Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy

TV & Film
**Star Wars 7×7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy**

The Star Wars 7×7 Podcast is Rebel-rousing fun for everyday Jedi, generally between 7 and 14 minutes a day, always 7 days a week. Join host Allen Voivod for Star Wars news, history, interviews, trivia, and deep dives into the Star Wars story as told in movies, books, comics, games, cartoons, and more. Follow now for your daily dose of Star Wars joy. It’s destiny unleashed! #SW7x7

Latest Episodes:

2,007. Star Wars 2020 Movies Preview (and 2019 Review) Jan 01, 2020

Show notes

Happy New Year! To kick off 2020, I'm starting a series of looks at the different kinds of Star Wars media, with a quick look back at 2019 for each, and a deeper look ahead at what's coming in 2020.

Today, movies are on tap. We're covering a lot of the "look back" stuff with the Jedi Business posts, so there won't be a lot of time spent on The Rise of Skywalker. And no, of course there are no Star Wars movies being released in 2020. But if you think that means nothing will be happening with Star Wars movies this year, my friend, I have good news on the show for you.

I'll be discussing an interview Kathleen Kennedy gave to the Los Angeles Times on December 15th, the fact that Disney is still holding the December 16th, 2022 date on their release calendar for Star Wars, and the production schedule of The Force Awakens to explain why 2020 is going to be a big deal for the galaxy far, far away. And one thing I didn't mention in the show: Star Wars Celebration in August is perfectly timed for a big movie announcement. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,006. Jedi Business: Rise of Skywalker's Second Box Office Weekend Dec 31, 2019

Show notes

The second weekend of The Rise of Skywalker's release is behind us, and in some cases, the numbers are promising. Its closing the gap between it and The Last Jedi, its second-weekend drop was lower percentage-wise, and even the most conservative estimates for the total domestic box office have it matching TLJ's "multiple" (2.82, meaning that the total box office was/will be 2.82 times the opening weekend numbers). But that would still leave it below TLJ's dollar amount by more than $120 million.

So ... what does that MEAN???

On today's episode, a disclaimer about how I'm approaching these Jedi Business episodes, what we can learn from how the other top-10 movies of 2019 have been performing, and how their CinemaScore ratings may (or may not) correspond to their box office results. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,005. Revenge of the Sith! Dec 30, 2019

Show notes

2005 is, of course, the year that saw the release of the final movie in the Prequel Trilogy, Revenge of the Sith. And to continue our series of looks at family and its related dynamics in the Star Wars movies, we're talking about Revenge of the Sith from that certain point of view.

Seen through the lens of family, this movie is when things really get bad for Anakin. Yes, you don't have to look at it that way to see the same thing, but play along, will ya? ;-) It's one thing to have a super-secret and exciting thing going on with your spouse, and you have no other responsibilities - except for that whole Clone Wars business, of course. But then a baby comes along, and now how are Anakin and Padme going to keep this thing going on a secret?

Somewhere in here, there's an idea for a sitcom, where they have to hide the baby, and the madness ensues. "No, Obi-Wan, that noise is just R2-D2 whistling to himself in the other room." But I digress...

On today's episode, we'll be talking about Anakin getting forced to the sticking point, what other options he might have had, how Padme adjusts so much better to this turn of events, what's possibly the best monologue in all of the Star Wars movies, and much more. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,004. Redemption (Mandalorian Briefing, Season 1, Chapter 8) Dec 29, 2019

Show notes

From a daringly lengthy comedic opening to an action-packed resolution and a shock of a final scene, "Redemption" saved The Mandalorian's Season 1 best for last. Just about every setup was fulfilled, meaningful moments were well-planned, the mythology was advanced, and we've got a cliffhanger that can possibly open the doors to a whole host of interesting possibilities for Season 2.

On today's spoiler-filled episode of the show, I'm also flagging a few things I forgot to mention that were notable in Chapter 7 (Force-choking!), reviewing the highlights of Chapter 8, explaining the significance of *that* final scene, and more. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,003. The Reckoning (Mandalorian Briefing, Season 1, Chapter 7) Dec 28, 2019

Show notes

Yay! We're back to the main story arc in "The Reckoning," Chapter 7 from Season 1 of The Mandalorian. And we're catching up on it finally, since we've been talking about this little thing called The Rise of Skywalker for a while. This episode of The Mandalorian actually dropped a week and a half ago...

On today's episode, we'll be talking about the surprises, the funniest moment of the season so far (and the most emotional one, too), plus the first live-action appearance of a vehicle first introduced as a Sears department store toy exclusive, additional appreciation for Werner Herzog, and the whole "Strand-Cast" business. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,002. Attack of the Clones! Dec 27, 2019

Show notes

From a family dynamics view, Attack of the Clones is an especially difficult movie for Anakin Skywalker. Not only is he dealing with a life-or-death crisis in his biological family, he's also forced to deal with a life-or-death crisis for his surrogate family as well. In fact, you could argue that the reason why he chooses to marry Padme in secret - and not leave the Jedi Order - is because of the death of his mother. He loses his link to one family in the movie, and so it's highly unlikely he would walk away from the only family he has left.

Or he could become a moisture farmer with his stepdad, and start a new family with Padme. Unlikely, perhaps, but it's not like he didn't have options. We'll be talking about all of this and more, including a potential link between this movie and The Last Jedi as well. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,001. Resistance Reborn and The Rise of Skywalker Dec 26, 2019

Show notes

You may notice a bit of a jump in this episode - that's because it was initially recorded right on the heels of me seeing The Rise of Skywalker for the first time. But being that it's the evening of Christmas Day when it came time to pull this episode together, and (on a personal note) we still have family visiting with us, the easiest solution was for me to re-record the introduction to this episode, which is focused on Resistance Reborn.

Resistance Reborn is the primary novel in the Journey to The Rise of Skywalker publishing initiative, and tells us about the Resistance's activities in the days and weeks following the events of The Last Jedi. As for what it does, or doesn't, set up and prepare you for when you ultimately see The Rise of Skywalker - well, that's what I'm going to talk about on this episode. I'm also going to trace a couple connections to other Star Wars stories while I'm at it... Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

2,000. Past, Present, Future Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

By a weird fluke of the calendar, and maybe of fate as well, the 2,000th episode of Star Wars 7x7 falls on Christmas Day! So this episode is going to be a quieter, more personal celebration. It starts off with gratitude for you (yes, you!) for making the show possible and getting me excited to be in front of the microphone every day. Thank you for supporting me and Star Wars 7x7, whether you've been with me the whole way or you're just joining the fun!

From there, I'll be taking a look back at some of the unexpected things that have come about as a result of starting and continuing the podcast; sharing the make-up of the top ten most downloaded episodes of the show; looking ahead to (yes, I'm going to say it) the next thousand episodes; and taking a moment to be humbly awed by what we've created over these 5+ years. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

1,999. The Phantom Menace! Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

We've hit another episode number that corresponds to the year of a Star Wars movie release, so we're going to stop with The Rise of Skywalker talk for the day and have a look at The Phantom Menace!

Just like the previous year/episode number matches for 1977, 1980, and 1983, we're exploring the themes and complications of family as presented in the Star Wars movies, focused this time on the first movie in the Prequel Trilogy. It's an interesting comparison to A New Hope, the first of the Original Trilogy. In that movie, people from families broken out of their control banded together to deal a blow to a Galactic Empire - and as a result, created their own new family. From a certain point of view. :-)

Meanwhile, in The Phantom Menace, people have left their families on purpose, to join the Jedi Order. And they have free will! If they decide that the Jedi Order isn't for them, they can leave and go back to their own lives.

But things are not all as rosy and blissful as they seem. Because it's easy to be the master of your emotions when you're just hanging out in a temple all day. Then the Sith come along, and Obi-Wan is definitely not using the Force against Darth Maul only for knowledge and defense ... we'll be talking about that today, and how family matters are so much easier when there's no drama. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

1,998. Jedi Business: The Rise of Skywalker's Opening Weekend Box Office Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

The "Jedi Business" segment returns! Every Monday for the next few weeks, I'll be talking about the performance of The Rise of Skywalker at the box office, though this time around the focus is going to be a little bit different.

There's been an assertion floating around for the last two years that dissatisfaction from some quarters with The Last Jedi would have a negative effect on the box office of all Star Wars movies going forward. When Solo: A Star Wars Story came out, I spent a lot of time looking at the numbers and the extenuating circumstances, and concluded that there were a lot more significant reasons for Solo's showing at the box office than any Last-Jedi effect.

Well, if The Rise of Skywalker had received better critics' reviews than it did, then this discussion would be a whole lot easier. As it is, the movie (at recording time) is on track for a $175-$180 million opening, which is below both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but above Rogue One. The sequel Saga movies declined in successive opening weekends, but for the comparative, the prequel Saga movies each outperformed the previous one released, so that Revenge of the Sith had the biggest opening weekend of the three.

Also, the movie received a B+ from CinemaScore, while its predecessors all scored A and A- grades. And PostTrak has The Rise of Skywalker at 4 out of 5 stars and 81% positive overall - which is behind The Force Awakens (90% positive overall, 4.5 out of 5 stars), Rogue One (91% positive overall, 4.5 out of 5 stars), and The Last Jedi (89% positive overall, 5 out of 5 stars). These aren't exactly hopeful numbers for The Rise of Skywalker beating The Last Jedi at the box office, which it was expected to do based on prequel history.

But there are signs of hope, which I'll talk about on the podcast today, as well as discuss the reveal about something Finn said (or didn't say) in the film (mild spoiler, with ample warning in the recording). Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

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