A More Civilized Q&A - January 2022

Hello from the far-flung future year of 2023. I just want to say that everyone’s little freak’s brought me tremendous delight. In a perfect world someone would have made an incredible animatic of this with everyone turning into their little freak as they’re describing them. (In the meantime I can just imagine it.)

Matthew R.F. Balousek

Thanks for this great ep. Would love to hear your thoughts on the use of Mortis in the Duel of the Fates script! Also, I’ve always found the Mortis arc to be stuck in this space between perhaps what Lucas intended for it (maybe just Some Guys on a nexus planet who feel the Force and are themselves subject to their own faults as interpreters of the Force rather than representatives) and Filoni (the Force and its manifestations are immutable). Re: the latter I think there are several points in TCW/Rebels and the new trilogy where we’re shown the Filoni interpretation that the Dark Side of Anakin is a discrete separate entity from the Light Side (we see this with Kylo) thereby imbuing the concept of the Light/Dark with objectivity, painting them as pre-discursive, rather than the Force as a spectrum or amorphous entity that is interpreted subjectively (and is therefore vulnerable to politics etc). I find that this is in conflict with other writers’ framing of the Force in TCW & other media which weakens some of the cohesion of these stories, in particular Anakin’s. I think even in the Mortis arc this conflict is evident - Dark Anakin just appears to be Vader but we also have been shown that Ani is facing internal conflict and Obi-Wan’s conversations with Qui-Gonn reveal the ways Jedi have fallen in many ways, and the ways politics influence who sees Lightness/Darkness in what ways and when are a real gem of TCW and perhaps its main feature. I think this inconsistency is really evident in the role of grey Jedi in various media.

Divya M Persaud

For the two-headed snake is each head the other one's butt, or maybe it has a magic stomach

MythicalMothman

I loved hearing Austin's confused revelation about the Twi'lek ear situations, I had this exact same discovery and crisis when I was working on a commission of someone's Twi'lek character a few months ago.

Elemei

I always got the impression that while twilek head-tails were fleshy like an octopus tentacle, togruta head-tails are more leathery, or there's cartilage in there. I think I also recall reading that that is the togruta hearing apparatus, but I guess not if you all checked wookiepedia for togruta and didn't find anything about their ears.

JennySighs

Hey I'm a patron for this podcast, not sure why, I've never watched a single episode of this show. Great podcast though, i love listening, i just never have anything to anchor to because..... Well that's obvious. But after all this time, I finally have something to contribute which has probably been brought up before but whatever. Is Anakin's general aloofness, empty brain, wide eyed optimism (though only for certain issues) some kind of nod to ... Fox Mulder? Don't forget the number of times each character has lost their main weapon. Cheers all, this will likely be my first and last post here!

Tanner Wilson

I can't vibe with this Salacious Crumb slander

Kzinssie

Look up Devaronians.

I refuse to believe female twi’leks have weird little nubbin ears. Oola was clearly wearing some sort of headdress that covered them up so I prefer to believe that’s just a custom they have. That level of sexual dimorphism would just be bizarre.

BestowalDonkey8

I sure like him more than Thrawn, I make no apology for it

Rad Rodge

Shout outs to the Imperial inspector who is just Sherlock Holmes but isn't Thrawn.

The terrific Darth Vader comic run by Kieron Gillen really runs with that w/r/t Vader, incidentally, his way of making the reader want to cheer for Vader as the protagonist is to have Vader battling all these math-y stats-obsessed Imperials and technologically-augmented warriors who are all trying to rob Vader of his mystical-warrior dignity. A whole comic largely spun out of the Death Star conference room scene that Austin cited

Rad Rodge

I just want to specifically thank Austin for the idea that the Empire is essentially fighting to turn Star Wars into science fiction, that crystallizes it so well

Rad Rodge

Bisgusting

Christiana Ellis