Holonet Blast #34

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Well THAT was a week.

Starting off on the literature side, upcoming novella compilation Canto Bight got an excerpt from John Jackson Miller’s entry. Are you interested in Huey, Dewie, and Louie expys in Star Wars? Boy are you in luck!

Hanging out in the Orlando area when The Last Jedi releases? If so, you can join in on Galactic Nights, which will feature a panel of Lucasfilm folks and Disney Imagineers talking about the upcoming Galaxy’s Edge expansion to the American Disney resorts.

Star Wars fashion aficionados? Good news. Rag + Bone has a new collection just for you.

Battlefront II is only out in trial for EA Access members this week with certain preorders getting access on Tuesday, but that hasn’t stopped the news about the game. Iden Versio’s story will continue in additional content this December.

Speaking of Star Wars games, EA has outright purchased Respawn. They’re the makers of Call of Duty and are also responsible for a Star Wars title in progress.

Now how about we get to the news that threw us all for a loop this week? First up, it appears a live action TV show might finally happen. This news comes out of a Disney earnings call on Thursday. I would caution against expecting this to be the previously rumored Underworld TV series, as I suspect that’s been parted out for other projects since the sale. This appears to be something that will anchor Disney’s streaming service.

And if that wasn’t enough…

Lucasfilm has announced that Rian Johnson, fresh off of wrapping The Last Jedi, will be overseeing an entirely new trilogy.

Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce. 

As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.

Start your wild mass guessing! Or listen to our wild mass guessing on the latest Tosche Station Radio.

Tosche Station Radio #181: Brand Synergy

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, we wild mass speculate on what Rian Johnson’s new Star Wars trilogy may be about, and discuss what we’d love to see in a live action TV series. 

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net. If you like what you hear, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes and Google Play. For more great shows from us, you can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Network mega feed on iTunes and Google Play. 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 your support on Patreon!

Book Wars Pod, Bonus Episode 1: Tricking My Wife into Being Friends with Me

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In honor of Book Wars Pod’s six-month anniversary, the hosts are answering questions submitted by you! What are our most-anticipated upcoming books? What are our favorite fan theories? How much do we love Hamilton (spoiler alert: a whole lot)? Listen and find out!

Thank you to the following wonderful folks who sent in questions on Twitter: @sixmoments, @AvengerAtHeart, @shannonjoy26, @tauntaun_dude, @celestialintent, and @averyktano.

This podcast is NOT spoiler-free and includes fan speculation and theories for Star Wars: Rebels and The Last Jedi.

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes or Google Play for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, and Kate Sedor. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Rebels Review: Kindred and Crawler Commanders

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I own it. The Force mysticism threads that run through Rebels just don’t work for me.

When this series began, I was hopeful we’d be seeing more of the Rebel cells and grassroots resistance of the to the Empire. To be certain we’ve got that in chunks here and there, but so often this show just gets bogged down by asking questions about the Force that likely will never get answers. That’s certainly fine, but it worked better in The Clone Wars than it does in Rebels. At the very least, it worked better in the first couple seasons of Rebels than it works now. We came into season four with a setup that it’s finally time to see the Rebellion mustering. Every now and then we start getting glimpses that we’re going to finally see more of the early Rebel Alliance.

But then we get derailed to go on another trail to Mortis-up the Force again. What does any of this mean? Who knows, but here are some nifty visuals.

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Review: Star Wars #38

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It’s a brand new day for the main Star Wars book as Kieron Gillen slides in to take the reins and I’m like 99% sure that all of my favorites are going to die because I spent all my Gillen Good Luck on keeping Aphra alive. Just like he’s been doing over in Doctor Aphra, Gillen is already working with the events of Rogue One as our heroes venture over to Jedha. Needless to say, things aren’t doing great there in the wake of the Death Star and the Empire is trying to mine whatever kyber crystals it can from the ruins. The Rebels arrive looking for the remains of Saw’s Partisans while the Empire brings in a specialist to try and solve its mining issues. Things are likely not going to go very well for either of them very soon. Shocker, right?

While Jason Aaron’s run was solidly good, Gillen’s new angle for the book can only be a good thing for the series. He’s not a stranger to our core crew, having written them during the two crossovers, but seeing his take on the heroes for once will undoubtedly be fun. There’s already been a tie in to his Vader series that was unexpected yet incredibly welcome.

On the other hand… the art on this book continues to be an exercise in frustration for me. I like Larroca’s style well enough but the moment the faces jarringly slide into photorealism, I’m not a fan. There are at least several panels where the faces clash so much with the rest of the art that they almost look pasted in.

A few assorted thoughts:

  • No really. That Vader character has me grinning from ear to ear
  • Will the Dreamers be brought up? Why did the Dreamers and this group split?
  • Ubin Des has the potential to be a really neat character
  • Will the Guardians of the Whills just die out as an order now that there is no temple to guard? If so, that’s incredibly sad.

All in all, a good start to a new era of Star Wars comics. It’s most definitely a good place to jump onboard if you haven’t already.

Star Wars #38: Kieron Gillen/Writer, Salvador Larroca/Artist, Guru e-FX/Colorist, Clayton Cowles/Letterer, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor, Jordan D. White/Editor

Book Wars Pod, Episode 24: That Person Got Captured; OK, They’re Dead

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This week, we’re starting AHSOKA by E.K. Johnston, the young adult novel about the fandom’s favorite Togruta former Padawan. We discuss life after the Jedi Purge, Jedi concepts of family, and, of course, the galaxy far, far away that’s full of farmers.

This podcast is NOT spoiler free, and also mentions plot points from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Kanan comics (which we discussed in episode 19!).

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes or Google Play for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, and Kate Sedor. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Review: The Legends of Luke Skywalker

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There are lots of stories about Luke Skywalker. Some of them might even be true. – Ulina

The Legends of Luke Skywalker by Ken Liu is one of the few books of the new canon to be about Luke Skywalker, much less feature him as a character. As such, it was pretty much guaranteed that I would enjoy this book on some level. However, I was surprised by how much I loved it. It’s one of my favorite canon novels, right alongside The Weapon of a Jedi by Jason Fry, another middle grade novel about Luke. Weapon and Legends share another similarity, in that they both feature framing stories in which Luke is portrayed as a mythical hero. The difference is that Legends never outright uses Luke’s POV; instead, six crew members of the ship Wayward Current exchange stories about Luke while on the way to Canto Bight. It’s a novel that portrays Luke as a folk hero, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever read another book that does as good a job depicting Luke’s relationship with the Force and the galaxy at large. Which is quite the feat, considering we never get inside Luke’s head.

The framing story follows a set of deckhands who help a stowaway escape detection and get off the Wayward Current into Canto Bight. They exchange stories as a way to distract themselves from the horribleness of jumping into the bilge to hide. (Sound familiar?) What better way to pass the time than discuss one of the most famous and mysterious figures in the galaxy, Luke Skywalker?

Spoilers after the cut:

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Holonet Blast #33

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Happy Fall-Back Monday, everyone! I trust you’re all well rested? Well, sit back, relax, and get ready for this week’s news from a galaxy far, far away.

Mark Hamill Gets Candid With the New York Times

Our favorite classic farmboy-turned-Joker sat down with NYT’s Dave Itzkoff to talk Star Wars, fandom, and nostalgia. And I thought I couldn’t love him more….

AWAKE

A new television spot for “The Last Jedi” debuted this week. The 45-second commercial spot, titled “Awake” is the first television-only trailer created in advance of the December release and features a shot that has brought me to tears every time I’ve watched it. I won’t spoil the content here for those who have yet to watch, but drop me a message in the comments or in the Tosche Station Patreon Slack channel if you have a guess.

International Last Jedi Trailer

This week also saw the debut of an international trailer for The Last Jedi. Although the footage used in this version is much the same as what we’ve seen in the US trailer that debuted last month, the edit differs just enough to make this one a very interesting data point for those who wish to speculate about the events coming to theatres in December.

Send your Star Wars news tips to us here at Tosche Station, and send porg memes to me: @MandaTheGinger .

The Mouse Droid #3: Castaway

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This month on The Mouse Droid, we catch up on the news and talk about one of our favorite subjects, Disney Cruise Line

Brian on Twitter: @LaneWinree

Nanci on Twitter: @nancipants

The Mouse Droid on Twitter: @mousedroidshow

The Tosche Station Network on Twitter: @Tosche_Station

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The Mouse Droid is a part of the Tosche Station Podcast Network. If you like what you hear, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes and Google Play. For more great shows from us, you can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Network mega feed on iTunes and Google Play. 

Brian and Nanci are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net and The Mouse Droid.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Tosche Station Radio #180: Who Are You?

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, we catch up on the news, reflect on five years of Disney owned Star Wars, and finally dive into Rey theories. 

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net. If you like what you hear, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes and Google Play. For more great shows from us, you can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Network mega feed on iTunes and Google Play. 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 your support on Patreon!