Episode 2 - A Legendary Discussion

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1. Who are we?  (Personal backstories)
1. Deacon Andrew Kinstetter
2. Sean Heller
2. Why are we doing this podcast and what’s it all about?
1. Keep in touch
2. Talk Star Wars
3. Share our random thoughts with the world.
4. Learn more about Star Wars
5. Experience the Fandom in a unique way.
3. Addendum from Episode 1
1. Han and Leia were married.  The Force Awakens novel and the Visual Guide to the Force Awakens confirm this.
2. Maz has force abilities - confirmed in the Visual Guide as well.
4. (Not So) Brief History of Legends (Thanks to the Barnes & Noble Blog by Andrew Liptak for researching this topic!)
1. Ballantine Books
1. Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976 - before the movie debuted in theaters) was ghost written by Alan Dean Foster (who also authored The Force Awakens)
2. The first official novel of the Legends universe, however, was Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (Also Alan Dean Foster) in 1978 and NOT Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire (which wouldn’t be written until May 1, 1991).
3. Han Solo books by Brian Daley (1979-1980)
4. Lando Calrissian books by L. Neil Smith (1983).
2. Bantam Books
1. 1989 Lucasfilm approved the idea to begin writing novels again, with the stipulation, the books had to be well-written, they had to be written post-ROTJ, and none of the main characters could be killed or resurrected if already dead.
2. Timothy Zahn (who originally was studying Physics when Star Wars came out in Theaters and only started writing as a hobby)  was approached in November of 1989.
3. Timothy Zahn is, of course, noted for his inspired creation of the master tactician, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, a former imperial agent, and the smuggler, Talon Karrde, in his debut Star Wars novel: Heir to the Empire (published 1991).
4. Needless to say, Timothy Zahn’s trilogy of books were a hit.  Heir to the Empire hit the New York Times bestseller list.
1. Side Note: The idea behind these novels was that these stories moved the main characters forward in time, as opposed to other Science Fiction novels, such as Star Trek, which were episodic in nature where each novel left the characters in the exact same place as they started.  Star Wars novels were pushing the characters forward to unexplored places.
5. Kathy Tyers wrote The Truce at Bakura telling the story of the immediate post-ROTJ events.
6. Kevin J. Anderson wrote the Jedi Academy Trilogy in 1994 moving the characters farther forward.  Han and Leia’s kids, Jacen and Jaina, were older and Luke Skywalker was rebuilding the Jedi Order.
7. David Wolverton wrote The Courtship of Princess Leia in 1994 (Deacon Andrew’s first read novel in the Star Wars EU!) telling the story of how Han and Leia finally got married.
5. Disney buys Lucasfilm
1. Storygroup “resets” the universe going forward on April 25, 2014.
1. Deacon Andrew was on the road with Fr. Brian Hess to a diaconate ordination at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana when this news broke.
6. Comics (Deacon Andrew)
1. Legacy Comics (Cade Skywalker)
2. 130 years after Return of the Jedi
7. Favorite Legends Material
1. Deacon Andrew
1. Most all novels post-ROTJ
1. Timothy Zahn’s novels, Jedi Academy Trilogy, Courtship of Princess Leia, New Jedi Order series, Legacy of the Force series, and Fate of the Jedi series.
2. Video Games
1. Knights of the Old Republic (and KOTOR II)
2. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
3. Star Wars: Dark Forces
4. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
5. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers (not Star Wars, but the whole Space Quest series is Star Wars related)
2. Sean Heller
1. Video Games first
1. Jedi Power Battles
2. Pod Racer
3. Rogue Squadron
4. Knights of the Old Republic(still play on PC today) 1&2
5. The old republic
6. Never really played battlefront but getting into it
7. Dark Forces
2. Then the books,
1. Andrew got me interested in them
2. Have read a few from Legends and EU
3. Revan, The ultimate companion book
4. Bane, Rule of two,
5. Really like the sith of the Old Republic
6. Tales Of Bounty Hunter  
7. Xwing
8. Why you should get into the Expanded Universe (Legends) AND the Canon books.
1. What is the purpose of stories?  Entertainment?  Sure.  Reflection on life?  Absolutely.

Why I Love Star Wars So Much

"Why do you love Star Wars so much?"

I was asked this question recently and have been pondering whether my answer adequately spoke the to the depth of how much Star Wars truly does mean to me.  Many people would respond to this question in a generic, superficial, pop-culture sort of way.  Star Wars is popular now more than ever (if the Box Office records The Force Awakens broke are any indication).  It is definitely a fun and engaging galaxy to like and enjoy and to love, where the characters are rich and real, the story is deep and emotional, and the nature of human life and love it explores is just as good as many of the great sagas of our day (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and dare I say Star Trek ;), etc.)  Now I could also answer in that same sort of generic way, namely that Star Wars is a fun (lightsaber battles and The Force!), deep (Anakin's fall to the dark side and subsequent redemption by his son, Luke), and an emotional (Han and Leia's son Ben's fall to the dark side as Kylo Ren, who kills his dad) story that I find appealing, and indeed it is, but that is not why I love it so much.  Let me explain... and I know this may seem a bit strange, but bear with me.

Darth Vader and TK-421 made an appearance at Wal-Mart.

My first introduction to Star Wars was back when I was in junior high school.  Star Wars: Attack of the Clones had just hit theaters and I was enthralled.  I loved it, perhaps not because it was an exciting movie (which it was, and I still love that movie, especially Jango Fett), but because it opened to me the world beyond the movie.  It introduced me to characters that I cared about and wanted to "hang out" with and get to know.  I began to watch the other movies and began reading the Legends novels as quickly as I could, particularly focusing on the events post Return of the Jedi.  I loved it all so much and particularly I loved the characters.  I saw in them traits that I wished I had myself, courage, strength of character, moral uprightness, and friends.  I even viewed the novels as my friends and would take every opportunity I had to read a chapter or two.  Star Wars was a great gift to me at that time and I loved every minute of it.

I couldn't resist a photo opportunity with them.

At this point in my personal life, I was in junior high and high school with relatively few friends.  Not that I was unlikeable, but I was a good student (thank you Mom and Dad) and many of my classmates resented me for it and rather than be my friend, I was bullied quite a lot.  Not physically, but definitely verbally.  I was called the "goodie-two-shoes" and the "teacher's pet" among other less than desirable names.  They made fun of me for various things (I was consistently picked last for teams in P.E.) and my love of Star Wars was also attacked.  They even wrote a horribly offensive note attacking me and said explicitly, "I can't write wookie so i hope you can understand what im writing."  Everything about me was stomped on.  The few friends that I had were never quite supportive outright when I was verbally attacked (except on a rare occasion).  I was alone and miserable.  Needless to say my time in junior high and high school was a tough and bitter time for me.  I felt worthless.  I felt like I was somehow corrupt at my very core because obviously my classmates could see the corruption and I couldn't.  Consequently, my love for Star Wars was something to be ashamed of and hidden because it only caused ridicule and shame.  I turned to academics as a way of trying to prove my goodness to the world (and to myself).  I thrived on academics and ended up becoming the valedictorian of my high school class, in a sense trying to show to myself that they were wrong about me.  Even so I never felt like I had human dignity, I never felt worthy of love.  My academic "success" left me feeling happy, yet empty.  (I do need to point out that I have wonderful and loving parents and siblings who helped me through this part of my life.  I would not be the man I am today without them!).

I dressed up as a Sith Lord for Halloween my senior year in high school. 

The Star Wars books even made an appearance in my senior pictures.

I became a closet Star Wars fan, always afraid if people knew how much I did like it, they would despise me, ridicule me, and tell me how stupid I was, even though I knew that must not be right.  As I went off to college this was true.  I continued to read the Legends novels as they were published and loved them, but again I didn't share that love with anyone.  New friends that I gained were often surprised when they saw my Star Wars book collection if they came over to my house.  I kept it to myself primarily.

Then something happened in my life that has changed me forever.  I entered the seminary and began my studies to eventually be ordained a Catholic priest (coming soon in May of 2016!).  Seminary formation has been the biggest grace and challenge in my entire life.  It has helped form me into the man I am today by helping me to pray and move closer to God, but also to grow on a human level as a man.  I was carrying so much garbage with me into seminary (low self-esteem, self-hatred, timidity, shame, lies regarding my own worth and dignity as a human person).  Slowly, after years in seminary, I began to understand that I wasn't corrupt like I had believed for years (ever since my time in junior high and high school).  I began to understand that I was a Beloved Son of God the Father and that very fact made me incredible precious in His sight.  No matter how anybody treated me, ever, could change that.  God helped me to look back on my life and see that my classmates, in bullying me, were not speaking to the truth of who I was, but who they were.  And rather than telling me that I was a corrupt and horrible person, they were telling me that they, themselves, were broken and lacking in love.  But I, in my adolescence, did not understand this truth and took on all the shame that wasn't mine to gain.  I let go of my resentment towards them and began to live out of the truth that I am loved by God and that is all that matters.

So, "how does Star Wars fit into all of this?" you may ask.  As I have embraced my identity as a Beloved Son of God the Father, I have come to realize that everything about me is precious and good (as long as I'm not sinning), including Star Wars.  The past year or so I have become vocal in my fandom for Star Wars.  I have realized that liking Star Wars is not a shameful thing, but it is actually a part of what makes me, me!  It is a hobby that I have and I am no longer ashamed of it.  Embracing my love for Star Wars is, in a real sense, a reclamation of my childlike innocence that I lost in junior high and high school.  After being bullied, I pushed that childlike wonder and awe in the galactic story of Star Wars aside because I thought it somehow made me detestable, and have only, in recent years, re-embraced that childlike wonder and awe in my fandom of Star Wars because I understand the truth about who I am.  This is why I created this website and podcast with my friend, Sean Heller.  It allows me to have a lot of fun with that pure, childlike attitude in a story that connects people all across the world.

The above pictures were taken at the Colorado Symphony where they performed Star Wars music (May 2015).

At the opening night of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

So why do I love Star Wars so much?  Because it is a reminder to me of the purity and goodness within me as a beloved child of God.  

Why do you love Star Wars?

May God bless you all!

Episode 1 - The Podcast Awakens

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Show Notes for Episode 1:

• Topic of this show, The Force Awakens.
• Best Reveal?
• Millennium Falcon? (“The garbage will do.”)
• Han and Chewie boarding the Falcon?
• Kylo as Han and Leia’s Son?
• Kylo Ren’s face?
• Ben Solo as birthname?
• Luke Skywalker at the end?
• Parallels/callbacks to A New Hope
• Desert Planet
• Droid on a mission
• Planet/moon super weapon with a small but possible chance to be destroyed, which is exploited
• Maz’s pirate base = Mos Eisely Cantina
• Dejarik board
• Lightsaber training ball
• What made this movie work?
• Practical Effects (BB-8, Aliens in costume/puppets)
• Not giving us the whole story (lot’s of unexplained references like in A New Hope)
• No substantial explanation to the rise of the First Order/Resistance and what happened
• Gives viewers the impression that this story is only one part of an already established universe
• Legendary (get it?) Inspirations
• New Republic forces against the remnants of the Empire
• Han and Leia’s Son turning dark (Legacy of the Force)
• Jacen Solo > Darth Caedus sacrificing Mara Jade Skywalker to assume the mantle of Sith Lord
• Ben Solo > Kylo Ren sacrificing Han Solo to complete his descent to the darkness.
• Planet Weapon that destroys a Sun (Suncrusher - Jedi Academy Trilogy)
• Luke’s first lightsaber found and passed on - to Mara Jade (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Anakin_Skywalker%27s_second_lightsaber)
• Han and Leia separate.
• In the New Jedi Order when Chewbacca dies, Han temporary leaves Leia in order to grieve and returns to some of his smuggling ways (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_New_Jedi_Order:_Agents_of_Chaos_I:_Hero's_Trial).
• In The Force Awakens, when Ben Solo betrays Luke, Han and Leia split to deal with it in their own way.
• Rey
• The Scavenger
• Finn
• Finn is naive in a funny and good way, not in an annoying way.
• Poe Dameron
• BB-8
• Kylo Ren
• Supreme Leader Snoke
• Darth Plageus
• Some crazy fan theory its Vader.
• Hans Demise
• Relationship with Leia
• Married?  I hope so.
• Planet as a Death Star?
• Journey to find Luke
• Who is Rey?
• Luke’s daughter?
• Lightsaber legacy (Anakin, Luke, Rey…)
• Naturally strong in the Force
• Han and Leia’s daughter?
• Natural piloting ability of the Millennium Falcon
• Han is a “fatherly figure” she never had
• A third party?
• Notice when Maz asks Han “Who’s the girl?” the scene cuts to Finn and we don’t hear his answer.  Perhaps he actually knows who she is and we don’t get to hear it.
• Also notice Kylo Ren’s particular obsession with “the girl.’  Perhaps he knows who she truly is as well.
• Final Thoughts
• Wrap up
• Next episode topic announced, Possibly talking about the Legends universe as a general idea, and disney making a canon.

There has been an awakening...

Sean and I have been busy working on starting up a Star Wars themed podcast (a dream hobby we've both had) and finally it has come to fruition!  At least initially.  We finally sat down last night after months of throwing the idea around and recorded Episode 1 of Club Bwua'Tu!  Our topic focused primarily on Star Wars: The Force Awakens as it was our first conversation with each other regarding the movie (intentionally) and we also discussed our first experience with the Star Wars universe in general.  Afterwards we realized that we never quite explained the premise of our podcast and didn't really explain who we are...so stay tuned for those in Episode 2!

Anyways, have a listen and bear with us as we figure out this whole podcasting world and remember that this podcast is first and foremost a way for Sean and I to keep in touch and talk Star Wars and is not meant to be more than that.  If you find you like listening to Sean and I talk Star Wars, then feel free to join us!

Twitter: @clubbwuatu
-Deacon Andrew Kinstetter @akinstetter
-Sean Heller @mistermavrick90