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Amy Ratcliffe is the author of the recent The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, as well as a huge inspiration to me.

During our conversation, we go through her career … from her The Clone Wars blog to, after years of hard work, officially writing for Star Wars, including Women of the Galaxy, A Jedi Mind, and Elee & Me.

We also delve into the creation of her “Art of” book, and the steps required to turn it into a piece of Star Wars history, working with Imagineering, Lucasfilm, and Disney Parks to bring it to life.

She is truly a blueprint for creativity in fandom. Thank you to Abrams Books for coordinating and making this interview possible!

• Purchase The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: https://amzn.to/2S3UQIb
• Subscribe to her newsletter: https://amyratcliffe.substack.com/

We’ll have a special bonus episode this weekend, the first ever published Star Wars interview with Salacious Crumb creator, Mike McCormick. So start refreshing your feeds for that!

Today I’m talking to one of the biggest inspirations for this show: Mick Garris.

Yes, you may know Mick as one of the most influential genre writers and directors of all time, or you may know him from his incredible podcast, Post Mortem with Mick Garris … but you may not know that his first job in film was as the receptionist at “The Star Wars Company” in 1977, where he answered phone calls and operated R2-D2 for the Chinese Theatre, the Oscars and, yes, even The Holiday Special.

This is such a special interview and it is a real honor to get to talk to a real Master of Horror.

If I didn’t say it enough, and you like horror and filmmaking even in the slightest … definitely check out Post Mortem with Mick Garris, on the Dread Podcast Network, as well as his vintage interviews on Mick’s personal website: mickgarrisinterviews.com

Upcoming interviews include: James Clyne, Michael McCormick (his first Star Wars interview ever!), Amy Ratciffe and Terrence Masson.

Today I’m talking to one of my new favorite people, Tom Spina, founder of Tom Spina Designs and Regal Robot. We talk all about his early inspirations, his experiences with the internet and growing a community, his restoring of original props at the Lucasfilm Archives … and what is coming up for Regal Robot (including a brand new, exclusive announcement)

The Dejarik chess sets are now on sale from Regal Robot, and, frankly, are jaw-dropping: https://regalrobot.com/

But, seriously, take some time, check out all of the incredible things they have in stock, and follow them on social media! He’s such an inspiration to me and it was so great getting to catch up and nerd out.

Welcome to a very special, very short May the Fourth bonus episode of Talking Bay 94: my conversation with prolific voice actor, Jim Cummings.

Mr. Cummings is the voice of characters like Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, and of course … HONDO OHNAKA.

Thank you, as always, to Zach McGinnis at Galactic Productions for setting this up: http://www.galacticproductionsevents.com/

Stunt woman, martial artist and actor, Lauren Mary Kim has helped bring to life such beloved characters like Ahsoka Tano (The Clone Wars, Season 7) and The Armorer (The Mandalorian, Season 1).

Whether motion capture with Ray Park for The Siege of Mandalore or being on set with Jon Favreau  in The Volume for The Mandalorian, Lauren’s hard work and incredible talent has made her an integral part of some of the most iconic and badass moments in Star Wars.

Make sure you’re following her on Instagram, @LaurenMaryKim, to keep up with all of the incredible things she is doing.

Next week is my really fascinating conversation with author Alexander Freed, so you still have a few days to finish up Alphabet Squadron: Victory’s Price.

Ray Hassett played Lt. Tigran Jamiro on Echo Base, in The Empire Strikes Back. Of course, he is best known for his iconic barb to Han Solo: “Your Tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!”

Truly one of the more unique interviews we’ve had on this show, we delve into his early improvisational work, pairing with John Ratzenberger, becoming a fire eater on the streets of London, acting in James Bond and Superman, as well as the work that he does now tying all of his skills together.

As mentioned, you can visit RayHassett.com for more information on his current work.

Thank you also to Derek Maki and Coolwaters Productions, friends of the show, who made this interview possible. To meet Mr. Hassett at an upcoming show, or purchase any autograph right now: https://coolwatersprods.com/

David Dozoretz spearheaded the pre-visualization work on the Special Editions and the first two Star Wars prequels, as pre-vis effects supervisor. He is such an immense talent and has such incredible passion for his work, so it was a real honor.

This is such a fun episode, a deep dive into what it was like to be working at Skywalker Ranch … while they were literally changing how movies we being made forever. (Also stick around for a John Knoll egg toss picnic story.)

To see more of his work (including the effects reel from The Phantom Menace we were talking about), head to his website: https://www.daviddozoretz.com/

Chris Bartlett is not only is the official “Media C-3PO”, but also has had numerous roles in these first two seasons of The Mandalorian, including bounty hunter Q9-0 and the flute-playing Kubaz from the very first episode.

His story of turning his cosplaying and costume-building hobby into a profession is super inspiring, and his stories of working with people like Anthony Daniels, Carl Weathers, Werner Herzog …and Barack Obama, are such a delight. You’re going to love this one.

SHE has spoken: Misty Rosas, performance artist for Kuiil the Ugnaught, from The Mandalorian, is on the show today.

Misty’s story is incredible and her talent is unmatched, so I hope you enjoy her stories about getting the role, working on set, and listening to Nick Nolte’s lines every night, as much as I did. More topics include:

• Her first professional role … at Disneyland!
• Working with Stan Winston Studios on Congo as a Gorilla Artist.
• Stunt work on movies like Hunger Games – Catching Fire and Van Helsing
• The audition process for Kuiil, as well as the costume built by Legacy Effects
• Working within The Volume, especially with each director (Dave Filoni, Deborah Chow, Rick Famuyiwa)

Make sure you are following her on Instagram, @MissMistyRosas

Upcoming interviews include pre-pro legend David Dozoretz, the geniuses at BLIND Limited, and author of the Glove of Darth Vader series: Paul Davids.

And, this was a secret, but starting next week, we’ll be doing live video recap shows for The Mandalorian every Friday night, partnering with our friends at Scener. More info to come, but I cannot wait.

The first time anyone caught a glimpse of the now infamous bounty hunter was in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.

Yep. That one.

We talk to Boba Fett‘s animator, the great John Celestri all about it: how Lucas got involved, what their inspirations were, and just a ton of great stories. Some other topics include:

• Growing up wanting to be an animator (and being self-taught)
• Getting involved with Nelvana (known for Ewoks and Droids), as well as how George Lucas first heard about the studio through Cosmic Christmas
• Inspirations for the short ranging from Heavy Metal magazine and Moebius to Clint Eastwood

You have a week, as of this publishing, to help with Mr. Celestri’s Kickstarter and get that Boba Fett sketch for yourself: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johncelestri/john-the-animator-comicx

For even more Lucasfilm animation stories, check out Skytalkers’ incredible 3-part deep dive about animation: https://skytalkers.com/2020/07/25/star-wars-animation-1978-2012/