We’re back from winter break. It’s a new day. A new era for Star Wars. Let’s ring it in like we rang in the New Year!

With measured consistency.

That’s right, folks. It’s an almost-regular episode of Children of the Force, a mere three weeks after the release of The Force Awakens.

Listen, you will…
on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

How, you ask, were we able to gather our thoughts and contain ourselves? Maybe I’ve been mentally preparing for this episode for a long time. Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing. At any rate, like an old friend, we’re here, we’re eating your food, and we want you to listen to what we have to say for an hour without any interruptions. Business as usual.

Except for that new segment at the end of the show. That’s new.

STAR WARSY STUFF [1:00]

The kids talk about Star Wars gifts they gave and received for Christmas and spending a Star Wars Christmas with my parents, siblings, in-laws and all the nieces and nephews.

Here’s that awesome shirt Anna got in her stocking.

The bulk of my parents’ kids and grandkids went to a day-after-Christmas viewing of The Force Awakens.

We’ve been reading Percy Jackson, which caused me to wonder if Snoke is analogous to a Titan of Greek mythology. Maybe? Probably not?

NEWS [16:15]

The Force Awakens is making a lot of money. People like it.

Rebels is coming. Not sure when, but I saw this from Making Star Wars a few days after the recording of this episode.

CANON NEWS [26:50]

For this first post-TFA Canon News segment, we talk about the state of the Star Wars galaxy before and during the events of The Force Awakens.

Canon News is where the bulk of the podcast is going to reside for at least the next few episodes. There is just so much to talk about; so many things about the Star Wars galaxy that have been revealed, not only in The Force Awakens, but in the novelization, visual guide and other books.

Bonus Canon News: Chewbacca did not spend all of the 30ish years between VI and VII with Han. He went back to Kashyyyk to chill with the extended family for a decent chunk of that time.

JOKE [39:35]

What did Qui-Gon’s Force ghost say to Obi-Wan’s Force ghost when that horrible thing happened in The Force Awakens?

QUESTION & ANSWER COUNCIL [40:25]

We have a couple great guest questions on this episode.

Torpedo Ted (@TorpedoTed13 on Twitter) asks if we’re going to see Boba Fett in the sequel trilogy.

Mark Leonard of the Ictus Marketing podcast asks what we feel is the best viewing order for Episodes I-VI. Our opinions aren’t too ground-breaking (no Hatchet Method over here), but they do depend on what the viewer already knows about Star Wars.

Finally, we have a round of opinion on Rey’s parentage.

WHAT THE KIDS ARE SAYING [52:05]

Both Anna and Liam are floored (in the best way possible) by how many people are talking about Star Wars. Liam’s classmates are spoiling the heck out of The Force Awakens. He tries to stop them. Anna’s friends are coming around to Star Wars which, in turn, is helping her to embrace the fact that she’s a Star Wars geek.

STUMP THE LUMP [57:10]

The kids wanted to try to stump me on the show, so here’s the inaugural “Stump the Lump” segment where the kids quiz me. Star Wars 7×7 has been doing it forever and Who Shot First is a whole show built around a Star Wars quiz, so we make no claims to originality, here. But it’s something fun for the kids to do, which is pretty much the only criterion that needs to be met for something to make it on this show.

The stumper for the day is: What is the name of the weapon wielded by the Stormtrooper who fights a lightsaber-wielding Finn on Takodana?

OUTRO [1:01:00]

Thanks for reading and listening! Send us a voicemail or email us at forcechildren@gmail.com if you want to take part in the discussion or just give us some feedback. Thanks!

Here’s a bonus photo of random awesomeness that the kids’ cousins created on Christmas morning.

Our full reaction to the first and second times we saw The Force Awakens can be heard here:

on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

You could say that the kids were just a little bit excited about seeing The Force Awakens on opening night.

The Force Awakens Day gifts for the kids. Because it’s a holiday.

Which one should I bring to the show?

One-handed C-3PO it is!

Anna rocked the Leia buns.

And of course the 501st Legion and other costuming organizations were there in full force.

This Vader was a super nice guy.

The family that takes photos with Vader together…

Amazing Cody.

I am in complete awe of these costumers and the time and effort they put into their craft. Star Wars events are infinitely more fun because of them!

It’s here. The 20th regular episode of Children of the Force….

Our last episode before The Force Awakens….

Our longest episode yet….

It’s a doozy….

Listen, you will….

on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

In this episode we talk to a bunch of people about what they think they might see in The Force Awakens (in addition to great Star Wars analysis and a question about Star Wars Lego!

We talked with Chris from Star Wars Kidscast. Here are the ways to follow Chris online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarWarsKidscast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SWKidscast
Blog: http://starwarskidscast.blogspot.com

We talked with my friend Jeff, who does some amazing G.I. Joe action figure photography on his Instagram. He also does a bit of Star Wars stuff on there. Anyway, check it out: http://www.instagram.com/gi_joe_fan/

We talked with Jared Jones, The Nicest Person in the Star Wars Fandom. He’s active in fandom in all these ways:
Twitter: @joaquinslowly
He can be heard on the following podcasts:
The Greatest Star Wars Podcast In The World
This Is Madness
Kessel Run Radio
And he does art for makingstarwars.net and their podcast, Now This is Podcasting

Instead of breaking down all the conversations (because there are two hours of conversations, and it’s better listened to than read) I’m just going to list all the questions that are asked in the episode. In order.

–Do you think there will be a force ghost in TFA? If so, who do you think it will be?
–Will the Millennium Falcon survive TFA?
–Will we see a new color of lightsaber in TFA?
–Which Jedi will make a ghostly appearance in TFA?
–Which planet does Luke live on now?
–Is Kylo Ren Han and Leia’s kid?
–Are Rey and Kylo actually Jaina and Jacen Solo?
–Are there Jedi in hiding?
–How are we going to keep our mouths shut after seeing the TFA in order to not spoil friends and family?
–Will there be a Yoda-like character in TFA?
–What’s Luke been up to since Return of the Jedi?
–What, other than a hand/arm could be removed by a lightsaber in TFA?

But there’s so much more going on in this episode besides questions and answers. The tangents are epic and could fill a podcasts themselves.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please consider leaving a review on iTunes or anywhere else you listen to the podcast. Thanks!

Oh, and at the two hour mark, we do a shoutout to Roqoo Depot, who has reviewed our podcast a couple times now on their Podcasts in Review posts. Check them out!

Thanks for listening!

It’s episode 19 of Children of the Force, where we discuss video game and movie ratings and why they’re ridiculously arbitrary and don’t really apply to Anna and Liam.

Listen, you will…

on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

STAR WARSY STUFF [0:45]

We have Battlefront! It’s rate T for Teen, so I explain the decision to let the kids play it and we talk for quite a while about playing violent video games and why it’s probably not something to freak out over.

Anyway, the kids love it. After we recorded this episode, we played it some more. They played the vs. mode and Liam won. He was Vader, Anna was Leia. Liam played a close game and exploited the fact that Anna is not yet practiced at long distance aiming and firing. Vader is a button masher’s dream.

NEWS [10:20]

We discuss J.J. Abrams’ big “THIS” reveal on Jimmy Kimmel, to which Liam replies like the teenager he will be in seven years, “I don’t care about that.”

Yeah, it’s not really that big of news. He’s right. The important takeaway is that J.J. basically confirms that there will be an opening crawl for The Force Awakens.

The Force Awakens is rated PG-13. We talk about what this means for us, what it means for Star Wars, and why we’re all still going opening night. And this, of course, leads to a long discussion about the inanity and arbitrariness of the movie ratings system.

And yes, it all sounds like I’m justifying my choice to let the kids go to the movie without pre-screening it. But I swear, I’ve had my issues with ratings for quite a while now. The fact that a movie with multiple bloodless murders could be PG while a movie with no killing or swearing could be rated R simply because it has nudity in it is almost reason enough to completely discount the ratings system out of hand.

Finally in news, Rebels has been renewed for a third season!

(Somewhere in there, Liam speculates on how sad Sidious’ mom, dad and brother or sister would be that he went to the dark side.)

CANON NEWS [21:45]

Maz Kanata’s castle is sure to be a place full of wonders. In canon news this week, we learn some basics about it via the short story, The Face of Evil.

REVIEW [28:50]

Three-word reviews of Battlefront!

QUESTION & ANSWER COUNCIL [30:50]

No Q&A Council this week, but instead we talk about our next episode, Children of the Force’s Pre-TFA Q&A Council Extravaganza! See this post on our website to learn more about it and to join in: https://childrenoftheforce.com/2015/11/30/children-of-the-forces-pre-tfa-qa-council/

WHAT ARE THE KIDS SAYING? [34:50]

In a new semi-regular segment, I ask the kids what other kids are saying about Star Wars at school. I love getting out of our own little family-bubble of Star Wars and hearing how other kids are experiencing this thing we know and love.

Liam has a couple friends who love the original trilogy and The Clone Wars, but aren’t all that excited about The Force Awakens or Rebels.

Anna has a friend who think’s Jake Lloyd’s Anakin in The Phantom Menace is really weird. We talk about how Lloyd put in some great work in The Phantom Menace, but that child actors can be sort of hit-and-miss.

SHOUTOUTS [39:30]

We shout out to the nice folks who have already submitted questions or said they would (at the time of the recording).

OUTRO/OUTTAKES [41:00]

Thanks for reading and listening. We hope to hear from you soon!

Join us on December 6th for the Question and Answer Council Extravaganza! We’re hoping to get as many voices as we can on the show asking all sorts of questions about The Force Awakens and Star Wars in general.

For those who need a refresher, the Question and Answer Council is something we’ve been doing on the podcast since day 1. It goes like this: Person A asks a question. Person B and Person C take turns answering the question, giving explanations for their answers when appropriate. Then person A answers his or her own question.

We want you (yes YOU) to join us. You can do this one of two ways.

1. Go to speakpipe.com/childrenoftheforce and leave us a question (and your answer!).

2. Join us between the hours of 3 and 5 central on December 6^th via Skype and ask us the question in person (well, as much as Skype is in person, I guess). To join us via skype, just send me an email at forcechildren@gmail.com or direct message me on Twitter (we’re @forcechildren) with a preferred time, or I can schedule a time for you. It might be messy, but I’m hoping that, through the magic of editing, we’ll put together something pretty special.

Examples of a question you could ask:
-Who do you think is going to lose a limb in The Force Awakens?
-Of all the ships we’ve seen so far in The Force Awakens trailers, which is your favorite?
-What’s a Snoke?

And before you think, “Oh, I couldn’t possibly add my voice to the podcast,” remember that it’s just one question and a round of answers. I’m thinking nobody will be on the show for more than 10 or 15 minutes before we have to say goodbye and go on to the next person and next question.

My hope in this is to include exactly what I think is so important in fandom: A variety of voices. The more the better! New fans. Old fans. We’re all excited about Star Wars and there’s nothing more fun that hearing that excitement spill out on podcasts.

We hope to hear from you on or before December 6th. But if you can’t submit a question before then, we’d love to have you join in on the discussion at any time. Before The Force Awakens. After The Force Awakens. It’s all good.

Join Children of the Force and together we can answer questions and question answers as father and son and daughter and listener….

A brief version of this speculation appears toward the end of episode 18 of Children of the Force, which you can listen to here (it appears around 53:50): http://childrenoftheforce.podbean.com/e/children-of-the-force-18-the-first-of-the-orders/

At Star Wars Celebration in April of 2015, the Star Wars fandom was taken aback when learning via The Force Awakens costume exhibit, that the Empire is no more. In its place arose the First Order.

Since then, people have speculated what could be meant by that term, First Order. There doesn’t seem to be any general consensus around the reason for the name and, as far as I can tell, fandom has basically accepted it and moved on.

But I like to dwell. I like to let questions fester. Which is why, seven months after we learned of the name, I have a theory on the First Order.

What if the word “Order” in “First Order” doesn’t mean what we think it means? Fans are used to saying, “The Jedi Order” and, to a lesser extent, “The Order of the Sith.” So naturally, most fans have assumed the name “First Order” utilizes that same usage of the word.

But there are multiple definitions of “order,” and it’s this one I want to explore in this post:

an authoritative command, direction, or instruction.

In the prequels, we see a lot of orders. Jedi give clones orders. Clones give clones orders. Neimodians give battle droids orders. Obi-Wan orders a Jawa juice.

But we’re talking about the Empire and that thing it became: the First Order.

The most important order given in the prequels is, beyond a doubt, Order 66. It was effectively the first order of the Empire. It was the order that ushered in the dark times.

The Empire eventually falls about a year after the Battle of Endor. We know from at least one book that’s been released so far, that Imperial remnants survive Endor and that they intend to restore the Empire back to it’s former planet-exploding glory.

What is the rallying cry for this decimated and decapitated Empire? What could possibly convince those affiliated with the Empire to continue to support this brutal regime that spectacularly lost the Galactic Civil War? It would take religious zeal to keep something like that together.

If the leaders of the fractured Empire want their remaining troops and officers to rally around something with religious zeal, they could rally them around the first order of the Empire: Order 66: Kill all Jedi.

If this is indeed the origin of the name, then not only does Kylo Ren want to destroy the last Jedi (something we (think we) know because of a toy), but that is also the mandate of the First Order itself.

So … why create an entire army and superweapon to kill one Jedi? Well, maybe it’s not just about one Jedi. Maybe, like religious zealots in our own galaxy, the First Order has reinterpreted history to fit their own needs. Kill all Jedi becomes kill all force users who won’t pledge their loyalty to the First Order.

And really, that isn’t much of a stretch from what the Emperor mandated in the first place. In Rebels, the Grand Inquisitor was given these orders from Vader via Palpatine:

“The Jedi Knights are all but destroyed. Yet your task is not complete, Inquisitor. The Emperor has foreseen a new threat rising against him: the children of the Force. They must not become Jedi.”

So not only are Jedi on the hit list, but all who would become Jedi are fair game, too. In this week’s episode of Rebels, “The Future of the Force,” we will see the logical extension of the plan that we saw Palpatine begin in the Clone Wars episode, “Children of the Force.” Mainly, a “join us or die” attitude toward all force users.

Star Wars has always existed within the context of our real world. The movies have always been a commentary on the political and moral issues of the day. With groups like the Islamic State dominating the headlines and our consciousness, it makes complete sense for Star Wars to explore these ideas in the sequel trilogy.

Fantastical fiction never exists in a vacuum. It always tells us about ourselves. A theocratic army hell-bent on destroying all who stand in their way? Using theology to legitimize and justify power grabs and murder?  As the Galactic Empire echoed the Nazis (and the worst of the United States government), so too may the First Order chillingly echo the violent and destructive religious extremists of our time.

It’s episode 18 of Children of the Force!

Join us and together we will rule the galaxy as father and son and daughter and listener…

on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

STAR WARSY STUFF [1:00]

We start off the podcast talking about the reaction to our last episode. I correct a couple items and read some reactions. Go back and listen to The Star Wars Lines Special if you haven’t heard it yet. Or listen to it while you’re waiting in line for The Force Awakens!

We have our tickets in our hands!

Liam’s art continues to get more and more impressive. Here’s a Boba Fett drawing based on the Disney Infinities model:

NEWS [12:35]

We discuss even more upcoming books, including The Force Awakens novelization, the two Aftermath sequels, and New Republic: Bloodline.

We also talk quite a bit about the upcoming comic series Obi Wan and Anakin.

Do we need more prequel-era stories? The kids say yes! Does everything have to tie into everything else? This kids say … not so much.

Don’t forget to go read that amazing interview with Charles Soule about Obi Wan and Anakin over at starwars.com.

CANON NEWS [30:35]

How does Darth Vader discover the name of the Rebel pilot who blew up the first Death Star? Find out in CANON NEWS!

JOKE [35:20]

Where does Boss Nass keep his peanut butter peanut butter?

QUESTION AND ANSWER COUNCIL [36:20]

1. Did Darth Vader know that the Clone Wars were orchestrated by Palpatine in order to exterminate the Jedi? Did Palpatine ever tell Vader? If not, did Vader figure it out?

2. Who is your favorite The Force Awakens character so far?

3. What is your favorite The Force Awakens planet so far?

WHAT THE KIDS ARE SAYING [49:40] Anna drops a bombshell. She knows kids at school (9-year-olds, mind you) who say that Disney is going to ruin Star Wars. Seriously.

THEORY, RE: FIRST ORDER [53:50] And finally, I drop some speculation on the origin of the First Order name. Give it a listen. I’m going to put up a post here further detailing the theory in a couple days.

Thanks for listening! And please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and leave a review on iTunes or anywhere else you listen.  Thanks!

 

 

A month out from The Force Awakens, I reminisce about going to the prequels on their opening nights. Most of the story focuses on the line for The Phantom Menace and how I was among the first in the world to see the opening ten minutes of that movie twice.

Listen, you will:
on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

STAR WARSY STUFF [0:50]

But first, we quickly talk about a bit of Star Warsy stuff. And we discuss what we might do while we wait in line for The Force Awakens and how we need to keep our yaps shut when we leave the theater so as not to spoil the movie for those waiting in line for the next show.

STORY TIME [9:25]

The day was May 18th, 1999. A Tuesday….

OUTRO [37:00]

We go out with a quick blurb about #WheresRey and how the toy production surrounding Star Wars needs to reflect the progressive nature of the franchise going forward.

P.S. As I told and edited the Star Wars Lines story, I felt a bit like I was ripping off Bobby Roberts’ Full of Sith special, Last Gasp, which is a great audio essay on Star Wars fandom and how it will soon be irrevocably changed. Go listen to that after you listen to this. Here it is: http://fullofsith.com/archives/1534

In episode 15 of Children of the Force, we have an interview with Fantasy Flight Games‘ Kyle Dekker.

Kyle gives us a rundown of the plethora of Star Wars goodness that Fantasy Flight Games produces and talks about FFG in general. He also waxes philosophical about Star Wars and what it means to him and his family.

Listen, you will.
on iTunes
on Stitcher
on Podbean

STAR WARSY STUFF [0:40]

The kids had a movie night at their school last Friday, a showing of A New Hope. I think my favorite part was watching a bunch of kids startle when Luke ignites his father’s lightsaber for the first time. A lot of those kids were watching it for the first time, which is great (but which also leads me to rant about the absence of Star Wars on Netflix).

Anyway, here’s a photo from the night. Doesn’t do the crowd or the atmosphere justice.

I finished Lost Stars. It’s great.

And some other stuff. But enough of that. Let’s get to the interview.

INTERVIEW (9:20)

Kyle and I talked at the Fantasy Flight Games Center, which is a jaw-droppingly awesome game store that doubles as a place to play almost any table-top game your heart desires.

Here are the base Star Wars games FFG offers. Not pictured, of course, are the many beautiful expansions of these games.

Many beautiful expansions:


Just a pile of X-Wing games for sale. No bigs.

There are many, MANY, games available at the Center.

And not only are you able to buy all of those games above, but you can also just walk right into the place and play any of these games all you want all day long for free. Pretty amazing, right?

And here’s where you do all of that playing.

See those doors in the back of the room in the picture below? They lead to another room the same size as this one. There was a Warhammer tournament taking place in there on the day this photo was taken.


My friend Kris and I played a quick game of X-Wing with Kyle’s help.

The people next to us were playing Armada. Here’s what their table looked like at one point.

The Fantasy Flight Games Center is a very clean and amazingly minimalistic place. The only thing on the walls is art from their games, Star Wars and non.

If you’re ever in the Twin Cities metro area and you’re a gamer of any sort, you owe it to yourself to stop into the Fantasy Flight Games Center. The place is a work of art, gamer heaven and so chock-full of Star Wars content that your head will spin.

Quick shout-out to Joe from The Jodo Cast podcast for tipping me off to this treasure in my back-yard. If you’re into Star Wars gaming of all kinds, you’re going to want to give a listen to his podcast.

And a big thank you again to Kyle Dekker for taking the time to talk about all the Star Wars games that FFG has to offer!

OUTRO [51:10]

Thanks for reading and listening! Send us a voicemail or email us at forcechildren@gmail.com if you want to take part in the discussion or just give us some feedback. Thanks!