The Ringer-Verse - Ringer-Verse Recommends: May 2024

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

'Ringer-Verse Recommends' strikes back! The entire 'Ringer-Verse' and 'House of R' crew reconvenes for the latest installment of the bite-size monthly podcast series to shout out their fandom favorites from TV, movies, video games, books, comics, and beyond that were recently released but haven’t been covered in-depth on a full-length episode. Hosts: Mallory Rubin, Joanna Robinson, Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Ben Lindbergh, Jomi Adeniran, Arjuna Ramgopal, and Steve Ahlman Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on with Kate Middleton? Which cult is popping off right now? What the hell is a trad wife? And why are we so obsessed with them? I'm Jody Walker. And I'm Chelsea Stark Jones. And we're obsessed. Obsessed with all the pop culture happenings,

filling our group chats and 4U pages. And we want to talk about them with you. Our new show, We're Obsessed, is for all the things we're loving, buying, watching, listening to, and spiraling over right now. Follow the ringer-dish feed on Spotify to listen to We're Obsessed every Friday. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Trimphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.

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Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7. 736 to learn more or visit trimfire radio.com. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business. They keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business.

So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Welcome into the Ringerverse, your Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. I am Ben Lindbergh, ButtonMash host, and Ringerverse recommends MC. You might wonder, what are we doing here? Let me remind you. Ringiverse Recommends is a monthly micro podcast and video series, in which we shout out the releases we loved in the last month that we didn't have time to devote a full podcast to.

These can be books, comics, movies, video games, games, TV shows, anything goes, as long as it falls within the realm of the ringerverse. We started this series last month, a lot of you listened, liked it, and let us know. And if there's anything you can count on in the entertainment industry, it's that success always spawns a sequel. You liked Hades? You're going to get Hades too. And you're going to be glad you did. So we're back. And we've brought more recommendations, this time from May. This month was kind of quiet, the calm before the summer storm. but even slower months have hidden gems, which we have polished up to present to you.

Every ringerverse and house of our host has reported for recommendation duty to deliver a tribute today. We've got European imports. We've got favorites from Japan. We've got prestige TV that will terrify and titillate. What can I say, we've got great taste. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves. And sometimes we also tell each other that we have terrible taste. After you hear from all of our nerd culture curators, I'll be back at the end to recap the picks. and share a listener nomination, which you can submit for future episodes at Ringiverse Recommends at gmail.com.

For now, I'll hand the mic to a colleague and friend whose lead-off skills are second only to those of her beloved Gunner Henderson. House of our own, Mallory Rubin. A man of science, he is married to the woman of his dreams, and they have good life. Have a good day. Coffee to go.

Oh my gosh, you're my hero. Until one night. He doesn't make it home. When he regains consciousness, everything has changed. Hello, Bad Babies. It's Mal and I am here for the May Ring Reverse recommends to suggest that you not only catch up on all of Gunner Henderson's recent home runs, but that you check out Dark Matter, the new sci-fi show on Apple TV, starring Joel Edgerton, my wife Jennifer Connolly, Jimmy Simpson. This is a dark, moody, deeply contemplative sci-fi tale. I am reluctant to get into too many of the particulars. I want to leave that for you to discover on your own.

But if you like stories about choice and consequence, about how the decisions that we make shape the rest of our lives, and also about how truly, truly wonderful Jennifer Connolly is, check this out. Five episodes of Aird in May, four remain in June ahead of the June 26th finale. So you have ample time to catch up before the end. You also have time, if you're interested, to read the Blake Crouch novel. on which this adaptation is based, which Zach recommended back in the day on House Recommends, and now here we are suggesting that you check out the adaptation. Look at that, the circle of content life.

The warning came in the form of a great wind, sudden and cold, sweeping out of the western mountains on a perfectly bland and cloudless summer day. Along with it came the charcoal burners, the trappers and the rest of the forest folk, woodcutters, swine herds, herb wives, even the occasional hermit, and more. occasional outlaw, rushing to seek shelter in the nearby village. The villagers eagerly took them all in, glad of more hands to share in hastily battening down doors, windows, shelves, and cellars, and hanging stones from the eaves and edges of thatched roofs in hopes of holding their houses together against the rising wind. As they worked, they prayed it might indeed be only wind. Oh, hi,

Ringham First Recommend for May. It's me, Joanna Robinson. I am here to talk to you about another book recommendation, just like I did last month on Rigorverse Recommend. This is for, if you're a fan of The Last Unicorn, which was a book written by Peter S. Beagle that was turned into a pretty sweet, sometimes a little scary animated film that people really love and I've loved nostalgia for. Peter S. Beagle, the author of The Last Unicorn, has a new, brand new book out this month called, I'm afraid you've got Dragon. So as we're gear up for House of the Dragon, I thought it might be a fun book to recommend. The story is about an exterminator in this kingdom, but instead of exterminating like rats or other pests, he's called on to exterminate dragons because they just have a dragon infestation.

There are dragons everywhere, but he's very good at his job, but he hates doing his job because he loves the dragons and he wants to adopt them. And I just think it was a really sweet, sort of enchanting book. It reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman Stardust. So, you know, it's like fairy tale. nothing goes too hard, but there's like a little bit of darkness in there. If you want, if you have, if there's a kid in your life who loved like the Tui Sutherland Dragon Books and is a little older now, this might be a good book for them, a fun book for you yourself to read if you sort of want to just like recapture that last unicorn feeling.

And then while I have you here, I brought both of these books in my luggage to Austin. So I do want to talk to you about another Peter S. Beagle book that I brought along, which is called A Fine and Private Place. this is a wonderful ghost story and Neil Gaiman talks about this book a lot as being very influential and I really love it too so a fine and private place which is an old book

and I'm afraid you've got Dragons which is a new book both by Peter S. Beagle very cozy very sweet a little mature so don't give it to like too young of a kids in your life and that is my May recommendation where did he come from I don't know he sort of popped up at the right moment

And then he spoke about time trouble. Ruby, I want to know my secret. I have the whole universe at my fingertips. And I'm all of my own. I'd love it if you came with me. Who are you? I'm the doctor. Hey, Ringiverse fans.

It's Arjuna here for my Ringiverse recommends in the month of May. I'm going to go with the new Doctor Who. It's a new doctor, new season. old showrunner coming back, but a new channel, a new platform on Disney Plus. And it's just an exciting time. You know, Dr. Who is one of the longest running sci-fi IPs out there. And it's certainly one of my favorites. It's got a special place in my heart.

My mom showed me the new Who, new Doctor Who, when it came back in 2005 on the sci-fi channel here in the United States. And I've been watching ever since. So always fun to explore a new doctor and a new answer. era. So I would definitely check it out. You know, I think it's got its charm. It's got its wit. And it's just a, it's just a fun show all around that is kind of for everybody in a lot of ways. So check it out. Doctor Who, there you have it. Both students disappear. Could there be a common link? That's about the robot jailbreaking?

She tried to shut them off. The Android's defending himself. Deactivate! In breach of Directive 1. We found the Android June hacked. You see that? You put up a fight at least. Hey! Space ship.

What did Junechild do to that Android? Hey, everyone. Ben Lindberg here to recommend Mars Express. Not the Mars Express Orbiter that's been circling the real red planet for the past 20 years, though that's cool too. I'm recommending the movie Mars Express, which premiered at Cannes last spring, was released in France last fall, and came to North American theaters, albeit briefly, this May. Yes, it's a French. film you may not have heard of so snooty of me I know. It's okay. I told you to watch The Walking Dead last month, so you know I'm not becoming a cultural elitist. And hey, it has a 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes. That's one percentage point more than X-Men 97. Mars Express is animated also. It's a sci-fi, cyberpunk, hard-boiled neo-noir, co-written and directed by Jeremy Perrin, French people, please forgive my pronunciation, about a hard-drinking private detective and her robot PI partner who are hired to find a missing hacker and solve a murder on Mars. You'll never believe this, but along the way they uncover corruption and cover-ups and conspiracies. Think Blade Runner meets Ghost in the Shell with a bit of Battlestar, Robocop, and Minority Report mixed in. It's got those silent, stately spaceships straight out of 2001, depictions of future technology, exploration, and colonization that remind me of the expanse, except this time the missing girl is named June

Chow, not Julie Mao. The art looks like the 90s of the 90s. Amiga game out of this world crossed with Scavenger's Rain. And yes, I realize I'm listing a lot of sci-fi classics here, but this is one of those movies that just ingests a ton of touchstones and rearranges them into a story that feels fresh. It's a tight 89 minutes, credits included, so it doesn't drag, and it'll leave you with a lot to think about. Robot backups of dead people, robot red light districts, robot cats, you'll be entertained, and you'll ask some existential questions about AI. Real AI, not the glorified chatbots we're currently calling AI. It's funny, it's stylish, it's available on Blu-ray and on-demand June 18th.

Don't miss Mars Express. Who are you, Louis? I'm the reticent vampire of the night there on D. Small. I walk the night, capturing disappointment and regret. Wait, stop the day. We should get every detail right. I'm listening. Howdy, partners?

Ringiverse recommends Van Laithen. Let me tell you what I'm recommending. New season of interview with a vampire. It's fantastic. Okay, now you might have to go back and watch the first season to catch up. La stat, you know, LaSat, the Lion Court, Louis de Pont du Lac, down there in New Orleans. They're vampires. The show is based on Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

It takes place in New York, new season. They've moved. Okay, they're in a different place. They're in a different spot. but it's about a baby vampire learning the ropes of vampirism and then another vampire comes into it. They're beautiful vampires. They're on a hunt for blood. But then there's also the interviewer who is interviewing him in the present day as he recounts his tail and his life as a vamp.

He's biting people and he's sucking their blood and does he want to eat people or does he want to be a vegetarian vampire to eat animals? Does he want to hunt every night? Does he want to hunt every couple of nights? The abusive relationship between him and his maker, La Stat de Launcourt. Of course, it's a new adaptation of a book that first came out in the 70s, but of a movie that came out in 1994 with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst, which I rewatch, which is not as good as the show.

The show itself is fantastic. It's amazing, beautiful people, sucking blood in New Orleans. Orleans, I am from Louisiana, I am in, and so should you be watch it now. We're going to get all of our food from the dungeon. Huh? This place is full of monsters, right? So then, the dungeon has to have an ecosystem in it. The carnivorous monsters eat the monsters that are herbivores,

and the herbivore monsters eat plants, which need water, light, and dirt to grow. Thus, we humanoids can sustain ourselves in the dungeon, too. Hey guys, Coke Baby Chuck. Today, my recommendation is Dungeon Meshie, Delicious in Dungeon. It's on Netflix right now, produced by Studio Trigger. I really have fallen in love with this show over the past couple months. Essentially, a really quick explanation is after our lead character, a human knight,

after his sister gets eaten by a dragon, him and elf, a dwarf, and a halfling are a team, and they have to travel down into a dungeon infested with monsters. quickly, they run out of food. So essentially, they have to start cooking gourmet meals using the remains of these monsters. It is a very weird concept, but it's heartwarming. If you kind of surrender to how goofy it is in the beginning,

as you keep watching, the story gets deeper, more emotional. It has so much depth and empathy. It's one of my favorite shows of 2024 by far. So, Delicious in Dungeon, it's on Netflix now, safe for the whole family, watch a couple episodes, I think you're going to fall in love. One last adventure, Griff.

Been nice to know with you, Simmons. So here's a deal, Reds. We have a problem. A big problem. If we're going to survive it, we have to work together. Nada! I've been waiting for you. Well, your weight is over.

Chrome Dome, Joy! There's one last story to tell. Hello, Ring of Verse. It's me, Jomey. for another edition of Ring of Verse recommends. And this month for the month of May, I'm recommending Red versus Blue Restoration. It is the final chapter in the Red versus Blue journey

after 21 years. Jesus Christ, that's a long time. The Red versus Blue story is coming to an end. It means something to me personally because when I first, watched the series. I was a freshman in college. Put it on.

I was like, well, what else am I going to do? And I literally cannot get enough. Like, it literally changed my life. The reason I'm sitting here right now is because of red versus blue. I look, I got the box set, DVDs, and everything. Okay? I love it so much. And so I know it's been one of the most popular web series of all time.

I'm second longest running web series of all time. So I know so many of all have seen it. And yeah, the story is finally coming to an end. So if you've, you know, got an afternoon, you got a little night at the crib, kickback, and watched the finale of a story that, I mean, changed my life and changed many other people's lives. So red versus blue restoration is my Ring of Verse Recommends for this month. Have a great one, y'all. Hey there, everyone.

Steve Olman here for another Ringerverse Recommend, video for the month of May. And this month I'm going to be recommending the indie lo-fi survival horror throwback Crow Country. Crow Country is a PS1 nostalgia trip of the highest order where you play as Mara investigating this appearance in an abandoned theme park. And it's riddled with zombies and labyrinthian puzzles and intricate notes and diary entries and if that sounds like classic Resident Evil 2 to you, you'd be right because it wears its

influences on its sleeve very well with a couple of modern twists and a interesting exploration mode where if you're not the biggest horror fan, you could actually explore the game with no enemies at all and it turns into a bit of a diorama-esque exploration game rather than a survival horror game. It looks like those old Final Fantasy 7 graphics and character designs where they're like a little blocky. It has this. great CRT look about it. It's incredibly enveloping from moment one. And I think I had an amazing time with it. You plant your feet and shoot with precision aiming like in Dead Space while also solving these great puzzles with fun hints and added lives. You manage ammo and your health,

just like all those classic survival horror games. It's available for PlayStation 5, PS4 and PC. And I highly recommend it. It's one of the best games I've played this month. All right, it's Ben again. Back to bring us home. This month's last but not least recommendation comes from a couple of listeners. Colleen McMillan and J.B. Bonifacio submitted, and I quote, on behalf of the webs.

Yes, we are doubling up on anime this may. May? Anime. Is that anything? Here's something, Colleen and J.B. sent to Ringiverse Recommends at gmail.com. The coverage for anime has been small. but there's a lot of potential for aggressive expansion. Enter Kaiju number 8.

It's a story of a world plagued by Kaiju, giant monsters who appear out of nowhere like Godzilla. A 30-something slacker named Kafka Hibino discovers a new purpose when he's inspired to reapply for the planetary Kaiju defense force that already denied his application numerous times. This time is different. Due to anime bullshit, aka plot, Kafka gains the ability to transform into a Kaiju

and can affect the battlefield in an unprecedented fashion. The secondary characters also, Also shine, even giving a new spin on the classic Aska Sundare character from Neon Genesis Evangelion, the fight animation is fantastic, and the world building has been great so far in both the manga and anime. Since the start of the manga run back in 2020, Kaiju No. 8 has appeared on Polygon and Kataku's best manga of 2021, and is now a mainstay on the New York Times' graphic novel and manga bestsellers list. By 2024, the manga had reached 13 million copies sold worldwide.

The anime produced by Production IG, Kill Bail, Volume 1, Ghost in the Shell, High Q, etc. premiered in April 2024 on Crunchyroll and for the first time ever on Twitter slash X. So if you don't have a Crunchyroll subscription, you can hop on Twitter X on Saturday mornings. The show has 12 total episodes slated for season one. It definitely reminds us of other Kaiju adjacent media like Attack on Titan or Pacific Rim, but is way more lighthearted than the former and way more Star Trek lower Dexy than the latter. I like the sound of that. Kafka is immediately endearing and it's great to see a Shonan hero who's not 14-15. 16 years old. This poor dude is hanging with the kiddos who make fun of his beer belly and low

combat scores. So refreshing for this genre to see a quote unquote old person. Plus there's a small bean vice captain who laughs all the time but is deadly a F with his swords. If you're not really into anime or haven't given it a try, this could be the series for you. It's fun, easy to get into, and the dub drops on the same day as the sub. Well, on behalf of the weabs and everyone else, thank you, Colleen and J.B. And we want to hear from you too. If you want to tell us what we missed while we were making up for what we missed, or if you want to send your own nomination for next month or a future month, email us a message or even a voice memo that we could play on the pod at ringaverse recommends at gmail.com. All right, let's recap the picks for May 24 from Mallory

Rubin, a TV series on Apple TV Plus, Dark Matter, from Joanna Robinson, a novel by Peter S. Beagle, I'm afraid you've got dragons. From our junior ramcapal, a TV series on BBC 1 and Disney Plus, Doctor Who, from me, a movie that's about to be available via Blu-ray and on Demand, Mars Express. From Van Lathen, the second season of a TV series on AMC, interview with the vampire, from Charles Holmes, an anime series streaming on Netflix, Dungeon Meshie, aka Dungeon Meelein, aka Delicious in Dungeon, from Jomey Adon, the final release from Rooster Teeth, a movie that's available digitally via various platforms, Red versus Blue Restoration, and from Steve Alman, a survival horror video game on Windows, PlayStation, and Xbox, Crow Country, finally, from listeners

Colleen and J.B. An anime series streaming on Crunchyroll. kaiju number eight. Let me tell you, a lot of us like the same stuff. So the competition for these picks is pretty fierce. Now just beat me to calling dibs on dark matter this month and then Van vultured my presumptive selection for June when he landed interview with a vampire. But as long as the love gets given, it's all good. We will have a lot of love to give in June because the calendar is crammed. But that just makes it even easier for great releases to slip through the cracks. So we'll be back with more recommendations next month. In the meantime, stay tuned for the Akelyte coverage from the Midnight Boys and House of Our next week, as well as House of

Our's House of the Dragon mailbag. Thanks to Steve Allman for producing this episode, to Jomi Adoneron for editing and posting our recommendations on the socials, and to Arjuna Ramgpal for his senior podcast management. Finally, thanks to you for listening and to cool creators for making cool stuff that we get to talk about. We will talk to you soon, and until next time, please remember to recommend the Ringiverse.