Best of 2024 | Secret Santa

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello. [00:00:00] Speaker B: Ho ho. And welcome to the Geeky Brummy podcast as our wrap up for 2024 happens. Joining me today as always is Lee Price. [00:00:08] Speaker C: Hello. [00:00:09] Speaker B: Ms. Keith Bloomfield over there on the far end. [00:00:11] Speaker D: Ho, ho, ho. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Mr. Matt Lovell. [00:00:14] Speaker A: Hello. [00:00:15] Speaker B: And Mr. Sam Pro. [00:00:16] Speaker D: Hello. [00:00:16] Speaker B: Sam Price. Sam Price. No, Sam Edwards. I think I'd know your name after now. You can tell we've all been on the festive. Cheers. How are, how the devil are we all drying out? It's a very damp day outside. [00:00:32] Speaker E: Today I'm composing a letter to George Lucas for him to go back and like re edit every Christmas movie ever made and remove the snow and replace it with torrential rain and wind just to make it a little bit more realistic. [00:00:46] Speaker B: Does feel like it's going that way at the moment. So coming up today, we're going to be looking back across the year of 2024. Its highlights, its lowlights mainly highlights. And what we've really liked across the year. I'll have our regular one geek thing and it's also time for Geeky Memory Secret Santa. But we'll see you shortly. So 2024 has been a bit of tumultuous year in the world of, well, the world. Politics hasn't been fun. Lots of other things going on, the death of Twitter, a few other things. But we thought we'd look back at some of the highlights, some of the stuff we really enjoyed across 2024. And I'm going to pick Sam to start us off. [00:01:46] Speaker D: Okay. Well, it's been quite a good year for films, I think, and there's a few in particular that I really particularly enjoyed, I think not just because they were great films but because I didn't really. I either didn't know what to expect or I didn't think I was going to like them going into them and they just completely blew me away. So a couple to run through very quickly, kneecap about the Irish hip hop band. I genuinely thought I was going to hate that from the trailer. It didn't look like my sort of thing at all. It was one of the funniest comedies of the year, really. Likable characters, fun music, but also quite a strong political message in the background about the preservation of dying language in Irish. Yeah, Irish. So that thoroughly enjoyed. [00:02:47] Speaker B: It's slightly kind of almost unmocumentary because they are a real life band as well at the same time, aren't they? [00:02:53] Speaker D: Yes, yeah, yeah. It's not really shot in a documentary kind of style, but yeah, they are a real life band. It's stuff that they've genuinely experienced. So, yeah, if you didn't catch that. Sorry, didn't catch that at the cinema. I definitely recommend looking out for it. Another one, which I think is still out in a few cinemas at the moment is Anora, which I'd heard good things about before I saw it, but I wasn't quite ready for just how good it was. It's basically about a sex worker in New York who falls for a Russian son of an oligarch. So very, very wealthy guy. They have this kind of whirlwind romance. She was sort of assigned to him because she speaks Russian, but they end up falling for each other. They elope, get married in Vegas and then his parents find out and do not approve and they send the heavies around to basically force them to get the marriage annulled. And as soon as the henchmen turn up, it just becomes one of the funniest things I've seen before. It's really, really well acted. All the characters in there are kind of really likable, but also horrible in their own special way. Yeah, as I say, I think the Mockingbird is still showing it, but if you do miss it, I'm sure it'll be on streaming soon and again, really, really recommend that. But I think the film that really stands out for me is the top one of the year was. I think it was actually the first film of the week from when I started doing the film roundups. And it's all of Us Strangers, which was released in January, cruelly snubbed at the Oscars. It absolutely should have won or at least been nominated for something. It's basically about a writer called Sorry Writer, played by Andrew Scott, who moves into an apartment block and falls in love with a guy who's also there as one of his neighbours. But he's also suffering from writer's block. So to try and get past that, he goes to visit the house that he grew up in where his parents died when he was very young. But somehow his parents are at the house when he turns up. It's never really explained how they're there, but he reconnects with them. It's really, really beautiful. Saw it nearly, nearly a year ago and I'm already still struggling to talk about it without welling up. I've, yeah, never cried so much at a film in the cinema, to the point where I had to go grocery shopping afterwards and I was trying not to make eye contact with people because I genuinely thought they might come and make sure I'M okay. Just really. Yeah, beautiful, beautiful ending. Absolutely emotionally devastating. Incredible performances from Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, who plays the neighbour. And yeah, I believe it's on streaming now. So 100, if you didn't see that, really, really recommend that. [00:06:23] Speaker B: All three films I haven't had a chance to watch this year, so all stuff I want to go and watch now. [00:06:28] Speaker E: Kneecap is on Amazon prime at the moment, so if you got Amazon prime, you could catch an ecamm there. [00:06:34] Speaker B: Awesome. Thank you. Lee. How about yourself? [00:06:37] Speaker C: Okay, so, God, it's so hard to come up with a Game of the year sometimes when there's been so many, like, great games that have come out. So, like Sam, I'm going to do like some honorable mentions before I get to the Game of the year. So we've got Pacific Drive, which somehow a survival roguelike ended up on my Games of the Year list simply because it had a car in it. Basically it's very weird. Like you're kind of going out into the Pacific Exclusion Zone. It's full of like, weird anomalies and stuff. And your only Protection is a 1970s station wagon that's falling apart quite literally. And you have to basically, like, in between, like, runs into this area, you have to basically rebuild the car and upgrade the car to make it like, less capable, less vulnerable, Less vulnerable, you know, less likely to fall apart. And yeah, that managed to hook me. And I reviewed it for work and then realized, hang on a minute, I'm still thinking about this game months later. Maybe I should have given it a nine, not an eight. Then we've got Tekken 8, which has been like, pretty much on regular rotation since the came out in January. It's just a really fun fighting game to sort of jump into on a regular basis. And its story mode is just absolutely ridiculous, just anime nonsense all the way through. And they've added more to it since when they added hey, Hachi as dlc because turns out he's not dead after all. [00:08:11] Speaker B: That man has got to be nearing the top of the not dead list. [00:08:15] Speaker C: Yeah, and that's that story mode features him headbutting a meteor that's coming down to Earth, and he stops it from destroying the Earth by headbutting it. So that's what you're in for. [00:08:29] Speaker E: There's some dubious science there. [00:08:33] Speaker C: And also it helps cure his amnesia as well in the process. And then there's Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which just kind of took what is already one of the sort of greatest RPGs ever made and just Kind of expanded on pretty much everything. So much great character stuff going on in that game. And just like the way that they've kind of taken this kind of what was like just a green map and built it into an actual world full of like NPCs and characters and they put little extra settlements, things like that here and there. Just a really sort of big expensive thing. My main critique of it is that the final boss is like four hours long and if you die you have to do it all over again. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Sounds like a jrpg for the 90s. [00:09:27] Speaker C: But it was a tough decision. But my game of the year is Astrobot. It is just pure joy. It has been constantly described as somehow Sony made a Nintendo game because it is just Mario Galaxy and it's got all the stuff you'd sort of expect from that sort of Mario platformer. So lots of very imaginative levels. You get all these different power ups that do different things that sort of really add lots of extra gameplay dimensions and stuff. There's a level where you get to like grow and shrink Astro to the size of a mouse and kind of go into small spaces and then kind of you can use it to sort of like go into things and then grow again and break whatever you're inside of. There's levels where like he becomes a sponge so you can like distribute water by just kind of sucking it up into yourself and then throwing it around is. And just like so many great little imaginative things going on in there. Lots of different levels. And of course just the fact that it's also just a big celebration of PlayStation and at times does kind of Sony kind of shot themselves in the foot a bit because it kind of just highlights how little they do this stuff as much these days that you know, some of the stuff you get in there, like you've got all the weird puzzle games that are represented from the PS1 era and sort of just some of the like little games like Puppeteer and stuff like that. They don't really do anything like these days. And it just is kind of a reminder that like PlayStation did used to be kind of more fun. So. But it just like it was like a real close tie between especially those sort of last three of like what was going to be game of the year. But I kind of ultimately went with Astro just because it's just that much fun. [00:11:20] Speaker B: That's kind of a love PlayStation and the 30 year history that we just hit this year. So it's quite weird to think that the PlayStation is 30 years old. [00:11:29] Speaker C: I mean the great Thing is that they are celebrating it currently by having the PS1 startup. Whenever you turn on the PS5 now, it just as soon as you turn it on, it does the PS1 startup. And I'm just like, this is amazing. [00:11:44] Speaker B: Awesome. [00:11:44] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:11:46] Speaker B: Matt, how about yourself? You're not allowed to say Dota 2 always Dota 2. [00:11:54] Speaker A: I mean, it's, it's hyper local, but I really enjoyed returning Birmingham Anime Film Festival. I know it's shameless plug, but it's. Obviously we had our first year last year and that went down really well. And I think this year we just. It just went bigger and better. I think even though I wasn't, I was unfortunately not able to make it the outdoor screen of the Boy and the Heron Burn Botanical Gardens. I remember we did my neighbor Totoro the year before and that was just, you know, really magical. So I know that went down really well and I think it's just nice to have Birmingham as a city. It's kind of got almost like a bit of an underbelly in terms of geek culture. And I think what we did with Birmingham Film Festival, it really brings that out to play and it was really nice. I think one of my favorite highlights was seeing a lot of people who are 30s, 40s bringing their children to come and see some of the classic films and then having the kids leave the cinema. Like, wow, what was that? You know, kind of thing? So it's just seeing, seeing it generationally passed down and that kind of thing. So, yeah, I'd probably say that's a big. That's a big highlight for me. [00:13:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it was, it was really good fun this year because we kind of went away from like the standard Ghibli and even Makoto Shinkai is probably a bigger name now in anime. We tried to mix it up. We tried to pick some stuff that you never have seen before or stuff that hasn't been seen on the screen for 20, 30 years. And I think that's part of the fun of it. I mean, we can't say enough about the amazingness of the Mockingbird and the Macca's venues and David and Lee and all the teams there who collaborate and help us put this on. And it's. It's always kind of. It's become a weird highlight. You know, I'm always dead by the end of it because it's just a lot of running around, I think. And without these guys, nothing would have happened. We would have not been able to introduce all the films, tell you about how we picked them, etc. I mean, Viv in the background, who you never see on screen, she does so much organization and support. It wouldn't run without it. But it was a really fun year and I think it was. It's definitely going to happen again in 2025, which is good to know. But yeah, it's just being able to bring people together who never ever put together into an anime audience. And all these people from around the Midlands, not just Birmingham, who get a chance to come and see something on the screen that they've never seen before. It's such a good kind of magical, fun way of doing things. It's really nice and warming at the end of it to like have the. We. We put something on and people really enjoyed it and we got to see. [00:14:49] Speaker A: A music video being filmed. [00:14:51] Speaker B: Yes. We're not officially allowed to talk about that still, but if you do watch back the podcast episode where it's been recorded outside the Bucket Bird, you might see a famous kind of stunt Birmingham based performer in the background at some point. But yeah, no, thank you. Keith, how about yourself? [00:15:14] Speaker E: I'm gonna wildly jump around a little bit because obviously this year was Godzilla's 70th anniversary. [00:15:19] Speaker C: So a lot of interesting, say the entire back catalogue of Godzilla movies, you. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Gotta say each different era. [00:15:27] Speaker E: So there's been a lot of interesting stuff for Godzilla in all kinds of media. And it was great that they re released Godzilla -1 about months ago. Yeah. So it made that people could see an actual Godzilla movie rather than the American one which was out last year, which was this year, which was mostly a King Kong movie. Godzilla was just a guest star. But in terms of comics, there's been loads of great comics out this year. Tom King, writer, he had a title called Animal Pound, which is a reworking of Animal Farm, which was great. I loved it. Five issue series that was just brilliant and didn't hide its kind of Mickey take of current American politics which kind of also works across the globe. Then he did a series called Helen of Windhorn, which was kind of an old school fantasy with Billquis Evely, who is one of the best artists out there at the moment. Her work is very reminiscent of things like Charles Vess, I think she was one. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Was it Supergirl? [00:16:25] Speaker E: She did Supergirl World Tomorrow, which is going to be adapted by James Gunn and his team for the new dcu. She'd done the Dreaming, which was the return of Sandman a while back for DC as well. Her artwork's beautiful. It was kind of like a pulp Fantasy set in the kind of like post war period. It was beautiful book that's coming back at some point in the Future. I believe 2000 AD has been firing on all cylinders recently. Some great dread stories, some stuff where real important stuff goes down. There was a double page spread earlier in the year. When I turned the page it was like real intake of breath because you thought oh my God, they've actually done that. And they brought back Rogue Trooper as well. More in a way more similar to where his first appearances in the 80s. So for me it's been feeling really retro and cool. You know, really good series is in there. But my favorite thing is bizarrely is a comic studio that I didn't really know of before. They've celebrated their 10th anniversary this year and it's Mad Cave Studios which I discovered because they put out a Gachaman book this year which has just finished its first story arc. They've done a couple of spin off titles as well that highlighted on Ken and June and they also did a Galactor Me series as well. But they've been putting out books with Flash Gordon, Defense of the Earth and loads of other titles. And I just can't believe I've not heard of them before this year. And their rota of titles has been really, really enjoyable. They feature on Global Comics which is an app I discovered this year as well. So if you can't get the books physically because I think because of the way the distribution model works, it's often tricky for local comic shops to get books in if you're not specifically ordering them, particularly out of the big two publishers. So you could get a lot of those books on Global Comics app. You can sign up for a year. It's relatively cheap. But yeah, I just can't believe that I'd never heard of Mad Cave before. And then suddenly, you know, they've got four or five of my favorite books running at the moment. So check out Mad Cave Studios. [00:18:33] Speaker B: It's really nice kind of hyper, hyper vibrant art style. They've gone with the Gachaman books as well. [00:18:39] Speaker E: Yeah, it's brilliant. It's kind of like if you're a fan of the Battle of the Planets series, it kind of has enough of that in it because it's like Science Team Ninja. The is more in tune with the original kind of Japanese series and stuff. But it's. There's enough in there and the art's just, just great. It kind of really riffs off that kind of cartoon style. And there's been a big resurgence in that kind of bringing back idw do a whole series of Saturday morning cartoon where they've done turtles, they've done Dungeons and Dragons, they've done he man and they've done quite a lot of things. So that kind of. I think a lot of us are at a certain age where we're kind of like going, yeah, I remember all these great cartoon series and stuff. So it's. It's cashing in on that kind of retro nostalgia vibe. [00:19:25] Speaker B: Awesome. Thank you. So for me, I've gone with three TV series. We've got one major TV series, but a couple of ones I just want to give a mention to. One of those is Interior Chinatown, which my lovely other half put me onto. This is written by Charles Yu. It's based on his book starring Jimmy Oyang, Ronny Cheng, Chloe Bennett, who you might remember From Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. a while ago, Sullivan Jones, Lisa Gilroy. But it's absolutely fantastic shot. Set in around late 80s, early 90s with the vibe of the way it's done. But it's basically Jimmy Oyang plays a character called Willis Wu, who's a background character stuck in a police procedural drama. And then he witnesses a crime happening and then he starts investigating and he basically gets. Keeps getting promoted through the cast, like a regular occurrence, like one of the main cast. It's kind of really weirdly dealt with. So you don't know what's reality, what's part of Chinatown, what's part of this police procedural. It's. It's really interesting shot. It's kind of. You can tell when it flips between the two kind of universes within the show. It's absolutely fantastic. It's great to see Jimmy O. Yang doing a bit of drama because he's always been known for his comedy roles. He's known from Silicon Valley where he played Jin Yang, Ronny Cheng as well, who we and Viv discovered many years ago in Ronny Cheng, international student, but people can know him from crazy rich and stuff like that. It's a really fantastic show. It's great to see Chloe Bennett back. I think that's currently on Disney plus streaming. It's one series, 10 episodes. Go watch it. It's amazing. You'll really enjoy it. And if you've got any interesting kind of police procedures or the way that TV is made, I think you'll kind of really enjoy the weird kind of dichotomy between the two worlds that he flits in between other TV series with Shogun. So absolutely brilliant show on effects in the States and think it's announced. [00:21:17] Speaker E: Disney. [00:21:17] Speaker B: Disney. Disney as well. Over here. Based on the book from James Clavell, starring Harry Yuki Sanada, who people could probably know from John Wick, Bullet Train. Anything where a Japanese man with a really distinguished voice needs to top up with. [00:21:30] Speaker C: He was also in the original ring. [00:21:32] Speaker B: It's also in the original ring. Yes. Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai. It's one of my favorite books. It was a book that I read about 10, 15 years ago. It's a tome of a book, but it's a really good book. And James Clavell does these fantastical historical dramas. There was a ver made in the. [00:21:48] Speaker E: 70S, I believe, with Richard Chamberlain, which is actually pretty good. [00:21:52] Speaker B: Really pretty good. But this is kind of upping the violence, upping the kind of turning into modern world. It's a little bit terrible phrase, but Game of Thrones, like, but set in historical Japan. I think it won 18 categories at the Emmys across the Creative Emmys and the Primetime Emmy Awards. So it's absolutely fantastic. If you've not watched it, go and watch it now. [00:22:14] Speaker C: I can vouch for how good it is. I rarely watch TV shows and the fact that I've watched the whole thing. [00:22:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:20] Speaker C: Is a testament how good it is. [00:22:22] Speaker B: It is a fantastic show. Hiroyuki Sanada just steals every single scene that he turns up in. He is the best person they could have picked to play Tokugawa. I can't really. It was amazing. I think it's coming back for another season because they haven't done the whole book, mainly because it is like this thing. So keep your eyes peeled for that one. But my TV series of the year is going to be a video game adaptation. A lot of video game adaptation TV shows came out. [00:22:48] Speaker C: I was trying to remember what's the really bad one and I can't remember. It's not Yakuza, is it? [00:22:53] Speaker B: There's also. There's also Secret Level, apparently that's been panned critically. [00:22:57] Speaker C: I took one look at the trailer for that and I just went, I'm not watching this. [00:23:01] Speaker B: And there's also been Arcane Season 2, which Sam talked about. [00:23:05] Speaker C: That one at least people have enjoyed. [00:23:08] Speaker D: Yes. [00:23:09] Speaker B: But I am going for Fallout, which on Amazon prime, which kind of came out of left field because Fallout's been in a bit of a rough patch for a while with launch of Fallout 76 didn't go great. Fallout 4 was solid, but it's been a long time since that came out. So I don't think many people were expecting much from the TV series, but it's absolutely fantastic. Ella panel is amazing. Walton Goggins just deserves every single accolade that gets thrown at him. Great to see Colin Cloughlan back on TV as well. But the entire cast. I really, really enjoyed it. It's really good take. It's captured the humor of the game, which is weirdly, violently. Slapstick is probably the best way to describe it. It is gory as hell. It's not nice to watch certain things happen, but it's hilarious to watch them happen at the same time. I can't really think of a better show that I just sat there and I watched episode after episode after episode and just went, this is fantastic. This is just amazing. And everything is on a curveball as well. Nothing happens the way you think it's gonna happen. Really nice finish. And they're already recording season two at the moment, so I'm really looking forward to seeing that one. [00:24:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it was funny when it came out because everyone was like, oh, between this and the Last of Us, maybe video game adaptations are good again. And then Borderlands came out. [00:24:30] Speaker B: I forgot that came out this year. I think we talked about the fruit for half an hour about just how bad it was. [00:24:38] Speaker C: But yeah, I have seen the first episode of Fallout and it. I really enjoyed that episode. I do. What I do intend to watch the rest of it just on the basis of that. [00:24:46] Speaker B: It is just pure hilarity in a really sick and twisted kind of Fallout way. [00:24:51] Speaker C: And as considering I've never played any of the games. [00:24:53] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, and it's got so many, well, talking of the game, so many little references like the junk jet weapon and things like that. If you played Fallout, they've actually taken care and attention to do things properly. They've not just taken the license and just slapped it on some generic, generic, post apocalyptic adventure. [00:25:13] Speaker D: But also speaking as someone who hasn't played the games, I thoroughly enjoyed it as well. It doesn't overwhelm you with Easter eggs or anything that you're just sitting there thinking, I don't know what it is. [00:25:23] Speaker E: They just made a good TV show. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a good TV show. And it's a good adaptation as well. Which is a rare thing nowadays to find is good TV adaptation. [00:25:33] Speaker C: And I think like, as someone sort of in between, as someone who's like, not played the games but is aware of a lot of the iconography and stuff that was stuff that I reckon recognized in it. [00:25:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:25:40] Speaker C: That, you know, I can see where they got this wrong. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Fallout Boy. New Camp. Yeah, yeah. Nuka Cola. All those kind of little things. Pip Boy. Sorry, not Fall Out Boy. That's the band. [00:25:52] Speaker C: Well, it's, it's, it's Radioactive Man's sidekick in the Simpsons. [00:25:57] Speaker B: But yeah, I think all three of them are really worth your time if you have time to go and watch them. [00:26:03] Speaker D: Cool. [00:26:03] Speaker B: So to recap where we were, Sam. [00:26:07] Speaker D: All of us strangers. Took me a second. [00:26:10] Speaker C: Lee, Astropop. [00:26:11] Speaker A: Matt, Birmingham Anime Film Festival. [00:26:14] Speaker E: Keith, comic publisher, Mad Cave Studios. [00:26:16] Speaker B: And for me, Fallout. Kind of an old feature that we used to a while ago, but in a completely different guise. This is Poundland Secret Sunter. So we all had a budget. It's a different kind of tat challenge this year. £5. Go to your local pound shop. Dig out an item or items to the value of five pounds to distribute to a colleague. We all randomly been selected by a generator that Matt set us for. So I'm just going to dig in and find presents for people. So let's start off with this one. Ah, this one's to me. And this one. [00:26:57] Speaker E: How did that happen? [00:26:59] Speaker B: It was just the one on top. So it is an induction robot, I'm assuming flies. It's very cool. Turbo gears warning. This toy produces flashes that may trigger seizures for individuals with photosensitive epilepsy. [00:27:23] Speaker C: Good morning. [00:27:24] Speaker B: Message. Well, there is a lot of detail on this. Look at the size of the writing. [00:27:33] Speaker E: But they know nobody's actually ever going to read it. [00:27:36] Speaker B: Not suitable for children under 36 months. Do not use in an air conditioned room. Always switch off your products. Do not float near your face. Do not touch the rotating parella. Keep away from hair and clothes by air conditioned room. [00:27:51] Speaker D: Does it mean one with a low ceiling fan? [00:27:53] Speaker B: Yes. Do not start the robot if there are people or animals within flight range. [00:27:59] Speaker E: How do you know any of that? How about you know it's flight ranges until you flew in? [00:28:04] Speaker B: This looks incredibly fun. Thank you very much. [00:28:08] Speaker E: We need to. You need to open that up and make it fly because that's a. That's something that I'm just not. I'm not happy. [00:28:15] Speaker D: Yeah, there are people within the rules. [00:28:21] Speaker E: And I thought you almost said don't. Not to be used by children under 36 years. [00:28:25] Speaker B: It also says only use the USB C, USB 2 cable that it came with. And I can't see a cable. So there is no charging cable. But it says to use the cable. There we go. [00:28:37] Speaker E: It's escaped. [00:28:38] Speaker B: Yes. [00:28:39] Speaker E: How do you make it work? Where's the remote? [00:28:42] Speaker B: There isn't a remote. There is just A. Oh, does it. [00:28:45] Speaker E: Just do its own on switch? Oh, God. [00:28:48] Speaker B: And it has no power. [00:28:49] Speaker D: It's flashing. [00:28:50] Speaker E: It's doing something. [00:28:51] Speaker B: Oh. [00:28:56] Speaker E: Can we see it? We can't really see it on camera. I mean, how. How do you know when it's going to fly? This seems like a trap. [00:29:04] Speaker C: Well, it's, it's. [00:29:05] Speaker D: Does it say. [00:29:08] Speaker E: The fact you've got no control over it just seems like. [00:29:11] Speaker B: There is just one switch on the back. Lee will confirm this. Yes, there is just on or off? [00:29:16] Speaker E: This is a toy that's going to send you to A and E, isn't it? [00:29:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:29:20] Speaker C: Oh, God. [00:29:23] Speaker E: How do you stop it? [00:29:27] Speaker C: You have to get under the propeller and turn it off. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Thank you for this. This beautiful piece of weaponry that. [00:29:36] Speaker E: Brian's already been to hospital enough. [00:29:40] Speaker B: This year. Right, I'm going to go next one along from Secret Santa. No name. [00:29:50] Speaker E: Yeah. Because maybe that person didn't know and wasn't clever. So if you know that, then you know. I don't know. [00:30:01] Speaker B: We'll leave that one to it. [00:30:03] Speaker E: Yeah, that's it. Work it out from a process of elimination. Like Sherlock Holmes. [00:30:08] Speaker B: This one is for Viv. Get off camera. Pass it around, pass it round. [00:30:14] Speaker E: Stop the music. Oh, that's a way. Tea. How do we do the reveal of that one? [00:30:28] Speaker B: Viv, if you want to shout out what you've got. [00:30:30] Speaker E: I can, I can do. I can do this. You see, there's a. There's an off camera voice here. [00:30:35] Speaker C: I have the panel version of Toblero. [00:30:39] Speaker E: Known as Twin Peak. [00:30:42] Speaker B: Very nice reference. [00:30:44] Speaker E: So, yeah, Twin Peaks chocolate. [00:30:47] Speaker C: Okay. [00:30:48] Speaker B: Which always gets me. How do they get that licensing out? [00:30:52] Speaker E: Some more chy. More chy. Jeez, this is. This is a good gift. More chucky. [00:30:59] Speaker C: Quality street, the purple one. [00:31:06] Speaker E: And more chucky. [00:31:07] Speaker C: Chalk Nibbles Birthday cake. [00:31:11] Speaker D: Thank you. There we go. Give that back to him. Yeah. [00:31:20] Speaker E: That won't last more than about two minutes. [00:31:22] Speaker A: It's even got the Twin Peaks font, hasn't it? [00:31:26] Speaker E: If you eat that, you end up wrapped in plastic. [00:31:30] Speaker B: It looks like a very lynching chocolate ball. [00:31:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:31:33] Speaker B: Next one along on the list is Matt. [00:31:41] Speaker A: Do some asmr. So we've got some Christmas ducks. Very, very good. Very, very handy one's Christmas tree one Santa. [00:31:58] Speaker B: The Christmas tree looks. One looks very disturbing. [00:32:02] Speaker E: Wait for Matt's Instagram feed when he's having a bath and he's got those in his bath. [00:32:10] Speaker A: Our next one is Quality street theme. [00:32:13] Speaker D: Again. [00:32:14] Speaker A: We've got the mint matchmakers and the hazelnut matchmakers. And it's very Nostalgic, because we would always have mint matchmakers and my family Christmases. [00:32:23] Speaker D: So. Thank you. [00:32:25] Speaker B: Never seen hazelnut matchmakers before? [00:32:28] Speaker D: No. No. [00:32:31] Speaker B: Right. The back end of the sack. Sam, I believe these are yours. [00:32:45] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:32:47] Speaker E: So this has worked out quite well. [00:32:54] Speaker D: Nice. We've got. Oh, blimey. There's loads of stuff in this one. A headlight and a mini glue gun that's going to come in really handy when I do my midnight glueing under the covers. [00:33:12] Speaker E: Under the du Ray. [00:33:13] Speaker D: Yes. The. Yeah. Glue gun is something that I do sometimes think I should. I should get myself a glue gun because I do a lot of, like, fancy dressmaking and stuff, so that's going to come in really handy. And headlight, possibly handy for running, which I was doing quite a bit of last month as a Movember challenge. And I've very deliberately not done this morning because it's no longer November. But I will take that as a good experience. [00:33:39] Speaker E: It's a new superhero identity as he runs along with his headlight. Super gluey glue guny things. I am Captain Glue Gun. [00:33:47] Speaker B: We've still got one more to come, so. [00:33:49] Speaker D: Yeah, I've got. Also got is a cape. [00:33:53] Speaker C: Oh. [00:33:53] Speaker D: Hobby knife kit that is also handy both for superheroing and for crafting. And it. Yeah, it's a. It's got, like, detachable blades with different shapes. So handy for all sorts of hobbying stuff. So that'll be good for making costumes and also for warhammery stuff. So. [00:34:14] Speaker B: And for running at night, just in case. [00:34:17] Speaker D: Just in case. It is Birmingham. [00:34:18] Speaker E: I think on the back it will say, do not run with these. [00:34:21] Speaker D: Yeah, brilliant. Lovely. Thank you very much, whoever that was. [00:34:24] Speaker C: Cool. [00:34:25] Speaker B: So we're down to two gifts. I'm assuming one is for. [00:34:31] Speaker E: That must be for Lee. And the other one, which is very fortuitous. [00:34:35] Speaker B: And this one must be for you. [00:34:42] Speaker E: Groot was not happy about that. Is he gonna go first? [00:34:46] Speaker C: I'll go first, yeah. Let's see. Oh, mystery monster pins. D and D. I'm very curious as to what's in here. It is. Oh, no. [00:35:08] Speaker B: Oh, he's definitely blows me. [00:35:18] Speaker C: Suspense. It is a beholder. It's actually a very good pin. [00:35:24] Speaker B: It's one of the better monsters as well. [00:35:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:35:26] Speaker E: Is that going to go on your bag? [00:35:27] Speaker C: That is almost certainly going to go on my bag. [00:35:30] Speaker B: Awesome. [00:35:31] Speaker C: Because, like, that thing is getting. My bag is just going to get covered, but yeah. Thank you. That is. That is actually really good. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:40] Speaker E: Keith, I'm gonna have to give Matt the microphone so I can make A noise. I don't. I don't like the fact that this feels like crockery. That is just asking. [00:35:50] Speaker B: Is it the return of the Ken DOD mug. [00:35:59] Speaker E: For the audience? [00:36:02] Speaker A: It's. [00:36:03] Speaker E: It's just tissue paper. Okay, so we've got a Amazing Spider man mug. A Beyond Amazing Spider man mug, that is. Although he's got quite a cool face. [00:36:16] Speaker C: Yeah. I feel like you were showing that back of it when you've got, like, a molded face. [00:36:20] Speaker A: Yes. [00:36:22] Speaker E: Which might be a bit weird to drink out of, but there's a second one. [00:36:26] Speaker C: I don't see anything wrong with drinking out of Spider Man's head. [00:36:29] Speaker A: Spider Man's head. [00:36:31] Speaker B: I think Dr. Doom has done that on many occasions. [00:36:35] Speaker E: I mean, slightly Dilbert y looking. I mean, I don't know if there's a similarity there. [00:36:44] Speaker B: If you went for round glasses, I could paint a little goatee on him. [00:36:48] Speaker D: It doesn't look like it wants painting a face on it. Yeah. [00:36:52] Speaker E: So, yeah, that's awesome in a strange way. [00:36:58] Speaker C: Right. [00:36:59] Speaker B: Shall we guess who we've got then? Let's start with you, Keith. Who do you think got yours? [00:37:09] Speaker E: Okay, I'm gonna guess. I'm gonna guess wildly. Guess. I'm gonna guess Sam. [00:37:14] Speaker D: You would be wrong. [00:37:15] Speaker E: Oh, okay. I'm not gonna guess a second time. I just want one shot. Otherwise, I'm just wiggling it down. [00:37:23] Speaker B: Are they going to reveal themselves or should we keep guessing? [00:37:26] Speaker E: Do you want them? Should we all guess and then if. [00:37:27] Speaker C: We get it wrong. [00:37:30] Speaker B: Cool. Matt, do you want to guess? [00:37:32] Speaker A: Oh, who does? My present. [00:37:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:34] Speaker A: Well, the fact that we, me and Sam, both have the same page. I'm going to use my detective skills, and I'm going to say Ryan or Viv. [00:37:45] Speaker B: You got to choose one. [00:37:46] Speaker A: Okay, I'm going to say Viv, I've killed him. [00:37:51] Speaker E: Sorry. [00:37:52] Speaker C: Yes, it was me. [00:37:55] Speaker D: Well, I'm gonna say Ryan. In that case, thank you, Viv. [00:38:01] Speaker E: Can I guess again now? [00:38:03] Speaker B: No. No, you can't guess again. Viv. Who do you think you got yours? I think mine was from Sam. [00:38:09] Speaker D: You are correct. [00:38:12] Speaker B: This really narrows the fill down for Luke. [00:38:15] Speaker C: I mean, it also kind of helps that, like, when I got here, Keith put it on the table right in front of me, so. [00:38:25] Speaker E: But I could have been carrying it on behalf of somebody else. [00:38:27] Speaker C: So when we were deciding, like, who, like, it was for, and it was down to me and you, and I was like, well, I saw you bring that one in, so that's almost certain. [00:38:39] Speaker E: It's like a Professor Layton puzzle. [00:38:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:42] Speaker B: So who have we had Draw so far. So this. This brings it down to two people, I think, for me, which is. So I'm assuming this is from yourself, Lee. Yes, it is. The greatest piece of weaponry ever revealed on the Geeky Brumry Show. Let's see if it takes. [00:39:01] Speaker E: Oh, God. Here he goes. [00:39:03] Speaker A: Oh. [00:39:09] Speaker B: One moment to call it. Still trying to fly. [00:39:17] Speaker C: Your arm. [00:39:18] Speaker D: Oh, God. [00:39:19] Speaker B: Oh, God. [00:39:22] Speaker E: How does it know when to fly? Oh, it. [00:39:25] Speaker B: I think it waits till it's on a flat surface and then it tries to go in. I'm turning it off before one of us does get actually garotted by it. [00:39:33] Speaker A: Seriously injured. [00:39:36] Speaker C: Yeah. There's a story behind this, actually. So I went into my local Poundland in Longbridge, and I know that you've said that, like, this year, that you've expressed your love of Gundam, and there was a giant robot thing in there, and I was like, that would be perfect. It was nine pounds, but then that was next to it, as if it was its little brother. It's from the same range. And I was like, that's five pounds. I'll get that perfect. I'm sure you'll appreciate a deadly robot. Honestly, I think that one's more deadly than the bigger one. [00:40:14] Speaker B: It's great defense item for if you're at home. If anybody ever tries to just do home invade, turn that on and they'll get out there. That was good fun, Keith, do you want to guess again? [00:40:28] Speaker A: It was me. [00:40:29] Speaker E: It was Matt. Yeah. [00:40:31] Speaker A: Yeah. The. There wasn't really a lot of, like, actual, like, toys and stuff in Poundland. I went to the one in City center, which I was quite surprised about, but then that mug came up, and I had just enough change, like, left to get you a nice little plant pot. This little plant pot holder. [00:40:47] Speaker B: It's a Crest cress. I thought it was, like one of those handleless mugs. [00:40:52] Speaker C: I thought it was a very big egg cup. [00:40:59] Speaker E: Easter eggs. That's what. [00:41:01] Speaker B: Easter eggs. [00:41:02] Speaker E: Chocolate eggs. [00:41:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what tart. Thank you very much for all of our lovely gifts. [00:41:11] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:41:11] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:41:15] Speaker B: It is time for our regular feature, One Geek Thing. So something we've liked, watched, played with, listened to, enjoyed in some kind of geeky format since the last time we all got together. I'm going to start with Keith. [00:41:29] Speaker E: Okay. I'm gonna pick something which hopefully loads of people got in their Christmas stockings. It's been 30 years. Over 30 years since there has been one. [00:41:38] Speaker C: And it's the PlayStation One. [00:41:42] Speaker B: No, Uber. So it could be, I think. [00:41:48] Speaker E: 34 years since there was Last. There was the last one of these and it's the 2000 AD annual. The 2024 annual, basically. [00:42:00] Speaker C: 2024, yeah. [00:42:02] Speaker E: I don't know. [00:42:02] Speaker C: Sometimes they put up their name in the year after. [00:42:04] Speaker E: I don't know why. The strange thing is, but it's the 2000 AD annual. So it's a hardback book of some republished material. So they've got some stuff by Steve Dillon, Mike McMahon. [00:42:17] Speaker C: Oh, so it's not just Dread, it's. [00:42:19] Speaker E: Not just Judge Dredd? No, it's not just. And then a bunch of new strips as well by some of the new creators that are working out of 2080. So there's. There's a Dread, there's a Strontium Dog and then there's some backup stuff and you know, some text pieces and stuff. There is a exclusive webshop cover which is Brian Bolland, which is designed to look exactly like an old school to you know, a 1970s, 1980s old school 2000 AD annual. And then there's the kind of like regular one which is, is not, is nice, but it's not a Brian Bolland cover. Yeah, but it's great to have kind of these things. The treasury of British Comics did a anthology book last year and I think that was so successful they decided to do 2000 A.D. there is a. Another British treasury one as well which is more kind of across the board of old school British comics. So the kind of things that action, battle, action kind of scream, all that kind of stuff is in there. But it's great to have a 2000 adenial against brilliant. So like kind of over the Christmas holidays they do the 2000 AD 100 page special which comes out a couple of weeks before Christmas. But having an actual annual which is cool and it's not like Neighbors or Take that or whatever it is, having an actual comic one is kind of cool. So I did treat myself to one of these and it's, it's pretty cool. [00:43:37] Speaker B: Do you think it's a little bit of a response to like the. The 77? Because I know they do like an annual on Kickstarter. Yeah, that's kind of goes harks back to those early days of 2000 AD with the art style and the artists. They're ringing through and they've been really good and been great to been collecting them for a while now to have those. The 77 which is kind of harking back to those early 2008. [00:43:58] Speaker E: I think it's proof that there's a still a market for these kind of things. It's kind of like, you know, it's not massively expensive and it is the kind of thing that makes quite a good gift. So, you know, if you haven't had one for Christmas, then you can always spend your Christmas money on picking one up and I would recommend it. There is quite a lot of nice content in there. Awesome. [00:44:18] Speaker B: Fog returns. [00:44:19] Speaker E: He never went away. [00:44:22] Speaker B: Sam, how about yourself? [00:44:24] Speaker D: So I'm going to take a bit of a risk and talk about something that I haven't actually done yet, but I'm looking forward to. So next week, you and I, Ryan, we'll be going to Taskmaster the live experience. [00:44:36] Speaker C: Yes, I will be there as well. [00:44:38] Speaker D: Oh, yes. Ordering the tickets was a slightly manic experience. So I do sort of slightly lose track of who's actually coming. [00:44:49] Speaker B: Still got a bit of PTSD for the little bit. [00:44:51] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. They sort of released some early by ballot and I've managed to get on the ballot, but spotted I was on the ballot a day before the deadline for getting the. Getting the orders in through the ballot. So, yeah, was having to try and find as many people as I could to come with us. But, yeah, so there's a bunch of us going down to London to basically have a go at Taskmaster, which is something that I've been wanting to do for pretty much the entire time I've been watching the show. [00:45:27] Speaker B: So for the three people left in Britain who haven't had Taskmaster subjected to them either, it's me. [00:45:33] Speaker C: It's me. I'm going. And I've never seen Taskmaster. I just thought it sounds fun. [00:45:38] Speaker B: It's always on Dave or Channel 4. So it's one of those things, if you've not seen it on Dave or Channel 4. [00:45:44] Speaker D: So the TV show Taskmaster is the comedian Greg Davies. He's supported by comedian Alex Horn. And it's basically each season they take five celebrities. They're normally comedians. Every now and again, they sort of branch out a little bit and then they set them a series of tasks. They're mostly based in a particular house, but sometimes they'll go off site, sometimes they'll sort of put them into teams, but they're competing against each other to impress the taskmaster in such a way that they will get points and it all accumulates and there's a winner crowned at the end of each season. It's kind of fascinating to watch because you really do get to know all the contestants really well and they've all got a particular approach to things. So tasks are always Written on a piece of paper. They're not always completely descriptive. So people will find loopholes and ways to accomplish them. There's been things like Rod Gilbert digging up a hole that he was supposed to get something in so that he could move the hole closer to where he was allowed to throw something into it from and that sort of thing. So. And Al Murray, I think was a really interesting one. [00:47:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:06] Speaker D: Just paid for stuff every opportunity he had. Yeah. So it's, it's really entertaining. You really get to know people, really sort of become quite attached to them I think sometimes as well. And it's also very good at. There's normally one or two people on there that I don't recognize. I haven't really seen much before. So it gives them a much bigger platform. But yeah, it's very, very entertaining. And the sort of thing that you do watch and you think, I would have done it this way. Which I'm sure on the day is all going to completely go out of my head and I'll just be standing there trying to throw ping pong balls into a golf ball hole 10 meters away or something and failing miserably. [00:47:56] Speaker E: But are you going to get videoed doing this? Because I would like to see what you do with these tasks because there must be some record of it. Otherwise how does it work? [00:48:08] Speaker D: I'm not sure. [00:48:09] Speaker B: Why do you want to become taskmaster and judge? [00:48:14] Speaker E: It could be because that would be cool that you come away with your own little kind of video clip of it. [00:48:25] Speaker D: That would be cool. But I suspect they're not going to want people to know what the tasks are so that it's a surprise when they're going. I've got a feeling it does say you're not supposed to bring your phones in. [00:48:36] Speaker B: I think it's one of those where you have to put everything in a locker before you're allowed. [00:48:40] Speaker E: So we have no. So you can all come out and go, oh yeah, I stormed it. Brilliant. I got five points on everything with no evidence whatsoever. [00:48:47] Speaker D: Wicked. Then we'll keep each other honest. I'm sure. [00:48:53] Speaker B: I'm just really interested in seeing how long as patience lasts for things. For a little inane, annoying tasks. Because you know that somebody's gonna have a meltdown at least once a year. [00:49:04] Speaker E: Who's gonna be the Jack D? [00:49:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's gonna be fun. [00:49:08] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. Looking forward to that. [00:49:10] Speaker B: Thank you, Matt. How about yourself? [00:49:15] Speaker A: So I'm a low key theatre geek and my not so low key theatre geek friend got us tickets to go and see The Steps musical here and now at the Alex Theatre. And let me tell you, it is every bit. It's trash, but it's such good trash. And everyone is in on it, including the cast. And the whole premise is it's basically like a Savers or a Wilkinson's or something. It just follows people working in this retail store and they just cram in loads of Steps music. Steps numbers. Yeah. And it was brilliant. But it was also incredibly nostalgic because they. They do a lot of, like, steps references just in everything to do with, like, the aisles are like, they would 5, 6, 7, 8. And loads of different things. The font as well there. This shop is called Best by Bargains, but it's got the Steps font. Yeah, it was just really fun. And on the night that I went, Dame Judi Dench was there living her best steps life. [00:50:27] Speaker B: I was gonna say Steps the musical. You think they could probably get most Steps back to appear with that. [00:50:32] Speaker A: So they were. They cropped up every now and then. They went on stage every now and then. Not in the night I went. But I've seen other people who've been. And they've cropped up. But yeah, I would actually recommend people go because it's. It's just a bit of fun. It's obviously, if you like Steps, you're gonna like it. It's not really got much of a. [00:50:52] Speaker B: Plot, but if it's good enough for one of our greatest thespians of all time, Dave Dench, to go and watch the Steps musical. [00:50:59] Speaker E: Do you sing along? [00:51:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I sang along. [00:51:02] Speaker D: I think I mentioned this briefly last episode, but I did actually go and. [00:51:06] Speaker A: See it as well. [00:51:09] Speaker D: Daft is a brush and. Yeah. But by the end of it, everyone was on their feet singing along and. Yeah. [00:51:18] Speaker A: And it's just. It just feel good. And also the fact of, like, the cast know they're not in, like, Evita or something, they know it's just a bit of fun. So everyone's just having fun on stage and off stage. So, yeah, I would say if you want a good time, go see the musical. [00:51:35] Speaker B: Who would think that a bit of line dancing craze and then the mid-90s would set off a musical 30 years later? Lee, how about yourself? What have you been up to? [00:51:46] Speaker C: So over the past few weeks or so, I have been trying to cram in like as many, like 20, 24 games before the end of the year, and then ended up kind of latching onto Prince of the Lost Crown. So this is like the newest Prince of Persia game ish because there was like a weird roguelike that they did like in summer that I don't think anyone's really particularly aware of. But Lost Crown came out, I think January, February, sort of time, and no one bought it because they've like moved everyone on the team onto different projects at this point because Ubisoft are not going to do a sequel to it because barely anyone played it. Admittedly I bought it like within the last month or so, so I'm part of the problem. But yeah, it's. It's basically weirdly enough, you're not playing as the Prince of Persia. You're playing as like, you're playing as a guy called Sargon. He's a member of the immortals, basically like this sort of elite mercenary squad sort of in that sort of Persian era. And your task is to rescue the Prince of Persia who has been captured. And it's basically, it is a Metroidvania. So very similar, sort of like the Metroids and the Symphony of the Night and all this other stuff. So very much like, you know, you kind of going around in this sort of semi open area, but areas are locked off to you until you get certain abilities, that sort of thing. Can say that, like it takes way too long for them to give you the double jump because the amount of time in the game I was just like, could you give me this double jump? Because I kept seeing bits where I was like, I need to jump in the air. But yeah, it's actually really, really good. I think this is one of those things where I think the reason people didn't buy it is because of Ubisoft, which is understandable because I think Star wars outlaws are also undersold this year. [00:53:47] Speaker B: I think they're in a fair bit of financial trouble at the moment. [00:53:52] Speaker C: But, you know, I think the thing is if people want Ubisoft to do things that aren't just the same open world formula, they should be playing Lost Crown because it is nothing like a Ubisoft game as you'd expect. It is very solid Metroidvania. It's also just got surprisingly got like a really good story and lore behind it as well. Because you're in this sort of ancient city that's been kind of ravaged by this weird time curse where just times being all kind of weird and screwy and you keep sort of encountering characters before like you're supposed to and like the squad who came before you saying like, we've been trapped here for 30 years, but like you got there in Heir after them. So it's a lot of stuff like that going on. The Prince Sargon meets himself several times and fights himself several times. At one point, you fight two of him at the same time, which it's actually quite difficult, which is frustrating at times. There are times where I'm just like, God damn it, would you just let me do this thing? And even though the amount of times I've gotten annoyed at it, I'm still massively enjoying it. And I strongly recommend. [00:55:10] Speaker B: I think the problem is that Sands of Time trilogy is where most people are probably going to be attached to Prince of Persia. I know there was the 80s game going back to the original rotoscoped, beautiful version of it, but people think of Prince of Persia. Ubisoft did an amazing trilogy with that series, and I think people are still stuck on that one as their kind of view of how Prince of Persia works as a franchise. [00:55:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I think this is kind of like a nice bridge between those two different types of Prince of Persposia because, like, obviously one of the big things with the Sands of Time trilogy was the parkour, sort of all running across walls and doing all that sort of stuff. The movement in Lost Crown is really good. Like, you get a lot of good movement abilities. And as you get more and more stuff, like, it becomes even more enjoyable to move around the map because it just makes that it adds more and more of these, like, fun movement mechanics. So it obviously feels a lot like playing the original Sands of Time, but Obviously it's a 2D side scroller. So by that perspective, it's a lot more like the 1989 Prince of Persia. And I think as well, the challenge as well is probably closer to the Prince of Persia. Not quite as ridiculously cruel as the original Prince of Persia was, but it's. It's definitely got that challenge in there. So I think it just acts as nice bridge and it's a shame that it just hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. [00:56:36] Speaker E: Awesome. Thank you. [00:56:39] Speaker B: So I'm gonna be really lazy and pick the latest Star Wars TV series, which is the laziest thing ever to do. But it's absolutely. It's. Watch the first two episodes. At the time releases, only two episodes have come out. It's created by John Watson Christmas for Ward. So you're going to know John Watts from the Spider Man Homecoming trip, Homecoming, Far From Home, no Way Home, done a few other films around that. I think he did that wolf's film in 2020 this year as well. So it's that 2 assassin 1 with Brad Pitt, but yeah. And Christopher Ford as well, who I don't really know too much, but apparently he also did work on Spider Man Homecoming. Of course it's produced by the usual Jon Favreau, Dave Leni, double bill starring Jude Law, Ravi Cabot, Conyers Ryan, Kira Armstrong, Nick Frost. Isn't it as well. So. But it's, it's. [00:57:37] Speaker D: It's good fun. [00:57:39] Speaker B: It's just a good kind of hark back to 80s kid films. So like you think of stuff like the Goonies, like the Navigator, those kind of era of movies and they're just. It's. It's been fun for the first two episodes. It's been mild peril, but in an exciting way. And it hasn't happened to have the kind of doom and gloom that Star wars seems to have been stuck in the last few series and films. So it's kind of set around Mandalorian era. Not era. I'm not going to try and spoil too much, but kids find a spaceship basically and then go off on adventures. But it's nice to have something that's. Yeah. Not cataclysmic world ending every single series. Just have a story, let a story breathe. Let the kids be kids for a change. It's kind of. [00:58:32] Speaker C: I think you'll find they're called younglings. [00:58:34] Speaker B: Yes. No. Because none of the Force users. So they're officially not Jedis. But. Yeah. So you got Jude Law in it as of course Jude Law is always going to be a big character and stuff. Nick Frost is playing the voice of a very decrepit droid, which is perfect because he's got kind of a pirate accent as well. So it's basically Nick Frost being a pirate droid in Star Wars. [00:58:58] Speaker E: And what's his designation? [00:59:00] Speaker B: SM33. [00:59:02] Speaker E: Which sounds, if you say it in a certain way, sounds like. [00:59:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. It was very, very slight reference there, but. Yeah. But yeah. So said two episodes out at the moment. But it's kind of really pulling into that kind of kids on a. On a lap on an adventure, having fun, finding their way around the universe, trying to get home. [00:59:25] Speaker E: I know one of the later episodes is going to be directed by the Daniels. So I'm kind of wondering how is that gonna work? [00:59:35] Speaker C: I mean one thing I've heard about it is that like it's, it's. It's part of this like thing of like the best Star wars lately has been stuff that just has ignored the Jedi entirely and just kind of set stuff in the universe and gone for It. [00:59:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean there's a little bit of force usage in the first couple of episodes so it's got to still live within Star wars realm. But it's not a Sith versus Jedi tell. It is purely a kids having a caper. [01:00:03] Speaker E: There's a music video on YouTube as well that I recommend. Everybody checks out. It's like a riff on an old. I think it's an 80s song but it's kind of done in that retro 80s music video style. [01:00:14] Speaker C: So it's not the connect to dance Star Wars Han Solo songs kind of cool. [01:00:21] Speaker E: But it's driven me nuts because I can't remember what who the original song was by and I haven't had a chance to look it up by. But when you hear it you'll know it. But it's cool. I think it came out of. It's out and about. Just look it up on YouTube. [01:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. Great show Running with John Watts. The Spider Man. MCU is some of the better ones that came out during the mcu. He's got a really good touch around how to have it both service kids and adults as a show. So it's enough there to keep adults interested. But I think it's going to be a great like introduction series. If you, if you've got young children who've not seen Star wars previously, this is probably a great kind of series to get them into that kind of universe. If that's something you're interested in doing, we shall see how it goes. But the first two episodes have been absolutely fantastic and I think they're doing a fair few. The reviews being quite pleasant around for a change because usually anything Disney related at the moment's been shouted up. But this is. This has got a really good feel and it's got. It feels like a series with actual heart to it and actual care and attention rather than just slop. [01:01:27] Speaker E: Cool. [01:01:28] Speaker B: So to recap, Lee, Prince of Persia. [01:01:31] Speaker D: The Lost Crown, Sam Taskmaster, the Live. [01:01:33] Speaker A: Experience, Matt Steps Musical Keith, the 2000. [01:01:38] Speaker B: AD annual and for me, Skeleton Crew. Hey Matt, where can we find you online? [01:01:47] Speaker A: You can find me on Instagram attachmatt and I've recently joined bluesky@mrmatlovel sir. [01:01:56] Speaker D: You can find me on Instagram threads and bluesky dedwards89 and also on the geeky rummy website. Yes, every Thursday doing the film roundup. [01:02:07] Speaker B: Lee, how about yourself? [01:02:09] Speaker C: You can find me at Bobapet ferret on both YouTube and Blue sky, my YouTube channel at the time this goes out. You should be able to see My full top 10 games of the year. And in January, I will be releasing a video on Astrobot which is going to go through every single PlayStation reference and it's probably going to be ludicrously long. And yeah, so. And also on the geekybroery website every Friday covering each of the games of the week. [01:02:39] Speaker B: So awesome. Keith, how about yourself? [01:02:41] Speaker E: Predominantly, you'll find me now on Blue sky, but also threads and Instagram as Hardlikhotel and then Wednesdays mostly reposting the Wednesday comics selection, which I do. [01:02:55] Speaker B: Is it gonna be a reflutter or something like that? It's a butterfly. [01:03:02] Speaker D: No. [01:03:02] Speaker E: So, yeah, so check, check that Wednesdays, Wednesday for my comic stuff and then my other shiz on Hardwick Hotel. How about you, Ryan? Where can we find you? [01:03:13] Speaker B: You can find me at Ryan Parish on Blue Sky. I think all the other social medias are pretty quiet, but yeah, it's pretty much a geeky bummy feed. But of course you can also find geeky goings on is transitioning from Twitter to Blue Skies. So if you've previously followed geekygoing on Twitter, which had the best events and things coming up in Birmingham, you can now find that on Blue sky as well. But you can also find Geeky Brummy on Blue Sky, Instagram threads, Facebook. I think that's all the social medias we've got at the moment. Geekybrummy.com if you've not had a chance to check it out. We've been doing an advent calendar of things in and around Broome and more. So best some of the games of the year, films of the year, all the stuff on there, check it out. Really good stuff. Don't forget to if you're watching us, like subscribe, share, do all that kind of stuff. If you're listening to us, please just drop us a review or drop us a like on whichever podcast service of your choice you are looking at or get in touch with [email protected] we'll probably be taking our regular January break, so we will see you in February 2026. 2026. We're like the Prince of Persia. [01:04:29] Speaker E: We'll do 2026 first, then come back. [01:04:32] Speaker B: We'll see you in February 2025, but thank you for joining us. Don't forget, Birmingham Anime Film Festival is also back in 2025, so check that out. But we shall see you soon. But for now, bye everyone. [01:04:45] Speaker C: Bye bye. [01:04:46] Speaker E: Merry Christmas.