It’s Christmas in July! Nerd Christmas that is. San Diego Comic-Con is upon us once again and Julian, Dan, and Jeremy are here to unpack all the major news from this year’s con. Including, but not limited to: Star Trek: Picard, new Superman DC animated movies, Top Gun: Maverick, and The Witcher! Then the guys dive deep into the what became THE story from this year’s show; Marvel Studios’ Phase Four slate. From Doctor Strange to Black Widow, and The Mighty Thor to an Oscar winning Blade announcement, Marvel held little back as it revealed it’s plans for the next 2 years. All this and so much more (including a heated Funko Pop debate) on this week’s Tower of Babble Podcast!
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Episode 135 - Real Fish People
With another Disney remake dropping this week the guys sit down to reminisce and talk Lion King, Mulan teaser, and Little Mermaid casting news. After Disney the show naturally segues into an R-rated Mortal Kombat adaptation (with an emphasis on Fatalities), Joker movie news, and a rumoured villain for the third Spider-Man movie rounding out the movies segment.
Plus Mandalorian Season 2 information, Zack Snyder and Jay Oliva teaming up for an anime Norse mythology series, and brief impression of Stranger Things Season 3.
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ToB Interlude - Spider-Man: Far From Home
I can’t imagine it being easy having to follow in the footsteps of Avengers: Endgame. It made more money than any Marvel film (more than basically every movie ever), and left a cultural footprint that will be felt for decades. All that being said, something had to come after Endgame, and that was the task asked of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Labelled as the final film of the MCU’s “phase three”, the story picks up not long after the events of Endgame, and throws Spidey into a whole new adventure that takes him out of his element (again). With a lot of emotional heavy lifting to do, Far From Home manages to nail the humour and action elements that are now staples of the Marvel formula perfectly, while at the same time leaving room for a lot of fun new surprises. Julian, Dan, and Jeremy break it all down and give their take on what looks to be another massive hit for Marvel.
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Episode 134 - Batman 89
30 years ago the first modern Batman film opened in theatres, while this was also the year the ToB creators were born the film eventually made a huge impact on all our lives. The guys sit down to discuss a post-Adam West, pre-Christopher Nolan Batman, and the series that evolved from the 1989 classic. Followed by: Andy Serkis being rumoured for a potential role in the upcoming Batman film by Matt Reeves; Danny Boyle and Alex Garland considering a return to the 28-days later franchise; trailers for Stranger Things, Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, and Midsommer; and, sadly, DC announcing and end to the Vertigo line of comics, to be re-branded into DC Black Label.
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Episode 133 - The End of an Era
With the X-men franchise as we know it coming to an end, the guys look back on the series as a whole and imagine what will come next. This year has/will see the form of an ending for basically all the major pop-culture properties, including X-Men, Avengers, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars at the end of the year. With so many of the tentpole films franchises coming to a conclusion there’s room for new and experimental shows like Love, Death & Robots; or the upcoming Halo series to really shine.
All in all, it was a slow news week, but exciting things are yet to come.
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ToB Games - E3 2019
If you follow the video game world, even from a distance, you know that E3 is like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and your birthday all combined for the those in the games business. With it comes exciting new announcements, sizzle reels, reveals, and surprises. Regardless of what types of games you’re into, there’s always something to get excited about. This year, with Sony, and other major players pulling out, it seemed like the show might lack some of it’s luster. Fortunately, there was still a lot to get excited about. Not the least of which being the Avengers game from Sqaure Enix, a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the first game play of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, plus the surprising new character announcements for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Julian, Dan, and Jeremy discuss all that and so much more in the annual E3 breakdown episode of ToB Games!
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Episode 132 - New Batmen
With GoT officially wrapped the full ToB crew sat down to catch up on all the stories we’ve been neglecting over the past couple months. Multiple casting confirmations, including a new Batman for both the small and big screens, Idris Elba joining Suicide Squad, and, somehow, James Gunn’s return to Marvel Studios. All this plus at least a million new movie trailers, and what seems like a never-ending stream of Star Wars news.
Time to get back to business, enjoy.
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Game of Thrones Season 8 Recap
For the past nine years we've shared a piece of our collective Sundays and we weren't quite ready for that to end. A week removed from the finale the ToB crew got together to record another Live show and discuss the season with the benefit of a couple nights' sleep. After a quick overview of the season, and series at-large, the conversation naturally turned to the characters; the people and interweaving events that made the show so endearing.
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Game of Thrones S8E6 "The Iron Throne": ToB Breakdown
Here we are at last: Journey's End.
After nearly a decade of plots and betrayals, wars and magic, politics and prophesies the Song of Ice and Fire has come to an end, The final season has been nothing if not controversial, but still represents the culmination of a series that captivated countless fans around the world, and has irrevocably influenced all our lives.
Tyrion searches for, hoping never to find, the remnants of his family; Jon comes to terms with the devastation of King's Landing; Grey Worm protects Dany's interests, with the unflinching Iron Fist of a zealot; the Mad Queen proclaims her final solution; Tyrion abandons his role as Hand of the Queen; Dany finally reaches her ancestral throne; Tyrion helps Jon see an unpleasant reality; and Jon Snow, the Prince who was Promised, sacrifices his true love to protect the realm.
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Game of Thrones S8E5 "The Bells": ToB Breakdown
The penultimate episode of each season is typically cataclysmic and, being the final season, S8E5 really took this trend and ran with it. While this will likely prove to be one of the most divisive and, to some, unforgivable episodes, it was nothing if not surprising. I don’t wanna get into it here, but the condensed nature of this season is having some serious repercussions.
Dany is betrayed once again, the Northern army camps outside King’s Landing, Tyrion pleads for one last chance at peace, Arya and the Hound infiltrate the capital, the Lannister brother share a solemn farewell, Qyburn tries to protect his Queen, the Iron Fleet burns in Blackwater Bay, The Hound finally faces his fraternal nemesis (foe if you’re into alliteration), the Lannister army surrenders to the invaders, and the bells of King’s Landing ring desperately for salvation, before all hell breaks loose…
Arya struggles to survive the calamity, the Northern army gives in to their bloodlust, a wounded Jaime comforts Cersei, while the city without honour crumbles, as Daenerys Targaryen, first of her name, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons, burns them all.
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