Geekville Radio Presents Examining The Doctor: Shada
Examining the Doctor is back after two years, and we wanted to come back with a doozy of a show. This episode is devoted to the infamously incomplete story Shada from 1979. This was meant to be the final story for Season 17, but due to strikes and politics, production halted after a few days.
The BBC finally released a complete reconstructed version using animated sequences to fill the missing scenes. The result is a mashup of live action and animation that would only seem to fit in Doctor Who.
Join Mark and Seth as they bring their signature blend of knowledge and humor to arguably the most popular story to never get broadcast. Written by Douglas Adams, Shada stars Tom Baker as The Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana, and Christopher Meade as the villainous Skagra
Godzilla – Starting off with Big G himself, here are some nuggets placed throughout the film. Many of which go back to the original 1954 Gojira.
Leading into the third act, Godzilla is re-energized by a point-blank nuclear bomb planted by Dr. Serizawa. For a time, Godzilla has glowing red patches all over his body. This is a nod to 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destroyah, which saw Godzilla eventually reach meltdown status and… well… melt.
Godzilla’s Death in 1995’s Godzilla vs. Destroyah
Mothra – One monster that is almost always a heroic, Mothra is usually depicted as one of Earth’s guardians.
In the “Blink and you miss it” moment, Monarch does have a screen identifying her as “Mosera”, which is the original Japanese pronunciation.
Mothra is found in Outpost 61, a reference to 1961, which is the year the first Mothra movie was released.
Ziyi Zhang portrays two characters, Dr. Chen and Dr. Ling. Chen has an in-depth knowledge of Mothra and claims to have ancestors from the same island as the creature. As any Mothra fan knows, she usually has twin fairies, referred to as Shobijin (“little beauties”). They can communicate and translate monster language, as well as call on Mothra for help.
Mothra’s ever present singing twins
In the current movie, Mothra is blasted by King Ghidorah’s dragon breath, and her life essence revitalizes Godzilla. This helps Godzilla come back to finally defeat Ghidorah. A similar scene happens in 2001’s GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, only the roles of Godzilla and Ghidorah are reversed. Mothra revitalizes Ghidorah to take down an evil Godzilla.
Mothra resurrects Ghidorah in GMK (2001)
King Ghidorah – Ghidorah served as the main antagonist in the film. He is arguably Godzilla’s most powerful foe because it often takes multiple monsters working together to defeat him.
Monarch originally refers to Ghidorah as Monster Zero, a name that was given to him in the 1966 film Godzilla vs. Monster Zero.
In another scene reminiscent of GMK, Monarch finds Ghidorah frozen in ice, where he has presumably been for many years. This mirrors his discovery in GMK. In an unexpected twist, GMK marks the first and only time King Ghidorah played the role of a guardian monster.
During a fight, Godzilla bites off one of Ghidorah’s heads. In the post-credits sequence, the severed head is found and given to Jonah Alan. In 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, one of the opening scenes is the discovery of a severed Ghidorah head. That head was used to make Mecha-King Ghidorah, who fights Godzilla in the third act. That may not guarantee we get MKG, but it may lead to the three-headed monster’s return in a future sequel.
King Kong – Kong was introduced in 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, and will return next year in the aptly titled Godzilla vs. Kong
Kong himself is absent from this movie, though he is seen in some of the monitors in Monarch outposts.
Dr. Houston Brooks was a major character in the 2017 film played by Cory Hawkins. Veteran character actor Joe Morton portrays an older Dr. Brooks in this movie
Rodan – While he is clearly #4 in importance behind Godzilla, King Ghidorah, and Mothra, Rodan still has some memorable screen time in the film.
Rodan emerges from a volcano, much like he did in 1964’s Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster. A film which also saw him team with Godzilla and Mothra to take on King Ghidorah
The volcano is dubbed by Monarch as Outpost 56, a reference to the 1956 film Rodan.
Dr. Serizawa – Portrayed by Ken Watanabe, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa is one of the leading experts on Godzilla. His name is a combination of two people: Ishiro Honda and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa.
Ishiro Honda was the real-life director of several Godzilla films, including the original 1954 Gojira.
Dr. Daisuke Serizawa in the original film was a scientist who developed The Oxygen Destroyer, which was used to kill the original Godzilla.
The 1954 version saw Serizawa sacrifice himself with Godzilla’s destruction. He feared that as long as he was alive, there was a chance he could be forced to develop the weapon again.
In the current movie, the military already has a weapon called The Oxygen Destroyer, which it uses in an attempt to kill both Godzilla and King Ghidorah.
Like the original, this Dr. Serizawa also sacrifices himself. Only it is to heal Godzilla through a nuclear detonation.
Spiga – A giant spider that plays a minor part throughout the film bears a striking resemblance to Spiga/Kumonga, who first appeared in Son Of Godzilla.
Did you see any other easter eggs? Or hints at future films? Sound off below!
First up, 2011’s The Rite starring Anthony Hopkins and Colin O’Donoghue. It is inspired by a true story involving exorcism.
Also, the 2018 Halloween reboot, now available on home video.
Into The Crystal Ball (1:10:43)
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters is currently in theaters. Train, Greg, and Seth all give their recommended Godzilla movies if you need a prep for the new film. In a previous episode of Geekville Radio, Seth and Greg summarized every Godzilla movie made through Final Wars.
In this episode, which was recorded in 2013, we discuss almost every Godzilla movie ever made. Only the 2014 film and Shin Godzilla are left out, simply because they hadn’t been made yet at the time of recording.
Gojira (1954) Godzilla Raids Again (1955) King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) Ghidorah (1964) Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965) Ebirah, Horror Of The Deep/Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966) Son Of Godzilla (1967) Destroy All Monsters (1968) All Monsters Attach (1969) Godzilla vs. Hedorah/Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster (1971) Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975) The Return Of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985 (1984) Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993) Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995) Godzilla Millennium/Godzilla 2000 (1999) Godzilla vs. Megaguiras (2000) Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
Thankfully, most of the movies are readily, and legally, available for easy access. Syfy.com as made a list of every Godzilla movie ever made and where you can watch them.
Last month Disney held an investor’s conference where they unveiled their highly anticipated streaming service, Disney+. The presentation answered a lot of questions about what is in store for subscribers this coming Fall.
Pricing
Disney+
Starting Price will be $6.99 per month and will be ad-free
Annual price of $69.99
Hulu
$5.99 – Basic Plan will have ads
$11.99 – Ad-Free plan
$44.99 – Ad Free with Live TV
Hulu fans have been affectionately dubbed Hulugans
Programming
Between Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, Disney will have three popular but very different streaming services that can be subscribed to individually or in a package.
Disney+
All existing Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars films at launch
Falcon & Winter Soldier Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan confirmed to reprise their roles
WandaVison – Effectively Vision & The Scarlet Witch series
Loki – Tom Hiddleston will reprise as well
The Mandalorian – Created and written by Jon Favreau
Cassian Andor – Pre-Rogue One series
Obi-Wan – Rumored more heavily lately that it will be a a Disney+ series and not a movie.
Deadpool 3 – This would seem to be the most likely possibility.
Miniseries – Since Disney+ will be family friendly, the chances of “Hard R” content, such as the Deadpool movies, are pretty slim. However, Hulu has several TV-M series.
Spider-Man 3 – This might be the most entertaining option, even if the content is toned down for PG-13 content. While some fans question putting a mature audience in a PG-13 movie, there is precedent in the comics for this. Spider-Man and Deadpool already have an ongoing series.
Aladdin’s Opening Weekend
Disney’s latest live action adaption of an animated film opened to the tune of $122 million dollars. Compared to the previous Dumbo, it was more successful. The trend to adapt animated films to live-action will likely continue.
At this time, there is no confirmation of any connections to the trilogies from Rian Johnson or Game Of Thrones creators David Benoiff and Dan Weiss. The first Benoiff & Weiss film will be in December 2022
Pattinson has been no stranger to genre roles. He was rumored to be one of the finalists to replace Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man,
before the part was given to Andrew Garfield. He appeared alongside
current Spider-Man Tom Holland and Emperor Palpatine himself Ian
McDiarmid in The Lost City Of Z.
As we keep saying, actors act for directors, not necessarily for the audience. Similar reactions to Michael Keaton, Heath Ledger, and Ben Affleck have happened before, but their performances impressed audiences.
Looks like Bruce Wayne to me…
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After a long two year hiatus, Examining The Doctor is returning to the Geekville Radio airwaves. Join Mark and Seth as they hop back into their TARDISes to talk about every incarnation of everybody’s favorite Time Lord, The Doctor. Listen along as they give episode commendatry to all time favorite, and not so favorite, Doctor Who stories.
From William Hartnell to Jodie Whittaker, Examining The Doctor is there for Classic and Current Doctor Who fans alike.
To kick off Season Two, Examining The Doctor looks at the long lost, but recently released, Tom Baker story Shada from 1979.
The next story to be discussed on Examining The Doctor, 1979’s “Shada”
Geekville Radio #233: Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer
Sony released a second trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home, which gives a little more of the story. That means it’s time to examine every frame of it so we can lay out what everything means and then get mad if it turns out to be something different.
So queue up the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer and follow along!
From Bubble Boy to Supervillain. Jake Gyllenhaal as MysterioIs this a rib on Holland given his alleged history of leaking spoilers?A very sad looking PeterA tribute to Iron Man, presumably in the same sceneLooks like Happy Hogan is now Peter’s father figureI’m not crying, you’re cryingSpidey busting some well armed criminalsThe Iron Spider costume makes another appearanceSpidey evading gunfireIs that… IMPACT WEBBING?The classic costume is back!“You don’t ghost Nick Fury!” Plus, an added Absorbing Man referenceSo did MJ get snapped?Ned can’t catch a break sometimes. By the way, in the comics Ned Leeds is HobgoblinNick Fury returnsSpidey en route to a secret lairFury and Hill already know MysterioEarth Elemental? Or Absorbing Man?Will Maria Hill be around more often?Water Elemental? Or Hydro Man?Stealth Suit Spider-Man?Since he can’t use F-Bombs, will “Bitch, please!” be Fury’s catchphrase?Fire Elemental? Or Molten Man?Mysterio flying and fightingLooks like Mysterio is packing a huge punch, assuming it’s not a trick.Peter and Mysterio having a serious talkSooo, if it’s obvious that Peter is Spider-Man, why is MJ the only one that figured it out?Perhaps the Elementals are combining?At last, THE FISHBOWL Helmet!Look! Up in the sky! …Oops! Wrong franchise…Paging Captain Planet!Somebody’s bound to make a “London Bridge” jokePerhaps foreshadowing Mysterio’s villainous ways?Where’s the fishbowl?Tony’s Nanotech Glasses?A city decimatedIs this before, after or during the destruction in the previous pic?More Stark Tech for Spidey?Fury giving a stern talking to the “Black Ops” SpideyIron Man MemorialFire Elemental? Or Holocaust?Combat Suit Spidey swinging to safetyIt’s just not a Marvel film without some well placed comedy
Did we miss anything? Any other ideas? What did you think of this trailer?
Geekville Radio #232: Star Wars Day, Free Comic Book Day, RIP Peter Mayhew
May The Fourth Be With You
It’s May 4th, aka May The Fourth: Star Wars Day. For anybody new to the concept, that means it’s the Unofficial Star Wars Day. Unless you’re in California, where it became a recognized Star Wars Day.
RIP Peter Mayhew (1922-2019)
We can’t mention Star Wars Day without mentioning the sad news of Peter Mayhew’s passing. He of course portrayed Chewbacca in five Star Wars films, and in numerous TV appearances.
According to his IMDB page, he has almost a dozen credits as Chewbacca. If there was Chewbacca appearing in any sort of Star Wars event, chances are it was really Peter in the costume. If not, Peter would often be consulted on how Chewie should be portrayed.
He worked with the fan community up to the very end. He was originally set to appear this weekend at the Dallas Fan Expo. His booth had already been built. Rather than take the booth down, it was changed into a memorial where fans could sign a guest book to give their condolences. One of those “Faith in Humanity Restored” stories.
Lastly, here is the simple but entertaining story of Peter meeting George Lucas for the first time about Star Wars.
Peter Mayhew talks about meeting George Lucas for the first time
#Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy talked to us about the future of #StarWars – including a Knights of the Old Republic movie and female filmmakers taking the helm, as well as Palpatine’s surprise return in the trailer for @StarWars#EpisodeIXpic.twitter.com/HCjEhdlRv7
Kathleen Kennedy apparently confirming development on a KOTR feature film
Very little is known about what a Knights Of The Old Republic film would be about, or who is involved. Kennedy herself said she didn’t know what’s in store. Rian Johnson has publicly stated that he is not doing a KOTOR trilogy. It is well known that Game of Thrones creators David Benoiff and D.B. Weiss are developing their own trilogy as well. The presumably mystical setting for a KOTOR film (or trilogy) would seem to be a good fit.
I can only review two releases, since I could only get two of the titles I was hoping for.
Star Wars Adventures: Droid Hunters – Written by Cavan Scott with art by Derek Charm, Droid Hunters stars Han Solo and Chewbacca and a quest for treasure. The story definitely has that “Saturday Morning Cartoon” vibe to it, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s clearly geared for kids. Nobody dies, and nobody is terribly ruthless. Sure, there’s a double-cross that is fairly obvious, but it’s still enjoyable.
Spider-Man – This one had two stories. The first is by the Venom team of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. Eddie Brock is now Carnage, not Venom. Cletus Kasady is not only back, but he has the original Knull symbiote.
The other story is more of a standalone comedy by Saladin Ahmed and Tom Taylor, with art by Corey Smith and Jay Lester. Peter and Miles compare pizza and then take down Shocker… who also has opinions on pizza.
War Of The Realms
Finally, here is the update on War Of The Realms. A SPOILER ALERT has been pressed
The heroes are organizing Strike Force teams to retaliate against Malekith and his armies. There are currently at least two Strike Force.
Captain America, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Wolverine travel to Jotunheim, where they find a LOT of dead Frost Giants, and a certain one-armed Thunder God. It’s worth mentioning that Spidey, Cage, and Danny are all apparently worthy of wielding Asgard weaponry.
Another team, led by Freya herself, consists of Punisher, Ghost Rider, She-Hulk, and Blade. One of these things just doesn’t belong here. But they will be going to Svartalfheim, the home of the dark elves.
Note: When getting these comics, I didn’t see the upcoming War Avengers Strike Force team of Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Captain Britain, Weapon H, Winter Soldier, Venom, and Sif. So I didn’t touch on them during recording.
That’s it for War Of The Realms news. Is there anything I missed?
It has finally arrived. The climax of the entire MCU over the last 11 years and 20-something movies is here. Avengers Endgame broke the expected numbers, and unseated The Force Awakens as the #1 opening night of all time.
If you don’t want spoilers, STOP NOW! Go watch Avengers Endgame, and come back. Don’t worry, we can wait.
Still here? Or welcome back, depending on your course of action. Join Seth “Zandrax” Zillmann and “Crazy Train” Jonathan Bolick as the size up what predictions were right, and which weren’t.
What is the state of The MCU? Where do they go from here? Can characters killed off still return? And how does this stack up to the original story from the comics?
All these questions and more are answered in another fun-filled Geekville Radio!
