The Treksplosion of 2019

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Tonight. Kurtzman hints at new Star Trek. A cook becomes a stormtrooper, and into the spider-verse might lead to new patents. All this and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight. There are many universes out there. Welcome to the one with news about all the others. This is Multiverse Tonight. Now, here's your host, Thomas Townley. Hello, welcome to the show. I'm your host, Thomas Townley. Well, are you ready to start a new year? Of new show new TV shows, movies, literature, conventions, and uh more? Well, I think we're uh hoping to get some good stuff this year, you know? I really do. Uh anything to take our minds on on what's happening in the world outside, you know, your door. By the way, if you want to help me to improve the show in the new year, why not kick in a dollar or two? You can donate at uh coffee like an or on Patreon. Just go to, and this is new, mtpodcast.com. That's the letter M, lettertpodcast.com for links to uh our Patreon and Kofi and Coffee sites. Uh you can also give us a tip uh from the radio public or the Buzz Sprout players, and uh if you would like to buy some swell merchandise, you can buy that over at our Tee Public store. Now uh be sure also to check out multiverse tonight.com to see our show notes, affiliate links, the occasional original column, and much, much more. Now let's get on with the show.

Star Trek News

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Alright. Uh have you been watching all of the short treks? And uh what have you thought about them? Uh me personally, I've thought that most of them felt half thought out. You know, just stir ide story ideas with huge plot holes and either no ending or just just a a roll up uh just a piece of a bigger story. However, I think that they did save the best for last, which is the Escape Artist, which starred uh Rain Wilson as her bringing back Harry Mud, and it was more of a full contained episode with a beginning, a middle, and an end, and also brought us that trickster mud that was kind of missing from season one of Discovery. Well, whether you did or didn't like them, apparently we're going to get a lot more short tricks. In an exclusive to the Hollywood Reporter, Truk franchise captain Alex Kurtzman let them in on what was on in on the pipeline in the future. Not only will there be another season of Discovery that's uh uh you know, we always knew that the Picard series and the animated Star Trek Lore Deck series, but we'll get two more Star Trek short tracks, which will be instead of live action, will be animated and will debut in the spring following season two of Discovery. Quoting Alex Kurtzman Our goal is not only to expand the definition of Star Trek and what has qualified as traditional Star Trek, but also tell stories that are both self-contained in a very short period of time that also connect to the larger picture of what we're doing. Not only in Discovery, but in the world building of Trek in general. And you get to tell these very intimate emotional stories that are side stories to characters. So you get the benefit of the experience in and of itself. Then when you watch Discovery, you'll see that these were all setting up things in the world of season two. Other projects still in the works include a Section 31 spinoff series with Michelle Yo, the Starfield Academy series from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and much more. Now, when talking about the Lower Dex animated series, he said that while it is a comedy, he implied that it won't be a parody of Star Trek, but will quote, it's embracing and loving of all the tropes of Star Trek, but it's never laughing at it, unquote. Now, Kurtzman also revealed that, quote, there's other animated projects that we're building that are entirely different perspectives and an entirely different tone from lower decks. Kurtzman said of the Kids Focus series, which could land somewhere beyond CBSL access. What's exciting about this what's exciting about it is not only looking at each animated series as what's the different tone, but what's the different technology we can apply these things so that the visually they're entirely different, unquote. Now, does anyone else get Star Trek babies popping into their heads when you hear that? About why the aim at a younger audience? Kurtzman noted that quote, I go back to my childhood and Luke Skywalker, the Star Wars farm boy, who looks out at the twin sons of Tatooine and imagines his future. Trek never gave me that. Trek was always fully formed adults, already in Starfleet, and people who have decided who they are, and it never was aspirational that way. It's important for me to find a way to go back and reach younger audiences in a way that Trek should and never really has. I was watching Star Trek when I was a child. The next generation debuted when I was eleven, I believe. So I really don't think his comments land well with me. You know, besides what attracts kids to Star Wars is not Luke Skywalker, it's laser swords and dogfights in space, and the massive amount of merchandising that goes along with that. If Star Trek had those things, I'd bet Disney would have bought it too. Now they finished the interview with questions about bringing in James Kirk to the show, since they're bringing Spock in on this season. Kurtzman responded with quote, there's a ten year gap between where we are in Discovery and Kirk's arrival on the Enterprise. There would have to be a major time jump if we're going to do something like that. What Kirk was doing at this particular time is another question, but we don't have any immediate plans for the character. I've not spoken to Shatner about it. Unquote. Okay, why would he have to talk to Shatner about it? Shatner is not the end all be all of Kirk. He's not the the s the the holder of the lore of Kirk. You know, that's not his bailiwick. Besides, Shatner is the actor who played Kirk. So why he would have to talk to William Shatner about it? You know, what is he gonna do? Uh bring William Shatner in, de-age him you know, by a computer and and have him recreate Kirk? I think these comments are are kind of ridiculous. So what is the general takeaway here? Is it hope? Is it fear? As I read this interview, I felt that there were times that Kurtzman gets it and then he goes completely off the wall. Especially with like like that last, you know, I have to talk to Shatner about it comment. I'm also concerned about you know putting out product for the sake of just having product out there. You know, put out product, that's great. Make sure it's the best product you can put out. You know, I don't want product I don't want Star Trek, you know, new new Star Trek every month of the year. I d perfectly happy with having Star Trek, you know, five months a year if it's great if it's great product. Kind of like the the Orville. You know, there's not a lot you know, they don't put out a lot for the Orville. It's like, you know, they're going to towards 13 episode seasons on TV if you noticed. But it's great because it's it's focused. They're not having to, you know, just make episodes just to put episodes into the into the system. Anyway, on the subject of the Picard series, Alex Kurtzman told the Hollywood Reporter that since we've last seen Picard, quote, Picard's life was radically altered by the dissolution of the Romulan Empire, he told the Hollywood Reporter. If now unquote, if you recall, the Romulan Star Empire was destroyed by the destruction of Romulus in events heard of, but not seen in the 2009 Star Trek movie that brought us the Kelvin timeline. So it might be a good idea to read the countdown prequel that Kurtzman co-wrote that was the prequel to the movie. And by the way, if if this is true, if he's going off that, then that makes Captain Data captain of the USS Enterprise in canon. Because that's in the in the comic that he himself wrote. Anyway. As we approach season two of Discovery, the actors have been busy with the press offensive. Anthony Rapp in a new promo said quote, You know, we really we really became a family in season one. But we were doing all of our work in a kind of not a void exactly, but in our little bubble. Before the rest of the world got to really know what we were doing, so we had really forged that bond, and now that we get to share it, it's in a way it's kind of made it even stronger. Everything just feels more sort of more settled and grounded and confident, I guess. Unquote. Cindy Quimartin Green in a separate promo also spoke of the camaraderie with the cast and crew of Discovery. In a separate interview with IGN, she also talked about the Red Angel revelation, saying, quote, The Red Angel appears to Michael Burnham at a very, very critical moment. You can see from the trailer that we just released that it looks like a life or death moment. And I see this angel and I s and I say that it gives me comfort and lets me know that everything is going to be okay. And then what I find out later is that Spock has also seen this same red angel, but when he was a child. And so it's a huge mystery. And it's one of the big themes of season two, finding out what this angel is, where this angel came from, what it wants, what it needs, what it's doing, all those questions. Next, we go from the CBS side of Star Trek to the Paramount side of Star Trek, with some troubling news about the fourth installment of the JJ Verse. A new report from Deadline says that director S.J. Clarkson, who supposedly was helming the movie, has left to direct and executive produce the pilot for the Game of Thrones prequel at HBO. According to the site, the new Trek film has been shelved. This might be a good idea. While the re-emerging of Viacom in is in the potential offing, they might be they might have to just wait, build a good solid project, and maybe by that time they'll have CBS and Paramount Sides back under one roof again. Now, if you like to read Star Trek Comics, this story is for you. The digital comics subscription service, InkyPen, has just launched on the Nintendo Switch. The service lets you read IDW's Library of Comics, featuring dozens of back issues from the 11 years that IDW has held the publishing rights for the franchise. Also available on the service are comics from Valiant, Dark Horse, Titan, Paper Cuts, Humanoids, Dynamite, and Archie Comics as well. As cla and also classic comic strips including Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts, and Garfield. Subscriptions to the service cost $7.99 and it can be downloaded from the Net Nintendo eShop. And while we're on the subject of comics, the Enterprise just became a Transformer. Yeah. In Star Trek vs. Transformers, issue number three, okay. It's not the actual Enterprise. Kirk has been hooked up to Fortress Maximus, and Fortress Maximus took on the form of the Enterprise. The new Fortress Maximus then took the name Fortress Tiberius and da da da to be continued. The series from IDW uses the Star Trek animated style for the look of the Enterprise crew. I really haven't read it, but this news was kind of hard to miss. I'll have a link to this story in our show notes. The makers of the Star Trek Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind, is uh look and looking back at Star Trek Deep Space Nine have released a look at the HD upgrade of some of the footage from the show. Iris Stephen Bear released an update saying that while the documentary is behind schedule due to the footage upgrade, he did show some footage from the Deep Space Nine episode Bada Bing Bada Bang. You can see the footage in the update on YouTube, which we'll have a link to in our show notes. Star Trek Online is going back to the Mir Universe with the Mirror of Discovery update. That's part of the ninth anniversary of Star Trek Online. The update finds the player face to face with the heard of but not seen Captain Killy, the Mere Universe version of Sylvia Tilly. She'll be voiced again by Mary Wiseman. The game will also add two more Discovery themed episodes, anniversary challenges, and an update to the game's Endeavor system. You can play the game when it updates on january twenty third and earn a new T6 Vulcan Scoutship. Now let's go to Star Wars

Star Wars News

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news. So according to the Motley Fool, Disney is on track to have one of its best years yet. Disney has seven of the top ten most anticipated movies of the year according to Fandango, including Avengers and Game, Captain Marvel, and Star Wars Episode 9, which hold the top three spots. On top of that, Disney's streaming service, Disney Plus, launches this year. The Disney Fox deal should be final by the end of this month, and according to a report from NBC News, as well as the launch of the Disney theme parks Star Wars Galaxy's Edge theme expansion, which by the way, if you plan to go to the new expansion, be sure to bring your checkbooks. Prices at the theme parks are going way up, with the cheapest entry now just above a hundred dollars a person. The spin off series to Rogue One will begin filming this October, according to Production Weekly. The series will probably be released in 2020, and is described as quote, the rousing spy thriller will explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless empire. Also going into production in October is The Mandalorian. 2020 is going to be chock full of Star Trek and Star Wars TV. May the best enterpr may the best enterprise win. Speaking of the Mandalorian, John Favreau has confirmed that everyone's favorite giant coffee grinder slash bounty hunter, IG eighty eight, will be making an appearance in the series. Favreau recently showed a picture of the Tall droid in front of a green screen on his Twitter feed with the message Merry Christmas. Making Star Wars has confirmed this, saying that he has been seen on set. It's not known how IG eighty eight factors into the pilot, but uh we'll see next year. Moving from TV to the movie side of the Force, according to the UK's The Sun, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver will cameo as a stormtrooper in episode nine. He has recently been seen at Pinewood Studios training with other stormtroopers, apparently taking it very seriously. Perhaps he'll be serving healthy meals to the troopers in the cafeteria. Carrie Fisher's brother, Todd Fisher, told ABC News that there is lots of footage to use. Quote, there's a lot of minutes of footage. I don't just mean outtak. I don't mean just outtakes. This is unused, new content that could be woven into the storyline. That's what's going to be giving everyone a great kick. It's going to be like it was meant to be, like it was shot yesterday. We're not allowed to talk about the details of anything, but we're thrilled at what's been done. He also revealed that not only will Carrie's unused footage be used, but some other project will surface as well. We have a lot of her artifacts and a lot of things of hers that she's written that will someday be shared. There's a lot more to come from Carrie, Fisher admitted. Now, let's take a moment for a Radio Public ad. I'd like to thank you for listening to this edition of Multiverse Tonight. You know, one way you can support the show is to listen to it through the Radio Public App. Every episode of Multiverse Tonight as heard through the Radio Public app for iPhone or Android means that you can get this podcast. And we get a couple of sets in our can. Find the Radio Public App in Google and iTunes App Store and give it a try today.

DC News

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Let's start it out with the back end with some DC Comics news with a reminder of what is upcoming from DC DC movies. April 5th sees the release of the Big Red Cheeses movie Shazam with Joaquin Phoenix's turn and Joaquin Phoenix's turn as the Joker, which comes out October 4th, and in 2020 we'll see the Birds of Prey movie and Wonder Woman 1984. Speaking of Bert The Birds of Prey, according to HN Entertainment, Principal Photography will wrap up on the movie this April. The Kathy Yann directed film will see Harley Quinn team up with Black Canary, Huntress, Cassandra Kane, and Renee Montoya in what's being called an R-rated girl gang movie. It opens in theaters in February of twenty twenty. Happy birthday to me. Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is also being featured prominently in a special trailer for the Lego movie too. In the trailer, Emmett decides to rescue his friends and he meets resistance from several characters, including Harley, who remarks that the undertaking of such a task would be a suicide mission. But C's Aquaman is now DC Film's most successful movie at the International Box Office. The movie has earned over one billion dollars overseas, making it the most successful movie DC DC movie worldwide, beating out Batman vs. Superman, which brought in 873.6 million worldwide. Here in the United States, Aquaman has made over 287 million and was number one for three weeks running, only to be finally knocked off this past week by the upside. Pretty good for a movie that's full of C men. Diamond Comic Distributors have released their list of the biggest comics of 2018. The number one comic of the year belongs to DC. Action Comics

Marvel News

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number 1000 took the top spot, beating out Amazing Spider Man number 800. Now let's go to Marvel News. We start off Marvel News with Adrianne Pilicki. Right now, she's second command on the Orville, but she's game to return to her former role as Mockingbird on Marvel's Agents of Shield. In an interview with TV Line, she talked about her interest and the fact that Nick Blood got to return without her. Quote Listen, if they ask me to come back, I would absolutely come back. I was like, Nick Blood came back for a season five episode. What the hell, guys? Unquote. As to her current role on the Orville. She did note that both roles required her to keep a lot of secrets. Agents of Shield will return for season six in twenty nineteen. By the way, in the interview she talked about what the Agents of Shield spinoff Marvel's Most Wanted would have been. Quote Oh, I saw the pilot. It was actually really, really good. It was a lot darker, grittier. We were mercenaries, yeah. It's kind of an extension of what we were dealing with before, where we like ended up trying to get married again, and all hell breaks loose because people are after us. Ultimately it's us just kind of fighting for our lives. Too bad they c you know, they didn't go for it. Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse is doing great at the box office. The animation style is one of the most unique since Toy Story's use of computer animation. Sony's application, according to Deadline.com, claims that the innovation of the film goes beyond stylistic originality or envelope pushing success and qualifies as a distinctly new invention. The filing cites a half a dozen specific components of the process. So here's here's my question to you folks. What do you think? Do you think this is a new invention? Do you think Sony should be able to keep this all to themselves? You know? Give us an answer. And uh while we're speaking of inventiveness, the PG 13 version of Deadpool 2, once upon a Deadpool, is now out on Blu-ray and Digital. The movie, which brought in six million dollars to the regular R-rated Deadpool 2's 318 million, was a holiday hit with its wraparound story featuring Fred Savage. So it's time to open up your wallets and buy this movie again. And uh after you've watched Once Upon a Deadpool, you have just days until Marvel's The Punisher second season is released on Netflix. According to showrunner Steven Steve Lightfoot, he s says that season two will be about Frank really adopting the persona of the Punisher. The villain for season two will be a Christian fundamentalist called Pilgrim. According to The Observer, the budget for X-Men Dark Phoenix has skyrocketed to 200 million, that just twenty million more than the cost of the first Avengers movie. The amount may be due to excessive reshoots that also caused the film to be pushed back from release by four months. Reactions to the film have been muted, with most people looking forward to the X-Men universe being integrated into Disney Marvel's cinematic universe.

Geek News

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Now time for the geek news. The Orville improved on its audience from its Gotham lead-in, bringing in a.7 this past Thursday. 3.6 million viewers tuned in. Which matches the average for episodes from last season. Hopefully, this and the fact that they got a tax break for production of the third season will say that third season really improv really approved. Now Fox has confirmed the fact that actress Halston Sage has left the Orville as a series regular. Halston's character Lara left in the third episode that aired last week. Her character will be praised will be replaced by a new Xylian security officer in an upcoming episode. A Redditor called Bork 1138 showcased a picture of his parents who have been playing Mario Kart 64 together every day since 2001. Bork 1138 said that he said that both knew the game so well now that they had to make the rule that neither of them could use any shortcuts or cheats to win. Just an old fashioned race showdown. This picture is very cute. I'll have a link to it in our show notes. As I said, very cute. Now rumors are swirling about that Nintendo might be releasing an SNES emulator on their online service at some point in the future. Some data miners breaking the software on the Switch have claimed seeing emulator programs for SNES titles. Now so far, there is no visual proof of anything that but I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to release the SNES emulation for the Switch, since releasing the NES emulator on the Switch last year. So stay tuned. When we find out anything definite, we'll let you know. And from the thanks but no thanks, no one ain't no one asked for it file, comes news that a new reboot of Teenage Ninja Turtles could begin production this year. Paramount has hired uh has hired uh the writer the writer whose short career includes the screenplay for the upcoming Space Jam 2. Now the movie is also being produced by yeah I hate to say it Michael Bay, Andrew Forum, and Brad Fuller through their Platinum Dunes production company. I really don't hold out much hope here. Now one of last year's biggest disappointments was the passing of Stan Lee. Well, fans uh will finally have their time have a time to say goodbye in a tribute on january 30th at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. The event, which is being put on by Legion M and Agents of Mayhem, plus Lee's POW Entertainment, is called Excelsior, a Stan Lee celebration, and it will act as a benefit to the Hero Initiative, a nonprofit that helps aged comic creators in need, and will be hosted by friend of Stan's and Uber fan, Kevin Smith. There will be a public display in the courtyard and a private tribute inside the theater. The outdoor portion of the event will feature art, music, props, and costume from Lee's body of work, while the indoor portion will feature Smith hosting conversations with friends of Stan, including Mark Hamill, Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld, Batman executive producer Michael Uslan, Daredevil actor Vincent D'Nafrio, hip hop Argent Rzier, and X-Men and Transformers producer Tom DeSanto. There will also be music and poetry that was special to Lee, as well as the attendance of his daughter, JC Lee, Hero Initiative's Jim McLaughlin, who knew Lee for decades, said the evening will be in Lee's spirit, quote, Stan believed in the golden rule, and always went out of his way to make time for others and make their day just a little bit better. I think this tribute is absolutely in that spirit, and a great chance for fans to get together, share their love for Stan, and find strength in that. It's great to know that Stan will be remembered by those who knew him and loved him best. Well, we close out tonight saluting the life of William Morgan Shepherd. You might not know his name, but if you've watched Star Trek or Doctor Who, you'd know the face. Born in 1932, Mr. Shepherd graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1958, and then worked as a stage actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1962, he started acting in films mostly made for TV films, such as some of his most noble geek roles include Blank Reg in the Max Hedro movie pilot and Six Appearances on the Show, Vincent Talbot in Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Captain Archibald Whitwicky in the first Transformers movie, and the Klingon Prison Warden in Star Trek VI. He also had an uncredited role in the 2009 Star Trek movie as a Vulcan science minister. He started acting on Telvision in 1979 and had many roles, including as Data's grandfather, Ira Graves, in the Star Trek Next Generation episode, The Schizoid Man. He also had appearances on MacGyver, Quantum Leap, Sequest DSV, Babylon V, Gargoyles, Star Trek Voyager, and Charmed. The season six premiere of Doctor Who he played along with his son, who played the younger version of his character. His final TV role was an episode of The Librarians. His son, Mark Shepherd, made a statement on Instagram about his father's passing. Quote We went to spend some time with my father today. Though he couldn't speak, we held hands. He laughed and was so happy to see us. We left and came home, a good day. He was rushed to the hospital and passed at six thirty PM, my mother by his side. I am so grateful that he didn't have to suffer any longer. Thank you for all your kind thoughts, love and prayers. William Morgan Shepherd passed away surrounded by his family on january sixth. He was eighty six years old. And that brings us to the end of another big show. I hope this year will be really big for you. And uh now be sure to check us out on social media. We're at Twitter at multiverse tom, also on Facebook and Instagram as well. And uh if you're a subscriber, please be sure to share us 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 Lobo Loco for our theme music. Thanks for watching Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiverse tonight is a production of Half Big Genre Production Copyright 2019. Alright.