#I really love Doom Coalition OK | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

vvarcrime · 4 months ago

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HtaH Dashboard Simulator

🦆bitethehandthatpromises Follow

I will be honest keeping jean-luc in a room for 20 years was probably not the nicest thing to do to him but he DID directly cause thousands of deaths. It was that or killing him outright. At least this way he finally gets to live his shit dream of being mark van santen's loser boytoy in his 50s. Honestly i think the fact that he was still into him is what really needs discussing here. Is the grand archon okay.

🌅 patricides Follow

No way Manon Delaforêt is doing prison state apologia on my fucking dash rn

🦆 bitethehandthatpromises Follow

Oh hi there giselle "patricides" o'sullivan id love to hear more about what you think an appropriate, constructive reaction to violent murder is

🌅 patricides Follow

Hey

🦆bitethehandthatpromises Follow

Please tell me more about how you think i should have dealt with my dad

🌟vvarcrime Follow

I love learning about the Fall of the Rationalists' League, honestly. There is a nonzero chance that manon's dad having workplace relations would have prevented mass murder.

🫒unidentifiedbaby Follow

btw just so everyone knows whilst trading pows was absolutely in the talks. manon pulling jean-luc delaforêt our of her literal basement and selling him back to the ga for a full release of all coalition pows and then some was not discussed because she failed to mention that he was even alive. that level of resource cultivation would be so impressive if it wasn't basically land mutiny.

🌟vvarcrime Follow

Cranky cos u didnt get to grill him before he got traded off? 🥺

🫒unidentifiedbaby Follow

JUST A TAD.

🌟vvarcrime Follow

🗿fiendberg Follow

My dick is NOT that good

🐠greyspawnofficial Follow

Jack Valerian has been coping and seething abt the Jean-Luc thing all day which would be hilarious if I wasnt also so miffed. About the Jean-Luc thing.

🌅 patricides Follow

Hey boss its ok im sure youre great at unlawful detention too

😈 vixiegracebignaturals Follow

o so NOW people care about illegaly ditaining ppl in basements? white man privilige smh when i was illegaly ditained in a basement nobody cared exept ophelia and she put me there 💀

🌟vvarcrime Follow

KAEDE???

😈vixiegracebignaturals Follow

no. someone else. sorry vivienne lorelei grace, who i do not know

⁉️cassandyass Follow

I cant believe jean is still alive i hope mark rides his shiny new boytoy so hard he has a heart attack and dies

🥶likefromwaterhouse Follow

mark or jean-luc?

⁉️cassandyass Follow

Yeah

🌅 patricides Follow

JEAN-LUC DELAFORÊT IS MANON DELAFORÊT'S WHAT

🫒unidentifiedbaby Follow

With all due respect, they have the same surname??

🌅 patricides Follow

Thank you for your input, Jack! Do you also think i am related to the fucking twins at st. Claire's

🥶likefromwaterhouse Follow

You know usually i get very annoyed thinking about the amount of work i did for the GA & the fact that they keep using it to make god-men out of war criminals but i do genuinely hope they devote the time and resources necessary to clone Jean-Luc new eyes, only to completely forget that 20 years of total blindness will have resulted in his brain completely overwriting the parts that he used to see with Other Stuff. & completely waste their time.

🌟vvarcrime Follow

That can HAPPEN?

🥶likefromwaterhouse Follow

Yeah 👍

🛫sanguineish Follow

Hholy shit jeanluc alive

🌟vvarcrime Follow

Hey man hows it going

🛫 sanguineish Follow

We should. Killhim

🦆bitethehandthatpromises Follow

Sorry

🛫sanguineish Follow

My apologies! Did not mean to Qjestion yoir decision

🌅 patricides Follow

Anyone in this thread smoke weed

#vvarcrime original

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beccaland · 8 years ago

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Hello! Congratulations on your follower milestone! :D I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on the Eighth Doctor's Big Finish run, specifically which companions/stories are your favourites? I've finished Lucie Miller's series and am currently making my way through the Charley/C'rizz stories, but I know I still have lots to look forward to! :)

My main thought about the Eighth Doctor’s Big Finish run is basically incoherent squee-ing because Paul McGann is so good oh my gosh can you believe we almost only ever had one story where he played the Doctor????? Also, if you don’t listen to the Extras you really should, because he’s a giant dork who really likes the lunches.

Which companions and stories are my favourites? Well, this should really come as no surprise to anybody at this point, but Doom Coalition is flipping amazing, and Liv and Helen, who are the companions for that sprawling 16-episode feast of awesomeness are the absolute best. I mean I love Eight and Charley, and C’rizz is a terrifying cinnamon roll, but the dynamic between Eight and Liv and Helen (and sometimes River) is on a whole other level. Let me explain.

So Eight’s characterization in both the books and audios is notoriously inconsistent, right? I choose to see this as actually a feature of his Doctor and not a bug in the writing (this is also the opinion endorsed in Caerdroia, which you may or may not have listened to yet). He is both a very cuddly butterfly-chasing Tigger and a sarcastic, snark-tastic Grump, and he is both one of the most human Doctors and one of the most alien (like he relates to sentient jellyfish just as much as, and possibly more than, he relates to his fellow bipeds from planet Earth). He oscillates between these extremes. With Charley and C’rizz, he mostly gets away with it, because they are both very much portrayed as ingénues, even after Charley has been traveling with the Doctor for quite a long time, and even though C’rizz has some quite extraordinary life experience before he even meets Team TARDIS. Charley and the Doctor are one of my favorite QPP (queerplatonic pairings) in Doctor Who, but good grief, it’s not even close to being a relationship of equals, and often veers right over into twee territory.

Lucie is more willing to call the Doctor out on his crap, and there is absolutely nothing twee about their dynamic. But Lucie is still very much a novice; she’s kind of a proto-Donna. And just like I initially didn’t like how combative the Doctor’s relationship with Donna was (in Runaway Bride), in the first series of the Lucie Miller audios, I really didn’t like how snarky Lucie and the Doctor were with each other. It made for some good banter, but it’s not my cuppa. The dynamic got better in the second, third, and fourth seasons with this team, and by the end I was really sad to see her go (like Donna level sads, and Donna is tied with Clara for my favorite new series companion). Lucie comes into her own with a bang in the end, but again, it’s never anywhere close to a relationship between equals.

Molly O’Sullivan gives as good as she gets in her interactions with the Doctor, but she’s largely wasted on a story arc that doesn’t know what to do with her beyond using her as a sort of sharp-tongued plot football. Tamsin Drew gets the same treatment, unfortunately. Mary Shelley was a great idea but I feel like those stories never quite worked as well as they ought to have done.

Liv Chenka, on the other hand, has seen some things. She’s a normal human, with a normal human lifespan, but by the time she meets the Doctor for the first time she’s also a seasoned MedTech. By the time she finally joins Team TARDIS on a full-time basis, she’s already had several opportunities to get the Doctor’s measure. He can’t really fool her about who he is the way he can with most companions. Helen Sinclair is more naive in the beginning, and very much in awe of both Liv and the Doctor, but she’s also had to hold her own in a very male-dominated field of academia in the 1960s, which puts her closer to an equal footing than most of her predecessors. Best of all from my POV, neither she nor Liv have any romantic interest in the Doctor at all (I tend to read the Doctor as being more toward the ace-side of the grey-asexual spectrum). These three people love each other and have learned to rely on each other completely, but as friends and as equals–or as equal as any non-Time Lord (or Time Lord equivalent) can be with the Doctor. Their skill sets and personalities complement each other, despite each character’s deep flaws and vulnerabilities. I honestly don’t think there’s ever been a TARDIS team this well-balanced before. Add River Song to the mix and you’ve got my favourite “four doctors” ever.

Within Doom Coalition, my favorite episodes are:

The Eleven, because it introduces a really interesting villain and kicks off the whole extravaganza of awesomeness

The Red Lady, because it introduces Helen and is super creepy and weird

Absent Friends, because it’s beautiful and sad

Ship in a Bottle, because it is a perfect example of its genre

Other favorite Eighth Doctor Audios:

Invaders from Mars (Eight/Charley), because it’s delightfully silly

The Chimes of Midnight (Eight/Charley), because a) it is beautifully atmospheric and creepy and b) it was the first time I really got a sense of what the brilliant folks at Big Finish could do with audio

Neverland/Zagreus/Scherzo (Eight/Charley), because this arc is peak Eight/Charley awesomeness. Also see above re: what Big Finish can do with audio–the scale of these stories would be utterly impossible for Doctor Who to do on television, even if it had a premium cable budget

The Natural History of Fear (Eight/Charley/C’rizz), because I feel like the writers were all sitting around one night and one of them turned to Alan Barnes and Gary Russel and said, “Zagreus was the most mind-bendingly bizarre story ever written for Big Finish,” and then Jim Mortimore was like “hold my beer!”

Caerdroia (Eight/Charley/C’rizz), because one Eighth Doctor is definitely not enough

Other Lives (Eight/Charley/C’rizz), because it’s a straight-up historical and a beautiful character piece, and those are both rare

Memory Lane (Eight/Charley/C’rizz), because LEGO, ice cream lollies, and the Eighth Doctor’s laughter

The Cannibalists (Eight/Lucie), because it’s hilarious and sweet

An Earthly Child (Eight, Susan, and Alex), because I am a sucker for the Doctor’s family

Relative Dimensions (Eight/Lucie, Susan, and Alex), see above

Lucie Miller/To the Death (Eight/Lucie, Susan, and Alex), see above I HATE YOU NICK BRIGGS YOU MONSTER

You’ll notice none of my faves come from Dark Eyes. That’s because, although it had a few moments of brilliance, the arc was kind of a mess, and also chock-full of misery and Daleks, which are not my favorite things. On the other hand, Dark Eyes was how I first encountered the Macqueen!Master, who is almost the only really fun thing in this batch of stories (and is also, unfortunately, and true to character, also the source of much of the other characters’ misery). But if you want to experience the Macqueen!Master and don’t particularly mind skipping over sixteen episodes of Eighth Doctor stories, I’d tell you to listen to And You Will Obey Me/Vampire of the Mind/The Two Masters instead, because they are better stories and you get to enjoy the Beevers!Master, too!

#ask beccaland anything about Doctor Who #Eighth Doctor #Big Finish Audio #I really love Doom Coalition OK #and not just because I really love the Doctor and Liv and Helen and River

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backupblogforjg · 5 years ago

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The racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism and cruel tropes in Voltron

So, it’s the anniversary of the ending of Voltron. And I’m getting really, really tired of people saying that only shippers hated the ending. There were many issues with Voltron, and they were neither limited to shipping nor to S8.

So, I’ve decided to compile a list.

It gets LONG. Turns out there was a hell of a lot of racist, sexist, ableist and cruel tropes in VLD.

In fact, I had originally planned on writing a list of both the terrible tropes and the plot holes. But there just wasn’t enough room for both. The post is huge as it is, and with the plot holes, it would have been twice as long, so I had to focus on only one thing.

Salt, obviously. So, so, so much salt. I could turn a lake into a sea here. You’ve been warned.

RACISM:

1) The Alteans are genocide survivors. Out of all the Alteans, only the black Altean was used for a Reverse Racism story where she resents a teammate for belonging to the race that exterminated hers. The white Alteans are totally cool with him, and with his race in general, and only hate the bad people. But the black one had to be taught that hating people because of their race is wrong.

2) VLD Allura is also the only version of Allura who is black. In every other Voltron media (several different cartoons and comics), Allura is blond with blue eyes. All the white versions of the character get a happy ending, while only the black version ends up dying to save the world.

While "hero sacrifices their life to save the world" is not a bad trope in and of itself, it becomes bad when it kills off one of the extremely few black female characters in leading roles. You kill off a white male hero, there are 463278462387 more. You kill off the black female hero, you are kinda screwed. Making it worse, Allura had been portrayed as suffering from depression throughout the latest seasons, so that her death comes across less as heroic sacrifice and more as suicide.

3) The brown Cuban kid who dreamed of being a pilot, and never once in 78 episodes ever expressed anything but sheer love for an exciting life, in the final two minutes of the final episode ends up realizing that the place for him is a farm.

4) As told in interviews, Lotor was meant to be a bad example of mixed-race person, to contrast him with Keith as good example of mixed race person. Do I even have to point out how messed up this is?

5) Even before they became Space Nazis, back when they were still on the side of the angels, the Galra invaded and conquered planets. This is portrayed as totally cool when they happily name the prince after a "hero" who invaded and conquered a lot of worlds, and the peaceful Alteans think the guy is just as heroic as one of their greatest scientists. Apparently there is such a thing as ethically killing people to steal their land.

6) They whitewashed Keith, a character who is poc in every other iteration of Voltron.

I’m sure a lot of people are going to get angry here, claiming that I hate Keith. Let me assure you, I don’t. I love Keith, and I hate what was done to him. I hate that they took a traditionally poc character and went to frankly ridiculous lengths to erase that part of his character. Keith should be Asian, and it would be incredibly easy to make him so in VLD (seriously, all they’d have to do is update the freaking bios, an intern could do it right now in 5 minutes). But they refuse to do it.

A lot of people don’t realise that the surname “Kogane” in VLD is fanon.

I’m serious. Check his official bios page. Keith is not actually called Keith Kogane in VLD. Fans started calling him that in fanfiction, and it stuck, but it’s not canon.

In every other Voltron media, Keith is an Asian guy. But in VLD, they:

- went out of their way to always avoid giving him an Asian surname

- gave him a Texan father

- refused to confirm his race, even when every other character had a specific race. Again, check his official bios. All the other characters got a race, Keith gets “human.” It got so ridiculous it would be funny if it weren’t sad. It pretty much went like this:

Fans: Keith is half alien, but about his human half, what is his ethnicity? EPs: oh, we couldn't possibly say, because the story takes place in the future, and in the future, everybody is mixed up! So, Keith is HUMAN, we can't give him a specific race because there are no specific races in the future! Fans: ok. And what are the races of the other characters? EPs: Pidge is Italian, Lance is Cuban, Hunk is half-black half- Samoan, Shiro is Japanese. Fans: but Keith...? EPs: HUMAN! There is no such thing as race in the future!

Some people at least hoped that Keith's Texan father had Asian ancestry because he kinda looked like Shiro, who is Japanese. But the EPs confirmed that the resemblance was just a coincidence, they never meant for the dad to look Japanese.

At this point pretty much the only evidence that Keith is Asian is that he is voiced by an Asian person. But then, Josh Keaton is not Japanese, is he?

7) After whitewashing Keith, they claimed he is the best leader of Voltron, better than his poc predecessor, because he has Galra blood.

So, instead of bringing up any sort of legit reason to justify why Keith should be in charge (like his empathy or pilot skills), they go with "the half-white guy is also half space-nazi and that's why he should give the orders instead of the poc guy."

If you think I’m bashing Keith here, please ask yourself why you are getting angry at the person pointing out the whitewashing instead of getting angry at the whitewashing. Especially when, again, making VLD Keith canonically poc could be done anytime with zero cost and zero effort, and DW just doesn’t want to.

- Hunk, the half-black half-Samoan guy, was going to be killed and replaced as Paladin by a blue alien. The EPs were pissed when DW forbade them to, and complained in the interview about it.

SEXISM:

Every single woman who is ever put in charge ends up going insane, making terrible decisions that endanger her planet, or losing all of her authority.

Allura starts out as co-leader of Voltron and leader of the Coalition. Ends up as a foot soldier who takes orders from the new leader and his right-hand man, and is treated as a cadet by the Earth military.

HOMOPHOBIA:

1) Dreamworks, Netflix and the EPs very, very, very heavily promoted S7 as GLBT-friendly. The EPs gave whole interviews about the past relationship between Shiro and new character Adam, retweeted a ton of posts celebrating Shiro’s homosexuality, and enthusiastically sent tweets like "you are going to see more of Adam in S7! :D" from their personal accounts after they showed the episode that introduced him.

In S7:

- Shiro's homosexuality is so ambiguous that even the Brazilian voice actor didn't realize that he was supposed to be gay. Just by watching the show, without knowing the World Of God, you can’t tell he and the other guy were engaged.

- Adam gets about 30 seconds of screentime after that one episode they had already shown. Then he dies screaming in pain and terror in a fire.

A lot of people claimed that it was okay to kill Adam because Shiro was supposed to be our rep, not Adam, who was a brand new character we knew little about. And, out of context, that would be true. Adam was pretty much a NPC, why would his death matter?

But the problem here is the context:

- Shiro is closeted in S7, you need to read interviews to know he is gay. So, if only Shiro is meant to be the rep, they couldn’t even do that right.

- They very heavily marketed both Shiro and Adam as gay rep, and specifically talked at length about Adam in several interviews.

In THAT context, REGARDLESS of what you ship, killing off Adam revealed a complete willingness to manipulate the audience to the point of outright lying. Even if you hated Adam, even if Adashi is your NOTP, the clear evidence that the creators had absolutely no problem making empty promises was NOT a good sign.

2) The moment Shiro is revealed to be gay in interviews, he is practically quarantined from the Team.

3) Shiro is also given a Totally Not AIDS deadly disease.

Making it even worse, Shiro never actually gets cured in canon. We are told he is cured in interviews, but the show itself drops the topic entirely. Depending on where you lean in the Word Of God VS Death Of The Author debate, Shiro may be doomed to die.

4) A female villain is revealed to be a lesbian. 30 seconds later she gleefully tortures a little girl. Then she, too, dies in a fire.

(Fan outrage about pulling two Bury Your Gays in the Season that had been very heavily promoted as GLBT-friendly caused DW to retcon her death and bring her back in S8, but she was originally meant to die in the explosion)

5) Shiro ends up marrying a random character who doesn’t even get a name in the show.

ABLEISM:

1) Shiro's PTSD magically disappears offscreen. In interviews, the EPs claimed that he "got over it" between S6 and S7 because "he is a professional." Wow! Who knew being a professional magically cures mental illnesses!

2) Shiro is an amputee. The EPs admitted that they never put any thought into his status as disabled rep, they just wanted a character with a cool-looking arm. It literally didn't occur to them that making him lose his arm (TWICE! First up to the biceps, then up to the shoulder) meant anything. Also worth noting that Shiro’s new arm makes him look like the guy who tormented him.

3) Shiro is systematically robbed of his agency.

- He is the only Paladin who never gets to use his bayard.

- He loses his bond with Black for no given canon reason (and the reason they give in interviews makes no sense, they basically say that transferring his soul out of the Black Lion makes her stop loving him. But she still lets Zarkon fly her!).

I know that Keith is traditionally Black’s pilot in Voltron media (although that shouldn’t matter, because VLD made a lot of huge changes to the traditional status quo). But if they wanted Black Paladin Keith that badly, they could have given some non-insulting reason for it. For example, say “because Shiro has spent so much time within Black, their bond is now so strong that he will get absorbed again if he flies her again.” Or co-pilots in Black (if Pidge can co-pilot with Matt, why can’t Shiro co-pilot with Keith?).

- He is defeated not only by Sendak, but also by a bunch of random Alteans. He basically can’t win a fight anymore unless it’s played for laughs.

- His new robot Atlas is bigger than Voltron, but also much weaker, and can only buy a few minutes for Voltron to come save the day.

- Every single enemy he ever defeated comes back to be finished off by somebody else (even the friggin' Gladiator from S1 comes back in S8). In the epilogue, he retires in his twenties.

4) Narti, the disabled General, is fridged shortly after her introduction. For a while at least it seemed like her death had affected the remaining three Generals, but then it turns out that the "For Narti" line was a trick and they never actually planned on avenging her.

CRUEL TROPES:

1) They intentionally baited the fans by pushing the plot thread that Lotor would be redeemed. They named the episode where he defects "A New Defender," they kept saying in interviews that they come from Avatar and they are very familiar with Zuko *hint hint*, they showed his family as incredibly abusive and Lotor himself as desperate, they showed that Lotor was a victim of severe racism (he is mixed race, and as stated above, the Galra are Space Nazis and are pretty obsessed with blood purity).

Then, after revealing him to be a villain, they gave an interview where they practically dislocated their shoulders by patting themselves on the back as they gleefully bragged that "we made them think we would give them a Zuko, but we gave them an Azula!"

(Nevermind the fact that Azula herself was a 14-year-old child, not a monster, and that Aaron Ehasz himself confirmed that he always wanted her to be redeemed).

When fans who are survivors of child abuse told them that the bait-and-switch was really hurtful, they laughed it off, and claimed that Lotor was just beyond redemption. Then they proceeded to redeem Lotor's abusive parents, who were objectively much worse.

2) Shiro’s clone, who sincerely believed he was Shiro and always meant well, was dehumanised, demonised and discarded like his life meant nothing. His short existence was full of pain from literally the moment he first opened his eyes, as Haggar kept torturing him with migraines to manipulate him. In the end, she brutally violates him body and mind, and brainwashes him to force him to turn on the family he was so desperate to find in The Journey. He dies in incredibly questionable circumstances, without ever getting to learn that his family survived Haggar’s plans. He is victim-blamed for the things she forced him to do against his will with mind-control, and is never mourned because the only family he ever had writes him off as a “thing” and “evil.”

In fact, the horrific treatment of Kuron foreshadowed S8. The Medium article “It never stops at one - Why Voltron: Legendary Defender's tragic ending wasn't a surprise and why more DreamWorks' series will follow suit” explains how.

The tl;dr version is that, when a story posits that the circumstances of your birth determine the value of your life, so that good intentions and hard work mean nothing, and long-established bonds can be discarded with zero thought and care, and your very humanity can be revoked over something you have absolutely no control over, and the whole sociopathic disaster is celebrated as a happy ending... it really, really can’t end well. Not just for you, but for the entire cast.

#voltron critical #vld shiro #vld keith #vld lance #vld allura #vld lotor #voltron #voltron salt #takashi shirogane

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thenerdintheattic · 5 years ago

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STRANDED 1

(spoilers!)

Lost Property - 3/5 : soooo nothing much happens there (i mean the "threat" of the episode didn't really feel like a threat) but it's more exposition, introducing new characters (already loving Tania and the two gay guys) and stakes (the Curator?????) and it's sooo nice for Eight to finally get a break after the Lucie Miller/Dark Eyes/Doom Coalition/Ravenous events, although I guess break time won't last long

Wild Animals - 4/5 : so BF writers didn't make Liv/Helen canon BUT they did give us Liv/Tania (a transgender woman yeah!) so I guess they're forgiven (and Liv deserves it soooo much GIVE HER NICE THINGS YOU COWARDS). So I liked this episode more. More things happened (Tania flirting with Liv and Liv not seeing it at all, the robbery - ok why did they have to kill Sanjit off?, and mainly, the Doctor adjusting to his new life and I love that he's completely lost poor thing and that he just ends up being a creep, wandering in a park and I love how Helen supports him but also tells him off for not visiting Liv in the hospital and not condoning his behaviour. My expectations for the end of this arc are : Liv staying behind to live happily ever after with her GF and Helen and the Doctor flying away in the TARDIS to live new adventures together because I'm not done with those two (probably won't happen but hey! one's allowed to dream)

Must-See TV - 4/5 : ANDY! TORCHWOOD! ANDY AND TANIA WORKING FOR TORCHWOOD! I mean I should have seen it coming but it was still a nice surprise. And we've got some serious plot starting with the TVs and Mr Bird (I love how Eight gets jealous because of course he does) and the mysterious person who furnished the flats (Torchwood??). So yes, I'm very hyped for all that, and that curator bit but I'm not really convinced with all the side characters - I'm afraid they'll soon be too many to handle with a humanity/earth/universe threat coming up. ALSO this episode was very short! I was litterally expecting a second part when the end credits started because it wasn't even 40 minutes.

Divine Intervention - 4/5 : so that intro was sooo weird. But hearing Eight being so happy and his reaction when Liv and Helen tell him his plan isn't a good one kinda broke my heart a little bit. Anyhoo, a lot happened but there's still more questions than answers so this was frustrating. And I love Andy with the Doctor and the fact that aliens live casually among us à la Men in Black. I really like the domesticity of this boxset and the fact that Eight really struggles to come to term with that (a lot like Eleven in Power of Three) (also Time Lord tantrum) and the disturbing fact that he is happy when someone gets murdered and it turns out to be aliens really reminds us that the Doctor actually enjoys the mysteries and destruction and being the clever hero that saves the day, a lot like Ten and Twelve. And at the same time, he still settles and asks Tania if she wants work done in her kitchen and makes a hot chocolate for Liv because he's Eight and he might have taken some blows along the way but he's still sweet deep down and he cares a lot about other people in his own weird, awkward way.

#doctor who #dw spoilers #stranded #stranded spoilers #big finish #eight #eighth doctor #liv chenka #helen sinclair #tania bell #andy davidson #the curator

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beccaland · 6 years ago

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Others have already suggested the Lawful Good option (Storm Warning) and the Neutral Good option (Blood of the Daleks). I'm gonna weigh in with the Chaotic Good option: DOOM COALITION.

Sixteen hours of awesomeness. Sure, Liv Chenka is a continuing companion who came into the Eighth Doctor audios partway through Dark Eyes, but her first episode was a Seventh Doctor story anyway. Who cares? You don't need that context; you can go back later if you want (you probably will, but honestly Dark Eyes is skippable). Or you could plonk down $80 all in one go to listen to Doom Coalition, which allows you to dive straight into THE GREATEST STORY ARC IN BIG FINISH HISTORY and includes more than one of my favorite Doctor Who stories of all time, in any medium. Also there's Liv Chenka. And Helen Sinclair. And a bunch of asshole Time Lords. And River Song (ymmv if the latter two are pluses, but they are for me).

Anyway, there's also the Eighth Doctor Time War series, but you don't want to go straight to that. You want to start with Doom Coalition. Or Blood of the Daleks. Or Storm Warning. But really, Doom Coalition.

I mean, I feel like we should actually ask you what's your jam? Like, in the new series, do you prefer Rose, Donna, or Amy and Rory?

It doesn't matter what your answer is; I would still recommend Doom Coalition. But if you prefer Rose to Donna or Amy and Rory, then you'd probably prefer starting with Storm Warning. If you prefer Donna, you'd probably rather start with Blood of the Daleks. If Amy and Rory are your faves--ngl they're not actually all that comparable to Liv and Helen but DOOM COALITION IS AWESOME YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO IT.

I rest my case.

Big Finish Audios

Hey so anyone who’s a fan of the Eighth Doctor audios, what would you recommend I start with?

#i just really love Doom Coalition ok #i may have just re-listened to it AGAIN during and just after midterms because i was stressed #eighth doctor #big finish audio #big finish recs #dw: doom coalition

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dynared · 6 years ago

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If you could write the last season of Voltron how would you end it? Like you had to still had to have all the events of the series (Shiro dies and comes back/ Keith still joins the Blades). how would you want the series to end? For me the first thing I would do is kill off Lance (cause I really hate the character). And I wouldn't kill him off in a cool heroic way either, just in a stupid way, maybe because of his own arrogance.

Shiro will probably live because he’s already died and it didn’t stick. Pidge and Hunk will live because they’re awesome. I would have Hunk marry Shay (just cause I think that pairing is cute.) Corran and Allura go off to space to find a new Altea. And I think I might kill off Keith in a very heroic sacrifice the ends with the supposed destruction of Voltron. Any suggestions? What would you do? How would you end the series?

—

If I could write it? Well, it depends on a few factors, at least for me. Is there any possible chance of a sequel or should we pull out all the stops now because there won’t be another opportunity? Will I actually be allowed to stage a mecha battle without having to reuse assets and focus on hand to hand fights?

Well, the first thing I’d do is establish Lotor as the final villain of the show. He returns from the void, kills Haggar (a homage to GoLion and probably the logical end of Lotor killing Zarkon, who Haggar/Honerva still loved), and returns with an army in place, the Mirror Alteans. Who have a fleet of giant robots ready to rain hell on Earth. It’s unfortunately way too late to introduce a new mastermind (for example, an idea bandied about when I still had hope for the show was that Emperor Zeppo existed in the void as a dark god/eldrich horror in the vein of Muge Zorbados from Dancougar), and the fact is, Haggar as the final villain would be a massive letdown. The drama is with Lotor.

I wouldn’t actually go into the full-scale war until the second episode, with the first episode acting as setup for it. Earth is rebuilding, Allura is prepared to call her allies to her, and mop up the rest of the Galra. And that’s when Lotor strikes, causing dozens of planets to fall and the United Altean Empire to be introduced as the final villain of the show. Full on villain, obsessed with Allura who he believes must be his queen to restore their people.

Since there isn’t going to be a sequel, and you introduced those Garrison pilots for a reason, the first few episodes hint at Earth creating something with the help of their new allies, but consistent jokes are made about how it’s not ready, or that people want to see it right away, and the wait is causing the Paladins and the Coalition to become frustrated and annoyed (like how every mecha fan felt about the show before dropping it).

Lotor’s united fleet, the Fleet of Doom, is sent against Earth and Voltron’s allies, and the combination of Galra and Altean tech pretty much hands the coalition its ass. Until finally the show corrects its greatest mistake.

No, not Jeeg. Vehicle Voltron, fighting alongside its lion counterpart, laying waste to the fleet that was supposed to spell Voltron’s doom, before a final badass pose.

Unfortunately, we can’t end the series here, because Lotor, while his Fleet of Doom has been defeated and Earth has been saved, is still waiting on a new flagship meant to replace the old base Zarkon had. In keeping with his growing insanity, the Earth nicknames it Castle Doom. Realizing they need to take Lotor out, both Voltrons journey to Castle Doom to defeat Lotor once and for all. Lotor meanwhile, realizes Allura’s mastery of Quintessence as an Altean can seal the wormholes and derail his ambitions if she’s left free, so after one operation, she’s captured.

The problem here is that the final duel doesn’t make sense between Lance and Lotor, because Lotor would hand Lance his ass. It also doesn’t work between Shiro and Lotor because their rivalry is a rather impersonal one. So it would have to fall to Keith to duel Lotor.

This is where everyone turns against me. It’s been the theory of a lot of viewers @remains-of-stardust is one example whose metas inspired this) that while Lance has improved for Allura, there’s no true foundation for a relationship there since what do they really have in common? During Season 8, he would find himself slowly questioning if he was in love with her, or just wanted her because she was the princess. Keith meanwhile, realizes that he may have had deeper feelings for the princess than even he had realized, feelings Shiro is all too happy to tell Keith to follow. One cooldown episode (prior to the capture) has the pair confront these feelings during a wacky scenario, and at that point it’s spelled out, Lance doesn’t truly love Allura, but Keith…

So now we have the table set, one final duel between Lotor and Keith while the Lions and Vehicle Voltron struggle against Lotor’s ultimate Robeast. Of course this leads to a final duel with Lotor at the helm vs Voltron, as Keith tells them to combine (FORM FEET AND LEGS! FORM ARMS AND BODY! AND I’LL FORM THE HEAD!) If possible, get the original music back for one reprise. If not, well, make new music that fits the moment and not the lame muzak they’ve been using.

However, whether Lotor wins or dies, it’s revealed that the only way they’re going to stop the march of the Mirror Alteans and the Shadow Beasts (remember them from the flashback episode?) is to close the wormhole permanently, which is assuredly a one-way trip.

I would kill off Lance or at least tease it, but it wouldn’t be a senseless sacrifice. If he dies, he has to die in a way that would actually be noble and courageous. He confronts Allura one last time and drives a spaceship into the wormhole to close it from the other side. His end is the opposite of his introduction, noble, with purpose. If he dies, he’s remembered as far more than a mere “boy from Cuba”. If he lives, he realizes he was never the least of the group and finds happiness with someone else.

Voltron survives because as a symbol, it’s better still together than destroyed, and if the show does get a follow-up, like a video game, you want to bring back Peter Cullen to do his old monologue. I just feel like destroying it would be a final slap in the face to any fan of the original.

I want Shiro to start dating, but marriage? Hold off a bit, OK? Do establish in the epilogue he’s seeing someone who isn’t Roy Fokker (what the hell leakers?) and prepares to go into space to explore the rest of the galaxy with Vehicle Voltron. Allura and Coran, along with Keith, leave Earth to find a home for the remaining Alteans, to fix the mistakes of their forefathers, and to bring peace to the cosmos. Lance, if he lives, stays on Earth, along with Hunk and Pidge, as peace settles upon the cosmos. The end.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #keith #shiro #lance #pidge #allura #lotor

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johannesviii · 7 years ago

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Love your blog and artwork here! I love the Eighth Doctor a lot already and want to get more into the audios. I started with Storm Warning and a few of the earlier ones but I'm not sure where else to go after that. (I want to listen to them all of course!) Does Dark Eyes start after the main range? Or is it far more complex than that?? (Time Travel man) I'm not sure but you seemed like the person to ask. Are there any Big Finish audios you recommend in particular? Thank you :)

Ok, so here’s the chronological order:

Adventures with Mary Shelley (and a few others): The Company of Friends, The Silver Turk, The Witch From the Well, Army of Death. Main Range audios, all of them very good except for Army of Death (terrible but in a so-bad-it’s-good sort of way, imho). They serve as prequels for all the other Main Range audios with Eight, but I don’t recommend to start with those. Listen to them at whatever point you want, they are pretty standalone anyway (I listened to them between the Lucie audios and the Dark Eyes ones, but between the other Main Range audios and the Lucie ones sounds more reasonable).

What I’d call Charley’s Arc (even if Charley stays after that): Storm Warning, Sword of Orion, The Stones of Venice, Minuet in Hell, Invaders from Mars, The Chimes of Midnight, Seasons of Fear, Embrace the Darkness, The Time of the Daleks, Neverland. That’s where you started and honestly it’s the best starting point! It has a couple of subpar stories but overall, it’s damn good.

Zagreus: A very long anniversary Main Range audio full of cameos, which also serves as a bridge between the previous arc and the next one. Some hate it, some love it; I’m squarely in the middle, there’s bad and good things in it. In any case, it’s not skippable.

The Divergent Universe Arc: Scherzo, Creed of the Kromon, The Natural History of Fear, The Twilight Kingdom, Faith Stealer, The Last, Caerdroia, The Next Life. This Main Range arc is a rollercoaster of quality. It contains both my favorite audio AND my least favorite audio, and they are back to back. The bad ones are awful, the good ones are amazing. Scherzo, The Natural History of Fear and Caerdroiaare some of my all-time favorite audios. What a ride.

What I’d call C’rizz’s Redemption Arc: Terror Firma, Scaredy Cat, Other Lives, Time Works, Something Inside, Memory Lane, Absolution, The Girl Who Never Was. Main Range audios, and an arc I really liked even though it doesn’t seem to be very popular. Contains some real underrated gems, like Memory Lane.

The four seasons of audios with Lucie Miller (which they call The Eighth Doctor Adventures, which is confusing to no end for all the fans of the books, so I’d rather call them the New Eighth Doctor Adventures): I’m not gonna write down the full list (there’s 34 of them!), you can simply click the link. Just know that a bonus release, An Earthly Child, goes somewhere between Death in Blackpool and Situation Vacant, and is rather important. I’m not a huge fan of these audios, but they are pretty good for the most part! My favorite ones are Grand Theft Cosmos, Orbis and The Scapegoat. But if you can listen to all of them, please do, because the last season hits like a ton of bricks.

The Dark Eyes series: Here it is. Some people love it, but it was a bit hit-and-miss for me. Almost none of it is standalone, but my favorite ones are The Great War and A Life In The Day (I love that one). The arc itself? A bit of a mess if you ask me.

The Doom Coalition series: Here it is. I absolutely loved this arc, and that hadn’t happened since the Main Range arcs. The only really bad one is right at the end of the first boxset, and after that, all the rest goes from average to amazing. The best ones, in my opinion, are The Red Lady, Absent Friends, The Crucible of Souls and Ship in a Bottle, but please listen to the whole arc, you won’t regret it.

The Time War series: Only one boxset so far. It’s... okay. It’s roughly on the same level as the average Dark Eyes boxset, and it passes the time nicely, but so far it isn’t extraordinary (except the first half of the first story, which was really intriguing). Maybe that range will get better later? Wait and see, I’d say.

I hope this helps!

#Big Finish #Doctor Who #replies #anon #Anonymous

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fart-gate · 4 years ago

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SGA

Season 5 episode 13

Notes by me

- oh ok we're diving right into this one

- a galactic coalition??? Like The United Federation Of Planets in star trek?

- ronon is ALL for it

- I am for it too tbh it seems beneficial

- being locked in a room should have been a red flag, John. I'm not mad you got gassed pay attention

- this council guy is from sg1 I think lol

- john is sighing SO HARD

- on trial??!! For what?? Being handsome? Guilty lock him up

- ohhhhh this is a flashback episode!!! Love it when shows do this

- Aaahhhh the first episode 😍 theyre such babies

- wow remember rainbow? Rip

- What the hell is this trial even based on?? Like??? First off, johns right, the wraith would have woken up without their help sooner or later. Also why r u holding a trial for a human person who accidently did a whoopsy daisy and not actively trying to fight the actual creatures that are killing you

- coalition leaders : you woke up the wraith and doomed us!!! 😡

John : oops? Sue me

- a sickness??? Its covid

- micheal flashback! Ahh remember that train wreck of an experiment. Good times

- oh hes absolutely alive. Like.....his 'death' wasnt nearly as dramatic as it should have been

- Woolsey letting his emotions get the better of him!! ✨✨

- Evan Glass Half Empty Lorne

- remember when Rodney saw the dart attacking the hive ship and just instinctively knew it was john

- remember the ship lorne had for .2 seconds lmaooooo

- woolsey is gonna represent him?? Haha this should be good

- when he wipes the seat before sitting

- when the council asks why the reps waited a long time before attacking the wraith and the scene switches to rodney turning on the attack code AHDJSJA LMAO

- I GUESS THEY ARE GUILTY ON SOME ACCOUNTS YOUR HONOR SLAP THEM IN IRONS

- well there goes that. They cant win against a lady who has a personal vendetta

- the genii are behind this????

- ronon votes violence 🙋 I'm with the big guy

- alright I really like Woolsey when hes not being an asshole

- "we know you're with the genii"

- the looks they give him when he talks about todd. Hes like hey I didnt name him

- flashback!! THE BLOB(1958)!!!!!!

- hot milky

- 👏👏good defense Woolsey 👏👏👏

- cigar smoking and whiskey? Good to know a couple of grandpas are running Atlantis

#stargate atlantis season 5 #what an episode. there were so many trials in sg1 i dont even rememeber them all #whump #atlantis team-gassed-unconcious-numerous flashbacks of previous seasons have some old whump #i was listening to Nobodys Gonna Love You by Band of Horses while writing this post. one of my favorite songs from recently 💗

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bastardcatthings · 6 years ago

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Regarding Voltron season 7 (1/3)

Ok so I've watched Voltron season 7 and honestly my initial thoughts were...not good.i was seriously underwhelmed and I was disappointed, but after thinking about it I realized it wasn't all bad , and it had it's moments,so, let's dive into the pros and cons of Voltron legendary defender season 7

Also I'm going to have a talk with y'all at the end because a lot of stuff is happening in the fandoms right now that needs to stop.

(warning:this will definitely might get long)

Pros:

1: SHIRO IS ALIVE AND WELL IM SHAKING

2: romelle is beautiful and badass and I will kill anyone who doubts her

3: Cosmo is best boi™

4: kieth being a leader and trusting Lance as his second in command?! Yes please.

5:James is not a birch anymore?! And he's kinda hot?!

6: YEESSS MY BOY HUNK FINALLY GETTING HIS ARC

7: Lance and hunk's reunion with their families was just so quiznaking good

8: the Garrison squad is the tea👌🏻

9: krolia being badass as always

10: MATT WITH A PONYTAIL I REPEAT MATT WITH A PONYTAIL

11: Colleen Holt is beautiful and amazing

12: HUNK AND SHAY REUNION

13:also hunk and Lance with their nieces and nephews. I'm so soft!?

12: yay kolivan is alive

13: the animation this season was so good

14: shiro being a captain?!?and forming the T H I C C E S T giant robot in the galaxy™?!?

15: Veronica

16: I know it was dark , but I really liked it when the paladins were stranded in space.the stakes were high and the situation was dire.i just like that sort of stuff.and besides , it was a great self-reflect moment for the paladins and they came out on top stronger than ever.

17: also my beautiful boy hunk literally saved everyone from impending doom ?!?

18: Lance and Kieth choosing each other?!? Such love?!?such tenderness!?!

19: Acxa is back and more gorgeous than ever and she kicked ass and she's ready to help the coalition.

20: ezor and zethrid are beautiful and they care about each other and I love them

21: KIETH CALLED KROLIA MOM AND TOLD HER HE LOVED HER AND SHE SAID SHE LOVED HIM AND THEN SHE HUGGED HIM AND SHE EAS SO TALLER THAN HIM AND UGHHHHH

22:allura not hesitating to give her magical tiara Crystal thingy to save shiro's life.we Stan a quick thinking and generous queen.

23: the entire scene with zarkon and haggar and lotor being somewhat of a normal family (this is my lovely wife haggar) and also lottor being salty af and pouting?!

24: coran being valid and appreciated is the burning tea☕

25: the mice are the real MVPs of this season and you know it

=end of pros=

#voltron legendary defender #voltron season 7 #vld #vld season 7 #voltron season 7 spoilers #also bonus point #we saw slav again!

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operaforthelayman · 8 years ago

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Tosca

Tos-ska

Run Time: About two hours and fifteen minutes (2 intermissions) Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆ Who did it: Puccini First performed: Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900 Here’s a bit of background: Tosca is based on Victorien Sardou’s play, La Tosca. Tosca is actually a bit of a political piece. It takes place in the middle of a revolution (More on that here.)

Themes:

Love, Murder, Politics,

Fun Tidbits:

Tosca is set in one day, June 17th 1800.

It took Puccini four years to finish it.

Our Major players: ♪ Floria Tosca: A famous opera singer! As well as our main character ♪ Mario Cavaradossi: Tosca’s honey bunny, a politics enthusiast and a talented painter ♪ Scarpia: Rome’s corrupt chief of police ♪ Spoletta: Scarpia’s henchman ♪ Cesare Angelotti: A political activist that is has escaped from prison.

Okay! Before we start, let’s lay out a few notes. It’s not REALLY needed, but some context will help. Tosca takes place in ONE DAY. We’re thrown in the middle of this one day midst the second coalition war; basically a revolutionary war, which in our context is Napoleon vs. The Austrian Monarch. France was occupying Italy at this time, and the day Tosca is set is the day the two sides have a battle for Rome. Where Tosca is set! Got it?

Act 1

We start our opera with the ominous chords, the curtain rises and we’re in the cathedral Sant'Andrea della Valle. Angelotti runs into the cathedral frantic as fuck. He just escaped from prison and is looking for a place to hide out. He flees into the chapel just as the priest comes in.

The priest bitches and moans about how messy Cavaradossi’s brushes are and checks to see if he has eaten lunch. Eventually, Cavaradossi shows up and shoots the shit with the priest for a while, revealing his painting for the chapel. He’s been painting a mural of Mary Magdalene. The priest leaves and Cavaradossi continues to paint.

Thinking the coast is clear; Angelotti tries to unlock a gate in the chapel, catching Cavaradossi’s attention. They’re both startled but Angelotti recognizes Cavaradossi. Cavaradossi recognizes him as a fellow revolutionary. They embrace and Angelotti ask for help.

Just then Tosca calls from outside the chapel for Cavaradossi. He quickly tells Angelotti to hide, not wanting to involve Tosca and her jealous personality. He gives Angelotti the basket of lunch the priest left for him and shoves him into the chapel.

From outside the chapel, Tosca increasingly gets more pissed until Cavaradossi opens the door. She suspects him of cheating, and claims she heard whispering. Cavaradossi talks her down with some sweet words and a kiss. Tosca reminds him of their plans for the night, she first has a gig and then they will go to his house. She sings a little ditty about her dreams of them having a house together, away from everyone.

Cavaradossi amuses her for a bit and then tells her he must get back to work. Just when Tosca is leaving, she notices the painting of Mary Magdalene. She begins to get jealous of Mary’s beauty and then recognizes her as a woman in town. Angelotti’s sister! She begins to accuse Cavaradossi of cheating on her. She begins to get crazy until Cavaradossi swears he saw her at church to pray yesterday and it was by chance. After a bit of coaxing, he finally calms her down and ushers her out the door.

With Tosca gone, Angelotti comes out of hiding, and begins to explain his escape plan. Just when he’s about to leave, cannons blow in the distance. Scarpia has been made aware of Angelotti’s escape!

The two run out of the chapel in a hurry.

Immediately after, the priest returns with the entire boy choir. They too will be singing at the same gig Tosca is. Their joy is cut short when Scarpia enters the chapel. He is looking for Angelotti, suspecting he has hidden in the chapel. Finding the chapel unlocked and spying Cavaradossi’s picture, Scarpia pieces Cavaradossi and Angelotti must be in cahoots.

Scarpia finds the basket in the chapel and a fan baring the crest of Angelotti’s family, it’s the final piece of evidence he needs. Hearing Tosca from outside the chapel, he hides behind a column.

Tosca comes scurrying back looking for Cavaradossi and is surprised when she find Scarpia instead. He shows her the fan with Angelotti’s crest and she begins to weep. With the fan and the painting, she has become convinced that Cavaradossi is indeed cheating on her.

She runs out of the chapel heartbroken and in search of Cavaradossi. Scarpia sets men to follow her in hopes of discovering the two escaped men. And then he also sings a tiny ditty about stealing Tosca from Cavaradossi.

Act Two.

Scarpia sit at his dinner table gloating about the day. Thanks to Tosca, he was able to find Cavaradossi but Angelotti is still missing. He gloats about finally having something to hold over Tosca’s head. She’ll come to save Cavaradossi and she’ll have to succumb to his demands (ahem ahem) to free her boo. Scarpia’s lackey drags in Cavaradossi and question him about Angelotti; he’s a true homebody and doesn’t say shit. Tosca enters the room and sees her boo being tortured. She runs over to him in horror and Cavaradossi whispers, “Babe—don’t snitch.”

She agrees, and they take Cavaradossi away for some more good ole fashioned torture, leaving Scarpia alone with Tosca. He’s like, “Ok babe. We have some alone time. Let’s chit chat, was your boo alone at his apartment?” Tosca insist he was. Scarpia’s like “Yooooo. You sure??” Tosca insist again. And Scarpia’s like “Aahaa. Alright homegirl.” And ushers his servants to crank up the toture on Cavaradossi. His screams from the other room cause Tosca to admit that Angelotti acutally was with Cavaradossi. He is hiding a well in Cavaradossi’s backyard. Scarpia’s soldiers run off to get him and Cavaradossi is released.

He’s pissed off at Tosca and rejects her embrace. Just then, someone burst into the room and announces that Napoleon’s army has defeated Scarpia’s army. Cavaradossi having no sense of self control jumps up and starts screaming “VICTORY!!!” Tosca’s like “YoooOooOoO. CHILL bro.”

Scarpia is having none of that and sends him away for more torture and eventual death by hanging.

Tosca is horrified, of course and ask Scarpia if there is any way to save him. She ask, “What price?” He replies, “Your hot ass bod.” She’s OD horrified and runs around the room trying to escape him. When all a sudden, one of Scarpia’s homies comes in and announces Angelotti has killed himself rather than get caught. Now Scarpia is pissed and orders the execution of Cavaradossi. Tosca decides to give in to Scarpia’s demands and belts out Vissi d’arte. A prayer to God in sorts, about how she has dedicated her entire life to the arts and love just to be rewarded with misfortune and pure assery.

Now that Tosca has given in Scarpia agrees to give Cavaradossi a mock execution and to allow Tosca and her man to leave forever.

Scarpia agrees and turns to write up the order for Tosca’s demands. While his back is turned she spies a knife on the table and swiftly grabs it, hiding it behind her back.

When Scarpia is finished with the note, he seals it and holds out his arms for a hug and shouts out “TOSCA YOU ARE MINE AT LAST.” Which she replies “NOT TODAY BITCH.” And she whips out her knife and STABS HIM.

Scarpia’s like “Oh shit!” while Tosca continues to stab him and pretty much mocks the shit out of him. She stabs him to death and then decides to pray for him….?

She sets a bunch of candles around him and lays a crucifix on his chest because hey. I just murdered this dude but like also I don’t wanna go to hell. She takes the Scarpia’s note and walks out.

Act Three

It’s now dawn and Cavaradossi awaits his doom, he writes a love letter to Tosca and bribes a guard to give his last words to her. The guard hesitates for a second and then is like, “Well ok.” Cavaradossi begins to write but then burst into a love song about how wonderful and how beautiful Tosca and their life together was. Spoletta then appears with Tosca behind him. Tosca sees Cavaradossi weeping and runs to him quickly. They embrace and Tosca’s like “Hey babe, don’t weep peep this note Scarpia gave me.” Cavaradossi reads the Scarpia’s get out of jail pass and is all “wtf how did this happen? When did this happen? Howww??” And Tosca is pretty much like, “Well it doesn’t matter, but I fucking murdered that dick.” It almost feels like she’s bragging about it because one line in the libretto legit translates to “MY HANDS WERE REEKING WITH HIS BLOOD.” I like to imagine a smug af Tosca. Cavaradossi is like “o shit what. Girl I can’t believe. Your hands are so sweet and are meant for beautiful things like gathering floors and hugging kids.”

Tosca is like “ok cool but focus bro. Your execution is coming up. I’ve collected all our of gold. You’re gonna need to pretend to be dead after they shoot you. They’re gonna shoot you with blanks. Play along and then we’ll blow this popsicle stand.

Both of them are like AYYYYYYYYYYE. And spend a few minutes dreaming together of their future. Cavaradossi agrees to fall naturally and play along with the mock execution.

The guards come to take Cavaradossi to the shooting area and Tosca and he have this super cute exchange, where she makes sure that he follows the plan to a tee.

They have one last goodbye and Cavaradossi is whisked away to the field and Tosca goes off to watch from afar. She sings to herself watching them set up, eagerly waiting for the moment of the fake fall. The blanks go off and Mario falls, causing Tosca to smile and comment on what a great actor his is.

Spoletta and the crew cover him up with a cloak and heads down a staircase away from Cavaradossi. Tosca comes out of hiding and runs over to him and whispers to be quiet. When they are all gone, she kneels down and urges him to get up quickly. When then is no response. She lifts up the cloak and reveals HE IS DEAD.

Turns out those blanks weren’t actually blanks. Scarpia has betrayed her

Tosca begins to weep and down from the courtyard below people begin to shout about Scarpia being stabbed. They shout for Tosca and spy her on the upper courtyard. Spoletta and the rest of the guards run up to capture her. They surround her and Spoletta grabs her shouting, “You will pay for his life most dearly!!” She shakes him off and spits back, “WITH MY OWN!” And jumps off the ledge, hurdling herself to her own death.

The curtains fall.

Additional notes:

In some productions, Cavaradossi knows that the mock execution isn’t actually a mock execution and plays along with the naïve Tosca. It’s a super interesting take on the last act and makes their love duet even more miserable.

Thanks to @northernnights for history help!

#Tosca #Tell it like it is #opera #opera tag #Puccini #love #murder #politics

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expelliarmus · 3 years ago

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#mine #doctor who #dwedit #peter capaldi #jenna louise coleman #ahhh i love these episodes :')#haven't really had anything exciting to say in the tags lately #i went shopping for my classroom online today that was fun #and i'm using my classroom funds so it's not even my own money woohoo #OH i did start listening to doom coalition #with the eighth doctor's stuff i'm always nervous jumping in randomly #but every time i do it it's been great #ok that's all good night!!!

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beccaland · 7 years ago

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Ok pal, I'm putting my life in your hands. I have all the money in the world. What audios should I buy

All the money in the world? All of the audios. I mean, I might personally skip a handful of them that I personally found not merely tedious but distasteful (*cough*minuetinhell), but other people love those stories, so I wouldn’t presume to tell you to skip them.

Let’s say you don’t have all the money in the world, but you’ve got a few hundred you can chuck at Big Finish right now. Here are the Eighth Doctor audios I absolutely would not skip:

Storm Warning (the beginning!)

The Sword of Orion (imho advanced the Cybermen mythos in more interesting ways than almost all other Cybermen stories in the past few decades; the others being Spare Parts (BF Five and Nyssa), The Silver Turk (Eight and Mary Shelley) and World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls)

Invaders from Mars (a fluffy fave)

The Chimes of Midnight (JUST BRILLIANT OK YOU NEED IT. BUT YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO SOME OF THE OTHERS FIRST)

Seasons of Fear (interesting timey-wimey character development)

Embrace the Darkness (holy flip the sound work is amazeballs)

Neverland (arc-heavy perfection)

Zagreus (arc-heavy through the looking glass insanity; absolutely do not skip, but just don’t expect coherence)

Scherzo (the sound work, the character work, idek how to explain, JUST YOU HAVE TO. but again, not without listening to the others first, or Storm Warning, Neverland, and Zagreus AT MINIMUM)

So this is where we get into the Divergent Universe arc, which is overall… Not good. And the very first episode, The Creed of the Kromon, which introduced C'rizz, is Especially Awful. But I really love C'rizz, and it does set up some important mechanics. So maybe just bite your thumb and get it anyway. It’s super inexpensive anyway.

The Natural History of Fear (weird experimental story telling; not everyone’s cuppa, but if you like weird experiments, it’s a must)

Caerdroia (I just skipped most of the Divergent arc there, but it’s cheap so if you want more C'rizz, buy them all, but anyway BUY THIS ONE IT’S LOVELY)

The Next Life (kind of skippable? Depending on how you feel about Daphne Ashbrook… But has some important C'rizz and team stuff)

Other Lives (a beautiful pure historical)

Time Works (atmospheric and lovely)

Memory Lane (the TARDIS!!! GETS STOLEN!!!! BY AN ICE CREAM MAN!!! ON HIS ICE CREAM V A N!!!!)

(Going briefly out of release order now to keep character arcs together)

Absolution (C'rizz’s story ends)

The Girl Who Never Was (Charley and Eight part ways)

Solitaire (companion chronicle with Charley and the Celestial Toymaker; almost certainlyly takes place pre-Divergent universe)

Now on to Lucie Miller stuff:

Blood of the Daleks pt 1&2 (I mean, unless you hate the Daleks, but it introduces Lucie, and Hayley Atwell is in it, so really you need it)

Horror of Glam Rock (lovely camp, necessary for character arc reasons)

Human Resources 1 & 2 (unless you hate Cybermen and don’t care about Lucie’s arc)

Dead London

Grand Theft Cosmos

The Zygon Who Fell to Earth (loose sequel to Horror of Glam Rock, crucial for character arc)

Sisters of the Flame & The Vengeance of Morbius (two-parter)

Orbis (adorable sentient jellyfish, woobie Eight)

The Company of Friends

The Cannibalists (post-apocalyptic robot gangs wandering around derelict space station, I just love it ok)

The Eight Truths/Worldwide Web

Death in Blackpool (prepare for emotional devastation)

Situation Vacant

The Book of Kells

Deimos

The Resurrection of Mars

An Earthly Child (SUSAN! And her son Alex)

Relative Dimensions (THE FEELS)

Prisoner of the Sun

Lucie Miller/To the Death (srsly the trauma, I died again just thinking about it)

The Silver Turk (you’d think that with Eight and Mary Shelley, it would be impossible to be anything other than brilliant, but this one is the only one of the trilogy that I personally think is unmissable)

Dark Eyes (I can’t wholeheartedly recommend sets 2-4, but I’m a completist, and also LIV CHENKA. AND A LIFE IN THE DAY. So basically yeah, sorry, you’re kind of stuck with them all, but lower your expectations after the first set)

DOOM COALITION. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT. DOOM COALITION. DOOM COALITION. DOOM COALITION.

Also the Eighth Doctor Time War 1 and Ravenous 1, which aren’t included in the sale, but you still need them.

If you don’t have enough cash for all of the above, then pick either Charley (least expensive because the base price for all of them is already way reduced) or Lucie. If romantic Edwardian Adventuress sounds cool, pick Charley. If Donna is your favorite new series companion, pick Lucie.

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