June 30, 2020

Try, Try Again, and Again and Again

Try, Try Again, and Again and Again

On the sci-fi edition, Thomas looks at Ewan McGregor's anticipation in returning to his Jedi role, Production on Discovery is doing the home game and we remember the Hobbit's hobbit, Ian Holm.    All that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

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Transcript

Tonight! Ewan Mcgregor is looking forward to Obi-Wan, Discovery season three is working from home and we remember a legendary hobbit, all that and more on the Scifi edition of Multiverse Tonight. 


Welcome to Episode 82 of Multiverse Tonight. And a Happy Birthday to the master of cinematic parody, Mel Brooks, who turned 94 years old this past Sunday. There are very few movies of his that I don’t love. Anyway, To start off the episode, if you’ll remember episode 80 of the show, I had a conversation with Jason and Tim from SciFi4Me’s H2O Podcast about Scifi4me’s Indiegogo campaign...well I’m sad to say that Jason decided to call it off after he wasn’t going to get close to the goal. I wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. By the way, if you want to give me a hand, just go to our website and hit the support me link at the top of the page.



Star Wars

Solo is finally coming home. Solo A Star Wars Story was one of the last Star Wars films that were stuck at Netflix, but with the partnership between Disney and Netflix ending, Solo will now be premiering on Disney Plus beginning on July tenth.


This next story goes out to my listeners in the United Kingdom. Variety reports that Disney will be bringing the 4k ultra HD edition of Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back to theaters in the UK. Theater chain Vue will be the exhibitor of the upgraded movie and will be offered for viewing for their July 4th reopening. Theaters in the UK have been closed since March sixteenth due to the coronavirus pandemic, much like theaters here in America.


Star Wars the rise of Skywalker music composer Michael Giacchino had a secret role in the movie as one of the Sith Troopers. Michael Giacchino posted a picture of himself and JJ Abrams as he was dressed in a Sith Trooper outfit. Giacchino has a lot of work on his place as he will be scoring Jurassic World: Dominion as well as The Batman


Ewan McGregor is really looking forward to the OBi-Wan series that will be coming to Disney Plus, the actor told Ace Universe Presents quote “I think I am going to enjoy it much more," "[The prequels] were all blue screen and green screen and it was hard to imagine, but nowadays I think things have moved on so much, and I think a lot of what you see is gonna be what we see on the set. I don’t know if you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes of The Mandalorian series, but they employ that incredible screen. It’s pretty amazing. It makes you feel like you’re in the place, it’s going to feel realer for us as actors. And I think we’ll be using some of that technology on our show.” unquote The Mandalorian has been praised for its use of an immersive series of LED screens that have been used to create an almost holodeck like experience. However, when the Obi-Wan series will go into production is still up in the air.



The first chapter of Star Wars The High Republic Light of The Jedi has been released online. The new Star Wars franchise set 200 years before Episode one has revealed was suppose to launch this Summer, but was delayed until January of 2021. However, IGN has gotten its hands on the first chapter from the novel by Charles Soule. Chares Soule described it as a quote “This excerpt is our first look at the moment that changes The High Republic forever. The destruction of the Legacy Run is the catalyst for a galaxy-wide disaster. Fragments of the destroyed cargo vessel begin flying out of hyperspace at super-accelerated speeds, meaning that deadly missiles of debris can appear anywhere at any time, from the Outer Rim to the Core. In this moment of crisis, the Republic turns to the guardians of peace and justice—the Jedi. The opening beats of Light of the Jedi depict an epic disaster, and a heroic, thrilling response by both the Republic and the Jedi to save lives and end the crisis. It's just the beginning, though. The Legacy Run disaster kicks off a much larger story; it really is just one piece of a much bigger saga." unquote  You can go to IGN to read the excerpt and you can read the book this January.


Star Trek

Star Trek Picard director Hanelle Culpepper sat down with Variety and talked about how she laid the foundation for Star Trek Picard in the first three episodes. When asked about her visual approach she answered quote I wanted it to feel inspired by where Picard was on his emotional journey. He was living in a vineyard; he felt trapped. So I wanted to have a little bit more of a static frame, and then go handheld once his world is rocked [in the pilot]. We switch to handheld cameras pretty much as much as possible after that. It’s “Star Trek,” we have to get those big, cinematic shots with drones and cranes and stuff, but we always wanted to not forget that it’s really a character-driven series with Picard at the heart. Unquote  She was also asked about the balance of the cinematic approach with the character-driven nature of the show. She said quote We went for a warmer color palette and a more contrasty look. I used anamorphic lenses. We embraced flares. We embraced shadows. The main thing [executive producer] Alex Kurtzman wanted was to always see both eyes, so the DP and I worked to make sure that when we came into close-ups, you could see both eyes and all the emotional expressions that the actors were giving. Unquote 


Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman talked to Indiewire about what he plans for season two telling them that we will see more Starfleet quote “We knew that bringing in that fleet was a little bit of a promise, and so we tried to be thoughtful about it,” Goldsman said. “Especially as we go forward, we’re going to start making statements about really what the world of Starfleet, at least technologically if not socially and culturally … These are the things that are likely to get a little bit more play than they did [in Season 1] in what was essentially a story about somebody who is outside of Starfleet.” unquote He also hinted at the possibility of more Brent Spiner in the future saying quote “I think you always want another Soong,” Goldsman said. “I think that we wanted to feather in the possibility of more Brent, and we knew we were letting Data go. We all knew that this Soong character had been in our head canon when it came to the season anyway. But we want more Brent, and we wanted to create a platform for which there could be more Brent in future seasons.” unquote It would be interesting to see Starfleet perhaps using Picard and the crew of the La Sirena has troubleshooting ambassadors. And maybe they need Dr. Soongs help now and then.


By the way, there is a great interview in the Los Angeles Times with Michael Chabon and Patrick Stewart over how  Patrick was brought back to Star Trek by Chabon’s writing. To put it shortly, he wrote an idea that Picard was a road manager for a traveling theater performing a Samuel Beckett play. It’s a great interview and I’ll have the link in the show notes. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-06-09/star-trek-picard-patrick-stewart-michael-chabon



Good News, COVID won’t stop Discovery season three. Production wrapped up back in February before the big shutdown and post-production was able to be moved to remote working.  According to editor Scott Gamzon, they are working as best and as fast as they can but are slowed by working from home. Even producing the score has been a challenge as composer Jeff Ruse has had to have each musician record their parts from home and then he has had to piece it all together. However, with restrictions in Canada and California working hopefully they can get closer to normal operations, and get the season ready for eventual air. 


Another show on the horizon, Star Trek Lower Decks now has a tv home in Canada. It will air on CTV SciFi and stream on Crave. Good News and I’m sure everyone will want to see the new animated series as it might have guest appearances by Next Generation characters. Showrunner Mick Mcmahan hinted to Entertainment Weekly quote “There are a lot of recognizable characters in the galaxy at that point," he says. "Next Gen is my favorite era. And as a huge Trek fan, I would definitely want to try to use some of them so that I could not only build out the world but also work with some of my heroes. But I can't get more specific than that. You'll have to wait and see." The show will air later this year.


Creation has started selling tickets for the rescheduled Star Trek Las Vegas Convention. The con was moved from August to December and from its long time home at the Rio to the brand new Caesars Forum Conference Center which is connected to Harrah’s hotel and casino. As of right now 67 Star Trek celebrities have been confirmed. However, might I suggest you get the travel insurance as this could always be canceled anyway.


On the heels of the Picard Facepalm bust comes the Commander Riker Facepalm mini bust. Originally planned as a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, The bust is available in a limited 1701 pieces and can be ordered from icon heroes.com for 90.00 dollars. I’ll have a link to it in the show notes. https://www.iconheroes.com/products/star-trek-the-next-generation-commander-riker-facepalm-mini-bust-paperweight-sdcc-exclusive




Geek

Rick and Morty Creator Dan Harmon is a busy busy man. Dan has a new deal now with Fox to develop a brand new animated series that will premiere in spring 2022. The new show has no name yet and will be a broadcast only exclusive. Harmon will create and develop with fox entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment animating it. Rick and Morty just finished it’s fourth season and there are plenty of new seasons planned.


The Critics Choice Awards have been postponed and will now take place on March 7th. It will take place at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica California and Taye Diggs will host the ceremony airing on The CW. This follows the news that the Oscars are pushing back to April 25th and are changing the rules to fit the pandemic. The Emmys in other news, have decided to make some changes to the nominations. To start every category will have at least four nominations, if there are 20 to 80 submissions, there will be five nominees, this will continue to rise until 240 shows have been submitted in which case there will be a cut off at 8 nominations.

 The Emmys are still scheduled for Sunday September 20th.

Hulu seems to be very happy with its new animated shows Solar Opposites and Crossing Swords has given both shows were given another season order, Solar Opposites already had a season two order, so this will give it 3 seasons Solar Opposites come from Rick and Morty's Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan and Crossing Swords comes from producers John Harvantine IV and Tom Root, best known for Robot Chicken.


An Animorphs movie is now in development. The 1990’s teen book series by KA Applegate is coming courtesy of Scholastic Entertainment and Picturestart Animorps followed five teens who can morph into any animal they touch. They use their powers to fight a secret alien invasion. The book series had 54 books and a Canadian tv series in the late ’90s. 



Are you funky looking,  an actor, and live in New Zeland? Amazon’s Lord of the Ring series wants you.  New Zeland talent agency BGT Actors Models and Talent has a casting call posted on their Facebook page for New Zeland residents with an overbite, face burns, long skinny limbs, deep cheekbones, line you the face, acne scars, ears that stick out, bulbous or interesting noses, small eyes, big eyes, skinny faces or missing bones preferable and is open to anyone between the age of 18 to 65

 

Movie Producer Stuart Cornfeld has passed away from cancer at the age of 67. He produced Zoolander, Zoolander 2, MegaMind, Tropic Thunder, Blades of Glory, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, Dodgeball, Starsky and Hutch, The Fly and The Fly II and co-produced National Lampoon’s European Vacation. 


A legendary actor has passed away. Ian Holm passed away on June nineteenth. Ian was born on September 12th, 1931. When he grew up he went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic art, he was interrupted soon after by the British Army, he served in Austria and attained the rank of Lance Corporal. He would go back to the Academy where he graduated in 1953. He became an established star of the Royal Shakespeare Company before finally breaking into tv and movie acting. In 1965, he played Richard the Third in the BBC miniseries The Wars of the Roses. He had many roles over the years, but geek fans will remember him in 1979’s Alien as Science Officer Ash, the villain who had secret orders to bring the alien back. He also was in Chariots of Fire, Time Bandits, Greystoke; The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Brazil, 1997’s The Fifth Element as Father Vito Cornelius, The Day After Tomorrow and many more. But he will forever be remembered for his role in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy as Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit who causes his nephew to return the ring to the fires of Mount Doom. Ian would reprise the role for The first and last Hobbit films, helping to bookend the story.


He’s had many honors in his life. In 1989he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 1998 he was honored with the title of Knight Bachelor. He has also won the Tony Award, BafTA, Annie, and was nominated for Emmy and Oscar awards.


Mr. Holm was married four times and had five children. He was treated for prostate cancer in 2001 and was also diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He died in London on June nineteenth from complications from Parkinsons, Ian Holm was 88 years old.


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Thanks for watching the SciFi edition of Multiverse Tonight,  we will be back in two weeks with the comic book edition. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good Night!  Multiverse Tonight is a production of Half-Baked Genre Productions. Copyright 2020  All Rights Reserved.