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Tonight meet. The new Jimmy Olsen. Marvel movies are back to filming. What's New with Khan, dave Filoni updates and remember Mark Thorpe, victor J Kemper and Marty Croft. All that and more on this edition of Multiverse tonight. Comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse tonight. Here's our host, Thomas Townley. Well, hello everyone and welcome to episode 203 of Multiverse. Tonight You're a source for all geeky news Record. On December 4th 2013 and it's a nice, fairly warm day Not spring warm fall. Warm snow was melted off. Yesterday spent time doing a minor decoration for Christmas. I don't even get an extra day off. This year, christmas just happens to fall on Monday and Monday is my day off. So there you go. Well, I'll be back to work tomorrow. My medicinal vacation has been spent and it's been a good month. Pretty much over a month, 32 days. Can't say I got a hell of a lot done, but it was relaxing. I can't say I actually missed my job. I missed meeting people and talking to people. My talk, it's a way for me to socialize. I've never been a social animal, but anyway, we have some news today. So let's go on to the DC Comics News, and we begin DC Comics News with James Gunn's Superman movie, another step closer to getting up up and away. The inaugural DC Studios feature continues its casting spree after the dual strikes and has now added two key members of the man of Steel supporting cast First up. Skyler Guizando, known for his work on HBO's the Righteous Gemstones, has been cast as Jimmy Olsen, the boyish cut reporter photographer at the Daily Plant, who works alongside Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Also at the same time, sarah Sampio, the Portuguese model known for her Victoria's Secret work, has been cast as Eve Testmarker, the assistant, and sometimes mistress, to the scheming villain Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Holt. Now that pair joins David Cornsuit as Clark Kent, slash Superman, and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. The movie is set to start shooting early next year and is still set for July 11th 2025. Dc has released solicitation for comics shipping this February 2023 and, in addition to the concluding Joker War, the Batman office has expanded with a new six-issue limited series starring Jason Todd. Red Hood the Hill will be with a zero issue on February 6th, spinning out of the events of the Joker War. The series will then have a full launch on February 13th with six issues planned to come from writer Sean Martinborough and artist Sanford Green. Green provided the cover art for Red Hood the Hill number zero, although Tony Atkins and Moriart did the interiors for the preview. Both of Green's covers, as well as a variant from Tyr-So Kahn's for Red Hood the Hill number one, were released last week. Alongside DC's monthly solicitations, this is the first new series headlined by the Red Hood since 2021. After that, the Red Hood title titled Red Hood Outlaw, and before that, red Hood and the Outlawed Outlaws had been running consistently for about six years. Here's the solicitation Before you embark on Red Hood's new adventure on the Hill experience a story that introduced Jason to his new home. As the Joker War ravages Gotham, a new vigilante group has formed Protector Turf and Red Hood finds himself caught in the crossfire. This thrilling tale collects Red Hood Outlaw number 51 and 52, and there's an essential reading to get you ready for all hell to come to the Hill in Red Hood the Hill. Now let's go on to the Marvel Comics News ["The Marvel Comics News Theme Song"], and we begin Marvel News with Venom 3, which has resumed production post-strike, according to star Tom Hardy. The actor took to social media to announce that the franchise's third and final installment had returned to set following the 118-day actor strike that ended November 8th. Writing on Instagram for a photo of himself, director Kelly Marcell and student stunt double Jacob Tumuri quote the last dance. Thankfully, we are back to shooting. It's been, and continues to be, a lot of fun this journey. There's always hard turns to burn when we work. That doesn't feel so as hard when you love what you do and when you know you have great material and the support at all sides of a great team. Unquote. Now the upcoming installment in the franchise originally began production in late June in Spain, with Marcell also serving as the writer, but stopped production when the actor strike began in July. Newcomers to the movie include characters played by Juno Temple and Chetwell Agifor. Venom 3 was originally set to hit theaters July 12th 2024, but was pushed back to November 8th 2024 to give it more time after the strike and to complete the post-production work. Now onto another movie that started filming. Disney has confirmed that Deadpool 3 is back to filming again. During a Disney Town Hall, disney Entertainment co-chair, alan Bergman said that the Ryan Reynolds sequel is back in production. The movie has a lot of writing on it. Has the MCU will feature only one cinematic offering in 2024,. Has Captain America Brave New World got moved to 2025, and that means Deadpool 3 is the big summer blockbuster that Disney will be hanging its hat on. Now. Marvel Studios is also moving fast to find a new variant on its script for Avengers, the King Dynasty, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The reporter confirmed that Marvel mainstay, michael Waldron will now tackle King Dynasty. The hiring cements Waldron as a key architect of Marvel's multiverse saga. Its sprawling story told across multiple realities in film and TV. Waldron aired the Marvel Fold as the creator of Loki and went on to write Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness. He's also described behind Avengers Secret Wars, which will follow King Dynasty. King is due out on May 1st 2026, while Secret Wars has a release date of May 7th 2027. Now let's go on to the Star Trek news. On Star Trek Day last year, wrath of Con writer slash director Nicholas Meyer offered officially announced that his SETI Alpha 5 project exploring the exile of Con Noonien Singh was finally happening. With a surprise twist, that was being transformed to a scripted podcast for Paramount Plus. Now things have been really silent regarding Star Trek Con's SETI Alpha 5 since then, but Mr Meyer just gave us a status update, along with his hopes that a successful podcast might eventually lead to an actual filmed version of Con's story covering the spant time between being marooned by Captain Kirk at the end of Space Seed and his escape in Star Trek II. Nick Meyer sat down with the legendary host, legendary Dr Trek Nemechek, for a special open house celebrating the eighth anniversary of the Portal 47 subscription service. The pair discussed various aspects of Meyer's career, including his work on Star Trek II, star Trek IV and Star Trek VI, but they also talked a bit about the SETI Alpha 5 and how it would play out. Originally, the project was written as a three-part mini-series, with the podcast version widening the scope slightly Now, making it clear that the project was still live and well. Meyer's explained quote it's now being worked as a radio play, nine or 10 half hour episodes. I guess the thinking is, if it is successful, then we'll go back to making it something on film unquote. Now, pressed to give specifics on what kind of production values could be expected for a Star Trek audio drama, or even who would be concerned for casting, meyer declined to speculate, although he did confirm that, yes, the project was still on track. Carefully, he cautioned that some behind-the-scenes issues had to be worked out before proceeding with casting, seeking musical talent and so on. His protective words to Portal 47 were, quote this is a show all I can tell you about it, and I have no wish to be indiscreet that has a kitchen filled with cooks unquote. Now, acknowledging that the series has been retooled and that the timetable has slipped, especially after the twin strikes delayed everything. Meyer was frank, telling Nemechek quote whatever timeline we had went out the window some months ago. Well, folks, I think whatever comes out will be pretty good. Of course there's who can you have that will bring the Grappthaus's role that Ricardo Montalbont brought to it? That's the question. So that'll be interesting to see who gets picked for that specific role. Anyway, star Trek Discovery season five will debut in April 2024. According to the synopsis released by Paramount Plus, the fifth and final season of Star Trek Discovery quote will find Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well, dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it. And with that thought, let's go on to the Star Wars news. Roger Roger. And we're in Star Wars news with Dave Filoni, who has a new mission in the Star Wars universe. After guiding Rosario Dawson's force-wielding hero to distance celestial realms in the first season of Ahsoka, the Ryer producer-director, who started out working alongside George Lucas on the animated Clone Wars show nearly 20 years ago, has ascended to a new position at Lucasfilm, one that will give him input into the galactic storytelling going forward. Filoni told Vanity Fair quote Now I'm what's called the chief creative officer at Lucasfilm unquote Now. He said that this will give him more development process much earlier and more expansive capacity to his previous advisory duties saying quote In the past in a lot of projects I would be brought into, I would see it after it had already been developed a good ways unquote. Now Filoni will work hand in hand with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Candy and alongside Kerry Beck. The veteran producer turned ahead of development to originate and shepherd the next generation of Star Wars shows and movies. Now, after spending many years involved in the creation of Star Wars animation, including the Rebel series, he became increasingly involved in live action as a producer with John Favreau in the Mandalorian and the Book of Boba Fett quote. In this new role it's opened up to basically everything that's going on when we're playing the future of what we're doing now. I'm involved at the inception phase, unquote. Now, this news comes a little over a month after the conclusion of Ahsoka. The eight episode Disney Plus series explored how Dawson's Jedi grappled with her legacy of being trained by Anakin Skywalker, the man who had become Darth Vader. Due to the long running Hollywood strike, near Filoni nor Dawson were able to speak about the show when it debuted in the Vandy Fair exclusive article. Both of them are now free to discuss the changes the show brought to the broader Star Trek narratives, both on screen and behind the scenes. And now that Filoni will take on the role of Chief Creative Officer, what does it mean for the other writers, directors and producers? Filoni told Vandy Fair quote I'm not telling people what to do, but I do feel I'm trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of the Jedi Council almost. He described his responsibilities as understanding the intent of the filmmakers and being a resource to them, based on his mentorship under Lucas himself and the years he spent during the Clone Wars of Rebels and Ahsoka. Quote. Literally hours now of Star Wars storytelling I have done. He said, before pausing to rethink his syntax, see even phrase that like Yoda unquote. Dave also talked about the unexpected death of Ray Stevenson at age 58 this past May after he had finished shooting his role as Balan in Ahsoka, which left an emotional void to his colleagues but also a narrative one for his character. The story series ended with his morally gray former Jedi standing on the ruins of a mountain-sized sculpture of the Mordisk gods. This tree of supernatural beings first appeared in a rep in a episode of the Clone Wars one representing the light side of the force, one staying for the dark side and the father figure balancing the two between. Filoni said quote you have to be careful with that. Unquote. I know it's a very specific group of people that even know what those statues are, but I thought it was an exciting image and it does give you the shape of what Balan is. After he said quote While Filoni isn't sure what will become of Balan in Stevenson's absence, he acknowledged that the character's journey is not complete, saying, quote Obviously there's a story there. We're in a wait-and-see pattern at this point, but I'm glad the conversation is about Rey and how great he was. I used to have many debates with him and say, rey, you're the villain here, and he'd be like I don't think so. I was like I know you don't think so, but you are. I love that you're playing it like you're not, which is exactly the way Balan thinks, unquote. Well, the character became one of the stand-ups in the new series and a fan favorite. Filoni went on to say quote I think he would have been over the moon. The big regret here is that he didn't get to experience that. I'm glad he was at Star Wars Celebration with us, that he got to see the trailer and got a taste of that from Fent the Fans, and there has been nothing but wonderful about Rey and the character. You know where they go from here with that character will be anyone's guess, but I don't really see a problem with recastning. I think recastning would be fine. A bit of sad news to close out the Star Wars news. This time. Mark Thorpe, the visual effects artist who worked on several Indiana Jones and Star Wars films before launching the bot battling competition, robot Wars, has passed away. He was 77 years old. Thorpe died Friday, this past Friday, of complications related to Parkinson's disease. According to his daughter, megan, who shared news on Facebook. Quote For him, early onset Parkinson's disease started out with a relatively mild tremor and then, over time, progressed towards less and less bodily autonomy, something particularly torturous for a fiercely independent artist like my dad, whose joys in life was to create things with his hands. While the disease itself is not technically considered terminal, it does eventually remove crucial functions like movement and swallowing functions essential for life. To say the last few months, and especially the last few weeks, were challenging for my dad would be an understatement, and I am grateful that he is finally at peace Now. Thorpe joined George Lucas' visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic back in 1979, as a model maker and animatronic designer and served as a member of the Optical Effects Unit on the 1988 Star Wars film the Empire Strikes Back. Thorpe also worked on visual effects for Return of the Johnny in 1983, as well as the first three Indiana Jones movies, where there's the Lost Ark, the Temple of Doom and the Last Crusade. He also contributed to such films as Dragon Slayer, poltergeist, explorers, howard the Duck and the Hunt for Red October. Born on November 9th 1946 in San Francisco, thorpe attended Cal State University at Hayward and then graduate school at UC Davis, where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1971. Thorpe came up with the idea for Robot Wars in 1992, while working as a senior designer for Lucas Toys. At the vision of Lucasfilm, he felt he left Lucas Toys in 1994 and produced Robot Wars events until 1997, when he lost creative control. To profile records. A Robot Wars Combat Competition series was broadcast on British television from 1998 to 2004 and from 2016 to 2018. In addition to his daughter, thorpe is survived by his grandchildren, evelyn and Elliot. Again, mr Thorpe. Mark Thorpe was 77 years old. Now let's go on to the geek news. The world of the boys could soon be headed to Mexico. According to sources, amazon is currently developing a Spanish-language spinoff of their popular dark superhero series based on the Garth Innis and Derek Robertson comic books that would be set in Mexico City. Exact plot details remain under wraps. Like the boys, it would be produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios. Scientists say that Garth Dunnett Alcor is attached to Wright Dunnett Alcor. It most recently wrote the screenplay for the DC film Blue Beetle starring Zolo Mart Marguena, the boys' creator, eric Kripke, along with the execs produced by Kripke Enterprises, along with Seth Rogen, evan Goldberg and James Weaver of Point Cray Pictures, and Neil H Mortis and Paven Shetty of original film. Details also say that Diego Luna and Gal Garcia Bernal would execs produce under their La Carrante del Garfal banner, though details are still being worked out on the series. Rob Reiner is back in the director's chair for the long-awaited sequel to this Is Spinal Tap. He'll be reuniting with original stars Christopher Guest, harry Shearer and Michael McKeehan. With all those returns, it's understandable why fans are excited to see the sequel come to fruition, and now there's been a prompting update on the project. The variety is reporting that this Is Spinal Tap. The sequel will begin filming in February of 2024, with Reiner also revealed on the RHL STP with Richard Haring podcast that the film will feature cameos from legends like Paul McCartney, elton John and Garth Brooks. The animated sequel is reportedly mimicking the style of Martin's Corsese's Last Waltz and will feature many of the elements that made the original such a classic. Reiner did add some advice for those who want to air the world of comedy filmmaking, saying quote you don't want to overstay your welcome. This is like stand-up. You leave them wanting, you go off on a big laugh and go out. The worst thing you could do is just load it up with. Even if they're funny things, they may be tangents and things that take away from the drive of the film. Unquote. After Disney Plus' the Mandalorian and FX is justified, timothy Alphent is headed to another major television series. On Monday it was reported that Alphent has joined the cast of the upcoming Alien television series, which is in works at FX. This will be the list collaboration between Alphent and Alien shoe runner Noah Holly after he appeared in season four of FX's Fargo. Now it's not confirmed, but Role Alphent will be playing, although reports hint that he could be playing Krish, a synth who is the mentor and trainer for Wendy, played by Sydney Chandler. After years of being in the works, zack Snyder's plans spin-off for the 300 could reportedly still become a reality. In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, snyder revealed that he and his wife, deborah Snyder, have regained the rights to blood and ashes. Now. The film was originally planned by Snyder to be a sequel to the 300 and 300 Rise of an Empire at Warner Brothers, with him working on the script as recently as 2019. Now Blood and Ashes, which is described as a gay love story unquote and an ancient Greek war epic following the relationship between Alexander the Great and Hephaestian, can now be shopped elsewhere as a standalone film. Snyder explained, quote we got the rights back so we can make it. Make if we want it. I don't know what the marketplace is for an incredibly homoerotic, super violent, super sexual movie, but maybe it's perfect unquote. And now, finally, we talk about those we've gone on before. First up, victor J Kemper, the award-winning cinematographer who worked on some of the biggest comedies of the 1980s, has passed away at the age of 96 years old. According to his son, stephen, who spoke with a Hollywood reporter, kemper died of natural causes on this past Monday as home in Sherman Oaks, california. His career began in the early 1960s, working as a camera operator on Arthur Hillers Tiger makes out the film debut of Dustin Hoffman and Arthur Penn's Alice's restaurant. Of the handful of dedicated Thanksgiving movies Throughout the 70s and 80s, kemper would go on to work on a number of the biggest directors in Hollywood. Kemper earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers and also served as president of the organization from 1993 to 1996, and again from 1999 to 2001. In a release from the ASC on Instagram, quote we were very sorry to learn last night that former society president Victor J Kemper, asc, has passed away. Unquote. Now they prompt me more into post. Shortly thereafter, in 1975, kemper shot Dog Day Afternoon, which was nominated for six Academy Awards and was later named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Later in his career, kemper would shoot a lot of comedies, which Deadline quotes him as saying was harder to shoot than dramas. Kemper told them quote timing is essential. The reactions of people in the cast, the scenery and environment are all part of every joke. Everyone in the cast has to be looking in the right place at the right time and responding flawlessly. That requires rehearsals and if you over prepare the humor loses its edge and it's not funny anymore. Unquote. Now Kemper shot six films for director Arthur Hiller the Tiger Makes Out the Hospital. Author. Author. The Lonely Guy See no Evil, hear no Evil and Married to it, and three in a row for Karl Reiner, oh God, the One and Only, and the Jerk. This makes him one of the biggest pieces of connected tissue between Steve Martin's comedy classic the Jerk and Lonely Guy, which came out a few years later to a mixed reception. During his career he worked with prominent directors including John Safates, ellen May and Ella Cazen, and also filmed movies including Slap Shot, pee, wee's, big Adventure, clue, beethoven and Tommy Boy. His final credit was on 2006's Bring it On. All or Nothing. Again. Victor J Kemper passed away at the age of 96. And finally, tonight Marty Croft, the savvy businessman who partnered with his older brother, sid, to amass an entertainment empire fueled by such mind-blowing kids' TV shows as the Banana Splits Adventure Hour, hr Puffin Stuff and Land and Lost, passed away. He was 86 years old, eight years younger than his brother, sid. Marty Croft died from kidney failure. According to his family, the pair already were well-known theatrical puppeteers when they recruited in 1968 to design the costumes for the live-action portion of NBC's the Banana Split Adventure Hour. There are four furry animal characters. Fliegel, bingo, drupper and Snork, members of a rock band, were an instant hit on the Saturday morning show which ran from September 7th 1968 to September 5th 1970 and then in near-pep perpetuity in reruns after the next year. Nbc asked them to create their own Saturday morning kids show and the brothers came up with HR Puffin Stuff about shipwrecked boy named Jimmy who lands on a magical island. The title character Puffin Stuff was a revamp of Luther, a friendly dragon that had been created for a show at the 1968 Hemisphere in San Antonio. Now NBC won a second season to follow the 17th episode first, but offered only a small increase to the rights fee, already far below what it cut was costing the brothers to make the show, so they declined. Puffin Stuff came to an end in 1970 but lived on in reruns as well. Now. Puffin Stuff's psychedelic sets and costumes were a big hit with college kids, and the Beatles asked for a full set of episode tapes to be sent to them. In England the look of the show prompted many whispers that the brothers took drugs, pot for sure, baby LSD something Marty vehemently denied. The Crofts followed Puffin Stuff with the Bugalows in 1970 to 1972, the Claymation series Lidsville from 1971 to 1973, sigmund and the Sea Monster from 1973 to 1975, and Land of the Lost from 1974 to 1976, which spawned the ill-fated Wilferl movie adaptation released in 2009. These shows were a wildly popular syndication as well. Indeed, the Crofts style was so popular that McDonald's copied it to create Mayor McCheese and McDonald Land for the early 70s advertising campaign. The Crofts sued and won, with getting a reported seven-figure settlement in 1977. A year earlier, the brothers opened the world of Sid and Marty Croft theme park in downtown Atlanta's new Omni Complex, which is now CNN headquarters. Spread over six levels, it was billed as the world's first vertical amusement park. About 600,000 visitors came through during the recession plague 70s, but it was enough to cover the cost and interest payments and the park closed after six months. Much of the financing for the $20 million parts came through loans from various banks, investments from Lamar Hunt, the Ford Foundation and others. Long after other smaller kids' producers like Ann Barbera had been sold out to Cut and Concomerates, the Crofts were still developing shows as the last of the great 1960 independence. As late as 2015,. They had hit on Nickelodeon with Mutt and Stuff. One episode even featured a guest appearance from Puff and Stuff. The Crofts also developed numerous live-action variety shows, including the Brady Bunch Hour, the Donny and Marie Show, the Bay City Roller Show and Barber, mandrel and the Mandrel Sisters. They also produced an arcade show hosted by Richard Pryor, based on his childhood and their puppets toured with such acts as Judy Garland, liberace, the Mills Brothers, tony Martin and Sid, cherise and Frank Sinatra. Marty is survived by his brothers Harry and Sid, daughters Deanna and her husband Randy, christina and Kendra Lou, grandchildren Taylor, carson, griffin, georgia and Drake, and great-grandchild Maddox. He married Krista Rogolowski in 1965. She proceeded him to death in 2013. Again, marty Croft half of Sid and Marty Croft passed away at the age of 86. And with that we come to the end of this edition. Now be sure to check us out on social media. We're still on Twitter for the time being, although I'm burly on there at this point, and also on Facebook and Instagram as well, and now you can friend me on threads. You know. If you friend me on threads, I'll interact more on threads. So there you go. If you found value in the show, feel free to contribute to the show. Check out our show notes. Visit our Tee Public Store. Buy someone a shirt that a podcast you don't know about for Christmas. What can you say? And much more at MultiverseTonightcom. If you're a subscriber, please be sure to share this with your friends, and if you're brand new, to the show. Thank you very much. Please be sure to hit that subscribe button and why not? Leave some feedback? Let me know how we're doing. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Thanks for watching this edition of MultiverseTonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news. And now, if you will, please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiversetonight is a production of half-baked genre productions. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. There's podcast as far as the Popcos the Culture Podcast Network. Find out more about our other podcasts at popcostheculturecom.