Fri, 5 November 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew continues to get excited by recent Star Trek offerings, specifically the conclusion of season 2 of Star Trek: The Lower Decks and the premiere of the Paramount+/Nickelodeon joint, Star Trek: Prodigy. D. Bethel finally offers his thoughts on Metroid: Dread (aka Metroid 5) after completing it, uh, three times.
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Fri, 29 October 2021
In the world of 2021, not much has changed. Hope and optimism dares to tread across the jamb as COVID vaccines get into the arms of people across the world and, for independent comickers, conventions start to return...kind of.
After attending only a few shows in 2021––their first in nearly two years––D. Bethel (of the webcomic, Long John) and Kyrun Silva (of Taurus Comics and the 4 Tales Podcast) reconvene to share their experiences, fears, and surprises with the fact that comic shows and conventions have become very different beasts from what they were before, and how difficult it may be to adapt.
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Fri, 22 October 2021
NEWS CRUISE: Andrew and D. Bethel cover a lot of different news stories this week, including the acceptance of NFTs in video games by Steam and the Epic Games Store; the workers of tabletop game developer, Paizo, form a union; developers who worked on Metroid Dread not seeing their names in the credits; Ruby Rose speaking up about their treatment on the set of Batwoman's first season; and some announcements made by DC during the DC Fandome event.
UPDATE: Venerated Metroid fansite, Shinesparkers, reached out to Metroid Dread developers, MercurySteam, for clarification on what qualified for crediting in the game, specifically with regard to what constitutes the "25% game dev time" and "significant creative contributions," stating:
"A significant contribution might mean A LOT of things: from designing a playable character, writing dialogues, lore.. anything substantially important to the game. On the 25% this is something based on our experience. Of course it can be seen differently elsewhere."
FURTHER UPDATE: Union issues with Paizo and its workers came to an agreement on Thursday, October 21, with Paizo officially recognizing the workers' union.
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Fri, 22 October 2021
NEWS CRUISE: Andrew and D. Bethel cover a lot of different news stories this week, including the acceptance of NFTs in video games by Steam and the Epic Games Store; the workers of tabletop game developer, Paizo, form a union; developers who worked on Metroid Dread not seeing their names in the credits; Ruby Rose speaking up about their treatment on the set of Batwoman's first season; and some announcements made by DC during the DC Fandome event.
UPDATE: Venerated Metroid fansite, Shinesparkers, reached out to Metroid Dread developers, MercurySteam, for clarification on what qualified for crediting in the game, specifically with regard to what constitutes the "25% game dev time" and "significant creative contributions," stating:
"A significant contribution might mean A LOT of things: from designing a playable character, writing dialogues, lore.. anything substantially important to the game. On the 25% this is something based on our experience. Of course it can be seen differently elsewhere."
FURTHER UPDATE: Union issues with Paizo and its workers came to an agreement on Thursday, October 21, with Paizo officially recognizing the workers' union.
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Fri, 15 October 2021
BETTER DREAD THAN DEAD: D. Bethel shares some initial thoughts on the newest 2D Metroid game, Metroid 5 aka Metroid Dread.
EMULATE YOU WANT IT, THAT'S THE WAY YOU NEED IT: Kotaku got in a bit of heat when they reported a story about how people were able to get Metroid Dread up and running on emulators in a smooth 60 frames per second at 4K resolution. The problem is that, in the original story, readers felt that Kotaku was, in fact, recommending people pirate Dread instead of buying it because of the emulator's stronger performance. This lead to another round of discussion about emulation, piracy, and game preservation. Andrew and D. Bethel do their best to weigh in on these issues.
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Fri, 8 October 2021
PACHINKO IS CRYPTO: Our hosts walk a snake-like path this week as they discuss everything from recent trends in the sketch cryptocurrency/NFT market to the news that Konami may be getting out of pachinko and back into making video games again. It's quite a conversation, in other words.
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Fri, 1 October 2021
RTD2: With the next series of Doctor Who wrapping up the tenures of both the star, Jodie Whittaker, and its showrunner, Chris Chibnall, it was announced that the 2023 series will herald the return of the showrunner who brought the show back from the wilderness in 2005, Russell T Davies. Our hosts discuss the possibilities––and drawbacks––of this announcement.
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Fri, 24 September 2021
GIANTS FALL: Kind of a combination of a News Blast and a Nerd Law, but the lawsuit between Apple and Epic has been decided and...it's complicated. We have Andrew walk us through the ins and outs of this strange event.
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Fri, 17 September 2021
MINI-WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew and D. Bethel need a week to recoup after weeks of birthdays, Doctor Who, and a celebration of Star Trek, so they're going to briefly cover the things that have been keeping their attention recently. To no one's surprise, they've been playing video games. Andrew has been playing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection that includes Final Fantasy 1-4 (at this point), while D. Bethel has not been helping his mental health––though he has been having a lot of fun––playing The Last of Us, Part 2.
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Fri, 10 September 2021
HAPPY STAR TREK DAY: This week, 8 September to be specific, the world celebrated Star Trek Day. With one of our hosts being an avowed and public Star Trek fan, our hosts discuss the ways they decided to celebrate: Andrew watched all the exciting announcements and trailers from the Paramount+ Star Trek Day Celebration event while D. Bethel coincidentally started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation not more than a week ago and is enjoying every minute of it so far.
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Fri, 3 September 2021
BLOOD AND THUNDER DAYS: To celebrate D. Bethel's birthday this week, our hosts take a look at another story from the classic run of Doctor Who. In fact, it's another story from the same season as "Survival." In fact, it's the first story from the season that "Survival" brought to a close. Andrew and D. Bethel dive into the pool of Arthurian legend, militarism, and timey-wimey shenagigans found in "Battlefield."
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Fri, 27 August 2021
ALREADY OBSOLETE: This is a short episode––you could even call it a "shortcast", but why would you––because Dan had to have a little procedure that knocked him out a bit. However, they don't leave you hanging as they talk about things that have drawn their attention this week. D. Bethel is impressed with the first two episodes of David E. Kelley's new show, Big Sky, while Andrew dives deep in to the Zyuranger pool.
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Fri, 20 August 2021
To celebrate Andrew's birthday today, he and D. Bethel talk about thing they both love a lot: classic Doctor Who.
SURVIVAL OF THE WHO-IEST: "Survival" is an interesting story for a variety of reasons in classic Doctor Who, not the least of which being that it was the last story to air before the show was cancelled in 1989. Beyond that, though, and beyond the questionable production design and special effects, is a real clever story that says as much about the culture it was made in (and today!) as it does about its characters. Though it's a capstone on a series that was, perhaps, past its prime, its a more endearing and impressive capstone on the era of the Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy, and Ace, played by Sophie Aldred. Andrew and Dan take a few minutes to walk through all the impressive––and mildly less impressive––aspects of this story.
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Fri, 13 August 2021
THE SUICIDE SQUAD: With Warner Bros./DC Comics' release last week of James Gunn's new film, The Suicide Squad, we bring on our on-the-ground-DC-correspondent, Taylor Katcher, to discuss how this movie completely saves this DC franchise after its much less successful (critically) Suicide Squad from 2015. Even Andrew liked it!
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Fri, 6 August 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew plays the first few games in Square Enix's nostalgia-trip, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, while D. Bethel dives into nostalgia and music theory reading the newest book from Boss Fight Books, Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken.
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Fri, 30 July 2021
A BAD BLIZZARD: Our hosts take a quick look at the controversy (and lawsuits!) that came out of an investigation led by the state of California into the toxic and dangerous company culture of Activision Blizzard.
I HAVE THE POWER: Having watched the first five episodes released for Netflix's Masters of the Universe: Revelation, Andrew and D. Bethel look at this playful and creative reimagining of the classic '80s toy commercial, er I mean, cartoon series.
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Fri, 23 July 2021
A NEW CHALLENGER: Recently, Valve Corporation––owners of the PC gaming storefront and launcher, Steam––announced a new piece of hardware that excited a lot of gamers: the handheld Steam machine called the Steam Deck. D. Bethel and Andrew walk through the announcement and ponder what it could change in the industry, and how it could leave some gamers lacking.
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Fri, 16 July 2021
WHAT A NERD WANTS: With the Disney + original, Loki, coming to a close this week, it got our hosts thinking about nerd media universes, and the works that push those meta narratives forward. What's better––a standalone series showcasing the nuances of a single character? or a show that pushes that cinematic universe into the next stage of its overall narrative? Andrew and D. Bethel put on their thinking caps and engage with these surprisingly nuanced questions.
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Fri, 9 July 2021
CAP PUNCHED FIRST: Another day, another attack on fictional characters as a cable news segment pilloried Marvel Comics for making Captain America "woke" in a recent issue, seemingly forgetting that Cap has been punching literal Nazis in his comics since his first issue. Andrew and D. Bethel explore this while also examining the variety of ways texts (movies, comics, books, music, tv shows, etc.) can be read.
PRINT ON DEMAND: After buying some RPG books through DriveThruRPG, Andrew becomes fascinated by the idea––and future applicability––of print on demand services, where a book isn't printed until a customer orders it. D. Bethel brings his creator experience with POD services to the conversation as well.
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Fri, 2 July 2021
TSR-U-KIDDING-ME: Tabletop Twitter got weird these last few weeks as debates exploded around the tweets made by Ernest G. Gygax, Jr.––son of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator, Gary Gygax––where he doubles down on strong, anti-SJW views in support of his new RPG, Giantlands.
SLAPP FEST: Andrew also checks in with the current legal fight started by Chris Avellone––formerly of Black Isle and Obisidian Entertainment––as he tries to sue people who said mean things about him on the internet.
Also, Dan has gotten even more obsessed with the Metroid series since last week.
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Fri, 25 June 2021
CONFIRMATION BIAS: Abandoned is an upcoming Playstation 5-exclusive game made by the small Netherlands-based team, Blue Box Game Studios. After the game's director made an enigmatic tweet, the internet exploded with conspiracy theories, asserting that the game and its trailers were nothing more than clues that this was not a stand-alone survival horror game but was actually a Silent Hill sequel. More than that, people have asserted that it's a Silent Hill sequel directed by Hideo Kojima, despite the fact that the studio has gone to great lengths to assure fans that it is not. Andre and Dan discuss the conspiracy and how it got wrapped up in the darker parts of nerd culture, internet culture, and the complicated edges of fandom.
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Fri, 18 June 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives into the strange patchwork origin of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while D. Bethel is pleasantly surprised by the Netflix series, Sweet Tooth, an adaptation of Dan's favorite recent comic series by Jeff Lemire.
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Fri, 11 June 2021
ROUGH TEXTURES: Capcom gets sued for allegedly using textures from a reference book––Judy A. Juracek's Surfaces––for many of its games in the early 2000s and the evidence is pretty compelling. Without dispensing professional legal advice, Andrew guides D. Bethel through the nuances and complexities of this interesting case.
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Fri, 4 June 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: It's a week all about television as Andrew watches the first few episodes of the CW reboot of Kung Fu while D. Bethel compares his experience watching the first few episodes of Amazon's Invincible and Netflix's Jupiter's Legacy.
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Fri, 28 May 2021
A BAD MIX: This week, the Twitter account, @TerriblyBland, posted a thread calling out nerd industries' tendency to do networking at bars, especially during and after conventions. As ever with nerd discourse, the claim was met with a lot of support...as well as some very staunch opposition. Andrew and D. Bethel look at the original claim and examine the overall conversation.
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Fri, 21 May 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dabbles in a few different ponds, first by playing a bit of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, then talks about his experience going through Subnautica: Below Zero, and testing his mettle with Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch. D. Bethel is very conflicted––but having a lot of fun––as he plays through Dragon's Crown Pro.
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Fri, 14 May 2021
FREEDOM FOR APPS: Andrew and D. Bethel dedicate this week's episode to discussing and parsing and debating and understanding and reacting to the very, very strange lawsuits being fought between Apple and Epic Games. SPOILER: They have no answers.
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Fri, 7 May 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: It's an animated kind of week this week as Andrew gets his specific Star Wars fandom ignited with the premiere of the new Disney+ animated series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and D. Bethel nerds out on all the ingenious choices and animation tech found in the new Sony/Netflix film, The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
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Fri, 30 April 2021
CAPTAINING AMERICA: With the next big Disney+ MCU series having come to a close, our hosts bring in our brand new on-the-ground-Marvel correspondent, Kyrun Silva (of Taurus Comics and the 4 Tales Podcast), to talk about Falcon and the Winter Soldier (especially since Dan still doesn't have Disney+).
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Fri, 23 April 2021
ELEMENTARY, DEAR WOHN JATSON: A brief look at an upcoming multi-platform release from Capcom that gathers two Ace Attorney games previously unavailable outside of Japan. The collection, called The Great Ace Attorney, features some interesting localization of characters names. While not unusual in itself, the fact that in Japan a character named "Sherlock Holmes" had to be changed––to "Herlock Sholmes" for release in the United States points to some very strange aspects of copyright law. Andrew dives deep into the mystery. CUTTING CUTSCENES: Based on an GamesIndustry.biz interview with Weird West narrative designer, Lucas Loredo, who posits the idea that maybe we live in a gaming world that no longer has a need for cutscenes in games. D. Bethel and Andrew dive into the purpose of cutscenes and do their best to answer the question themselves. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 16 April 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew finds progress in repetition as he plays the new indie video game hit, Loop Hero, by Four Quarters. D. Bethel, on the other hand, finds a lot of quirky charm––despite the somewhat very dark places the story goes––in the new SyFy show, Resident Alien, based on the Dark Horse comic series.
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Fri, 9 April 2021
NFT? NO F*@#ING THANKS: Andrew and D. Bethel dive deep into the mechanics, the motivations, and the...schemes?...of the recent NFT explosion. Spoiler warning: they are not fans.
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Fri, 2 April 2021
THE TAYLOR CUT: With the Snyder cut of Justice League now upon us, co-host Andrew and friend-of-the-show, Taylor Katcher, approached the 4-hour opus with hesitation and excitement, respectively. With the Snyderverse fully complete (at this point), Andrew, D. Bethel, and Taylor gather 'round the microphones to talk about Zack Snyder's Justice League and all the fervor around it. Prepare for hot takes!
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Fri, 26 March 2021
QUARANTINE YEAR ONE: We've crossed the year mark of a post-COVID world. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss how their tastes, behaviors, and expectations for nerdy stuff––and life––have changed in that year.
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Fri, 19 March 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives into the newest entry into the Arrowverse in the bold and interesting Superman & Lois while D. Bethel gets invested in the story and characters and world of Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order, but is a bit disappointed by some aspects of the game design.
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Fri, 12 March 2021
TAYLORVISION: [SPOILER WARNING] With the divisive (but generally well-received) season of the Disney+ original, WandaVision, all wrapped up, D. Bethel brings friend-of-the-show and on-the-ground DC correspondent, Taylor Katcher, on to talk with Andrew about the twists and turns of this wonderfully unique entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spoilers about WandaVision are talked about consistently and thoroughly throughout the episode. You have been warned.
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Fri, 5 March 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the Queen Latifah-starring CBS reboot of the classic crime drama, The Equalizer, while D. Bethel finds a powerful, personal, and moving story about depression and self-acceptance in the 2018 retro-styled puzzle platformer, Celeste.
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Fri, 26 February 2021
LOST IN ZEBES: With a lot of internet chatter focusing on the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda's 1986 release, it made D. Bethel upset because another major Nintendo franchise was also released that year that nobody––much less Nintendo itself––seems that interested in celebrating, the weird, wonderful Metroid. D. Bethel talks with Andrew to see why this game and the series it spawned never gained the legs and legacy of Nintendo's bigger franchises.
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Fri, 19 February 2021
A BAD IDEA AGAIN: More than a decade after Konami cancelled its controversial tactical military first-person shooter, Six Days in Fallujah, the game seems to have been revived by Highwire Games who have taken to the media asserting that they want to tell––with their tactical military FPS––a nuanced, thoughtful, and impactful story of the incident. This news caused D. Bethel and Andrew to wonder if certain stories are simply better suited for certain genres of games? RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 12 February 2021
DON'T BE A DICK: In an astounding act of bravery and solidarity, actress Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) spoke out against abusive practices of tv auteur, Joss Whedon, in support of Justice League actor, Ray Fisher. Andrew and D. Bethel have a thoughtful discussion of autership, specifically as it relates to the realm of nerds and geeks.
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Fri, 5 February 2021
BETTER THAN IT SHOULD BE: After a lot of build up and expectation, Andrew and D. Bethel finally get together to record an episode about former YouTube/current Netflix show, Cobra Kai.
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Fri, 29 January 2021
WEEK IN GEEK: As a buffer between episodes about the The Karate Kid movies and talking about Cobra Kai, Andrew and D. Bethel talk about what other nerdy stuff has been occupying their attentions. Andrew talks about the early access release of the Subnautica sequel with Subnautica: Below Zero while D. Bethel is pretty sure he's playing Rebel Galaxy Outlaw incorrectly as he delivers goods across different solar systems.
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Fri, 22 January 2021
YOU'RE THE BEST: With Cobra Kai recently releasing its third season, many viewers have been inspired to watch (or rewatch) the original The Karate Kid films. Two of those folks happen to be our humble hosts. As a prelude to an eventual discussion about Cobra Kai, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part 2, and (briefly) The Karate Kid Part 3.
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Fri, 15 January 2021
RECYCLING OF THE DALEKS: This year's Doctor Who New Year's special, "Revolution of the Daleks", continues the cliffhanger ending of series 12 and says goodbye to some companions while welcoming back Captain Jack Harkness to the show. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the special while also discuss some of the important changes made to the series lore at the end of series 12.
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Fri, 8 January 2021
NEW YEAR, SAME AS THE OLD YEAR: We had an episode planned this week, dear listeners, but the news decided to preempt any plans for fun and coherent discussion. On our recording day, the United States Capitol was stormed leading to––at the very least––democratic uncertainty and––at worst––one person dead. Needless to say, D. Bethel and Andrew were not in the best spirits to record a full episode, so they decided to just take the week to refocus and get ready for next week's episode. Sorry for any inconvenience. Stay safe and stay healthy.
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Fri, 1 January 2021
WAIT, WHAT 1984: Wonder Woman 1984, the hotly anticipated sequel to 2017's good DC movie (one of a few), Wonder Woman, was released to theaters and HBO Max on Christmas Day to a lot of...discourse.
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Fri, 25 December 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: In the lead up to the holidays, Andrew binges the entirety (so far) of Amazon Prime's original series, Man in the High Castle, while D. Bethel has been playing the delightful yet simple Cat Quest in short bursts.
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Fri, 18 December 2020
CYBERPROBLEMS 2020: The highly anticipated new game from CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077, was finally released after a few delays and it had some...issues. From representation issues to severe bugs, Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that has encouraged a lot of discussion, discourse, as well as hot takes. Andrew & D. Bethel do their best to sort through the mire. UPDATE: It looks like Sony has removed Cyberpunk 2077 from the Playstation store and is refunding the purchase price to all who bought it there.
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Fri, 11 December 2020
As the pandemic rages on, more and more independent artists are left figuring out how to manage their careers in the absence of in-person events, specifically exhibiting at conventions.
The pandemic is also a time for reflection. As the big conventions struggle to give fans some semblance of the con experience through digital-only replacements, independent comickers D. Bethel (of the webcomic, Long John) and Kyrun Silva (of Taurus Comics) come together to discuss the difference in experiences, expectations, and realities of what going to a convention means for fans versus what it means to creators and how the chasm between the two experiences may be larger than they thought.
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Fri, 4 December 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew befriends dogs and murders zealots in Far Cry 5 while D. Bethel finally gathers his thoughts (now that he's seen it both at the drive-in and now at home) on the final X-based release from 20th Century Fox (albeit after Disney's purchase), The New Mutants, directed by Josh Boone.
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Fri, 27 November 2020
I'VE MISSED THAT SOUND: It was announced that, after his all too brief appearance near the end of Series 13 of Doctor Who left fans wanting more, John Barrowman will return as Captain Jack Harkness in "Revolution of the Daleks," this year's holiday special of Doctor Who. Being fans of the character, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the character of Captain Jack Harkness, what he could bring to the current iteration of the show.
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Fri, 20 November 2020
WONDER WOMAN TO THE MAX: It was announced, in an unprecedented move by a streaming service, to release Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas Day to both theaters and HBO Max subscribers simultaneously. Unlike Disney+ with Mulan, Wonder Woman 1984 will be available to all HBO Max subscribers at no additional cost for a month. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss this move and how it relates to how Disney has been doing business, as well as what it means for movie in the future.
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Fri, 13 November 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew find a lot lacking in the latest open world RPG by Obsidian Entertainment, The Outer Worlds. D. Bethel, on the other hand, finds a lot to love going back and playing Capcom's lost NES classic, Darkwing Duck.
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Fri, 6 November 2020
A SCOTTISH SUNSET: Albeit a shorter episode than normal, the entirety of it is dedicated to the discussion of the career of Sean Connery, who passed away at the end of October at the age of 90.
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Fri, 30 October 2020
LET'S GET DANGEROUS: With the genius resurgence of Ducktales on Disney XD, fans around the world were delighted with the introduction of another Disney Afternoon fan favorite, Darkwing Duck, into the series during the second season. For the third season's mid-season premiere, Disney released an hour-long Darkwing Duck-focused episode that delighted Andrew––who has watched all of the rebooted Ducktales so far––and D. Bethel––who has only seen a few scattered episodes. They discuss how the episode looks forward, looks backward, and looks inward in one of the most clever episodes of television either have seen in a long while.
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Fri, 23 October 2020
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY: Now that the premiere season is complete, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the multitude of facets of HBO's adaptation of Lovecraft Country.
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Fri, 16 October 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew lives in bliss during CBS All Access' 23 weeks of Star Trek, especially as the premiere season of their comedy-drama animated show, Star Trek: The Lower Decks, comes to a close, while D. Bethel lives vicariously through hopeful survivalists in reruns of the History Channel reality show, Alone.
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Fri, 9 October 2020
TAKING A MULLIGAN: 2020 rears its ugly head again (as it does every day), forcing our humble hosts to take a week and just deal with life for a bit. They'll be back next week with more nerdy and geeky news and commentary.
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Fri, 2 October 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew enthusiastically plays the 2nd edition of Pathfinder, despite not fully enjoying the first edition, while D. Bethel gets really excited to play an adventure game based on one of his favorite comics, Blacksad, but gets horribly disappointed by Blacksad: Under the Skin.
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Fri, 25 September 2020
BETHESDA, WA: In a surprising turn of events––in the same week that Sony gathered all the attention for announcing the prices and release dates of its upcoming console(s)––Microsoft announced its acquisition of Bethesda Softworks––developer of the The Elder Scrolls series and the Fallout series and publisher of franchises like Doom and Wolfenstein––for a price tag of approximately $7.5 billion. Andrew and D. Bethel ruminate (and, at times, speculate) at what this could mean for Bethesda, and gaming, for the future.
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Fri, 18 September 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: It's kind of an accidental '80s week as Andrew watches the YouTube Premium/Netflix series, Cobra Kai––which then prompted him to go back and watch the original Karate Kid movie––while D. Bethel, in an effort to see what all the hype was about, sat down and watched a version of the 1984 sci-fi classic, Dune.
THE NEW FINAL: At this week's PlayStation 5 event, a trailer for Final Fantasy XVI was revealed as an exclusive (at least for the moment) for the PS5. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 11 September 2020
I'LL MAKE AN INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT OUT OF YOU: The live action version of the '90s animated classic, Mulan, was released to Disney+ subscribers (for the cost of an extra $29.99) and, with it, came a lot of controversy––from Chinese reviewers not being too keen on it to human rights issues, D. Bethel and Andrew run through the discourse of this interesting, troubled film.
ANOTHER DUNE: The first trailer for Dennis Villaneuve's new adaptation of the Frank Herbert sci-fi philosophical classic, Dune. Andrew and D. Bethel muse on the potential this new film has (and how people will still likely be disappointed by it). Here is the new trailer. And here's an example––from Jodorowsky's Dune––of some of the pure artist intent Jodorowsky had in his approach to movie-making (with his Dune being the center of it). RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 4 September 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the recent Netflix-made video game documentary series, High Score, and gets inspired to finally check out the very strange––and controversial?––game, Night Trap. D. Bethel finds serenity as the ferryman of the dead while playing Thunder Lotus Games' Spiritfarer, a game that is a far cry from their previous games.
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Fri, 28 August 2020
EPIC WIN (OR FAIL): It has been a few weeks of high drama in the world of video games as Epic––the company behind Fortnite and the Unreal Engine––sued Apple after Apple delisted Fortnite from its storefront when Epic violated its terms of service as a developer. It's a complicated, convoluted issue with a lot of far-reaching and severe consequences for those who don't really have a dog in this fight––the players (not to mention the impact it could have on smaller indie developers). Andrew and D. Bethel attempt to unravel all the goings-on in this very interesting and possibly paradigm-shifting event.
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Fri, 21 August 2020
DC DECONSTRUCTED: News of a major restructuring of DC Comics by WarnerMedia last week set the comics world ablaze with speculation and worry. D. Bethel and Andrew try to parse the information and speculate on what it could mean not only for DC Comics but for comics in general.
LOWER THE SHIELD: Over seven seasons, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes to a close. Our hosts' appreciation for the show––especially this final season––has not been a secret. Now that is has ended, they finally––finally––talk about the final season and the show it brought to a close. SPOILERS ABOUND for the final season, especially the two-part finale. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 14 August 2020
Everything has changed in the wake of COVID-19. This applies, of course, to indie comic creators, for whom the pandemic hit especially hard in terms of income. With gatherings of people not likely to happen in any safe capacity for awhile, it has many creators asking, "What do we do in a world without comic conventions?"
D. Bethel and Taurus Comics' Kyrun Silva sit down to talk about creating comics during a pandemic. While a dour topic generally, they manage to find the laughs amid the serious discussion of the future of indie comics and the conventions they hold so dear.
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Find Kyrun's work through Taurus Comics at: Taurus Comics websiteFacebookTwitter D. Bethel's webcomic, Long John.Want to read a storyline from D. Bethel's previous comic, Eben07? Read the comic's final, five-issue story––"Operation: 3-Ring Bound"––for free as an ebook.Find reference images at the post for this episode on the website.
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Con Artists #01 - StocktonCon, pt. 1: The drive home from the first day of the show. Kyrun and D. discuss making sales, confidence, and the comics they grew up reading and enjoying. Con Artists #02 - StocktonCon, pt. 2: The drive to StocktonCon to start Day 2 of the show. They discuss the importance of continuity, the level of fan engagement and ownership over continuity, and Dan's strange reading habits growing up. Con Artists #03 - StocktonCon, pt. 3: Where Kyrun and D. talk about the breadth of indie comics, writing comics, and dive headfirst into personal nostalgia. Con Artists #04 - StocktonCon Winter 2019: Where D. Bethel and Kyrun try out StocktonCon's inaugural Winter show...with mixed results. FEATURED MUSIC: “Road Music” by D. Bethel"Bounce" by D. Bethel
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Fri, 7 August 2020
ANY PORT IN A NERD STORM: Rather than blasting the news, Andrew and D. Bethel blur the distinction between nerdy news and Weeks in Geek with Andrew expressing his excitement for Star Trek: Lower Decks on CBS All Access, Dan's strange sense of place after watching the HBO true crime documentary mini-series, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, before they discuss the news of the upcoming live-action Mulan remake getting a simultaneous (albeit for $29.99) release on Disney+ and in theaters.
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Fri, 31 July 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew watches the documentary about the creation of Dungeons & Dragons that re-establishes the importance of co-founder, Dave Arneson, called Secrets of Blackmoor: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons, while D. Bethel enjoys––but fully understands the criticisms of––Sucker Punch Games' new open world samurai game, Ghost of Tsushima.
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Fri, 24 July 2020
THE INTERMINABLE CUT: Zack Snyder had already made it clear that his "Snyder Cut" of Justice League for HBO Max was going to be long, but recently made clear that it was going to be even longer than the 214 minutes he previously said it would be, meaning it will likely be close to four hours of film. Andrew and D. Bethel have some thoughts about long run times with nerdy and geeky movies.
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Fri, 17 July 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew tunes into the new Apple TV alternate history drama created by Ronald D. Moore: For All Mankind. D. Bethel also watches some tv; however, it's animated and old––Disney XD's Gravity Falls.
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Fri, 10 July 2020
A NEW BAT IN THE BELFRY: With Ruby Rose's sudden departure as the lead in CW's Batwoman after the conclusion of its first season, the studio had a lot of interesting choices to make. This week, it was announced that Javicia Leslie would be taking over as the lead––not as Kate Kane, but as a brand new, original character, Ryan Wilder. Andrew & D. Bethel discuss the casting, legacy characters, and how a show can survive––and thrive––even when their lead actor has been replaced.
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Fri, 3 July 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew finds half of a game to enjoy in Owlcat Games' Pathfinder: Kingmaker while D. Bethel expands his artistic repertoire by investing in an iPad Pro and finds a lot to like in it.
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Fri, 26 June 2020
PEOPLE ARE STILL TERRIBLE: The last few weeks have been heavy with news of important people in the various nerd industries––video games, tabletop, comics, etc.––getting called out as sexual predators who, for years, were protected by the companies they worked for. Andrew and D. Bethel don't dive into specific cases as much as why these people's predatory behavior had been "open secrets" for years and hadn't suffered for it.
Schrodinger's Coulson: To end on more fun news, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the first few episodes of the new, final season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, which has the crew hopping through different time periods.
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Fri, 19 June 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: As is often the case with our hosts: everything old is new again. Andrew plans to take on the psychological strangeness of Atlus' Catherine in the recently released "definitive" version of the 2011 game called Catherine: Full Body. D. Bethel actually steps outside the realm of Xavier's School for the Gifted to try out a different Marvel hero, The Silver Surfer, in the 2019 limited series, Silver Surfer: Black, by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, and Dave Stewart.
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Fri, 12 June 2020
THE DELONGATED MAN: Actor Hartley Sawyer has been fired from his role as Ralph Dibney––the civilian name for The Elongated Man––after racist and misogynist tweets he made years ago once again resurfaced. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss accountability in the world of social media and the permanence of internet publishing.
WotC RESHUFFLES: Magic: The Gathering publisher, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) announces it will be retiring old cards with clear racist imagery and implications from circulation.
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Fri, 5 June 2020
We're taking the week to go quiet and let the voices that need to be heard get amplified. Donate. Protest. Support. Listen. Vote. Stay safe.
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Fri, 29 May 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel let you in on the newest in modern entertainment. Andrew takes a dip into Nickelodeon's 2005 animated show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, while Dan finds himself charmed by the 2015 RPG by CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.
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Fri, 22 May 2020
#RELEASETHETAYLORCUT: With a bunch of DC Comics-related news dropping this week, we had to light the Taylor signal to bring in our resident DC expert and Senior Optimist Reporter, Taylor Katcher, to talk about the release of the infamous "Snyder Cut" of 2017's Justice League on the forthcoming streaming service, HBO Max. Also discussed is the shocking news that Ruby Rose would be stepping down from the lead role on Batwoman after the first season (and had already been renewed for a second). RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 15 May 2020
NEWS BLAST (COVID-19 EDITION): A lot of stuff is going on amid the global pandemic, and Andrew and D. Bethel are here to talk about it (if Dan actually was able to record his audio this time). They talk about the AMC theater chain shunning Universal Pictures amid Trolls World Tour's success, Civilization VI's bold new plan for a year's worth of DLC and expansions, Marvel and DC Comics are shipping books again, The Flash has an abbreviated season (ending on somewhat of a downbeat), and New Mutants gets a theatrical release date...again.
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Fri, 8 May 2020
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED "THE NEW MIDNIGHT": There's no new episode this week due to some debilitating technical problems on one of the host's end (it was Dan). Check back next week for a new episode. INFO:
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Fri, 1 May 2020
#CAPITALISM: With Disney taking ownership of the 4th of May, Andrew and D. Bethel talk about the role of ownership in public discourse for a bit.
MUNDANE FANTASY: Looking at where the world is now, and with the meteoric landing of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, D. Bethel and Andrew wonder––why do we love playing games about working...and love them?
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Fri, 24 April 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, after giving a brief update on the announcement of IMDb TV's revival of Leverage, Andrew talks about his experience playing Coldwild Games' delightful trading simulation game, Merchant of the Skies while D. Bethel finally got around to watching Netflix's The Witcher.
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Fri, 17 April 2020
WHAT MAKES A REMAKE: With the incredible success of games like Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy VII Remake, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the legacy of these new games (and their original versions) while also discussing all of the iterations of "re-" that you can find in media (reboots, remakes, remasters).
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Fri, 10 April 2020
OUT OF GAS: Though this is on the feed, it's more of an apology for a lack of an episode to this. In the interest of full disclosure, both Andrew and D. Bethel couldn't muster the energy to get out of being generally exhausted and saddened by their quarantined lives. So, rather than force their way through uninspired conversation, they figured the best thing to do would be to call in a sick day and try again next week. INFO:
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Fri, 3 April 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew finds the retro-JRPG stylings of Square Enix's Octopath Traveler engaging and fun while D. Bethel has fun making the new pages from his webcomic, Long John, into short videos for Instagram, forcing him to look at his own work in new ways. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 27 March 2020
SHELTER AT HOME: With both hosts hometowns under a "shelter at home" quarantine, they discuss how they've had to adjust their behavior to continue their normal nerdy procedures. To that end, Andrew discusses playing tabletop RPGs online using the Roll20 website and the teleconferencing program, Zoom. D. Bethel, on the other hand, talks about comic book distribution and how the major (only?) comics distributor, Diamond Comics, decreed that it will cease ordering (and shipping) new comics immediately; Dan talks about how this affects him and, more importantly, how it affects local comic shops.
Here is a look at the virtual tabletop Andrew created for his game of Spectaculars:
Also, here is the video made by Sacramento comic shop proprietor, Ben Schwartz––owner of Empire's Comics Vault––laying out the dilemma of comic shop owners in the time of the quarantine (especially before Diamond stopped shipping). RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 20 March 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, our hosts push through the shelter at home monotony by playing video games albeit old video games. First, Andrew steps back into 2015's The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt now that he has more context after watching the hit Netflix show, while D. Bethel is intrigued at how hard the narrative payoff will fail in the otherwise really fun Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
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Fri, 13 March 2020
CORONA, I HARDLY KNEW YA: The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the nerd world with––since the last episode––the postponement of Emerald City Comic Con, the cancellation of this year's E3 and other cultural events like SXSW. Andrew & D. Bethel cover the COVID-19-related news since the last episode.
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew falls in love with Scratchpad Publishing's new RPG, Spectaculars, while D. Bethel is intrigued by the demo for Final Fantasy VII Remake on Playstation 4.
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Fri, 6 March 2020
DON'T DIE: With the rising threat of the coronavirus and its impact on nerd conventions––especially Emerald City Comic Con and the Game Developer's Conference––Andrew and D. Bethel investigate all the ways this pandemic can impact not only fans of nerdy things but makers of nerdy things.
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Fri, 28 February 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives into the CBS All Access archives to get caught up on the surprisingly good––and suprisingly different––remake of the '80s action show, MacGyver, while D. Bethel dives into the surprisingly compelling Zelda clone/shopkeep simulator by Digital Sun, Moonlighter.
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Fri, 21 February 2020
GOTTA GO FAST: Sonic the Hedgehog destroys box office expectations Valentine's Day weekend. Andrew and Dan discuss the surprise success of this cinematic adaptation of the beloved video game franchise.
BIRDS OF PREY: OR, THE REINSTATEMENT OF INSTITUTIONALIZED SEXISM AGAINST WOMAN-LED SUPERHERO FILMS: Birds of Prey released last week and its box office performance left some upset. D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the relativity of box office success, how Marvel fandom may be tainting the pond, and how marketing is a strange magic.
DOOMED ANIMAL CROSSING: In a bit of light news, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal releasing on the same day, Twitter and Reddit have become very interesting places, and in mostly good ways.
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Fri, 14 February 2020
CRISIS ON INFINITE TAYLORS: With another, even bigger crossover of the DC/CW shows, we had to have friend-of-the-show and Senior Optimist Reporter, Taylor Katcher, come onto the show to talk with Andrew and D. Bethel about the glorious mess that was "Crisis on Infinite Earths" that saw Arrow, The Flash, Batwoman, Supergirl, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow fight to save the multiverse.
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Fri, 7 February 2020
THE PROBLEM WITH LOVECRAFT: A lot of controversy was had (mostly on Twitter) over the last few weeks with the release of Evil Hat Productions' Fate of Cthulhu, a new table-top RPG integrating the systems of Evil Hat's Fate Core and the Lovecraft mythos. Evil Hat proudly declared that it was bucking tropes of other Lovecraft-inspired games––mainly how it addresses Lovecraft's prejudices head-on and it doesn't include sanity meters for its players––and that, for some reason, made a lot of people upset. Andrew talks about the subsequent furor while D. Bethel shows up as our resident Lovecraft scholar. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 31 January 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew talks about becoming enraptured by the first episode of the new CBS All Access series, Star Trek: Picard while D. Bethel enjoys the poignant but strange end to a creative team's long run on Batman with the DC Comics' Black Label series, Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.
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Fri, 24 January 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives in to Hello Games' No Man's Sky after another patch while D. Bethel relays his experience going to see Kevin Smith present his newest film––Jay and Silent Bob Reboot––as part of a traveling tour for the movie when it came to Sacramento.
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Fri, 17 January 2020
NEW WHO: Series 12 of Doctor Who started up on New Year's Day. With three weeks gone and now three episodes in, our Who-loving hosts sit down to talk about it (mostly just the first two episodes SPOILER WARNING for "Spyfall, Part 1" and "Spyfall, Part 2").
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Fri, 10 January 2020
IS THE FORCE STILL WITH US?: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel talk not about Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (although there are things that amount to SPOILERS for both The Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian in this episode, so be warned). Instead, they talk about what comes next. An article from NME, it was reported that the next Star Wars saga will be set during the "High Republic" era of the canon, predating all nine numbered movies by 400 years. Andrew and D. Bethel talk about this development––and about Star Wars in general––and even get into a fight about an IP that neither are particularly passionate about.
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Fri, 3 January 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel start the new year with some things they have only light knowledge of and experience with. Andrew starts watching Netflix's The Witcher and only briefly plays Haemimont Games' Surviving Mars. D. Bethel has fun playing detective in the disgusting Lovecraftian world of Frogwares' The Sunking City.
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Fri, 27 December 2019
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: As 2019 hurries to a close, our hosts kick up their feet and just chat about the things they're doing to occupy their time until the new year rolls around. They talk about everything from the winter Steam sale, to finishing Outer Wilds (no spoilers!), to Lovecraftian tabletop games (Fate of Cthulhu), video games (The Sinking City), and novels (Winter Tide), to developing for web browsers, to––of course––Doctor Who and Star Wars.
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Fri, 20 December 2019
EXPECTING THE EXPECTED: On the day this podcast episode releases, so too does the newest cinematic installment of the main Star Wars series with Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. But Andrew and D. aren't here to talk about the movie––they haven't seen it yet. Instead, they're here to talk about the talk about the movie, specifically the rather surprising amount of negative reviews coming from––not internet trolls––professional film reviewers. It leads to a multi-faceted conversation about expectations, fandom, and even the changing landscape of cinema narratives.
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