ComiCon in CoVid Times

Tonight! Back from Planet Comicon, Gene Roddenberry gets a biopic, a new lego star wars game, and remembering actress  Marilyn Eastman, plus an interview with Author John Jackson Millar.

Welcome to episode 139.

Star Trek

Star Trek Discovery has finally wrapped production on Season Four. The on-again, off-again production began last November Second. Executive Producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise tweeted quote …and that’s a wrap on S4! A huge THANK YOU to our amazing cast and crew. I can’t say enough about the effort, teamwork, and heart they brought to this challenging season. We’re now turning off the lights and leaving the stages in good hands. Until next time… #StarTrekDiscovery Season Four will debut later this year. 

Decades after he passed on and 100 years after his birth, Gene Roddenberry will be the subject of a biopic based on his life. The biopic is being developed by his son Rod’s company Roddenberry entertainment and will be written by Emmy award-winning writer Adam Mazer. In a joint statement, Rod and his producing partner Trevor Roth said quote “Gene led a remarkable life. He was an incredibly complex, compelling man, whose work changed the face of television, and whose ideas changed the world. It’s time to share Gene’s story with audiences everywhere.”

Gene Roddenberry did have an interesting life other than inventing Star Trek, he was a decorated World War II veteran who flew missions in the South Pacific, became a commercial airline pilot who survived two plane crashes, and was a member of the LAPD. He eventually moved into screenwriting, working on shows like Have Gun – Will Travel, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, and many others during the heyday of broadcast television. He eventually moved into producing, and in 1966, Star Trek premiered on NBC, eventually becoming one of the most famous television shows in history and turning Roddenberry into a larger-than-life figure. He followed that up with the feature films and eventually returned to television, creating Star Trek: The Next Generation before passing away in 1991. No details were made available about possible directors, stars, financing or distribution on the project.

Paramount Plus will celebrate Star  Day on September eighth with a special live-streamed celebration. The special will be live from the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and will be hosted by *sigh* Wil Wheaton and Mica Burton and feature back-to-back in-person conversations with cast members and creative minds from the “Star Trek” Universe, “legacy moments” with the iconic cast members from current and past shows, plus surprise appearances, announcements and reveals throughout. The event will also see Jeff Russo, the composer of the main themes of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard, conducting a live orchestra.

You can find a list of the panels below: STAR TREK: PRODIGY, with series voice cast including Brett Gray and Dee Bradley Baker, along with executive producers Kevin and Dan Hageman and co-executive producer/director, Ben Hibon

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, with series, stars Wilson Cruz, Blu del Barrio, and Ian Alexander and co-showrunner and executive producer Michelle Paradise

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, with series stars Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Ethan Peck, who will be joined by co-showrunners and executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers

STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS, with voice cast members Noël Wells and Eugene Cordero alongside series creator, showrunner, and executive producer Mike McMahan

STAR TREK: PICARD, with series stars Patrick Stewart and Jeri Ryan, co-showrunner and executive producer Akiva Goldsman, and a special live performance from Isa Briones, singing “Blue Skies,” which was featured in the PICARD season one finale.

RODDENBERRY LEGACY PANEL, featuring a conversation with Gene Roddenberry’s son and the CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, Rod Roddenberry, alongside Gates McFadden (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), LeVar Burton (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and George Takei (“Star Trek: The Original Series”), as they discuss the “Star Trek” creator’s indelible impact on science fiction and culture.

In addition, the “legacy moments” will feature appearances from Cirroc Lofton from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Anthony Montgomery from Star Trek: Enterprise, Garrett Wang from Star Trek: Voyager, George Takei from Star Trek: The Original Series, and LeVar Burton from Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

In addition, the day will include the return of the Hashtag StarTrekUnitedGives campaign which will donate one dollar for every person who tweets the hashtag. The money will be donated to organizations that do the real-world work of championing equality, social justice, the arts, and innovation. Paramount+ and the Roddenberry Foundation are also partnering on a new global campaign to engage fans in honoring the legacy of Gene Roddenberry, which will launch on September 8th. The day will also allow fans to use a special StarTrekDay20 coupon code to get 20 percent off at the official Star Trek online store.

Star Trek Prodigy has added John Noble and Jimmi Simpson to the series regular cast. The two will play the show’s villains. Nobel will play the Diviner, who rules the mining asteroid of Tars Lamora who is looking for the USS Protostar. Simpson will voice Drednok, the Diviner’s spider-like robotic minion whose only purpose in life is to enforce his master’s will with hard-hearted ruthlessness. Diviner is also the father of one of the runaways Gwyn. Noble is best known for Fringe, Sleepy Hollow, and The Lord of The Rings. Simpson is known for roles on  Always Sunny in Philadephia, House of Cards, and Westworld. I’m sure we will hear more about it at the Star Trek Day Celebration.

Star Trek is getting a new official Star Trek Magazine from Titan Publishing. The Magazine, called Star Trek Explorer is being described as quote "the no. #1 destination for everything Star Trek – filled with in-depth interviews and features taking you behind-the-scenes of all your favorite shows and movies." unquote The magazine will have a new design, two exclusive Star Trek short stories, and a 16-page themed supplement in each issue. The first issue's supplement is a guide to Captain James. T. Kirk. The magazine will cost 9.99 a month or 29.99 for a year subscription. Issue one will be out on November second.

Star Wars

Boba Fett’s ship formerly called the Slave One will now just be called Firespray. The name was debuted in a press release for the Marvel comic Star Wars crossover event War of the Bounty Hunters, The story takes place soon after the events of the Empire Strikes Back and centers on Boba Fett trying to take Han Solo’s Carbonite body back to Jabba, However, Boba gets robbed by solo’s ex Qi’ra from Solo, now there’s a free for all between the Empire, galactic crime syndicates, the Rebel Alliance and every other bounty hunter, all wanting to take possession of the Han Solo-Sicle. The comic will have variant covers with different Vehicles and 

The following are listed quote · Bossk and The Hound’s Tooth

· Boba Fett and Firespray

· IG-88 and IG-2000

· Zuckuss and The Mist Hunter

· Valance Beilert and The Broken Wing

· Dengar and The Punishing One

So take that for what you will. 

Star Wars Andor has wrapped filming at Pinewood Studios in England. 

Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga has a new release window. TT Games at Gamescom 2021 announced that the long-awaited definitive game will be released in the Spring of 2022, a year later than it was originally going to come out. The new LEGO Star Wars game will feature all three Star Wars trilogies, with a total of 45 different levels (or 5 per movie, a decrease from 6 per movie in previous games.) LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will feature over 500 characters from the Star Wars franchise, with playable characters ranging from well-known characters to the more obscure. Players will also have the ability to explore over a dozen planets from the Star Wars universe, including Naboo, Tatooine, Coruscant, Kamino, Geonosis, Kashyyyk, Mustafar, Yavin 4, Hoth, Dagobah, Bespin, Endor, Jakku, Starkiller Base, Ahch-To, Crait, Pasaana, Kijimi, Kef Bir, and Exegon.

The stand in for Jabba the Hutt from that cut scene from A New Hope has been repurposed

In Star Wars issue sixteen, the characters meet a captain of a vessel who looks like Declan Mulholland, the actor who stood in for the effect that would have been Jabba The Hut in the first ever Star Wars film, but the scene was cut and not finished until the Star Wars Special Edition, to mixed results. Star Wars issue sixteen is on sale at comic book stores now.

The Mandalorian Season Three stars filming next month, according to star Carl Weathers. During an appearance at Steel City Con, the actor revealed that he will be acting and directing in the new season.

Geek

ViacomCBS is on a selling spree, first selling long time New York Headquarters Black Rock and now the CBS Studio campus in Studio City. The studio, has opened in 1928 during the silent film era and has hosted such produtins as Gunsmoke, Gilligan;s Isand, The Mary Tyler Moore show, Big Brother adn Entertainment Tonight.

Dune director Denis Vilenueuve is pretty sure that the upcoming Dune movie will get a Part Two. In an interview with Total Film, the director said quote "We have been hearing in the past few decades that it’s not possible to adapt this book, and that it’s an impossible task. I think that in the back of the mind of the studio, it’s still the same!"  "So the first thing was to prove that there was a beautiful, popular movie that can exist, and I think that I proved that – everybody at Warner Bros and Legendary, they are 100 percent behind the project. They feel that it would need a really bad outcome at the box office to not have a Dune: Part Two, because they love the movie. They are proud of the movie, so they want the movie to move forward. And they still did half of it. So, you know, I’m very optimistic." unquote Villeneuve also revealed that he’s in the middle of writing the screenplay for Part Two now. Dune is opening in theaters and HBO Max on October 22nd.

In celebration of James Cameron’s Aliens thirty-fifth anniversary. Hasbro is releasing the Nerf LMTD Aliens M41-A Pulse Blaster. The blaster is inspired by the weapon used by the Colonial Marine Corps in the movie and is capable of firing both the 10 Nerf Elite Darts for fully motorized rapid-fire mode or 3 Mega Dars via pump action. It also has an LCD dart counter and sound effects when the trigger is pulled and it also comes in packaged in a Colonial Marines Crops style crate. Preorders are live now at Gamestop. It will set you back at least $95.

Whoopi Goldberg would like to try her hands at being The Doctor. Whoopi has reportedly approached the BBC about taking the role and even though she admits that she’s might not be exactly the right fit, she would love to have it happen in some way. Quote "I wanted to be Doctor Who and I still do,” Goldberg explained. “I think it would mean an evolution into being American and I don’t know that that’s correct for Doctor Who. I don’t know I can usurp that. As much as I love it, I love watching it still in all the iterations.

“There are certain things that are blatantly all English," Goldberg added. "Doctor Who is like that to me. It’s like Marmite. It’s very English and needs to stay that way.” unquote I think it would be interesting.

Disney Plus has ordered a new series based on Jules Verne’s classic 20,000 Leagues Under the sea. The 10 part series, called Nautilus will tell the origin story of Captain Nemo and his famous submarine. Nautilus is produced by UK banners Moonriver TV and All3Media owned Seven Stories. Nemo is An Indian prince robbed of his birthright and family, a prisoner of the East India Company and a man bent on revenge against the forces which have taken everything from him, Nemo set sail with his ragtag crew on board the awe-inspiring vessel, battling foes and discovering magical underwater worlds. Filming is set to start in early 2022.

Former Leave it To Beaver star and director Tony Dow has been admitted to a New York hospital with Pneumonia. Dow who is 76, is best known for playing Wally Cleaver on the classic sitcom. Dow has also directed episodes of Babylon 5, Swamp Thing, Star Trek Deep Space nine, the tv versions of Honey I shrunk the kids, and Harry and the Hendersons.

Actress Marilyn Eastman has passed ay. Marilyn not only acted as Hellen Cooper in George A Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead but also played a zombie, financed and lent a hand in makeup, prop, and sound. 

Eastman was Vice President and creative director at industrial film production company Hardman Associates when she and Karl Hardman teamed up with Romero, John A Russo, and Russell Streiner to form Image Ten Productions. 

They cobbled together six thousand dollars to start production on what was first called Night of the Flesh Eaters, the movie was a hit at midnight showings, however, they never got their money back after the distributor left the copyright bug off of the retitled name for the movie, Night of the Living Dead, making the movie public domain.  In 1996,  she appeared in Santa Claws. She passed away on August twenty-second in her sleep. She was preceded by her life partner, Karl Hardman, and is survived by her sons and their children and grandchildren. She was 87 years old.

And that brings us to the end of the scifi news. *Show Ender*

Now be sure to check us out on social media, we’re at Twitter @multiverseTom also on Facebook and Instagram as well. 

*Ko-Fi button*

And If you’d like to contribute some money, check out the show notes, visit our Teepublic store, and much more over at the brand new MultiverseTonight dot com *Show Ender*

If you’re a subscriber, be sure to share with your friends and if you’re brand new to the show, please be sure to subscribe. And leave us some feedback and let us know how we’re doing.

Special thanks to Shane Ivers for our intro music and Lobo Loco for our outro music theme music.

Thanks for watching the SciFi edition of Multiverse Tonight. We will be back in two days with a new comic book edition and two weeks with a new SciFi edition. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good Night!  

Multiverse Tonight is a production of Half-Baked Genre Productions. Copyright 2021 All Rights Reserved.