Examining The Dead #22

Examining The Dead Episode 22: Halloween 2019

(2:48) The Coroner’s Report

(3:35) Helstrom, the latest Marvel series, has begun filming. It is set for release sometime in 2020. Who is Helstrom and what could the series be like? With Marvel Studios taking over all TV projects, this could conceivably mean interaction with the rest of the MCU. Blade anybody?

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Examining The Doctor: An Unearthly Child – The Unaired Pilot

November 1963 – The first episode of Doctor Who aired, beginning the legacy of a sci-fi epic that is still going strong 56 years later.

However, many fans do not know that the first episode was not the one originally produced. The original version did not go well with producer Sydney Newman, so it was tweaked and refilmed into the version that was seen by 10 million viewers.

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Deathstroke Series to CW Seed

A 12-episode animated series based on DC Comics’ popular mercenary Deathstroke is headed to CW Seed. Unlike the previous two series, Vixens, and The Ray, Deathstroke: Knights and Dragons does not appear to be part of the shared universe that other DC Shows have. The “Arrowverse”, as fans have called it, includes Arrow, The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and the new Batwoman series. Standalone animated spinoffs have included Vixen, with guest voice roles by Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin as Green Arrow and The Flash respectively.

The official series synopsis paints a picture of redemption for the assassin.

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Geekville Radio #245: Mega Marvel Update!

It’s a huge week of news, especially for Marvel MCU fans. Subjects are tagged with timestamps if you want to get right to them

(1:55) Kevin Feige to produce a Star Wars film

The Hollywood Reporter broke the story last week that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige will develop a new Star Wars movie. It certainly could be in response to the Sequel Trilogy fan reception, especially The Last Jedi. And, of course, the underwhelming performance of Solo. Given Feige’s track record with the Marvel films, it seems like a natural pairing.

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Tennant Being Eyed For Doctor Strange 2?

Did you sense a disturbance in The Force? As if millions of fanboy and fangirls squealed in glee? That could be due to the alleged dream casting for Marvel’s Phase Four.

Marvel Studios announced at San Diego Comic-Con that Benedict Cumberbatch will return for a second Doctor Strange movie, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. Scott Derrickson will return to direct, and Elizabeth Olsen will reprise her MCU role of Scarlet Witch.

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Tom Welling Returns To Smallville For CW’s Crisis

Rumors started a few months back. Speculation ran wild ever since, but now it is official. Tom Welling will indeed be returning to the role he played on Smallville for ten seasons.

Deadline reports Welling will appear in this winter’s Crisis On Infinite Earths with his Smallville character intact. He joins the list of three actors playing different incarnations of Clark Kent, aka Superman.

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Wizard World Chicago Report

Geekville Radio #244: Q&A Clips from Wizard World Chicago

NOTE: The wrong episode was previously uploaded,

Wizard World Chicago took place on the last weekend of August, the same weekend as Disney’s D23 Expo. Several celebrities participated in panels and Q&A sessions for fans.

First up, Jeff Goldbum talks The MCU, Thor: Love and Thunder, tooth decay, and Buckaroo Banzai.

Kevin Conroy quotes about (what else?) voicing Batman, working with Mark Hamill, and getting in front of the camera again for Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Dean Cain answered questions about playing Superman and gives his opinion of Henry Cavill.

Teddy Sears tells about what he knew ahead of time when playing Jay Garrick in The Flash.

And finally, Matt Ryan talks about his inspirations when playing Constantine in Legends Of Tomorrow.

Disney vs. Sony, Plus D23 News

Geekville Radio #243: Disney vs. Sony plus D23 News

A ton of news to go over in this jam-packed episode! In the first segment, Seth and Crazy Train talk about the problems between Sony and Disney over Spider-Man. The second half is devoted to Star Wars and Marvel news coming out of D23.

(3:03) Sony vs Disney and Marvel

Unless you’ve been out in deep space for the last week, you’ve probably heard of the split between Disney and Sony over Marvel’s Spider-Man in The MCU. To fully comprehend what happened, we have to take a step back and look at how we got to this point in the first place.

Attempts at making a Spider-Man feature film date back to the 1980s. But over the years, the film companies set to make the picture would go under or were bought out. This made deciding the film rights a real nightmare. Eventually, Sony got the rights in the late 90s.

Around this time, Marvel opened their own film studio. Once Marvel Studios was created, Marvel no longer needed to shop around film rights. They could control their own properties when it came to the big screen. This is one of the reasons Marvel was able to make successful films that pleased fans and critics alike.

So here are the main talking points of the Disney vs. Sony fiasco.

The previous deal between the two had expiredWhen Sony and Disney agreed to share Spider-Man, it was for a certain number of films. Sony would produce the stand-alone films, with Marvel and Disney helming Avengers and other crossover films.

Sony was happy with the previous deal – It looks like Sony would have been happy with a continuation of that agreement. They weren’t necessarily looking for a bigger or better deal.

Disney was asking for a larger cutUnder the old deal, Sony got the profits from the stand-alone Spider-Man movies, while Disney kept profits from any cross-over. The 50/50 deal proposed by Disney would see both companies sharing equally in cost and profits.

Sony has tried to control Spider-Man films beforeSam Raimi walked away from making Spider-Man films after clashing with Sony over Spider-Man 3. The reboot with Andrew Garfield also saw issues with Sony trying to guide the franchise away from how directors wanted it. If Sony and Disney do not agree to terms, it would mark the third time Sony would be guiding Spider-Man on their own.

Sony has several Spider-Man related characters – Most, if not all of the Spider-Man rogues’ gallery, are within Sony’s rights. Sony is making Venom 2, and an Into The Spider-Verse sequel seems likely. Plus, there is the Morbius film, as well as other Spidey movies that would pave the way for a Sinister Six movie.

It’s not over yet– It is very possible that Disney and Sony may mend their fences and work out a deal. It is also possible that Sony may have learned their lesson when it comes to producing a Spider-Man story. This story will likely have a few more chapters before it’s over. Spider-Man is the last remaining property that Marvel Studios has yet to regain control of when it comes to feature films.

As discussed during the show, The Geek Twins have this handy chart which shows the characters Marvel has direct control over vs. Sony and Netflix. Sucks to be Rick Jones…

Please include attribution to TheGeekTwins.com with this graphic.

Marvel Movie Rights Infographic

(36:30) D23 News

Disney held its annual D23 Expo where, as expected, future Star Wars projects were officially announced. Plus, new Marvel shows were also revealed.

(37:30) Untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi Series

Ewan McGregor confirms his return to Obi-Wan Kenob

The long-rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi series was confirmed at last, with Ewan McGregor reprising the role. No premise was given, but fans have assumed it would be about Kenobi’s time on Tatooine between the prequels and the classic trilogy. With it being set approximately 8-10 years after Revenge Of The Sith, it would be taking place at approximately the same time as Solo and Star Wars Rebels.

(39:34) The Mandalorian

The first official trailer for The Mandalorian

The highly anticipated series The Mandalorian finally got an official trailer. To say it felt like a Western would be an understatement. Ming-Na Wen, who played Agent May for all seven seasons of Agents Of SHIELD, has joined the cast.

Not only that, IG-88 saw some action almost 40 years after his debut in Empire Strikes Back. Could more bounty hunters be on the way? 4-LOM? Zuckuss? Dengar?

It’s also worth noting that Disney will be releasing one episode per week, rather than all of them at once.

(50:25) The Rise Of Skywalker

Of course, it would not be a true Star Wars event if it didn’t have footage from Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker. We covered that in detail in our last show. Seth does make two bold, albeit unoriginal, predictions about the Skywalker Saga finale.

(55:45) Marvel

Black Panther 2 will hit theaters in May of 2020, making it right in line with the end of Phase Four. For The Eternals, Kit Harrington (Game Of Thrones) has signed on to play Black Knight

Not one, not two, but THREE more Marvel series will be added to the lineup. No casting or release dates were announced.

Moon Knight: Arguably the most fitting of the three shows. We had speculated before how Moon Knight would make for a perfect addition to a Netflix or TV lineup.

Ms. Marvel: The current Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, will do double duty between her own show and appearances in films.

She-Hulk: Possible the biggest surprise was the announcement of She-Hulk. It will be interesting to see how she is handled for a TV show. Would it be ab actress? Or a CGI created character?

While not a new series announcement, the character of John Walker (US Agent in the comics) will be introduced in Falcon & Winter Soldier.

Spidey and His Amazing Friends: Clearly aimed at children, this show will be a comedic take on the classic 80s series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends.

Finally, unrelated to Disney or Sony, Supergirl will don a new costume for her fifth season.

Supergirl’s new costume for Season 5

As stated in the show, Crazy Train has a new Playlist called “Chicks That Rock“. You can find it on Spotify.

Terrance Dicks (1935-2019)

It is a sad day for fans of Doctor Who and science-fiction. Terrance Dicks, a prolific writer who wrote several TV stories and novels, passed away at the age of 84.

Dicks broke into TV by writing episodes of The Avengers (the BBC show, not the Marvel superheroes). For Doctor Who, he and friend Malcolm Hulke wrote The War Games in 1969, a 10-part finale (?!?!?) to Patrick Troughton’s run as The Doctor.

Other Doctor Who TV stories to Dicks’ credit include the Tom Baker stories The Brain Of Morbius and The Horror Of Fang Rock. And of course, the 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors.

In addition to writing stories, Dicks served as script editor for Doctor Who under showrunner Barry Letts. He was also frequently chosen to adapt TV stories to novels for Target Books.

While he will probably be best remembered for his Doctor Who contributions, his work was not limited to just that. He wrote dozens of children’s books and original novels.

We at Geekville Radio send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Terrance Dicks.

Teddy Sears Talks Being Jay Garrick in The Flash

Wizard World Chicago held an Arrowverse Panel this past August where actor Teddy Sears talked about his recurring role as Jay Garrick in Season Two of The Flash.

SPOILERS for fans who haven’t seen the second season of The Flash!

As fans of The CW show know, Season Two saw the addition of Jay Garrick to the cast of characters. Jay was, of course, the original Golden Age Flash in the comics dating back to 1941.

Season Two also introduced Zoom as the main villain. However, it wasn’t until the latter half of the season that fans saw that Jay and Zoom were one and the same.

So how much did Sears know ahead of time? Did he know he’d turn bad when he was cast?

“I knew that it was going to happen, yes,” answered Sears. “I was told before we started filming ‘here’s the idea for the season. You’re going to be this, and then you won’t be.’ And so what happened is I began to shoot all my stuff as Jay Garrick and I loved it. And I loved it so much that a lot of time went by, and I convinced myself that the writers had changed their minds because they hadn’t talked to me in a while.”

Sears continued, “I was going to be this character, as Jay, for the whole season. And then a few months went by, and I remember opening a script and seeing… [the reveal] is going to happen like they said. I was disappointed.

“But then when I began to play Zoom, I was very excited,” he added. “One, because it was so different than playing Jay. Jay is so much closer to me as a person, so that was easier for me to sort of do. And Zoom was so different for me, and it was very scary.”

Sears concluded by saying “So, it’s a long answer to say I knew it was coming. I was kind of hoping it wasn’t, but once it did, it was a great thrill. It was awesome.”