Hunger Games Fireside Chat Podcast

It's time for another unscripted episode of Hunger Games Fireside Chat! We have no set plan in place for Episode 105. We do, however, have a "topic cornucopia" teeming with listener-submitted questions, discussion topics, Crackpot Theories, What Ifs?, etc. Update: A list of the topics we pulled appears below. - Banan: When is the new trailer coming out? - Satsuma: Did the Capitol doctors choose not to save Peeta's leg in order to punish him? - Do you think Peeta was the same after he recovered from being hijacked?  - Matilda: What happened to Beetee, Johanna, Enobaria, Annie, etc., after Coin's assassination? - Crackpot Theory: Gale only existed in Katniss's mind. - What if Peeta had been killed at the Cornucopia? - Nicole: What if Gale had been reaped instead of Peeta? - Ashley B.: In the book, [Finnick's death] was so rushed. What if in the movie they made him die in a different way or took out his death altogether? - Crackpot Theory (from Lola): Did District 13 bomb District 8 in order to make a good propo? - Maura: How did Plutarch, who in Mockingjay is on the side of the rebellion and working with District 13, become the new Head Gamemaker? - Gregory: What inspired Suzanne Collins to base the arena off of a clock? - Crackpot Theory: Cinna is alive.

In Episode 104 of Fireside Chat, we discuss the latest news concerning the filming dates and locations for the two Mockingjay films (Atlanta? Boston? Los Angeles?). We also chat about the stills released at The Hunger Games Explorer that were NOT featured in the teaser trailer: Katniss hugging Prim; Plutarch in Snow's office. Next, we share our thoughts on the possibility of Catching Fire footage being shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May. In celebration of the Catching Fire teaser trailer's one-week anniversary, we conclude by challenging our panelists and listeners with a round of Ridiculously Difficult Teaser Trailer Trivia!

In Episode 103 of Fireside Chat, we spend the show doing a second-by-second, frame-by-frame analysis of the very first Catching Fire teaser trailer! The teaser is set to debut this Sunday night at the MTV Movie Awards, so make sure you tune in to see it! It will also be released online at The Hunger Games Explorer. Please leave a comment over at our website after you've watched the teaser and let us know what you think!

In Episode 102 of Fireside Chat, we discuss the news that the first Catching Fire teaser trailer will debut on Sunday, April 14, at the MTV Movie Awards. Why is it being called a teaser when it's purportedly two and a half minutes long? We also weigh in on and analyze the 10-second preview of the teaser that MTV released last Wednesday. Additionally, we try and guess what The Hunger Games Explorer might be. To wrap things up, we do a round of Catching Fire Pick a Page! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the teaser tease, so leave a comment on our website by clicking here!

In Episode 101 of Fireside Chat, we finish answering the questions you submitted last week about us, the show, etc. We also briefly chat about our 100 Things to Do Before Catching Fire video and the 100th Episode Celebration Giveaway that we're currently running. We go on to discuss some random "news-but-not-really-news" items: Rebel Wilson's possible Mockingjay role, Willow Shields' pronunciation of Johanna's name, the appearance of Victor's Village in The Hunger Games Adventures, and the possibility of Jennifer Lawrence being included on the TIME 100 list. (ANNOUNCEMENT: At some point on Tuesday afternoon, the Capitol hacked into our Fireside Chat databases and erased the last 30 minutes of this episode because they believed our Rebel Wilson discussion was actually about a rebel named Wilson. We have not yet found a way to recover the lost audio, so our conversations about Jennifer Lawrence's TIME 100 nomination and the representation of Victor's Village in The Hunger Games Adventures are, sadly, lost forever.)

In Episode 100 of Fireside Chat, we celebrate our 100th episode and the one-year anniversary of the first film's theatrical release. We look back at some of our favorite Fireside Chat moments and guests, answer YOUR questions, play a fun Jeopardy-style trivia game that pits our panelists against each other, and reexamine our feelings about the movie now that we've had a year to properly digest it. If you'd like to submit a question about the show, about us, or about our panelists, click here and leave a comment on our promo.

It's finally time for another Fireside Recs episode! Since casting for the Divergent movie is finally beginning to wrap up, we figured Veronica Roth's YA dystopian series would make a fitting choice for this week's discussion! We spend the first half of Episode 99 talking about Divergent: why some of us like it/why some of us don't, why it's so popular amongst fans of The Hunger Games, what we think about the casting choices for the film adaptation, etc. Ashley from Divergent Lexicon will be joining us for this discussion, and we're very excited to have her! The rest of the show focuses on the IMDb topic that we had to postpone a couple of weeks ago. Remember when we found Trexler Hoverhound and other similarly mysterious characters on the Hunger Games IMDb page? Now it's time to take a look at Catching Fire's IMDb entry! Who is "Gamekeeper Disciple"? What about "District 4 Family Member"? Does the presence of a "District 11 Rioter" mean we're going to see another D11 riot scene? While these roles are all clearly background/extra roles added to the page by the actors themselves, they may shed some light on what we can expect to see in November. (Thanks to Satsuma for this suggestion!)

In Episode 98 of Fireside Chat, we spend the entirety of the show discussing the new Capitol Portraits! Nine more portraits featuring Haymitch, Cinna, Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Finnick, Johanna, Beetee, and President Snow were unveiled by various media outlets last week. Lionsgate actually gave us the opportunity to exclusively release Beetee's portrait along with the other Capitol Tastemakers, which was a pretty incredible -- and nerve-wracking -- experience! Our discussion focuses on: our first look at Jeffrey Wright and Jena Malone in character as Beetee and Johanna, respectively; Trish Summerville's costumes; Katniss's wedding dress (the dress was confirmed to be the wedding dress by Trish Summerville in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter); what the choice of featured characters may reveal about Catching Fire marketing (and the film itself); the significance of the roses. As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment at our website [briefly] telling us what you think of the portraits. Be sure to vote in our poll as well!  

In Episode 97 of Fireside Chat, we kick things off by talking about the first Capitol Portraits! On February 26, Capitol Couture posted a mysterious image of a chair on their new Instagram account with the following caption: Always Elegant. Always Prompt. Join us on March 4. #LadiesFirst On At 1pm ET today, Lionsgate unveiled a "Capitol portrait" of a very pink Effie Trinket seated in the teal chair along with a tease for a second portrait. The second portrait, which was released by Fandango at 6pm ET, features Caesar Flickerman seated in an ornate yellow chair. We discuss both! Next, we share our teaser predictions. What do we think we'll see in the teaser? What do we want to see in the teaser? When do we think the teaser will be released? Leave a comment on our website with YOUR teaser wish lists!

In Episode 96 of Fireside Chat, we start things off by quickly recapping last night's Oscars ceremony and congratulating Jennifer Lawrence on her Oscar win! Next, we're joined by Fong Sam, organizer of Haxbee Inc. and Blacksparrow Auctions' Hunger Games Costume Exhibit & Auction! The exhibit starts touring the country on March 1st, and we let you know where and how you can see it! We also chat with Fong about the auction and whether or not fans on a budget will be able to participate. For our main topic, we discuss the two beautiful Victory Tour posters that Lionsgate released on Friday! The debut of these posters officially marked the start of Catching Fire publicity, and we're more than a little excited! Leave a comment on our site and let us know what you think of the posters. Which one is your favorite? How do they compare to the early marketing materials we saw with The Hunger Games? We try to share as many of your comments as possible! Lastly, it looks like Capitol Couture will be returning soon! The website -- CapitolCouture.PN -- was recently updated and it looks like something is on the way. What sorts of things do we think Capitol Couture will feature this year?

In Episode 95 of Fireside Chat, we go "Unscripted"! We haven't done a fully unscripted show since Halloween, so we're very excited to have some unpredictable and off-the-cuff fun. As with all our "Unscripted" shows, we have no set plan or agenda in place for Episode 95. We do, however, have a grab bag full of listener-submitted questions, discussion topics, Crackpot Theories, What Ifs?, Would You Rathers?, and Cave/Marry/Kills. We choose topics from the grab bag (or "topic cornucopia") at random and discuss, debate, and speculate! Update: Below you'll find a list of all the topics we pulled out of the grab bag! Thanks to everyone who has submitted topics over the last year or so. - From Allison: Did District 13 become a "valid" district again after the rebellion? Did it stay underground? - From Tess: Do you think that they'd celebrate Halloween in the districts? Or would it be a purely Capitol affair? And if so, what costumes do you think they'd have? Dead tributes or victors maybe (for in the Capitol)? (This led to a discussion on holidays and religion in Panem.) - Crackpot Theory from Stephanie: Seneca Crane and Johanna Mason were romantically involved. - Survival Challenge: Which of the following can kill you? (a) frostbite (b) sunburn (c) hypothermia - From Ysa: What if Haymitch and Plutarch were able to save both Peeta and Katniss from the arena? - If you could ask Suzanne Collins ONE question about the series, what would it be?  - Cave, Marry, Kill: Plutarch Heavensbee, Seneca Crane, Beetee

In Episode 94 of Fireside Chat, we kick things off by talking about  the decision to cut Bonnie, Twill, and Darius from the film adaptation of Catching Fire, a change that Francis Lawrence revealed in his interview in Entertainment Weekly's 2013 preview issue. We also talk about Francis Lawrence's recent interview with MTV, in which he talked about casting Finnick, "honing Haymitch," and filming the arena scenes. In Welcome to District 12's latest Mockingjay Mock-up, they explore ways in which the series epilogue might be translated from page to screen. They also address the possibility that the epilogue might not be included at all! We share our thoughts on the matter. If there's time remaining, we'll go grab baggin'. Update: We pulled a topic out of our grab bag that was submitted by Tess! Her question: Would you rather compete in the 74th or 75th arena?

In Episode 93 of Fireside Chat, we kick things off by sharing some of your comments about the Entertainment Weekly cover and Catching Fire stills. Ellie from Down with the Capitol fills us in on her experience as an audience member during Jennifer Lawrence's episode of Saturday Night Live. She also makes a special announcement about Victory Tour 2013. We then discuss the news that Jennifer Lawrence shared in a recent interview with the Belfast Telegraph: There's still more Catching Fire filming to be done! Principal photography will apparently continue and then officially wrap sometime in March. We also talk about the surprising announcement that On Location Vacations made on Friday, January 25, about Catching Fire filming for two days in Ringwood State Park, NJ. Why New Jersey? And why now? We share our thoughts! In light of several recent discussions surrounding the release of the Entertainment Weekly cover, we attempt to answer the question: Why is Finnick such an important character? We also speculate about how Effie's character might be changed for the films. At 10:45pm ET, we are joined by Valerie Estelle Frankel, author of Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. If you have any questions for Valerie, leave a comment on our website.

In Episode 92 of Fireside Chat, we freak out over Entertainment Weekly's 2013 preview issue, which hit stands on the 11th and gave us our very first glimpse at Catching Fire. The issue features a "first look" Catching Fire cover, seven exclusive stills/photos from the film and set, and an extensive article that includes interviews with the cast and creators. We talk about ALL OF THIS. Other topics include a brief recap of the 2013 People's Choice Awards and our thoughts on this year's Oscar nominations and why The Hunger Games didn't receive any. We would love to hear your thoughts on the EW cover, the stills, and the accompanying article, so please tweet us or leave a comment on our site sharing your opinions.

In Episode 91 of Fireside Chat, we kick things off by weighing in on the recently revealed "official" location of District 3 (pictured here). As we've discussed on past shows, the makers of The Hunger Games Adventures -- the franchise's official Facebook game -- have been slowly unlocking each district on an "official" map of Panem. What do you think about the location of District 3? Are you beginning to question the validity of this "official" map? Let us know your thoughts! We next look ahead to the Year that Catches Fire, sharing the moments we're most looking forward to in 2013 -- aside from the theatrical release of Catching Fire, of course. As we hinted on last week's show, we also spend a bit of time comparing The Hunger Games to Les Misérables. If you've observed any parallels between the two, let us know.