GWC Podcast #106

Podcasts Galactic Watercooler
#1

During the hiatus we’re delving into some other stories, and this week marks the beginning of our Star Wars podcast arc — and our re-watch of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Highlights: we discuss what the Trade Federation is, why Naboo is remotely important (and why you should care), see midi-chlorians as Star Wars’ glowing cylon backs, question Anakin’s “virgin birth,” note how the Jedi could’ve saved the galaxy for a few creds by buying Anakin’s mother out of slavery, decide it’s OK to say Natalie Portman is hot because she’s over 21 now (and that Anakin’s “are you an angel?” line totally works), hear part one of Sean’s Yoda rant, and compare pod racing to NASCAR (Tusken sugar-water/pot-shots at racers = Talladega beer/boobs).

http://www.galacticawatercooler.com/2008/06/29/gwc-podcast-106/

#2

Bravo on The Palpatine explanation. :slight_smile:

#3

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW … GP… i am speechless~~ don’t you just love her voice? if GP call in every week, for 5 seconds, i’m set for the hiatus XD

#4

holy shiznit! Grace Park giving props. That was awesome. congrats guys!

#5

Great podcast i would like to say i too had one of those destroying of classic buildings.

I was in Montreal for a wedding when we went for a family breakfast and the restaurant was in the Forum… :mad::mad: Now i’m not a fan of the Hab’s but still walking into the forum and seeing a future shop, well it just made me want to cry.

Furthermore the show you were thinking about was called “shining time station” and it had stop motion Thomas the tank engine.

lastly Grace park calling in was very cool, and I’m trying to think what embarassing things I’ve said, oh well I hope it was more flattering and hopefully less with the creepy.

Still she’s very pretty; but i’ll refrain from further comments… maybe… okay so i’ll try

as to star wars Ep. 1 was a long haul for me, but double sided light saber with cool red faced guy . Every time i watch it i cheer for Maul he’s still the bad ass of all sith lords. well to me.

#6

well, i finished the podcast… for me personally, I’ve watched every single one of the movies, and played KotOR I and II, that’s about it. KotOR I and II provided some good back ground information about the universe (which is 1,000 years before the movies but anyway still good information), like why the light sabers can be different colours, or that Jedis are pompous yuppy pricks and such, but wow, I didn’t know there was so much more to the prequels.

Which those are really cool to know and makes the story more interesting, I have to say I still don’t enjoy the actual movies. Knowing the background stories almost makes me feel that the production was afraid of all the back ground stories wouldn’t be interesting enough. So they filled the movie up with distractions.

The intricate stories that I heard from this podcast can be made into a TV series and run for about 4 seasons without needing to add much more to it. Maybe that’s what they should have done.

By the way, I thought in the movie Natalie Portman’s character was 14 (the actress herself was 18 or almost 18). If Anakin was 10, she would be just 4 years older than him. Which is more than normal.

by the way, i can only remember how to spell Anakin if I think of it as “A Napkin”, but that’s beside the point.

I look forward to hearing more details on 2 and 3.

#7

I know the show as Thomas the Tank Engine Engine and Friends, or Thomas and Friends. George Carlin was on 91-97. Ringo Starr, Alec Baldwin, and Pierce Brosnan were on it too from my research. :slight_smile:

#8

a harbinger was a person who prepared the way for royalty, making arrangements for lodgings, and so forth

#9

The ages of Anakin and Padme in Ep.1 are 9 and 14.

You guys had some great insight into the movies. I enjoyed the funny comments as well. My fav. comments were Mrs.TheHutt and Nasscar Dad Sandpeople. I really liked the idea about Palatine having a hand in Anakin’s creation. BTW Palpatine/Sidious’s master was Darth Plagis. I’m not going to sit here and nit pick every last detail that you are unaware of. I do have to disagree with Audra about yippee squealing Anakin being less annoying than Ep.4 Luke. :stuck_out_tongue:

Besides the SW portion, the rest of the cast was fantastic. Kudos on scoring the Grace Park call in. I also enjoyed the Carlin talk. :wink: I thought Chuck was thinking of the hippie car in the movie Cars.

#10

ust got done listeneing to the 'cast…

Audra, have you ever SEEN Star Wars? Now, admittedly, I’m a Star Wars fan, but I also KNOW about other Sci-Fi schtuff. BSG (Old & New), Trek, Dr. Who (Again, Old & New), etc, etc.

Usually I am floored by how much you bring to the table, but this time, I felt like you were an appetizer short of a take-out meal, ya know?

Now, I know I’m not supposed “to be hatin’”, but come on.

Who’s first breath is MORE recognizeable? Even in jest, not cool. :slight_smile:

Hope the talk gets a bit more…sci-fi-y.

Siege

#11

Only have listened ot the first few minutes…but may I take a moment to say

OHMYGODGRACEPARKCALLEDOHMYGODGRACEPARKCALLEDOHMYGODGRACEPARKCALLEDOHMYGODGRACEPARKCALLED

[Jumping up and down] EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!:D:D[jumping up and down]

ahem

I mean…that was really great she called–very cool…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!:D:D

#12

There’s no need to hate. We geeks all have our fandom niches. I’m sure Audra could player hate on me for knowing next to nothing about the Harry Potter franchise. The only HP trivia I know is that Warwick Davis, the actor who played Wiket the Ewok in ROTJ and has two roles in Ep.1, plays two different roles in the movies.

#13

well said, sir!

#14

Do I get a cookie?

#15

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:slight_smile:

#16

yea, i gotta admit, i was a bit annoyed at first, but then a stopped and thought, i have dozens of Star Wars books, and yet i know next to nothing about the Star Trek universe, so everyone has their own specialties.

#17

Hi. On the topic of racism in the phantom menace:

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Racism.html

This site I think puts it best. Frankly, I find some of what is said on this topic really odd. I mean, the gungans never seemed under-educated to me, they simply seemed alien. For gods sake, they live in giant cities under water. That’s so freakin cool. Imagine the technology needed to do that. And as someone who suffers from speech problems, I find it a little offensive that every species in the galaxy must all talk Basic perfectly well, or else their automatically “under-educated.”

The article also mentions that some have compared the gungan’s civilization to the sort of ghettos blacks would live in, which I find abjectly ridiculous. I mean, it seemed fairly clear the gungans weren’t living in slums. Personally, I was rather inspired by their architecture.

The author is also a first-generation asian-american, and is really insulted by what he read (and reports) people have said about the Neimoidians (namely, that they don’t resemble asians in the slightest, and he’s a little pissed that someone obviously went to a lot of work to draw that resemblance). Personally, I agree with him (I mean, they are pretty alien), though their accent is “asianish”. Still, I don’t think that just because a character has a specific accent that it’s a racist statement.

Joe

#18

Fair warning… I get cranky when my blood sugar gets low. :stuck_out_tongue:

#19

Wow that slum bit is news to me. I agree ridiculous.

I can sympathize with the speech problems. I’m hearing impaired, 50% loss, and that has greatly affected both my speech and grammar when writing. It was a struggle in school, but I’ve learned to deal with it.

#20

Chuck: Palpatine and his sith lord did create Anakin, just like you said, you can read about it online. I believe there was a comic series where that’s all explained.

It’s really interesting. If I remember right, one of the reasons Palpatine killed his master is so he could get his hands on Anakin and have him loyal to him, not his master.

Joe