Podcasts in Review

November 13, 2014 at 12:00 am | Posted in Interview, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Television | Leave a comment
Tags: dave filoni, james luceno, jason fry, jeremy bulloch, phil tippett, vanessa marshall

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Assembly of Geeks: “All About Sheev (and Other Star Wars Names)” tackles the Marvel and DC movie lineups as well as movies heading to TV. Special guest Justin Bulger stops by to talk about Palpatine’s first name and Star Wars names in general. Other topics in this show include actors up for Marvel roles, and some Harry Potter discussion. Great episode all around.

Coffee with Kenobi: Rebels Reactions – Droids in Distress episode features guest Matt Moore. They get into the depth of Zeb’s character, the use of post traumatic stress disorder for him, how the Kanan comic is now being turned into an ongoing series rather than just a miniseries, Kanan’s character transition between A New Dawn and Star Wars Rebels, and R2 as the ultimate mole. Very nice on-topic, revealing discussions. I really enjoyed their guest for this episode and all of the insights he was able to bring to the topic. After the show, the hosts have their kids on to get their opinions on Star Wars Rebels.

Rebels Reactions – Fighter Flight episode includes guest Teresa Delgado. They cover the background role of the female characters up to this point of the series, Chopper’s mischievousness, TIE fighters and the lighter nature of this episode.

Disney Vault Talk: “Melody Time” starts off with the usual listener feedback, touches on Disney news, then heads into fun facts, history, and a full discussion of Melody Time. Surprisingly there were quite a few shorts in this package film that the hosts didn’t really care for. Afterwards, Teresa’s trivia time turns into a Disney dance party and a smorgasbord of songs.

Full of Sith: Episode LXXXIX includes two interviews. The first is with Phil Tippett who recalls seeing King Kong and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and how that inspired him. He recounts how being friends with Dennis Muren got him on board Star Wars and his first task was making masks for the cantina scene. He talked about George’s inspiration for the dejarik board, working with the AT-AT’s, the rancor, and even the garthak for Coneheads. They cover the transition between practical special effects and CGI, and how Jurassic Park merged the two. The second interview is with Star Wars author James Luceno covering his new book Tarkin. James talks about mining life experiences for Tarkin, the comparison to Watson and Holmes and good cop/bad cop for Vader and Tarkin, the big deal with Sheev, not mentioning Daala or Ackbar, and how he specifically edited himself to limit his number of references. Afterwards the hosts have some fun with Sheev.

Know What I’m Saying: “KWIS From a Rose (ary?)” has the usual wide variety of topics. They talk about sports, Batman, Jesuit priests and dating sites. It’s Karl. It’s Steve. It’s entertaining.

Radio 1138: Episode 18 includes interviews with the 501st Legion, Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch, Star Wars author Jason Fry and more. This episode also marks the podcast’s anniversary, so there’s plenty of birthday wishes spread throughout.

Rebels Declassified: “Fighter Flight” features hosts Jimmy Mac and Jason Swank and guests F.J. Desanto and Dan Curto. They talk about toys and how this episode literally put the hero in the TIE fighter, the use of the Imperial Troop transport and more.

“Rise of the Old Masters” features Jason, Jimmy and Kyle Newman. They talk about training someone in the Force, comparing Star Wars: The Clone Wars to Star Wars Rebels and whether it’s a fair comparison to make, and more. One thing I did not realize is that Brent Spiner played the senator in this episode.

RebelForce Radio: Episode 10.31.14 is Halloween themed and includes coverage of Jimmy’s visit to the Kane County Toy Fair, an interview with Dave Filoni, and an interview with Vanessa Marshall. Dave talks about how George suggested adding the new Vader scene to Star Wars Rebels, how they got James Earl Jones to do the voice, and gives some insight to the Inquisitor, Kanan, Hera and Luminara. Vanessa expands on Hera and Kanan’s relationship, her fandom, and working on the show.

Rebels Report: Season 1 Episode 2 “Fighter Flight” episode is hosted by Pete and Andy. They talk about Brent Spiner’s part in the episode, Pete’s thoughts on seeing episodes early via the apps and how that might hurt the event watching fans enjoy via social media. They cover the frustration for international fans, the all Star Wars German channel, then dive into a review of “Fighter Flight” covering Ezra and Zeb’s interactions, the use of mellaroon fruit from the X-Wing book series and more.

Star Wars Action News: Episode 435 is a fully loaded toy discussion as they cover what’s on the shelves, reviews of the Black Series Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike and more.

Star Wars Report: Episode #150 starts off with Bethany’s viewpoint on feedback and criticism, then transitions into news and rumors (spoiler free) and their thoughts on the Star Wars Rebels episode “Fighter Flight”.

Star Wars With Friends: Episode #21 features a fantastic interview with Star Wars author James Luceno covering his new book, Tarkin. James talks about the new place for women and aliens in the Empire, George Lucas naming Palpatine and his opportunity to reveal the name, Palpatine choosing the Jedi Temple as his home and how that came from the story group, and treating Tarkin as a colonial. He also entertains the idea of working on an episode of Star Wars Rebels, his past work on Robotech and Galaxy Rangers, how his travels influence his stories and working on the New Jedi Order. Really great interview. Justin seamlessly flows from question to question and pulls out a lot of good ones making this one of the best Luceno interviews I’ve listened to.