SSSW - Star Wars Podcast Day - 2023 Preview - Bonus Episode

Julian Meush February 7, 2023

We are proud to be taking part in "Star Wars Podcast Day 2023", a celebration of all the podcasts who are covering the galaxy far far away. This is our first year taking part, and as a special bonus episode just for the occasion, Rachel and Julian look ahead at all the Star Wars content coming to Disney+ and beyond. 2023 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Star Wars content in some time, what with 'The Bad Batch' already well underway, and 'The Mandalorian' season 3 just around the corner, the hype levels are already through the roof. Looking later into the year with 'Ahsoka' and 'Skeleton Crew', and although little is actually known about them at this point, it's hard not to get excited about the prospect of live action Thrawn. That's without even mentioning 'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor' the follow up to the hit game from EA. Plus more 'Star Wars Visions'. It's almost too much! … almost.

SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E6 "Tribe"

Julian Meush February 3, 2023

Now we're cooking with gas! After two very insular episodes that felt very light and fluffy we're back to something with a little more (furry) meat on the bones. "Tribe" kicks off with a very moody space station sequence that leads up right into the reintroduction of a fan favourite character from 'The Clone Wars' in nonother than everyone's favourite Wookie Jedi, Gungi! He's is looking a bit older but still clearly an adolescent having dealt with a lot after Order 66. This episode does a nice job of adding stakes with the Wookies and injects some nice world building as we learn more about the state of Kashyyyk after the war. A nice change after both of those elements were barely seen in the last two episodes.

SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E5 'Entombed'

Julian Meush January 27, 2023

Sure, we were a little harsh on last week's episode, 'Faster'. It felt like a diversion that was unfortunately timed to come immediacy after a standout episode of the entire series in 'The Solitary Clone'. Coming off of this week's 'Indiana Jones' inspired treasure hunt episode, we learned the show was capable of being even more aimless than we already thought possible. Wanda Sykes' character Phee Genoa returns, and we learn she's less of a pirate and more of a treasure hunter, which admittedly is a cool refinement. Unfortunately, the nature of this "mission of week" which finds the Batch exploring a desolate uncharted planet means that there is little to no plot movement for the larger story. To make matters worse, despite some relatively interesting lore possibilities (hello 'Jedi: Fallen Order'), there's also no character work here either. It's the ultimate "filler" episode. I term I loath to use, as its meaning has largely been lost in the popular lexicon, but in this case, the shoe fits.

Episode 182 - The 2022 Tobie Awards

Julian Meush January 22, 2023

As the calendar flips to a new year it's always nice to look back at the best-of-the best from the last 12 months. It's become a highly prestigious tradition here at Tower of Babble - 6 years running. Therefor, as is tradition, the ToB hosts, Julian, Jeremy, and Rachel, gather together to discuss their top 3 ranked favorites in film and television from 2022. If you've been listening (or watching live!) throughout the last year, some of these picks might be predictable. That being said, there was a lot of great content to pick from so don't be shocked if something comes out of left field. Congrats to all of this year's Tobie winners!

SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E4 "Faster"

Julian Meush January 20, 2023

Last week's episode of 'The Bad Batch' gave us a topsy-turvy, through the looking glass examination of the jingoistic "adventures" of 'The Clone Wars', seen through the eye's of a compassionate, respected, and likely regretful, veteran of those wars. It was near perfect - chefs kiss*. This week... well this week we got a pseudo-podracing episode that attempts to flush out Cid's past, but unfortunately it doesn't do a great job at the racing OR the character building. Tech gets some interesting things to do, and the voice cameos are fun, but largely speaking this episode feels quite disposable.

SSSW - The Bad Batch S1E3 "The Solitary Clone"

Julian Meush January 13, 2023

Think back to ‘Revenge of the Sith’ - after Kenobi finishes off Grievous, Commander Cody, Kenobi’s good friend and colleague, gives him back his dropped lightsaber. This is only moments before he shoots him down when Order 66 is enacted. That moment is the last time we had seen Cody from a timeline perspective. A lot has happened since then: countless Jedi murdered, the rise of the Galactic Empire, and with it the iron boot of oppression. How does a lifelong soldier, and a man who believes he killed one of his only friends grapple with that? Well, this episode of ‘The Bad Batch’ asks those very questions as we are treated to a Clone Wars-esque mission, complete with a separatist planet and battle droids, all seen through the eyes of Crosshair. A clone who he-himself is struggling to understand where he fits into the Imperial machine. The rest of The Batch is absent from this episode but you won’t even notice in this action packed, emotionally charged installment.

SSSW - The Bad Batch Season 2 Premiere

Julian Meush January 6, 2023

After a short holiday break, Julian and Rachel return to Star Wars, this time in the animated form, to discuss the premiere of ‘The Bad Batch’ season 2, which encompassed two episodes, “Spoils of War”, and “Ruins of War”. The two-part premiere saw The Batch take on an extremely risky “get rich quick” scheme that takes them to the planet of Serenno, Count Dooku’s old haunt, to steal a fraction of his EXTREME wealth, which is being gathered up, and shipped off-world by the Empire. With plenty of interesting themes and story threads to digest, and even a new Clone Captain to meet, there’s a lot to discuss. Join us as we break it all down!

ToB Film Club/Christmas Special - Die Hard (1988)

Julian Meush January 2, 2023

Hard to believe it's already the Holidays already. Seems like just yesterday we were reviewing 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation'. Oh what a time... we were laughing, snow was falling, things were merry and bright. Well the weather is cold again, and the only way to warm up this year is with EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE! That's right, we're dusting off the action, comedy, Christmas classic 'Die Hard' for this special season. Essentially a perfect action movie, there's very little to critic, but boy is there a lot to love. Join Julian, Jeremy, and Rachel as they break down all the fun one-liners and over the top kills, plus enjoy some bonus Christmas stories from the ToB Crew to kick things off. It's Christmas miracle! Happy holidays everyone!

ToB Interlude - Avatar: The Way of Water

Julian Meush December 21, 2022

It’s been over 10 years since we first visited Pandora (I.e. Not-Kansas), but its been worth the wait. Visionary director, James Cameron, has put together an epic sequel that rivals some of his best. Not only have the visuals taken another leap forward, with nearly photo real effects, but the action and story have also taken a big step forward. This is a complete movie (you’d hope so, considering it comes in at over 3 hours long), full of character exploration, in depth world building, family drama, action on a massive scale, and a strong heart and core message. It’s a movie that deserves to be seen on as big of a screen as possible, and yea even the 3D is good. Needless to say, we liked the movie, so please join Julian and Jeremy as they break it all down!

Episode 181 - Transformers Beast Something

Julian Meush December 12, 2022

After what feels like a lifetime, Julian returns to the studio to catch up with Jeremy on all the latest in film and TV news. With a massive backlog of stories to cover, it's hard to know where to start. Thankfully, WB obliged with a juicy story about James Gunn's first couple moves with the newly minted "DC Studios", not the least of which being the shelving of 'Wonder Woman 3'.With more turmoil at WB, the guys dive deep into the possible ins-and-outs of this type of shake-up. Meanwhile, on the lighter side of things, trailers for 'Indiana Jones 5', now with it’s official title “Dial of Destiny”, 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts', and 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' all dropped around the same time, and all of it is dsucsussed in detail. All that and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

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Jun 5, 2025

SSSW - Tales of the Underworld

Jun 5, 2025

Lucasfilm Animation has been hard at work on their next major project, 'Maul: Shadow Lord', but they've found the time to deliver another installment in their "Tales of" anthology series. The first ones covering the Jedi and the Empire, they now turn their focus towards the Underworld. However, be warned, this is a bit of a misnomer. Don't expect any crime syndicates or really any large scale criminality here. These 2 mini-arcs instead focus on Asajj Ventress (I know, not the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the Underworld) as she assists a young Jedi on the run from the Empire, and the origin story of Cad Bane. Which admittedly is closer in line with the criminal underworld concept, but is really more interested in telling a western style revenge story instead. All in all, despite the always great visuals and sound/music design, and few interesting ideas, there's not enough meat on the bone here to satisfy most viewers. But most disappointing is its failure to capitalize on the potential of the Underworld concept.

Jun 5, 2025

May 22, 2025

SSSW/ToB Film Club - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

May 22, 2025

It's hard to believe that 'Rogue One' premiered nearly a decade ago. At the time, it was fairly well received, considered to be a decent first step into the standalone Star Wars movies, if not a bit messy. As the years passed, we learned more about the production. Gareth Edwards, who retained sole directing credit, was assisted by Tony Gilroy to "fix" the project. Tony went so far as to call it a "corpse" when he came aboard for rewrites and reshoots. It was Tony's inclusion that brought us some of the movies most memorable moments, and ultimately led him to leading the charge on 'Andor', a prequel project that flew under the radar as hits like 'The Mandalorian' hogged the spotlight. With 'Andor' now complete, considered by many to be a masterpiece in storytelling, not just in Star Wars but on television in general, now is the most appropriate time to reexamine the movie that spawned the Cassian-centered prequel series with fresh eyes. 'Andor', which leads directly into the events of 'Rogue One' recontextualizes much of the film, creating a unique viewing experience that pays off a multitude of threads that are brilliantly laid over the two seasons of 'Andor'. It takes the movie, which was already pretty good, and makes it great. Now existing as part of a whole that weaves a cohesive narrative from the nascent moments of the Rebellion all the way through to the destruction of the Death Star in 1977 (the seed that begat ALL Star Wars, and what we appropriately align our Star Wars BBY calendars to). It all feels wholistic and considered when viewed from the broader perspective - an accomplishment that should set a shining example of what Star Wars can and should aspire to.

May 22, 2025

May 15, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 Finale

May 15, 2025

After only 4 weeks - the blink of an eye - it's all over. The best Star Wars story since the Original Trilogy has graced our screens and left us in awe. These final three episodes weren't able to reach the emotional highs of last week's arc, but that wasn't the goal. Instead, it provides time to look back at what brought us here, and sets the stage for the climax of the story to take place not in this moment, but within the now recontextualized film that birthed all of this in the first place, 'Rogue One'. And while the show may carry Cassian's name on the title screen, it's been the cast of characters we've met along the way that truly elevated this experience. Not to pick favourites, but in particular, Luthen and Kleya, who get an episode all to themselves this week are the standouts. And what an episode it was, as their story which shepherded much of the series came to an end, as we all expected it would have to. Embracing those feelings of closure, in the final moments of the series, as Cassian flies off into 'Rogue One', we are treated to our last glimpses of our heroes and villains. From Dedra to Vel and even Perrin, we are left to consider their fates as the story marches with inevitability into what begat all of this way back in 1977. Will we ever see Kleya, Vel, Wilmon, or Bix again? One can only hope - and rebellions? Well, they're built on hope.

May 15, 2025

May 9, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E7 - 9

May 9, 2025

When dealing in the world of prequels, it’s impossible to escape the inevitable - Anakin will fall, Han will win the Falcon, Cassian will die on Scarif. Somehow, in the midst of some of the most thrilling episodes of television ever put to screen, Tony Gilroy and his team found a way to address that impending doom and weaponize it against the audience to induce some of the most gut wrenching and heart breaking moments we’ve yet to see on ‘Andor’ - “There’s some place he needs to be”. At a larger scale, the show continues to outdo itself on a weekly basis, proving that the Star Wars galaxy provides a colour pallet of some of the richest hues from which to paint bold and personal stories. Proving you can go beyond the larger than life stories of heroics and grandeur to human stories of loss and pain and everything in between. That’s without mentioning the deft touch in pulling in themes that resonates with the contemporary while remaining timeless - a feeling that is a staple of Star Wars. Every detail is considered, every character is deep and interesting. There isn’t much more that can be said about such a powerful piece of art, except that not even the audience can escape the inevitable - only one week remains of this masterpiece.

May 9, 2025