Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.
Aggressive Negotiations: *NEW PODCAST* hosted by Matthew Rushing and John Mills who you might both recognize from Trek.fm podcasts. Episode 001 tackles the viewing order for the Star Wars films…kind of. It’s not much of a discussion since they both agree the proper viewing order is Episode I through VII and they don’t really get into the pro’s and con’s of the other viewing orders. Instead they mostly justify why they should be watched I through VII, they talk a little about the serial nature of the films, what it would be like to watch all the lightsaber fights including Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and whether The Force Awakens can standalone by itself. Certainly a topic for fertile ground, especially now that The Force Awakens is in the mix, but they only scratched the surface. Still worth a listen as there’s great audio quality and good hosts involved.
Bombad Radio: Episode 223 features another outstanding voice actor interview, this time with David Wald. Dave talks about how he went from Jazz in college to acting and voice acting, the intricacies of anime dubbing, his first exposure to anime, and why they sometimes redub old titles. He also talks about Halo Legends, his most challenging voice, working on Ghost in the Shell, cross-over from stage work to voice acting and vice versa, and more. Fascinating interview and worth a listen.
Bombad Radio: Episode 224 features a great interview with voice actress Debi Derryberry. Debi talks about how she got her last name, working with different directors like Miyazaki, voice acting and recognition, her singing career, being a body double, how she got into voice over, working on Free Willy and her upcoming projects. Debi has some very interesting stories to tell, and I hope she’ll be on again as I’d like to hear some more about her voice acting work for various cartoons and animated films as it isn’t until the end of the show that I realized she’s the voice of Jimmy Neutron.
Bombad Radio: Episode 225 features a fantastic interview with Donald F. Glut. Star Wars fans will recognize him as the author of The Empire Strikes Back novelization, however Bombad Radio avoids that subject and instead goes for something much more interesting. I had no idea just how widespread and diversified Donald F. Glut’s career was. He talks about how being inspired by Ray Harryhausen got him into movies, writing articles for Monster magazine, comic book writing, getting into cartoons, directing, the challenges involved in writing in the extremely PC realm of Dinotopia, his fascination with dinosaurs, doing the music for “Dinosaur Tracks”, the correct way to say his last name (it’s Glute like flute), his book Bugged, Dino-Riders, Solomon Kane and more. Absolutely great interview. Definitely a must listen. It is a phone interview, but the still very listenable.
Brews and Blasters: Episode #54 threw me at first as they started talking about what gifts they got for Christmas. It was a January 31st episode, and I was fairly certain I’d already heard them talk about that before, but whatever, I went with it. Then they started talking about Ewoks and the Ewok movies. At this point I knew I’d heard this before, so checking the show notes, I finally realized this is a ‘best of’ episode touching on their twelve shows of 2015. Thus, know before you go in, otherwise you’ll be totally confused.
Children of the Force: Episode #24 starts with some The Force Awakens discussion, then they head into Star Wars Rebels as they watch the midseason trailer and dive in deep with speculation on what they saw. Fun episode.
Children of the Force: Episode #25 picks up with The Force Awakens again, this time Al talks about how the experience was different seeing it alone rather than with his kids as he points out some of the things he noticed this time around. Then he, Anna and Liam talk about the new release date for Episode VIII, they review Star Wars Rebels “A Princess on Lothal”, and they rank all the Star Wars movies.
Children of the Force: Episode #26 is special, it’s a short episode, but it’s hosted by just Anna and Liam. Anna takes the lead on hosting duties and does a great job. Al still sneaks in there with a funny bit as Supreme Leader Croak (due to his hoarse voice) and all around it’s a fun episode.
Comics With Kenobi: Issue #14 starts with some comic rankings via John Jackson Miller’s site Comichron. Then they review Kanan #10, Star Wars #15 (the Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone), Obi-Wan & Anakin #1, and Obi-Wan & Anakin #2. Again, they get into spoilers so if you haven’t read any of those issues yet, be sure to check them out first before listening in. Great comic discussion as always.
Fly Casual: Episode 74 starts with news – new release date for Episode VIII, The Force Awakens cameos, Trevorrow on shooting Episode IX on film rather than digital, and their thoughts on all the news topics. They also get into a special effects discussion, then head on in to toy news, the price of Star Wars Rebels digital episodes and EA’s new Battlefront content and the price tag on it. Good show with great topics and fun discussion.
Full of Sith: Episode CLII heads into the deep end with the politics of Star Wars. Bryan, Mike and special guest Bria talk about the politics of the prequels, the original trilogy, and The Force Awakens. It’s interesting, but I do have to admit, I wouldn’t rank this one up there with my favorite episodes. Politics can be a difficult thing to cover and keep entertaining, but for those more politically inclined, you’ll want to check this one out. Bryan also talks with Andrew Slack, the creator of The Harry Potter Alliance. It’s definitely not an interview as Andrew has a habit of talking for a long time whenever he’s asked something. He goes on about fandom, activism, Harry Potter and Star Wars. He’s definitely enthusiastic about what he does, though I’m still not exactly clear on what his group actually does.
Lattes With Leia: *NEW SHOW* hosted by Amy Ratcliffe (Full of Sith) and Dr. Andrea Letamendi (Under the Mask) Episode #1 stars out with a bit about their Star Wars fandom, then they head into a full on Rey discussion analyzing the character and tackling criticism. Pretty good first episode with top notch audio quality and great hosts. Looking forward to more shows and future topics.
My Star Wars Story: Episode 18 features Paul Hermann (The Forcecast, Star Wars With Friends) as he shares his Star Wars story. Now this is 18 episodes in, and you’d think by now you would have heard everyone’s story, that it would be the same old tired ground over and over by now, but SURPRISE, this one is yet again different from all the rest. Seriously, I’m shocked by how each of these stories stands out from the rest. Paul’s stories is unique in a lot of ways. He talks about seeing The Empire Strikes Back first, and on tv to boot, then discovering Return of the Jedi and only much later A New Hope which was his first prequel. Growing up in the dark times for him meant getting all the Star Wars figures off of discount racks and seeing the films on the small screen instead of the big screen. He also talks about how ADHD affected his ability to enjoy the books, but how he was still able to get into the comics. He shares his experiences with the prequels, his Star Wars relationship with his brother, getting into The Clone Wars, and more. It’s a great story and worth checking out. Don’t skip it!
Rebel Force Radio: Episode 2.5.2016 covers the news including sound bytes from Colin Trevorrow talking about Episode IX and his thoughts on shooting on film versus digital. Then they talk with Steve Sansweet about his The Force Awakens experience and food collecting. Jimmy also recreates Alec Guinness’ “Rey” line from TFA.
Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode #109 features a very fun conversation with Bryce and Carly Yelverton who give a great account of their trip to Skellig Michael and seeing the places where the final shots of The Force Awakens were filmed. That part of the episode alone is worth tuning in for, but Sarah and Richard also do some live broadcasting at Disneyland as they meet Boba Fett, Kylo Ren and Chewbacca and try to see the Seventh Sister. They also talk about Ewan McGregor’s recent comments on voicing his small part in The Force Awakens.
Star Wars Oxygen: Volume 27 beings with some discussion of the voice actors for The Force Awakens, then they dive into Kylo’s theme, Finn and Poe, the Falcon’s theme and its tie to 1138 and much more. Terrific show and definitely one to subscribe to. Certainly the best Star Wars music podcast out there.
Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.
