Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another edition of Nedificent from Home,
Speaker 1: possibly indefinitely. I feel like they might have just sold
Speaker 1: our studio at this point. I don't even know who's
Speaker 1: over there. I just imagine it's a bunch of cobwebs,
Speaker 1: but like we're also maybe possibly getting mail over there.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Um My, my co host this week
Speaker 1: is our beautiful, wonderful super producer Joel Monique. Do you
Speaker 1: think is happening over at our studio? I know what's
Speaker 1: happening over there, but I sort of like the mystery
Speaker 1: that you've created. I love now that you're you're a
Speaker 1: super producer and like produced so many shows now at
Speaker 1: my heart that you have the inside more than I do. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I know who manages our unit. So I say, if
Speaker 1: you have mail coming there, it's safe, okay if you
Speaker 1: I think there was like an edible company that was
Speaker 1: going to send us edibles and so I might need
Speaker 1: to take a visit to ours. Have to run over
Speaker 1: there and just see what's up with that. Absolutely. Um.
Speaker 1: Today's guest she is a writer, a comedian. Repeat guest
Speaker 1: that was on our Doctor Who episode, one of our
Speaker 1: most listened to episodes. It's Riley Silverman, Hey, Hello, And
Speaker 1: as someone who at least unless you move studios, has
Speaker 1: been in your studio before and for multiple podcasts, I'm
Speaker 1: assuming even with all this happening, there was still a
Speaker 1: parking headache the parking lot behind the building. There is
Speaker 1: still someone saying there's no room for cars and we're
Speaker 1: not supposed to park where we've been told by every
Speaker 1: email we're supposed to park, even though we have paid
Speaker 1: parking spots for you, Riley specifically as a guest, I
Speaker 1: know it was someone should do. I feel like you
Speaker 1: could actually do a television show about that parking lot, like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, there'd be so much drama and stuff.
Speaker 1: Um today, Joel, do you want to tell everyone what
Speaker 1: we're talking about. We're talking about my favorite Jedi. It's
Speaker 1: a socaton. Oi'm so excited we are, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, we've tried to attack Star Wars is such
Speaker 1: a huge franchise. You know, at the start of the year,
Speaker 1: we had like five weeks I think we did tackling
Speaker 1: different elements of Star Wars, and so for for us,
Speaker 1: it's it's so much more fun to talk about niche
Speaker 1: like character, like breaking down you know, about droids are
Speaker 1: breaking down about our favorite characters as opposed to talking
Speaker 1: about Star Wars at large. Since there's entire podcast dedicated
Speaker 1: to Lady Danny, it's a lot less research on my
Speaker 1: end about one character instead of the very broad scope.
Speaker 1: I like the broad scopes, so because we we really
Speaker 1: were able to get into like what do those things
Speaker 1: mean on sort of like both the nebulous level and
Speaker 1: like a very specific sort of analyzing of how do
Speaker 1: they improve the series and what does that mean different characters.
Speaker 1: But like to talk about Asoka, who is sort of
Speaker 1: the first you see female Jedi walking in the background
Speaker 1: of things. If you're fans of the novels, you may
Speaker 1: have come across one like in training or like running
Speaker 1: the library, do you want a lot of cool stuff?
Speaker 1: But this is the first Jedi that where we are
Speaker 1: like in their story and she become such a fan
Speaker 1: favorite and like much like Harley Queen's journey from animated
Speaker 1: character to live action to comic books and source spilling out,
Speaker 1: so because had a very similar journey and so to
Speaker 1: sort of see her blossom into both an older figure
Speaker 1: having the revisit of her like late teen years in
Speaker 1: the New Clone Wars season. There's just there's so much
Speaker 1: to like, love and see about her timeline and there's
Speaker 1: still so much to go and because of Star Wars,
Speaker 1: and they just get to pop in that timeline whenever.
Speaker 1: What she means to the series overall could change in
Speaker 1: twenty years and it could be a huge impact. And
Speaker 1: it's one of the reasons I love her. I feel
Speaker 1: like she was created for me. I got into Star
Speaker 1: Wars during the Clone Wars animated series. I've watched it before,
Speaker 1: but that's when I fell in love and a Soco
Speaker 1: was sort of the person who guided me through that series.
Speaker 1: I love her. But well, speaking as you're clearly geeking now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna transition. You know, our historically great transitions on
Speaker 1: this we just call them out like we see that.
Speaker 1: Um uh. Every week we start with what we're geeking
Speaker 1: out about. And Riley, I would love to start with you.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you're super into right now? Um?
Speaker 1: I mean it's with the Quarantine world. It feels like
Speaker 1: such a weird time to get out abou stuff because
Speaker 1: you're keeping out about things that like may have aired
Speaker 1: like years and years ago. You're like refinding old things.
Speaker 1: But what I've been doing is So I I have
Speaker 1: temporarily relocated to Ohio because I was helping my mom
Speaker 1: move um and I had to drive to do that,
Speaker 1: so I actually packed up my work stuff and came
Speaker 1: out here, and I've been working out of Ohio and
Speaker 1: still kind of pretty quarantined out here. But my girlfriend
Speaker 1: has never seen most of the Marvel Cinematic movies, so
Speaker 1: we have actually been working our way through them together,
Speaker 1: which is really fun to do. So that's been a
Speaker 1: huge thing. And then also she had never seen except
Speaker 1: for I think Jurassic World, she had never seen any
Speaker 1: of Durassic Park movies, and we went and saw Jaws
Speaker 1: and Jurassic Park as a double feature at at a
Speaker 1: drive in theater. And so now we're slowly working away
Speaker 1: through Durrassic Park movies too. So it's been a lot
Speaker 1: of like binging of like movie franchises that she missed
Speaker 1: out on at certain points in her life. So I'm
Speaker 1: envious of your quarantine because that sounds amazing. So did you, um,
Speaker 1: are you watching it the m c U how it
Speaker 1: was released? Yeah, I think at smart here to do
Speaker 1: it that way. And also I kind of let her
Speaker 1: pick like the same thing, like she actually very apropoe
Speaker 1: for today's discussion. She chose to get into Star Wars
Speaker 1: last fall because she had only only had ever seen
Speaker 1: like I think, like Phantom Menace when she worked in
Speaker 1: a movie theater and we went through Galaxy's Edge last
Speaker 1: September August September UM at Disneyland, and I freaked out
Speaker 1: because it's like my main one of my main like
Speaker 1: lifetime fandoms, and it was amazing to finally see it
Speaker 1: in person like that. And she thought it was fun,
Speaker 1: but didn't have the same quite connection that I did
Speaker 1: with it. So then she made the decision that she
Speaker 1: wanted to go through Star Wars herself and like watch everything,
Speaker 1: and one of the most important aspects of doing that,
Speaker 1: I think was letting her make her own journey with it.
Speaker 1: So I I never said, like, you have to watch
Speaker 1: the movies in this order and enjoy it in this way,
Speaker 1: and she like researched it herself and decided which way
Speaker 1: she went, like she asked me for my advice, but
Speaker 1: um ultimately chose to do it her own way. And
Speaker 1: it was so funny because then I remember like going
Speaker 1: online and I was like tweeting and posting about her
Speaker 1: reactions to the things that she was watching, and we
Speaker 1: were having some fun interactions and so many and you know,
Speaker 1: mostly dude sorry guys um would message me or respond
Speaker 1: to my tweets with like the instructions they wanted me
Speaker 1: to give my girl improve her viewing process. And I
Speaker 1: remember thinking, like, like, you know, I I think about
Speaker 1: how many times in my life I've heard uh, like
Speaker 1: straight like this dude like probably white talk about like
Speaker 1: how like they can't get their girlfriends into their nerdy things.
Speaker 1: And I almost go, maybe the reason why you can't
Speaker 1: isn't because they're not in the stuff. It's that like
Speaker 1: you have made it so there's no chance for them
Speaker 1: to find any joy in it as you go through
Speaker 1: it with them, because if they try to watch it,
Speaker 1: you're not trying to let them have their own experience
Speaker 1: with it. You're trying to have your exact experience with it,
Speaker 1: how you curate it. And I don't think it works
Speaker 1: that way. So yeah, I think that like with Star Wars,
Speaker 1: I very much like let her make her like I
Speaker 1: I step back, and she went on her own journey
Speaker 1: with it, and she ended up loving it, and now
Speaker 1: she's a pretty big Star Wars fan. But I think
Speaker 1: that if I had been like, no, okay, so you
Speaker 1: gotta watch, you gotta watch Star Wars and an Empire
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna watch you're gonna forget in a
Speaker 1: menus and then you're gonna watch Tecnic Clonson. Then you're
Speaker 1: gonna watch humto this like she would have her eyes
Speaker 1: would have glazed over and she would have been done.
Speaker 1: But instead it was like that, And so that same
Speaker 1: thing with with the m c u UM. She just
Speaker 1: kind of like looked it up and I think I
Speaker 1: think for her release order makes the most sense, so
Speaker 1: she's watched watching it that way. Yeah, I mean that
Speaker 1: that's such a good point of like I feel like
Speaker 1: I have dated a couple of people who like when
Speaker 1: a scene is coming up there like oh you gotta
Speaker 1: you know, like they're just trying to take away like
Speaker 1: the moment from you, and like we're all gonna have
Speaker 1: Something that I remember is when you sit down to
Speaker 1: watch a movie, you bring all of your life experiences
Speaker 1: with you to that, and a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: understand that. So we're never it's never going to be
Speaker 1: the same for me as like say someone I'm dating
Speaker 1: and vice versa, like there are moments in these films
Speaker 1: that I might latch onto in a way that they don't.
Speaker 1: And so I think if you don't exactly resonate with
Speaker 1: a film or a specific moment in the way that
Speaker 1: they do, even though their experiences are so different, it's
Speaker 1: like yours is somehow less than and it's like as
Speaker 1: opposed to just letting her, like you said, just experience
Speaker 1: it and take what she does. And it's yeah, but
Speaker 1: also I did want to say so when my my
Speaker 1: family got Disney Plus, my older brother texted me and
Speaker 1: he was like, oh, I'm watching all the m c
Speaker 1: U because he has two kids and he just like
Speaker 1: picks up what movies he can here and there, um.
Speaker 1: And he also doesn't have to do this for a living,
Speaker 1: so he doesn't go. He never sees anything in theaters
Speaker 1: ever um anymore. Uh and so but it was funny
Speaker 1: because he wrote me and he was like, oh, I'm watching.
Speaker 1: I found this article and it said this is how
Speaker 1: you're supposed to watch them. And I was like, no,
Speaker 1: that article was probably written by Hector navarre Or. And
Speaker 1: I told Hector, I'm like I hate you. Because Hector
Speaker 1: was so big about like you watched this and then
Speaker 1: you hop over and you watch this, and then because
Speaker 1: it was like canonically closing scene ties into this move
Speaker 1: I read that scene. I love Hector, but yeah, it's right.
Speaker 1: I'm like, Hector, that's great if you've already seen Yes,
Speaker 1: thank you. That's not a great viewing method if you've
Speaker 1: never seen them. And like even his article kind of
Speaker 1: requires you to have seen them to understand, right, it
Speaker 1: tells you the things that connect, which like, if you
Speaker 1: haven't seen them, that article spoils it all for you.
Speaker 1: And like you still in the end. And again, Hector
Speaker 1: has been on here five times and I'll like clip
Speaker 1: and send this to home because I literally wrote him
Speaker 1: and I was like, damn you. You got to my
Speaker 1: brother who had never seen them. But yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: really funny how there's no Oh, that's why I want
Speaker 1: to say, there's no right way to like consume a
Speaker 1: lot of this, especially when it's been out for decades.
Speaker 1: A lot of us might have caught some of it,
Speaker 1: like half the movie on on FFX during July four
Speaker 1: weekend or you know it's yeah, it's yeah. So I
Speaker 1: was I was talking to somebody recently about how different.
Speaker 1: Watching franchises is now versus when like I was a
Speaker 1: little kid in the eighties, because the way, like the fact,
Speaker 1: like your brother can can catch up to the m
Speaker 1: c you like going on Disney Plus and watching it
Speaker 1: in the release order, and now like any parents who
Speaker 1: like want to get their kids into m c U
Speaker 1: stuff can do that with Disney Plus or the DVD
Speaker 1: collection or whatever. But back in the ages were like, yes,
Speaker 1: you had VHS tapes, but for the most part, when
Speaker 1: franchise movies came out, you almost just joined the franchise
Speaker 1: with whatever movie was new. When you were like I,
Speaker 1: I have much better vivid memories of seeing Indiana Jones
Speaker 1: in the Last Crusade than I do have Raiders of
Speaker 1: the Lost Arc because like Temple of Doom was a
Speaker 1: little I was a little too young when it came out,
Speaker 1: so it was like my brother's movie. But I like
Speaker 1: the idea of the character of Indiana Jones. So when
Speaker 1: Last Crusade came out, like it was Taylor made for me,
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, here's a movie that's like your guy,
Speaker 1: but now it's a new movie with him in it
Speaker 1: and you can watch it. And same thing with like
Speaker 1: Ghostbusters too, and something like that, where I was like
Speaker 1: you I had I was aware of the first one,
Speaker 1: but the second one was like my exact age range
Speaker 1: when it came out and that's when you saw it.
Speaker 1: And Green Wins too, like I saw Greenlins too and
Speaker 1: enjoyed it before I saw Green Ones one. And now,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure people still do that, like their
Speaker 1: kids are too young to know what sequels are, they
Speaker 1: might just take their kids to see like a superhero movie.
Speaker 1: But I do think that nowadays, like I imagine there's
Speaker 1: not a lot of people who likes like kids who
Speaker 1: are Star Wars fans who the first Star Wars when
Speaker 1: they saw was Force Awakens. You know, I think most
Speaker 1: of them probably got seen showing the trilogy, showing the
Speaker 1: prequels maybe, or showing the cartoon shows or whatever. But
Speaker 1: then when Force Wagans came out, then they took them
Speaker 1: to see that till yeah. Um, luckily we have literally
Speaker 1: everything at our consumption. Um, Joe, what are what are
Speaker 1: you gigging out about? This week? The thing I've been
Speaker 1: gigging out about a lot is Central Park, which is
Speaker 1: a new show on Apple TV. It's a cheating show
Speaker 1: by the guy who created Bob's Burgers. It's a musical.
Speaker 1: It's set in Central Park. It's produced by Josh Gad.
Speaker 1: It's not a perfect show. It's not the best show
Speaker 1: you've ever seen, but damn is it lighthearted and funny.
Speaker 1: Damn is it cute as hell? Um, it's not a
Speaker 1: lot of your favorite Broadway stars. Uh, and it's it's
Speaker 1: so the lightful. And now they're recast Christen Bell as
Speaker 1: the half black, half lay girl. I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 1: I don't know when season two is coming, but the
Speaker 1: songs do slap and um. If you just need to
Speaker 1: take your mind off of the hot garbage that is
Speaker 1: the world, you can pop that in and just forget.
Speaker 1: And it's so lovely. Love it. Mine is also an
Speaker 1: animated show, and it's I watched the second season of
Speaker 1: Harley Quinn and let me tell you, Harley Quinn, as
Speaker 1: someone who actively works in television, is one of the
Speaker 1: best shows comedically, has some of the best comedic writing.
Speaker 1: If you want to be a comedy writer, watch this show.
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is better than a lot of the
Speaker 1: live action crap that gets put out. And I think
Speaker 1: I say that because I do not think that she
Speaker 1: gets the recognition. I don't think that the writers on
Speaker 1: this show, the characters what they're doing in the social
Speaker 1: commentary they're making well also just being badass and kicking
Speaker 1: but like just you know, dicking around all the things
Speaker 1: that she's allowed to do. Um. I don't think enough
Speaker 1: people are talking about this show. So I hope that
Speaker 1: this convinces you to be like, Okay, I'm finally gonna
Speaker 1: sit down. I'm gonna watch this show because it is
Speaker 1: such great writing. I think it's tough because DC Universe
Speaker 1: is such like an extent, like not everybody's. It's such
Speaker 1: a niche streaming service to have. But like I got
Speaker 1: to I haven't seen season two yet because I don't
Speaker 1: have DCU but I have so I have sci Fi
Speaker 1: through Sling, and they aired season one on the sci
Speaker 1: Fi Channel and you can watch that least off and
Speaker 1: I don't know how recent it was, but at least
Speaker 1: in in May you could watch season one on demand
Speaker 1: on sci Fi on Demand. So really, I'll send you
Speaker 1: my pass sword and stuff so you can watch season
Speaker 1: two because it season one. I really will. I am
Speaker 1: a lifelong Harley an Ivy shipper, and so I know
Speaker 1: what happens season two, and I'm like obsessed with needing
Speaker 1: to see it because like season one, I even liked
Speaker 1: their last ship as friends because it gave me that
Speaker 1: like Daria and Jane vibe that I have, like that
Speaker 1: I needed, but like knowing where it went in season two,
Speaker 1: I need to see it because I have that's my
Speaker 1: O t P. Like I have shipped this. It's like
Speaker 1: their first pair up on the Batman animated series, before
Speaker 1: I understood that I was queer or what being queer
Speaker 1: was or was, I was like, these two should be girlfriends.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that means, but I want this
Speaker 1: to happen. Then, hanging out at the mall and kidnapping
Speaker 1: Batman is such an iconic episode for me personally. They
Speaker 1: are the first fan fiction I got into, and my
Speaker 1: my lesbian roommates were like, how are you not reading
Speaker 1: all of their fan fiction? Like is that a thing
Speaker 1: that exists? Like yes, and their cannon then and we
Speaker 1: were together solely together when Um the comic book came out,
Speaker 1: where they were like finally canonized and just absolutely the best.
Speaker 1: And it's been such a long journey I think for
Speaker 1: especially for like queer Harley stands of a certain age,
Speaker 1: like that's sort of been are like the our entire
Speaker 1: journey through fandom and queer canonized relationship sort of is
Speaker 1: embodied in those two and the show got it right.
Speaker 1: I'm still worried after season one. I'm like, what are
Speaker 1: we doing? And now it's it's confirmed, and it's beautiful
Speaker 1: and feels authentic. It's so good. Yeah. I interviewed Marguerite
Speaker 1: Benett a couple of years ago, who was the first
Speaker 1: one to make them a couple in the comics, in
Speaker 1: the Bombshells comics, and I remember asking her what it
Speaker 1: was like to finally take the ship and make it cannon,
Speaker 1: and she said that it was such a prevalent ship
Speaker 1: that she didn't even realize that when she did it,
Speaker 1: that it wasn't already cannon because it was so prevalent
Speaker 1: in the fandom of these two were a rankic pair
Speaker 1: that she didn't realize that it was the first time
Speaker 1: it actually kissed in the in the panel, I think,
Speaker 1: I think it's adorable. Yeah. Um. Speaking of another animated
Speaker 1: currently animated, see you look at these look at these
Speaker 1: transitions leading lady a Sokatano. I want to know when
Speaker 1: both of you first saw her, What was your first memory?
Speaker 1: I want to take that one really. Um, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I have an actual pinpoint, Like I I
Speaker 1: didn't immediately get into Clone Wars like a lot of
Speaker 1: people did when it first came on. Um, like the
Speaker 1: now this is the Feloni Clone Jock the original Clone
Speaker 1: Wars where she's not involved in, but she the the
Speaker 1: Getty Tarkovski Clone Wars. But UM, I think it was
Speaker 1: actually weirdly. I remember a friend of mine was talking
Speaker 1: about his daughter dressing as a Sokatano for Halloween, and
Speaker 1: like somebody was like kind of like what do you mean.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh, it's it's Anakin's padawan from the Clone Wars,
Speaker 1: And like they're like, wouldn't obscure character, But it's like no,
Speaker 1: not for a kid who's watching Clone Wars and into
Speaker 1: it and remember being like, oh, I want to know
Speaker 1: who this character is. That like young girls watching Star
Speaker 1: Wars like are relating to and dressing up as a costumes.
Speaker 1: That's kind of how I became aware of her as
Speaker 1: a character. Uh yeah, I caught onto her in Clone Wars.
Speaker 1: I was a first night to Nomie. Waw was like
Speaker 1: what like semi anime, but kind of this new three
Speaker 1: D style I'm in and um. I was thirteen when
Speaker 1: the show came out, so I was very much vibing
Speaker 1: with it. I was like, oh my god, look at
Speaker 1: this cool girl. And then sort of as Asoka grew, specifically,
Speaker 1: her fight style got gets a lot stronger. The further
Speaker 1: the show progressive, I just became more and more obsessed
Speaker 1: with the idea that not only could a woman be
Speaker 1: a Jedi, but she could she could take two of
Speaker 1: the greatest Jedis ever to task frequently and when it
Speaker 1: was just incredible. So she's leading armies at thirteen, like
Speaker 1: as a solo kid who was doing like a ton
Speaker 1: of extracurriculars and just like trying to embody the badass
Speaker 1: woman I was seeing on TV Like Asoka was definitely
Speaker 1: an early inspiration. Yeah. So when, as you all said,
Speaker 1: when Asokatano burst on the scene as Anakin Skywalker's padawan
Speaker 1: and the Star Wars animated series Clone Wars, she became
Speaker 1: the first female Jedi lead lead in the canonical saga
Speaker 1: and became an icon for millions over the world. She's
Speaker 1: known by her nickname Snipped her precocious attitude, firm belief injuice,
Speaker 1: and love for adventure made her a worthy student of
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful force users in known history.
Speaker 1: But she isn't just a student. Her destiny was to
Speaker 1: be incredible force wielder. So I'm sure most people have
Speaker 1: seen her. But in case they haven't and they're like,
Speaker 1: who are you talking about? Um, Joel, can you explain
Speaker 1: like her look to people, because it's very iconic. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: So Katana is a hug Ruda. Is I think hug Ruda? Okay,
Speaker 1: She's got these big blue eyes. She has white lake
Speaker 1: who and Montreal's which are these blue and white stripes.
Speaker 1: They look sort of like pigtails, but they're not. They're
Speaker 1: not like Surry or Harry. They're sort of like an
Speaker 1: extension of her skull essentially, but they're soft. Um and
Speaker 1: as she grows, like the stripes on them get wider
Speaker 1: and longer. She's slender, like mostly eyes and just like
Speaker 1: a boxy, short fighter. Like if you've seen like some
Speaker 1: of the greatest fighters, they tend to have like a
Speaker 1: very low to the ground center of gravity and they
Speaker 1: get those punch is out real quick. That's think tumbler. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she has orange skin, and she also has these like
Speaker 1: white lines on her skin that are almost like work paint,
Speaker 1: Like she has like different like designs to those. And
Speaker 1: when they first brought her out, she I, I'm not
Speaker 1: a huge fan of her original costume when they when
Speaker 1: she was like little, because it's like a tube top
Speaker 1: and like a short skirt um and then like your
Speaker 1: mom dropped off it for every twenty one and that's
Speaker 1: what you came out with when you were twelve. As
Speaker 1: as she matured and as the show mature about about
Speaker 1: in season three, they kind of did like a bit
Speaker 1: of a time jump to show the progression of time
Speaker 1: during the Clone War, and she got this kind of
Speaker 1: newer costume where it's more of a full full on
Speaker 1: dress like cut like short dress with a little bit
Speaker 1: of a boob window. But then she has like leggings
Speaker 1: with these diamonds on them. And then, uh, she also
Speaker 1: has a later costume like just those multiple costumes as
Speaker 1: the Clone Wars came back and also as she appeared
Speaker 1: on the TV series Rebels as well, and she's much
Speaker 1: older and Rebels, but um, yeah, so that's kind of
Speaker 1: her basic look is as kind of like like very
Speaker 1: like fitted almost like workout closed Like she's like it's
Speaker 1: very like utilitarian, like there's like it's like like belts
Speaker 1: and stuff and places to hold her lightsabers and like
Speaker 1: she does occasionally wear the Jedi robes, but never never
Speaker 1: like the full on like white on brown like like
Speaker 1: top like like you might see an Anakin or Obi
Speaker 1: Wan wearing or even Yoda. She kind of has her
Speaker 1: own like it's almost like it's almost like breaking like
Speaker 1: workout gear or like like that kind of millet like
Speaker 1: form fitting like that kind of combat gear. Talking more
Speaker 1: about her combat gear, she also has. She has dual
Speaker 1: blades and holds her lightsaber blade down rather than the
Speaker 1: more traditional blade up. Can you do you all know?
Speaker 1: I guess I don't know. Like the significance is that
Speaker 1: just her fighting style that she's typically shown as. Yeah,
Speaker 1: her fighting style favors more like deflecting blaster bolts than
Speaker 1: it is like pure on combat, like she is a
Speaker 1: very skilled lightsaber dualist like as she gets older especially,
Speaker 1: but yeah, like she has originally she only has one lightsaber,
Speaker 1: then she gets a second one, uh, and then she
Speaker 1: loses both of those and then replaces them with new ones,
Speaker 1: but um as as time passes on and the Clone
Speaker 1: Wars and and stuff like that. But her original blades
Speaker 1: are a green and kind of a yellowish green one.
Speaker 1: And then when she comes back in Clone Wars, Anakin
Speaker 1: gives her new ones that are blue that are like
Speaker 1: her same her same hilts, but with a blue blade.
Speaker 1: And then in the novel, which takes place a year
Speaker 1: after Order sixty six, it's actually a really cool story
Speaker 1: behind how she gets her lightsaber her new lightsabers is
Speaker 1: that she's basically as the As the novel goes on,
Speaker 1: she keeps collecting all this scrap metal and eventually she
Speaker 1: realized that she's been slowly subconsciously building her own new lightsabers.
Speaker 1: But then she needs the crystals, and she tries to
Speaker 1: go to get the crystals, but the planet that they
Speaker 1: normally got the crystals from, it's like a whole arc
Speaker 1: about them in the Clone Wars, is now being mined
Speaker 1: by the Empire for the crystals to use in the
Speaker 1: Death Star. So then she like re is out to
Speaker 1: the force for the crystals that are calling to her,
Speaker 1: and she hears them in the sabers of this Sif
Speaker 1: inquisitor who is like chasing after her, and she goes
Speaker 1: and she defeats him in a duel and takes his
Speaker 1: his crystals and puts them in her sabers and they
Speaker 1: Basically there's a cannon now in newer Star Wars cannon
Speaker 1: where the reason why CIF lightsaber blades are red is
Speaker 1: because of the the Sith user is corrupting the blade
Speaker 1: and it's like literally bleeding the energy out of it,
Speaker 1: which is why it turns red. So then when Ahsoka
Speaker 1: puts them back in her sabers and and ignites them,
Speaker 1: she's purifying those red blades, and so now they burn white.
Speaker 1: So she has these dual white lightsabers, which is also
Speaker 1: supposed to be symbolic of the fact that she is
Speaker 1: unaffiliated because at the time when this happened, she's no
Speaker 1: longer a Jedi um. But so she's not she's not
Speaker 1: a great Jedi. She is still a light light side
Speaker 1: Force user, but she's like her own ronan kind of character,
Speaker 1: and so they may her blades white to symbolize that.
Speaker 1: Shout out to E. K. Jemison for writing one of
Speaker 1: the sickest books in the Star Wars novel Bannon. If
Speaker 1: You I'm I Love the Star Wars novels uh leya
Speaker 1: Princess of Aldern is another like really great one. Of course,
Speaker 1: all the Throng books are excellent, but this one hell's
Speaker 1: a really special place in my heart, um because it's
Speaker 1: sort of the first time, I mean, for Clone Wars
Speaker 1: fans um you see Ahsoka travel through all these like
Speaker 1: really tight battles and then right at the end, the
Speaker 1: Jedi doubt her and she ends up leaving the Jedi. Um.
Speaker 1: They don't trust her word. I don't want to, I
Speaker 1: won't spoil it in case you want to get into
Speaker 1: the series, but they don't trust her word, and she
Speaker 1: winds up leaving, leaving Anakin. She's starting to sense that
Speaker 1: he's turning, but she can't believe that it's happening, and
Speaker 1: she can't quite put words to it, but she knows
Speaker 1: she needs to get out, and she does. But we're
Speaker 1: left with this like very like Cowboy Western walk away
Speaker 1: where she just walks off into the sunset, Anakin's left
Speaker 1: stay anything there, and you're like, but what happens to
Speaker 1: our girl? And if you were watching that in real time,
Speaker 1: it's about ten years before you get any kind of
Speaker 1: news update on Soca and what happened to it is
Speaker 1: the most maddening. It was so fresh, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I need to know what happens to wards. When this
Speaker 1: book came out, it was like, it was really wonderful
Speaker 1: to see where she went. If you caught up with
Speaker 1: the Clone Wars Season seven that just released on Disney Plus,
Speaker 1: you get like they pick up little snippets of it. Um,
Speaker 1: that's right after she leaves it. They picked up the
Speaker 1: story almost immediately. So it's interesting you have like both
Speaker 1: right after a year later and then I want to say,
Speaker 1: like fifteen years later with Rebels as far as her
Speaker 1: storyline goes. So, like I said, there's a lot to cover. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the novel is set exactly one year after the Empire
Speaker 1: takes over, and then Rebels is stead I think five
Speaker 1: years before the beginning of a New Hope when he
Speaker 1: was nineteen years later, So yeah, it's about fourteen years.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I can't imagine anyone trying to tell y'all
Speaker 1: anything about Star Wars. Like when I Riley, when I
Speaker 1: was listening to you just rattle off everything that you
Speaker 1: know about even her Lightsabers. I was just like, I
Speaker 1: can't imagine a single person typing anything to you ever,
Speaker 1: Oh they have, I I wrote, So, I recently wrote
Speaker 1: a video on YouTube that is like my thesis on
Speaker 1: why I think Asoka is the greatest Jedi of all time.
Speaker 1: Least I saw that it was for fandom, right, we
Speaker 1: we're gonna will include that in the show notes so
Speaker 1: people can watch it. Awesome, Yeah, it was for fandom.
Speaker 1: It was part of their like ways of like finding
Speaker 1: things to put out when the quarantine started happening. Um,
Speaker 1: it was like of a certain point of view, and
Speaker 1: it's it's my my argument that I think Asoka stands
Speaker 1: for what is the best of the Jedi and so,
Speaker 1: like the title was very click baity, like why Aska
Speaker 1: is the best Jedi of all time? Which is which
Speaker 1: is like that's a title, it's a headline. The amount
Speaker 1: of people who responded to it going a Soca is
Speaker 1: no Jedi because there's one line in I Am no Jedi,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, it's in the video. I addressed it.
Speaker 1: It's it's in there, it's part of it. Like, but
Speaker 1: then they have to actually watch and read and they're
Speaker 1: not doing that. Frustrating, so frustrating because I would agree
Speaker 1: with you that despite the fact that she's not part
Speaker 1: of the Jedi Order. She is a Jedi. We see
Speaker 1: uphold the principles of the Jedi Order to the most
Speaker 1: I mean mostically one can be. As a close second,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, also, like it's in the history
Speaker 1: of when we look at all the marvel In DC superheroes,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they've always all of them have said like
Speaker 1: I'm not a hero, and it's like you are, though,
Speaker 1: like everybody considers you a hero. So you know that's
Speaker 1: like just that's just good writing. We have to take
Speaker 1: a really quick break, but then we're going to hop
Speaker 1: more into some of her best battles right after this
Speaker 1: and we are back. Um So, Riley, what were some
Speaker 1: of your main points I guess in the video that
Speaker 1: you did for fandom. The big thing about it was like,
Speaker 1: like Joel mentioned them a moment ago a Soca leaves
Speaker 1: the Jedi Order because they let her down at the
Speaker 1: end of Clone Wars, and the thing is Clone Wars
Speaker 1: as an entire series really does like underscore how the
Speaker 1: Jedi have failed to look up to their own promise
Speaker 1: leading up through Revenge of the Sith. And so my
Speaker 1: video was basically that through her actions and through like
Speaker 1: her determination to like be a part of the universe
Speaker 1: and to try to like make the universe better, a
Speaker 1: Soca upholds the ideals of being a Jedi better than
Speaker 1: the actual Jedi do at that point, and that for her, like,
Speaker 1: I actually think that part of what like the Jedi
Speaker 1: always teach this doctrine of non attachment, which I could
Speaker 1: do a whole other episode on how I think that's
Speaker 1: completely flawed and how the best Jedi in Star Wars
Speaker 1: stories are very attached to people, um, but I think
Speaker 1: that like one thing the Jedi are too attached to
Speaker 1: is the idea of the Jedi, the name we are
Speaker 1: the Jedi. We stand for this to where they're not
Speaker 1: actually living up to their own ideals anymore because they're
Speaker 1: too attached to their organization and their name, whereas a
Speaker 1: Soca then steps outside eight of that and instead just
Speaker 1: lives the life of what a Jedi should be. And
Speaker 1: that's why my argument is that she's a better Jedi
Speaker 1: than all the because even Obi Wan and I say
Speaker 1: this in the video, Obi Wan, Yoda, and Luke, who
Speaker 1: were like three of like what we're told are the
Speaker 1: best Jedi in Star Wars, all three of them. When
Speaker 1: they make these great failures, they go hide away and
Speaker 1: they don't try to like fix things. Like Asca literally
Speaker 1: helps start the Rebel Alliance. She becomes the intelligence officer
Speaker 1: of the Rebel Alliance, and like she were, actively works
Speaker 1: to fight against the Empire, and she actively works to
Speaker 1: continue to make the universe better. And we're going to
Speaker 1: include even more of that. I still can't imagine people
Speaker 1: arguing with you about this, but I can't. I can.
Speaker 1: I probably I probably Joe, and I probably slightly mispronounced
Speaker 1: the name of her race earlier, and that's what we're
Speaker 1: going to get a thing on her or I know,
Speaker 1: don't paint well enough. Fans better not you know how
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying about Asoka too, is that
Speaker 1: not only is she a major fee male character, but
Speaker 1: she's really one of the first major alien characters besides
Speaker 1: Yoda that we get like as like a lead character
Speaker 1: in so much of Star Wars is humans or maybe
Speaker 1: Troy's and so to have like an alien character, it's
Speaker 1: like really fun to wash. Yeah. I was also going
Speaker 1: to say not to make this uh spiritual or political
Speaker 1: or anything, but that's how you know, often the Jedi
Speaker 1: gets compared to Christianity or whatever. There's so many conversations
Speaker 1: about religion and like, you're so right about it being
Speaker 1: the title versus like what it actually means, which I
Speaker 1: could do a whole thesis on as somebody that went
Speaker 1: to Catholic school for multiple years. It's really funny whenever
Speaker 1: people come at me and I'm like, I had to
Speaker 1: study the Bible, Like my mom says rosaries every day.
Speaker 1: You understand how long it takes to do a rosary.
Speaker 1: Trust me, I am very familiar with the religion of
Speaker 1: my people. Um anyways, which I could critique for hours
Speaker 1: on end. Uh So her her her battles, I'm really
Speaker 1: fascinated to what I know. We kind of happed in
Speaker 1: on that, But what to you would you recommend if
Speaker 1: people were like trying to look up Some of her
Speaker 1: best fight scenes are the ones that I love the most.
Speaker 1: I got to for me that like, once you've gotten
Speaker 1: into them. That the two best fight scenes for her
Speaker 1: are in the four part finale series of the Clone Wars.
Speaker 1: She has a life favorite battle with Darth Maul that
Speaker 1: is one of the absolute best light favor battles in
Speaker 1: the history of Star Wars, and then The other one
Speaker 1: that is amazing is in there's a two part Rebels
Speaker 1: season two finale called Twilight of the Apprentice, and she
Speaker 1: has a life favor of battle with with Darth Vader
Speaker 1: Slash Anakin that is emotionally and just visually just amazing.
Speaker 1: And it's that's actually where her iconic I Am no
Speaker 1: Jedi lion comes from. And also want to point out
Speaker 1: that immediately after he says I Am no Jedi, she
Speaker 1: then acts with compassion and trying to save someone from
Speaker 1: themselves like a good Jedi would do. So Yeah, that
Speaker 1: line has said so much out of um hurt and
Speaker 1: frustration and betrayal and fear of what's about to happen,
Speaker 1: almost more than than her actual relationship to the Jedi. Uh.
Speaker 1: My favorite moments. You pick such great battles. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: pick some great emotional moments. Um, I really enjoy Uh.
Speaker 1: Fans of this show have probably heard me talk much
Speaker 1: about the trilogy of Mortists. It is maybe my favorite
Speaker 1: thing about Star Wars. Ever, it is the entirety of
Speaker 1: the Star Wars cannon distill in the three perfect episodes
Speaker 1: from Clone Wars. It is an amazing analysis of what
Speaker 1: is it to be light and dark and balanced quotal
Speaker 1: quote and not picking aside, letting craziness reign. Uh. It's
Speaker 1: so good. In that series, Ahsoka has to struggle against
Speaker 1: the dark, literally the dark side, the force of it,
Speaker 1: not an individual um. When she's consumed by it, she's
Speaker 1: risen like Jesus. And for me, this place is Asoka
Speaker 1: very much at the center of the story. And it's
Speaker 1: one of the things I love most about Asoka is
Speaker 1: because we don't have her entire history. She's a flexible character.
Speaker 1: We don't know how she impacted everyone. We don't know
Speaker 1: everyone who she's interacted with, but we do know that
Speaker 1: she's stringically tied to Um Anakin Skywalker, and we know
Speaker 1: Anakin Skywalker basically hangs in the full crumb of balance.
Speaker 1: I think she is his alternate. People try to say
Speaker 1: that it's only one. That can't be he's his like
Speaker 1: brother figure. Can't be Yoda, that's like his grandfather big here.
Speaker 1: It can't be his son that's his actual son. There
Speaker 1: isn't like an actual balance there. But it could be
Speaker 1: a Soca, the person he taught, this person who mastered
Speaker 1: what he taught before he could um. And I think
Speaker 1: you get a lot of set up there that I'm
Speaker 1: really hoping is sort of um pushed further in future series.
Speaker 1: I'm also a big fan uh Luminar and Dali has
Speaker 1: a Padawan. Luminar and Vali before Aska was my favorite
Speaker 1: female Jedi. She hung on the background, she looks super cool.
Speaker 1: She was played by a black woman. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm here for it. Her Padawan and Asoka have two
Speaker 1: major Canada adventures. I can't recall the episode numbers right now.
Speaker 1: I'll drop them in the show notes so that I
Speaker 1: can check it out. But their relationship and they're sort
Speaker 1: of confrontation of what it means to be a Jedi
Speaker 1: and what the Jedi Order stands for really turned me
Speaker 1: onto what it is to be a great Jedi, what
Speaker 1: it is to be a force whielder, And those are
Speaker 1: the characters I really love. If you've seen the Rebels,
Speaker 1: Ben do with a Force whielder, He's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite characters of all time. I love these characters who
Speaker 1: are like, I'm not going to follow the rules, but
Speaker 1: I still want to be a good person, um where
Speaker 1: I want to take down this institution that no longer
Speaker 1: supports us. I think those are sort of vital conversations
Speaker 1: that started in the comic books and the animated shows
Speaker 1: that are slowly inking their way into the movies, and
Speaker 1: those can being my favorite parts of Star Wars. If
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about emotional arcs not just battles, I
Speaker 1: think that two of the big ones are also there's arc.
Speaker 1: It's also the introduction of Sage Era to the Star Wars,
Speaker 1: but it's the Oneran Rebellion arc. So you get a
Speaker 1: very young Sagarrera very not force whiteker Sa but when
Speaker 1: he sa with normal breaths, but uh, it is it
Speaker 1: is the early building blocks of when Ahsoka like starts
Speaker 1: to you can you can see where she becomes someone
Speaker 1: who would be a founding member of the rebel alliance.
Speaker 1: Like you can see basically the the Onderon like the
Speaker 1: like the the Separatists are kind of doing like a
Speaker 1: proxy takeover of Onderan, and the Jedi cannot get involved
Speaker 1: because of treaties and stuff like that, but they leave
Speaker 1: Aska there to train these local rebels, these like insurgents
Speaker 1: to fight against this like takeover, and they're like they're like,
Speaker 1: you can't get involved, you can't get involved, you can
Speaker 1: only train them. But like as they get more and
Speaker 1: more deep into it, like she's on her own there
Speaker 1: and she's just like I can't just sit back and
Speaker 1: watch these people fight and die and not help them.
Speaker 1: And she gets involved in the battle and she like
Speaker 1: jumps in and helps them out, and it's really important
Speaker 1: like moment for her. And then there's also this art
Speaker 1: I think that the the arc that has her leave
Speaker 1: the Jedi without ailing too much, as this Jedi Temple
Speaker 1: bombing arc, that is a fantastic arc as well. And
Speaker 1: but I think another really good one is there's a
Speaker 1: There's a There's a Believe it's a two part story
Speaker 1: where she gets captured and you find out there's like
Speaker 1: this planet where these bounty hunters are essentially hunting young
Speaker 1: Jedi padawan and they've been separated from their masters, some
Speaker 1: of them for years, and they're like stranded there and
Speaker 1: unable to fend for themselves, and Asoka essentially steps up
Speaker 1: and helps them learn how to fight back and like
Speaker 1: free themselves of this capture. And honestly, to this day,
Speaker 1: I'm angry that that episode does not end with Asoka
Speaker 1: becoming a Jedi Knight, because like, if there's anything that
Speaker 1: can be considered her trials to be a knight. She
Speaker 1: never gets made a knight in the series, Like she
Speaker 1: she goes through multiple trials that like would should be
Speaker 1: considered a trial to become a Jedi Knight, but they
Speaker 1: never actually give her knighthood, like she's still typically a
Speaker 1: pad of one. When she leaves the Order, it's offered
Speaker 1: to her as a like an apology, almost like, oh, oh,
Speaker 1: now we see this was your path all And it's
Speaker 1: so I think badass, because I feel like when people
Speaker 1: can't um acknowledge you until after they've made horrendous mistakes,
Speaker 1: not one, but many, it's time to walk away, and
Speaker 1: it's it's sort of it's so offensive how that title
Speaker 1: has offered her after she's been literally a general in
Speaker 1: the war, to the point where in the season seven
Speaker 1: she winds up getting her own battalion, Like it's crazy,
Speaker 1: how much, uh the Jedi Order overlooked her. But I
Speaker 1: think also fits with what we know about the Jedi
Speaker 1: Order and who's sort of been lifted up as the
Speaker 1: Jedi heroes are Cannon. I love that. I love that commentary.
Speaker 1: I love that there's a real there's a real shade
Speaker 1: throwing moment in the last arc of Clone Wars where
Speaker 1: she's talking to Mace Window and she's like it's like
Speaker 1: they're they're still talking to her, like, oh, welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Jedi, and she's like, don here as a citizen.
Speaker 1: And then when like something happens that like a noise him,
Speaker 1: he goes, this is not for you, citizen, and he's
Speaker 1: just like so shady, and it's like so weird to
Speaker 1: hear Window, like it all testy like that, but it
Speaker 1: works so well. Um, we're gonna take another quick break
Speaker 1: and then we're going to actually talk about the future
Speaker 1: of a Soca right after this and we are back. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I want to know about tell the listeners about Fulcrum,
Speaker 1: like what we need to know? Do you want to
Speaker 1: start with this one? Yeah? I can, Okay. So Star
Speaker 1: Wars Rebels, which is the second animate technically the third,
Speaker 1: but the second Cannonites animated series Um features a young
Speaker 1: Ezra Richer. It's after Order sixty six. Uh. He is
Speaker 1: basically I call him Star Wars Aladdin because that's essentially
Speaker 1: what he is. He's like a street rag. He can't play.
Speaker 1: His parents are political prisoners. He gets picked up by
Speaker 1: a Jedi and his like small flight crew and taking
Speaker 1: on adventures. And as their adventuring, they start getting all
Speaker 1: of these great like little messages and hints about like
Speaker 1: where to go, like uncovered prisoners here, this planet is
Speaker 1: being um subjugated by the Empire. Go look into that
Speaker 1: from this person named Fulcrum, this mysterious voice from beyond. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then at the end of season one is revealed
Speaker 1: to be a Soca, And I cried because that is
Speaker 1: the first recurring role. That's the first time we see
Speaker 1: a Soca. After she leaves Um, so basically, Uh, we
Speaker 1: know a little bit from her book. Asca goes off
Speaker 1: to other planets, she makes her own lightsaber, she's doing
Speaker 1: her little warrior thing, and then she sort of starts
Speaker 1: coming into Phoenix Squadron. And the idea of it is
Speaker 1: like before there is a rebel army, there's Phoenix Squadron.
Speaker 1: It's a bunch of despit people who are like, we're
Speaker 1: not going to stand for this tyranny, and they start
Speaker 1: speaking up for themselves. It's great because she's a general
Speaker 1: and she knows how to fight. She also understands the
Speaker 1: Empire and their actions and where they're going, and she
Speaker 1: becomes basically an undercover agent mercenary if you will. She
Speaker 1: fights here and they're mostly she's organizing and informing using
Speaker 1: her spy skills. And there's am in the book where
Speaker 1: she because like bail Organa when he's like putting the
Speaker 1: Rebel Alliance together, like finds her and like recruits her,
Speaker 1: and like he's asking her like what she wants to do,
Speaker 1: and she like she basically says, like, Hey, all these
Speaker 1: things happened in in this time period because no one
Speaker 1: was putting it all together and contacting each other and
Speaker 1: like organizing it. So I want to be the one
Speaker 1: to do that for you. And that's when she becomes
Speaker 1: the fulcrum of the organization, so she said, she essentially
Speaker 1: becomes the head of intelligence for the Rebel Alliance. And
Speaker 1: actually they have talked about how in the upcoming Cassian
Speaker 1: Indoor Disney Plus series that they're working on, like they're
Speaker 1: they're basically, uh, I think that they've they've already said
Speaker 1: that Cassie is essentially going to be kind of slightly
Speaker 1: reckoned into having been a fulcrum agent. That's what he's
Speaker 1: doing in Rogue one, is he's working as a Fulcrum
Speaker 1: agent and yeah, So basically because in Rebels, like the
Speaker 1: first folk Rum we meet is is Ahsoka, like she's
Speaker 1: revealed the be Asoca, but then other people over the
Speaker 1: course of the series is then start referring to themselves
Speaker 1: as stroke like another character becomes the next folk Rum,
Speaker 1: and so it's basically just like a handle for a spy,
Speaker 1: which makes her like a very interesting character, highly valuable.
Speaker 1: He would suspect to the empire um one of the
Speaker 1: few people who retains the knowledge of the Jedi. We
Speaker 1: see that as that religion and forces sort of stomped
Speaker 1: out rather quickly if you take a look at Rogue one,
Speaker 1: she's one of the few people who retains that knowledge,
Speaker 1: isn't able to um dispense it to people, and you
Speaker 1: have to start wondering, like what has Asoka been up to,
Speaker 1: like and like where does her story end? Is? We
Speaker 1: don't know. We don't know whenn Asoka dies, Like, so
Speaker 1: there's all the open ended like theory of like maybe
Speaker 1: was she ever talking to Luke. We know she talked
Speaker 1: to Leia. We've got lots of stories with her and
Speaker 1: Leah because she was working with bail Organa. That's who
Speaker 1: adopts Leia um, I'm so excited to see what she's doing.
Speaker 1: I imagine, much like her teachers before her, that she
Speaker 1: if she dies, she's dying on the battle few Old.
Speaker 1: I don't see her ever like taking up a partner
Speaker 1: and leaving a peaceful life. I think she's about this
Speaker 1: war and being in the streets until it's resolved. I
Speaker 1: don't know the average lifespan of for people, but I
Speaker 1: think it's longer than a human life, so we could
Speaker 1: have her around quite some time. Yeah, and there is
Speaker 1: uh Filoni has said this does not mean that she
Speaker 1: is dead, but her voice is one of the voices
Speaker 1: that Ray hears call out to her on excoll when
Speaker 1: she reaches out to the Force. And it's really interesting
Speaker 1: because as a character who has said that she is
Speaker 1: not a Jedi, she is she is voicing herself as
Speaker 1: one of the one of the Jedi, like when she's
Speaker 1: one of the Jedi who reaches out to Ray on
Speaker 1: Exit Goll. So there is definitely an implication that perhaps
Speaker 1: somewhere in between the end of Rebels and when Rise
Speaker 1: the Skywalker happens, she has become a new Jedi herself,
Speaker 1: or she has kind of re embraced her Jedi nature. Well,
Speaker 1: there's a tip off to that in Rebels. She goes
Speaker 1: into a Jedi temple um with Ezra and his master
Speaker 1: and they're sort of like meditating, and if you know
Speaker 1: anything about the town poles, like sometimes they just reveal
Speaker 1: that there are like three stories beneath it with other
Speaker 1: additional information. Uh, people can come to you and sort
Speaker 1: of talk to you. Yoda contacts her. It's brief, it's
Speaker 1: a second. She's in doubt, she doesn't feel like she
Speaker 1: should be there, but she's like, I'll just I meditate
Speaker 1: what you guys, go do your thing. And then Yoda
Speaker 1: appears to her and it's sort of this like que
Speaker 1: signal of like there's still there's still more for you
Speaker 1: to do within the Jedi order. And I love that
Speaker 1: you said like you mentioned that because it totally got
Speaker 1: me thinking, well, we know Yoda can project when he's alive.
Speaker 1: We know that he can just send his voice out
Speaker 1: to individuals. So did she reach a Yoda level of
Speaker 1: like you know, status that she become like a grandmaster
Speaker 1: almost of the Jedi teachings, that would be that time,
Speaker 1: I mean, And then also without spoiling too much, there
Speaker 1: is a weird thing that happens with her with the
Speaker 1: timeline at the end of Rebels, but the last shot
Speaker 1: we see of her on Rebels is set that there's
Speaker 1: like Rebels has this short epilogu that is set after
Speaker 1: the Battle of Endor, and it's kind of like telling
Speaker 1: you what's happened, like what the what the characters that
Speaker 1: you can follow have been up to since the course
Speaker 1: of the original trilogy basically, And she meets up with
Speaker 1: one of the other characters and they are heading off
Speaker 1: into like the like beyond the outer rim and parts
Speaker 1: back into that bright light very like Cowboy off into
Speaker 1: the sunset. But she has on a white robe and
Speaker 1: she also has an owl, which going back to the
Speaker 1: Mortist arc that I was talking about earlier, there's and
Speaker 1: she also has used the name Oshla as her like
Speaker 1: nickname and like as like an alias. And Oshla is
Speaker 1: actually like a term in Star Wars to mean the
Speaker 1: light side of the forest, like it's the lights, it's
Speaker 1: the So it's it's interesting that like there's like this
Speaker 1: there's this implication and like some fan theories that a Soca,
Speaker 1: maybe because of what happened on Mortis, has somehow become
Speaker 1: like almost like an emissary for the Light Side of
Speaker 1: the Forest. You guys, if you have not watched the
Speaker 1: trilogy of Mortis, there's never a wrong time to start that,
Speaker 1: you really know, Like, you don't have to watch any
Speaker 1: of the other Clone Wars, the Great Clone ward Is.
Speaker 1: Almost all their episodes come in threes, so if you
Speaker 1: just pick up at the start of a trilogy, you
Speaker 1: can watch an hour and a half of like consolidated
Speaker 1: storyline and not feel lost. It's that's the only kind
Speaker 1: of linear storytelling they do. And yeah, it's just that's
Speaker 1: the sculpture on the door. That's the Star Wars tattoo.
Speaker 1: I wa is the father, the son, and the daughter,
Speaker 1: like it's Mortis is everything to me, and the things
Speaker 1: that happened to us Oka there, I really do think
Speaker 1: will inform her storyline going forward. Yeah, we know she's
Speaker 1: gonna we we we've almost all but confirmed that she's
Speaker 1: gonna be on The Mandalorian season two. And then there's
Speaker 1: also been talk of this mysterious secret other Dave Feloni
Speaker 1: animated project that is possibly like a third to follow
Speaker 1: Clone Wars and Rebels, because there is a there's a
Speaker 1: Resistance series, but Resistance is more of a kids like
Speaker 1: it's kind of a smaller theme. And that's right, that's
Speaker 1: I think I think, and I think it ended this
Speaker 1: year are Ya. But that's the one that I haven't
Speaker 1: watched because I've heard it's it's targeting way younger than me,
Speaker 1: and I haven't had an interest in it. But um,
Speaker 1: Rebels and well, Rebels and Clone Wars are so interesting because,
Speaker 1: like you said, a second ago like Clone Wars is
Speaker 1: all these like almost like loosely connected cereals and like
Speaker 1: you have, there's no like main character to Clone Wars.
Speaker 1: There are some episodes that are about and again, some
Speaker 1: that are about Asoka, some that are about some of
Speaker 1: the Clones, some that aresodes pad May gets an amazing
Speaker 1: political intrigue arc that is the person in this series,
Speaker 1: Oh my god. But then Rebels is a much more
Speaker 1: closely contained ensemble drama of like this one group of
Speaker 1: Rebels like going, it's like a five season arc with
Speaker 1: these same close characters. As is very much the lead
Speaker 1: of the show, like You've got You've got you know
Speaker 1: Canan As like You're you're kind of more like mentor
Speaker 1: type character. You've got Harrison Doula as your amazing pilot,
Speaker 1: so like there's a whole crew that you followed the
Speaker 1: whole time, so it's a little bit more of a
Speaker 1: linear arc. And then so we don't know what this
Speaker 1: next one is going to be. There's like talk that
Speaker 1: like the new series might be focused on Sabine and
Speaker 1: Ahsoka and whatever they were doing off in the wilderness.
Speaker 1: So like, you know, I'm I'm excited to see Ahska
Speaker 1: have an appearance on Mandalorian. I'm like, I was really
Speaker 1: excited that she had a voice in Rise of Skywalker
Speaker 1: because I do like this like establishment of firmly putting
Speaker 1: her in actual Star Wars canon. But I also, for me,
Speaker 1: like Asca will always be an animated series character, and
Speaker 1: that's not like I say that in that I don't
Speaker 1: think that lessens her anyway, And I don't like this
Speaker 1: idea that she has to be played in live action
Speaker 1: to give her some sort of legitimacy. I think that
Speaker 1: the the animated series of Star Wars, Clone Wars and
Speaker 1: Rebels are some of the best Star Wars selling storytelling
Speaker 1: that's out there. And so for me, yeah, and so
Speaker 1: I just I love that Asoka has always started to
Speaker 1: get this following, and there's like more mainstream popularity. She's
Speaker 1: still a very niche character than the Star Wars fan.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't know she exists, don't know
Speaker 1: who she is, but we're really starting to get somewhere
Speaker 1: with her. Like this year, Disney put out a Soca
Speaker 1: Mickey Mouse ears on Star Wars Day and they sold
Speaker 1: out within seconds, Like people I I had people who
Speaker 1: were in the waiting room on the Disney website trying
Speaker 1: to buy those ears for like three hours and they
Speaker 1: were already sold out, like within seconds of them being launched.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I would say yeah. As someone that grew
Speaker 1: up with the with live action Star Wars, I've never
Speaker 1: actually sat down and watched any of their animated series.
Speaker 1: And I think it was because it felt like something
Speaker 1: which I think a lot of people say about anime
Speaker 1: is when it starts getting going, you almost get overwhelmed
Speaker 1: that everyone is just like, you know, there's so much
Speaker 1: to cover, but like y'all are saying, it's worth it
Speaker 1: um to go back and watch. Especially, I think because
Speaker 1: she is I hope continues to be a huge character,
Speaker 1: gets more recognition, more representation on a lot of these shows,
Speaker 1: and I've been seeing like video like yours, Riley, but
Speaker 1: the other ones too of people like, really, this is
Speaker 1: like their favorite Star Wars character. And so I think
Speaker 1: for even Star Wars fans that have consumed all of
Speaker 1: Star Wars media and like me who have only watched
Speaker 1: live action, um to come back and say this is
Speaker 1: the character I resonate with the most is huge, And
Speaker 1: like you're saying, they're really doing a good job for
Speaker 1: people to resonate in such a way that this character
Speaker 1: has impacted them. Yeah, I think she just really personifies
Speaker 1: the the tragedy and the inevitable inevitability of what's happening
Speaker 1: in the Clone Wars series. I think there's like this
Speaker 1: over there's this overall arc to that show of like
Speaker 1: inevitable loss because you know what's going to happen, Like
Speaker 1: that show exists in between Attack of the Clothes Revenge
Speaker 1: of the Stiff, and you know, you know where it's
Speaker 1: going to end, and so there's just this like noble
Speaker 1: but faded too to fail vibe to it. And I
Speaker 1: think that, like, it's so fascinating that she actually did
Speaker 1: survive that series and go on, because I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people and that show began just assume that
Speaker 1: she was going to die before it was over because
Speaker 1: she doesn't exist in Rention the Sithe, and so it's like, well,
Speaker 1: where is this character and why isn't she there? So
Speaker 1: the fact that they actually found a way to explain
Speaker 1: how she survives that narrative, why she's not like a
Speaker 1: prevalent member of other Star Wars narratives that existed, but
Speaker 1: then also be able to like turn her into this
Speaker 1: character of like hope and prevailing goodness in the galaxy because,
Speaker 1: like I pushed back on the definition of her as
Speaker 1: a great Jedi, I think she is very very much
Speaker 1: a Jedi, and she's a light Jedi, and like I,
Speaker 1: I don't think she's neutral look gray at all. I
Speaker 1: think she's very like focused on the life sent be force,
Speaker 1: and like I think that she is an example of
Speaker 1: how within Star Wars you can still be true to
Speaker 1: the George Lucas dichotomy of good and evil in this
Speaker 1: kind of like exaggerated way that Star Wars allows it
Speaker 1: to exist while still having a character that is full
Speaker 1: of nuance and character depth and energy. And that is
Speaker 1: I think why I connect with her so much, because
Speaker 1: she's just this great example of how the Chips can
Speaker 1: continually get stacked against you, and you still can be
Speaker 1: hopeful and like fight against like what you know is
Speaker 1: wrong in the universe. I actually, really you've definitely changed
Speaker 1: my mind on that because I would have previously described
Speaker 1: her as a great Jedi, but I think she's probably
Speaker 1: more Jedi than the Jedi organization as it is, especially
Speaker 1: when she leaves and so so Yeah, even though even
Speaker 1: though she has a character that turned me onto like
Speaker 1: what is a good great Jedi? And who are these
Speaker 1: people who are are sort of calling out uh their
Speaker 1: culture as it is, she's kind of upholding those tenants
Speaker 1: and we evolves beyond that, and I'm so enthralled with
Speaker 1: not just her as a character, but like it's somebody
Speaker 1: who really values in a pre Shades like mentormentee relationships
Speaker 1: and this idea of like who do you trust with
Speaker 1: your future and how long do you trust that? And
Speaker 1: then what does it mean to then turn around and
Speaker 1: become a mentor at yourself? Like these are all sort
Speaker 1: of questions that she's grappling with. And I think it's
Speaker 1: so interesting how they ended the Colne War series. I
Speaker 1: have a theory that Anakin now Darth Vader's new lightsaber
Speaker 1: because we know he loses this because Luke has it. Later,
Speaker 1: uh is Asoka's old lightsaber that's just been remodeled. He
Speaker 1: finds it in the space where he believes she has died.
Speaker 1: It's the one thing he holds onto from his past life.
Speaker 1: He lets everything go, but he homes onto a soga
Speaker 1: and then rebels really dives into that. It is such
Speaker 1: a juicy and delicious relationship. It really elevates the character
Speaker 1: of Anakin, and I think to include a secondary character
Speaker 1: that makes the character the guy we started off with
Speaker 1: so much more nuanced and rich and intriguing is a
Speaker 1: feat in writing, especially as we learn what it means
Speaker 1: to have these like large, expansive sagas um. She's an
Speaker 1: incredible ad and I God, I want so much more
Speaker 1: for her, Like not not the animation is small, but
Speaker 1: that there's so many more directions to go with this
Speaker 1: character and so many writers interested in writing her. I
Speaker 1: think she's maybe the best character in Star Wars as
Speaker 1: far as like trying to figure out her path and
Speaker 1: how she's impacted so many of our favorite characters. I
Speaker 1: see a bright future for her, and I hope that
Speaker 1: is filled. It's interesting because um. I also have a
Speaker 1: theory about Soca's lightsabers, but mine's a little bit in
Speaker 1: conflict with yours. But um, and there's a lot. This
Speaker 1: is also based on having read the there's a there's
Speaker 1: a Darth Vader comics series that's set like right after
Speaker 1: a vent of the Stiff and onward, which is really good.
Speaker 1: But Vader ends up being in charge of the inquisitorius
Speaker 1: like he's the one who helps train them to fight.
Speaker 1: And it was actually a really cool fan video that
Speaker 1: I saw online that explains why the way he trained
Speaker 1: them to fight is ultimately why Asoka was able to
Speaker 1: defeat the brother in battle that she kills to get
Speaker 1: her lightsabers back. And my because basically it's that he
Speaker 1: doesn't teach in any defensive stances, and so she's able
Speaker 1: to get through because it's all offensive, and she's able
Speaker 1: to get through that because my theory is that the
Speaker 1: crystals that she takes from that inquisitor are her own
Speaker 1: crystals back and that she got them from Vader when
Speaker 1: he was training them. Riley isn't the best conversation ever.
Speaker 1: I know we have to lying down, but I can
Speaker 1: literally talking about this forever. We do they'll have to
Speaker 1: have you all back together again, especially as we look
Speaker 1: at more for future is that comes out talk about
Speaker 1: Astage Ventress. Come on, let's have another hour about that.
Speaker 1: I did want to stay with you all, being like, um,
Speaker 1: how are they going to explain you know, her not
Speaker 1: being here this you know, if they can do that
Speaker 1: with Wonder Woman and be like, why did she peace
Speaker 1: out for four decades, we could figure it out. Well.
Speaker 1: My big thing with Star Wars in general, whenever someone's like, well,
Speaker 1: why was this character not there? Like even like with
Speaker 1: Rogue one, they're like, oh, they had to die because otherwise,
Speaker 1: why weren't they there at Indoor? And like maybe they
Speaker 1: word it was like a thousand ships in the sky there.
Speaker 1: Maybe that crew was on one of those ships. The
Speaker 1: rebellion wasn't fighting every battle in the same spot, maybe
Speaker 1: out of rim doing another mission always was happening. That's
Speaker 1: so easy to explain away characters in a galaxy. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: It's always about the point of view, right, because we
Speaker 1: see these thousands, you know, or at least hundreds of
Speaker 1: of even in this last um film, and it's like
Speaker 1: all of those, all those characters that are battling even
Speaker 1: the ones that end up losing their life. It was like,
Speaker 1: what was their point of view that day? Because we're
Speaker 1: only seeing the point of view of the main you know,
Speaker 1: skywalkers and their friends, but we're not seeing everybody's point
Speaker 1: of view at all times. There are so many other
Speaker 1: people involved. That's a good battle to bring up because
Speaker 1: the ghosts from Rebels is one of the ships in
Speaker 1: the battle. At the end of bringing it all back,
Speaker 1: we do have to wrap up. Riley, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us. Where can everyone catch you? You
Speaker 1: can find me on Twitter at Riley j Silverman and
Speaker 1: I do a lot of writing for Nurice that I
Speaker 1: actually want to say because you have me all last
Speaker 1: time talking about doctor who you can find on Nurice.
Speaker 1: I last week got to interview three of the actors
Speaker 1: who played the doctor at the same time. I got
Speaker 1: to interview David Tendant, Jody Whittaker and Matt Smith at
Speaker 1: the exact same time. And that video is up on
Speaker 1: the site, so you can check that out. No one
Speaker 1: who deserves it more we we would have been. We
Speaker 1: would have written very strong emails if it wasn't um
Speaker 1: what about you Joel? Oh? Yeah, you guys can find
Speaker 1: me all over the internet at Joel Monique, It's j
Speaker 1: O E L L E M O N I q
Speaker 1: u E. I'm producing and not writing right now, which
Speaker 1: is frustrating. I'll hopefully be doing more writing soon, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check me out on shows. Check out ca
Speaker 1: Joe Golden's Creature feature on the I Heart Network, where
Speaker 1: she breaks down human behavior and animals. It's the funniest
Speaker 1: show I swear um Also Fake Doctor's Real Friends with
Speaker 1: Zack Grapp and Donald Faces on where we recap episodes
Speaker 1: of Scrubs. Uh yeah, and then keep tuning in here
Speaker 1: to Nerdice. I'll be around. I am at Miss Danny
Speaker 1: Fernandez and all the things. Thank you to our engineer
Speaker 1: Zach McKeever who puts up with us. Uh and, like
Speaker 1: we always say, stay nerdy.