Howdy, space cadets! Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Star Wars Re-Watch Podcast. We are recording at a very rapid clip, getting two episodes out within the span of a week.

I would like to thank my recent guest, Safwan, for joining me once again. We are continuing to watch Maul: Shadow Lord, and I cannot overstate how much we are all enjoying the show. The animation is beautiful, and the story is intriguing. Maul, once a wasted character from the movies, is now a fully fleshed-out and three-dimensional character.

Sam Witwer is super menacing, but he's not a bloodthirsty monster. Instead, he's cold, calm, and calculating, showing little emotion except when it comes to his desire for revenge against Darth Sidious. Gideon Adlon is also superb as Devon. Her voice is just as gravelly as her mother's, but not quite as much as Zelda Williams'. Everyone is doing a great job.

Episode four steps up the conflict. We finally see Devon and her master, Daki, attempt to confront Maul. You would think a master and apprentice would be enough to defeat Maul, but unfortunately, the odds were not on their side.

The ending shot of the episode was by far the best.

Please share your thoughts on these two episodes.

Thanks for watching!

—Luca

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Welcome back, spacefarers!

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the podcast, and thanks for your patience while we took a short break. Summer has been keeping us busy, but I also wanted to spend a little more time thinking about this episode before recording because it delivers some of the strongest storytelling in the series so far.

Episode 3 firmly establishes where we are in the Star Wars timeline. The events take place after Order 66 and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The Jedi have been scattered across the galaxy, survivors are forced into hiding, and the Galactic Empire now rules with fear while organized crime struggles to survive under Imperial control.

Darth Maul finds himself rebuilding what remains of his once-powerful syndicate, resorting to dangerous heists to finance his next move. Despite losing much of his influence, Maul is as calculating and ruthless as ever.

The episode also spends more time exploring Maul's relationship with the captured Jedi apprentice, Devon. Instead of simply treating her as a prisoner, he presents her with a red-bladed lightsaber and begins planting the seeds of the dark side.

That scene led us into one of our biggest discussions. Every Jedi constructs their own lightsaber, but do Sith follow the same tradition? Since many Sith Lords began as Jedi, perhaps they already possess that knowledge—but the Star Wars canon doesn't always make the process clear. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Meanwhile, Master Doki and Captain Lawson begin coordinating their search for Devon while 2 Boots follows a trail that eventually leads directly to Maul and the Pike Syndicate.

The climax features one of the best action sequences we've seen in the series. It immediately reminded both Jake and me of Darth Vader's legendary hallway scene in Rogue One. The choreography, the brutal use of the Force, and the overwhelming sense of power all feel like a deliberate tribute while still allowing Maul to remain uniquely intimidating.

The animation continues to impress every week. From lighting and environments to lightsaber combat and character expressions, this series feels cinematic in every sense. If the remaining episodes can maintain this level of quality, Maul: Shadow Lord has the potential to become one of the strongest animated Star Wars stories in recent years.

What did you think of Episode 3? Do you think Devon will fall to the dark side? Was the Rogue One comparison intentional? Let us know your theories in the comments!

If you enjoyed this review, please like the video, subscribe to the channel, and ring the notification bell so you never miss a new Star Wars discussion.

Thanks for watching, and may the Force be with you.

—Luca

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Maul: Shadow Lord – The Dark Revenge and Sinister Schemes

Howdy, spacefarers. I am glad I decided to write this and record an episode when we did. What initially started out as unbridled joy became intense pain.

Darth Maul is not a character. He is a character design. That’s all.

It took me a week to realize this after watching both episodes of Disney’s latest series, Maul: Shadow Lord.

Think back to even before the theatrical release of The Phantom Menace. You had magazine covers with Maul’s face. He looked cool, evil, alien, etc. Then, about one-third of the way through the movie, we are introduced to Darth Maul via Sidious. Zero dialogue. Just menacing looks.

That’s not a character.

Yes, we understand Sidious is ultimately manipulating everything behind the scenes, but how does Maul fit in?

He does not.

So what did George Lucas do with this interesting design? Well, he retconned him, of course—which was completely unnecessary. You could have told the story of Maul’s training by Sidious, and it would have been just as good of a series. You did not need to go back and give him a brother in Savage Opress or a mother in Talzin.

It could have just been about when Sidious found him and trained him, and all of their plans, which would eventually culminate in what we saw in The Phantom Menace. No longer could they hide their machinations from both the Galactic Senate and the Trade Federation. Thus, Sidious orders his apprentice out of the shadows to eliminate the prying eyes of the Jedi or any other interlopers.

When Darth Bane and Darth Zannah went about their plans to dominate the galaxy, the Rule of Two was instituted to limit the number of rivals to ultimate power. In addition, all actions would be concealed several times over through the use of intermediaries, criminal organizations, etc.

All the while, those in power have no idea who is actually pulling the strings.

Anyway, I am still looking forward to the show. I definitely need to review Maul’s story arc in The Clone Wars and Rebels.

Thanks for listening.

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And we're back! Apologies for the long wait between episodes. I have been trying to wrangle cats together so we can continue the podcast.Fortunately, life got in the way. Not in a bad way of course. I recently got married. AJ and his wife had their second baby. Life is good.You know what else is good? Star Wars Visions. Especially this season. For those unfamiliar, Disney took the license and went to the far east. Though I am unfamiliar with the studios they chose, the results speak for themselves.What were produced were completely original story lines and characters with some of the most unique animation styles to come from the island. Yes, volume one is clearly anime from Japan. Volume two includes the likes of the creators of Wallace and Gromit. Volume three marks the return of some of the first studios that were approached. By far, my favorite episode of volume one was the first, "The Duel." The animation pays homage to Akira Kurosawa with the Japanese aesthetic and being animated mostly black and white. Not to mention the rogue Sith's lightsaber drawn from it's scabbard much the way a samurai would. Back then, my criticism for all episodes was that each had some sort of lightsaber gimmick. While it was cool to see Darth Maul ignite his double-bladed lightsaber in 1999 and later Kylo Ren with his cross-guard lightsaber, there has been an explosion of goofy and impractical designs. One only has to watch a few episodes of the much hated Acolyte to see what I am talking about. We hope you liked this episode of visions as much as we did. My brother and I disagreed about one of the characters. What are your thoughts?Thanks for listening, and may the Force be with you.

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And we're back! Apologies for the long

wait between episodes. I have been trying to

wrangle cats together so we can continue the podcast.

Fortunately, life got in the way. Not in a bad way of course. I recently got married. AJ and his wife had their second baby. Life is good.

You know what else is good? Star Wars Visions.

Especially this season. For those unfamiliar, Disney took the license and went to the far east. Though I am unfamiliar with the studios they chose, the results speak for themselves.

What were produced were completely original story lines and characters with some of the most unique animation styles to come from the island. Yes, volume one is clearly anime from Japan. Volume two includes the likes of the creators of Wallace and Gromit.

Volume three marks the return of some of the first studios that were approached. By far, my favorite episode of volume one was the first, "The Duel." The animation pays homage to Akira Kurosawa with the Japanese aesthetic and being animated mostly black and white. Not to mention the rogue sith's lightsaber drawn from it's scabbard much the way a samurai would.

Back then, my criticism for all episodes was that each had some sort of lightsaber gimmick. While it was cool to see Darth Maul ignite his double-bladed lightsaber in 1999 and later Kylo Ren with his cross-guard lightsaber, there has been an explosion of goofy and impractical designs.

One only has to watch a few episodes of the much hated Acolyte to see what I am talking about.

We hope you liked this episode of visions as much as we did. My brother and I disagreed about one of the characters. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for listening, and may the Force be with you.

Visit the ⁠blog⁠ ⁠⁠https://starwarsrewatchpodcast.wordpr...⁠⁠

Join us on ⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠ ⁠⁠  / discord  ⁠⁠

Tweet us ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/SWRewatchPod⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on ⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠   / @star_warsre-watchpodcast  ⁠⁠

Subscribe on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...⁠⁠

Subscribe on ⁠⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/01A7kKh...⁠

⁠⁠⁠Email us at [email protected]

#StarWarsVisions #StarWarsPodcast #StarWarsDiscussion #DisneyPlus #AnimeStarWars #SciFiPodcast #PopCulturePodcast #StarWarsFans #Animation #Lucasfilm #GeekCulture #PodcastLife #TheDuel #StarWarsCommunity

Howdy, spacefarers — and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Re-Watch Podcast! Today’s show is extra special because I'm joined by my friend Joe, an avid comic book reader, collector, and all-around pop culture expert.

I first noticed Joe’s impressive Marvel collection at the office — featuring Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Doctor Doom. He’s also a seasoned convention-goer with autographs from the legendary actors behind Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and R2-D2.

There’s plenty of crossover in our fandoms, and today, I introduced Joe to Andor — what many fans consider the best Star Wars series Disney has produced. While Andor Season 2 has just debuted, we kicked things off with the very first episode of Season 1.

Like me, Joe ranks Rogue One as one of the finest Star Wars films ever made. I’ve long argued that while Solo was the Star Wars movie no one asked for, Andor is the show we didn’t know we desperately needed. Season 1 shattered expectations — and we’re all eager to see how Season 2 measures up.

Tune in as Joe shares his Star Wars knowledge, comic book adventures, and convention stories — and I make the case for why Andor deserves his full attention.

🎙️ Have you attended any fan conventions? Who did you meet? Drop your stories in the comments — we’d love to hear them!

Thanks for listening, and may the Force be with you.

Visit the ⁠blog⁠ ⁠https://starwarsrewatchpodcast.wordpr...⁠

Join us on ⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠ ⁠  / discord  ⁠

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While it has been a year for our hero Andor, it has been almost two or more for our beloved co-host AJ. We have him setup to record remotely now and hopefully that will mean we get to hear his opinion on the latest from Disney star wars intellectual properties. Speaking of, we all just re-watched Andor. By far the most anticipated Star Wars show to return to the digital steaming platform, Andor once again depicts the series of events that lead up to the theatrical debut of the character in rogue one. my goodness, did Disney spend a lot of money on the sets for this season! Everything you see, looks like it's right in front of the camera. Not that there were not any digital effects to fill in the gaps but, the series continues to put an impeccable shine and levels of grit and dirt where needed to get the audience to feel what the characters are feeling in a given moment. Initially, I was not a big fan of this episode. Yes, the action with the tie advanced was very cool, lots of explosions, Michael Bay etc. however, the story line with Maya Pei brigade that take Andor hostage did not do much for me. I just found their immature bickering to be annoying and it took me out of the story. Their dialog did not seem to match Star Wars, if that makes sense. Even though I did not appreciate these scenes as much, that meant I got to appreciate the scenes with Luthen, Mon Mothma, Vel, Bix, Brasso and the rest of the cast who returned for the second season. Speaking of returning characters, Dedra is back! As evil as she is under the surface it a fascinating to see how she moves about her environment and how she thinks. She has a job to do and if she were on the other side of the war she might be even more fanatical than Saw Guerrera. Scenes with her and Major Partagaz and other imperials were some of the best. especially for the first episode of the series. You see how casually the empire discussing committing #genocide to achieve their goals all while calculating how they are going to manipulate public opinion.It is pure evil but, they discuss it like it is a normal business meeting and they have do what their client wants and manage the outcome. Thank you for listening. Please comment on your thoughts on the episode. -Luca Visit the ⁠blog⁠ https://starwarsrewatchpodcast.wordpr...Join us on ⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠   / discord  Tweet us ⁠⁠https://x.com/SWRewatchPod⁠⁠Subscribe on ⁠⁠YouTube    / @star_warsre-watchpodcast  Subscribe on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Subscribe on ⁠⁠Spotify⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/01A7kKh...Email us at [email protected]#StarWars #Andor #StarWarsPodcast #CassianAndor #Kanari #Backstory #StellanSkarsgard #PodcastHumor #SgtBulldog #DramaticEnding #ScrapYard #StarWarsFandom #SciFiPodcast #GeekCulture #PodcastLife #StarWarsFans #StarWarsCommunity #BingeWatch #StreamingNow #DisneyPlus #PodcastDiscussion #SWRewatchPod #GalacticJourney #StarWarsSeries #Fandom #SpaceOpera #NewEpisode #WatchAlong #SciFiDrama #CharacterDevelopment #ShowNotes

Re-Watch Podcast | Special Edition

Star Wars Visions Vol. 1 & 2
"The Bride" & "Screecher’s Reach"

🚀 Welcome back, spacefarers! Thanks for tuning into another episode.

This time, I’m joined once again by my awesome baby brother as we revisit Star Wars: Visions. If you haven’t checked out this incredible anthology series yet, you’re seriously missing out!

For those unfamiliar, Visions is a unique take on the Star Wars universe. Lucasfilm partnered with top Japanese anime studios, giving them complete creative freedom to craft original stories, characters, and settings—all in their own distinctive art styles.

Obviously, these studios jumped at the chance to showcase their work on Disney’s platform. But it does make me wonder—how much crossover exists between Star Wars fans and anime lovers?

Growing up, thanks to our dad, my siblings and I were exposed to a variety of films beyond the usual Disney classics. Sure, we watched animated favorites, but we also got a dose of ‘50s alien invasion flicks, ‘80s sci-fi horror, and ‘90s Japanese anime. While our mom didn’t always approve, these experiences shaped our taste to this day.

It’s well-documented that George Lucas was heavily influenced by Akira Kurosawa’s films. So much so that certain shots from Kurosawa’s movies were directly lifted and integrated into Star Wars. Now, things have come full circle—Star Wars has left its mark worldwide, and now it’s being reinterpreted by the cultures it originally drew inspiration from.

Mike and I sat down to rewatch two specific episodes:
🎭 The Bride (his pick)
👁 Screecher’s Reach (my pick)

Even though we had both seen them before, it was fascinating to compare our perspectives. The Bride didn’t initially excite me, but on a second watch, I appreciated how it builds its own mythology within the Star Wars universe. I even spotted clear nods to Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke.

Compared to Visions Vol. 1, Visions Vol. 2 leaned more into the dark side. While the first volume had Sith vs. Jedi battles, the second introduced protagonists who willingly embraced the dark side. Take Daal from Screecher’s Reach—at first glance, she doesn’t look villainous. Compare that to Darth Vader, always clad in black with a red saber, or even Anakin, whose dark cloak foreshadowed his fall.

I won’t spoil Screecher’s Reach, but let’s just say—the ending is perfect.

If you haven’t watched Visions yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. And fingers crossed for a Visions Vol. 3 in the near future!

🎙 Thanks for listening!
—Luca

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What is Star Wars: Visions? The Kurosawa "The Bride" & "Screecher’s Reach"#StarWarsVisions #TheBride #ScreechersReach #Anime #Podcast #ReWatch #SciFi #StarWars #Lucasfilm #DisneyPlus #Jedi #Sith #Kurosawa #StudioGhibli #AnimeFans #StarWarsUniverse

Thanks for tuning in, spacefarers! 🚀 This is a special edition of the podcast featuring my old roommate, Safwan! We’ve known each other for over 20 years, and our journey began at the Sears shoe department, where we bonded over shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Unfortunately, we never hung out outside of work, and when I moved to a different department, we lost touch. Fast forward a few years, and my co-host AJ happened to meet someone who also worked at Sears—only to realize it was Safwan, my old friend! That chance encounter rekindled our friendship, and soon, we became roommates while I was a Sears Assistant Store Manager. Even though we no longer live together, we’ve remained close ever since.

I always knew we both loved Star Wars, but I didn’t realize just how deep Safwan’s passion for the franchise ran. He was the one who surprised me with advance screening tickets for The Last Jedi! While I love Star Wars, I would’ve been perfectly fine waiting for the weekend instead of staying up for an 11 PM showing.

💥 **In this special edition, we dive deep into Revenge of the Sith—arguably the best prequel and one of the strongest films in the franchise.

We all know the issues with the prequels—clunky dialogue, overuse of CGI, questionable acting choices—but over time, many fans have come to appreciate them more, especially in comparison to Disney’s recent productions.

Regardless of past criticisms, Revenge of the Sith remains a great Star Wars film. While it doesn’t fully redeem the mistakes of Episodes I & II, it delivers a cohesive story with a satisfying conclusion.

Thanks for listening! 🎧 May the Force be with you.

– Luca

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Welcome back, you bloody space pirates! Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Star Wars Re-Watch Podcast.

This episode is a bit out of order—I meant to edit the previous one first, but here I am working on Episode III. Not a big deal! I’ll try not to spoil my thoughts on the last episode as we dive into this exciting continuation of the story.

At this point, the children are lost in space. SM-33 navigates them to their port of origin, which turns out to be a bustling pirate base hidden within an asteroid. Unfortunately, the children find themselves captured and must figure out a way to escape. Luckily, they gain an unexpected ally—another prisoner!

Here we’re introduced to Jod Na Nawood, a Force-wielding “Jedi.” While Whim is ecstatic to meet a Jedi in real life, Fern and KB are skeptical of Jod’s claims. Despite their doubts, they strike a deal to help one another.

The pirates are ultimately foiled, but not before the children convince Jod to rescue SM-33 before making their daring escape. They jump to lightspeed while still tethered to a fuel line—talk about close calls!

Jod, Fern, Neel, KB, and SM-33 escape Port Borgo and head to meet Jod’s associate, Kh’ymm. This encounter raises more questions about Jod’s true identity. Kh’ymm refers to him as Crimson Jack, marking his third alias so far (the pirates had called him Silvo).

Kh’ymm aids the group by deciphering symbols from Fern’s backpack to locate At Attin. However, Jod immediately realizes that Kh’ymm has alerted the New Republic. As the kids negotiate yet another deal with Jod to ensure their safe return home, X-wings arrive near the observatory and open fire on their ship.

This episode deepens the mystery surrounding At Attin, a legendary location tied to the Old Republic. Generations have passed without anyone from the Republic or Empire reaching it, as the so-called “barrier” obscures it and makes navigation nearly impossible.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Kh’ymm’s knowledge of At Attin and its connection to other “jewels of the Republic” was fascinating. I hope you found it just as intriguing!

Thank you for listening or watching!

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