Amazon's James Bond Debacle, Increased Gaming Costs & Podcasting Responsibly

Hi, this is David Kaye, and you're listening

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Altered Geek Podcast. Remember the name. Hello,

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Steve Megatron Phillips. In this adventure this

week into geekdom, I am joined by TFG1 Mike.

I think my left arm has a mind of its own now,

and I don't like it. Now the dang thing gonna

fall off now. Well, it might as well. I mean,

we don't do these things on camera, folks, but

literally I feel like no arms podcaster. Literally,

I would be sitting here just talking. Normally,

I'm one of those types of people when I'm really

excited about something or when I'm angry about

something, I usually am moving my left arm around

a lot. I can't do that anymore. No Batman for

you. Exactly. No Batman for you. Hey, 20th anniversary

of that first film for 2005, 2025. I haven't

actually gone back to it yet, so I've thought

about it. Well, we're going to. We got to get

to that before the end of the year. We're going

to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to

do it. That comes later, folks. Not going to.

Not going to. Oh, God. Anyway, so, yeah, there's

a few things that we're going to talk about on

this episode. Some of it is, you know, related

to the Bond franchise. Some of it is about video

games. Some of it is about AI. Some of it is

about Hulu. Podcasting and SNL. What do those

things have in common? Nothing. But it's fun

to talk about anyway. Well, I mean, technically

podcasting ties them all together because that's

what we do about all of those things because

we end up podcasting about them. So the first

one we have was rather interesting and stupid.

Almost akin to the whole restaurant situation

with the logo. Yes. Another marketing genius

that thought it would be a great idea to edit

something. I don't know who at Amazon thought

this up. I don't know if it was Bezos. I don't

know if it was somebody that works for him. I

honestly don't know. But seriously, folks in.

What is it? 63. Hold on. What's the math on that?

Math. Math is bad, folks. Don't do math. 62.

In 63 years, over 25 official films, because

there have been a couple unofficial films, but

25 official films. Nobody, to my knowledge, has

ever complained about the fact that any of the

James Bond characters, whomever the actor is

that's playing the character of James Bond, whether

that be Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore,

Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Daniel Craig,

whoever's playing him. Nobody, but nobody has

ever complained about James Bond. holding the

Walther PPK pistol on the cover of the damn DVDs,

Blu -rays, 4Ks, whatever, digital posters, whatever,

posters in general. Oh, my God. Nobody's ever

complained about that because the Walther PPK

that James Bond holds is his unique gun to that

character. And I know it has a more in -depth

name and number and whatever. You know the name.

You know the number. You figure it out, folks.

But basically, that's what it is. Well, some

moron at Amazon, either Bezos himself or somebody

he gave a marching order to, decided that online,

on Amazon Prime, that they would remove all of

the guns off of the digital poster cards. Okay,

look, if you are for or against the Second Amendment,

I don't care. This isn't about politics. It's

a flipping movie card for a thing you watch on

Amazon Prime. You're looking at this thing for

maybe half a second. You ain't staring. into

pierce brosnan's eyes for 20 minutes and all

of a sudden you look down and he's holding a

damn gun oh my god like what are they gonna do

next use ai to remove all the guns out of the

movies for the last 63 years let's hope the not

because that's where oh yeah no no don't and

stop Knock this crap off. This is ridiculous.

It makes these and they're not even posters.

They're digital cards. That's what they are.

They're digital cards for the movies that you

watch on Amazon, but they make them look so stupid

now. It's ridiculous. I mean, it's. And I'm currently

in the middle of going back through the Brosnan

era because the Brosnan era is my favorite personal

era of Bond because that's the era of Bond that

I really latched on to. I was too young kind

of for the Dalton era. Dalton was, I think. 86

and 89 or 87 and 89 i forget i know license to

kill was 1989 i forget when the living daylights

came out and i'm not looking it up right now

so that's fine but and i had seen as a kid various

roger moore movies i had seen various sean connery

entries but for me my entry into bond and my

discovery of the character was when Pierce Brosnan

brought the franchise back after six years. There

was a six -year gap between License to Kill and

Goldeneye in 95. We weren't even sure if Bond

was coming back at all. We thought License to

Kill was the end of the Bond franchise in 1989.

That was it. No more Bond after that. License

to Kill is a pretty damn good movie in my personal

opinion from the last time I remember watching

it. I don't know, four, five, six years ago.

But at that time in 1989, we thought. Even though

I was only nine years old, but everyone thought,

oh, my God, it's the end. And then in 1995, we

get Goldeneye. And it is like literal, you know,

angels from the heavens singing. amazing it's

whatever i recently just finished recording an

episode of studio 2009 covering the 30th anniversary

of the film i don't know when that'll be out

it'll be out way past this so i know i can already

say this that it's coming it'll be released after

this will but you know it's just like one of

those things where nobody was complaining about

this this wasn't like The 80s, where you had

parental groups complaining about certain cartoons

or complaining about certain things on television

or whatever. You know, I don't want to I don't

want to confuse the two, but I forget what the

parental group was for the the media in the 80s.

But I'm going to use the Mothers Against Drunk

Driving as a as a. As an allegory, I'm not saying

they're the same thing. I'm not. I'm just saying

there was some similar parental group about media,

about television and cartoons and things like

that in the 80s. So, yeah, I don't think anybody

was screaming at the top of their lungs for Amazon

to remove the guns out of the digital cards that

you look at for two and a half seconds or less.

And these just look stupid. don't do this the

whole point of bond is the fact he has the gun

right exactly he drinks he has the ladies he

has the gun he has a special car like there's

just there's just nothing like he's that's like

that's like telling tom cruise not to have a

gun on any mission impossible digital card or

or whatever on amazon or any streaming service

that's like telling tom cruise or any of the

poster people that make the posters for the mission

movies to not have him hang off the side of a

plane look again this is a two -second thing

of it's a card on amazon prime when you go to

again using goldeneye as the example since it's

30th anniversary this year If you go to rent

or purchase Goldeneye on Amazon Prime, because

I don't know if it's included in streaming, but

that's why I just said if you go to rent or purchase

it, I'm sure you're only looking at that digital

art for less than two seconds because you know

what you want. You want Goldeneye. You want to

watch the film. And that two seconds of seeing

that. the recognition of seeing Pierce Brosnan

holding the Walther PPK. Oh, yeah, cool. Now

I can watch the movie. Yay. But now you're going

to look at it like, why does it look like he's

holding his collar? And he's not even really

holding his collar. He just looks like he has

his fist in the air, like he's going to punch

somebody. But actually, in actuality, the way

that it looks now, it looks like he's going to

punch himself in the face. And don't do that.

It's so stupid. And yes, folks, we understand

there are more important things out there in

the world as far as first world problems and

all that stuff. But this is the Geekcast Radio

Network. We are here to bring the fun and bring

the reactions like how I'm having to this story.

Like, oh, my God, Felicia. It was a pretty poor

choice, though. Yeah. Quite honestly, I was surprised

that they decided to. Do that. Yeah, it's pretty

bad. It's it's I mean, it's just it's dumb. It's

so really is. It's so. And it makes the it makes

the posters look worse. And again, for like two

seconds of a digital art card on Amazon Prime,

you're not like, but it just. It just makes it

look worse. So I clicked on the thing that they

have in the story here. So they referenced Dr.

No of Udo Akil, Goldeneye, and Spectre. I know

that in Dr. No, Connery has, because he's got

his arms crossed, he has the gun in his right

hand pointing towards his left shoulder. I forget

where Roger Moore has it because his arms are

down by his sides. And I forget, I think Craig

has the gun in his hands. But again, I can't

see his hands because the poster is cropped,

whatever. But I mean, the Dr. No poster with

Sean Connery, it looks like he's just mad at

the villain. Like, it looks like he's just crossing

his arms. Like, that's ridiculous. Don't do that.

What's the matter for you? Yeah, the posters

just look goofy in general, though. Without the

guns, you mean? Please tell me. Okay. Oh, boy.

I was about to. It just looks stupid. Like they're

a bunch of hipsters doing a clothing commercial.

Yeah, you're not wrong. I mean, it looks literally

stupid. Like I've not seen like a full Bond movie,

to be honest. Okay. But I find it ridiculous

that they were like, oh, this is a great idea.

Yeah. So I'm pulling up the full slate of how

all of the films look. I just sent it to you.

But yeah, it's just weird. I don't know. I'm

sure I could pick out like, I think. Goldeneye

would probably be the one I would recommend to

you the most, not just because I know what you

like or whatever, but it's probably the most

easily accessible one, I think. But yeah, just

looking at these, it's just, yeah, no, it's just

bad. Don't do this, Amazon. Please don't do this.

Reverse your decision. Put the barrel back, Amazon.

Put the barrel back. It's just so bad. It just

looks like a bunch of spies with their arms crossed.

Or the worst one, I think, is by far. So, again,

the Pierce Brosnan era, because the Pierce Brosnan

era is 30 years old this year. The tomorrow never

dies poster. He looks like he's just got his

arms crossed. The world is not enough. He looks

like he's just holding his hands down by his,

his stomach there. And then die another day.

I couldn't, again, his hands are just down by

his side. It's just, no, no, don't stop. Nope.

Nope. Nope. not a thing reverse your decision

amazon reverse it faster than cracker barrel

please hurry up yeah cracker barrel was that

was yeah that was lame but this is even worse

like this is just like cracker barrel lost billions

of dollars off of their decision i don't think

amazon's gonna lose too much of this of their

business off of this but just people are gonna

be way mad at them about this but honestly at

this point i own several of the bond films in

other places besides amazon so i'm not really

too worried about it but this still makes me

upset because it's taking away from the character

and that's just dumb don't do that Because it's

a, as Ben Affleck says in Jay and Silent Bob

Strike Back, it's a fictional character. Like,

James Bond holding a gun in a movie poster is

not going to, at least I hope, it's not going

to make people go out and do stupid things. But

stranger things have happened. True, true. All

right. Sight. Next up, you had everything about

video games is getting more confusing and obviously

more expensive. Yeah. It's definitely getting

expensive on a whole. Microsoft, about a week

ago, drop that they're they're announcing changes

to their game pass subscription service which

means also a price hike whenever you know they're

doing crap like that yep and what's what's interesting

about it is they you know the ultimate game pass

is now 30 bucks a month 29 .99 jump 10 and you

know more games and features are being added

to justify it uh There have also been name changes.

What used to be known as the Core tier is now

called Essential, while Standard is now Premium.

They had a bunch of charts on how to figure out

what the difference between them are, and all

subscription prices always rise. But they were

commenting about the fact that it feels off that

they did it at this certain point in time. It's

a few weeks removed from the Xbox hardware getting

more expensive to the point that Xbox Series

X now costs $150 more than it did at launch five

years ago. That's not right. No. This is my thing

now with games. I actually prefer Steam because,

one, I'll get old games discounted. Yep. And

play the crap out of them. I do miss the days.

Of having a CD or DVD ROM. With the games on

them. And having the entire game. I'm so over.

Like I have. I have. I have the Dragon Ball Z.

Sparking Zero game. I have none of the DLC. I

don't have the season pass. I don't have any

of it. Because one the season pass is like 40

bucks. But the thing is. They claim that all

the season passes is like, oh, unlock new characters.

No, it's actually a character that exists in

the game with a different skin and a little bit

different movement pack to the character, but

it's the same character essentially in a lot

of cases. So they're like over 200 characters

when it's really only like 100 because 100 of

those are transformations. Right. And then there's

no new story. to the game which i i'd be more

apt to to pay for some dlc if like yes i mean

it's it's nice to have the other you know transformations

and stuff in the game and it's it makes it more

fun in that regard i want more story yep like

i play a game for the story like i yeah i mean

i can i can tolerate like super smash brothers

and you know stuff like that where there's you

know, the tournament mode type stuff where it's

not so story -based. Like Smash Brothers, I prefer

the tournament over the story. Yeah. If I'm playing

Dragon Ball Z, I know the mythos. I enjoy the

mythos. So I want to play the storyline. Yeah.

And it's like playing, you know, the Arkham games.

They have the little, you know, tournament modes

where you're doing like certain tasks. but they

also have the story and i play it for the story

like i don't care about picking up riddler trophies

i don't care about all the side quests i want

to play the main story yep and like i i've got

all the arkham games now yeah i used to own all

the arkham games on the 360 yeah yeah but that's

the thing back in the day when we still had physical

discs for games and stuff like that I remember

we talked about this and when we were associated

with the other network that we used to be associated

with, they shall not be named. But when all of

us were talking about this, some of us were like,

I don't mind paying this extra amount of price

for getting this amount of extra content because

it's cool. for getting that amount of extra content

sometimes it's a story mode sometimes it's a

game character sometimes it's more of a physical

edition like the arkham is it asylum city or

i think it was either asylum and city or maybe

it was just city the arkham city like ultimate

game geek gamer edition the thing or whatever

you could get certain for like a hundred dollars

you could get this this and this and this and

you can get this exclusive character because

it was exclusive to either gamestop or wherever

or you could pay 125 and you can get all this

other extra stuff with a little bit of extra

story but the whole point is you're paying that

extra price for the actual physical swag you

were going to get now here in 2025 although all

these years you know 16 and a half 17 and a half

years later 20 years later whatever you want

to call it everything is digital and all of the

digital stuff prices for exclusive editions whatever

It's for the digital content. But unfortunately,

the digital content is only offering you a thousand

skins for this price or a hundred skins for this

price or this. And look, it would be fine, cool

and fun to, you know, go bombing around in the

Batmobile as Batman Beyond in Arkham City. But

that's not adding to the story. And I know now,

you know, Arkham City was 2015. A decade after

the fact, they're not going to add a new story

to that. But it's one of those things where,

as new games do come out from DC and Marvel and

other things, you would hope that they would

factor in the fact that everything is now digital

and that they would give you some sort of weird

opportunities if you wanted to pay an extra cost.

to do something other than just get this exclusive

character. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I recently picked

up Arkham Asylum and Arkham Origins. Like I already

had Arkham City and Arkham Knight from a previous

sale a couple of years ago on Steam. And originally

I owned Arkham City on EA Play, but EA lost the

rights to it and Steam got it. So I had to rebuy

it, which is the annoying part of having it on

the streaming service as opposed to a physical

disc. But but I had I picked up Arkham Origins

and Arkham Asylum for ten dollars. Nice. And

that's it's the game of the year edition for

Arkham Asylum. But Arkham Origins, it comes with

the Mr. Freeze add on. I didn't care about the

original. Like there's an add on that takes place

at the very beginning of the game for like the

ninja training. Yeah. And with Shiva. And I hated

that level when I had the game. So I originally

on the 360. So I was like, I am not buying that.

No. And then all of the skins, like the different

costumes for Batman in Arkham origins, I was

kind of like, eh, like you get whitest night

Batman, you know, from like, or the white lantern

Batman, you get like your one and you know, like

Gotham by gas, you know, gaslight or whatever.

And then you get a bunch of other ones and I'm

like, I don't really care about any of these.

And so I, I was like, I'm not buying these. And

so it made it cheaper for me. You know, whereas

like Arkham City, I was like, I need all of it.

Yep. Arkham Knight, I would be tempted, except

for the fact I can't get past the Batmobile stage.

Oh, no. Because it's timed. Oh, you're being

shot at by these mega tanks. And I couldn't get

past that. So I'm just like, you know what? Forget

it. Don't care. So I just I gave up at that point.

and and moved on and i went back to arkham city

and i'm playing arkham asylum presently and i

i think i'm halfway through maybe not halfway

through maybe like quarter of the way through

the game and then uh and then i'll play like

arkham origins after just because so cool Very

cool, very cool. But yeah, no, the entry to video

games in 2025 is just so... Oh, man. It's just

so... mind -boggling sometimes. I mean, sometimes

there are, like you said, good deals on Steam

and things like that and everything else, but

it's just... just crazy it's just so crazy uh

which is why i don't play video games like i

used to so yeah same here yeah i i'm not a fan

of all of these services like i i prefer steam

just because i don't have to pay for it and they

have access like it's just a store and an app

that it runs through for authentication so yeah

i'm down with that i'm fine so yep yep i was

trying to find before we move off the video game

stuff i was trying to find if there was going

to be new uh batman games coming up i know we

have the um The Lego Batman. The new Lego Batman

game. That's supposedly. Well not supposedly.

But it is coming. But. Yeah. I can't find anything

else. Other than that. But. Outside of that.

Then we have stuff about. AI being. You know,

really scary and, you know, Hollywood agencies

having a like essentially an AI generated actress.

Mm hmm. That Tilly Norwood. Yeah. They're like,

oh, hire me. And, you know, and agencies are

trying to sign it. And I'm like, dude, you can't

sign something that doesn't exist. Yeah. It's

like, do you realize the logic here? Plus, how

are you going to cast it next to other people?

yeah it would have to be digitally inserted later

yeah it's stupid very stupid i yeah that i mean

that's i'm not gonna dwell on it very long but

it's getting seriously like pretty freaky like

i don't mind it is like a tool i don't want it

as like an actor i don't want it as a voice actor

nope i those i want humans yep I like it for

key things that are just helping me get things

rewrote or working on certain tasks, but I don't

necessarily need it to replace a human. Yeah,

AI as a tool for programs and for productivity

is fine. AI to replace humans, that's flipping

bad, people. Stop it. Then, of course, we're

getting like I mean, this I noticed this while

I was going through the the Variety article about

the AI thing. And I'm just going to touch on

the titles, not necessarily comment on all of

them. But since two of our articles are from

Variety, George Clooney says Ocean's 14 just

got approved and they'll start filming next year.

And everybody that's still alive is tentatively

coming back. i'll believe it when i see a trailer

uh they just got the budget approved by warner

brothers so yeah just because they got the budget

approved doesn't mean that production has begun

i'll believe it when i see a damn trailer well

i can believe it before the trailer it's just

it needs to be from a reputable source yeah And

Variety is a reputable source. Oh yeah, no, I'm

not saying anything against Variety. And then

Netflix is setting to do a Clue competition series

unscripted from Hasbro. I saw that and I was

like, wait a minute, what's going on here? Because

I keep seeing this thing. It's either on Instagram

or Facebook. I keep seeing this thing about a

Clue documentary. I have to do more research

on it. I have to do a couple of Google searches

on it. And I'm like, wait, what? Okay, yeah,

this is the 40th anniversary of Clue this year

because the movie came out in 85. But, yeah,

that's going to be interesting to see what Hasbro

does with Clue. funny thing is uh the 4k release

either is it coming it's coming out i don't think

it's out yet and i don't think it'll be out by

the time you release this episode the 4k release

of clue is coming out and i do know because i

do plan on getting it for review not the dvd

unfortunately but the um The soundtrack will

be released by Lowland Records. I do plan on

getting that. Because I've had Clue on whichever

thing I have it on for years. It was Steve Megatron

in the studio with the microphone. Stop using

me as a weapon! Anyway. And then the other thing

we have from Variety is the fact that Disney

Plus has set a date for Hulu to replace Star

as its global entertainment brand. And it is

adding new integrated features ahead of Hulu

app phase out. So Hulu has been integrated into

the Disney Plus app for a while now. I have had

a Hulu subscription on the Hulu app that's going

to be phased out for the longest time. I haven't

in the last few months because I pay for Disney

Plus annually. So once it phased in because Disney

owns ABC and ABC, Hulu, yada, yada, yada, all

that stuff. So Disney is in the process of winding

down Hulu's standalone app and service fully

integrates Hulu into Disney +, as I said. At

the same time, the Mouse House is doubling down

on the Hulu brand, including taking it global.

As of October 8th, well, that's today, Hulu will

become the global general entertainment brand

on Disney +, in non -US markets, replacing Star,

the Star title. With this change, and in preparation

for what Disney is promising, will be a fully

integrated unified app experience in 2026. Disney

Plus customers will begin to see further integrations

of Hulu across Disney Plus app as part of an

ongoing interactive slate of product updates

on the homepage and beyond, the company announced

Thursday. Hey, look, you know, that's good. If

I only have to go to one. Look, we all talk about

how you get an app. You get an app. You get an

app. You get an app. Pay for this service. Pay

for that service. Look, I get it. Not really

anyone wants any one of these giant corporations

to own everything. But honestly, with Disney,

with everything they do own. I would rather have

all of their stuff under Disney Plus than to

have seven different apps to go to. Oh, I agree

with you. The only thing, and I don't know if

anyone at Disney is going to ever hear me say

this, but I'm going to say it because gold darn

it needs to be said. Disney. And Disney Plus,

whoever is in charge over there of adding things

that you own to your streaming service, put the

7D on the app. It's not on there. And that's

their program, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it's their

program. And no, it's not on there. It has never

been on there since 2019. That was my first question

before I even wanted to sign up for a free trial

of Disney Plus in 2019. My first question was,

is the 7D on Disney Plus? And it has never been

on Disney Plus. It is only ever been on their

other. whatever other apps they had at the time

before Disney Plus became the big, big thing.

But no, every time I go to search for it, it

never pops up or anything like that. Yeah, I

can buy it on Amazon. They might change the title

cards. That would be bad, but there's nothing

bad about the 7D title cards. No, I'm on Amazon.

I'm on Disney Plus right now. I just searched

for the 7D. The first thing that pops up is the

Adventures of Andre and Wally B, whoever the

hell they are. I have no clue. No clue. But the

7D has never been on Disney Plus ever since 2019

when the app launched. Weird. You would think

they'd have it, though. I mean, it's theirs.

And it was fairly popular. I mean, it only got,

what does it have, two or three seasons? I forget

off the top of my head. I think it only has two

seasons. I think it only got two seasons, unfortunately.

That was the bad part. It only got two seasons.

Son of a blemish. Yeah, it only got two seasons.

It has 47 segments for the first season and 40

for the for the so basically 24 episodes for

the first season, 20 episodes for the second

season. So it has 44 episodes total. So it didn't

reach the magical Disney 65. If you reach the

magical Disney 65, you're you're golden, folks.

But. Literally, last year was the 10th anniversary.

July 7th of last year would be the 10th anniversary

of when Disney, the 7D, premiered. Broadcast,

video games. Yeah, it says nothing about, yeah,

it says broadcast, but it says nothing about

any media release or reception whatsoever. It

doesn't even list. The Wikipedia article doesn't

even list the fact media releases on the fact

that it's on Amazon or that it's on, cause I

know it's on iTunes or Apple or whatever you

want to call it, you know? So, but yeah, how

it's not on how the seven D is not on, uh, Disney

plus is beyond me. And for those that don't know,

just so we can move on from this and the whole

point of this whole story initially was that

Hulu is now going to be the global adult. Not

quote -unquote adult, but the global adult version

channel thing for Disney+. Yeah, instead of Star

in other countries besides the U .S. But for

those that don't know about the 7D, it's basically

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs without the stupid

stuff like Snow White and the Queen. I mean,

there is a Queen, but it's better than what we

get with Snow White. The 7D, American animated

television series produced by Disney Television

Animation, which premiered on Disney XD. Reimagining

of the title characters from the 1937 films Snow

White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney Animation

Studio. So, yeah. And the greatest thing about

this show is you have Kevin Michael Richardson

voicing Happy. Billy West voicing Bashful. Bill

Farmer voicing, you got Goofy voicing Doc. You

got vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker

for Dopey. Grumpy is voiced by none other than

Da Brain Maurice LaMarche. Sleepy is voiced by

Stephen Stanton. And then Sneezy is voiced by

Scott Menville. Uh, uh, it's grumpy and happy.

Get into so many crazy, so many crazy things.

Cause hello. Grumpy is always grumpy. Happy is

always happy. And it's Maurice LaMarche and Kevin

Michael Richardson. So imagine those two guys

sitting next to each other in a voice session

and having to act across from each other as these

two. Oh God. And then as the quote -unquote villains

of the piece, you have Hildy Gloom and Grim Gloom.

Hildy is voiced by Kelly Osbourne. Yes, that

Kelly Osbourne, Ozzy's daughter, with Jess Harnell

being Grim. This show is just amazing. You have

Mr. Director Paul Rugg, none other than Paul

Rugg, voicing Lord Starchbottom, who is the assistant

to Queen Delightful, who is voiced by Lee Allen

Baker. Yeah, no, the 7D. Absolutely love the

7D. It's such a good, fun show. It's amazing.

I don't know why it isn't on Disney+. I don't

get it, folks. I just don't flip and get it.

No idea. No idea. Okay, so that's the news. Don't

touch that dial. Wait. Maybe. Yep, yep. So the

next one you brought up. Yeah. Well, it's funny

because I was like, wait a minute. What is this?

Because initially, look, I should have guessed

it was not who I thought it was because I'm like,

wait a minute. There's no junior next to his

name. Because anytime I hear the name Downey,

who do you normally think of when you hear the

name Downey? It ain't who. Robert Downey Jr.

Exactly. There's a trailer. I'm sure you'll link

it. Hopefully you'll remember to link it in the

show notes. But there's a trailer out there for

something for a documentary coming later to Peacock

about an SNL writer from the 90s called name

Jim Downey. And the name of the documentary is

Downey wrote that. And it's all about him and

his life. the time of the nineties when SNL was

really funny in the nineties and, uh, you know,

the George Bush stuff, the George Bush senior

stuff and, and, and not going to do it. Nope.

Nope. Not going to do it. There you go. But,

you know, I saw that and I was like, oh, we can

talk about this here. And then we can when it

comes out on, I think it comes out October 17th.

When it comes out on Peacock, we can watch it

and then we can do a studio episode on it. Because

my thing is, I watched it. And this is why I

always say, folks, and I've said this for years,

trailers are the advertisements to get me into

or out of things. They're the things that either

point me in the right directions of things I

want to watch or things I don't want to watch

kind of thing. And immediately I was like, okay,

I want to watch this and do a podcast about it

because the main takeaway from this trailer I

have is how funny all of that stuff was compared

to half of late night now not being funny to

me. And I'm not even talking about Saturday Night

Live late night. I'm just talking about late

night in general. how it's not funny to me. But

I'm also talking about how comedy has changed

in the last 30 years since this person was a

writer on SNL and how the art of the subtle joke

and the art of actually writing good jokes seems

to have faded away without a trace on the television

screen. I just don't laugh at TV. TV's gotten

bad. Like, it's just not even funny anymore.

No. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. So I saw that and

I was like, ooh, idea. Ping. And then you brought

to our attention the Buzzsprout helping podcasters

with their name generation tool. Yeah, so what

it does is it allows people to find a name to

launch with. And it uses patterns to perform

well in podcast apps, supposedly. And it says

it optimizes for the radio test. It also checks

the name to see if there's collisions in major

podcast directories to ensure that you're not.

getting a name that someone else has at least

that's what they say i don't know if it actually

works because you give it a description and it

will generate stuff yeah i think i'm going to

test it out um because and then it gives you

kind of best practices about descriptions and

naming and you know things like that yep But

they're also saying a great podcast name is unique.

Yep. Yeah, it has to be unique. It has to be

interesting. It has to be ear grabbing or it

has to be eye catch. I mean, specifically if

you're putting your podcast name out there on

social media, like if you're writing it out to

promote it. on Twitter or blue sky or Facebook

or wherever you, you have to have a name that

people are going to look at and be like, Hmm,

I'd check that out. So it does search Apple podcasts,

Spotify and YouTube music for podcasts with the

exact or a similar name. Nice. Very cool. It

also, uh, searches Google for your podcast title

plus podcast uses a tool like name checker to

see if social handles are available. It checks

the U .S. Patent and Trademark Office trademark

search to see if somebody has already registered

your podcast name. Oh. Wow. That's a powerful

tool. That is powerful. And it was just updated

in September. And it says, you know, like in

their FAQ, our podcast title is copyrighted.

It says they are not protected by copyright.

In the U .S., your podcast title is protected

by a trademark once you use it commercially.

For added legal protection, some creators fill

out a trademark application with the USPTO. Yeah.

It says, can two podcasts have the same name?

And it says, podcast directories won't reject

your podcast for having the same name as another

show, but it's not a good idea. Copying another

podcast title makes it harder to build a podcast

brand and secure social media handles. You can

end up with names too similar to another podcast.

I can't tell you how many This Week in Geeks

there are. I don't even want to know. Technically,

the one from Canada is the original. Yes. however

there's also another one from detroit that was

started around the same time and i can't be certain

who was first oh boy but it you know they they

you know there's like eight of them on there

plus the acronym this week you know this week

and and then so like twig is an acronym for a

lot so this week in google this week in gaming

this you know any of those they're all twig yep

So theoretically they should have trademarked.

Well, granted they're in Canada, so it doesn't

quite apply, but yeah, that's a whole other thing.

So I don't know how they would enforce it. Yeah.

Over here. Yeah. But still the, the point, you

know, yeah, is the same. It's like, it's just,

if you don't manage it, people will take it.

Yeah. That's the, yeah. And we did, it's funny

that you found this tool and you brought this

up to me and I was like, wait a minute. We did

this three years ago. Geek cast radio episode

two 97, the podcast naming game. So I'll shoot

you that link since I have the page pulled up

and you can put that in the show notes for people

to go back and listen to us discuss all of this

same thing. But we discussed it three years ago

too. But yeah, no, it's just ridiculous. And

the way I always looked at it was, number one,

I want a unique title. But number one, I want

I come up like if I see a title, I will come

up with ideas based off of that title. I will

try not to take that title. Agreed. But it's

one of those things where I just can't help myself

of. That's why I try not to be influenced by

certain things. And I also think it's a sign

of respect to not copy people's titles. Like,

just, like, no, don't and stop. Like, I don't

know. Like, if someone were to right now, today,

come up with their own. music podcast about whatever

musical thing they wanted to do and they wanted

to call it tooncast t -u -n -e c -a -s -t i don't

have a problem with that because it's different

it still sounds the same as tooncast t -o -n

-c -a -s -t but if it's specifically a music

podcast as long as it's designated a music podcast

and etc etc etc fine But the same thing you mentioned

with Twig, same thing happened over the years

with ToonCast. How many ToonCasts have we run

into? Oh, my God. We started that show when the

network started, June 1st, 2009, ToonCast. And

after that date, so many other shows. we're a

toon cast we're a toon cast we're a vintage toon

cat and i'm like oh my god well and yeah so i

mean technically we have squatters rights on

all of those names we really do i know i know

and we could technically enforce it and be a

royal pain i have had to do that with some that

had all things transformers yeah that's on youtube

they're like well i searched it i didn't see

nothing i'm like you didn't search very hard

no you didn't search very hard i mean uh it's

like i'm the original all things transformers

yeah exactly i don't i don't know where you know

what village you crawled from but you know yeah

because if you had found it you would have found

a show with almost 500 episodes in 17 and a half,

18 years, 20 years, whatever. Like, come on,

people do your jobs, do your research. And the

same thing with me. Sometimes I have to sit here

and do my research. I, if I can't come up with

a title because I'll come up with a title and

I'll, I'll go do my research and I'll, I'll look

in iTunes first. Cause I'll look in the iTunes

directory first and then I'll look at Spotify

and then I'll just go to Google and just type

the title in that I'd like to name it. And if

it doesn't pop up anywhere, then okay, cool.

But again, this buzzsprout thing, excellent new

tool. We need to have this LinkedIn, every one

of our audio posts going forward, just so people

have the information. Well, I was thinking about

it too. I'm like, when I, you know, taste my

new uh edition of my book uh -huh yeah yeah that

sucker's going in it because like absolutely

honestly it it's such a pain yep we need to interview

whoever came up with this from buzzsprout we

need to get in contact with the buzzsprout people

i'm serious i want to talk to this person because

that would be cool damn But yeah, so that's that's

that's the topics, folks. That's all the geekdom

we got for this week, I think. Yeah, I think

I think that's about it. I mean, it doesn't have

to be anything, you know, like Uber long. Well,

I mean, I mean, we've been at it about an hour

anyway, but yeah. I mean, unless there's anything

else major, I don't think so. Let me check the

Google feed and see. Netflix just... Cult classic

80s movie gets Netflix TV reboot with a twist.

The title doesn't even tell me what the movie

is. I'm not clicking that. Nope, nope. Beloved

Ant -Man actor wants to return to Marvel as New

Morbius. Must have job. Must have job. Give me

money. Nope. So, okay. There's one thing I can

talk about before we get out of here, and I'm

sure you have something, too. What were you going

to say? Because you were going to say something

before. Well, I don't know who they were going

to have play Morbius. I mean, I can click on

the article still, I think. Let's see. Beloved

Ant -Man actor wants to return to Marvel as new

Morbius. This is coming from... We got it covered.

No, no. Reputable with a twist, I guess. Why

entertainment? Superhero hype? They're more reputable

than that, but yeah, I mean... Okay, yeah. But

they still not. I've never heard of this person.

David Dasmission wants to be Morbius in the MCU.

Previously played Kurt in Ant -Man and Ant -Man

and the Wasp. I don't even know who the hell

Kurt is. I only ever saw Ant -Man, and I don't

even remember watching Ant -Man. I know I saw

the movie, but the Ant -Man movies were not that

memorable to me. No clue, but apparently he wants

to play. morbius uh again his name is david das

das machine d -a -s -t -m -a -l -c -h -i -a -n

i wonder if he's the um guy that played uh darren

he played kurt uh whoever that is i don't it

said yeah I'd have to look at the article just

to even know who that is. I don't know. I don't

know either. I don't like Morbius as a character

anyway. He was only ever done right in animation,

I think. There's the article. It's in Messenger.

Um, but while you're looking at that, I will

say really quickly, even though I'm waiting until

it eventually hits Disney plus, cause I don't

go to the theaters anymore. I am really stoked

for Tron Aries. Everything I've seen so far.

It just, oh man, just really cool. And we already

know that it is not picking up where Legacy left

off. It is a new story. It does still have Kevin

Flynn, obviously. I think he's just a cameo.

Yeah, he is. Which I think is sad. Well, it is

very sad, but it seems like he's, I don't know,

hopefully it's longer than a cameo. Hopefully

the cameo leads. to something hopefully they

don't wait another 15 flumping years hopefully

that they get to the story that they were going

to tell with you know tron ascension or tron

whatever the the third the original third movie

was going to be uh i don't know if they ever

will but you got the thing or no yeah i've looked

at it I, I recognize that's who I thought it

was talking about. Cause the guy plays a lot

of weird characters anyway. Like he just, he

has that look where he can realistically play

like just about any weird character. Okay. No

clue. Um, but no, like everything, like they

just released a trailer for Tron Ares. where

it's a legacy -type trailer where they introduce

you to the original film from 82, then the legacy

film from 2011, or was it 2010? Anyway, whatever,

from Tron Legacy. And then they get you into

Ares, and I'm just like, okay, that was one of

the coolest trailers I've ever seen. Like, yeah,

no. So, very, very cool. And I've heard the score.

or soundtrack to the movie because it's out.

Nine Inch Nails do a really good job. I'm not

the biggest fan of the vocal tracks, but the

instrumentals do very, very well. I like, I think,

two of the vocal tracks. There's one just sounds

really, really weird. But overall, I'm excited

to see it eventually once it hits Disney+. Yeah,

I agree. I don't go to the theater anymore. So

I'm interested in when they put it on Disney

Plus and then seeing the film. I did enjoy the

first two. But I enjoyed Legacy much better than

The first one. Cause obviously it was made decades

later. 82. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And even me. So

like I was two years old when the first movie

came out. So I had never seen the first trial.

It just never, there are certain movies that

just don't cross my radar that just don't. And

you'd think that with Tron being what it is,

that I would want to get into that. And I really

enjoyed it. I really dug it. I thought it was

great. I had to find a copy of it at the time

in 2011 before I went and saw Tron Legacy in

theaters. But I was like, okay, I need to catch

up with this. And then I dove into all the music,

the original score, the Daft Punk score for Legacy.

And like I said before. A moment ago, the new

Nine Inch Nails soundtrack for the Ares, it's

so good. It really, really is. One or two vocal

tracks off of an entire instrumental soundtrack.

Out of all of that, one that I don't like is

not going to have me saying, oh my God, it's

the worst ever. I would never do that. But, but

yeah, no. So Tron Aries, go see it folks. It's

out October 10th, 2025. Here's hoping it does

well. I've been seeing a lot of people outside

of me saying that I'm waiting for Disney plus.

And that's specifically because I don't go to

theaters anymore because of my disability. And

I've lived in the town that I live in now here

in Indiana for three years. I wouldn't even know

where a movie theater is in this town. So, you

know, that's my own personal thing, but I've

seen a lot of people say, I'm not going to the

theater for that. I'm not going to the theater,

blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh, okay,

sure. Fine. I do hope, I do hope it does well

because I want another one. Eventually I want

them to eventually tell the story that they were

supposed to tell 15 years ago. Yeah. I wish that

they'd, they'd continued legacy. Yeah. But. So

I think that about wraps this episode up and

yeah. Until next time, you guys can comment on

the episode post on the website, geekcastradio

.com. You can of course send us a email feedback

at geekcastradio .com as well. You can find us

on the social medias. I'm on X or Twitter or

whatever they want to call themselves today,

tomorrow, next year. So you can find me on there

at scp21 and yourself, sir. I don't understand

why you would call a website a letter www .x.

Don't do that. I'm on Twitter at TF2 and Mike.

So until next time, get altered, get geeky with

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