Before that: very little news but, uh, I spent the night in the hospital. If you don't care about my wellbeing and want to get right to the episode, skip to 29:07. Honestly I couldn't blame you. Spoiler alert: I'm totally okay.

That's it this week. We're going to be watching the next few episodes in listed order, so no more jumping around for a minute. Makes things much easier.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we talk about how Puma should be the star of a Sony movie, what Peter Parker line makes Derek feel seen and how a lifetime of comic reading can really alter the way you perceive the world. 

Homework for next week:

Secret Wars II #8

Amazing Spider-Man #274

Avengers #265

Fantastic Four #288

New Mutants #37

Uncanny X-Men #203

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next week: we wrap up Visions. Also soon: The Eternals on Watch Men! The Incredible Hulk Returns on Marvelvision! And in a few weeks... The Book of Boba Fett! It's a big time of year for us here at the CinemaSangha Podcast Empire, and we love having you along for the ride.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you don't want to hear all of that, skip to 36:44 where we start discussing the penultimate episode of What If...? season one, What If... Ultron Won? This episode brings us to a world where Ultron has wiped out most life in the universe and he begins setting his sights on other realities... and only Uatu, aka Ol' Babyhead, might be able to stop him. But he has taken a vow of non-interference! What will happen? You'll have to watch (and listen) to find out. 

Is this the most anime episode yet? Is What If...? the worst Marvel thing so far? Are Nat and Clint the last humans alive on Earth? All of this and more on the latest episode of Marvelvision!

If you want to hear us talking about Marvel movies, you gotta become a $5 subscriber. You'll get access to Watch Men, our monthly superhero deep dive podcast and this month we'll be talking about Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just when you think you have a handle on Loki the show goes and switches it up on you. This episode made us yell out loud at least twice, gave us that Wizard of Oz goodness, and left us stunned with the mid-credits scene.

On the show this week we do some Marvel news, and we talk about Kevin Feige confirming that was the Abomination in the Shang-Chi trailer, we have run out of Marvel jokes so we do a little trivia, and we throw around our theories about just what is the real story with the TVA. Skip to about 19 minutes if you don't care about news, jokes and discussions of the climate crisis!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this latest episode of Marvelvision we talk about some Marvel news, including the way that Anthony Mackie put his foot right in his mouth when asked about a possible romantic relationship between The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. There's a reason he's an actor and not a writer of these shows.

If you don't care about news or jokes just skip ahead to about 18:30 where we get into the meat of the episode. We talk about Ravonna Renslayer, sort of girlfriend of Kang the Conqueror! We talk about Sylvie, who in the comics may have been created by Loki. We talk about just where the TVA is, and a theory about who Mobius could actually be. Plus.... we love the episode! Two episodes in and Loki is strong as hell... can it maintain? One way to find out.

Next week: Watch Men will be doing Darkman. That's at the $5 and above level. Don't miss this one!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode finds your hosts talking about the spicy levels of Indian food but also about the latest news in the Star Wars galaxy, including the fact that Rangers of the New Republic is no longer in development. If you don't care about that business (and about the new joke book we have!) jump to 20:11 for the actual episode itself.

It seems that Derek is a little bit down on this new show - it isn't moving fast enough! Do you agree? Are you enjoying the slow buildup of the world of The Bad Batch or would you like to see this show get into gear already?

Speaking of shows: look for Marvelvision later this week, where we'll be talking about episodes 1-5 of MODOK (episodes 6-10 come next week). And also! Watch Men is coming! We're talking about Kick-Ass; look for that in your feed later this week... if you're a $5 and above subscriber, that is!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big news: this podcast is available on many major podcast platforms, and more are coming. I've gotten feedback that listening to podcasts through the Patreon interface isn't ideal, and I had already decided to make this show free to listen, and so it is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and more. It may take a day or two to show up in search on Apple Podcasts, but rest assured it's there. The Bad Batch will remain behind the paywall on the Patreon, and I'm gonna work on figuring out how to make it easier to listen to using your favorite podcatching app. 

Now on to the show...

The mystery deepens! And by that we mean the mystery of whether or not Derek knows that March comes after February.

Also the mystery of just what is going on in Westview... as well as the mystery of just what the Scarlet Witch's canonical comic book story even is. This is a character who has been conned and retconned, and figuring out which aspects of her stories might make the cut in Wandavision would take many, many hours of podcasts. We try to give you the basics, but even that is pretty convoluted.

Also: the Monkees! Whether or not the Vision produces seed! More terrible Marvel joke book jokes! Speculation about Black Widow's release strategy! And some general wonderment that there's going to be a fourth film set in the Legendary Monsterverse (yeah, it's a little off topic).

Thank you for listening! Thank you for subscribing! 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(some of) You demanded it! In the grand tradition of our weekly reviews of The Mandalorian we will be bringing you weekly reviews of the Marvel TV shows on Disney+, here on the new podcast Marvelvision. 

It's gonna be the same format at The Bad Batch: my brother Derek and I will discuss Marvel news, we'll have some bad Marvel joke book jokes and then we'll dive into the latest episode of the latest Marvel TV show.

This first episode brings Wandavision Episode 1 and Episode 2 (those are the titles), and we start this one big: Derek doesn't like the show! We spend a bit of time arguing about why he's wrong, we talk about the history of sitcoms, we touch on the astonishingly complicated comic book histories of Vision and Scarlet Witch and we throw around some theories about where this show might be going. For the record the town that Derek is talking about in his theory is Pleasant Hill in the Avengers: Standoff! event, which was actually pretty good. 

We're keeping this show on the free side of the paywall, so if you have friends who might enjoy two middle aged nerd brothers arguing about Marvel TV shows, tell em to come listen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode also brings us some intriguing hints at a world of... cloning? DNA manipulation? Something weird at any rate. It returns Horatio Sanz, it has a killer dog fight and then The Child vomits. 

This week we bring back Star Wars jokes, as requested, and we discuss whether Gina Carano should be fired from this show for her troubling social media statements or her absolute inability to act. 

All this, and more! It's the latest episode of The Bad Batch and we hope you like it.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Set after Rise of Skywalker - yet ignoring key plot elements from that film and throwing shade on others! - the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special is both an homage to the original Star Wars Holiday Special, a bunch of Star Wars in-jokes and also a loving journey through 40+ years of Star Wars history. We really liked it!

The regular show will return on Monday as we discuss The Mandalorian season 2, epiode 4, The Siege!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Star Wars news we have some info about George Lucas' plans for the Sequel Trilogy that never panned out and they're... great? Or at the very least quite interesting. 

As for the episode - it's a big one for us, as a couple of guys who started a Clone Wars podcast, as Bo-Katan Kryze shows up in live action for the first time. If you have no clue who that is, don't worry, we Mandosplain it to you. 

Enjoy the episode and, 'rona willing, we'll be back next week!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest episode of The Mandalorian brings us creepy spiders and ice caves and Dave Filoni back in an X-Wing. This week we talk about whether or not Life Day is celebrated across the Star Wars galaxy, the ethics of eating unfertilized eggs and all the ways the Mando is still learning, growing and changing. It's a creepy, chilly, funny episode and we dug it!

Thank you to everyone for subscribing and listening and we'll be back with you next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Star Wars TV podcast is taking a break from Star Wars Rebels while The Mandalorian season two is airing, and we'll be covering it every week. And let me tell you, we're off to a heckuva start - this is our most contentious episode yet. 

I don't want to spoil it too much, but Derek and I have very, very different takeaways from this episode. Me, I loved it. Derek, on the other hand, is really sick of Tatooine. 

This show started because Derek and I, being brothers, would get on the phone and talk geek shit with each other for hours at a time. Often those conversations would turn into arguments and, for the first time in 33 episodes of this show, we finally got one of those arguments on tape!

This episode is a little long, but we're still figuring out how to recap an hour long show - we're used to half hours! But hey, maybe this week is the week you could really use two dweebs arguing about The Mandalorian for an hour and forty minutes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

That's right - the next episode, coming early next week, will be us talking about The Mandalorian season two, and we'll be doing all ten episodes of the season before returning to Rebels.

This time we have a bit of a long intro as Derek and I talk about some TV shows that are not Star Wars, including the great Ted Lasso (watch it!). Then it's on to Legacy, a very emotional episode where Ezra finds out what happened to his missing parents. It's low on action but big on character... and Clancy Brown!

Thanks for listening, and now I gotta go get ready for The Mandalorian. Meet us back here next week, but beware - we will be doing full spoilers on each episode as we discuss them!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode: Derek and I talk about the 7 most surprising facts in the new Star Wars factoid book written by Pablo Hidalgo... a book I kind of didn't love! Then from there it's on to a terrific episode of Rebels, in which the Empire starts coming for babies and our heroes gotta face down those damn Inquisitors once again.

Tomorrow tune in for the end of power week, and then next week we'll be covering episodes of The Mandalorian as they air. Be warned! There will be spoilers in these episodes, so watch the show before listening to this podcast. The descriptions will be spoiler free, so don't worry about something hitting your inbox and ruining the experience.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's another episode of Star Wars Rebels, and this week lovable droid Chopper... commits an atrocity? He certainly kills tens of thousands of people this episode. As there is no formal declaration of war at this point in the timeline, he might be the worst terrorist in the history of the Empire!

Also this week Derek and I talk about Star Trek, but just a little. We talk about whether there should be a Mandalorian movie and about how Derek watches each episode of Rebels with the stuffed Chopper doll I sent him. It's almost sweet. 

Thanks for listening, and we have two more episodes coming this week!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Derek and I are both bad at Star Wars Squadrons, the new space battle game that has some minor lore tucked away in it. We also talk about Shadows of the Empire and your boy Dash Rendar, about how a Shadows character has been entered into the new canon via a cookbook.

We also talk about this Sabine-centric episode, which makes me say "Droid rights," and we wonder whether the people behind Star Wars are actually interested in exploring the sentience of droids, a topic about which they have been terribly inconsistent. 

Thanks for listening, thanks for subscribing and enjoy! 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Derek and I talk a little bit about Avatar: The Last Airbender, the show that brought him to George Lucas' attention, and we also discuss the hassles of moving when you're the kind of person who has too many books, comics and movies. 

Then on to the show! This week's episode gives us a long-awaited spotlight on Hera, and it introduces a fighter ship that is cool... but doesn't show up again for a long time?! It's the B-Wing, a very great ship that doesn't leave much of an impression on the Star Wars universe.

The Mandalorian is coming! We'll be covering it here, but first we have some catching up to do, so keep your eyes on this space...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I went back and forth on whether or not to talk about this, but I've tried to be pretty transparent about my journey in sobriety, spirituality and mental health over the past four years. One part of that transparency has to be being honest when I find myself stumbling in those places, and in talking about what discoveries I have made as I try to understand why I have stumbled. 

In working through some of my setbacks with my therapist we have come to believe I might have ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder. In this episode I talk a bit about what that means and why I've been really resistant to this diagnosis. 

This one is a little personal, so I understand if it's not your speed! I promise more movie stuff to come. Thanks for your patience. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode has Ezra going on a solo mission, and his lack of boundaries and street rat upbringing remind me and Derek of growing up as latchkey kids in the 80s. Also this episode features some gun-blazin' Chopper action, so Derek is mighty happy. 

Introwise, I complain about Black Mirror's USS Callister episode, and Derek does some sleuthing into the background of Star Wars Jokes: Unofficial Jokes For Star Wars Fan author Aaron Stark. Turns out he's a highly prolific penner of joke books, and when you're writing that many, the jokes don't have to be too funny!

By the way, this episode is a little delayed, so expect another episode sooner rather than later as we hurtle towards season two of The Mandalorian. It's already recorded, I just gotta edit it!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back with the latest episode of Star Wars Rebels and this week we have some big news - a short film for the Star Wars Squadrons game and a trailer for The Mandalorian season two. Is that Ilum I spy?

As for this week's ep - Ezra, Zeb, Sabine and Chopper explore an abandoned Old Republic medical station and discover that there's not only a new Inquisitor, there are least two new Inquisitors. Can these crazy Rebel kids survive guest star Sarah Michelle Gellar? 

As always, thank you for listening and subscribing, and May the Force Be With You!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I get a bit into some of the news coming out of Hollywood, specifically about Kang the Conqueror showing up in Ant-Man 3. I also talk about Lovecraft Country, Mulan and I'm Thinking of Ending Things, but the real intro focus is on Tenet and the response to this movie released in the middle of a plague. 

Then it's on to Rocky Balboa! We wrap up the mainline Rocky movies with this beautiful and touching and really heartwarming finale. I talk a bit about the weird almost love story, how irritating Milo Ventimiglia is and whether Rocky should have died in this one. 

Thanks for subscribing, thanks for supporting, and see you back here for The Bad Batch (we'll be talking The Mandalorian season 2 trailer!).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the intro to this episode we chat about the trailer for Dune and we both express bewilderment at the use of Pink Floyd. In my brain I was just thinking "yet another trailer that uses a slow version of a pop song" and not thinking "Jodorowsky wanted Pink Floyd to contribute to his version of Dune." Look, I'm in a documentary about Jodorowsky's Dune, so I should have this at the tip of my brain, but I didn't. Rather than edit it out, I have included my human frailty!

This episode we get into the second part of the story that reintroduces some old favorite clones, we talk about Gina Carano's anti-mask stance, and there's the return of Star Wars jokes. What else could you ask for?

The ep, by the way, is late because I put off recording the intro as I was certain a trailer for The Mandalorian season 2 would drop this past week. No dice.

Thanks for all your support, for all your kindness and for your subscription. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the intro you get to hear Derek and I tackle John Boyega's complaints about Finn. We try to be respectful of his personal experience as a Black man working on a major film franchise while also being inveterate The Last Jedi defenders; maybe we threaded the needle. We tried anyway. 

You also get to hear me forget the name of Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One, which is wild because I can remember the names of background Cantina aliens and I don't even like them as much as I like him. Getting old - it's a drag, man. 

In the main episode you get our discussion of The Lost Commanders, the first part of a two part story that brings Clone Wars fave clone Captain Rex back into the story as the crew of the Ghost go to him for aid after getting a bad spanking at the hands of Darth Vader. Hijinks, don't you know, ensue.

Thanks for listening! Thanks for subscribing! See you on the Sanghacast this week with Rocky Balboa, and back here next week for more Rebels!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But on to the movies! This week I touch on the super charming film Extra Ordinary, I give some Forbidden Thoughts on how actually a lot of movies at film festivals are not that good and that I appreciate having other people sift through them for me now, and then we get to Rocky V. 

Rocky V is bad - this is the conventional wisdom. But this podcast dares to ask: what if it's not bad? Also, what if early in the film Rocky Balboa unwittingly travels through a dimensional portal to find himself in a different, darker timeline where his son was born years earlier?

Thanks for listening, thanks for supporting. See you again soon for The Bad Batch and again next week for another ep - which should be, barring disaster, Rocky Balboa. Thanks!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week listen to me make the most mistakes about the plot of the episode yet, and hear Derek continue his bizarre obsession with Ezra Bridger's fingernails. 

Also this week: the return of Star Wars jokes! We have some real doozies this time; if there are ever parties again these wacky jokes will make you a huge hit, so get your pen and paper ready to take notes!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As for the Jesus Christ part: I've been low key obsessed with a story in Acts of the Apostles, so I read it to you this week. It has God striking people dead and includes what I believe is one of the most baller statements in the Bible. I also talk a bit about what Jesus Christ might have looked like, and how nobody gets it right. More importantly, I talk about how nobody at the RNC gets it right with what Jesus Christ and the early church actually taught. 

The outro song is King Missile's Jesus Was Way Cool. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Star Wars TV podcast returns!

This episode we finish up Rebels season one, with Fire Across the Galaxy, a story that takes our scrappy band of resisters to a whole other level. It's a good one!

This week you'll hear Derek's endless fantasies about Kanan killing himself, and you'll get a peek at his bizarre and disturbing obsession with Ezra's fingernails. The pandemic is doing things to him.

This week we also had a little mic issue while recording the main section of the podcast. My mic will sound fine in the intro, but when we get to the episode discussion it gets low. My apologies, we figured out the problem and it seems to be solved going forward.

Speaking of going forward: next week we will be starting season two of Rebels, and we'll be covering two episodes. The opening two-parter, The Siege of Lothal, originally aired in one chunk, so that's how we'll be covering it. Be sure to watch parts 1 and 2 before listening to the  next episode!

Also, in this episode we discuss an image from the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. To help that make sense, here's the image:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While researching these films I discovered Stallone's WILD original plan for them; after Rocky was a hit he came up with a trilogy concept that is definitely not what we got. Then after Rocky II he had an idea for a finale that involved the Pope and is definitely not what we got. 

I talk about how between Rocky II and III the 80s begin, and how Stallone begins morphing the character into the kind of 80s superhero he would become in IV. I also touch on Rocky III's racism and the homoerotic relationship between Rocky and Apollo.

Did you know what song Stallone was denied that led him to ask Survivor to write Eye of the Tiger? Do you know the origin of Rocky's switch-em-up trick in his second fight with Apollo? Do you know how Stallone wanted Rocky to die? All that, and more, is in this episode!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But she's out of the hospital, and we are back with the penultimate episode of Star Wars Rebels season one, "Rebel Resolve." Because this episode was recorded over a week ago the intro stuff with the news might be a little old - my apologies. 

This episode you get to hear me forget the name Yavin IV, and you also get to hear Derek and I argue over the plot of Rogue One as well as argue about the structure of the Rebellion at this stage of the Galactic Civil War. Basically the kind of arguments we would have on the phone that inspired me to start this show in the first place. Also: it's a great episode of Rebels!

Thanks for your patience - this was a very hard week for me (it's still going on! We're at the hospital every day!), so your kindness and support is very meaningful. Now, let's get this show back on schedule!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode: a longer version of that paragraph above, as well as Mulan going to VOD, Shudder's new found footage film Host, and what these two movies tell us about the future of movies themselves. 

The ending song is by Vice Squad, an OG British punk band. It's a cover, I'll let you discover of what for yourselves.

Thank you for your continuing support and subscriptions!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you can make it through all the C-word talk I get into TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 for a minute, and then the main course - SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, which I think is one of the most understood cultural behemoths of all time. People simply don't know what the movie is, and I had the joy of watching someone who knew the film only from pop culture references actually experience the thing and its immense darkness. It's a real movie, and most people, especially people who really like it, don't quite get that. 

Thanks for your patience this week - I know it's been slow around here, but like I say in the episode, there are reasons. New Bad Batch shortly! It just needs to be edited. 

Thanks for all the support. Love to every one of you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But first Derek and I go over some of the news and rumors coming out about Star Wars, including Hayden Christiansen rumors, Obi Wan show rumors and the controversy about the main character from Galaxy's Edge - the Star Wars theme park  - not being represented in a first wave of toys inspired by the land. 

Thank you for listening and subscribing!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yes, I know Minority Report was filmed before 9/11. That doesn't matter! I talk about it in the episode. 

Also this week: I ramble a bit about getting involved in a street altercation in front of my apartment, and about how rarely those kinds of situations go the way we would like them to go. But does that mean we stop trying to be helpful?

Thank you as always! A new Bad Batch comes tomorrow.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspired by a message we got, Derek and I take turn listing out our top five Star Wars characters. While editing the episode I realized I didn't list Chirrut Imwe, which feels like a huge mistake on my part. Maybe we'll revisit this list in a year!

And then the episode: A Vision of Hope. Rebels is ramping up, but this is a bit of a smaller, slower episode that acts as a prologue for the season-ending three parter to come. Hope you guys enjoy, and as always: thank you! Your support is truly appreciated.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Also, I did the thing I didn't want to do - I talk about cancel culture, which I don't believe is real. Or at least that I don't believe is defined in any meaningful way by anybody who is debating about it. What I do believe is that the United States of America has a deep and abiding punishment culture, which it has had since the Puritans got here, and which I don't think is so great. But it's definitely not new. 

The closing song is... well, you'll have to hear for yourself. Don't want to ruin the surprise. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A technical note: we had some audio problems this week (what else is new), which included Derek's mic being garbled at times and my mic just cutting out. It was all about our internet connections or Discord or something, and it's a bummer, but I don't think it's too awful. This one required a lot of editing, but hopefully you'll only notice a few moments where the audio mysteriously cuts out and it shouldn't get in the way of actually listening to the darn thing.

This is our 19th episode! We're coming up on half a year of this podcast, pretty much all of it in quarantine. And with the way COVID is going, we might be able to finish out the whole series of Rebels while in quarantine! Thanks as always for listening, see you again next week.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than that, I try to get behind the movie to the true story of that bank robbery and to the untold story of Elizabeth Eden, the trans woman for whom the robbery allegedly was conducted. There's not a lot of material about her out there, but her story seems fascinating, and her perspective on the robbery that became Dog Day Afternoon is quite different from the narrative we all accept. 

If you're in "the industry" please consider telling the story of Liz Eden! The other side of Dog Day Afternoon, as well as the story of a person at the forefront of a sea change in the national reckoning about gender identity. 

As always, thank you for your support. The closing song is Elton John, an artist I'm excited to introduce you to - I think you'll like him. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the things I like about this show is how deep and strange it gets with the Force and Jedi business, and this episode, Path of the Jedi, is the first real hint at that. It's a Kanan and Ezra centered episode, and it features everybody's favorite little green man, Yoda.

There's not a lot of Star Wars news this week, so I blather about playing the video game No Man's Sky a bit. Here's an irony - right after talking about how much I like the game because it's so loose and the stakes are so low I ended up on a mission I can't figure out how to beat and it's giving me stress. Never boast about how chill a video game is until you've finished it.

Thanks for listening! We love you guys.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first half of the podcast you'll get to hear my thoughts on people behaving badly about masks in grocery stores, about the mindfulness trick I use to release tension in my body all day long, and about the man, the myth, the legend, the 14th Dalai Lama. I also talk about the Dalai Lama who was a drunk and wrote love songs.

Then it's movies! Eurovision and Irresistible (the new Jon Stewart political satire starring Steve Carrel) are up for discussion. I didn't like either!

Finally, we close the show with The Fugs. 

Thanks for listening, thanks for subscribing, thanks for all the fish.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We did this two-parter as a one-parter, but I think that format will change in the future. In the meantime enjoy a supersized episode, plus some talk upfront about whether there are Death Star conspiracy theories in the Star Wars universe, some episodes of The Mandalorian making of, and whether or not the theme to The Mandalorian riffs on some Bill Conti Rocky music. You be the judge!

Thank you as always for listening, supporting, and loving us. I assume you love us. Otherwise this 90 minute episode is gonna be a slog for you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode I hit on Da 5 Bloods and why I think of Spike Lee as comparable to Francis Ford Coppola (one thing I don't mention, and should have, is that both men are entrepreneurs and way into merching), as well as talk about Delroy Lindo's astonishing performance. 

Also this episode: the news that Batman will be in The Flash, and why coronavirus has been good for the MCU. Also! My thoughts on violence as a tool for social change, and why I can't use it but why maybe others can. 

The outro song is by David Peel & the Lower East Side. It rules.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Now it's a home operation, and this week when we had technical issues I had to spend a lot of time trying to fix them. And I couldn't! So Derek and I had to reconvene to rerecord the main body of this episode. 

Hopefully it turned out okay! In the episode we also discuss Star Wars Celebration, the upcoming Squadrons video game, the old Fantastic Four cartoon and kids setting themselves on fire and the phrase "Thing ring, do your thing." 

We also talk about Rebels season one, episode 7, Out of Darkness.

Next week we will talk about two episodes, 8 and 9, Empire Day and Gathering Forces, so make sure to watch both on Disney+ (or your physical copies or I guess some pirate site) before the next episode drops. The next episode which, God willing, we won't have to rerecord. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have very limited Star Wars news, as the entire world has turned its attention to far more pressing matters. We do, however, find time to discuss serial killers, and which kind I like best. Sorry. 

The episode this week sees Ezra going undercover in the Imperial Academy on Lothal, and all kinds of hijinks ensue. 

Thank you for all of your support! If this is a show you like, please tell your friends!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good question. As you may have noticed we didn't have a show last week. It's not because we didn't record one - we did. It's because at some point in the process I fucked up and deleted the file, or didn't download it properly. I talk about the problem in the opening here, and give a little insight into how we record the show.

As for this episode, it's Rise of the Old Masters, a pretty important episode of Rebels, and we get to talk about the Dark Side, young Han Solo on Kashykk, what people in Star Wars know about the Jedi and whether or not Darth Maul should have ever fought Darth Vader.

Thanks for your patience - we have taken steps to make sure the error of the missing episode is not repeated in the future!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode I discuss not only my experience visiting the set of Justice League but also the special magic of the movies and why an assembly cut is not the same thing as a real cut, and why the Snyder Cut doesn't exist yet. I also talk about what I think this means for the movies, and what I think Snyder's Justice League will be, based on the fact that while on set I was given most of the plot of the film Snyder was shooting. 

But first: death! Death is a big topic right now, and I've been thinking about it a lot. We have a strange and not comfortable relationship with death, and I talk about how my grandmother's death was... aspirational for me.

Thanks for your support! Thanks to Benjamin Cornelius-Bates for the theme song!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have episode three of the first season, Droids in Distress, featuring a pair of very famous droids from the films. We also have some big news about The Mandalorian casting - although I think it's big and Derek is a little less convinced of its bigness. It's a philosophical difference we attempt to hash out. 

If you want to skip the intro stuff and the news discussion, go right to 14:45 and you'll hear the Rebels theme music, your cue to know that we're gonna talk about the episode itself. 

We are still experimenting with recording and editing; I think we've hit on something that works pretty well for us, but I will warn you - my volume is a little low in the main episode discussion. That shouldn't be a problem next week. Thanks for your patience as we learn the ins and outs of podcasting as we go!

Thanks also to all of you for your support of this Patreon. It means everything to me!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks for listening and supporting. The rockin' intro song is by Benjamin Cornelius-Bates - thanks for the music!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've been ignoring this podcast because getting into Clone Wars in season 7 sounded like a big commitment, the good news is that Rebels is designed to allow you to walk right in knowing the bare minimum. Because it's set five years before Star Wars (the OG), the designs and the concepts will be familiar to just about everybody. This is a good spot to jump in, and the show is fun and, unlike Clone Wars, is barreling towards a  positive conclusion - the original Star Wars!

Some general housekeeping: in an attempt to improve the sound quality of the show we have changed how we record, but we're still tinkering with it. The goal is to make the sound quality of this as high as possible; I'm not an audio engineer and I don't have great hearing (why didn't I heed the warnings of all the adults who told me my Walkman was too loud back in the 90s?) but I think we're getting closer to where we want to be. Your patience is appreciated, your feedback is welcome. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is free for all listeners; if you are not a Patron and like what you hear and would like to hear more, please consider subscribing at any level!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Originally the plan was to have The Bad Batch episode 11 up yesterday, on May the 4th, the phony Star Wars Day... but then Disney+ dropped the final episode of The Clone Wars on May 4th! It seemed foolish to do an episode about the penultimate Clone Wars when the finale was already airing, so we hung back and recorded an episode about both - yes, this covers the final two, Shattered and Victory and Death.

With this we say goodbye to The Clone Wars (for now), but Derek and I have had so much doing this that we have decided to keep on keeping on. Starting next week we're going to transition to watching Rebels, which is also available in full on Disney+. We will be doing the first two episodes - Spark of Rebellion I and II - so if you want to watch along, there's your assignment. 

There's also some Star Wars news this week, which we discuss right up top - I've gotten some feedback on this, so we are going to try and keep the news stuff in the front of the show, so that if you don't really care about the cartoon we're watching you can at least hear our thoughts on the latest happenings over at Lucasfilm. 

If, on the other hand, you only want the cartoon content and want to remain blissfully ignorant of all Lucasfilm happs, just jump to 20:30, where we start the actual episode discussion. 

Thank you again for listening and being Patrons! You keep me going!

See you next week with Rebels!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Also on this week's show: too much talk about my bread baking, Derek's revisiting of the first two Prequel films, some round ups of Star Wars news and I take a small rant about how Lucasfilm has a problem with creator relationships AND how much I dislike the way studios are rescheduling movies as if there will be a blockbuster release any time in the next year and a half.  But mostly it's Star Wars Clone Wars talk! 

We're at the end of this season, two episodes remain. It's all big stuff from here on out. I'm psyched.

PS: the naming convention for Bad Batch files will henceforth be cloneshowep## - hopefully that helps with keeping em straight.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

- I'm releasing this episode free for all! If you have found your way here and are not a Patron, welcome. Take a look around. If you'd like to get this pod and the Bad Batch Clone Wars pod and also lots of other writing, consider becoming a subscriber. 

- This episode has the new file name format I'll be going with - sanghacastmmddyy - so that you can keep them in order on your device. I think that works? Look I just figured out how to manipulate track volume in Garage Band, so I'm still working on getting to know the finer details of the technical sides of podcasting. I miss having an engineer!

This week is about V: The Original Miniseries, the 1983 NBC TV miniseries about fascist lizard aliens taking over the Earth, and about how this show is eerily relevant right now. Some digressions include discussion of TV miniseries, the landscape of genre in 1983, how much we actually needed more Holocaust movies and my speculation that V is actually the origin of David Icke's reptilian conspiracy theory that has informed QAnon. 

Thanks again to all my Patrons, and welcome to the new folks. Hopefully we'll see you around here again.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're a little longer this week, but I think a lot of that is because of the quality and denseness of the episode. We may also yap a bit in the intro - forgive us, it's nice to catch up with your brother weekly. 

I've gotten some feedback that the naming convention of these podcast files is all over the place, and that's totally correct and I'm going to try and be better about it. I'm also looking into how to make these podcasts easier for you guys to access. 

Thanks for listening and thanks for your support!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Also there's some real world stuff - I took a drive up into the mountains and came upon the scene of a terrible accident where a car had gone off the side of the mountain. Reminders of mortality and the way the world can change in a heartbeat are bracing, and with COVID we're living through one.

In other adventures I had a run in with a guy at a grocery store who didn't want to social distance, and it got me thinking why dudes behave like this, and why they get aggressive when you try to politely request they keep their distance. 

This was a rough week over here, but the key is to keep moving forward, one day at a time, and try to not let the stumbles define you.

Thanks for your continued support. It means the world to me.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I talk about my weekend project - watching Jesus movies for Easter! The first one is Risen, the 2016 detective movie from the director of Waterworld where Roman soldiers Joseph Fiennes and Draco Malfoy try to find the missing body of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion. 

I also discuss the alternate Avengers: Endgame clip going around, with a different death scene for Black Widow, and how I prefer my martyrs.

Finally I spend too much time discussing Mary Magdalene, and the myth that she was a prostitute. Sorry, I am not a believer but I find Biblical history fascinating!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Ahsoka and friends escape from prison... only to end up in prison again. Is this episode wheel-spinning? Does a guy get cut in half? All the answers and more lay within.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week it's Becoming Nobody, a doc about Ram Dass, it's The Wall, the film adaptation of the Pink Floyd album, and it's Clue. There's also a little Guys and Dolls in there, and some discussion of the recovery/spirituality question "Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?"

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.