Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.
Blast Points: Episode 20 begins with a little news and speculation as they talk about the Episode VIII aerial set photos, Luke’s Force tree, the new Force For Change video, John Williams’ comments on doing the soundtrack for Episode VIII, Rogue One Vader pics, Mads on Rogue One, the new Han Solo and “Jabba Flow.” For the main topic, they go over their ten favorite Star Wars trailers which leads to an entertaining discussion covering the Revenge of the Jedi trailer, the tone poems, the Yoda Man ad, teasers and more. Gabe and Jason have just been nailing it with their episodes as I’ve enjoyed every single one of them. Their chock full of humor and Star Wars goodness that has quickly made them one of my favorite Star Wars podcasts to listen to. They are this close to being my absolute favorite at the moment.
BNN (Bombad Radio): Episode 5.9.16 covers 10 newsworthy stories for the week in a quick little burst that’s great for staying in the know without getting bogged down in a hour plus podcast. This week they talk about Chrome being the new #1 browser in the world, Seth MacFarlane’s new sci-fi show, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride closing, new Star Wars video game, Battlefield doing a WWI game, the young Han Solo casting, cartridge gaming making a comeback and more.
Bombad Radio: Episode 239 features an interview with voice actor J. Michael Tatum who talks about working for FUNimation, getting into the business, wearing multiple hats to make a living, dubbing vs. subtitles, joining the Dragon Ball club, and lots of advice on getting into voice acting. Afterwards Jeremiah and James cover some Star Wars news. Excellent episode.
Brews and Blasters: Episode 69 again lacks Chris, but Joe brings on Bill Gardner as they go all over the place with fun topics. They talk Pee Wee, the Alamo Drafthouse, Captain America (no spoilers), Dunkin’ Donuts, 3D, Castlevania, Rogue One, SNES vs Genesis, Christopher Lee, “Jabba Flow”, Ahsoka, May 4th, need’em got’em, listener emails, and the Star Wars Celebration Orlando announcement. Bill was a very talkative host which made the entire episode great.
Children of the Force: Episode #36 is a short one as they podcast from their backyard to enjoy the day. They cover Bloodline‘s release, who Rey is waiting for, jokes, Q&A council and more for a quick, fun episode.
Coffee With Kenobi: May the 4th Book Chat with Pablo Hidalgo covers Star Wars, The Force Awakens and the visual guide. Pablo talks about coming up with names, shooting the Rebels Reactions videos and more. It’s a fun interview and worth checking out.
Comics With Kenobi: Episode 18 reviews Star Wars #18, Darth Vader #19, Obi-Wan & Anakin #4, and Poe Dameron #2. Good stuff.
Databank Brawl: Episode 8 pits Chopper against The Eighth Brother. Initially there’s not a lot of love for Chopper, but they put together an entertaining fight as Chopper pursues a cape, gets into trouble with the Eighth Brother, leads to the Chopnado and the double bladed saber dog. Fun stuff.
Fly Casual: Episode 88 begins with the new Han Solo, Mads Mikkelsen revealing his Rogue One character, a discussion on flashbacks, a non-spoiler Bloodline discussion that leads to timelines, iTunes TFA exclusive, the severed hand and how TFA almost started, most rented Star Wars movies, and Lucas museum issues. Then they get into toy news for new Star Wars Funko Pops, new Disney Elite figures, new Star Wars videogames, and Sideshow’s 4-LOM. Another fun show with lots of information packed in.
ForceCenter: Episode 12 is their May the 4th episode featuring guest Emma Fyffe. They talk about their favorite Star Wars toys, do a Star Wars mad libs, discuss who would be their wingman in Star Wars, and cover the Rusty Miller Jedi Master’s Quizbook. Fun episode.
Full of Sith: Episode CLXVI is hosted by Mike, Bryan and special guest Zoe from Star Wars Geek Girl podcast. Zoe talks a little bit about growing up with Star Wars and seeing TFA, then they get into the Han Solo casting of Alden Ehrenreich. They speculate on who else we might see in the movie and the possibility of other people playing characters. I love the idea of including Cad Bane, but not as much as Anakin’s theory that Rotta the Hutt is Snoke and the new trilogy is an elaborate revenge plot. That’s just plain awesome. Fun episode and worth checking out. Zoe had some real nice input into the conversations which means I’m now going to have to check out her podcast.
Great Big Beautiful Podcast: Episode 61 begins with a little discussion on the Muppets, then they bring on their interview with Star Wars puppeteer Tim Rose. Tim talks about how he got on with Jim Henson and the Muppets, working on Dark Crystal, transitioning from Muppets to Return of the Jedi, being both a designer and a puppeteer, re-designing Sy Snootles, the two different Ackbars, and he touches a little on The Force Awakens. Definitely worth checking out. Tim has some good stories.
Hangin’ With Team Kanan: Episode 13 is a short episode themed for Mother’s Day as they talk about mothers in Star Wars and what they’re reading.
My Star Wars Story: Episode 20 features Devon Meyers. Devon shares how she got into Star Wars, but most notably, shares how she’s raised her family on Star Wars and how it has brought them together. From first seeing it to cosplaying as Jocasta Nu and joining the Rebel Legion, it’s a great story and really worth listening to. While there are a lot of podcasts to choose from this week, this one gets my pick of the week.
Radio 1138: Episode 43 covers lots of stuff as usual with tons of interviews. In this episode they talk with Dee Tails (Cratinus in TFA), Edith Bowman (radio show host), Martin Keeler and Jed Shepherd talk about an upcoming event taking place before Star Wars Celebration Europe, they talk with Gus Lopez, Alan Harris (Bossk), Keith De’Winter (Goss Toowers), and they have a great, candid interview with Angus MacInnes (Gold Leader) who talks about Star Wars and film making.
Rebel Force Radio: Live From Rancho Obi-Wan Part One commemorates May the 4th with Steve Sansweet and Anne Neumann. With Jason coming in remote and Jimmy Mac in person at Rancho Obi-Wan, they talk about Rancho, collecting, preserving Star Wars history, and bring on lots of guests to emphasize the importance of Rancho Obi-Wan. They talk with Bonnie Burton, James Burns, and Sam Witwer. Just listening to these episodes makes you feel good to be a Star Wars fan.
Rebel Force Radio: Live From Rancho Obi-Wan Part Two continues their show with even more guests. This time they talk with James Arnold Taylor, David Collins, Pete Vilmur and Leland Chee. Good episode.
Rebel Grrrl: Episode 32 begins with a fashion discussion on Her Universe and purses, Episode VIII news, reincarnation, listener emails, burritos, dude, Rogue One looking cheap and set detail on Episode VII.
Rebels Chat: Episode 41 covers the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. They talk about Anakin getting a padawan, Ahsoka as a padawan, the difference between now and then, kid soldiers, Jabba having a kid, Asajj, Rex and Ziro. It’s a good episode and made extra interesting as this is the first time Maria has watched it so it’s her first exposure to young Ahsoka and young Rex. Before hand she knew them only from Star Wars Rebels. This leads to some fun observations.
Rock Out Loud: Remembers Prince episode starts with some hockey and football talk, Kristin shares her thoughts on Batman v Superman, then they pay tribute to Prince as they cover his work on Batman, some covers of Prince’s song and a look at his personality.
Skywalking Through Neverland: Episode 119 has a spoiler free review of Captain America: Civil War. Then they talk about fan made holidays, they have Alison Berrios on to talk about cosplaying and her Etsy store, Drew Kaplan reviews Tales From A Galaxy Far Far Away: Aliens Vol. 1, and they talk about the new Monkey’s album.
Star Wars In Character: Fishing on Naboo episode covers the three primary fish featured in The Phantom Menace. If you haven’t checked out Star Wars In Character before, it’s a group of guys who dive into the characters of Star Wars with lots of adult language and humor. They don’t always stay on topic, but they do always come back to Star Wars. In this one they go from Jaws to sport fishing to TPM as they talk about the Opee Sea Killer, Colo Claw Fish and Sando Aqua Monster.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Episode 1 covers Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath. This is a new podcast I’ve started listening to that hosted by a group of guys who dive into the literary side of the new Star Wars canon. In this episode they talk a little about Legends and canon before diving into the novel Aftermath. They talk about some of the flaws of the book including typos, cringe worthy catch phrases, the weird present tense, the choppy writing style, forced references, and weird characterizations. However, they do have some good things to say about the book, but I think they kind of sum it up as a good story written poorly. If you were a fan of Aftermath, you might want to skip this episode.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Episode 2 covers The Force Awakens film, which steps away from their lit focus, but it’s hard to blame them for it as everyone wants to talk about TFA. When they did this episode, they had all seen it twice which is interesting as they share their observations about what it was like seeing it twice as well as just going through their thoughts on all the characters.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Episode 3 gets back on track as they dive into Paul S. Kemp’s Lords of the Sith. They compare Darth Vader to the Terminator, they catch the error with the number of Imperial Guards (glad someone else spotted that as I had thought I was the only one), and break down the main parts of the book. More or less, they liked the first half.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Episode 4 reviews the Lando comic mini-series and Star Wars #1 through #6. Again, nice thorough reviews and they keep it fun.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Miniepisode 1 is a misnomer as it’s as long as their other episodes, but in this one they cover The Force Awakens novelization and the differences between the film and the book. They also cover other story ideas that weren’t used in the movies and crazy theories. This gets into some fun territory like what if Cindel from the Ewok movies is Captain Phasma? What if Snap Wexley is a secret First Order agent? What if Rey or Snoke is an Anakin clone? There’s some hilarious stuff. Lot of fun.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Episode 5 covers Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars. Between the hosts, they have a nice variety of opinions running from liking the book to not liking it. This was actually the first episode I listened to by them and it was a great way to dive in. The hosts work really well together and they’ve got good audio quality. In this episode they talk about how Harry Pottery the beginning of the book is and how it Forrest Gump’s it’s way through the Star Wars history, a very apt description. From a hilarious teletubbies comparison to a side discussion on Sebulba and Anakin being in love, they pack in some serious humor with good observations. With all of their episodes, they dive deep into spoilers, so fair warning.
Star Wars New Canon Book Club: Episode 6 reviews some comics. They start with the Darth Vader series and their thoughts on the Vader/Palpatine relationship and the new characters. Then they tackle the Princess Leia mini-series, which doesn’t get as much love. Lots of good observations and the usual humor. Having binge listened to all the episodes they have out so far, I can say that they’re on the fast track to becoming one of my favorite Star Wars lit podcasts. Definitely give them a try.
Steven and Stephen on Steven: Episode 15 starts with Spielberg news, recent movies they’ve seen and listener feedback. Then they dive into Hook. Surprisingly there was equal parts criticism and praise for this one, good episode though.
The Cantina Cast: Episode #129 features their Indiana Comic Con panel hosted by Mike, Joao and Becca as they talk about revenge, love and forgiveness in Star Wars. This leads to some really intriguing conversations about Han and trust, Anakin and love, Obi-Wan and manipulation, the Sith’s revenge, plus audience questions covering things like Rey’s parents, the possibility of Leia dying and reincarnation. Good episode with great topics and it has good audio quality so don’t let the fact that it’s a panel turn you off.
The Younglings Podcast: Episode 011 kicks off their second season of podcasting as they finally share their thoughts on The Force Awakens including their favorite moments, surprises, and their reaction to Han dying. Plus they re-enact the Maz Kanata scene.
Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.
