What a crazy week! Only a day after last weeks show came a deluge of some of the biggest geek news of the whole year! Julian, Daniel and Jeremy have had a lot of time to think about what they had to say about the Nintendo Switch announcement, the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer and, what turned out to be one of the most pleasant of the surprises, the Logan trailer. Of course it doesn't stop there with another exciting instalment of Nerd Association as well as some great Star Wars discussions about the casting of Donald Glover as a a young Lando Calrissian. All this and so much more in this weeks Tower of Babble Podcast!

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Show Notes

Nerd Association

Round 1: Zombie
Round 2: Arkham
Round 3: Blackest Night

Movies

Trailers
- Logan
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
The next Alien movie, Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, won't have Xenomorphs. Nope, instead you’ll see Neomorphs.
Deadpool 2 has lost its director. Tim Miller, the director of the first Deadpool, has left the project due to “creative differences” with Ryan Reynolds. According to Variety the split was apparently “amicable”

Star Wars

Donald Glover has officially been cast in the role of a young Lando Calrissian for the young Han Solo film. Joins Alden Ehrenreich.
- From directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller: “"These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we’d like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever"
Joss Whedon has decided he’d like to make a Star Wars movie
- "I mean, it’s a fun thing to do, to put yourself in the service of something if you think you can add an interpretation. It’s no different than any other storytelling [...] Do I want to make a Star Wars movie? Yeah. I was like, 'I don’t want to make a Star Wars movie. Like, god dammit, why?' But I saw the trailer for Rogue [One: A Star Wars Story] a while ago and I was like, 'I want to do that.' To make a Star Wars movie and not be wed to the bigger picture." - Via Complex.
Speaking of Rogue One, it's getting a prequel novel called Rogue One: Catalyst that, according to Star Wars Story Group Executive and all around Star Wars genius Pablo Hidalgo, the book will answer questions about the Death Star, its architects, where the idea first came from, and the important role both Galen Erso and Orson Krennick play in its construction. He also compares Erso’s and Krennic’s relationship to the dynamic Apple's Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had with each other, where one was the mastermind and visionary, while the other was the genius. - Via USA Today
Episode 8 will reveal Ray’s parentage.

TV

Jessica Jones season 2 will feature an all female directing lineup. All 13 episodes will be directed by a female director. News comes from EP Melissa Rosenberg.

Games

Top 10 best selling games for North America in September according to NPD:
- NBA 2K17
- Madden NFL 17
- FIFA 17
- NHL 17
- Bioshock: The Collection
- Destiny: The Collection
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Overwatch
- Forza Horizon 3
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer
- Playstation announced a partnership with Rockstar that will bring timed DLC first to Playstation and the first Red Dead Redemption to the PS Now service.
- Trailer was captured on a PS4, likely a PS4 pro.

Nintendo Switch

Video reveals the official name and release date of March 2017 while also giving us a glimpse at what it can do.
No more Switch announcements until 2017
Specs
- Removable “joy-cons”
- Cartridges (game cards)
- Pro-controller
- Powered by a custom Tegra processor from Nvidia
- Touchscreen?
Games
- Mario kart 8
- New Mario game?
- Zelda BOTW
- Skyrim?
- Smash?
- Splatoon
- Super Mario Maker (touch screen?)
- NO Mass Effect Andromeda confirmed by EA rep

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 84 - Nintendo Switch