Talking Trek Fu with Dayton Ward

On the sci-fi edition, Thomas looks at the Mandalorian coming to books and comic books, We finally get to see into the Lower Decks, Ghostbusters crosses over with a Pony and we talk with Author Dayton Ward about his 2020!   All that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

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Transcript

Tonight! The Mandalorian goes to the printed page, the Wisdom of Picard goes to the press and our annual interview with Mister Dayton Ward all that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

Hello Everyone and welcome to episode 84 of Multiverse tonight, I’m your host Thomas Townley, Things are going okay here, Covid 19 aside. That’s just spiking like hell. Please if you must go out, wear the damn mask. When you alone and by yourself, feel free to bring it down, but when people come close, bring them up. Think of them like shields on a starship. Someone gets close, Red Alert! Shields up!

Today we have an episode with Author Dayton Ward. Dayton is always a great guest, so It’ll be good to hear from him. 

Star Wars

Breaking News. Disney Plus has ordered a new animated series from Lucasfilm. Star Wars The Bad Batch. The series follows an elite and experimental batch of clones as they try to find their way after the end of the Clone Wars. The Bad Batch  are a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from the other clones in the clone army each with a special skill. After the clone wars, the crew must take on daring mercenary missions as they try to find their way to stay afloat and have a purpose.Star Wars: The Bad Batch is executive produced by Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Athena Portillo (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels), Brad Rau (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance) and Jennifer Corbett (Star Wars Resistance, NCIS) with Carrie Beck (The Mandalorian, Star Wars Rebels) as co-executive producer and Josh Rimes as producer (Star Wars Resistance). Rau is also serving as supervising director with Corbett as head writer. It comes to Disney Plus in 2021.

The Mandalorian is getting more adventures, this time on the printed page. In books There’s The Art of The Mandalorian (Season One) by Phil Szostak; cover by Doug Chiang

The Mandalorian: Original Novel (adult novel, Del Rey) by Adam Christopher

The Mandalorian: The Ultimate Visual Guide (DK) by Pablo Hidalgo

The Mandalorian: Allies & Enemies – Level Two Reader (DLP) by Brooke Vitale

The Mandalorian: 8×8 Storybook (title to be revealed later) by Brooke Vitale

The Mandalorian: Junior Novelization by Joe Schreiber

Marvel and IDW will publish The Mandalorian comics. Marvel will make the adult titles, which IDW will make ones for children. There will also be magazines, coloring and activity books from Titan, Studio Fun, Crayola, Thunder Bay Press, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Dreamtivity as well as a retelling of season one in Little Golden Book form. Season two of the Mandalorian will be out in October.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news UK fans, but you will not be able to see The Empire Strikes back in 4k, however you will get to see it in good old 2k.According to Variety this is because of a breakdown in talks with exhibitors. European cinema company Vue was initially on board, but now says that the 2k version would be screened instead. 

Star Trek

Star Trek Online is giving love to the Klingons starting with the House Divided update. House Divided turns attention to a Klingon story starring JG Hertzler as Martok and Robert O’Reilly playing an ancestor of Chancellor Gowron, Aakar. Here’s the blurb for the story quote After accidentally sending herself and players through time with stolen Federation technology, J’Ula, sister of T’Kuvma (Discovery), finds herself at war as the modern Klingon Empire has done the unthinkable and allied themselves with the Federation. J’Ula and her lieutenant Aakar (Grandfather of Gowron) have taken it upon themselves to right this wrong, and call their true Klingon brethren to arms. It’s now up to the player to quell this rebellion alongside Martok (Deep Space Nine) and maintain the newly founded peace within the Federation. Unquote The epic story starts with two new playable episodes, a new five person space TFO at Rura  Penthe that players can play to get a Red Angel suit armor and the Angel’s Wake Lock Box which gives players a chance at a Ba’ul ship. The Klingon tutorial experience has been given an overhaul and other Klingon episodes will be getting a refresh through the rest of the year.

Star Trek Lower Decks has a release date The animated series from Rick and Morty’s Micke McMahan will hit CBS All Access on August sixth.  It will be released in a weekly format meaning if you want to binge it you’re gonna have to wait for October. The show follows the ensigns of the USS Cerritos in 2380, just after Nemesis. They also revealed the design of the California class starship, a large saucer section attached to a pair of warp nacelles that have a deflector dish in between.

Gates McFadden thinks that there’s a good chance of her Doctor Crusher showing up in  Star Trek Picard. She told a trek movie if she’s already been asked quote : Well, I don’t know. There’s a good chance, let’s put it that way. But I have no contract signed. un quote That kinda sounds like they’ve talked to her, but they haven’t gotten a deal negotiated with her, doesn’t it. So far we know that Whoppi Goldberg will make an appearance and that several others are either hoping or are in talks.

As to when season two might begin filming, CBS released a special edition of The Ready Room with Wil Wheaton and Sit Patrick had an answer quote I had some encouraging news only yesterday about when we might be starting again. All these predictions are based on the best possible circumstances. I can tell you that CBS is utterly committed to another season of our show utterly committed. It’s going to happen. Other than that, I’m not being provocative, but I’m actually I don’t have much to tell you. Unquote. So there you have it. No real answer yet. 

However, while he waits, he might as well keep busy, he was reading a Sonnet A Day and releasing that online, but in late May he decided to take a hiatus. Now he’s revealed vi Twitter

That he’s writing a memoir and returning to reading us sonnets quote A longer than expected break from sonnets, but I can now share the project I mentioned: I am writing a memoir. I've been thinking for some time about writing down my life stories from my earliest years in Yorkshire onwards.Sitting down to write my memoir has been an extraordinary,  and altogether surprising process, and I hope readers will find it equally so. In the meantime, here's where we left off... Sonnet 64. #ASonnetADay unquote   I would look forward to any book he puts out.

Well we can also wait with a good book, something quotable. In November,  Simon & Schuster is releasing Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard, a collection of Picard's most profound quotes compiled by Chip Carter. Here’s the official description quote "Discover all of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's sage advice, insight, and wisdom from the deck of the USS Enterprise and beyond in this ultimate collection of wise words from the esteemed Starfleet captain.

Any Star Trek fan knows that Captain Jean-Luc Picard is renowned for his impressive oratory skills, preferring negotiation and diplomacy over violence and destruction. Now, you can finally ponder all of his wisdom in one place—from his thoughts on leadership and sense of duty to justice and the limitlessness of exploration—in Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard. Journey with the Starfleet captain through his seven seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation to the Star Trek movies to the current series Star Trek: Picard. Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard boldly goes where no book has gone before to log Picard's timeless advice in one impressive collection, perfect for Star Trek fans everywhere! Make it so! Unquote The book comes out on November tenth.

Deep Space Nine is returning to comic books. IDWE has released a preview of Star Trek Deep Space Nine Too Long a Sacrifice. From writers . David and Scott Tipton and art from Gregg Scott. This marks the first time in over a decade that a Deep Space Nine comic has been published. It’s being described as a noir thriller here’s the blurb quote Death casts its shadow as Constable Odo searches for truth amid a web of treachery and lies. Everyone on the Promanade has a motive for this murder, be it vengeance, justice... or old-fashioned greed. Legendary Star Trek scribes Scott Tipton & David Tipton team with noir artist Greg Scott for the first Deep Space Nine comic book series in a decade! Unquote It’s coming out on July fifteenth and will cost 3.99 with a variant photo cover.

ViacomCBS is bringing 400 shows from CBS and Comedy Central to it’s Pluto TV streaming service. Included in the slate of titles is Survivor, CSIs Miami and New York, Star Trek The Next Generation and the first ten seasons of SouthPark. The other seasons of South Park are part of the HBO Max deal. Viacom acquired PlutoTV back in January of 2019 and since then it’s doubled its monthly users.

Thomas Townley  0:01  
Thanks me. Today we have an interview with one of my favorite authors Dayton ward. Now, Dayton is the author of dozens of Star Trek books and other stories. Now normally we speak with Dayton at the Animal Planet Comic Con Kansas City. But you know, due to circumstances of a viral nature, we're gonna do it by the magic magic of the internet today. Please welcome Mr. David Ward. How you doing? I'm doing great here. Thanks. Now, since since we last spoke, we have had this pandemic. So how does this pandemic affected you?

Personally,

Dayton Ward  0:45  
thank goodness I have not been too impacted by it other than having to follow all the product protocols that we are all being asked to follow. I was already working at home full time before this started. So that part didn't change and I was thankful enough to remain employed through all that are, you know, to this point, and the only real difference was my my two daughters were, you know, at home doing the Virtual Learning thing and the last couple school year, and they managed to do pretty well. Actually, I'm very proud of both of them. They both made on a roll. So I'm quite happy with how they were able to stick with it.

Thomas Townley  1:18  
That's good. And I suppose I suppose you have a lot more time. I suppose you had a lot more time to write?

Unknown Speaker  1:28  
Not really no.

Dayton Ward  1:33  
I mean, yes and no, I mean, I write but I'm also I'm working as a consultant right now to CBS global franchise management. So I do a lot of reading and reviewing and commenting on various things relating to the Star Trek brand. So that that's basically a full time job more or less. So.

Thomas Townley  1:54  
That's awesome. Now, if we if we done this, this interview Way back in April, May, when they come with conventions rules schedule, I will talk to you about Kirk Fu.

Unknown Speaker  2:06  
Yes, we can still talk about that.

Thomas Townley  2:10  
Tell me more about the Kirk Fu manual.

Unknown Speaker  2:14  
Well, it is as advertised, it is a manual that will show you how to fight like Captain Kirk on the original Star Trek. I pitched the idea to my editor at insight additions somewhat as a joke, but also about half serious to see if I could maybe turn it into a humor book, like what you're holding. And he went for it. And of course, we went through several iterations of this and a couple of different editors as other editors were promoted and moved up the chain in that company and planets finally aligned this year to get it out. I love it. I think it's a pretty awesome little gift book for the casual and the hardcore Star Trek fan. I think it's the perfect kind of thing that your mom will buy you for your birthday because she knows like Star Trek. But it's definitely written from a place of have respect and love for the franchise. I'm not poking fun at it. I'm having fun with it. And I hope that's how it seems to be how most fans have taken it. They understand what I'm going for, and the illustrations really make it. For me the illustrations really make the book I wrote the text largely as the straight man in this two man comic routine, and I let the illustrations convey the humor in the absurdity of the summons despite moves. And so I really love Christian's art in this book.

Thomas Townley  3:32  
Now, could you see a sequel to this say, Riker, Riker Fu.

Dayton Ward  3:39  
Has any Fu does Riker have a fu of his own? I don't really know. I don't remember. He's had a couple of couple of fights, but not really. I don't know. I have to think about it. I'm

Thomas Townley  3:50  
Klingon martial arts. Let's come up with something. Yeah. What's that? Klingon martial arts.

Dayton Ward  3:58  
Yeah, something ammo. jitsu or whatever it is that they do have he fights his father, you know, there have been talks about what else I could do in this vein to kind of mine what I call the inherent humor that the franchise offers without being disrespectful. That's the key is if I can find something that we can have fun with it, but not not, you know, poke fun at it. That's where I'll go. I'm not looking. I'm not looking to be a snarky cynical guy here.

Thomas Townley  4:28  
Now, you have a new Star Trek book coming out Star Trek agents of influence. Why don't you tell us a bit more about that?

Dayton Ward  4:36  
Yeah, that's a an original series novel. So it's Kirk in the gang during the five year mission and it's been out about a month now I think. And it's basically Captain Kirk and his crew are asked to head off into near the clean onboard or to retrieve or actually find out what happened to another starship that was sent to retrieve three covert agents who are working behind the wall. Lions of the Empire they'd actually been surgically altered to appear clean on and they've been working undercover for years and they activated their emergency extraction protocols which meant for them to travel to the border get picked up by ship and all that went wrong. So Kirk in the gang are sent to figure out what went wrong and hopefully find the agents and more importantly all of the information that they have been collecting while undercover all this time

Thomas Townley  5:23  
Well, that's one of those things that never seems seems to go right visit

Dayton Ward  5:29  
nothing ever goes right that's why the stories are you know,

getting in here I don't know if it'll work with the virtual but yeah, the that's why we write the stories. I mean, nobody wants to read the story where nothing happens.

We call that life.

Thomas Townley  5:49  
Well, we all we all wish for interesting times and 2020 has been very interesting. Now, of course we have, you know, plenty of Star Trek on TV. Now. We have Discovery we have Picard. We have lower decks coming just in a few weeks. What are your thoughts on on the franchise so far?

Dayton Ward  6:12  
Well, I mean, admitting up front that I am biased. Number one, because I'm a huge fan of pretty much everything Star Trek, but I'm also working with the folks who make the Star Trek. I'm excited. It's a fun time to be a fan. There's just so much going on right now, both on TV and other media like books and comics and games and other merchandise and other things that help extend the brand. I mean, there's lots of stuff being talked about or developed. And, you know, of course, the COVID situation has put a lot of plans on hold. But you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of cool things being considered within the halls of Star Trek power in Hollywood. And I'm looking forward to seeing all of it. I want it all to work. I want everything to be the ratings blockbuster one With the next movie to make a billion dollars and everything, so I'm excited. But I admit I admit my bias. 

Thomas Townley  7:05  
Yeah. Well, there have been some fans who haven't liked their first look at lower decks, but I can imagine they're all there. They're always people like that. I think it looks I think it looks fantastic.

Unknown Speaker  7:21  
You know, the Kirk fu book and other other bits like that. I love it when Star Trek is not afraid to stop taking itself so seriously and have some fun and

Dayton Ward  7:34  
especially, and be a little whimsical and even a little absurd. And

I think lower decks is an interesting experiment. It's like nothing that we have ever seen before except as in you know, something like a parody like a Galaxy Quest or the Orville. I think the trailer may not necessarily sell you completely on on the on the total concept of the show. I think it's it's it's playing up the humor But I think you're gonna find it's got a little bit heart in the stories. There's definitely a Star Trek heartbeat going on under there. It's just there embrace seeing the human rather than it just being, you know, a add on or a consequence of the action that it's gonna be interesting. It's a I think obviously the hardcore piercer probably have the hardest time with it. They may have too many Yeah, that first episode but that's what I said back in oh nine when that route when the first reboot movie came? I'm like, you're gonna like this just medicate before? Okay.

Thomas Townley  8:32  
So, what are you working on now?

Dayton Ward  8:36  
I am working on several things. I'm working on two different books that are not related to each other. And they're both I can't I can't tell you what they are because they haven't been announced by their respective publishers. But they're both related to properties, media properties. One's a novel and one is not. One fact was very much not a novel and it's very much unlike anything I've done before. So it's an interesting experiment. We'll see if it works. And then my partner Kevin Gilmore and I are working on no fewer than three short stories for three different publishers that for the publication next year, so we actually sat got together yesterday and beat out one story so that we can start writing on it. And then there's another one whenbeing in the wings, and there's another one waiting right after that, so we'll be busy through the fall.

Thomas Townley  9:28  
Well, it's good, so great to keep busy, especially given the circumstances. Now, yeah, if you could write a plot for New Seasons of discovery or Picard, you know, what would you pitch?

Dayton Ward  9:40  
Oh, I'm not gonna tell you that. But I gotta say that stuff. I might get a chance to pitch a story. I gotta, I gotta save it. That being said, there's what I'm what I'm seeing for how they're developing Picard for the second season and what discovery is going to do for its fourth season, I think it's, it's gonna be an interesting journey for both of those shows, I think things will be a lot of it's definitely going to be a different tone than what you saw on the first season of the card. And so far from what I what I've been able to see, and then discovery season four, they're just really getting going on figuring out what they want to do for that season. And it's definitely different than what we've seen so far. So I'm excited. And then, you know, we haven't even talked about the other shows strange new worlds that was recently announced, that's basically Captain Pike, the enterprise. I'm very excited about that show. It's right in my wheelhouse, because I love the original series. So I've been talking to Kristen buyer, who is one of the writers on the show and a good friend of mine, and she's also written a number of Star Trek novels. She's very excited about the show, so I can I can tell that she's really excited about the show. It's not just a line, you know, I can tell from hearing her voice that she's really jazzed. So that jazz is me that gets me excited. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Thomas Townley  11:00  
Well, hopefully, hopefully you'll be picked around novel about that too.

Dayton Ward  11:06  
Well, we'll see.

Thomas Townley  11:09  
Well, that I think that is pretty good place to put a pin in that right there now Mr. Dayton Ward, thank you very much for coming on to the show.

Dayton Ward  11:19  
Yeah. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Thomas Townley  11:22  
And you can buy Dayton Ward wherever you shop, Amazon, Walmart and we're go see you next Monday. Yep, we'll see you next time. Now back to me. All right. Thanks, Dayton. Yeah.

Dayton Ward  11:43  
Awesome. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Thomas Townley  11:45  
Yeah. So you know, I need stuff that, you know, fell on my time other than me talking. Yeah, I get it. I get tired. I get tired of myself.

Dayton Ward  11:57  
I get tired of myself too. So I got to Three more of these this week. So whenever a new book comes out, I always get a slate of, you know, a plate load of interviews for people, so I try to space them out I do two or three a week and the first one this week I got at least two more that I'm that I remember there might be a third one.And I got check the calendar.

Anyway. Yeah, but it's fun. It's what you gotta do you have any book out there you want to read? Yeah. Oh, well, I'm sorry. We're not gonna get to see each other planet. But I mean, hopefully we'll they'll get this thing worked out. We'll do it next year.

Thomas Townley  12:29  
Yeah, hopefully. Fingers crossed. Yeah, no kidding. All right. Have a good one. Bye bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Geek news. 

Lego is getting artistic. Lego has announced the Art series, a buildable pop culture themed wall art series for adults. These sets will be over 3000 pieces, the pieces aren’t standard lego bricks but little colored pips  and include Iron Man, Star Wars, and Andy Warhol. Of course it’s lego so you can always use the pieces to build other things. Each piece comes with a signature title to finish it off. LEGO Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe – Pop art admirers can now recreate Andy Warhol’s famous bright pink screen print of Marilyn Monroe from 1967 or reimagine it in three different colors using LEGO tiles. As art and design lovers tailor the tone of their piece to suit their artistic temperament, they can tune in to new insights and details about Warhol from those that know him best.

LEGO The Beatles – Music lovers can bring Beatle-fandom into the home with a LEGO portrait of their favorite band member, whether it’s John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Sir Ringo Starr. Each set can be used to create four unique portraits or collect four and display the full band side-by-side. Fans can get by with a little help from friends of the Beatles as they switch their headphones over to the accompanying soundtrack to listen to music and stories about the band as they build.

LEGO Marvel Studios Iron Man – SuperHero fans can decide between powering their hero up with the MARK III, the HULKBUSTER MARK I or the MARK LXXXV with this 3-in-1 set. After the tough decision is made, builders can recharge by listening to cool details about the set and stories from Marvel Experts as part of the accompanying soundtrack. Fans who want to channel Tony Stark and ‘run before you walk’ can combine three of the same sets into one to create the ultimate Iron Man artwork.

LEGO Star Wars The Sith – Celebrate iconic villains from a galaxy far, far away with this 3-in-1 portrait set. Choose between portraits that pay tribute to the Sith, with Darth Vader, Darth Maul or Kylo Ren, or take the artwork to the next level by combining three sets into an ultimate Darth Vader wall piece. The soundtrack means the Force will be with fans as they create their very own piece of wall art while listening to music from the films and fun stories from Star Wars

The Iron Man set is out first on August first and it costs 119.99 dollars.

I ain't afraid of no pony Hasbro is releasing a Ghostbusters themed My Little Pony toy named Plasmane. Plasmane is a pony decked out in full Ghostbusters attire with a Ghostbusters cutie Mark and slime green hair. Here’s the official description quote "When the city of Manehatten is overrun with ghosts, Plasmane ain't no scaredy-pony. She saddles up in the Ecto-Wagon and gears up for an adventure. Fandoms collide with My Little Pony Crossover Collection -- an expanded universe of My Little Pony mashup characters! Crossover Collection Plasmane toy combines the retro My Little Pony form with the design of Ghostbusters characters. The character has unique deco, colors, and Cutie Mark inspired by the iconic Ghostbusters team. This 4 1/2-inch figure comes in collectors' packaging that's great for fans of the My Little Pony or Ghostbusters brand to display. Turn the stories you know on their tails with the My Little Pony Crossover Collection." unquote The character retails for 14.99 and you can find it online now. 

John Carpenter's Halloween Kills has been delayed by a full year from October 2020, to October fifteenth 2021. It’s sequel Halloween Kills is scheduled for October fourteenth, 2022.

The video game Fallout is being made into a tv series at Amazon. The series is being made by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy who developed Westworld for HBO and is the first in an overall deal with Amazon Studios. The duo’s Kilter Films is producing alongside Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks. Fallout envisions a future where a nuclear war happens in 2077. The game series is known for it’s ironic humor and b-movie style nuclear fantasy. The Fallout game franchise has had record sales and dozens of Game of the year awards.

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