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

I've had the luxury - read: no one that I know of who's contracted the coronavirus - to have time and space to think about the anger I've been experiencing. And it's got me thinking differently about our reactions to Star Wars stories. Punch it! ***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.*** 

On this month's installment of the Patreon Q&A session, I'm answering questions from Patrons of the show that address all corners of the Star Wars experience. One of the questions has to do with Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, and how it may or may not be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Another question takes us back to International Women's Day, where I mentioned my interest in a female-char...

I have a reputation for being a positive person, and in particular to this podcast, finding the best in what I'm talking about when I'm talking about Star Wars. I also believe there's a distinct line between complaining versus critiquing. So when I approach the mid-season review of Clone Wars season 7, the final season of the show, I feel like I need to establish those two things as a foundation f...

"Deal No Deal" is the sixth episode from season 7 of the Clone Wars, and the second of the four-part "Ahsoka's Walkabout" story arc, and also the midway point of the final season of the show. Man, that's a lot happening all at once! Today's episode of the show features the Clone Wars Briefing for this episode, where we'll recap the detail, and talk about how in one sense this episode is similar to...

A couple of years ago, I launched a feature on the show called Star Wars POP! The "POP" stands for "Podcasters on Podcasting," so it's "Star Wars Podcasters on Podcasting," but "Star Wars POP!" sounded so much more fun, so I went with that. I did two episodes of that feature - one with Tim McMahon of The Expanded Fandomverse and Less Than 12 Parsecs, and another with Amy Ratcliffe of Lattes With L...

The fine folks over at Podcast Stardust have embarked upon a series of episodes celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, and for their third installment, they invited me on the show! It was great fun to dig into scenes before and during the Battle of Hoth with Dennis and Jay, the co-hosts of Podcast Stardust, and on today's episode of Star Wars 7x7, I'm sharing an excerpt from...

The Mandalorian ended season one with a lot of storylines to pursue - some more obvious than others, of course. On today's episode of the show, I'll start by exploring the not-so-obvious ones, and then leading into the most obvious ones of all. Along the way, we'll also be exploring the possibility of appearances by other characters not named Ahsoka Tano (since we've kind of gone there already). Y...

The Mandalorian season 2 is due to arrive on Disney+ in October 2020. We were talking yesterday about how Star Wars productions might be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and we briefly mentioned The Mandalorian as part of that discussion. On today's episode, we'll get Mandalorian specific, and also talk about the directors who will likely be working behind the camera on the new season - and t...

Yes, a Star Wars podcast might seem like a comparatively frivolous pursuit these days, as the coronavirus pandemic takes an increasing toll on our health and economic welfare. But even now, there are many reasons to keep doing something like this. On today's episode of the show, I'll be starting off by looking at what's going on in the world of Star Wars storytelling, and how it is or isn't being...

"Gone With a Trace" is the first episode of the second story arc of Clone Wars season 7 (and fifth episode overall), but it doesn't feel like the start of a story arc. It feels more like a one-off episode. Thinking back to the first of the Bad Batch episodes, at the end of that arc's first episode, we knew that Echo was alive - or, at least, that Rex believed it to be true. That served as an incit...

Well, in theory, we were supposed to be talking about the next episode of Clone Wars season 7 today. But then SlashFilm got the Friday Star Wars rumor mill rolling with the scoop that Rosario Dawson would be appearing in season 2 of The Mandalorian ... as Ahsoka Tano. Naturally, the gears all started grinding and other reporters started checking their own sources, and - of all the crazy things - s...

In The Last Jedi, we learned about the sacred Jedi texts that Luke Skywalker had collected in his galactic travels, which he kept safe on Ahch-to despite threatening to burn the library down every so often. Well, as we know, Rey took them before Luke ever followed through on his many threats, and - with the help of C-3PO, Beaumont Kin, and her own Force-sensitive intuition - began to learn their s...

Months before the release of The Rise of Skywalker, Georgetown physics profession Patrick Johnson joined me on the show to talk about some of the more remarkable images we saw in teasers and trailers for the movie. In specific, we talked about the Sinta Glacier Colony; the Death Star wreckage; and the orbaks running on the Star Destroyer. Now that the movie is out, and now that we have additional...

Ochi of Bestoon is quite the mystery character in The Rise of Skywalker. He turns out to be the missing link between the mysterious and unreachable Sith fortress at Exegol, and a wayfinder to reach it. We don't learn a heck of a lot about Ochi in the movie, and the Visual Dictionary does tells a bit more - though it tells us nothing in particular about the link between Rey, her parents, Ochi, and...

We likely see more planets in Revenge of the Sith than in another movie in the Skywalker Saga, thanks to the montage of Jedi deaths shown during the execution (pun intended) of Order 66. But The Rise of Skywalker gives Revenge of the Sith a run for its money, taking us to Ajan Kloss, Mustafar, Exegol, Kijimi, Pasaana, the Sinta Glacier Colony, and Kef Bir - and that's not even including the places...

The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary (thanks DK Publishing for sending me a copy to review) includes a sidebar called "Timeline" in a variety of places throughout the book, and also a very large one at the front of the book which lays out all the events in the Skywalker Saga timeline. What's new this time around - aside from all the new details - is that the time isn't referred to as BBY (Befor...

The "Bad Batch" story arc is complete! It was the first story arc from season 7 of the Clone Wars, and based on story reels that had been previously released. On today's episode of the show, I'm reviewing the story arc overall, recapping some of the notable differences between the original and final versions of the episodes, and exploring the "what might have been" with another Bad Batch story arc...

"Unfinished Business" is episode 4 from season 7 of the Clone Wars, and finishes the first story arc of the season in epic fashion. I mentioned this on the episode, but among the differences between the story reel version and this final version is the opening narration. You can watch the episode to hear the final, and compare it to this, the original: War rages on! With ARC trooper Echo rescued fr...

On Thursday, Disney made statements related to the coronavirus pandemic, announcing the temporary closures of Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World in Florida, and Disneyland Paris Resort. Based on the announcements, it sounds like the Downtown Disney locations in Florida and California will remain open for the time being. It also reads like the hotels in Florida will remain open but the one...

Thanks to DK Publishing for sending me a copy of The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary to review and share with you! In fact, as with The Galactic Guide we discussed previously, I've also got an extra copy of this book to give away, which I'll be doing next month. In the meantime, today's episode focuses on a review of the book, as well as some of the details author Pablo Hidalgo has taken with...

ere was the headline that we haven't gotten to talk about yet: Star Wars: Rogue One Prequel Actor Diego Luna Says Lucasfilm Doesn't Trust Him And here's the problem with it. 90% or more of people who see that headline are not going to click through to read the article. That's not a criticism, that's just web statistics. So 90%+ of the thousands of people who see that are going to think to themselv...

Max von Sydow kicked off the Sequel Trilogy with the gravitas and ease that comes with such an incredibly prolific filmography. He passed away on Sunday, and today, we're looking back at his storied career.

Yesterday was International Women's Day, and I got to thinking. Yes, it was a big deal that the character of Princess Leia debuted in 1997. And yes, they made Padme Amidala a strong character in the prequels. But I think: A) It's fair to say that the Original Trilogy is very much about Luke more than anyone else B) The Prequel Trilogy is very much about Anakin more than anyone else C) You could su...

Thanks again to DK Publishing for sending me a review copy of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Galactic Guide to check out and share with you! On Friday, we covered a bunch of new things you can learn from the book about the heroes the final movie in the Skywalker Saga. On today's episode, I'm switching the focus to the bad guys, starting with what seems to be a startling omission at first. B...

"On the Wings of Keeradaks" is the third episode of the final season, season 7 of the Clone Wars. It's also the third in a four-part story arc, and as much as I hate to say it, it's the weakest one so far - so much so that it's almost unnecessary. That's not to say the episode is without merit. There are exciting action sequences, a bit of Wrecker comedy, and a moment at the end that's heavy with...