Jake Lloyd, the actor behind Episode I’s Anakin Skywalker, was recently moved to a psychiatric facility after spending ten months in jail following a high-speed chase with police in South Carolina in June 2015. While the information has been out there for a while, the fact that Lloyd suffers from schizophrenia is once again in the news, perhaps in a higher profile way than it had before.
There are about a hundred things we could talk about with this. Psychiatric facilities versus jail, support for mental illness, lessening the stigma of mental illness.
Because let me tell you guys something. As someone who suffers from a mental illness herself? It sucks.
Finally, after an interminable wait of three and a half months (anyone remember when films took a year or longer to come to video? No? Just me?), we have the home video release, on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD, of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Is it the home video release we’ve all been hoping for, or a bare-bones offering designed to tide us over until a sequel trilogy boxed set is released with the real goods? A little from column A, a little from column B, it turns out. Read on to see what I mean.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes to hear all of the adventures! You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio master podcast feed for even more great Star Wars and geek culture content.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes to hear even more adventures! You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station master podcast feed for even more great Star Wars content.
You’ve watched it a billion times already. What did we think about the Rogue One teaser trailer?
Nanci: I did not expect the teaser trailer to make me as excited as I am about this movie. Everything about it looks great, especially the Rebellion base (which we’re all assuming is Yavin), Jyn Erso, MON MOTHMA, and the new Imperial villain with the awesome cape. The entire thing gave me serious Wraith Squadron vibes, from them using a misfit to complete a dangerous mission, to assembling a crack team, to possibly (likely) going undercover. I can’t wait to learn more about Jyn’s backstory and all the other characters, especially Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn. It’s also great to return to the Original Trilogy era on the big screen, although seeing regular stormtroopers is going to weird me out after getting used to the First Order troopers. Finally, I’m hoping and praying we get Jimmy Smits back as Bail Organa, because seeing him and Mon Mothma interacting on screen would be fabulous and I’d forgive them for not using Mon Mothma on Rebels (yet) (although Rogue One could be the reason why she hasn’t showed up there yet!).
Bria: GIVE ME BAIL OR GIVE ME DEATH. No but actually: the first thought after I saw Mon Freaking Mothma and went “Ohhhh baby” was “Wait have they fooled us all and are we getting Bail too?” Actually, could they STILL be fooling us all and we’re going to see Bail just chilling and being a boss in the film? Wait hold on I’m missing the point. The trailer seriously thrilled me. They gave us just enough to get us excited without giving away the whole game and I LOVE THAT. I love that almost as much as I love suave villains with capes. I can’t wait to see all of these new kickass characters on the screen especially since it has a female lead and TWO Asian actors in main roles. T W O. I can’t wait to see where they go with this. Is it December yet?
Matthew: I must confess, I’ve been more excited for Rogue One than I was for The Force Awakens. With The Force Awakens, we knew more or less (hopefully, at any rate) what we were in for, at least tonally and thematically. With Rogue One, however, we’ve been promised something that’s somehow new and different while still being firmly rooted in the Star Wars universe and mythos.
Happily, the trailer seems to confirm all that.
I didn’t care for Gareth Edwards’ take on Godzilla, but even I had to admit that that film was visually striking, and it seems he’s brought his sharp visual style to the Star Wars universe (I’m sure having Greig Fraser [Zero Dark Thirty, Snow White & the Huntsman] as your DP doesn’t hurt in that department either). We’ve been promised a “ground-level” view of the Star Wars universe, and — with the exception of the stunning effects shot of the dish being installed on the Death Star — that’s literally what we’re given here. The film looks appropriately grimy and rough and visceral, while at the same time clearly taking place in the same universe as the rest of the Star Wars canon (it makes me think of the Twilight Company novel, which managed the same trick). I’m already excited for what looks like a Normandy-style beach scene with AT-ATs, Grand Admiral Capey McCaperson is appropriately regal and menacing, Forest Whitaker is doin’ his Forest Whitaker thing, and holy crap New Mon Mothma is a dead ringer for Old Mon Mothma. All of which doesn’t even mention Felicity Jones, who, though sadly saddled with the most forgettable and Star Warsey name ever, completely commanded my attention in the brief glimpses we got of her. She both looks and sounds like she’s playing a fantastic, interesting, layered character who we’ll be more than happy to hang out with for a couple hours (and … beyond?). And the last shot? Stunning. Happy to report this trailer has me even more excited for this film than I was previously.
Shoshana: *rewatches the trailer for the I-don’t-even-know-how-manyth-time*
I did not expect to enjoy this trailer this much. At all. I was already excited about this movie but, dang. I am. So hype. I pretty much watched the trailer on loop this morning before work, went to work humming the music from it, played Star Wars music at work all day, and spent much of my time talking to friends and customers about the trailer. I really enjoyed it. I already love Felicity Jones’ character, even though most of what we see of her is pretty trope-y. And that last shot of her was chilling and a great reminder that we do not know what will ultimately happen with any of these characters. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to watch it again. Also: WHY IS DECEMBER SO FAR AWAY??
Emily: Mon Mothma! OMG Mon Mothma! I may be a bad person for saying this, but I might be more excited about Mon Mothma than I am about Jyn. I have to admit, the first thing that caught my attention, though, was the music. Classic Star Wars theme, but done in a new way, which made me wonder–is John Williams scoring this one too? (Do we know?) Also, Grand Admiral? And I am really digging the cinematography–this is a war movie, and it looks like one from the trailer. Something else–I’ve got friends who were not terribly excited at the prospect of this movie and who are suddenly looking forward to it after this trailer, and that’s the sign of an excellently done teaser.
Brian: Well I’m definitely all-in now! Holy wow, that was like Wraith Squadron on screen. Pilots and commandos, the grunts who make the Rebellion work. Mon Mothma! What’s amazing is this film looks like someone brought high definition equipment back to a set in the 70s and started filming. Visually it’s a perfect fit with ANH. I don’t know quite how Edwards has done this. The film looks gritty, but it’s not grimdark and brightness stunted. It’s clear it’s a war movie, but it’s clear it uses Star Wars’ visual slate to the fullest. Then you’ve got Jyn. I can’t believe we’re getting a second straight Star Wars film with a female lead. And then look at the racial diversity of the cast. Toss in the X-wings and the soldiers and the ground war and the freaking Death Star and I’m hooked. I want this movie in my eyeballs yesterday. If this trailer is any indication, the standalone films are going to be off to a great start.
This week on Western Reaches, Megan and Saf discussed Catherynne M. Valente, game narrative, video game worlds, the Rogue One teaser, and the Rebels finale.
Well how’s that for a surprise? The Rogue One teaser trailer dropped today and we, in turn, dropped everything we were doing to gush about it and break down what we saw. Joining us this week are Jay and Coop from Eleven-ThirtyEight. We also discuss the latest news, the geeky stuff we’ve been up to, and highlight the new additions to the blog in the last week.
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 your support on Patreon!
Less than a year ago, we had the wonderful Heather Antos, Assistant Editor for the Marvel Star Wars comics, on the Tosche Station podcast and we maaaaay have begged a little for an X-Wing/Rogue Squadron comic. And we weren’t alone in really hoping to see more stories focused on X-Wing pilots in the new canon. A few months ago, we learned that Poe Dameron was getting his own series. I’ll be honest with you all: when Marvel announced this book, I was mostly excited but also a tiny bit hesitant. I’ve been a huge fan of Charles Soule’s work in the Star Wars universe thus far and Phil Noto’s art is always lovely but I wasn’t quite sure if it was possible for someone to that find that same vibe that made Stackpole and Allston’s pilot books so good.
I shouldn’t have worried. Not for a minute.
Poe Dameron #1 has a little bit of everything. It has the assembling of the squad. It has some fun flying action. It has BB-8 being adorable. It has Leia Organa being the badass General that she is. It brings in pilots we already know. And it has Poe calling BB-8 buddy. What else could you want?
I don’t want to overhype this book but I also want to strongly encourage everyone to go pick it up today. This is absolutely the book that so many of us have been hoping for and I’m so glad that it’s finally here. Poe Dameron is in the hands of a very strong creative team and I absolutely can’t wait to see where the hunt for Lor San Tekka takes us and I definitely can’t wait to fall even more in love with this new group of pilots.
Welcome to the first installment of the Tosche Station Book Club! Every month we’ll be discussing the book club’s latest read. On the docket from March is Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Host Nanci is joined by Megan (host of Western Reaches) to break the novel down.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon! If you like what you hear, keep an eye out for our forthcoming dedicated iTunes feed or subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Megafeed for all of our great Star Wars and geek culture content. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
With Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume 1, Landry Q. Walker returns to a good old element of Star Wars: short stories about the random beings we see in the background of the films. The 90s saw the publication of more than a few of these, ranging from Cantina tales to Jabba’s Palace. Walker lets the background characters from Jakku and Maz Kanata’s castle take starring roles in these six stories, helping flesh out the universe just a little more in this collection.
High Noon on Jakku At last! We have found the elusive Constable Zuvio! High Noon on Jakku is a fun little mystery tale where, interestingly enough, the most intriguing character is a droid called CZ-1G5. It’s also a story that provokes thought about the state of droids in the galaxy far, far away. Is it still odd for some of them to not have owners? It’s definitely odd to think about the concept of a droid having free time and doing volunteer work.
A Recipe for Death* A Recipe for Death is like the lovechild of Chopped and your detective show of choice with a dash of Star Wars. (That was a sentence I never expected to type.) This story really helps drive home that these are definitely a return to the old Tales from collections. Where else would you have a Star Wars story devoted to a whodunit tale set in a kitchen? This particular story was engaging and kept me guessing all the way to the final reveal of the murderer and the new sous chef. Continue reading →
This week on Tosche Station Radio, we recap the news, play some Mass Effect, get excited about a new Ahsoka YA novel, and talk the Rebels season finale and season two as a whole with Bria and Travis!
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 your support on Patreon!