Going Rogue

An A-list Japanese cast. An international action star. A budget somewhere between $175million and $225 million. A director making his first feature film.

A box office bomb so bad the studio wrote it off the day after it was released.

The story of the 47 Ronin is a fixture of Japanese culture, but this is the story of 47 Ronin (2013), and what came after.

No spoilers but there’s a twist in this one.

John Carreyrou's original reporting on the Conquest Saga

We have a Patreon if you want to support the show with extra contractual discretionary funding. If you want to email someone to ask for $5million, best avoid [email protected]

CLIPS 

47 Ronin (dir. Carl Rinsch)

47 Ronin Press Conference 

47 Ronin Fight Featurette

300 (dir Zack Snyder)

Democracy Manifest

MUSIC

“Expeditionary”, “The Chamber”, “Five Armies”, “Malicious”, “Night Vigil”, “On The Ground”, “Ancient Rite”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “Decline”, “The Descent”, “Finding Movement”, “Divertissement”, “Floating City”, “Covert Affair”, “I Knew A Guy”, & “Marty Gots A Plan”, “Hard Boiled”, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, “Walking Along”, “Modern Jazz Samba”, “Gymnopedie No 1"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

“Suspended Animation”, “The Kraken’s Pursuit”, “Saline” & “The Rise of Heroes” by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

“Sneaky Snooper”, “Atlantis”, “Middle Earth”, “Dark Mystery”, “Fight Scene”, “The Talk”, “Search and Destroy”,  & “Tempting Fate” by Jason Shaw - Audionautix.com

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Endings are tough. But they tell us a lot about what a storyteller, or a company, values.

Guest Starring:

Alexei Toliopoulos as George Lucas

Patrick Tomasso as J.J. Abrams

Josh Boerman as Bob Iger

Andrew Levins as Adam Driver

Christian Byers as Chris Terrio 

You can and should subscribe to Charlie’s newsletter Queertrash.

We have a Patreon if you want to support future episodes of the show, and get monthly bonuses. Matt Smith can always email me at [email protected]

Please jakonka responsibly.

CLIPS 

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

The Skywalker Legacy

Charlie Rose’s 2015 Interview with George Lucas I will not be linking it on account of the foghorn.

The Art of the Cut Episode 28: “Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker” Editor Maryann Brandon, ACE

Happy Sad Confused: Oscar Isaac Vol. II

MUSIC

Fanfare and Prologue from Star Wars Episode IX,  Farewell & The Jedi Steps from Star Wars Episode VII - John Williams

The Mandalorian - Ludwig Goransson 

“Cut Trance”, “Screen Saver”, “Space Jazz”, “Marty Gots A Plan”, “Hiding Your Reality”, “Groove Grove”, “Clean Soul”, “Crypto”, “Monkey Spinning Monkeys”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “Thunder Dreams”, “Magic Forest”, “Leaving Home”, “Martian Cowboy”, “The Chamber”, & “On The Shore”

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

“Suspended Animation” & “It Ain’t Over Til The Bossa Nova” by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

“Sneaky Snooper”, “Atlantis”, “Deep Space” & “Act Three” by Jason Shaw - Audionautix.com

"In Somniloquy"  by James Richardson (kingjamesroyaltyfreemusic.blogspot.co.uk)

“Mars” from Holst’s The Planets, as performed by USAF Heritage of America Band

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Without the edit, there is no film. Without Marcia Lucas, there is no Star Wars.

Sideway’s video Why the Music of Rise of Skywalker Felt Misleading is absolutely fantastic - also give his video on Cats a watch too if you were raised Catsolic by a Cats loving mother and have a lot of thoughts about the musical crimes of that film which are hard to share in polite company.

We have a Patreon — if you’re a hog and this is your slop, step up to the trough and full your snough.

Matt Smith can still email me at [email protected]

Guest Starring:

Grace Koh as Maryann Brandon

Abigail Nussbaum as Kathleen Kennedy

Christian Byers as Chris Terrio 

Kim Ho as Joseph Campbell, a man so racist people assumed he was doing a bit

CLIPS 

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Raiders of the Lost Ark

The Skywalker Legacy

Star Wars Icons Unearthed Unplugged: Marcia Lucas Full Interview (Nacelle Company)

Rough Cut Podcast: Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker

The Art of the Cut Episode 28: “Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker” Editor Maryann Brandon, ACE

Dolby Creator Talks Episode 62 - The Sound of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

MUSIC

Duel of the Fates, Fanfare and Prologue from Star Wars Episode IX,  We Go Together & A New Home - John Williams

Avalon - Benny Goodman

“Loopster”, “Industrial Cinematic”, “Drums of the Deep”, “Groove Grove”, “Crypto”, “Stormfront”,  “Sneaky Adventure”, “Thinking Music”, “Showdown”, “Vanishing”, “Decisions”, “Floating Cities”, “Lost Frontier”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “Bleeping Demo”, “Enter the Maze”, “Secret of Tiki Island”, “Smoking Gun”, “Anguish”, “Thunder Dreams”& “Myst on the Moor” 

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

“Suspended Animation” & “Synapse” by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

"Romeo & Juliet"  by PM Music

“Venus” & “Mars” from Holst’s The Planets, as performed by USAF Heritage of America Band

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Star Wars Episode IX is often dismissed as a film made by committee, but with its constant on-set rewrites, loose improvisational style and hyperactive camera movement, it’s very much a J.J. Abrams film.

All hail the Oracle, my horrible beautiful boy.

We have a Patreon - if you like what we do, you can be part of it! There are bonus episodes too - I’m seeing Mando like right after this episode goes up so there’ll probably be a bonus on that by the time you read this.

Matt Smith if you’re reading this you can email me at [email protected]

Guest Starring:

Dan Hartland as Richard Marquand

Charles O’Grady as Anthony Daniels

Christian Byers as Chris Terrio 

Josh Boerman as Bob Iger

Kobi Omenaka as John Boyega

CLIPS 

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

The Skywalker Legacy

David Lynch on Bob’s Big Burger

Billy Cruddup on ‘The Morning Show’, His Stage Return and the Greatest Tom Cruise Story Ever (Deadline Hollywood)

Steve Yedlin: Director of Photography for THE LAST JEDI (Talking Bay 94)

Matt Smith Volumes II & III (Happy Sad Confused)

Matt Smith Plays Coy About Rumoured Star Wars Role (ExtraTV)

Guest Host Josh Gad Interviews Daisy Ridley (Jimmy Kimmel)

MUSIC

Cantina Band - John Williams

Jabba Flow (Cantina Theme from the Force Awakens) - Lin Manuel Miranda

“Raw”, “Divertissement”, “Marty Gots A Plan”, “Bicycle”, “Crypto”, “ Groove Grove”,  “Screen Saver”, “Intuit 256”, “On the Ground”, “Hall of the Mountain King”, “Decisions”, “Division”, “Thinking Music”, “Kumasi Groove Flugelhorn”, “Drums of the Deep”, “Minima”, “Anguish”, “Danse Macabre”, “Leaving Home”, “The Chamber”, “Halls of the Undead” 

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

“Suspended Animation” & “Synapse” by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

“Dark Mystery”, “The Great Unknown”, “Night Runner” & “Dark Mystery” by Jason Shaw - Audionautix.com

“Frosty Jack’s Supernova” by Doctor Turtle

"Romeo & Juliet"  by PM Music

“In Somniloquy" by James Richardson (kingjamesroyaltyfreemusic.blogspot.co.uk)

“Jupiter” from Holst’s The Planets, as performed by USAF Heritage of America Band

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that any criticism of J.J. Abrams’ work must discuss the Mystery Box.

Check out Jon McCoy’s Episode IX Visual Sketchbook - it’s really fuckin cool! Also while you’re at it, Phil Saunders has also shared a heap of his work on the film with explanations of the process AND exact dates that really helped me piece together the timeline on this one.

We have a Patreon - if you like what we do, you can be part of it! There are bonus episodes too. I dunno how to promote stuff I don’t like ads either that’s why we don’t run any and instead rely on the generosity of our Patreon Subscribers!

Guest Starring:

Patrick Tomaso as J.J. Abrams

Christian Byers as Chris Terrio 

Angus Truskett as Rian Johnson

Josh Boerman as Bob Iger

Abigail Nussbaum as Kathleen Kennedy

Asher Elbein as Phil Saunders

Grace Koh as Maryann Brandon

Kobi Omenaka as Vincent Canby 

Jackson Ryan as Brian Hiatt

Andrew Levins as Fredrick S Clarke (the Cinefantastique reviewer who hated Empire)

The Great Jamie Tram as Kelly Marie Tran

CLIPS 

Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

The Mystery Box: JJ Abrams TED Talk

The Skywalker Legacy

David Fincher Interview Special: The Empire Podcast

JJ Abrams Explains Why He Brought Back the Emperor in Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker - Geek Culture

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi Audio Commentary 

James Earl Jones Recalls Luke I Am Your Father

Guest Host Josh Gad Interviews Daisy Ridley - Jimmy Kimmel Live

Daisy Ridley on Fan Theories - 2016 MTV Movie Awards

J.J. Abrams Post Screening Panel

Irvin Kershner & Gary Kurtz for The Empire Strikes Back

MUSIC

Harper Rey: Gamechanger Theme

Michael Giacchino: Alias Theme

“Deadly Roulette”, “Enter the Maze”, “Rising Tide”, “Marty Gots A Plan”, “Hall of the Mountain King”, “Rollin At 5”, “Deep Haze”, “Divertissement”, “Floating Cities”, “Morgana Rides”, “Leaving Home”, “Halls of the Undead”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “SCP-x6x”, “Thunder Dreams”, “Bleeping Demo”, “Sauropod Spotting”, “The Chamber”, “Gymnopedie No 1.”, “Wisps of Whorls”, “Constance”, “Lost Frontier”, “Myst on the Moors” & “Clean Soul” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

“Suspended Animation” & “VHS Dreams” by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

“Atlantis”, “The Great Unknown”, “Night Runner” & “Dark Mystery” by Jason Shaw - Audionautix.com

"Gravity" by James Richardson (kingjamesroyaltyfreemusic.blogspot.co.uk)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

When he first heard that Lucasfilm would be making new Star Wars films, Colin Trevorrow knew he had been put in this earth to direct one of them...

Guest Starring

David Chen as Colin Trevorrow

Alexei Toliopolous as George Lucas

Abigail Nussbaum as Kathleen Kennedy

Asher Elbein as the Crawl

Jackson Ryan as the disembodied voice of the Lucasfilm PR department

CLIPS USED: 

Happy Sad Confused: Colin Trevorrow, Sam Richardson

Jurassic World (dir. Colin Trevorrow, 2015)

Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi (dir. Rian Johnson 2017)

The Clone Wars: The Secrets of Mortis

Disney Lucasfilm Purchase Announcement

Kathleen Kennedy ABC News Interview

MUSIC

Duel of the Fates, Main Title, Jurassic Park Theme & A New Home by John Williams

“Stringed Disco”, “Backed Vibes Clean”, “Lithium”, “Rolling At 5”, “Phantom From Space”, “Evening Melodrama”, “Industrial Cinematic”, “Morgana Rides”, “Raw", “Chill Wave”, “Martian Cowboy”, “Prelude & Action”, “Echoes of Time v2”, “Controlled Chaos - no percussion", “Marty Gots A Plan”, “Dark Times", “Black Vortex”, "Peace of Mind", “This House”, “Quirky Dog”, “Drums of the Deep”, “Hero Down”, “The Dread”,  “Mystery Sax", "The Chamber", "Intrepid", "The Dread", "The Descent", "Lost Time", "Mistake the Getaway", "Hiding Your Reality", “Night Vigil”, “That Zen Moment”, "Deep Haze", "Covert Affairs", "Lost Frontier", "Hall of the Mountain King", "Leaving Home", & “Ever Mindful”

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

“Suspended Animation”, "Space Race", "The Paladin's Underworld", "Proxima Centuri", by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

"Sneaky Snooper", "Dark Mystery" & "Act Three" by Jason Shaw - Audionautix.com

"Gravity" by James Richardson (kingjamesroyaltyfreemusic.blogspot.co.uk)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artemis Fowl is many things: a character, a book, a best-selling children's series, a long resident of development hell and a massive investment in a potential franchise. But as a film, it basically doesn’t exist.

If you want to support the show, we have a Patreon! You can subscribe for bonus episodes, plug-free versions of the show and the ongoing production of the show in general! Don't do it through the iOS app! Cannot stress that enough!

If you have any questions about this insane film please ask them! I will do my best to answer since I had to cut of lot of very minor details because they "sounded unhinged", "were visual nitpicks on an audio medium" and "made the episode longer than the movie".

You can follow the show on Bluesky or tumblr @goingroguepod, or for slightly less hinged content, follow @tansyg.bsky.social on Bluesky. If you want to get in touch, you can email [email protected] but please don't do that if you don't like the show just keep that to yourself!

CLIPS USED: 

Artemis Fowl (dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2020)

Artemis Fowl Teaser Trailer & Deleted Scenes

Sir Kenneth Branagh interviewed by Simon Mayo

D23 Official Podcast: Behind the Magic of Artemis Fowl With Director Kenneth Branagh

The Art of Racing In The Rain Trailer

MUSIC

“Loopster”, “Crypto”, “Groove Grove”, “Shadowlands 1 - Horizon”, “Vibe Ace”, “Waltz Tchaikovsky Op. 40”, “Bicycle”, “Synapse”, “Cut Trance”, “Backed Vibes Clean”, “Floating Cities”, “The Path of the Goblin King”, “Path of the Goblin King v2”, “Bossa Antigua”, “Marty Gots A Plan”, “The Chamber”, “Screen Saver”, “Divertissement”, “Morgana Rides”, “Black Vortex”, “Lost Frontier”, “Unanswered”,  “Enter the Maze”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “I Can Feel It Coming” & “Ever Mindful”

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

“Suspended Animation”  by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

2012’s Dredd is a nexus of pop culture rumours, mysteries and intrigue: but are we asking the right question when we ask who actually directed it?

If you wish this episode had been about the 1995 film, it wasn't because Jason Jenkins already wrote a much better breakdown of that breakdown than I ever could.

If you want to support the show, we have a Patreon! You can subscribe for bonus episodes, plug-free versions of the show and the ongoing production of the show in general! Don't do it through the iOS app! Cannot stress that enough!

You can follow the show on Bluesky or tumblr @goingroguepod, or for slightly less hinged content, follow @tansyg.bsky.social on Bluesky. If you want to get in touch, you can email [email protected] but please don't do that if you don't like the show just keep that to yourself!

CLIPS USED: 

Dredd (dir. Pete Travis, 2012)

Day of Chaos: The VFX of Dredd

Mega City Masters: 35 Years of Dredd

Empire Podcast #146: Alex Garland, Paul Thomas Anderson

Alex Garland Breaks Down His Most Iconic Films (GQ)

Alex Garland Interview - TIFF 2012 

Alex Garland: How We Made Ex Machina (BFI)

Page One Podcast Ep 53 - Alex Garland

Born Free (M.I.A)

Justin Bieber 800% Slower

The Raid: Redemption (dir. Gareth Evans, 2012) 

DP 30 The Raid: Redemption, writer director Gareth Evans

Kermoda and Mayo - Gareth Evans (2012)

NDNF Q&A w Gareth Evans, The Raid: Redemption

The Raid Redemption: Back Breaking Scene with Mike Shinoda

MUSIC

"Hitman", “Malicious", “Rising", "Rising Tide”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “Prelude & Action”, “Crypto”, “Satiate Percussion”, “Too Cool”, “Beauty Flow”, “Floating Cities”, “Nonstop”, “Eternal Terminal”, “Leaving Home", “Industrial Cinematic", “Morgana Rides”, “Groove Grove", “Unwritten Return", “Deep Haze", “Hiding Your Reality" & "Synapse"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

“Suspended Animation”  by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This is a preview of a bonus episode: you can listen to the full thing by subscribing to the Going Rogue Patreon. It's good I promise. And it's a couple of bucks a month what else are you doing with that money? If you can't afford it just hit me up on socials I'll send you a code but you do have to ask for it that's the social contract.

From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina boldly asks the question: what if a 23 year old wrote a script inspired by the trailer for John Wick Chapter 2, and that script then got turned into a John Wick spin-off?

If you want to support the show, we have a Patreon! You can subscribe for bonus episodes, plug-free versions of the show and semi-regular Q&As when Tansy bleacher her hair. Just don't do it through the iOS app.

You can follow the show on Bluesky or tumblr @goingroguepod, or for slightly less hinged content, follow @tansyg.bsky.social on Bluesky. If you want to get in touch, you can email [email protected]

CLIPS USED: 

From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina (dir. Len Wiseman, 2025)

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (dir. Chad Stahelski, 2019)

John Wick Chapter 4 (dir. Chad Stahelski, 2023)

Wick is Pain (dir. Jeffrey Doe, 2025)

From The World of John Wick: Ballerina Trailers

From The World of John Wick: Ballerina Full Cast and Crew Interviews

Chad Stahelski: ‘John Wick’ - It Happened In Hollywood

The Empire Podcast #24 (2013) - Len Wiseman & Robert Webb

Ballerina’s Norman Reedus & Director Len Wiseman Talk Reshoot l Interview

BBC’s The One Show: Ian McShane

MUSIC

"Galactic Rap", “Bicycle", “Mesmerizing Galaxy Loop", "Rising Tide”, “Volatile Reaction”, “Crypto”, “Simplex”, “Intuit256, “Danse Macbre”, “Divertissment”, “Unwritten Return”, “Oppressive Gloom”, “Hiding Your Reality”, "Loopster", "Floating Cities", "I Can Feel It Coming", "Unanswered Questions", "BlacKk Vortex", "Cephalopod", "Crypto" & "Tenebrous  Brothers Carnival - Intermission"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

“Suspended Animation”  by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Vivaldi's Winter by PM Music