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!

Hondo Caravan: No One Saw That Coming?

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Bria

We’re wrapping up Season Two today with more Hondo and some super bad life decisions on the part of, well, most of the characters in the show.

Bounty Hunters
I’m already amused by the parallels between this episode and the MedStar duology and by parallels, I just mean that they are both stories that have to do medical stations in trouble near/on a planet with an incredibly valuable crop. Okay, it’s a stretch clearly.

Hondo is back! Although I don’t exactly know where he’s coming from calling bounty hunters scum since he’s, you know, a pirate…

“Let’s get down to business/to defeat the pirates!” Honestly, I’m just waiting for Anakin to break out in song as he trains these farmers into soldiers. It’s been a few years. Please tell me that someone in the fandom has made this music video already.

Wait and now the metal suit pirate is actually just a small little ranat sized alien? That is straight out of Men in Black. I swear, is this entire episode just riffing off as many other films as they possibly can?

Continue reading →

Tosche Station Radio’s Holiday Special

Posted on December 25, 2013 by admin

Play in new window | Download

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!

Hondo Caravan: Welcome To Mandalore?

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Bria

We’ve got a post a day early for you thanks to the holiday this week and… uhhh… Look, we finally arrived at the first of the Mandalorian episodes. If you’ve seen the show before, need I say more? Or actually the same applies if you paid even a little bit of attention to the fandom when these aired. If neither of these applies to you somehow then…. well, just keep reading.

Lightsaber Lost
If you didn’t immediately start doing your best Obi-Wan “This lightsaber is your life!” Kenobi impression when someone stole Ahsoka’s, I’m pretty sure you were doing it wrong.

Ahsoka is really not good at subtle nor at undercover work. In all fairness, I do sometimes forget how young she is but on the other hand, she does continue to worry me every time we see her act far too rashly and in anger. I blame Anakin and knowing what he becomes for all my worry in regards to her.

The storyline of the patient old Master who moves much slower than everyone else and who able to teach the impatient young one something new is a clichéd one but it works for Ahsoka. It’s a filler episode to be sure but that doesn’t make it bad. I love that the old master’s cane is his lightsaber. I’m surprised that Yoda didn’t do that too. Maybe that’ll be the next retcon.

Continue reading →

Go/No-Go: The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Nanci

It’s hard to write a review of Jason C. Fry’s The Jupiter Pirates that isn’t just me saying “It’s really fun! Go read it!” But that’s the truth. It’s really fun. You should go read it.

In case you’re not willing to blindly follow my recommendations (and why not?), allow me to describe the book a bit more.

Continue reading →

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

Play in new window | Download

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.

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: Star Wars: Legacy #10

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Bria

Another month, another brand new issue of Star Wars: Legacy! Issue #10 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman hits comic store shelves today, drawing the second arc of the series to a close.

When last we left our heroes, the cavalry, led by Admiral Stalzi and Knight Val, had just arrived to at Dac to answer Jao’s distress call. Even with Admiral Stalzi’s excellent plan to take advantage of the Mon Cal’s and the Quarren’s ability to breath underwater by flooding parts of the station, it’s hardly an easy battle. The pirates aren’t about to go down without a fight and Jao is locked in a duel with Darth Luft. Reinforcements are hardly going to make the fight to retake the station an easy one though.

Continue reading →

Star Wars: Attack Squadrons announced

Posted on December 18, 2013 by admin

Yesterday, Star Wars.com announced Star Wars: Attack Squadrons, a multiplayer online game being developed by Disney Interactive and Area 52. All we’ve really got right now is this pre-rendered cinematic and a few screenshots of what might be in-game action. I can’t even find anything on developer Area 52, which appears to be a new studio that’s working with Disney to create the game.

Attack Squadrons is being designed as a free-to-play game boasting three PVP modes and customizable starfighters. I would guess that this means there will be some sort of microtransaction system that players can buy into, but we’ll probably hear about that later. For now, you can sign up for the beta testing program.

Perhaps this is the long awaited spiritual successor to X-wing vs. TIE Fighter. I certainly wouldn’t say no to a game like that which takes advantage of far more available broadband access as compared to the late 90s.