The 602 Club: A Geekery Speakeasy

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In 1997 a new book was released in Britain about a young boy who finds out that he is a wizard and his life changes forever. Like Harry, the literature world was turned upside down as people fell in love with the story, characters and world that J.K. Rowling created which in turn became a film in 2001. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing i...

Arrow Season 3. The second season of Arrow had taken the pieces of the first and created something special in the world of comic book television which meant that as season three approached, the expectations were higher than ever. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by fellow vigilante Alice Baker to talk about Arrow season 3. We discuss our expectations going into the se...

Star Wars: Before the Awakening. The Force Awakens left fans with many questions as they walked out of the theater. How did the galaxy end up like this? Who are these different factions? Why is there a Republic and a Resistance? These questions and so many more have been swirling around fandom ever since December 17th, 2015 and in the era of "it's all connected" the ancillary materials have become...

Doctor Who: Season 9. Doctor Who continues to be one of the most loved and longest running shows on television and as it moved into the ninth season of the reboot there were a few things fans knew, it was to be Jenna Coleman's last season and Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones was to guest star. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by fellow Whovian Andi Vanderkolk to tal...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens. December 17th, 2015 will be a day long remembered, it has seen the end of one era of Star Wars and the dawn of the next. With the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney came the promise of new films in the Skywalker saga and that promise has reached it's fulfillment in Episode VII. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by newly awakened Jedi Bruce Gibson...

Star Wars: The Last Command. Wrapping up a trilogy in film or in literature is a difficult task as you try to do justice to all the conflicts and character arcs that you've created and it's what faced Timothy Zahn as he brought his Thrawn series to a close. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by smugglers Bruce Gibson and John Mills to talk about The Last Command. We dis...

Star Wars Aliens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away. The expanded universe of Star Wars has always been a place where a fan could find the back stories of almost every character on screen with books like Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales of the Bounty Hunters filling in the histories of the most obscure people and aliens from the Star Wars films. In this supple...

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. 1983 would see the end of the Star Wars saga from a story point of view and it would be further cemented in the Special Edition and blu-ray release as Lucas seemed to put a big bow on the Rebel's victory with galaxy-wide celebrations because of the Empire's defeat, but as we all know the story is about to continue. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing...

Jessica Jones. In the spring of 2013, Marvel announced that it would be doing live actions series of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage on Netflix with each series playing it's part in setting up the characters for a miniseries based on the Defenders. In this supplemental episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by Andi VanderKolk, Daniel Proulx and Michael Schindler t...

Star Wars: Dark Force Rising. After the success of Heir to the Empire, June of 1992 could not come fast enough for fans to see what would happen next in the Star Wars Saga. In this episode of The 602 Club we continue our look back at The Thrawn Trilogy as host Matthew Rushing is joined by Bruce Gibson and John Mills to talk about Dark Force Rising. We discuss if the story feels fluid or crowded, J...

In June of 2015 Vanity Fair gave Star Wars fans an exclusive first look at pictures from The Force Awakens by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, one of these pictures was a massive two page spread with many of the new aliens from a pirate stronghold known as Maz Kanata's castle, as the books take fans on the Journey to The Force Awakens we get our first story about one of these mystery characters...

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. In 2008 The Hunger Games took the literary world by force, as a new franchise captured the imaginations of all who read it, cementing that it would find it's way to the silver screen and now the final film in the series is here. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by victor Andi VanderKolk to talk about Mockingjay Part 2. We discuss t...

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire. In the summer of 1991 many Star Wars fans found a treat in their local bookstore as the story of Luke, Han and Leia was officially continued in a new book, licensed by Lucasfilm. Written by Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn, this story would become, for many fans, Episode VII and with The Force Awakens replacing the Star Wars Expanded Universe we look back at th...

SPECTRE. When one of the longest running and most revered movie franchises releases a new film it's no question that expectations are going to be high as fans eagerly anticipate what is next for their favorite character, a Bond movie is no exception, especially with a name like SPECTRE and the possibilities it brings. In this episode of The 602 Club host M is joined by OO agents John Champion and...

Skyfall. There are few icons that find themselves still going as strongly as James Bond after being in pop culture for over 50 years. His stock skyrocketed on his 50th anniversary with the release of the 23rd film in the series. Bolstered by Sam Mendes as director, Roger Deakins as director of photography and a theme song by Adele that became a monster hit in it's own right, Skyfall has become one...

Star Wars: Shattered Empire. In this supplemental episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing and Jedi Master John Mills continue the Journey to The Force Awakens with Greg Rucka's comic mini-series Shattered Empire. We discuss the literal aftermath, timing and sequencing, the Damerons, Mon Mothma, story points, #WheresLuke, things we liked, didn't and our ratings. Host Matthew Rushing Guests Joh...

Supergirl. There has been a huge outcry in fan communities for more female characters and specifically for female superhero properties to be given their own movies and television shows, so fans rejoiced when CBS announced that they would commit to a Supergirl series from the creators of The Flash and Arrow. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by Bethany Blanton and Norma...

Scott Gilbert. Podcasting is nothing without the listeners and in this special supplemental of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing and Bruce Gibson welcome iTunes review contest winner Scott Gilbert to the bar. We discuss how he found Trek.fm, what got him into fandom, Star Trek books, other fandoms, recent films, talk a little Flash, Smallville, Superman, comic book movies, franchising, other genre...

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. After the success of Star Wars, the sequel became one of the most highly anticipated films of all time, giving George Lucas and his team a high bar of audience expectation that would continue for every subsequent film in the saga. What they gave us became know as one of the best sequels of all time and what many consider to be the finest movie in the Star Wars s...

Pan. There have been numerous adaptations of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan since his original play in 1904 and novel in 1911. From silent film, to animation, to live action with a real boy, the story of Peter has captivated and enthralled people for generations. Now, Joe Wright, director of Pride & Prejudice as well as Atonement has joined with producer Greg Berlanti to bring us the prequel to Peter Pan...

The Martian. The story of the book The Martian is as outlandish as the tale inside. When Andy Weir's book was rejected from publishers, he began publishing one chapter at a time on his website, then created a Kindle version that skyrocketed to the best-seller's list in sci-fi, leading to the rights being sold to Crown in 2013 where the book debuted at the number one spot on the New York Times Best...

Star Wars: A New Hope. Very few films can say they have change the medium forever, yet that is exactly what happened in 1977 with the release of Star Wars, a sense of wonder was rekindled and a feeling of hope that had been lost in the "realism" of films in the 1970s returned to the silver screen. In this episode of The 602 Club host Matthew Rushing is joined by Rebel leader John Mills and special...

Star Wars: Lost Stars. The story of Star Wars is usually told from the perspective of the heroes and that has left many questions for fans as to why someone would willingly join the Empire or what was the populace response to the the changing of the guard from Republic to Empire and finally many of those answers are coming to light though the new canon novels. In this supplemental episode of The 6...

Quantum of Solace. Just hours before the the start of Writers Guild of America Strike on November 7th, 2007, Paul Haggis finished the script for the new James Bond movie. Unfortunately the strike would keep him from being able to polish the script, a task that would fall to actor Daniel Craig and director Marc Forster during filming. In this episode of The 602 Club Matthew Rushing is joined by Joh...

Star Wars Aftermath. As Return of the Jedi faded from theaters in late 1983, Star Wars fans entered what would become known as the "Dark Times". Toys began disappearing from the shelves and slowly Star Wars faded into the cultural zeitgeist. Before faint whispers about Special Editions and Prequels, Heir to the Empire awakened a hunger for Star Wars that had been just under the geek surface for ye...