Force Cast

History
Originally, the Force-Cast was done by Erik Blythe, but he had to stop production of the episodes due to external conflicts. After a contest done by TheForce.Net's Dustin Roberts, Jason and Pete were selected to continue the show. As revealed in the audition tape, the two co-hosts originally called each other by nicknames, with Jason as "Jedi Swank" and Pete as "Master Nadel."

Show rundown
The main sections of the show consist of:

*Intro: Jason and Pete open the show, and sometimes correct themselves as pointed out by listeners.
*Billy Dee Clip of the Week: Jason and Pete play a clip of Lando Calrissian actor Billy Dee Williams playing the part of Toussaint Dubois on General Hospital: Night Shift.
*Fantasy Football Update: Jason and Pete review the current standings and notable moments from the Force-Cast's own Fantasy Football League, created by Mick Celli.
*Headlines: the two hosts will run through the events of the past week that related to Star Wars.
*Indy Coverage: Jason and Pete update the audience on any news pertaining to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
*Collecting: the Force-Cast gang, which sometimes includes collector Dan Curto, goes over collecting and merchandise announcements.
*The Outrageously Unthinkable Story of the Week: Inspired by Sio Bibble's quote, "It's outrageous! It's unthinkable!" and accompanied by a musical introduction of its own, this section features a story that is deemed too hilarious or unfathomable to put in the general news section.
*Listener calls/mail: Jason and Pete play voicemails and read emails from listeners, and respond to them.
*Live call-ins: occurring throughout each episode, and only when the Force-Cast is recording via TalkShoe.

Opening music
The Force-Cast's opening music is considered by fans to be as distinctive as the Star Wars theme music itself. The music has evolved over time, eventually adding more clips from the film and utilizing the voice of Jimmy Mac.

Gaming Mod

In late November 2007, Force-Cast fan Daniel Mutchler decided to undertake a mountainous endeavor. He wanted to create a Battlefront II mod for the Force-Cast. He began working with mod tools he found online, and soon he had a strong foundation upon which to build the mod. He enlisted the help of fellow Force-Cast fans Calvin and Eric and also help from Gametoast users. Daniel worked tirelessly to develop the map, design and produce the characters, and publish it for all Force-Casters to enjoy.

To help him create accurate representations of important Force-Cast personalities, Daniel also received assistance from Kay and Mark, of FCTV fame. But before he even thought about releasing the mod, Daniel knew he should get his target audience hyped up. For that, he needed a trailer. In this matter, Daniel turned to Calvin and Eric. They began working on the mod’s trailer in late December, receiving clips from Daniel as he tested the mod in various stages of completion.

On December 27, 2007, Calvin posted a thread on the Rebelscum forums announcing the existence of the game, which is being produced by Outrageous Entertainment. The thread ended with the line, "May the 21st be with you in 2008," a possible hint at the mod's release date. May 21, 2008, is a significant date because it marks the twenty-eight anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.

On December 28, 2007, Daniel released the first demo of his mod, then called Yellow Harvest. The release was for game developers and Force-Cast crew only, but Force-Cast fans were promised an upcoming sneak peek at the mod via the Rebelscum forums. In addition, Daniel, Eric, and Calvin set up a website for the gaming mod, where the trio currently posts progress updates, screenshots, sneak peeks, various other announcements, and a developer-only Production Diary which they intend to make public after the mod's release.

On January 2, 2008, the team released the trailer for the first demo of the mod. The trio also announced that the name Yellow Harvest was a working codename for the mod, which is now being called The Force-Cast Unleashed. Shortly before the trailer went live, TheForce.Net posted an item on its homepage discussing the mod and linking to its official homepage. Traffic since then has gone up considerably.

Contests
The Force-Cast frequently receives Star Wars goodies from groups and individuals affiliated with Star Wars merchandise or media. Some of these items are made into prizes for Force-Cast contests. Some notable contests follow:

*Pledge of Allegiance: Upon receiving two signed copies of Timothy Zahn's book Allegiance, Jason and Pete created the Pledge of Allegiance contest. Listeners were invited to pledge their allegiance to the Force-Cast in a voicemail; the two best pledges would receive first place and those people would get the signed copies of Allegiance. After extending the deadline for submissions by an extra week, Jason and Pete finally picked two winners from Maryland, Mike and Eric.
*Legacy Revealed Contest (forums): When Jason and Pete got several promotional items from the History Channel for their upcoming documentary, The Legacy Revealed, they put together a contest to win the promo goods. T-Shirts, posters, and trading card packs were included, with listeners vying for the first response post to several trivia questions from the show hosts.
*Number One Longing, Number Two Regret: This contest was run by RebelScum forum-goer and TheForce.Net staffer Mike Barrick. He had acquired four copies of Jeremy Bulloch's movie Number One Longing, Number Two Regret. Barrick held a miniature trivia contest, wherein four forum users won the DVDs. The first copy, which was unsigned, went to Eric, a Marylander who was also Mike Barrick's co-winner from the Force-Cast's Pledge of Allegiance contest. The three signed copies went to Pedro Jorba, a listener from Mexico City; John Fagan, from Connecticut; and Nick, a student at Purdue University.
*Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Giveaway: The first giveaway conducted in a live Talkshoe chat. After doing a Micro-Cast interview with two LucasArts developers, Jason and Pete got four copies of their new game, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. Shortly thereafter, in the next live episode of the show, the duo announced that they would be giving away the four copies they had received. Each of the next four episodes featured a quick section at the end, where Jason and Pete took the first live caller with the answer to the trivia question.
** October 5: Joshua. The question was, "What were the names of the two LucasArts developers interviewed on a recent micro-cast?"
** October 12: Eric. The question was, "In which movie did Billy Dee play football player Gale Sayers?"
** October 19: Nate. The question was, "Name the Star Wars film in which Dan Madsen had a cameo role, and name his role."
** October 26: Robbie. The question was, "What was Daniel Wallace's first officially licensed reference guide?"

Listener interaction
At the end of every regular Friday episode, The Force-Cast crew plays voicemails and reads emails from Star Wars fans. Their voicemail number is (330) 871-4TFN (4836), their Skype username is forcecast, and their email address is podcast@theforce.net. Fans who want to call into the show live can call Talkshoe at (724) 444-7444, enter TalkCast ID 46670, and enter their PIN to join the live taping. When listeners want to talk, they press the "Request to Talk" button in the TalkShoe client, which puts them in a queue to be put on the air.

Live tapings
Jason and Pete record their regular shows live through a website called TalkShoe. Fans of the show can download the TalkShoe client, chat with fellow fans, and take part in the recording by waiting in a queue to speak. Non-TalkShoe members may also choose to listen-in, although they may not chat. Occasionally, technical errors will pop up, although only the live listeners will hear them.

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See Also

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