Project Hail Mary Review

Intro Sketch

Rex (00:00:00 - 00:00:03): Let’s go! The True North Nerds are about to start!

Rex (00:00:03 - 00:00:06): I know! I’m trying to find the signal!

Rex (00:00:06 - 00:00:08): Thank you, Monster Nerd!

Rex (00:00:08 - 00:00:10): No, that’s the wrong one.

Rex (00:00:10 - 00:00:11): Move over!

Rex (00:00:11 - 00:00:12): Let me do it!

Rex (00:00:13 - 00:00:16): If I don’t go to this nerd school, I’m gonna lose my mind!

Rex (00:00:16 - 00:00:18): Come on, come on!

Rex (00:00:19 - 00:00:21): We can’t go against that guy! We’re nerds!

Rex (00:00:21 - 00:00:22): We’re gonna miss it!

Rex (00:00:24 - 00:00:27): My fellow nerds and I will retire to the nerdery with our calculators.

Rex (00:00:27 - 00:00:27): Wait!

Rex (00:00:28 - 00:00:28): I got it!

Theme Song

Kirby Crackle (00:00:29 - 00:00:58): Set your phasers to sexy. Hey you, reading comic books. Like the way you look. Like the way you always mess with your hair. Playing PS3. It’s just you and me in my dreams, and I want to go to bed.

Kirby Crackle (00:00:58 - 00:00:58): I like you.

Kirby Crackle (00:01:01 - 00:01:18): I like the way you’re ignoring me. I like you. I like you. So such a face as a sexy. It’s the way you read your books that affects me.

Welcome and Overview

Brent (00:01:19 - 00:01:22): Welcome to another episode of True North Nerds.

Jen (00:01:22 - 00:01:22): Yay!

Brent (00:01:24 - 00:01:31): This week we have Kevin and Jen, uh, or we have Jen and Ryan, and hopefully we will have Kevin a little bit later.

Jen (00:01:32 - 00:01:32): Hello.

Ryan (00:01:33 - 00:01:33): Hi.

Brent (00:01:35 - 00:02:00): Um, yeah, and I’m Brent. Uh, so we’re going to talk about the news. We’re also going to talk about, uh, Project Hail Mary, because for once all four of us saw it at like pretty much the same time. Well, Brian saw it a little bit later, but it’s not— we all saw it. None of us got left out this round.

Jen (00:02:00 - 00:02:01): Yay!

News and Announcements

Brent (00:02:03 - 00:02:06): But, uh, before we do all that, uh, Ryan?

Ryan (00:02:07 - 00:02:07): Yes?

Brent (00:02:08 - 00:02:09): What is in the news?

Ryan (00:02:10 - 00:02:42): Okay, here we go. Let’s start with, um, I guess we’ll start with the passing of the one and only Chuck Norris. Um, he, uh, yeah, he passed away last week at the age of 86. So you can imagine, uh, the internet was filled with Chuck Norris jokes and that kind of fun goodness celebrating his life last week. So, yep. So that happened. I never did catch why, but he was 86, so he lived a good life.

Brent (00:02:42 - 00:02:57): So it sounded like he— it was some sort of illness just sort of cropped up and, you know, that happens. And, you know, maybe somebody in heaven needed its ass whooped.

Ryan (00:02:57 - 00:03:23): There you go. Um, so announcements. We got a whole bunch of different shows announced. Um, we’ve got a confirmation for the name of what this new Punisher one-shot’s called. It’s called The Punisher: The Last Kill, and it is coming to Disney+ on May 12th. So we don’t have to wait very long for that one.

Jen (00:03:24 - 00:03:25): I bet it’s not the last kill.

Brent (00:03:26 - 00:03:30): We’ll find out, especially since he shows up in Spider-Man later on.

Ryan (00:03:31 - 00:03:32): Yeah.

Brent (00:03:33 - 00:03:37): What’s the— what week does The Punisher come out?

Ryan (00:03:37 - 00:03:38): May 12th.

Brent (00:03:38 - 00:03:40): And when does Spider-Man come out?

Ryan (00:03:42 - 00:03:42): July.

Kevin (00:03:43 - 00:03:45): Okay, I think. Yeah.

Ryan (00:03:45 - 00:04:17): Now I think Daredevil may finish like the week before this, or right around the week or two before, uh, the release of The Punisher. So that could line up with one another. Um, Wonder Man, surprise hit, uh, has been renewed for a second season. Uh, the big surprise there was because of how long they sat on this thing before they put it out. And when they put it out, they just dumped it all at once in January. Yeah, not expecting much from it.

Brent (00:04:18 - 00:04:37): Um, it kind of felt almost like they were putting this one out to die. Yeah, like no real fanfare for it. Um, just, you know, put it out, let’s get this over with. And instead, uh, people liked it. Yeah, I’m sure some people complained about it.

Ryan (00:04:37 - 00:04:39): No, but people always complain about something.

Jen (00:04:39 - 00:04:47): Yeah, I mean, I didn’t really expect to like it until I saw it and Yeah, it was mostly because of Trevor. Uh, what’s his— Ben Kingsley.

Ryan (00:04:49 - 00:04:49): Yes, he is great.

Brent (00:04:52 - 00:04:56): And it looks like Kevin has appeared. I have.

Kevin (00:04:56 - 00:04:57): Can you hear me?

Brent (00:04:58 - 00:04:59): We can hear you this time.

Kevin (00:05:00 - 00:05:00): Can you hear me?

Ryan (00:05:00 - 00:05:01): Can you hear us?

Brent (00:05:02 - 00:05:02): Yes.

Kevin (00:05:03 - 00:05:04): Tell me you can hear me.

Ryan (00:05:05 - 00:05:06): We did.

Brent (00:05:07 - 00:05:07): I can hear you.

Ryan (00:05:07 - 00:05:08): Can’t hear us.

Brent (00:05:09 - 00:05:11): Oh, you can hear us?

Ryan (00:05:12 - 00:05:12): I could.

Kevin (00:05:12 - 00:05:18): Yes, I can. Okay, then give me one second.

Ryan (00:05:19 - 00:06:08): Okay, I’m gonna keep going with my announcements then while he gets his things in order. All right, uh, Lilo and Stitch 2 has been announced, uh, in the live-action realm of the Disney, uh, reboots, reanimations, re— you know, whatever you want to call these things. Um, and that’s coming out May of 2028. So, you know, if it actually does, uh, along with, uh, Incredibles 3, which— that’s one of the Incredibles 1 and 2, or one of those— the— it’s a franchise of, you know, it’s a pair of movies I always forget about until I see a clip or something. I’m like, oh, I haven’t watched that in like forever and keep meaning to watch it again.

Brent (00:06:08 - 00:06:14): Yeah, I, I love the first Incredibles. The second one was good, but not nearly as good.

Kevin (00:06:14 - 00:06:19): Yeah, that’s the way these things go.

Ryan (00:06:20 - 00:06:21): That is.

Kevin (00:06:22 - 00:06:23): And I can be heard now.

Jen (00:06:26 - 00:06:27): Yay!

Ryan (00:06:28 - 00:06:31): Yes, a wild Kevin has finally joined us.

Brent (00:06:31 - 00:06:32): Wild Kevin.

Kevin (00:06:32 - 00:06:34): Oh, it’s been, it’s been an ordeal.

Ryan (00:06:37 - 00:06:50): Um, movie trailers. We got some movie, we got some movie trailers. Um, we got, uh, Spider-Man: A Brand New Day. Did everybody see that?

Jen (00:06:51 - 00:06:51): Yeah.

Ryan (00:06:53 - 00:06:54): Brent, Jen?

Brent (00:06:55 - 00:06:56): Uh, yes, yes, I did.

Jen (00:06:56 - 00:07:05): I did. I was hitting the unmute button and it wasn’t working. We are having a fun night tonight, guys.

Ryan (00:07:05 - 00:07:18): Yep, it is fun tonight. Um, yeah, so it looks great, you know, Spider-Man down on his luck, nobody remembers who he is, or do they? Um, he’s having some problems.

Jen (00:07:20 - 00:07:24): I’m excited that the Hulk is in it. Yes, or at least Bruce Banner.

Ryan (00:07:26 - 00:08:00): Punisher appears in it. Um, it looks like Peter, you know, it could go one of two ways here. Uh, we see him, he’s developing the organic, uh, web shooters and stuff. Um, do we see him sprout some extra arms and start going the route of the Man-Spider story? Or do we see it more the, uh, John, uh, J. Michael Straczynski story of the Other when he developed the organic stuff in the comics and got some extra spidery powers?

Brent (00:08:01 - 00:08:06): I think it’s— I don’t think, I don’t think they’re doing Man-Spider.

Jen (00:08:07 - 00:08:10): No, it’s— but going through puberty again.

Speaker F (00:08:10 - 00:08:10): Yep.

Ryan (00:08:11 - 00:08:35): Well, since you said that, there’s talk of, you know, at least even say of his genetics mutating Right. So we have lots of talk on the internet that, oh, what’s her name? The young lady from Stranger Things, the redhead that’s in this movie, is lots of rumors that she is playing Jean Grey. Lots of speculation that she is.

Brent (00:08:35 - 00:08:39): Yeah. Yeah. We’ll see.

Ryan (00:08:40 - 00:08:40): Yeah.

Jen (00:08:41 - 00:08:55): Yeah. I watched one of those I think it was ScreenCrush on YouTube, and it was how the Hulk is going to introduce mutants and destroy them in the new Spider-Man movie. Yeah, I was like, okay, that seems like a lot, but okay. Yeah.

Ryan (00:08:57 - 00:09:03): Um, then we got a trailer for a new animated movie from DreamWorks called Forgotten Island.

Jen (00:09:03 - 00:09:04): Oh, that looks cute.

Ryan (00:09:04 - 00:09:14): It does look very good. Lots of the power of friendship going on in that one. Yeah, looks very cute and very colorful.

Jen (00:09:15 - 00:09:15): Yes.

Brent (00:09:18 - 00:09:22): Yeah, I didn’t even know that movie existed until you sent the trailer out, to be honest.

Ryan (00:09:23 - 00:09:26): I didn’t know it existed until I saw the trailer and then sent it out.

Jen (00:09:27 - 00:09:37): It showed up in my Facebook For You page, but the same day that Ryan sent it out, and I was at work, so I didn’t have a chance to send it out. So I knew about it, but Ryan beat me to it. Aha.

Kevin (00:09:37 - 00:09:38): Aha.

Ryan (00:09:40 - 00:10:51): Um, and then, uh, from Netflix, we’re getting the, uh, a Stranger Things animated series called Tales of Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85. Um, I think it could be fun. I’m not sold on the animation style. I’m sure I’ll get used to it once I try watching it, but it just seems a little I don’t know, 5 years ago. Just the, the, the, yeah, the CGI weird and, you know, stylized look to them. Just, yeah, I don’t know, maybe it’ll grow on me. Uh, and then last but not least from the new trailers, uh, there’s one called The End of Oak Street, which had, uh Oh, who’s all in it? Um, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anne Hathaway, Anne Hathaway, and some kids that I don’t know, uh, and dinosaurs. Because apparently their neighborhood somehow gets pulled through time and a whole big chunk of it just ends up in the dinosaur age, or so we’re led to believe.

Kevin (00:10:52 - 00:10:52): Hmm.

Jen (00:10:53 - 00:10:54): Yeah, it looks really strange.

Ryan (00:10:54 - 00:10:57): Yes, that’s why I think it could be fun.

Brent (00:10:58 - 00:10:59): It’s at least something different.

Ryan (00:11:00 - 00:11:01): Yeah.

Brent (00:11:02 - 00:11:32): So before we get off of trailers, now that, now that Kevin’s joined us, um, we’ll do a brief chat about the, the fact that there’s a Harry Potter TV series trailer out. Um, it exists. I don’t think any of us here endorse the views of one Miss J.K. Rowling, because quite frankly, she’s been a pretty horrible person to the transgender community.

Ryan (00:11:32 - 00:11:33): Yep.

Brent (00:11:33 - 00:11:48): Um, and she’s in the Epstein files, not for nothing. Um, is she? Yes, she sent him tickets after his first arrest for, uh, The Cursed Child or whatever that the play was called.

Kevin (00:11:50 - 00:11:51): Oh, I really liked that play, actually.

Brent (00:11:53 - 00:12:08): So I, I think I can speak for all of us that we all like Harry Potter and we do not like her. So, and her views are pretty abhorrent. But here’s the thing, I don’t understand why this TV series is being made other than money.

Ryan (00:12:09 - 00:12:09): Well, that’s right.

Brent (00:12:09 - 00:12:18): Yeah, I agree, because like, it’s like, those movies were good. Yeah, it’s not like we’re just remaking the movies into a TV show.

Jen (00:12:19 - 00:12:21): And I watched the trailer and it looks exactly the same.

Ryan (00:12:22 - 00:12:22): Yeah.

Brent (00:12:22 - 00:12:48): The kid who they got to— now that’s partially due to description, right? But the kid that they got to play Harry Potter looks like a young Daniel Radcliffe, a little pudgier maybe. But yeah, that’s my basic thing with it. So yeah, just, I don’t get it. Yeah, I really don’t.

Kevin (00:12:48 - 00:13:10): Yeah, I don’t understand it either. I, I think that what Warner Brothers, I thought, is, is that they can try for a younger audience. You know, the, the millennials who grew up on Harry Potter are, have aged out of it, so let’s try to get new young kids. We’ll put it on Max and Yeah, TV show.

Brent (00:13:11 - 00:13:18): Now here’s the other thing, is the plan is to do one book a year, like one book a season.

Jen (00:13:19 - 00:13:20): Yes.

Brent (00:13:20 - 00:13:30): So the kids will age in real time. Um, we’re not using video, but hands up if any of us think this— that is going to occur.

Jen (00:13:32 - 00:13:53): It might if they throw enough money at it. I don’t think it’s like any popular pop culture thing. It had its time and place, and I don’t think that it’s going to have the same returns that they’re hoping it will. It’s not going to become the phenomenon that it was. It, it just can’t. There’s too much.

Brent (00:13:54 - 00:13:56): And now there’s her baggage on top of it.

Jen (00:13:56 - 00:13:57): Yeah, exactly.

Brent (00:13:57 - 00:14:02): Like, that’s not going to dissuade everybody, but it definitely will dissuade a fair amount of people.

Jen (00:14:03 - 00:14:03): Yeah.

Brent (00:14:06 - 00:14:30): Now, the other thing that can interrupt this, much like it happening in the first place, is money. Because this is like, first season has been produced before buyout, right? Or merger or whatever they’re calling it. Yeah, sale, right? We, we shall see what happens after the sale or during the sale or if the sale just falls apart.

Kevin (00:14:32 - 00:14:42): And the new owners have been known to cancel series set in schools which have a set number of years in a term before reaching said term end.

Jen (00:14:43 - 00:14:46): That’s oddly specific.

Brent (00:14:46 - 00:14:54): But the— this was before the— that was with a crew of people who weren’t necessarily on their same political wavelength.

Kevin (00:14:56 - 00:14:59): Oh, you think that’s the reason for the cancellation of Starfleet Academy?

Brent (00:14:59 - 00:15:02): I think it might be. Honestly, I feel it might be part of it.

Kevin (00:15:03 - 00:15:05): I, I’m pretty sure it is.

Brent (00:15:05 - 00:15:24): Like, I, I think it’s like, you know, it’s twofold. I don’t think it was getting them the viewers that they, they wanted. And two, I think, I think a lot of the Star Trek stuff unfortunately falls under the, the chopping blocks of the, the heads of Paramount at this point.

Ryan (00:15:25 - 00:15:25): Yeah.

Brent (00:15:25 - 00:15:39): So then, which is sad because that means that like the Star Trek, if we get Star Trek at all, is probably not going to be great or not what it should be.

Kevin (00:15:40 - 00:15:40): Mm-hmm.

Brent (00:15:41 - 00:15:56): But that’s just, we’ll see. So yeah. Um, there’s a Harry Potter show. Yeah. Um, what else you got in the news, Ryan?

Ryan (00:15:56 - 00:16:34): Uh, so we’ve got a new character added to the Super Mario Galaxy movie. The big reveal of Star Fox. Um, which I don’t understand why they did this as a big reveal before the movie came out. I think this movie already had enough buzz and it’s going to get people going in. This could have been your big announcement for marketing-wise, you— that you start the week after it’s premiered, you know, once people have seen it and say, oh my God, Star Fox is in this, if, you know, they’re that excited about Star Fox.

Brent (00:16:35 - 00:16:47): Um, my thought is this might be because they’re releasing one of the, the Easter eggs in order to hide something else. Yeah, like a Link or a Zelda.

Kevin (00:16:50 - 00:16:50): Or Pikachu.

Brent (00:16:52 - 00:17:13): Or Pikachu, possibly. Um, yeah, he’s being voiced by Glen Powell, by the way. Yes, that, that’s one of the things that’s been kind of buried underneath, who, uh, we most recently saw in Twisters and The Running Man. And I guess also like had a huge hit with Top Gun: Maverick a couple years ago.

Ryan (00:17:13 - 00:17:20): This, where in that movie he also did a barrel roll, so we’ll see if he does in this one.

Brent (00:17:21 - 00:17:24): 3 people laughed at that, including me.

Ryan (00:17:26 - 00:18:35): Hey, I know my audience. Um, okay, so we got some sad news on the, uh, Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival side of things. Uh, so it has been canceled. It’s not, or at least not being picked up. Um, now reports are that you could put the blame for this squarely on one executive at Hulu who, um, took pleasure while working on this project in mentioning that they had never watched the entirety of the original series and said that it wasn’t for them. Uh, which then makes me wonder Why do you make this person the executive of a show that you’re trying to bring back, that you’re going— putting all this money into casting people and making a pilot, um, when they will never probably ever have it go forward because they don’t get it? Some other reports were that, uh, it wasn’t mainstream enough for Hulu. Buffy was never really mainstream though.

Jen (00:18:36 - 00:18:36): Yeah.

Ryan (00:18:37 - 00:18:57): It was kind of always fringe ideas. They had lesbian relationships on there that were just a normal relationship. It wasn’t a big deal. Look at Buffy’s horrible relationship with Angel and with Spike.

Brent (00:18:57 - 00:18:57): Spike.

Ryan (00:18:58 - 00:20:04): That whole idea, that wasn’t really your typical teen drama TV show storylines. But one thing Sarah Michelle Gellar has kind of put out there is asking people not to seek out, I guess, the pilot if it leaks or anything, because I guess it didn’t really get finished or there’s something along those lines where she just doesn’t want people to go and find it or watch it without, you know, it— since it didn’t get go forward, I’m sure there’s probably some editing done to it or some, you know, no, at least missing effects or something. Oh, probably so. Um, but then on the flip side of that coin, we got some— we got our big announcement, uh, that Brent, uh, put in the last episode regarding the reboot of Firefly. So the announcement happened and it will be an animated series. Yay!

Kevin (00:20:05 - 00:20:07): Yeah, it couldn’t be anything else.

Ryan (00:20:07 - 00:20:41): Yeah, not— no, it’d be great for it to have been something live-action, but animated makes the most sense unless they were setting it 20 years in the future. Yeah, unless they were doing a time jump. Uh, in this case, it sounds like it will take place between the end of season 1 and Serenity. So that way every— all the characters that we love from the show, uh, can be in it. Some will have to be done by— voiced by new actors. Yeah, but, uh, it means, yeah, all our favorites will be around.

Brent (00:20:43 - 00:20:55): Um, to, to that end, uh, not to pat ourselves on the back, but a lot of our predictions like that, like things that we said in regards to a revival, we kind of nailed.

Ryan (00:20:56 - 00:20:56): Hmm.

Brent (00:20:57 - 00:21:23): Like, we kind of suggested animation would be the best way because then you can bring back old cast members and stuff like that whose characters have been killed off. Um, we, we did sort of say something about doing a, a, like, in-between series. Uh, we thought animation was going to be the best way of going about it. Uh, but, uh, the, the one thing to make clear is they’re, they’re not out of the woods yet.

Ryan (00:21:24 - 00:21:25): Oh no, they’re far from that.

Brent (00:21:25 - 00:21:36): They’re like, they have, they have in theory everything in place to go forward, but that means except for a place for it to actually air.

Ryan (00:21:37 - 00:21:37): Yeah.

Brent (00:21:38 - 00:21:48): Which I find interesting that Disney, it like gave their approval for it. But isn’t necessarily where it’s going to land.

Ryan (00:21:49 - 00:21:56): Yeah. Well, it could be one of those things where they’re like, oh yeah, you guys go make this and we’ll see if we— once you’ve made it.

Brent (00:21:57 - 00:21:57): Yeah.

Ryan (00:21:57 - 00:22:08): If we want it. But yeah, that’s it for me for news. Anybody else got any news?

Jen (00:22:10 - 00:22:11): I have some sort of news.

Kevin (00:22:12 - 00:22:13): Yeah, go for it, Jen.

Ryan (00:22:14 - 00:22:14): I got a little bit.

Jen (00:22:15 - 00:22:20): Did I talk about The Sims 4 Marketplace before? Does that ring a bell for anybody?

Brent (00:22:20 - 00:22:22): I don’t remember, to be honest.

Ryan (00:22:22 - 00:22:26): Yeah, I don’t know. You say Sims stuff and eventually I, huh?

Jen (00:22:27 - 00:22:44): Fair. So anyway, in case I didn’t, I’ll give a recap. So The Sims 4 has decided to install a marketplace, which is microtransactions for you to buy more custom content for your game. Instead of releasing it in packs and kits like they have been.

Ryan (00:22:44 - 00:22:44): Okay.

Jen (00:22:45 - 00:26:19): There’s been a lot of mixed reaction to this because they did this in The Sims 3 where they had a Sims 3 store and it was very expensive to buy pretty much like basic things. Um, so it doesn’t look well, the way they’re doing it in The Sims 4 Marketplace is they’re taking existing custom content creators who have been until now releasing their stuff on Patreon or for free, and they are giving them um, I guess space. I don’t know what the terms are because I didn’t read a contract, but basically they’re giving them a platform on this marketplace to reach a broader audience and to set prices for their custom content. They get 30% and, uh, EA The Sims gets 70%. Of course sucks right off the bat because the creators are doing all the work. Uh, so there’s been a lot of reaction to this in The Sims community. Uh, most people don’t like it and I don’t blame them because some of the custom content that they’re putting up on the marketplace is pretty crappy for the price that the creator is asking. And I don’t blame the creator because they’re not getting very much money, so they’re trying to raise the prices as high as they can so that they get something. Um, but people aren’t going to buy it because it’s not worth the money, right? And then there was news that somebody had already cracked the marketplace and was going to, um, basically release all the content for free. And, uh, nobody in The Sims community named the person, so I don’t know who it was. Uh, but basically there’s like a Sims community newsletter, for lack of a better term, uh, and they were talking about this. So they didn’t name the person, but they were telling everybody about it, and the person was trying to get people to donate money to them so that they could, you know, pay the cost of hosting and releasing, but they would release all the content. Surprise, surprise, EA gave them a cease and desist. Not actually surprised it took them this long because this was like a week or two ago. So I still don’t know who the user is. The Sims community hasn’t named them. And so basically this person issued an end of project statement and it was pretty funny because they were like, my intent wasn’t to cause financial harm to EA or to promote piracy with malicious intent. My only goal was to send a message regarding consumer rights and the current state of the game experience. So anyway, it got hacked. I don’t know if anything honestly got released. I didn’t look for it, but it’s now been de-hacked. But I guess the Sims community is kind of hoping that EA will take a hint and maybe not put all their eggs in this basket. So yeah, that’s my, my Sims 4 drama that’s going on. Uh, I’ve bought one thing on The Sims Community Marketplace so far because I thought it was cute and I did the math and it was still more expensive than their smallest pack, which is a kit, but it was still had enough stuff in it that I thought it was worth it. But I don’t think I’m going to be buying too much on there. I’m going to, um, spend my time looking for free content and I would participate with the Patreon, but I’m not made of money unfortunately, so it makes more sense for the content creators to not take place in the market, not participate in the marketplace, and just stick with their own Patreons. Anyway, so yeah, there’s The Sims 4 current controversy, I suppose. Okay, that was my news.

Ryan (00:26:21 - 00:26:40): Good news, very interesting. Um, it sucks when they do stuff like that, like the— these game makers with like You know, the, the, the community starts something and makes things or does things to help out. And then all of a sudden they’re like, oh yeah, okay, cool. Here’s here. You can, you can sell it through us. Yeah, we want most of the money.

Jen (00:26:40 - 00:27:35): Yeah, exactly. And the thing is that they’re not locking down custom content. Like I can still download the free stuff and put it in my game and The Sims. They’re not preventing that. If they prevented that, oh, they would have a riot. But basically, as part of the contract, because somebody who was going to be part of the marketplace stepped out before the marketplace went live and like disclosed some of the stuff that was on the contract. Um, so basically the creators who participate didn’t know who else was part of this creator network, so they weren’t allowed to talk to anybody else, uh, who was doing this custom content. And they’re not allowed to, um, promote any of— like, they’re not allowed to sell the same custom content on their page, so they can’t have it on the marketplace and on their Patreon. Has to only be on the Marketplace. So yeah, there’s not much on there now, so I don’t know if it’s going to get bigger. Very strange.

Ryan (00:27:39 - 00:27:40): What was your news, Kevin?

Kevin (00:27:41 - 00:27:47): Um, well, in a weird kind of way, Disney opened a new theme park today.

Ryan (00:27:48 - 00:27:48): Okay.

Kevin (00:27:49 - 00:28:02): Um, It’s not actually a new theme park. They rebranded their Studios park in France. It used to be Walt Disney Studios Paris, and now the park is called Disney Adventure World.

Ryan (00:28:03 - 00:28:08): Oh, uh, this involve the— a water tower and a certain superhero?

Kevin (00:28:10 - 00:28:52): No, this— well, it might because there is an Avengers Campus there that’s been open for a couple of years. The new thing that opened really to kick off the big change to the name and the theme of the park. They opened the World of Arendelle, the Land of Arendelle, the World of Frozen. They opened that this weekend with the new Frozen ride. And I don’t know, have you seen any images of the free walking Olaf animatronic? He is, uh, he’s about 3 feet high and he can walk around the park on his own and interact with people.

Jen (00:28:52 - 00:28:58): I think I’ve seen videos of that. It’s kind of like the, um, the baby Toothlesses that they had at Universal Studios.

Kevin (00:29:00 - 00:29:13): Kind of, yeah, kind of. But this one, um, this, this thing can roam around and interact with people and he’s very cute. So, um, Yes, we do welcome our new robot overlords.

Jen (00:29:14 - 00:29:14): Yep.

Kevin (00:29:15 - 00:29:16): Yeah.

Ryan (00:29:16 - 00:29:44): I saw a clip, I guess it was what I saw, they had a Spider-Man actor on a big water tower and he climbed over the edge. And as he climbed over the edge to start webbing down, hanging from a web, they dropped the, the name, the old name off the water tower, like, and then a new banner unfurled with the new name for that adventure.

Kevin (00:29:44 - 00:29:51): That probably was that. Yeah, that would have been the same park. Yeah, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see the Spider-Man stuff.

Ryan (00:29:52 - 00:29:53): That’s all I saw.

Kevin (00:29:53 - 00:29:54): So that’s kind of new.

Jen (00:29:54 - 00:29:55): Cool.

Kevin (00:29:58 - 00:30:01): Yeah, but that’s about all the news I have right now.

Main Topic: Project Hail Mary Review

Brent (00:30:03 - 00:30:34): Alrighty then, so we can get into the meat of this episode with our review of, uh, Project Hail Mary, uh, starring Ryan Gosling. I was gonna say and other people, but for the most part it’s Ryan Gosling. He is the main actor. It’s him and a puppet. Uh, but, uh I think this is one of those movies that all three of us were looking forward to seeing. Uh, Ryan and Ken especially wanted to look for—

Ryan (00:30:34 - 00:30:35): there’s four of us.

Brent (00:30:36 - 00:30:49): Oh, four of us. I don’t count myself most of the time, but, uh, yeah. So, uh, let’s go with Ryan because Ryan wanted to see it the most.

Ryan (00:30:51 - 00:30:53): So that’s mostly because I was the first one in the book.

Brent (00:30:54 - 00:30:54): Yes.

Jen (00:30:55 - 00:30:56): Yeah.

Ryan (00:30:58 - 00:32:29): So yeah, no, it was great. I think it was a really well-done interpretation of the book. Obviously, there are details and sequences and story sections that got left on the editing room floor. I did hear that the original cut was like 3 and 40-something minutes long. So they cut like an hour. Wow. Um, so it’d be interesting to see like what, if we get, if they have deleted scenes, like, or if there’s ever like a different cut of it or anything. But, um, I can see a lot of that being just extended scenes or some of the, you know, some things like the whole one, one major thing they left out with why, you know, one of the reasons why he had to go, getting into the spoiler realm of things, after the other astronauts died was because of the whole gene that they’ve discovered that would allow people to actually survive the induced coma in space. So that’s— so there was only— there’s an even smaller pool of individuals that could be trained or could even go on this mission in the first place. So that didn’t get mentioned at all. But I can also see why it’s one of those things. It didn’t really affect the story one way or the other in the end.

Jen (00:32:29 - 00:32:30): Yeah.

Ryan (00:32:33 - 00:32:51): But yeah, Rocky’s great. He looked cool. They had great— they were great on screen together. Ryan Gosling was just— he, he— I don’t know if he’ll get nominated for any awards for this one, but he did a hell of a job in this movie.

Jen (00:32:52 - 00:32:52): Mhm.

Ryan (00:32:54 - 00:33:05): And, uh, yeah, I don’t know really what else to say at the moment, but, uh, yeah, if you, if you are thinking about seeing it, go see it. You’ll enjoy it.

Brent (00:33:07 - 00:33:07): Jen?

Jen (00:33:09 - 00:33:45): Uh, yeah. Basically what Ryan said. I, I also read the book at Ryan’s insistence, and I’m very glad I did. Uh, I have since recommended it to pretty much everybody I know who reads books. Um, I, I thought it was a really good adaptation. Um, at the beginning where they kind of skipped through his whole amnesia thing for— for— I was like, oh, that’s a pretty key part of the book, is him figuring out who he is, and they don’t really identify that expressly. Like, he writes on the whiteboard, “Who am I?” But they don’t really address the fact that he has amnesia in the movie.

Ryan (00:33:47 - 00:34:10): I was actually— now that you brought that up, I was kind of hoping that they would go through the part in the book where he’s like, when he starts— after he starts to remember that he’s a teacher, but like not necessarily that he’s a teacher, he’s like, “Okay, I’m a single guy. I live alone. I like children.” Oh, I like children. Oh, I’m a teacher. Oh, I’m a teacher. I’m a teacher. I’m a teacher. That’s why I’m a teacher. Yeah.

Jen (00:34:12 - 00:34:58): Yeah, that was good. I really loved Rocky. I loved that scene where they were trying to find a voice for him and they were picking different voices. That part was funny. And yeah, I really like that they kept it true to the movies while going back and forth between the past and the present. Or sorry, true to the book where they were going back and forth between the past and the present. And, um, I like how they made Rocky— like, I don’t want to use the word annoying, maybe eager. He wasn’t— to me, he didn’t seem quite so eager in the book. Like, they did those video cameras where Ryan Gosling was like, I can’t get away from him, he’s everywhere. And I was like, oh, but he never really felt that way in the book. Like, they were always like—

Kevin (00:34:58 - 00:34:58): they were—

Jen (00:34:59 - 00:35:32): so that part I was like, um, there isn’t really that kind of— I like that they did it for comedic value, but at the same time it was like, well, but they were never really— they never really felt that way about each other in the book. They were always just friends. Um, but yeah, overall I thought it was fantastic. Um, I would have gone to see it again. Unfortunately, when you guys went and saw it again, I was busy, so that’s okay. I’ll see it again. I would see the, the, uh, director’s cut because this movie was what, 3 hours, almost 3 hours, and it did not feel that long at all.

Ryan (00:35:32 - 00:35:35): It’s just over 2 and a half, I think.

Jen (00:35:35 - 00:35:56): Yeah, it was moving at a good clip. It did not feel like suddenly they were at the end and I was like, oh geez, they’re at the end of the movie. I mean, I have a real soft spot for Ryan Gosling, but he was fantastic. And I also really liked— oh, I forgot what I was going to say.

Ryan (00:35:58 - 00:36:27): Jen, I have a question for you now that I think about it while you think about what you wanted to say. What are your thoughts on that whole, the whole chunk of the book where the amoeba gets into the fuel tanks and he has to go in and scrub his fuel tanks and do all that in the book, clean out everything that they never really even touched. They barely touched it. He just witsent everything to vacuum and that was pretty much enough.

Jen (00:36:28 - 00:37:22): I think that in the book they made that seem a lot more scary because you were like, uh-oh, he’s doomed, right? Yeah, all his fuel’s gone, he’s, he’s SOL. But I think that at that point in the movie they needed to kind of wrap it up at that point. Yeah, they couldn’t have— it was great in the book, I loved that they had it in the book, but I feel like in the movie they needed to, um, focus more on his decision than the problem. Like, they had to they had to put more emphasis on the, do I go to Earth and save Earth, or do I hope these droids make it to Earth and I save my friend and never see home again? So I think they made it— they had to make it more about that decision. Um, I did like, um, the one thing that they added at the end, because I think in the book they used the Hail Mary to build the biodome where Ryan Gosling’s character lives, where Grace lives, if I’m not mistaken.

Ryan (00:37:23 - 00:37:25): Um, yeah, I don’t remember.

Jen (00:37:25 - 00:37:58): In the movie they say, oh, we fixed your ship, do you want to go back? And he’s like, let me think about it. Yeah, I didn’t— part of me didn’t like that they gave him the option to go home. Yeah, because I feel like that takes away from the consequences of his decisions. Like, it’s a, it’s a heavy decision to decide to basically never see your planet again, and I don’t like they get— like, they gave him an out. He’s happy in his decision and he’s living in a nice life for him, but I feel like he needed to— In the book, he has to stay with that consequence whether he can’t—

Ryan (00:37:58 - 00:38:06): Well, and in the book, that sequence we get of him, his life with Rocky, many more years have passed.

Jen (00:38:07 - 00:38:10): Yeah. Yeah. And they also didn’t talk about the me burgers.

Ryan (00:38:10 - 00:38:11): No. No me burgers.

Jen (00:38:12 - 00:38:14): I was telling Brent about that in the car on the way home.

Ryan (00:38:14 - 00:38:36): Yes. The me burgers. And then they didn’t talk about the conversation they have trying to figure out why they were the only two life forms at that star trying to solve this problem. And the whole Goldilocks.

Jen (00:38:37 - 00:38:40): I don’t remember that conversation in the book, but that makes sense.

Ryan (00:38:40 - 00:38:53): I didn’t remember it either until I you know, saw another clip where they were talking about it, where they’re like talking about either a society is either not smart enough and advanced enough to be able to send a ship out there, so they’re just gonna die.

Speaker F (00:38:53 - 00:38:53): Yeah.

Ryan (00:38:54 - 00:39:11): Or they’re more advanced and they probably already figured out their own, their own answer without having to do it. And it’s just that they’re both at that certain level of technology where they can see that there’s a problem happening. Oh wait, this is not happening here. We can go there.

Jen (00:39:13 - 00:39:16): Yeah. And I think that that’s the big thing is that we can go there.

Ryan (00:39:17 - 00:39:17): Yeah.

Jen (00:39:18 - 00:39:36): Because I think like there’s a lot of criteria that surrounds whether other civilizations exist and whether or not they can make it that far and whether or not, you know, like you were saying, they have the abilities to detect it even. So, yeah. Yeah, I didn’t remember that part in the book.

Ryan (00:39:37 - 00:40:11): Yeah, I didn’t either until I heard them talk about that. I think it’s one of those things too, it was a quick little conversation. I don’t think it was a big drawn out thing. They probably just had this talk. I imagine Ryan Gosling’s character brought it up and then Rocky was like, “Oh, well, it’s either this, this, or this.” Because his people seemed a lot smarter for a lot— for some things than humans, um, but maybe not so much for everything because, well, they didn’t know about relativity and radiation.

Jen (00:40:11 - 00:40:13): And I love how they explain that in the book.

Ryan (00:40:13 - 00:40:13): Yeah.

Jen (00:40:14 - 00:40:23): Um, so we’re not going to let anybody else have a chance. It’s just going to be me and Ryan talking about how we liked it better. You guys need to read the book.

Kevin (00:40:23 - 00:40:25): I haven’t said my piece yet.

Ryan (00:40:26 - 00:40:27): Now you can go ahead, Kev.

Jen (00:40:27 - 00:40:29): Yeah, go ahead. Good.

Ryan (00:40:30 - 00:40:31): Two thumbs down.

Kevin (00:40:32 - 00:40:45): Two thumbs down. Exactly. Um, no, I really had a good time. I did not go in knowing the book. Um, I do think Ryan Gosling should be nominated for Oscar for this performance.

Jen (00:40:45 - 00:40:45): Yes.

Kevin (00:40:45 - 00:43:19): Um, but it’s not that he was performing opposite a CGI creature. He wasn’t acting against nothing. I listened to Gasp, another podcast this week that interviewed the puppeteer and actor who played Rocky. The credit— remember the credit, and we looked up the guy and he didn’t have very many. He didn’t have any film credits at all. It’s because they plucked him from New York where he was a puppeteer on the Broadway scene, and they auditioned him like they would any other actor, especially for chemistry with Ryan Gosling. And these two guys hit it off. So it took more than just one guy to puppeteer Rocky. It took a team of three, but they were always on set. In very few scenes was Rocky actually CG. Most of the CG that was used for Rocky was to erase puppeteers from the images. It was really fascinating and it was really quite interesting to hear. If there is a longer cut, it may be because Ryan Gosling and the actor who played Rocky did a lot of improvving and ad-libbing. So I thought that was really fundamental to the success of this movie because if you didn’t buy that Rocky was one, a sentient life form and two, kind of lovable, then the whole thing would fall apart. And the design of the alien creature and the way Ryan Gosling played off of him, uh, I thought were both brilliant and worked so well hand in hand to create a really— I don’t know when the last time we had such a good, um, uh, alien creature that people love. Uh, maybe Stitch was the last one. Uh, And so I think Rocky is going to go down in the pantheon of great alien protagonists. Um, so yeah, I, I really, really had a good time at this movie. Usually a 2.5-hour movie and I had a large, large popcorn and large drink and I would be crossing my legs, holding them tight. But I did not. I enjoyed every second of this movie and I ran to the bathroom when, as soon as the credits started.

Jen (00:43:20 - 00:43:41): Yeah. Yeah, that part, what you’re saying about Rocky being a lovable character, that part where, um, again, more spoilers, uh, where Rocky leaves his environment to save Grace and then ends up being in a coma. I was watching Brent’s face because I knew what was happening because I’d read the book, but I was like, I want to see Brent. And he looks at me and he’s like, Rocky!

Kevin (00:43:42 - 00:43:45): Heartbreaking. So heart-wrenching.

Brent (00:43:45 - 00:44:06): Yeah, I, I would have Jen often says of certain movies, if such and such animal dies, I am going to be unhappy. And that was kind of the same thing for me. If Rocky dies, I’m gonna fucking flip out. They did a good job of characterizing him.

Jen (00:44:07 - 00:44:11): Yeah, they did a really good job of making him so lovable.

Brent (00:44:13 - 00:44:20): So, uh, we, we all have quote unquote thumbs down for this. You see the movie, you’ll get—

Ryan (00:44:20 - 00:44:23): yes, yes, bump my fists.

Brent (00:44:24 - 00:44:28): I would say the only thing is—

Jen (00:44:28 - 00:44:29): yeah, that’s my bump.

Kevin (00:44:31 - 00:44:32): That’s what it was.

Jen (00:44:32 - 00:44:37): No, that’s why it was Ryan Gosling’s reaction every time too.

Ryan (00:44:37 - 00:44:37): Yes.

Kevin (00:44:37 - 00:44:39): Yeah.

Brent (00:44:39 - 00:44:40): So, uh, yeah.

Jen (00:44:41 - 00:44:51): Uh, would go see again. And it’s such a relief to see a movie that isn’t a sequel or a prequel or, uh, like, like an original franchise.

Brent (00:44:52 - 00:44:54): Yeah, which we’re going to get a lot of.

Ryan (00:44:55 - 00:44:57): No, and it did well at the theater too.

Kevin (00:44:58 - 00:44:59): Mm-hmm.

Patreon and Community

Brent (00:45:01 - 00:46:06): Yep. Alrighty then, well, that brings us close to the end of this episode of True North Nerds, but for Before we get to that, uh, we have Patreon shoutouts. If you would like to help us with the show, patreon.com/TrueNorthNerds, uh, you can donate $3 a month to help us pay for a theme song and new gear and stuff like that. And you get some exclusive content. Uh, Ryan and I are kind of cooking up one at the moment with the return of Mount WrestleMore. If, uh, the other two can be convinced as well. There’s, uh, the first season of Kung Fu Islands on here and occasional episodes of Listen to This. Uh, we’re gonna hopefully try and record one soon because Alex’s computer is finally fixed. So yeah, yeah, so that is in the pipe. And, uh, but you also get a shout out. So shout outs go to Drew, Karina, Alex, Team Woods, Mike Hammond and Rex.

Ryan (00:46:07 - 00:46:08): Thank you.

Brent (00:46:08 - 00:46:17): So that brings us to the end of the episode, uh, which means— sorry, I could hear Hamlet in the background.

Jen (00:46:17 - 00:46:18): Yep.

Brent (00:46:19 - 00:46:25): Uh, I believe we’ve mentioned this before, Hamlet’s fine. He is just getting old and kind of senile.

Jen (00:46:25 - 00:46:30): So he’s 18 years old and I’m pretty sure he’s deaf or going deaf.

Brent (00:46:30 - 00:46:40): So Jen is not beating him or anything. He is just confused on where he is. Uh, yeah, anybody got a geek pick for this week?

Geek Picks

Kevin (00:46:41 - 00:46:42): I do.

Brent (00:46:42 - 00:46:45): Okay, you guys can fight it out who goes first.

Ryan (00:46:45 - 00:46:46): Go ahead, Kev.

Kevin (00:46:46 - 00:48:14): Pow pow biff bam. Okay, I’m gonna use my geek pick for shameless self-promotion. Who remembers the fantastically fun 1985 film Clue starring Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn? I do. It’s hilarious. It had 3 endings. Well, guess what? We are doing a live version of that movie on stage at the Orillia Opera House, opening Thursday, April 9th. 8 performances. There are 400 seats per show, but it’s selling out. So if this interests you at all, if you’d like to see me get my Colonel Mustard on and maybe kill somebody with a, I don’t know, a dagger, a rope, a revolver, a lead pipe, perhaps? Know, because it’s a little bit different from the movie, but not much. All your favorite characters are here: Miss Scarlet, Mr. Green, uh, Professor Plum, Miss Peacock. Uh, it’s very funny. We spent all day at the theater today getting— basically doing tech and getting the cues right and making sure all our walls and doors are in the right place when we move them all about the stage. That’s right, people, the set moves. So please come and see Clue at the Aurelia Opera House. You can get your tickets through the Opera House website. Uh, maybe we can even put a link in the show notes. I don’t know. Is that something we can do, Brent?

Brent (00:48:15 - 00:48:16): Yeah, if you remind me.

Kevin (00:48:17 - 00:48:18): I will send you a link.

Jen (00:48:19 - 00:48:20): All right.

Brent (00:48:20 - 00:48:22): There you go.

Kevin (00:48:22 - 00:48:31): I’m having a ball being in the show. People will have a ball if they come and see it. Uh, it runs for 8 shows starting April 9th. And, uh, yeah. Come see.

Brent (00:48:33 - 00:48:33): Cool.

Jen (00:48:33 - 00:48:33): Aha.

Kevin (00:48:35 - 00:48:36): Up that, people.

Speaker F (00:48:36 - 00:48:37): Woo-hoo.

Brent (00:48:39 - 00:48:39): All right.

Ryan (00:48:40 - 00:49:44): So I’ve got a comic book geek pick this week again. This past week was the release of the latest comic crossover between Marvel and DC. In this instance, it was DC Comics’ release of Superman and Spider-Man with a really good main main story involving Spider-Man and Superman and, uh, a whole bunch of cool follow-up, like, backup stories. I haven’t read all the backup stories yet because it’s a thick book, and, uh, but I really enjoyed the, the main story. And I looked at the 25 variant covers. Uh, wow. I bought 4. Yes, I’m a sucker. Um, but if you enjoyed the, you know, the Deadpool Batman stuff, um, then you’ll probably enjoy this. Uh, I like this one better than those stories. So, uh, there, there you go. Available now at your local comic book shop.

Brent (00:49:45 - 00:49:45): Cool.

Kevin (00:49:46 - 00:49:46): Jen.

Jen (00:49:48 - 00:51:29): Um, I’m reading a book right now, or listening to a book right now, called Shield of Sparrows by Oh, Devaney. Devaney. D-E-V-A-N-E-Y. Devaney Perry. Um, I’m not done it yet, but so far it’s pretty good. It’s, uh, sorry I don’t have a big geek pick this week. Um, I haven’t finished it, but it’s so far so good. Basically, it’s— I think it’s a YA romantic. Uh, it sounds like it’s YA-ish. Um, that’s young adults. For people who haven’t worked in libraries before. Um, it’s basically about a princess who is one of 5 kingdoms, um, and she is basically bought, quote unquote, by another country to be their queen. Like, it’s part of a treaty that all the kingdoms have, and she wasn’t supposed to go. It was supposed to be her sister, but the prince apparently picked her, but I don’t know why yet. And now she’s Her father has asked her to basically spy on this new kingdom that she’s going to, and I’m not sure why about that either, because like I said, I’m still reading this book, but I’m listening to the audiobook and it’s pretty good. I had not— I had just looked it up on my app. I was just scrolling through books that I had not read yet and this one came up, so Yeah, I recommend it if, uh, you want to have a, a new YA fantasy book to read. Um, I think this is what, the like 5th or 6th book I’ve read this year so far. So yeah, that was my geek pick. Go for it, Brett.

Kevin (00:51:30 - 00:51:30): Very cool.

Brent (00:51:32 - 00:52:51): Uh, my geek pick is, uh, a little bit of, uh, helping out our friends, not that they need it too much, and that is Uh, I’ve read the first two issues of The Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre. Um, this is a fever dream of a buddy cop book written by Fred Kennedy, who has appeared on the show multiple times and was also King Randor in the Christmas special. Go back and listen to it. And, uh, James Edward Clark as the illustrator. It is fun. It is ridiculous. Um, it involves hippos and cocaine and just awesome. I, I had been kind of bugging Fred to do a book like this for years and he finally obliged. Uh, I don’t even have the first print of number 1 because it sold out so quick I couldn’t get one. Uh, so yeah, um, available at comic stores possibly. Um, last I saw from distributor-wise, issue 2 was also sold out, so he’s got a bit of a hit on his hands right now. So good on him. It’s from Mad Cave Comics or Mad Cave Studios and available now, the first two issues at any rate. Uh, join us in two weeks when we come back with a new episode of something.

Closing

Jen (00:52:52 - 00:52:53): Woo! Something!

Brent (00:52:54 - 00:52:54): Yay, something!

Kevin (00:52:55 - 00:52:56): Who’s watching Daredevil?

Brent (00:52:56 - 00:53:02): Oh yeah, I guess that— yeah, we’ll be a couple episodes in on Daredevil. I watched the first episode. I quite like it.

Kevin (00:53:02 - 00:53:04): So me too.

Ryan (00:53:04 - 00:53:08): Yeah, Invincible’s on right now too. New season started.

Brent (00:53:09 - 00:53:11): So next episode might be a little bit of TV ketchup.

Ryan (00:53:13 - 00:53:20): Mm, TV ketchup. Yeah, ketchup or catsup. Ah, plus for me.

Brent (00:53:22 - 00:53:25): But until then, uh, as always, abomastay.

Jen (00:53:26 - 00:53:27): Bye.

Outro

Kirby Crackle (00:53:28 - 00:53:30): Set your phasers to sexy!

Rex (00:53:30 - 00:53:59): Thank you for listening to the True North Nerds. You can find us at truenorthnerds.com, on Facebook, X, and Instagram at True North Nerds. To contact one or any of the nerds, email them at truenorthnerds@gmail.com. Theme music provided by Kirby Crackle. You can find more of their music at kirbycracklemusic.com. If you’d like to support the show, please consider becoming a Patreon at patreon.com/truenorthnerds. Podcast.com/truenorthnerds or go to your podcast app of choice and rate and review us.

Kirby Crackle (00:53:59 - 00:54:34): I like you, I like you, I like you, I like you. So set your phasers to sexy, it’s the way you read your books that affects me. And when you whisper kabuki in my ear, you make me feel kind of funny. In the sky.

Post-Credits: American Gladiators

Brent (00:54:39 - 00:54:47): Oh, do you have the names of the new American Gladiators have been announced?

Ryan (00:54:48 - 00:54:51): No, no, I don’t.

Brent (00:54:51 - 00:55:21): We have Fang, Hurricane, The Bull, Steel, Supernova, Voltage, Crush. Also, I guess there’s a bunch that are like second stringers. We have Ace, Eagle, Neon. Lightning, Mayhem, Blaze, Huntress, Striker, and Empire.