A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast

By A More Civilized Age

TV & Film

What's A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast about?

Join Rob Zacny, Natalie Watson, Ali Acampora, and Austin Walker as they dive headfirst into the fall of the Galactic Republic, debate which Jedi is messiest, and dig into the themes and politics of The Clone Wars. Cover Art by @XeeceeVEVO on Twitter.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

56: The Clovis Arc (Clone W...

01.18.2023

Have there been better arcs of Clone Wars? Absolutely. Have there been arcs that more cleverly dissect the hypocrisy of the Jedi or Anakin's fall to the dark side? Undoubtedly. Are there better duels, dogfights, and tests of will? Of ...

A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast episodes:

01.18.2023 56: The Clovis Arc (Clone Wars 113-115) Have there been better arcs of Clone Wars? Absolutely. Have there been arcs that more cleverly dissect the hypocrisy of the Jedi or Anakin's fall to the dark side? Undoubtedly. Are there better duels, dogfights, and tests of will? Of ...
01.04.2023 55: The Clone Protocol 66 Arc (Clone Wars 109-113) Happy New Year! As everyone moves into the new year, we're moving both backwards and forwards at the same time. With the Autumn of Andor (mostly) behind us, we return to our ongoing Clone Wars rewatch. But we also move ...
12.23.2022 54: Exploring the Music of 'Andor' with Kirk Hamilton In our final episode of the year, we're joined by Kirk Hamilton of Strong Songs, Triple Click, and the Kotaku review of Destiny 2 fame. (No, really, it's one of my all time favorite reviews. Go read it!) Over on ...
12.07.2022 53: Swapping Feelings, Theories, and Hats with Adam Serwer As promised, the Autumn of Andor continues! Today, we've got the first of three guest-filled episodes coming to you this December. We are joined by Adam Serwer, author of The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of ...
11.23.2022 52: "Rix Road" (Andor 12) Surprise! Thanks to a very kind mystery contact with their own very kind mystery contacts inside of Lucasfilm (and/or Disney Plus), we were given last minute screener access to the Andor finale. And you better believe we hustled to watch ...
11.21.2022 51: "Daughter of Ferrix" (Andor 11) As Cassian and Melshi put distance between themselves and Narkina 5, the rest of the galaxy spins just thus, aligning such that many of our principal players will wind up together on Ferrix. And those that won't, well, they're busy ...
11.14.2022 50: "One Way Out" (Andor 10) If you rewind the clock by two years, it was today, November 14th, that Ali, Rob, Natalie, and I got in the same group DM and made a decision: Let's do a Clone Wars podcast. Today, our 50th episode releases, ...
11.07.2022 49: "Nobody's Listening!" (Andor 09) There are many things about Andor that, push come to shove, I think we could have predicted. Self-sufficient (if selfish) rogue slowly warms to a rebellion? Sure. Imperial bureaucracy tightens its snare around the revolutionary and the uninvolved alike? Definitely. ...
10.31.2022 48: "Narkina 5" (Andor 08) If you made fun of us for going long on a previous Andor episode, well the joke is on you, because you should've waited for this week. In what can only be described as (minute-for-minute and pound-for-pound) our MOST five ...
10.24.2022 47: "Announcement" (Andor 07) After a nail-biting heist, what could follow for Andor? Unsurprisingly, a talky episode all about the Empire's response to the fledgling rebellion, filled with juicy details about galactic policy decisions, intelligence agency maneuvering, and a bunch of difficult emotional conversations. ...
10.17.2022 46: "The Eye" (Andor 06) Wow, what a season. From the opening at the rainy PreMor leisure district to the climactic conclusion in highlands of Aldh- What's that? You're saying this is only the halfway point of the series? The halfway point of the first ...
10.10.2022 45: "The Axe Forgets" (Andor 05) We finished last episode with two desires: To sit in on an absolutely terrible dinner evening and to watch the beginning of a high intensity heist. We got neither, and instead have received a feast unlike any we could've hoped ...
10.03.2022 44: "Aldhani" (Andor 04) Three episodes can trick you. It's enough that you think: Okay, I have the gist of the show. I understand what's going on here. I get the moves the filmmakers like to make, I understand tone and theme. I get ...
09.28.2022 43: "Kassa," "That Would Be Me," & "Reckoning" (Andor 01 - 03) A More Civilized Age has never been a show with a plan so much as a set of interests. We’ve never even really known what is coming in the primary topic for our show, The Clone Wars, and that’s allowed ...
09.14.2022 42: The Rogue Jedi Arc (Clone Wars 105-108) Do you remember when, in one of last arc's Filoni Zones, Dave said something like "...it's the best fight that we've ever done... until next episode's." Well, that might be true for in a broader sense for this arc, too. ...
08.31.2022 41: The Shadow Collective Arc (Clone Wars 102-104) We've had some hard times here, haven't we gang? Aspirin defending bounty hunters. Bogan fruit. Juggling Jar-Jar. Lux Bonteri, heartthrob and super soldier. Younglings. Droids in voids. Well. You know what? For the string of episodes we're kicking off today, ...
08.17.2022 40: The D-Squad Arc (Clone Wars 98-101) Close your eyes and imagine this: A Clone Wars arc about the intricacies of droid personhood and cultural hierarchy, partially taking place in an existentialist void, and crossing paths with a story about an amnesiac Clone who's escaped the war ...
08.03.2022 39: The Youngling Arc (Clone Wars 94-97) For nearly two years now, we've had a number of questions about what it means to be a so-called Youngling in the Jedi Order. What's it like to be separated from your family and culture? How are they taught to ...
07.20.2022 38: The Onderon Arc (Clone Wars 90-93) After some time away, we're back to our old tricks. And hey, so are the Jedi, if by "up to their old tricks" we mean "refusing to help people in need because they prioritize an abstract code over lives." Watch ...
07.02.2022 Bonus: The Kaiburr Conspiracy (feat. Keith J. Carberry) A quick note: This ep contains very minor spoilers for Season 5 Episode 7. As we said in the last few episodes, because of travel and other delays, we're not quite ready to jump into Season 5 headfirst yet. But ...
06.15.2022 37: Brothers, Revenge, and Revival (Clone Wars 87-89) With today's episode, we bring The Clone Wars Season 4 to an end and kick Season 5 off with, if not a bang, then at least the death of a somewhat major Jedi. Our Favorite Zabrak, Savage Opress (ugh) is ...
06.01.2022 36: Massacre and Bounty (Clone Wars 85-86) As we head into the final arcs of Season 4, we finally reunite with long lost Sith(-leaning) assassin, Asajj Ventress. How's she been? Well, you know how things go. Lose your job and your social circle and you start looking ...
05.18.2022 35: The Obi-Wan Undercover Arc Pt. 2 (Clone Wars 83-84) Everything is going swimmingly for Moralo Eval's dastardly plan. Along with certified killers Cad Bane and Rako Hardeen (shh), he's escaped Coruscant, evaded his Jedi pursuers, and arrived on Count Dooku's homeworld of Serenno. Now it's time for the real ...
05.04.2022 34: A Friend in Need and the Obi-Wan Undercover Arc Pt. 1 (Clone Wars 80-82) As The Clone Wars begins to lean into heftier, multi-episode arcs, we're hit with the first one we've been forced to break up due to scheduling and length issues. Which means that, yes, we will get to half of an ...
04.20.2022 33: The Zygerria Arc (Clone Wars 77 - 79) We've made it to the heart of Season 4. Well, in the specific figurative sense meaning "the middle," not the other figurative sense meaning "the thematic core, emblematic of the whole." At least we hope not, since this trio of ...
04.07.2022 32: The Umbara Arc (Clone Wars 73 - 76) Finally we have escaped the desert that was the beginning of Season 4, and we arrive at what is one of the best arcs of the show to date. The Republic sees the seceded world of Umbara as a strategic ...
03.16.2022 31: Shadow Warrior & the C-3PO and R2-D2 Arc (Clone Wars 70 - 72) You know. It happens, right? We've all had a few bad misses in a row, haven't we? And I know what you're thinking, "hey, are you talking about the quality of the show or the misadventures of C-3PO and R2-D2?" ...
03.02.2022 30: The Battle of Mon Cala Arc (Clone Wars 67 - 69) The fourth season of Clone Wars is here, and unfortunately, it kicks off with a bubbling whimper. On the watery world of Mon Cala, the already fraught relationship between its two key cultures is in crisis when the planet's king ...
02.16.2022 29: Padawan Lost & Wookie Hunt (Clone Wars 65 - 66) We have finally, actually come to the end of Clone Wars' third season, and we've been met with a pair of enjoyable, if straight forward, episodes. As has been a running theme throughout the season, today's journey focuses on Ahsoka's ...
02.02.2022 28: The Citadel Arc (Clone Wars 62 - 64) Phew, we've finally made it to the big Season 3 finale arc. Nearly all of our main characters are here, facing down the very Citadel we first heard about in the season opener--and some snarky commentary from a future Star ...
01.19.2022 27: The Mortis Arc (Clone Wars 59 - 61) Here it is, finally, the episode the Jedi Council didn't want you to hear! After a bout of illness and other scheduling hurdles (you might notice Austin isn't recording with this usual mic - sorry!), we have finally sat down ...
12.15.2021 26: Witches and Monsters Arc (Clone Wars 56 - 58) Week after week, we return to the same conversation: What if, instead of focusing only on known characters and therefore being boxed in by the events of the Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars could spread its wings and spend time developing ...
12.01.2021 25: Heroes on Both Sides & Pursuit of Peace (Clone Wars 54 - 55) There is an energy today. Can you feel it? Can you anticipate the shouting? The laughter? The grinding of teeth? The discussion of interest rates, privatization of public goods and services, and the strategic neoliberal moving of goal posts? All ...
11.17.2021 24: Hutts and the Underworld Arc (Clone Wars 51 - 53) If you only knew where this series of episodes began, you might expect quite a different podcast than what we deliver to you today. What begins as an arc about the power (and limit) of prophecy quickly turns into something ...
11.03.2021 23: Corruption & The Academy (Clone Wars 49 - 50) I will not lie to you, friends. On paper, this is a hell of an arc. A return to Mandalore, now starving because of Separatist pressure and Republic failure? Duchess Satine and Senator Amidala as confidants and heroines? Ahsoka, sent ...
10.20.2021 22: Supply Lines & Sphere of Influence (Clone Wars 47- 48) Sometimes on this show, we (Natalie especially) will talk about the "morsels" of world building that are delivered to us. Deep inside an episode about an evil Hutt lord or a lost lightsaber, maybe there's a brief mention of some ...
10.06.2021 21: The Kamino Arc (Clone Wars 45 - 46) We return from hiatus to find a pair of episodes built to answer some of our most potent and long running questions about the clones and their war: How are they trained? ? What's their relationship to Kamino? How soon ...
09.08.2021 20: The Boba Fett Arc (Clone Wars 42-44) Finally, we've come to the end of The Clone Wars Season 2. And, appropriate for a season subtitled "Rise of the Bounty Hunters," we do so with a trio of episodes about future fan favorite hunter Boba Fett (co-starring Aurra ...
08.25.2021 19: The Zillo Beast (Clone Wars 40-41) A two episode Godzilla and King Kong inspired arc? Certainly that couldn't leave us with enough material to go for more than 70, 80 minutes tops. Talk about the monster design, the War on Terror allegory, maybe even sneak in ...
08.11.2021 18: Senate Murders, Cat and Mouse, and Bounty Hunters (Clone Wars 37-39) After last episode's cohesive and sumptuous Mandalore Arc, today's follow up was going to have a high bar to clear. And, unfortunately, all three of today's episodes come up short. That's not to say there's nothing of note here: the ...
07.28.2021 17: The Mandalore Arc (Clone Wars 34 - 36) As far back as the Clone Wars movie, when Obi-Wan Kenobi first bantered with Asajj Ventress, we knew that the bearded Jedi Master had a romantic side. Today, we see that part of him in full bloom--and perhaps in full ...
07.14.2021 16: The Saleucami Arc & Lightsaber Lost (Clone Wars 31 - 33) Let's not beat around the bush: We have three episodes today, but one of them towers over the others. It's great to see our favorite Separatist general in "Grievous Intrigue" and it's fun to meet a new, Columbo-esque Jedi elder ...
06.30.2021 15: Return to Geonosis Arc Pt. 2 (Clone Wars 28 - 30) There are many reasons to be excited for this trio of episodes. There's the way the arc slides effortlessly from genre to genre, all while maintaining an overall sense of narrative continuity. There's the way that the lighting and effects ...
06.16.2021 14: Return to Geonosis Arc Pt. 1 (Clone Wars 26 - 27) Today we begin our first multi-part arc, starting with the series' first attempt at a cloak-and-dagger romantic thriller, "Senate Spy" (an episode which unfortunately lives up to neither "cloak-and-dagger" nor "romantic thriller.") Then, we head to Geonosis for the war ...
06.03.2021 13: Hostage Crisis & The Children of the Force Arc (Clone Wars 22 - 25) Nope, you're not wrong. That guy in the hat? He is extremely cool. And extremely evil. We've finally reached one of Clone Wars great, break out original characters: Cad Bane. He's here to remind us that villains can be extremely ...
05.19.2021 12: The Ryloth Arc (Clone Wars 19 - 21) “Another armed occupation is not a free Ryloth. How long before I am fighting you, master Jedi?” -Cham Syndulla On and above the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth, battles rage between Separatist and Republic forces. This three part, anthology-style arc gives ...
05.05.2021 11: The Blue Shadow Virus Arc (Clone Wars 17 & 18) After the highs and lows of Revenge of the Sith, it felt like we were due to even back out with some mid-tier content. And hey, good news, the Blue Shadow Virus is nothing if not mid. One one hand, ...
04.21.2021 10: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith With what can only be described as "season finale energy," today we detour from our Clone Wars journey in order to (re)visit the final film in George Lucas' much derided Prequel Trilogy: Revenge of the Sith. Do we debate at ...
04.07.2021 09: Trespass and The Hidden Enemy (Clone Wars 15 & 16) Content warnings: Discussion of sex and drug use. It should've been a simple episode. Two stand alone stories, each filled to the brim with the sort of political world building and philosophical question raising content that we thrive on. And, ...
03.24.2021 08: The Lurmen Arc (Clone Wars 13 & 14) If there is one leading question this podcast has raised so far, it's "What role do the Jedi really serve in the Galactic Republic?" It's fair to say that we've been pretty critical of this ancient order of religious space ...

Older episodes