Podcasts in Review

April 30, 2015 at 12:01 am | Posted in Audiobooks, Books, Interview, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars, Star Wars Books | Leave a comment
Tags: adam bray, bob bergen, grant gould, january lavoy, jason christman, jonathan davies, kevin liell, marc thompson, stephen stanton, tarkin, ultimate star wars, victoria sampson

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Bombad Radio: Episode 194 includes several guests. The first guest is Star Wars autograph collector Frank D. Rich who talks about collecting autographs and Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, giving some tips for first timers and some discussion of pricing. Then they play a clip of a James Arnold Taylor interview from Celebration VI where James talked about faith and Star Wars before seguing to their second guest, Greg, who is behind the Celebration of Worship events. Then they cover some news and jump to their third guest, voice actor Stephen Stanton. They talk about Life Itself, Star Wars Celebration, Starlight Foundation, the 501st Bash, Tarkin, Peter Cushing and Doctor Who. But that’s not all as they have one more guest in this episode, Noah Tarnow, who talks about Big Quiz Thing, what type of questions they’ll be doing at Celebration, and they break into some general fan discussion on Marvel, DC, comics, films and the Star Wars movies. It’s kind of a lengthy discussion, and puts this episode at a few minutes shy of two hours, so be prepared for a long one. Still, they have some good guests and some good discussions.

Episode 196 begins with some TFA trailer discussion then breaks to their interview with voice actor Bob Bergen, most recognizably known for voicing Porky Pig since Mel Blanc’s passing. While Bob is not much of a storyteller, and he doesn’t share his voices, he does give out a lot of advice and insight for voice actors looking to break into the business. He also shares how he got the role of Porky Pig, how he Mel Blanc as a kid, and some of the other work he’s done.

Episode 197 has an interview with Ultimate Star Wars author Adam Bray who talks about the project, working with canon and legends, how much of Star Wars Rebels he knew about when working on the book, and his contributions. Then they interview the voice actors for the Star Wars audiobooks: January Lavoy, Marc Thompson and Jonathan Davies. They talk about working on Star Wars books, the challenges of doing audiobooks, as well as the perks. With four interviewees in this episode, it’s jam packed with Star Wars goodness and all of the interviews are top notch.

Coffee With Kenobi: Celebration Anaheim Highlights Day One starts with Cory and Dan talking to various people at the convention and is followed up by the full audio for The Untold Clone Wars panel which is very cool. I missed out on that panel, but in this episode you can hear Pablo Hidalgo and Dave Filoni talk about the bounty hunters, Cad Bane and Boba Fett’s relationship, and the team-up episode they were going to put them in. Dave talks about how Cad was going to mentor Boba in the hopes of one day challenging him and proving that he is indeed the best bounty hunter in the galaxy since he missed the opportunity to face down Jango Fett. They also talk about a Kashyyyk episode that would have featured Wookiee tree spirits, Trandoshan Separatists, and the Bad Batch super commandos (clones altered by the Kaminoans to be even better than normal clones). They went on to talk about the Ventress/Vos arc, George’s fascination for both characters, and how both of them were evolving. Dave mentioned toying with the idea of a Yuuzhan Vong scout, Ahsoka loyalist clones, what Ahsoka would have been doing after leaving the Order, a Sith temple beneath the Jedi temple, Oppo Rancis having a bent lightsaber hilt like Dooku, and much more. Clone Wars fans will not want to miss the audio for this panel.

Celebration Anaheim Day Two features a recap of day one, their podcast panel and meeting everyone, and ends with an interview with Andi Gutierrez, the host of Rebels Recon.

Celebration Anaheim Day Three features a recap of day two where they talk more about some of the people they got to meet including Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams and even Weird Al Yankovic. They share their experience hanging out in the Mos Eisley Cantina area and going to Disneyland. Afterwards is the audio for the Star Wars Rebels panel, and their reactions to the premiere. Then they have a chat with Star Wars author Ian Doescher. Quite a lot packed into this episode. If you binge listen to all three recaps, you’ll get a nice little taste of Celebration.

Rebels Reactions “Fire Across the Galaxy” is an episode I missed and finally found the time to go back and listen to. It was definitely worth the effort. For this discussion they have guest Kevin Liell (the artist who does the jewelry designs for Norse Legion) who shares some fun opinions as they cover the Star Wars Rebels season one finale. They talk about the visual aspects of the episode, the Inquisitor, Kanan, Hera, Vader and Ahsoka as they share their insight and observations. As always, an excellent discussion, and they cap it off with a Q&A with Kevin.

Fangirl Chat: The Doctor is in…Geronimo! is a Doctor Who themed discussion as Teresa, Kay, Aaron and Adam talk about how they got into Doctor Who, who the doctors are, the scary elements of the show, their favorite episodes, companions, and of course, doctors. Now I’m not a Doctor Who fan (I’ve never watched the show) but it is an interesting look into the show. However, I’m sure Doctor Who fans will get a lot more out of it than me, so keep this one on your radar.

ForceCast: Special with Grant Gould & Jason Christman features two more Star Wars Celebration Anaheim artists interviews conducted by Spencer. Grant talks about Wolves of Odin, Star Wars, 3d printers, and how he came about selecting Thrawn for his Celebration print. Jason talks about he found ACME Archives, the work involved with setting up a booth, his plans for Celebration, the fine print on his Star Wars ads, and the meta idea behind his Celebration print. Once again, Spencer knocked out two great interviews. I highly recommend going back and listening to all his artists interviews as they’re really good.

Full of Sith: Episode CX is one that will throw your brain into high gear as Bryan poses a question regarding Padme’s family: what happened to them after Padme’s death? I’ll be honest, I never thought about it before, but it’s a great question. As Bryan points out, Luke and Leia may actually have aunts, uncles and even grandparents out in the galaxy. Mike, Bryan and Amy all ponder the question before digging into some listener feedback on original trilogy movie changes, the possibility of a Jedi temple on Dagobah, and Rogue One. Good episode and certainly one that will have you pondering about Star Wars and what if’s.

Episode CXI is their Celebration podcast stage episode featuring Mike, Bryan, Amy, Consetta, Chris Taylor (How Star Wars Conquered the Universe), Tim and Darren (He Said He Said) and Kevin Liell (Norse Legion). They talk about Star Wars, the trailers shown at Star Wars Celebration, do a little trivia and even get feedback from Anya, Scout and Anakin. Overall great episode to check out.

Ion Cannon: Episode #24 is hosted by Tom, Stephen and William and starts with some news coverage and Aftermath speculation before heading into their main discussion, Tarkin by James Luceno. They talk about the way Tarkin’s backstory is done, break down the main events of the books, and highlight the elements they did and didn’t like. For instance they all liked the relationship between Vader and Tarkin, but no one cared for the rebels. Overall an interesting discussion and worth checking out if you’re a fan of the Star Wars books. The hosts bring a good balance of viewpoints and the podcast has good audio quality, which is always a plus.

Legends Library: Darth Bane – Path of Destruction features guest Jay Shepard (Jedi Journals) as they discuss Drew Karpyshyn’s first Star Wars novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. Now if you haven’t listened to Legends Library before, they do go into depth on the books, so there are lots of spoilers. They talk about the nature of Bane’s villainy, the Sith and their use of truth, Jonathan Davies work with the audiobook version, his great Bane voice, and the use of special effects and music. They also cover how the book ties in with the Jedi vs Sith comic, the Dark Forces series, and they end with a Q&A with Jay. If you’re a fan of Jedi Journals or the Bane series, this one is worth a listen.

Now This Is Podcasting: Episode 74 begins with some talk about being blocked by David Prowse, the Star Wars digital releases, and then a lengthy discussion on the trailer. Note that this is pre-release, so they’re going over a source and what was said to be included in the trailer. It’s interesting in hindsight to hear what was right and what was wrong. Later on they talk about Rogue One and IMAX, they do a short spoiler discussion on the Darth Vader comic, tackle listener feedback and then head into spoiler segment which I stopped at. Now this is my first time listening to this podcast, and I’d have to say they do a lot of movie focused discussion and speculation. I didn’t really enjoy it that much, as even though they said they weren’t spoiling anything, these are people who are immersing themselves in spoilers, so even their speculation can be kind of spoilery. Personally I’m trying to avoid spoilers, so I’ll probably be avoiding this podcast in the future. However, if Star Wars movie spoilers and speculation is your thing, you may want to check this podcast out.

Skywalking Through Neverland: Bonus Content episode with Victoria Sampson is a fun one as she’s a great storyteller and has some fun stories about various Hollywood actors and films. She talks about Jack Nicholson, Barbara Streisand, Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, The Dark Knight, Titanic, Speed and more. This episode is a non-Star Wars, non-Disney one, but a good one. Definitely worth checking out.

An Interactive Fandom Adventure Live is their podcast panel from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim. The audio gives fans an idea of what the live panel was like, however, as the name implies, it sounded like a very interactive panel. They had games, questions for the audience and lots of giveaways, as well as guests Randy Martinez, Denise Vasquez, and Rob Dehlinger. Randy, being a Star Wars artist, did a pictionary challenge for one of the games, and Rob Dehlinger got the audience involved for the next Skywalker of the week recording. On the downside, with the panel being so interactive, it’s not the best thing to listen to, though it sounded like it was a lot of fun. If you stick around after the show, they play all their Skywalking Through Neverland jingles. In the end, this is an episode you can skip if you want to, or you can tune in to try and get that vicarious experience.

Star Wars Bookworms: Episode 39 is starts with some Topps Star Wars Trading Card Game discussion, then they talk about their Star Wars Celebration plans and do a non-spoiler review of Kanan – The Last Padawan #1. Afterwards Aaron, Mark (Star Wars Report) and Stephen (Ion Cannon) do a little Celebration and canon discussion before hitting their main topic, a full review of James Luceno’s Tarkin. They do delve into spoilers, and they cover a lot topics, from Tarkin’s backstory, to the weakness of the rebel characters in the book, the nods to Legends, and the aspect of the Sith temple beneath the Jedi temple. Good episode overall with some nice Star Wars lit coverage.

Star Wars Oxygen: Volume 16 kicks off with some listener feedback and some discussion of Qui-Gon’s theme. They also touch on The Phantom Menace soundtrack edits, which they cover a little more later on in the episode. They talk about Darth Maul’s possible motif before digging into the music of Tatooine. They compare the podrace opening music to the opening music of the chariot race in Ben Hur. Dave points out how Jabba’s theme is hidden in there, and they discuss the lack of music during the podrace itself and how well Ben Burt’s sound effects fill that void. That leads them to mentioning other great films that have used sound effects to such great effect, and them finding a common connection. Then they compare the edited podrace music to the fuller track included on the original soundtrack release, and end with some very odd source music and some fun goofing off. As always, another fantastic episode with some excellent insight on the music of Star Wars, a must listen for any fan.

Star Wars Report: Episode #162 features guest Jimmy Mac from RebelForce Radio and he, Riley and Mark talk all things Star Wars, but especially Celebration. Note this episode is before Celebration (I’m still catching up), but they share their expectations for the opening panel, what they’re looking forward to, joke about a Star Wars/Walking Dead crossover and Jimmy does some Lian impersonations. It’s a fun fandom discussion and worth a listen.