Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:17):
From Geppetto Studios in New Freedom,Pennsylvania. Welcome to the Cosmic Geppetto Podcast,
your home for inclusive, positive geekculture where we talk about movies,
comics, music, books, andwhatever else we feel like. Please welcome
your host. Want to see himlose his mind? Hum the first few
bars of that song, I likebig Butts. It'll be stuck in his
(00:41):
head for days. Brad Mendenhall,Hey kids, it is episode to ninety
(01:15):
of the Cosmic Geppetto Podcast, anothermini episode. I hope everyone's enjoying these.
I'm having a lot of fun doingthem. It's something that maybe I
should have started doing earlier, Iguess. I guess I just never felt
interesting enough to do so. Andalso we always had such great guests,
(01:40):
which we will continue to have.But yeah, I've enjoyed doing this.
I think, especially with what washappening in Philadelphia sports and the immediacy of
that, I started getting on gettingon this groove and it's been sort of
fun. Of course that's over now. The Phillies are not moving on to
(02:07):
the World Series. They lost Gameseven, four to two, and it
was really a thing of they gotahead two nothing in the series because Nick
Castianis, Kurt Schwarber, and BryceHarper and Trey Turner all got hot at
(02:30):
the exact same time. So theseguys were hitting multi home run games all
at the same time. So youwould have four or five three four home
runs a game from those four guys, and sadly they all got cold at
(02:52):
the exact same moment. Now it'sa little deceptive because although and there's all
sorts of stats about how those fourguys went like one for twenty in the
last game and or the last overthe last two games, how poorly they
were hitting. H Harper was hittingthe heck out of the ball, but
(03:14):
he was hitting it at people.It felt like at anytime one of those
balls was gonna drop or was gonnago that extra five feet and go out
of the park. I really don'tthink he was in a slump per se.
He just wasn't completely dialed in andhe was having a little bad luck.
(03:36):
No, that's baseball. You gottahit the ball real hard, and
you gotta hit it real hard whereone of the nine players on the other
side isn't And the Diamondbacks had agood defense, so their area on the
field where they where they aren't issmaller than average was sort of the same
(04:01):
thing. He had a couple ofwell hit balls and he also got a
He also got a couple of singlesor double here or there, but not
enough. Trey Turner, uh,not so much. And Casianos he just
looked like he forgot which end ofthe bat was which which happens. It's
that's baseball, and unfortunately, youknow, it's a sport where you can
(04:30):
look like world beaters one day andnot the next. And also, you
win a game ten nothing, that'sa win, and then you lose the
next game three to two or twoto one or whatever, and that's a
loss. And you don't get that. You don't get to save those extra
runs that he didn't need the daybefore. But overall, a good serie,
(04:57):
a good season for the Phillies,especially because they started off pretty weak
and trade Turner having really two thirdsof this season where he was looking like
a bust, and then he wasable to sort of refocus and ended up
having a great season. Nicostianos,who had a very poor twenty twenty two
season and really seemed to find himselfand get back to All Star or near
(05:26):
All Star form this year. BryceHarper, who was on the disabled list
of the beginning season with a aftergoing through Tommy John surgery, ended up
coming back and it took a whilebefore him to get his power back.
Then he got his power back andthen really stepped up and for the first
(05:51):
time in his life, played firstbase. It became a good defensive first
basement and that had a lot ofeffect because it ended up shifting around a
lot of pieces on the board.That made the team better because he was
(06:12):
able to play for his base,he didn't have to be the DH.
Chris Warbur became the DH, whichgot him out of the outfield where he
was a liability and the team becamemuch better. I'm very interested to see
what the next two years are goingto be like because you have a lot
of players. Famously, Bryce Harperturned thirty one in a game where he
(06:36):
just knocked the stuffing out of aball for a home run during the playoffs,
and I was on his thirty firstbirthday. He's thirty one years old,
and there's a lot of Phillies playersthat are in that twenty nine to
thirty thirty one years old. NowI am staring down on the barrel at
fifty, So thirty one seems likebasically a child to me. But in
(07:00):
the world of sports, in theworld of baseball, that's not that's middle
age. And the concern is overthe next couple of years, these players
are going to get to thirty two, thirty three, thirty four years old,
(07:21):
and Father Time is undefeated, andyou're going to see at least some
of these players take a significant stepback. Part of me believes that Bryce
Harper can maintain, if not MVPquality, he can still have all star
(07:45):
quality play in him for the nextfive years. He's a very smart player,
He's very driven. It's not justphysical ability that makes him who he
is. Where were the Gasiano straightTurner who are by the way, they're
(08:05):
all fantastic players, and they're allvery intelligent, and they're all driven,
but not to the I don't.Part of me doesn't think they are to
the same superhuman levels of Bryce Harper, and just not all of them can
be great until they're ford great playersuntil they're forty. That's just not how
baseball works. There is also aninteresting thing where Rice Hockins. Rice Hoskins
(08:33):
a very important piece to the Philliespuzzle first baseman for the Phillies over the
last few years to be counted onto hit twenty to twenty five home runs,
hit for decent average playing first base. He was a great player to
have bat before or after Bryce Harper, the guy who makes the other team
(08:58):
pay because they pitch to Ryce Hoskinsbecause they don't want to pitch to Bryce
Harper, and then because they haveto pitch to him and they can't pitch
around him, he ends up knockingin one hundred RBIs and getting twenty five
home runs. Those players are veryimportant. He missed all season because during
(09:18):
the preseason he got an injury thatknocked him out for the season. He
is a free agent. Will thePhillies pay the money to keep him on
or are they going to decide thatBryce Harper is the first baseman of the
(09:39):
future, of the present and futureand spend that money elsewhere. I sort
of think that's what's gonna happen.I think Bryce Hoskins has proven to be
a little bit of a little bitredundant. I think there will be another
team that's willing to pay him agood contract to be that solid first baseman.
(10:01):
Could you try be that first basemandesignate here. Sorry, might watch
a side to talk. I thinkwe might have come to the end of
Wright Scott Hoskins time with Philadelphia.It's a shame. He was a very
good player, well liked in thecity. Another free agent, and this
(10:22):
one's gonna hurt Aaron Nola, whowas at times the ace, at times
the co ace, and times thenumber two pitcher for the Phillies. He
is coming off a subpar season.He pitched a lot of innings and he
threw a lot of strikeouts, butthey also scored a good amount of runs
and hit a lot of home runsagainst him. He is has spent his
(10:43):
entire career as a Philly, buthe is not young in baseball terms.
He's gonna want, He's he's gonnaand I don't know the exact numbers,
but he's gonna want. It's gonnabe one of these five years, one
hundred million dollar contracts, and he'sgonna win six or seven years, and
he's gonna win twenty five million ayear. And I don't think he is
(11:11):
worth that contract. I think henow, he could very well have a
bounce back season and can make melook bad. But even if he has
a good even if he has afifteen win two point seventy five ERA season
next year, that's just one year. I don't think. I don't think
(11:33):
he has more than two good tovery good seasons left in him. I
think at most he has two goodto very good seasons left in him,
and then you're stuck with a numberfour or five pitcher getting paid a quarter
of a court twenty five million dollarstwenty five million dollars a year, and
(12:00):
I don't think he's worth it.So I think we're gonna lose Aaron Nola,
and it's tough losing at a topof the line starting pitcher that they
don't grow on trees. I'm blankingon the first name. But the Phillies
had a young rookie pitcher that theywere hoping was gonna have a great year
this year or a breakthrough rookie year. Painters his last name. He pitched
(12:24):
one preseason game and Philadelphia sports mediawas all a flutter that he was going
to be this ace in the makingand he was going to contribute. But
he had that one preseason game andhis arm felt a little twitchy afterwards,
and then he had Tommy John surgeryand he will not play again until the
(12:48):
twenty twenty five season. We've basicallythey lost him for all of twenty twenty
three, and they're gonna lose himfor all of twenty twenty four, and
he'll be twenty twenty five until herejoins the Major League Philadelphia Phillies organization.
It's heartbreaking because the timing would havebeen so perfect, where you you have
(13:16):
this top of the line pitcher whohas it has sort of gone past,
gotten to the other side of theirpeak, and then wishing him his best
and let him get his big contractwith another team where he doesn't quite live
up to the contract but gets paidas he deserves to, and then have
(13:39):
this young fresh face takeover that spot. It would have been perfect, but
that's not how the world works.On sometimes I think twenty I think next
season could be really interesting. Ithink the twenty twenty four baseball season could
be very interesting. The Phillies dohave some young players, Johann Rojas and
(14:11):
a couple others who have shown something, but they need to start. They
just haven't started hitting yet. AndAlec Bohm, the third baseman for the
Phillies had a pretty good season andseems to be the established third baseman of
(14:35):
the Phillies. Next year could bereally telling. Could it be the year
where he's put on some weight,he's gained some confidence, he's become a
solid big league defensive third baseman.Could it be the year where he really
puts it together and starts smacking theheck out of the ball. This will
(15:03):
be the first twenty four will bethe first season in a while where Bryce
Harper will be going in at fullstrength. He'll have a full pre He'll
have a full preseason or spring training, and he will have more time to
(15:26):
get dialed in as a first basementif that's where they decide to go with
him, and it'll be very telling. Can he stay healthy the entire year?
He hasn't had a full season sincebefore the pandemic. Obviously the pandemic
(15:46):
doesn't count against him because nobody hada full season, But can he have
that MVP caliber season? Can hestay healthy? And you know if he
can, and all of a sudden, you're looking at somebody batting two seventy
five to three ten with thirty fiveto forty home runs, completely dialed in
(16:08):
and comfortable. It could be magnificentand it could be an MVP season.
Will Ermudo the catcher for the Phillies, who is not a young man in
that world, especially for the catcher. Will he continue to be an all
(16:30):
star caliber catcher or will he becomejust an average catcher? Good behind the
plate, hitting two thirty two fortywith fifteen home runs, which for anyone
else is good. That's what youwant from a catcher. But he has
been But he's been hitting. He'sbeen a two sixty two seventy five,
(16:51):
twenty twenty five home run catcher,superlative behind the plate. Will those day
are much longer? Can he bethat good? Bryson Stott, who is
a finalist for the Gold Glove atsecond base. He defensively, he's amazing,
(17:18):
probably probably the best defensive second basemanthe Phils have had since Many Trio
in the eighties. But is aleague average hitter? And can he dial
that peaceop? And who's gonna pitch? You have Zach Wheeler, he is
(17:41):
an ace Ranger Suarez who looked goodto very good in the playoffs, but
was a definite number three pitcher duringthe regular season. If Aaron Nola isn't
signed. Can Ranger Suarez step up? Or is there someone else that the
Phillies can bring up or someone elsethat they can sign. The Phillies have
(18:04):
never shown hesitancy to sign the bigcontract. Will Rice Hoskins remain what's the
outfield going to look like? WillKurt Schwarber have another season next year where
he hits forty plus home runs wellbeing fifteen twenty points below the Mendoza Ligne.
(18:27):
I think twenty twenty four will beinteresting for that. I think twenty
twenty five could be a magnificent year. I think it. And it also
might be the end of the playoffwindow for the Phillies because it'll probably be
the last year where you could hopefor all those big money players to still
(18:48):
be at their peak. And thenyou'll have Painter back, and I think
that could be where they really dialin. I think, I really think
Painter could be the key to thePhil's next World Series. I think him
supplant. He could supplant Zach Wheeleras the ace for the team, which
(19:14):
is a lot to put on aguy who isn't gonna play for two years
and he's going to be a rookie, but that's how exceptional his stuff looks.
Have him come in, become thecoace of the team, get that
last great year out of Wheeler,and if everyone's healthy and everyone's dialed in
(19:36):
and everyone's still at their peak again, it'll be right at the edge of
the peak. I have a feelingthat twenty twenty six this team is going
to need some major retooling and rebuilding, because that's how baseball works. But
I think the next two years aregonna be really interesting. I'm hoping it
all ends up with one or maybetwo World Series rings. Uh. It's
(20:02):
it's tough. It's tough to it'sit's tough to win a championship in baseball
the playoff format, which by theway, benefited the Phillies immensely this year.
So I'm not gonna complain about it, because you know, lived by
the sword, Die by the sword. But it's very tough to get to
that top level because you go throughthis arduous one hundred and sixty two game
(20:23):
season and then follow that up withbest of three, best of five to
get to the best of seven championshipseries and then the best of seven World
Series. So it's it's so hardwhere being built to win the regular season
requires differences than being built to winthe world series to win the playoffs.
(20:51):
So uh, you know, FingersCrossed. It was a great season and
it was a it was an ailbier to the end. So last episode
I talked a bit about how I'mnot watching a lot of TV and there
(21:11):
are very few television programs that getmy consistent interest. It was last episode.
It was either a last episode orthe episode before, and I realized
there are exceptions to that, butthey don't. I don't even think about
(21:34):
these shows because there shows that Istarted watching because there were programs my kids
liked. And I'm thinking specifically ofPhineas and Ferb, which was announced it's
going to get forty new episodes,and those aren't familiar with. Phineas and
(21:59):
Ferb was animated show about step brotherswho get into wacky adventures during the summer,
and the show has great recurring jokes, would actually have a little bit
of a character development over the lifeof the show, some excellent voice work,
(22:22):
some great music, and then alsoin one way is a shame that
the show is coming back because ittied up the show in one of the
better final episodes you could ever hopefor. Then the creators Dan poven Meyer,
(22:47):
popn Meyer, who has a greatsocial media presence and I apologize for
getting his last name wrong. Heand his partner on Venisian Ferb Swampy Marsh,
who I got a cameo for mykids for. He actually gave a
(23:07):
happy first day of school message formy kids which was very nice, and
he sang a song to them.But Baba Meyer and Marsh then did the
show Milo Murphy's Law, which starredthe vocal talents of weird Al Yankovic and
(23:32):
Milo Murphy's Law about a young mannamed Milo Murphy who has terrible luck Murphy's
Law and very clever, very smartagain, really good character work, very
likable characters, and great recurring jokes. Milo Murphy's Law lasted two seasons.
(23:56):
It never seemed to get the samenever achieved the same person popularity, and
in fact, in the second seasonthey had a crossover with Myloh Mila Murphrey,
(24:17):
had a crossover with Phineas and Ferb, and then a great supporting player
in Phineas and Ferb. Doctor DuffinSchmertz became a regular character on the second
season of Milo Murphy's Law. I'msure they were trying to pull in some
of the fandom from the former show, but smart idea sadly and apparently did
(24:45):
not work. The show did notcontinue after the second season. I'm not
even sure if there was ever anofficial cancelation. It just they stopped making
episodes. Then Papa Are without Marsh, did a new show called Hamster and
(25:07):
Gretel and it was about a younggirl named Gretel and her pet Hamster who
are given superhero powers by alien beings. And it's a great parody and humorous
take on the superhero genre. Yeah, same thing as always, great character
(25:41):
work, great vocal talent, veryclever, good use of music, and
I think it might be a littlemore, might ske you a little younger
than the other two shows, butvery good show. And so those are
(26:10):
their three Dan poven Meyer shows.Papa Meyer and Marsh have had a history
of working at Dull Animation. TheyI believe both had worked on Family Guy
and Family Guy. Weird show itwas it's been on way too long,
(26:34):
and it was a show I watchedregularly, but I never loved it.
I love the Simpsons The Simpsons isstill my all time favorite show. At
its peak it was brilliant, andeven past its peak, it's better than
ninety five percent of whatever else ison television, and people don't give it
(26:56):
credit for that that. Although universallyrecognize that it is no longer a brilliant
program, it's still very good.It's just it's hard to watch for a
lot of fans. It's hard towatch the thirty second episode content and get
(27:21):
a couple of laughs maybe and appreciatethat it's a well structured show with superlative
vocal talent when you real when youremember, oh, the episode was Stampy
the Elephant, or the episode wheremister Burns gets shot by Maggie, or
(27:41):
any of the other classics where Irecently rewatched some episodes related to the Halloween,
House of Horror or Treehouse of Horror. They're in some of the classic
from the classic years, and justthe depth and the cleverness of the jokes
(28:07):
and how amazing the writing was.Just joke after joke after joke, and
each one perfect for the plot ofthe episodes. He had these really good,
intricate, clever, affecting plot linesand it was just astounding how great
(28:34):
that show was. So now it'sjust a good show. Well fine,
I mean you can find good showseverywhere also, and this is heartbreaking.
The show has been on for overthirty years, and you do March doesn't
(28:56):
sound like Marge anymore, was it. Julie Kavner. I believe who is
voices March. She her voice soundsrough, and it's so it's a little
it's it's tough. These characters aregetting older. They have had they have
(29:17):
and this rightfully, rightfully, theyhave recast some of the vocal talent because
some of the actors were voicing charactersof different race. And I guess it
(29:42):
wasn't even given a thought in theeighties when the Simpsons started, and now
realizing that's that's not cool, butit's it's weird when doctor Hibbert doesn't sound
like Doctor Hibbard. And a Poohas not appeared on the show in years,
(30:06):
and I don't think we'll ever appearagain. I think there was an
official statement that the character has beenretired. And it's tough because on one
hand, it was right because basicallyHank's area who voiced a poo was tall
as like make it as offensive aspossible. That's uncomfortable, and I'm of
(30:37):
two I'm of two minds of it. On one hand, a Poo was
one of the most charming and sweetand likable characters on that show. He
was smart, he was kind,he was good natured, and so it's
(31:00):
a shame to lose that that character. But he was also a racist stereotype
the Indian man with the stereotypical accentrunning a convenience store. You cannot get
(31:22):
around that. And no matter howlikable or charming or sweetie is, there's
that. And I actually, andI'm saying all this, but when it
comes down to I really don't getto say. I joked yesterday about how
(31:48):
wide I am, and the jokewas, like, I'm just very white.
I say Oki doki all the timeunronically. And you know, I
also have a podcast that is somewhite people's stuff. And it was a
joke and laugh, laugh, laugh, But as is often the case with
(32:15):
jokes, there's a basis in realitywhere I am a middle class white guy
in my forties. I really don'tget a say about how offensive or non
offensive the character of a Poo ison The Simpsons. And although I like
(32:37):
the character. I can't argue withanyone who says that it's a stereotype and
doesn't belong on a TV show.I just don't. So I get to
miss the character and I get toenjoy the old episodes with him, but
I completely recognize that he should be. That the character out outlived his outlived
(33:08):
his time on that program. Sonow I've talked about the three Dan paven
Roy's shows, Papa Meyer, PapaPapa Meyer shows. Another kid's program that
I think is excellent is Moon Girland Devil Dinosaur and the Moon Girl Devil
(33:30):
Dinosaur based on a sort of littleknown Marvel Marvel property. Uh, there
used to be a show, Imean it used to be a comment called
moon Boy in Devil Dinosaur, whichhad a red dinosaur and a monkey human
(33:54):
hybrid. It was never a wildlypop the combo or comic. And then
probably five to ten years ago,moon Boy got written out and was replaced
by a brilliant African American young womanwho became Moon Girl, and that is
(34:21):
the common and she teamed up withDevil Dinosaur, and that is the team
up that you have on the onthis animated show, and the animation is
great, it's kinetic. It alsohas a viewpoint where you have a young
African American girl living in the citywith this amazing family and everyone's likable and
(34:50):
charming, and the artwork is reallyunique and kinetic, and the action is
very engaging. Wonderful stories telling storiesthat you don't see. They had a
great episode where moon Girl was upsetthat she didn't like her hair, and
(35:21):
there's been plenty of talk and discussionabout the way young women of African American
dissent are made to feel about theirhair, and they turned into like a
superhero story where she gets a solutionto her hair and in her hair has
(35:42):
become sentient and battles her because shedidn't accept her hair and didn't love her
hair. And it was really goodstuff and really smart and a unique viewpoint
and most important, the music isso good. The actress who plays moon
Girl and I'm blanking on her namebecause I'm in a car. Uh,
(36:04):
she was a contestant on I wannasay the voice. It might have been
an American idol or American's got talent, but she is was a but that's
who she was. She she wassomebody who had this uh, amazing talent
and you know, competed on anationally televised TV show. So sh she
(36:25):
has the chops and the songs andthey're very different and very fun and uh
like, just once I uh sawthe first episode, I actually went on
to uh yeah, my my musicstreamer and like listening to the album and
(36:46):
really good stuff, a great themesong, like I don't want to miss
the theme song too, Moongroom,Devil Dinosaur. So these are all nominally
kids shows, but they're kids showsbetter than a lot of anything else that
you'll see on TV. Dan Hoopermeyerhas fingering three of them, and the
(37:13):
other one probably possibly my favorite Marvelproperty of the last year and a half,
so something we're checking out. Allright, Well, this has been
another fun mini episode and we'll talkagain soon. Until then, as Jarf
likes to say, seeing the funnypages, subscribe to the Cosmic Trippetto podcast
(37:50):
on iTunes, Stitcher, or whereverquality podcast can be found. Rate and
review us while there. Follow uson Twitter at cosmic and we will follow
you back unless you're a jerk.We don't follow jerks. Like us on
Facebook at Facebook dot com, forwardslash Cosmic Geppetto We love hearing your ideas
(38:12):
for upcoming episodes. Email us atcosmicchuppetto at Comcast dot net and that completes
my final report until touchdown. We'reon automatic and we're in the hands of
the computers. Is not and isnot a no things stems, steps,
(40:02):
stettin st st st st st stst step, snakes and puding snap sticks and