#I REWATCHED THE BEGINNING AND They do understand the aliens

[lonely-dog-song]

i'm curious about how much of District 9 is intelligible without subtitles..... i wasn't even sure at the beginning of the movie if the humans could understand the prawn? People constantly talk over them & treat the aliens like they're stupid. & tbh I'm still not sure. it's only later as Wikus is around Christopher more they're actually having conversations. it makes me wonder what it would be like to just hear Wikus's side of the dialogue

[fear-no-mort]

thinkign about how alone and unloved morty was for all his life and rick was the first time anyobdy ever put such an amount of intense attention and dependency onto him . and rick had a whole new family and losing them made him stop seeing the value in other people as a whole and morty was the one and first thing that woke him up

[jangwanl]

Guys... this is insane

I’m begging you, read this theory—if it doesn’t blow your mind like it did mine, it’ll at least make you laugh.

Do you remember the song from the ending of the first season of *SPY x FAMILY*?

It’s Gen Hoshino’s *Comedy*.

If you haven’t seen the music video yet, you should definitely check it out [here].

I really love this song, and today I decided to rewatch the video.

I’ve always wondered why, in this clip—which references Loid, Yor, and Anya, and their lives—Loid ends up meeting aliens. And I think YOU CAN GUESS WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS (especially considering the latest manga chapters about Melinda and Desmond).

Notice how, at the beginning of the clip, the singer is dressed as Loid in a green suit. Later, two aliens approach him: one with long ears resembling Yor’s hair, and another with horns like Anya’s...

Then, at the end of the clip, another alien shows up at their house...

Could that be Bond?

If Anya and Bond have been experimented on, and we can assume they’re «aliens» does that mean Yor might have been experimented on too? 😭😭😭

I know it’s a wild theory based on the music video, but my mind is completely blown.

Then again, maybe this is just Endo’s way of hinting that, to us, every other person can feel like an alien—someone we struggle to connect with. Or perhaps it’s simply a nod to how hard it is for a super spy like Loid to truly understand the people around him 😂😂😂

I don’t know, but this theory really struck me as interesting, and I wanted to share it with you all.

Also, forgive me if there are any mistakes—English isn’t my first language🙏🙏

[gffa]

If you could change anything about the Prequel and the Sequel trilogies, what would it be?

I love the prequels, in all their both brilliant and dumbass glory, so as tempted as I am to say that I would have had Lucas find someone else to direct the prequels after Spielberg said no (I think he was firm in saying Lucas should do them?), I really love that mix of something genuinely good and something genuinely bonkers. I would change the Tuskens storyline to be less racist/the Neimoidians to have a different accent and I would put more Asian Jedi into the scenes, if you're going to base them on Buddhist monks, we could use a little more real world reflecting of that. The sequels on the other hand need an overhaul from top to bottom. At a bare minimum they needed to have at least planned the storyline out ahead of time and had a single vision instead of the tug-o-war that we got. I would not have made Kylo and Rey's characters all about each other, I would have spread the connections around more, given Kylo and Luke more than just the one scene together, I would have given Finn a better storyline, I would have given Poe a better backstory, I would have connected the storyline better in the movies to the world they inhabited (ie, use more established settings and alien races, etc.), I would have kept the OT trio to secondary characters, but also let them have reactions to each others' deaths in the same room, I wouldn't have made Han/Leia into that because how am I supposed to have fun with rewatching the originals knowing everything went to shit, I would not have brought Palpatine back (or at least I would have set it up from the beginning otherwise), etc. The sequels were in a difficult place, but even as many issues as I have with TFA (too much of a palette swap of ANH for my tastes), the pieces for a satisfying story were there, it's just that everyone wanted to take it in different directions and none of the three movies really seemed to get what Star Wars' themes were. I love the characters and there were great moments in there, but I would have sat them down with a bunch of Lucas interviews about what the themes of Star Wars was before starting and tried to give them a better foundation for understanding it.

[sankta-wraith]

Daemyra and terms of endearment

I was rewatching 1x07 and realized that Rhaenyra calls Daemon “my love” in front of Alicent and it sent me down a rabbit hole. Long story short I know have a list of all the terms of endearment (in High Valyrian and Common) I think they use for each other. It goes in order of the ones I think are most frequently used starting at the top.

My love (ñuha jorrāelagon) and My heart (ñuha prūmia) I think they like these two the most because of the possessive particle. After spending so many year apart I think both of them really enjoy being able remind people of their claim on each other. When it comes to High Valyrian vs Common I think both are used pretty interchangeably, although High Valyrian is probably a bit more intimate. From a more political standpoint, using High Valyrian could also be a way of alienating anyone who doesn’t speak it (so most non-Targaryens) and a subtle reminder that they are blood of the dragon and whatnot. On the other hand, using Common could also be a somewhat political move, because it would ensure that everyone understands them. For Daemon it would probably be a way of saying “she’s mine don’t fucking touch her or I’ll feed you to Caraxes,” whereas for Rhaenyra it would be more like “yeah I just called the Rogue Prince my love, what of it,” because remember most people are still terrified of Daemon.

Husband/Wife (Valzȳrys/Ābrazȳrys) Their reasons for liking this one are probably similar to their reasons for liking my love/heart. I could totally picture them going through a phase at the beginning of their marriage where they almost exclusively refer to each other as husband and wife, because they're just so happy to finally be together and married. I think eventually they do start using my love/heart more because it's slightly more personal than just husband or wife, but they do still use it from time to time. As for the language, I think this is also pretty interchangeable.

My Queen (Ñuha Dāria) Before Viserys's death, he probably never called her this except in private since it would be ever so slightly treasonous, but I feel like he would definatly use it in the bedroom. After Rhaenyra actually becomes Queen he probably starts to use it in a more official capacity. Language wise I'd say High Valyrian in the bedroom and Common in public.

Princess In the first few episodes of season one, Daemon calls her princess quite often, but it seems to fall out of use after their ten year seperation. He might use it a little bit, but it's mostly been replaced. The High Valyrian word for prince/princess/heir is dārlilaros, but from what I can tell, Daemon never uses this. As for Rhaenyra, I can't really picture her calling Daemon by his title in a non formal setting. I can however picture her teasing him about his "Rogue Prince" moniker.

Zaldrītsos (little dragon) Personally I think Daemon only ever called her this when she was much younger (like 5 or 6) but I've seen lots of people talk about it so it's on this list. Even if he did keep using it as she got older, I think he definately stopped after they got married, because I can't imagine that he would call his wife "little dragon." They could use it for their children though.

Ok, well that's my list of Daemyra terms of endearment. Let me know what you guys imagine them using.

[sagesparrow394]

I’ve decided to start rewatching Doctor Who from 9 onwards, and it got me thinking about q!Tubbo and Sunny’s whole planned time travel arc that never came to fruition

And now im just devising a QSMP/Doctor Who AU where Tubbo is the Doctor, and Sunny is a little girl who he meets while doing an investigation into some sightings he’s heard about nearby of something that seems distinctly alien. Sunny had snuck out to meet some friends but got lost on her way home, and asks this mysterious man (who she quickly decides not to call ‘the Doctor’, that’s silly, and since he won’t say his real name, she gives him the name Tubbo) to help her find her way and walk her home.

And hey, even if Tubbo is busy, he can’t really leave a lost kid alone, can he? He walks Sunny home to a pretty small flat, where he meets Sunny’s pop, Charlie. Charlie is very thankful that Tubbo brought her back home safe and sound (he gives Sunny a stern talking to about sneaking out to see her friends without saying anything), and invites Tubbo to stay for dinner as a thank you.

Tubbo figures okay, a free meal and then back to his investigation. But through the evening, he picks up on a few things that hint to him that Charlie may not be all that he seems, that he may not even be human… There’s some small things, like how he speaks with an American accent despite claiming he was born and grew up here in London - almost like an alien who doesn’t understand how earth accents work, and taught themselves how to speak English from movies. Other things are much more stand-out, like him offhandedly mentioning something about ‘shapeshifting’, before awkwardly and unconvincingly explaining ‘oh that’s what I call my gender transition aha’. Tubbo begins to think maybe the alien he’s been looking for might be right here…

So Tubbo comes back later that night, parking the Tardis outside of the block of flats as he sneaks into Charlie and Sunny’s. However, he’s met with sounds of a struggle. He follows them to Charlie’s bedroom, where, good news, he sees that Charlie is absolutely an alien, as he is now in a bright green form of pure slime.

Bad news, it seems someone else got to Charlie first: a strange creature, a human-like body covered in white fur, with the head and paws of a bear. It has a completely blank face; no eyes, no nose, no mouth. It has Charlie, who is unconscious, slung over its shoulder. It stares at Tubbo for a moment - before pressing a strange device on its wrist and disappearing, taking Charlie with it.

While wracking his brain, trying to think if he’s seen those bears before, Tubbo goes to Sunny’s room and shakes her awake.

“Huh…? Tubbo? What are you doing here?”

“Uh, bad news, your pop’s been kidnapped by an alien.”

“What?!”

“Good news, you’ve got the one guy in the universe here who can find him.”

Sunny, very confused, gets quickly changed out of her pyjamas and into some proper clothes, before following Tubbo outside. She struggles to believe any of what he’s rambling on about - her pop is a slime alien? A weird bear took him? - until she steps into the Tardis.

And so, Sunny becomes the Doctor’s new companion, she and Tubbo travelling throughout all of time and space in the hopes of finding her pop, developing their own kind of father-daughter relationship along the way. And wherever they go, those same faceless bears as well as the phrase ��The Federation’ keeps lurking, more people getting kidnapped across the universe…

[inconsistentlywrittensoul]

I’m way behind on posting about my rewatch - there’s plenty I do want to say about S2, and there’s a whole essay about gender and Phases that I’m probably never going to write - but I’m into Season 3 and I really want to note how much early S3 establishes the issues that are going to drive Buffy’s long breakdown in seasons 6 and 7.

Firstly, Buffy's tendency to pull away from her friends, feeling she has to take care of everything for herself and protect them from her problems and her feelings rather than sharing them. It’s a consistent pattern, and we see it in her running away at the end of Season 2, and continually refusing to talk about what happened with Angel with both the Scoobies and Faith. When she eventually does try to talk to her assigned school counsellor about Angel, she explicitly says she can’t talk to anyone else about what’s happening (only to find him dead, which I’m sure didn’t help).

Of course, this isn’t just a flaw of Buffy’s - her friends have a pretty big role to play, especially Xander. His sanctimonious, judgemental whining about Buffy leaving, as well as anything to do with Angel, does a lot to push Buffy away. (Not to mention the first thing he does when he finds out Angel is back is try to manipulate Faith into murdering him.) It’s also hard not to suspect that Xander’s lie back in Becoming did a lot of damage - because of that, Buffy thinks even Willow hates Angel and wouldn’t understand her continued feelings for him. ‘Kick his ass’ made Buffy feel like literally no-one is on her side.

Regardless of the reason, here we see the beginning of the split that will make Buffy feel increasingly isolated and unable to trust or rely on anyone as the series continues into the depression years, especially Season 6. But we also see the start of a pattern that will become a central flaw in Season 7 - her inability to express empathy or care for anyone who she sees as a reflection of herself.

I’m actually not talking about Faith here - that’s related, but it’s also a whole can of lesbian worms I don’t want to get into right now. But aside from Faith, in the first few episodes of Season 3 there are two girls who mirror Buffy, specifically in her relationship with Angel. In Anne, we have Lily/Anne, who’s wants to spend the rest of her life with her older boyfriend, who has a criminal past and seems a little crappy but also genuinely loves her and is trying to be good to her, and who ends up being sent to hell. Then in Beauty and the Beasts, we see Abby, who started dating a guy who seemed nice at first, but who turned out to be an abusive monster. Both are very obvious parallels to Buffy in her relationship with Angel (in soul-having and soulless forms), and serve as ways for her reflect on that relationship.

But what I want to focus on is the fact that, while Buffy does try to help both girls, she’s also unusually harsh and unempathetic towards them. Her attitude is ‘This is how things are, and you need to set aside your emotions and just deal with it immediately and without emotional support’; it reflects how she treats herself, but it’s also a pattern in how she treats people whose challenges reflect hers. Which will come to a head in how she treats the Potential slayers in season 7, and the way she alienates everyone around her in part through her treatment of them (and therefore also her treatment of herself).

It’s just interesting to see these issues that will dominate the last couple of seasons come across so strongly in this early part of Season 3.

[pinazee]

Who ya gonna call? (The DID/trans ep)

Ill be honest i was nervous to rewatch this one but turns out it held up better than i thought. I mean, the worst of it is that the DID person is the murderer but that was such a common tv thing back then for procedurals. Every one had to have a DID ep, even though, as Psych points out, its so exceedingly rare. I get it, its a fun concept, but yeah, don’t make them the violent ones when 9 times out of 10 they’re the victims of violent crimes. I will say though, Psych made sure to include they were getting the help they needed and they really didn’t have to.

But what a cool way to show it though, having the other personalities act like ghosts. It feels very poetic. And to have one personality trans is such an interesting layer on top of it. It really can’t get more complicated than that.

This episode also tells us so much about Lassiter! Hes trying desperately to win back his not-yet-ex wife its kind of heartbreaking. We’re starting Psych right at the beginning of Lassiters downfall. He gets separated, has an “affair” with his partner who gets reassigned because ppl found out thanks to Shawn, and i believe its later implied he lost the promotion to captain because of that affair. And then Shawn comes along and he’s solving his cases. I have to wonder though, since we see in this ep how distracted he can be when he has personal issues, if Lassiter isn’t necessarily a bad detective in the beginning but just going through some shit and missing things. It kind of makes me understand why he’s so hostile to Shawn in the beginning. Not that thats any excuse. Just because you’re having a bad day doesn’t mean you get to shit on other ppl’s. And it was fun to see lassiters and Juliets miscommunication. It was nice to see them easing into their partnership, and allowing friction, particularly:

What was henry going to do if that kid just started wailing on shawn??? Honestly, probably would have tried to teach shawn how to hit back and would’ve got him pummeled.

Its kind of funny that in this ep Shawns all this guy believes in ghosts, hes crazy, when in later eps he’s so excited about aliens and bigfoot haha. I can only conclude Shawn doesn’t really believe in anything supernatural but definitely wants to. I think it would have been better if Shawn didn’t think the guy was crazy right off the bat but maybe had a stalker, or intruder. (P.s were the writers implying Shawn was right from the beginning and they were crazy, or was that just poor wording??)

Sidenote: Shawn just casually spoke german and seemingly understood her response. He probably simply knew enough to impress her, but still. He does this a few times i think in the series where he lets it slip how much he actually knows.

[jodetesuciaperra]

Black Mirror 7x02 Bete Noire

Maybe is just me, but this one feel at a slower pace. But works well, because slowly introduces certain elements that become more important as the story progresses.

Also the rewatch value is so big with this one! Just one example, the first thing we hear in the episode is the news telling this: A woman who jumped from the roof of a multi-story building in Camberwell yesterday has been pronounced dead. Later we learn the the woman was Natalie.

The miso jam joke at the beginning, i like it a lot, i'm a sucker for those type of jokes.

I like how each day had a dramatic music with a huge font.

And then we meet Verity, i had to look it up and i found this:

I really like that her name correlates to her character and how she makes whatever she wants the truth and in part that also make us be more in the shoes of Maria and how she perceives things change.

I love how the episode starts to change little things that Maria (and us) notice. And how everyone starts to treat her like she is wrong, with the "Please, not raise your voice", we feel that gaslight because we know she was right and as i said, we get to be on her shoes. Like with the Bernie's and Barnie's change, the email that didn't had what she wrote, even the camera footage.

The line between truth and lies blurs. Shows how what we perceive as the truth is false but also how lies can become reality. And with a victim of bully as Verity, that first lie that became her reality affect her so much and we get to see how she felt in those times.

Alienation becomes other part of the episode, first we see how Maria starts to lose and alienate other people close to her. Then we learn that Verity did go through something similar, with her losing her only friend. Natalie, although we don't see her part, it is implied that she was going through the same. That was hard to watch but the effects of not feeling like you can trust your enviroment nor the people you use to is quite hard to deal.

When i first watch this episode, i notice how Maria acts uncomfortable with Verity being close to her. At first i believe that was because something was "off" with Verity, as Maria explained. But now that i rewatch. I believe is because Maria is worried that Verity might look for comeuppance for what Maria did. Like, she explains how Natalie did bully Verity the most, but doesn't say that she started the whole rumor, she denies the truth by lying.

About the ending, i was upset. But not because i thought it was bad. But because Maria didn't seem to be sorry of what she did, when confronted she just say she didn't remember, neither she seems to have learned a lesson about how her actions affected Verity, instead she got rewarded at the end.

Was sad to see how Verity, although having everything at the tip of her hands, even Maria points out that Verity can make it like the bullying never happened but the thing is, she still experimented all the torment and she was unable to deal with her trauma properly, nothing would have made her feel better. I truly believe that Verity wouldn't have catharsis in making Maria kill herself or worse yet, Verity would make another Maria kill herself and so on and on.

One thing i didn't like is that Verity didn't have a back up plan if she died and how easy it was for Maria to use her pendant. I would think that Verity would have some form of failsafe. I can kinda excuse it as Verity being so cocky about her power that she didn't believe Maria would be able to get so far, neither hurt her.

Although, after seeing some discussions of the episode, even ended up learning about the role of race between Maria and Verity in this episode that went over my head, i do need to rewatch this episode and i find interesting to see how the dynamic change between Maria and Verity. Verity becomes a case of bullied becomes the bully and althought we can understand why she does what she does, is overkill. I still don't think that Maria getting to use the pendant so easily is satisfactory but i get the ending better now, Maria needed a W and with the power of the necklace (and how her character was potrayed) is easy to see why she choose to be the empress of the universe.

[ephysalis]

My friend and I just finished our rewatch of Star Trek: TOS. What a fun, fun trip it was.

Purely for my own enjoyment, here are the 10 Star Trek: TOS episodes I liked the most. Heavily steeped in my love of retro cheese and B-Movies.

10. Arena

The Kirk vs A Lizard episode. The rocks are very obviously foam, the fight choreography is peak Trek and the lizardman wears a go-go dress lovingly crocheted by meemaw. At the end a bedazzled space twink shows up. A classic for a reason.

9. The Corbomite Maneuver

Structured like so many other Trek eps (ship gets in predicament, Kirk must pull a solution out of his ass in the 11th hour) but with great twist ending that blew my mind. Showcases Kirk's brand of cleverness very well.

8. Turnabout Intruder

The last episode of the series has a fascinating plot: one of Kirk's ex-girlfriends forcibly switches bodies with him. There's a lot of unfortunate gender discourse but if you decide to view the whole thing as a typically 60s trans allegory, it becomes fascinating. Spock recognizes the captain through a mind meld and defends him in court. Good times.

7. The Cloud Minders

The best episode of season 3 imo. Beautiful painted backgrounds and amazing retrofuturist interiors. The story is a really solid metaphor for classist oppression right until you learn the workers actually ARE violent and stupid because of some gas in the mines. Still loved it.

6. Operation: Annihilate!

The crew visits a planet decimated by alien parasites that look like flying rubber pancakes. Spock gets got and it's very tense and dramatic. Good Spirk vibes, plus I love it when my blorbos suffer.

5. The Way to Eden

The Enterprise picks up space hippies trying to find a fabled paradise planet. The costumes and songs are super enjoyable. A shining example of an ep that was probably extremely cringe back when it aired but has aged like a fine, campy wine.

4. The City on the Edge of Forever

Ok this one isn't underrated, everyone knows it's good and they're correct. Kirk and Spock get stuck in the past together and it manages to be incredibly gay despite Kirk literally dating a woman. Excellent story. Spock wears a beanie.

3. The Trouble with Tribbles

Another one where I agree with the general sentiment: it's silly and fun and I will never tire of seeing Shatner buried in furry little potatoes. The Animated Series episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles" is a hilarious sequel.

2. Amok Time

The Spirk episode that started it all, featuring a fascinating look into the mix of uptight decorum and violent heritage that makes Vulcan culture so compelling. I did particularly enjoy the extremely awkward conversation between Kirk and Spock about "Vulcan biology" at the beginning. "It happens to the birds and the bees..."

1. The Devil in the Dark

Shatner's favorite ep and also mine. The acting is on point and seeing Spock yell "JIM!" with obvious concern on his face is just 👌🏻. I love the retro cheesiness of the paper mache caverns and the alien who looks like a lasagna; I love how testy Bones is about having to do first aid on said lasagna; I love the horror-like story structure and overarching message about understanding others. 100/10.

[naavispider]

OMG OMG OMG

I remember reading an idea sort of like this ages ago. But I can’t remember if it was an avatar fic or smth else 💀

have you ever seen the golden compass? The movie with the spirit animal daemon things???? well, I rewatched that yesterday and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

so, imagine Spider’s daemon spends his entire childhood flicking through forms. The first being a gigantic spider, and the second a blond, shaggy furred dog. Only, when (insert daemons name here) finally settles, he’s a beautiful orange tiger.

this, at first, would be wonderful. (Both bc tigers r fucking cool and second bc it has symbolism from the start of the first movie when tigers are brought back from extinction - it would be the first time Jake or any other humans see a true orange tiger).

BUT BUT BUT‼️ when quaritch was alive his form was ALSO a tiger - a white one - with the same gruesome three-strike scar along its eye m. Bc I’ve decided daemons and humans share scars.

OR OR OR‼️‼️‼️ spiders daemon settles in a desperate attempt to protect him when they meet the recoms for the first time‼️‼️‼️ AAAAAAAAA

I would imagine that Navi don’t have daemons. And they don’t understand the connection between daemon and human. So, therefore, spider doesn’t really get it either. He just sees his worst fear realised and believes his daemon is betraying him.

THIS ALSO MEANS‼️‼️ Recoms might have Pandora daemons‼️ I would imagine some of them would have ikrans as their daemon, zdog would defo have one of those purple bat things and Lopez would have a viper wolf I don’t make the rules. But quaritch would definitely have a giant thanator.

and when they are being pulled up into the ship- or any other time ig - Quaritch’s thanator (who is male, spiders daemon is also - pretty sure it’s like uncommon for daemons to be the same sex as the holder but that’s just how I pictured them) would totally have spiders daemon held by his scruff in his mouth that would be so cute.

ALSO ALSO OMG IM HAVING SO MANY JDEAS JUST WRITING THIS. They would torture spider INSTEAD OF THE MACHINE - they would try to separate him from his daemon like they do in the golden compass ‼️

My original idea was for humans to be shapeshifters. Mainly bc I totally wanted that held bu the scruff scene - but it’s actually quaritch doing it not his daemon. But also, the idea of a thanator daemon grooming a growly tiger daemon is so cute to me.

daemons show people’s true emotions. So spiders daemon is definitely as scared at the beginning, but visibly relaxes very quickly I’d assum - especially around quaritch. And I totally want an over protective thanator pacing the outskirts of their camp every night - lingering on the place spider is sleeping.

sorry for rambling, legit typed this out in three minutes I was so enthusiastic I was shaking. I have another idea from ages ago that I still need to type up - just bc I wanna share ♥️♥️

Hellooo old friend 💞

Firstly I'm soooo sorry it has taken me this long to respond. Life's been crazy and I've got a promotion/new job which is draining all my mental energy. I've not really been able to write anything at all in the past few weeks and it's making me sad 😭

This prompt is incredible and I 100% agree with the imagery of Quaritch's daemon holding Spider's by the scruff of the neck 😭 I don't have names for them (but I think Spider's one would be a girl) so here's some headcanons.

Quaritch's daemon is a thanator and Spider's is a tiger. As they are both full sized I think this makes for a very interesting concept. Spider's daemon settled after a huge argument with Neytiri a few years ago when she banned him from coming round. (They got over the argument like in the comics but ever since then Spider has an added resentment towards Neytiri because he was desperately hoping his daemon would settle as a creature from Pandora. He feels that if they never fought then he wouldn't be 'shackled' with an Earth daemon, which only adds to his 'alienness' in the clan's eyes.)

At the beginning of the movie Quaritch is almost sure straight away about who Spider is, because the daemon is a dead give away. (I don't know the lore from Golden Compass if characters are like,, born with their daemon or what, but in this AU the fact that Spider's is a tiger is a major give away for Quaritch).

"Miles?" He asks when suddenly a tiger emerges, growling, from the bushes to protect Spider.

Spider has seen enough of Q's video logs to recognise him, too.

The kids are not only surrounded by a dozen recoms but also all of their daemons. Z-dog's is a viperwolf, which pins Tuk down on the ground while Prager's prolemuris attacks Lo'ak. Wainfleet still grabs Kiri and works out that they are Sully's kids.

"Let them go!" Spider yells as he lunges for Wainfleet and his tiger launches itself at Z-dog's viperwolf.

Then, Quaritch's daemon emerges from the trees, silencing the kids with its presence. It goes straight for Spider's tiger, pinning it down easily. Spider yelps as he feels the bite of the thanator around his daemon's jugular. Quaritch commands the thanator to ease up a bit, but still keeping the tiger trapped.

"How are you alive?" Spider growls.

"Your daddy backed up his memories. All his personality too. It was all saved onto a drive and uploaded into... me."

"Let them go..!" (he's struggling because of the thanator's grip on his daemon)

Quaritch smirks, turning his back on his son as he radios command.

Cut to the parents arriving and all hell breaking loose. Q's thanator releases Spider's tiger when a blast goes off right next to them. Spider and his daemon run like Hell. The tiger is only slightly faster than Spider, but the thanator is in hot pursuit. (once again my lack of knowledge about the golden compass lets me down because idk how far Quaritch and his thanator can be separated, but let's say Quaritch catches up fast). When the blast causes Spider to fall down the bank he is initially knocked out but his tiger isn't, and stands guard to protect him, growling, when Q approaches.

The tiger tries to fight the thanator, but ofc is easily overpowered because of the size of the thanator.

Spider is groaning slightly as Quaritch pulls him over his shoulders, but he's too out of it from the fall to be able to prevent himself being carried off

He is aware that he can't see his daemon, and suddenly panic sets in. He knows the recoms could easily hurt her to hurt him.

The adrenaline kicks in enough for him to lift his head and scour the forest through weary eyes - his tiger is being carried in the jaws of Quaritch's thanator a few paces behind them. "Get off!" he tries to yell.

(don't ask me how the daemons are lifted into the demon ship)

At first, Spider and the tiger are thrown into the same cell. They huddle together for warmth at night and the tiger does a good job scratching up the door and tearing down the security camera.

The only person who can handle the two of them is Quaritch, because of his daemon, so it's a struggle to get Spider into the Neuroscanner, and there are some nasty fights between the tiger and the thanator, resulting in a lot of pain for Spider.

The neuroscanner is useless though because spider doesn't give them anything, so eventually they decide to bypass the ethics board and separate Spider from his daemon. Quaritch does not know about this (and like in the golden compass) enters just in time to see them doing this to his son. He's able to stop Ardmore and eventually Q convinces her to let him take Spider out into the field.

When Spider is faces with seeing Q again, he has the full stoic facade, but his tiger is trying not to cower and is trembling. Q sees this and takes even more pity on Spider, his heart breaking for him when he sees what the RDA has done to him.

After a while in the forest, Spider's daemon starts to relax and bond with the thanator, especially since the thanator protects and looks out for it against the Pandoran wildlife.

At night, spider and his tiger curl up together and Q watches them in the firelight thinking all of his deep, wishful, fatherly thoughts, while his thanator is looking at him pointedly as if to say 'why are you jealous of them, I'm right here'

Nevertheless, the thanator looks out for Spider and the tiger

Spider riding Q's thanator eventually

Spider and Quaritch watching their daemons playfully interact and Spider being totally embarrassed while Quaritch is sitting there smugly watching his daemon lick Spider's to clean its fur

If anyone has more please share!! I need to brush up my knowledge of the golden compass lore, but I tried!

[cheesylagoon]

I JUST FIGURED OUT WHY SAR SPOKE SUCH GOOD ENGLISH IN SEASON 3

(Sorry if it was obvious but I feel like it’s obscure enough I can explain)

So every time we see Sar he almost never speaks. To be expected of an Alien robot who isn’t around humans a lot.

BUT the first time we see a robot other than robot speak is on the resolute Thar said Will’s name and I was confused because nobody other than Scarecrow and Robot had ever even hear his name? But then season 3 released and after my 31st rewatch I realized it was because of Robot and Scarecrow! (obviously but just hear me out on this)

So basically, when Sar kidnapped Robot (which was obviously before the robots heard Will’s name) and basically interrogated him for over seven months all he heard was Will’s name because Robot still called Will by his name when they were talking. So that’s how Sar Knew Will’s name in the very beginning and was able to tell the others and that’s how Thar knew Will’s name on the resolute.

But I was still confused for a while as to how Sar was speaking FLUENT sentences when he was talking to Will in season 3. However, again, after a few rewatches of the season I realized it was again, from Scarecrow. Scarecrow has been around humans FAR longer than Robot has been by a few years at the least. He was basically forced to pilot the resolute, so obviously he would know the language much better than Robot even though Robot spoke more than Scarecrow (which makes sense because Robot had to learn to speak because he interacts with humans a lot while Scarecrow didn’t because he was pretty much abused the whole time or just couldn’t because he was broken).

So when Sar took Scarecrows memories he basically got like 9+ years at least of English knowledge in one go, which is how he spoke so well. It also makes more sense as to how he understood English work structures and how to correctly place words, something even Robot doesn’t do that well, and speak fluently to Will. And it makes even more sense when you think about how most of the words Sar says are things scarecrow would probably heard while he was in Hastingʼs custody. “No”, obviously he heard no a lot, “masters,” I can imagine Hastings saying he was Scarecrows master when he’s upset with him, “programming,” I can hear Ben saying that about Scarecrows behavior, “free”, I bet Ben talked to Hastings about letting him free maybe once or twice before Hastings brought up Ben’s kids, and the rest are usual words they would say around Scarecrow. (R.I.P my king you didn’t deserve a needle through your head after you just got free of other needles in your head)

Robot doesn’t speak good English because 1, he hasn’t been around them as long as Scarecrow and 2, I don’t think he trusts himself to say the right things in the right order so that they won’t be misunderstood (it’s a pretty confusing language if your an alien and it’s completely different from yours). you can see this when he panic and begs Ben to save Scarecrow, which Is arguably the longest string of words he has ever said, even now, but he was desperate so he tried his best (and it was arguably still not the best English just understandable. He still did his best though so I’m proud of him).

Scarecrow doesn’t speak English at all probably out of spite. We know he understands it since he can plan with Maureen, Don, and John, which is pretty hilariously shown with how annoyed he gets at Don’s rambling about microwaves AND he could read the text on the Jupiter’s computers to find Ben’s profile (something Robot still can’t do since he can’t even use anything on any ship). But obviously Scarecrow wouldn’t speak it because he doesn’t trust or like humans and even breaks the device John made Maureen brings on the mission. The only reason Robot speaks English is because humans are all he remembers since loosing his memories and he has no reason not to since he’s basically accepted by them. Scarecrow has a whole other story since he was tortured by them for over 9+ years at the VERY least.

But all of that was how Sar could speak such good English because he had two perspectives of the language AND was willing to speak it.

It’s odvious ik but I’m slow and wanted to share my findings in case anyone else was confused or just didn’t know.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Twist English player here, but I can just imagine Floyd being able to understand Stitch, the two of them begining to communicate with each other. But much to everyone's chagrin, Floyd immediately adapts to it, talking like Stitch. 🤣🤣 Floyd knows exactly what he's saying and doing, and it gets on everyone's nerves, especially Azul's and his professors!😂

We stan our multilingual kings 😩 (I actually completely forgot that Stitch learned English during my recent rewatch of the Lilo and Stitch movies, so it surprised me when he started speaking something other than his alien language—) Maybe Floyd would casually learn + repeat the most offensive phrases just to fuck with people... Good luck to Jack, Riddle, Ace, and Azul who have to put up with him all event--

Who knows?? Maybe Lilia can pick up on some of what Stitch says as well. Of the group, Lilia is definitely the most well-traveled and has experienced the most cultures--not to mention that he's canonically multilingual, as we see in book 7. Lilia has tried to teach Silver the language of nocturnal fae before, and he also seemed to perfectly understand the pixies that reported to him (when we previously learned that most big fae need a special translating bell to understand pixies). He also, of course, speaks what appears to be the common tongue of Twisted Wonderland.

... Is that why those two are the SSRs for this event? Because they'd be the most lenient and "let's go with the flow!" when it comes to Stitch's shenanigans?

[ykiddieforu]

Alien 3

A lot of people hate Alien 3 and like for good reasons. (spoilers) First of all the beginning of the movie completely destroys everything that happened in the one before (I will get into Alien 3 vs Aliens in the next post) secondly all of the characters are the worst people in the world. People also say there aren't enough cool deaths of like interesting stuff happening. the one thing I do agree with the haters on is that the love plot was so lame and not needed. Basically Ripley and the Dr. guy were like "wave been alone for a long time why not" (Umbrella Academy fans know the frustration for that kind of thing)

But despite all that I REALLY like this movie. I think that the sets look cool and hello the xenomorph is a dog!! I have more serious defending points too. I think that if you look at the movie without so much expectations, like as a just a horror movie and not an Alien movie, it can help you understand where I'm coming from. I've been reading a lot of Stephen King recently and I realized that part of his style is just adding in the most terrible people and going into detail about like not horror stuff but like gross, evil, morally wrong stuff like all of the prisoners on Fiorina 161 have done. I think that he does this to add to the horror feeling in his stories, to mix real word horror with the fiction. You aren't supposed to relate to or like the prisoners, its supposed to make you feel bad in order to lead you into the end of the movie. And the ending is so important because...

the whole point of Alien 3 is to be different form the first two. So far there has been a formula: nobody listens to Ripley and they all die except for the cute innocent one that Ripley saves. In the first one there was Jonesy, and then newt and then you are introduced to a dog, but has not going to get out, and newt is dead straight off the bat too. it takes you to the point you don't even care if Ripley lives anymore. If they did it any other way then replays death at the end would be sad, but its not sad, its just fucking cool and that's the whole point! You watch horror movies because you want to see how everybody dies and you complain when everyone actually dies at the end?

I don't really know what else to say. i encourage you to rewatch or watch Alien 3 if you haven't. I would love to discuss.

[zonedelicious]

Defending Ben 10 Alien Force Season 3 With My Life!

(An analysis of Ben's character and why I find it consistent up to this point)

This essay thingy is part one of a bigger project where I rewatch all of Ben 10 and look back on the series. A sort of retrospective.

Originally I wanted to watch all the shows, and then write one big post. But I decided to do it in parts to make it easier. And since the final season of alien force is largely hated, I thought I should focus on it specifically (since I have very different opinions than everyone on this).

Now when starting I did expect to see Ben's character be inconsistent, going from classic, to alien force, to season 3 of alien force. That is the popular opinion online and the one I had as a kid. Ben goes from childish kid, to mature teen, to an even more childish kid.

So I'm sure a lot of people are going to be shocked when I say that not only do I completely disagree with this perspective, I found Ben's character strangely consistent through both shows and I think he only becomes more nuanced and interesting by the end.

First I think most people who say Ben is either childish, or mature, or a psychopath, don't really know what these words mean, or don't even understand how Ben's character traits work.

(the psycho thing we'll get to in the next post since we haven't gotten to ultimate alien yet)

Does being mature mean you can't be petty or selfish sometimes? Does having negative traits automatically make you a child? This is the kind of flaw in ben 10 discussion I have noticed with this rewatch, we associate bad traits with regression and good traits with development. But that is very shallow way to look at fiction. Characters can have more than one trait, they can even have conflicting traits. And character development can also include negative development.

I think Ben's maturity is something that's greatly overstated, because his personality in Alien Force is a trait he has shown in the classic series many times. And by boiling him down to childish and mature Ben, it takes away a lot of the nuance he has as a character.

So enough about that, let's go back to the beginning.

Ben 10 (the original show)

The start of the series shows us that Ben is a kid who just wants to sit back and enjoy life, but hates bullies and wants to help others. And also he really loves his grandpa (this is a clue that will help us later).

Throughout the first season Ben struggles with being a hero. He struggles to differentiate helping people selflessly, and helping people because he gets a kick out of it. For a 10 year old his behavior is very realistic. Of course he wants to be seen as a big shot and be validated for his actions.

It isn't until Max is hospitalized that Ben finally realises the dangers of the world he's in. That's when we see Ben drop the hero act and turn into a scared kid. We see him at his most vulnerable. The first look at the real Ben.

Ben and Max fight a lot in the original show, but despite that Max is probably the most important person in Ben's life. Even more than his parents. And I think it's largely because Ben wishes he can be more free like his grandpa. Living in an rv and going wherever you want. So losing Max for 10 year old Ben is the worst thing that can happen to him. He not only looks up to grandpa Max, he idolises him and wants to follow in his footsteps. Which becomes more obvious once Ben finds out about the Plumbers. And now season 2 is about Ben becoming an even bigger hero.

The first season definitely has the most consistent narrative of the classic series. I think Ben doesn't really learn much until the movie. He does learn to be closer with his family, but there's no real challenge for him like the first season. People will say this is the show recycling his character arc, which I sort of get, but it's not the same to me. Ben isn't being challenged on the same level, he's just going through episodic cartoon plots. A lot of it isn't serious so Ben isn't really being serious. To him he's the cool alien with a badass grandfather and can solve any problem. It's all a fun adventure to him.

Even when he meets his future self the message is that Ben being a kid and having fun is what makes him Ben. It's future Ben who has to learn to have fun and be a kid again. A clever twist on the time travel trope.

Despite that Ben is shown to be more responsible with the hero stuff. He tries to help others not just by literally saving their lives, but also talking to them, or standing up to villains. Kevin being the best example. Ben tries to befriend him many times, but will also risk his own life to stop Kevin from hurting Gwen. Which at the moment Ben didn't even have the Omnitrix at the end of season 2. We see that despite being a kid he's also gotten braver.

Another note, Gwen and Ben have a pretty good relationship from the start. While they do fight it's never anything serious, they're just being kids and fooling around. The kind of childish arguments you forget in an hour. Yet they're very close and love goofing around together. You can tell that they care for each other despite the petty banter.

Of course once we get to the secret of the Omnitrix (the true ending of the first show imo) Ben's character is finally given its conclusion for the classic series. Here Max's role is swapped with Tetrax, Ben looks up to Tetrax in a similar way, and while Tetrax is friendly, he's also the guy who really knows how to get Ben to reflect on his actions. Once Ben thinks he has lost Gwen he is back to the scared vulnerable kid. We see all his aggression, how he blames himself, how all that weight is really hard for him to process at such a young age.

What's even better about this is how the movie starts with Ben causing trouble for Gwen and they get in a fight. But Gwen still sneaks into Tetrax's ship to help Ben. So losing Gwen is not only him losing his cousin. Ben's losing someone he felt responsible for. He's failing Gwen, himself, and grandpa Max all at the same time.

Of course Gwen is alive but it doesn't change that Ben has finally opened up about his insecurities and we finally get a full look into his inner self. Which brings us to...

Alien Force, the show that made Ben mature (or did it?)

Now remember everything I said about his character? Now think about the plot of alien force. Ben realises his grandfather is missing, there's an alien conspiracy that his grandfather entrusted him to solve, and even an old foe is there he needs to ally with.

Ben is essentially forced to take up the role of grandpa Max in the story. And for a 15 year old that's a lot of pressure to take.

I'd say Ben's character shift for Alien Force is not only organic, it's the natural follow up to his character arc in the classic show. As someone who's always seeking validation now finally being put in a position where he has to be the person he always looked up to. Sure the stakes were high in classic, but Max (and Tetrax) was always there to help and give Ben motivation.

There's an aura of tension early on as Ben still doesn't even trust Kevin. He doesn't understand the new Omnitrix or the new aliens. He has to watch max die and still keep his cool. Because he was trusted this role and can't let Max down.

I don't think Ben matured, he was forced into a role of being the mature adult at 15.

Even Ben's parents are mad at him for doing all this. As they should because Ben is still a kid. He shouldn't be risking his life. He should literally be at the club. The first thing he does before he puts on the Omnitrix again is talk to Gwen. Because he needs her help. And Kevin. Later from other plumber kids too. He isn't doing it all by himself, and he understands that he can't do it alone to an extent. But despite that there's still that urge to be the leader. The one who has to be in charge all the time. He wants to prove himself after all.

Ben's ability to befriend others, is ultimately his strongest trait in the first 2 seasons. It's what ends up saving the universe after all. Something that wasn't all that present in the original show, but can be seen through characters like Kevin, who Ben tried to help many times. And now he's his best ally.

A lot of this is very subtle, and some of it might even be my own interpretation of the story. I don't know if the writers intended all this nuance I'm describing. It is only interesting to look back and analyse it.

The mystery and the slow lumin threat of the highbreed is a good plot for Ben's arc of taking up responsibility. It's something he can't directly solve as easily as in the classic show. Where in the classic show any problem he faced was over in 1 or 2 episodes. All mystery was behind the scenes with him not being aware.

But now it's different. The mystery comes crashing into him. He literally got a football medal the same day he found out his grandfather has went missing because of a secret alien invasion that's been going on for a long time. Again the pressure he's put under comes at him suddenly and he has to adjust to it all in the moment. He's 15 years old.

And despite all odds Ben comes through and stops the invasion, saving the entire galaxy. With the help of all the people he befriended of course. Ben finally proved himself to his grandfather and to the entire universe that he is worthy of being a hero. In the classic series he showed he was a hero, but was still a kid who had learning to do. But now he proved he can stand on his own as a man at age 15.

So naturally Ben took a break.

The part where I shamelessly defend season 3 with my life

The shift for season 3 is off (especially when the first episode starts with an argument we have no context for) and I understand some of this was a mandate, yet I love it. It's a strange shift at first until you start to think what is actually going on in Ben's head.

He finally did what he always wanted to achieve. Become a great hero like his grandfather. The galaxy loves him. And all that validation is more than enough to tell him to relax for now.

Ben had to take a break after all the pressure that was placed on him. He needed a break. He needed to be a teenager again who watches cartoons and has fun. It's important for his mental health after all.

Of course this is a cartoon and he isn't real. But this analysis isn't about that, it's about trying to understand what kind of person Ben is.

Still i do not see how Ben is stupid or childish in these episodes. Relaxed and silly yeah, but in a teenager way, not a 10 year old Ben way. With the gold poop episode for instance I went in expecting to hate it, but now I love it. It's a decent mystery, and Ben's chill attitude makes sense for the situation. It's a celebration and Ben loves to party. Of course he'd be silly with the little aliens.

What I have noticed however is despite Ben being relaxed he's still pretty clever and mature throughout season 3. His quick thinking is actually a major part of this season. With it being directly referenced and even being how he saves the day at the end of the season. I did not expect the show to directly point out Ben's most useful trait and then focus on it durring what's basically his downfall arc.

To reference a few times Ben does this in this season:

In the vreedle episode, Julie emergency calls Ben and Ben shows up seconds later. He didn't wait to think, he arrived as fast as possible once finding out she's in danger.

In the episode where Ben is trapped in the null void without the Omnitrix, we see him actually surviving and doing smart things like covering himself in mud so he won't get spotted.

In the plumber kids episode, Ben is playing the role of the villain mastermind and he has to quickly adapt to the situation and train these kids while not breaking character.

In Charmcaster's debut episode, Ben calls out Kevin for not trusting Gwen. Ben being the mature one in this situation.

We see Ben hasn't changed at all from previous seasons. Season 3 having some of his best moments even. What has changed is the context and circumstances of his actions. He's trying to stay cool and simple because he wants to live his childhood stress free, even if the universe keeps calling him back over and over again, he wants to stay a kid. And that's interesting. We haven't seen that in ben yet. In the classic show he was trying to be a big hero. But now he's tired of all that weight on his shoulders.

Unfortunately the universe keeps calling for his return. The moment Ben tries to relax Vilgax is back. He has taken over 10 planets. And has killed the galactic enforcers trio (they are 100% dead he literally killed 3 side characters just like that). And Ben of course does the reasonable thing and tries to hack the Omnitrix yet again. With horrible results.

People try to use this as an example of Ben being dumb but you gotta realise he's panicking and not thinking straight, and the result is him causing a mess for himself and Kevin. The show is aware Ben is in the wrong here and his actions have consequences. The rest of the season will spend its time exploring Ben's actions and how his quick thinking is both his strongest weapon, as well as his biggest flaw.

Anyway the fight with Vilgax is brilliant and really shows how much Ben had grown. With the return of Diamondhead being both nostalgic and a great way to show his growth. As well as giving Ben another victory that increases his huge ego.

But I must also mention the visuals being beautiful themselves. Season 3 of Alien Force has a subtle upgrade in visuals that I never see mentioned. Everything is more colorful, backgrounds more interesting, the animation more smooth, and the storyboarding is simply wonderful. Don't know why people never talk about this. I guess it will ruin the narrative this is the worst season ever made because of like 4 boring episodes. But I digress.

Still apparently people hate this fight too and claim this scene RUINED Vilgax. How? The only argument I see is he got defeated too easily which.. Have you watched the classic show? Vilgax gets defeated in one single episode by a 10 year old. Vilgax is actually stronger in Alien Force if anything. I don't get how this ruined him at all.

Don't get me wrong. I also prefer his original design and personality. I think this was a poor choice to change him so drastically when the point was bringing back an old foe. But that doesn't mean he's weak. He's clearly stronger. He does a good job fighting Ben. And has even killed 3 characters that you'd expect wouldn't die considering they showed up in a ben 10k episode.

(remember when I said I will be fighting for my life here? I wasn't kidding)

The rest of Season 3 is very episodic ,which is an interesting shift from the previous 2 seasons since they didn't have to make it like this. They had more episodes this time too and cartoon network wasn't against plot or lore. So I'd say this was more of a creative choice than a mandate. Ben's more relaxed so we go back to less world ending threats. Which is good imo because the best standalone episodes are in this season.

Notably Gwen and Kevin get a good focus here (even Julie who should have been the 4th member). With Gwen's best episode so far is in this season. We get more character development for the other 3 protags. And it's very much needed.

Gwen I think didn't get much in the first 2 seasons. She did feel a bit of a downgrade from her classic self. Now however her rivalry with Charmcaster is back, she has her magic, and she has one of the best episodes in the season. The time travel episode is beautiful both visually and naratively, not to mention it's basically writen like a Doctor Who episode, and you gotta love that. But what I love more is how we see Gwen making a huge mistake. Gwen so far hasn't been writen with flaws, unlike Ben and Kevin she isn't given as much depth. So to have an episode that gives Gwen time to make a mistake and fix it, while showing all the effort she'd go through to help Kevin. It was very much needed. Her character deserves more moments like this.

Julie's relationship with Ben is given a bit of drama but in a way where they do communicate and aren't in anyway toxic. I hear this is when their relationship fell off but I don't see it. Their arguments are something Gwen and Kevin often have too and are only there to strengthen their bond. Julie definitely needs to be characterized outside being Ben's girlfriend though, but she's never in a position where she's just Ben's girlfriend. If anything her friendship with Gwen is given more spotlight. Her last appearance for the season being her hanging out with Gwen. Julie definitely deserved to be more than just a side character.

On the other end Kevin gets a huge upgrade with his story line being imo significantly better than what they originally had planned. Originally the story was going to have Kevin turn evil and I am grateful they saved that story line for a later season while this one builds up to it more organically. Here we see how desperate and insecure Kevin is. He even goes back to his more evil self at times. But never too much. His badness is due to his circumstances. He wants to turn back to human. He gets angry. He doesn't trust Gwen. He teams up with villains. But all because he's being pushed into being vulnerable rather than him turning evil suddenly. It's a good small arc that builds up to something bigger later.

As you can see I value character flaws as much as their positive traits. To me a character is less interesting if the story avoids giving them a human element. That's why the character assassination of Ben Tennyson that people talk about to me is one of the best things to ever happen to him.

One episode I HATED as a kid, but now love is the one where the gang go to an alien planet to solve a conflict between 2 identical armies. Kid me hated this because Ben kept messing up and there was no solution in the end. Now however I see the political genius that it is.

While I think this was meant to parody the political system of the US (one group being red and one blue doesn't make it all that subtle), i think the other message I got from it is showing the problems with white saviorism. Ben comes to a planet he has zero political understanding of, and decides he knows how to solve all their problems and can save the day in like 3 hours. Of course he won't and of course he'd end up making things worse.

If you're expecting things to actually be solved and characters to make logical and satisfying actions then this episode is definitely one of the bad ones. But for me, someone who likes to see how characters mess up and the story to collapse on them I really found this episode enjoyable. It's also just very funny. Ben comes off as very comedic to me in his attempt to be helpful and reasonable. He's not being immature but he's being very self centered and too up his own ass to notice that he's coming off as a dick.

I think that's what this season is focusing on. Not Ben becoming immature or childish as like a singular character trait he switches to. No, what the season is telling us is despite Ben being a great hero and a quick thinker, he's also easily able to fall into the arrogant asshole type if he doesn't control himself.

In the ghostfreak episode we even see how despite being his quick thinking self, he doesn't trust Gwen and Kevin as much as before. His ego is getting to him and others are taking notice.

Ben's behavior to me comes off as very realistic. I cannot hate a character who's flawed in a way that a real person is flawed. I don't see a switch in personality. I see one person displaying their traits in different ways depending on the scenario they are in.

So why people hate this season so much I will never understand.

Anyway let's talk about the worst episode in alien force.

Primus

Okay people you're right about this one. Primus sucks. It's bad. It's meaningless. It's confusing. And it's counterproductive for what it's trying to do. Honestly it feels like a rough draft of an episode before they actually start writing it.

Ignoring the fact that the concept itself is flawed, there's no time given to even show us Primus or make us understand it. And it ruins Vilgax's arc by giving him the Omnitrix WAY TOO EARLY. It kind of ruins the finale too since Ben giving the Omnitrix away is part of the climax of this season. Both Vilgax and Azmuth are pretty dumb this episode and it's weird watching them here. Vilgax is a bit better until he gets the Omnitrix and becomes dumb for no reason. Couldn't they just make it so Ben is the one with the key to activate the Omnitrix? Azmuth also what do you mean you turned into Rath to fight Vilgax instead of like way big? Ben isn't dumb in this one though. His trick to get back the Omnitrix is smart even though the way it was written is dumb. And we do get to see him vulnerable after losing the Omnitrix. Still this episode should have been replaced with something better and the show would have been better off for it.

This episode is brought up often because it is the weakest and if it was your impression of the season you'd think it's bad too. I don't even think Vilgax is bad this season but he definitely is poorly writen here.

So yeah this episode is very bad. Like couldn't they have replaced this with an extra Tetrax episode? That man deserves it.

Oh right Tetrax

Tetrax episode is peak fiction and I don't care about the haters. I'd argue it's one of the best episodes in the series and the fact we never got a follow up is baffling.

For starters Tetrax is Ben's real dad. Let's be real. He fills the same role as grandpa Max and so Ben has the urge to prove himself to him. That's why watching Ben fulfill the propercy of the diamondhead people and save Tetrax's planet is one of the most satisfying moments in the series for me. Tetrax destroyed his planet. He made a huge mistake that Ben could have easily made if he didn't have a mentor figure. And now once he sees he has an opportunity to bring everyone back he goes straight to shattering Ben into pieces with no explanation. (Tetrax pretty much is Ben without grandpa Max if you think about it)

This episode is a meme for the Jesus bits. but it works. It's good lore. And it's a great conclusion to a character arc and storyline.

The fact this episode is a follow up to Tetrax origin and incorporates a new alien into it is really smart. Obviously they didn't plan this at first so it's great when things work out like that.

It works as a Vilgax episode too because we see how big of a threat he is. Everyone's struggling to fight him, even Tetrax and Ben. He's not some pushover as people claim.

But more importantly Ben redeems Tetrax by saving the diamond people and that's something he wouldn't be able to do if he's some dumb kid. Ben is a true hero again in this episode. He sees what the threat is and he solves it with his quick thinking and courage. And I think it's thanks to Tetrax's presence that Ben is back to the more serious role, because he wants to prove himself to him.

(if only Tetrax had a bigger presence)

And now the ending

The ending is what made me want to take a different look at this season before rewatching because I remember how cool the Azmuth and Ben scene was. On a rewatch i was not disappointed.

For starters animation was really good and the fights with Albedo specifically were choreographed well. Kevin and Gwen were even using their powers in a unique way.

Then we have Vilgax weakening Ben by taking away Gwen and Kevin. Seems simple at first, but when you think of the narrative of this season you realise it's about making Ben vulnerable both physically and mentally.

And once Ben loses the Omnitrix he has a full mental breakdown and this entire sequence is one of the best moments in Ben 10 ever. The way he runs off into the forest. The small chat with Gwen. How he begs Azmuth for help. The little mutual understanding at the end of their argument. It's peak fiction at its most peak fictionest.

For the entire season Ben tried to relax, he tried to be more straight forward, not looking for others for help. But now he's back at being the vulnerable kid he was at the start of the entire series. And I think it's not just that he lost his powers that's hurting him, but that he's also taking out all the pressure he had building up inside. And now he's asking for others to help him.

This moment makes this season work for me. We see a deconstruction of sorts of the kind of person Ben is. Not mature or immature. But this kid who wanted validation until the pressure was too much for him. He tried to act cool like nothing happens. But then he messes up and he's the one who needed to be saved.

This emotional moment was what Ben needed to come up with a genius plan. Go to Vilgax's ship and activate the self destruct feature of the Omnitrix. Honestly I forgot about this part on my rewatch so it came out of nowhere for me. Ben making a bomb threat as his great 4d chest move? You just gotta love that. Remember he's got nothing on Vilgax right now. Vilgax can easily kill him. So for Ben to confidently come in and threaten to blow up the Omnitrix, that he cares about too, it takes courage.

If there's one thing I'd change about the ending it's bringing back Tetrax. He seemed like he would be a part of this and it would have probably mad the mental breakdown of Ben Tennyson more impactful if Tetrax was there too. Or maybe I love this minor character a bit too much. Maybe way too much I admit.

Conclusion

For me what sells season 3 of Alien Force is Ben's character downfall that builds up to this ending. It's not just that he becomes dumb and then is told to stop being dumb. It's that he's struggling in the role of hero. He's struggling to be both the serious badass and a goofy kid. And letting go of the responsibility and trying to act normal only created a different kind of pressure.

Ben for me is a character who was forced into a role he wasn't prepared for and we get to watch how that affects him. Naturally he will have shifts in how he acts. His environment will affect his behavior. That's just life. That's what being a teenager is like. You're always gonna be screwing up in one way or another. Ben's flaws in season 3 aren't about him being childish. He's not dumb or less mature. Ben still does smart things and is shown to care about Gwen, Kevin, Julie, Tetrax, and everyone that comes to his aid.

And of course his ideas and actions aren't always good. They can be stupid or selfish. And that's also fine. Because he's only human. And his humanity is what makes him Ben. Take that away and he'd grow up to become the Ben 10k who refused to transform back to human.

Most of this is my interpretation of events. Other people watching will have different takes. And that is fine. I'm fine with knowing I'm like one of 10 people who loves season 3 of alien force. I'm just here to write a different perspective and hopefully it will encourage more deeper readings of Ben 10 as a series. But mostly I'm fine knowing someone else read all this. So thanks for getting this far.

See you next time when I will be breaking down the neoliberalism of shadow the hedgehog the video game.

/jk

/or am I?

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s6 ep5: Alice

Poor Tom, they only ever give him crappy episodes. At least this one is just stupid rather than outright offensive, so that's a small victory! (You know the bar is low when the one where he buys a haunted shuttle and gets possesed by it is one of the less terrible ones.)

Voyager encounters a space junk dealer, and they make some trades with him for some supplies, including a random shuttle Tom inexplicably falls in love with. Seriously, this shuttle is supposed to be so cool and unique, but it looks exactly like a regular old Starfleet shuttle, slightly redressed. (Which I'm sure it actually was.) If they're gonna make a big deal about how awesome this shuttle is, they should have spent a little more money to make it look really alien, and well, pretty. They have Tom being all gaga over it, but it doesn't look cool or interesting at all, and I feel like someone who's super into ships and likes to design things for the aesthetic would have more taste than to fawn over what's basically standard starfleet shuttle design 2.0, but no! The Captain lets him have his shiny new toy, which he names Alice, because of course a shuttle with a neural interface could never be bad or go wrong! (I feel like letting an unknown ship's computer scan your brain goes against some sort of security protocols, but oh well, what are rules when there's plot to advance?)

This ep once again falls back on one of my least favorite Voyager habits, which is letting the audience know who the villain is before the characters know. I truly don't understand their love of doing this, since showing the audience who the bad guy is from the beginning makes the story seem slow and the characters seem stupid for not figuring things out till the very end. But we can tell that 'Alice' is sinister from the start here, and you wonder why the characters don't.

The shuttle creates a human form to talk to it's pilot, but the human Alice is very overtly creepy from the beginning, and clearly has an ulterior motive, and you wonder how Tom could fail to be suspicious of her from the get go. Obviously the mind control she's using on him explains why he goes along with her later, but I think they should have had the actress play it less creepy in the beginning if they wanted us to believe that Tom wouldn't realize right away that something is amiss. (Plus how on Earth we're supposed to believe he could be seduced in any capacity by a mousy creepy computer girl when he's dating the actual hottest woman in the entire galaxy, I don't know. There's nothing and no one hotter than B'Elanna Torres! She's beauty! She's grace! She'll punch you in the face, and you'll thank her! B'Elanna Torres!!! She is everything!!!)

B'Elanna figures it out first, since Tom is spending all his time with 'Alice', and wearing an extremely dorky flight suit it made for him, and it tries to kill B'Elanna when she figures out that the ship has been controlling Tom's mind to get him to steal parts for it. (Again, why anyone thought letting a crewmember interface with an alien mind probe was a good idea, I seriously don't know.)

While I'm sure they thought they were giving Tom an episode that would be character revealing, having him be mind controlled for most of it pretty much defeated that. We already know Tom loves to fly, (despite the weird detour into 'actually it's his second choice, he really loves the sea!' that came and went in one ep last season) and we also know he wouldn't endanger Voyager just for his pet project if he weren't being forced to. There's actually not a whole lot of character stuff here, and what little we do get doesn't even really make sense- the part where Tom mentions Icarus being one of his favorite myths is straight up antithetical- given what we know of Tom's past, and his relationship with his dad, a story about a man who didn't listen to his father, flew too high, and died as a result of his hubris would be Tom's absolute least favorite. (Whoever wrote this one obviously never had a greek mythology phase in grade school, and it shows!)

There's quite a lot of dialog in this ep about how Tom often gets consumed with hobbies and ignores B'Elanna, but that's never been something we've seen on screen before, so it's a bit frustrating to have characters refer to it as though it's been going on a long time, when it hasn't. Since when?? One of the first rules of writing is 'show, don't tell', and they ignored that rule pretty badly here. While I do like that they gave B'Elanna and Harry a scene together where they talk about Tom, since it's a very authentic bestie moment to comiserate with eachother about how your other bestie sometimes drives you crazy, I wish it hadn't been about a negative character trait that's suddenly been dropped on him out of the blue.

Thankfully, Alice's attempt to kill B'Elanna finally makes Tom realize that something is wrong with Alice, but by then it's too late, and she's got enough hold on him to force him to leave Voyager with her. We learn that Alice needs a pilot because she's trying to reach her home, which is a dangerous spatial anomaly, but we don't learn why. Obviously a shuttle computer doesn't have a home in a spatial anomaly, so 'Alice' must be some sort of life form that got trapped on this shuttle and took over it's computer, but we never find out how, or what sort of life form Alice actually is, or if she in fact got home when the shuttle blew up. Voyager rescues Tom before he burns up in the anomaly, but we're still left with the big question of who or what Alice was, and we don't ever get a moment where we, or the characters, see beyond the creepy evil siren persona she's created and see a desperate alien life form just trying to get home. Given that the whole main plot of Voyager is that of people just trying to go home, I think it was a huge missed opportunity for a poignant Star Trek moment of recognizing the humanity in someone who seems to be just a mean bad guy. But as it is, we're left with Alice being just a bad guy with no depth, and no real lesson beyond 'don't hook up your mind to a strange computer', which seems like it should be pretty obvious to most people.

The whole episode was kind of dumb, and the whole 'what a sexy seductive ship/femme fatale computer lady' angle was such silly nonsense that I really couldn't get into it. But there were little things here and there I liked- Alice referring to the Voyager crew as Tom's family was kind of lovely, actually- even a hostile alien computer takes one look at the Voyager crew, and draws no other conclusion than that these people are a family, bless. I also like that it was B'Elanna who finally got through to Tom in the end, and the very last scene was so cute that I kind of forgive all the dumb stuff that preceded it. Naomi Wildman sending Tom a get well card was adorably precious, Tom apologizing to B'Elanna even though he was mind controlled is A+ accountability, and Tom and B'Elanna have such a lovely make-up hug and kiss that I'm just like ok. you got me. Pour that cute hurt/comfort on me, you get a pass today, writers. Look at this cute shit:

Cuties!!! They have my entire heart, okay?!

Tl;dr: A mediocre episode that doesn't really pull together into an effective story, despite having the potential to have been more interesting. A missed opportunity as a character study for Tom, but at least it's relatively inoffensive and has a cute happy ending.