Bonus content on Agatha All Along trailer. We plan on talking about it more next week.

Thanks for Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends as word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast, and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find for people looking for a fun Marvel podcast. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, and Spotify or wherever you get your friendly neighborhood podcasts.

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Comments or Questions: Who do you want to see in Deadpool and Wolverine?

Obviously there can be a lot of cameos in this movie. We’ve already heard hints of some like Elektra, Toad, Lady Deathstrike and more. But who is likely to show up in Deadpool and Wolverine that hasn’t been spoiled yet? And is Taylor Swift going to show up in Deadpool and Wolverine?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below, or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. And there is now the 10 Minute Marvel Facebook page, as well, where you can join in the conversation here. And follow us on YouTube for more content here.

Thank you again for listening, and we’ll see you next time.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender Plot

Let’s just talk quickly about the plot. I won’t spoil much of what happens, only what is in the first episode, and sets the context.

Aang is the Avatar, someone who can learn and master the elements of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. But he’s young, still learning, when the Fire Nation, those who can bend fire, declare war on the rest of the world. He goes off on the run and ends up frozen in ice for 100 years. When he comes out of the ice, war is still happening. But the Fire Nation has a much stronger foothold than before. And he still needs to figure out what it means to be the Avatar and how to stop the war.

Animated versus Live Action

Obviously, this is the main question for most people. How does the live action version hold up against the animated version. And I think, as did my wife, that it holds up well. I know there will be some people who nitpick around it and say that it doesn’t do everything identical to the animated version. In which case, I recommend that they watch the animated version again. But for the most part, it does a great job with it.

If I were to critique the live action version and find a few negatives, I’m not sure that all of the acting is as dynamic as the voice acting was. And there are a couple of times where the bending doesn’t look perfect. It looks really good, but it doesn’t look perfect. That’s mainly around Aang flying, which doesn’t matter what it is, it doesn’t look perfect even in a big budget film, Wonder Woman I’m looking at you.

What It Changes

The big thing that it changes is that it tones down the goofiness. Now, note that I didn’t say that it gets rid of the goofiness. It certainly doesn’t do that. But it does tone it down. And with that it leans into the reality of the war that the Fire Nation has brought upon the Earth, Wind, and Water nations.

This, I think, is an important change. Again, I don’t want it beat for beat. If I wanted it like that, I’d watch the animated show. But also, some of the goofiness wouldn’t translate as well to live action. It’d undercut what the show really ends up getting right about the series. And I’ll touch on that soon. Some of the silly things that Aang does or Momo’s antics, or even Sokka’s ticks wouldn’t translate as well into live action.

But It Does It Justice

And let’s focus in on this. The Netflix show does the animated series justice. Mainly because it nails getting the heart of the show down. The struggle for Aang, Sokka, Katara, and others is real in the show. And the live action version leans into that as the focus. Mainly, because it can. It’s still a show that kids can watch, just slightly older kids, because of how it handles the story.

I don’t think I can emphasize this enough. Avatar: The Last Airbender is about Aang’s struggle. But it’s not just about that. Everyone desires that the Avatar saves them and ends the war. But everyone is lost and grieving because of the war. And that dynamic of hope, or loss of hope, the scheming and planning. The violence and helping, all of that translates so well throughout the first season of the show.

Final Thoughts on Avatar: The Last Airbender

I really want to express how good this show is. Not just for people who have watched the animated series. I think that Netflix’s adaptation of it is a great opportunity for new fans to be created. And that is important to have a show continue to grow that way. And the numbers of Netflix are proving it out that people are excited for the show.

The changes that they make, and I mentioned toning down the goofiness, are good. I know that there were a lot of complaints about making Sokka less sexist. The point of that is that he changes. But the show demonstrates clearly that you can still have those arcs without making it as blatant. I see him still as sexist in how he treats and protects Katara, but it’s not a blatant way that he handles it. It’s from a protective source and he’s still learning to overcome and change and not feel like his sister can’t handle it.

I want the next season now. And I hope that Netflix can make it quickly and do it justice. There are characters I want to see show up. And there are a lot of arcs that I really want to see develop over time. We start to see the hint at them with Uncle Iroh and others, but I want to see how they can continue to grow the series.

Have you watched it? And did you enjoy it?

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Thanks For Listening

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, please consider sharing, subscribing, or leaving a rating and review. All of those things help more people find the podcast. You can find the podcast over on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

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Comments/Questions?

Let me know your thoughts so far on Hawkeye. Are you enjoying the tone and acting in the show? Who doo you think the big bad guy is going to be? Do you like Kate Bishop, likely a character we’ll see more of in future shows or films?

You can let me know down in the comments below. Or let me know over on Twitter. Tweet your thoughts to me @TheScando or with #10MinMarvel. And let me know what your favorite Marvel show or movie has been this year.

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Sonic The Hedgehog is the story of, well, Sonic The Hedgehog. He is sent via a ring portal to Earth to hide his awesome speed from those on his home planet. But he obviously can’t help but run in the shadows, because that’s what Sonic does, he runs. Things go awry when an incident occurs and attention is drawn to something weird being in the area where he lives. He needs to then go to another world, but because of an accident, he doesn’t have his rings anymore so he can’t transport, will he get them in time or be found out.

I think the first thing to talk about in this film is Jim Carrey. This film isn’t carried by Jim Carrey, but this is the Jim Carrey from the likes of The Mask, Ace Ventura, and Liar Liar. Everything is over the top, exaggerated, and really what is needed for this film. Jim Carrey going full Jim Carrey helps out this film as he makes a wonderful Dr. Robotnik. Ben Schwartz then voicing Sonic is great, and James Marsden is a wonderful foil as a trusting character, but also kind of that exasperated “why is this happening to me” role in this film. There are other good characters in this film, Adam Pally as Wade, Tika Sumpter as Maddie, and Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone all really round out what turned out to be a solid cast for something that doesn’t have the biggest names, after Jim Carrey, and is a kids film.

Let’s talk a little bit about that, this is 100% a kids film in the best way. There are three types of kids films in my opinion, there are kids films that are only for kids and nothing really for adults, there are kids films that have jokes for kids and adults, and there are kids films that have poop jokes. This in that middle group. The jokes that they give, especially to Jim Carrey, paired with his overly exaggerated movements work well. The jokes will hit on word play for adults and the movements and delivery will still be funny for the kids. All of this while not pandering to a more adult sense of humor. It doesn’t do veiled innuendo for jokes, because eventually, and probably too early kids will figure those out. So this will be a film that can stand on it’s own for a while.

As for the story itself, it’s simple enough. They do a little bit of clever stuff with the rings, but nothing that is too surprising or too much of a twist, which I think is how it should be. Again this is a kids film, it should tell a straight forward story and it most certainly does that. But that isn’t to say that this is a boring story. They do a good job with everything that is going on to make entertaining. There are obviously a lot of moments of humor, but there are moments of emotion, and some fun ideas played around with in this movie. They don’t shy away from emotions in the male characters which is nice as well. The story is just a well enough done straight forward story for a light and fun film, anything more would feel like a lot for it anyways, and it isn’t a that dumb a story either, which a lot of kids films can be.

Finally, let’s talk about the hedgehog in the room, how does the new Sonic look? I mentioned the initial trailer where his body was just weird, and his teeth were flat out creepy. The new Sonic in this look amazing! He looks like he has stepped out of a video game, which is exactly what he should look like. But he doesn’t also then look out of place with everything else. Some of that is Dr. Robotnik also being very over the top as well, on a person. I think they did an amazing job of blending everything together and making it work well in the film. The special effects are nice, and sonic really never looks out of place, which is impressive for them completely rebuilding him after that first trailer.

So, overall, I’ve talked about this film generally in a positive light. And I don’t really think I have a negative for it. This is a good film. It isn’t an amazing film by any means, but it’s a ton of fun for adults, and I’m guessing it’s a ton of fun for kids as well, just with how it played out. There really aren’t any massive weaknesses to it. That said, this is a kids film, I firmly believe that unless you like goofy humor and word play, this will just be a meh film for you. But if you have kids, this is going to be better than a dumb kids film or one that has “hidden adult jokes and if you like word play, Jim Carrey does a good job with it. Definitely one worth checking out, and I don’t know if it’ll get a sequel, but it should.

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News was light this week and probably will be for a few weeks with Covid-19 slowing down filming, casting, and basically anything that causes people to get together in a group in this weeks episode of #10MinMarvel. It’s also pushed back films, notably for Disney, New Mutants, but Black Widow is taking a wait and see approach thus far. I speculate why that might be. Plus, what are some things that you can do Marvel related while practicing social distancing?

If you’re enjoying the podcast, you can, while still maintaining social distancing, leave a rating and review. We’re on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, and Spotify. Those ratings and reviews help more people find the podcast and join into the 10 Minute Marvel community. I always love when I see the numbers climbing knowing that more people are getting Marvel news.

If you want to get a hold of me, you can do so by leaving a comment below. Or you can find me on twitter @TheScando. I’m also checking out #10MinMarvel. If you tweet using that hashtag, I’ll get notified. Please give me suggestions of topics or characters you want covered or if you find any interesting news stories.

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There’s a chunk of news to start off, first we’re getting some new Black Widow footage, but that was airing after I recorded the episode, so go track it down now. Instead, the news focuses on a Marvel movie, but not one in the MCU, instead the trailer for Morbius from Sony has released, and then I talk about a rumor that has been debunked for the Disney+ Hawkeye show.

The main topic for the show is the 1990’s Spider-Man animated show. This is a show that I loved watching as a child, even without having TV, whenever we were at someone’s place, I hoped that I’d be able to catch an episode, and I did a pretty good job of catching a lot of them. In particular, I talk about a memorable arc for me as it was one of the first super hero team-ups that I saw.

I just want to say thank you for checking out the podcast, I hope that you’re enjoying it. If you are, please consider leaving a rating and review. We are on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, and Spotify. Those ratings and reviews help more people find the podcast and join in the #10MinMarvel community.

If you have any questions are comments about the show, you can leave them below. Or you can tweet them to me as well as your ideas for future episodes to @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

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5 – Futurama
Yes, it’s an animated show that had a weird break in the show, but I love it. The humor is great in the show and for a show that is a comedy, there are so many heartfelt moments that tug at your heart strings, it’s very impressive. And for all of that, you still have Bender and Zoidberg who are generally just weird. I think what works so well in Futurama is that it feels like it relevant to life without taking time to bring up specific real world events. Other animated shows lose some of the timeless quality that Futurama has, because they try and talk directly about the real world instead of talking generally, over all, it’s a show that I can sit down and watch most episodes over and over.

4 – Supernatural
There have been a few seasons of Supernatural at this point, and I’m a few seasons behind at this point. But the fact they’ve been able to keep it going so long and while it isn’t always extremely new and fresh, they have done a ton of different things with the show. I like how it has transitioned between strong horror elements and then lighter episodes and seasons that are meant to be more self aware and goofy. I think it shows that the show has evolved over time, even if the characters seem to have stayed pretty similar throughout the whole show. Will I ever get caught up on Supernatural, who knows, but the episodes that I have watched, I really enjoyed the show, and that was around 10 seasons worth.

3 – Dark
I haven’t watched the second season of this yet, and I feel bad about that, but the first season was so amazing. I love the idea of time travel in stories, and sometimes they manage to get it right, Dark gets it right. This show is so extremely thematic and atmospheric that you get sucked into it from the very beginning. Downside is that I think it’s best with subtitles, not dubbed, but if you can get past that fact, the story is really engaging and weird. Definitely one that I need to get back to soon and start from the beginning and go straight through season 2. The downside to the show is that it is dark, so while I watched it in the later parts of winter, it can be a bit depressing to watch.

2 – Psych
Some of it as to why Psych has dropped is that there hasn’t been any new Psych, but we’re getting a new movie in 2020, so that might push it back up again. But Psych is a show that I can sit down and with the exception of the first season which I’ve seen so many times, I can watch and enjoy basically any episode. The humor is great, the stories are absurd and fun, and overall they just get the show right. The chemistry between the characters is really good as well. I also love the references to different bits of older pop culture that are strewn throughout almost every episode and different spoofs of movies and TV shows that they do in their episodes as well.

1 – Stranger Things
With three seasons under it’s belt, I can definitely say that this is my favorite show. Every season has been good, and I think through three seasons, I can only think of one episode that’s been bad. The kids on bikes aspect of the show as well as the other circles of people are really well done. The characters all have issues and flaws and the monsters are generally pretty disturbing. I like the 80’s feel of the show, and I really like how it takes horror tropes from that time and runs with them in interesting ways. Overall, it wasn’t close for my favorite show.

Kind of a weird combination of shows, let’s see if my honorable mentions help clear it up at all?

Honorable Mention:
Rain
The Simpsons
Grimm
Doctor Who
The IT Crowd

There are a lot of good shows out there which have just fell to the wayside for me. Killjoys was a ton of fun to watch, but I’m behind on that one now. The Mandalorian is coming out and while the show has been great thus far, it’s not even done with one season yet, so I couldn’t put it on my list. What are some shows that you really enjoy?

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Marvel and Disney announced when we’re getting a whole bunch more Marvel movies in 2022 and 2023, there’s some interesting things with that announcement, though, not the titles of the movies.

Plus, Disney+ is out there and I decided the first show that I was going to watch was the 1994 animated Iron Man series. Does the show hold up, is it a good show, is there anything you might be able to get from it for the upcoming Shang-Chi movie? You’ll have to listen to find out.

I want to thank everyone for listening, I love checking on the stats and seeing how many people are checking out the show. If you are enjoying the podcast, please consider leaving a rating and review. Those help more people find our podcast and join the growing #10MinMarvel community. We are iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher and Spotify.

If you want to get in contact with the show, you can leave a comment here, or find on on Twitter. My Twitter handle is @TheScando or you can tweet using #10MinMarvel.

Until next time.

It came out yesterday, but I failed to post it on Nerdologists, but there was another episode of #10MinMarvel.

The news of the day was going over a Marvel.com article about 10 shows/movies to check out on Disney+ when it comes out. There was quite a variety of shows including a few classic that I remember from growing up, so I’ll probably be checking out and talking about those.

Then the comic book TPB (trade paperback) for Secret Invasion, I talk about that storyline and what makes it work well. As well as I spend a little bit of time speculating about how they could use it in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Thanks for listening. If you are enjoying the podcast, please consider leaving a rating and review. That will help more people get involved with the 10 Minute Marvel community and hopefully provide some new Marvel information for them. We are on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, and Stitcher.

If you want to get in touch with me, you can find we on twitter @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel. I am active, so I’ll notice both quickly.

Ultraman, the Netflix show, is based off of the same character as the 1966-1967 show from Japan. The original show revolves around aliens attacking earth and until Ultraman shows up, the Science Patrol (yes, it’s called the Science Patrol), are unable to drive back the aliens. Now, it’s the next generation of Ultraman. The Science patrol is still around, but the alien threat is now from aliens who are living on earth. When an alien shows up that was last seen 12 years ago when a plane crashed killing everyone on board, the Science Patrol kicks it up a notch.

The show isn’t all that complex a show plot wise, it’s aliens do something, and the human who is Ultraman shows up and has a moral quandary about he’s doing. And it kind of repeats that trope throughout the show, but it does have some through lines in the show. Especially at the end of the season you get a through line in a few episodes. This isn’t a show that has a ton of major through lines though. You tend to just get two or three episodes that are somewhat tied together. But I think some of that simplicity is what makes the show work. They don’t try and confuse it too much with misdirection upon misdirection.

I think it also works because the style of animation on the show is an interesting 3D anime style animation. It wasn’t something that I thought I’d like, but they do a solid job with it. I do think that there are a few spots where it is rough around the edges, but in some ways, that’s some of the charm of the animation style. You get that billow of smoke that looks solid, but not as good as you thought it was going to be. And since it is based off of something in the 1960’s, not sure how faithfully, having that little bit of feel where it’s trying to do something on the cutting edge is fun. It kind of works with the premise of Ultraman, and you also end up with some 3D animations that are just amazing.

Anime shows often come down to how the voice acting is done, especially in watching a dub. Netflix didn’t really hold back on getting talent for this, which was great. You have Josh Hutcherson voicing the main character and Critical Role cast members Matt Mercer and Liam O’Brien voicing character as well. So you have solid voice acting, and there’s something fun about recognizing voices in an anime, especially when it isn’t just the main few voice actors that you get on many a Funimation dubbed show.

Overall, this is a very fun show. It doesn’t try to be too much and do too much. As Kristen said about it, there’s just something fun about it, and I think that is the best away to describe it. It’s definitely a show for teenagers and adults, but it doesn’t mean that it’s too heavy. And it doesn’t have sex in it really, there’s just alien blood and once in a while human blood and various gore that you see. Even that isn’t too bad compared to what it could have been. And it’s just nice to have that action show where the character is growing that doesn’t end up relying on violence of fan service. So don’t go into it expecting anything that profound or deep, but do expect a good time.

Have you watched Ultraman on Netflix? Did you like the show?

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