Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1842

THE DOOM PATROL to Appear on TITANS TV Series

Another classic DC Comics super team is headed to live-action, and it’s maybe one of the least likely teams you’d ever expect to see come to life. DC Comics’ CCO Geoff Johns just tweeted the front page of a script for the fifth episode of the upcoming Titans television series, and the name of the episode is “The Doom Patrol.” Look:

The #Titans are getting some company… pic.twitter.com/KAkK7Gc4gA

— Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) February 9, 2018

For those of you unaware, the Doom Patrol dates back to the mid-’60s; it’s about a wheelchair bound genius who gathers together a group of freaks and outcasts and turns them into a superhero team trained to defend a world that fears them. If this sounds like an X-Men rip-off to you, I should tell you the Doom Patrol actually debuted a few months before the X-Men in 1963. I guess the idea was just in the air at the time, and creators at DC and Marvel were both tapping into it.

The original Doom Patrol has a strong connection to the Titans in the form of Beast Boy, who in the comics, was a member of the original team before transferring over to the Teen Titans. I would have thought Beast Boy’s Doom Patrol connections would have been removed from the live-action incarnation for clarity’s sake, but it looks like this series is going to be even more accurate to the comic books than we previously thought.

There have been many versions of the Doom Patrol over the years, most notably a version from writer Grant Morrison in the early ’90s that turned up the surrealism factor on the book. His take on the team has influenced every version since, including the version DC currently publishes under their Young Animal imprint. But given their connection to Beast Boy, it’s likely that the version we will see on TV will be something closer to the original team, meaning the Chief, the team leader, Robotman (Cliff Steele), Negative Man, and Elasti-Girl. It’s possible some of those characters might be traded out.

Are you excited about seeing the Doom Patrol make it to live-action? And are you crossing your fingers for a possible spin-off? Let us know below in the comments,

Images: DC Comics

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GAME OF THRONES Characters Who Would Make the Best Sith Lords

When Game of Thrones‘ creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss finish up their time in the Seven Kindgoms in 2019, they’ll be heading to the galaxy far, far away to write and produce an all new Star Wars story. We have no idea what a sci-fi story from them will look like–we imagine there will be lots of incest, a major influx of space dragons, and a continued commitment to chopping off hands–but this pop culture crossover does have us wondering which characters from A Song of Ice and Fire could easily make the transition with them (but yes, we know Game of Thrones characters won’t actually be going to space).

The more we thought about it, the more we realized the extremely messed up world of Westeros, with its deep well of villains, schemers, and magic users, offers plenty of potential dark side candidates. We think these characters from the Realm would make great Sith Lords.

Pyat Pree

No character looks more like a Sith Lord already than Qarth’s conniving, ambitious warlock, and he already has his own incredible powers, like being able to project himself to appear in multiple places at the same time. That ability literally killed Luke Skywalker.

Thoros of Myr and Melisandre

Melisandre has way more magical abilities, like being able to drink poison and dramatically alter her appearance, but her and Thoros both make the list because they are able to manipulate death. They each brought people back from the dead, and that sounds a lot like Darth Plageuis to us.



Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton

These two are so evil they make Darth Vader look reasonable, so imagine the carnage either of them would be capable of if they could use the Force. Even the crazy Palpatine would find them a little too evil.

Littlefinger and Cersei

Speaking of Emperor Palpatine, never forget that his rise to power took years of careful planning and manipulation. He worked in the shadows, playing all sides against one another, while he amassed more and more power. People weren’t even aware he was a threat. No two characters better capture Palpatine’s political skills and willingness to kill anyone more than Petyr Baelish, a.k.a. Littlefinger, and Cersei.

Daenerys

What? A powerful character who has bathed fields of men in dragonflame and has constantly walked the fine line between good and evil would make for a great, compelling Sith. Not to mention she is impervious to literal fire, which would be an amazing Force power.

The Faceless Men of Braavos

Jaqen H’ghar isn’t evil like the Waif, but the order’s use of dark magic and slavish devotion to a master, combined with the ability to deceive others from seeing the truth is remarkably similar to that of Dark Side users already.

(Note: If you want to know why Arya isn’t included here as a potential Sith Lord, HOW DARE YOU.)

The Night King

The Night King can raise the dead. He can use magic. He has his own massive army. He can wield a weapon. He kills anyone who stands in his way. And he wants to control the entire world. Wait. Did Game of Thrones already have its own Sith Lord and we didn’t realize it?

What do you think? Which character from Westeros would make the best dark side user? Who should have also made the list? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

Images: HBO, Lucasfilm

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Watch SOLO Trailer Set to “I’m Han Solo” from STAR WARS KINECT

Earlier this week, Lucasfilm finally lifted the veil of secrecy from Solo: A Star Wars Story by dropping a teaser and the film’s first trailer. And as exciting as these bits of footage are, what if there was a way to make Han Solo‘s first solo movie even more Solo than it already is? Thanks to a YouTube user going by the name of Shooptube, there is a way! The Solo trailer has been re-released with a new backing track “I’m Han Solo” from Star Wars Kinect. Now try watching the trailer without cracking a smile at the hilariously on-the-nose lyrics playing behind the dialogue.

R&B and hip hop fans may immediately recognize the original version of this song as Jason Derulo’s “Ridin’ Solo.” But such was one of several popular songs given Star Wars-themed remakes for the Xbox 360 motion controlled game, Star Wars Kinect. That’s how “Ridin’ Solo” became “I’m Han Solo,” and it was played in Cloud City as Han escaped his carbonite fate during an interstellar dance party hosted by Lando Calrissian.

Since we’re unlikely to see an Alden Ehrenreich/Donald Glover dance-off in the film, the following game footage will have to be the next best thing. Note that Star Wars Kinect players were expected to mimic Han’s dance moves, most of which also had Star Wars inspired names. (It’s all very silly. Now, we can all look back and laugh.)



What do you think about the Solo trailer set to “I’m Han Solo”? It’s time to shoot first in the comment section below!

Image: Lucasfilm

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George Lucas Helped Direct a Scene in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

Solo: A Star Wars Story has quite a behind-the-scenes story. Phil Lord and Chris Miller were initially hired to direct the standalone film, but they were removed from the project in June 2017. Ron Howard stepped up to helm the movie shortly after, completing production and reshoots. In their extensive coverage of Solo in the latest issue, Entertainment Weekly (EW) discussed the transition with Howard and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. One tidbit of information especially stood out to me: George Lucas helped direct a scene of Solo.

George Lucas stopped by the set of #Solo—and ended up helping direct a small part of the film: https://t.co/c9USUbYTyz #StarWars

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) February 9, 2018

Lucas visted the set of Solo the first day Howard picked up shooting. Though Kennedy said Lucas intended to just stop by, the visit extended to five hours. She told EW, “There’s even one little moment in a scene that–I can’t tell you what, sorry–but in the scene on the Millennium Falcon where George said, ‘Why doesn’t Han just do this.'”

Howard took the advice and applied it to the film. So, Lucas helped direct a scene in Solo. Thinking back to Lucas’ connection with Howard going back to American Graffiti days and that, of course, he created Han Solo, it’s a nice bow on the story. I don’t want to read too much into the visit, but I think it’s encouraging that Lucas was intrigued enough to stick around for more than a couple of hours.

Visit EW to read more about Lord and Miller’s departure from Solo and Howard taking the helm.

Do you like knowing Lucas played a small part in Solo? Fly to the comments and share your thoughts.

Images: Lucasfilm

Amy Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Nerdist. She likes Star Wars a little. Follow her on Twitter.

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Bruce Lee Podcast #84 Core Values at Work: Part 1

What are your values at your job?

At the Bruce Lee Family Company, Shannon has created core values for the company based off of her father’s philosophy. In Part 1, Shannon shares her core values of Best Effort, Personal Responsibility, and Uplift. These values inform how Shannon wants to show-up in the workplace and how she expects her employees to show-up.

Join Shannon and Sharon in this episode as they discuss practicing core values at work.

Share your #AAHAs, #BruceLeeMoments, and #TakeAction progress with us at hello@brucelee.com.

To read our full show notes for this episode go to BruceLee.com/Podcast

For all things Bruce Lee, check out BruceLee.com, follow @BruceLee on Twitter and subscribe on Apple Podcasts!

This Jigglypuff Controller Is a Nightmare

Custom gaming controllers are always fun, especially when they are tied in with a well-loved character or franchise, like Pokemon. However, since your average gaming controller isn’t really the shape of any creature found in nature or in most gaming universes, these custom-made devices are often inspired by a character rather than made to look like an actual physical representation of a character.

To SmashproofGC and Design_OOS, that simply wasn’t good enough. As Kotaku reports, armed with a piece of concept art from Sam Strojny, the team set out to create a unique, Jigglypuff GameCube controller. And calling this controller “unique” is really just the understatement of the year. Maybe some projects are just better left to the imagination…

We didn’t win, but I’m really happy with the monstrosity we created. Thank you to @Design_OOS for partnering with me for this adventure, and a huge shout out to u/sagaisagoodcomic on reddit (@Samstroj on Instagram) for the original art and inspiration. pic.twitter.com/gHjbNL1IbH

— Austin #ComeToFrostbite (@SmashproofGC) February 6, 2018

This controller is really just a delightful nightmare, turning Jigglypuff’s body into more of an impressionist painting rather than any sort of a recognizable depiction of the actual Pokemon. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a totally creative way to imagine the character and how to turn Jigglypuff into a gaming controller. But there is just something about those eyes that gives us the heebie-jeebies. For his part, Austin (SmashproofGC) totally gets why people are equally creeped out and in love with the controller. He even tweeted out this picture when people commented on how unsettling it was to look at Jigglypuff’s poor, uneven eyes.

Here’s a higher resolution version pic.twitter.com/tHSqBcSsJA

— Austin #ComeToFrostbite (@SmashproofGC) February 6, 2018

This is one of those things that we just can’t look away from. Austin does mention on his Twitter that they’ll be exploring this design more in the future, so maybe one day we all can own our very own, creepy Jigglypuff GameCube controllers. If nothing else, we know it will definitely be meeting with us in our dreams tonight.

What do you think of the Jigglypuff controller? Is it too weird for you, or just weird enough?

Feature Image: Pokemon

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Does Harrison Ford’s Involvement Make Us More Optimistic About SOLO?

He said he wasn’t going to have anything to do with Solo: A Star Wars Story, but it turns out Harrison Ford offered the production some insight into what makes the scruffy nerf herder tick. On today’s Nerdist News Talks Back we discussed if that has us feeling better about the movie, along with our reaction to the first Venom trailer, and whether Joaquin Phoenix would make a compelling Joker.

Back as host today was Jessica Chobot, with producer Derek Johnson returning to his normal guest chair after cashing in on his winning Solo-related Super Bowl bet on Wednesday. They were joined by producer Kate Meyers and Nerdist News writer Joey Clift. They kicked things off with the first Venom teaser. They discussed their thoughts and whether the trailer shows enough. And of course, a hot topic worth tackling after the trailer, what kind of accent is Tom Hardy doing?

Speaking of that Solo trailer, reactions to it have been mixed, with some fans worried about Alden Ehrenreich‘s performance. But now that we know Harrison Ford gave him some secret advice (and director Ron Howard some less-secret advice) about the character, does this give us new hope for the film? New hope. See what we did there?

Finally, a new rumor says that instead of Leonardo DiCaprio playing the Joker in the Martin Scorsese produced/Todd Phillips directed standalone film it could be Joaquin Phoenix. Is he twisted enough for the part?

Remember Nerdist News Talks Back airs live on our YouTube and Alpha channels every weekday at 1 p.m. PT, so you can always tune in and talk about the biggest pop culture stories of the day with us. It’s the show Harrison Ford miiiiight have told us is his favorite.

What? He’s obviously very secretive, and you can’t prove he didn’t.

We still want to hear from you, so talk back to us about today’s show in the comments below.

Images: Lucasfilm, Warner Bros.

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The VENOM Teaser Has the Internet in an Uproar

Considering that the last man who played Venom in a live-action film was the guy who played Eric Forman on That ’70s Show, Tom Hardy seemed like a big step up for the first-ever Venom movie. For years, Sony has openly longed for its own version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its leftover Spider-Man characters. The first teaser trailer for Venom finally showed us that the studio’s shared universe plans are very real. And it was the distinct lack of the actual Venom in this trailer that set off the internet in another blaze of anger. Today’s Nerdist News is breaking down the Venom teaser and sharing some of our favorite viewer responses!

Join your host and Eddie Brock’s parole officer, Jessica Chobot, as she goes over the Venom footage for clues and arrives at a very plausible explanation for Venom’s absence. This film only recently wrapped principal photography, which means the visual effects for Venom probably aren’t done yet. But that’s not going to be enough to extinguish the heated responses set off by the internet’s eternal rage. Who knew that the live-action and the comic book incarnations of Venom were both vulnerable to fire?

It probably didn’t help that the Venom teaser dropped almost exactly after the first trailer for Deadpool 2 arrived online almost twenty four hours before. The Deadpool 2 team not only had more footage to show, they also managed to give the fans what they wanted to see. There’s still a chance that Venom could deliver, but we’ll have to wait until the next trailer hits to see whether it can spin its web as well.

Do you think that the internet’s reaction to Venom was justified? Scream a little scream in the comment section below!

Images: Sony/Marvel

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First Pics of the DC Comics Rides at the Warner Bros. Theme Park

For decades, if you wanted to live your DC Comics theme park dreams, you were pretty much relegated to the themed but non-immersive roller coasters at the Six Flags. I mean, Marvel‘s been all over Universal Studios Florida for years, and now they’re heading to Disney Parks. But if you want a Batman or Superman ride, you can choose from a couple of painted attractions and that’s it. But starting this summer, Warner Bros. Theme Park is going to offer several exciting DC rides…of course, you have to go to Abu Dhabi for this, but let’s not get caught up in the details.

Entertainment Weekly released concept art of the various rides this week (which we saw first on Slashfilm), and we’re pretty intrigued.

First up is Green Lantern: Galactic Odyssey, which is described as a “4-D journey” with Hal Jordan and his intergalactic peacekeepers. From the look of it, it’s very likely this will be a ride similar to the Harry Potter Hogwarts ride at Universal, with action happening both on screens and with animatronics as you fly around in a car on a gimble. It could also just be a Soarin‘ style ride like at Disney, but that would be decidedly less cool.

Justice League: Warworld Attacks is said to unite Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the heroes from the Hall of Justice as they take on Mongol and his hordes. This one is said to be a 5-D ride, which is of course meaningless, but it’s possible it could be similar to Universal’s Transformers ride, where you move from 3D screen to 3D screen. Looks pretty cool.

Finally, we have Superman 360, which I have to say looks pretty boring. If you’re just standing in a planetarium watching Superman fight stuff in 3D, I have to say I’m not very enthused. Not nearly enough dimensions.

In addition, they’ve also announced a Teen Titans training area with a zip line which will probably involve a ball pit or some sort of cushion fort. They’ve also announced rides in the park’s cartoon-themed area such as a Tom & Jerry Wild Chipmunk-style indoor coaster and a Scooby-Doo spooky dark ride. All of it sounds fun, but again it’s all in Abu Dhabi, so if you can afford and survive the 18+ hour flight, you’ll be in for a great time.

What other DC characters would you like to see get rides? How far would you travel for a theme park? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Warner Bros/DC Comics

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist and an avowed DC Comics fanboy. Follow him on Twitter!

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Get a Look at VAMPYR, the New Game from LIFE IS STRANGE Team

Despite what the late, great Roger Ebert once said, we heartily believe video games can be and are an art form. No medium gives people such a singular experience, or such an immersive one if the games are as effective as they can be. The downside, of course, is that release dates for games tend to be a fluid thing. Unlike big blockbuster movies, where we sometimes know two years in advance when it’s coming out, big title video games can suddenly show up out of nowhere or get pushed back to an indeterminate date. Luckily we know (for now) the release date for Dontnod’s upcoming Vampyr.

According to Polygon, June 5, 2018, will finally see the debut of the hotly anticipated horror game, to be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, through publisher Focus Home Entertainment. The game is in the style of Dishonored and will focus on Dr. Jonathan Reid, a former soldier and medical doctor in 1918 London, cursed with vampirism. As he searches for a cure, the player will have Reid interact with various townsfolk and will have to choose whether to let them live or to feed on them. Moral ambiguity is the hallmark of good horror.

The original release date for the game was November 2017, but a technical glitch delayed that. But, to keep folks excited, Focus has been releasing a series of videos on its YouTube channel with the Dontnod crew discussing the game’s creation. The most recent of which, posted above, gets into how the makers treated the game like theatre and how they did some of the performance capture. This really looks like an amazing game, and one we’ve been excited about since E3 2015 (!) when it was announced. Now if we could just get a firm release date for the Call of Cthulhu game we’ll be all set!

Image: Focus Home Entertainment/Dontnot Productions

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He is the writer of 200 reviews of weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!

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