This episode features: Zombietron, Swank-mo-tron, Arse-Bot, Mexicus Prime, Proletaria-tron, and Androidika

In the May edition of Big Shiny Robot’s Big Shiny Podcast Swank and Androidika break down time-traveling Batman among other comics; Arse-bot and Proletaria lead the conversation in movies and TV with Iron Man 2 and NBC and ABC’s new superhero TV series; Zombietron gushes over Modnation while Mexicus tells you why Mario Galaxy 2 was “fucking gay”, but the new Deadpool collectible in a skin-tight costume bent over is not. Finally, we all spend the last 30 minutes or so of the podcast talking about the LOST finale!

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for listening!

May Big Shiny Podcast

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It would seem as though I’m the only robot with my wits about me after watching this great new trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  You see, I was told by all the others in all their drooling and gawking over it how great it was, but none of them had the wherewithal to share it with you, our loyal readers.

The Scott Pilgrim Facebook said that once it reached 100,000 fans they would release a new trailer and that they did.  And it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Enjoy:

It’s a sad day for Tolkien fans as Guillermo Del Toro has officially announced that he will not be directing the pair of Hobbit pictures that were slated to begin their releases in 2012.

With MGM going belly up and forcing production delay after production delay, Del Toro simply can’t sit around in New Zealand any longer, waiting around for the film to happen.  MGM is really messing with a couple of big franchises with their sale that is going to hurt the bottom lines of their potential buyers.  The other we reported was that the James Bond franchise was stalling out because of them.

But as far as the Hobbit, The OneRing.Net broke the story last night in Del Toro and Peter Jackson’s own words:

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life”, says Guillermo. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.”

“We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects”, says Executive Producer Peter Jackson. “The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years.”

It’s not great news, to be sure, but there are silver linings here.

First is that if Guillermo isn’t directing The Hobbit, but he did spend the last two years working on the screenplay and developing the look.  He will remain a screenwriter on the project.  Second, if he’s not directing The Hobbit because it’s not happening, it means he’ll be directing something else, and when you’re Guillermo Del Toro, anything with his name on it is something I want to see.

The third is that a new director hasn’t been announced.  I have a sneaking suspicion Peter Jackson might just step back into the reigns.  That would be the only other choice that would make me as happy as Guillermo Del Toro, and I think most fans agree.

So, we’ll wait and see how this plays out.  In the meantime, I’m excited to hear what kick-ass project Del Toro is leaving The Hobbit to make, because that will be a film worth seeing.

Michael Emerson, who played ficcle Ben Linus in LOST, recently chatted with ‘Attack of the Show’ and revealed a very interesting tidbit as to what you can expect on the LOST: The Complete Series DVD and Blu-ray due out in late August:

“For those people that want to pony up and buy the complete ‘Lost’ series, there is a bonus feature which you could call an epilogue… [or] a lost scene,” Emerson told host Kevin Pereira during “Attack of the Show.” “It’s a lot.”

“It’s 12 or 14 minutes that opens a window onto that gap of unknown time between Hurley becoming number one and the end of the series,” continued Emerson.

Personally, I wasn’t terribly surprised when Hurley became the “new Jacob”, but I was surprised when Ben became Hurley’s “Richard”. I thought it was a great twist and very in character for Ben to willingly accept this role. In the finale, Hurley and Ben acknowledge their time spent on the island together (was it 200 years? 2000?) with a very simple exchange:

Hurley: “You know, you were a real good number two.”

Ben: “And you were a great number one, Hugo.”

So now, it looks like we will get a little insight into their time on the island together – but of course, this is LOST so how much insight is anybody’s guess, but I wouldn’t expect a ton.

You can check out the video interview with Michael Emerson below.

Deadline New York is reporting that Paramount and Nickelodeon have brought in Platinum Dunes to help produce the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action film due out some time in 2011. If you aren’t familiar with Platinum Dunes, it is a production company ran by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form. Yes, you read that right: Michael. Fucking. Bay will be helping to produce the new TMNT movie…

The producers will begin meetings with writers in the next few weeks. The deal puts Bay in the center of two Paramount franchises, as he started production May 17 on Transformers 3… Paramount made a first look deal with the Platinum Dunes partners, who will generate genre projects but also want to expand their scope. While they’ve already set up several projects including a Rob Cohen-remake of Fright Night, the Turtles film puts them into new territory.

So the same studio that is most recently responsible for the horrid, CGI-abused Friday the 13th remake will be involved with bringing the live-action turtles back to the big screen. Great. Considering this production company has exclusively been involved with horror remakes, it makes me even more concerned that this is going to be the new look of the Turtles.

I am actually more forgiving than most when it comes to the Transformers movies than most. I actually enjoyed many things about them. No, they weren’t great, but I wanted to see robots beating the shit out of each other and I felt like Bay delivered. However, I don’t want Michael Bay anywhere near my fucking beloved Ninja Turtles!

But of course, I have no say in the matter…

How does everyone else feel about this?

As you all know, Big Shiny Robot! has a weekly print column in the Salt Lake are alt-newsweekly IN This Week.

This week, we took the time to bring readers attention to DC Comics’ Wednesday Comics (which you can order from Amazon here.)

There is going to be an interview with Mark Chiarello on the site tomorrow or the day after, so be sure to look for that.

If you’re in Salt Lake, you can pick up a copy of IN right off the stands, or you can check out the online version of our column here.

Click the image to enlarge the visual version:

Clone Wars Season 2 has been announced on Blu-ray and DVD and it can’t come too soon.  October 26th is the date given, which leads me to believe that we might not see Clone Wars season 3 on TV until after that.

It makes sense to want people able to catch up before the new season, doesn’t it?

In any case, here’s the press release from Lucasfilm:

The Force is back and better than ever – in Star Wars: The Clone Wars™ The Complete Season Two, coming to DVD and high-definition Blu-ray Disc October 26 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Warner Home Video. Featuring cutting-edge animation and a host of special bonus materials, the comprehensive collection explores the farthest reaches of “a galaxy far, far away” with all-new adventures set against the spectacular backdrop of the Star Wars universe.

Relive all 22 Season Two episodes – featuring bounty hunters, space pirates, giant monsters, mind-controlling brain worms and the return of Boba Fett! – and then dig deeper with the ultimate look behind the scenes of the hit TV series. Bonus features include a look inside the Lucasfilm vaults, with featurette interviews along with Director and Artist commentaries on each disc. In addition, The Complete Season Two will include a 64-page production journal with concept designs, original sketches and notes from Supervising Director Dave Filoni. And exclusive to the Blu-ray disc, The Jedi Temple Archives provides in-depth access to an extensive database of creative materials.

“Everything’s improved since the first season – the stories, the animation, everything,” said Filoni. “It’s bigger and better, and it’s going to look great in high-definition. We’re all just so proud of the series, and I think it shows; we’re bursting to share our production secrets, so the features are just full of fun insights from behind the scenes. As a fan, this is what I’d want.”

Created and executive produced by George Lucas, the first-ever TV production from Lucasfilm Animation explores the tumultuous time between Episodes II and III, expanding the scope of Star Wars beyond anything seen in the feature films. With the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, the heroes of the Republic – including the valiant Jedi Knights and their loyal clone troopers – fight bravely to repel the attacks of the evil Separatists and their droid army. With fierce battles, expanded storylines and ground-breaking animation, this is a Star Wars adventure that is bigger, bolder, and more intense than ever before!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season Two will be available October 26 for the suggested retail price of $44.98 for DVD and $59.99 for Blu-ray.

Hayley Atwell, who plays Peggy Carter in the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22, 2011) film, broke the news to LeicesterSquareTV.

Unfortunately, what role he will play is still unknown. The most popular rumor floating around the interwebs right now is that he will step into the shoes of Gen. Chester Phillips. For those of you not familiar with the Captain American universe, General Phillips is the man who hand-picked Steve Rogers for the Super Soldier project and then trained him after it was a success.

Of course, as soon as what role he’s playing is confirmed we will let you know!

A foreign movie site called Oclumencia got some leaked spy photos of Daniel Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright in their aged epilogue make-up from the last part of the second installment of the 7th (8th technically?) Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. I had wondered if they would cast new actors to fill these jobs, but the make up department seems to have knocked this one out of the park.

The is Harry and Ginny Potter (nee Weasly) years later, after Voldemort has been destroyed. Oclumencia has dozens of photos in their gallery, so go and check them out.

I bet this movie will be pretty good, but none of them can top how great Alfonso Cuaron made the third film. My biggest disappointment in these last installments is that they haven’t brought the best, most competent director they had on the series back to finish it up.

How many of you are excited for the ending of this series?

What a ride! After six years, it’s all over. It’s with an overall bittersweet feeling that we all say goodbye to LOST. Big Shiny Robot would like to thank all of you that made it out to the BSR! LOST Series Finale Event at Brewvies! It was a lot of fun for all us bots to watch the series finale with all of you and couldn’t imagine a better way to experience it.

The guy impersonating Hurley that was wearing a pink shirt did an awesome job hosting the event! – Slugtron

For our final review of LOST, we present you with a BSR! round table where all of us robots share our thoughts with you about the series finale of many of ours favorite show.

Arse-bot: I honestly don’t even know where to start. What a fantastic episode and finale to a great show. I am going to pass on the full recap this time because I can only assume if you are reading this, you are a fan of LOST and watched the season finale.

The acting in this episode was top-notch. I challenge you to find a better acted series out there, and for this finale, the cast pulled out all the stops. There was a huge portion of this finale devoted to all the survivors finding each other in the “alternate time line” and the reunions of these characters was heart-wrenching and beautiful; it was so entertaining to watch Sawyer find Juliet, Jack find Kate, and Sayid find Shannon.

On the island was bad ass. Jack and Smokey/Locke were done fucking around and went toe to toe for nearly the first 2/3 of the episode. Kate finally stopped crying and started shooting shit. Lapidus, Richard and Miles decided to get the hell off the island no matter what. And Desmond finally met his destiny.

Honestly, I wish I could sum this all up better than I am, but it’s hard to cram 2.5 hours of a series finale into a few paragraphs. I’m going to instead just share my thoughts on the end. Personally, I thought it was genius that this whole season, the “alternate time-line” was “heaven”/”purgatory”/”the after-life”. All of the Oceanic 815 survivors went through so much and for them to finally all find happiness -even if it was after their deaths- was great. I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a few tears during the final moments when Christian Shephard explained to Jack that they were all dead, some have been dead for a while, some died long after Jack – but they were now all together because what they did on the island was the most important thing they did in their lives (but of course, I had to hold it all in or face the wrath of Proletaria-Tron and Mexicus Prime). I’m sure there are people out there unsatisfied with the ending, but I thought it was beautiful and honestly can’t think of a better way for them to have ended this series.

Who would have ever thought that the secret to the Lost island was that Stephen Spielberg was going to direct the last segment. – Slugtron

I have to give Lost credit. I didn’t expect it to have the courage to end without giving us any answers whatsoever. –Slugtron

Proletaria-tron: I sat next to Arse-Bot for the show and we constantly were turning to each other saying “that was bad ass” or “Jesus, they decided to be really funny for the last episode.” There were just so many great moments that I can’t even figure out what I liked best. I know that there wasn’t really anything that I didn’t like. It moved fast and hard and made me laugh and made me get misty eyed. Sayyid and Shannon coming together was just awesome, I’d completely forgotten they hooked up. Also Libby sitting with Hurley in the church plastered a grin on my face.

Weekend at Bernie’s 2 had a better ending –Slugtron

While I think it was a really great episode and tied things up nicely. There are so many things that ended up being completely pointless which I think proves that they NEVER had this planned out. The statue and all the other Egyptian things being what I think is the biggest indicator. Either that or they were just fucking with us.

I’m really at a loss. I feel like I need to sit down and watch it all again to really figure out how happy I am with the ending. It wrapped up peoples stories on the island but I’m really interested to find out what happened. Did Frank get the plane back? What did people think when they showed up? What happened to Richard? How did Hurley and the reformed Ben manage together on the Island? Also I definitely wanted to see Jacob and his brother sitting in some other place, loving or hating each other.

The other robots will be weighing in with their opinions later (Some robots just can’t handle their booze), so make sure to check back in.

Thanks Lost, for showing us seven and a half hours of heaven.- Slugtron

Swank-Mo-Tron – I think the answers to a lot of your questions were there, Proletariatron. Frank did get the plane back and all of those survivors led lives beyond that. The sideways universe was a holding ground until they could all meet in their due course to move on, but time there wasn’t like time in the real world, where the real island was. And the exchange between Ben and Hurley outside the church seems pretty clear to me that they managed the island for quite a while.

As for me, I’ve been mulling the ending in my head since last night and I feel like I got quite a bit out of it and the more I think on it, the more satisfied I become. One of the strength’s of LOST is that it has mysteries that we all sit and debate about and this final episode will be no different. A lot of the mysteries that we were hoping would be answered (Like the Black Box, or the why of Dogan and his crew in the temple, etc.) will forever be left for us to decide. And that’s fine with me. I felt quite a lot of direct Vonnegut references in the ending and I’d like to lay them on you guys and see what you guys think.

I think the survivors of Oceanic 815 on LOST is a perfect example of a Karass from Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle”. A group of people who’s lives are inexplicably linked together for a fate and affect on each other they didn’t know was possible. Those we see at the church in the end are part of the Karass. Another big thing about the ending was that it was only the end of Jack. It was Jack’s journey from the moment he opened his eyes on the island, to the moment he closed them in the final shots. But there was so much left to happen that could fill seasons and seasons of shows afterwards, it ended like real life. With a giant ETC., like the one Vonnegut talks about in “Breakfast of Champions”. Though Jack’s story comes to a close, there are hints that Hurley and Ben have their own adventures, and Richard, Lapidas, Kate, Sawyer, and Claire have their own off the island and so on. Their lives go on beyond this and we are left to mull the possibilities of what they could be. But since time in the sideways universe doesn’t exist, and is some sort of cosmic weigh station before moving on, they can all be there in their prime where the most important time of their lives took place.

A lot of people said, “This was the easy ending, they should have thought of something better,” but I really think this was pretty much the only ending it could have. And the fact that they are in some kind of afterlife in the sideways universe doesn’t for one second discount any of the reality we experienced on the island, and it doesn’t explain the mysteries of it.

Sure there’s something spiritual or supernatural to it, but at it’s heart, LOST is what it always has been: unexplainable.

But that’s a good thing.

I was pretty intensely satisfied with this episode and this ending, and I’m glad they left me some mysteries to chew on. The episode was one of the best of the series and the ending gave me… pause. I think… It’s all really personal. I won’t be able to fault anyone for not liking it or not finding any meaning in it, but it’s like 2001: A Space Odyssey to me. You’ll come to your own personal understanding of it when you get to the end and it doesn’t matter what any body else thinks. If you can divine meaning from it, more power to you.

My single biggest regret in life is that I watched Lost. Coming in a close second… Making out with Angela Lansbury. (In my defense she told me she was still alive.) – Slugtron

Proletariatron: I think the idea that it was all just Jacks story is pretty awesome. It began and ended with him. And it was all VERY Vonnegut. I never really thought about that but it really seems like the took the idea of the Karass and ran with it.