Entertainment Apocalypse

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Tonight. It's a worldwide pandemic. So what does that mean for entertainment? Let's find out on this edition of Multiverse Tonight. And here's our host, Thomas Townley. Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 68 of Multiverse Tonight. I'm your host, Thomas Townley. Wow, uh what a difference two weeks makes. Uh to start off with, I hope this episode finds you well and safe wherever in the world you are. Two weeks ago, I was doing okay, the world was doing okay, and then the coronavirus breaks out and all hell breaks loose. Now, my family and I are just fine so far. Kansas has had a very kind of slow spread to the contagion so far. Uh just a lot of bare shelves at Walmart and Dollar General stores, but it's coming this way and it's only a matter of time. Now, the people I really feel sorry for right now are your small store owners like comic book shops, uh the movie theater owners, the entertainers, the comic book creators, etc. You know, people, let's do me a favor, try to shop and support these people instead of buying massive quantities of toilet paper. Right now, we need entertainment to keep our minds off this world of other crap we found ourselves in. Uh now uh before we uh start the news, let's uh take a quick uh PSA to learn what you should do uh with uh COVID-19.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

COVID-19, better known as coronavirus, has spread throughout the world. Symptoms of this respiratory disease may include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. These symptoms may show up two to fourteen days after exposure. If you are experiencing these symptoms and have come into contact or are in an area with an ongoing outbreak, please call a hotline and or consult with a physician. Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces. For more information, please visit cdc.gov forward slash COVID19. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Alright. We start the news of Star Wars. Disney, in order to be extra nice during this time of coronavirus, has released The Rise of Skywalker a few days early on digital. The film was supposed to have been released on March 27th, but was instead released on March 13th. It's available right now on Voodoo, Apple TV, iTunes, Google Play, Fandango Now, and Amazon. Now you can get it in either HD or SD for $19.99, or the 4K version for $24.99. However, the digital release is missing something, deleted scenes. However, it does have the documentaries The Skywalker Legacy, Basana Pursuit about the Land Spear Chase, Aliens in the Desert about the Aliens in the Desert scenes, Dio Key to the Past about Dio, Warwick and Son about Warwick Davis returning to the Ewok costume and cast of creatures, which is, well, pretty self-explanatory, and also the digital exclusive The Maestrous Finale about John Williams. Rosario Dawson has joined the Mandalorian Season 2 as fan favorite Clone Wars character Ahsoka Tano. The character was Anakin Skywalker's Padawan in the Clone Wars Animate series and had a role in the Rebels Animate series. Season 2 is due out in October. Showrunner Damon Lideloff says he'd love to do something with Star Wars when he's not going to be blamed for ruining it. Speaking with fandom.com, he said, quote, at some end at some point, but certainly not in the immediate future, I feel like I would love to do something in the Star Wars universe. Maybe a decade from now when I would no longer be blamed for ruining it. That would be a hoot, unquote. Hmm. You know, I'd love to see what Lindelof would do with Star Wars. You know, might be very interesting. Yeah. It would at least be something different. Now, uh let's go on to some Star Trek news. Yes, and uh we start Star Trek News with CBS and Simon Schuster, which has a new Star Trek Discovery night novel in the pipeline. This time aimed at the Section 31 storyline. Star Trek Discovery Die Standing looks at the life of Emperor Philippa Georgeou after her exile into the regular Star Trek universe. The book will show how she transitioned into the Section 31 role and how her desire to either try to build a new empire or go into Section 31 whole heart is uh explored. The book will also see her cross path with the third host of the Dax Symbiont, Emini. Now here's the synopsis quote No one in the history of histories has lost more than Philippa Georgeot, ruler of the Terran Empire. Forced to take refuge in the Federation's universe, she bides her time until Section 31, a rogue's spy force within Starfleet, offers her a chance to work as their agent. She has no intention of serving under anyone else. Of course, her only interest is escape. But when a young Trill, Emily Dax, discovers a powerful interstellar menace, Georgeot recognizes it as a super weapon that escapes her grasp in her own universe. Escorted by a team sent by an untrusting Federation to watch over her, the Emperor return journeys to a region forbidden to travelers. But will what she finds there end the threat, or give Agent Georgeot the means to create her empire anew? John Jackson Miller is the New York Times best-selling author of Star Trek Discovery, The Emperor, Enterprise War, the acclaimed Star Trek Prey Trilogy, and the novels Star Trek The Next Generation Takedown, Star Wars A New Dawn, Star Wars Kenobi, Star Wars Night Errant, Star Wars Lost Tribe of the Sith, The Collected Stories, and 15 Star Wars graphic novels, as well as the original work overdraft, The Orion Offensive. He's also working on the e-novella Star Trek Titan, Absent Enemies. A comics industry historian and analyst, he has written for franchises including Halo, Conan, Iron Man, India Jones, Ball Star Galactica, Mass Effect, and The Simpsons. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife, two children, and far too many comic books. Unquote. Star Trek Discovery Die Standing goes on sale on July 14th. Maybe they should release that uh a few days early so you know we have something to distract ourselves. CNN Business says that one thing that helps CBS All Access stand out is Star Trek. Speaking with senior analyst Jeff Bach from the entertainment research firm Exhibitor Relations, Jeff told them, quote, Star Trek is as important to Viacom CBS as Star Wars is to Disney. Basically, it's a never-ending stream of content. Viacom CBS is trying to make the most of the Star Trek franchise, even saying on a recent earnings call that they are taking the franchise and quote, extending it across the house, unquote. Julie McNamar, executive VP of and head of programming for CBSL Access, has called it, quote, a great tent pole for us, unquote. Now, do you agree? Yeah, I think uh I like it. I like Picard. I'm not so h sure about all the rest of it. Still waiting for that cartoon series. Come on, cartoon series. Uh by the way, now if if you're needing something uh fresh, some fresh track to watch, and you don't want to pay for all access, the Star Trek short tracks are coming to Blu-ray and DVD in June. The collection of short subjects will have nine of the episodes, including Runaway, Calypso, The Brightest Star, The Escape Artist, QA, The Trouble with Edward, Asnaut, and Ephraimed and The Girl Who Made the Stars. The Children of Mars episode is the only one not in the collection, probably to be included on the home release of Star Trek Picard. Also included is some documentary features, each about a particular episode. Also included is a making about the short trecks and two commentaries on Runaway and Ask Not. The disc will be released on June 2nd. Star Trek Picard has hired writer and podcaster Mark Bernardin as a supervising producer on season 2. Bernardin, uh who uh besides being Kevin Smith's co-host on his podcast Fat Man Beyond, has written on Sy-Fi's Alphas and Hulu's Castle Rock. Bernardin isn't new to Star Trek, having worked as an intern on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Picard's showrunner, Michael Chabon, would love to make an MCU Adam Warlock movie. Now, this news came from an Instagram Q ⁇ A session when he was asked if there were any superheroes he connected with. This is not the first time that he's expressed interest in Adam Warlock. In a 2012 interview with the New York Times, he also mentioned that Warlock would be a dream project for him. Come on, uh Marvel. Why not, you know, Disney, why not give him the uh chance? Discovery star Senequa Martin Green is expecting. The actress revealed this on Instagram with a photo of herself and her husband, Kendrick Green, and their son with the caption adding another passenger to the green train. All aboard, little lady, this train is fueled by love, and we're already overflowing with it for you. Now, Star Trek Discovery, right now, is currently non-production, having wrapped on the third season back in February. Creation Entertainment has announced a big get for the 19th annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, Kelsey Grammar. This will be his first ever convention appearance. Mr. Grammar might be best known to some as Fraser Crane from Cheers and Frasier, or Sycho Bob from The Simpsons. Ah, Sidecho Bob! But to Trek fans, he's known for his appearance as Captain Bateson in the season 5 next-gen episode Cause and Effect. You know, it'd be very interesting to see if the con happens. I guess uh we'll just have to wait and see. As the coronavirus has continued to spread around the world, shaking hands as a form of greeting has become well uh ill advised. Uh so what to replace it with? Now some fans, including some lawmakers, have suggested a greeting familiar to Star Trek fans everywhere, the Vulcan greeting. For those of you who don't know, that would be a raised hand with your palm to your to your greet tee, with your fingers splayed between your ring and middle fingers. Now an attending fish physician at a closed door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus even suggested it. So while we wait for this pandemic to end, shall we enlighten others? Live long and prosper. Now let's go on to the geek news. So uh let's quickly go down on a list of uh almost every production that has either shut down or been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shall we? We have The Witcher, The Handmaid's Tale, the Amazon Lord of the Rings series, the Goonies Pilot, Loki, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Supernatural, Snowpiercer, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead shows, Batwoman, Why The Last Man, The Wheel of Time, The Flash, Superman and Lois, Riverdale, Carnival Rose, Supergirl, Lucifer, Pen Pennyworth, The Orville, and a lot, a lot of pilots. Now on the film side, the Avatar sequels, Matrix 4, Uncharted, Fantastic Beast 3, The Batman, Jurassic World Dominion, Shang Chi, The Little Mermaid, Nightmare Alley, Home Alone, yeah, they're making another one. Peter Pan and Wendy, Shrunk, and Mission Impossible 7. Now a lot of these have only been listed as shutting down for just a couple of weeks. Some even longer. So, you know, we'll I guess we'll hear about these coming up and down as uh as things change. So watch this space. Now to complicate matters for movie fans in the United States, AMC, Regal, and every other theater chain has shut down. AMC will be shut down for 6 to 12 weeks, so the summer movie season is pretty much gone. Even the Razzies ceremony was canceled. Instead, the awards were announced via YouTube video. The Razzies were supposed to be handed out on March 14th. Winner for the Worst Picture was Cats. Worst Actor went to John Travolta in the Fanatic, as well as tr as Trading Paint. Hilary Duff took home the Worst Actress for The Haunting of Sharon Tate. James Corden won Worst Supporting Actor for his role in Cats, and he joined Rebel Wilson, who got the Worst Supporting Actress Award for Cats. Worst Screen Combo went to just any two people on the screen in Cats. Tom Hooper won for Worst Director for Cats, and also took away Worst Screenplay with Lee Hall for Cats. Rambo Last Blood won Worst Remake, Ripoff, or Sequel, as well as Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property. But, you know, all's not bad news, as Eddie Murphy won the Razzie Redeemer Award for Dolomite is my name. They all deserve what they got. Admit it. Now, right now, an estimated 120,000 entertainment industry crew jobs have been lost by this pandemic. But there is help. Netflix has created a $100 million relief fund for the hundreds of thousands suddenly without work in Hollywood, as productions have shut down for the outbreak. In a letter, on the on Netflix's company blog, the chief content officer said, quote, This community has supported Netflix through the good times, and we want to help them through these hard times, especially while governments are still figuring out what economic support they will provide. Most of the fund will go towards support for the hardest hit workers on our own productions around the world. This is in addition to the two weeks' pay we've already committed to the crew and cast on productions we were forced to suspend last week. Now, the money will not just be for Netflix productions, but the industry as a whole. Netflix is also donating the to the SAGAFTRA COVID-19 disaster fund and the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the United States. As well as another million million dollars split between the AFC and Foundation diatis. Good deal. Yeah. We we'll get past this. Now, while we wait for the Orville season three, Dark Horse Comics has announced a season 2.5 comic miniseries made up of two two-issue series. The first is called Launch Day, quote. In which seemingly hostile krill ships cross into Union space and the Orville intercepts. Captain Mercer learns that they are en route to a planet that left the Union decades ago under mysterious circumstances. Scans have discovered a moon-sized construct above the planet, and the Krill intend a preemptive strike against the presumed weapon. But is it? Unquote. Orville executive producer David A. Goodman will be right will be on writing duties joined by artist David Cabeza and colorist Michael Atea. And this will be out on June 3rd. Now, as as Kam mentioned before, Box Office was was just non-existent. Zero. As in nothing. As in all theaters have been shuttered and nothing new was released, so zero. Not even any any official reporting. According to the according to box office mojo, the final box office report was on Thursday the 19th, with a total of $143,641 for all 36 films in just 233 theaters. Sad. And uh some more sad news. Actor Lyle Wagner has passed away. The actor, best known for the Carol Burnett Show and the 1980s Wonder Woman series, died of illness at his home on the 17th of March. Wagner started out as an announcer on the Carol Burnett Show, but soon became an actor in the sketches. After leaving the Carol Burnett show, he got hired for the role of Colonel Steve Trevor, Jr. on the 1975 Wonder Woman series, where he worked alongside Linda Carter for four years. Now, among his other acting credits are Charlie's Angels, Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, The Golden Girls, Murder She Wrote, Ellen, The Naked Truth, and That 70s Show. His last on-screen appearance was in 2005's The War Home, but in 2017, he made a special appearance on the Carol Burnett show's 50th anniversary special. Lau Wagner passed away in his home after a long illness. He was 84 years old. And now let's end with something to soothe the soul. A little moment, if you will. Patrick Stewart reading Shakespeare's Sonnet number 116. Take it away, sir.

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Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when its alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove Oh no. It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. It is the star to every wandering bark whose worths unknown although his height be taken love's not time's fool though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks but bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Thank you, Patrick. And uh that brings us to the end of the sci-fi news. Now uh please check us out on our social media. We're at Twitter at multiverse tom. We're also on Facebook and Instagram as well. And uh if you'd like to contribute some money, please visit mtpodcast.com to go to our co our coffee patron and now glow.fm as well. Or just go to multiverse tonight and hit the support me link at the top of the page and be sure to visit multiverse tonight.com and check out the Phillip Marketplace links, the link to our Tea Public store, our show notes, and so much more. And if you're a subscriber, be sure to share it with your friends. And if you're brand new to the show, please be sure to subscribe and leave us with 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 theme music. Thanks for watching the comic book edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in just two weeks with the sci-fi edition. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiverse tonight is a production of Half Big Genre Productions, Copyright Twenty Twenty, All Rights Reserved.