The Fandom Apprentice

Join Ryn and Sam as we dive headfirst into Star Wars Animation starting with Tales of the Jedi (the Dooku focused episodes) to add some dimensions to our villain, before we jump into the Clone Wars with some early chronological episodes! Topics of discussion include cloning, janissaries, and Dooku's moments of doubt and pain!  Covers Tales of the Jedi (2022) episodes 2, 3, and 4: "Justice", "...

Ryn and Sam are distracted- by Ewan McGregor's unnaturally blue eyes, by Sir Christopher Lee's existence, by Padme's Dress in That One Scene, and by Force-sensitive grubs, but we are totally locked in on one thing: This is not a love story. We might not like sand, but we did like this movie, gripes aside! Come join us as we discuss Willy Wonka-ing the Kamino Clone Factories, the best outfit for br...

Who the hell is Roger and why do the battle droids invoke him so much? We jump back to the start of the Skywalker Saga to discuss young Ewan McGregor, the first meeting of future husbands Artoo and Threepio, and whatever Qui-Gon and Shmi got up to during the sandstorm! Predictably, Sam hates Jar Jar Binks, Ryn has opinions about Naboo's ecology, George Lucas is prone to systemic racism and misogyn...

Moving on to Empire, it's the relationships episode! We discuss Han and Leia's toxic burgeoning romance, Luke and Leia's Force connection, R2 and 3PO's slightly strained marriage, Han and Luke's queerplatonic friendship, Yoda and Luke's training montage, and Chewie and Lando, the casanovas of Kashyyyk and Bespin respectively!   Covers Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

In part 2 of our discussion of A New Hope, Ryn and Sam tackle misogyny, supporting the girls, the iconic sights and sounds of late 1900s pop culture, courtesy of John Williams and Industrial Light & Magic, and who the hell gave Luke Skywalker a 13-pack in the original poster? Covers the making of and the cast and crew behind Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (1977). This can be more or less lis...

It is a period of civil unrest. Rebel podcasters, striking from a hidden recording studio, have created their first episodes of a NEW SEASON.   Now, Ryn must bring Sam back to the beginning, to the very first STAR WAR, to show her the place where it all began...   What's this? A Monday update? On an off-week? Happy Star Wars Day, listeners! This is Part 1 of 2 episodes about A New Hope,...

Whoops! We took an unintentional break in there but we're back with the last two episodes of the Mandalorian Season 1! We discuss the weather, the music, production, whether droids have souls, video game main questlines, Giancarlo Esposito as the Perfect Villain, and Armor Mommy! Covers Episode 7: The Reckoning and Episode 8: Redemption of The Mandalorian Season 1

We roll into Mando's Monster of the Week era, get drunk on shrimp alcohol, fight a Disney Princess, wax poetic about Connor Storrie's ass, the art of tight storytelling, Kurosawa, and spoiler culture and twists! 

We enter the galaxy far far away in something of an unexpected spot with our favorite bounty hunter, and discuss his ascent into Daddy-hood, how Jawas are the Minions of the Star Wars galaxy, the galaxy's absolute worst vibrator, Space Nazis, and why Baby Yoda is so goddamn cute! Covers episodes 1-3 of The Mandalorian: Season 1

Hello there everyone and welcome back! We've missed you, but we're back now with a whole new season! Join us as we make the jump to hyperspace and set course for a galaxy far far away to discuss Star Wars! If you're new to the show, this is a great place to start. Come get (re)introduced to the scruffy-looking nerf herders hosting this thing and hear about our plans for the season. We're very exci...

Finishing out our coverage of the Murderbot Media current available, we discuss worker's rights, music, special effects, sexual tension, and as a special bonus, Ryn has a Biologist Moment! Also stay tuned at the end for our announcement about whats happening for Season 3!! We're going to be taking a short break but will be back in a few weeks with brand new episodes on some media Ryn grew up with...

There's a place beyond the wormholes... we haven't found it yet but come search with us! We have reached the Murderbot TV show! We talk visual decisions, casting, story adaptation, throuples, tentacles, and our love of practical effects! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING NEXT EPISODE! Stay tuned! Covers episodes 1-6 of the AppleTV+ show "Murderbot" (2025)

The last Murderbot book episode and we struggled a bit here keeping up with the action, but we still love it! Murderbot is having, as per usual, a bad time, and Ryn and Sam are having an excellent one, and would love for you to join us! Topics of discussion include: the paradox of free will, putting on your own oxygen mask before helping others, and how none of us are immune to propaganda! Covers...

We're back! Took an unexpected break, but we're back with a new episode, which is great for us, and Murderbot is back on the planet, which is terrible for it! Ryn and Sam discuss the first half (minus 4%) of System Collapse, delving into such important topics as whales, petty data analysis, how bananas relate to far-right death squads, PTSD, and the paradox of free will! Covers chapters 1-5 of The...

Ryn and Sam finish out Network Effect and boy howdy is Murderbot having a Bad Time! And so are the other SecUnits. Wait, other SecUnits? We have commentary on such topics as naming conventions, queer generations, suspension bondage, ART's total and complete lack of chill, and the ethics of murdering your digital baby. Is it murder if the digital baby was essentially a bomb in the first place? Cove...

ART is alive and Murderbot gets to stop running through the stages of grief! Problem is it stopped on Anger, which it has every right to tbh. Ryn and Sam talk ART and Murderbot's relationship (and relationships in general), trusting kids to handle difficult topics, modern "AI" vs sci-fi AI, and statistics!   Covers chapters 8-13 of The Murderbot Diaries: Networt Effect by Martha Wells (2020)

Step inside (your best friend's corpse), it's a fucked up ride (through the wormhole)! Amena wishes this was a normal field trip, but with SecUnit? No way! Take your second right past Mars and join us while we talk about knees, gravity, faster than light travel, anxiety, and potential future cinematic choices for the show! Covers Chapters 4-7 of The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect by Martha Well...

Not all is well with Murderbot, but when is it ever? Ryn and Sam follow our favorite rogue SecUnit through the first three chapters of Network Effect, the first novel in the Murderbot Diaries! Topics include the gender politics of aunts, cis discomfort with trans presentation, intense feelings in platonic relationships, puppy eyes as a weapon of war, and Murderbot murdering on a murderboat. ...

here's been a murder! And despite what you might expect, it wasn't Murderbot's fault. It promises. And we promise topics including sleeper agents, queer assimilation, translation, and things that go blorp in the night.   Covers The Murderbot Diaries: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (2021)

So, as it turns out, there are there are also some short stories in the Murderbot Universe! We get to dig into the minds of some side characters, learn more about the origins of constructs, and talk about queerplatonic relationships, coming out, and non-human personhood!  If our audio quality is a wee bit sharper on this one, it's because we had some issues with our primary recordings and wer...

Murderbot has to go find some old friends! We're entirely normal about it acknowledging PresAux as friends. Other topics include consent, gender presentation/human-passing, the self and the body as separate but connected entities, and finally, as all folks hitchhiking on bot-driven transports across the galaxy must, we grapple with towels.    Covers The Murderbot Diaries Vol IV: Exit Str...

Ryn and Sam are wildly unfocused, probably because we are simultaneously monitoring two dozen intel drones, HubSystem, and Episode 372 of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon! And also being slightly horny on main, giving mini-reviews of horror movies and a romance novel, discussing Murderbot's D&D class, and once again providing evidence that capitalism is the worst villain! All before we get...

Murderbot travels to RaviHyral to investigate... well, murder. That it may or may not have been responsible for. Join us as we grapple with concepts of non-human personhood, gender, terrible bosses, queerplatonic relationships formed on threats of terrible violence, and murder! So much murder. Covers The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 2: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Welcome to season 2! We begin with everyone's favorite heartless killing machine that just wants to watch Space Netflix and unfortunately keeps having emotions! Join Ryn and Sam as we discuss aliens, why capitalism is always the problem, international law in space, and sci-fi horror!    Covers The Murderbot Diaries Book 1: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017)

Hello everyone, and welcome to the next phase of the Fandom Apprentice! If you're new to the pod, this is a great place to start- get (re)introduced to us as the hosts, our background with sci-fi, and our plans for season 2, focused on Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries! If you're a regular, come on in and get cozy with some new media!