EIII: ep 3 – Young Jedi Adventures S1

[00:00:00] OK, David, this is where we are supposed to choose a side. Green or black? John, my soul is as black as night. Your turn. I am black for life. So we're not fighting? I thought this is where HBO wanted us to, like, pick sides and fight and stuff.

[00:00:24] Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find plenty to disagree about on the pod, but we seem to agree on one thing. We both really like the show. The politics, the drama, the lore! It was made for the Lorehounds. And since we just finished recapping season one,

[00:00:38] we couldn't be more ready to defend our black queen in the Dance of the Dragons. And with the season pass option and supercast, listeners can get early ad-free access to each weekly scene by scene deep dive plus our custom show guide with all the characters and connections.

[00:00:54] See you in the Lorehounds podcast feed each week for our dragonfire hot, but probably positive, takes. The Lorehounds House of the Dragon covers is also safe for teen green consumption. Side effects may include a deeper understanding of dragon lore,

[00:01:05] a hardened conflict with itself and an inescapable urge to read the book fired and led by George R.R. Martin. Dragon seeds may experience burning. Hey, Star Wars fans, it's time to get cute today. We're talking season one of Young Jedi Adventures on Disney Plus.

[00:01:38] And I promise there's some lovable characters and valuable lore tucked away in this preschool targeted preamble to phase one of the high republic multimedia project. And there's also things we might see in the Acolyte and beyond. So don't worry if you haven't seen the show yourself,

[00:01:56] we'll tell you what you need to know and who's we. I'm your host, Alicia. And when you hear lore on this podcast, you know, Dead Eye Jedi Bob's voice can't be far behind. Bob, thank you for binging this series so we can talk about it today.

[00:02:11] Have you tried out a nubs impression yet? Oh, boy, he is way too high for me to do. D Bradley Baker is just insane when it comes to everything that he can do. I believe I will leave that to the master.

[00:02:26] Not only can he do clones, but he can also get extremely cute when he wants to. Yeah, for anyone who doesn't know, the person who voices nubs is D Bradley Baker. And he is a legend in, you know, the voice work industry. He's especially known.

[00:02:43] He did all the voices in the Bad Batch and outside of Star Wars. He's especially known for Avatar, the last airbender where he did like he does he does people and he does animals. So in Avatar, he did all the iconic animals, you know, like Momo and Appa.

[00:03:03] He's a legend. I can't believe he goes as far back as legends of the Hidden Temple doing. Oh, Mac, when I was a kid, I mean, how I didn't know.

[00:03:11] Yeah. How was I to know he was going to make a huge flash in Star Wars years and years later? Just he's been in the business for just such a long time. And so freaking good at it, too. Yeah. Well, as for it being too high for you,

[00:03:30] you said the same thing about the kid in when we did the greatest gift for the Christmas special and we'll shift us and you nailed that. So just saying. Don't tell you. So I'm sure it. You're the Bobby break. Brad, wait, Baker. Yeah. Anyway, listeners, welcome.

[00:03:54] We're recording this episode on May 24th, 2024. And the content of this podcast was accurate and up to date when recorded to the best of our knowledge, but that might change as more content is released. So we'll issue update episodes from time to time

[00:04:08] to cover anything that's been added or changed to the timeline. And yeah, we're going to be spoiling basically anything that happens up to this point in Star Wars history. And actually for this era right now, since we already gave the overview

[00:04:22] of the Hyberpublic era, we're going to be spoiling any events in Star Wars history up until the year one 32, which is the year that the acolyte takes place. But we'll do our best not to spoil anything that happens after the acolyte

[00:04:37] until we get to that point in the timeline. This episode does build heavily on our discussions of the Hyberpublic overview. So I recommend listening to that episode first, but you know, you do you. If this is your first episode and you want to hear more,

[00:04:51] I recommend starting with the quickie intro app to learn how this podcast works and key world building elements. And you'll find that at the top or the bottom of the list, depending on how your podcaster arranges it.

[00:05:02] And also there's a link in the show notes to a blog post that gives you more insight into what's covered in each episode so far and what's coming soon. So young Jedi adventures, were you glad to jump back into this world, Bob?

[00:05:16] I was. It's been an ongoing journey for me over the past. I don't even know how long it's been airing, but it's always been fun to come back to in between reading the Hyberpublic books and other Star Wars titles.

[00:05:31] Just a nice little show to watch with with lunch or dinner or just men, I love these kids. They're they're a great bunch of Jedi younglings. Yeah, they're very lovable. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a Disney Junior show. It's actually two shows.

[00:05:47] So there's if you want just a taste for yourself, start with the shorts. They're separate in the Disney Plus app and there's six six minute shorts. So you can watch the whole thing in half an hour. And then for the show itself, there's 25 double episodes.

[00:06:04] So each episode is about, you know, 25 minutes with with two stories in it, each one being like 12 to 15 minutes, except the finale. It reminds me of the way it reminds me of the way that Nickelodeon used to do a lot of their Nick tunes.

[00:06:21] You'd get two 15 minute episodes per half an hour for things like Doug and Rugrats and Rocko's modern life in the 90s. Oh, I guess it's true. I forgot about that. I definitely used to watch their shows, but I thought that they did that format.

[00:06:36] Yeah, they also have, by the way, if you prefer book form for your kids, they have some young reader adaptations of certain episodes. But Bob, between the short and the like 12, 15 minute episodes, which format do you think you prefer? Do you like one or the other?

[00:06:55] Probably the 12 to 15 minute episode than the actual show. But yeah, I think everything was still pretty good. I'm a pretty big fan of Star Wars shorts as well as the actual episode. So yeah, so they released the shorts.

[00:07:13] They released three at once and then three weekly in April and May of 2023. And then the show, they did an interesting release schedule. They had four different batches of six to seven episodes each. And they released those between May 4th, 2023 and February 14th, 2024.

[00:07:32] So over like 10 months of time. Now, Bob, I saw tweets from you when it first started. You were on board, but then I guess you when it came back for later batches,

[00:07:44] you it wasn't the first thing you put in the top of your list to catch up on. Yeah, I got way behind on that. I don't even remember what I was up to when it came back.

[00:07:54] I don't even know if I was aware that it came back right away. I feel like one day I was just looking on Disney Plus and it's like, oh, they made more episodes of this. Wow. I don't remember if they did like a we're returning trailer or not

[00:08:08] that I missed, but it was just something that slipped under my radar, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess yeah, it's an interesting release schedule because it feels like people can forget about it. Then seems like a few people were tweeting more in the beginning

[00:08:25] and then it dwindled off. Yeah. But it's of course, it's not really geared toward us. Yeah, definitely. Though I think the writing got more interesting in the back half. Yeah, you're absolutely right. That's exactly how I felt when I started watching the last

[00:08:43] I yeah, the last 10 or so double episodes, I think. And the first half, there's one episode that's literally the same plot as an episode of Star Wars Resistance, which I've also been watching.

[00:08:57] So yeah, they were kind of phoning it in a little on the writing in the first half. I wish I could remember a lot of the first half. I feel like I watched those so long ago that

[00:09:09] some of the some of the plot points escaped me, but I know I had a good time with it. Yeah, it's cute, but it's very much like an adventure of the week. You know, it's something you can put on in the background

[00:09:19] while you're doing something else and you'll get a point. And there's always a moral, you know, you're learning a lesson about not being selfish or, you know, being patient, things like that. Right. So at the premise of the show overall,

[00:09:35] now I'm going to quote Wikipedia here because it's actually better than the official Disney description. The description is set during the high republic era, centuries before the events of the main Star Wars films. Star Wars young Jedi adventures,

[00:09:47] follows a group of younglings as they learn the ways of the force, including compassion, self-discipline, teamwork and patience to become Jedi knights. It's set in 232 BBY and we know this because the season finale includes a dedication of Starlight Beacon,

[00:10:05] which we talked about a lot in the last episode. And so this is exactly 100 years before the Acolyte takes place. The series was produced by Lucasfilm Animation and Wild Canary Animation with Michael Olson as a showrunner and Elliot Boer, a supervising director.

[00:10:23] And it is the first full length animated Star Wars series targeted at young audiences. I guess, yeah, they get to make it the first. They really have to add some extra titles on there because there are more minisodes for young kids. Have you watched those?

[00:10:39] Minisodes, I don't think so. The minilins. I've watched some of them. We definitely watch some more later as this podcast goes on. But like I've watched the ones they have. Oh, I can't even remember the name of it,

[00:10:53] but they have a bunch of the female characters with like little extra stories. And those were really good. Yeah, I've heard of that. Yeah. Was it? Yeah, I can't remember the name at the moment either. It escapes me. That's an anthology series.

[00:11:09] So we'll just like sprinkle that in too with other things as we go through the history. But yeah, this follows a group of younglings. And as they start the first episode on Coruscant, which is again the capital city planet where the main Jedi temple was.

[00:11:31] But during this high republic era, they were sending Jedi out to Jedi outposts all over the galaxy, including in the outer rim. So these three younglings are sent to go train on a planet in the outer rim called T'Nu. Would you want to live on T'Nu, Bob?

[00:11:51] It does seem like a really friendly place to to live. I think the atmosphere seems very warm and very inviting. And there's a lot going on. It's a very busy planet, according to the audio description. Yeah, it seems some it's it's the planet's invented for the show,

[00:12:13] but it's very green. It seems of a pleasant climate. There's lots of cool animals and plant species. There's like some chill towns with people. It's got that laid back vacation vibe. It kind of feels like we've got the local town that they're often going to

[00:12:29] is called Kubloff Springs and it's home to they're always hanging out at HapSapTap. Who doesn't want to hang out at HapSapTap? Yeah, I always get hungry scenes with Hap show up because he's always cooking something or talking about some kind of dessert he wants to make. Yeah, exactly.

[00:12:49] So Hap is a lateral, which is they're kind of like if cats could stand on their back legs and had four arms on top. Wow. Yeah, I don't know if that they're more like low cats, which we'll also talk about later this episode.

[00:13:08] But yeah, the most famous one of which is from the Jedi games. Captain Grease drew Drew to treat us. But anyway, that's that's Hap. If anyone wants to explore themselves, there is supposed to be a game called Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures Galactic Training

[00:13:26] as a free online browser game developed by Disney Interactive set during the events of this show. But I have to say I tried to play it on it's on Disney Now. I tried to play it on Disney Now and it would not load for me.

[00:13:40] It might be because sometimes they make Europe has like really stringent privacy laws and not all American websites comply. So sometimes we can't, you know, open certain US sites. But if anyone gets to play it, I'm very curious to hear what it's like.

[00:13:58] So Bob, do you have a favorite of the main characters? Let me see. I think I think it's probably Liz. I like her attachment to animals. Well, not attachment because yet I don't have those. But I like her ability to connect with them.

[00:14:18] That really stood out to me as a big animal lover. So yeah, but it's so hard to pick a favorite, though, because they're such a fun group and I think they play off of each other very well as a team. Yeah.

[00:14:35] So Liz Soleil, I think if she's in some way, she seems like the leader of the group, although I think Kai would think like to think that he is. But Liz Soleil, she is a Pandorn who like a character we meet later in the timeline.

[00:14:52] Clomor's fans will know Ruri Choochee. So she's got blue skin with purple hair and like a purple blush across her face with like little little moon shaped crescents on her cheeks. It's very, very pretty. And her hair is it's inspired by a famous hairstyle from the original movie

[00:15:13] where people often mimic by putting bagels over their ears. You know who I'm talking about? But in this case, it's like they took two bagels on each side and linked them through each other and gave her like a little pigtail like that look. So she's super cute.

[00:15:30] And yes, she's played by Julia Donanfield, who is one of the only actual kids in the cast. Indeed, she's an animal lover and the show runner said she was modeled after his own daughter to which I say that you dad. Now, I'm with you, Bob.

[00:15:47] I always love characters who love animals, especially if they're designed in my favorite colors and they have finely coiffed sartorial nods to one of my all time favorite characters. Yes. I feel like you talk about nubs the most, though. Yeah, I I find him quite interesting

[00:16:08] because his, you know, his his language is not exactly basic. But you can you can tell pretty much what he's saying with with every interjection that he makes. Now, there are there are a few words in Star Wars basic that that he does utter sometimes, I think.

[00:16:27] So it's interesting to listen to him and the other younglings having a conversation that reminds me of a certain Wookie from. From the films. OK. Yeah, well, he reminds me in that way. So he speaks Poobeam because he's a little blue fuzzy bear creature who's

[00:16:46] a lot of people seem to predict that he's going to go dark as an adult. Some but indeed, you can sometimes like make out the words that he's saying. He's voiced by Deep Bradley Baker.

[00:16:57] And so that reminded me of Kenny in South Park, but a much cleaner version. Yeah. Apparently, Deep Bradley Baker, by the way, voiced 19 roles in this show, both people and animals. But yeah, nubs got to love him too, because he loves plants, which I'm

[00:17:16] terrible with plants personally, but he also loves food and I love food. So do I. He never misses. He'll never miss a meal if he doesn't have to. Um, there was also, by the way, this May, just like a couple of weeks ago

[00:17:32] on May 4th, 2024, there was a Young Jedi Adventures Free Comic Book Day giveaway and there was one. This one was a story. There was a crossover with him and a character named Court, who's a character from the High Republic comics, mostly.

[00:17:48] So we'll talk about him when we talk about when we talk about Phase One of the High Republic. But yeah, it's I didn't get to read the comic because it's not available on Marvel Unlimited. Hopefully it will be. Don't know where to find it.

[00:18:06] I got I saw like the first couple of pages and it's it's cute. It looks like the characters and so Star Wars Nets did get to read it and they gave this summary. They said, the issue follows nubs as Yoda forces him and Court to partner up.

[00:18:21] Nubs is nervous because he is afraid nobody will be able to speak Poobeam, but of course, Court doesn't talk much basic himself. So that doesn't jive well with nubs. This was a fun ride. Andy, Dugan's art was vibrant and the issue left me wondering if the

[00:18:38] comic medium might be the place to take the stories of Kyla's and Nubs. Ooh, wow. I mean, I think it's nice if there's more comics, but indeed, Bob, as you point out, that leaves you out. Yeah.

[00:18:54] And I do think that one of the strengths of the show was the audio. I mean, the the voice acting. Yes. And I think everyone sounded like they were having a ball with the script. You could tell by their performances, by the way that they delivered

[00:19:10] all of their lines, they weren't just phoning it in. I think they had a really good time with each episodes plot and just really giving it their all when it came to performing off the line. Yeah.

[00:19:25] Yes. And so we have our third Jedi to talk about, which is Kai Brightstar played by Jamal Avery, Jr. And apparently Jacoby Swain did some of his scenes in the finale. And these are also proper kid actors, by the way. And Swain, who did scenes toward the end,

[00:19:43] also appeared like as a live action kid in the Obi-Wan show. So there's a certain con artist in that show who has a kid helping him. And he was. Oh, that kid. OK, I was wondering why I thought he sounded familiar

[00:20:00] at some point in the final is OK, now I get it. So Kai is a human. He has dark skin and he has like a tidy little frohawk. So he's like the cool kid who's still clean cut enough to take home

[00:20:13] to meet your parents, you know, that's the vibe. And he's really into being a Jedi. He's always the one who wants to train and be the best. And I think I liked one of the things I liked about the later episodes

[00:20:27] is they introduce a foil for him, his rival, Jovey Resmia. Then we saw we saw, you know, him start to lose his temper a little bit when he can't do what he wants to do, which I think a lot of kids could relate to.

[00:20:45] Yeah, that was one of my favorite episodes when they had to pair up and go on their little mission together, I think. Yeah, and also he got he got a cave episode. So there's a trope in Star Wars stories where a Jedi goes into one

[00:21:03] of these mystic caves and they are confronted with visions and they have to choose for themselves the light to the dark side. And I think that's actually where they they push things the furthest for this kid show in this in the season.

[00:21:19] Yeah, I was not expecting that either. That as well as the finale, I think they were two that really stood out to me in the back half. Yeah, yes, definitely. And Kai's also the best pilot of the three Jedi kids,

[00:21:35] but they meet an even better pilot when they go to to new a girl called Nash Durango played by Emma Berman. And I had a laugh, Bob, I copied your tweet into my notes.

[00:21:49] You said, I wonder how young you have to be to pilot in the Star Wars Galaxy. Nash is like, what, 11 or 12? Anakin was doing it at age nine. So I guess it's not a big deal for kids. Yeah, that really impressed me when I

[00:22:07] when we were first introduced to her and the pilot, my first thought was, wow, you know, how how long has she been doing this? What situation must her family be in for her to, you know, get paid to ferry people back and forth from planet to planet?

[00:22:24] This kid is, you know, insanely good as a pilot. I loved the first couple of scenes with her. I was hoping they'd go into, you know, how she got into that. And yeah, she's a very cool character,

[00:22:39] one of my favorite pilots, I think, and in the new timeline. Love what they did with her in the show. Yeah, she's a lot of fun. She helps her mom's run. She has two moms.

[00:22:50] She helps them run a carrier business, which is and she's a local to T'nu. And her ship is called the Crimson Firehawk. And I like the episode where they have to lead a bunch of Firehawk babies to a nesting site. Yeah, like dresses up her ship.

[00:23:05] Yeah. Yeah, that was really cool. And she has a droid who who's always with her called RJ 83, which is similar to a BD unit, which are little explorer units designed to gather and store information. And these units can perch on your shoulder.

[00:23:23] But RJ 83 has a BB eight cap, you know, like the droid BB eights is what the top of his head looks like. And he's voice by Jonathan Lipo. Somebody pointed out on Reddit that RJ 83 might refer to return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983.

[00:23:46] That sounds very plausible. I like to think so. Yeah. So we have also some secondary but important characters like their teacher, Master Zia Zaldor Zanna. That's his most. Yeah, mostly just called Master Zia. And she's human and she's if she were on, you know,

[00:24:09] in our galaxy, I would guess she was from Southeast Asia. She's played by Naseem Pedrat, who's an actress you've probably seen in different places. I mostly know her from New Girl, where she played Winston's girl. Did you ever watch New Girl, Bob? I haven't yet.

[00:24:27] I'm I'm probably going to now, though. I'm interested in seeing what else she she can do because she just really impressed me in Star Wars as a Jedi. So. Yeah, she plays a cop in this show, but she's cool.

[00:24:44] She's very it's the entire show is very, very entertaining. So I recommend it in general. I think that you would like it. It's a feel good kind of silly show. All right, I'm definitely going to put that on the list. So this is going to sound petty

[00:25:01] because I liked the character, but I didn't like the animation. So I didn't like when she came on screen because there was something about the way, especially her mouth was animated that bothered me a little bit. Which is something that so healthy. We have a guest.

[00:25:19] I'm going to drop in a conversation with a guest later in this episode who is a professional animator and he's able to articulate it a little more. But that's a critique I have to give. Awesome.

[00:25:32] But yeah, so sometimes the voice acting is better than they are to me. Wow. So I love when you guys point stuff like that out because there's just not a lot in terms of the way that they can go into describing certain visuals.

[00:25:49] And it just goes back to seeing Star Wars through the eyes of so many fans because there's always going to be something new that gets pointed out to you. I wouldn't mind whole commentaries devoted to animation and things like that regarding these shows because that is a field

[00:26:09] I know very little about. So it's always fun to explore that. Yeah, they I mean, I guess it would be good if they did more behind the scenes. But I guess they're not going to say, well, we didn't give as much

[00:26:21] money to this one as we did to the shows for older audiences. So yeah. But yeah, so Master Zia, she has a droid with her D. And I'm not sure what kind of droid this is.

[00:26:33] So if anyone knows, please write in at SW Timeline podcast at gmail.com. But D has a humanoid shape. And there's also another droid who's often floating around called Cam, which is a camera droid. Get it? Kind of like a little spherical droid with a lens.

[00:26:56] And this is actually a crossover with Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures, which is anthology shorts. So we'll talk about Cam more later in the timeline. And that brings us to the teacher of the children's teacher, Master Yoda. So Bob, do you do a Yoda impression? Oh, man.

[00:27:20] Putting being put on the spot is very difficult. All right. All right. If you feel like it later. Yeah, but we have in this case, we have pure tour Michael doing his best Yoda impression. And how do you think he stacks up to other Yodas?

[00:27:38] Well, for a couple of seconds when he started delivering the lines, I actually thought it was Frank Oz. That's how good I thought he was. And I tweeted to him, I think after the the pilots and let him know, you know, how good I thought he was.

[00:27:54] And he actually, you know, responded with a really big thank you. So that was my brush with with Star Wars voice celeb greatness there. So I was really honored that he actually responded there. That was a really cool day. Worthy you are. Yes. See, nailed it.

[00:28:16] So we mentioned in previous episodes that Yoda was born in 896 BBY. So 800 896 years before the original movie, which makes him in 232. He's 664 years old. And whereas later he has no hair in this. He has some short white hair.

[00:28:39] And of course, we know tantalizingly little about his life before this, where he comes from or anything about a species. We just know he's been training Jedi for more than 500 years at this point. We know he was training Jedi by 796 BBY when Yoda was 100.

[00:29:00] He's the species he comes from is like no Mike with a greenish skin with massive pointy ears and they're adorable, but look like old men, even as infants. And we've met also a female of the species who is in the High Republic

[00:29:15] books as well named Yaddle and Yaddle will also be in later materials. But she's so she's out there somewhere now during young Jedi adventures. She is 274 years old, so quite young. And there's also you've probably maybe heard about another baby version

[00:29:36] of this species named Grogu, who is as far as we know now, not Yoda's baby. Who knows? But Grogu won't be born for another 270 or so years after this. So he's not even a glimmer in Yoda's eyes. No, I'm just kidding. Definitely Yaddle skid. I'm joking.

[00:30:00] Yeah, that was my first thought. I'm joking too. Joking. Ha ha ha. No, but really. So yeah, these are the only three characters of that species that we've ever met. And one thing we know is that they are all powerful wielders of the force.

[00:30:20] And but Yaddle has normal sentence structures. I always find funny. So yeah, Grogu isn't really talking yet, but Yoda was either raised somewhere other than Yaddle or he's just being weird on purpose. It's interesting because in some episodes of young Jedi adventures,

[00:30:36] I noticed that Yoda tends to use a bit more of normal sentence structure in this animated show. The yeah, I think of some instances off the pop of my head, but I was like, oh, hey, he can speak forwards when he needs to.

[00:30:52] The writers are like, we can't keep this up. Yeah. Maybe he just like maybe he just put up started doing this this weird phrasing as he gets even older than this just to, you know, be the crazy old man who scares people away. Yeah.

[00:31:11] It's like, yeah, and even talk to me. You can. With your head, I am. Mm. But anyway, the the lifespan of the species is clearly very long, but we will talk another time about how long spoilers.

[00:31:33] But we know someone around age five hundred is considered to be middle aged, though it seems they spend the first 50 years of their life in infancy and mature to adulthood between ages 50 and 100 as evidenced by Yoda training of our Jedi by that point. That's yeah.

[00:31:53] What do you make of that, Bob? I hope that we get to explore a bit of that in later material. He his species is so interesting and mysterious to me. Not that I want to learn everything about it

[00:32:07] because I think the the enigma is I think such a big part of who Yoda is. But I wouldn't mind little tantalizing tidbits dropped here and there over time. Yeah. Well, yeah, I'm hoping that they explore this species a little bit more. I'm one.

[00:32:24] It's fun to have the mystery, but it's also fun to get answers. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And so Yoda, he's he's a teacher here, but he's like he's a teacher of so many characters. We're going to be discussing. It's estimated that over his lifetime, he trained around 20,000 Jedi.

[00:32:43] And by the high republic at this point, he's considered a great Jedi master. And he also has a seat on the Jedi High High Council and yeah, actually the rank of Grandmaster. There's only two other Jedi at this moment in time,

[00:32:59] Zolaru and Pritav Viter, who share that Grandmaster title with him. So he's already at this point one of the three most important Jedi alive. Bob, do you have any favorite side characters in this show? Favorite side characters. I know there is one droid that we meet later on.

[00:33:24] I guess he could be considered a side character. He's an older droid from, you know, older than older time period. And I think his name is O.G. He really interested me when he showed up. He kind of shows up a few times in the show. He's the.

[00:33:42] I guess he's something of an archivist because he's always gathering Jedi artifacts and bringing them back to Tanu. And I do believe he's voiced by Michael. I think it's pronounced in turn, a close. I can't I can't pronounce that last name because I haven't found any

[00:34:00] any interviews with him on YouTube, but he used to voice Leonardo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 is though awesome to hear Michael providing a voice for Star Wars. Oh, very cool. Good answer. And yeah, Sam Regal, who also stars in the show

[00:34:21] and various voice roles, he did Donatello in the two K three version of T. M. Enti. So it's kind of awesome to have two turtle alumni show up in young Jedi adventures. Yeah, that's really cool. I'm going to go with I love an adventurous princess.

[00:34:39] So I'm going to go with Princess Inaya, who shows up for one episode. And we don't know what planet she's from, but she was cool. And she had a droid PD for. Yeah, yeah, I liked her too. Yeah, there are some recurring characters.

[00:34:54] It's 25 episodes, but it's actually 50 episodes and then plus the short. So we won't go into all the recurring recurring characters, but there are some key cameos. Now, we have major character from the High Republic books showing up named Belle Zedafar

[00:35:13] and played in the show by and this is a voice. I'm not nearly as good as you, Bob, at recognizing voices. But this is a voice I recognize right away, Marcus Scribner. I know him from he plays like the oldest brother on Blackish

[00:35:30] and this grow the spin off Gronich. So I immediately recognize that voice as Belle. That's awesome. But yeah, so he basically was brought in because it's someone that Kai will look up to. And he's he's a Padawan at that age.

[00:35:46] She's stationed also out in the on the rim. And yeah, I'm for these characters from the High Republic books. If their story is not central to the main plot, or if they're not going to be alive for the Acolyte, then we won't spoil their stories.

[00:36:04] And that's not a spoiler to say he won't be alive because Acolyte takes place 100 years later and humans. Do you think humans in Star Wars should have longer life spans? Because they don't. They have what we have, but yeah.

[00:36:17] I mean, it almost seems like they should live a little longer. But I mean, hey, I'm used to us not living that long. So it doesn't really run too much. Yeah. Yeah. But you would think, I don't know.

[00:36:28] I guess medicine's not better or the stresses of being in a wide, wide galaxy. Yeah. But yeah, if you want to know Belle's set of fires story already, you can Google it. Otherwise, read the books or and we will cover it

[00:36:43] when we break down the phase one of the books. For now, he does not show up alone. He shows up with his master, Loden Greatstorm, who is one of the greatest teachers in the Jedi Order. And he's a so Belle is a human.

[00:37:01] And Loden is a twilec or twilec. Which do you say, Bob? I'm so used to twilec because that's how they used to pronounce it in the the 90s abridged audio books, but either one. I mean, I hear both now and I'm like, yeah, either one.

[00:37:17] I don't care if it feels like we're supposed to say that the twilec is the correct pronunciation now, but I could have sworn it was always twilec before. Yeah. But yeah, he's one of the greatest Jedi's. He's a twilec twilec.

[00:37:32] So yeah, we talked about those a bit in the Knights of the Old Republic games episode, but they are important species that come back again and again. Humanoid, they have these two kind of fleshy appendages that come from their head called leku.

[00:37:50] And yeah, we'll talk about them or when we see their home planet. But Loden, he carries a yellow saber like my favorite character. Everything's about my favorite character you haven't met yet. And yeah, noticeably, Loden does not show up with Belle in the finale,

[00:38:13] but preschoolers aren't ready for that story yet. And we're not going to spoil it in this episode either. That's going to be in the hyper public face breakdown. But interesting to see how this show just kind of skirts events like that.

[00:38:27] I had another freak out moment when I found out that Matt Yang King voices Loden Greatstorm because I played a lot of Mortal Kombat one and Injustice two from Netherrealm Studios. And I think Matt voiced the atom in Injustice, but he definitely voices

[00:38:48] Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat one and Mortal Kombat 11 from the previous timeline. So and I remember thinking a few short years ago, this guy needs to be in something Star Wars. And I got that and they they just gave the perfect role to him

[00:39:05] because he's got such a great voice to be voicing a Jedi. So I'm happy. Cool. Oh, yeah, it is actually a pretty stacked voice cast, I have to say. And then, of course, we have one of my favorite cameos is Ember, the charhound. Yeah.

[00:39:27] So Ember, what is the charhounds are from this planet called El Frona, which is where Belle and Loden are stationed where their Jedi outpost is. And so just the description from Wikipedia summarizes what charhounds are nicely. So charhounds were small, four legged creatures native to El Frona.

[00:39:50] They were fast and could run long distances. They had high internal body temperatures in the amount of heat. They emanated varied across the creature's coloration. When provoked, they could shoot yellow flame from their mouth. The internal heat of the charhounds mouth was hot enough to burn or melt

[00:40:07] most materials with only some materials such as the crystals throughout El Frona being resistant to the heat. Even the charhounds urine was of a high enough temperature that it could light objects on fire. Do you want to charhound pet? I wouldn't mind one, actually.

[00:40:26] I really loved her a lot in the books that I've read with her. Just just I guess the audio file that I am. I like the barks that they're using in the show because to me they kind of match up with the sound effects

[00:40:40] that they're using in the audio books too. So they make her sound just as excited, just as enthusiastic as they do in the actual audio books. So yeah, that was pretty cool. Yeah, as a pet, she would ruin your house, but.

[00:40:53] But they are very social animals and seeds, or at least she is. And they are very possess, very protective of the people they love and friendly to others. And yeah, it's a cute story in the books, not to spoil anything.

[00:41:09] But since she shows up here, how she came into their lives is she showed up all hurt and injured and they nursed her back to health and were like, oh, you can stay. Yes. And she shows back up in the finale too. Without loaded. Sorry.

[00:41:27] We also got crossovers when they go to Starlight Beacon. We see we get Justine Lee as Lena Soe, who's a diplomat from the books. And we get Liam O'Brien as Estala Maro, a Jedi master. I was so excited that he showed up in in young Jedi adventures.

[00:41:44] He's one of my favorite voice actors from, you know, critical role fame and quite a few other things. Cool. Oh, yeah. What did you think of the villains in this show? I loved whenever the the Pirate Gang showed up again and again.

[00:42:02] They just, I think, stole the show because they're such a diverse group of baddies. Yeah. So we they're led by Tabor, who's voiced by Trey Diaz Murphy and his sidekicks, Pord and E.B. Three. And Ford, Ford is a girl.

[00:42:21] I don't know if they said that in the in the audio descriptions. Yeah, it is. It's what May 24th is a recording this and in one of the audio description tracks I was listening to yesterday, I found that out. And I say, oh, that's really cool.

[00:42:36] Yeah. I think it might be so you just it's subtle, even if you can see her, but she just has like girly or eyelashes basically. But so she's a Gomorran and Gomorran's there. If you're going to be nasty about it, they're called the pigs,

[00:42:54] but they're as green skinned, pig like humanoids that come from the planet of Gomorran, the outer rim, and their best known as guards to figures like Jabba the Hutt. So they have connections to the crime family. They are warlord type species with the clan structure.

[00:43:10] But this might be the first female Gomorran we've seen. I think, yeah, if there's a season two, I really hope that we get a kid hut in it. Yeah, they really need to go there. There is actually a kid hut in a vision,

[00:43:27] but Jabba is nearly four hundred at this point, so won't be him. But there's a lot of huts on now. How to and so the droid E B three is a Cybot Galactica E B series overseer droid. So this droid is literally programmed to be the supervisor.

[00:43:46] And Bob, I had to laugh. I think you posted something about this is these are the Nile showing up here. They're not very good at it. Yeah. Yeah. The one episode where they did have dealings with a few Nile. I didn't even know they were.

[00:44:04] I don't know if they failed to point that out. They definitely didn't mention them in the in the dialogue for the episode. Like no one nobody said they're the Nile. They're the most devious group of pirates out there right now. Yeah, like no nobody said that.

[00:44:20] Yeah. And of course, the audio description track, they didn't cover it. Sometimes they'll cover information that the show doesn't even cover. I won't give away a little something in the Mandalorian, but they they pointed out a certain character that that didn't get named until a couple episodes later.

[00:44:40] But in this case, yeah, I didn't realize they were Nile until someone on Twitter pointed that out to me after I'd seen the episode. Well, I didn't realize it until you pointed it out. I mean, they didn't they just were basically like their pirates.

[00:44:53] But then it's like, of course, they're the Nile. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. And then we also got we got a was it a one off appearance from a gunging character called Tuva Jinx and Tuva Jinx is clearly was created for the Darth Jar Jar fans.

[00:45:13] I think so, too. So Jar Jar Binks is a character we'll meet in the next phase. And for some reason, there's a lot of people and I'm kind of one of them who say, wouldn't it be awesome if we had Darth Jar Jar?

[00:45:26] So. So we got Tuva Jinx instead, who seems just a little bit squirrely and then complete betrayal. If we ever do get a Star Wars, Infinities TV show, the what if of Star Wars, they would be crazy not to do a Darth Jar Jar episode.

[00:45:45] I mean, we have visions give us Darth Jar Jar. There you go. Yeah. And Tuva Jinx, that's tied up with one of my cameo that I got most excited about in terms of actor was Ace Callisto, who I heard the voice and immediately paused and looked it up.

[00:46:02] I'm like, yep, that's Tig Notaro. Tig Notaro is one of my favorite comedians. And yeah, we got a scoundrel character with a quick redemption arc and ties to Master Zia. And another so this isn't a villain, but on the creature side,

[00:46:18] we get I guess, well, it must be our first on-screen sighting of Exo Gorfs, which are also known as Space Lugs. And these are silicon based sentient species that reside in the hollows of asteroids. I have to share a theory that someone shared on Reddit,

[00:46:39] someone called a federal friend, five seventy six. And it's it's titled in the Star Wars Galaxy, there is air in space. And this is their thesis. Somehow in Star Wars, there is air in space. My evidence for this is as follows.

[00:46:57] There is some sound in space like laser blasts and explosions. Point taken. No one in Alpha Cannon is ever seen wearing a space suit in beta cannon like the X-Wings games people do. A certain three characters survive inside a space slug, despite no atmosphere.

[00:47:18] Another character survives being in space in the sequel trilogy. At one point, there's horses on the outside of a Star Destroyer, which is a type of ship. Yeah. There's in Andorra, there's characters who said to eject, even though someone didn't have a space suit.

[00:47:39] There's an episode in Star Wars Visions, which again is legends, not cannon, where to the Jedi in space or without spacesuits and can breathe and talk no problem. Any questions? So what do you think of this theory, Bob? I'm fine with it, I guess.

[00:47:54] I mean, it's it's cool with or without air. I'm actually glad that there are laser blaster sounds in space because back before we had audio description, I wouldn't have known what in the world was going on if you didn't have any audio whatsoever. In the big dogfight scenes,

[00:48:11] you just you just get the dialogue of the characters and now it'd be it. Yeah. So Star Wars is famous for, you know, they they just do things because they're cool on screen or whatever. And they don't they might misuse a scientific word or something.

[00:48:27] So then they go back later and they're like, well, let's make it make sense. And so there's a short story or a throwaway line in a movie or something that explains parsecs or that's we'll talk about that parsec later. But that explains.

[00:48:41] So there was a short story that explains when these three characters are inside the space lug, it's because the space lug they have they take pride in maintaining a perfect atmosphere inside their bodies. But then I'm also wondering like the space lugs,

[00:48:58] I guess they can just breathe in space and obviously the space whales, the pergola also. Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'm cool. There's Aaron Space. I agree with you, federal friend, five seventy six on this topic at least. Yeah, sure. Why not?

[00:49:17] All right. So before we get into the actual plot of this as it exists, I had a conversation with my friend, he who is not only a professional animator, as I mentioned, but also the father of a young child.

[00:49:33] So I'm going to play that right after a quick break. And then Bob and I will be back to discuss the plots and other Easter eggs and things from the show. So see you on the other side. OK, and I am here with healthy healthy.

[00:50:10] Thank you for joining. Laura Hounds listeners might recognize you from the Oscar prep series. But if you can introduce yourself just a little bit. Hello, hello. Thank you for having me. My name is Kjalti. I'm an animation director at the Blender Studio in Amsterdam.

[00:50:26] So I've done animation for the last. Oh, wow. I don't know how old am I? It's at least 15 years. Let's say that let's cut it at that point. And as listeners might be able to detect, you are also the parent of a young child

[00:50:43] who's not happy with bedtime. He is getting new teeth and he's letting the world know. Yeah. But so you are one of my more casual Star Wars fan friends. I think you've seen most of the movies and some of the TV shows.

[00:51:04] Yeah, I think I think I've seen all of the films and I have seen probably the like majority of the TV shows. Yeah, I think so. But some of them I haven't seen all the way through

[00:51:19] just because life got in the way and I kind of got around to it. Interestingly enough, I just I never grew up with Star Wars. I, you know, I grew up in a small fishing village and I'm born in 84 and the

[00:51:34] you know, the kids that were slightly older than me, maybe four, six years older. They were into Star Wars and they had toys and everything. And I was into Ninja Turtles and whatnot. So I just never seen Star Wars.

[00:51:47] I had no idea what it was until I finally watched the first film in my mid 20s, maybe I hit play and it starts off with a scrolling text and it says Episode four and I hit pause because I thought I did something wrong.

[00:52:06] I just I didn't know. And yeah, you know, so since then I've seen all of the stuff for the most part. Yeah. So I asked you if you wouldn't mind watching some of the young Jedi adventures.

[00:52:21] So did you get to watch the shorts in a few of the episodes? Yeah, I saw all of the shorts and then I was watching into some of the episodes. Unfortunately, I was kind of hoping that my one year old would be into it.

[00:52:36] Watching. Yeah. No, he is more into Peppa the Pig and Bluey. That you know, Bluey is fantastic. So I don't mind watching that. I guess I guess the colored palette or something he's just not quite there yet. So it's interesting because actually John from the lower hounds,

[00:52:54] who's going to be doing acolyte coverage with me on this podcast. He said that similar about his daughter, she is slightly older, but she was she's more into the bad batch, which is like a really dark Star Wars cartoon versus young Jedi adventures. She's like, nah.

[00:53:12] Oh, how old is she? I think she's three. Well, yeah, that's I mean, yeah, that's that's the level of sassiness I am preparing myself mentally for. Yeah, having very strong preferences being raised by a professional storyteller and animator. So exactly.

[00:53:33] Well, I know that I'm going to be quite the curator. I like I'll refuse to watch some things right and only guide him towards things that are a little bit higher quality level animation, perhaps. I don't want to be too snobby about it. It's called snobbery. Yeah.

[00:53:51] Fair enough. Fair enough. But yeah, so young Jedi adventures. It's no bluey. Not going to claim that. But what did you think of it overall? I think I think it has charm. You know, it has characters that have charm and what is I mean, I'll just be frank.

[00:54:11] It's not for me at all. Obviously, like, you know, it's not just that it's, you know, you know, from my voice, you might hear that I'm not three or four years old or whatever. Yeah, exactly. But but even then. They're in animation and in the animation industry.

[00:54:28] There's all there's all types of animation. And you know, and all of it is totally legitimate and that's a market like anything else. So, you know, there's stuff that is made by Pixar and Disney and whatnot. But there's also plenty of stuff from smaller studios

[00:54:44] where they have to make stuff for TV. And, you know, a lot of the times we kind of call it TV animation. And usually what that means is that it inherently will be lower quality. And it's just because it's it's on a more limited budget,

[00:55:00] which means that the animators they usually have a quota. So they have maybe they have to do something like 20 seconds per week or even 30 seconds per week. There is just like, even if you're an amazing animator, you're, you know, it'll never reach the quality of Pixar

[00:55:19] when you're on that kind of a schedule. Yeah, I mean, there are more like the bad batch that I mentioned and by the end of the Clone Wars and that are exceptional art at least. I can't really speak to the technical technicalities of the animation.

[00:55:38] So yeah, but I wonder because those end up telling slightly more adult stories and this is just very much pitched to preschoolers. Oh, completely. Like it's it's, you know, it's doing very basic things about, you know,

[00:55:52] teaching kids about not being selfish and cooperation and friendship and all this stuff. And maybe if I can talk a little bit about the connection with the Star Wars world because, you know, it's not as if George Lucas in 1970

[00:56:10] or whatever sat down and was like, oh man, this is really the core of it. This is just, you know, it's a thing that you make that you kind of attach to a bigger world and whatnot.

[00:56:22] And as you do that, I was kind of I was thinking like, OK, they I think they will want a villain. But I guess the villain has to be a child. You know, because it's like they're all children. So they're just right.

[00:56:37] Yeah. So they just made a villain that is, you know, that has a robot head or or a helmet on. I guess it's a helmet. It's a helmet. I'll say you do eventually get it taken. OK, OK. Yeah.

[00:56:50] Yeah, because I haven't seen far enough, I guess, to actually see that. And, you know, and it's like, OK, do you call them a safe? Or, you know, do you do that stuff? And no, like they went for a different label, which is pirate

[00:57:05] which I had never heard of before in that world. See, we got to we got to get you watching more Star Wars animation because in the age of fallacies when the Clone Wars take place, pirates abound, but they also abound in this age

[00:57:18] because they're exploring the outer rim and their communications aren't so great. So it's just prime pickings for pirates. Is it a I mean, let me just so I understand because the word pirate, you can you can use it in a very vague sense,

[00:57:33] which is like it's just a random stranger that likes to steal stuff for their own gain, or is it like a sect? You know, or. There are sects and you like they do show up at one point. There's a big sect of marauders called the Nihil,

[00:57:49] but Tabor, the young pirate in this is not part of that sect. He's he's yeah. Well, it becomes actually there's not much of an overarching plot in this show because it really is, you know, you get those two adventures of the week

[00:58:06] and it's as you say, you know, little contained stories with the moral. But later in the second half, there are more serialized storytelling, including Tabor's story. OK, yeah. You know, I'll just touch upon this you know, even OK, this is complete snobbery.

[00:58:30] The you know, the the the animation is good enough for what it needs to be for the target audience, I guess. That being said, like what what ends up happening is that they basically allow the computer to do a lot of interpolation between poses.

[00:58:48] And and it's one of my pet peeves. I just really dislike that. And it's inherently. So it's kind of part of my profession, I guess. So for people who don't know what that means, this is basically just using

[00:59:01] AI to smooth the motion so it doesn't feel it's not like jerky or whatever. Like we naturally are a little too uncanny. OK, it's unnecessary to maybe go down and I read it all. But OK, so I mean, it's just a basic interpolation.

[00:59:17] And any computer, which is can do that. Right. Because we actually have been using AI longer and more broadly than we realized. Yeah, it's not about chat bots. Yeah, yeah, it depends on the definition, I guess.

[00:59:28] But but it means that things are not as sharp or snappy as as you would want. Things don't have as much intention. You know, you don't instead of having the the animator really craft every single frame and it's 24 frames per second, or you animate on tools

[00:59:49] and then you're working with, you know, the equivalence of 12 frames per second. Instead, you're maybe only doing like one pose every, let's say 16 frames or whatever. And then you're interpolating, you're allowing the computer to just fill in the blanks.

[01:00:08] Right. And when it fills in the blanks, everything becomes a bit drifty and arcs. Don't like the arcs are so bad. And that's I mean, it's just inherent in the whole thing, of course. That being said. I was surprised also.

[01:00:28] OK, so I was surprised about a couple of things. So OK, I never I'm never sure, of course, like what the studio is going to be like, you know, this studio that works on one of these things, but they are they big enough that they actually have

[01:00:41] a layout department or not? And, you know, for something that is cheaper, some sometimes the producers don't realize how important layout is, which is, actually setting up the shots and making sure the camera work is working properly.

[01:00:56] And in a lot of cases, you just have producers that don't understand how crucial that is as part of the workflow. So they just offload that to the animators. But the animators aren't trained specifically for that. Like that's that's a it's a different skill skill set.

[01:01:13] It has an overlap, of course, you know, a Venn diagram overlap. But that so it basically meant that like as I was watching it, I was seeing decisions there that were not great, but but also. Like how do I explain it?

[01:01:35] It could have been like it would have taken a zero effort to actually make it great or like better and I'll give an example. So there were a lot of moments where one a singular shot had a bit of an A and a B to it, right?

[01:01:50] So you create a composition where there's one character in the foreground and they're saying something and you see there's another character in the backdrop and this character in the foreground yells at this other person like, oh, we got to get the hyperdrive going or whatever.

[01:02:07] And then they kind of turn around and the camera. Needs to now have the B side of that shot, which is it it goes to the other character. Now in real life, like meaning in live action, filmmaking, right, the camera cannot physically just transport itself over there.

[01:02:29] It like the level of of engineering that would be required. Like it's it's like there's no way. So you would zoom. You would reposition the camera and zoom in on the other person. OK. And it

[01:02:46] and they had these shots where that's what it seemed like they were going for. But instead, they repositioned the camera and just pushed the camera in three dimensions at the other character. And and in cinematography,

[01:03:03] like it has this cheap feel to it because it immediately tells your brain, that's not a real camera. That is three dimensional space, blah, blah, blah, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like so it kind of cheapens the cinematography all of a sudden,

[01:03:18] but with the same amount of effort and and and you know, in some cases, you can say it's a stylistic choice. But I think it was just a decision that was made probably because they didn't know any better.

[01:03:31] And then it was just a consistent decision that kept going all the way through. So anyway, so, you know, because when I watch it, I'm also thinking about like some of the really great cinematography in the actual Star Wars films. No, I mean, and there is.

[01:03:47] Have you watched Visions, by the way? No. OK, because actually, I wanted to ask if you would be willing to come back and do an episode with Marcin and I to talk about Visions is an anthology series.

[01:04:01] It's a legend and it's so it's not canon technically, but it does. They do some of the most interesting stuff because each each episode is a different story made by a different studio, including kind of an anthology thing. Yeah, it's totally an anthology thing.

[01:04:18] Yeah, so there's a collection of five episodes that are probably that are set during the heyday of the SIF. So and Marcin's a real SIF aficionado. So. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. OK, OK. You explained so many things. So OK, I look I'm looking up the studio

[01:04:38] and the series was produced by this series, Young Jedi Adventures, was produced by, of course, Lucasfilm Animation and Wild Canary Animation. So I don't know if you know. Yeah, like I would bet everything that this is a that it's a vendor

[01:04:53] like that it's that they hired a small studio to and then put them on a strict budget. And and then, you know, of course, that poor studio, they just have to make do with what they have.

[01:05:05] I mean, I'm sure I haven't recorded the section where I talked to Bob about this yet, but I'm sure that he will bring up the there is excellent voice acting. The voice acting is fine. Yeah. That's then like, you know, it is voice acting

[01:05:19] meant for very young audience for kids. So yeah. You know, OK, so, you know, there's one thing that bothers me. OK, and it has like two things that bothers me. It's two things. OK.

[01:05:36] And it's and I got reminded how much this bothers me as I was watching this series. And. First of all, they're wearing like the Jedi ropes or whatever or like the child diversion of that. Do you notice? OK.

[01:05:55] Which is when, you know, harking back to the original film, Obi-Wan Kenobi is just he's trying to lay low and make sure nobody knows that he's a Jedi Knight. So he's just wearing like random ropes because that's exactly not what a Jedi Knight would be wearing.

[01:06:17] He's he's in hiding. So this is more of an issue with the original. Or the way they the way they just like latched on to that his like particular clothing. OK, but that's not this shows. I know, I just got reminded by that.

[01:06:32] So as I was watching it, I was constantly thinking about it. There's like, OK, OK. But did you notice? OK, wait, I'm going to ask you the second thing. But I want to ask first, did you notice anything different

[01:06:43] about the way that they were dressed and the architecture? And did things look at all different to you versus other? Yeah, I mean, there there seem to be, I mean, it's stylized, of course, definitely. Right, right. Like it.

[01:06:58] But I just mean the fact that this is actually set hundreds of years before the pre-culture trilogy. That's what it is. Mm hmm. OK, I don't think I had puzzled that together. I don't know. I don't think they say like we are in the high republic now.

[01:07:16] Yeah, exactly. No, it just felt like this is the golden age. But also like Yoda is there. But I guess Yoda is just so Yoda has has a full head of hair.

[01:07:26] I thought that was just I thought it was like a two hay and it's just a stylistic choice or something. I don't know. I mean, that guy, I mean, you know, he's a couple hundred years younger. Yeah, but he's still like 600 or so.

[01:07:40] So I mean, he still talks very slowly. He's he's already 600, you know, yeah. OK, that's fair. That's fair. So the other was the second thing. Yeah, sorry. The second thing I got also reminded how much it bothers me how the lightsaber, just the concept of the lightsaber.

[01:08:03] OK, the way it's introduced in the original film, which is like this ancient, you know, weapon that, you know, seemingly like as far as we understand, it really is just like a weird death. Laser sword that like in any direction, it's going to burn your skin.

[01:08:26] It's going to melt through metal. Having the force helps you to wield it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And. But then it really feels like, OK, that that probably means that, like you wouldn't you would give like a somebody graduating as a Jedi night

[01:08:47] would like, you know, have the full fledged version of that thing. Oh, you mean that the kids had lightsabers? I can think of it. Yeah. Like and they and they are so not careful with it. They're just, you know, and also in the series

[01:09:06] in order to create situations, they are clumsy. Then accidents happen, blah, blah, blah. And they are full on with their lightsaber as they are dropping things and being clumsy and still trying to figure out how to use the force. I guess they. Oh, boy, that's dangerous.

[01:09:25] I mean, so one of the things is that they started to train the kids and turn them into child soldiers at a younger age during this era to fight those Nyhils that I talked about. Oh, right. Marauders. But this is also why they do even later,

[01:09:43] they take the kids as small children from their parents. Like there's there's a dark backstory going on with all these kids in this show. The fact that they are ripped from their homes and sent to this,

[01:09:54] you know, random outer rim planet to new to train and become child soldiers. And one of the we'll see on this podcast later in the oh, in a much later era actually in Ahsoka. So that's what era seven, I think.

[01:10:11] There's you get to see a scene where a character who's older than this, but still only like 14 is in the midst of battle and live action and that really sends it home like these are child soldiers. Wow. So I mean, I will say the series I just watched,

[01:10:29] they dress it up as a very family friendly, happy go time, you know, kind of a thing. Um, can I tell you something about? Oh, I don't think you got this far, but in the latter half

[01:10:42] they've visited Starlight Beacon several times and that ends up getting blown up in a lot of people die. Oh, whoa. So I'm very worried for these kids. Oh, wow. OK. So yeah, it definitely didn't look like it was a world with a lot of stakes.

[01:11:00] To be honest, I mean, that's, you know, when you have something that's super child friendly, of course, you kind of lower the stakes, I guess. Yeah, we're expecting a second season of this, but I can't imagine it goes much

[01:11:11] further because you can't have like, are you going to have the fallout of the destruction of Starlight Beacon? Ah, I see. Yeah, I mean, I mean, how long before that event happens is this set? Like very closely before. Oh, OK. So they can't like milk.

[01:11:32] I mean, maybe it's like Simpsons or something where they just keep going and going and going and never passes forward in time. Yeah, this character is just eight years old forever or whatever. Yeah. Well, they do have a crossover characters from the books that show up

[01:11:47] in the show too. Ah, OK. Yeah. Well, the books are no longer canon, right? That's sorry. I mean, crossover. No, because there's a new there's a new multimedia project called The High Republic, which is set during this time and that is all canon. Oh, OK. OK.

[01:12:06] So yeah, so this. So we've got all the stuff they were covering in the podcast now is set during this new era, quote unquote. I mean, it's not that new but called The High Republic, which is being filled in with new stories like the acolyte

[01:12:21] is set at the end of it, the TV show coming out on June 5th. But did you have any favorite characters from what you saw? No, no, not a lot of them. I mean, I think I mean, they they're.

[01:12:41] Like it's funny because I can with each one of them, I can see what they are trying to like I can feel the writers and I can feel how like, oh, we've got to have a rogue pilot

[01:12:53] that is not for sensitive, but is like the equivalent of Han Solo. And then we've got to have and as as it goes along, I they they feel like little miniature copy pastes of something familiar that is more charming to me. OK, that makes sense. So yeah.

[01:13:16] And and and unfortunately, any attempt of humor like just falls flat with me because, of course, it's not meant for me. So I know it's not whenever it's trying to be humorous. I'm just like watching it.

[01:13:29] I should have I should have had you just watched some random episodes from the end. I swear they are better in the second half of the season. But like I said, I'm not going to claim this is any sort of bluey.

[01:13:39] I'm not going to claim that this is the best Star Wars animated series because I mean, it's the one that I like the least. But of course it is because it's meant for four year olds. Yeah, that's it. There's no escaping it. I mean, yeah.

[01:13:54] And you know, when you're when you're somebody in the industry, like animation industry, it's it's even harder watching, you know, like with my nephew when he was young and he liked to watch Paw Patrol. And I would be watching it with him.

[01:14:10] And I just like at some point, I just had to stop watching because all I can see is stuff that I would want to give notes on. Like I'm mentally writing notes to give to the animators to be like,

[01:14:22] oh, I see some knee popping here for the IK feet and this and this and this. Professional drawbacks. Exactly. It's difficult. Well, so which format did you like better, the short format or the double mini episode format? The short. Yeah, I thought that that worked better too.

[01:14:41] Although, like I said, toward the end of the season, the longer format really won me over. But the short format felt perfect for that, you know, attention span at that age. Yeah, it was it was a bit confusing, the double episode format because it just

[01:14:57] weren't related or yeah, it looked like the episode was over and then over kind of still in it and then a totally different thing happens. So I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't just have it split into two episodes. I don't know, maybe 50 episodes is too intimidating.

[01:15:12] Yeah, but I thought the same thing could be. I mean, Bluey has like 50 episodes per season. Yeah, that's true. But there are like six minutes, right? OK, that's fair. So I guess you're not going to continue and you wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

[01:15:28] I mean, any anyone that I could recommend it to are not listening to this. They're like two years old. No, but like to. So here's the thing like parents of two year old. Yeah, that's a thing like.

[01:15:42] You would have to be the kind of parent that is fanatical about Star Wars and want to immerse your child in Star Wars. OK, in any way possible, just in the hopes that they are going to like get bitten by the bug just enough to actually then

[01:16:02] hang on until you can give them quality, I guess. I mean, but like, come on, there must be worse general cartoons for preschoolers out there. Oh, yeah, totally, totally like no, don't get me wrong. Like this definitely I do.

[01:16:16] I personally prefer this to Peppa the Pig as an adult. Oh, thank you. I know. But it's yeah, but it's because I love Star Wars. Of course, I prefer this. Yeah, of course. I mean, that's fair. I will say like with something like Peppa the Pig, for example,

[01:16:31] it's not trying to to punch above its weight, if that makes sense. It like it takes on an art style and then it actually sticks the landing with that art style. Like it's the animation is actually quite good for in Peppa the Pig,

[01:16:49] you know, because it like fits perfectly with that art style. But with this series, I constantly had the feeling that they were aiming way higher than what they could afford in the actual animation. OK. And. Lip syncing, unfortunately, is was off. Hidden miss, very heavy. OK, OK, unfortunately.

[01:17:13] I I came here to to bubblegum and tear this show apart. No, I'm sorry. Like it has its audience and I'm sure a lot of kids. Yeah, no, I mean, I think to be honest, I don't know. I can't say that any kids have recommended it.

[01:17:30] But adults are like who are really into Star Wars and want the full story. Are like, oh, it's cute. It's really cute. And there's nobs. D badly Bradley Baker is nobs. Well, I mean, I always contend that the best preschool TV shows

[01:17:47] are the ones that the parent can also watch with them. Right. And it doesn't mean they have to like put in adult humor or whatever necessarily or anything like that. But it's enough to like engage you and feel like you are sitting with them and enjoying it together.

[01:18:05] And I actually when I'm watching Peppa the Pig, you know, with my one year old, there are jokes that I will laugh out loud because it came out of nowhere. And, you know, and partially it's because, you know,

[01:18:19] you're watching, watching, watching and your expectations are set to a certain level. And then all of a sudden it's just you just have a moment that feels like something out of a, I don't know, I don't know, Pixar film or what it's like.

[01:18:34] They have really good jokes sprinkled in here and there. I'm trying to defend Peppa the Pig for some reason. I mean, it's yeah, I used to do a lot of work doing copy for Peppa the Pig. So maybe that's also.

[01:18:48] But there will be a moment where my son will call me daddy. Daddy. So on the adult side of things, are you planning to watch the AcoLight? Wouldn't mind giving it a chance. Yes. I mean, I will say as of right now, I, you know, just

[01:19:07] well, any anyone listening that has a one year old like. Yeah, they know they know that your your time is any free time is very limited. So you have to be very careful about what you choose to consume on a media level.

[01:19:23] And, you know, at this point, I don't like I I've been a podcast junkie, for example, since 2006. Right. And and this year, like I found myself a few weeks ago realizing that I had to stop listening to podcasts altogether. Yeah, all together.

[01:19:45] And I just have a backlog that is so long now of all these amazing episodes. And I just I have no time in my life all of a sudden to do it. And, you know, I'm looking forward to when maybe the little guy gets

[01:19:58] slightly more independent and I can dive into all the stuff. But that's why I'm saying, yeah, well, regarding like a lot of the stuff on Disney Plus and whatnot, the Star Wars stuff, there's so much stuff now. It's they've really geared it up.

[01:20:14] So you really have to be picky now. Yeah, I mean, there is yeah, there is a lot of content. And I do think that we're going to see a general slowing down of content. I know Bob Iger said that about that's going to be taking place across Disney,

[01:20:28] but I think it's going to be taking place across all platforms. Yeah, they it seems like also in order to get more content, Disney, you know, put some pressure on on Pixar to also make stuff. And they, you know, and they made stuff right.

[01:20:44] Made some like spin off and whatnot from some of their films. And but it hasn't been there. Yeah, hasn't been their greatest hits. No, no, not necessarily. I mean, some of it has shown definitely like I really like the four key episodes. They're fantastic.

[01:21:00] But yeah, I saw the announcement. I think it was this morning or yesterday that there's going to be layoffs now with Pixar, 14 percent of the people are going to get fired. And I think and I think it's a byproduct of

[01:21:15] this phase that Disney, you know, kind of entered with, oh, we have to put more stuff on Disney Plus. We got to make more stuff. So they probably hired a lot of extra personnel because of that. And then they're letting them go.

[01:21:30] Yeah, like a kind of, yeah, stripping back down. Yeah, I know there's some union contracts that are up for negotiation at the end of the year or two. So it might continue to be a volatile time on the business side of the entertainment industry.

[01:21:44] Yes, it's it's I mean, we all knew that as the streaming wars were happening and Disney, you know, is part of that, of course, it was unavet. Inevitable. Thank you. Inevitable. Yeah, it was inevitable that that there would be an insane amount of content

[01:22:07] produced in the span of a couple of years or whatnot. And then eventually it's going to start, you know, dying down. There's no way you can maintain this amount of content. Yeah. And but I have no idea who won like what happened.

[01:22:22] The Disney one win or win against what? I don't know. This thing called the streaming wars. Oh, did they? I mean, at the moment, it seems very arbitrary when they decide who's doing well and who isn't. But I think there's criticism about Disney that Bob Iger is

[01:22:38] reacting to at the moment. No, right. All right. Fair enough. But they said, well, actually, they haven't promised a second season of this show. So I don't know. It seems like despite what you heard here today, that the show is largely getting positive reviews. So I don't know.

[01:22:59] We'll see we'll see if there's a second season and if there's a second season, then I will definitely jump back to this part of the timeline and add an episode talking about it when it's over. But Yalti, thank you so much for sharing your time with me

[01:23:13] and to talk about its show. And then taking the time to watch some of it as well. No worries. Thank you so much, Alicia. And yeah, looking forward to talking about Sith animation that I think you're going to be much more enthusiastic about next time.

[01:23:28] OK, that sounds great. Thank you. OK, and Bob and I are back. So, Bob, you haven't been able to listen to that interview yet, but spoiler, Yalti was not a huge fan of the show. Are you surprised? If he's a professional animator, that would make sense.

[01:24:08] I'm sure there are some valid reasons for that. So yeah, yeah, part of it is complaints about the animation and indeed is professional animator. Even I could see the animation was done in the cheap. But I think you and most people listening, honestly,

[01:24:26] won't notice or care about the level of animation. It's it's fascinating to get into that side of Star Wars. So it's definitely something that a future me when this podcast comes out is going to be listening to. Yeah, I what I should have pointed out to him,

[01:24:48] but I didn't realize until later is apparently in December of twenty twenty three young Jedi adventures, one to Emmy Awards for outstanding editing for a preschool animated program and outstanding outstanding sound mixing and sound editing for a preschool animated program.

[01:25:06] So and it was nominated for three other Emmys outstanding preschool animated series, outstanding music, direction and composition for an animated program and outstanding main title. So it's definitely the show has got its love out there amongst the critics. But it struck out with two kids.

[01:25:26] It struck out with Chelsea Sun, who is granted one year old, a bit too young. But as I mentioned, that interview would also struck out with John from the Lorhounds daughter, who is the right age. So what?

[01:25:39] It's everyone seems to comment on how brightly colored the show is. And some kids who have parents who like darker shows seem to already be preferring like John said, his daughter prefers the bad batch to this show. Do you think the bad batch is a kid's show?

[01:25:58] I think it probably could be, depending on what you want your kids to watch. I mean, it doesn't really seem it doesn't really seem too too crazy, dark. But that's a good question, though. That's a show that we'll be talking about in the fifth era.

[01:26:14] Yeah, it's got great animation, as I said. And yeah, I think also the show so shall we also only watched the beginning of it and decided not to continue? And as we keep saying, the back half stronger on the it's especially in the front half,

[01:26:33] front half, it's very episodic. So the story does get deeper as you start revisiting characters and locations. And yeah, I think it led to a surprisingly good and satisfying finale. Oh, so do I. All right, well, let's get into the actual plot.

[01:26:50] So season three opens with the three younglings at the Jedi Temple and Coruscant being sent to the Jedi outpost in T'Nu to train. Bob, why do you think these three were sent? Do you think their personalities and interests played a role?

[01:27:05] That seems to make the most sense to me. Yeah. That that's actually I think, you know, sums up why they were chosen. I feel like Yoda for him to take a personal interest in these three and send them to T'Nu. I don't know.

[01:27:22] I feel like he's got something going on that we don't quite know about yet. I'm not sure what that is, but it's it's interesting that he's done this here in young Jedi and young Jedi adventures. And later on, I think he he actually does

[01:27:40] something a bit similar in terms of picking a specific Padawan to do a little something in another animated show later on. I don't know. Yoda's got interesting reasons for doing what he does that he has his favorites. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:27:58] Yeah, I also liked the introduction to them as masters. He is trying to gather everyone up for, you know, the trip to go to T'Nu and and she's immediately like, oh, I already know which three are missing. Yeah. So we know they're the good bad kids, you know,

[01:28:15] right, because they're missing not because they're doing bad things or missing because they're training too hard. Yes. But yeah, so throughout the season, they visit many places, learn many lessons along the way. And then in the finale, we learned that a character they befriended on one planet.

[01:28:33] So they went to this planet called Vundala and the there is an earthquake there. And the king and queen had no interest in helping the people rebuild. They're only interested in rebuilding their own private stuff. And there's a prince there, their child, Cyrus Vundir.

[01:28:53] And they convince him to help the local people, convince him to convince his parents, basically, to give them supplies to rebuild. And I have to say, they're like, this this town looks terrible. And like it's just like a normal buildings with a couple cracks here and there.

[01:29:09] But sure. OK. At least the audio description track appointed that out. Like it's barely broken now. But I get the idea. It's supposed to be a wreck. So, yeah, Prince Cyrus, he does he befriends the Jedi and he helps, you know, the local people.

[01:29:30] And then we find out in the finale that Prince Cyrus was Tabor Valdorn all along. Yeah. So, yeah, he's been the petty pirate. Why do you think he does that? I feel like his parents just don't give him the time of day. He is.

[01:29:52] I think desperate to feel like he's a part of that family. And these two. They just they just can't be bothered with with anything but themselves and their image, their public image. And he just he just feels I feel like left out. He doesn't feel loved.

[01:30:13] So he's, you know, he's seeking attention elsewhere if he can get it because it's obvious that he's not getting that at home. So, you know, he hangs out with his pirate buddies more than he hangs out with his parents.

[01:30:25] I think he probably feels more kinship to them than his parents because they just seem like they had him. But after they had him, it's like, well, you know, just go do whatever. We've got stuff to do. Yeah, we feed you.

[01:30:37] We close you, but that's about all we're going to do with you, darling. We see that he seems to have an authoritative streak because even when he's the prince, you know, he wants to just order people around and say, well, because I'm the prince, that's why.

[01:30:54] But I do notice with his with his buddies, he they don't know his true identity, so he can be somebody completely different, which I think makes him feel more powerful. Yeah. And if they did lay a clue as to who he was

[01:31:08] in that previous episode, I guess I missed it. But now that I think about it, you know, they would Tabor with his helmet on. He usually says, well, I do what I want. Then there is, I think more than one instance in the

[01:31:21] the prince episode, the first episode, we actually see him unbeknownst to us behind the mask. He says, well, I'm the prince. I can do whatever I want. So I guess I should have picked up on that.

[01:31:33] Yeah, I think it was really well done, really well seated that twist. Yeah. And we also see as the season goes on, it starts to seem like his crew likes hanging out with a Jedi more than him because the Jedi are nice to them. Yeah, exactly.

[01:31:48] And as as the season goes on, too, he seemed like he's softening a bit toward them. Yeah, definitely, especially when he hears in the finale that they are saying, well, because they at the in the finale he steals the dedication plaque for Starlight Beacon.

[01:32:07] And they are the Jedi are more concerned with getting their friend Cyrus back because they assume, you know, Cyrus is also gone, so they don't realize he's in the mask, obviously. So they think that Tabor has connect him and they're more concerned

[01:32:20] with getting Cyrus back than the plaque. And I think for him, that's a real turning point. And he ends up, yeah, they get they get to keep the plaque and he says, I'll give you Cyrus back if you let me go

[01:32:31] so that he at one point he was going to take off his helmet and reveal himself to them. Yeah, then something happened. So he decides not to reveal himself yet. And he gets tells his crew like release Prince Cyrus.

[01:32:45] And they're like, we don't know who Prince Cyrus is. Just go along with it. OK. And so he comes back out and he knows that they genuinely see him as a friend. And he's probably never had that before.

[01:32:57] If there's a season two, what do you think will happen with Tabor next? I wonder if, you know, at some point, which I really hope to see in season one, I can't imagine him at some point possibly, possibly meeting Marcy on row and kind of getting involved

[01:33:15] with the Nihil a little bit. That's probably a bit too dark for this show. Not that we would not that we would have to see a lot of dark stuff. But that would have been so interesting

[01:33:25] if Tabor had actually met some of the some of the top Nihil, especially the eye and tried to get involved with them just a little bit. But who knows if there is a season two, we might we might see that.

[01:33:37] And I loved how the finale ends with Yoda kind of taking the prince aside and being like much conflict I sense in you. And so Yoda knows that there is something about this kid that probably needs to bear watching

[01:33:55] and because if anybody could pick up on that Yoda can and he's definitely he definitely senses something. And if he senses something, I wonder if it's going to be pretty big later on. Yeah, I feel like this being a kid's show,

[01:34:11] he's going to end up on the side of the light tape or Cyrus Tabor, whatever you want to call him. But yeah, season two is a maybe for the show. Like it there's been some discussion, but no green light.

[01:34:25] But I have to ask how long can they keep this story going before it gets too dark for preschoolers? So yeah, I mean, because you know, this is not long before the fall of Starlight Beacon. And it's and also when the Jedi are recalled from the outer rim

[01:34:38] and you know, anyone who stays behind gets trapped behind the storm wall. So it's one thing to say. You know, that's it's one thing to ignore a certain character's absence and just, you know, like, don't worry about that.

[01:34:55] It's another thing to make a big deal about this satellite. And then you can't ignore that it falls. You can't ignore that the kids are retracted from T'Nu. Yeah. Yeah. Anyone who is not sure what we're talking about now with this stuff.

[01:35:12] I recommend you listen to the High Review over High Republic Overview episode. I have to point out one other thing for the finale. Another classic Star Wars trope they had to throw in is they get caught in a trash compactor. Yeah.

[01:35:28] And yeah, so there are some important locations that they visit throughout the show. One, of course, we keep referring to is Starlight Beacon. I was pleasantly surprised how much it was brought up and it played such an important role in the finale. You?

[01:35:44] Yeah, I really liked all of the High Republic references that showed up in animation. I was not expecting Starlight Beacon or the Jedi that we actually got to see crossing over into this either. So right, like Bell and Loden.

[01:35:59] Yeah. And yeah, that's what kept me watching because I really wanted to see who might show up and who might voice them and what locations from the books that we might see. Mm hmm. Yeah. And then we also got Lena So the diplomat.

[01:36:13] And so she says this station will be a symbol of the Republic in the outer rim of place where we will celebrate our union and help each other to make it grow. It will send out a signal for anyone in the sector to hear at any time

[01:36:27] the beacon, the beacon of the Republic, the sound of hope. Do do do do do. So someone named Scout the Trooper on Reddit tried to estimate the size of Starlight Beacon. And I won't go into all the detail that they went into, but you know,

[01:36:49] very impressive, like comparing references and the size of the tower and things like that. But they decided it's one point five times the size of a Star Destroyer, which we haven't really talked about Star Destroyers

[01:37:00] or ships that show up later in the timeline, but they're like these giant massive when you see giant massive triangular ships hovering over a planet that's probably a Star Destroyer. Yes. But yeah, touching on something that healthy and I talked about in our conversation,

[01:37:17] he said he's he was so surprised to see kids that young using lightsabers. Were you? Oh, I think it did cross my mind for a few seconds. I was just so used to things that I read about as a much

[01:37:37] younger Star Wars fan in the old E.U. timeline. So, you know, whenever you see, you know, these kiddos using sabers, I don't know, I just really didn't stand out to me that much. I just think Jedi, lightsabers, younglings. Yeah, OK.

[01:37:52] I mean, I was a little bit at first, but it also makes sense because one of the things they're not going to talk about directly in this show, but we've talked about previously in the High Republic Overview episode is the Guardian protocols.

[01:38:05] And so the Guardian protocols, they actually come up after Starlight Beacon's destruction. So right after this, but and this is also this is when they start training young younglings even younger. So even younger than this, I guess.

[01:38:24] And yeah, then all outposts are to be staffed by droids and yeah, combat instruction of younglings is accelerated with earlier Padawan trials and no Jedi travels alone. All independent research is to be suspended with offensive tactics being approved

[01:38:41] when required and lightsabers are made more simplistically than they were, you know, earlier in the High Republic. So they're getting closer to what we see in the prequel trilogy. If this is they're already training at this young age.

[01:39:01] And then, yeah, they enact the shortly after this, the Guardian protocols. So it's going to be babies, babies. Yeah. So they also visit the planet of Batu twice, which we brought up in the last episode.

[01:39:16] This Batu was a bustling outpost in the age of exploration, but it devolves into an out of the way haven for criminals once the hyper lanes are mapped out to bypass it. The biggest settlement there is called Black Spire Outpost.

[01:39:32] And that is the location of the Star Wars land, basically in Disney theme parks and also the location in the Galaxy's Edge VR game and spires. They're petrified remains of ancient trees. And actually, Batu means rock in Melee, you know, the language of Malaysia.

[01:39:53] But Batu also has jungles and oceans, which I didn't realize from looking at it in the show. Yeah, that's a planet I'm not familiar with since I mean, I don't really keep up with the Star Wars land stuff. I probably should.

[01:40:06] I'm definitely going to go back and watch the cut scenes to that VR game because I keep forgetting that exists. And I liked what we got to see in the show and what I've read about it online,

[01:40:17] of course. So it's something I definitely want to get into more. You were very indignant about the con man who was going to cut down these fires. He he was such an interesting character because he's not even trying to hide his

[01:40:32] villainy, I think I wrote on Twitter that he's kind of half-assedly doing it. And he's just not even hiding his evilness. I'm just going to release my bus droids and just have a fun time breaking things and making money. Why not remind me of an interesting

[01:40:47] Star Wars version of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. Burns doesn't hide how evil he is in this guy. Reminds me a lot of Mr. Burns plus Lyle Landlead, the guy that was trying to sell Springfield to Monterey all at one point. You know, they know their sleaze oids.

[01:41:05] Yeah, they know there's sleaze oids and they're not hiding it. I use what did you say something like it was just too much effort for he was like, ah, it's too much effort to keep up the pretense. Release the droids. Yeah. Being congenial is hard. Yeah.

[01:41:21] But he I can't believe that he it still hurt me that he cut one of the spires in Black Spire Outpost. That was like a minor character dying. Yeah, yeah. But we also visit another planet that we see elsewhere called Broca, which is a junker planet.

[01:41:40] And I'm always Leo pointing me men at whenever we see it because you do visit it in the Bad Batch. We spend a little bit of time there in the Bad Batch actually,

[01:41:49] but players of Jedi fall in order know it as the place where you start the game. So it's just basically I have to bring up beacon 23 again because they also had a junker characters who it's basically

[01:42:04] where they just take out of commission ships and break them down for parts. People just make their living there on the ground doing that. The one of my favorite, a new location they invented was Condoran, which is where they went sky skimming on the broadleaf trees.

[01:42:22] Yeah, I love that location as well. And we meet there a now tolan who is they are like amphibious creatures with they have like instead of two leku like the twilex, they have a bunch of different. I don't think they're called leku, but it almost looks like dreadlocks

[01:42:43] like as sort of tentacles from their heads. But they look really cool. Like this guy is very much a, you know, they're the sky skimming is very much like surfing. And even when he's teaching them, they have to be patient and learning surfings annoying because you have to

[01:43:00] learn how to stand on the board first, which takes forever. Right. Yeah, I thought he was cool. But maybe I just like now tolan's because I like Kit Fisto who's who will meet later. Yeah, Kit is one of my favorite Jedi of all time.

[01:43:17] So it's awesome that we get to see one of his feces in young Jedi adventures. And that is one of the characters voiced by Sam Regal, two K three Donatello. And he's also a critical role fame. So OK, yeah, good.

[01:43:32] We have you here to point that out because I did not realize that. Do you think this Kit Fisto's counts as a glup shadow character? I don't know. He seems like a character that I've read about for so long, both in this timeline

[01:43:49] and the old one, he just feels like a regular to me. I wish I could give a definitive answer to that. Some of these guys have just read about and watched for so long that I'm like, oh, yeah, he's a regular.

[01:44:02] OK, so Rick Togano is a glup shadow character for sure. But how would you define a glup shadow character for people who don't know what that means? I feel like. Those are characters that might just be, you know, possibly sitting in a cantina, not really having any dialogue,

[01:44:23] just kind of there to fill seats and bars possibly. There's a certain character in one of the movies. I don't feel like it's a spoiler to say that he's running around with something that looks like an ice cream maker.

[01:44:38] I would say he's probably a glup shadow character, although they have devoted, you know, quite a bit of lore to this particular character over time. So I don't know if that depends on your point of view, certain point of view or not.

[01:44:55] I mean, so this term was invented by some random smartass on Twitter. I think it was a few years ago who's just like making fun of, you know, the all the many little random Star Wars characters and their weird names

[01:45:09] and came up with this and the entire Internet just latched on. They're like, yes, we love glup shadow characters. And that's the thing about the Star Wars community is like the smallest character that appears in the back of a scene.

[01:45:24] Somebody loves that character and has done like obsessive study on everywhere that they've shown up and knows their entire life story. And Star Wars gives has all these details that you can get into if you want to.

[01:45:36] But you don't have. Yeah, there were action figures upon action figures of glup shadows back in the day. I wish we still got those various aliens and Nairdwells. Yeah, I wonder why they do fewer action figures these days.

[01:45:52] I know that kind of makes me think of young Jedi adventures because I believe they have a toy line or did at one point. You could get the firehawk and I think they were showing off the temple on T'Nu, the play set and stuff like that.

[01:46:04] I never bothered with those because I mean, those are pretty kiddie. And yeah, probably not to scale with the stuff I collect anyway. Anyway, but I was I thought, oh, that's interesting that they released that. Yeah, toys because Star Wars is doing less and less toys these days.

[01:46:21] It feels like so it was awesome that they did release a line for the kiddos that watched the show. Yeah, no good. I'm glad because this is kind of prime for it. Yeah. And the vintage collection junkie in me is like, OK, now we need a three or

[01:46:36] four pack of the kids and possibly table or in a couple other characters from this line. Yeah, I need why need is not really a young Jedi adventures character, but I definitely need an Ember thing. And I also need they had a Tuka kitten in this.

[01:46:52] So Tuka kittens or otherwise known as Adoris Felinas. Felinas. Um, they are there's a subspecies known as Lothcats. So some people might know Lothcats better, but they are basically cat like creatures that have chicken feet and kind of have like a big

[01:47:14] Cheshire cat smile and like these solid ears that don't indent. But they're super, super cute and they need to merchandise that more. They do merchandise them a bit. But I feel like this should be as big as baby gringo. Yeah, I think so too.

[01:47:32] I feel like they should certainly put out a heck of a lot more high republic merch than they have because there are so many new characters in this show. And you know, in all of the books in the comics and for them,

[01:47:46] you know, for Hasbro not to make toys, that's just that's crazy. I feel like they could be bringing in a whole lot. We just don't get a lot of that anymore because kids tend to rely on their iPhones for games and to be entertained.

[01:48:00] So I mean, that's just the way it is, I guess. But I would imagine that they would probably do some Funko pops of all this stuff. That seems to be sure. No, there's definitely there definitely is merchandise.

[01:48:12] But I think how cool would it be if they had like robot nubs? Life-sized robot nubs. They're very expensive. But yeah, like an interactive nubs that could just walk around your room or. Yeah, yeah, I think that would sell very well.

[01:48:30] Oh, so it's funny about the Tukas is that so they were originally from legends in this role playing game, other space role playing game. And then they were introduced into canon in the Clone Wars. You mentioned heroes mentioning the Clone Wars a lot because it is like

[01:48:46] kind of the beating heart of Star Wars sometimes. But it was actually they were actually first introduced as a stuffed toy and then later as in the TV show. Interesting. And their name after Dave Filoni's deceased cat, Tuk. Oh.

[01:49:06] So speaking of nostalgia, there's one theme that they musical theme that they use regularly in the show, which is Binary Sunset, which was originally written by John Williams for the first Star Wars movie referring to the planet of Tatooine has two suns, so it has a binary sunset.

[01:49:25] But it's mostly called the Force Theme and you guys listen to it every time you listen to this podcast because that is the theme of this podcast. So the version we use is an electric violin cover by Joanna Holtman.

[01:49:40] And you can find the link in the show notes to the full song in every episode. But I always get excited when that song shows up. Yeah, it's one of my favorite themes from Star Wars.

[01:49:53] And it often when you hear it, it often signifies that a character might be Force sensitive, so we hear it applied with the Jedi in the show a lot. And that's why people call the Force Theme now. Yeah. Although I liked in episode 13

[01:50:12] at one point, Nash is, you know, they're going to do this meditation thing that they think will help the spot of trouble that they've gotten into this time. And Nash, who's not a Jedi, the pilot, she says like, well, I'm not a Jedi, so I can't really help.

[01:50:28] And the Jedi say to her, it's OK. All living things are connected by the Force. So I just think it's interesting that there again bringing in this theme. We've been hearing more and more in modern Star Wars that, you know,

[01:50:40] everyone can touch the Force in some way, even if not all are naturally apt in the same way. Yeah. I mean, Yoda himself says at one point in the timeline that it surrounds us and binds us. So it does make sense here.

[01:50:59] Yeah. And I also I also like you loved that we got. I saw your comment about getting back to back holiday specials on here. Yeah. One of my favorite locations in both timelines is Kashyyyk, the first time I

[01:51:14] read about it was in Timothy Zahn's Air to the Empire. That was my first exposure to the planet. I mean, I know there were some people that were there in the 70s when the holiday special actual live action holiday special premiered and that was their

[01:51:29] first time actually getting to see it on screen. But Kashyyyk is always going to have a special place in my heart because it seems like such a fascinating planet to visit when it comes to cookies. I don't know how they make it look in animation or live action.

[01:51:43] I just imagine a bunch of trees with platforms connecting them. That's the way that they described it in in the EU timeline back in the day. I don't know if it looks that way in the current timeline or not. That's certainly how I pictured it, though.

[01:51:58] Yeah, no, that's absolutely that's absolutely how it looks. And it's kind of a jungle-y type of planet on the grounds, which I mostly know. Yeah, which I mostly know from it's a location that you explore in the in the Jedi Fallen Order game.

[01:52:16] And it's sort of like it's like the jungle version of Australia, you know, where everything's trying to kill you. And yeah, back in the old timeline, that's where wookies would go to perform their rite of passage and come into adulthood.

[01:52:32] So I think it's really awesome that they keep the dangerous jungle underworld to that planet. Yeah, yeah. And so the wookies, their biggest holiday of the year is Life Day, which we see in an episode on here.

[01:52:50] And that's it's celebrated around our winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere terms in our world. And Life Day was it was a holiday that celebrated, you know, just like family and harmony and just all of the good values of wookie culture.

[01:53:08] And they have it at the Tree of Life, which is like this just massive tree that you actually climb in Jedi Fallen. And it's where you can live on and around it. It's just so massive. And they have like we see in this episode,

[01:53:27] they have these ornaments, these orbs that they hang on the tree that represent their family and all the good values. And there's, you know, feasting in lights and music. And later when when people leave this planet, you know, this holiday gets more widespread.

[01:53:46] And this is one of the one of the many pieces of the Star Wars holiday special from the 70s that was pulled into canon. So yeah, we're definitely going to, even though it's legends and even though it's notoriously bad, we're going to watch the Star Wars holiday special

[01:54:06] together in era five and like it. OK, you have to you have to watch it at least once in your life. I watch it every year. It's the Rift Tracks version because it's the only way I'm able to know what's going

[01:54:20] on that they're never going to make audio description for that. So you have Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy of Mystery Science Theater Fame sitting down and watching that. So that's how I'm able to tell what's going on.

[01:54:33] Plus you get all the commercials too from the 70s. Oh, that's awesome. And yeah, so it's definitely it's obviously like a Christmas reference, especially where it's timed. It's got the pagan elements too. But there's also new holidays introduced like we get in this show,

[01:54:52] we get didn't cutoo day on the planet, Omaka, which is and it's it gives a nod to Thanksgiving. They're harvesting gum gourds and then having a big feast together. That was fun. Yeah, it was. Is there anything else from this season that you think that we should

[01:55:10] mention that the people must know about? Um, man, I wish I could think of other things. It's probably going to happen like after we wrap. Yeah, that's how it always happens in these episodes. Oh, yeah, I should have mentioned that after the fact. No, exactly.

[01:55:29] Well, obviously if anything else from this show becomes like an Easter egg and anything we watch after this, we will for sure point it out. Definitely. But yeah, if you're curious, you'll find it on Disney Plus. And I forgot to mention in our

[01:55:48] Force Cave episode, I like that. Kai Breitstarr actually had a little brush with the dark side of the force when he was experiencing his force vision because the dark side sneakily, I think, represented Tabor and was tempting him to take the quick and easy

[01:56:06] path, just take what you want. Being a Jedi, you know, trying to be perfect is, you know, you can't do that. Just take the easy path. Take what you want. Be whoever you want to be. You know, do what I'm doing.

[01:56:19] And that was such an interesting moment in Star Wars for Kai Breitstarr. It certainly reminded me of a certain scene from some movies we'll be talking about at some point. Yeah, so I do wonder in some way if they might be setting up something

[01:56:36] where these were, you know, reluctant frenemies as children who become enemies as adults. Yeah, that's what I was wondering to. Or Tabor has full, you know, full redemption arc. Which would you prefer? I would love to see him kind of be

[01:56:57] redeemed just because they really got me liking him as the show progressed. And the Jedi started bringing out the best in him, I think. And I'd love to see him eventually get to where he's possibly fighting alongside them as an adult, maybe realizing that

[01:57:15] he can be a better ruler than his parents were. And, you know, he has he's going to have to reach down into the, you know, deepest parts of himself and possibly be better than that. But who knows what they're going to do with his character? Yeah.

[01:57:30] Yeah, I hope. I mean, I hope there is a season two actually. I'm into it. I want there to be more of this story, but I also hope that they love these characters and I hope that they do end up, you know, they were invented for this

[01:57:43] show, but I want them to be in other things now too. Right. So do I. All right. Well, if there is a season two, obviously we will at the end of that season, we will jump back to this point in the timeline and give you a summary

[01:57:58] episode just like this one. But for now, for people who are listening live, we've got one more prep episode coming your way this week before the acolyte is released. And so that episode is going to be a preview of everything we know going into

[01:58:13] the acolyte, so the setting, the characters, including a deeper dive in different estrus rows, we keep saying in her light whip and also which Star Wars faves are around at this point in the timeline who could pop up in the show.

[01:58:27] And yeah, we'll also be revisiting this part of the timeline in the coming year as well with coverage of the High Republic Spokes phase by phase. So this episode will eventually fall between the High Republic Spaces two and one in that order.

[01:58:44] And if you're listening at the time of publishing, then you'll have weekly acolyte recaps to look forward to where I'll be joined by John from the Lorehounds and Bob and I will check back with some mailbag episodes in the near

[01:58:57] future, too. So if you have any feedback about anything we've covered so far or anything to come like whether we missed your favorite character or you want to make sure we don't miss your favorite character in the future, please send

[01:59:09] all your thoughts to SW Timeline podcast at gmail.com and you'll find that link in the show notes. So thank you to Jedi Jedi Bob for exploring the cutest corner of Star Wars history with me. Check out his YouTube channel.

[01:59:25] You'll find that link in the show notes as well. And you can also find us both on Twitter. Any final thoughts, Bob? I had a really good time with this show. That's about all I know. It was certainly a welcome addition to my Star Wars exploration.

[01:59:43] So yeah, we want to hear if other people watched if they had a good time with it as well or if people might have felt closer to what he also felt, which as he also mentioned, he is a young baby, has little time to watch things.

[01:59:55] So maybe if you don't have much time to watch things, maybe this isn't the first thing I'm recommending, but if you're like, I want to see all the Star Wars things and this is a good time. Yeah. So this episode is produced by me, published by the Lorehounds.

[02:00:10] If you can really help us out, especially since this is a brand new podcast by sharing this with anyone else you think wants the Intel. And all the Star Wars lore and you can also help us out by leaving a nice review anywhere you happen to be listening.

[02:00:25] The algorithm does really like it when you give five stars. They punish us for less. It's unfair. And of course, there's on the Lorehounds main feed. There's currently weekly Doctor Who coverage going on. Upcoming Furiosa coverage, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

[02:00:45] Also, the guys are covering Hot D or House of the Dragon and with Maryland, they're covering Rings of Power and also check out the affiliates. So I have a podcast, Will Shift Dust, where we're currently covering season two of the sci fi space show Beacon 23

[02:01:03] and radioactive ramblings is currently covering season two of Invincible and deep dive into Fallout lore and rings and rituals. They're wrapping up their recap of season one of Rings of Power and properly Howard is wrapping up their season of felonies and fugazes with Rocky episode

[02:01:21] coming up. So you'll find the Lorehounds link in the show notes with the links to all these other podcasts where you can subscribe on your platform of choice. Now, for those of you listening live,

[02:01:31] see you later this week with our final preview of everything you need to know going into the acolyte. Bye. Bye. OK, David, this is where we're supposed to choose a side green or black. John, my soul is as black as night. Your turn. I am black for life.

[02:02:16] So we're not fighting? I thought this is where HBO wanted us to like pick sides and fight and stuff. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find plenty to disagree about on the pod. But we seem to agree on one thing. We both really like the show.

[02:02:28] The politics, the drama, the lore. It was made for the Lorehounds. And since we just finished recapping season one, we couldn't be more ready to defend our black queen in the dance of the dragons. And with the season pass option and Supercast listeners can get early

[02:02:43] ad free access to each weekly scene by scene deep dive plus our custom show guide with all the characters and connections. See you in the Lorehounds podcast feed each week for our dragon fire hot, but probably positive takes.

[02:02:57] The Lorehounds house of the dragon covers is also safe for team green consumption. Side effects may include a deeper understanding of dragon lore, a hardened conflict with itself and an inescapable urge to read the book fire and blood by George R. R. Martin. Dragon seeds may experience burning.