Podcasts in Review

March 31, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in Interview, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment
Tags: elaine cunningham, greg weisman, pablo hidalgo

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Aggressive Negotiations: Issue 008 begins a multi-episode on the fall of Anakin Skywalker. In this episode they talk about his conception in the Force and whether that was caused by Palpatine, whether Anakin should have been taken or left on Tatooine, choosing Jedi masters for him, his relationship with Padme and the Jedi’s knowledge of it, whether giving him an apprentice was a good idea, and whether his fall is even sadder after Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It’s a good discussion of all things Anakin.

Bantha Fodder: Episode 6 starts out with some miscellaneous topics, from drones to kidney stones, but things get pretty good when the main discussion kicks in. They talk about whether Rey caused Han to die in The Force Awakens. Did she push Kylo Ren into having to prove himself or did Snoke motivate him to take the leap? They throw down their arguments as each host tries to convince the other. Good one to check out. While there is a good argument for Rey leading to Han’s death, I think she’s more of a catalyst than a cause.

Beyond the Vote: Episode 002 is a solo episode with just Riley following the Carolina debate. I have to admit the podcast just doesn’t have the same dynamic without Scott. Together, they make a great team, but the solo episode wasn’t as good.

Beyond the Vote: Episode 004 is post Super Tuesday so Riley and Scott go through delegate totals, counter the argument that conservatism is dead, explore who the Trump supporters are, and speculate where things could go from here. If you’re looking to take a break from Star Wars and dive into politics, this one is worth checking out. I really enjoy Scott and Riley’s viewpoints.

Beyond the Vote: Episode 005 covers Rubio’s campaign coming to an end, the never Trump movement, conservatism not being dead, Hilary indictment, Joe Biden as a replacement, and rally violence. Another good episode.

Blabba the Hutt: Episode 18 starts with Kate covering recent articles, filming in Dubrovnik, and then Jamie interviews The Force Awakens actress Dasha Promenti who talks about her background, being a big Natalie Portman fan, what it was like onset, and playing one of the Jakku villagers. Really nice interview. Then Kate interviews David After Dentist and his dad as they talk a little about Star Wars. Good episode.

BNN (Bombad Radio): Episode 3.21.2016 covers Rian Johnson’s ex-agent suing him, Rogue One comic news, Ready Player One and Simon Pegg, Red Dead Redemption 2, the passing of Pokemon’s creative director, Indy movie news, Justice League, Batman v Superman costing 800 million dollars, and a Lobo movie.

BNN (Bombad Radio): Episode 3.28.2016 is a actually something very different. Jeremiah recorded a conversation with friends in the press area at FanX covering everything from Nintendo gaming to bartering at cons, Batman v Superman, Daredevil, Captain America: Civil War, and Old Man Logan. Unfortunately the conversation sometimes breaks into multiple conversations where you can’t really understand anyone. Aside from those moments, it’s kind of interesting.

Bombad Radio: Episode 231 is an outstanding interview with author Elaine Cunningham covering The Forgotten Realms and Star Wars. She talks about Elfshadow, submerging into the Realms, working with Salvatore, researching, and her take on the drow. Then they move into Star Wars, doing Dark Journey, analyzing Jaina and Jag, her thoughts on Jacen going dark, and why Blood Oath never happened. Great interview for Star Wars and Forgotten Realms fans alike.

Bombad Radio: Episode 232 features an interview with Greg Weisman covering Gargoyles, the campaign to bring back Young Justice for another season, the many titles of producers and showrunners, and a little on his involvement with Star Wars Rebels.

Brews and Blasters: Episode #63 features Chris coming in remote which leads to a discussion of being sick, bacta and the fate of 2-1B. They also talk about the Retrozap meetup they had with Jamie from Blabba the Hutt, the lack of antlers in Star Wars, diving into some movie discussion of Indy, 10 Cloverfield Lane, sidestep into Star Wars planets, Ewoks and Stormtroopers tasting like chicken. They review Star Wars Rebels “Mystery on Chopper Base” and speculate on the finale. All that, need’em got’em and more. An entertaining feast for the ears.

Classic Marvel Star Wars (Skywalking Through Neverland): Episode #8 covers issue #8 as they make the case for Jaxxon, talk about how George Lucas didn’t like the big green rabbit, they cover the story, the characters, Serji-X and the inspiration behind the character, and their favorite panels and dialog. Great episode as always with excellent audio quality, hosts and discussion.

Coffee With Kenobi: Episode 52 covers the Star Wars Podcasting Awards, Indy news, video game segment covering Galaxy of Heroes and Battlefront, Cory talks Disney Infinity, and then they talk with Chris Taylor about TFA, his red carpet experience, seeing the movie and his thoughts on it. Excellent discussion.

Comic Book Noob: Batman vs Superman is a pre-move release episode, so it doesn’t touch on the film but instead covers the Batman versus Superman battles that have happened in the comics. They talk about how these conflicts have come to pass, who usually wins, and their recommendations.

Databank Brawl (ForceCenter): Episode 4 is live from Wizard World Las Vegas but still boasts some pretty good quality. In this episode they do a mini tournament as Ponda Baba fights Bib Fortuna, Jar Jar fights the Rancor, and then the winners fight each other. They go over the backgrounds of each character, improv some fun situations for each fight, and turn a gimmick into 30 minutes of surprising entertainment. It worked out pretty well for a live show.

Databank Brawl (ForceCenter): Episode 5 features Unkar Plutt and Orn Free Taa for the battles of the blobs, a showdown on Takodana, and the usual fun and antics of improv. If you haven’t checked this show out, I highly recommend it.

Disney Vault Talk: Tarzan features special guest Aaron Goins. They start out with their usual warm up chat covering the DVT spring dance-a-thon, Disney trip planning, The Good Dinosaur, Zootopia box office numbers and the possibility of a sequel, Aaron’s dislike of sequels, Alice Through the Looking Glass, a new Pirates sequel, remakes, Jungle Book and more, mostly focused on movies. For the main discussion, they cover Tarzan, the history, the fun facts, awards, the music, Phil Collins, and Steve even does an impressive Tarzan yell. Lots of fun.

Disney Vault Talk: Mulan starts with some discussion of the Star Wars Podcast Awards, Zootopia, and Indiana Jones 5. Their Mulan discussion dives into history and fun facts, takes a Titanic interlude, then plunges back into the movie discussion as they touch on the message of the film, why it isn’t their favorite, the music and more.

Disney Vault Talk: Hercules kicks off with lots of fun discussions, from Gilmore Girls to Fuller House. They tackle listener emails and The Jungle Book trailer before diving into Hercules, its history, fun facts and an entertaining rundown of the movie and its characters.

Disney Vault Talk: The Rescuers Down Under…so yeah, I binged listened to a bunch of Disney Vault Talk. But let me say, if you’re going to binge a bunch of podcasts, DVT is a great one to do it with as the episode aren’t monotonous. Each one is packed with its own heaping helping of fun. From the reviews above, you can see there’s a basic format to each one that begins with some general discussion of various topics and news, then they break into the main topic which is always a Disney animated film. From there they get into the history and fun facts of the movie, their memories of it, what they think of it now, thoughts on the characters, music, animation, etc. While Disney films are a pretty good topic for a podcast, the thing that sells the show is the hosts. Steve and Teresa are just plain fun to listen to. So episode after episode, that’s what keeps me coming back. And this one is no different. The Rescuers Down Under is yet another Disney film I’ve never seen, and yet they turn it into a fun conversation that I can’t help but enjoy. If you haven’t checked out DVT yet, do so. It’s worth it.

Far Far Away Radio: Episode 303 is a Finn discussion. They talk about his backstory in Before the Awakening, his role and choices in the movie, their thoughts on the character, and Finn’s future. They also play a guess the password game that kind of works but seems a little out of place. Fun episode, but a bit too long.

Fly Casual: Episode 81 is a reviews and rumors episode. They review Darth Vader #17 and Star Wars Rebels “Shroud of Darkness”, then jump into rumors. They cover Knights of Ren concept art, Rian Johnson not being as secretive as JJ, the Dubrovnik set, samurai looking police, the oddness of all the Episode VIII coverage but very little Rogue One. Some Jar Jar creeps in, they weigh in on a possible title for Episode VIII which turns into a Temple of Doom podcast, pretty funny, and they cover Harrison Ford’s last day on set. Great episode as always.

Full of Sith: Episode CLIX starts with a Rogue One speculative discussion and Bryan lays out some logical, and tantalizing, predictions. They talk about the cast, the comic and book tie-ins, and afterwards take a break to cover Star Wars fans, the treatment of others in fandom, and more. Good episode.

Full of Sith: Episode CLX is live from FanX as Bryan, Holly from Stuff You Missed in History Class and Matt Martin hosted a Full of Sith panel. They talk about a bunch of fun topics, take questions from the audience, and best of all, there’s great audio. Good general discussion episode to check out.

Galactic Fashion: Episode 10 covers bracelets, Her Universe, purses, clothes, jewelry and scarves. Then they talk with Jenmarie (Anakin and His Angel) about all kinds of fashion topics and tips. I also liked the new feature featuring voicemails from listeners sharing their favorite geeky fashion items. Great episode.

Hangin’ With Team Kanan (The Wookiee Gunner): Episode 09 covers Star Wars Rebels “The Forgotten Droid”, Chopper love, 3PO divisiveness, and lots of other droid love. They also cover Kanan #12, talk about the Anakin and Ahsoka video, the inevitable, and more. Great episode as always.

Lattes With Leia: Episode #3 covers capes, the possibility of losing Ahsoka, and then a very fun droid focused conversation as they talk about their favorite droids, their ability to have emotions, their attachment and memories, their value to characters in the Star Wars galaxy, droid prejudice, the purpose of droid torture, and more. Excellent discussion. I highly recommend this one.

Radio 1138: Episode 40 features a discussion with Neil Livesey, the organizer for Star Wars Fan Fun Day 2016 as they talk about the event and what’s planned. Afterwards they talk with Jez Allinson about trooping, charity, and running marathons in Stormtrooper armor.

Radio Free Tatooine: Episode 73 covers Rogue One: Catalyst, Blu-ray extras, Star Wars Rebels “The Forgotten Droid”, and This is Madness brackets. Having checked out a couple episodes now, this is kind of a general discussion Star Wars podcast, so if you’re looking for some more to add to your playlist, you might want to give it a listen.

Rebels Chat (The Wookiee Gunner): Episode 36 covers Star Wars Rebels “The Forgotten Droid” as they talk about Chopper, A5, breakdown the episode and share their opinions. Is Ketsu the spy? Did Chopper kill an Imperial Captain? Fun episode.

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode #114 covers feedback on The Apple Dumpling Gang, birthday celebrations, Disney Infinity, Zootopia figures, locations, hanging out at Disneyland, fun with presents, and Chickaphant’s parents stop by to talk about their Disney Tangled cruise. Fun episode.

Tosche Station Radio: Episode #144 covers their new podcast Western Reaches, This is Madness, and some movie news before getting to their interview with Pablo Hidalgo. They talk with Pablo about West End Games, Steve Sansweet’s Star Wars Encyclopedia, going back and re-reading the EU, The Force Awakens visual guide and more. Great interview and definitely worth checking out.

Western Reaches: Episode 1 is a new podcast from Tosche Station that is hosted by Megan and Saf who you might have heard on The ForceCast. It’s not a Star Wars specific podcast, but they do talk some Star Wars as well as a lot of other sci-fi franchises. They cover books, gaming and more. In this episode they introduce themselves, talk about what they’re reading, post-apocalyptic books, they touch on Fallout 4, Firewatch, Star Wars documentaries, the announced Han Solo comic, Star Wars This is Madness, and then dive into a Halo 5 discussion covering Cortana and Master Chief.

Western Reaches: Episode 2 touches on what they’re reading this week which leads to a discussion of Skyborn, and really good Hunger Games discussion, then they break into games with Destiny, and virtual reality gaming. They cover Star Wars Rebels “The Forgotten Droid”, Kanan #12, John Jackson Miller’s new Halo story in Tales From Slipspace, then jump into another Halo discussion with some Halo comic recommendations. As you can see, the episodes have a nice mix of books, comic and video game covery with the focus on sci-fi and Star Wars. It’s a good combination. Worth checking out.