The first episode of “Pretend I’m Dumb About Star Wars” wherein we meet our heroes, good robe guys– who fight bad robe guys– and meet special boy in their mission to help a planet caught in the war between the Republic and the Federation.
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I have a problem with the “good robed guys” and the robed council on City Planet. I know they’re supposed to be the good guys, however it seems they put their agenda and world view above personal liberties and the right of the individual to choose ones own destiny. We have seen this in many movies “the heroes journey” where the wise man must lead the young hero into danger in order to bring about the future that the wise man envisioned. Selling the world view to the young hero using everything short of overt manipulation and telling the young hero “the truth” only from a certain point of view.
Seems like justification for war to me.
Hey Tom, I really like the premise of this podcast. I like hearing your opinions about the plot, characters and guesses of where Star Wars would be going based only on this movie. I only saw Phantom Menace once in the theater so I don’t really remember it well. Consequently, I had a little bit of hard time following what you were describing. When you were talking about Bad Robe Guy, I wasn’t sure if it was Darth Maul or Sidious. In hindsight, I figured it out – Sidous. And Bearded Guy? Umm… I kept thinking of Obi Wan but I guess it was Qui Gon. And the plot – Ugh. Maybe I should go back and watch these again before hearing your PIDASW. Maybe the main thing we learned was that Phantom Menace was a mess!
OK. I don’t want to ‘troll’ so tell me how this sounds. I did not care for the episode. Maybe similar to the 1st comment, I grew tired of hearing of the “good robed guy”. Can you just call the character by name ? or whatever name they identify him in the movie ? Qui eye Jin or whatever. :-p Also, maybe I’m a purist, or just a Trek fan, but I’d recommend you do the movies in the order they came out with Star Wars. That all helps in the discovery. Where you are starting is the Prequel. I think the prequel gives the series depth, but the first movie is Star Wars IMHO. I’m not too keen on the whole re-numbering .. Star War, ep. 4 ? huh ? that was the first one I saw in 1977. So, maybe someone else can suggest a commentary I’d enjoy more of the SW movies ? JRY ? Thanks tho. I enjoy most of your work, Tom. 🙂
Thanks for your honesty Steve. Sounds like what I’m doing here unjust not to your tastes and that’s totally fair. If you want more of a film critics take check out the Red Letter Media critiques.
Hey Tom,
Thanks for watching episodes 1, 2 and 3 so I don;t have to. You’re a braver man than me.
I think anyone seeing this episode 1 with no prior knowledge of the Star Wars universe is likely to come away from it scratching their head. I’m not sure episode 2 will make things any clearer.
I’m very much looking forward to 4 thru 7.
May the force be with you.
John
I’ve listened to you since some early BOL days, through TWIT, and have not missed an episode of DTNS. I’ve never really felt the urge to message you or email one of your many, very entertaining, shows. You’ve offered a trusted perspective and entertaining commentary to me for years and I am eternally thankful for it.
Today, I listened to your first full episode of PIDASW and I just had to write. Hearing someone I feel like I know explain something he knows but acts like he doesn’t was comedic gold. That’s a mouthful, but I broke out in gut-busting laughter several times.
Thank you so much for all you do!
Mike
I had so much fun listening to this, can’t wait for more.
I felt your comments about the Senate were a little off. Whilst it wouldn’t make much sense in the US Senate. If you look at the Senate as the UN it makes title sense, heads of state routinely speak, countries don’t get along and do blockade each other.
I enjoyed the rest of the podcast.
That’s a good point. If you see the Republic’s Senate as a general assembly. But then it’s not called a General Assembly and it’s a Republic not a UN. But I get where you’re coming from.