Podcasts in Review

April 5, 2018 at 12:01 am | Posted in Podcasts, Podcasts in Review, Regular Feature, Reviews, Star Wars | Leave a comment

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Awards Chatter: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) starts with a conversation with Carolyn Giardina as they talk about the tech categories for the Academy Awards. The interview with Rockwell kicks in at 31 minutes. Sam talks about his parents, his childhood, doing odd jobs, parts he tried for and didn’t get, and he shares a bunch of acting stories. Great interview and definitely worth checking out if you’re a Rockwell fan. You might want to skip the first part of the episode if you have no interest in the Academy Awards, but they do bring up some interesting things about the technical categories and how those nominations work.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Scott, Rating: Great

Awards Chatter: Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) begins with an Academy Awards discussion with guest Adam Irving as they go over documentaries, what was picked, and what was passed over. The interview with Dafoe starts at 31 minutes in. Willem talks about his parents, his name (which is a nick name, his real name is William), how he became an actor, and how he goes about choosing his roles. He shares some great stories from his career, including how he was in the Philippines during a revolution, as well as some stories from The Boondock Saints and his latest movie, The Florida Project. Great interview. Depending on your interest in the Academy Awards, you may or may not want to skip the first part of the episode.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Scott, Rating: Great

Blast Points Podcast: Episode 117 kicks off with the news, they talk a little Solo, they cover the Young Ones reference in The Last Jedi, highlight Master Codebreaker’s details from the guide book, and they touch on the porg documentary in The Last Jedi bonus features. Then they do something special, they host a Star Wars awards show. Now unlike what you might expect, Jason and Gabe dig deep to come up with some really fun and off the wall categories like best Aunt Beru voice, best Yoda puppet, best lightsaber form or hand decapitation, and much much more. Very fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 56 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Jason, and Gabe, Rating: Great

Brews and Blasters: Episode 162 touches on working from home and blizzard breakfasts, then they devote the rest of the episode to need’em got’em as they talk toys toys toys. From cantina aliens to Boba Fett, 3-3/4 and 6 inch, Black series and multipacks, old figures and new figures, they cover lots of ground with lots of variety. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 1 hour 11 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Joe, and Chris, Rating: Fun

Full of Sith: Episode CCLXI covers Forces of Destiny. They touch on the episodes, their thoughts on them, and what they’d like to see. They wrap up with listener emails.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 57 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Holly, Bryan, and Mike, Rating: Good

Full of Sith: Star Wars Inspirations – The Searchers is a special episode hosted by Bryan that launches a new series focusing on the inspirations for Star Wars. In this episode, he examines the classic John Wayne western directed by John Ford called The Searchers and how its influence can be seen in the Star Wars saga. As a fan of the film, I never made all the connections to Star Wars, so this was a great episode to listen to.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 20 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Bryan, Rating: Great

Geek Culture Spotlight: Dr. Travis Langley and Alex Langley is a conversation with both guests and Scott talks to them about how they use geek fandom to illustrate, understand, and explore psychology. They talk about writing books, and them being used in turn for education. Neat interview.

Podcast Network: Assembly of Geeks, Runtime: 41 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Scott, Rating: Good

Hyperspace PodBlast: Episode 57 celebrates their one year podiversary, they tackle listener questions and feedback, talk about things they would change in Star Wars, Star Wars and social issues, and more.

Podcast Network: Hyperspace PodBlast, Runtime: 27 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Bryan, and Shelby, Rating: Good

Jedi Journals: March 2018 covers Jaxxon coming to Star Wars Adventures and other comic news. Dennis from Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels joins them to talk about the Doctor Aphra comics (specifically Annual #1 and the Enormous Profit arc). Afterwards Jay and Chris talk some more comics, then discuss the Canto Bight novel. They also go over the Solo book announcements and magazine news. Having Dennis on for some of the comics discussion definitely helped liven things up. Looking forward to hearing more of Dennis on the show in the future.

Podcast Network: TheForce.net, Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Jay, and Chris, Rating: Good

Less Than 12 Parsecs: Episode 196 covers listener topics as Tim talks about his favorite kickass moments in Star Wars.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth, Runtime: 8 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Tim, Rating: Good

Rebel Force Radio: Episode 3.30.2018 covers toys and pets, they dying down of porg fever, Solo plans, thoughts on The Last Jedi novelization, a re-enactment between Luke and Yoda, listener feedback, Mark Hamill’s latest comments, a farewell to Toys R Us and they go over the worst jobs in the Star Wars universe.

Podcast Network: Rebel Force Radio, Runtime: 2 hours 33 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Jimmy, and Jason, Rating: Good

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 208 is their Easter/hoojib episode as they talk about hoojibs, the Team Hoojib movement, and the history of hoojibs. Fun little episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 37 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Sarah, and Richard, Rating: Fun

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1347 begin’s Allen’s coverage of The Last Jedi novelization by author Jason Fry. This episode covers the prologue and does go into spoilers. Allen provides thoughts on the audiobook version, which is what he’s listening to, and goes over the implications of the prologue and how that effects the events in the film. Pretty good episode, but there is some audio noise on this episode — I think it was recorded outside, as there’s some wind noise and background noise. Not a big deal, still worth a listen. Now that I’ve finally finished reading the novelization, I’m catching up on episodes.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Okay, Editing: Good, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1348 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, in this one Allen touches on the Han’s funeral moment in the book.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 9 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1349 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one covers the escape from D’Qar.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1350 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one covers the meeting between Hux and Snoke, Rey and Luke, and some other scenes. Worth noting, these episodes focus on what different between the novelization and the movie, so it’s a great source for those who don’t plan on reading the book to find out what happens that’s new. And for those who did read the book, it’s a good way to reinforce and point out the differences that you might have missed or forgotten. I know as I read through the book, I noticed some things but I didn’t always take the time to carefully note everything that was new or different, so these episodes are a great way to take a closer look at things.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1351 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one touches on Ben’s childhood and the details Leia revealed, as well as the Ben and Leia moment in the movie.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1352 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one wraps up part two of the book (the book is broken up into a couple parts).

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 10 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1353 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one touches on the mentor/student relationships and what the book has to say about them.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1354 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one covers Rey’s first three days on the island and the names of some of the ancient Jedi texts and their significance.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1355 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one focuses on the details of Poe and Rose.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 10 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1356 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one focuses on Finn and his mistakes, as well as more details on Rose.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 9 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1357 continues The Last Jedi novelization analysis, this one looks at the connection between Rey and Kylo and how she gained power from him.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 10 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1358 touches on production updates for upcoming Star Wars and TV projects.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 11 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1359 covers some thoughts on how the events in the Aftermath books series could relate to the upcoming Solo movie.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 12 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1360 covers the CGI Star Wars video by NVIDIA and ILMxLAM called “Reflections.” Allen also talks about Chewbacca in Solo.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 9 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Host: Allen, Rating: Good

Star Wars Bookworms: Episode 88 covers Forces of Destiny season two, then they review From A Certain Point of View, plus they cover their thoughts on the audiobook version.

Podcast Network: 2nd Airborne Division, Runtime: 1 hour 4 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Teresa, and Aaron, Rating: Good

Tatooine Sons: Episode 18 covers some discussion of The Last Jedi, they talk real world bacta, go over listener feedback, cover the excerpt from Thrawn: Alliances, make some predictions and plans for the next Star Wars Celebration, they discuss the comment about Holdo being Force-sensitive, and they talk about Andy Serkis and his comments on Snoke.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth, Runtime: 1 hour 8 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: David, Nate, and Samuel, Rating: Good

TechnoRetro Dads: Rush into WarGames, Ultraman, If You’re Ready, Player One covers their anticipation for Ready Player One, jokes, Indy news, zombie apocalypse, cereal, the band Rush, the video game Dungeons of Daggorath, the Ultraman TV show, and the movie WarGames.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Shazbazzar, and JediShua, Rating: Great

TechnoRetro Dads: News Blast! covers news, comics, board game movies, NASA and there’s some spoof songs. This one is not your normal episode. I have to admit, I didn’t realize what was going on until they got to the board game movie news.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 31 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Shazbazzar, and JediShua, Rating: Good

The Deucecast Movie Show: Episode 322 is a reflicktions episode as they talk about movies they’ve recently seen. Wide spectrum of films from Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and The Mummy, to newer films like Black Panther, Annihilation, Battle of the Sexes and Darkest Hour. If you like movies, it’s a fun listen.

Podcast Network: Retrozap, Runtime: 1 hour 6 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Dave, and Mikey, Rating: Good

The Geek Supreme: Cobra Kaibee Toys and Games discusses the new Deadpool trailer, the Cobra Kai trailer, Toys R Us and KB Toys, esports, Ready Player One and more.

Podcast Network: Assembly of Geeks, Runtime: 1 hour 3 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Darth Taxus, Scott, Jeff and Regina, Rating: Fun

Toy Run: Episode 103 starts with a barge update, they talk Blu-ray covers for The Last Jedi, more sail barge info, they talk protecting figures, toy runs and toy finds, and then they talk about the new Vintage collection which is their main show topic in this episode.

Podcast Network: N/A, Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Criz, and Jake, Rating: Great

Wookiee Radio: Episode 59 discusses Anakin/Vader, Kylo and redemption, wild fan theories on Rey, details and update on the HasLab sail barge, details on a Star Wars auction for some rare items, release dates and whether there’s too much Star Wars. Good discussions.

Podcast Network: We Be Geeks Network, Runtime: 58 minutes, Audio Quality: Excellent, Editing: Excellent, Hosts: Ken, Derrick, and Mike, Rating: Good