Podcasts in Review

September 25, 2014 at 12:01 am | Posted in Episode VII, Episode VIII, Interview, Movies, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment
Tags: a new dawn, gary kurtz, john jackson miller, sam witwer

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

501stCast: Episode 84 goes over all the fun ALS Star Wars videos, they talk about the Star Wars fan film awards, the cover the Green Cross droid renovation, and go through all the con and mission reports for the 501st garrisons. One report that caught my attention and was pretty neat to hear about was a troop they did to an even for the blind. It was interesting to hear about the kids’ reactions to the 501st members.

Bombad Radio: September Free-For-All episode features James and special guests Scott Murray (Assembly of Geeks) and David Gremillion (Get Your Geek On). As always in the free-for-alls, they cover a lot of topics, this one focusing on all things Star Wars. They talk about the possibilities for Star Wars rides and attractions at Disney theme parks, merchandise options, and much more. They also dig in a little into Star Wars Rebels and Jake Lloyd.

Episode 165 is a live report from Salt Lake Comic Con 2014. Jeremiah runs down all the people he’s talked to. Kind of a random and inconsequential episode, so you can skip this one if you like.

Episode 166 features their audio from the Sam Witwer panel at Salt Lake Comic Con 2014. Sam talks about Being Human, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, and lots of Star Wars topics. He dives into Maul, out geeking Dave Filoni, the selfish side of the dark side, and the proper viewing order for Star Wars. The panel was moderated by Bryan Young and the audio turned out pretty good. You can hear Master Bruce there in the beginning but he naps through most of the panel so it’s interruption free (for those who don’t know, Master Bruce is Jeremiah’s baby boy who is aptly named Bruce). Best of all, Sam tells lots of fun stories, so you won’t want to miss out on this one.

Coffee with Kenobi: Episode #24 covers a lot of topics. They touch on some collector news including the massive six foot Kenner Boba Fett. They also talk about the Star Wars ALS videos, and the Bearded Trio have some Spielberg audio and ALS info in their “Expresso Shot”. Later on, the hosts have a interesting Darth Maul discussion with guest Jordan Maison (Cinelinx) and cap the show off with some listener feedback. Good episode all around.

Fictional Frontiers: Episode 297 includes an interview with A New Dawn author John Jackson Miller. John talks about finding out how his book would be canon, talks about the continuity issues with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and DC Comics, discussion the characters from A New Dawn, the Empire, and they talk a little about his comics website Comichron. It’s a quick interview and covers a lot of familiar ground if you’ve been listening to all the other A New Dawn interviews, but it’s good audio quality, and if you haven’t been listening to a lot of John Jackson Miller interviews lately, this one is worth checking out.

Full of Sith: Episode LXXXIII is my pick of the week. In this episode, they have special guest Chris Taylor who shares some great audio clips from an interview he recently did with legendary Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz. The interview was done for a book he wrote, and it covers some very insightful topics central to the history of the film franchise. Kurtz talks about ironing out the idea of the Force with George Lucas, the influences of Flash Gordon, working with director Irvin Kershner, how he parted ways, and some of the early outline ideas for Return of the Jedi. In between audio clips, the hosts weigh in on each topic and Kurtz’s answers which sheds even more light and thoughts on the topics discussed. This is essential listening for any Star Wars fan. I highly recommend giving this one a listen.

RebelForce Radio: Episode 9.12.14 includes an interview with the pilot who nabbed the aerial photos of the Millennium Falcon and X-wings from the outdoors sets in England. They also play part of an interview Liam Neeson did discussion Episode VII, and Jason and Jimmy share their thoughts on whether he’ll be in Episode VII and whether he should have been in Episode III. Afterwards they have an N’Sync discussion, give a birthday shoutout to a fan, and cover a new Star Wars Episode VII actress.

Secrets of Star Wars: Episode 18 has a full rundown on all the latest Star Wars Episode VII news and rumors plus a little on Episode VIII and the stand alone films. Great way to catch up with no spoilers that would ruin the movie for you (ie. there is plenty of spoilers, just no story shattering ones).

Skywalker Through Neverland: Episode 44 starts out with a little Expendables talk and Sylvester Stallone mentioning reading for the part of Han Solo. Then they have special guest David Collins on to talk Disney music. They cover the music at the parks, the Sherman Brothers, the Tiki Room, an alternate version of “It’s A Small World”, Walt and World’s Fairs, and cap things off with a Disney music challenge. Afterwards is an interview with Dan Berry, audio of Cory Burton talking about voicing Luke Skywalker, and an audio clip from Rian Johnson. Lots of Disney and Star Wars goodness packed into this episode.

Star Wars Report: Episode #143 includes audio from the Star Wars Rebels panel from Dragon Con 2014. Panelists include Riley, Bethany, Bria from Tosche Station, Amy Ratcliffe, Brian from EUCantina, James from BobaFett.com and Tom Hutchins, founder of the Mandalorian Mercs. They share their thoughts on Star Wars: The Clone Wars first, from Ahsoka and Anakin, to Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, then dive into Star Wars Rebels. They talk about Kanan and Sabin and take a wide variety of fan questions. Afterwards is the audio for the Star Wars Episode VII panel from Dragon Con 2014 covering everything they know so far about the upcoming movie. From EU characters to the new Stormtrooper armor, they touch on everything.

Tosche Station: All The Single Ladies episode features audio from the Dragon Con 2014 panel that included Janine Spendlove, Amy Ratcliffe, Kathryn Hinds, Nanci, Bria, and Brian. They cover a multitude of topics all oriented around sexism and gender diversity in Star Wars, be it the films, books, comics or marketing. Unfortunately there is a lot of dead space because you can’t hear any of the questions and comments from the crowd.

A New Hope – Who Was Luke Skywalker episode also features audio from a panel at Dragon Con 2014. This time panelists included Paula Rosenberg, Nanci Schwartz, Robin Smith, Bryan Young, Sarah Dempster, and Thomas Harper as they talk about why Luke is better than Han. They cover his strengths with mostly a film focus and some EU discussion. In this one, you can thankfully hear the fan questions without any issues so there’s no dead space. The panel had some interesting discussions and was pretty good. Worth checking out.