Warning this podcast he'd spoilers for Star Wars Rebels kind of, as well as a discussion of lots of horror, sci fi, fantasy, book shows, movies, and more. Hello. My name is Jason Vitepsion and I'm Eersey Night, and welcome for the final time to x ray Vision, the Cricket Media podcast where we dive deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics, and pop culture for.
One last time. In this episode, ride one last Ride in the air. Look, it's a giant mail bag where we're clearing out the mailbag of all the best questions you guys have sent that we haven't been able to answer and a few new ones that you sent to and in nerd out. This is a great final nerd
out for this iteration of the pod. Someone who's been so important to our pod, to our disco community is h the co host of the Escape Hatch podcast formerly known as June Pod, and he's gonna be nerding out about something really special coming up.
Mailbag. First question from JM what are some of your favorite image or other independent comics. Have either of you read The Department of Truth by James Tinian four. I have read that very good Rosie.
Any thoughts my favorite image comics, man, there are so many, definitely for me. I mean, obviously we talk a lot about the big ones like Saga, you know, stuff like that. I am very I have a very big soft spot in my heart for The Wicked and the Divine by Jamie Mcalvey and Karen Gill colors by Matt Wilson. Like that is a book that was very much a huge part of my comic book experience when I was working in the comic shop. It was something when I was
really getting back into comics after Young Avengers. So I always send people that way. I will also just say like I'm no surprises to anyone, but I love Spawn. I'm like, if you haven't checked out Spawn, just read Spornow. Like I love Tom MacFarlane, the Todd Father, you know. I feel like he's grown into a great kind of uncle of comics over the years. There was a great video recently on Wired that was like a him answering questions about making comics that kind of enamored me to
look back at Spawn again. So I would say, like, especially those first kind of eleven issues, it's really just good stuff. And also Ultimate wife Guy comic because he basically like he literally was like what would hell be? And he would be like hell would be for me that I couldn't see my wife again? And I just I love the energy. So what about you? What are some of your favorite.
Am Well, first, let me speak on the Department of Truth, which is a fantastic, so good, prescient and very artistically like genre pushing book that to be one honest, I can't I have to read one issue basically a week because it melts my brain too much and gives me a headache. But I love that book. I would say, here's a here's a wreck that I got from Zig Lately that I love, a power bomb. Oh, it's so good, just a one an Eisner Award, just one an Eiser Award, seven issues.
Yeah, Daniel Warren Johnson just a total powerhouse in the comics industry. Just absolutely unbelievable.
And so the idea is, you know, it's this dimension where everyone's a professional wrestler and they don't know that in this world, professional wrestlings fake. It's super fun, just wonderful. The art is wonderful, funny and fast moving. Loved it.
Yeah, it's great stuff. There's so many good image comics. So just go go to your comic shop and ask them to show you all the image trades. They're very affordable, great place to jump on. This was a good question, love image comics.
Next question?
With so much good stuff out there, this is a good soundtrack for this. Sometimes I go through periods of time where I find it hard to decide what to watch next. Sergio says, I feel like whatever I decide to watch, there's something better I could be watching. Since I recently went through this, my question is for you. Do you ever feel the same way? And do you have your own ways to get around it?
So?
Do you ever get overwhelmed by the amount of great stuff out there to choose?
I do? I deal with it in different ways. So with TV, I'm a completionist. If I start, I'll finish it even if it sucks and I don't like it, just because I find it useful to articulate why I don't like the thing and be like, do I have they changed? Have they changed my mind? They? Did? They? Did they win me over? Or did they not? With books, if I am not in like after the first fifty pages, then I'm just gonna move.
On to That's something I've learned how to do this year with books because I used to always have to finish. I was like, wait a minute, I could be reading a great book or rereading something.
There's just so many books. There's literally like five centuries of books.
Yeah, there's like so many more books than you could ever even combrand to read in your life.
So that with those, I think the last book that I read that I like pushed through to read that I hated for the first like one hundred pages was The Children of Men, the original, the book version ofren Men, which is significantly different than the movie, which is obviously
which is my favorite movie maybe ever. But so the book is really really different and it's really just kind of like is revving its engine for the first hundred pages, although ends really interestingly and it's, you know, significantly different. But that was the last time I read a book that I'm like, oh, I hate this. Usually I'm just out. I also try to select shows specifically for can I finish it?
Yes?
Like I started watching Hijack on.
Your exactly just the trashiest, most silliest focus.
People on a plane who are all stupid, yeah, are making the dumb decisions only seven episodes. It's so I can absolutely get to the end of that one because I'm just like, wait, why did you Why did they do this?
It's the ultimately at the TV show, Ye're like, don't do that, don't do it, broke every decision. Interest makes this terrible, But you're like, interests, I love you, hey, please make this work.
It's well known that if you hydiack a plane, you can do anything you want. The pilots are not opening the fucking door.
They don't even get me started.
They're not opening it. Do they open the door in this show? The craziest fucking reason.
Yeah, absolutely deranged television. I approached this with something I'm trying to bring more into my life. When I was younger, I was definitely like a fomo person, like fear of missing out, and that also included TV. I needed to watch every prestige thing I wanted to be in the conversation. I feel like in our job that's part of it too, whether it's talking about TV or trying to write our
own TV. But as I get older, I'm racing Joemo the joy of missing out, like being happy that I don't know about something or that I stayed home or ever instead of going out, so I generally am the same. I'm like, do I think I can finish something the bear I'm gonna watch it. It's like I know that I'm gonna like it. I know I can finish the episodes.
English TV trained me on shorter seasons. So like something I recently started that I definitely did not need to and will take me like three years, was Supernatural because everyone was like, God, why haven't you watched this? Like please, just fucking like watch Supernatural? So I got out on DVD and I'm gonna watch it at some point. But it's like I've kind of I just focus on things that my friends like that I want to watch. If it's something i'm covering, then I'll obviously watch it. But
I think the best thing is just try something. Also, if you're in that stage where you're feeling really overwhelmed, maybe go back to something that made you really excited about TV and kind of rekindle that feeling and then you can kind of start new stuff because it is so overwhelming.
Yes, but I guess the number one thing we're both saying is value your time exactly. Just value your time there is so much good stuff out there that just allows something to resonate with you.
Yeah, exactly, especially because now there are streaming services like Criterion shudder. There's every kind of niche streaming service where you can really be catered to, so you don't just have to watch stuff for the sake of it. Like, find something that resonates with you and enjoy your time watching it.
Alex asks when will we see Mephisto for the first time in the MCU.
Wow? Thanks, Alex. I appreciate this question as a huge part of the reason to blame for the Mephisto scandal of the wonder Vision era of a Marvel TV as somebody who was a Mephisto truther. You know who knows. I have heard rumors that they are going to cast Sasha Baron Cohen as Mephisto, and he will be an ironheart and he will be like a businessman version of
Mephisto whoomps among us knows. I do believe Mephisto will be in the MCU soon, but I also believe that the people behind the MCU understand the weight of introducing Mephisto now post one division, so it will probably be I would say before phase six, well, definitely before the X Men are introduced, but otherwise, I mean, who knows.
Fantastic four. Yeah, I think it's Fantastic four.
I like that he's a He's an important kind of play thing in that world.
And uh prediction, I think they retcon. It's not even retcon because the phases have not come out yet, but I think they uh because of the King issues. I think they I think they switch gears and the bad guy, the big bad.
Guy is Mephesto. Is the easiest retcon because you can just say he's been controlling everything the whole time, so it's very easy for them to do that. So Alex, the answer is soon, but we don't know when. But you know, when he does show up, we will have something to say about it. Just curious if you guys have watched any of the newest Star Trek content being put on Paramount Plus and can it get a little bit of extray love? Jason, have you watched any?
I have, and it will get some X ray love when next we see you again, So stay tuned watching your podcast feeds for when we reappear back in such a place. Cool kid Coda asks thoughts on the X Men run since twenty nineteen started reading Dawn of X and want to know what y'all think of it. I think it's the best time ever to be an X Men.
It's so great, Like there hasn't been an era like this since, like New X Men, and even at the time people didn't really know Morrison and Quietly's New X
Men was this huge era. I feel like something they did really well with House of X and the whole EX era and the Hickman X office is they got people excited for the event space that it was in, and obviously now you have all these beautiful collections you can read to lead into everything coming up to, you know, the Fall of X and the huge events of the Hellfi Gala recently. I just think it's so much fun. I also think this is one of the X Men eras which we haven't had enough of in recent years,
where there's something for everyone. Yeah, you like a comedy comic, read Hellians like you want to read something that's serious
and scary, getting the main Hickman stuff. You want to enjoy incredible production on your comics in a way you've never really seen before in design that's Tom mular designing those books like this is just such an interesting, good space and I love it and I'm excited to see what happens next with this era of the X Men, because I do think it's one of the strongest that we've had for a very long time.
Yeah, there's a long time. As a lifelong X Men fan, I've just I've always just wanted them to have a place. And the Krakola era is the x Men with a place in the world that's pretty much in viable now. I think what's really interesting about what's going on now is having given them a chance to govern themselves. You know, what is the what's the quote from Abraham Lincoln that from like eighteen thirty eight or whatever, like, will will a European giant step across the ocean and smash us
at a blow? No, if we're if destruction is to be our lot, we will be its author. The x Men. You know, there's too much drama in that group. It's hard hard to govern themselves when there's that much drama, that much history. And I think that's what's really interesting about it. But it's been the best and it's been the best time ever literally ever to be an X Men fan. There's so many books. The books are great.
There have so many different kinds of people telling the stories.
They have a power in the in this world now. They're not just like on the edge of extinction being hounded like to the death, or living in a city or an island off the coast of a city somewhere, just like trapped there. They have a nation, a burgeoning nation. They start to colonize space. They're a real power now. The question is like what what will they do with
it and how will they serve? But it's been fantastic and adding to the points you made, it's been a real eye opener in terms of the characters who've been allowed to really pop and resonate, like mister There's never been a better time to be like, Yeah, mister.
Sinister is vibeb incredible cake, Yeah, I love him. And as asks, this is a great question for you, Jason Oh for those who want to consume content responsibly during the strike, is there anything we should or shouldn't do to show solidarity. I have seen mixed reports going around about whether or not to boycott or cancel subs to con certain streaming services ET cetera.
Yeah, I mean the WGA and SAG both have not said people should boycott. There's nobody's calling for that. At the same time, like, your dollar is your dollar and send it where you want, depending on how much value you think you're getting back from it.
Yeah, and support the Entertainment Community Fund which are always linked in the show notes share posts. That's all I love. Writers and actors have been saying. So just show your solidarity online. And if I'm when that call comes, so hopefully it won't. We're hearing you know, there might be talks going on that could lead to a good resolution. If that call for a boycot comes, then you'll know because people will well they'll let you know.
Anders asks what is a book series, comic series, video game series, any type of fandom that you have not yet personally got into but want to in the future.
Rosie, I really want to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.
This is a great I'm glad that you said this.
That's my big I want to have a campaign. I want to player with a party like that's my big thing that I haven't gotten to do. And everyone I speak to, everyone I know who does it has the most fun. I met an amazing kid in the comic shop recently this weekend when I was at Spiras Heroes celebrating their anniversary who recently got into it and they dress up with their party like, that's my big thing.
I've got a lot of books of different tabletop games just because I like to read them, but I've never actually played a campaign, so that's my big one.
I exact same answer, and extending on that I recently purchased. This is a bad decision because I have a lot of actual work to do and I recently purchased Balder's Gate three, which is as far as I know and from everything I have read, the most like granularly accurate depiction of playing D and D in a video game. So I haven't played it yet, I'm I guess this is like, if this is what D and D is like, tell me if I'm doing it wrong. I've taken three days now to build my character.
Just like just sounds exactly. So I have not.
Yet actually entered the mix, but I hope too soon, and I too would love to play D and D.
If you have a D and D game, you're in l Yeah, yeah, last night X Ray Vision will be.
Back and We're back Homie and PEPSI asked, what are some of your favorite superpower reveal moments in comics movies? Anything like the reveal of the Resurrection team in House Powers of X with the team on a suicide machine. Now it's great.
Yeah, okay, so mine is like really sorry, but this is like the nerdiest answer ever, but I stand by it, and it also does connect to a modern thing. During Secret Wars the Jonathan Hickman assad Era, the final page when you learn the real reason that they did the whole event, which was to bring Miles Marales into the
main six one six universe from the Ultimate Universe. The way that they reveal that Miles is in the universe is on the page they change from mixed case lettering, which is what they're use in the Ultimate Universe, to all caps, and that's how you know Mariles is in the main universe and you know that now there is a new Spider Man. That shit like blew my mind. I thought it was so clever and so subtle, and currently in the Automate Invasion book, also by Jonathan Hickman,
which I am like absolutely loving. The first issue is one of my favorite issues years of any comic I've read recently. That book The letter does the same thing where you learn which world you're venturing into with the lettering, and that's Brian hitch who I think is at his
best here drawing and colored by Alex Sinclair. This book is just so cool and for me, those little production nods where you learn like there is a huge power reveal that I won't spoil in the first issue of All My Invasion, but you once again learn about it just by the fact that they're not using all caps, they're using mixed case. That to me is like some of the most powerful stuff that gets me, like really excited.
That's a great answer for me. I have to go back to the heat of my comic book buying fandom. I'm going to go with this is kind of a dodge, but I think it's I think it's the qrurect way to answer this question. Personally. For me, it would be the reveal in Wolverine seventy five nineteen ninety three is Wolverine number of Wolverine's bone Claus so so Wolverine with the metal he had the adamantium still in his body, he had taken a taken a swing at Magneto and
had cut him. Magneto got super mad and was like you fucking idiot, Master Magnetism, like you're still doing this, You're still trying me. And he's like, I'm watch what real power is. And he just like liquefies all the adamantium in Wolverine's body and sucks it out severely injuring him.
And now we're thinking, so you're thinking for a period of time now and I forget how many issues you're thinking this like, as he recovers and then eventually decides like, well, I can still be a help to the X Men, you're thinking, Okay, he doesn't. He doesn't have unbreakable bones anymore, and he doesn't have the claus but he's still got the crazy healing factor some like he could still surely help.
And then during a a a training session, his he becomes like, you know, instinctively, like he's trying to help and to contribute to the team, and then all of a sudden snicked and these crazy, like mangly looking bone claws pop out of his hands and he's like an immense pain. I have to say, as a kid, I was like, freaking mind bull.
No, definitely, because I feel like all of us kind of also didn't really know, like whether clause something they added in the web and next program, like oh, those naturally occurring as part of his mutation. But obviously that reveal is like the bone claws, he had them all the time, they just covered them without him.
They just covered it or like replace whatever however however
they did it. But I will also say that what's funny to me about that scene is like, so Wolverine has just had recently had all the adamanciam removed from his body, and doctor turned villain Moierriic Taggert is there, like with the rest of the X Men, including Jubilet, you know, early nineties X Men, just kind of like you and go through this session a bit oh my god, like he's too he's too injured to do this and blah blah blah, and then the bones the claws pop out.
It's crazy that where are Taggart? A doctor, a world renowned doctor and scientist. Was never like, hey, you just had all the metal pulled out of your body. Maybe I should have said you let me take a look to see if anything has happened, and so everybody is just surprised by the Bone Club. Anyway, he had.
The healing ex Markina. Chris asks where does Ahsoka happen in the timeline? Meaning the newest TV show. I'm watching Rebels for the first time. Was delighted to see more Mofma finally going public with her rebellion. I realized Rebels must be after all the same time as Andors. And
now I'm confused but excited about Ahsoka. I do actually know the answer to this, Okay, So the a brilliant actress who's playing Sabine Ran and Natasha lu Bodiso, she had said that it will occur and currently to the Mandalorian season three, which I believe the Mandalorian season three is eleven a b y, which is basically like seven years after Return of the Jedi, So you're basically in that space between the old and the new, and it'll be very interesting to see because also we're now hearing
these Ahsoka episodes are going to be in that thirty minute range, so like how much are they going to get in I don't know, but yeah, it will be concurrent at least partially to the Mandalorian season three.
That's very exciting. So first no for nascent, first order remnants of exampire running around the galaxy where and various Since you're just watching Rebels, I must spoil it, but I won't. But let's just say various mysteries that are presented to you at the end of Rebels. One surmises will then beered by this.
I think that we have seen in the latest Ahsoka trailers in very interesting locations from Rebels, especially near the end, So I'm excited.
Slander Man asks this may have been answered in the past, but do you all have a definitive favorite superhero movie? If so, what separated from the rest? Rosie.
This is such a hard question, obviously, I think if I'm the truest heart of heart answer for me, it's probably just Batman Returns, Okay, Like I think it's that I love Batman eighty nine. I love all the MCU movies. I love like thor Ragnrock. There's so many different parts
of those stories that I love. But when I think about like a movie that truly as a little kid, I had seen Batman eighty nine, it's actually like one of my earliest memories is watching it when I was like two, but Batman Returns was like I was a young goth like. I loved it. It has all these characters. I love, Michelle Fiffer's obviously iconic, and I think that's probably the one. I go back to a lot and I think about a lot like what would a Batman Returns comic book look like?
Like?
What would these what would the kind of stories I would want to tell in that world? And it has such an unbelievable cast. So I think for me, if I had to pick, it would be that one. But I hate to pick because it's really a spectrum. What about you.
I think for me it would be probably the first Avengers movie. That's not it. I don't even think that's the best MCU movie. But I couldn't believe that they had done it, they had done it really well, and that every character somehow had this really emotional arc that worked. Uh. And you know when Banner says I'm always angry, it's just like a fucking rush.
Three sixty shot of them all.
Yeah, it was awesome, and that was sitting in the theater for that was like a mind blowing experience. I would probably be a tie with that and Winter Soldier just because in the winter, so I just love Winter Soldier. The Elevator Fight for me is the Topelieree mc moment ever.
Yeah, and Eric osks he's been reading The Black Tongue Thief based on Jason's recommendation and he absolutely loves it, says, I'm sure this has come up previously. Any other suggestions of similar novels worth my time? And then he has a second do you guys? So he's he asked me specifically, like what are the best under the radar horror books to check out? I do read a lot of horror.
I would recommend. I don't know how under the radar a these are, but like I love Riley Sega, Like if you haven't read any of his books, he made this. He wrote this book called Final Girls, which is probably one of my favorites, which is like set in the world of Slashers. He's done multiple different books and each one is kind of a playing on like a horror trope. He did like a Haunted House book, like kind of an inspired by Amateurville, and they all sit in like
a mystery horror space. I've also would say, if you've never read Clive Barker's books of Blood. They're actually really easy to get now, and those are so unreal, Like, you will read those stories and whether you're a reader or a storyteller, you will got Oh my fucking god, I've never read anything like this, and it makes you want to tell crazy stories. I mean, I love horror. I actually wrote a horror list at IGN as well that we can we can link back to because there's
always so many different brilliant books out there. I also love anything by Read Jew. She has a new book out soon called The Reformatory. I've been reading a lot of dark Academia recently. It's brilliant. Yeah, so check those out. Also, I would say I read a really great book that if you love horror, is worth reading called The Black Guy Dies First, and it is by a really brilliant woman called doctor Robin Armines Coleman and an author called
Mark Harris. And it's this really fun academic history of horror and like blackness in horror, but it's put together in such an unbelievably readable way, and if you're a horror fan, you will just love it. Like I recommend it to people when they ask me for horror books
because it makes such a good companion piece to those books. So, yeah, those are just some of them, but there's there's so many good ones, Jason, is there any more kind of like fantasy books in the Vein of Black Tongue Thief that you love.
Well, I'll say some horror stuff. This is definitely not under the radar Stephen King, but he.
Does have many books.
Yeah. My favorite, like when I was a kid that my favorite thing that Stephen King wrote was a collection of short stories called Night Shit. I think it is his first collection of short stories and it's a bunch of stories that appeared when he was a freelancer in various men's magazines, including Cavalier, Ubers, Penthouse, you know, like lad mags of the Day, and it is really gritty, scary stuff, and I just remember, you know, it's very
rare that I actually get scared. Part of the reason that I like horror movies is like I can watch them in the middle of the night just I enjoy them, but they don't really scare me. I got really scared by this book, Jerusalem's Love and all almost all of
these stories have been adapted into stuff. So it opens with Jerusalem's Lot, which is the vampire story that then became a vampire I believe TV mini series starring David Soul really scary about this guy who like inherits this like mansion that then has creepy sounds and things happening inside of it is probably vampires living in the basement. Graveyard Shift, which was I think was also adapted, and I Forget Where Night Surf, which is like super trivia. This is like a lot of this stuff is like
Stephen King's drug phase. I Am The Doorway, which like is I think still one of the great like teleportation stories of all the time. Trucks which became Maximum Overdrive. Strawberry Spring, which to this day I find one of the absolute scariest reads ever about. I don't want to spoil it, but it's about a series of serial killings that happen in and around a college campus when the fog of a of a you know, kind of like late summer rain or over the university, and it is
really mind melting and scary. The Ledge, which is just one of the many stories from this that got adapted for the horror anthology The Cats. I if anybody lawnmore Man which became The Running Men starring Arnold Schwarzenegger Quitters Incorporated. That's another Cat's Eye one. Children of the Court, which game a long running and it's been very, very campy movie series about a town in which, like you know, all the adults are murdered, just like great, great, great
great and really really scary. Check it out. Chris asks, who is the chosen one? Luca Anakin, I think they're very I think the prophecies are very clear.
Yeah, I personally, I'm like a I spent so much time in this world that I'm kind of like a prophecy hater at this point. I feel like prophecies can always be misread or re read or reconstrued. I believe that they probably will keep finding a chosen one, I think when to fit their needs. That's kind of the problem with prophecies. But Jason, I believe you have a more distinct belief on this one.
I mean, I think it's I think is a chosen one. I think that the prophecies were pretty clear, and I think he did bring balance to the force. Now, like all prophecies worth their salt, there is a ton of context that is missing from the prophecy that detail how exactly you get to that point. But I think it's Anakin. I think it's clearly Anakin.
I like the angle. He definitely did bring balance to Force. It was just like what fucking costs? Yes, yeah, okay. Another Star Wars question. JG asks over Under on one great Star Wars movie in the next decade. Do you think it's possible?
Great, that's the subjectiveness of it. This decade, So we have another, let's.
Call it in the next decade. So we've got ten years, so.
We do have ten Yeah, well yeah, I think yeah.
I think so. I think the truth is that there will be some unique, interesting take, whether it's your four hundred thousand years ago at the beginning of the Force, whether it's some slightly lower budget Western inspired Star Wars movie, whether it's a Pixar Droids movie. I just think there's so much scope, and it feels unlikely at the moment
because they have struggled to find the right thing. But I believe that there will be a great Star Wars movie in the next decade, because there tends to be. I think it's a cycle. It will happen.
One more short story, Mary gateskill wrote a story called The Other Place that appeared in The New Yorker maybe ten or twelve years ago. That is nothing bad happens in it, but it is really really scary from the perspective of It's written from the perspective of an adult who has a kid who is displaying the same kind of violent fantasies that he had when he was a younger man. And it terrified me, okayly terrified me.
And in that case, I just actually need to say, I believe this is under the radar. If you don't randomly read like old horror shit, I would say read Shirlie Jackson's The Lottery, also published in The New Yorker. You can literally read it on the New York website. They have that sha ark that will terrify you. It will also make you so unbelievably furious that you have never come up with something so simple, and then take a great joy in reading all the letters that were
written about that story when it was first published. Is probably my favorite horror story ever, and I live to create something that is just so unbelievably unsettling.
Rebecca asks GENI. Survivor spoilers here. Spoilers boiler spoiler Wanning, I can't help but think about how similar passing through the Abysses two thousand and one Space Odyssey slash Interstellar, any inter dimensional travel in sci fi pop culture. Does anyone think Disney is trying to plant a multiverse seed here? I mean you could argue, oh, what a person Chris
of the Rebels Ahsoka question plugiers. I think the stuff that happens at the end of Rebels very very very very clearly seeds the idea of maybe a multiverse in Star Wars. All of which is to say, Rebecca, I agree with you.
Yeah, I totally agree with you. And I think that looking at like Dag and Jarah and the idea of like how long people can survive in this space, I think that there is a multiverse is always a foot especially because, as we know from the history of storytelling, that is where you get the freedom to tell all kinds of stories and then bring in what you want in a way. Star Wars is already working with that, with the way that they bring in the expanded universe
and legends and kind of canonize and decanonize them. So yeah, I think Rebecca, you are correct. A asks I can sometimes be a bit burnt out from surfing the waves of the big ip content ocean, can't. We all would love to hear from you both what you think of some of the best stand alone original story genre films or shows that may have gotten lost in this plethora
in the last few years and need more appreciation. I love all these horror questions, same, Jason Jeviny, Immediate things that stand out indie horror movies, shows that might not have gotten the love they deserve.
Well, I've been telling you. Here's a movie that I've been talking about to you guys that I haven't mentioned on the pod. George Miller of Mad Max of bib Big released a movie Couple Man, I'm Wanna Say You're Go and a half a couple of years ago, starring adri Selber. Until the Swinton title one Thousand Years of a Longing, I almost say so, I almost like you do.
And it's fucking great. It's great. Go see it. It's about a woman who unleashes a genie and the relationship they have, and it's a lot about it's honestly just like a story about storytelling and how we create, how we turn our lives into a story, how we can turn it into the story that we want to hear and see. It's really wonderful and I loved it a lot.
Yeah, mine would be I think I have recommended this before on the podcast, but if I think it was because Jeff passed away sadly. But there is a movie that I just adore that's up there with my favorite horror movies of all time. It's called Blood Quantum. It was written and directed by Jeff Barnaby. It's a twenty nineteen like Canadian horror movie and it's basically about a zombie apocalypse that happens in Canada and then what if.
And it's like, what if the indigenous community in the Mickmac community were not infected and what if everyone else was? And it's so so good. It's furious, it's angry. It has a brilliant cast, including kde Every Jacobs from Reservoir Dogs, Michael gray Eyes who's like an absolute legend. But it's like so good and it is just like I would love to see it at the movie theater. It was only ever on Shutter, so I never got to. But it is just like gory, fast paced, like brilliant shutter
is really good for that kind of stuff. They also had a show that I was really into that came out.
It's so good and it kicked documentaries.
Oh my god, you're a fannal documentary.
Watch the documentaries about horror on Shutter They're so good.
Yeah, And it's like they did a show that I also really loved. There was a New Zealand show, an other indigenous show called The dead Lands, and it was like it's a little bit more zena ish even though it's not as serious, but it's still kind of gory and it's about a warrior who has to get like sent back into the dead lands and they come back from the afterlife to kind of find redemption. And that is just so good. Like if you like fantasy and horror,
that's just such a good show. And both of those I think are up there for stuff that should have gotten a lot more shout outs. And I mean, if you wanted to watch Prey and then watch Blood Quantum, I think you would be having a really special double bill of really great indigenous genre horror.
Rob Asks Suit Division was a mess on both the micro and macro levels. Which megafranchise do you think will be the first to decanonize an existing tent pole part of the franchise. Allah when EU Star Wars became Legends. Wow, I think, well, this is interesting.
I think this is a really big question. I think it's a good question to ask. I also think.
The Star Wars not count because either do.
It in a way they're already doing it because think of something like Agents of Shield that was emc U canon, it was sold as emc U canon. Caang, it's about to happen, baby. I just don't think they're gonna do it. I think we're moved past the time of like somebody from corporate saying we on, this is no longer can like they did never happened. That made people. That makes people angry. It makes fans feel like they invested their
time in something that isn't worthwhile or doesn't matter. So I think we're more in a space where it's going to be kind of like we talked about this before for Dark World, a lot of that felt like it wasn't really important until they made it important again. And I think rather than decanonizing anything definitively, you're gonna be in a space where something like Agents of Shield, they had the dark Hold, and they used a different one
in the new movies. They had morgana the Faye, but they they gonna She's gonna be a different character, you know. Like it's very interesting, but I think they're kind of already doing it. They're just not And as as Rob greatly points out here, he says, all will studios just say, oh, it's a different timeline. Yeah, I think that's the same thing.
Along those lines. I do think it is very possible, considering the kind of structural issues that the MCU has with with they're kind of original stars on the way out or largely having left already, and the ongoing superhero fatigue. There's kind of beset culture. I do think that there is like a non zero chance that the MCU is just like kills everybody, go yeah, just comes and kills everybody after Fantastic Four and they restart the whole thing.
Also, because if you're smart, in my opinion, the X Men movies, the x Men universe that they inevitably lead to under Marvel Studios doesn't need to be part of the MCU. That's just x Men, you know what I mean. The MCU can be done. So I agree with you I think that's really real.
X Ray Vision will be back and we're back.
Okay. Ronan the Key asks what's the best fan theory or wish this was true for you?
Well, this actually might be true, but I'm gonna say that that Polly betrayed Tony at the end of The Sopranos and was the one who ordered Slash engineered the what is clearly a David Various David Chase comments have made it clear that Tony does die at the end of The Sopranos, and there had been for many years now has been an active theory that, because of certain conversations that happened, and including one outside of Centril's, that Paully is the guy who basically pushed the button to
make it happen, and you know, made a deal with New York so that he would then take over the family. And I have always found it really compelling and I continue to find it compelling, and I hope it's true. What about you?
Yeah?
I love that mine is. This is like a movie pitch that felt very realistic for a little while, but
is inevitably never going to happen. This was a Comic Shop favorite conversation when I was still working in the shop, and it was the idea that you would do a Fantastic Four movie and you would have Tiker probably as the kind of years went on directing and playing mister Fantastic, and it would begin in the sixties and be like an out there kind of Tiger style party, and then you move them to the present MCU as like a fish out of water tail after they've been in the
negative zone. That came up so many times as just something that like friends said or that I would think about, and then multiple people started and I think when Matt Shackman first got kind of connected to it, that was the theory of like what the movie might be about. I don't think they'll do that. I think that the
Fantastic Four will exist in their own space. But I really would have loved to see that kind of like swinging sixties Fantastic four and then thrown into a fish out of water scenario.
That would be really really why.
I still think it's the best way to do it, and I wish we hadn't kind of missed the boat for Tiger being the right person on that. But yeah, that was that's mine that I think about a lot Okay, Jan and Nil nineteen eighty two asks what is the next Barbenheimer and why is it not Saw Patrol?
Okay, sow Patrol for those of you who are not online enough, is the idea that much like the Barbenheimer phenomenon, Saw X.
I believe it, Yes, it is the tenth Saw movies, Saw.
X and the paw Patrol supercre movie will then combine to create this you know, cinema going weekend event called Saw Patrol. Uh. Honestly, like, in terms of the label.
Yeah, it's a lab well, I think that's the thing. It's the titling is so good. I will say, culturally, outside of America, this is a lot harder to do because I don't know how many people know the ins and outs of movie rating systems, but our ratings are very very unique. In England, for example, Saw will be rated eighteen and no one under eighteen will be able to go and see it, So I think that cuts off a little bit of the accessibility of Barbenheimer, where
a lot of people could go and see both. Though actually Oppenheimer was al rated, so maybe I'm wrong. Is the crossover as large for a animated kids movie trying to get rid of the coppaganda of the cartoon and turn them into superheroes. And a prequel about Jigsaw getting scammed by a cancer treatment unit so he decides to kill them. All sounds like I would watch it, By the way, I don't know, but I do. I like.
I don't like studios trying to recreate this, but I do like how much fun people are having putting these things together. And Saw Patrol is just it works so well in the name, like you just can't you can't hate it. But what will the next one be? We will never know, and it will happen and it will be so random and we'll all be in shock. Though, if you go and see por Patrol and Saw X on the same day, please tell us.
Gosh, uh, I'm just like picking one at random. It's if they're gonna do it. Here's the movies that I think you could possibly do it with as the kind of uh as the more serious version of the movie, like the Oppenheimer in this formulation. I think you could do it with Dune Part two. I think you could do it with and It just again requires that other movie. I think you could do it with The Hunger Games, the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Yeah, honestly, Hunger Trolls. I think Patrol.
Is good. The Trolls is good, especially because Trolls is a musical. Yeah. And also the new Hunger Games movie is like an insane like retro futuristic steam punk movie, so they're very different.
I like that Napoleon. I've come to you to say it can happen Napoleon. How about this Napoleo. So it's Napoleon and Leo starring Adam Sandler.
Wow. Okay, that's the one, because that's fast as fuck.
So the movie and the week would call would be called Napoleo.
Wow. Ridley Scott, listen to that one. Get make it happen baby? Okay.
Bertolt mech asks thoughts on the Health Fire Gala and the potential end of the Best X Men status quo, since at least Morrison I could argue best, I think it is best. I have not read the Health Fire Gala.
Lisa Rosie, I'm just gonna say I agree. I'm not going to do any spoilers and listen out on your feeds for when we come back, because the hell Fire Gala issue or episode is on it's too long to talk about right now, but you're not wrong, and it's definitely going to be a conversation we have in the future.
Sarah asks, why have Marvel movies lost some of their sparkle lately? Who? I think, you know, just this is naturally what happens.
Yeah, transitional phase.
We're in a transitional phase. There are always going to be issues with regards to the you know, the cast leaving, and I think clearly they over invested in the space yes saturation, which honestly is you could criticize them for this. I would argue that every single movie studio that had this rocket ship would have exactly done the same thing.
Where's where is the break even point in the money if more money keeps coming out the more we invest, exactly, and shouldn't we just keep investing and see how much money comes out? Like every This is uh, this is the incentive that underpins basically our entire system of doing things. But I think this is always going to happen.
Yeah, it's you got to remember endgame. You're talking about like the biggest movie on Earth. It's going to be incredibly hard to follow that up, especially when those movies had been barreling along at such an unbelievable speed and rate of success. I think it was a lack of planning. I think it is a slight confusion about what made people love the movies. Yeah, and I also think it's
this transitional phase. How do you follow up the biggest movie in the world, as we've seen, it's really really hard. But that's not to say we haven't had incredible things Wonder Vision. I still stand that that is going to stand for years as just a truly great television series.
And I think, as we've kind of spoken about before, the best thing about this phase, which seems kind of messed up and weird and in you know, a lot of ebbs and flows, there's going to be a lot of cool stuff to kind of wreck on and pull from. And also if it leads to other people go in and see them movies like Barbie Oppenheimer, Teenager and Ninja Turtles, you know, cool like go see other movies, and the MCU will still be around. These comics have been around
for almost one hundred years. The movies are still going to be here. But yeah, I think it's a lack of planning, and I think it's very very hard to follow up the most successful movie of all time.
I think it's just very hard. The chase asque what's more important for franchise IP satif satisfying old nerds or generating new nerds? Wow, interesting existential question.
I believe it is a balance of both. I think, do you have to introduce new audiences? Hence why think about Star Wars, think about superhero movies, think about Ninja titles. A lot of what they're doing with those movies is selling merchandise to children, and that is the children's entry point into the movie. I think that making things accessible. I love the recall model. I love The Force Awakens,
I love the New Scream movies. I think you can do something really fun where you have legacy characters but introduce new audiences with new characters. I think the reason The Force Awakens was so successful financially is because it essentially was a retread of what worked well in Star Wars as a jumping off point to then something so different and incredible like The Last Jedi. I think that it's a balance of both. I think there's no harm in Easter eggs in fan service. I love those things.
I love seeing a character that. I know, I love getting a nod to the source material, but I think nothing is going to survive without new audiences. So I think it's a balance of both.
I think you're exactly right, and I think for an example of something that got the balance way wrong, you can just look at a movie we recently covered Indian Drones and Style of Destiny, which made almost no attempt to bring in anyway fans, and it's just kind of like a movie the for like senors, I guess, and did they like it? You know, it's like not, It's yeah, that's what happens when you get that balance from mm hmm.
Okay. Another good thank you super producers all for these combinations, because it's another great existential question. My Pneybone good Name asks. I'm just wondering if your mood or state of mind affects your viewing experience when you are watching fandom related content. Me So like I would say yes, because like, if I'm in a chill mood and I'm feeling open minded and i just want to watch something fun, I can
enjoy something that is maybe objectively not great. But if I'm feeling like kind of bummed out and down watching something. I'll be honest, we can't watching Secret Invasion. It could kind of bum me out, like I'm not if i wasn't in an open minded mood where I'm like so many people worked on this, like this is something that people spend a lot of time on. When I'm thinking
like that, I can appreciate. But if I'm feeling kind of down or something and I watch something that doesn't necessarily adapt something that I really love, I can definitely be affected by it. I can also be affected by watching something and that thing bumming me out if it's like depressing, or even if it's really really great but still kind of bleak, Like I definitely have to sometimes I just have to watch like a cozy mode of mystery.
If I'm feeling down, I can't be putting on like an anxiety interesting show.
I'm the same, and that's for any content. It doesn't have to be even nerdy stuff like I recently finished The Bear season two, and that's a show that like, I can't.
I'm longing out watching episode seven. I cannot do it.
It's just too much, too much screaming, too much, people being toxic. Too many times, I'm like yelling at the screen. Just fire this fucking person already, Like.
Yeah, oh you fucking quit if you don't want to do it.
Yeah, that's fucking quid. And it's so well made that it just like creates those feelings in my body that I then have to be like, Okay, I gotta just like watch below Deck or something like that, Like I just gotta throw on you know, vander Pump Rules or something very very light. Yeah. Absolutely my mood. All of which is to say, usually it's not my mood that affects how I respond to the thing. It's the thing affecting my mood. Yeah, Mike Asks, congratulations. Rosie and Jason Frall,
they're awesome writing lately. They you have a lot of amazing things from cover stories to comics to movies. It's amazing as a fan to get to follow. I would love categorically any XRV writing discussion on really any aspects of those processes.
Okay, so for me, I think me and jaysonatchally quite similar on this. But like, I love writing stuff, but finishing stuff is very hard. So something that I always try and do is just get through a first draft as quickly as possible. That is like my biggest tip, especially if it's something shorter, a comic script, a screenplay, a pilot. Guys Done is Spooly Love. She is smooching super producer Chris. She knows it's the last episode and she's saying goodbye in a romantic way. But yeah, I
just I try and finish stuff. Doing something I'm trying to do at the moment. I've got a novel that I'm trying to finish by the end of the year. I am doing our long writing sprints and just separating an hour off and really really trying to finish something. Also something I'm doing is just appreciating how much actual writing output I have because I do writing challenges. I've done two thousand words of summer, which is really great.
But the truth is I didn't really realize until I started doing them that a lot of people don't really write anything in a day. But sometimes even if I'm not writing the thing I want to write, like a novel or a screenplay or a pilot or something, I will be writing like five thousand words for multiple outlets. So also just recognizing that my output is really high and it's just about recentering on my stories. That's what I'm trying to focus on at the moment, so that's me.
I try and do writing sprints and also just try and finish the thing and then go back in at it.
That's my number one thing is finish the thing. There's a great I've purchased every single book about writing that there is to purchase, and one of the best ones. I'll give you my two favorites on writing by Stephen King, which just has great, great, great nuts and bolts, how to do it, what you don't need to do kind of stuff from a master shortteller. And and Laman Spurred My Bird, which is more of a philosophical take but which has some of the great revelations that have changed
my writing life. And the most important one is shitty first drafts. Yeah, your first version of whatever the thing you're writing is is going to be bad. Let it be bad and don't question it. So I do the same thing Rosie does. Let's take a TV script, like
a half hour sitcom script for egasample. I will try to write that in one or two days, like as fast as I can vomit it out with placeholder jokes like here, character A does a joke and character A character b response to the joke, like some cliche dialogue.
Let go back and.
Just get it down, because that's the hardest part because there's always that voice that's going to be there that goes, this fucking sucks, this bad, Holy shit, this is so bad. What if people see this? And it's important that you have that voice because that's going to be the thing that powers you through the editing where you rewrite and you make it good. But you'll never get there if all you do is listen to that voice and you just here's a thing that happens, has happened to me.
And continuing to also continue to try to finish my novel is if I read what I wrote last night, then I'll just keep rewriting it. And I'll just keep rewriting it, and next thing you know, for two weeks, I've been working on the same chapter, the same paragraph, two paragraphs in a chapter. Just finish it. It doesn't matter if it fucking sucks. It's it's supposed to be really bad, it's supposed to be really really really shitty.
Finish it and then go back and then you can make it better and make it better and make it better. So just like I cannot stress this is enough for your first draft. Whatever you're writing, it's gonna suck. It's gonna suck. Mute the voice that is telling you it sucks,
and just push through and to the end. The second you start feeling yourself reading two sentences before where you are or three sentences or a paragraph and going oh shit, that's bad, stop and just maybe close the document and come back and you feel like you can just like finish. You can push through again and just don't reread until you finish. That's it.
Yeah, And the other thing I would say, just find friends who want to read your stuff. That will be the ones who help you go from bad first draft. It's a great second job. It's amazing third draft. With my Pilo and my screenplays, having friends read them over go oh this works or this doesn't work or this person needs more has been like invaluable. So I would definitely say.
That that's very important. And to add on to that, when you're getting notes from your friends, again super important to be able to have those people that you trust to give you the notes. If you're in a place where you're not finished, it's okay to tell them, hey, don't give me a note that will make me go back, you know, just again. It's the hardest thing to do, but finish, finish.
It, and you'll feel so good when you know you can finish one thing. It makes finishing everything else so much easier.
Yeah, just finish it up next to it out.
In today's not outweare you tell us what you love them, why, a theory you're excited to share, or a quick question we can answer. And you have sent us so many over the last two years. Heh friend of the pod and co host of the Escape Patch podcast, which you might know is Doom Pod, pitches us on honestly one of the best shows of like the last decade, which is Warrior.
Jason and Rosie, it's h for the final nerd out of X Ray Vision Volume one. I wanted to point you out at the excellent TV show Warrior, currently streaming on Max. The show was created by Jonathan Tropper, the creator and showrunner of the groundbreaking action drama series Banshee that launched Anthony Starr's career, produced by Justin.
Lynn, and is based on the writings of Bruce Lee.
A historical martial arts drama set in eighteen seventies San Francisco. It follows the story of our hero, Assam, a recent Chinese immigrant who comes to America with nothing to find his sister, who was previously sent over. Assam is quickly sucked into the Tong Wars, with competing Chinese gangs fighting for control of the illicit trades in San Francisco. The series features incredible martial arts action, all of which is
extremely grounded, beautifully intricate, and always story driven. But the show really shines because of the fantastic characters, including the heads of the competing Chinese gangs, the unemployed Irish masses indignant at a new wave of immigrants being exploited and taking their jobs, the mostly Irish cops trying to keep the peace, and the business and political forces manipulating everyone to keep the money flowing same as it ever was.
All of this is set to a bangin Riza style soundtrack, with each episode ending with a different killer Chinese rap song, so you will be seriously entertained while you take it all in. However, what makes the show truly unique is its representation of Asian and Asian American people. Series leads Andrew Coogi, Whoon Lee Diane Doane and Olivia Chang are never shown as caricatures, stereotypes, or side characters.
Rather, they are.
The center of attention and fully flushed out with their own agency at the center of the show. I remember an interview with Alan Yang, producer of Louke and Master of None.
Saying that Hollywood never even shows the intimacy of Asian characters kissing.
Well, this show's a hell of a lot more than that, and leads viewers with a lot to think about in terms of our legacy of exploitation, though never in a preachy or sanctimonious way. If you love great storytelling and stunning martial arts, this is the show you've been waiting for. The season three finale airs this week, and all three seasons are streaming now on Max. Watch the first five
minutes of episode one and you'll be hooked. On a final note on behalf of all the fans of the pod, including the Fantastic community and the discord, I wanted to say thanks to both of you and the entire production team for all the hard work and passion you've brought the last two years to make incredible episodes week after week. You've inspired us to not only be passionate about the stories we love, but to care about and support the creators and the unique stories they're telling.
Thank you. Cannot wait for volume two of the show to begin. Peace out.
Thanks h. If you have theories, passions, or quick questions you want to share, hit us up at x ray at crooked dot com. Instructions are in the show notes.
That's it for us, Rosie any plugs.
Just keep an eye on your feeds to hear why You're gonna hear us next. You can follow me Rosie marks at Instagram and they're boxed and yeah, like, thank you for listening.
Same here. We'll be back soon, hopefully soon. We're not touch would hopefully soon. Secondarily, I co wrote a movie with Shay Serano that's on a platform that's struck, so I won't mention it, but if you use the Google Machine, you can figure out what it is and you.
Can watch it if you want to, if you want to.
Some quick thank yous to some of the people who have been really so integral to the creation and running of this pod. It couldn't have happened without them. First and foremosts are our super producers, Chris Lori and Saul Ruben, who have been amazing every week, week in, week out, getting the prep ready, helping us with fact check, and just basically being kind of like a compass on what we're doing. Vasillis who Without Vacillis, everything would sound like crap.
You would never be able to hear us, It would sound bad.
Delon, who without whom you would never see us and never know what we look like. Just a fantastic person. Ryan Wallashton who came in late but helped me tremendously on Takeline and is just like an all around great guy. Nikki Shane and Bradford, without whom many of our omnibuses would have been factually wrong, just incorrect, incorrect. Kendrick James, who helped us on the management side, Jordan Sarah, Caroline Restin who again was like really really influential on Takeline
and again here on launching x ray Vision. Sandy Gerard who just like helped put together so many of the really really important pieces away. Akulatee who helped us on the social side so that people could get the message out. Caroline Dunfee, Sam ben Desi on the marketing side, Gabby Leverrette and of course, the founders John John and Tommy who gave us a shot here at Crooked and let us run a show that is crazy. Carlton Gillespie who again helped launch the show and it was super super
important on the takeline side. And Brian Vasquez who sadly is no longer with us but wrote the fantastic and catchy title song to extra vision and all the kind of like interstitial little musical pieces. Thank you to all of those folks. Yeah, could not have done it without it.
And thank you to everyone who listened to the show and just sent your super cool questions and theories, who joined us in the discord, who left us really nice five star reviews, and who just supported the podcast and made this like a really incredible community.
We love. We love bringing stuff that we love talking about to people who also love it, So thank you to all of you.
You can watch full episodes of the podcast on YouTube now. Also check out a Twitter at xr v port and you can join Audist Code. While we will still be hanging out with there, We're still in the discord. It's still going baby, and that's a great place to get info on what will happen next.
Five star ratings, five star reviews, Weed and we Gotta Have You Gotta give us this. Here's one from track Man. Best pop culture podcast out there.
Wow, five star reviews.
Thanks It's.
Podcast, Thank You.
Extra Vision is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Chris Lord and Solrubin. Executive produced by.
Me Jason Temps.
You and O are editing. A sound design is by Chriscillis Fatopoulos. Video production by Delon Villanueva and Rachel Guayeski. Social media by Awa Oklati and Caroline Dunfie. Thank you to Brian Basquez.
For our themes.
We'll be back. If you're looking for more takes on the nerd culture you know and love, We're excited to tell you about the geek Buddies. The geek Buddies John, Michael and Shannon are writers, critics, actors, and EPs, and most importantly friends and as the geek Buddies, they're inviting you into their conversation where they discuss their first impressions of new shows, movies, give in depth reviews, and generally just share their thoughts and everything geek in the world
of entertainment. And boy do they have thoughts since they've each been in the industry for a while. You won't just hear the fan experience, though they certainly are fans as well. They'll share the goss their opinions from the creator side of things, So tune in to hear the latest on Marvel in DC, casting news for your favorite franchises, and so much more. You can watch The Geek Buddies on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever
you get your podcasts. So hang out with your buddies, the geek Buddies. It's a great time over there.