Kirk Thatcher: From the Return of the Jedi Creature Shop to Gremlins, Muppets and Beyond
Kirk Thatcher started his career as the youngest person in the Return of the Jedi Creature Shop.
Come for the stories of working with Phil Tippett, Jim Henson, David Fincher, and then stay for the very insightful discussion on the future of the Muppets and Star Wars.
Head to his website, www.kirkrthatcher.com, for autographs and sketches of your favorite characters.
Dan Perri: Designer of Star Wars' Opening Crawl
Dan Perri is an iconic title designer, who, well, created the opening crawl of the original Star Wars.
You know, the crawl.
His work spans decades and directors, and I try to tackle as many as I can: from William Friedkin (The Exorcist) and Martin Scorcese (Taxi Driver, Gangs of New York) to Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters) and, of course, George Lucas.
We dive deep into his process and his experiences, from his early years being inspired by Saul Bass to designing the titles for the Suspiria remake. To be the first to find out when his book is coming out, head to www.danperri.com.
My Star Wars Dinner Party! Skytalkers x Talking Bay 94
This was such a blast (and, honestly, a dream come true: I was a guest on one of my favorite Star Wars podcasts, Skytalkers, with the great Charlotte and Caitlin.
The episode is a deep dive into potentially my favorite Star Wars movie of all time: Empire of Dreams, the feature-length documentary that was included on the Trilogy DVD boxset. Our conversation included:
- the importance of this documentary / how formative it was to all of our fandoms
- our favorite moments from the making of the movies
- the five people I would invite to my “Star Wars Dinner Party” (a dream question) … and so much more!
The episode (and my ramblings)can be be found here: https://skytalkers.com/2020/11/19/empire-of-dreams-documentary-with-talking-bay-94/
As always, please send a note to brandon@talkingbay94.com if you need a guest to gab your ear off about BTS content!
Todd Vaziri: Putting the "Magic" in Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic digital artist and compositing supervisor Todd Vaziri has worked on every Star Wars movie since 2002, beginning with Attack of the Clones.
Whether for the prequels (including the final duel on Mustafar), the sequels (figuring out the feel of a modern Star Wars movie), the spin-offs (helping to bring Tarkin and the Kessel Run to life), theme park rides (including Star Tours and Rise of the Resistance), or Stephen Colbert’s Green Screen Challenge, Mr. Vaziri’s passion for movie-making is evident in his every shot, and in his every answer on this episode,
I’ve wanted him to be a guest on Talking Bay 94 for such a long time, and man, it was so worth the wait.
Make sure you are following him on Twitter: @TVaziri … he is truly one of the best people to follow, period, on that app.
This Friday, at 7:30 PM Central, we will be live again on Scener.com, breaking down Episode 4 of The Mandalorian Season 2. This will be every Friday night this season, with me and special guests pausing rewinding and analyzing every shot and, thanks to Scener’s technology, you’ll be able to watch seamlessly alongside us!
Head to scener.com/talkingbay94 to set a reminder for this Friday and I’ll see you there!
Delilah S. Dawson, John Jackson Miller and Tracy Deonn: From a Certain Point of View
Today is a very special roundtable episode with three incredible Star Wars authors, all of whom contributed to the just-published From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back anthology.
Joining me is Delilah S. Dawson, also the author of Phasma and Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, John Jackson Miller, who previously wrote Kenobi and A New Dawn, and Tracy Deonn, who might be a newcomer to writing for Star Wars, but whose story about the Dagobah Cave in this book blew me away.
Thank you as well to Del Rey for setting all of this up. From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back is now available: https://amzn.to/2IneBFN
- Delilah S. Dawson: https://www.whimsydark.com/
- John Jackson Miller: https://www.farawaypress.com/
- Tracy Deonn: https://tracydeonn.com/
Gary Whitta Strikes Back: Writer of Rogue One and Rogue Two
The writer of Rogue One, Gary Whitta, returns to the show to talk all about his latest Star Wars story … Rogue Two.
What follows is an in-depth dive into his piece in the just-published From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back, a further discussion on the importance of hope in Star Wars, and a look at what else he’s been doing since the last time we spoke, especially Animal Talking!
Thank you again to Mr. Whitta for coming back on the show! What a delight and treat, as always, and I can’t wait to talk to him again in January about his next project!
Head to his YouTube and Twitch accounts, so you can check out Animal Talking, and everything else he’s doing, for yourself.
This Friday, at 7:30 PM Central, I will be live on Scener.com, breaking down Episode 3 of The Mandalorian Season 2. This will be every Friday night this season, with me and special guests pausing rewinding and analyzing every shot and, thanks to Scener’s technology, you’ll be able to watch seamlessly alongside us!
Head to scener.com/talkingbay94 to set a reminder for this Friday and I’ll see you there!
What Would I Ask George Lucas? Ahch-To Radio Episode #53
This Saturday, my appearance on Ahch-To Radio with Alden Diaz went live! I really enjoyed our conversation, and was so grateful for the invite, as well as Alden’s great questions. Some topics we get into include:
- my Plano, TX origin as a Star Wars fan
- my overall mentality as a fan of behind-the-scenes content, (Including my heroes in the business and “bucket list” guests”
- what I’ve love to ask George Lucas … and so much more!
Again, to all who reach out and care enough about my dumb opinion to have me on their show: thank you. I love it so much and, honestly, it is just so humbling.
Send a note to brandon@talkingbay94.com if you need a guest to gab your ear off about BTS content!
Dave Dorman: Iconic Star Wars Artist of Comics and Covers
Dave Dorman is one of the greatest Star Wars artists of all time.
Since the early days of the Expanded Universe, Mr. Dorman’s art has been some of the most iconic images of a galaxy far far away. From Dark Empire to Tales of the Jedi, Dark Forces and beyond, it was a real treat getting to dive in a little bit more into his process.
As you know, we don’t typically release episodes on Saturdays … but this is a special episode, brought to you by our friends at Coolwaters Productions, who are currently doing an autograph signing with Harrison Ford. After the interview, we are then joined by Coolwaters President Derek Maki for about 15 minutes worth of a Ford Signing Q&A.
(And there probably won’t be an episode this Wednesday, just knowing what Tuesday night has in store and my mental headspace, so I wanted to make sure this at least was published now!)
Here’s a direct link to the exclusive Indiana Jones print we were talking about, as well as a ton of other options for the Harrison Ford signing: https://coolwatersprods.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=2158
Some Recent Appearances in the Star Wars Community!
If you weren’t already tired of hearing my voice on Talking Bay 94, I was on a ton of podcasts and websites this week! Truly my favorite part of being in the Star Wars podcast community is getting to meet with and talk with so many incredible people.
That being said: if you are looking for a guest or just want to chat about documentaries, send me an email to: brandon@talkingbay94.com!
- WSTR: “Episode 194 – A LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN“ – This is my third time on the show (still waiting on my commemorative plates), but I had a blast, as always. We talked a lot about BTS stuff, of course, but delved into some more recent news (and some Mando Season 2 predictions too)!
- The ForceCast: “FINAL MAILBAG OF 2020” – I guess I wasn’t that terrible last time, but Ryan invited me back on as a guest co-host for this week’s mailbag episode! I had a lot of fun going through listeners’ questions and giving a ton of thoughts on The Mandalorian. So fun!
- Friends of the Force: “WEARING A GALAXY” – TB94 producer, Jason, took the mic for a change and went over to our friends at FotF to talk about our Super Yaki collab (still on sale!). He was joined by Andrew and Skylar, who were the best collaborators on this project.
- Rebels Rebels: “S4E2, IN THE NAME OF REBELLION” – These guys were one of the first people to ever invite me on a show, so of course I was more than happy to come and talk about some early final season episodes of Star Wars: Rebels. Really great time. Highly recommend.
- Tatooine Times: “HORROR BEYOND IMAGINATION” – Something a little different … I was so glad that Fabio from TT asked if we could collab on some Halloween goodness. I got to write this time, an article I called “Horror Beyond Imagination” (of course) … all about the OT’s influences on the genre, and vice versa. Check it out!
That’s a lot! Next week, I’ll also be on Ahch-To Radio with Alden, which is a conversation I really enjoyed. More soon.
(Thank you again to everyone who reaches out and cares enough about my dumb opinion to have me on their show! It is just so humbling.)
Andrew Booth (BLIND LTD): Designing How Star Wars "Feels"
BLIND LTD‘s work as a London-based creative studio designing user interfaces for movies, whether it is for James Bond or The Dark Knight Trilogy (or, especially, Star Wars) is simply incredible.
What makes Star Wars feel like Star Wars? This episode dives deep into that question and I enjoyed it so, so much.
Thank you again to Mr. Booth, as well as Helen Baker from BLIND LTD for the time, the patience and the coordination it took to come on the show. For more examples of the incredible work, just open one of your Phil Szostak art books, or head to www.blindltd.com
This Friday, at 7:30 PM Central, I will be live on Scener.com, breaking down Episode 1 of The Mandalorian Season 2. This will be every Friday night this season, with me and special guests pausing rewinding and analyzing every shot and, thanks to Scener’s technology, you’ll be able to watch seamlessly alongside us!
Head to scener.com/talkingbay94 to set a reminder for this Friday and I’ll see you there!