The Odyssey is one helluva Car | Chapter 288

[00:00:00] Warning, this chapter of Distance Nerding was recorded live, which means there may be strong language, unsuitable for children, and unusual humor, which may be unsuitable for everyone who claims to be human. Parental discretion is advised. Distance Nerding.

[00:00:36] It is that time. What to do, what to do! What's going on, ladies and gentlemen? It is that time. It is that time. That is right. Ladies and gentlemen, you are now experiencing Distance Nerding. I am your boy, Young Phil. Of course, he is the Jamez 5000. And we're here to nerd together. Nailed it. Nailed it. For the 288th time.

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[00:01:22] Get all the new Distance Nerding stuff as it comes out because we're dropping videos like it is hotcakes at Distance Nerding on all the places. Now, of course, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to represent the way Jamez is representing right now, you see that shirt right there? If you're just listening to the episode, you're not looking at that shirt, but you could get one of those shirts if you head over to our website because we got merch, people. That's right. So you can go to our website. That's right.

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[00:02:15] And here we are. And here it is. Let's get into this. Ladies and gentlemen, let's get right into On Deck. Jamez, tell everybody what they're getting into this week. DC is going to court. Winter is coming to Hogwarts.

[00:02:44] Don't say goodbye to an icon. And He-Man finally has the power. And so much more. All right. And here we are. So before we jump into all of that, all the news that we've got to talk about tonight, Jamez, who's bringing us the show? Who's representing that Distance Nerding? Check out Colossus Girl Entertainment fan-focused Comic-Cons across the West Coast,

[00:03:10] including Beaver State Comic-Con, Metal Ark, Anna Medford, Tri-Cities Powerhouse, Silver Age Comic-Con, and of course, Gem State Comic-Con. Comics, cosplay vendors, artists, and more. Visit Colossus Girl Entertainment Plan your next Comic-Con. There we go. Plan accordingly, ladies and gentlemen. So, with that being said, let's jump into this, guys. Let's get into this first segment. It is time to talk all the fun Marvel stuff.

[00:03:39] Guys, it's time for Straight from Jay Jonah. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Dee-dee-dee. No. No. Still no music. We'll work on that. We'll talk to the interns about it. We'll figure it out. The problem is, is that when I'm playing our stuff in high res, it will not play audio, mainly because the audio, if I put in the audio, it plays everything on my computer, so then you hear, like, triples and quadruples, and it's weird.

[00:04:09] All I'm hearing is we have to fire some interns. Something like that. Okay. Let's get going. All right. Marvel is not quite done with Disney+. Marvel Studios may have kept its TV plans out of the spotlight at San Diego Comic-Con and D23, but apparently that doesn't mean Disney Plus is a side piece that MCU is not going to do. A new report claims several live-action shows are currently in development,

[00:04:39] and we could start hearing about them very soon. This is kind of different. It's a rumor, but I like it because I like the Marvel on Disney Plus shows. According to Pucks, what I'm hearing, multiple live-action Marvel series are being developed for Disney Plus, and official announcements are expected in the near future. Marvel hasn't hinted or teased what those mystery projects are yet,

[00:05:07] but New York Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con, actually, is right around the corner in October. So Marvel, and this actually leads into that, Marvel Television and Marvel Animation will hold a panel at New York Comic-Con October 8th. Hey, James, your audio disappeared, man. Where's my audio? Oh, no. You're back. You're back. Am I there yet? Yeah, you're back. Oh, sorry. Okay, where was it?

[00:05:37] So, special guest for Inside Look at Marvel Television and Marvel Animation's most anticipated upcoming series on Disney Plus. Interesting how it was phrased Marvel Television and Marvel Animation. Yeah, I mean, okay. Because it's kind of hard to... I was going to say, let me get through this part, because I was going to say, like, animation going and Daredevil. That's it.

[00:06:06] That's all. Unless they're doing, like, a specific Daredevil television piece, non-animated Marvel thing we have on Disney. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of hard to call what's going on, because the rumor is that Disney wants to get rid of all the live-action stuff. It could just be that they're going to talk about the things that are still in development that are live-action. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're, you know, going to announce, like, new things

[00:06:36] and stuff like that. As much as we want more live-action, you know, they're... Disney's kind of seeming like they want to move away from that, just because they're not making enough money on that whole thing. And that's the motivating factor, unfortunately, for all these things. So, still can't hear you, man. Oh, you're muted. There you go. How about now? Yep, I can hear you now. Okay.

[00:06:59] So, it's weird, though, because Quest coming in October, and then Daredevil coming probably marked, but that's it. There's nothing else. So, I was thinking about this. We might not have anything announced on purpose. What if this all... We have to wait and see what happens for everything else to roll out. You know what I mean?

[00:07:29] Yeah. It's interesting. It's interesting just because the position that Disney is in versus, you know, what they It's interesting just because the position... And, yeah, I'm interested in seeing what they're actually going to announce. You know what I mean? Yeah. We'll see. I mean, for now, Vision Quest debuts October 16th, and, let's see, New York Comic Con is right before it, October 8th through the 11th of this year.

[00:07:59] All right. Next one. Marvel is looking to phase into more casting. Kelly Spaney may have missed out on landing the rogue role, but Marvel Studios is still talking about playing another mutant. Fans have already been throwing Kitty Pryde's name around as an alternative role for Spaney since Kitty isn't the only possibility. Magic would be another cool choice.

[00:08:28] The mutant colossus has a much darker corner of the Marvel mythologies. Other names, I should say, were Polaris that jumped out there. I don't think she's a Polaris, though. And then Jubilee is another one that was thrown out there. So, you know, kind of skewing towards the younger teenager type role. Neither character has been confirmed for the X-Men reboot and place in the Marvel's expanding mutant roster.

[00:08:57] So Marvel Studios' untitled X-Men movie is currently scheduled to hit theaters May 5th, 2028. Yeah. What do you think of Kaylee? I think she's got to look to her that does feel Kitty Pryde. You know what I mean? Like, and I can see where a lot of people are going, like Kitty Pryde on her. I wouldn't want to do Jubilee. Jubilee needs to stay Asian. We're going to keep Jubilee Asian. Magic could be cool.

[00:09:26] But it just kind of depends on what they want to, like what story they want to tell. You know what I mean? I agree. I agree. I think she could easily pull off Kitty Pryde. She doesn't quite have a Jubilee look. No. But I do want to see more magic. I think that's an, what do they do that in New Mutants or? They did a little bit of magic in New Mutants, but I mean, she had a good role in X-Men 97. So, I mean. Yeah.

[00:09:56] Yeah. It'd be nice to bring in Kitty Pryde though. I do like Kitty Pryde. The other thing is with Polaris. I mean, Polaris had a pretty major role in X-Men 97. So, I mean, given that they're giving her a little bit more space, I can see them trying to bring her in as their career. You know what I mean? Yeah. I do like that. We'll see. We'll see. I hope we get more Marvel. They gave the date. May 5th, 2028.

[00:10:24] We're less than two years away and we still don't know the full cast. So, it'd be nice to see who else, not actually who else, but like what characters would get announced. Like I know there's rumors of Beast, but you know, we still haven't gotten confirmation yet. So, I'd like to see what characters end up in the storyline and that may dictate what storyline they may potentially adapt, you know, from the comics.

[00:10:51] And then we'll see who will be in the story. Or even whether they actually adapt a comic storyline or if they go the route of we're going to tell a new story, but it's written by comic writers. I mean, dude, Tom King is pretty prevalent in the Lantern series and they're telling like a brand new story. That's a good point. Yeah. All right. Let me move on here. Civil War round two.

[00:11:22] Insider James Mack claims that Chris Evans' Steve Rogers and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes will team up against Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor Von Doom during the final battle of Doomsday. The sequence will feature a two versus one fight reminiscent of the showdown in Captain America Civil War. As soon as I read this, I'm like, yes, give me that.

[00:11:50] That's what I want is that Civil War, you know, ending fight again where it's Iron Man versus Winter Soldier and Captain America. I want that again. Yeah. I 100% agree. That fight at the end of Civil War was so epic, so good, so much fun. I would love to see them kind of have that same kind of dynamic, but fighting Dr. Doom would be so cool to see that. But here's the catch.

[00:12:19] The stakes are raised, especially for Doomsday, and we're not fighting, you know, hero versus hero anymore. We're fighting heroes versus potentially the biggest bad we've ever seen. Right. What if Bucky doesn't make it out alive of that fight? Oh, don't break my heart. And the way that they're telling this story, like, it seems like, at least like the overall Marvel story, it seems like they are going down a road where something is going to happen to Bucky.

[00:12:49] They've been featuring him so much more, but not featuring him in a way where it's like, you know, he's super important in every story. It's kind of like he's the connective tissue. Yes. I feel like if you kill Bucky, you set Cap off. You're going to set Steve off. And Yelena as well, because he's part of the new Avengers.

[00:13:14] And with Captain America, Sam Wilson, you know, they're pseudo best friends. They're, you know, adjacent best friends. So way, maybe what brings the Avengers together, you know, Rogers and to. But, you know, him going down is what says, OK, we got to bring everybody together and fight one enemy. This is crazy. So I don't know. I just thought about it. I'm like, yes, I want this fight.

[00:13:43] But also, I don't want Bucky to die. So I don't know. We'll see. I agree, man. It's it's it'll be heartbreaking to see Buck die. But I mean, like, you know, if if they have to take Sergeant James Barnes down and it furthers the story, then I understand in this movie. Oh, my gosh. Right. There's another one. Yeah, absolutely, man. All right. So Doomsday lands in theaters December 18th, 2026. All right. Next one. Secret Wars.

[00:14:12] We're going to we're talking secret wars already. Secret Wars may be going rogue. Rogue may be jumping into the MCU sooner than we thought. Indy never. How do you say your name? Navarretty or Navarette? I thought it was Navarette because I so it's one of those Spanish Portuguese names where like it can go either way. Yeah. Like when I have met people with as their name, it's always Navarretty, not Navarette.

[00:14:38] But anyway, so let's say Indy Navarette is officially set to play Anne Marie or Anna Marie, better known as Marvel's fans as Rogue in Marvel Studios upcoming X-Men movie. While that mutant reboots isn't hitting theaters until 2028. A new rumor claims we'll get our first look at Indy's Rogue a year earlier in Secret Wars. Interesting.

[00:15:04] So this is coming from Jeff Schneider and he's reporting on the hot mic that Navarette will make her first MCU appearance as Rogue in 2027 or 20. Yeah. 2027 Secret Wars. Following the previous claims that Sadie Sink will also appear in Secret Wars as Jean Grey.

[00:15:27] This is like a great way to like just sprinkle tidbits of the X-Men into the other projects just to see, you know, what people start grabbing onto. I think it's a smart move. Do you think we get Rogue? I think we get Rogue. I think that we've been waiting for a more comic accurate version of Rogue forever because, okay, nothing against Anna Paquin, right?

[00:15:53] But the thing is, is that they never gave us a legit Rogue in those movies ever. You know what I mean? Like there was, there was, it was always kind of like, okay, Rogue, but she doesn't have any of her powers. Uh, and at least none of the powers that we know her to have, um, you know, and part of that was because she never absorbed Ms. Marvel. And it's kind of like, okay, well, she can't absorb Ms. Marvel in the Fox universe because Ms. Marvel was owned by Marvel.

[00:16:22] And it was just, there was so much going on, but like you just, we never got the version of Rogue that we wanted. You know what I mean? Totally agree. Totally agree. Everything that makes Rogue interesting, especially with the whole mystique and Nightcrawler and that whole weird family tree that they have. None of that was explored.

[00:16:45] And, and that's, that's part of the reason why I love X-Men 97 so much is you get that like family bond, like the almost like found family, but it's real family. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. I mean, that's, that's exactly what, that's exactly why we love X-Men is because of the whole found family aspect of it, you know? And I mean, I want, I want more of that.

[00:17:07] So, I mean, like I, I would love to see Indian Everette, uh, in, in like in an upcoming project, whether it is, uh, Secret Wars or not. And I, I really think Secret Wars is probably the smartest place to drop her in. Yeah. Yeah. And that could be a trend. They could be like, Hey, this works so well with Sadie Sink and Jean Grey, you know, showing up in Spider-Man.

[00:17:29] What if we just keep going around that same role and just, you know, little bits of Easter egg of these other characters teased in, in movies before we get to the actual big X-Men movie. I mean, that's a great way to handle, handle this. So if Secret Wars rumor is true, Marvel won't be making audiences wait until 2028. Uh, new generation of X-Men is here and they may be coming as close as 2027 and Secret Wars. All right. Bring it on.

[00:17:59] Let's go. It's time. We're talking like nonstop, like future stuff. So D23 is turning into D 2028. Disney has revealed a release date for Marvel's Ghost Rider starring Ryan Gosling. And it will be the summer blockbuster. So it'll be set July 28th, 2028, right in the middle of the summer. Right. So that's like the big tentpole.

[00:18:24] But, uh, after that will be Black Panther three in December of 2028. And then the X-Men movie will be right before that May of 2028. So huge movies in 2028. Yeah. And I mean, there's, there's all kinds of stuff, uh, that, that Disney is dropping to tell the audience about everything else that's dropping with. Yeah. So yeah, again, we were talking about 2028 and this is, it's like the big ramp up for

[00:18:54] Disney to get everything into 2028. So additionally, Pixar's Ghost Market, which I think all of us are kind of looking forward to, will be released in March of 2028. The live action Tangled, which we're starting to see clips from, will be released also in March, end of March of 2028. And the animated movie Clay is set for November of 2028. So that's one, two, three, six, six big movies. Yeah.

[00:19:24] Speaking of Tangled, did you see the intro at D23 of them in character joking about how they're on set, but then like doing kind of like in character jokes? Oh, I didn't see that part. Oh yeah. I just went straight for the news. I'll have to look for that. Yeah. Check that out. So like when they introduced, uh, um, Tangled, they were like, yeah, so we're on set right now and it was them in costume making jokes in character.

[00:19:51] Uh, you know, but it was, it was obviously not something that was filmed as a part of the film. It was them addressing the audience at D23. Uh, and, and I thought that was, I thought that was pretty cool. I like that kind of reminds me of what we were talking about last week with, uh, Adam driver, you know, being announced as, as, you know, uh, Mr. Sinister and how it was with that. So that's fun. Yeah. Disney, Disney running that kind of stuff. And it's always fun when they do that kind of stuff.

[00:20:21] Yeah, I totally agree. So again, this was X-Men in May of 2028. And then Ghost Rider, July of 2028, Black Panther, December of 2028, huge, huge for Marvel. Yeah. It's going to be a big year. Uh, 2028 seems, but I mean, we, we, it kind of feels like that every year with Disney. Disney always feels like they're going to be putting out big things.

[00:20:48] Uh, and then, you know, again, they kind of dropped the ball on the marketing. So like, there'll be like, Hey, we're going to announce everything. And then they just like, kind of don't market things that they feel like, uh, this is probably not going to do well. We're not going to waste money on it. Uh, Elio, we're looking at you. I'm going to always bring that up because it was just kind of like, you know, they made this big deal about the movie when they first announced it. Then we heard nothing ever movie came out. Nobody knew.

[00:21:19] Didn't matter. Yeah. It just got shoved under the rug. They're just like, Oh, we're going to put it out there. You know, meanwhile, they're like shelving projects that people want. So. Yeah. So Marvel, I was just looking it up in 2027. There's only two projects coming out. One is secret wars. We talked about that, but the only other one is Spider-Man beyond the spider verse, which isn't technically, you know, a Disney Marvel movie. It's a Sony movie. Sony movie. Right. Uh, interesting. Interesting.

[00:21:49] Um, I wonder if, again, we going back to a story we talked about before. I wonder if they're going to focus more on TV shows in 2027, uh, and just try and get rid of all the, the lingering live action shows that they have. And then they'll focus on movies in 2020. That's the craziest thing. All we have is daredevil. That's it. Yeah. That's what the only thing that's been announced. Right. Right. Right. Well, I mean, okay.

[00:22:14] So, so like, what if we get like, I don't know, what if we get something, uh, what, what, what if you get a special presentation? Uh, it could be October. Right. And, and they do something that like introduces midnight sons because they, they've been talking about doing midnight sons for a while. That'd be pretty good. Especially since ghost writer will be coming out less than a year later. Right. We know ghost writers coming. This could be a good introduction for ghost writer.

[00:22:41] This could be a way that they again, bring back the characters from the last special presentation that they had. And then finally give us fucking Mahershala Ali is blade. We're all waiting for this. Mahershala Ali was waiting on this and he left because he was tired of all just waiting on all this shit. So like, you know, I wonder if like, this will be like their chance to say, okay, here's, here's our makeup. And we're going to give you guys what you've been asking for. We're going to give you Mahershala Ali as, as blade finally in a project. I bet.

[00:23:11] Wesley Snipes is free. I'm pretty sure. Wesley Snipes is free. All right. That was my last Marvel one. All right, for sure, man. So let's, uh, let's jump into the next segment here. It's time to talk DC. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm to watch the watchtower. It's watching the watchtower. Doodle. Doodle. Doodle. I should like post-production sound effects. Like I used to. There you go. There we go.

[00:23:41] Uh, just another day in the life of the justice gang. And you guys are not ready for it. None of us are. Guy Gardner is heading back to the big screen in man of tomorrow, but Nathan Fillion won't look exactly the same when he slips on the green lantern ring again. The actor has confirmed that guy is getting an upgrade for James Gunn's Superman sequel. And yes, it involves that wonderfully ridiculous haircut. According to Fillion, we updated the hairdo just a little bit.

[00:24:10] He probably looks a little bit less like a dick. Guy Gardner also won't be the only green lantern joining the action. Lantern star Aaron Pierre will bring Jon Stewart into the movie. Man of tomorrow flies into theaters July 9th of 2027. What do you think they're doing with, uh, uh, with Guy Gardner, man? I, it's funny that we have an article about his hair. I think it's going to be something a little, it's going to be like the bangs, but just like a little bit shorter.

[00:24:40] He's like, Oh, we took like a quarter of an inch off the office bangs. Oh man. Uh, you know, it's funny and we're going to get into this in the next segment, but like he looks like a terrible version of Mike guy when he grows up. Yeah. Right. Just the, the, the worst bowl cut, you know what they're going to do? They're just going to part the bangs and then he's just going to look like a fucking psychopath. What if it's like for really short bangs? Oh my gosh.

[00:25:09] You know, those really short bangs that some girls wear where it's like an inch or two inches, you know, just, Oh yeah. He's going to have like the short bangs with the still, still have the bowl. Oh God. It's going to look so bad if they do that. I hope they give him like, you know, like a more presentable haircut. Uh, yeah, that's not going to happen. Like there, there's a way to take that hair and still make him look like somewhat decent. Yeah.

[00:25:39] If they shave it. Yeah. They, uh, need to, you know, give them some Vidal Sassoon or something. I don't know. Yeah. We'll see. Didn't, didn't he, he, no, he was always like a bowl cut guy, right? He never went like Mohawk. Did he go Mohawk? No, he, he had a bowl cut all through, uh, all through the comics. But I mean, like there's, there's other ways where you can give him a decent haircut. Like, like there was one point where guy, they gave him like a pompadour, but he's also a redhead.

[00:26:08] So he just had like the poofy hair in the front. Like, I'm wondering if they give him that. Gotcha. And like that on Nathan Fillion would still look funny. What if he gets like a bad short haircut, like short bangs, like we just talked about, but he's just using his, uh, ring power to make it like longer and try to look better, but it still looks. Oh my God. What if he is wearing like a, like a legitimate Eagles hat the entire time, just cause it's green and it's a construct. He just wears a hat and he's like, yeah, I got a bad haircut.

[00:26:38] Yeah. That's what he's using his power for the whole time. Just like keeping his, uh, hat on. Well, like again, because again, uh, not to throw spoilers out there for people who haven't watched, uh, uh, lanterns, but, um, you can keep a construct for a long period of time, even without the ring. Yeah. Yeah. It depends on who you are. I mean, it's not just Jon Stewart and that's the thing is that, um, yeah, they're making it seem like it's like a big deal.

[00:27:07] I mean, again, that's more something that would be a Kyle Rayner thing that he is like, you know, he's got these crazy, you know, he's really good with his powers and whatnot. And that's actually something Kyle Rayner has been known to do is, uh, be able to create constructs without a ring. Uh, this was more, he created a construct. He didn't have the ring, but through willpower, he kept it alive. So anyways, uh, with that, it's, it's, he, he makes a construct for a hat, but never turned it, takes it off. That's good. Right.

[00:27:37] His ring just drains of power. Cause he's pulling his hat off. Oh my God. At least, at least guy, uh, tends to charge his ring more than, than how it does. Oh my God. How? How? Like my, my son and his, his iPhone that he never charges. So I just get all these notifications like, Oh, so is at 5% iPhone. So-and-so is at 4%. I'm like, good Lord. Charge your phone.

[00:28:06] Charge your phone, kid. Charge it. All right. We can clip this and send it to your, and send it to chemo. It's like charge your phone. Keep it charged. Chemo. Charge it. Charge it. All right. Let's move on to the next story. Otherwise we're just going to keep talking about this. Order in the Court. That's the closest thing I have. Order in the Court. Uh, I'll take a banana. Oh, nice. Yeah. Take a, just, banana deliciousness.

[00:28:34] Gorilla Grodd is going to court and Jimmy Olsen is digging into the case. DC Studios is expanding its DCU in a wonderfully weird direction with the People vs. Gorilla Grodd, a new mockumentary comedy that takes the super intelligent Flash villain and drops him into a true crime murder investigation. HBO Max has handed the half hour Max original in eight episodes straight to series order.

[00:29:03] Previously developed under the title DC Crime, the series stars Skylar, uh, Gizondo, Skylar Gizondo. That's how you pronounce it, right? Yep. All right. As Jimmy Olsen, uh, who turns investigative documentarian to examine one of Metropolis's most notorious murder cases. The story unfolds as an eight-part true crime documentary created within the DCU. Several familiar faces from Superman will join Gizondo in the, uh, in the series.

[00:29:31] Uh, Beck Bennett returns as Steve Lombard. Uh, Michaela Hoover, friend of the show, Michaela Hoover, is back as Cat Grant. And Wendell Pierce once again plays Daily Planet editor Perry White. Rather than making a traditional DC comedy that happens to use a documentary format, they want the People vs. Gorilla Grodd to feel like something that was actually produced and released inside the DCU. Showrunners Tony Yacinda and Dan Perrault explained,

[00:29:59] We're excited by the challenge of creating a series that feels like, or feels less like an entry into the DCU and more like an artifact from it. Uh, a Daily Planet original documentary made for the people of Metropolis. The People vs. Gorilla Grodd doesn't have an official HBO Max premiere date yet, though a 2028 launch currently looks likely. Uh, what do you think about this, man?

[00:30:25] What do you, how do you feel about, uh, about us getting a People vs. Gorilla Grodd? I love it. I think that's an interesting take. The point of view that they're taking of, this is a piece that the Daily Planet is making. Like, it's Jimmy creating a piece, like, part of his job for the Daily Planet. I love this. I think it's a great idea.

[00:30:50] And it kind of opens up the door to do so much and show all kinds of, like, behind-the-scenes stuff that are happening within the DCU without having it to be like, oh, this strict storyline of, this has got to happen, this has got to happen. Right. You know, it'll just be like this fun adventure that Jimmy goes on. Yeah. And again, I like that it's a documentary. I like that it's something that lives in-universe, but at the same time,

[00:31:19] like, I want it to be like a straight-up, like, for real documentary, because that would make it so much more interesting to watch. Like, almost like, oh, it's a documentary, but it's, like, in a fictional universe. Mm-hmm. It'll look like that. It'll look like that. Netflix-style documentary. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People coming in, sitting down, putting the mic on, that sort of thing, and getting into it. Do-do-do-do? Do-do-do?

[00:31:49] Do-do-do? Do-do-do? I wasn't interested in this very much before. We're getting a little bit of info, and they're kind of giving us... Now I want to see what they're going to do with this. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think this is going to be fun. I can't wait to see what they're going to do with this. Okay. So let's move on to this last DC story that we have here. In Brightest Day.

[00:32:19] In Blackest Night. If you haven't watched Lennon's yet, some spoilers might not escape your sight. You've been warned. You have been warned. If you haven't watched the series premiere of Lanterns, major spoilers are about to follow. The premiere titled Pilot closes with a pretty brutal reveal as Jon Stewart and Sheriff Kerry Kane discover Howl's... I gave you guys the warning. Discover Howl's frozen body in the 2026 timeline.

[00:32:49] It certainly looks like the end of the legendary Green Lanterns, but the new Weeks Ahead trailer may have slipped in a clue that changes everything. Certainly looks like the end of a legendary Green Lantern, but the new... Wait a minute. You repeated that. All right. One theory points to a blurry, but potentially important moment in the Weeks Ahead footage involving the alien body Howl steals from the morgue.

[00:33:15] The corpse appears to have a head wound in nearly the same location as the injury seen on Howl's body at the end of episode one. Oh my God. I didn't think about that. Okay. I see that now. A fan also noticed another possible connection involving the skull that Jon Stewart later picks up. The body Howl drags out of the morgue has a wound on its forehead exactly where Howl's wound is at the end of the first episode. They wrote,

[00:33:43] And the skull Jon picks up also has what looks to be a healed wound in a similar area. Lends me to suspect Howl's still alive and there are all aliens being murdered. So, did Howl fake his death? Lindelof knows some fans aren't going to be thrilled about apparently killing Howl Jordan right off the gate,

[00:34:06] but he suggested viewers should wait until the entire eight episode season plays out before judging their decision. Lanterns may not all, maybe not all of them, but they're airing on HBO Max every Sunday. You know, when I first watched episode one and they have that reveal at the end, I'm like, no way this just happened. No way.

[00:34:30] Especially because I think Kyle Chandler's doing such a good job at playing this kind of tormented version of Howl Jordan. And then I was thinking, okay, wait a second. His, they're doing the whole double timeline thing or dual timeline. So we, we're still getting Kyle Chandler as Howl Jordan. I get it. So maybe he is really dead, but then, you know, no ring.

[00:34:56] The wound is in the same spot as all the other, um, other, uh, aliens. I'm like, what if, what if Hal's still alive? And they either faked his death or, or something like that. Like, where's Howl Jordan? Right. Here's the thing with that too, is again, spoilers. If you guys haven't watched episode two, uh, man hunters, right.

[00:35:25] And, and the man hunters have a, the ability to change their appearance. Right. Um, not given what the, the way they're playing it is as if there's only one man hunter. Right. Uh, and there is another alien race, uh, which again, um, we're, we'll start with Antan. Uh, he talks about how they can change their appearance as well to look like humans.

[00:35:52] So I wonder if how figures out how to change, uh, their appearance and how to trigger to change the appearance. And just like, as an experiment makes it look like him and just leaves it there on the, on the bench. And it's like, Oh shit, I can do this. He leaves it on the bench and continues doing what he's doing. Right. Um, again, I think there's so many more stories that you need Howl Jordan for that.

[00:36:21] We want to see, uh, Howl Jordan, one of his biggest turns in the comics is he becomes parallax. Uh, and, and I've, I've been talking in our group chat about how, you know, they're, they're really building up for parallax. Like we, we are seeing the yellow in the ring. We are seeing, you know, again, this is, uh, at some point beyond, uh, and, and so again, spoilers for episode two Sinestro, uh, is in, in Owen jail, which means that he has had battles with Sinestro in the past.

[00:36:50] He's also asking Sinestro for like advice on things that are happening. So it's kind of like, you know, there's so much that is going on. Uh, and I, again, I, I've been saying, I think they're going to get into the spectrum a little bit more. Uh, I think Anton is, uh, is atrocities in disguise and, and I would love to see him be a red lantern. Uh, because the dude, little dude is angry. That dude, he's, he, he, he, he, he's a little guy, right? He was angry.

[00:37:20] I would love to see him as atrocities. That would be amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, you know, I think so we only a couple minutes of the 2026 timeline, you know, of, of John and, uh, what's, what's her name? Sheriff Carrie Kane. Right. So we don't know what's happening with the ring. I've said that guy Gardner has the ring has house ring.

[00:37:47] As long as he had it, you know, we don't, we don't know what if hell is off world. We don't know, you know, has hell been missing for a while? We'll have to figure all this out. Like that's part of the mystery. It's going to be an interesting take. Uh, and, and I can't wait for it. So, uh, for, for those of you out there, if you haven't started watching lanterns, watch it, uh, new episodes every Sunday, we're getting a new one this Sunday.

[00:38:14] Uh, and, and I, I, for one, can't wait to see what it's going to be. Uh, even though I'm probably going to end up watching it late because we're going to be a power morphicon. So watch it on the way home. Yeah. Because I can do that while I'm driving. Make somebody else drive. It's fine. All right. Uh, was that our last DC? That was our last DC story. So, uh, let's get into the, uh, next, the, uh, next sponsor here. Ladies and gentlemen, we are brought to you by the good folks over at Debbie. Debbie.

[00:38:45] That's right. Debbie is a brand of energy drinks created to help focus concentration, reaction time with no jitters or crash. Debbie contains no melto dextrin, no sugars, no fillers, no artificial colors or dyes. Find out more about Debbie at www.dubbie.gg. Use the code nerding10 and get 10% off your order. Whew. So many delicious things. Uh, so much going on. Uh, and I'm, I'm always excited about it. It gives me so much life.

[00:39:12] Uh, so with that being said, uh, ladies and gentlemen, let's jump into the next, uh, set of stories here. Uh, it's time for the download. Let's get into all the news starting with one shots. For more news trailers, reactions, check out the distance nerdington post on Facebook and let us know what you're nerding out on. All right. The live action Naruto movie has found its Kakashi.

[00:39:40] Charles Melton is reportedly in close talks to take the fan favorite ninja in director Dustin Daniel Creighton's upcoming live action adaption of Naruto. It still comes together. Melton would step into the role of one of the manga and anime franchise's most recognizable characters. One of my favorite characters, like easily. Yeah. Favorite character in the entire franchise. So Melton has been building an impressive resume over the past few years.

[00:40:10] He recently earned an Emmy nomination for Netflix's beef season two. Uh, I haven't watched that one. You know, I want to watch that one. It's when the Oscar, Oscar Isaacs is in it. Um, his, uh, potential involvement follows recent speculation that he might be announced as part of the X-Men cast, which didn't come to play. So that's interesting. I read a story about this and I'll, I'll talk about it after, after you finish here. Okay.

[00:40:36] Uh, the story centers on Naruto, a young ninja determined to earn the respect of his community and eventually become, uh, Hokage, the leader and protector of his village. Okage. Okage. The Naruto movie is currently conducting a global casting search for the actors who will play Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. I thought that was kind of cool. Sasuke and Sakura. Nice. Yeah. Uh, okay.

[00:41:06] So there was a story that came out, uh, and, and it was, you know, basically he, he talks about it. Uh, he was so excited. He, he basically, uh, all but confirms that he was going to play beast. Uh, and he was just like super excited and he was like, yeah, so, uh, I'm going to play beast. There's nothing that will take me away from this. Uh, and then his agent, uh, goes, well, I've got this other script.

[00:41:33] Um, you know, but, but I mean, if you're going to, if you're going to play, uh, if you know you're going to play beast, um, might as well not show it to you. He goes, well, what is it? What is it? Uh, and he goes, I mean, you don't even want to look at it. It's not that big of a deal. Gives him the script. He goes, they want me to play Kakashi. Right. He goes, well, yeah. He goes, they want me to play Kakashi. Like Kakashi is like the most recognizable character in all of Naruto. Right. And he goes, uh, yeah, he goes, yeah.

[00:42:02] I'm going to turn down beast. So he can play, so he can play Kakashi, uh, which again, big deal. Kakashi is one of the biggest characters in all of Naruto. And he's not, he's not the protagonist, but he's a massive supporting character. Uh, anytime you see Naruto and you see the ninja that, uh, that only has like, uh, has the mask and only half his face is showing, uh, that's Kakashi. Mm. Right.

[00:42:30] Uh, Kakashi Hatake is like one of the best characters in all of Naruto. He's, he's like calm, reserved, but he's like a super badass. Um, you know, he's like the epitome of a ninja. Uh, cause remember they're all ninjas. Um, and Kakashi becomes the Hokage. He becomes the mentor to Naruto when he becomes Hokage. Uh, it's, it's a big deal to, to get that role in, in, in the first place.

[00:42:59] That's awesome. That's awesome. And he probably reckoned beast in X-Men. Yeah. That's a good amount of fame, but he's probably going to be lower on the totem pole than if he's, you know, Kakashi in Naruto. Like, so, but it'll just go with Naruto. Yeah. That's cool. I, I, I, and by the way, I didn't, I didn't even. Destin Daniel Creighton. Is, is going to be directing. Right. Cannot wait for it, man.

[00:43:27] Uh, I mean, I'm, I'm always skeptical about, um, adaptations for, uh, for anime, but I mean, like, I don't know. Daniel Destin, Dan, Destin Daniel Creighton is really good with martial arts. He's really good with stories. He's really good with adaptations. I mean, look what he did with Spider-Man. It's about, it's about to be one of the biggest movies of all time. Uh, you know, Shang-Chi was underrated as all hell, but it was a great movie. Um, you know, I, I, I cannot wait to see.

[00:43:57] What he does with Naruto, especially considering that he's said in the past that he is a big Naruto fan. Oh, that's all. That's even more evidence that he, that's awesome. Right. All right. Next one. Winter is coming to Hogwarts just weeks after Nicholas Holt was revealed as the actor to set to play Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter season two.

[00:44:21] The Superman star has been forced to leave the role because of scheduling conflicts. There you go, Lex. HBO already has his replacement. Kit Harrington will now play the ridiculous, ridiculously vain defense against the arts or dark arts professor. Most viewers know Harrington as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. But in a fun connection, Harrington has already played Lockhart.

[00:44:51] Yep. Like what? I didn't even realize this. Harrington previously voiced the character in Harry Potter, the full cast audio additions, specifically the adaption of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for Audible. Shout out to Audible. So obviously, yeah, there you go. Boom. Perfect. Perfect casting. Yeah. I actually went and not listened to the entire book, but I, somebody posted excerpts of him as Gilderoy Lockhart.

[00:45:21] It actually is really good. It's, it's, and so he can just take that version of the way that he played the character and apply that to the show. It's going to be pretty cool. Yeah. I, I like that. That's pretty cool. I do like it. So our television series will premiere on December 25th, 2026th. That's crazy. On Christmas day. All right. On Christmas day. Okay. James Bond meets Thor.

[00:45:49] Chris Hemsworth is returning for Extraction 3 on Netflix, even though he died in the first one. And five new cast members. They brought him back in the second one. I mean, they explained it. Did they? And five new cats. Somehow Thor has returned and they brought five new cast members to join him. They include Golden Globe nominee Pierce Brosnan, Don Lee from Train to Busan, Joe from The Furious,

[00:46:18] Chee Louis Perry from 28 years later, The Bone Temple, and Sienna Agudong, Amazon's upcoming Carrie series. There you go. A little bit of Filipino in there. I like it. The film is currently filming in Australia, but also co-starring with Hemsworth. After directing the first two installments, Sam Hargrave is back as director based on the story by Andy Parks and Joe Russo and Anthony Russo.

[00:46:49] Pretty cool. Extraction 3 is targeting a 2027 release on Netflix. I didn't realize the Russos had anything to do with Extraction. I thought that was just a Hemsworth thing. I think it's their production company, the Agbo. I was going to say it makes sense because there is really good pacing in the action with Extraction.

[00:47:12] I really loved the first one because I was not expecting Indian Special Forces to show up in a movie. And it's just like, dude, these dudes are badass, man. Yeah. Yeah. That bridge scene. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. He again, it's almost like, how do you survive that, man? He took so many rounds. It was nuts. It's so good. How did he live out of the first? I don't know. Anyway. He's Thor. That's fine. It's because he's Thor.

[00:47:44] All right. Next one. He-Man may have lost the box office, but he's absolutely... Hold on. He-Man may have lost the box office battle, but he's absolutely crushing it from the comfort of eternity. There it is. After struggling during... Like me struggling. After struggling during his theatrical run, Masters of the Universe has found a much bigger audience on streaming. Pretty cool.

[00:48:14] Pretty cool. So, let's see. Becoming the most watched movie or TV series across streaming services in Nielsen's rankings from July 20th through the 26th, ranking up an impressive 1.17 billion minutes viewed on Prime Video. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait. Question here. Nielsen still exists? Nielsen still exists. They're doing something. Apparently. Yeah.

[00:48:41] But 1.17 billion minutes viewed on Prime Video. That is nuts. So, let's do some Hollywood math. With a runtime of 140 minutes, that includes credits, by the way, those 1.17 billion minutes works out to approximately 8.4 million viewings of the movie.

[00:49:08] And for perspective, 8.4 million theatrical views at $15 a ticket would amount to roughly $125 million in ticket sales. That is nuts. That is crazy. But here's the thing. Amazon has... I guess it hasn't officially said this, but there was people, like insiders, saying that

[00:49:36] Amazon's entire objective was they kind of knew, okay, it's not going to do well in theaters, then it's going to find life on streaming. And if it does well on streaming, that is our justification to do a sequel. It is killing it. And I'm not going to lie. I have watched it three times since it's been out on. Since it's been out on.

[00:50:02] And here's the thing is, each time I'm finding new things that I missed the last time, and it makes me love this movie that much more. I do not feel like it got its just due. Same thing with Supergirl. Supergirl. I don't think Supergirl got its just due. Like a lot of people were... Again, you have all the haters online that are just like, oh, yeah, it didn't do well.

[00:50:30] So that means that our justification to say we got to get rid of this, and this was the worst Masters of the Universe. And it's like, in what world? This Masters of the Universe was perfect. It was literally everything that I wanted in a He-Man movie. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know? Well, you know what's nice? I was going to say He-Man... Or, sorry.

[00:50:51] Yeah, He-Man has the ability and the lore to tell their own story or readaption of the story, and everybody's okay with it. Versus DC telling an introduction for Superwoman of Tomorrow. There's a lot to hold on to there. And they didn't quite hold on to the essence of the story arc. And that's...

[00:51:17] It almost, like, failed on so many different fronts because it wasn't completely true to the story arc. It wasn't set as, like, a movie for the, you know, 25-year-old males. But it definitely wasn't a movie for, like, young or teenage girls. So it didn't quite have a home. You know what I mean? Whereas, like, He-Man could be like, all right, give me a new origin story. I'm open for it, you know? He goes to Earth? Okay, great. Yeah.

[00:51:46] I mean, like, the story was so well done. And again, you have all these people that are hating. And for the most part, the people that were hating on He-Man were, like, all the, oh, well, they went woke. And, you know, they're doing that whole thing. The two biggest complaints that I've heard from people online were the, quote-unquote, woke things where, you know, he has the he-him and he works in HR and all that. And they hated that about his character.

[00:52:16] But it's like, no, that added to his character. It really did just add to what he was doing. It also made him, you know, they did a really good job of taking a character that a lot of people associate with toxic masculinity and making him a true masculine icon in a way where he is not masculine in a way where it's degrading to others. You know? Yeah. You know what I mean?

[00:52:42] Like, and it's more about him bigging everybody else up while at the same time, you know, elevating the character itself and elevating himself. The other big thing that people complained about was, oh, the names of the characters. And this is such a small gripe. But, like, oh, yeah, they were, instead of them being the actual names of people, they were the names he made up for people.

[00:53:08] And it's like, yeah, but that adds, again, to the story because it's a kid who didn't remember the names of people but remembered these people in his mind and had to make up names for them to remember them by. And even gave himself a name. Oh, well, we're so upset because he, the whole thing was he called himself He-Man. And there was a joke about it. It was like, who in their right mind calls themselves He-Man?

[00:53:39] Right. Right? The idea is he is the champion of Grayskull, but he calls himself He-Man. Yeah. And honestly, Fisto is a lot more memorable than Gary. You know what I mean? Right. Like, I love that. I'm never freaking out of Fisto. Right. I love that they also never tell you their names. Yeah. You know, it's all, Adam, what's my name? I don't remember. I used to call you Ram Man.

[00:54:08] You know, like, I like that. I like that. It's like, and then they make fun of each other with it. Ram Man? Like, hey, he calls you Fisto. You know, like, them just, like, making fun of the names, but you never learn what their names actually are. And it's like, they have real names. Why? Because, you know, Man at Arms, right, is named Duncan, and you call him Duncan, right? Adam is his actual name, right?

[00:54:37] You know, like, I like the idea of, shit, I don't remember your name. I'm just gonna, uh, Mechaneck. Yeah. I think that's funny. Yeah. I think it's a good way to, like, uh, explain off the craziness, but also, like, pay homage to the craziness of, you know, the 80s, you know, toys. Right. So, you know, I think that's great. Matt in the chat right now saying, I thought that was an awesome change. Uh, it makes total sense.

[00:55:06] Uh, also, and he's saying the same thing I'm saying. Stop complaining about people named Beastman and Spike War. Good Lord. So funny. So, back to it. Back to what I was gonna get at. So, you think they're gonna make a Masters of the Universe 2? Yeah, I absolutely do.

[00:55:25] Uh, and again, this is the opportunity to kind of take the different versions of Skeletor and merge them together. I want to see the treatment for Skeletor that they did with Wonder Woman, where they took two origin stories and found a way to merge them together in a way that made a lot of sense. Uh, I, I want to see them do that with Skeletor.

[00:55:52] I want to see them take the original origin story from the original cartoon, take the origin story that they remade for the new cartoon, uh, which was, it added a lot of depth to him and gave him motivation, uh, rather than just being like, you know, a pure evil. You know, which, I mean, again, Jared Leto, easily best performance of, of, of Jared Leto's career. Uh, of his career? Wow. Uh, so, I'm sorry. I, I'll take that back.

[00:56:22] Second best performance of his entire career. Dallas Buyers Club was really fucking good. Uh, but, I mean, like, you know, the other roles that he has played, uh, have been kind of like, you know, he is overacting in a movie that doesn't require it. It's like the one time him being an overactor was perfect. I mean, it's no Morbius, but that's fine. Fucking Morbius. No, we're, we're, we're not talking Morbius. We're talking Skeletor because he was perfect as Skeletor.

[00:56:50] Uh, again, I had my issues, but then watching him play Skeletor, he was hands down perfect for that role. Right. Right. So I was going to say, you know, I think it doing so well, it's going to spark a Moe 2 too. Right. That being said, I don't know if it's going to go to theaters or, or it should go straight to Amazon Prime Video.

[00:57:17] No, I think second try they should, they should, uh, put it in theaters because I think the first try, a lot of people didn't give it a chance because so many haters online were like, oh, it's bad because of this. It's bad because of that. Um, but then everybody like, you know, if you look at a lot of reactions online, it's a lot of people going to go watch it on Amazon and say, oh man, shit, I should have saw this in theaters. This is actually really good.

[00:57:41] You know, so I think if they go for Moe 2 too, uh, and put it in theaters, I think more people will come out to go see it because after seeing how good the first one is, they're like, okay, now I'm going to give the second one a chance. Yeah. Yeah. First time, but I watched it.

[00:57:58] And I think it would be much better to keep it as the short form, the movie version versus turning it into a series on Amazon Prime, because I think the jokes and, and, and this, the timing works so much better. I agree. I think it works well that way. All right. Uh, masters of the universe is now on Amazon Prime. There you go.

[00:58:26] Speaking of Amazon, Amazon has found their new God of War. Dave Bautista is picking up the Leviathan axe. The former WWE star and Guardians of the Galaxy actor has officially closed his deal to play Kratos in Prime Video's live action God of War series, taking over from Ryan Hurst after a serious injury forced the production to make a major change prep.

[00:58:55] On the new version begins this month with filming scheduled to restart in Vancouver in mid October. Initial thoughts. Bautista. Bautista. I like Dave Bautista. I think Dave Bautista is, yeah, I know. Right. Uh, I think Dave Bautista is, uh, uh, he, he's a really good dramatic actor. He's, he's, uh, he's done really well, even though he's been kind of pigeonholed in to these characters of like larger guys.

[00:59:24] But like, I like what I really like about him in general was like take knives out. Right. Uh, specifically Glass Onion. Right. When, when he, his character in Glass Onion had a lot of depth for being a dude that was just a big guy. You know what I mean? And it's like, same thing where like, uh, take, take his character in, um, in, uh, God, the cyberpunk movie. Um, uh, Blade Runner. Blade Runner.

[00:59:53] Oh, okay. Right. Uh, take his character in Blade Runner. And, and again, another character that was really well done that even in very short period, like very short, uh, moment in time. Uh, you know, he had a small role in the movie, but he had a lot of impact in the beginning of the movie. Mm-hmm. I think, I think Dave Bautista is really good with dramatic roles. Uh, this character needs to have a balance of action and drama.

[01:00:23] Right. Uh, I felt, I felt like Hearst was perfect for it because he's one of those guys that has a flair for really dramatic roles and is really good in those dramatic roles. Uh, I thought he would have done really well as Kratos. And I mean, dude, he looked ripped as all hell for Kratos, but, uh, you know, things happen. Um, get well soon, man. It sucks. You know, tearing your bicep is not a good thing. Uh, speaking of ripped. Yeah. Yeah. He ripped his bike. But Dave Bautista, uh, coming in.

[01:00:53] I mean, I think that that's, that's a good, I think, I think he's a good replacement for Ryan Hurst. It's interesting because Dave Bautista started to go down this path of like serious acting. And he talked about, um, slimming down, not carrying so much like muscle mass to get, to take on different roles. So it's kind of interesting that he's kind of slimming back down, but now he's got a bulk back up for, for Kratos. Well, he, he, he, he, he bulked up for the, for the Kurgan.

[01:01:24] Yes. So he's, so it's almost like just timing. Right. He is, uh, cause he, he dropped a bunch of weight so he could get more roles and then he bulked up to play the Kurgan. And then now he's just off of Highlander and is like already ripped. And they're just like, yeah, no, we need you to stay ripped like that because you're going to play, uh, uh, Kratos. So yeah, yeah. I think it's like, it is like, it's serendipitous.

[01:01:50] It's like perfect timing for him to play Kratos at this moment. Yeah. So fun fact, God of war will be Batista's only second series, regular television role following seasoned Apple TV. See, it also continues his relationship with Amazon MGM studios.

[01:02:10] After he starred alongside Jason Momoa and the wrecking crew, uh, this past year, he'll also appear opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the upcoming roadhouse to film, which I think is also being produced by Amazon. So he's got some, got some Amazon love. So Amazon has not announced an official release date yet for its live action. God of war series. It's funny how he tried to drop a bunch of weight to get different roles.

[01:02:41] Right. But the roles he got are still kind of characters that still kind of need to be big. Yeah. Even in knives out, it was like, Oh, you're going to be wearing like your underwear. That's it. Yeah. And the thing is, is that I think he's finding a balance. He's finding a balance of roles where he gets to do a lot of like fun acting, but at the same time, he's still kind of like, you know, big giant meaty, you know, Filipino God guy.

[01:03:07] So, you know, well, you know, even in that, uh, holiday special, he put on like a shirt. Cause he's like, I don't want to get super ripped. Yeah. So they're like, he had to wear a shirt for, for the, for the show. So the sweater, the, the, the, the, the Christmas sweater he was wearing. Exactly. All right. You got the next one. Oh, are we, uh, are we already at the end of the segment? Yeah. All right. Well, uh, let's, before we jump into that, we've got one last sponsor plug.

[01:03:37] Here, ladies and gentlemen, uh, James, tell us, tell them about our last sponsor here. Distance Nerding is part of the geek freaks network, discovering your latest binge, debating casting choices, or still not over that plot twist. The geek freaks network has got you covered your fandom, your community, your people geek out your way. Check out geek freaks network at GF pods.com.

[01:04:08] Shut up and take my money. Uh, all right. Well, let's jump into the last segment here, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to talk about the headlines. Oh, and we're starting off with the doozy. Uh, cause this just happened today and it's a big deal. Uh, so not breaking at this point, but still a rhinestone life that's shown bright enough for the world to see. Uh, give me one second. Moment of silence, but also changing the top. All right. All right.

[01:04:38] Dolly Parton, the legendary singer, songwriter, actress, producer, philanthropist, and all around entertainment icon died today in Nashville at the age of 80. Her death brings an extraordinary seven decade career to a close, but trying to fit. Parton's life into a list of accomplishments almost feels impossible.

[01:04:59] Uh, she was simply too big a personality and too creative of force, uh, just to kind of try and fit her into one place. Uh, Parton's family remembered her with a beautiful statement, a rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see. Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration, not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family.

[01:05:29] Dolly Parton's legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music, with an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place, which she absolutely did. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.

[01:05:55] Parton's musical legacy was unrivaled. She released Jolene in 1973, kicking off four consecutive number one country hits. More than 50 years after Parton recorded Jolene, Beyonce reimagined the song for her 2024 album, Cowboy Carter, which went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. She followed it with I Will Always Love You, a song that took on an entirely new life decades later when Whitney Houston recorded it for the 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard.

[01:06:25] Houston's version became one of the biggest singles in music history. Parton also proved to be an incredibly savvy businesswoman. In the mid-1980s, she opened Dollywood in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. The theme park grew into a major tourist destination, welcoming millions of visitors each year while keeping a strong connection to the region where she grew up.

[01:06:48] In 1988, she founded the Dollywood Foundation, initially helping East Tennessee students stay in school through scholarships. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library became one of her most meaningful projects, providing books to children and turning her success into something that directly benefited families. Her philanthropy also extended into disaster relief, healthcare, and medical research.

[01:07:16] Parton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her honors include a Kennedy Center Award, 11 Grammy Awards from 54 nominations. 54 nominations. That is ridiculous. Nuts. A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, and 5 Academy of Country Music Awards.

[01:07:42] In 2024, Billboard named her the number one country music artist of all time. Well deserved. Absolutely. We say all of these accomplishments because she touched so many lives with her music, with her philanthropy, with everything that she did. And, you know, she's famously somebody who was apolitical, who, you know, did not want to.

[01:08:09] And I loved her stance on this was no matter what, anytime anybody tried to get her opinion on something, she said, I don't talk politics. Yeah. And I always felt like that was something that was admirable. Because there were certain things that you could tell she wanted to say something about, but she was like, I'm not going to say anything. Yeah. I ain't got nothing to do with that. And I respect her. I respect her. There is no respected. I respect her. Yeah. Totally.

[01:08:38] For not only all of her accomplishments and all of her music and everything that she did, but also everything she did behind the scenes. Yeah. We didn't even touch on her acting career. Oh, yeah. In this, but she also had an amazing acting career. But on top of that. Working not too far. She also, producer, she created Sand Dollar Productions.

[01:09:01] And Sand Dollar is the company responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and TV show. Right. So she helped and she was part of the push behind it. Like, hey, we need a female-led movie. And then later on a TV show. And it was her that pushed for Buffy's story to be told. Yeah. But I thought that was cool. Yeah. And again, she pushed a lot for women's empowerment.

[01:09:29] And I mean, again, it was amazing. You know, just everything that she was able to do. Despite kind of like, you know, the way that a lot of people, like, if you didn't know or for behind the scenes stuff. You know, despite the image that some people would immediately take looking at her. Because there's a lot of caricatures and things of Dolly Parton. But I mean, like, you look at who she was as a person.

[01:09:55] And she was somebody absolutely worthy of admiration in every aspect of everything she did. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Totally. So sad. Yeah. So rest in peace, Dolly. Thank you for the songs. Thank you for the movies. Thank you for the laughs, the generosity, and the inspiration. You will never be forgotten. We will always continue to sing the praises of Dolly Parton. I don't want to be too sad here.

[01:10:25] So we're going to move on into the next story here. Otherwise, I will get really sad. The Goodwill Power Rangers? Yeah, Sandra in the chat. I know you're going to be excited about this one. Email Rangers, but still. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Shinert. Shinert? Is that how you say it? Shinert? Yeah. A.K.A. The Daniels are making a secret sci-fi superhero movie with Matt Damon. Matt Damon.

[01:10:55] Especially after the Odyssey, seeing how ripped he was in the Odyssey. This makes a lot of sense. Power Rangers fans are definitely going to recognize them. Familiar Ingredients. On the heels of Disney Plus scrapping its planned Power Rangers series. I'm never going to be not angry about. Jeff Schneider reports that the untitled Daniels movie at Universal may draw some serious inspiration from the color-coded heroes and their monster-smashing adventures. It isn't actually Power Rangers.

[01:11:25] It's not a Power Rangers movie. But based on the reported story, these comparisons are going to be pretty hard to avoid. Schneider shared the following description of the product. From what I hear, it's basically a Power Rangers movie without the name. It follows a young cast in color-coded costumes who team up to fight Kaiju with the help of a superhero-esque character

[01:11:52] played by Matt Damon, who has a Jarvis-like AI assistant played, not just voiced, by Sandra Oh. Oh, God. That's going to be absolutely amazing. The wholly original movie has no official connection to Power Rangers, but I'm told it's a pretty clear influence and that comparisons will definitely be made. The story reportedly takes place across two different timelines, jumping between the 1980s and the present day.

[01:12:21] The 80s portion will center on five young heroes. Damon has already offered his own description of the movie's tone, saying the pitch was, The Breakfast Club meets Inception, meets an anime film, meets an episode of the John Oliver show that didn't get aired. Oh, my God. The John Oliver show? That just seems nuts as a premise to me. I know, right?

[01:12:50] Just so you guys know, no putties were harmed in the reporting of this story. The movie is scheduled to hit theaters on November 19th, 2027. So this is going to be next year, guys. That's so interesting. I mean, it's really Power Rangers, but since Disney has the rights for distribution right now, I guess they could just kind of take the idea of it and move on. Yeah, sure.

[01:13:17] But you know what's interesting is they also said, like, jumping between two timelines, the 1980s and present day, that kind of feels like Monarch from, speaking of Kaijus, right? It kind of reminds me of Monarch on Apple TV+. What if this ends up being something that is a way to modernize Super Sentai, and they still connect it to the Monsterverse?

[01:13:47] Right. And now we're getting, like, Super Sentai and the Monsterverse. What if they just go, like, let's not call it Power Rangers. Let's just call it Sentai. Yeah, and they're like, hey, you know, we were planning on doing a Monsterverse movie of Ultraman, but, like, you know, it's kind of, like, it's a little weird. It's kind of crazy to have this just giant guy get really big. So let's do Super Sentai. Yeah, why not?

[01:14:18] Well, you know what's funny about going back to that dual timeline thing? I think they're going to have his character as one of, like, the original five, whatever they said in the 80s. And then the present day version is him trying to probably, like, get the gang back together again for whatever reason. So he's going to be the Red Ranger. I think so. And then he's going to Zord on everything. Totally. This is great.

[01:14:48] I mean, I'm kind of excited to see what they do. It's going to be interesting to see what this ends up being. Right? Right? And then let's have a panel at Power Morphicon about it. That'd be great. Yeah, I'm ready to go and write it. Let's go. All right. Let's move on to the next story here. The Odyssey. What a hell of a car. James, do you have an Odyssey? Are you suggesting that I own a minivan? Yes.

[01:15:18] I do have a minivan, but it's not an Odyssey. What is it, Town & Country? How do you know my life? Because you're a dad and you're going to have dad cars. Deadpool just lost one of his biggest records. And naturally, Ryan Reynolds had a pretty great response to it. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has officially sailed past Deadpool and Wolverine at the worldwide box office, becoming the highest grossing rated R movie of all time.

[01:15:48] Nolan's massive fantasy epic has now earned an estimated $1.34 billion globally, edging past the Marvel Studios blockbuster's $1.338 billion total. So, just barely there. Barely. But it's been down for a month. It's true. After the Odyssey officially passed Deadpool and Wolverine, Reynolds jumped on social media to congratulate Nolan and everyone involved with their film,

[01:16:16] while throwing in a very Reynolds-style joke and mashup video. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of The Odyssey for becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. One hell of a car. The Odyssey is currently in theaters, and I do recommend everybody to go see it if you haven't already. It's a great movie.

[01:16:39] I guess he posted that statement with the fight scene of him and Wolverine, or Deadpool and Wolverine. Fighting in the Odyssey. That's right. That's good. That's actually really good. Yeah. So, it's just a montage of them fighting, and then it's that. It's that message on top. Yeah. I thought it was funny. That's pretty cool, though. Man, Odyssey's killing.

[01:17:06] It's like quietly killing it at the box office. Between that and Spider-Man, it's nuts. I, again, I really like this movie, and I did go see Spider-Man as well, obviously. But, I mean, like, The Odyssey, me being somebody who, I mean, everybody read the book because it was required reading at most high schools.

[01:17:29] But, yeah, I really got into The Odyssey mainly because my English teacher at the time made a parallel to Star Wars and was like, yeah, it's the hero's journey and compared Luke Skywalker to Odysseus. No. Compared Luke Skywalker to his son. Oh. Patroclus?

[01:17:59] I'll look it up. Yeah. You go. But, yeah, she made that comparison, and I immediately was like, now I want to go and read this book. And now the movie came out, and I was just sitting there, like, guessing, like, oh, oh, oh, this is going to be when he fights the witch, or this is going to be when we see the sirens, and, oh, like, when they first get to the island, that's right, Telemachus. Telemachus. Telemachus. Telemachus.

[01:18:29] When they first get to the island that the Cyclops is on, when I see the moment that I saw one of the sheep run by, I was like, oh, okay, yep, this is the Cyclops. Yeah. So, yeah, it was a really well-done movie. They told the story in a way that made it compelling, made it fun to watch. You know, it was just really good. I liked it.

[01:18:59] I'm surprised. Like, I'm glad it's doing really well, and I heard it's epic. I'm surprised that it's, he fit it into one movie, and he didn't break it into, like, a two-part Odyssey movie. And he still told the story, you know? There's so much content that he could have tapped to do, you know, two, two-and-a-half-hour movies. Yeah, yeah. He still told the entire story and did it in a way that was still compelling. You know what I mean?

[01:19:28] Like, I think there's a lot of filler in the Odyssey that you can take out of there. Mm-hmm. I also thought it was interesting that he did not include Achilles in this at all. Mm-hmm. You know, like, that was a choice. That was a choice not to include Achilles. Spoilers for anybody who hasn't seen it. Yeah, but that's the thing is that, you know, again, there's a lot of backlash on different characters and stuff like that, and they're like, oh, yeah, well, this person's playing

[01:19:58] Achilles. No, they're not, because Achilles wasn't in the movie. Huh. Right. Yeah. Deadpool. One hell of a car. Maybe I should get an Odyssey. It's one hell of a car. Maybe I'll get an Odyssey. Maybe you should get an Odyssey. How about that? Maybe. Trade in the truck. Trade in? No. Wouldn't trade in the truck. Wouldn't happen. All right. Let's move on to our last story here. Yep. Right there. All right.

[01:20:27] Studio Ghibli's Break Room. Let's have amazing snacks. Must be very delicious. At 85 years old, Hayao Miyazaki, the legendary filmmaker, continues to report to Studio Ghibli on a daily basis. And while that might sound like confirmation that another Miyazaki movie is taking shape, there's a wonderfully strange wrinkle to the story because apparently nobody really knows what the hell he's doing.

[01:20:56] According to Studio Ghibli's new CEO, Kenichi Yoda, Miyazaki comes to the studio every day. As for what he's creating, once he gets there, Yoda offered an answer that feels perfectly suited to the famously private filmmaker. Only he knows exactly what the hell he's working on. After the boy and the heron won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, there was plenty of speculation that the film could serve as Miyazaki's farewell.

[01:21:26] Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki, is being considered as a possible creative successor, and Yoda has stepped into the CEO role. Yet the studio has no intention on transforming itself into an IP machine built around sequels and a constant stream of familiar properties. Speaking of Goro, he previously described that his father was developing as looking like an action-adventure type movie, not nostalgic and reminiscent of the old days.

[01:21:56] Miyazaki has given a spirited away Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, The Boy and the Heron, and so many more, shaping generations of anime fans from years on in. Decades. Decades. Such a long time. The project isn't the focus.

[01:22:22] What matters is that Hayao Miyazaki is still creating. I love this, that he's still so passionate about what he does. He's got all the accolades, you know? He is like the godfather of anime, and he's still creating. It's just in him where he needs to create. I think that's so cool.

[01:22:44] I love that he still puts in work, and he's still creating films and just putting things out there. Like, I mean, it's nice to know that somebody is still out there that has had so much success, but still loves their craft. Yeah, completely. And his son works there too? Oh my gosh, come on.

[01:23:10] And they're saying he might be the spiritual successor to his father. Let's hope he's just as creative as his dad. Yeah, I think they... I was reading an article, and he may be like chief of creative type thing. But maybe like a Filoni type thing where he's in charge of the overall creative storylines, but also maybe does his own projects here and there. So we'll see. But how cool is that?

[01:23:39] He's still making movies. He's still drawing, you know, still animating and everything like that. Yeah. Like Say Wong said in the chat, and he does it all the old-fashioned way. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Talk about passion. That's amazing. I know. It's so awesome to just like see that Hayao Miyazaki is still killing it so many years later. It's on Max, right? Like there's like a whole Studio Ghibli section on Max. Studio Ghibli.

[01:24:07] They have a whole Studio Ghibli section on Max. That's cool. Go and watch like all the old Miyazaki films. Mm-hmm. As well as his new ones. I mean, obviously, he's got new ones that are still coming out. Exactly. Awesome. All right. Well, that is it from us tonight. So, ladies and gentlemen, let's talk about our schedule. So, of course, right now you're watching Distance Nerding 630 to 830, the show that we do every week talking about news, rumors, all the fun things that we do.

[01:24:35] Thursday, Distance Nerding interviews. Now, this week we don't actually have a guest. So, this week we will probably just, you know, hang out, me and Graveyard, talk some smack. We'll probably talk some X-Men 97 because we got to talk about that season finale and how we feel about what happened. I'm going to give you guys some time to go watch it before then if you haven't finished it yet because it's a doozy.

[01:25:04] There's a lot that happens that we definitely need to break down and talk about. On top of that, maybe we'll talk some lanterns. We'll talk about all the shows that are happening this week. You know, we've got some time to kind of catch up and talk about things that are happening. Next week, we're going to be talking with David Hudson, who is the co-creator of Drunk Shakespeare. Nice. Yes. So, what happens when you take shots and then go and recite Shakespeare?

[01:25:34] Hilarity ensues. It is great. I've actually, funny enough, they reached out to us and I was actually really familiar with this already. So, I was like, oh my God, the creator of Drunk Shakespeare is reaching out? I am very excited to talk about this with David Hudson. So, again, this week we'll probably be doing a recap of all the different shows that have finished up.

[01:26:01] But next week we'll be talking with David Hudson. And that's on September 3rd. So, we'll be having some fun there. Again, no game night this week. Mainly because I am going to be hosting panels. It's Morphin' time. It's Morphin' time. Power Morphicon, ladies and gentlemen. If you are not planning on, if you weren't planning on going to Power Morphicon, then you should. In Pasadena, California at the Pasadena Convention Center. We will be there. It's going to be a whole bunch of fun.

[01:26:31] We've got a whole bunch of panels that we have planned out. And it's going to be a good time, guys. So, make your way down to Pasadena, California. And go to the Pasadena Convention Center and check out Power Morphicon. Yeah. Real quick. If you are a Power Rangers fan, if you loved Power Rangers growing up, it's a con pretty much dedicated to Power Rangers. And it only happens like every other year. So, this is your chance to go to check it out.

[01:27:00] I mean, Pasadena is for what? It's six hours from us? So, even if you're from Sacramento or from the Bay, go check out Power Morphicon. Right. The other cool thing is it's not just Power Rangers this year. There's also, they've got actors for some of the Japanese counterparts from Sentai and all that are going to be there. You know, the Gokaiger Rangers are going to be there. VR Troopers is going to be there. The cast of VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetle Borgs are going to be there.

[01:27:31] Like, just a lot of the Saban stuff that was, like, repurposed, a lot of that stuff is going to be here. It's going to be at Power Morphicon this year. So, guys, come and check it out. It's going to be a good time. Yeah. Awesome. Really cool, like, activations or interactions, like the breakfasts. How cool is that? Right. They do, like, breakfast meet and greets with the actors.

[01:27:53] So, it's just another way to, like, do something different for the fans of Power Rangers. Oh, Stephen Price is going to be there. Yeah. Oh, my God. There's going to be so many people there. In the chat asking, when is it? So, that is this weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Pasadena. Pasadena at the Pasadena Convention Center. So, yeah. Make your way there. We will see you guys there. We're going to be doing some work.

[01:28:23] Saturday, I'm going to be doing an all-villains panel. Oh, that's fun. That's going to be fun. I'm going to be talking with a bunch of villains, including Paul Freeman. Oh, cool. You guys are unfamiliar with Paul Freeman. And my friend, Carla Perez, who I've worked with a lot now. But Paul Freeman is going to be there, who is Ivan Ooze from the movie. Oh, that's cool. And it's going to be fun. We're going to play a game.

[01:28:49] I'm going to – essentially, the idea is I am going to put out a quote, right? I'm going to put out a quote that a villain said, and they have to guess which villain said it. That's awesome. That'll be fun. That'll be fun. I'm on the site right now. I'm just looking. Sorry. They do some cool stuff. I mentioned the breakfast. There's also, like, a mixer that's happening on Saturday night. There's a VIP party on a Friday night.

[01:29:18] There's also trips that they do. So you can get as interactive as you want to. You know, the only cons I see do this is where they offer something more than just get an autograph. You can still do all that. Meet all those cool people. See all the cool panels. But also, there's all this other stuff that's happening around the con. I think it's pretty cool. Yeah. So it's going to be a great time.

[01:29:47] And again, we hope to see all you guys there. Oh, God. I hope Ken Kasogi doesn't rip into the Alien Rangers. I believe he's getting his own panel, which is going to be even crazier. So, I mean, Ken Kasogi actually speaks fluent English. So they're giving him his own panel. Oh, nice. Yeah. And yeah, Shinji Kasahara meeting Dan Southworth is going to be a fun interview.

[01:30:15] That's definitely one that we are all excited for. So finally get the East meets West. Dan's pretty cool. Yeah. Well, because, like, basically, you know, Shinji Kasahara was the Japanese actor. They both play the same character, essentially. Right. So it's like East meets West. It's there. They're finally, for the first time, meeting, you know, the same characters. The two guys that play the same character are meeting each other at the con. So a lot of people are excited for that one. That's awesome.

[01:30:45] Awesome. St. John. Deborah Estelle Phillips. I've interviewed her. She's been on the show. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. So you get to go see her in person this time. That's awesome. You interviewing her online. And she was hilarious. She just reposted a video from that recently. Oh, awesome. Yeah. So that was also fun. So, yeah, guys, come and hang out with us at Power Morphicon. We will be there this weekend.

[01:31:13] And with that being said, as always, guys, you can connect with us on all the social media places. If it exists, we are there at Distance Nerding. Also, you can email us at DistanceNerding at AOL.com. If you send us an email, we will read it on air, regardless of what it says. So if you sit there and you say, I hate young Phil, he has the worst voice and he is annoying as all hell. I will read that on air. I don't care. So there we go.

[01:31:43] If you find a way to make Jamez cry. Yeah, there we go. We will read that on air. So with that. Funny ways to make me cry. Thank you. I'm waiting for I'm waiting for Beller to send you something. I hate that you guys talk about Marvel. Can you stop talking about Marvel? And can we talk about Masters of the Universe? He does enjoy Masters of the Universe. Yes. I mean, you know, with good reason. Masters was good.

[01:32:12] So with that all being said, before we let everybody go, Bruce, buddy, time to go to bed. Go to bed, Bruce. Go to bed. You got to school in the morning, buddy. All right. Thanks and keep nerding together. Deuces. All right. Distance Nerding.

[01:32:53] This was a production of the Distance Nerding Podcast and Time for Tacos Media. For more content, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok. All at Distance Nerding. If you enjoy our content, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks and keep nerding together.