As the calendar flips to a new year it's always nice to look back at the best-of-the best from the last 12 months. It's become a highly prestigious tradition here at Tower of Babble - 6 years running. Therefor, as is tradition, the ToB hosts, Julian, Jeremy, and Rachel, gather together to discuss their top 3 ranked favorites in film and television from 2022. If you've been listening (or watching live!) throughout the last year, some of these picks might be predictable. That being said, there was a lot of great content to pick from so don't be shocked if something comes out of left field. Congrats to all of this year's Tobie winners!
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S2E4 "Faster"
Last week's episode of 'The Bad Batch' gave us a topsy-turvy, through the looking glass examination of the jingoistic "adventures" of 'The Clone Wars', seen through the eye's of a compassionate, respected, and likely regretful, veteran of those wars. It was near perfect - chefs kiss*. This week... well this week we got a pseudo-podracing episode that attempts to flush out Cid's past, but unfortunately it doesn't do a great job at the racing OR the character building. Tech gets some interesting things to do, and the voice cameos are fun, but largely speaking this episode feels quite disposable.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch S1E3 "The Solitary Clone"
Think back to ‘Revenge of the Sith’ - after Kenobi finishes off Grievous, Commander Cody, Kenobi’s good friend and colleague, gives him back his dropped lightsaber. This is only moments before he shoots him down when Order 66 is enacted. That moment is the last time we had seen Cody from a timeline perspective. A lot has happened since then: countless Jedi murdered, the rise of the Galactic Empire, and with it the iron boot of oppression. How does a lifelong soldier, and a man who believes he killed one of his only friends grapple with that? Well, this episode of ‘The Bad Batch’ asks those very questions as we are treated to a Clone Wars-esque mission, complete with a separatist planet and battle droids, all seen through the eyes of Crosshair. A clone who he-himself is struggling to understand where he fits into the Imperial machine. The rest of The Batch is absent from this episode but you won’t even notice in this action packed, emotionally charged installment.
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SSSW - The Bad Batch Season 2 Premiere
After a short holiday break, Julian and Rachel return to Star Wars, this time in the animated form, to discuss the premiere of ‘The Bad Batch’ season 2, which encompassed two episodes, “Spoils of War”, and “Ruins of War”. The two-part premiere saw The Batch take on an extremely risky “get rich quick” scheme that takes them to the planet of Serenno, Count Dooku’s old haunt, to steal a fraction of his EXTREME wealth, which is being gathered up, and shipped off-world by the Empire. With plenty of interesting themes and story threads to digest, and even a new Clone Captain to meet, there’s a lot to discuss. Join us as we break it all down!
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ToB Film Club/Christmas Special - Die Hard (1988)
Hard to believe it's already the Holidays already. Seems like just yesterday we were reviewing 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation'. Oh what a time... we were laughing, snow was falling, things were merry and bright. Well the weather is cold again, and the only way to warm up this year is with EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE! That's right, we're dusting off the action, comedy, Christmas classic 'Die Hard' for this special season. Essentially a perfect action movie, there's very little to critic, but boy is there a lot to love. Join Julian, Jeremy, and Rachel as they break down all the fun one-liners and over the top kills, plus enjoy some bonus Christmas stories from the ToB Crew to kick things off. It's Christmas miracle! Happy holidays everyone!
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ToB Interlude - Avatar: The Way of Water
It’s been over 10 years since we first visited Pandora (I.e. Not-Kansas), but its been worth the wait. Visionary director, James Cameron, has put together an epic sequel that rivals some of his best. Not only have the visuals taken another leap forward, with nearly photo real effects, but the action and story have also taken a big step forward. This is a complete movie (you’d hope so, considering it comes in at over 3 hours long), full of character exploration, in depth world building, family drama, action on a massive scale, and a strong heart and core message. It’s a movie that deserves to be seen on as big of a screen as possible, and yea even the 3D is good. Needless to say, we liked the movie, so please join Julian and Jeremy as they break it all down!
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Episode 181 - Transformers Beast Something
After what feels like a lifetime, Julian returns to the studio to catch up with Jeremy on all the latest in film and TV news. With a massive backlog of stories to cover, it's hard to know where to start. Thankfully, WB obliged with a juicy story about James Gunn's first couple moves with the newly minted "DC Studios", not the least of which being the shelving of 'Wonder Woman 3'.With more turmoil at WB, the guys dive deep into the possible ins-and-outs of this type of shake-up. Meanwhile, on the lighter side of things, trailers for 'Indiana Jones 5', now with it’s official title “Dial of Destiny”, 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts', and 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' all dropped around the same time, and all of it is dsucsussed in detail. All that and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!
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SSSW - Andor S1E12 "Rix Road"
What a season of television! 'Andor' is easily one of the best shows of the year, regardless of genre, but it changed the game for Star Wars. Tony Gilroy laid the gauntlet, and is now stepping back into the shadows as he prepares to wow us again with season 2. Which, unfortunately, will likely be over a year away. In the meantime, we can revisit the masterpiece that is this first season. A season that was capped off with a finale befitting the rest of the show. Without changing the formula at the last second, it held onto exactly what is was, delivering not one, but arguably three rousing speeches (with special shoutout to Marva posthumously. Twice!), but also delivering the goods with a visceral, and violent, climactic set piece. The quality of this series, from the writing, to the effects, and performances, it has all been top notch, and deserving of a moment of recognition. As a whole, it's something very special that doesn't come around often. Bravo to everyone who worked on 'Andor', we all impatiently await the continuation of Cassian's story. No pressure.
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SSSW - Andor S1E11 "Daughter of Ferrix"
One episode left! The level of quality on 'Andor' has been so high, the show so engrossing, the final episode for this nearly perfect first season feels like it's coming way too fast. We spend much of this penultimate episode moving the pieces into position for a what is shaping up to be a thrilling finale. All roads lead to Ferrix. With Marva's tragic passing pulling all the key players, including the titular, newly escaped, Cassian into a trap that is being laid by the ISB. Meanwhile, Syril has fallen off the wagon and is heading to Ferrix as well. Mon Mothma continues to struggle with her financial troubles, and with Leita leaning further into traditional Chandrillan customs, she may very well have the decision on Davo Sculden's offer made for her, despite her massive reservations. We also see Saw again, as he and Luthen grapple with the moral implications of sacrificing Anto Krieger and his men, in what is easily the best scene of the episode. The stage is set, buckle up, everything comes to a head next week.
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SSSW - Andor S1E10 "One Way Out"
Defying all odds, this show continues to get better every week. With the conclusion of the heist arch, and the weight of expectations it carried, it was impressive how well it managed to stick the landing. Now four episodes removed from that dramatic escape from Aldhani, we've reached the end of the prison arch. Not only does the show deliver an epic payoff to an escape we knew was coming, it did so while layering in deep character moments for Andor, an unforgettable speech from Luthen, and a heart-pounding exchange between Mon and a mobster. This is something special folks. Buckle up, we're in the final stretch, as we move into a 2-episode mini-arch to finish the season.
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