Rebels and Robots and Etc.: Recent Episodes
Rachel and Cameron
Rach and Cam have turned their Star Wars/Transformers night into a bi-weekly chat about their shared interests, including Godzilla, animation, video games, memes, and, apparently, the 1980s Australian synth rock band Men at Work. Music by Caleb Jacobi.
An apocalyptic Death Star destruction experience, annoying anime girls, and a little bit of venison talk. (Oh yeah. And Monarch Season 2 is just standing there, menacingly. Threatening to curse our screens next year.)
In the first half of Star Wars Visions 3, we see a 30-lightsaber-arm woman, a Grogu knockoff, the Good Autistic Doctor, a droideka mech suit, and Steve Busemi (so just basic anime stuff).
Disney trying to avoid paying its actors, a bizarre Star Wars VR toy-collecting game, and podcast analytics: the things we discuss instead of this week’s topic.
It’s Cameron’s birthday, he’s 30, and he wants to talk about films from his birth year. So enjoy us having to talk about Kevin Spacey, Bryan Singer, Mel Gibson, and Mr. Holland kissing a high school girl.
Rachel lists the the podcast-relevant savior figures and Cameron goes off about what people get wrong about Star Wars.
Shin Godzilla is …. a lot. Godzilla himself looks like a scabbed-over soar. The score includes every genre known to man. And the board room meetings are plentiful.
As if 7 Jurassic Park movies weren’t enough, now it’s time to see how the Transformers deal with a dino-island.
Time for July-rassic World: Hmm-birth – “Accurate" Spinosaurus (gross), Titanosaurus mating ritual (no thanks), & Scarlett Johansson’s lifeless plastic face (terrifying).
For June-rassic Park, we got caught up in celebrating an incredible marriage of high-level spectacle and engrossing character work, but for July-rassic World, even when we want to say something nice, we can’t help but stumble upon yet another fundamental and catastrophic flaw in this thing. …. How fun!
Dino-soar into “Lost World: Jurassic Park” and Jurassic Park 3, movies that make us want to see Jeff Goldblum back in leather, forget seeing a raptor talk, and punt a baby Pteranodon.
Break out your novels and make some tea, cause it’s time for Jurassic book club. Rachel knows all the dinos’ names. Caleb has an alternate film pitch. And Cameron gets his whirring and clicking fix.
Time to do some space grocery shopping, political fundraising, and French-style revolutionizing (cafés included) with Andor season 2 arc 2.
It's "Oops, all rebels" as we poorly fly, desperately dance, and awkwardly eat dinner with mom into the start of Andor Season 2.
After winning the Oscar for best animated feature, "Flow" has come to R&R to ask one very important question: Cat or Capybara?
Bizarre crackhead energy? Embarrassingly awkward voice acting? Increasingly unpredictable plots? Transformers is back, boys.
Highlights from all our seasons in 2024 plus Rach and Cam's best out-of-context quotes and sincere analysis.
Cam and Rach won't have to struggle to stay on topic today because the topic is: whatever garbage is coming out of their mouth at the moment.
After looking at the first trailer for Jurassic World: Rebirth and before barreling forward with no plan for 2025, we’re looking back at the best of 2024: movies, tv shows, moments on the pod, and our infamous (and increasingly convoluted) season names.
It’s the start of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Practical creatures. Disaffected suburban pre-teens. 16-year-olds beefing with 11-year-olds. Nice! The ’80s are so back in the galaxy far, far away.
We've been promising it for 4 months, and we are here to confirm that Avatar: The Last Airbender is a certified banger (except Cameron hates Momo and Rachel hates Jet).
Rach and Cam give their favorite spooky- and autumnal-themed picks for this special time of year (spoiler: there is a lot of animation on here).
It’s animation-mania with a double-header review, both about lifeless manufactured objects that still manage to steal our hearts: Lego and robots.
Transformers One: a movie that simultaneously tries to work for children who’ve never seen a movie before AND adults who want an emotionally complex evolution of Megatron from passive worker to radicalized revolutionary. Let’s just say that there is a lot to podcast about.
Leading up to the release of Transformers One, we look at the satisfying tangibility yet inherent forgettability of Bumblebee (2018) and pitch our own ideas for the ultimate Transformers film.
Join us for a journey to the Castle in the Skycastle where we will meet a thicc grandma airship pirate, curvaceous warbots, and metaphors for the inevitable failing of man's desire to glorify his own kingdom.
More like Princess MonoHMMMke
Also this week: Owen and Baru Lars as the Skeleton Crew and Audio Editor Athena as jawa Ukitti!
In our first week of Ghibli Gobblin’ Summer (working title), Rachel raves about “From Up On Poppy Hill”s emotional slice of life depiction of friendship and Cameron puzzles over its jarring tone and intentions.
The end of The Acolyte brings the end of Suns Out, Guns Outs Summer (Brought to you by Darth Qimir “The Gun Show” Teethies
Do you ever look at someone and wonder, "What is going on inside their head?" The answer is anxiety. Whether it is a teenager or space witches: anxiety.
We sink our teeth into some juicy Acolyte action while Darth Teethies sinks his saber into a bunch-a-Jedi chest cavities.
The first three episodes of The Acolyte are a bit rough, but at least it allowed us to talk about terrible beard prosthetics, space cat people, and … modern feminist use of witch symbolism? Meanwhile, Rachel blames Cameron for us not recording last week and Cameron recalls his meeting ... with Godzilla? … in Ghana?
The first three episodes of The Acolyte are a bit rough, but at least it allowed us to talk about terrible beard prosthetics, space cat people, and … modern feminist use of witch symbolism? Meanwhile, Rachel blames Cameron for us not recording last week and Cameron recalls his meeting ... with Godzilla? … in Ghana?
In our review of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, we have some very important questions about inquisitors: Why do they all have a unique look? Do they get helmet hair? Why did they stop using the sabercopters? Also this week: a look at Transformers G1's geopolitically errant version of Europe.
In our review of the Bad Batch series finale, we have a lot of questions: What was it all about? Did anyone actually plan out this third season? How many one liners can Rachel say in one sitting? Did Gonky survive?
“Bro looks like he is in year 3 of engineering school,” “They got these kids playing Roblox,” “Child riot! Child riot! Child riot.” All these great Rachel quotes and more on R&R&Etc Ep. 53
With Godzilla x Kong get we get to see a really big ape beat up other really big apes with a smaller big ape, Godzilla take three naps on screen, Cameron give blood for a t-shirt, Rachel get picky about lore (AGAIN), and the end of Mon-March Madness.
Godzilla vs Kong. Rachel vs Cameron. Athena vs the sleepies. Bad Batch animators vs hair physics.
In our review of Kung Fu Panda 4 and Bad Batch's latest episodes: emotionally resonate storytelling, funny and fun action set-pieces, and properly continuing an ongoing story (and also we talk about Bad Batch).
Nerd TikToker Bailey (@movie_daddy) joins us to discuss the painterly images of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the filler-ly plots of Bad Batch S3 Ep 4 and 5.
Join us for week 2 of Mon-March Madness and the first week of Bad Barch Badness with two classic stories of people wandering into and immediately dying in monster-infested jungles - Kong: Skull Island and the Bad Batch season 3 premiere.
EVERYONE GET IN THE POD! Monarch is FINALLY over and, wouldn't ya know it, it finally delivers a GOOD episode.
Please enjoy a quick highlight reel of our first year, from Cameron doing dumb voices to Rachel constantly losing her mind to everything that makes this podcast special (i/e Shmeme Shminute, our "editor" Athena, and hating Crosshair).
We close out the first year of this podcast by finishing our review of The Boy and the Heron along with a look at our podcast-relevant Christmas gifts and a look back at all of those we lost in 2023.
Allison joins us for a discussion of the fantastic and dream-like “The Boy and the Heron” and some more so-so episodes of Monarch that is moving mountains to try to keep us hooked.
We’re walkin’ in a winter monster land as we review the beautiful sight of Godzilla Minus One, dream by the fire of Godzilla x Kong trailer, and face unafraid Monarch Ep 3 and 4.
The pod is now off the rails! We can talk about whatever we want as we REBRAND to “Rebels and Robots and Etc.” To initiate the “Etc,” we’re talking the first two episodes of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” from the Godzilla/Kong KaijuVerse with Cameron’s formally unnamed wife, Allison!
Good vibes only as we share our three favorite moments from Ahsoka plus what we will be covering in the future outside of Starformers content.
The tale of two Clone Wars: one is Genndy Tartakovsky's insane yet incredible 2D animation and the other is a Dave Filoni's made-for-TV yet theatrically released dead-eyed 3D disaster. Let's talk about them.
Will Ahsoka and her team band together to win the day? What is Thrawn’s plan? What is Sabine’s cat’s name? Some of these answers and also some other stuff this week with the season finale of Ahsoka.
Things keep moving this week on Ahsoka Part 7 “Dreams and Madness” with an overly long spaceship fight, an alien mobile home chase, and Ahsoka jumping out of a speeding ship (AKA typical Jedi business).
Thrawn (not a prawn) and Ezra make their live action premiere, and we have all sorts of dumb jokes in our coverage of Ahsoka Part Six “Far, Far Away.”
As Ahsoka fights through visions of the past, we work to figure out what it all means in Ahsoka episode 5 “Shadow Warrior”
We’re fallin' for this episode because Ahsoka is finally getting good with chapter 4, “Fallen Jedi.” Also on this week’s pod: Starformers Bot Battles, Cameron makes too many SpongeBob references, and Rachel is relieved a certain fan theory has been put in the grave.
Time to fly? More like time to cast. This week on the pod: the live action debut of Jedi-Twi’lek love child Jacen Syndulla, out of context Transformers headlines, and R&R fan content.
Ahsoka is here and that means we are back to weekly Star Wars chats. This episode: Rachel worries about who will feed Sabine’s Loth-cat and Cameron complains about how the show is adapting animated characters.
“Let’s put some hammers in this coffin.” We wrap up Hot Bot Summer™ by getting caught up on Transformers: The Last Knight and its five aspect ratios, ultimate effort to transform history, and attempts at being crappy Game of Thrones, Prometheus, Force Awakens, Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman, and Capt. America: Civil War.
Previous guest and friend-of-the-show Caleb returns to help us power through the fourth Michael Bay Transformers film: Age of Extinction, as we contemplate Optimus’s drunk uncle energy, bemoan the missed subtext about the military industrial complex and the treatment of veterans, and praise the use of the Tuch.
Listen to us slowly just give up trying as we stare into the void that is Michael Bay’s third Transformers movie. Also this week: we willingly subjected ourselves to Jar Jar concept art and rank the three Transformers Linkin Park songs.
To commemorate the special “Barbenheimer” weekend (We had Starformers first, but whatever), we are categorizing every Star Wars and Transformers movie and series as either Barbie or Oppenheimer (with Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City as the midpoint). We also get into weird Transformers Facebook posts, correction’s from Rachel’s mother, and how the writer/actor strike is affecting Andor.
“Negatives. Lots of ‘em. Where to even start.” We continue our demolition of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - awful characterizations, seductive fem-bots, and weird parallels to the Snyder-verse.
It was a dark and stormy night, an ominous setting for the discussion of something truly cursed: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This week (part 1) we get into the few positives we could force out from behind gritted teeth along with the newly announced Emmy nominations for three Star Wars shows as well as our picks for Star Wars actors/characters to return in old age for one last adventure à la Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Before we get kicked off this planet for supposedly making a fake podcast that attacks people, hear us go on about the upcoming knock-off Star Wars movies by Zack Snyder and Gareth Edwards and then an oddly political yet relevant episode of Transformers G1. After that we each try to guess which meme the other host made.
Watching Rise of the Beasts made us miss the chaotic old Michael Bay days of our youth. Arrive to Earth with us as we revisit the 2007 Transformers film with its ambitious (yet mishandled) quantity-over-quality approach, disrespect of Autobot Jazz, and confused subtext about the American military industrial complex.
Ascend into this week’s episode with the second part of our Transformers: Rise of the Beasts review. We get into the mechanics of how the movie does or does not work, including Optimus Prime’s surprising character arc, the role humans play in the story, and the bonkers sequel tease.
Fall into this week's episode with our review of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Can it match the insane energy of the original cartoon? Can it be more memorable than the Michael Bay movies? Can Rachel and Cameron remember what happened since they saw it two days ago? Answers to all of this plus our thoughts on the first trailer for the Star Wars video game Outlaws.
We’re back and so are the Transformers. Rise of the Beasts releases this weekend so roll out with us as we barely survive yet talk for an hour and 20 minutes about the animated movie from 1986 with all of its brain melting animation, wild casting choices, drastic tonal shifts, and ill-fitting pop music. We also recount a story from Cameron’s wedding, Rachel cries over the end of Jedi: Survivor, and our supervisor, Athena, returns to the pod.
Everyone knows the sequel is better. Welcome to part 2 of last week’s recording with our friend Caleb where we want to give “Aau’s song” a big ole hug, rank all nine parts of Visions Vol. 2, and get back to what really matters: Meme Minute, but it’s longer (than a minute) - Meme Parsec; Meme Astrosecond.
It’s a pod of firsts. We have our first guest, friend of the show Caleb, and our first two-parter episode In this week’s first part, get friendly with us as we experience autobot/human love with Transformers G1 “The Girl Who Loved Powerglide”, venture into Indian animation uncanny valley with “The Bandits of Golak”, and get stuck in a big hole with “The Pit.”
You’re not seeing (hearing?) double; we’re back again with a lore-heavy episode of Transformers G1 and three shorts from Visions Vol. 2. Get an ear (eye?) full of Rachel reading, Cameron singing, and both of us laughing way too much.
May the 4th be with you for these real droid hours as Rachel shares about Jedi: Survivor so far, Cameron predicts wolves turning into people during the Ahsoka series, and both of us critique the Transformer prequel voice cast. Then we praise the combination of animation and story in the first three episodes of Visions Vol. 2.
It is finally time to make good on the robots part of our name. Fly into 1980’s animated chaos with us as we examine the detailed lips of the new Wheeljack, a special Coachella appearance, and the absolute low-budget cartoon mess that is Transformers “The Key to Vector Sigma”.
This episode is a CATastrophe! Curl up into a cat-loaf and listen to us hiss and howl about if we podcasted in 2013, the chaos of the Mando season finale, and Rachel’s problem with these descriptions.
Join us for a special report on Star Wars Celebration (and all the movies they probably won’t make), a live reaction and (emotional) breakdown of the Ahsoka series trailer, and a speed run recap of the Mandalorians returning to Mandalore (because we were already at an hour of recording by time we started talking about it). Additional bonus features: a Star Wars club music close listen, Cameron’s poor listening skills, and more scientific terminology confusion for Rachel.
In an absolute wild episode of the pod with squid Romeo and Juliet, robot racism, and mando JROTC, we find ways around swearing, Rachel learns that parsecs are real, and Cameron runs more jokes into the ground
We’ve made it to the end of Bad Batch season 2 and a new beginning for the mandalorians. Come pass around the talking hammer with us as we gossip about Tech and Phee’s terrible relationship, the Armorer’s political endorsement, and terrible children’s costumes.
Brought to you by Buffalo Wild Wings and Virginia Tech wrestling, on this week’s pod we cast about the new Jedi: Survivor trailer, a clone prison break, the return of Ahmed Best, and an unexpected use of Star Wars in viral marketing.
This week, we take a break from the wars as everyone seems to be taking it nice and slow as the Bad Batch contemplate island life and The Mandalorian gives us look into the life of an ex-Imperial on Coruscant. Also hear us chat about flea market finds, the technical specs of Tie Interceptors, and the hilarity of flying G1 Transformers.
Pull up a floating pod, grab a Wahlburger, drink some Mandalorian living water, and join us for a chat about a special life time achievement for our favorite robot boi, the return of Crosshair (nasty rat man), and a Transformer in Star Wars?
Hey, heeeeey! Double scoop of Star Wars this week with a side of Age of Extinction hate while we chat about dinosaur-sized creatures all-out attack, Mandalorian re-baptism, Babu Frik’s family, and is this all building to an evil clone saga?
It's time to unionize! Enjoy your mandatory breaktime by listening to us ponder pro-Imperial riots, eating the rich, and a Optimus Prime thirst trap.
This week beasts are rising and the Batch is crossing as we find out Pete Davidson is a Transformer, Tech is bad with kids, and Decepticons can have babies.
Twice the Bad Batch, double the jokes! Real funny stuff this week: the difference between murder and assassination, cyanide capsules, and the mistreatment of war veterans.
We are back after a one-week sick leave to complain about people complaining, admire an ancient cyborg mega giraffe, and try to put out a fire with Wookies.
Cover your ears! Time to talk Kiss Players, Star Wars Saint Nick, why Boba Fett should interrupt The Mandalorian season 3, and M’lady Millegi.
Join us in enjoying our official opening music, discussing the best(?) episode of Bad Batch yet, and relentlessly bullying Crosshair.
In the first episode of this silly weekly chat, get to know Rachel and Cameron, how they became friends, why they watch Star Wars and Transformers every Wednesday, and what they think of the first two episodes of Bad Batch Season 2.