Give Me Those Star Wars 16: ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Reaction

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is here! Ryan Daly welcomes Nathaniel WayneElliot Stafford, and Angela Drew to discuss the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise that just came out a couple hours ago and share their impressions of the story, style, and characters of the film.

WARNING: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!

Council of Geeks Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHWINIVcwZFdVXe3U-vSCcA

Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com.

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Music: "Star Wars Main Theme" and “End Title” by The Evil Genius Orchestra (with Ryan and Shag).

Thanks for listening, and May the Force Be With You!

20 responses to “Give Me Those Star Wars 16: ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Reaction

  1. Great episode guys, and nice job Ryan getting it out so quickly.

    Won’t say much about the movie since it’s still so early; I think I had more issues with it than all of you but I still enjoyed it a lot.

    Like you, I appreciate that there will be no sequel to this–that must have been a hard sell.

    1. I think I was a bit more critical than my guests, but in the interest of time and courtesy I let them do the lion’s share of the talking on this episode so I can come back in two weeks with additional thoughts. Overall, though, I still had a very fun time watching the film, but it was definitely uneven at certain parts, and it didn’t resonate with me the same way THE FORCE AWAKENS did.

      1. I’m not sure how this happened, but this show made me like the movie less. I’d forgotten most of the movie – bad sign – but was reminded of everything I didn’t like.

        Still maybe better than Jedi, but that doesn’t say much. What do I know? I’m 41. This isn’t meant for me.

  2. I have not seen the movie yet and I new what I was getting into before I hit play on this podcast but I’m cool with spoilers

  3. Lessson: If someone has always wanted to try out your weapon, don’t ever give it to them.

    The Empire’s accomplishment of building the second Death Star is more impressive when you know they killed the entire engineering team and destroyed the plans. (I guess they maybe could have stolen them back…)

    Also, the Monk’s ability to walk across battlefields is a new piece of evidence for the R2-D2 jedi (or high force sensitive) droid theory…

  4. Hmm can’t wait to see it from all the good stuff you guys talked about.

    Oh and the fire planet is mustafar it was confirmed on the official twitter page so nice to see some prequel stuff pop up still

    1. Wonder what he was doing there? I mean, him being there vaguely implies that he’s been convalescing since Episode III, but that doesn’t fit with the mercy mission previous Leia/Vader/Tarkin encounter.

  5. Ok so first impressions, simply put WOW!!!!. Such a great movie. Now I’m going to jump around here fanboy style but Ryan thank you so much for reminding me of point in the opening narrative from A New Hope. While I was watching the movie and the mission to Scarrif turned into a full on offensive I was thinking ok this battle is a bit “big” to not have heard about or to have not been referenced before UNTIL you mentioned the opening narrative and I was hit with a complete “Of course!” moment.

    Unlike Ryan and the others I wasn’t so sure how much I’d like a “spin-off” star wars movie, something different for the sake of being different blah blah blah but this movie did it fantastically. It was so clearly set in the Star Wars universe. So many visual and plot ques you do not for an instant forget this is the same universe as Leia, Han Luke, Chewie and I don’t mean the deliberate one liners, or direct references to the other movies or the camoes. The sets were amazing. The whole Jedha city sequence was just beautiful and when you see that Star Destroyer leaving you just knew something bad was going to happen. With all the great scenery and different aliens I remember thinking “Man Ryan Daly is going to love this”.

    Now the direct call backs to the original movies were great. I’m not enough of a fanboy to know there names but the two from the Mos Eisley Cantina, the rebel solider that was the same species as the workers on Bespine that try to scrap C3P0, the small black droids from the Death Star, Red Leader, Gold leader
    ( when Red 5 was calling for help I was totally expecting to see Biggs or Wedge) and there were many many others that really helped flush out the nostalgia.

    I was totally blown away and impressed to see Tarkin. Ok so you could tell he was CGI but you have be really nit-picky to complain about it. He looked great, sounded even better and was most definitely Tarkin. The way he waits to see if the Death Star works before moving in to completely take over this project he “supported from the beginning” was a TOTAL Sith moment. Something not seen in the movies until now but explored more in the games like Knights of the Old Republic. The Empire/Sith bases, ships, outposts are all manned by people. Now they can’t be all force users but clearly would have to share some affinity for their way of thinking. And yep I wanna know who that hooded messenger guy is as well. I think Snoke is a great candidate and one I hadn’t even considered until hearing this ep.

    It was great to see Vader back at Mustafar. It makes complete sense that he would make that place his “home” or base of operations (not sure is that fits in the continuity…). Jeff R comments about it above but I don’t think Vader has remained there since Revenge of the Sith. As he points out the conversations between Leia/Vader/Tarkin make it very clear that the events at the start of A New Hope are not the first Leia/Vader/Tarkin dance. I can totally see him in between missions and executions he pops back there for a refreshing dip in his milky bacta tank where he can probably still feel a connection to Padmae and his old life.

    Donnie Yen’s character Chirrut was great. Total force sensitive but not a Jedi. Although at the end when he was walking out onto the beach holding his staff in front of his face I was totally expecting it to be a lightsaber and he start deflecting laser bolts. Would have been so badass. But upon reflection I can’t decide if it would have been the right choice for the story or not.

    K2S0 was so well done. I like Angela’s description of a mixed between C3P0 and Marvin. I didn’t know who did his voice but when I learnt it was Alan Tudyk it all made sense.

    I wasn’t sure if all the characters especially Jyn would die. There is that line in Force Awakens when they are attacking Starkiller base and Greg Grunberg says “We just lost Rogue One.” I have always be curious if they meant Wedge Antilles or when they announced Rogue One if Jyn survived until then. I think I like the idea of them all dying. It gives the movie that nice one and done feel, no spinoffs from a spinoff. I think it adds the tragedy of the story and like Ang said helps the movie end with that awesome sense of hope.

    Now for some things I didn’t like. There’s not many and they are pretty nit-picky but here they are. Jyn’s turn around was pretty sudden. I guess it’s explained in a sense that she saw the message from her father and it snapped her out of her self pity but still kinda quick.

    When the x-wing hits that first AT-AT was it just me or did it do a little too much damage?? I liked the whole Scarrif battle sequence but that kinda jumped out at me. Same as when the Hammerhead Corvette pushed the Star Destroyer into the other Star Destroyer and it like cut itself head off???? Crashing into it, causing massive a amounts of damage and falling into the shield generator, I have no problem with but slicing the top off the other Star Destroyer like the latest and best set of infomercial chef knives seemed a bit off.

    I’m sure it won’t be long and the nay-sayers will come out of the woodwork and start tearing this movie down but I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and totally recommend every Star Wars fan to go out and seen it and get their geek on!!

  6. Loved it better than Force Awakens. Don’t understand the negative views of the film. The story, acting, visual effects were all great. Felicity Jones was amazing. Give it 9/10.

  7. Great episode! I really liked the movie. I found myself watching with eyes wide open to make sure I would not miss a thing or little detail on the nodes to the other movies.

    I am still processing it all in my head and will probably go see it again.

    Am I the only one that was wondering if the two characters (Ponda Baba & Cornelius Evazan) that Jyn runs into on Jedha leave the city before it is destroyed so they can be at the cantina on Mos Eisley later. I had to look it up on wookieepedia. here is what I found. “Dr. Evazan and Baba departed the city prior to its destruction by the Death Star and traveled to the planet Tatooine, where they were patrons at a cantina in Mos Eisley spaceport.”

    Looking forward to hearing more thoughts on this movie.

  8. I enjoyed the film immensely. I felt like there were some difficulties in building up the connection between characters for the more emotional moments; the banter and “betrayal” aspects were more deftly handled.

    Also — it seems like Star Wars now releases teasers and trailers that have lines (and maybe even scenes) that don’t appear in the final film? Luke’s whole voiceover in Force Awakens didn’t happen. And some of the lines of Jyn Erso and Saw Guerera from the trailer are nowhere to be found…

  9. I had to wait until I saw the movie to listen and comment. I really enjoyed this film, more than I thought I would honestly. I wasn’t surprised that none of the new characters made it out alive, but my son Andrew sure was! He really grew attached to them, and he’s honestly a bit miffed that they’re gone.

    As a HUGE fan of Peter Cushing, I’m still working through my feelings on CGI Tarkin. It was well done, and physically close, but it still felt…off. I think part of it was the voice wasn’t quite right. I know his voice to well from all the Hammer movies I’ve watched and re-watched. I think it hurt the visual to me. Overall I think it worked, but they may have used him a bit TOO much. The Leia bit at the end was just enough and worked fine for me.

    I see your points on Jyn and Cassian’s motivations. I had some similar thoughts. I took Jyn’s turn as having her faith fully restored by her father’s message, and then her tragically brief reunion with him. But it should have been spelled out more clearly. Cassian seemed to switch between hardened soldier and idealist a bit too easily. I can understand why he hesitated after seeing Gallen try and protect his men from Kriddick, but I’m not sure why he was really planning on hesitating in the first place. His connection to Jyn seemed to come a bit too quickly for a guy hard enough to shoot his informant in an alley just to get away from some stormtroopers.

    But those are minor quibbles. I enjoyed the movie a great deal and hope to see it again. I also enjoyed the discussion, and it’s always fun hearing Angela on the show! I’m glad she liked it!

    Chris

  10. A great episode from a show I’ve enjoyed listening to since the days of Dead Bothan Spies. Many of my first impressions echoed those of Ryan and his esteemed panel.

    I enjoyed the movie, but I had trouble getting into it at first. The lack of an opening crawl really threw me for a loop, much more so than I would have expected. I guess Pavlov’s dog has nothing on me. I also found the rapid scene shifting at the start of the movie to be a little jarring. Once I got settled into the story, I was able to appreciate it as a fresh take on the familiar Star Wars universe. I particularly enjoyed the final battle on Scarif, which reminded me of the battle on Hoth, probably my favorite battle in the original trilogy.

    I also found the kyber crystals to be a fun homage to Star Wars history. The Kaiburr crystal served as the MacGuffin in the first original Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, back in 1978. More recently, the connection between kyber crystals and the Death Star was hinted at in the first season of Star Wars: Rebels, as was the role the crystals played in lightsaber construction. Now, I want to watch the more recent seasons to see if there are any other Rogue One tie-ins included in the TV series.

    I look forward to more in-depth analysis of the film in future episodes.

    1. The whole Kyber crystal thing’s implication is that the Death Star is a gynormous light saber. Is that new, or was that obvious from long ago?

      1. The Kaiburr crystal from Splinter of the Mind’s Eye amplified a Force-users connection to the Force, but had no connection to lightsabers. At least that’s my recollection, I haven’t read the novel in many years. I think the connection between kyber crystals, lightsabers, and the Death Star is more recent. I don’t know if this idea originated in the Rebels series, or if they picked it up from somewhere else. On a related note there are several other Rebels Easter eggs that pop up in Rogue One (http://www.starwars.com/news/the-star-wars-rebels-easter-eggs-and-connections-in-rogue-one).

        That being said some suggestion of this idea appeared in Kevin Anderson’s 1995 novel, Darksaber, where the Hutts or some other baddies build a stripped down version of the Death Star’s super laser that looks like a giant lightsaber floating in space. At the time, I don’t think there was anything more than a superficial resemblance between the super weapon and the Jedi weapon.

  11. Great episode! I listened between my first and second viewing of ROGUE ONE. Loved your points and you helped informed my second viewing. Thank you!

    I caught one more fun Easter Egg. On the beach, a couple Stormtroopers were chatting and one said something like, “Did you hear they made the T15 obsolete”? Matches up nicely with A NEW HOPE when two Stormtroopers on the Death Star are chatting and one says, “Have you seen the new T16?” Nice!!!

    My only criticism of the episode? Angela was far too nice to Ryan this time. Let’s have more mocking Ryan next time around, please.

    1. I caught that one. Funny. There was also one of those snow monsters from Hoth carrying a backpack in the city. Must’ve been sweltering.

      Apparently there’s loads of video game connections, I just can’t tell.

  12. A lot of enthusiasm which is what I like from Fire and Water podcasts.

    I liked it a lot EXCEPT the CG actors which creeped me out. I would have preferred Tarkin in shadow, and from the back, etc. Too distracting.

    As an Asian cinema fan, I was mostly there for Donnie Yen, who happens to be my favorite modern martial arts star, but was happy to recognize Wen Jiang as well, as I rate Let the Bullets Fly (an altogether crazy-complicated western-heist-gun fu movie) highly. That was an incredibly diverse cast, wasn’t it?

    And while I feel other Star Wars films spin their wheels and go back to very similar environments, I thought Rogue One’s use of Iceland, Jordan and the Maldives really gave it a unique look.

    So… still no Rei’s mom, eh?

  13. Ruth and I finally had a chance to see the movie last night, so I finally had a chance to listen to the episode today. Great discussion, especially since it was recorded only minutes after seeing the film.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. As you know, I was very hesitant about The Force Awakens since I disliked the prequels so much, but I really liked it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best Star Wars movie since the original trilogy.

    However, Rogue One easily surpassed it in my mind. The cast was great and the story was more varied and flowed well. The effects complimented the movie without overshadowing the story. I really cared about all of the characters and the way the movie fit with the original film was seamless.

    I was not as impressed with the CGI characters. They were good, but not as good as I would have expected. They looked too much like video game characters with perfect porcelain skin. However, I was so thrilled to see them in the movie that it was easy to forgive that minor quibble.

    The movie owes much to the films of Akira Kurosawa, but that seems appropriate since the original film did as well. The character of Imwe was an immediate favorite of ours and is obviously an homage to Zatoichi. The character’s movements and the filming angles of his fights are very much like scenes from those classic films.

    I would rank this movie third after Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back with Return of the Jedi fourth and The Force Awakens fifth and I guess that is all because I can’t even consider putting the prequels on the same list with these five great films.

    Great show! Take care, Darrin

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