House of R - The 2024 Winter Mailbag

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

From 'Dune' to dragons and everything in between, Mal and Joanna are here to answer all of your burning questions in the 2024 Winter Mailbag (08:00). they give all their updates on Cobb Vanth, '3 Body Problem' keys to success, their plans to cover 'Avatar: The Last Airbender,' and so much more. Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did Don Draper really buy the world of Coke? Did Tony Soprano really die? Or just order more onion rings? The finales of our favorite shows can make us argue, make us cry, and make us crazy. From Spotify and the Ringer, I'm Andy Greenwald, and this is Stick the Landing, a new podcast where we'll be telling the story of modern TV backwards, one fade out at a time. Find Stick the Landing on Wednesdays on the prestige TV feed, on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The playoffs are here, and you can appreciate it.

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We do them something to hope for. That's not hope. He who can destroy the thing has a real control of it. And welcome to House of Our. A Ringiverse podcast? on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin, and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only back to Olympus and Iraqis

and the Fire Nation, but also to House of Our's newish podcast feed. March 2020, we're going to stop calling it a new feed. Okay. That's the date. Promise is promising. We'll see. We'll see how we're feeling at the time. As always, joining me today, delivered via Poseid and Pearl.

It's my house of our permanent title. Co-host, New York Times bestselling author of MCU, the reign of Marvel Studios. Joanna Robinson. This is what I mean by promises promises. You promised me you would stop doing that intro

and yet here we are. It's February. One more time. One more time. You sound so beautiful. to my ears, Mallory, because you're coming in through a different mic system, and it's just like honeyed tones to my ear. I'm so glad.

I'm so glad to hear it. That's how I feel every time I'm with you. Oh, P.S. also. What's up, bad babies? Bad baby. I'm so excited for today's episode. We love a mailbag, and it's winter mailbag time. 2024 winter mailbag, let's make it seasonal.

You know, hold us to nothing. But today, it's seasonal. Oldest nothing ever, including the understanding of what the seasons actually are. We've never once been bound by the calendar. No. You know, one of the real lessons, I think, from the Percy Jackson experience we just shared is the solstice happens, you know? And then you move forward anyway. Will there be consequences?

Who's to say? Joe, we are going to get to the wonderful mailbag questions that we have today shortly. Thank you to everyone, as always, who's submitted. before we dive into the Alpo's some quick programming reminders over on the Ringerverse. The Midnight Boys, Poo! Poo! We'll be with you on Wednesday.

For an annual tradition, the Black Heroes of Fandom Draft, Volume 3. Cannot wait for that. That's going to be an incredible episode. It always is. Then, on Friday on the Ringarverse, the Button Mash crew will be back to talk Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League

and Halo season two episodes one and two so that's a meaty button mash and then we will be back with you here on House of R on Friday as well for another Troops course we love a Troops course

we are still in that beautiful Percy bubble and zone afterglow yeah we had so much fun we want to linger a little longer under the sea

with the sun of the sea god And so we're doing golden trios. Cannot wait for that. I've done some prelim research, and it has been very fruitful. We will have a lot to discuss. I'm very excited. We're thinking of doing golden trios slash fellowships. From the research that I've done so far, fellowships is going to have to be its own thing.

There's too much to talk about under the trio umbrella. So that is where you and Steve and I, we make our own golden trio. That's where we shall stay. I love it. Also love to know we have future material for future. pods. It's all working out. I love that. It's great. Joanna, if people have thoughts on golden trios, if people have other questions outside of the ones that we read today on this year 2024 winter mailbag, how can they reach us? And in general, how can they follow along?

What a brilliant question. The first of many, I'm sure, brilliant questions that we will experience in the mailbag episode today. This one, I have a couple things to say to you. First of all, Hobbes and Dragons at gmail.com. Obviously, all your golden trio thoughts. Also, next week, we are doing a Valentine's Day special episode. We don't know yet. You'll be surprised to find out exactly what that shall entail. However, if you have prompts, ideas, questions, comments, concerns, you want to send

to hobas andragons at gm.com to help us figure out what Valentine's Day content you most want in addition to, I don't know. This is where the people demand a full podcast length edition of Fuck Mary Moondor. This is where the demands enter. We're going to do it of healthy or to use a favorite mallory adjective, a meaty a fuck Mary Moondore game. But what else shall we explore? Let's find out together.

Phrasing all down the episode. Okay. My goodness. So that's one thing. Another thing. Love a meaty, fuck Mary Moondor. You're the way. You've used media.

Okay. Thank you, Steve. Love it. You've used media a couple times. The last few episodes, I've been tracking it. It's been sort of slowly growing notoriety in your arsenal. Okay. Growing.

Follow the pod. Slowly. A slow grower. Follow the pod. Bad, baby. Follow the ringer verse. Yep. Follow Mallory's appearances on the rewatchables.

Follow the watch. Follow the watch. Follow the prestige. See, V. You follow everything on your podcast, catcher of choice, Spotify or wherever. Who's to say? Also, follows on social on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook, on TikTok. Jomi is just doing everything he can to keep you on top of all the content that's coming your way.

And that, I believe, is all I have to say about that, Mallory. Fantastic. Sign it with your pickle. Thank you for that. Sign it with your pickle, always. Last programming reminder is usually the spoiler warning. It's a friendly neighborhood one. We don't really have one today.

You know, you will hear in each question the subject of the question. And thus you will know what we're about to talk about. If you don't want to hear us talk about that given thing, you can hit fast forward a couple times. But of course, as always, we're not going to be getting into plot details from the future because we don't know them. We're going to maybe talk about some of our universes that we love to spend time in. We'll see how it goes. Not much of a spoiler repud today. Should we get into it? Let's do it. I'm so excited. Our first question comes from Wayne.

Huge longtime fan of both your work. Thanks, Wayne. Hey, man. Thanks, Wayne. Thanks, thanks, Wayne. Thanks, thanks so much, Wayne. So happy to have an excuse to reach out for my question. I'd like to know what narrative conceits does three body problem need, need to land in your opinion to be a successful TV adaptation, distant and converging timelines, VR allegory, medical drama, or something else entirely. Joanna, three-body problem.

It's on the people's mind. It is nearing. It is looming. It is upon us in March. What does three-body problem need to get right to work? Tell us. Let me just say a couple things. Okay.

Mallory and I have not yet read the books upon which this TV series is based. However, we plan to. And in order to keep us honest about that, not that we're ever dishonest about our reading habits, not that we ever cram them in the weekend before the thing drops. But to keep us on pace, we are currently planning to do book club episodes around Three Body Problem, the first book, at least. in mid-March, like March 12th and March 19th is what we're eyeing for two book club episodes. So we'll talk more about some books to read to keep track with us this year in our coverage.

That's another question on the horizon. But just so you know, we haven't read the books yet. So when we saw this question, it's like, how can we answer this, not having read the books? I did some light, spoiler-free Googling. And here are some things I know. This is a sprawling cast. and this is a show that is being co-run by Weiss and Benioff and Make Game of Thrones. And so if there's one thing they know how to do...

Avianabot them lots? There's one thing they know how to do. It's going to invest in a sprawling cast. But also what I've heard that they've done is they have conflated several characters and also created a stronger connective tissue, a familiarity between some of these characters to sort of ease us into this mass. the sprawling narrative. And it reminds me of the Thrones pilot and the way that they thought of that show is like, you know, two old friends meet for dinner and their families meet each other. You know what I mean? Like keep it really local and really concentrated. So that's one thing. The other thing that you and I both heard from people who have read the books who love the books, but also have issued some gentle cautionary language around the dense mathematical aspects of. of this story, something that could be intimidating

and a barrier of entry to some people. I have concerns about that in terms of I want everyone to, we always want everything to be great. We always want everyone to be enjoying it together. That is our favorite thing to do always, obviously. And I worry about the sci-fi nature being a little too dense and being a barrier of entry for people. So I hope that they're able to translate those problems.

I was reading a bit about the recent Chinese adaptations. There's like a live action and animated adaptation of the book and sort of what those adaptations got right and got wrong. And I think the question of the sort of techno babble, if you prefer, however you want to call it, being a sort of dense issue there is I think something that they really want to make sure that they get right. So we're telling a story that is once imaginative and otherworldly and all of that, but also human and related. and has a beating heart that we can all get invested in. I would say that's the, I don't know if that's too vague, but that's sort of, I think, the main mandate for the show. Unsurprisingly, we're in a very similar place here thinking about what awaits

and what needs to happen here. The Benioff and Weiss factor is so crucial here because obviously we all have, I think, a lot of lingering trauma bond. is intact and strong from the end of Thrones, but the beginning of Thrones, building and taking us into a world where that depth of shared history was so readily apparent to us,

we are standing there with Robert and Ned in front of Leanna's crypt, and we can feel the depth of what has passed between them in an instant. It is a gift that they have as creators and world builders. And so thrones, a song of ice and fire, and the three-body universe are very different stories. But a thing that they share is this breath, this scope.

Like, we all talk all the time in our thrones and dune and foundation and three-body now era of adaptations about the, our buddy Ben Lindberg has written some great pieces on The Ringer.com. What a great website about this, about the idea of, like, quote-unquote, unadaptable IP and how this is like no longer a blocker to getting things made. And you think about the skill and deftness that Beniof and Weiss have to bring us in and make us care and clarify the stakes, but then grip us with characters with human beings. And how it feels like, again, with your caveat issued about our level of familiarity with the particulars of the story, it feels like that will be an essential thing here where this balance of, the plot mechanic, the actual structure and lore and mythology of the sci-fi aspects of the story, the question of how you root and anchor something that spans this many locations and places.

There was an interesting stretch in the Hollywood Reporter feature a couple weeks ago about, like none of the locations are going to stick around. You're here, then you're here, then you're here, you're constantly on the move, right? You're going across these, the eons as this existential threat loom. And so we have to be invested in the driver of that plot, but the way to get us to care is by establishing the relationships among the people. And so the question of, like, humanity uniting or warring with itself in the face of this existential threat is such an interesting thing. Like, can people unite and come together when the doom is on the horizon and is apparent?

of course, human nature, the answer is no. So then what does that look like and what form does it take? And who do we get attached to and how? That's, I think, the thing that they have to nail immediately so that we're invested. The Netflix binge of it all is like the other variable here because on the one hand, it's this like helpful. We talked about this a little bit in our hype draft episode, right? On the one hand, it's a little bit of a cheat code where you don't necessarily need to stop and wonder and things. and work through whatever stumping you, you move on.

The mystery carries you, the plot propels you. But a show like this, the density, the meatiness. Oh, yes. Now I'm going to, now every time I say it, I'm going to know I'm saying it. What I have to assume really benefit from the time and space to breathe and think and reflect a process and parse, right? So I just, um, I just hope that the people at home listening, could like hear the eye contact you just made with me, the thrilling eye contact just made in me over Zoom when you sent me, when you lent into your mic and said meatiness.

Yeah, I agree with all that. I think the binge has me worried. I think some of the sci-fi elements have me worried in that, like, in that hearing from some people about how they felt about Foundation. Foundation was by no means an unpopular show, but it didn't break wide the way that Shirley Apple hoped that it would. And I think some of that like bouncing around in time and, you know, trying to keep kind of keep a grasp on all the various plot mechanics and concepts. I would describe that show that I broadly like as not just occasionally impenetrable.

Right. And we want, what do we want? Full penetration. So. You're being sobering. Exactly. So, again, I've heard some. Smooth.

penetration. I've heard some optimistic things in terms of that like conflation of characters, adding some, you know, personal history to connect people that has made me optimistic. And I should say that, yeah, I mean, I'm more excited in the last couple weeks as like people have started to see episodes, all this sort of stuff like that. I'm hyped. Then I have been, I was very worried before. Now I'm slightly less worried. is good to remind myself that no matter how you feel about them, Weiss and Bennoff have proven themselves to be very good at adapting things. Absolutely. And when they're making shit up, less good. They know how the story is supposed to end. Exactly. The books are done. So,

huge news, folks. We keep our feet on the ground and our connection to the source material. Totally. We don't lose the plot. Then we can have a great time together. I'm hopeful. I'm really optimistic about this. Also, you know, like Jonathan Price is a cult leader, Joe. When do we say no? Come on. Benedict Wong doing literally anything. Wongers himself? Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait. I'm excited for this. Excited to read the books, excited to talk about them together, a pod about them together. Excited to dive into the show. What a time. A new world for us. So yeah. If folks want to get a jump start, first book, three body problem. We're going to do some book club and about it. Join us in the club. And by de club, I mean,

book club. So there you go. That was a wild, wild moment just now. It really was. We really all experienced it together as a golden trio. Oh, boy. Bad babies, you heard Joe. Join us in DeClub. Steve didn't even give me the benefit of like a sound bite to cover. Joanna Robinson, February 6th, 2024, join us in to club. You're being so brave. Thank you, Steve. All right. Should we go to question number two? Yeah, let's do it.

How else can I possibly? Top in Dupaclund. Oh, boy. Question number two. Yeah. Eric. Cause. It's fun.

Yeah. Love a car. So, yeah. With all of the adaptations going on, do either of you have a soft spot for a decent movie, but an, awful adaptation.

With the record state, Joanna, that awful is in all caps. Oh, okay. I am now resuming Eric's question. Thank you. I'm a sucker for Ready Player 1. The movie is serviceable and enjoyable, but boy, oh boy, is it a bad adaptation of the book and its characters. The next sentence is not related to the question, but it is important to share with the bad babies who are listening to this year, 2004, winter mailbag. As a New Englander, there is only one type of apple that matters, and that's an apple cider.

donut. Joe, I fucking love apple cider donuts. Going apple picking at the Syracuse, New York orchards, fill in a bag with apples, and then going and getting a fresh dozen of apple cider donuts was a heavenly experience. I have like such a strong sense memory of that. One of my best pals Taylor, who still lives up in the area, the first couple years out of college would overnight me of a box from one of our favorite orders. church for my birthday every year. She's a great one. Yeah.

I have never had an apple cider donut. What? Not even into club? They don't serve apple cider donuts into club. I don't know when the last time you attended to club was, but they don't serve apple cider donuts there. Oh, my, okay, we've got to get you an apple cider donut. And we have to do it in the fall.

It has, it's got to be a fall experience. It has to be. So we need to make our way to central. New York or New England in the fall. Okay. Perhaps the Pacific Northwest. We could probably do that. There's some apple picking up here.

I have also experienced Apple products around the finger leaks in New York and that is just like on a different level altogether. So I'm not claiming it's the same. But yeah, I've never, I don't love a donut personally. So I like a thing. What? Yeah. Sorry.

Wait. I don't like donuts very much. Sorry to tell you that. I like a hot cake donut. No, absolutely not. I like a hot donut hole, a munchkin, a fritter, a bear clot? Oh, I really don't like Duncan at all. I like a hot fresh, hot fresh glazed from Duncan. Oh, from Krispy Cream. Hot fresh glazed and Krispy Cream, yes. Delicious. Yeah. And then there used to be a place in Oakland called Donut Dollies where she made. Yes, yeast donuts that were, like, filled with, like, incredible custards. Those are really good.

They were, like, hot and fresh and local and all sorts of stuff like that. But she closed, and I haven't had a donut since she closed, which was years ago. So, yeah. I don't know. There's just never been. And a cold, I feel a cold donut is so dense and so sweet. I just, it's not for me, personally. Wow.

I don't know why you're surprised by this. Because, like, at this point, don't you know that, like, like extremely sweet things aren't really my jam and is that not exactly what a donut is, you know? In part because of the presence occasionally of jam and your absolute aversion to... Is this going to be the last time we talked about my aversion to jam and or jelly? No. Oh, God, wow.

It's going to be a, it's going to be a, today's going to be a journey. I love a donut. Won't surprise you hear that I love a donut. It has been a day and a half since my last donut and it'll probably only be a, be a day and a half until my next donut. I rarely go more than a handful of days without a donut if I can help it. It's honestly, it's amazing. I'm alive, but like, I just fucking love a donut. Routinely might be overstating it, but we'll, every now and then, we'll just order a dozen donuts, six each. Just, you know, have some snacks around. I love a maple bar. I've really, really loved exploring.

That's the worst one. I love a maple bar. Because it made you, you know that feeling when your teeth hurt from the sugar. No. Isn't that how you know you're alive? That's how I know I'm alive. How are we doing on the doctor's appointments resolution for this year, Mallory? I'll follow up. I'll follow up.

Right around when we stop saying that House of ours a newish podcast feed, I'll let you know. I'll check back in March then. Boy, okay. Fascinating aside on the donuts, I've learned a lot, as always. What would you like to tell us about a decent movie? Oh, I would like to stay for the record that I didn't pick a movie. I picked a show. Just throwing that out there. A decent movie slash show that it is an awful, all caps, adaptation of the source material.

What do you got? I mean, awful is so subjective. I guess I went with like unfaithful, like wildly unfaithful. Yeah. I would say decent and awful as operative words here. You can kind of. I have three movies that I really like slash love that have almost nothing to do with their source material besides sharing the same name. Okay.

Tell me. One would be the. the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's book Stardust, which has like nothing, almost nothing to do with that book. Yeah. It's like, not almost nothing, but it's like a 50% different than the book.

But I really like it. I think it's delightful and a wonderful time at the cinema starst. It will not surprise Stephen King fans to hear that a Stanley Kubrick film is on here, but it's not a Stephen King book.

It's the thin red line. Basically, Stanley Kubrick's like, what source material? Anytime that he is given a book to adapt, he's like, a big guideline to sort of shoot for. And one of my favorite things about thin red line, which is one of my favorite war movies. It's a lot of shots of gently waving grass, but like one of my favorite stories about that movie

is that the actors who thought they were the lead of that movie wound up being largely cut out of that movie. And he's like, what if it's, he just makes his movies in the edit. So he cannot possibly adapt a book because he's just making up the movie as he goes. And so, like, there's all these quotes from actors who are so disgruntled that they were, like, cut out of the movies

that they thought they were the leads in. And in Thin Red Line, it's mostly Adrian Brody who, like, went to the movie theater, and he was like, I'm sorry, am I not the lead character in this movie anymore? Okay. Oh, man. Last but not least, one of my favorite Stevie Spielberg

movies of all-time Minority Report. Mm-hmm. does not have a lot to do. But that is based on a, what we call it a novella or a short story? I'm novella. And novellas are some of my favorite things that people adapt because there's just enough room for someone to play around in it

or if you're keeping things short. Novellas are just such a smart source material to mine and I think more people should do it. We say after just talking about three body problem of like dense and sprawling narrative adaptation that we're excited for. Mallory, what's your show? What's your show? Those are good picks.

I actually had trouble with this question. I think in part because typically if I have an attachment to the source material, see the movie or show, think it's a poor adaptation. It's very difficult for me to then make my way to enjoying it. though I can get there like honestly this was my experience from Goblet on with not all

but many of the Harry movies where I was wondering if you're going to pick Potter honestly I was really tempted to pick Goblet or Prince which were the two that I had because those are my two favorite books in the series and the movies I just was like first of all Goblet it was the first time that I had seen a movie after reading the books

because I read all, I read, I cut off after Ascompan. Right. Saw Ascompan in the theater, drove to the bookstore, read the first five which were out at that time. So Goblo was my first time seeing a film where I had not only like an attachment to the book,

but that was like really a transformative reading experience for me. Reading Goblet for the first time. This might come up again later today and another question that we got. And I was just like, we'd be here for six hours if I went through the list of things, right? But like they did what with Marty Crouch Jr.? et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It was, like, painful for me.

And then when I knew what the movie was and went back the next day to see it, I was like, this is a pretty fun movie, right? Etc. So that was typically my experience with the adaptations from there. But I ended up. That's what a lot of Potter fan, you know, and I would consider myself a Potter fan, but I love the Half Blood Prince movie. This is a divide for us.

Prince is a sin to me. Yeah, I love that movie. But, like, I have heard from a lot of people who want you, like, who are slightly different to you in that they're like, I can see how that movie works and it's a terrible adaptation of a book I love. And I'm like, yeah.

That print, the prince is number one on my list of like the adaptation and the choices in adapting that cherished book is like, that's the hardest one for me to try to make my way to, but this is just a pretty good film if you sit down to watch it.

I'm like, but would Harry just stand there and watch? They weren't frozen in place? No. Anyway, again, we don't have time for all that today. Here's what I ended up picking instead. That could just be my answer. I went with the passage because I, and again, like, decent.

I felt like decent was, that's the extent I could go to for like speaking about the show in a vacuum. Yeah. I would not say that was a, certainly would not say that was a great show. I don't even think I'd say it was a good show. But I think if you watched the passage, the 10 episode 2019, Fox adaptation Without any attachment to or familiarity

of the source material of the Justin Cronin trilogy would be like Interesting curious to see where this goes And what they're doing What's up with Amy? Intriged by this project Noah

If you have read the past I love those books I love them Yeah And I consider the reason I pick this is It's twofold one it's the actual adaptive choices inside of the thing itself, which I think almost completely missed the point and the tone in particular of the books. The fact that this was a 10-episode Fox television

series, like, why? I remember being so baffled by this at the time. This, like, has to be done at some point again as a prestige streaming era, like HBO or maybe Apple, like in the Apple genre boom, this is a great, gritty, unrelentingly grim, dystopian tale. Like a 42-minute network TV. It was not going to, it just was not going to work. I'm pained by this still because I think these books deserve an adaptation that's worthy of the execution inside of this really excellent tale. So that's my pick.

That's a great answer. I'd never watch past the first episode of that show because I just didn't think they got it and it didn't seem worth it. But, um, awful caps on the adaptation front, for sure. I'm with you on the books. I just,

those are phenomenal books. Yeah. They're great. Question number three. Yeah. This one's from Jake. It, see?

You don't usually do this, but it's just like, it just sort of like, gives you a little, I love the car. A frisson of excitement. I can also just hear better with a new setup.

So it's like, there's that car. Loud and clear. Loud and clear. Jake says, would you ever consider doing a rewatch for Avatar the Last Airbender slash Cora the way you did for Doctor Who? With the new Avatar The Last Airbender content coming from Paramount Plus and the OG creators, as well as the Netflix live action adaptation, do you intend to cover any of this when it drops?

Side note, will you be considering Ang, Katara, and Saka as part of your golden trio announcement? analysis. Very excited to hear that pod as well. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need weather tech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer.

Visit weathertech.com today. You've lost all sense with this new mic setup. Okay. Resounding yes to will there be Avatar the Last Man Air Bender discussion in the Golden Trio Trots course on Friday. And Katar and Saka are

a clear trio, but there's actually like a number of ways in which you could craft the trio of characters across. I have like, I have like a preliminary list of candidates, which we will narrow down because we don't need to be here all day on Friday. But there's like five different possibilities for Avatar. We'll talk about at least some of them on Friday. And then I don't know if it's illegal to do this on a different podcast. I'll just balance it by a Mallory plug and then a Joanna plug. Mallory, if you want to hear Mallory talk more

about why the Half-Blood Prince is an incorrect adaptation of a great book, you should listen to binge moan Harry Potter if you haven't. There are hours and hours and hours of Mallory talking about Potter, you should listen to that. If you want hours and hours and hours of me talking about Avatar of the Last Arabender and Cora, there's a podcast called Republic City Dispatch that I did for years. So I did the Cora episodes. But that is like with Matt Pouches, Dave Gonzalez and DaVindra Hardwar. And that's, that was a really, that was like early in my podcasting career. So you'll hear like baby voice, Joanna covering that stuff if you want to. But if you don't want to If you don't want to do any of that, if you don't want to do any of that, guess what? Yes, of course. We're covering Avatar The Last Airbender here in the House of Our Feed. We are, we're going to do at least a couple episodes, one looking sort of back and then one covering the Netflix drop. And then if we find there's more to cover, maybe we'll expand from there. But that's sort of our current, it's tough with a Netflix binge drop to sort of draw it out. So that's, there'll be like a look back. And then,

coverage of the actual show. Mal, anything you want to say? I'm really excited for the primer pod. I just started my rewatch last night, which is the first couple episodes. I know. I'm like, what an early start and then realized we're recording that pod in a week and a half? And it was like, wait a minute. That's how I felt last Friday when I was like, oh, and then I'll have all this time to research the tropes course. And I was like, next week, holy cats. So it's all coming. What is time. I can just see you like one. In one hand, you'll be holding Dune for your Dune reread. The other hand will be your fresh new copy of the three-body problem.

And then on the screen will be Avatar with also the Super Bowl question mark. Absolutely. Yeah. And then, you know, got to get that bad batch rewatch in there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's good. Meaty a couple weeks.

Meady as hell, if you do not have time to rewatch all of Avatar, the last airbender, we'll do it for you. and we'll be doing a primer pod with top moments. So that's our job, not yours. But I'm really excited for that. I will admit, you know that I'm already apprehensive about this live action adaptation. Some of the interviews that we've been getting in the last week or so has made me even a bit more apprehensive. So we shall see.

We are keeping hope alive. But, you know, we are definitely very excited to do the primer pod. That is for certain. No matter what. No matter what. The primer pod will have a last. Joy. Not that we need an excuse, but a word.

wonderful excuse to go back and revisit three of our favorite seasons of television. What a beautiful story and wonderful world. It just cannot wait. And we haven't really gotten to talk about, I mean, we reference Avatar. It comes up, but we haven't really gotten to talk about Avatar together at length. So that's a very exciting thing. I can't wait for that. And to the other part of Jake's question, like with the Avatar Studios Paramount Plus Nickelodeon,

this entire other parallel path of content generation. The answer there is an emphatic yes. We will be covered all of that when that comes out. I'm sorry, is Zuko movie? Anything Brian and Mike want to do, I will be there for, like without question. Cannot wait. Yeah. Cannot wait.

Three movies. We're going to get shows. We're going to be in the animated realm. I am so excited for all the years. A Kyoshi movie? I mean, Kyoshi movie, like a Zuka movie? What more could we want?

The Avatar Kyoshi movie is going to be like a Nexus event for me. Also, I know it's really can't wait. Steve loves Kyoshi. We are. We are of one mind about that. Thrilling. So that's a long way of us saying yes. We'll be talking about all of this.

Can't wait. Question number four. Uh-huh. Comes from Tom. You teased this, Joe. You teased this question earlier because you're a pro. Do you have any book recommendations for stuff you think you will be covering this year? Example.

Three body problem. So we can be smug book readers before it comes out. The answer is, of course, yes. There's always a little asterisk with a question like this, which is sometimes we don't know what's coming out this year. So there might be even more. Yes. And like sometimes you don't see things coming.

Like we wish we had read Silo and known, you know. So as best we could research and sort of look for things to flag is the prep we did here. Yeah. Should we just go kind of chronological-ish order? Start with March? Dune. Doon? Have you heard of that?

This is kind of a twofer for this year, actually, because we get the Dune movie March 1st, but then we're getting Dune Prophecy, the HBO Mac show, fall slash winter-ish. And if you were to put both of those on a hype draft, You would be brilliant. A loser, but brilliant. I respected the strategy. Thanks. Yeah, dude.

It's so soon. Oh, man, I know. When we were texting about it last night, I had that very familiar house of our feeling of like a tidal wave of euphoric joy in anticipation and then debilitated anxiety about how close it was. And then just like, he broke out. I was like, this is in three weeks. And a cold sweat. Yes, read Dune. A little little ditty by Frank Herbert.

Just genuinely and sincerely one of the best or most important. Yeah. Sci-fi tales ever told. Give it a go. Dune. Read it. Three body problem. Read it.

So March. Also March. So that's, yeah. And if you want to read the whole trilogy, great. If you only want to read the first book like Joseph. said earlier, that should position you well. To meet us where? To meet us where?

That's the password you need to get into the club. I think the password is obviously meaty. The password to the club is obviously. So the club is called, the club is called bad babies, right? The password is meaty. Okay. I feel like this is a business opportunity that we should consider. I mean, we already have House of Reeds, you know.

But this is like next door, this is like, I'm going to use a Bill Simmonsism. Are you ready? This is like in 9-0-2-1-0 when they opened up the Peach Pit after dark next to the Peach Pit. Okay. I was going to ask, is this like, is this just, does House of Reeds transform into Decloth? House of Reeds after dark. Yeah, House of Reeds after dark.

It's kind of always House of Reeds after dark, though, if we're being honest. So, yeah, maybe we need to just have a neighboring establishment. Yeah, it's just like a weird little warehouse next door that they turned into the club. The Peachman Out of the Back. And if you've read all of Remembrance of Earth's Past, you can get in. And if you've only read through your body problem, you can get in. Okay. On the Marchfront, we'll just mention, we don't have like a locked plan for how we're going to be covering the second volume of season two of Invincible.

We'll probably check in around the finale. That would be likely. You know, we love chatting about the premiere of the season. The guys will be covering it, of course, on Ring Reverse. So just a reminder that Invincible is coming back soon for the second half of season two. So get in there with the comics, if you haven't yet. This is another great one. They're just absolutely fabulous.

Take a gander. Summer? Otty. Fireblood. Are you heard of it? This is the stuff Lytton? This is the stuff. I miss saying this is the stuff like 25 times per pod.

I do. I really. Let's bring it back, baby. House of the Dragon. Read Fire and Blood. It's fantastic. Yeah. Really is.

Really is. And the thing about this, we talked about this so much during our Hot season one coverage, but it's such a treat, it's such an interesting reading experience to go through fire and blood, this fictional history of House Targaryen.

The show is doing so much in the spaces between every word and every question mark in every period in every sentence, that so much of it will still feel new. If you're ever like, well, I'm, yeah, I'm intrigued, I'm curious, but I don't want to know everything that happens before I watch the show.

This is actually a great opportunity to read the source material first and alleviate that concern, because it's not really a concern here. You'll know some major beats, of course, some battles, etc. But the show is filling in so many of the spaces. This is, I mean, it's similar to the adaptation conversation

we just had where it's like, this is one of those, it's like a skeletal text, a bullet point list, if you will, that, you know, Ryan Condal, et cetera, are flushing out. And I'm really excited for Hot D. Sevens. I've missed the dragons. I've missed talking to Chris Ryan about things he does not understand. It's a great time. We're coming back.

I can't wait to do this in whatever the fuck early summer means. Something. Something like, yeah. By whose metric? Are we calling it summer or early? Something that was on my list that we skipped over, just because now it's been shot into indefinite territory is Mickey 7, Mickey 17. Like, we don't know when that's going to drop. It was supposed to be in March. We don't know when it's going to drop. But that's one that I think we'll want to read the book for. Yeah. Yes. Definitely. Oh, yes. Yes. Oh, yes. How about the acolyte? This is one where. okay, we don't know when the accolade is coming out, we're assuming summer, but we don't know exactly when. Here's the, this is a pretty broad reading recommendation for the accolite.

I think as we get closer to it, when we see trailers and get a better feel for the exact story, we'll probably be able to provide some more specific recommendations. But broadly, just a reminder that this is set in the High Republic era. So it's this new stretch of the timeline for the TV film sphere of Star Wars storytimes. telling, but for a couple of years now, the High Republic publishing arm has been active. So there are so many comics and novels, stories set in the High Republic era. If you're interested, the High Republic era is broken into phases, right?

So the Acklites are going to be in this phase three swath. If you just want to get a feel for, like, what's going on broadly in the High Republic era in Star Wars, I would say at this point, if you just want to feel and a taste, don't even worry about like is there going to be an exact companion comic or novel related characters? There isn't. Right.

Just dive in to the beginning. For the vibe and for a feel for the period. Just start with the first, the story that kicked off the High Republic publishing arm, the Charlestle Light of the Jedi novel or Star Wars, the High Republic comics, Kevin Scott, Ario, and Indito. Acclimate there and then you can dabble further.

There are so many things in phases one and two already, and we're in the midst of the kickoff here for phase three. So there's a lot to explore if you're interested in that, and that's a good way to just get a taste. I think that makes sense to sort of understand the lay of the land. And certainly, like, you know, we know that, like, Ben will certainly be mining plenty of that for expanded lore when we talk about that series. But something I am excited about for that series is that unlike Marvel Spotlight Show Echo, like, I really really. do think you can go into Acolyte, not knowing anything. That's like sort of the proposal of that show, the promise of that show. So we love reading assignments. We love homework. But that is a show that if you're not into homework, you can just go in fresh. That doesn't have a lot of connective tissue. So, yeah. What's next? Our rings of power? What are the rings?

Fall slash winter, we think. We don't know exactly when, but get the things. There's a power this year. Yeah. Out. Also, for the War of the Roheum, if you want to read the two towers, to re-equate yourself with the horse people, that's something that you could do.

I love those horse people. And then Sandman, season two. Coming soon, Mallory. Not to trigger you. Coming soon. Coming soon. I will not put any stock into any time frame around Sandman until the minute I sent down to watch it.

never again. I can't wait for more Sam, man. That was so fun. We had time. We had a great time with the show and talking to Mark about it and revisiting this incredible creation from Neil Gaiman.

That was fun. That was one pod episode that we did, but it felt like more because we spent so much time in the stories. Yeah, I love that. I did a lot of reading for one pod. But it was fun. Another classic Netflix binge drop,

but here we are. Have you heard anything about cold storage? This is, okay, so this is a Liam Neeson, Joe Curie joint. Yes. And I'm just going to read description to you. The story examines what happens when a dangerous fungus is released into the world and wreaks havoc. You're earning tendrils.

Make mushrooms your bitch 2024. You're earning tendrils. With cold storage. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I, uh, longing, yearning tendrils longing to be free. I don't want it. We've got App Awards.

We've got sign it with your pickle. We've found a way forward. Every pod, having this classic experience where in real time I'm remembering that wasn't on this podcast, but every pod that we did on the press TV on speed. On the prestige TV pod. Check out Joe's fabulous true detective episodes over there right now. I replied starting with a mushroom recipe.

That was a time. It was a wild time. I was trying when Fargo, at the end of Fargo, we were getting so many emails. And I was trying to tell Rahmohoni, I was like, this is the most emails I think I've ever gotten for a non-house the Dragon show. And he was like, even with the mushroom recipes, I was like, no, no, I forgot about the mushroom recipes. That was out of control. It was an abundance of mushroom. Coleric talk.

Yeah. Yeah, 2025. Allegedly we're getting the last of the season two and more Stranger Things. So I'm really glad I didn't let Mallory put Stranger Things on her hype draft because it has been confirmed now for 2025. But that's going to be a good year, 2025. I know. It's very early for me to like next year. We're going to have a blast, but we are.

I don't know, man. The years melt away. We've been doing this Seattle for two and a half years already. Can you believe it? That is truly bananas. Yeah. But what a two and a half years it's been. I've loved every second. What a meaty time. Speaking of a two and a half year, not quite but is. Very long stretch of time. Let's get to our fifth question today. It pains me to read this aloud. Yeah. It is from Emily. If you're driving, buckle up. If you're at home, hold a loved one's hand. Joanna, here's the question. Yeah. How many days has it been? since we've seen cop,

van. Molly Urban, are you all, has everyone buckled in for this? I'm like, disturbing. I'm afraid to hear the answer.

Disturves me to tell you that it has been 727 days since we last on the call. No. Yeah, unless Google did me dirty, yes.

My goodness. I mean, we're almost at the two-year mark because it was February. was the 9th, 2020. February 9th, 2020. Yeah.

Holy fuck. Wow. 727 days. It's not acceptable. I think we're going to have to give up on Cobb Vance for a little while. Maybe until the move we get the, well, definitely until we get the movie, I suppose. But we can start our... Give us aliens soon, Noah Hawley.

Give us some oliphant in aliens action. That's what we need to see. But yeah, it's been a dismal 727 days since the last song copy. Oh, my God. What a source of befuddlement and anguish? Unceasing. What did you call it the imaginary Apple adaptation of the passage? Unrelentally grim.

Oh, boy. Good stuff. Okay. Thank you, Emily, for that painful reminder. finder. How long it's been since we've eased upon his resting, healing form in the Bacta Tink. I don't know if I said this ever on one of our podcasts, because I don't know that you ever, anyway, one of the highlights of the book tour was when we were in Denver and someone

brought a sign that had written on it. It's been however many days since we last out of Cobbant and like on like and just like held it up from the audience. And I was like, wow, the gospel has been spread. Doing important work. Very important work on the road for the bookstore. It's great. Love to see it.

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2% cash rewards on purchases. Say it with me, the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo, be a 2%er. Learn more. at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash terms of play. Next question. Number six. From Joey. Thoughts of the James Gunn Superman casting? Are you guys excited for the new DC direction?

Do you intend to cover it ahead of Superman dropping in 2025? I think we can safely say we'll be covering the DCU. The film. I mean, Superman legacy. I'm so sorry that we just. didn't fulfill your dream of podcasting from a body of water to cover Aquaman. I have regrets. Yeah.

Well, I don't, but I know you do, and I'm sorry about that. Maybe on an anniversary at some point in the future. Superman, however, skis. Yeah. We'll be there. I'm very excited for. Same. I talked to Andy a bit about this on the watch last week.

that on the one hand I'm like quite excited about a lot of the casting Nick Holtz as Lex Luthor has me extremely excited all this kind of stuff the thing that I'm a little worried about is that you know there's like we have Hawk Grove casting we have Green Lantern casting we've got like a bunch of different Justice League casting news inside of that and I don't know if they're just mere cameos or if there's going to be a more significant presence,

but it just makes me a little worried. I don't want James Gunn to feel like he needs to give us the whole kit and caboodle at the start. We would far prefer a slow ramp up. Like going too fast towards the Justice League was part of the problem with the last go-around on this, which was not that long ago. So that's my only, that and like I'm a little, I'm also, I have some question marks around James Gunn's affection for deep irony and what I consider to be a deeply earnest character

and story that is Superman. I have some questions about that. And he was like, pew-puing my, it's not pew-poo-poo. It's like, Pasha to your concerns, Joanna. And I was like, okay. But those are my only, like, these are, they're not even red flags.

They're like peachy pink flags. And then everything else I've heard about casting has made me so excited for this. a fresh new start. Millie Alcock as Supergirl. Supergirl. Right back in that IP machine. Green lights only for me here.

I'm hyped. I mean, as you know, I really love James Gunn's. Yeah. Genre storytelling, I obviously like the Guardian's movies are among my favorite things in the MCU. In the DCEU, his Suicide Squad movie and Peacemaker, both things that I really enjoyed. I think your point about the tonal translation

to Superman is a completely valid one. It's one of the things that excites me and intrigues me the most is like to see because I think that Gunn has such a deftness for tonal blends and balance and for ensemble storytelling. So to your point about,

will it be too crowded? I think it's a great call out. Like, let's dispense with care who we're meeting and when. But there are few people who I would trust more to nail that, I think. So I am, this, the dawn of the DCU, this chapter one, gods and monsters slate, the stories that we're getting in there, kicking off with Superman, I think recognizing correctly that nailing Superman is an essential, essential we have lift off aspect of what will hopefully be a riveting and consistent. consistently compelling and gripping an immersive connected universe with purpose and focus and intent and a cohesive vision.

I'm hyped about it. I think the Superman casting is like electric so far. You already mentioned our guy, Nicholas Holt. Mick Holt is Lex Luthor. I almost don't need to know anything else about the movie. Seriously. Like it's that inspired. I mean, we love him. He's just one of our shared faves. So this is really thrilling. And Brasnahan as Lois Lane? Midge is here. Yeah, Midge is here. Our gal Midge, Mazzel is here as Lois. I mean, that is what a moment for Mazzel. When they released the short list of actresses that they were considering for Lois Lane, all of whom are talented and great.

I gasped. I gasped. But I was like, it has to be Brosnahan. It must be Brasnahan. And it's perfect. And it was. Perfect. One of my great and abiding loves, Nathan Philean, is, of course, because it's a James Gunn.

Proposition back. Guy Gardner, that's exciting. The whole cast is exciting. Anthony Kerrigan's here, like Barry Hive, what a moment. This is great. No-ho, Hank. I love him.

Title role, though. Let's talk about Superman for a minute. And really the key here, which is what this means for all of the Philadelphia fans at the Ringer. Okay. Tell me.

David Cornswight is from Philly. What a moment. Did you, are you a We Own This City fan? I thought he was sensational in We Own the City. That's really the extent of my exposure to him, but I thought he was absolutely awesome.

I did not watch We Own the City, but I did watch the politician to my shame and also Pearl. And I think Pearl is the role that really sort of one-to-one him into the Clark Kent role. He's great. He's phenomenal. Yeah.

Like really, really good. Yeah. Wonderful. I can't wait for this. I'm excited. Will it be on part with Aquaman? Who can say? We'll find out together.

It's a high aquatic bar to clear. And yet, perhaps James Gunn shall do it. You think? Okay. Next one. Question seven. Yeah. Emily.

If you put all the new who, doctors, 9 through 15, into a season of Survivor, without their gadgets and TARDIS, without their gadgets and TARDIS, who would come out on top? I figured with the rewatch on the new season, on top of mind, it would be a fun idea to explore. I'm very excited for this question. I was just going to hand us up to you entirely, but now I've decided I also want to answer. No, you have to. It's an opportunity also for you to update us on your your connection to survivors. Is this an ongoing pursuit? What's the latest? I'm not sure I have any new information since the last time we talked.

I was sort of fallen off. But I do feel more informed. I was talking to someone about it a couple of weeks ago, and I felt like on solid ground, able to like opine about what makes Survivor great. Okay. Yeah. I love it.

Okay. So let's go rapid fire here, like dock by dock and see what we think. Let me just say that I think 15, we don't have enough information yet. Sure. We just simply do not have enough information. We just can't say. Nine. Here's my feeling on nine.

Swing vote. Classic number between the alliances, right? Then, at a crucial moment, boasts, you were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I. After a puzzle challenge, it come from behind victory. Alienates, his tribe mates, gets blindsided at tribal. I think a one-season doctor has to be a candidate for a tribal council blindside.

Has to be. Absolutely. Not a winner. I'm with you. You've, to be clear, Mallor has apparently written an entire like account for each person. I'm just coming at the last minute to say who I think is going to win. So I'll just, yes, and you.

Yes. Okay. And? I'm excited for your take on the next thought. Okay. 10 and 14. Both played by David Tennant. Sadly, I think they are immediately voted out.

I think they're the first targets because they're a voting block. They're too much of a threat as an assumed alliance. and then you add in the by generation 15 connection. This is like the Doctor Who universe on Survivor equivalent of a showmance where whether or not these people would actually vote together and stick together, everybody else is afraid that they will and works hard to eliminate them from the jump. I think that 10 and 14 are eliminated immediately. Okay.

I don't think they're first to go. Sadly. But I see your point, but I don't think they're the first to go. But they can't win. No. They're targeted. They're immediately identified as the key threats, I think. Unless one flips on the other because they know that they have to show that they're not in that alliance in order to survive, you know?

It could happen. 14 would flip on 10 is what I'm saying. I could see it. I could see it. I also, I do have some questions about the viability of the footwear on a season of Survivor. Sand shoes? It's, yeah, on like the challenges, I don't know. It might be tough.

Might be tough. But the material probably dries quickly, which is... I feel like, of all of them, not counting 15, because I think he would be the clear frontrunner here, but of all of them, I feel like either 9 or 13 have the best opportunity to win themselves immunity via physical challenges. Okay.

This brings me to 11. Okay. On the one hand, I think 11 could make it far because fish fingers and custard, you can hang with anything on the food front on the island. And that's like actually a big part of it. One of these single most important things, can you hang with any bite of sustenance that you get

to just make it a few more hours further in the game? 11 could do this. Not everybody can. 11 is an established canonical soccer star. A football star, Joe. Challenge beast. Definitely. No, football star, yes.

But then overall, like, clumsy dofists. Like, both the clumsy. Dufus and a football star. Both of those things are true about him. I think clumsy Dufus can actually be an edge in challenges on Survivor because being kind of gangly. Again, though, to your point, this would maybe, this would be beneficial elsewhere as well. It's a lot of it is like hanging on to poles and like just can you maintain like a pinky toe foothold or keep your arm out in front of you long enough. I could see 11 being enough of a threat in this particular survivor challenge realm that everyone else is too afraid that 11 would go on an individual immunity run late in the game,

eliminated. They can't risk it. Got it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. 13. You skipped.

I think 13. I skipped deliberately. Yeah. This is my answer too. Okay. Go ahead. 13. I think it was a clear answer.

I'm not surprised. We both landed there. It's obvious. Okay. 13. This is, okay. Can I hop in front of what is true to be a, sure to be a magical tour? through Survivor lore.

Just to say, if this is an early Survivor season, 13 gets voted off right away. Women don't make it into the final. In the early seasons of Survivor, women don't make it to the end often in Survivor. And so I think she has a target on her back as the only woman of the group. What's your take? It could happen. It could definitely happen. I think if we're playing in the modern,

era of Survivor, 13 strikes me as a lock for final three because the most companions, right? Strong alliance builder always has the numbers. And the thing you need, whether you're an out-wit, an out-player at last, no matter what your particular stylist, you've got to be in the numbers. You have to be able to amass and keep the numbers. You have to know where the numbers are. And 13 has that, I think, more than any other doctor. But I don't think 13 will win. I think we both landed on the same winner. A clear winner. It's obviously 12.

It's the professor, obviously. Come on. The head game. The mind game. So many hallmarks of a survivor winner for 12. That ability to like stay, you know, we talk about the first season. It takes some time to warm up to 12. Like, this is an asset on Survivor.

Staying under the radar early is huge. Being underestimated. Not drawing attention being underestimated. Exactly. Like that's how people, and especially. in the modern era, I would say consistently the players who have the best case and the best game do not win. They're just so objectively and apparently threatening to their fellow players that they are eliminated. So this is like a helpful place to be. And there's that fierce loyalty,

right? Think of Clara. The ability to make peace with a foe. Think of Missy. This is a, on the the social game, side, I think an area where 12 has a real edge. Can cross generations like Bill? Like, you know, I love the cross-generation alliances on Survivor. Absolutely. Yeah. You get to final tribal. Is there a better case that anyone can make on the perseverance front to sway the jury

than heaven sent? I think this just carries the day. And puzzles, solving puzzles. Absolutely. Easy win for 12. It's 12. It's 12. You see 12 sitting there on one of those, like, little stumps at Final Tribal as

Prophs looks on saying pain is a gift, you know, without the capacity for pain. He's like so wiry and rangy at that point. He's like, he's like a tough piece of chicken, but also somehow tan. I don't know what Peter Capaldi would look like with a tan because he's Scottish, but let's just say some of the tan. Oh. Oh, boy. Oh, last, I don't think you'll get much of your hoodie action on his season of Survivor, but, you know, Maybe the nighttime garment, you know, that evening, chill.

Yeah. How would he wear his buff? Where would he wear his buff? What a fabulous question. I am going to go with like a neck. Yeah, neck buff. Yeah, it's a cravat. It's a cravat.

Yeah. Yes, correct. That's right. I love it. That was fun. Great stuff. Thanks, Emily. Thanks, Emily.

And also, Mallory, I'm so. So, Mallory, I'm so excited that you have all this Dr. Who knowledge. I know. I was like, I can do this well. Easy. What a time. What a time and what a joy. All right.

Number eight is a two-parter. Because we simply could not contain ourselves. This is our Dune stretch of the pod. Double feature. It's a double feature, Joe. It sure is. Boy. And what a climax.

All right. I'm going to read both the questions. Crazy. Yeah. Let's call it 8A. This was from Zach. With Dune Part 2 less than a month away. Oh my God, bring back to Mallorubin Dragon, Anxiety Dragon Screech.

Thank you, Steve. Great stuff, Steve. Horrifying. And people like Christopher Nolan praising it as Denise Empire Strikes Back, the hype is real. I know that it's maybe the thing I've been most excited to watch for well over a year now. Probably since Ben picked it on the 2023. The Hype Draft, that's just a little aside there. Back to the question.

What are you most looking forward to seeing? Is it a character interaction? A set piece or a part of the world? Just seeing how the story takes shape? Okay. So that's the first question from Zach. The second question, A, B is from Chris. I should say the first three words were just the sub-exam.

The subject line of the email, and then the rest was the body of the email. Subject line. Dune Popcorn Bucket. Email. That is all. Fellow Marylander love the show. Did you watch the SNL sketch? I watched it on YouTube.

Yeah. I was going to send it to you, but then it was like one of those things where I'm like, I know that 90 people have already sent this to Mallory, so I'm just not going to bother her. I did not see it on SNL, but I saw it on YouTube. These days when I send Mallory TikTok, she's like, yeah. I saw that on Instagram three hours to go, Jordan. I was like, oh, okay.

Not true. I would say 97% of what you send me on TikTok would I have never seen. Only, you know, deep into the Percy Jackson, Instagram Real Hive. So that's the one and only time that it ever happened, I think. Dune popcorn buckets. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Will we be getting them?

Absolutely, without question. I have a question about the- just except the doom popcorn bucket. About how to... The concept is you like fist it, grab your handful of popcorn and then pull it out? Yeah. Yeah.

The concept is you fist it. That's what they're going for. God's being good. I mean, what else are you doing to it? Not. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It doesn't occur to me until like...

You can like shake it and like get like a kernel in the edge and then gently like tongue a piece of popcorn into your mouth. You could do that. You're going to edge and rim your your

your dog bad baby. I mean, this is not our fault. This is the popcorn bucket maker's fault. Absolutely not awful. What are it?

What are they going to think? I will say I prefer no butter on my popcorn and I don't know if that'll just like make for a rougher time at the old sandworm mouth bucket thing.

Here. I think. You want a smoother entrance. I don't know. So we are hopefully going to get to see Dune together. Yeah. Hopefully. But yes.

We are going to see Dune together. But also, when are the buckets, are they currently available or not available until that screening? Great question. Great question. I don't know. We're going to get one at the screening. We're going to go again, opening weekend, get another one.

We're going to make some Instagram content. I'm curious, because I'm going to a press screening too, and I'm curious if they'll have them on the first screening. I mean, dare they? Dare they on the media? With that much fodder. I don't know. Dune popcorn bucket situation.

I don't know. Anyway, thank you, Chris for that email. Thanks, Chris. And thank you to the fine folks at AMC. An astonishing thing. Oh, yeah. It was just an EMC situation. Okay, then we're not getting at the press.

No, actually, maybe. Okay, anyway. And then Zach was asking about the substance of the cinematic classic. Yeah, what do you most look forward to in doing part two? Other than the overwhelming. I'm so excited for you to see it on the big screen. That is really exciting for me. Yeah, because I didn't see the first Dune.

COVID. In the movies. I was at home. I risked life and limb to sit in a very packed IMAX theater. and like, you know, hyperventilated to my mask watching it. But the sheer overwhelm of the IMAX experience, the sound and the visuals, like that's obviously high on the list. Moors and Dea, et cetera, that's all on the list.

But the two sort of story character elements I'm really excited about, I don't believe this is a spoiler, but I will rely on you to stop me if you think it is. the complication of the Messiah narrative. This is my answer as well. Okay, great. Then we are both pure and perfect and not spilling anything. We won't get into any of the specifics of the story, but I think I feel that this is safe because the trailers are built around this idea, I think.

This is how the movie is being marketed as a story that's interested in examining how a prophecy and how the idea of a Messiah impacts a society and a person. This is also my pick. go for it. And then my second part, I will let you flesh out the Messiah narrative thing, is the palace intrigue aspect of the later parts of the Dune novel. Leis Adieu is playing this character Lady Margo. And then they have not announced who is playing her husband, Count Fenring. People think that possibly Tim Blake Nelson, who is in the cast, is playing her husband. But they refuse to confirm.

who Tim Blake Nelson is playing. And there's this quote in the Hollywood Reporter article about it that says, quote, details for Nelson's role are being kept deep in the sand. What does that mean? Like, what could possibly be a spoiler? So is he playing Count Fenring and will we get Tim like Nelson, who we love who's so good at being like sly and all this sort of stuff, with Leia Sedu as these like scheming members of the court?

Or is he playing a character from a future book? Dunn Messiah and they're bringing it forward into Dune 2. So solving the mystery of Tim Blake Nelson slash the actual palace intrigue that happens in the plot of, you know, we're Thrones fans. We love palace intrigue. That's part of another part that I'm really excited for. Oh, fascinating. Do you think he fucks the popcorn bucket at any point? I think anyone in the movie sticks their dick into the keeping maw of a plastic sand?

If anyone is fucking the bucket, it's the baron. Like, the baron is suspect numero uno for who fucked the popcorn bucket. It is definitely the baron. And everyone watching the movie, of course. Obviously. We love a shared experience. What else do you want to say about the... I'll just rip off a couple of the lines that we've heard in the trailers.

Because I do think that this is like... Okay, so pan back. We already talked earlier about how much we love to do. It's one of our favorite, our shared favorite stories. We both absolutely loved the first movie.

One of our first pots together. One of our first ones to talk about. My goodness. We can start with Dune. Like, what a joy for us. Wild times. Wild, wild, wild times. Dennyville Nouve is one of my

favorite filmmakers. Like the first tune movie, Arrival, Love Arrival, Sicario, Blade Runner, 2049, Enemy. Like these,

on and on the filmography goes, I just can't wait. to see. And he's such a, one of the coolest parts about the first Dune film in addition to just how beautiful it was and how well made it was, was hearing his passion for the story, right? Hearing about his connection to Frank Herbert's novel. And you could feel that love and that care in every frame of the movie. And so I'm not surprised by this positioning of the trailers and this emphasis in the trailers. And like, I'm just so curious to see how he is a filmmaker. interrogates this idea, this question of like, what role does a prophecy play in a person's life,

in a people's life, in a society, in a world? Emperor, deal with this prophet, sent assassins. Paul, I see possible futures all at once, and in so many futures our enemies prevail, but I do see a way there is a narrow way through. Johnny, you will never lose me as long as you stay who you are. Shawnee, this prophecy is how they enslave us. Paul, it's not a prophecy. It's a story. Stilgar, I don't care what you believe. I believe. Jessica, we gave them something to hope for. Paul. That's not hope. That's not. Gurney, the prophet. Why is that a bad thing? Use it, Paul, because all my visions lead to horror. Gurney, because you lose control, Paul.

gain it. This is like the substance of the trailers. So I'm really excited to see the interest that, uh, that Denny Villeneuve has in this aspect of a sprawling epic and a genre tale and what the part two film does with it. I just, I genuinely can't wait. This is like one of our favorite things to talk about. And I don't blame anyone who like was unfamiliar with the source material who came out of the first movie with that like sort of edginess around the idea of like, is this a white savior story? Like, you know, blah, blah. And all of us who had either seen a different adaptation or read the books or whatever, you know, we're trying to say, like, just wait, this is a much more, like, Frank Herbert is interested in something much more complicated

about the idea of a chosen one. This is not a straightforward chosen one narrative. And so the payoff for that, yeah, I'm very excited for that. It just makes the whole story. I mean, this is an Ertext for Star Wars, which, you know, makes all this other stuff that, you know, and, but I think a lot of the things that have come after it have told much more simplified versions of what Frank Herbert had in his mind when he made Dune and created Paula Trades. So, yes, we will be covering the shit out of Dune. We're so excited. Can't wait. Yeah. Can't wait.

Oh, my God. Okay, I'm excited for this next question, Joe. Yeah. Number nine. It's from California. Catherine. Number nine. Yeah.

I have been trying to convince my boyfriend, Zach, to finish lost for four years at this point. Girl, through a whole pandemic. She's like, come on. And he essentially refuses. He started watching during the pandemic and fell off around Stranger in a Strangeland, which like, fair enough. That made me laugh. But I need him to finish it.

I don't know how much longer I can date someone who hasn't seen Lovie. floor. He loves Loki, Twin Peaks, Severance, literally every in any show that is similar. He listens to almost every episode of House of R. And I'm hoping that you can give him some reasons to finally finish this series. Joanna, the floor is yours. Not having all the information about like why it is that Zach fell off other than Stranger and Strangeland is cannot be the worst. The worst episode of Lost. But maybe if Zach's listening right now, it would help to hear that like, Stranger to Strangeland, like, everyone who made that show knows it's the worst episode of the show. And it was the episode that the creators of that show brought to the network to be like, you can't let us make this show forever.

We're just going to keep making dumb Jack Tattoo episodes. Let us end the show. And that's what ABC was like, okay, you know, we're just going to do a couple more seasons. We're going to give you something to aim for. That was fairly unprecedented in television. It wasn't like the, it was never that. But this is a point that Andy I think was making, oh, never mind, on an episode of Stick the Landing that has not aired yet. So I just got that confused with something that's aired.

Anyway, you'll hear it on a future episode to Stick the Landing than I did with Andy over on the prestige feed. But, you know, show creators were not allowed to simply just decide when they're show ended. So this is like something that was fairly new in the Lost Era. And what comes after in terms of ramping up the genre content, especially season 5, which I think is just like a cute. killer season of genre television is not to be missed. All that aside, I mean, however much I care about Lost or I think it is foundational to all these other shows that came after it, all of that aside, I think, you know, maybe we'll visit this in our Valentine's Day discussion, who knows?

I think if someone, if a partner comes to you and is like, this is really, this story is really important to me, I think you watch the story. I think you go ahead and you do it. You know, and maybe you don't love it, but if it's key to the person that you're choosing to partner with, then watch the show, watch the movie, play the video game, read the book, like, do the thing. Yeah. Yeah. We love sharing stories. We do.

We do. You know, so. This reminds me how Adam used to, he had not read Harry Potter. And he used to always say, I'll read it to our kids one day. And I was like, I'm not having kids with you. If you haven't read this, are you crazy? You think I'm going to move forward and procreate with you if you won't do this for me? What?

But sharing a thing that you love with the person, I mean, first of all, scenes from marriage. Secondly, like, sharing something you love with the person you love. I mean, that's like the foundation. He ended up reading it. He read it during the binge Harry season. It was very, and he loved it. It was very special.

But it took a while. Don't worry. I knew that that was the ending of that story. But, like, you know, getting to pay attention to things you love and share it with the other people that you love. That's, like, what we do here on the show. and I think it's a beautiful thing to do. So I love watching Lost with other people,

especially people who have never seen it before. Like, it's really exciting for them to experience it for the first time. Yeah. I know. I, there's a part of me that's like, just tell them to get to the, so this is, this is 58 episodes total into loss. This is the ninth episode of season three.

So there's a part of me that's like, just convince them to get to the end of season three because through the looking glasses, is just lost at its finest, but television at its finest? Like, it's just supreme. But then there is a part of me that's like, falling off during Stranger and a Straitland, okay, but you've, by this point,

you're into season three. Like, you've seen the pilot. You've seen Walkabout. You've seen Des Mochaquehara. You've seen Man of Science, Man of Faith. You've seen Tale Two Cities. Maybe the show is not for him, and that would be tragic and dismaying.

But okay. I want to leave room for that. Yeah. I think the part of here's the other thing I would say. You make, this is like, you made a beautiful point about the active decision to say, don't let us make episodes like this, which is important. But also, it's like part of the joy of lost. It's this, we don't get to watch TV like this anymore, right?

Everything is like measured to the minute and to the frame. Yes. And like the idea that you could actually sometimes have... A real stinker. Yeah, a stinker. Like, you make the brilliant point often about how this allows us sometimes just the time to like hang with the gang, right? We're with her. We're in the van.

The very next episode after Stranger in Strangeloan is Trisha Tanaka's dead. Which is the ultimate, let's just hang out with the gang episode. And one of the best episodes of Lost of Altime. Exactly. So like you just get one episode further and you see that sometimes. those moments that feel like, okay, wait, what are we doing here are the beauty of it. Yeah. And I think, so I have one of my, the dear, dear friends, we have a lot of tastes in common on the

story front, and he has not watched Lost, and I beg him to watch it. And he says often, it's just too many episodes. Lost is 121 episodes. And he's like, it's just too many episodes. I think this is a very, like, modern TV viewer. I'm used to the seasons of TV being six, eight, ten episodes. One feels like the most daunting thing. I would just say that it is an absolute pleasure to watch 121 episodes of loss.

Like to get to linger in the story with those characters for that long, you will miss it when it's gone. It won't feel like a chore to reach the end. You will be desperate to return. I did my loss for watch at the beginning of COVID, and I'm already like, I mean, I was saying this to you like, eight months after that. But so it's been the case for a couple of years. I'm ready to do it again. Like, I feel the it's in the pole to go back.

We have to go back. I don't know. Loss is the best. If it wouldn't be the cheapest thing in the world. It wouldn't be the cheapest thing in the world for me to do another full loss rewashed podcast. I would do that with you in a minute. Anniversary year.

Anniversary year. Throwing it out there. And I'd just say if there's any time to fall off loss, this first third of season three, which is the Nikki Impalo era, fucking fish biscuit era, and like, like, writer strikes were happening. Like, there's just, like, a lot of stuff going on. It is widely considered the roughest patch of love. However you feel about the finale,

this is widely considered the roughest stretch. And then you were already at the last episode of the roughest stretch. You already got there. The next episode is just your fish-biscuity reward for everything that you've endured. Nikki Impalo. Spoiler will not be around for much longer. So it's fine. on season five. That's like absolutely still one of my favorite time travel.

So good. So good. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. So Catherine and Zach, I hope you watch Lost together, but I guess I will grudgingly agree with Mallory. It is okay, Zach, if you just don't like Lost. That is okay. I mean, I just said that just to try to be nice. Come on, Zach. Zach, join us. Treat yourself to the pleasure of watching Lost. Okay, here's my last sales pitch for Zach. This is just occurring to me, but this was one of the things I loved most about watching Lost for the first time. Catherine is telling us that Zach is a fan of genre stories, a fan of pods, consuming content

around the content. As you're watching Lost, track the books that are appearing in scenes and then read them. You pick up clues. That was one of the fun, really fun things to do, right? You see, like, Haran in the Sea of Stories or everything that rises must converge, and you pick it up. I mean, like, are you capable of seeing Watership Down in Sawyer's Hand and not going to read it?

A Mice and Men is just waiting for you. You know, I told you this before, but I got a copy of our mutual friend, and then I've just been waiting to read it. Won't read it. Yeah. You're cospling doesman's story, and that's phenomenal. Make your own music. Okay. Moving on.

This is actually a nice segue into this next question. Number 10. Nate. My girlfriend and I are currently watching Thrones together for the first. first time, both in preparation for hot D, season two, but also to connect over something that we heard was very special. I was wondering if you could talk about the first time that you remember connecting with someone very special to you. Whether it's a family member or a friend, I think there's nothing better than bonding with someone over a shared love of a story and its characters.

I love listening to every episode of the pod so much. Keep up the amazing work. What a lovely question from Nate. Joe, what is your answer here? Were you capable of picking just one thing. It's a near impossible. I think I've tried to pick something that I haven't talked about before because you and I have talked around this other times in our lives, you know. I can't wait to hear this. I'm excited. I was thinking about my high school friends a lot. And I was thinking about this moment. There's this guy I went to high school with Chris Allen where I walked into classroom. He was talking about something and he made some like really obscure reference to something, not in a way that he hoped I would get it,

just in a way that made sense to him. And I was like, are you talking about Dragonlance novel right now? And he was like, you read Dragonlance? I was like, I do read Dragonlance. And that was like, Dragonlance was like one of the most hyper nerdy things I ever read in my life and I read it in deep, dark secret and never talked about it. So the fact that like I could meet someone who like had also read it. And, you know, then we were like, oh, green light, this is a safe space to talk about

this like extremely appallingly nerdy thing that we both enjoyed. But then that group, Chris and then like these other, you know, friends that we got together with Hillary and Charlie and Kyle and all these people, we used to just go over to Hillary's house and watch movies all the time. I've talked about that before. But I don't know that I've ever talked about the fact that Kyle and Charlie and a couple others would bring over these box sets of, and they were VHS box sets. I mean, we were in the era of DVD.

but these were VHS box sets of the TV show Highlander, which is, you know, a story about immortals and time, not time travel, but it hops through time and stuff like that. And we just used to mainline episodes of Highlander, which was, again, one of the most uncool things we possibly could have done, but we just had the best time doing that. And is it a great show? No. But did I love watching it with those friends and then like making references to it to each other all the time? Yes. I think about it often. So, like, it's so special to just sort of methodically work your way through something with someone. I just think it's one of the most enjoyable things to do. You and Adam watching all of Dr. Who, like, or watching all the things that you guys watch together. But I just think it's like, you know, or all the people that I've been like, we're going to watch us together, whatever it is. You know, it's just so beautiful. So, yeah.

I love that. VHS. VHS. Dynamite. Do you still have a tape player? Do I still have a tape player? No. Do I still have any VHS tapes?

I don't think so. I think I got rid of all of our tapes. I think all the tapes I used to own. Oh no. I bet I still have my double magnolia VHS. Hell yeah. I bet I still have that. I might have, I think I have witness on the VHS.

Classic. I'm going to check. And the tape is like literally worn through at a couple of key scenes. Yeah, you can no longer watch the barn dance and the Sam Cuck sequence. It's all like, it's all war. Oh, yeah. Oh, what a lovely story. Highlander.

I love that. That's a great one. Man, this is beautiful. This is hard. I don't know. There are so many. I think that's like the, there's a reason that we choose to spend so much of our time doing what we do, right? and talking about these stories together

and sharing them with each other and sharing them with our wonderful listener, shout out bad babies. It's because like, it's our favorite thing in the world to have that experience with people. And I was thinking actually, like, going back kind of through the,

I was thinking of like key people in my life, but then also key stories and how often there was an overlap there, right? And like often recurring, because I think part of, like, the question of, is it, what feels better when someone introduces you to something that they love

and you get to understand why it's meaningful to them or when you get to share something you love with somebody who means something to you? And it's like the answer is both, right? Why not both? Or then like you, you're exposed to something from somebody, like they bring it into your life and then you get to share it with another person. You get to kind of evangelize on behalf of a thing that has become important to you. And so it's just like, you know, over the span of a few minutes thinking about this, this lovely question from Nate, I was like thinking about, it felt like really there were these like patterns, these like cycles of like something coming into my life.

And then I would share it. Yeah. I have so many examples. It's really hard to pick one. It's great. And I feel like that'll be the case forever with some of these things. Like, I don't foresee ever. I mean, we just talked about loss. It's a great example. I don't foresee ever losing interest myself in experiencing loss. But I also don't foresee a moment where I stop trying to convince other people to watch loss for the first time too. Right. So I'll just run through some, like I'll, you really, you brought something new into our lives. I'm going to play the hits here. I'll go through some highlights. So let's see here. So with my dad, which is often where I start with prompts like this because he's responsible for bringing so many of these stories into my life, I was thinking, I don't know if I've ever thought of it quite this precisely of these kinds of like buckets of time. Like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was elementary school, fifth grade. And like, well, fifth grade for the Hobbit, fellowship was sixth grade. And like, I've shared this before on pods, but the Hobbit is such a formative experience for me as a reader

because I was such a late bloomer as a reader. Like, I really struggled with reading when I was a kid. And that was the first book that I got moved into like a higher reading group at school for. And it was this book that my dad had put in the little bookshelf in my room. And he's like a Tolkien obsessive. And it was one of the stories that he was most excited to share with me. And it really, it's this beautiful convergence of my budding confidence as a reader and him sharing something that was so meaningful to him. And, like, remember him showing me the covers, like, the maps that he had when he was a kid and how, like, those are the books that he thinks of in his mind.

That's what they look like to him and just how cool that was. So, precious. Yeah. And then middle school, he took me to see Star Wars, the original trilogy, because they re-released it heading into Phantom Menace. So that was my first exposure to Star Wars was seeing the original trilogy with my dad. The specialized editions, right? He had some notes. He had some thoughts.

But that's like this, I mean, Star Wars is like still to the state. One of the most important things in my life. And that was like the beginning of it for me. I think if there are so many books in high school and college that my dad gave to me, it's like difficult to really drill down on one. But I think if I had to pick one for high school and college, it would be Watership Down for high school and Dune for college. And like, those are just seminal experiences for me.

And like my dad brought all those stories into my life. So that's just a wonderful thing to think about. And then I was thinking again with that kind of like cycle and like when do you. So then I was thinking my stepmom, Debbie, icon. And I was like, well, did I give any of this back to them at any point, right? And I was trying to think. And like when I was talking about Goblet earlier today. so when I read

Goblet of Fire for the first time we were at the Outer Banks and family vacation and there are only two times in my life that I can remember like when I was like a younger now I'm just like I'll just

I'm glad everyone else is like here and it's nice to see you but I'll just like be on the deck with my book thanks but when I was not always the case when I was younger and I have like a really vivid memory of an earlier trip earlier in high school where I was reading

I was reading Ethan Frome for summer reading for school. And I was just like, I cannot engage with anybody until I finished this. I was just like wrapped. And I was also at the outer banks. I just couldn't move. And then the summer I read Goblet and I was so obsessed with it. I didn't want to do anything but read it and think about it and talk about it. And Debbie, my wonderful stepmom, had not read a page.

And this is the fourth book in the series. she could just tell that it was all I wanted to think about and talk about. So I have such a vivid memory of like standing in the ocean with her jumping waves, telling her, she just wanted me to tell her all about it, even though I would be spoiling things from the fourth book. And I like could not stop talking to her about it because it was just, it had like, it just had its talents in me. And then she went and read it and like it was amazing to. And then we ended up like, if the five books were out at that point that summer. So it was very new for both of us. And then like we went to the midnight release for half blood prints together at the Barnes and Noble

in Pikesville, Maryland when that came out and it became a thing that we shared. So that was what I was thinking about most. And like, you know, I, and then I was thinking because of the lost question, actually, I was thinking of Adam and like, sometimes I think we have these moments where we're like, should we leave the house more and do something

other than just watch TV and movies and read books? Like, should we go outside? Should we see? What do you think it would feel like if a ray of sunshine hit our skin? It would burn. What would it mean? What would it would do? It would burn.

It would sizzle. It would sizzle. What would that vitamin D hit mean? But like, you know, we've, we've chatted before about like we'd love to rewatch Lord of the Rings together every year. We did the doing a Thrones rewatch for the first time since Thrones had ended ahead of the House of the Dragon. Not only was it really fun to revisit the series, but I was like, this is our rhythm together. Like, we used to rewatch it together every year in full. But Lost and Battlestar were the first two things for us that, like, he had seen all about.

or I hadn't. So it was a thing he loved and that he really thought I would love. And like we, I have such a vivid memory of watching that with him for the first time. And like, it's literally like the Portlandia sketch. Like it's just like could not leave the couch or leave the apartment. Another one. Another one. Another one.

Yeah, the scream when you realize you're done, you know. But it's like one of my favorite shows still to this. day. And a lot of that is because I love what Ronald Moore did with the show, Adama and Roslyn or like my all-time faves, you know, all of it. But a big part of it is because it was this wonderful thing to share that together. And then immediately like my mom had like a foot surgery and I went home to help her that week. And I was like, I know what we'll do. We'll just do it all

again. We'll just watch Battlestar. And she had seen it. I just immediately wanted to share it with someone, you know. And like watching Lost the first time that I I watched loss because it had been on when I was in college, so I was like catching up heading into the final stretch of it, which I then watched live. And actually, that was my first time ever potting about anything was smuggling 10 to 15 minutes of loss talking to an SI college football pod with my buddy, Stu Mandel, the Mandel initiative. But watching loss for the first time I also did with ad. And it was like, I think when you realize that somebody like, one of the things I love about potting with you, one of the things that was like what I loved about potting doing binge with Jay is like you feel like really safe. being completely yourself, right? Like, you could just be as,

this is like a little bit of what you were saying a minute ago. Like, you can say unapologetically out loud. I love this thing. It matters to me this much. Like, you don't have to worry about anybody judging you or thinking you're weird. And so, like,

when I was falling into these worlds, like lost, I was like, like I was saying earlier. I'm like, I see this book. I have to go read it. I have to look for clues.

I was like the Jeff Jensen. Columns every week. That was one of my, like, oh my God. I just couldn't. wait to fall into those columns and parse every clue. And, like, the other person in the room with you being like, it's amazing that this makes you this happy is like a really cool and special thing.

I think about this a lot in terms of the Thrones finale because I'm sure I've told you this before, but like every other episode of Thrones I watched like a maniac for work, like an absolute stress-filled maniac. And for the finale, Dave and Neil, my child by content co-hosts were in town for this live show we're doing. So I watched it with them. And I was never watching it with people because I was working. And I was like so stressed. And I know you also like were working and quite stressed if you're watching Thrones.

But like to watch it with them, I was like, oh, oh, this is what like normal people feel like when they watch Thrones. It's just like you're watching it with someone and you're gasping and like calling out all. all the moments you're not like, that's an Easter egg, that's a gift, that's this, that's that. So it's a whole different experience. And I felt that often I will like re-watch, if I'm watching something for work, I often find it's best if I watch it by myself so that I can concentrate, but I will often like re-watch it with someone and sort of try to watch it through their eyes. And it helps me better understand like what the people think about this thing that we're

watching who aren't like so far in it they can't see. Like, you know, they're the forest for the trees or what have you. But yeah, there's just like, I think so fondly of so many people and so many, I love that you, the way that you talked about that in terms of, like, time and rhythms. Like, you know, this is, I am, I feel like Dr. Manhattan and I am like at once a child in, in the morning in my mom's bed watching Perry Mason, like at 7 o'clock in the morning, we would watch an episode of Perry Mason before breakfast and school. for like, I don't know, whatever reason.

Or like, you know, or you're in college and I got everyone, all of my friends to watch Buffy. They didn't give a shit about Buffy. By sheer force of will, I made it like a Tuesday regular thing, you know? Like, it's just this, yeah, sharing stories and talking about story. Like, what better way to understand each other and ourselves? And it's exactly why we do what we do. So thank you for that question.

Nate. Thank you, Nate. That was really nice. We go from that extremely emotional and meaningful prompt to question 11. That might divide this podcast forever, possibly. I think we'll survive. We'll manage. This is from Ariel.

What is your ideal peanut butter and jelly ratio? Okay, Joanna. You teased some pending thoughts on jam. This is the prompt. This is the prompt, Lionel. What do you got? It is 100% peanut butter, zero percent jelly. What?

Yeah. You don't, okay, so we know how you feel. It's Joanna Robinson canon. Yeah. You don't do hot fruit. So like, obviously to make a jam, the fruit has to at some point be hot. Yeah, it's, it's already reached. When you're eating it.

That's, that is the consistency. It's already reached its point of like maceration and we're like past the point in over a turn. We can't do it. And I will say very specifically, and this is like a pure nostalgia machine situation, my grandma Jean used to make peanut butter sandwiches that were, that were like, like, wonder bread. Uh-huh. Sure.

And creamy, skippy peanut butter. Yeah. Like the two most processed Americana, like, far away from a natural, of an actual peanut you could get. Ambrosia. Absolutely delectable to me, tastes of nostalgia and fondness, and she would serve it with, what a Grady Smith apple. So there you go. That is, to me, the ideal is...

So you were a Skippy family, not a Jiff family? Skippy Creamy. All the way. And then my sister, because my sister took a hard left turn into, like, vegetarianism and health nuttery in high school. And that's when we started, she started to, like, introduce. the like really healthy, I mean, as far as peanut butter can go healthy, where it's like, you have to shake it to get the oil to reincorporate with the like, the crunchy nut,

your Laura Scutters or whatever. I would rather have no peanut butter than that peanut butter personally. Oh, wow. Okay. That's just where I am. I will. And I appreciate that this is like, this is a bad answer. Like, Skippy is a bad answer.

I understand that. But like this is who I am and where we are. So do you get Skippy still today? I don't really. I mean, yes. If I am to buy peanut butter today, it would exclusively be to put on a Granny Smith apple and it would be Skippy Creamy.

So, okay, you're not putting any jam on your PB and there's no, there's no J. No, it's the PB&B. But there's no end? Is it, what about fluff? What about bananas? No. Nothing.

No. It's not too dry of a sandwich? No, if you get, if it's skippy creamy and And then like a spongy white bread. You need like a really spongy white bread in order to make that work. Yeah. Fascinating. Okay.

I mean. I knew this would be controversy. This is why I left it in the batch of questions. I'm astounded. But no judgment. If that makes you happy. So I'll note that my mom would get Skippy and my dad would get Jif. This was way back by now my dad I think it's a Justin's.

Oh. patron as am I. Yeah. Yeah. A Justin's honey peanut butter, my personal go-to these days. But back in the day, the Skippy and the Jiff for us as kids, I was like,

this is what, right, this is why they didn't think I'd divorced. One team Skippy Team Jiff. Never the Twain shall meet. Absolutely. So I would like to say that my ratio answer here, it's,

I think there is a ideal ratio for the peanut butter and the jelly, but for me it's more about the balance of both of those to the bread. I don't want a dry, dry, gluey PB&J. I want a wet... I want a wet...

Meaty. Meaty. Wet messy. That's what I want. I don't... I want every... I'm sorry. It's true.

I want every... I want a lightly toasted. I genuinely thought that me saying in the club, the book club was the worst thing about this episode, but I think you calling it a sandwich wet and messer.

see. That's how it should be. Lightly toasted bread. You need a little bit of crunch, right? You don't want the bread to be too soggy. I don't want a single, an a yoda of visible bread before the crust line. I want the peanut butter and the jelly spread on every single kernel of each slice of bread, every kernel. And I like a lot of peanut butter and a lot of preserves on there.

Partial to like a raspberry. Wet and messy. Partial to like a raspberry or a blackberry preserve. That's ideal. I'd say if you're just going to do like a baguette with maybe like some butter and jam, I might go with a cherry. But for the PB&J sandwich, I like a raspberry or blackberry. And I'm going to go like 40% percent, 45% peanut butter, 55% jelly to keep it.

That sounds wet and messy. Moist. Moist. Is the classic, the classic J is a grape, right? Most people like grape jelly in their PB&J. For kids, for sure. I always felt that then people aged into out of grape and into strawberry as like their go-to. But maybe that's not right.

I don't know. I don't know. Okay. I love a PB&J. Delicious, like a nice multi-grained bread. Perhaps if you're feeling adventurous, like a sourdough? Oh. No.

Yum. All of this is absolutely incorrect. Also, I love fluff. Fluff and peanut butter. That was childhood and a bite. Wonderful. Okay. Last question.

Bring us home. No jelly in this question. Just some vintage Joanna Robinson guidance. Service journalism for people in need. This question. From Jene. Come from Jene. Similar to Dr.

I'm interested in watching Star Trek, but I don't know where to start between the several TV series and movies. It's a bit overwhelming. Where would you recommend jumping in? Joe, what guidance can you offer? So delighted to be asked this question. I have two answers for you. If you're someone who, like, because some people have a barrier of entry for things that were made a long time ago. They're like, oh, this feels sort of musty and dusty.

Or there have been so many things that have come after it that have aped it that, like, by the time you, get to the original thing, you're like, this feels, I've seen this already. It's because you've seen all the imitations. So if you, you know, worry about things feeling sort of old or possibly stale to you, why not start with Strangely Worlds, which is the currently airing fantastic Star Trek show, which takes some of the original characters like Spock and Ahura, stuff like that, and, like, you know, puts them in new adventures.

So I would say you could start there. If you want to start with one of the older shows, I think it's either between NextGen or the original series. I might start with NextGen because I feel like NextGen has a stronger grip on sort of millennials. But I eventually want you to get to the original series. The original series is so good. It is of its time. But it is so, so good.

So I would put it in order, Strange New Worlds, Next Gen, Star Trek Next Generation, and then you can watch the Star Trek Next Generation films if you want the original series. And then, like, you know, if you want something super easy to get into, super pop and super easy, the J.J. Abrams films, like, you know, the first two. So that's what I would say. But Star Wars and you're starting with something that is like super contemporary and is very, very good. and very, I think, of a spirit of the original series or Next Gen. And you get a musical episode.

What a joy. But yeah, you get a musical episode. Yeah, Star Trek. Killer. I asked Adam his answer this question because he's a Star Trek obsessive and he spoke uninterrupted for 45 minutes. What was his answer? What was his very...

Original series. Original series. I mean, it makes sense. I just... He loves... I mean, he loves Strange and Role. I want to set people up for success. And, like, again, if you have no issue with anything retro, then, yeah, start with the original series.

Why not? He said of the original series, quote, I actually wrote this one quote down, you'll find your love here or you won't find it at all. Did you say that's you in the kitchen? Then we were on the couch. Okay. Yeah. I just will forever think about the doctor who voice note I got from the kitchen. I asked, so I said, should we do a voice memo?

He said he didn't think he had the, uh, the, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. deftness in that particular moment to commit anything to tape. Joe, that's our wrap on the 2024 winter mailback. We did it. We did it. Thank you to everybody who submitted questions. Thank you to all the bad babies for meeting us into club. Thank you, as always, to Steve Allman for producing this episode, Arjuna Ramgabal for his additional

production work. A reminder. Send us, Hobbesendragons at gmail.com. Valentine's Day prompts, questions, comments, or concerns. Or Golden Trio stuff. Yeah. Send your Madam Web thoughts. Something, something Madame Webb is the name of a future.

Oh, Samar episode. Oh, man. And thank you to Jomea Denner on as well for his work on the social for this episode. We will see you Friday for the Troops Course on Golden Trio's. The Midnight Boys, Poo Poo, will be with you tomorrow. Wednesday over on the Ringerverse for the third annual Black Heroes of Fandom draft. We will be back with you in a few days. Until then, House of Ar, like to see.

Does not like to be restrained. Oh,