A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast

Close your eyes and imagine this: A Clone Wars arc about the intricacies of droid personhood and cultural hierarchy, partially taking place in an existentialist void, and crossing paths with a story about an amnesiac Clone who's escaped the war just to find himself another harsh master. Oh, and the best explosion in the series to date. Now open your eyes and face the cold hard reality: This is one...

For nearly two years now, we've had a number of questions about what it means to be a so-called Youngling in the Jedi Order. What's it like to be separated from your family and culture? How are they taught to live a life without attachment, yet one still devoted to service? How are classes structured? How's the food in the cafeteria?  Well, finally we get an arc all about Younglings. Only we don't...

After some time away, we're back to our old tricks. And hey, so are the Jedi, if by "up to their old tricks" we mean "refusing to help people in need because they prioritize an abstract code over lives." Watch as Anakin invents the Rebellion and the CIA in the same fell swoop. Cheer as a future revolutionary makes his (admittedly mixed) first appearance. Shrug as Ahsoka and Lux Bonteri continue to...

A quick note: This ep contains very minor spoilers for Season 5 Episode 7. As we said in the last few episodes, because of travel and other delays, we're not quite ready to jump into Season 5 headfirst yet. But tonight, we saw an opportunity to keep the feed moving, and we took that opportunity by the horns. Noted Star Wars fan Keith J. Carberry (of Run Button and Friends at the Table ) joins Aust...

With today's episode, we bring The Clone Wars Season 4 to an end and kick Season 5 off with, if not a bang, then at least the death of a somewhat major Jedi. Our Favorite Zabrak, Savage Opress (ugh) is back! And this time, he's got a brother turned partner in crime turned abusive boss. While these eps do have some low lows, they also have a few extremely high highs: A diner, a warehouse worker who...

As we head into the final arcs of Season 4, we finally reunite with long lost Sith(-leaning) assassin, Asajj Ventress. How's she been? Well, you know how things go. Lose your job and your social circle and you start looking for a new place. Make some new friends. Find a new mentor. Maybe reconnect with your hometown. Great ideas. Unless, of course, you're a walking target. NEXT TIME: Episodes 87-8...

Everything is going swimmingly for Moralo Eval's dastardly plan. Along with certified killers Cad Bane and Rako Hardeen (shh), he's escaped Coruscant, evaded his Jedi pursuers, and arrived on Count Dooku's homeworld of Serenno. Now it's time for the real plan to begin: Everybody get into the box! What? Did you not imagine that the remainder of this arc hinged on a callback to a 1997 indie horror p...

As The Clone Wars begins to lean into heftier, multi-episode arcs, we're hit with the first one we've been forced to break up due to scheduling and length issues. Which means that, yes, we will get to half of an arc about Obi-Wan going to undercover a la John Travolta in Face Off. But first we need to tackle the stand alone return of Pre Vizsla, Deathwatch, and... Lux Bonteri. NEXT TIME: Episodes...

We've made it to the heart of Season 4. Well, in the specific figurative sense meaning "the middle," not the other figurative sense meaning "the thematic core, emblematic of the whole." At least we hope not, since this trio of eps walks right up to a bunch of very interesting ideas and whiffs on basically all of them. This is, seriously, an arc about slavery that barely lets Anakin address his fee...

Finally we have escaped the desert that was the beginning of Season 4, and we arrive at what is one of the best arcs of the show to date. The Republic sees the seceded world of Umbara as a strategic stepping stone to the Mid Rim, but for the clones assigned under the ruthless (and seemingly inept) Jedi General Pong Krell, it's a more like one big gravestone.  Join us as we gleefully talk about clo...

You know. It happens, right? We've all had a few bad misses in a row, haven't we? And I know what you're thinking, "hey, are you talking about the quality of the show or the misadventures of C-3PO and R2-D2?" And obviously the answer is both. The good news is that we have a lot of fun talking through our issues with these episodes. And we think (or at least we hope) that the coming arc is going to...

The fourth season of Clone Wars is here, and unfortunately, it kicks off with a bubbling whimper. On the watery world of Mon Cala, the already fraught relationship between its two key cultures is in crisis when the planet's king dies. Now, his son, a child with no skill in command, leadership, or much of anything, is due to inherit the throne despite the anti-monarchist protestations of many of hi...

We have finally,  actually come to the end of Clone Wars' third season, and we've been met with a pair of enjoyable, if straight forward, episodes. As has been a running theme throughout the season, today's journey focuses on Ahsoka's growing sense of independence and reliability, casting her as the protector of a group of lost Jedi younglings who've been caught up in a real Most Dangerous Game si...

Phew, we've finally made it to the big Season 3 finale arc. Nearly all of our main characters are here, facing down the very Citadel we first heard about in the season opener--and some snarky commentary from a future Star Wars villain. How will- Huh? What's that? You're saying this  isn't the end of the season? There's two more episodes following this? Sure buddy. Sure. Whatever you say. But don't...

Here it is, finally, the episode the Jedi Council didn't want you to hear! After a bout of illness and other scheduling hurdles (you might notice Austin isn't recording with this usual mic - sorry!), we have finally sat down to talk through the Mortis arc. You can support the show and gain access to a monthly Q&A cast by going to patreon.com/civilized NEXT TIME: Episodes 62 - 64 ("The Citadel," "C...

Week after week, we return to the same conversation: What if, instead of focusing only on known characters and therefore being boxed in by the events of the Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars could spread its wings and spend time developing new characters with yet unwritten endings. Finally, with the arrival of a character really, genuinely named Savage , our prayers are answered, even if the monkey's pa...

There is an energy today. Can you feel it? Can you anticipate the shouting? The laughter? The grinding of teeth? The discussion of interest rates, privatization of public goods and services, and the strategic neoliberal moving of goal posts? All of this, plus Star Wars continues to dip its toe into antisemitic caricature,  and our last real confrontation with Clone Wars' chopped up timeline. Oh, a...

If you only knew where this series of episodes began, you might expect quite a different podcast than what we deliver to you today. What begins as an arc about the power (and limit) of prophecy quickly turns into something else. Sure, we get to debate the limits of Padme's boilerplate political rhetoric for a bit, but before long there's a the return of an old antagonist. The only question is, who...

I will not lie to you, friends. On paper, this is a hell of an arc. A return to Mandalore, now starving because of Separatist pressure and Republic failure? Duchess Satine and Senator Amidala as confidants and heroines? Ahsoka, sent to ferret out a secretive black market? How could anyone possibly be left unsatisfied?  Well...  NEXT TIME: Episodes 51 - 53 ("Assassin," "Evil Plans," and "Hunt for Z...

Sometimes on this show, we (Natalie especially) will talk about the "morsels" of world building that are delivered to us. Deep inside an episode about an evil Hutt lord or a lost lightsaber, maybe there's a brief mention of some aspect of the socio-political reality of the Star Wars world. And, things being what they are, we have found ourselves content with these morsels. But today? Today we feas...

We return from hiatus to find a pair of episodes built to answer some of our most potent and long running questions about the clones and their war: How are they trained? ? What's their relationship to Kamino? How soon can they start getting sick haircuts? Where's the Jango Juice kept? What? Don't say you didn't miss us.  NEXT TIME: Episodes 47 - 48 ("Supply Lines" and "Sphere of Influence") Show N...

Finally, we've come to the end of The Clone Wars Season 2. And, appropriate for a season subtitled "Rise of the Bounty Hunters," we do so with a trio of episodes about future fan favorite hunter Boba Fett (co-starring Aurra Sing and Bossk, two other fan favorite mercs). It's an imperfect arc in many ways, but it succeeds in at least one important metric: getting us to talk for too damned long abou...

A two episode  Godzilla and King Kong inspired arc? Certainly  that couldn't leave us with enough material to go for more than 70, 80 minutes  tops.  Talk about the monster design, the War on Terror allegory, maybe even sneak in a conversation about the ongoing pacing and structure of the series? In an out, righ-  I'm being handed a piece of paper. It says "they went for two hours." Ah. Well, neve...

After last episode's cohesive and sumptuous Mandalore Arc, today's follow up was going to have a high bar to clear. And, unfortunately, all three of today's episodes come up short. That's not to say there's nothing of note here: the opening "Senate Murders" gives us some back room politicking and a little extra insight into senatorial processes, but it raises more questions than it answers. The ot...

As far back as the Clone Wars movie, when Obi-Wan Kenobi first bantered with Asajj Ventress, we knew that the bearded Jedi Master had a romantic side. Today, we see that part of him in full bloom--and perhaps in full wither--as he reconnects with the Duchess Satine Kryze. To say there are fireworks is an understatement. We've got a whole damned powder keg here. There's bickering. There's flirting....