Episode 005 – A New Hope: Reworking The Phantom Menace

This week on the Nerd Byword podcast, we try to fix the Phantom Menace

Dave: Annie, are you okay? Or is it a hard knock? Live on Tatooine. This week on the Nerd by Word podcast, we try to fix the Phantom Menace. A new episode starts right now.

Former DC co-publisher Dan Didio criticized legacy characters in a recent interview

Kris: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome into another episode of the Nerd by Word podcast. we’re starting you off, as always, with our nerd news segment. Dave, what do you have for us this week?

Dave: Yeah, so former DC co-publisher Dan Didio, gave a big interview to Newsarama, and in it, he talked a little bit about his career in general and some of the decisions he had to make as editor, in chief, and then co-publisher. And two of the characters that came up in particular in his talk, were Wally West’s flash and Dick Grayson’s Nightwing. about Wally west, he said, and I’m quoting here, for me, Wally west was a core concept issue. My problem with Wally was that his origin was always dependent on his uncle and previous flash, Barry Allen. He was never his own character. He was always going to be subservient to Barry in some way because his origin was determined by Barry. There was always a flash in front of him, and his powers were because of him. I always felt as a true flash. And if we were trying to get to the simplest form with regards to media and things like that, we’d have to go back to Barry about, Dick Grayson. He said, and again I quote, with Dick Grayson, and this is the same with Wall E, people loved them because they aged with them. So they feel this affinity that these guys have grown up with them. The problem is that much like Batman and Superman, now, Dick Grayson and Wally west have to stop aging because they’re going to pass their mentors. Dick Grayson’s going to get older than Bruce Wayne at some point because Bruce doesn’t age, and Dick Grayson’s going to be the older guy if he does keep growing up. Therefore, those things constantly force the reboots that we’re faced with because it creates these log jams and these multiple interpretations of characters all sharing the same name. Now, Didio famously wanted to kill off Dick Grayson during the Infinite Crisis event several years ago. And I think, this whole attitude is actually really regrettable in a lot of ways. DC, has done a great job with the notion of legacy. That is a really big, important part of the DC brand. Heroes, pass away. New heroes rise and take their place. And Dick Grayson and Wally west are just two examples of that. it gave much of DC a sense of development, a sense of forward momentum, things changed, developed. Teen sidekicks grew up and struck out on their own. Saying that, characters have no merit because they are dependent or linked to other characters is just nonsense. Harley Quinn, for example, is linked to the Joker, and she certainly has not, been stopped from starring in two different movies at this point. Supergirl is linked to Superman, but that hasn’t stopped her from getting her own movie and tv series. it’s just an odd thing to say for DC Comics co-publisher because there’s a whole class of characters on the roster that are always intrinsically linked to other characters. Wally west, in particular, was the flash when I got into comic books, Kyle Raynor was the Green Lantern. Going back to what DC perceives as the quote unquote original characters, Barry and Hal Jordan, was quite jarring to me. I’ll go even further and say that those aren’t even the originals. If you go back further, the original Flash is Jay Garrick, and the original Green Lantern is Alan Scott. The link that Barry and Hal shares with those characters doesn’t make them any less, interesting characters. So, when I read this interview, I was just troubled because it felt like Didio was discounting legacy and character growth in comic books. Chris, what do you think about this?

Kris: Yeah, this is, you know, really, really odd for me as a casual DC fan. And we touched on this on previous episodes, when we talked about, sticking to the source material and stuff. And I think we both kind of landed on, we just want a good story.

There are so many great DC and Marvel characters that lend themselves to different storytelling

And there are so many different iterations of different characters under the same name in both DC and Marvel and other publishers as well. You have, you know, I love Peter Parker and I love Miles Morales. I love them both for what they both bring to the moniker and the name of Spider man. It’s that character, in my limited experience, experiment, excuse me, experience with Hal Jordan as Green Lantern and as Joan Stewart as Green Lantern. I’ve enjoyed both. You know, they’re separate, but I enjoyed both of them. So, and I remember Kevin Smith, I believe it was, you know, when all of this Miles Morales, news first came out, and all the backlash to people who were angry about it. and he said, I’m paraphrasing, but he said, the stories that you love of Peter Parker being a white guy from queens, those aren’t going away. Just because we’re telling a different story doesn’t mean that yours are all of a sudden done. The more the merrier, I think, in my opinion. And just as a casual DC fan. Now, a, quick question. The flash that is in, like, the, the popular animated series of, like, Justice League and Justice League unlimited, is that Wally west?

Dave: That is Wally west.

Kris: That is Wally west. So, yeah, like, I. I’ve been exposed to that character and I thoroughly enjoyed that. But again, as a casual DC fan, Nightwing was a very interesting character for me when I was playing the Arkham games. And I was like, oh, snap. And, like, then I had to do, like, a deep dive on who Nightwing was. And then just from, like, a head honcho and someone who’s in, like, you know, alongside Jim Lee as co publisher to be like, you know what? I don’t like these characters. And I think we have to go back to the, quote unquote status quo and go back to the way things were in the good old days. I really think that’s, as you said, a regrettable thing to return to.

Dave: Yeah, I totally agree. Nightwing, in particular, has been always one of my favorite characters. I’m a huge fan of Dick Grayson’s in all his iterations. In fact, when, we get to the nerd commendations, we’ll probably be talking about Dick Grayson a little more. So it’s just troubling because there’s so many good characters on the DC comics roster and characters that lend themselves to different kinds of storytelling. And so to just dismiss those characters as unimportant, is just, I find it short sighted, ultimately.

Kris: That’s exactly the term that I would use simply because Barry, in his, you know, as you proved, it was not the case. He was not the first flash. But because he’s tied to Barry Allen, that doesn’t mean that you can’t tell good stories with him. You’re minimalizing yourself. You’re painting yourself into a corner and, you know, and, I can see what he’s saying with Dick Grayson and aging and whatever, but you can stop that. Like, you know, Marvel has a sliding timescale as well. Flash Thompson originally fought in the Vietnam war and then it was kind of retconned into, Iraq or Afghanistan. One of the two, in the two thousands. So, I mean, you have, as the co publisher, you have pretty much the final say on that. So when you say that Dick Greyston has to die because, you know, he can’t grow up anymore, then that’s because you said he can’t grow up anymore. I did see part of the interview where he said that he wanted a worthwhile death in infinite crisis, similar to, I believe it was Barry Allen that died on crisis on infinite earth.

Dave: Yes.

Kris: So he wanted, like, a meaning, full sacrifice. So I agree with that. But the notion that, and I could vibe with that, but the notion that he can’t continue to be, a prominent character in your publishing line because he can’t grow up, you’re limiting yourself story wise.

Dave: Yes, totally. I agree with that. And I will say that, Geoff Johns, who wrote Infinite Crisis, did come up with a meaningful death in that series. Spoilers for a really old miniseries. But ultimately, it was, Connell Superboy who was sacrificed, as part of that story and kind of filled that need, that niche in that particular story. Yeah. So long, story short, just a regrettable attitude from a guy who used to be in charge of some of my all-time favorite characters.

Michael Keaton reportedly in early talks to return as Batman in DC films

Chris, what is your big news story for this week?

Kris: Well, we’re sticking with DC. we’re doing the all see, DC nerd news segment this week. Michael Keaton is in the very, very early talks to return as Batman in the film universe. This was broken, by Boris kidd of Hollywood Reporter. he is being rumored for, initially for the flash film that is set to start filming in 2021, and also, rumored for other DCEU films. Early reports and rumors have him being. Serving as a Nick Fury type character, kind of a recruiter, a la, kind of what Bruce Wayne was doing in Justice League, but to, you know, hopefully to a much more extensive unit, you know, with being multiple films, I did see that, Batgirl is, one of the planned films for the future as well. So that’d be an interesting thing. And then, you know, as. As we’re all cooped up in quarantine still, you know, this just unleashed a bunch of fan theories across the Internet. It really made the nerd Internet, explode over the past couple of days. So people are thinking, Flashpoint, is he going to be Thomas Wayne? Is he going to be Bruce Wayne from another universe? Is this a multiverse situation? now, the flash is, the flash film is, starring Ezra Miller is rumored, to be featuring not only time travel, but also, multiverse type deals. and then, you know, I even saw some speculation as to a Batman beyond where Bruce Wayne is an older patriarch, character, and, you know, bringing in a new, character to wear the cape and cowl.

Warner Bros. wants to prop up Flash with a cameo

So, Dave, what do you think about this?

Dave: I’m really of two minds about this story. On the one hand, I adore Michael Keaton, Batman, and I would love to see him reprise that role. On the other hand, I don’t think a flash movie is the right place for it. Can we make a flash movie that doesn’t need other superheroes to carry it? Can we maybe just do that period? with Spider man, for example, we had the same situation with Iron man. Why do we feel the need, to prop up what Hollywood perceives as lesser heroes with bigger star power or bigger heroes? I think Iron man proved, the original Iron man movie proved pretty conclusively that a character that was obscure to some extent to general audiences can be used to make a fantastic movie. And I’m troubled that they feel the need to prop up this flash movie with a cameo, basically, of, a Michael Keaton Batman. Michael Keaton should totally return to the role of Batman, but in the logical place to do so, which would be a Batman beyond movie. A Batman beyond movie with Michael Keaton as an older Bruce Wayne would be fantastic. I think Keaton would do a great job with this old cranky Bruce Wayne who’s been around the block and his body is worn out and he just can’t do the fighting anymore himself. It would be a fantastic performance and it would focus on a story where that makes sense. It feels like Warner Bros. Just keeps trying to make the flash into something he’s not. we mentioned in a previous episode how Justice League tried to Peter Parker him, basically, and now it seems they’re trying to Batman beyond him. Just let the Flash be the Flash.

Kris: Yeah, I absolutely agree. And you said Iron man is an obscure character. I’ll even go even more recently and in the same universe of films with Aquaman, you have a character who was the butt of so many jokes, even within the nerd community for so many years. And now the more I sit and think about that film and postulate on it, it has narrowly, I believe Ed Shazam is my favorite DCEU film. Like, it’s just fantastic in the way they’ve done that. Why not do the same for Flash? You don’t need cameos from other people. Flash is a fantastic character, even with my limited exposure to him. I’ve seen the first two seasons, as I previously stated on, on the series. and then, you know, I saw some Justice League and unlimited, and I thoroughly enjoy the character. He’s funny, you know, he’s. He’s got heart. This is a wonderful character in and of himself. And if you can do that with Aquaman, why in the world can you not do that with Flash?

Dave: And the Flash has a fantastically deep mythology, too. You know, the notion of the speed force and his relationship to the speed force and where. Where his speed comes from and how he relates to it and the fact that he can, in fact, time travel. I remember when there were first rumors going around, even before Justice League, before Ezra Miller’s casting about a flash movie. And I. I even want to say Ryan Reynolds was, like, in the running for that at some point or rumor to be attached. But there were some really interesting things that people were saying about that iteration of the movie, about how fast he would move as the movie progresses. And, you know, the notion of arriving before you left and suddenly there’s multiple flashes in the same scene and time manipulation. There’s so many things, so many directions that you could take of a, ah, flash movie in. Why does it have to be, oh, we better put Batman in this. It reminds me of the animated movies that DC was doing for a little while, where they would try to do something new. Oh, let’s make a John Constantine. But wait, we have to have Batman guest star in it. Oh, let’s make a suicide squad cartoon. Oh, but wait, let’s have Batman guest star in it. It’s like, just put Batman in there and it’ll sell. And that is the wrong attitude. Make a quality product, tell a good story, then it will sell.

Kris: Yeah. Well, just look what you’ve been able to do with the CW verse, you know, with, quote unquote minor characters like the Flash and Arrow and, you know, the legends of tomorrow Squad and Supergirl, all these minor characters. And that’s been well received critically. it’s. You know, a lot of it is not for my personal taste. there. There are parts of it that I just don’t vibe with and don’t find entertaining, but it’s been highly successful. So if you can do that on the small screen, just imagine what you could do with a larger budget and. And Hollywood behind it.

Dave: Yes. Yeah, that’s exactly right. here’s hoping that it’ll work. I’d love to see Michael Keaton, reprise Batman and do a really good job with it. I think it’ll be fantastic. Just sad that it has to be in a flash movie of all places.

Kris: Yep, same here. that wraps up our nerd news segment. When we return from our first break, we’re gonna fix the phantom Menace.

A new three-episode series on how to fix the “Star Wars” prequels begins

All right, ladies and gentlemen, we’re back here on the nerd by word podcast. And this week, we are enjoying our first episode. Enjoying maybe too much of a stretch, but we are starting our first, in a three episode series on how to fix the Star wars prequels. So, logically, we’re starting with episode one, the Phantom Menace. We each came up with, three big strategies, and that’s initially what we started with. We wanted three quick fixes, big fixes to the film. But then, you know, when you start watching the Phantom Menace, we were like, we need more than just three. So we each came up with our big three like we usually do, and then we have a lightning round. Just quick little minor things. Dave, first on your big three fixes for episode one, the Phantom Menace, well.

Anakin Skywalker needs a complete revamp in Phantom menace

Dave: It has to be Anakin Skywalker, ultimately, to me. So rewatching Phantom menace was a weird experience. I remember seeing this in the theater and really wanting to love it. I mean, just trying to will myself to love this movie. I went back to the theater three times and rewatched it. It’s like, this must be a good movie. I must be missing something. This sinking feeling in my gut just, can’t mean what I think it means. That the movie is just not very good, and the movie’s just not very good. And I think a good chunk of that falls on Anakin Skywalker. I know what George Lucas was going for with this young, innocent approach. He really wanted to create a strong contrast with, what he would eventually become, Darth Vader. And in a way, that’s smart, but it also doesn’t lend itself to an interesting character. Anakin needs a complete revamp. He should be older, I would argue probably teenager, maybe 1516 years old. And character wise, instead of playing this wide eyed innocent, it would be much more entertaining for this movie for him to be more of a Han solo type, this lovable, charming rogue. Let’s have him be a slave. That’s fine. Let’s have him be the son of a single mother. Also fine. He can still love building things. He can still be a podracer. That’s all fine. but the way he is written, episode one, he’s just too young. He’s too naive, too innocent to be interesting. So let’s pull on that string of the notion of the charming rogue. He’s a slave. He had to learn to use his charm to manipulate the people around him. He’s not above breaking the rules to get what he wants, although he doesn’t do so callously or maliciously. He’s a well meaning teenager who has grown up in really horrible circumstances, and he’s had to learn to manipulate the world around him to at least achieve some kind of modicum of success because of his time growing up a slave. He hates authority, which makes sense. He doesn’t like people telling him what to do. This sets up an eventual clash with his Jedi life perfectly. An older Anakin could have some actual chemistry with Padme. George, Lucas always said he wants his movies to rhyme, to repeat themes and even certain lines. And here there could be an echo of the Leia and Han solo relationship. Padme, who’s been raised to be a politician from the time she was very young, has to meet Anakin, a person of action. And she’s somebody who debates things and considers things before taking action. And Anakin is more of a doer. This also gives us a better relationship with Obi Wan Kenobi, if you ask me. Obi Wan Kenobi, I think, is portrayed in the prequels as this consummate Jedi. He’s a Jedi. It’s what he does, it’s what he lives, it’s what he loves. He’s a buy the book kind of guy. Now he is thrown in together with this teenager, a few years younger than him, who’s charming, friendly, fun, to be around, but will break any rule he has to to get the job done. And now you have almost a buddy cop dynamic. The buy the book Kenobi and the loose cannon Anakin, I think that would have given us a much more entertaining and much more fun series, of character dynamics between Anakin and the other characters in the movie. What do you think, Chris?

Kris: Yeah, I absolutely agree, especially that last part. And I think that’s kind of the dynamic that they found in the Clone wars animated series, and that’s why that was so successful and why their relationship, and we’ll get to this in the later prequel episodes, was so much more believable. And the turn in episode three means more after you rewatch it, I think after watching Clone wars, because you just don’t have enough there that they give you in the three films for us to care anything about their relationship, especially when you’re starting off the first film and they barely speak to one another. I totally agree. Even a couple of years, you say 1516. I’m saying, even if he’s twelve or 13, I think that makes it, even a little bit more. You and I, we teach middle schoolers. We know what little butt heads twelve.

Dave: And 13 year old males can be.

Kris: So, you know, they think they know everything about the world. So, it really the first thing that jumps off with his age and the problem for it for me is you. And you noted this is the age difference between him and Padme. And I think Natalie Portman at the time of filming was only 14, but she looks older than her age. and if Jake Lloyd was ten, he looks much younger than that. And it makes those scenes very uncomfortable for me. the are you an angel? Scene is super cringey. So if you make him twelve or 13, I think that you would really gain a lot with that and their relationship and how that develops. It doesn’t come out of nowhere, you know, in episode two. And then I also think, like, his little snarky one liners, whether they’re given in English or in huddies, will land a little bit better when he’s talking smack to Sebulba. If he’s a twelve or 13 year old kid, I’m buying that a little bit more than I am just this little eight year old kid. Like, what eight year old talks like that to a grown adult podracer? And then that pod racing dynamic changes a little bit. And it’s not quite as odd to have a small child amongst assumingly adult aliens as well.

Dave: Yes, yes, I agree. George Lucas seemed to really want to go for certain things, in episode two and three, but refused to lay any kind of foundation, for it in episode one. And I think that’s a lot of the problem. All the characters seem so, so static. You know, they’re not making any real choices. They’re not really pushing things forward. It’s like everything seems to be happening to them rather than them taking direct action to change the situation. And Anakin definitely is the character. Everything just seems to happen to in this movie, you know, like, oh, I happen to be hiding in this fighter, you know, and I happen to be pulled up into a space battle, and I just so happened to blow up this control station. It’s. It’s. There’s very little agency in the character, and I think portraying him as a little older, and a little. Little, smart aleck, I think would be a lot of fun.

We need more Maul in the prequel trilogy

So, Kris, what do you think? What is your big, first change that we need to make to the Phantom menace?

Kris: My first thing, it’s all in the title, the Phantom Menace. And if I read that correctly, that is supposed to refer to the primary villain, quote unquote primary, of this film, Darth Maul. I mean, he is in three or four scenes. He talks twice leading up to this film. If there’s one thing I remember about the anticipation for this film, other than being excited for a Star wars movie was like, how iconic his look was. His, his face, his skin, like the black and the red was so dynamic and passionate. And then he had horns coming out of the top of his head. Like, that was cool. There were kids walking around elementary school with their faces painted like Darth Maul. And then for you to show up and he’s only in two or three scenes. And he’s one of the few strengths of this film. Why would you not have more of him? And I feel like Star wars as a whole. I don’t know. Like, they doubled down on that. I feel in the sequel trilogy, and maybe we’ll get to that in a future episode, but Captain Phasma looks so cool. She had this, you know, chrome Stormtrooper, outfit. She had this dramatic cape. And it was Gwendolyn Christie. You love Game of Thrones. Well, here’s Brienne of Tarth in a Stormtrooper outfit, and then she was even less utilized. And I even saw a tweet a couple of weeks back after the finale of the final season of Clone wars. And it was like, who would have thought in 1999 that Darth Maul would be one of the most thought out and planned out characters in all of Star wars? and that’s because they took 20 years of, you know, secondary animated series just to flesh his character out because they did such a ridiculous job and such an underservice here in episode one. So I need more Maul. More maul.

Dave: You know what? I totally agree with you. you know, it’s really sad that we keep bringing up the clone wars in this because, you know, it’s fantastic. Star wars, absolutely. But on the other hand, you should not have to go to what is, in essence, spin off media to get the full story. that is, I think, one of the problems that the, sequel trilogy has been doing as well. And we’re just gonna throw this into a book or, you know, a fortnight event or something like. Like tell a complete story with the movie and then take the characters from that and the concepts you’ve introduced and spin that off into additional stories. But don’t expect me to look at a half finished story in the movie theaters and then try to go and, you know, seek out all this secondary media. Maul was. You were exactly right. Visually interesting. He was fun to watch what little he was on screen. He made that lightsaber duel at the end. the way he moved his theatrical.

Kris: It’s the best part of the film.

Dave: Fast forward to it every time. the theatricality of it, the snarling. It was. It was fantastic. I would say Maul should have been the vader of the prequel trilogy. He should have been there till the end or near the end, anyways. I would even say that one of the things, you know, not to put the cart before the horse, because we’ll get to episode three eventually. But one of the things that Anakin should have had to do in order to take his place with Palpatine should have been to kill Maul, not to kill children. Right. That should have been the moment, you know? So, yeah, we needed much more maul, I am totally with you. So it’s such an interesting character. Well fleshed out later on. There should have been more on the screen, and he should have never been killed off. At the beginning of, at the end of phantom menace, at the beginning of a trilogy, you have such a memorable villain, and then you make him disposable. That was a bad move all around.

Kris: And this just came to me as well. They did the same thing with Boba Fett. Even as. As wonderful, as the original trilogy is and how much I love it. You had one of the coolest villains, in Boba Fett, and he’s eaten by a sand monster. So, like a big, overgrown Venus flytrap. So.

Dave: And knocked into it by a guy who’s blind and can’t even see completely by accident. Talk about the smell of incompetence on that whole moment.

Kris: Yeah. So that’s, my first one.

Qui Gon Jinn should have been eliminated from the movie

Dave, what’s number two on your big three?

Dave: Okay, so this one, I don’t know. Might be a little controversial. a bit of a hot take. We’ll see how this goes. But I think one of the things you have to do to make the phantom menace work better is you have to get rid of qui Gon Jinn. I think that that character should be excised from the movie completely or, just basically a cameo during Jedi council scenes or something. I don’t think he is necessary in any way, shape, or form. I enjoy Liam Neeson’s performances in most movies, but Qui Gon Jinn is so superfluous in episode one, I think he actually hinders the movie because Qui Gon’s presence sidelines Obi Wan for most of the movie. And really, in my view, the perfect starting point for this trilogy would have been a story where Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin meet and become friends. And in order to do that, you cannot sideline Obi Wan just leave him on the shelf while I go hang out with Jar Jar on Tatooine instead, of Qui Gon Jinn. Here’s what I think they should have done. Negotiating with the trade Federation should have been Obi Wan’s first solo mission as a full fledged Jedi. He’s just stopped being a padawan. He’s nervous, he’s unsure of himself. This is his first mission without his master to lean on. So this provides him with an arc throughout the movie as he gains confidence over the course of the story and builds this friendship with Anakin. I also don’t like the idea that the only reason Obi Wan decides to train Anakin is because qui Gon wanted to do it. And there’s like, this sense of loyalty. I think Obi Wan should choose to train Anakin not because of duty to his master, but because of the power of friendship. He wants to free Anakin from slavery and offer him a better life because he likes him, not because his master said so. And now that Anakin is a teenager, the complaints that he’s too old will ring even more true, you know? So he goes to the Jedi council. He says, okay, I’ve, picked my Padawan learner, and it’s this 15, 1416 year old whatever. And people say, well, he’s too old. That, ah, rings a little more true than if you’re talking about what is basically a nine or ten year old.

Kris: Yep.

Dave: I would even go so far as to say that it would be an interesting twist in the story that the council actually does not decide who becomes a Padawan learner. Each Jedi knight can choose their own apprentice. They can, ask for advice in the choosing. But ultimately, it’s the Jedi Knight’s choice and responsibility when things go sideways. Later in the prequel trilogy, there is a much bigger responsibility on Obi Wan. A greater sense that he has failed not just as a teacher, but as a friend. Because he was the one without Qui Gon Jinn’s ghost hovering over him or something. He’s the one who actively made the choice. I’m gonna take this teenager. I know he’s technically too old. I know he’s a rule breaker. I know he doesn’t like authority. I’m gonna try to give him a better life by making him a Jedi knight. And then things go sideways, and the responsibility doesn’t fall on the council. Who decided, okay, it’s alright. It doesn’t fall on a dead qui Gon jinn. It falls square on Obi Wan Kenobi. And that creates a much bigger sense of drama. You have much better potential for interesting character scenes as Obi Wan. Questions, where did I go wrong? How could I have made such a horrible choice? It just opens things up in the phantom menace and later, a lot more if we just get rid of qui gon and we focus, on Obi Wan and Anakin as the duo that basically anchors this movie. Kris, what do you think of that?

Kris: Yeah, I absolutely agree. And I think it even. That last part that you made, it even opens up a really interesting dynamic in episode four. And tying to the original trilogy. Why would Obi Wan seclude to such a hermited lifestyle? Not only because he’s watching over Luke, but because he feels like such a failure. So if you give him more. More of an albatross around his neck, if you will, then I feel like that just adds to so much, to something that’s already so impactful. yeah, I agree with just about everything he said. I mean, Liam Neeson is a very talented actor, and he’s turned in some. Some really great performances. the taken movies, you know, really got my adrenaline going in my college years. But, and he. There’s nothing that he particularly does poorly, in this film, I feel. But it just creates a bunch of unnecessary things. And I even had as one of my big three more M Obi, and I removed it when I saw the second point, because I don’t know who Ewan McGregor’s chiropractor is, but if he is still living life to the fullest and with no permanent back issues after carrying these three films solely.

Dave: You’re not kidding. Yeah.

Kris: You know, with his. With his performance, then I need to know who that doctor is, because I’ve got some back problems myself. So I think you have.

One of the few strengths in this film is Ewan McGregor

And again, it goes back to maul. One of the. One of the very few strengths that you have in this film and this entire prequel series is Ewan McGregor. Like, why would you not utilize him more? Why would you, like, cordon him off onto the ship for the majority of the film? And then you have, like, I don’t know. Maybe I read this wrong, but, like, those. That awkward exchange between Qui Gon and shmi, like, are they into each other? Like, what is that? Like, do you want to be Anakin’s daddy? Like, what is this? So you lose all of that if you just make that Obi Wan. so, yeah, I’m totally there with you. I need more Obi Wan. If we get rid of Qui Gon I get more Obi. So I see that as a win win.

Dave: And I think it comes back down to the concept of agency of them, the characters actively doing things, choosing things, and not just stuff happening to them. So Obi Wan doesn’t so much just choose to be Anakin’s teacher. It just kind of happens to him. Well, my master wanted to do it. He’s dead. I guess I have to do it. The council said do it, you know, and when he. When he chooses it, that’s real agency in the characters. And that. That is something that I think is sorely lacking in this movie in a lot of places.

It’s the racist tropes that really bring down the film

Chris, what is your next big change that you’d like to make to improve the phantom menace?

Kris: The second thing that I listed here is the first thing I noticed right at the beginning of the film. It’s the most uncomfortable thing, and it’s the racist tropes that take place in this film. From the first moment that you hear the viceroy talk, nuke Gunray speak, you can hear the racist, stereotypical asian overtones, jar jar. Hey, we made it this far without talking about jar jar. but, you know, the racist caricature of. Portrayal of jar jar, and watto as well. Not one to forget, the heavy stereotypical jewish behavior towards Watto, it’s really uncomfortable. And I rewatched this over a series of, like, three days because I just could not get through it. And I know that George Lucas himself has denied this till he’s blue in the face, but if someone tells you they’re offended by something, I just make it personally, you know, that’s my personal philosophy. If someone says they’re offended by something, then it’s offensive. You know, I’m not. It’s not there to be policing, whatever. Like, if someone finds that offensive, if an asian person comes to you and says, this is racist, then it’s racist. So I just. I mean, there’s not really a real soapbox that I could get off on here, but, it’s just really uncomfortable, and I can’t watch the whole film in one sitting as a result.

Dave: This is one of the toughest things about episode one in particular. You know, I think, it comes down in a lot of ways to lazy storytelling, too. Instead of trying to fully develop an interesting character that leads the trade federation, you fall back on some kind of stereotype to do some kind of, I don’t know, some kind of telegraphed shorthand or something. The same thing goes for most of the instances of things that are blatantly stereotypical, racial issues. So I would say George Lucas should have just taken his time more and developed actual characters rather than falling back on some kind of stereotypical racial shorthand. It is incredibly uncomfortable. It would be a hundred percent improvement if we could get rid of that.

Kris: Well, I mean, for God’s sake, you’re in outer space and a galaxy far, far away. You’re dealing with aliens. You have complete liberty to create believable characters with their own dialect, with their own accents, with so much stuff, and then you regress to something like this. It’s just really inexcusable, in my opinion.

Dave: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree with that assessment.

Owen Lars should be in this movie now

Kris: All right, Dave, what is your third and final point of the big three before we get to the lightning round?

Dave: So I have no idea if somebody’s ever suggested this before, but I have not seen it suggested before, and I think this would actually be an interesting switch up. I think Owen Lars should be in this movie now for, ah, our audience members, who may not be familiar. Owen Lars is, uncle Owen, the guy who raised uncle Owen, who raised Luke Skywalker. And so he appears very, very briefly in attack, of the clones, and then very briefly again appears at the end of episode three. But he’s not really a character. And so when we meet him again in episode four, it just feels weird that he has this strong dislike of old Ben and that Luke shouldn’t be like his father, and where is all this stuff coming from? And I think there’s a real missed opportunity here. So if we erase qui gon Jinn from the movie, as I said earlier, we still need somebody who travels with Obi Wan, somebody who’s a sounding board, somebody who he can have dialogue with in the early goings of the movie and who fights with him when things go sideways. And I think that should be Owen Lars. Let’s say he’s a young, idealistic pilot from Tatooine. He is, in the Republic military. Let’s say Obi Wan doesn’t enjoy flying very much. That’s something that keeps being hinted at here and there in the early goings and especially in some of the books. Books. So here, he’s not yet a pilot. Lars is his pilot. The republic has sent him as the pilot to take him to the negotiations and to basically be his official republic escort. And then let’s just build a relationship between these two, watch it over the course of three movies, and slowly watch it sour. We can learn why Obi Wan would entrust Owen with Luke eventually, to begin with, and why there is so much antagonism coming from Owen Lars towards Obi Wan in episode four. He can also be a really good audience surrogate, asking questions of Obi Wan about the Jedi and their ways, things that the audience may not be completely clear on, since we’re looking at a very different era of Jedi here and, you know, having kind of a friendship between him and Obi Wan and maybe even with him and Anakin, and then everything goes sideways later in episode two and three. And maybe Lars, blames Obi wan a little bit for what’s happened to Anakin, and there’s kind of, you know, yes, he was a friend, and Obi Wan trusts him, and that’s why he gave Luke to him. But at the same time, there’s an animosity between them, because Owen Lars blames Obi Wan for what happened, and Obi Wan doesn’t argue with that because he blames himself for what happened, too. So I think there’s a, really interesting background there for a character that was just not utilized in any way, shape, or form. It’s just this dangling plot thread. What in the world was Owen Lars problem in a new hope? And having him here as a character, even sort of a minor character, I think, would go a long way to fixing that particular problem. Thoughts, Chris?

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they had, what, 20 years to a little under 20 years to make this film, and, you know, all the time, they didn’t use it in developing original characters, as we talked in the previous point. So why would you not, like, try to find some better connective tissue between three and four? Like, if this was your big, overarching plan? And I think, it falls along the same lines of one of the major problems with the sequel trilogy, especially with the way that it ended in episode nine, is just, like, you can tell that there’s no clear plan when you’ve got 15 to 20 years to plan for this big return to Star wars. Why would you not want something like that? You know, if you’re gonna, you know, die on a hill of Midi chlorians, which we’ll get to in my next point, then why in the world would you not, like, do something as simple as, like, character work here? Like, one cameo is not gonna suffice for this cranky old man in episode four.

Dave: That was one character I’d have liked to see more of. I would like to have known why he was the way he was and for the fact that Luke had a tendency here and there to over explain some stuff like, oh, r has, you know, jetpack and why does he not later? And that kind of thing. Like, that’s so minor. Let’s focus on character. Let’s focus on relationships and interactions. Much more interesting to watch than little technical minutiae.

Diminishing spirituality in “Star Wars” takes away from its unique character

So, Chris, what is your last big point to fix phantom menace?

Kris: Ah, well, I hinted at it, just a few seconds ago, and it’s the midi chlorian mess. Slash. The immaculate conception. There was no father. That’s just one throwaway line, and we’re supposed to be okay with that. so, I mean, it’s pretty heavy handed with the, the virgin Mary vibes and this messianic character and anakin, he’s, he’s Christ like, Because he had no earthly father. And then, you know, you just open up this unnecessary can of worms, especially. It feels like they’re talking out of two sides of their mouth. I feel like a lot of the problems that come with big properties like Star wars, particularly with the prequels, is they’re, like, trying to sell toys. So, like, here’s Darth Maul because he looks cool and you can sell action figures, but then at the same time, you’re wanting to sit these seven and eight year olds down and discuss midichlorians, like, as their eyes glaze over, and they just can’t wait for the credits to roll. So it’s just really questionable. as I said, you’re not going to talk about why Owen Lars is angry in episode four with old Ben, but we’re going to definitely discuss Midi chlorians and a bunch of stuff that, you know, half of our audience isn’t going to understand, and you’re going to acquire, numerous articles to come out, and then a bunch of fan theories about how palpatine impregnated shmi, or, you know, whatever the wild stuff the Internet can get to. So if you. Why do you have to do that? Like, why do we even have to go down there? Why can he have a father and he was killed by the hutts or due to gambling debt or something like that? It doesn’t have to be this immaculate conception type deal. You’re a little heavy handed with the Messiah complex here. What do you think?

Dave: I totally agree with you. And it’s kind of creepy, too, to think about poor Shmi Skywalker being impregnated by microscopic organisms. It’s just bizarre and odd thinking. And I understand the idea of, oh, he’s really the child of the force, and there’s this, you know, he’s meant for great things, blah, blah, blah. It’s just, it doesn’t work. it’s odd, it doesn’t work in the context of this movie. But ultimately, the midichlorians, even like, as a blood test to figure out if somebody’s force sensitive was just absolute silliness in that the force was always portrayed as something deeply spiritual. And now you’re trying to scientifically explain spirituality and the two things, really, science has nothing to say about spirituality because it is outside of the realm of things that can be scientifically proven. So you’re free to believe whatever you want to believe. I mean, that’s what faith ultimately is. It’s belief in the absence of proof. And so now you’re trying to scientifically explain the Force, and that takes that deep spirituality away from the Jedi. I mean, we always kind of compared them to basically space samurai, you know, with a healthy undertone of Buddhism. You shouldn’t introduce basically space bacteria that makes you spiritual into your story. It just overcomplicates and really takes away something quite nice in this, which is that Star wars has a spiritual component, which I would argue oftentimes much of Star Trek, for example, does not have. It’s much more straightforward science fiction. And so adding this spiritual component to Star wars always made it unique, in a lot of popular science fiction. And then for George to basically try to just explain that away with a quick blood test, it’s just regrettable. It lessens Star wars. It doesn’t add anything to it. And I think we can easily see that because the midichlorian thing is dropped from here on out and really never much brought up again because it doesn’t add anything to Star wars. It’s superfluous. Yep.

Can we stop calling Anakin Annie?

Kris: So that wraps up our big, three each. Now we’re headed to the lightning round. So, Dave, what’s first in the lightning round for you?

Dave: First in the lightning round? can we stop calling Anakin Annie? It’s supposed to be cute and innocent, and it’s an attempt to contrast him with what he will eventually become, but it all just makes me think of a musical. It’s a hard knock life for Annie on Tatooine, apparently. Chris, what do you think?

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah. I even. I even said that that was a possible title. orphan Annie. It’s a hard knock life, you know, I mean, like, it’s just ridiculous. And. And this refers back to our previous point. If you age him up. Then you don’t have this helpless little, little, baby child that you have to make his sandwiches. So. Yeah, it’s. Yeah. This is not like a protagonist that I really want to get behind is this little kid. Like, I feel like I’ve got to, you know, keep an eye on him at all times. Like, I don’t see that as, like, a main protagonist.

Dave: Yes, exactly.

Ewan McGregor is the man who carried this trilogy

What is your first point for the lightning round?

Kris: we hinted at it before, but I moved it down to my lightning round when I saw your point. I need more Obi Wan. Ewan McGregor is one of the most talented actors in the biz, and I need more Obi Wan. What do you think?

Dave: I totally, totally agree, Obi Wan. Ewan McGregor is the man who carried this trilogy. and in the later movies, the quality goes up in large part because of his performance. So the more we can get him in episode one, the better the movie would be, by far.

Anakin should not build C-3PO in the prequels

Kris: Alright, Dave, what’s number two in the.

Dave: Lightning round, Anakin should not build c three po. It’s just. It’s just a, silly tie in, and it makes the galaxy seem so small because everything just converges on this one point. instead, it would be better if he has to be there at all, which I would argue he probably doesn’t have to be there. But if c three po has to be there at all, then he should maybe be the protocol droid that’s sent with Obi wan to help him negotiate with the trade federation. Boom. Problem solved. You want to make something out of it, you can always say, oh, he’s fresh off the, assembly line. It’s really weird that, you know, there must be a problem in the assembly that he is so, oddly scared of everything. Problem solved. What do you think?

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like the. The mandated inclusion of the droids in the prequels make for some really unnecessary problems in the original trilogy, which, you know, real genealogy is great. You don’t need to further complicate it. You know, if Anakin created c three po, how in the heck does he not recognize him in episode four as Darth Vader?

Dave: And I know they threw in episode three a memory wipe for c three po, but not for r two. So r two should know all this stuff.

Kris: Exactly. And he and he and two reals were inseparable during the prequels, you know, in clone wars. So, like, how does he not recognize him? So.

Dave: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Very, very odd.

Too much sheer dumb luck

What is your next point for the lightning round?

Kris: We briefly hinted at it in the big three. and I pulled this quote from the first Harry Potter film and book, sheer, dumb luck. Harry and Ron and Hermione are able to defeat a mountain troll by sheer dumb luck, according to professor Minerva McGonagall. And that happens so much in this film as well. But, you know, it’s one thing as Harry, and Ron’s real first encounter with something magical, as far as a difficulty, as far as a trial, it’s very early on in the film and book. It should not be the final climax of the film. What happened to all the droids? Oh, Annie accidentally shot down the control center. What? That should not be your, you know, thermal exhaust port a la new hope, is, oops, did I do that? This urkel moment? so, yeah, sheer dumb luck has no place, if it is in this film. It should not be, like at the climax of the film. What do you think?

Dave: I totally agree with that. And I will say that it comes back to what I said earlier about agency. It seems like nobody in this movie really has control over their own destiny. Everybody’s just a plot device, including, anakin’s sheer dumb luck. Much more interesting when people make actual choices, which is sorely lacking in this movie in a lot of ways.

Kris: I will say that that popped into my brain because I was watching episode one as my wife was sitting next to me watching, sorcerer’s stone. So it was. It was all happening. The universe was playing tricks on my mind.

Anakin should not fly up to destroy control ship in the final battle

Ah, Dave, what is next in the lightning round for you?

Dave: So, actually, I’m gonna just latch onto this control ship thing for a second. Anakin should not fly up to destroy the control ship in the final battle. Anakin has already proved his piloting skills, which we know is important, because in a new hope, Obi Wan says he was a great pilot. You already had the padres. You don’t need another flying scene for him to prove how good of a pilot he is. He should be with Obi Wan. So now if, we really remove qui gon, then you have Obi Wan versus maul at the end with Anakin right there. And Anakin is not a Jedi, but is trying to help. Much more interesting to watch that kind of battle. Send Owen Lars up there to do the whole space battle thing. Yeah. So just seeing Anakin, you know, this. This very sort of almost arrogant teenager who thinks he knows everything, trying to go up against Darth maul and getting the floor wiped with him, might even explain to some extent why he then decides, I want that power for myself so I’ll never feel powerless again. so removing him was a mistake, I think. What do you think?

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. And, I think it would be great to kind of even have him sort of play with his force sensitivity rather than just, you know, playing iPad with. With, the Jedi bcouncil. Ah, a ship and a cup like that does nothing for me. So, yeah, totally there.

Beef up the B-1 battle droids

Dave: So what’s your next thing, Chris?

Kris: I say beef up the b one battle droids. They are nothing more than lightsaber fodder. I mean, the b two battle droids are okay, the Gerordicos are cool, but the b one battle droids, that whole. Roger, roger. Like, I’m not here for it. Like, I don’t. That is not a believable, quote unquote, not even a villain. It’s not even. I don’t even want to use the word villain. I don’t know what it is, but the b ones are trash. What do you think?

Dave: I totally agree with that. You can absolutely tell that George Lucas wanted to be able to show in episode one how awesome jedis were with the lightsaber, but he didn’t want to have them mow down a whole bunch of human beings, so he. So here’s some robots. Just go ahead and chop those into pieces. But you’re exactly right. They’re not a threat in any way, shape, or form. And it makes you wonder how the trade Federation is in any way, shape, or form a threat when those are the. Their soldiers, basically. as threatening as playing putt putt, if you ask me.

Kris: Yeah, even make them all just b two s. Like, I believe that. Why are they these skinny, anorexic looking, lanky guys? But the b two s, I buy, you know, they’re somewhat formidable, but the b one s, these little wimpy guys. No, sorry.

Can we try it and maybe not have Jar Jar Binks be comic relief

But, Dave, what’s next for the lightning round for you?

Dave: I just had to say it. Can we try it and maybe not have jar Jar Binks be a, comic relief? Because clearly, George Lucas is not very good at writing comic relief. The slapstick stuff of jar jar stepping into poop is not funny. It doesn’t add anything to the movie. You can have a jar jar Binks, no problem. you gonna have to change them up, though, a little bit. And that. That slapstick stuff, it’s. It’s just not funny. Chris, what do you think?

Kris: Yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and knock two out with one here. It’s one of my next points. Jar jar’s failing upwards is just inexcusable. Throughout the prequels, he goes from being banished from Gungan city to a, general in the army to kicking around explosive materials to getting his foot caught in the reigns of whatever they were riding on, whatever that alien animal is. and then all of a sudden, he’s a senator. Like, what is this? So this slapstick strategy, I’m not buying it, George. Sorry.

Focus on relationships

All right, Dave, what’s next in the lightning round?

Dave: Focus on relationships. that’s really what it comes down to. Almost every single thing that I thought when I was watching Phantom Menace is new. Hope was awesome with relationships. It was just great. And it brought these three characters together, Luke, Han, and Leia, who had this inner play that was fascinating to watch, interesting to see them bounce off of each other in watching them come together and over the course of the movies, basically become a family was great. Let’s do something like that. Instead of having the plot move the characters around, let’s have the characters move the plot forward. Let’s have those relationships. Let’s have a great, strong friendship building between Obi Wan and. And Anakin. Let’s have a flirtatious relationship between Anakin and Padme right out of the get go, build, a relationship. What do you think?

Kris: Yeah, I totally. I buy that. I. You know, we talked about the Michael Bay ninja Turtle films and how regrettable they were. One of the few things that I just, like, guffawed, laughed out loud with was Michelangelo’s banter with April. Like he was hitting on her from the jump. And if you have something like that, you know, of course, in different language, being in a galaxy far, far away, I think that would be totally fun. And we talked about how Star wars, as a property, heavily relies on these animated series that came years, years later, trying to fix all the problems of the prequels. You know, the ultimate turn in episode three of Anakin is more powerful. After watching the Clone wars. if you would have done all of that in the first place, we wouldn’t have to go and correct all the mistakes with the whiteout that is these animated series. You know, my personal favorite Star wars character is Ahsoka Tano. Like, but I had to. And I just found these animated series within the last year. I just got into them and binged them all. but you. You have such a fantastic character, such a strong character, in such a minor, minor role. I’m excited to see her in the mandalorian season two, but, I feel like it was such a lost point in the prequel films.

Dave: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What is your last lightning round change, Chris?

Kris: Yep. I’m combining two here. Number, one, no one is buying Palpy’s B’s. Like, how do you not realize who Darth Sidious is? Because he pulled his hood over his head and he contorted his voice a little bit, like, who is buying that?

The Jedi come across as absolute buffoons in this movie

And that leads into the next one. The Jedi come across as absolute buffoons. Not just this film, but the entire trilogy. The Jedi council is a collection of idiots, in my opinion. At least that’s the way that they are portrayed. Oh, man. I don’t know. Could the sith be back? Like, what? Come on. It’s right there in front of you. I don’t get it. it just infuriates me to no end. We have gone, you know, from the original trilogy, we thought that the Jedi were these upstanding citizens of the galactic society, and now you’re giving me. This is like, they’re just absolute idiots. What do you think?

Dave: Yeah, I agree. to your first point, with Darth Sidious, I don’t think even. I don’t think we should see him in this movie. I think every Darth sidious scene should have been Darth maul, and he. And he should hint that he has a master, but we shouldn’t see him. It would be much more interesting for a big reveal in episode two when we actually see him and it’s like, oh, oh, crap. Darth Sidious is the emperor. That those are the same person, because we have Palpatine in the movie, and we all know Palpatine is the emperor. We don’t know who Darth Sidious is. It would be really interesting to just leave him off screen, have him hinted at, and then reveal him later on. It’s like, oh, oh, oh, now I understand what’s going on here. Much more interesting to the second point. I’m gonna go extended universe for a second. in Timothy Zant’s heir to the empire book, there’s a wonderful scene where, Luke is basically, like, in a. In a cantina, and he’s waiting to meet with somebody, and there is a dispute between these two people, and it’s getting ready to get violent. So they turn to him, the Jedi, to resolve the dispute. And he’s very unsure of himself because he’s never done something like that before, but he does it, and he really manages to do this because there is a deep respect still among people for the role Jedi played in keeping the peace. And they’re not really described as soldiers or generals of clones. They’re these more like in line with what we said earlier. So the samurai, right? The people who travel around and they fight when they have to to protect the innocent, but they also, you know, they go further than that. There’s a spirituality to them and they step up and help people and resolve conflicts and disputes. And they’re never shown as that in the prequel trilogy. They’re basically the military arm of the republic. they’re all generals and they’re all leading troops. And that, I think, is a horribly sad missed opportunity in the prequel trilogy, period.

Kris: Yep. So we did our best. And, you know, that’s saying a lot, for trying to fix the phantom menace. So over the next couple of weeks, we will look at attack of the clones, which, you know, here’s my hot take. Is even worse than the phantom menace, in my opinion.

Dave: Sand, Kris. Sand.

Kris: Sand.

Dave: It gets everywhere.

Kris: Yeah. So, I am not looking forward to episode two, but then we’ll get to episode three, which does have some merit, if I remember correctly. so that’ll be the next couple of weeks. But when we come back from this, our final break, we will have our weekly nerd commendations for you.

Nerd Commendation: The “Grayson” Omnibus

All right, we are back for our final segment. Our nerd commendations for yet another week. Dave, whatcha got?

Dave: I’ve got a series from DC Comics called Grayson going, right back to our friend Dick Grayson from our nerd news segment. Grayson was primarily written by Tom King and Tim Seeley, with art by Michael Genin. Basically, this is taking the Dick Grayson character and putting him in a completely different setting. In the lead up to the series, Dick Grayson has been unmasked and killed, but he’s not actually dead. it’s a faked death. Instead, he’s been recruited into the spy organization spiral. And not only is he now working as a spy, on top of that, he’s a double agent. He’s actually still working with Batman because Spiral has been gathering the secret identities of all superheroes. So Grayson is his adventures in the spy organization Spiral, both working for spiral and working against Spiral at the same time. The, book ran for about 20 issues, had a couple of annuals, and it’s just so much fun. Dick Grayson is his best self in the series. He kind of merges the Nightwing fighting style with the funny quibs of Robin. there’s a great relationship building in the series. There’s a reinvented Helena Bertinelli who, was huntress for a good chunk of time in the comic books here. she’s his spy partner and eventually, later on when she gets a promotion, his boss. It’s just a fun, fun series. The only disappointing part of the book is the endgame when things had to be wrapped up in time for DC’s rebirth. It kind of devolves into the typical super villain tries to conquer the world plot rather than being this really cool spy thriller. The, journey there, though, however, is some of the finest, writing I’ve seen in a DC comic. It’s fantastic. The art is really distinctive. It captures a great look for Dick Grayson. His face in particular is really distinctive. It never feels generic in the series, even when he’s placed among people with, you know, the same hair color and similar hairstyles. it’s very distinctive. It’s very Dick Grayson. The whole thing is available in an omnibus. It’s called Grayson the super spy omnibus. Got all 20 issues, the annuals, and a one shot in there. and it’s really a fun, fun read. It completely flew under my radar at the time that it was being released. My instinct was, ugh, I, really like Nightwing. And now they’re going to take him out of the suit and make him a spy. I don’t think this is for me, but picking up the omnibus and reading, I would say it’s a fantastic series.

This story proves how versatile Dick Grayson is as a character

Kris: All right, so this is kind of funny. this morning you texted me and you said you had changed your news story. And based on this nerd commendation, the question I had written, I was like, what are your thoughts on Dan Didio’s, the criticism of Dan Didio for hating Dick Grayson and Wally west? And that turned out to be your nerd news story. So I guess I’ll amend my question is how do you think his thought process, which we, you know, definitely examined in our nerd news segment, how do you think that kind of influences this story, if at all?

Dave: I don’t think it really does. I think this is one of those stories that just proves how versatile Dick Grayson is as a character. You know, he’s been. He’s been Robin, he’s been nightwing, he’s been Batman. And in fact, I will go so far as to say his era as Batman with Damian Wayne as Robin, written by Grant Morrison for a good chunk, is fantastic as well. Dick Grayson is a very interesting character and you can do so many things with him, which is why I totally reject Dan Didio’s philosophy that he is, you know, not a, character that you can do a lot with. I think this series in particular just shows how versatile the character really is.

Nerd Commendation: Jason Aaron’s Thor

So, Chris, what is your nerd commendation for this week?

Kris: I know that we usually like to go for deep cuts here and things that are kind of flying under people’s radar. The selection that I have for this week is, has been, well, critically acclaimed, and everything, but I don’t see far enough love for it. So I’m giving it another shout out, and I’m going with Jason Aaron’s thor. You can choose how much you want to read. It goes, all the way from 2012 up until just finish up this year in 2020. So you’ve got seven or eight years worth of just fantastic comics that does not even take one issue off, in quality. Some of the best written stuff that I’ve ever read. Trevor von AZ has a great reading order on howtolovecomics.com. and I can post that on our social media, the hyperlink for that. It ultimately builds up to War of the Realms, last year’s crossover, and it’s one of the best crossover events that I’ve ever read. In an age where things like that can be truly insufferable. I would put it up there with Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret wars is probably my favorite crossovers that I’ve ever read. It’s just fun and it leads into what it is.

Marvel Unlimited is a great place to get caught up on Thor

What do you love about Thor, the character? I just love when a writer truly understands his, his, his characters that he’s writing about. I’m also. I received an award. This is how much of a nerd I am. I received an award in the 7th grade for being a, quote, mythology nut. So I’ve always been obsessed with greek mythology, roman mythology, norse mythology, so. And this was like a deep dive, like, head over heels into norse mythology and the intricacy of all the different realms. It packs an emotional punch. Jason Aaron probably gets the most notoriety for his storyline where Jane Foster, takes over as Thor. She is worthy and takes up the hammer. So, that’s going to be a great read for you, that particular part of the run, as we head into next year’s love and thunder with, Natalie Portman returning as Jane Foster, and she lifted the hammer during comic Con. So I’m assuming that she’s gonna be worthy here. and there was, you know, typical toxic fanboy, you know, reception there. But this is not just checking off a box for diversity or, you know, oh, it’s a woman, you know, doing this, that or this or that, checking a box. It’s a real human story. It deals with grief, it deals with loss. It deals with what it’s like to live with cancer. And it just. You get teary eyed at the end of every issue throughout that run. and. And the thing that I really appreciate is not just a strong Jane Foster story. Also, Odin’s son, Thor, as we know him, from mass media. The central theme of worthiness that you saw in, endgame that’s pulled from this run, he’s got daddy issues. He never feels like he measures up, and he feels like he’s good enough to be the son of Odin. Odin is a huge jerk throughout most of this run, but then you also see Odin’s character development and him realizing how screwed up he has been at times. and then alongside Jason Aaron’s writing, you’ve got some just gorgeous art. you have a wealth of artists. you know, it’s seven or eight years worth of comics I could not possibly list. But the two of my favorites, where it started with Asad Ribich, you know him from 2015, secret wars. what I love about his art is it’s like a painting, and it’s at times haunting. And it’s perfect for this setting, especially. They do some jumping around with time. and Thor through the ages, and particularly the medieval Thor, the God of the Vikings. Oh, man, his art is just picture perfect for that time era. And then, one of my favorite artists of all time in Russell daughterman, and the sheer spectacle of his art, his work on War of the realms is just majestic. there’s a particular splash page where Odin comes in with the valkyries, and it just is jaw droppingly gorgeous. So I can’t say enough about Jason Aaron’s Thor. I read the entire run in a couple of months. It’s all on marvel unlimited. It ends. Like I said, it just ended a couple of months ago with king, Thor. And that just wrapped up a couple months ago. And I’m pretty sure that the final issue of King Thor just got added to marvel Unlimited within the last week. All of this is all on Marvel Unlimited. You can find trades everywhere, but I cannot recommend this stuff enough. And I am totally biased because Thor is my doppelganger, so I don’t have.

Dave: Much to add to that. It’s a very strong recommendation. And we’ve talked about Jason Aaron’s run, before, off the air. So to speak. and it’s definitely on my list of things that I still want to read. But I can’t add much to this because I just haven’t read any of this run. My, last Thor run was actually j ah, Michael Straczynski, which I really enjoyed. And I’m a big fan of the Thor character. I just haven’t gotten around to, reading any more, thor so far. So I’ll definitely give this a read eventually. It’s just one of my problems that I have with Marvel. It’s very, very, difficult to find the perfect jumping on point. But you said, hey, when Jason Aaron takes over, jump in. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.

Kris: Yeah, this starts off, and again, I’ll share out that link on howtolovecomics.com for Trevor von Ase. But, it starts with, God of thunder in 2012. So that’s the jumping on point. God of Thunder 2012. And I’ll say this, even if you just read those 25 issues of God of Thunder, it’s wonderful. So you’ll be happy with even just that. The Asad ribbage art will just knock your socks off every time.

Wrap-up and Call to Action

Dave: All right, fantastic. Well, that is it for this week’s episode of the Nerd by World podcast. we really appreciate you tuning, in for our fifth episode. we have a lot of interesting things planned in the future, so be sure to subscribe to our podcast, keep spreading, the word, to other like minded nerds, and we are looking forward to bringing you another episode next week, Chris.

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. So again, you can find us on Twitter and Instagram ird by WordPress. you can find us both individually on Twitter at nerddave and at nerdchris. you can reach our email for questions, comments, criticisms, ideas for future episodes. Nerdbywordmail.com. You can also find this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, tune in, or our. Excuse me. Or our website, nerdbyword.com. Stay well, stay nerdy.

Dave: The nerd by word is produced by two nerds, Kris and Dave, to encompass all aspects of the nerd multiverse. The theme music was written by Al Jimenez. Our show art features original art by Ash Redesign, as well as public domain comment panels. Find us online at Nerdbyword.com on Twitter and send questions and comments to Nerdbyword@gmail.com.

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