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Tosche Station Radio #75: Fan Culture

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Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. The Hondo Caravan is out of the station! In the past two weeks Bria watched The Clone Wars feature film and learned that yes, Jar Jar does play a role in The Clone Wars. Bria also gave her Expanded Universe wish list for 2014. Brian wrote about Brian Wood and Changing Harassment Culture. More on that later in the show.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy with NaNoWriMo. Both the hosts bid a fond farewell to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. They also saw Thor: The Dark World, and naturally that means a spoiler-filled discussion ensues. Brian’s been busy playing FIFA 2014 and Tiny Death Star.

Deak’s Dirt starts with Brian freaking out over the The Night of the Doctor mini-episode. In Marvel news, Four live-action Marvel shows are coming to Netflix! There’s a new cover for Honor Among Thieves. Mark your calendars! Episode VII will be hitting theaters December 18, 2015. There’s even a confirmation! Artoo will be in the film, and it’s going to be fan-made. Turns out the other two individuals in that photo Bad Robot tweeted were Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples of the R2 Builders Club.

This week’s Camie’s Concerns tackles a tough topic. With the Brian Wood news as a springboard, the hosts discuss harassment in fandom culture and what our obligation as fans are to change things for the better.

Wrapping up the show, the hosts field a question in Ask Us Anything. 

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.

Artoo to be in Episode VII, fan-built

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It’s not the Big Three, but have some delicious Episode VII confirmation news for your afternoon. R2-D2 is in Episode VII, and this time the droid is a fan-made unit.

“It all started when Kathleen Kennedy toured the R2-D2 Builders area at Celebration Europe this past summer in Germany,” says Steeples, who finished his first R2-D2 in 2007, after 10 years of collecting parts and researching. “She posed for pictures with us, looked at all the droids we’d built and was very complimentary. I mentioned that the R2-D2 Builders in the UK were available if required, as a semi-joke. When I was contacted to work on the film by [executive producer] Jason McGatlin, it was on her recommendation.”

Now that’s just cool.

On Brian Wood and Changing Harassment Culture

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Brian Wood, writer for one of Marvel’s X-Men runs and Dark Horse’s ‘Star Wars’ series, has been accused of harassing female convention goers. The Mary Sue reported it here and Beccatoria has a detailed and very insightful rundown here. Read these posts for more information if you’re not up to speed, particularly Beccatoria’s. Additionally, please read Dunc’s latest post on harassment.

It goes without saying that this is going to be a post that will probably elicit some very charged reactions. So before going too much further, three points I want to make clear.

First: I’m not going to call for Brian Wood to be fired strictly for what he confessed to in the links above.

Second: If the additional allegations beyond what he confessed to turn out to be true or if more individuals come forward with accusations of misconduct by Wood, I believe Marvel/DH/LFL should re-evaluate their working relationship with him.

Third: This issue goes beyond infidelity between Wood and his wife. There are much broader fandom and societal issues this brings up that should be discussed.

To the jump.

Continue reading →

Tosche Station Radio #74: 2013 in the Expanded Universe

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Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog.  Bria started her new blog project, the Hondo Caravan. She also reviewed 2013 in the Expanded Universe…which we’ll get back to shortly. Brian and Nanci did a Go/No-go for Ender’s Game. Brian reviewed the The Haynes Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reif, and Chris Trevas. Bria reviewed The Star Wars #3.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. She’s knee-deep in NaNo, but still found time to watch Ender’s Game. Both Brian and Nanci watched Thor in preparation for The Dark World. Bria. Bria’s kept herself busy with duolingo. She also attended a Pretty Deadly signing and met awesome person Kelly Sue DeConnick

There’s not a whole lot in Deak’s Dirt this time. UK Casting Call for Episode VII? Also a US call? Dennis Barbie tweets that Episode VII will be coming “end 2015,” but he backtracked later in the day. In comics news, the new Ms. Marvel is a Muslim shapeshifting teenager! Awesome!

On Camie’s Concerns, staff writer Bria joins the hosts to take a look back at the year that was in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. What books stood out? What books fell flat? Which book got everyone angry ranting and which book had everyone gushing? Wrapping things up, everyone discusses the trends noticed in 2013 and what we hope to see in 2014.

Finally, the hosts field questions in Ask Us Anything. 

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.

Review: The Haynes Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual

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Death Star manualLet’s just get this out of the way. The Haynes Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reif, and Chris Trevas continues right where the Millennium Falcon manual left off. Suffice to say, if you enjoyed that book, you’re going to enjoy this one just as much.

The text is a fun in-universe affair. It should be said that this book isn’t exactly the sort of oil-stained Haynes manual your father kept in the garage to do self-repairs on the old Datsun pickup truck that he just refuses to get rid of. This is less of a book of diagrams and more of a history text and reference book. You’re not going to find out how to repair a deactivated tractor beam (though there is a nifty labeled diagram), but you will learn a great deal about the key minds behind the Death Star and just what all those little details on the surface of the station are.

Some of the neater sections are memos and letters from characters in the Star Wars universe discussing the Death Star. In particular are the Personal Data Journal Entries from Grand Moff Tarkin that discuss various key elements of the battle station. You gain insight into his mindset and why he wanted specific things. More interesting, they detail why his specific needs for the Death Star wound up being its downfall.

There’s a host of new artwork within the pages of this reference book. Personally one of my favorite illustrations was the Death Star cross section early on in the book. It really gives scale on just how massive that superlaser was. Throughout there are a multitude of cutaways, diagrams, and new illustrations that shed a lot of light on just how the Death Star operated and functioned.

The end of the book looks briefly into the second Death Star. Once again, the art is incredible. I would gladly pay for a print of the comparison chart showing the size differences between a Star Destroyer, a Super Star Destroyer, the first Death Star, and the Second Death Star. For that matter, there’s a lot of art in this book I’d love to get as a print. The Death Star Cutaway in particular would look great in any geeky office or bedroom.

At 122 pages, there’s a whole lot to sink your teeth into. It’s the perfect size and the perfect material to make a great geeky coffee table reader. For a casual fan, there’s all sorts of neat trivia that will keep anyone’s attention. For a fleet junkie, the book is a huge wealth of knowledge that you’ll come back to scan again and again. The Haynes Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual is a fun and brilliant read. Go pick it up.

Tosche Station Radio #73: Mechanical Breakdown

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, Brian and Nanci discuss Razor’s Edge and fan expectations!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria penned an unapologetic love letter to the Young Jedi Knights books. She also reviewed Star Wars Legacy #8. There’s a new episode of our sister podcast, Women of Odd Enthusiasms.This week Bria and Emily chat all about Harry Potter. We looked back on one year after Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced Episode VII.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci finished Razor’s Edge and started reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. She also work on her next NaNo project. Both of the hosts watched Pacific Rim and are now making Drift Compatibility jokes. Related to this, Bria took to twitter and asked for the best suggestions regarding Jaegers in Star Wars. As often happens on the show, the hosts go off on a tangent about meta diversity commentary in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D fandom

Deak’s Dirt starts with the release of the The Making of Star Wars enhanced eBooks. Last week Jedi News uncovered some Star Wars information out of the European Brand Licensing Show. Next up, it’s the rumor roundup. Rumor the first: LFL wanted a 2016 release for Episode VII, but Disney wants them to stay on target for 2015. Rumor the second: Harrison Ford has a deal for Episode VII in exchange for Indy 5? Finally, some big actual news: Arndt is done with his portion of the script, Kasdan and Abrams to finish. Next on the docket: Trailers! Lots of trailers! Specifically Catching Fire, Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past. And finally, in news very relevant to our interests, Jen Heddle and Shelly Shapiro met with Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo the other day. Wonder what they were discussing…

This week’s installment of Camie’s Concerns has the hosts discussing Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells and a more macro discussion of fan expectations and how they impact our feelings of books, film, and entertainment as a whole.

Don’t forget to check out our sister podcast Wrong Opinions About Movies. This week, they reviewed The Counselor.

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.

Report: Lucasfilm wants to push Episode VII to 2016, Disney holds firm to 2015

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star-wars-episode-vii-logoIf the Hollywood Reporter is to be believed, Lucasfilm asked Disney to push Episode VII back to 2016 in part to accommodate for the departure of screenwriter Michael Arndt. Disney’s response? Stay on target for 2015.

With the Oct. 24 exit of Star Wars: Episode VII writer Michael Arndt, the studio is under the gun to keep the film on course for a 2015 release despite a script that several insiders say isn’t close to ready.

According to those close to the project, producer Kathleen Kennedy and most of the film’s creative team have asked Disney to push the release to 2016, but studio CEO Robert Iger is adamant that Episode VII — perhaps the franchise’s most anticipated installment since 1999’s The Phantom Menace — not budge. That has created enormous pressure on all involved, with director J.J. Abrams stepping in to take over scripting duties with Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote 1980’s Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, considered the best film in the series.

According to the report, while Kennedy is lobbying for a delayed release, director and screenwriter J.J. Abrams is more in-step with Disney CEO Bob Iger on releasing the film next summer.

I know that personally, I’d be more comfortable delaying the film a year to get it as polished as possible. That said, there’s a lot of very skilled and capable people involved with Episode VII, and if any crew is going to be able to hit all the marks to get the film out two summers from now, it’s them.

Of course, remember that this is all unverified. For all we know these insiders feeding information to the Hollywood Reporter may just be latching on to the moved release date idea and rumors because Disney’s got the well-oiled Marvel machine as well. For all we know, at Disney and Lucasfilm are on the same page for a summer 2015 release.