Geekville Radio #273

Geekville Radio #273

SPOILER ALERT – WandaVision had a HUGE reveal this week. Plus Deadpool 3 is happening, as is a Wakanda TV series. In DC news, images have teased Joker in The Snyder Cut, and all the Arrowverse shows have been renewed

Continue reading Geekville Radio #273

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.”

Kevin Conroy On Being In Crisis On Infinite Earths

It’s no secret that this year’s CW “Arrowverse” crossover event, Crisis On Infinite Earths, will feature multiple versions of iconic DC superheroes. Among them will be an older Bruce Wayne, who will be played by veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy.

Conroy took part in several panels during Wizard World Chicago. One panel, which also featured Lois and Clark actor Dean Cain, asked the inevitable question about what this Bruce Wayne will be like.

“Well, I can’t tell you anything because I don’t know anything,” Conroy began “I just know that it’s an older version of Bruce Wayne. I haven’t seen the script. I haven’t seen any sketches, so I don’t know. But I am doing it.

“I think they [the producers] are nervous about actors releasing information,” he speculated.

“Who would you tell?” joked Cain, motioning to the audience.

“They won’t let us see scripts,” Conroy continued, “I honestly don’t know what it’s going to involve.”

One member of the audience asked what it was like to finally be playing Batman in a live-action project.

“I don’t know, it’s a little intimidating,” Conroy began. “I started out in theater in New York, you know. And then I did on-camera television work, and then I sort of stumbled into voice work. Batman was the first animated character I ever auditioned for, and that was in ’91.”

“How’d it go?” joked one audience member, which got a laugh from the crowd.

“But I haven’t done anything on camera… anything really since the late 90s. So a little intimidating. I don’t know what it’s going to be like, to be honest with you. I’ll just approach it like I do any other character. As an acting job.”

Later, when asked about Batman Beyond, in which he voiced an aging Bruce Wayne, Conroy did mention he suspects that he’ll be playing something similar to that version.

“Again, I don’t know because I haven’t seen the script, but I kind of suspect, from what they’re talking about me doing in this, it’s going to be very much like the older Bruce Wayne that I did in Batman Beyond. I think that’s the concept of what the character is going to be, but I don’t know.”

Crisis on Infinite Earths will air on The CW this winter, beginning with the December 8th episode of Supergirl.

Geekville Radio #242: Obi-Wan Is Back!

Geekville Radio #242: Obi-Wan Is Back, Snake-Eyes Movie, Crisis On Infinite Earths

Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Back (0:00)

After literally YEARS of rumors, Star Wars fans have confirmation that Ewan McGregor will finally be reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for Disney+. Disney will likely make its official announcement at the upcoming D23 Expo.

Other rumors persist that McGregor will not only star in the yet-untitled series, but will also direct a few episodes as well.

An Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off feature film has been rumored ever since the announcement of standalone Star Wars movies was made. However, the less than stellar performance of Solo played a factor in those projects getting put on hold.

The format change to a series could be an improvement, since a multiple episode format could lead to more in-depth adventures than a two-hour movie.

In addition to the Kenobi series, McGregor will be portraying the villain in two upcoming feature films, Doctor Sleep, and Birds Of Prey.

Snake-Eyes Movie (18:20)

Actor Henry Golding is rumored to be portraying Snake-Eyes in a spin-off film. This casting seemingly goes against the history of the popular GI Joe Character. In the franchise lore, Snake-Eyes was the lone American student in the Arashikage Clan and did not have Asian heritage.

That said, like with so many other remakes and rebrandings, the original lore is still there. It won’t get erased from existence if a retelling of Snake-Eyes happens.

Crisis On Infinite Earths Update (34:30)

The Arrowverse crossover Crisis On Infinite Earths continues to get more epic and amazing.

Airdates will be Supergirl 12/8, Batwoman 12/9, Flash 12/10. Then Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow on 1/14. So that’s five episodes in two parts, meaning it will also double as the mid-season cliffhanger.

Here is the list of guest characters we know

Rumors persist that another Arrowverse show may be added in the 2020/2021 season. While nothing has been confirmed, there are several rumors.

  • Titans has Berlanti’s name on it but takes advantage of DC Universe’s uncensored format and has a TV-MA rating.
  • Booster Gold has been rumored for years.

Geekville Radio #241: San Diego Comic-Con News

Geekville Radio #241: SDCC News

In our previous episode, we discussed the revelations for Marvel’s Phase Four of The MCU. Here we talk a lot of the other news coming out of The Mecca Of Geekery that is San Diego Comic-Con!

Each trailer is listed below with the appropriate timestamp in the show discussion.

(3:45) Arrowverse and Crisis On Infinite Earths

Barry Allen’s death has been teased since the very first episode of The Flash

(25:15) Marvel’s “What If…?”

  • Animated series will air on Disney+
  • Stories from The Infinity Saga will be used
  • Many of The MCU actors will supply the voices
  • The first episode will depict Peggy Carter as Captain America

(29:30) The Witcher

  • This is the project that prevented Henry Cavill from a cameo in Shazam

(33:15) Watchmen HBO Series

  • It is not another adaption of the movie or classic comic
  • It will be an original story set in the same world

(39:20) Top Gun: Maverick

  • The trailer was a surprise presentation
  • Tom Cruise’s Maverick will be the main character, not a cameo
  • It may be a biography or life story of Maverick

(43:20) Terminator: Dark Fate

  • James Cameron is involved again
  • It looks like it ignores all other movies except the first two
  • It may be right before the rise of Skynet

(47:45) Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance

  • Much of the series will utilize puppetry instead of CGI

(50:30) Jay And Silent Bob Reboot

  • A sequel to Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
  • Looks to lampoon the constant reboots in Hollywood
  • Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee and a lot of the other regulars

(55:30) Star Trek: Picard

  • Unlike Discovery, this looks like it is almost universally praised
  • Depicts Picard as he was in the final TNG Episode
  • Also shows Data and Seven Of Nine

We recently got reviewed by Dave Jackson’s Podcast Rodeo Show. Thanks for the kind words!

Tom Welling as Batman in the Arrowverse?

Robert Pattinson will be playing Batman in future big screen Justice League films, but another fellow teenage heartthrob may be headed to TV for the same role.

Tom Welling recently appeared on Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside Of You. In the interview, he stated that he would be open to playing The Caped Crusader in The CW’s family of Arrowverse shows.

Welling, who is best known for portraying a young Clark Kent/Superman in the long-running show Smallville, had communication with Arrow showrunners earlier this year. He is reportedly appearing in Arrow’s final season in some capacity.

It is worth noting there is no official confirmation on what Welling’s role is as of yet. However, the show has an October start date. Whether the Dark Knight talk was a teaser or just a throwaway statement, will be known soon. If it does happen, it would make Welling the first actor to portray both Batman and Superman in live action productions.

Geekville Radio #213: 10/26/2018

This episode of Geekville Radio is dedicated to the memory of Gary Kurtz. Who, with the exception of George Lucas himself, may be the man most responsible for Star Wars getting made.

RIP Gary Kurtz

He will obviously best known for Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, but he did have other titles to his credit. He also produced George’s first big hit, 1973’s American Graffiti, along with 1989’s Slipstream starring Mark Hamill and the late great Bill Paxton.

RIP Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson is probably best known to the current generation as Hershel in The Walking Dead. He was a regular series cast member in the first couple seasons. He also voiced Hershel for video game releases, and Robot Chicken. Hs career dates back to the mid 1960’s, and his first credited role according to IMDB is the original In The Heat Of The Night

Both Iron Fist and Luke Cage have been canceled by Netlfix

While it may not be surprising just for Iron Fist, fans were a little shocked at the cancellation of both Iron Fist and Luke Cage by Netflix. Both shows were well received, with Iron Fist almost universally praised as being a huge improvement over the first season. Especially when it comes to Finn Jones and fight choreography.

The big question is “Why both shows?”. Seth and Train can really only speculate, but there are a few possible reasons. Could this mean a Heroes For Hire show? Or even a Daughters Of The Dragon? And if so would it be for Netflix or Disney? Is it in either Netflix’s or Disney’s best interests to keep shows on Netflix, and not move them to Disney’s streaming service? And if they are Disney bound, than theoretically they could cross over with Agents Of SHIELD, another show that is rumored to move to Disney either next year or the year after.

On a side note, Seth and Train point out how Luke Cage can be considered the ‘White Meat Babyface” of the Netflix Marvel programming.

Kathleen Kennedy’s contract with LucasFilm has been renewed

Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Kathleen Kennedy will remain the president of Lucasfilm for at least three more years. There were rumors on other podcasts that she was on the chopping block and Disney was scrambling to find a replacement. That looks to not have been the case.

The only Star Wars movie currently in production is Episode IX. It will be the final “Episode”, and it will be marketed as such. There will be the aforementioned films by Game Of Thrones creators. Plus the Rian Johnson trilogy is still in development. So there will be no shortage of Star Wars on the big screen, despite the reported dialing back on films

One title that is absent from this list is the rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi film. We had reported a few months back that the film was set to begin filming in Ireland after Episode IX had wrapped. Just because that movie wasn’t mentioned, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is dead in the water.

When you look at the past films under her watch, several films did have some bumps along the way.

  • Rogue One went through a direction change, with Tony Gilroy taking over to adjust what Gareth Edwards had done. However Edwards maintained Director credit.
  • Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were outright fired from Solo and Ron Howard was hired to almost completely re-shoot the film. When you factor that in, it’s amazing it still made its release deadline.
  • Colin Trevorrow left Episode IX and got replaced by JJ

It seems the only movies that DIDN’T have troubles were with Abrams and Johnson.

Jon Favreau’s Series

In other Star Wars news, Jon Favreau’s series The Mandalorian has begun filming. It of course will be one of the flagship shows on Disney’s upcoming streaming service, now called Disney Play.

While no cast or characters have been announced, the premise will be a few years after Return of The Jedi, but well before The Force Awakens. There will be no First Order as of yet.

Budget for the first season is rumored to be at $100 million dollars. However, no specific number of episodes have been confirmed. But for what it’s worth there is a picture confirming George Lucas himself visiting the set.

Kevin Feige will oversee X-Men movies

On the subject of Disney, Hollywood Reporter has also stated Kevin Feige will be overseeing future X-Men movies with the Disney purchase of Fox. Disney’s Bob Iger gave some key answers to questions about Fox-owned properties in the MCU

I think it only makes sense,” Iger said. “I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.

When asked about talent

Very good question. We’re going to take the best people from both companies and that’s who’s gonna basically be on the playing field for us. Meaning, talent will prevail. Fox Searchlight is a great example. You look at FX, NatGeo. Yeah, you’re buying libraries and brands, but you’re also buying the people. I’m not gonna talk about specific people right now except to say that I’ve met with virtually the entire senior management team at Fox and I’m not only fully engaged with them on what the possibilities for them might be but I’m excited about the prospects.

It would stand to reason that many of the characters may get re-cast. As much as fans may want it, they probably shouldn’t hold their breath for an onscreen meeting between Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool.

The Next Spider-Man villain will be Mysterio

Jake Gyllenhaall was officially announced in the cast for Spider-Man Far From Home. He will be portraying Quentin Black, aka Mysterio. This will be the live-action film debut for the longtime Spider-Man villain. It’s also confirmed that Michael Keaton will be reprising the role of Adrian Toombs/Vulture. A leaked set photo shows Gyllenhaal in costume. Sadly, no “Fish Bowl Look”. At least not yet.

WB Crossover will be Elseworlds.

The annual CW “Flarrowverse” crossover will be titled Elseworlds. Entertainment Weekly reports that it will be a three part crossover, not the previous four part.

The Flash will kick it off on Sunday, which will be followed up by Arrow on Monday, and wrapped up with Supergirl  on Tuesday. This breaks the previous pattern of Supergirl having the first part in the last two years.

While there will be no regular involvement with the Legends Of Tomorrow cast, it has been revealed that Superman will join in, and Lois Lane will make her debut.

In an unexpected turn, an official internet poster showed Stephen Amell in the Flash costume, and Grant Gustin in the Green Arrow threads.

Also notable is the name Nora Fries in the cast of characters. Nora is of course the ill-fated wife of Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze. When you factor that this will also serve as the introduction to Batwoman, it may be an indicator to the premise of the Batwoman series.

Supergirl made a regular habit of taking lesser known villains from Superman lore, and adapting classic Superman stories to fit The Girl Of Steel. Could this mean we’ll see some Batman villains on the small screen for Batwoman? Time will tell.

Finally, Train talks the major news surrounding the release of the long anticipated Read Dead Redemption 2. IGN gave the game a perfect 10 score. An act that is incredibly rare.

Are you in the Halloween spirit yet? If you need anything to scratch your Halloween itch, check out the latest episode of Examining The Dead. Train reviews the movie Train To Busan, and talk the outcome of the Friday The 13th lawsuit. And of course, Dan Wilson talks his new horror themed production company One Good  Scare.

Crazy Train’s Halloween playlist is available on Spotify

Have any thoughts on these subjects? sound off below!

Geekville Radio: Super Bowl Commercials And More

The biggest sporting event of the year is in the history books, as are the many commercials that air specifically during the game. Seth and Crazy Train go over five trailers in particular that caught their eye, all listed here for your convenience.


Logan


Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2


Stranger Things 2


Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales


Transformers: The Last Knight

In TV News, The Arrowverse may be getting bigger as CW is reportedly in talks for a Black Lightning show produced by Greg Berlanti.

“This is a swift turnaround for the project, which was shopped to other networks by Warner Bros. TV immediately after Fox opted not to go to pilot, with the CW emerging as the likely new home. I hear Fox brass ultimately decided that the superhero show was not a good fit into its already crowded genre drama space that includes the DC/WBTV series Gotham and Lucifer, Seth MacFarlane’s upcoming space dramedy, and two pilots: the X-Men-themed drama written by Matt Nix and The Passage; all are from 20th TV.”

Also on CW and produced by Berlanti, Riverdale had debuted and is pulling decent numbers.

On the review front, Seth and Train review the NBC sitcom Powerless with differing views. The show had modest numbers, so will it stick around? Especially since the show we got is not the show originally filmed.

“Unlike the episode that aired last night, this version of Powerless was undeniably cute. The story focused on a group of insurance agents who sincerely wanted nothing more than to help troubled people — the result of living in a city where superheroes run rampant and cause unquantifiable levels of damage — get the money they deserve. The team dynamic was apparent, and the group of genuine, caring coworkers was juxtaposed against their new boss, a typical comic book villain who only cares about getting rich, making for a promising setting.”

Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD is back, and once again has hit the ground running. While numbers seem OK, the reception has been very good, averaging 8.5 out of 10 on IMDB. How has the LMD story played out so far? And has Jeffrey Mace won over Train and Seth with his backstory?

In the final segment, Train talks about Marvel’s diversity movement, and what it does for longtime fans. It’s a thought provoking discussion we’d like to hear your thoughts on.

All this and more in another fun-filled Geekville Radio!