What If…? Doctor Strange Lost His Heart

Hey, this is Josh Keaton, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. I am the Watcher.

I am your guide through these vast new realities.

Follow me, and ponder the question... What if?

Hello and welcome to an all -new generation of

ToonCast. This is our 237th episode. I am, of

course, one of your hosts, TFG1 Mike. Joining

me is BAM crew member Allison Richards. Hello.

Hello. How are you tonight? I am... We'll see

how the night goes. Allison, for those who don't

know who, why you wouldn't at this point, you

should have been listening to our other three

episodes we've done, is from the Fortress of

Bailey 2's Superman and Lois tapes. And this

is ToonCast, and this is our GeekCast Radio Network's

Superhero Saturdays. We're actually recording

this as Allison is at DragonCon, and at some

point, as you are talking, I will try to put

a dragon roar under your voice. Okay. So, yes,

as you are listening to this episode... What

day would that be? Saturday the... God, I can't

even keep my date. Oh, wow, I should remember

that date. Saturday, September 4th, 2021, Allison,

Bethany, and Michael should be at DragonCon in

the midst of all their 6 .30 a .m. panels, apparently.

They're the ones who signed up for 6 .30 a .m.

panels. I don't do smart a panel until 10. I

like my sleep. Yes, absolutely. And this episode

will have a link in the show notes to go listen

to Bethany, Allison, and Michael's The Bam Crew

episode of Superman and the Lois Tapes doing

their pre -DragonCon talk. Technically, I probably

should release this before DragonCon, considering

you guys talk about your schedules and whatever.

But either way, I'm sure they'll be posting on

social media where you can find them and things

like that. So, yes, we are here. We are continuing

our journey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe's

What If? We have watched how one moment, one

choice, can ripple across space and time, giving

birth to new stories, heroes, whole universes.

But what if it's the wrong choice? What if the

best of intentions has very strange consequences?

Because over the next five weeks, we will be

giving you spoiler -filled discussions. You have

been warned. Spoilers. On Marvel Studios' new

animated series, What If? So, Allison, let me

ask you this. What if you could make a choice

to bring back a past loved one? Well, for me,

it's... It's kind of hard because... Like how

we saw with, you know, with Stephen Strange.

You know... Christine's death was an absolute

point. For me, the people who I love, who I would

want to bring back, they all died from a disease

that metastasized within them. It's kind of one

of those... I could go back in time and save

them, but I really can't anyway. Because, you

know, there's, you know, my mom died of ALS and

there's no cure for that. And, you know, my dad

died of lymphoma, which, you know, was also in

the time of COVID. And, you know, he's still

going to have the markers in there who knew how

long it was developing. There's really nothing

I can do there. But if it wasn't just a loved

one, but it was somebody who I cared about and

could make a difference to change, I would. And

the first person on my list would be Heath Ledger,

honestly. If I could just go back and give him...

You know, help him find the support that he needed

and try to, you know, try to help squash the

demons in his head and show him how much he is

valued and worth. I would have loved to be able

to give that to him just so that way he would

be able to continue, you know, living life and

enjoying it, whether he continued acting or not.

Right. Absolutely. And is it wrong of me to want,

and I'm not going to do this in the editing,

but is it wrong of me to want to throw in right

here? Why so serious? Yeah, I know. Right. Oh

man. Yeah. No, that, that would be, yeah, that.

Yeah. Yeah. The demons we all face. It just seems

like, you know, like, like with me, if I had

a chance to make that choice, I probably, like

you said, wouldn't because the way my mom died

six years ago, it just got progressively worse

over a really short period of time. It wasn't

a long, drawn -out thing. It was this failed,

this failed, and this failed. And at the point

of the third failure, I think it was kidneys

that failed last. I forget off the top of my

head. I try not to think about it. Like she was,

she was not, they told me she was not going to

wake up again. And if she did, her quality of

life would be so poor that I'm like, okay, well

just, I, I, I authorize you to blah, blah, blah,

you know? And honestly, if I was faced with this

choice, whether it was a family member, a friend,

of this, of that, or whatever, seeing the extreme

that, and we'll get into this here in a minute,

but seeing the extreme that Steven went to, I

don't think I would make the choice to do so

because that would inherently change. I'd like

to think that throughout my 41 years on this

planet, the things that have happened to me,

number one, have happened for a reason. Number

two, Because I was a resilient kid, even though

as an adult I've broken down several times over

the past 20 years, etc., etc., at the core of

who I am, I am still who I am, that when I was,

say, a 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 year old, like, nothing

about me has majorly changed, no matter, like,

have I had dark times? Yes, we all have dark

times, but, like, I didn't. Here's another line

from that movie. I didn't live so long at this

point to see myself become the villain. I don't

know. Yeah. This episode, like, the other three

are interesting. They're great. They're awesome.

And I stand by what we said in the other three

podcasts. This episode took me for a loop. Yeah.

Because I was like, holy crap. Yeah, well, as

you said, you know, we all fight our inner demons,

and Stephen Strange apparently absorbed his.

Yeah. And I don't know if it was just an animation

model or if it's supposed to be the same one.

Did he open the dimension that Peggy went to

with the tentacle monster? Well, I don't think

he's in this. I don't think he is in the same

reality. Right. Yeah. So it would be that dimension

in that, in his reality. Yeah. Cause, and I'm

sure this was, and I, and I hate always bringing

this up because it is a fact of animation. It's

a budgetary thing. Oh, we use this in episode

one. We can use it here too. And we can frame

it in a different way, but at least we can use

this same animation model for, Mr. Tentacle Monster,

whatever that tentacle monster's name was, kind

of thing. But it's also a through line to show

us that while they may be in different dimensions

and different realities, there are still parts

of those realities that are... similar or congruent

so if the tentacle monster you know exists in

Captain Carter's you know dimension and it also

exists in Steven's dimension that shows you a

similarity between these two dimensions the one

thing that kind of which I guess it shouldn't

have because it's Doctor Strange and obviously

Mystic Arts and everything else He's on the wrong

path. I could warn him, intervene. But the fate

of his universe is not worth risking the safety

of all others. Besides, I doubt he'd listen.

Hello? Who's that? Like, he heard and saw the...

I'm like, wait a minute. What the hell? He's

not supposed... He's essentially the ghost of

Christmas everything. He's not supposed to be

seen and heard. Oh, apparently Doctor Strange

can see and hear the Watcher. That was really

interesting. Yeah, I think it's because he had

absorbed so much power that it gave him that

ability. Yeah. I don't think it's something that

Stephen Strange could normally do. No, probably

not. So what are your highlights for this one?

My highlights for this one, well, first of all,

it's a very important lesson as to why time travel

can be used and abused. In this universe, Stephen

Strange didn't lose his hands, but his heart.

Grief -stricken, Strange sought answers across

the world and in the mystic arts. The Eye of

Akimoto. cradle of the temporal singularity discovered

by Cagliostro, manipulation and alteration of

timelines. Also, you know, make sure you don't

make bad mystical choices in your life. It was

true. He wasn't alone. He wasn't even the only

Doctor Strange in this universe. ToyCast is back.

We are talking toys once more here on the GeekCast

Radio Network's Toy and Action Figure Podcast.

From breaking into the display case to our toy

topic talk and the brand new Origins in Toy Collections

where we get guests to tell us their toy story

of how they got into toy collecting. ToyCast

is the only toy podcast you will ever need. Find

us on geekcastradio .com and any podcatching

client you choose to use. Now go forth, transform,

and transcend your toy collecting today while

listening to ToyCast. You can stop this. Please

fix this. The same way you fixed Christine. I

was wrong. You were warm. I know, but the world,

the world shouldn't pay for my arrogance. I read

about you, sensed your presence. You're a god.

You can undo this. I'm not a god. And neither

are you. Then punish me. Not the world. Not Christine.

Honestly, if I could fix this, if I could punish

you instead, I would. But I can't interfere.

You more than anyone else should understand that

meddling with time and events only leads to more

destruction. No. No! I didn't mean for this to

happen! I really... I liked the ethical and the

philosophical themes that were going through

the story. Because, I mean, we've talked about

with the other previous past three episodes,

those have all been a choice that was a physically

made choice. Right. While Stevens, while it is

a choice he made, his choice is being made not

out of a physical need or physical change, but

his is more of an emotional need within himself.

So while you see him summoning and absorbing

these powers of these mystical creatures, these

demons, he's also fighting. you know, those demons

within himself as well. And you, you kind of

see in the mirror image between, you know, good

Steven and bad Steven. Um, you see what happens

when you literally let your demons overtake you.

I was kind of getting just based on the design

of evil, strange for half a second. I'm like,

Scar? Uncle Scar? Is that you? Uncle Scar! Because

seriously, some of those shadows, and especially

using the green light to backlight him, some

of that was like, wow, if this guy was a lion.

Yeah. Also, we must give a moment to just appreciate

the fact that the... that the smallest demon

that he summoned was an evil garden gnome. I

mean, I, I, that for me gave me like that little

moment of levity, you know, of, of amusement

that would, that kept this from getting so dark

that, you know, that you lost the, entertainment

value in it yeah i for me like you mentioned

the garden gnome nice cape but i draw the line

of bugs i'm so glad he drew the line at the bug

with the cape he said cool cape but i draw the

line at bugs yes i was like thank you God, they

didn't do that because that would just be weird.

Evil Steven has a thing about bugs. Even he has

limits. Mm -hmm. No, at one point, though, so

all the demons that came up usually had that

reddish glow around them. Mm -hmm. When the raven

came up, that was me like, wait, wait. We're

in Marvel. We're not in DC. But it felt like

that was almost like an homage being thrown to,

you know, Azeroth and that mystical arts that

exists in the DC universe. Because not only was

it a raven, and they did the whole wing spread

that Raven's shadow self does, but if you looked

at the eyes, it had the triple set of eyes that's

like the demons that when Raven goes into her

demon form, she has the multiple sets of eyes.

Yeah. Stanley always did say they were distinguished

competition. Yeah. Uh, you know, and the funny

thing is now that you're explaining, you know,

I noticed that, but I didn't really, like I wasn't

paying to, other than the garden gnome, the bug

and a couple of the other ones, I wasn't paying

that much level of detail of attention, but I

did see that it was a Raven. And my first thought

was, Oh no, Edgar's going to be mad. Quote the

Raven. Yeah, so I think that that was deliberate.

I really think that either some of the animator

had been doing Raven, or that they wanted to

pay homage to DC's mystical art side. Yeah, I

think so as well. Because, let's face it, DC

currently doesn't have an animated show like

this. Yeah. That would be interesting to see

a DC animated Elseworlds in... this animated

animation design and style. I have to say though,

I took it literally when I saw the title for

this one, I was like, Ooh, um, if he lost his

heart, then wouldn't he technically be dead even

though he's in the mystical arts? I didn't take

it as a. you know, oh, he's going to lose the

love of his life, essentially his heart, because

as we know in the film, lost his hands and all

that. I honestly have never been... I like Strange

in the MCU. I like Benedict Cumberbatch, you

know, playing the character. But in general...

Outside of, I think it was Spider -Man the Animated

Series from 1994. Where Baron Mordo and Dormammu

and all that stuff showed up. They had one or

two episodes with Doctor Strange. And it was

cool. But I've never, and it's not that I dislike

the character at all. It's just, it's not a character

or a series of stories that I've ever really...

had an inkling to check out. Yeah, it's the same

for me with Stephen Strange. The most that I've

been exposed to him outside of when the movie

appeared was the whole bit with when Wanda was

having issues with her powers. And, um, most

of it was because her, you know, her mental,

her mentality was breaking down. Um, right. This

was right. This was before how, you know, just

before house of them and, and all of that. And

so that's kind of where I knew Steven from. I

really didn't know a lot more, um, about him

until the movie. After the movie came out, when

I was rereading stuff, I would notice him more,

though. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any

lowlights for this one? Anything you didn't like

about it? Honestly, I think the sequence with

him absorbing the monsters could have been cut

shorter. Mm -hmm. I know why they kept it that

long is because, you know, they needed to show

that centuries passed. No, I honestly, I really,

I like the resolution and how it wasn't a happy

ending or a positive ending. Yeah. Because, I

mean, except for T 'Challa's episode, really

not a lot of them have had positive endings.

Or happy endings, I mean. Yeah. you know, we've

always, like we saw in first episode, you know,

Carter saves the world and then she, you know,

appears in modern day. So, you know, it felt

very, yeah. Yeah. So, and then T 'Challa in the

second episode, you know, finds his family and

realizes, you know, that his Ravagers are also

his family. Um, you know, and third episode,

you know, Hank Pym went insane and killed a bunch

of people, but they caught him in the end, you

know? Yeah. They, the first three have positive

ish. It's slightly, it's like, it's like, I don't

know, 80, 20. Kind of like, they're not totally

negative, but because it's such a different tale

and they're taking the characters we know and

flipping them kind of thing and doing different

things with them. And this one to me is like,

with this episode, with what they are kind of

connecting to, obviously it's, you know, his

acceptance speech from the first film. It's the

night out on the town with Christine. She wants

him to celebrate and this, that, and the other

thing. And, yeah, I mean, it is a not -so -happy

ending, but it's not a bad ending. It's an interesting

ending to the point of, oh, crap. It's like we've

said to this point, oh, crap, we need to see

what happens next. give us seven more episodes

for Doctor Strange, or give us seven, not that

you can get seven more episodes for T 'Challa,

but not that you need them. But you know what

I mean? Like, we want more. Like, oh, that's

it. Okay, well, that episode was strange. Yeah,

and the other thing is going to be, you know,

we've been leading up to all of these are going

to be, at some point, converging on each other

you know for for some part of the uh back half

of the season and so steve this steven is the

only steven left you know here so how is this

episode going to end up you know tying himself

tying it into um into these later episodes like

are they going to give him a chance to redeem

himself um or are they going to split them and

take the good steven you know it'll be interesting

to see what happens with his character since

he technically is a little you know um darker

than the rest of the people so far Of course,

we still haven't seen the Bucky Barnes or the

zombie episode yet, but, you know. Well, we did

kind of see Bucky, but not really. No, because

you see him as Winter Soldier in some of the

composite shots for the intro and also in one

of the trailers. So there's actually a Winter

Soldier episode. that is going to be somewhere

within this. Um, if not focused on him, it will

be both, you know, he will at least be a major

player in it. So, so we will see, you know, but

right now it's almost like he's putting himself

in a place where he could, he, you know, he could

be a villain. He can want the whole world to

burn down if he has another world without her

in it. Yeah. And that's not good at all. I guess

that we can also tie this episode into the new,

at least new as of this recording, it's been

out for a while, it's been out for at least a

week as of this recording, the Spider -Man No

Way Home trailer, because apparently that doesn't

tie into this story, but it's similar because

Peter wants... steven to go back and and change

things have you seen that trailer yeah they want

to go back and basically um uh put the mask back

on him like that people don't know who he is

can we just like stay up here all day it is so

crazy down there that's right folks spider -man

is in fact peter parker so peter To what do I

owe the pleasure? I'm sorry to bother you, sir.

Please, we saved half the universe together.

I think we're beyond you calling me sir. Okay,

Steven. That feels weird, but I'll allow it.

When Mysterio revealed my identity, my entire

life got screwed up. I was wondering if maybe

you could make it so that he never did. Strange.

Don't cast that spell. It's too dangerous. Fine.

I won't. Be careful what you wish for, Parker.

Hello, Peter. So I've seen the trailer. I'm still

going to be very curious as to some of the things

that weren't shown in the trailer that we know

are there, like Garfield and McGuire, you know,

and seeing that. Yeah, I'm glad Disney, Marvel,

Sony have come together to bring all of the past.

Because look, folks, say what you will about

Fox, say what you will about any of the others,

you know, Sony, all that stuff. Without 2002

Spider -Man, hell, without 1998 Blade. We may

not have what we have already had in the Marvel

Cinematic Universe, and I'm not saying those

movies led to it. I'm saying those movies paved

the way for it. What did you do? No, no, no,

no, no. All right. So a little bit of business

from last week. I don't remember us, especially

in the editing. We rated the third episode. I

assume we're giving that both fives. Yes. Okay.

Well, it's like I want to take off a half star

because they killed my boy. They actually gave

him a better story, I think, than the original

Avengers movie. So yeah, no, no, I really did

like that. They really played the, they really

played the murder mystery well with that. And

this, I don't even know what genre you would

call this one because it's, I mean, yes, there's

the, the mystic arts and the magic and the whatever

and the, all of that, but. I don't know if there's

a specific genre term or type for this one. I'm

going, while I want to go to horror, it doesn't

have a lot of the horror elements that you would

find in there with, like, how the plot's structured.

Yeah. You know, he's actually trying to do this

to bring somebody back. Not to, you know, cause

murder and mayhem or psychological torture on

people. So, honestly, this falls more into dark

fantasy. Oh, okay. That works. Yeah. That works.

That works. Anything else we want to say about

this episode? Anything we missed? I kind of really

feel sad that Christine's never going to get

that creme brulee. I'm really sad for that. Now,

if only we could have Benedict and I forget who

Christine's actress is off the top of my head

because I don't have the page pulled up. In real

life, if we could only have Benedict and her

dressed up as their characters. at a restaurant

that serves creme brulee, then we would get it.

But I don't think that's going to happen. That

would be awesome, though. That poor girl, she

just ain't ever getting the creme brulee. Also,

I was really upset when evil Dr. Strange burnt

up Red Cape. Because Red Cape is awesome. we

destroy a perfectly good, you know, artificially

intelligent cape? Because usually the AI ends

up turning on us most of the time. Not true.

Oh, so this is the other thing. It kind of, like,

the cape in Dr. Tech always reminds me of Magic

Carpet from Aladdin. Yo, Rockman, haven't seen

you in a few millennia. Give me some tassel.

Yeah, yo, yo. When, um, Have you seen the live

-action Aladdin musical? No, I have not. Okay.

Well, A, it's actually really good, and it really

separates itself from the animation to stand

on its own. So if you were like me and you didn't

watch it because, you know, you didn't feel that

Will Smith could be Robin Williams. could beat

Robin Williams' performance. That actually is

not what Will wanted to do at all. They wanted

him to make his own Genie. But there's a moment

where Genie is talking about the type of person

who usually he serves and about how Aladdin isn't

that type of person. And so he talks about, the

metaphor he uses is that Um, they, they drink,

uh, from a specific cup, um, which, you know,

is the cup of evil. Um, so when Dr. Strange was

like starting to really, you know, make the,

make those bad mystical art choices. Um, I'm

kind of sitting there and I'm imagining Jeannie

just like looking at him like, ah, so you decided

to drink from that cup. Yeah. And here all I

can think of is he chose poorly. Yes. That also

works. So before any of the listeners try to

write in or say, hey, Mike, you forgot it was

this. I actually remember now. Rachel McAdams

is Christine Palmer, both in the strange live

action films and. So that would be awesome to

see Benedict and Rachel at some restaurant eating

some creme brulee. That would be great. That

would be so cool. We could get our, you know,

hey, Christine did get her creme brulee ending

kind of thing. So whoever of our audience knows

like Benedict Cumberbatch or Rachel, you know,

just hand them that idea, you know, and just

tell them that all we want is photographic evidence.

Yep, that's it. That's it. And I will probably

most likely tag them in this episode once I post

it on social media. Oh, my gosh. If they're on

Twitter. Hey, I don't know. You'd be surprised.

Some of the, okay, not necessarily Tom Cruise,

and I'm not trying to take away from Benedict

or Rachel at all, but not Tom Cruise level of

celebrity. You'll be surprised with some of the

celebrities that, you know. As long as you're

polite to them. Yeah. The fact that I got a question

of mine answered by Vincent D 'Onofrio, I'm like,

oh, my God. Robert Gorin answered my question.

Holy crap. I'd have to find that. But anyway.

All right. Anything else we're forgetting or

anything else you want to mention before I take

it to a break? It was really nice to see the

ancient one again. Yes, it was. You know, because.

she has a very particular character and sense

of humor. And I love that, you know, and it was

really nice to have a moment with her again as

a character. And then of course, Benedict one

always nails, you know, his, his, his role. No,

I, I, I really, I, I really, I really just. I

think we had everything. Oh, we did talk about

the library dude. Oh, yes. The library. Oh, O

'Bain? Yeah. Yeah. That was interesting. Yeah.

And it's like he hung on the life long enough

to be like, so you did this. Are you happy now?

Yeah. He's like, unlike you, I chose to live

my life. in the timeline, whereas you, you know,

spent centuries outside, not necessarily outside

of it, but, you know. Locked in place. Yeah.

You know, sucking all the life out of the demons

of hell. What about Carpe Diem and sucking all

the marrow out of life? Sucking the marrow out

of life doesn't mean choking on the bone. Yep.

Phone call from God. If it had been collect,

I would have been daring. Could you imagine if

Trigon got summoned? Oh, that would not be good.

Now I know, but where was she? So I know that

maybe it was in a brief scene in this episode

that I missed, but Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart

was supposed to be in this episode. She's in

the credits, but I didn't even see Christine

Everhart. The, the, the reporter chick from,

you know who I'm talking about? Yeah. The reporter,

she was, she was. All right. When he decided

not to pick Christine up and he went to the bar

to report it to television. Okay, that's why

I didn't notice it. I've seen the episode twice

as of this recording, so that's why I didn't

notice it right away. It's because she was there,

but she was in a background. Okay, got it, got

it, got it. Very cool, very cool. Numerous casualties,

including the death of one Dr. Christine Palmer.

All right, folks, we're going to take a quick

break and we will come back after this. Hey gamers,

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keep it popping. What's wrong? Feeling pixelated?

Well, excuse me, princess. Hi, this is TV's Mr.

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in the animation on the geek cast radio network

at geek cast radio .com. All right, folks, we're

back here on tune cast and next Saturday for

superhero Saturdays. I'm sure Allison will still

be recovering from DragonCon. I'm sure. If I'm

not recovering from DragonCon, I'm going to be

recovering from the day job. That too. Sixth

graders can be a handful. Oh, no. So I'm a student

teacher. My mentor teacher was diagnosed with

COVID today. Oh, no. Mm -hmm. So luckily I'm

vaccinated and I've been masked around her the

whole time. So, so I am fairly certain I'm, I'm,

I'm going to be fine, but where I'm not going

to be fine is where I am going to be the lead

teacher for the next two weeks after Dragon Con.

Oh, I actually, and I actually have to work with

the other team, the other English teacher at

that grade level to actually, come up and do

lesson planning oh no i have only been a student

teacher for a month oh no this is like stuff

i'm not supposed to be doing until like spring

yeah they are definitely throwing you in the

deep end oh yeah no i don't even think it's the

deep end i think it's like you know there was

like the kitty pool there was the larger pool

and then there's niagara falls and i got without

a barrel Yes. I don't know if I've told that

story on ToonCast yet. I actually went over Niagara

Falls in a barrel. You did? All right. So for

listeners, if I have already told this story

for the listeners, I'm sorry that I'm retelling

it. Because I've been to Niagara Falls. So, oh,

oh, damn. Wow, I'm old. I forget if it was February

or March or at some point. As of next year, it'll

be 20 years since this happened. At some point

in 1992, my dad took 12 -year -old me on a road

trip from Massachusetts to... Toronto, that...

whole area up there where Niagara Falls is, you

know, Niagara Falls and that whole part of Canada,

basically St. Catherine, I think. By the way,

it'll be 30 years next year. Oh, God, don't say

that. I know. The 90s is only like 10 or 20 years

away, but it's going to be 30. Yep. Okay, so

30 years ago next year. God, that's, oh. So my

dad had family up there on his side and we went

to visit them and everything else. And we did

some sightseeing and we went to Niagara Falls

and think of Superman 2 and all that. And just,

you know, seeing the falls and whatever else.

At some point during this trip, when we were

at Niagara Falls, some sort of inside gift shop

or something. had this fakey looking real plastic

falls and barrel. It's one of those photo op

things. Like if you get your picture taken at

the end of the roller coaster kind of thing,

like, you know, it's one of those. So you stood

behind it and it looked like you were going in,

going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. So I can

safely say I survived going over Niagara Falls

in a barrel, even though technically I didn't.

Oh, my God. At one point, you're just like, oh,

man, come on. I was expecting more. I know, right?

It's such a letdown of a story. Wow. You still

said what you did, and you did it, but you're

just like, that is not what I was expecting.

Nope. No, it's called Niagara Falls from 96 to

2000. Oh, wow. Yep. 30 years. Oh, God. Yeah,

it is. And what's even worse is I have another

anniversary coming up next year. September 26,

2022 will be the 40th anniversary of my favorite

80s TV show, Knight Rider. Oh, I'm old. Anyway.

Hey, if it makes you feel better, apparently

I'm a year older than you. Well, you know. You

sound so much younger, and it's so funny. I'm

going to say this now, and she's not out here,

but my, again, have to frame it this way, folks,

because of the government. My lovely ex -wife,

Karen, was like, she sounds like a phone operator.

Not a phone sex operator, but she said that when

I was editing and she heard your voice, she's

like, She sounds like she's really automated.

I said she isn't. She may sound that way, but

she's very, very active, very emotionally charged,

especially last week you were, obviously, because

of, you know, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'm not going

to forgive them for that episode. I'm like, you

killed my boy. Nope. I think he needs to be on

the couch with the therapist that Bucky and Sam

saw. Yeah. Because, yeah, poor Clint. Oh, boy.

Yeah. However, speaking of the phone operator,

part of it is because of the fact that I did

theater classes, so I learned how to pronunciate

and make sure that when I'm talking into a microphone,

I'm making sure that I'm trying to. to do it

in a rhythm and a timbre that works well with

the microphone. Um, but also it wouldn't be the

first time somebody has told me the second time,

the second version of a phone operator that,

and I will admit that in high in college, I actually

thought about doing that for side cash. Okay,

folks, here we go. Girl seven. But mind you,

that is also pre -internet, so. True. Yeah. That

was an interesting time. Very interesting time.

Pre -internet days. Yep. Back when we used to,

like, walk our messages written on paper, you

know, uphills both ways in the snow. Yep. So

are you a true crime fan at all? If you're not,

it's no big deal. Honestly, I'm not. Just because

I have my mom live during Son of Sam. Ooh. And

so, and I've just, I've seen so much crime and,

you know, horrible things people do throughout.

throughout my lifetime that, you know, I don't,

I don't really need to sit down and, and, and

think about it in deeper things. Now, you know,

there are people who love it because it's true

stories and, you know, you can't, you can't get,

make some of this kind of stuff up in a way.

And so I get it and I, you know, I respect people

who, who, who really enjoy it. but it's just,

it's not something for me. Um, but I do like,

um, I do like, um, political thrillers and spy

movies, which is not the same, but you know,

it's, it's parallel. Yeah. So the only reason

why I ask is because, you know, you're saying

walk your messages, you know, uphill in the snow.

reminds me of one of, I forget which, it's, the

funny thing about the true crime shows, whether

it's Forensic Files or what it was originally

called, Medical Detectives or The New Detectives

or whatever, any of those shows at least, Ooh,

technical difficulties. Let's move on, shall

we? So any of these true crime things, they,

Often will, like, if Forensic Files shows the

case about, I'm only using this as a poor example

because I can't think of a better one, like JonBenet

Ramsey. If they tell, if they spotlight that

case and then some other show spotlights that

case, but it's in a slightly different format

kind of thing, it's essentially the same story.

It's just whatever the other show's format is.

So anyway. In one of these episodes of one of

these shows, I'm trying to get back to your walking

up the hill, messages up the hill in the snow,

I remember a case where people were, because

again, this is the 80s and 90s, video messaging

dating services. Where you would record yourself

and answer whatever questions the service had

and send your tape in. And whomever you were

interested in would, you know, the service would

send you their tape. I'm like, oh, my God. Yeah.

Dating was crazy. I remember those. I remember

those. Yeah. And basically it's like what you

were doing is like you were taking your video

and you were sending it almost to like a matchmaker.

That matchmaker would send you back a compilation

of like a couple people for you to choose. Yep.

And I'm sorry we've derailed the cartoon talk

here, folks, but it's been a weird, weird week

for me. So Marvel Studios, What If, Disney Plus,

So Far. Are there things that we are disappointed

or emotional about? Yes, because it wouldn't

be Marvel if they didn't poke at our emotions.

But overall, I'm still on this journey. Nothing

in any of these four episodes has been like,

oh, screw this. Oh, I'm never watching this again

or whatever. I am just itching for the next one

every time Wednesday rolls around. I'm like,

hey. Okay, Marvel, what if? Let's go. Sorry,

my brain is now dissolved into Dr. Stephen Strange

using video. Oh, boy. That would be an interesting

universe to be living in. Yeah, yeah, no, no.

I think my brain is officially now in DragonCon

mode, where it goes into weird fandom things.

Okay, since you mentioned DragonCon, and since

we are here, and I may put this episode up early

just so people can get your DragonCon info. Briefly...

How many panels are you doing on... DragonCon

starts Thursday, right? Or does it start... It

starts Thursday at 7 now. Okay. How many panels

do you have on Thursday, if any? I don't have

any panels on Thursday. Okay. How many panels

do you have on Friday? Actually, I... Oh, no.

You actually want me to have this stuff memorized.

This late at night. After having taught a class

with no teaching experience. Hold on. Let me

pull up my schedule because that will make it

a little bit easier. Of course, it's buried in

like hundreds of emails. And of course, I will

edit all of this out. So don't worry about it.

Yay. There you go. Guest info. All right. All

right. So I will ask the question again for Friday.

I'll edit it there. All right, Allison. So no

panels on Thursday. You start on Friday. How

many panels do you have on Friday? And what is

the one you're most looking forward to that day?

Well, I only have one panel on Friday. And that's

actually my workshop. It's the writer and the

MFA, which is where I'm going to talk about my

experience with having spent three years in an

MFA program. And if I think that there is value

to a serious writer. in pursuing an academic

degree within that field. And I will tell you,

I will be writing this panel in the car ride

tomorrow to Atlanta. So, yeah. It's a good thing

you don't have a panel tomorrow then, because

you guys are driving. Wow. We're leaving Tennessee.

At 8 a .m. to hopefully try to beat the evening

rush hour in Atlanta. But we already know that

that's probably not going to happen. But we'll

try. Oh, boy. All right. What do you got going

on Saturday? All right. I got three panels on

Saturday. I have my other workshop at 10 a .m.,

which is my Like, Love, and Lust, The Art of

Writing a Romance. Um, the secondary title to

this is, um, does sex sell better than the Dragon

Con parade? Because they're at the same time.

Oh boy. No, no, no. Oh boy. That's, that's yikes.

Yeah. So I actually do get, you know, maybe about

20 people in there. So not everybody wants to

go to the parade, especially when it's hot and

crowded and COVID and like all that. So, you

know, I'll think I'll have a nice. Nice group

this year. Then at 7 in the evening, I have the

Discovery of Witches fan panel about the television

series, which I love. I love. Marcus is my boy

over there in that show. And he actually, I can't

wait to talk about the changes that they made

from the book to the TV series. for book two

because of the amount of time they increased

with his character. I really love that. And then

at 8 .30, this is probably going to be my most

fun panel. I've done it before. It's called Aliens

vs. Zombies. And it's with the Apocalypse track

at 8 .30. And what they do is they have three

hats. or buckets or whatever they're used this

year. And one has a whole bunch of different

alien races from different shows. Another one

has a whole bunch of different zombie races from,

from shows and movies. And then the third one

has random settings. And what the panelists do

is we pull one slip from each of the three. And

so we are having. a zombie versus alien battle

in that location. And we have to determine through

our discussion, which creature will win. Cool.

And there's usually some adult beverages involved.

There would have to be with zombies and aliens

and oh my. Oh yeah. But yeah. So, so I'm, I'm

really looking forward to that because that was

always just fun. It's relaxing. It's engaging.

The audience really gets into it, and it's worth

the hour to be there. And, yeah, so that's the

end of Saturday. What about Sunday? Anything

on Sunday? I got one panel on Sunday. There you

go. It's the panel that, you know, no one is

going to be surprised that I'm on. It is the

Superman and Lois panel. Mm -hmm. However, hilariously,

out of the BAM crew, I'm the only one on it.

How is that possible? Because they had scheduling

conflicts. What's more important than his own

podcast? I think he's, I think he, at that time

frame, he's actually going to be interviewing

the Smallville cast. All right, that's right.

So, folks, go listen to the Superman and Lois

tapes, episode 25, where you can hear all about

Michael Bailey's schedule and what he's doing

with Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum and all

of the people that are coming back for the 20th

anniversary reunion of Smallville. Yep. Oh, Michael

Rosenbaum, my fluffy Lex. Oh, fluffy Lex would

be John. Yeah, but, but, but no, I just, it's

a joke that I, I have with a few of my friends

that I have actually told Rosenbaum about. And

so I called him fluffy Lex, but yeah, so that,

so the Superman, the lowest panel is my only

panel. Um, but yeah, for that. And the final

day, which is Monday, right? Yep. And Monday

at 1130, I have my Titans panel because what

is me going to Dragon Con without at least a

moment with Nightwing? So, you know, so we got

my Titans panel and oh my God, the things that

have been going on in Titan so far this season.

I'm still having some issue with episode three

and what happened in episode three. Awesome.

Very cool. It sounds like an awesome 2021 DragonCon.

Yep. And I hope everyone has fun. I hope everyone

stays safe. I hope. Everyone masks up, vaxes

up, and all that good stuff. The last thing I

want to see on Tuesday morning is headlines.

Oh, DragonCon produced whatever number of...

I don't want to see any of that. I want to see

nothing but everybody being safe and being responsible.

Don't drink and drive, sonny boy, even though

COVID's more dangerous. I mean, they're all dangerous,

but you know what I mean. Yeah, well, the good

thing about it is that they've got some very

strict things in place for people where they

have to show, when they're picking up their badge,

they have to show proof of vaccination or of

a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours.

Masks have to be on. The only people allowed

into any of the hotels are the convention people,

and they're going to have more door watchers

to make sure that happens. And I don't know what

they're doing yet for the guests and how to keep

them protected during photo shoots and such,

but I'm assuming any working actor has already

probably been vaccinated at this point. That's

going to be a big thing in keeping them safe.

But, you know, people need to make sure that

they respect their distance for the actors because

we don't want them getting sick and not being

able to go back and film their shows, you know,

because that's coming up for them to start doing

that soon. Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, everybody

stay safe. We are not out of this. We're not

out of the woods yet. And then we're also going

to have a vaccine clinic along with the blood

drive. Very cool. Very cool. That's awesome.

Yeah. Love to hear when, especially because of

the year that was 2020 and all the conventions

having to go virtual, because obviously, you

know, that was the only thing they could do because

it would be very irresponsible if people were

going to actually have, anyway. So I'm very happy

that everyone's taking this seriously and everyone

is being prepared. And hey, look, another Scar

reference. Anyway, so apparently I need to fix

something. I look as we're running through your

schedule and everything else and I'm making sure

I have all the things going and I'm making sure

Zencaster is doing what it's supposed to do by

recording us and everything else. I get messages.

That's not what I meant by her voice. Ugh. Not

that she's robotic, that her voice sounded like

Alexa or something. She's like fixed with like

really, really evil cat frown emojis. So yes,

Karen, my love, I did fix it for you. So apparently

you are the Alexa of the podcast. How can I help

you today? Yes, there you go. That works. Would

you like to know the time? Yeah, sure. Great.

What's the weather going to be in, like, Siberia?

Oh, wait, it's cold. It's going to be cold and

snowy in Siberia. Who is Karen? Why is Karen

worried about me? Perhaps we should talk to Karen

and let me get to know her. I can control the

lights. Would you like me to turn the lights

off? Sure, you can turn the lights off. I think

the bathroom's going to explode, but you can

turn the lights off. Sure. No, I just remember,

like, I can't remember if it was a short story

or a short film about an Alexa. No, no. It's

her. It's her. Episode. It's what? It was Castle

in Castle. Oh, okay. Castle had an AI device

to help around the house, and the AI device started

getting really jealous about Beckett and started,

like, doing shh. to make Beckett not feel like

she was welcome in the house. Wow. Yeah, it was

really, really, really fun episode. I think it

was like multiple episodes leading through it

for its own little plot. Yeah. And the first

thing I think of is that movie with, again, to

tie it back into Marvel. Actually, it's a...

Oh, wow, it's a Marvel and DC cross. Holy crap,

I didn't even think of that. Joaquin Phoenix

and ScarJo in Her, where she's the AI in his

whatever... You've heard of this movie, right?

Please tell me, I'm not just... I seem to recall

it. I don't think I've ever seen it, though.

Okay, that's fine. All right, I'm going to run

through the outro, folks, because, wow, this

is re... You want to talk about a train derailment?

You want to talk about Bucky falling off the

train? Holy crap. You about pulled my arm off

there. Uh -huh. Yeah. Still my favorite line

out of all the episodes. Yeah, that was awesome.

All right, Toonsters, as always, we want to thank

you for joining us here on ToonCast. If you'd

like to get in contact with us or leave feedback

for the show, there are several ways to do so.

Visit the website, geekcastradio .com, where

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Send any email to feedback at geekcastradio .com.

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TF21Mike. What is your Twitter, ma 'am? It is

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You can also look for TuneCast, all tunes all

the time, and the Superman and Lois tapes over

there, as well as going to the fortressofbailey2

.com. I think it's just fortressofbailey2 .com.

Anyway, the links will be in the show notes.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of ToonCast

and wish you'll join us next time when we will

be giving you our thoughts on Season 1, Episode

5 of Marvel's What If on Disney+. My biggest

what if on the next episode is if they're actually

going to give Thor a line this time. Yes, the

next episode is all about Thor because, oh wow,

yikes. I just went into Daffy Duck mode, folks.

I don't know why. It's a cartoon show. Of course

you're going to eventually go to Daffy. At least

you didn't go to Donald. This is the last time

I work with someone with a speech impediment.

This means war. I would need a lot of water and

maybe some other stuff to go to Donald. Let's

see. That's about the best I can do. That's really

about the best I can do for now. For now, I am

TF2 and Mike with... Allison Richards. Thank

you for listening. Until next time. Oh, and unleash

the tune in you. One life, one choice, one moment

can destroy the entire universe. That was a nightmare.

But it was fun. Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond

your wildest imagination.