WOOT 0080: SPOILER FILLED Discussion of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

12/24/19 • 128 min

SPOILER FILLED EPISODE: On this week’s Way Off Our Topic (WOOT) episode, we try to review the most recent Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker”. We try to get a broad range of opinions from relatively hard core Star Wars fans to fans who have seen the movies and we also range from 11 years old to over 50. In general, we all liked the movie. We had issues with some parts, but in general, the internet backlash is much stronger than any of us felt it should be. With us this week, we had returning Guest Jeff with his son Josh (11), returning guest Craiggers with his son Noah (18), along with Vicki and Bill.

Highlights and Discussion centers on the following points:

1) Our individual Star Wars history and fandom

2) An in-depth review of most of the major points of “The Rise of Skywalker” along with several discussions along the way, as well as our usual trivia bits

3) Jeff discusses Roger Bannister’s breaking of the 4-minute mile

4) New canon and force capabilities expansion

5) The very full nature of this movie plot and Craig’s very likely theory

6) Potential editing choices/options to simplify the movie and add more to sections and/or stakes to the movie

7) Is Hux really Biff

8) Force users: anyone vs by birthright/family lineage

9) Acting comparison between prequels and sequels

10) The Han Solo cameo and would it have happened is Carrie Fisher had not passed away

11) Luke’s change in tone vs Episode 8

12) Overall thoughts and rating of the movie

13) Impact of Carrie Fisher’s death on the movie and plot points

14) Star Wars: Disney vs Lucas films, Closer than you would think

15) Retcon of The Last Jedi/Episode 8

16) Favorite characters, both lead and supporting

17) Coolest Light Saber of the entire series

18) The Star Wars family tree discussion and significant Naboo commonality

19) The original sequel trilogy layout vs what we saw

Our Final Ratings:

Jeff: Wanted to shift focus and expand upon certain other areas 8.0

Josh: Too Complex, 8.0

Craig: Sith level avoidance, as would be expected, but 8.0

Noah: Avoided, rather similarly, Sith in training? 7.0

Vicki: Still shipping Ben and Rey to a 8.0

Bill: 8.5, not quite a 9 as was thought upon first viewing

And finally a check in on The Mandalorian through episode 7 and a bit about The Witcher

Did we cover everything? If not, let us know in the comments and we may have a part 2.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights and Discussion centers on the following points:

1) Our individual Star Wars history and fandom

2) An in-depth review of most of the major points of “The Rise of Skywalker” along with several discussions along the way, as well as our usual trivia bits

3) Jeff discusses Roger Bannister’s breaking of the 4-minute mile

4) New canon and force capabilities expansion

5) The very full nature of this movie plot and Craig’s very likely theory

6) Potential editing choices/options to simplify the movie and add more to sections and/or stakes to the movie

7) Is Hux really Biff

8) Force users: anyone vs by birthright/family lineage

9) Acting comparison between prequels and sequels

10) The Han Solo cameo and would it have happened is Carrie Fisher had not passed away

11) Luke’s change in tone vs Episode 8

12) Overall thoughts and rating of the movie

13) Impact of Carrie Fisher’s death on the movie and plot points

14) Star Wars: Disney vs Lucas films, Closer than you would think

15) Retcon of The Last Jedi/Episode 8

16) Favorite characters, both lead and supporting

17) Coolest Light Saber of the entire series

18) The Star Wars family tree discussion and significant Naboo commonality

19) The original sequel trilogy layout vs what we saw

Our Final Ratings:

Jeff: Wanted to shift focus and expand upon certain other areas 8.0

Josh: Too Complex, 8.0

Craig: Sith level avoidance, as would be expected, but 8.0

Noah: Avoided, rather similarly, Sith in training? 7.0

Vicki: Still shipping Ben and Rey to a 8.0

Bill: 8.5, not quite a 9 as was thought upon first viewing

And finally a check in on The Mandalorian through episode 7 and a bit about The Witcher

Did we cover everything? If not, let us know in the comments and we may have a part 2.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Previous Episode

GHIT 0079: Zack Klapman is Our Special Guest

Zack Klapman is a car guy through and through and was our guest for this week’s episode. You may know him from the Smoking Tire podcast and YouTube channel or from seeing him on air on the NBC /Drive show or as a producer for /Drive as well as several other television shows like “Proving Grounds”. We were able to talk with Zack quite a bit about his overall car interests and how he began working in the area. As usual, he was a decade long in the making overnight success who made it through perseverance and constant hustle.

On this episode we covered:

1) How the recent NASA 25 Hours at Thunderhill race weekend went in their Spec E46 with all the rain and then the mud

2) Zack’s background and what he is involved with currently, both as on-air talent, as a writer, and as a producer.

3) How YouTube videos and channels have changed since The Smoking Tire originated

4) How did cars get into Zack’s blood and what his interests are at this point and in the future. Hint: He does not seem picky, lol.

5) His first Lemons race and the fun of passing a slot machine race car

6) His goals include racing in virtually all endurance racing series including AER, Lemons, Lucky Dog, Champ Car, WRL, etc. and a whole host of tracks across the US and around the world

7) We discuss his (hopefully) upcoming appearance on the “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” show. We think it would be perfect for him.

8) Crazy stories from his past TV and video work, such as his very hot lap with Chris Harris at the Nürburgring that involved some of Chris’s serious driving skills being on full display

9) Driving through Morocco while filming with a relatively small tv crew.

10) His initial learning on how to wrench on a car in a pre-YouTube era without ChrisFix

11) A very entertaining and funny Good, Bad and the Ugly segment that included some cars you never expected to hear on our podcast

12) Several audience questions

13) His upcoming driving lessons with Kevin Madsen

We ended with a few basic outlines of our team and how we started and a few tips that Zack wasn’t aware of yet as a relatively new to racing driver that may help you as well.

To follow Zack, please use his social media accounts or catch the following series:

Twitter @ ZackKlapman

Instagram: FakeZackKlapman

The Smoking Tire Podcast

/Drive on NBC Sports and iTunes

Proving Grounds on NBC Sports

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

#GarageHeroesInTraining

#GarageHeroesInTrainingPodcast

#ZackKlapman

#NASA

#NASANorCal

#25HoursatThunderhill

#TheSmokingTire

#SmokingTire

#SpecE46

#SamSmith

#roadandtrack

#ChrisHarris

#Nürburgring

#KevinMadsen

Next Episode

GHIT 0081: Kate and Bennett Danvers of our GHIT Team

On this week’s podcast, we were finally able to interview Kate and Bennett Danvers and share with you a bit of their background and experiences with our team. Kate shared many words, Bennett, few. We hope you enjoy the weeks episode.

Highlights from this episode include:

1) Overall background of each, including driving, racing, and car history of each and the family

2) How to power oversteer a John Deere tractor and the impact on the grass cut, as well as life with a Mark VI GTI first car

3) Team areas of responsibility during race weekend and upcoming changes to our team for 2020

4) Bennett’s amazing tracking abilities and what kept Kate from coming to her first race so long

5) Bennett’s claim on the fireproof onesie and our plan to get Quinn into our insanity

6) What cars are their dream cars, especially fellow lemons paddock cars

7) Wildest racing memories, so far with Lucky Dog and the 24 Hours of Lemons

8) What we have done well so far, including the Good, Bad, and the Ugly, and some upcoming improvements we can work on. Bennett can only find good in our food, lol.

9) Bennett offers words of optimism/prediction for our 2020 season

10) Heat upgrade for our winter garage is announced, so if anyone wants to come and visit, it should be warm this winter

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

#OversteerJohnDeere #MarkVIGTI #Mark6GTI #Lemontarians #LemontariansCaddy #SavetheTatas #SavetheTatasCaddy #LemonsCaddy #24hoursoflemons #lemonsworld #lemonsmemories #NJMP #NHMS #LuckyDog #RaceLucky #PortlandInternationalRaceway #PittRace #NASAGL #NASAGLHPDE #RoadAtlanta

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