ポッドキャスト A More Civilized Age

Welp. We did it. We went to space. Thanks to your support, a favor from a friend in Disney's gaming department, and our realization that our rainy day fund had finally found a storm worth being spent on, we flew down to Orlando and took in the sights, sounds, tastes, smells and stories of the Galactic Starcruiser. This episode, recorded about a wee…

Join us as we continue our journey down into the depths of Taris, a city so bad that it hasn't really gotten that much worse under Sith occupation! Sure, there's a rampant plague of not-zombies spreading through the dark fantasy undercity. And a traitorous swoop racing gang has started killing people in the streets. And, well, I guess there's the m…

An even longer time ago, in a galaxy approximately the same level of far, far away, there was Knights of the Old Republic, a Computer Role-Playing Game based on D&D's D20 system. Natalie and Rob never heard the story of Darth Malak, probably because it is not a story the Jedi would tell you. But Bioware, back in 2003, told everyone this story and a…

Hey everyone! As promised, we took some time to discuss and consider what we'll be doing for the next chunk of AMCA during the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. And we've reached a determination. As highly, overwhelmingly requested, we will be playing Knights of the Old Republic. Ali and I get into it a little on this short announcement episode, b…

In case you haven't heard via our Patreon or various social feeds: AMCA is about to PIVOT. SAG-AFTRA recently released new guidelines for podcasters. Though Rebels is not a guild production, it is hosted on Disney+ and tied closely to the ongoing promotion of Ahsoka. As such, we've been figuring out how to best continue the podcast without crossing…

Finally, we've hit our first big Rebels milestone: the finale of season 1. With Gall Trayvis revealed to be an Imperial operative, the crew of the Ghost takes his supposed mission (getting the word out about how people should fight back) into their own hands. The result: A series of episodes that cements the first season of Rebels as better than we…

The first season of Rebels has come around the turn of the midseason and is headed directly towards a dramatic conclusion. But before it gets there, we have some business to take care of. First of all, Ezra's gonna need to get a lightsaber. Second, we gotta get to the bottom of this "senator-in-exile" business. And of course, it wouldn't be a Filon…

For the last few months, we've been getting to know the crew of the Ghost. But how much have we learned about them really? Sure, we know that Zeb's people suffered occupation and (apparently) genocide, or that Hera is able to make hard decisions for the greater good. But give it some thought: What do we really know about these folks? What's Sabine …

With this pair of episodes, it seems accurate to say we've truly entered Rebels proper. Not because some production technique has finally hit its stride, or because we've reached some grand revelation, or seen a major swing in character development. Instead, it's because these are just two totally familiar, stock procedural episode formats: "Kid go…

Dedicated television watchers know that you can only learn so much from a show's pilot episode. Performances might not be dialed all the way in yet. The show's style of composition, blocking, editing, and other cinematic elements is still under construction. Hell, even the tone and attitude might be up in the air. But by episode 5, all that wet cem…

We did it! We made it through the Clone Wars Legacy materials, past Solo (for some reason), and into the heart of the show that is going to take over our lives for the next year plus—or at least until Andor season 2 starts. Today we kick off Star Wars: Rebels, meeting the crew in a series of four, hijinks-laden shorts and then moving on to the two …

Here we are. Our final diversion before we finally arrive at Rebels. And what a diversion it is. A couple of really good heists. A couple of great performances. Solid props and sets. An incredibly paced, 60 minute film. I'm sorry. Huh? You're telling me... you're saying that's not even half the movie? It what? It botches a droid liberation arc? The…

60 episodes. Minus like, a dozen Andor eps. Plus a bunch of Patreon bonus Q&As. That's how long it's taken us to get through the original run of Clone Wars, plus the Legacy materials released soon after the end of its 6th season—culminating with today's episode on the Asajj Ventress/Quinlan Vos romantic adventure Dark Disciple. It's truly all come …

Before we complete our journey out of the Clone Wars and into Rebels, we have a few final stops to make. First, we find out what ever happened to Darth Maul after the events of the Shadow Collective Arc. Then we get an absolute banger in the unfinished story reel version of The Crystal Crisis of Utapau, an arc too good to have been left in this sta…

Come to the end of Clone Wars' original run, we have. No. No I won't do it. You can't make me write in Yoda. Yoda doesn't even write in Yoda, I bet. Lie, Yoda does n- No. No I'm not going to have a big, Gollum-like argument with myself either. This arc already did that and it wasn't good then, so why would it be now? In any case. This is it: The en…

After a brief hiatus due to health, travel, and a half dozen other delays, we are back to the Clone Wars. And what a return it is. We begin on the world of Bardotta, where a culture of force sensitives (and Jedi haters) are led by a queen with the best taste in men we've seen so far in this series. Then, finally (well...), we (sort of) learn the (t…

Today on AMCA, we're teeing up something special for those of you who love it when we go wild creating our own AUs and OCs! About six months ago, Ali and Austin of AMCA joined the rest of the cast of our sister podcast, Friends at the Table, to do a two day charity marathon raising money for the National Network of Abortion Funds. As part of that e…

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 course. But has there ever been a Clone Wars arc as toxic as this one? Oh, no my friends, in that regard we have abs…

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 forward into a new season, picking up with Anakin Skywalker feeling a little more dour than usual as he leads a tired clone force i…

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 Strong Songs, Kirk recently dove headfirst into Nicholas Britell's excellent Andor score. Today, he's joining us to talk through music's p…

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 Trump's America, staff writer at The Atlantic, and life long Star Wars fan. We share and contextualize our final feeling…

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 it, prep our notes, and deliver the longest episode of our Andor season and one of the longest episodes we've ev…

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 uh... talking about Trad Chandrillan customs, so, you know, equally as exciting. Like many of you, we have spent the l…

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, and let me tell you: On that day, we could not BEGIN to imagine how much we would be feasting. Today's episode of Andor is a tight, focused 43…

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. Coruscanti political drama? Probably, hell, they had that in Clone Wars. But there a…