Birmingham Events Spring & Summer / 2016 Comics & TV Lookback

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the Geeky Brummy Podcast. It's your host, Mr. Aaron Parrish, joining me today, Ms. Keith Linfield. [00:00:05] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. [00:00:05] Speaker A: Mr. Lee Price. [00:00:06] Speaker C: Hello. [00:00:07] Speaker A: And the return of the amazing Mr. Matt Lovell. Hello. How the devil are we all? Been that good? Well, the world is kind of on fire at the moment. We'll kind of put that to one side and ignore it and it's fine. [00:00:22] Speaker B: It's fine. Lego released a Tintin rocket ship. [00:00:25] Speaker A: Yes. [00:00:25] Speaker B: So that's fine. [00:00:26] Speaker C: We. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Which I have pre ordered. [00:00:28] Speaker C: There's a Fatal Frame two remake. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:31] Speaker A: Yes. The new Resident Evil nine game out. Is it nine? [00:00:34] Speaker D: It's nine. [00:00:35] Speaker A: Nine. [00:00:36] Speaker B: God. [00:00:36] Speaker C: The queue in requieve is a nine. [00:00:40] Speaker A: They always have to do something weird with the naming, don't they? Wasn't that village was seven and then. [00:00:46] Speaker C: No, village was eight. [00:00:46] Speaker A: Village was eight. [00:00:47] Speaker C: So the V. I and the two L's were the eight. [00:00:51] Speaker A: What was seven then? [00:00:52] Speaker C: Seven was Resident Evil. Biohazard. It was one that in. [00:00:55] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Where they just gave up. [00:00:57] Speaker C: But that was the one where. Well, in Japan. It's Biohazard. Resident Evil, as they flipped it around. [00:01:05] Speaker A: Just stop confusing everybody. Give it a name and stick with it. [00:01:09] Speaker C: And both titles managed to get a seven in there somehow. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Yes. [00:01:13] Speaker C: The Evil and then the z had a 7 in it. [00:01:20] Speaker B: We fully approve. [00:01:21] Speaker A: Yes, but. Yes. So if you're not playing that and you're watching this instead. Thank you for joining us. Yes, we'll be looking at some events coming up in Birmingham and beyond for April, May and June. We'll be looking at ESL One and DreamHack with Matt. Keith has picked some comics from 2016 and I'll be looking at a few of the TV shows that came out in 2016. But for now, see you after the credits. So, as always, being the second city of the uk, we've got some fabulous Manchester. [00:02:20] Speaker C: Don't debate that. [00:02:22] Speaker B: Regardless of what you say. [00:02:24] Speaker A: You can't include Salford, you can't include Bolton and all the other little bits of. [00:02:28] Speaker C: We don't include Wolverhampton, we don't include Copper Tree. [00:02:31] Speaker A: We're just Birmingham. No arguments. But yes. So there's a fantastic cavalcade of events coming off at some of the main venues across the city. So I thought I'd pick some up coming up in the next few months and we can have a chat. First big one is Megacon Live, which is on the 28th, 29th of March, so probably be around the time this episode drops. So if you're not already there, you've got a Very short time to get your tickets. [00:02:53] Speaker C: If you're there and listening to this, we're quite impressed. [00:02:56] Speaker A: Yes. But yes. So Megacon Live Kids Megazone focus on guests, games, anime, TikTok Festival is there this year. Tog Fest, Manga, movies, Steampunk, Yu Gi oh, Stormtroopers, Cosplay and lots more. And they've got a special kids megazone kids 10 years and undergo three. So if he needs find something to keep them interested, that ship has sailed for me. Yes, that keeps them busy. But yeah, so they're doing two shows this year, so they got the 28th, 29th of March and the 5th to 6th of December. Next one coming up is RetroCon, also at the NEC and that's on the 2nd or 3rd of May. Me and producer Viv are going to that one. There's a rather interesting selection of guess for this one. So Pat Sharp, Beach Party, but yeah, it's focused on yesteryear, so I think some of the other guests they've announced. [00:03:49] Speaker C: I wonder what he was up to. [00:03:51] Speaker A: Yes. So what are the other greatest hits [00:03:54] Speaker B: thing on one of the music channels every other day. [00:03:56] Speaker A: Yes. [00:03:57] Speaker C: Does he still have the mullet? [00:03:58] Speaker B: No, he doesn't. He's really disappointing. He's got short hair. So I would. I'd only go to this if he was wearing a wig. [00:04:02] Speaker D: Yes. [00:04:03] Speaker A: Rumor is the twins from Fun House might be there as well. Oh, dear. So it'd be a full reunion. But other guests include Holly Marie Coombs, Heather Locklear, Brian Krause. So lots of 90210 stars, Jason Priestley, Matt Goss and more to be announced soon, I believe. So, yes. And you can get your signings as per usual. But yeah, sounds like a fun kind of retro adventure for more nostalgia people. [00:04:33] Speaker B: You mean old people. [00:04:35] Speaker A: Yes. Next one coming up is Gladiators the that's running between the 2nd of May and 31st of August, again at the NEC camp. So basically, do you want to try and pretend to be a gladiator? So it's back on the BBC at the moment. It's had a really good revival, but yes. Can you do Hang Tuff? Can you do Duel? Can you do the Wall and run up the Eliminator? So it's going to be. Yep. So there's a vault which gives you a bit of the behind the scenes tour, gladiator training facility and a huge superstore for the only place to purchase exclusive merchandise. So if you really want that foam finger, this is going to be the place to go. [00:05:12] Speaker B: Can I get the Leotard. [00:05:13] Speaker A: I think you can. [00:05:14] Speaker B: I'm only going to wear that at home. [00:05:16] Speaker C: But can you get like the big like stick thing? [00:05:19] Speaker A: Just cobwebs. Giant cob. That sounds quite fun. I don't think I'm in shape to have a go on the Illuminati. [00:05:26] Speaker C: Very funny. If you could buy one and then just taking it back on the train [00:05:29] Speaker B: with you, I would use that. [00:05:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:33] Speaker A: Still at the NEC coming up again on the 16th and 17th of May at Hall 2 is Makers Central. So this is a great event. It's been going for quite a few years now. It's a place for makers, innovators, DIY fans, hobbyists, etc, so there's always things around. Woodworking, metal work, 3D printing, electronics making. Some of your favorite YouTubers will be there, I believe. Colin Furze pretty much pops up every year. I know Nerdforge went to a lot one a while ago. [00:06:00] Speaker C: I love stumbling across maker YouTube every so often. [00:06:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:03] Speaker C: Like just randomly like YouTube recommending me like a girl making the boat from Wind Waker. [00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:10] Speaker C: And making it a functional boat and I'm just like, I'm enjoying the hell out of this. [00:06:14] Speaker A: So shout out to Colin Furze if you've not seen his bunker series where he's building a garage for his DeLorean under his front garden and it's going to come up on a lift with smoke effects. Really good youtuber. So check him out. [00:06:26] Speaker C: Has reminded me I have heard of someone who was like making their own bunker without any knowledge of like foundations or construction. And it's just getting progressively worse as they get further into the project. [00:06:37] Speaker A: So that sounds like fun. Interesting one to watch. [00:06:40] Speaker C: I think people reference that as like this is how you do it and here's the opposite. [00:06:47] Speaker A: Also coming on the 29th and 31st of May at NEC as well. Halls 15 UK Games Expo. This is the place if you like board games, tabletop games, collectible card games, family games, miniatures. It's pretty much we've been a few years ago, I believe I've been to [00:07:07] Speaker C: it a few times. It is always a really great time. Basically board games. It has like the hotel on site as well. Also gets taken over with tabletop RPGs. So if you want to go and join a tabletop rpg, if you want to sort of try one out, there's usually like one shots going on in the hotel. [00:07:27] Speaker A: Yeah. There's usually quite a preview of a lot of game companies take their stuff that's in development there for play testing. Yeah. [00:07:34] Speaker C: The actual show floor. You can go around and just try out any board game that's there. There's a lot going on and it's very much the kind of thing where you go and you just want to buy everything, but everything is expensive. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Yes. [00:07:47] Speaker A: So ticket price for that one range from £14 for a young adult up to £162. Three day family pass. But for three days in a family, [00:07:55] Speaker C: that's reasonable value, the ticket prices are pretty good. [00:07:58] Speaker A: So on the 11th, sorry, on the 12th to 14th of June, anime con is back. So anime manga, J Pop, K pop film shopping, etc. I'm sure K Pop Demon Hunters inspired a new generation of fans. And One Piece Season two has just dropped on Netflix, so that might get some people into your anime confiel. So that's on 12th to 14th of June. Last one I'll pick up from the nec is on the 11th of 12th of July, so a little bit later on. But that is Comic Con Midlands and that is also so NEC Hall 17 and 18 again. So if you want your Comic Cons, there's plenty variety and plenty of options coming up this year. Coming up at Town Hall, Symphony hall on the Symphony hall on The Spider on 31 March is Spider man into the Spider Verse Live in concert. So if you've never been to one of these events, there's quite a few that have been going on through the years. You get a live orchestra, turntables and percussion as well in this one. And the giant HD screen of the film, always quite fun to go to and if you want an immersive film experience, really would recommend them. [00:09:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I saw the the Home Alone one at the arena, whatever the arena is called these days. It changes its name every other week. [00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And also on the same day, 31st of March 2026 is Spider man no Way Home in concert. So you can double bill your Spider man if you want to. Oh, sorry, excuse me, that one's been cancelled. [00:09:29] Speaker B: Maybe not going live news coming to you right now. [00:09:32] Speaker D: Yes. [00:09:32] Speaker A: But on 28th April instead you can go and see Jim Henson's Labyrinth in concert with a live band. [00:09:38] Speaker C: Nice. [00:09:38] Speaker A: Which is one of the better non Muppet puppet films. Really would recommend that. David Bowie in a giant screen is always an experience, especially certain parts of David Bowie. Especially that screening. Yes, that's going to be an interesting one to see in a giant HD screen screen in front of you. But yes, great. Very original songs in there. Dance Magic Dance. On the first of May is Aardman in concert so this one's going to be quite interesting. So a bit of Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Timmy Time Morph, Creature Comforts and more. So they'll be going through 50 years of Aardman animations and looking through some of the back history. So lots of music going on. Full performance of amateur of Loaf and Death with live orchestra. So that's also at the town hall. [00:10:26] Speaker C: So did you say life and death? Because I think I find it's Loaf and Death. [00:10:29] Speaker A: Loaf and Death, Yes. And on the 4th of June, Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark live in concert. That might be quite fun as well. [00:10:37] Speaker C: Stop giving me things I want to go to. Give me Aardman and Indiana Jones. [00:10:43] Speaker A: Well, for those who are a bit more into the sci fi side, there is Space Station Earth as well on the 5th of June. That is a live concert by composer Ilan Eshkeri exploring how we view Earth from space and reshaping the humanic perspective. [00:10:56] Speaker B: I think that's more just the sigh, not the fi as. It's kind of like just science. [00:11:03] Speaker A: I think it. [00:11:05] Speaker C: And just to show that like Ilyneshkerri has got range did that but also did the Centro de Ghost of Tsushima which I have heard in concert as well. [00:11:16] Speaker A: And then coming up about more games. Perfect timing is BAFTA games and concert on the 6th of June. So that is a 65 piece orchestra looking for 20 years of the BAFTA game awards. It's pick songs from Everyone's Gone to Rapture, Baldur's Gate 3, Tomb Raider Legend, Assassin's Creed, Cuphead Journey, Helldivers 2, Fallout 4, Disco Elysium or In the Will o' the WISPS Returnal, Uncharted 2, Far Cry 4, Virginia and Hitman Contracts. So good mix there. [00:11:44] Speaker C: Weird that they picked Hitman contracts. Not like the World of Assassination trilogy which is like the big thing right now. [00:11:51] Speaker A: So maybe it's licensing. [00:11:53] Speaker D: I just realized Tomb raider legend is 20 years old. [00:11:55] Speaker C: Yep, yep. Yeah, the original game is 30. [00:12:01] Speaker B: Oh no. [00:12:03] Speaker A: Yes. And next place venue coming up is the amazing Imoclum Earth Cinema, home of Birmingham Anime Film Festival, which will be back in October this year by the way. Keep your eyes peeled for that. They have a few seasons of film collectives running, so the first one being David lynch season. So Wednesday the 1st of April, there's a razorhead, 18th of May's blue velvet, 14th of June is wild at heart. Probably Nicolas Cage's finest acting appearance. One of yeah, Twin Peaks Firewalk with Me on 13 July Lost highway on 23 August. Definitely watch that one. That was great. The straight stories, 20th of September, which is my favorite lynch film, I think, because it's just such a weird one for him. [00:12:48] Speaker B: Based on a true story. [00:12:49] Speaker C: Yep. [00:12:49] Speaker A: Inland Empire on the 18th of October, and then the short films of David lynch on the 30th of November. So that is six men getting sick, the Alphabet, the grandmother, the amputee, version one and version two, premonitions following an evil deed. So some stuff that you probably never seen. Yeah. Also coming up is Film Stories Live with the wonderful Film stories magazine editor, Mr. Simon Brew. That's on the 25th of March, so around the time this goes out, but I believe there'll be more of those coming up in the year. So Simon is an encyclopedia of film. So if you ever want to go and listen to Film Stories, really would go have that one. Great Q and A sessions. General nerdy stuff and chat. Also coming up in the Mockingbird is WTF Japan? So this is a. Exploring the wonderfully weird and strange side of Japanese cinema. So this doesn't kick off till August, but you've got Kamikaze Girls, Love Exposure, Tetsuo the Iron man, which is fantastic film. Lots of animes inspired by that one. Fish Story, One Cut of the Dead. There's an interesting pile of films coming up with that. And the Wine Events Company. If you've not been to a wine events company run by the lovely Tony Elvin, who's a master class sommelier, he picks a film and picks five themed wines to go along with them, been running for quite a few years. You probably have seen some events at Millennium Point at the Crescent Theatre as well, but it always has a season at Mockingbird. So Four Weddings with wine on the 24th of April, Flash Gordon with wine on the 4th of May, which is the best way to enjoy your wine. Hearing Brian Blessed scream at the top of his lung as you knock back your glass of merlot. Mamma Mia 2 with wine. Labyrinth with Wine as well. So if you didn't enjoy Giant Screen Labyrinth in concert, you can go. [00:14:41] Speaker B: You're going to see that with the wine to recover from seeing it in HD massively in front of your face. Yeah. [00:14:46] Speaker A: Bottle Shot with Wine, Pulp Fiction with wine on the 25th of July, which sounds quite fun. It's a combo. Continuing with the Mockingbird, a couple more to go on there. Solve Along A Murder She Wrote, Keeping the Home Fires Burning. So there's been a few of these events. They always go down really well. What they do is you have a race to solve the crime by the fameometer and suspicionometer of all the characters who pop up. There'll be a quiz, there'll be a sing along to the theme tune with new lyrics, clips and blogs of the campy guest stars of Murder She Wrote. So they are good fun if you like your Jessica Fletcher themed events. Doing a Batman season as well. The only reason I wanted to pull this one out because Batman Master the Phantasm is on the day before my birthday, which is Wednesday 10th June, which is an absolutely fantastic performance by Kevin Conroy. If you've not seen Master Phantasm, it's probably the greatest animated Batman film. [00:15:49] Speaker B: Well, I'd certainly say it was better than some of the live action ones. [00:15:53] Speaker A: Well, they're also on, Keith, if you want to see the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight Rises or Batman Begins. And finishing off with, of course, on the 2nd of September, the Batman. Yes, quite good. And finally moving over to the Mac on Monday the 30th till Thursday the 2nd of April, they're doing another pay what you choose event and this one is Looney Tunes the Day the Earth Blew Up. So I think, Keith, you went to one of these. [00:16:22] Speaker B: I saw this a couple of weeks back. Yeah, it's great. Proper Looney Tunes cartoon. [00:16:26] Speaker A: So Porky Pig, Daffy Duck. Classic Looney Tunes. [00:16:29] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:16:29] Speaker B: Beautifully animated, really. Kind of classic. Well, not classic style, but very much the best. The better Warner Brothers style of animation. [00:16:36] Speaker A: Something which isn't film or TV related. On the 29th of April at the Mac is Goth Spot Social. So this is calling all Goths, altcrowd emos and adjacent people being called anyone who's ever been called a goth. So the whole thing is this is a crafty station, alt community networking place. So there'll be food, tunes, company, go meet some fellow Goths around. [00:17:03] Speaker D: Does it include a vigil for the Oasis market? [00:17:06] Speaker A: I assume there might be probably one. [00:17:08] Speaker D: Goth should. [00:17:10] Speaker A: Well, they describe it as, well, Bus Stop Goths is the people who are presenting this event, but they describe it, it's like a goth club, but craft forward, relaxed and not as loud and sweaty, which is good fun. But that's free to drop in and that's on Wednesday 29th April. [00:17:25] Speaker B: Go and check in [00:17:28] Speaker A: and then I think that was it. I was just going to check Botanical Gardens because I believe their garden cinema is about to come out soon, but it's not up yet. But keep an eye on Birmingham Botanical Gardens website. They always have some amazing things coming up. In their garden Cinema. [00:17:45] Speaker B: I hear there's going to be an amazing anime film. [00:17:47] Speaker A: There will be an amazing anime screening. I assuming probably around about the August bank holiday time, possibly. Keep your eyes peeled for that one. Any particular events that you guys feel like coming up? [00:18:01] Speaker D: So essentially Birmingham's just the place to be. [00:18:04] Speaker A: Yes. If you are a geek and you are in Broome. [00:18:08] Speaker D: You did forget the concrete convention though. [00:18:12] Speaker A: Yes, there is also the concrete convention on at the nec. If concrete is your jam. [00:18:16] Speaker D: If concrete is your jam, yeah. [00:18:20] Speaker C: It's better than having jam as your concrete. [00:18:23] Speaker A: Definitely much better than having jam as your concrete. Any particular event on you league that you fancy going to? [00:18:28] Speaker C: Well, like I said, UK Games Expo is always a great time and it's always sort of dependent on money and things like that whether or not I go. But then like you said, you've got the. Like I already indicated the Aardman and Indiana Jones events just sound great as well. [00:18:46] Speaker B: So yeah, of course it's gonna be indie, innit? It's gotta be Indie Jones. Although it's that one. It's one of those horrible things where I'll go to that and I know those scores so well that like any deviation from it properly, I'm like, well, that was the. Not the right note or the timing call. [00:19:02] Speaker A: The orchestra key. You've been told off about this before. [00:19:04] Speaker C: Yes, because as someone who appreciates like when orchestras do rearrangements and things like [00:19:10] Speaker B: that, but not when you're doing it for Indiana Jones. It's a film, it's gotta be prophesied. [00:19:16] Speaker C: Look, I've been playing like the Fate of Atlantis. I finally got around to playing the Fate of Atlantis. And that's very and very interesting take on the theme because it was a 1990s PC Midi. [00:19:29] Speaker B: It's not that bad though. It's pretty good. But I mean, if you're doing it along with the film, it's like, that's kind of cool. That's kind of cool. But I think the best way to keep abreast of all of the interesting things coming up in Birmingham is, I believe, our sister network, the Geeky Goings On. [00:19:46] Speaker C: Yes. [00:19:46] Speaker A: So if you follow us on Instagram, you will probably see our Geeky goings on quite frequently. Which producer Viv runs pretty much full time and there's always some amazing events coming up, stuff we've probably not talked about today. Some of the smaller events that you've seen, some of the community cinema, just interesting things going on, concerts, etc. [00:20:05] Speaker B: Because it's not all Big, huge, like, you know, big venue stuff that's going on. There is a massive amount of other stuff going on. So keep an eye on geeky goings on, because there's always something. Every week, Pretty much every day. [00:20:16] Speaker A: Pretty much every single day. So keep an eye out. As part of our 10th anniversary look back, we covered films and video games last issue. So if you haven't watched that, go back and watch that. We've put some quality films and video games from the year 2016, but we're also going to be looking at comics and TV a little bit later on this episode. But Keith, as our comics creator, [00:20:44] Speaker B: reader, [00:20:45] Speaker A: curator, who does our Wesley Comics Roundup on the website every Wednesday, so check that out and check out the feed on Instagram as well. But you picked some gems from 2016 which came out, you particularly enjoyed. [00:21:00] Speaker C: You went incredibly in depth, [00:21:04] Speaker B: hours of research. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was an interesting year, 2016. I can't believe it's 10 years as it is. [00:21:11] Speaker A: This was the height of Marvel at the cinema, wasn't it? [00:21:13] Speaker B: Which, to be counter intuitive, is most of the titles I'm going to be talking about. I got nothing to do with Marvel whatsoever. They were doing their thing and it was kind of all right, but they were kind of chugging along and it was like. It wasn't a particularly inspiring time for Marvel Comics. They were doing their, like, now range and it was. It was okay, but not great. [00:21:31] Speaker C: No, that's what I call Marvel. [00:21:32] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I call Marvel volume 200. Sorry, phase 216. [00:21:37] Speaker B: But one of the great things about 2016 also did bring us the graphic novel story of Tetris. It was subtitled the Games People Play. It was created by a guy called Box Brown and it's just predated the whole kind of like, film that came on later. It basically was just the graphic novel version of the History of Tetris, which is quite an interesting read. It was even considered and voted for as one of the best graphic novels of 2016. So if you kind of are interested in the history of Tetris, it's worth checking out. It's beautifully illustrated. It's a very kind of simple illustrated style, kind of all like bold colours. It really works with the story four kind of blocks. [00:22:22] Speaker A: It's kind of hard to write a [00:22:23] Speaker B: story around Tetronos, but it's an interesting story. The kind of evolution of the game itself and how it came about and stuff is quite interesting. [00:22:30] Speaker C: So is it like. So, because I know the film is about, like, Getting like, the formation of the Tetris company, basically. So it's about, like, how did it get out of the Soviet Union and reach the west and all that? [00:22:43] Speaker B: I mean, a lot of that is covered in a graphic novel, but it's a nice. The way it's done. The use of color is really good. It's very kind of simplistic. [00:22:49] Speaker C: But does it do the thing that the film does where right at the end it tells you the fate of everyone involved and you realize just how dodgy half the people involved were, Like Robert Maxwell, for instance. [00:22:59] Speaker B: It doesn't quite go that, but it's definitely worth a read if you can track down a copy. I've not seen one for years, but I think you probably would still turn up in new kind of Waterstones kind of stuff. It's kind of one of those kind of, like, graphic novels that are in bookshops. It's not really, like, comic books words, [00:23:14] Speaker A: some people might phrase it. [00:23:16] Speaker B: The other. One of the other key titles for me in 2016 was when it started the kind of Wild west of. Of Batman crossovers, because we get Batman crossing over with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the first time, [00:23:32] Speaker C: which is. [00:23:33] Speaker B: Which is kind of kind of cool. [00:23:34] Speaker A: Ninjas at night. I mean, one of them's about the fall. [00:23:37] Speaker B: It's really nicely done because it's not based on the kind of in continuity Batman that was kicking around at the time. It was kind of based on the Batman adventure. So it's more the cartoon style, not 1966, but no, it was more like the animated Batman. It's kind of written by Matthew K. Manning and art by John. And his art was very much in keeping with the. The animation style, particularly the later seasons of Batman, the Animated Adventure, when it went more kind of, like, angular and kind of solid. That's really good. And that's kicked off loads. We've had kind of two or three. [00:24:06] Speaker A: Yes. I think Batman's four aliens at some point. [00:24:09] Speaker B: Oh, yes. This year is also the anniversary of him kicking around with Judge Dredd. [00:24:14] Speaker A: Yep. [00:24:14] Speaker B: Which is another one we could. We could talk about. But that's not 10 years. That's much longer than 10, which is really good because I really enjoy these books because they are fun and it works really well. The turtles from Batman crossing over. It's kind of a nice way of kind of bringing those two wars together. You know, Gotham City and New York Sewers all kind of merges together quite nicely, which is kind of cool. But it also was the year where Paul Dini In a brilliant segue that I hadn't planned, but it just worked out that way. Paul Dini was one of the main people behind the Batman, the animated TV series. And sometime after that he was mugged and nearly killed. And he took that experience and turned it into Dark Knight, a true Batman story, which kind of tells a very kind of semi autobiographical story about that attack, how he survived. And he's brilliant in the way it takes. [00:25:11] Speaker C: Did he become Batman? [00:25:14] Speaker B: He's visited by Batman whilst he's in hospital. [00:25:17] Speaker C: Did that really happen? [00:25:18] Speaker B: It really happened for him. But what's great about it is the fact that it's. It kind of takes how significant that character is and how a lot of people have used or associate Batman in a way that kind of helps them through situations. So this, the idea of Batman helping Paul through this whole experience and the idea and. And all of that kind of stuff, it's really nice. It's. It's illustrated by Eduardo Russo, which is beautifully done. It's kind of a more painterly art style and it kind of really suits the thing. It was just a one shot kind of issued through Vertigo, but I got a hardback edition when that came out because I was kind of interested because it was kind of like part fiction, part reality. And I hadn't really known about what had happened to Paul because it was. It was pretty, pretty bad. I think at one point he was very close to not recovering, but it's just the way how that character pulled him through this whole series of events and led him to kind of be able to cope with it and deal with it and kind of, you know, figure his way through it. It's that kind of story of trauma which is, everybody knows, is the origin in the origin story of Batman. He goes through a pretty significant trauma and it's that kind of relatability of a character, you know, and this is the thing about comics. There's a lot of things same with any medium, really. There's things in it that kind of speak to us as human beings and help us through situations or whatever it is, which is really nice as well. [00:26:42] Speaker A: Yeah, I was just looking through it. He was talking about. He was working on Mask of the Phantasm at the time, calling back to our previous. And it crosses over with the kind of whatchamacallit, universe, death dream. [00:26:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's all the Vertigo stuff and Sandman things as well. Yeah, so you get other kind of like, tertiary characters pop in. But it's a really nice book. It's beautifully illustrated. Is Emotionally powerful. It's really good. You kind of. There's moments in it where you just go, damn. You know, this is pretty. What's it. So it's a really great book. Definitely worth reading. But DC continued through 2016 to have some really good, interesting events happening. They'd, in the previous years, reinvented their universe in New 52, which I didn't like. Terrible. Superman didn't have pants on. Yeah. [00:27:33] Speaker C: Winnie the Pooh. [00:27:33] Speaker B: Was he Winnie the Pooh. [00:27:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:36] Speaker B: It was just a very loose T shirt. [00:27:39] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:27:42] Speaker B: But in 2016, they kind of rebooted their universe again, partly coming out of stuff that was happening with Dr. Manhattan. Dynast. I don't get into it too much. Dr. Manhattan and the Watchmen universe was happening over here. And then it came into the. [00:27:55] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:27:56] Speaker B: So there was a whole kind of thing, and there's a whole lot of kind of, like, more convoluted story than we've got time to go into about Alan Moore and the Watchmen and all those characters and stuff. So they relaunched with DC Rebirth, which they kind of re. Kicked off their whole continuity yet again. I found this one much more interesting than the new 52. They did a lot of interesting things. They changed some characters around. They kind of brought back Wally west, who had been kind of in the wilderness for a bit. They reinvigorated all the costumes, they reinvigorated all the creatives. And so it kicked off quite a good period for DC in terms of what they were doing. So it's really, really good up until now, where we kind of in the DC all in, which is even better. So DC's been kind of on a bit of a roll since 2016 in terms of doing some really interesting things with their characters, did some interesting stuff with Aquaman, doing some interesting stuff with Wonder Woman. They've kept that going, which is really good. But for me, the best thing that happened in 2016 was the introduction of the Young Animals imprint from DC, which most people will probably not have heard of, but they may have heard of the guy who was behind it all, a certain gentleman by the name of Gerard Way, who most people will know as the lead singer, as the creator [00:29:10] Speaker A: of the Umbrella Academy. [00:29:11] Speaker B: Also the creator of the Umbrella, most people will know, was the lead singer of My Chemical Romance. [00:29:15] Speaker A: Yes. [00:29:16] Speaker B: So he'd done the Umbrella Academy a few years before, but he was given the reins to kind of bring back some of the classic older Vertigo titles, which he bracketed under the Young Animals title, which for me was brilliant, because he brought Back the Doom Patrol and did a fantastic job with the Doom Patrol. Kind of similar to what he was doing with Umbrella Academy, but Doom Patrol much more in the sense of kind of the Grant Morrison, Rachel Pollock version of the Doom Patrol, which was great. That was incredibly brilliant. He brought back Cave Carson, where he was working with the guy who had illustrated powers before, which I've forgotten for the moment. Brought back Shade, but Shade as a girl instead of a bloke. An interested in new character called Mother Thing. I can't remember. [00:30:04] Speaker A: Mother Panic. [00:30:05] Speaker B: Mother Panic. That's it. Some of the new God stuff you did Bug, who was one of kind of the New Gods characters that Jack Kirby came up with. And there was a whole range of these titles which were good. And they did a whole crossover thing which was really interesting. At one point they were interacting with the Justice League and whatever it is. But this is a few years on from 2016. But I really, really love the Young Animal imprint. It's one of my favorite. If you were reading the Wednesday comics at the time, you would often find a Doom Patrol or a Cave Castle or whatever it is. [00:30:32] Speaker C: So saying it was good and therefore not okay. [00:30:36] Speaker B: It was really. [00:30:37] Speaker C: I've been sitting on that joke for ages. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Does the Doom Patrol comic series kind of follow that kind of version, or is it. [00:30:46] Speaker B: It's kind of wild and crazy in its own way. He introduces some newer characters as well, of his own design. But it was great. I loved the Doom Patrol. It was really good. I mean, they keep people like Danny the street, who becomes Danny the ambulance. And there's like. [00:31:02] Speaker C: It's. [00:31:03] Speaker B: It's really. It's wild and crazy. But I really loved the Young Animal imprint. It was really good. Didn't last as long as I would have liked. It kind of all kind of stopped. But I guess that's because Gerard. I had other things to be doing. But D.C. were having a wild time. [00:31:15] Speaker A: He's got a single note to play on the piano. [00:31:18] Speaker B: DC were having a wild time in 2016, so it was kind of good. You know, Marvel were kind of being left in their dust a little bit, I think, you know, because of the focus on the TV stuff. [00:31:27] Speaker A: But on the studio side. Yeah. [00:31:30] Speaker B: So those were kind of the highlights for me of that 2016 comics period. Some really great titles that kicked out. And if you can go back and read some. The New 52 stuff, definitely read the Dark Knight, which is not spelt with the K. It just. Just says dark, not Dark. It was a Dark Knight. Yes, but that's a really really great story just is a brilliant way of showing the power of comics, you know, to help people through tough times. Yeah, so it's really good. [00:31:58] Speaker A: I'll pop links to the description in the description below. So go to geekyrobbie.com for the companion article for this podcast and all the links will be in there if you want to check out those titles. Thank you, Keith. [00:32:16] Speaker D: Geeks and gamers, get ready because on the 27th to 29th of March, the NEC is transforming into a global epicenter of gaming because we've got a double bill of ESL one Birmingham is back and Dreamhack. So. So if you've watched the show before, you know that I'm a massive nerd for a game called Dota 2, which is the original MOBA. [00:32:44] Speaker A: So what does Dota stand for? [00:32:47] Speaker D: Defense of the Ancients. Yeah, so it was originally a Warcraft 3 mod and then when Valve developed a sequel, they couldn't really call it that. So it's Dota 2. [00:32:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I saw the first game referred to as Defense of the Ancients, so what the hell is this? And then realized, oh, it says Dota. [00:33:05] Speaker D: A lot of people think that League of Legends, like spawned the genre, but no, no, no, kids, it's Dota, the [00:33:12] Speaker A: original and the best. [00:33:14] Speaker D: 2004, the original mod came out. Yeah. [00:33:17] Speaker B: So it is the only game that pops up when you pop up on my Xbox. Listen, it's like Matt's playing Dota 2 again. I mean, it worries me at what time sometimes you do it. [00:33:30] Speaker D: So I'll start with the L1 Birmingham. This is a big deal because this is the only UK Dota 2 esports tournament and so it brings in an international audience. You've got 12 of the top tier teams all competing for a million pound. A million dollar, sorry, should I say [00:33:48] Speaker A: prize pool, $1 million. [00:33:51] Speaker D: And the results of which do feed into the Dota Pro circuit. So they get points, which gets them on to the international, which is again, the, let's say, I don't know, the Premier League or the World cup of Dota 2 esports. And then so I think there's 16 teams. 16 teams. And the top tier are things like Tundra Esports, Virtus Pro Likes. You get all of the stars, you also get all the personalities, all the hosts, all of the streamers, and you get to meet the pros, you get to do all sorts. But also it brings an international crowd. So me and my friends are going, we've got some friends that we play quite regularly with from Finland, they're coming. So it's a big deal for everyone. But also at the same time, if esports isn't your thing or if you know it's not your main thing, then we've also got DreamHack. So again, DreamHack is the first time it's coming to the UK and it started off as a bit of a LAN party on a massive scale. So people come, they bring their PCs, they set up and they play. They play in tournaments, they play games together. But it's evolved. So now you've got D and D area, you've got a retro arcade area, you've got general activities all about gaming and geekery. And with this ticket you can go to ESL One and DreamHack as well. All in all, in the BP Pulse arena at the NEC. So it's bigger and better than ever, to be honest. [00:35:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So focus is still on Esporty, like titles like Fortnite and Warzone and things like that, isn't it? But there's much more to do there. [00:35:50] Speaker D: But you can. But anyone can sort of enter, so there will be. There will be like some. Some tournaments you can watch. But also you can bring your PC rig. They do sometimes have areas where you can also just join on to, you know, join with a PC rig and that kind of thing as well. But you can play. [00:36:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there's free play zones where you can use somebody else's PC or console, etc. If you want to. [00:36:15] Speaker D: Yeah. Got board game areas, you got all sorts. So overall, even if you're remotely interested, I think a day ticket starts at about 45 pounds and it gives you access to both Dota 2 tournament and DreamHack. [00:36:29] Speaker A: So if you're missing Insomnia, which used to be at the NEC quite a few years, this is probably the closest event you're going to get if you want to go to a gaming festival this side of the. [00:36:38] Speaker D: But also it's that kind of thing where, you know, it's come to Birmingham, hasn't come to London, hasn't come to Manchester, it's come to Birmingham only the only place in the UK that it's come to. I just think people need to be aware of it, they need to make a bigger deal of it because it is huge. [00:36:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, Dreamhack's been massive for years elsewhere in Europe and across the world, really. But esl, yeah, it's the premier tournament for Dota is. [00:37:08] Speaker B: Can I just ask, how does a Dota tournament game play? Like, what's what's the. How does a match work? [00:37:17] Speaker D: Yeah, so in terms of the actual game, it's a five aside. So two teams of five. They have a base at each end, and then they fight each other and they push their lanes of basically automated armies towards each other to destroy each other's bases. And then when you go to the actual tournament itself, you've got the players on stage in soundproof booths. You have the game being played behind them and in the center of the room and the arena all around. And it's that kind of thing of, I think, the hype as well. I've been to a couple of esports tournaments, a couple of Dota 2 tournaments across Europe, and just the hype of it being in the UK and sort of UK crowd like, brings it to another level because it is just obviously everyone's a. Everyone's a big nerd, but they just kind of the. The jokes, the. The camaraderie, that kind of thing is brilliant. But yeah. [00:38:15] Speaker B: How long does a match normally run for? [00:38:18] Speaker D: It depends. So it could be because you've got roles and they level up, so every single level they get new, new powers or they can hone their own powers. They earn gold. They use the gold to buy items and combined items. So there's a load of strategies. And depending on how the teams play and how they shift their strategies, it could be over in 30 minutes, or you could have up to 60 minutes or 90 minutes. And each team plays a best of three, with the grand final being a best of five. So you could have two teams juking it out for the best part. Four and a half hours, you know, four and a half, five hours. And it can be really intense. Like, there's especially the way because the game, the meta in the game changes regularly with patches, buffs, balances, that kind of thing. So it just keeps it fresh because you could. There could be times where a team is absolutely dominating. They make a mistake, they wipe out, and then suddenly it's game over for them. They get completely annihilated and it's a complete turnaround. So I think compared to some of the other esports, you. The sort of. The comeback and the sort of unknown keeps it really exciting, keeps it unique. [00:39:47] Speaker B: So it makes it real kind of spectator. [00:39:48] Speaker D: Makes it a real kind of spectator sport. Yeah. And even if you don't necessarily know what's going on, it's just a spectacle. Like, there's so much. There's so many, like, pretty things going on, explosions, all sorts of other stuff. It just keeps you going? [00:40:03] Speaker A: So I know it's free to play, but what's the learning curve like for Dota? [00:40:08] Speaker D: So Dota 2 is incredibly steep as a learning curve, I won't lie. I think hence why League of Legends is probably a lot more popular because it's a lot more accessible. But as you said, it's free. If you've got a Steam account, you can play it. And actually they've put in a lot of tutorials and things to make it easier for new players to start. But yeah, it is quite a big learning curve. [00:40:43] Speaker A: If you want to dip your toe in, this is probably a good chance to go and watch it and see if you if that kind of MOBA game tickles your fancy. [00:40:51] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. [00:40:52] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. They'll have like free play areas and things like that in Dreamhack where you can go and test your Dota skills. Outa two skills. [00:40:59] Speaker C: And yeah, something like this, like you're saying, go and see it being played. I think if you're seeing like the top level players playing it, it probably does kind of encourage you to play it because you think, oh, I could be that good. And then you play it and then you're not. I say this as someone who's watched hack in tournaments. [00:41:15] Speaker D: After every time we go and see it, all of my friends, my friends go, go, let's go play Dota. We all go home, back to our respective homes and then proceed to lose about 10 games. [00:41:23] Speaker C: Yeah, it's like I said, it's like me with the tech and world tour, I'll watch it and be like, oh yeah, this is really good. I should get back on Tekken. And then I just get my ass kicked. And it's like, all right, cool. [00:41:35] Speaker B: Well, it's all about latency. Yeah. [00:41:40] Speaker A: So that's at the NEC and BP Pulse Live arena for the. Well, it's BP Pulse Live arena for ESL one and NEC for Dreamhack. Yeah, I believe that's a Friday. Saturday, Sunday, March 26th, 2026. [00:41:55] Speaker C: 27th. [00:41:55] Speaker D: 28th. 29th. [00:41:57] Speaker A: 28th. So check that out and we'll pop the website link in the description. 2016 was quite an interesting year for TV. So as part of our decade review, going back to stuff that happened in the launch of Geeky Brimmy, I picked out three TV series that were either starting or running in that year. The first one is Netflix's only series that they don't seem to have cancelled halfway through after we're getting everybody attached to it is Stranger Things. So that premiered on Netflix July 2016 Created by the Duffer Brothers with eps along with Sean Levy and Dan Cohen. So if you've not seen Stranger Things, how would I describe it? It was supposed to be an anthology series to start off with a bit like the White Lotus. So it was supposed to be the do one season of something and then carry on and do multiple seasons of something different. That didn't happen. We just got one season spread out into five seasons more stuff. But yes, so it's kind of girl with psychokinetic abilities gets escaped out of a lab and runs into a D and D group in the 80s full of friends and then they try and protect her and lots of weird stuff goes down and the upside down and there's parallel universes and monsters running around and. Yeah, it's a bit weird, isn't it? [00:43:28] Speaker D: It's kind of like Stephen King meets Steven Spielberg, if that makes sense. [00:43:33] Speaker A: Yes, yeah. Yeah. I think the, the first series very much hit that Spielberg boy Goonies of it. Yes, yeah. But yeah, so Winona Ryder, David Harbour and now probably well known names Finn Wolfhard, Willie Bobby Brown Gate and Matsaraza, Caleb Clough and Natalia Dyer. Quite a few big characters that have come out that series and gone on to other things. But yeah, I mean, what did we think of series one? I think it's probably the most pure of the Stranger Things series and it was actually written as a. This, as a actual plot line and finish it quite nicely. [00:44:10] Speaker D: I think it's interesting as well because it almost kicked off the 80s nostalgia again or reinvigorated it, I suppose, because so I remember watching it at the time and going, oh, this is really cool. But then I think re watching it, it's still a very good first series but you've then got a load of other sort of films and TV and everything else that, that that's picked up on this 80s nostalgia sort of craze over the last 10 years. But I thought as a series it was very good. You know, it was fresh, a bit different. It did, it did. It was obviously very nostalgic and a very. A love letter to 80s horror and 80s film. But it was done in a very nice sort of subtle way. [00:45:08] Speaker C: I think it's that whole thing of like a bunch of kids like going on an adventure within their hometown. Like, you know, you're mentioning sort of Steven. Steven Spielberg meets Stephen King. It's got that sort of mixture of like Stand By Me with ET and like you mentioned the Goonies, Keith and things like that. But obviously more horror leaving and it [00:45:30] Speaker D: kind of respected nerd culture as well with things like D and D and the later series did it as well. But I think, you know, things like with D and D, you could clearly see that the people who created it, they were massive D and D fans. And it, you know, that the whole. The plot and the monsters and the references, everything is D and D coded. But again, they took it very seriously and they respected the culture. They were. [00:45:57] Speaker B: I think it certainly cemented Netflix into the British culture because we kind of not unlike the Americans where it had been a thing for quite a few years before. I think this was probably the show that kind of made people start to do the subscription based kind of TV type of stuff. So it was that. It was kind of. It was so big that it was like, you know, because it was the only place you could watch was the kind of thing where people would start their subscriptions to Netflix. Yeah, it was, it was the thing that kind of cemented Netflix as part of British culture. Yeah, I think, I think there was some stuff up until that point, but it was, it was the big kind of like flagship show for it. [00:46:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think it was the first Netflix original, but I think it [00:46:40] Speaker B: was, it was, it was the one kind of big fame stream exploded into all kinds of things, didn't it, really? [00:46:46] Speaker A: Yeah. And then streaming became such a thing after that and it was a case of. [00:46:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it was like up until that point, I think most people, it was Sky, Sky, Atlantic, all of that kind of stuff. But Stranger Things is the one that propelled Netflix to the juggernaut that it is now. [00:47:01] Speaker A: I mean. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that stood out for me was that heavy synthwave Carpenter Brutie score. Cause it riffed so much off John Carpenter and that kind of era. [00:47:12] Speaker D: Yeah, well, I mean, it's. Yeah, Carl Dixon soundtrack was just phenomenal. But also the, [00:47:20] Speaker C: The. [00:47:20] Speaker D: The remixes and covers of songs so Heroes in. In the first series, which they then reused in a couple of the series. But again, just brilliant composition as a soundtrack. So. [00:47:36] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:47:37] Speaker B: I mean, Winona Rider of being in it had absolutely no reason for me to kind of tune in at all. [00:47:45] Speaker A: But I think it was kind of a callback to. It was that perfect nostalgia time. I think for the kids who had grown up in the 80s without the Internet, without kind of phones, being on your bike, going wherever you wanted, just be back by sunset. That kind of no rules kind of era of childhood. [00:48:01] Speaker C: I think it's also like what's probably Triggered a lot of the discussions online. Like younger people being like, wait, was that really a thing that you did in the 80s and 90s which just. You just went out and rode your bike somewhere. [00:48:12] Speaker A: It's like, yeah, drink water from the hose. Hose, bike in the lawn. Yeah, just run around and just disappeared into the woods for days. But you don't. Yeah, I think it was kind of. It was perfectly pictured at that audience at that time. They were the ones with the disposable income enough to go and watch that kind of thing. Yeah, I think it was a. A solid show. I think looking back, I wish they would have of gone with the anthology idea and moved on to a different set of characters for season two and then moved around. I appreciate there has been some highlights in the later seasons, but I think mixing it would have made it a much more interesting series. [00:48:53] Speaker B: I don't know if it would have been as big a phenomena as that, because anthology shows would struggle. Because if you do a show and the next one isn't as good, people will drift away quite quickly. Anthology shows are hard. [00:49:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I think audiences have got used to them now, though, with things like White Lotus and Love Death Robots and those kind of things. [00:49:11] Speaker B: I think White Lotus is much more kind of like same situation, different people. [00:49:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:49:16] Speaker B: You know, I think you'd have got bored if it was like Stranger Things but somewhere else with different people. Yeah, because. Because they've had things like Fear street and other stuff. Netflix have tried it with some of the bits and pieces which don't kind of hit the highs. I think it was just. It's Lightning in a bottle. It's one of those kind of things. It just kind of did a thing and it kind of hit at the right time. [00:49:34] Speaker A: And I think it was pure love. Love story written to 80s TV and cinema and that kind of era of. [00:49:42] Speaker D: But it had that kind of going. To your point, Keith, like the lightning bottle. Because it was the first thing really for Netflix where they could merchandise it, they could expand it so it had. It has, you know, games, Funko Pops, all sorts of things, stage play. You know, there's the formula and the branding. They could merchandise it into so many different platforms and mediums, which I think that's the first time Netflix could have done that. As you said, it's that kind of similar to how's the Cards? Their first series kept them afloat. I think Stranger Things really helped them, you know, break into the mainstream with. [00:50:22] Speaker A: With that. [00:50:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it's one of those cultural phenomenon things. It's Like X Files, you know, it's, it's. You just can't predict what. When these shows are going to be a thing. You know, if you'd have looked at X Files and said this is going to be one of the biggest shows of the 90s, people would have gone, yeah, maybe not. But it just did. And it was, it's that thing, it's casting, it's scenario, it's just whatever it is. You just kind of just seem to. It all came together I think. [00:50:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's definitely worth a re watch if you've not watched strange things, I think and if you have any kind of interest in that D and D kind of spooky sci fi, urban, Stephen Kingy, Steven Spielberg vibe. My next selection from the TV series of 2016 and beyond is one that also started in 2016. Well, it started in December 2015 in the US but started in 2016 over here on the unfortunately named SIFI Channel, if anybody remembers that. Why renamed Sci Fi Channel. Yes, is the Expanse based on the books by author James S.A. cory. So set in a future where humanity has colonized the entire solar system, a random group of people get thrown together including Thomas Jane playing a detective, Stephen Straight playing James Holden, a former ice miner, then captain of a ship called the Rossononte, and UN Security Council member Christian Avassaro. It was played by Shore Agdashulu, which I probably got that name wrong and I apologize to her. But yes. So this was a show that had a rocky history. So three seasons on sifi, then got cancelled and then everyone's favorite multi billionaire Jeff Bezos liked it a lot. So we decided to get Amazon prime to buy it and continue the series for another three seasons after it was cancelled on sifi. But yes, I really love this. It's probably one of the closest hard sci fi series that been around for quite a while now. Similar kind of tone to like BSG reboot and that kind of dark, slightly depressing future of yeah, corporations are still in charge and everything and everything sucks in the solar system, but everybody's trying to make their way and. And yes, I really love it. I don't know if anybody else has watched it. [00:52:49] Speaker B: I didn't see it until it came to Amazon for some reason. Don't know why, but it was. I did kind of, I wouldn't say binge it, but I did catch up with it quite quickly because I did think it was a really good show. [00:53:01] Speaker D: Yes. [00:53:01] Speaker B: And the characters were really great and I mean it's had such an impact. It has spun off into other mediums. There's been at least one game. There's a Telltale game, I believe. I can't remember Drummer as the main character. [00:53:15] Speaker C: I don't remember. But I know there is one coming out soon. I think Osiris Reborn that's in development at the moment. I think so. [00:53:23] Speaker B: And there's been comics based around it as well. So I think there's a comics continuation that follows on from the end of the series, which is quite good. But yeah, it's great. [00:53:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it's, as I said, one of the more better sci fi series I think that have been around in the previous few years. Started out quite slow. I think the first couple of episodes was finding its feet. And then towards the end of season one, it kind of really built up to a big crescendo and it was a definite mood. [00:53:51] Speaker B: I think for me it was a little bit like you said in Battlestar Galactic, not Battlestar Galactica. And also Babylon 5. [00:53:59] Speaker A: Yes. [00:53:59] Speaker B: I thought it had a very kind of Babylon 5 feel. It was like, yeah, things aren't going to go well here. This is not Star Trek. Yeah. Which I thought. Which was really nice. [00:54:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:54:10] Speaker A: And I think that mainly due to the success of James Corey's books. But I believe Mark Fergus Hawk Otsby, who are the showrunners, did a really great adaptation. The sets feel really lived in the style of the place. Feels like an actual crafted universe. And it feels like this is believable. It doesn't pull into the Star Trekkie side. [00:54:30] Speaker B: But also for me, one of the best things. Title sequence. Yes, like that. It had a proper title sequence which changed over the course of the series. And the music was really good as well. [00:54:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:40] Speaker B: So, yeah, I do like a title sequence. And also it was in the times where it didn't say skip, so I like that. [00:54:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:47] Speaker D: Had the book series finished by the time the series started? Did it have that problem of catching up with the books or was it. [00:54:56] Speaker A: I don't think it has. I think he still writing them. Well, 2021 was the last book that came out and there's lots of short stories, novellas around it. So I don't think it's had that issue. But I think they actually finished it pretty much before they got into the later books anyway because there was such a depth of content. The books are like 500 pages each, so there is a chunky amount of content in there. I mean, compared to other Amazon adaptations. Rink. Yes. It's much better than some of the other Amazon Adaptations that have been foisted upon us. Put it that way. [00:55:34] Speaker B: I think it worked in a way. Kind of dislocated itself probably from the books. It kind of told its own kind of self contained story in a way. I didn't feel like I was missing out from not reading the books. It seemed like a very contained story. And I think how it ended as well, I was. I would have liked it to continue because I was really invested in the world and the characters. But I felt it kind of wrapped itself up quite nicely in a way that was like. It was satisfying. Even though I would have liked another season or whatever it is. [00:56:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean some fantastic guest spots and stars that join later on as well throughout the series. I mean it is a really great ensemble piece. It's not just a one or two cast members. It's. It's a great one that pulls together. I mean I would say it's probably the greatest sci fi series of the last 10 years. I can't think of anything similar that's come out. [00:56:31] Speaker B: You've had contenders like Apple TV have [00:56:34] Speaker A: had things like foundation and for all mankind, I suppose. [00:56:36] Speaker B: And for all mankind. But I think this is the series that set the tone for that kind of thing. It had been a while since Galactica had finished, but I thought this were. It proved that there was still, you know, space for a space set TV show with spaceships. I like the fact we had spaceships and I kind of like the mechanics of like how they used missiles and bullets and stuff. It was like. It was kind of cool. [00:57:02] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:57:03] Speaker B: You know, this is. The battle sequences were always pretty dynamic and kind of really interesting and they [00:57:07] Speaker A: were kind of not realistic. But realistically the weaponry, the technology of the time, it's not. [00:57:14] Speaker B: Well, just the fact that ships had to slow down. [00:57:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:18] Speaker B: And stuff. It was like, you know, it's kind of cool that like ships didn't go. You couldn't stop a ship dead. There was. [00:57:23] Speaker A: There was no. [00:57:24] Speaker B: You understood science and inertia and all the rest of it. It was kind of a real hard sci fi. [00:57:29] Speaker D: Yeah, it's interesting. That's what I quite liked about Battlestar Galactica, where it's that kind of thing. Whenever they had like the space fights, the sound would be kind of muted. You know, it was still obviously a little bit unrealistic, but it had that little bit bit more. It wasn't the Star wars, it was more. [00:57:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean it's all on Amazon prime nowadays. And I urge you, if you are looking for a bit of Hard sci fi, more realistic sci fi. It's definitely something worth going back and watching and hope that they can find somewhere to continue it, as you said, through comic books and stories and other media, but really would recommend it. So the final series that I'm talking about for 2016 is one that was already aired prior to 2016. But this was a kind of real turning point, I would say, in the series, which is Game of Thrones Season 6. So this was at the height of Game of Thrones mania 10 years ago when pretty much it dominated the TV spectrum. Everything kind of ran away and hid from it when it was on air because that's all it was. It was the water cooler show. You had David Benoff, DB Wise, and I think this is the bit where crack started to show a little bit, where they ran out of George Dublar Martin's material to crib off, put it that way, maybe. [00:58:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:52] Speaker D: But I think it's interesting because I think if you hadn't read the books, from my experience anyway, because I hadn't read the books at the time, I was still enjoying it. I was seeing a few things, but I was still on the whole enjoying it. But then some of my friends who had read the books, there were a few clear deviations in series six because obviously that's where they'd sort of caught up, where they'd started to see the red flags first. There's almost like an interesting, as you said, it was a turning point, but it was an interesting sort of divide between those who've read the books and could see, like, could see the, the car crash coming. And I was still just blissfully going, oh, this is fun. But what I did enjoy was the whole, as you said, the water cooler, like I remember in work at the time, and we would all just meet at lunchtime to discuss it. I've never really had that with another show. So it was still, I still enjoyed that element of it, you know. [00:59:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think it changed the TV landscape as well because it was a very much 18 rated TV series and we've had so many other ones come since then of that kind of blood and boobs, basically and battle to a certain extent. I mean, it's, it's, it's an adaptation of the War of the Roses. So it was a dark time in English history as it was. But yeah, I think they really lent into it being an adult TV show for adults. And. Yeah, over $100 million to make this season. Yeah, I think, as you said, it was kind of that this probably finishes on one of the greatest episodes of tv, which is the Battle of the Bastards. And I think it's one of the best episodes of Game of Thrones by a country mile. And then I think after that is where, yeah, we'll start falling off the trolley pretty quickly. But I mean it's, it's one of those things because we've gone on, we've had other serious balls off the back of it. You've had House of Dragon which has done reasonably well. Night of the Seven Kingdoms has just finished its run over here and that's done really well. So that universe is still regarded as well. However, Game of Thrones, the show. I think I am still pissed off at the end of Game of Thrones to be fair. [01:01:10] Speaker D: I think what's interesting, sort of tying Stranger Things and Game of Thrones together is so Stranger Things how it, it ended without any spoilers for anyone hasn't watched it. But I don't think it was necessarily that bad. Where they ended up was fine. I think how they got there wasn't great. But the, the collective trauma from Gen Z of this. Yeah was quite interesting because having had that trauma from Game of Thrones I was a little bit less like, I was more desensitized to it. You know, like all the, at the end of Game of Thrones there was all these theories actually something else was going to happen and this, that and the other and, and I remember like seeing, speaking to Gen Z colleagues and on TikTok and stuff there's all this kind of like secret episode of Stranger Things to explain it all. And I was like, no, hun, we [01:01:58] Speaker C: found all these clues in the episode. The behind the scenes thing is secretly a new episode. [01:02:04] Speaker D: You know, my dear sweet summer child, you weren't there for Game of Thrones. [01:02:09] Speaker A: I think that was the thing of. I think both shows have fell into that. They were writing it as they were filming it and it became just a case of, well, just keep writing, keep writing, keep filming. [01:02:20] Speaker C: Yeah, it's funny you bring this up though because it's like I'd already experienced that before Game of Thrones. With Lost I was just like, oh well, I'm not trusting a TV show ever again. [01:02:32] Speaker D: I think with all those instances it's like there's also an element of the hype. Like you just can never. And it happens with games all the time. Like fans in some ways are actually the worst because you can just never manage these expectations. I mean, yes, the writing wasn't great, but also they could have written the best thing ever. And it would not have competed with the hype that they generated. [01:02:53] Speaker A: I mean, looking at this, this season in particular. Season 6, 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomato. Every single episode is above 85 on a score. Average rating of 8.25 out of 10. Metacritic at its 73 out of 100. Generally favorable. It was kind of one of the better reviewed seasons of tv and it is a fantastic thing to go back and watch. If it was me, I'd probably just watch up to season six and stop. And this was the big award winning one season season. I think it was one where they had loads of Emmy nominations. They had. I think it was outstanding cast, guest series, casting, cinematography. Then we talked about the cinematography in the final season and it's a different world. Yeah, so it was that season of everything was just like. Everything was Game of Thrones scenes, there was Game of Thrones watch parties. I remember us talking about it on the podcast back then. It was on the radio show. It was one thing that we picked up quite often. And it was kind of. You couldn't escape Game of Thrones even if you wanted to escape Game of Thrones for 2016. It was just everywhere. [01:04:06] Speaker D: Well, I mean, speaking of, speaking of loss, Game of Thrones then had like the show you watched after Game of Thrones where they dissected the episode, invited the cast on and all the rest of it, you know. Yeah. Similar to Lost, [01:04:22] Speaker A: I think. Yeah. Three shows back from 2016. Some of which went on to better things. Some of which. [01:04:30] Speaker B: Two I watched. [01:04:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:04:32] Speaker B: One I didn't. [01:04:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I watched one. [01:04:34] Speaker A: Which one it is Keith. Sword and sorcery not your thing. [01:04:39] Speaker B: I do. No, that's not true. I do like sword and sorcery. I like Hawk the Slayer. So come on. [01:04:44] Speaker C: The Slayer's rubbish. [01:04:47] Speaker B: I went to the cinema to see Krull. [01:04:48] Speaker A: Yes, Krull I love. I will not hear a bad word against Krull. [01:04:53] Speaker B: I do like a good sword and sorcerer thing because I do like a sword as a weapon. It's my kind of weapon of choice. Highlander. [01:04:59] Speaker C: Yes, yes, we know about your D and D character and the sword that he can't use. [01:05:03] Speaker B: Swords are great, but yeah. [01:05:06] Speaker A: So I think two of those shows are definitely worth watching back. One of them is. I'd watched some of it back and probably never dane my eyes on that final season ever again just because of the vitriol that still burns in my soul for that finale. But yes, anyway, go give him a watch if you fancy them. It's Time for our regular roundup of what's the geeky thing that's been consuming our lives since the last issue. So we all pick a game, a TV series, a movie, a comic, just something in general geeky that we've seen or done, and we then talk about it. So this issue, let's kick off with Lee. Lee, what are you giving to us this time as your one geek theme? [01:05:51] Speaker C: So, in a shocking twist, I'm not picking a game. [01:05:56] Speaker A: Not Pocopia. [01:05:57] Speaker C: No. I've not played Procopopia. [01:05:59] Speaker A: Is that because, you know, you would lose all time and reality? [01:06:02] Speaker C: Probably, yes. Now, what I'm actually going to try talk about is an album. Because the new Gorillaz album, the Mountain came out recently. 27th of February, 2026 was the release of that. And I really like it. I really enjoy it. I really enjoyed it. It's very rare that I'll actually sit down and listen to an album properly, but, like, loads of people were talking about it and everything, so I was like, all right, I'm gonna listen to this properly. And it's just such a really good, good album. [01:06:36] Speaker A: It's been a long time since Gorillaz released new material, isn't it? Not really, no. [01:06:40] Speaker C: I think when was pretty consistent. Yeah. [01:06:42] Speaker D: Yeah, they released quite consistently, but obviously they're always quite experimental, so the albums are either hit or miss, I suppose. [01:06:49] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think this one, they've kind of. It feels like an actual, like, cohesive piece from start to finish. [01:06:57] Speaker B: It's probably your concept album. [01:06:59] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [01:07:00] Speaker D: Didn't do a film with it as well. [01:07:02] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'll get on onto that. But, yeah, it's like sort of, from what I've seen, it's like. I think both Damon Orban and Jamie Hewlett are obviously the two people behind Guerrillaz. They both sort of lost, I think, their fathers. They both lost. They also did a trip to India, so they were sort of going around, like, a lot of very holy sites. And sort of off the back of that, they built an album that was very much about sort of death and rebirth and that sort of thing that was kind of the focus of this. And obviously there's a lot of Indian influence has gone into the album. And. But it's interesting because even though it is predominantly focused on death, it doesn't feel like a really sad, depressing album. It's sort of kind of almost like a celebration of life and sort of imagining, you know, the afterlife and all this sort of stuff. And it's just such a really interesting Thing from, from start to finish, just almost every track on it is just really good. I think there's only one that I really didn't. Didn't like and that was [01:08:10] Speaker A: can't remember [01:08:11] Speaker C: which track it was. The manifesto was the only one I didn't really get into. But also off the back of that they also kind of. There's a lot of guest spots from people who had already passed away on this album. So they reused a lot of stuff from previous sessions. So it's previous collaborators with Gorillaz who've. Who've died since. And it was. So it's people like Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack, David Jolicoeur, Tony Allen, Proof and Marquis Smith. So it's all like various different bits and pieces that were sort of left over from previous sessions that they'd done because I thought it was odd because I think the only one I'd realized had died was Dennis Hopper. And so when I saw him on the first thing, I was like, how the hell is he on this? And then I heard his voice and it was just him saying the mountain. And I knew, I was like, oh, the fire coming out. [01:09:01] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [01:09:04] Speaker C: But yeah, like you said, there was a film released for it, short sort of music video which sort of brought together three of the tracks from the album. And it's a really cool little short because it's all traditional animation. They were sort of very deliberately calling back to like sort of 50s 60s Disney. So like the Jungle Book is very big in this. You can see it's like straight away like Noodle is basically just Mowgli right at the start of the video. And it's just such a gorgeous little video. And it sort of shows that, yeah, we should have more sort of of traditional hand drawn stuff because it's just such a really great piece of work. And I read like an article about it talking like the animators talking about their process and how basically they said that if you couldn't do it in the 60s, we weren't allowed to do it. That was the restriction we put on ourselves that if it had to be something you could do at the time, which they sort of cheated a bit with it. So instead of just laying stuff like, like on cells like they'd used to, they would still do that digitally because it was just easier to do it that way. But they'd still like actually paint the backdrops and then scan them in rather than just doing it. So. But yeah, I've been really enjoying that album and that music video as well. [01:10:25] Speaker B: I particularly like the two tracks with Sparks and the Marquee Smith ones. Depending on when this episode airs, I'll be either at it or have been. When they played the nec. [01:10:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I looked at that and I was like, the tickets are way too expensive. [01:10:40] Speaker B: Yeah. But I mean, I've been a huge fan of Gorillaz since the beginning, obviously, because of the Tank Girl, Jamie Hewlett connection. [01:10:48] Speaker C: Well, I was a big fan of [01:10:48] Speaker B: Blur, so, yeah, both sides. [01:10:52] Speaker C: And I've always liked sort of traditional animation stuff, so the idea of a cartoon band was always fun. [01:10:57] Speaker B: My only concern at the moment is Damon. Old Barnett has seems to have forgotten that it's supposed to be a virtual band. And I don't want to see Damon Alban. It's like, I want to see 2D noodles, Murdoch, Russell. That's the band I want to go and see. I don't want to see Damon Alban. I don't care about you, mate. You had your moments with Blair. [01:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah. But they were on Saturday Night Live recently and again, it was like, damon, I don't want to see you, mate. I want to see. I want. I want the ABBA voyage with the gorilla. [01:11:26] Speaker C: But I think that was part of the problem, though, is that it was getting expensive to have all the hologram stuff going on. [01:11:31] Speaker B: Damn nearly expense. Old Barnes got tons of money. [01:11:32] Speaker C: I think that tickets are already expensive. Like, imagine double the price. That's probably what we'd be looking at. [01:11:37] Speaker A: I was gonna say they've started self publishing the albums now. I think there's still a label, but they've started to move their own. [01:11:43] Speaker B: It swindled me. I had to buy the CD version to get the commemorative ticket for the show. [01:11:47] Speaker A: It's like. [01:11:48] Speaker B: And God knows how much money I'm gonna spend at the gig. Because if they put vinyl toys out, it's like, I'm gonna have to have another set of vinyl toys. [01:11:56] Speaker C: Yeah. Because this album was released through Kong Records, which is the album they've set up. The label they've set up specifically for. Yes. [01:12:03] Speaker B: Because the website had gone off recently and they brought it back and it's like. Because I used to. I used to love all of that. They do a book and another video because I've got all the kind of like. [01:12:12] Speaker C: Did they do more of their sort of website shenanigans? Because I remember that from back in, like, the original. [01:12:19] Speaker D: It's good stuff. [01:12:20] Speaker A: Sometimes it's just nice to have a bit of mixed media. [01:12:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:12:22] Speaker A: As a project. But, yeah, I'll definitely have to have a listen to it. [01:12:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it's good. Yeah. [01:12:28] Speaker B: Cool. [01:12:28] Speaker A: Matt, how about yourself? [01:12:32] Speaker D: So I've joined the metaverse over Christmas. Me and partner went halves on a meta quest 3 and so I've been [01:12:40] Speaker B: playing one eye each [01:12:43] Speaker D: and so trying to squeeze into the headset. Yeah, I've been playing that and I've got to say I'm really impressed by it. I've been so. I know controversy, like recent controversy side with it. But I've been playing like Resident Evil 4, like the original Resident Evil 4 in full VR and just the first time stepping into that and then looking down, you've got. You've got your guns and you've got your knife and everything on you and you have to actually like. [01:13:10] Speaker A: Does it have Leon's briefcase carrying? [01:13:13] Speaker D: But you have to like, you have to like, you know, reload and everything in real time and it just, it's kind of. [01:13:18] Speaker C: Do you have to do like the drop kicks yourself as Leon? [01:13:21] Speaker D: Well, annoyingly, no [01:13:25] Speaker A: extra drop kick or [01:13:27] Speaker D: you can't even hurt yourself out the window. It's like a cutscene plays every time you do it. But it's. Yeah, it's just been really fun. And even the quite surprisingly outside of the games there's a load of experiences. For example, you can sort of travel the world and you can visit, you know, key sites or even like seven Wonders or even just like sit on a beach in Thailand in VR. And it's some of those experiences that actually my partner's really enjoyed a lot more because he's less of a gamer. And yeah, I've just been essentially going through. I've. The headset came when I. A three month subscription to their almost like game pass meta quest. Game pass. So we've just been going through playing those different games, different experiences and yeah, just really enjoying it to be honest. So yeah, well done, Zuckerberg on that I'd probably say. [01:14:30] Speaker A: Was it worth handing over all you do? [01:14:33] Speaker D: It's fine. [01:14:34] Speaker B: Wear your glasses. [01:14:37] Speaker D: No, so I did originally but because mine. I have a very big. I have a very like poor eyesight. My subscription is a bit too thick for it, so I wore my daily contacts but then I bought some inserts and the inserts are quite good because you can just pop them in and out whenever you want to. [01:14:57] Speaker B: But yeah, because that's been for me the barrier. [01:15:01] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:15:01] Speaker B: With kind of VR because I don't do contacts. [01:15:04] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:15:05] Speaker B: And I find it very difficult to. The headsets don't often fit because I have quite a wide brim glasses and I find it sometimes that the headsets [01:15:16] Speaker D: don't work very well, so I did have that challenge. I think the inserts, they're about 50 pound, which obviously isn't. [01:15:22] Speaker B: Is that the one they call the comfort insert? [01:15:25] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. But they match the description. You stick them in and you can take them in and out quite easily. And actually, that's been a bit of a game changer because I was using my daily disposable contact lenses. But then your eyes obviously dry out really quickly, having two screens in front of your face. So the inserts work really well. [01:15:43] Speaker B: And has anybody filmed you playing Beat Saber yet? [01:15:46] Speaker D: Yeah, Neil, repeatedly. [01:15:50] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, I mean, it's probably still not going to solve. The issue I have with VR is that it just makes me uncomfortable. [01:15:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:55] Speaker C: I mean, I'm one of those people that just can't do it. [01:15:58] Speaker D: Interestingly, they've done. They've done quite a lot to kind of help with motion sickness. But I agree. I think after a while I. I get sick. Still. [01:16:08] Speaker C: It's not even necessarily motion sickness. [01:16:10] Speaker B: It's just. [01:16:10] Speaker C: It's weirdly disorienting for me. Like, I'll have it on my head, but I won't be unaware of the world around me. And that makes me uncomfortable. So it's like, I just can't do VR. [01:16:21] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:16:21] Speaker C: I need to have, like. I can't do the head. [01:16:24] Speaker D: Yeah. But I think this is. It's interesting also, like, the social aspect, but I don't really get involved in social aspect much. But they've even got, like, free live concerts and stuff. So you can go and sit in VR and watch a concert and obviously it's just a big film on the screen, but you can sit with other people and watch, I don't know, Coldplay Live. And they've got. [01:16:44] Speaker C: I wouldn't do that. [01:16:45] Speaker B: Well, yeah, they've got a lot of [01:16:46] Speaker D: events and stuff and they've got these things called worlds, where people can create worlds and you can. Can hang out. There's like virtual quiz nights and Cobby nights and stuff. So it's just interesting. [01:16:56] Speaker B: You have legs now. [01:16:57] Speaker D: You do have legs. You do actually have legs. [01:16:59] Speaker C: Although one advantage of watching Coldplay live that way is that you won't get caught, cheated. [01:17:05] Speaker A: Just two little metaverse characters schneoodling in the corner. Because I remember when it first launched and Zuck did one of his videos and it was trying to get people in offices to, like, wear them to meetings and things like that, and it's like, oh, but you can do all your sort it's like, no, there's a person sat opposite me and just speak to them. [01:17:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:17:23] Speaker A: I appreciate remote work and things like that. But yes, it looks a great concept. Again, I'm similar to Keith. My glasses are a prescription which is known as re entry shield for. So never really got on with VR headsets because I can imagine glasses plus then two lenses pancaked onto your face is going to be quite uncomfortable. Uncomfortable but possible. But yeah, sounds interesting. So do you say the gaming experience is what brought you to it more than the kind of social aspect side of it? [01:17:55] Speaker D: Yeah, 100%. But also I think in. In some respects because things like Beat Saber and there's loads of other sort of games like that, it kind of harks back to the Wii era where actually I'm being more active and that kind of thing. So I'm almost game ifying my exercise. And you know, I think it's just [01:18:15] Speaker B: the headset part of it that's the drawback. I think if it was a way of doing it without that because I kind of like the controls. They're quite nice to use. [01:18:24] Speaker A: I'm hoping one day that they can get to the size of just a pair of glasses that you can pop on one day maybe. [01:18:33] Speaker D: Cool. [01:18:34] Speaker A: Keith, how about yourself? What was your one geek thing of the. [01:18:38] Speaker B: My one geek thing is something I only finished yesterday day, which probably most of most of the other world have probably already finished it months ago when it first came out. But I have been absolutely smitten with a little show on Disney plus called Wonder Man. [01:18:54] Speaker A: Yes. [01:18:56] Speaker B: Which is part of the Marvel Studios range being put out through their kind of spotlight branch, which I think they did Werewolf by Night under and Echo is also under that. So it's kind of like these slightly not quite part of the mainstream kind of thing. And I didn't know what to expect. I'd heard some good things about it, but I would probably want to say that it's possibly the best thing Marvel have ever done in film or in tv. It was a spectacular show that really isn't about superheroes. It's about Hollywood and it's about acting and it's about companionship and friendship and the two leads. [01:19:45] Speaker A: Finding yourself. I think. Yeah. [01:19:46] Speaker B: I'm kind of like, you know, not overthinking. [01:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:19:51] Speaker B: Which Yahya Abdul Mahin II is the lead character. Simon Williams, who is wildly different to the character in the comics, but they have an in universe explanation for all of this. Where Wonder man was originally a film that everybody used to love from the Kind of like the early 80s. But the standout part of that is his partnership then with the incomparable Ben Kingsley, who replays or rejoins the Marvel Universe as Trevor Slattery. People will know as the Mandarin, which plays off in this series as well. He's reappeared in various other things. He'd been shuffled off into a pocket universe during Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which all back connects to the Mandarin and whatever it is. But just these two people together acting and Ben Kingsley is just phenomenal. You know, it's. It should be really cheesy and you should think this is just terrible. But it's beautiful and it's brilliant. And Ben Kingsley is fantastic as Travis Lattery, who could be, well be the MVP of the Marvel Universe. [01:20:59] Speaker A: He is the new Thanos, maybe. [01:21:00] Speaker B: Who cares about Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr. Ben Kingsley and Travis Slattery is where it's at, man. He's so cool. It's just. And all the other bit part players in the whole series are just fantastic. [01:21:13] Speaker A: There's a fantastic supporting cast. I love the side episode with Doorman. [01:21:18] Speaker B: Doorman and Josh Gad. [01:21:20] Speaker D: Yep. [01:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:21:21] Speaker B: Which is brilliant in itself. Black and white. [01:21:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Joe Pantolano. [01:21:24] Speaker C: Joe Pantoliano, Joey Pants. [01:21:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Which kind of like is brilliant because there's the episodes recall on each other and the ending's fantastic because you just go, this is just brilliant. And I just thought it was phenomenal. [01:21:38] Speaker A: I really love. They've left it open to do something else with it if they want to. But as a series, it's a limited run. I think it's six episodes. [01:21:45] Speaker B: Eight episodes. Eight episodes. Eight episodes less. All less than like about an hour, half an hour long. But it's such a joyful show and it's like, [01:21:56] Speaker A: I love it that they grasp around the reality of what is superpowered individuals just trying to live a normal life as well. I think that's a really good theme of just because you're different doesn't mean that you can't do things. [01:22:09] Speaker C: Well. [01:22:10] Speaker B: It has a lot to say about a lot of things. And it's like we've talked about previously in this episode when I was talking about Paul Dini and Batman and stuff. It's kind of how these stories. And I think it's. As a creative person anyway, the idea of any of these things that we talk about every week, music, tv, games or whatever, it is that kind of human sensibility of having stories and being part of things, engaging and stuff and kind of figuring our Way. A way around life and through life by all of these things that, you know, people. Some people will trivialize and go, it's not important. But I think it's hugely important that we're surrounded by these kind of stories and these kind of things that just kind of. Of we can connect to and to. To the stories and to each other as well, that we're all connected in a way. And I think there's a lot of that in this series. It's all about connections and finding people who help you through things. And even though you might at first think we're wildly different, there's actually a lot of commonality. And in the world we're living in at the moment, the idea of the fact we've got more things in common than we got not is a hugely big part of it. But I loved it. And every moment Ben Kingsley's on screen, I'm just like, damn, this should be terrible. But I love fantastic Trevor Slattery because [01:23:31] Speaker A: he's such a dreadful ham. And you've got Ben Kingsley, one of the finest actors of multiple generations, just playing an utter ham is just hilarious to a certain extent. [01:23:41] Speaker B: But it's done so well. And there is a couple of shocking moments in there that you just go, whoa, they did that. There's a. There's a part where they're auditioning for the role of Wonder Man. [01:23:51] Speaker A: The dream sequence. [01:23:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And you just go, what that? And, yeah, it was. It was just magnificent. And the fact that, like, we'd got people in this who had been in the DC universe before the director of Van Kovac. And Kovac is the name that, if you know, comics has lots of implications about it. He was in Superman as the leader of the. I can't remember the name of the country. [01:24:15] Speaker A: The Naughty Country. [01:24:16] Speaker B: Yeah. And Yaya had been Black Manta in the two Aquaman things, but he didn't really have the room to do what he does in this show. He just. He's just a phenomenal actor in this. And that pairing is just Chef's kiss. Marvel. I think it is probably the best thing I've ever seen from the Marvel universe. [01:24:36] Speaker A: It's the last. Well, we kind of dropped most of the Marvel TV series just because they got to the state of. There was just far too much Marvel. But it's one of those things that did draw me and Viv back into watching it, and it was a great little run to watch. Yeah. I mean, I think if they tried to do more stuff like that and keep to that shorter Limited run and just work on it and make sure it's fantastic writing. [01:24:58] Speaker B: It was a show that worked kind of. At the same time, I'm watching things like shrinking and small profits and stuff like that. It was a show that kind of really fitted in with that. It was a feel show. It was all about feels and it worked brilliantly. So if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend you tune into Wonder man on Disney plus. It's magnificent. [01:25:20] Speaker A: Awesome. Thank you. I'm gonna be greedy. I'm gonna pick two things. [01:25:25] Speaker C: No, it's one geek thing with clues in the name. [01:25:28] Speaker A: Keith does this every single day. [01:25:29] Speaker B: No, I'm not a good example. [01:25:32] Speaker A: Well, my main one geek thing was going to be Star Trek Voyager across the Unknown, which you've not played it. It's a management sim game where you are tasked with becoming Catherine Janeway and getting Voyager from Delta Quadrant all the way home and coming across all the trials and tribulations and all the fun that she has to deal with. And you have to make the decision. You have to rebuild the ship. You've got to manage this crew, got to manage the warp core. You've got to make sure there's enough fuel and food and things like that. That. And it is a fantastic, stupidly hard, but fantastic fun game to play. [01:26:06] Speaker B: Do you get to leave Neelix behind at the first level? [01:26:08] Speaker A: Well, you get to make the Tuvix decision. [01:26:13] Speaker D: Wow. [01:26:14] Speaker A: Which is one of the great moral quandaries of our generation of. Yes. Do you keep Tuvix or do you split them back? Wow. Yes. So there's lots of decisions like that, basically. So you can play it straight, you can play it as the series wraps it, but you will come across at lots of occasions, so it's really worth picking up. It's one of those games that's designed for infinite replay and there's infinite choice and you can. What if I did it this way this time? [01:26:41] Speaker B: I think you do have to replay it quite often, because I think I played the demo and I was like, yeah, my ship's going to get blown up before I get to the end of this. [01:26:49] Speaker A: Did you use the Array to go back home? Because that is one of the endings of the game. You can just go son the Delta Quadrant. [01:26:54] Speaker B: I'm out of it. Just go, yeah, it's gonna be one of those games where you go, yeah, everybody's dead. Start again. [01:26:59] Speaker D: Yes. [01:26:59] Speaker A: But it's reasonably cheap. I think it's like 30 quid to pick up. So it's a reasonably good budget price game to spend some time on, so I would recommend that. But my main thing which really annoyed me because it came out like a week after recorded the last episode was Neon Genesis Evangelion. Announcement of a new series coming from the writer and director of Neon, which is Yoko Taro. I'm sure Lee will probably fill people on more Nier. [01:27:26] Speaker C: Yeah, Yoko Taro. We've never seen his actual face because he's always wearing the Emil mask at all times. Emil being a character from the original Nier. And yeah, he's considering the way that Nier and Drakengard, which is important to mention because it's is all linked in. I'm very interested to see what he does with Neon Genesis Evangelion, because that's already like a series that goes in weird places. [01:27:59] Speaker A: Well, it's the 30th anniversary of the original version, which is Teki Anno. So if you've not heard of Hideki Anno, he worked quite closely with Miyazaki early on. He did one of the big scenes for North Kabelli of the Wind. And that's where he kind of got his reputation. Then went off and helped set up Gainix and now he's set up Studio Khara. And there was a whole thing about Gainix collapsing last year. But yeah. So Hideki Anno's got the Evangelion franchise back. So this is the third iteration that we're going to have of Evangelion. We had the original Evangelion around 95, 96. Well, 96. And then 2007 kicked off rebuild of Evangelion, where we had 1.0, 1.11. 3.0 plus 3.0 and then 3.0 plus 1.1. They all got stupid names, which is [01:28:49] Speaker C: why I think Yoko Taro is a good fit. Because let me just double check what the full title of Nier Replicant actually is. Because they. Because they couldn't just call it like Near Replicant Remastered or whatever. They had to call it near replicant version 1.224-744-87139. So. Yeah. [01:29:13] Speaker A: But also joining Yoko Taro at Studio Kawara is Kazuya Tsurumaki, who did the rebuild. He was the helm guy for that. And Toko Yatabe, who was the key animator. One of the greatest things that came [01:29:27] Speaker C: out of this, also off that the music is going to be done by Keiichi Okabe, who also did the music for games. [01:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:29:35] Speaker C: And he's a very good composer. I would recommend people listen to Way of the World from Nier Automata and then go and listen to yodeling in Meadow hill from Tekken 6. Both the same composer, rather. [01:29:48] Speaker A: Clash of styles. [01:29:49] Speaker C: Yes. [01:29:50] Speaker A: But my favorite thing about this whole three a day, three day event they did for the 30th anniversary was there was a very short 15 minute Asuka Langley short movie where they took the original version of Suka Soyu Lange and then put in the rebuild version was just Asuka Langley Shinkai or something. Something slightly different. But yes, but they had a 15 minute short of those two talking together and like resolving Asuka's character because she's not had fun in both iterations of the series. She gets a bit of. Bit of a bum deal, but yeah, so. And my favorite thing about that was it was just supposed to be for the event. People recorded the event and then they got copyright strike and attached to the copyright strike was a link to a Google Drive with the full HD full release of the short, which then people just went, oh, this is pretty good. And that Google Drive link just went around the world within minutes. And now they've actually released it on the Studio Khara YouTube channel. It's in fully Japanese, but there is Auto Translate on there so you can watch it. My favorite bit of the auto translate that YouTube pulled up for me was it renamed Evangelion to New Age Gospel warriors, which is a great name for. [01:31:03] Speaker C: I know that sounds like some anime from the 80s. [01:31:07] Speaker B: I think I watched that on VHS. [01:31:08] Speaker A: I mean, to be fair, in Japanese it is New Century Evangelion. But yeah, but New Age Gospel Warrior is amazing as a title, but yeah, if you've not seen Neon Genesis Evangelion, don't watch it as your first anime. I would probably caution against it, but you are in for a ride. And it's a great series and it starts off as a slice of life robot and kid adventure and then just descends into utter madness and PTSD by the end of it. But it's definitely worth watching. [01:31:37] Speaker C: You say don't watch it as your first anime, but that is the first anime series I did watch. [01:31:41] Speaker A: That explains a few things. But yes, and don't watch the final two episodes. Go and watch up to episode 24, then watch the end of Evangelion and then watch the final two episodes of the series, then go and watch all the Rebuilds. But I'm very much looking forward to more Evangelion through somebody else's eyes this time. So I love Hideki Anno's version. I loved the Rebuilds, but having new Evangelion just makes me very happy. [01:32:06] Speaker C: Like I said, Yoko Toaro is going to be an interesting take on it. Just because it's. [01:32:10] Speaker A: It also means more stupid Evangelion merchandise. [01:32:13] Speaker C: But also I hope. I hope that it means that we'll get like. The series will get up to a point and then end. [01:32:18] Speaker B: Yes. [01:32:19] Speaker C: And then we'll get like it starts again in season two, but then it goes in completely different direction, has a different ending and then it does that five times. [01:32:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I think some of the best. [01:32:29] Speaker C: And for some reason the last. The last season is just going to be a shoot em up somehow. [01:32:34] Speaker A: But I just love the craziness that is Evangelion merchandise. There is a vacuum cleaner, there is a Evangelion branded toilet seat you can purchase. There is an even better Evangelion range of gardening tools that you can purchase. They basically slap that round onto anything moving in Japan. [01:32:52] Speaker C: I'm also looking forward to the episode where they have to work in sync together. And that rhythm game then becomes somehow linked to a third Nier game. [01:33:02] Speaker A: There will definitely be some Nier autonomous things in there. But yes, it does kind of remind me a little bit of that Dr. Manhattan meme. It's 1995. I'm watching a new series of Evangelists. It's 2007. [01:33:12] Speaker C: I'm watching a new series Of Evangelion. [01:33:14] Speaker A: It's 2026. I'm watching a new series of Evangelion. So it's right for rebuild and it's ripe for change. And it's a storyline that's probably one of the most influential animes of all time. And I'll probably put it up there with someone like Akira and the works of Ghibli. It's had that much of a far reaching impact. But yes, just news that new Evangelion [01:33:35] Speaker C: is going to be reaching third impact. [01:33:37] Speaker A: Yeah. And I would recommend going and watching the little Asuka Langley short if you've got any kind of interest in the series. It's on Kara's YouTube channel and I'll link it below. That was our geeky things of the issue. [01:33:49] Speaker C: To recap, Lee the Gorillaz the Mountain, [01:33:53] Speaker D: Matt Meta Quest 3, Keith the Rather [01:33:57] Speaker A: wonderful Wonder man and me, the announcement of new Neon Genesis Evangelion. That means it's neon Neon. Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.7 Yoko Tarot Ideas version 1.2 final underscore user is it Evangelion PI. [01:34:15] Speaker B: It's like an infinite number of numbers afterwards. [01:34:18] Speaker A: Yes, check it out. Thank you for joining us on the geeky broomy podcast. This issue, issue 249 issue of the Geeky Brewery podcast. Wow. Thank you for joining us. I hope you've enjoyed it. If do, don't forget to do the whole, like, subscribe, share terrible thing that we ask you to do. Please. It does help do a review those things. Yes. Watch, share with your friends. But yes. Matt, where can we find you online? [01:34:54] Speaker D: Matchstickmat on Instagram. [01:34:58] Speaker A: Lee, how about yourself? [01:34:59] Speaker C: You can find me obpetfarret on YouTube or on bluesky. [01:35:03] Speaker A: And we can find your writing works. [01:35:07] Speaker C: You can find it on Silicone Era. I've got a review upon Rock, Paper, Shotgun. We've also got regular gaming roundups that [01:35:14] Speaker A: I do on geekybrewery.com every Friday on the website. You can check that out. Keith, how about yourself? [01:35:21] Speaker B: Me? You can find me online as Hard Luck Hotel, most places. [01:35:25] Speaker A: Not the Count Dead Killer episode, not [01:35:27] Speaker B: the Counter Killer episode. But also because this episode is going out around the Easter period because Easter's coming soon. I've also got everybody an Easter egg with a little toy inside as well. [01:35:42] Speaker A: Thank you. [01:35:42] Speaker B: And where's producer Viv? There's one producer Viv as well. Watch. Watch the hand come in scene. [01:35:48] Speaker A: Come on, everybody. [01:35:49] Speaker B: Watch the hands. Watch the hands. Here it comes. No, she's gonna get it in. There's the hand. Yeah, it's like Birch in Wednesday. [01:35:55] Speaker A: That is the weirdest drawing of Chewbacca I've probably ever seen. [01:35:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:35:59] Speaker B: So I was quite surprised you got a couple in these. So happy Easter, everybody. It's time for eggs and toys. I'm sure there's some other kind of thing. I think the Star wars thing of people coming back after the Force Ghost type thing. I'm sure that's. That's the spirit of Easter. Not. Not to belittle anything else, but. Yeah, so. So you can open these and find out what toy you've got and scoff an Easter egg as well. But whilst you're doing that, I'm also available on the Geek Brewery website on Wednesdays. You got two. [01:36:29] Speaker A: Two weeks? [01:36:30] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:36:30] Speaker B: Not just one, but two doing my comics roundups. So just pick up those. Mostly it's all the stuff that isn't Marvel or dc because I've kind of gone off of Marvel and DC recently because their practices of paying are still artists. Not enough. So. Yeah, so there's quite a few interesting things there. [01:36:49] Speaker A: Yeah, there's some amazing independent studios out [01:36:52] Speaker B: there, like Boom Boom Ahoy, Mad Cave, which is kind of crazy. There's a lot of weird titles. I like a Lot of weird comics, so that's kind of cool. [01:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah. I would say that. I also tend to focus on indie games on. On my roundup, but considering that Resident Evil and Fatal Frame have been recent games. [01:37:09] Speaker B: Oh, if you've got to build, it doesn't matter. [01:37:13] Speaker A: Who do we think this is? If you can see that on camera, I. I'm assuming this is Boba Fett's ass. [01:37:21] Speaker B: Yes. [01:37:22] Speaker A: Yes, it's Boba Fett. Oh, not paid by Tamora Morrison. [01:37:26] Speaker B: Oh, he's in a flying pose as well. That's actually quite cool, actually. [01:37:30] Speaker A: It is the classic Boba Fett thing. I think these are little standees rather than action figures. [01:37:37] Speaker B: Does he fit in it? He does actually fits in it. [01:37:40] Speaker A: And I've got a little sticker as well. Well done. Kinda. [01:37:43] Speaker B: That's actually pretty quite neat. [01:37:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Yes. Sam isn't with us this issue, but you can find him every Thursday doing the Film Rounder. [01:37:54] Speaker B: Yep. [01:37:55] Speaker A: If you watching this after the Oscars, you can go back and check his Oscar predictions blog and see how many are correct. [01:38:02] Speaker B: I'm waiting for him to have trounced me. Again, not a prediction. [01:38:05] Speaker A: I'm thinking about 60 to 70% that he's got correct. I think there's a few that I disagree with, but everybody's got their opinion. So you can go on and check that article and yep, check his film of the week every week on a Thursday. You can find me at parish, ryan.something underscore on social media and something. But you can find us all at geekybrummy on Instagram, Facebook Threads, Blue Sky, YouTube if you're watching it. Hello, this is us. This is our faces. If you're listening to us on your podcast service of [email protected] As I said, regular roundups on there and other interesting articles as such, you will also find us back at Bath. This year there's announcements to come. [01:38:48] Speaker B: Not in the bath, at Bath B [01:38:51] Speaker A: a double F, which is somehow. Some people do actually spell bath for having a bath. [01:38:55] Speaker B: I'm having a bath. [01:38:57] Speaker A: But Birmingham Anime Film Festival is. [01:38:58] Speaker C: If you find us in the bath, please get out of our house. That is stalking, it is illegal and we will call the police. [01:39:08] Speaker A: Yes, if you want to join us at Bath. Not in the Bath. More information will be coming up soon about that, but looking for a fun season that'll be around October 2026, plus some surprises on the way. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you again soon. But for now, goodbye everybody. [01:39:23] Speaker B: Everybody Bye all. [01:39:26] Speaker A: The Geeky Brain Podcast is presented by Ryan Parrish, featuring Keith Bloomfield, Lee Price and Matt Lovell. It's produced by Vivian Parrish and recorded at Millennium Point in Birmingham. You can find more information about Geeky Brummy at our socials at Geeky Brummie and on our [email protected] this has been a Geeky Brummy production to our.