🔊 - The life of George Lucas w/ Brian Jay Jones -- the man who wrote the book on it (S1/E13)
+ a bonus nub from founding subscriber Mike Lord, the epic sci-fi summer of 1982, and thoughts on the one-season-wonder that was 'The Acolyte'
This transmission may be too long for your inbox. Hyperspace jump to the web version!
Tim and Jim chat about coffee, the fact that The Acolyte hasn’t been renewed for a season 2, and the magical sci-fi movie summer of 1982 before Jim’s deep-dive convo with Brian Jay Jones, the author of the biography George Lucas: A Life. We also listen to a holo from founding member of our substack newsletter, Mike “Zorknapp” Lord!
Episode Credits:
Hosts: Tim Barnes, and Jim Fagan
Guests: Brian Jay Jones
Theme Song: Matt Maher
Announcer: Carolina Ravassa
Podcast Art: Joel Jackson
And don’t forget to follow us @ Yub Nub Pod 👉🏼
Email questions and thoughts to: yubnubpod [at] gmail [dot] com
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
A force dyad between fandom and journalism, The life of a biographer, and storytelling shifts in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise
Brian Jay Jones: A Star Wars Story
New York Times bestselling biographer Brian Jay Jones is known for covering iconic creative geniuses who have made indelible contributions to pop culture. He has explored the lives and legacies of Jim Henson, George Lucas, Washington Irving, and Dr. Seuss for serious fans and newcomers alike.
His most recent book, Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination (Dutton, 2019), has been celebrated as “nuanced, profoundly human” (NPR), “compelling [and] sweeping in scope” (The New Yorker), and “a rich, anecdotal biography” (Kirkus).
His previous book, George Lucas: A Life (Little, Brown, 2016) was named one of Kirkus‘s Best Books of 2016. The first comprehensive biography of the influential creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones in nearly two decades, George Lucas: A Life was praised as “definitive” (New York Times), “whiz-bang” (People), “must-read” (Parade) and deemed by Rolling Stone as “the one biography for casual and die-hard [Star Wars] fans alike.”
Discussion Highlights:
A force dyad between fandom and journalism…
Brian points out how the process of investigating and fact checking for the Lucas biography involved using the nuggets of information he stored in his mind as a young Star Wars fan…
I remember reading back in the day, the story that Lucas was considering doing a movie that had about Vader, Ben Kenobi and Luke's father…. I mean, I've never forgotten that. So when Lucas tried to sort of retcon that, I was like, but what?
- Brian Jay Jones (Yub Nub, 2024)
…a lot of it just came from, you know, storing it upstairs in my head for a long time.
- Brian Jay Jones (Yub Nub, 2024)
The life of a biographer…
Brian also points out how important it is to make biographies fun and digestible…
Those of us who write biography and nonfiction, we're always so pleased when people tell us, “O my God, it read like a novel. It was so accessible. It was so readable.” Because that's one thing; we as [those] who deal in nonfiction,try to make nonfiction and history and biography accessible and fun to read and not a slog. So many of us think back to sitting in fourth grade and reading those big fat purple history books. And so our mission is always to try to make history and biography readable and enjoyable.
- Brian Jay Jones (Yub Nub, 2024)
What the world would be like if George Lucas never made Star Wars or founded ILM…
Jim asks Brian about the alternate timeline where George Lucas never made Star Wars. And they come up with some interesting theories:
I think at some point somebody probably would have, similar to Lucas, had needed special effects. Would they have found John Dykstra and that, you know, misfit, all those misfit toys? I don't know. I think you might've had, you know, practical effects done very differently. I don't know. I don't know that you get to CGI as quickly as you do. You probably get to it.
- Brian Jay Jones (Yub Nub, 2024)
Yub Nub is powered by the SONAR podcast network. Discover more of your new favorite shows!—Like 1 Dollar Words — which Jim was recently a guest on:
What’s “Yubbing” Our “Nubs”
DVD EXTRA:
Founding subscriber and long-time listener Mike “Zorknapp” Lord chimed in on what’s been yubbing his nub in this episode!
And we cannot wait to get our hands on our own copies of the Criterion release of 1953’s The War of the Worlds!
Want more of Ben Bert needing out about sound effects? Check out this great video from INDEPTH Sound Design:
RADIO/PODCAST/BOOK:
This interview caught Tim’s attention — and is likely made The Future Is Now a book he’ll consider diving into soon.
(SPECIAL FEATURES FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS)
A huge “thank you” to our paid subscribers and founding members like Mike Lord — who shared what’s “yubbing” his “nub” with us in this episode! This next section is for listeners like you!
To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber!
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Yub Nub to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.