Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 49 "Rebranding, Rumors and Baby Yoda"

Speaker 1: 0:02

Insightful formative insights, a podcast network

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[inaudible]

Speaker 3: 0:28

to insights into entertainment, a podcast series, taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Your hosts, Joseph and Michelle Waylon, a husband and wife, team of pop culture, phonetics are exploring all things from music and movies to television and fandom.

Speaker 2: 0:50

[inaudible] welcome

Speaker 4: 0:51

to insights into entertainment. This is episode 49 rebranding rumors and baby Yoda. I'm your host, Joseph Waylon and my insightful and entertaining cohost, Michelle Rayland. Hi everyone. How are you doing today sweetie? Good. And you doing all right? Uh, so we are filming again, a little off schedule. Uh, this is actually Sunday. We had, uh, three podcasts that we've done so far this weekend and just the schedule wasn't working out. So we are diligently trying to get this move to a Thursday schedule and failing miserably in that we probably shouldn't even just try, just do it. Whatever we feel like. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get there. We'll get there at some point. So in today's Disney detective, we're going to be talking about a Disney rebranding. They're 20th century Fox studios. Then we will talk about, uh, John Fabro, uh, achy a, the C show runner for Mandalorian. I think that's his title title. Uh, sharing a, a cute little photo of a George Lucas, uh, cradling baby Yoda, uh, and the impact of that. And, uh, we'll talk about what we discussed earlier regarding that as well. Then we'll talk about rumors of a new Vader series starring Hayden Christiansen and James Earl Jones. That was a terrible impersonation, sorry. And our entertainment news. We will look at, uh, AMC and Regal, uh, not screening Netflix, uh, Oscar nominees, which I is kind of interesting. And then we'll look at, uh, Patrick Stewart making his Mark in Hollywood outside the Chinese theater. So interesting show today. Uh, are we ready to get into it?

Speaker 5: 3:01

Well, let's do it.

Speaker 6: 3:05

Uh,

Speaker 5: 3:09

drove for Disney detective. So obviously, uh, last March, Walt Disney, the Walt Disney company had, uh, bought 20th century Fox. Um, and now they're finally starting to transition. Some name changes, I guess you could say. Uh, so they're actually dropping Fox from the brand, um, of the 21st century Fox assets. Um, variety actually had the, this article. So the 20th century Fox studio will now be known as the 20th century studio, and then Fox Searchlight pictures will simply become Searchlight pictures, uh, on the TV side of things. Nothing has actually, um, been finalized with that. So right now it's 20th century Fox television and Fox 21, uh, television studios. So I'm guessing at some point that's probably gonna change over. Uh, they've even started changing over, um, phasing out the Fox name and email addresses. Uh, and you know, like fox.com, uh, has kinda changed over or been replaced with Searchlight pictures.com. Um, even some of the newer movie posters that have been coming out. Um, there's a new movie, uh, that's under the Searchlight, um,[inaudible] brand that basically just says Searchlight pictures presents. Um, also they're starting to change up a little bit of the logo, um, as well. Um, so Disney had acquired them for 71 point$3 billion last March. Um, so, you know, it was only a matter of time before some changes were going to happen. Um, and this was kind of interesting. The original 20th century Fox was actually formed in a merger in 1935 between 20th century pictures and Fox film corporation. Um, the company's art deco, Searchlight logo, uh, and theme song kind of became, you know, a very iconic Hollywood brand. Um, and, you know, they release, you know, some of the very successful Hollywood movies, including avatar, Titanic, home alone, die hard star Wars, new hope, uh, and planet of the apes, um, and rhubarb. Rupert Murdoch had actually bought them in the mid eighties. Um, and along with the television, you know, things like that. So, you know, it's, it's obviously gone through its morphs, you know, over the years, you know, but Fox was always kind of, you know, part of it. And now Disney is saying,

Speaker 4: 5:47

yeah, it's kinda sad to see that that movie tradition go on. I mean it, it, it kind of, I don't know, from a nostalgic standpoint, it kinda hurt when you didn't get the 20th century fanfare right at the beginning of a star Wars movie anymore. Cause that was so iconic. I am curious though why they're dropping it because as far as I understand in the deal of the acquisition deal, they own the rights to the naming rights and everything. So there's really, and they're not Disney branding it either, so they're basically throwing out a brand that's been around for over a hundred years now, almost a hundred years now. And coming up with their own, I guess some from a business standpoint on, I'm scratching my head as to what the impetus for that is.

Speaker 5: 6:36

Yeah, I have no idea. But you know, obviously you know, it's just basically the word Fox is being, you know, taken out for some strange reason. You know, where like you said, nothing else is really changing with any of the[inaudible].

Speaker 4: 6:50

Yeah, that's not, I don't know whether it would have capitalized on the, the naming. I mean you, you, you didn't just buy the property. You didn't, you didn't buy the intellectual property. You bought the name to just throw it out. It just seems it would have been, it would have been like, you know, buying Lucas film and throwing the Lucas name away. It doesn't make, doesn't make much sense, but that's Disney. They can do what they want with their money. So what else do we have on the docket?

Speaker 5: 7:17

Uh, so John Fabro shared a very adorable star Wars photo of George Lucas, cradling baby Yoda. If you haven't seen it, it's, it's the cutest little thing. Um, it, it was just kinda kinda sweet, like, Aw, grandpa type type thing. Um, so the first season of Disney pluses Mandalorian might be in the books, but the mania and love Fest is obviously still continuing. Um, so the other day, um, John Fabro tweeted and posted this photo on Instagram and you know, basically everybody went, went crazy, you know, for the photo. Um, uh, so in an article Fabro had actually said the one thing, uh, when he talked about, you know, talking with George Lucas, uh, he said, the one thing he said to me, remember John, the real audience for all stories and all myths is the kids that are coming of age because he's really a Joseph Campbell adherent. Um, we enjoy these stories as adults, but really storytelling is about imparting the wisdom of the previous generations onto the children who are becoming adults and giving them a context for how to behave and how to learn the lessons of the past without making mistakes on their own. So that was kind of an interesting a quote from him. Um, it's not clear, uh, basically because there was no caption of the photo, whether or not this was a new photo or an old photo. Was this from, you know, the filming of season two, this from the beginning of season one. Um, but again, everybody, you know, kind of went, you know, crazy for it. Um, and on a related note, which is something else that we were going to bring up, which we didn't have the article here, um, but obviously everybody's been looking for baby Yoda toys, you know, and you haven't really been able to, to find anything. Um, it was announced earlier this week that build a bear workshop was going to be, um, finally doing baby custom, uh, custom baby Yoda dolls. So, of course, that's probably going to be, you know, crazy ones once they drop. Um, but an article, right, right. Like they were doing with the, you know, pay how much your, your kid is that fiasco, uh, thing. Um, but the other thing that we were actually just talking about right before we came, uh, to, to film was that there was an article that you found where Disney was now cracking down on Etsy because that's where a lot of people are going to, to find.

Speaker 4: 10:07

Yeah. I mean, when I went to get, when I tried to find, you know, the baby Yoda merchandise to get for you, the only place that I could really find it was Etsy and there were all different vendors on there that were selling them crocheted or three D printed or, or what have you. And uh, you got different quality, you got, you know, different styles. Um, but it was all over the place. Now Disney obviously has not come out with their jet. Their stuff is on preorder. March, April is the timeframe that their merchandise is coming out, their official merchandise. Right. And there was this huge glut of people who want it merchandise and a lot of people turn to Etsy to get that. And for us it worked out well. I mean to the point to the yield at us, a travel blog for baby Yoda to for our vacation. But uh, yeah, Disney is now flexing their strong arm muscle and shutting it down, which I think is certainly legally within their rights. But from a, from a a fan standpoint, I think it's pretty, pretty, pretty bad.

Speaker 5: 11:13

Right. And the thing is, you know, anybody, like even though I have my two little baby OTAs, you know, once official merchandise comes out, right, I'm going to go spend more money. It's not like he's taking money out of Disney's pocket. Right. That's, he was filling a gap that Disney officially created. Right.

Speaker 4: 11:33

And their reasoning of not wanting to release details, plot details.

Speaker 5: 11:36

Right. Which I totally get because if you know, I'm sure the, you know, suspense behind that first scene of the first episode, if we had already, you know, saw toys, we would have been like, where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Oh that's right.

Speaker 4: 11:54

You know, it totally would have ruined it. So I can totally see. Well honestly the problem at that point in time is, is not that you shouldn't have the stuff ahead of time. It's the people that you're partnering with. If they're unable to keep trade secrets, then you need to find new partners. Right. Because you have companies like Apple who can, who can maintain that secrecy through their partner channels. Right. You know, if Disney doesn't have that kind of relationship with their manufacturing partners, they need to find new partners at that point. That's not an excuse to not release the product. Right. And Christmas time would have been plenty of time missed cause you wrapped up the entire season of Mandalorian before Christmas. Even the fact that you didn't have a single product other than a tee shirt or a mug that you could have that they could print readily. You know, that's inexcusable. That's almost as bad as they did when, when the first frozen came out in an Etsy filled that gap to anything. Disney's understand that Etsy is not stealing money from them. Etsy is getting people to want that product more and they're filling that gap until Disney can produce it. So the fact that they're cracking down on I think is really unacceptable. But I wanted to take a step back real quick and talk about the reasoning that, um, that Lucas gave to Fabro about. You know, we're making these for the next generation. We're making these for the kids and you know, I'm not, you know, as well as anyone that I'm not a huge fan of the last two star Wars movies that came out really, and I don't want to get into it, but cause that's a whole separate podcast. I will say that if the movies themselves were made in the tradition that Lucas had in that you're making it for the kids. I think they hit it on the Mark because you, the kids, all the kids loved it. You know, everyone that I talked to who has kids that took it, took them to see it. If you're under a certain age, you loved both of those movies. Natty did. Exactly. Exactly. And I think that really is the watermark there. So I'm not, that's kind of why I'm not as upset about it. Um, there were things that were in the movies that were made for people my age and it just wasn't, it was done poorly. And I think those are the things that I get hung up on more than anything. And I wonder now if you saw a new hope as you now, not the four year old saw it. Would you still be as no, no. It's still be awesome. I don't know. Cause it had everything and it was made. See that's the thing, a new hope was not made to be part of a series. It was made to be a movie trailer works very well as a standalone movie. You have a beginning, you have a middle, you have an an and it sums the whole thing up. Your characters are so well established, like this whole idea of having to go back and do backstories, you know, I think it's a really bad idea because when Darth Vader walks through that door on the Tanta for the first time, you don't need his Baxter. You don't need to know where he came from. That scene itself establishes itself. Han solo at the Cantina that the discussion he has with Ben and Luke. You get that cocky sure-fire attitude when he, and he does shoot first when he shoots first and kills Greedo basically in cold blood that establishes that character. I don't need a solo standalone movie they're establishing and all they do is ruin it with that. So the character development that occurs in that movie? Yes. The plot itself is black and white, good versus evil. You can't get any simpler than that, but the character development that you see, you leave that movie knowing that Hannon show you had been together for years and they're best friends and they'll die for each other in a Luke is the farm boy, innocent guy who sees the world in black and white and he's the perfect guy to be in that role. You know, Ben is that aged wizard who comes along and tries to guide you. I mean they're there prototypical roles that are just so well done in the first movie because Lucas didn't think he had anything. After that, you don't start getting into the more complicated. That's why empire, I think, you know there's a lot of people's favorites because it breathed new life into it and it was like, okay, so we're going to have something more out of this. We need to get a little, little bit deeper and you see the depths start to come out there and then by the time you get to return to the July, they get to the point where, okay, this is really, it's for kids. So we need to put some kid elements in there because let's face it, empire was pretty dark. So when you get to return in the gen I and Lucas Lucas is trying to focus it back for an audience of children, you get the, the little Teddy bears that are in there and the good guys have to win and all that stuff. But if you look at it from that perspective, targeting the kids for the prequel trilogy, I hate it, the prequel trilogy. Um, I didn't need to know the backstory of Darth Vader. You ruined Darth Vader for me because he's this whiny little kid at this point in time. Now you know where his son gets it from. Exactly. Yeah. But it was made for the kids. So goofy characters like jar jar makes sense at that point in time. It doesn't make sense at all on the, in the whole grand scheme if you're looking at it from a critically acclaimed perspective. But from the kid's perspective, you kind of needed that. Um, so I'm kind of tributing this, that Luke has expresses here to fab row as the, the reason for where the trilogy, where the latest trilogy wound up going. And I'm accepting the trilogy based strictly on the fact that it was made for the kids and the kids have universally loved it. So that's where my acceptance is in. And I'll get off the, uh, the soapbox okay. In times to talk about some rumors.

Speaker 5: 18:18

So in case you haven't had enough star Wars, star Wars segment moving forward at this point, is it really, you know, and I had like a whole bunch of other star Wars topics and I was thinking, I'm like, Oh wait, it's is a way to start war stuff. Um, so a new rumor has surfaced that could make some star Wars fans very happy and others not so happy and a bunch of people that are kind of in the middle that just really don't care. So report that came from, we got this covered. There is a very, very, very, very, very early talks of a possible series centered around the Galaxy's greatest dad. Darth Vader, not me. I know, uh, the idea would reportedly feature James Earl Jones voice saying the dark Lord of the Sith with Hayden Christiansen returning in the role of Anneken Skywalker in flashback sequences. Uh, the story would take place between revenge of the Sith and a new hope and would fill audiences and audiences in on how Vader went from the broke it broke ass robot assistant to the most feared agent of the empire. Um, so obviously if you're not an obsessed fan, you might be kind of, you know, like, well, wait a second. You know, the prequels, like you said, were, were kind of bad and, and whatnot. Um, but it seems that there are some people that feel that Hayden Christiansen, even though in the prequels was kind of very whiny and not so good. They're, they're thinking that, you know, he really is a decent actor. That it was just, you know, it was the, it was really a fantastic actress. And try stuck with this stinker of a script rights dialogue. And that if you actually had, you know, a better script and some better directors that this could actually

Speaker 4: 20:20

Chris's dialogue cause he can't write dialogue with save his life.

Speaker 5: 20:23

Right. Um, you know, so that obviously, you know, your most favorite Darth Vader's scene is RO Guan. Um, you know, so that, you know, everybody that saw hit, you know, Vader show up in rogue one was like, Oh my God, that's the Vader, you know, we want to to see. So

Speaker 4: 20:41

just to be specific, it's the end scene with Vader, not the goofy with in the middle there where he's cracking jokes and stuff like that. That is not the Vader I want.

Speaker 5: 20:53

Right. You want to see the last five minute Vader?

Speaker 4: 20:56

Not supposed to have a sense of humor.

Speaker 5: 21:00

No, no. Um, so stand up Thursday nights, two drink minimum, right. With the band, but the band playing, um, back up. So, you know, there's obviously a lot of backstory, you know, to this, um, for people that have, you know, read the comics and read the books, you know, so there's plenty of information to kind of see, you know, um, you know, uh, where the storyline would go. So, you know, he builds his castle in order to harness, you know, basically enough power to be able to bring pad me back to life. Um, you know, when he fails with that, he kind of goes on a hunt and starts, you know, eliminating, you know, the remaining Jed eyes with the fallen order and the Seth and quit quitters. So, you know, this is stuff, you know, obviously, because I know you've read all the books and pretty much all the comics, you know, that have been related to Darth Vader. So this would be kind of interesting for the people who, you know, are fans of Darth Vader, but just never got into the books or comics to kind of see where that badass Vader, you know, came from. Um, so again, still very, very early, you know, rumors. Um, but between, you know, getting the OB one, uh, show on, um, on Disney plus and the other couple of star Wars series that are going to be coming out. Who knows, maybe you know, this will be one that actually does come to fruition.

Speaker 4: 22:36

Well see and, and the thing is, the one thing that I criticized Disney about with their star Wars is this latest trilogy you get dropped in the middle of a story. You have no idea. Like you know where it ends up in return of the Jedi. So then you're 30, 30, five years later you get dropped in the middle of the story. You have no idea who the first door is working from gov, no idea what the resistance is. You have no idea why Lee has a general all of a sudden and princess, I mean, so you know, none of this, and Disney tries to fill the blanks in between the books and the comics to get you to that point. And they do a miserably terrible JAMA that because 5% of the population is going to read that material. And even the material they released didn't really fill in those blanks. So on one hand, I like the idea of having the backstory done in television shows, you know, the stuff they're doing in the Mandalorian could feed into that the stuff that they're doing with OB one fi, but, but I don't need the backstory that leads into a new hope. I need the backstory of that leads into force awakens because I kind of was able, you know, people were able to figure out, like I said, you know, your characters are established, you know, in that first scene who Darth Vader is and what he's all about, right? So you don't need those backstories and all you're going to do is ruin the characters with additional backstories on there. What I need to know is, you know, how did the first order arise out of the empire? So give me, give me the stories for that. Give me those TV series that lead me in the force awakens so that the new trilogy makes sense and I can buy into that new trilogy. Um, and you know, coming out with an after the, the new trilogy is out. Make sense. So you're not ruling any, any plot spoilers or anything like that. So I'm okay with the side stories there but I'm not okay with it for the time period. The talking about Mandalorian's ideal because you're dealing with the fringe, you're not, you're not dealing with characters that have an impact on the main story. So you can see for instance, what the remnants of the empire are after return of the Jedi. So you get a glimpse of that but you don't have him interacting with like main characters, you know, he Luke Skywalker's and probably not going to appear in a Mandalorian. You've got to come to terms with that. But you're seeing what that effect of everything that happened in return of the Jedi is on the overall story. Right, exactly. And that sort of thing works. But when you take a main character like Obi wan and you go and show well what happened between revenge of the Sith and return and a new hope, who cares? It doesn't matter because you, you know what the progression is, you know, I don't need the know that he was stuck out on the desert somewhere like that and how he got the stains on his shirt and like, like, like I don't need those details cause it doesn't define the character, you know?

Speaker 5: 25:52

So you'd be okay with a show where something that was that same time period, but just not the characters that we already know, some, you know, insignificant character to show what happened that for that time frame. So, so that's really more for your context. Right. Okay. I gotcha.

Speaker 4: 26:13

That timeframe, you know, not for specific character development, but if you're going to give me a Darth Vader series, you better do it. Right. That's all I've got to say. So I think that was all we had for our Disney detective. All right, let's move on to our entertainment news of the week. Speaking of revolts, tell us about the AMC and Regal.

Speaker 5: 26:41

So AMC Regal have decided that they will not be showing any of the Oscar nominated films that are part of Netflix. So usually right before, um, the Oscars come out or after the Oscar nominations come out, most movie theaters are, you know, around the country. We'll actually play all of, uh, the nominated films, but it seems that AMC and Regal have decided to back out. Um, Netflix received 24 Oscar nominations on Monday, the most of any studio and the highest level to date of, uh, of the streaming giant. Uh, both chains said that they would not screen its movies. A spokesman, um, for the, a for AMC, uh, confirmed that the company would not be showing Netflix nominated films and declined further comment. Regal had, um, basically came out and said that they wouldn't include, uh, they would not be showing any nominated films without a standard theatrical release. Um, Netflix and Martin Scorsese. Your most favorite person in the whole wide world. Um, that's, he's, he's under Bob Iger by the way. Uh, 10 nods, including for best picture, best director and cinematography. Uh, nine films representing the wide range of genres were given best picture nominations. Um, so we had joker, which, uh, led the field with 11 nominations. Uh, the Netflix drama marriage story also received several nominations, uh, including for its lead actors. Uh, so the boycott by AMC and Regal is the latest in a long running feud with Netflix. Uh, the chain has objected to Netflix's strategy of releasing movie shortly before or at the same time that they're shown in the home because the theater typically prefers a 90 day window of, um, to have it exclusive for 90 days. Uh, even with Netflix hall of nominations this year, cinemas have not wanted to cash in on the Oscar nominations for these films, even though they drive a bounce in attendance. Uh, neither AMC theaters nor Regal ex, uh, showed the Irishmen before Monday's announcements of the 2020, uh, Oscar nominations by the Academy. Uh, even though it had a four week limited theatrical run before it stream debuted. Instead, Netflix cobbled together a hodgepodge of independent movie houses to ensure its films were eligible, uh, to compete for the best picture. And this was actually something when we started doing our podcast last year that came up because of the, we actually went through and talked about what the requirements were to be able to be nominated and you had to, you know, be for so many weeks[inaudible] and everything and you know, and, and Steven Spielberg was a big, you know, uh, uh, person in opposition of it and, you know, feeling like it was taking away, you know, from, from everything. Um, so the Irishman opened in November in select theaters in Los Angeles, in New York, um, as the sprawling drama marked, you know, the high profile film debut. It, you know, it didn't show up on Netflix, you know, until later on. Um, and then, you know, obviously it, their, their bet paid off because they actually, you know, they, they did get the nomination and the movie was also a three and a half hour long film. Now for Netflix, that's fine because everybody can pause it and, you know, watch it in multiple settings. But if you wanted to actually see it in the theater, you know, that's, you know, um, and that, you know, um, that it's been watched, you know, at the time, you know, 26.4 million people have, have watched it, you know, on Netflix. Um, you know, so, you know, despite the boycott, you know, obviously you got a lot of people, you know, watching the, the various things. Um, you know, the marriage story has been on about a thousand screens and the Irishman has been on, you know, 2000 screens. So there are people that are going out to the theater and watching them, not necessarily just on Netflix. Um, and there's actually a theater in Hollywood that Netflix is actually in the process of trying to acquire. So that's kind of interesting to see, you know,

Speaker 4: 31:20

see, and that's the thing, you have to know how to play the game. And Netflix is just learning how to play the game.

Speaker 7: 31:28

Mmm.

Speaker 4: 31:29

But I think this is kind of silly. I think. I think these theaters themselves are going to financially hurt themselves on a principle that it's, they're not gonna turn around. You're not going to see this reverse, this trend reversal, right? You're seeing everything move to streaming services with Disney, with

Speaker 7: 31:51

Mmm.

Speaker 4: 31:52

Apple TV, everybody's going with a streaming service now. And the award shows, you know, they don't have a choice. Right. You can't simply ignore it because the old school people, you know, don't like the idea of it. Right.

Speaker 7: 32:06

So, I don't know.

Speaker 4: 32:09

And you know, it's one of those things that you got to move with the times if you're going to[inaudible].

Speaker 5: 32:12

Right. And that's the thing is, you know, Netflix has, you know, ended up getting the most nominations out of any studio, you know, so obviously they're putting out quality content. It's not like they're putting out, you know, crap stuff. They're, you know, they're, they're putting out stuff that's, you know,

Speaker 4: 32:33

and as long as they adhere to the rules that are set out by the ruling boards, then you've got nothing to compare.

Speaker 5: 32:39

Right. You know, and if they, you know, if anything, I'd be surprised that, you know, they don't go back and modify their rules and say, you know, this has to be changed or you know, but maybe they'll just[inaudible].

Speaker 4: 32:53

Well and what I'm waiting for is I'm waiting for the lawsuits for these movie production companies against these theaters for discriminating against them because they release through Netflix or Netflix suing them for, cause you know what's going to happen. Right. You know, it's just a matter of time. I did want to quickly point out, you mentioned my best friend Bob Iger. Bob Iger did have a significant salary drop in 2019 Bob Iger salary because the salary is a base salary of 3 million plus all the various stock bonuses and stuff like that. So Bob Iger salary in 2019 dropped$18 million, almost a 28% drop. How this man is going to survive at this point without those$18 million is absolutely mind boggling how, how he's going to survive. Now with this, one of the bonuses that he had gotten last year was a bonus to actually stay with the company past his intended retirement date. So yeah, Bob's Bob's on poor street now. He's going to be foul for, for food stamps soon he's going to be making Mac and cheese and hot dogs rent ramen noodles all the way. Um, I, I do hope that with that$18 million, that is the old, be smart enough to give some of that back through its employees because I certainly didn't need it or deserve it. Anyway. Sorry to interject on that one.

Speaker 5: 34:26

See and I was going to put that story in and I was like, nah, I didn't Roger. So I had to go look at, I know, I see. And I, and I told you about it cause I had already seen that one earlier.

Speaker 4: 34:36

So our, our last story today,

Speaker 5: 34:39

well this, this was very, very sweet. Um, so Patrick Stewart, the icon from star Trek has now left his Mark in Hollywood, um, with his hands and feet in cement in front of Hollywood's Chinese theater.

Speaker 4: 34:55

Not pay a mob debt or something.

Speaker 5: 34:58

He said, I'm still not really believing any of it any moment. Now someone is going to say, Patrick, Patrick, get up. You're dreaming. Again. The 79 year old, a Shakespearian actor gained widespread fame as a he portrayed captain John Luke Picard in star Trek, the next generation going back to 1987. Uh, the spirit, the series spawned four films and most recently the most recent in uh, 2002 in addition to his star Trek's success, Stewart has obviously done other various films and uh, was obviously very popular as a professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films. Uh, the honor actually comes a few days before star Trek Picard makes its streaming service debut on CBS all access. His return to the star Trek universe, uh, begins on January 23rd with the show's latest current when the show's latest incarnation debuts. Uh, and the series has already been renewed for a second season and hasn't even come out yet. Uh, the new series will feature some cast members from the original star Trek, the next generation. And, uh, during this event, there were various, uh, members from, uh, the cast, uh, from various different star Wars, uh, series, star Trek. I'm sorry. So you got to start all about star Wars. Really with you. It is a star track, a series. We're there, uh, in attendance, uh, to, to wish him well, so very cool honor to be

Speaker 4: 36:35

bestowed upon. So he is by far one of my favorite actors, if for no other reason than he can play any role that's put on a script in front of him. And he does it exceptionally well that he's got a great voice too. Oh God. I love characters with great voices and he's just so, you know, like there's just something about him. There's an authenticity to him. Every role.

Speaker 5: 37:01

Yes. And, and just, you know, I follow him on social media and you know, he's, he's funny, but yet he's 79 years old. Yeah. I would not have guessed that. Yeah. And that's the thing is when you think, you know, back to, you know, 1987, you know, you know, yeah. Now he's starting to look a little older, but for the most,

Speaker 4: 37:24

you know, I remember him back, first time I ever saw him perform, he was in Excalibur, uh, and he was fantastic and that cause he was made for the part and right. So, but great actor, great honors for him. Absolutely. So that was all we had for entertainment news. We will come back with, uh, our insightful picks of the week.

Speaker 6: 37:52

Uh,

Speaker 4: 37:53

and I bow to you my dear.

Speaker 5: 37:56

Thank you. So my insightful pick, I'm actually kind of a late to the party on, on this one. Um, it is the psychological thriller called you. Um, it's a TV series. The first season.

Speaker 4: 38:11

Yeah. Called me. No, no, you okay. It's very confusing.

Speaker 5: 38:17

So the first season is actually based on the 2014 novel, uh, by Caroline[inaudible], um, which follows Joe Goldberg, a New York bookstore manager, and a serial killer who falls in love with a customer named Gwen Avir Beck and quickly develops an extreme toxic and a delusional, uh, obsession with her. Uh, the first season basically follows Joe, um, you know, through meeting Gwen. And, uh, she's an aspiring writer and becomes in, you know, and he basically becomes infatuated with her and to feed his toxic obsession. He uses social media and other technology to track her and basically remove obstacles that are in his way. Um, in the second season, uh, he actually moves from New York to Los Angeles to basically escape his past and basically finds a new, um, interest and obviously kind of his old habits, uh, come back where he, uh, you know, is obsessed. Uh, the series actually premiered on lifetime on September 9th of 2018, uh, in the United States and then started streaming on Netflix internationally, uh, December of 2018. So the series attracted a limited audience on lifetime, but then obviously once it got to Netflix, you know, it had 43 million viewers. Um, when the first season, uh, had debuted a lifetime, had announced that it was renewed for a second season based on, uh, the author's follow up novel hidden bodies. Um, but ahead of, um, I'm sorry, the second season was going to be based off of hidden bodies. And then in December of 2018 it was announced that the series would actually just move to Netflix and be a Netflix original. So even though lifetime had said they were going to have the second season, it actually never went to lifetime. It only has been streaming on Netflix. So the second season actually, uh, was released, um, Christmas day plus one December 26th of 2019 and then on January 14th of this year, uh, the series was actually renewed for a third season, which is going to be coming out sometime in 2021. So I'm still not even halfway through the first season. Um, so obviously reading this, I knew, you know, there were spoilers, he's gonna move to, you know, a new city, but it's just, it's so well done and it's so creepy and it's that, you know, like we were talking, you know, uh, you know, um, you know, horror movies and things like that and that suspenseful thing. And it's definitely a suspenseful thing cause you're like, Oh my God, is he gonna Oh, he just did that. I can't believe he just did that. Oh my God, you know, and he even kind of talks through, you know, certain things that, you know, he doesn't want to do that, but he needs to do that, you know, to kind of move things along, you know, in this relationship. So, you know, very, very well done. Very creepy, you know, in some respects. But, you know, I'm looking forward to finishing this one

Speaker 4: 41:34

and then moving onto the second season. Nice. Well good pick. Thanks. So on. Surprisingly, my pick this week as a documentary actually, it's a travel log style documentary called grand tours of the Scottish islands. I just finished it four seasons. I'm very welcome trapper. I'd love to, it's beautiful. But um,[inaudible] grand tours of the Scottish islands, uh, in the show. Uh, Paul Merton, a BBC TV personality sets out to experience Island life today, uncovering the past and its connections with the present pointing to the surprising and the beautiful lying just offshore. This travelog style documentary series spans four seasons totaling 24 episodes, exploring some of the more majestic of the nearly 250 islands off the coast of Scotland. The show offers a glimpse of the beauty that these remote and often hard to reach places offer. It delves into the history of the islands interviews, residents and former residents and talks about the clearings that saw landlords, displaced residents in favor of turning the lands in a farming and raising livestock for profit. Each episode explores multiple destinations and shows just how difficult life on the sometimes desolate stretches of rock in the middle of the ocean can be. Going back as far as Viking times nearly 1500 years ago, all the way through to the middle of the 20th century were littlest change in the way of life. We get a glimpse at the rich history and pride of the Highland and Island people. Subtle details such as how one man build his own, a manmade road by hand to keep up with the times. Uh, traveling bank for remote villages, a postal system, more reliant on water travel than land. And even a glimpse at geocashing on the islands brings out a clarity and insight that isn't often seen in other similar documentaries. Um, the one striking thing about the show I think was just the absolute beauty and variety of landscapes that you see from volcanic, you know, wastelands that you see in areas to beautiful pastures, to, uh, cliffs. Uh, S uh, I'll shoreside cliffs to, um, jagged mountain ranges. Um, you know, I, I was unaware of how many islands Scotland actually had and just the diversity of its that's on these islands. And you go back and you look at settlements that, that aren't there anymore. And they talk about the history of them, the religious, the impact of the Vikings had on the naming of them. And some of these islands are so small that at low tide you can literally walk across the sand bank to get from Island the Island. It's a really, really cool show, very well presented. Um, and you, you're, each show shows different, you know, like three different destinations. And typically, you know, the host of the show, uh, Paul Merton is walking from destination to destination. That's how small these islands are. Uh, but it's very well done. Cinematics are incredible. Uh, and the history aspect of it is, uh, is great as well. So all four seasons of the grand tours of the Scottish islands are now streaming on Amazon prime. Very cool. And we'll come back with some afterthoughts before we, uh, sum it up.

Speaker 6: 45:27

Uh,

Speaker 4: 45:29

so before we get into the upcoming events that you wanted to talk about, I did want to offer a little quick little note. Um, one is, uh, Monday prodigal son returns. Yes, that was one of our insightful picks of the week. And I also wanted to offer an apology to our viewers and our listeners. Unfortunately, last week, uh, in my haste to record the show, I neglected to do a sound check properly. And by the time I had finished the actual editing and publishing of the show, we turned out we had some sound issues on the final output of both the audio and the video, uh, which took me a day or so to correct. So thankfully we do record the two sources here and the primary audio source was clean, the video source was not, so I'm being far more diligent now moving forward. Sound checks. Um, so anyway, I just wanted to offer a quick apology for that. So what do we have to talk about?

Speaker 5: 46:34

Same things that we, uh, brought up last week. Basically just a reminder, I figure we'll just kind of keep throwing it out there, you know, as it gets closer. Um, so the first one coming up, uh, which is one of our favorite is Zowlow con. I knew you were going to do that. Uh, that's February 8th and ninth, um, in, uh, bucks County. Um, and you will probably, there's a good chance you might actually be going in cause play

Speaker 4: 47:06

may, I may be on site as a sit Lord from the star Wars, the old Republic game that I

Speaker 5: 47:13

now more than likely we usually tend to go on Sundays. So you know, we, we are planning for a to be there on the ninth. And you tried on your costume, you know, most of your parts, you have like what, 99% of it, right? So looks very cool. So he might be dressed up just saying, ah, so that's coming up February 8th and ninth. Then obviously the great Philadelphia comic con, why is it great? Um, that is felt fit. Uh duh duh duh duh duh. That is at the greater Philadelphia expo center and that is April 3rd, fourth and fifth. Um, and then a little bit further down the road in, uh, August is the Keystone comic con, which is at the Philadelphia convention center. And I'm sure we'll have others coming up as yup. We'll plug wizard role though even though we won't be going unless they set some reasonable prices. Yeah, doubt it's happening though. Cause we can get the, you know, three good Joes out of the price of one monster mania, which is one that we, we go to. And then, you know, we kind of take a couple of years off and then we go back and forth. That one I think is sometime in March. So probably next week I'll, I'll put that one into the list of the toy show at the NERC temple should be coming out right. Cause that's usually the April fools one. So yeah, we'll throw that into stuff. It's convention season. A Zowlow con is kicking it off first for us. I get those every year now. We're going to it. Yup. So fun time of year for us and that's it. You know, if you want to reach out to us, you can get us on email and comments and insights into things.com on Twitter at insights underscore things. You can catch our videos on youtube.com/insights into things on the web@wwwdotinsightsintothings.com. On a side note there, I still haven't posted last week, so I'm really falling. I was so totally flustered by the audio issue from last week. Anyway, you can get our audio podcast, which hopefully are all right. This week I had podcasts that insights into entertainment.com and on facebook@facebook.com backslash insights into things podcast and I think that's it. That is it. Other one in the books. Alrighty. Bye. Hi

Speaker 2: 49:54

[inaudible].