Julian and Daniel sit down, sans Jeremy, to discuss the latest in geek news. Starting with, of course, Star Wars. They break down the Rogue One trailer, Ewan McGregor's idea for Obi-Wan movies and whats happening with the Ghost crew and Star Wars: Rebels. They move onto talking about the reveal of Amber Heard's Mera as well as the nonstop news train coming from the set of Logan. As far as TV news, there wasn't much but the guys talk about the popularity of Netflix and The Simpsons 600th episode. Moving to games, they delve deep into Red Dead Redemption 2 announcement and the reception of PSVR after its release last week. To wrap up Dan and Julian both discuss some of what they've been watching including Fincher's Zodiac and more!

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Show Notes

Movies

New Star Wars: Rogue One trailer and poster!
While promoting his directorial debut Ewan McGregor spoke about the possibility of playing Obi-wan between the events of Episodes 3 and 4 on the big screen.
- "It would be fun to film that story now [that] I'm older," he said. "I’d be the right age. I’m forty-five, Alec Guinness was what, sixty? I could do two of them!"
  - "I hope that they’re going to explore different genres under the Star Wars banner, and one of those could be an Obi-Wan Kenobi feature film. Or two! The Obi-Wan Kenobi Story Part 1 and Part 2!"
Zack Snyder is at it again. This time he released an image of Amber Heard's Mera from the set of Justice League
Joe Manganiello, the actor playing Deathstroke in the upcoming Batman solo film tentatively called “The Batman” let slip that filming with start next spring.
In an interview with Variety, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins discussed why she is looking to Christopher Reeve's Man of Steel when crafting her upcoming standalone film starring Gal Gadot, noting that the Richard Donner Superman film was all about the viewer.
- "It was about you watching and realizing what it would feel like to have great powers and do great things. It was full of love and emotion,".
More “Logan” news as James Mangold keeps releasing more info
- The Mutant “Caliban” has now been confirmed with a character photo of the Stephen Merchant in full makeup.
- He also released a photo of some storyboards showing Wolverine crashing his arm through the front of a car.
- Hugh Jackman also tweeted a photo that looked like an image from the set of a bathroom stall with “Where are all the mutants” scrawled on it.
- Also... Reavers?
The writer of Austin Powers, Michael McCullers is writing a Shrek 5 script. Due to release in 2019
The Fantastic Beasts, Harry Potter spin-off trilogy, just got longer. According to HP creator JK Rowling the series will now be 5 films.

TV

Investment bank and management assessment firm Piper Jaffray has released its semi-annual report surveying teenagers, pulling the viewing habits from a sample pool of 10,000 teens. Netflix snagged the top spot among video consumption options, with 37 percent of teens saying they watch it daily. Netflix ranks above YouTube and cable TV, with YouTube surpassing cable TV by just one percent (the two options came in at 26 and 25 percent, respectively). - IGN
The Simpsons reached a new milestone this past Sunday when they premiered their 600th episode.

Games

Red Dead Redemption 2! Trailer is coming later this week. Out fall 2017
- “An epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland, the game's vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience.”
Batman: Return to Arkham collection is out and getting middling reviews
PSVR reviews are in now that it is out. IGN scored it an 8.5
- Sony: “PSVR is step 1 in a very long journey”
- They’ve said in the past they don't look at PSVR like a peripheral for PS4 but as the PS1 of a whole new category for them
- Market Research company SuperData Research thinks that PSVR will sell over 2 mill units by the end of the year. Via GameInformer.
According to a Ubisoft VP we might not see Assassins Creed or Far Cry until 2018.
- "I'll tell you what, we believe Alpha for these games needs to be one year before release. We're trying to achieve that. That's super f****** blunt, I don't even know if I'm allowed to say this. This is the goal we're going for: Alpha one year before, more quality, more polish. So if this means biting the [bullet] and not having an Assassin's game, or a Far Cry [in 2017], f*** it." - Tommy François
More from Ubi, the long dormant series Beyond Good and Evil is now officially back. Kind of. Ubisoft officially confirmed that they are working on a sequel.
Amazon and Twitch have announced Twitch Prime which links your Amazon Prime account with your Twitch account and gives you extra game related perks

Comics

DC will be launching a new Justice League of America comic in February 2017. The series will spin out of the upcoming Justice League vs. Suicide Squad crossover and feature a new team that will co-exist with the current Justice League. - IGN
- The new series will be written by Steve Orlando (Supergirl) and drawn by Ivan Reis (Blackest Night). The book will feature a diverse lineup of heroes, with DC promising that, "This is a Justice League that looks like America, that proves Heroism can look like ANYTHING and ANYONE."

Jun 5, 2025

SSSW - Tales of the Underworld

Lucasfilm Animation has been hard at work on their next major project, 'Maul: Shadow Lord', but they've found the time to deliver another installment in their "Tales of" anthology series. The first ones covering the Jedi and the Empire, they now turn their focus towards the Underworld. However, be warned, this is a bit of a misnomer. Don't expect any crime syndicates or really any large scale criminality here. These 2 mini-arcs instead focus on Asajj Ventress (I know, not the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the Underworld) as she assists a young Jedi on the run from the Empire, and the origin story of Cad Bane. Which admittedly is closer in line with the criminal underworld concept, but is really more interested in telling a western style revenge story instead. All in all, despite the always great visuals and sound/music design, and few interesting ideas, there's not enough meat on the bone here to satisfy most viewers. But most disappointing is its failure to capitalize on the potential of the Underworld concept.

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.

Episode 83 - Star Wars & Plenty of Tangents

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