Podcasts in Review

April 23, 2015 at 12:01 am | Posted in Celebration, Conventions, Events, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | 1 Comment
Tags: chris macht, daniel wallace, drew karpyshyn, holman wang, jack wang, john morton, steve sansweet

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review including my reviews of the live podcast panels I was able to attend at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.

Coffee With Kenobi: Celebration live panel was a lot of fun and a great way to start the day. Everyone was high off the new trailer for The Force Awakens, and Coffee With Kenobi was able to keep the fun going. They had John ‘Dak’ Morton on as a guest to talk Star Wars. He compare the film to some of Coppola’s greatest movies, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, and talked about how Star Wars stood out from films like that because of how it inspires people. They discussed fears and overcoming them, and how those themes tie into Star Wars. John also talked about visiting the people who waiting in line overnight, his thoughts on Star Wars Rebels and Ezra’s character, and the panel he’s doing at Celebration that focuses on military personnel and Star Wars. As always, John is a great guest and they touched on some good topics. Afterwards Dan and Cory covered The Force Awakens panel that kicked off the day, touching on Kathleen Kennedy, BB-8, Rey as a scavenger, the trailer, the impact of Han and Chewie, Mark Hamill’s narration, the passing of the sword and even the cinematography. Their second guest was Jeff McGee from Assembly of Geeks and Marvin Dog Media. Jeff chatted with them about the collectibles at Celebration like the Bossk hoodie and Funko Fett. And wrapping things up was Kevin Liell from Norse Legion and a giveaway of some of their cool Star Wars jewelry. I have to admit, I was very impressed with the panel. They pulled off a live show like pro’s with great guests, great discussion and lots of fun.

Full of Sith: Episode CIX starts with some Star Wars Celebration Anaheim discussion, they talk a little bit about Kanan: The Last Padawan comic, then they dive into Bryan’s interview with Dave Filoni. They begin with Fulcrum and Ahsoka with Dave talking about the planning involved and the careful consideration on how to use her correctly. Dave touched on what it’s like not having George around now, how much of the time period between TCW and Star Wars Rebels they plan on covering, Yoda’s exile (Dave comments that Yoda doesn’t leave Dagobah, that he’s not an active participant in the Rebellion and that he stays in hiding), the significance of Ezra’s birthday, how the puffer pig came about, and they even talk Robotech and pony farms. It’s a fun and insightful interview that you’ll definitely want to check out. Unfortunately I did not get to catch Full of Sith’s live podcast panel at Celebration, however, it is up here for your listening pleasure.

Radio 1138: Celebration live panel isn’t out yet (though it’ll show up here when it is released), but like the Coffee With Kenobi panel, it was a lot of fun. Surprisingly, Mark and James said this was their first time doing the show as a live show, though you wouldn’t have known watching them at work. They started things off with some humorous stories about their time at the con, and they revealed that Jakku, the newly revealed named for the desert planet in the trailers, is Japanese for tranquility. Then Tim Stanton from He Said He Said joined them to talk about the new TFA trailer and about the podcast he does with Darren Hayes. Tim was followed by Steve Sansweet who talked about the challenges this year with the Rancho Obi-Wan exhibit. He shared some funny stories, including his ordeal to get an exclusive Celebration pin. He also touched on space, collecting, and his current collecting focus. Afterwards John ‘Dak’ Morton came up to talk about the next couple articles he’ll be doing for Jedi News. One of them will be with author James Luceno again, this time tackling the experience of Star Wars Celebration with him covering the actor’s perspective, and James the writer’s perspective. The other article he’ll be doing will be another Star Wars author, Ryder Windham. Once again, John talked about visiting the queue that formed up the night before, the sheer amount of positive buzz permeating the con and fandom as a whole, and having no gripes about the trailer. Another topic he discussed was his experience of leaving Star Wars and coming back to it, something that was shared by fellow Star Wars actor and stuntman Dickey Beer. He expressed how they’re living into our expectations, but they’re still one of us. Again, another impressive live panel, and I’d say Mark and James are even funnier in person. Great job all around.

RebelForce Radio: While RebelForce Radio did not do a live show on the podcast stage, they did do a Star Wars Celebration Kick Off Bash at their RebelForce Radio party Wednesday night. I did not get to attend the party, but I did listen to the episode they put up. They talked with Steve Sansweet, voice actor Stephen Stanton and artist Randy Martinez, who also did a pretty good live rendition of his song “Padme”. They had guests from the 501st, Mark and James from Jedi News, Chris Macht from The Force Within Us, and Tricia and Sarah from Fangirls Going Rogue. Everyone sounded like they were having a good time, in fact Jimmy sounded like he’d been hitting the bar, and it’s a fun show to listen to. They ended things with a live version of their RebelForce Radio song.

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 73 begins with their experience at an early screening of Age of Ultron. While they couldn’t divulge details, they said it was awesome. They were also able to go to a press conference, though it was cut short (the audio for that will be forthcoming). They talk some about their Star Wars Celebration Anaheim plans, then head into their interview with Chris Macht. The interview with Chris turned out really good. He talked about his inspiration for making Star Wars documentaries, what it took to get them made, and how they progressed from one to the other. He covered traveling to the shooting locations of the films, getting to interview cast and crew members who worked on Return of the Jedi, and he talked about his latest project which will be a bit of a Star Wars reality show focusing on fans, Star Wars Celebration, and leading all the way up to The Force Awakens. However Chris isn’t there only guest in this episode. Later on they talk with Jack and Hol­man Wang about their book Star Wars Epic Yarns. I’ll admit this book wasn’t on my radar because at first glance it seemed like a gimmicky kid’s book, but after hearing Jack and Holman talk about it, I’m kinda curious to check it out. From the sounds of it, a lot of work went into making the book. Finishing things off, Sarah and Richard talk with Dave Skale and his niece Sarah who went and saw the Marvel Universe Live. They talk about what the live show is like, who’s in it, and what the story is. All in all, another great episode. Sadly, I did not get to go to their live podcast panel at Celebration, but they do have their show up here.

Star Wars Bookworms: Celebration live panel isn’t out yet either (should show up here when it is), but they did not disappoint. For their live show, they had two guest authors on: Drew Karpyshyn and Daniel Wallace. Drew was up first and talked about his new original fantasy series The Chaos Born. They talked with him about his Darth Bane series and Bane’s appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Drew commented that he liked the gray area they left for Bane in the show and loved that Mark Hamill was the one who voiced him. Dan Wallace was up next and talked about writing reference books and writing stories and how The Jedi Path let him do a bit of the latter. He talked about Book of Sith and The Bounty Hunter Code, and touched on the EU and the difficulty in leaving that behind, yet also the excitement for The Force Awakens and not knowing what’s going to happen. With DK’s Ultimate Star Wars, he had to unlearn what he had learned since the book only deals with what’s canon. They then shifted to a Q&A with Dan and Drew both taking questions. Drew talked about how Revan tied into the video games, what book projects he has coming out, writing villains, the twist in KOTOR, an idea they had for a clone Revan, and his thoughts on Legends and canon. Dan shared what he’s working on including a Ghostbuster book he has coming out. He talked about working with multiple authors on projects, and his take on the EU/Legends/canon issue. Afterwards Aaron and Teresa brought on guests JediShua (Techno Retro Dads) and Mark Newbold (Jedi News, Radio 1138) to discuss their five favorite Star Wars works. Each of them would name a favorite and then the four of them would weigh in with their own thoughts. Fav’s included The Jedi Path, Dark Tide/Ruin, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, Han Solo at Star’s End, the Darth Bane Trilogy, Twilight (the Quinlan Vos comic arc), Rusty Miller’s Jedi Master Quiz Book, The Essential Atlas, The Essential Reader’s Companion, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, The Art of Return of the Jedi and Marvel Star Wars #57. Then they did some rapid fire questions, brought up guest Erich Schoenewiess from Del Rey who talked about Battlefront: Twilight Squadron which will be written by Alexander Freed, Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp, and Dark Disciple by Christie Golden. It was a great, jam packed panel with excellent guests. I was really blown away by how great all the live podcast panels were. Hopefully those will become a mainstay for future Celebrations.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.