Episode Twenty-Six: The Orville and What’s Next

Tonight! Shows are renewed and canceled, Anne Hathaway gets witchy and loot boxes get investigated on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

Welcome to the show! I’m your host Thomas Townley! So have you enjoyed the season finales? The Game of Thrones has been lost or won, The Big Bang Theory has been blown up, shows have been renewed or cancelled. Lots of good and bad. Frankly,  I thought the finale of the Big Bang Theory was good. However for an episode about changes in life, they kinda left Raj out. Raj got nothing. He ended his relationship with his fiancee to be and that was it, nothing. Not one thing really changed for Raj. I think he kinda got the short shrift. Kinda sucked or him.

I heard a lot of people thought this wrap up season of Game of Thrones sucked, I wouldn’t know, I never was really interested in it.

I am getting things put together for Smallville Con in Hutchinson, KS next month, 1 month to be exact. And I planning things for the con including some team ups with SciFi4Me.

So next episode is our one year anniversary. Who knows maybe i’ll change up the theme music, if you have some well wishes or suggestions, if you wanna make me a new logo whatever, just send them along, twitter, email, facebook all those links are on our website. Multiverse Tonight.com and while you’re there check out the show notes, drop a dime through our affiliate links, and more. If you do make something I can use, I might make it worth your while.

Anyway, let’s get on with the news

DC Comics

According to Variety in an exclusive I might add, Robert Pattinson, yes that Robert Pattinson from the Twilight films, is in negotiations to be the star in Matt Reeves The Batman movie which is still scheduled to hit theaters June 25, 2021. However it’s not a done deal, so watch this space. Personally, I just don’t see it.

Rumors have been floating around the next suicide squad movie. Well despite rumors to the contrary, Michael rooker will not be playing King Shark in James Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad. The rumor has been floating around the past few weeks, but in an instagram post Rooker shooker shot it down. With a simple quote Da…..Not unquote. Well I guess I’m inclined to believe Mr. Rooker.  Of course, he could be lying…. After all he usually plays a villian….

More rumor news… Geeks Worldwide reports that Benicio del Toro is Warner Bros. top choice to be the villain of The Suicide Squad as a character codenamed The Mayor. The character is described as a “irascible old warrior that lives for war”

A new teaser for the Batman’s butler Prequel Pennyworth has been released and Pennyworth is a badass. Let’s watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2y4qdiT4vo The EPIX series tells the tory of a 20 year old  Alfred Pennyworth played by Jack Bannon, who just recently completed his duties as a British SAS soldier. To find a new line of work, Alfred forms a new private security company and gets into business with a young billionaire by the name of Thomas Wayne played by (Ben Aldridge).

So, you might be asking your self, how is Pennyworth this kind of bad ass, simple. Executive producer Danny Cannon explains quote “I went back and watched Michael Caine’s Harry Palmer movies, and the first couple of James Bond movies, because going back to that Cold War kind of story telling I liked going back into this period because all of our Berlin movies and Russian espionage movies, it was like the British version of westerns,” unquote

We also have a teaser for HBO’s Watchmen series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zymgtV99Rko

And a trailer for Batwoman https://youtu.be/vrIiPcv4_iY

Marvel

Bad news for Dark Phoenix hopes at the box office,  According to Variety, early tracking for the latest X-Men movie is showing that it will come in at number 2 behind The Secret Life of Pets 2 when it hits theaters, June 7th. The Secret Life of Pets is expected to get around 65 million while Phoenix is expected to get around 50 million.

According to Disney’s CEO and the man most likley to be called the King of All Media, Bob Iger, man he makes a lot of news, During the Disney company’s quarterly call Bob Iger spoke about Marvel’s Phase Four and hinted that details about Phase 4 would probably begin to come to light later this summer. And that some of the hints were in Endgame itself.  Quote “If you watch, and I hope you did, Avengers: Endgame, there were a lot of clues in that film as to movies that may be coming,” Iger said. I guess we’ll have to wait for it to be released on digital and blu-ray to comb over that movie within an inch of it’s pixels.  By the way, Avengers Endgame will hit the Disney Plus streaming service on December eleventh, a month after the new service starts with the release of Captain Marvel.

However if you want to see Captain Marvel sooner then that, it will be released on digital platforms on May twenty eighth and on Blu-ray and DVD on June eleventh. The release will come with deleted scenes, a gag reel and a featurette focused on The Origin of Nick Fury..

During that same call, Iger also revealed that his newest acquisition 20th Century Fox will be scaling back it’s production schedule to just five or six movies a year. That’s about half as many films as the studio released just two years ago. Pretty much prioritizing franchises like Deadpool, Avatar and Kingsman. \\

The Russo Brothers have officially left the Marvel buildings…but they might be tempted back for the right project. Talking to business insider, Anthony Russo said quote “We love Marvel, we have the most amazing working relationship with them, and we’re very close with them,” “Maybe there will be an idea that comes up in the future, but there is none now.” unquote Joe added quote “It’s just about finding the right story that inspires us,” “That’s why we get out of bed every day.” Could that be a Fantastic Four or X-men story? Joe said quote “I love Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four,” “Doctor Doom was always one of my favorite villains.” He also said he loves Wolverine.

However It’ll be awhile before we get to see any of that as the former Fox held characters probably won’t be seen for at least a few years probably later. But who knows, one day the X symbol will arise in the west from Disney HQ and the Russos will answer the call.

Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige has previously stated it could be around 5 years before we see the X-Men in the MCU, though undoubtedly part of that equation will be Wolverine, one of it not the most popular mutant in Marvels universe.

Avenger’s Endgame has been dethroned at the box office, by John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum, The Keanu Reeves movie grossed over 57 million in its opening weekend, endgame fell by over 53 percent to rake in just 29.4 million. However, Endgame total box office has now topped 2.6 million and has passed Avater on the Domestic All time box office chart.

Star Trek

Trek head Alex Kurtzman talking with the LA Times dropped some info on the Section 31 show that’s currently in development. He told them that the spinoff is looking at some popular film and tv works as touchstones for the story.

“We looked to shows like Killing Eve, to franchises like Mission: Impossible, things that were complicated on a plot level but also a character level. I think it’s fun for people to see a show with a protagonist who’s entirely unreliable. At the end of the day, she’s going to do the right thing, but in the exact wrong way.” unquote

He also spoke of the former Emperor Georgiou character.

Quote “People locked in on Georgiou as being a wonderful oddity,” Kurtzman says. “She is wicked, devious, manipulative and yet somehow radiates this incredible heart. People love her.

Keep in mind, if the series is picked up, and right now there’s no reason why not, given that CBS is in a streaming war with everyone else and needs original content, it won’t be till after the next season of Discovery.

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The Picard series formally has a title and it’s Star Trek Picard. Not really original. Perhaps they should have called Star Trek Discovery, Star Trek Burnham? Any way, we didn’t get much about it other than a logo and a short clip of Picard not in a Starfleet uniform anymore. The series, still in production will be out on All Access later this year in the United States, on Amazon internationally and on Space and Z in Canada.

By the way, in that same article in the LA Times, Kurtzman said about the Picard series, quote “The mandate was to make it a more psychological show, a character study about this man in his emeritus years. There are so few shows that allow a significantly older protagonist to be the driver.”“What happens when circumstances have conspired to not give him the happiest of endings?” “Hopefully, it’s a reinforcement of [Star Trek creator Gene] Roddenberry’s vision of optimism. He’s going to have to go through deep valleys to get back to the light.” unquote Just as long as it’s not all darkness, I’m good.

We Also have news that the new adult edged animated comedy series Star Trek Lower Decks had its first table read. The series from Mike McMahn, who is also the head writer for Rick and Morty is still a ways away from coming out. If you’ll remember the last episode a new teen centered animated series was also announced for Nickelodeon.

The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills will be showcasing Star Trek Discovery season two in a multimedia exhibit called Star Trek Discovery Fight For The Future. The exhibit will cover two floors of the Paley Center and will showcast the creative process and feature production and concept art, models, props, costumes and set pieces including the Discovery’s captain’s chair, full prosthetic makeup busts and more. David Stapf, president of CBS Studios said quote“Coming off a successful season two of Star Trek Discovery, we are excited to partner with the Paley Center to give fans and visitors an opportunity to see and interact with drawings, costumes and set design from the series,” said David Stapf, president of CBS Television Studios. “This exhibit will allow fans a tactile experience never before seen beyond the studio’s stages.” unquote The exhibit will be up until July 7th.   

Star Wars

Star Wars The Mandalorian star Werner Herzog in an interview with the associated press has revealed that he’s never seen a Star Wars movie.  Quote “I have to confess I never saw a single one,” Herzog shared with the Associated Press. “I’ve seen some trailers, I’ve seen some excerpts here and there. And I know about the whole franchise and about the toys for the kids, and so… it’s all a new mythology of a time of some sort of heroics, and it has created new mythologies, and you better take them seriously. Yes, they’re out there, and don’t ignore them.”

If you’re wondering why he’s here, the answer is Jon Favreau, Herzog explains quote

“The Mandalorian, I was invited by Jon Favreau — who started this whole series — to act,” “I looked at the screenplays and I had the feeling, although I know very little about Star Wars, I had the feeling yes, I could do it. It’s a character in whom you cannot trust. And I said yes, I can do that.” unquote

Star Wars: The Mandalorian will debut on Disney+ on November 12th.

Disney CEO Bob Iger, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and directors JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg went on a personal tour of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge with Galaxy’s Edge creator Scott Trowbridge. Me. Iger tweeted about it quote “Best way to impress your friends…give them a personal tour of @starwars Galaxy’s Edge!

#stevenspielberg, #jjabrams, Kathy Kennedy with Imagineer & Galaxy’s Edge creator, Scott Trowbridge.” unquote with pictures of them in front of the Millenium Falcon and sitting around the iconic Falcon game board.  Galaxy’s edge will open at Disneyland on May 31st. Wonder if they were also showed out after four hours as well.

Speaking of Disney, they have announced that three more Star Wars films will start hitting theaters with the first one in 2022 and the next two spaced out every two years following.  So why every other year? Well, they announced that the Avatar sequels will be in the odd years. So 2021, Avatar 2, 2022 star wars 10, 2023 Avatar 3, 2024 Star Wars 11, etcra. Personally, I think I’ll skip Dances with Smurfs 2….err Avatar 2.

EA is seeing potential dollar signs with Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. During a recent earnings call, EA said that they expect Fallen Order to sell between six and eight million copies by March 31, 2020.  They came about these expectations by how well Star Wars Battlefront II sold in the same amount of time. The game will be released on November 15th on PS4, Xbox one and pc.

Last issue we talked about the passing of Peter Mayhew, the original Chewy.

Nick Hague an astronaut currently on the International Space Station saluted Mr. Mayew on twitter, quote Honoring Peter Mayhew (also known as Chewbacca) up here on @Space_Station. Thank you Peter for inspiring generations of explorers. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6ErMQGXoAA_wVi.jpg unquote he also included a picture of Mayhew posted on a window of the station that was looking at earth. Very nice.

Geek News

We are fully loaded with Geek News this week.

Starting with someone who has had a lot of time with remakes, Anne Hathaway. This time Anne is in Robert Zemeckis’ remake of the 1990 cult classic which was based on the 1983 novel by Roald Dahl, The Witches. Ms. Hathaway about the new version and how much it’s different from the 90’s version. Anne said quote “ I think the stories will be the only thing that is familiar. I think everything else is totally from the mind of Robert Zemeckis and I’m really excited.” unquote.

Zemeckis is on record as saying that the movie will be a more accurate version of Roald Dahl’s original work, than the 1990 Jim Henson production. Zemeckis called the French site Allocine quote We’re going to set it in the Gothic South of the 1960’s. It’s an exciting way to put a sociological spin on this kind of with story.”

Anne Hathaway will be playing the Grand High Witch and Octavia Spencer will be playing the grandmother. The boy will be played by newcomer Jahzir Bruno. The Witches will hit theaters on October 16, 2020.

Have you seen the new trailer for It Chapter 2? Let’s watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqUopiAYdRg

Looks really good.

Speaking of It. Bill Skarsgard, who plays Pennywise, the IT of the story says that playing the role for the second movie was even more difficult. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bill said quote “After we wrapped, I was in my childhood home in Sweden, sitting having coffee with my mom at our kitchen table, and realized, ‘Oh, holy sh–, I don’t have to deal with this relationship anymore!'”. “It was a very quick shift of just feeling better, like ‘Oh my God, I’m relieved that I don’t have to deal with the darkness of the character.’ I likened it to an exorcism — him exiting my body and getting rid of the Pennywise toxins.” Even with that release he couldn’t get himself and Pennywise quote separated telling EW quote “I was home, done with the movie, and I started having very strange and vivid Pennywise dreams,”. “Every night, he came and visited. It was in the shape of either me dealing with him, sort of Pennywise as a separate entity of me, and then also me as Pennywise in circumstances that I didn’t appreciate. Like, I’m Pennywise and I’m really upset that I’m out in public and people are looking at me.” “This was a process of letting go of the monster,” “It was amazing. It’s a daunting but exciting thing to sort of revisit him again.” Well Bill I hope you’re having sweet dreams right now. Keep Pennywise at bay.  If you need someone to check under your bed, I think I know some women who would be happy to oblige.

The New York State Fair wants the writers of The Simpsons to come to the Fair in person. After a recent episode featured a song making light of upstate new york aired on the show , the head of the New York state fair has invited the staff of tv longest running animated series to prove that the region is not a joke. New York State Fair Director Troy Waffner said in a statement quote “We want the show’s writers to see the very best of New York and the Fair is the perfect place to highlight the diversity and vitality of one of the nation’s largest economies. We know it’s just a tv show, we can certainly take a joke and we love The Simpsons, but there’s so much that’s great about the region.” unquote. Director Waffner added in the statement that they would be given free admission and a gift basket of local foods.  No word on if the writers will take him up on the offer.

Comic Publishers Oni Press and Lion Forge are merging. Both companies are hoping that this will strengthen their library of Intellectual properties and they can then use the combined company to spread out to media platforms like film and animation.

Current Oni Press Publisher, James Lucas Jones will be president of the new company. Oni Press’ biggest hit to date was Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

Loot boxes might get the ban hammer from Congress. Missouri senator Josh Hawley has introduced legislation to ban explotative microtransactions, including Loot Boxes and pay to win systems.

The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act would mirror the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act  and target games that are aimed at users under 18 years old. Under the bill, such games would not be allowed to have loot boxes and would take aim at pay to win mechanics like having to spend money to buy additional time or a special weapon to help you win.

Senator Hawley in a statement said “When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” “And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face legal consequences.”

The bill has an uphill climb to ever make it to a law. First it would have to make it into committee’s in the senate and than the house and the likelihood of it getting out of committee are remote. If it does make any progress, we will let you know.

Adult Swim is full of off beat shows including Harvey Birdman the show that took Hanna Barbera hero Birdman and turned him into a lawyer for other Hanna Barbera characters. Now Adult Swim has announced that Birdgirl will be getting her own spinoff series on the network. The show, starting Paget Brewster as the titular Birdgirl doesn’t have a launch date yet.

Netflix has had a stream of good luck with Dark Horse properties Polar and The Umbrella Academy. Now Dark Horse and Netflix have signed a first look deal that gives Netflix the first pick of Dark Horse Properties for future tv shows or movies. Dark Horse president and founder Mike Richardson in a statement said quote “We are very excited about this new arrangement with the talented people at Netflix. We have strong creative relationships as well as a large content library to work with and, as we have seen with our recent projects, Netflix is the perfect partner to bring our stories to fans around the world.” unquote and Cindy Holland VP of Original content for Netflix added quote “Following the success of The Umbrella Academy, we’re excited to extend our relationship with Dark Horse Comics. The Netflix teams are already working in deep collaboration with Dark Horse to identify projects beyond the world of traditional superheroes — branching into horror, fantasy and family entertainment — that we think our members will love.” Netflix really needs the content now after Disney and now WarnerMedia have announced that they will be withdrawing their properties from other streaming services in order to start their own.

And speaking of streaming. Disney has now taken full control of Hulu after Comcast agreed to eventually sell their stake of the service to the Walt Disney Company. The sale price would probably be around 5.8 billion dollars and would probably not happen for at least five years. Under the terms of the deal, Comcast agrees to license NBC shows to Hulu until 2024 with the option to pull the content after three years. Comcast will also give up three seats on hulu’s board. Hulu currently has around 28 million subscribers.

Warner Bros new Matrix sequel has gotten a boost.  During an interview with Yahoo Movies UK, John Wick director and Matrix stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski said quote “I’m super happy that the Wachowskis are not just doing a Matrix, but they’re expanding what we all loved. And if it’s anywhere near the level of what they’ve already done, it wouldn’t take more than a call to go, ‘Hey, we want you to be a stunt guy’ and I would probably go and get hit by a car.” unquote The movie is currently being written by Zac Penn and is said to be more of a revival than a reboot.

Mel Gibson is going to play Santa. Yep. A new Action Comedy movie called Fatman will star Mel and will tell the story of quote “a rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus who is fighting his business decline.” There’s an interesting and amusing twist to the story, though, as “a neglected and precocious 12-year-old hires a hitman to kill Santa after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking.” Unquote The movie is being directed by Ian and Eshom Nelms from a script they wrote. Are you interested in Mel Gibson as Santa Claus?

I’m so happy, The network upfronts, the week when the broadcasters pitch their new fall lineup to mainly advertisers has happened. Not a lot of genre tv on the networks unless you’re networks letters are C and W.

First off, let me say how happy I am that The Orville did get it’s order for a third season. Thank you New Fox. However we will have to wait till Thursday night football ends in 2020 for that new season to start.

While we’re talking Fox. They had a new show on the schedule sure to make you distrust your digital assistant speaker. Next. Here’s the trailer https://youtu.be/jFR3KsBrHRQ

Yep, killer AI. I hate to be this guy, but wouldn’t it just end up taking over the world in episode one?

And the best news to come out of the upfronts came from Warner Media. Rick and Morty season four  https://youtu.be/dIdk61KN1to

And remember this is just the start of seventy new episodes that were ordered by Adult Swim. Awesome.

Bad News, Amazon is not picking up The Tick for a third season. The announcement was made by Tick creator Ben Edlund quote “I’m sorry to say Amazon has chosen not to proceed with @TheTickTV I’m not sorry to say I love this show, its cast, its story, and its message. Destiny demands that my compatriots and I now seek a new home for this series.”  Unquote

Disney’s feature film length reimagining of the 90’s cartoon series Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue rangers now has a director. Akiva Schaffer, a member of the Lonely Island, he also co directed Popstar: Never Stop Stopping and Hulu’s Pen15, will be taking on the live and cq hybrid picture. No plot details have come to light, however it’s being described as being meta, self referential and cool. Yep. Also no word on if this well actually make theaters or just go straight to Disney Plus. My bet would be the later.

Host of Wild Kingdom, Jim Fowler has passed away. Younger kids might not know him, but Fowler co hosted Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins starting back in 1963. He was also a regular guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where he brought Johnny in contact with many amusing animals. Here’s a clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cFLFKyu5iY

Jim was always interested in wildlife when he was a kid, He studied zoology in college , where he was also a star baseball player. He could have played for the Phillies or Yankees but he turned them down to pursue a career as a naturalist.

Jim Fowler was 89 years old.

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