Podcasts in Review

October 31, 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

Geek Out Loud Episode 250
Fly Casual Episode 246
Brews and Blasters Episode 231
Star Wars 7×7 Episodes 1939 through 1942
The Deucecast Movie Show Episode 402

Honorable Mentions

Blast Points Podcast Episode 193 featuring guests and droid discussion.
Radio 1138 Episode 70 press conference for Mandalorian.

Now here is this week’s Podcasts in Review…

Blast Points Podcast: Episode 193 is there Mr & Ms Robotica Pageant episode as they’re joined by guests Tom Spina and Gordon Tarpley to pick out the best droids in Star Wars: A New Hope. They even have their own theme song for it. Fun as always, but this one is a little extra special. You won’t find this elsewhere.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Jason, and Gabe
Rating: Fun

Brews and Blasters: Episode 231 is their discussion for The Rise of Skywalker trailer. Fun breakdown.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Joe, and Chris
Rating: Fun

Children for the Force: Episode 144 they catch up on Star Wars Roll Out and Galactic Builders, go over listener emails, and they go over the new TROS trailer.

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

Children of the Force: Episode 145 they go over listener feedback on the new The Rise of Skywalker trailer and discuss how Palpatine might have survived the destruction of Death Star II. Then they go over news, Benioff and Weiss, new Mandalorian trailer, Wedge in Resistance Reborn, and they tell some spooky stories they wrote. I believe these are the same ones they had last year for Halloween, but they reworked the special effects for them. Either way, makes for a nice Halloween episode.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 3 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Al, Anna, and Liam
Rating: Good

Fly Casual: Episode 246 they talk about cartoon Primal, The Walking Dead TV series, and Family Ties then slip on into the news for Matrix 4 casting, Kevin Feige doing Star Wars, and Tony Gilroy working on Cassian Andor series. For their main discussion, they talk about the Night of the Living Dead movies, which is pretty fun.

Podcast Network: Betterkind Media
Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Corey, Garrick, Mike, and Steve
Rating: Fun

Fly Casual: Episode 247 they talk a little El Camino and A Star is Born as they touch on what they’ve been up to, they go over some Star Wars news, then they forced each other to watch some television shows and discuss (The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, Big Brother, and some anime series).

Podcast Network: Betterkind Media
Runtime: 2 hours 26 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Corey, Garrick, Mike, and Steve
Rating: Good

Geek Out Loud: Episode 250 is a long one. Seriously, it’s the longest podcast episode I’ve ever listened to at 5 hours and 3 minutes. Lately Steve hasn’t been cutting the episodes down and has been doing some very long shows, but this one is huge. It starts 18 minutes before the Monday football game when the new The Rise of Skywalker trailer was set to air, and that wasn’t schedule to run till halftime, so there’s a big wait till that happens. During that wait there’s lots of pre-trailer chit chat. Steve talks about the teasers for the new trailer, and discusses some non-Star Wars stuff like the score for the first Iron Man film. At 48 minutes in, Riley and Scott Ryfun from The Star Wars Report drop by and talk some about wives and Star Wars, Marvel music, The Force Awakens and Star Wars, and J.J. Abrams. Then Dave Jones jumps on, then Erich. They get into Episode IX expectations, and Star Wars Resistance. Shazbazzar joins them and at 2 hours and 6 minutes the trailer drops. That’s when the trailer discussion begins. At one point they change gears to talk about the Battle For Endor Ewok movie, and Steve even opens the lines to listeners to just call in (at one time they have 9 people on the show at once). As things wind down, the number of guests shrink, and eventually Steve and Shazbazzar wrap things up with their final thoughts. You could say this is the most epic TROS discussion episode due to the length of the discussion, the number of guests, and with both pre-release discussion, instant reactions, and post release thoughts. What amazed me was that I actually stayed entertained for five hours. For that, I have to tip my hat to Steve Glosson for a job well done. There’s not many podcasters that can keep my attention like that. Still, you better have some time put away if you plan on firing this one up. This one is definitely my pick of the week.

Podcast Network: Geek Out Loud
Runtime: 5 hours 3 minutes
Audio Quality: Great
Production Quality: Great
Host: Steve Glosson
Rating: Nearly Epic

Grand Moff Talkin’: Episode 118 no Riley in this one. Jake and Jasmin go over The Rise of Skywalker trailer then respond to the negative reactions to the trailer. At 58 minutes in they switch gears and start talking about some spoiler leaks, so if you’re avoiding spoilers, you’ll want to stop there. I listened for a bit too long before I stopped. They talk about some pretty big spoilers if any of them turn out to be true.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes
Audio Quality: Okay
Production Quality: Okay
Hosts: Jake, Jasmin, and Riley
Rating: Okay

Lords of the Sith Podcast: Episode 31 they breakdown the new trailer for The Rise of Skywalker.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 1 hour 24 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Great
Hosts: Denise, Lee, and Mary
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 1 is the debut episode of a new Star Wars podcast hosted by Dennis and Jay (who formerly hosted Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels). They launched a bunch of episodes to really kick things off, and in this one they talk about the new podcast, the show name, what they’ve been up to, and they go over Star Wars news. Note each show has a different focus, so not all of them are news episodes, some focus on a discussion topic, some are reviews, and they also have their fashion and lifestyle episodes. Excellent audio quality and production quality. Definitely a good Star Wars podcast to check out (and they’ll be on my regular rotation).

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 42 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 2 goes over Star Wars Resistance season two “Into the Unknown”. Nice episode breakdown (actually all of their Resistance review episodes are great, they’re worth checking out).

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 28 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 3 is a fashion and lifestyle episode as they go over new products and clothing, from Vader candle warmers and Star Wars kitchenware to Her Universe and Loungefly.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 36 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 4 is a news episode as they go over what they’ve been up to, lack of merch on Force Friday, TROS promotional posters, Rian Johnson’s latest comments, Disney+ content, and Tony Gilroy working on the Cassian Andor series.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 30 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 5 goes over Star Wars Resistance “A Quick Salvage Run” as they breakdown the episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 34 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 6 is a discussion episode as they focus on the dark side of the Force. What is it? They talk about how it’s portrayed in the films, how it’s described, how it works, and Kylo Ren’s relationship with it. Good discussion.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 38 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 7 they talk about TROS tickets going on sale, Star Tours news, and then they breakdown The Rise of Skywalker trailer.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 45 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Podcast Stardust: Episode 8 goes over the Star Wars Resistance episode “Live Fire”. They contrast the Aces and the First Order pilots and give a nice breakdown of the episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 32 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dennis, and Jay
Rating: Good

Radio 1138: Episode 70 is hosted by James and Brian Sims as they go over The Mandalorian press junket and play some audio from it. There’s two parts to the audio. The first part is mostly Favreau and Filoni, the second part is mostly the actors. Carl Weathers reveals he’ll be directing an episode for season two, which is already being filmed. Definitely worth checking out.

Podcast Network: Jedi News Network
Runtime: 1 hour 12 minutes
Audio Quality: Okay
Production Quality: Good
Hosts: James
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1938 compares the new The Rise of Skywalker trailer to the previous trailers and teasers.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1939 features guest Patrick Johnson as they talk about some of the science in Star Wars and the effects of that Death Star wreckage on a planet.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 16 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Host: Allen Voivod
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1940 features guest Patrick Johnson as they talk about some of the science in Star Wars and the physics of the Star Destroyer breaking through the ice in the new TROS trailer.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1941 features guest Patrick Johnson as they talk about some of the science in Star Wars and the floating iceberg in the new TROS trailer.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 15 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Host: Allen Voivod
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1942 features guest Patrick Johnson as they talk about some of the science in Star Wars and the space horses in the new TROS trailer.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 17 minutes
Audio Quality: Good
Production Quality: Good
Host: Allen Voivod
Rating: Good

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1943 goes over the new Mandalorian trailer and what’s actually new.

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

Star Wars 7×7: Episode 1944 goes over the Benioff and Weiss leaving Star Wars news.

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

Talking Bay 94: Episode 50 features an interview with Phil Tippett as he talk about his work on Star Wars, stop motion, and his work on other films. Good interview.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 31 minutes
Audio Quality: Okay
Production Quality: Good
Host: Brandon Wainerdi
Rating: Good

TechnoRetro Dads: Trick or Treat with RetroZap Friends is their Halloween episode as they share Halloween jokes, go over favorite Halloween candy and the top rated Halloween candy, they talk Halloween costumes, go over the most popular costumes, and they have on guests throughout the show who share their own feedback and thoughts. Plus they talk about The Rise of Skywalker trailer.

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 402 features Dave, Mikey and special guest Burgess as they go over movie birthdays, then do a villains tournament. Some interesting and unusual picks. They wrap up with Miketober. Good episode.

Podcast Network: Retrozap
Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: Dave, Mikey, and Dr. Earl
Rating: Good

The Resistance Broadcast: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer: Did it Change Our Minds About Anything? they go over their TROS predictions and thoughts on the trailer.

Podcast Network: N/A
Runtime: 56 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Hosts: James, John, and Lacey
Rating: Good

The Sandcrawler: Episode 84 they talk about their Halloween plans, new figures, they go over the Star Wars scenes that scare them and share listener feedback on that topic, then discuss the new The Rise of Skywalker trailer and the new Mandalorian trailer. Fun episode.

Podcast Network: Star Wars Commonwealth
Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
Audio Quality: Excellent
Production Quality: Excellent
Host: Dan, and Mac
Rating: Fun