Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
Minisode: Getting Into Star Wars
Ever wondered where to begin your journey through the Star Wars galaxy? Look no further! On this special minisode of Project Geekology, Dakota and Anthony promise to guide you through the ultimate Star Wars experience, from your first step into the iconic original trilogy to tackling the complexities of the prequels and the latest series like The Mandalorian and The Acolyte. Our personal stories and insights will help you navigate this rich tapestry of science fiction and fantasy, ensuring you know exactly where to start and what to explore next in this epic saga.
We'll also dive into the expansive world of Star Wars media tie-ins, showing you how to enrich your experience with animated series, novels, comics, and video games. Discover why watching the main films is crucial before branching out to The Clone Wars and Rebels. Plus, we'll share our top picks for must-play games like Jedi: Fallen Order and Battlefront 2(campaign), which add deeper layers to the narrative. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned fan, this episode is your comprehensive guide to exploring Star Wars in all its legendary forms. Grab your time sabers and join us on this stellar adventure!
Twitter handles:
Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekology
Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswow
Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectGeekology
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9y
Geekritique (Dakota):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA
A NEW Kind of Star Wars Timeline (Download a FREE Copy Now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5_TNU1_twQ&t
Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow
Welcome to a minisode of Project Geekology. I am one of your hosts, anthony, and joining me, as always, is Dakota. Well Dakota this is actually. I think this is your first minisode, right?
Speaker 2:I feel very honored. I'm very honored to be on this podcast right now. I've never personally done a minisode. Like I said, I'm humbled. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I've been the one that has been doing most of the mini-sodes. So, yeah, this mini-sode we're going to be. You know, we talked about it last week. We're going to be covering, you know, like, what's a good jumping point for Star Wars? I guess, like, depending on where you are in Star Wars, I mean, if you're brand new, or if you've been in for a little while and you don't know where to go, you know. So get out your time sabers, and you know so so, yeah, I came up with this idea.
Speaker 2:I pitched it to Anthony because I've gotten a couple DMs and comments over the past couple weeks as I've been working on my star wars timeline that I was working on, which is now released. It's called the time saber. You can find it a link to download that in the description below. But I've gotten a lot of dms from people who have either never watched star wars or haven't fully gotten into star wars and they just they they want an end, they want to understand, like, what do I need to know to like jump into this? Where do I start? Do I start with the prequels? Do I start with the original trilogy? Do I start with the acolyte?
Speaker 2:And and there's a number of answers that we can give you and we're gonna just try to maneuver through the galaxy, not just the movies and shows, but like, if you have already seen the shows but you want to get into some of the books, maybe, or some of the video games, I I know, anthony, you've played a lot more of the star wars video games than I have and I've read a lot more of the star wars books than you have, so it'll be a good kind of back and forth with that kind of stuff. So I'm excited to talk about just our experience with star wars and how we would introduce this to others. And have you ever had the like you know opportunity to introduce star wars to another person?
Speaker 1:I have. I actually have it's. It's a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful thing. It is a beautiful thing. I I introduced an ex-girlfriend into the star wars fold and she became a pretty big fan afterwards. So you know pretty much awesome. Yeah, it's keeping up with a lot of the animated stuff and checking out that stuff.
Speaker 2:I mean, look, I got the ball rolling, but she kept it going which I think is is just such a cool like thing with star wars is that it's a constantly growing universe, it's a constantly growing galaxy and there's so many jumping on points and you know ways that you can expand your knowledge and just your exposure to this galaxy. So a brief overview Star Wars is not necessarily a fantasy film. It's not necessarily science fiction, but some people call it science fantasy, but some people call it science fantasy. It's kind of like a space opera where, like, you're not going to get like hard science fiction stuff where every single thing in this universe makes sense from a scientific perspective but you're also not going to get the typical fantasy you know, like dragons and swords and all that. It's all.
Speaker 2:It's a blend of both genres and in 1977 the director of the original star wars, george lucas, created this masterpiece and it's it's now considered the fourth movie in in the skywalker saga, which comprises nine films. So the first movie that came out was just originally called star wars and later it was re-retitled uh, star or star wars, episode 4 a new hope. The second movie, like it, was retitled Star Wars, episode IV A New Hope. The second movie, like it, was Empire Strikes Back. It was later retitled Episode V, the Empire Strikes Back. And you know, the third movie in that trilogy is now retitled Episode VI, return of the Jedi. So that is the original trilogy that came out between 1977, 1983, spawns millions, millions and millions of fans and and the imagination of so many, and it's it's probably the most influential film of all time, probably outside of, like the wizard of oz or something like that, you know and just to think, the creator of star wars didn't even bet on his own movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a story in and of itself, but there's a story that he and Spielberg the Spielberg were betting on each other's films as being, like, the more successful one. I believe the movie in question that George Lucas was betting on was Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Speaker 1:It was.
Speaker 2:And Spielberg made a bet about star wars basically, and I forget what the actual stakes were in the bet, but it basically led to ludicrous sums of money over the years to spielberg's pocket, because I think it was like a portion of the proceeds of this movie.
Speaker 1:So crazy, like well you know I mean, look spielberg, he has a good eye and you know you probably got a glimpse of it.
Speaker 2:You know he, you know I could imagine that spielberg came to set, saw the stuff was really like sold on it and, you know, had like a really good intuition about it and yeah, boom, here we are so fast forward, almost, you know, 15 years later, the movies get re-released in the 90s, the late 90s, in the lead up to this new trilogy that george lucas is working on, which begins with episode one, the phantom menace, in 99, then attack of the clones in 2002, and episode three, revenge of the sones, in 2002, and Episode 3, revenge of the Sith, in 2005.
Speaker 2:And that, for you know, in that period of time these films were mostly maligned, you know, like people outside of, like you know, us, who were growing up with these films and loved them, the general fan base kind of hated them, you know, and they kind of bullied George Lucas away from, like certain plot lines, like there's a reason why there are some characters that aren't like super prominent him, you know, and they kind of bullied George Lucas away from, like certain plot lines, like there's a reason why there are some characters that aren't like super prominent later on in the prequels, like the Jar Jar Binks character, who you may or may not know of.
Speaker 2:We're gonna stray from any spoiler discussions in this minisode just so that you feel comfortable, you know, learning and exploring the Star Wars universe with us without having to worry about whether or not we're gonna spoil anything we want you to experience and enjoy that for the the first time, without us dropping any huge plot lines right in the interim between the prequels and the sequels that exist now, george lucas created a, a children's tv series called the clone wars and it's a beloved tv series that kept getting better every season.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of people think that is a good place for some people to, you know, get into the movies, especially if you're starting with the prequels. We'll talk a little bit about like why that might not be the like a really good entry or whatever in a bit, but maybe a little confused, you will be confused.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I don't recommend that, but we'll talk about that in a sec. And then in 2012, during the height of the clone wars I think it was like season four or five disney bought lucasfilm and star wars, you know. So disney now owns the rights to star wars, indiana jones willow and a couple other properties from throughout the years and, come 2015, the first of the sequels comes out the Force Awakens. Two years later. This is where it kind of starts going crazy with new content actually, because you had in 2015, the Force Awakens, then in 2016, rogue One, then in 2017, the Last Jedi, 2018, you had Solo and then 2019, you had the Rise of Skywalker.
Speaker 1:So it was a lot of movies in very quick succession, and then we haven't had a new star wars film in the past five years since right, right and the rise of skywalker, and then also towards the end of 2019, with the launch of disney plus, we get the mandalorian also, but yes, yes, so I know that sounds a bit crazy with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're giving an overview right now, Right, right right, we're giving a little bit of an overview.
Speaker 1:I would say, you know, as far as entry point into Star Wars, I feel like and I know that this is probably, you know, I don't, depending on whoever it is, you know they'll probably want to crucify me, but it is what it is. But I feel like if you go with prequels first, that's okay. If you want to go with release order first, that is also okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I agree. I think that those are the two main entry points into the Star Wars series. I think it's foolish if you decide to start with the disney era star wars movies, not because they're bad I love most of them but they are very clear sequels, whereas the original trilogy only kind of hinted at stuff before and so you can jump onto that and, even though you know it's a little outdated with certain things, they still look and are great movies, like fantastic movies, game-changing movies, with the prequels you kind of get. The prequels have also aged a little bit at the same time, but they pioneered new technology, just like the original trilogy. The prequels were the first. Really, I think Attack of the Clones was the first true digital movie ever filmed on digital instead of film.
Speaker 2:The phantom menace, the first movie is the first movie that had a fully cgi character interacting with humans for a good portion of the movie, that being jar jar binks.
Speaker 2:So these pioneered new tech and that was one of the goals of george lucas, like he wanted to do something new with these movies and he did that with each movie that he was involved with. So I love it for that and I think that when you go into the prequels for a first-timer, it changes the experience in an interesting way because you don't like, hypothetically, you have no knowledge of what happens in the original trilogy. You get to experience the Star Wars story told in a way that most original trilogy. You get to experience the star wars story told in a way that most people will never get to experience. That you know. If you actually like, follow it from the chronological beginning of phantom menace through to the end of the rise of skywalker. You will see a, you know a through line throughout. That is really powerful. Not that you won't get that with the original trilogy, and I do still recommend starting with the original trilogy, but I don't think starting with the prequels is a bad idea if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Right, right, that makes sense. So I would say starting with the original trilogy is more coming from like a rite of passage type of deal. Like you know, a lot of people who grew up on star wars like before all this content came out, such as dakota and I and numerous other people, like that's what I watched when I grew up. I watched the original trilogy because that's all that existed, you know. So if you want to watch it from that kind of sense, like the way people like us and like older experience star wars and have a connection to the fan base in that kind of way, that is a really interesting aspect. But if you're somebody that you know especially, like you know I mean dakota, you know would appreciate this too. I mean, if you're somebody that's, like, very into following the timeline of something, and if you want to follow something in order, then by all means go with it. Haven't?
Speaker 2:watched any star wars because I've introduced people to the mandalorian, because it's kind of, for the most part the mandalorian is kind of a one-of-a-kind sort of thing where it's a you know episodic series on disney plus that follows a character you know protecting this other character and it's. You don't need too much information, you don't need any information for the first season. As far as, like the rest of the star wars galaxy goes, you'll learn it as you go exactly, yeah, there's, that's what I was.
Speaker 2:There's an actor there's an actor on the show, bill burr, a very popular comedian, who wasn't a fan of star wars. He had never seen stars. He didn't understand what was going on, but john favreau, the producer of the mandalorian, basically said no, no, no, this is just. This is a star wars thing. You're just gonna, you just do it, you'll get it and it'll look, it'll be great. And it turned out. Like you know, he's one of the best characters on that show, in my opinion. He's such a good character and he became a fan of star wars through that role. So it's it's possible to start with the Mandalorian, but it does get tricky, like once you get to the end of the second season, I think.
Speaker 1:It's a yeah, I would say like kind of throughout. You know you may be a little safe in the beginning of season two, but yeah, they start incorporating elements from the larger you know, yeah, the larger narrative. So if you do want to kind of check out something that's Star Wars related and you know you don't want to like you kind of want to, like some, watch something that's episodic and not like a movie, then yeah, like I mean, that is a really good show, it's really cool. It plays out differently than the rest of star wars at least that first season does. It's very much so, like I, I would say that you're, if you're somebody that's a really big fan of the tv show firefly, then you would love that show okay, yeah it does.
Speaker 2:It definitely has that like cowboy western vibe with past season two. When you get into like the spin-off shows like book of boba, fett and ahsoka, I don't think that's a good. Those are good places to start watching star wars at all. But if you, if you start with mandalorian season one, watch season two and get interested by the characters that are introduced in the series that have bigger meanings in the star wars universe, then I would go back to the original trilogy, then I would go back to the prequels and learn about the galaxy and what has happened up to this point to get to the mandalorian, because it takes place after most of those movies. So yeah, I think those are the three places that I would suggest a newcomer to start with is either the mandalorian tv show through the first two seasons. Don't jump into season three until after you watch a couple movies, the original trilogy being the optimal version of, you know, the optimal starting spot and then the prequels yeah, I would definitely.
Speaker 1:I mean of all that, I would definitely recommend hopping into the movies, maybe first. Yes, just, you know, kind of get more. You know, I feel like it. It equates you to star wars a lot more yeah you can.
Speaker 1:You can enjoy the show the mandalorian, especially that first season, without watching it. You know, if you you know you want to check out like a different show, so related to star wars, but nothing with too many jedi or anything, then yeah, definitely that first season is going to be great for you. But yeah, I would definitely hop into the movies and, like we said, you can start with the prequels, you can start with the original trilogy. Just start with those before hopping into the sequel trilogy. If you go with original trilogy, watch those Double back and go to the prequel trilogy, then go to the sequel trilogy. Or if you just want to go straight through prequels, original sequels, just make sure that you watch those first two first.
Speaker 2:Trilogies yeah, those first two first trilogies.
Speaker 2:trilogies yeah, yeah those first two trilogies first, before you hop into that sequel trilogy so we have to talk a little bit about the animated series in conjunction with stuff like the live action mandalorian show, because we have. We have these shows that are easier to get into for the vast majority of people, which is like the mand, mandalorian and stuff. But you do have Clone Wars, which bridges the storylines between Episode 2 and Episode 3, where there's a galactic war that's happening throughout the entire galaxy between two warring sides and the Jedi are caught in the center of it, the Jedi being the heroes of the story in the center of it, the jedi being the the heroes of the story. And then you have another show called star wars rebels, which kind of comes closer to the original trilogy. It's like right before the original trilogy and like all that. You also have when what do you think that you would watch stuff like rogue one and solo on a chronological watch, or would you watch the skywalker saga first and then go back to those other movies?
Speaker 1:so if I was somebody that wanted to watch, if I was going straight chronological media, then and I'm just sticking to the movies then maybe incorporate them. But if you want to just stick with the main narrative storyline of the skywalker saga, then you don't need them. Rogue one and solo are supplementary films. They're not exactly super important for, like, I mean, they explain like important stuff, they show how certain things happened, or you know the intro to han solo. But I feel like you don't really need, you don't have to worry about it too much until maybe, like, if you want to come back and watch them and kind of fill in the blanks, just like you know we're talking about the animated series. You may watch through this prequel trilogy and understand that there's a lot of plot holes or there's some stuff missing. That show fills in a lot of plot holes. That explains a lot of different aspects. That may give you a fuller picture of the period between episode two and three and why certain things happen. You know it makes.
Speaker 2:It makes things make sense yeah, but when it comes to the animated series, whether it be the clone wars or rebels or star wars resistance. Definitely watch the movies that occur around those time periods prior to watching those animated series, absolutely just it colors.
Speaker 2:It colors in the entire like scene of the galaxy. You know like. Definitely watch the prequels, like all the prequels, before touching the clone wars series. Definitely watch all of the original trilogy before watching rebels. Definitely watch the prequels, like all the prequels, before touching the Clone Wars series. Definitely watch all of the original trilogy before watching Rebels. Definitely watch the sequel trilogy before watching Resistance. Those are, like we said, supplementary, but they do enhance your experience.
Speaker 1:They do. They do Just kind of like the novels too, like the novels aren't like 100% essential but they cover like periods of you know, like they cover gaps or they that are or things that are going on around. You know movies and TV shows that are happening around that particular period. But, you know, would you also agree that, like you know, the books are like supplementary and you don't have to worry about hopping into books right away. You could stick with the movies, just like straight up movies.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can, definitely. You don't need to ever touch a Star Wars novel, a Star Wars comic book, a Star Wars video game to understand the story of Star Wars. You know it doesn't make you a bigger fan if you've read all of them or read none of them. You can. Just you know you're a Star Wars fan. Welcome to the club.
Speaker 1:Right, I mean honestly you could just stick with the movies and be fine.
Speaker 2:Before we jump into like media tie-in stuff, I just want to briefly touch on the the show the acolyte. I highly discourage anyone from starting watching star wars there. Not not because it's bad or anything like that, even though you know you will probably hear that online that it is bad from certain certain group of people. It's just it's so far removed from the star wars story that we know because it's 100 years prior to even the prequels, so it it's just a bad spot and right now we don't know there's not a lot going on in that time period.
Speaker 2:So if you really like the acolyte, you're not going to get anything like that later on, you know so just wait for your love of star wars to grow before jumping into the acolyte is what I'm, what I'm trying to say absolutely, and the cool thing about star Wars is that I feel like it has pieces of media that appease too many people.
Speaker 1:You know like, if you're somebody who really loves to read, awesome, there's so many like Star Wars novels and comics and graphic novels and stuff. If you're a gamer dude, there's a bunch of like in canon video games too. So yeah.
Speaker 2:So let's talk a little bit about that, because you know, some of you probably have watched the show, a lot of you probably watch the films, but I've never gotten into the wider stuff. How about we'll start with video games canon video games that you should probably check out and, anthony, you can probably take the the reins on that and we'll talk a little bit about novels and stuff that you might be interested in afterwards so I would say one of my top just absolute top series that they have going on is the Jedi series.
Speaker 1:There's Jedi Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor. Obviously you want to play Jedi Fallen order first before you play jedi survivor, because I mean jedi survivor it's a sequel and it's you know. Some people may tell you like you know, no, no, no, you could play survivor, but now you definitely want to play fallen order. One, because it's an amazing game, and two, you know there's going to be elements that you would miss if you skip the game. And these games cover the period between revenge of the sith and a new hope yeah, it's like right, right, smack dab in the middle of that time period exactly, and we have some.
Speaker 1:So there's also some other games that are technically canon, that are not. They're not really essential to the story. But, like you know, we have star wars, battlefront.
Speaker 2:You know there's one and two like the newer ones, and battlefront 2 had a pretty significant story or campaign mode it, did, it, did it which which kind of pushed the confines of the original trilogy out a little bit, so you found out what happened next.
Speaker 2:So I I do think that, while it's not like, it's not like, like we said, this is supplemental storytelling to the actual films, but it does color in this universe, especially if you like that era, especially like of return of the jedi, you like that film, you want to play something like that. Jump into battlefront 2.
Speaker 1:It's a great, great storyline right, yeah, it does cover kind of like a period of of like right before return of the jedi and then like after that and then like towards the beginning of of like the resistance era and what's cool about battlefront is that you're actually following the villains as they come to realize that, oh crap, we're villains you know yeah so I I think that was a really cool twist yeah, it adds a a pretty cool perspective that you know that there are.
Speaker 1:Definitely it makes sense that there would be people that would defect from the empire because, you know, not everybody in the empire is, like you know, rotten to the core. That's just a job to them. And then, like you kind of realize like, oh, what we're doing is really bad, yeah, and that's essentially that story. So so there's that.
Speaker 2:I know that we have some trying to think there's a couple vr games, but I feel like that's a harder thing to like oh yeah, it's just not a yeah not a popular media there's a couple of of star wars vr games that like we don't really have to get too much into.
Speaker 1:There's tales from galaxy's edge I mean that's very supplemental. There's vader immortal. Oh well, there's also star wars squadrons if you're really cool into like flight sim stuff or like space. I heard squadrons had a pretty cool story too yes, yes, squadrons is really cool and I got to actually try it out with the hands on throttle and stick, so like actually using a flight stick to like play the game. Yeah yeah yeah, it's really cool all right.
Speaker 2:So let's let's jump into some novels, because even though there are a ton of really great comic book runs that exist within the star wars canon, my, my real love when it comes to like tie-in stuff is like the novels, so some of my favorite stuff happens to. I'll just talk about a couple books that I I think really are worth your while if you are into different types of star wars content. A new book that came out called the Living Force. This is by John Jackson Miller. It's basically a yearony dark disciple. Yes, is fantastic, especially if you've finished, if you've gone through the entirety of the clone wars and you're, you need a little bit more of that. Dark disciple is really good. And there's another one called brotherhood that came out a couple years back that is the very start of the clone wars by mike chen, and it's a really great anakin and obiWan book. You know, if you want to experience more of their being, you know, by the end of Attack of the Clones, obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are no longer master and apprentice. You know, anakin has become a knight at the at the end of that. So no, he hasn't become a knight yet, but he will. And that book is that story of him becoming a Jedi Knight, and it's really, it's really, it's really good. So that's what I highly recommend.
Speaker 2:If you want to get more into like young adult stuff, one of the best books that you can read is the lost stars young adult novel, which basically takes you through the eyes of two other individuals who are not in the original trilogy, but it shows the events of the original trilogy from like, both sides of the war and it ends just spectacularly. It's one of the best star wars books around and more recently they've jumped into like the high republic period which you know. That's a whole other beast, you know in terms of where to start with that and where I would suggest starting with. The high republic is the first novel which, anthony, you've read and we've actually covered on the show before the light of the jedi. It's just such a great read. It introduces you to so many great characters and it introduces you to an entire era that we've never explored before, and I think that, for me, was the most exciting bit and then we get two other books.
Speaker 2:Out of that, it becomes like, I think, like a trilogy becomes a trilogy of adult novels, but there's also young adult, not young adult novels and junior novels and comic books and it's a whole publishing initiative. But definitely, if you're going to start with anything high republic maybe, save for the acolyte, I would say I would say start with light of the Jedi. You can watch Acolyte without having read the High Republic at all. But if you're interested in getting into the books and stuff, definitely start with Light of the Jedi. It's just fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely, it's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2:Anthony, any final thoughts? For people who are trying to not only get into Star Wars for the first time, like expand their reach within the Star Wars universe?
Speaker 1:if you are interested in kind of looking, if you want to see something visually. As far as a timeline, dakota has a really great time saber whip thing that he created. We're gonna put it in the show notes. He has a whole video about it. He also has a free copy for pretty much anybody to download if they want to download it and if you really really like it and you want like a higher res version of that. He has that over on his patreon but we will put that video along with his channel in the show notes and so you can go and check that out and that video could be like a really good supplement to this episode. And, yeah, like you know, anything else that you had no, thank you for.
Speaker 2:Thank you for plugging that product that I was working on yeah.
Speaker 2:So the time saver it's. You'll find it in the show notes. It's a project that I've been working on for a long time. It tries to collect everything within canon or as much as canon as possible into a singular timeline, from comic books to video games, to movies and shows. I try to capture everything. Obviously, I don't expect anyone to read and experience everything linearly, like on a chronological thing, linearly like on a chronological thing, but if you want to experience or if you want to visualize what the universe looked like at this era, what was going on in other parts of the galaxy during certain eras, this is a really cool tool. But anyway, guys, this mini, so it has gone on for a little bit longer than we expected, so we're going to call it quits here. Thank you so much for listening to us here on project ecology, and again, you'll find any links to anything that we mentioned in our show notes, including our socials. Thanks, guys, have a good one. Bye, may the force be with you.
