The Weekly Planet - 328 The History Of Robin

Episode Date: March 30, 2020

Help support the show at https://patreon.com/mrsundaymovies for early videos, choosing topics and more!Low and behold it’s the 80th anniversary of Robin so we break down the history of the character. Plus Wonder Woman is still coming out so that’s good! We also talk the trailer for Solar Opposites, casting for The Mandalorian, news on the Cassian Andor series, a Furiosa recast and no more print comics (for now). Thanks for listening.Suggestible Podcast: https://aca.st/cf053aTime To Die Podcast: https://www.planetbroadcasting.com/our-shows/time-to-die/Fan Art by https://www.instagram.com/tristyn_the_pease/0:00 The Start3:12 Wonder Woman delayed6:50 Solar Opposites9:15 Mandalorian Casting16:52 Cassian Andor series news20:55 Furiosa recast for prequel22:17 Diamond Comic Distributors ceasing production27:43 Robin! The Boy/Man Wonder!1:10:28 What We Reading/What We Gonna Read1:16:42 Letters It’s Time For LettersJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesTWP Itunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 TWP Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanet TWP YouTube Channel ► https://goo.gl/1ZQFGH Amazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2QbmwGjT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors, like high blood pressure developed during pregnancy, which can put us two times more at risk of heart disease or stroke. Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Weekly Planet where we talk movies and comics and TV shows. My name is James, also known as Mr. Sunday. with me as always is my co-host nick mason but you might only be with me for the last time wait what up to like in the same space oh because we're we're talking flying away in a rocket ship that's right we're gonna we're gonna have to we're gonna do a bit of distance for this show from now on we think don't we mason maybe yeah we'll see what happens but probably well maybe we'll be ready for it. Look, all I know is I'm taking some of your equipment

whether we use that to make a podcast or whether I sell it at cash converters who's to say, you know? Sometimes out here. It certainly is, yeah. We hope everyone's

holding up okay. Look, we're not going to bang on about it too much are we in terms of you know, what's going on everybody knows what's happening. I want to quickly plug up top, though.

Ben, of course, has – we mentioned this last week in the What We're Reading. Ben, who does a lot of editing, he does all of the Caravan of Garbages. You'll see his face pop up in there from time to time. Exasperated a lot of the time. Yes, that's right. His EP is out. It's four terrific tracks based on places he has lived in the world. We talked about it last week.

Yeah, that's right. It's called Business District is his artist name. Check it out on Spotify or other platforms. He's also putting it up on his YouTube channel. So it's really great. We talked about it last week, but I just wanted to make sure just to get that in up top. Isn't that right, Mason?

Is there something else we have to plug? Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Also, there is a new podcast on the Planet Broadcasting Network. There's three episodes up and then it's stopped because of the reason being that it's called Time to Die and it's about comedians writing terrible material for each other. That's right.

And then putting it out there. And then they have to perform that material and it's just comedians bombing. Half the show is Ben Russell who people all know from Gamey Gamey Game. Yes, that's right. And also Tom Witte, who people might know. He's done a lot of work in Australian TV. He's a producer behind the scenes.

He's done also some on-camera stuff. Don't get me wrong, Mason. I don't want you to get me wrong. And he's part of the great podcast Time to Die. That's right, exactly. So it's them wrangling comedians to do this. They write each other terrible stand-up, then they have to go out into the world to a stand-up comedy night

and perform the terrible material. That's right. And see how it goes. There's three reader to go out into the world to a stand-up comedy night and perform the terrible material. That's right. And see how it goes. There's three ready to go. It's highly recommended. It's really tightly edited, so it's like 30 minutes, and it's just a lot of fun. So please check it out.

And also check out the podcast, The Weekly Planet, that we're doing now. We're talking Wonder Woman news, Mason. We're talking Star Wars news, your favourite. Oh, come on. We're talking uh furiosa and of course we've got a it's a big anniversary of a big beloved comic book character which we're going to go through this week aren't we snapper car that's right mascot of the justice league doing a bit of this keeping it cool daddy oh snapper car c-a-r-r right oh like as in like the name, not the driving. It's not a car.

Not a car. Oh, my God. What if it was that, though? Doesn't snap into a car? No. Then why are we even talking about him? Let's talk about Robin instead. Okay, we can talk about Robin, I guess. Cool.

Okay, so Wonder Woman has been pushed a month, which means I guess Warner Brothers have some faith in the idea that this will all go away, which is good, I guess, because if anybody knows, Warner Brothers knows. Warner Brothers knows. That big water towel. They've got a nose for success and a nose for communicable diseases. Correct.

Patty Jenkins also talked about why she left Thor the worst Thor. Oh, I saw the headline, but I don't know why. Basically, she said, I've got the quote here, I do not believe that I can make a good movie out of the script that they were planning on doing. I think it would have been a huge deal. It would have looked like it was my fault. It would have looked like, oh my God, this woman directed it and she missed all of these

things. This is one time in my career where I really felt like, do this with another director and it's not going to be a big deal and maybe they'll understand it or love it more than I do. So yeah, so she stepped away from it for, I think it was a very smart decision. Because Alan Taylor's taken a lot of heat for that Thor movie, which, to be honest, I think is fine. I think it's totally fine.

Well, here's the thing, though. I had completely forgotten that the director of that movie was a guy called Alan Taylor, and he's probably copping a lot of heat now because it's being brought up again. Sure. He's at home just like, God damn it. And I did Terminator Genisys,

which is the fourth to fifth worst Terminator. Right? Who's to say? So it's one of the best is what fourth to fifth worst Terminator. Right. Who's to say? So it's one of the best is what you say? I don't know anymore. No, I don't know anymore. How many are good? Yeah.

But also I feel like, yeah, I mean, you know, Patty Jenkins is in the position, you know, as a female director. Yes. If you make a bomb or you make a movie that people don't like, it's because there's so few women directors doing mainstream big movies. It's like, well, women can't direct movies. This is why. And so she would cop it for that and making a bad movie,

even if it's down to a bad screen or whatever. So I think, yeah, good call to pass on it. Yeah, absolutely. How many people get multiple, multiple chances and turn out terrible things? Brett Ratner. Brett Ratner, absolutely. Yeah, there's an example.

The other thing is, I'm not saying women can't make terrible films. Absolutely. It's 2020. Anyone can make a terrible film. Side note, I was in a JB Hi-Fi the other day getting my copy of Doom Eternal. And getting your copy of The Coronavirus. Absolutely, yeah. Just getting a heaping helping of it.

This is before it was a thing. I know, I know. Not really. Things weren't quite as shut down as they are now. I think JB's still open. It's not the end of that. Go on. And anyway, there was a big standee for copies of Charlie's Angels.

Yeah. And again, I haven't watched it yet. I've heard fairly good things about it. But the standee did say, get your copy while supplies last. And I'm like, come on. You print a lot of these. Yeah. I mean, you know, no shade to that movie,

which I haven't seen yet. But, I mean, realistically, I wasn't like, boy, I'd better get a copy of this. Oh, my God. These are flying off the shelf. How many were actually there? I went to get my copy and then all of a sudden it was gone and some madman was running away with it.

He just had a wheelbarrow full of copies of Charlie's Angels. How many were there? I mean, all of them, I think. Yeah, all of them. I do want to see that. Every copy ever made. Because I don't think I saw the first two snippets of. They start a helicopter when it's falling.

That's all I remember from that. Tenet is also still releasing in July, as of now. In cinemas. Yeah, in cinemas. So we'll see how that goes. But I wouldn't be surprised if they just keep pushing these back if this continues. I mean, I appreciate the optimism, though.

That's right. That's nice. Just keep your eyes on Warner Brothers. What are they up to? Then we'll know. They're the canary in the coal mine of this situation. That's right. Keep your eyes on them.

Here's something that we can actually watch soon. Just mining entertainment for us. That's right. Oh, my God. Just big piles of content. Just cinematic gold. I just imagine a guy shoveling poop. They make good stuff as well, but that's what I'm picturing.

Sure. So this is coming, I think, in April, maybe to Hulu. Those things could be wrong. Well, then it might as well not exist for us because we don't get Hulu. That's true. Justin Roiland's new show, Solar Opposites, has a trailer. It's about a space alien family coming to Earth to take it over. And some of them love Earth and some of them are sick of its crap, quite frankly.

And they're all, it's Rick and Morty-esque and what's happening and what's going on. Their mission is apparently to protect the Pupa, which is a living supercomputer that one day will evolve into its true form and consume them and terraform Earth. But it's the baby. But it's the baby. But it's the baby or whatever. So that's, I mean, all episodes also, same day. Okay, right. So there you go. Do you want me to find an actual release date

and an actual platform for this, Mason? Please. It's not set in the Rick and Morty universe, though. May 8th Hulu. So things I said were wrong. I don't believe so, but then again, it may be because who knows. Who knows? There'll be some nods. No doubt. There'll be some nods, I said were wrong. No, I don't believe so. But then again, it may be because who knows? Who knows? There'll be some nods.

No doubt. There'll be some nods, I reckon, yeah. Yeah, so Thomas Middleton as well, Justin, Roy Landers' voice. Yeah, there's no reason to think this couldn't be Rick and Morty's American dad. You know what I mean? Absolutely, that's right.

Every time they put in an episode of Rick and Morty, I'm like, which one of these is going to be spun out into Rick and Morty's American Dad? But I guess it's a whole new thing. Yeah, so I'm just looking for where it's released in Australia, but Foxtel will probably get it. I hope it goes to Netflix here. All right.

Do you love news, Mason? News of the week? Yes. I love news of the week. I'm glad all of this isn't like, this is cancelled forever. So here we go, Mason. But are you starting with this is cancelled forever? No, this is not cancelled. I've got no more news about this is cancelled forever. So, here we go, Mason. But are you starting with this is cancelled forever? No, this is not cancelled.

I've got no more news about this is cancelled forever. Okay, right. This is very exciting. Watch your step, though, because you might be cancelled forever. That's true. We should also point out we're recording this on Friday night, our time, because you are going away to a remote location, not to the beach, are you? No, that's correct.

You're not going to hang out with other people. No. Hopefully I won't see anyone. Yeah, Mason is going to every supermarket in Victoria and licking all the apples. Isn't that your plan? No that's great. You're not going to hang out with other people. No. Hopefully I won't see anyone. Mason is going to every supermarket in Victoria and licking all the apples. Isn't that your

plan? That's my plan yeah. Well you do that every year. Why should you stop the thing that you love? That's right.

It's un-Australian you're going to keep doing what you love. Two things comedy festival cancelled and the apple licking thing that you were talking about.

Is it red or green? You'll never tell. That's right. But both. Yeah that's right. about. Is it red or green? You'll never tell. That's right. But both. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Golden delicious. More like my spit delicious.

That's right. Wash your fruit, by the way, everybody. I may do that. It's important, yeah. Michael Biehn is joining the cast of Mandalorian Season 2. Oh, the Terminator's Michael Biehn. Terminator's own. Navy SEAL's Michael Biehn.

That's right. The one with Sean Connery and Nick Cage, The Rock's own. Is he in that? Yeah. Maybe he's in The Abyss as well. I don't know. Okay, cool. He did some James Cameron movies for a lot of it, didn't he?

Yes. Aliens. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. So that's good. I like him. I know he had some substance abuse issues, but he's kind of making a bit of a resurgence.

He's never really stopped working, but it's, you know, I think it's, this is a cool kind of 80s throwback, which I think is the Mandalorian through and through, isn't it? Oh, for sure, yeah, that's right. 70s, 80s, I guess, you know, so there you bloody go. Again, would this have been a reveal that would have been much more well-received if they'd just put it in? Just put it in the show.

Yeah, you're probably right. I mean, it's not like people are going to be like, well, I wasn't watching the cornerstone of Disney+, The Mandalorian. Which just came to the UK, by the way. But now, congratulations, UK, you've done it just in time. Congratulations to 2019, UK, you made it. Are they releasing the episodes of Mandalorian one at a time in the UK?

Yeah. Wow. Wow. Brutal. Look, there's an opportunity for someone out there to just tweet Mandalorian spoilers or dialogue. Oh, my goodness. Like a minute before it happens.

Just time yourself perfectly. I think I'm equipped for that. I think I could do that. I think so too, yeah. Thank you, yeah. So that's, I mean, you would have been spoiled on the big reveal from the first episode, right? Which I don't want to say because of the time I spoiled Knives Out.

Yeah. And you'd probably also be spoiled about the Mandalorian from our segment who watches the TV show The Mandalorian. We do. Not now. No, not anymore. It's old news. But yeah, I mean.

What kind of bounty hunter do you think Michael Biehn will be though? What kind of gruff bounty hunter? Yeah, a Biehn. Yeah, like a bean, yeah. Like a bouncing bean? Like Beans Baxter. Good reference from the 80s, probably. Great reference.

Yeah, everybody knows that. Or the early 90s, I don't know. Yeah. Speaking of great 80s references, Mason, Punky Brewster, I say that because you're guesting on a special episode of Suggestible, which is already up. I mean, guesting's a strong word, isn't it? You came in as a guest.

Okay, then. We didn't want you there, but you were in the room. Claire insisted. I think it was actually me. So, people listen to that. Okay, I guess the question is, will Michael Bean be in heavy

prosthetics, or will he just be grizzled bounty hunter Michael Bean? Grizzled bounty hunter. Yeah, for sure. Can you see that guy in any prosthetics? No. You ever seen him? He might put on a scar. That's as far as you get out of him. Okay, that's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. As far as you get out of a Michael Biehn these days.

Yeah. Great Kyle Reese. Yes, I agree. Do you think the Terminator 2 would have been better off with the original plan? The two things that they were originally going to do. One, put in the scene which is set prior to the first Terminator where they find the Skynet lab. And they find the Skynet lab. And they find the second.

They go into the room and they're like, oh, they've sent a Terminator back in time, but at least they've only sent one. Let's go into this next room. Oh, they've sent two Terminators. How many of these rooms are there? Well, look, just to lower our stress levels a little bit, let's not go into any more rooms.

Yes, that's right. Let's assume for now there's only the two. Yeah. And have a nice cup of tea. That's right. It's in Britain. It's set in Britain, right? Yeah.

So, yeah, I think that's... The Terminator's dirty little secret. Yes. It's set in Britain. We also got that in... The original title was It's the Terminator in it. In it? So that must be a time and space machine, right?

Because the Terminators and people arrive at different points in LA. That's a good question, yeah. Yeah. But it's always LA specific. What if the Earth is rotating? Would that have something to do with it? Yeah, that's something that is never really factored. That's something that's always hand-waved away in most time travel.

That we're hurtling through space? Yeah, in most time travel movies and TV shows. But realistically, if you just built a time machine and you time traveled, what would happen is you would go back in time to a time when Earth was no longer where you were. It was on the opposite side of the sun. Not only that, we're also hurtling through space. The whole solar system is hurtling through space.

So who knows where you'll end up? Nowhere. Except that was subverted. Sorry? They were going to do it in BBS'll end up? Yeah. Nowhere. Except that was subverted. Sorry? They were going to do it in BBS. Were they? Yeah. Oh, they also did it in Red Dwarf.

Oh, Justice League, sorry. Season six of Red Dwarf. Right. And they finally acquire a time machine. Yes. And they're like, all right, let's go back to the 1940s or whatever. And they go back in time. And it's like, yeah, we're three million years away from Earth,

but we're in the 1940s. But they still could go back three million years and then they'd be back at the... It doesn't matter, does it? I don't know. It doesn't really matter. I don't know. It's neither here nor there.

So there you go. Michael Biehn. Oh, the other thing was that Robert Patrick's liquid metal Terminator was going to be Michael Biehn, so they're going to switch the roles. Oh, that's right. I love Robert Patrick. I'm glad they did it that way,

but I think that would have been interesting also. So wait, so would that have meant in the plot that Sarah Connor encounters the Kyle Reese character? Yes. But the Kyle Reese character is a Terminator? Yes. Okay. Would that not have been too much?

I think so, yes. The double switcheroo seems a bit... I think it is too much, yeah. It's too cliché, I think, yeah. For something that's never been done before. That's right. Two robots going back in time. That old story.

The old chestnut of, oh, my God, you're old flame. He's actually the liquid metal Terminator. And the guy who tried to murder you last time is the good Terminator. We've all read that original Charles Dickens novel. We've all seen the Cary Grant movie, you know? So, yeah. I just thought that was... Except this time the love interest is the biplane.

Yes. Coming down in the field. And the killer is Cary Grant. So... Did you know the director of that movie, North by Northwest? Alfred Hitchcock? Yes. Made Cary Grant wear his own clothes for that scene.

Did he really? Because back in the day, if you were like a Hollywood actor, unless it was like a period piece set in ancient Rome or whatever, you just wore your own clothes. That's why Hollywood stars were so dapperly turned out in real life because that's the clothes they wore every day and also in movies. You couldn't do that now because Seth Rogen would turn up with a bong hanging around his neck or whatever he does.

Some board shorts and a bong, That's all he'd be wearing. So what even happened to society? You know, my man? I don't know. I'll make out with board shorts and bongs. All this is happening is because people don't wear hats anymore. It's the gentlemen wearing fedoras that are holding back the tide. The thing about a fedora is you can't just put a fedora on whatever T-shirt and trench coat you're wearing.

No, absolutely not. It's a look. It's a whole thing. Exactly, yeah. People, I think, forget that. And even then, it's trepidatious. It's so trepidatious. If that is even a word.

Yeah. That in itself is also trepidatious. Yes. Wouldn't you say so? I just wanted to quickly say on the subject of the Terminator which we're still talking about in the Star Wars news. The T-1000 was a prototype, wasn't he? There's not a bunch of them. I don't believe so, no.

Yeah. But I mean there are more T-1000s in sort of expanded media. Yes. But for the purposes of the two Terminator movies that actually count. Yes. It's only one, yes.

There wasn't a bunch. Yeah. That makes sense. They're probably expensive. Yeah. Not's only one, yes. Okay. There wasn't a bunch. Yeah. That makes sense. They're probably expensive. Yeah. Not that they had money. Who are they buying them off of? No, no.

That's how humanity is going to win the war. Eventually, Skynet goes over its budget and its boss fires it. So it's just a cigar-chopping guy called Larry in the back office. And he's like, Skynet, you've ruined me. Get out of here. That's right. office and he's like Skynet you've ruined me get out of here clean out your desk Skynet I'm getting back

into video game rentals that's right exactly yeah in other Star Wars news oh that's what we're doing that's what we're doing MovieWeb have reported

there was a there was a visual effects artist Neil Scanlon came on very famous like Neil Scanline yeah

Scanlines he was talking about the Cassian Andor series. You've been at home by yourself for a long time, haven't you? Can you tell? Yes. I resisted the urge to drink during this as well because I'm like, man, I need a drink. I haven't been drinking for a long time.

Why are you so thin? I'm just thinking about getting into it. You know what I mean? Getting back into it. What would you first drink back in? I've got a good whiskey that I want to kind of bust out at some point. Just mix it with like an RC Cola or something. I'll mix it with gasoline.

I don't care, mate. So, no, I'm trying to keep healthy because that's one way you can combat this. So, I'm still doing my exercises every day. I'll work out videos and fucking hate them. Are you making workout videos? No, I'm not making. What am I, bloody Scott Handsome doing that on Instagram? Who's Scott Handsome?

That's my account that I've created. It's an alter ego. Well, then I guess you are Scott Handsome. It's me. It's me. Is this some sort of meta advertisement for Scott Handsome, your fitness alter ego? But all right, go ahead.

It's me, sleeveless tee, board shorts. I don't barefoot I do it on grass Bandana What do you think? Can it be a bandana That makes it look like You're balding heavily

But you're covering it up With a bandana It's pulled right back Yes Yeah I've got the head for that Definitely Anyway

Could you pivot to Because I think people Would like that I think people I think people You know who I've got the head for that definitely anyway could you pivot to Scott Hanson because I think people would like that I think people would like I think people you know who

there are a lot of out there that I'm sure can relate to you stressed dads who are inside a lot with their kids and they're worried they're going to get real fast

oh Scott Hanson's been taken wow he's not even that handsome alright Scott Hanson 69 420 okay that's perfect

oh my god i don't have time to do this what am i even talking about to do this but i mean if you look all i'm saying is if you're gonna do it you may as well yeah turn it into content does it have to be real workouts i mean are you gonna are you gonna write gag workouts? I don't know. Am I? Look, all you have to do is set up a laptop outside and have like a professional exercise guy, like a professional workout guy YouTube video on the laptop and then just copy him and film yourself and then put it in. And not credit, right?

Not credit, exactly. But just be more manic and more relatable. Okay, I can do that. So... What are we talking about? Star Wars. It's got to answer. So, yeah, so Neil Scanlan, Scanline.

Oh, yeah, that's how that happened. Good joke we did earlier. He said, for Cassian Andor, they're using background characters and creatures that were sidelined in Rogue One. So they're bringing all that back. They're like, well, this guy got a little bit of play and so let's bring this weird-looking alien back in and we can have a whole adventure story. Do you think they're bringing all that back. They're like, well, this guy got a little bit of play, and so let's bring this weird-looking alien back in, and

we can have a whole adventure story. Do you think they're going to bring back that guy that Cassie Nandor shot? Oh, he was like, I can't even climb this wall! And he's like, shh, shh, shh, bang. Exactly, that's right. You had a real gun. That's my favourite joke, recurring joke at Star Wars, that some

people just have regular guns from Earth. But I would love to see the continuing adventures of that guy who's been shot. And he just lives his life. And he's just, he's been shot. Is he unhappy about it? Or is he just getting on with it? I mean, you know, he's getting on with it, but it's certainly a dampener on his love life. Oh my goodness.

It's a bit of a rom-com sitcom situation. Yeah. He's always going on a date and he's like, oh, I hope she likes my tuxedo. And then, you know, he goes in there and she's like, have you been shot? You should go to the hospital. You should go to the back-to-tank guy.

Yeah. There's a bunch of them. Or maybe there's like a weird health insurance back-to-tank situation in the Star Wars universe. Maybe, yeah. Seems appropriate, doesn't it, Mason? Makes you think. It really does.

I don't want to politicise sci-fi or anything like that, but it'd be a real... A mirror. A mirror to society, wouldn't it? Very good, yeah. All right. So you know Variety, famous publication. I mean, I'm personally, but yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know him. So Anya Taylor-Joy is apparently auditioned for the role of Furiosa in the prequel to Mad Max. Who is that again? She's in New Mutants. She's in The Witch. She's good. She did a bunch of stuff.

So she hasn't really had a huge breakout role yet because they keep delaying New Mutants. And maybe it's terrible. Or maybe it's the best. I kind of want Charlize Theron to do it again. Right? To be honest. Why isn't she doing it again? Because it's a prequel.

Oh, yeah. But why isn't she doing it again? Does she have something againstquel. Oh, yeah. But why isn't she doing it again? Does she have something against prequels? I don't know. Has she ever done a prequel? Is Aeon Flux a prequel to anything? That's a really good question. No, it's not.

Is Aeon Flux a prequel to the Aeon Flux cartoon series? I don't think so. Or maybe it is. It didn't capture any of that show at all. No. Except for the person who had hands for feet. Oh, yeah. I nailed that.

So, yeah, I mean, okay. I just would have preferred Charlize Theron. Just be like, it's 10 years earlier and she just looks like Charlize Theron still. So, yeah, whatever. We're going to find out how she loses her arm, no doubt, though. No doubt, right? Don't you want to leave a little bit of mystery? But that's what they're going to do, right?

How they lose, how she lost her arm? Oh, but. Depends how many movies you're doing. You're a trilogy you do it you do it it gets whittled away a little bit sure she's got a grater yeah outside her bedroom she comes out every day and just slides it down yeah perfect according to comicbook.com you may have heard this this is bad news actually i did have some cancer oh. Oh, come on. Diamond Comics distributors who print all the comics in North America, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW, Image and more, they are ceasing printing. Oh, I did hear about this, yes.

For the moment, digital is happening, but I haven't heard that it's not happening. I don't know. Just don't take comics, please. Just let me have those well i mean a diamond uh you know they're the distributor i didn't realize they monopolized everything oh yeah i had no idea yeah do a bit of background on that or is that pretty much it that's that look it's also it that's one of those subjects that i knew a lot about some years ago but it's all dribbled out of my brain since then.

But yeah, they, they, they used to be a couple more distributors, I think. And I think, you know, when,

when indie comics were a bigger thing, I think there were more indie distributors, but I think maybe diamond gobbled up everybody. Yeah. And so now they're a monopoly. And so if they go down, then we all go down. Yeah.

But I mean, they don't have a monopoly on digital. No. Well, that's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping it's still... Do you think as a last gasp they might acquire all the digital rights and then go out of business? Not that, but I just think would DC and Marble go,

well, how are we going to make money here? We make a lot of money in print. They'd definitely crunch the numbers and go, okay, would these numbers translate to digital only? I wonder how much that, because I mean. You'd think it would increase digital. You'd think. These days, I feel like even the biggest selling comic,

the biggest mainstream comic in the world. Is it like 50 to 100K or whatever? It's like 150,000 copies a month. And I don't know what they do digital, but I mean, that's not. That is. Is that just printed or is that everything? I think that's printed. I thought that was everything.

Maybe it's everything. It depends on what chart you're looking at. Well, that's true, but, I mean, even that, you know, five bucks a piece or whatever they cost now, compared to the billions of dollars that Marvel Studios is raking in, that's such a tiny. Yes. That's such a tiny... Yes. That's such a...

I mean, and all ultimately I think Marvel Comics now is, or is perceived by that company as a whole, is just test beds for stuff they can turn into movies later. Yeah, right. It's just run this storyline, see how people react to these new characters or this new status quo. People like it, let's make a movie out of it.

That's very true. Yeah. I don't know. I wonder if this worries them at all. I also feel like, uh, at a, you know,

I always hear rumors about what, you know, maybe Marvel will purchase DC comics or something like that. Yeah. I've heard that rumor in the past that. I've heard Apple, there was that rumor that Apple might purchase Disney. Do you hear that? No. Yeah. Cause their stock dropped off. Okay. Right. I don't like that. Yeah. I've heard that rumor in the past. I've heard Apple, there was that rumor that Apple might purchase Disney. Did you hear that?

No. Yeah, because their stock dropped or something. Okay, right. I don't need that. Me specifically. That'll really put a dampener on your day, won't it? Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't realize that Apple was that much bigger than Disney, but I guess they would be, wouldn't they? Yeah. Yeah. Apple's given all their employees two weeks off. Did you know that? That's terrific. With money? Yeah. That's terrific. Everybody employees two weeks off. Did you know that? That's terrific. With money?

Yeah. That's terrific. Everybody got two weeks extra paid vacation. Great. And they're like, go home. That's really good. Set the trend. Yes.

Mason, you got two weeks off. I'll take them. But that's it, though. We can't take two weeks off because we've got to talk about Harry Potter next week. That's true. I was going to say that for a... Yeah. Yeah, we are.

Well, you can edit this out. No, Mason. I don't edit anymore. Actually, I do. I was going to say that for... Yeah. Yeah, we are. Well, you can edit this out. No, Mason. I don't edit anymore. Actually, I do. I tighten it up. I have to peek behind the curtain. I like to do some levels. It's still terrible audio.

You like to tighten up. Oh, well, audio is going to get way worse once I've got my own Zoom. That's right. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. 50% of this podcast audio quality is going to go right down the gurgler. Yes. You're going to tighten up the podcast.

You tighten up your mind. You tighten up your abs. Yep. Outside on the lawn. That's right. Scott Handsome. Back into it. Your daily workout.

Yeah. Dog. Oh, congratulations this week on releasing your second true magnum opus on YouTube, which is the exploration of the Suvlaki, the Australian advertising classic, the Suvlaki Hut ad. Thank you. People are really enjoying it. It's been on my mind for a while, as you probably have noticed. Well, the other day I said to you, why doesn't Matt Stewart,

who we know does a lot of primate-related content on his podcast, Primates, why doesn't he do the Suvlaaki Hut ad? And you're like, well, I don't know. Maybe he should. I don't know. Maybe he should. And I'm like, you're being a bit cagey, but now I know. No, I mentioned it.

Remember the Q&A we did? I said in that, I'm like, I want to do a video on the Suvlaaki Hut ad. That's true, you did. So I didn't steal it from Matt Stewart. Also, I'd be more than happy to go on and do that with Matt Stewart. If anything, he stole it from you. That's right. That's right.

Or Matt Stewart could do it without me. He doesn't need me. What am I even talking about? You're right. Isn't it fascinating? Yeah, it really is. It's so weird. Why is it so weird?

I don't know. I don't even know. I don't know. Yeah. But maybe that's what we'll do. If we're hurting for content at any point in the future, we'll just do a deep dive on an Australian ad. Yeah, a real weird ad.

When I lived up north, I got a lot of ads for tractors. It's like, you like tractors? We've got red tractors. I'm like, I don't really like tractors. Okay, but do you like When I lived up north, I got a lot of ads for tractors. It's like, you like tractors? We've got red tractors. I'm like, I don't really like tractors. Okay, but do you like red tractors? No, not really. I'd get a grey tractor. I'd get a red tractor.

Of course you'd get a red tractor. What am I even talking about? You've seen too many ads for red tractors. I have. If I ever get a tractor, a red tractor. As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors, like high blood pressure developed during pregnancy, which can put us two times more at risk of heart disease or stroke.

Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. All right.

So we actually got this message this week. I know we discussed this also via text messages. Oh, yes. But this is where I got the idea from, from Comic Book Click. It says, how about some Robin talk on Weekly Planet Pod? Hashtag Weekly Planet Pod this week in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the boy wonder Dick Grayson. Do you have a favorite Robin or Robin portrayal?

Is it John Blake Robin? Oh, boy. No. I was just thinking about John Blake Robin. We'll talk about John Blake Robin. So we're going to do a bit of the history, some of our faves. We've done some research. We've got some notes.

We'll do a deep dive. Yes. Maybe I'll turn this into a video. Maybe I won't. I don't know. Yeah. So, yeah. So Robin was introduced in the 40s

1940 that's right detective comics 38 what do you know about the introduction of robin and why and who and how well first of all i wanted to point out that you know a lot of people are like oh my god robin it's no it's i mean it's it's a little bit you know batman's a grim dark avenger of the night and you know this rob this this you know just you know, we just put Robin on at the end. It's bloody. It's hardly appropriate in the Batman mythos. But when you think of Batman's 80th anniversary was like the other day.

Yes. And Robin's 80th anniversary is now. Yeah. He's been around as long as Batman for all intents and purposes. That's exactly right. You know, the idea of, well, this is inappropriate because he's too colourful. Yeah.

And Batman's all about grim and gritty. Batman, for so many eras, I mean, and it goes in and out, is also really dumb and broad and colourful. And also not every version of Robin is that either. That's true. Robin evolves with Batman. You don't have a grim, dark, gritty Batman and then Robin's like, woo-hoo!

Except for like the Lego Batman movie, of course, but that's kind of the idea. So Bill Finger, creator, Jerry Robinson and Bob Kane, I guess, was involved to some degree. Who knows to what extent. For people who don't know, Bob Kane for literally decades was listed as the creator of Batman. Soul creator.

Soul creator of Batman. Soul creator. Soul creator of Batman. But in retrospect, a lot of the actual work of the creation of the Batman mythos was anyone other than him, basically. Yes, that's right. His idea of Batman was, we've talked about this, but stiff, big bat wings, domino mask, blonde hair. Yeah. What are we even talking about?

He didn't look anything like what he looks like now correct at all so yeah i don't even know but uh so dick grayson's was the idea was to bring in like kids right well yeah i mean so so well actually something i learned this week the origin of the word sidekick yeah so in it's it's uh late 19th century early 20th century pickpocket slang. Really? Your sidekicks are your front side pockets here. Yeah, right. And they're your most secure pockets.

Yeah. So your sidekick is like your closest compadre. You're keeping them away. Well, see, I don't know. I don't know what it, because, I mean, surely you keep, maybe it's keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer kind of vibe. But anyway, your sidekick is your closest guy. Yeah, right.

But I mean, you know, and Robin is kind of the first superhero sidekick, but he's not like the first sidekick in fiction. No. So I think Bob Kane always maintained that the reason he brought in a Robin was because he wanted his Sherlock Holmes to have a Watson. Yes. But there's different versions, right? Because some people have said he's inspired by like Robin Hood,

like with the little outfit. Or he's supposed to be inspired by the bird Robin. They've all got different interpretations. Look, I think it's – Who's lying is what I'm saying. They're all lying. They all got together and decided to lie to us together. I think it's partly the Holmes and Watson situation

because you need kind of a younger, dumber character. Not that Watson is dumber, but, I mean, he's portrayed as dumber in a lot of versions of Sherlock Holmes. But you need somebody to explain things to because a man talking to himself ad nauseum for 30 pages every month is. Or even just thinking, even just thought bubbles. Exactly. Yeah.

You need that. And also I think, you know, what's not relatable to kids is like a, like a, like a billionaire playboy so much. The most relatable thing in the world. Right. People love an Elon Musk. People love that Amazon prick. People love all these guys, don't they?

Sure do. You know why? Because of all their charity work. That's right. Their incredible charity work. They're just constantly saving the day, you know? So the death of Robert's parents, the first Robert Dick. We're going to go through a punch,

but Dick Grayson's obviously the most well-known. So it was always the circus act thing, right? Yeah, he's the gold standard. If you've seen the 60s TV series, if you've seen Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, that's Dick Grayson. If you've seen the first many seasons of the animated series, that's Dick Grayson.

Exactly, yeah. So he was the son of circus acrobats. The Flying Graysons. The Flying Graysons. And the circus owed money to a mob boss. And so to threaten the circus, because, you know, you're always constantly threatening a circus. I'm never not threatening a circus.

I've got four or five circuses on the go once. Yeah, you've got them on speed dial. That's right. Ringling brothers, I give you a bloody ringling. Here we go. Stop using elephants, it's cruel. Nobody wants this. Click.

Anyway, so they cut the high wire and the Grayson parents are killed, leaving only Dick Grayson. Sometimes it's the Joker, though, depending on the version. Oh, yes, that's probably true, yeah. Yeah. But it's that in the Chris O'Donnell version is that, though, isn't it? Was it the Joker? No, no, sorry, it's the original one. Yes, it is, yeah, yeah. It's not the Joker thing. Yeah. But it's that in the Chris O'Donnell version is that though, isn't it? Was it the Joker? No, no, sorry, it's the original one.

Yes, it is, yeah, yeah. It's not the Joker thing. Yeah. Which version is the Joker? And then Batman's like, you know what, I should make this 12-year-old boy my ward and send him out there and fight crime, you know? Is he the only person in the world that can do a triple somersault from standing still? Because he's the most acrobatic of the

robins right yes i believe that's the world's greatest acrobat without being in the dc comics without being enhanced because some of the robins are enhanced depending if one's a robot we'll get to it but they're all kind of known for a particular thing and that's his thing right yeah yeah is he your favorite no he's pretty good. Don't get me wrong. Well, we should also talk about his introduction to Batman 66 as well. Wasn't that the same kind of idea as well, that he's got someone to talk to, but also they introduced an old woman that they lived with so people didn't think they were gay?

Uh-huh, sure. So they just bring in an old woman. Yeah, that's going to fix that problem that also doesn't exist in the show. You could have brought in girlfriends. Yeah, that's going to fix that problem that also doesn't exist in the show. You know, we could have brought in girlfriends. Yeah, that's right. That would probably help better. But I guess the idea was that Aunt Harriet was sort of like a –

She's keeping it apart. Well, no, but, yeah, I guess so. But she's also kind of like she's keeping – she's always looking around corners, like, making sure they're not up to anything. Because if anything, you know, like if anything, an interfering old woman would get, you know – I guess if she thought anything untoward was going on,

she'd hit him with a rolling pin or whatever. That's so true, yeah, and call the police, obviously, because that was the era for it. Yeah, so, but Robin, before he became Nightwing, he was leader of the Teen Titans, right? Was that in the 80s? That was the 80s. Yeah, so who was in that?

Starfire? Yes. Beast Boy? Yes. Some other fucking, I don't know. I've never read any of it, I would think. That's pretty good though, right? Look, you've got so much time.

You should either read or watch the animated adaptation of the Judas Contra. I do want to watch Teen Titans Go as well. Okay, right, yes. It's apparently incredible. Yeah, I just haven't got around to that yet. Yeah. So are you a fan of the Teen Titans then or that particular early version? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, okay, great. I don't know how well it's aged. I haven't read any to that yet. Yeah. So are you a fan of the Teen Titans then? Or that particular early version? Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, great. I don't know how well it's aged. I haven't read any since maybe the 90s. Is Batman letting him do this or is he just doing it on the side? Oh, he's letting him do it, yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah.

Because they do have a falling out, obviously, where he becomes Nightwing, which I think is the best version of Dick Grayson there is. Well, he's got those sticks. He's got those sticks, which is great. But if he puts on a different costume, you better put those sticks away, young man. That's right. Yeah.

But also he's a secret agent at some point. That was a more recent thing. Yeah, I mean, Dick Grayson's gone through any number of changes. He's taken the role of Batman from time to time. Recently he changed his name to Rick Grayson. So cool. He lost his memory and became Rick Grayson. So he knew some of the things that he was.

Apparently. Near to all of the things that he knew. It's a bloodshot situation, isn't it? Right? Did he get bloodshotted? No, no, he's just regular, regular shot. Regular shot, okay. No, I don't know.

I mean, and sort of Robin has become this quintessential, the first Robin especially, sort of become this quintessential sidekick character. Yeah. The first Robin especially sort of become this quintessential sidekick character. And again, you know, it led to every other superhero obtaining like a carbon copy teen sidekick. Yes. Although while Batman had Robin, you know, Aquaman had Aqualad, who was just the same.

Smaller, shorter. Yeah, and Green Arrow had Speedy, who was the same. But red? Red, yes. Terrific. This is all good stuff. It's great stuff, shorter. Yeah, and Green Arrow had Speedy. Yes. Who's the same. But Red? Red, yes. Terrific. This is all good stuff. It's great stuff, right? Yeah.

Who did Superman have? A dog. A dog. I was going to script out a super dog. Right? Because Superman and Superboy, they're not often, they're not a pair, nor are they. Because they're the same guy. But now it's kind of changed because Superman has a son that they've kept around, which I really like.

So now they have like a definitive kind of, in stone Superboy, which I really enjoy. So, yeah. The other thing is what I really like about Dick Grayson, one of my favorite Batman stories is Black Mirror. Not like the show Black Mirror. Oh, come on. A little bit because of spookiness. But he becomes Batman briefly for a time. And he's Batman's out of town doing whatever he's up to,

looking for Lazarus pits. I don't know what he does when he goes overseas. He pretends he's going on a holiday, but he's looking for a Lazarus pit. He goes to red light districts is what he does. Yes, he does, yeah. But can you talk a bit about how Bruce Wayne didn't give the role of Batman to Dick Grayson during the Nightfall period period and he gave it to John Paul Valley? Yes.

What was the reasoning behind that? Because Dick Grayson's your ideal candidate to take over as Batman. Do you remember why he picked Asriel? Do you think he'd be more effective? Did Grayson get hurt? I think it was that one. But also I think he was like, look, you've established yourself in this separate identity. Did you know that the-

But wasn't he like upset that he wasn't even asked? Yeah, probably. I'm sure. Maybe it was like he didn't want, don't smush your gray hair down. He's got terrific hair, doesn't he? And that cowl. I'm sure there was an era, and maybe it's not that era, people will tell us, where Batman doesn't give him the cowl

and he's just like, you're not even going to ask me? Like I've been doing this for as long as you have. Is it really a role you want, though? Yeah. There's a lot of pressure on your shoulders. But he also, it's interesting because when he is his Batman, he's his own Batman. He doesn't ape Bruce Wayne.

He does it his own way. And also some criminals recognize that it's not him. Yes, that's true. Because the Joker immediately is like, you're not the real Batman. You're a different Batman. Yeah. So that's really interesting. There's also, so a lot of people, you know,

because Robin has been around for 80 years, especially the Dick Grayson Robin, you know, the question that was often asked was, well, why isn't Robin, you know. Robin Banks? No, why isn't he like 90 years old at this point? Sure. Why isn't any of them 90 years old?

Well, that's true. And DC's solution was to say that there were two Earths. So on one Earth, on the first Earth, which we'll call Earth 2. Firth. For confusion's sake, we'll call it Earth 2. All the heroes started fighting crime in the 40s. Yes. And they have aged sort of fairly normally.

Magnificently. Magnificently. And on the second Earth, which we'll call Earth 1, the heroes started fighting crime in the modern era. They have aged? Magnificently. Magnificently. That's right.

And we started, the idea is that in the 40s we initially saw them on Earth 2. And then at some indeterminate point we switched over. So now we're looking at the modern day versions of the heroes. And so on Earth 2 the heroes aged magnificently, obviously. But they also moved on with their life. So Bruce Wayne got married to Selina Carl, Catwoman. And they had a daughter, Helena Wayne, who became the Huntress. And Superman married Lois Lane and had a kid and et cetera.

So at a certain point in the 70s and 80s, there were two timelines. So if you wanted to see superheroes in the prime of their life, you could read an Earth 1 storyline. But if you wanted to see superheroes retire and move on, because that's the exciting part. Cool. You read Earth 2. But in Earth 2, Robin never moved on from being Robin. Yeah, he kept it up, right?

He stayed Robin. He updated the suit. Have you seen it? I have, yeah. I don't mind it. It's good. Yeah. It's surprisingly good.

Yeah. So is he still around? Where is he now? They're all dead. Because they mashed them all together, right? That universe was annihilated. Yeah. They all died sad and alone.

Some got out though. Didn't some get out though? A very small number of them got out but most of them don't go back is all I'm saying. Most of the DC's parallel universes were annihilated in 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths and most of the issues end with a bunch of characters realising that their Earth is being annihilated

and they're going to die. And they're all like, boy, this is sad, isn't it? And they're just gone. That is sad. And they've never come back. But they're okay, right? No, they're dead. Do you think there's room to bring that back

because everything is always brought back forever? Or do you think we're so far past that that no one's going to bring that back? I think they've all come back in snippets and bits and pieces. And there's always a scene in one of those comics where somebody sees through time and space and dimensions. The flash is running through or whatever. Exactly. And it's like, oh, all those other characters.

And they're having a great time. They're having a little tea party. They're having a little party. They're certainly not depressed because their universe is being annihilated. But yeah, good times. That's great times. Thank you, yes. Well, we've talked a lot about Dick Grayson.

Do you want to talk about the second Robin? Yeah, for sure. I feel like this kind of opened the door for Robins forever because there was one Robin for 40 years and then there's been 100 since. That's true, yeah. We can't get enough of switching out the Robins. There's some good Robins in here. So Jason Todd, we've talked about this recently.

Well, of course, Jason Todd, as distinct from Dick Grayson, he started as a circus acrobat with his parents who were like a high wire acrobat act. He couldn't do the triple somersault, but he could do the quadruple somersault. That's right, which is even more impressive and cool, and he had a bad boy attitude about it. But then the circus owed money to a mob boss. In this case, it was Two-Face, who was like,

well, I'm going to teach this circus a lesson, and he cut the high wire. Or was it Croc in some versions, maybe? Probably Croc in some versions. And then the parents were killed but Jason Todd lived and of course Batman took him in and he became Batman's ward and also became Robin

and he was just exactly the same as Dick Grayson and nobody ever had any complaints. But. Ah that sucked. And so what happened is during the Crisis and infinite, that's where the, all the universes were destroyed and everybody died in despair. They were like,

let's maybe change some stuff because I mean, realistically, what are the odds? What are the odds? I mean, they're like Batman certainly as a type, doesn't he? Acquiring weird circus orphans. I'd start to wonder honestly,

if Batman were arranging all these things. Yeah, you definitely, especially if you were one of them and you'd be like the last guy was the what now what do you mean yeah and you'd be like so i'm my parents were just accountants and then a wealthy benefactor offered them a million dollars to become weird high wire circus acts is that and then i started doing that is that did you do that is that i don't like what's happened here absolutely not but anyway so the people like we don't we don't like what's happened here. No, absolutely not. But anyway, so the people like,

we don't like what happened here. Yeah. And so they, during the crisis in Infinite Earths, they rebuilt reality essentially. Yes. So to make things easier for writers and stuff like that. And so the first thing they did was say, okay, let's say Jason Todd has a different origin

because that would make more sense. Street boy. Do you want to have a pre-crisis Jason Todd? He's dead. They smooshed him into something? Correct. Absolutely right. Died in sadness and despair.

I think he was crushed under a building. I'm not sure. Terrific. I mean, he learned he was alone and his universe was being destroyed and then he was crushed into powder. But sometimes, though, you'll see the Flash running through time and space and you'll just see a panel and it's just him still stuck under that building. That's right.

He's like, I'm alive. I'm hungry it's been decades yeah so instead they were like okay let's say that this this kid is an orphan street tough yeah uh and batman catches him stealing the wheels of the batmobile that's right the coolest batmobile there is so some kind of lamborghini or whatever right that's right cool so but of course, Jason Todd is most famous for, well, it used to be. I don't know if that's the case now. Being disliked? Famously disliked. Well, I think the perception was that people didn't like him,

but was he really hated that much? It seems to me that, yes. I think it seems to me that, from what I've read recently about it, it seems to be that it was one of the first cases of fan backlash because it was a new thing. Yeah, right. And it was similar but not the same, and people didn't like it. They didn't like his can't-do attitude because you know how Dick Grayson

had the can-do attitude? He did. He certainly did, yeah. Or Jason Todd had a no-thank-you attitude. Yeah. And he was kind of always – Did he also dye his hair? According to the modern continuity, Bruce Wayne made him dye his hair.

Yeah, what? Because he has red hair. Oh, is that for like, so he's not a target? Is that the idea? No, I think it's because so he'd look like regular Robin. That's weird. Pretty weird, right? How'd he do that?

And again, he arranged his parents' death. Yeah, we figured that out, didn't we, too? Yeah, we've cracked the case here. Yeah. But if you look at the poll, because there was a poll when the Joker beat him to death. No, sorry, that was a crowbar. But there was a poll afterwards to determine whether or not he should die. And it's 5,343 to 5,271, the people who voted.

So judging by that, it's half people were okay with him and wanted him to go on. So with his death, though. Although the rumor was, one of the editors of DC at the time, he heard a rumor that someone had set their computer to dial that number automatically, like every 90 seconds for eight hours or something like that. Yeah, right. That no. Oh, okay, right.

The death of Jason Todd number. I still feel like they were going to do it anyway. Right. I know there is that panel that was recently revealed where he's like, he's alive, he's actually alive, because that's the other option. But I feel like they would have sold more. They knew that by doing this. I have no way to prove that.

So it was just a shameless cash grab on behalf of DC Comics and also the telephone company. That's right. Wow. Big T. Wow. Yeah. So that's how that went.

But I think, though, ultimately this was a good thing because, for one, they killed him for a really long time. That is true. Which I really appreciated. And then, of course, he was brought back in a really interesting way. And often when characters are brought back, not very interesting at all. But I think this is one of the better ones.

It's like this and there's Bucky and there's probably another one that's also interesting. No, they're the only two interesting ones. It's kind of expected, though, that characters come back. So when they do, it's like, who cares? I mean, recently Damien Wayne was killed and even then he was back. We'll talk about it. And one of the additional hundred Robins.

Yeah, which honestly I don't actually have a problem with, but I just think this was handled really well because it was decades later under the Red Hood. Spoiler alert, I guess. There's also a terrific animated movie where this villain rolls into town. He's wearing a Red Hood. He doesn't like the Joker much because the Joker beat him to death.

And it's revealed in the movie that he was brought back through the Lazarus pit and he's kind of lost his mind and slowly regained it, but he still hates Batman, obviously. But in the comic, Superboy punched reality so hard he came back to life? That is correct, yes. Why didn't they put that in the comic, Superboy punched reality so hard he came back to life? That is correct, yes. Why didn't they put that in the movie?

That's a really good point. Yeah. Because it's dumb. It is dumb. Yeah, so Superboy Prime, not the Superboy that is Superman's son currently, nor the Superboy that was the clone of Superman, nor the Superboy that was man when he was a boy

nor super boy from the tv show super boy no not that super boy and they're not nor nor tom welling the actor yes played nor super boy b-o-i oh yes uh-huh but but a a super boy from a reality in which all dc superheroes were fictional comic book. But then it turned out he actually was from the planet Krypton and he had all Superman's powers. And he loved it. Anyway, he was spared the destruction, the depressing destruction of the universe. Yeah.

Crisis and infidelness, but he was trapped in a pocket dimension. And in attempting to escape that pocket dimension, he punched the walls of reality so hard that Jason Todd came back to life. But just Jason Todd? Did he rattle any other cages? I think he rattled a couple of other cages, but who's to say? That's the one that counts, I guess. Where's he now?

A lot of other people. Imagine a lot of just normal people just were like, oh, my God, I'm alive again. And people were like, who cares? Shut up. But you're my wife. I don't care. I'm remarried, obviously.

Yeah. I killed you. You sucked. I'm going to have to kill you again. No. Oh, no. I would read that story. Definitely. So what happened to have to kill you again. No. Oh, no. I would read that story.

Definitely. So what happened to that super boy, though? John Smith, the guy who sucks. He is a villain now. Okay. And he appears intermittently throughout the DC universe. To threaten realities? Yes. One of those guys.

Yeah, so now he's a good guy again. He's like leader of the outlaws. He's done that. He probably rides a motorbike sometimes doesn't he yeah yeah he's got cool guns sometimes he does have cool guns i feel like and he he exists in that that space where batman is seems to be okay with that yeah and the idea that he's probably machine gunned a bunch of people to death sure well he has to be doesn't he does he because batman also kills people in like often because that's probably

true if not directly indirectly and also batman's probably true. If not directly, if indirectly. And also Batman's probably got like a tally in his head of like, well, I did let him die. Yeah. So that's worth like 100. I would say so. 100 dudes that he's killed. Yeah.

So when he hits 101, I'm going to be like, Jason, settle down. I'm going to have to kill you again if you want another 100. Yeah. But I think he's also. Oh, bad man you're not even my real dad i think it shows the difference between him and dick grayson eventually that they figured out that they grew into completely different vigilantes i think that's really interesting it just shows that they're not the same like they took the time to just not make him it It's Nightwing 2. Yeah, exactly right. I think it would be interesting though, like if you did have them swap roles at some point

and what does a Nightwing Red Hood look like? There's no reason they would. Why would they? I'm making the shuffling fingers dollar motion. Do you think that people would... I'm still doing it, yeah. But do you think that's a thing that people would be impressed by, by like, what if Red Hood was Nightwing?

Like, nobody's... No, no. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, I want to... This isn't an in-continuity one anymore, like most of these things, but I want to bring it up because there's a line about Jason Todd in it that we didn't know the fate of.

It's from uh the dark night strikes again back for real he's back that's right that returns sure so carrie kelly is introduced in that she's a self-made robin who helps bruce wayne even though this is in the future it's in the future potential future potential future and there's a line in that where they ask about jason and he says jason was a good soldier or something along those lines and it's like what the fuck does that mean? You're like, what happened to him? Because he wasn't dead at that point.

That's true. They haven't even decided what they were going to do with him. Yeah, right. So I don't know whether he has turned up in that reality as of yet. Dick Grayson turned up as a weird shape-changing Joker monster in the sequel book. That's true, he did, yeah. Yeah, and Batman's young again. But I always liked Carrie Kelly.

I think she's a really good Robin. And great frames. Great frames. She's also back in the third book because there are three graphic novels of this where it's just like Bruce Wayne is young again, whatever. It's just, that's what they ended up doing there. The third one is better than the second one.

But either is obviously as good as the first. So what's the fourth one going to be like is ultimately the question. Well they reckon that might be the one that Frank Miller does entirely by himself. I cannot wait.

I cannot wait either for that never to come out. Yeah. But I mean Jason Todd certainly had his kind of you know you're right

they did try their best to make him as distinct from the previous Robin as possible which I enjoyed a lot. And also it was implied in a bunch of stories,

or at least a few, that he did murder some people. Cool. Like even back in the day. Oh, back in the day, yeah, you're right, yeah. He would just go off on his own and- Push somebody off a roof or something. Kill some birds. There'd been some trouble with Robins with that before.

Carrie Kelly- Swat him with a newspaper, is what I say. A little spray. Carrie Kelly also became some kind of cat woman in the sequel. I remember that, yeah. But I don't know. I can't remember what she was in the third one. It doesn't really matter.

But she's a good character. Tim Drake. Where you at? That's my personal favourite Robin. Because of the stick? Yeah, because of the stick. I mean, some of the other ones have sticks also. But also long pants.

No shorts. I mean, we haven't really talked about robin's tight little feathered green shorts because they're feathered or scaled yeah they're scale male shorts it's tough to say really does it yeah what's the thinking i mean he wasn't the first because obviously the earth to robin had long pants yeah obviously we all know that and the version of sorry the version of jason todd the initial version of Jason Todd also had long pants and a ridiculous costume. Far and away the worst costume.

Yeah. And then later they're like, just give him the old Robin costume. Yeah, what do you think of that? But I think. So the original Jason Todd costume, did you say? It's ridiculous. I need to Google that while you're talking. Paul, just have a little gander.

But Tim Drake was, I think, an attempt to kind of course correct. He's a middle ground, right? He's a middle ground. And he's, obviously, he was an acrobat in a circus with his parents, the Flying Drakes. No, that's not actually true. But he's, like, I think the. Is this it?

Yes. Bad. One of the worst. Yeah. Look at his little. Look at his little harlequin collar. It's ridiculous. Anyway. And then he does this, right? That's a Tim Drake role. Yeah. Oh, his little harlequin collar. It's ridiculous. Anyway.

And then he does this, right? That's a Tim Drake robot. Oh, that's Tim Drake? Okay, cool. That's the Primo costume. Look at that costume. And it's got the one yellow. It's got.

It's flipped up. Yeah, it's got a black cape on the outside and a yellow cape on the inside. See, he zaps through it. Exactly right. That's cool. But Tim Drake was an attempt by DC to course correct because he was a fan of Batman, essentially. Which I think that was a means of being like, he likes Batman, how do you like Batman?

He's just like you, kind of thing. So basically what happens is when he was a kid, he went to the circus and he saw the Flying Graysons. He saw them die, right? He saw them die. He was in the audience at the time and he saw them perform and obviously dick grayson's the only person in the world who can perform a standing triple somersault or whatever it is but then many years later he saw some footage on television of robin dick grayson robin and saw

him do that and it was and he joined the dots and he's like well that must be dick grayson and yes he's batman uh and then when jason todd died he's like well maybe batman needs a friend or possibly a new robin and he's like and so he introduced himself batman doesn't need a friend he needs someone to boss around that's right and punch the people he needs punched but he is slightly too far out of reach to punch. That's what Batman requires. You're absolutely right. And so I think they brought him in kind of on that basis of like, you know, I'm just like you, dear reader, kind of thing. So he becomes Red Robin, but now, because of the new 52 retcon, he was always Red Robin.

That's correct, yes. But I don't know where that's at now, though. Right. Because of Rebirth. Yeah, he's still Red Robin. Okay. But does that mean he wasn't Robin? It seems that way, yes. Okay, yes. But I don't know where that's at now, though. Right. Because of Rebirth. Yeah, he's still Red Robin. Okay. But does that mean he wasn't Robin? It seems that way, yes.

Okay, right. Yes, which is a little disappointing for me because this Robin was kind of the most... Do you think this is because you were reading a lot of comics at this age, though? I mean, probably, but also this... But just in terms of publishing-wise, this was the first Robin to have his own solo series. Yeah.

Like, he was enough of a character to just sort of go out on his own. He had his own ongoing monthly comic book, which none of the other previous Robins did. Yeah. And he had his own kind of thing going on, you know? Hot stuff. The hottest of stuff. But he's still kind of tied to Batman more than, like,

Dick Grayson and Red Hood, right? He's still physically tied to Batman sometimes. Obviously he'll be over a shark tank or something like that. Or he's on a leash. So he can punch the people that Batman can't quite reach. So your favourite, though, because costume alone? Or is it the characterisation and the stick? He's the second world's greatest detective, probably, after Batman.

That's what I think is really interesting about him because he's the one... Because, like I said earlier, they've all got like a thing. Jason Todd's like a street tough. Dick Grayson's an amazing acrobat. Kelly Carey's got those great frames. Great frames, exactly.

But the fact that his particular skill is that he's an excellent detective, I think that's really an interesting kind of take to put on, not to be like he's just another acrobat for no reason. Exactly. I mean, he could be better at punching. Yeah, but he's also another acrobat for no reason exactly yeah but also he could be better at punching yeah but he's also another acrobat for no reason also just sort of but they all they all are aren't they well i mean i mean we don't even think about all the robins who are probably like mashed up in one of the riddler's deadly traps or something like that i mean if you're not a great acrobat yeah just add to the pile you know what i mean chuck it on

there terrible robins we don't even see those. Yeah. Should we talk about Young Justice a little bit? A TV show that I haven't watched that people always tell us to watch? No. Yeah, there's a bunch of Robins in that, Tim Drake's in it. And I was going to say Foggy Nelson. That's not true.

Dick Grayson's in it. Yeah, there's a bunch of younger characters in it that I've really got to get around to watching. And they've got another season, which was really cool because people love that show. So, Stephanie Brown. Oh, yes. Okay.

Briefly replaced. Briefly stepped in as a Robin, but then died. But then, spoiler alert, she didn't really die. Speaking of spoilers. Exactly. So, she was introduced initially. There is a very lame sort of Z-list villain called the Clue Master.

He's best known to me as being one of the members of Justice League Antarctica. Was that a joke? Well, yeah, it was a joke. Obviously, yeah. It was a one-shot in like 1990 or something. I'm sure I still have it somewhere, where a bunch of- Were they razzing penguins?

What are they up to? They were literally killer penguins. Of course. Back in the day- That's not even original in this universe. Back in the day, a lot of the Justice League comics were comedy books because they were all blamed C and D list characters. And so there was a one shot called Justice League Antarctica

where a bunch of somewhat reformed villains were put together to guard Antarctica. And one of them was the Clue Master, who, again, he's like the Riddler, only not as good. Wow, that's really saying something. But he had a daughter named Stephanie Brown. Yeah. Because she learned he was the Clue Master

and didn't approve of this dumb lifestyle he was leading. So she created a vigilante identity called the Spoiler to spoil his plans. And then she came across Robin and they had a romantic the dick the the tim drake robin and they kind of had a romantic thing and then when tim drake gave up the role of robin she took over for a while and then she was killed yeah but not really i think no that's true yes because no one ever really dies again if you get a one exactly really not in comics certainly yeah so yeah good character i guess sure i don't know anything about her she then became bad girl yes briefly after that and

who's and then she was replaced by uh the original bad girl who came back terrific just people replacing people it's about isn't it it's an it's like the workforce in many ways isn't it is it i don't know um damian way. Yes. Lunatic Robert. Correct, yes. He's just a fucking lunatic. The illegitimate child of Bruce Wayne. I think it's a legitimate child. Well, I'm just saying out of wedlock.

Sorry, I'm using outdated language. You certainly are. The bastard son. Of Talia al Ghul and Bruce Wayne. Yes. Which is why he's crazy. And he was raised by... He was raised without Bruce Wayne's knowledge in the League of Shadows,

the clan of assassins. He often be having swords? Yeah. He's killed some people. He's killed some people, yeah. So obviously there's a lot of Ra's al Ghul or Ra's al Ghul influence on him because that's his grandfather. Was it a trick?

Did they plan it out to get the seed of Bruce Wayne to create this ultimate kid? Wasn't that the idea? I don't want to think about it, to be honest. I think there was like, well, because he's always trying to get Bruce Wayne on board. You know, he's like, Bruce Wayne, join the League of Shadows. They should have just read that Batman Damned comic.

Absolutely. Damn. His dick is what I'm saying. Yeah, no, I know. I know what you're saying. So Damien recently was killed. Bruce Wayne taught him not to kill a bunch of people, right? Don't kill any more people.

I've already got one guy who's always off killing people. I don't know what he's doing. So Damien, though, was killed by a heretic, which is an adult Damien clone, and then using the Chaos Shard. I don't know what that is. It was together with some Darkseid stuff on Apocalypse. He was brought back.

Oh, yes. And then Darkseid's son stepped through to kind of beat up everybody in the Batcave. But it turned out that Damien Wayne was superpowered. Oh, yes. And just pummeled him. And then the idea was like, what are we going to do with this? This Batman's kid now has superpowers. That changes the whole dynamic and whatever.

And then they baited away. Okay, cool. He doesn't have any more. That's comic books. But I like Damien Wayne as well. He's not my favorite. No, but I think they've given him enough time. I feel like if they'd maybe a year or two in,

they'd put up another of those 1-800 numbers. Yes. Would you like Damien Wayne to live or die? I think maybe the general audience would have said, you know what, die. Yeah, do it. But he's sort of grown into his own. I found him irritating. Super Sons, obviously.

Yeah, I found him irritating up until maybe the Super Sons in which he teams up with Superman's son. Yeah, and they have a very different kind of dynamic. Which is not dissimilar from the Superman, Batman kind of dynamic either. One's got superpowers and one's lame. One's nice. One's Batman. Yeah.

Also, isn't there a future where Damian Wayne is Batman that we've never reached? Yeah, but he's clearly sold his soul to the devil or something because he has weird demonic powers and he can't be killed. There was a limited series called the kingdom. Yeah. I guess many after many years after they eliminated all the parallel universes in, uh,

in crisis on infinite earths, they're like, Hey, let's make things way more complicated and bring them all back, but in a different way. Yes. They did it in a mini series called the kingdom. Yeah.

Uh, and in which we see a future version of Damian Wayne as Batman. There was also rumors that one of the Arkham games were going to pick up in the future version of Damian Wayne as Batman. There was also rumours that one of the Arkham games were going to pick up in the future with a Damian Wayne. I don't know whether that's true or not, but that was an idea for it. I see. Because if you see how those games end, there's kind of some things that they can't do anymore.

And I think Damian Wayne exists in that universe. Or does he? I have no idea. Probably. I have no memory of him. There are other Robins in it because there's a moment when Tim Drake appears and he's got the stick and the shaved head. And I'm like, oh, my goodness.

And maybe he plays him in DLC stuff? You do, yeah. Okay, there you go. Terrific. Terrific stuff. Also, Damian Wayne I feel like is always, of all the Robins, he's the one who's destined to become Batman and just be Batman and not do another weird variation on it except for the demon thing.

For example, in DC's recently, for various reasons, which I will not spoil here, he ends up becoming Batman. So, yeah, so I think eventually, I think the way that we see Superman's son become the next Superman, I think eventually that's the way this is probably going to go. Unless he grows up kind of short, in which case probably not. Can't do it. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

It's always interesting that the Robins stay like 5'8". Yeah, right, yeah. Until they are of adult age, at which point they all become 6'2". But not as big as Bruce Wayne. They're always leaner. Yeah, that's true. They cannot be that big, yeah. So there you go. Do you want to talk about some, that's true. They cannot be that big. Yeah. So there you go. Do you want to talk about some other versions, though,

while we're bloody here? Yeah. Yeah. Earth 2, Robin, you mentioned Stata's Robin. The Toy Wonder is from DC One Million. Oh, yes. He's a robot or something. I don't know.

I don't know what to say. He's got a robot sidekick. Yeah. That feels apt for DC One Million, right? Yeah, that was one of the dumbest series ever made, but I loved it so much. It was really... Did you really?

Yeah, it's great. Oh, yeah. Is that the one where Superman can't get into the... Yes! We've talked about it, yeah. Boyd the Robin Wonder. I don't know what that is. I've written it down.

I think you've made that up. No, no, I went through a list. So the Injustice Universe. Oh, yes. Damian Wayne kills Dick Grayson, and Dick Grayson becomes Deadman. The new Deadman or whatever. He's like a ghostly apparition. He kills him by accident.

He does. I can't remember how. But he hits him in the neck with a stick maybe. Yeah, or he falls over and breaks his neck. Yeah, one of those things. Or trips in the street. He just thinks of Damian Wayne and then he gets hit by a bus

exactly it's unrelated you got any others though no okay well mentioned Michael Cera they got Teen Titans Go the animated series

Young Justice all of those are mentioned Chris O'Donnell and of course we're going full circle let's bring it back to John Blake of course

or as he's known some people call him Robin, I think. It's his birth name or whatever. It raises many questions. It's fascinating. Do we want to talk about, people might have forgotten this or not know this. I will talk about this endlessly. I will talk about John Blake.

I just need a bit of background as in what we're talking about. Oh, okay, right. Sure, go ahead. Yeah. So in The Dark Knight Rises, we're introduced to John Blake, played by Jogo Lev, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and he's just a beat cop in Gotham City. Yes.

But he was an orphan just like Batman, and so he knows, he figures out who Batman is because they're both orphans or something. Yeah. He's got magical, he's got some sort of water-divining ability, but for orphans because he's also an orphan. Yeah, he looked into his eyes and he knew. Yeah, he saw, yeah.

Whatever. Sure, right. Yeah. And there's no indication that he is yeah, whatever. Sure, right. Yeah. And there's no indication that he is any kind of Robin throughout the movie. He doesn't put on a costume. He does shoot someone at one point to death. But then he's like, I don't like guns.

And he puts them down. I mean, after this shooting, I'm just done. Yeah. And then at the end, despite having no acrobatic ability whatsoever, he can't even do a single somersault. Wow. Batman just gives him all of his shit and goes, good luck. Yeah, because of the orphan code. Madness.

Absolute madness. That dude, I think we've mentioned this before, first shot, he's swinging to the side of the building and just explode. Just a big bag of blood. The guy's not ready. Right. At all. Well, yeah. I mean, maybe he'll be a different...

Stay in the car. Right. Fight crime from in the car. But it just seems to be an odd... I like those movies. I like them as well for the most part. It's just interesting that... It's fan service, right?

It's fan service, but it sort of fascinates me that they didn't go... I just wonder what... I wish I was there for the production meeting or the onset in that last scene because he goes to receive a will or something like that. He goes to some sort of office and he has to get some paperwork and he says there's some paperwork for John Blake. The secretary says there's nothing for John Blake.

He says maybe it's under my legal name. She says, oh, it's Robin. Yeah. But. Robin's real name isn't Robin. And if. And if he's always going to fight crime under his real name. Under his legal name.

Organized crime will never figure this out. They'll be after me, John Blake. They'll never look in a phone book. My understanding is that he would just. There aren't any phone books. No. My understanding is that he'd just be a vigilante. But he hasn't done any of that.

Or he'll be Batman. Yeah, exactly. But he hasn't done any of that weird mountain training. He hasn't sniffed a weird herb and had a real... He didn't blow up a clam full of ninjas. He didn't do any of that. But I guess my question is, did they say... Was the line originally, oh, it's under my original name,

oh, Dick Grayson or something. And then somebody, a producer somewhere was the line originally, oh, it's under my original name, oh, Dick Grayson or something. And then somebody, a producer somewhere along the line said, nobody's going to know who Dick Grayson is. People who have gone through the, people who have seen these movies and love them and then have gone off on a deep dive about, you know, and read the comics or whatever, they won't understand that, they won't understand the cultural touchstone that is Dick Grayson, a Robin that's been in every

Batman incarnation for the last 80 years. That doesn't matter. I think by the end of the movie, everybody's still there. They're in the movie, watching the movie. Yeah. And maybe they'll be like, what was that about? Yeah, and then they'll Google it. Yeah.

What they should have done is what they should have done. He goes in and they go, oh my God, your name's Dick Grayson. What a beautiful name. You should keep the name Dick Grayson. I don't know what this John Blake shit's going on. And then he goes into the Batcave and then he's got the little feathery briefs. Yes, that's right. And then everybody who doesn't know who Robert is makes the connection.

That's how you do it. And he's like, do I have to wear these? And it's a condition of the will. It's like if you're taken over, stay in the car and put these on. That's right. You can have my billion dollars, but you have to wear these, and it's a condition of the will. It's like if you're taken over. You're sworn oath. Stay in the car and put these on. That's right. You can have my billion dollars, but you have to wear these briefs. You can wear additional stuff as part of the costume, but if you don't. Yeah, terrific stuff.

So that's, well, not all the Robins. It's not, but that's kind of a briefish history of what they had going on, isn't it? Yes. And didn't they have a lot going on? They had so much going on. Look, here's an honorary mention. If you've never seen this, there is a one-shot from many years ago called Thrill Killer, which is sort of a Batman reboot set in the early 60s.

Oh, look at that. It's very – it was written by Howard Chaikin and drawn by Dan Brereton, and it's just – it's very odd. Okay. But it's... He's wearing a Leatherman jacket? Yes, yeah. Cool.

So it's a real... Which Robin is he? Real groovy take. It's Dick Grayson. Great. Yeah, no problem. He looks more like a Jason Todd kind of looking dude. Well, he's not.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I don't know what I was thinking just then when I said that. There's also the Robin 80th Anniversary 100-page spectacular, which is already out, which I have not read as of yet, or it's not out yet. Cool, man. Yeah.

Have you read it? No. The reviews are looking good. So there you go. I'm going to check that out. But it's got that, I don't know if you've seen the imagery from that, but it's very Dark Knight-esque. It's got that Dark Knight Robin jump that we all know and love.

Oh, yes. Or the Batman jump, I should jump that we all know and love. Oh, yes. Or the Batman jump, I should say. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, nice. All right. And that's been whatever this is, isn't it? Hasn't it been that? That's right.

Absolutely it's been that. A real deep dive. The deepest dive you'll ever find on the character of Robin. We splooshed into the water and we've finally come up for air, haven't we? No, I'm still down there. I'm drowning. Oh, well, I'll see you later then. I'm drowning in great content is what's happening.

All right, ready for the next segment? Yes. Well, you know what you know what it is though don't you that's what we're reading what we're gonna read that's right i'm doing a thing what are we reading today that's a really good question are we going to catch up on some should we catch up on some these these new to digital releases? Yeah, I think we should. Bad Boys for Life is coming out this week, I think. It is, yeah, the 31st, I think. Slam Dunk but not the booze. You're going to check out The Hunt, are you?

I don't want to. Yeah, but you could, couldn't you? I don't want to, though. I want to check out My Dad's an Elf and Where Like. Oh, you haven't watched that yet? Okay, yeah. Is that out yet? No, it is out on digital.

We were thinking about doing all those this week. We didn't have time. We didn't have time and also a lot of them aren't officially out here yet. Yeah, that's right. So you've got to VPN that shit if you want to grab it. Yeah, that's right. Well, yeah, we'll check out a bunch of those at some point. One of the things I'm reading, it's from David Marriott,

John Barber and Tom Waltz, Transformers v. Terminators. What? So it's an alternate 1984. Oh, I get it. Where the Terminators are at. Generation 1. That's right. Where the Terminators are at war,

and Skynet are at war with the Transformers. And you're like, are the Decepticons and the Terminators teaming up? Nah. They don't fucking like each other at all. So it's one, I don't know, because I'm like, this is very odd,

but not in a bad way. So it's a limited series or it's one issue? I think it's, no, there'll be more. So I don't know how many, but yeah, no,

and it's got a cool cover where it's like Optimus Prime, but there's like a Terminator, he's got a Terminator head, you know what I mean? No, I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. Okay.

Who is that? Image? Dark Horse? One of those, yeah. Great. Don't you reckon it would be? It would definitely be one of those, I think, yeah. Here we go.

Here's the image. You love images? There's nothing there, James. That's a grey blank page. There's a grey blank, yeah. Did you like that? Is that the shadow of war? That's right.

Do you feel that? It's the weight of it. Yeah, it really, really makes you think, yeah. There you go. Oh, yeah, not bad. You understand references. Yeah, no, I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's pretty cool. So, yeah, I don't want to be like run out and get it, but I certainly didn't hate it. I liked it, but I just don't. It's one issue. You can't really tell from one issue. You know what I mean? Sometimes you can tell greatness from one issue.

Yeah, but I think this is really one of those ones where I don't really know where it's going. Yeah, right, right, right. So, yeah, but I liked it. Yeah, but it's not, yeah, but I think, this is really one of those ones where I don't really know where it's going, so I can't, so yeah, but I liked it. Yeah. Anything else that you're reading

or going to read? Well, what I've been listening to actually is a podcast. I'm trying to catch up on a lot of stuff from comedians that I would have seen

during the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Good idea. But I can't now because the Comedy Festival account, they will be murdered. Yeah. And then the Comedy festival was cancelled. So I've been listening to a podcast called The Mug Off.

It's by a couple of guys I know and somebody I don't know. So Cameron Duggan and Jared McGowan, who are two comedians from Sydney, who I enjoy very much when they come to do live shows, and a guy called Yaz, who I've never met before in my entire life. Maybe he's cool. He seems cool. He seems pretty cool. But anyway, and they bring on an assortment of guests

and they talk about times they have been mugged off or have mugged off people in return. You know when you get mugged off? Is it like a look? No, but like, you know, when, like, here's some examples from their page. Give me some mugged off. Let's see, partner cheated on you, you've been mugged off. Dealer stole your money, you've been mugged off. Told you, mate, you on you. You've been mugged off. Dealer stole your money.

You've been mugged off. Told you, mate, you'd be there in an hour. They never showed up. You mugged them off. So it's basically they bring an assortment of guests. Is this an expression they created? No, this is real. I think it's from like, it might be from a Guy Ritchie film.

Yeah. Oh, okay. But they brought on. I like that expression. Yeah, they brought on an assortment of favorites. Nick Cody was on an episode. Let's see. Becky Lucas.

Tom Cashman. Sam Taunton. There's one from a guy called Andrew Wolfe, who's a former stockbroker turned stand-up. If you want to start on one, he's a former stockbroker turned stand-up comedian. He's the loosest guy i've ever he's like the loosest unit i've ever heard or encountered on any level really it's just

just madness so maybe track down that episode uh just i i should you should listen to it as well james all right i will that sounds terrific it's, it's, they had to, so the episode initially said his full name. It said, it's Mug Off number 16, Andrew Wolfe.

They had to change it to Wolfe for legal reasons. Basically, they had to change it so people couldn't search his name and find out about all the stuff

that he did that he's mentioned on the podcast. Wow. Yeah. I have an example of what happened to a friend of mine

that's been being mugged off. Oh, yeah, go ahead friends of mine who you know, I'll let this out. Oh, the two stooges. All right. All right. I've heard about it. So when we were living in London together, they were out at the night and they thought we're going to buy some marijuana because we love smoking drugs. Oh, some Bibles you say. They were going to buy some Bibles. That's right. Except of course, there's not really a thing that they normally partake in and they don't understand. So they met a guy at a pub or whatever and he's like, okay, give me the money.

I know the deal. He's just down this alley. Oh, yeah. He's pretty shy and he doesn't want to get in trouble. Yeah, of course. If you're dealing drugs, you don't want to get in trouble. That's the last thing because that'll interrupt you dealing more drugs. You just wait here.

You give me the money, and you just wait here, and I'll go and get him. And guess what? He didn't come back. What? I know. So how did they get their illegal drugs? That's the thing, Mason. They had to mug somebody for it.

Oh, no. No, they didn't get any illegal drugs. When I heard that, I'm like, you're a pack of fucking Muppets. Are you kidding me with that shit? Come on. Good times. Anyway, it's a podcast I've been enjoying a lot, and it is rude and crude.

It sounds great. Hang on. I'll see if there's any more guests that people would enjoy. Do you know Aaron Chen? Yeah, I know him. I don't know him. Chenny Baby is one of the best. Goxie is on an episode.

Oh, yeah. Nick Capa. Do they talk Baby is one of the best. Goxie is on an episode. Oh, yeah. Nick Capa. Do they talk about the whole story the entire time? Oh, it's a series of – it might be – somebody might have one big story or there might be a bunch of little ones and stuff like that. Yeah. Terrific. It's good stuff.

It's a good old pod, I reckon. I'd off. Check it out. I'd mug off, yeah. All right. Are you ready for the next segment of the show? Yeah, let's do some letters. The classic one was letters, oh, letters. We it out. A mug off, yeah. All right. Are you ready for the next segment of the show? Yeah, let's do some letters. The classic one was letters, oh letters.

We love you. Some letters, they're only a day away. I know they're here right now. We're going to do letters. If you want to reach the show, hashtag Weekly Planet Pod. I think you mean when you want to reach the show. That's true, because you can't stop yourself. It's only a matter of time, right?

That's exactly right. You can hashtag Weekly Planet Pod on Twitter or hit us up at weeklyplanetpod at gmail.com. Do you have a letter? I've got a letter right here. So this one just says, thank you so much. It's very nice. It's from Mo.

He says, hi, James and Nick. Just a quick thank you for providing entertainment for me while I'm out patrolling on my own due to the COVID-19 virus. Keep up the great work. Keep up the great work. Keep up the great work regards Mo from Yorkshire in the UK. I love the UK. There's a little photograph of him. He's out and about.

He's a bobby. He's a bobby in Yorkshire. Where's his funny little bobby hat? He's a bobby in Yorkshire. I didn't see the photo initially. It's just a little thumbnail. Just him looking. Yeah.

So I'm like, you know, I thought. You're going to get tracked down by my friend's drugs? Yeah, you can finally get those drugs. I, you know, and instead I'm out patrolling

on my own. So my assumption was obviously police officer first of all, first and foremost, but I'm like, part of my, part of my brain was like, maybe,

maybe the UK has other stuff that patrols. Maybe he's like a patrolling milkman or something. Yeah, exactly. Maybe some kind of dog, like services. Maybe he's like a patrolling milkman or something. Yeah, exactly. Maybe he's some kind of dog, like service dog. Oh, yes, right.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yes. Yeah, that's what I love. What? Patrolling Terry's chocolate orange. Oh, my God. Here we go.

Oh, my God. A patrolling Jaffa cake. A Jaffa cake on patrol. You remember one less every time. I do, yes. I was just thinking that, yeah. Yeah. I'll stop there.

You're down to two, are you? Yeah. So next time it's just one. No, I'm going to find a list. And the last time you just have a stroke. Yes. You go to think of it and it's done. Yeah.

Yeah. While you're finding a list. Please. You mentioned this up top, but hashtag weeklyplanetpod. James says on Twitter, maybe it's time for Harry Potter 5 and 6 since no more movies are coming out. Yes, they did talk about the new Harry Potter Fantastic Beasts 3 is coming out.

Apparently it's going to be more like the first Fantastic Beasts and less like the second one. In other words, the one that people liked and made money. And so, yeah, I think next week we will do Harry Potter. What are we up to? Harry Potter 5 and 6. 5 and 6? Yeah.

And then I guess by the time Fantastic Beasts 3 rolls around, we'll do the final two and then we can be done with it. We'll never be done with it. Never be done with Harry Potter. Next time we're going to go page by page through like some sort of Harry Potter cookbook. Oh, my goodness. Look at this pot.

It's stirring itself. I don't have that though. So how do I do it? I guess that's probably true. Yeah, my goodness. Look at this pot. It's stirring itself. I don't have that, though. So how do I do it? I guess that's probably true. Yeah, I need to get my kid to do it. Do you have another letter? Look, this one just said, this is from Jonathan Berkovich. It says quarantine workout.

Hi, Nick and James. I hope you're staying safe during the quarantine. Here's a workout video James can follow. So that's just for you later. I've got my own workout video channel. What's it called again? Scott Handsome. Scott Handsome called again? Scott Handsome. Scott Handsome 69.

I'm just wondering if this is a real workout video or it's a joke workout video or it's a virus. Who's to say? Let's see. You going to click on it? Okay, let's click on it. Oh no, you have to save it to your phone or something? Here we go. Alright. Yes, allow to access. God.

Oh Mason, you've just opened up all... Ah! Ah, very good. Lifting up baby. He's lifting up his baby. I like it. That's probably copyright. Oh, yeah.

Thanks a lot. Yeah, thanks a bunch. I meant you. Oh, no, you're no problem. Yeah. So this is from Joe Mortison on Twitter, hashtag weeklyplanetpod. Listen to episode one from 2013.

I wonder if you have any memory of this because I don't. I've got a few questions for you. James, do you still hate children? I probably said that as a joke because I was teaching at the time and I... And now you've had more experience than several children. The answer is yes. Yes, of course I do.

Absolutely, I hate children. And Mason, is League of Extraordinary Gentlemen still the worst comic book slash superhero movie, or has it been usurped? Is it worse than The Spirit? That's my question to you. I don't hate The Spirit. Have you even seen all of The Spirit, though?

What I've seen of The Spirit, it's not my least favourite thing in the world. It's not a very good The Spirit movie. No. But it's okay. It's kind of a second-rate Sin City movie. Yeah. movie no but it's i mean it's it's okay it's kind of a second rate sin city movie yeah uh the most recent fantastic four movie is pretty bad um we're coming up on that are we sure are

we're doing all of them yeah we haven't we haven't re-watched that recently but that is like league of extraordinary gentlemen at least has i mean they all they all make you question the movie making process and reality itself. Yeah, that's so true. But at least there's a bunch of really interesting stuff in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you know? Yes, yeah. It's one of the worst for me. It's one of the worst, yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. Justice League is one of the worst. I don't know we harp on a little bit, but it's bad. It is bad, but I don't hate it. I still don't hate it. I can't muster the hate for it. But that's why I think it's so bad. Yeah. I don't hate it. I still don't hate it. I can't muster the hate for it. But that's why I think it's so bad.

Yeah. I don't hate it, but it's the worst. Because at the very least... It should be... It should be, you know, it was their fifth movie or whatever it was. It should at least be pretty solid. And it's just a family running away from a red cloud or whatever happens in that movie. I love that movie.

Yeah, you would. See, if you look at worst comic book movies, you like Steel and Elektra and Batman and Robin and whatever, but I think it should go to something like A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because it's $150 million and it's just not good. You know, like I feel like with, you know, Steel, it's like what were they really ever going to do with this? Exactly. They tried their best.

That was never, none of that, none of those decisions are good. We have an email here if i may find it i love emails and you may find it um jonah hex i've never seen see that could be in there catwoman i've still never seen yeah this is from dan wolf who has a um has a uh instagram uh account called three panel origin he He creates original superheroes usually every couple of days in three little panels. But he said he was curious if either of us enjoy watching bad, cheesy, incompetent movies or enjoy so bad

they're good movies. And that sort of feeds into that. Where I don't... I feel better making fun of movies that have a huge budget and are still inexplicably terrible. I enjoy tearing into that kind of movie more. Than like a low-budget, trying.

Right, right, right. So like some examples here, The Room, Samurai Cop, Miami Connection, Plan 9 from Outer Space. And many more are so bad and so entertaining. And they are, yeah. But you can also see with those, and it's the same I think with that first Fantastic Four movie, which we recently did,

you can see the craft in it, even though it's not good necessarily. But then you look at like Fantastic Four 2005, which is this big, big budget, slick pile of shit. Right. So, you know. Really makes you think. Yeah, I feel better and I feel it's more justified if we watch something that cost 100 million dollars plus and you look at it and you go why did that character do that oh it's

just to progress the plot yeah no it's just it's just a series of barely connected scenes and it's and it's terrible and then you have to hear about the stuff that was taken out for the rest of our lives but i have way more fun making fun of those but I agree. I'm with you. This is an email from Johnny. It says the subject line is the mystery of Bullwhip Griffin. We've gotten a lot of emails about. The butler's the Bullwhip Griffin, right? Yeah, a lot of Disney Channel, a lot of fans of Disney Channel original movies.

Absolutely. Or as they call them, DCOMs. Did you know that? Which would be a great name, I think, for like if you're in some sort of zombie apocalypse. DCOMs. That's why I call the zombies, maybe call them decoms. It doesn't make any sense though.

They're decomposing. Oh, that's good, Mason. It's good. And the quality of these movies is decomposing also. Let's see. Last week we mentioned The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin. Who is Bullwhip Griffin the kid, the butler? The answer is the butler.

I knew it. I knew it was the butler. I didn't think it was. The butler accidentally knocks out some tough guy and everyone thinks he's this terrifying guy and give him the name Bull the butler. The answer is the butler. I knew it. I knew it was the butler. I didn't think it was. The butler accidentally knocks out some tough guy and everyone thinks he's this terrifying guy and give him the name Bullwhip Griffin. But he doesn't even knock him out with a bullwhip? Doesn't seem that way.

What the fuck is happening? Can Johnny be the official irrelevant information giver for the podcast? Absolutely. I mean, I feel like we're that, but okay. Seems we haven't claimed it. Yeah, that's right. You could be our sidekick, so that's okay.

Yeah, there we go. This is bruno vincent yes as i saw recently that jackie chan's mr nice guy in the third series of hbo's the leftovers are both partially set in melbourne and have scenes on public transport so bus respectively what are your favorite works of international pop culture that have featured or visited mel. Ghost Rider. Yeah, but that's not set in Melbourne. There's a lot of like, look, it's the Yarra River. Yeah. Check out Rebel Wilson's there. Rebel Wilson's there. Check that out.

You should watch Cats. We should watch Pooch Perfect, which is the TV series that Rebel Wilson is in. Are you aware of Pooch Perfect? Dogs Getting Haircuts. It's a dog makeover show, yes. Yeah. How much money do you think Rebel Wilson got for being in Pooch Perfect?

Millions. She'd have to have. Right. Because she'd have to be back here to do it. And then she probably filmed 20 in a week. Right. Yeah. And there's probably a lot of them interviewing people without Rebel Wilson around.

And she probably comes in at the start of the end of the episodes and goes, whose pooch is perfect? Everyone claps. And then a bunch of losers come out with their stupid fucking dog haircuts. The dogs are the losers, basically. Watch it. Oh, dear. Yeah.

Dear, oh, dear. You going to watch it? Yeah, I love it. Don't you wish TV was good? Yeah, kind of. I wish that. It would be nice if Australia had a TV industry that works. See, I was talking to someone about this recently, or maybe it was on Twitter or a YouTube comment or whatever.

Australian TV is almost exclusively terrible, but I don't think the ratio of terrible to good is any different than anywhere else. It's just that the amount of stuff produced is much less. So it feels like all of it's bad. No, but see, it is all bad because... But it's not all

bad. It's almost exclusively bad. I think there's more bad here because it's not all bad it's almost exclusively yeah i think there's more bad here because there's no incentive to make anything good yeah like in australia there's there's certain there is a quota there's a you have to in australia the australian tv stations have to produce a quota of australian produced content they just do garbage yeah so it's just whatever's cheapest so it's reality tv there's no There's not really any scripted anything. There's some ABC stuff. Yeah, that's a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Except for the TV show First Dates, which is quite good. Yeah, I've seen a bit of that. It's terrible cringe TV, but it's worth a watch because it's real people

going on terrible dates. It's kind of, it's kind of, I enjoy it. I don't love it. I've never really seen it, but I love it. Is that it?

Let's just bloody. Okay, let's wrap it up. Let's wrap it up.'ve never really seen it, but I love it. Is that it? Let's just bloody. Okay, let's wrap it up. Let's wrap it up. We've got to record some other stuff, Mason. James, that's everything. Excellent. I wish there was more things, but there's no more things. There'll be more things next week and every week.

I guess so. So do you want to bring the end of the show? Absolutely. James, here I'm doing it. Don't even worry about it. Thank you, everybody, for listening. Thank you, everybody, for subscribing. Thank you, everyone, for telling a friend remotely, here I'm doing it don't even worry about it thank you everybody for listening thank you everybody for subscribing

thank you everyone for telling a friend remotely not in person that's right social distancing that's how we do it these days

we want to see these numbers boost big time during this period of time and then drop right off when people are back in the streets that's right I'm out in the streets

they'll say I've got no time for listening to a podcast are you kidding me I've got real world problems now I've got to keep my ears clear for bird songs and people singing off their balconies. That's right.

That's going to go away really quickly. That's going to absolutely, yeah. I feel like that stuff goes away as soon as people put their phones away also. I think it's just a social media. No, it's good. Whatever. Do whatever gets you through. Thank you, everybody, for leaving a nice review.

James, do you have a nice review there? I've got two nice reviews, Mason. You can do it in-app. It really helps the show. This is from Hurraman8. My friends think I'm funny thanks to you. Hi, guys. Just to clarify the title of this review,

I steal all your jokes and don't tell them to my friends. Come on, man. At least give them the podcast, and then they'll eventually figure it out and turn on you. A personal favorite of theirs is James McAvoy saying, I don't know what to do. So thanks for making me seem funny. Also, I love the pod.

Keep up the good work. No problems, thief. I mean, we couldn't do that without, of course, the magic of James McAvoy. That's very true. That's not all us, is it? No, that's true. And this is from jmrn19.

It says five stars, and it is a five stars. I'll be lying if I said I listened to all the episodes. Great start. I do have one to share. So this review is based on an incomplete listening of all our podcasts. Despite this, I tend to enjoy it on the day off that I listen. It's a good way to cheer me up and be entertained. Just a soothing familiar voice.

Been listening since 2015. Love the YouTube videos. I've watched almost all of those. So there you go. I think a lot of people are like, yeah, you don't have to listen to every single episode. You can duck in and out if you want. If you don't know anything about Robin, you could have skipped this episode. Now you know everything about Robin.

There's no excuse if you didn't know everything about Robin. You should be ashamed of yourself. Yeah. I can't believe you skipped just to this bit in the podcast. It's ridiculous. You're like, no, thank you, but I love listening to the reviews of the podcast. I wouldn't listen to the podcast itself.

Yuck. I'll definitely listen to those reviews. What's next though? Look, if you want to get in contact with us, like many people have and do, you can go to weeklyplanetpod at Gmail, at Twitter, at Facebook, at Bandcamp. We have all our audio commentaries.

If you'd like to get some of those in your ear holes, if you're staying home recently. I want to do Rise of Skywalker. I don't know how we're going to do it if we're splitting this band up, mate. Well, I mean, that's not necessary. Look, what will probably happen is we'll both get the coronavirus and we'll both recover from it and then we'll be fine, right? Oh, yeah, good point.

That'll be fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good idea, yeah. Also, if people are syncing up in the commentaries to listen to the commentary, surely we could sync it up to do the commentary, right? Yes, that's probably true. The thing that we demand of other people, we should be able to do ourselves. We'll make it happen.

It's going to happen. Don't even worry about it. I wasn't worried about it. I was. What else? Let's see. You can also go to the Planet Broadcasting Facebook group, Planet Broadcasting, Great Mates,

all kinds of fun civil discussions about all kinds of pop culture stuff. And you can just have a good old chat about the world. Oh, my God. What's happening in the world. Yeah, it's good, isn't it? Just get in there. Show us your desktop. Yes.

Show us your home office set up right now. There's a lot of that going on, let me tell you. There certainly is. That's right. You can also go to planetbroadcasting.com. You can look at all the podcasts on the Planet Broadcasting Network. You can sign up to the newsletter from the great Rob Collings. He's at The Weekly Planet on Twitter.

I am WikipediaBrown on Twitter. And on Instagram, I'm NickMaso, N-I-C-K-M-A-S-E-A-U. James, your Mr. Sunday move is everywhere. Everywhere and always. If you would like to support the podcast and if you'd like to steer the direction of the podcast in any which way you choose, you can go to patreon.com slash MrSundayMovies

if you'd like to chuck in a buck, because, James, you put up polls and things like that. I do, I absolutely do. Bonus content early if you'd like us to. That's why we're doing Fantastic Four. And then I put up a second poll that was like, are you sure you want us to do this? Because I'll do it.

We don't want to. We do not want to. But, yeah, you can just chuck in a buck there. Any man you can spare, we'd certainly appreciate it. Definitely. But, of course, trying times. So if you can't, that's fine too. If you can't, then you shouldn't.

Just enjoy the podcast. Let's see. You can also go to the Amazon affiliate link in our episode description. Yeah. If you're needing to buy some stuff on Amazon for your home since you can't leave your house, why not go through our link? Give that prick Bezos some money, why don't you? That's what I say. We'll take his money as he takes your money your house. Yeah. Why not go through a link? Give that prick Bezos some money, why don't you? That's what I say.

We'll take his money as he takes your money. Exactly. Yeah. Good times. We've got some T-shirts on TeePublic, which you can buy and stockpile in your house for when you want to leave. Oh, my goodness.

Eventually, and be resplendent in your new gear. Or if you run out of toilet paper, whatever. You go to tepublic.com. Search for the Weekly Planet. We've got some USB tapes, audiobooks on tape. Oh, my God. Search for those. We do.

Yeah, we do. With commentaries and best of episodes and all kinds of stuff. That's right. And also, thank you to the Brute and the Basilisk in Iraq for all their musical themes. Every week they do them. They do them live. We bring them in.

We're going to have to stop that. We might have to go to recordings of them. I'm happy to risk it. Yeah week they do them. They do them live. We bring them in. We're going to have to stop that. We might have to go to recordings of them. I'm happy to risk it. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know best. So thanks to those guys. And that's the whole show, I reckon.

That's the whole show, yeah. Next week, as we said, Harry Potter. Harry Potter. So if everybody wants to re-watch five and six. But just those, I guess. All of them. All of them. Let us know.

I know I certainly can't, but other people probably can. Probably can, yeah. Alright. And we'll see you guys on the next Weekly Planet, the podcast. Grab that, Jimmy, guys. We'll see you real soon. Goodbye. Wait! This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

I mean, if you want. It's up to you. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London.

One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.