 A few weeks ago, Dan and Ethan made the long trek to California to celebrate all things A Galaxy Far, Far Away at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim. Not only was Dan incredibly lucky to attend the convention as a member of the press, but it was also the first time Dan and Ethan got the chance to meet in the flesh-realm.   Braving a convention center packed with tens of thousands of Star Wars fans, and a days excursion to the planet Batuu in the star system known only as Disneyland, Dan got the chance to sit down at Star Wars Celebration and interview a host of people involved in the making of this iconic franchise, including:    The architects of Star Wars: The High Republic; Charles Soule, Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, and Daniel José Older.  Star Wars: Brotherhood author Mike Chen.  Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith author Adam Christopher. Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi writer Christopher Cantwell. Star Wars audiobook narrator Marc Thompson. And a very special guest to answer our famous sandwich question...    Also in today's podcast, Dan and Ethan discuss their favorite moments from Star Wars Celebration. Why In-N-Out Burger is not all it's made out to be. All that, and a minor tangent to discuss Robocop legend Kurtwood Smith. 

Star Wars Celebration

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TV & Film

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 Nicole Maines made history when she joined Season 4 of The CW's Supergirl in 2018 as the first transgender superhero in live-action; Nia Nal, known as Dreamer. Maines has continued her involvement with Dreamer's story since the show ended in 2021, first with stories in the DC Pride anthologies, including penning the introduction for 2022's entry, and further appearances in books such as Superman: Son of Kal-El and Lazarus Planet.     Suicide Squad: Dream Team #1 / Maines, Barrows, Ferreira, Lucas, Carey / DC Comics    Now, Nicole Maines is back to write more of Dreamer's adventures. Firstly in an ongoing series, Suicide Squad: Dream Team, which sees her joining Task Force X with artist Eddy Barrows. And secondly, in Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story, an original YA graphic novel which sees Maines teaming up with artist Rye Hickman to tell Dreamer's origin story.     Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story / Maines, Hickman / DC Comics    We were lucky enough to be joined on the podcast by Nicole Maines to chat all about these new books, and maybe m 

Talkin' Dreamer and Amanda Waller with Nicole Maines

Adapt Deez, a brand new season of GateCrashers, is dedicated to appreciating media adaptations in all their many forms! From the classic book-to-movie adaptations to the many iterations associated and in-between, episodes of Adapt Deez will focus on a specific property and its (officially licensed) adaptations. Not simply a recounting of the differences and similarities between each adaptation, Adapt Deez aims to highlight the ways in which each iteration shines and how its individual media-specific properties—such as film scores, casting, and packaging—elevate the material and affect the way each work is received.  In today’s episode, Amanda and Jon discuss the many iterations of The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackon & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Originally published in 2005, The Lightning Thief has gone on to receive critical acclaim and has since spawned numerous adaptations and launched the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, a media franchise consisting of various mediums, including three additional book series, several standalone novels, graphic novel adaptations, short story collections, films, a television series, a musical, a video game, and more. The Lightning Thief follows 12-year-old Percy Jackson, who lives with ADHD and dyslexia. When on a school field trip, he encounters a Fury, a goddess of vengeance sent to eliminate him. Though he survives the encounter, nothing about Percy’s life will ever be the same, especially when he learns that his best friend Grover is actually a satyr assigned to protect him and his favorite teacher turns out to be a centaur named Chiron. Things continue to spiral until Percy arrives at Camp Half-Blood—a protective stronghold for demigods, or children of Greek gods—and is informed that Zeus believes Percy has stolen his master lightning bolt, sending Percy on a dangerous quest to retrieve it or risk further peril. Focusing on the first book, Amanda and Jon dive into both the 2010 film adaptation Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief—directed by Chris Columbus and starring “white boy of the century” Logan Lerman as the titular Percy Jackson—and the recently released Disney+ series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (with a special shout out to the Off-Broadway musical of the same name).  

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

Adapt Deez, a brand new season of GateCrashers, is dedicated to appreciating media adaptations in all their many forms! From the classic book-to-movie adaptations to the many iterations associated and in-between, episodes of Adapt Deez will focus on a specific property and its (officially licensed) adaptations. Not simply a recounting of the differences and similarities between each adaptation, Adapt Deez aims to highlight the ways in which each iteration shines and how its individual media-specific properties—such as film scores, casting, and packaging—elevate the material and affect the way each work is received.  In today’s episode, Amanda, Amir, and Jon discuss the Academy Award-winning movie The Social Network. The film—which received eight nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for leading man Jesse Eisenberg, and won for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing—released in 2010 from Sony Pictures, and was directed by David Fincher. The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, and was adapted from The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, a work of narrative nonfiction by Ben Mezrich that was published in 2009 by Doubleday. The Social Network tells the story of the founding of social media service Facebook in 2004 by Harvard college students Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Andrew McCollum. Focusing primarily on the relationship—and fall out—between Zuckerberg, played by Eisenberg, and Saverin, portrayed by Andrew Garfield in what would become his international breakthrough role, The Social Network spans several years from Facebook’s inception to the depositions between Zuckerberg and Saverin, and Zuckerberg and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer/Josh Pence), twins and fellow Harvard students. If you think that sounds dry, just wait until you witness Amanda, Amir, and Jon’s dramatic reenactments of iconic scenes—we guarantee you’ll be just as riveted by this biographical drama as we were more than a decade ago.  

The Social Network

Adapt Deez, a brand new season of GateCrashers, is dedicated to appreciating media adaptations in all their many forms! From the classic book-to-movie adaptations to the many iterations associated and in between, episodes of Adapt Deez will focus on a specific property and its (officially licensed) adaptations. Not simply a recounting of the differences and similarities between each adaptation, Adapt Deez aims to highlight the ways in which each iteration shines and how its individual media-specific properties—such as film scores, casting, and packaging—elevate the material and affect the way each work is received.  In the first episode of the season, Amanda, Patrick, and Jon discuss the book Holes by Louis Sachar, which was published in 1998. The Newbery Medal-winning novel follows 14-year-old Stanley Yelnats who, following a false criminal accusation, is sentenced to 18 months at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile correctional boot camp in Texas. Stanley imagines a picturesque, lakeside facility, at which he’ll participate in classic character-building activities. But when he arrives, he learns that Camp Green Lake is located in the middle of a dried-up lake bed; it hasn’t rained there in over 100 years; and instead of swimming and hiking, Stanley must dig a hole while baking away in the unforgiving desert sun. Holes was adapted into a feature film of the same name by Walt Disney Pictures in 2003. Directed by Andrew Davis—with a script written by the author himself—the movie stars film industry greats such as Sigourney Weaver, Patricia Arquette, Jon Voight, Dulé Hill, Henry Winkler, and Tim Blake Nelson. It was also the motion picture debut of Shia LaBeouf, who played Stanley. The novel is still taught in middle school classrooms and the movie’s end credit song—”Dig It” by the D-Tent Boys—remains just as iconic today as it was when we first heard it on the Disney Channel more than 20 years ago.  

Holes

It’s the season finale of Capes ‘N Cowards, and we saved the best for last. Today we’re talking about  Minor Threats, the delightfully diabolical comic from Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Scott Hepburn that ignited an all-new universe. The series follows five D-list supervillains who try to stop a rampaging superhero called the Insomniac from tearing their city apart. After the Insomniac's sidekick, Kid Dusk, was killed by his nemesis, the Stickman, the Insomniac was thrust into the pursuit of vengeance, and the only way for our heroes- I mean, villains- to put an end to it is to kill the Stickman themselves. The story features an imaginative twist on the familiar archetypes and tropes of comic books, all from the perspective of the kinds of characters usually stuck at the bottom of the food chain. Can’t get enough caped capers? Good, because this episode has an all-new audio drama from the world of Minor Threats. Hear the triumphant ascension of two misfit nobodies, B.A.C. and Parvus Canus, who use their respective masteries over whiskey (as well as other fluids) and dogs (under forty pounds) to seize a new future together. It’s truly a beautiful tale.

Star Wars Celebration

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