House of R - 2023 Spring and Summer Hype Meter: ‘Spider-Verse,’ ‘Ahsoka,’ ‘Indiana Jones,’ and More!

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

The hype must go on! Jo and Mal are here to ensure you are excited about all the latest releases this spring and summer with their 2023 Spring and Summer Hype Meter (16:36). They bring you the latest and greatest they are looking forward to, along with a few surprises. Which movies will make their top three (58:42)? Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The great Nick Fury. And welcome into the Ringerverse here on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only back into the hypeverse, but also to join us on the Ringers Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. joining me today telling me I'm in no shape for this fight that lies before us old friend it's my house of our co-host Joanna Robinson my um on a recent podcast we asked our listeners to come up with like a group name for like what our listeners should be we got a lot of really interesting feedback but my current favorite my current favorite is the Horde.

Horde spelled H-O-R-D, like House of R hoard. I don't know. I just like that because we're, I don't know, we're kind of soft and sweet over here at House of Art. I love the idea of this sort of like rabbit horde of being our listeners. So I don't know. Hobbit and drag is at gmail.com just to preempt Mallory's a whole outline here. Just telling you, send us more group names.

House of Horde. It has strong murals of Horde. It has strong merch potential, and that's crucial. Yeah. The hoard. The hoard. I remember the hoard. Yeah.

Joe, we're here to talk about nicknames. We're here to talk about merch. We're here to talk about hype. Very few of us know about the hype wars fought in the shadows that have raged on this planet. But before you tell me whether you feel responsible for this episode, an announcement and then some programming reminders. The announcement you might have seen on social, folks,

but we have a new member of the Ringerverse family joining us, Jessica Clemens, join the squad. If you follow Jess's work over at New Rock Stars, you know what a brilliant, passionate, expert and enthusiast she is, and we are just so, so, so overjoyed to welcome her into our nerdy little family here. You will be hearing more from Jess soon. Stay tuned. Stay tuned.

We're hyped. Yes. Talk about a hype meter, Joe. I know it's number one. Number one A on my list. Yeah. Programming reminders before we start today's pod as well. Sure.

Next week, Joanna Robinson, first of her name. And Mallory Rubin, that's me. The two of us here making this podcast today and Steve, the three of us here making this podcast today. We're all going to be in Stockholm. We're going to be in Sweden. We're going to be at Spotify HQ. Guess what?

We're still going to have a pod for you because it is time for the eagerly anticipated long, awaited second installment of the Doctor Who rewatch Joe. Can you refresh everybody a week out on what they should watch before part two of the Who Watch? Yeah, we've had some confusion around this, and I would love to clarify it for you as best as I can. To say, if you go by New Who, which is where we started, right? Christopher Eccleston would be season one. Then we're going to watch season two and season three. So that is David Tennant and 10 and Rose and then 10 and Martha.

So season two, season three. Those are the doctor companion mashups there. We on the agenda also are, is the Christmas special that comes between season one and season two and the Christmas special runway bride that comes between season two and season three. If you watch a Christmas special that comes after season three, that's okay, but we're not going to be talking about it. So, you know, that is what is on the menu. seasons of Doctor Who. Mallory spent her weekend with Ten and Rose. Little smidgey preview for people. How are you feeling? Oh, I'm delighted. I'm having the time of my life. I love 10. I love 10 and Rose together. I finish season two. I can't wait to watch season three. I'm just,

I'm having a blast. Having an absolute blast. Can't wait to talk about it with you. So one last time to clarify. Yes. We are going from an episode titled The Christmas Invasion, which is Christmas special. Season 2, episode 1, New Earth. Okay? I'm not going to name all these episodes. I'm just saying. That's where we're starting, right?

Chris Invasion, Season 2, episode 1, New Earth. We are finishing with the last of the time lords. Season 3, episode 13, the last of the time lord. So that is your watching assignment. Can't wait to talk about it all with you. And you guys have sent us a ton of emails already about Dr. Who after the last installment. Steve. Wow.

An intro cough. Steve doesn't have much to do on the soundboard today, so he's like ready for whatever he has to do. Hobbes and Dragons at Gmail.com, if you have more thoughts, Dr. Who thoughts, for sure. Absolutely. There's other stuff cooking on the feet as well, as always. The Midnight Boys.

Beo, boo! We'll of course be with you next Wednesday. Also, by the way, if you are playing, the legend of Zelda, the tears of the kingdom. By the time you listen to this hype meter pod, there will already be an instant reaction pod from Ben Lindbergh, Justin Charity,

and Matt James waiting for you. Dive into that. I hear this is a great game that people love. Can't wait to listen to the pod. Rapturous. Lemberg told me the reviews were, quote, rapturous. Thrilling stuff. Again, talk about hype.

Joe, how can the people follow all of that? It's so honored that you asked me. Let me tell you. I've already dropped the email address a couple of times, so we'll just let that lie. And just say, hey, we're on all the socials. That's where you can find us. You can find all the members of the team

and at Ringervorverse on all socials. But like, that's one thing you could do. It's a great thing to do. But also, why don't you just follow the feed? Follow the podcast. Subscribe to the podcast. Great idea on Spotify or any other platform. Also, why not,

Molly Raddit, subscribe to PrestiGTV, which is where Mallory and Air are talking about yellow jackets every week. So, yeah, just something, just an idea I had. Wonderful. Wait, I had another idea. I had another idea. When is it? I'm just, I'm just crashing this on you. What if, so we're, we're hype metering today. And you're going to, you're about to very calmly and beautifully explain all the rules of the hype meter, right? Yeah. But at the end of the height meter countdown, yeah, you and I are going to have a number one. That's right. Do we want to play like the honeymoon, what is it called?

Nealewid game, that's what's called. The Niliwood game and like try to guess each other's number one on the hype list. Yeah, sure. I feel certain you know mine. I know you're so like maybe one and two. Let's do one and two. Just add a little uncertainty. I have absolutely no doubt that you know mine.

I know. But like I'm writing it down on a Post-it. I'm writing your number one. And then I have a pen and paper. Let's see. What I think your number two is. Open this. I do.

I'm nowhere near my microphone anymore. Okay. I have a pen and paper. Great stuff. Amazing. So I'm predicting your number one and your number two. Yeah. Let's see.

Mallory Rubin loves to have things sprung upon her with no prep time. She loves it. You're welcome. I think I feel pretty confident in your number one. Your number two, this time. Hmm. All right, I'm going with my best guess. I'm prepared to be surprised this time, though.

whereas I am just as predictable as ever on this one. And there's absolutely no way that you don't know my top two. I mean, I know your number one. Okay. I feel very confident about your number one. I think you know my top two. You definitely know my top one. Yeah.

Okay. Case everybody is unaware. Just say one more time that it's height meter time. You probably figured that out. It's a seasonal tradition. We love doing the height meters here at the house of our. It's a great way to preview what's to come. So you might be wondering what time frame does this cover or what's eligible.

Let's go through those rules quickly that Joe just teased. Time frame. This is the spring slash summer height meter. Spring is already underway. So really, it's the rest of spring and summer 2023 height meter. But that's not super zippy and elegant for a title. So we're calling it the spring and summer height meter. Anything from today, Friday, May 19th.

Now, just to be clear, we are recording this at the top of the week. And so if at any point, I forget that this is airing on Friday, May 19th, and it seems like we're time traveling. That's why. Anything from May 19th through September 22nd, 2003, the last day before fall, is eligible. Now, Joe, if something has a 2003 release date and can be reasonably expected, even if it's not definitively announced, for spring or summer, it's in play.

But if every indication points to fall or winter or just that nebulous late 2003 framing, it is not eligible for a spot on today's list. This is the Sandman. This is not an exact science. Malory Rubin once put Sandman on her fall 2021. Just like a full year early. High list.

Yeah. They did say coming soon. They got you with the coming soon. I'm very wary of a coming soon ever since. I stand by the choice of the time. Oh, I love calling the standman roll. That's great. Countdown.

As always, we are counting down from 10 to 1, one being the most anticipated release of this window. And it's a shared discussion, which means that if a given property is on both of our list, we will be discussing it together at the higher of the two spots. So, for example, if Joe has, as Transformers at one. And I have it at 10.

We will be talking about it at one where Joanna has it. As our most anticipated release of the coming stretch. I'm a transformer head. You love to talk about the rise of the beasts. Yeah. And I don't know where you have transformers, if you have transformers. Because, as always, another hype meter tradition, secret list, Joe,

we will be finding out in real time what we're excited about where we've ranked things. Friendly neighborhood, spoiler warning, it's a tough one. You know, anything that's coming out, we're going to talk about now, no leaks, nothing that is not out there in official marketing or promo material, but anything in a given franchise that's come before an pending release, we might talk about. And we are going to talk about what we have glimpsed in trailers, castless, etc.

Anything else on the rules front, Joe? Have a great time. time. Have fun. That's what this is about. Have fun. Don't worry. Don't worry if you're wrong. This is not about, we're not putting any money on the line that this is going to be great. We're just talking about being excited. Because definitely if you go back and listen to some of our old hype

meters, there's some doosies on there. And that's okay. Because being excited is half the battle. So there you go. Exactly. I'm just looking back at the fall. 2022 hype meter. Here was my top 10. 10. Willow. Nine.

We'rewolf by night, which I called it at the time the unnamed Halloween special, right? And the Guardian's holiday special. Black Adam checking in at eight. So that's tough. That's one I would take back to Joe's point. You live in the moment of anticipation. That's all we have, you know? Shazam.

Star Wars, the Bad Batch, She Hulk attorney at law, and or Black Panther, Wakanda, forever, Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power of Yard of Love. And House of the Dragon. And Hot D. Yeah. When I wept into the mic and told you that I couldn't believe I got to talk about Game of Thrones with you. I can't wait to weave in the mic and tell you I can't wait to talk about Transformers with you. You know, Steve, if you want to get on mic at any point and provide your actual number one, which is Transformers, you are free to.

We love you and we support your enthusiasm. Yeah, if you cry about Transformers, I will still be your friend. But here's my question. if you were to put, what would you put on the top now? Of actual quality or if I traveled back through time and said, what was I most excited to cover? Of quality. If you had been like,

ooh, I wish that my number one align with what I actually loved the most. I mean, it would be tough not to have Andor at the top, I think, if you had a full reset on that. Though I, honestly, all of the variables around Hot D and Lord of the Rings

still put them at the top of the list for me, I think. It was just such a special thing to, to get to cover those with you and be back in those worlds. So, but I think undeniably that would be the top three without question. With apologies to Willow. I, oh, boy. Ooh, ooh, I got a real, okay. You're looking back at your hype, uh, yeah, I found it for the fall,

or you're looking at your hype draft for the top of this year. That was also a doozy. That was a doozy. You picked Quantum Mania, Joe. Woo, tough look for me. But I also have a really good one sitting on there. So we'll see. That's true.

Yeah. Number 10, Shazam, Fury of the Gods and Black Adam tied. I would just leave those off. Number nine, oh, ducks two years in the oil sand, a Cape Eden book that I really liked. So happy 1899. Number eight, I liked 1899, but I got canceled abruptly, and it's just like we have a lot of questions. We feel like we're sort of like left in the lurch there. Number seven, Shee Hulk, keep it.

Number six, Willow toss it. Number five, and or bump it up higher. Number four, 3,000 years of longing, a movie that I really wanted to be way better than it was. But Sean and I had a great conversation about it on the big pick. Number three, Wakanda Forever. Number two, House of the Dragon. Number one, rings of power. And I agree with you that, like, the experience of talking about House of the Dragon.

And actually, even more that, rings of power. Like, like, my case about Rings of Power with you was so special to me. Yeah. Yeah. It was wonderful. Hearing you say 1899, did I in real time after you had that on your list, add it to mine and take it? something off. I think I did. Yeah, I think you did. Yeah. I really liked that show. I can't believe it got canceled. What a bummer. Dark-Eye! Assemble! Pite meters. Always a journey.

Okay. Joe, we're going to get to our 10-to-one countdown shortly. Yeah. Before we do, independent of the top 10, independent of the countdown, let's talk for just a minute here about a very high profile imminent release that there's a lot of buzz about the movie itself. We were talking about the Flash. But given the Ezra Miller of it all, given the very fraught nature of everything happening around the movie, it just doesn't quite feel appropriate to put it inside of a hype list countdown and talk about it that way. So let's just do it.

Let's just do it separately here for a minute before we do our countdown. Flash thoughts and feelings. What's on your mind? So on the one hand, like, I cannot believe that this is actually going to be in theaters in June. Because I think, as I've mentioned before, like, I've been writing Flash movie news, like, since I was at Pajibah.com, which was, like, nearly a decade ago. Like, it's been a long time that I've been writing about Flash film updates and all the iterations. So this is like, and actually I have a couple projects on my list that have been in development hell even longer. So it's kind of interesting.

But like when you finally see a film that's been in development hell, there's even just that has a lot of fraughtness around it because you're like, happy when waiting this long and they've had time to perfect it or I've been waiting this long and maybe they should have just never done in the first place. By all accounts, this is a leaving as or out of it, which you cannot, but let's just do it for a second. By all accounts, this is a tremendous movie. It's the reason Warner Brothers hasn't shelved it, you know, like if it weren't. They don't want the Ezra Miller headache. So, you know, it's because it's so good that they're putting it out there. Does that mean they should? That's not for me to decide.

But I will say that, like, I am, I will say this. I am a mixture, a cocktail of hyped and bummed, like, hyped that I get to see Michael Keaton is Batman again. Yeah. He is my favorite Batman. And bummed that that comes in this package. Right. How about you? How are you feeling? Yeah, I feel similarly. It's just a very strange thing.

It's a difficult one to talk about. It's like there's obviously like a lot of in the nerd verse and in fandom in general, a lot of like love for and passion for flashpoint as a comic arc, a storyline, seeing that come to the big screen is something that people have been looking forward to for a really long time. Keaton back as Batman, Batflak, Supergirl on the big screen. the idea of the reset of the DC universe, all of the talk about how good the movie is.

That's all there. And then all of the other stuff is also there. And it just feels very difficult to separate them. And again, that's why I just didn't feel like totally appropriate to say, checking in at number, whatever. So, you know, it'll be an interesting movie to discuss. And we will be doing that here on the Ringervverse this summer. More then.

But I would encourage, I can't remember, maybe Steve, maybe you can remember which episode of the Midnight Boys it was. But Van had some really good salient points that he made about Ezra Miller over the Midnight Boys that I would recommend people listen to. Steve, do you remember which episode that was? It was the April 26th Midnight Court episode. There was a flash discussion at the end of that episode. Yeah. So, I mean, I thought that was a phenomenal discussion all around. And I really recommend people listen to that.

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Say it with me, the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo, be a 2%ter. Learn more at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash terms apply. Okay. Joanna Robinson, it is time to dive into our rest of spring slash summer, 2003, rolls right off the tongue. Hype meter, top 10, countdown. Let's start with your number 10. What do you got?

You know how people say, you know, how like in fashion you're supposed to have like a season? Like, I'm an autumn. I'm a winter. Do you think people say, I'm a rest of spring summer? Yeah, I'm a rest of spring slash summer. Top 10 countdown. Yeah, I'm a rest of spring slash summer. of the two spots.

All right. I am here. You know what people say, Joe, about a genre tale and by people, I mean, us often on this podcast. It's like,

the rules of the universe can be as complex or unique as the creator wants them to be. They just have to be consistent inside of that universe. So that people understand how they function. They are for the most part,

except for when we decide to do these, which is just sporadically. Okay. Speaking of Chichich changes, I am here at number 10 with a split season that is coming out in June and July on Netflix. It is Henry Cavill's final season of The Witcher. Do you have this on your list? I do not. All right.

Go for it. All right. As you might have noted, if you spend any time on Twitter.com or elsewhere, Henry Cavill will be leaving The Witcher. to be replaced by a Hemsworth and probably not the one you want. My favorite Hemsworth. Is Liam your favorite? Are you a big Gale guy?

I was actually more of a Pita. Yeah. A pita gal than a guy. That's a right answer. I don't trust Gale guys. Liam's number three. Extremely handsome. My Westworld

On this means Luke is number two. It's Chris Luke, Liam. All right. So anyway, one of the Hemsworth. It's replacing, and it is, I mean, just by all accounts are real, sorry, with love and respect, downgrade. We haven't even seen him do it yet, though, so maybe he's great. But Henry Cowell was sort of like the draw of the Witcher, sort of like the reason a lot of us were here in the first place. Netflix is, speaking of draws, drawing it out similar to what they did with last season of Stranger Things or Ozark.

they are debuting part of the season in June and part of the season in July. You know what they should do, Mallory, that they haven't thought about? What if they release one episode a week? Yeah. And let people digest them and talk about them. What an innovative thing to do. Certainly help us in our coverage. But their show is Occupy Space in the Public Consciousness for more than three and a half days?

It would be a real wild move. Anyway, eight episodes remain, season three of The Witcher, a show that is, you know, Not something I could probably talk about for three and a half hours with Mallory, but something I enjoy watching. And I'll be sad to see Henry Cavill's wig go. Right. You love Whigwatch. I've never seen a second of The Witcher. Yeah.

I regret to inform you. I'm going to send you a sword fight later, and that's, like, really all I need you to watch is just this, like, one sword fight. And maybe the hot tub scene. That's it. Oh, now you've piqued my interest. Yeah. Got you. Got you.

Sword fights and hot dubs. I'm in. Oh, my. Okay. my number 10 I'm prepared for a couple outcomes here either for you to tell me you have it on your list

at a higher spot or for you to challenge me on its eligibility. I could see it going either way but I decided to get my is this eligible out of the way right at the top of my list

though I feel confident it is eligible am I prepared to tell you why. It is. Fast 10 have you out of it last? I think the only reason I didn't put Fast 10 on the list is that it like comes out this week.

Yeah, today. The day that people are hearing us. The day that people are listening to this, it's really the only reason it's on my list. Yes, this is a superhero. And I have a similar smuggle on my list. So we'll just allow each other to do this. Amazing. Yeah.

I mean, we've covered the Fast Saga in the Ringervor's orbit before. Mm-hmm. If Dom and Co are not superheroes with their super speed and their super strength and most crucially evolve, their super healing factor, then I don't, I don't know who is actually a superhero. Death doesn't exist in this universe. Joanna, these guys went to space. No joke over the weekend I was at a party and, I mean, shocker, right? But like, I lured someone to talking to me by being like shouting across a room, hey, how do you think Galga comes back from the dead in like this? I don't know the answer.

That's not a spoiler. We just know that she's in the movie and we know her character died. So I have no, you know, of characters returning from the grave? How Michelle Rodriguez came back? Is it going to be like how Han Solo came back? Like, what are we going to do here? And it was a lively discussion. Great time.

Did you guys get into Aquaman versus Groot with some peacemaker and Captain Marvel thrown in? This is iconic ring of verse stuff, really. And Joe, the most magical thing of all. The magic of family. Oh, I love you guys. beautiful. That's my number 10. Fast 10 at 10. All right. What do you have at 9? It's my first Disney entry. Entry won't be my last based on a ride at Disneyland. It is the Haunted Mansion. Do you have this on your list? No. We have different. I'm excited. Some variance here. Great stuff. This is usually what happens. 10 through 6. There's a little bit. Yeah. Okay. I try to get a little funky at the bottom here. Okay. I like to play

What if at the bottom, right? Because, like, what if this is really good? So first, like, I put Haunted Mansion on my, like, long, long list as I was putting this together. And I was, like, probably won't be good. I don't really care for the Eddie Murphy movie. I'm not a Disneyland obsessive. Like, some people, I don't know all the lore of the ride. Like, some people, like, I enjoyed the Muppet special.

Arjuna is not here to defend himself as a daily attendee. No, there's not wrong with that. I'm just not, that's not me. That's beautiful. I liked the Muppet special that they did. I think it was last year. That was fun. but I can't say that I have been sort of like

waiting with bated breath. This is one of those development hell things. This was like around 2010 is when this first crept up with Guillermo del Toro attached. I watched the trailer. I really liked it. And then I looked at the talent involved and I'm not just talking about it in front of the camera.

I'm talking about behind the camera. Because Katie Dippold, a Parks and writer who I really like who wrote like Spy and Heat, wrote the screenplay. And then Justin Simeon, who did Dear Weir, white people is the director, and I'm sure also did like a top polish on the script because he's a writer director. Those are two talents I really admire. So I was like, maybe this is going to be actually great. And the trailer is quite fun. Lekeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson,

Dan Adito, Rosario Dawson. And then as I can only presume ghosts because they're not really in the trailer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Levy, and Gilbert, Jared Leto, and Winona Ryder. So like, who knows? I mean, we know which ghost Jared Leto is playing. I just don't know the significance of it because I don't know the lore. Follow up question to this. Owen Wilson was in the early 2000s film, the haunting, I think it was called the Haunting Hillhouse, basically like loosely based on that. Do you think it's illegal for him to be in both the haunted mansion and the haunting of Willows? I don't know.

In the IP area, I say go for it. I'm not going to complain. Anyway, I think this could be really fun. I love this pic. Okay. Yeah. Good stuff. Wonderful.

Look at this. I don't think you're going to have my number nine either. Though you love the world, but maybe not the form that this installment is coming in. I've got a video game for you at number nine, Joe.

Hmm. Yeah. This is one of my spring height meter traditions get a game on there, you know, at Skywalker saga last year. The Lord of the Rings colon,

Gallum. Fuck, yeah. A gallom video game? It's a galloom video game. Column video game. I swear to you. This is coming out really soon. This spring for PlayStation Xbox.

Switch is coming later. Steve can correct me if I'm wrong on that. The internet has told me, Joanna, that the deluxe edition is going to be called the precious edition. Wow. Say no more. This is set eight years before the Lord of the Rings trilogy. You play as Gallum.

It's a stealth action-adventure game and you get to explore middle earth as Gallum. It's not canon, but I think that could be a good thing because it allows you to just more freely get up to some fishy and juicy cons flashing shenanigans

with our guy Smeagle. I'm in. What do you think? Follow a question. Like, do you, is it ever a two-player you get to play as someone plays a Smeagel and someone plays as Gullum? Wow. And you get to have conversations with each other. That would be great. Maybe that'll be part of an expansion pack.

Steve, your gaming enthusiast is the Lord of the Rings colon, golem on your radar? And also, should I not be allowed to put video games on my list if I feel compelled to say title colon, second part of the title. I mean, you're well within your rights to put this in here. I'm very intrigued to see what this will actually be because this has kind of been in development hell for a long time. Quite a long time. Not quite sure about the pedigree of the game studio, but this will be interesting. The Lord of the Rings, the Loder Asods, let's call it the Loder Assons, continuing in all shapes and forms. Loter Ascans.

No. Yes. We're not calling it to that. Loter? What does anyone ever call it Loder? The Lodercans. Let's do it. I'm hyped.

L-O-T-R-sants I'll give you, but not L-O-T-R-Sons. What's more cumbersome? The L-O-T-R-A-Sense. or rest of spring slash summer 2023 height meter top 10 countdown. All right, that's my number nine. When do you have a number eight, Joanna? J-R-R-R-sense.

So glad you asked me. I'm glad that you put a video game on there. My usual tradition is to try to put a book on the list. I did not manage to make that happen this year, but I do want to just shout out really quickly. This is a smuggle that Marvel has a, an event happening in summer called the summer of simiots. And I just want you to know that the tagline for it is suns out, tongues out.

So, I know. Bad baby. Great shit. But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about today. I'm here to talk to you about a dark and stormy night on the high seas. I actually love nautical things. I know. I do.

You love an ocean. I do. I don't know that you have this on your list. but it is the last voyage of the Demeter. Do you have this on your list? I don't. I don't. All right.

Take me to see. This is a Dracula movie. That's why it's not on your list because it's horror. But your guy, Davos, Liam Cunningham, is the captain of the Demeter. And this is based on, this has been in development of hell for two decades. Bit of a pattern emerging here. It's my last one. Two decades.

This has been a development help. This is based on a chapter in Bram Stoker's Dracula from the P.O.V. I believe, of the captain of the Demeter. And our star is Corey Hawkins, who I love. And Javier Botet, who is this great Spanish sort of body actor kind of guy, creature actor, is doing the creature, Dracula. And it's like a ship is at sea transporting Dracula. And Dracula, like, gets out and eats all of their goats and then, you know, also probably them. And I don't know that anyone survives this journey,

but it's all like rain-tossed seas and like flashes of lightning and Dracula the creature is here. The reason I'm very excited about this is that the director is Andre, I'm going to excuse my Norwegian mispronounce this, Andre Ovidal, who did the great, great, great low-budge Norwegian film troll hunter that absolutely smash. Like it was so cool. So I am like cautiously optimistic for the last wage of the meter.

And we love, we love Liam Cunningham. We love Davos. Love Liam Cunningham. I love a seafaring vessel. I'd like to say protect the goats at all costs. You know, we just spent some time with a goat over on yellow jackets. I don't want to tell you this, but I'm going to tell you this. There's also a dog.

And I'm just worried about it. I'm out. I know. Yeah. It's fair enough. I think you were out anyway because it's a horror, but, you know, yeah. Oh, no, that's upsetting. Okay, protect the pup at all costs.

Joe, I'm pretty sure you're not going to have what I have at eight on your list at all. Wow. This is a real, I don't know how deep we've ever made it before we had any overlap. This might be a record today. I have checking in at number eight on my list, the second season of the Apple TV Plus series based off the Isaac Asimov Classics. Foundation.

Foundation. What's the opposite of... I'm certain you don't have. What's the opposite of a foundation head? That's me. So, I really like this world.

I was really excited for season one and then was really like lukewarm on it. Yeah. For, I'd say the first half or so. I really love

an ambitious and complex story, but I found it like impenetrable initially. And I think that was maybe a, I don't want to say a common experience, but I don't think I was the only one who felt that way. I would say that if anyone's interested and hasn't checked it out or was mildly intrigued but had trouble continuing in the early goings, give it another chance. I really liked the end of the season.

It had a lot of promise and a lot of potential. I thought the trailer for the second season looked great. We're 100 years now in the future. The scale of the adaptation is absolutely flabbergasting. These big ideas, like that you have all of the archetypal, seminal, azimov elements in this really modern streaming wars era presentation is just a really interesting thing. And then, of course, like a summer with Lee Pace, who says no? Honestly, Joe, who says no? Nobody.

I'm really excited for the group chat and our Slack channel that we share with fellow Leapace enthusiasts to heat up over the summer. Me too. We're back with Empire for a summer of prestige TV. Back with Jared Harris. The cast is great. I'm excited.

I'm really excited. And I wonder if there will be a little bit more momentum in season two and more people will come to the universe and it'll become a little bit more of a thing. I don't know. But regardless, I'm looking forward to the excuse to dive into the text revisit the world.

And like I said, spend this somewhere with Leapace. Not sure if I've mentioned that before. Can't wait. Can't wait. We're already at number seven.

Is this where we have our first overlap? No. I'm going to say it is. No. Absolutely not. Well, maybe on your side, but definitely not on my side. 100%.

I'm very confident you don't have this. Interesting. What do you have? Star Trek, Cray, World, Season 2. You're not a Treki. I love you.

This is a favorite in my house. though. Adam adores this. I will catch up on this. I will. Seems like you both absolutely love it. Yeah. And like, you know, I know a lot of people wanted us to, wanted somebody, for the love of God, to cover the final season of Picard, which was amazing. So I'll just like take this moment to say the final season of Picard was amazing. And so there's like great stuff of brewing in the Star Trek TV land after, I would say, a wobbly start. And I loved season one of this show. I thought it was phenomenal.

Lindberg and I are both huge fans of Strangey World's season one. season two, they're doing a fun, they're doing a very fun Star Wars thing where they're crossing over a little bit with the animated series Lower Decks that I believe Jomey is a huge fan of. So Toney Newsom and Jack Quaid will be showing up as live action versions

of their animated characters on Lower Decks, which is super fun. And I'm just, you know, Carol Kane has joined the cast, what a wild card. I have a lot of love for this series, and I think they're doing some really smart things with characters that we love

and really capturing the spirit of original track away mission adventure. So yeah. Wonderful. Strange new world. Mid June.

Right? Yep. Coming mid June. Okay. I've got time to catch up. I believe in you. Number seven on my list. Maybe I think you'll have this,

but maybe not. I don't know. We're four into your list already. We're running out of slots. I have. at number seven, a film, it's a movie, it's coming out in mid-August, August, August 18th, Blue Beetle. I didn't put Blue Beetle on my list. Okay, so I would say that near-term DC releases, it seems a little foolish to get too hyped for various reasons.

Like, obviously, the last few DC movies have been, yeah, quite, and obviously like we're heading into the DCU to DCU James Gunn reset. So the question of not that future relevance is the only thing that makes something enjoyable. In fact, we just had a very long conversation about how the fact that Guardians volume three actually felt like a conclusion. Yeah. In the end of something was part of the, yeah, part of the joy of it. Are you a, are you a cobra Kai?

Are you a cobra Kai head? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's just wonderful to see. Sholo, Meridwana here as Haimei, as Blue Beetle, George Lopez is in this movie. Susan Sarandon is in this movie. I'm interested. I'm interested to see if it all clicks.

Looking forward to it. I watched the trailer this morning, and I quite enjoyed it. And I definitely considered putting it on, but I'm just like not. I just feel foolish putting any hope in any hype in the pre-gun reboot DC World. That being said, I was like, I was really flirting with it because the trailer was that fun. Yeah, the trailer were good. I did. I paused for a minute when I saw that I had Black Adam and Shazam on my prior hype list.

And as you say, like, the Shultamano-Duania is like so winning on Koverkaa. Like, and I love him getting his own superhero movie. And I'll be sad. Like, I mean, there's a world in which I'm sure James Gunn is leaving the door open. Like, if this mega overperforms, you know, they will do. do a blue beetle too. They'll just keep it, you know, out of continuity of everything else. So like, I hope

it's great and I hope it does super well. I'm just not putting it on a formal list. Fair. I respect it. I'm rooting for it. What do you have on your formal list at number six? Okay. This one, you might have higher. Okay. Prepared for that.

Uh, da-da-da-da, Indiana Jones on the Dial of Destiny. I have this higher. Great. What do you have is number six? Number six, I have. elemental. I don't have it on my list. Okay. I know. I definitely thought about it. I'll tell you why I don't, but please tell me why you do. Okay. Yeah. So this is the next Pixar film. The 27th Pixar film can not believe it. This is coming out on June 16th. That is a big movie weekend. I think that in general, you know, we had the pleasure of chatting about turning red together. Yes. Love that.

adored it. I think in general, the last like handful of Pixar movies, basically post Toy Story Four have not gotten the like wide effusive fandom and acclaim and celebration and following that the prior era of Pixar earned. But I think that those movies have been somewhere between pretty good to excellent. Like that post Toy Story Four group is onward, which I really liked a lot. Soul, which I really liked a lot, Luca, which I think we both think is like exceptionally good. Turning Red, which we loved, and Lightyear, which was okay. I did enjoy the cat. This movie Elemental, I think, looks lovely.

And like a vintage Pixar brew, it's kind of like a rom-com, right, being presented as a rom-com, but also with the Pixar soul of this, like, profound treatise on the nature of growth and connect. and progress. The elements, in question, elemental, water, fire, earth, air. Very...

Long ago. Very avatar. Airst airbender, Joe, extremely our shit. Yeah. And, you know, if you've seen the trailers, you get the sense of,

first of all, very cool to see Element City. It just looks like a neat, a really original world. The elements are divided inside of this universe and the main characters a fire and a water,

Ember and Wade, you know, a forbidden love, Joe, a forbidden love that chat. They can't touch his convention. The fact that they can't touch gives me such extreme pushing daisies energy. And pushing daisies is an absolute favorite of mine. So that's just wonderful. And like the idea of young people who,

because it seems like a story very rooted in family as well, on the one hand, have this, like, real connection to family and appreciation for their families, their history, their cultures, but also the desire to, like, push for change and see what's possible and learn from each other

and see how much you actually share with people who you maybe thought were different from you. Just seems like it has, again, all the ingredients for, like, a classic Pixar winner that makes me fucking weep. Can't wait to see this movie. I was going to say, say why it's not my why this is a hype meter you're hyped that's great and that's awesome and i

tell me tell me tell me tell me you don't want to tell me it's okay i mean i will just say that i like i was like i was like okay why am why are why am i not more excited for this pixar film like what's going on and um are you pixar it out no i don't think so i think i think this reminded me a lot of onward which is just you know like just in that sort of world building kind of way that i wasn't a huge fan of, though it might be more like Inside Out, which I was a huge fan of. This is directed by Peter Sone, whose other

Pixar credit is the Good Dinosaur. And that worried me because that is not a great Pixar film. So, you know. Yeah. I was reading some of his interviews, some of the press that he's done about the movie, and it just seems like this is such a personal story to him in a way that I have

to assume the Good Dinosaur wasn't, and that made me really like, I love that. That is a key usually to a Pixar film being great where Pete Doctor's like, actually this is about my child and you're like, okay. All right, fair enough. You got me hyped. I love Pixar, as you know.

Just love it. Love to cry at the movies, Joe. Love to cry. I love to feel. Cinema. Next on my list is, yeah, this is my brazen smuggle. Am I, like, brazen, like, challenging the eligibility convention here?

Okay. At five, bold. I love this. It would be high. Yeah, if it would be higher if its credentials were not in question. Okay. And it is mission, colon, impossible, hyphen, dead, reckoning, part one, rest of spring slash summer hype. Yeah.

Yes. Okay. So I was going to mention this in honorable mentions under the heading. I'm not sure my co-host will allow me to say this is eligible. But if I felt more confident, it would have been on. I will allow it. I think if it kind of fits the same logic as the fast saga, right? Like it is not obviously clearly nerd-vers genre. This is a archetypal action movie. But you've got some sci-fi elements. You've got the age and death-defying pursuits. I'll allow it. Go for it. Though I will say if we're allowing it, then I feel bad that it's not on my list because I'm very excited for this movie. Yeah. Well, I mean, we'll just say it's also on your list. You know, 5.5.5.5.5.5.5.5. B for you. Yeah.

A pocket dimension inside of my list. Listen, Mission Impossible is one of our greatest franchises of all time. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Without question. And like after the performance of Top Gun as this like incredible rousing-spirited return to the movies, like who in their right mind is going to doubt Thomas Mappather, the third, aka Tom Cruise. So, you know, problematic dude.

Don't want to have lunch with him. but, you know, can make a movie. And his partnership with Christopher Macquarie in this, like, run of Mission Apostle films has been, like, some of the greatest times we've ever had at the movies, right? And the cast list, Haley Atwell, someone we enjoy. Yeah. So much. Rebecca Ferguson's back.

Vanessa Kirby's back. Ving Rames is still here. Simon Pegg is here. I mean, it's just like, Assai Morales, Shea Wiggum, like, palm, fresh off guardians, supremacy? Great. This is going to be a great fucking movie.

And the fact that he has gotten, that he has like fallen down the rabbit hole of Mission Colon Impossible hyphen dead reckoning part one. It's like, they have lost their minds and I'm so excited. So, yeah. Cannot wait. Flawless pick. Thanks.

Oh, and if I were, and if you'll forgive me, a smuggle, a class. Mallory Ribbon smuggle. Absolutely. Just under this umbrella of like, is it, is it just a movie or is it, does it belong on this list? I would add Wes Anderson's Asteroid City. Put a pin in it. Okay, great.

And Barbie. Barbie was on my honorable mentions for the same. Yeah, like, you know, if it's inspired by a toy, we can probably. Yeah. I had Barbie as honorable mention. However, I have at number five on my list, Asteroid City. Hell yes. So let's talk about it.

Hell yes. Another June 16th release. The latest from Wes Anderson. Fucking love Wes Anderson movies. June is packed, man. It's wild how many movies there are in June, particularly mid-June. Original sci-fi from Wes Anderson? Yes.

How lucky are we? I could not be more excited for this movie. You just mentioned a loaded cast. The cast for this movie is insanity. Absolutely insanity. I mean, we can't even read the cast members. We'd be here for another hour. It is astonishing.

If you watch the trailer and you get to the point where the cast member names start appearing, it's just one of the truly great flexes in trailer history. Tons of movie stars. We've got Scarjo. We've got Tom Hanks. We've got Brian Cranston. We've got Jeffrey Wright. We've got Tilda Swinton.

We've got Brody, Norton, Steve Carell, Bargoro. I mean, on the list goes, Joe, we've podcast. about stranger things. So when I saw Maya Hawk in this movie, I was like, oh, my God. Wonderful. Love to see my hawk. Hope Davis. Hope Davis.

Yeah. I mean, the list is just. Yeah. I'm so thrilled that Hope is here because, like, what's the problem? What I had to go Google as soon as I saw this trailer, so I was like, how has Hope Davis not already been in a Wes Anderson film? Like, she's perfect for this universe. I'm so excited.

Starring moment in the trailer, too. Yeah. Just an absolutely great feature. Is she the only character? No, but like, maybe. Yeah. It's wonderful. So the premise is, as far as we know, this stargazer convention in 1955, the official description is, quote, spectacularly disrupted by world changing events again.

Watch the trailer. We get a lovely little, except now there's an alien line from the child named Billy. And this just seems perfect. It seems like a story about discovery in many forms. Right. Coming of age story. The adults seem to be discovering new possibility as well. A story absolutely drenched in imagination and originality. I am really looking forward to this. Great pick. Thank you. Number four. Yeah. I have on my list, American board Chinese. Is this on your list? Go for it. No. Okay. I'm so excited for this. All right. So this is coming out later this month, May 24th on Disney Plus, Disney Plus.

And it is based on a book I loved American Board Chinese by Gene Yang. And it stars some people you might have heard of like Oscar winner Michelle Yo, Oscar winner Kihei Kuan, and Oscar nominee Stephanie Shue. So we've got everything everywhere all at once reunion going on on this show. And it is about a high schooler, like a high schooler struggling. and they meet a new Taiwanese exchange student at the school. However, sequence events leads him to become involved in a battle between the gods of Chinese mythology. Amazing.

We love mythology. Absolutely. We love when the gods meddle in a teenager's life. We love this. And, yeah, it's going to be, if you watch the trailer, it looks incredible. I saw some longer clips of it at TCA. They did a panel at TCA, which was incredible. Again, I really love this.

book. It also took co-stars Daniel Wu, who was the lead of Into the Badlands, which I really wanted to be better, but I thought he was like really great in it. So I'm really excited. He's here and directed by Destin Daniel Creighton, who we love, Chung Chi, et cetera, and Lucy Lou making some directorial moves here. So I'm really excited for this. I think it's going to be great. Eight episodes premiering May 24th on Disney Plus. Great pick, Joe. I love this. Four is where I have Indy.

So we can talk about Dialog Destiny here together. Hit me. Because this is the higher of two shared spots. I mean, what is there even to say? We're getting a new Indiana Jones movie. The Harrison Ford stretch that we are in is something that we should be taking the time to appreciate. Is our guys out there making stuff every minute of the day. He just started in 1923, which you don't watch, but Chris and I text you about a lot.

You really do. You're always kind when you indulge us. He was great. I thought great in shrinking. I just thought he was fabulous in that. Delightful and shrinking. Yes. Love to the fun dip sequence, really wonderful.

He's about to be that fucker Thunderbolt Ross in the MCU, just astonishing stuff one a time to be alive watching Harris for to Sutherbilt-Ross in the MCU. But right now, he is reprising one of the most iconic signature roles in the history of the world, Indiana Jones. And James Mangold is making this movie.

And that is fucking exciting. We both adore Logan. It is a shared favorite of ours. You made the excellent point, Joe, on, I believe this was on the Star Wars Celebration pod, right, where we were talking about the announcement of the new Star Wars slate and Mangold had been announced for what basically sounds like an origin of the force biblical style story.

And you noted, right, that that struck you as a good sign that he had been given a Star Wars movie that Lucasfilm Disney must be feeling good about Dial of Destiny. That's encouraging. Yet another great cast. again Harrison Ford have you out of them loud Phoebe Waller Bridge we have not had the pleasure of discussing flea bag at length together but I think it is a shared favorite as well

Absolutely The fact that she is playing his goddaughter And we're gonna watch Their rhythm and their rapport and their banter Is one of the things that I am most excited about And the franchise is like Shia Shilabafu Shiau

Shiau Exactly also it's it's Mickleston season You know we got Mads here Lars is coming soon. I'll say no more on that now. I've always said that the rest of spring summer 2023 was Mickelson season. You know what I mean?

Michaelson season here. Classic Mickelson season. Yeah, I don't know, Joe. Just like. Antonio Banderas. Yes. Antonio. Boyd Holbrook.

We love Boyd in a mangold movie. Come on. We've seen it before. We know. We know how special that could be. Also, today is Monday, even though you're listening to this on a Friday and the Justified City

Primeval teaser dropped, so. Yo, did it really? Yeah, I mean, it's just,

it's a, it's no footage, it's a hat-based teaser, but it's a teaser nonetheless. My heartbeat just kicked into another gear. Wow,

talk about text potential for you, me and Chris, I cannot wait. Joe, just the idea not only of another indie adventure,

but of a send-off? We love an ending. A satisfying ending, raucous, thrilling, emotionally fulfilling, hopefully. In the first trailer, there's that line from Indy. I don't believe in magic, but a few times in my life I've seen things, things I can't explain. And I've come to believe it's not so much what you believe.

It's how hard you believe it. I believe very hard that this movie will be good. By the way, I mean, like one of our favorite things about Indian Jones is like the way in which he fights punches Nazis. At least that's one of my favorite part. Like I love to watch a Nazi get punched. And I love the way that they've like used basically Operation Paperclip to like bring Nazis back into the fold here for Indiana Jones. Mads as a former Nazi who says no, Boyd Holbrook as his number two, like his henchman, who says no?

Like this is going to be phenomenal. A subway chase involving horses and motorcycles. I mean, it's... The only thing I'm trepidious about it all is the de-aging on Harrison Ford. Yeah, exactly. Just because... Exactly. Well, it also is the most important face.

Did happen. Like, that did... We're not going to pretend it didn't happen as some podcasts. My Pall at the Empire podcast, pretend that it didn't happen at all. That this is the fourth movie. No, this is the fifth movie. We saw the fourth movie. We were hyped for the fourth movie.

Didn't work out. But Mangels here. And I have faith. Yeah. We're in good hands. We're in good hands. Okay, so we're at three. Yeah, top three.

Yeah, my number three, you definitely have higher. I think our top three is the same. We're going to have the same three, but in a different order. It's just going to be the order. Okay. So my number three is Asoka. You have that higher. What's your number three?

My number three is secret invasion. Great. I have that higher. What's my number two? Wow, it's secret invasion. Okay. Time to talk about secret invasion. Oh, God.

It's great stuff. Great stuff. I love knowing you. So, secret invasion in, is Marvel's first TV show of the year after a crowded... It's bonkers. After a crowded slate, we have to wait until end of June to get the first Marvel Disney Plus show this year. But as I've mentioned elsewhere, like, I'm really happy about that because it means they're taking their time and making sure something is good.

Sean and I talked with this very briefly on the big pick, but in that discussion, he read out the cast list of this movie, and it is absolutely. Absolutely banana. So let's just do it because apparently it's a hype meter tradition. So here we go. Samuel Jackson. Great. Ben Mendelson. Great.

Kobe Smolders. These are all people that we were quite familiar with in the MCU. We know them. We love them. Here we go. Kingsley Benedere. Fucking, I love him. So excited.

Let's go. High fidelity. Yeah. One Night Miami. Great stuff. Amelia Clark. I mean. You heard of her?

Joe. Have you heard of her, lads? Once or twice? You are. Amelia. My queen. Amelia has been like ever so slightly

MIA-ish since the end of Thrones, right? Hashtag makes solo to happen. Seems like a big return for her. Oscar winner, Olivia Coleman. Never once put a foot wrong

in her life, ever. I just can't believe. I frankly cannot believe that Olivia Coleman is in an MCU television show. We are blessed. We are blessed. And then two other MCU fan favorites, Don Chudel and Martin Freeman are here.

Okay. So incredible cast. Unbelievable. I've mentioned this a couple of times. We keep hearing the word and or bat it around for like something that Marvel is hoping this is. This is only six episodes. So like that MCU TV problem, we've talked about a little bit of like sort of diminishing returns as the season wears on. I'm hoping will not be the case in like a tighter six episode season.

and this is like being announced very much as a mini-series. So like, you know, it's a contained story that they're doing here. And I'm just, I'm really hoping that this is great. Because as Sean and I were talking about, and I think you and I talked about this a little bit too on The Guardian's deep dive is like, if secret invasion is great. Yeah. Like this is why it's so high on my list is like, if it's great,

then like we get really excited about all. other Marvel things that are coming. You know, I mean, we were already excited about Loki. We were already excited about the marvels. But, like, maybe we get even more excited about the marvels. Exactly. So that's, I mean, I'm, you know, and we've been preparing for this for a very long time with our secret scroll watch. What is this the culmination of really?

Nextery's impact on the MCU in our lives or House of ours long-running secret scroll bit? It's an excellent question. And I think we all know that it is the latter. So here we go. Secret scroll reveal time. Secret invasion. I can't wait. I'm so happy.

I mean, you covered it. I think the comic arc, the Brian Michael Bendis comic arc that this is based on from 0809 is beloved. And that's exciting. Two, you know, when Captain Marvel came out, the idea of Talos and that faction of scrolls as like good guys. Yeah. It was kind of a bold choice. And so having now a different faction of scrolls who are, in fact, infiltrating Earth and pretending to be people in power who they are really not,

is like a proud Marvel tradition that it'll be fun to have in the MCU. I think what you said about that, like, on the heels of Guardians, Volume 3, if this is good, just carrying the momentum forward in the MCU. I think both is like people who spend a lot of our time talking about Marvel. but also people who really enjoy it is exciting. The Andor thing I'm of two minds on. It's like mostly thrilling that that is even out there in the ether, right? There's a little part of me that's like, oh, God, like, I wish no one would say that

out loud because Andor was such a massive achievement that it almost feels like welcoming an impossible comp that then everybody will say like, I'm all that we're saying this is Andor. I'm like, yeah, this is fine, but Andor. That said, you know, we chat a lot about the importance of genre variants in the MCU, and I love the idea of taking something that can be as, like, overtly goofy as scrolls in a really, taking it really serious, yes, spy thriller, genre story. I think that, again, the trailers look tremendous.

The deployment of Olivia Coleman as someone with, like, deep history with Nick Fury is just an absolutely riveting and thrilling. And we, yeah, like I, I will be really, I always feel like when I say this, I set myself up for supreme disappointment, but I will just be really surprised if this isn't good. It just looks really, really excellent. How deeply it connects to the MCU installments to come. I mean, you mentioned the Marvels. Obviously, there's going to be a scroll creed connection there, but like, beyond that,

you know, is this more about, like, there's a lot of language in the trailers about the end. and like a closing feels like the end of our of our Nick Fury tenure. How much of it is about saying goodbye to something and how much of it is about the potential future reach and impact of the scroll invasion. I'm not sure. It's the MCU, so probably both. But if this is a tight, tidy, jam-packed, elegant espionage tale over six episodes on Disney Plus featuring the cast that you just outlined,

What a summer we have in store? Can't wait. There's something about, so the, quote-unquote creator on that, you know, they don't do showrunners on Marvel shows, but the quote-unquote creator on this is Kyle Bradstreet, who's a Mr. Robot guy. And that tells us something. And then also, like, you mentioned espionage. We love espionage. Olivia Coleman here, like, it's giving me night manager energy. the use of Olivia Coleman here, right?

And so it's just like, I'm very excited for this. It feels like one of those like, or like slow horses. Like it feels like one of those British miniseries that like Chris Ryan and I will like, two favorite shows currently on television. Los are absolutely mind over, you know?

So it's like, that's what I'm hoping. But again, you're right. I don't want to like put it on too high of a pedestal and watch it wobble. But that is my number. I love it. This is what we're here for. We're here for the hype.

Slow horses in the MCU, what could be better? Literally nothing. I can't think of a single thing, except for what I have a two and three. What else is on your list? Yeah. So your number two is your number one. Is my number one. Across the Spider-verse.

Across the Spider-verse. So let's talk about- And my number one is Asoka, which was your number three. So let's just go, say, in order, our three-to-one. My three is Secret Invasion. My two is Spider-Man across the Spider-verse. My one is Asoka. Yours in order.

My three is Asoka. My two is, Secret Invasion, my one is across the Spiderverse. My predictions for Joanna's hype list. Number one, Spiderverse, number two, Secret Invasion. Number one, Asoka, number two, Spidey. We nailed it. We nailed it.

I got to work on my hand, right? That's what I'm really, that's what I'm really confronting, putting that up to the camera. But I feel proud. I feel proud of how we know each other. Okay, let's, what do you want to talk about first? Asoka. Let's do Spidey. No, let's do Spidey first.

and then I'm going to get out of the way for you to talk about Asoka. It's your most anticipated thing of everything anymore. I mean, we are so excited for across the Spider-verse. This is my ace in the whole of our hype draft that we did. This is like- And I had it at the number one overall pick in the hype draft, too, based on the nature of that exercise. Yeah. And it is also my, for the On Trial by content, we did this, like, big movie bet of the year.

And this is my big movie bet of the year as well. It's like, I, you know. I would have this as number one. I feel confident saying this. Any height meter other than the one that Asoka was also in. I would have this number one. That's why I know. I know what Asoka means to you and no one is, no one is going to think that you are, you know,

disrespecting Spidey by having Asoka as you're number one. As you know, I hit the shock drop on the on the Spider-Verse Air Jordan once. I'm fucking thrilled. Can't believe it. First time I've hit a shock drop on the sneakers app. Are you on the sneakers app? No. Absolutely not.

But are you happy for me that I got this? I am so happy for you. And Steve is not, right? Didn't Steve get screwed on that? That was tough. I'm sorry. Sorry, Steve. All right.

I mean, like, what's there to say, but we'll say it anyway? We love Into the Spiderverse. It's one of the best superhero movies of all time ever. Yes. Like, and some people say it is the best ever. The way in which it did marvels such a huge fucking favor by really Elie. and humorously introducing the multiverse to people who didn't, like, really understand what the multiverse was. I hope that, you know, Kevin has bought Amy Pascal a nice basket of sandwiches or something like that.

But anyway, it's, yeah. So it's, it's, it's, it was such an impressive achievement. I've ever since that film ended with a tease towards the future, I have been just desperately waiting for this next installment. And, you know, Lord and Miller are back on the writing team. We've got new directors. But, you know, same voice cast plus more people. And this is just like, I mean, I mean, I don't know what the fuck to say. Sorry, excuse my language.

But like, excuse your language. I mean, I love, I love Haley Stifeld's Gwen Stacy. I love her. I love Shemeke Moore's Miles Morales, Morales, like my old. higher heart belongs to these two young people. And then you add Jake Johnson into the mix as Peter B. Parker and it's just like... Living that dad life. Everything else is just gravy, you know.

But we're getting like spider punk and spider woman and Spider-Man India, which I'm so excited about because I love that character design. Amazing. Scarlet Spider. Yeah. It's just, it's going to be phenomenal. So what else do you want to say about it? I feel similarly one of my favorite superhero movies of all time.

I think that to the multiverse point you made, it's a great one. There is, I think undeniably a little bit of multiverse fatigue setting in across the wider IPverse. And so it will be really nice for across the Spiderverse to come in and remind everybody of the possible. of multiversal storytelling and why this is so riveting and can unlock so much inside of our imaginations and for the creators as well. Like that one of the things that, you know, we all love so much about the first movie and you just to see the trailers and like feel it again was was was really thrilling. That absolutely like unapologetic.

And of course it's an animated movie, but it's still bears saying unapologetic comic book spirit that is in every frame of these movies. movies, the style, color, the pop, that unique visual palette. You mentioned the loaded cast and all the different spitties that we're getting. Like, I'm really excited about the spider society and Miles and Gwen interacting with the other spider people across the multiverse to face the spot. Jesus Schwartzman has the spot in the interdimensional portals. We got the little like bodega scene in the trailer. This is just going to be absolutely incredible. And Oscar Isaac is as Miguel O'Hara.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. This is just going to be absolutely perfect. And I thought, as always, like the emotional hit of something that feels so core and true to the spirit of a Spider-Man story, like when you hear in the trailer, Miles being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. You have a choice between saving one person and saving every world. Unbelievable. And then that conflict that's going to be emerging between. between nominal heroes, right?

We get that Gwen line. We're supposed to be the good guys. Miguel saying we are like, I'm already wrapped. I just cannot wait. If this movie is anything like the first, it will be the most imaginative and vibrant and emotional thing that we see this year. It will be. Cannot wait.

We were on child by content last week we were talking about movie soundtracks. And of course, we talked about it's a bit ofverse. And it's just like, whenever you hear what's up danger and you think about the Miles Morales fall slash rise, you know, and how that's one of the coolest visuals packed into an emotional moment that I've ever seen in a film. And then everyone can wear the mask as like something that we talk about so often. The way in which all of that was wrapped up in so freshly losing Stan Lee, like all. All of that, I feel, I feel, I've rewatched that film. I own it. I rewatch it often.

And I'm just dazzled by it. And it's like, it's just a perfect use. Again, Lord and Miller are not the only creatives on this. And I want to give them like full credit when there's like a bunch of other names, both in the directing chair and the writer chair. But like hearing how the first one was made when it was just like Lord and Miller would often just like scribble something on a post-it and like shove it across to someone in the voiceover booth as they were recording.

And it's just sort of like that constant punch-up comedy attitude towards this. Lord and Miller, who, you know, got boosted off of solo, have, like, made the Lego movie, which I absolutely love. Same. The fact that we are so, like, and Amy Pascal, who, by the way, is, you know, former Sony, I would say, Guardian producer of the Spider-Man franchise, both the MCU co-pros and the individuals. She's, like, loved Lord and Miller forever. And so, like, the fact that she's, like, connected her biggest, the jewel and her crowned Spider-Man with Lord and Miller.

We are so lucky. And, yeah, across Spider-verse. I cannot wait. To the gills. We get back from Europe and we basically go right to the theater to see this. I've actually changed my flight so that I can make sure to see this on time to talk to you about this. I'm going to land. And then, like, zombie jet lag, walk my.

my way, like flight direct from Norway to your local cinema to see this. But I'm so excited. And I'm really excited for your number one. As someone who loves you and wants you to be happy. Let me just say something really quick about this before I hand it over to you. Asoka. Yeah. You're going to outline all the reasons why we should be stoked for Asoka no matter what.

But something that we talked in case you missed it, because maybe you weren't watching the Mandalorian or, you know, sort of faded out towards the end of the Mandalorian. Something we were talking about towards the end of Mandalorian is like this idea that Dave Faloni's absence from that season of television, because he was busy doing this, actually makes us as much as we have notes about the last season of the Mandalorian. His absence then makes us wonder if all of that magic that we felt was missing is instead being poured into the Asoka series because we know how Dave Faloni as a creator feels about his creation, Asokatano. So Mallory Rubin, will you tell us why Asoka is the most important thing on your list? I could not be looking forward to anything more than I am looking forward to Atoka. I will be devastated, devastated and inconsolable if it is not great. But I am expecting it to be sublime. I really am for many reasons, including the one you just outlined,

like, the, Osoca is such a precious character to Dave Filoni, the rebels crew. Those are such precious characters to Dave Filoni, the chance to bring all of these different people and figures and ideas and strength. of the animated verse of the Philoni verse into live action is something that I think he considers like an incredible privilege. And I consider it a privilege that we're going to get to watch. You know, I was already overjoyed at the prospect that Assook was drawing ever nearer. And then we got to see the trailer during celebration by we got to see it. I mean, at home on the internet because we weren't in London.

Sad. them. And potted about it and had a blast. And watching that trailer, we talked about it for a long time. You should go check out that pod if you haven't yet. I was like genuinely overcome with emotion watching it. Like I could not believe the way physically, emotionally that I was responding to it. I just felt really fortunate that all of these, all of these characters who I care about so

deeply in all of these different strands of the timeline that I and so many other Star Wars fans have been so invested in for so long are coming. together in this way. I mean, so many of our faves, Joe, Asoka, we've talked many, many times over the years about why she's such an important and central figure. We will again when we cover this show. But absolutely thrilled that she's getting her own series. Thrawn! Thrawn! Mickelson Season here in the rest of spring slash summer, 2003. I need her top-down countdown.

I get a chill, like a full chill down my spine. when I see the glimpse of the back of his head in the trailer and that line, that pairing of, I started hearing whispers about Thrawn's return as heir to the empire. When we heard Asoka say, where's Grand Admiral Thrawn in season two of the Mandalorian? Like the way that I gasped at the time and now it's like moments like this

are just building and building and compounding to hear Moth Gideon and the Shadow Council talk about Thron, the wait for Thrawn, the wait for Thron, and the questions about Thrawn in the penultimate episode of Mando. All of this is just heightening my excitement.

I think that it's been deployed and parceled out in little hype nuggets, really expertly, actually, to keep wetting our appetite, but not overdo it. I think they've done a good job with that. The Rebels crew.

Like, Rebels is one of my favorite pieces of Star Wars ever. You know this. I've said this before. Having these characters come to live action, having Hara there, having Sabine there. having chopper there.

When I saw Sabine looking at the little hollow of Ezra in the trailer, I sobbed. I can't believe it. They're going to go search for Ezra. What a thrill. Live action Lothal, getting to see a Lothcat, the Phantom 2. I mean, this is just like such a treat. And then we've got other familiar faces.

We got to see Mon Mothma, our gal in the trailer. Morgan Elspeth is back. Our guy, Hu Yang. All these intriguing locations, like a shipyard, any shipyard adjacent to anything having to do with Thrawn, and always thrilling the tie program. Jedi Sith temples. We chatted a lot in the trailer breakdown

about the promise of the unknown regions, CHIS space. And then we've got new elements mixed with all of these familiar elements. Our gallery Stevenson. Orange fucking lightsaber. Orange lightsabers. Like this is just every ingredient is electric.

I am so excited. I hope this is the best thing that ever existed. I believe at the end of Mando, I said this will be the achievement of a lifetime for Dave Filoni. So that's the measuring stick. What do you think? If that's not what you get, I'm ready to storm the Presidio, Lucas Valley with you.

Like, you know, I can, I'm 20 minutes from two key locations in Lucasville by car. And I will, I don't know. Actually, I'm not going to threaten any violence. This is a podcast. the feds might be listening. I wouldn't do that anyway. We'll just, you know, we'll watch Colon Wars and Rebels again, and it'll be okay. But hopefully it'll be the achievement of the lifetime.

On the talent front. Yeah. So, Faloni wrote all the episodes, and he directed some. But speaking into the Spider-Verse. Peter Ramsey, one of the Antisor's right, The Spider-Verse directors, is a director on this season. Steph Green, who directed an incredible episode of Watchmen, is during the season. Gita Patel, who directed.

House of the Dragon, which we loved, is here. So that's not yet. So I just, I'm and Rick. So we love as well. Very promising. It's a great lineup of directors. I hope it's fucking great, man. I hope it's everything that you want.

I want you to have everything that you deserve it. Likewise. I just can't wait to talk about it with you. How many episodes is it again? Eight. Eight, okay. The old, you know, Mando season length makes sense. I would be surprised if they had done something else.

But yeah, and then, you know, how does this all connect? That part is. Does it August? August. And, yeah, August. When in August? We don't know yet. So will this be August in September?

Will it be a late August? But it definitely counts as end of spring, rest of summer in 2020. Absolutely. August debut, we're locked. We are locked. Anything else, Joe? I mean, we did it. Any other, like, honorable mentions?

We've smuggled some as we went. Anything else that you wanted to toss out there? I mean, there's a ton of stuff. We will definitely do a fall and winter height meter because there's a ton of stuff coming later in the year, either that has like a set date, like, of course, Dune or stuff that has that like late 2020 tag, like Invincible, many other properties coming our way. Dune, we are so excited for. We were just talking about this yesterday, like that Dune was one of the first things that we podcasted about together, the first part one. So we're so excited for part two is we're total spice heads.

We're thrilled. The fall hype meter is going to be a spice fest. It is. I can't wait. Something an informal suggesting we made to each other via text that neither of us are necessarily going to hold the other two is that perhaps we might read the Percy Jackson books over the summer. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that.

I mean, there's a lot of stuff we've said we're going to watch and read and literally can't do it all. I also like to do that. I've never read the Rick Bearden books, and so the Disney Plus series is coming, and that is something we want to get into. I guess if I were to say, if I were to recommend anyone, like, you know, because we love to recommend people read the book. Of anything that's on here, I would just say, pick up American-born Chinese, fantastic book, and you'll have a great time with it. And I really recommend it. And that's it. That's it. We did it.

Okay. Also, wait. By the way, speaking of books we love, I'm sorry. We're going to go. This is going to be a short podcast, and you're going to be, oh, my God, it's so short. But you saw what was happening with This Is How You Lose the Time War on Twitter over the last week, right? I was thinking about you a lot. You love that book.

Absolutely adore that book. It couldn't have happened to a better book, a weird quirk of social media where a random Twitter account tweeted about the book. And now it's like a bestseller on all of Amazon, on all of bazas.com. Richly deserved. It is fantastic. you haven't. We'll have to do another House of Recommends for reading recommendations at some point soon, too. Yeah. I would love that. Height meters, House of Recommends, Troops course. We've got, we've got so many seasonal traditions here. We love a bit. I love podcasting with you. Okay. Steve,

anything that you're absolutely offended that we left off before we conclude? Not a single thing. Oh, great. Oh, thanks, Steve. We did it. Wow. An apple from the teacher. A pink lady. A green, A green crisp apple. What an achievement.

A bright, polished green tart crisp apple. All right, friends. Something's coming. Something dark. I sense it. And it's the end of this podcast. That's a wrap. Thank you to our Jedi Knights.

Steve Allman for producing this episode. Arjuna Ram Gapal for his additional production work on this episode and Jomi Adeneron for his work on the social for this episode. Remember, head back into the ringerverse next week for the second installment of our Doctor Who rewatch. Until then, perhaps it will soon be time to begin, hype it again. All pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million stream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily

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