San Diego Comic-Con International 2018 has come and gone and in it's wake it left behind a massive pile of nerdy news to discuss. Julian, Jeremy, and Daniel break down the biggest announcements, trailers and controversies from this year's SDCC. Starting with James Gunn's firing, moving on to the Aquaman and Shazam! trailers, the cringe worthy Titans teaser and DC Universe details, the surprise resurrection of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and much, much, much, more! This is a jam packed show, so sit down, strap in, and get ready for a torrential downpour of nerdy discourse.

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Show Notes

Movies

James Gunn fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 following Twitter outrage.
Trailers
- Aquaman
- Shazam!
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters
- Glass
Wonder Woman: 1984 footage shown but not released online.
WB Animation announces a 4th DC film for 2019: Wonder Woman: Bloodlines.
Venom footage, also not released, revealed the villain is another symbiote, Riot, played by Riz Ahmed.
Uncharted fan film featuring Nathan Fillion.

TV

Deadline reports that HBO has scrapped 4 out 5 of it’s Game of Thrones spin-offs that it had in development. The surviving project, by Kick-Ass and Kingsman co-writer Jane Goldman and author George R.R. Martin, is “Set thousands of years before the events of Thrones"
Titans teaser trailer.

Here’s what I want to know. Does the Titans series in the comics play like a parody of the Teen Titans? Because that’s how this plays.
— Tower of Babble (@TowerBabbleCast) July 19, 2018

DC's streaming service, DC Universe, will cost $7.99 a month in the US.
Former DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns announced at his San Diego Comic-Con panel today that Stargirl would be receiving her own TV series coming to DC Universe.
Young Justice: Outsiders trailer.
Iron Fist season 2 addressing the issues from season 1.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is coming back!!!!
- At The Clone Wars 10th anniversary panel, series creator and producer Dave Filoni announced that the series will return for a final season, this time on Disney’s upcoming streaming service. #CloneWarsSaved
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reboot.
- Star Trek: Discovery will feature Spock next season alongside Captain Pike.
- Andrew Lincoln is officially leaving The Walking Dead.
- Nearly 12 years later “Deadwood” is finally getting a movie. HBO programming president Casey Bloys confirmed that they are finally moving forward with the project.
- Batman: The Animated Series Blu-ray Collection Coming in October.
- A Batwoman series is in development at The CW, which will bring Bruce Wayne's cousin, Kate Kane, to the Arrowverse.
The new TMNT animated series scheduled to kick off in 2018 on Nickelodeon will be called Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and is going back to 2D animation.

Comics/Misc

Batman gets a new costume. Going back to basics, it will feature the black trunks, joining Superman who is back in his red trunks as well.
Geoff Johns is working on a new Shazam series for DC, with art from Dale Eaglesham.
Batman: Three Jokers Comic from Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok Revealed by DC.
DC is relaunching Green Lantern with Grant Morrison and artist Liam Sharp at the helm, taking GL "back to his classic roots".
Star Wars Prequel books announced:
- Queen’s Shadow; a novel by E.K. Johnston that dives into the history of Padmé Amidala.
- Master and Apprentice; by Claudia Gray, will focus on Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn's adventures prior to the events of The Phantom Menace.

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 117 - San Diego Comic-Con 2018

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