A More Civilized Age: A Star Wars Podcast

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 end of Season 6. For millions of fans, it served as a finale for The Clone Wars for six years. A deep dive about some basics of the force. A return of a voice long thought lost. A bunch of new force lore that we did not need. And, of course, an attempt to make everything just a little too tidy.  Could it really end any other way? Next Time: Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir Issues 1-4 and Crystal Crisis on Utapau  Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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 (tentative) truth about a mystery we've long been driven to understand. NEXT TIME: Episodes 119 - 121 ("Voices," "Destiny," and "Sacrifice)  Show Notes Deaths: Peteen, Silman, Lom Pyke (and his probably some of his boys)

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 effort, we set a bunch of stretch goals, including the promise that we'd play a Star Wars TTRPG one shot over here on AMCA.  Today we make good on that promise, thanks to Jess Levine, who has come through to help facilitate an Andor-era session of her game Going Rogue, which "weave[s] narratives about troubled martyrs mired in messy, ethically gray conflicts who must face the possibility of making the ultimate sacrifice." We use the system to tell the story of an unlikely band of rebels sent into the outer rim to... well, you'll see.  Also! For the rest of the month, you can pick up Jess' Going Rogue 2E along with Riley Rethal's Galactic 2E (the game which Going Rogue most directly builds off of) in a special bundle for just 18 bucks!  NEXT TIME (for real): Episodes 116 - 118 ("The Disappeared, Part I," "The Disappeared, Part II," "The Lost One") Show Notes Character Sheets and Play Materials!

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 absolutely peaked. NEXT TIME: Episodes 116 - 118 ("The Disappeared, Part I," "The Disappeared, Part II," "The Lost One") Show Notes Major Deaths (RIP to a real one): Teckla Minnau Normal, Expected Deaths (Sad imo): Commander Thorn, Bec Lawise Additional Deaths (It is what it is): Rush Clovis Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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 in a circular battle against a foe he thought was long since vanquished. The already troubled situation slips into crisis when... well, you should really watch these episodes and/or listen to us dissect them to get the whole picture. Just know: Today, we finally answer one of the longest running mysteries of the franchise.  NEXT TIME: Episodes 113 - 115 ("An Old Friend," "The Rise of Clovis," "Crisis at the Heart") Show Notes Deaths: Jedi Master Tiplar, Commander Droid Kraken, Tup (CT-5385), Fives (CT-27-5555) 😔 😔 😔 Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 place in the show and in Star Wars in general. Join us as we unpack the differences between Britell, John Williams, and the other musicians who've worked in the franchise. And don't worry, we sneak in one more theory about Cass' sister for good measure! Show Notes "Evolution of the Star Wars Main Theme" by Star Wars Audio Comics on YouTube (Used around minute 20) Brad & Will Made a Tech Pod "When Music is Torture" by an interview with Lilly E. Hirsch by Maggie Wang Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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 feelings on Andor, explore the tensions and consonances between the Lucas, Filoni, and Gilroy visions of the franchise, and (if you are very patient) try to unravel whatever the hell was up with that Karn/Mosk hat swap. NEXT TIME: TBD, but expect us to either pick up either our headphones or our character sheets. Show Notes "Star Wars Gets Political" by Adam Serwer "Tony Gilroy, forgive me for this post" - BB-8 on Andor & the Hero's Journey  Brasso's Actor posting Killing in the Name The Great Game, the Atlantic's World Cup Newsletter Finally, an important communique from the inimitable poet, sociologist, and comic book author Eve Ewing, as hand delivered by Adam Serwer: p.s. Eve, you are ABSOLUTELY welcome to come thru!

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 ever recorded. Come for our emotional reactions to the return of voices we'd thought we'd heard the last of. Stay for our dive into 2000s-era anarchist philosophy. And then rate us five stars for all the time we dedicate to talking about our very favorite absolutely rotten relationships. ALSO: As a special bonus for our Patrons, we recorded our own live reactions when we group watched this episode together. Go to patreon.com/civilized, support us at the $5 level, and you can hear each of our exuberant pop offs, our surprised gasps, our wavering voices, and our howls for the most rancid of love stories.   NEXT TIME: No episode on the 30th (this is that episode), and potentially no episode on the 7th. But we have a bunch of great stuff queued up for December, so look forward to it! Show Notes The Coming Insurrection by the Invisible Committee We are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anticapitalism Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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 last ten episodes on the edge of our seats, eager to know what comes next. But with today's episode, written by Tony Gilory and directed by Benjamin Caron, we are a step past eager. We are desperate. Join us in desperation. You can support the show and gain access to a monthly Q&A cast by going to patreon.com/civilized NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 12 (TWELVE. THE SEASON ONE FINALE. AHHHHHH)  Show Notes Shout outs to Chase for this one. Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 minute exploration of revolutionary sacrifice in its many forms. And while I could not call this nearly three hour long episode of our show anything close to "tight," I do think it's one of our best yet. So please, tell a friend, review the show on your podcast platform of choice, and (if you're in a place where you can) go ahead and give us some support on our Patreon. Here's to 50 more episodes of yelling about Jedi hypocrisy, theorizing about crybaby fascists, sometimes, complaining about mid-tier fandom, coming up with our own outlandish AUs, and (every once in a while) offering deep analysis. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 11 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo) You can support the show and gain access to a monthly Q&A cast by going to patreon.com/civilized  

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 are scenes in this week's Andor that never in one hundred years would we have imagined to have shown up. Here? In Star Wars? No. Couldn't be. Disney wouldn't let it happen.  And yet... here we are.  NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 10 Show Notes #Keero Fancam by Patrick Willems Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 star runtime episode yet, we delve into all manner of bleak material. There's prison labor. There's a bitter-yet-functional marriage. There's a snare slowly tightening around a rebellion so nascent that even two of its most important leaders can't come to terms about working together. And there's a little terrible man who is, one bad day at a time, learning that the world doesn't work in the the facile, cartoonish way he dreamt it did. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 09 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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. And, of course... Space Miami. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 08 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 season of the series?  No, that can't be right. You're saying that after this—perhaps the best pound-for-pound filmmaking we've covered on the podcast—we get... more?  Wow. A better world really is possible. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 07 Show Notes Heads up that next episode may come a day late, as we're dealing with scheduling difficulties and dental recovery! Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 for. From Coruscant to Aldhani, we trace four stories about families bickering. A mother dressing up insults in the language of care. A father leaning back and watching in glee as his daughter tears into her mother. Brothers-in-arms at each other's throats. It's drama time, baby. The action can wait. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 06 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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 what the actors have at their disposal. But three episodes is nothing. Sometimes a showrunner handles the introductory arc themself, only to step back afterwards. Budgets dip. The relationship between actors, directors, and others on set can sour. Three episodes can trick you. But Andor first three episodes didn't trick us. Join us this week for our dive into the fourth episode of the series, where we dig into all of our favorite topics, including cultural deterritorialization, the penchant intelligence agencies have for falling into paranoia, and, of course, extremely shitty husbands. NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 05 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 us to have some incredible experiences and, we hope, some fun surprises to share with you that compensates for the fact that we can’t analyze this with a complete knowledge of the text. That also meant that we never really had a plan for “what happens after we watch The Clone Wars?” That was a conversation for the future. We’d wrap up our project and then think about whether or not there were any other shows that we felt so passionately about that we’d want to widen the scope of AMCA. But it turns out that if you spend two years working on a Star Wars podcast the future might just become the present and force the issue before you are ready. As you might have gleaned when we watched the trailer, Andor had all the hallmarks of a show that would speak to the things we were most interested in when it came to Star Wars. And indeed, from the minute the first episodes came out, it was clear we needed to drop everything and let our own excitement be our guide. So: For the next couple months, we’re going to leave Ahsoka on the steps of the Jedi Temple at the end of Season 5 and spend some time with Andor. Now, we have a plan for the rest of the Clone Wars and we’d already started work on Season 6 when we made this turn, so we’re not scrapping the heart of what AMCA has been about. But for the next couple months, we’re going to be hitting the latest episode of Andor every week and continuing with our monthly Q and As. We hope you're as excited about these next few months of AMCA as we are. It’s fair to say that the post-Disney, post-Abrams era of Star Wars has been very hit or miss, but if nothing else it feels like Andor already feels like a show that has paid attention to and is ready to spark more of the most interesting conversations you can have about Star Wars and its fictional history. Will it stick the landing? Your guess is as good as ours, but we’re excited to take the ride with you. -Rob Zacny NEXT TIME: Andor Episode 04 Show Notes Huge shout outs to @XEECEEVEVO for the new art! Go check out their visual novel about murder and mystery in a 15th century convent, Misericorde!   Tony Gilroy on the Screenwriting of 'Andor' ‘What’s the Bodega Look Like on Coruscant?’: Tony Gilroy on Making ‘Andor’ – and Fighting Off a ‘Michael Clayton’ TV Series Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

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. Somehow, after the low lows of the middle of this season, we've hit an absolute golden pair of arcs to close it out. This week's material isn't perfect—the mystery has an unfortunate Scooby Doo quality, for one—but it's damn close.  And remember what Star Wars Dot Com said: [REDACTED] is 100% right. NEXT TIME: Episodes 109 - 113 ("The Unkown," "Conspiracy," "Fugitive," and "Orders") Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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, it was worth it. All of it.  If you haven't watched the last few arcs, take our recommendation and go watch this one before listening. You owe it to yourself. Then come back and get ready for what might be the most high energy 3+ hours we've ever had on the show. So far, anyway... Show Notes Mandalorian Murals Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)

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 just to find himself another harsh master. Oh, and the best explosion in the series to date. Now open your eyes and face the cold hard reality: This is one of the worst arcs we've seen yet. Hope yet lives, though. Why? Because we've made it through 100 episodes of the show. Oh, and because in the time since recording this episode, we've all watched the next arc. And wow is the group chat buzzing... NEXT TIME: Episodes 102 - 104 (""Eminence," "Shades of Reason," and "The Lawless"") You can support the show and gain access to a monthly Q&A cast by going to patreon.com/civilized Show Notes Astromech Deaths: M5-BZ Clone Deaths: Gregor (but probably not, thanks Dave) Star Wars The Clone Wars Season Five: A Sunny Day In The Void Featurette Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)