Podcasts in Review

January 21, 2016 at 12:00 am | Posted in Interview, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

The 602 Club: Episode S15 gets off to an odd starts as they criticize The Force Awakens for not having enough world building and they question why the books didn’t come out sooner. They speculate on the delays for Aftermath: Life Debt and Bloodlines, they go on about the importance of ancillary material, and finally they get to the main topic of the show, Greg Rucka’s book Before the Awakening. They cover each of the three stories, what they did and didn’t like, how the stories rank with each other, and overall they each give it a big thumb’s up. With the literary focus in this one, it’s definitely worth a listen for book fans.

Assembly of Geeks: Finding Rey When the Force Awakens episode starts with what they did for New Year’s and their Christmas gifts. They talk Peggy Carter, Guillermo Del Toro and Voltron, adding Rey to Monopoly and other Hasbro missteps, and their thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Good episode.

BNN (Bombad Radio): Episode 1.18.16 covers the news for the week including celebrity deaths, top selling games, Fantastic 4 comics, Bioware and Mass Effect, Rogue One news, potential Han Solo actors, the possibility of a Vader appearance, and KOTOR creeping into canon. Again, good burst of news and a worthwhile podcast for your playlists.

Bombad Radio: Episode 222 features author Erin M. Evans as she talk about writing, the Forgotten Realms, working with Ed Greenwood, advice from Troy Denning, and her new book Ashes of the Tyrant. Great interview and worth checking out whether you’re a fan of the Realms, Erin or just writers in general.

Children of the Force: Episode #23 tackles George Lucas storytelling. Would he have done TFA differently? Would it have been better? They also address the petition to replace Trevorrow with Lucas. One thing I found interesting was how Al’s kids look at the OT vs the PT and how they admit the PT is sillier. Moving on, they talk the toy controversy and Hasbro’s missteps with Rey. Plus they cover the funniest moments in The Force Awakens. All in all, Children of the Force is an interesting podcast to add to your playlist in order to broaden your horizons and understanding of Star Wars. A big draw is Al’s kids, Liam and Anna, whose insight and opinions on the franchise is priceless.

Comic Book Noob: Rip Hunter episode talks about the Legends of Tomorrow character, his comic book origins, super powers, his arch enemy Vandal Savage, time travel and recommended reading. Great episode to expose fans to the character. Rip Hunter is one I knew nothing about and this was a fun show to listen to. Great way to expand your comic book knowledge.

Comics With Kenobi: Issue #13 talks about the Kanan series being cancelled, then they review Kanan #9, Chewbacca #4, the Darth Vader Annual #1, Star Wars #14, Darth Vader #14, Darth Vader #15 (thus wrapping up the Vader Down mini-series), and finish things off with Marvel’s Star Wars stats for 2015. If you love Star Wars comics, be sure to subscribe to this one.

Far Far Away Radio: Episode 220 is their review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. At this point, I’ve listened to quite a few reviews of the film, but Far Far Away Radio manages to do something different just by adopting a non-traditional format to their discussion. They talk about their favorite scenes, approach things in a trivia challenge roundabout, make predictions and just inject a lot of variety to their discussion. It’s a nice episode with great audio quality.

Fly Casual: Episode 71 is their counterpoint show tackling criticism for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Mike and Steve talk about their experience with the movie, their thoughts and criticisms, and it’s all moderated by Corey. Here’s the interesting thing – they do criticism right. They interject it with humor, they balance it with good things, and it turns out as a well balanced, enjoyable discussion that pokes at the flaws of the film without being a hatefest. Great episode.

Fly Casual: Episode 72 covers the news as they talk about J.J. and George’s responses to The Force Awakens, Rogue One news, the Star Wars Rebels Season Two trailer, the Hasbro Monopoly controversy and other toy news. Good episode to catch up on what’s going on.

Full of Sith: Episode CL features guest Vanessa Marshall as she joins Mike, Amy and Bryan to talk The Force Awakens and Star Wars Rebels. It’s Vanessa Marshall talking Star Wars, so this one is a must listen.

Musical Procrastination: Episode #20 is part one of Lee’s breakdown for the musical score of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Now it’s not on the same level of analysis and detail as Star Wars Oxygen, but if you’re looking for more Star Wars musical discussion for the film, Lee does a good job of diving into all the themes and their appearances. There are lots of sound clips and it gives a good theme-by-theme, motif-by-motif breakdown of the music.

Musical Procrastination: Episode #21 is part two of Lee’s breakdown of The Force Awakens soundtrack. In this one he gets into some comparisons of Darth Plagueis versus Snoke’s music, Luke and Leia’s theme, a Phantom Menace Peace in Finn’s Confession, a Tusken Raider camp piece in Torn Apart, and Luke and Leia’s birth music showing up with Lors San Tekka. He also goes through the Star Destroyer music, Kylo’s theme, and the A, B and C parts to Rey’s theme. Nice episode.

Radio 1138: Episode 36 contains some cool red carpet interviews with the biggest stars in the franchise – Oscar Isaac, Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Max von Sydow and Gwendoline Christie. Then they head into the studio to talk with R2 builders Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples who talk about the droids they worked on for The Force Awakens, and they also talk with The Force Awakens actress Arti Shah about her role in the film. Great stuff, definitely worth checking out.

Rebel Force Radio: 1st TFA Commentary Track features Jason and Jimmy as they watch the movie and provide their stream of conscience thoughts on what they’re seeing and thinking. I’m not sure how they did it, but the audio quality is great. There’s no background noise, just them providing their commentary on the film, and since I listened to it while not watching the movie, I can attest that it’s a great episode to just listen to – whether you’re watching the movie or not. There’s no dead air as they keep the conversation going from beginning to end.

Rebel Yell: Future of the Force and Legacy starts with some “Cooking with Steve” as Teresa asks about pork butt. As far as getting side tracked goes, Steve and Teresa keep it interesting. Anyways they do get on topic as they talk about going to see The Force Awakens with friends, box office numbers, the Star Wars Monopoly controversy, then they dive into Star Wars Rebels. They talk about the awesomeness of Ahsoka, her view on the Jedi, lightsaber color choice, Zeb, Chopper and babies, a significant discussion on lightsaber colors, an emotional question on who we’ll deal with Ahsoka dying – if that happens, and they touch on whether “Legacy” itself is a weaker episode than “Future of the Force.” Also, since they’ve called me out, I guess it’s official that they’re the best reviewed Star Wars Rebels podcast on Roqoo Depot :)

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 107 covers the changes at Disneyland then heads into a very fun and friendly interview with Gloria and Vincent Garcia who were both in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They talk about how they met, how they got involved with the movie, the parts they played, what it was like on set, working with J.J. Abrams, and more. Margaret Kerry stops by to answer some questions, then they talk with Ford Riley, the executive producer The Lion Guard, a spin-off/sequel cartoon for The Lion King. Great episode with fun interviews, top notch production and audio quality, and a variety of content.

Star Wars Oxygen: Vol. 26 is part two of their Star Wars: The Force Awakens music discussion. Jimmy reveals that the physical soundtrack (ie. the CD) has metadata for the full spoiler track names, they get into Jedi Steps, the three callbacks to the Imperial March, David shows the three notes of Kylo’s theme found in Rey’s theme, they compare the March of the Resistance to the Trade Federation theme, a not to Yavin, the instruments of Rey’s theme and their appearances. Excellent episode as always.