ThaOGDreamWeaver

I'm not sure on that one, as it's part of the storytelling. Other than the very Twilight Zone intro, I'm trying to think of bits where Uatu speaks directly to us at home. Now I'm wondering... ...given this was specifically written for the D+ platform, I wonder if they could do something a little Bandersnatch-esque with it. Rather than literally breaking off chunks of panel or taking shortcuts through pages of ads, could they mess with the streaming - have Shukie grab control of D+, rewind and try alternate plans, or look ahead at episode titles? I mean, if Doc Strange can get away with it...

The WandaVision 2000s-era episode, which is called... Breaking The Fourth Wall, and nicks heavily from Modern Family's confessional sequences. There's maybe a couple of DTC glances in previous episodes. Given it's WV, though, is she really talking to us, talking to herself, or... *chugs headache tablets* ...dammit, too much meta. Anyway, I think it's the first time it's been used in this narration style outside of the Spidey cartoons.

Waking this up for SDCC news: DD new series confirmed for D+ as Daredevil:Born Again... which, nerds, is the Frank Miller-era incarnation of DD. Ooh, dark. (Hopefully not literally as dark as the Netflix version, because I came away with eye-strain after each episode). If they do run with the main plotlines of the Miller-era version,it'll be much darker thematically than we've seen from other D+ Originals. Though I hope some of Karen's arc and some other ideas and detail does get airbrushed for 2022. Miller isn't the nicest bloke on the planet these days and that came out in his writing. This is a new show running with some of his writing: let the new folks write it. Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and Elden Henson all contracted to reprise. Full 18-episode series order. So they're going big on it. Release date is scheduled for D+ Spring season 2024. DD will also guest in other properties on the way there, notably...

New SDCC trailer just dropped:

Quick thing: if you're in the USA, call 1-877-743-4855 for a good time.

It had my interest... I'd been wondering why Paramount and E1 went so big with this at SDCC and the A-Listers signed for a D&D movie... until I spotted the writers on IMDB. It's John Daley & Jon Goldstein from Spiderman:Homecoming. ...now, as they say on the internet giffy things, you have my attention. It looks like mildly ridiculous fun (Ragnarok, Lego Movie) that plays with but loves its source material: while still fully inhabiting a fully-formed, high-production version of the Forgotten Realms world. (Which, TBF, is exactly the attitude I went into most D&D / MERP / TMNT sessions with, and how I play CoH.) Also, Pine seems to have the right attitude to the whole thing. (Hugh seems utterly baffled but sod it, he's working and having a bunch of fun.) Roll'em: Chris Pine: wisecracking Bard/Hannibal Smith type Michelle Rodriguez: also-wisecracking but mostly asskicking Barbarian Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu, Jurassic World) : deadpan, slightly Spock-like mage Sophia Lillis (Sharp Objects - please go see that if you've not already) : Yay Druids! *happy druid dance, no not skyclad* Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton, Gray Man): Paladin and general smouldering duties Hugh Grant: Rogue, probably treacherous or heart-of-gold and a bit doomed It's either going to be massive or a dud, but I'll be watching it anyway - assuming it's not a blasted Paramount+ exclusive. And if it goes big, it could do for D&D what the Lego movies did - and there'll be MORE NERDS EVERYWHERE. Oh, and if you've ever seen the first attempts at D&D movies (SNAAAAIIIIIIILLLLLSSS!), it looks like a massive improvement already.

Not liking that set up with the new blonde dude Biostem mentioned. Smacks of an old-timer who's tired, maybe a little underpowered, but has cunning and a bunch of friends... ...vs hungry newbie who reminds him way too much of the the arrogant little SOB he used to be (but stronger.) Seen that movie more than a few times. Hopefully they do something better with it.

When you've got too much time on your hands and spare alt slots

Billy Idol - Hot In The City

It's early days, sure... ...but the thing (and its' quite nifty web-based UI) appears to be running on a basic cloud server, and is opened up to public testing and API access. You put something like Pixar's RenderFarm on that job, you'd have a lot more keyframes and motion points to play with. But if we put it to pretty much the ultimate test... ...not bad. Not bad at all. It has a lot of issues with the jump cuts in the video (especially the flight sequence), but the longer static shots like below are pretty good. (Had to cut it down to 7 seconds and re-export at 480p for file size). WeaponOfChoice_480p.mov

I guess when you're a parent (or Auntie), the rest of the Universe, even the Gods, can go stuff themselves. Et en plus: <<Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer>>. - Voltaire ("If God did not exist - it would be necessary to invent one.") If Gorr recreated an Eden, odds are a God'd turn up to rule over it. Whether it was someone who proclaimed themselves a God, or an actual one who just liked the neighbourhood and moved in. On that point, though: in Thor 1 / Captain America / Avengers, Asgardians weren't gods (and the one who claimed to be turned out a bit... puny.) Just highly advanced, long-lived beings capable of wielding sufficiently advanced technology to be indistiguishable from magic, and a bit of actual magic on the side. Ego wasn't a God, he was a Living Planet/Celestial. Are Zeus & co actual God gods - and is Thor now too - or am I overthinking the whole thing? Because setting yourself up as a God when it's just tricks, magic, and superb abs is kind of proving Gorr's point.

Everyone needs to stay safe on holiday. Even Lusca. Let's be careful out there.

Martha And The Vandellas - Nowhere To Run To

Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me PS for UK / Euro folks: Tank fly boss walk jam nitty-gritty, better listen to advice from The Prof Chris Whitty. It is damn hot. It is daaaaaamn hot.

/em evillaugh

May they rest in light, as such heroes deserve. /em holdtorch

Gallifrey falls no more! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) I don't think that's a crossover the nerds are ready for yet, unless the Ahsoka logo is hinting at more timey-wimey malarkey than we thought. Then again, it also looks like The Map from Time Bandits. I don't recall this character from the show. The Comms Officer is played by fine journeywoman sci-fi actress Katy O'Brian (Z Nation, Black Lightning, Agents Of SHIELD and a few others). Not the biggest character by a mile, so getting a Filoni Hero Shot™ in the trailer is a big thing. Given that Liu Bordizzo is the canon Sabine, it's probably not her, but could be another undercover Mando or resistance fighter who's been quietly sabotaging Gideon the whole time. BTW, it's not often I do "realism" quibbles for a space wizard thread, but where the hell are the rest of Gideon's crew (complement ~200 + 200 troops for a Vigil-class) while all this is going on? Stuck in a lunch queue arguing if they need a tray?.

I do like the behind the scenes stuff on D+. In the very early days when content was a bit thinner on the ground found a couple of great bits. (I signed up specifically to get Onward when it came out, and then bastard Sky said nope... no metal fantasy journeys for you here, kids, not till we're done with it...) ..ahem. The Imagineering Story is about building the parks - and not saccharine. It's surprisingly frank about where the Mouse screwed up, especially their near-terminal 80s financial problems - and trying to understand non-American cultures (Japan, China... and The French.) Plus it's nice to see fellow nerds getting to build stuff and dealing with ludicrous practical challenges in a fantasy setting. The other one is Frank and Ollie - two of Disney's original Nine Old Men, inspirational animators, and grumpy old best mates who'd been taking the mickey out of each other since about 1936. (And yes, even they make it into a cape movie: they're the two old dudes on the bench in The Incredibles, "that's how you do it... old school." "Yup. No school like old school.") It's a lovely, funny, gentle watch with much animation nerdery going on.

...the huge zombie dinosaur shaped shadow, y'mean? But I'm not sure you can do any of them justice without a half-series or limited-series order per book, rather than a movie. There's a lot going on in something like Blood Rites - you've certainly got enough action and backstory for the first episode to kick off with, and a box-full of (large breed) puppies to boot. As for the Nic Cage produced series: I liked it in and of itself, like a series of shorts set in the Dresden world. The Walls episode in particular. (Hint: do not mess with magic you do not fully understand. Double that if it involves waving parts of dead people around.)

Well, here goes: All the Mandos in the battle scenes are helmeted. Bo appears without hers briefly when talking to Grogu. The VERY IMPORTANT HELMET is not Bo-Katan's, as she's shown wearing the owl helm later. It's much simpler, but elegantly painted: blue gradiented to cyan around the mouth area, with silver reinforcement along the cheeks. Reverse image searching doesn't give any specific matches, but did pull up a lot of references to Canderous Ordo. He'd be a bit old to be in this series, but an idea on that below. There are three Frik-type creatures working together on something. The unknown Imperial ship is big, very black and kinda chonky - thicker "sandwich" filling than usual between the diamond top and bottom structures. The final shot shows the Gauntlet (silver, not red) hovering over a planet. As the clouds part, a distinctive round cityscape in a desert becomes visible below. Chunks of ruined dome are visible on one side with smaller wall pieces around the rim: the remains of four graceful arcing structures can be seen, along with a small number of large buildings. Not quite like Boomtown, more ghost town. Three other notes: The Imperial comms officer who's been working alongside Doctor Pershing also gets a full-on hero shot, and is therefore Important. The Armourer now appears to be sporting a gold helmet. Not sure if they did before...? A number of the Mandos appear to have a blue-based helmet colour scheme in the early land battle scene. If I had to guess where all this was leading: Factional Mandalorian in-fighting - Bo & co vs the Armourer's more traditionalist factions, with Din caught in the middle. With their most precious artifact in hand. If someone's trying to reference one of the legends of Mandalore with their colours, there may be another faction as well. Eventually factions unite against some kind of Imperial and/or criminal threat... or don't and Mandalore falls again. The Comms Officer may well be a spy - possibly another member of the Wren clan.

Aaand now I'm sniffling. Good on ya, Lumi, from me, H and our two adopted middle-aged morons Molly and Sparks.

FYI: Bothan spies have leaked a chunk of Mando S3 trailer online, which can be found readily on the Twitters. I'll update here when there's an official drop, because we don't need any Imperial entanglements - plus there's a chunk of it missing at the start, and they might change something before release. Stuff we can see: There are many, many Mandos in this one. Clearly, not that many got wiped out last time. There's a closeup/framing shot of a delicately curved blue/silver helmet (ie: BEHOLD THIS HELMET: IT IS DRAMATICALLY FRAMED AND LIT AND THEREFORE DRAMATICALLY IMPORTANT) which may or may not be significant to Clone Wars or Rebels fans - I'm not that deep a nerd to know immediately. Buncha buncha Babu Friks. Big, black, extra-meanie-looking Imperial ship in a dockyard (Thrawn?) Space battle set around an asteroid base. Video is too blurry to see opponent ships but they don't look like TIEs - might be A-Wings. Bo-Katan is back and playing mommy to Grogu... ...whereas Dad makes sure he holds him tightly down while doing a barrel roll - so that's a Star Wars/Starfox crossover confirmed then? Also, Grogu's on his lap because there's a droid in the mech port of the Wizard Fighter - guess he's getting over that particular hangup. Final shot looks maybe like the ruins of Sundari. The nerds in the room seemed to know it pretty well. Added intel from Reddit: the final shot might also feature a Mandalorian Gauntlet-class fighter/transport, which is used by quite a few bad guys as well as Bo-Katan. Let the wild, unfounded speculation begin... again?

Rezzing this thread briefly: I have to admit, I did not see this coming. But Nic gonna Nic... ...hopefully Eoin has learned enough from the disastrous Artemis Fowl that this gets a better ride. I really, really hope so, because there is not one word of this pitch that's not relevant to my interests.

The Brat - Chalk Dust (The Umpire Strikes Back)🎾