Podcasts in Review

January 8, 2015 at 12:00 am | Posted in Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Bombad Radio: Episode 181 starts with a quick chat on 2015 before heading into their interview with Tim Veekhoven who talks about his journey in Star Wars fandom and how it led to him being a writer for StarWars.com and starting the Belgian Star Wars fan club TK-421. It’s an interesting interview. English is a second language for Tim, but he’s very easy to understand, and he brings a very eye opening viewpoint on what Star Wars fandom is like for international fans, especially in countries where English is not the native language. For that aspect alone, it’s worth a listen.

Coffee with Kenobi: A Cup of Clone Wars with Tom Kane features a nice interview with Star Wars: The Clone Wars Yoda voice actor Tom Kane. Tom talks about his career in Star Wars voice work, voicing Yoda, working on TCW and with George Lucas and Dave Filoni, and he even touches a little on Star Wars Rebels. The audio is a little rough as there is a lot of off and on background noise–which is common in Tom Kane interviews–but it’s still a good one and worth checking out.

Episode #28 has some discussion of The Force Awakens character names, an interview with Thomas Riddle and Wes Dodgens of Star Wars in the Classroom, some fun news in the Bearded Trio segment, and Steve Sansweet stops by to talk about the Rancho Recruiter program and share his thoughts on The Force Awakens. Kind of cool to hear Steve’s thoughts on TFA.

Fly Casual: Episode 17, as I continue to go through their back catalog of shows, kicks off with some Star Wars Holiday Special chuckles then heads into a full review of Star Wars Rebels “Empire Day”. They cover the EU aspects of the Ithorian in the cantina, a TIE pilot who is a baron, the frightening cool-calm factor of Kallus, the keystone cop Imperials reporting to him, Seebo and Lobot factor, the possibilities of Fulcrum–be it Ahsoka or the ties to a religion of the same name on Bakura–the use of the data disk from Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, and the TIE advanced. Afterwards they talk about their initial thoughts on James Luceno’s Tarkin, and end the show with some rumors (which I skipped this time as they indicated it could be a possible spoiler for the end of The Force Awakens).

Full of Sith: Episode XCVII features hosts Mike, Bryan and Amy as they talk about Star Wars in storage. From forgotten treasures to things that don’t have a place yet, they talk about their Star Wars items that are still packed away. We all have them, don’t we? I know I still have some Death Star playsets in a tote waiting for a display shelf. Aside from that, Bryan shares an old magazine article that foreshadowed what the prequels would be about and shared George’s thoughts on what Episodes 7, 8 and 9 would be about (rebuilding the republic). They also talk about their thoughts on the impending The Force Awakens merchandise. Overall, a fun episode.

Peggy Carter Podcast: Episode 1 is hosted by Scott Murray (Assembly of Geeks), Amy Marie and Lauren Gallaway and is a preview of what’s to come as they cover what we know leading up to the series debut. They talk about the actors involved, how Marvel might tie it in to the films and the S.H.I.E.L.D. television show, and what sort of storylines and aspects the show might include. As someone who hasn’t been following all the news for Agent Carter, this was a nice way to catch and to gauge whether the show is something I’ll want to watch. Scott, Amy and Lauren provide some excellent discussion and viewpoints, with Amy and Lauren thoroughly covering the female viewpoint and the potential for the new television show for female viewers.

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 60 features Sarah and Rich along with guest hosts Mark Newbold and Tricia Barr. In this episode they cover the hits, misses and surprises of 2014. Definitely a fun episode to check out.

Star Wars Action News: Episode 439 includes a lot of guests as they go through the current market of collecting–what’s out there, their thoughts, and what they’re collecting–from JAKKS Pacific to Hasbro and LEGO. I found it interesting to compare their opinions on some of the new Star Wars collectibles out there with what I’ve heard on other podcasts. For instance no one had any interesting in the Star Wars Hotwheels, but the last episode of Collector’s Cast had a lot of love for the Star Wars Hotwheels. As always, Star Wars fandom has a wide array of fans, and it’s always worthwhile to hear a variety of opinions. One thing in particular that I enjoyed was some of the issues they recognized with the Black Series figures. I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the warped visor issue with the Biker Scouts.

Star Wars Oxygen: Volume 13 finishes off their discussion of Return of the Jedi with coverage of the deleted scenes, “Jedi Rocks”, the rancor scene, Vader and Luke’s moment on Endor, their battle on the Death Star and the Emperor’s death, as well as the new end music. They also take some time to talk about the music for The Force Awakens teaser trailer. Great episode as always focusing on the music of the Star Wars films.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.