The Young Jedi Knights Club

The presumed dead Eric Ambler resurfaces for the Creamsicle-coded kickoff to Fate of the Jedi! Conspire with our Darkmeld as we speculate that Star Wars is entering its old-man era, wonder if we're too young to be harping about the good old days, and discover how this low-key kick-ass adventure seemingly sets the table for less doom and more mystery, leaving us cautiously optimistic for the rest o...

Punching in the coordinates for an unexpected detour, John Parton joins us aboard the Millennium Falcon in a real barrel of taurill that makes the jump through the freighter's offbeat ownership history and straight into a Black Hole of tangents. We bounce between topics faster than a bat-falcon and could have kept talking for a millennium, while asking how the frip James Luceno turned a book about...

For a Special Edition, this Episode I commentary features... shockingly few suggested upgrades. Our own circular council we will keep on what is to be changed! We mostly just sit in awe of perfection, occasionally borrowing from both junior and "senior" novelizations while pitching AI to undo that unacceptable "shot on film" look. By the end, a communications disruption leaves us speaking entirely...

L'Eggo my Legacy of the Force! As we finally let go of the Darth Caedus era, we find ourselves longing to flow-walk back in time, replace our younger selves, and send them forward just to avoid this whole karking series altogether. Just kidding… mostly. Hear us rank the sacrosanctity of these Jedi texts that, to their credit, somehow rekindled a tolerance for Boba Fett we haven't felt since adoles...

Grok, generate the podcast equivalent of a film maudit... Jack into your datapads, listeners. Our Menace Era has begun. Instead of moving forward as promised, we pivot back to the Prequel-adjacent Jedi Apprentice series! The biggest menace we know, Eric Wheeler, enrolls with us for a peek into Obi-Wan's early school days. It's a wayside return to Young Jedi Knights vibes as this book club gets a l...

Roll out the red qashmel carpet—an upgrade from past questionable floor coverings—for the 5th Annual Lowie Awards, our gala named for a tall, kind-hearted beast not unlike Harry (of the Hendersons). We mark this quinquennial with a brand-new category alongside our usual slate of Star 'Wards, even eking out some worthy winners from the mid-aughties, a dry spell for the galaxy far, far away. Another...

Like a Nightsister blood trail, we finally trace the Legacy of the Force to its grisly end, a brutal beatdown full of... corny, Young Jedi Knights-era wisecracks?? Raspy Jokester Barm lends a hand in landing the Shatterpoint technique on the novel's fault lines, from Denning's unnecessary horniness to the dialogue-deficient duel to the death. Stains and all, it was a blast to close the book on ano...

Flying by the seat of our Force-sensitive pants, we revel in one last Traviss title, kicking the conversational bolo-ball around with bounty-hunter-lovin' barve Ryan Davis.  Hear us bounce between topics like harebrained holotoons, from Darth Caedus' imperial ineptitude to such deep-cut detours as The Bella Movie, as Cam prattles on about his semester in Prague until Mustafar freezes over. (Episod...

Caedus is the reason for the season in Fury, ringing in our holidays with a wholesome family abduction! Like newly unwrapped crushgaunts, Eric Ambler helps tighten our grip on the story and even squeeze in memories of "crappy apartments cluttered with plastic instruments" circa X-mas 2007. This Allstonian spin on seasonal silliness will stick with us from now until Jesus's next birthday. Fury Twis...

We toss the tyrossum jawbone around with Nate Tapp, fanning the flames of discourse over this searing installment where Jacen's bridge-burning hits new highs and a mere Lowbacca cameo reminds us how much more fuel he could've added to the firestorm on Kashyyyk. We also drop scorching Stranger Things news and spark a smoldering sidebar about why "music songs" can't be explained by theory: they just...

Interrupting his Toydarian-takeout-in-the-bathtub ritual, we lure Alien Nation aficionado Jack Stovold to soak in the fifth Legacy of the Force book, courtesy of our favorite Karen. In Traviss' momentous middle chapter, a subtle feminist undercurrent bubbles to the surface amidst a galvanizing alloy of political intrigue and personal loss. As the stakes rise, some EU fan favorites take a heartbrea...

Dusting off the ol' Canadian phone book, we drag Geoff Clarke out of exile for a Quick Bite™ of the latest wheel-spinning Legacy of the Force entry. Is it duracrud, or are we simply taking the piss, in the proud tradition of Uran Lavint and Blatta the Hutt? Either way, it all circles the drain from there, as we look up our own names on Wookieepedia and realize that Star Wars is ultimately just a w...

Advancing past the Preliminary Judging of Muscles, crazy bugslut Barm strong-arms his way into this tempestuous episode to check in on what's happenin' with the Hapans. Is the third entry in the Renny-Harlinesque Legacy of the Force series a real flooger-bed of intrigue, or does it burst our dreambubble by juggling too many narrative wobble balls? Well, let's find out!  

We keep things in the family with returning guest Ryan Davis for Bloodlines, a certified Book of Boba Fett plus his bounty hunter brood! Hear us praise author Karen Traviss' character development, theorize how Legacy of the Force tries to out-Prequel the Prequels, and feel disquieted by the novel's eerie real-world parallels in a time of militarized police and civil unrest...

A presumed-dead Marvel Star Wars villainess looms large over this next nine-book series, so it would be a karking shame not to consult luminary Marvel Star Wars Explorer Brian Rudloff to determine what the fierfek is going on! Like dark side mynock apparitions, we denude every nugget of Betrayal, from the ill-fated droid who's two Vaders tall to the hasty heel turn by a fan-favorite Young Jedi Kni...

Celebrate Star Wars Day by simulating the experience of watching Episode VI with two pals who won't stop talking over the movie! Our Special-Edition-inspired commentary covers everything from the Mighty Boushh to blinking Ewoks to the novelization by James Kahn (not James Caan). An entire LEGION of our best ideas for superfluous revisions awaits you!

As the Dark Nest draws to a close and Luke Skywalker finishes watching Revenge of the Sith, the cry-curious Nate Tapp rounds out his trio of guest spots by tripling down on trilogy talk with us. Does The Swarm War warrant three hearty throat-clicks, or do we discard it like Huttwash (and if we discard, do we add two Swarm cards that cost 0 to our hand)?

Tibanna tapper Nate Tapp taps back in for a bantha-sized, hubba-shaped debate over whether the second Dark Nest novel satisfies like a delicious slice of live action pizza or gets more muddled than nebular miasma. The real plot twist, however, is that we stop kriffing around and finally reveal that this whole Young Jedi Knights Club thing has just been a backdoor Lost podcast the whole time...

Clad in our classiest Killik silks, we walk the wax carpet for the gala that's even goofier than the Golden Globes... the 4th Annual Lowie Awards! Join us Joiners in raising a collectible McDonald's Batman Forever glass to toast the pop culture from the year of our lord Two Thousand and Twenty Four, not to mention our Lord Nyax, Emperox of Bad Boys...  

Rub your forearms together for the kingly Nate Tapp, who joins our hive mind as the podcast enters its insectoid era all about Troy Denning's Dark Nest trilogy! Grab a can of gelmeat and an orb of membrosia for an episode that's crawling with conversation about audiobook omissions, thorny throuples, and a Prime Unu who may have violated the Prime Directive... 

After nineteen novels, we wistfully turn the page on the New Jedi Order with an all-encompassing retrospective! It might as well be the Day of Comprehending the Will of the Gods... or at least of the Master Shapers behind this ambitious series, who we applaud for challenging our emotions, expanding our perception of the Force, and burning into our brains an entire lexicon of unforgettable Vong-cab...

Prime guest Jake Beal reveals himself as the true Supreme Overlord of the podcast, reunifying with us for the New Jedi Order's colossal conclusion. It's the end of an era, and things get downright mythic as we wreath through weighty topics like Yuuzhan Vong theology, traumatic time jumps in the TV show ReBoot, and the (best ever?) Christmas of 2003. There might even be a few surprise gifts from Sh...

The podcast interdicts huttoad Eric Ambler for the not-quite-final Final Prophecy, which sets the table for the endgame of the New Jedi Order. This snackquarium of an episode is swimming with delicacies, as we follow Nen Yim on a trip to Qahsa Bonita, drop an unusual amount of Search for Spock references, and decide which is better: Seal IV or SEAL Team Six?

Reunited once again with Jack Stovold of "Jack's Silly Little JackCast," we transmit our final Zonama Sethoughts via telemetry on the Williams/Dix trilogy as a whole... or die trying. Added ingredients in this Esfandia-like atmospheric soup of an episode include the punting of pirates, an amalgamation of Anakins, and a Who's Who of heretics with the hots for Nom Anor!

Future host of "The LizardCast" Jack Stovold (what an Earth ass name...) helps us decide if this middle chapter of the Heretic trilogy is a first-rate tour de Force or merely an inconsequential side mission. Similar to Tahiri's recurring reptilian nightmares, we also receive disturbing visions of Borgs Bunny, living turntable creatures, and thought experiments involving Haley Joel Osment...