Podcasts in Review

April 25, 2019 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, starting with the top five and honorable mentions, then moving on to the full reviews.

This Week’s Top Five

Hearts of Kyber: Episode 5
Coruscant Radio Underground: The Padawan Report: Episode 5
The Soundtrack Show: Rocky IV and Transformers: an Interview with Composer Vince DiCola (Part I)
Comic Book Noob: Deathstroke
Blast Points Podcast: Episode 167

Honorable Mentions

The Director’s Cut: Episode 200 if you watched the movie The Highwaymen or if you’re a Lawrence Kasdan fan, this one is worth checking out.
Tarkin’s Top Shelf: Episode 64 includes an interview with Claudia Gray going over Master and Apprentice.
Jedi Journals: Celebration Chicago Microcast includes interviews with Justina Ireland and Claudia Gray.

Now here is this week’s Podcasts in Review…

Blast Points Podcast: Episode 167 they talk about Celebration, The Rise of Skywalker, Klaud, the pictures shown at the panel, and the greatest evil. Then they go over The Phantom Menace panel, George Lucas’ message, the other panels they went to, and the swap meet. Fun discussions and fun episode.

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

Brews and Blasters: Episode 205 they talk bourbon, steak tips, tapas, Chicago pizza, hot dogs, hotel food, and Chris goes over his travels to Chicago and what he did at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. He goes over all the autographs, photo ops and people he met, the podcast meetup, then panels he went to, and more. This is part one of their recap. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Joe, and Chris
Rating: Good

Children of the Force: Episode 131 they talk about their experience at Star Wars Celebration Chicago, there’s some singing, they talk about the panels, the cosplay, people they met, things they saw, there’s an interesting thing about the title for Episode IX, and they also talk about The Mandalorian, The Star Wars Show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and more. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Al, Anna, and Liam
Rating: Good

Comic Book Noob: Deathstroke Scott and Regina talk about the character, how Deadpool is a derivative of Deathstroke, the character’s origin story, personality, powers, rivalry with the Teen Titans, being the original Terminator, how he lost his eye, and the complicated relationship he has with his family. Plus their recommended reading. Great discussion.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 24 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Scott, Matt, and Regina
Rating: Great

Comics With Kenobi: Episode 109 covers comic news, info on upcoming Star Wars main series, info on Age of Resistance comics, and reviews for Doctor Aphra #30 and Vader – Dark Visions #2. Good, positive reviews of both.

Podcast Network: Coffee With Kenobi
Runtime: 55 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt, and Jeff
Rating: Good

Comics With Kenobi: Episode 110 first they talk a little about Shazam! (no spoilers), then they go over comic news, reviews for Solo: A Star Wars Story #7, Star Wars #64, and an interview with Star Wars comic artist Will Sliney. Great episode with good reviews and a good interview.

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

Coruscant Radio Underground: The Padawan Report: Episode 5 features Adelin, Ianna, Quinten and Selina as they talk about The Rise of Skywalker trailer, the title, their thoughts on D-O, Rey jumping toward the TIE Fighter, the saga coming to an end, and more. Fun discussion, kid friendly, not too long if you’re short on time, and great audio quality. Definitely worth a listen if your looking for a Star Wars podcast for your younglings.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 26 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Andrew, and Merisha
Rating: Great

ForceCenter: ForceCenter Celebration Special 2019 – Live in Chicago! is their live show from Thursday night prior to all the Celebration panels and news. Ken and Joseph talk about the Skywalkers, going through each, Dorina Arellano joins them as they go over their favorite Star Wars quotes, and they do some Star Wars counselling, and some Star Wars trivia. Lot of fun discussions and great audio for a live show.

Podcast Network: ForceCenter
Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Host: Ken, Jennifer, and Joseph
Rating: Great

ForceCenter: Episode 165 they talk about what they’ve been up to, they go over the news, The Mandalorian and motion capture, George Lucas’ involvement, J.J. Abram’s on George’s involvement with The Rise of Skywalker, Project Luminous, KOTOR news, then they discuss the redemption of Ben Solo. They talk about George’s comments on Anakin’s redemption, Kylo and forgiveness, a lack of sympathy for Kylo, Snoke’s influence and Luke’s failure, how does Palpatine play into this, and listener questions. Great discussion.

Podcast Network: ForceCenter
Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: Ken, Jennifer, and Joseph
Rating: Great

Galactic War Report: Episode 150 is the audio from their Star Wars Celebration Chicago live show from the podcast stage. They had on guests Chris Stott, Mike Profeta, Michael Liang, and Erik Larsen from Capital Games as they talk about Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. They talk about Malak and the Malak event, reworks coming for Ahsoka, Anakin, and General Kenobi, new territory war on Geonosis, the challenge of reworking characters, and an Acklay mini-raid. Good episode and very informative.

Podcast Network: Radio Free Tatooine
Runtime: 43 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Host: John, and Sean
Rating: Good

Grand Moff Talkin’: Episode 93 is another “Fan Fiction Theater” episode as they read a fan fic, do voices, add background music and sound effects. In this episode they read “Daddy Gave Me A Name” by Starr. Now they do go through it in one take, so there’s no editing for reading mistakes, but it does add to the fun.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 59 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Jake, and Riley
Rating: Fun

Hearts of Kyber: Episode 5 they talk about revenge in Star Wars. It’s a great discussion topic that leads them to Darth Maul and his quest for revenge against Obi-Wan, Palpatine stoking Anakin’s need for revenge, as well as getting his own revenge against the Jedi by wiping them out. They talk about Boba Fett and Mace Windu, Asajj Ventress being driven by revenge and eventually embracing the light, Kylo Ren seeking revenge against Luke and Snoke. It’s a great discussion and definitely worth a listen.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 58 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Hosts: Christy, and Rae
Rating: Great

Jedi Journals: Celebration Chicago Microcast goes over Celebration as they talk about their experience at the con. They also have an interview with Star Wars authors Justina Ireland and Claudia Gray. Good interviews and good episode.

Podcast Network: TheForce.net
Runtime: 1 hour 1 minute
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Jay, and Chris
Rating: Good

Lords of the Sith: Episode 23 is the audio from their Shipping and Romance panel at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. It was a good panel going over the origins of shipping, the term shipping, the resurgence of shipping with the sequel trilogy, popular ships, and the Reylo ship. The panel was hosted by Denise, Lee and Monte. This was a panel I was able to attend in person. It was a good panel and very informative. They have a YouTube video version which includes their slides, so you might want to check out that version.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 49 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Hosts: Denise, Lee, and Mary
Rating: Good

Magic on a Dollar: Episode 50 goes over the Walt Disney quote “life is composed of light and shadow.”

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 5 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Dave
Rating: Good

Me and My Padawan: Episode 31 they talk about their Star Wars Celebration Chicago experience, photo-op with the cast of Star Wars Resistance, meeting Ahmed Best, Cavan Scott, and Steve Sansweet, and the stuff they did. Dillon joins them as they talk about their Sunday experience, and they go over listener feedback on best Celebration moments. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 38 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Ryan, and Braden
Rating: Good

Rebel Force Radio: The Mandalorian at Celebration Chicago they talk with Paul Bateman about the excitement for The Mandalorian, glasses in Star Wars, they go over the panel, what was said, and what was shown, and they play some audio clips from the panel. They speculate on the show, then they talk about The Rise of Skywalker, the possibility of redemption for Kylo Ren, Rey’s parents, Palpatine’s return, the title, and Endor.

Podcast Network: Rebel Force Radio
Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Jason, and Jimmy
Rating: Good

Skytalkers: The Rise of Skywalker Teaser Analysis they talk about Anaheim and the food trucks, their Monday experience at Star Wars Celebration Chicago, then they discuss The Rise of Skywalker trailer and title. They talk about Rey’s breathing, whether we could get the World Between Worlds, Rey and Kylo training, Palpatine and Snoke’s role in all of this, Kylo’s repaired mask, D-O and more.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Escape Pods Network
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Caitlin, and Charlotte
Rating: Good

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 244 is a roundtable episode from Star Wars Celebration Chicago featuring all kinds of guests as they share their experiences at Star Wars Celebration, favorite moments, the stuff revealed at the con, and more. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Skywalking Through Neverland
Runtime: 1 hour 18 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Hosts: Richard, and Sarah
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1749 Allen goes over some explanations for Palpatine’s laugh – be it clones, a Force vision, a red herring, etc.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 8 minutes
Audio Quality: Okay
Production Quality: Good
Host: Allen Voivod
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1751 goes over the Death Star’s appearance in The Rise of Skywalker teaser trailer and what planet or moon that might be.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1752 goes over J.J. Abram’s comments on Rey’s parents.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 8 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: Allen Voivod
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1753 goes over George Lucas’ involvement in the sequel trilogy.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1754 features a clip from an interview Allen did with Todd van der Heyden on CTV News. They talk a little about The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1755 goes over who wasn’t at The Rise of Skywaker panel at Star Wars Celebration Chicago and the things they’ve said about their characters, as well the theory I came up with about Matt Smith (thanks Allen!).

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

Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels: Episode 77.3 is a That’s SO Wizard episode as Jay and Dennis talk about Star Wars clothing and merchandise. They go over new Her Universe items, Star Wars Celebration merch, Pozu shoes, and more. Plus they talk about the cosplay they saw at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. Good episode if you’re looking to check out some new Star Wars clothing or items and the stuff that was at Celebration.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 50 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: Dennis, Jay, and Taxus
Rating: Good

Tarkin’s Top Shelf: Episode 64 they talk a little Celebration, then they discuss the book Master and Apprentice (does go into spoilers), and 34 minutes in, they have an interview with the author Claudia Gray who gives some nice insight into the book. Good episode.

Podcast Network: MakingStarWars.net
Runtime: 50 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Hosts: Becca, and Mark
Rating: Good

Tatooine Sons: Special Episode: Cavan Scott Share the Juicy Details about Dooku: Jedi Lost they talk with Cavan Scott about Dooku: Jedi Lost at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. Good interview, no spoilers, and nice, quick episode if you’re short on time.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth
Runtime: 13 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: David, Nate, and Samuel
Rating: Good

TechnoRetro Dads: Star Wars Celebration Chicago Recap they talk about their experience at Celebration, they tell some jokes, they have guests Sheldon and Chase, they talk about the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker, Galaxy’s Edge, The Mandalorian, swag and merch, Jedi: Fallen Order, and Vader Immortal. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Host: JediShua, and Shazbazzar
Rating: Fun

The DeuceCast Movie Show: Episode 374 goes over movie birthdays, then Mikey, Dave and Earl do their reflicktions as they talk about Triple Frontier, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Wedding Daze, The Commuter, Us, Shazam, Dragged Across Concrete, Dumbo, Pet Sematary, Hellboy, and they do a SpirituEarl segment and their top five movies of the year.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dave, Mikey, and Dr. Earl
Rating: Good

The Director’s Cut: Episode 200 features Lawrence Kasdan interviewing director John Lee Hancock about his movie The Highwaymen. He shares his thoughts on the project, the things they did, working with the actors and the characters, his desire for westerns, and the streaming and theatrical experience. Interesting discussion.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 30 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: Lawrence Kasdan
Rating: Good

The JATcast: Episode 25 has a funny opening bit with Hank, then James talks about his experience at Star Wars Celebration Chicago, signings and photo-ops, meeting old friends, The Star Wars Show, the Star Wars Resistance actors, and more. Afterwards James talks about the movie he’s making and how it’s based on the biblical parable of the prodigal son. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: James Arnold Taylor
Rating: Good

The Sandcrawler: Episode 72 they discuss The Rise of Skywalker trailer, Palpatine, Endor, Skywalkers instead of Jedi, the time jump, J.J. Abrams, and then they do a scene-by-scene breakdown. They also raise the question that if Rey were in other movies, would those be Skywalker saga films. Good episode, good discussion.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth
Runtime: 54 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: Dan, and Mac
Rating: Good

The Skyhoppers: Episode CXLIII they talk about The Rise of Skywalker trailer and panel, will anyone die, will we see a scene of Lando mourning Han, Rey’s outfit, will there be a gay character, Tatooine, Jakku, Yavin, Endor, is Palpatine back or a Force ghost, other observations, theories, and speculation. They also talk about The Phantom Menace panel, Ahmed Best, Ben talks about his experience at the con, The Mandalorian panel and footage, Jedi: Fallen Order, and Kathleen Kennedy’s comments on the Old Republic. Good discussion.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 2 hours 1 minute
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Ben, and Ash
Rating: Good

The Soundtrack Show: Rocky IV and Transformers: an Interview with Composer Vince DiCola (Part I) Vince talks about getting into music, films, how it all started with the song “Far From Over”, getting to score Rocky IV, progressive rock and the prominence of keyboards, scoring his first film, and Ivan Drago’s music. Great episode.

Podcast Network: HowStuffWorks
Runtime: 41 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: David Collins
Rating: Great

The Story Geeks: Captain Marvel – The Avengers Most Powerful Hero Sandra and Justin talk with Marie-Claire Gould (What The Force?) about the movie Captain Marvel. They share their thoughts on the film, the Kree, the Skrulls, the way the story is told, themes of suppressing emotion, sexism, and lots of love for the film and the character. This does go into spoilers.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 52 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Host: Daryl, Jay, Justin, and Sandra
Rating: Good

We Know Nothing: Episode 29 goes over Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2 as they speculate on where things will go with the battle for Winterfell and the Night King, then they breakdown the episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 49 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Joe, and Kevin
Rating: Good

What The Force?: Celebration Panel: So, You’re a Fanfic Writer That Wants to Go Pro (Claudia Gray) is the audio from the panel. It’s not the best audio, but if you want to hear the panel, this may be your only bet. Claudia talks about the challenges of transitioning away from fanfic, things you can do in fanfic but not in professional fictional, differences between the two, and a Q&A with the crowd.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 48 minutes
Audio Quality: Okay
Production Quality: Okay
Hosts: Marie-Claire Gould
Rating: Good

Who Talks First: Who Talks First talks about Rise of Skywalker they talk a little about Star Wars Celebration Chicago, then they discuss The Rise of Skywalker trailer. They share their thoughts on Rey training with Kylo, Kylo fighting Knights of Ren, their wants for queer characters and shipping, Ben Solo’s theme in major key, the title and more.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 57 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Solo, and CT
Rating: Good

Wookiee Radio: Episode 107 features guests John Tyler Christopher and me as we talk about Star Wars Celebration Chicago and our experience there. John talks about the Marvel panel, his thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker trailer, and Jedi: Fallen Order. Then I talk about the panels I went to, the Livestream stage, the Celebration store, the lines, the lottery system and reservation system, Season 2 Episode 1 of Star Wars Resistance, Coca-Cola being canon, the Droids and Animatronics panel, publishing panels, the podcast meetup, the Shipping panel, The Mandalorian, Project Luminous, Alexander Freed’s video game panel, and the Anaheim 2020 announcement. It was a fun discussion.

Podcast Network: We Be Geeks Network
Runtime: 1 hour 5 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Derrick, Ken, and Mike
Rating: Fun