Episode I: Of Introductions and Droids

"Of Introductions and Droids" is the first episode of The Skyhoppers Podcast, and marks the first appearance of Ben and Ash. Being the first episode, it puts the relative newness of everything pertaining to the show on display. Ben and Ash were not very close at this point, so there is some amount of awkwardness in their interactions.

Additionally, this was before Ben had become experienced in podcast editing, resulting in the podcast being published in stereo and producing the infamous one host per ear effect that is referred to in subsequent episodes.

Episode Description
Hello, listeners! Welcome to the first episode of The Skyhoppers Podcast! On our inaugural episode this week, we introduce ourselves and explain how we got into Star Wars, and then dive into our mini-topic (that turned into more of a regular topic), which is the place of droids in the Star Wars universe. Are they autonomous? Do they have feelings? These are the big questions we try and tackle in this episode, all while talking MUCH too fast. Also, Ben and Ash's favorite droids may surprise you.

Thanks for listening!

P.S. Chewie's vocalization are sourced from bears, lions, seals, and walruses according to Ben Burtt. No dogs, sadly :(

Summary
The episode starts with Ben and Ash introducing themselves and talking a little bit about how they both got into Star Wars. Additionally, they discuss where both of their main interests in Star Wars as well as the main sources of their accumulated knowledge on the subject. After the introductions and a quick overview of what they want the podcast to be, they launch into their topic for the week, which is droids. While intended to be a light topic for a first episode that didn't go much beyond favorite droids and things of that nature, it quickly grew into a dialogue about the nature of sentience and whether or not droids in Star Wars possess it.

Fun Facts

 * This episode contains the first instance of technical difficulties.
 * This episode also contains the first mention of Ash getting The Force Awakens spoiled for her in a YouTube comment, which also later becomes a running joke.
 * At one point, Ash bangs her microphone arm, creating a loud noise that can be heard in her audio channel. This same noise will later appear in Ben's audio time after time when Ash eventually passes that mic arm on to him.