LDS Geeks Podcast #39: Future of Marvel (2)

We have three more Marvel projects coming up in the next few months, so I had to talk to Joe so we could speculate what to expect.

--Spencer

Fourth Doctor Revisited: The Deadly Assassin

I'm still working my way through the Fourth Doctor era, trying to catch up to TJ. I recently watched "The Deadly Assassin" which is pretty unique among Doctor Who stories, especially of the classic era. We get a return to Gallifrey, the Master's dying form, a murder mystery, and the establishment of plenty of Doctor Who lore.

Let's start with the return to Gallifrey and the murder mystery. Last we left the Doctor, he said goodbye to Sarah Jane Smith (in the wrong city) to follow a call to Gallifrey. Come to find out it was a premonition about an assassination. And naturally the Doctor is in the right place at the wrong time and gets accused of the murder. How many times has that been used as a means of pulling the Doctor further into the drama? Not complaining. It works. Though this time it was an accusation from people who knew him and it took nominating himself as a presidential candidate to stay alive. And that role as the president keeps coming back whenever he visits Gallifrey again.

After the passing of Roger Delgado, the Master and his plots basically faded into the past, like the Great Intelligence and the Toymaker. "Frontier in Space" could have easily been the Master's last story. Instead, they decided to bring him back during the Fourth Doctor era. They could have simply made him regenerate, but instead gave him a plot to avoid his final death. This meant adding the rule of the twelve regenerations (which we'll address in a second) but it brought back this beloved villain. The first of many times that the Master should have been deader than dead and still came back. But we'll come back to this decaying version of the Master soon enough.

This is one of those stories that established parts of Doctor Who lore that has endured for decades. In addition to the limit of twelve regenerations, this story brought us back to Gallifrey, its politics and culture, and the Matrix. In some ways, showing the inner workings of Gallifrey makes them less mysterious I suppose (which is why I'd be very okay if they never reveal the Doctor's real name) but it gave a new sense of urgency. Yes, the Time Lords are very advanced and often benevolent. But this story also showed their darker aspects, making them not much better than humans. In addition, the regeneration limit puts a little more emphasis on each death of a Time Lord, as they're not just reborn forever. With the Doctor possibly being the Timeless Child, he might be the exception... but that's a discussion for when we rewatch the Thirteenth Doctor.

I couldn't find a source for the story, but I read on the Doctor Who wiki that Tom Baker wanted an episode all to himself. A big feat for any actor, to only play off himself. This is as close as we got in the classic era, but we've this companion-less style repeated in modern Doctor Who, with some companion-lite stories (like "Midnight") and one-off companions (like "Voyage of the Damned" and "Joy to the World"). It's one of the few times we truly see the Doctor alone (unless you count Spandrell or Engin as his companions). Peter Capaldi finally got to realize Tom Baker's Doctor-only adventure in "Heaven Sent" but even that story had the monster of the Confession.

Alright, guys! Time to speed things up with my Doctor Who viewing. I need to catch up with TJ so that we have more Whovian content to record on the podcast. 

IF & HG

 I write this as I’ve just watched the movie “IF” for the first time while flying on an airplane for my wife and my first trip away from our daughter. Yep, I cried. No helping it. Just could not hold it in. I loved that John Krasinski directed it and loved that the actress who played Mrs. Dursley in Harry Potter was the Grandma in “IF”. Such a lovely story about imaginary friends (IFs) and the role they have in helping their children even when the children are grown up. 

The story revolves around Elizabeth, who goes by Bea as she experiences the loss of her mother as well as the pending surgery for her father. Lots of an emotions for a 12 year old girl to go through. A big take away for me is that kids need their parents and kids need their imagination even if it is not an imaginary friend. 

Perhaps the imaginary friends could be representative of the Holy Ghost and how we need his influence and guidance throughout our lives. As a comforter, as a guide, and a teacher. It reminds me of Elder Bednar’s talk about receiving the Holy Ghost where he shares that this is an invitation that, for me, is a lifelong quest. While I don’t see the Holy Ghost, I know he is very real and I know that I need his influence every day, much like the grown ups in “IF” still need their imaginary friends at every stage of their lives.

Reflections from DigiCon 2025

A couple weeks ago Digimon celebrated their 25th anniversary with DigiCon 2025. Plenty of other blogs and websites reported on the announcements and updates as they were given, but I felt like I'd be a poor Digimon fan if I didn't at least share some thoughts (and I am the self-proclaimed Digimon King). So this is less a summary of the announcements and more my personal feelings about each announcement.

Digimon Adventure: Beyond

After the release of The Beginning there was no clear direction as to where the franchise was going next. Sure, Digimon keeps making games, but what about the anime? I wouldn't even care as much about the next installment in Digimon Adventure if they hadn't explicitly left a gap in the continuity between Last Evolution Kizuna and the Digimon Adventure 02 epilogue. So when the short/music video "Beyond" was released, I hoped for some answer to how Agumon and Gabumon returned. No such luck. Instead, we got a montage of adventures taking place between Digimon Adventure Tri and Kizuna. I definitely enjoyed the video, seeing some adventures as the Digi-Destined grew up. We got shots of Meiko, alternate armor digivolutions, and plenty of other Easter eggs alluding to storylines old and new. Even Lui appeared, so it begs a rewatch. Maybe someday I'll get my wish and we'll get more.

Digimon Beatbreak

Though no dub information is likely to come any time soon, a new anime was announced. Another branch in the Digimon multiverse. This new anime is about "emotion-devouring Digital Lifeforms". Because it's phrased that way, I expect a darker tone in this series compared to the ones I watched as a kid. I still need to watch Digimon Ghost Game, but I imagine the tone of this anime will be similar. Granted, a lot of that is based off the revealed poster. And that's like judging a book off its cover. Either way, it's set to broadcast in Japan this fall. I'm banking on it appearing on Crunchyroll.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger

I never had a game system to match with popular/successful Digimon games. Historically I said that Pokemon has a better track record with games and Digimon is better with anime. But now Pokemon has mixed up its anime and I haven't played a new video game since I bought Ultra Sun. I heard that Cyber Sleuth was a successful video games series in Digimon's corner, but I haven't saved the money to buy Switch (bought a house instead) and the time to play it. Since I'm inexperienced in this department, I sit here with curiosity to see how it plays out. A name like "Time Stranger" makes me wish it were about jumping around the Digimon multiverse, but I know better than to wish for that.

Digimon Alysion

This is the announcement I'm most excited about. After playing Pokemon TCG Pocket and Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, I'm excited to get my hand into the Digimon card game. I have a handful of physical cards from when I saw The Beginning in theaters, but I lack people to play the game with. Without close friends to play against, I decided to avoid spending money on booster packs (I had horrible luck with booster packs when I collected Yu-Gi-Oh cards anyway). With an app similar to Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, maybe I'll get invested enough to buy physical cards. Plus it sounds like it'll have more of a story than Pokemon TCG Pocket. That could be fun. I miss having a Digimon mobile game--I never understood the mechanics of Digimon ReArise, but it had my buddy Dorumon.

Toys and More

DigiCon had plenty of other announcements, including anniversary toys and Digivices. Since I can't imagine myself taking a Digivice toy to work, I probably won't buy one--I remember how my old D3 would start beeping. That being said, I'm grateful that the franchise is growing even if I'm unlikely to buy the toys... though I am liable to base a cosplay around a Digivice toy... you shouldn't put it past me. I would love to get all the toys... But for now, I'm going to just keep rewatching Digimon anime on repeat.