Tosche Station Radio #78: We’re Baaaack!

Posted on January 19, 2014 by admin

Tosche Station Radio is back with our first episode of 2014!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog.We posted our Holiday Special. To round out 2013, Brian posted Tosche Station’s year in review. Bria’s been very busy riding along the Hondo Caravan with Welcome to Mandalore, No One Saw That Coming, The Clone Wars’ Greatest Hits Album, and Ziro’s Last Hurrah. Women of Odd Enthusiasms 4: The Game is Afoot with guest host Steven hit the web. Nanci gave a Go/No-go on The Jupiter Pirates by Jason Fry. Brian offered Six Thoughts on Marvel Getting the Star Wars Contract. In a special shout-out, we wanted to also highlight Club Jade’s Top 50 Star Wars fan freakouts, in gif form.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy reading The Jupiter Pirates and Honor Among Thieves. Both the hosts enjoyed a Star Wars marathon on Spike. They also went to see Saving Mr. Banks and Frozen.

No Camie’s Concerns this week because there’s just too much stuff to cover in Deak’s Dirt. Simon Kinberg discussed Rebels on a video on the Official Site. Some Clone Wars news? Maybe? Jedi News obtained and translated a German press release stating that next month, German channel SuperRTL will be airing arcs of the remaining Clone Wars episodes on Saturdays beginning on the 15th. In Episode VII news, Kathleen Kennedy recently stated that spin-off characters won’t be in and out of Episode VII. The rumor mill starts with rumblings of a Fett spin-off film? Latino Review claims to know all. The Hollywood Reporter claims to know the reason behind the Michael Arndt split. In comics news, Dark Horse to Close Out Darth Maul Arc with a Comic Series. And speaking of comics…we all knew it was coming, but now it’s official: Marvel will be publishing Star Wars comics beginning in 2015.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Women of Odd Enthusiasms #4: The Game is Afoot

Posted on January 19, 2014 by admin

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Bria’s snowed under with work, so Emily’s brother Steven steps in for a very special Sherlock Holmes themed episode – and we host a giveaway! Season 3 spoilers for Sherlock and season 2 spoilers for Elementary abound, so take heed as we tackle the mystery of the great detective.

Emily: Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova.

Want to win one of two copies of Mastermind? Leave a comment on this blog post, and Bria and I will randomly select two winners to receive a copy from our friends at Penguin Random House! Please note, this contest is only open to U.S. residents over the age of 13. Contest ends 11:59 pm, EST, January 31, 2014.

You can contact Bria on Twitter @chaosbria, and Emily @carrkicksdoor. Women of Odd Enthusiasms is part of the Tosche Station Radio Network and affiliated with Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Remaining episodes of The Clone Wars to air… in Germany?

Posted on January 17, 2014 by admin

Well here’s something. Jedi News has obtained and translated a German press release stating that next month, German channel SuperRTL will be airing arcs of the remaining Clone Wars episodes on Saturdays beginning on the 15th.

Additionally, StarWars-Union.de has descriptions of some of the episodes. Snippets below the cut to avoid spoiler-y things.

Continue reading →

Dark Horse to close ‘Clone Wars’ Maul arc with comic

Posted on January 8, 2014 by admin

The title on this Newsarama post is incredibly misleading, so here’s the gist: Dark Horse will be creating a comic arc to wrap up the Darth Maul story seen in the fifth and final Clone Wars season. Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir will be a four-part mini arc based on unused screenplays and plans from The Clone Wars. What this won’t be is the series finale that Newsarama claims it is. For clarification, Pablo Hidalgo and Jen Heddle took to Twitter.

The Maul comic is very cool, but it *wasn’t* the series finale. It was a 4-part arc that fell beyond what was already in production.

— Pablo Hidalgo (@infinata) January 8, 2014

If there’s still confusion: the new Dark Horse miniseries only deals with a Darth Maul arc from near end of the series. Not a series finale!

— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) January 8, 2014

So again, this is not the series finale and that’s probably not something you should expect from any of the tie-in or bonus content. Functionally, the season five finale is the series finale. We may get some closure to smaller character arcs from the bonus content, but I wouldn’t expect anything more definitive than the finale we’ve already gotten.

Six Thoughts: Marvel gets Star Wars

Posted on January 3, 2014 by admin

You wanted news? Well there you go. And now for a jumbled mess of assorted thoughts about said news…

It is a bummer that Star Wars is leaving Dark Horse. As with any comic shop, there are high points and low points. Of late the Brian Wood comic was a definite miss for us, but the new Legacy series was a big favorite. Dark Horse has done a lot of good stuff with the license over the years and that shouldn’t be forgotten.
It’s going to be a really big bummer if the latest Legacy series isn’t allowed to continue, but sadly I’m not holding my breath on that. (Edit: Big bummer confirmed, series to end at issue #18)
I wrote a piece about Star Wars and following Marvel’s multiverse approach. Here’s the heavy-handed and very shameless plug to said piece.
It should be pointed out that Marvel, from a creative standpoint, is absolutely flying high. It’s clear they understand their audience well and are keen to deliver both grand adventures and more character focused pieces (such as blog favorites Hawkeye and Captain Marvel).
While writers like Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction may be too busy with other projects to work on Star Wars, Marvel has shown the ability to attract great creative talent to work for them. If they can do this with Star Wars, we’ll all be better off.
Marvel has done a solid job with LGBTQ and minority representation in their works. It might be a lot to ask them to do that with Star Wars, but here’s hoping.

In all, this is definitely a mixed bag of feelings. I completely get the disappointment and sadness that Star Wars is moving away from Dark Horse, who generally has treated the franchise very well. On the other hand, I’m very optimistic about Marvel taking over. In the last few years, Marvel has proven themselves to be a very capable and, sometimes, progressive shop that’s capable of attracting top-flight talent and putting out a wide variety of stories. I’d say I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ll do with the license.

Excelsior, I suppose.

Tosche Station’s 2013 Highlights

Posted on December 31, 2013 by admin

Our second year was a busy one here at Tosche Station. Here are some of the highlights you may have missed:

We did some mythbusting as to whether or not George Lucas ordered Anakin Solo’s death. Sadly like moon landing denialists, many refused to believe the evidence.
Bria’s insane journey on the Waru Express wrapped in May.
Of course one insane journey begs for another, so enter the Hondo Caravan!
Once again, Bria had to make a plea for more diversity in Star Wars.
This continued with a panel discussing women and minorities in Star Wars at Dragon Con.
Nanci begged for more practicality in Star Wars fashion.
Bria helped prospective comic fans get into the Marvel-verse with a helpful guide.
The Star Wars article with the most hits this year was Brian’s case for Star Wars following the Marvel multiverse format.
We listed our twelve worst things in the Star Wars Expanded Universe…
…followed by the fifteen best things.
Brian profiled the collapse of LucasArts and concluded that their demise was their own doing and not Disney’s.
The most viewed reviews of the year were Brian and Bria’s takes on Crucible by Troy Denning. This might have been the book that convinced most of the staff Episode VII giving the EU a kick is desperately needed.
Brian suggested that the ~~Expanded Universe~~ Sequel Trilogy isn’t real Star Wars and wrote a follow-up the next day.
For those with a sweet tooth, Emily created a Ryshcate recipe.
Kenobi forced Nanci to check her gender role assumptions.
On the podcast, we interviewed Jason Fry and John Jackson Miller.
Nanci wrote a piece suggesting that the Golden Age of Star Wars is different for everyone.
She also discussed the problem with the Monolithic Jedi culture plaguing the recent Expanded Universe.
Emily and Bria launched our second podcast, Women of Odd Enthusiasms.

Thanks for joining us in 2013 and we hope you’ll stick around next year!

Tosche Station Radio’s Holiday Special

Posted on December 25, 2013 by admin

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Happy Life Day and Happy Holidays! From the Tosche Station Radio crew, we’re proud (and horrified) to present our live commentary track discussing the Star Wars Holiday Special. We’re joined by Alli of our sister podcast, Wrong Opinions About Movies.

While we’re not going to tell you where to get your hands on the Holiday Special, we trust you’re resourceful enough to track it down. We’re using the recording complete with commercials and we start 1 minute into the video file.

As a warning, you may want to listen to this with the volume turned down because there are points where we scream in terror over the holiday festivities.

Thanks for another great year supporting the blog and podcast. Join us next week on New Year’s Eve as we livestream a Star Wars and fandom 2013 retrospective with Alli and Katie from WOAM.

Singing Stormtroopers announce Star Wars marathon on Spike.

Posted on December 23, 2013 by admin

Star Wars

There’s a Star Wars marathon on Spike and the Death Star’s finest want you to know about it.

Happy Holidays!

Simon Kinberg discusses Rebels

Posted on December 19, 2013 by admin

Producer Simon Kinberg sat down with StarWars.com in a video interview to discuss Rebels and Star Wars. In his words, Rebels is going to be a “wholly original tapestry” that’s going to feature different stories and different characters than the films. The goal is to be an entry point for a generation of new fans and a “point of return” for existing fans.

Kinberg also discusses the Inquisitor, noting that a challenge was figuring out how to create a character that can live up to the likes of Darth Vader. Additionally, Kinberg’s favorite film? Empire Strikes Back. Take that however you want.

Tosche Station Radio #77: Grinch’d

Posted on December 18, 2013 by admin

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, we’re feeling grinch-y and discussing characters we loathe!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria reviewed Legacy #10. Her latest two Hondo Caravan installments include Not the Children and And Now, Barriss! Congrats to the winner of our Razor’s Edge giveaway, Kelly! We’ll be mailing that out to her as soon as the holiday rush at the post office is over.

The hosts have been busy in Fixer’s Flash. Holiday Festivities included a trip to Disney and viewings of favorite holiday films. Both of the hosts participated in a Geek Trivia event. Nanci’s been busy reading The Jupiter Pirates by Jason C. Fry.

Deak’s Dirt starts with a rapping llama confirming Rebels will air on Saturday mornings. Is the New Essential Guide to Characters cancelled? There’s a new online video game: Star Wars: Attack Squadrons.We are now two years away from Episode VII’s release date. What do we know so far? At a recent Variety event, Alan Horn mentioned that Disney expects to get an Episode VII script in January. As for a possible Indy movie? Horn says we need a story first.

This week in Camie’s Concerns, our hearts shrink three sizes and we discuss characters that we loathe and why. There’s room here for the hosts to engage in debate, which is always fun.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.