It’s a regular episode! We haven’t had one of these in a while.

Listen, you will…
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STAR WARSY STUFF [2:00]

We talk about our recent camping trip and how it related to Star Wars (because really, everything does).

I talk about a Star Wars gift I received from one of my favorite students this past year (am I allowed to say that I have favorites?). Here’s a photo of the goods.

The pack of 3D trading cards I found in my basement:

Speaking of trading cards, Liam almost has the full crew of the Ghost. He just needs Ezra. If anyone wants to trade, shoot us an email at forcechildren@gmail.com

The Who Wars podcast recently played a voicemail from us here at Children of the Force. Give it a listen: http://whowars.net/2015/05/31/the-who-wars-podcast-033/

NEWS [7:20]

On June 7th, Christopher Lee died at age 93. While it’s true that he was much more than his acting credits, just click on over to IMDB and marvel at how many movies Lee was in. We recently posted a comical viral-website-esque tribute to Christopher Lee on his 93^rd birthday. It’s absurd, but I thought I’d link to it here anyway: 7 things Christopher Lee doesn’t know about you. Number 5 will blow your mind!

We discuss the name reveal of Supreme Leader Snoke and just who this Snoke character could be.

Our Snoke talk leads into a discussion about motion capture. I mention a video of Andy Serkis as Cesar the chimpanzee in the Planet of the Apes movie. This video does a really good job illustrating how it works, without getting technical.

Next, we get really excited about Star Wars: Uprising. Maybe too excited. But just watch this video and try not to smile:

And we briefly talk about this Gary Whitta tweet and what it could mean for a Rebels/Rogue One crossover.

CANON NEWS [22:00]

There are “horror holos” in the galaxy far, far away. This is revealed in the short story, Rebel Bluff, which appeared in Star Wars Insider #158 with the line, “The gangster gave Lando a sharp-toothed smile that could have made him a star in a horror holo.”

So there you go. The holonet broadcasts not only news, but also horror movies and probably comedies and action flicks, too. Huh.

JOKE [25:15]

What do you call a droid who leaves for a bit, but then comes back?

REVIEW [26:50]

We review Princess Liea issues #3 and #4! We break down the story of each issue and discuss things like R2-D2 Hot Wheels, foodie monsters, and the potential for uninterrogated sexism in comics perception and reception among Star Wars fans.

Ahem.

We give these two issues ratings, and the rating for issue #4 is an absurd rating (on a scale of Star Wars aliens) in honor of one of my new favorite podcasts, the Expanded Comicsverse. One of the reasons I love this podcast so much is that I just can’t justify purchasing four comics a month on a regular basis. So far, the only ones we’re keeping up with are Leia (which ends next month) and Kanan: The Last Padawan (because: awesome). So the fact that the Expanded Comicsverse discusses and analyzes the plot of each comic helps to keep me up to date (and yearn for the trade paperbacks even more). You can find the Expanded Comicsverse on the Expanded Fandomverse feed at iTunes and other pod catchers. Check it out.

QUESTION & ANSWER COUNCIL [48:00]

If you could form a new Jedi Order, what one rule would you change?
What is your favorite alien species?
If you could be one Jedi, who would you be?

BONUS

Identify the animal making noise in the background and you’ll get a mention and maybe some sort of song dedicated to you (or something) on our next episode!

Next week, we’ll have our double feature episode, a Reaction Corps retrospective on Rebels season 1 and a reaction to the TV movie that kicks off season 2, The Siege of Lothal. Should be fun!

Defenestrate the format! Down with long-form podcasting!

OK, not really. I actually like our format quite a bit. Unfortunately, things in the Children of the Force household have been rather busy lately (all good things, thankfully), and we just haven’t had the time to sit down for a proper recording.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t do a podcast. This endeavor of recording and publishing a podcast has quickly become something that makes me really happy. I feel complete when we put something out there into the world. Whether or not it’s enjoyed by a few people or a few hundred people (we’re somewhere in the middle there … quite a bit closer to the former), it’s worth it because the kids and I get so much enjoyment out of the whole process.

Anyway, enough of my banthering. Let’s talk about the episode, which you can listen to on iTunes, Stitcher or Podbean.

This is where the trading begins.

First, the kids have fallen in love with Topps Star Wars Rebels trading cards. In this episode, you’ll actually hear Anna open her first pack. Liam already opened a couple packs before this point and is chomping at the bit for more. They’ve already done the trade you hear about on the show, plus a couple more.

“I got real trading cards, not just trading cards on a phone or a device.”
–Liam, episode #4 of Children of the Force

Unfortunately, Anna and Liam don’t know anyone else who collects these cards! Anyone want to make trades via snail mail? Email forcechildren@gmail.com and we’d be happy to line something up. In fact, it would be really cool to get a Star Wars pen-pals thing going on. Look for another post about this in the near future. Let’s make it happen, people.

Across Neverland

The second segment of this show is me doing a poor job of pretending I’m David W. Collins and comparing “Across the Stars” from Attack of the Clones to “Flight to Neverland” from Hook. I pull parts out of both of those songs in the episode, but just in case you wanted to listen to the complete versions, here they are.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with “Across the Stars.” To hear the part from “Flight to Neverland” that really reminds me of it, just go 53 seconds into that video and you’ll hear it … probably.

But seriously, if you’re not listening to Star Wars Oxygen with David W. Collins and Jimmy Mac, you’re missing out on some fantastic analysis of the music of Star Wars. Click on these words to take your first step into a larger musical world.

Bonus: Here’s an incomplete visual guide to the names we gave Maz Kanata’s Castle-dwellers in our Star Wars Day Spectacular.

I think the kids and I are going to try to finish naming these castle dwellers in the next episode. Any suggestions? I can’t decide whether 19 and 20 are going to be the easiest or hardest to name.

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or stream it on Podbean.

All right, everyone. Just wait. This episode was recorded on Star Wars Day, which, I think, should be a national holiday with paid time off. Because what the heck just happened? How was Star Wars Day so awesome?

The kids and I went to record this podcast episode after they got home from school, and when we were done I checked Twitter and a somewhat-legit-sounding rumor dropped that the second Anthology film was going to be a Boba Fett “origin” story.

The internet StarWarsed all  .   day  .   long.

I’m not complaining, but how exactly could I be expected to get this episode live before the clock struck the death knell of midnight? How could I get this thing out there before the Revenge of the 5th was upon us?

The answer is that I could not.

So here we are on the other side. I feel cold.

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or stream it on Podbean.

At any rate, in this episode we have some fun, and I edit none of that fun out. In fact, there is the barest minimum of editing in this podcast. And I had no show notes to read from. Because I didn’t have time to write them up. So we had fun! All things considered, it turned out quite listenable.

Some of the stuff we talked about:

The Roqoo Depot guide to Celebration Anaheim Livestream

The Running of the Willrow Hoods

And check this out for further explanation of the Willrow Hood movement: http://www.dailydot.com/geek/running-of-the-hoods-star-wars-celebration/

Jeffrey Brown interview and drawing demonstration

NEWS (SORT OF)

We discuss the new Force Awakens photos that Vanity Fair posted.

REVIEW (SORT OF)

Anna’s reading the Attack of the Clones novelization. We talk about some things in there that aren’t in the movie and the idea that the right thing to do isn’t always the thing that makes you the happiest.

JOKE (SORT OF)

Submit your Star Wars joke!

VOICEMAIL (FOR REAL!)

Chris from Star Wars Kidscast left us our first ever voicemail! Thanks Chris!

QUESTION AND ANSWER COUNCIL (SORT OF)

We forgo our usual Q&A Council format and instead give names to Maz Kanata’s castle-dwellers in the right half of this photo.

So there you have it. Episode 6. We hope you enjoy(ed) listening as much as we enjoyed recording!

In this episode, we review the three episode Nightsister arc from season 3 of The Clone Wars. These episodes are Nightsisters, Monster and Witches of the Mist.

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or stream it on Podbean.

I was a bit late to the game with The Clone Wars, but I was nearly caught up by time they released them all on Netflix. By the end of it all, I was super sad it got cancelled. Rebels has alleviated most of that sadness, and I think it’s going to nearly eradicate it by the end of the second season.

But The Clone Wars is still great Star Wars, and has countless amazing moments worth revisiting. Luckily, I have two kids who were chomping at the bit to watch all of the episodes with me, and I think they’re both old enough now that they can handle it.

Well OK, we skipped the zombie Geonosian brain invader arc. That’s a bit to much on the horror side for them, I think. And we’ll probably skip the zombie Nightsister episode (as you hear us discuss on this podcast). But for the most part, they’re ready for The Clone Wars.

And this arc sure was one of the first major tests of their readiness to watch The Clone Wars. These episodes get pretty intense. Brother killing brother. Jedi brutally struck down. A king murdered. It’s dark stuff. It affected my kids in the way it should have. It made them sad, it entertained them and it made them think.

In addition to introducing the world of Dathomir, Nightsisters, Nightbrothers and the concept of Magick to canon, this arc also gives us the first canon appearance of Clone Commandos and, if I’m not mistaken, the only canon appearance of Sith training.

That’s a lot of canon, thank you very much Katie Lucas.

Really quick, I forgot to mention this in the show, but I love the art on the side of the ship that picked up Ventress (which she then … commandeered).

The Aurebesh above that Tusken says “Raider,” by the way. Oooh, and this image gives us a good look at those creepy pods. Ick.

The kids’ school Fun Fair is tonight, which means one lucky person is going to win the Star Wars items seen here, donated by yours truly.

I really hope whoever wins takes us up on being the co-host for an episode!

Anna lost a tooth the other day, which means that she put it under her pillow that night and expected something else under there in the morning. You know how the Tooth Fairy works. Well, I neglected my duties as resident Tooth Fairy and forgot to switch it out with some money. The next night, I put this letter under her pillow.

I should also say before you read this letter, that my kids don’t believe in the Tooth Fairy. Instead, we as a family pretend that she’s real and have fun with it.

My dearest Anna,

As I hope you are aware, I was held up two nights ago due to podcast editing. I let your dad know about my absent-minded mistake of not putting these two dollars under your pillow, and he assured me that he would tell you in the morning.

Now, you may ask yourself what sort of podcast a Tooth Fairy would be editing, and you may rightly be wondering whether or not Tooth Fairies have even developed the technology in their Tooth Land to download and listen to podcasts. Well, they have.

My podcast is all about the movie Tooth Wars. It’s actually 6 movies … and a couple TV shows! In it, thousands of Plaquetroopers enforce the will of Emperor Cavatine and his underling, Darth Sugar. It’s scary stuff.

Thankfully, Luke Toothbrusher blew up the first Bubble Gum Star and the Mouthwash Alliance was on their way to victory. There have been setbacks, but with Princess Toothpaste, Han Baking Soda, and Chewsugarfreegum on the side of the Mouthwash Alliance, the galaxy is in good hands.

Anyway, this is all very exciting stuff, and I got a bit carried away and totally forgot to fly to your house and leave these dollars under your pillow. Sorry about that.

May the floss be with you,

The Tooth Fairy

childrenofthetooth.com

She loved it.

Truthfully, I think she was just happy that the Tooth Fairy wasn’t out sick this time, because last time the Easter Bunny had to fill in and he skimps on the cash.

Anna and Liam both wanted me to see if childrenofthetooth.com was real, but I told them it only worked on the Tooth Fairy internet, and we don’t have access to that.