Podcasts in Review

September 29, 2016 at 12:01 am | Posted in Interview, Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Trek, Star Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Television, The Clone Wars | Leave a comment
Tags: ahsoka, christie golden, david collins, e. k. johnston, john jackson miller, leland chee, pablo hidalgo, prey, the freemaker adventures

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Ausfans Radio: Episode 31 features a great interview with author John Jackson Miller covering his new trilogy Star Trek: Prey. They talk about Prey, the films, the tv series, his previous Star Trek stories, and what else he has coming out. Good audio quality and very impressive for an international interview as those don’t typically have the best audio quality. Good one to check out.

Beltway Banthas: Episode XIII is a fun one as they spotlight the Star Wars character Mas Amedda and discuss his role in the politics of Star Wars. I have to admit, I’d never really considered how important his character would have been, and it definitely seems a shame that Chuck Wendig didn’t play up on that a little better in Life Debt. They do talk about the character’s role in Life Debt which could be considered a little spoilery if you haven’t read that book yet. This episode features guest Mike DeRose. If you’re an Amedda fan, you’ll love this one, and if you’re not, you might just come away with a better understanding of the character.

Bombad Radio: In Memory of Eric Cone episode pays homage to their friend and Bombad Radio contributor Eric Cone who recently passed. They talk about his deep fandom, his love for Batman, Star Trek and the creators and artists, and they share memories of the good times they had. Nice episode which manages to stay upbeat while still paying tribute to a lost friend.

Databank Brawl (ForceCenter): Episode 20 pits Captain Panaka against a Tusken Raider as they brawl on Takodana in Maz Kanata’s castle. They get creative as they setup backstories for each character and the events that lead them to this epic, drunken battle.

Fangirls Going Rogue: Priority Transmission #2 is a special episode featuring guest David Collins as they chat with him about Disney, Star Wars and music. Fun episode.

Full of Sith: The Life and Times of Han Solo covers Han, what makes him appealing as a character, his view on the Force, why he would have named his son Ben, his relationship with Chewbacca, and questions from the crowd. This one featured Bryan, Holly Frey, Matt Martin, Amber Dahl and Kyle Steenblik. This is but one of many episodes Full of Sith has put out in the last week or so as part of their Salt Lake Comic Con coverage. Each of the episodes features wrappers by Bryan and Mike as they introduce what audio they’ll be playing, and the audio in each episode is very good, which is impressive since they recorded these all at the con. There’s also a great selection of hosts in each one. While there are a ton of them, all of which are reviewed here and below, they’re all worth listening to. If there were a podcast award for con coverage, they’ll definitely come in first place. Huge thanks to them for sharing all this great content with the fans.

Full of Sith: How The Clone Wars Changes Star Wars covers how the show changed the way we look at Star Wars, the added character depth of Anakin, the exploration of the clones, the character arc of Asajj Ventress, the richness of Mortis and the Priestesses, Jar Jar, and the clones dealing with Order 66. This one featured Bryan, Amy, Mike, Pablo Hidalgo, Matt Martin and Christie Golden

Full of Sith: Palpatine’s Rise covers what was and wasn’t part of the Emperor’s plans, his management of his apprentices and trying to turn Luke. Two of my favorite observations from this panel was a very nice explanation of how the blockade of Naboo worked and how Yoda acted like Jar Jar when he first met Luke. Great stuff. This one featured Bryan, Dawn Pink, ‘Jawa’ James Floyd and Matt Martin.

Full of Sith: The Freemaker Adventures is pretty much a Leland Chee panel as he breaks down how LEGO worked its way to this project and how the entire thing came about. They talk about the voice actors, how it works with canon, and there’s audience questions. Great episode for fans of The Freemaker Adventures or fans of Leland Chee.

Full of Sith: Fixing Fandom – Ending Bullying and Gatekeeping covers what gatekeeping is, the different forms of harassment, and hot topics like Jar Jar and Batman v Superman. Very interesting panel. This one features Bryan, Tracy V. Wilson, Dawn Pink, Adam McDonald, Debra Jenson and Aaron Burton.

Full of Sith: The Balance of the Force tackles a very tricky subject that fans have talked about for decades. Rather than covering a lot of the same old same old, they dig heavily into Mortis and how that plays into the ideas of balance and the Force. Definitely worth a listen. This one features Bryan, Dawn Pink, ‘Jawa’ James Floyd and Matt Martin.

Full of Sith: The Life and Times of Ahsoka Tano covers the character, her role in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, her novel, Dave’s input for Ahsoka in the novel, the Star Wars Rebels Season 2 finale and her future, plus crowd questions. This one features Bryan, Amy, Pablo Hidalgo and E. K. Johnston (the author of the Ahsoka novel).

Full of Sith: The Many Faces of Star Wars covers the various iterations of the films as they talk about the changes, what they liked, and the things they would like to bring back. Note there is a spoiler for Dark Disciple in this episode if you haven’t read the book already. This one features Bryan, Mike, Holly Frey, Debra Jensen, Christie Golden and Matt Martin.

Full of Sith: Episode CLXXXIV is not a SLCC panel, but a return of the regular show as Mike, Bryan and Amy discuss the Star Wars Rebels Season 3 premiere, Ezra and the dark side, the Bendu and Thrawn. Good episode.

Less Than 12 Parsecs: Episode #0016 gives a quick review of the Star Wars Rebels Season 3 premier with both some criticism and some praise.

Rebel Force Radio: Episode 9.23.2016 starts with Jason talking about restoring action figures again and a recap of a pretty awesome Star Wars party he went to. They they talk about release dates and Bob Iger’s comments on Rogue One, David Collins joins them as they talk about the composer change-up, they cover Mark Hamill and Lupita Nyong’o’s recent comments, and they talk about Star Wars tv broadcasts. Good episode.

Rebel Yell: Steps Into Shadow marks the return of Steve and Teresa as Star Wars Rebels Season 3 kicks off. They’re joined by Kate, Erich and Aaron as they discuss the season premier, share their thoughts and critical analysis, and touch on Bendu, Ezra and Thrawn. Nice, well balanced episode.

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode #137 starts with a recap of Long Beach Comic Con as they talk about the panels they went to, the best cosplay, and some panel snafus. Then they talk about the Monkees’ concert they went to, they compare and contrast the music of Alexandre Desplat and Michael Giacchino, and they dive into the music of “Twilight of the Apprentice.” Good episode.

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 813 is kind of a fun one to listen to after already seeing the premiere as it’s Allen’s predictions which includes predictions from the Star Wars fan community.

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 816 features part of a radio segment Allen did talking about Star Wars toys and what they can tell us about upcoming movies. Kind of neat and definitely a good hook to get you to listen to the full radio segment.

Star Wars Action News: Episode 484 goes heavy into toys as they talk about Rogue One and the anticipation, or lack thereof, for Force Friday. They talk about the upcoming figures, what they’re interested in, and whether the AT-ACT is too expensive and gimmicky to consider collecting. They have several guests on which offers a variety of opinions on each subject. Good episode.

The Justice Cast: Why The World Needs Superman goes over the character strengths of Superman and what sets him apart from other heroes. If you haven’t checked out The Justice Cast yet, it’s a shorter format show that works pretty well at tackling a given subject without going on too long about it or cutting off too soon.

The Justice Cast: When Are the DC Comic TV Shows Premiering This Year pretty much covers what the title implies running through each show and the premiere dates. Good way to make sure you don’t miss any.

The Sandcrawler: Episode #1 kicks off a new podcast for the Retrozap podcast network that adds a new flavor to Star Wars collecting. Hosted by Dengar Dan and Mike Tarkin, it’s a pretty good first episode. They talk toys, Force Friday, and deliver the news in a very clever way that adds in a lot of humor.

The Star Wars Stacks: Episode 46 steps away from Star Wars a bit to dive into Star Trek as they talk with author John Jackson Miller about his new trilogy Star Trek: Prey. But they do touch on Star Wars as they talk about Kenobi and Knights of the Old Republic. They also go off on some tangents like movie releases which is a lot of fun. Really great interview.