Welcome to Super Geeks, a weekly podcast about all things geek from movies, TV, comics, and more! In this episode, Your Lightsaber is Showing, we talk about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Death of Superman Returns, and Play by Email RPGs.
The show begins with a rough start and a dick joke. Ross has some audio issues and Anthony can’t resist playing with his light saber. These issues are resolved shortly and after some chiding and trash talk the show gets on the road. George starts with a question for the hosts, Jedi or Sith? Anthony chooses Jedi because of their discipline and values. Will chooses Jedi because they’re portrayed as the good guys and aren’t controlled by their emotions. Ross says “Jedi for the Climate, Sith for the comapny.” George picks Sith because he wants to wield force lighting, use a red lightsaber, but he leans toward the light side of the force.
Anthony kicks off the first topic with a discussion he had with another player from Star Trek Online. On the game’s facebook page, a fan shared a picture of the Galaxy class and said he wished the ship had more big screen time. Anthony retorts, saying he’s glad they replaced the Minivan with a Dodge Charger in the Sovereign class. As fandoms do, different opinions fostered energetic debate. The debate is continued by our hosts with Will and George agreeing with Anthony.
Ross Kicks off the next topic with the announcement of Metal Gear Survive. This will be the first Metal Gear title developed without the original creator, Hideo Kojima, as part of the team. The dramatic breakup between Kojima and Metal Gear publisher, Konami, is still fresh in many people’s minds. Survive takes place parallel to Metal Gear 5: the Phantom Pain and begins with survivors of Mother Base being deposited in a parallel dimension. Theses survivors must face off against a horde of “Crystal Zombies” that attack in waves.
The announcement has been met with mixed responses with the cry of nerd rage being the loudest. Ross goes on, expressing his fatigue and numbness to the seemingly inevitable and impotent internet outrage that appears in many major stories. Just because you think you are anonymous does not give you the licence to be an unbridled jerk, jackasses! The discussion goes on into possible solutions to internet trolls.
George brings up the next topic. Bryan fuller is in full teaser mode, dropping hints left and right about his upcoming series, Star Trek Discovery. The biggest rumors right now are the identity and gender of the main character and the Discovery’s Captain. Both are rumored to be women and they may be played by minority actresses. Fuller further teased that the main character will not be the Captain. Instead the show will focus on a junior officer aboard the ship.
Fuller recently confirmed that Discovery will take place about 10 years prior to The Original Series. This sent a ripple though the fan community and stirred the ant hill that is everyone’s favorite professional fan film, Axanar. Some see this confirmation as proof that the law suit filed by CBS and Paramount against Axanar is due to Discovery taking place at the same time as their yet unfinished professional fan film. Some have gone as far as accusing CBS of stealing Axanar’s premise for Discovery.
Ross scoffs at the accusations, chalking them up to Axanar fishing for interest in a desperate attempt to stay relevant. Anthony and Will reinforce that these ideas are all speculation until more information is released. Everyone is curious and interested in the possibilities and potential in Discovery. To add perspective, Anthony relates his experince in a play-by-email RPG he participated in with friends. In that story his ship was transported across the galaxy forced to take the long way home. Voyager came out a few years later and many of his friends thought Paramount ripped off his story. Anthony shrugged off the accusations with a laugh.
George Brings up a similar story where tabletop RPG publisher Paizo released a Sci fi version of their popular fantasy game titled Starfinder. This sparks a discussion about points of similarity in George’s audio show, practice, and in law. This carries over into the legitimacy of copyrighting individual words.
Will, Anthony, and George start to show their age as they compare their gaming experience with what is available today. They are skeptical that anyone under 20 would enjoy a play by email game. Their “Today’s Kids” rant is derailed as the subject moves to hook ups in those games and evolving into sex experiences in games including Second Life.
George starts the next topic before things get too raunchy. Marvel’s The Runaways is confirmed to debut in live action on the internet streaming service, Hulu. George elaborated on the team, their story, and their potential audience. George steps away and Anthony continues the explanation. The Hosts talk a bit about the advantages of Hulu and how it stacks against Netflix.
George brings the hosts to the topic he is most excited about, the new Rogue One trailer. Anthony starts the round table discussion about the trailer because he is the one with his lightsaber showing. He is interested and eager to see how the movie turns out. George comes next with a clarification that many people seem to miss. Donnie Yen’s character is not a Jedi, or even a force user, he is a force mystic. He is sensitive to it but does not channel it like a Jedi or Sith. In other words, he’s a Kung Fu mystic.
Will excited about the story potential of Rogue one, an everyman story without Force wizards and lightsaber duels. The harrowing tale of stealing the Death Star Plans and getting them into the hands of the rebellion. Ross is just happy that more Star Wars is being made. George pips up again with praise for the music heard in the trailer. In addition George bring up how Saving Private Ryan and other war movies have inspired Rogue One.
George brings up how some complaints have arisen, in particular, complaints that a rocket launcher seen in the trailer but not seen in battles like Hoth where those weapons would be useful. The Hosts go on about real world logistics and hot it may apply in the movies.
A mix of Star Wars News comes nest with rumors of a young black woman being cast for the Han Solo movie who may be Sana Solo from the comics, the penultimate issue of the Darth Vader comic series, and the potential casting for in-suit-Vader for Rogue One. The hosts speculate whether or not Hayden Christenson would reprise his role but it seems unlikely. The discussion tangents into a grab bag of Star Wars discussion from parody videos, and Mace Windu’s screaming after getting his hand cut off.
George brings up Supergirl and Superman news starting with the documentary on the failed Tim Burton Superman Movie, The Death of Superman. The documentary was written and directed by Kevin Smith who is directing an upcoming episode of Supergirl. Anthony brings up his doubt that Superman and Lois could conceive due to his unique Kryptonian physiology. The discussion descends into wild speculation about the many bodily fluids excreted by the Man of Steel.
George brings us back on track and asks the hosts about how they feel about Kevin Smith’s taking the reigns for an episode of Supergirl. Overall the response is positive with each host offering similar opinions on their expectations. Will and Ross bring up Smith’s early work in film as comparison specifically Clerks and Mall Rats.
The Hosts continue with Superman for a little while touching on the latest rumors about his appearance in Justice League as well as the events of Convergent and the many Super-people in existence. The hosts also go in depth about Superman’s Mullet from the 90’s. Justice League speculation follows.
Ross changes subjects with the news announcing the surviving cast of the 60’s Batman TV series will return for an animated Batman feature, Return of the Caped Crusader. Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Numar will reprise their roles for the movie. Our hosts are excited for the movie and look forward to watching. The Hosts take a moment to remember the cast who passed away before looking at the rest of the info for the film.
The final topic for the show is the antics of Jared Leto following the release of Suicide Squad. George delves into the topic highlighting his eccentric personality in relation to his recent comments by Leto. The Actor said he felt “Tricked” into the role due to the many scenes featuring his character cut from the film. The scenes in question are very Joker/Harley focused featuring the more abusive and dysfunctional aspects of their relationship.
Ross brings up a last minute topic detailing the recent efforts Blizzard made to improve the community in their games, in particular, Overwatch. After going banning thousands of accounts due to cheating the developer is cracking down on tolls, replacing known taunts in chat with embarrassing messages sent to all players. For example, GGEZ(Good Game Easy) is replaced with “I feel so small, Hold me”
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