Episode 001 – Snyder Cut to the (HBO) Max

Welcome to the first episode of the Nerd Byword

Dave: Oh, no, not another nerd podcast. Today we’re talking Snyder cup news, nerd origin stories, and nerdy recommendations. The first episode ever of the Nerd fi word starts now.

Kris: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first ever episode of the Nerd by Word podcast. Thanks for joining us. Hope your day is going well.

Dave: Yeah. Welcome, first episode, really exciting stuff. So, my name is, Dave, and my name is Chris. And, our goal with this podcast is to be your guides to the nerd multiverse.

Kris: We really want to just do, a deep dive on any and every aspect of the nerd multiverse. Whatever you’re passionate about, whatever we’re passionate about, and just creating a welcoming community, to enjoy the things that we love so much.

Dave: So we’ll be talking about, comic books, we’ll be talking about movies. We’ll be talking about television shows, video games, anything and everything that somehow falls under nerd culture.

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. Today, specifically, we are going to break our show, our first episode, up into three segments. Segment one is going to be like, nerd news and our takes on them. Second, segment is going to be our own nerd origin stories, our amazing fantasy 15, if you will. what brought us into the nerd universe ourselves. And then our third and final segment is going to be just a quick shout out to recommendations. Nerdy, things that we’re enjoying and that we want to share out with you.

Dave: And there are so many things that go underappreciated these days. There’s so much nerd content out there. Oftentimes something just kind of flies under the radar. So those last recommendations are a great opportunity for us to kind of shine a spotlight on maybe some stuff that’s not as appreciated as it should be.

Ruby Rose, lead actress of Batwoman, will be recast

Kris: All right, Dave, you want to hit us off with your first, story?

Dave: yeah. So news Ruby, Rose, the lead actress, of the television show Batwoman, has announced that, she is leaving the show, and she will be recast. now, for those of you that don’t know, Batwoman is an american superhero television series developed by Caroline Dries. It’s based on the DC Comics character and shares continuity with the other Arrowverse CW shows. It just concluded its first season. and there seems to be, like, a really interesting situation there in that Ruby Rose wanted to leave, and the CW apparently was quite happy for her to leave. some industry insiders, spoke to Vulture magazine and told them that apparently she wasn’t happy with the working conditions, the long hours, and living in Vancouver and that sort of unhappiness reflected on her work as well. This is a really strange story. I can’t think off the top of my head of a recent television series that wasn’t an ensemble that recast a main character.

Kris: Yeah, I know. Next to nothing. and this is something that we should probably flesh out right here at the beginning of our show. I am mainly a Marvel person. You yourself, Dave, you’re. You’re. You read both from what you’ve told me, but you lean.

Dave: Yes, very strongly. Yeah.

Kris: so I. I have not watched this show as far as the arrowverse shows. I think I watched the first two seasons of Flash and the first three seasons of Arrow, but Batwoman, I have no exposure to. I know very little about the character herself. I do believe that she is LGBT.

Dave: Is that correct? Yes, that’s correct.

Kris: And so I remember, like, when she was first cast, it was met with, you know, great praise because of the authenticity of her casting and what she would bring to the character. and then just, you know, just what I’ve caught in the news, you know, as a completely casual bystander, it was really interesting. And just, like, a quick Google search, I saw that, like, she had injured herself, doing stunts, and then she had, like, complete video of the surgery, and she’s keeping the reason why she’s leaving secret. And then, like, the two quotes that I saw from her social media posts that really stood out to me were stayed silent for now. And those who know, know, and it doesn’t get much more cryptic to that.

Dave: Yeah, there’s definitely more to the story. I will say that the show has been kind of hit and miss, over the first season, but I have a very strong passion for this character. I remember when she was, this current version of Batwoman is actually fairly recent character. There has been a Batwoman for a very long time, but this version was introduced in 2006 in the DC comic book, 52. And Greg Rucker, who’s a phenomenal writer, kind of picked her up and ran with her, with art by JH Williams III. And it is in, my opinion, that run is probably one of the most dynamic looking as far as comic book art. The way the panels are laid out, very strange panel shapes, really interesting, panel to panel storytelling. and so I have a very strong, love for that run and that character. And I’m really hoping that this show can survive and maybe even thrive after this recasting. I would really hate to see it become, a failure because of this recast.

After years of online campaigns, Warner Bros. will release the Snyder Cut

So you, Kris, also have a new story that you’d like to talk about?

Kris: Yeah, well, and like I said, being, ah, a mostly marvel focused fan myself, this is a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I still consume, you know, as a casual fan DC content. But after two years of online protests and hashtags, the Snyder cut is going to happen. So, I read a really interesting Hollywood Reporter article, on this, and, the important thing that really stood out to me that I think really needs to be made clear to fans and, like, people who want to ascribe to, conspiracy theories, is the Snyder cut did not previously exist. Like, it wasn’t something that was being kept in a vault at Warner Brothers, you know? So it’s going to happen, you know, with the pandemic coronavirus and everything that’s going on, everything is kind of on hold. but from what I read on this article, it’s either going to manifest itself, it’s going to be on HBO Max in next year. 2021 is their goal, and it’s either going to show up as a four hour director’s cut or six episodes. so, I mean, my initial reaction, is again, that it didn’t previously exist. And, you know, it’s quite odd. you know, this film, justice League, it’s faced a lot of criticism, you know. but I remember, and I rewatched it, you know, when HBO Max dropped, just the other day, I rewatched it to see if I still felt the same way. I hadn’t watched it in the two years since, and my initial reaction still feels the same. I felt like, and we talked about this the other night. I felt like they were the bare bones, the skeleton of a good film there, you know? And, like, I felt like there was something there and I could. I could feel, the influence of Joss Whedon when he took over after, you know, the unfortunate suicide of Zack Snyder’s daughter. You could feel his influence. You know, if you watch the first Avengers film, you can see elements and correlations line up between the two films.

Dave: Yeah, it’s interesting. I actually, I didn’t rewatch it, but I did, I did kind of watch sort of a YouTube summary of it. Again, just to kind of refresh my memory on it. I did see it opening, weekend in theaters. And I totally agree with you. There was something there. For example, the chemistry between, Batman and Wonder, woman, is really good. it’s one of the few actually, that I would say had really good chemistry on the team. But there were a lot of problems with the movies and you can tell that it was being torn into two different directions. Snyder and Whedon are two very different filmmakers with very different aesthetics. And you can literally look scene by scene and kind of tell, who wrote what, version it came from, whether it was from the Snyder version or from the Whedon version. and frankly, looking back at the opening scene, I still have, nightmares about Superman’s retouched, mustache. That top lip is absolutely nightmare inducing.

Kris: I mean, you can make a horror film of Henry Cavill’s upper lip and that could be the title.

Dave: Yeah, the upper lip. I love it. It’s interesting, too, because, looking back at some of the stuff that they’ve said about it, apparently there was an unfinished production cut of Justice League that Snyder had put together about three and a half hours long, but severely unfinished, missing a whole bunch of special effect shots. And to actually put Zack Snyder’s vision of Justice League out is going to cost between 20 and $30 million in post production costs just to finish the special effects. That is a huge investment for something that they’re dumping on HBO, Max. And I’m quite surprised that they’re going to do that.

Kris: Yeah, I was as well. And, this is important point to make as well. from my understanding is they’re not going to be any reshoots. Now, there may be, like, voiceover work with the actors that will get involved, but you, obviously, you can’t, for 20 and $30 million, a substantial amount, as that is, you can’t reshoot, for that amount. you know, and the four things that I really came away with was, you know, my initial reaction for the film was positive. Despite of all of that. It really kind of bothers me, that, you know, some people who have been so hateful online and visceral and stuff for two years are now being, in a sense, rewarded.

Dave: Yeah.

Kris: For their behavior. So that’s problematic. In my envision, my heart breaks for Zack Snyder and everything that his family has had to go through.

Dave: Totally agree. Yes.

Kris: So, I mean, on a level, as, as a man, as a human being, as a father, my heart breaks for that. And then I just have to objectively say that regardless of all of that, his style of filmmaking is just not my personal taste. It is catered to a very specific audience and for that audience, it is very popular. I just cannot count myself for that, you know, member of the audience. You know, when I saw 300 as a, you know, 1920 year old, you know, I was like, hey, this is cool. Like, I was a history major, in college, and I was like, hey, it’s something history. It’s, you know, something. But now I look at it again, I rewatch. It doesn’t hold up for me. Like, okay, every single spartan was cut like this. You know, every, every spartan had six pack abs, that they regularly oiled, and, you know, they did crunches together before they went into battle. So I respect him, you know, to the utmost and everything he’s had to go through, but it’s just not for me. Now. I am excited that we’re getting some kind of new content, no matter what it is, and I look forward to reviewing it together when the time comes.

Dave: I’m not horribly hopeful about this being a movie that I’m actually going to enjoy. I think there’s been some problems in the, in the Snyder DC movies. Batman versus Superman was simply not a good movie, not structurally not storytelling wise. It didn’t really seem to understand its own characters, particularly Superman. I don’t think Snyder ever quite got a good grip on who Superman is. And so I’m very curious to see, how his vision would have sort of culminated, in this Justice League movie. But I’m not horribly hopeful that it is going to be the representation of the DC comic book that some fans are hoping for. I don’t, I don’t necessarily think that the Snyder cut is going to be somehow the redemption of this, this movie series right now.

Whedon’s Superman feels more like Superman than Snyder’s

Kris: And that was the, that was the one thing going back to Whedon’s version of the film. The thing that you commented to me that you appreciated about Whedon, that you felt like he understood Superman.

Dave: Oh, very much so. And not, he doesn’t even do that with all the characters. Like, I don’t even want to give the impression here that I think Whedon somehow saved the movie. He certainly didn’t. He added some strange idiosyncrasies to it. I. I don’t quite understand his need, for example, to try to turn the Flash into Peter Parker. the Flash is not Peter Parker, but everything that, had Superman featured. Every scene after, he comes back from the dead in the movie very much felt like Superman, and more like Superman that we know from the comic books than, anything that Snyder had done in man of Steel. So I think those parts not being there is gonna make the movie probably the Snyder cut fall flatter for Superman fans than the original theatrical cut.

Kris: Yeah.

The DCEU feels like it is rushing to catch up to the MCU

Kris: and then the one thing that seems to be permeating with DC films for me is it feels like they’re chasing after and I’m trying not to be, I’m not being biased as a Marvel fan. I feel like they’re playing catch up too quickly. Like, I feel like the reason that the MCU is so successful is because they were methodical and they took their time setting up these characters and then their team up and then this, you know, and then with the tease the other day that Zack Snyder put onto twitter, he put a picture of Darkseid and said he’s coming 2021. Someone online, I can’t remember the user, compared it to, like, what if they fought Thanos in the first Avengers film? Like, you’re just jumping straight to the climax, and giving out all of your ammunition right there. Like, at the jump. Like, it seems so rushed.

Dave: And really, even if you go back and watch Justice League and then pick up with, for example, a character like Aquaman, his standalone movie is fantastic. And all the scenes featuring Aquaman in Justice League feel off from what his standalone movie established. So if they would have taken their time and done some of these standalone movies first to introduce the characters, then I think they would have had a lot more room to breathe in an actual Justice League movie. It felt like that movie was doing a lot of heavy lifting, you know, trying to properly introduce Aquaman, trying to introduce the Flash, trying to introduce cyborg. there was a lot of heavy lifting, storytelling wise left in that movie and it felt rushed because of it.

Kris: Now, I will say, and this may be a unpopular or popular opinion, I don’t know. I never see him get much attention either way. But Ray Fisher as Cyborg is one of the strengths of Justice League, in my opinion.

Dave: Absolutely. And I read that there’s a lot of scenes that ended up on the cutting room that I’m actually very interested in seeing in the Snyder cut because Cyborg is actually a really good character, and very much underused except for the excellent teen titans cartoon from a few years ago. So I’m really hoping that he will get a chance to shine. There’s so much stuff that’s rumored to be on the cutting room floor, including scenes with Iris west for, the Flash, which would have. Yeah, would have fleshed out his character more. yeah. There are things that I’m hoping to see in Snyder’s cut. but again, in the end, once you start putting it all together, I just. I have a problem getting my hopes up that this is going to be what comic book fans are hoping for.

One thing that needs to be improved is the level of CGI in DC films

Kris: The one thing that I hope gets improved, but I’m not hopeful for is the level of CGI in these films. And it permeates throughout all of them for me. Like, for the example you’re referencing when Superman comes back to life and he’s standing out there on the farm, I honestly cannot tell if that’s a green screen or not. With the cornfield, like, the background. And I remember the reason that I stopped watching Aquaman. I haven’t even finished it at first because, like, the lighthouse scene was so badly CGI’d, in the first 20 minutes of the film. And it just really takes me out of the film where I’ve been duped by CGI, poor CGI so much, where I can’t even tell what’s practical effects of what’s CGI anymore. So I hope if they’re taking their time on this, and again, I’m not hopeful for it, maybe they can resolve some of those issues.

Dave: You know, hope springs eternal. But I’m going to be honest with you, the CGI in the DC movies has been very bad. And it’s really strange because I just revisited a different movie. Movie. I just revisited avatar James, Cameron’s movie, Avatar. Ten years old. The CGI looks like it’s from yesterday. It’s incredible. And even though the storytelling is very poor and it’s very clearly a ripoff of Fern Gully and Pocahontas and dances with wolves, essentially. what we ended up with is a movie that visually at least, holds up tremendously well, even though. Though it has a lot of CGI. And then you take a movie like Justice League, which just released a couple of years ago, and the CGI is so poor, it feels like a third rate PlayStation two game in some scenes. It’s so regrettable. I mean, these are world’s greatest heroes. The Justice League, one of the most recognizable superhero teams, and they cannot invest the proper money to make the special effects look easy, even halfway decent.

Kris: Well, and I think that, reinforces, you know, our previous point about taking your time and doing quality work. Avatar took how long to make? It was at least a decade. He waited ten years because the technology didn’t exist at the time, memory serves. And the sequels are taking equally as long, if not longer, you know, and so taking your time and look at the finished product that you’re. That you’re given and, you know, and to further prove your point. Like, that’s why I keep coming back to these films, because Batman, especially for me, is such a seminal character in my personal history that I’m just hopeful that somebody’s gonna get it right. So I’m optimistic to the Matt Reeves film that’s coming up. the things that I’ve seen from that, I’m excited about the casting. I’m completely invested in the casting choices that I’ve seen so far. So, like you said, hope rings eternal, and hopefully somebody gets it right one of these days.

Christopher Reeves’ Superman is still the gold standard

Dave: All right, well, I think that, that does it for our new segment. Let’s go ahead and take a quick break, and when we come back, we’ll get into our nerd origin stories.

Kris: Now, Dave, you referenced previously your fandom is Superman. And with our nerd origin stories here, we limited ourselves to three items, which can be tough. but Christopher Reeves Superman is first on your list. Why don’t you tell us about that?

Dave: Yeah. So, for those of you that are maybe a little younger and are not familiar, the movie, was released in 1978, was, directed by Richard Donner. It, was actually an international co production between several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland and Panama. It was a huge hit, made $300 million, and was the second, highest grossing release of the year. It, features music, from John Williams, the composer on Star wars, among other things, and was praised, in particular for Christopher Reeves performance as Clark Kent and Superman. It actually was nominated for three Academy Awards and received a special Achievement Academy Award for visual effects. The tagline of the movie was, you’ll believe a man can fly. And the special effects for 1978 were quite incredible. but that is not really what made the movie so special to me. When I first saw the Chris Reeve Superman movie, it was on tv. I, was maybe, oh, five years old. And it was really my first major exposure to a superhero. And I became completely obsessed. Obsessed with Chris Reeves Superman. I remember I had a pair of plastic sunglasses that I took the lenses out of, and I would start wearing them around as if they were glasses because I was in Clark Kent mode. it was such a special movie. From the music, to the performances going back to it today, I understand there are things that don’t hold up very well about it, particularly, the movie’s take on Lex Luthor, played by Gene Hackman, which, rather than being a, threatening character, he sort of played up as a more comedic figure. he’s sort of villain and comic relief at the same time. And I get that that doesn’t hold up very well.

Kris: It’s an improvement over Jesse.

Dave: Oh, well, certainly anytime you get Gene Hackman, it’s an improvement over Jesse Eisenberg. But, anytime that Chris Reeves is on the screen, he is the definite superman of that era. It feels like he stepped out of those comic books. And when you go back to the late seventies and early eighties and you read those comic books, that is the superman you see in the comic books. There was an understanding of the essence of the character in that movie that, just doesn’t seem to exist in today’s cinematic outings of Superman. And so positive and uplifting and, yes, dramatic, because so many writers today seem to think that the only way to make Superman interesting is to make him angsty or darker. He can’t be hopeful. but there is, especially in this day and age, I think there is a space in pop culture for a positive, hopeful figure, free of darkness. And, that’s what the original Superman movie represented for me, and it sucked me right in. It’s very difficult for me, to not take at least one time out of the year to rewatch Superman, the movie.

Kris: Yeah, I feel like, and I’ve seen it once or twice myself, and I feel like it’s the gold standard. It’s what every superhero film that has come since is measured against. And I feel like it’s almost unreproachable in a way, because it started all of this.

Kris: and for me, the thing that stands out the most is Christopher Reeves himself as superman, as you previously stated, even who he was as an individual outside of the film. I recently saw, like, a video of him. I believe it was on Johnny Carson or one of those talk shows where they asked him what it was like to work with Marlon Brando. And he just, like, where so many other actors would be like, oh, it was such an honor to work with Marlon Brando. He spoke his truth, and it was like, you know, he didn’t really seem like he cared. He mailed it in. And this is Marlon Brando, one of the premier, you know, figures of Hollywood at that time and for so many years previous. And he was just like, you know what? I’m gonna speak the truth. And that’s such a superman Clark Kent type thing for me, that. And I think that’s why it’s so resonant for so many. Yeah.

Dave: I mean, I will never forget a scene when he looks at lois and says, I will never lie. Yeah. Such an uplifting character.

Another nerd influence was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Now, your first nerd, or origin influence, is actually a little more animal based from my understanding.

Kris: Yeah. My first real induction into the nerd universe would have to be the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Both the 87 cartoon and then the first two films as well. the first animated series made in 1987, ran through the nineties into syndication. I distinctly remember one of my first, you know, those first memories of, like, as a toddler is like getting ready for preschool and I can still close my eyes and see the end credits screen where they’re standing in dimension x with April O’Neill. And like, those rolling credits as I’m on my way out the door to preschool, in some ways it’s quite symbolic that, the ninja turtles are like the mutagen that transformed me into a nerd of those forms of years. So, and then you go to the first two films and, like, I still remember Raphael’s, my favorite turtle. Mikey’s very close. but those first, that first film where Raphael is just like, ah, rebel without a cause. And, you know, he’s got his trench coat and his hat and he says bad words. And like, I was like, ah, whoa, what’s that? And then like, Michelangelo particular for me, passing along the most sage wisdom, that I’ve ever heard in a film. Wise men say, forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for lady.

Dave: That’s words to live by right there.

Kris: So, yeah, that was, you know, it’s just really seminal for me. just the first thing I can really remember, you know, of being something that would be classified as a nerd.

Dave: And that show, I had quite, ah, a bit of exposure to as a child myself. And I can understand why it was such a big influence on you. it had an influence on me too. I watched, a lot of the series in syndication. I saw the first two movies and theaters. My parents were nice enough to take me, and, it was just, the turtles are fantastic. It’s incredible to think about how long that original cartoon, lasted. I mean, it ran for about ten seasons, until the mid to late nineties, I want to even say. Yeah, it ran till 1996. so huge influence and really the start of Turtlemania for a lot of people. It’s funny that you bring up tmnt because in my opinion, the property, is actually kind of in a resurgence right now. Not because of the Michael Bay movies, though, which I did not actually enjoy all that much. But, IDW is putting out a fantastic comic book that actually has, input from Kevin Eastman. And, I’ve read maybe the first 30 issues or so of that run. It just recently hit 100 issues, and it is fantastic and probably one of the best synthesis of all the various interpretations of the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. so I’m a very big fan of the current IDW series. and it’s nice that I still have an opportunity to have the turtles in my life that way. Highly recommended.

Kris: Yeah, I’ll definitely have to check that out. I just got ComiXology unlimited. I think the first two months are free, and then it’s only $5.99 a month, so that’s an incredible deal. so I’ll definitely have to check into that.

Batman: The Animated Series impacted both hosts

Kris: now, the next thing on your list, Dave, is something that’s very close to my heart and probably would have popped up if we would expanded this to four or five influences. Tell us about your next story.

Dave: So, the next big influence on me was the animated series, which was a, gateway into, so many things for me. it really transcended the series itself. so for those that don’t know a whole lot about it, Batman the animated series ran from 1992 to 1995. It was developed by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Mitch Bryan. and basically, invented a whole different art style specifically for this cartoon, something they called Dark Deco. it kind of became the first series, that laid the foundation for interconnected series of series Batman, beyond being included. Superman, the animated series Justice League and Justice League unlimited, that all shared a continuity.

Batman: The Animated Series was truly remarkable for its time

But what made Batman the animated series? So, remember, remarkable when I first encountered it, is that as a cartoon, which you would think was aimed at children, it didn’t shy away from actually telling serious stories with, heft and with emotional weight. I didn’t feel talked down to as a child watching this animated series. So one day I walk into a grocery store and I. I was living in Germany at the time, and there was a german publisher that picked up the rights to publish the tie in comic book in Germany. Now, comic books were not a very big thing in Germany at the time. You really couldn’t find all that many of them. There were only a couple publishers that occasionally put out, like some Spider man or Superman or something. So naturally, I picked up this tie in comic to Batman the animated series. And, it was right at the beginning of, what would become sort of a comic book boom in Germany. So I went from watching the animated series religiously to picking up the animated tie in comic book to sliding right into this boom period for the comic book industry in Germany. And I started reading Spider man and Superman and Batman and from their sort of spawn, and it really expanded and exploded. And I had all this access to comic books that I would have not had before if it hadn’t been for the success of the animated series. Besides the quality of the product, I owe a lot of my nerddom, to this animated series.

Kris: Yeah. And as I previously stated, this was a huge influence for me as well. the things that really stick out to me when I think back and, you know, let myself loose to the nostalgia of it, that theme song, how iconic it was, and, just the, animation of his eyes narrowing, and you were like, oh, God, now you know it’s coming.

Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker remains the gold standard

and then it gave us two of the most, and we throw this word around a lot, but I truly mean it here. Two of the most iconic voice actors, our generation, and Kevin Conroy as Batman, Bruce Wayne and Luke Skywalker himself. Mark Hamill as the Joker. Who would have thought that the poster boy for heroism is also probably the most recognizable villain in nerdom as well.

Dave: And he is so fantastic in that role. There, have been a lot of really good interpretations of the Joker character and a lot of bad ones as well. but to me, Hamill’s interpretation is still the gold standard, followed closely, I would say, by Heath Ledger, who did something incredibly interesting with the character. But Hamill managed to capture what was the Joker in the comic book, at the time, I think, and it’s just spot on. Also, introduced the it character of the last few years, Harley Quinn, who had her first appearance in the animated series and only later was transplanted, to the comic books. So just a hugely influential series and such quality stuff. I recently picked up the complete series on Blu ray, and I’m sort of in the middle. I’m sort of in the middle of a rewatch. And I have to say the Blu ray set is a thing of beauty. They really took their time and made sure that those episodes look the best they ever have. They, went back through and remastered everything, and it’s a fantastic looking set.

X-Men: The Animated Series created tons of new X-Men fans

All right, Chris, so what is, your second thing on your list for your nerd, origin story?

Kris: Next thing on my list would have to be the animated series from the nineties, from that theme song that will immediately get you out of your chair and pretending that you have adamantium laced claws in each hand. To, you know, just the character work and, just how the story and the theme and the symbolism. For those of you that may not be aware, the X Men created by, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, originally in the sixties, were a direct, you know, symbol for Doctor Martin Luther King Junior and Malcolm X and the fight for civil rights, and their proxies being Professor X as Doctor King, and Magneto’s as being Malcolm X. And, like, those two different ideologies centered around the same wish and for, you know, equality and, being able to coexist. And, just the different approaches that they each had for it. and just the idea of a mutant and an outsider and being weird just resonated with me as being an odd kid and never really fit in. I never was necessarily bullied or anything, but I never really fit in. I never really had a tight core or group of friends because I was just weird. so that really stood out for me. And then two characters from that show that really spoke to me is every. Every guy in the nineties, every little boy in the nineties wanted to be gambit. Like, it’s like he was iconic, you know, as a male, just cool, smooth. Everybody wanted to speak. I started learning French because of gambit and the little ditties of mulcher and, petit and stuff like that. So I was like, oh, man, cajun food is now my favorite cuisine because of gambit. So I’ll cook gumbo or I’ll cook, you know, jambalaya because of gambit. And then my personal favorite mutant is Kurt Wagner. Nightcrawler. Fellow journalists, yes, for you. And, just the beautiful like. And shouts to Chris Claremont, for really, the development of that character. He took him over from Len Wein and Dave Cockrum in giant size X Men number one. But the work that he did in the comics, you know, developing that character and it showed up in the animated series is my first inclusion or introduction into the character of someone who is so devoutly religious and hopeful, and yet it looks the way he does. He looks like a blue demon, and despite all of his faith and hope in humanity, is still treated the way he does, which is so powerful to me.

Dave: Yeah, it was a fantastic series. Now, I will freely admit I didn’t watch this nearly as much as some other animated series at the time I was exposed to it. I loved the theme song. Unlike a lot of cartoons at the time. There was some very dense storytelling going on here. they took a lot of cues off of the comic book. And in particular, even the character designs were, basically, the Jim Lee character designs that were used in the comic books at the time, which are, super iconic, in my opinion, and probably, even a step above a lot of the character designs that followed. But it was very difficult to keep up with. Sometimes if you missed a couple episodes, you felt like you were lost a little bit in the story. It was very serialized. And I remember from my childhood that when cartoons came from the United States, they were always dubbed into German and I don’t know what they were doing, but sometimes the episodes ended up airing out of order. I remember watching Disney’s gargoyles and in the middle of a season, suddenly they basically skipped like eight episodes and you were completely lost in the story. That was another highly serialized story at the time. And so it was difficult to keep up, with X men, the animated series. But it’s undeniably an iconic series. Undeniably. the music is incredible, and the characters are just spot on with, with wonderful character designs. It’s something that I think I really need to go back and revisit.

Kris: Yeah. All that is streaming on Disney and I’ve enjoyed watching, watching those episodes again and just bathing in the nostalgia. Yeah. But to your point, Cyclops’s voice is so memorable to me. Previously on be like, wait a minute, I didn’t see any.

Dave: Yes, yes. It’s pretty, upsetting when you miss episodes or they air them out of order. Something that should never be done to any series, period.

The Nintendo Game Boy jump-started love for video games

Kris: Dave, next on your list is our first foray into the video game world.

Dave: Yeah. So I’m sitting here at my desk and I got my game Boy sitting next to me, which, I’m gonna actually be spending some time trying to restore here soon. I’m gonna take it apart, clean it, swap out some parts that I’ve broken and see if I can get it in perfect working order again. I was an unusual child in that, my first video game console, besides, you know, having an old Atari that my dad used to own was actually the Nintendo Game Boy. My parents asked me what I wanted for, my birthday and I was given a choice between a Nintendo entertainment system and a Game Boy. And I was a pretty shrewd child. I knew that anything hooked up to the tv meant I was going to be limited in how long I can use it. My parents were very aware of screen time, so I said, no, I don’t want the Nintendo entertainment system. I want a Game Boy. And so the Nintendo game Boy that I received, I got with Super Mario Land, released in 1989, actually not developed by Shigeru Miyamoto, like the main line Mario games, but, by the actual makers of the game Boy itself. It’s a very unusual game. It features, some very, odd stages, fantastic music, and really some stuff that is very, different from other Mario games today. it gets kind of, a bad reputation as being, you know, a launch title for the Game Boy. So they hadn’t really figured out how to use the game Boy effectively yet. and there’s some talk of it being too short and too easy. But to me, this was my introduction to Nintendo. This was my introduction to the world of gaming, and it made me a lifelong Nintendo fan. I ended up getting a Nintendo entertainment system a couple years later. and I followed along with Nintendo through thick and thin, whether they were putting out incredibly successful machines like the SNES or, less successful machines like the Wii U. I’ve kind of followed along with each of those consoles because I’m just a huge fan. And it really started with that little chip tune music from Super Mario land that sucked me in.

Kris: Yeah, well, you referenced the first video game system that I ever had, and that was the Super Nintendo. and the first game that was my introduction to video gaming was Super Mario World. So I can still, you know, remember those first couple of levels, and the trauma that it induced. My mother loves to remind me. Remember you when you were four years old and you used to cry because you couldn’t make Mario jump. And I was like, yes, thank you for triggering that traumatic experience for me. But, yeah, super Mario world was my first one. and that first level where, you walk in and it divots down and those bombs are coming right at you as a four year old kid, that’s pretty traumatic.

Dave: Absolutely.

Kris: Be introduced to.

Dave: Yeah, it’s interesting because a lot of the stuff that we look back on today and is sort of derided as being, well, it’s so easy. first of all, a lot of retro gaming was incredibly difficult, and I would challenge any modern gamer to go back and play some of those games. But two, a lot of those early games were directly aimed at children. And so they were a lot more challenging than people, I think, given credit for, for that particular age group. people now say you can beat Super Mario land in, you know, an hour or so. it took me a little longer than that. It took a little while for me to wrap my head around this. This was a whole new world, a whole new different type of video game. You know, even just having a video game that was on, you know, more than one screen was kind of completely revolutionary. Being able to beat a game was revolutionary. If, you look at early arcade stuff like Pac man or the like, they just keep going until you run out of lives. So, yeah, I still get out Super Mario land quite frequently and play it again. And, yes, today I beat it very quickly. But there’s a lot of nostalgia and fond memories I have of that game, and I still enjoy playing it.

Another formative series was Spider-Man: The Animated Series

All right, Kris, you have, your third and final thing, that is part of your nerd origin story. What do we got?

Kris: It’s gonna follow up on my previous one. It’s the nineties, animated series of smart.

Dave: Oh, my gosh. Aerosmith, guitarist on the theme song. Oh, man, Marvel had some rocking theme songs back then.

Kris: They really did. Like, they made it a focus. Yeah. and then that was just my introduction into the character. And then, you know, 2002, you have, you know, the first raimi film coming out, and that just really triggered a lot of fond memories of the character and just identifying with Peter Parker himself. You know, some people were like, oh, where do you get your code of morality? Do you get it from the Bible? Do you get it from the quran? Do you get it from comic books? I get my sense of morality, right and wrong from Peter Benjamin Parker. you know, the iconic quote that Stan Lee scribed over 50 years ago, that still rings true with great power, there must also come great responsibility. Every nerd has it memorized. Some nerds, I have friends who have it tattooed on their bodies, you know, because it is so iconic and it is so important. The first episode, the night of the Lizard, you know, like, what is this? Like, it’s, your professor has turned into a lizard. If someone can please get Kurt Connors a nice prosthetic limb, it would save the city of New York a lot of times.

Dave: Yeah, that guy needs to simmer down a little bit. Yeah. So that series ran quite a while, too, about four years, from 94 to 98. And I have incredibly fond memories of it as well. My cousin and I spend a lot of Saturday mornings watching, the animated series. I had already, begun to read some Spider man comic books at that time, thanks to, the animated series influence on me. and I think there were a couple things that were surprising to me about the cartoon at the time. Number one were the redesigns of the characters. the designs were quite different from what was in the comic book at the time, particularly Peter Parker. He looked like a completely different guy, which was initially, quite confusing. The other thing is that there was almost no punching, which I think was like a mandate from Disney or something. So there was actually, when you watched go back and watch the action scenes today, they’re like, spider, man, will you. Will you hit somebody? Because 90% of the time, you just kind of, you know, dodging attacks.

Kris: But, like, dodging and dodging.

Dave: Fight back, man. Fight back. But, yeah, it was incredible. Very well animated. Again, hugely serialized storytelling. Just like X Men, the animated series two, and directly based on what was going on in the comic books at the time, which, it was really neat to see some of those stories adapted, into animated, form.

Kris: Yeah, I’ve done a lot of backtracking in my Spider man fandom. Like, I’m a bit of an oddball in the nerd. I didn’t really have access, ah, or knowledge of comic books as a kid. I had muggle parents who didn’t know anything. They were just like, here, sure you like this thing? So I really didn’t even start reading comic books until my twenties. Got, that marvel unlimited subscription and just dove in. I read all 800 plus issues of Amazing Spider man and, you know, all 200, however many issues of spectacular right away. And, and then ultimate, which is the gold standard for me, ultimate Spider man by Bendis and Bagley is, you know, the nearest and dearest to my heart. But, you know, so now I look back at the animated series, and you look at that character design of Peter Parker, like you said, I’m like, who’s this muscly buffoon that is not Peter Parker? And then, you know, they start off with Felicia Hardy, who, this may be a hot take for me, is number two on the Peter Parker girl rankings for me. Sorry, Gwen Stacy. But then, like, you know, you hear all this shatter about Gwen Stacy, like, who is this? Like, you know, like, who is this gal? Because she was never introduced to me. My first, you know, experience with Spider man.

Dave: Yeah. it’s interesting, you’re saying ultimate Spider man is sort of your gold standard. I totally agree with that. I had actually fallen out of reading comic books for a little while and by chance ran into issue twelve or 13 of Ultimate Spider man and kind of looked it up and read a little bit what it was about and that they were trying to do sort of a modern take on Spider Man’s origin story. Went back and got all the early issues and I got the whole run in, one of my long boxes. it is absolutely an incredible series and still one of my favorite interpretations, favorites of the Peter Parker character. Just. Just a great, great run of stories.

Kris: I remember seeing on Twitter. And I totally agree with this. Somebody said, hey, I’m just starting ultimate Spider man. You know, what issues do I need to read? and somebody said, never stop reading them. Never stop.

Dave: Yeah, all of them.

Kris: Because it’s very rare that you find something like that. And, you know, all due respect to Brian Michael Bendis, some of his other work just doesn’t hit for me. But every single issue of that, I read the entire run in one holiday, break, like in a two week period, because it was. I could not put.

Dave: Yeah, it is. It is one of the most spot on interpretations of the Peter Parker character. And I think there’s a lot of bendis, ultimate spider man in the MCU now with Tom Holland. That character feels a lot like ultimate Peter in a lot of ways. All right, well, those were our nerd origin stories. Let’s go ahead and take a quick break, and we’ll be right back with our final segment where we’ll give you some quick nerd recommendations.

Nerd Commendation: The Witcher audio books

Kris: All right, we’re back now with our final segment, the recommendations that we have for you, our audience. Dave, why don’t you hit us off with your record?

Dave: So I want to talk for a moment about the witcher, but I’m gonna, as always, take the road. Oh, I have many, many a coin to toss. I’m gonna take the road less traveled when it comes to the witcher. Most people are familiar with the Netflix series, and they seem to have the sense that it’s based on the project CD Red video, games. But there’s actually a series of short stories and novels written by. By a polish, ah, fantasy writer, Andrzej Sapkowski. I’m sure I butchered that name. Absolutely. and I have, after watching the Netflix series and thoroughly enjoying it, decided to go back and get into the books. But since I’m a pretty busy guy, sitting down and actually reading is not always easy, I decided to go for the audiobook versions, which are narrated by Peter Kenny. And I have to say that the audiobook versions of the Witcher have sucked me in to the story even more, than the video games or the Netflix series. Kenny has a fantastic range of uk accents. He got this northerner thing going on for some characters. Ah, Welsh, Scottish. His geralt of Rivia voice is absolutely incredible. I, would say even superior, actually, to the voice acting in the video game. and so my recommendation this time is the Witcher audiobooks. I don’t think you can go wrong with those. They’re fantastically written and fantastically performed. They come together in such a wonderful package. I’m about three books into the series right now, and I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon, in large part because of Peter Kenny’s narration. It’s absolutely fantastic.

Kris: And I would totally second that on our shared document. When I saw you recommend this, I, texted you immediately in all caps and like, oh, my God, I’m listening to it as well. I spent most of my quarantine time reading. I’m working on a complete x men read through right now. so I’m quite consumed. And I’m also, neck deep in Red Dead redemption online. So, the way that he narrates the scene, I’m at the part in the first book right now where he comes across this wagon and you feel completely submerged and it freaks you out where you’re looking at your back, like, okay, is there something behind me right now? did the room just darken? Because he’s so good at setting the scene with the inflections in his voice and the voices that he does, as you said. and as much as I love the Netflix series, and it’s one of the reasons that my fingers are crossed and hopeful towards the future of the DC film universe, because Henry Cavill is so fantastic as Geralt of Rivia, and if he’s just given the quality of content, I feel like there’s going to be a home run there. but as you said, I totally agree that this is even far superior to that.

Dave: Yeah, yeah, I’ve enjoyed them a great deal and I can’t recommend them enough.

Nerd Commendation: House of X and Powers of X

So, Kris, how about you? What is your recommendation for this week?

Kris: I toyed with this for a long time. but my recommendation is the house of X and Powers of ten multi, book series. They’re technically two comic books, but they are intertwined. So the reading order would be House of X one, Powers of X number one, House of X two, so on and so forth, written by Jonathan Hickman, with Pepe Laraz as the artist on, the House of X series. I can’t recall the name of the artist on Powers of ten, but what it really does is it completely reframes and hits the reset button on the X Men. If we’re being honest. And my supposition, and those are many X Men fans, is that during that film rights dispute between Fox and Marvel, it was no secret with the Fantastic Four. They were done making Fantastic Four comics for a while. and I feel like they started to do the same thing with the X Men. Like, the quality of content was a severe dip. They tried to kill them off with the Terrigen mists of the Inhumans, with, Inhumans versus X Men. and now, coincidentally, now that Fox has been sold to Disney, are you familiar with Jonathan Hickman?

Dave: Yeah, I am familiar with Hickman’s work a bit. I know he did some fantastic forework. He also wrote, avengers for a little while. I generally find him to be quite a capable writer, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of his stuff a great deal. would you say that something like House of X, powers of X, would be, good for somebody like me, who always has found x, men continuity almost too convoluted to read in comic book form? Is this a good jumping on point for people, you think it is?

Kris: And in this regard, because I’m exactly in that same scenario where I was very passionate about X Men, and at that point in, as I previously stated, I’m doing a complete X Men read through. I started with giant size X Men number one from 75, and then I went through the whole Claremont run, and I was still in the Claremont era. So 30 plus years of comics of X Men history, I knew nothing about, other than, like, periphery. Like, you know, I heard about what happened in House of M. I heard about the Genosha stuff and from friends and stuff. but, other than that, I was completely unaware of that. But I started with House of X number one and read through the entire series, and it completely, like I said, just hits the reset button, and you can kind of. There are references to previous history, but you don’t lose it. It’s not like one of those things with Marvel where you be, like, to see what this is read, you know, x factor 75, or none of it will make sense. There’s none of that, really, in my opinion. And it’s really prescient right now with. With everything going on in the world. As we previously stated, the X Men and mutants, by and large, have always been a symbol for minorities or people who have felt oppressed. And, the overarching message that I received from this is mutants saying, we’re done asking for equality. they have formed their own island nation of Krakoa. We have our sovereignty. We’re no longer trying to coexist. You don’t want to give us equality. Here we are, and here we stand as mutants. So it’s just really. And then in the complete Hickman style of world building. And if you haven’t done the Hickman marvel run, I highly recommend it. As you said, fantastic four, in his avengers runs, there’s so many beautiful payoffs, like, minute details that, you might dismiss have a great payoff. and. And I love it as the cerebral writer and the world builder that he is. I feel like. And then there are. There are pages in this series and books since, that it feels like a homework assignment. Like, okay, I really need to pay attention because he does so detail oriented. as a fan of classic literature, myself, particularly Alexandre Dumas the way he builds a world and the character work, it’s just so phenomenal. So I highly, recommend this.

Dave: Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to try to pick that up again. I’m more of a DC guy, but a large part of that is because I’m really, deep down a comic books guy more than other, media, cartoons, and the like. And it has become, especially in the last decade or so, very difficult, to find a through line in Marvel comics where you can actually read stories without getting sucked into some crossover, where you have to go really into obscure, strange mini series that ran parallel just to get the whole story. It’s become so convoluted that going to the back issue boxes and trying to put something together and reading it in order is borderline impossible. So if this is a good jumping on point, then I might definitely have to check that out.

Kris: And I will say that the entire series is on Marvel Unlimited now, which is a great subscription service that I would recommend, in addition to that, for $9.99 a month. But I want to say that they have some kind of deal for, like, a jumping on point where, especially during the pandemic, it seems like a lot of companies are like, hey, you know, we usually give you a week free. Here’s a month free, that a lot of places are doing right now.

Dave: All right, fantastic. Well, I’m definitely going to have to check that out. So I think that is it for our very first episode.

Call to Action

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for joining us. if you have any recommendations, things that you want to hear in future episodes, please follow us. Nerd Byword. Ah, on Twitter. we also have IRD byword on Instagram. I am not very well versed in Instagram. But we have a page and we’re going to try it. and then our website is easy enough to find. www.nerdbyword.com. We look forward to conversing with you, our audience, in the days and weeks to come. Dave: thank you so much for joining us, and we’ll see you again next week. The nerd by word is produced by two nerds, Chris and Dave, to encompass all aspects of the nerd multiverse. The theme music was written by Al Jimenez. Our show art features original art by Ashri Design, as well as public domain comic panels. Find us online at nerdbyword.com on Twitter at nerdbyword and send questions and comments to nerdbyword at gmail.com.