Geek Sheets - D23 2019

by Steve Monnich, co-founder of GGR and Master of Teras Kasi

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Geek Sheets, and boy do we have a doozy of an article for you today.  A small startup called Disney recently had a little convention to try and drum up interest in a few properties they own, and I thought it was high time a major outlet like GGR gives the little guy a shot.  The D23 expo showcased a few trailers and teases for upcoming movies and shows involving superheroes and space wizards, and that kind of stuff is right up our alley. Like every edition of the Geek Sheets, we will be discussing these topics in further detail on the companion podcast, GGR Pirate Radio, where you can hear the likes of myself, MC “Don’t call me Sue Storm” Brooks and Mike “100 duck size horses” Lunsford.  And if you didn’t get those obvious references to our last two shows, no worries you can always subscribe to the pod. But enough about our huge, mega-successful channel and onto this up and comer Disney!

Marvel Has Like, A LOT of Stuff Happening

Black Panther 2 release date, The Eternals casting confirmed, Kit Harrington coming in as Black Knight, new info and poster art from the Black Widow film, the 8 new Marvel TV shows that will make their way to Disney Plus, you tell me where you want to start! There was a cascade of new projects and information about the next few years of the MCU and Disney has made a compelling case that we should all be selling shares of Netflix, like now before it’s too late. Because it is hilariously long, here is the list of projects we know are confirmed to be coming out: Loki, Hawkeye, What If…, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Captain Marvel 2 and Blade (tries…to catch…breath). The most interesting element to all of this is how Phase 4 will compare the Infinity Saga without Cap, Ironman and (suddenly) Spider-Man, and how the new TV shows will compare to the Netflix Marvel shows.  Also not to mention there are some marquee franchises the House of Mouse now owns due to the purchase of Fox Studios which could easily slip into the ever growing list.

The Mandalorian Trailer Finally Debuts

There are more letters in the title than words spoken in the trailer, but sometimes silence says more than anything.  What words can really describe the bad-ass-ness of a guy getting cut in half by a door? How can a line of dialogue excite you more than an IG assassin droid throwing a no-look-blaster-shot-behind-the-back like a deadlier version of Magic Johnson?  Plot details being verbalized is nothing compared to being shown this dude collects bounties in carbonite like a gruesome version of collecting baseball cards. The claim that the show will have movie level production quality appears to be extremely accurate and I’m starting to think not releasing the teaser footage from Celebration was smart.  For what is about to become the first ever live-action Star Wars show, it I safe to say that no punches are being pulled!

Rise of the Rise of Skywalker Teaser Trailer

The 12th theatrical Star Wars film is almost upon us, which mean football and trailer season is at hand.  New footage was released for The Rise of Skywalker and let’s walk thru the new stuff together shall we?! First image, the gang is all on yet another desert planet, however this one appears to have a carnival going on (space cotton candy…mmmm…).  Then we get a shot of Leia and I will not make a joke here. RIP. Then about a bakers dozen of old school good guy ships juxtaposed against roughly 14 quintillion Star Destroyers in a scary lightning horrorscape.  Then my personal favorite scene, murder eyes C-3P0 obviously ready to stop dealing with etiquette and protocol and handing out butt-kickings and homicide. Next up there is a laser blowing some stuff up, because ya know, Star Wars. We cut to Rey throwing a lightsaber and hitting everything except the training droid she was aiming for.  FINALLY Papa Palpatine’s voice comes on saying “Your Journey nears its end” while we see Rey and Kylo fighting/flirting (Flighting?) on the Death Star remains. Lastly a black screen with some iconic Vader breathing snaps to evil, black hooded Rey with an easy-store foldable double-bladed lightsaber. What does any of this stuff mean?! Why can’t I stop imagining how insane it would be if C-3PO has red eyes because Palpatine possesses him and we have evil, but still kind of goofy/polite C-3Palp0?!?!?!

Soooo…I’m being told that Disney is the 53rd largest company in the entire world and owns 13 of the top 20 highest grossing movies of all time.  Well I guess with resources and a history like that, here is hoping that the quality of the projects exceeds even the loftiest of expectations. But more importantly if you end up loving these pieces of media, great! If you think they fell short, oh well.  They are being made for the consumers entertainment, and if you aren’t entertained then I hope the next thing you partake in is more to your liking, but as we like to say around here, just don’t be a juicebag!