Julian, Daniel and Jeremy are back to discuss the latest in geek news. The most pressing stories being the firing of Colin Trevorrow from Star Wars Episode IX and his immediate replacement by JJ Abrams, the results from this years Emmy Awards and Batman: The Animated Series celebrating it's 25th anniversary. The guys also discuss the Star Trek: Discovery premiere, Linda Hamilton's return to the Terminator franchise, the latest on True Detective season 3 and much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

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Show Notes

Trailers

Tomb Raider
Marvel’s The Punisher
Star Wars Rebels final season

Miscellaneous News

Toys "R" Us has filed for bankruptcy protection. A sad day for toy lovers everywhere. Check out Julian's blog post discussing what might have gone wrong and where the toy market might go from here.
- http://towerofbabblepodcast.com/blog/2017/9/20/what-happened-to-toys-r-us

Movies

Director Colin Trevorrow was fired from Star Wars Episode IX to be replaced by JJ Abrams
Thor Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is now in talks to helm the live action remake of Akira.
Warner Brothers has now clarified the credits on Justice League. Joss Whedon will receive a writing credit and Zack Snyder will get the sole directing credit.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it looks like Warner Brothers is trying to use producer Martin Scorsese to lure Leonardo Decaprio into the role of the Joker.
Linda Hamilton will reprise her role as Sarah Connor for the next Terminator movie.
The bid for the distribution rights to James Bond has gotten a bit more complicated. Apple and Amazon have joined in along with Sony, Warner Brothers, Fox and Universal who were already heavily involved.

69th Emmy Awards

The big news out of this years Emmys was how well Handmaid's Tale performed. The Hulu original drama took home several major awards, most notably Best Drama Series and Elisabeth Moss for Best Actress in a Drama Series.
Other notable winners included Donald Glover who took home awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series and Best Director for Comedy Series and Aziz Ansari for Best Writing for a Comedy Series.
See all the winners here: https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2017

Prediction Results:

Who We Want to Win:

Julian: 2 points (Best Drama Series and Best Actress in a Drama Series)
Daniel: 0 points
Jeremy: 0 points

Who Will Win

Julian: 1 point (Best Actress in a Drama Series)
Daniel: 1 point (Best Comedy Series)
Jeremy: 0 points

TV

Star Trek Discovery premiere
Batman: The Animated Series celebrated its 25th anniversary
BoJack Horseman has officially been renewed by Netflix for a 5th season.
According to the marketing-analytics firm Jumpshot, Marvel’s The Defenders had less Stin the first 30 days than ANY of the other Netflix Marvel series.
Damon Lindelof has officially been given the green light by HBO to produce a pilot for his Watchmen project.
More information on True Detective Season 3
- Will take place over 3 different time periods and will be set in Northwestern Arkansas
- Jeremy Saulnier has been confirmed as a director for the season, along with series creator Nic Pizzolatto.
According to HBO’s President of Programming Casey Bloys it looks like Game of Thrones will be filming multiple endings to the final season to throw off leakers

What We've Been Watching

BoJack Horseman Season 4
Rick and Morty Season 3
HBO’s The Deuce
Batman and Harley Quinn

Apr 30, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 7 & 8

There's two of them now?! With the arrival of another Inquisitor things really start to escalate on Janyx. We see Maul at his lowest since probably his spider-leg days (he goes on a self-guided therapy session/vision quest that results in something quite inspiring actually!), providing us a deeper understanding of his motivations, beyond simply "revenge!". Meanwhile, Devon continues to be the most interesting character on the show as she takes two steps forward, one step back, flirting with the dark side (though bonus points for the slick ride she acquires for their getaway). On the action side, the show continues to bring the goods, with dynamic, large scale battles (heavy on LAATs which is always a treat), intimate lightsaber combat, and a special shout out to the speeder chase this week that included a new Star Wars techno track (get outta here Niamos!), which combined for a chef's kiss of a sequence. The finale is next week, dropping on Star Wars Day (May the 4th), so stay tuned to see how much the show wants to tie up and how much it wants to leave dangling ahead of season 2!

Apr 25, 2026

Episode 205 - CinemaCon 2026 + News Roundup

It's been a minute since Matt and Julian sat down to cover the latest in film and TV news. Some might say it's been dearly missed. Well wait no more folks because this week it's all news and nothing but the news so help me god! If the last few weeks (months?) of stories weren't enough, CinemaCon 2026 also just concluded which had it's own news deluge. The guys unpack it all (well most of it anyway)! Of utmost priority is the news of Michael B Jordan and Austin Butler's reboot of 'Miami Vice', which is close to Matt's heart. Plus 'Spaceballs 2' gets a title and release date, trailers for 'Dune 3', 'Clayface' and 'Street Fighter' all surprise (in a good way), and a new 'Lord of the Rings' movie is announced (and you won't guess who's writing it!). Plus, a 'Game of Thrones' movie, more 'Transformers' and is 'Avatar' over? All this and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

Apr 23, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 5 & 6

We’ve reached the halfway point of the season and with it comes a tonal shift back to the roots of Star Wars animation - 'The Clone Wars'. With the arrival of the Empire, the focus shifts away from Maul and his dealings and toward the pair of Jedi as they are now in the crosshairs. The noire tone takes a back seat, next to Maul, as things become more pulpy, mixed with an impending doom that is reminiscent of the final season of 'The Clone Wars'. The set-piece action sequences get an injection of scale and danger, which is exciting, and some of the early seeding of characters like Rylee start to pay off. While maybe a bit different from the previous 4 episodes, the quality and the stakes remain high (well... for every character except Maul I suppose). Join Julian and Rachel as the unpack it all in excruciating detail.

Apr 15, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 3 & 4

Now that the premiere is out of the way, the team at Lucasfilm Animation can focus on driving the story forward with authority. The pacing is much improved this week as time feel more evenly dispersed across the characters. There's a greater concentration on characters who can wield a lightsaber and it's appreciated. No shade to the crime syndicate storyline, but we've kind of seen all that already (it was quite literally a 'Clone Wars' arc). The action remains strong while taking another step forward with lightsaber duels joining the mix. Plus, the fast cutting from last week seems to have been dialed back, which is appreciated as it provides more clarity in action scenes. For example, Devon's engagements with Maul are gripping, and with the additional time provided to Master Daki, the stakes feel ratcheted up. Kevin Kinner's music remains a highlight, the illusions to the Anakin vs Obi-Wan Mustafar theme was a particular highlight. In general, there is still room for more character growth, especially with characters not named Maul, who really can't/won't change - but happy to proven wrong! This show feels like it's in full swing already, which is good because next week things look to be really heating up as we hit the half way mark. Julian and Rachel unpack it all!

Episode 102 - Handmaid's Emmy