Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy

Dathomir has always been associated with dark magick. But in "The Path of Fear" from Tales of the Empire, we see sorcery that appears to be drawing from a lighter source. What gives? We'll discuss on our deep-dive episode. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: https://patreon.com/sw...

While we're waiting for the Acolyte premiere, let's talk about Tales of the Empire! We'll start with "The Path of Fear," the first of the Morgan Elsbeth episodes, which is basically her villain origin story and shows how she survived the Battle of Dathomir. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearl...

Lucasfilm released two new video clips for The Acolyte yesterday, and at the pace they've been dropping videos, it sure does seem like there's a different kind of promotion strategy happening here. We'll talk about the whys, and the latest whats...  Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten ye...

A short Acolyte video that seemed too spoilery for prime time has had the relevant part of that assessment added to "Plan," a new spot on the Star Wars YouTube channel. So we'll talk about it after all, as part of an emerging theme of the show: Duality. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly te...

We're exploring another Star Wars Conversation Card question, and I want to hear your answers! This one involves a rare artifact hidden in a wampa cave - how would you go about recovering it, and what is it? I'll go first...  Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: https://patreon.com...

Today's episode is our monthly installment of 25th anniversary episodes about The Phantom Menace! We're building on the sports-related things we've been talking about in recent episodes, as well as how rare podcacing is in other Star Wars media. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years:...

"Huttball" is allegedly the galaxy's favorite game - but its first canon appearance is in Star Wars Hunters. And prior to that, it was only in The Old Republic video game! We'll talk about its history, which leads to some thoughts about how canon and legends storytelling *could* co-exist together. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independe...

It's one thing to consider Star Wars Hunters as an Overwatch/Apex Legends kind of game. It's another to consider the meta-narrative of sports in the Star Wars galaxy, and how Hunters is continuing a thread that started with The Phantom Menace and has accelerated in the Disney era. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's...

The little gift Star Wars fans got on the Disney Channel's YouTube channel on May the 4th was a delightfully rewatchable two minutes of animated fun. It's "How NOT to Draw R2-D2," and I'll share a bunch of reasons why it's awesome on today's show. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten year...

The "May the 12th" Simpsons Star Wars short on Disney+ has its share of moments that will probably make you smile, but it's not a can't-miss thing. And in all honesty, for this being a Mother's Day thing, they do Marge dirty throughout. Punch it!  (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: https:/...

There's so much more happening in the month of May related to Star Wars storytelling than I fully clocked when we did our first-of-the-month episode! So we're updating now, and (with lots of advance warning) talking about a spoiler-y new Acolyte spot. Punch it! And as promised on the show, here's the new spot for The Acolyte - watch it at your own spoiler-y risk: https://streamable.com/j8ekd0 (Enj...

A new commercial spot for The Acolyte hit the Star Wars YouTube channel (on a Saturday?) and shows us more of the fight between Mae and Master Indara. But between this and the trailers we've received so far, are we being subjected to intentional misdirection? Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nea...

Today, it's the second half of my conversation with Cass Sunstein, the author of the upcoming "How to Become Famous." And yes, that includes talking about how Star Wars became famous, too, back in the day... Punch it! Check out Cass at Harvard Law School: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/cass-r-sunstein/ And his papers at the Social Science Research Network: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsB...

Cass Sunstein returns to the podcast! His upcoming book, "How to Become Famous," explores the elements that contribute to wild success - and we're going to talk about how that applies to Star Wars. Today, the first half of our conversation...  Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: h...

People are making a connection between the Sith at the end of the latest Acolyte trailer and a horrific dark-side entity from Legends that's also connected to the Mortis gods. I'm going to try to flag what you need to know, out of nine novels worth of background, in less than 10 minutes...  Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent crea...

In the prequel trilogy, Yoda and Mace Windu discussed the idea of the Jedi's powers being diminshed. Could it be because the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was built over a Sith Shrine? And Jedi were inside it at least as recently as 100 years before The Acolyte series? Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it fo...

"Return of the Jedi: A Visual Archive" brings together the best of "Art of" books, visual dictionaries, reference books, and "making of" books, while tying into all sorts of new Star Wars storytelling, to create a fresh reference book for a new generation of fans. Punch it! Thanks to the kind folks at Insight Editions for sending along a copy of this beautiful book to review.  (Enjoy the show? For...

A Skeleton Crew debut date! A Rogue Squadron update! Plus, I listened to the Disney investor call for Star Wars news so you wouldn't have to! Here's what you need to know in one fell swoop. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: https://patreon.com/sw7x7) ~*~*~*~*~*~ Be sure to subsc...

We're still talking about the second trailer for The Acolyte! Something Mother Aniseya says near the end of the trailer, like Qimir's mini-monologue near the beginning, turns what we think we know on its head. Are these "Force witches" actually working on the light side of the Force - and, just maybe, on the right side of history? Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each mo...

Lucasfilm treated us to a new trailer for The Acolyte on Star Wars Day! And the talk of the socials is Qimir, who has a line of dialogue that can't be a coincidence. We'll talk about that and other highlights from the new footage on today's show... Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten yea...

Happy Revenge of the Fifth, if you're into that Dark Side of the Force kind of thing! We're wrapping up our conversation about Star Wars Dad Jokes today, with the crafter of all those "best worst jokes and puns from a galaxy far, far away," Kelly Knox. Punch it! Here's where you can learn more about Kelly and her work: https://www.kelly-knox.com (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee ea...

We're thrilled to have Kelly Knox back on the show, and just in time for Star Wars Day! We're talking about her new book, "Star Wars Dad Jokes," filled with "the best worst jokes and puns from a galaxy far, far away." Punch it!  We're also running a May the Fourth givewaway over on TikTok! You could win the POP! COMIC COVERS BOBA FETT #42 from Funko (see it here: https://funko.com/pop-comic-covers...

We're continuing our conversation about the series finale of The Bad Batch! Today, our 7-takeaway breakdown of the double-sized last episode, "The Cavalry Has Arrived." And the "cavalry" was all of them, for each other. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: https://patreon.com/sw7x7...

It's all over! The Bad Batch went out with a bang, with shocks and surprises, and with moving moments that beautifully wrapped up the series. Today, we're talking about the top 7 highlights of this super-sized finale. Punch it!  (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years: https://patreon.com/sw7x7)...

The series finale of The Bad Batch! The countdown to The Acolyte! Star Wars Day! It's a pretty big month in the world of Star Wars storytelling, and we're here to get you ready for it. (No BB spoilers, either.) Here's our look ahead at May 2024. Punch it! (Enjoy the show? For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can support the independent creator who's been making it for nearly ten years:...