Following our big Star Wars Extravaganza the ToB Crew return with another numbered episode discussing all the NON-Star Wars related news. Starting with the Thor: Ragnarok trailer, which gave us our first taste of what looks to be a delightful space adventure, despite the dower name. The guys then give their impressions on Josh Brolin being cast as Cable in Deadpool 2 as well as a whole pile of other casting news. After a little video game talk, that included Nintendo Switch sales numbers and a new Call of Duty announcement, Julian, Daniel and Jeremy round out the show with a review of Fast and Furious 8 and the latest DC animated film, Teen Titans: Judas Contract. All this and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

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Show Notes

Movies

Trailers:
- Thor: Ragnarok
James Gunn is returning return to direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
- Guardians 2 has FIVE post credits scenes.
The Captain Marvel movie starring Brie Larson now has a director. Two actually. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Mississippi Grind, It’s Kind of a Funny Story) will helm the project.
Josh Brolin cast as Cable in Deadpool 2.
Dolph Lundgren joins the cast of Aquaman.
Beauty and the Beast has surpassed $1 Billion at the boxoffice.
According to Deadline Will Smith is in early discussions to play the genie in the live action Aladin remake.
Jude Law has been cast as young Dumbledore in sequel to Fantastic Beasts.
According to Avatar actress Sigourney Weaver, the sequel begins filming this fall.
Joss Whedon, talking about Batgirl, says not to expect a big name playing Babs:
- “I don’t have my eye on anybody. I’m creating this character, I’m in a dialogue with her and then we’ll see who joins that later on… I doubt it’ll be a name. I think this is somewhere where you go and find Batgirl and then you cast her. I’m not against movie stars, they’re great, but you need somebody who’s going to be just right, and a situation like this the name carries a lot of weight, so it’s not as critical.”.
A new DC animated film will be somewhat of a spiritual successor to the Batman: The Animated Series. Called "Batman and Harley Quinn", it will star Kevin Conroy as Batman, former Robin/Nightwing actor Loren Lester and Big Bang Theory actress Melissa Rauch as Harley. Bruce Timm is heavily involved and the look and feel is very much that of the original series.
Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down a role in Shane Black’s new Predator film saying this about the subject to Yahoo:
- "They asked me, and I read it, and I didn’t like it — whatever they offered. So I’m not going to do that, no. Except if there’s a chance that they rewrite it, or make it a more significant role. But the way it is now, no, I won’t do that."

TV

Marvel’s Defenders will debut on Netflix on August 18th.
Manu Bennett, after a long feud, will return to play Slade Wilson/Deathstroke on Arrow for the season five finale.

Games

Activision has announced that the next COD is called Call of Duty: WW2 and they are going to have a full reveal on Wed April 26th.
Uncharted: Lost Legacy will release on August 22nd in North America for $40 US and $50 CND. In the UK it’ll be available a day later on the 23rd. The "DLC" could be as long as 10 hours.
Shannon Woodward (Westworld) has joined the cast of the The Last of Us Part 2.
We finally have concrete Switch sales numbers:
- 906,000 units in 28 days in North America according to the NPD Group
- Breath of the Wild sold 1.3 million copies across Switch and Wii U (925,000 to Switch and 460,000 units to Wii U)
Nintendo is discontinuing the NES Classic Edition.
- Rumours are now swirling that the SNES Classic will replace it this year.
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma said to Famitsu that going forward Zelda games will likely all be "open world" in the same vein as Breath of the Wild. He noted that eventually people will start to get tired of that formula as well though.
An Australian made documentary on the making of Rare’s Goldeneye 64 is in the works
Called GoldenEra. They currently have an ongoing IndieGoGo campaign to fund the project.

Comics

Batman #21 is the start of the investigation into the Dr Manhattan tease from the beginning of Rebirth. Called “The Button” its a 4 part series.

What We've Been Watching/Playing

Teen Titans: Judas Contract
Fast and Furious 8
- Biggest worldwide opening of all time. (532.5 mill)
- Series producer Neal Moritz has reiterated, in an interview with Collider, that the FF franchise will end with the 10th movie.
- TMZ is also reporting that The Rock and Vin Diesel have resolved their feud and that Dwayne Johnson will be back for the 9th movie.
- Universal is considering a FF spinoff with the Rock and Jason Statham.

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 94 - NOT Star Wars

Show Notes

Movies

TV

Games

Comics

What We've Been Watching/Playing

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