The War of the Rohirrim was the first attempt by Warner Bros to extend the use of their Middle-Earth license to include stories beyond the written works of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Set 180 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, it tells the story of how Helm’s Deep got its name and showcases the daughter of Helm, Hera. Conceived as an anime, the script was written in English and animated by a Japanese studio with a Japanese director. In this episode we review the movie. We discuss it as an adaptation of very scant material from Tolkien’s written work. We talk about how well it fits into the narrative of Middle-Earth and Tolkien’s style. We opine on the characters, the plot, and the performances. We also debate the merits of the animation and the music. Along the way we’ll get into the fashions, tactics in personal combat and warfare, and the touchstones to other parts of the franchise.
Due to time constraints there is no five-minute controversy this week.
This week Beth; Keith; and newcomer, Annie, join the cast.
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>Babylon 5 created a revolution in television in the mid-90’s. Series creator J. Michael Stracynski was told that science fiction would never succeed on television if it wasn’t Star Trek. Yet, the man had a dream and he fulfilled that dream. Conceiving of a series that would last for five years with a defined beginning, middle, and ending Babylon 5 succeeded in its mission by providing complex, interwoven story arcs in an era when television was almost completely full of stand alone episodes. In this episode we do a deep dive on Babylon 5. We discuss what made the series both revolutionary and successful. We also talk about the characters, what we think worked and what we think didn’t, and whether we think the series should be rebooted. 
Shazam was a surprise release from DC in 2019. The movie saw an effort to move away from the dark and gritty storytelling that had characterized DC movies since the late 80’s and move it back towards a more amusing bent. The movie was not as expensive as the more recent DC films so even it’s somewhat modest performance at the box office earmarked it as a success. In this movie we discuss its sequel, Shazam: Fury of the Gods. In this episode we talk about the characters and performances in the movie. We also discuss the plot and the placement of cameos in the film. We also debate whether the announcement of Gunn’s DCU tanked the ticket sales for the film and whether we think this film will be the last with the Shazam family. 
Justice League was released to theaters in 2017. However, the result left many audience goers unhappy. As the culmination of plotlines that Zack Snyder had started in Man of Steel and Justice League it seemed to fall short. The more humorous tone that the studio wanted was at odds tonally with what had gone before leaving many fans of Snyder’s work unhappy. Since that time there have been calls to release Snyder’s original cut of the movie. With HBO Max looking for new content they paid Snyder to complete his cut, which they released as a 4-hour long film. In this episode we look into the Snyder cut. We discuss its differences with the theatrical version as well as how it fits in as the third movie in Snyder’s vision. We also ask if WB should return to Snyder’s vision based on this cut and whether the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad should be released.