Execute Chapter 66 : a Star Wars fiction podcast

This week we're going back to our favorite Star Wars author, James Luceno, with Catalyst: A Rogue One novel. The backstory on the design and construction of the first Death Star is a perfect story for Luceno to be telling. Like his other works it might be light on the action, but it makes up for that in character building, political in-fighting, and the overall general wormy sneakiness that is Orson Krennic. How did the Ersos meet Saw Gerrerra? Why is Galen such a sucker while Lyra seems to be so on the ball? Would things have been easier for everyone if Krennic and Tarkin had just settled their conflict with blasters at dawn? Everything but that last question will be answered here. We know that Tarkin is too smart to fight face to face at this point in his life. But if you didn't hate Krennic quite enough before here are many more reasons for you to start.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Time for more Claudia Gray, and yes we will eventually cover all of her books. She's one of the best because her YA books don't really feel like the YA you've come to expect. Leia is 16, and go through her rite of passage to be recognized as the future queen of Alderaan. Along the way she gets into a lot of trouble, uncovers a dangerous secret about her parents, and grapples with what it means to be a rebel and a princess. We're starting our own mini "journey to star wars" here so stay tuned for more about the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Have you ever wondered how the Dianoga ended up in the trash compactor? Or why TK-421 was so bad has his job? Or perhaps you wanted many many stories about the cantina in Mos Eisley. If so From a Certain Point of View has you covered. 40 stories by 40 authors for the 40th anniversary of A New Hope. With that much going on they can't all be great, but when this book shines it really shines. There are actually quite a few gems here, and we brought on special guest Gary Mitchell to help us talk about our favorites. The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

The Clone Wars was canceled with a lot of story lines left hanging. While we're all thrilled we got the end of Ahsoka's journey (the Clone Wars portion of it at least) we never found out what happened to a pretty big character from the series. Dark Disciple gives us the final story of Asajj Ventress. We also get to know seldom seen (and possibly still alive) jedi Quinlan Voss. This is the novelization of a fairly dark and sexy eight episode arc for the Clone Wars we never got to see. While we won't ever get those episodes, we do get a much more adult novel so we'll call that a win.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Mitth'raw'nuruodo is back, and he's as smart as ever. This time he's spreading his smart around so that everyone who works with him gets to share in the strategic and analytical genius we've all come to associate with our favorite blue skinned alien. That's a good thing since it seems pretty clear that the Grysk will be coming hard for Thrawn and the Chiss in the final book of this new trilogy. And if Chiss names are hard for you, don't worry. We converting those inpronouncable things into their English equivalents. Timothy Zahn would probably kill us so just nobody tell him about the freshly dubbed captain, Linda.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

If The Force Awakens tricked you into thinking Phasma would be an awesome bad guy with a great story: surprise! You just got Maul-ed. So here's a book to give a story to the character that never did anything or went anywhere in the movies. Well she went into a trash compactor, and then a burning chasm, but you get the idea. Phasma grew up on a brutal world as a brutal person, and joined the brutal First Order. She pretty much kills everyone she ever knew, and a bunch of strangers just for good measure. The real star of this story is Captain Cardinal though. The devoted FIrst Order officer who hates Phasma so much that he'll break all their rules just to get a shot at some evidence against her. Decide for yourself the morality of wiping out a group of droids who have created a civilization. And if you thought Armitage Hux was a weasel before you really haven't seen anything yet.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

The finale to the Alphabet Squadron trilogy (does everything HAVE to be a trilogy?) wraps up with Victory's Price. Just what is that price? Pretty cheap for our main heroes actually. Yrica Quell has switched sides yet again, and her former teammates are out for her blood. And hopefully the blood of the remnants of the Empire while they're at it. Chass is lost, Wyl is desperately reaching out to try and stop the fighting, Kairos is undergoing a metamorphosis, and Nath is just Nath-ing around. You gain a much better feeling for Soran Kreize and his desperate reason for rejoining the losing side, and may even feel some sympathy for a man with no hope remaining. Every character gets more depth in this last installment, and there's much more Hera for everyone to enjoy. Sit back, relax, and let Ryan take you through his ninety minute "squeee".The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

26,000 years before the battle of Yavin some mystical pyramids flew around the galaxy scooping up force sensitive beings to settle on the planet Tython. It's a planet perfectly balanced in the force, and as long as the beings live in balance things are super. Lean too hard into the dark side, and the planet will try to kill you with force storms. Unfortunately, you won't learn any of this from reading Into the Void. This is all information from the Dawn of the Jedi comic series. If you want to read this rather small story do yourself a favor and read the first comic beforehand. It's not that this is a bad book, but you definitely won't get the full feel for this world without it.Plus, Chad gives a TED talk on what used to be the ancient history of the Star Wars galaxy."Tython, The Wellspring" is written by Wilbert Roget II"Korriban, The Homeworld" is written by Mark GriskeyThe Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

This week marks the one year anniversary for Execute Chapter 66! To celebrate we're revisiting one of favorite Star Wars authors, James Luceno. Despite the rather generic Jedi, Dark Lord is definitely worth a read. It's not Luceno's fault that the Jedi were all pretty generic until The Clone Wars animated series came out so we'll let him slide. If you've ever wondered what was going on behind Vader's mask or how the mental transition from Anakin to Vader happened this book will not disappoint. And all without whining about sand or killing any more younglings.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Two High Republic Books, One High Republic Episode! A Test of CourageNewly knighted Jedi Vern, Master Douglas, and a large number of dignitaries are on their way to the dedication of the Starlight Beacon. Tragedy strikes as a bomb explodes, and kills nearly everyone on-board. That's right, a book for kids begins with the death of hundreds of people. It's actually a surprisingly good read for old folks like us, and gives even more depth to the world being built around the High Republic. Into the DarkFan favorite Claudia Gray delivers her first project of this era with her usual finesse. Taking place at the same time as the beginning of Light of the Jedi, this young adult novel also features a lot of brutal deaths. It's just a little more age appropriate this time around. A group of ships are forced out of hyperspace by the Legacy Run disaster. Smugglers, thieves, Jedi, and a sentient rock seek shelter on an abandoned space station where strange things are afoot. If the thing about the sentiment rock threw you for a loop just wait until you get to the giant killer tree monsters. Newly knighted Jedi Vern, Master Douglas, and a large number of dignitaries are on their way to the dedication of the Starlight Beacon. Tragedy strikes as a bomb explodes, and kills nearly everyone on-board. That's right, a book for kids begins with the death of hundreds of people. It's actually a surprisingly good read for old folks like us, and gives even more depth to the world being built around the High Republic. The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

"The galaxy is at peace" is not the way Star Wars books begin, but then we are in a brand new period of history. The High Republic media (books, comics, etc) are giving us a glimpse into what life was like under a well-run government, and competent Jedi. Light of the Jedi is the first book of this new era, and there's some pretty exciting stuff here. Hyperspace disasters, pyramid scheme pirates, and new heros like Loden Greatstorm and Keven to root for. Is Keven the greatest Star Wars hero of all time? Yes, yes he is. With our friend and special guest Arian Gulick.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

The longest opening crawl ever wraps up with Empire's End. Or is it? Yes it is. Sort of. The last book of this trilogy gives us closure for new favorites like Norra Wexley, and the untimely end of a few others. With so very much happening over the course of three books we spend a lot of time just wrapping all of this up. Whether you loved them or not there really is lot happening here. Until we meet again Mr. Bones...The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

The Aftermath trilogy takes us from the fall of the Galactic Empire to the rise of the terrible New Republic. In book one (Aftermath) we meet a ton of new characters while revisiting a few old friends. And, of course, the controversial Mr. Bones. Make of him what you will. Regardless, most of the first book is set up for book two (Life Debt). Political intrigue and plotting isn't necessarily best presented in Chuck Wendig's very immediate first person style. At least there's some balance with the exciting liberation of Kashyyyk. Sadly, the New Republic doesn't approve, but since they're terrible it's to be expected.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Is Lost Stars just Romeo and Juliet set in the Star Wars universe? Yes and no. There are certainly star-crossed lovers, but those lovers also end up at every big thing that happens from Alderaan to Jakuu. Claudia Gray is one of the best Star Wars writers around right now so even her YA stuff doesn't feel as YA as something like Poe Dameron: Free Fall. If you were waiting for us to talk about a better book for the young 'uns (or the old 'uns like us) then this is definitely it.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

This week we take a break from all that boring reading stuff and talk about the just-finished second season of The Mandalorian. But it's a big task, so we brought some friends along. So listen as Beth, Ryan, Chad and their friends Noel, Gary, and Pete, work their way through this exciting season of television, disagree about the returns of several you-know-whos, and determine once and for all if it's okay to eat fish-lady eggs.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Before anyone ever knew that Star Wars: A New Hope would really have a sequel there was...another. A book that was super weird, and yet led us to such well known things as kyber crystals. But it was also too early into the story to know that Luke and Leia were related so some stuff got (and reamains) really awkward. Regardless of how it holds up through time this is the earliest Star Wars book, and deserves attention and respect. We recorded this before we knew that Alan Dean Foster wasn't getting paid for his work otherwise we might have skipped this book in protest. Now that we know - hey Disney, pay the man!The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Timothy Zahn has been bringing us the adventures of Grand Admiral Thrawn since the early 90's. While the last trilogy might not have been everything fans wanted, Zahn did have his hands tied in the canon situation of the time. Now that Zahn has been let off the leash we're getting to see a lot more of what we've been waiting for. It's time to finally learn more about the Chiss, the unknown regions, and (brilliantly named) Yiv the Benevolent who is moving in on their turfWARNING: There are some noticeable audio glitches near the beginning of this episode but they go away pretty quickly.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Han Solo is a handsome young rogue with dreams of flying off into the stars and finding adventure. Oops...um, sorry. Poe Dameron is those things too, but in a much more poorly written way. If you wanted to know more about the Spice Runners of Kajimi (without really finding out anything about them or seeing any actual spice running) then this might be the book for you. We've occasionally been disappointed, we've sometimes been surprised or conflicted by thing in the Star Wars universe. Not even skeezy Prince Xizor had us as upset as Freefall. We normally try to keep things pretty positive, but this may be the worst Star Wars book any of us have read. The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

This week we talk about the audio play Jedi Lost.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

The second book of the series from Alexander Freed. The ragtag group of pilots from Alphabet Squadron is back, but they're finally working as a team. You'll get to know them all much better this time around, but if you were hoping for more Hera you're out of luck. What you do get is some crazy stuff that we won't spoil here. Spoilers are for the show! There are some excellent twists and turns, and we can't wait to see what the third book brings. If Alphabet Squadron wasn't quite what you wanted in a book give Shadow Fall a shot. The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Today you get two books for the price of one. Padme wasn't well fleshed out in the prequel movies. Now is our chance to learn more about who she was outside of her weird relationship to Anakin. The first book shows her transition from queen to senator. The second is a prequel the gives us the girl becoming queen. The Queen's Gambit isn't out yet so you'll just have to wait to see what that transition will be. Senator to corpse? Sorry, maybe that was too soon.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Poor Obi-Wan Kenobi. He lost his master, and got landed with a kid he wasn't prepared to train. A kid who went on to whine about sand, murder a bunch of younglings, and betray everyone and everything Obi-Wan ever cared about. So when he goes off to Tatooine to watch over young Luke Skywalker he's not in the best mood. Luckily there's enough local drama to keep him occupied for a while. Between a lonely widow, Tusken Raider attacks, and a wannabe big shot moisture farmer he's got his hands full. Will Obi-Wan ever get to live in peace or is he doomed to spend the rest of his life haunted by his past?The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

A ragtag group of heroes going up against a seemingly unstoppable force may sound like a trope. It is, but it's a trope that works well in the Star Wars universe. The problem with the first book of a series is that you can sometimes spend a little too much time in set up. Whether that's true or not for Alphabet Squadron is a matter of personal opinion, but there are some good things going on here. Plus, if you're like Beth and haven't gotten through the Aftermath series yet this is a time period you won't have seen in the new canon before. The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

In the late 90's Shadows of the Empire was a pretty big deal. There was a book, a video game, toys, and various other things revolving around this ambitious project. For better or worse it's been moved back into the realm of legends, but we still wanted to talk about it. Some things in the old expanded universe have aged better than others, and this book was very different than we remembered. Join us for a strange trip down memory lane as we look back at Shadows of the Empire.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

It's time to dip our toes into the world of Star Wars Legends. Darth Plagueis is only mentioned once across nine full movies, but his effect can be felt throughout the entire series. The Sith lord who helped make old Sheev the super villain of Star Wars has a pretty great history, and this book tells it well. While it may not have the action of other offerings, it's so well written that you'll be able to see why this is one of our favorite books.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

Star Wars movies love to just jump right into the thick of things, often without telling us how we got from point A to point B. That's where novels come in handy. Today we're taking a look at the novel that bridges the gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. If you feel like Wedge was robbed by only getting two seconds of screen time in The Rise of Skywalker then this might be the perfect book for you.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think! You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? 

We got a little out of order in our excitement to post the Ahsoka episode. Master and Apprentice explores the difficult relationship between Qui-Gon Jinn and his young padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi as they try to save a planet and princess in peril. Along the way we also learn more about Qui-Gon and his former master Count Dooku. Join us for a thrill ride into far off space with terrorists, jewel thieves, and galactic politics. Okay so maybe the politics are so thrilling, but it’s still a great book.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer.Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture! Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

We were all heartbroken when Anakin's padawan, Ahsoka Tano, walked away from the Jedi order at the "end" of The Clone Wars animated series. Then we got to be happy again when she showed up on Rebels, but what was she doing for all that time in between? The novel Ahsoka gives us a lot of those answers. Join us as we explore the novel, and get pumped about the new last season of The Clone Wars.The Skywalker saga may be over, but there are enough books to keep Star Wars fans satisfied for years to come. Chad, Ryan, and Beth have started a series to keep you up to date on all the action. Join our book club as we run down the best that canon, legends, and comics have to offer. Music by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men?  Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

In this episode we take on the new novelization of The Rise of Skywalker. I know we said that we'd be doing Master and Apprentice this time, but with the movie so recently released for home viewing we thought this was more timely. Whether you love or hated The Rise of Skywalker the book does add many things that the movie was missing. Join in as we delve deeply into those things, and how they may (or may not) change how we see The Rise of SkywalkerBe sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!The music is by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery.

This time we're discussing Thrawn: Treason, comparing it to the original Thrawn trilogy, and laying out our hopes for Star Wars: The High Republic. Still none of us has figured out why the world cares so much about Eli Vanto. If you happen to know please shoot us a message because we just don't get it. Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!The music is by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!

For our first episode we're starting with one of the most iconic characters of the star wars legends recently brought back to canon: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Listen in as we discuss the first two books in the Thrawn trilogy. Don't worry, we'll be talking about the third book and the original series next time.Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!The music is by Lester Dragstredt of The Mystery Men? You can follow Needless Things on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!Hungry for more movies, music, and pop culture? Visit the Needless Things Archives for a decade of dorkery!