Star Wars 7x7: A Daily Bite-Sized Dose of Star Wars Joy

First came Episode 327. Then came Episode 1138. Now, we come to the last of the magic Star Wars numbers in Episode 2187. And its uses are not as prevalent as the other two. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

Today, a conversation with Cole Horton, author of the just-released Star Wars Book of Lists. Which is an enormous book, and we'll talk about everything that went into the making of this comprehensive yet irreverent tome. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

The shortest and the most technical of the Disney Gallery episodes thus far, "Process" goes behind the scenes of The Mandalorian to reveal how they refined the story through animatics and pre-visualization before filming the real thing.

On today's episode, I'll boil it down for you as best I can, though I think it's definitely worth checking out the "Process" episode so you can see the animatics and pre-visualizations for yourself. I'll also be featuring part of the conversation between Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni, where they talk about the story iteration process and how Dave Filoni's experience in animation fits right into this new way of making live action stories. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

Alphabet Squadron's audiobook was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, and I was a fan of her work on that first book in Alexander Freed's trilogy. So in all honesty, I was a bit disappointed when I heard that she wouldn't be narrating Shadow Fall.

That's no knock on the person who does narrate it, Carol Monda. As I listened to the audiobook version of Shadow Fall, I kept thinking to myself, "Where have I heard her voice?" Because, as far as I can tell, this is the first Star Wars novel she's narrated, but she sounds so darned familiar. Well, that's because she has a CV as long as your arm when it comes to narration in film, TV, radio, online, on stage, and in audiobooks. She's been at it for 30 years! I think the link that worked for me is that she's been the narrative voice of the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Classic Film Festival...

On today's show, I'll talk about the admittedly apples-to-oranges comparison between Maarleevld and Monda, and why the differences in the two novels themselves seem to play toward the different strengths of the two narrators. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

No Star Wars story takes place in isolation, and Alexander Freed's Shadow Fall is no exception. Yesterday, we talked specifically about its connections to the upcoming video game, Star Wars: Squadrons. Today, we tease out some of its connections to other movies, TV, and novels. That may be as a result of stories the characters tell each other; surprise appearances (or the lack thereof); and of a whole group of people hiding in plain sight. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

The more we learn about the people and places of Star Wars: Squadrons, the more we learn that those details are elaborated upon in Alexander Freed's Shadow Fall.

On today's episode of the show, I'm going to dig into some of the details we learn about the mission in Star Wars: Squadrons as revealed in Shadow Fall, including what Caern Adan (of New Republic Intelligence) thinks about the leader of Vanguard Squadron, Lindon Javes. (The mildest of spoilers for Shadow Fall happen in today's show, but only at the level of trivia - nothing about the story itself is spoiled.) Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

Thanks to Becker&mayer! for sending me a digital review copy to check out! I have to say, when I first heard about Star Wars: Book of Lists, I thought it was going to be a fun read, and good trivia fodder, but also exactly what its title promised - a book of lists.

When I actually got to check it out, though, I realized how mistaken I was. Cole Horton, who's written and co-written a dozen or so encyclopedic Star Wars reference books, brought all of those skills to the table when creating this book as well. Coming in at 224 pages, sure, you could just skim it for the 100 lists and you'd enjoy it. But the descriptive information included with those lists is what really makes the book a valuable addition to your Star Wars non-fiction shelf.

On today's episode, I'll talk about all of that, and share one of my favorite lists in the book - which, ironically, doesn't come with the descriptive, but is actually all the better because of the choice to make it an exception to the rule. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

Shadow Fall is the sequel to last year's Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed, and the second in a trilogy of novels about a group of sole survivors banding together to create a fighting force for the New Republic. If Alphabet Squadron is the A New Hope of this trilogy, then Shadow Fall is its Empire Strikes Back - a thrilling novel that improves upon its already strong predecessor with daring action, deep characterization, and devastating consequences for all involved.

On today's episode of the show, I'll be talking briefly about where we left off with Alphabet Squadron, and what we've been told publicly about the story of Shadow Fall so far. From there, I'll get into my non-spoiler review, and why I liked the novel as much as I did. I'll also share why I'm going to be reading or listening to it again very soon - it has to do with the ending, let's put it that way for now. I'll say more in the show, but I promise I won't spoil it for you in any way, shape, or form. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

For a franchise, a saga if you will, that turns largely on one father-son relationship, there's not a lot of fatherly representation in Star Wars. In fact, Star Wars is probably more notable for its *lack* of fatherly examples - or lack of screen time for them, to be sure.

On today's episode, we'll talk about types of fathers you may encounter, albeit briefly, in the Star Wars movies. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***

A fairly large portion of "Practical" - the fifth episode of the Disney Gallery series about The Mandalorian - is dedicated to Baby Yoda. And why wouldn't it be? Certainly the fortunes of the show have turned, to a large degree, around the success of that character's introduction.

But on this episode of the mini-documentary series, you also find out about the intersection of performer, prosthetics, and animatronics; the use of World-War-II-era weapons as design inspirations; how the special effects wizards use the starfield to enhance the impression of spaceship movement; how they worked in the use of miniatures (when digital effects would have been cheaper); and much more. Punch it!

***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.***