Only 3 weeks into the Tower of Babble Podcast and we already have a host that's gone MIA. Its just Julian and Daniel on this episode as we discuss a little more Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Daytime Emmy's, Marvel news from all the studios, the marriage between EA Star and Star Wars and lastly we give our impressions on Iron Man 3 in the Topic of the Week.

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Show Notes

TV

Star Wars: The Clone Wars gets nominated for Daytime Emmy's

Outstanding Special Class Animated Program - George Lucas, Cary Silver and Athena Portillo
Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program - Jim Cummings as Hondo Onaka, David Tennant as Huyang and Sam Witwer as Darth Maul
Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program - Dave Filoni, Kyle Dunlevy, Brian Kalin O'Connell, Steward Lee and Bosco Ng
Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition - Kevin Kiner
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing (Animation) - David Acord and Cameron Davis

TMNT also recieved a few nominations

Young Justice received a nod as well - Sound Mixing

Dave Filoni talks about drawing Tie fighters. Possibly points towards the direction of the next Star Wars animated series

Movies

Touching on what we spoke about last week - Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are confirmed for Marvel's The Avengers 2

Doctor Strange Movie in the works for Phase 3, says Feige

Feige Downplays Daredevil Reboot

Falcon seen in set photos from Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Fox's Fantastic Four reboot casting buzz:

Chronicle's Michael B. Jordan for the Human Torch
Girls' Allison Williams for Sue Storm

First photos of Rhino from the set of Amazing Spider-man 2

Star Wars Episode VII set to start filming in 2014

Abrams wants John Williams back

New The Wolverine poster with Silver Samurai - Japanese style painting.

The Wolverine CinemaCon Trailer

Kitty Pride photo from Bryan Singer

Jurassic Park 4 Returns to Isla Nublar

New Men in Black and 21 Jump Street

Tom Cruise Returns for Mission: Impossible 5

Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel Theme. Available on SoundCloud

Games

EA announces exclusive deal to develop Star Wars games. First Games to appear no sooner then April 2014

DICE, Visceral Games and BioWare are said to be working on titles

Madden NFL 25 not coming to Wii U

Sony teases new game announcements

Battlefield 3's Premium service earns $120 million

MGS4 was too big fit on XBOX 360

Nintendo announces its plans for E3

Injustice DLC confirmed: Batgirl (Dans not happy about it)

Comics

Talking about House of M

Topic of the Week

Iron Man 3 impressions

May 22, 2025

SSSW/ToB Film Club - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

It's hard to believe that 'Rogue One' premiered nearly a decade ago. At the time, it was fairly well received, considered to be a decent first step into the standalone Star Wars movies, if not a bit messy. As the years passed, we learned more about the production. Gareth Edwards, who retained sole directing credit, was assisted by Tony Gilroy to "fix" the project. Tony went so far as to call it a "corpse" when he came aboard for rewrites and reshoots. It was Tony's inclusion that brought us some of the movies most memorable moments, and ultimately led him to leading the charge on 'Andor', a prequel project that flew under the radar as hits like 'The Mandalorian' hogged the spotlight. With 'Andor' now complete, considered by many to be a masterpiece in storytelling, not just in Star Wars but on television in general, now is the most appropriate time to reexamine the movie that spawned the Cassian-centered prequel series with fresh eyes. 'Andor', which leads directly into the events of 'Rogue One' recontextualizes much of the film, creating a unique viewing experience that pays off a multitude of threads that are brilliantly laid over the two seasons of 'Andor'. It takes the movie, which was already pretty good, and makes it great. Now existing as part of a whole that weaves a cohesive narrative from the nascent moments of the Rebellion all the way through to the destruction of the Death Star in 1977 (the seed that begat ALL Star Wars, and what we appropriately align our Star Wars BBY calendars to). It all feels wholistic and considered when viewed from the broader perspective - an accomplishment that should set a shining example of what Star Wars can and should aspire to.

May 15, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 Finale

After only 4 weeks - the blink of an eye - it's all over. The best Star Wars story since the Original Trilogy has graced our screens and left us in awe. These final three episodes weren't able to reach the emotional highs of last week's arc, but that wasn't the goal. Instead, it provides time to look back at what brought us here, and sets the stage for the climax of the story to take place not in this moment, but within the now recontextualized film that birthed all of this in the first place, 'Rogue One'. And while the show may carry Cassian's name on the title screen, it's been the cast of characters we've met along the way that truly elevated this experience. Not to pick favourites, but in particular, Luthen and Kleya, who get an episode all to themselves this week are the standouts. And what an episode it was, as their story which shepherded much of the series came to an end, as we all expected it would have to. Embracing those feelings of closure, in the final moments of the series, as Cassian flies off into 'Rogue One', we are treated to our last glimpses of our heroes and villains. From Dedra to Vel and even Perrin, we are left to consider their fates as the story marches with inevitability into what begat all of this way back in 1977. Will we ever see Kleya, Vel, Wilmon, or Bix again? One can only hope - and rebellions? Well, they're built on hope.

May 9, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E7 - 9

When dealing in the world of prequels, it’s impossible to escape the inevitable - Anakin will fall, Han will win the Falcon, Cassian will die on Scarif. Somehow, in the midst of some of the most thrilling episodes of television ever put to screen, Tony Gilroy and his team found a way to address that impending doom and weaponize it against the audience to induce some of the most gut wrenching and heart breaking moments we’ve yet to see on ‘Andor’ - “There’s some place he needs to be”. At a larger scale, the show continues to outdo itself on a weekly basis, proving that the Star Wars galaxy provides a colour pallet of some of the richest hues from which to paint bold and personal stories. Proving you can go beyond the larger than life stories of heroics and grandeur to human stories of loss and pain and everything in between. That’s without mentioning the deft touch in pulling in themes that resonates with the contemporary while remaining timeless - a feeling that is a staple of Star Wars. Every detail is considered, every character is deep and interesting. There isn’t much more that can be said about such a powerful piece of art, except that not even the audience can escape the inevitable - only one week remains of this masterpiece.

May 2, 2025

SSSW - Andor S2 E4 - 6

I'm sorry to tell you all, but we're already halfway through this final season of 'Andor'. Fortunately, the quality hasn't dipped one bit as we accelerate into the finish. Join Julian and Rachel as they savour every minute of this 3-episode arch that takes us to Ghorman for the first time on screen. Tony Gilroy and the team at Lucasfilm outdid themselves yet again in crafting every detail. The size of the set alone is impressive, but they take it a step further by developing a unique culture and even language different from anything we've seen in Star Wars before. It all fits seamlessly into this next chapter of the story that has a heavy emphasis on spycraft as the pressure ramps up for both the Rebellion and the Empire.

Episode 3

Show Notes

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Comics

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