The Legendarium

We continue our Mistborn podcast series with a discussion of The Alloy of Law. Listener notes at the top of the show.

Craig, Ryan, Rilee, and Andrew tackle The Wishsong of Shannara, in this wrap-up of their own trilogy of Shannara podcasts. Everyone seems to like Brin more than Amberle. Thank goodness Allanon died. Is Wishsong filmable?

Craig, Ryan, and newcomer Meg (from  tvjelly.com ) discuss Marvel's Netflix series, Jessica Jones. The consensus: it's an amazing, complicated, important show, that overcomes some problems with its main character, largely thanks to the other characters around her. Also, we make fun of The Bachelor and hot tubs a lot. So there's that, too.

The guys let their hair down for this one. Well, Craig does, since he's the only one with hair long enough to let down. They quiz each other on some of the big geek news items from 2015, and look forward to a couple events in 2016. Be sure to check out the 2016 reading challenge they've set up at  WorldsWithoutEnd.com . Signing up is free and easy, and it makes for an easy way to interact with the...

The group talks about the Elfstones of Shannara, both the book (mostly) and the upcoming MTV series (at 48:00). Topics include the possibly-ill-fitting title; Wil's crisis of confidence; strong women don't have to be warriors; and how Brooks fixes Tolkien's shortcomings when he sends in the eagles.

SPOILERS. Seen the new Star Wars yet? If not, do so before listening in. Things may have never been this heated on the podcast before. Yes, they all loved the movie and have plenty to say on that, but Craig and Ryan get into it over the definition and effect of bad CGI.

Craig and Ryan welcome Rilee and Andrew to the podcast to discuss The Sword of Shannara. We're prepping for the MTV series early next year, and getting a jump on this classic trilogy from one of fantasy's most celebrated authors.

Craig and Todd interview Celeste Chaney about her debut novel, In Absence of Fear. Wrist-embedded microchips, mass-surveillance, predictive policing ... It may be where we're headed, and this book helps us explore just how good are the good ideas we're coming up with to rid us of inconvenience and fear.  Pick it up on Amazon , you won't be sorry.

Jar Jar is a dark side force user... The Empire is good... Han and Leia had a litter of tribbles... We thought we’d take some time to hash out a few of the more popular fan theories, and some of the crazy ones too.

We're joined again by Dr Matt Woolley, who helps Craig, Ryan, and Kenn work through the benefits, pitfalls, and psychology of scary stories and people who love (or hate) them. (And no, you're not hallucinating, we swapped out our normal theme music; it was way too peppy for this episode.)

0:00 - Intro; 1:57 - Star Wars trailer; 13:00 - Zelda Symphony and discussion of the music; 30:10 - Excerpted interview clips; 31:45 - the virtues of Zelda; 40:15 - the games; 43:30 - Zelda movie adaptation?; 47:10 - the future of Zelda games; 50:30 - wrap-up & brief movie reviews.

The guys have one last chat in their Belgariad podcast series, wrapping up with book five, Enchanter's End Game. Joining them through the miracle of Skype recording is Andrew Bayles, a Linguistics grad student from the University of Utah, who comes to teach them all what a true nerd sounds like.

The guys all watched Mythica: A Quest for Heroes, a film by local fantasy studio Arrowstorm Entertainment. Craig really liked it, so he made the others help him review it. The consensus: it's got its shortcomings (which the guys dwell on too much!) but overall very fun, and any one of them would be proud to have their name in the credits. Go to ArrowstormEntertainment.com to purchase and download...

The guys discuss Garion's coming of age--and coming into his inheritance--in the fourth installment of the Belgariad podcast series. We find out who the voice in his head is. Ce'Nedra's innate ability to manipulate comes in real handy. Do any of these characters have free will in this story?

The four guys deliver four movie reviews for Avengers 2 (4:45), Fantastic Four (14:15), Ant Man (29:40), and Inside Out (40:25).

Ryan, Craig, and Kenn discuss the journey to Rak Cthol and the epic showdown between Ctuchik and Belgarath. New members of the company. Garion's magic grows. Ce'Nedra is beyond the fathoming of her creator. Encasing someone in rock is a good way to kill them.

We continue our Silmarillion Podcast series. I drag Ryan back in Middle-earth for a discussion about the tale of Beren and Luthien. Todd joins us in studio, and I also cut from time to time to a chat I had with friend podcast Nick Jeter.

Ryan, Craig, and Todd discuss book 2 of the Belgariad, with a quick appearance from Kenn. The story is starting to heat up, and so is the action. This one is much more violent than the first, and thus much more up Kenn's alley.

Ryan assigns the Legendarium panel to read David Eddings' Belgariad series. This is one of the early(ish) fantasy series that helped set the tone for many of the so-called tropes that have been seen since. But this beautifully written tale does them so well, you'll hardly notice as you start with Garion on his adventure with Belgarath and Polgara.

After some pointless nostalgia about the podcast in general, Ryan and Craig (at about the 9:45 mark) get down to reviewing Jurassic World. The final consensus: THREE-AND-A-HALF OF FOUR SWORDS. And we do all this without many, if any, spoilers. So enjoy, enjoyers.

The Silmarillion is not a novel. It's barely even a story, at least as you're used to. This may be one reason that many struggle with Tolkien's lifelong passion project. Craig, with the help of guest Kip Rasmussen, tries once again to throw Ryan headlong into Middle-earth. Mellon, goheno nin! thelegendariumpodcast.com

Finishing our sci-fi series by bringing it into the 21st Century, the guys discuss Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.

We've solved the Case of the Missing Episode! We read and discussed Starship Troopers in February, and we got in way over our heads in that discussion. But we give it a good shot anyway.

Todd, Ryan and Kenn give their impressions of the new Avengers movie right after seeing it!

The Legendarium Brain Trust squees in delight at some of the Star Wars Celebration announcements, we review the trailer for The Force Awakens, and preview Avengers: Age of Ultron.