Starfleet Academy Expelled & Universal’s Theater War

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

to Altered Geek. Geek. Geek. Geek. It's a wild

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From Star Trek to Transformers, we're ready to

soar. Superheroes clash as we spark up a flame.

Altered Geek Podcast. Remember the name. Oh,

and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host, Steve

Megatron, and joining me on this adventure into

geekdom is TFG1 Mike. hello it's been a long

year so far in the last three weeks it has it

has has lots lots of stuff happening lots of

stuff lots of stuff so that being said uh we've

got ourselves uh some plethora of geeky news

that has happened in the last week a variety

of interesting topics you could say uh buckle

up folks among everything uh and we're also still

gearing up for our top 100 countdown which uh

i think we're still waiting on a few lists which

is the only reason we haven't done anything with

it yet i think so but i'm not sure yeah i know

we're waiting on a few that's that's all i know

okay so okay um so yeah going into the the first

round of things and uh The veteran podcasters

hanging up their headphones. Podcasts can run

forever, but some hosts are bowing out or changing

directions as celebrities and YouTube dominate

the industry. Oh boy. Okay. So yeah, I read this

article and I was like, okay, this is... It's

kind of funny because podcasting blew up during

COVID because people were like, oh, there's nothing

going on. Let's start a podcast. And it's like,

OK. And then that's when the celebrities got

involved. And that's when it made went mainstream

when the advertising dollars. That's when they

started classifying a video podcast as a podcast.

And then they started, you know, us indie publishers

kind of got pushed aside for bigger fish with

bigger money and bigger audience. So it's funny.

reading this article because there's a lot of

different ones and i've never heard of some of

these podcasts but it doesn't hurt anything yeah

no exactly because podcasting is all about discoverability

and how you discover a podcast varies whether

it's searching for it through google or searching

through it through if you're an apple user if

you use spotify or Honestly, the last two podcast

episodes that I added to my Spotify Your Episodes

playlist, I found them because of Instagram Reels,

because it was a video version of the audio podcast

that was on Instagram Reels. What interests me

about this article isn't so much the beginning

of the article. It's the middle after the photo

jump there, where it's talking about nearly 60

% of Americans age 12 and up say they tuned into

a podcast in the past month. According to Edison

Research's latest Infinite Dial report on digital

media consumer behavior, but only a few blockbuster

names such as Rogan. And Amy Poehler, or shows

backed by household media companies like the

New York Times and NBC, raking huge audiences

and paychecks. Nearly half of all ad revenue

goes to just 500 podcasts, according to Analytics

Platform. Magellan AI and Edison Data shows a

top 10 shows account for about 40 % weekly podcast

listenership. Yeah. That didn't bother Kevin

Clancy, who began hosting the KFC radio podcast

for Barstool Sports in 2012. Now, that started

in 2012. I'm just first hearing of Mr. Clancy's

name and his podcast right now reading this article.

Clancy and his friends played listener voicemails

and interviewed comedians and other guests in

his basement. Even as celebrities began to take

to the mics in early 2020s in caves, the audience

was loyal to advertise the revenue was stable.

Then a few years ago, things started shifting.

We used to be able to get guests like a list

star who was promoting his or her Marvel movie.

Now he's going to go to Travis Kelsey and there's

really no time left for us. Clancy said. he began

worrying about whether listeners would keep tuning

in to a bunch of self -described normal guys

when they could hear an entire series from an

NBA player dishing on locker room antics. And

he goes on. Go ahead. Yeah. I mean, there's a

lot of different reasonings and different people

that they reference. I mean, even the WTF with

Marc Maron, you know, ended after the 1600, almost

1700 episode run in 16 years. uh just because

they're interested in committing to a life on

youtube like a lot of them were happy doing the

audio only and with becoming a staple of it a

lot of them aren't interested in honestly like

it creates more of a burnout i yeah i go the

easy route i let everything syndicate to youtube

yeah but i mean i still have plans to do some

video content i just one i'm waiting for my desk

to get here like i ordered a new desk and and

i want to right this really needs better light

and just cleaner atmosphere i'd like i just i

don't like how everything looks right now uh

and i feel like if it's a standing desk too which

my new one's going to be uh i can stand up and

more articulate it and it'll just look more professional

than me sitting in you know armchair hero yeah

you let me worry about that part yeah but i mean

like they're saying that you know we're not you

know some of these are saying that they had long

protected the audio only format and resisted

loading it up with too many ads and they're like

we're not going to in the future be able to do

it the way we want to do it you know some of

these producers are saying and uh i'm i'm kind

of inclined to agree And it does make it harder

to get the, you know, celebrity aspect or, you

know, because we're small fish compared to bigger

fish. And it's like they're doing their own things

or they're being on other people's. And it's

just the whole landscape's changed. And I don't

know if it's for the better. I think it's just

it's still evolving. And there's a lot of holdouts

for the indie podcasters still. But I think that.

not that there isn't a place for video but the

fact that they had to make special rules with

uh the different guilds yeah combat netflix and

all these other places calling video shows like

primetime tv would have like you know your jimmy

fallon colbert and things like that calling those

a podcast because they're on a streaming platform

it's not those are not a podcast like and so

So that's, that's why I stay with like the purest

thing of like, it's an audio show. Yeah. If you

have a video show, it's not a podcast, it's a

video show. And so I, I see in YouTube is the

biggest streaming platform on the planet. Like

I do, I do get where they're going with it. However,

that doesn't mean it's a one size fits all model

for everyone. And there is burnout. There are

things that it's like, I don't have time to sit

there and make a million shorts or a million,

you know, like over edited videos. It's like,

I'm not going to kill myself over it. Uh, I do

audio because I can get the thing. Like I have

my filters, I have all my stuff pre done. I don't

need a, I did edit it for me. I literally go

through it. Uh, and then after like 45 minutes,

I've scrubbed through it enough. And then I,

I publish it. Like there's not this long. time

consumption of well i gotta put the lower thirds

then i gotta put all the graphics i'm referencing

then i gotta you know do you know a multi -cam

setup where i switch different people talking

like a zoom thing or or i have to pay for another

subscription platform or i have to you know it's

like i'm i'm running on a shoestring and yeah

and so uh it's i can understand where some of

these veteran podcasters are bowing out rather

than changing up And there have been times I've

thought of the same thing, but at the same time,

like, I don't feel like I've totally exhausted

that. And I keep pulling you back in. Yeah. I

mean, that does happen too, but, but no, you're

right. You're, you're, you're absolutely right.

It's like, I, I get burnout all the time too.

And I have more time than you do. I do this all

the time. Like I eat, breathe, sleep all the

time. Podcasting. i'm doing like i will i spent

because i do editing twice because i will edit

the two individual tracks together and go through

every second of the audio i then mix those together

and then i go through that to make sure there's

no anything i missed and then i'll Mix all that

together and have a final thing and put it up.

But I don't do the clips. I don't do the whatever.

I just put the final thing up and put it online,

whatever. There is a show. I don't know what

what show it is, but I follow them on Instagram.

But they call it a podcast, even though it's

a it's a video show that's on Instagram kind

of thing. I don't I've never found them. I've

never actively looked for their show on on Spotify.

And. I like what they do. I like what their segments

are as an Instagram viewer. But yeah, there is

a clear distinction between video content and

audio podcasting. And I've never considered them

the same damn thing. If you and I were to do

GCRN live like we were going to do all those

years ago. And honestly, we were ahead of the

curve when we thought of that. yeah well fortunately

and we pulled the trigger on it things would

have been a little bit different in that scenario

i've tried to we did a test i think and i don't

think it actually worked but no it worked it's

just it was time consuming and i couldn't get

everybody else on board yeah and now lo and behold

that's what everybody else is doing and that's

where the views are coming from so yeah and that's

fine but i think that if we were to do any kind

of gcrn live anything now It would have to be

something so much different. Like, we have 10

news stories we're going to talk about tonight.

It wouldn't be those 10 news. It wouldn't be

the same thing as what we're doing here. It would

have to be something so much different. It would

have to be, look at this toy here that I have,

or look at this, or look at that, or listen to

this. peter cullen voice thing or it would have

to be something so much different or it would

have to be a different topic thing or it would

have to be a it would have to be something different

than what we already do and i think for me that

was always the resistance to video besides the

fact that i normally don't like being on camera

i will go on camera i've been on camera in the

last five years which is fine i don't mind it

now but I think that was always my resistance

to us doing it is because we already do the thing.

I mean, unless we're just going to do this and

just have video, just add the video to this.

OK, sure, we can do that. If you want to do this

live, we could do this live and still have this

as the edited thing later. Don't bother me now.

I'm OK with it now, I guess. But it's just one

of those things where. I've always liked the

record it, edit it, polish it the best we can,

and then put out the product because I've always

felt that an edited product is a lot better than

hit the record button and then, oh my God, what

if one of us screws up? Or what if the internet

connection dies? Or what if this? Or what if

that? Or what if whatever? At least in a podcast

edit. If the internet connection dies, at least

one of us can save the recording and we can either

come back to it or whatever we have to do kind

of thing. I don't know. The movie theaters and

the movie industry are all excited because Comcast,

NBCUniversal, mouthful there, decided to extend

their theatrical window. to five weekends in

2026 seven weekends starting in 2027 because

it went to kind of shortened during COVID with

17 days or three weekends and they're saying

pre COVID they had like 90 day windows before

things kind of went all over the place while

I I can see why they're doing it to try and bolster

higher dollars It I mean, it also means that

we'll probably get less stuff going to the theater,

which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing.

Because a lot majority of the stuff that seems

to come out seems to be crap anyway. Anymore.

And honestly, I've. I've seen like a lot of these

different, you know, the theaters trying to change

things up, you know, a lot of them now are doing

premium seating. Like you don't get. like some

of them have assigned seats some of them have

you know more loungers and so it's a more uh

intimate experience and it's like i don't really

care dude like i'm there to see a movie i don't

care if you put me in a bucket like just um like

i don't need light up massage chairs with you

know with Like a lazy boy footstand that kicks

out. You know, I don't need all that to go see

a theater movie. I just want to see the movie

in the theater if I'm going to do it. Granted,

I've seen three movies in the theater in the

last seven years. Yeah. Terminator, the last

one that came out, Genesis or whatever. Dark

Fate. Yeah, Dark Fate. I saw that one in theater.

I saw. And then two family movies with my family,

like one this year and then one two years ago

or two, three years ago. And that's it. Like,

that's all I've seen in the theater because one,

I don't have the time. I'd rather just watch

it on my couch where it's comfortable and I can

watch it at my own, you know, leisure. And it's

like, if I feel like watching it, I'll watch

it. If I don't, you know, I can skip ahead or

pause it or come back to it. Yeah. And then I

don't have obnoxious people. I don't have to

go anywhere. I don't have to like, it's just,

it's cheaper. I can have my own snacks. Like

not that don't get me wrong. I love movie theater

popcorn. Um, like absolutely love it. But I,

I don't think that this is going to necessarily

fix their problem. Now, what I did see that will

more than likely fix their problem is, uh, I

don't know if you saw the, the quote by Ryan.

Oh, yeah. The one where it's not the movie theater.

It's not our issue. It's the movie people. Yes.

Make the stuff that we want to see. Yeah. So

his quote was he tells Hollywood it's not moviegoers

job to keep theaters open. It's our job. Yeah.

To make things that are worth viewers coming

out for. And honestly, I 100 percent agree with

it. I agree with him, but at the same time, that's

still not going to get me to go out. No, but

I agree in the sense that if you're expecting

for the theaters to do their due diligence there,

and they want the money, which obviously they

do. yeah the answer to the problem is put out

original new stuff yeah uh like he's he's literally

saying that it's it's their job to make things

that you know make it worth people coming out

for and he's getting so much like positive feedback

on social media for it because you know oh i

100 agree with him if if i could financially

go to and logistically go to a movie theater

right now i would have already seen project hail

mary that looks so good i can't wait 100 can't

wait to see that but the fact that he's so tuned

in he realizes that like and he signed on for

that movie six years ago you know got the script

and then and and then saw it and it's it's a

brand new original movie which i think is why

like the ryan reynolds stuff like the last like

10 years of his like that have come out on netflix

and things like that have been so refreshing

is because they're original they're brand new

there's things we haven't seen before yeah and

yes i mean it's playing on his comedic styling

but they've all been great and yeah and i feel

like we've hit this you know and they you know

george lucas had something that He more or less

talked about the same thing, about how theaters,

or not theaters, the movie industry was kind

of bankrupt of ideas anymore. He's like, nobody

knows what to do. The stories they're telling

are just old movies. Let's do a sequel. Let's

do another version of this movie. And it's not

just in the movies, but in almost everything.

There's no original thinking. It's like, I saw

something, let's do something like that. Like,

there's no... there's no putting it down for

a while, giving it time to breathe and coming

back to it with a fresh, you know, fresh take.

It's like, no, that's, that's just keep making

the same thing over and over. And some of the

fact, you know, I mean, he is right there. The

issue is bigger than that though. Like the industry

has kind of spent years rewarding like brand

familiarity over actual imagination. Um, so then

uh you're getting like sequels remakes cinematic

universes and this system's more or less like

coddling to safety over creativity and so the

audience show up and nothing changes and so they're

like they tune out and like yeah i mean i know

that he's kind of a poor example because he had

star wars and then he went back to the prequels

but at the same time it's his universe he created

yeah but he's He's talking about the whole industry

as a whole. The whole industry is bankrupt of

ideas. It's like, oh, let's go back and do an

Indiana Jones 5. Why? Why did we need to make

the fourth one? It's like Eddie Murphy. Why would

I come back for Beverly Hills Cop 4 if the story

is not absolutely good and needed? What is the

point of it? Or like... you know happy gilmore

2 or you know or like i don't know like the sonic

verse like all the sonic movies we've gotten

it's been enough to keep jim carrey like happy

and he retired because he was so done with movies

like he's genuinely having fun and then you're

seeing you know ryan gosling having fun in this

new movie and yeah i i feel like that's where

things need to go back to like they need to be

doing something they're actually enthused with

having fun with it's not just a paycheck it's

something original they're taking you know creative

license with it but staying true to the source

material and we'll get into that later with star

trek and some of the other stuff but i i feel

like there there is a realm to play and to make

it your own but there's also a realm that you

don't screw with the formula yeah that made it

what it was and in the process alienating everyone

who likes it So, yeah. So, I mean, I feel like

this window thing that they're trying. I don't

I don't know if it's going to make that big of

a difference if the quality of the movies are

not getting better. Very true. Very true. Very

true. And just doesn't. Yeah, I don't know. It's

just one of those things where. And then we get

to the bonus part of this where... The bonus

part, which I saw Pop Culture Brain on Instagram

post the... They posted it everywhere, but he's

talking about how Universal Studios thinks exclusivity

is going to get us back into theaters. They're

wrong. They're wrong. That's the wrong part of

this. Like, yeah, fine. You want to extend the

window to 45 days? I can wait 45 days to be able

to purchase a Fandango. download of whatever

movie it is or wherever it's going to end up

streaming sure fine I can wait 45 days but for

you to think Universal Studios that having your

movie exclusively at one theater or another look

I've been living in and I'll say this because

I don't care I've been living in Anderson Indiana

for almost four years now it'll be four years

this coming up June I don't know where the nearest

movie theater is in this town. I've never looked

because I haven't seen a movie in theaters since

2018. I don't have. And I know I'm beating a

dead horse here. And I know people have heard

me say this the last episode, probably the episode

before that. Rupert Palsy can't drive. Don't.

like the public transportation in in this in

this town because it was unreliable for me at

the time when i moved here four years ago and

in four years i don't think it's going to change

uh so far because i've had bad experiences with

it in the last four years too so yeah i'm not

going to theaters i'm just not i i Call me an

old man curmudgeon about it, but I am more than

perfectly fine to give them their money on the

back end for the media release than I am on the

front end for the theatrical release. As long

as it's a movie I want to watch. Yeah, I mean,

I'm I'm I'm to the point where, like, I really

don't care about exclusivity. um i i personally

i i like that's just a detractor for me yeah

like i i have no ambition to deal with that like

i'm just not and for them to play the game that

the game consoles are doing like playstation

oh it's only for our system okay well thank you

for playing i'm not dealing with that um and

i saw you know a comment about that on twitter

x whatever yeah the other day uh somebody had

posted they had posted something along the lines

of i think what was it uh they were so tired

of the exclusivity for product What was it? It

was a geek illustrator for like Hasbro Mondo

and like Lego video game stuff and like story

artists on, you know, 90s X -Men, the animated

series. It's like based out of Florida. He. He

commented because he did all the 90s like Fox

animation stuff. Like graphically. And so he

was complaining about. What was it? something

to the fact that he was he was tired of all of

these retail exclusives for how both like target

walmart handle them yeah like he was showing

like a target item that he wanted and it says

your item has been canceled right he was trying

to get studio series 86 uh damaged megatron i

gotcha yeah and and he pre -ordered it oh with

target and And then a bunch of other people were

going like, yeah, mine got pushed out to Q3.

And then somebody else was like, I ordered on

Pulse in Europe because they hold it directly.

But they're like, it's such a pain. And then

somebody else was like, my Megatron was delayed

for the third time this morning. And I was just

like, I get tired of the exclusivity of these

retailers of not getting it or it's delayed.

any of that i said so i just ordered knockoff

and slapped a toy hacks faction on it and called

it a day because i don't play the exclusives

either or or lack of carrying it i pre -order

it and once delayed i get the knockoff oh geez

so that was my comment to it it's like i'll i'll

get the legit one it's like but you gotta beat

me halfway here guys yeah it's like if you're

not gonna You're not going to meet me halfway

there. It's like, I'm not going to deal with

it. I'll just go somewhere else. Yeah. And since

we're talking about toys and exclusivity and

everything else, this isn't really exclusive,

but I am sorry. Almost $50 for an Autobot symbol

transformer. Oh, God. The Optimus Prime that

turns into an Autobot symbol that's coming out.

I would only keep it in Autobot symbol mode.

I would not ever keep it in robot mode. But the

fact that that thing is like $46 .99. I'm curious

to see what the Megatron is going to look like.

I hope they get the purple right for the Decepticon

logo. And I don't dislike what they've done.

I don't dislike it either. I just think it needs

to be like $10 cheaper. No, and I agree with

you. Yeah, it's not worth it for that price.

I don't know. It's yeah. Yeah, it's bad. All

right, so heading on over to Screen Rant, we're

going back into the films here, folks. Guy Ritchie's

action movie In the Gray, starring Henry Cavill

and Jake Gyllenhaal, revealed in new trailer.

Now, I watched this trailer when we first shared

the link, or I forget if you found it or if I

found it or who found it, but... Guy Ritchie

is assembling his most dynamic trio yet with

In the Gray. The upcoming action thriller will

feature Jake Gyllenhaal, Henry Cavill, and Eliza

Gonzalez? Yeah. Okay, good. I did read that right.

Teaming up as they undertake an impossible mission

to steal back a billion -dollar fortune from

a merciless despot. I remember watching this

trailer and I'm like, oh, this is going to be

fun. Well, have you seen the... What are we looking

for? Well, I just watched a Henry Cavill movie.

Oh, no. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

No, I have not seen that yet. It's great. Okay.

it's it's got you know the the current actor

for jack reacher it's got a bunch of other guys

in it it's good um it's it takes place it's supposed

to be like during world war ii right and there's

these like six renegade guys or five renegade

guys that um basically do the impossible it's

it's inspired by a true story but all of the

the gore and all of the explosions and all the

stuff that's in it like it's not really gore

it's just funny how it kind of does things um

it it was it was more of a um clandestine like

spy like undertaking in the actual history this

is more of an exaggerated version but it's funny

like just how they're all portrayed and cavill

is their like ringleader for the group and he

plays it really well and it it honestly gave

me kind of an 80s vibe for like a bunch of action

stars oh very cool how it played out and i i

thought it was really well done and a lot of

fun so uh yeah despite all of the you know things

in it uh i did recognize an actor from star trek

strange new worlds in it uh so that was kind

of cool uh but yeah i mean it was it kind of

i feel like cavill's kind of into his own right

now having fun with different projects and yeah

so yeah i'm looking forward to this yep yeah

i'm looking forward to it too another thing where

at least i'm kind of looking forward to it i

guess i don't know but lego batman 2 is coming

out so we had that trailer looks kind of fun

They're bringing everybody in kind of a thing

on this one. Uh, what did you think of that?

Did you watch that trailer? Yeah. I mean, it's

a Lego movie, but I don't know the Lego Batman.

And even this new trailer for the second one,

just always looked better to me than the, the

Lego movie one and two did. I never, I'm going

to have to do, I'm going to have, uh, i have

to re -watch lego movie one and i never saw lego

movie two i saw lego movie and i'm like this

sucks well this is a video game oh well this

is a video game but yeah but yeah lego batman

2 video game i thought it was an animated film

yeah it's legacy of the dark knight oh legacy

that's right it's the yeah it launches may 29th

for ps5 xbox and switch and pc and steam nice

i've played enough of the x -men games in the

past i don't or not x -men but uh sorry i was

watching that earlier but um of these lego games

and i'm just kind of like like i i i the the

last one that i played was one of these you know

lego batman or the star wars episode one and

then i also played uh before that the lego island

okay so very cool very cool and then ben affleck

oh boy mr affleck his thoughts on ai Kind of

lines up with us pretty much. It's just a tool

unless you actually teach it how to use itself.

Well, and he's like, by itself, it's garbage.

He's like, but you still need somebody that trains

it and uses it and knows what they're doing with

it. It's like my brother, Captain Ruggles, is

turning his book into a film yeah using ai and

he's like you know is it perfect no he's like

but it gives you an idea what he's going for

yeah yeah um and i'm like okay like i get that

like you know because he's like what do you think

about it i'm like no it's really good i just

wish the transitions were a little bit better

and cleaner because i mean i've seen people do

it on like higgs field and some of the other

platforms and they they are a little bit cleaner

but people paid for that and my brother's like

I'm letting Grok do it so that it kind of, you

know, he's prompting it to get what he wants.

And, you know, it's pretty consistent overall.

But and there's other platforms that are probably

better at it. Like I've used all of them for

different reasons. I've used chat GPT for certain

things. I've used Gemini for certain things.

I've used Copilot for certain things. I've used

some other ones like Higgs field and some other

stuff like that. And so each of them has like

their benefits and strengths. But then each one

has, you know, you got to know what you're going

for. And there's times where I'll ask a question

or have it trying to analyze something for me

and one of them and it completely craps the bed.

And I'm like, you're retarded. Like you're you're

literally giving me the same like image or same

like response back for my query that changed.

Since the last time I asked, you know, and it'll

give me the same thing. And it's like, sorry,

my memory is, and I'm like, yeah, I get it. So

I'd like, I moved to some other platform at that

point for that specific prompt or, uh, or, you

know, kind of work, work from there, but it's

definitely, it's definitely a changing landscape

there. And I think Affleck is spot on the money

there. it's trained to recognize patterns converge

toward what is statistically common making it

incredibly useful for structure speed and efficiency

but it also means the results often lean toward

the average unless you have somebody that's constantly

writing it you know that's why some of it can

feel great and some of it's polished but it also

means you know it's not replacing creativity

it's assisting it it's by removing the friction

and handling the repetitiveness, which is exactly

what I use it for. Yeah. But yeah, at the end

of the day, it's still technology. And like,

I think it's funny that, you know, Netflix bought

into it. Yeah. That'll help with post -production.

It's basically going to help with production

and then it's going to allow them to move faster.

Speaking of Netflix. oh boy so i saw this instagram

reel the other day from director paul feig where

he's uh somebody asked him about um netflix audience

tests and whatever else and he talked about how

netflix did home tests and it's basically like

you know well they brought up a bunch of people

on a zoom call and it's all these windows and

blah blah it's people knitting and going to the

bathroom and they're coming back and they're

like well what happened well if you would have

sat there watching the movie you would have known

what freaking happened so test audiences for

zoom calls for that's the only bad thing about

at home viewing with with uh with test audiences

that that's the good thing about going back to

theaters for netflix for for for test audiences

because technically most of the time you can't

leave the theater unless you do have to go to

the bathroom but at least you can't you know

go get your own snack or do the laundry or you

know oh boy that that's crazy So there's that.

And then we have the Vinnie Thomas thing where

he says he was resentful of how the algorithm

dictated what content he should post next in

order to grow. He says, when you start, there's

no question of what you should do next. The Internet

will dictate it to you. Oh, you should do this

next. At the beginning, I was a little resentful

of that. Now, you had replied to this, and you

had said, I ignore the algorithm and do what

I want, and I am passionate for... It may align

at times, but it doesn't dictate my work. And

I had... I had... I had a quote tweeted you and

I basically, basically just said F the algorithm

and I'll do whatever the hell I want when I want.

Cause that's kind of how I roll. Uh, kind of

thing. Cause honestly, like, I don't know. Even

going back to that time when Maurice LaMarche.

When we asked him that question about voicing

video games or voice acting, and he gave us that

answer about voicing for video games. I don't

know how much of the algorithm actually helped

us during that time. It didn't. It was literally

a website. Yeah. It was. That's feed founded.

Yeah. And then they posted it. And the thing

is, is now if your website's not optimized for

AI. It's not going to find it anyway. There's

not really an algorithm per se. It's depending

on people's queries and the fact that AI is doing

the searching for you. So little by little, the

algorithm is going away and it's being replaced

by direct questioning. And so. And so, I mean,

like, I agree with some of the comments on on

this post of like the same person. Commenting

this, you know, different crap with another line.

you know algorithm really does shape what creators

end up making a lot of creators start with passion

and then the algorithm slowly takes over the

internet rewards what works not always what creators

want to make every creator eventually learn the

same lesson adapt or disappear algorithms basically

become the new producers and editors of the internet

and i'm just like f the algorithm like yeah like

i i don't i i just like why we've been around

for as long as we've been around is because we've

done what we want when we want to and if we didn't

want to do it we didn't do it like if there's

something you're not interested in i just don't

do it and i don't ever make you do it like no

well you can't make me anyway no crap but my

point is like There's certain things, and it

wasn't like we ever had the conversation of,

Steve, what don't you want to do? Mike, what

don't you want to do? We've just voiced our opinions

to each other that, hey, this is really not something

I'm interested in. Or we will ask each other,

hey, what do you, is this what you, like, you

know. you're gonna have to get somebody else

to do if it ever comes down to it you know you're

gonna have to get somebody else to do lord of

the rings or harry potter if that's ever something

you want to do i don't think that's ever something

you want to do might be somebody else on the

network that wants to do it and from the article

i saw earlier today i don't know if we should

ever cover harry potter on this network ever

i saw the originals and they were just fine yeah

i know i don't care for all of this crap of like

of of no i'm saying you saw the news story huh

which one there's always something about divisive

with it it's her support yeah supposedly she's

putting money towards certain anti -groups of

some it's a whole thing I'll tell you, I'm not

even commenting on that. I'm just saying like,

I don't think that movies that had an entire

series need to be turned into a television show.

Ah, yeah, there's that too. That's where I'm

going with it. I just, I don't feel like we need

it. And yeah. Um, I, I feel like it's kind of

a, a why. Yeah. Like I just, I don't, I don't

feel like it's necessary. So that's, that's part

of it. And then. The other part of it is, is

like, I think a lot of this franchise stuff,

the ships have kind of sailed. Like there was

the, the rings of power on Amazon. And the thing

is, is that they do these series and then you

get people that don't really like the source

material as much as they claim they do. Yeah.

And so then they jack it all up and then they

add their own beliefs and agendas to everything.

And so like one way or the other, it doesn't

matter. Like I'm not even picking sides there.

I don't care. No, no, no. But I'm just saying,

like, instead of sticking with what works in

the source material and. I'll like it's playbook

for that specific thing. I'm not saying don't

try something new, but I'm saying, like, don't

distort what made it what it was. Yeah. That's

that's where I feel like things keep changing.

And then it's. Yeah. So. Yeah. And now we get

to the good stuff, folks. We get to GCRN versus

IGN. The war rages on. Take it away. Starfleet

Academy is canceled. Yeah. I haven't even watched

most of this. Like I watched the first like four

episodes, five episodes. I don't know when they

got to the point of having. The episode where

they talked about Captain Cisco, the thing I

don't like about this show. None of the characters

are likable. OK, it doesn't feel like track.

They swear they're very uncouth and unprofessional

for something like I get. They're supposed to

be academy students, but. If it's supposed to

be, I mean, this takes place in the discovery

timeline, like after discovery. So some of the

cast had a, you know, jumping over like the engineer.

And the Admiral. And then they have Holly Hunter

playing a kind of lackluster. Mandant for the,

the Academy and the captain of the ship. I feel

like this whole show is kind of a crap shoot.

And then it's, it's not like they're, they're

playing loosely with, with Canon here. Cause

like it's so far in the future, but I feel like

you could have made this any show and not called

it Star Trek and had the same result. Yeah, like

they're literally playing with the like trying

to appease. The nostalgia of it. But a lot of

the past and a lot of the characters are just

kind of. And people are like, you know, IGN,

this is what I hate about IGN and a lot of these

other Valnet websites is they all are sputtering

the same crap. and then they're like, oh, boo

-hoo, the show's canceled, blah, blah, blah,

and it's usually somebody that just overly likes

it, and they're using this as their platform,

which, I mean, we do the same thing, but I'm

trying to look at the Kurtzman era, and I made

this argument earlier with somebody else, the

Kurtzman era, we have... the issue that him and

abrams literally were on record for not giving

a crap about trek when they took it over um they

like seth mcfarland actually tried to get it

yeah around the same time and they were like

no you're the family guy uh and then he did the

orville and the orville had x star trek cast

on it because the new star trek until picard

refused to have anybody back uh the doctor seems

to come back pretty frequently because he was

in prodigy and this um and they brought back

the tng cast and some you know people that showed

up throughout the show on there uh but they they

essentially were trying to just like take a giant

dump and try you know do whatever they wanted

to do um I didn't like Academy, and right to

those that do. But I feel like the Kurtzman era

has been so long in the tooth and tired, it's

needed to move on. Like, I'm not saying the Berman

era from the 80s and 90s was awesome the whole

time either, because it fizzled out towards the

end too. Like, Paramount at the time, CBS Paramount,

their CEO took a giant dump on Star Trek. and

canceled enterprise right as it was getting good

they also swore that no new star trek movies

and so that's why it took so long and so that

we went through four years of no like four or

five years of no new star trek until abrams took

over and he wanted to do this academy show from

the start and so i hated discovery I did not

like Academy. Those are pretty much the worst

we've gotten. Section 31 is so far removed from

Star Trek. It's not even Star Trek. It's just

a crap film that they were trying to get through.

Lower Decks, Mike McMahon actually likes Star

Trek because he had a Twitter thing going for

TNG Season 8. While it's comedic and it's kind

of crass too, filled some of that like he was

playing loosely with with it but at the same

time was sticking to canon which I highly respected

in the sense that he wasn't trying to reinvent

the wheel just for the sake of doing it like

he yes he had the characters that were kind of

just wild and you know doing whatever but they

you could see that there was genuine love and

like knowledge of the history of trek in it right

and then strange new worlds it's not the best

show but it's not terrible either like it's taken

some liberties but overall i enjoy it um picard

season one and two absolutely despise what they

did to everybody and how they offed a lot of

characters picard season three was was great

because metallis again an old voyager enterprise

writer came back and took it on and then he framed

it similar to the old star trek movies So that

was why it was good. So we more or less turned

it into a 10 episode movie arc to get them their

final send off the way that they should have

been 20 years ago. Yeah. And then we got prodigy,

which had great legs on it. Like had Janeway

had, you know, holographic doctor had Chakotay

had, you know, a lot of reprisals in it. it got

canceled after two seasons and it was just getting

its legs on it and i felt like that was probably

the closest thing to an academy show that we

had and like they got like young star trek like

some like toddler star trek that's out now which

i'm like why uh but anyways i was really hoping

we'd get discovery yeah not discovery uh legacy

which would have continued with captain seven

and things like that. And you would have had

the option of having old cast come back periodically

on an episodic thing, but they can't get away

from the serialized. And so it makes this whole

thing like that much more worse. Like they can't

do like a DS nine thing where there's like an

overarching plot, but episodes are episodic.

Like they're standalone. Like you can watch it

and not have to watch the whole thing, which

I feel like is a very big detriment to track

right now is the fact that it has to be. So tied

together and Kurtzman and JJ Abrams were never

fans of Trek. They just wanted the property to

do what they wanted. JJ got Star Trek or got

Star Wars, which is what he wanted by doing the

reboot films, which weren't inherently bad, but

set the tone for everything starting with discovery.

Kurtzman takes a dump on everything he touches.

Wasn't a fan of his work on the Transformers

films. So, you know. I'm more or less ready to

see who else gets the keys. Personally, I want

Metallus to take it on or Seth MacFarlane to

get Trek because they understand it. And honestly,

Picard season three and the Orville are some

of the best Trek we've gotten in years outside

the animation. So yeah, that's like I'm coming

from a. Like a legitimate breakdown of where

I'm coming from on it, like I'm not trying to

say like. Some people are making it into this

political thing about, oh, he made it woke. And

then everybody's like, oh, well, Paramount's

going to be MAGA. And it's like, I'm not even

delving into that madness. Literally, it didn't

get the viewers. It got canceled. It was a crappy

show. Because if it actually spoke to the franchise,

you know, the people that followed Trek for decades.

I mean, it's 60 years old. if it actually had

legs on it it would have kept going but it also

had a high production value like the episodes

like they were multi -million dollar episodes

because everything's cgi everything is video

like it's like use some of that ai that you guys

like you know that's out there use practical

effects like they used in the 90s you know they

had sunburst they they literally filmed it in

a weird camera you know method they poured salt

over a ball and had like the light glowing over

it, just light and then overlaying different

effects to it in post -production. But it was

practical effects. Like they physically built

a starship rather than having a CGI model. Like

there's, there's things to be said for doing

practical effects. And I feel like. They more

or less they focused on these new shows. They

always pick one person who's their MacGuffin.

That's like their catch all save everything and

all the secondary tertiary cast don't matter.

Like I can I watch Discovery and I couldn't tell

you who more than three of the characters names

were. Strange New Worlds. I know who they are

because they're playing with legacy characters.

I can tell you more about like some of the lower

decks and prodigy than I can. discovery and ultimately

like everybody on Academy is forgettable outside

of the doctor which they gave him another new

name which is stupid but they focus mostly on

like their emphasis is the message rather than

on the story like they're always trying to get

some stupid message out of it and it's like how

about you give us a good story with a message

but one that causes you to think and doesn't

tell you how to think like, that's how the old

track was. It wasn't like it. And it was, you

know, it was on both sides of the aisle politically

too. Like depending on who wrote what episode

and what topic was being broached, but they gave

you something to think about to make that decision

for yourself. Like they cause you to critically

think, not, not tell you what you need to think.

Um, and then the, the rejection of the built

-in fan base in favor of a fan base that ultimately

did not exist. Is there other issues? So, I mean,

it's while I'm, while I feel bad for crapping

on it, on the franchise, I also like, I feel

like we got essentially the big lots version

of a CW show of Star Trek rather than something

that could have been decent so i'm i'm hoping

that they either a just start over like completely

start over yeah like just reboot the whole thing

like okay this is this is a you know time bottle

like everybody in the old stuff like we're not

using anybody anymore yep either reboot it completely

or continue with legacy and go from there like

we we've hit this and a lot of franchises are

doing this too Star Wars Star Trek Lord of the

Rings Harry Potter you know superhero stuff like

everything is getting so tired like I don't even

care about half the stuff that's coming out unless

it's like an original film anymore like I'm literally

not even I can't even tell you the TV shows I'm

watching anymore because I really don't watch

television I watch old stuff because it's just

more entertaining at this point. Absolutely.

So from there. From there, we go to OnePlus is

dead. So OnePlus is a phone manufacturer. They

were. Not here in the U .S. for the most part.

They're in the other parts of the world. The

only reason why I know about OnePlus is because

I've been following tech majorly since about

2019 again. I used to follow tech in the old

days when we used to do tech stuff in the early

days of the GCRN. They used to manufacture phones,

and apparently they're either going to fold into

Oppo or they're going to fold into something

else or whatever, but they're going to cease

operations. And from 9 to 5 Google, there's a

video linked in the show notes that goes through

all of why they're shutting down and everything

else. And it just, the video, when I watched

it, I was like. I don't remember a time where

here in the U .S. we had anything else other

than Apple, Samsung, and Google. The last time

we had something more than the three big companies

in smartphones was probably 2006, 2005. Like,

honestly. The last time I remember being in some

sort of cell phone store where there was more

than three companies was probably 2003, where

you probably had Nokia, you probably had... God,

I'm trying to think of other ones. I can't think

of other things, but it just sucks that... When

I watch all the tech reviewers that I watch,

like MKBHD or Mr. Who's the Boss or Mr. Mobile

or 9to5Google or any of these tech people on

YouTube, and they all do phone reviews, and sometimes

a lot of the phones they review aren't even available

in the U .S., and I'm like, but they're so much

cooler. And I'm like... Why can't we have cool

phones like that? Like phones that could do this,

that, anything, and phones that have these features

or that feature. And don't get me wrong. I mean,

between Apple, Google, and Samsung, each company

has cool phones, except half the phones now are

so the design of phones here in the U .S. between

the three companies. They're so streamlined,

safe, and, like, just the design of the phones

are all the same now between the three of them.

Like, they all have their same, like... The last

time Google did any major upgrades was from the

Pixel 5 to the Pixel... When the Pixel 6 came

out with that brand new... tron or whatever you

want to call it the the bar design that they

now have man that was just gangbusters and now

it's just like okay how many times can we reinvent

this and change it and whatever and i have no

issue with google it's not google i but like

samsung when they decided to remove part of their

um the back of their design thing. And it's just

three rings now. And it's like, can't you do

something with the back of your phones? Like

Samsung galaxy S 21 ultra, how they had their

phones in, how they had the cameras encased in

like a plateau kind of thing. It was cool. Now

they just have their rings on the, the camera

rings just kind of like out there. Like, look,

we're naked. I'm like, you naked and you ugly

like get a better design but they've had this

same design we're up to samsung galaxy s 26 i

think now and they haven't changed and of course

they won't because why would they there's no

reason for them to there's no competition because

none of the other companies apple's same thing

it's the same design every year But, uh, but

no one plus when I was watching videos for them,

when they did the one plus 13, I was like, Ooh,

I would love to have that except. Nope. Number

one, it would cost an arm and a leg to import

it. Number two, I don't even know if any of the

carriers here are gonna even allow it. Yada,

yada, yada. And it was just like, well, they,

they, they just banned routers that aren't. built

in america so yeah that's not good no well there's

just a lot of overreach that needs to be you

know checked i also think that it's stupid because

majority of our crap's made in china like exactly

how do you how do you do that realize the microchips

and the memory on our cars and on our like electronics

it's like if you want to go that route can we

go back to analog like cars again and stop having

all this like integrated like i literally when

i was on vacation i had a gmc terrain and brand

new you know 2025 or 2026 and mind you i have

a an acadia that's a 2017 And it has some digital

stuff, but it's for the most part, pretty similar

to the crap that I used when I worked at the

car dealership. Now this new one essentially

has an entire tablet like for a screen for the

digital, you know, for the, for the radio and

for all the other crap. And it's not fun to deal

with. Like, I mean, it was just as glitchy as

everything else like i mean even my 2017 it's

glitchy like for connecting my phone and so like

i just kind of like uh but yeah i mean i'm i

don't know like i feel like we're we're hitting

a weird wall really fast yeah yeah it's like

and this isn't even like oh my god i was going

90 miles an hour and all of a sudden i saw a

cop and i'm going 55 i'm going the speed limit

this isn't that at all this is more like like

you just said we're gonna hit a weird wall really

really fast and the fact that they're banning

modems from other countries and you just said

it like all the manufacturing is done for the

microchips and everything else is done Out of

the United... There's no manufacturing in the

United States anymore. We don't make our own

parts. And I think that's what he's trying to

do, but at the same time, I feel like this is

a lost cause because on the one hand, I agree

we should have a little bit more stuff made here,

but it also needs to be affordable because if

you price yourself out, nobody's going to buy

it anyway. True, true. So like, I kind of look

at it from that perspective. True. Very true.

Very true. So yeah, I don't know. I'm just, I'm

so tired of like, it's like, it's like that Captain

Picard meme where it says damage report. I feel

like I open up the news and every day it's that.

Oh yeah. It's very, it's very, very much constant

damage reports. Exactly. Very much so. And that's

honestly why they say like, like, cause I watch

a lot of millennial. jokes and stuff and they're

like it's funny because you know millennials

live through all of these different things and

just had to learn to adapt like that's right

like yeah yeah we're constantly adapting at this

point and the last bit of news that i saw uh

this week or this year or this whatever this

is uh meta and youtube ordered to pay $6 million

in a landmark social media addiction trial. This

is coming from Variety, a story done by Jean

Mattis. A jury on Wednesday ordered Meta and

Google to pay $6 million to a 20 -year -old woman

who alleged that she was addicted to Instagram

and YouTube as a child. The jury of seven women

and five men found that the company is liable

for product design features that harmed the plaintiff's

mental health. The jurors awarded $3 million

in compensatory damages and later granted an

additional $3 million in punitive damages. Meadow

was ordered to pay 70 % of the damages with Google

responsible for the remaining $30. I feel like

that's an Apple thing, 70 -30. For some odd reason.

The lawsuit is one of among thousands nationwide

to allege that companies like Meta and Google

are responsible for making addictive products

that have harmful effects. The case is the first

of them to go to trial and is considered a bellwether.

to assess how others' claims could be resolved.

The plaintiff, Kaylee GM, testified in February

that she created the YouTube and Instagram accounts

when she was eight and nine, respectively. This

sounds like a parent issue more than a legal

issue. If your parent is not policing you, then

your parent is the one at fault. And if you're

the one using it, like, yes. If you got addicted

at eight, like, yeah, I get it. My youngest son,

he is 10. If I let him watch, he will stare into

space with like the beta wave dead stare and

will not eat, will not drink, forgets everything

that's around him, like just runs on autopilot

as he just stares blankly with his mouth open.

And yes, he would be addicted. I put as a parent

time limits. I use. you know, the Google family

link, I use additional services to block things.

I put time limits on everything. Like I put school

hours, I put night hours because when I didn't

have night hours, my children would stay up late

at night. And then I wonder why they were awake

or not awake on time in the morning. It was because

they stayed up all night watching. And so when

I figured that out and I can track everything,

like it's not like back in the day when we were

kids where like TV, you know, you get to 1am,

you know i play some of those like infomercials

about uh music and then it just goes to the yep

like it just has the multi -color screen where

the channel actually shut off like yeah it's

a parent problem but people have gotten so sue

crazy it's ridiculous yeah so you're at 100 right

it is a parent problem but this is where i have

an issue with this story She testified in February

that she created YouTube and Instagram accounts

when she was eight and nine, respectively. YouTube

and Instagram, I don't think, allow you to create

an account unless you're at least 18 years of

age. I know there are kid accounts on both platforms.

But I don't think you can actively can. Can you

create a YouTube kids? Yes, you can create a

YouTube kids account. It is locked down. Now,

I created myself or my kids each their own Google

account that I can spin off when they turn 18.

OK, the thing is, is I have them under a family

link and I can lock them down. Right. But could

she actively go on to YouTube, create herself

a kid's account without... You still need an

email. Yeah. So... That's definitely a parent

issue right there. But anyway, I was on it every

single day. She said, first thing when I woke

up, right after school, and then late at night.

She alleged that... She gave up other hobbies

and that the apps led her to suffer from anxiety,

depression, and body dysmorphia. Meta CEO Mark

Zuckerberg also testified at the trial, which

was held in Los Angeles Superior Court. Downtown

LA, Zuckerberg defended the choices made at Instagram,

particularly around beauty filters, saying that

the company is trying to strike the right balance

between Potentially harmful content and free

expression. Adam Mazzeri, head of Instagram,

also testified saying he did not believe it was

possible to be addicted to social media apps.

As much as I like Mazzeri for the most part,

he's a little foolish on that one. Plaintiff's

lawyers argued that design choices like infinite

scroll were intended to keep users hooked on

the apps. which led to Grayner's met his attorney

and said they planned to appeal. We respectfully

disagree with the verdict and will appeal, said

a company spokesperson. Hey, look, this is just

one of those things where, I don't know, like,

it just... I would have to look at my digital

well -being to see how often... For me with social

media apps, I'll cite Facebook, Instagram, and

Twitter. And I've mentioned specifically on this

podcast and others recently that I think out

of the three of them, I'm on Instagram the most

when I'm like Instagram for me is mostly doom

scrolling stuff, reels mostly. The other two,

it's mostly just to check up on people or to

post stuff kind of thing. I mean, I get it. I

can understand where it is. I don't really like

I'm not on YouTube all that much. Like I watch

YouTube videos. I actively watch YouTube creators

that are not TV shows. Maybe once, twice a day.

That does not count when the chaos queen is streaming.

Cause I am basically her background producer

kind of thing. Not really, but like I monitor

parts of her streams and stuff. So like, but

yeah, I mean, yeah, social media can be addicting.

I don't. I don't know. It's a, it's a slippery

slope, but like you said, like with, with kids,

you got to put filters in place on that. And

that's up to the parents. That's not, I mean,

that's not the child's issue, but I don't know.

This is crazy stuff, folks. It's crazy stuff.

Lazy parents. That's really what it is. Like,

like be your kids adult. stop being a lazy bum

like that's literally that's literally my my

thought for it yep all right folks that's it

for the news we're gonna make the topic pretty

quick because um it's late yeah it's late uh

and uh yeah so for two seasons now i think it's

been about two years or so i don't know whatever

anyway two television seasons let's say since

2024 i found this new tv show called high potential

on abc starring caitlin olsen uh it's like i

said it's called high potential and i follow

the news about it everywhere i can and most of

the time i see news articles from everywhere

else other than cbr because when i think of cbr

i think comic book resources which is what its

name is i don't think of them covering tv news

so the other the other day uh i forget when this

was because the screen cap i have is from when

it actually happened, so I don't see the actual

date. But anyway, this is when the show was going

to come back, when it was whatever, when it was

going to come back off its little hiatus. CBR

on Facebook. One day after renewal, ABC's record

-breaking series returns. So they got a season

three renewal. So yay, High Potential's going

to come back. for a third season but the way

cbr did this was instead of like putting the

show name in the title instead of putting a picture

of the show like i don't know if abc just didn't

send them a photo from the show you would think

that abc or disney or somebody would like usually

they send them hey this is the the show name

this is the show this It's just a picture of

the ABC channel logo. I dropped a bomb. I literally,

I went to the CBR post on Facebook and I just

dropped this bomb. You people do the lamest job,

the sloppiest job of getting people to click

on your links. or your advertisements for your

articles with just the network logo. Why not

actually use an image from High Potential? Thankfully,

I already knew about this news and didn't need

to click on your link. I just came here to say

this, that you all need to do better. Just by

your headline of one day after season three renewal,

I already knew it was High Potential because

I had seen this news from every other outlet

that actually wrote in the article the title

of the damn show maybe i just need to unfollow

you people because y 'all people are the laziest

on the internet but that doesn't surprise me

coming from who your parent company is valnet

recycling the same news headlines over every

single website they have i just don't care and

actually i unfollowed. And I think I blocked

CBR on Facebook, so I would not see their posting.

I've followed CBR for years, folks. And most

of the time I didn't care and I didn't notice.

And it wasn't until, I don't know if it was last

year or whenever it was that you pointed Valnet

out to me and I started noticing. And the more

I notice, the more I'm just like, do I really

need to be following this website if I'm seeing

the same thing from seven other websites? so

yeah that's my little quick rant about uh tf2

and mike versus uh versus valnet yep yep yep

yep yep yep that's it folks oh i think this wraps

up this episode of the podcast so i'm sure there'll

be a ton of new stuff next time we we jump on

the podcast here if you'd like to leave comments

on this episode post you can do so on geekcastradio

.com or any of our other social platforms that

you find this at you can of course find this

on your favorite podcatcher and thank you as

always for listening until next time get altered

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