Podcasts in Review

May 24, 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.

Blast Points Podcast: Episode 124 follows along with Jason and Gabe at The Detroit Institute of Arts as they visit the Star Wars and the Power of Costume exhibit. They have some audio of some of the speakers at the exhibit opening talking about the event and the props, then they have audio as Jason and Gabe walk around and enjoy all the sights to be had. A bit different than usual since this one is live from the scene, but the audio quality is still pretty good. A fun listen.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 6 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Jason, and Gabe
Rating: Fun

Brews and Blasters: Episode 168 starts with some hype for Solo as the days draw nearer, then they dive into the Star Wars Resistance announcement and spotlight one of the voice actors, Bobby Moynihan. Cool episode as I never realized just how big a Star Wars fan Bobby Moynihan was. Nice way to start getting pumped for Star Wars Resistance.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 58 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Joe, and Chris
Rating: Fun

Card Trader Illuminerdy: Pre-Solo features Mikey, Rhett and Tommy as they talk for an hour and 44 minutes. Now I’m setting it up this way as I don’t want anyone going in and not knowing what they’re in for. You’re in for random conversations. You’re in for non-Star Wars conversations. You’re in for stuff like magazine spanking fetishes, music reality shows where the singers fight to the death, DC being the FCU (failed comic universe), whether anything can actually eat the crystal foxes in The Last Jedi, and, well, a lot of other random topics. There’s even some Star Wars Card Trader discussion hidden in the middle. So, you know what you’re getting if you listen. But here’s the thing, these guys are entertaining. It’s why I wound up listening to all 104 minutes of topic shifting conversation. So if your okay with non-Star Wars (though they do circle back to Star Wars throughout), random conversation with three dudes from down south, you may, if you’re feeling crazy, venture forth.

Podcast Network: N/A,
Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes,
Audio Quality: Pretty Good
Editing: Good
Hosts: Mike, Tommy, and Rhett
Rating: Enjoyable

Children of the Force: Episode 106 is a short one as Al and Liam talk about their Solo plans, Star Wars Celebration 2019 being in Chicago, and their hopes and thoughts for Celebration. Personally, I love Liam’s idea of having a t-shirt cannon. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 21 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Good
Hosts: Al, and Liam
Rating: Fun

Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics: Episode 17 covers Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics #17 “Crucible.” But first, some anticipation for Solo, a mention of Jaxxon and Amaiza being in Star Wars Adventures, they touch on the new Forces of Destiny episodes, and then they dive into the comic. They go over the art, the story, the characters, Randy talks about the comics code and logo changes, they talk about womp rats, Aunt Beru, the vintage ads, and their favorite parts. Great episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Richard, Sarah, and Randy Martinez
Rating: Great

Comic Book Noob: Cable & X-Force they go over Cable’s origin and powers, then they go over each of the members of X-Force. Great primer for Deadpool 2 or follow-up if you’ve already seen the movie and want to know more about the characters.

Podcast Network: Assembly of Geeks,
Runtime: 33 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Scott, Regina, and Matt
Rating: Great

Comics With Kenobi: Episode 60 covers April’s top 100 orders and which Star Wars titles made the list. Then they review Star Wars #47. Great review as usual.

Podcast Network: Coffee With Kenobi
Runtime: 37 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Great
Hosts: Matt, and Jeff
Rating: Great

Comics With Kenobi: Episode 61 they review The Last Jedi Adaptation #1, Thrawn #4, and Darth Vader #16. Lots of comic goodness.

Podcast Network: Coffee With Kenobi
Runtime: 1 hour 12 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Matt, and Jeff
Rating: Great

Comics With Kenobi: Episode 62 goes over the announcement for Star Wars Celebration 2019 and their excitement for Solo. Then they review Poe Dameron #27.

Podcast Network: Coffee With Kenobi
Runtime: 44 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Matt, and Jeff
Rating: Great

Full of Sith: Episode CCLXIX Holly and Bryan talk about the Star Wars Celebration 2019 announcement, then they dive into listener emails. They talk about why Kylo learned his grandfather was Vader, Ben and redemption, Star Wars movie genre ideas, books, comics, Lando movie ideas, favorite Imperials and more. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A,
Runtime: 59 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Holly, and Bryan
Rating: Good

Grand Moff Talkin’: Episode 41 is episode three in their “Tales From Maz’s Castle” RPG series. In this one they go on a tour with Czerka, get into a fight, and find a corpse. They go all out with some nice sound work which includes music, sound effects and voices. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 59 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Riley, Jake, Isaac, and Jazmine
Rating: Fun

Grand Moff Talkin’: Episode 50 covers various stuff, listener feedback, they talk about the sequel trilogy and writing, and the toxicity of fandom.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 56 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Riley, Jake, Isaac, and Jazmine
Rating: Good

Home One Hangout: Episode 41 covers recent acquisitions, news, Solo tickets, Star Wars Resistance, video games, what they did for Star Wars day, and they make an announcement about their show taking a break. They’re not quitting, but they don’t know when the next episode will be.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 9 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing:Excellent
Hosts: Mike, Matt, and Ryan
Rating: Good

Hyperspace PodBlast: Episode 65 tackles expectations versus reality in regards to fans and Star Wars. They talk about the impossibility of going to a movie with zero expectations, but also the drawbacks of unhealthy and unrealistic expectations. They also talk about the echo chamber of social media. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Hyperspace PodBlast
Runtime: 29 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Bryan, and Shelby
Rating: Good

Kanata’s Castle: Episode 31 covers the news, Chewbacca getting his own theme music, the announcement for Star Wars Resistance, Solo tickets going on sale, and some other stuff. Then they talk about Ben Solo and parenting, which gets into some interesting topics. They explore whether there is hope for Ben, whether Han and Leia were bad parents, Han’s doubt in Last Shot, and real world parenting experience. They talk about leaving your kids with someone else, whether Ben could be autistic, and dealing with kids who have anxiety or depression issues. They draw on a lot of real world things and make connections to Star Wars to paint a bigger picture of what could be going on with Ben Solo. Very intriguing episode with a lot of topics I hadn’t thought about in regards to Ben. I definitely recommend checking this one out.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Good
Hosts: Becca, and Devon
Rating: Great

Less Than 12 Parsecs: Episode 210 Tim talks about the Star Wars Celebration 2019 announcement.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth,
Runtime: 6 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Tim
Rating: Good

Magic on a Dollar: Episode 29 focuses on news as Dave goes over all the things going on Disney related, from fast passes and the box office to lightning strikes and a dragon catching on fire.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 30 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Dave
Rating: Good

Rebel Force Radio: Episode 5.18.2018 features Jimmy Mac, Billy Mac and Melody Deel as they talk about avoiding Solo spoilers, Billy does some Lando impersonations (which is always fun), and they talk about Star Wars Celebration 2019. They talk about the location, McCormick Place, what the weather is like in April, safe areas, the extra day, past Celebration experiences, and what things need improvement. Afterwards Jimmy talks with Jermey at Nissan about their Millennium Falcon Rogue. Jeremy talks about the design, the features, and people he met. Then Jimmy goes over the Solo Cleveland meetup plans, then they talk about the Obi-Wan and Lando movie rumors. They talk about characters, hopes for Solo, and also fandom division. Fun episode with some good discussions. No Jason in this episode.

Podcast Network: Rebel Force Radio
Runtime: 2 hours 46 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Jimmy
Rating: Fun

San Diego Sabers Radio Podcast: Episode 67 is kind of neat as they record from Hawaii. They talk with guests Keith and Colin as they talk about the Hawaii Saber Academy, ataru, different ways of staging saber fighting to keep things new and fresh, as well as Hawaiian culture, their trip to a Buddhist temple, and some intriguing and educational conversation. They also talk about the future of Star Wars movies, what they’d like to see, and some other stuff. I really enjoyed this episode but it probably could have been 20 to 30 minutes shorter. Still, if you’re looking for something different to check out, give this one a listen. Keith and Colin were great guests.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth
Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Steve, and Eric
Rating: Good

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 212 covers this day in history, they talk about Timeless and the upcoming finale, and then they talk with Ashley Eckstein about her new book It’s Your Universe. Ashley talks about how the book came about, writing it, and her goal with it. She also talks about some of the upcoming items for Her Universe and Our Universe. They cap off with a movie rundown.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Richard, and Sarah
Rating: Great

Skywalking Through Neverland: Star Wars Celebration Chicago Rich and Sarah go over the announcement information for Star Wars Celebration 2019. They’re joined by Jason from Blast Points Podcast as they talk about the news, the location of Chicago, the timing, it being five days, and how this relates to the Star Wars parks.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 28 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Richard, and Sarah
Rating: Fun

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1410 continues the coverage of the movies that influenced Solo by taking a look at Heat. These are great episodes to check out as Allen talks about the film in each episode, and then goes over the possible connections to Solo.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1411 goes over the movie The Big Lebowski and how it might connect to Solo.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1412 goes over the movie Unforgiven as part of the influences on Solo.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1416 covers the rumors for the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie and Lando spin off film.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1417 talks about Deadpool 2 in terms of box office takeaways on the road to Solo, covering what we might be able to learn from one and apply to the other.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1418 goes over Box Office Pro’s Solo predictions and comparison awareness polls, thus the business side of things as we await the release of Solo.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 7 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Allen Voivod
Rating: Good

Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels: Episode 55 they talk about their Solo plans, go over news, Favreau’s comments on his Star Wars TV show, the Flight of the Falcon book series, Celebration news, and then they do another “Behind the Actors Trailer” bit but this time with the Lothwolves. They have a Skystalking update with all the upcoming cons and which Star Wars celebrities will be there, then Ryder Waldron (Idiot’s Array) joins them as they guess Legends or canon for a bunch of questions all focusing on Han Solo stories. Afterwards they share their own thoughts and anticipation for Solo. This episode was a lot of fun. Definitely worth checking out.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, Darth Taxus, and Jay
Rating: Fun

Superhero Therapy: Punisher Psychology features guest Travis Adams, a Marine veteran and military peer counselor as they discuss the comic book character The Punisher and the Marvel TV show. They talk about the characters, PTSD, counseling, and they dive a bit into the TV show to cover those themes. Travis adds some excellent insight and it makes for a great discussion.

Podcast Network: Assembly of Geeks
Runtime: 31 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Dr. Scarlet, and Dustin
Rating: Great

Talk Star Wars: Episode 118 Rob goes solo, literally, as he kicks off the episode with the Facebook live feed. Lot of show talk and some Solo talk. In the second half of the episode, Rob gets into listener questions as he talks about BB-8, droids and sarcasm, whether they would kill Rey to further Kylo’s story, and some news with the Flight of the Falcon book series and Mark Hamill’s comments on returning for Episode IX. Not too bad for a solo hosted episode.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth,
Runtime: 1 hour 3 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Rob
Rating: Good

Talk Star Wars: Episode 119 is hosted by Rob and his new cohost Brad Harmer-Barnes. They talk about Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker, The Last Jedi and Episode IX, Star Wars and fandom, Star Wars favorites, droids, news, details on Jon Favreau’s Star Wars TV show, the Celebration 2019 announcement, and thoughts on Rian Johnson’s trilogy. Good discussions, and the new cohost seems like a good fit for the show.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth,
Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Rob, and Brad
Rating: Good

Tatooine Sons: Episode 25 they go over Rotten Tomato reviews for Solo, and make their own predictions for the movie. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth
Runtime: 1 hour 9 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: David, Nate, and Samuel
Rating: Fun

TechnoRetro Dads: The Apollo, Willow, Solo Scenario they talk Star Wars Battlefront II Ewok Hunt, Star Wars jokes, news, Sledgehammer reboot, Willow sequel, Disney Star Wars hotel, Celebration 2019, cereal, Star Wars games where you could fly the Falcon, and then they discuss the movie Willow.

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

The Deucecast Movie Show: Episode 327 Dave and Mikey are joined by guests Shazbazzar and Jedi Shuah from TechnoRetro Dads as they talk Ready Player One. Then they go over their top ten sci-fi and fantasy movies of this century. Lots of interesting picks and a fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 54 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Dave, and Mikey
Rating: Fun

The Deucecast Movie Show: Episode 328 goes over movie anniversaries then dives into their ReFlicktions for this month. Rhett joins them as they go over the movies and documentaries they’ve recently watched, then they have a nice little chunk of the show devoted to Avengers: Infinity War, which does go into spoilers. Then they share their pre-Solo thoughts, which leads to Rhett sharing his current thoughts on Star Wars and the sequel movies. Great episode. Lots of fun.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Dave, Mikey, Dr. Earl, and Rhett
Rating: Great

The Geek Supreme: The Quest For Han’s Cargo is very special as they outdo themselves with a roleplaying episode. Each takes on a character identity complete with special powers and items as they brave some dungeons and fight trolls, slimelings, Dan Zehr and Michael Bay. Along the way, they find time in their travels talk about some geeky subjects like the trailer for The Happytime Murders, Margot Kidder’s passing, and Deadpool 2 (they keep it spoiler free). Plus they solve some puzzles along the way. There’s sound effects and hilarity throughout. Outstanding job all around on this one. This is my “Pick of the Week.”

Podcast Network: Assembly of Geeks
Runtime: 58 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Darth Taxus, Scott, Jeff and Regina
Rating: Pick of the Week

The Resistance Broadcast: The Resistance Broadcast Takes the Solo Challenge goes over the Star Wars Celebration 2019 news, then they take the Solo challenge which is a bunch of random questions about Solo. They each make their predictions on each question with the intent of coming back afterwards and seeing who got the most right. They also go over listener questions. Kind of a fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A,
Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: John, James, and Lacey
Rating: Good

The Skyhoppers Podcast: Episode XCV covers some random topics, then they discuss the deleted scenes in the Star Wars movies. They start with the original trilogy movies, which is a great discussion, then they move on to the prequels and the sequels. They don’t delve as deeply into those. Afterwards they touch on the Star Wars Celebration 2019 news. Good episode overall.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth,
Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Ben, and Ash
Rating: Good

The Soundtrack Show: Star Wars: the Music (Part II) Dave talks about the Twentieth Century Fox fanfare, the Star Wars fanfare, Vader’s music, the Jawa music, the cantina music, and the sections of the film with no music. If you’ve listened to Star Wars Oxygen, you may have already heard some of this before.

Podcast Network: HowStuffWorks
Runtime: 44 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: David Collins
Rating: Good

The Story Geeks: The Spirituality of Star Wars – Ep. 1: “An Energy Field…” delves into the Force and the host’s own spiritual beliefs. There’s an excerpt from the Bible, and comparisons between Star Wars and religion from a Christian perspective. Interesting subject matter, though it may not be for everyone. I liked it. It’s a short format episode and I don’t think they ever continued the series, so this one is a one-off at the moment. Excellent audio quality.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 15 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Jay
Rating: Good

The Story Geeks: The Last Jedi – Battle Royale – The Story Geeks Hash It Out features guests Shannon McCarter and Dale Wentland from Network 1901 as they talk about The Last Jedi. Their focus point – does it suck or is it awesome? They share their thoughts on the movie and go through all the issues they had with it, their nitpicks, but also the things they liked. It’s a round robin episode as each host weighs in on each topic, be it the humor, the lack of a time jump, etc, and with the selection of hosts and guests, there is always someone who didn’t like a thing and someone who did. For someone like me who was a fan of the movie, and who has recently burnt out on podcasts being negative on the film, I really didn’t enjoy this one. It just wasn’t the episode for me. If you’re looking for some varied opinions on the movie, you might want to check this one out, but if you’ve had your fill of TLJ negativity, you might want to skip this one.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Daryl, and Jay
Rating: Didn’t Like It

The Story Geeks: Thanos, a picture of the Old Testament God? features guest Justin Weaver as they talk about Avengers: Infinity War and Thanos. They talk about relating to the character, Thanos’ children, his view on resources, balance, and whether his actions are rational or irrational. They explore Thanos’ idea and his reasoning, and the bring god into the equation in comparison to Thanos. They do go into religion, so fair warning. They dive into why he would love Gamora but not Nebula, into Gamora’s feelings for Thanos, and how other characters fear Thanos. They also bring up whether Thanos will change after this, as well other topics. Very interesting discussion and great episode. They do go into Infinity War spoilers. This was my first time tuning into this show. Great audio quality and good hosts. I’ll probably check out some more episodes, though I might steer clear of Star Wars after listening to their Battle Royale episode for The Last Jedi. They cover a lot of different geeky topics so there’s a good variety with their episodes (each dedicated to a different film or theme). Large back catalog to check out, too.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Daryl, and Jay
Rating: Great

Toy Run: Episode 110 features guests Jason Luttrull (Galaxy of Toys) and Matt Fox (Galaxy of Toys, This Week in Star Wars) as they talk Celebration news, Obi-Wan Kenobi movie rumors, recent acquisitions, toys runs and more. They talk about the 6″ Enfys Nest that was revealed in Pasadena, the TLJ multipack, and they weigh in on ForceLink 2.0, Solo figure waves, and they go over their Solo plans.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Criz, and Jake
Rating: Good

Wookiee Radio: Episode 66 covers the Celebration 2019 announcement, they also talk about the Lando movie rumors, the Obi-Wan movie rumors, Ron Howard’s comments on turning down Episode I, Star Wars Galactic Nights, LEGO X-Wing set, Poe Dameron comics, and Warwick Davis’ character in Solo (not a spoiler and worth knowing ahead of time to make the extra connection).

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