CHILDREN OF THE WATCH
One bright spot in the joy-deficient morass of 2020 was my discovery of the podcast “The Mandalorian Watch”, conceived as a thorough discuss-along to the Mandalorian streaming series. As someone whose current vocation was directly inspired by experiencing the original “Star Wars” as a wee lad and noticing, inexpressibly, that there was something uniquely compelling about its soundscape, I welcomed this podcast was a companion piece while “The Mandalorian” rolled out.
Once Disney threw the (possibly COVID-mandated) curve ball of delaying Season Three of Mando, simultaneously announcing an overwhelming lineup of new streaming shows, The Mandalorian Watch rebranded as Children of the Watch to accommodate the deluge.
Hosts Alex and Mac do SW fandom right in my opinion— they have reverence for the material and take a lot of joy in it, while acknowledging its inherent absurdity with a heavy dose of good-natured humor. Their recent three-episode recounting of “Attack of the Clones”, for example— executed as part of a long-term investigation of Boba Fett’s origins before The Book of Boba Fett comes out— walks the fine line of fond remembrance and the fact that, like many SW narratives, it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense once you peel back the layers even a little bit.
“Children of the Watch” wasn’t originally going to cover The Bad Batch, but given the tie-ins with Mandalorian narratives, they eventually figured they had no choice. This decision has led to appearances by Johnamarie Macías from the Geeky Bubble podcast, which she co-hosts with her mom. As a specialist in Star Wars animation, Macías has offered some of the sharpest insights on Children of the Watch; she catches Easter eggs that even Alex and Mac miss.
So if you have no interest in Star Wars, then you’ll want to run far, far away from all this. But if— as the Reverend Matt says— you knew what Mon Calamari were before you knew what calamari was, then this content is for you! So check it out, and sign up for the COTW Patreon while you’re at it. Because sometimes, as they say, both suns shine on a womp rat’s tail.