Episode 216: Now This Is Podracing | Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace

Derek and Steve discuss the second book in the Bill Hodges Trilogy, Finders Keepers and how it connects to the Dark Tower — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  The Sleep & Sorcery book, written by Laurel, is now available in hardcover at Crossed Crow Books - and you can pre-order the paperback! crossedcrowbooks.com Support indie bookstores by ordering at bookshop.org. Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

After spending the last few months talking nothing but Star Wars, Derek and Laurel finally get to the real question we’ve all been wondering…What’s the deal with the Jedi? Religious order or security forces? Warrior or priest? — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  The Sleep & Sorcery book, written by Laurel, is now available in hardcover at Crossed Crow Books - and you can pre-order the paperback! crossedcrowbooks.com Support indie bookstores by ordering at bookshop.org. Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Steve and Derek talk Mr. Mercedes — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  The Sleep & Sorcery book, written by Laurel, is now available in hardcover at Crossed Crow Books - and you can pre-order the paperback! crossedcrowbooks.com Support indie bookstores by ordering at bookshop.org. Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

We conclude, at long last, our series on the Star Wars prequels with an in-depth look at Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. How do the Jedi sow the seeds of their own downfall? How does the Force - and our relationship to it - evolve throughout the prequels? Is this movie just a post-Freudian adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?? Come along with us to our favorite galaxy far, far away, and discuss… — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  The Sleep & Sorcery book, written by Laurel, is now available in hardcover at Crossed Crow Books - and you can pre-order the paperback! crossedcrowbooks.com Support indie bookstores by ordering at bookshop.org. Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Steve and Derek talk Stephen King’s Misery and how it relates to the Dark Tower — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Let it snow, listeners, because this is it - the definitive debate! We’re going to answer, once and for all, whether Die Hard (1988) is Christmas movie, with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY… kind of. We get deep into the internet’s favorite festive debate, and where it intersects with Post-Modernism, linguistics, and folklore in the digital age. Yippee-ki-yay, Merry Christmas! — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

And now for a movie that’s as coarse, rough, and irritating as sand! Still, in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, we find meaningful parallels to military history across the world (the US, Ancient Rome, and Enlightenment France, for example). Plus, why the Jedi should adopt a practice of courtly love. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, two podcasters strapped in for an exciting undertaking… It’s been years since we first sat down to analyze the original Star Wars trilogy, one movie at a time; now, we take on the prequels. Framing our conversation about the much-maligned films are questions about the nature of the Force, the balance of politics and fantasy escapism, and recurring narrative conventions. It’s like poetry - they rhyme. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary… We’re back for a spooky Halloween special covering Mike Flanagan’s latest anthology outing for Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher. This reworking of the bibliography of Edgar Allan Poe opens many avenues for discussion, including a focus on Egyptian mythology and burial ritual, the multifaceted symbolism of the raven, the role of the mysterious and ancient Verna, and the recurring themes of Mr. Poe’s iconic work. Nevermore! — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!

Perhaps it is time to begin again… In this wrap-up and breakdown of Ahsoka, we look to the limits (and limitlessness) of the galaxy George Lucas created over forty years ago. We share our impressions, predictions, and analysis of the show’s first season before heading into a larger conversation about the future of Star Wars. — Check out our merch store for Midnight Myth, Boomerangerang, Sleep & Sorcery and Wheel of Ka tees and totes! Learn more, view sources and inspiration, and sign up for e-mail updates at www.midnightmyth.com Check out Sleep & Sorcery, Laurel’s podcast for fantasy and folklore-inspired bedtime stories. Support on Patreon: patreon.com/sleepandsorcery  Twitter Facebook Instagram If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen!