Podcasts in Review

November 7, 2013 at 8:03 am | Posted in 501st, Audiobooks, Books, Episode VII, Movies, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Star Wars, Star Wars Books, Video Games | Leave a comment
Tags: death star owner's technical manual, j.w. rinzler, jeremy bulloch, kenobi, marc thompson, ray park, ryder windham, star wars art concept, star wars frames, the making of return of the jedi, william shatner

Here’s this week’s Star Wars podcasts in review.

501stCast: Episode 77 catches up on all the news from the 501st Legion and includes an awesome interview with author Ryder Windham who talks about the Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual.

Bombad Radio: Episode 103 features audio from Salt Lake Comic Con 2013 and the Ray Park panel. Ray talks about playing Toad in the X-Men movies, Darth Maul, Snake Eyes and how he got started in Mortal Kombat Annihilation which actually led to his gig as Darth Maul. Really good audio and some nice comments from Ray who even touches on Star Wars Episode VII.

Episode 98 features more audio from Salt Lake Comic Con 2013, this time covering the William Shatner panel. I had initially passed this episode over in order to catch up with other podcasts, but when I finally got the chance to listen to it, I was thoroughly entertained. Shatner puts on a good show and his panel is pretty fun to listen to. Whether you’re a fan of Star Trek or not, it’s worth a listen.

Coffee with Kenobi: Kenobi Book Review episode features hosts Dan Z and Cory Clubb plus special guests Tricia Barr and Amy Ratcliffe as they discuss Kenobi by John Jackson Miller. The episode does include spoilers and starts out a little rough due to some technical issues with the audio. It takes a while to smooth out. However, there is some good discussion of the book, and with four different viewpoints, it covers the book from a lot of angles. Definitely worth checking out for fans of the book.

ForceCast: Episode 276 includes an interview with Star Wars audiobook narrator Marc Thompson that’s definitely worth checking out. Marc talks about the process, the work involved and some of his favorite moments. Just skip to the 24 minute mark to get right to the interview.

Full of Sith: Special Release: Ryder Windham and Tim Temmerman episode includes some interviews conducted by Bryan. Tim Temmerman is a former LucasArts employee, so their interview covers a lot of old LucasArts games, many non-Star Wars, but he does touch on First Assault and Star Wars 1313. Star Wars author Ryder Windham talks about his first experience with Star Wars and his latest book, the Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual.

Jedi Journals: their November 2013 episode is out and of course includes a full rundown on Star Wars comics, books and magazines recently released and upcoming. Jonathan Wilkins joins the hosts to talk about Star Wars Insider, Jay and Chris dive into Star Wars Art: Concept, Star Wars Frames, and The Making of Return of the Jedi. As always, Jedi Journals is the podcast to go to for complete Star Wars lit coverage.

Radio 1138: Episode 1 kicks off a new podcast covering Star Wars news with a UK focus. Featuring hosts Mark Newbold and James Burns from Jedi News, they cover some of the recent Star Wars Episode VII news as well as audio from a Q&A J.W. Rinzler and Jeremy Bulloch did for The Making of Return of the Jedi. Great start for the show.

RebelForce Radio: Episode 11.01.13 covers the latest headlines and rumors (Arndt being replaced and Harrison Ford signing on). In their investigative report, they dive deeper into the story of how David Prowse threw Ian McDiarmid into the reactor shaft and the other project Lucasfilm Singapore may be working on (a fairy movie codenamed Primrose). Rounding the episode out is a nice little interview with Zack Giallongo covering his comic Ewoks: Shadows of Endor.

Secrets of Star Wars: Episode 4 is out and covers the new writing duties of J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan as they take over Star Wars Episode VII. It’s been a while since their last episode, but I’m glad to see the podcast is still going. The hosts present a view of Star Wars that’s a bit different from other podcasts and it’s nice to listen to for the varying viewpoints.

Snap Hiss: Episode 1 is a special companion podcast from Rebels Report providing Star Wars coverage beyond Star Wars Rebels. This episode features Pete discussing the news that Kasdan and Abrams are taking over writing duties for Star Wars Episode VII. If you haven’t heard too much about the news yet, this would be a good way to catch up.

Star Wars Report: Episode 111 brings back Bethany as she joins hosts Riley and Mark for a discussion on whether Arndt being relieved of writing duties on Star Wars Episode VII is something to worry about. They also touch on the reports that Bob Iger denied a request to push the movie release back to 2016. As with the other episodes lately, this one runs pretty short, so the discussions are brief, but having all three hosts on for this episode makes it worth a listen.

Temple Archives: Episode 78 includes spoiler reviews of Vector Prime and Ender’s Game. I have to admit, I stopped listening a couple minutes after they got into their discussion on Ender’s Game because Wayne’s initial description of the book was so persuasive, he convinced me that this is a book I need to read, so I didn’t want to get spoiled. However, I did listen to their entire discussion of Vector Prime which was fun to listen to. Both hosts enjoyed it, but this was the first time Wayne has read the book, and it’s the only book of the NJO he’s read, so his viewpoint was cool to hear. Since they plan on going through the entire series, it’ll be neat to follow along and I certainly recommend checking it out for NJO fans.