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Watch MST3K’s 2017 Turkey Day Marathon

Everybody has their own Thanksgiving traditions, and a lot of times they seem super weird to people outside your family. “We always go play flag football” or “we go see whatever dumb action movie is out” aren’t on everybody’s list of things, but you can’t fault people for them. But along with stuffing yourself with turkey, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and of course, stuffing, one tradition everybody should have is to watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Marathon. That’s been a tradition since 1991 (give or take a decade in the middle there) and 2017 promises another 12-hour, six-episode feast for your brains.

Last year’s Turkey Day marathon counted down the top fan-voted episodes of all time; this year, creator Joel Hodgson is giving viewers six episodes that have never before been included in a Shout! Factory Turkey Day Marathon. And since they’ve been doing these Shout! Factory, streaming versions of the marathon for the past few years, you’re likely to see episodes you haven’t watched in quite a while. It’s good to watch some hidden gems every now and again.

The marathon begins on at 12 pm Eastern/9 am Pacific on Shout Factory TV‘s website or the Shout Factory TV app on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and select smart TVs and will feature specially shot new introduction segments with Hodgson and season 11 stars Jonah Ray and Felicia Day, which will whet your appetite nicely in between courses.

Granted, being super full on food isn’t always the best when you’re laughing uproariously, but when it’s bad movies riffed by a man and his robot friends, we think it’ll be a good digestive aid.

And if you don’t even feel like changing webpages, fear not! You can stream the entire thing below! Gobble gobble, everyone.

Images: Shout Factory

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

More for MSTies everywhere!

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The JV Club #266: Arden Rose

The JV Club wishes you a wonderful holiday break this week, and invites you to spend part of your Thursday with the charming and delightful Arden Rose, who barely gets a chance to talk about her teenage years thanks to JV’s extra-rambly ramblings about all other topics great and small. This episode includes plenty of Cate Blanchett worship!

Follow @janetvarney and @jvclubpodcast on Twitter!

Pro You Podcast #180: How One Deals With a Test

Hello, happy Thursday, and Happy Thanksgiving! On today’s episode Tom shares two tests that are now in his hindsight and he can share the lesson he has learned so many times over. Two years ago on Thanksgiving, Tom trained CH and helped a friend struggling over a phone chat. He realized he had been thankful everyday. It is the way he healed the two years prior. On this particular “day”, a Thursday, (Thanksgiving) he was so very thankful to have trained one of his best clients and friends and then helped another friend feel better. He also had food, shelter, and clothing. He worked out, felt great, all in that one special day. Tom realized he didn’t need special food, around a special table, with certain people. He knew he could be alone. He also knew most people were being or trying to be, thankful on that one day out of the year. Tom knew in his heart how thankful he had been everyday of the past two years. The next day he decided to start the podcast. In March of the next year PYP began. Once again, Tom was ever so thankful. So Tom wanted to shout out a special THANK YOU to all the listeners for their support, their time, and their energy. “Tom gets to do what he loves!” Enjoy and as always thanks for listening!

Like Pro You on Facebook, follow @ProYouPodcast on Twitter and visit the website!

*Not all exercises are suitable for everyone and this or any other exercise program may result in injury. Any user of the exercise program assumes the risk of injury resulting from performing the exercise. You should always speak to your doctor before you change, start or stop any part of your healthcare plan, including physical activity or exercise.*  

The JUSTICE LEAGUE Cast Plays With Their Own Action Figures

One of the perks of playing a superhero on the big screen is that the performers are likely to be immortalized as action figures and toys. Naturally, that was once again true when the Justice League came together for their first live-action movie. Now, a new video has captured the reactions of Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, and Jason Momoa as they got to handle their action figures for the first time.

Miller and Momoa seemed to be the most excited to get their hands on the Flash and Aquaman, respectively. Although the figures brought out smiles from every member of the cast. Fisher joked that his figure would cause people to fall in love with Cyborg. Affleck couldn’t resist pointing out that his Batman figure was wearing the tactical suit, which was “very uncomfortable to wear, but fun to play with.” Gadot characterized the experience as cool and weird, but she was ultimately happy with her Wonder Woman figure as well.

Poor Henry Cavill wasn’t able to take part in the fun, because the PR campaign downplayed Superman‘s presence as a “surprise” for the film. However, a previously posted video captured Miller and Fisher opening up their action figures for the first time and freaking out over how well their respective likenesses were captured. And they went even further than their fellow performers by staging a mock battle between the Flash and Cyborg.

What do you think about these videos? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Images: DC Fans/Mattel

Join the team with more Justice League stories!

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Robert Kirkman Tells Us All About THE SECRET HISTORY OF COMICS

Writer Robert Kirkman has become one of the comic book industry’s most important creators over the past decade and a half, and not just because of the massive success of his creation, The Walking Dead, but also his work on books like Invincible for Image Comics, and for Marvel Comics, several years of Ultimate X-Men. Now Kirkman and AMC have teamed up once again, this time producing the six part documentary series Robert Kirkman’s The Secret History of Comics.

Although there have been several comic book documentaries in the past on television, most  of them try to contain a nearly century old medium into a two or three hour narrative. But with The Secret History spread out over six parts, this is a deeper dive into comics lore than many mainstream audiences have ever seen. We got the chance to chat with Kirkman about the series, which is now about halfway through its initial run.

Although Kirkman is obviously someone who has had an enormous effect on the comics industry, he was also a lifelong fan of the medium long before that. Was making a documentary about comics the next logical step for him, after achieving so much success within the industry? “When AMC came to me about wanting to do something in the documentary space with comics, they really didn’t know what the subject matter would be,” Kirkman told us. “I kind of took it as a big responsibility, being such a big comics fan and being so entrenched in that industry as long as I have been. And having been a fan from a really young age, my thought was “I can’t really let someone else do this, I need to do it, and make sure this is as cool as it can possibly be.”

After getting the green light from the network, it was then Kirkman said “we rolled up our sleeves and said ‘what kind of stories can we tell?’ And we kind of settled on this idea of taking a lot of the behind the scenes stories, the lesser known stories of what went into the creation of these iconic comic books that have driven pop culture for decades now. And just peel the curtain back.”

With so many creators interviewed as part of this series, I had to wonder who Kirman’s favorite was. Unsurprisingly, Kirkman told us that “it was [the founding members of] Image Comics. Any time you can get those guys on camera, it’s pretty exciting. But I don’t know, it was cool seeing creators like Paul Levitz, Denys Cowan, and Stan Lee of course. Also the fact that we got great comic book creators like Greg Rucka and Kurt Busiek, guys like Neal Adams, they’re all pretty amazing.”

Of course, the comics medium also has a ton of urban legends surrounding it — was this something Kirkman thought to tackle in the series? Well, don’t hold your breath for that, comics fans. As Kirkman reminded us, “a lot of the urban legends are really not appropriate for television, sadly. There are a lot of the quirky stories, like the origins of the Hellfire Club in the pages of X-Men, weird stories like that. We don’t talk about that in this series….but I’d love to do a Secret History of Comics: After Hours, maybe air it at 1 in the morning!” he joked. (for the record, we would totally  watch that series in a heartbeat.)

Speaking of the Image Comics founders, Kirkman himself has long been a huge part of Image Comics, with his Skybound label. Was it strange to create a documentary series about a medium that he himself had such a huge impact on?   “Yeah, I try to ignore that aspect of it as much as possible” Kirkman told us. “I really wanted to try and avoid involving myself in the Image Comics part of the series, but that was something AMC wasn’t too keen on, because naturally they like it when we talk about The Walking Dead. It’s a little strange, but five of the six episodes don’t involve me whatsoever.”

Still, Kirkman’s Image Comics love shows through in this series, when asked what the most fun part was of making The Secret History, he replied “Any time I get to spend time with the Image Comics founders, that’s always the most fun part. I don’t think it can be overstated how big of an event that was. Not just for industry at large, but for creators rights and creativity, and seeing creative people get the ability to drive their own destiny. It’s a pretty great turning point in the industry.”

For Kirkman, his favorite part of making this series “was just seeing all the things our research team had dug up, how the episodes came together, and seeing some of the things in the episodes that surprised me. Because I didn’t think for an instant that there would be times in the show where I found out new information that I didn’t already know, or any secret history that I wasn’t aware of. But it actually happened more than a few times, and it was pretty great every time it happened.”

Comics have taken over pop culture now, and Kirkman’s series really gets to the stories that are the heart of why that is. “The stories that are behind the scenes that go into the creation of these comics are just as interesting if not more so than the comics themselves. Once you see what people are behind these comics, and how much effort and love and passion has gone into them, you’ll see why this is a medium that drives all of pop culture right now. It’s great.”

Robert Kirkman’s The Secret History of Comics airs Mondays at 10/9 Central on AMC

What do you think of this amazing documentary series? Are you hoping for a season two? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: AMC

Feast on more The Walking Dead!

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This ALADDIN Fan Theory Reveals Who Built the Cave of Wonders

For twenty-five years, Aladdin has shown us a whole new world of wild speculation about post-apocalyptic societies, mumbled sexual innuendoes, and characters with secret identities. Now a quarter-century later, there’s a brand new theory that may answer one of the film’s biggest mysteries: who built the Cave of Wonders, the magical cave where Aladdin finds the Genie’s Lamp and his adventure truly begins?

This theory by redditor greenfingers599 suggests that it was the lamp’s previous owner who actually created the Cave of Wonders. First spotted by Buzzfeed, the theory posits that while little is known about the previous owner, we can deduce what his three wishes likely were. Wish #1 was for more gold than he knew what to do with. Enough to fill a massive space. Like, say, a cave. With that much gold in there, we could even call if a “Cave of Wonders.”

Realizing that he would need a way to transport his newfound riches, as well as traverse the world in order to spend his sultan’s sum, the lamp-owner spend his second wish on the best way to travel in all the land: a sentient magic carpet!

The third wish is where fans have begun to diverge on this theory. The original theory suggests that the lamp owner wanted to share his wealth with someone who was worthy–a “diamond in the rough” like Aladdin–and so he wished for the creation of the Cave of Wonders as a fortress to defend his fabulous riches from those who would seek to take them. That seems all well and good, but it seems to be a likelier scenario that the lamp itself is the diamond in the rough, the true treasure amongst far shinier, more alluring treasures like gold and rubies.

The Cave instructs those who enter to touch nothing but the Lamp itself. Perhaps that is because the previous owner knew the greatest treasure of all was the Lamp and wanted to create a way to guard not only his earthly riches, but the most important item he possessed until someone worthy enough came along to claim it. Or maybe they just have some seriously deranged architects in Agrabah.

What do you think of this fan theory? Let us know in the comments below.

Images: Disney

What else is happening in Aladdin’s world?

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Carrie Fisher Wrote Your Favorite Scene in ANASTASIA

Since her devastating death earlier this year, many incredible stories have come out about the wonderful Carrie Fisher, not the least of which regarding her huge contributions to cinema as an often long uncredited ghostwriter. From Star Wars itself to films like Lethal Weapon 3 and Sister Act, Carrie’s script doctoring talents were renowned in Hollywood. This week during an interview with EW celebrating the 20th anniversary of the animated movie Anastasia, the film’s Oscar nominated songwriting team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty revealed that once again Carrie had been a part of that movie’s success.

The 1997 Fox animated classic hails from the days when other studios were still trying to compete with Disney’s princess movies. It tells the story of a young orphan girl who just happens to be the lost daughter of Russia’s Romanov dynasty. After leaving her orphanage, she has to make a life changing decision whether to spend her years as “Ana the Orphan” or head to Paris on a “journey to her past”—and that’s where Carrie came in. “Princess Leia wrote that scene,” joked Flaherty. “It was interesting because they really wanted to get into the psyche of Anya,” Flaherty told EW.

This is an intriguing discovery as it’s such a pivotal moment in Anastasia’s journey and easily one of the film’s most memorable sequences. It leads directly into the popular song “Journey to the Past,” which garnered the songwriters their Oscar nom and created what The New York Times called the “‘Let it Go’ of the ’90s.” It was a cultural phenomenon, with the late superstar Aaliyah recording a version as a single release for the movie. The scene is all about a young woman lost in the possibilities of just where her life might take her, and Carrie’s own experiences are likely part of what made the scene so authentic and memorable. Thus once again we can trace a fantastic moment in cinematic history back to Princess Leia herself! Thank you, Carrie.

Will you be checking out Anastasia on its 20th anniversary? Can you still remember every word of “Journey to the Past”? Do you just love Carrie Fisher and all of her ghostwriting credits? Let us know in the comments!

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Images: 20th Century Fox

Jude Law May Join the CAPTAIN MARVEL Movie

Given enough time, every performer in Hollywood will eventually join a cinematic universe. Earlier this week, we caught a glimpse of Jude Law as a young Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Now, word has come down that Law may have landed the male lead opposite Brie Larson‘s title character in Captain Marvel.

Variety is reporting that Law is in talks with Marvel Studios to join the cast of Captain Marvel in an undisclosed role. The initial details about Law’s character said that he would be a mentor for Carol Danvers as she comes to terms with the powers that will make her into a superhero. However, a subsequent update confirmed that Law will portray Mar-Vell, Marvel’s original Captain Marvel.

Mar-Vell was a spy sent by the Kree to keep an eye on Earth, who found himself playing the role of a superhero known as Captain Marvel. In his secret identity “Walter Lawson,” Mar-Vell befriended Carol Danvers, and he was present during the accident that transformed her. She later adopted the Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel codenames in his honor.

Law’s stint as Mar-Vell will probably be for a one-off appearance, since the first Captain Marvel is best known to Marvel readers for his death by cancer. He’s one of the few comic book heroes who has remained dead for decades, minus a few guest appearances here and there. However, Law’s Mar-Vell could leave a lasting impact on the MCU if he helps Carol achieve her potential as a heroine.

Are you excited about Law’s part in Captain Marvel? Share your picks and predictions in the comment section below!

Images: 20th Century Fox/Marvel Comics

Everything We Know About JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM So Far

Update 11/22/2017

From our Jurassic family to yours. @FilmBayona @PrattPrattPratt @BryceDHoward @LeDoctor #FALLENKINGDOM pic.twitter.com/KiR3et9Vx1

— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) November 22, 2017

Colin Trevorrow shared the first footage of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom today, and it showcases the film’s use of practical effects as we see Chris Pratt‘s Owen playing with a baby raptor that looks, frankly, incredible. This is a big relief for Jurassic Park fans, many of whom were slightly disillusioned by the expansive CG in the first Jurassic World movie.

——

Ever since Laura Dern and Sam Neill first stepped foot into the huge plains of Richard Hammond’s Jurassic Park and laid eyes on the huge genetically modified prehistoric creatures created by InGen, the world has been hooked on what became arguably the biggest monster franchise this side of Godzilla. In 2015, the series was brought back to life like so many monsters before it with Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World. The sequel quickly broke opening weekend records and although reviews were mixed, one thing was for sure: Jurassic Park was back in a big way. As the next entry Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom quickly approaches, we’re here to keep an eye out for all the important dinosaur-centric news that will surely be coming our way in the lead up to the movie’s June 22, 2018 release date. So get your best gene splicin’ and dino wrasslin’ gear on because we’re going in!

Where We Are & What We Know

The first Jurassic World was set 22 years after the original Jurassic Park failed. A general lack of interest in the giant dinosaur market drove B.D. Wong‘s Henry Wu to create terrifyingly modified dinosaurs like the park’s new star attraction, Indominus Rex. After a *shocking* turn of events the new dinosaur went wild, destroying the new Isla Nublar park and creating chaos, seeing the park’s numerous prehistoric pals laying waste to the attraction. Only after Chris Pratt’s Raptor trainer teamed up with Bryce Dallas Howard‘s badass scientist / ex-GF (of course) to fight the big bad by freeing the franchise’s original T-Rex was the day saved! Though the details for Fallen Kingdom are scarce, we’ve scoured the dark dino web for all the top secret (redacted) Jurassic World info we can.

What’s It About?

The only official description of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom so far is very vague: “Ex-military man Owen Grady encounters terrifying new breeds of gigantic dinosaurs.” It does tell us one thing, though–there will be more dinosaurs, and really what more do you want from a Jurassic franchise movie? Leaked set photos of old Jurassic Park vehicles have had fans wondering whether the film will once again return to Isla Nublar or perhaps to one of the other abandoned islands from the earlier movies. The fact that we had Chris Pratt training raptors in last movie and we’ve had raptors confirmed to return in this movie mean we’ll likely see some more human and dino team-ups.

Jurassic World’s director and writer of Fallen Kingdom, Colin Trevorrow, has told fans the film will be a spookier and more suspenseful experience. “It will be more suspenseful and scary. It’s just the way it’s designed; it’s the way the story plays out. I knew I wanted Bayona to direct it long before anyone ever heard that was a possibility, so the whole thing was just built around his skill set,” Trevorrow told Jurassic Outpost. A true horror x dinosaur movie? Count us in.

Who’s Directing?

Spanish horror director J.A. Bayona is taking the helm on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Bayona is probably most well known for his feature debut, the chilling ghost story The Orphanage. He also directed 2012’s The Impossible and last year’s massively underrated A Monster Calls. From the few glimpses we’ve had, it looks like Bayona’s horror aesthetics are going to make Fallen Kingdom a unique viewing experience.

Who’s Coming Back?

Fallen Kingdom will see the return of both Jurassic World leads, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, as well as the mastermind of InGen’s ill advised dinosaur breeding program, B.D. Wong. The character was woefully underused in the original trilogy so we love that he’s back in a big way in these new entries. Henry Wu was last seen sneaking out of a chaos-ridden Jurassic World likely with some very important DNA, so his whereabouts are likely going to be integral to Fallen Kingdom.

Who Are Jurassic World’s New Recruits?

DON’T PANIC! IT’S ONLY THE WORLD’S SEXIEST MATHEMATICIAN! Yup, Jeff Goldblum is coming back to the world of the Jurassic. After his scene stealing turn in the original Jurassic Park movie and leading the sequel, everyone’s favorite Jeff is returning after two decades to save the world and our ever-beating hearts. He’ll be reprising his role as science-god rockstar Ian Malcolm, a chaos mathematician who foresaw the downfall of InGen’s science experiment long before the rest of the visitors.

Another new face is Toby Jones, a British actor who’s an indie staple. His role has yet to be announced, but he does have a background in horror–including great movies like the unmissable Berberian Sound System–just like Jurassic World’s director J.A. Bayona. You might also recognize him as Armin Zola from the Captain America movies. Toby Jones’ addition brings a new level of serious thespian credit to the cast.

Hollywood legend and badass activist James Cromwell will also be entering the park, playing John Hammond’s old partner, Benjamin Lockwood. In a recent interview with Larry King, Cromwell revealed more about his role in the film: “We developed the technology of being able to clone the genes. And so I’m trying to deal with the blowback from what we have done.” Cromwell will undoubtably be a stellar competent of this eclectic and unexpected cast.

Another big get for Fallen Kingdom is breakout The Get Down star, Justice Smith! The young star is rumored to be playing a young scientist, but as with all of the details of the movie thus far, the intricacies of his role are being kept a secret. Will he be a researcher at the new park? Will he be working for Henry Wu? We’ll keep you updated as and when we find out more.

Jurassic World is obviously undergoing a British invasion, as they also recently announced Rafe Spall. You’ll most likely know him from Charlie Brooker’s hit sci-fi anthology show Black Mirror. Spall has also starred in Life of Pi, Prometheus, and cult classic horror comedy Shaun of the Dead. Spall is an absolute unabashed talent who’s another intriguing addition to the cast.

The Original’s Danielle Pineda joined the cast of Jurassic World earlier this year as an unnamed “female lead.” She’s proven herself a force to be reckoned with on the Vampire Diaries hit spin-off and TBS’ The Detour. So here’s to hoping they give her a meaty role rather than another love interest for Chris Pratt.

How excited are you for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom? Let us know in the comments! And stay tuned for all the latest Jurassic World updates right here!

Images: Universal, Netflix, CBS

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Every Way Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE Was Changed

Warning: This post contains spoilers about the Justice League movie and the post-credits scenes. Check back with us after you’ve seen the movie!

It’s not often when a $94 million opening disappoints, but the expectations for Justice League went all the way from Earth to Oa. Joss Whedon joined the film late in the production after Zack Snyder stepped aside to deal with a family tragedy, but it wasn’t quite enough to replicate the success that Marvel has had with the Avengers films. Now, some fans are even loudly calling to see a Snyder cut of the movie. While that outcome seems unlikely, today’s Nerdist News is taking a look at the ways that Snyder’s vision was changed in the final cut.

Join the only host to ever escape from the Black Racer, Jessica Chobot, as she lays out everything that we know about Snyder’s Justice League cut. As it turns out, everyone has access to at least a few of the missing scenes. The trailers for this movie still have a lot more Synder than Whedon in them. Most of the cuts seem to be action scenes and heroic poses, but there was considerably more angst in Snyder’s version of the Batman and Aquaman meeting.

It turns out that Aquaman had a much bigger part in the Snyder cut, and many of his scenes are now missing from the film. Even Willem Dafoe‘s cameo as Vulko didn’t survive. As for Cyborg, his scenes were dropped in order for Whedon to significantly lighten Victor Stone’s character arc at the studio’s request.

One account of Snyder’s cut indicates that Steppenwolf’s end goal was to free his own mother from the Mother Boxes, before meeting an untimely end from Darkseid in the end-credits scene. There were also lost scenes between Cyborg and his mother, as well as Martha Kent and Superman. But perhaps the most surprising turn in Snyder’s take on the story is that Bruce Wayne was suicidal in his cut. Apparently Bruce wanted to die in battle to make up for the damage he caused in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now that’s a subplot that we’re happy to see go.

What do you think about the changes that were made to the Justice League movie? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Warner Bros. Entertainment

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