Gen's Odyssey

Intro Sketch

Rex (00:00:00 - 00:00:01): Let’s go!

Rex (00:00:01 - 00:00:03): 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 (00:00:12 - 00:00:16): If I don’t go to this nerd school, I’m gonna lose my mind!

Rex (00:00:16 - 00:00:21): Come on, come on! We can’t go against that guy! We’re nerds!

Rex (00:00:21 - 00:00:27): We’re gonna miss it! My fellow nerds and I’ll retire to the nerdery with our calculators.

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

Theme Song

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

Kirby Crackle (00:00:28 - 00:00:52): [Theme song lyrics omitted.]

Kirby Crackle (00:00:53 - 00:00:58): [Theme song lyrics omitted.]

Kirby Crackle (00:00:58 - 00:00:58): [Theme song lyrics omitted.]

Welcome and Opening Banter

Brent (00:01:18 - 00:01:21): Welcome, loyal listeners, to another episode of True North Nerds.

Gen (00:01:21 - 00:01:23): Yay!

Brent (00:01:23 - 00:01:41): This week, did a movie drive Gen insane? We’re gonna find out as we review The Odyssey from Christopher Nolan and a whole lot of actors. Uh, but before we get there, we have the news and we have our usual panel of misfits like Kevin.

Kevin (00:01:41 - 00:01:44): Hi, that’s me. I do, do not fit.

Brent (00:01:44 - 00:01:47): You do not fit?

Kevin (00:01:47 - 00:01:52): Well, she said I was a misfit. Oh.

Brent (00:01:52 - 00:01:55): And Gen. Oh, hi, and Ryan.

Ryan (00:01:56 - 00:01:57): Hello.

Gen (00:01:58 - 00:02:01): I didn’t hear you say my name because I was trying to figure out Kevin’s joke.

Ryan (00:02:03 - 00:02:06): I was yeah, he was going for misfits. Like I get it now.

Gen (00:02:06 - 00:02:07): I get it. I get it.

Ryan (00:02:07 - 00:02:12): I was gonna say that I was the gun that shoots you know jam instead of water. You know, like the island of misfit toys.

Gen (00:02:12 - 00:02:16): We’re on the island of misfit toys.

Brent (00:02:18 - 00:02:18): Uh, so Ryan.

Ryan (00:02:19 - 00:02:19): Yes.

Brent (00:02:20 - 00:02:21): What is in the news this week?

News and Pop Culture

Ryan (00:02:21 - 00:02:41): Oh, I’ve got a whole list of new stuff this week. Let’s see, let’s start at the top. Um, ooh, Batman 2, you know, the long-awaited, much-anticipated The Batman 2. Well, you’re good, you’re gonna wait even longer. It’s been delayed, kids, until February of 2028.

Brent (00:02:41 - 00:02:43): But at least it’s filming now, right?

Ryan (00:02:43 - 00:03:26): Well, they’re doing something. That little clip that they posted, a— it sounds like it was test footage, a camera test for Patterson in the cowl turning, and it looks like it’s snowing, I guess. And that’s when they also showed, I guess, what maybe what the logo for the movie— it’s like a bat logo with a 2 in Roman numerals. And then we found out, yeah, it’s gonna be delayed another year. So yeah, we gotta wait longer for that movie. Um, we have a comic book announcement this week for an interesting new series, miniseries. Um, Archie vs. Terminator.

Kevin (00:03:26 - 00:03:29): I saw the image for that. How fun.

Ryan (00:03:29 - 00:03:42): Yes. Um, I’m in the middle of still reading Archie vs. the Army of Darkness. So, uh, you know, Archie, Archie, he just keeps getting into all kinds of trouble.

Kevin (00:03:42 - 00:03:46): I remember the first one back in the day. Wasn’t the first one Archie versus Predator?

Brent (00:03:47 - 00:03:50): No, Archie and the Punisher.

Gen (00:03:50 - 00:03:56): Yeah, that goes back to the ’90s because that was my first experience with the Punisher.

Ryan (00:03:56 - 00:04:28): That’s funny. Um, So yep, so that’s coming out later this year. Oh, we got some interesting trailers over the last couple weeks. Rex actually shared this one with us, and I didn’t know what it was going to be until I watched it. You know, I was like, what is this supposed to be? Because the movie is called I Play Rocky. It’s like, what the heck is this? Did any of you watch it?

Brent (00:04:28 - 00:04:40): No, but I know, I know what it is. It’s the, uh, it’s the, the, the film about the making of Rocky and Stallone trying to get the movie made.

Ryan (00:04:40 - 00:04:40): Yes.

Gen (00:04:40 - 00:04:44): Oh, see, I have, I have zero interest in Rocky, so I didn’t bother.

Ryan (00:04:44 - 00:05:13): Gen, you should watch this trailer. I think you might have liked it. From— if the movie is as good as this trailer, you might like it. It just looks like a good drama and very interesting, you know, based on a true story type thing. The other trailer was kind of, oh no, not much anticipated, but anticipated because we— they teased it before. We got our first look at Tom Cruise’s Digger.

Brent (00:05:13 - 00:05:14): Mm-hmm.

Kevin (00:05:14 - 00:05:16): Yeah, I don’t know how I feel about that.

Ryan (00:05:17 - 00:05:18): Yes, exactly.

Brent (00:05:18 - 00:05:30): I told you how I feel about it. I am going to go see this movie. Oh, I feel it’s either going to be something very special or Yeah, or it’s going to be such a train wreck that it’ll be worth watching.

Gen (00:05:30 - 00:05:40): Yeah, I, I feel like this is one I can wait for it to come out on streaming and I’ll watch it if I literally can’t find anything else to watch. It did not really look that appealing to me.

Brent (00:05:40 - 00:06:10): Um, I think we mentioned this before when we did our last movie review because we had the, the teaser trailer in front of something we saw and it was one of those things of like, uh, like Remember all the movies we’ve made with Tom Cruise that you love? Oh yeah, this movie. And it’s just scenes of Tom Cruise in, in other movies, everyone, and then just like him in silhouette, like one kind of shot or two from this one at the very end of it.

Gen (00:06:10 - 00:06:16): Remember when he was good? Well, try him again, maybe he’s still good.

Brent (00:06:16 - 00:06:30): To be fair, I think Tom Cruise, like, you know, my my possible disagreements with, uh, his, his choice of religion aside, hmm, the— I, I think he is a good actor. Like, I don’t think he’s like—

Ryan (00:06:30 - 00:06:31): Yeah, agreed.

Brent (00:06:31 - 00:06:53): He, he hasn’t made many in the way of stinkers in terms of that movie sucked. Like, he’s made movies that have not done as well as others, but they’re like— I can’t, I can’t honestly think of a movie he, he was the star of, like the the main vehicle for that was terrible in like the last 20 years.

Gen (00:06:53 - 00:07:00): Yeah, no, I agree with you. He’s, he’s a good actor, but it just still doesn’t make me want to see that movie.

Ryan (00:07:00 - 00:07:15): Um, and then I shared this trailer with you guys. It’s, uh, a movie starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson called Runner. Did you guys watch that one?

Brent (00:07:15 - 00:07:17): It looks like fun.

Gen (00:07:17 - 00:07:19): Hmm, I think I missed that one.

Ryan (00:07:19 - 00:07:59): Oh, uh, looks like the premise for this movie is, uh, Owen Wilson is trying to get a, a liver transplant from, you know, delivered to a hospital for a young, young girl. Alan Ritchson is like a delivery person who has, has left his Life of violence. He’s like a year free of that stuff, and blah blah blah. And then, of course, all these people start coming out of the woodworks trying to steal this liver, and hilarity and violence ensues. It comes out on September 11th.

Brent (00:08:00 - 00:08:00): Hmm.

Ryan (00:08:06 - 00:08:30): James Gunn made a little announcement. in regards to, uh, Man of Steel this week, uh, a character who will be showing up in it is the Blue Beetle. And it will be the returning, um, I’m gonna— I don’t know how you actually pronounce his names. Uh, Zolo, um, whatever, the guy from the last movie. Yes.

Gen (00:08:31 - 00:08:34): So the Blue Beetle movie is gonna be still canon?

Kevin (00:08:36 - 00:08:39): There were talk. There was talk that it was, but yeah.

Gen (00:08:41 - 00:08:43): Even though wasn’t Supergirl in the Blue Beetle movie?

Ryan (00:08:44 - 00:08:45): Nobody was in the Blue Beetle movie.

Kevin (00:08:47 - 00:08:50): No, the only reference I think was that he was going to Gotham University.

Brent (00:08:51 - 00:08:51): Yeah.

Gen (00:08:53 - 00:08:54): Am I thinking of a different movie?

Ryan (00:08:55 - 00:08:58): Probably. Supergirl only showed up in Super. Supergirl only showed up in Superman.

Kevin (00:08:59 - 00:09:01): No, he was. She was also in Flash.

Ryan (00:09:02 - 00:09:03): Yeah, that was a different Supergirl.

Gen (00:09:04 - 00:09:06): Yeah, no, because she had really short hair.

Brent (00:09:06 - 00:09:14): No, you’re thinking of The Flash. No, Supergirl is in The Flash and she has really short hair.

Kevin (00:09:14 - 00:09:18): Hang on, hang on, I’m looking up to see who’s in the Blue Beetle movie.

Ryan (00:09:18 - 00:09:20): There’s no other heroes in the Blue Beetle movie.

Kevin (00:09:20 - 00:09:21): Yes, I didn’t think so.

Brent (00:09:21 - 00:09:27): No, they like this. It very much could be in any continuity.

Gen (00:09:28 - 00:09:35): I swear she was— somebody was in— there was somebody in the Blue Beetle movie because I remember they were standing on top of the roof.

Ryan (00:09:35 - 00:09:43): You’re thinking of The Flash. They were standing on top of—

Kevin (00:09:43 - 00:09:46): there was, uh, Jaime’s sister.

Ryan (00:09:47 - 00:09:49): There’s other people in that movie, but no one—

Brent (00:09:49 - 00:09:51): yeah, everybody has like long hair in it.

Kevin (00:09:51 - 00:09:58): There was a, uh, a voiceover-only cameo, uh, by Ted Kord in the mid-credits scene.

Brent (00:09:58 - 00:10:05): Fuck that. Like, even George Lopez has like long hair.

Gen (00:10:05 - 00:10:11): Yeah, no, no, you’re right. It was The Flash. I guess that was the only part of The Flash that I liked, so I was trying to put it into—

Brent (00:10:11 - 00:10:15): I believe that was one of the parts we all kind of liked, was her as Supergirl.

Gen (00:10:15 - 00:10:32): Yeah, you’re right. I— yeah, I think, I think I didn’t like The Flash movie, so I was trying to take a good part of that movie and put it into a movie I did enjoy. Kind of like how I divided Ghostbusters 2 into 2 movies in my brain. Ah, my brain’s strange. All right, carry on, you guys are— I stand corrected.

Ryan (00:10:32 - 00:11:02): Um, okay, so we got some, uh, some sad news or some bad news from the set of God of War, the, uh, movie based on the video game franchise. They are gonna have to recast— they have decided to— that they need to recast the lead role of Kratos after actor Ryan Hurst tore a bicep on the set of the Prime Video series while performing a stunt.

Kevin (00:11:02 - 00:11:04): Ow.

Ryan (00:11:04 - 00:11:23): I guess after he has surgery and recovery, it was gonna be something like 7 to 8 months recovery, and decided They delay filming that long. So the main character will be recast, which sucks for like—

Brent (00:11:24 - 00:11:31): apparently he went through like a lot of physical training in order to like be Kratos.

Ryan (00:11:31 - 00:11:35): He put on like 25 pounds of muscle or something.

Brent (00:11:35 - 00:12:07): Yeah, and it’s— you feel bad. Yeah, because like, I like— part of me is like, why don’t they just postpone it until he’s good to go? The other part of me is though, like, how long do they postpone? Like, what do those people who are supposed to be working, like the union people, like everybody else that works on the movie, everybody’s show or whatever it is for this job, uh, and like it’s one guy. Yeah, but it also like, like you can’t shoot around it. No, like nothing.

Ryan (00:12:07 - 00:12:13): But not if you— probably I can see the not necessarily being able to do that considering he’s the main guy.

Brent (00:12:13 - 00:12:14): Yeah.

Ryan (00:12:15 - 00:12:23): Uh, speaking of, uh, main actors, uh, we had some sad news. Uh, actor Sam Neill passed away at the age of 79.

Kevin (00:12:23 - 00:12:26): I didn’t realize he was that old.

Gen (00:12:26 - 00:12:36): No, apparently it was, uh, unexpectedly too because he had cancer but he was in remission and then something happened unexpectedly and he passed.

Ryan (00:12:36 - 00:12:45): So Yeah, the one report I did see, it was unexpected, but it did have something to do with— like, it was as a result, or as a— but, you know, because of the cancer.

Gen (00:12:45 - 00:13:03): Because I remember seeing an announcement where he was— he had said that, uh, because his cancer was in remission, he was gonna try to get back into acting, and he was looking forward to it. And then I guess that was probably a couple months ago, and then, you know, unfortunately did not happen, as far as I’m aware.

Brent (00:13:04 - 00:13:07): I believe he’s got one movie coming out still.

Gen (00:13:07 - 00:13:08): Oh, good.

Brent (00:13:08 - 00:13:16): I, I saw something. I think there, there’s something that’s still in the pipeline that he shot that isn’t like actually out yet.

Kevin (00:13:16 - 00:13:18): Jurassic Park 27?

Gen (00:13:18 - 00:13:21): Electric Boogaloo.

Brent (00:13:21 - 00:13:25): This time we cloned the dinosaurs and they can dance.

Ryan (00:13:25 - 00:13:28): Yes, Dancing with Dinos.

Gen (00:13:29 - 00:13:30): Jurassic Park and Eurovision.

Ryan (00:13:31 - 00:13:31): There you go.

Gen (00:13:35 - 00:13:39): Yeah, no, that was, that was sad news. Also, I did not realize he was from New Zealand.

Ryan (00:13:41 - 00:13:42): I did not know that.

Gen (00:13:43 - 00:14:01): Yeah, I, I kind of did a deep dive into his wiki. He moved there when he was very young, so I think he’s from Ireland originally but then moved to— his whole family migrated or immigrated to New Zealand when he was like or 4. So, because they— I saw the headlines that were like, beloved New Zealand actor, and I was like, he’s from New Zealand?

Brent (00:14:01 - 00:14:30): It’s, uh, you see things that like other New Zealand actors of today like credit him as the, like, one of the guys where like, oh, like, we can be in Hollywood movies. Like, uh, what’s his name, um, uh, Rhys Darby put out like a very nice, like, post about, about him because they had worked on one or two things together. And like, but anytime he saw him, they like caught up.

Gen (00:14:31 - 00:14:53): And yeah, I think the last thing I saw him in was, uh, when he was Cardinal Wolsey in The Tudors, which he was— I mean, he was— the role was him being a jerk, but he was very— he did a very excellent job. Like, it was good acting. Um, yeah, I know, just all of the tributes that came out seemed to be very Wholesome and heartfelt. So that was nice.

Ryan (00:14:53 - 00:15:18): Uh, so one of my favorite— well, maybe not a favorite, a, a beloved movie from, I’m gonna say, the late ’90s is getting a 4K remaster this August. Mars Attacks will be getting a 4K remaster and be put out on Blu-ray and digital platforms.

Kevin (00:15:21 - 00:15:21): Fun.

Ryan (00:15:21 - 00:15:33): This is a movie will be a purchase, uh, much like the remaster of, um, The Abyss. Uh, Mars Attacks will be something I will be looking for.

Brent (00:15:33 - 00:15:47): Uh, so just a slight update, Sam Neill’s got 2 movies coming out, uh, post, uh, humorously. Uh, one is one Ryan is going to be going to see, and that would be Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.

Ryan (00:15:48 - 00:15:49): Oh, he was in that? Nice.

Brent (00:15:49 - 00:16:28): Uh, yep, that was the one I was thinking of. That, like, oh yeah, like, when it, it, like, came up, I’m like, wait, is that one of the ones that has come out already? I’m like, no, this is a new one. And he has a romantic comedy called Last Resort coming out that, uh, stars, uh, Daisy Ridley and, uh, Aidan Einreich. So we are getting— because isn’t Aidan, isn’t he the guy who played Solo? Yeah, he is. Yeah, so it’s the guy who played Solo and, and Rey are doing a movie together.

Ryan (00:16:29 - 00:16:29): Nice. Okay.

Brent (00:16:29 - 00:16:42): And it’s a romantic comedy. It also stars, uh, Tia Carrere is in it, Sam Neill. Yeah, so the— so there’s 2 more Sam Neill films to go out. Sorry to interrupt, Ryan.

Ryan (00:16:42 - 00:17:03): No, no, it’s okay. Um, so yeah, so that lovely movie’s coming. Um, oh, so we have some interesting other news. Uh, Marvel Comics, who has forever been based out of New York City, uh, is moving its offices and its staff to Los Angeles. Uh, heard that this week.

Kevin (00:17:04 - 00:17:04): Mm-hmm.

Brent (00:17:06 - 00:17:27): Yep, it got announced at a town hall meeting. Uh, the other— among other changes, uh, C.B. Cebulski is stepping down as editor-in-chief, and he is being moved to a new department in Marvel that is going to— like, he is literally moving to Japan and handling a manga division that they are trying to set up.

Ryan (00:17:27 - 00:17:28): Okay.

Brent (00:17:28 - 00:17:34): Um, and, uh, editor Stephen Wacker is taking over the editor-in-chief role.

Ryan (00:17:35 - 00:17:35): Interesting.

Brent (00:17:35 - 00:18:04): What’s, what’s kind of interesting is, um, one of the, the bad things that happened with CB decades ago was when Marvel first attempted a manga division, uh, he was, uh, I believe the, the name is Akira Yoshida. It was his, uh, his pseudonym for writing a bunch of manga Like Marvel manga.

Ryan (00:18:05 - 00:18:05): Okay.

Brent (00:18:06 - 00:18:10): Under the guise of being a Japanese person, which he is not.

Ryan (00:18:10 - 00:18:11): No, clearly.

Brent (00:18:12 - 00:18:50): But he has apologized for that. Like he—I don’t think it was entirely his thing, but I thought it was like odd that like you’re putting that guy. Like like like I know maybe it wasn’t his fault the first time or anything, but like should we be doing this like this? But, um, yeah, so that, like, some editorial changes, uh, I guess it’s happening in a couple months because they’re giving the, the various editorial people who actually go into an office, yeah, uh, time to decide whether they want to continue with their job and move to California.

Kevin (00:18:50 - 00:18:51): Mm-hmm.

Brent (00:18:51 - 00:19:16): Which, I don’t know, it’s like price-wise It’s probably the same depending on where you live in New York. And now you don’t have to deal with snow, but you do have to deal with fire. So yes. Yeah. Which means there is none of the big companies are in New York anymore. Yeah. Because DC moved to like quite a few years ago. Yeah.

Ryan (00:19:16 - 00:19:17): Like 10 years ago now. More.

Brent (00:19:17 - 00:19:18): Something like that.

Ryan (00:19:20 - 00:19:32): Yeah. Um, oh, so we have a brand new Mandalorian special coming to us on Disney Plus in September. It is Star Wars Lego: The Mandalorian.

Kevin (00:19:32 - 00:19:33): Hmm.

Ryan (00:19:33 - 00:21:26): I haven’t watched— I haven’t— I’m not up to date on my Star Wars Lego specials like that Building the Galaxy or whatever. I watched the first part and then never got around to watching the second part, but those are fun little movies and specials. So looking forward to this. And then my last little bit of news is we have a Paramount Warner Brothers, uh, deal update. Um, so last we discussed this, we were talking about how there was a bunch of states, uh, 12 actually altogether, that were putting an antitrust lawsuit together to try to block the, uh, $110 billion deal. So Paramount Skydance has rejecting this law. There’s lawsuit. They’re like, “Pah!” And their counterpoints are that Paramount says that the complaint mistakes competition law and ignores today’s media battle with Netflix and tech giants. The company argues that 24 jurisdictions have already cleared the merger. And say the deal would boost films, talent, and theaters. And then the California AG— so that’s, um, what’s AG stand for? That’s Attorney General. That’s what it is. Rob Bonta says the Paramount-Warner Brothers merger would raise prices, cut quality, and reduce content. So, uh, yes, the saga continues. And if I remember correctly, they have until September before it really starts to cost them money for nothing. If they have to— because I think it was September, if they didn’t get it in, they had to start paying out, uh, yeah, a penalty. And kids, that’s it for my news. What have you got?

Kevin (00:21:26 - 00:22:45): Uh, I got, I got a little, a little something. Uh, Disney announced the, um, the lineup for D23, their panel list and everything. So, uh, D23 happens the weekend of August 14th, 15th, and 16th. On the 14th, we’ll get, um, that’s Entertainment Showcase Day. So we’ll get movies, video games, TV, and stage productions. We’ll get in, um, info about new things there on Friday the 14th. On Saturday the 15th is the Disney Experiences Showcase, and that is going to be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. And that’s all about theme park stuff. And then on the 16th, that’s when they have the Disney Legends ceremony. And the list of people they are inducting into the Disney Legends, uh, list this year includes Chris Berman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Susan Egan, Eric Goldberg, Anne Hathaway, Bob Iger, Kim Irvine, Dwayne Johnson, the Jonas Brothers, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Alan Tudyk. Yeah, I mean, I don’t know how long this has been going on, but oh, they’ve been giving away Disney, uh, Disney making people Disney Legends for about thirty years now.

Gen (00:22:46 - 00:22:54): Yeah, I was gonna say Alan Tudyk. That seems well deserved since he’s basically, uh, like every voice. He’s a voice in everything. Yeah, yeah.

Ryan (00:22:55 - 00:22:57): It’s interesting that the the rock is getting one so quickly.

Gen (00:22:58 - 00:23:04): Yeah, I was like. The Rock getting one so quickly after just being in like 4 versions of Moana, and Alan Tudyk, who’s the voice in everything.

Kevin (00:23:04 - 00:23:07): He’s done 3 Moana movies and Jungle Cruise.

Brent (00:23:07 - 00:23:15): Oh yeah, he also did that, uh, didn’t he do like one of those behind-the-scenes shows that like it was when Disney+ first launched?

Kevin (00:23:15 - 00:23:16): Yeah, I think he did.

Brent (00:23:16 - 00:23:19): And you know, people like him and he has money.

Gen (00:23:19 - 00:23:23): Yeah, and don’t get me wrong, I like The Rock.

Kevin (00:23:23 - 00:24:17): I think he’s a fun actor, but Some of the announced smaller panels are kind of interesting too. Um, there is a, uh, a Disney Rewind concert starring Jodie Benson, Bill Farmer, and Susan Egan. They’re going to be singing Disney hits of the ’80s and ’90s. Oh cool. Uh, a one-man concert by Disney legend and 8-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken. There’s a Simpsons panel. This one is interesting. Join Grammy-nominated vocalist and Emmy winner Seth MacFarlane and other special guests for a conversation about the timeless Muppet Songbook. Seth will share the inspiration behind his upcoming Muppet orchestral album. Oh, interesting. Seth MacFarlane is releasing a Muppet, a Muppet album.

Ryan (00:24:17 - 00:24:26): I feel like he mentioned doing something with the Muppets on his appearance on, uh, what’s that, uh, Dropping Names? Is that what it’s called?

Brent (00:24:26 - 00:24:32): Oh, uh, the, the, uh, Riker Data podcast. Yeah, Brent Spiner and, um—

Gen (00:24:32 - 00:24:35): Yes. No, no, just go with Riker Data.

Brent (00:24:35 - 00:24:36): Jonathan Frakes.

Ryan (00:24:36 - 00:24:40): Yeah, where they— every time you name drop somebody, they hit the bell. Ding!

Kevin (00:24:43 - 00:24:49): And then these are the panels that are meant to make you feel old. There are a series of panels celebrating anniversaries of things.

Gen (00:24:49 - 00:24:50): Oh no.

Kevin (00:24:50 - 00:24:53): 35 years of Beauty and the Beast.

Gen (00:24:53 - 00:24:53): Oh.

Kevin (00:24:53 - 00:24:55): 10 years of Zootopia.

Ryan (00:24:55 - 00:24:56): Oh.

Kevin (00:24:56 - 00:25:01): Uh, 25 years of Kingdom Hearts.

Brent (00:25:01 - 00:25:03): Yeah, no one likes you, Kevin.

Kevin (00:25:03 - 00:25:36): Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 65 years of Spider-Man. There’s a Marvel panel celebrating 65 75 years of Spider-Man. Uh, 125 years of Walt Disney. He was born 125 years ago. So yeah, there’s lots of fun, uh, panels. Uh, there’s one called, uh, The Impact and Legacy of Disney Toys. 100 years of Disney, Disney toys. 20 years of Enchanted. 75 years of Alice in Wonderland. 65 years of 101 Dalmatians. and 55 years of Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Gen (00:25:36 - 00:25:43): Wow. I remember liking Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but I have not seen that movie since I was a child, so I’m not sure how well it’s aged.

Kevin (00:25:43 - 00:25:51): It’s lovely bobbing along, bobbing along the bottom of the beautiful briny sea. There we go.

Gen (00:25:51 - 00:26:00): Same with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I remember really enjoying that. It was also terrifying, but I also remember enjoying it as a child, but I’m not sure how well it, it’s held up.

The Odyssey Review

Brent (00:26:00 - 00:27:01): All righty then. Well, thank you for the news, Ryan. From there we go to The Odyssey, the, uh, Christopher Nolan movie starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, uh, Tom Holland, Zendaya, uh, Robert Pattinson, uh, Columbo, um, the Punisher, Elliot Page. Elliot Page. Um, which, uh, it turned out I— so we’ll get into— we’ll get into this, uh, when we, we talk to, uh, Gen about the movie. But I had heard originally what I had thought Elliot Page had been cast as, and if that character had been true, I think Gen would have started yelling at the movie right out of the gate. But it turned out not to be. What? Uh, so last night when we went and saw it, what was the indecision? Is Gen going last or is Gen going first? I think—

Ryan (00:27:01 - 00:27:13): well, I know we kept saying Gen should go first, but okay, I wonder if we should just— because ours will be smaller and maybe— I don’t know. No, you guys just build the anticipation for Gen. Yeah. Okay.

Kevin (00:27:13 - 00:27:15): She’s the anticipation.

Brent (00:27:16 - 00:27:19): It’s the anticipation. Let’s start with Kevin then.

Kevin (00:27:20 - 00:27:48): Oh, okay. I really had a great time at this movie. I didn’t know really what to expect, but knowing, uh, I like Christopher Nolan movies and that I like epic fantasy movies, I thought, hey, this should be pretty good. And, uh, for a movie that was almost 3 hours long, I, I never felt bored. It— the pace was good. I thought, uh, I liked the actors. Um, I wasn’t sure about Matt Damon as the lead, but he, he gave it some gravitas. I thought, I thought he was great.

Gen (00:27:48 - 00:27:48): Yeah.

Kevin (00:27:50 - 00:28:59): Um, uh, you know, the Odyssey is a lot like, um, playing Dungeons and Dragons. There are different story arcs and your characters go and have a, have a little side quest and then they move on to the next one. Uh, and, um, spoilers for a several thousand year old historical epic, but you know, not every member of the party makes it home at the end. So, uh, I, I thought it was kind of fun. And, you know, the, the story would flash, but I like the way it flashed between, um, what’s going on in Ithaca with Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, and the suitors who are really trying to, um, force his mother to marry them. And then we would cut to what Odysseus was up to. Um, I thought, I thought that was handled really well. It wasn’t confusing at all. It was, it was easy. an easy-to-follow movie considering all of the places what we were hopping to. Um, what else would I want to say? Uh, oh, I like the way the gods were handled. Uh, especially— I won’t spoil it, but there is a bit of a twist when it comes to one of the gods.

Gen (00:28:59 - 00:29:00): Oh, I’m gonna spoil that in my—

Kevin (00:29:00 - 00:30:28): Okay, I’ll let you spoil it then. And, uh, but I thought it was lovely. I thought it was— I, I thought it was really, um, kind of sweet, and it made me really feel for Odysseus. Like, um, I don’t— I, having never actually studied the actual Odyssey, I don’t know how, how big, uh, of characters the gods actually are in the epic, but I thought they were handled just properly. You know, that, um, we were never sure whether this really was Poseidon and Zeus punishing Odysseus Or whether it was Odysseus feeling guilty for what he’s done and punishing himself, which I thought was really, which was really lovely. I just really had a good time. It’s no, you can, you can go in and dissect it with a classics background like I’m sure Gen is about to do, or you can just go in and watch a big. Fun summer action movie, which is, and I sort of feel like I fell halfway in the middle. Having I knew knowing parts of the story, I was excited to see what was coming up with with Circe and with the sirens and the Cyclops. So I I had a really good time. Bottom line, that’s what I’ll say. I had a really good time watching The Odyssey. Who wants to go next?

Ryan (00:30:29 - 00:32:21): I will go next. Um, I too enjoyed the movie. Uh, I also had like little to no exposure to— well, I’ve never read, I’ve probably never heard the original writings and the original telling of The Odyssey. My exposure of The Odyssey is from, uh, such classical movies and TV series as, uh, Percy Jackson or The Simpsons or the most recent literary classic Godzilla: The Odyssey, which really set me up for disappointment because I kept waiting for Godzilla to show up. They even said, oh, watch out for Zilla. And I was like, there he is. And they kept saying gods and gods. Yeah, Godzilla. No, they said Zilla. And I was like, no, where is he? So Gen knows this because I kept saying, here comes Godzilla. And then he wasn’t there. So that other— even with the fact that there was no Godzilla in this movie, uh, I did enjoy it. Uh, it was beautifully shot. Uh, I’m sure, you know, it was, it was made for IMAX, um, and I’m sure it’s an even bigger experience watching it there. But, you know, not everybody can go to IMAX, and most IMAX theaters for this, uh, movie are sold out for like the next month depending on where you go. So We just saw it on the regular screen, and, uh, no, it was good. It, uh, it gets very loud at points, um, which was fine, but yeah, I just did— I don’t think— and that’s not me getting old because I like a good loud action movie, but there was a few times where it was just like, that was kind of loud. Um, the other point I wanted to make was I’ve gone— I think I’ve discovered a new genre of movie that this kind of falls into. movies I really enjoy, and that’s ones where Matt Damon just can’t get home.

Gen (00:32:21 - 00:32:23): Yeah.

Ryan (00:32:23 - 00:32:54): He’s done enough of these movies that make enough money now, you know, Hollywood spends all kinds of money getting him back from Mars, you know, sending soldiers out to find him. Now he gets stuck on this adventure across the different islands and the ocean. It’s not really the ocean, I guess it’s the Mediterranean, is it not? Um, well, I guess it’s a sea, but yeah, it’s not an ocean though. It’s like a Great Lake with salt in it.

Gen (00:32:54 - 00:32:56): It’s quite a bit bigger than that, but okay.

Ryan (00:32:56 - 00:33:31): Um, but yeah, no, uh, the, the characters were well done. The actors did a great job. Um, I agree, like the, the you know, the gods being involved without necessarily ever showing their faces. Or like, you know, we didn’t get the cutaway scene to here now on Olympus, here is a grumpy Zeus and a grumpy this and a grumpy that. Um, but every so often, like, you know, you get the perfectly timed thunder and you’re like, well, is that— that, that’s quite the coincidence. It’s like, or is it?

Brent (00:33:31 - 00:33:32): Mm-hmm.

Ryan (00:33:34 - 00:34:18): So yeah, I, I would recommend it. I guess I posted a picture on our— on my Facebook and Instagram letting people know I was going to the movies and seeing it. And by the time I got home, I had people like friends posting saying, hey, I want to see this. Make sure you post a review. We want to know if it’s any good. And so I typed a little thing on there because I had some people wanting to know my recommendation, and I would recommend you see this. It’s, you know, Even if you’re not a fan of going to the movies, this is a movie to see on the big screen. Like, it’s a big screen visual movie. Like, it’s, it’s— yeah. But, you know, I will watch it again when it comes out, even though it’s 3 hours. Get a medium or a small drink or regular drink. Don’t get the big drink. You’ll regret that.

Kevin (00:34:18 - 00:34:22): Yeah. I don’t know. I was fine. I must have been dehydrated.

Ryan (00:34:22 - 00:34:32): Oh, there you go. I had a regular and just finished it and was fine and then went and took care of business and Um, I, I liked it.

Brent (00:34:32 - 00:34:50): Like, like, because you’re basically— it’s going to sound like I didn’t because of my, like, kind of criticisms of it, but overall— and so I’ll try and focus on the positive first, I guess. Like what you guys said, incredibly shot. Like, you know, Christopher Nolan knows how to make a movie.

Ryan (00:34:50 - 00:34:51): Yeah.

Brent (00:34:51 - 00:35:14): I think that’s pretty evident at this point. But, um, it, it very well shot. I did feel though like there was a couple homages to movies that I know that he really likes. Like there, the whole scene where, um, uh, Odysseus is talking to his wife through the, the, the screen with the torchlight.

Ryan (00:35:14 - 00:35:15): Yeah.

Brent (00:35:15 - 00:35:45): Was very similar to a, like, shots in Blade Runner, which I know he loves that movie. So, um, but beyond that, uh, it was, it was interesting, the casting of this, because I think we joked when they first announced it, is like, who isn’t in this movie? And it’s a huge cast, but it’s like, it’s really wide-ranging, which—

Gen (00:35:45 - 00:35:45): Yes.

Brent (00:35:46 - 00:35:58): some assholes have like, well, there’s only white people in Greece. Shut up. There’s no Cyclops in Greece, but you let that be okay. No.

Gen (00:35:58 - 00:36:01): Um, or is there?

Brent (00:36:01 - 00:36:36): Yeah. And, or at least was there. And, but it was like the people who had kind of like smaller parts, like Elliot Page, uh, for like the entire movie, both Kevin and I were trying to figure out who Agamemnon was. And it’s Benny Safdie, who’s more known as a director. He’s the guy, one of the co-directors of Uncut Gems. Um, but he has done some like— and he also directed The Smashing Machine with The Rock that came out last year.

Ryan (00:36:36 - 00:36:37): Okay.

Brent (00:36:37 - 00:37:22): But he has done a bit of acting, including he was in Oppenheimer. We most recently heard him in the Super Mario Galaxy movie where he was the voice of Bowser Jr. But it’s, it’s like, there’s that. I did— I thought the voice sounded familiar for somebody else. The, the blind prophet of the Greek underworld that pops up was James Remar. Yes. Uh, was James Remar, uh, probably best known to modern audiences as Dexter’s dad. in Dexter, also was in a favorite of mine, The Warriors. Uh, he was in 48 Hours. Like, so it’s just got like the— like, and like, uh, Lupita Nyong’o.

Ryan (00:37:22 - 00:37:24): Mm, Helen.

Brent (00:37:24 - 00:37:47): Is in this in dual roles, and she’s barely in this movie. She’s like a fairly big star. So they did like go all out here. Um, interestingly enough, I thought it was him, and I now know that it was, is the, um, The, the guy that we were just talking about, Ryan Hurst, who was in God of War, is in this movie as one of, uh, Telemachus’s, uh, guide guys.

Ryan (00:37:47 - 00:37:54): Like, yeah, like his main bodyguard. Yeah. What was he— what was his name? He had a name. It was like not the trainer, but the mentor.

Brent (00:37:54 - 00:37:57): Um, but you’re right, that was the same.

Ryan (00:37:57 - 00:37:57): Yes.

Brent (00:37:57 - 00:38:26): Yeah, the, the, the one main criticism I would have for it is, um, I, as much as I did enjoy this movie, I, I kind of described it as 10 pounds of movie in a 5-pound bag. Like, we could have made like 2 movies out of the various side trips that were in this movie and like extended those sequences longer. Um, I almost feel like I would be down for a Christopher Nolan Odyssey miniseries.

Ryan (00:38:26 - 00:38:27): Mm.

Brent (00:38:27 - 00:38:45): But like, you know, 4 episodes of this, but He loves film and it is what it is. Uh, I will also say I think this is the most I’ve liked Robert Pattinson as an actor. Like, he is such an asshole in this movie.

Kevin (00:38:45 - 00:38:48): Oh yeah. No. Um, oh, he’s great.

Gen (00:38:48 - 00:38:50): Yeah.

Brent (00:38:50 - 00:39:04): Yeah. So like really good. And like John Leguizamo was good too, other than like his makeup. And because of his, you know, his sort of New York accent, I just kept—

Ryan (00:39:04 - 00:39:04): I thought that was great.

Brent (00:39:04 - 00:39:33): Like, did they intentionally make him out to be Peter Falk, or is it just my brain making it out to be that way? But, uh, yeah, so that brings us to, to Gen. Now, Gen, before we get to your review Um, you— this is what you went to university on. Not The Odyssey specifically, but this is part of your 4 years on The Odyssey.

Ryan (00:39:33 - 00:39:38): That’s all this movie and breathed The Odyssey. Yeah, and his writings.

Gen (00:39:38 - 00:42:04): It has been quite a number of years since I completed my degree, but I did do a Bachelor of Arts Honors in Classical History. classical studies and, um, spent a good chunk of that time doing courses on, uh, mythology and religion and, uh, literature. So I have probably read The Odyssey— I mean, from start to finish, I’ve probably finished it maybe 3 or 4 times, but I’ve read chunks of it many times. I did not learn Greek. I opted to learn Latin instead, so I did not read it in the original Greek. But I have heard it performed in the original Greek, and it’s very pretty just to listen to, even if you have no idea what they’re saying. Um, so yes, I’m gonna also preface my review by saying that it has been a very long time since I’ve read The Odyssey. So, um, I’m gonna try not to nitpick it in that close of a detail because I could be incorrect. And if I am incorrect feel free to correct me, um, because like I said, it has been well over 20 years since I’ve read it. I’m gonna start my, my review by, by saying I did enjoy the movie. It was a good movie. I highly recommend that people go and see it. Uh, it was very well cast for the most part, in my opinion. Uh, like you were saying, it was beautifully shot. The pacing was good. Um, I felt like it dragged at a couple of moments, but that might have just been me being frustrated at a nitpick. Um, and I really liked that in addition to the story of the Odyssey, they took stories from the Iliad and they took stories from, uh, the tragedies and incorporated them into it to make it more of a— like a more cohesive story. Uh, in order to do that, they obviously had to not include every single part of the, uh, of the, uh, the Odyssey. Fair enough. You can’t put everything into the movie, would have been 12 hours long. But the parts that they did put in, they did a good job. And for the most part, it, as far as I remember, um, it followed, uh, more or less it followed the correct, uh, uh, um What’s the word I’m looking for?

Ryan (00:42:04 - 00:42:04): Timeline.

Gen (00:42:04 - 00:42:39): Timeline. Not really timeline, but like he hit the right stops. Okay. Um, one of the big things was that they took out the Lotus Eaters, but they kind of incorporated that into Calypso. Um, and they took out some other couple things that he made up with, but they got all the big— they got the ones that people are going to be like, when you see The Odyssey, these are the big ones that you’re going to think of. Um, so yeah, so for the most part, I’m gonna, I’m gonna say it was, it was a good movie. It was better than Troy, but that’s like bars on the ground with Troy.

Brent (00:42:39 - 00:42:43): I was gonna say, your exact words to me were, can’t be worse.

Gen (00:42:43 - 00:43:50): It can’t. It can’t. Um, I really love the cast. I love that, um, they did have a more diverse cast. Because even the people who are like, oh, ancient Greek, or the Greeks are all white, we don’t have anything that definitively says that ancient Greeks were all white because they came from all around the Mediterranean and they mingled with each other and they, they traded with each other. And there was nothing to say that, you know, people of Persian descent wouldn’t have been part of Odysseus’s crew, and, and people of, uh, even— well, maybe not Egyptian, that might be pushing it. But like the Mediterranean is is a relatively small area, and they there was a lot of cross not cross pollination, let’s say, of people. So that would be my argument. And also, if you’re going to cast somebody as basically the most beautiful woman in the world, like Lupita Nyong’o is. like up there. She’s gorgeous.

Kevin (00:43:50 - 00:43:52): Yes.

Gen (00:43:52 - 00:44:33): So those were a lot of the things I liked. The things I disliked are very nitpicky, and I think that, uh, as somebody who has studied The Odyssey, it wouldn’t really— like, it didn’t bother any of you, and it would only really bother somebody who’s maybe studied The Odyssey. And maybe not everybody, because it might just be me. Um, if you have read The Odyssey and you don’t find these criticisms to be correct. That’s fine. Everybody’s entitled to their opinions. My big thing, and this is actually something that I remember debating in school, uh, was Odysseus himself. They made him in this movie far too naive and far too nice.

Brent (00:44:33 - 00:44:34): Hmm.

Gen (00:44:34 - 00:44:54): Odysseus is more like Loki, um, from the Marvel movies. Odysseus is the trickster. He’s conniving. He does everything— he sees everything as a puzzle to solve, and he’s also very proud and arrogant. You got a kind of a glimpse of that when he shot the Cyclops, but that was really it.

Brent (00:44:54 - 00:44:54): Mm-hmm.

Gen (00:44:54 - 00:46:41): And in the actual Odyssey, um, he basically taunts the, uh, the Cyclops. And when he gets back on his ship, he yells back at the Cyclops who’s standing on the beach, and he says, you know, Odysseus did this to you. And the Cyclops, being the son of Poseidon, cried to his father, and that’s what turned Poseidon against Odysseus again, um, for that part of the trip. And that’s what knocked him super off course. So it’s a lot of his arrogance and his hubris and his, his basically sneakiness that I found that this Odysseus did not have any of that. Like, that’s his whole thing, is he’s supposed to be extraordinarily clever. Um, the other thing I really didn’t like— and it’s interesting because, Kevin, you pointed this out as something you did like— but I really didn’t like that there were absolutely no gods. Um, this is my spoiler for the ending, so if you don’t want this spoiled, stop now. You’ve been warned. Um, Zendaya is cast as Athena. That’s how she’s credited. But we find out at the end of the movie that— and I actually really did like this part because her depiction of Athena was setting my teeth on edge— but at the end, she’s not actually Athena. She is a priestess of Athena who was murdered at Troy and basically is now kind of showing up as Odysseus’s conscience, which again is not Athena. Athena is also the clever one, the trickster— not trickster, but the devious, devious one. And she’s a goddess of war, so she wouldn’t be following Odysseus around telling him to be peaceful and, you know, telling him that—

Brent (00:46:41 - 00:47:03): Okay, see, that was one of the things, like, I, I, I haven’t read anything from the Odyssey since I was in like grade school. I just know it from movies, TV shows, and stuff like that. But it was one of those things that are like Okay, why is Athena mad at— I thought they were pals. And like, like at the end it was like, oh, okay, this makes much more sense now.

Gen (00:47:03 - 00:49:05): The whole premise of the Trojan War, and I like how they grounded it in real life. Like, if you’re gonna, if you’re gonna ground it in real life, that’s, that’s a direction you can take. But strictly speaking from the ancient Greek narration of this play. Um, and this is why I didn’t completely hate the movie, because I’m like, okay, he’s just going in a different, uh, a non-religious basically, uh, route to explain what’s going on. Um, the whole thing of The Iliad and The Odyssey is basically the gods fucking with mortals. Mm-hmm. Um, Odysseus survives because Athena has always loved him, as like, she’s one— he’s one of Athena’s favorites. So she is always protecting him. Uh, Poseidon hates his guts, which is why he takes him basically 10 years to get home. Um, there’s a lot of— when they destroy Troy, uh, they, they kill one of Poseidon’s priests. This isn’t in the Odyssey, this is in the Aeneid, which is a Roman version of the Iliad, so I don’t know how much you want to take that as gospel, but yeah. Um, it kind of depends on how you want to weave the story. But anyway, basically Odysseus annoys all the gods except for Athena and Hermes to a certain extent. Uh, Zeus is kind of neutral. Um, and so basically the whole Odyssey is basically Athena stopping him from getting himself killed, and as a result, all of his men die. That’s just what happens. But I don’t like— and it’s not that I didn’t like it, but I found it odd that they would include magical and supernatural things in this movie, like the, the Cyclops, like Syl and Charybdis, like the, the shades going to— they’re going to Hades, um, and not include the gods themselves. Because you can’t— I don’t really see how you have those one without the other.

Kevin (00:49:05 - 00:49:06): Yeah.

Gen (00:49:06 - 00:49:50): Um, in a lot of cases, like, you can’t have gods or the, the dead coming out of the realm of the god of the dead without the god of the dead. Like, that’s just how I, I can’t separate it in my brain. So I don’t like that they didn’t have the gods in it. I feel like the gods are a really big part of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and by taking them out, you’re kind of doing it a disservice. Now I understand Christopher Nolan’s doing it more of a, like, a realistic quote-unquote version. But then that doesn’t explain the magic, the, the monsters. Like, I don’t know, I feel like he was walking a line, um, and I would have preferred more, uh, gods.

Ryan (00:49:51 - 00:49:52): Um, I have a question, Gen.

Gen (00:49:52 - 00:49:53): Yeah?

Ryan (00:49:53 - 00:49:59): Who or what were the tall guys in the shiny armor?

Gen (00:50:00 - 00:50:05): Oh, I looked them up and now I gotta look it up again so that I can pronounce their names. Hang on.

Ryan (00:50:05 - 00:50:18): Because I’m like, well, they’re not Cyclopes. Are they supposed to be like giants but that aren’t really that giant but they’re bigger? Um, I didn’t know who or what they were supposed to be. Okay, so killing machines.

Gen (00:50:18 - 00:50:33): They are the Laestrygonians. So this was another part of the Odyssey, and they are, uh, basically man-eating giants. I have no idea why in Bronze Age Greece they were wearing iron medieval armor.

Ryan (00:50:33 - 00:50:35): Because it looked nice.

Gen (00:50:35 - 00:50:36): Yeah.

Ryan (00:50:36 - 00:50:38): Um, aliens.

Gen (00:50:38 - 00:51:23): A lot of these things— and that’s the other thing about The Odyssey, even though it’s a really long play, a lot of these, they’re not— they don’t really go into a lot of detail when you’re reciting this play. They don’t say, you know, he showed up on the beach and then we’re going to go into this battle in details and details and details. But for most of the places where Odysseus stopped, he ended up talking to the people who lived there. So he must have done something to piss off the the I can’t pronounce their name without reading it—the Lys Lys Dragonians. I’m reading the wiki. I don’t know. Maybe they just decided to eat them. I’m not sure. I have to reread it again.

Ryan (00:51:23 - 00:51:25): But yeah, they scared the kid.

Gen (00:51:26 - 00:51:28): Yeah, that has nothing to do with anything.

Ryan (00:51:28 - 00:51:34): Um, and they didn’t really scare the kid. This kid looked at them and then started screaming. I think he was just a dick.

Gen (00:51:34 - 00:52:12): Yeah, I feel like that part of the movie was, uh, whoever wrote it saying, in The Odyssey they fight cannibalistic giants. Okay, but why? Oh, Because, um, speaking of armor, the armor pissed me off, like, from the get-go. That’s not Greek armor, that’s Roman armor. That’s like not even early Roman armor, that’s like Imperial Roman armor. Like, although Agamemnon’s armor was very cool.

Brent (00:52:12 - 00:52:13): Yeah.

Gen (00:52:13 - 00:52:21): I love that spine thing that he had in the back of his helmet. That was super cool. Yeah, so it looked cool, but it was wrong.

Brent (00:52:21 - 00:52:26): Uh, very impractical.

Gen (00:52:26 - 00:55:02): Yeah. Speaking of Agamemnon, I’m bouncing around a lot because like I said, it’s a lot of nitpicky stuff. But, um, so one of the things I liked was that they included some things from, uh, specifically, I believe it was Euripides’s, uh, Oresteia trilogy, which is a trilogy of Greek tragedies, uh, that talk about what happened to Agamemnon when he comes home after the war. Um, and they basically cover 2 of the plays— well, one of the plays. They mentioned the second one anyway. So when Agamemnon comes back, you see in the movie that Clytemnestra, his wife, Helen’s twin sister, although caveat: they’re not identical twins. Technically, Helen is the daughter of Zeus, and Clytemnestra is not, because that’s how—that’s what happens when gods get involved. But anyway, because they took out the gods, they couldn’t really do that part. But anyway, so anyway, yeah, Agamemnon comes back. Clytemnestra greets him. and murders him in a bathtub, technically. Uh, but the reason— and they do point that out in the movie— is that in order to get the winds to, to blow so that they can leave Greece to sail to Troy— because again, the gods are involved in this, they don’t want the Greeks to go to Troy, they’re trying to stop them— and so they demand— the gods demand a sacrifice. And in order to get that sacrifice uh, Agamemnon has to sacrifice his eldest daughter. Now, in the movie, they make her a child. In the play, she is of marriageable age, so she’s probably about 13, 14. And Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, the daughter, come from, uh, Argos to the beach because they tell Clytemnestra that her daughter Iphigenia is going to marry Achilles. So she thinks they’re gonna have a big wedding, it’s going to be a big ceremony, this is going to make the gods happy, and this is gonna send them on their way. So they’re preparing for a wedding, but Agamemnon— and Achilles doesn’t know anything about this— Agamemnon instead murders his daughter, sacrifices her and kills her. So because of that, Clytemnestra murders him when he gets home, and because of that, Orestes, Clytemnestra’s son murders her, and then the Furies go after him. You should read the Oresteia. It’s a great trilogy of plays. Uh, I’m gonna just keep going on and on and on at this point.

Kevin (00:55:02 - 00:55:13): So, Gen, can I just ask, uh, ask you another question? Um, I had never heard of Zeus’s law before seeing this movie, having never read The Odyssey. Is that a real thing, or was that something made up for the film?

Gen (00:55:13 - 00:55:17): Uh, no, that was a real thing. It’s called, uh, uh, xenia.

Kevin (00:55:17 - 00:55:18): Uh-huh.

Gen (00:55:18 - 00:55:44): And it is a law of hospitality. I’m not sure— again, it’s been such a long time since I’ve read The Odyssey, um, I’m not sure what extremes it goes to, like what the actual boundaries of this rule are. But basically, it— as far as we know what was happening actually in ancient times, it was a thing that the audience of Homer’s poems would have recognized as true.

Kevin (00:55:44 - 00:55:45): Okay.

Gen (00:55:45 - 00:56:27): It’s— yeah, it’s a law of hospitality. If somebody comes to your house, you can’t murder them, basically. You greet them, you feed them, you provide them what they need, and the idea is that they go away, right? Okay. Now, the— one of the crimes of the suitors is that they, uh, exploit that and they don’t leave. Um, I didn’t even get to the suitors. Okay. Um, I hope nobody’s fast-forwarding this part. So the suitors, again, excellently cast, very well done. Um, I also should say I really loved, uh, Tom Holland as Telemachus. I love that they incorporated the dog because that’s part of the Odyssey. Uh, what happened—

Kevin (00:56:27 - 00:56:28): Oh, the dog.

Gen (00:56:28 - 00:56:52): Yeah, that, that’s actually in the, in the play. Odysseus leaves the dog and the dog, uh, greets his master and then dies. So that is actually part of it. Um, I also really like that they did Telemachus’s journey because the beginning of The Odyssey— you don’t actually see Odysseus in The Odyssey for a long time because the first part of it is Telemachus traveling to find out what happened to his father. So that part was true.

Kevin (00:56:52 - 00:56:52): Mm-hmm.

Gen (00:56:52 - 00:57:57): In the actual play, it’s Athena who takes the form of one of her companions and goes with him. Which I thought was interesting why he kept saying, you have Athena’s eyes, you have wise eyes. So it seems like Telemachus is always looking for the gods, right? But again, I found it very odd that Odysseus is the one to dissuade him of that, because Odysseus is basically a chosen of the gods, and, you know, you wouldn’t talk down to basically your patron. Um, so I like that they incorporated Telemachus’s story. They made him a bit of a wuss. And I can’t remember if that’s how he is in the play or not, or in the, the poem. Um, but also I was trying to figure out ages because Odysseus has been gone for 20 years. So I think Odysseus— I think Telemachus is supposed to be like a baby, like an infant when he leaves, but they kind of made him, I don’t know, like 5-ish because he still remembered his So he would be like— Telemachus would be 25 years old. That is well into manhood.

Kevin (00:57:57 - 00:57:57): Yeah.

Gen (00:57:57 - 00:58:27): Um, he should be married with children. There shouldn’t be any reason why, um, he can’t. Like, he keeps saying, oh, I’m not ready, I’m not ready, I can’t assume a— like, I don’t think that there should be any reason for him to not be able to do that at 25. Um, so I was kind of worried about that. I really liked Anne Hathaway’s Penelope. She was great. Um, what else was I going to say about the suitors? Oh yeah, the massacre of the suitors was fun.

Kevin (00:58:27 - 00:58:29): Yes.

Gen (00:58:29 - 00:59:39): Um, and that happens too. Uh, it’s— they toned down actually a lot of the violence from the actual play because what happens in, uh, The Odyssey, the, the, the play— or sorry, I say play, the poem— uh, is Odysseus murders Everybody. He kills all the suitors. He kills all of the servants, uh, because these servants have been sleeping with the suitors. And, um, as a feminist in classics, uh, that’s been a series, a season, or, um, a debate that a lot of classicists have had about why murder the maids. It’s not like they had anything to do with it. They were— they’re basically slaves. They can’t say no. But they kind of made one of them very duplicitous in this movie, so kind of, I guess, justified the murder. Um, I like that they incorporated the beggars into it too, because I’m pretty sure that’s something that they would have done as part of this, uh, Zeus’s law. Uh, oh God, I still have so many thoughts. Uh, Calypso— why does she live in the Sahara? Like, have you ever been to the Mediterranean? There isn’t a big freaking desert. I don’t know why they gave her a house.

Brent (00:59:39 - 00:59:52): Yeah, my thought was like, you and I have been to Mykonos. It could be an out— like an island like that. No, it would have been more technology. You don’t think so?

Gen (00:59:52 - 01:00:27): No, it would have been rocky. There’s no deserts in Greece in that part of the world. The desert is, uh, further south. So unless she lives in Africa, um, I don’t know how— why there would be that much sand. Um, that was the other thing that I disliked about Odysseus, is that they made him innocent of all this by making Calypso the one who gives him the lotus. They’re taking away any responsibility Odysseus had for basically staying and sleeping with the goddess for 7 years.

Kevin (01:00:27 - 01:00:32): I didn’t feel like they really explain to us who Calypso was.

Gen (01:00:32 - 01:00:38): Again, because they don’t want it— they took out the gods. So if Calypso is a goddess, she does imprison him.

Kevin (01:00:38 - 01:00:51): Yeah, I knew that she was. I knew that she was a goddess just from my skim of Greek mythology, but I didn’t know what she was the goddess of. I thought she was like a sea nymph or something.

Gen (01:00:51 - 01:01:14): In, in Greek mythology, you’re not necessarily you don’t necessarily have a job if you’re divine. Sometimes you do, sometimes you’re just an immortal, sometimes you’re just a goddess. Um, one of the other things that I both liked and disliked was Circe. Um, I loved how she turned the men into pigs. I thought that was so cool.

Kevin (01:01:14 - 01:01:16): Oh, and it was so, so creepy.

Gen (01:01:16 - 01:01:38): Yeah, it was really neat. Um, but the thing. And again, this is me— I feel like this is taking away Odysseus’s responsibility for his men, I guess. Or I don’t even know how to phrase it. In the, in the play, what happens is the men go to Circe, she turns them into pigs, that part happens.

Brent (01:01:38 - 01:01:39): Yeah.

Gen (01:01:39 - 01:02:33): Odysseus follows his men, is stopped by Hermes, who’s one of the gods, and Hermes says, eat this plant, uh, because if you don’t eat this plant, you’re going to get turned into a pig. So Odysseus eats the plant, and then he goes to meet Circe. She feeds him, he eats it, he doesn’t change into a pig. And then basically, um, he convinces her to change the men back, and then he stays and lives with her and sleeps with her for like 2 years, his entire— it’s only when the men insist that they want to get going that he’s like, all right, I’ll stop sleeping with Circe and we can keep going. Like, he is not a good person. So like, this whole time that Penelope is fighting off the suitors and trying to keep the throne for her husband, he’s stopping his way around the islands. And a lot of it is—

Ryan (01:02:33 - 01:02:34): He’s on an island adventure.

Gen (01:02:34 - 01:02:51): A lot of it is because of the gods keeping him places, but a lot of it is because he’s like, I don’t know, I’m getting sex here, I might as well stay. So yeah, uh, what else could I talk about? I could honestly—

Brent (01:02:51 - 01:02:53): Yeah, you don’t have to keep going.

Gen (01:02:56 - 01:02:56): Uh, no, I—

Brent (01:02:57 - 01:02:58): you did like it.

Gen (01:02:58 - 01:03:29): I did like it overall. I, I really enjoyed it. Like I said, it’s more or less stayed true to the story of The Odyssey, and basically everything that I was talking about is very nitpicky. And I hope I didn’t ruin it for anybody else who is listening to this, or for you guys, because it’s just— yeah, I just— the main thing was how they portrayed Odysseus. It’s like, that’s not him. Um, yeah, I could go on, but I’ll stop now because I’m starting to get a sore throat.

Brent (01:03:29 - 01:03:46): And so before, before we leave the Odyssey land completely, Uh, so what I was looking for originally, Gen, is, uh, somebody had told me that Elliot Page was Achilles in the movie.

Kevin (01:03:46 - 01:03:48): Oh yeah, I had heard that too.

Brent (01:03:48 - 01:04:13): Because they had been listed at— like, they had never been listed at what character they were playing for the longest time. And then I’m like, Achilles gets like pinned to the, the Trojan horse and dies right out of the gate. I’m like, Oh, if that’s Achilles, oh, Gen’s gonna be mad because what I know of that story, that is not it.

Gen (01:04:13 - 01:04:21): Yeah, so if— I think honestly, I think Elliot Page cast as Achilles is a good casting. Like, I could see—

Brent (01:04:21 - 01:04:35): No, like, I don’t— it wasn’t the, the disagreement with the casting, but then like being— it’s like, you know, Darth Vader showing up and being murdered in the first 2 minutes of Like Empire or something, which is one of my biggest things with Troy.

Gen (01:04:37 - 01:05:17): Um, yeah, no, I, I thought that— and actually, I really liked that part when, when he speaks to the dead, um, because again, he— I like that he got to speak to, to Sinon again, Elliot Page’s character. And I really liked the part where he was like you know, I was inches away from you while you were dying and I had to lie. That was another part where I was like, Odysseus wouldn’t have felt— he probably would have felt remorse for his friend or for his man dying, but he wouldn’t have been like, I’m sorry I lied to you. He would have been like, dude, I’m Odysseus. I lied. That’s what I do. That’s what I’m known for. You should never trust me. I always lie.

Ryan (01:05:17 - 01:05:21): I’m the general. You’re the soldier. You did— you don’t need to know my plan.

Gen (01:05:21 - 01:06:11): Yeah, like, he, he was just too naive, soft. I don’t know. Um, I also liked the sirens. Now, in Greek mythology— sorry, this is my last rant— in Greek mythology, interesting fact, the sirens are actually bird women. Um, they have the bodies of a bird and the head of a woman. Um, so they’re not like mermaids. For some reason, mythology has transformed them into like mermaids. Um, but I liked that when they were doing that part of, of the sea— first of all, I like that they made Odysseus like screaming in pain and not like— and I like that they made one guy be like, I want to hear this, and like jump into the water and swim. And you could just kind of vaguely see the sirens through the mist, so they weren’t like—

Ryan (01:06:11 - 01:06:12): Just like a silhouette.

Gen (01:06:12 - 01:07:06): Yeah, you couldn’t see if they were human, you couldn’t see if they were Mythological ladies. Yeah. Um, so I really like that part. And I also like Scylla and Charybdis. So Charybdis is the whirlpool, and Scylla— not Zilla, Scylla, C-Y-L-L-A— is, um, and again, this is a thing with the gods, is that Scylla was, um, I can’t remember exactly if she was a— if she was a nymph or if she was a person, but she was cursed by the gods to become the 6-headed monster, and they don’t really describe her beyond that. So I was curious to see how they were going to portray Scylla, uh, and they basically made a kind of— the first thing that popped into my head was like Rocky’s legs from, uh, Project Hail Mary. So they didn’t really define the creature at all. That part was a little weird, but I didn’t— maybe they didn’t know what to do.

Ryan (01:07:06 - 01:07:10): It’s the smoke monster from Lost. You just kind of— yeah.

Gen (01:07:12 - 01:08:46): Yeah, but I also— yeah, I, I, I need to reread it because it’s been a while or, or something. Um, oh, one last thing I was gonna say. So interesting thing about, uh, this particular version of The Odyssey is that it was based on a translation, uh, that was translated in— I think it was 2017 or 2019, I forget exactly. And it was Christopher Nolan took the translation, uh, and this is the first time The Odyssey has been translated by a woman. So I believe the person’s name was Emily— I want to say Wilson. I, I looked it up and then I closed the window and now I don’t remember exactly. Uh, and anyway, she’s the first woman to translate The Odyssey and she has done it in a slightly more modern and I suppose a readable version. Uh, the first couple translations, like back in the olden times, were kind of a lot of these and thous and that crap. Uh, the translation I read in school was the Lattimore translation, and I thought it was pretty good. I still have it. Um, but this new translation, uh, by, um, this classicist Emily— well, last name something Wilson, possibly— um, is apparently very different. So If you have read The Odyssey before and you want to do a comparison, there you go. Okay, now I’ll stop. Yeah, already. Unless anybody has any questions. If any listeners have questions, feel free to ask me. I, as you can obviously tell, I love talking about this stuff.

Patreon and Community

Brent (01:08:46 - 01:09:17): Um, we will also throw this out there because we’re getting towards the Patreon shoutouts. Uh, Gen has agreed to do an audio commentary of Troy if we get 4 more Patreon subscribers. We’re currently at, uh, 2. Yeah, so we need 4 more. If, if, uh, that happens at any point in the— what do you, what do you want to say, Gen? Next 2 months?

Gen (01:09:17 - 01:09:21): Uh, let’s give it a little more time than that.

Brent (01:09:22 - 01:09:45): To— well, I mean to get the subscribers. So we will do it eventually after that. Like, yeah, we have stuff going on, so it’ll take a while to get the recording done, but it will be lined up as a Patreon exclusive. Um, so those of you in the Patreon, if you wanted to really hear Gen go off on a movie, this is the way to do it. Get 4 of your friends to sign up.

Gen (01:09:45 - 01:10:05): This is— Troy is the worst movie. It— oh my God, it is so bad. So I recently— we were talking about this before we hit record— I recently watched the, um, Honest Trailers because when did that movie come out? It came out in like early 2000s or something, didn’t it?

Ryan (01:10:05 - 01:10:06): Yes.

Gen (01:10:06 - 01:10:37): Um, I’m like, oh, I haven’t really— I know this is a terrible movie, I remember the bad parts, and I was like, oh, but I haven’t really seen it since then. Let’s look at the Honest Trailers. And it— the Honest Trailers made me mad. It reminded me why this movie is the worst movie ever. So if you want to hear me go off on why that movie is so terrible, yeah, get 4 more of your friends— get, get 4 of your friends to subscribe to the Patreon and subscribe yourself if you haven’t.

Brent (01:10:37 - 01:14:46): Yeah, speaking of Patreon, patreon.com/TrueNorthNerds. If you would like to help us out and get Gen to do that commentary, sign up. It is three bucks a month. You get exclusive content like a possible movie commentary of Troy by us with Gen. Beyond that, we have the first season of Kung Fu Islands on there. There is a music podcast called Listen to This, which recently up. uploaded a show. Um, the episode in general is about, uh, songs that you start the summer off with, like blasting out your car windows. It’s kind of a vague idea, I know, but all will be made clear if you listen to that episode by donating $3 a month to the Patreon. You also get a nice shout out. So, uh, Drew, Karina, Alex, Team Woods, who did our fantastic website at truenorthnerds.com, Maple Printing 3D, and our good friend and producer of Listen to This, Rex. Yeah, before we get into Geek Picks, I want to say something a little personal here before we go to everything else. So, um, if you were following my social, and I know some of you definitely were, my social media feeds, uh, a little while ago, you will have noted and probably shared a, uh, a missing poster for, uh, my friend and co-host of Listen to This, Alex. His, uh, son went missing for just over 40 hours. Uh, I will be completely and utterly honest. I was astounded at the sheer amount of people who shared this because I— it’s the internet, right? Like, it’s like sometimes you see those things and I wouldn’t have even blamed anybody, but you see those, you just let it go and like don’t share it or anything like that. But so many people in my life and attached to it Uh, shared this out because it’s like, for those of you who are unaware, Alex and I have known each other since Alex was 13 years old. Uh, I was like 17, 18, I think, when I met Alex. His son is basically one of my like ad hoc nephews. And this was, you know, you read about this stuff like, and you never think it’s going to happen to you or anybody you know, but did. And it is frightening because you just don’t know where this person is. And the fact that so many people took the time out to just like click and share, including like everybody who is on the show now, uh, like, well, Gen is obvious, but Kevin and Brian and all these other people that I reached out to, the guys over at Post Wrestling, all of their hosts shared the post, and like a lot of their listeners did. And if you have managed to backtrack all that stuff here, I cannot say enough how much I appreciate it and very thankful for it. Because at the end, um, Alex’s son was located and he was brought home, uh, relatively safe. Uh, beyond that, I’m not going to go into it because he Is does get privacy in the situation to a certain extent, and also the there is a minor involved. But I I will say that the the the help you like you you may have not even thought that it was a thing just sharing it, but it meant the world to me, and it means a lot to Alex and his family. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. Really, it was incredible. incredibly appreciated. Um, with that, uh, Geek Picks.

Geek Picks

Gen (01:14:47 - 01:14:49): Who wants to go first?

Kevin (01:14:49 - 01:15:15): I guess I can. Guess what? I’ve got another book recommendation because I’m listening to books now. Yeah, that’s how cultured I am. Uh, so I have been listening to— about halfway through, and I can’t wait to find out how it ends— a lovely will call it a novella because it won the Hugo Award in 2020 for Best Novella. It is called This Is How You Lose the Time War.

Gen (01:15:15 - 01:15:17): Oh, that’s on my to-read list.

Kevin (01:15:17 - 01:16:06): By Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It is the story of 2 time soldiers from enemy factions. Their armies, uh, change history. They live in sort of 2 mutually distinct timelines, and they have found a way to leave messages for each other, and it is slowly turning into a love story. So I am quite excited to find out where it goes, and it is just— it’s just a lovely romantic science fiction timey-wimey story. So yeah, that’s This Is How You Lose the Time War. By Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

Gen (01:16:06 - 01:16:15): Oh, I’m glad to hear that was good there, that that you’re enjoying that because like I said, that’s on my to read list and maybe I’ll bump it up my to read list. And it’s also Canadian.

Kevin (01:16:15 - 01:16:19): Amal El-Mohtar is from Ottawa. Even better.

Gen (01:16:20 - 01:16:21): Do I have it on hold?

Kevin (01:16:23 - 01:16:29): I’m listening to it through. Audible on Amazon Music.

Gen (01:16:29 - 01:16:36): Yeah, so I do have it on hold, but I’m, uh, 38th in line, so it’s still going to be a couple weeks before I get it.

Kevin (01:16:36 - 01:16:40): Well, it’s very short. The audiobook is only about 4 hours long.

Gen (01:16:40 - 01:16:41): Yeah, look at that.

Kevin (01:16:41 - 01:16:52): So, uh, it, it should go— you should get it fairly quickly then. So there you go. Who’s next?

Gen (01:16:53 - 01:16:54): I can go next.

Kevin (01:16:59 - 01:17:00): Um, uh, let’s see.

Gen (01:17:00 - 01:20:00): I was— I actually had two that I was thinking of, but I’ll do this one. So the book that I am currently listening to, because I go through a lot of books, uh, is called The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Lawhon? A-L-A-W-H-O-N. Anyway, uh, it is a historical fiction, uh, murder mystery. which is not my normal cup of tea, but you know, I can only read so many romances before I need to have a palate cleanser. Um, so this takes place in 1789, and basically it is the story of, uh, the Ballard family, uh, mostly told from the perspective of Martha, the, the matriarch, who is a midwife. And it takes place in, uh, the U.S., wherever the Kennebec River actually is. I guess near Boston, because I think they mentioned going to Boston once or twice. Anyway, so what happens is, uh, Martha, uh, is summoned to examine a dead body because in this small town she’s also kind of the de facto, uh, doctor for a lot of cases. Um, so she— they find a dead body in the frozen river, and it turns out that this was one of the 2 men in the town who’ve been, uh, uh, who were accused of raping one of the townswomen. So there’s a whole lot of, uh, trial going on and mystery going on about, um, who actually murdered this person, uh, was this woman actually raped, uh, who— like, what, what are the townspeople hiding, basically. Uh, there is a kind of like a conniving judge who seems to be trying to take over all of the property in the town. Um, and you know, they’re trying— he’s trying to take over the Ballards’ farm, so they’re trying to stop him. Uh, it’s really well written. I’m just listening to it, and it’s very well narrated as well. Um, I’m nearly at the end. I think I’m, I’m almost done. Uh, yeah, I’m about 90% done. And, um, it’s a good palate cleanser because the book I was listening to before this one was so boring I didn’t even finish it. And it’s very annoying because the, the book I was reading before was called, uh, Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, and it was getting rave reviews. So I was like, well, I didn’t really like the first book I read by this author, but, uh, you know, this is getting good reviews, maybe the second— this book is better. And it’s about— it’s like, it’s about 2 students of magic who go into hell to recover the soul of their teacher who one of the students accidentally blew up. So you’d think that that sounds interesting, and it was so boring. So yeah, don’t read Katabasis, but, um, read The Frozen River if you want a kind of like a cozy murder mystery. All right, Ryan.

Ryan (01:20:01 - 01:21:59): Uh, so my geek pick is, uh, a new series available. So if you have cable, you can watch it on, on Sportsnet. Uh, if you don’t, then you can go online and try to watch it on Sportsnet Plus. And it is The Blue Jays Way, and it is a— I think it’s a 7-part documentary series they’re doing, um, for the 50th anniversary of the Toronto Blue Jays. Uh, episode 1 aired last Sunday night, and it talked about the, the beginnings of the franchise, like the first season, the first game, and how, you know, uh, it was at Exhibition Stadium and there was a snowstorm like the day before. There was— they had to bring a Zamboni out to kind of like clean off the snow off the field. uh, the umpires and pretty much everybody, you know, the, the officials were all like, yeah, there’s like 15,000 people here or whatever thousand people here. We’re not canceling this game. It’s getting played either way. I don’t care if it’s— if there’s snow on the field. And, uh, and it goes all the way up to their— the real, you know, one of the, the first tragedy— tragic endings for the Blue Jays when they gave up, uh, a 3-1 series lead in 1985, uh, to lose to the Royals, which, you know, and miss out on their first appearance in the World Series. Uh, lots of interviews with past players and management and a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stories. Uh, some actually, some, some players that you wouldn’t, you know, they have reputations as being, you know, standoffish or you know, full of themselves, uh, that get really emotional recounting their stories. Um, and it’s also interesting to find out, you know, which players harbored grudges with each other and still to this day kind of do.

Gen (01:21:59 - 01:22:00): Mm-hmm.

Ryan (01:22:00 - 01:23:03): Um, I’m looking forward to the next episode. It is supposed to be talking around the years where, uh, they make the big trade that brings Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter to the team, which starts them down their path to their 2 World Series. So yeah, I’m looking forward to this series. It’s one of these things where I remember back in the day, you know, back in my day when the World Series— when the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series, I had what they’d put out on VHS, like season recap videos with behind-the-scenes stuff and just kind of going through the season and then the playoffs and the World Series, eventual World Series victories. Which I would love to have again on DVD or Blu-ray. But I really hope they put this Blue Jays Way series out in that kind of, you know, home video format for this, you know, for future referencing and reviewing and all that. So yeah, if you’re a Blue Jays fan, find a way to watch The Blue Jays Way. What’s yours, Brent?

Gen (01:23:03 - 01:23:07): What? Wait, sorry, what’s it on? Is it, is it on It’s on.

Ryan (01:23:07 - 01:23:47): Yeah, so streams right now, but it streams only through Sportsnet. Okay, so it’s not even on Crave as far as I can tell. It’s just, it’s, it’s on the, on cable, it’s on Sportsnet, and then on the internet you can, you can log in. So if you have cable and you have Sportsnet, you can log in using your Rogers video account into the Sportsnet website and watch it there without subscribing to Sportsnet Plus because you’ve already got it as part of your cable package. Yeah, so pretty much at this point you need to have either cable or a separate SportsNet+ subscription to be able to watch this. Then I echo that you—

Gen (01:23:47 - 01:23:51): when you say they hope they release it in some other format so that other people can watch it.

Brent (01:23:51 - 01:25:03): So mine is the latest season of Dark Side of the Ring has begun. You can watch it on Crave. I think it’s on Vice on regular cable. Started off with a 3-part episode on the rise or creation of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, or TNA. And in part of that, it’s also about its founder Jeff Jarrett. It is a very awesome, well-put-together look at the— what was once considered a possible rival for, uh, WWE when there was none and has never quite made those heights. But, uh, those guys do a lot of really good work over there, and, uh, it’s a good show. Um, I was also thinking, but I haven’t seen it in a while, of if you want to see another really good Odyssey movie that doesn’t really adhere to the— this story too, too closely, You know, there’s a little movie with George Clooney called O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Gen (01:25:03 - 01:25:05): That’s worth a watch. Oh yeah, that’s a good movie.

Brent (01:25:05 - 01:25:08): Yeah, that movie’s great. Yeah, sounds great soundtrack.

Ryan (01:25:08 - 01:25:08): Yeah.

Closing

Brent (01:25:11 - 01:25:19): So that’s it for this week. In 2 weeks, we will be back with our review of Spider-Man.

Gen (01:25:19 - 01:25:21): Spider-Man!

Kevin (01:25:23 - 01:25:31): Spider-Man. Hey, Mr. Spider-Man. So, uh, another Tom Holland Zendaya romp.

Brent (01:25:31 - 01:25:35): Yeah, Tom Holland, Zendaya, and, uh, what’s his face?

Kevin (01:25:35 - 01:25:35): Jon Bernthal.

Ryan (01:25:35 - 01:25:38): Jon Bernthal. The Three Musketeers.

Brent (01:25:38 - 01:25:42): And no, Tom Holland isn’t in Dune.

Ryan (01:25:42 - 01:25:46): Nope, I was thinking the same thing, dude.

Brent (01:25:46 - 01:25:49): We don’t know if he’s in— we don’t know if he’s in Doomsday though, right?

Kevin (01:25:52 - 01:25:56): No. Yeah, we also need to talk about whether we’re gonna go and see the new re-release of Endgame.

Gen (01:25:56 - 01:25:59): When’s that happening?

Kevin (01:25:59 - 01:26:03): In October, they’re re-releasing Endgame with new footage.

Brent (01:26:03 - 01:26:15): We got time to figure that out. Um, so yeah, uh, on behalf of all of us, thank you very much for listening, and as always, abomasday. Bye!

Kevin (01:26:15 - 01:26:16): See ya!

Gen (01:26:16 - 01:26:19): See, so I wasn’t that angry.

Outro

Kirby Crackle (01:26:19 - 01:26:21): [Theme song lyrics omitted.]

Rex (01:26:21 - 01:26:59): Thank you for listening to the True North Nerds. You can find us at truenorthnerds.com, on Facebook, X, and Instagram @truenorthnerds. 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 If you like the show, please consider becoming a Patreon at patreon.com/TrueNorthNerds, or go to your podcast app of choice and rate and review us.

Kirby Crackle (01:26:59 - 01:27:04): [Theme song lyrics omitted.]