Podcasts in Review

December 5, 2013 at 10:36 am | Posted in Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature | Leave a comment
Tags: erich schoeneweiss, erin m. evans, james arnold taylor, ryder windham, sam witwer

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Bombad Radio: Episode 110 is there Sam Witwer interview episode. I didn’t get a chance to listen to is last week, but I was a little surprised at how short it was. Still, it’s always cool to hear Sam talk Star Wars and I had no idea he did the voice for the Emperor in the Star Wars pinball games. Filling out the episode, the hosts talk about their favorite Star Wars characters, Bat Kid, and they have a segment covering Screen Rants what if article on who you would want to compete in the Hunger Games. Interesting to think about 16 year old Luke Skywalker going up against Buffy the Vampire Like, Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, and Hit-Girl. Fun discussion as always.

Coffee with Kenobi: Episode 8 features special guest Scott Murray from Assembly of Geeks as they cover Return of the Jedi. There’s some fun discussion as they explore why it’s Scott’s favorite Star Wars film, why some fan’s didn’t like it, and why it stands the test of time. This episode also has an interview with Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss, interviewed by Tricia Barr. Erich talks a little about his involvement and work on the Star Wars books, including J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of Return of the Jedi, and drops a very intriguing tidbit about the current line of Star Wars fiction, “on the fiction side, there’s tons of stuff in the works”. It’s worth noting that he was not talking about Star Wars guides as he said right now, they don’t have anything going on.

Jedi Journals: December 2013 episode is out and covers all the Star Wars comic, book and magazine news. They also have an interview with the Death Star manual author Ryder Windham.

Secrets of Star Wars: Episode 6 plunges into a lot of rumors and speculation on Star Wars Episode VII, as well as touching on the Episode II and III 3D release info coming out of the Netherlands. The hosts discuss who might die, some of the thematic similarities between J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek films and Star Wars, and of course the return of R2-D2. Pretty good episode overall.

Star Wars Kidscast: Episode 4 has a nice interview with Michael Price, the writer for all of the Star Wars LEGO tv specials. Michael talks about all the humor that goes into the show, his joy of Star Wars and more. Great episode to listen to if you’re a fan of the LEGO specials and it’s kid friendly if you want to listen to it with your family.

Star Wars Oxygen: Episode 1 is a really interesting look at the music of Star Wars. In this debut episode, the hosts Jimmy Mac and David Collins touch on some of the musical inspirations for the first film. I thought it was pretty getting to listen to some of the musical pieces that were originally used for the tempo track. It’s amazing to hear music that sounds so much like Star Wars, but isn’t. David Collins leads the discussion as he talks about some of the classical pieces that George Lucas heard in his head while creating the story. The episode includes plenty of sound clips of the music, and it’s a really awesome thing to hear. You won’t want to miss this one.

Non-Star Wars Podcasts

Big Pop Fun: Episode 87 has one of the best James Arnold Taylor interviews I’ve ever listened to. For Star Wars fans, James talks some about The Clone Wars and his voicework for Obi-Wan. But their discussion goes much deeper than that as James talks about his personal life, his outlook on things, and much more. Tom even talks a little bit about his association with Star Wars as he did some voice work for The Old Republic and for Star Wars Detours. If you haven’t listened to Big Pop Fun before, it’s a great podcast to check out. It’s hosted by Tom Wilson, the comedian and actor (most famous for his portrayal of Biff in the Back to the Future movies).

Episode 90 features a discussion with Greg Carpenter which covers a lot of interesting stories from wild Microsoft company parties, to trying to make millions off the stock market with early computer technology.

Episode 95 is a fun solo episode loosely centered on Danny Trejo. if you haven’t listened to Big Pop Fun, it’s a good podcast to check out. It’s done by Tom Wilson, the actor who played Biff in Back to the Future. He often recounts some pretty interesting and funny stories, and this episode is no different. He talks about a film he did with Danny Trejo called Blood In, Blood Out, doing ride alongs with the LAPD in East LA and other fun stories.

Bombad Radio: Episode 111 features an interview with Forgotten Realms author Erin M. Evans covering her latest book The Adversary which is the second novel in The Sundering series. It’s good interview and worth checking out for Forgotten Realms and Erin M. Evans fans.

Know What I’m Saying: Episode 7 kicks off with a new date report from Karl. Fair warning, Karl and Steve proceed to trash Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I can forgive them this one time, but one should tread lightly when demeaning the epicness that is Ricardo Montalban. They dive into some listener feedback including a humorous story of how their moistness episode caused one listener to lose a date. Star Wars fans will be happy to know that they do get to some Star Wars discussion in this episode. Plus there’s Steve’s tale of squirrel woes. Another entertaining episode I highly recommend.