Geekly Roundup, March 29th: It's The 90's Again Edition

On this week’s Geekly Roundup podcast: Game of Thrones brings spoilers to the screen! A new director for Ready Player One! The long-awaited return of The X-Files! This week, Mark, Jon, and Ellie have plenty to talk about, so let’s jump right in…and don’t forget to check out the new Video Corner at the back end of the Roundup!

 New Game of Thrones seasons will spoil unreleased books

Many of us thought this was coming when we realized early on that George R. R. Martin’s own work on Winds of Winter wasn’t going to get ahead of the show’s sixth season, but the show runners for Game of Thrones have admitted that the show will end up spoiling events in the next A Song of Ice and Fire novel. As Martin has previously worked with characters and the show runners on their arcs and the storyline, this has always been a possibility, but for how long the show has followed the books, it’s a bit odd to think that suddenly the books will follow the show.

 TIE Fighter: An Animated Short

This astounding piece of animation by Paul Johnson took four years to complete over weekends and is a quality space-fighting romp in the tradition of 90’s anime on the side of the Empire. The animation is smooth, and because of Johnson’s work, is much cleaner without the same “filler” cels common to 90’s animation — and with Zak Rahman’s great backing music, the video is not to be missed and would serve as a beautiful piece of propaganda for the 501st.

 Bryan Singer announces Jubilee for X-Men: Apocalypse

Fans of the 90’s X-Men animated cartoon will be excited to know that Jubilation Lee is bound for the silver screen in Apocalypse — Singer himself confirmed the casting of Lana Condor via Twitter, as is reflected in this Comic Book Reader article. Also significant is the casting as a blow against homogenization; Lee is an Asian-American character, and Condor is a Vietnamese-American who has studied with the Joffrey Ballet School and Ailey, though she has no previous feature film experience.

 New Avatar: The Last Airbender comics due in September

Fans of The Last Airbender and Korra, the excellent series of Last Airbender comics is getting a new addition — Smoke and Shadow picks up immediately after the first cartoon’s end, with Zuko returning to the Fire Nation. It features two stunning covers that both show an Aang and Zuko who have grown considerably, and set up the sequels that have been gifted to us in comic form thus far. Look for these from Dark Horse in September!

 ”Dungeons and Drafts” bar is a sports bar for geeks with a Kickstarter

With a Kickstarter that’s already been funded and a location ready to go in Ft. Collins, Colorado, “Dungeons and Drafts” will be an outstanding center for geekdom. Time to start planning your next vacation!

 Bruce Campbell to play Ronald Reagan in Season 2 of Fargo

The actor known for some of the best-loved cult flicks of all time may now be taking on the role of an aspiring President of the United States, as Campbell has reportedly signed on for Season 2 of Fargo, set in the 70’s. Campbell, also set to reprise his iconic role on television in the upcoming Ash vs. Evil Dead, will play a younger Reagan stumping on the campaign trail.

 Final Fantasy XV Director explains all-male cast reasoning…poorly

Oh, here we go again. Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata has stated that “speaking honestly, an all-male party feels most more approachable for players,” suggesting the old anime trope of boys falling all over themselves to impress a girl. Implying that the feeling was that any female main character in FFXV would ruin the ‘bro road trip’ vibe is a little bit short-sighted and is a clever way to earn a Deuce of Geeks award. The game itself still looks fantastic, but we’re a little disappointed; hard to know if this is better or worse than their being “harder to animate”.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

Joe Quesada namedrops Peter Parker for Spider-Man movie, not Miles Morales (Comic Book Resources)

Mateus Ward reportedly testing for Spider-Man (Comicbook.com)

John Williams recording Star Wars: The Force Awakens Score in Los Angeles (Comicbook.com)

Brett Ratner trying to remake Enter the Dragon (Ain’t It Cool)

Sharknado 3 Now Has Title, Release Date (Epicstream)

ISIS Hasn’t Seized Luke Skywalker’s Farm (The Daily Beast)

JJ Abrams on The Force Awakens spoilers (Epicstream)

Star Trek 3 may cast Idris Elba (The Mary Sue)

Boeing patents vehicle-based force field (Tech Times)

NASA announces progress on Asteroid Initiative (NASA)

NFL Offensive Lineman publishes original math study in scientific journal (Bloomberg)

Hot Topic releases Orphan Black line of items (The Mary Sue)

Hearthstone player attempts longest turn ever (Kotaku)

Konami’s official words on Hideo Kojima (Kotaku)

Transformers producers hire Akiva Goldsman to fast-track spinoffs (Newsarama)

Donnie Darko mixed with Majora’s Mask is surprisingly good (Kotaku)

Matt Smith up for the lead in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (IGN)

Walking Dead spinoff gets name, first promo date (The Mary Sue)

David Duchovny on The X-Files and why Mulder was a terrible FBI Agent (New York Times)

Iron Man writers tackle Alien Nation remake (Comic Book Resources)

Johnny Storm returns to Attilan in Uncanny Inhumans (Kotaku)

Marvel teams up with Five Four for men’s fashion collection (Comic Book Resources)

Second Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Author Solutions Inc. (Writer Beware)

Avengers “Rule the World” in Dan Abnett’s new novel (Comic Book Resources)

Chuck Palahniuk breaks his silence on Fight Club 2 (Maxim)

Judiciary Committee Press Release uses GIFs to oppose Obama on immigration (Judiciary Committee)

In the Video Corner:

Three members of the Flash cast sing the Ballad of Serenity

Watch a fire being extinguished with sound

Stephen Amell sends a twelve-year-old fan a birthday video greeting

Is this a teaser for an Astro Boy reboot?

The Inspector Gadget trailer, from Netflix

The Age of Ultron “Super Siblings” spot

The Terminator: Genisys “Help” spot

A rap battle for the very ages: HODOR vs GROOT

Plenty to share this week — hopefully this will keep you occupied straight through until next weekend, too! Don’t forget to check out the podcast and we’ll see you for next week’s Geekly Roundup.

The Geekly Roundup is a weekly Ace of Geeks feature that brings together all the interesting things we've encountered across the Internet this week.  The Geekly Roundup podcast this week features Mark Foo, Ellie, and Jonathan.

Contributions for this week's Roundup were submitted by Ben, MalKontent, Raven, Ellie, and Jonathan.