Murderbot - S01E04 - Escape Velocity Protocol

[00:00:17] Welcome to The Lorehounds, your Murderbot sec units whose flaws are within acceptable limits, just ask our psychiatrists. I'm John, here to talk about a violation of security protocol that I am contractually obligated to record and report to the company. Hi, and I'm Alicia, ready with a theme song to distract you if you try to brainwash me, and also ready to talk about Escape Velocity Protocol, the fourth episode of Murderbot on Apple TV+.

[00:00:44] Yeah, watch out. I have a whole soundboard here I could distract you with if you try to attack me. Uh-oh. I'm curious. Spoilers for the first four episodes. Oh, I just meant I have the theme music for our show. No. But spoilers for the first four episodes. We've not watched ahead, but we do have screeners, so we're recording this nice in advance so that you can have a day of. Alicia, you've done some of the reading, more of the reading than me.

[00:01:10] Yeah, I mean, I'm still on one and a half books because I, yeah, honestly, I've been reading for other podcasts right now, so I had to put it on pause, but I'm very eager to get back to it ASAP. Very cool. And I've just read the first novella, so I'm still in, I know generally the arc of what's coming this season, I think, but I think after this season, I'll be done.

[00:01:34] So what are your hot takes on all this? This was, uh, you want to, you want to give the details of the episode and then go into your hot take? Uh, sure. So yeah, this is, it was written again. I mean, it was the same writers and directors last time, Toa Fraser as a director, Paul and Chris Weitz as the writers.

[00:01:52] And, um, yeah, I, I, I was into this episode, you know, I was thinking about, we talked about the cliffhanger last time and I agreed that it was kind of a silly cliffhanger, you know?

[00:02:05] So I went into this episode thinking like, how do, how would I have done it differently? And I honestly am not sure where I would have put the cliffhanger instead because then I'm like, oh, it should be this moment when they're like putting the, um, combat override module in, but then like, oh wait, but then you don't get that other part or it's too much or.

[00:02:26] Yeah. And I understand why they didn't want to do a double episode, even though this is two parts of one chapter, but it's a big chapter, you know, it's, it's, it's an important action, heavy chapter. Um, so I don't know, what are your thoughts now on the cliffhanger after seeing the second half? What would you do differently? Uh, I would have just made it one episode. Like just watching this, I was like, there is absolutely no narrative reason for this to have been two episodes.

[00:02:53] But if, if you are not allowed to make it one episode because you're required to do. Then I guess it's fine. I, I, I look, I'm not going to complain about the cliffhangers on the show anymore because the last of us has blown this out of the water on back cliffhangers. I still haven't seen the new episode. So I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna accept it. I, overall, I, I did really like this episode and you know, again, this is a lot of stuff right from the book, a little different stuff and where it was different.

[00:03:19] I thought it was really funny. Like they added the, the theme song to distract and, and, uh, this, this idea of him going in it or it going in and out of, of sanctuary moon and like imagining itself in a sanctuary moon plot. That's so funny and so, so perfect. And the way that it's just like zonked out. I, I really love this. And I love how Mensa and even the rest of the group is warming up to him.

[00:03:43] Like, Oh no, we're not going to kill you. No, we just can't. And then of course we have a, Oh, you're not going to kill me. Fine. Sorry about this. Kills itself. Yeah. I, I love the entire cast. Actually. I think that, um, I feel bad for calling a Rada a bit ditzy last week because a Rada had some of my favorite moments this week.

[00:04:06] Just the way that the actress delivers the lines is just so perfect. And yeah, I think that they're all so great in these. I mean, their roles that are on one level kind of intentionally caricatures, but also they give them such humanity that they don't feel that way at all. Yeah. They do feel fully fleshed out. Rathi, of course. I, I, I love how he like fake out deaths. I was like, no. And then they got me with it. And then he just pops up like, ha ha.

[00:04:36] I thought that was funny. Yeah. The whole, um, the whole, like not knowing how to use the gun thing and then shooting himself in the head after, I mean, getting the backlash in the head, not shooting himself. Yeah. Yeah. The backfire. That was fun. I'm not a gun person. What do you call it? Kickback. Yeah. Yeah. The recoil. Well, I only know that from playing call of duty.

[00:05:00] No, actually I used to go skeet shooting with my uncle actually. So I know, I know like a tiny bit about, about guns, but not like guns like this. Yeah. I, I mean, I have shotguns at like shooting range and, and like my friend's, um, cabin and stuff, but, uh, yeah, I don't know it. Yeah. Yeah. No, any other general thoughts on the episode?

[00:05:27] No, just, um, I really liked the cold open. I think I love these little glimpses. Uh, as far as I know, that is an addition. Yeah. I think so too. I mean, at least in the first book it's an addition. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, and I thought that was a really great insight into this world. And I love, by the way, just like how this show is dripping with sarcasm. That's totally my humor. Just very dry, but earnest humor.

[00:05:56] Agreed. And so is this setting up a mystery of like, why do they all look different? Mm-hmm. Hmm. I don't know. I genuinely don't know the answer to that. So I would like to, to find out whether in the show or in the books. Yeah. I mean, they said, so it's easier to find them, but it seems like it would be easier to find a rogue, uh, sec unit if they all look the same. Right. Because then you're like, wait, you look like a sec unit. But then I guess you could just be undercover as a sec unit all the time.

[00:06:24] That's true. Hmm. This feels like the Spider-Man pointing meme. I don't, I don't know what's going on here. Mm-hmm. So why don't we get into the main plot then? And, uh, you want to, you want to recap that cold open? Sure. So where murder bots come from? Um, a stork, no. This episode opens with the, with the birth of murder bot at the Threshold Pass Fabrication Center in the Corporation Rim.

[00:06:50] There indentured servants work in not completely sanitary conditions to assemble sec units that are good enough to pass inspection. We see murder bots face in one of the jars awaiting assembly. So yeah, the, I wonder if we'll find out in the later books or if this is an addition, but the idea of indentured servants, um, first of all, obviously preservation ox would not approve.

[00:07:18] But my question is, is this like a punishment, like akin to serving a sentence or is this more like an immigration thing? Like the U S used to do with, you know, for instance, the Irish. Yeah, I don't know that. That is really interesting. I think there's going to be a lot of class overtones in this series as we go on.

[00:07:38] Uh, at least I, there, where I'm at in the books, if there's like an inkling of it and I think that they're just adding a lot more to it in the show or maybe bringing things further back, uh, from the later books. But I, I like this. I want to see more of the world. I do love the way that they talk about sanctuary moon, you know, this debate of like, it helps me fall asleep. It's trash. Like this is, this is exactly, but this is exactly how people talk about reality TV right now.

[00:08:05] Right. Like this is, I mean, I'll, I love and hate reality TV, you know, like I enjoy it for what it is, but it is trash. And, and I, I feel like murder bot and I would get along in that sense. But if this is not reality TV, this is like star Trek or doctor who that's true. That's true. And I, the man more years. I mean, what do I say with, with doctor? I say it's the best and worst sci-fi you'll ever see.

[00:08:31] Like there are some trash, trash stories in doctor who, but I love it anyway. Yeah. No, I know like my family's kind enough to watch it with the Christmas specials with me on Christmas. And, um, and I know like, they know it's going to be really stupid, but they're like, okay, this is a thing that we can do together. And then they, like, I don't think I understood half of that. I was like, it's fine. You know, it's funny yesterday.

[00:08:57] I was like, Maya, we should, we should start from the beginning of, of modern who. And she goes with the ears guy though. The ears guy. That's Christopher. Right. And I was like, you have to get the foundation. She goes, I just want to start with David Tennant if we're going to do it. So I, we were, we're doing it a little bit. I think, I don't know if we'll continue, but I did, I'd made her watch Rose. I was like, we have to watch Rose. She's already seen Daleks and other stuff just being with me. So I was like, you can skip Dalek, I guess.

[00:09:27] Uh, I, I, she's already seen the, the empty children. Uh, and I made her watch the regeneration. I think that's all like the absolutely vital stuff from season one. Okay. And now, now I'm, I'm, I'm allowing that we will go to David Tennant now. Okay. Yeah. I've decided I'm going to start at the beginning too. And I'm going to, I paused my Sarah Jane adventure. Sorry. This is our Dr. Who interlude. Just one more week of this. Last week. So now we got to catch up.

[00:09:56] Um, but yeah, so, uh, I'm going to do it in order with the first seasons of Dr. Who and Torchwood and the Sarah Jane adventures so that when they get to the crossover, I can watch that, like where it all lines up. That's what I decided. That's going to be my project. Classic Who already. No, no, I'm still going to watch the five doctors and then I'm, I don't know. We'll see. Yeah. Okay. I watched, I actually, when I was sick last week, I watched a lot of John Pertwee.

[00:10:23] So that's when I was blue skying about Inverness cloaks and that I could work one. And, uh, I still stand by that. I could, I could work. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think we should bring it back. Why don't we wear cloaks anymore? Everybody. I think we could all make it work. I mean, Diego Luna was saying on Andor who doesn't like to wear a cape? It's true. Yeah. It's true. Okay. I have another question back to Murderbot. I have another question about this indentured servitude thing.

[00:10:52] Um, they said the more hours you work, the sooner you finish, but then they measure their sentences in years. Am I overthinking this? Uh, maybe, I don't know. I, maybe, maybe it's like they measured in years, but like it's, it's actual years and not like work years. Mm hmm. Okay. So you have to work like 12 years of like in hours, like 24 hours a day worth. Okay. Which is a lot more than 12 years of regular working.

[00:11:22] Yeah. You would think it would be like, like, um, the latest alien movie where they're counting, there's like thousands of hours, but they're talking about it in hours. So then you can talk about, you know, you can, you can count it down faster that way. If it's in a unit where you notice the difference. Hmm. Yeah. That's interesting. I, you know, we've only had the 40 hour work week for like a hundred years at this point.

[00:11:47] And so I wouldn't be shocked if that has disappeared by then, if in this corporal hierarchy, whatever it is. So yeah, who knows? Um, Murderbot, the voiceover at the beginning about how this quote unquote, birth, uh, was much better than human hospitals, rigorous quality control. This was sarcastic, right? Or was it kidding itself? I think, I think that was, that was sarcastic.

[00:12:16] They were like, it's within acceptable meat. I mean, that's, that's the whole thing with, with manufacturing, right? They're like, uh, corporate corporations want to save a buck. And if it's, if it's reasonable enough, they're like, ah, send it out. If it's defective, we'll settle. Yeah. Like there is a calculation of like, we just need to make it, make it as few defective as it will cost to settle the lawsuits. Right.

[00:12:43] Like that, that's the part of the cost of doing business is these defective units. Yeah. It's just heavily armed sec units we're making. What's, what's there to worry about to quote the person. And I love how they show that they are like also doing the chemical composition and stuff of, of these sec units. And murder bot says you wouldn't want to fuck around and produce a chronically anxious, depressed murder bot. Oh, that's pretty good. Mm-hmm.

[00:13:10] Um, what'd you think about, so one of the people said they go rogue all the time. Don't you watch the news feeds? So there's a sense of feeding fear or do you think she was messing with her? She was messing with her assistant. That's clear. But do you think the news feeds really are full of them going rogue? I don't know. I mean, I'm sure that certain crimes get blamed on them because it's easy, right? You just unplug them. You don't have to do due process for them. Um, but yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe that's true.

[00:13:39] And maybe that's why Garrothan is so paranoid. Yeah. I mean, murder bot said, um, that this is something that you see like in the entertainment shows, which makes sense. That's definitely something. Yeah. Right. Uh, but yeah, I'm curious. I'm curious. All right. Important question. What kind of sarcastic extra would you want to be on this show? Ooh, not an indentured person. I don't, I don't want that. Uh, sarcastic extra. Mm hmm.

[00:14:09] I don't know. I, I, what other options are there? I don't know. Um, I guess like, I think it would be fun to be if they went somewhere else and where there were normal sec units that weren't murderous to be another sarcastic sec unit who interacts with murder bot. That would be fun. Fair enough. But I don't want a governing module. You know, that, that seems, that seems like a bad deal. Mm hmm. That's true. That's true. I mean, but I, I'm just an extra for the day.

[00:14:39] I get to go home. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Well, um, let's take a break and come back and continue the episode. We're back with more murder bot, more sanctuary moon.

[00:15:07] I was going to say, shall we talk about how to ruin a thruple? I would love to ruin a thruple. Mm hmm. Back in the present, while murder bot faces an uncertain fate inside more on that in a moment outside Mensa pulls rank to send a disgruntled pin Lee back to the ship. While Mensa gathers her courage to go save the sec unit she'd begun thinking of as a member of her team with personhood. On the ship, the three left behind are all disgruntled.

[00:15:36] Rati decides he's going to go after Mensa to save her despite his lack of weapons training, scaring pin Lee and Arata as he wildly swings a gun around in an attempt to be macho. As he leaves, pin Lee says they should look again at the romantic contract after all this is over. Rati heads toward the habitat, struggling to figure out his gun, and then finds the entrance to the habitat lock, and Mensa isn't answering his calls.

[00:16:06] Um, I felt a lot of pin Lee's frustration this episode. Like, first with Mensa, forgive me, all due respect, you get back to the fucking hopper. Um, but also then, you know, just with, with, with Rati, you know, you're being very macho. It's disgusting. And now you can see, like, we've already established last episode, pin Lee is the one who's good with the guns.

[00:16:31] But why is Rati the one who did not, uh, stay awake through training, the one who says, like, I'm the man, I gotta go save Mensa? I mean, as much as he was being really dumb, he was the only one to be like, wait, we don't have to listen to her. And that at least showed some initiative. I appreciate that. If you, you gotta meet somewhere in the middle of these people. Mm-hmm. I guess, um, I liked the, this is where I thought Rati was really funny when Pin Lee

[00:17:01] said, she's very intimidating. Okay. Babe, your chest is intimidating. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. The quiet. Thanks. And it's, and then Pin Lee says, it's actually a stupid rule that everyone has to volunteer for missions. And Arata says, you don't mean that. It is a very cool rule. I'm like, oh, Arata. I love Arata. Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Yeah. She's fun. She's fun. Even if she does get into questionable love contracts.

[00:17:32] I mean, she doesn't seem entirely ready to be done with her. She's like, it's temporary. We learn here that Mensa is not only the leader of this mission, but the leader of their planetary commune. So that puts a new spin on the whole escaping responsibilities talk that she had with Murder Bot last episode. So she's an undercover boss, or I guess she's, she's over overt cover boss. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:01] I think it's okay to say that in the book, they talk about this in regard to the fact that she's more expensive to ensure since she's a planetary leader from the company's perspective. Right. And the company's not going to want her to die either. Right. Cause it's a big payout. Right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What did you think of, I know Ratty is everybody's favorite and I also think Ratty is adorable, but what did you think of his behavior this episode?

[00:18:30] I like, even when he's frustrated, he's still a sweetheart. He's like, you are both wonderful people. Yeah. I, again, I think he has the best comic relief out of any of these characters except Murder Bot itself. Uh, I, I, my favorite of the human because he just always has the right quip and, and, and him asking how to use the gun was hilarious. Yeah. Like the, the, what's that? The safety. Oh my God. Like there's, oh my God.

[00:18:59] Cause Pin Lee said she, sorry, they accused him of auto grinding, uh, when playing, oh, was it, uh, bloodless killjoy tech riot? Uh, these game, these game names are so silly. Yeah. I need to know more about the games they play. You want to bring us back to Mensa? All right. So Mensa to the rescue, uh, inside the Delta wall habitats, the action picks up where episode three left off.

[00:19:27] Murder Bot has been semi knocked out and is being dragged through the halls by the much more advanced mystery sec unit in black. Murder Bot tries to fight the implantation of the combat override module that it knows will force it to kill Mensa and the rest of the humans it's been protecting, but Murder Bot ultimately loses the battle and the combat override module is installed. Just then Mensa takes out the enemy sec unit with a drill from behind.

[00:19:52] She helps confused Murder Bot fight off a second sec unit in black and the two blow their way out of the habitat habitat to find Rati standing there. I love Rati. Just like, I'm going to get in. Okay. I guess I'm just here again. Like Rati has all the humor. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to save you. I'm going to say, well, it was dark by the way, when Murder Bot was going down and then

[00:20:22] has his voice over. Or maybe this was how sec units died. You lose function, go offline, but parts of you keep working. Your organic pieces kept alive by the fading energy of your power cell. I'm like, oh my gosh, that is dark to imagine. Pretty horrific. Definitely don't want that. Yeah. That feels very God Emperor of Dude. But I feel like that this is something that people experience in real life with certain conditions.

[00:20:52] Yeah. I mean, what's that condition that's like a coma, but you're aware? Oh, was it locked in syndrome? Yes. Locked in syndrome. That is my biggest fear. That might be my biggest fear. And that feels like almost what he's describing here. Yeah. Yeah. There's some dark moments amidst the humor. Yeah. But then there's also Sanctuary Moon with the original cast. I was complaining last week.

[00:21:20] We're not complaining, but just saying I hoped to see more of the original cast and they're back. And better than ever. Because we not only get a Murder Bot singing the theme song. Holy shit. It was working. It was completely hypnotized by my beautiful voice. That was good. But we also get Murder Bot in Sanctuary Mood. Yes. And also, by the way, I love seeing Jack McBrayer there from 30 Rock.

[00:21:50] He's always so funny at everything and having him in Sanctuary Mood makes me happy. Yeah. So apparently from an interview I read, he and Alexander Skarsgård are besties. So that's how he got involved. I'm like, I love that. I love that too. I mean, Alexander Skarsgård doesn't age much and Kenneth is immortal canonly in 30 Rock. So I think that works. Hmm. Yeah. That's why they're actually part of the Vampire Club. Yeah. That's right. Them and Keanu, right? Yes.

[00:22:19] Absolutely. Absolutely. Paul Rudd, maybe? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. So if you had to distract someone to save your life, what song would you pick? I would pick the Hot Lore Summer theme song from last year. Hot Lore Summer. That's right. And they'd be like, what the fuck are you saying? I was thinking like Bohemian Rhapsody or something. It's such a weird song. If people don't know it, they're going to be like, where is this going, this song?

[00:22:49] Although I think in Murderbot's situation, I would only be able to sing 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds by John Cage. Have you heard this piece? No. Even if you had, you wouldn't have heard it. It's literally a composition by an experimental or classical composer. And he just conducts silence for 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds. Okay. He starts a stopwatch and stops it. That's it. It reminds me of, have you ever heard of the movie, I think it's called Paint Drying? No.

[00:23:19] So it was a protest film because something like, I forget exactly why. There were changes to the ratings and they, to protest it. But the committee who does like the movie ratings, I think this is in the UK, has to watch the entirety of the film in order to rate it. And so this person just literally submitted 10 hours of paint drying on a wall. Oh my God. And they have to watch the whole thing to rate it. That's excellent.

[00:23:49] That's excellent. I mean, great move. Great move. Master chess move. Yeah. That's a good way to protest. It doesn't, you know. I liked, by the way, so as Murderbot's going under and you hear this, like, what would I, what would happen to my useless clients who are now completely defenseless? And just then Mensa punches through the other tech unit with a drill.

[00:24:18] Which, what I really like about this though, is that we see, and this is definitely a change from the books, but we see she, it doesn't come easy to her being brave. She's crying about it. She vomits. And that makes me respect her all the more actually, because I always think overcoming fear to do what you think is right is what really, like, bravery is not, not having fear. It's overcoming it to follow your moral instincts. No, that's right. Absolutely right.

[00:24:48] And I feel like that's been reiterated in our media for, like, decades. So, it's not a new idea, right? Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. And then Dr. Men said, this is a violation of security priority, and I'm contractually obligated to record this for the report to the company. That's direct from the book. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I love, I love the repeat, right? The, the repeating.

[00:25:13] And, and I thought they did a better job in the show than the book in amping up the tension of the, the, the combat override unit, um, combat override module taking over. It felt a lot more visceral of like, oh, I have a minute left and I can't, there's something in the back of my mind, but I can't quite get it. And then finally gets it out. And I, I thought that that was a really great lead up. They, they really used the medium in a way that you can't really do in books as much.

[00:25:42] They really use the medium to enhance this. And that's, you know, shippy test all day. Passing the shippy test. Yeah. And I liked that they added more humor to, to this whole thing, you know, with, with murder bots confusion and, and the whole, um, being in sanctuary moon and saying weird stuff to Dr. Benson might be an intrepid galactic explorer. Yeah. Yeah. That was pretty good too. Wait, what makes you say that? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:12] I think maybe they're going to figure out, uh, if, if Mensa watched that show, then she might recognize that murder bots been watching it, but I don't think she does. Yeah. Right. Maybe, maybe she will though. I, well, maybe she'll repeat that. Oh, he called me a, an intrepid galactic explorer. And one of them be like, wait, that's from sanctuary moon. Right. What do you want to bet the Garroth in is a total stand? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, I love the way that you title this next section shot through the heart.

[00:26:43] Uh, yeah, I see what you're doing. You give love a bad name. Yeah. That was a Bon Jovi moment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the enemy sec unit follows them outside where murder bot fights it off until pin Lee and a rod to fly over with the hopper and use the ship to stop on the unit into a red and blue pulp sec unit remembers that its confusion is due to its memories being overridden by the combat override module. And it shouts to the others that they need to kill it before it is forced to kill them.

[00:27:11] When they all hesitate, murder bot takes Mensa's gun. It shoots itself in the chest. Fair. Yeah. Um, so, okay. Good, uh, good cliffhanger or bad cliffhanger? I don't think this was even a cliffhanger. It's a robot. You know what I mean? Like they could fix the robot. They're not killing off the titular character. Right. Um, I, I, um, I really. This is how the chapter ends in the book too. Yeah. And I, I do really love the way that, uh, you, and they do the same thing in the book

[00:27:41] of, you know, him grabbing the gun and you're like, oh, it's, it's done its job. He's going to kill them all now. No, he's like, fine, I'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think something the show has done well is giving them, um, it's just creating more of a sense of fear around these sec units. And so how. Yeah. It's more understandable that say Gaurathan and also we see Pinley to a certain extent

[00:28:09] would be suspicious of the sec unit, you know? Yeah. I mean, in the books, it almost feels from the beginning, I think because you're in sec units head right away, um, it feels like they're more of an everyday thing. Mm-hmm. And in, in the show, they really make clear like, no, these are thing, these are constructs that perhaps they would not come into contact with, at least in this capacity very often. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:35] And I like how just how, you know, we talked about Rati turning up the gun too high and getting backfired in the head. Um, I, I like the bumbling nature of these characters and the fact that they succeed because they keep trying, even though they are not like super, um, I don't know, super God, superheroes or whatever. Um, but you, you're so with them when Arata and Pinley, uh, smash the second unit and they're

[00:29:04] like cheering and they're cheering in the, uh, in the visor or whatever of the ship. Like, yeah. Yeah. And I love the second stomp was my favorite. Cause the first stop is just kind of a surprise, but the second stop, you see it like coming down and in the, in the sec units fall like, and then it just got right into it. It was great effects. Great, great moment. Yeah. Yeah. I do wonder. Okay. So this whole combat override thing, you know, so murder bot right before it shoots itself,

[00:29:33] it says it's, it was going to look like they'd been killed by a vicious rogue sec unit. Like that's why the other sec unit was not going after them. It wanted sec unit to do it. I did want to murder bot to do it. Um, and so this makes me ask, and this, uh, by the way, this is probably something that's answered in later books, but is not answered in the first book. Um, but I wonder if there's someone who's trying to get everyone to fear or hate sec units.

[00:30:02] And it makes me think again about that offhand comments about the news report at the beginning of the, like, is this something that's really happening? And if so, it does that connect back to murder bots scrambled memory of violence that, um, that it's having trouble recovering. Yeah, that's a good question. That's a good question. I, I don't know.

[00:30:30] Like, I mean, I know why murder bots being hacked here, right? Like we, we know that from the book, from the first book, but I don't know if there's a broader societal thing going on here. Or if that connects to what murder bot has in its head from before erasure. Right. Right. Murder bot is like C3PO keeps getting mind wiped. Oh boy.

[00:30:55] Or, or I almost remind me of the dreaded, the infamous scene of C3PO having his head put on a battle droid's body and attack on the clones. Right. Right. Right. I've just been rewatching the, uh, the original trilogy. And I'm like, on one hand, I'm like, oh, I identify with C3PO so hard sometimes. Like just in terms of, you know, speaking of neurodivergence, just in terms of like, oh, here, I'm going to tell you facts. What, why don't you want to know the information?

[00:31:25] That is my primary function. But then on the other hand, Chewie is so good to C3PO and C3PO is such a jerk to Chewie. So that made me mad at him again. Anyway. There was a whole. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yes. Uh, but, uh, but going on what you're saying is I, I have been reading the air to the empire trilogy and I'm on the second book. And there was this whole thing about how Han took C3PO along as a favorite of Leia. And, uh, it was just the two of them for like a nine day trip.

[00:31:54] And he had promised Leia that he would try to get along. He's like, he's like, I lasted three days. And then I had to banish him to the other part of the ship. Oh, so sad. He's like, I tried my best. And then I tried to let him fix things, but he kept breaking things. What do you think if murder bot had wound up with Han and Chewie instead of this group? I don't, I don't know.

[00:32:20] I don't, I don't think he's the same kind of humor as Han and Chewie. No, I don't think they, they would have gotten along as well as, as murder bots getting along with a preservation ox. No, I actually think that, I think murder bot would fit in well with the rebels crew. Hmm. You know? Depends. I think, I think he'd be able to, to fit in with the, with the crew of the ghost. Oh my God. Can you imagine him as Saul Guerrera? It, sorry.

[00:32:49] I got to stop. Yeah. I'm him being Alexander. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know with Jason, it was Jason Alexander. It's not, it's not George from, from Seinfeld. That would be another way to go. Yeah. Could you imagine? He's, he's like, what? I told my boss I quit. Now I'm back to kill him. Yeah. It's Festivus. Just let me watch my shows.

[00:33:20] Oh my God. All right. Well, we were doing the murder bot thing. We're having fun. As you have written here, six more weeks coming. It's going to be very fun. If you want to send in feedback, lorehounds at the lorehounds.com or go to our discord, which is linked in the show notes. And you want to talk about everything else going on? Yeah, sure. So, and or the show is finished. Our coverage of it, not quite. Right.

[00:33:46] So there's going to be some wrap up episodes coming in the public feed and the subscriber feed. So watch out for those. The Last of Us finale just came out. So it will be out before this episode for sure. I know you guys are recording it tonight as we're recording. Um, and Doctor Who, this is also the finale for Doctor Who season two slash season 15. So since we didn't get to hear from you, I'm just curious, how much did you like the episode? Because Ian and I obviously had very different opinions.

[00:34:17] Yes. I was listening to your coverage and I was, I was like, Ooh, I actually liked it a lot. I liked the episode. Uh, I, I do see Ian's criticism though about it not being a great onboarding season. Mm-hmm. So yeah, I think, I think Ian's right that RTD hasn't quite fulfilled the mission, but I'm enjoying it as a long time Who fan. Hmm. I, it's getting me to watch classic Who, so that's fun. Right. But, but you and I are the outliers here. You know what I mean? Right.

[00:34:47] Like where, right. Most people aren't going to be like, Hmm, why don't I figure out how to watch something from the 1970s? That isn't actually readily available on any American streaming service. Yeah. But I guess like in the past when characters from classic stuff have shown up, I'm like, well, they'll tell me what I need to know. Yeah. I just don't, I don't know if they are so far. We'll see. We'll see. Let's, let's talk about it in the, in the wrap up. Right. Right. Yeah. We'll see.

[00:35:11] Cause yeah, this, you know, is another one where it was a cliffhanger, but like we knew that was coming because it's literally a two part finale. So we got the setup. Let's see. Right. Right. Right. We will see. Well, if you want to support us, you can go to supercaster, Patreon and get ad free access to our podcasts and our bonus content. Got extra and or coverage. We got extra severance coverage. You know, a bunch of these shows we do some bonus pods on and, um, second breakfast and 11 Z's.

[00:35:40] We just did a real pain and we're about to do a Gene Hackman tribute for our May 11 Z's. That's going to be slightly late, I think, but, uh, we'll be back on track for June, which will be good. Yeah. Yeah. It's looking like it'll be the French connection, uh, but voting still open. All right. So yeah. All right. I got to go figure out where to watch that. Uh, and then our affiliates, nevermind the music with music and psychology, radioactive ramblings doing their fallout lore rings and rituals with all things rings of power.

[00:36:10] Properly Howard movie review, doing silly reviews about if movies are better, worse or on par with the average Ron Howard movie. We'll shift us. I don't know what that is. I'm just kidding. They do silo over there. I say it's going to be due. Yeah. It's, it's going to be due next week. Finally, starting with that. Now that, uh, we're finally out of the woods. Um, so it basically we are doing a full breakdown of the first book on the public feed.

[00:36:39] And so it's going to be, Luke keeps laughing because I keep making it into more parts. I'm like, the book is so dense. Yeah, it is. We actually had David on for the first part, which is, uh, part one B of the book or one A sorry of the book. So, uh, yeah, you get to hear David's voice on the, on the episode. Uh, I'm going to start with putting out reissuing the, um, the episode we did about the background of the writing of the book and everything. And Frank. Okay.

[00:37:09] So, and then we're going to go through the book and, and four sections. And then, uh, we have a ranking that a bunch of people sent in of their favorites, most iconic scenes from the book. And then we're going to talk through the adaptations one at a time and like how they dealt with that material. So very nice. Mm hmm. Very nice. I'm excited to listen to it as I am now a Dune fan. Yay. I wasn't when you started this. So you took long enough to start that I became a Dune fan and read the first four books. My master plan is coming to fruition. Uh, yeah.

[00:37:38] And the Star Wars Canon Timeline podcast, um, I'm putting out, uh, well, before this will have come out, um, and another episode for subscribers. I'm just doing subscriber stuff right now, but just because it's been so busy with the other feeds, I'll get back to the public feed soon. But the new episode will be 10 ways that, uh, and or changed Rogue One. Very nice. That's exciting. Yeah. All right. We got to thank people. You want to thank people?

[00:38:07] Our Discord server boosters, Aaron K, Tiller the Thriller, Dork of the Ninjas, Dove71, Athena A, Tina Lestu, Nancy M, Ghost of Perdition, and Radioactive Richard.

[00:38:15] And our lore masters, Samarshan, Michael G, Michelle E, Brian P, SC, Peter O, H, Adam S, Nancy M, Dove71, Brian8063, Frederick H, Sarah L, Gareth C, Matthew M, Sarah M, Andra B, Kwong Yu, Dead Eye Jedi Bob, Nathan T, Alex V, Sub Zero, Aaron K, Dally V, Mothership61, Narls, Kathy W, Lestu, Jeffrey B, Elisa U, Neil F, Ben B, Scott F, Stephen N, Julia F, Kali S, Ilmariel.

[00:38:44] Forward slash Tim, Paul K, and Adrian. Thanks everyone for all your support. And we will see you with more Murderbot next week. The Lorehounds podcast is produced and published by the Lorehounds. You can send questions and feedback and voicemails at thelorehounds.com slash contact. Get early and ad-free access to all Lorehounds podcasts at patreon.com slash the Lorehounds. Any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities.

[00:39:14] Thanks for listening.