Podcasts in Review

July 30, 2015 at 12:00 am | Posted in Interview, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | 1 Comment
Tags: charles soule, christie golden, dark disciple, lando, pablo hidalgo

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Card Trader Illuminerdi: While there’s a handful of Star Wars podcasts I listen to on a regular basis, I try to branch out and listen to new ones every now and then. And yes, I do follow through on suggested ones (so feel free to hit me up with your suggestions). I got a poke on Facebook suggesting I listen to Card Trader Illuminerdy, so I did. First off, these guys live up to their name. They go in deep on the Star Wars Topps Trading App covering new cards, upcoming releases, and even the odds on different cards. Unfortunately if you’re unfamiliar to the trading app (like me) the discussion quickly gets overwhelming. I couldn’t really follow along with a lot of the stuff they were talking about. But, if you’re a big fan of the app, this may be the podcast you’re looking for. It’s certainly the only podcast I’ve heard of focusing on the game, they’ve got a good mix of hosts, good audio quality, and there’s some nice additions of humor and information. In particular, I checked out the July.17.2015 Episode.

Coffee With Kenobi: Coffee Chat with Pablo Hidalgo features a conversation with Pablo covering storytelling, Star Wars, and insight on the story group. I especially enjoyed hearing his comments on how they’re handling Vader as a character. The only downside to the episode is that Pablo’s audio is a little crummy, everyone else is fine. Still worth a listen.

Comic Book Noob: Ant-Man episode is a nice little episode that provides some background on the main characters in the Ant-Man comics, their many iterations, and how it ties into the film. It doesn’t spoil anything and for anyone unfamiliar with Ant-Man (like me) it gives some much needed insight on the character and the series without diving too deep into the subject matter and getting bogged down. It stays light, informational, entertaining, and gives just the right about of info for fans new to the character. I have to say the Comic Book Noob episodes are a great thing to check out. I’m really enjoying them so far.

Comics With Kenobi: Episode #3 covers Darth Vader #7 and Princess Leia #5. While I really liked Darth Vader #7, I was not a fan of Princess Leia #5, or for that matter, the whole Princess Leia series. Thus I found myself in a lot of disagreement with the hosts as they heaped praise on the comic and the series. As always, Star Wars is a diverse fandom, so you’ll always find someone on one side or the other on any given topic. That said, they also cover Lando #1, which they also give a lot of praise too, but I liked that one so I was very much in agreement with most of their observations. If you’re looking for Star Wars comic discussion, they’ve got you covered.

Fangirls Going Rogue: Episode 21 features Tricia, Teresa, Sarah and special guest Bria as they cover Star Wars Covergirl items, Star Wars Weekends including some audio clips of Peter Mayhew and Ray Park and interviews with Ray Park and Taylor Gray. Bria talks about her fandom which leads to a discussion of ship wars, and they talk about what they want for the Star Wars Rebels character Kallus. Great episode overall, it definitely competes with the best of them.

Fictional Frontiers: Episode 326 includes two interviews, one with Jonathan Case, and one with Charles Soule. I tuned in for the Charles Soule interview since he’s writing the Lando comic series for Marvel. Charles talks a little on his approach to the character of Lando, as well as his other work like Civil War 2. It’s not a real in-depth Star Wars interview, but I haven’t seen any others out there yet, so you might want to check it out.

Full of Sith: Episode CXXI features Mike, Bryan and Amy as they talk about Rogue One rumors, Felicity Jones, Sabine, Forest Whitaker, and The Force Awakens action figures. The episode wraps up with listener feedback. Overall, another excellent episode.

Full of Sith: Episode CXXIII focuses in on the Han Solo anthology film as they discuss casting, writers, directors and more. Plus they talk about the Star Wars San Diego Comic Con panel. Top notch discussion in this one making it a great addition to your playlists.

Fly Casual: Episode 46 includes special guest Steve Potter, their foreign corespondent in the UK. They talk with Steve, cover the news, an update on Greg Grunberg, Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan movies, TFA promo art, Star Wars in China, Alan Dean Foster, Droid Tales, and toys news like Jabba’s Rancor Pit box set, the Hasbro Fan’s Choice poll and Sideshow Jawas. Great show with lots of fun discussion, topics and it was cool to hear from Steve.

Fly Casual: Episode 47 starts with a yard sale discussion, a talk show discussion and Peppa Pig before diving into Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Star Wars fan first and foremost, but the pre-show discussions for Fly Casual are pretty hilarious and fun to listen to. Once they get down to business, they review Princess Leia #5 and provide an impressive parody song of John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane” but with Leia lyrics. This alone is worth listening to the episode, but there’s more. They also review Darth Vader #7, Star Wars Rebels “Siege of Lothal” episode, and there’s rumors. On top of that, Steve Potter is back again. With so much going for it, this is definitely an episode you’ll want to consider checking out. Great stuff.

Fly Casual: Episode 48 features guest Amy Ratcliffe as they talk about San Diego Comic Con, a whole bunch of news including the Han Solo anthology film, Amy Schumer’s GQ pics, the Chewbacca comic, new Hasbro toys, Aftermath, and more. Amy always brings her “A” game and with there’s a lot of excellent topics in this episode resulting in some great discussions. Right now, Fly Casual is definitely scoring top marks in my Star Wars playlist. Be sure to give them a listen.

Hyperspace Theories: Episode 8 starts with a breakdown of Star Wars Rebels Season One. There’s quite a bit of criticism and critiques, so if that’s the kind of discussion you’re looking for, this one’s for you.

Radio 1138: Episode 29 includes a brief discussion of Secret Star Wars, an event going on in England, they’ve got a great interview with Roger Christian who talks about Star Wars and Black Angel, this being the first of a two part interview. They talk with the 501st Legion, play some parody songs, then break into an interview with Dave Filoni and finish up with Jonathan Wilkins who catches everyone up on Star Wars Insider.

Steele Wars: Steel Saunders showed up on a recent episode of RebelForce Radio and I liked what he had to say, so I decided to check out his podcast. I tried out Episode 50.4 and 50.5 which are both parts of his San Diego Comic Con coverage. Now Steele Wars is not your typical podcast, or at least these episodes weren’t. They were recorded live at the event and they’re very free form, spur of the moment deals. It’s not the most professional sounding episodes. There’s some dead air and the flow is very random as he talks with his companions and sometimes guests. Episode 50.4 was a bit of a dud (that one had the dead air), but Episode 50.5 was a lot better. In that episode he speaks with David Collins and Sam Witwer as they talk about the concert and Harrison Ford. He talks with some other guests and there’s a preview sample of A New Hope commentary he did with some other comedians. Of the two episodes I checked out, I’d recommend giving 50.5 a try if you’re inclined for something new. Not sure if I’ll give any more a try, though.

Steven and Stephen on Steven: Jaws Episode covers one of my all time favorite childhood films. Unfortunately, there are some audio issues with this episode as one of the host’s audio fades in and out and has some popping issues. Otherwise, there was some pretty good discussion. Still might be worth checking out for Jaws fans.

The Younglings Podcast: These guys have been on the back burner for a while, so I finally got around to putting them back on the playlist. I fired up a couple episodes including Episode 003 which had a fun scene re-enactment from The Phantom Menace and a review of Jeffrey Brown’s Goodnight Darth Vader, Episode 004 which include some fun random impressions and addressed what order to watch the movies in, and Episode 009 where they talk about the Vanity Fair Star Wars article, and their favorite collectibles from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim. There’s also a back in time feature where they do an interview with Carrie Fisher in 1977. The Younglings Podcast is hosted by Annie & Tessa (ages 10 and 7). All of their episodes are fairly short, but that actually plays into their favor. They get to the point, stay on target, and pack in the fun into a quick burst of entertainment. I really like the episodes as they have a lot of fun, creative segments, and it’s neat to hear their perspectives on various Star Wars topics and news. Further more, they have great audio quality. A lot of their sound bytes are better than any of the other podcasts I listen to. They’re definitely worth a listen and it won’t take up much of your time to give them a try. I’m going to put them in the regular playlist, so expect to see more reviews in the future.

Tosche Station Radio: Episode #122 features an interview with Star Wars author Christie Golden as they discuss her latest book Dark Disciple. Christie talks about how she became a Star Wars fan, what it’s like writing for Star Wars, how Dark Disciple came along, and how she added more Kenobi to the story. Around the 19 minute mark, they delve into serious spoilers and provide some warning. If you haven’t read the book, be sure to stop there. Afterwards they get into Dooku, Obi-Wan, Dooku, Anakin, the title characters, and tropes. Great interview and episode. Definitely one to check out for fans of the book, Christie Golden and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Who Shot First: This one is a relatively new podcast with a very cool concept – it’s a Star Wars quiz show where the guests compete against each other to answer Star Wars questions and at the end of show, one of the guests is declared the winner. I tuned into Episode 2 which feature Richard and Sarah from Skywalking Through Neverland against Jedi News’ James Burns. Right off the bat, this is a nice start studded cast of high profile Star Wars podcasters. Best of all, you get to listen to them compete against each other as they struggle to obtain the bragging rights of being a Jedi Master. It’s a fun format. One team is Team Greedo, the other is Team Solo. They “buzz” in by saying their team name and the questions range from Expanded Universe books to video games, The Holiday Special, and of course the films. There are character questions, music challenges, name the dialog segments and toy trivia. It’s run the full gamut of the fandom. Episode 2 was a blast so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this podcast. It’s hosted by Dylan Hesp who does an excellent job of balancing the trivia and keeping it fun.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.