Sahara

12/03/17 • 62 min

Join Rohan, Baz and Humphrey Bogart on a perilous journey through the Libyan desert in this week's episode of the Force Material podcast!
There's only a few days left to speculate about The Last Jedi before the first real spoilers will start hitting the web, so we're starting off today's show by breaking down all the revelations from Rolling Stone's Last Jedi cover story.

What does Daisy Ridley's departure after Episode IX mean for the future of the franchise? How will Carrie Fisher's passing be handled on-screen? Why is Adam Driver being cagey about Kylo Ren's age? When will we find out who Rey's parents are? And is there really a master plan behind the new canon, or are they just making it all up as they go along?

Then, in our feature presentation, we're going back to director Rian Johnson's film camp to examine another film that Johnson required the cast and crew of The Last Jedi to watch before they began production.

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Sahara (1943) tells the unforgettable story of the American tank Lulu Belle, and the man who loved her as if she were a woman.

It's about 10 men, lost in the desert; men with parched tongues and tortured minds, searching frantically for life-giving water, surrounded by a hostile army, and fighting treachery from within.

We think it'll have a big influence on the scenes set on Crait in The Last Jedi, as The Resistance makes its valiant last stand...

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Sahara (1943) tells the unforgettable story of the American tank Lulu Belle, and the man who loved her as if she were a woman.

It's about 10 men, lost in the desert; men with parched tongues and tortured minds, searching frantically for life-giving water, surrounded by a hostile army, and fighting treachery from within.

We think it'll have a big influence on the scenes set on Crait in The Last Jedi, as The Resistance makes its valiant last stand...

Previous Episode

Gunga Din

This week’s Force Material podcast is all about two-fisted tomfoolery and problematic poetry, as we break down why 1939’s Gunga Din is actually part of the Star Wars universe!
This week’s Force Material podcast is all about two-fisted tomfoolery and problematic poetry, as we break down why 1939’s Gunga Din is actually part of the Star Wars universe!

Oh, sure, it may not get Pablo Hidalgo’s official tick of approval - but we’re pretty sure Gunga Din is canon, and we explain why on this week’s episode!
Our breakdown of the 1939 RKO classic marks the fourth entry in our series on director Rian Johnson’s ‘film camp’, the range of classic films Johnson required his cast and crew to watch before they began filming The Last Jedi.
We discuss why the film could never be made today, its deep ties to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Lucasfilm lore, and the hints that it offers us about the events of The Last Jedi!
The film also gives us an opportunity to dig into the origins of the Gungans, and the connection that Jar Jar Binks has with our very own hometown of Brisbane!
We also give our takes on the recent announcements of an all-new trilogy of Star Wars films and a live-action Star Wars TV series!
The Force Material podcast - come for the Star Wars analysis; stay for the surprisingly moving dramatic readings of 19th-century colonialist poetry.

If you liked this episode, check out our earlier entries in the Film Camp series on Three Outlaw Samurai, To Catch A Thief and Twelve O’Clock High!
The episode of DorkLair with the sweet Snoke theory that we reference in this week’s show can be found here.

Next Episode

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Madness! Madness! We're revisiting one of the all-time great war films for clues about The Last Jedi and making our final predictions in this week's episode of the Force Material podcast!
This episode will be our last before The Last Jedi premieres and renders all of our idle speculation moot, so first up this week, we're putting it all on the table and making our final Episode VIII predictions.

Who are Rey's parents? Is she just a random, or is the Force strong with her family?

Is Snoke just a bloke, or is he actually a classic character back from the dead?

How will it all end? What will the state of the galaxy look like heading into Episode IX?

Bookmark this episode so you can see just how wrong all our guesses turn out to be when the film opens next week!

Then, in our feature presentation, we're going back to director Rian Johnson's film camp to watch another of the films he made his cast and crew watch before they began shooting The Last Jedi.

Directed by David Lean, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) tells the story of a British officer and POW, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (played by Old Ben Kenobi himself, Sir Alec Guinness), who forms an unlikely working relationship with his Japanese captor, Colonel Saito (played by the utterly fascinating Sessue Hayakwawa).

We're breaking down how Kwai relates to the other films in Johnson's program, and which recurring themes and scenarios pop up again here.

And, mostly, we're just marveling at how bloody brilliant this 60-year-old film continues to be - especially that electrifying finale.