030 - Florida Mando and Grogu Arrow

MJ & Nath are back for the big Episode 30, and to celebrate they're serving up another packed week of all things pop culture.

The boys wax lyrical about Absolute Green Arrow #1, The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, and welcome back everyone's favourite source of questionable life choices: Florida Man in the Weird Files. As if that wasn't enough, Cyril returns in the Mos Eisley Mailbag with more correspondence from a galaxy far, far away.

Meanwhile, Nath dons his investigative journalist hat (not a real journalist) to examine the Diamond Distribution's bankruptcy ripple effects to the comic, pop culture and indie industry.

From Florida to the Outer Rim to Star City in 30 episodes, it's another week of the Pulp Culture Podcast. 

All content © 2026 Pulp Culture Productions

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

Let's get this podcast started.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Hey, welcome to the pop culture podcast, your weekly dose of all things pop culture. Freshly squeezed for you. I'm Nate. I'm MJ. This is my Batman voice. I thought you knew I asked you if you were going to clear your throat before you started, and you did it on I didn't say I was going to. I was gonna say happy dirty 30, but uh that's uh that that voice is dirty enough for me.

SPEAKER_04 0:53

Uh do not like that expression.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

It seems gross. Uh we started we started off with a bang. We started off with a speed bump. As we always do. Um but uh welcome back. Hello. For another episode. Uh we're recording just days after we last the last recording. Minutes. But luckily we've still got plenty of uh of pop culture to to bring you on this episode. Time will tell. Yeah. Or we're just like uh, you know, just like stretch it a little bit, like they say on TV, you know, just stretch, just stretch a little bit longer. No, no, we're all good. So uh we'll bring you all your regular segments that you uh know and love, as well as uh Some you don't. Oh I was gonna say I was about to say the weird files and you already jumped in with some you don't.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Just keeping it real.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

I'm sure there's a special guest appearance by the Deformed Toaster. Um aka Cyril.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Oh, you we won't guess what he's been up to this week.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Oh yeah, well, hopefully he's wearing pants this week and we can um we can move on.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Yeah, when I say this week, you know, June 1985, but still.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

We should do a retrospective. Where is he now? Where's Cyril now?

SPEAKER_04 2:15

I don't know whether I want to ask that question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I reckon he's on a heap somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

He's probably melted down and turned into a corner post for like uh a Liverpool football club or something.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Or or a real toaster.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Or a real toaster.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Serves a real purpose now, right? Maybe I'll do it Google. Uh all right, let's get into the zest. Alright, uh no trailers. We we sort of would trail it out in the last uh last episode.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

Well, like I said, it has been 45 minutes since we recorded last.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

But uh but but yeah, we've got um we've got plenty of zest. One thing that um I think will excite you, MJ, is is that um the night before Christmas is getting a sequel. Um really? It's getting a sequel. Don't get too excited though. I am excited because you're thinking that it's gonna be an animated form. It's actually not, it's gonna be coming out as a four-book series. Okay. Um so it it is official, like at Disney have have um and made this announcement.

SPEAKER_05 3:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Um, and it's called the Shiver. Um, the Shiver at Christmas Town. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

So um these are kids' books?

SPEAKER_02 3:34

So the it well, as far as I know, it sounds like a novel series, like a like a maybe it's YA, I'm not too sure. There's I've only seen some um some artwork for it at this stage. Okay. Um, not a lot of details, but uh yeah, Disney has said that they're releasing this four book series uh later this uh year. And what did you say it was called? The shiver. It's called the sh it's called the Nightmare Before Christmas. Yep. Uh the shiver um uh uh shiver at Christmas Town. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

Well, I'm I'm down. Yeah. That sounds like fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Yeah. So um, so yeah, get excited. Uh Nightmare Before Christmas fans. I did not see that coming. Yeah, neither do I. Look, and you know, sometimes they do this. Um, you know, they'll try on a property, see what the popularity is, yeah. If it's popular, then they'll bring it back. I mean, Disney are notorious for bringing back properties, um, you know, because originality's not their bag. They want to just sort of capitalise on those um those really cool properties. So um if that's what they're gonna do, um, you know, all more for it.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

So yeah, well, I definitely think there's an audience for more nightmare stuff. It's it I mean, for a single movie that is a bit niche, safe to say, yeah, and came out um you know 30 something years ago, uh it's it's still still got a following. You still see you know merchandise and stuff about out and about all the time, especially at Christmas.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Well, I mean Disney Disney capitalized on it when it comes to um uh the uh the Halloween when they do the haunted house and you know Nightmare Before Christmas all comes out. So um, you know, it is their it's it it really is their thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

So yeah, well I know I I talked about it, I think it was last week and and said that it was one of my favorite films. It is one of my favorite films. Like it would be in my top five, ten uh at least. But um, yeah, it's it's it's a great film.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Yeah, absolutely. 100% agree.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

That's good news. I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

We talked about uh Ben 10 Gate last uh last week in in the episode. Yes. Um if you haven't listened to episode 29 uh and wanted to know what we're talking about in regards to Ben 10 and um uh licensing rights for the comic book, uh definitely give that a listen. Um did a bit of uh investigative journalism, even though I'm not a journalist.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

It's a little more interesting than it sounds, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Thanks for nothing. No, I'm just just saying. Yeah, so um, but yeah, it is it is rather interesting um what was what what we've discovered. So um have a listen to that. And um, but uh but saying that, Ben 10 the comic, the first issue, um, outsold all other comics in that week. Okay. Um 86,000 comics were uh of Ben 10. Yeah. Uh beating uh absolutes, which is really interesting.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Well, that's I mean, that's gonna be in America at least. Just in America.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

That's the only place it's available. So if it had been available in all other you know countries, yeah, it would have absolutely um uh done a done a killing. Um uh but with the success of Ben 10, um uh Man of Action have come out and said that they are um again reuniting with uh with Diamond, uh sorry, with Dynamite uh comics, uh and they're going to uh expand the Ben 10 universe with uh generator wrecks. Oh um so for those of you who might not know, uh this was a series that was done sort of uh a number of years later after Ben 10 had become successful, um, and it's about uh uh a teenager who uh gets infused with nanites and is able to sort of um you know sort of manipulate his body into cannons and guns and you know flying and all sorts of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

So uh it seems uh very early uh in the uh relaunch of the comic to to be talking about expanding it, especially when um 90% of the world can't read the game.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

I think I think maybe this was a plan all along, you know. It's a bit like what's happening with with Image and Um, you know, Skybound doing the Energon universe.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Um, you know, they had plans pretty much from the get-go to have all these properties and they've just been slowly rolling them out.

SPEAKER_05 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Um, so maybe this is another way of getting Ben 10 out into the marketplace through Generator Rex. So um anyway, looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Only bit of news I want from Ben 10 is that uh the rest of the world can read the comic book.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

It's it's available in Australia. So um that's what I'll do. As soon as that happens, we'll uh we'll bring it to you for sure. We we we keep our uh keep our ear to the uh to the railroad tracks just uh hopefully the the train the Ben 10 train is on its way.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

So uh a very old reference, that one.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Yeah, well anyway, uh moving right along, talking about old references. Uh Jim Kerry. Uh Jim Kerry is in talks uh to star in a live action version of the Jetsons.

SPEAKER_04 8:37

Yes. Uh I think I had heard this one. Yeah. Have we heard anything else about this?

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Like who it's coming from or so uh so originally uh that is we it would be Warner Brothers.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

So um who in the Jetsons there's no filmmakers.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

No, nothing, nothing's attached at this stage. It's just um it's just uh and it's and that's credible. I mean it's it's definitely hit some of the more reputable uh like variety and deadline and um you know those those types of um news outlets.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

It's almost weird that that hasn't happened earlier previously, hasn't it? Because we we've got we had an animated film a number of years ago. Yes, we did. But um uh to to we haven't had a live action film, but considering how relatively successful the Flintstones ones were and the Scooby-Doo films. Yes, um I would have thought they would have done it earlier as well.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Yeah. Um yeah, look, interesting um that they're having uh Jim Carrey as George Jetson. Yeah. Um I I would have thought that he might have been a little bit older, but that's okay. Um you know, but that's okay, that's that's fine.

SPEAKER_04 9:43

No, I think I I mean I think Jim Carrey's actually aged quite well.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Um no, I don't I'm not saying he hasn't.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

No, no, no. But I I think he's still, you know, a good looking dude. As in terms of um you know his acting ability, I believe he could do anything. So I think that's exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

So um hopefully that's um you know that's that that's coming sooner rather than later.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Yeah, I'll see that.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Um and I'm happy that he's not retiring yet because you know, I mean, there's always been that talk about him retiring. He came out of retirement to do another Sonic, and you know, I think he's sticking around until Sonic stops becoming popular at the you know cinema.

SPEAKER_05 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Um, you know, that's that's that's an amazing moneymaker for for for a film with Sonic.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

I mean, I was gonna say you better insert the crusty dump truck load of money soundbite in here.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Oh he drove a dump truck full of money up to my house. I'm not made of stone.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

But uh yeah, look, it's um it's a it's a it's a good one. So uh it's a good problem to have for him, that's for sure. Yeah, completely. So um yeah, uh moving right along, we've got uh we've got some more news about the new uh Avatar the Last Airbender um series that's coming. Yep. Um it's called Avatar the Seven Havens.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Uh now this will be an animated series um which will be following on quite a number of years later after uh the Legend of Korra.

SPEAKER_08 11:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Uh and uh this is going to be uh a two season, it's already been um picked up. This is Netflix. This is uh no, this will be with uh well Nickelodeon uh essentially own it, which is a Warner Brothers production. Yeah, so we might see it on HBO Max, maybe I'm not too sure. It's hard to tell. It's hard to tell where where it might go.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Um but um just the live action show is on Netflix.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Oh, sorry, my notes actually say that it's Paramount Plus. Oh, okay. So so yeah, it'll be coming to Paramount Plus in 2027. Okay. Uh so so yeah, so it'll be 26 episodes over two seasons. Um and this is this is what uh interests me the most about this is um the synopsis talks about uh twin avatars this time. Okay. So that's I find that really intriguing that they're going to go down a path where uh two people share the avatar state, so and what that looks like.

SPEAKER_04 12:12

Doesn't that go against the whole sort of ethos of the the the avatar?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, so so uh you know I did a little bit more research when I when I read this, and um, you know, it's sort of the the fans are uh sort of speculating that maybe this is a good versus evil avatar.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

So uh twins separated at birth, don't know each other, yep, but because they share the same, you know, chromosomes and genes and etc. etc. Yep, that they will um, you know, one one is good, one is bad based on their circumstances. That's a fun concept. And that's a great concept. Um there's some type of um some type of really awful uh destruction that has happened from Cora being the uh the avatar.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

And uh pretty much the world is a wasteland and that uh uh that uh uh benders are only used to protect the cities that are left. So it's been very dystopian. Okay um and um uh you know uh avatars in general don't really exist. Uh or the avatar doesn't exist. Yeah. Um and benders don't really exist unless they're like soldiers. Interesting. So um it's a it's an interesting take. It's uh definitely a a very different direction.

SPEAKER_05 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Um but yeah, I'm kind of excited to see how how that plays out.

SPEAKER_04 13:35

Avatar the last airbender stuff is again something that I'm relatively new to. I've only been watching the um live action show on Netflix, and but I've been really enjoying it. So it's fun. Yeah, no, I'm I'm I'm game to watch more.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah, and they're doing um uh they're they're currently uh filming the third season at the moment. Yes. So um we've started seeing some you know images and um you know onset video of of of all the uh all the cast together in their in their um uh outfits, so which is great. So I'm looking forward to uh to seeing that when it comes out.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Um uh moving right along uh with more animation news we have uh Futurama is coming back excellent for a 14th season.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

Yeah, good to hear.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Um and that will be speaking of Benders. Yes, so that'll be coming out uh for on Disney Plus in uh August the third. So it's not that that not that far away. Yeah, good, good. Um so yeah, really looking forward to uh to uh Bender and Fry and um and and uh and the team.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

Leela and um Leela and Mr. Zloyberg Zoeberg, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Uh and uh yeah, all the all the rest of them. So uh it'll be great.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

Yeah, no, I'm down for that. I love uh Futurama, so the more the better.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Yeah, absolutely. Uh we also have um at the moment it's been announced uh this week that uh in our time that uh Peter Jackson is currently writing and plans to direct the sequel to uh 2011's The Adventures of Tintin.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

Yes, he's finally going to make it.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah, so this is this was an animated movie um back, like I said, back in 2011.

SPEAKER_05 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Um fantastic. I mean, I'm a big Tintin fan anyway. Yeah. Um, and uh when this was made into an animated movie, um sorely disappointed that it it didn't have a follow-on or a sequel to it.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Yeah, well that was always the intention, wasn't it? Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

It was it was supposed to be in threes, right? Okay, um and um it just didn't have the the reception that that they were expecting it to be. Yeah, it was produced by um Amblin Entertainer.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

It was directed by Spielberg.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

And directed by Spielberg. Um so and uh Peter Jackson, I think Peter Jackson wrote it, didn't he? He did.

SPEAKER_04 15:54

I think I think the original plan was that they developed them together, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg, and then Spielberg was directing the first one, as he did. Yep, and then the plan was for Peter Jackson to do the second one.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:05

Um I think we just didn't realise that it was going to take quite so long for them to get around to it. But um I think it'll be really interesting to see because the the the animation and the the effects in that first one were spectacular.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

Um so uh 2011 did you say it was?

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Uh 2011. So it's been quite a significant amount of time.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

Another decade and a half of development. Um I I think it'll be really fascinating to see what what comes of that. Yeah. Um I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

I I I think it was probably ahead of its time at when it when it came out.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Uh and and I don't think that the the audience was kind of ready for that. No. Or really, you know, the audience that was going to it probably didn't know too much about Tintin.

SPEAKER_05 16:47

No.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Um, and so I think that that's why that it wasn't as popular. But with one that's already out now, that you know can do a bit of a hype campaign for us for a sequel, yeah, I think will really work.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

I think um and now that that movie's been out for such a long time, uh and it I hope I mean it it's there's been an opportunity for so many people to discover it on one level or level or another, it can only benefit a sequel. Um I think it's you know, Tintin, as much as the people that love it love it, yeah, it's it is a niche uh product. Yeah. Um which I think is one of the things that I'm most interested in with Masters of the Universe. As much as we love Masters of the Universe, it's also a niche product.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:27

Um Asterix is the same, you know, it means the world to the people that read it, myself included.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Especially the French, they they love it, they just keep making it they just keep making movie after movie um, and they're and they're spectacular too.

SPEAKER_04 17:39

I've been watching the most recent uh series on Netflix, and it's stunning. Um the animation's beautiful. You know what it'd be great? A lucky Luke film. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Oh, I'd be so damn for that.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Oh, that'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

Yeah, but uh I uh I I think you know it's a it it just sort of goes to um the fact that they're a difficult a bit of a difficult sell. Like um, it's hard to say that these sorts of films are gonna become a billion dollar seller because they they they don't have the um the the brand recognition that that uh say the Batmans or the Supermans of the of the world have or Star Wars even.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

And that's why I think that maybe Tin Din's got another another go. Because because it's already had a a film that can sort of hype up for the next films.

SPEAKER_04 18:23

Oh it's it's certainly elevated his profile, um having that that previous film and and it as as we say it was spectacular. So yeah, I'm really excited about the the prospect of another one.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Yeah, for sure, absolutely. Uh also news, um, you know, I I know it's gonna be one of your uh favourite TV uh shows of uh of of this year um is uh coming uh October 15th from Peacock.

SPEAKER_05 18:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Um we're getting the prequel series to Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

Right. I knew I knew that was going somewhere sarcastic.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Um which is uh which is actually called Crystal Lake. Right. Um and uh it's actually starring uh Linda uh Cartellini. Cardalini, thank you. Yeah, um Hawkeye's wife. So oh yeah, Hawkeye's wife, yes, yeah, correct. Um yeah, so she will be playing uh the mother of uh Jason Voorhees. Yeah, nice. Uh and uh this is when um this is actually her being the murderer. So spoiler spoiler alert uh first the first uh film of uh Friday the 13th is actually not Jason. Jason turns up in uh in uh episode uh sorry um film number two, so Friday 13th two.

SPEAKER_04 19:47

Mate, you're preaching to the choir. Like, I mean, I've seen all of these films. Just to be clear, I haven't actually seen any of these films.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Oh yeah, okay. Um I'll be watching it, I'll be reviewing it, so um I'll I'll represent.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

All right. So look I look forward to hearing about it.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Yeah, it'll be I look, uh I I'm interested to see what they actually do with this. Yeah, um I you know, are they just going to take the first film and and you know, strip it into six or eight episodes? Um, or are they going back a little bit before that when Jason's a child before he goes to camp and you know then they lead in? I'm not too sure. But yeah, interestingly enough, I mean they've done it with Child's Play and another couple of sort of horror properties before.

SPEAKER_05 20:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Um, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with Crystal Lake. Um, but yeah, if you're a horror fan and you're interested, it'll be coming out from uh from Peacock, so it'll be on one of the streaming platforms, I'd say to guess.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Um uh and uh October 15th it'll be released.

SPEAKER_04 20:48

So no, as as much as I joke, I love that that stuff exists. So um yeah, that the horror fans would get excited.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yeah, anything horror sells, right? So, you know, they'll keep making it until it stops. Yep. Um uh talking about horror, uh we have got we spoke actually last uh I thought you were gonna say it was time for the weird files. Uh not yet. That's even better. Uh we we we spoke actually last uh last episode about Sebastian Stan, and I said that he was set to play um Harvey Den. Yes. And you wanted more evidence and proof.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

I do and did.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

So uh may I approach the bench and give my evidence? Yes, you may. Excellent, thank you. Uh Judge MJ. Uh the I like that. He's mad with power even before it starts. You can if you want to. Excellent. Uh Sebastian Sand has confirmed to deadline that he is uh playing Harvey Dent and Two Face. Um, so he has said that he is on his way to London right now uh to play Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent. And he also said that when he gets there, the first thing he'll be doing is working with the makeup department to show his different transformations. So that sort of very much implies that he will be two-faced as well.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

So well so has he said he's going to be two-faced or he hasn't?

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Well he said that he said that he's playing Harvey Dent two-face. That's okay. Yeah, and that his um that he'll be working with the uh makeup department to uh to work on his transformation.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

So what he's so what he's saying there is that he will be appearing as Harvey Dent, but he will also be appearing as Two Face. Two-Face, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Okay, cool. So bring it on. That's on the record, so that's exciting.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

I'm down for that.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah, and um congratulations to him being in the film. I can't remember what it's called at Cairns that uh that did exceptionally well. I think got the palm door. So um yeah, whatever that film was called. The movie that won the recent 79th Cairns Film Festival Palm Dor Award was Fiord, which starred Sebastian's Dan.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

He was in it, he was the star. Right. Well, you stitched me up because I'm not in touch with that at the moment. All right, I'll uh I haven't got all over that.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

I'll let you know uh later on. Yeah, thanks. Uh before we get into the weird files, I think we should get into that too. All right, uh we should absolutely get into the tomb. We should get into the tomb. So uh if you uh if you haven't been on our socials, um you're missing a treat of uh MJ and it was also mentioned in in last episode 49. We did we discussed it last episode, and uh so you had uh I I had posted in jest about a uh about a box series um of uh the mummy seasons one and two.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

Just to be clear, you do not post about jest. You do not post in jest about the mummy.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Oh apologise. Apologize to everyone.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Um you posted your own risk about the mummy.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Yeah, I did. Um so uh and uh you uh you instantly got online and uh bought yourself a copy.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Oh instantly. It took me about 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

How does this mouse work?

SPEAKER_04 24:20

Um I did it on my phone.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Oh, well done.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

Yeah, good job. No, I know. It's I'm very advanced. Yes, no, I did. Um I I uh got on uh found a copy of the the mummy, yes, the three disc set. Yes. Um and I've watched the first episode.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Yes, and uh and what was your thoughts on uh what was your thoughts on the first episode?

SPEAKER_04 24:42

I really enjoyed it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Like I said, it's very much canon. It sits right in the in the pocket of um uh sort of that episode two. Um it's what it's it's sort of a a lead-in and a roundabout way of what happened in episode two to lead the next adventures, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:58

I'm not gonna tell you that I know exactly how it all fit and and it's difficult to say that it was canon, it was all over the place. But it was great fun. Um I I I really enjoyed it. Um I think uh one of the things that uh well I should say that the first episode was called The Summoning. Yes. Um so that was uh season one, episode one, the summoning. Uh I'm being clear about that because we're gonna talk about every single episode on here. Yep. Um in order. Yes. Uh we're gonna because that's what we do. That's what we do, that's what we do here. Well, I'm up to episode three now. I'm up. Okay, well, we're not talking about episode three. That's for two weeks down the track. We're talking about episode one, the summoning.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Uh yeah, the summoning, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Um uh and it was really good. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the things that that um surprised and delighted me was and I guess it makes sense because one of the things that um people enjoyed about the mummy back in the day, the first one and the second one, was the um use of the advanced uh computer generated imagery.

SPEAKER_07 25:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

Um, and the TV show sort of embraces that as well. Like there's a couple of scenes in it where uh Imitep uh changes uh forms and they use the the computer generated imagery and uh it kind of looks a little bit cheesy now, but um back then at the time it would have been pretty pretty but even now it's still it still looks really cool, yeah. Um and and I like that they sort of gave that to uh the fans. Yes. Um I I thought the the voice acting was really good. Yeah. Um John Schneider as Rick O'Connell is is great. He is good, isn't he? Yeah, like he's not you know, he's he's not exactly like Brendan Fraser, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:38

He played plays his own version, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:40

Yeah, exactly. But but he's got that um you know leading man, yeah, sort of heroic.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Um uh uh Grey Delisle as Evie is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I told you she was.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

Yeah, really, really good. She is like she she's probably the best of the the voice performances for me. Yeah, um but she's a she's a veteran, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:59

She's been around, she's done it all.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

A legend, yeah, totally. Um I wasn't I won't I wasn't surprised, yeah, but um uh it was almost a case of like she didn't have to do that good a job.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

No, um but I was she could have dialed it in, she still would have been good, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:13

But I was so delighted that she did. Yeah, um and yeah, uh the other characters, Imitep and Jonathan and um even Alex, uh like he's playing the typical annoying little kid as he was in the movies, but um uh yeah, it was really, really good fun.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Yeah, I I I totally agree. I think I think the summoning really sets it up for um for the for the season. Yeah, and um I'm really sort of looking forward to seeing what what sort of comes about in in each episode.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

I was really pleased that it had a satisfying title sequence too. Um I was hoping that that that wasn't um we're gonna fall flat, but uh yeah, it was really pleased with it. Yeah, definitely not on brand, I guess you would say.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

So uh so look forward to to more uh more updates from uh the mummy animated series.

SPEAKER_04 28:02

Yeah, comprehensive reviews, 26 of them coming at you.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

In the tomb. Alright, your your favorite segment of mine, the weird files. Let's open them up. Alright, here we go. Uh again. What have we got? I'll uh I'll deal out my three to you, and uh you can tell me which one it uh you would prefer.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

The dealer's lottery for this week.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Yep. Uh we've got uh Taco Smuggler, we have uh Hooters Funeral Golf Cart. Pardon? Hooter's funeral golf cart, okay, and we've got Night Surfing Alligator. So I'll just read those back to you again. We've got Taco Smuggler, Hooters Funeral Golf Cart, and we've got Night Surfing Alligator.

SPEAKER_04 29:00

Okay, uh, I mean, part of me wants to choose the Taco one just because you've said you've mentioned that two weeks in a row. Okay, and I kind of want to get it out of the way and into the past as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Right, however.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

But I'm gonna go the Hooters one. Uh, golf carts are always funny.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Yeah, golf carts are always funny. All right. Okay, here we go. Yep. Florida man!

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Yes! He's back. He's back, baby.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

He's back.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

Uh we've missed you, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Was arrested after stealing a funeral home golf cart and driving it 14 miles.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

Hang on. A funeral home golf cart. A funeral home golf cart. What's a funeral home need with a golf cart?

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Uh I think they pull like the coffin to the actual uh grave itself.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

That doesn't seem very dignified. Um is that a special request service?

SPEAKER_02 29:50

It's Florida. I'll have the golf cart, please.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Um because I don't want the hearse, so it's too expensive.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

He's going out as he lived.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

It's well, it's it's Florida. It's golf golf clubs and you know, and and all that sort of stuff. So you know, you've probably got some golfers that want to be pulled by their golf cars.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

I'm putting it on the record. I don't want that.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Yep. So um, yep, well I'll make sure I put it in a special order for you.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Uh so the I want to be I want to go out in a plastic ice cream container thrown into the ocean.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

All right, moving on. Uh Florida man stealing a funeral home golf cart and driving it 14 miles to a Hooters. Uh boy. He didn't go to the wake, he didn't sign in the guess book. He saw the keys in the cart and the open road and uh craving for boneless wings. That's all he could wait for, so he moved on. Uh he uh was he attending the funeral? So he was attending the funeral. So uh he told arresting officers that he was just trying to clear his head and some wings and a cold draught. He said the head clearing began at Evergreen Funeral Home, where uh where the where the man had been a guest at a third cousin service, a third cousin service, probably didn't even know him. Um and uh and ended for Florida might have been his wife uh and ended 14 miles later in the parking lot of a Hooters. Uh what investigators pieced together is already the top post uh in five uh county Facebook groups. Here's the stats. So uh the man allegedly slipped out during the eulogy allegedly slipped out during the eulogy, climbed into the funeral home's courtesy car, and rolled out at a steady 11 miles an hour. Right. With the lap blanket. The lap blanket is like what the coffin goes on, right? Um when they when they put it over and it gets lowered into the ground. Oh, okay. So he's he's nicked off with the with the lap blanket.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

Okay, yep. That's not that's not cool.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Um still folded on the passenger's seat. Uh he reportedly stopped twice along the route, once at a wawa for a tall boy. I'm not too sure what that is. I'm guessing that might be a drink. Wawa is a convenience store, and a tall boy is a 24-ounce iced tea lemonade or fruit punch drink. Once at a Dollar General for a pack of Marlboro Reds. Right. Uh, so he's got priorities there. Oh, and also a single banana. Right. Okay. Uh, potassium up there. Yeah, I could just see his like his his little shopping list. Uh, before I go to Hooters, I've got to get myself a you know a tall boy and a pack of Marlboro's and a uh and a and a banana.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

A comprehensive list, if nothing else.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Absolutely. Um uh witnesses say that he waved at every car that honked, including um a uh a county school bus full of children, who later told their parents that the cowboy on the little car blew us a kiss. Uh uh he reportedly arrived at Hooters parked between two uh F-150s. Uh, can you imagine that? Like just these two massive cars and there's this tiny little golf cart sitting in between them.

SPEAKER_04 33:19

Yep, I can I can imagine that, yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Walked in and asked for a table by the TV. Ma'am, I had a long drive. Uh he was caught only after a server identified um as Britney, of course, at Hooters, recognized that the Evergreen's logo on the cart through the window and asked if everything was okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

That's nice of her.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

A regular at the bar only by uh only as Big Wayne um from the from the bait shop. Okay, told reporters that uh that the man had been calm, generous with his tip, and grieving in his own special way.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

I don't know why he wouldn't be colouring.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Uh who's a 27-year-old veteran um of the Sheriff's Office address reporters in the parking lot. And he said, In 27 years, I have logs stolen uh scooters, stolen tractors, and one man who took a Zamboni out of the out of a rink. I've got to find that story. Um This is the first time I've ever written a report listing the vehicle as property of Evergreen Memorial Park. And I am now going home, he said.

SPEAKER_04 34:36

My goodness.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

He didn't say goodbye to his deceased, he just said hello to ten boneless wings. And uh there you go.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

That's uh one way to liven up a funeral for yourself at least.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Yep, absolutely it is. So uh there you go. There's another one uh for the books. Thank you, Florida man. Uh thank you, Florida man. He seems getting arrested or what, doesn't he?

SPEAKER_04 34:58

Yeah, he does, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we love him nonetheless. You've got to have a hobby.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Yep, but uh there you go. That's uh the weird files. Excellent. All right, let's get into the aisle.

SPEAKER_10 35:11

Sunday, a martial arts expert has metropolis under siege.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Mark and I can try and find this guy.

SPEAKER_10 35:16

He's unstoppable.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

He threw Superman around like a rag doll, and then I wouldn't say like a rag doll.

SPEAKER_11 35:22

Can they discover the real secret to the power?

SPEAKER_09 35:24

A contest. Super strength against super G.

SPEAKER_08 35:35

Real Turtles, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Rafael.

SPEAKER_11 35:41

Yeah, oh good ones at you.

SPEAKER_08 35:49

We're back in an awesome new movie.

SPEAKER_10 36:18

One of the exciting happy toys at vehicles. Batman Happy Meal by your kids. What is what you get today?

SPEAKER_11 36:27

Why have they been in there so long?

SPEAKER_09 36:29

They're probably just a toy. That's Rob.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

What have you been reading? I have been reading quite a bit, actually. Okay. Um, yes, I've made it my mission to actually come prepared. All right.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

Um don't imply that you you don't normally come prepared. Yeah, I just make it up as I go along. You're a consummate professional.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Um uh what I have done is I've got up to date now with Transformers. Okay. Uh I've just uh I've just finished reading uh uh issue 20, uh sorry, 32.

SPEAKER_05 37:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Um and this is uh Kirkman's still writing. Um, and we've got Jason Howard now doing um the artwork.

SPEAKER_04 37:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

So I don't know where Dan Moore is, but um he's nowhere to be seen.

SPEAKER_04 37:14

He's busy drawing 16 other books.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Yeah, I know. I I would say we'll get quite a few fill-in artists from now onwards. Um I don't think we'll see him back on the book. No. Um, and I think the next book has got a different artist again. That's okay. Uh for 33, and that's okay. Um this this is actually the aftermath of uh issue 30.

SPEAKER_04 37:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

Um have you read 30?

SPEAKER_04 37:40

I haven't. I'm still I'm uh I am catching up, but I'm still well behind.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

So this will be a spoiler free then for for for listeners, um, and for you and for you as well, MJ. Um so issue 30 is uh sorry, issue 32 is the aftermath uh aftermath of issue 30, yeah, um which was a milestone like like ours. Oh, there you go, it's appropriate. We're talking about that. There you go. Yeah, congratulations. Um and congratulations to you. Yeah, thank you. And to Optimus, yeah, and to Optimus, who is now Optimus, no longer a Prime, he is now Optimus. Okay, I think I mentioned that in 30. Yes, I think he might have. And the matrix of of leadership has been handed over to somebody else.

SPEAKER_08 38:21

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Um, and so this is the aftermath on what that looks like. Um and uh yeah, I'm I'm not I'm yeah, I'm I don't know where this is going. Yeah. Um I'm not enjoying it, I must admit. I'm not feeling very uncomfortable about it. Alright. Um what is it that you're just not enjoying? I just suppose that it's not not the Transformers that I was expecting. Everything up leading up to this has been really good. Yeah. Um this is now um, you know, we've got we've got Earth and we've got Cybertron, we've got two sort of warring factions going on.

SPEAKER_05 38:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

Um a lot of the action now with the matrix of leadership is now moved to uh to Cybertron.

SPEAKER_05 39:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

And I'm not a hundred percent sure what they're doing with the matrix of leadership because it's something that I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

Anyway, so is it the is it the ch the change in character dynamics that you're not enjoying?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

I I don't know if it's that or what what they what the um interpretation of what the matrix of leadership is. Okay. Um and you'll see that in when you get to 32, what they use it for.

SPEAKER_05 39:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

And I and it it just doesn't I don't know, it's just there's something right there's something really wrong about it, right? Okay. Um because uh for me the matrix of leadership is it's like the the the moral compass to support and help and you know um the the Autobots to win good versus evil. Yeah. Um but I don't see that that's the path that it's being taken down, right? Okay. Um so anyway, you know, it could be that whole, you know, hungry with power and as a result, you know, using it for the wrong purposes. Yeah. Um but yeah, I wouldn't have thought that the matrix of leadership would be able to be used for that, you know. That's not darking uh lighting the darkest hour, as they say in you know, the the movie, right? Okay. Um Jason Howard as the artist. Um look, does a does a great he he does great work. Um I just think that the all all of the um transformers, yeah, they all need a meal. They're all very skinny. Um so skinny legs, skinny arms, yeah, they're all they're all very sort of lean. Um and um so yeah, I'm not a hundred percent sure. Like action poses are great, facial expressions are awesome, yeah. Um, you know, does great battle battle sequences and all the rest of it. But yeah, they're just a little bit lean.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

So just the character design.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

Yeah, just the character design, just very, very lean, that's all. Okay. Um overall, it it's it's it look, I I'm interested to know where it's going. Yeah, but I just don't like I'm just not sitting comfortable with the Matrix all edge.

SPEAKER_04 41:05

Well, my my intention is to catch up with Transformers and in the next couple of weeks. So um maybe we'll we'll talk about it more once I've caught up. Yeah, exactly. Um there are some hard acts to follow art wise on Transformers, aren't there?

SPEAKER_02 41:18

Yeah, i look, you know, I mean we've had we've had a really good roster of of of great artists.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

Yeah, like between Philip Kennedy Johnson and then Roy Corona and um and and Dan Mora.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:30

Um I'm not as familiar with Jason Howard, but I look forward to seeing um this interpretation you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

Yeah, it's it look it is an interesting one. And like I said, I I I think we're just so used to um our Transformers being big and bulky.

SPEAKER_05 41:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

You know, they they are essentially robots.

SPEAKER_05 41:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Um and and you know, they they just looked a little bit lean and toned. Okay. Um uh, you know, there's a there's actually a uh an image of one of the female transformers sort of standing with her arm in the air, yeah, and it's a it's a very curvacious sort of um pose. Okay. And you actually see that they haven't sort of squared it off, it's actually rounded around sort of the the thigh and the stomach area.

SPEAKER_04 42:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

And so that for me it's it's it's a little bit too uh human as opposed to a robot, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um so I don't know if that's just an oversight on or whether that was just uh an artistic choice. Um but again, it's sort of just uh humanized uh the transformers a little bit too much in their look.

SPEAKER_04 42:41

Definitely interested in um saying whether it's just uh perhaps a tasting video.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

It could be tasting, but yeah, like I said, I just think that they're a little bit they just need a good they need a good An and John snack.

SPEAKER_09 42:52

Ba weep grinder, whip ninie bong. Ba weep groner, weep minibon. Ba weep griner, whip mini bong.

SPEAKER_04 43:03

So a cheeseburger. Yeah, cheeseburger. Um all right, well I'll catch up and we'll we'll we'll discuss further. Yeah. Um yeah, no, that's it's still it sounds fun.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Yeah, look, I mean, like I said, I mean, look, uh we're so lucky to be getting a series, right? Yeah, and I and I'm really, really grateful for Kirkman. I mean, look, in Kirkman we trust, and I shouldn't be so critical of his writing. No, you can be. Um I just hope that it's going in a you know a a good direction. And maybe what I've been talking about is that this hungry with power is where he's sort of leading to.

SPEAKER_04 43:35

So it's it's difficult because like you said, we're up to issue what, 30 something.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

I'm 32 now. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Um it's it but I I've found a similar thing with the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Like it's been one of my favorite series of the last decade or so. Yeah. But every once in a while, but because they're trying to push the story forward beyond places that they've you know been before, every once in a while they'll do something that just sort of doesn't sit quite right.

SPEAKER_05 43:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Um and I I find particularly with the turtles, you just you gotta be patient with it. Yeah. Um because i it it it they will get through that storyline and get onto something else that hopefully will click with you more. So um yeah, I'm I'm as I say, I'm eager to catch up and and discuss it further because um it's it sounds interesting to me at least.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

Yeah. Um uh what I've what I've also been reading is uh I'm up to date now with uh with the uh skybound G.I. Joe series.

SPEAKER_05 44:29

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Uh so I read uh issues 20 and 21.

SPEAKER_05 44:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Uh so 21, I really I really dug this one. Um Joshua Um Williamson is writing it, um, and Andrea Milana is doing the artwork for it. Yes. She's great, she does a really good job of Transformers. Yes. Move her over to Transformers. I I really liked her. Um again, this issue is sure she's only human. Well, she's she's amazing. So I I really like her. Yep. Um, she does G.I. Joe, she does Mask, she does Transformers in this episode, in this issue, sorry. Okay and uh and and she does a great job of it.

SPEAKER_04 45:09

I think we said we had her uh in the uh um was it the free comic book the Energon Universe uh 2026 special, right? Yeah, yeah, the free and the free comic book David.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

Yeah, which is that one, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, and she she's like really on point, really like what she's doing there. Um the this again this issue is dealing with the fallout of uh issue 30 of Transformers. Uh and it's we've got uh Duke meeting uh Optimus for the first time and them having a conversation about war and about leadership, and it's it's fascinating, it is absolutely interesting, and it's um it's it's a it's a great right. So Joshua Williamson did a fantastic job of talking about leadership and the um the you know the weight of the crown, right? You know, that that that they have as being leaders of uh of uh and in and in war, right? Uh so this is this is fantastic. We also get a crossover with mask. So uh the other one that I've been reading is um I'm up to date now with uh G.I. Joe. Oh yes. Um the Skybound uh series, not the real American Hero.

SPEAKER_05 46:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

Um I've got quite a bit to go with that, and there's a lot of silent issues that I'll be able to speed through.

SPEAKER_05 46:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

Um this one is uh issue 20 that I want to specifically uh target here, which is um got uh Joshua Williamson as normal doing the uh as the writer.

SPEAKER_04 46:49

Yeah, doing a great job.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

Um and uh Andrea uh is it Andrea or uh Andrea Milana Milana as the artist um he does a fantastic job of uh of doing uh G.I. Joe, Mask, and Transformers all together.

SPEAKER_05 47:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Uh and um if if it was me and I was the editor, I'd be pushing him onto the Transformers book.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

So we'll get rid of the other guy and put him in there. All right. So tag him in. Put him in, ref. I'm I'm I'm all I'm all I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

I'll catch up on both these books as soon and and we'll and we'll see what I think.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

Yeah, the the the great thing about this Joshua Williamson, uh Williamson's uh uh writing is is that it we're getting Optimus and um and and uh Duke meeting for the first time. Yeah uh and they're uh conversing with they're they're essentially um you know Duke's as we know has you know a lot of apprehension and PTSD from what happened with Starscream very early on in books. Yeah, um and so he doesn't trust any Transformer at all, right? Uh but through their conversation, they they you know what they discover is that they're they're more alike than they are different, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Very much so.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Especially especially being leaders of you know uh and and the responsibility of having having uh you know a group of people who are are at your charge, right?

SPEAKER_05 48:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

Um we also get uh another really nice sneak peek into the world of mask, um and uh how uh Matt Tracker is um you know sort of you know getting involved with G.I. Joe, they're fully aware of him, he knows them, they all know each other, yeah. And the introduction uh the introduction to Matt Tracker with the Autobots as well. So Matt Tracker for just for mask is the leader of um the mask team, right?

SPEAKER_04 48:53

So he's like their duke or their optimus, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:55

So mask, so mask is is the group name, yeah, yeah. Um uh mobile armored strike command, um, and then you have Venom, who are the bad guys. Yeah, right. It's really interesting, right? Venom and Cobra are going to, you know, sort of join forces, great just great names. Just makes sense. Makes perfect sense, right? Yeah. Um, so you can see why they've brought it into the same universe, which I think is fantastic. Yeah. Um yeah, so that's that's um, so that's issue 20. Issue 21 is um a uh is is to uh go and uh rec and go back and and find Scarlet, who is off with Storm Shadow.

SPEAKER_08 49:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Um and uh we see Cobra in their element, you know, making uh death and destruction uh uh along the way. So um again, really good issue. Um a lot of silent um we've got Tom Riley back on on the artwork there.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

Oh well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

So he's he's back in there.

SPEAKER_04 49:58

I think it was a Tom Riley. Is it a Tom Riley cover that's got Optimus on the front cover?

SPEAKER_02 50:02

And and Duke uh standing in front of it. Great cover. Yeah, fantastic cover. Yeah um so yeah, he did that, he did that cover. I thought it was him, yeah. Yeah, but he didn't do that issue, right? So that's that's that's issue 20.

SPEAKER_05 50:14

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

Um, this is 21, um, where he is back as the artist. Oh, great. Um now I've only got one issue about this issue is is that um there's a where they're located. We've got issues, people where they're where they're located in Japan, yeah. Um it's uh obviously winter, yeah, and we're getting a lot of snow, and I'm just not convinced that it's snow snowflakes in the air. It just looks like someone's got a brush of wet paint and sort of flicked it onto the onto the page. This is this is Riley's art. This is Riley's art, yeah. And I don't know whether is it digital or uh yeah, I and I'm not too sure whether it's the colorist, yeah, or whether it's uh and the way that they've interpreted it, yeah, or whether it's it's Tom Riley. I'm thinking it's more along the line of the colourist, yeah, and it's there's there's not a lot of depth to it, and it and it just feels a little bit like last minute.

SPEAKER_04 51:12

Interesting. Um I was gonna say, does it look like something they've done as an afterthought?

SPEAKER_02 51:17

Yeah, that's that's kind of what it is. It's like, oh, we're in the snow, it it must be snowing, and so you know, the but like I said, you know, when you when you sort of you know, you see an artist and they'll they'll add that sort of splatter to to to an image that they're that they may be painting or or or drawing. Um it it it feels a little bit like that. It was it's a little bit too over the top. Um so anyway, it's worth it's it's uh I'd be interested to see what your thoughts on it are. And I mean, we we do know that you can have a great artist um and then you put a colourist in over the top, and it kind of they c it kind of loses its um flavor, right?

SPEAKER_04 52:00

I mean, not all artistic collaborations work as well as no, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

Yeah, that's exactly right. And and I'm not saying that it's a bad issue. No, I'm just saying that I feel like the snow was a little bit overdone. You were just irked. Yeah. Well, I don't know if I was irked, but it was it was it I I couldn't stop looking at it, right? Yeah you know, and and I wasn't looking at it for the right reasons, I was looking at for the wrong reasons.

SPEAKER_04 52:21

So not irked but distracted. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

That's distracted's probably a good word, you know. Like you you when you when you're looking at the at the page and you've got two or three panels, you know, in in a six, seven panel, you know, uh page, yeah, those panels are the ones that stand out because of the snow.

SPEAKER_05 52:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:41

Not because you know it blends in with everything else, right? Yeah. Um, and I don't know whether, like I said, whether the colourist has sort of gone down that path to highlight and make it a feature. Um, but yeah, it just just it just it feels a little bit bit 2D for me, you know. Um it doesn't sort of blend in with everything else.

SPEAKER_04 53:01

Yeah, well I've um GI Joe's another title that I've uh elevated in my reading pile. So um I'll try and catch up on those and we'll discuss it again.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

Yeah, look, it's it is it is a good read. Um I love where they're going. Um I really love I love the complexity with General Hawke and who he may or may not be. Um so where that where that's sort of going. Um so which is which is really interesting. Yeah. And I think we'll probably get that in issue uh in the next issue.

SPEAKER_05 53:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:35

So uh that yeah, I think that's like 22 or 23, I think it might be. So I'm looking forward to to seeing where that sort of where that sort of goes. Um so yeah, so that's that's what I've been reading. So what an Energon universe for me.

SPEAKER_04 53:49

Yeah, good. No, as I said, I've been getting back into those. I've I've uh read a few issues of Transformers, but I've still got a way to go to catch up. But um, you know, I I will in the foreseeable future. Um and also G.I. Joe as well, and then we'll be able to discuss discuss them in a bit more depth.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

So we talked about I talked about last week uh with Green uh absolute green arrow.

SPEAKER_04 54:11

You did.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

And you've got yourself your physical copy now.

SPEAKER_04 54:14

I have.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

And have you read it?

SPEAKER_04 54:16

I did. I read it on the tram on the way home from work as you got it. Very soon after I got it. Um yes, I did.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:25

And uh I thought it was great. Yep. Um, yeah, I really enjoyed it. Um uh I enjoyed how uncomfortable it made me feel.

SPEAKER_09 54:35

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:36

Um I I enjoyed uh reading it and thinking about how it was gonna make other people feel. Um because one of the things that I've really enjoyed about the absolute line is uh how many people are reading them and therefore the opportunities we've had to talk to other people about these these books. Yes. And they do push some buttons and they push the characters that we know and love in directions sometimes that we don't uh expect them to go in. And in this case, um uh the character of Green Arrow at least um is getting pushed in directions that I think a lot of people will not uh sit uh will not sit comfortably with a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

It's pretty heavy, right? It's very it's very heavy. It's very heavy, and uh he or she, we don't know whether it's a male or female.

SPEAKER_04 55:28

Yeah, I think we I mean with for the moment I think we can safely say no, no, not safely say, but I think for the I mean if we say he, then that's all right for the moment until other until it until we until notified otherwise.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

But you see what I mean? Like we don't know who you who the green arrow is, right? Yeah, we would they we they they gave us they gave us a three choices that they were sort of assuming um that might be the green arrow.

SPEAKER_04 55:54

Yeah, um which immediately made me think that it's none of them.

SPEAKER_02 55:57

No, it's none of them, right? And I felt the same way too, right? Yeah, I I feel like it's a red herring. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:03

Um so I think that I think that one of the ones, and I won't say who it is, but I think one of the ones that I thought it was going to be.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

You picked it, right? Yeah, that's that's that was one of the three that you said.

SPEAKER_04 56:13

It was, but then there was another one who's featured in the story as a character that I thought might be the the the archer, and he he seems to have been taken off. I think he's been taken off the board.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

He's off the board.

SPEAKER_04 56:24

Yeah, so much carnage you can't exactly remember everybody's status, but yeah, um, yeah, one of my other candidates is has been taken off the board.

SPEAKER_02 56:32

So it's brutal. I mean, it is a it's a brutal read. Um, or visually it's a it's pretty brutal.

SPEAKER_04 56:38

Yeah, but we I mean we knew that the the f we've known that from the images that they released, and and that's what they've said it was gonna be, um, and it lived up to the hype.

SPEAKER_02 56:46

And you can see what I mean by trick arrows. Yes, yeah, yeah. There was trick arrows. Well don't say that there wasn't. There was trick arrows.

SPEAKER_04 56:54

At least one of them was a trick arrow, and the other the other ones were just arrows with a bit of a bonus.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Attach bonus.

SPEAKER_04 57:02

Special extra gift. Yeah, yeah. They were.

SPEAKER_02 57:05

They were trick arrows.

SPEAKER_04 57:06

Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_02 57:07

It could be said though it's don't say they're not trick arrows when there are trick arrows, alright? Don't trick us with your trick with your no trick arrows, alright?

SPEAKER_04 57:14

Um no, but I I really enjoyed it. Um I really enjoyed reading it. I really enjoyed getting producer Kim to read it afterwards. Um I've now handed it off to uh 17-year-old. I don't know whether he's read it yet, um, but I know that he was uh eager to have a look.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

What was Producer Kim's thoughts?

SPEAKER_04 57:32

Yeah, I think pretty much brutal same to my brutal, but I think she was she really enjoyed it as well. Um she uh like I do enjoys uh a strong uh complex female character as well. And so Dinah's unreal. Uh uh I think the character of Dina, I mean, she was really the star of the the issue. Um so much of it was told from her perspective. Um, you know, we delve into her uh current situation and psychological um uh uh position. Yep. Um and I really love that. Um I I I like that it's sort of a um, you know, a an absolute black narrow uh story as much as it is uh an absolute green arrow one. If not more if not more so.

SPEAKER_02 58:17

If not more so, and I and I wonder whether they're doing that on purpose to when they do that juxtapositioning, yeah, that you're able to float with either side, right? Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_04 58:28

I I'm kind of I mean absolute uh green arrow in the the title, I'm I'm starting to see it now as more of a um a concept or as a a situation. You know, green green arrows in the story is is um not so much the the the the archer himself, but it's it's a name that is attributed to the um the company that Oliver Queen has left left behind and Jubal Slayed his um uh creepy sort of uh co-worker. Um and so it's more sort of about uh yeah, the situation I guess that they're all of these characters are in, um, as opposed to you know absolute green arrow being sort of referring to just one man. Um it's it's more about this uh soup of people um and the the the different um responses they're all having to this this situation of of the killings and how they feel about it and um you know how it's making them act and where which side it puts them on. And it's it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 59:30

Yeah. You know, you know, reading that, I it got to a certain I think I was about a third to about halfway through the read, and I was thinking, oh diner's diner's the green arrow. Like we haven't seen them together. Like I'm like, oh, she's gotta be the green arrow. She's gotta finally all of a sudden and then all of a sudden you turn the page and then there they are together, and it's like, whoa, that's that's full on. So um, yeah, I was I I you know it that kind of give you that sort of feel that maybe she could be taking up the mantle.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:02

Yeah, the whole thing felt very perilous, didn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

It's a it's it's awesome. It's it's a great I mean I think I think I'm just as much excited about this as I was with Absolute Batman when it first came out.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

Yeah, another thing that I really enjoyed about this is like I'm not sure what the page count on this one is, but I think it was more than your average um book. It it just it felt very meaty. Like it it it really um you know it felt like a really satisfying read.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:32

I think it was like 32, 34. Uh oh no, it was probably about 30 pages.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:38

Yeah, which is I mean it's bigger than it's it's a bit I mean it's you know big bigger than your average. Yeah. Um and I really felt satisfied with it. Like I really felt like I was getting my money's worth. Um and and I'm hoping that every issue is gonna be like that because it is a limited series. Yep. Um, because yeah, if if if so, like by the time we get to the end, it's gonna be a very satisfying graphic novel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, no, it's uh I was not disappointed.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:04

No, a hundred percent. Uh keeping with DC, just really quickly, uh uh Fury of Firestorm, which uh issue two is out. I haven't read it yet.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

Um I just read actually today that that's being extended from a six issue series. Oh, I think it then went up to seven and now it's gone up to nine. Okay. So they're extending it to nine issues now.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:27

I don't think I'd heard that it was a limited series. I thought I thought it was an ongoing.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

No, it's a limited series, and and now they've pushed it to nine issues, which I'm excited about.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:37

I have I have read issue two, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Okay, all right, keep going. You can tell. No, no, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna spoil anything.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:44

We'll wait until next week and we can talk about it together. No, no, it's it's it's it it's really, really good. Um the issue two gets uh a bit more into the um the origins of of Firestorm.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

Yeah, but um and the predicament that they're the uh that uh they're all in at the moment because of him.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:04

Yeah, like the because the first the first issue, as we know, was you know uh a fairly sort of uh uh you know frenetic and confronting um description of where all the characters sit right now or tease of where that yeah, um yeah, it was sort of uh putting us on on our on our toes. Yep. The the the the the second issue, um particularly for people that haven't read Firestorm before, is a good one because it it it recaps exactly how Ronnie and uh Professor Stein have ended up in this situation. Yep. Um and I really like the the sort of the back step of the story.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:38

Um it's a great jump on point for those who haven't read it. Totally. It's a it's a fantastic way of jumping on it.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:44

It's it's easily the best. I mean, I and I by no means have read all Firestorm over the last 50 years, but it's easily the best treatment of Firestorm that I've ever read. For a long time, I would say. Well for a long time. Yeah, no, I I mean, like I said, I I haven't I haven't read everything. So um, you know, if there no doubt there's other good stuff out there, and this honestly makes me want to go back and explore it, so that might be something that we can talk about on um a future episode. For sure. Um, but but as far as I'm concerned, this nothing has made me as fascinated with the character of Firestorm uh like this has.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

Yeah, absolutely 100% agree with you. What else have you been reading?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:24

Um I've been catching up on a few bits and pieces. Um uh I've caught up on Geiger, the in each comics uh series. I've I've really been enjoying catching up on that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:33

I'm way behind on that one.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:34

Yeah, no, we'll uh look forward to it, if nothing else, because um it it's really really good. Um, and the most uh recent sort of three or four episodes have been um uh getting into some of the other characters that exist in that um uh the unknown war universe. Yep. Um it's like the the the the northerner and um you know Nate the nuclear knight and all that sort of stuff. Yep. Um and uh yeah I'm really enjoying it. Um uh the character of uh Tariq Geiger at the moment is completely um uh off balance. Yep. Um yeah, he's he's being thrown into a world that he just didn't know existed and and is completely um No control over.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

None at all.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:20

Um but it but it's really really good. So I'm glad that I've caught up with Geiger and I'm looking forward to uh future issues. Yeah, awesome. Um in the last couple of days as well, I've read a couple of uh the new uh DC All In uh issues. Uh I read Death Stroke number three. What'd you think of that? Really good. Yeah. Um have you read it? Yes, I have, yeah. Yeah, I really, really like that, and um I I like the sort of uh stinger at the end. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

Um I think every issue has had a stinger at the end.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:46

It has, yeah, yeah. I think I think that's just the tone of the of the story that that Tony Fleaks is is going for.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:52

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:54

Um, but I also enjoyed uh the uh interaction between uh Deathstroke, uh Death Blow and Deadshot.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:02

I I love that to think about the less. I I love that they brought Death Blow into this. So Deathblow is an image character. Right. Um and uh I I think it was if I'm not mistaken, I think it was a Wildstorm character which was Jim Lee's uh production company.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:18

That makes a lot of sense because I I I I was vaguely familiar with Deathblow, but I hadn't made the link between Wildstorm.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:24

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure he's a I'm pretty sure he's a Jim Lee created character.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:28

Well, now that you say that, just the character design um that seems to click. Yeah. Um but but Deadshot as well. Um yeah, I I I I love well I love the exploration of the differences between um Deathstroke and Deadshot because they are um you know on the surface, they're very similar looking sort of characters.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

But then opposite sides of the coin. Yeah, but they're they're totally different.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:52

And I really felt that the the writing in this um really nailed both their characters.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:56

Yeah. And then you've got and then you've got Deathblow in the mix who's A real adversary for Deathstroke.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:02

I liked how impatient Deathblow was. Yeah. With the whole thing. It was like, you know, Deathstroke and Deadshot were sort of dancing. Yeah. And and Deathblow was kind of in the middle going, Oh God, can we just get on with the job, please, guys? Yeah, exactly. No, it was um really good. And I I liked the flashback uh as well. Um uh again, I won't get into too many spoilers, but there's a a a flashback to uh Deathstroke when he was younger. Um we get to see his original character design, but also the original character design of a whole lot of other um sort of deathstroke suicide squad.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

It was a great throwback.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:37

Um, you know, flash rogues gallery type uh uh uh characters, um, and I really enjoyed that too. The other um issue number three that I've read, I read Lobo number three.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:47

Um and I really enjoyed that as well. Um, it's a little bit of a sidestep from the story that we explored in the first two issues. Um it's two separate stories uh being told side by side. Um it's uh the regular art by Huawei Corona, who we were talking about before with Transformers. Um uh and that's great fun, very cheeky and naughty as as you would expect with Lobo. And then there's a like a little Lobo story, so it it goes back to his uh childhood and starts to uh it's uh ri written by Scotty Young, yeah, um, but it's it's drawn by uh different artists that I hadn't seen before. It's it's very very different uh as and striking visually.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:31

Um, but it's uh it's it's got sort of a uh animated Disney kind of Pixar sort of quality about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:38

Um uh renned stimpy sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:41

Oh right.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:42

Um but it's really really fun. Uh it's it's and it's about Lobo when he was younger and all the some of the chaos that he caused at at school and um you know the headaches he gave his teachers and the other other Zarnians. Um and then it cuts back to the the the modern day.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:56

So I'm surprised he actually even went to school.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:59

So yeah, well uh he he he he did um if for no other reason but to cause some trouble. Um but that was really fun too. So uh yeah, I'm really enjoying what the the new um uh all in uh next level titles uh from DC uh are giving us. And um, you know, I I've um really enjoyed yeah, Lobo and Death Stroke when joining Zatana as well. Um and I've got the latest issue of Batwoman um lined up to to read that as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:26

Nice, yep, nice. Good reads, yeah, definitely. Well, that's pretty full on, isn't it? We've we've we've definitely covered the aisle. It is. Um maybe uh what I wanted to uh we we we I mentioned earlier that we did a bit of an investigation uh last week with Ben Ten. Um and um you know we got some feedback that you know people really enjoyed us sort of you know uh letting them know exactly what was happening and why we weren't you know getting the book in Australia. Yep, yep. Um but I wanted to I I just wanted to to to go a little bit further because while I was investigating that um the uh the issue with uh with diamond distribution, comics distribution, uh uh popped up as part of that, it was just brought in as part of the investigation while I was doing it. And it was um and I thought, oh well, I'll I'll go down that rabbit hole and have a look and see what actually happened with Diamond and what the sort of the the blowback and the ramifications for them um dissolving has been. Okay, interesting. Um and so I thought uh tell it tell us what you know. I thought I'd uh I thought I'd let you know. So um, so there isn't uh uh essentially they've they've they've become uh insolvent and um and uh it's put uh you know comic book uh retailers, you know, r square in the in in the sights of you know where are they gonna get their books from and how it's gonna get distributed, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:55

Um and that seems to have sort of you know sorted itself out. It's still teething problems and issues.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:01

Um, but overall, um, you know, books are being delivered, right? Which is which is the most important part. Yeah. The problem is though that uh JP Morgan, um, Chase and Co. Um they uh were the biggest uh I would say um you know they when when Diamond went bankrupt, they were the biggest lender um of of the uh of Diamond.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:27

And so as a result, uh they obviously want to recoup the money which they are owed from from Diamond.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:34

And uh and so uh this is not so much about publishing rights, this is a legal issue about uh stock on hand that they have. Okay. Um so when uh when they went insolvent, they closed down um a Missy Mississippi warehouse um that has roughly about 8.2 million items um of stock in there. Wow. And that stock is not just comic books we're talking about, we're talking about graphic novels, we're talking about uh we're talking about toys, yeah, you know, we're we're we're talking about merchandise. This is eight point two million dollars worth of stock, right? Yeah, uh not double doubles, sorry, eight point two million dollar units units of stock, right? So you can imagine how much that equates to in millions of dollars.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

So why this matters, right? So small publishers um who have utilized diamond in the past, the all that stock that was in the warehouse is now sitting there in bay waiting for a judge to rule on whether that is owned by JP Morgan or owned by the original stalker. So let's say for instance we had a publishing company, yeah, and we brought out our comic books, yeah, and we're listing them through Diamond, they get sent to Diamond and they sit there waiting to be distributed to comic book stores. Yeah because uh they were sitting with Diamond, JP Morgan is saying, Well, they're our books now.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:15

And we want to recoup our costs.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:17

So it's it's a question of at what point of the um supply chain they they were at when everything froze.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:26

That's right. So so we had our books on consignment to Diamond, but if we don't have anything in writing, so to speak, yeah, it leaves a loophole for JP Morgan to jump in and say, well, it's our stock. Right. Right?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:41

And we're that's where the dispute is.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

And this is where the dispute is, right? Yeah. And so, like I was saying, it's not just comic books, it's it's merchandise, it's also like tabletop um games as well. It's it's uh a lot of pop culture, different units, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:56

Yeah, so pretty much anything that that that these um fun shops that we know and love uh sell.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:02

Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, um so uh so in regards to that, so you know, um what that's looking like now, um, you know, creators are uh obviously worried about going on to consignment to new suppliers, yeah, unless they've got it in writing. Yeah, new suppliers are not interested in doing consignment under um you know some type of legal binding contract.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:30

Uh and I don't know whether you've noticed, but I have, especially over the last 12 months, we've seen um larger um uh publishers like your DCs, your image, your diamond, uh sorry, your your dynamites, yeah, um, even Marvel are doing like these Kickstarters for a property or a game, or um they've sort of started popping up.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:55

Yeah, I've seen a few of those.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:57

And I've thought to myself, why are they actually doing this?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:00

Um, what's the purpose of you know, you're a big publishing company, you should be able to just uh you know put it out there and hope that it's going to you know get picked up.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:09

Is the GI Joe Kickstarter an example of this that you think?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:13

Perfect example, right? Um, of the uh compendium, the uh one and two compendiums, right? Um and you would think, okay, well, it's with image, you know, they have all the rights and privileges that come with it. Yeah, um, why aren't they just releasing it out to the masses? Yeah, and this is because they don't want to use a distributor. So they're gonna put it out and see if it works on a Kickstarter, and if it does, fantastic. They self-distribute. So this is about self-distribution now and not taking a risk. Yeah, yeah. So this is a really interesting sort of time and wave that we have in the comic book scene, the tabletop, you know, game scene. We have uh merchandise, etc., etc.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

Um, we're starting to see more and more of this, and this is why, because they've been burned so badly by what's happening with um the diamond fallout, um, and now JP Morgan trying to take possession of of all the stock. Okay. So that's what I've discovered so far. So um yeah, look out for. I mean, that if you do see a property um that's popping up on Kickstarter, now you know why, it probably is is happening that way.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:23

It it did strike me when I saw the the G. I Joe stuff, particularly on Kickstarter, that uh it doesn't really seem uh it's it's it's not um sort of uh uh in in line with the spirit of what Kickstarter is, isn't it? No, no, it's not. I mean, yeah, Kickstarter for me. I mean, I'm relatively new to it, but it seems like uh it's a platform that um you know small creators can use to get it it shouldn't be a place where um you know a lot of the noise is being made up uh by uh companies like Hasbro or Marvel or DC or Image or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:57

It feels like a cash grab, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:59

But but it's actually not. It's a it's uh it's just a symptom of what's been happening with the distribution.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:05

Yeah, it's that flow-on effect. Yeah, and and I I'd say that ripple effect that we've that we're talking about is going to be around for quite quite a while, you know. I mean it it definitely put comic book stores around the world in jeopardy of of being able to supply to their customer.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:21

Well, hopefully it's something that they can sort out soon, um, if for no other reason but just to give uh platforms like Kickstarter back to the smaller creators who are trying to um you know drum up some support for their own stuff. Yep, agreed, agreed.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:35

So that's the investigation um that uh that we well that I went down the rabbit hole with further.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:43

That's really really good really good info to have.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:45

Yeah, hope that hope that sort of sheds a light on on those things. And um yeah, look, if uh if there's something that you'd like us to do a little bit of investigating on, just be mindful that we're not journals and I don't have my PI license. Um but I'm willing to You would love that. I I would I actually I would that'd be so me. In another life.

unknown 1:17:08

That's all right.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:09

I'll um when I'm doing my deep dives for my breakdancing certificate, I'll I'll see if I can get you a PI license.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:15

I'm sure I could buy one online. I'd love it. That'd be fantastic. And uh, you know, like when I go to go somewhere I can just like accidentally show that to somebody, you know, and start a conversation. Oh, you're a PI, yeah, sure I am. I'll say, what's pie? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:32

We get into the review.

SPEAKER_09 1:17:34

Let's get into the review. The resurrection of Zina's greatest door man. Brings back memories of Zina Return to I think to ensure the crowding of Emperor. And to feel the fate of the warrior.

SPEAKER_11 1:18:05

His name is Big Boy Caprice. And there's only one man.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:07

All right, uh, should we save the big one to last? Yeah, we can do that. Yeah, okay. Uh what have you been watching?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:13

Uh well, aside from the mummy, which we've already discussed. Yes. Uh, I've been watching uh some of the regular show. Lost Lost Tapes.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:21

Uh you whereabouts are you up to now? Are you savouring them still?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:25

Depending depending on where you you um have a look, it it's either episode five or six, but I've just watched Boba or Bobus.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:33

Oh, Boba. It's uh what a great episode. What a great episode.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:38

It's fantastic. It's probably one of my favorites so far.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:40

Yeah, well that's that's the most recent episode I've watched. Um and I thought that episode was glorious. I love Pops. Yep, he's probably my favorite character outside of Mordecai and Rigby. Yeah, really, okay. Yeah, no, I do. I think he's a sweetie. And um, yeah, I thought that was a really fun episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:56

Yeah, okay. Uh yeah, I I'm I'm so enjoying uh I've I've re-watched all nine episodes again. So um, yeah, I just I I want more. I and and they're not coming out quick enough for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:10

Yeah, no, I haven't been bidging them like you. I've I've just been sort of um you know saving them and and watching them one at a time.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:16

Well it's easy to watch them, right? Because they're only 11 minutes each. So um so they're quick to digest. Yeah, that's why I love those cartoon network shows. So when I when I have a free moment, I'll I'll put that on and it it it burns through really quick. So but anyway.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:30

Palette cleanser, it's like meditating.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:34

But yeah, that boba episode is fantastic, just the way you know the craze of Boba and people that uh converts to Boba, they just and it, you know, when Mordecai and Ruby get on that train, yeah, it's absolutely gold. Why has it got balls in it? I told you, I told you these episodes are are a little bit more um adventurous with uh with their phrasings. So um and it and it keeps going from there on. So good, good. Look forward to it.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:03

Yeah, I'm enjoying that. Yeah, um, what about you? What what have you been watching?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:06

Yeah, I I just wanted to uh again uh just talk about probably one of my favourite shows that's on at the moment, which is Widow's Bay. Yes. Um it's an Apple TV production. Yeah, I haven't got to it yet. Uh it stars Matthew Reese. Um we're up to um uh we're up to issue uh sorry episode six. Yeah. Haven't watched that one yet. But I can tell you um there is an episode uh episode four. I just wanted to talk about that. Yeah, so this is sort of if you were making a cake, um, the ingredients would be uh part Stephen King uh part from the TV series, right? Uh and Twin Peaks, part Twin Peaks. Okay, and that gives you this delicious cake called Widow's Bay. Interesting. Um and uh and part comedy as well. Uh so uh so yeah, so but comedy's a broad genre. What sort of comedy are you thinking? Uh it's it's it's sort of that dark humor, right? Like there's some dark humor in there as well. Yeah. Um, but um Matthew Reese is fantastic. Like we've seen him in other TV series. He's very good. Um, but we see him from a whole different lens in this.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:23

You know, he does dark humor really well, sarcasm, he does, he he does Afraid extremely well, yeah. Um as uh as well as trying to hold it all together at the same time, right? So we see him on lots of different levels, yeah. Something that I haven't seen him in other, you know, productions, yeah, like with the Americans or with with um Perry Mason. Yeah. Um but this particular episode is full-on freak out, right? This is called the Sea. It's actually called Um Beach Reeds, um, but it involves the um the tale of the sea hag, and we actually get to see the sea hag.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:06

And this is like, you know, Fright 101. It is just perfect, the pacing is great, it's freaky as. Um, it ends real it lands like this story lands so well. So is the sea hag like the monster or so the sea the the tale of the sea hag is is that that they're they they can uh they can travel on land and sea.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:30

Um, and once the sea hag gets your their your skin under their nails, they can track you anywhere, whether it's land or sea. Gross. And the idea is is to uh suffocate them and take them back into the sea. Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:43

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:43

That they can consume you, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:45

So right. So they're gonna suffocate you.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:48

As in like once they once they catch you, and they tell this tale in like a song, right? Well, that's how kids know about.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:56

And it's and it's yeah, it's it's vaguely familiar to me, but I'm I just wasn't familiar with the uh details.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:00

Yeah, but like I said, it's it's it's you know, it's the the story is just you know, edgy as seat, it's exciting, it's it's it's it's creepy, it's it's not horrific, right? It's not it's not horrific here. We don't have blood and guts and all the rest of it. Yeah, um, but it just the it's a it's a thriller from start to finish.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:20

Um we've got some other stories going on as well. Yeah um and so you know nobody is untouched on Widows Bay.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:26

Twin Peaks in Stephen King style.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:28

Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, this what we what we're discovering more and more and more, and this is um, you know, in the synopsis itself, is is this island of Widows Bay a is it cursed? You know, and what we're finding out more and more and more and as the episodes go on, yeah, is hell yeah it is. Yeah, and bring on more of it because I want to see how far cursed this actual town is. Okay. Um, so highly, highly recommend it. The performances of all the cast are amazing.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:03

Um, no one is safe in Widow's Bay, yeah. Um, and um as a viewer, no one is safe viewing it either. So yeah, no.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:11

Well we we haven't started watching it. I said I was gonna try and get onto it, but um producer Kim and I did watch the the trailer for it because she wasn't familiar with the show, um, and we've both agreed that it looks like fun. Um we finished watching Deadlock a week and a bit ago, and I feel like it's probably, you know, even though they're set in very different places, yeah. Um Deadlock's, you know, set in uh Darwin, yes, um, and and Widow's Base set in America, um, I feel like they might have uh the same sort of dark sense of humor in in common. Um so yeah, I will I'll I'll definitely get onto it soon.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:47

And I don't think I I don't think a lot of people are talking about this enough.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:50

Definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:51

It feels like and I think I said this when I watched the the pilot that it feels like severance, you know, like people weren't really talking about severance until you know um later. Yeah, and then everybody started talking about it. And still the same with Pluribus, like yeah, same with Pluribus, right? Exactly the same thing. Yeah, these these um Apple TV productions are amazing, yeah. Um, but they don't really do a lot to promote them. Yeah, um, and and so I think it's you know our responsibility when we see something like this to sprook it and say, hey, it's really worth watching. It's weird, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:28

Because it's not like Apple doesn't have money for marketing.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:31

No, that's right. Well, I uh look, you know, m Apple's platform is that they spend a lot of money on producing these shows for you to then like Apple and go and buy their products, right? Yeah, this is a platform for purchasing, not a platform for being a streamer like a Netflix is, right? Netflix's whole mandate is for you to um continue your subscription with them, being one of the highest subscriptions in the world.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:59

I mean, I guess relying on word of mouth to to sell your stuff alone is a strategy.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:06

Well, that's right, that's right. But you look at the production of you know TV shows that we talk about quite often, yeah, a lot of those are Apple TV productions.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:17

You know, like Brewster, say for instance. Yeah, shrinking Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:22

Yeah, so some of the silo For All Mankind.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:26

For all mankind.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:27

Yeah, you know, this one. There's been so many great shows on on Apple TV, but yeah, as you say, they just don't get talked about on that.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:35

No, no. And so that's why I want to keep sort of talking about this because I want people to wait, you know, know what the hype is about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:42

So we don't Widow's Bay Apple TV.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:44

Widows Bay, Apple TV, well worth it. Six six episodes so far. I think it goes to eight. I think we've got two more to go. Um I'm still yet to see six, but I I just I can't wait for it.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:57

Okay. All right. Well we'll yeah, I will, I'll get onto it. I'm not gonna say this week because every time I say that it doesn't happen. But um I I will I will definitely get onto it. It does look like fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:07

What about you? Is there anything else you've been watching?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:09

Uh no, not really. Like uh we've been to the movies. We did. We um and I'm going to the movies again tomorrow, but I'll talk about that in a bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:17

Yeah, nice. So uh so we uh uh uh weekend in our time. Yes. Uh we we packed up the families and we took them to the to the to the iMacs. We did.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:28

And what did you think of uh Fountain Gate IMAX?

SPEAKER_02 1:28:30

Yeah, it was good because you hadn't been before no, I hadn't been to that one before. No um it's the screen is is big. It's I don't think it's big as the um as the Melbourne one at the Melbourne Museum. I think the Melbourne Museum's a little bit bigger. I don't know. I think it's a I think these ones are uh are bigger than any other screen, yeah, except for the the larger IMAX ones. I think these are like baby iMacs. Yeah um but I still loved it, loved the sound. Um what we went and saw. We went and saw Mandarin and Grogu. So we went and saw the Mandalorian and Grogu film. Yep. Latest Star Wars. Later Star Wars. Um, and it was I I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. Yeah. Um I I I think that you really shouldn't be critiquing a film like this unless you go and see it, right? I think that we've got a lot of people who are making noise about a about a film that they haven't even seen.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:29

Well, for what it's worth, my policy is that you shouldn't be criticizing uh criticizing anything unless you've seen it or read it, read it, or yeah, or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:37

Um because uh to me that just seems sensible. But um I really enjoyed it as well. Yeah, and and I think the you know we went with a group of eight of us, like your family, my family, yeah, um varying age groups. Yeah, and um I think we all enjoyed it on my level.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:55

My 11-year-old loved it.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:56

She's not a massive Star Wars fan. My two adult boys sort of we hadn't talked about it a lot beforehand, but um they said they were surprised. Yes, um how how much they enjoyed it, yeah. Um, which I thought was interesting. Um yeah, I I loved it. I was um impressed with uh how much um uh practical effects were in it.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:23

I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:24

Um like I mean I I I love the I love CGI, yeah, but I also love practical effects, and I've got a lot of affection for them from my childhood and from the movies that I grew up with.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:34

Um we had stop motion, we had yeah, we had stop motion, we had puppets, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:40

Yeah, we had we had you know some sensational CGI in not just in terms of uh fight sequences and action sequences, but also in characters, and it was all really, really well done.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:50

Um uh but I was impressed with uh I mean star some Star Wars gets criticized uh sometimes for not having enough aliens in it. Yeah, like it was one yeah, sort of low-key criticism of Andor. I don't think anyone was really criticizing it because it was such a good show. Um but there weren't heaps of aliens in it.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:09

We sort of saw them on occasion, but they they weren't part of the fabric of of that storyline, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:31:14

Yeah, and for me, I mean my my headcanon is that the Star Wars galaxy is huge, and in some parts there's gonna be lots of humans, and in some parts there's not. Yeah. Um, and in the the parts of the galaxy that we see in the Mandalorian and Grogu, there's not heaps of humans. Um I mean, a large part of the movie is dominated by alien characters, uh, what could be called monsters, I suppose. Yep. Um and I thought that was great. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:39

And I think we had everything that we would want in a Star Wars film, right? You know, we had action, we had suspense, we had thriller, yeah. Um, you know, we had space battle, we had, you know, like I I don't think there was anything in there other than a maybe a Jedi.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:58

It's uh I'm not so much not to take what you said, what you just said to to task, but uh I mean You are well no a little bit. It's it I'm I'm not gonna say that it had everything that you want in a Star Wars film because it didn't have uh things like lightsaber battles. Well that's what I'm thinking about. It didn't have like yeah, I mean it didn't have discussions of the force, like there were you know, uh Grogu uses the force in in in bits and pieces. Yeah, um but I think that's okay. Like you don't need that stuff in every um Star Wars film. One of my favourite things about Star Wars is stormtroopers.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:29

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:29

And and I mean in in a movie like uh The Phantom Menace, there's literally zero stormtroopers. Yeah, I agree because they haven't been created yet. Yeah, but that's okay. Yeah because we get to spend more time with uh you know the the different sort of military factions and um you know the the the upper class of of of uh the Star Wars galaxy, we get to spend more time with the Jedi, and so that's okay. So yeah, um while I don't think it had I think it had all the tones that you want in a Star Wars movie. I think that's probably more what you mean. Before you cut me down. Well, I wasn't really cutting you down.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:03

I just I was just yeah, what I was what I was meaning was is that that we don't we you know we have everything that we want in a Star Wars movie, yeah. We didn't get certain things that was that that we would want in a Star Wars movie, but that's okay, right? So um and and that's and that's okay that we didn't get those things. We but we got the normal recipe of a Star Wars film, we got, right? Yes. And and and and and I think that that's what what what was cool. I mean, you know, this this criticism that it was just one continuous episode of Mandalorian, um, but that was what fans were asking for um uh after after season two, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:33:44

For me, that's more of an observation. And and yeah, and and and and I would suggest that it's correct. Yeah, like it did seem like a long episode of Mandalorian or or maybe maybe even three episodes of Mandalorian. Like that there's different phases of the film.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:59

Oh, well, it's different pacing, right? There and then and there needed to be, right? Yeah. Um, but I I I think that that I I I wouldn't say that it's an episode, I would say it's an adventure. Like we got an adventure, we we we followed an adventure of The Mandalorian and Gregory together, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:34:14

I'm I'm happy to say that it's like a an episode of a long episode of The Mandalorian just on a bigger scale. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:20

Um and I don't see a problem with that. Not at all. I don't understand why why this criticism regarding this. I I I don't get that, you know, oh well this is the this is the season that we that we wanted. Yeah, well, you're actually getting it. It just because it's in film format doesn't change the fact that you're actually getting what you're asking for.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:42

Um, and you know, it was it was you know, the characters were were awesome. They were so good. I mean, um having you know stinky or swole, you know, like he was amazing. Like um He was super buffed. Yeah, he was super buffed. The uh the Hutt.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:58

And but what a great character, too. Yeah, like uh um, you know, a great performance from Jeremy Allen White. Yeah. Um but the the the characterization, everything from the animation to the to the storytelling in regards to him. Um, you know, who knew who knew that he was going to come out of this such a a a rounded and I guess beloved character?

SPEAKER_02 1:35:18

And I hope we see more.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:19

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:20

I hope we see more of him. Um I mean with the you know And I and I think we will. Yeah, yeah, without without giving away any spoilers. I mean, you know, we we I I really hope that we we see more. I mean, it was great that we had uh um Zeb in there who had appeared in um well I think he appeared in a Mandalorian episode, didn't he? Uh yeah. Just briefly. Yeah um and uh he was also uh originally from uh the Rebels animated series. Yep. Um I believe Zeb is now going to be more of a a link with that we'll see in other productions. I hope so. Um I I I believe that Dave Filoni really wants to sort of you know get him out there. Of course. Um so which is which is fantastic. So I I I and and from my understanding he'll be in Ahsoka 2, so in the season two, yeah, which we'll get next year. Yeah, um, we mentioned that in episode 29.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:15

Um so look overall, I I I enjoyed it. It was a thrill from start to finish. I I thought the beginning was fantastic, you know, like that that that that opening sort of sequence, action sequence.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:28

Yeah, especially for like original trilogy fans like us.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:32

Yeah, and we got and we got you know um we got C Snowtroopers, yeah, which is probably one of my favorite Stormtrooper. Yeah. Um so we got these we got we got a a new version of the remnant, the remnant version of Snow Troopers.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:46

Yeah, as I mentioned before, I'm a stormtrooper fan. I just love the design of them and the look of them and the aesthetic and the goofiness of them. Yeah, um, but yeah, I I think that uh the general consensus was that um we were happy with the new troopers that we saw, yeah, but also it was fun to see some of the um the old style troopers like the uh 8080 uh pilots. Yes. Um it was fun fun to see them in action in a different context as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:13

Um yeah, no, I I thought it was really fun. I don't mind people criticizing it, it's it's fine. Like um, you know, it did it have anything to do with the broader, you know, uh story of the galaxy. I I guess it did from one point of view, and from another point of view it didn't, it didn't have anything to do with the Jedi. Some people need that in their Star Wars.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:32

Um I I don't mind people, you know, criticizing it. But um But near the Dandor, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:37:37

Near the Dandor. Dandor gave us a completely different story of Star Wars.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:41

No, that's and that's the whole thing. It's like all of these shows, um, stories, uh novels, comics, all of the Star Wars stuff uh helps enrich the broader galaxy. Yep. Um and it's not all gonna be covered in the same I mean it's just it's just like life, you know, it's it's not all gonna be covered in one episode. Um and this is just a a really big fun um uh at times you know kind of ridiculous episode that I really really enjoyed. I uh I I loved all the creatures, I loved the aliens, I thought the artistry of it was was brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:15

I loved I loved that um Blade Runner world. That was probably one of my favourite parts of the parts of the film. I loved that sound aesthetic and the soundtrack. The soundtrack's really getting its flowers online too.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:28

Um yeah, a couple of the tracks have have gone a bit viral on socials and stuff. It's it's really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:34

And and and that was a really interesting thing that they did. I mean, we obviously had a few different um composers in in that uh doing different different versions, yeah, um of of the Mandalorian theme.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:49

Um, but that I I think that was really appropriate, you know. When we we got on different worlds, yeah, we got a different sort of take on what the Mandalorian theme was, yeah, right, based on the world.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:01

I really enjoyed the soundtrack because you know, when when The Mandalorian in season one first came out, um, you know, Ludwig Gorensen's uh compositions for that were really quite out there, yeah, as far as um, you know, compared to what we'd seen from John Williams and John Powell and um, but the instrument in Michael choosing, right? They were very sort of different. Oh, very experimental, yeah. And I love that. But I love that in this movie um it continues that uh tone. Yes because Ludwig um he he he uh was involved in the soundtrack for season three, I think, but it wasn't solely his baby. Yeah, he's become very much in demand for film um uh th and and so uh rightly so. Yeah, but for this one, this one has had his full attention, and I think um I like that he uh continued to push the envelope, you know, he continued to push Star Wars music into um areas that we we haven't seen before, and I thought it worked really successfully. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:01

He's got a banjo version, yeah. No, it was was was really delightful. I I have one criticism about the about the film. Yeah. No Wilhelm screen. None. Okay, not in the whole thing. Alright. That's that's one element of Star Wars that you've got to keep in. Um just for tradition's sake, yeah. Gotta have a Wilhelm screen.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:21

Yeah, if you don't have that, then it's not a Star Wars. Well, it's it's become a little bit out of out of vote with it's a bit cliche, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:40:28

But I I just think that even just one.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:30

Well, but a lot of the people that originated the use of that sound think that it's been a bit overused and they've kind of replaced it with something else. Don't wonder if we can wonder if we got the other the other one.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:40

I I don't know what the other one is. I I haven't heard. I I'm I'm out of touch on screams. Yeah. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:47

No, I didn't I I didn't hear what I'm saying. No, there wasn't there.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:51

Definitely wasn't. I'd I went and sort of had a look at it later and said, Is there any Willam screams? And it was definitely not.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:57

I wonder why you were spending uh the whole two hours with you earcocked towards the uh uh up against the speaker. Now I realise you spent the whole time listening for the Wilhelm scream. That makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:10

Uh we need to talk about uh what your purchase was. What was that? The the ATAT.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:18

Oh, you mean at Anthony?

SPEAKER_02 1:41:20

I thought it was Sir Stomps a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:22

No, no, it's uh my my my new son at Anthony. Yes, I did. I got the um the ATAT uh popcorn bucket. Yes. And it's um yeah, it's big. It's it is big, yes, it is big.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:35

One of your one of your sons wrote it home, so uh it's um it's pretty amazing, isn't it? Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's got Mando hanging off the side.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:43

I I didn't think I was gonna get it, and then um I I caught when that uh producer Kim had sort of spotted a spot on one of our shelves that uh it might sort of go with. Um we we went to Galaxy's Edge a couple of years ago and and we've got uh a lineup of uh soda bottles. They're like the um thermal detonator bottles um on one of our shelves as as a bit of a decoration, and there's a bit of a a gap on the shelf behind it, uh, where I think that at Anthony's gonna go um perfectly. And I think that um producer Kim reluctantly had to agree. So uh once I've um uh gotten sick of basking of him um on my dining table as as you can see here, Nate. Yes, um he'll go up there on the shelf.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:32

Yeah, producer Kim opened the door a crack. She did, and that was all and then you just like I kicked it down. You got the SWAT team and just like just annihilated that door and walked right in.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:44

Yeah, I did. I I lined up my my ATAT blasters and I blew the absolute snot out of it. And I I went a step further too and I got uh a metal popcorn. Oh yeah, you did too, yes. I I got a um uh cup with a cup topper as well. Yeah, with Mando on the top of it. So um I'll make sure I I post some photos of all of those beautiful items.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:07

Well the good thing is is that that that that our our session was full. It was it was great, yeah. It was it was sold out, it was really busy.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:15

Um the cinema in in general was was was pumping pumping.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:18

Yeah, yeah, for a Saturday night it was it was packed.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:21

Um and everybody walking out, I could hear everybody talking about how how they enjoyed it. Yeah. Um, and um, you know, variety of ages, um, and you know, couples and families and you know, singles and so and and groups of people.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:40

It really felt like a Star Wars movie release. Yeah and there was a broad variety of people. I mean, I wasn't the only one that had um merchandise either, like that they had the uh popcorn buckets, the Mando's helmet. Yeah, um I saw you know multiple people with those, and there was one with Grogu hanging off Grogu hanging off it. Yeah, um, you know, people wearing their own merch. Yeah. Um the the vibe around it was was really wonderful. So I enjoyed it too. I kind of pity anyone that wasn't able to get into the um the vibe of it at least. Yeah, you know, whether you if you've got criticisms of the film, that's fine, um, you know, within reason. But um I I I was just really pleased to uh be back at the cinema watching Star Wars again.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:18

Yeah, well I mean it's been seven years since we've had a had a film.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:21

Um so I'm I'm really excited for Starfighter. Uh is it is that Starfighter? Yep, Sean Levy's Starfighter. Yeah, so so I heard I I heard this week, and it's only rumor um because they really haven't given us any sort of details about what it's about. No, we know that there's a uh a child star in this as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:43

And presumably a starfighter.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:45

Um uh and and we have um Ryan Gosling as as the lead in this. Yeah. Um, so the the the the the rumour is is that he is a uh he is transporting uh young Jedi to Ray. Right. Because Ray's starting a new Jedi temple.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:07

Yeah, because it's because this is set at the the far future of the Star Wars timeline that we've that we've seen in in any project before. Yeah, yeah, correct. Which is exciting because we yeah, it's it's sort of uncharted ground.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:19

Yeah, exactly. I you know, and and and the reason I I I mentioned this is because I I honestly believe that Dave Filoni, now that he's you know, sort of taken over the mantle for Star Wars as as running it, yeah. Um I believe that he's got a a a bigger picture of of what it looks like.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:38

No, no doubt.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:39

And and I think that that the likes of something like Mando and Grogu will intersect into other things. I think that this is like the the open to to what to expect, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:45:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:53

Um and I think that that once we start seeing it's a bit like James Gunn, right? You know, James Gunn brought out creature commandos, and he also brought out um peacemaker, yeah, right? And we're like, what is going on with DC? Like this is bizarre. I mean, we're enjoying it, but it's bizarre. This is not the DC that we're expecting, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:46:15

No, it's uh they were very interesting choices at the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:18

Right. And then and then we get Superman coming in, and now we've got Supergirl, and then we've got Man of Tomorrow, lanterns, and lanterns, and he has uh a very he has a very strong understanding of what this universe is looking for.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:32

Yeah, he's he's got a bigger picture, which is what we've been asking for for DC for a very long time, and it's what people have been asking for in Star Wars at the moment as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:42

And that's what I think is happening here, right? Yeah, I think we need to trust the process, see what that looks like. Yeah, I think Starfighter will help again to sort of start bridging some of those gaps, yeah um, and start connecting where where we want it to be as as fans. I mean, you know, Mando and Grogu gave us lots of fan service. Yeah, lots and lots of fan service. Oh, yeah, you know, um, back to even the original New Hope where we got some fan service in the world. Yeah, right. So so uh I think we need to, you know, uh just trust the process, see what the the next productions are like with Ahsoka 2 and with Starfighter, yeah, um, and see where that leads to because I think that they're connect yeah, I think he's connecting the dots. That's what I really like.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:30

I think there was uh you're making me think of uh there was a plot point in the movie, and it's not really a spoiler, but there was mention at one stage of um the lifespans of the characters in um Star Wars. Yes. Um and and it was like the writers, uh Valoney and Favre were sort of reminding us that um uh not there's different uh lifespans with Star Wars characters than just human ones. Yes. You know, human ones might be similar to us, although there's even humanoid characters in Star Wars that live a lot longer than us. Yeah, yeah, but but um you know there's that then there's characters like uh Hutz and and also uh the Grogus and the Yodas of the world who who live thousands of years. Exactly. Um and I thought it was interesting that they threw that in because I don't remember that having been mentioned for a while. It's normally something they keep kind of quiet, hoping that you know we won't necessarily think about uh you know how all that sort of goes, comic book style. But um, yeah, and I it was interesting that they they did uh sort of remind the general audience in this one that that's a thing in get in the Star Wars Galaxy.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:39

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, you know, look, watch this space. Uh we we we dug it, we thought it was great. Yeah. Um I'll definitely be watching that over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:50

Um I imagine I'll probably get back to the theater and see it one more time, at least before it's it's done.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:56

Yeah. Um look, it the good news is that it's done exceptionally well for the Memorial Day weekend in the US. Good. Uh it's done over a hundred million dollars for the four days.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:07

That was and and that was US domestic.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:09

And that was that that was US domestic, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:49:12

Not even counting us.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:13

Uh I think I think we were 65. So uh as in worldwide.

SPEAKER_05 1:49:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:19

Um, so you know, it's done by now it's probably closer to the hundred and uh 180 million. Yeah. Um it's still got a way to go to, you know, uh be considered a um, you know, a hit, yeah. Um with with the bankers. Um, but look, that's it's that's not bad. It's sitting uh sort of on par with uh solo if you were looking at like how much money it's made. Okay. Um that's still very early days, but it's hasn't been out a week. It hasn't even been out a week yet, right? So um and by the time this this episode comes out, it will be a week.

SPEAKER_04 1:49:57

Any stats on how much they've made in ATAT pop? Oh look, with you alone. 1.7 trillion.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:06

Well, I mean, you know, it was really interesting, right? I mean, you know, we're getting off topic now, but it was really interesting to see uh the the craze of the popcorn bucket at uh when we were at the cinema um you know on Saturday. Yeah, and and I'm not we're not just talking about the Star Wars ones, you know, like they had uh other ones as well. They had the Top Gun ones there.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:27

Well they still had Mario stuff on the shelves.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:28

Uh they still had Mario on the shelves. Um I I mean I saw some of those as well. So um I saw someone buy both uh both helmets from Maverick, yeah, and also Top Gun. Yeah. Um because there's a 40th anniversary uh release of Top Gun.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:45

I get this, I mean uh for stuff it's like Top Gun, I mean it's not so much with Star Wars, but for stuff like Top Gun, it's a rare opportunity to get any sort of merchandise. Yeah, there's not a lot, right? No, so if you're a super if you're a super fan, um then it's it's a it's a bit of a rare opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:00

And for and it's a great popcorn bucket too. Like it's a it's it's a it's a proper fighter's pilot helmet. I didn't get a good look at it. It's not big enough, right? It's it you know, it maybe it'll fit a baby and that would look fantastic. Oh well, neither's this thing, the AT80.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:14

It's like it doesn't fit a whole lot of popcorn, and it's difficult to get your hand in it. Like it'd be fine for a child, but um I've got you know relatively large man hands. Large child hands, yeah. Um so it's it's as a popcorn bucket, it's not that great. But I haven't bought it as a popcorn bucket. You've bought it as a feature, right? I've bought it as a decoration, yeah. Um and I think that's part of the fun of them. Like, I mean, I'm not gonna go to every movie and buy every ridiculous um popcorn bucket, but this one I'm I'm glad to get as a as a souvenir and a as a an ornament that I can put in my that I can put in my house. Yeah. Um I I think in in in that regard they're they're really quite fun. But yeah, um ridiculous. Well beyond doubt.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:59

Yeah, absolutely. Well, while we're talking about Star Wars, why don't we get into the Moss Isley mailbag? We can do that. Okay, so you're on Cyril, the the form toaster. What's he doing?

SPEAKER_04 1:52:19

You're you're focusing on the wrong thing. The Moss Isley mailbag is a segment uh that uh contains a rainbow of of features. Okay. Cyril Cyril is but uh the brightest star. Really? Okay, yeah. Sure. He is sure. Um yeah, okay, so we're we're looking at uh another Return of the Jedi magazine. Uh this one is number 104 from the 15th of June 1985.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:46

Who is on the front?

SPEAKER_04 1:52:48

It's uh sexy Luke Skywalker.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:50

Oh, yeah, oh, and he's got like a Kylo Wren lightsaber going on.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:54

Yeah, and he's got his uh his sleeves torn off in in classic uh sort of he looks like brand from Goonies, Josh Brawler's character from Goonies.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:04

He's got a like a like a bandana around his bicep and he's got a glove on the other hand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:11

Um he's got like his uh river phoenix style hair.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:17

You reckon?

SPEAKER_04 1:53:18

Yeah, it really is. I'll I'll of course post a picture of this on our socials.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:22

It's definitely not not Star Wars canon, that's for sure. He's got a red lightsaber and a green lightsaber.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:27

It's some of the uh comics, the Star Wars comics in here show that it's a it's more Duran Duran than it is Piadi Mundi. Um yeah, some of the some of the character designs, particularly their hair and stuff, are pretty wild.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:41

I I'd love Dave Falone to uh to uh you know they go and visit a a planet called Duran Duran. Alright.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:48

Well, then music wouldn't be that much more wild than what we heard on um Definitely not the the the uh the crime planet in Mando, would it be it? Yeah, definitely not. Um what a synth wave. Yeah, so anyway, we we we digress. Of course. First time ever, we digress. Yeah, sure. Um yeah, so uh to the letters page before we talk about oh no, we'll talk about Cyril first. You'll love this. I got well one thing that I haven't talked too much about is that's got a comic. Yeah, Cyril's got a comic. Um so they they devote a page to uh Cyril the Adventures of an Editor Droid, and I won't read the whole thing, but in this one, um uh basically a couple of his uh workmates at the Marvel UK Um office are discussing how Cyril's broken up with his girlfriend who is a cash register, and the the male co-worker what are you laughing at?

SPEAKER_02 1:54:44

The male the male coworker's got a girlfriend as a cash register. He did, but they've broken up so a toaster and a cash register.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:52

Just be sensitive.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:53

You know what their children are like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:55

No you had to go there, didn't you? So his male co-worker in order to distract him from the fact that he's upset about having broken up with his cash register girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:06

I'm glad that you've said that you've moved from co uh from mate uh from workmate to to co-worker. Oh, no, he wouldn't have friends.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:14

No, no, I don't I don't think I don't think they're mates. I think they're just trying to distract Cyril so that he's not moping around the office bringing everybody down.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:20

Get back to work in the letter room.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:21

So he's hooked him up with a calculator. Oh so now he's got this new uh d d distraction. Well no no, not really. I mean, there's it's all circuit it's all circuitry to them.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:33

Oh. Um and so he's I've got a joke, I've got a joke here, but it's too blue. I can't okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:39

Yeah, no, keep that one in your pen. The calculator. Yeah, keep keep that one in your pen pouch. Mind you, he's got it upside down, so you know he's well that's because he he's he's communicating with it via hitting the buttons and writing out messages.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:51

You can see where I'm going. Totally.

SPEAKER_04 1:55:53

Yeah, no, they miss an opportunity here because it's totally sort of like it it the calculator's saying to him, oh gosh. And then it says, hello boss, and then it says, uh and she says, Oh, wonderful, she, the calculator, knows what I like, and it says oil. Oh, yeah, it's 710 upside down, it says oil. But um lucky it doesn't keep going on to another page. That's right. Um, yeah, no, we didn't get to the boobies. Um so yeah, that's uh what's happening in the the world of Cyril. He's he's got a girlfriend. Well, um so I will know how uh reluctantly post uh picture of of that page. Yeah, he's pushing all their buttons. You would have put a sound effect in there, I'm sure. Absolutely. Uh all right, okay. So let's we'll read a couple of letters and then we can move on and pretend none of this ever happened. Uh so the first letter is called uh Cockpit Question. Um Dear Cyril, I am writing to tell everyone, and that includes George Lucas, that in the that in The Empire Strikes Back, nope, this is controversial. Uh he's telling George Lucas. Yeah, that's right. In The Empire Strikes Back, the Millennium Falcon's cockpit is on the right hand side, but in Star Wars and Jedi, the cockpit is on the left hand side. Do you think that Han Solo would stop the ship get out and move the cockpit? Now, I think this is probably symptomatic of how you know you couldn't really watch the movies at at home and pause them and that sort of thing. Yeah. I think that um young Mark Dobson from Kent has gotten confused here. Yeah, get your ass together. Because I don't think that's right, is it?

SPEAKER_02 1:57:34

Look, I mean he could have watched I mean, you know, back in the day they also sometimes if they weren't able to screen them on TV, they would reverse them.

unknown 1:57:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:47

They would do reverse Oh so they flipped the image. They flipped the image.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:51

Okay, so maybe maybe there's something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:57:53

So like bootlegs and stuff like that, it was always flipped image. So maybe maybe he's like he's he's shown his cards and he's watching a bootleg.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:02

Oh right.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:03

You know, so call the cops.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:05

There's a boot bootleg great film.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:08

Yeah, put that put that uh put that uh um ad that they had, you know. If you're if you're watching a bootleg, yeah, you might as well steal a car.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:17

You're you're Nick you're Nick Mart Dobson of Kent uh 1985.

SPEAKER_02 1:58:22

Yep, I'm gonna call the cops on you.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:23

We've got the Rosses. Um I'll read the rest of his letter anyway. That's quite possible, right? Yeah, that's right. I'll read the let the rest of his letter because I think that's sort of this speaks to how unhinged this is. Well, there we go.

SPEAKER_05 1:58:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:58:34

Uh my favourite person in the Star Wars saga is Darth Vader. I believe in the Empire and not the rebellion, but I don't think that I am evil. Um given the chance, I would join the Empire. May the dark side of the force be with you. Oh. Um he's an apprentice for Maul for sure. I think it shows how unhinged he is. Because how how can you be like a a Darth Vader and Empire fan and not be evil? No, he's he's he's done. He's he's cooked. Yeah, he's cooked.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:01

He's cooked, so he's cooked cooked before cookers were a thing. And he's played his hand, he's he's definitely watching bootlegs for sure. If he's down with the he's if he's down with the Sith, yeah, he's he's down with bootlegs for sure. Yeah. I'm sure Mole hooked him up.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:15

Yeah, if you're still singing this tune in 2026, Mark Dobson of Kent, uh get help. Yeah. Uh next letter. Um Evil Eye, dear Cyril, I have written to say that you are being watched by Imperial Forces and they are going to capture you. Oh. But don't worry, I have written a joke to cheer you up.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:33

Oh. How's that going to stop the Imperial Forces?

SPEAKER_04 1:59:37

Well, it's just going to cheer him up. Oh, it's not. It's not going to stop them.

SPEAKER_02 1:59:40

No, but you know, well in times of peril, just think of my joke. Yeah, that's right. Okay, good. Yep. Um do you want to hear the joke? Oh, I'm ready for the uh I'm ready for the sound effects. That's pretty great. I've got it at the ready.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:52

All right. Okay. Uh question. What did Leia say when she couldn't find C3PO and Luke? Uh uh answer. Can you C3PO or Luke? I've looped all over for them.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:04

Oh the there you go. There's the There you go, there's the effect. It's a shocker, isn't it? Yeah. How how old? Don't know. What's what's his what's his name?

SPEAKER_04 2:00:15

Uh Steven.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:15

Stephen? Yeah. Okay. Obviously Stephen didn't go on to being a uh, you know, being a comic.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:22

No.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:22

So uh yeah, I'm glad you enjoy your job in the office.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:26

Probably probably got locked. Cheering up Cyril. Locked up and sent to Narcina 5 for that joke. Uh next letter. Uh letter from America. Dear Cyril, a few months ago I wrote a 13-foot long letter to Harrison Ford.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:40

What? 13 foot long. No, sounds sounds suspicious. That's that's the size of an ATAT.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:00:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:00:48

A few days ago I got a letter from America. Inside was a signed photo. Uh-huh. I was so happy that I got an answer, so I am writing to tell other readers not to give up hope. You do have to wait a long time, but it is really worth waiting for. That's from Ruth Staples from Nottingham.

SPEAKER_02 2:01:03

So she got a signed photo of Harrison Ford from his secretary.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:08

Well, it's probably a cease and desist letter saying stop sending us 13-foot long letters.

SPEAKER_02 2:01:14

And here's a photo as well.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:16

Yeah, it's a 13-foot-long letter. That's pretty wild. That's wild. Yeah, but anyway, I thought it was worth worth mentioning because it's another example of how back in the day uh apparently you could just send away and get some get letters from the stars. Oh yeah, signatures from the stars.

SPEAKER_02 2:01:29

I wonder I wonder if you authenticated whether they're actually genuine or not. I mean you'd like to hope so.

SPEAKER_05 2:01:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:01:34

Or whether it's just a fan club and someone's just, you know, punching out uh fake Harrison Ford signature. Imagine them, they go into their pride and their their their the pride, and then they go into you know that that TV show Porn Stars and they go, Oh, you know, I'd like like ten thousand dollars for this signed photo of Harrison Ford from 1984. And uh and they say, Yeah, it's not genuine. Can you imagine that just destroy their life?

SPEAKER_04 2:02:02

Yeah, no, you it's it's best to live in ignorant place.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:08

And uh that's our adventures again in the Moss Osley mailbag.

SPEAKER_04 2:02:12

You are welcome. Thank you for bringing that. Oh no, no worries.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:15

Thank you for bringing that. Have we still got plenty of these?

SPEAKER_04 2:02:18

No, or are we running out? Are you asking you asking that because you're excited?

SPEAKER_02 2:02:22

Or are you asking that because I'm actually genuinely asking, are we getting more of this? Yeah, we do. Not of Cyril, but of the mail.

SPEAKER_04 2:02:28

Yeah, we've still got plenty, and I have to admit, I've I've been looking through the some of the magazines, and there's other stuff we need to discuss them too. Craft projects and uh behind the scenes photos and all sorts of stuff. So um, you know, there's plenty of material to be got from from these magazines.

SPEAKER_02 2:02:42

Well, while we're talking about Star Wars, have you seen this uh this this sort of uh toc top trend at the moment with uh with making your own lightsaber? Have you seen I think I sent you a video, you probably ignored it amongst all the other ones I've sent you. Possibly. So essentially you're a pretty blanket policy. So so uh there's um it was it started with one guy and he was like, Oh, I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars to buy uh a um a lightsaber hilt.

SPEAKER_04 2:03:12

Fair enough, that can be very expensive.

SPEAKER_02 2:03:14

Um, and so he went down to his local DIY store and he bought all the parts to make his own.

SPEAKER_01 2:03:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:03:25

And um, because essentially that's how they were manufactured in the first place. True, yes. Was bits and pieces that they put together to make it look like a lightsaber.

SPEAKER_04 2:03:34

Well, it's kind of how they're constructed in universe too. Like there's exactly key components like kyber crystals and stuff, but the rest of it's you know made up by stuff that they they find themselves.

SPEAKER_02 2:03:44

Yeah, so so uh essentially it's just washes and nuts and and bits of pipe and um flanges and all sorts of stuff that go usually for plumbing um or for um for construction, right? And they're putting them together and making these amazing uh either personalized uh lightsaber hilts or replicas of the film. Okay, which I think is great.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:09

I'm having to just suppress my own um blue uh observations in regards to this one, but yep, go.

SPEAKER_02 2:04:15

Well, I'm actually really kind of interested in making one of my own. So we're talking about crafts. So I'm gonna make my way down to the local Bunnings, um, not a sponsor. To Bunnings. And uh and uh yeah, I'll uh watch this space over the next couple of weeks. I'll uh make myself a uh Luke Skywalker, uh maybe Return of the Jedi.

SPEAKER_04 2:04:36

Oh mate, once once we get on the YouTubes, we're gonna be absolutely killing it with these craft projects between my Jabers Palace and my dug a hole in the backyard sarlac pit. And your and your um yeah toilet tubing lights lightsaber. No toilet tubing. We said plumbing.

SPEAKER_02 2:04:55

Well I mean it will metal pipe, right? Metal piping and stuff like that. So yeah, no, it's not gonna look like a toilet.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:02

No, I didn't say it was gonna look like a big lightsaber sticking like the parts out of a toilet.

SPEAKER_02 2:05:08

Um yeah, so anyway, that's uh that's it for the Moss Highway mailbag. A little bit of Star Wars talk. Uh maybe let's get into the shout.

SPEAKER_04 2:05:24

Oh, I've got I've got something because uh producer Kim's printed out the new Asta program. Oh, yes, I've seen this. Um looks good. Yeah, I haven't even had much of a look. Like uh I only got it this afternoon. Not a sponsor. No, not a sponsor. Should be. Um well they should be. Uh plus I'm going to the Astor tomorrow night. Oh. I haven't been for months. What are you seeing? Uh I'm going to see the 1981 Wolfgang Wolfgang Peterson movie Das Boot. Oh. Tomorrow night's Dusk Good. Yeah, tomorrow night's the last night of the uh German film festival. Have you seen it? No, I haven't. Oh, you uh you're in for a treat. Yeah, no, I'm really looking forward to it. That's but one of the reasons we're going to see it, um, aside from it being um like a festival screening, is that um uh I haven't seen it and neither's 17 year olds.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:08

But it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:09

Um yeah, and I'm really looking forward to it. Um and yeah, just looking forward to going back to the Asta because since I got the new job, I haven't been able to get there as much as I would like.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:16

Yeah, half their lights are on now, you haven't been regularly there and that's not true, is it? They need to turn some of their lights back on because they need you to go back and several times a week.

SPEAKER_04 2:06:26

Okay, all right. Well, I'm gonna make up for it and I'm gonna buy four bags of lollies tomorrow. Good for you. Uh yeah, so uh the Asta program. Um, just having a look, like they've got a run at the moment of Mandalorian and Grogu, just like everywhere does. Yep. Um, looks like they've had some great uh screenings and appearances and people dressing up in costumes. Uh the 501sts were there. Um, but uh just having a look down the the calendar, um, they've got some really exciting stuff coming up. Uh they've got a run of Disclosure Day, it's a Spielberg movie. Um, still excited about that.

SPEAKER_02 2:06:58

You know, there's a fan theory going around about Disclosure Day that it's a uh a sequel to uh uh Close Encounter. I wouldn't be surprised. Wouldn't that be wild if that is actually the case? Yeah, it would be amazing. I'd be so excited if that's the case. I don't care either way. No, no, um, whether you know, I won't be disappointed going and seeing that and it's not, but that would be such a wild reveal for audiences that this is a follow-on from Close Encounter. I wonder how they would reveal that though. I don't know. I don't know, but it's it I mean, just because it's it's Spielberg and aliens and you know it's it's you know a dramedy, you know, rather than a um, you know, something that's a little bit more fun like ET. So Imagine if um uh 2026 Richard Dreyfus shows up. He's pretty hard to deal with. I don't think anybody wants him on set.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:47

Yeah, if anyone can handle him, Spielberg would. But um that wouldn't wouldn't that be wild? You need a bigger camera. So um okay. Well well, I mean, yeah, we'll we'll be seeing it, won't we?

SPEAKER_02 2:07:57

Yeah, oh absolutely we'll be seeing it.

SPEAKER_04 2:07:58

Very hands down. Yeah, very excited.

SPEAKER_02 2:08:00

Yep. Um keep going.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:02

Now they're also showing uh the entire Dark Knight trilogy as a um uh they're showing them all in the one Was it like a marathon? A marathon, yeah. That's the word I was looking for, but it was escaping me. Um how would you go with that?

SPEAKER_02 2:08:15

Would you would you be able to sit through all three of them one after the other?

SPEAKER_04 2:08:20

Yes, I would. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think that'd be uh a a great old time. I might fall asleep. I might get too comfortable. Yeah, well, you're older than I am. Oh there's a lot of uh the usual sort of classic uh films coming up, uh Back to the Future, Jaws.

SPEAKER_02 2:08:37

Oh nice 40th anniversary for Back to the Future, so yeah. Uh it was last year.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:42

No, it was last year.

SPEAKER_02 2:08:43

Yeah. They're just doing it around the same time. 41st anniversary. Well, around the time that it was actually released, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:08:49

So yeah, no, it was about this time last year that I went and s went and saw the the 40th anniversary screening. Um that was great.

SPEAKER_11 2:08:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 2:08:56

Um, yeah, the shining, the thing. Um, the thing. Yeah, the thing's uh getting a screening. They're doing a Robo Robocop double. Oh so uh uh original and then reboot? No, Robocop and Rob Robocop 2. Oh um interesting. So both the original 80s ones. Okay, which is exciting, I think. Yeah. Um yeah, Independence Day is uh screening. Um I think that'd be fun to see on the big ass screen. Is that uh is that a double or uh no, just the just the original, I think.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:09:31

Um and then they're sort of rounding out the calendar with the Odyssey. Nice. Um Terminator 2 Judgment Days um got at least one screening too. So when's when's Terminator 2 sort of coming up? What what date is that? Because uh let me uh remove my glasses because it's uh very printed very small on this. It's in uh September.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:52

Oh, okay. I thought it might have been around about the same time as uh Linda Carter is coming to Australia for Metro Comic Con. Uh well that's soon, isn't it? Yeah, so that's uh July, I think it is.

SPEAKER_04 2:10:05

No, no, I think they'd they'd have um they'd they'd mention that on this if it was um if that was the event. But um no, it's uh coming out in uh September. Yeah, right, okay. So they're just sort of uh advertising that in advance, which is fair enough because that'll be that'll be very popular.

SPEAKER_02 2:10:21

Yeah, that'll be awesome.

SPEAKER_04 2:10:22

Yeah, anyway, so that's the um the Asta program. If you want to uh get a closer look yourself um uh at all the details, yeah, go to either the Asta website or check out their Instagram. Um there's a link from there.

SPEAKER_02 2:10:37

Yeah, fantastic. Um uh while we're while we're talking about um uh the Metro Comic Con I just mentioned, um, so that's um that's that's coming up. Uh that'll be in July. Yeah. Uh so it's Saturday and Sunday, uh the 18th and 19th of July. Um you can get your tickets now. Um their special guests, uh Linda Hamilton is probably the biggest highlight of their guests. Yeah. Um and uh, you know, for those that may remember her uh of recent times, she was in Stranger Things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:11:12

Um but one of the queens of pop culture.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:15

Yeah, absolutely. Uh Terminator for sure. Um so uh definitely worth uh checking her out. We've got uh Bo Dead for her, um, we'll be there from the Mummy, yeah. Uh from the Mummy. Yep. Uh Casper Van Deen from uh Starship Troopers. Excellent. Uh he's also in Wednesday. Um uh and uh we've also got Michael Ironside from Starship Troopers, Top Gun, Scanners, Total Recall. It's a heck of a line, huh? He's a he he was a mainstay for you know being the the villain.

SPEAKER_05 2:11:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:11:47

Um uh Scott Grimes, uh who was from Diorville. Yep. Uh he's in American Dad, he's in Ted, he's in ER, uh Band of Brothers. Yep. So um uh and we've got Emily Follow. We were talking about Star Wars before. She plays obviously the Armorer.

SPEAKER_04 2:12:06

Yep. In the Mandalorian.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:07

Yeah, in The Mandalorian. And she was also in Supernatural as well. She was fantastic in Supernatural. That's right, yeah. So and uh we've also got uh Natasha Liu or Badizo.

SPEAKER_04 2:12:21

Badizo, yeah, uh the Australian actress that plays um uh Sabine Sabine Wren from Ahsoka. Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:30

Uh so yeah, so she'll she'll be uh and she was also in Gun uh Gunza Kimbo as well. So um yeah, great, great lineup of guests. Um we haven't heard of any of the uh comic guests as of yet. Yeah um but um you know they they've they've proudly got on their uh website Watch This Space. So Watch This Space will I'm sure we'll be talking about it more um in episodes to come. Yeah. Um but yeah, that's everything for the show. I guess I it's been a big 30th um anniversary, hasn't it? For our episode. We just talked about Manda. We talked a lot about Star Wars actually. Um, you know, excluding Cyril. It was a great conversation.

SPEAKER_04 2:13:14

I regret nothing about Cyril or any other aspect of the Star Wars discussion we had. I'll talk I'll talk about Star Wars until I pass out.

SPEAKER_02 2:13:23

Absolutely, and I'm with you there. Um but uh thanks for your company. We hope you've enjoyed uh this episode. Uh by the time you're listening to this, we hope that uh it's back to uh regular programming on your uh favourite podcast platform. And uh uh stay tuned next week when you'll hear MJ say.

SPEAKER_04 2:13:44

In the words of Pops from Regular Show, mascottery is serious business. Nice one. Stay fresh, everyone. See y'all.

SPEAKER_03 2:13:53

Like what you're hearing, tell your friends. Follow us on socials at Pulp Culture Pod. And if you're feeling generous, drop us a five-star review on your favorite podcast.