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imagitory · 5 months

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Hey all! So recently Wish was added to Disney+, and I thought it might be a good opportunity for me to watch it again for the first time since I saw it in theaters. I asked you all what I should write about after watching it, and in the end, the top answers were an analysis of the criticism surrounding Wish and something focusing more on the positive aspects of the movie, rather than just the usual mindless bashing.

So that's what I intend to write! A look back at some of the common criticisms I've heard about the film, and how much weight they actually have.

Now, before we begin, I should put in a disclaimer -- I don't particularly like Wish as a film. I think it had ridiculous amounts of potential that were likely hampered by corporate decisions, but I personally find it to be one of Disney's weaker animated films. That being said, as promised, I will make any critiques I do include as balanced as I can, and I will try to include praise where I can too.

So let's start!

"Asha is a badly written character because she has no character arc."

This is a critique I actually found on a list also discussing valid criticism of Wish, and I knew I had to include it, because even BEFORE I rewatched the movie, I thought it was a bit unfair. Because here's the thing: there are plenty of good films, Disney or otherwise, where the main character doesn't have/need a character arc. All of Walt's original three princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, don't have character arcs. Ariel doesn't have an arc either -- instead her father Triton is the one who goes through a change of heart. Neither does Pongo, or Basil of Baker Street, or Robin Hood. Indiana Jones doesn't go through any real character development in Raiders of the Lost Ark, yet he was interesting enough to inspire a whole movie series! with mixed results. The important part is that even if a main character doesn't develop personality-wise, we should still be able to root for them and want them to achieve their goal. We don't want Cinderella to be abused by her stepfamily -- we want her to find someone who loves her and will take care of her the way she takes care of others. Although it can be more interesting to give your characters an arc while they pursue their goals, it isn't necessary to tell a good story or write a compelling character. Sometimes a story can be more focused on how their life circumstances or environment changes around them.

Another criticism this leads into is the idea that Asha is just another "quirky female lead" a la Rapunzel, except without any background that justifies it. And well...plenty of people griped that Anna was too much like Rapunzel, when Frozen came out. I saw people compare Moana to both Rapunzel and Mulan, when her film came out. Mirabel was also compared to past Disney heroines like Anna and Rapunzel. Even before Wish came out, people tried to argue that Asha looked just like Isabela Madrigal, which was just ridiculous. There's plenty of bad-faith criticism out there that'll shallowly associate one character or story element with one trope exclusively without looking at any nuance or detail. And I think most people would agree that truthfully, none of these female characters are the least bit "the same," no matter how much someone might try to all boil them down to "the quirky Disney female lead." And, like the others, Asha has traits that set her apart. The big one for me is her bent toward social justice, which is something we haven't really seen in a Disney leading lady since Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even so, I admit that Asha's quirkiness isn't as justified by her backstory as the trait is by Rapunzel's isolation or Mirabel's "outcast" status in her family, and that does make it so that her characterization has less depth than those of some of her counterparts'. Does that make Asha a bad character? Of course not. If you like Asha as written, that's totally fine. Underdeveloped doesn't have to mean unlikable.

"There are too many characters in this movie!"

Even I've been a bit guilty of thinking this. I still feel as though the film would've saved a lot of space if some aspects of Asha's friend group had been redistributed to other characters. Like okay, you want to reference the Seven Dwarfs in Asha's inner circle, but give them all distinctive personalities? Have her mother fill the Bashful role, and cut Bazeema. Have her grandpa be Happy, and cut Hal. Have Valentino be your Grumpy role, and cut Gabo. Have Star play your Dopey, and cut Dario. Suddenly you only have three characters -- Simon, Safi, and Dahlia -- to introduce in that kitchen scene instead of seven, and you've also now given Asha's mum, grandpa, and sidekicks more personality as well!

That being said, the amount of characters truly isn't the problem. The real problem is time. Because let's be honest, we can ALL think of media with a large cast of characters we've become strongly emotionally invested in. The Lord of the Rings -- The Avengers -- Hazbin Hotel...but the difference is how much time the audience is given to get to know all of these characters. Even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which has a cast of eleven, ends up leaving the Prince and the Huntsman rather underdeveloped compared to the Dwarfs. We don't ever learn the Evil Queen's whole deal or even her name, and she gets a lot of focus! With Wish only being ten minutes longer than Snow White with a cast of fourteen, it's little wonder the filmmakers struggled to have all fourteen of them leave a strong, unique impact. Even when I first watched the film, I didn't feel anything negative toward Asha's friend group -- if anything, I was happy to see a Disney animated female lead with a friend group of her peers, since the closest we'd gotten to that previously was Hiro in Big Hero 6 and Mei in Pixar's Turning Red. All of Asha's friends had the potential to be very interesting people, and that's why it's sad that we didn't get to see more of them and have the chance to become invested in them as individuals.

"Magnifico was actually right the whole time! Asha is the REAL villain of the story."

I see this one a lot, both from people who disliked the movie and fans who stan Magnifico, and as much as I won't give anyone a hard time for liking Magnifico, I think this view isn't really fair to either character or to the story the filmmakers pretty clearly wanted to tell. And sadly, as much as I want to be positive, I think this interpretation comes about partly because of inconsistent writing on the filmmakers' parts.

In Welcome to Rosas, there is this utopic vision presented of the island -- one that only reinforces the story told to us at the beginning by Asha, of how this man who loves wishes learned powerful magic so he could found this idyllic island kingdom with his wife where he could make wishes come true. Unfortunately, for some viewers, I think that propaganda works a little too well -- making us see Rosas as a place that truly is that happy and content and peaceful. And yeah, that does make it so that when Asha sings about how she wants "more than this," that could make her come across as rather selfish and entitled. But I think there are a few things that are good to remember --

Welcome to Rosas is framed as an advertisement of sorts -- like one of those commercials you see promoting Disneyland and how magical it is, without ever bringing up how much money it costs or how many lines you'll have to stand in. Asha's guiding some new people around with the goal of convincing them to stay and give their wishes to Magnifico, so of course it's going to sanitize the kingdom and make it seem like a place you'd want to stay in. There's blatant hyperbole thrown in there for dramatic effect, like the idea that you could go to outer space. Asha even sings that you're "unlikely to be unhappy": not that you'll be happy living on this island, just not unhappy. And yes, there is a difference between contentment and true, fulfilling happiness.

Simon's friends flat-out call him boring, after he turned eighteen and gave up his wish. This foreshadows what we learn about the wishes later, which is that they're a core part of a person that they're left a shadow of themselves without. At the wish ceremony later on, we can see this in the animation of the two "new citizens" giving their wishes to Magnifico. When they think of their wishes, they're full to the brim with joy, but when they've given them up, they're left looking confused and almost bereft, and even as everyone else cheers, they look unconvinced by the crowd's cult-like "forget without regret" chant. According to Wish's own canon, you're cutting out the "heart" of who you are, when you give up your wish.

Considering Amaya says that Asha will need to keep the tea hot, listen whenever and for however long Magnifico wants to talk, and never question anything, Magnifico didn't want an apprentice -- that would insinuate he'd actually be teaching them magic. If anything, it sounds more like he wanted a personal servant to cater to his whims. And when that person interviewing before Asha disappoints him, he's left running down the hall crying hysterically. This develops Magnifico as the film's future antagonist. Already long before he uses the evil magic book, we see that he wants a subordinate to do whatever he wants without question or complaint, seemingly for nothing in return except his own approval and, I would presume, some sort of paycheck. (I mean, I'm not saying Asha was right to expect favors from Magnifico so soon, or that that kind of quid-pro-quo stuff isn't corrupt as heck, but considering she and Magnifico did seem to connect over how important the wishes were, and considering Sabino's 100 years old, can you blame Asha for opening up about her hope that Magnifico would consider granting her grandfather's wish? She never framed it as a quid-pro-quo, and this probably would be the best chance she'd have to appeal to the King directly.)

Asha is seventeen! Of course her world view is going to be smaller and more idealistic than Magnifico's, and of course her family is going to be the center of her world. At the same time, even if Asha is young, it doesn't mean her perspective isn't worthy of compassion and respect. Sometimes the young do have a more meaningful view of a situation than their elders -- just look at David Hogg, or Malala Yousafzai, or Greta Thunberg...hell, even Anne Frank! However upset Magnifico was about Asha disagreeing with and contradicting him, it does not justify how pettily he decided to shut her down. He was an adult, and a ruler besides: it behooved him to act like one.

The filmmakers clearly envisioned Magnifico as the villain. Even if you want to ignore the promos where they compared Magnifico to the likes of classic Disney villains, Magnifico is portrayed as an arrogant, vain, vindictive control freak. He thinks only he knows what's best for everyone else, has decreed that only he has the authority to cast magic or grant wishes, and knows how beautiful people's wishes are, but prefers to hoard them away like trinkets, long before realizing that crushing them gives him power. (Not to mention he looked at Asha's hand-drawn animation and actually said, "Do we call that a talent?" I mean -- excuse you!) I've even heard some people theorize that Magnifico was based off Disney's "collect-'em-all" CEO himself, Bob Iger, and not in a flattering way. His main argument scene with Asha has been compared to how creatives have felt about their corporate bosses abruptly shutting down and locking away their incomplete films rather than let them be finished or released. Admittedly Wish also goes out of its way to try to make Magnifico sympathetic by giving him the slightest of tragic backstories, having him actually trust Asha enough to show her the wishes after only just meeting her, and (later on) not giving into the temptation of the random evil magic book because Amaya asks him not to, and that definitely muddies the waters. I still have to stand by the fact, though, that one's motivation doesn't excuse their bad behavior, however much one can explain the other. Magnifico having a sad backstory or trauma doesn't mean he's justified in treating people poorly, collecting wishes for his own enjoyment instead of truly loving them and the people they're attached to by sharing them with others, or not wanting people to ever question him or his authority. Magnifico's "nicer" moments don't mitigate these things either. Nor does his role as king. Even if yes, the story could've done well to add more nuance to the idea of wishes and make clear that not all of them are good -- and yes, the story could've either made Magnifico's villainy a bit more straightforward or followed through with the idea of Magnifico being a misguided anti-villain...in this film, we only see good wishes represented in Rosas. Magnifico even calls the wishes "the very best part [of a person]" -- and so one can only presume that all of the wishes Magnifico's collected are that way. Asha even suggests (before Magnifico interrupts her) that if a wish is dangerous, they could probably address that, while still giving back the wishes Magnifico won't grant. And the wish that Magnifico explicitly calls too "dangerous" to grant is Sabino wanting to inspire future generations, presumably through music. Paranoia on Magnifico's part? Perhaps, but also unjustified, in the context of the film. When Star comes down, every last person in Rosas -- including Magnifico's wife and queen, Amaya, who presumably must know something of his trauma and understand wanting to protect their people -- feels nothing but warmth, hope, and joy: all except for Magnifico, who immediately reacts in fear just seeing the wishes moving outside of his control. This insinuates that Magnifico's perception is the odd one out -- he's the only one who's afraid and not inspired, because that alternative magic threatens his absolute rule and control. Just like he's threatened by his people asking too many questions about the wishes he's taken. Just like he's threatened by the idea that Sabino could inspire the next generation in a way he doesn't approve of. And in the end, if that random evil book did corrupt Magnifico, it only magnified what was already there inside of him -- a greedy, obsessive need to hoard things away all for himself and to control others.

Again, for those people who see Magnifico more sympathetically than the filmmakers intended, I can understand why. Wish has two very conflicting ideas of who Magnifico is supposed to be, likely because it was compiled from dramatically different script drafts. But I feel demonizing Asha or ignoring the film's overall message about the value of people being free to chase their dreams to try to prop Magnifico up is misguided.

"Wish is bad because it's 'woke.'"

I almost wonder if I even need to say anything. This sentiment is so disingenuous, it seems like I should really be able to let it speak for itself. Ironically enough, though, I would actually argue that one of Wish's biggest shortcomings is that it isn't as revolutionary as it clearly wants to be.

For one, the culture of Rosas -- inspired largely by Spain and the Mediterranean -- is really never explored. We get no real influence of either of those cultures on the soundtrack aside from a few mandolins and a flourish of castanets now and again, unlike how Encanto embraces Colombia or how The Princess and the Frog celebrates New Orleans with their music. There's a lot of diversity in Wish's cast with a biracial lead and her colorful friend group (including Dahlia, who has a crutch!), but that would be a lot more meaningful if that diverse cast of characters had had fully fleshed-out personalities and relationships that made us emotionally invested in them, such as how Turning Red handled Mei and her friend group. We have aspects of social justice in Wish's storyline, sure -- but as much as you can draw parallels to Wish's story and the writers' strike that had been going on earlier that year and I think those parallels are striking, a film that clearly dealt with so much corporate oversight and meddling almost couldn't commit to making their villain a True Evil sort, and in the end, Rosas doesn't even do away with the absolute monarchy at the end of their supposed "revolution": it just shifts leadership from its King to its Queen. (And yes, I acknowledge saying "no more royalty" is a message that Disney, of all companies, would be hesitant to put out there, but you can't deny, it would've been both ballsy and different.)

Does this mean Bob Iger was right, that Wish is proof its creative types are focusing too much on message and not on entertainment? No. I'd say the bigger problems with the film were more likely caused by corporate interference -- you know, like hiring some popular pop composers to write songs that can be repackaged into other projects easily rather than primarily tell the story and develop the characters. Or deciding that our main female lead has to be able to do everything on her own without "too much help" from her main co-star (LOL, pun) because "feminism." Or defanging the villain with similarities to the company's CEO so he won't scare the kiddos. Or even animating the film at the exact same time as you're writing it like you previously did with Frozen II, to save time and take advantage of the 100th anniversary timing.

Even so, I sadly can't help but feel that Wish is "woke" largely in a performative sense. It features people who look different from each other and it talks about revolution and positive change, but it really doesn't go far enough to depict diversity in a way that people can get really excited about it or inspire deep thought and even maybe positive change in its audience. That's not focusing too much on message and not on entertainment -- if anything, it's more indicative of not giving the relevant and timely themes and the diverse culture enough focus.

"The meta Disney references are awful."

This one I think really is much more subject to personal taste. I've heard quite a few fans say how fun it is to find all the Easter eggs for other Disney projects or even to theorize how Wish could be connected to those movies in some kind of Disney Cinematic Universe. Personally I'm not in this camp, but that doesn't mean that I hate all the references included. The film opening with the exact same kind of text from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs actually made me smile. The Sleeping Beauty-esque drawing style in the storybook was pretty. Even the Seven Friends as an idea I thought was cute, when I first saw the concept art for them.

By and large, the references I tend to see more favorably are the ones only hard-core Disney/animation fans would pick up on. This might make me sound snooty, but I still personally enjoy references like Star's design being based on one of the star cherubs from a discarded Snow White sequence far more than I do the more blatant ones like Magnifico crushing a dream about a "perfect nanny" or the boy dressed like Rosasbound!Peter Pan. I guess for me, the first kind of references feel more like homages, rather than things that are deliberately supposed to make you think of other Disney movies you could be watching instead of this one. For other people, though, thinking of different Disney films while watching Wish is fun, and it reminds them of how much they enjoy those other movies too. It's good, clean, nostalgic entertainment. And well, Disney has put plenty of Easter eggs in its work before, though usually a bit more sparingly.

So yeah, I think ragging on the flood of Disney Easter Eggs in Wish is a bit unfair. As much as most of them aren't for me and I would've been happier with a lot less of them, I know there are other people who find joy in them, and I'm happy they do. The animators working on this film undoubtedly had a lot of fun including those references too, and I don't blame them! It's fun to create art celebrating what you love with like-minded people.

"Wish's songs are all terribly written."

Now up to a certain point, I could just say exactly what I said against the last criticism -- that this really comes down to personal opinion. Unlike meta Easter eggs, however, music is an art form, and there is real craftsmanship to it -- hell, people study music theory for a reason. And as several Youtubers have discussed before, there are real structural problems to how a lot of these songs are written. In some cases, it's an issue of cadence, where the way the words are sung don't sound like how they'd be naturally spoken aloud. In Knowing What I Know Now, for instance, sometimes the singers use the wrong emphasis on certain words, just based on where they land in the song, such as when Asha sings about Magnifico showing his "TRUE col-ORS in SHADES of GREEN," even if people don't naturally emphasize the second syllable in the word "colors." In other cases, it's over-stuffing a line with words so that the melody line isn't as memorable, such as in This Wish where the amount of syllables per line are all over the place and sentences get cut in weird places --

Isn't truth supposed to set you free? (9) Well, why do I feel so weighed down by it? (10) If I could show them everything I've seen, (10) Open their eyes to all the lies, then (9) Would they change their minds like I did? (8) But when I speak, they tell me, "Sit down!" (9) But how can I when I've already started runnin'? (8) Oh, this is where we've been, (6) But it's not where we belong, (7) And I may be young, but I know I'm not wrong... (11)

There are also cases where the songs barely use any actual rhymes in favor of half-rhymes or worse twist themselves into pretzels just to make an actual rhyme, such as in I'm a Star, with lines such as "When it comes to the universe we're all shareholders // Get that through your system! (Solar!)" and "Ooh, I'm a star! // Watch out, world, here I are!" (Excuse me while I cringe.) And then of course, most infamously, there are the redundant and otherwise weird lyric choices, most commonly cited in Magnifico's And This is The Thanks I Get?!, such as "I got these genes from outer space!" and "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent!"

By and large, people have not responded as well to Wish's soundtrack as they have for many other Disney musicals. It could also be argued that the songs don't tell the film's story as well as they could've. The most egregious example of this is At All Costs, which is supposed to be our villain and hero singing about the beauty of the wishes the first has collected, but was literally written as a love song first, just because Julia Michaels wanted to write a song that could be played at people's weddings even if the movie in question didn't feature any romance. Even This Wish was written well before the script was finished, and this is when we can tell from all the concept art released by Disney that this movie had been dramatically rewritten at multiple stages of development.

And yet even with this, I still see people making animatics for At All Costs featuring their own characters or Asha and the discarded Starboy concept. (And yes, we'll come back to that.) I still see fan-made music videos featuring This Wish. Hell, even I have some of Wish's songs on my IPhone, and I listen to them actively! Knowing What I Know Now, as much as I see what's technically wrong with it, is still a bop for me. However much I had to take a full-on sanity break after listening to I'm a Star a second time, I do enjoy This Wish and At All Costs, just on their own. I don't think This Wish (reprise) is a bad musical or thematic climax, especially if one considers Magnifico's fear that Sabino's wish was to inspire the next generation through music, and it ends up being a song -- sung by his loving granddaughter -- that ultimately defeats our antagonist. I don't think any of Wish's songs really help tell the story as well as other Disney songs do for their films, but I still think there's room for personal taste here. Music -- like all art -- still has an element of subjectivity. It isn't a science -- yes, there is talent and skill involved that can only be mastered with practice and hard work, but there's still a bit of magic that comes with the finished result, and as much as it might not be popular with the masses, that doesn't necessarily make something worthless, or that public consensus can't change. Tchaikovsky famously hated the work he did for The Nutcracker, as did the critics of his day, only for it to go on to become a staple of holiday entertainment and ballet productions overall. Plenty of cult classic films like Labyrinth and Heathers didn't make a lot of money or get lots of praise when they first came out, but soon enough they found their audience.

"The animation is lazy!"

There's actually a much better video discussing this, made by a real professional animator, and I think I'll just let him handle this.

youtube

One thing I want to touch on, though, is Jennifer Lee's commentary about why Wish ultimately wasn't done in 2D animation --

"What happens in hand-drawn is that you have the incredible hand of the artist, but also limitations in what you could do on screen. What happened in CG is you'd have incredible, boundless opportunities, visually, that elevated it — even to the point for some — into realism, which is not what we wanted to do. The more important thing to us was to have a way to find technology that can do everything. Connect to the true vision of the artist, but bring in technology that could finally take away limitations."

-- and yeah, I'm not going to lie, this sentiment leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. The idea that hand-drawn animation somehow limits what art you can create is mind-boggling for anyone working in animation to think, but especially for someone working in Disney animation. I can't help but feel like Uncle Walt would've been ticked if he'd heard anyone suggest this. Anyone who loves animation I think would be annoyed by it, and I'd say people like Hayao Miyazaki continue to prove that Lee's thought process isn't true, considering that his hand-drawn film won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature the same year that Lee's Wish was passed over by the Academy altogether. To be fair, though, this is more a reflection on certain Disney leaders' dismissive attitude toward the medium that built their company as well as the vast majority of the films they're supposedly celebrating, rather than any condemnation of the hard-working animators who worked on Wish. And yes, although no one can argue that Wish ultimately doesn't look as good as its animated peers like Sony's Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse (which was made with half the budget Wish was), that's more the fault of a flawed vision on the part of the filmmakers than anything. It's certainly not indicative of a lack of talent, resources, or caring from the animators themselves.

"Wish would've been so much better if it had featured a love story between Starboy and Asha!"

Okay, let me pop this bubble right now --

None of Disney's official releases have ever indicated Star was going to be Asha's love interest.

The concept art featuring Asha and human!Star? Yeah, that exists, but there's nothing strictly romantic in any of those concepts, like them kissing or even hugging. At All Costs originally supposedly being a love song for Asha and Star? As touched on above, nope, it was even more of a cynical corporate decision than that -- the songwriters just wanted to write a love song that they could repackage and use elsewhere, even if there was no love story to go with it. The thing about Asha and Star supposedly being soulmates? That's derived from a comment in the artbook from Wish co-writer Allison Moore, talking about Asha and Star in their current forms, and so therefore the sentiment was intended platonically --

"Now Star and Asha have an emotional journey. They are soulmates."

And well, just based on a good chunk of the Disney animated films that had come out prior to Wish featuring male and female leads -- Zootopia, Moana, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It-Ralph -- there was really nothing definitive to suggest that our two central characters were going to be romantically linked. And even if Star and Asha were going to be love interests, that still would've been no guarantee of a better movie -- you'd still need compelling, well-developed characters, if you want to likewise have a compelling, well-developed relationship between them. And as I've argued in the past, a movie doesn't need romance to be good. If someone could feel sincere platonic love between Star and Asha as their actual movie selves, then any romance between them wouldn't be needed. I truly believe the only reason that so many people have gotten so hung up on the idea of a Star/Asha romance is because that original platonic "soulmates" idea Allison Moore and others envisioned just didn't ring true for them. They saw more love and interesting chemistry between the original concept art versions of Star and Asha than they did between any of the characters in the finished film...and so they've built upon those flickers of love with their own imagination and then built that mental image up into something that I don't think the filmmakers probably ever intended.

I must be honest, it was kind of a slog, watching Wish for a second time. I stopped multiple times to take notes, unable to just sit back and let the movie wash over me. Even so, I truly appreciate how much time you must've spent to skim through this way-too-long analysis, as well as the votes you all cast in that one poll of mine! I love analyzing Disney, and as much as I don't love Wish, I do think it provided great fodder for new fan creations and has amazing potential as an educational tool about both good storytelling and film-making. And if there are more criticisms of Wish you'd like me to discuss, please feel free to reblog this post with them! Thank you for your support!

To close us out...if you love Wish, then keep on loving it! Don't let anyone -- including me -- tell you otherwise. I don't think a film that was truly the worst thing ever would've attracted as much attention or overanalyzing as Wish has received. And for those of you who are still dissatisfied with Wish, here's a list of films I compiled that you can watch and enjoy instead!

For Starboy/Asha stans...Stardust!

For both Starboy and Chris Pine stans...Rise of the Guardians!

For those of you who love the idea of storytelling magic...Whisper of the Heart!

For those of you hungry for a diversely cast, "woke" fairy tale...Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)!

For people looking for a colorful, family-friendly musical...Wonka!

For avant-garde animation fans...Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio!

For modern CG animation fans...Puss in Boots: The Last Wish!

And finally, probably most obviously -- for those Disney fans looking for a loving tribute to 100 years of Disney Animation with a bunch of Easter Eggs and good humor...Once Upon a Studio!

Much love to you all! 💛

#disney wish #wish (2023)#wish critical #disney #opinion #analysis #oh boy here i go

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gothicbarbie · 9 months

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TOP 30 BL'S OF 2023

It's that time again! The end of 2023 is here, and 2024 is upon us! Once again, we were blessed with some truly amazing BL series and I have tried my hardest to rank them all. I could only narrow it down to 30 this time cuz there were so many good ones. If a BL is not listed, it probably means I haven't watched it yet, but it is likely on a "for later" list.

GOD TIER 10/10

1. The Eighth Sense (KOREA) Absolutely ADORE this series, it was so well done. Beautiful filming and locations, each episode felt very different in terms of setting, the pacing was nice, and the chemistry was really good too between the main pairing. It was great to get some nice kissing moments as well. Def. one of the best KBL's I've seen ever and easily fits into my top 5 BL's of all time.

2. I Cannot Reach You (JAPAN) One of Japan's best series imo. Very cute storyline, I found both characters extremely likable and fun. I love their cute friendship and subtle build up. I really enjoyed watching this one.

3. My Personal Weatherman (JAPAN) Another great one from Japan, with lots of high heat scenes. Parts of the storyline were a little confusing to me at times but I think a change of scenery could have benefited the series, but regardless, I still really enjoyed it week to week.

4. Kiseki Dear to Me (TAIWAN) Probably my favorite Tawain BL ever after We Best Love. I mainly just loved the chemistry between the two couples, they were both really fun to watch and had wonderful chemistry as well as lovely kissing scenes. Def excited to rewatch this one in the future.

5. Our Dating Sim (KOREA) It's hard to believe this was from 2023, but I recently rewatched the whole thing and it held up! It was a very fun and cute series, and the build up with the main pairing was so well done. It really felt like the writers took their time with this series.

TOP TIER 9/10

6. Stay With Me (CHINA) Shocking to see a chinese series on this list, but this is one of my all time favorite BL series. Some people might argue that it isn't BL, but I highly disagree. We got a few "cheek" kisses and most romantic scenes were heavily implied but for me, it was still worth the watch. The ending was rough to say the least, and I really hope we get a season 2 to sort of rectify that, but regardless, I really loved it.

7. My School President (THAILAND) Another series that feels like it was SO long ago, but is def. at the top of my list for Thailand. Gemini/Forth's chemistry was on point and I loved the cute moments and subtle build up in this one.

8. A Shoulder to Cry On (KOREA) My only critique with this series is the lack of a kissing scene. I know for some people that isn't important, but to me it is and I was a bit frustrated to get nothing after such incredible build up, but regardless, the series was really nice and I loved the tension between the main two characters.

9. City Boy Log (KOREA) This one is still ongoing and not quite a BL series technically, but its scripted, and we get lots of BL moments, so I will count it in my list. I am loving the web style filming of this series and both couples a lot. I hope the main pairing gets the opportunity to be in an actual series together.

GREAT 8/10

10. Utsukushii Kare 2 (JAPAN) Sadly haven't been able to see the movie just yet, but the 2nd series was pretty well done. Not as enjoyable for me as season 1 but I still really enjoyed watching the main pairing navigate their relationship.

11. Never Let me Go (THAILAND) One of the better series from Thailand this year imo. I really liked the chemistry between pondphuwin and the episodes were packed with some pretty interesting storylines and build up, it was very fun to watch.

12. Ameiro Paradox (JAPAN) I've seen some people hate on this series, but personally I loved it. I found the chemistry between the leads to be super strong and I loved the build up to them recognizing their feelings. The kissing scenes were great as well. There were a few blah plots but overall I really enjoyed it.

13. Moonlight Chicken (THAILAND) Something about this series felt a bit more mature to me and it was a nice change from some of the cheesier bl's that try so hard to be funny? I really loved all the pairings in this series and the storyline was nice.

14. Tokyo in April (JAPAN) For me this one started out great but then kinda lost me near the end. I did love most of the storyline but other parts were super frustrating to watch. I enjoyed the manga a bit more I think? But still, it was nice.

15. Bed Friend (THAILAND) Loved this one on first watch but on rewatch it was just okay for me. I think some of the plots were just over-dramatic and too depressing. But the friends with benefits plot was well done and the chemistry between the main two was really strong. It was fun.

16. A Breeze of Love (KOREA) I might have enjoyed this one a bit more had I seen the eps slower. Because I binged it's hard to get a good grasp on it but I did really like it. I liked the chemistry between the main couple and there was a sweetness to it I enjoyed.

17. Love Class 2 (KOREA) I think I slightly preferred the overall storyline of season 1, but in this one I preferred all the couples. For me that was the biggest draw. It was a tad bit confusing at first, but then it started to come together near the middle. Not the absolute best from Korea but enjoyable.

Good 7/10

18. Bump up Business (KOREA) Great chemistry between the leads but unfortunately the plot fell a bit flat for me. I feel like they could have done so much more with it. The kiss was also extremely weak, but that was expected. It was a nice series to binge, but not one of my favs this year.

19. Destiny Seeker (THAILAND) Parts of this one were really odd and I think part of my issue was having wonky subs, but regardless, I really enjoyed the series and especially the chemistry between the main pairing. Loved watching their story build, their banter was so fun. I also liked the side pairing but wish they had a bit more focus.

20. Why R U Korea (KOREA) This one did not remind me of the OG at all, which is fine, but overall I found this series to be a tad slow. There were good and bad moments.

21. Love Mate (KOREA) Some of the KBL's this year get a bit confusing and I mix them all together... this is one that sort of got lost in the shuffle for me and I would need to rewatch to give a better opinion on it but I know I did enjoy it.

DECENT 6/10

22. HiStory 5 (TAIWAN) Sadly didn't enjoy this season of HiStory as much as past seasons but it was okay. I think it had some good moments but overall left me a bit underwhelmed.

23. The New Employee (KOREA) Didn't love this one as much as others have seemed to. I didn't find the chemistry to be that strong and I also am not fond of office romances, but it was okay.

24. Dangerous Romance (THAILAND) This one was forgettable but again, had some enjoyable moments. I think I liked it more in the beginning rather than the end.

25. If It's With You (JAPAN) Sweet series that simply just fell flat for me because it just felt too short so I couldn't really get invested in it. But it was cute.

26. My Story (FILO) This one was good, I liked both pairings a lot and there were some decent kissing scenes, but there were also a lot of cringey moments and moments I had to fastforward. For The Philippines I think it was one of the better series this year, but it's not at the top of my list.

27. Sing My Crush (KOREA) Another KBL that is so quick that you can binge in one night... this one didn't deliver for me as much as it did for others. The chemistry was good and it was sweet but I just found myself a bit bored of it. Still cute tho.

28. The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (KOREA) The plot is weird AF and I am not a big fan of like historical past lives romance type of plots but I did enjoy the chemistry between the main two. It might be a bit higher if the ending wasn't so weird...

29. Starstruck (KOREA) Another KBL that is a bit forgettable to me but from what I remember I enjoyed it.

30. Bon Appetit (KOREA) See above. lol.

Honorary mentions: These were good but not quite good enough for my list. I liked them but had small issues with them. Either cheesey or boring plots, or the chemistry was lacking for me. Also they are in no particular order:

1. His Man 2 (KOREA) - Not BL at all, but a reality series which was AMAZING. LOVE LOVE LOVED the ending pair... but couldn't put it on the main list because it's not scripted.

2. Minato’s Laundry 2 (JAPAN) -season 1 was amazing, this one didn't hold up. Hated how awkward they were as a couple and it just felt too unrealistic to me. Regardless, i still love the chemistry between the main two and liked seeing them again.

3. Hidden Agenda (THAILAND) - love joondunk and wish they would get a better storyline. This plot was all over the place but the chemistry was there. The kisses were top tier!

4. Only Friends (THAILAND)- i did love the messiness of this one and there were some fun pairings with hot scenes, but overall I felt the SL was a bit chaotic and some characters never really grew. I wish they had leaned into the sexy/messiness of it a tad bit more tbh.

5. Stay by My Side (Taiwain) - cute but a bit forgettable. I did enjoy the chemistry a lot in this one tho.

6. You Are Mine (Tawiain) - same as above, except the pairing wasn't as exciting for me.

7. Our Dining Table (JAPAN) - i know everyone loves this one and it was very cute and sweet, but a bit too slow for my taste.

8. End of the World With You (JAPAN) - some interesting plots and fun to watch, but overall a bit messy and problematic at times? lol.

9. Til the World Ends (THAILAND) - see above.

10. Jack O Frost (JAPAN)- decently cute series but the tone of it was a bit too depressing for me.

11. The Day I Loved You (FILO) -started great but was too emotional/sad for me after a few eps in.

12. Unintentional Love Story (KOREA) - seems a lot of people loved this one but it wasn't really my cup of tea. I found the plot very slow and the main couple was kinda bland imo. But I am willing to rewatch it and give it another chance soon.

13. Between Us (THAILAND) - technically this started in 2022 but it finished in 2023, so I'll include it. It was okay but not great. Much better series for bounprem but still found myself a bit bored.

Watched these ones in 2023 but they didn't make much of an impact in me. They had good and bad bits but to me, mostly bad. lol (No particular order)

1. Jun and Jun

2. Past-tenger

3. Love Tractor

4. Egoist Movie

5. Happy Merry Ending

6. Be My Favorite

7. A Boss and a Babe

8. Step by Step

9. Naked Dinner

10. Wedding Plan

11. My Dear Gangster Oppa

12. Cutie Pie 2

These series were forgettable or annoying imo and and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them to anyone. However, they might be worth skimming through like I did? Good luck! lol. (In no order)

1. Hit Bite Love

2. Naughty Babe

3. Laws of Attraction

4. Remember Me

5. Love Bill

6. 609 Bedtime Story

7. All the Liquors

8. Be Mine Superstar

9. House of Stars

10. La Pluie

11. Our Sky 2

12. Venus in the Sky

13. Tin Tem Jai

14. Middleman’s Love

15. Future the Series

16. Tie the Knot

17. Luminous Solution

18. Bake Me Please

19. Our Winter

20. Stay Still

Shows I watched in 2023 but that are from previous years:

1. Bad Buddy (loved it!)

2. Advance Bravely (weird but enjoyable)

3. Why You Y Me (good)

4. Ghost Host Ghost House (okay)

5. La Cuisine (meh)

6. Win Jamie’s Heart (forgettable)

7. Kabe Sa Doujin (blah)

8. Catch Me Baby (skimmed for netjames only)

9. 21 Days Theory (what is this again?)

10. Innocent the Series (already forgot it)

Tried and Quit: I just couldn't get into these at all... I will probably not watch these ever.

Crazy Handsome Rich

Dinosaur Love

Low Frequency

Love Syndrome 3

If a show is from 2023 and not listed above, then likely I plan to get to it later. Either I tried the premiere and it didn’t capture me at first, I couldn’t find the episode when I tried to look for it, or I simply just haven’t had time for it yet.

A few on my list that i plan to watch because I heard good things about them are: I Feel You Linger in the Air, Lost in Translation, Beyond the Star, Shadow, My Universe. Plus many others. Let me know if there is a show you really loved that I didn't mention so I can check it out!

Oh, and here are all previous lists since TUMBLR is being a little bitch and not saving the tags.

2022: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705139242020618240/my-top-20-bl-series-of-2022

2021: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705227666795741184/my-top-15-bl-series-of-2021

2020: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705674738528354304/my-top-15-bls-of-2020

2019 and earlier: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705678223200174080/my-top-bls-of-2019-and-earlier

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lucianalight · 10 months

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Hi! I'm back :) after another long hiatus😅 I have missed all of you❤️

First of all a huge thank you to everyone who were worried and asked about my health and how I was doing. I wasn't doing well tbh. I'm one of those people who had the misfortune of never quite recovering from covid. I already had one chronic illness that was messing up my life and health. Having another on top of that takes a lot of physical, emotional and mental toll and limits my energy greatly. So I needed time to get used to my new reality and condition and learn to how manage it and live with it. It's still a work in progress and doctor appointments are seeming endless but at least some meds are helping. So there's that.

You probably already know the second reason why I wasn't doing well. I've seen terrible things…And you need time to process them. To grieve, to deal with trauma and survivor's guilt, and nurture your anger and keep fighting, keep resisting…

And well, internet connection still sucks so using social media is kind of an ordeal :D

There were a lot of times that I wanted to come back on tumblr but every time some issue would come up and take my motivation and energy. Then two weeks ago, after I couldn't crush the little ray of hope that maybe this time I'm going to see sth I like, I started watching season 2 of Loki. I watched it while promising myself that I'm not going to care anymore if it's bad, reminding myself that I might see sth as bad as season 1. Still I was surprised that I didn't hate it. On the contrary there were moments that were entertaining and even enjoyable. And those moments were more than the ones I dislike. It was better than season 1 and admittedly that's a low bar since I consider S1 one of the worst tv shows I've ever seen, but there were noticeable changes in pace and tone of the narrative and characterization in S2. Some issues in S1 was addressed. Loki was actually the main character of his series and got to do badass magic stuff :D The characters were flesh out and three dimensional and likable(I love OB so much :D). There was no romance. The ending was great.

There were of course things I didn't like. Removing Loki's backstory and his issues with his family from the story is one of them. How some of his moments in past was addressed. The episodes at times got boring or very predictable. There were times that Loki was ooc or comedic moments that weren't delivered well.

It wasn't perfect but at least acceptable. And probably the best Loki content we got since TDW. And I liked the ending a lot. I found myself keep going back to rewatch some scenes. I found myself analyzing the content happily. I had things to say. So here I am :D basically I'm 100% back to my Loki bs and I'm making it everyone's problem :P

Whether you loved the series or hated it, you're welcome on my blog and you're welcome to send me your opinions and engage with me in discussions and metas. I will tag posts accordingly in case you want to avoid certain content(tbh I still don't know what the new tags will be because I haven't written anything yet but I will make a post when I do).

There will be posts of some new fandoms so block their tags if you don't want to see those posts. The new fandoms are Sandman tv show(I haven't finished the comics so plz don't spoil them for me), Wednesday, My Hero Academia, Shadow and Bone, and The Bifrost Incident.

As I mentioned above I'm dealing with multiple chronic illnesses and have a limited energy each day. I will try to answer your messages, comments and asks as soon as I can but it might take a long time. Sry about that.

And finally a warm welcome to all the new followers and thanks to everyone who are still following me❤️

#back from hiatus #because of loki :D #personal #blog maintenance

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nemmet · 2 years

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i want to break my only-art-posts rule on here for just a moment, to talk about about fred jones as a canon autistic character and what he's meant to me personally.

my childhood love of scooby doo suddenly reawaked back in november of 2021, which just so happened to be around the time i was seriously questioning that i may be autistic. the realisation put so much into perspective, but i was equally afraid and uneasy about it all. therefore, i began to rewatch mystery incorporated as a source of comfort.

and just... there was a character who was a good leader, a loyal friend, a desirable romantic partner. there was a character who represented this unshakeable force of good in a town otherwise founded upon cynicism and spite. there was a character who, yes, was treated as the butt of the joke from time to time. but even despite that, was a surprisingly thoughtful representation of how an autistic teenager might navigate emotions, relationships, and the world at large.

the more i watched of this version of fred, the more i doubted that his sheer amount of autistic traits were purely a coincidence. and sure enough, i discovered that mitch watson (sdmi showrunner) confirmed on the unmasked history of scooby doo podcast that fred was indeed written with autism in mind.

(more beneath the cut!)

for a while, this was knowledge that i celebrated quietly. i told a couple of people who were interested, but that was about it. what mattered most to me was that it was canon, and that this character i had loved since i was a child was just like me. talking too much about his interests, missing social cues, being confused by big emotions... the list went on. it sounds silly to say about a cartoon character, but identifying with fred's portrayal in sdmi (and subsequent scooby media influenced by it) genuinely helped me to accept and even love myself as an autistic person, in a time when i was feeling hopeless for realising what had made me so different all my life.

as i continued to fall down the scooby rabbit hole, i encountered fred moments new and old that would always cheer me up. i decided to compile them into a short youtube video, mostly just for my own self-indulgence. i had absolutely no idea what i was getting myself into (/pos).

over a year on, most notably following the release of the hbo velma series, my video absolutely blew up. to the point where it currently stands at 825k views, which is utterly unfathomable to me. thousands of people who cared about this character like i did flooded the comments, expressing anger at his most recent portrayal and genuine love for his portrayals in past media.

however, the comments that especially made my day were those like: "how did i not realise that fred has a special interest in nets?", "he's autistic, let him infodump!", and those of a similar wording. in that comments section, as well as on tumblr, canonically autistic fred seemed to have become widespread, accepted and celebrated, showcased in comments with hundreds of likes and posts with hundreds of notes. it absolutely floored me, and i was delighted to have contributed to it.

i haven't made this post to pat myself on the back for throwing some clips together and getting a lot of views, nor to say "i knew it first!" about fred being autistic. i am simply looking back in retrospective, and getting incredibly misty-eyed over the fact that people are newly appreciating this character that has helped me through so much and been instrumental in leading me to my official autism diagnosis. you can see the sappy post i made about it on my old scooby sideblog here.

in summary, this is yet another story about how representation matters! even if it comes in the form of a historically overlooked teenage mystery solver from a 50+ year old cartoon franchise. what matters most is that it was more than just a headcanon, and has changed my life for the better.

if you're still reading, thank you so much! if you are also neurodivergent, i would love to hear your thoughts on fred, and if you've also identified with him in some way. he's... a tréasure :)

#another insane fun fact: i posted the “no one wants to hear your net facts fred” clip from the beach beastie to my scooby sideblog #before i included it as a part of my larger fred video #that original post has since been screen recorded and uploaded to instagram #as well as become an audio people use #and the person who reposted it told me that RACHEL ZEGLER liked it #literally the wildest possible outcome of all of this #obviously the clip isn't my own work but the fact that i made a moment from a fairly obscure sd special more well known just makes me happy #i will stop rambling in the tags now #scooby doo #sd #fred jones #scooby doo mystery incorporated #autistic fred jones #nem misc posts :]#scooby doo and nemmet too!

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tiltingheartand · 3 months

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virgin mary you fucking alien pls :D (this is lexie)

also:

tagging @wakeupnew and @chobani-flip both in this one!

so, okay, first, the title comes from voltaire's song "the man upstairs" (... side note: i remember telling @chobani-flip how horrified i was at discovering the devil's bris came out in nineteen-ninety-fucking-eight; i am still appalled, for the record). absolutely not the title i'll be using, but as working-titles-in-gdocs go it serves its purpose (i.e., telling me which file it is without me having to think too hard).

but. anyway. this is the "tommy lived in buck's building already when he moved into the loft" fic that i posted snippets of here and here. i don't actually even remember what made the things connect in my brain that i got the initial idea for this fic anymore, although it's possible if i dug around in my chatlog with christine on discord i could find it.

but i think part of it is, you know. if buck and tommy did know each other before the helicopter rescue in s7, but neither of them were necessarily in a place where their relationship would be anything but friendship, what would that change? would that change anything? (this is also related to my deeply-held belief -- reflected in at least one other WIP of mine -- that buck just. desperately. needs more goddamn friends. people in his life that actually mean something to him that aren't in the "colleagues who've been promoted" category. that's one of the things that pissed me off the most about his relationship with taylor turning into a Relationship actually.)

and, hey. some things change. some things stay the same. buck's gonna buck, after all. i haven't 100% decided at what point they're going to get together yet -- i think i need a full-series rewatch before i can work on this much more, honestly -- but the one place i keep coming back to in my brain is in s5b, after the speed rescue with lucy. is this in large part because i fucking hate that arc? maybe. i love lucy but jesus fucking christ i hate that shit. >_> and here, another snippet, double-sized because there's two of you!

to: Tommy no it’s fine don’t worry it’s the middle of the day anyway i shouldn't be drinking

from: Tommy Lunch wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world, but if you want to drink, just drink. Leaving yourself beholden to an artificial standard of when it’s okay to indulge is less healthy than day drinking. Also shift work means that you can drink whenever you want to, in my opinion. I’ll be worried about you either way. You might as well have a bad day with somebody else’s beer.

to: Tommy i promise that wasn't what i was trying to do i worry enough people as it is we don’t even work together

from: Tommy This is a free service from me to you. I get it if you don’t want to, but don’t feel like you have to say no to be polite. If I didn’t mean the offer I wouldn’t have made it.

(ask me about any of my WIPs, if you'd like!)

#ask meme #asks answered #911 #evan buckley #bucktommy #my fic lives here #also fwiw tommy's 'if you wanna drink just drink' was stolen wholly from a friend of mine who used to be on nights with me

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dropintomanga · 8 months

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Do You Revisit to Heal?

When it comes to a new year, everyone's talking about doing new things and resolutions to become better. But what if revisiting stuff can actually help you a lot more?

I was inspired by two posts I read - Japan Powered's The Value of (Re)watching and (Re)reading and Use Your Damn Skills' "Comfort TV and trauma recovery". The first post talked about how it's okay to look at past stories you were interested in back in the day. There may be times where you might cringe, but you might get a better appreciation of what that story meant for you at the time. The second post focused on how adults who grew up feeling neglected as kids turned to and rewatch comfort TV a lot to escape whatever trauma they were going through.

On the subject of rereading and rewatching, I've been thinking a lot about revisiting Gintama and Fullmetal Alchemist. Both are considered two of the top most popular manga ever by Japanese audiences. Both series have amazing characters and stories that resonate with readers. I remember a great deal of lines and moments from FMA and Gintama. Even back then, I re-watched and/or re-read those two series to a great degree. Nothing else mattered.

Compared to now, where there's so much manga released, I sometimes wonder because of the amount of manga out there, nothing seems to stick in my head as much. Although I love current hits like Chainsaw Man, there's nothing about them (yet) that brings out a sense of emotional catharsis that I feel compared to when I read something older like Fullmetal Alchemist. Or should I say, most manga haven't hit me as hard. I nowadays get that from video games.

But when I think about it, I'm a different person back then compared to now. While I think it's a good thing, you can lose something during the process.

I want to now address "comfort TV and trauma recovery." I've used anime and manga to "escape" depression. I've also used them as outlets to process feelings that I never told people at the time. I think the beauty of revisiting your favorite series is that everything is predictable when out in the real world, not everything sadly goes your way.

I sometimes wonder if I'm doing this with playing K-Pop songs over and over again. They take me back to a place where I know for certain that I'll be feeling great. Those songs take me back to my younger years when I wanted to be a DJ and blast music at parties with no drama. People piss me off and while I'm able to resolve interpersonal situations at times, I just feel mentally fatigued and sometimes scared over how some people behave. What if my emotional wounds led me to get sucked into fandom in the first place?

There's a lot of value to revisit things you liked back then. Every work has lessons to learn. Every story reminds us of how human we are. We need other people to share stories in order to feel that we matter in the grand scale of things. You also might learn something new when you revisit a story due to your own changes in perspective.

I'm always looking back into my memories as a hardcore fan when I was a teen to young adult. It's been fun. I realized how grateful I am to be able to experience those joys even when they weren't accepted as they are now. Maybe I didn't have as many friends to share those interests with at the time, but I know being involved in fan interests helped slowly shape the way I wanted to view life and act around people.

I hope it's the same for you guys. No one should shame you for revisiting older works. What's important is they help you feel alive and make certain parts of life worth revisiting years down the road.

#mental health #manga #fandom #revisiting works #emotional wounds #rereading #rewatching

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clyde49 · 8 months

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I have been thinking about the Space Ghost Coast To Coast episode “Lawsuit” and I wrote up a whole tho about it. It's a long read but I'd appreciate feedback if anyone has it, agree or disagree.

Lawsuit is a good episode on its own but if you hold it up to the original space ghost series, it becomes either one of Coast to Coast's sloppiest uses of unjustified retcons or the best uses of the “unreliable narrator” trope in the series, and given the esteem of the writers behind the episode, I'm going to give them a benefit of the doubt I may not of given to other guests writers. Appropriately for this episode, I think I have a good bit of evidence that makes me doubt the Twins in this episode. I'm going to start with some smaller numbered details and work up

One thing that really jumps to me, even if you haven't watched the original series, is the Twins going on about how much they hated being superhero sidekicks in general the whole episode before going “We should have gone with Birdman” at the end. Birdman who's repeatedly shown to be worse than space ghost the entire series. If working with Space Ghost traumatized them, working with Birdman could have only done worse for them.

Ok one thing that jumped out to me on rewatch after watching the original show is Jan and Jace saying, and I'm pulling the abridged quote from Snard, “So we're suing you, for back wages… and, for preventing us from receiving the schooling which might have provided us with a future!”

If you watch the original Space Ghost series, Jan and Jace are constantly doing homework. I'm not even joking. It comes up in multiple episodes that when not on sidekick duty Jan and Jace were working on homework and Space Ghost was making sure they were doing it.

And for the matter It's clear in the original series Space Ghost isn't making Jan and Jace be his sidekicks and they are fully aware of the risks of being Space Ghost's wards. In the original series he clearly values their safety, tells them repeatedly to stay out of danger just for them to ignore him, and on multiple occasions is established to be willing to die for them. The Space Ghost behavior in this episode wasn't in the original series, and is a surprisingly major break from Coast to Coasts established sitting as a bizzaro sequel to the original series in sequence behind space stars. They've never retconned the original series so hard in coast to coast before or since (if you take everything in the episode completely at face value), opposed to how the show would usually just fill in empty information from the original series and any charter changes being reasonably explained as changes that just occurred over time or aspects from the characters that were not yet revealed. Hell even the Brak Show, which looks like it's retconning the original series a boatload by having Zorak and Brak in highschool together, was stated by Andy Merrill to exist as an alternate pocket timeline past Brak and Zorak were sent to that doesn't affect or take president over the countuity original series. But this episode, at face value, has the biggest recons in all of the GPI era.

2. Jan and Jace sure are on the same page with Zorak and Moltar in this one huh. For as much as it's discussed how irresponsible Space Ghost was for leading them into danger, they have no ill will towards Zorak and Moltar. Despite the fact Zorak and Moltar were among the people who repeatedly kidnapped them with the intentions to kill them in the original series. Even more so than it being suspicious from Zorak and Moltar, it's really unusual that the twins don't have any negative reaction to the villains

3. And speaking of villains, and this is a detail that turns the entire episode on its head, we need to talk about Dr nightmare. Dr Nightmare is a space ghost villain that in his original episode had robot duplicate puppets of Jan and Jace he used to trick Space Ghost. He was able to make the robots look so much like them and mimic Jaces voice well enough Space Ghost couldn't tell the difference. This was part of the brain theft attempt They talk about throughout the episode.

With the invoked context of the original series I can't say with complete confidence Jan and Jace are actually even in this episode.

4. How the case wraps up. It's so on the spot convenient the alien super scientist Dr Nightmare says he was the child of Space Ghost's Human boss huh. Like there couldn't have been any other reasons Dr Nightmare could have decided to back out when it comes up Space Ghost’s legal defense is backed by Turner. It's clear the talk show isn't the actual court proceeding, this episode is about Dr Nightmare trying to get Space Ghost to pay “Jan and Jace” off out of court. To me the “I'm Ted Turner's son” sounds like a “I need to iron my lawn” excuse.

5. Honestly knowing what Space Ghost's others bad guys are like and their behavior throughout this era, I'm not convinced Jan and Jace actually show up in the coast to coast era at all and that their appearances aren't just Dr Nightmare trying to torment Space Ghost with the notion he's hurt the people closest to him without realizing it and they will never forgive him for it. It's clear Dr Nightmare could very plausibly pull it off sutch a stunt, and if he wanted revenge on the now unkillable Space Ghost, it may be one of the few ways he could hurt the Ghost in a way that matters.

6. The fact Jan and Jace aren't aging is specifically yet vaguely handwaved as the result of space radiation or something followed by Jace having his voice drop. I almost feel like Dr Nightmare was playing Jace again and he had a voice actress as Jan who was instructed never to break character if she wanted to see her money for the role.

7. Oh yeah, the court video where Space Ghost is horrible to everyone. Honestly I don't trust the video's validity with the context of everything else going on here. For all we know Dr Nightmare (or anyone else who hates space ghost that could impersonate him) could have been Space Ghost in that clip. Also the fact Moltar already had it on hand when it was “just found” when we already know he was siding with Dr Nightmare on the case. Like I talked about in point one, The clip is very ooc compared to the original series, even compared to other fake clips from the original series in c2c.

As for Space Ghost not disputing it, I'm going to point to the fact Space Ghost is established to have serious memory issues in Coast to Coast alongside being fairly gullible. I don't think it's hard to believe he would trust video evidence over his own memory and start self incriminating based on the new information. If anything I think Dr Nightmare was betting that he would, as false confessions in legal settings, especially from people with established psychological vulnerabilities, are a lot more common than you think.

I know my analysis here isn't perfect and is quite speculative, and it could just be nothing but recons in this episode, but I think it's worth something I even thought about it this hard. But in general I feel like Jan and Jace are exaggerating in this episode if they are even actually Jan and Jace, or else this episode is a bit of a glue stain on an otherwise surprisingly constant continuity.

I don't know if this episode has a commentary or not or because I don't have the third space ghost DVD yet, nor have I looked up anything the episodes writers have had to say about it. But this is my take on the episode as someone who enjoys the original space ghost cartoon.

#space ghost #cartoon network #space ghost coast to coast #adult swim #sgc2c #cartoon analysis #media analysis

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anotheruserwithnoname · 10 months

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Some good news and some bad news regarding Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The good news is that now that the strikes are over, production of Season 3 is set to begin next month! This is good because there have been rumours swirling around possible cancellation in the wake of Star Trek Discovery being ended after its 5th season. But SNW continues (Lower Decks has also been renewed for Season 5). The only caveat to that is Paramount Plus still cancelled Star Trek Prodigy even with its Season 2 complete, so nothing is a guarantee anymore. (And even then, it's been reported that Prodigy S2 will at least get some sort of Netflix release).

(Further good news is Season 2, with its amazing musical and Lower Decks crossover episodes, is set for Blu-ray release before Christmas.)

The bad news - though this is likely educated speculation on Screen Rant's part - is the possibility that the 10-episode 3rd season my be split, with only 5 episodes airing in 2024 and having to wait till 2025 to see the rest. Aside from that wrecking viewer momentum, those 5 weeks will come and go very quickly. If this news is correct, though, they could be telegraphing some sort of 5-episode story arc, which should be good but I actually prefer SNW's episodic format as it better supports the type of experimentation we got with not only this past year's musical and part-animated episodes, but the episodic format is what made TOS what it was. No official word on any cast changes, though I will be surprised if S3 doesn't reintroduce Dr. McCoy in some fashion.

I haven't written much about SNW but it's my favourite of the live action modern Treks. I stopped watching Discovery and Picard but SNW has kept me. I've had songs from the musical earworming for the last week or so after I rewatched it. And I greatly appreciated the time-travel episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" for finally canonizing an explanation as to why the prequel series haven't always lined up with what we know as canon from TOS, TNG, etc. which as far as I'm concerned frees the writers to deviate and retroactively serves to rectify canon issues dating all the way back to some episodes of DS9, never mind Enterprise, Discovery and SNW itself. I will explain for those who don't know but I will put a spoiler break here for those who might be waiting for the Blu-ray or haven't had a chance to stream season 2 yet. If the break doesn't appear below, stop reading now if you don't want the spoiler.

The episode reveals that due to the many time travel events over the years (including ones we haven't seen on screen by enemies of the Federation; the episode relates one involving Mary Queen of Scots (in-joke for the actress) what we have been seeing in SNW etc. is an alternate timeline. Maybe not as extreme as the Kelvin timeline of the films, but events such as the Eugenics Wars - indeed, the birth of Khan himself - were delayed by decades. This major change to the timeline - and then you fill in the blanks by factoring in even minor changes such as the guy who accidentally killed himself with McCoy's phaser in City on the Edge of Forever, Sisko replacing Gabriel Bell in the Bell Riots, the Voyager crew going back to 1996, Archer and T'Pol heading off agents of the temporal cold war in the early 2000s, etc. - and you can see how it's possible that things progressed differently resulting in SNW and Discovery being more technologically advanced than TOS-era ships should be as established in TNG, DS9 and Enterprise that used the original tech and designs. Also character differences, like Pike's crew being aware of T'Pring and Khan when Kirk's crew in TOS did now despite Spock having worked with La'an Noonien-Singh and Kirk being aware of La'an's feelings for him. Or the lack of reference to Kirk's brother, who dies in a famous TOS episode, having been former Enterprise crew. And it literally stems from two lines of dialogue. It's exhibit A of how quickly and simply a show like Doctor Who can fix things.

#strange new worlds #strange new worlds season 3 #strange new worlds spoilers

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raziraphale · 1 year

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I have never understood people that think love & monsters is the worst dw episode (I like it, sorry) but now that I'm 3 series deep into my rewatch I think the shakespeare code might be the worst one, or at least the most poorly aged. but I haven't even left rtd era yet so I might change my mind idk different horrors still await me

#this episode truly has everything #10 being flippant about martha's concerns about time travelling while black ('i'm an alien and they don't care' you're white dude !!!!)#gratuitous hp/jkr references. it was a bit cringe even before her reputation got flushed down the toilet #10 being a dick to martha just a bit generally. like man I can understand you're grieving but stop comparing her to rose? out loud?#also a lil transphobic joke i forgot about. that's nice #anyway this rewatch I have so much love for martha I am her defence lawyer #show is so mean to her and for what #falling in love with a man who kissed her on their first meeting and then showed her time and space?#god forbid women to anything #reilly.txt #doctor who

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mediaconsumernightwriter · 11 months

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Turning The Vampire Genre on its Head (Buffy The Vampire Slayer analysis)

The opening scene of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, like many openings do, sets the tone for the whole show, or at least the first season. I would like to remind the reader or inform if you're not in the loop that I've only watched one episode of this amazing series. But I can see how different it will be from other vampire/hunter/action media, just from the opening scene. This will obviously contain spoilers for that scene as I dissect it in detail.

We open the show with "In every generation a slayer is born", etc. After that, the ambience is gloomy, we are in an empty high school, all the lights turned off and... CRASH, a window is broken. We see a fist breaking it. This gesture suggests great strength. We know from the title of the show that we are watching that there are vampires in this universe, so we assume this is one of them. We see a couple, a boy and a girl enter the empty, dark classroom. As soon as we see them, the girl is reticent about what they are doing. She is scared she'll get caught, she is scared of the dark. At the mention of "monsters", she startles. The guy is excited to be here, he wants to do something to the girl, kiss her, make out, have sex, what have you. We all know what he wants. And we assume the worst. If there are vampires on the loose, this might be one of them. Why else would he bring an innocent girl into an empty high school? He clearly has nefarious purposes. She's scared, she jumps at any minuscule sound, we're about to witness a massacre or else a chase scene that rivals the opening of Scream.

But, last minute, everything shifts. "Are you sure we're alone?" She asks. He answers positively. She turns into a vampire about to feed and a man's scream fills our ears.

This reversal of roles was something I did not expect when I first watched this episode and it still astonishes me when I rewatch it. It's so obviously a misdirect, yet I fell for it. This reversal of roles between men and women is a constant throughout the episode (and dare I say, even if I haven't watched it, throughout the whole show). Buffy as a character is a great example of this. She could've easily been a guy, the vampire slayer of the generation could've easily been a man, but we see instead a teenage girl killing vampires. Darla (the vamp from the opening scene) is clearly a strong vampire as her companion at the end of the episode gets immediately vaporized and turned to dust by Buffy's stake while she escapes it and fights back. She even shows up in 5 more episodes AND in the Angel spin-off, so she's a scrappy woman. It also means that she survives both Buffy and Angel in various occasions. I don't know, I haven't watched the shows.

Going back to that opening scene, Darla is the first vampire we see and I think it is indicative of the whole show's premise. The women rule over the men in this one. We see Buffy meet three men in her first time in the new school. One clearly states he is not a slayer and the other two are walking himbos. Meanwhile, Willow is obviously intelligent and Cordelia, even as a mean girl, is socially smart. Darla sets the stage for these incredible women, changing the helpless victim from typical vampire media into the heroin (and in Darla's case, the villain) of the entire show.

#essay #writing #essay writing #buffy the vampire slayer #buffyverse #btvs

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bethaven · 9 months

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#25 Summation, reflections and plans for 2024

Now that the calendar is over I want to wrap things up with some thoughts and facts about of what have been and what is coming.

The calendar

In this calendar I've written about 24 series that have meant something to me through my life. There are other series I might actually like more than some of them today, but they've all changed how I see things or how I feel about a certain subject. I started of with M*A*S*H, which will always be my all time favourite and which came into my life early. I ended with Julie and the Phantoms, which just recently came into my life and about which I still have a lot to learn. Some posts almost wrote themselves, while others needed some rewatches and reminiscing.

Here are all the posts:

#1 M*A*SH

#2 The Big Bang Theory

#3 Gilmore Girls

#4 Sex and the city

#5 Oc

#6 How I met your mother

#7 New Girl

#8 Please like me

#9 Modern family

#10 Glee

#11 Gossip Girl (2007)

#12 Miss Fisher's murder mysteries

#13 Tales of the city (2019)

#14 Hollywood

#15 Grace and Frankie

#16 Bridgerton

#17 Young Royals

#18 Emily in Paris

#19 Find me in Paris

#20 Sex Education

#21 Ginny and Georgia

#22 Heartstopper

#23 Xo Kitty

#24 Julie and the Phantoms

Other series/movies that were recommended in posts

Never have Iever, Angus, thongs and perfect snogging, Anne with an E, Queen Charlotte - a Bridgerton story, Younger, Girls, Skam, Élite, Skins, Atypical, Pose, A secret love, Boys in the band, Minx, Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Looking, Queer as folk, Glamorous, Orange is the new black, Everything's gonna be ok, Nanette/Something special/Douglas, The Good Place, Friends, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, How I met your father, Scrubs, Beverly Hills 90210, 90210, One tree hill, Dawso n's creek, Hart of Dixie, Young Sheldon, Gilmore Girls - a year in the life, Grown-ish, M*A*S*H (1970) and After MASH.

The list for 2024

I stream A LOT of media, and mostly series, some weeks up to 40 hours. This because I usually have something on in the background, it makes me focus even better. I work from home about half the time and the TV is always on, on these days. But it's normaly rewatches and comfort series and I have a hard time starting new ones. So, to help with this, my goal for 2024 is to complete a list of series I want to watch, but haven't dealt with yet. I might not complete them all if I don't like them, but the goal is to start them all.

The unlisted

The irregulars

Raising Dion

Cloak and Dagger

Never have I ever

Everything sucks

Heartbreak high

Elite

Derry Girls

Umbrella academy

Bodies

White Lotus

My life with the Walter boys

The Crown

Minx, season 2

Smiley

BONDING

Everything Now

Todas las veces que enamoramos

Dead to me, season 3

Love and anarchy, season 2

Cunk on earth

Survival of the thickest

Kitz

Julia

Parks and Recreation

The Flight Attendant

It's a Sin

Gentleman Jack

The Sex Lives of College Girls

The Comeback

This is us

Griselda

I'd love to get other tips you think I might like to add to the list! it's mostly Netflix, HBO Max and Disney+ that works, but feel free to tip on anything.

New seasons in 2024

Apart from new discoveries I'll surely get back to some old favourites from time to time. And some of them have some very interesting updates coming up.

Young Royals, season 3 (March)

Bridgerton, season 3 (May 16th and June 13th)

Emily in Paris, season 4

Heartstopper, season 3

Ginny and Georgia, season 3

Confirmed seasons but not confirmed year

Bridgerton, season 4

XO Kitty, season 2

That 90's show, season 2

Ginny and Georgia, season 4 (2025)

Thank you.

Thanks to all of you who've hade the patience to read at least one of these posts. I made them mostly for myself, to be honest, but I'm always glad if someone else enjoys it too! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!

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mrbensonmum · 2 months

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TV Shows - 3 Body Problem II

Okay, I'm seriously considering whether I should write one or two posts per episode because I haven't even really started the second episode yet, and I could already write books about the first episode.

During my last rewatch, I had just finished the first book. As I mentioned, I have now read all three. I'm currently fascinated when I see Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) because, thanks to the books, I know what will happen to her in the future. In my fascination, I assume she is Cheng Xin from the book. I know, the names are similar, but the characters in the book are changed in a lot of ways in the series, so I don't know what will happen in future episodes.

The bar scene at the beginning of the first episode is very relatable to me; that kind of place was never my thing, and when it changes for the worse, it's always super annoying.

The way they depicted the countdown here is also very interesting because, in the book, they are images taken with a camera. Here, Auggie gets them projected directly onto his retina.

Oh, by the way, the Netflix series is not the first adaptation of the books. There is also an original Chinese series with over 30 episodes and a CGI series that, unfortunately, was never released. I hope this changes because the trailer looks incredibly good.

Here is the link to the Chinese series (through the Viki Rakuten portal).

This series is incredibly close to the book, but I only watched the first two episodes back then because I didn't want to spoil myself. But I will change that in the future. Therefore, I don't know how far the series goes and if it really covers all three books. I have an uneasy feeling that Netflix might decide to include only part of the trilogy in the series.

Of course, a lot has to be cut either way, but whether it finds a good middle ground to really reach the end of the third book is questionable.

#3 body problem #trisolaris #tvshow #rewatch #tv show #remembrance of earth's past #jess hong #benedict wong #Eiza González #netflix #netflix shows #netflix series

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a-force-dyad-in-space · 5 months

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A Fanfic Update

Hey guys, I thought I should give you an update about what's going on Ongoing-WIPs-wise just in case you've had some worries.

The short of it is that the writing juices haven't flowed well for a while now and I'm trying to get them back but it is a struggle. I've worked a bit on this fic or other but haven't made significant progress in a few months. I absolutely hope that will change soon but I unfortunately can't force it. It doesn't help that I'm going through some stuff IRL right now that I have to take care of (I am unfortunately an adult who has to do adulting and pay bills and shit 🥲). I try not to be too stressed out about it, but the more time passes the more the anxiety sets in. Wish me luck. 💪🏻

Anyway, here's a fic-by-fic overview, split up by fandom.

THE UNTAMED

The Angsty SongXue Fic — I'll be honest, I've written a little bit since I last updated you guys but I still haven't finished the buffer chapter (at this point I'm thinking about posting chapter 51 even though 52 isn't done yet), so nothing really new here. I really want to get back into a writing flow but so far it hasn't really worked. I am still working on it, though, so don't worry, I'm not going to drop it.

The It Follows AU — I'm ashamed to say I didn't even realize I posted that fic almost two years ago and I still haven't written the second half. I'm so sorry it's taking so long! I definitely still want to finish it! I might rewatch the It Follows movie before I do that, though.

The Observer Series — Oh yeah, remember that smutfic series I started a few years ago of which I've only posted part 1 so far? Yeah, I still need to work on that. I did write chapter 1 of part 2 a while ago, so it's not like it's forgotten, I just need to get my ass up and write the rest of part 2 before I can post it. 🙈

The Color Rush AU — Okay, technically I haven't posted that one yet but I did share a snippet along with a gifset a few years ago, so you guys know it exists. I haven't worked on it in a long time, though, and I don't know yet when I will find the spoons to continue writing it but I'm still intrigued by the premise and want to give it a go. Thank you for your patience!

The Somewhat Sweet, Somewhat Angsty XuanXian Fic — Again, haven't posted that one yet but I've been posting about it, so you guys know it exists. Nothing new on this front. I did want to rewrite the whole thing because I wasn't really happy with the way I wrote it thus far, so I'll probably go back to it at some point and do that, I just don't know when yet.

WORD OF HONOR

The Xie'er Deserves the World Fic — Listen, guys, I love this fic so much, I just haven't worked on it in a while. I'll probably re-read what I've written so far and go on from there, I've just been struggling with the latest chapter ever since I started writing it years ago. It's not dropped, though, I will get back to it! Pinky swear!

SAILOR MOON

I've mentioned here and there that I'm working on part 1 of an epic that is based on a doujinshi I started when I was 13 or 14. Unlike my other WIPs, this one really is 100% self-indulgent to the point where I don't even care whether people will read/like it once I post it when it's completely done. I'll just put it out there to make my teenage self happy because this story has been simmering in my head for over 20 years, and so that my IRL friends can read it if they want to. So, this one will be a long way out, but it exists. I'm only really mentioning it because I've mentioned it a couple of times before and because it's the fic that's been on my mind the most lately.

STAR WARS

You didn't think I forgot about TROBS, did you????? I did work on several beginnings of a draft during NaNoWriMo last year and I'm getting more and more of a clear picture of how I want it to go. For those unfamiliar, TROBS (or The Rise of Ben Skywalker, though I already changed the name of the fic again) is my attempt at an Episode IX fix-it fic that essentially replaces TROS. This one has been simmering in my head since early 2020 and I really want to get it out of there and onto the page for catharsis. I've even held off on reading any other TROS fix-its because of it, even though I've heard there are some really amazing ones out there (and I can't wait to read them once I've gotten my own out of my damn head). I really need to finally finish that beast. Wish me luck. 🥲

UNPOSTED WIPs

I still have so many notes for other fics (mostly for The Untamed) that I want to write at some point. Will I be able to get them all on the page? I honestly don't know, but I'll see where they take.

Anyway, that's all!

#jen's ramblings #jengwrites

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aspharon · 3 months

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I am inviting you to get into all the details on the new order (😏)

(This is in reference to the alternate Code Lyoko watch order I made which shuffles around some episodes in season 1. I talked about it first in my Code Lyoko rewatch thread here, and you can find it in this link:)

Okay, you asked for it. [big inhale]

Code Lyoko season 1 is rough. Apart from the final two episodes, the series can be watched in pretty much any order. However, the timing and grouping of some episodes can make for an awkward overarching story and can be a bit of a pain for new people, as its first few episodes can be somewhat rough. I made a bunch of changes to attempt to fix it, mostly aimed at new viewers.

If you haven't watched the series yet, this post will contain some spoilers for the first season and particularly the finale, so be warned. Good news, though, as this alternate watch order was made specifically for people like you, so I'd say just jump into it.

My watch order starts with the prequel. This one's obvious. It was made between seasons 2 and 3 so it shows off the better animation the series gets later on, as it is particularly rough in the first season, and also explains the status quo.

I've swapped the first two episodes, making Seeing is Believing the first real episode. I feel like it introduces the series a little better, as it explains why they don't just tell any adults/the police about the situation, and also has some great characterization, particularly showcasing Aelita's selflessness. It's great.

After that, I've kept Teddy Gozilla and Log book together, as they're the only two episodes where Odd has a different voice actor. Thought it be better if they were back-to-back.

Then comes The Trap, which takes place exactly a year after the prequel, setting it on October 9th, 2002. This'll be important later. It's worth noting that the entire first season takes place in the school year after the prequel, so this isn't as big of a time jump as it might seem.

Then comes Ghost Channel, which I moved allll the way from the end of the season. It was recently voted as the best episode in the series, and though I don't agree with that, it is really good for season 1 standards. In the original order, it is directly followed by the finale, which is already great, so I thought I'd move this one much earlier to give new viewers a taste of what's to come.

Then comes Big Bug, followed by Holiday in the Fog. Moving Big Bug to before Holiday in the Fog actually solves a continuity error: In Big Bug, Jim mentions never having seen Kiwi before, but he does see him in Holiday. Switching them fixes this!

Holiday in the Fog also has to come after The Trap, as it portrays the first holiday of the school year, which in France takes place towards the end of October. Told you that date would come up again.

Then there's a group of five episodes, originally aired back-to-back: Cruel Dilemma, Image Problem, End of Take, Satellite, and The Girl of the Dreams. These episodes have been dubbed by fans as "Pick on Yumi week", as Yumi generally has a bad time in all of them. I've scattered them throughout the season to make this less obvious.

Skip this paragraph to remain spoilerless. There's four episodes in the first season that elude to the season finale, being Cruel Dilemma, The Girl of the Dreams, Just in Time, and Frontier, all of which show Jeremie working on Aelita's materialization program. In Cruel Dilemma, originally episode 6(!!!), he is just a few keystrokes away from finishing it, though it takes him 18 more episodes to actually finish it, which is silly. Same thing with Just in Time, where he manages to materialize one of Aelita's hairs, but can't materialize the rest until 11 episodes later. I've moved all these episodes more towards the back of the season, with them getting more frequent as the viewer approaches the season finale.

There's a few other tweaks as well. Originally, Image Problem and The Girl of the Dreams only had two episodes between them, and they're the only two episodes in the series that have XANA use a Guardian. I've moved these apart to make this less jarring. Similarly, I've moved Plagued and Swarming attack apart. Originally back-to-back, they have very similar XANA attacks. Moving them far apart makes this much less obvious.

I've made Killer Music the last 'normal' XANA attack of the season, as it shows him directly paralyzing humans. Having this late in the season shows how he's slowly getting stronger.

In the end, only three episodes keep their original place in the season: The final two episodes, and Routine (which needed to stay towards the end, as the episode revolves around Ulrich getting tired of doing the same thing over and over).

I think that's everything? This will be on the test. If anyone has questions, meet me after class.

#code lyoko

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heartofstanding · 11 months

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Rewatching old favourite crime dramas...

I just finished rewatching Vera up to Series 9, am in the middle of a rewatch of Death in Paradise and have started rewatching Wallander as well and am having some thoughts so I'd thought I'd write a post instead of just stewing in these thoughts.

Vera

I love her, your honour.

I love Vera, I love the location and how it's so beautifully shot, I love the slightly gothic edge to the mysteries. Most memorable episodes for me are "The Crow Trap" and "The Deer Hunters". It holds up really well too - sometimes I'll rewatch a crime drama that I once loved and find myself getting increasingly intolerant of the way it deploys certain tropes, like the tortured brooding lead detective with anger issues and/or a tragic backstory or "internal investigations are bad actually" or "it's fine for the lead detective to lose his temper and almost murder someone" which spoiled Waking the Dead and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries for me (the latter in the final seasons, mostly). Vera lacks most of that kind of drama. Vera is, in a way, a tortured, brooding detective but it never takes over the story.

One thing I did pick up on is that while I don't really have any preference for Aiden or Joe as Vera's offsider, I do miss the way that Joe's character opened up different storylines. We don't get nearly as much about Aiden's family and home life as we do about Joe's, and we got more about Vera's past and private life with Joe, like the subplots about her half-sister and her angina. I do feel cheated that Joe's exit happened off-screen, between series, but apparently he's coming back in Series 13?

(n.b. I finished at Series 9 because I don't have Series 10 on DVD, I started Series 11 but it was a bit too fresh in my mind and Series 12 isn't out on DVD yet.)

Death In Paradise

This isn't the first rewatch of the show I've done (the early seasons I've rewatched multiple times, they're very familiar and I can remember whodunnit) but I haven't watched any of the newer seasons since Series 8, except for a couple of episodes (I watched the one with Sam West and the one where Camille came back). I'm halfway through Series 9 at the moment so officially this is no longer a rewatch but a first-time watch.

It's interesting to see how my opinions have changed. I still think the show was strongest in relation to its core concept in Series 1 and 2. You can really tell the way they were planning the show to unfold had they managed to hold onto Ben Miller as Richard and Sara Martins as Camille, and I do really like that version of the show. But they didn't and the show had to change and that's fine. I used to be very fond of Humphrey but I found him painful in the rewatch - he hits my second-hand embarrassment squick much too hard and his unrequited love for Camille was... ah, not good? I was glad to see him go, tbh. Perhaps because of that, I appreciated Jack a whole lot more - I previously felt he didn't really have much of a character beyond "rambling Irishman" but that is really unfair. I just watched his last episode and I'm very sad to see him - I also felt his ending felt a bit... contrary to the character and the way he threw himself into island life, becoming part of the community in a way neither Richard and Humphrey never did. Neville seems a bit of a return to Richard, in that he doesn't want to be on the island, except by making him have so many medical issues, it really feels like that yeah, he really shouldn't be there.

Have been pondering how awesome it'd be if the next Death in Paradise detective is in the model of Vera.

Wallander

I needed something to watch in the space where I normally watched Vera and I remembered how I was going to try and watch some things in Swedish in effort to help myself learn Swedish better (I'm doing the Duolingo course, it's not going well), and well, this isn't in Swedish but it's set in Sweden so it might just do for now. I went... slightly insane* over it in my first and only watch but I thought I was safe now.

Yeah, well that happened again.

The thing I really like about it is Tom Hiddleston's face the way in which it spends a fair amount time of the affects of coming face-to-face with violent, brutal crime. How intensely Wallander feels everything, how involved he gets, and how all of that just means he's held at a remove from his family, friends and co-workers. He has this remarkable empathy that keeps him cut off from them.

It's also beautifully shot and I'm obsessed with the title credits.

Parts of it hold up fairly well - I feel "Faceless Killers" is still very pertinent to today, though I suspect there would a bit less... "both sidesing" within the main cast. Parts of it do not hold up well, like "One Step Behind" which, uh, is kinda extremely transphobic in a way that does not refute the transphobia.

The language and accent choices throw me occasionally in this rewatch. I think what they ended up going for is the translation trope/convention where the characters are not actually speaking English but are actually speaking Swedish, we just hear them in English, and a similar logic applies with the British vs. Swedish accents. When we see text, it's in Swedish, not English, which tends to confirm my hypothesis. Given the unlikelihood of the BBC doing the series in Swedish and the perils of getting the cast to put on an accent (no one wants to accidentally invoke the Swedish Chef in a brooding crime drama), I think this "they're speaking Swedish, we just hear it as English" thing works pretty well. But there still moments where it pulls me out of the story because the dialogue sounds so terribly British.

Random note: the cast of the first episode is like, full of pretty damn famous people? Obviously, there's Kenneth Branagh and a pre-Loki Tom Hiddleston as series regulars. Plus there's Nicholas Hoult and Rebecca Ferguson in guest roles. There's also a lot of people who are the sort of people you know for turning up in British TV shows, like Sarah Smart and Sophie Stanton (who, most memorably for me, was Falstaff and Caliban in the Donmar Warehouse's Henry IV and The Tempest).

Also, this reflection from when I first watched the show is still true. I thought I was over my Hiddleston phase but he's so fucking pretty in this show. It's distracting. It's literally sir, sir, sir, I am trying to watch Kenneth Branagh have a mental breakdown while solving crime in Sweden here. Take your cheekbones and go somewhere else.

Which he does at the end of Series 2 and then I miss him. Obviously, it doesn't impact the series that much - I enjoyed Series 3 and 4, his character isn't important to the story and isn't that interesting. But I liked the dynamics of the team and I dislike losing that (we also lose Lisa at the same time, and Ann-Britt only sticks around for a bit longer before she's gone too). I'm sad we lose that. I'm also a depraved whump lover and frankly think it was a wasted opportunity. Send Magnus off horribly (as Ann-Britt and Svedberg were sent off) and let Wallander writhe and wallow around in the guilt and grief. Also, I am completely shallow and didn't really want Hiddleston to take his cheekbones and go.

* I, uh, may have written an 87k word thing that's 3/4 whumpy fanfic and 1/4 origfic because it was November and I was doing NaNoWriMo and I was too hyped up to research and too scared to commit fully to the fanfic. I've reread and I feel like it holds up ok. I think the Kurt voice is good, as is the "gets too invested without being able to show it" thing. I am experiencing the urge to turn it into proper fanfic. I need to see how S2 ends and S3 begins but it could even work well as a "and that's where Magnus went" fic. But I don't think there's a fandom for the show outside of the migratory Hiddleston smut fandom.

That last point is one of those things with British crime dramas. It's quite common for some of the regular cast to leave between series and you might get a throwaway line about why they're no longer there but there's no proper send-off, no real resolution for the character, and sometimes there's no explanation. It happened in Vera, Death in Paradise, Wallander, Waking the Dead, and probably more than I just can't think of. I understand why it happens but it does make for frustrating storytelling.

The most egregious is Joe leaving Vera - he was the most important character after her! We were invested in his relationship with his family! The relationship between him and Vera was so paramount to the series! And he just disappears between series and his departure explained in a line about a "big promotion". Sure, this ties up one of the parts of his storyline quickly but there's no scene to say goodbye to him, no sense of closure. He's just gone.

Both Vera and Wallander are based on novels by Ann Cleeves and Henning Mankell. I've read a few novels of both series (and Cleeves's Shetland series) and I have to say... I feel the TV series really elevate them. With Wallander, maybe it's a case of a bad translation or something else but it seemed to lack something - perhaps the prose felt too simplistic or too blunt? With Cleeves, I think it's a case of has all the right elements, just doesn't have the ability to take it to the next level... I find I enjoy her novels more when I haven't seen their TV adaptation or are significantly different, but they're still not novels that I have to read. I wish the Shetland series had stuck with adapting Cleeves' novels because I'm obsessed with their first/second series (it was released as one series in Australia) which were based on the Cleeves novels, and I feel like the Shetland novels that weren't adapted would make excellent TV.

There are also four Death In Paradise spin-off novels that feature Richard - I've only read two of them and only really remember the first, which was OK - not great, not as fun as the show but still fun. It's nice to get more Richard but it comes with a trade off: Camille, Dwayne and Fidel play much, much, much smaller roles than they do in the TV series.

#text posts #not going to tag the series since i don't want them in the tag

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