She-Hulk Trailer Reactions + Favorite Sick Day Comfort Watches - podcast episode cover

She-Hulk Trailer Reactions + Favorite Sick Day Comfort Watches

May 20, 202255 min
--:--
--:--
Download Metacast podcast app
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

On this episode of X-Ray Vision, Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight cuddle up for a covid comfort watch! That’s right, both Jason AND Rosie have the novel coronavirus covid-19 this week, but they powered through to give the people what they need. First in Previously On (6:13), Jason and Rosie dive deep (deeeeep) into the trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law that sent gamma waves across the internet, offering comics lore, analysis on why She-Hulk will be a great addition to the MCU, and, of course, tons of theories for what could unfold. Then, (super) producer Chris joins to discuss the overall disappointing Halo finale, why it’s always worth splurging on the CGI budget, and Pablo Schreiber’s keister. In the Airlock (42:22), Jason, Rosie, and Chris are joined by other (super) producer Saul (who did indeed just refer to himself in third person as a super producer) to discuss some of their favorite comfort watches in times of illness. Stay safe & mask up all!

Tune in every Friday and don’t forget to Hulk Smash the Follow button!

Nerd Out Submission Instructions!

Send a short pitch and 2-3 minute voice memo recording to xray@crooked.com that answers the following questions: 1) How did you get into/discover your ‘Nerd Out?’ (2) Why should we get into it too? (3) What’s coming soon in this world that we can look forward to or where can we find it?

Follow Jason: twitter.com/netw3rk

Follow Crooked Uncultured on Twitter & IG

Rosie Knight (maybe!!) will be at Pulp Fiction in Long Beach for Transformers Day on May 21 – details here!

Listener’s Guide

She-Hulk by Dan Slott – written by Slott with illustrations by Paul Pelletier, Juan Bobillo, & Scott Kolins; collects She-Hulk 2004 1-12 & She-Hulk 2005 1-5. Individual issues are available on Marvel Unlimited or the omnibus is available various places online.

She-Hulk by Soule & Pulido – written by Charles Soule, illustrated by various including Javier Pulido with covers and illustrations by Kevin Wada, colors by Muntsa Vicente, & letters by Clayton Cowles. Available on Amazon/comixology & individual issues on Marvel Unlimited.

Patsy Walker aka Hellcat – Written by Kate Leth with art by Brittney Williams, colors by Megan Wilson and letters by Joe Sabino & Clayton Cowles. Available on Marvel Unlimited or online.

___

With our constitutionally protected right to abortion under attack, abortion funds are working nonstop to make sure people can still access (and afford) abortion.

Visit votesaveamerica.com/roe to learn more, donate, and take action.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Warning, this podcast can take spoilers for Doctor Stranger, the Multiverse of Madness, and the Halo series, including the finale, so if you haven't caught up with those particular pieces of content, make sure to skip those sections of our podcast. That's all. Thank you. Hello. My name is Jason Getsepsion and I'm currently in the throes of the novel coronavirus COVID nineteen, which I tested positive for last weekend and have been suffering symptoms of fromout a day before I

had tested positive for it. All of which is to say this is going to be a crazy episode because not only am I suffering from the novel coronavirus COVID nineteen, but my brilliant co host, the best in the business, folks, the number one comics writer, pop historian in the game today, Rosie Night, Rosie, how are you?

Speaker 2

I also have novel coronavirus aka COVID nineteen, and somehow we didn't get this at the same place. We legitimately have not seen each other in public for a long time.

Speaker 1

In real good.

Speaker 3

Point, Rosie, because here's what I have this happened.

Speaker 1

You can read the news and the COVID.

Speaker 3

Is rampant right now, people wear your masks.

Speaker 1

I've been to numerous places over the last you know, the last week in the zone when I could have gotten it, and I was always one of like the five percent of people. They're wearing a mask. It ain't gone away, folks. And this time it's crazy. This is my second go round with COVID nineteen the novel Coronavirus. The first time I basically just slept for like eighteen hours and then like two days later I felt fine. This time, like Terminator two or Aliens or Godfather too.

The sequel is much more potent than the original, and I feel like I got a fucking house dropped on me. How do you feel, Rosie, I would.

Speaker 2

Concur This is not my first time having COVID, seeing as we all living through a global pandemic in busy cities.

Speaker 3

But this is the worst time.

Speaker 2

I have been haunting my house like a fucking sickened ghost.

Speaker 3

That I have a FEVA every day. It is like you said, it is.

Speaker 2

It's truly like the James Cameron's Aliens to Ridley Scott's Alien. The first one was like a brain foggy, slow lucid experience. This is like space marine shooting you with then with a big space gun.

Speaker 1

It's very bad, folks. It's snarley. Don't get it, and we say ask be safe and take care of yourselves and other people and other people around you who, for reasons not having to do with ignorance, perhaps can't get the numerous vaccines that are out there because of the previous metal conditions, the fact that they're compromised, et cetera. Those people are living in a state of constant fear, and we can, we can, we can make their plight

a little bit less stressful by hopefully getting vaccinated. If you're not vaccinated by now, I'm not sure what happened. But also just wearing your mask because it's out here, folks, it's out here. I saw Paul McCartney at I saw Paul McCartney. That's so fi and again one of like one of like five percent of the people there who was wearing a mask. So it's out it's it's it

is here, folks. And also anecdotally, as this very podcast episode recording proves, I've even like when it was pre vaccines, when when it was like really really really really scary, I didn't know this many people like that had it, So I know so many people that have it right now or had it last week or two weeks ago.

Speaker 3

Yeah, it's going around.

Speaker 2

And and I don't really go out many places or go and do big socializing things just to protect my own health. And I always wear a mask and I still got it. So just everybody's getting it. It's it's good to just take care. And it's hard right now because the way that the numbers are being reported and the fact that a lot of people are testing at home means we won't necessarily see those numbers in the same way we did in other waves.

Speaker 3

So it's just really good.

Speaker 2

To follow you got and be thoughtful for your own sake and other people's. And because this is very gnolly, you don't want to be sittin a sweating like us talking about I know.

Speaker 1

Well, great, great transition, because let's do that in today's episode. In the previously on, we're going to talk about a bunch of news from this week, headlined by the the she Hulk trailer drops. The delightful She Hulk trailer drop. We will talk about the Halo finale and the fact that Master Chief popped his cherry he did it and

people aren't necessarily happy about it. We will talk about some other news, and then we will go to the airlock, where we will talk about when you're sick and you're sitting at home, what do you watch, what do you read, what do you do to just kind of comfort you through it? And that's that's in our air lock section. Of course, as always, if you want to jump around, check out the time stamps in the show notes. First up,

let's go to the news. The She Hulk trailer. She Hulk Attorney a law She's barred, folks, She's a barred attorney at New York State. It's Jennifer Walter's cousin of our good friend Bruce Banner. The show starring Tatiana Mazlani as Jennifer Walters, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Hello, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, Benedict Wong as Wong, and others. Let's talk about this trailer, which is absolutely super super fun, delight. Here's my first takeaway. Hulk's arm is fine. Therefore, this

is pre end game. Therefore we're going to fill in the stuff clearly post snap, and that is Bruce Banner's you know, post Ragnarok journey to becoming Professor Hulk, We're going to see some of that timeline filled in and that is super super cool and awesome.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I want to talk about that, because like if you if you're not like us and you don't be pausing the trailer and everything.

Speaker 3

You might be like, what are you talking about? But this is it.

Speaker 2

In Endgame, we met Professor Holk, who explained that he was a new version of Banner and Hulk combined.

Speaker 3

He was not a third entity. He was who he is. He's he's an intelligent adream and the bridge together exactly.

Speaker 2

And he's looking hunky and I'm sure some people on the internet are calling.

Speaker 3

Him Daddy Jeez. And then at the end of.

Speaker 2

Shang Chi, we saw Bruce Banner in his human form. We had a sling on his arm because in Endgame we saw him, we saw Holk wheeled the Infinity Gauntlet and do the snap and it really messed up his arm. So in the modern continuity, we know that Bruce is back in his normal human body and he has an arm sling in this trailer is Jason so smartly noticed he is Professor Holk and his arms are looking fine.

Speaker 3

So it is very very likely that.

Speaker 2

This is going to be in that period between Infinity War and Endgame, which is something we have yet to see.

Speaker 1

Another thing we're gonna see. I think we can deduce from this wonderful again trailer. There's the part of the trailer in which you know, one of the heads of the law firm that Jennifer works for says, hey, we want to start a superhero division, which is directly a very much a comics thing. Like Jennifer's specialty is powered incidents, you know, cases involving or related to people with powers.

And we remember from Shang Xi right that that Emil Blonski, the Abomination in his comics accurate form, was doing fights for money against Wong and we're like, holy shit, wasn't he like in jail? Wasn't he in Super People Jail? And we see him in this trailer when when the the you know, one of the law partners mentions, hey, we want to start superhero a superpowered person's division. I

think this is how he gets out. I think I think Jennifer, and honestly rightly so, I think you would make the argument that, like, hey, we can't hold this guy forever like it's actually, yes, he's theoretically a weapon of mass destruction, but there's other powered people out there now who are also similarly powerful. And what what does it mean legally that we can just like hold this

guy ad infinitum. And I think that's how Emil Blanski gets his freedom or whatever whatever status he has by shang Chi, where he's able to come and go at will.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I think you're right.

Speaker 2

Also, I think that the cell that we see in this trailer, that that we see Jennifer in when she's testing her Hulk powers, that looks very similar to where we see Abomination walk back.

Speaker 3

Into during shang Chi.

Speaker 2

So I think that I think that Bruce, whatever part of Bruce's life this is, it's going to be important and foundational to the notion of whatever's going on in the current continuity. We know that Sword was set up, you know, within this there was that was a really big time for Sword after and we found out about all the plans that they were making because of what

had happened because of the blips. So it wouldn't surprise me if some of the things that we thought we were going to see or we thought we were seeing being established with shang Chi like Dark Avengers, et cetera. If those things might have already been in the works during this five years, and am we going to kind of retroactively learn about them and see how they could come into play in the y to MCU, what.

Speaker 1

Else do we see? Let's talk about this. So we see in the opening shots, we see a car tumbling down the hill. Now, in the comics, Jennifer gets her powers because she needs a blood transfusion from know she has a particular blood type, and so they go to a relative, and of course Bruce Banner is the relative, and the side effect of him donating blood to his cousin is that the gamma radiation in his blood also gets into Jen's body and she reacts in a very

similar way to Bruce and becomes the shields. Now, in the comics, it's gangsters shoot her because of her legal activities and she requires this blood transfusions. I think it's going to be I think clearly it's going to be an accident rather than gangs, which anyway is like I think Punisher like debut like two years before that, so it's like they just like reused the Punisher's origin.

Speaker 2

Like everyone's family's being killed by gangsters.

Speaker 3

No, I think you're right in something.

Speaker 2

That our super producer Sauw was saying when we were prepping for this episode was like Hawk Eyed did something really interesting where it tied Kate Bishop's origin and her tragic backstory directly into events of the MCU, And that definitely feels like something we could see here.

Speaker 3

But from the.

Speaker 2

Tone of the show, which is like very eighties and funny and kind of like feels a bit more lighthearted than a lot of the other stuff we've gotten, I wouldn't be surprised to see them play with that kind of fan favorite conversation about like collateral damage, which is like not something we've really seen very much. They touched on it in the Netflix stuff, But I wouldn't be surprised if her accident was like something got thrown and hit a wall and then it fell on her.

Speaker 3

During an event just happened or something exactly.

Speaker 1

It's like the.

Speaker 2

Snap an ice cream van had a guy who wasn't driving, and I just think, like, this show seems to be going into that humor and it's it's if it's gonna be like the comics. She's always been a very meta fourth wall breaking character. So to have a little bit of that conversation with the audience and say, well, this is kind of what it's like for normal people who live in the MCU. You might not even end up being normal because your cousin's got gamma blood.

Speaker 1

Let's talk about one of the real surprises in this trailer, which is the very very brief shot of Frogmen from I did not know this was gonna happen.

Speaker 3

I cannot believe this happened. I am sure.

Speaker 1

Tell us who tell us about Frogman. Frogman, very very minor character that I maintain was at least in some form a like esthetic influence on the Teenage Mutant Ninja journals. I yeah claim that I have no evidence for that, but I claim.

Speaker 2

That the truth is that all those I mean, TMNT is like one of my favorite topics, and all of those comics, the original Black and White Stuff, which is very dark and very funny, was an absolute response to Marvel and DC and big superhero comics. So that would make a lot of sense, especially when you think about the fact that, like in Teenage Mutant Ninja titles, for example, the bad group is called it's called the foot Clan instead of the Hand you know, and.

Speaker 3

Stuff like that. So it's very It was like a self.

Speaker 2

Published kind of shit post comic, and I love that it became this team this like Kid's powerhouse. But yes, Frogman, it is with a hyphen like spider Man, so don't spell it wrong or else the comic fans might get upset with you.

Speaker 3

Created by JM. D.

Speaker 2

Matteas and Kerry Gamil from a Marvel Team Up issue Marvel Team Up one one June nineteen eighty two, which I.

Speaker 1

Believe those were fun man.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and that puts it between that. I think that puts it before the first yeah, two years before the first Ninja title's comics, That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1

And also like Eugene, the frog Man's Eugene identity, Eugene's like fifteen. This is why I claim that Frogman is an influence onto you. But like again, I have no I'm saying that.

Speaker 2

Kevin Eastman on it to talk about this local legend. Yeah, so yes, his mother is called Rosie. Shout out to me. Yeah, and he basically makes like he is like a kid who wants to be a villain, and it is like really weird and strange, and he could definitely one of those weird characters from the seventies and eighties where you're just.

Speaker 3

Like, how did this get in there?

Speaker 1

Yeah, like he actually payspot pete, like the kind of level character I have to say.

Speaker 3

This actually, and basically he is, like.

Speaker 2

He's one of those characters who's so out there and weird if you're a comic book occasionally, if you're like, if like me and Jason got to write a comic, we would be pulling these.

Speaker 3

Weird characters that we love. So he pops up.

Speaker 2

Like he's in Secret Invasion, you know, as a scroll he's he's in like you see these.

Speaker 1

Different crazy by the way, hilarious pull in Secret Invasion the.

Speaker 2

Scroll and then like, I mean, he's definitely I think there's there's character.

Speaker 3

There's creators now.

Speaker 2

Who remember him fondly because he pops up a lot, and.

Speaker 3

To see him here.

Speaker 2

They they do a really good job kind of recontextualizing the costume, which in the comics is like very cartoony. In in the trailer, as we see it, it looks kind of like a Super Sentai costume, like a like a Power Rangers costume. Meets Vigilante from the recently released peace Maker show that we talked a lot about, So I'm very interested to see my gut says he will

be someone that she represents. That seems to be the only way to easily ul him into the show unless he is actually secretly the villain and Titania is like gonna be an ally instead.

Speaker 1

I'm glad you mentioned Titania Uh played by Jimmy La Jamil. She is we assume, gonna be the big bad of the series and is a frequent foil for she Hulk over the years. Now, Titana in the comics gets her powers from Doctor DOOMO it.

Speaker 3

Will be dun dunn dunt dun duh.

Speaker 1

It will be absolutely I fascinated to know where she gets her powers this time.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Also in the comics, one more connection with the Well. First of all, She Hulk was a member of the Fantastic Four, so there's that. And then also she Hulk represented Doctor Doom's son in his attempt to basically flea lat Varia and become an American citizen. So there are a lot of really cool Doctor Doom connections and it just feels like I once again we're inching inching towards a Fantastic four canonical debut. The fact that we saw John Krasinski as Richard's nonwithstanding.

Speaker 2

Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think it's a really interesting poll. Obviously, she is like a really famous shock villain, and it makes sense because they're obviously going for kind of like an Ali McBeal vibe, so it makes sense to give her like a female antagonist. But I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some kind of implication of like a powerbroker.

Speaker 3

Sort like where did she get this power?

Speaker 1

Great?

Speaker 3

How could she get it?

Speaker 2

Also in the comics, like even though it's kind of a wacky origin during the Secret Wars stuff that I think it's Secret Wars three where she's introduced, it's actually like bad she does get tested on and has is kind of what could definitely be be written as like a tragic backstory or a reason to be pissed off at people, or reason to kind of want to become

a villain. So I think there's interesting stuff to dig into there, and I think it's really interesting that in this the first trailer for the show, it's just this kind of like glimpse of a fight. So I'm really interested to see where they go because I feel like the MCU is definitely blurring the lines between like good guys and bad guys and kind of that gray area between Ally and antagonist, and I think that relationship could

be prime for that. And the fact that Wong is going to be in this show and we know that he is connected to a nomination, He's connected to whatever this secret team he's kind of trying to put together. He's like the new Phase four Nick Fury, which I like.

Speaker 1

I love that at some point we should discuss the fact that comic Swang currently is great. Movie Wong is orders of magnitude the best Wong. It's not even close to how cool, how much cooler.

Speaker 2

He is in the movies then in the and I think you can absolutely one Benedict Wong shout out that's

like all you great, like you're killing it. And I think that you can't understate his impact on why the comic book Wong is better, because like these movies and comics are so intertwined, and when you have such a brilliant in depth, like thoughtful, funny, silly, strong, brilliant character, and I know that some people were definitely also like becoming like thirsty for Wong after Doctor Strange too.

Speaker 3

I've seen the internet.

Speaker 2

I never feeling it like he had a new outfit, he was looking good and like I just yeah, I love it and I love that it's up the game. I mean, honestly, they've done a really great job recontextualizing that orientalist aspect. Yes, so it's so key to like the older Doctor Strange stuff.

Speaker 1

There might be some of our listeners out there like, oh, she I love the trailer. I'm getting into comic. What can I read? It's super super easy read Dan Slott's She Hulk The Complete Collection. This is story by Dan Slot, Audi ground Off on cover art, also Paul Peltier and

Scott Collins on art. It kind of like set the modern tone for She Hulk as a character in the early two thousands, as this kind of like one time shy lawyer who has become this very like super confident, hard charging work, hard play hard character who's like who is in a lot of ways like a focus point for the female superhero community, Like she has so many friends across the female superhero community, which is part of what makes that that collection so fun. Is just like, Yeah,

I've said this many times. I'm a big fan of like superheroes just hang out stories, and there's so many scenes in that collection where it's just like Jen just hanging out with her friends.

Speaker 3

Also because she's one of.

Speaker 2

The few, she's one of like the few heroes aside from like the Fantastic Four, So she's gonna be one of the first MCU heroes who has like a full time job. She's not just like bumming around like somehow not getting paid for being an avenger.

Speaker 3

She has like a full time job.

Speaker 2

So that leads to a lot of funny kind of slice of life sitting around stuff. And I mean in that Dance Loot collection, Titania is like a major antagonist.

Speaker 3

So you're looking for there you have.

Speaker 2

The new poster that they just released is almost certainly based on one of Greg Horn's covers, which is actually the back of the collection, which is her kind of striding up these stairs, you know, and and the and the the visualization that they've gone for as Tatiana as she is very much that Greg Horn kind of vibe. She's she's big, but she's like shape plea and she's kind of athletic and so it's very interesting to see that.

Speaker 1

So there's that. So there's the Shell collect her by Dan Slot Complete Collection. This collects like she hoped one to twelve and I think a couple maybe an annual or something like that, and then she hulked the complete collection. A more recent a more recent collection by Charles Sewell, Javier Plito and Munsa of Vicente, And that one is just super super funny. Charles Sewell was a lawyer, so he's got all the lingo down and it's That's another one where it's like.

Speaker 3

Jen hanging out with Hellcat, you know, like Jena, like.

Speaker 2

Her friendship with Patsy is so great and I do I love it. That's gonna be something that plays.

Speaker 1

In That's okay, So I have a prediction. I'm gonna be We know, our listeners know how much we love to make predictions and we don't care if they're wrong. We just love to do it.

Speaker 3

Yeah, it's just fun.

Speaker 1

Here's so much of like the texture of Jennifer Walter stories is about the role she plays in the broader superhero community and her friendship and bonds with various figures throughout the female superhero community. I think we're going to see more than frogmen debut. I think we might see others. I think we might because, like, if you think about it superhero division, I get that there's a lot of like, you know, property damage and loss of life from the

various superhero incidents around the world. Who could forget Hulk fucking up Harlem and every place he goes, you know, But there's when you talk about the community, it's not like there's that many, you know, like, there's not that many folks that she could rep. She could represent uh, you know, Bruce Banner in the various lawsuits that are probably lodged against him for destroying you know, uh, Betty's College, Harlem, et cetera. There's uh yeah, but there's not that many

she yet. She could get ant Man like his charges dropped, et cetera.

Speaker 3

But there's not like that many. There's really not that.

Speaker 1

Many superheroes yet. So I do wonder if we might not if the Frogman drop isn't a signal that hey, all those like really really fun, rarely used minor minor minor Marvel characters, we might see some of them pop up here.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I think that you're right, and I also think this is going to continue the Hawkeye tradition, not just in tone, but in branding and reshaping the Netflix Marvel shows as something for.

Speaker 3

The main MCU.

Speaker 2

It's quite likely we might see Matt Murdock here. He too is a lawyer, and him and Jennifer have worked alongside each other and something else that you just made me realize when we're talking about this. It could work as it could work in the same way the Netflix shows worked, which is when you actually watch those shows, they introduced so many comic book characters because they needed like a living community like Luke Cage, so many characters,

and no MCU show has really done that. Hawkeye used names of characters, but it wasn't actually they didn't become those characters as we knew them. She could be a way of introducing a new I mean, if they wanted to do it like a procedural, you could have a new character that she's looking after every week, you know, and it would be a way to build out that community.

It would be very funny, kind of funny. And some of them, you know, you have her defending a hero, you have her defending a villain, you have a kind of building that moral compass and like that the Charles Saul run that you were talking about with Havia as amazing art, Like that's the one where she defends the son of Doctor Doom and she and Captain America. Yes, you know, so there's all different kinds of ways that

you can explore that. And I think that looking to those two, this one has her face down with Matt Murdoch, like Deadpool is in this, and there's a holiday party, so you get that fun space. I just think this could be a launch pad for building out those weirder, smaller superhero roles.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and again I wonder if we it'd be cool to get a hellcare drop in this. Hellcat one of the oldest Marvel character. I mean, going back to the forties, like this is like as like fucking Marvel fashion.

Speaker 3

Fashion cocks really incredible times.

Speaker 2

People forget those old days when women were seen as a as a truly large part half of the market. So they had romance comics, they had fashion comics, and that's where Patsy Walker, who became Patsy Walker Hellcat came from. And she was in the Jessica Jones show in a kind of reimagined version, But this version of she Hulks seems like a better place to to bring in a

different version of her. There was a she Cat. There was a hell Cat comic with incredible art by Brittany Williams a few years ago, and that was very much like Sheahawks having a party at the office and like, look at all these different characters who are here, and oh no, who are you gonna have to defend?

Speaker 3

Is it gonna be?

Speaker 1

Like? That's what I love about Seahawks stories. And that's why I hope, and that's why I sit because it is really such an important part of the texture and fuels Jennifer Walter stories, and so you know, selfishly, I just hope we see a lot of I think.

Speaker 2

The tone of the trailer up it hints at that. It hints like her and Bruce in the bar. There's like a comedy and she obviously a climate just like in the comic. She acclimates very well to being in her She hoped form because that's how she chooses to be. Yeah, and it looks like from the trailer that's going to be the case for most of the show.

Speaker 1

Well, we can't wait for this one up next. Let's welcome in our super producer Chris to talk about the Halo series and the finale of the Halo series, which recently aired on Paramount Plus. Chris, there, tell us about Halo.

Speaker 5

I have to say, overall, it was a little bit disappointing.

Speaker 4

I know, we were all pretty optimistic after the first episode, like, okay, the covenentary here they're teasing, like the conflicts with the colonies, the unsc are, the kind of the.

Speaker 5

Bad guys, Like there is potential.

Speaker 4

And I have to say that in the whole series, about twenty minutes like really good Halo stuff in there.

Speaker 5

But those twenty minutes, I have to say, are really good.

Speaker 1

I here is my takeaway. I haven't watched the finale yet, but I've watched like the first five episodes. My takeaway is that very very clearly eighty percent of the budget went to the pilot and then yeah, immediately thereafter, it fucking falls off in terms of like scope, in terms of what they're and and the storytelling kind of takes a hit after that. So when you say not a lot of quote unquote Halo stuff, what do you what do you? What do you mean?

Speaker 4

Like, you know, I think there's always a question of why even adapt, Like what more can you really gain out of doing a film when the games are pretty cinematic. I think the one big thing you can do is you can show just what incredible soldiers and fighters and like combatants everyone is, all these Spartans are. That's more

than just a first person POV holding a gun. You know, like these fights should look you know, crazy, you know, I mean, like maybe not quite the Raid, which is like, you know, we talked about like what is actually.

Speaker 2

The TV show tried to look like the Raid? That would make me very.

Speaker 4

Yeah, just like let's see, like let's really see like great fight choreography, and the first episode to get a

bit of that, as you do in five. Then the finale, like finale, you finally get you know, Silver Team, the four Spartans going up against this massive wave of Covenant you know, almost feels like like the firefight situation on like ODST like Horde mode, Hord mode exactly, yeah, like and it's honestly like, the fight's really good, and they finally bring in a little bit of the Halo theme, which I think is just like one of the coolest themes.

I absolutely love it so much. And it's it's really really fun And yeah, Jason, your point, you feel like, oh, this is where they spent all the budget was like on these like three really big epic fight sequences. You know, in episode five, we see I think it's John, we see one of the Spartans like jump on top of a bansheet. Right, It's like, okay, like this is point except from the game that's really un exciting.

Speaker 5

You know for those that have read those books, you.

Speaker 4

Know, the Eric Nyland novels, which you've talked about, there's a lot of really great lore in there, and they just kind of jettisoned all of that. Like I really wanted to see the Spartans as a kind of family, yea.

Speaker 5

Like one of the tragedies of reading those books is whenever.

Speaker 4

They lose one of their soldiers, like you know, they're kind of programmed to be emotionally uneffective.

Speaker 5

You can tell it hurts them when they lose one of their own.

Speaker 4

And they didn't really go there either, Like that could have been a really great heart of the story, and I feel like they kind of skirted around that for just a lot of really generic and room conversations.

Speaker 1

Something else that is kind of not haloy is. Master Chief got his dick wet.

Speaker 3

Master Chief the cherry, the cherry got popped.

Speaker 1

He got out of his armor and got into something a lot more comfortable.

Speaker 3

And the reason that fans.

Speaker 1

Are upset, like hardcore, you know, the fans who have read the books and are up on the lore is is part of the Spartan The Spartan training program is fucking brutal. Like when you read the Nyland books, you're like, holy shit, this is terrible they did. It's terrible what they did to these kids to train them to be these uh super soldiers. And part of that is they injected them with various steroids and drugs. And part of that medical regimen was, uh that their sex drive was

you know, medicinally depressed. It was like basically like lowered to nothing because they didn't want Spartans having any kind of like emotional and or physical connection to anyone. They just wanted them to be like killing machines and uh. And then guess what master Chief had sex the show? How was it? Did you did you were you? Were you upset by it as a Halo fan? And how is you know what did we see what happened there.

Speaker 4

I mean, I it felt a little bit out of character, but I wasn't upset about it. I'm like, Okay, I get what they're doing.

Speaker 6

You know.

Speaker 4

They's like, Okay, I get what they're trying to do here. They're trying to give him a romance with this other character McKee. You know, I'm never going to complain about Pablo Schreiver being naked, which is a few times in this year congratulation, looking great, looking absolutely.

Speaker 3

Happy to see a bum Yeah.

Speaker 4

As was I like, there's something you're too except as budshots, they're fantastic. So from that respect, I've like, okay, I'm on board with this. It definitely didn't make me upset. It just felt a little bit, i don't know, kind of unnecessary. It definite felt a little bit out of character. And it's like, it's not going to make me angry that they change things. Like this part of an adaptation, you gotta change things. But I didn't think it necessarily added a lot to the story.

Speaker 2

It sounds like it's actually a bit of a missed opportunity because that's such a tragic and kind of brutal bit of law that they could have done a scene where it's like an intimacy scene that isn't to do with fucking, and that could have been like a really interesting and motive way to explore like that side of the past, and that.

Speaker 1

Kind of actually a great Yeah, it's actually a really great and tragic plot device where it's like you know, he he can't like, yeah, he can't do that. You find other ways of being intimate like that.

Speaker 2

I think that's a shape that kind of like it's I really like the first couple of episodes, I felt like it was like really ambitious, weird sci fi storytelling. But I just think it's a shame because I think like if you can't keep that going for those little moments when you could do something that's really like emotionally powerful like that, then it you.

Speaker 3

Know, does it hit basically like you said, did it left you?

Speaker 2

You watched it and you were like, eh, nice.

Speaker 5

To see it, but like yeah, it just felt generic, you know.

Speaker 4

And I think that was the big disappointment this the series is that for me, Halo's never felt generic. It's always been kind of special, and like the Master Chief, despite being kind of like kind of a.

Speaker 5

Blank canvas, has always felt special. Too, and this was just like.

Speaker 2

Eh, is there anything that you would want to see them do in like a second season that would redeem it or like interesting exploring.

Speaker 4

I'm not like totally writing it off, you know, like every series takes a little bit of time to get its footing, and if they are going to push it more towards like those sort of battle sequences like we saw here, maybe fewer episodes, bigger scope and scale, more fight with the Covenant, which requires more budget than I actually think there is some potential here. It's like there was just enough here for me to want to keep

going and be a little bit disappointed. But I would say, like, you know, I can't say it's any better than any other Halo thing. They can't be like, hey, like dedicated nine hours this thing instead of reading one of the

books or playing one of the games. But I think in a second season, with a bit more money, we can see more of like that big scale comming because the Covenant are barely in it, unfortunately, And I was hoping that the villains were too expense too expensive, and it was good, like honestly, yeah, the Covenant looked good when they bring him in there, you know, and they bring in little nods the game, like you know, we see them like initially stealthily take out a bunch of

grunts by hitting them the head, Like Okay, we've all done this, we're going so I think maybe a little bit more of that and I could be on board.

Speaker 1

Well, I'm actually looking forward to catching up on this. Maybe that's one of the things I do in the throes of COVID nineteen, the novel coronavirus. Up next the airlock, where we'll tell you about what we do when we're sick. Welcome to the airlock. Stay on the other side of it, folks, because because your hosts today Rosie and I have been stricken with the novel coronavirus COVID nineteen, and so you're gonna want to stay on the other side of that

airlock so that you don't catch it. And today in the airlock, we're going to talk about the things that we as a team super producers Chris and Saul, Hey, Rosie and I do when we're sick. What do we watch, what do we do, what do we read? What are the things that comfort us and get us through this? This really horrific fucking feeling that we're feeling right now, Rosie, let's start with you. What are you been doing in the time? By the way, let me let's just start

with this. I texted on Monday like, hey, I have COVID, Like, let's cancel the pre pro meeting. YadA, YadA, YadA. And you're like, I'm glad that you tell It's funny you should text right now because I too have COVID, And yes, let's definitely push the meeting. So when did you When did you start feeling it? And what have you been doing since then?

Speaker 2

Like Thursday ish and then Friday was really the the day. But it's just it's only gone worse, baby, It's only gotten worse.

Speaker 3

So I'm I have been. I luckily I had actually just.

Speaker 2

Incidentally kind of like taken some time off to like I was like, I'm gonna do some writing, I'm gonna like do some stuff.

Speaker 3

I had my mom visit and and then.

Speaker 2

Lo and behold, it just ended up working out because it meant I could just not I could just lay around and and and rest. And one of the things that I did that was very comforting that we haven't talked about yet. Somehow that is easily up there with like my favorite shows.

Speaker 3

Of the year was I finished Our Flagman's Death.

Speaker 5

It's a great show.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I've been.

Speaker 2

Saving like the last two episodes because.

Speaker 3

I didn't want it to be finished.

Speaker 1

Don't spoil the finale because there is some really great The finale has some great stuff.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I'm just gonna I'm not even gonna really spoil anything.

Speaker 3

I'm just gonna tell you why it's good and you should watch it.

Speaker 2

So it's it's the much lauded Taiko w t t produce starring Pirate show and it is just like, along with Abbott Elementary, another one of my favorite shows of the year.

Speaker 3

It is like the.

Speaker 2

Funniest, like kindest, sweetest, weirdest show, and the cast is incredible and the writing is funny, and it's just like one of those half hour comedies where you're just like, damn, I wish I had made this because it is like so so surprising, but it's also very cozy. It has like I was sending around everyone who was like saying

that they enjoyed it. I was like, there's this old English tradition of like weird musical kids shows, and one of them was called Maid Marian and her merry Men, and it was done by the guys who made Black at Her And when I was a kid, like I always think about that, And the opening of the first show is this guy singing like a reggae song about like mud and how how terrible it is to be

a peasant in like Britain. And this show has that same like weird Britainish musical kids show energy, like it has some it is for adults, like, it's got some violence, but but generally you're just like, this is like a really funny kids show but made for people my age.

Speaker 4

It's surprisingly wholesome. Oh it's whole for being pirates. Yeah, like, oh, this is actually like really nice.

Speaker 1

Saul, what are you? What do you? What do you watch? What is your go to when you're sick?

Speaker 6

It's a good question. I think my go to when I'm sick is probably like, I want something really comforting and comfortable, nothing like complicated. I want to minimize complexity, and I want, I mean, like the familiar. It is hard to beat, Like, I want something relatively familiar, so

I'll often rewatch. I gotta say, when I was a kid, and this is actually still true, my mom would take me to work with her when I was really sick, and I would just sit in her office and watch on her Like other computer watch movies, The Ocean's Trilogy would be something I.

Speaker 3

Watch Ultimate comfort Watch.

Speaker 1

Yeah, like that's a great one.

Speaker 6

Watching Brad Pitt and especially Brad Pitt. I love Brad Pitt, But watching brad Pitt and Clooney just like sort of like stylishly solve problems and like do it with no issues at all. It's just like very pleasing. I'm like this, it's complicated, but it's so not complicated. They make it too easy. That's what I want life to be.

Speaker 2

Like this stakes the high but love watch it and you're like they're stealing a lot, but this is not stressful.

Speaker 3

This is relaxing. I'm glad to be involved in this.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I'm like, this is good. One hundred million dollars.

Speaker 1

I want that.

Speaker 3

This is great. If only, if only.

Speaker 5

This could be so easy?

Speaker 1

Chris, what is your go to sick content?

Speaker 4

I think if I'm sick, probably the first movie I put on is probably the movie I've seen the most of my entire life, which is The Great Mouse Detective, Like.

Speaker 3

The Respect to Basil. That's the one I.

Speaker 4

Mean, yeah, you know, and and Vincent Price's Radigan is like one of the all time great camp villains. And I've watched the movie probably three or four times a year. I ever just like feeling like a little bit like hungover or sick whatever.

Speaker 5

Ikay thrown that on.

Speaker 4

And when I actually I had COVID back in October twenty twenty, you know, pre vaccine, when it was like you can't go anywhere, do anything, you don't know how long you're gonna be six. I basically quarantined for three weeks more or less, and I caught up in a

lot of Batman comics. I reread the Cataclysm in No Man's Lam arc, but I went and tracked down like all the side issues that were included in like the trade collective versions that I had in the nineties, you know, thank you for was it DC Infinity or whatever?

Speaker 5

That was fantastic, And then I started, yeah, but it is, yeah, no, it was really excellent.

Speaker 4

I caught up on a lot of comics, and then the other thing I did was I got back into building custom lego sets I hadn't done in probably like a decade or so, and I just had a bunch of pieces line around, and so for the first time in a long time, I built like a little custom batmobile and a little tumbler, and I was like, Oh, I'm actually really really proud of how these came out.

This is pretty great. Yeah, I just like sat my apartment for three weeks and buil Legos and red comics and it was sound.

Speaker 5

Honestly it was. It was part of me. Part of me kind of misses it now at this point that that era.

Speaker 2

Of like weird Disney movies from like what they were seeing as like a flop era, they definitely come to me. Like one of my ultimate ones is The Black Cauldron. I watched that culture and and it's so scary and weird and like just off key, but it's so comforting.

And that definitely like that Basso Mass Detective. Like Disney Plus in that way has kind of been a blessing and a curse because they have they have all those a lot of those vaulted movies, but they also used to just be free to rent from the library services because like nobody wanted them, but it's easier to find them on Disney Plus.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I know, that's that's a great call.

Speaker 5

They were dark too, like a black.

Speaker 2

Coldin is like legitimately terrifying.

Speaker 4

Yeah, like it freaked me out, Like it's still to this day, Like there's a part of my brain that like shivers little bit whenever Fidget busts to the window, Like I should still be scared by this all these years later.

Speaker 5

Yeah, they're like they're dark and cool. I really like that era. Actually the one for me like that was Page Master.

Speaker 3

Oh my god.

Speaker 5

Yeah yeah, yeah so scary.

Speaker 6

The mister Hyde was so scary to me, Like just like the I don't know all of the streaky, but like you just kind of like want more of it. It feels like a version of a fever a little bit, like let me just try to like get get the bad stuff out.

Speaker 5

Dude.

Speaker 2

Joe Johnston, he's a pretty legit Comfort Watchers director actually, because he directed Rocketeer and now brilliant Rocketeer.

Speaker 1

Shouts to Rocketeer right shouts a. Shouts to Jennifer Connelly, my always my first wife is fantastic in The Rocketeer, A movie that should have been like a hit but wasn't a hit.

Speaker 5

Fun movie, really fun, super fun.

Speaker 2

There's no way Captain America exists the First Avenger directed by him.

Speaker 3

If that movie didn't exist, Hey, right, yeah.

Speaker 1

He's completely I've been rewatching it, like I've rewatched The Succession season two episode turn Haven, today, episodes of television, and I've been reading a lot. But I think that I've been like catching up on a lot of TV. And one of the shows that I'm really enjoying right now is killing it on Peacock.

Speaker 2

Oh yeah, the Craig Robinson Show.

Speaker 1

It stars Craig Robinson, created by Luke del Tredici and Dan Gore, and it is Craig Robinson is a like down on his luck dude who enters a like a Boa constrictor catching contest in the Everglades. Now, because like the setup here is that I'm sure we've all read these stories where like people who couldn't handle their snakes in the in the you know, Everglade region, they would just like let them go into like the swamps and shit, and now they're like a threat to the environment and

so they have to be caught. And so there's like this twenty thousand dollars contest for whoever catches the most snakes in the swamps. And of course, like that is the exact amount of money that Craig Robinson's character needs to get out of the jam he's in. And it's like, first of all, the cast is great. Craig Robinson as Craig He's Craig Robinson has reached the Tony Danza. All my characters are named my name level of like TV

acticts the Pizza Hut money. Yeah, Claudio Darity as Gillian, who I just chat from our Wagman's death and love and from other things. She's just like fantastic and so funny. Lily Sullivan from The Righteous Gemstones and season one of I think you should leave. Uh. Tim Heidecker as like

as like Tom Cruise's character from Magnolia. Like, it's so the casting is really great, And first of all, I was not aware on Peacock that you could curse and shit, So there's like a lot it's like adult, but it also deals with like it's a show about people on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic gladder who've been left behind by capitalism and who are just like trying to

get by. And part of the way, part of the journey of the show is, you know, along with all the snake catching and all of like hilarity and wild stuff that happens. Is like they all kind of like bond together into this community as a way to get by. It's just a really really funny show. It's really fun. I'm enjoying it. It's not like anything else that's out there in the same way that Abbot and in Our Flag Means death feel really singular and unique killing. It feels like that really fun showing.

Speaker 5

I love that.

Speaker 4

That's what streaming has given us now, is you can go super niche like that and just produce like a short ten episode series. It's like for a very ci audience that discover and love it and it can just exist and be awesome and not have to be twenty two episodes and appeal to everybody all the time.

Speaker 2

Yeah, And I really like that, Like these Found family stories are becoming like such a trope now, and I think it's because like people our age grew up with, like some of the ultimate Found families, you know, like the X Men and stuff like that, And I I just it makes me really happy to see shows that are being made at a prestige TV level where that discovery of community for whatever reason whether it's socio economic or sexuality or just living like on the outside of society.

That's become such a cool part of TV now, and that's definitely like one of my comfort tropes.

Speaker 3

So it's really nice to.

Speaker 6

See Guardians the Galaxy. I watch that movie all the time. Another Ultimate Found Family movie.

Speaker 1

That's a great one. I will go on Disney Plus and just watch scenes from Marvel movies way too much, Like even when I'm not sick, I do that all the time. I really do that all the time. And it's it's sad, and I don't like to talk about it, but I do. I do that constantly.

Speaker 2

I do Captain America picking up Thor's hammer.

Speaker 3

That's like but once a week probably, And.

Speaker 1

Like listen, one of the greatest scenes in the entire MCU is the before as Ultron is like knitting his consciousness together, and they're all and the rest of the Avengers are just like partying on at Stark Tower. The iOS just like hanging out, and that is like so fun. That is such a fun scene. Everybody drinking like Thor's thousand year old dorog, you know, seeing who could pick up Thort's hammer, roasting Roadie for being like a Kmart superhero.

Speaker 3

Like that. Some So that's the good stuff.

Speaker 4

And I love Black Widow's response like, oh, that's not a question I any answered.

Speaker 5

It's like, oh, yeah, that's that's perfect for her character.

Speaker 3

It's like, no, I don't want to know.

Speaker 1

Well, listen, hopefully this will be over soon, Rosie.

Speaker 3

I believe in us.

Speaker 1

You've you've been dealing with since Thursday. I've been dealing it with since Saturday. Although, as I told my primary care doctor, because I'm lucky enough to have health insurance and I think that's the thing that everybody in this country should just have. Yes, definitely, there was like a two to three maybe four day period where it was like, oh man, my allergies are bad. So you know, like it's hard to yeah, it's hard to say, it's hard to know, but I'm going to say Saturday, and so

hopefully this is over soon. I know that there. I know that there's probably some people yelling at their speakers right now. Get that anti viral pa Sloffett or whatever it's called. I tried, let me tell you, folks, I tried. I did. I was like, hey, what about that anti viral. I've been hearing about and they didn't want to give it to me because I guess my symptoms aren't bad enough, and I respect it. There's probably people who really really require it. They are giving that out for anybody in

New York. I believe that's free. If you get that prescribed, you can get that for free. I guess they just have a lot of it over there.

Speaker 3

That's amazing in New York's sitience.

Speaker 1

But hopefully this will be over soon and we'll be back with you by our next episode, fully whole and well and certainly finished with our journey to full recovery. Up next the outro, It's a big thank you to Rosie Night. Chris Lord and Saw Roumin are super producers for joining us and helping us carry through the episode on X ray vision as Rosie and I are dealing with reduced lung capacity. Rosie, what do you have to plug?

Speaker 2

Well, depending on how I'm feeling this weekend, I may or may not be there, but do remember that there is an amazing Transformers Day event at Pop Fiction in Long Beach, which is my local comic shop.

Speaker 3

It's gonna be a ton of cool artists there.

Speaker 2

You can get some brad Transformers comics on sale. Even if I'm not there, I'll make sure some of my zines and stuff are there that you can pick up, and it will just be a really good time. I dream that I will be well, but it feels like I will never be well, so I'm not promising anything.

Speaker 3

Oh, we're gonna get there.

Speaker 1

We're gonna do it. We can do it, and we can do it, folks, don't forget to check out our videos on Cultured YouTube channel and the show notes for the listener's Guide to X ray Vision, where we provide more details about the stuff we talk about on each episode, including this one. Our next episode will be on May twenty seventh, by which time we hope to be fully whole and well and our body's free of the novel coronavirus COVID nineteen. Don't forget rate and review us with

the five stars wherever you get your podcasts. We want those five stars. We need them. We gotta have them. Our lives will not be complete unless you drop the five star ratings on the podcast platform of your choice. X ray Vision is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Chris Lord and Saalrubin. The show is executive produced by myself and Sandy garhard Our, Editing and

sound designers by Vacillius Patopoulos. Dellan Villanueva and Macna Group provide video production support and alex Rella for handle social media. Thank you Brian Vasquez for a theme music. See you next time.

Transcript source: Provided by creator in RSS feed: download file
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android