Tosche Station Radio #100: Century Mark

Posted on December 15, 2014 by admin

This week on Tosche Station Radio, we recap and review the first half of Rebels season one!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Nanci posted a Go/No-go for The Jupiter Pirates: The Curse of the Iris. She also continued on her Thrawn Trilogy Retrospective and finished Heir to the Empire! Shoshana discussed why she doesn’t like the Dr. Strange casting news. Nanci discussed why unlearning what you’ve learned about the sequel trilogy era is impossible when we know nothing. Bria reviewed Gathering Forces. We discussed our reactions to The Force Awakens teaser trailer in blog and podcast form.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy finishing her manuscript and reading a new novel by Timothy Zahn. Brian’s been playing a whole bunch of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Bria’s been costuming (surprise!) and reading a new novel. Sho watched Jurassic Park for the first time (WHAT!?) and watched a ton of Legend of Korra.

Deak’s Dirt starts with Rebels Season 2 premiering at Celebration Anaheim. Dark Disciple gets a cover and a release date – July 7, 2015. Finally, Yoda’s voice will be in Rebels.

In Biggs’ Bull#*$&, there was something about a teaser trailer. Also, names! Names! We have names!

This week on Camie’s Concerns, we recap the first half of Rebels Season One. The highs, the lows, and what we absolutely loved.

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.

Thrawn Trilogy Retrospective: Heir to the Empire Chapter 30-32

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Nanci

The bad part about having finished the Hyllyard City scenes is that the Hyllyard City scenes are finished. No more Luke and Mara. Sad face.

Time for another confession. I really don’t care for the end of Heir to the Empire. The battle of Sluis Van, even though it features Wedge being awesome, seems very tacked on. And it’s very convenient that Luke, Han, Lando, and Wedge all manage to wind up there. Maybe that’s just my bias coming through, because I’ve been so focused on Luke and Mara and Karrde over the past several chapters. I know that Thrawn’s been preoccupied with Sluis Van and there’s still a lot of mystery over what the plan entails. Still, it does seems like a bit of a letdown after the book moves off Myrkr.

Which is exactly where Chapter 00 begins. Karrde is amazed that one man, without the Force, managed to defeat so many stormtroopers. Get used to it, Karrde my dear. We learn that Lando needs medical attention, and that Aves was close to shooting him for his supposed betrayal, but he’ll be okay.

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Go/No-go: The Jupiter Pirates: The Curse of the Iris

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Nanci

There are many things to love about Jason Fry’s middle grade science fiction series, The Jupiter Pirates. The story is fast-paced, it takes place in an intriguing world, and it features space pirates! What’s not to love? If I have one complaint, it’s that I have to wait a year between books. *stomps foot angrily*

The first novel in the series, Hunt for the Hydra, came out last December and I took to the characters right away. The second installment, The Curse of the Iris, catches up with the Hashoone family two years later as they search for the long-last cache of a pirate spaceship called Iris.

Did I like the second book as much as the first? Read on to find out! (Spoilers: I totally did.)

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The Force Awakens Character Names Revealed

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Nanci

J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy have given us all an early Christmas present via Entertainment Weekly: several of Star Wars: The Force Awakens character names!

Revealed via eight retro-style trading cards, the character names are as follows (cut for spoilers): Continue reading →

Star Wars Rebels Season 2 to Premiere at Celebration Anaheim

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Nanci

Are you a fan of Star Wars Rebels? Are you attending Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim? Well, you’re in luck! Dave Filoni and the cast of Rebels will be in attendance, but that’s not all. Season 2 will premiere at Celebration, following an encore presentation of the Season 1 finale.

Woo-hoo!

Dark Disciple Gets a Cover And a Release Date

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Bria

Del Rey revealed the cover for Dark Disciple today, the forthcoming novel by Christie Golden. The novel is based on an unused storyline from The Clone Wars and stars Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos. The cover is the work of artist Matt Taylor.

Del Rey also announced the book’s official release date: July 7th, 2015. (Keep in mind though that this could be subject to change.)

You can read their full press release here.

Thrawn Trilogy Retrospective: Heir to the Empire Chapters 27-29

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Nanci

We’re nearing the end of the retrospective with only 6 chapters and 2 posts to go. In our last installment Leia left Kashyyyk and Luke learned about Mara’s past as the Emperor’s Hand. They’re running out of forest–what happens next? Onward!

Chapter 27 begins with the Chimaera testing cloaking shields, and by golly, they work. Pellaeon is worried about sending ships into enemy territory without communications. Thrawn says that’s how cloaking shields work–nothing gets in, nothing gets out. I like this bit of scientific world-building, as it keeps the Empire from getting overpowered. Pellaeon thinks they should use C’baoth for this operation, but Thrawn says all they need is careful timing. They can’t risk using C’baoth too much or too often, as they might grow dependent on him. Once C’baoth has Leia and her twins, his jaunts out with the fleet will just be momentary distractions for him. The test of the cloaking shield works…I guess? Nothing happens to it, but Thrawn is pleased and says the Sluis Van shipyards are theirs. Okay then.

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Cumberbatch Confirmed as Doctor Strange, We are Less Than Pleased

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Shoshana

Today Marvel confirmed that Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock fame will indeed be portraying Doctor Strange in the 2016 film of the same name.

And we sigh. We sigh so heavily.

I have nothing personally against Cumberbatch and find him to be a talented actor but just what proportion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is made up of white dudes? Of the fourteen Marvel films focusing on a single hero that have been announced and/or released, only two are not about a white guy.

Two. Out of fourteen. And we had to wait six years for even that much.

A big reason so many people are so excited about the Black Panther and Captain Marvel films, besides them simply being great characters who deserve the full cinematic treatment, is because we have been waiting for years to see a film starring someone who is not a white dude. Yes, we’re finally getting a film about a character of color and a film about a woman and that is wonderful and that is progress. But Doctor Strange was an opportunity to even the scales a little more and make the MCU a little bit more diverse.

While Doctor Strange is typically portrayed as white in the comics, there is no reason why he has to be white–or even male–in an adaptation. Marvel’s previously cast actors of color as characters who were white in the comics, casting Idris Elba as Heimdall and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. This isn’t without precedent. Heck, Warner Brothers cast Jason Mamoa as the star of Aquaman a few months ago. If Aquaman can be played by a person of color, there is zero reason why Doctor Steven Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, can’t be as well.

Marvel had an opportunity to make things a little less overwhelmingly white-dude-ish, to stop focusing on just one sort of character the vast majority of the time, and Marvel didn’t take that opportunity. At this point, they’ve already built two phases of movies around films focusing on white male characters, setting up those movies and those characters as the foundation for all that comes after. I had hoped that they might try to bring a little more balance and diversity to their universe. I am disappointed.

Tosche Station Radio #99: Teaser

Posted on December 1, 2014 by admin

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You’ve seen the Teaser Trailer. Sho and Bria join the hosts to wrangle an entire podcast episode out of 88 seconds of footage from The Force Awakens! What did we like? What do we need to know more of? Tune in to find out.

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.

Thrawn Trilogy Retrospective: Heir to the Empire Chapters 24-26

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Nanci

When we last left our heroes (because Mara is a hero whether she knows it yet or not), Luke and Mara had just started trekking across the Myrkr forest. Let’s find out what’s going back at the base, shall we?

Chapter 24 starts with Karrde returning to Han and Lando and apologizing for rushing out so quickly. He’s always the consummate host. Han isn’t impressed, and asks if Karrde is working directly with the Empire now. (Next time you’ll know not to leave Ghent in charge of controversial guests, won’t you, Karrde?) Karrde reassures Han that he doesn’t want to work for either side, and explains that the Imperials have been harvesting ysalamiri for weeks. Han isn’t pleased by this and threatens to leave, but Karrde convinces him it won’t be safe with the Chimaera in orbit.

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