what is up everybody and
welcome to the united
states department of nerds
where we are for the people
by the people and of the
people this is your
chairman speaking and today
I have my very special
guest who says the fall of
the short king has ended
and short king winter is
coming amanda rivas from
the pop break how are you doing today
Oh, I'm great.
I'm great.
It is.
It's short King winter now,
and I'm here for it.
And I'm happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
It's always a blast being here with you.
We always enjoy having you on.
Now let's play this wonderful intro.
It's possibly the best in podcasting.
Let's get after it.
Yeah.
Thanks for watching!
All right.
Amanda, what have you been up to lately?
I know you have had a busy
summer and fall.
Yeah, it's been busy podcasting front.
You know, we're, of course,
covering various topics of
socially distanced weekly.
And then, of course, hey, Kelvin.
And of course, we've been busy.
That's my brother.
That's my brother right there.
So great.
Of course,
we've we've been busy on Anime
Pop as well.
So lots going on the podcasting front.
Lots going on on the cosplay front.
Oh, my gosh.
I feel like I know I've I've
been watching your
adventures and y'all just did.
What was it?
Nostalgia Con.
And I've seen Brandon Rassel
in full cosplay, which was amazing.
Yes, yes.
He enjoys it.
That's like his element.
It's a whole different level
when he's in cosplay wrestling.
So we had a great time.
We met a lot of different voice actors.
I think one of the
highlights was having Brian
Denevan and Skip Stellaract,
who were Mike Guy and Rock Lee and Naruto,
jump in.
Yeah.
uh their match and that was
completely unplanned that
was awesome that was that
was amazing so we
appreciate them so so much
um they're great people and
we had a we had a blast and
we debuted new cosplays I
noticed those were awesome
thank you yeah so busy on
the cosplay front uh we're
planning for next year
we're trying to get
organized in fact oh good
luck with that yeah yeah
I'm looking around me right
now and I'm like,
we got a lot of storage in.
So we're working on all of those.
But of course, he's been busy wrestling.
He's got, I think,
at least another show for
the end of the year for
Hybrid School of Wrestling.
So that's December twenty first.
So he'll be wrestling and
living his emo best life.
So we're breaking back out
the flocking emo, huh?
Oh, that's his.
That's him.
That is all him.
People ask me, like,
is that I'm like the emo
kid in him is real.
He is the elder emo.
That is all him.
That is so awesome.
Yeah, yeah.
But what about you, my friend?
How have you been?
I've been good.
Busy with work.
Busy with this.
I'm still continuing my USD
in shorts weekly on Comic Book Day.
I recently did my first ever...
How do I describe it?
I was asked to review a
comic book on Kickstarter
that hasn't come out yet.
Nice.
So the writer sent me all
the press details.
He sent me the journalist
copy of the comic book.
So I got to do a nice little
blurb over on Blue Sky that
I shared over onto all my
other platforms as well.
And I'm really excited for this book.
It's called The Cryos.
And if you're a fan of
eighties punk rock and HG
Wells stories and Matt's headroom,
then it's going to be a
cool comic book for y'all
to pick up when it comes out.
Yeah, I love that you're doing the shorts.
Honestly, we're really fine.
They really are.
And they're very helpful.
Because I know for me, I, you know,
I've come in and out of the
world of comics.
And it's really nice to get
somebody that I trust.
That's like, you know, like,
I appreciate you talking to Bill.
So other friends that are
into comics that it's like,
you guys give recommendations.
And it's like, okay, like,
I know it's a good, you know,
it's a good choice.
You're doing the shorts.
I'll be doing a blurb with
Bill on my comic book for
twenty twenty four here soon.
I'm just waiting for him to
shoot me the details on that.
So I'll be getting that
written up and over to him here soon,
as soon as I get more details on it.
So I'm excited to do that.
I'm excited.
He asked.
So, I mean, that tells me that he,
he trusts me to put
something out there for him
that he will enjoy and
everybody will enjoy over
at the pop break.
So I'm excited to do that.
Thank you for doing that for us.
So I always enjoy it.
That's to me, you know,
talking comic books and
comic book characters of,
I've always enjoyed.
And I enjoy it even more now
that I'm collecting again
and reading them again.
So I owe it all to my daughter.
It's her fault that I'm back
into comic books and doing
that fun stuff.
But that's going to pay off
for what we're talking about.
It really is.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
To take a walk?
I'm ready.
All right, listen.
I think I know where we're going,
but you're going to.
Oh,
we're going down the witch's road today
for at least a little bit.
So let's jump into it.
Let's hit Agatha all along.
And I thought we'll start with the cast.
I really liked this cast and
they chose for this.
And see Debra Jo, Miss Hart.
Yes.
Watching her in that
nineties show being Miss
Red Foreman again was amazing.
I love her anytime she shows
up because we know we're
going to get almost the
same identical character again.
but she plays it differently
every single time.
She does.
She adds a little nuance and
a little spin to it that you're just,
you just enjoy her.
She's awesome.
I was so sad when they
canceled that nineties show.
Like I was really enjoying it.
Cause I was a big fan of
that seventies show.
And then when they said, Oh yeah,
we're going to get rid of
that nineties show.
We're counseling it.
I'm like,
But not to totally tangent here,
they are bringing back
Malcolm in the Middle.
Did you see that?
I did see that.
And I need to make my post
on it because I'm excited about that,
too.
I don't know if the other
two brothers from Malcolm
in the Middle are going to
be joining the cast.
They're bringing all the
original cast back.
Well, I thought there was one,
the youngest one,
who said he would never do
the show again.
We'll find out.
I'm not sure.
I mean, I would love to see them all back.
Maybe if they're bringing
Malcolm in the middle back,
maybe that nineties show will be back.
Maybe instead of that nineties,
it'll be that two thousands.
Who knows?
That would be cool too.
Yeah.
I mean, I've seen them both.
So we'll see.
So, and then we had Catherine Han,
of course, reprising her role as Agatha,
who I'm such a big fan of
Catherine Han since step
bros like that to me,
she cemented herself for me.
And she's like, well,
She's not that average Hollywood,
like she's not this knockout gorgeous,
you know,
person that we see in Hollywood.
She's, she's the girl next door, you know?
And you're like, man,
she sells comedy so well.
She does.
Her physical comedy.
You don't really see a lot
of physical comedy, I feel like, anymore.
To me, she reminds me a lot.
I grew up – I'm a big I Love Lucy fan.
Yes.
I'm a Lucille Ball fan.
And she has that same –
energy and the moment you
said physical comedy out my
head immediately went to to
I love lucy yeah you know
we owe you know everything
to because she basically
gave us the sci-fi genre
she did with when she gave
us star trek and greenlit
it herself and paid for it herself yeah
And you don't see that kind
of physical comedy from a
lot of female comedians.
You don't.
And so Catherine Hahn is very,
very refreshing.
I love her in Parks and Rec.
She was just a scene stealer.
Parks and Rec is so good.
That's one of my go-to shows.
Same.
So I will go to Parks and
Rec before I'll watch The Office.
Yeah,
there's just a thing about Parks and Rec.
I enjoy The Office,
but I feel like I enjoyed
the early-mid parts of The
Office before the cast
changes and all of that.
The latter seasons,
I didn't care for too much.
It's one of those I stuck
with because I'm like, well,
I've watched this far.
Yeah, you're committed at that point.
Yeah, and then Parks and Rec, though,
consistently good across the board.
Just consistently great.
Catherine Hahn just showing up.
Again, she stole the show.
I would love to be her best friend.
She's just that level of awesome.
And she was a perfect fit for Agatha.
She was.
And she fit the character,
the comic book version of
the character to a T. Who, by the way,
she first made her appearance in,
what was it?
Issue ninety four of the
Fantastic Four in October
of nineteen sixty nine.
She was invented by Stanley
and Jack Kirby.
And she was an ally of
Marvel's first family.
And she was the nanny to
Reed Richards and Sue Storm's son,
Franklin.
That is where she got her start,
which is really cool.
She's been out that long.
And oh, by the way,
she's the first and only
character to get a Marvel
TV show who doesn't have
her own standalone comic book.
that I did not know really
no standalone she has no
standalone comic book huh I
think she does now because
they did a uh run of agatha
all along okay comic book
but nonetheless before the
tv show like nobody did
anybody really know before
wandavision who she was
No,
unless you read Fantastic Four or some
of the other, you know.
And that's issue ninety four
that came out in nineteen sixty nine.
The odds.
Well,
I'm sure there's some people that
still have that comic book laying around,
but the odds of them
actually reading it still are slim.
So.
Wow.
I had no idea.
So no preexisting minus.
I mean, you know,
we had now you mentioned the long comic,
which I don't really it's
like an adaptation.
I feel like I'm like, yeah,
but I get the pure I get the story.
There's nothing.
Nothing exists.
I did not know that.
I am today years old learning that.
Which to me is cool that
Marvel put together a show
based on a character who
really didn't have a backstory,
who didn't really have
you know,
a lot to go on and they created
the backstory for her,
which was written and done beautifully.
I love the way they did it
as they told the story
throughout each episode of her past.
Yes.
And I was like, and then we had that,
what was it?
I think it was episode three
where we had that initial
flashback scene.
Yeah.
I can't remember if it was,
it was like three or four or four.
Yeah.
And that was,
that was probably the best
flashback scene I had ever seen.
And we've gotten some good ones in Marvel,
but that one,
I'm not sure who actually
wrote that episode,
but that was the best
flashback I had seen in Marvel.
So kudos to that team over
there that wrote this,
because this show showed
that you can do a Marvel
show on a smaller,
insignificant character as she may be.
Yeah.
Oh, that the finale episode.
I know we'll get there,
but just even the extra
fleshed out backstory.
Yes.
Was, I mean, I,
I completely agree with
everything you're saying.
I mean, just,
just to take someone that is
a relatively minor
character in the franchise
and then you give them this
incredibly rich backstory,
moving backstory.
Yeah.
I had my kudos to yours.
Good chairman.
Appreciate it.
And, you know,
this show immediately pits
up where WandaVision left
off and just kind of keeps
going with the flow of things.
And I thought that was just
really cool the way they
did it because she's still
stuck in the WandaVision
bubble herself when all the
neighbors are out of it.
But Agatha herself is not.
She's still stuck.
Like she's basically still a
squatter in somebody's home.
Yeah.
So I enjoyed the true detective.
I did too.
Like I really enjoyed the
way they opened it up.
And I was just like, man,
if the whole thing is like this, because,
you know,
she comes out of it at the end
of the episode with an
Aubrey Plaza meets her appearance,
which I thought, well, I don't actually,
I want to save Aubrey.
Let's talk about Joe Locke
who played Wiccan.
Another character choice
that I've never heard of this kid.
Never heard of him.
He may be like a twenty something.
I don't know.
But he did such an excellent job.
And even his backstory in
this show was done very well.
It's not like the comic book,
but it was done so well
that it didn't bother you.
And I'm still applauding the writers.
I'm probably going to do
that the entire time we
talk about this because it
was a very well written show.
Well,
and I have to give props to the
costume department too,
because I loved his look.
Like just the, especially when he goes.
Yeah.
Well,
like even the little crown that
mirrors Wanda is like.
That was actually done as a
homage to his mom.
Yes.
To the original Wiccan in the comic book.
Yes, I loved the colors.
I loved the look.
It was such a really well put together,
beautiful aesthetic.
And realizing how strong he
actually was without
realizing how strong he
actually was was great storytelling.
The entire Witch's Road isn't even real.
He made that in his own mind
and put all the other coven
witches in it.
Which is phenomenal.
That's up there with his
mom's level of power.
I think even in ways
potentially could surpass Wanda's power.
Yeah.
Because if you're creating new realities,
if you will, and you're with your powers.
He didn't even know.
No.
I mean, at least when Wanda did it,
she kind of knew she was
off her rocker again and
she knew what she was doing.
and he didn't even realize
he had the ability.
I mean,
I think he kind of knew that he had
a power,
but I don't think he realized he
had it to that extent.
And that's him right now
being able to do a power
that technically in her
prime she's doing is the
way I'm looking at it.
And that whole ability when
you're just a teenager to
do exactly what your mom
does and then a little bit more,
Yep.
I'm like, wow,
how much more powerful is
Wiccan going to be?
And then that's not even
including his dad's abilities.
Yes.
As well.
So I'm like,
how much more powerful is
Wiccan going to be?
He's definitely nerfed in
the show in the beginning,
but I don't mind it because
it was done so well, you know?
And it made you care about him.
It really did.
As a character.
And so when his story hit,
Joe Lockman knocked it out of the park.
He did.
It's absolutely amazing.
Adored him, adored him.
And I love the chemistry he
has with Catherine Han,
their ability to play off each other,
his comedic timing and
pulling everybody together
and being able to interplay
with a lot of these,
these very famous actresses
who are known for their comedic timing.
Just he fit in beautifully.
So let's talk about these other,
the other coven witches.
We had a Sashir Zamata play
in Jennifer Kell.
Allie Ann, who is a fantastic stand-up,
playing Alice Wu Gulliver,
whose mom wrote the song.
And then we had, of course,
Patti LuPone playing Lillian,
who was their... I forgot what she was.
She was a psychic in the TV series.
You get to see glimpses of the future.
Yeah,
and then Aubrey Plaza playing Rio Vidal,
a.k.a.
Death.
But
I like how when they were
doing the flashback scene,
how we seen how all of
these people intertwined
with each other to begin with.
Yes.
I thought that was brilliant.
When we got to Wiccan's backstory,
if you will, and how everybody Yeah,
how everyone interplayed like, here's,
here's how he saw.
Here's how he saw this
person or this person and this person,
and they're all here together.
And it's the witch coven
castings were perfect.
Yep.
And here's another cool thing.
Jennifer Kell is one of the
ghost writers cousin.
Oh, you're good.
I'm surprised mine isn't
doing the same thing.
Somebody's at my, like probably, buddy,
come on.
He just wanted to make his
presence known and just
apologize for a little earlier, I'm sure.
He's good.
He's just doing what he does.
Yeah.
But so I'm waiting to see,
because they've already
said that Jennifer Kell's character,
or Shira Zamata's Jennifer
Kell will show up later on
in a ghost writer, you know,
type of role or movie.
or series,
whatever they have planned for
Ghost Rider.
And I know Patty Lupin just
got nominated for an award
for a Best Supporting Actress,
which was really cool to
see that the show was
getting so much love during award season.
I don't know if they won anything,
but it was cool to see a
relatively unknown
character so well written
that it is getting
nominated and the
characters in it are
getting nominated for awards.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm trying to think of,
I have to go look at who
else is nominated in the
different categories.
Cause I'm wondering if
they'll pick up something
like special effects or may, you know,
costume.
Like I could see something
along those lines, although I hope that,
you know,
it would be lovely to see
somebody from the show actually win.
Oh, I agree.
I agree.
They all did a great job.
Their special effects team,
especially the practical
effects when it came time
to make death and Aubrey Plaza, uh,
And how they evolved her
character per episode,
slowly revealing who she was.
And I was like, when she cut,
like in the one scene where
they're on the witch's road
and she cut the fabric of
time and just walked through it.
I'm like,
there's very few characters that
could do that.
So at that point in my head, I'm like,
she's got to be one of two
characters that could do that.
And one of them is death.
Because death is everywhere all at once.
Yes.
And I'm like, if she ends up being death,
I'm probably going to lose my mind.
And I, sure enough, I lost it.
I was just like, oh my God, yes,
we have death in the MCU.
She's a perfect choice.
She really was.
Her quirky character,
she pulled very much from
her character on Parks and Rec.
She had little sprinkles of
her character from Parks
and Rec with how she was
always very grim and very,
I don't want to say emo, but very emo.
Yeah.
Well,
I feel like even some of the humor
she injected was very April Ludgate style,
and I was here for it.
But I loved her costumes,
her look throughout the show.
Her evolution was magic.
Yes, yes.
But I have to go back to
Patti LuPone for a minute
because her backstory,
and I love that they did
this for The Witch's Road.
I know we'll talk about it, but...
Her backstory and the way
her story completed was so
beautifully done.
It really was.
And I, her,
her own flashbacks and then
finally her demise
ultimately in being back
where she kind of wanted to
be and to reset herself with her.
I think it was her grandmother.
That she had to flashbacks with?
I don't know if that was her grandma.
Definitely her teacher.
Yeah.
But yes, I guess her coven leader,
I would suppose.
Yeah, her mentor, whoever it was.
But that to me was like,
I hated to see her go
because it was heartbreaking.
But they did it so well.
Do you think she's actually dead though?
Because remember,
she can hop in and out through time.
It's Marvel.
Nobody's ever actually dead.
They're telling us she hops
inadvertently in and out
through time in different timelines.
I think she was discovering
new powers as we went.
Beautifully acted by Patti LuPone.
You had to have her sing.
I loved how each
little trial during the
witch's road was something
just a little different my
favorite one was probably
the band oh I loved that
one I was here for the
seventies vibe right off
the bat that was right up
my alley did I want to take
like audrey plaza's or
aubrey plaza's wardrobe yes
I did everybody did oh dude everybody did
Somebody wants to make an appearance.
All the fur babies are like, hi.
We're here today.
He's like, I want to get to the other side,
but you're blocking my way, dude.
He's like,
you have a microphone and
everything else.
He's like,
you're talking about a band
episode in the seventies?
Here I am.
He randomly likes to show up.
I stopped him from giving
everybody a show of his starfish.
Yeah.
That's his favorite thing to do.
He'll say, hey, here's my starfish.
Everybody have a look.
And then he'll jump off and
go do his thing.
It's about right for cats.
Oh, yeah.
He's on par for being himself.
But what did you think of
how they did the Witch's
Road as each of the Witch's Trial?
I enjoyed it.
Like, it was... I like how, despite...
young wiccan here or teen as
he's known he doesn't know
what he's doing but he's
doing it perfectly and
helping everybody on the
way down the the witch's
road like his
subconsciously he's doing
these things and
subconsciously he's helping
each one of his friends
from the coven um work
through their own mental
or what it trial like each
trial is meant to help each
witch with their own
problem that they're
currently having or however
you want to say that right
and um it was done so well
like the way each one
represented a witch and
helped a different witch
with their own problems so
I I really enjoyed it and how about you
I did.
I enjoyed it.
I thought that was a really
great way to help you
connect to each of the
witches in the coven.
I love that it was tied to
the song lyrics and each journey.
And it was, it was really well done.
And I feel like for me,
I even like some of the
comedy that was injected.
Like I was cracking up with
Jennifer skincare.
Yes.
Like we need like petroleum
or something like just a person there.
She's like, I was like, it's just, yeah,
that was awesome.
She's like,
cause she was cursed and she
was cursed by, you know,
one of Catherine Han's old, you know,
somebody that she worked
for it previously in the
past who wanted to dull her powers.
So I like how everything
just came back to every little thing.
Like every detail around
this coven is interwoven to
such great detail in that
they were always interwoven
and just none of them never
knew it until they started
the walk down the witch's road.
so so well done so so well I
will keep going back to it
kudos to this writing team
and just this team in
general the actors the
actresses producers writers
directors what have you all
executed this show so well
so I can't say that enough so
Yeah.
What'd you think about the song itself?
So catchy.
I still find myself, you know, singing it.
And, uh,
it's actually why I named the
title of this episode down
the witch's road.
Cause it was just,
it's such a catchy thing.
And from here until eternity,
anytime you see down the witch's road,
you're immediately going to
sing the song.
Yes.
And I thought it was cool
what it actually
represented with Catherine Hans, uh,
Agatha and her son.
Yes.
And it was a fun,
quirky little song they
made up as they were
traveling along the old world.
So I thought that was really
cool that it wasn't meant
to be what it was.
It was just a fun song she
sung with her son as they traveled.
And I give kudos to all the
actresses and the actors
for singing the song.
I think I saw a clip.
I don't know if it was like
comicbook.com or something
where they showed like a
behind the scenes like of the actual,
you know,
all the actresses singing the
song themselves.
And I thought that was so.
I've seen that one.
Yes.
A little short on YouTube,
but it was originally done
by comicbook.com.
Yeah, and it was cool just seeing them.
That takes tremendous talent.
And it was so cool because
some of the behind-the-scenes type stuff,
this entire cast and crew
got along so well together.
You could tell they were
enjoying each other while they filmed.
So I thought that was really cool.
You don't see a lot of that
where you could tell where
they actually get along with each other.
And they're actually having
fun on the show.
It's not just, oh, we're here to do a job.
No,
they're having fun while they're doing
it.
So it was really cool to see that.
So here's one more for you.
Another little fun trivia.
And then we'll probably move
on to Creature Commandos after this,
unless you have something
else for Agatha.
But the exterior scenes of
Westview were filmed on
Blondie Street on Warner
Brothers Ranch before the
neighborhood was demolished.
The sit was previously used
for WandaVision.
And the house that Agatha
lived in should have looked
very familiar because it
was used on the TV series Bewitched.
I wondered.
It did look familiar,
especially when they're
having the fight inside.
I was like,
there's something about this house.
The old wood paneling gave it away.
Yes.
So I thought that was really cool.
That is really neat.
I didn't realize it was Bewitched.
I was like,
this looks familiar for some reason.
I was like...
it's either Bewitched or
Dick Van Dyke or one of those.
See, I thought maybe Dick Van Dyke.
I thought maybe that was like,
it's definitely a retro show,
like an older show, but I was like,
which one?
Or I Dream of Jeannie even, you know?
Yeah.
Because they were all around
that same time frame and I
was just like...
because my head was like
this house is very
seventies I'm like it has
I'm like I've seen this
before and then as I was
you know writing the
original episode for agatha
and I was like looking for
fun little fats for it I
was I come across that one
I was like oh that's
perfect and that's so cool
that it was bewitched yes
does it meet it we're
talking about witches so it it was like
Dude,
that's like the perfect... The way
everything's tied together
from the house.
There's some type of
callback and reference to everything.
Even on the opening and closing credits,
they had tie-ins to other shows.
And I'm just like, this was done so well.
Even some Wiccan...
actual practicing beliefs.
I'm not.
I've read into, obviously,
you look at stuff like horoscopes,
astrology, even some basic Wiccan things.
I have friends who have dove
into it more and they're
very interested in
witchcraft and how that all
comes together in the
history of witches and whatnot.
A lot of the information was
very accurate.
They did their homework.
They definitely did their homework.
I just wish somebody had
like scrunched their nose.
And then the little,
if somebody would have did the,
I dream of Jeannie thing, I would have,
I would have, I've been like, okay,
I've seen everything.
I'm like, this is perfect.
Now I can go ahead and dig my hole,
stick me in it.
I'm good to go.
So now that I know the houses be,
which I just really wanted
somebody to pull a Samantha
and do the little,
the little nose wiggle.
I can't do it.
I can't absolutely not.
But that is,
So overall, recommend, not recommend.
Would you go back and watch it again?
I definitely would recommend to people.
Now I find myself going, okay,
like I personally enjoyed it.
I loved it.
I,
now I think there's two camps of people
that there are people who
prefer the ground, ground level Marvel,
you know, kind of the more of the true,
like fighting Avengers or like, you know,
kind of was like the
daredevil coming out and all of that.
I think somebody who's more
ground level may have a
tougher time because
with the show even though
it's an excellent show I
think that that's that's
what I've heard when I've
talked to other people
about it um but I think
that people who enjoyed
wandavision and dr strange
and kind of the more
multiversal a little bit
more theoretical uh magical
elements of it are really
going to enjoy this show
for me those elements have
always been there they have
it's just yeah and you've
talked to some of the same
people I'm sure where it's like
I want my, my ground level Marvel.
I think if people are open to it,
if you're a ground level Marvel person,
be open to this because it is really,
really neat.
And you're going to see, yeah.
And Wiccan and Agatha,
you're going to see them again.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
I don't think we'll get a
Agatha season two, but I do think we'll,
we'll get a,
maybe a Wiccan season one
with Agatha helping him find his brother.
Because remember at the end,
he found his brother and he
shoved his soul into another body.
Yes.
See,
I'm thinking that we are going to get
so I would rewatch the show
to answer that question.
And I think that I feel like
we're going to see Wiccan
pop up in like a Young Avengers.
That would be awesome.
Now,
I think we're going to get cameos like
people are going to run
into Wiccan as he's doing
his search maybe here and there.
But I think we're going to
see full fleshed out what's
going on in Young Avengers.
I feel like they're setting up for it.
I do too, especially with,
I know they just announced
Hawkeye season two, not that long ago.
So I definitely see it.
And now that they've cast
Aubrey Plaza as death and
death has been around since
the beginning of Marvel,
like she's made appearances
in the older comic books.
She's always been there in the background.
And supposedly there were
cut scenes from other
Marvel movies that featured a
a death character that we
never saw because it was
cut for time in or what have you.
But now that it is Aubrey Plaza as death,
they can't cast nobody else's death.
Yeah.
It has to be Aubrey Plaza until, you know,
the end of Marvel or the end of Aubrey.
One or the other.
That's how it has to be now.
Well,
never say never because look at what
they're doing with proper townie.
Now, Chris Evans.
Yeah.
And I,
I wish when people would announce like,
hey, I'm done with Marvel.
Thank you for having me.
They would just stay done
because I don't know how I
really feel until I see
what version of Dr. Doom
we're going to get or what
version of Chris Evans
we're going to get.
Are we going to get Captain
Hydra Chris Evans?
Are we going to get an
alternate timeline Iron Man
where he became Dr. Doom?
So there's a lot of things
there that I'm not really.
I think we're getting the whole day.
I mean, that's possible too.
I kind of feel like they're
bringing back the original
Avengers to be like evil
versions of themselves and
to really psychologically
mess with everyone.
Like, can you imagine,
can you imagine Tom Holland,
Spider-Man like Dr. Doom
pulls off the mask and it's,
it's just dark.
Yeah.
No, I mean, I can see that too,
but we'll see.
I'm so far.
Never if they recast.
Yeah.
I mean,
I wouldn't be mad if they recast
these guys.
Cause I mean,
they couldn't play the parts forever.
Right.
But we'll see how it works out,
but you're ready to,
to talk task force M.
Are we ready to bump into
Task Force M on the road?
Because I'm ready.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm ready.
Let's jump over to Task Force M,
aka the Creature Commandos,
who I've been a fan.
big fan of the creature
commandos and like the just
in dc in general I'm a
bigger fan of like the
justice league dark okay
which some of these guys
have been a part of that
team in the past and like
the you know the magic more
the focus on like
The John Constantine's and
the Zatanna's and that kind of stuff.
That's always been my
favorite DC characters.
Not this Batman's and the
Superman's and that kind of stuff.
But these guys,
these odd bunch of people
that we have playing Task
Force M. I've always been a
bigger fan of these guys.
So for me,
this show is like a dream come true.
Yay!
So I was really excited when
they made this announcement,
and James Gunn was like,
because he tried to get
this show made before,
and DC shut him down.
So as soon as he became the head of DC,
he was like, hey,
I'm greenlighting my own
show that I pitched to you years ago.
So good on him.
He's like, oh,
I'll just become the head of
DC and do it myself.
So then that's what he did,
and this is the first part
of his chapter one of DC
that he's calling Gods and Monsters.
So this is the first installment of that.
And I'm ecstatic, to be fair.
I'm such a huge fan of these
types of comic book characters.
You're unlikely heroes, if you will.
So for me, I'm all about it.
And we got Viola Davis back
as Amanda Waller.
Anya Chalotra as Cersei,
which is another really
cool kind of bottom...
She's from the same world as Wonder Woman.
She's an Amazonian.
Yes, that's right.
She is an Amazonian.
I also remember the actress.
She's from The Witcher, isn't she?
She is.
I do like the magic connection.
I can guarantee you with it
being James Gunn,
that was done on purpose.
Yes.
then we got frank grillo who
has seen a resurgence of
his career in the past few
years which I'm always
happy to see I'm a big fan
of his um yeah he's playing
rick flag senior he's also
been basically that we've
we already know we're
getting a general rick flag
in a live action because
he's already he's signed on
to play rick flag in live
action he looks the part I
think he really does he's
And I like the fact that
they took the animated
version and made it very similar to him.
So when he does show up
later as the live-action Rick Flagg Sr.,
you're going to be like, oh, dude,
that's perfect.
He's at that perfect age right now, too,
where it makes a lot of
sense for him to be the Sr.
So then we have Indira Varma.
who is killing it as the
bride of Frankenstein.
Like I love episode two,
simply because they put
that focus on her and Eric Frankenstein.
Yes.
Her would be husband, AKA the Frankenstein,
wherever you want to call him.
He's at his actual name in DC is Eric.
Oh, that's right.
It is Eric.
And I love that they brought,
is it David Harbor?
Yep.
It's David Harbor.
Yep.
who is to me like perfect
hell boy he was like these
types of role are one
hundred percent his lane
and you know from stranger
things to to hell boy his
version of hell boy and
voice in frankenstein eric
frankenstein is to me just
and he's used to the
practical effects and the
makeup so I mean if they
bring him into live action
yep which I've always like
me has been like give me
live action creature
commandos and I would not
be upset as long as the
makeup it's not overly cgi
and it's a mix give me a
practical cgi gimmicks and
then uh the legendary alan
tudyk yeah and dr
phosphorus he's also on tap
to play clayface in here
and another character as
well he'll be voicing on
this show so he's also
going to voice clayface
On Creature Commandos as well.
And yeah, he's goaded at this point.
Give him a start on the Walk of Fame.
Give him whatever he wants
because this dude is.
Another one, since he did Resident Alien,
has just seen this huge
resurgence of himself.
And I'm here for it.
I love it.
And do you think he shows up
in Andor Season Two?
Oh, absolutely.
One of our favorite droids.
Absolutely.
He'll be there.
He will definitely be there.
And I'm going to be like,
you know what always struck
me with Star Wars was droids.
I'm a huge fan of the droids in Star Wars.
Always will be.
To me,
that's been the most fascinating
thing ever.
And I was such a huge robot
nerd that when Star Wars had droids,
I was like, I'm in.
Say no more.
I'm in.
He's the only droid that has
the distinction of making me cry.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I think he's the only one so
far that I'm just like, yeah.
He's perfect for that kind of stuff.
And he is just Yeah,
Dr. Phosphorus amazing in this show.
And Sean Gunn, of course, playing GI robot,
the Nazi killer.
Which is Yeah, his brother.
Yeah, it's him.
But
At the same time,
he's so good at voicing
characters that I'm not even mad.
It's perfect for G.I.
Robot.
And it's the humorous.
I love that he keeps his
humorous streak going.
Well, that's him.
That's the character.
That's the comic book as well.
but I also think it's the actor too.
Like it's, that's just his thing.
Like he's, he's hilarious.
He's great.
He's a great,
like his comedic timing is
hilarious and a guardians.
And it's like, I love that.
He keeps that little, keeps that going,
you know, here for,
he was great for GI robot.
I loved it when he was
sitting there talking to what's her name?
Nina.
Yeah.
Mina.
Yeah.
He's like, I'm happy.
I'm killing Nazis with you, Mina.
We're going to kill Nazis together, Mina.
And she's like, yeah, dude,
I'm happy to kill Nazis with you too,
bud.
I was like, this is so great.
Like, where are the Nazis?
Where are the Nazis at?
I can't.
And I love when he's like
guarding Princess Ileana.
He's just standing there and he's like,
in the nineteen forties,
I killed seven hundred
Nazis or seven Nazis in a
concentration camp outside
of whatever city it was.
And he's just getting there,
giving his history and
weasels like not fuck out on the floor,
just like sleeping.
And so I couldn't find the
weasel voice actor,
but I'm guessing that's still done by.
Yeah.
I thought it was Sean Gunn as well.
Sean, yeah.
That's what I was thinking.
It didn't really list him.
When I was writing this out,
they really didn't mention him a whole lot,
but I was just like,
I'm pretty sure that Sean gun.
Well, yeah, I'm looking it up too.
Yes.
It's Sean gun.
And he was the last survivor of, um,
suicide squad,
which of course they found
him just like on the beach, like stunned,
like, but in case everybody don't know,
this show picks up at the
end of suicide squad, uh,
And after the first season of Peacemaker.
So Suicide Squad has happened.
The first season of
Peacemaker has happened.
And that's where this show
pits up with Creature Commandos,
which if you're thinking your history,
that's that's where it's at
is right after those events.
That's why there's no, you know,
Rick Flag Jr.
Leading these guys.
Yeah,
I liked how it just went with like a
hot start.
It really did.
It was great.
Introduce your characters
and send them on their way.
Because sometimes shows tend
to do this where we're
going to give you a lot of exposition.
You're going to get every
backstory right off the bat, all this.
And I'm like,
and you lose half the episode.
You get two episodes of
where they're actually
doing what they do.
And I'm glad they didn't do that.
I'm glad they're like, you know,
bleeding it into the action.
Like, Oh,
here's why the bride of
Frankenstein is here.
Here's where she comes from.
And then how strong she is
and what she's capable of.
And that scene,
her episode two was fantastic.
And it really gave you why
she is and why she is.
it made you care about her.
Like I loved her coming out.
Like I already loved her
energy for the first episode,
just that whole like a bad-ass, you know,
kind of like she's there
drinking with the guy.
Like, like, you know, she,
she can run with whatever's
thrown at her.
And so you get this very tough exterior,
but then he's seeing her
backstory and watching that
vulnerability that's there.
I mean, I just, I loved her even more.
Oh, yeah.
She was... I'm glad that was her first.
They gave us her first.
I'm really looking forward
to seeing Mina's as well.
Yes.
Because I know hers is really good, too.
And there's a reason, I feel like.
It's very strategic why
she's considered the one
that keeps them all in line.
Yep.
And she was one of the
original leaders of it.
And one of the original scientists,
if you go back into the comic books.
Yeah.
So, so let me ask you this.
How familiar were you with
the creature commandos
prior to the TV series?
So I actually was not very familiar.
I had not read the,
read the comics for it.
I mean, obviously I know who the bride is.
I know a lot of,
a lot of it from more of the,
the universal Hollywood
type of universal monsters
type of standpoint.
But I was still super
intrigued because to me,
DC,
while it's been hit or miss with the
live action, me putting it mildly,
but what I love is with
their animated shows,
and you and I have talked
about some of the animated
content before just offline,
I feel like the animated shows,
they just knock it out of the park.
They do.
For some reason,
they put that formula right.
I don't know why it is that way.
When they can execute a TV
series or an animated series so well,
but they fail so badly at live action.
I know.
And it's just like, you know, I grew up,
I was a Batman animated
series kid growing up and, you know,
remember watching the mask
of the phantasm and, you know, it's just,
it's just a,
and now you have like the
adventure Superman and they
just come in and they just
knock it out of the park.
A lot of that is they stay
true to what the comic book is in those.
Yes.
And they don't give us extra fluff.
It's like, okay,
here's a comic book story
from the comic book.
We're going to animate it
and bring it to life for you.
And that's what's enjoyable.
The Harley Quinn series is great.
And it's actually a comic book.
Yeah.
And I'm like,
they've been nailing the
formula before even Netflix
came along with their animated series.
I feel like DC had it right
on that regard.
I feel like they were the
ones that made you stop saying cartoons.
Yeah.
yep and into I'm watching an
animated show or an
animated series and it's
adult animated series
exactly for the kids oh
yeah this one definitely is
not for the kids no this
one for sure is not for the
kids no no I mean what did
I I mean how familiar you
said you were super excited
for creature commandos how
what what is your history
with because I know again
you you've got the comic
lore what is your history
I've always been a big fan
of the odd comic book
characters like this and I
remember seeing
like members of the creature
commandos pop up in like
justice league dark and a
few other comic books
throughout the years and um
so for me like granted I
could never really get my
hands on a good copies of
like the older comics that
feature them because
they're just out of price
range but I would like
first time I seen gi robot
I was like okay yeah that's
like that's so cool and then
frankenstein actually being
a comic book character to
me was a selling point but
it's not your universal
frankenstein I mean it is
but it's its own comic book
dc twist on it and the same
with the bride of
frankenstein and um the
creature from the black
lagoon which is the
creature from the black
lagoon but it's a female
yes and she's I think
they're gorgons in this is
what they're what they are
And she's this really smart
scientist whose father, I think,
experimented on her.
Or I can't remember the exact backstory.
And I'm just like, dude,
this is like great stuff.
I love odd comic book characters.
Always have.
Like Spawn,
back when it came out in the nineties,
was like, this guy should not be a hero.
And he's not in that term.
He just don't like to see
bad things happen to people
trying to make good.
And so it always stuck out to me.
And this, of course, you know,
the original comic I told
you came out in the eighties.
It was written by J.M.
DeMatteis and Pat Broderick.
And it was a team of
monsters originally brought
together to fight Nazis.
And I think the last time
they actually appeared as a
team in the comic book was
the early two thousands.
But of course, like I said,
some of these guys have
made sporadic appearances
throughout the years in
Justice League Dark and a
few other magic-esque.
Because you know DC is very deep,
unlike Marvel with their
magic and their darkness.
And Superman's vulnerabilities is magic.
So they've always kept those
kind of stories out there.
And that these people pose real threats to
know their mainline
characters despite them not
being like you know
superman-esque type of
stuff type of level of uh
superhero but that's the
one thing I've appreciated
more about dc and their
older vertigo comments and
well now vertigo is back so
we're starting to see that
come back onto the shelves as well
But just the odd comic book
character to me is those
have always stuck to me
more than your Spider-Man's,
your Superman's, your Batman's, you know,
your mainstream Iron Man type stuff.
So and that's what I collect
to this day is those odd
characters like that.
So.
I love it.
No, but task force him.
So let me ask you this, like.
In seeing the TV show now,
are you more interested in
seeing what else these
characters have done and
where else they could take them?
Oh, absolutely.
I think it's,
it's a whole different take on the, again,
like the universal monsters, you know,
like that you knew and loved growing up.
And I like, you know, for me,
I'm super curious about, you know,
what the bride can do now
that she's seen what Cersei
has to show her with this vision,
you know, this, this, and, and, you know,
just, you,
you care about these characters,
even GI robot, you care about GI robot.
Like you're like, okay,
he seems like he's got a
very intriguing vision.
So in the comic book, he does.
He was found.
And he was literally a robot
designed to kill Nazis.
And I forgot which version
of it was that he had also
had a robot dog and his
robot dog had a robot cat.
I love that.
And I think the first one
was called Jack one.
then they found another
version later years later
and that one was called
jack two I think is what it
was called I can't remember
what it stands for but it
was he's a robot designed
to kill nazis yeah just
like the whole team
originally the concept was
you know I think in
nineteen sixties when did
this first come out I think
yeah in nineteen eighty so
we were coming out of the
cold war and all that kind
of are in the cold war still
but you know the nazis were
still very much on the
forefront of people's minds
yeah so it is your typical
you know eighties comic
book you know what can we
do to make these guys cool
have them kill nazis
Yeah.
Well,
and I love that the show creates
curiosity about, you know,
it's not like here,
we just got a group of
monsters together and good luck.
It's, it's, it's, you know,
cause I mean the concept
has been done of getting
the group of misfits together before,
you know,
with the suicide squad and they
are not shameless about saying, yeah,
we're, we, we're going to,
we're going to just do this again,
but they make you care
about the characters.
Like it makes you,
it makes them more relatable and,
And I think that's kind of
where Suicide Squad failed
to some degree is, yeah,
we know who the characters are,
but you failed to make me
give a shit in the movie about them.
Oh, yeah.
So now that, you know,
we these guys were getting
to know the character and
we care about what they are
and who they are, because, yeah,
we're getting the action
that you expect from a James Gunn flick.
But he's also tying in their
bat stories to the main story.
So that to me is pretty cool.
So for you,
did you feel like this was a
good choice for James Gunn
to just that this should
have been the first or
should Superman have been
the first property he went out with?
With this one,
with chapter one of his
universe being titled Gods and Monsters,
I thought this was the
perfect choice to start.
And
And I'm really hoping like, yeah,
I know we're getting Superman here soon.
A whole nother at least it's
not going to be an origin
story of Superman.
We're getting that actual Superman story.
We're not going to find out
that he grew up in a farm in Kansas.
We're not.
We know that.
And I like the fact that
you're getting a new Superman story.
You're getting him, you know, as he is.
He's we know who he is.
We know what he is.
I'm giving you a Superman story.
And that works for me
because I don't want to see
another origin story of Superman.
I don't want to see a Smallville.
I don't want to see that shit no more.
I want to see Clark Kent
working at the newspaper.
I want to see him.
Don't give me the old shit
that we've seen since the
eighties with Christopher Reeves.
I don't want that no more.
Just give me a straight up story.
And that's what he's going to do.
So I'm really excited to see
what he does with it.
Yeah, this is to me a good choice,
a safe choice, because again,
with the animated track record,
I wouldn't necessarily say
it was the safe choice, though,
because these characters are odd.
Not a lot of people know who they are.
True.
And it's certified fresh.
So I will give it that.
It's doing really well with views.
It's doing really well and
getting a lot of positive feedback.
So I will say that for him.
Like he took a risk.
the risk worked I will also
say there was another group
of artists who pitched this
to dc I can't remember when
it was it might have been
the early two thousands
maybe and they were denied
the group of artists who
who wanted to redo this
show or this comic but they
were denied that that honor
so they took their
characters that they made
and made them into their own thing
They're like, okay, well,
we'll just rename the character,
change some things up,
and we'll have our own Dr. Phosphorus,
our own GI robot.
And that is Ghost Machine,
which everybody's been
hearing me ranting and rave
about on my USDN shorts.
Because they have Geiger,
who is Dr. Phosphorus in DC.
And his story is similar to
Dr. Phosphorus'.
Only his name is Geiger.
He was a normal dude.
And he's this reluctant
superhero fighting in a post-waste world.
And then their GI robot is
called Junkyard Joe.
They look identical.
Junkyard Joe just made his
first appearance in Geiger issue ten.
And, of course,
they just released his compendium book.
I just picked up the Geiger
issue one through six compendium.
And they're doing a really
great job because it's a different story.
They went the complete
opposite route of why the
Creature Commandos are.
But it's still obvious that
these guys got frustrated
with DC trying to make a
comic book for them and did
their own thing.
And their own thing is
killing it right now.
so I'm really happy for jeff
johns and that crew over at
ghost machine because they
are doing a fantastic job
delivering is something
that looks similar but yet
very different so
I know.
I'm just... I'm so glad we
got Creature Commandos.
Because again, it's a fresh take.
It's not like, hey,
let's revisit a character
that we've... Or characters
that we've seen done to
death pretty much in DC.
And it's still characters that...
even if you haven't read the
comics you're familiar with,
like who doesn't know who
the bride of Frankenstein is?
Who doesn't know who Frankenstein is?
You know?
And yeah, I think this, this,
I feel like I say safe
because at least we know
what the animated properties,
they usually do well.
They knock it out of the park.
They usually do well.
He could have done this in live action.
And I still hope he does.
I still hope he does.
Like maybe not a full up
live action creature commandos,
but we randomly see, you know,
GI robot pop up and he's
just blasting people.
Or we see Frankenstein in
the background slaying
somebody with his big ass
sword or something, you know, like, like,
wait, was that Frankenstein we just seen?
To me, that would be really cool.
I think to people, though,
if he had done any live
action project first,
people would have poo-pooed
all over it because it's of the past.
Because of DC's track record.
So I think it was smart to
go animated and in a great
way for people to be
excited and lay out your roadmap.
And that's what he's done.
And that's what he is doing.
And I'm really happy to see
what he's going to do next with it,
because I know he actually
cares about what he puts out.
So we've seen him do that in Marvel,
you know, when he did Marvel properties.
Yeah.
So what do you think?
Where do you think this is going to go?
So I'm interested to see
what he's going to do as far as.
Would chapter one be
entitled Gods and Monsters?
I don't know if I've seen it yet.
How long is this chapter going to be?
How many movies is it going
to have a part of it?
Is it going to be, oh,
Gods and Monsters is going
to go for three TV shows and three movies,
and it's going to culminate in...
one big movie type of deal
before we hit chapter two of my DC plan.
So I don't know.
And I'm excited to see,
I really am because gods
and monsters to me in comic
book or in movies will always sell liquid,
you know, the latest Godzilla's.
This is true.
This is very true.
So we'll see.
I'm excited to see what he's going to do.
I'm excited for Creature
Commandos and people
getting to see a different
side of the comic book world within DC.
I wonder if we're going to
get Teen Titans in this
phase because one of the
Easter eggs shows Starfire impaled.
Yeah, that's true.
So I'm like, there's a reason.
Or at least we get a pre-Teen Titans.
Would be cool.
Yeah.
Like as, you know, Batman tries to,
you know.
We'll see.
Oh.
Bill.
That's a hell yeah.
Hell yeah, dude.
Love that guy.
You're the best.
He really is.
Such a great dude.
And BCP plus Hall of Famer, by the way.
Absolutely.
Well deserved.
Very well deserved.
We were joking.
Well, we were saying on socially distanced,
he's got the... Ooh,
Cersei is going to score
the vision in episode four.
Come on, dude.
We haven't watched episode three yet.
That's literally like queued
up behind me right now on the TV.
But that goes to show he's
our Rick Flagg senior over there.
He's got the look.
As they say over on BC+,
he's got the dad bod
demigod thing going on.
But I'm excited.
And I think James Gunn is
going to do a fantastic job
as the head of DC.
Him and his partner.
I can't remember who it is
off the top of my head.
But I know that.
Peter Safran?
Yes.
And I know Jim Lee is still
in charge of their comic book division.
So I know that's safe.
The most perfect hands they
could be in right now.
Because Jim Lee to me is a
god amongst men.
When it comes to comic books.
He's done some of the best
runs I've ever read of any book.
And he just greenlit DC Vertigo again.
So I'm excited that we're
getting Vertigo back in the
comic book world.
And for those who don't know,
the lady who was running DC,
before she stepped down,
her biggest thing was, I hate Vertigo.
I'm shutting it down.
I don't like the content it creates.
So she was done with it.
She shut it down.
Boarded it up, shut it down.
created dc black label which
kind of picked up some of
the titles from vertigo and
because vertigo they
focused more on the adult
side of comic book
storytelling the blood the
gore less superhero type
stuff more storytelling
like with the the last
house or the house by the
sea and the house by the
lake which are great reads
by the way if you're into
horror and suspense and
thriller and just different
type of stuff like that
Vertigo was responsible for
things like John
Constantine back in the day, Preacher,
and titles like that.
The darker side,
the magic side of the DC universe.
Jim Lee is like, I'm in charge.
I'm bringing back DC Vertigo.
And the first title that
came out on Vertigo was the follow-up,
The House by the Sea.
which again is the follow-up
from The House by the Lake,
I think is what it's called,
and great reads.
So I'm happy that DC is in
good hands on both sides of the fence,
and what they're doing
right now is phenomenal work.
Hopefully it stays that way.
That's my hope as well.
I feel like DC,
for the first time in a very long time,
all the way around,
consistently across all of its properties,
is in good hands.
Superman is going to be its
make it or break it.
Oh gosh.
Yeah.
I mean, I want them to succeed.
I want them to succeed because it, it,
it's one of those where they succeed.
It kind of forces everyone
else to step up to like with Marvel,
they're going to step it up.
We just,
the winners will be the fans
because we get better content.
The fans were in,
but they're still going to
complain about it, but it doesn't matter.
We're winning because we're
getting great content by both companies.
Exactly.
So speaking of companies, um,
things that are broken let's
talk about a broken star
show that kidnaps kids and
runs away so we're talking
of course about star wars
this skeleton crew um I
didn't know what to expect
from this but it had the
goonies in space vibe and I
was here for it and
Where to start with this one?
So we knew it was going to
be geared toward kids from
everything that we had seen so far.
It gave the Space Goonies vibes,
but we didn't know how it
was going to get there
because they really did tight lip it,
so to speak.
But how are you feeling
about it right now?
Oh, I actually really enjoyed it.
I'm an Amlin kid growing up.
So ET, you know,
kind of gave me that energy
right off the bat,
especially with the first,
like the teasers and the trailers.
It is very much an eighties
kid adventure vibe type of show.
And I'm here for it.
I love it.
Yeah,
like I really got an ET reference in
episode two.
Exactly.
So I was like, thank you.
Thank you.
And and I actually liked
that this is a little bit
more geared towards kids.
And it's not like it's it's
not like it's for little little kids,
but like kids like ten, eleven.
Kids your son's age.
exactly exactly and I I feel
like it's geared towards
kids kind of like how we
well I look back to how old
I was when I watched the
original trilogy about the
same age like you know it I
feel like it's a it's a
good way to get new kids to
get the kids on board but
yet still fun for the
parents to watch there's
still plenty of content for
the for the parents to
watch but it was nice to have
What was it in the nineties?
We had TGIF.
We had all those fun TV shows on,
on a Friday night because
we weren't old enough to
really go out and do anything.
But we,
but so they provided entertainment
for us on home on the TV.
We had Urkel who.
of all things, made an appearance.
When I seen him, I was like,
he grew up and became a space pirate.
Yeah,
pretty much he is in the Star Wars
universe, y'all.
Steve Urkel is out there.
I was pretty excited to see that.
I was excited to... The pirate.
I mean, he's been a pirate and everything,
but he was in...
Was he in Clone Wars?
He was a part of Hondo's crew,
I remember at one point.
Oh, man.
Are you talking about the
pirate that showed up in Mando?
yes yes yes yes he's hopped
in a couple of crews he has
he's just like he's like oh
this crew sucks let me find
me another one yeah I'm
like bro I think you might
be the problem in all these
crews exactly if you've had
to jump around that much
you are not a very good
space spy research
Exactly.
Well,
what I appreciated was watching this
with little Seth and seeing
him relate to the show because, you know,
we, you know, he's, he's that age.
Is he not?
Yeah, he is.
He is.
So he's very fascinated with
like how the kids are interacting.
Like he's into the story.
Like he can relate to him.
Whereas watching some of the
other star Wars shows,
he likes characters.
Like, you know, he loves Darth Vader.
He loves Anakin.
He associates Ahsoka with mama.
And, and it's,
you know,
but it's the characters and not
necessarily the story that
appeals to him.
And here he's like, Oh,
these kids are like me.
Like, you know, I can, you know, like,
like our, our goodest boy, Neil, you know,
we, we love him.
He's so great.
He really is.
He is.
So for those who don't know,
Neil is played by Robert Timothy Smith.
I think he voices him and he, that kid,
like,
whoever is the actor in the
suit is doing a phenomenal
job with everything.
And, but this,
this kid that Robert Timothy Smith,
who is playing Neil,
like when you see him in real life,
he's almost like a little new himself,
you know?
Yeah.
And I'm like, man,
they did so good with that.
And then of course we got
Jude law playing John, not now would,
which is a weird name to begin with,
but you know,
you can't have star wars
without somebody having a
weird name then you had
kiriana greater playing kb
which is I think she's the
one she's got the uh she's
the speeder bike girl no
that's I thought that was a
fern no or is fern the the
light leader is the main
girl she's the leader
between the two of them
yeah kb is the girl that
has kind of she has a
headset and yeah the uh the
tricky the tricky glasses yeah
yeah I call her I call her
the techie of the group
because I'm just like yeah
she she's she's reliable
she is she's a good girl I
really like her character
in this and then you got
robbie playing whim who is
the like he's very much the
guy who's going to get you
into trouble and he has
done that now every episode
I mean, I like Wynn, though.
He reminds me a lot of my
kiddo in a lot of ways
because my kid's going to
be whatever he wants.
If there's a button that says do not push,
he's going to be the one to push it.
He's the kid that wants the
adventure and wants the...
He's the one that kicks
everything off by checking Leo like,
look what I found doing
this and doing this.
Curiosity does kill the cat,
but at the same time,
he's just such a fun like or
blast you off into outer
space exactly exactly and
so um but just the fact
that he's not afraid to to
to pursue something like to
to say you know I'm going
on an adventure fearless uh
and just he's gonna do what
he's gonna do and so we're
three episodes in I know
you're an episode behind I
am but so far who why who
is your favorite character so far
again for me because of the
personal bias it as does it
well neil obviously is is
like the goodest the
goodest boy like just oh
yeah the goodest boy but if
I had to pick somebody
other than neil for me it's
whim because again he
reminds me so much of my
kid because seth would
totally push the button a
thousand ten percent like
look I would have pushed
the button and I'm forty
Yeah, it's like, you know,
he's he's like the cat that
looks at you defiantly
while knocking the glass
off the table like that.
That is I didn't do it, though.
Yeah.
Or no, it's like, I'm going to do it.
Just that scoot, scoot.
And then the glass falls
over like you're telling him not to.
And that's mine anyway.
I'm going to do it.
Yeah.
So that's when reminds me so
much of my own that I'm like, OK.
And you feel for him, though,
because you see where he's at.
Like, he's a lonely child.
Yeah.
And his dad works constantly.
And his dad is kind of
dismisses him a little bit,
like not to be mean.
I think his dad is just so
preoccupied with, with his work,
with his evaluations.
Yeah.
And it's just like, you know, and,
and so you just,
you understand where Wim's
longing for more and for
freedom and where he buries
himself in the stories of the Jedi.
And just, you,
you see the dreamer in him
and you understand why.
Oh yeah.
But who's your favorite?
I'm glad you asked Nick Frost.
This is my favorite.
And I love this robot.
This droid is awesome.
And I think I was talking to
you when I was like,
did you recognize the name
SM thirty three?
And it's me.
And if for those who don't know,
me is Captain Hood's first mate.
And when I caught the reference,
I was like, wow.
Yes.
Awesome.
Love it.
It makes perfect sense.
And I'm so happy they did it.
So I was ecstatic when I
found out SME SM-XXXIII was
the reference to Captain
Hook's best mate.
And I was like,
I love it because every
good pirate ship needs to
have a best mate.
And Nick Frost is killing it as SME.
yeah I have to say I give
disney props and like you
know the the casting for
the you know for across the
board because the droid
actors they've brought in
they always have a great
great droid guys where
there's a voice in them are
playing the actual droid
themselves and for nick
frost who I love so much b and shmi
is perfect because I mean,
he's always like the best mate in movies.
Yes.
So he was the perfect best
mate for a pirate ship
without a captain currently.
mean I they've just been
slaying slaying like the
shows themselves can be hit
or miss but the droid
casting always spot on and
perfect always spot on like
I popped for dave tennant
david tennant I will always
for him always forever
forever forever please
bring him back please bring
yeah we I mean he has to be
back for soca season two
but you know nick frost was
I agree with you perfect
perfect for Smee.
Even the nuances of getting there.
I can envision Nick Frost in
the studio doing the
voiceover in the pirate mode.
Once I realized who it was,
I seen him in there doing
the pirate dance,
doing the little pirate
thing and actually acting
it out as he did the voice.
He's a jolly fellow.
He
yeah I'm ecstatic that it's
nick frost doing it whoever
is casting droids please
please please continue keep
up the good work because
we're happy what's up wendy
thanks for joining us today
on a hello a very special
star sign for us normally
we're doing this at eight
thirty at night and today
It just so happened to work out.
And I like this one.
I think if we do this again,
I'm just going to call it
Saturday morning special.
I like it.
Just like in the cartoon days.
Yeah.
I think that's what we're
going to call this one when
we do a Saturday morning special.
It's very fitting given that
this has given us this
eighties at the time when we had.
Exactly.
It's all we had.
I mean,
I was raised on cartoons and bowls
of cereal.
Facts.
And, um,
So let's start jumping into
it a little bit more.
So four kids make a mysterious discover.
The Onnit Cinder is the name
of the ship on their home
planet of At-Atn that leads
them to get lost in a
strange and dangerous galaxy.
So Star Wars lore in this show,
At-Atn is a mysterious
treasure planet that nobody
has ever actually seen or been to.
which I think is cool.
They're giving us a Treasure
Planet reference,
which is also another Disney movie.
Is it called Treasure Planet?
What's that movie called?
It is Treasure Planet, I think.
The cartoon movie?
Yeah.
I think it is Treasure Planet.
It was like Treasure Island, kind of.
Yeah.
That's the vibe I was getting.
I can see the characters
from... I see the faces.
I just can't remember if
that's the right name for the movie.
I'm gonna look now I have to
look it up because it's
gonna bother me I'm gonna
but um yes it is treasure
planet perfect I I nailed
it I knew what I was
talking about all along but
um so episode one we see
the kids you know they're
in school it's boring we
notice you know of course
they're getting ready to take their
What I can guess is like a
career assessment test
determines their futures at
such a young age, too,
which is it makes sense for
this hidden planet that at
a very young age,
these kids would be doing a
test like this to determine, you know,
the role in society, basically.
But of course, you know,
kids will be kids and teens
will be teens.
And you get that the teenage ain't that.
you know, I want to adventure, you know,
cause that's what kids want
is adventure and fun.
And that's what we get.
So to put it in perspective,
skeleton crew takes place
in the same timeframe as Mandalorian.
Yes.
So that way, cause I'm,
so when we think about it,
it's before the race series.
Yes.
So I just wanted to make
that known and clear in
case anybody was wondering.
And so episode one, like I was saying,
they're doing this test to
determine their futures.
And I think it was the end
of episode one or during episode two.
I think it was right at the
end of episode one is when
they blast off.
Yes.
In the Onyx Cinder and clear
the planet's barrier,
which the planet is hidden by a barrier.
and um off on the adventure
they go and then they they
of course I think was it I
think it was in the
beginning of episode two is
when they when shmi finally
wakes up and scares the
shit out of the kids and of
course they find themselves
getting in trouble on
what's the name of the
planet uh port borgo yes is
where they end up going
because that's what
uh, me knows he's like, Hey,
it's a pirate planet, a pirate port,
but somebody may have heard
of your planet.
And maybe we can start there,
which of course leads to
them getting thrown in a brig meeting Jod,
who is played by Jude law.
And, um, they think he is a Jedi.
We still don't really know
if he is a Jedi or not.
Um,
Which we do know,
or I think he is the pirate who is being.
Who got mutinied.
Yeah.
At the very beginning of the
show when it opened up.
So, I mean, it looks very familiar,
but the mask was really
cool that he was wearing.
Like that was a dope mask.
And I hope Disney does one.
Oh, that'd be cool.
I'm sure if Disney doesn't do it,
someone will three D print one.
I'm sure out there, but the visit,
but yeah, I'm,
what do you think about this planet?
I'm super intrigued.
Cause again, yes.
Yeah.
I'm very intrigued because
it's a new planet and it's
supposedly hidden by the
empire away from everything.
well the crazy part it's
almost like for them oh
what you doing evie it's
like you're talking about
cute like space creatures
and kids and I have to be
part of the cuteness I have
to be part of it that's
evie that's my daughters oh
she wanted to make an
appearance she did and
she's a she's a handful her
and her brother
Her and Toby don't get along.
Oh, no.
They'll chase each other.
They don't really hurt each other,
but they definitely just don't get along.
But for me, it's almost like the planet,
like Order Sixty-Six never happened.
And the events of the
original trilogy never
happened because I was, you know.
They do feel like they're locked away.
Yes.
Very outside of it.
Yes, they're a part of the Empire still.
But they seem cut off from
the outside world of the
greater dangers happening
within the Empire.
And looking at what they're
doing with the great work,
the way they kept referencing that,
that's a High Republic reference.
Because that was Lena's the
head of the council for the council,
but the Senate for High Republic.
And I was like,
I wasn't going to bring that
up because you're going to
see that in episode three.
And I know you hadn't
watched episode three yet.
But yes, it is a High Republic reference.
Okay, so I'm right.
So this planet could be very
well tucked away since the Old Republic.
That's what I'm like.
So they don't have any clue
about anything that's happened then.
Yeah,
because even the little storyboard
he's reading,
somebody went and translated
all of the text online.
You saw that too.
And I'm like,
kudos to whoever did that
because it's a lot of work.
But it's all stories of Jedi
pre-Skywalker.
Yeah, High Republic Jedi.
yeah so that's interesting
it's fascinating I'm
waiting we'll have to see
how the story plays out but
I don't want to like dig
too much into it because
it's still ongoing and I
don't want to give a whole
lot away because I know
people are watching it and
I kind of wanted to present
it as a hey we're watching
it it's cool everybody
should be watching it
because you're going to get
cool comic book references
as well and by that I mean
crimson jack I know you
haven't seen the episode yet
But Crimson Jack is actually
from the original Marvel
Star Wars comic from
nineteen seventy seven.
Yes.
And he was Han Solo's arch nemesis.
He actually robbed Han Solo of his reward.
From the Rebel Alliance.
So the money that he was.
Going to pay Jabba the Hutt.
Ah he's the one.
That's right.
He's the one that stole it.
That's why he got frozen in carbonite.
Yes.
However Han does get him back.
Han is the dirtiest scoundrel.
In the empire.
So Han does get him back.
But that's the reason why he
got frozen in carbonite.
That's right.
I thought that was the
coolest reference ever that
you're going to get in Star Wars lore.
To me,
it's really cool that they made a
reference to Crimson Jack.
What I'm loving about the
show is the references to the eras.
We're talking about how this
feels like Space Goonies and E.T.
and Amblin era and yet the
references they're pulling
are from Star Wars content
around that time and I love that.
Was it just me or did you
pop for the hologram?
Yes.
She's canon now, y'all.
yep wait till you watch
episode three and a b-win
battle droid waits up
asking did we win oh my god
yes it was the coolest
thing ever because I was
laughing my ass off because
as he's like did we win and
then he fell apart
I was like, that's awesome.
Yeah,
Brandon got mad at me because he's like,
well, you watch.
I was like, well,
because we're going to talk about him.
And he's just like, well,
I wanted to watch.
No, no,
you have to wait for the short game.
I'm like,
I am supposed to watch the Star
Wars content.
You got to keep up.
That's my thing.
Like one of my other
favorite details that shows
up is a T-sixty-five from Blue Squadron.
And wait.
Yes.
So it was, it is the newest ones.
That's about to say that the new, yeah,
that,
and that's in the third episode it
comes in.
Cause I don't remember seeing it.
Yeah.
It's the third squadron T-sixty-five,
which is really cool to see.
Cause we got blue squadron.
We know red squadron very well.
We've seen some references
to blue squadron here and there,
but they actually made a
full up like blue squadron landed.
Yeah.
It was, it was dope as hell.
And I, you know,
I know we mentioned Jude
Law and kind of a little bit,
but I just have to give
props to Disney for getting
Jude Law because, you know,
I know a lot of people,
he's been fairly quiet-ish lately,
but really like looking back,
like when we were growing up,
like he was everywhere.
Everywhere.
He was everywhere.
And I don't want to say I'm a Jude Law fan,
but I really... He's got
the roguish charm.
He does.
For this.
He really does.
And I've enjoyed...
so far watching him in this
because like it was
sporadic like hey let's
grab jude law for star wars
like where does that come
from you know like who
thought of that like oh
this guy's gonna be perfect for this
So he's killing it, too.
He's doing so good.
He is.
I mean,
even just his moment when he makes
his appearance in the jail cell,
just that first look at him
and reveal like straight up.
I'm like, hey, Jula, like you're back.
You're back, bro.
Welcome back.
Definitely a welcome back moment.
And he's killing it.
I'm enjoying him very much.
And his his wardrobe is a
whole Lando thing.
lando space pirate vibe yeah
it's really cool I love it
we won't kill it too much
though no no and actually
that's where we're gonna
close it out because I
don't want to give too much
away okay so you know me I
get super excited you gotta
bring me in and be like I
know you do slow me down um
but let's hit the final
shots and thought actually
You got to wait.
I'll be right.
Absolute pleasure.
And it's always fun to chat
nerd things with you.
Cause it's just, you, you know,
you have so much knowledge and again,
keep it up with the shorts.
Cause they're great.
And everybody come in,
support USDN because
obviously fantastic podcast.
And Jeff's a great guy.
I appreciate it.
You're churching me up right now.
I'm just saying facts.
Thank you.
That's all I'm doing.
So, of course, as Jeff mentioned earlier,
I am Amanda Rivas from the Pop Break.
I am the co-host of our
flagship podcast on the network.
And this is a socially distanced podcast,
along with the aforementioned Bill Botkin,
where every week we review topics.
different pop culture topics
that happen uh we actually
covered creature commandos
in our latest episode we
are going to be torturing
bill this coming week with
hot frosty on netflix
that'll be our our episode
uh this coming this coming
for that and I was like
that's actually kind of
interesting yeah no but it
looks really interesting
We have thoughts.
I have thoughts.
And I will spare Bill and
leave that episode of the
podcast because I'm sure
he's got loads of thoughts on it.
Oh, I'm sure he does.
If you find him without one,
something's wrong.
Exactly.
So, I mean, he survived Bridgerton,
so he should be fine without Frosty.
I tried.
I made it through an episode
and I was like, okay, never,
ever again will I do that to myself.
That is punishment.
Kudos to all you ladies out
there watching Bridgerton.
The new season's been approved.
It's coming.
Don't know when, but I know it's coming.
There you go.
And they've got some new
cast coming to join them as well.
Yeah.
It's good.
It should be exciting.
I know my sister's waiting for the day.
So, but yes, so socially distance again,
we, we,
you can catch us on all streaming
platforms every Thursday.
And I am also on our anime
pop podcast that drops monthly.
Our last episode,
we were covering Dan to Dan,
which is fantastic.
Fantastic.
It is.
The last episode left me a little empty.
but it was a cool story they
told in that episode yeah
yeah and it's only going to
get better and I think I
figure it's where we're at
and down to down without
spoiling too much is
exactly where I called that
I think we were going to
end the first season so
season season two though is
expected summer twenty
twenty five so probably
whenever I'm going to say
probably well that's
actually pretty quick yeah
so I'm still waiting on
chainsaw man season two
I know.
Well,
we're getting the movie and I'm
hearing summer, summer as well.
So I think it's August, July.
So this arc,
they're going to turn into a
movie before they go into
an actual second season of it.
I'm fine with that because
they do in Demon Slayer,
I think the same way.
demon slayer three we're
getting three movies so
hopefully probably next
week I think with jump
festa we might have some
dates that would be cool
kind of keeping an eye out
on that but anyway um yeah
we we and when chainsaw man
drops we're definitely
going to cover it and
you'll have to join us oh
absolutely I like my
daughter has the entire
collection of chainsaw man
and I'm like I'm in
like yeah the moment they
said hey we're making an
anime and I watched it I
was like all right yeah man
same goes for like dan to
dan's been yeah chainsaw
man has probably I love the
intros and outros to them
because they did famous
gangster movies yes as
their intros and outros and
it was phenomenal I love
how they changed it up
every single episode
Yes, so good.
And if y'all ever get the
chance to meet Ryan Colt Levy in person,
he is phenomenal as just a
great person because as Chainsaw Man,
Denji's English dub actor, he's great.
So he was, I was like, anything on Reeves?
no it's this color maybe um
but everything is saying at
least right now summer but
we'll see for for but at
least but at least down to
down they're saying
definitely summer that's
awesome because it has been
really really good it's
fantastic I don't you know
me I don't watch a whole
lot of anime so if I'm
actually sitting down and
watching an anime you know
it's really damn good
yeah and speaking of our
well we were also we also
covered bleach uh thousand
year blood war current
season three uh and of
course uh from the dfp and
we had kelvin on on the
episode you know and you
know kelvin if he he and
the eat the cake guys that
y'all have on the network
shout out to them because
they're they're they're
doing a job yeah I I tune
in when I can and very much
a fan of their podcast as
well so they're
recommending it you know
we're we're I'm always
happy to hear literally like anything
kelvin and willie and those
guys over at etca recommend
I'm usually I'm like all
right I'll give it a watch
and I usually end up being
stuck I'm like okay I'm in
well I appreciate them too
because it's nice to hear
when other really credible
podcasts um really really
they recommend a lot of
work they do they do so the
whole network as a whole this year
Going into twenty twenty five,
there's going to be a couple of knits ups,
so to speak.
But it's still going to be I
think twenty twenty five
will be even bigger than
twenty twenty four.
Yeah.
So so definitely shout out
to you guys on the DFPN, too.
So, of course,
we're looking forward to
having more of y'all on
Anime Pop as well.
Absolutely.
We love coming over and
working with y'all and vice
versa as well.
I've had Bill on Ben.
Yeah.
Randy is probably coming in the future.
I know I'm with him as well.
Good.
Randy, he hit me up not that long ago.
It was like, Hey, I got a thing.
I'm like, dude, just send it to me.
Let's do it.
Oh, that's all you gotta do.
That's all you gotta do for media.
Yeah, they are.
I do.
I've,
I've listened to the last few
episodes and they've been really great.
So I'm excited to do that.
I have an episode of a
superhero cinephiles.
coming out in january I
think january twentieth or
twenty first and that's a a
fun show to to to do I'm
probably gonna go back on
and do ninja turtles with
him oh nice so cover the uh
the michael bay
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
and just destroy it.
Because it was Michael Bay
and he ruined Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles.
And Transformers.
And Transformers, yes.
And Transformers.
But yeah,
our new episode of Anime Pop will
drop on Monday and we do an
anime year in review look
back over the favorites we
covered over the year.
And also our anime awards as well.
So yeah,
so that's going to be dropping on
Monday with my co-host, Josh Sarnecki.
And we are mapping out
twenty twenty five and it's
going to be a busy.
I'm excited to see what you
are going to do.
Yeah.
So again,
I've already seen twenty twenty
five looks really good for anime.
It does.
And I'm like already in my back of my head,
you know, I'm like, oh,
I want to watch that one and that one.
And.
April in particular looks
like it's going to be an
insane month for anime.
So lots to cover on that.
But of course,
you can find both podcasts
on all streaming platforms.
Socially Distanced does have
its own stream,
whereas Anime Pop is part
of the PopRick network on
all streaming platforms.
Of course,
you can follow me at a
Mandalorian on Instagram and threads.
And of course the short King
and I have our couples
cosplay as mentioned
earlier for brand DeLorean.
That's at brand DeLorean on Instagram.
Pictures are coming up with our two reels.
I should say,
cause we had a lot of
pictures reels for are coming up.
I've been watching those
like little mini movies.
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun making those.
I'm baby stepping.
Keep them coming.
Baby stepping.
So really enjoyed our time
at NostalgiaCon with our
two new cosplays and, of course,
our Naruto returning cosplays.
The Naruto is really cool.
Thank you.
I made my chadori.
That was my way.
Yeah.
So we had a great time doing
that particular con.
We do have another con in
January that's coming up as
well that we'll be attending.
So pictures will be coming
up for that when we attend.
And then, of course,
I am also at Reznor's Chick
on X and Blue Sky as well.
And now is a perfect time to
say they have a new album coming out.
Yes.
They're doing the whole
entire album to one of the
upcoming video games this
year or for twenty twenty five.
Yeah.
So Trent Reznor is a busy,
busy man right now.
And I enjoy seeing that.
Yeah.
New music from Nine Inch
Nails is always a good, good thing.
Yes, he is the sound.
He has written the
soundtrack for my life on many,
many occasions.
So love Trent Reznor.
Always will.
Hence why he stays in the
handle of my name as much as possible.
So my little homage to him.
But of course,
please follow The Pop Break
as well on all social media platforms,
most importantly.
And of course,
I think we were spelt out
the I think it's
thepopbreak.com on YouTube
because someone took our domain.
Yeah, it happens.
I noticed.
But
Yeah, but, you know,
that's a little bit about me.
But, I mean,
you guys have got some great
stuff cooking on your network.
Thank you again for having me.
Absolutely.
Amanda,
you are welcome back anytime as one
of my council members.
And so coming up from USDN,
this will be the last live
show for the year.
You will get this show will
drop during Christmas break.
Um,
Cobra Kai season six part two will drop
next week with Ben.
And so I spaced it out to
where I get to drop shows
during the holiday without
having to go live,
which is always great to do.
I planned ahead this year
and had it figured out.
Yay.
I will still drop two more
weeks of there's two more
weeks of twenty twenty four,
which is crazy.
This year went by super fast.
So you'll get two more
episodes of me doing comic
book day drops.
And then.
I don't know what I'll be
back with in January,
but I'll probably do a best
of twenty twenty four or
twenty twenty four year in
review like I did last year.
And then see what the world takes us.
I know I'll do the finales
of Creature Commandos of
Skeleton Crew will be in there,
but it's already looking to
be a busy twenty twenty five.
I got some big things coming
in twenty twenty five as well.
Um,
of course you can find USDN on all
social media platforms.
So for blue sky is USD and chairman.
Cause that is definitely
more about me and some of
the work that I'm doing,
such as getting to do the
comic book reviews for, for people,
which is really cool that
I'm being asked to do that.
Um,
but you can still follow me over there
if your own blue sky,
I highly recommend that platform.
It is a really cool platform
to showcase yourself and what you do.
Um,
That's it for me.
Amanda, anything else from you?
If not, we'll close it out.
Other than just wanted to
tell everybody here, thanks for tuning in,
hanging out with us.
And of course,
just wishing everybody a
happy holidays and to you too,
my dear friend.
Again, thank you for- Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Happy holidays to y'all.
Can't wait to see what
little man gets for Christmas this year.
As always,
let's big thank you to DFPN for
giving me a platform to
give you this podcast on.
As always, we would love your feedback.
If you enjoyed this show, let us know.
And if you did enjoy this show,
don't forget to like, subscribe,
and share us with your
family and friends.
I like to think we are a
family-friendly podcast,
minus some four-letter words on occasions,
which I do apologize about in advance.
That's it from me, the chairman.
So on behalf of myself,
the Council of Nerds,
and the Pop Break as well,
since they loan me all
their people from time to time,
I just want to say thank
you to all and that this
show is USDN Approved.