The latest Marvel MCU movie is here with Ant-Man And The Wasp. Seth and Crazy Train give a near 60 minute discussion (including SPOILERS) about the film, and where it fits in the Infinity War story. The review begins at about 25:30.
It’s one of the reasons we’ve expanded to three films a year, is so that we could do the sequels to films that people have responded to — because we love to make continuing stories with characters people have responded to — but also keep doing the stuff that nobody’s ever heard of, and people go, ‘Why are you doing that?’ That’s fun.
The mid Sixties had a plethora of independent and international sci-fi films. Just watch your typical episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 for evidence. One such cheesefest was 1964’s Attack From Space. Ardent Japanese sci-fi fans know that the film is actually a re-editing of two episodes of a sci-fi TV series called Super Giant, but here it is presented in how Americans saw it in B-Movie drive-ins.
Unless you’ve been living on Hoth for the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard about the poor performance of Solo at the box office. Rumors are now running rampant that future Star Wars spin-off movies may be shelved. Seth and Crazy Train look at the rumors and try to separate fact from fiction. Do we know the real story? How many movies does this consist of? And could they be adapted for other media instead? What about the TV show?
One of the reasons for the divisiveness in fans has been the depiction of Luke Skywalker. Is this what was planned during The Force Awakens? Or could Rian Johnson have taken a sudden left turn and change everything.
But wait, there’s more Star Wars news! Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams, had to cancel an appearance at the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo citing a filming schedule conflict. Could this add fuel to the speculation that he is Episode IX bound?
In Marvel movie news, Jared Leto has all but confirmed that he will be playing Morbius The Living Vampire in a future spin-off film. Will Spider-Man be part of the story?
Finally, the latest Marvel MCU movie opens this weekend. Get ready with our primer for Ant-Man And The Wasp with spoiler-free anticipation of where this movie fits with Infinity War.
All this and more in another fun-filled edition of Geekville Radio!
As an added bonus, Crazy Train made this special Spotify Playlist with an insanity theme.
Unless you’ve been living on Hoth for the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard about the poor performance of Solo at the box office. Rumors are now running rampant that future Star Wars spin-off movies may be shelved. Seth and Crazy Train look at the rumors and try to separate fact from fiction. Do we know the real story? How many movies does this consist of? And could they be adapted for other media instead? What about the TV show?
One of the reasons for the divisiveness in fans has been the depiction of Luke Skywalker. Is this what was planned during The Force Awakens? Or could Rian Johnson have taken a sudden left turn and change everything.
But wait, there’s more Star Wars news! Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams, had to cancel an appearance at the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo citing a filming schedule conflict. Could this add fuel to the speculation that he is Episode IX bound?
In Marvel movie news, Jared Leto has all but confirmed that he will be playing Morbius The Living Vampire in a future spin-off film. Will Spider-Man be part of the story?
Finally, the latest Marvel MCU movie opens this weekend. Get ready with our primer for Ant-Man And The Wasp with spoiler-free anticipation of where this movie fits with Infinity War.
All this and more in another fun-filled edition of Geekville Radio!
Superman captivated the world in the 1940s. Fleischer Studios, most famous for producing Popeye cartoons, made several Superman animated cartoons that were shown in theaters.
This entry, The Mad Scientist, has the style at its finest. Every frame was hand drawn back in the day. This was truly an animated cartoon.
What do you get when you cross Star Wars with one of its biggest inspirations, then mix in John-Boy and Banacek?
This week’s Sci-Fi Saturday looks at the Roger Corman classic (?) Battle Beyond The Stars. Released in the fall of 1980, just in time for Oscar Season, to a lukewarm reception both critically and monetarily. It tells the story of Shad (played by Richard Thomas of The Waltons fame) a young farmer who seeks the help of seven mercenaries to protect his home from an evil force bent on its oppressive plundering.
If you know your film history, you may be thinking this sounds suspiciously like The Seven Samurai. You would be right! But fear not, this is not a mere ripoff, but an adaption because Akira Kurosawa is actually given story credit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XkqXxzqY9s
When Star Wars quite literally changed the art of filmmaking, many ripoffs and wannabes were made in the following years. Producer Roger Corman, whose prolific works were usually made on miniscule budgets, decided to cash in on the craze. It was no secret that George Lucas was inspired by Akira Kurosawa. Screenwriter John Sayles looked to the Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai, which itself had been made into a western The Magnificent Seven two decades earlier. A young aspiring props and model maker names James Cameron was hired to help make the sets and ships. Another up and coming name was composer James Horner. You may have heard his music in several Star Trek films, and most James Cameron productions.
Allegedly, much of the film’s $2 million dollar budget went to the salaries of co-stars George Peppard and Robert Vaughn. Most of the other cast were TV or character actors, including a young pre-Newhart Julia Duffy and sex symbol Sybil Danning.
Surely I will be noticed for my warrior wisdom and fierce bravery
If you know Roger Corman, you know what to expect. If you don’t know, let’s just say you’ve probably seen some of his work on Mystery Science Theater 3000. In fact, this movie is probably ripe for a Rifftrax treatment. However, if you’re a fan of enjoyable, if a bit silly, B movies this one is worth picking up. Corman’s trademark use of young talent on the rise behind the scenes is probably why he was able to make so many profitable films on microscopic budgets.
Some people call me the Space Cowboy
In a trivial note, Peppard and Vaughn would later co-star together in the final season of The A-Team.
HEY KIDS! It’s Saturday! Time for another edition of Sci-Fi Saturday. Each week we will take a look at a certain possibly lesser-known piece of Sci-Fi lore. It could be a movie, TV show, book, video game, or even a specific character. The goal, as usual, is to educate and hopefully entertain.
This week, 1983’s ABC TV show Automan
In 1982, Disney released the groundbreaking film Tron. As with many innovations in entertainment, it inspired many similarities or “knock offs”. One such inspiration was the TV show Automan, which ran for only a half season on ABC. Premiering in December of 1983, it was in simple terms an inverse of Tron. Instead of a human entering the computer world like Jeff Bridges did, it was a computer creation existing in the real world.
Automan told the story of Walter Nebicher, who inexplicably was both a computer programmer and police officer. His best creation was Automan, a humanoid shaped hologram that could exist in the real world. Automan’s best tool was Cursor, which could create holographic objects such as vehicles and equipment. Kind of like a Green Lantern. Only Blue. And without a ring…
Chicks dig the car
In most cases, Automan and Walter would use a Cursor created car that resembled a Lamborghini Countach with neon lights. It would travel at ridiculous speeds with precision handling. Somehow the physics and G-Forces were nonexistent when inside the car, because anybody riding in the car seemed unaffected by high speed turns.
The car is also a helicopter
Cursor could also create flying vehicles such as helicopters and planes. Really, Cursor was the MacGuffin that could just make whatever was needed for a cool scene.
When in danger, Automan could “combine” with Walter, essentially making himself into a forcefield forWalter’s protection. Automan and Walter would share conscience during this time, though it was unclear if this was any limit to how long this could be done.
Like most 80s action shows, episodes dwelled around crime fighting, solving murder plots, or exposing corruption. The villains were usually mere mortals, so it was difficult to truly believe the heroes were in peril when they had a device that could create anything. But hey, it was the 80s. Computers were a relatively new and exciting world that the average kid didn’t really understand yet. If you were able to suspend disbelief for the sake of sci-fi silliness, Automan was an enjoyable romp.
In DC Movie news, the working title for the second Wonder Woman movie is Wonder Woman 1984. Director Patty Jenkins tweeted this photo showing Chris Pine on the set as Steve Trevor. Could this be a decendant of the original, a la Lyle Waggoner in the TV series? Or could something more sinister be at work? And what of Lynda Carter herself?
E3 FALLOUT
The second part of the show is dedicated to news Seth and Train found interesting from E3. This is of course not an exhaustive or comprehensive list. We do recommend checking out our sister podcast You Just Got Fragged for a more in depth look at E3.
Square Enix (Seth)
Perhaps the biggest Square Enix news is the official trailers and gameplay footage for Kingdom Hearts III. Clearly we see the addition of characters from Frozen, Incredibles, and Toy Story. Could we be seeing Marvel or Star Wars characters at some point? And what’s with a version costing over 200 bucks?
Also featured prominently was the Shadow Of The Tomb Raider trailer, which showed some very Batman Arkham style gameplay.
Seth also showed interest in the Dragon Quest XI game since he loved the NES games so much back in the day
The Initiative, Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games have all been acquired by Microsoft.
Fallout 76 E3 trailer showed the multi-player gameplay, to which Train and Seth both lament the potential aggravations from a primarily multi-player format.
