with Andy Daly and Maria Banford.And finally, May the 4th be with you! Next week is Star Wars week and we want to celebrate everything around the franchise. Let us know what you'd like us to cover in your review for the show.Sources for this episode:Rise of Skywalker PlotMovieMistakes (Trivia)Rise of Skywalker IMDB (Trivia)RogerEbert.com ReviewThe Guardian ReviewAdvertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee 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. We're not alone. Good people will fight if we lead them. People keep telling me they know me. No one does. But I do. Long have I do. Long have I waited. And now... Your coming together...

Is your undoing. What are you doing there, 3PO? Taking one last look, sir. At my friends. Confronting fear. confronting fear it's the destiny of a jedi your destiny The Force will be with you. Always. Wow, welcome to another episode of Newcomers, where we're watching Star Wars for the first time. I'm Nicole Byer. And I'm Lauren Lapkus.

And wow, we watched another Star Wars for the first time. I'm Nicole Byer. And I'm Lauren Lapkus. And wow, we watched another Star Wars. My God, they're so long. The movies are so long. And I think my biggest takeaway is how long they are. I'm so shocked because I have a lot to say about this movie, actually. But I just was like, oh, my God, if this movie was 90 minutes, I would about this movie, actually, but I just was like, oh my God, if this movie was 90 minutes, I would love this movie. Same.

I mean, I actually really liked it. What did you think, just off the bat, before we even... Well, should we just bring our guests inside? Yes. I shouldn't even... Okay, okay. Okay, so today we're talking about Star Wars Episode IX. Is that what that stands for?

Yes. The Rise of Skywalker. We're joined by actor, comedian, and podcaster known for his work on the Super Ego and Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast. And he also has a new podcast out today with Andy Daly and Maria Bamford called Bonanas for Bonanza. Welcome to the show, Matt Gourley. Oh, you don't know how excited I am to be here. I love these movies. I fucking love this podcast. How are you guys doing? And I don't mean how are you holding up with quarantine, but with watching all these movies? You're almost there. We are. It's a lot of information.

I truly paused it several times to be like, wait, what is happening? Yeah, it's just a lot. It's a lot. And I mean, they're so long, but I find things to like. And there are parts that I'm like, oh, that looks so cool. Like, you know, I find a lot to enjoy about it. But I do get so confused. And I had to Google stuff during this.

I was like trying to figure out stuff about Ray's parents. I got really lost about that. So they managed to confuse me every time, even when I'm trying to be engaged. And I'm like, I want to like this. I just got lost. I know this one especially because I think I'm sure you guys have probably heard about the divisiveness of the movie before this, The Last Jedi. And so this one, I think, is trying to self-correct where J.J. Abrams intended it to go. And so the first 40 minutes of this are just catching back up to his track.

Yes. Oh, yeah. I say cut. Well, yeah, because it gets so good. It does get good later. I say cut the first 40 minutes of every Star Wars movie. It does, because it's not like they're clearing anything up with that time. I'm never like, oh. I feel like get to the part where

it gets really exciting right away yes especially because they do that exposition like title crawl at the beginning you could cram a lot of that in there yes we can't believe i'm criticizing these movies yes the crawl truly never seems to coincide with the movie. It's just like, Imperial, something happened, but don't worry about it. The movie's not about it. It's a lot. Matt, how did you first get introduced to the Star Wars franchise? And what is your involvement with it at this point? I am literally just barely old enough to have seen the first one in the theater. In fact, I don't even remember it. I'm just told that I saw it in the theater. I definitely remember seeing it in the theater, but it was re-released so many times. And then it took over my life. And it's the closest thing I've ever had to a religion. And I don't mean that

I worship it, but that I just like love it. And it kind of gives me strange, I don't know, comfort or something, but it took over my childhood. I had everything. I made little Star Wars Super 8 movies and then I just loved it. Oh, that's cute. Which movie is your favorite? God, it's definitely either Empire or controversially, I think Jedi. I love Return of the Jedi. I just think it's super fun. And I think I was 10 when that came out. So that was the first one that I could truly appreciate going and standing in line waiting for it anticipating it I remember at like an elementary school with this girl Carrie Gross not Terry Gross I'm just flashing back on her name and she had the storybook and she was reading it aloud before the movie came

out and I was like the first time I was conscious of what a spoiler was and I was like shut up but tell me more shut up but tell me more wow that, that's cute. I'm going to find her. And tell us about the Star Wars Minute podcast and what your involvement was with that. We're not familiar with that. Oh, so that's this wonderful podcast that these two guys, Pete and Alex, put on where they started with the first movie, A New Hope, and every episode they just cover a minute of the film.

That's how in detail they get. And then I'm just a guest. I just show up on there. I know. But they're great, and they manage to do it in a way that is really entertaining and not kind of you know there's that like added that nerdy attitude that a lot of people have of like you got to know this detail in this detail i don't think they're nothing like that and people they just appreciate it oh i so they spend like an hour on each minute more like a half hour oh boy i know oh my god i think they would say the same thing yeah no that's amazing um okay well let's give a little backstory about this uh this

uh film okay it was released december 20th 2019 so that was only a few months ago when the whole world was different um it was directed by jj abrams and written by chris terrio and jj abrams i also saw that colin trevore and someone else wrote this movie as well he did he did a different version but they still give him story or script credit on it but it was a completely different version and that has since leaked it's now on the internet and you can kind of read about it. Yeah, because I kind of remember there being a news stories about him being like like them hiring someone else midway through him writing it or something. He was going to write and direct it. He did write it, but he didn't end up directing it.

Oh, wow. There's so much back and forth with who directs it and who writes it. It's so it's interesting. Yeah. It does feel like they change their minds a lot about things and then they get like certain people seem to get praised and then they don't or they don't like somebody they bring someone else in what do you feel like they should have more consistency with it like would you prefer it if there were like a consistent director i would especially in these last three

because i really liked a lot of what these did but it does suffer from too many cooks in the kitchen and not a clear vision like, you know, those Marvel movies. I'm not a huge fan of those, but they definitely have a singular vision that everybody follows. I think this one just took too many turns and tried to self-correct. There's a lot of people that like Last Jedi and don't like Rise of Skywalker and vice versa, but I think it's because they're both trying to do two separate things. But the good news is there's something for everyone to like and something for no one to like.

Yeah, I liked a lot of it. Should we get into the plot of this? Yeah, let's get into this plot. So following the death of Revenge and the revived... Oh, wait, you hold on. A threat of Revenge. I'm only correcting you because I think it wouldn't make sense. Oh, wait, you hold on. You a threat of revenge. I'm only correcting you because I think it wouldn't make sense. Wait, what did I say?

You said death. Yes. Thank you. Following the threat of revenge by the robot. I truly was reading was like, that doesn't make any sense. By the way, the revived Emperor Palpatine Kylo Ren obt a sith wayfinder leading him to the uncharted planet uh x x goal there he finds palpatine who reveals that he created snooki as a puppet to control the first order and lure kylo into the dark side palpatine unveils the final order a secret

armada is that a word i should know armada yeah like a fleet of ships ah i don't know that okay thank you lord of star destroyers and tells kylo to find and kill ray who is continuing her jedi training under the resistance leader leia organa i never learned how to say her last name either fin and poe uh dameron deliver intel from a spy that Palpatine is on X-Goal. Rey has learned from Luke Skywalker's notes that a Sith Wayfinder can lead them there. Rey, Finn,

Poe, Chewbacca, BB-8-Ball, and C-3PO depart on the Millennium Falcon to Pasadena where... Where Luke 2's Wayfinder is hidden. Okay, see where okay see i feel like i in watching this movie did not understand at all what was happening here no and i i was i felt like i understand the scenes like i understand little moments and what's happening like oh that guy's bad and they want to stop him but then i never really i feel like with all these movies i never

understand the overarching like point like i feel like i don't get why the war is happening or what why they're mad like i never get that what do you want to know i'm here to help i'm i've got it how is palpatine back from the dead okay so this is not entirely clear in the movie, so you can be understood for not grabbing this. But one of the rebel soldiers, the guy who is in Lost and Lord of the Rings, says the Sith have been using dark magic to clone Palpatine. Because we know that the technology of cloning exists.

That's all they give you. And you kind of like at the end, you see that stadium full of robed figures where the emperor is hanging out. Those are like the Sith followers. And they're kind of like his, his aides in return of the Jedi that are, they're just those ugly looking old men. And they just cloned them somehow.

They cloned them. And then Palpatine made a Snoke or Snooki who was in the last two movies as kind of his puppet to control Kylo Ren. Oh, I have another question. So Snooki is a puppet of Palpatine, but then Palpatine still trusts Kylo to do his bidding, even though Kylo helped kill Snooki. even though Kylo helped kill Snooki. Yes, he's saying, he's basically kind of extorting Kylo Ren to say, do what I want, and then you can rule the galaxy,

or you can take over for me. He just wants him to turn dark. That's his main interest, I guess. I guess I'm just like, why would you trust him again if he did bad the first time? Yeah, but he never really does. He's always using Palpatine to get what he wants.

He never fully goes to his side. I'm not saying it makes perfect sense. I'm going to read a little more here, okay? Kylo initiates a force bond with Rey to discover her location. He travels to Pasadena with his warrior subordinates, the Knights of Ren. With the help of Lando Calrissian, Rey and her friends find the clue, a dagger inscribed with Sith text.

By the way, that was like two hours in. It's like they had this in the second paragraph. Which C-3PO's programming forbids him from interpreting and the remains of a Jedi hunter named Ochi and his ship. Sensing that Kylo is nearby,

Rey goes to confront him. The First order captures the falcon chewbacca and the dagger attempting to save chewbacca ray accidentally destroys a first order transport with force lightning believing that chewbacca was killed the group escapes on ochi's ship now i felt like this is i i guess i like that the summary goes there next because i feel like that's when stuff started to get a little more like I could follow it. Like she found the sword and she was like, I understood that it had some meaning.

I didn't really understand what it was. I really liked it. This was right before my favorite part, which is where she like does that kick flip and like slices off the side of the, like she's the coolest character, I feel like. Definitely. Did people like her?

Yeah. I think there was you know some backlash from the you know normal idiots online that were they called her a mary sue do you guys know that term no it's like a sort of screenwriting and narrative term for a like a female character who's empowered but there's no real explanation for it so they say that it's like a token empowerment for females it's total bullshit but that was the one complaint some people had but i think you see through these three films that she's got it where it counts i think she's one of the best characters so many male characters have power you understand why yeah who cares yeah almost all of them i liked

her a lot me too she was my favorite i didn't like her and i don't i don't think i liked her in force awakens but she's very much grown on me yeah i she did a lot of cool shit she like yeah when she like well she becomes so cool once she becomes she knows she's a jedi right okay i feel like i i feel like i know what i'm talking about okay also lauren your eyes lit up i know I know. Lit the fuck up. I thought you had like a Snapchat filter on. Once she becomes a Jedi. And okay, she, that's when like her personality really comes in. You know, I feel like she like, she was kind of not as interesting as a character until you realize that she has these powers.

And in this movie, we get to see so much more of them. And so it was much more exciting to watch her. Like it it felt like because she still doesn't really have a personality i would say that's like something that's missing yeah she's kind of like luke in that sense yeah she's like a blank slate um but i i also just felt like she got to do so much cool stuff in this one like so many stunts when she killed Chewbacca I was so startled I was like truly this franchise just kills everybody I was really upset about it she killed Chewbacca did I look away maybe she didn't she technically didn't she thinks she killed Chewbacca because she had uh Palpatine lightning bolts shoot out of her hand and then kylo was like the fuck and then she was like chewy

and then uh then finn was like come on we gotta go p.s finn all he does this movie is scream alone outside uh that's it though he doesn't move the story along he's just like no what okay no he runs to a mark stops screams yeah yeah well even poe at the end i felt like didn't really he was like we did it and i was like no you didn't she did it you didn't do any you just were commanding everyone where to go yeah you and second place lando for bringing everybody yeah also lando i gotta say billy d will, truly, I don't know if he knew which set he was on. He seemed a little confused about everything that was happening. Yeah, I saw some press.

I always thought he was going to break in a song. I saw some press interviews with him and he didn't seem like he quite knew where he was even during those. He's just nipping on the Colt 45 that he used to do ads for. I love it. That's great. Let's just nipping on the Colt 45 that he used to do ads for. I love it. That's great. Let's see a little bit more. Uh oh. The group travels to Kijimi where a slicer

extracts the Sith text revealing coordinates to find the Wayfinder. Rey senses Chewbacca's alive and the group mounts a rescue mission to Kylo's Star Destroyer. Rey discovers the dagger and her visions of Uchi killing her parents with it kylo informs her that she is palpatine's granddaughter the sith lord had ordered uchi to recover ray as a child but her parents hit her on jabook to protect her general huck saves poe finn and chewbacca from execution revealing himself as

the spy he permits the group to escape the Falcon, but is discovered and executed. Okay, well, that's our favorite guy, Donal. Yes. Didn't he look better in this one? He looks so much better, but I think it's because he's like not as evil. Yeah, he's kind of like on their side a little bit. So he doesn't look so purpley and weird. Yeah, he's not tensing his face as much.

No, he's like a little bit more relaxed. Also, when it was revealed that Ray was Palpatine's granddaughter, I truly screamed the loudest I've ever screamed. I was so shocked. I was like, what? Wow! Thank God I didn't see this in theaters.

People would be so angry with me maybe a lot of people were screaming oh maybe it's a pretty good reveal it was so good like oh good like a good thing not like that's the stupidest thing oh i loved it i thought it was really fun yeah i did too um have we at this point seen that little guy that i love so much whose name i forget right now babu freak yeah no he's new he's great isn't he he's but he has he come into the plot at this point because i feel like they didn't mention him but i wanted to mention him yeah so cute he's the slicer he was amazing wait which one's babu freak that's the one who's like the little guy oh yes yes yes yes c-3po's brain i love that guy he was the best

well this is one of my favorite things about this movie is I felt like they really combined the like realistic puppetry of the older films with the new technology like it looked the most seamless I feel like we hated Phantom Menace's

CGI and stuff and like it was just so weird looking this looked more natural and it made me feel like i could watch it for long like it wasn't so annoying to watch yeah and that babu freak was a little puppet that was controlled by these guys with wires and they had full green screen suits on and then the woman that does his voice is moaning myrtle from harry potter if you've ever seen that and she actually she learned to be the puppeteer so that they could have more of a kind of like authentic reaction as she'd speak she'd operate its mouth and stuff like that i love that it was a real puppet that's so cool yeah and i love that she wanted him puppeteering

that's fun i know yeah that's really cool. What happened with C-3PO where I felt confused about the part where he had to get his brain taken out and stuff. What was happening there? I guess he has a programming block where he's not allowed to speak Sith because it's dangerous. So he can

understand it, but he can't speak it. So they have to wipe his system to get rid of that so they can find out that info. okay why would it be dangerous for a droid to speak sith is that a dumb question no i'm not sure i guess other than he could technically like communicate a sith message which could be dangerous of some kind like he could be like it's like saying voldemort yeah yeah you're just like okay let's not let him have the ability yeah or maybe it was like banned by the republic or something i have no idea it's like a banned book yeah i have another question yeah so palpatine

is ray's grandpa who who fucked palpatine yeah good question and what what were they into what kind of shit did they like yeah and was it after he turned into that purple goopy mess after he killed samuel jackson like who was fucking palpatine well i would love to know that i really want to know what kind of woman's and is that woman into the senator palpatine or emperor palpatine or both like you know by day and by night in the streets and the sheets i kept mixing up like i kept mixing up ray with felicity jones character and i was like oh her parents were those people that she like saw them be killed and she was hiding in the cave and then mike mike was like no that's not what's happening that's a different

movie and i argued with him back and forth for a while and then i looked it up and i was like okay wait so her mom ray's mom is the woman from killing eve yeah jody judy comer jody comer and so are her parents they were they against being evil yeah i think they say that i can't remember who's her dad or her mom who's the offspring of palpatine but that they were trying to hide ray from him because they knew that he was evil okay i think it's the dad or her mom who's the offspring of Palpatine, but that they were trying to hide Ray from him because they knew that he was evil. Okay, I think it's the dad because I think it's an unknown mother and like Palpatine father or something.

It was when I Googled it. Yeah, it's kind of like a mirror of when they hid Luke and Leia from Vader knowing he was bad. Yes. Okay, okay. Okay, I'm gonna keep reading. The group finds the Way. Okay. I'm going to keep reading. The group finds the Wayfinder

in the remains of the second Death Star. Rey retrieves it, but she is met by Kylo who destroys the Wayfinder and duels her. In a dying act, Leia calls to Kylo

through the forest, distracting him as Rey impales him. Sensing Leia's death, Rey heals Kylo and takes his ship to exile herself on Ahch-To.

There, Luke's forest spirit encourages Rey to face Palpatine and gives her Leia's lightsaber. Rey leaves for Exegol in Luke's X-Wing fighter, using the Wayfinder from Kylo's ship. Meanwhile, Kylo converses with a memory of his father,

Han Solo. He throws away his lightsaber and reclaims his identity as Ben Solo. Sensing Leia's passing and Ben's return, Palpatine sends one of the Final Order's super laser-equipped Star Destroyers to obliterate Kajimi. Okay. I do

find that reading the fake words makes you not able to read normal words. So I was like, wayfinder, lightsaber. I'm just like, I don't know. I suddenly lose all ability to talk. And people on Twitter have been like, the bit where you mispronounce words isn't funny anymore. And I'm like, you don't get it.

We're like legit struggling. Yeah, and those people can fuck off to the high hills because this is, I like your pronunciations. And also Lucas, George Lucas used to mispronounce his own things. He used to call Hoth Hoth. Oh, OK. That's great.

Very funny. Yeah. But this fight was super fun. I thought it was really well done. It was pretty impressive. And then when when Kylo like senses Leia, I was like, ooh, this is fun too. And then she stabs him, but then she heals him. And I was like, but he could have been dead.

Well, yeah, I really liked the part where she shows her skill with the big snake. Where she like heals him. I love that. I thought the snake was really cool. And then so I got kind of excited when that was like used within this moment um and i thought that was like that played out really nicely story-wise uh but i yeah it was kind of confusing like why she would bring him back i guess she just had i thought she was just feeling guilty like her conscience was like and plus i think she loves him yeah i think it's all that she did say i would take your I wouldn't take your hand I would take Ben's hand

and I was like I'm hot I'm truly I'm feeling the vapors I love this yeah I took a shower I wrote some more fan fiction in my brain I think it's because she's

just by nature good and she's kind of like a doctor like you do no harm and I think probably was hoping for Ben to by nature good. And she's kind of like a doctor, like you do no harm. And, and I think probably was hoping for Ben to come out of that rather than Kylo Ren. I mean, that's, that's how I see it in my fan fiction.

Yeah. That was interesting. I mean, okay. Then I, well, I mean, I had not to jump ahead,

but I did feel like sad when he gave it back to her later. I felt like, yeah. Oh, I wanted them to like be together or something or like work together yeah but i mean everybody comes palpatine came back that's true ren could come back also at the end of this movie i was like huh so there isn't gonna be another one it feels like this is set up for another one yeah there's no plans they i think they felt they were gonna end this but i think it going to be like how there was never a plan to continue the original trilogy and then there was

and then it was done at the prequels and then this so in another generation we'll see you know 10 11 and 12 i don't yeah i don't see any world where they don't do another one no especially if like ray and finn and poe are older kind of like the other ones are now that'd be interesting yeah and now that disney has their mitts on it too, they're never gonna let that sit on the shelf. They need new stuff. No, it makes way too much money. Yeah.

Okay, so Rey transmits her coordinates to R2-D2, allowing the Resistance to follow her to X-Gol, where she confronts Palpatine. He demands that she kill him in order to transfer his spirit into her. Lando brings reinforcements from across the galaxy to join the battle. Ben overpowers the Knights of Ren and joins Rey, but Palpatine drains their power to rejuvenate himself. He attacks the resistance fleet with force lightning and

incapacitates Ben. Weekend, Rey hears the voices of past Jedi who lend her their strength. Palpatine attacks her with lightning, but Rey deflects it using the Skywalker lightsabers, killing him and herself. Ben uses the Force to revive her at the cost of his own life. Rey kisses Ben before he dies. That got me

so juiced up. That was fucking good, dude. I loved it. The Resistance laughed and they were like having a moment and he was like, bye. I loved it. And he like laughed and they were like having a moment and he was like, bye. Yeah. And he's gone. A good goodbye.

I was like, you were just having fun. The Resistance defeats Palpatine's armada while people across the galaxy rise up against the First Order. The Resistance returns to their base to celebrate. I'll just wrap it up. After the celebration, Rey visits Luke's abandoned childhood home on Tatooine

and buries the Skywalker lightsabers having built her own. A passerby asks her name. As the spirits of Luke and Leia watch, she replies, Rey Skywalker. I wish she had said Rey Solo, because she's alone. That would have been good. Yeah. Or a hyphenate, Rey Solo Skywalker. I wish she had said Rey Solo, because she's alone. That would have been good.

Or a hyphenate, Rey Solo Skywalker. Or she's like, Rey Tatooine. Rey, lady with a camel. Well, if she had done Rey Solo, it would have been like a callback to Han Solo, but then also a nod to Titanic when Rose takes Jack's name, because she loved Jack and would have married him had callback to Han Solo but then also a nod to Titanic when Rose takes Jack's name because she loved Jack and would have married him had they both lived yes yeah I like that but

see wait now I feel confused because she's not she just took the name Skywalker as like an homage yes yeah if she were if she actually was a Skywalker she would be related to Ben and like yes this they do like they do like a little bit of inc be related to Ben. And like this, they do like, they do like a little bit of incest in these movies. Like they. A fair amount. Yes. Just a little confusing.

They also, this, okay. So this summary was pretty in depth, but like, we didn't talk about that. Carrie Russell was in this movie. Only for her.

Dressed as the Rocketeer. Yeah. Yes. I was like, this is so, why, why did we waste carrie russell with and uh just a mask you can't really see her act i feel like it's getting to the point with these movies though where like every single person is famous so like like the guy from lost had such a small part but he's really known and then like she was just her eyes and we're like i think that's carrie

russell but i wasn't sure on that carrie russell speaking of hot and having to take a shower when poe gets back from the end battle and gives her that little look and she goes nobody but he kind of just the amount we have can i kiss you or whatever yeah yeah that was good yes he communicates like an entire like advance on her in two little looks of his eyes it's incredible and she doesn't even have a mouth at that point that we can see nope no math like it really was good yeah that's the thing about these movies like you want the weirdest people to hook up like i i don't even know what she looks like i'm like just fuck like do it, keep the mask on and do it. Yeah. Also, Finn found a nice lady friend,

that nice black lady who... Okay, who was that? And where did she come... She just rode up on that horse, Rhino. Yes, there was weird horses. I was like, how do these horses get here? But she was like a former stormtrooper. Apparently, there was like a stormtrooper revolt that happened that she explained, right? Yeah, she was a former stormtrooper like him and didn't quite have the stomach for it.

I was listening to your episode with Paul F. Tompkins and there was like some confusion over how stormtroopers were people, then clones, and then these people again. And so they're not clones anymore. They say in The Force Awakens that they quit using clones because they weren't working well so then they started stealing children and making them storm troopers so that's why this class of storm troopers doesn't quite have it in them that's interesting oh and then so when finn like decides not to be one he it's just because he's like i don't want to do it they made me this or or whatever. Yeah, basically, yeah. And then what was Jana's whole deal?

So she's going to just hang out with us and maybe be in the next movie. Didn't she feel like she was like... Because at the end, Lando's like, where are you from? And then she's like, I don't know. And he's like, we're going to find out. Let's find out.

Yeah, I was like, are they going to do a spinoff with Lando and Jana? I'd watch it. Yeah, I think there's something, a deleted scene, I forget what it is, or the director at some point said that he's insinuating that Lando's her father. Oh. So there's some unanswered questions.

That's a really coy way to put that. Yeah, like throughout the, not his daddy, not our daddy, his father. Did you notice that Finn was kind of going, I have something to tell you, Ray. I have something to tell you. And you never find out what it is. That was another thing that they didn't keep in, but he apparently has the force or is at least force sensitive, but you kind of get that.

Cause at one point, Jana, the other storm trooper asked him, how do you know this? And he goes, I felt it. So I think he was just going to tell her that. Oh,

see, I thought he was going to tell her that he would like loved her or something. Yeah. Which also would be confusing. Cause he was kind of in love with Rose in the last movie and now he's in love with Jana or maybe Ray. So there's some weird threads left dangling.

Okay. Wait, at the end, um, I'm looking at my character sheet here. Commander Larmada. Daisy, who is that?

Like basically a woman who looks like me. Um, at the end, she like kissed a woman, but then I was like, who was that? And what just happened? And what was that? Who was that? Yeah, it's just the first lesbian moment

in all of Star Wars or any gay moment. Okay, and then was that a character we had seen? I didn't remember. I didn't catch who it was who ran up to her. Yeah, she was in last jedi as well she's kind of a commander so we're just like they're a couple just side note yeah but you don't know who the other pilot is that she kisses i guess oh okay it's kind of like that remember that famous scene in time square after world war ii where there's just a sailor kissing

a woman yeah yeah so it's just like they're being reunited and we're like yay everyone's happy yeah that's cute yeah i feel like they could have way more gay moments in these movies but they could just have more romance i know if you're going all the way to incest it's it's a smaller step for those who are troubled by it um that the one in the previous one we did i think with mono that um when the guy was dying and the other guy like they were like lovers or something when the guy like held him when he was dying the um like oh in in rogue one the the two yeah yeah there is a strong homoerotic subtext under that and i think even the actors have said that they were open to that i don't even remember

rogue one i know they all blend together it's so weird yeah because truly ray and homegirl from rogue one to me are the same person so it's very confusing didn't you love seeing the ewoks again i did when i saw the ewoks i was like oh lauren's gonna be happy and that's the same actor that played him oh good I was like it looks like Ewok town and then they zoomed out and I was like it is and that's that actor played the older Wicket and then the little

Ewok is his actual son playing that role oh that's awesome that's so cute it's Warwick Davis yeah oh my god I love that they always have all their kids in it. All these people have all their children in the movies. I know. Wait, they didn't mention DQ or DO

in the summary. That little Pixar droid. He looked like the Pixar lamp just with a wheel. That's what I thought. And I was like, is that because of Disney? They were like put the Pixar lamp on? Oh, maybe. He was cute, though.

He was very cute. I love all the droids. The droids are adorable. Yeah. It says that Dio was played by J.J. Abrams. He did the voice. Yeah. You got to put yourself in your movies.

I just love how they keep saying those characters are voiced by people. Because it's like clearly a computer, right? Well, that one speaks English. Oh, OK. Right. OK. But then like BB-8's like clearly a computer right like well that one speaks english oh okay right okay but then like bba it's like yeah yeah it's like you're not voiced by anybody okay trivia c-3po's final line of dialogue did you hear that was also the first line he speaks in the entire series in episode four a new hope wow i didn't I didn't know that. That's a cool bookend. That's cute, I like a full circle moment. Yeah.

Yeah. During the massive crowd celebration scene, C-3PO says that this event happens once every 42 years. This was the time between the first Star Wars movie to be released in 1977 and this film. However, the official timeline in the Rise of Skywalker visual dictionary states that the events of this film

take place 35 years after that of a new hope oh fuck so we're screwed you guys gotta start the podcast over this is the first thing that doesn't make sense that's so funny to fuck up your own timeline. I know. It literally does not matter. It just doesn't matter. So the opening crawl makes reference to Palpatine announcing his return from the dead through a broadcast. The film itself doesn't reveal what he said in the broadcast, but it was revealed in a Star Wars Fortnite event. The exact broadcast is as follows.

At last, the work of generations is complete. The great era is corrected. The day of victory is at follows. At last, the work of generations is complete. The great era is corrected. The day of victory is at hand. The day of revenge. The day of the Sith. What a cheerful little announcement. It sounds just like a Trump tweet, too, with all those exclamation marks.

It really does. Oh, my God. Okay, music composer John Williams has a cameo as a bartender on the planet Kajimi. That's cool. That is cool. Dominic Monaghan. Did I say that name right?

Monaghan? Yeah, I think Monaghan. I think that's the guy from Lost and Lord of the Rings. Yes. He received his role in the film as a result of a bet with the director and friend J.J. Abrams. While Abrams was working on the script, he and Monaghan had made a friendly wager on the world cup game the prize being a part in

the upcoming Star Wars film Monaghan won the bet and Abrams wrote the part of Beaumont Kin just for him wow is that how I get into movies I just have to gambling make friends and gamble I'm already doing that crazy that's so crazy. That is so crazy. But that also explains why it's like a random little part. Like it kind of... Yes. I feel like he's too big for the role in some ways.

It's weird. Yeah. Billy Lord, Lieutenant Connix, wears the same outfit that her mother, Carrie Fisher, wore in Star Wars Episode 4, or Episode 6, Return of the Jedi, and the hairstyle was done to match as well. To many fans,

this costume is known as Endor Leia. That's cute. I like that she got to do that. That is cute. Didn't she also play Leia in that flashback training sequence and they just put CGI over her face?

Oh, yeah. I think we did see that somewhere. Or was that way in this one? That was what that was? Or the previous one? Yeah. Oh, okay. No, this one that was what yeah the previous yeah okay no this one this one because so Carrie Fisher had died but yeah they

this I'm surprised this isn't on a trivia that I because we googled it while we were watching it that she they used the footage from a previous film and it was the like just unused footage and they made the story make sense around it so that it is her acting it's not all cgi yeah like they replaced the background here and there but it's just yeah

it's all mostly from force awakens i think that's so cool i know and they did a pretty decent job yeah i think yeah i thought it was pretty creative as well although i was just like i don't she could have not been in the movie. I don't know. Yeah. It feels weird to have, you know, dead people in movies because they don't have a say in it. But I did like seeing everyone. Like you see the ghost of Han Solo who talks to Kylo and then Luke comes back. It's all, the gang's all here. It was a nice treat.

Do you feel like because leia disappears when she dies that it's like then they're like now she's really gone oh yeah that's the thing with jedi when they disappear that means they've become one with the force and why um oh what was i thinking of that's why like kylo ren or because he's ben he's redeemed himself can disappear oh okay also I loved Kylo Ren's like normal person clothes he like hung up his cloak hung up his helmet and put on a crew

neck and tights yeah yes I was like this is a very stark contrast like he's just been waiting to wear those he's like I just don't feel like Ben today yeah okay so Contra. Like he's just been waiting to wear those. He's like, I just don't feel like Ben today. Yeah. Okay.

So the reviews of this. Oh, actually, I think we should probably go to break, right? We haven't done that yet. Oh, yes. So let's take a break. And we're back. So this had mixed or average reviews with its lack of imagination as one of its biggest critiques and its extreme levels of fan service as a point of contention among critics. Overall, fans enjoyed this film far more than critics with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 86% and 52% respectively.

So that's interesting. Let's read some of these. Roger Ebert.com said for those who get a chill down their spine at a familiar john williams composition in just the right place or even locations that this film returns to that you probably never thought you'd see again the rise of skywalker offers just enough to make them happy it's not unlike a roller coaster ride in that it has just enough thrills to satisfy fans but you can also see exactly where the ride begins and ends before you strap in real movie magic comes with surprises and risk-taking, and those are undeniably absent here. I believe for the reason that people thought

there was too much of both in the last film. Almost everything has been workshopped, focus grouped, and even Twitter hive-minded to a fine paste. It's easy to digest, but not that filling or memorable. 2.5 out of 4 stars. I completely disagree, but am I a Twitter head, and that's why I like it? Yeah, but you're not deep in

star wars twitter yeah yeah that's true yeah i really enjoyed this movie i had a great time it just i just had fun with it that i maybe didn't have as much with the last one i didn't mind any of the extreme choices the last one made but i found the humor in the last one that felt more geared toward twitter and like memes and gifs and stuff like quick little humorous things. It just the tone felt off in the last one. But maybe the plot is full of holes in this one. But the tone feels more at home with the rest of Star Wars. I agree.

Here's another one from The Guardian. Turning his back on the controversies of The Last Jedi, Abrams conjures a mix of crowds-pleasing spectacle and unadventurous storytelling, steering a whiz-bang course between a series of oddly familiar set pieces as he ties up some long-running narrative threads while leaving others hanging. The result is a handsome, if creaky, and oddly inconsequential final film that lurches around the galaxy at light speed without actually getting anywhere, final film that lurches around the galaxy at light speed without actually getting anywhere as it sears a course between uh inventive and the inevitable uh three three out of five stars it's i think bad reviews are so funny because they're so on unforgiving and they're just like this one's bad and it's like that people work so hard on yeah not in my, this one's bad. And it's like people work so hard on. Yeah, not in my opinion. This one's bad, but this one's bad. Yeah, yeah.

I thought it was OK. I truly was like the first 40 minutes I can do without. But the back end of the movie I thought was like watchable and fun and engaging. And I was shooketh at some reveals. I had a kiss. I thought it was pretty good. And I was wondering how the hell were they going to tie up Kylo Ren's story because he killed his dad. You can never like this guy again. But then when you separate him from Ben Solo and that's what you end with, it did feel like a legitimate redeeming. I was pretty impressed by that.

Well, yeah, I thought the like interaction with him and han was really sweet and made me feel emotional even though i was like what like i still was like oh yeah a lot of people had a problem with that too like is han now a force ghost but i think the implication there is that leia's projecting that to him and that's why she dies she stays away alive long enough to use her last remaining strength to project his father to him. And it works. And then she can pass on. Which I liked too. Oh, it's really nice.

It is sweet. Yeah. And I like that he got a moment. He kind of became so real feeling. Even just after they kissed and he kind of laughed. I felt like it was like, oh, he's a good guy. And then he died. And then he just passes right away. Let's see.

How does it feel completing the Star Wars film series? Oh my God. Yeah, what's it feel like, guys? We did it. We did it. I have retained such little information. It is as if i haven't watched a single film no matter how much i try i feel like i'll get i'll know certain things and i'll feel surprised that i know them and then other things that i should know i just completely don't so it's

it's all very i feel that way about the harry potter movies i watched those once and couldn't tell you which one is which kind of to that extent with the Marvel movies but that just means they're not for you you got it you just find your own movie and stick with that and that is true you yeah because I know everything that happened on 90 Day Fiancé there you go that's that's your people yeah I love 90 Day Fiancé. Everyone is so wild on it. They're so, this season, I mean, Lana, I mean, there's so many things happening. I mean, this is so good.

But I feel like I'm very relieved that we've completed watching the main films. It felt like this very daunting task and it was many, many hours of watching. I mean, we watched like over 18, probably 20 hours of. Yeah, we've watched over 20 hours because each movie is like two and a half hours. Probably closer to 30.

And there's 10 movies. Oh my God, you're right. Plus we watched Rogue One. Plus we watched. The Holiday Special. The Holiday Special solo. You're over 30 hours. Oh boy.

We're not even close to being done anyway. We're still going to watch other things. How many more episodes do you have left? I can't keep track of that, but I do know that we have to watch probably a handful more things. We're going to watch like some Mandalorian, I think. And because we got to get into Baby Yoda. All right.

We have an Ewok film. Oh, my God. Oh, those are really something. I actually really want to watch that. I'm looking forward to that. But yeah, so we still I mean, I don't know.'s a lot left this world doesn't feels like it's never completed yeah and they'll keep coming it's so interesting it's such a big universe like as a thing and then like the unit like there's so many planets but then like parents find their kids real easy like people find each other so easily. Yeah. Like when you were like Lando's homegirls dad,

I was like, how they didn't see each other for a long time. She didn't know who her dad was. Then he's like, found you. Let's go for a ride. And he's like, where are you from?

And she's like, I don't know. And he's like, we should find out. It's like, why don't you just say I'm your dad? Yeah, really?

Just say it. I would love it. If that movie ended with like tons of crazy reveals like that, like I'm your dad, really just say it I would love it if that movie ended with like tons of crazy reveals like that like I'm your dad I'm in love with you like just like all these different things and I'm your dad um okay well Matt what would you like to plug what do you uh what do you got going on right now oh god uh well I just did a guest uh run of a couple episodes on the show time show kidding with jim carrey awesome that's exciting with him yeah he he beats me up he pulls me out of a car i don't want to spoil it oh i gotta watch that i play a real creep that's so cool how was that it was fun

it was very very exciting and um i had a good time yeah so that's recently out you can see that on showtime and and then just you know every goddamn podcast i don't even want to bother you with it plug one plug one yes plug one or plug them all i mean you have to plug them all we do it at the end all the time yeah we do i certainly won't do it uh well check out i guess super ego is my first baby So you can enjoy that one. Lauren, you've been on it too. So yeah. It's so great.

Whenever. That's it. I'm done. Okay, fine. All right. Shall we read some of these five Star Wars segments? Yeah, you can read it. Okay.

This is the segment where we read your five star reviews. So you guys can go online and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform for a chance to have it read on air. And, you know, we love it. If you want if you want to put any fan fiction elements, write a little story, make it interesting for yourself. You know, that's always fun. This one says best Star Wars content other than the U.A. safety announcements. This is from Buzz 25. I have not had this much fun with star wars content in a long

time with the exception of the safety announcements currently on united airlines nicole is a ddd delta diamond diva so she hasn't seen it yet it's wild all the flight attendants are delivering the safety announcements as usual but there are x-wings and droids and stuff zipping around the background truly a treat love the podcast that's a great review because it's informative and fun yes maybe i'll fly united i won't i don't like united or flying right now i mean yeah can't go anywhere although tickets are 35 to wherever you want to go are they really like i was looking up flights to italy for uh de December because I was thinking I went last December and I was like, oh, what are the tickets like this December? And it was truly a thousand dollars round trip economy. Oh, my God.

That's nothing. Then I went on Priceline and then I found one for seven hundred dollars. And I was like, I mean, I would just buy it and just see what it's done. I would just buy it and just see what... And then just like... That still seems strangely high for an airplane trip right now to one of the hotspots of the worst coronavirus epicenters ever. Yeah, they should be paying me to go. They should be paying you to fly.

Yeah. Next week is May the 4th week, which is a holiday I've actively ignored for years, but now means something to me. Yeah. So it's Star Wars Day and we want to celebrate everything about the series. So what would you guys want to see us cover?

Is there any wild Star Wars memorabilia we should explore? Let us know if there's something we should be talking about in the May the 4th episode. And Nicole, what do you want to plug for us before we go? I guess I would plug, I'm going to, Matt, I'm different. I'm plugging every goddamn thing I've ever done in my life. So there's Nailed It on Netflix. There's Why Won't You Date Me, my podcast about dating.

There's Best Friends with Sashir Zameda, where we talk about our friendship. We're running out of things to talk about because we're in quarantine. My 90 Day Fiance podcast, 90 Day Bae with Marcy Giroux. Drag Her, where we talk about RuPaul's Drag Race with Manu Agapian. And I have a special on Netflix. You can watch it. It's the third episode of Comedians of the World. Lauren.

OK, you can listen to my Patreon, patreon.com slash Lauren Lapkus. That's where I'm doing improv and watch alongs for some of these Star Wars movies, as well as other movies like Roger Rabbit and Hook. And I'm also doing a weekly watch along with the Listen to Your Heart series, The Bachelor spinoff. So I usually do like a million Instagram stories every time I watch The Bachelor and make fun of it. But now I just talk over the entire show and you can just watch it with me. It saves me time, sort of. If you listen to the recent episode, it really didn't save me time. And there's a fun little reveal at the end and um that's my fun thing

i'm doing right now in quarantine you can watch me on good girls on nbc i've been i'm recurring on that for uh the rest of the season and then i have a movie coming out may 13th the wrong missy coming to netflix and the trailer is out now you should go watch it i saw the trailer it's so yes so good i said it on your instagram but truly the part where you fall i was i laughed so hard i like started crying and my stomach hurt god that makes me so happy i love when people fall it's so crazy and somebody wrote to on twitter like this looks like it gives away all the good like the crazy parts of the film and i was like it actually doesn't there's so many insane things that this character does that like I have,

after I saw that comment, I tried to think of other scenes and I was like, Oh no, you're going to go crazy when you see that one. Like the character is so ridiculous. So it's very, very fun. I'm really,

really, really excited for it to come out and for everyone to see it. That's that. Um, all right. Well, follow us all online. You can figure it out.

And Matt, thank you so much for being here thank you god damn it i love you guys you're just you're doing the lord's work so thanks for having me it was a pleasure wait do you play the banjo yeah a little bit you want to throw down a little bit on the way out oh my god You want me to play you out? Yeah. Yep. You want to throw them down a little? Love it. I loved it. Bye. That was a HeadGum Podcast.