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Episode 004 - Four Comes After Three
55 Plays9 months ago
On this episode, we talk things we got wrong last week, some cool new trailers, Halo season 2, The Marvels, theme parks, and a whole lot more.
If you would like to send in an email or voicemail, you can reach us at [email protected]
Chapters
00:00:00 Intro
00:08:35 News & Stuff
00:44:34 What We're Watching
01:15:23 Theme Parks
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to just shilling I believe this is episode four. I'm your host Sean. Please take this more seriously Hoffman and With me as always is Andy paper itinerary Bell good friend of mine extraordinaire fantastic guy. How you doing, buddy?
The Necessity of Notepads
00:00:22
Speaker
I'm really well. Thank you. How are you? I'm better now, you know, it's I know you see my paper
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah, I'm happy that it's back, you know, just making its debut, its public debut. I mean, I've seen it before and the others from London have seen it, but I'm happy that it's here with us, like always. What can I say? I live a hard and fast life, and if I don't have a good notepad and pen next to me, I feel naked. I thought you typed them up. I didn't think you'd hand wrote. I thought you typed them up and printed them out.
00:00:59
Speaker
No, no, that was Star Wars Celebration. Well, that's what I'm referring to. I'm digging up that old leaf cut. In fairness, I use Control-V on that. I just basically took the itinerary and thought, am I going to get coverage in the, is the app going to work in the convention? Am I going to get coverage on my cell phone? Hey, I'll just cut and paste the itinerary onto and print it off. So no, I didn't type it by hand. I just used the
00:01:29
Speaker
the good old control C, control V function of most modern keyboards today. What's new, buddy? I know there's some stuff you wanted to talk about at the front, so I'd love to hear it.
Alien Romulus and Franchise Updates
00:01:46
Speaker
Excitingly, we've got our first correction.
00:01:49
Speaker
from last week's ep. We've got our first correction whereby this tired old fart last week got his brain mixed up over Alien. So Alien Romulus, which was being talked, we talked about last week in some depth, that's actually going to be released in the theaters and not released on Disney Plus because I got mixed up with a parallel development going on at the moment, which is actually a TV series.
00:02:19
Speaker
a prequel to the Alien franchise, which is also being developed at the same time that the Alien Romulus film, movie, sorry, again, that's in four theaters, is being developed as well. So my apologies for that. It didn't take very long at all for a very good friend of ours to say, hey, you're wrong there.
00:02:38
Speaker
And I apologize profusely and I apologize to you guys now. The second thing was the same friend pointed out to me that when we talked about news last week, we didn't cover perhaps some of the news going on at the moment in terms of Gina Carano and her alleged court case with Disney and taking them to
Avoiding Negativity in Discussions
00:03:01
Speaker
court.
00:03:01
Speaker
I made the point clear to that person that asked me. It was a very innocent question as to why we didn't cover it in news and I'll share my response to everyone that's listening as to why we're not. We like to think that Just Shilling is a positive podcast and we're going to try our hardest
00:03:20
Speaker
to only talk about positivity and the stuff that we like and try not to spend too much time on perhaps some of the negative things that are happening out there, especially when it comes down to fandom reactions. Sorry, the reactions within fandom. And so therefore there are other people more qualified and perhaps more equipped
00:03:39
Speaker
and certainly better podcasts than us that can address that. And so we stand by positivity, but most importantly, inclusion and diversity on this podcast. And if you want to know other podcasts that perhaps provided, as far as I know at the moment, the most comprehensive and perhaps unbiased and pragmatic
00:04:06
Speaker
for the most part view on the situation with Gina Carano and her case towards Disney, I really implore everyone to speak to, to listen to the Sith Lift, not this week's episode that's just landed, but last week's and I think Eric Iraj and the guys do an amazing job of seeing both sides of the story and really the
00:04:31
Speaker
the pragmatic view that most corporations take when it comes down to employees of theirs and the way that they behave in public. So that's all I really want to say about that. But I wanted to address the reason why we as a team didn't want to talk about it last week.
Personal Struggles and Apologies
00:04:49
Speaker
And then lastly, I just want to give an apology to you, my friend Sean, but also to the listeners last week. On re-listening to last week's episode, just a sanity check that I knew what we were talking about, I noticed that I seemed extremely tired and I was somewhat rambling last week.
00:05:09
Speaker
Sean, you already know what's been going on in my life over the last couple of weeks, but I thought it prudent to explain to everyone listening to the pod that we've had perhaps a couple of tougher weeks than I've actually been open and honest about on the pod in that a very much loved member of our family is currently in hospital and has been
00:05:36
Speaker
been in intensive care or ICU for the last two weeks and that person is very, very close to us and very important to us and both Lucy and I have been spending an awful lot of time between home and the hospital and managing
00:05:57
Speaker
the rest of the fact the rest of the extended family and so perhaps while I was insistent that I joined last week's call or sorry last week's pod because for me it was a great break from reality and just talk about nothing it was great for my own
00:06:12
Speaker
well-being, perhaps I probably should have skipped that week in that I myself identified that I somewhat rambled for the sake of just talking last week and I promised to do a better job. And Sean, you've been awesome with this. But I wanted to get that off my chest because I didn't particularly enjoy. Last week is perhaps in retrospect, as perhaps I have done in previous weeks.
00:06:38
Speaker
And most importantly, most importantly, I booked a holiday for our family. So we have booked a holiday. To get over the drudgery of February, we have booked a family holiday in June of this year. And the four of us, myself, Lucy and the two girls are going away. I'm going to have a nice holiday. And so it's something we finally
00:07:04
Speaker
can look forward to later on in the year during these very, very hard weeks and months of the first part of 2024. So thank you, Sean. And over to you, mate. What have you been up to? Well, first of all, hell yeah, dude. Holidays are awesome. Like, I'd love... I hate planning them. I'll be real honest there. I think that's my least favorite part. But man, there's nothing better than
00:07:33
Speaker
Like that feeling of like, it's kind of like setting a goal or like having things to look forward to of just like, man, I'm, and I feel like the older I get, the more I'm like, I'm just looking forward to doing nothing. You know, it's just that, that escape with people that you like and just doing something different, trying on a different pair of shoes or things like that. So that's awesome. I'm glad that, I'm glad that you guys were able to get that, that booked and get it coordinated and.
00:07:59
Speaker
There is something very very cathartic about actually looking forward to something. It doesn't matter where we're going, it doesn't matter what we're doing, the fact that we've got something to look forward to later on in the year during what has been
00:08:14
Speaker
a pretty shit time. And then on top of that, it's during the most gloomy and dreary months of the UK year. It's just something nice to look forward to that we can, you know, will get us through what's been going on and certainly until we start seeing the sun in this country, which hopefully is soon. So what about yourself, dude? Let me know what you've been up to.
X-Men 97 and Nostalgic Reboots
00:08:43
Speaker
hanging out, working, I've been watching some stuff, but I can, do you wanna talk about news first or do we wanna talk about what we've been watching? Cause other than that, I mean, I've just been hanging out, enjoying the snow, shovel in the driveway, hanging out with the cats, somebody, I won't name names in this household managed to break the gaming PC. And so that's been a whole,
00:09:12
Speaker
Like it's one of those unexpected things. It's like, it's not a horrible, it's like, oh no, I got my, my car broke down. But it's one of those things where it's like, oh man, now I gotta like, I gotta like figure out like how, what I gotta do to like fix, fix this thing. Because like the Sims isn't gonna play itself. And so that's, that's been like kind of the core of my week of, of, you know, work and trying to figure out how to rebuild this gaming PC. But other than that, I've just been kind of hanging out, watching stuff.
00:09:39
Speaker
But yeah, I can chat about that when we get into what we've been watching section. But other than that, I think there's some cool news that's come out. Yeah. So for me, one of them is the X-Men 1997, or X-Men 97 trailer. That was always one of those weird shows for me as a kid that before streaming and everything like that, I watched it Saturday mornings.
00:10:07
Speaker
And it never is like Rocky and Bullwinkle. It's like, I could never figure out what was going on because they were never aired in order. So I'm just like trying to like.
00:10:17
Speaker
piece it all together and this was before comics and stuff, before I was really into comics or anything like that. And so it's really cool to see this trailer come out. It's weird to see that style of animation in such high quality. So like it's kind of jarring for me to see it and like, hey, it's like 4K and it's just weird. But I'm interested to see the,
00:10:43
Speaker
see it when it comes out and kind of follow along. So that was kind of cool. It's kind of like a weird nostalgic like upscaling of the old story and stuff. It's weird. I was going to ask that question because I've heard about this a lot. I hear you talking about it a lot. I hear the likes of whores talking about it a lot. I hear obviously King Tom is really, really into X-Men in particular. And I hear a lot of people talking about it. Is this literally a continuation
00:11:11
Speaker
of the old Marvel cartoon that I used to watch, I was about to say as a kid, but I wasn't, I was actually in my 20s at the time, but you know what I mean? You know what I mean? Is it literally that? Is it just a continuation or is it something new?
00:11:29
Speaker
I can't say with absolute certainty. I believe it is. I believe it is, and I believe there's been some fill-ins. I was never fully clear of the original cartoons, how much it aligned with what was going on with the comics and those arcs, but I believe that this is a continuation of sorts of the 97 cartoon, maybe with some additions from some snatch and grabs from some of the comics as well. It's not like, oh, it ended with episode,
00:11:59
Speaker
89 and now we're going to 90. I think there there's a little bit of a space between um and probably some there's probably going to be some retconning and some changes because From what I remember of that cartoon like it It kind of did what it wanted at times and hopefully it's coming in with a more mature
00:12:16
Speaker
of more mature, like relative obviously, like writing style and like maybe story cohesion instead of that like mid to late 90s, late 80s kind of cartoon writing where it's like, just fill 30 minutes and see what happens. But yeah, I believe it is a continuation.
00:12:36
Speaker
This cat, I got to throw this cat out real fast. No, it's fine. No, it's fine. I was going to say, I'm actually quite looking forward to it, because I used to enjoy the moments where I would catch up, typically on a late Friday when we came in from other clubbing or, I don't know, just creating trouble between Lucy and I in town. But what I used to like about it was the fact that it was one of those, it was
00:13:03
Speaker
really high production value. I had no idea what was going on. And to be honest with you, as a kid reading comics, X-Men never really appealed to me. But there was this kind of nuances and obviously Wolverine came out of that as being quite prominent. And it's like, oh, you're pretty cool. But also I'm looking forward to it in that some of the stuff, we spoke about this last week.
00:13:24
Speaker
in that there is an awful lot of nostalgia or re-releases or reboots or reimaginations of old stuff that quite frankly runs the risk of being tired and a little bit dull. It's kind of like because it feels like, you know, have we lost all of our creative thinking and we're having to look at the past to kind of work out what the content is going to be for the future. But in this case,
00:13:50
Speaker
I'm looking forward to it because I really enjoyed Kevin Smith's take on He-Man recently on Netflix. And in season two, I haven't seen it yet. But the first two episodes, sorry, the first two parts of season one, I really, really enjoyed despite perhaps one or two of the fan base out there expecting something else. I actually really, really enjoyed it. So if it's that kind of
00:14:16
Speaker
I don't know, not to nostalgia, but a reimagining in creating something new, which brings perhaps underrepresented characters that were kind of side characters, I mean, in the He-Man world such as Teela, bring them to the forefront as being representative of society today. I'm well up for that, really, really up for that. Oh yeah, absolutely. What's funny is you bring up those He-Man, the He-Man show,
00:14:41
Speaker
I actually, I really enjoyed it too, but I have trouble remembering what happened because I watched that one and the other, like the kids' version at the same time. And so I, like to me, it's all one big series. I'm like, oh yeah, that was cool. And then, and then the Ram, Ram, they're like a Ram man's daughter was like, wait, no, that was like the kid version. And I was like, Oh, I don't know. I enjoyed all of them. They're all cool and like, and weird in their own ways, but, uh,
00:15:10
Speaker
But no, I think you have a really solid point there. I won't go into it too much because I could talk for four and a half hours about this movie. It's similar to the new TMNT, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie that came out. I know there was a lot of criticism of it, but dude, I absolutely loved it.
00:15:28
Speaker
It had the nostalgia factor, but it was new and fresh and they changed some stuff. And it's like, I don't want to see the same story over and over again just because it was that way when I was a kid or in my twenties, you know, coming home from the bars or whatever. You're welcome. But it's...
00:15:46
Speaker
I have a passion for this universe or a certain franchise and the memories and the feelings that it makes me have, but I'm not beholden to it. I love the feeling, not the individual specifics of what's happened. And I think that's where maybe I've let go.
00:16:07
Speaker
not that I'm perfect or anything like that, but that's where I've let go of some of those emotional feelings, like when things get retconned in some of our popular franchises, it's like, you know what, it's still better than no content. Like I'd rather get more content than I can digest and like, and get those feelings again, like those memories and things like that, then to just sit with my little walled garden and be like, no, these are all things I love and don't touch anything, like leave it all alone.
00:16:34
Speaker
It's like, because if I don't like something, I just won't watch it again. Or I'll just be like, yeah, okay, that was fine, it's whatever. But I don't know, that's kind of my philosophy on it. Not everything has to be an 11 out of 10, but just being able to step into those franchises and get more content is top tier for me, for sure.
00:16:58
Speaker
Agreed. And ultimately at the end of the day, if it adds value to the old law and then builds on that to create a new story, then yeah, let it, it's got legs to continue. To your point, if it's just regurgitating the old nostalgia for the sake of it, then they need to address that. But yeah, no, I'm totally with you. Totally with you. Anything else on your radar from the news?
Kong vs Godzilla Excitement
00:17:28
Speaker
I saw the, I watched the Kong and Godzilla new, was it New Empire trailer? There is something inside of me that I am not proud of.
00:17:43
Speaker
that is gets way too like happy and giggly whenever I see like big ass Kaiju beating the crap out of each other. Like the story, I don't even care. Like I just don't, I don't even care. Like, oh, there's humans involved. Who cares? Like I just, there's baby, baby Kong.
00:18:03
Speaker
like the scarred, the bad Kong looking thing. They're probably like a shimu, frost giant thing. I don't care. I don't care what stories, but just the idea of getting to go to a movie theater and just watch gigantic unrealistic creatures beat the crap out of each other is so funny to me. Like there's no walking away from it unhappy. Like I love the Pacific Rim movies. And this is, I think the older I get the more I like lean into it of like,
00:18:33
Speaker
It's just, who cares? Like, it doesn't matter. It's just awesome. It's good, fun.
00:18:38
Speaker
And at the end of the day, it's like, I just like watching, yeah, I wanna see a giant ape take a bone whip, wrap it around a building, rip the building in half and throw half the building at another monkey. That is ridiculous and awesome. And I, somebody, what's funny is the fly on the wall, here, I promise I'll be done with this. I think that now that I'm having like a realization is like, I think it's being that fly on the wall. It's like, somebody took time and it's their job.
00:19:06
Speaker
to meet with other people in a meeting and go, okay, so Sean, you're gonna be in charge of animating the part where the whip wraps around the building. And it's like, people, this is, people do this. This is like their job. And it's just funny. Like, I'd love to be a fly on the wall fat, but I'm sorry. My rant, my, my giggly rant is over. No, no, no, no. I'm exactly like you. I'm exactly like, well, you and I know at least
00:19:32
Speaker
four people that we know of very very closely that will be looking at this under a microscope because they are so invested in the law of the kaiju and everything but me but like you as I've got older the more ridiculous a scenario
00:19:53
Speaker
I'm loving it, and I don't really care about what's going on behind it, which is kind of the way I feel about things like the sacred Star Wars at the moment, anything like that, the more ridiculous they can get, the more I'm enjoying it, because it is so ridiculous that quite frankly, it's a lot more fun. But I mean, the idea, I mean, the first thing I did, which I'm sure insulted a few people, was I saw the trailer, it's like, wait, Kong's got an Infinity Gauntlet.
00:20:21
Speaker
What's that about? Because he's got this, he's got this golden glove, right? That is kicking his arm, his armor, his mechanical armor thing, bashing, bashing the crap out of things. I'm thinking, Oh my God, can you imagine if they do the ultimate match up between Kaiju and Marvel? That would really, really set the house on fire. That really, really would. Apparently that's not the case.
00:20:43
Speaker
And I need to do my research, which I've been told I should do and take this more seriously. But I have to say, I'm looking for, I will go to the theater for that, just for the shits and giggles of how ridiculous the whole thing is. I love it. It's like what, that's what's funny. It's like, that's the story I am invested in. It's like, because I saw one of our friends post like, oh, he's got like a robot hand, but then you look at it. No, his hand is still there.
00:21:08
Speaker
So like, did it just get like severed tendons so he can't, doesn't have good function of it? But then they just put that thing on top and it's like it like gripped into his skin. It's like, no, it's like a, like the Elysium suit almost. It's almost like an exos, like an exo glove. It's like, ah, he can't, he doesn't have full range of motion in his fingers, but he's got this giant like metal glove that he can just,
00:21:34
Speaker
I don't know. I just love it. I made a comment in one of our threads where somebody posted the thing and the posters of them like running. It's like there's the idea of like there's nowhere that those kaiju need to be running. Like there's nothing that is going on that they would be running like full sprint. Like are they running across the ocean? Like what's happening? I don't know. I love it. It's awesome. I'm excited. I'm gonna go see it in theaters. It's just dumb and I love every minute of it.
00:22:04
Speaker
It does remind me, it's like, oh, go ahead, go ahead.
Deadpool and Wolverine Trailer Buzz
00:22:07
Speaker
No, I was going to say, so while we're talking about trailers, did you catch the Deadpool 3 trailer? Deadpool and Wolverine trainer as well? I did. I did catch it.
00:22:17
Speaker
I feel like I feel on to pull, I mean, I enjoyed it. Like, so it's not what I'm about to say, but I feel like I'm on both sides of a feeling where it's, I feel like there was nothing in it on one hand, but also there was a ton of stuff in it that like kind of lends itself to like where this movie is going to go. Like I was surprised at how much
00:22:39
Speaker
kind of like low-key level stuff was in there and how they're like, oh, this is gonna be how they're merging the universes and kind of tying all this together. Cause I haven't really followed it. Like I haven't followed in a new time. It's like, oh, cool. Deadpool and Wolverine, I've kind of glossed over it up until recently because I just thought, I assumed it was gonna be like another Deadpool movie that didn't really have a no consequence kind of film. But then kind of seeing the trailer, it's like, well, okay, no.
00:23:09
Speaker
It is. It is going to have consequence in the large scale things. But then at the same time, I feel like that's all it showed. Like I don't really have any other idea of. What kind of movie this is going to be. Yeah, that's a good thing, though. I mean, it's it's it's I mean, it's all right. We know it's all right. It's going to be.
00:23:37
Speaker
Deadpool doing Deadpool stuff, which is basically Ryan Reynolds anyway. It's very much his repertoire. What I don't think helped it out with two of the Ryan Reynolds films being, I believe, part of the trailers as well, and Ryan Reynolds is
00:23:54
Speaker
Fucking amazing. I love him to bits. Absolutely love him to bits. He is such a, I wouldn't say character actor, but he's such a good film star to have in a film at this moment in time that really captures the mood of the view in public today. And it's cynicism as well, which I think is really, really cool. But then having him, I believe, in two other trailers,
00:24:24
Speaker
being Ryan Reynolds I'm not sure if that did Deadpool and Wolverine any any any favors but you know whatever I'm still gonna go and see it it's one of the soup it's one of the only that and Guardians
00:24:44
Speaker
are really the only superhero movies that Lucy likes. So that's one she'll come with me to go and see. So hell yeah, I'm in. And if this is indeed the last of the trilogy that unfortunately couldn't be managed through the old structure, then I've got to go and see it because it's been a good blast. And I hope they end it if it is indeed the end.
00:25:09
Speaker
I hope they end it on a high, because he really did reinvent the superhero movie and introduce the fourth wall, which we've obviously seen subsequently with She-Hulk and other types of productions. But yeah, that's all on him. So I really hope he does well out of this, just because I also think the guy's kind of cool.
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah, like seeing how they ended, it's probably going to be the biggest thing for me of like, because I'm not a writer. So it's like, how do you do it? How do you do it justice, but also try to tie it into this more, I don't want to say more serious, but a more grounded universe in a lot of ways, because it's just Deadpool Deadpool Deadpool. So I'm curious to see how they navigate those waters. And I hope they do it justice. I hope I hope he gets a
00:25:59
Speaker
I don't know if it's a send off or whatever, whatever it is. And I like, I'm not looking for like an emotional thing with this. No, I'm not looking like for like a guardians of the galaxy like porn my porn my my coat up around my face and trying not to
00:26:17
Speaker
quiver in the movie. It wouldn't fit anyway with it. I mean, that kind of tone wouldn't actually fit because you'd be thinking, this is a joke. There's some sort of joke to be had here, but yeah, I'm totally with you. What about anything else? Anything else on your radar this week, my friend? Again, I had your ears twitching. I think that's all I have, but I know you have some stuff on your side.
00:26:45
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, I'll get through this really quick because it really is a list. I don't have an awful lot of information. But ironically, we talked last week about Prey in my miscommunication of what I thought Alien Romulus was going to be. But we've got the same director that introduced us to Prey is also doing some more anthology films on Predator.
00:27:15
Speaker
for release on Disney+. At the moment, there's speculation that he's going to really take this idea of moments in history to demonstrate the predator having been visiting Earth for quite some time now. There's rumors that he may visit feudal Japan, which will be sick.
00:27:36
Speaker
if that's going to be the case and or um the trenches in world war one so uh the trenches in in flanders or sorry in in in uh in western europe in france in during world war one either way i'd like both please because i think the idea of this anthology um
00:27:56
Speaker
idea of demonstrating just how these predators have been challenging us to their hunting trials for many many years would be really really cool without necessarily some messy sticky connective tissue between
00:28:18
Speaker
the main movie franchise, which I think unfortunately is what got them bogged down with new ideas. I'm really, really up for that if there's the same kind of vigor and intent to please and to plan that went into play. So I'm really happy about that. Donald Glover on Lando. So Donald recently was doing an interview, I believe, on the
00:28:45
Speaker
Mr and Mrs Smith series that I finished this week actually we'll talk about that later and at the same time it gave the reporters the opportunity to talk about his status on where he is in the Lando production the movie that we were sorry the original series that we found out what six months ago it's going to be developed now as a movie which I'm really stoked about I've talked to you long and long and
00:29:09
Speaker
for many, many hours about my, I'm really interested in the secondary, the tertiary or indeed the any man or every man stories of the Star Wars universe and less excited this way these days about the space wizard, the special ability, the force and all the mystical stuff. It's those kind of background dudes or like I said, the every man or any man that I'm really, really interested in. And for me,
00:29:37
Speaker
The absolute manifestation of that are the likes of Lando, you know, just a guy swindling and gambling and charming his way through the galaxy. Really, really excited about. I talked about last week as part of my book collection, the original Calrissian Chronicles, the idea of him
00:29:57
Speaker
of us getting a kind of anthology story of the week or mystery of the week or challenge of the week kind of to create those kind of anecdotes which become the Calrissian Chronicles would be amazing. Although saying that I also would like it
00:30:22
Speaker
maybe not before he met with Han Solo but after he met with Han Solo he lost obviously the Falcon and at some point he finds his way back to fortune again by indeed winning Bespin so that might also be an interesting take and actually
00:30:41
Speaker
be apart from Genevieve O'Reilly who has crossed all three trilogy eras that will enable
00:30:56
Speaker
the character of Lando to be played by one actor across potentially two different timelines which will get us over the the idea that everything has to be CG and an original to the OT going forward and we can start seeing something
00:31:15
Speaker
a new breakout of that kind of storytelling. So I'm really looking forward to it. I've got no idea what's going on. But Lando, if you remember that slate a couple of years ago, prior to COVID, that investors call that showed
00:31:32
Speaker
loads and loads and loads of productions that were being in development. One of which was, was it Droid Tales? One of which was obviously at the time, Rangers of the New Republic. One of them was Lando, as well as Skeleton Crew and all the stuff that we're getting and loving today. The one thing that stood out for me, probably more than anyone else I know, was the Lando series, because again, it was that idea of the
00:31:59
Speaker
a happy-go-lucky chancer, gambler out there in the galaxy, just enjoying himself, enjoying life and making his way in making a quick buck or so. So that for me is probably more exciting than for other people. So yeah, up for that. I've spent way too long on it. Next one was the movie schedule. So during this year's investor school,
00:32:24
Speaker
and they talked about the movie schedule. There's nothing really to write home about there. Apart from we know that now the first Star Wars movie will be launched in the May of 2026. So unfortunately we're not going to get anything in 2025.
00:32:40
Speaker
as we originally suspected or hoped for and then followed very quickly by another movie in the winter or December of 2026 and then the next one after that following the sorry being the following Christmas of 2027 so we've got an idea of of schedule now which has somewhat been lacking over recent months and and perhaps even years well
00:33:05
Speaker
Lucasfilm get their stuff together, work out what the post pandemic universe looks like. And obviously the post strike universe looks like or planning cycle looks like with the impact on their schedule from that.
Star Wars Movie Schedule Updates
00:33:18
Speaker
So it's good to know. We don't know which one's which. We know we know what's in the pipe. We know that Favreau's got his film coming up. We know that Filoni's got his film for coming up. We know of the Ray movie. Sorry. Yeah, we know the Ray movie. We know of the the old Republic.
00:33:34
Speaker
remove it's coming out at some point. We don't know what they mean in context of this release schedule, but I'm assuming at least one or two of them will land in these slots. So we have a, you know, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We have a future there, which is always good to hear.
00:33:51
Speaker
The last thing I was going to talk about was around collecting. So the first thing was you and I, we like a little bit of Lego. We like a little bit of Lego. A couple of rumored sets that are coming our way. First being the UCS Tie Interceptor and being an imperial ship fanboy as you are. I thought I might excite you. Most exciting for me is the UCS Sales Barge. Now I don't have any room for this.
00:34:18
Speaker
because i'm expecting something quite magnificent the original lego sales sale barge was at least crikey 45 inches across at the very very at the very very least so something that's ucs size which should be
00:34:35
Speaker
albeit a little bit of scaling down as close to the scale of the minifigs, it's going to be frigging huge. And it's going to be a massive investment because quite frankly, I've skipped an awful lot. You know, I've already got the Falcon, but I skipped all of the other stuff. I skipped the the UCS. Come on, the Mandalorian's ship, the Razorcrest. Razorcrest, I skipped that.
00:35:03
Speaker
I bought the tiny one but didn't have the space or quite frankly the disposable income to get the Razor Quest so I skipped that. I skipped the Star Destroyer. I've skipped an awful lot of the UCS stuff but the sale barge in itself is a design classic and that scene drums up so much
00:35:24
Speaker
so many warm feels for me that it might be something that I get involved in. And then lastly, during the latest Hasbro Pulse conference call, I guess, or announcements they made, they announced the release or the pre-order window for the e-wing, for the Vintage Collection e-wing. Now,
00:35:51
Speaker
You, we spoke about this a couple of weeks back. I don't do an awful lot of collecting anymore in the, I don't have space and I don't have the inclination and quite frankly, if the, if the stuff doesn't land at the same time as the content, I kind of lose interest and the, or short, sorry, shall I say the immediacy to actually, to actually buy it. But I've always loved the e-wing. I've always loved the e-wing and I don't have any
00:36:17
Speaker
I don't have any, apart from my chewies, I don't have any vintage collection at all. Obviously the original stuff I gave away to charity, but I'm talking vintage collection, modern vintage, you know, 12 points of articulation stuff. I don't have any of it at all, but this model is awesome. And my first reaction was, my goodness me, I mean, I felt the way in Ahsoka where they brought it back in Ahsoka was they're finally using, you know,
00:36:47
Speaker
dark empire and add to the empire content and bring it into into canon and one of the things I loved about that content was was the e-wing it was uh it was the natural in my mind evolution of the x-wing something different something new that I was hoping might have been in the in the sequel trilogy but but it was in it was it's now in canon by by one way or another
00:37:11
Speaker
and they've improved on it as well so while i love the idea of the the e-wing being the the successor at the time of the x-wing it wasn't particularly pretty and that's because it was stylized for for comic purposes but what they've done is they've really really looked at it and looked at it in context of a the existing
00:37:30
Speaker
the existing industrial design of what they have in terms of of starships and models and added a certain amount of real life elements to it as how will this how will this ship operate in atmosphere how would it look compared to modern you know next generation fighters of today and it's mint it looks beautiful absolutely beautiful so as we talked about before we kicked off the call
00:37:56
Speaker
There's a very, very good chance I'm actually going to order that one. It's affordable, unlike a lot of other things that I can't really afford or even justify to my wife at the moment. I'll probably find a spot for it to hang from the ceiling of my den. Oh yeah. I mean, it's similar to what we talked about ahead of time. The Ewing is slick.
00:38:17
Speaker
And I think it's, and it's also helps that like E-Wing merch is hard to come by. Like, yeah, you can go on eBay and get the old action fleet thing for like $600 in box. But then again, that's the old style.
00:38:33
Speaker
like the the legend style which is cool because it's so limited in its availability but I like you said I really like the the updated design they've they've taken it away they've moved it away from kind of the prequel dropship tall
00:38:50
Speaker
Super sloped wings bulky look and they've they've really streamlined it made it look more like a like a scout ship Brought it closer to the design of the of an x-wing. So it looks like a Same manufacturer same kind of design aesthetic. So I really really like that. It's really cool while like the vintage collection is not my my jam like
00:39:14
Speaker
mainly for space, like I need, I got to be very careful about like, the size of stuff as I sit in an office full of crap already. But no, it is it is really cool. And like, I, I want to see it in person. Like, that's one of those, I've gotten so picky with, with what I get anymore. It's either got to be something
00:39:34
Speaker
really unique or just like caught in the moment. But that that one is tempting. That's probably more tempting than most have been in the past. And I also had a thought about the the UCS Lego stuff. So I caught wind of the UCS sale barge. I think I think you'd mentioned it or something and I started digging into it, but I can't seem to find any concrete information on it. Like it sounds like correct me if I'm wrong. I have
00:39:58
Speaker
all of the images that I've seen of it are like kind of like weird leaks or either like digit digital transfers of like something that somebody found online or or like people masquerading the old set as the new set but from what I was able to find like it seems like they've it came from like these surveys that were sent out like asking people about pricing and things like that but I haven't been able to find like a concrete image of it because I'm curious how a UCS sale barge would
00:40:27
Speaker
would work and look because like just from looking at the images and like and just looking at the scale and like obviously lego is is is a certain aesthetic it's like that needs to to be ucs level it's like i feel like it would need to be absolutely massive to get the level of detail i mean not not like the has lab
00:40:49
Speaker
like a version, not quite that big, but I feel like it would need to be pretty big to justify and kind of warrant that UCS level branding. So I'm curious to see how that works. And if it if it does pan pan out, I don't know. There's a few guys I follow. And I'm, I enjoy building Lego when I'm on my own just to clear my brain. It's not it's not anything
00:41:15
Speaker
It's not something that I do out of any kind of collection addiction. I just do it when there's something I like and not necessarily consistent with the rest of my collection. So, for example, Lucy and I did a bonsai tree of Christmas time together because it was a great looking kit and we did it.
00:41:36
Speaker
That guy. And so have you. Whenever I mention something, you've got it. But yes, yes, that one there. But there's a couple of guys, because of that, there's a couple of guys that I follow and they've already kind of got the UCS
00:41:53
Speaker
serial number. It's a little bit like the way that Yak face looks into code names and kind of predicts what's coming on. There's a few of them out there. It may well be BS, I've no idea, but if it is happening, I would like to think that
00:42:12
Speaker
There's an awful lot more scope for UCS because of course the Hasbro pulse cell bar was built off a 3.75 inch character, which gave it two floors and only two floors. Whereas if they do something a similar size, even a little bit smaller, it's going to be based on a minifigure size so that the scope available to them, you know,
00:42:37
Speaker
with not as much detail, of course, because it's Lego, not Hasbro, but I'd like to think that it's going to be worth its way. And these guys in particular, it's really interesting because they talk about the value
00:42:55
Speaker
of kits an awful lot as well. And they basically work out the value of a kit, whether it's worth buying or not, based on the number of, obviously the number of pieces, divided by the total cost of the year, divided by the number of pieces. And typically they'll come out with a, this is good value or this is really bad value. And they come out with a kind of assessment. So definitely people are talking about it online that are better experts than I am about it.
00:43:19
Speaker
For sure. If it doesn't come to anything, again, we'll send another correction or an apology. But it has got me thinking, you know, my mind greats have been going at two in the morning. Ooh, that'll be nice. I need to find a nice place for that. Yeah. Speaking of the correction, I was sitting there thinking about it. It popped into my head when you were talking about it. I was like, what if that was just like one of the Easter eggs of the podcast going forward? Like we always just slipped.
00:43:46
Speaker
one random piece of like slightly wrong information in just to get people's mind grapes going intentionally or not. Like every episode is just like, you know, this is coming. I have every I have every expectation that this won't be the first and certainly not the last time that we do that we do that we get our facts wrong. I'm just reading out as I as I see it. So if we get it wrong, we get it wrong and forgive us, but we love you all.
00:44:13
Speaker
It's like, what's your summer? So it's like, I'm just excited about it. That's what, because I want it. I made it up. I made it up. I'm manifesting it. I'm manifesting it in my own brain. And so therefore it must be true. So tell me brother, what have you been watching this week? And my mind is going to be relatively binary. So take as much time as you need.
Halo Season 2 Review
00:44:34
Speaker
So I've watched a lot of tutorials on how to like,
00:44:40
Speaker
repair gaming computers, but that's not interesting. There's probably, there's two, there's kind of two main things that I think are noteworthy that I watched that I really kind of had some takeaways from. One of those I think is easy, is easy to discuss. And that's the Halo season two series on what was that Paramount Plus or whatever it was. I know, like I enjoyed season one, but I think that's because like,
00:45:10
Speaker
I'm not beholden to the original game series story. It's inspired by it, but it doesn't follow it by any means. And personally, I know this is kind of, in a lot of circles, a controversial opinion, but I'm kind of glad they did that. One, I have no idea where it's going, but two, I think it...
00:45:33
Speaker
It changes, like I don't wanna see that same story rehashed. Like it's, especially when you're in a video game, like you get so much detail and so much time that you, and nuance and details that you can't get in a TV show. So I think it needs to be adapted. I don't think you can do a one-to-one, otherwise it'll just be boring or lack detail. So I think they're doing a very interesting job. I know there were a lot of criticisms around him, like taking his helmet off,
00:46:02
Speaker
And it's like, oh no, it's Master Chief. Like why is his helmet off? Why is Pablo, I forget his last name underneath there. But I mean, it's like, which is crazy to me. Cause it's like, you want Mandalorian to take his helmet off, but then we want Master Chief to keep his on. And it's like, I get that there's different reasons, but it was just like, it's whatever. Like I like it. It's, it was fun. It was interesting. Season two is,
00:46:30
Speaker
It started out kind of slow. I think they released like one or two episodes. I think I've watched three so far.
00:46:36
Speaker
It hasn't dug into a lot of the stuff that went into season one. So that part kind of sucks and it's kind of slow. I wish they'd just give me the rest of the episodes, but I'm enjoying it. It's kind of cool seeing some of the halo reach level, like, oh, I have a team of people that are important. It's not just me and Cortana and a bunch of cannon fodder. But I will say the funny thing, the first thing I noticed between season one and season two is that lead actor,
00:47:03
Speaker
He freaking yoked between seasons. He is massive now and it is crazy. I need to get on that workout regimen and that diet because it is insane. It's like incredible. But other than that, it's a fun show. I encourage people to watch it. If you're a huge, huge, huge fan of Halo and the story, like the games,
00:47:32
Speaker
go in with an open mind and be like, it's inspired by Halo. It's Halo, but through a certain point of view. And I think it's really interesting and engaging how it's kind of turning out. See, that's always a difficult thing, right? We've promised each other that in a future week, and if we can get a much-loved friend of ours to come on as a guest, that would be great. But if not, we'll talk about it anyway.
00:48:00
Speaker
But the idea of, again, we will talk about at some point a game to movie or game to TV series or comic to movie or comic to TV series conversion and what's worked and what's not. And in my mind what's not worked and got the most criticism is where they've tried so hard. I'll give you Watchmen as an example.
00:48:24
Speaker
is where they've tried so hard to keep to the written word and to replicate it right for like, like for like, you're never going to get it right. You're never ever going to get it right. And so then, then taking an interpretation of that and doing your own thing, it's lower risk. Yeah. It might, it might be quite jarring in terms of not being exactly the same as you remember it, but
00:48:51
Speaker
getting it exactly as you remember it, if that's what they're trying to achieve, it's so goddamn difficult. But quite frankly, it ends up typically failing. So I like the idea of reinterpretations of stuff. It's a good thing. Unless it's unless it comes out extremely close to when the original source came out, because there's, like you said, there's a million factors. Like, yeah, Watchmen, the comic came out.
00:49:16
Speaker
a while ago and then the movie came out not close to it and so it's like you're you have to factor in the the age and the society and the zeitgeist and everything of that time and like you'll never replicate that same feeling and emotion when when new content is created so like the further away from the original source material that you that you
00:49:38
Speaker
like you create it, you have to make adjustments. Like June, Dune is different from the books intentionally, like as it has to adapt to the times. But, and I think the same is,
00:49:53
Speaker
right for halo and it's also it's a different medium similar to what we talked about last week with comics it's like in the dr afra stuff it's like dr afra in it in a visual medium is going to be different from the comics because it's a different like you have a different set of timing you have a different pacing you have different things like that and so a video game you have all time in the world you could sit there i could spend 300 hours going through a story and i get every little nugget in in piece of information but you don't get that in a movie
00:50:20
Speaker
or a series like if you tried to do it in series like oh just make it put it put into 30 10 10 minute episodes like it's not the same like you have to button it up so i like what they're doing i think it's interesting it is it is what it is it's not
00:50:36
Speaker
it's
00:50:55
Speaker
industrial design, tech and Starship porn. It's also just worth watching for that as well. I mean, I've watched the most absolute crap over the years, but the design and the tech has been really, really damn good. Do you remember a series called A Space Above and Beyond? It was not the best.
00:51:14
Speaker
TV program of all time, but the tech in it was awesome. And it was worth my time just watching, following that every week because of that alone. Fair play. And when I get a chance, I will watch it as well. What about the other stuff? Are you still catching up with... What's it called? Warriors of the Air? Come on, help me out here. Gods of the Air. Masters of the Air? Masters of the Air. Masters of the Air.
00:51:44
Speaker
Yeah, I'm catching up. It's getting spicy now. I think my problem is, is I know too much about the real life aspects of it. Like I know the names, so I know like the weight of like, did they die? I know the answers to that. So I think maybe there's an element of like, I'm not,
00:52:10
Speaker
biting my fingernails to find out what happens next week because like I kinda, I kinda had that spoiled because it's real life. But it's good, it's good, it's not currently the quality or like the, doesn't have the impact of the others personally. But it's good, I really enjoy it. It's starting to get more interesting, it's not kinda that, the set up episodes. But yeah, it's, when we get to episode like seven, eight, nine, I'll be,
00:52:41
Speaker
I'll probably have more thoughts. Your expectations will be higher as well because you can see it ramping to hopefully a moment. Yeah, I hate that I'm using this term. I hate that I'm saying this about real life events, but I'm saying it in the way that we frame these kind of like,
00:53:02
Speaker
It's like some of the extras have like when you start weeding them out by whatever means and you start getting left with a core group, that's when you're like, okay, now I know who like the character development is gonna happen with and who we're gonna stick with for a while. Cause these are the kind of the, now we're into the stories and now we're done with the setup. So we're starting to learn the names is another way to phrase it.
Unexpected Enjoyment of 'The Marvels'
00:53:30
Speaker
There's only one other thing that I watched this week that I think is of note. And it was actually kind of surprising, so I'm hoping to talk about it a little bit, because I believe you've seen it as well. And I finally bit the bullet, I had some time, and I sat down and watched The Marvels on Disney+. I have heard nothing
00:53:54
Speaker
but bad reviews, bad takes, which I kind of went in assuming that a lot of it had to do with kind of the
00:54:08
Speaker
And the some some buddies like reviewers dislike for people like Brie Larson or just the general concept of Captain Marvel and all that shit you always hear about that. But I just kind of went in with like I enjoyed Captain Marvel I enjoyed. Oh my gosh Miss Marvel series. Yeah. And I enjoyed WandaVision and those. So it's like let's just no stakes. I'm not.
00:54:33
Speaker
I'm not picking this or that and I'm gonna be disappointed if this sucks. I should have watched something else. It's like, nope, I'm bored and I'm gonna watch this. And a couple major takeaways that I'd love to get your thoughts on if you felt the same way. So story wise, I thought it was, I wouldn't say like great, but it was like, it was fine. Like I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the movie.
00:55:01
Speaker
my criticisms come in, not around the story, the arc or anything related to that. It felt odd to watch at times because it felt like they had a two hour plus movie originally. And they're like, we have to get this down to like an hour 45. And so instead of cutting
00:55:26
Speaker
maybe scenes that weren't relevant. They just, it's almost like they use an, the only thing I could think of is like they used an AI tool and said, just cut out the parts where people aren't talking. And so like the beginning and ends of scenes were just like, there was no, there's times in the movie where it just felt like there was no space, like it would cut and somebody would be immediately talking. Like there was no, like that's how they trimmed it. Cause there were scenes that were,
00:55:53
Speaker
we're like, okay, this is nice, we're getting some space, we're feeling, we're getting some extra story, but then it would just be boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boom, just rapid fire between these cuts and I'm like, it didn't affect the story, it just felt like an odd like movie watching experience of like, it feels like they didn't cut content, they just cut out white noise, like white space, like gaps in speaking.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, which of course, you know, silence can be powerful. And, you know, visual acting, sorry, facial acting can be equally as powerful as a spoken word. And I would agree with that. And I think that unfortunately, this movie, unfortunately, again, it's where
00:56:39
Speaker
It's the adage of we don't deserve nice things because it's one of those things where unfortunately for this movie, I think it was down before it even came out. There was already a certain bunch of folk that decided it was going to be the worst thing ever, even if it was the best thing ever.
00:57:00
Speaker
And to a certain degree, I mean, you and I have spoken about this before. Sometimes we have too much inside knowledge of what's going on in Disney and in Marvel and in Lucasfilm. You know, there's too much information. And this is stuff that happens. We see there are problems that happen with productions. This is stuff that happens all the time. It's not exclusive to Disney. It's not exclusive to any network. It's not exclusive to the movie industry. It's exclusive.
00:57:29
Speaker
every single corporation has to go through a reset, has to go through a restart. I mean, shit, you know what's going on with our business at the moment. We're having an almighty reorganization, again, nine months after the last one. It just happens. It just happens in the background, but because typically
00:57:47
Speaker
the public are told what they need to know and nothing more then it kind of just happens in the background and changes are made and they course correct their business, their strategy and their tactical execution. The same applies to these kind of films and unfortunately with the original and then subsequent treatment of Brie Larson in particular
00:58:10
Speaker
Which I thought was completely unnecessary because I really like Captain Marvel I don't know why I don't know what I couldn't see what others clearly could And her you know the impact that she made you know in that final Avengers moment in endgame was just
00:58:28
Speaker
Ace, it was just brilliant. And then this whole representation of females in that final Avengers moment, it was hugely cheesy, but good God, it was brilliant. It was really, really good. And unfortunately with this, I think that
00:58:51
Speaker
that film was somehow cursed and I think there wasn't I could be wrong and I really hope I'm wrong but there was an attitude of let's just get it out of the door because we've made it now let's get out of the door and so maybe some of the
00:59:07
Speaker
the finer parts of production, which include editing. I mean, look how, you know, we all know the stories of the original Star Wars and how it wasn't, if it wasn't for George Lucas's wife, Melinda? Was it Melinda? At the time, the film wouldn't have been half of what it was because of the way it was edited.
00:59:28
Speaker
Um, I think you're right. And I think it's such a shame that perhaps not as much time was maybe put into that as it could have been, you know, a little bit more, a little less exposition, a little bit more development through physical acting and, and, and facial acting and, and, and pregnant pauses between moments, I think would have done it an awful lot of good. So I think you're, I think you're spot on there. Um,
00:59:58
Speaker
I'll leave it with you to sum up what you thought about the whole movie, but I'll be really quick. I enjoyed it. I thought it was that. Was it the best movie I've ever seen? No, but it was a really good romp and I'm really glad I got to see it in the end. The same. I think you're onto something there with like, I bet there was a mentality
01:00:19
Speaker
of like, it's not gonna make the, that's the 80-20 rule. It's like, we got it 80% of the way there and like the extra 20% is not gonna get us more money. It's gonna do what it's gonna do because there's other parts. Like to be clear, I enjoyed the movie. There were parts of it that I audibly laughed out loud. Like we're from either sheer ridiculousness or just a level of self-awareness that was unexpected.
01:00:49
Speaker
I don't even want to talk about those things because I think you just have to watch it and not be prepared for what happens. I will say, if you are a cat lover, you should watch it. I think it's just worth it. The whole movie is just worth it. If you are somebody who enjoys cats, watch it. You won't be disappointed. I think it's fantastic.
01:01:12
Speaker
And I think your point about the budget or things like makes sense too because I think my only other criticism, all my criticisms are about post-production because it felt like there were parts of the movie that felt
01:01:25
Speaker
unfinished from a post-production standpoint, that it didn't take away. It's just from that critic, when you sit in the critical chair of like, that looks weird. But then you go to the next scene and it's like, we're talking Avengers level, amazing special effects and things like that. Then you get to another scene. It's like, this feels unfinished. Like, if something feels weird here, and I bet it's that same kind of thing. It's like, we're not gonna invest anymore in like,
01:01:54
Speaker
insane special effects. So we're just gonna it's gonna be right here. I think I think I totally 100% agree. And I wonder, I've always wanted in the back of my mind, how are they going to link the Disney Plus TV series with
01:02:10
Speaker
with the movies. And this was, if you think about it, the first time they've done that, if you think about everything that we've had in TV up until now, it's been from the movies to TV. So the spin-off of Loki, the spin-off of Falcon and Winter Soldier. That's kind of been the way that it's been
01:02:31
Speaker
it's been done they are carrying on the story from the end of you know from the conclusion of Endgame and yet you introduce new characters in the Disney Plus series and then you try and take them to the cinematic universe or the movie screen and this was the first time of doing it which is the reason why
01:02:51
Speaker
I'm going to really enjoy Deadpool and Wolverine, but to your point earlier on about the amount that it lends itself to tidbits and story plots or sorry, tropes that come from the Loki TV series, I hope it will be a little bit more seamless and a little bit more first party. Should we call it first party?
01:03:19
Speaker
in the movie environment as opposed to being it quite a natural progression. And I think that that's the only thing I would say was that sometimes it felt like I was watching the TV series.
01:03:33
Speaker
The tone shifts. Despite it being on a movie budget. But I frigging enjoyed it. And I tell you what, the more shit like that, the better. Because quite frankly, until we have to over index on diversity at the moment, because quite frankly, it's underrepresented. And so when we get to a point where we've got
01:03:59
Speaker
three leading ladies being commonplace in a, in a, a major Hollywood production. We just need more of it, more and more of it until it becomes, you know, it becomes natural. Anyway, sorry, I'm going off on my political agenda now. So I'll shut up. Hey, I think I think that's totally, totally fine. I agree 100%. I enjoyed it. And I
01:04:28
Speaker
If you have the time, this is my official stance, if you have the time and there's not something that you're really excited about, I'd watch it. I enjoyed it. I had a good time. Even my criticisms that I've brought up here are strictly, they weren't to the point where it's like, I don't enjoy this, this is too much. No, it was just like,
01:04:46
Speaker
If I had to look for something that people could not like about, but I thought it was fun. I had a good time. I laughed out loud. I pulled Madison downstairs at one point after I watched it. I'm like, you have to see these parts. There's a couple of parts. I know you don't care about the movie, but I want you to see it. And that's what I take away from it. It was enjoyable. Yeah, that's my stance on the Marvels. I thought it was cool.
01:05:10
Speaker
One day I will get back on my soapbox about the idea of representation and it's really down to my girls. Both my girls did STEM subjects at university. They were a minority in their graduating year. Women were not seen as being
01:05:30
Speaker
the proper kind of people to graduate in the sciences. And I'm proud that they both came out, both of them with first class honors. They beat the majority of, they were in the higher percentile within their graduating year.
01:05:53
Speaker
And unfortunately, despite being a middle-aged white guy who has nothing to worry about in life when it comes down to the way that I'm represented, experiencing them going through school, going through education, and being a minority in the way that they've been treated, not only by their peers, but also by the system in inverted commas.
01:06:20
Speaker
I could talk about this for hours, and I will talk about this for hours one day with you, but this kind of movie is kind of for them, where it's important. It's really important that we have this kind of stuff. Oh yeah. Anyway, sorry. No, no, no, no. I promise you I'll stop. I promise you I'll stop. No, you got me going. Nope, nope, nope, nope. No, and I agree a million percent because I am a firm believer that
01:06:46
Speaker
you know, the last thing we need, cause I'm putting in a frame set up mindset of my work and like I do STEM stuff and it's like, you know, diversity makes the whole team better. Like no matter what angle you want to look at it from, it's like the last thing I need or anybody needs is another person who has the same life experience and exact same, like I don't need another clone. Like we need different opinions. We need different viewpoints, different life experiences that makes,
01:07:11
Speaker
whatever you are doing, whether that is work, movies, storytelling, etc. It makes it better. Like, it may be uncomfortable and it may not be a sit there and you know, just
01:07:26
Speaker
I agree 110% with everything that's going on. But that doesn't matter. That's not interesting. That's how businesses fail. Typically, that's how businesses fail. The sycophant, you know, cesarean type of leadership of old is gone. It's gone. And if it's not gone, I wouldn't place too high a bet on the opportunity for those kind of businesses going forward, or that kind of industry going forward.
01:07:52
Speaker
Sorry, I took it out of the rat hole. I don't want to do it. We're staying positive.
Recent TV Show Recommendations
01:07:58
Speaker
We're staying positive.
01:08:00
Speaker
So, since we last spoke, and now I've shared with everyone what the last couple of weeks have been like for me, I spent a lot of time in hospital at night and during the day, backwards and forwards, doing my bit for the family and making sure people were fed, they were visited, we did our shifts, which meant that I spent an awful lot of time catching up with TV in hospital waiting rooms. So, I'm pleased to say I finished Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
01:08:28
Speaker
I know that there are one or two of our friends, and in fact, going back to this week's The Sith List, I know that Tom in particular is looking at it, and at the moment he's considering it, or looking at it quite favorably, but it is a slow burn for the first three episodes because they're trying to establish themselves as characters, they're doing all of that kind of stuff, but there's a lighthearted but somewhat
01:08:54
Speaker
dark humor that's running all the way through the first three episodes, which is very typical of, very typical of... Oh God, what am I trying to say?
01:09:09
Speaker
Donald Glover, sorry, Donald Glover. Not as obscure and surreal as Atlanta, but certainly that tone of a lot of character development, a lot of, again, facial acting, a lot of pregnant pauses and situation.
01:09:25
Speaker
gets to episode four and it starts getting a little bit more twisted and then come episode five it gets absolutely batshit crazy just to remind you mr and mrs smith basically is a codename for a couple that is secret service agents or assassins or government agents or
01:09:44
Speaker
whoever they are, we don't know, that do some relatively nasty jobs in getting rid of people, protecting people or indeed seizing information. Think of it almost like the MIB. It's almost like MIB but a little bit more gritty.
01:10:01
Speaker
gets to like I said season four sorry episode four and then episode five onwards it goes batshit crazy and they are they have become from essentially very raw rookies into the seasoned professionals very very quickly both of which have these amazingly
01:10:21
Speaker
relatable human issues around relationship management at one point in the go for marriage guidance counselling. I'm not giving anything away, I promised you. And the season ends, I wouldn't say with a cliffhanger.
01:10:34
Speaker
There's a definitive ending to the season, um, which could mean it's a one and done, or it could mean it leads on something else. It's, it leaves it very, very wide open, but I have to say it's a very, very satisfactory, satisfactory watch. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Um, and I like, I liked that initial three episode slow burn. So we can get to know the individuals that were seemingly doing this as professionals and it being a job for them.
01:11:04
Speaker
but then to grow into this relationship where they very much codependent on each other was really, really good. So that's number one. Number two,
01:11:18
Speaker
I'm still watching For All Mankind, Lucy and I are. Haven't been so much on it because of the jobs we've been doing for the last couple of weeks, but still enjoying it. We're on season three now, so it's now in the 90s. So it's really, really every season essentially is a leap forward by 10 years.
01:11:36
Speaker
Again, really enjoying the perverse butterfly or the skew on history of historical events around people, incidences, and so on and so forth that just so happen to be different to what actually happened in reality. So really, really interesting and it's really compelling viewing. And at some point, I could talk to you about this forever and a day because it is, for me, one of the nicest things I've seen and most interesting things I've seen on TV for quite a while.
01:12:05
Speaker
I am still rewatching Battlestar Galactica in the background when I'm cooking, because again, it's a brain switch off. I don't have to concentrate. I know what's coming up, but I like the stuff that's on the screen, watching that. And in the meantime, because of what's been going on at home at the moment, the kids have been back an awful lot more than they normally are. So I talked about last week about them being back the previous weekend. They've been back subsequently. And the stuff that I forgot that they were watching in the background,
01:12:32
Speaker
that I'm now getting a little bit more engaged in is we're rewatching Scrubs, which is brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant. And I've forgotten just how classic Scrubs is and how quite
01:12:45
Speaker
it's never been replicated in any way. And I'm really, really enjoying the rewatch of that. And then lastly, as part of my, I don't have internet in the hospital, I recently rewatched, for Shits and Giggles, I rewatched The Last Starfighter, which I don't know if you ever watched that film when you were a kid, but it was a big, big part of my childhood. And in fact, the computer graphics around the spaceships and some of the,
01:13:14
Speaker
The Space Combat was probably one of the first projects that Lucasfilm or the Lucasfilm division that created the Pixar animation modeling tool that ended up being coming Pixar. It's one of their first ventures they got involved in. It doesn't hold up today, but it still looks amazingly great. And I just love that film because it's just full of nostalgia and heartstrings. And I watched that. So that was my week. Not a lot.
01:13:43
Speaker
no way near as much as i have in recent weeks but for obvious reasons uh it's still been a lot of fun two things if you're doing a scrubs rewatch you should consider the companion podcast that they do uh
01:14:00
Speaker
Oh wow. JD and whatever their names are. They do like an episode by episode companion podcast and they'll have like special guests like Bill Lawrence and stuff to talk about the different things. Madison and I were doing like a, we started doing a full rewatch years ago, but then we fell off and haven't picked it back up. But the podcast was really interesting. And also if you like Bill Lawrence shows, shrinking on Apple TV is amazing.
01:14:26
Speaker
really good. And so is Ted lasso. Those are both shrinking with Harrison Ford. Yep. Yeah, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. I think it's got a season two on its way, isn't it? Isn't that up? I hope so.
01:14:41
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's really good. They kind of left it open-ended. I'm hoping they've become open. Well, I love, in particular, I thought the way that Harrison's playing his role in that, and I think he's fantastic as well, in that he's typically grumpy old Harrison Ford, but showing a shitload of vulnerability as well, both in his health, but also in terms of his lack of empathy with people he engages with, I think is absolutely phenomenal. And again, it's one of those moments where he comes out of that
01:15:09
Speaker
Harrison Ford movie shell or skin that he's got and become something really quite different. And I really appreciate that. New wants quite nuanced. Thank you. OK, so we're quarter past the hour of recording and our conversation this week is going to be really focused on you, my friend. So I heard about a new
01:15:38
Speaker
park theme park that's being built, developed or launched in, I believe in Florida. It is epic universal or epic universe, which is supposedly epic universe. OK, epic. OK, great. The point being is that, I mean, I want to know, I want to know a lot more about you and your your experience in working for Disney Parks, but also what you think of this new
01:16:07
Speaker
this new challenger in the ring to someone like Disney. And I've heard of many, many different podcasts and you and I spoke about a few of them before we started that have a different take on what this means. It could be good, it could be bad, it could be, you know,
01:16:24
Speaker
Disney may well treat it differently or indeed they may up their game based on this new competition. So I'd love to know that. But in the meantime, I was very, very quickly going to kind of explain to you my background on theme parks. I have very, very limited knowledge expertise on theme parks. When the children were small, we took them twice to Euro Disney, which is what it's called then, but it's now Disneyland Paris.
01:16:53
Speaker
It was fine. I wasn't particularly impressed if I'm perfectly honest with you. I know there are friends of yours of mine that were, you know, thought the place was relatively magical because they'd experienced stateside what Disney was about.
01:17:09
Speaker
It was very very small certainly when we went as well and again it was fine but you could probably do the whole place in two days so that give you some context as to what you end up repeating your favorite rides and it was fine you know you have the you know we did the breakfast character
01:17:27
Speaker
Character breakfast for the kids which was exciting at the time in the evening They'd stay up late until they basically were falling asleep on our shoulders to watch the The light parade at night and the fireworks and everything but it was it was it was I'm glad I took them
01:17:44
Speaker
But it didn't blow my socks off. In the UK, there are three parks that I've been to. Legoland has a big presence in the UK. It's a relatively established theme park, but it's literally Legoland.
01:18:02
Speaker
Very, very similar to what they have in the Nordics on a very, very grand scale. It's very fantastical. It's very clever, but it's very much focused on Lego. Peppa Pig World. So shout out to Josh Chapman and those guys. We've got Peppa Pig World in the New Forest in the UK as well. Again, it's very much a young kids theme park.
01:18:26
Speaker
very much focused on experiencing Peppa Pig and her world in a theme park environment, lots of nice rides, lots of candy, kids get sick, we take them home, they fall asleep in the car, that kind of stuff. And then lastly, there's, I would say the closest to, is it six flags over in Atlanta? Is it six flags?
01:18:49
Speaker
It's probably, if it's not, it's probably some subsidiary or somebody who bought up. Yeah. Essentially, it's not a theme park. It's an amusement park with just rides. It's all it is, is rides. And that is Oldham Towers in the UK, up in the northwest. That's quite a big thing in the UK. It was probably the first proper permanent
01:19:09
Speaker
fixture where we had lots and lots of roller coasters and stuff to make you sick and the rest of it. It's still relatively big today but it's still a relatively rudimentary experience and it's the rise, there's nothing really out there.
01:19:24
Speaker
Outside of that, I'm really into the experiences. So the UK is, I would say, a little bit more biased towards experience. So for example, the Harry Potter Studio Tour is a big thing over here. We have something called the Sherlock Experience, which essentially is a glorified escape room. My favorite of all of them, and it was bought for me by the kids for my birthday last year, is the War of the World Experience. So it's a massive, massive
01:19:51
Speaker
warehouse in London that's basically been taken over and divided into this into this set of rooms and experiences whereby you reenact the the the original um hg wells um
01:20:08
Speaker
war of the world story based in the 1800s so everyone's very much dressed in their best big bib and tucker and military uniforms and all that kind of stuff there's a little bit of vr involved as well but it's all done to the original 1970s 80s soundtrack of um oh what's his name
01:20:25
Speaker
Jeff Love. Is it Jeff Love? War of the Worlds? Anyway, the point being is it's the guy that did the War of the Worlds disco kind of tunes back in the 70s. And it's a lot of fun. It's a really little fun. And that's kind of it. I mean, there's lots and lots of other things. There's Phantom Peak that is just set up in Canary Wharf where my kids live, which is basically a floating town.
01:20:48
Speaker
that has been built in Canary Wharf, which is basically the river, the River Thames. And it's a pseudo steampunk, come wild west town that's been built. And it's kind of like an escape room experience combined with a mystery tour, but it's free roaming. You don't have to go from one room to the next to the rest of it. You basically have to solve puzzles all the way around this place.
01:21:14
Speaker
It's quite an adult attraction. I would, the closest I can think of it, the way aesthetically it looks a little bit like Fallout. If you remember the original Fallout game, which was very much based in the fifties, but with modern technology, it's a little bit like that, albeit it's, if you like, modern technology fusion with a Wild West experience. So those kinds of things are very, very prolific in the UK. And I enjoy those a great deal, but I have absolutely zero, zero experience on
01:21:44
Speaker
theme parks, proper theme parks, hence my question to you, and now over to you to take us out with everything you know about A, the announcement from Universal, and B, what you think the implications of this announcement will be for someone like Disney. So I am very invested in this kind of topic, so I will try to break it into a couple different segments so I don't ramble for four and a half hours.
01:22:14
Speaker
with all sorts of stuff. Start, I'll give a little context for myself as well. A lot of my experience comes from Madison and I meeting and working together at Disney World in Florida back in 2009, when we were both members of the Disney College Program, which I could talk about that whole thing another day, because that's a whole other conversation.
01:22:43
Speaker
I've always been into theme parks. I'm familiar with Alton Towers because of roller coaster tycoon, at least from a digital standpoint.
01:22:53
Speaker
It's what I used to want to do. I used to want to, and that's kind of where I got interested in technology and kind of in my current career path until I was like, nah, that's not what I want, but I kind of did something different. I wanted to go into the show making and the ride, not necessarily roller coaster design, but like ride and kind of experience design stuff. But my industrial design stuff is not strong enough
01:23:18
Speaker
to carry me on that path. But so that's kind of where I come in from it. And so I've always had like an obsession and kind of a fascination with a lot of it. We, I won't say I'm a Disney adult. I don't have, that's not really the perspective that I have on it, but I do, I am interested in the Disney company and Universal and kind of how they operate the parks and experiences divisions separately from an entertainment company in that, in the kind of the marrying between the two.
01:23:46
Speaker
So I currently live in California now, so I obviously have experience down here as well with Disneyland and some of the other Universal Hollywood, et cetera, et cetera. So for context of kind of what this Universal Epic Universe is, for those who are unaware, California has the original Disneyland in Universal Hollywood.
01:24:12
Speaker
Those are both smaller experiences since Disneyland was built in 55. It was built and then the city of Anaheim quickly was built around it. So it's pretty landlocked. They're doing some creative stuff currently to make it bigger as we can speak, but it's always been considered.
01:24:31
Speaker
It's a landlocked park. And so Disney was always about, Disney tries to be an immersive experience in that when you enter the parks, you kind of enter like a magical world, et cetera. But Disneyland always struggled with the idea of like, there's helicopters flying overhead. You can hear an ambulance drive by down or whatever the city streets, because Anaheim is up on it. So when,
01:24:56
Speaker
They were investigating building a second park in Florida. They wanted a lot of property because they wanted it to be an immersive experience. I could talk about all this other crap sometime, but there's a couple really good historical books about it if you're interested in it that I could recommend. Basically, they didn't say who they were. They bought an absolute ton of property using shell companies so they didn't jack up the prices in Florida and bought
01:25:22
Speaker
a bajillion acres. I don't know how much is, but it's a lot. It's huge. And then they built Disney World, which is intended to be a multiple park immersive experience in Florida. So like when you enter, they don't want the everyday world interacting with you. You're kind of in a magical place.
01:25:42
Speaker
Universal Florida also built and tried to do something similar but they built it way later so they were unable to they're more in closer to the city of Orlando and more landlocked they've always.
01:25:55
Speaker
They've always tried to be competitive in a ways. So Disneyland is like a two-day park. It's not a huge international park like Florida is. Florida, for the longest time, is a big international audience will come in because there's more to do, multiple parks for both Disney and Universal and SeaWorld and everything else. So it's more of a destination experience.
01:26:21
Speaker
And they've always tried to kind of compete as if they were trying to build the same thing. This is my perspective of it. Where Disney has always leaned on the Disney IP and the Disney kind of cohesive experience of, oh, magic. Childhood wonder, magic, you can dream, you can be whatever when you wish upon a star, whatever, whatever, whatever. Universal has always struggled because their IP changes. They are a different type of company than Disney. And for...
01:26:50
Speaker
many years, I would say that they struggled because they were trying to compete with Disney World. For a long time, they leaned on kind of being in between, trying to play both worlds. We're like, oh, we're immersive, but we also have like the big crazy roller coasters, like a Six Flags, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And they kind of did both things okay.
01:27:13
Speaker
Epic Universe is, so it's been around for quite a while. It was announced I think back in 2019, but I think the pandemic caused delays and they finally like, what's funny is they just made this huge announcement, but they're pretty far along in it. I think it's opening and not terribly, I think in 2025. So it's not like it's a secret. They've been building this for a while. It's interesting because to me, it's relevant because
01:27:43
Speaker
It's a step in the right direction for Universal of acknowledging. And you can see it elsewhere in some of their other parts of, we don't have a cohesive brand. And so we're gonna try to stop trying to make it like a Disney. Where Disney's like, we have these magical themed lands full of Disney IP, but everything kind of flows because it's all one unified thing. Universal's like, we have,
01:28:09
Speaker
You can see it with the Harry Potter stuff. You can see it with the Super Mario stuff. It's like, we have some really strong brands and we don't care about like cohesive immersion. It's like, no, you walk through that door, it's Harry Potter. You walk out that door, it's Super Mario.
Universal's Epic Universe Highlights
01:28:25
Speaker
It's like,
01:28:26
Speaker
Are they related? No. Who cares? Do you like it? Go for it. And so this epic universe, I think, is an even further step in that direction where they're they kind of try. They're like, oh, we have these gateway portals between these different lands, which if you're unfamiliar, the lands are going to be the lands being like the sections of the park that are themed. There's like a how to train your dragon one.
01:28:47
Speaker
Another Harry Potter land, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them. The universal classic monsters, which is hilarious to me. I love that the fact that they will not, like they still lean on that IP of like Dracula, Frankenstein, the mummy and things like that. Like they have a whole land theme to it now. And then they're also building like the Nintendo stuff there as well. And so it's all these weird mishmash.
01:29:14
Speaker
That's quite a smash, but I was going to say that the universal monster's wall is kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of smart because nobody else is doing that. And there's such a renaissance.
01:29:30
Speaker
If they ever figured out how to make content with those again, like I know they've tried a couple of times, that'll be a cash cow. I think they're just waiting for the right moment when that becomes interesting. And so it's interesting that they're building this. It's like, okay, they're leaning in. A big part of it is in response. So,
01:29:55
Speaker
Disney bought Marvel, but Universal in Florida used to be primarily Marvel rides, Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, things like that. And for a long time, when Disney bought them, there was a contract where Disney wouldn't have established Marvel characters in the Florida parks because Universal being right there, but there was obviously a window. And I think this is kind of the response of
01:30:22
Speaker
make the old old register more generic transition this into new IP since we just lost a big heavy leg of it. So I think all of that to say TLDR, I think this is really good for Universal. I think it's a step in the right direction of them acknowledging that they provide a different service than Disney World does. They're both valid and they're both awesome. And I think they're for different
01:30:48
Speaker
experiences, different types of families, different types of trips, they can be in the same trip. But I don't think it's you can ever say, Oh, should we go to Disney World or go to Universal? Like they are the same, which one do you pick? They provide different experiences.
01:31:05
Speaker
And I think this is really good for Universal because I think they need this. I don't like some of the ways that they have gone about some of these things in the past and I don't like some of the things about this. So for instance, the two existing parks at Universal, they have Harry Potter lands in each one of them connected by a train. You can't ride the train from one park to the other unless you have the type of ticket that lets you into both parks.
01:31:33
Speaker
in the same day. They may
Aging Issues in Theme Parks
01:31:35
Speaker
have changed, but this is how it was for the longest time. So it's like, oh, you can't do part of the, like it feels like cash grabby to me. It's like, oh, you can go, if you only have a ticket that lets you in one park, you can't do the train because you can't technically enter that other park over there. It's like, that feels a bit scummy to me. And I don't like it. Yeah. And so I hope that there's not an aspect of that built into here, but there's a lot of stuff that,
01:32:02
Speaker
That is really, really positive. I think the Harry Potter stuff has really pushed them to lean into the IP. I think the Super Nintendo stuff is fantastically profitable for him. The thing that I find that I'm going to keep my eye on for the future is when they have these really hardcore themed lands, I'm curious to see how they age.
01:32:29
Speaker
theme parks, especially in Florida, get a lot of sun, and it's very, like anything that's out in the sun, you will see get UV damage really, really quickly. So something like the Nintendo, Super Nintendo Land, where it's all bright colors, et cetera, et cetera, I'm curious to see how this kind of stuff ages, and if they continue to invest in it, because it's not about just building the lands, it's about keeping them maintained and making them look nice, because they will age quickly. So that's what I'm most curious about with a lot of this.
01:32:57
Speaker
I find that really interesting because that's exactly how I felt about Disneyland Paris. So on the opposite side of the weather spectrum, Paris is on the same
01:33:19
Speaker
latitude as the UK, a lot of the UK. And so they get very, very similar weather to us. And the first time I went, we went to, I took the kids to Disneyland Paris, it was very new and so very, you know, you can still smell new paint, you know. Went a few years later because at the time it was very affordable to go because it was still trying to build its base and trying to work out its identity.
01:33:47
Speaker
It's actually interesting because it's, sorry, I'm going to go off a tangent. There's a very famous Belgian or French publication called Asterix the Gold. Do you remember Asterix as a kid, the cartoon? It's an old cartoon and there is Asterix World in the same area as
01:34:11
Speaker
as Disneyland at the time they were getting the majority of the French euro or sorry in those days the French francs because it was a very locally adored hero and they built this entire theme park around his story and his adventures.
01:34:32
Speaker
Uh, so it looked really good. And then we went back a couple of years later and it looked really, really tired and it looked really tired because they were those kind of streaks of, of, of.
01:34:45
Speaker
ill-fitting drainage that were just leaking over time and creating, you know, on the outside of Cinderella's castle, you'll see these dark stains, which was mold from the weather. And that's
Disney's Cost-Cutting and Competition
01:35:01
Speaker
when I kind of walked away thinking,
01:35:03
Speaker
Yeah, so it's interesting, sorry, I don't want to take off that tangent, but it's interesting you think about the extreme heat and it having an impact on the theme, but the extreme wet or the more temperate climates are also a bit of a pain in the ass as well to maintain, I'm sure as well. But let me ask you, let me ask, oh, sorry.
01:35:24
Speaker
Well, that's what's interesting. It's like there's a really good book out there called like Disney War that goes through like the Michael Eisner period where they built Euro Disney at that time and how they tried to treat it like building the same park in Europe.
01:35:42
Speaker
without those considerations and cost cutting a budget, make it super fancy, go over budget, but then not think about the longevity. And it's interesting to see how the companies have changed from like the 80s, 90s into now where they're trying to build more, I won't say sustainable, because I think that's the wrong term. But like, how do you make it so we don't have to repaint these stupid things every six months? Sure. And have it last. So I think there's
01:36:07
Speaker
The Euro Disney stuff is very interesting of how it became about, and you saw some of those pain points for 10, 15, 20 years, and you're still correcting a lot of it, but go ahead. What was your question? I've got two questions for you. The first being,
01:36:23
Speaker
I listen to other podcasts, as we all do. And one of the ones that I'm getting really into at the moment, we talked a little bit about it was Thank the Maker with Nick and the other guys as well. And they were talking about this very same subject, which is the reason why I was quite keen. I know we talked about this in our
01:36:39
Speaker
first in our first episode, episode zero. Um, but, but I wanted to revisit this cause I'm fascinated by a your background and be your knowledge of, of, of, of, of what's going on and what the pain points are to run a theme park and what the, how do you keep it fresh and how do you keep it going?
01:36:56
Speaker
And the, I was listening to the guys over at Think For Maker and one of the guys, I can't remember who said it, but what they said was, um, the, it used to be that you visited Orlando and you, let's say five days and you would do Disney for four of those days. And then you do Universal for the fifth.
01:37:17
Speaker
The point was, is what they're doing enough to grab a day from Disney? So out of five days, which you do two days now at Universal, and only three in Disney because it hasn't evolved as quickly as perhaps.
01:37:33
Speaker
it should have done, for example. And which leads on to my second question, which was, do you think that, and again, it was another question, I'm plagiarizing these guys, because I thought it was such a fascinating conversation. Do you think this is enough of a, I wouldn't say a risk or a threat to Disney, but is this enough, do you think this will be enough pressure on Disney for them to reinvigorate?
01:37:57
Speaker
what they're doing in the parks at the moment. So it really is twofold. Do you think that as a family coming from the UK, for example, think of yourself with me and the kids, if we were planning a trip to Orlando, which might not be the best state to visit these days, but sorry, the best area to visit these days. But my point being is if I was doing a five day visit, do you think that what they're potentially going to do
01:38:21
Speaker
Could that eat into my Disney time? And secondly, the follow-up question to that was, do you think that Disney will be worried enough suitably to worry about the loss of that one day out of five potentially from a paying customer like myself? And do you think they'll react to it? I believe that
01:38:46
Speaker
I believe there's a lot of nuance in this question. I personally believe that this is a good thing for Disney, not necessarily from a competition that they're going to get reinvigorated to do more. I think they already have plans for what they want to do in these
01:39:08
Speaker
in Disney World, and I don't think anything that Universal is doing is going to affect that, because I think it actually will help them, because Disney is already bursting at the seams in Florida, in terms of hotels, in terms of park capacity, and just the modifications that they have to do to the parks to make it so they can hold more people, because the volume of visitors is
01:39:35
Speaker
is huge. It's unreal. They're probably looking at it from a standpoint of maybe not openly saying it, but this is going to ease the burden a little bit and give people more places to go. I think this is, from a universal perspective, I think this is
01:39:56
Speaker
less of a trying to grab people away from Disney and more trying to pull people away from some of the smaller more Six Flags style parks that are very close to them. Like Sea World and some of these others that have
01:40:12
Speaker
Um, some of the crazier, like the crazy roller coasters and stuff like that. I think those are honestly some of their bigger competitors because they are close. And I think it's easy when you are in proximity to universal to say, well, look at that park right there. It's got a billion roller coasters.
01:40:28
Speaker
the price of Universal is really high, closer to a Disney. Let's just do a one-day Universal and go to SeaWorld or wherever, some of these other roller coaster parks for cheaper. This I think will help round out Universal to be more of a multi-day park in competition to some of the other ones that are very close to it. In terms
Universal vs Disney: Strategic Differences
01:40:50
Speaker
of also pulling people away from Disney, I think
01:40:54
Speaker
I don't think it's as black and white as what a lot of people say it is. I think it has to do with the dynamics of the families that are going. People with younger kids are going to gravitate to Disney because it provides a more
01:41:09
Speaker
kid-oriented, kid-friendly experience in a lot of ways for kids that age. Five and six-year-olds aren't going to be as big into universal monsters or fantastic beasts. They're targeting more of that millennial Gen X, Gen Z market from the books and things like that.
01:41:35
Speaker
I guess the logistics point of view as well, it's going to be easier for folk with younger kids just to go to one place because they can do everything they need to under one roof. And I think Disney's also taken strides that they've always been that kind of park. There's not enough flashy roller coasters and things like that. And that's why they built like the new Guardians of the Galaxy coaster, which
01:41:56
Speaker
I'm sure you've heard people like our friends Brittany and Boo talk about it. That's the most insane thing I've ever ridden in my life. It's crazy. So they're flushing that out, but they're not going to be a Six Flags competitor or some of these islands of adventure competitors.
01:42:15
Speaker
But they are building out more experiences that I think is what Universal is really struggling with. Like so the the Epcot Park in Florida, the one with the big golf ball, the big golf ball spaceship or thing, they
01:42:31
Speaker
I think 90% of their visitors are there usually for a festival whether it's international food and wine the flower festival where they always have all these food booths out you can go and you can just eat until your heart can heart's content you can drink around the world and just get absolutely obliterated and there's all these more adult experience food drinking cultural activities what mixed with a little bit of rides and I think that's what's
01:42:56
Speaker
what balances some of that like kid nature of like the Magic Kingdom and things like that. And so all of that to say, this, I think this new park is beneficial to everybody except for Six Flags and Sea World and things like that, because it's adding capacity, it's bringing more people,
01:43:16
Speaker
to Florida. It's gonna bring more people to universal health flash out their, their offerings, especially since the whole Marvel thing kind of gutted it in a lot of ways. Yeah. And
01:43:31
Speaker
And I guess from a media point of view, I guess from a media point of view will also help them identify who they are going forward as well. I mean, if they can use that marketing intelligence of who's coming through the door and what they're gravitating to, that'll probably help their production side as well, I guess. I don't know.
01:43:53
Speaker
Well, they're not gonna be seen as this Disney chaser anymore. It's like, oh, they're kinda like the almost Disney, but it's kinda not as cohesive and not as much polish. And in some ways it's a more affordable option too. And so the bigger that park gets, the more availability and hopefully drive prices down, make it more competitive because Disney was running away with it there for a while.
01:44:20
Speaker
Yeah. If I have any hope or wish from this, I'm hoping that this does light a little bit of a fire underneath Disney because especially Disney World, there is a troubling trend in my eyes
01:44:36
Speaker
with a huge focus on what they call the Disney Vacation Club, which is there's nothing that I despise more about the Disney company than that. Like I'm a pretty pro Disney person, but the Disney Vacation Club is the biggest like timeshare scam
01:44:56
Speaker
and they're converting so much of their stuff. There's so much of their nice hotels, exclusive experiences to this kind of timeshare experience of like, oh, you pay all this money and you can stay in these special hotels. You can do these special things. And it's like,
01:45:12
Speaker
I don't like the pay to play aspect. I think it's okay with some of the ride experiences. Like, hey, I'm on a short time window and I really want to ride Rise of Skywalker. It's very important to me. I'm willing to pay $10 a person in my party to guarantee to get on this because I have one day.
01:45:29
Speaker
That I think is okay, because we don't all have four hours to wait in line. Time is limited. It's not necessarily fair, but it can make or break your trip. If you have a limited amount of time, there's something you really, really want to do. But this timeshare Disney vacation club stuff, I think it's getting out of hand. And I'm hoping this universal poll does maybe scare them a little bit and maybe focus more on
01:45:58
Speaker
the everyday individual and not the people who are willing to commit an astronomical amount of money to non-ownership of a hotel room. They're
Conclusion and Farewell
01:46:14
Speaker
supposedly making dreams, right? And that needs to be accessible to relatively everyone, or hopefully everyone.
01:46:20
Speaker
no mate that is so awesome and i could talk about this for hours but we are um we have to be strict with ourselves and i reckon if i was a betting man which occasionally i am i think we'll be revisiting this again because i need to know so much about galaxy's edge uh and quite frankly we're not going to fit that in for for today because
01:46:45
Speaker
I am fascinated and hearing of friends of ours that saw only a few years back, um, you know, the, the, the, the real life scale Millennium Falcon in real life. And it's something that I frigging dream of. In fact, I could probably, I could probably forego the rides just to stand there and watch, look at that beautiful thing in, uh, in, in, in real life. But, um, we'll save that for another day.
01:47:11
Speaker
Thank you so much for this insight. Honestly, I find it fascinating and I'm in awe of all of the experiences and the knowledge you've been able to have on this kind of subject.
01:47:28
Speaker
Let's save the rest for another week, shall we? Buddy, thank you so much for your time again tonight. And I keep thanking you every week, but honestly, especially at times like this at the moment, this really is my little oasis of fun and gets me away from real life. And I really do appreciate the time that you spend on this with me. It's good fun every single week. Thank you. Likewise. Likewise.
01:47:54
Speaker
So where can people find us, Sean? You can find me on our website, justshelland.com. That's where I am. I'll be there as well. I'm with him. I'm not going anywhere. I'm with him. He makes me look good. All right, guys. Thank you again. We'll speak to you next week. Look after each other. Take care. Bye.