Podcasts in Review

July 18, 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

Inside Star Wars Episode 1 through 8
Blast Points Podcast Episode 179
Rebel Force Radio Episode 7.12.2019
Skytalkers Yoda One: Development
Inside Jaws Episode 1 through 8

Honorable Mentions

Tarkin’s Top Shelf Episode 71 features voice actress Cat Taber.

Now here is this week’s Podcasts in Review…

Around the Galaxy: Episode 20 is part two of the conversation with Don Donohue as they continue talking Star Wars Battlefront II and discuss Galaxy’s Edge, and go through the ten Star Wars questions. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Making Star Wars
Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Pete Fletzer
Rating: Fun

Around the Galaxy: Episode 21 features guest Matt Norris who talks about writing, Funko, and his website. They go over the business of Funko, Star Wars pops, the rarest Star Wars pops, Cinemablend, Matt’s thoughts on the prequels, sequels and the animated series, Disney+ and future Star Wars stories. Plus the usual batch of Star Wars questions to wrap things up. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Making Star Wars
Runtime: 1 hour 5 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Pete Fletzer
Rating: Good

Blast Points Podcast: July 2019 – Spiderman Far From Home is another Patreon only episode as they talk about the movie Spider-Man: Far From Home. They touch on all the Spider-Man movies a little, then dive into Far From Home. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 51 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Jason, and Gabe
Rating: Good

Blast Points Podcast: Episode 179 they talk about the Star Wars kids books The Maverick Moon and The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot, then do an audio drama for each as they read them. They do an excellent job with the readings and this is yet another priceless contribution to Star Wars fandom from the guys at Blast Points. Definitely give this one a listen.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 51 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Editing: Excellent
Hosts: Jason, and Gabe
Rating: Priceless

Brews and Blasters: Episode 216 they talk anitpasta, new Lucasfilm VP, Arcade1Up Star Wars cabinet, Pez dispensers and proto Fett, Dark Crystal casting news, Phil Tippet documentary, need’em got’em, AT-AT driver on card, Lando figure from Solo, Wave 21, Chopper, Doctor Aphra, Triple Zero, BT-1, and they go over the Alien Archives for Ugnaughts. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 1 minute
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Joe, and Chris
Rating: Fun

Brews and Blasters: Episode 217 they touch on Stranger Things Season 3, Joe’s keto diet break and lots of food talk, they talk about the 4th of July and fireworks, the Sith Trooper news and reveal, SDCC exclusives, tiki cups, Hot Toys and more. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 1 minute
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Joe, and Chris
Rating: Fun

Children of the Force: Episode 137 they talk a little Spider-Man, what they’re reading and what they’re up to, Sith Trooper news, SDCC and D23 stuff, cake metaphors, Jon Favreau and Daisy Ridley’s latest comments, joke segment, stump the lump, and a long sign off. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 5 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Al, Anna, and Liam
Rating: Fun

Coffee With Kenobi: Episode 286 Dan is joined by Cory as they talk about stuff, Celebration podcast memories, Galaxy’s Edge, excitement for The Rise of Skywalker, Disney Infinity, and more. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Coffee With Kenobi
Runtime: 53 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dan Zehr
Rating: Good

Comic Book Noob: Lobo they talk about Lobo being in Krypton Season 2, the trailer, his first comic book appearance, his origin, his powers, space dolphins, and reading recommendations. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 20 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Scott, Matt, and Regina
Rating: Fun

Galactic War Report: Episode 162 they talk about what they’ve been up to in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, bug focus, gearing up and team choices.

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

Grand Moff Talkin’: Episode 104 Jake and Riley are joined by Jasmin as they do a commentary for Return of the Jedi. This is part one. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 12 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Jake, and Riley
Rating: Fun

Inside Jaws: Episode 1 begins on the beach and one unlucky swimmer who gets attacked by the shark. It then switches to Matt Reaves and J.J. Abrams in 1981, and does several highlights of Steven Spielberg from different times in life, setting up the story around Jaws. Like Insider Star Wars, this is kind of an audio dramatization to tell the story of the film, highlighting the people who made it, scenes from the book, and featuring sound effects and music to encapsulate the experience. With the excerpts from the book, this series has a different feel from Inside Star Wars, and there’s definitely a horror vibe with the inclusion of the book scenes. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 26 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Good

Inside Jaws: Episode 2 starts with an attack at sea reported in a newspaper, then transitions to another shark attack, Spielberg on the set of Universal, Amblin and directing.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 28 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Good

Inside Jaws: Episode 3 a shark attack in the creek, the origin of Duel and making it, and the beginning of Jaws.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 30 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Good

Inside Jaws: Episode 4 another scene from the book, the author of the book finishing the novel, Spielberg getting the film, the robotic sharks, and casting.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 27 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Good

Inside Jaws: Episode 5 a suicide scene from the book, the Indianapolis, new writer for the film, George Lucas checking out the shark,

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 30 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Good

Inside Star Wars: Episode 1 is the first of a multi-part series of audio dramatizations that tell the story of Star Wars. It’s very interesting and innovative and makes for some great listening material. The host, Mark, does all the voices, and it’s complete with ambient sounds and sound effects to create a truly immersive storytelling experience. It jumps around to highlight the key players, be it George Lucas, Alan Ladd, or the actors. In doing so, listeners get an idea of what the people went through and what the situation was like. In this first episode it touches on the chaos of the first day of shooting for Star Wars, then jumps back to tell the story of George Lucas, his upbringing, and his early adolescence. Fantastic podcast. I highly recommend checking out this series. Mark does an outstanding job with each episode.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 28 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 2 picks up with George Lucas’ car accident and continues his story through film school, meeting Francis Ford Coppola, and making THX-1138. It also touches on Carrie Fisher.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 20 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 3 covers American Graffiti, the beginning of Star Wars, and writing the script.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 29 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 4 goes from Carrie Fisher’s audition, Ben Burtt collecting the sounds of Star Wars, and touches on Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, John Dykstra, Mark Hamill and Peter Mayhew.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 32 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 5 covers Carrie’s first day of shooting, George the directory, between takes, Greedo, killing off Obi-Wan, Peter Cushing and George’s breakdown.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 27 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 6 covers the rough cut of Star Wars and reactions, Fox, it’s release, George and Spielberg coming up with Indiana Jones, Star Wars sequels and success, the prequels and fan backlash.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 30 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 7 goes over Kenny Baker’s passing, his son, George meeting with Bob Iger, Carrie’s passing, and the wonder of Star Wars, thus wrapping up the series.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 32 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Fantastic

Inside Star Wars: Episode 8 changes gears as Mark talks with George Lucas biographer Brian Jay Jones. Brian talks about the challenge of writing a George Lucas biography, how long the book took, and why he did it. They talk about George’s comments on having it all planned out, Brian’s Star Wars fandom, and they talk about George, Disney and Star Wars. Great episode.

Podcast Network: Wondery
Runtime: 47 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Matt Ramsey
Rating: Great

Rebel Force Radio: Episode 7.12.2019 they talk about the podcast Inside Star Wars, they have a puffer pig song, and they discuss Star Wars rapping. They talk about Galaxy’s Edge, the Sith Trooper, tiki cups, Steve Sansweet, Daisy Ridley comments, and then they have on guest Mark Ramsey who hosts Inside Star Wars. They talk with him about the podcast and the work that goes into it. The discussion with Mark is worth checking out. Great episode.

Podcast Network: Rebel Force Radio
Runtime: 2 hours 38 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Jason, and Jimmy
Rating: Great

Skytalkers: Yoda One: Development kicks off their new summer series as they talk about Yoda. Caitlin goes over her dislike of Yoda, both of them share their overall thoughts on the character, then they talk about the development of Yoda, the design, the puppet, The Phantom Menace puppet, The Last Jedi puppet, Yoda’s theme, and they compare Yoda to E.T. They also talk about Puppets to Pixels, Thunderbirds influence, Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars Yoda. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Escape Pods Network
Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Caitlin, and Charlotte
Rating: Good

Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 254 they talk SDCC plans and other stuff, then warm up for their Spider-Man discussion by going over the Marvel Phase III movies. Then they do a spoiler discussion of Spider-Man: Far From Home going over the things they liked and the things they didn’t, then they wrap up by going over what we know about Phase IV. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Skynet
Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Richard, and Sarah
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1833 discusses the newly revealed Sith Trooper.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1834 is a Star Wars preview of SDCC going over panels and guests.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1835 goes over D23 and Star Wars updates.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1837 is a Galaxy’s Edge update going over Rise of the Resistance and park attendance.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1838 goes over the comic adaptation for The Force Awakens as Allen shares his observations and goes over the differences between it and the movie.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1839 goes over the comic adaptation for The Last Jedi.

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

Tarkin’s Top Shelf: Episode 71 features guest Cat Taber as they talk with her about Padme, Anakin, her voicework for Final Fantasy, Star Wars stuff, and other voicework. Good episode.

Podcast Network: MakingStarWars.net
Runtime: 47 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Becca, and Mark
Rating: Good

Tatooine Sons: Did Somebody Say “Sith Troopers”? they touch on Stranger Things Season 3, Rise of Resistance dates, listener feedback on prophecies, Daisy Ridley comments, Episode IX rumors, and they talk Sith Troopers, Mark Hamill on blue milk, and Jar Jar trending. Good episode.

Podcast Network: MakingStarWars.net
Runtime: 55 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: David, Nate, and Samuel
Rating: Good

TechnoRetro Dads: Monday Morning Men on the Moon they tell moon jokes, they have on guest Jovial Jay Shepard as Jay and Shua talk about hanging out in person, then they talk about the moon landing, the video game Lunar Lander, they talk about the Bravestar cartoon, Gilligan’s Planet, Space Cats and others, as well as movies like Apollo 11, First Man, and The Right Stuff. Fun episode.

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

The Deucecast Movie Show: Episode 387 features Dave, Mikey, Dr. Earl and guest Clay Shaver as they talk Andre Agassi then do a film role tournament for Eddie Murphy. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 4 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dave, Mikey, and Dr. Earl
Rating: Good

The JATCast: Episode 31 James goes through his voices for the show, he talks about labeling people evil, disagreeing with people, not letting your feelings cloud your judgement, and learning how to be wrong. He also talks about emails and touches on The Story of With. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 7 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: James Arnold Taylor
Rating: Good

The Nerd Room: Episode 177 they talk about Spider-Man: Far From Home as they go through their overall non-spoiler thoughts, then dive into a spoiler discussion. They talk about the director and writers, Happy’s role, the snap and the blip, Elementals, Nick Fury, Mysterio, Night Monkey, and more. Good discussion.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Tim, Troy, and Sunjay
Rating: Good

The Skyhoppers Podcast: Episode CLV they talk about things needed in canon, Luke’s Jedi Academy, getting a look at Ben during that time, they compare Alphabet Squadron to the X-Wing novels, the abridged Wraith Squadron book that left out a big character death, more Sith stuff, VCX100, Corran Horn and Bossk, and other ideas. Good episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 58 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Ben, and Ash
Rating: Good

Wookiee Radio: Episode 118 they talk affiliates and merch, the Sith Trooper news and Sith Trooper merch revealed, they talk about the lower than expected traffic at Galaxy’s Edge, the mobile app, and go over Den of Geek’s list of 25 best Star Wars games. Good episode.

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