Roqoo Depot

Podcasts in Review

Here is this week’s Podcasts in Review.

Bombad Radio: Episode 163 is their interview with Nobility producer E.J. De La Pena and Assassin’s Creed voice actor Cas Anvar. E.J. talks about his Star Trek project Nobility, which I’m not familiar with, so it was kind of interesting. The Cas Anvar interview, however, was a lot more interesting. It’s a very casual interview covering voice acting, cons, fans and gaming. Worth checking out.

Episode 164 features an interview with Star Wars puppeteer Tim Rose who talks muppets, The Dark Crystal, The Return to Oz, Doctor Who, Star Wars, animatronics (and how that term began), practical effects, CGI, Jim Hensen, George Lucas, Howard the Duck, and more. Great interview with a nice discussion of the various projects Tim has worked on.

Coffee with Kenobi: A Cup of Clone Wars “The Lost One” episode features guest Bryan Young as they cover the Sifo Dyas arc and go into some deep Star Wars topics for some juicy discussion. Excellent episode and I highly recommend checking it out.

Disney Vault Talk: The Three Cabelleros covers another Disney film I’ve never seen, but with Steve and Teresa covering it, they make it interesting. From the trivia and fun facts to the inspiration for The Three Amigos, there’s lots of cool stuff. There’s even a fun spoof for “Quest for the Lost Tidbits” and some Q&A after the show. If you like Disney, tune in.

Full of Sith: Episode LXXIX features author Jeffrey Brown who joins Mike, Bryan and Amy Ratcliffe as they talk Goodnight Darth Vader. Jeffrey talks about choosing the characters, wanting a format that would let him draw lots of different characters and settings, Jedi Academy 2, working on Jedi Academy 3 and looking forward to Star Wars Rebels. A spoiler free episode and it even includes some gaming discussion. Very fun episode.

Episode LXXX features an interview between Bryan and author John Jackson Miller covering his new novel A New Dawn. John explains how things really haven’t changed that much, it’s still Star Wars, and no one is reinventing the wheel. He gives his thoughts on the new Legends branding, they talk about female stormtroopers, his outlook on Star Wars as a national park (leave it as you found it), and what instructions he was given from the Lucasfilm story group. They also talk about the Empire and the Jedi during this time period, Kanan’s choices, his relationship with Okadiah, and more. The whole interview is like a free flowing conversation, and I’d have to say it’s one of Bryan’s best. Definitely a good one to check out.

Know What I’m Saying: “Every KWIS Begins with Karate Kid 3” episode includes some soft rock discussion, a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy discussion (some spoilers), and a bit on Star Wars. As usual, they joke around about their bromance and hit on a wide array of topics. A fun listen.

Radio 1138: Episode 14 features a discussion on ALS, a chat with Jonathan Wilkins about Star Wars Insider, another chunk of Mark’s interview with legendary Star Wars director Irvin Kershner talking digital vs film and the carbonite scene, plus they have an interview with the lady whose middle name is Skywalker and a member of the R2 builders club.

Rock Out Loud: The Nineties starts out with listener feedback, Kristen quickly touches on the Motley Crue concert she went to, then they hate on the 90’s. Okay, they don’t totally hate on the 9o’s as they do share some of the things they liked about the 90’s, but there is a lot of hating. They set the stage with an assortment of rapid audio clips, talk a little about tv and films of the 90’s, then dig into the music. They cover Aerosmith, Soundgarden (huge props to Steve for choosing “My Wave”, love that song and it’s definitely a deep cut, no radio play for that one in my area), Fuel, Tonic (a band I’ve never heard of before, plus Steve picks a song that really caught my interest), Pearl Jam and Oasis. Fun episode as always.

Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is a tricky one to listen to as each time I’ve tried to download it, there’s a skip in the beginning that kills the episode. However, I was able to listen to it on my computer, and it’s a good episode. They cover each track from the movie giving their opinions on the songs and discussion the characters and scenes from the movies.

Star Wars Bookworms: Episode #29 features discussion on What Makes a Monster and Rebels: The Visual Guide. Afterwards they’re joined by Mark Newbold and they dig into Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows comic covering the crazy clonetrooper Kaddak, the main character Hock, and the take on Vader. They also speculate on the upcoming Ventress/Voss novel.

Episode #31 includes the audio for the EU Legends panel from Dragon Con 2014. Before that kicks in, they talk a little about Dragon Con, their book club and author John Jackson Miller joining them for the A New Dawn book club. The panel was hosted by Teresa Delgado and Aaron Goins and features Star Wars authors Timothy Zahn, Christie Golden, Michael A. Stackpole, Rebecca Moesta, Kevin J. Anderson and Dave Wolverton. They give their opinions on the Legend title, who they want to see in the movies, and story ideas they never got to use (which was pretty cool). Christie Golden shared an idea she had to have the One Sith face off against the Lost Tribe of the Sith with Vestara as a Joan of Arc character. Afterwards they delve into fan questions: the direction given to them for their books, working within different time periods, and would they write differently in the new canon. Christie talks around her upcoming Ventress/Vos novel, mentioning the very specific directions, working with the Lucasfilm story group, and that right now they’re still working on the outline. Other fan questions include what was most fun to write, how far along was the Jaina Solo books (very very early outline stage), what timeframe would they want to write in, what places in Star Wars would you like to visit, and dealing with writer’s block. Really nice panel, good audio and a great panel of authors. Note that Tosche Station Radio also has the audio up in their EU Authors are Legendary episode, however there’s a little bit of audio missing. Star Wars Bookworms has some extra commentary from the authors at the beginning of the panel that was pretty funny, plus the audio is a bit louder and easier to hear.

Star Wars Report: Episode #142 features special guest Andrea Letamendi. They don’t go too deep into anything, it’s mostly just a general interview going over the things she discusses in panels and podcasts. Kind of a miss as Andrea is a great guest and would have been an awesome opportunity for them to dig into a topic for some fun discussion.

The Star Wars Stacks: Episode 6 features a nice interview with author John Jackson Miller. This is the first time I’ve listened in to The Star Wars Stacks, and I have to say they’ve got pretty good audio quality and a good host going for them. The only negative would be interview wasn’t as tightly focused as others, as they occasionally went way off track from John’s new novel. Speaking of which, of the recent interviews, this one is also the lightest on A New Dawn. They touch on Star Wars Rebels, what footage John has seen, working with the story group and keeping things in perspective. However they also delve into audiobooks, there’s a good chunk of the discussion focused on Kenobi (with some spoilers), and they hit up on John’s upcoming Star Trek novel Takedown and his comic work like Mass Effect and Iron Man. If you’re avoiding spoilers for A New Dawn, this one is a safe listen.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.