#If the Netflix version gets this far and keeps the same plot point at the end of Book 2

[descendant-of-truth]

I never really thought about this until now, but. why did Aang never express any opinions on Azula whatsoever after she literally killed him

Like, am I supposed to believe that he's not deeply afraid of her after that? Or at least angry? She left a scar on his back that interrupts his culturally significant tattoos, and we just... never see him notice or care about that??

I'm currently about halfway through Book 3 on my rewatch, and the fact that nobody's even told Aang on-screen that Azula was responsible for what happened is more than a little absurd. I'm pretty sure they acknowledge it at some point, but in some kind of offhanded way that really doesn't do the matter justice.

It honestly feels like the show didn't want to touch that plot point with a ten foot pole, only mentioning it when it was absolutely necessary to further the plot on Zuko's side of things. Which is weird! Why kill your protagonist on-screen, leave him with two permanent scars when he's revived, and then never have him confront or even talk about the person who killed him again???

Aang deserved to have a significant dynamic with Azula after what happened at the Crystal Catacombs and the fact that they dropped the topic almost entirely two episodes later lowkey fills me with rage

[tzilatza]

NATLA Review - spoilers

Woke up today still feeling annoyed after finished the Netflix ATLA remake last night, and I think I've figured out the core reason.

It's the fact that: If they had held truer to the original source material, we could have had a truly great show. I disagree with those calling it a complete disaster. The acting was good, great in some cases. The effects were very well done, the bending looked about as good as it can in a live action media. The scenery was lovely.

But what happened in the writer's room?! The way they just reveal all the back stories up front EVERY TIME is honestly insulting to the audience. It's like they're so terrified that smartphone culture has made the public so accustomed to instant gratification that they have no faith we will stick around and keep watching if they make us wait for anything.

They're also clearly terrified of complexity. One of my biggest gripes with this remake is Jet's story. They completely took out his plans to murder a whole town of innocents in order to get a few enemy soldiers. Now, Jet isn't my favorite character, but his story is so important. Because it is real. The world is full of people who have been so brought down by injustice that they lose their sense of right and wrong, and we need to see that on screen. If Jet is too complex for them, how will they handle Ba Sing Se in the second season.

This goes along the same lines as removing Sokka's sexist moments. They felt they had to do it to make him more 'likable.' Yet the writers themselves went full sexist on Katara's character. They've taken out so much of her spark, her righteous and justified anger, and they've done it because even in 2024, people expect women to be more passive to be palatable. Enough people have already commented on them removing Aang's choice to run away. Heaven forbid the main character not be an absolute paragon. Did y'all notice that they even made Hahn likable? Hahn?! What reason do you have for making Hahn likable Netflix?! His role in the narrative is to be an example of toxic masculinity that is clearly the bad choice compared to Sokka who has learned and grown out of his own.

Don't even get me started with what they're doing with the fire nation family, I'm not ready to tackle that. In general, I have no problem with Azula getting a little more backstory and humanizing, but why season 1? Throwing in all these extra scenes just sacrifices screen-time where they could've actually fleshed out the real season one plots instead of rushing through things at breakneck pace. (ex: Aang escaping Zuko's ship in about 2 minutes flat)

At the end of the day, the scenes I most enjoyed were those that held true to the original like the Blue Spirit sequences. They could've easily done more of this, held onto the important plot points and even more important character complexity, while maturing it for an adult audience. I'm not disagreeing with every change they made. Go ahead and take out the silly Nickelodeon gags, add cussing and more realistic violence to get your mainstream viewers. Go ahead. They could've easily made a darker more mature version of the show and still held onto all the old fans in my opinion. But claiming that you're making a 'more mature' version and then removing the complexity and subtlety because they didn't think viewers could handle it...

What makes me most sad is that there are a lot of people who will experience ATLA for the first time through this show. There are a lot of adults who are not willing to watch original ATLA because they refuse to acknowledge an animated series can be anything other than a kid's show. Those people will watch this and think it's the real deal, and that just makes me sad.

If you've read this far, a very sincere thank you for listening to my rant. If you're an OG fan who enjoyed it, I have no problem with you. It was a fun watch, I was just hoping for more. If you are a new viewer who has never seen ATLA before, I sincerely want to hear your opinions. Is it a great show to someone who isn't holding it against the context of the original? And do you plan to watch the original now?

[melonteee]

Do you think ur going to do a review or analysis of the live action? Because even tho i kinda liked it i think i have the same problem that you have with the characters, like zoro. It's weird bc i think that the characterization of the characters is kinda good, but also there's something laking, i think it's the removal of some core senes but honestly idk fully if it's that or something else. I know they had short time to adapt like 90 chapters, but i think the time they had would be better used if they didn't had the b plot be abt garp. Tho that's also not right, bc i think some of the scenes with the marines were fun? But in this case i think garp characterization is just not that great.

Idk its super weird bc i feel the world is really one piece and it was fun to watch but there's some things that are kinda :/

Okay uh, let me preface this by saying part of my degree had to do with adaptation - in terms of what it is and how it's really god damn hard. So this live action intrigues me not just as a one piece fan, but in terms of my studies, and I have no doubt my favourite teacher is getting a kick out of this as we speak lol.

If you don't want spoilers for ep 1, don't read under the cut. If you don't want to feel bummed out cause you super enjoyed the show, also don't read. I am analysing this in a very critical way because I was dead interested in how this was handled.

I have only watched one episode, I can only judge so far at the moment, so feel free to take this all with a grain of salt. There is indeed charm in this series! The only thing is, there's charm when it's trying to be itself exclusively, and it falls really flat when trying to replicate One Piece because...I didn't feel One Piece from this in any sense. Any 'faithful' shots I received felt like a cheap replica attempting to force some nostalgic emotion out of me with nothing earned.

And, from what I can see, that's the problem here. This series isn't sure how loyal it should really be, nor is it sure how much fidelity it should keep - but it's trying to remind me at every damn second "This IS One Piece, do you SEE One Piece?" And it's not just me saying this, the producers themselves admitted that they were TRYING to be loyal. A quote from them is;

“What we learned is the fans are expecting you to be true to the source material,” says executive producer Marty Adelstein, whose Tomorrow Studios produced “Cowboy Bebop” for Netflix before embarking on “One Piece....As we read the comments, it was always, ‘Well, they didn’t do this character the same as this and that.’ … It really taught us a lot of what we needed to do with this one.” “It became everyone’s goal to make sure that when you looked at the show, you thought this was a live-action version of the manga that just felt like another feather in the legacy of Oda,” (source)

So here's my question here, to myself and One Piece fans - did you FEEL like you were watching a 1:1 version of these characters? Did these characters FEEL like themselves instead of being TOLD they're apparently themselves?

Of course, it's an adaptation! It's supposed to be different! But this statement directly contradicts that, and so does everything else. After all they apparently hired Oda to 'check off' on it, they used the Japanese VAs for the Japanese audio version of it, they even have the manga/anime version of Luffy sitting there in the One Piece logo - constantly reminding me OF the original no matter what I do.

So with all these comments, and with all these decisions, what else to expect but "Oh, so they're planning to stay loyal and not deviate from the original? This is clearly their goal."

And that's where the problem ensues for me, because they try DESPERATELY to ham fist in original source material, they really want me to point at the screen and go "JUST LIKE THE MANGA!", but they're not going all in on it and, as such, the changes become increasingly obvious that this ISN'T the same. Because, if you only have a BIT of Zoro's character implemented from the original, but not ALL of it, what else am I to see but a bastardised version of the original here?

This script does this thing where it's giving me beats of Zoro, but not all of Zoro, and suddenly I'm left with a guy who's a weird, bizarro version of Zoro. He's not quite original enough to feel like his own being, and he's not quite loyal enough to feel like the original. And of course, it's not just Zoro, but it's this way for the other characters too.

The 'loyalty' the producers are talking about, and the lesson they've seem to have learnt here is; "We need to unnaturally shove in as much fidelity as we can in an exposition-dump, so we can get it out of the way, make everyone feel like we're respecting the source, and get on to the original scenes that add nothing but a laugh."

And...it's a shame! It's weird to say this series would, so far, be better if they weren't TRYING to replicate One Piece's energy, but from everything I am seeing, it's clearly what they are trying to do. This show has charm when it has its OWN charm, but cutting from a fun little original scene to an exposition dump of lore is so incredibly jarring I don't even really know what to make of it.

For example, we were shown Zoro being tied up to a pole. We are going to point at it and go "I remember that!" but then...the whole reasoning is different, the motives are different, and...the time is all different? In all respect, this series is doing what Disney live actions are doing, where they are giving me MORE scenes with LESS information - and due to seemingly TRYING to be loyal, it feels like the original scenes are fun, but a waste of time due to the exposition dumps being incredibly rushed and lacklustre.

In a complete ironic twist, their desperation to be loyal has them falling flat, so instead I'm seeing a hollow replica of what One Piece is - when it could've been an original live action that's trying to work on its strengths of BEING its own live action.

All in all, the first ep would've been fine if I turned my brain off, but I don't...watch One Piece to do that. I don't ever feel numbed by One Piece, and by all means I was given the expectation that this WOULD be the story RETOLD but with BIGGER action and LARGER characters because they just LOVE Oda and respect him SO MUCH!

But at the end of the day, for a first impression, I got another Netflix live action that COULD work on itself, but ultimately is making me appreciate the original a lot more. It's making me appreciate Oda's writing more, the Strawhat's original characters more, and the world more. It seems great as a digestible family show, which I'm sure is what Netflix wanted, but it's already got me feeling uneasy.

Of course, this could very well change the more I get through, and I'm very open to it, but the first episode in itself makes for a fascinating case study on the fidelity of anime live action adaptations.

And just in case anyone gets up in arms because there seems to be a weird forced positivity crusade on this series right now, Oda himself has said he intends to happily take criticism, because he knows it'll come from a place of love. This by no means is a disrespect to Oda, and is more a look in on how Netflix operates.

[swamp-spirit]

Gritty Danny Phantom Netflix Reboot

It's inevitable. Here's my pitch.

So obviously the title is ‘Phantom’. It’s reboot inevitably that it’s gonna be the edgy, one word version of the original title.

For tone, leaning a bit into the dark/horror elements and getting a bit worldbuilding heavy, but also trying to keep a fun action feel that’s not too scared to be silly. Obviously, with me writing, being ‘half-ghost’ is a lot about being a community outsider and a lot about going through something traumatic and feeling like the you from before is gone.

Characters:

Danny Fenton

In the main show, he’s a bit of an ‘everyman’, so I want to get a little more specific with him,

He’s supposed to be a huge nerd, but he doesn’t act that nerdy. He’s pretty confident and straight laced.

I like the idea of Danny as a character who, especially growing up with Jazz and his parents fighting, wants to keep everyone happy, even when it isn’t practical. He focuses on trying to get people to get along and not taking sides, even when it’s a bad idea. He often ends up trying to make peace between Tucker and Sam and pulling the ‘both sides have points’, even when one of them is clearly wrong. He goes along with his parent’s ghost hunting while not believing in it, and tries to convince Jazz to ‘be reasonable’.

In Phantom form, his actual opinions start to surface. He’s frustrated that people can’t just be nice, and frustrated at feeling like he’s always cleaning up other people’s messes. He’s free to be opinionated, aggressive, and take action for what he believes. On the flipside, Phantom is prone to making irrational, emotional decisions and following poor priorities.

Besides being caught between two emotional extremes, he’s physically and metaphysically ‘caught between’ living and dead. His ghost form feels unstable and insubstantial, but, in his human form, Danny is hyperconscious of his own death. His heartbeat and pulse feel wrong‘.

Sam Manson

So I think the trick with Sam is every CW/Netflix teen show’s attempts to write very political characters, especially women, is… very bad. Very surface and ham-fisted. First, instead of updating Mall-Goth to E-Girl, go for a crunchy goth/punk/grunge look, especially for a rebelling rich kid. Shoes held together with duct-tape, big jackets she wrote on in sharpie, but keep the stompy boots.

Avoid the whole ‘haha she’s going too far’ and vegetarian jokes, and give her some specific local politics to be involved in (that can help inform later plots). 

As an ‘outsider’ teen activist, she probably doesn’t have many people her own age who don’t see her as weird and pushy, so maybe has an older group of acquaintances. Teen goth with phone contacts full of old activist ladies maybe? 

She has a very strong moral compass, but is insecure about her own wealth and privilege and compensated by being a bit blind on certain issues. She can also be unempathetic to people’s personal circumstances.

Tucker Foley

The teen Cassanova bit gets a bit cringy, so first I want to change this from ‘hanging outside the girl’s locker room’ cringe to ‘oh no, this 14 year old just read a wiki-how article on how to be confident’ cringe. He’s sincere and good hearted, but much more of a teen boy trying to be cool and it just highlighting his insecurity. As the show goes on, he becomes more confident as a Teen Hero and stops trying to impress assholes.

He’s a tech nerd from a middle class family, so is an expert at working with the supplies he can get. He is also prone to going to ‘hang out with Danny’ and then ditching Danny and Sam to obsess over Maddie Fenton’s latest tech. All attempts to be cool are lost in the face of Neat Electronics.

Jazz Fenton

Pretty much the same situation as canon. Her parents are immature, so she’s decided she’s Danny’s parent, but she’s also a teenager herself and not as mature as she’s decided she is. She barges in to fix problems when it’s not helpful/wanted, but she is also the only reason Danny lived to age fourteen.

Maddie and Jack Fenton

Mostly the same as canon. They do everything 100%, and don’t always notice the world around them. Jack is pure enthusiasm, and tries hard to connect with his kids while utterly failing to notice that they have their own interests and lives. Maddie is a little more perceptive, but easily distracted by her passions.

The family has a decent fortune on a previous Fenton Thermos prototype getting sold as the next Hydroflask. It’s a super trendy, high-class thermos, and Jack and Maddie are endlessly frustrated that their money comes from their world-saving ghost capture device being used as an actual soup thermos. It also means there’s a handy yet unreliable ghost thermos around whenever the story needs it.

Vlad Masters

A lot of Vlad’s goals stay the same, but a slightly more serious tone means he needs to be a bit… less stupid. He’s just as manipulative and self-centered, but he’s a bit better at putting on a polite face to get what he wants.

His ghost form gives him powers, but, like Phantom, it’s much more emotionally volatile. Vlad will often carefully set the stage, only for Plasmius to ruin it all for a chance to get one over on Jack or impress Maddie. If Vlad is trying to convince Danny to work with him, Plasmius will lose his temper. If Vlad is trying to attack, Plasmius will fall to base emotional manipulation.

Valerie Grey

Like Jazz, I pretty much like what she’s already got going on. Get pissed, join the villain, become a reluctant ally as a super and a protective GF in normal life.

Some Major Shifts:

-Tucker and Sam are not initially aware of Danny’s death and find out mid-way through Season 1

-When the story begins, Vlad and Jack are already ‘reconciling’, and Vlad is present around the Fenton house

-The sci-fi elements of the world belong purely to the human realm. The ghost realm is dreamlike and magical, while things like portals and shields are human ways of interfering with the metaphorical and metaphysical.

-Speaking of which, Danny is less ‘gene-spliced half creature’ and more ‘dead ghost possessing his own living body’

-Danny takes longer to become a known presence, managing to keep hidden for most of the first season, then going from ‘legend’ to ‘oddity’ to ‘yeah, the ghost hero, we all know him’

Ghost Powers:Keeping some Phandom lore here. Since it’s not a kid’s show, most ghosts can be actually dead people with regrets. Also keeping ghost cores and Obsessions because it gives an excuse for weird, campy undead on wild missions. (cores - a ghost’s center organ, and also sorta their soul, Obsession - the tendency of ghosts to become wholly focused on their passions or regrets to the point or irrationality)

For Danny specifically, I’m switching from Magical Transformation to Astral Projection. Part of this is for tone shift reasons, but it also adds a few narrative levers. There’s a ticker timer for Phantom to return to his body as Danny could perma die and leave Phantom stuck as a ghost. It also leaves Danny’s body open to possession while his ghost is away. (On the helpful end, it means his body can rest while Phantom does the teen superhero thing)

Phantom is naturally invisible and intangible, but becoming tangible forces him to become visible and neither is easy.

In human form, Danny retains access to extra strength and healing and, eventually, his ice powers, but lacks most of his more ghostly abilities.

Other Worldbuilding Things

The Ghost Zone serves two functions. First, it makes a cushioned pocket between life and death so the realms don’t damage each other. Second, it gives a place for those not ready to move on to dispel regrets. It’s intentionally separate from the human realm because watching the living world tends not to dispel regrets. Concepts from the human world tend to ‘echo’ there, and there’s a second society that some ghosts choose not to leave, sustaining a second life in the Ghost Zone. Most of the non-dead entities (like Clockwork) that live there exist to protect the Zone and keep it stable and functional.

Besides moving on, the way to escape the Ghost Zone is ripping through the border. It takes incredible will, so is usually only doable with a very meaningful ‘unfinished business’. It also does extreme damage to the spirit, leaving them weakened and confused. Entities in the ghost zone also work hard to prevent this as weakening the borders could lead to the collapse of the entire Zone.

The Fenton Portal created a weakened spot between the Zone and the living world and Danny ripping through it turned the weak spot into a permanent gap. Ghosts can cross full without damage and at full power, even if their goals in the human realm are mundane. It’s the gap in the fence all the local teens know, and it can’t be patched.

Stylistic

This will get me eaten alive, but I like switching the jumpsuit for pajamas so the ghost form has kinda loose, simple clothes.

Overall, the show brings big budgeting issues. I like the idea of using underwater footage to get ghost movement and get that floaty look. The ghost zone in general, use everyday sets, but with a strong purple light and a teal kick light. Using sets from other things and taking advantage of the nature of sets to wander between locations in ways that don’t make sense is a plus, but shoots could be at night pretty much anywhere.

I also suggest using different locations for the same location, for example, shooting a scene at a ghost zone diner at various diners, even mid scene.

Romance Thoughts:

It’s the CW reboot. There’s got to be romance, but I’d prefer to keep it on the back-burner. 

Personally, I think Danny/Val has that good ‘conflicting identities’ thing, and it’s a romance arc that isn’t obvious from page 1, which I like. Before that, I think Danny should have at least one tragic romance with a ghost.

Lesbian Sam feels stereotypically predictable, but I also enjoy the idea of shipteasing Danny/Sam before it’s revealed that Sam having a ‘crush’ on Danny has been a long series of misunderstandings as she attempts to hide her huge crush on Jazz. 

Tucker gets an internet girlfriend who nobody believes is real for a solid season. They met getting into petty forum wars over an MMO they both play. Once he has a girlfriend, he switches from Casanova to just constantly bringing up his Girlfriend, Who is Real and Hot and Plays Video Games.

Episode 1: Origin Story

Episode opens with Danny clearly stretched too thin. Sam has managed to force Tucker hiking and wants Danny there too, Tucker wants him there for emotional support, and Jazz thinks Danny should stay home and work on homework. Danny has promised his parents he’ll join them on a ghost hunt. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all point out that Danny doesn’t even believe in ghosts and he always lets himself get dragged into this stuff, while Danny insists this hunt is extra important to their parents.

It’s revealed that the reason for this importance is the Fenton parents reconnecting and reconciling with their college friend Vlad. Vlad is polite, but keeps subtly avoiding saying anything nice about Jack while paying attention to Maddie. (“It’s wonderful to see you again” vs “It’s been a while”) He brings gifts for the kids and asks about their lives.

Jazz is immediately taken with Vlad. He talks about her school life and seems polite and educated, an example of an adult who can handle himself. Danny is a bit more hesitant, pointing out that he doesn’t seem that happy to see Jack.

The Fentons excitedly show Vlad the new portal. Vlad makes an excuse to get everyone out of the room. Afterwards, he excitedly asks Jack to demonstrate the portal. (A later episode confirms he intentionally sabotaged the portal for revenge, but him getting people out of the room should be as plausible as possible so viewers can feel proud for putting it together). Before they can show Vlad, Jack rushes them out on a ghost hunt. He says the portal takes time to warm up

It’s a long, boring car ride. During the ghost hunt, there does seem to be an actual ghost. Danny keeps seeing glimpses of the haunting and is getting genuinely scared. The adult Fentons, meanwhile, are excitedly chasing various non-paranormal occurrences, certain it’s ghostly activity.

They come home late and Maddie insists the portal be left until morning so they can eat and get some rest. Danny decides to get online with friends instead. He realizes the computer won’t work because the portal’s on and tells his friends he’s going to go shut it down while he plays, then sneak down to boot it back up.

We see the ghost from earlier watching and static building on the portal. He reaches out to touch it and the scene becomes surreal. We hear Danny’s heart racing. Danny collapses and, at the same time, is pulled across the portal.

In the final shot, we hear dead silence, no heart beating, and Danny lying lifelessly on the floor. The camera pulls out and his ghost form floats on the other side of the portal, away from the body. He looks confused and frightened and, as the show ends, he’s pounding on the door.

Episode 2: The World Without You

Danny pounds on the wall between him and his body, panicking, and is pulled away by a female ghost (later revealed to be Ember). He’s angry with her, but she points to the guards coming to see what the disruption was about. She tells him he’d never make it through anyway, because he’s not angry enough.

She tells him that she’d never cross over herself, preferring to avoid the madness that comes with breaking through to the human realm, but his case is different. His body is still alive, and, if he returns, he could live again. She asks him what he’d regret if he died now, and Danny talks about his dreams to go to space. It’s not enough, so she attempts to get him angry, but it’s not working. He’s just sad and scared. Finally, she seems to have an idea.

They enter a ghost town and she walks him to an old-style theatre. There is only one movie showing, “The World Without You”. The ghost tells Danny everyone comes here at least once, even though it’s not anything good, but it might help him. She hands Danny his ticket and goes to wait outside. Danny sits down to watch the screen.

We cut to Sam and Tucker. Sam’s trying to text Danny to see what’s taking him so long and Tucker says he’s probably asleep. After an hour, Sam starts to panic, but Tucker points out he had a long day and keeps insisting fell asleep.

Jazz comes down in the morning and finds Danny dead beside the portal. She goes into fix-it mode, refusing to admit he’s dead. Maddie tries to force Jazz away and let the EMTs do their work, Jack looks confused and frightened, and Vlad looks shocked and a bit ill.

The scenes get faster and we see Danny’s community fall apart. Sam blames Tucker for saying it was fine, Tucker points out his death was instant and is sick of taking the blame. Sam runs away and Tucker loses energy for his passions. Jazz is furious with her parents, saying their obsession killed her little brother. Jack becomes obsessed with trying to contact his dead son, leaving Maddie alone to deal with the reality of death.

We cut back to the theatre. Danny sits in an audience of ghosts. All, including Danniy, are crying glowing green ectoplasm. He rushes out and towards the portal. He thanks his guide, and she smiles and tell him to ‘remember he owes her’

The same guards arrive, forcing Danny to fight his way past them. He makes it to the border between realms. Ripping back to reality seems even more violent than the fight, an act of rage against the unfairness of death. He goes to his body and attempts to line himself up with it, muttering hopefully.

There’s a pause and then we hear a strange, sludgy noise that isn’t quite a heartbeat. It speeds up, sounding more like a heart and more like static, building to a frantic roll, then stops again. There’s a single beat, then another, until there’s a strangely slow and shallow, but constant, heartbeat.

Danny’s eyes open with a gasp and glowing green fades to blue.

[beevean]

@the-crow-binary​

I don't mean this in a mean way but, what relationship? 😂

N!Hector and N!Isaac are nothing to each other. They worked together for one year, Isaac deliberately never befriended Hector because in his mind it made no sense, he keeps referring to him as a dumb manchild too stupid to plot betrayal (and he's right), Hector mentions Isaac, like, once, he only talks to him on screen when Carmilla orders him to manipulate him... They have one nice scene, which is also their very last one, but it's not enough to convince me that now they're friends, let alone something more.

This also means that when Isaac blames Hector and goes on a revenge quest, I don't care. He never cared about Hector, he dismissed him all the time, he knew that Carmilla was the real person behind this (because Hector told him, essentially), he has seen and fought Trevor and the gang - it just doesn't feel nearly as personal as how it goes in the mangas, Isaac fighting Hector and that being the reason he was sent away from the castle! It’s taken straight from his wiki page, but it lacks the same tragedy.

“Why are you hurt?”, he asks. And it’s ambiguous, but I’m almost sure that he’s talking to himself! He was the one hurt by Hector’s betrayal! They were friends! We don’t see much of it, true, and Prelude to Revenge and the Media Factory manga give very different interpretations of their relationship, but it’s still not as deliberately sterile as the Netflix version.

Also, speaking of endgame ships, I’m still super confused by that one throwaway line of N!Isaac asking if he was meant to kiss N!Hector like benedectine monks. Seriously, what was the point of that joke? It went nowhere, and it was nearly OOC considering how super serious he is. Was that a random reminder that he’s gay? For a person he doesn’t even respect? C’mon. it just can’t even compare to how obviously isaac has a thing for hector in both mangas :P

Not that I disagree with you that N!Isaactor would have been a far better relationship than Lenector, but that’s only because Lenector is inherently repulsive. Sure, I could see theoretically the two getting together in a distant future. I’m just... very underwhelmed by how Ellis took such a compelling relationship and rivarly and reduced it to nearly nothing :(

[denimbex1986]

'Move over Matt Damon, Andrew Scott is stepping in as Tom Ripley in a new eight-episode TV adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley. Now, we know reboots are everywhere but, come on, it's Andrew Scott! Anthony Minghella helmed the sublime 1999 adaptation to sun-dappled perfection, but who's to say another version on the small screen can't be just as seductive?

Here's everything we know about Ripley so far.

Is there a trailer for Ripley?

Ripley? Ripley.

Netflix's first official teaser for Ripley doesn't give a whole lot away, but then again, neither does its titular character. The moody and monochromatic series is fittingly ominous in its first look, as we see Scott's Tom Ripley seemingly evade justice for his many, many schemes. The trailer also gives us glimpses of some of the show's co-stars, including Dakota Fanning, Johnny Flynn and John Malkovich. Beyond knowing the story from the book and the 90s film starring Jude Law and Matt Damon, the trailer keeps much of Ripley's plot close to the chest. But, again, that seems quite fitting.

Ahead of the trailer release, Netflix also dropped some new images of Andrew Scott looking suitably pensive and mysterious as the enigmatic Ripley as he broods in black and white across Italy.

When is Ripley coming out?

It's been a long and winding road to get the story of Tom Ripley to the small screen. Having first been announced in 2021 and filming in Italy that same year, it's since bounced around from Showtime to Netflix. At a certain point, Andrew Scott didn't even know when it would come out.

But now, along with its first teaser trailer, Netflix has announced that Ripley will hit screens on 4 April. Springtime is for scamming, after all.

What’s Ripley about?

Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Talented Mr Ripley, the series follows “Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York” who “is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home.” That son is Dickie Greenleaf, and their odd friendship spirals into, among other things, incidents of deceit and murder. All set against the stunning backdrop of the Italian Riviera, of course. No wonder the book has been adapted so many times.

Scott has also hinted that the series will cover some of the subtextual queer themes of Highsmith's text. In a conversation with Ben Whishaw, he said:

“If Tom Ripley was in a gay bar, I’m not sure that he would fit in there. Nor do I think he’s a straight character. I think he’s a queer character, in the sense that he’s very ‘other.’ What’s his relationship with sex, or death, or with family or friends? It’s interesting that a character is the sum of the parts that you don’t have to play.”

Should this show get greenlit for more seasons though, we could potentially see adaptations of the other novels in the Ripley series. The second book, Ripley Under Ground had a film version with Willem Dafoe and Alan Cumming that, apparently, no one saw. And Dennis Hopper and John Malkovich played Tom Ripley in two film adaptations of the third novel, Ripley's Game.

Who stars in Ripley?

First, of course, we have Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley. Considering his past roles in Fleabag and the Oscar-buzzy All of Us Strangers, the actor certainly has the charisma for the part.

He’ll be joined by Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf (the playboy heir Ripley swindles) and Dakota Fanning as Dickie’s girlfriend, Marge Sherwood. And now, thanks to the trailer, we know that John Malkovich – a former Ripley, from 2002's Ripley's Game – will also be joining the monochrome world of the Netflix series.'

[aelfwyn]

Watch/Read Masterlist

While I’m at my PC, I’m gonna type up a list of all the stuff (so far) I’ve noted down to check out in the general C-Drama/webseries/webnovel sphere. If I remember, I’ll try to keep this updated with a) new stuff that looks potentially interesting and b) notes/impressions after I’ve watched/read. These are in no particular order as of now - new stuff will get added at the bottom.

Adding a cut cause this is loooong.

Shows

Love Between Fairy and Devil - Netflix. A very, very cheesy love story between an annoyingly adorable puppy (aka Orchid) and a very contrary cat (aka Dongfang Qingcang my beloved). With a sideplot love story between a different puppy (Shangque) and a different cat (Jie Li). Just all-around feelgood stuff. Cured my Untamed-induced depression.

Legend of Fei - YT/Viki. Didn’t love the plot but nice enough background viewing while knitting. WYB and Zhao Liying are both very pleasing to look at, and Zhou Fei (Zhao Liying) especially had some very neat outfits that I will have to go back and snach screenshots of at some point.

Legend of Yunqian / Legend of Yunze - YT. GL. Maybe it’s the mini-episodic format, but after watching Yunqian (about 1hr total) I was just not feeling it so I’ll give Yunze a pass.

The Demonic Lord and the Virtuous Cultivator

Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

Under the Skin

Winter Begonia

Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire

Word of Honor

Ashes of Love - Netflix. Ugh. No. Just ... nope. It was entertaining enough at first but around halfway through I had to admit to myself I was hate-watching and just hanging in there for closure.

Nirvana in Fire

The Rise of the Phoenixes

Secret of the Three Kingdoms

Ever Night

Ancient Love Poetry

Who Rules the World

The Long Ballad

Love like the Galaxy

Novoland Pearl Eclipse

The Sword & The Brocade

Douluo Continent

A Dream of Splendor

Sword Snow Strike

Eternal Love of Dream

Starry Love

Guardian

Tomorrow

A League of Nobleman - Viki. Currently watching.

Till the End of Tomorrow

Movies

The Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity - Netflix. Enjoyed this one. I did kinda stop halfway through and then continue over a week later, so some story developments were a bit “huh?”, but that’s on me.

The Yin Yang Master - Netflix. A different take on the same original story. Felt more like a teen adventure than the darker Dream of Eternity version. Odd pacing and the ending did not make sense to me. Overall a bit “meh” but I loved the demon city. Will Ghost City in the TGCF LA come close? I’m not gonna get my hopes up. :(

Hidden Blade

Under the Hawthorn Tree, Shadow, Curse of the Golden Flower (dir. Zhang Yimou)

Novels

MDZS - The book with Jin Ling’s uncles.

TGCF - What do you mean? That’s my emotional support Ghost King.

SVSSS - “Fuck! He can’t fly!”

Bandits / Yun Fei (which Legend of Fei was based on)

Yuwu

Little Mushroom

Thousand Autumns

Husky and his White Cat Shizun

[serve-update]

Four Good Days: The True Story That Inspired The Netflix Movie Four Good Days, And What Does The Ending Mean?

The 2020 film Four Good Days, starring Mila Kunis and Glenn Close, is a Netflix hit right now, but what is the film's basis in reality? What follows is essential information. At the end of Four Good Days, it's revealed that the movie is based on a real-life mother and daughter named Libby Alexander and Amanda Wendler, the subjects of an article in The Washington Post(opens in new tab). My question is, who are these folks and what did they do to influence this movie? Based on Eli Saslow's article "How's Amanda?" the video explores the effects of a recent breakup. We hope you like this article Last Of Us Episode 6 Release Date. True account of a young woman's battle with heroin addiction and her mother's efforts to help her (opens in new tab). While there are minor differences between the original July 2016 piece and the film version, many of the key themes remain the same. The essay, like the film, primarily focuses on the relationship between Libby and Amanda, as well as on how Amanda's addiction affected her mother. After ignoring her teeth for ten years, Amanda, like the character in the essay, lost all of them. Aside from the fact that she had two sons rather than one daughter, the article makes no mention of her having given up a child for adoption, implying that this is another plot point that was created by the filmmakers. We hope you like this article Toy Story 5 Release Date. The medicine naltrexone blocks the effects of heroin and renders it impossible to get high; the title refers to the four days Amanda had to be clean before she could take her first dose. According to the article that served as the basis for the film, "doctors had told her that first, she needed to pass a drug test, which entailed staying clean for at least two weeks," so the scheduled date for the injection was still four days away. https://twitter.com/eddieclarke2/status/1622365217383399426

Four Good Days Ending Explained

Four months later, the film's climax unfolds. We see Molly's mom greet her with a "How are the kids?" upon her return home. Based on Molly's assurances that Chloe is fine while Corey has a cold, Sean is considering giving her more access to the children and regaining his trust in her. You might also be interested to read about Drew Carey Net Worth. Deb is nervous at first but then says nothing and approves and recognizes how far her daughter has gone by complimenting her appearance, even though she needs to have her shot on Friday but stated she could reschedule for Monday. At the film's conclusion, they are seen sitting in the garage, exchanging a touching glance, and tearing up the puzzle to start over. That's a message about a fresh start, symbolically speaking.

Four Good Days

What Happened To The Real Molly?

Although Amanda Wendler, the inspiration for Mila Kunis's character, is depicted in the article's last paragraphs going through another round of withdrawal, Wendler, the real-life addict, says staying sober is still a daily battle. "I was reading the Detroit Free Press," Amanda reportedly said "Five or six years ago, if you had asked me where I saw myself in five years, I never would have imagined having peace in my life, being able to get a good night's sleep and rest without worrying about where I was going to sleep or how I was going to eat. The difference between the two is dramatic. https://youtu.be/uDDCulgiqs4 What I mean is that, right now, I couldn't be happier with my life." She went on to say, "About my addiction, "I'll carry this with me forever. That is something I am aware of." A positive note was offered by Amanda who said, "The one catch is that giving up is impossible. The key is to keep trying. Last but not least, it took hold."   Read the full article

[emily-the-fae]

Ok so I have been in the interest area for some time

And I may have gotten interested in several Draculas

Here is a list of who I have on team:

5. Bram Stoker's Dracula

I mean come on, Gary Oldman in late Victorian era suits is just extremely handsome. The warrior that became a vampire: seductive, cruel, very nice when in love.

They were quite very bold when they named the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula" to be honest - like, yes, it is very evident that they followed the author, but decided to add a more romantic plot with some Victorian sensuality. My personal opinion - they tried too hard: they wanted to fit their own storyline of Mina x Dracula love to the original Stoker story, while keeping up at least in the beginning to the author's stile of reading diaries and switching POVs in 2 hours of screentime - it did not go as smoothly as one might have wished, the time is obviously not enough, the story and character relationships are a bit rushed. Besides some characters were well... Lucy's lovers are a bit dumb - far worse than they were in the book and Lucy - ok I get it, you wanted to add eroticism, but not like that!!

In general not so bad. I like it, feels like a nice interpretation.

4. Netflix Dracula

Well, the storyline began as if it could have been Bram Stoker's, but proved to be very different from the original quite quickly. Another nice interpretation. Van Helsing is a female and a nun - that's quite an interesting change. (Seriously, I love the character, she's a big mood.)The modern versions of characters in 3rd episode seemed kinda cool too

Absolutely loved the idea of Dracula absorbing the memories and knowledge with blood, it's really cool. ( Can I please be a vampire too? I really need that for my studies!)

Claes Bang portrayal of the vampire seemed very impressive. Loved it - didn't expect to but loved it - it was the first Dracula movie I watched and it left me under a spell.

Plus the human-eating irony - Hannibal Lecter would have shook Dracula's hand for that, those two have a common sense of humour and aesthetic.

As with the previous one, I enjoyed the interpretation quite a lot.

3. Van Helsing

Well, in that one.

The story has almost nothing to do with the book, doesn't even try to, but the plot they made is exciting - the ancients old enemies concept and all that stuff. The gothic Transylvania/Budapest/Paris/wherever else they were depiction is lovely - it gives the viewer this sense of darkly beautiful atmosphere of vampire stories; soundtrack adds to the picture nicely.

Characters, well... Anna is cool if you look at her in terms of personal - keep up the family values and stuff. BUT a young lady wearing tight trousers in 19th century, are you kidding me??? I'm sorry, but that weirded me out a bit. Same with that moment when "oh I fell five meters and before that soaked under rain, look at my perfectly soft curls" - the female characters in that movie are a bit overly fancy for the time and the action genre - same with Dracula's brides, they're kind of cute, love their babies and Dracula, but why on Earth are they always half-naked?

Van Helsing has a bit of a younger and sadder Mad-Eye Moody vibe. "I kill monsters, although I do pity the humans that sit inside of them. These things need to die" - that kind of person. Hugh Jackman plays him nicely, I felt him very fit for the role - he and Dracula are basically what really saves the film and makes it interesting.

Dracula here is just.. I mean aw. He's hot. He's got a nice accent, he turns into some flying half bat thing that looks hella cool, and he removes his cape in such an extremely graceful gesture that it makes one faint. Love that guy.

(+ the ballroom dance scene was very sensual and gothic, it was one of the reasons I started watching the movie)

2. Dracula Untold

The story of medieval Dracula and how he came to be a vampire - to protect his people and his family. Politics, love, monsters and broken dates. That movie has a great plot and some points which make you stop and wonder (oh do I love the quotes of those "sometimes the world doesn't need another hero, sometimes what it needs is a monster" and of that sort, just beautiful)

It is kind of tragic, but it has a bright side to it, I am extremely grateful to the authors for what they did to the ending.

And Dracula himself well... Luke Evans is just gorgeous in the role. The ultimate strong warrior vampire - a monster to his enemies and a loving husband and father to his family. Dracula redeemed. This one is sweet.

1. Castlevania

Aaaand here we go on my favourite one. If you don't mind watching anime and you love vampires/gothic stuff - you're probably gonna enjoy this. I did. I loved it: the plot, the characters, their relationship, the whole concept of the vampire community and Dracula the vampire King, their motivations. It's catching, it's mesmerizing, it charmed and drew me in (read: I cried and wailed together with my friend, this left me a trauma, I had to write a big fanfic to make up for the pain).

Main characters - Adrian, Sypha and Tevor are a bit Ron, Harry and Hermione but they are a lovely trio, I love the tension between Trevor and Adrian. Very loveable characters, and I dare say quite well written.

And, well, Dracula. Excuse me, this one is my personal favourite. I mean - a beautiful castle, that is moved by some cool mechanisms to wherever Dracula pleases, an enormous library with all the forgotten knowledge of the world. Dracula himself is extremely well-educated, well-mannered, THE gentleman (and yeah well 8ft tall but let's skip that bit). I love that character he is in so much pain I want to hug him and cuddle him into warm blankets. He is a sweetheart.

So that was a short attempt of a person who is terrible at criticizing stuff to write some film reviews. In case anyone is interested. And for me to reassemble my journey into the vampire world.

[cherry-valentine]

Spring 2021 Anime Season

Mars Red is one of two series this season set in one of my favorite periods, the Meiji era. It’s a vampire series that deals a lot with the politics of war as the Japanese military is attempting to establish a vampire unit, supposedly to compete with the British vampire unit (because of course that’s a thing). It focuses on a human military officer named Maeda who is charged with recruiting and managing vampires. Maeda is the type of character I really enjoy. Handsome, a little older than most anime protagonists, chain-smoking, overly serious, and voiced by Junichi Suwabe (who has to have the sexiest voice in all of anime). The series has a classic, romantic feel to it. Its take on vampires is somewhat traditional (they evaporate in the sun, drink blood, sleep in coffins, have super strength and speed, etc.). If it brings anything new to the table, it’s the concept of vampires having different ranks, from S-class down, and how lower ranks naturally fear higher ranks. Still yet, the classic vibe works in the show’s favor. Combined with the historical setting, it gives the show a certain charm. The art is lovely, from the backgrounds to the character designs, and the music is a high point. It easily has the best ending theme of the season.

Fumetsu no Anata e (To Your Eternity) is a unique series. I’ve seen a lot of people comparing it to Mushishi, but with an overarching plot, and that assessment is pretty accurate. The show follows an entity that comes to be known as Fushi. It begins as an orb, and as it makes contact with other objects and creatures, it learns from them and can possibly take their forms. Among the forms it most often takes are a white wolf and a young man. Originally, it’s a somewhat empty shell, incapable of communicating, but as it meets different creatures and learns, it develops a personality and begins to speak. The series is, overall, about Fushi’s journey through this world and all the experiences it gains, both wonderful and tragic. There’s a subtle beauty to the series, with an early focus on nature, but it also has scenes of trauma and violence. The animation is fluid and the facial expressions are amazing. There’s an overall natural feel to it that, like others have pointed out, reminds me of Mushishi (though it’s definitely faster paced than Mushishi). The show also likes to make you cry, so keep that in mind.

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is the other series set in the Meiji era this season, albeit an alternate version of it that has a strange form of technology. To be honest, I’m a little fuzzy on some of the details, but it seems to be about a group called the Nue who work for the government to fight against a growing rebellion. The main character is Sawa, a member of Nue who has some sort of special powers involving her blood, which allow her to transform and battle monsters, or whatever else stands in her way. Her goal is to get revenge for the death of her entire clan (implied to be wiped out because of their power). Sawa is a decent heroine, a woman who craves vengeance and is determined to get it through any means, but is, at her core, a compassionate person who would rather live in peace. It’s this internal conflict that makes Sawa compelling (even if it’s not entirely original). The other characters are interesting, particularly Tsuki, whom I won’t talk much about because it would involve spoilers. The plot and details can get a little convoluted, but the action and animation are solid. When Sawa transforms, the art style changes, and it’s a really cool visual effect. The music is also nice.

Shaman King received a remake this season. I was a huge fan of the original, and so far I’m enjoying the remake, but to be honest, I’m having trouble seeing the point. The art is almost the same (just a lot shinier), the voice actors are the same, the plot is the same. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so long since I saw the original, I’m unable to remember the details and so I can’t tell what’s different. But to me it feels like I’m just rewatching the show. Which is fine, because I loved it to begin with. Maybe it gets different later on. Maybe it more closely follows the manga. I’ll keep watching to find out. For anyone new to the series, it looks like the remake is a solid place to start if you want to get into it. I won’t go into plot details for a story this old, so I’ll just say it’s a top tier shounen fighting series with a unique art style and some very memorable characters. If you like that sort of thing, and missed the original (or you just want a refresher), definitely check it out!

Godzilla Singular Point is a true delight. I’m a huge Godzilla (and kaiju in general) fan. I’ve watched every single Godzilla movie, as well as all the related movies (the Mothra films, Rodan, etc.), but I never watched the previous Godzilla anime that was on Netflix a few years ago. It just didn’t sound like something I’d like. Singular Point, however, is right up my alley. Set mainly in a small seaside town that’s suddenly attacked by bird-like monsters known as Rodans, we have two geeky protagonists using their intelligence to figure out what’s going on while more and more monsters appear. Mei and Yun are excellent heroes. They rely on their wits rather than physical strength, which is a refreshing approach. It’s also interesting that they have little to no face-to-face interaction. Instead, they chat with each other via text as they work separately. They often challenge each other with science questions. It’s adorable. The show’s overall feel is fairly upbeat and energetic. The colorful art and peppy character designs by Kazue Kato (who did Blue Exorcist) help with this feel. It should be noted that Godzilla himself doesn’t fully appear until halfway through the series. It says a lot about the quality of the show that I don’t actually mind that at all. Some of the science stuff does go over my head, but the general plot is easy enough to follow and the action is very well done. It also has fantastic music, with my favorite opening theme of the season. Even if Godzilla isn’t your thing, consider giving this series a shot if you like nerdy science types as heroes.

Burning Kabaddi is a sports anime about an unsual sport. I’d never heard of it before now, and if people in the comments were not talking about the very real sport, I would have assumed it was made up for the anime. The show is aware that the sport is obscure, so it takes great pains to explain the rules and details so that we can all follow the action. The story centers on Yoigoshi, a soccer prodigy who decides to drop all sports once he gets to high school due to all the drama and angst that surrounded him (mostly due to his teammates being jealous of his talent), and pursue a career as a streamer. All the various sports clubs at the school want to recruit him (especially the soccer club, of course) because they’ve heard of his skill and he has an athletic build. He rejects them all, but the Kabaddi club is strangely relentless. He ends up being manipulated into joining (the vice captain of the team straight up blackmails him by threatening to show his online streaming account to the whole school). Despite this rocky beginning, Yoigoshi actually starts to enjoy playing Kabaddi, and more importantly, begins to bond with his new teammates. It’s pretty fun stuff that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The art is serviceable for a sports anime and the music is fine. The series isn’t going to blow your mind, but it’s a fun way to spend twenty minutes every week. Worth a watch if you have a weakness for hot blooded sports anime.

The World Ends With You finally got its anime adaptation and I was so excited. The game is one of my all-time favorites. So far the anime is pretty good. The art is a near perfect replication of the bold, thick-lined art of the game. The battles are exciting and cool. Best of all, the anime often uses music from the game. This is important because the game has one of the best soundtracks, ever. Every time I recognize a song from the game, I almost squeal. If I had a complaint, it’s that the pacing feels a little off at times. It feels like the anime is rushing through the story, but that’s understandable. In the game, it took longer for everything to happen because you were walking from place to place, fighting battles along the way, stopping to scan NPC’s, shopping at stores, spending time in menus, etc. The anime has to cut most of that out, so naturally things are going to move faster. The result is that you don’t get to spend as much time with these characters, and so you feel less attached to them. Anyone watching the anime who didn’t play the game might feel like the emotional beats are lacking. I feel like this anime is definitely meant to be enjoyed by fans of the game, rather than newcomers to the story. But if you are a fan of the game? You should be watching this every week. It’s an excellent refresher on the story, just in time for the second game to come out this summer. Super high on my watch list.

Boku no Hero Academia has a new season. To be honest I don’t remember what number we’re on. This season, so far, focuses on a tournament-style competition between the two main hero classes. I would much prefer the plot to move on to something more exciting involving the villains, but I suppose they have to throw arcs like this in every so often just to remind everyone of which characters have which quirks. The plus point is that instead of being an individual competition, it’s team-based. What this ultimately means is that characters that are viewed as weaker or having more obscure quirks actually get a chance to shine. These are characters who definitely aren’t going to win one-on-one battles. In an individual tournament, it’s pretty much a given that characters like Deku, Bakugou, and Todoroki are going to win most of the matches. But in a team, everyone has to work together. The end result is that the lady characters, all of whom have fairly weak or situational quirks, finally FINALLY get to actually do stuff! Even better, in several of the match-ups, the girls have taken the lead in planning and strategizing. It’s been pretty nice to watch. The girls from the other class have been very proactive as well. I really wish the girls could do more in “real” battles with villains, since it’s clear that they can step up when they need to. Who knows? Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

86 is a new mecha/sci-fi anime based on a series of light novels. The setup is fairly cool: In a country where everyone has silver hair and eyes, the people live in what looks like a utopia. There is a war going on outside their protected land but all combat is performed by automated robots, so there are no human casualties... or so the government would have the people believe. In reality, there is a district that exists on the outskirts of the country called 86, where people who don’t have silver hair and eyes are sent to pilot the robots and fight to protect the country that shunned them. Most of the pilots are children or teenagers. The mortality rate is high. Only a few people in the government know of their existence, mostly military types that include “handlers”. These handlers each take on an 86 unit and communicate with them through a system called “para-raid”. Using this, they monitor the battlefield from their safe positions and issue commands. Naturally, most handlers view their units as nothing more than tools in the war, and most 86-ers view their handlers as privileged snobs who know nothing of actual battle. The real plot kicks in when Lena, a young Major, becomes the new handler for a particular 86 unit. Lena is sympathetic to the people of 86, but it’s going to be hard getting her notoriously rough unit to accept her. The plot is a bit complicated and the show deals with some weighty themes (racism, privilege, war, child soldiers, death). Lena is a likable enough heroine and the members of 86 are all interesting and fairly well written. The music is fine. The art... well, it’s pretty to look at, but it feels a bit generic to me. A bit too shiny. The mecha designs are great, but I’m not crazy about the character designs, which feel like they could be from any other modern anime. I also find it sad but hilarious at the same time that the women’s military uniforms are clearly designed for fanservice (they include mini skirts, thigh-highs with garters, and a short jacket that opens up just above the chest to show the tight shirt underneath) while the men’s uniforms are just totally normal military wear. To be honest it’s just too stupid to actually be offensive, so it comes across as comical. Thankfully, the interesting setup and plot carry the show, making it good enough to overlook the generic visuals.

Moriarty the Patriot has a new season... maybe? I think it’s technically still season one, but with a split cour. Regardless, it feels like a new season so I’m treating it as such. The series focuses on famous Sherlock antagonist Moriarty, here represented as a trio of handsome brothers (though one of them is clearly the protagonist and the leader of the group) who work as “crime consultants” and basically help the lower classes wage class warfare against the nobility. This season shifts the focus away from the individual crimes Moriarty concocts and instead focuses on larger-scale conflicts that involve government conspiracies, corrupt cops, etc. We’re also treated to a lady James Bond (finally!), fixing one of the very few complaints I had about the first cour (that it lacked strong lady characters). The show remains very compelling, with beautiful art and excellent new opening and ending themes.

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Opening Theme: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Ending Theme: Mars Red

Best New Male Character: Maeda (Mars Red)

Best New Female Character: Sawa (Joran)

[gthreepio]

i’ve been thinking about the future of the mcu and realized there’s a LOT that i didn’t know/didn’t remember in terms of where things are going so i figured i’d sum it up incase anyone else was in the same boat!! 

quick recap of (unresolved) mid-credit scenes:

doctor strange: mordo (a sorcerer that is one of strange’s mentors, who by the end of the movie becomes disillusioned with magic/the ancient one and quits) confronts pangborn (the paraplegic who healed himself with the mystic arts, who tells strange about mystic arts in the first place) and steals his magic because according to mordo, there are “too many sorcerers." of note, this guy is typically a villain in the comics but hasn’t been thus far...

gotg2: ayesha (leader of the sovereign, a golden skinned alien race obsessed with genetic purity), after spending most of the movie chasing the guardians for stealing some stuff, is revealed to have created an artificial being named “adam” which is presumably, adam warlock. (other stuff that is less relevant: kraglin appears to take up yondu’s mantle; the ravagers regroup and several old and obscure comic book characters are introduced [charlie-27, aleta, martinex, mainframe]; the watchers are watching things.) 

far from home: j jonah jameson basically tells the whole world spider-man’s secret identity, and frames him for what happened with mysterio....making him public enemy #1. ALSO, turns out nick fury and maria hill in the movie were ACTUALLY the two skrulls from captain marvel (talos and soren) attempting to do their job, while the real fury (and presumably hill) is ... up in space on some spaceship!!!

wandavision: monica (who we can assume is photon) is called by “an old friend of [her] mother’s,” up in space, which presumably means fury, talos, or carol. ALSO, wanda sits in the middle of nowhere reading the darkhold and hears the voices of her children who.. by all accounts, should not exist. 

aaaaand what we know about future movies (i’m not even going into the tv series.....): 

black widow: 

takes place after civil war

nat confronts a “dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past,” likely has to do with taskmaster who has apparently taken over the red room where nat was trained as an assassin

prominent new characters: yelena belova, who will take over the mantle of black widow after this; alexei shostakov aka red guardian, an ollllld marvel hero analogous to captain america except for the soviet union.

tony stark will make an appearance... SOBS

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings:

shang-chi has never been seen in the mcu before, but he is, essentially, a superhero that is a master martial artist, and in some adaptations can also create duplicate (fake) versions of himself to confuse opponents

main villain will be the the mandarin who we have *sort of* seen before... he is the leader of a terrorist organization called “ten rings” whose main goal is to destroy world peace. brief history -- in iron man 1: one ten rings cell kidnaps tony stark and tries to force him to make weapons (he of course, makes his suit instead). stark and ten rings become enemies and fight a bunch. nat and nick fury fight them too. in iron man 3, the villain aldrich killian hires a dude to pretend to be the mandarin and claim responsibility for a bunch of stuff, but its not the ten rings or the mandarin at all. this makes the mandarin v mad and he has a dude kidnap the faker to punish him. they also briefly show up in ant-man, when a ten rings agent tries to buy the yellowjacket suit that darren cross is selling. BUT IN SHANG-CHI....... looks like we are FINALLY going to see the real mandarin after over a decade!! 

the villain razor fist will also show up, he is lesser known... he has no superhuman powers but he has surgically replaced his hands (1 or 2, depending on the version) with a steel blade, and is highly skilled at hand to hand combat.

besides the presence of these characters, the only bit of plot we know is “shang-chi is drawn into the ten rings organization and forced to confront his past.” so... yeah. we don’t know much at all.

eternals: 

quick explanation: the eternals are an immortal alien race who have been secretly living on earth for thousands of years. they were created by the celestials, who are most prominently in gotg2. 

more entirely new characters!!! their names are: thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy; gilgamesh, who can make a super strong exoskeleton out of cosmic energy; ikaris, who has superhuman strength, flies, and can project cosmic energy out his eyes; kingo, who can shoot cosmic energy projectiles from his hands; makkari, who creates sonic booms, has super speed, and is deaf; phastos, who has enhanced intelligence, and is also gay (and married with a kid!); ajak, who has healing powers; sprite, who can project illusions; sersi, who can manipulate matter; druig, who can mind control; and dane whitman (black knight), a human with a mystical sword. 

regarding the plot... it seems the eternals have kind of dispersed, but have to come together again to fight the deviants, who are their “evil counterparts” (also created by the celestials, though i’m unclear on why). thena and gilgamesh have apparently been in exile, unclear why; sersi, who is posing as a museum curator, has apparently been in love with ikaris for centuries and it seems as if their love story may be central to the film; and kingo is a bollywood film star in his spare time. aaaaand that’s pretty much all we know.

directed by chloé zhao of nomadland fame! 

spider-man no way home: 

based on the post-credits scene in far from home, peter parker will now be known as spider-man to everyone. unclear if he’s going to be seen as a bad guy due to mysterio framing him, but i guess we’ll see! 

jamie foxx is electro, and alfred molina is doctor octopus; which is VERY interesting considering they played these roles in other spider-man franchises, once again stirring up excitement for possible multiverse. 

there have been *multiple* reports that andrew garfield, kirsten dunst, tobey maguire, and emma stone will be in the movie but tom holland has repeatedly denied this... so... who knows. 

there are also rumors that matt murdock / daredevil (from netflix) will be in several scenes! not confirmed though. 

MJ is still his girlfriend and i hope it stays that way!! 

doctor strange will be featured in the movie, taking on the mentor role now that tony stark is gone :( this will be interesting as i.. haven’t really seen them interact much before. because of this inclusion some people speculate that the film may draw inspo from some comic storylines where peter’s secret identity is restored with magic. 

doctor strange in the multiverse of madness: 

scarlet witch is essentially co-starring!!! it’s going to be really interesting to see if they bring vision or the twins into this at all, though i’m not counting on it. 

seems like mordo will be the main villain -- recall the ds1 post credits scene where he is apparently running around trying to steal people’s magic.

america chavez will make her debut!!!!!! i have no idea how this plays into anything but i am so excited!! 

regarding the plot, all we really know is that strange has been researching the time stone, mordo messes with him, and this results in him accidentally unleashing “unspeakable evil.” presumably there will also be heavy involvement of the multiverse, and who knows what kind of craziness that will bring!! 

initially was going to be directed by scott derrickson who did ds1; however he stepped down to being just EP due to “creative differences.” i am presuming this is because derrickson really wanted to make this more gothic and horror than disney was comfortable with. i REALLY hope they keep some of those elements though and don’t erase the idea entirely! anyway, it will be directed by sam raimi now (of evil dead and spiderman 2002 fame). 

the film also reportedly ties in with the loki series (will loki show up!?) and spiderman 3 (which is obvious enough, given that strange is in that movie and those curious electro and doctor octopus castings...)

thor: love and thunder

directed by taika waititi again, hell yeah!!! and he has stated, the film will be “so over the top now in the very best way" and would make ragnarok look like a "run of the mill, very safe film" .... so.... oh god

so many great returning players!!! including.... valkyrie (now the king of new asgard), jane foster, lady sif, korg, star-lord, mantis, drax, nebula, and kraglin (takes up yondu’s mantle after he dies in gotg2)

in this movie, thor isn’t thor anymore.... it’s JANE!!! she gets cancer :( and is undergoing treatment while simultaneously being thor. i’m a little nervous how this will be handled, but i’m excited. (it’s based off an amazing comic series by jason aaron) 

the big bad: gorr the god butcher, played by christian bale! the gist of it is, this dude HATES gods because nobody helped when his family was dying and in need. his weapon is “all-black the necrosword,” forged from the head of a celestial, and allows the user to create wings and fly at extreme speeds. honestly, he sounds cool as fuck. 

valkyrie is going to be made canonically bisexual!!! 

it will explore more of korg’s backstory, and also include... space sharks!?!?! an alien race from the comics.

taika has called the script “very romantic” so take that as you will 

black panther 2

will again be directed by ryan coogler

not much is known at this point, does not have an official name

t’challa will NOT be recast (which i’m happy about) so..... honestly no idea what to expect for this one. i think we can probably expect shuri to have an expanded role. all we know so far is they will be “exploring the world of wakanda.” not clear to me how this is different from the upcoming wakanda D+ series. 

tenoch huerta has reportedly been cast as a villain, but no one has any idea who. there’s also rumors that donald glover is in “informal talks” to play a role. note all of this is unconfirmed.

captain marvel 2

will be directed by nia da costa (candyman!) and written by megan mcdonnell, who is one of wandavision’s best writers! 

will take place in the present day 

will feature kamala khan / ms. marvel, monica rambeau / photon!!! this will be so interesting.... kamala is a huge fan of carol’s in the comics, she is her mentor/idol. the ms. marvel series will also resportedly lead into cm2. and monica, well, monica knew her when she was a little kid. wandavision implies that there’s some bad blood between carol and monica though, not sure why. maybe because carol left and never came back? (until endgame) 

post-credits scene of wandavision appears to tie into this, having monica go up into space at the reqeust of her “mom’s old friend.” again, not clear who that is. this could also be a tie in to secret invasion though, so we’ll see. or both.

zawe ashton has been cast as an unknown villain... a lot of people are actually speculating that she may play rogue? which would be fascinating, as there’s a comic arc where rogue steals her powers and memories. BUT there’s still no confirmation that X-men exist in the MCU so for now i remain skeptical.

they are looking to cast a ‘john boyega’ or ‘michael b jordan’ type which makes me wonder if they are going to create a new character, a “younger” war machine to be her love interest? (note: carol and rhodey are a huge thing in comics!) carol obviously does not look her age but her and don cheadle.... that just doesn’t work. which is why i wonder.

ant-man and the wasp: quantumania 

in addition to scott and hope, pretty much all the major players are returning including: luis, hank pym, janet van dyne

cassie lang has been recast with an actress 5 years older, which is really making me wonder if they are going to make her stinger in this movie! (aka one of the main young avengers)

the villain: kang the conqueror! this dude time travels. original name nate richards. in the comics, kang travels back in time to rescue his younger self (nate) from an attack that would help shape him towards a life of villainy. kang also gives him some fancy armor. his younger self actually is like, what the fuck dude? and renounces his destiny, becoming a hero. and he makes his armor look like iron man, calling himself iron lad. who is a young avenger. which also makes me wonder about cassie lang.

otherwise not much is known! 

guardians of the galaxy vol. 3

james gunn is returning, i’m mixed about this...he really does *get* the guardians though. 

based on the gotg2 post credits scene, i think we can assume adam warlock will be a HUGE part of this. there are multiple versions of him, some villainous and some heroic, but no idea how this is gonna turn out.

no word yet on whether thor will be involved, or if those ravagers they introduced will be involved. 

fantastic four 

will be directed by the spiderman guy, john watts.

otherwise we know literally nothing.

aaaaand that’s the roundup! 

[hoefette]

All the petty things I hate about fate!winx and their shitty universe/world building because

I'd added most if these in tags of other posts but I'm still so mad lmao

The way characters, Aisha and Mrs Dowling specifically make references to explicitly human or American things like instagram and Harry Potter

These people are from a different dimension for ffs why are they concerned with or are even aware of this very earth-specific shit? Do they teach earth classes at school over there?

I understand not wanting to have them be oblivious so Bloom wouldn't have to explain it to them, but it simply could be ✨omitted✨

Why would you go out of your way to date your work like this lmao ew

Ms. Dowling calling Tinkerbell an air fairy.. I cannot breeve with the stupidity why did they keep that in there

Why is Ms. Dowling.. the headmistress.. teaching classes? Where are the other teachers?

We ended up with a trio of antagonists (I guess you could call them that?) by the end of the season anyway so why not give us the trix, why have the characters play double roles as friends of our protagonists and also the villains/bullies? They clearly wanted a delinquent trio, in which case they could've gender bent the trix if they wanted to keep all the unnecessary sexual tension.

It just feels like the production team was lazy, they didn't want to hire more actors, they didn't want to bother with making the world immersive or lived in or believable at best, they just didn't give enough of a fuck

They wanted to make this show and attatch Winx to it for.. what? Like did you even google the main plot points? The abridged version or sparknotes to get details on the very literal, basic characteristics of our main characters or their roles or the world they inhabit????

It lacks wonder and intrigue.. I mean Bloom moves to another dimension, a school for fairies and we don't see her marvel once at anything.. and that's because she might as well have been in Switzerland because she's in exactly the same environment she would've been in over there anyway.

They could've said Alfea was in Europe and I'd believe it because nothing about the setting makes it feel otherworldly. I'm sorry but I'm not impressed.

Why do the teachers and graduated specialists communicate via facetime ?? In the magic dimension. ??? Why do they text each other and those texts then appear on screen like .. oh look, like a bad netflix teen movie ????? HELLO ??? it's the way technology and magic could've blended in so seamless into the world THE WAY IT WAS ALREADY DONE/SHOWN. Missed opportunity. it just takes you out of it imo every time you see the ugly, bland, gray text bar. Some fucking flavour pls I'm begging

How stupid the specialist must feel clonking around with the skinniest shreds of armor, plastic swords on their backs and battery powered flashlights and cellphones in their bags. R we larping?? I know I'd be laughing and asking why we hadn't already come up with something more effective .. idk like guns. I'm surprised I ain't see one gun in there.

In the beginning Ms. Dowling says some nonsense about fairies having lost the ability to transform to explain why there are no wings, which means they could've transformed before. So are we to assume that this supposed to be set in the time proceeding the original then?? Because something is not adding up with where they should be as a magical society technologically if that's the case

How does the production team want to keep the dark academia vibes with torches lining the walls and also want them to be face timing each other, presumably from miles and miles away in the dark forest???

Pls pick an aesthetic and stick to it everything was so unnecessarily dark. Where do they charge their phones since it's the only device we see that is the slightest bit modern and dont fucking tell me they charge it with magic I will punch you in the face

Why is there only one major monarchy that we are shown? Why are Solaria the only ones contributing to the efforts to defend the school and where is this mysterious battalion we never see lmaoo it's all so bad its laughable.

Is this set in the kingdom of Solaria? And why does the queen of an alleged interdimensional superpower monarchy pull up in black SUVs??????????? Why does she pull up with Andreas?? Is he not the king of Erakleon?? Where are his soldiers and his battalion and just?? Huh!? The world just feels empty like nobody lives here fr

Are we supposed to believe that the specialists get paired up with fairies just as a normal occurence and that they have to 'trust each other' and not because the plot demands it suddenly half way through when all we've seen so far are the fairies doing normalish school and homework, and the specialists outside, being physical everyday all day. This was never even implied that they'd have to work together apart from when we see the faculty as youngins with Rosalind. But even then.. it's like well why are they even together lmao? Is this a special team formed from Rosalind’s protégées? Were they formed after graduating from Alfea or what is this?? Are they the ONLY team of specialist/fairies hunting every single burned one?? What?

Are we now supposed to buy that Musa is being switched to 'support' because that's where her strengths lie and not in combat?? Are we supposed to believe that these girls know hand to hand combat?? When was this established? We see Terra wrapping some baby vines around a dude and I'm sorry is that the practical application of her power? Is this what the fairies are supposed to do once they graduate? Or is it just a switch in curriculum because of the threats outside the barrier?? This is never made clear.

Because if not then what's the point of this?? Why do they suddenly have endless classes together when the expectation was never set for the fairies to be like soldiers or out in the field fighting ?

Where exactly are they supposed to be what was the purpose of including Aster Dell and why is it a joy ride away from Alfea lmao?? Where Bloom is from and also not from?? Plot pls make it make sense

Why are fairies from another dimension vaping or smoking weed?? They are not human so why are they engaging in specifically human vices, yol couldn't come up with anything else to characterize 'delinquents'?? Very lazy very como se dices.. no effort. Nothing a little more spicy yol could invent, at least change the name and some properties holy shit did yol even try ??

So its fairies everywhere, having a lil party in the east wing of a phat castle.. and they are playing beer pong and dressed in t shirts and jeans..

Can you hear me screaming? Can you hear me vibrating with rage?

Not one floating decoration or magical anything in sight. Just purple lights and subpar vibes

Stella's costume design: tragic. I won't discuss further because we don't have the space or time but just know that it was absolutely atrocious and I hated it. Giving very debutante vibes

The entire budget going to that lame transformation sequence that was not a transformation sequence and those horrible, barely-there fire wings

Edgelord bloom and all her fucking leather jackets. Why do 30 yo, white cis men think girls exist in a binary? They could keep her earlier characterization and make her a hothead.. Bloom literally screamed herself into a couple power upgrades in the original come ooonnnn

Let girls be feminine without it being a character flaw what is wrong with yol its 2021. They could make her more mature, more angsty or whatever the hell else and not style her like that

The way Aisha's abilities flipflop between episodes and scenes. Very inconsistent. One minute she's struggling with a drop of water and the next she is moving an entire body of water for her bestie Bloom to fake transform because the plot demands it. Why even add in her struggles at all if you're just going to ignore it?

Why was Stella with them in that scene? She didn't do anything literally.. Aisha pulled the water and she did .. nothing.

Who the fuck is Rosalind? Why would they add her in,, to add nothing to story? The company of light was a thing, they could've plucked one of them hoes to be the antagonist. Why did the winx club need their own Delores Umbridge? Valtor was right there if you wanted an evil educator type character.

The camera work was so bland during the down beats, stagnant and fixed during a fairy party and erratic and ugly and disorienting during the fight scenes

I'm not getting over the fairy party because it was a good opportunity for the production and everyone else to show the differences between where Bloom was and where she is now but instead it just looks like a regular teen high school party?? This could have been set in Switzerland fr.

Everyone's just kind of standing?? You mean to tell me these people are from all different places in the magical dimension and their customs are all the same? They all throw parties like this ??

White and flavorless I am very bored

I guess the main question or takeaway I have is just.. who is this for? Because everyone, including the showrunners keep saying that it's for us, the fans of the original. But apart from the characters sharing some names, there are really no other similarities. So again, who was this supposed to appease or placate or satisfy? Because it sure as hell wasn't the winx club fans.

Overall, this feels very much like something I wrote and probably published on ff.net when I was 13 because I thought girls couldn't be taken seriously if they liked pink, and injected angst into everything that didn't need it and had no idea how to structure scenes or dialogue. It's just bad, objectively and N*tflix will keep making shit like this because apparently some people have bad taste??? Idk yol, be easy

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Ranking every teen drama I've watched

I have gotten really into teen dramas lately, because it's quarantine I can't go out and have fun, but I can still watch other people my age going out and having fun and doing things I don't get to do. Anyway I haven't seen all teen dramas, I was never interested in supernatural ones, so you won't find Vampire Diaries and similar shows on this list.

From worst to best:

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

I will never understand how this show ran for five seasons. It will forever remain a mystery to me. This show is so bad it's good. The writing resembles a wattpad story, Amy's pregnancy is inconsistent (like how was she five months pregnant for like five or six episodes, aren't the episodes supposed to be set a week apart?), the acting is bad (that is not to say that Molly Ringwald or Shailene Woodley are bad actresses, obviously they're not, I'm talking about Amy's sister that has the same facial expression no matter what her mood is supposed to be), some of the views this show expresses are very old-fashioned and damaging (the madonna-whore binary, the fact that they can't even utter the word abortion) and every single male character on this show is a creep and a cheater. I can't believe I watched like thirteen episodes of this. I will never get that time back.

Weirdest moment: "I'm a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." (Was this supposed to be romantic??)

Best moment: none

Glee

This is going to be unpopular and don't get me wrong, I like Glee, but I feel like the writers put much more thought into the musical numbers than the storylines. Again, Quinn's pregnancy is inconsistent (but I'm starting to think TV shows are always inconsistent about pregnancies), the characters don't look like they're in high school at all, the cheerleaders wear their uniforms 24/7 for no reason (Quinn even wore it to her sonogram, like seriously?) the whole celibacy club thing is weird and Mr Schue is a terrible teacher. However, the visuals and the musical numbers are great, Sue Sylvester is iconic (albeit also a terrible teacher) and some of the scenes are really emotional (Kurt singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand made my sister cry) so overall, it's pretty good.

Weirdest moment: Finn praying to grilled cheese (what??)

Best moment: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody, Kurt singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Dawson's Creek

I LOVE their 90s' outfits and Joey and Pacey are really otp material, but I just can't stand Dawson! He got mad that Joey didn't tell him about his mother's affair, as if it was her place to get involved. She was 15! It's understandible she didn't want to get tangled into that mess. He also slut-shamed Jen in a really gross way. He literally stopped talking to her for a day when he found out she isn't a virgin. Why are both Joey and Jen into this guy?? This would've been a much better show if it was called Joey's Creek or Pacey's Creek.

Weirdest moment: the way Dawson's mom confessed her affair to her husband. I don't think any irl human would use this choice of words. Also that scene where Dawson's father was teaching him how to kiss while Joey was watching. Cringe.

Best moment: any time Joey and Pacey are bickering. My shipper heart!

Pretty Little Liars

I loved the book version of this, but the TV version seems way too dramatic. First of all, they romanticized Aria and Ezra's relationship (ewww) and made the whole thing seem much more overdramatic. I don't know how to explain it, I mean the books are also dramatic but the TV show somehow took it to a whole new level. None of the girls look like they're in high school, but I love the way they dress and do their makeup. It's almost as though the writers put more thought into their outfits than storylines. I still loved watching it until Netflix took it off, though.

Weirdest moment: Spencer somehow trying to block A's number from her laptop in the middle of a park and then being confused that it didn't work. Weren't you supposed to be the smart one, Spencer?

Best moment: Haleb in the shower, hiding from Hanna's mom.

Skins

This is a classic. Effy is iconic (I somehow heard about her even before watching Skins) and the musical number at the end of season 1 was out of nowhere but still somehow fit perfectly into the story. I also give this show point for being one of the few TV shows where teen characters are actually played by real life teens. They look their age, talk their age (no "I reject reality" or other cringy lines like that) and aren't unrealistically perfect like characters from American teen dramas tend to be. They look like people you might actually meet in high school. However the show loses points for all the continuity errors (are 8 episodes supposed to be the whole school year??) and the number of unneccessary death/tragic accidents. It seemed kind of over-the-top and unneccessarily dark and brutal at times.

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

Best moment: Wild World

Euphoria

The Gen Z American version of Skins, but with better visuals. Much better. I loved the aesthetic, the colors, the lighting and glitter. Zendaya's a great actress and I give this show points for casting an actual trans actress in the role of Jules. However I find it weird that all guys on this show are complete irredeemable assholes (except of Jules's dad and Ethan that is). Are we supposed to just root for the girls and not the guys? Also I find it hard to believe that any of these characters are actually 16/17. They have sex all the time (yeah teenagers have sex sometimes but on this show they treated Kat as some kind of a chaste nun for being a virgin at 16) and have seemingly no rules and no curfew. It would've been much more believable if they were in college.

Weirdest moment: Nate breaking into Tyler's house, beating him up and then taking a shower. The audacity this guy has!

Best moment: "You did this to me!" and Rue having an anxiety attack on the stage in theater class

Gossip Girl

I know this is also an unpopular opinion, because many claim Gossip Girl is the best teen drama ever, but for me it just got way too soapy as the seasons went on. The first two seasons were believable, even though they didn't really look like they were in high school, but after that it was just more and more weird plot points. I will give this show points for the fashion (I mean Blair's headbands and school uniform inspired a fashion line), the acting ("I killed someone"- iconic) and the choice of background music (Nate and Serena kissing to Paparazzi, Thanksgiving with Watcha Say). Despite the wild twists and turns of events, I just had to keep watching because this show had me hooked.

Weirdest moment: Bart Bass somehow flying off the building for no reason (seriously, what he did there had no logical explanation and defied laws of physics), Dan being Gossip Girl, Bart faking his death and returning more evil than before, Serena becoming Gossip Girl, the affidavit, everyone randomly stopping going to college... there are so many but Bart takes the cake I guess

Best moment: the Thanksgiving flashbacks from season 1, Dan placing a plastic crown on Blair's head

Freaks and Geeks

This is one of the few shows where high school is depicted realistically. It's not all glitter and parties and not everyone has sex and does drugs. Okay, I admit, the bullying was over the top and it was weird how no adults cared but other than that, it was pretty spot-on. It was emotional without being too dramatic and far-fetched and also had funny moments. Yes some of the characters may have been stereotypes but at least the show seemed self-aware of that. It's truly a shame we only got 18 episodes of this show, while The Secret Life of the American Teenager somehow got five seasons??? I don't get it.

Weirdest moment: when Cindy suddenly got super mean once she started dating Sam

Best moment: Daniel showing up at Kim's doorstep, Sam breaking down in tears in the end of 'Garage Door'

Gilmore Girls

I'm not sure this one counts as a teen drama, maybe it's more of a dramedy but I'm still including it here. It's funny, the dialogue is witty and full of obscure pop-culture references and the relationships between generations complex. Same as with Freaks and Geeks, the portrayal of high school is pretty realistic. Characters are shown studying and taking tests and not just partying all the time. However the show loses points for getting weirdly soapy in the 7th season. The dialogue wasn't as good and the camera angles were soap opera like and the storylines weren't very good either. You could really tell the show changed show-runners. The earlier seasons are the best. It's hard to explain but something about them feels cozy like a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate on a rainy day.

Weirdest moment: Lorelai marrying Chris and then making the whole "you're the man I want to want" speech, Lorelai defending and loving Dean for no reason

Best moment: Rory's graduation speech, Rory yelling at Chris and calling him out for not having been there for her, Then She Appeared, "Yes Emily, you may go first"... there are so many!

[itsclydebitches]

I got witcher!Ciri too! I kind wonder wha would happen if she died tho, dont wanna put geralt or her through that but I love angst lmfaoo. The game got really confusing at point cause I you have to learn a bunch of politics and how this world works and I didnt pay that much attention so I'm sure I'll get those moments in my second playthrough too I'm playing something in the hearts of stone thnig, it was lower level so I'm assuming you should play that first? a main quest with the asshole ghost in the wedding and wow I fucking hate it, it's so umcomfortable to watch geralt be this gross n weird lol, I'm not too familar when Shani either so watching her get mad when I get geralt to say he wouldnt do what the ghost is doing is so annoying lol, OH AND the ghost is a creepy fuck! shani babe you can do much much better than an asshole who talks about his dick and fucking "maidens" every other sentence!! Geralt really does get thrown into so much shit huh I'm tempted to read the books cause I do rly like the world and most- some characters but yeah reading about yen being yen wold be one of the things to stop me, what are some of the plot points that put you off? if you don't mind sharing And yeah I'd so be up for more content esp with ciri, would be cool to see them work together, even with how combat works in this game with npcs lmao

Woo witcher Ciri ending! :D If you enjoy putting yourself through pain I recommend looking up that other ending on YouTube because there are definitely some nice angst shots in the cut scenes. I watched and then promptly went, “I don’t need to play that for myself” lol. But yeah, hard agree on things getting confusing, especially towards the end. I completely missed stuff like the fact that my actions would actually impact this war, rather than the war simply being backdrop, or that Ciri’s powers were more than just the ability to teleport short distances. So by the time I was getting called on to murder kings and Avallach was taking us to totally different worlds, I had a very John Mulaney approach of, “This might as well happen. Things are already so goddamn weird.” Which, you know, really isn't the game's fault. It's what I get for jumping into the third game first and while I don't regret that at all, the story has absolutely deserved a second playthrough where I actually understand all the basic stuff I should have known going in.

Yeah, Hearts of Stone comes first. You can do any of the side quests you’d like from either DLC, but I’d recommend keeping Blood & Wine’s main storyline for the final push. But yeah, that ghost dude is, uh… something. I quite like the wedding on the whole—I really enjoy Shani, dancing is fun, O’Dimm is being a wonderfully evil dude—but yeah, dead dude is definitely a creep. Which is partly one of the things that turned me off from the books. It has the same ‘Guy trying to write women’ energy of the games but… worse. I’ve read a lot of excerpts over the years and so many of them turn me off. There are a ton of small things, like Triss importantly informing the witchers (who are all like 100+ years old??) about periods and that Ciri can’t train today because of hers (a moment that much of the fandom celebrates as... progressive?), or Triss and Yen getting super catty with one another over Geralt, to much bigger things like Ciri nearly getting raped/being involved in intimate acts with really questionable consent. A lot of the Witcher has a “This didn’t age well” vibe to it which, to be fair, isn’t entirely the fault of the author. The story is the product of 90’s Polish culture and, again, a man trying to write some pretty complex subjects from an arguably ignorant place, which makes much of the work eye-rolling for me at best, outright uncomfortable at worst. (Which I think is why I enjoy the games far more. I have agency in this questionable world, the ability to tailor it somewhat to my own beliefs and desires, which makes moments when that's taken away, like Geralt automatically commenting on how good Yen looks at a funeral, all the more frustrating). I obviously am not a Geralt/Yen fan, which sours a great deal of the plot. From what I got through the pacing felt like a slog and, more importantly, much seems to have been lost in the translation from Polish to English. (I continually hear about how amazing the dialogue is, but sadly that hasn’t come across in translation for me. Much of it is... awkward.) The parts I’ve heard about/read excerpts of that I’m most interested in—Geralt’s hanza—ends tragically and I’m… just not here for that right now. Which isn’t to say it’s badly written or anything, just that it’s not my personal cup of tea, especially nowadays with a pandemic and what all going on lol. I look at what I know of the series as a whole and go, “Do I really want to read five books filled with outdated representation for women, that old-school fantasy violence that turned me off GoT, with a super depressing ending, all wrapped up in an iffy translation and a style I don’t think does well in long-form storytelling? … Not really.”

Still loved most of the short stories and I’ve heard that many people liked the audio book versions when they couldn't get into the text, so I might give that a go someday. I’d prefer to actually have read all the source material for a fandom I’m spending so much time in, but I sadly just haven't had the urge yet. If you do read them, anon, you’ll have to tell me what you think. It’s becoming quite the divisive topic, especially as Netflix fans turn to the books, and—putting aside that everyone’s tastes will always differ—it’s interesting to hear not just whether someone had fallen in love with the books or not, but if they haven’t what about them prevented that. It's very much a case of one person's "That was awful" being another's "Are you kidding me? That's the best part!"

[nialltlynch]

mid-year book freakout

thank you @flitwickslittlebrotha !! i have been in a reading slump and this is just what i need to get back in the groove (probably)

Best Book You've Read So Far in 2021? I'm gonna say Alone with You in the Ether because I read that book in one night, and then reread it again in the same week, then went back to snippets that I enjoyed many many times since then which is practically unheard of for me (i usually dont revisit things at all and if I do its years later)

Best Sequel You've Read So Far in 2021? said quietly with my head in my hands...Mister Impossible.

New Release You Haven't Read Yet, But Want To? A Swim in a Pond in the Rain i guess????? I dont really keep up with whats new and what isnt, im very bad at it. thats the only one on my list that i know for sure was released this year.

Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2021? cheating because this list is long and I dont want to read the whole thing: Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World

Biggest Disappointment? I have zero hopes for most books but I did not finish These Violent Delights. did not like that one At All.

Biggest Surprise? bro the Wizard of Oz books are fun! I remember reading the original and Ozma of Oz way back when I was a kid but I went through a read a bunch of them sporadically throughout this year and they're just. so fun. I was surprised by how much I've enjoyed them because I usually only go for one or two out of a series but they're such small bites it's easy to consume a few of them.

Favorite New Author? not really favorite and not really new, but daniel handler? I only read A Series of Unfortunate Events for the first time back when the netflix show was coming out and I didn't realize he also wrote The Basic Eight which I read this year and enjoyed. so I have a few of his other books sitting on my tbr for whenever I get around to it, which is about as favorite as it can really get with me. (but i have misgivings about him even though i know nothing of him so eh)

Newest Fiction Crush? charlotte regan <333

Newest Favorite Character? I remember having like. a week long freakout about mr. gregor dandolo to the point where I made a pretty sick graphic edit about him. I still do think about him sometimes and even though I have absolutely no interest in the overarching plot/other main characters in the founders trilogy, I'll probably skim through the last book for any gregor crumbs. he's got potential that I enjoy.

Book That Made You Cry? does Crush count? i dont cry much at books or anything but this certainly elicited a lingering feeling of sombre reflection.

Book That Made You Happy? all the books in The Wizard of Oz series! again, they're just really fun and cute.

Favorite Book Adaption You Saw This Year? the only book adaption I know for a fact I watched was Shadow & Bone which I really enjoyed despite never finishing any of the source material lmao

Favorite Review You've Written This Year? I dont really write reviews. I tried making edits for each book I read, which was sort of reflective of how I felt about them maybe? the one i made for The Bone Houses has received the most attention. I should get back to that. very fun.

Most Beautiful Book You Bought So Far This Year? I like my owl crate version of Mister Impossible because it has a sword on it (but kk! all the covers have swords on them. please shut up I do not see the cover 🙈)

What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year? good question!! i dont really have any MUST READS but ive really really been meaning to read The Left Hand of Darkness (or any other of her works really), The Locked Tomb trilogy, and/or The Scorpio Races.

thank you!! i dont really know the cross section of who is currently reading and who's already done this but i will tag: @semicolonsandsimiles @mintmemories @bookwormlostinwonderland @laneway. no pressure, as always.

[popculturebuffet]

Green Eggs and Ham: Here (Patreon Review for Emma Ficci)

Hello all you happy people! And I have my first fully paid for comission and patreon review all in one! Yes my good friend Emma became a patreon and you can too, go to patreon.com/popculturebuffet. Even one buck a month helps and 5 a month nets you a review of whatever of your choice a month. An episode of any tv show I have acess to. It feels good to have more than one person paying my salary, though I sitll want to thank Kev, my other patreon for helping with that. 

So with that all in order, let’s talk about this thoroughly weird, thoroughly wonderful show from a couple years back. Green Eggs and Ham is modern adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book..... and I bet those of you who haven’t heard of this series before or it’s reputation just had your bowls clinch a bit. Yeah while I haven’t seen illumination’s takes on the maestro of children’s books, I haven’t heard the best things and the trailers and odd and counter productive marketing tie ins for the Lorax have made me want to stay 30 feet away from it at all times. Seriously you get certified Legend Danny DeVito.. and you waste him on “Dat’s a woman” a joke that I don’t have time to unpack all the ways it sucks. My point is Seuss really hasn’t had the best time with adaptations latey.  But leave it to Warner Animation and Netflix to pull out a great one. Yeah I wasn’t too excited about a tv adaptation of one book at first due to all this and even a celebrity cast wasn’t a good sign. They roped Danny DeVito into the Lorax. So even with a whopper cast containing Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, my boy Adam Divine, Ilana Glazer, Kegan Michael Key,  Jeffery Wright, Eddie Izard and JIllian Bell.. I wasn’t convinced. But word of mouth was really good, and the animation looked downright gorgeous, perfectly mimicking suess’ work and feeling like an unabashed love letter. 

So I did what I tend to do.. and sat on it for several years because I simply forgot to watch it till my friend comissioned it and here we are. And off the bat.. the reputation.. is not remotely overblown. This is easily the best Dr. Seuss adaptation i’ve seen in some time taking the best of his ideas and whimsy, with what little behind the scenes stuff I could get saying they specifically took art design from his art of book, with a modern and intresting story behind it and an all star cast that this time around are used well instead of just being there for Name Recogntion. Not only that but it takes inspriation form, of all things, Planes Trains and Automobiles, but does so well so far, getting the oddcouple dynamic down perfectly. 

So join me under the cut as I cut this bit of green eggs and ham into bite sized pieces for you all and go into why it’s so delecitable. 

This episode’s mostly broken up into bits to introduce all the main players, so as I tend to do when there’s multiple plots, I will be covering each one at a time. 

Guy and Sam: The Failed Inventor and the Animal Thief

So our story begins with.. a ninja breaking into a zoo to steal the rare Chikaraffe. 

Neither was the narrator, played by Key.. and the narrator naturally for a work like this delightfully interacts with things and is one of the best parts of the whole episode. But this already shows how well the series updates things. There’s one or two things like Ninja Sam or a family making ducklips during a photo, there’s even a fairly obvious trump stand in we’ll get to.. but none of it’s SO overdone it takes you out of things or dates the projects. The tech is kept to about the 70′s or 80′s with cameras still used instead of camera phones, crt tv’s, and what have you, and most inventions seens are susian. It feels wholly in line with his books while still nudging it into our current decade here and there. In other words.. how you SHOULD do it: add in a few things here or there but no overt pop culture refrences and at most a take that at something Seuss would gladly take aim at. 

So we meet our other hero the next day, Guy-Am-I. Guy is the show’s version of the nameless harassment victim from the books, with a bit of a darker fur and hat, likely to help better distingish him from sam as well as sell him being older than his co-star. It’s a good change, and helps sell Guy as what he is.. a grumpy middle aged man who keeps failling in life as demonstrated by his way to the inventions: he falls in a puddle, signs no on a pettition because he’s in a hurry, reminds me of man in a hurry from hatchefield but I couldn’t find a good image of him saying that in time and takes a picture of the family “Say runing my life” “ruining your life!”. We later see after some of the following scenes Sam do the same.. but he hops over the puddle then dives ino for fun, signs an entire page of the pettition, and takes tons of pictures. It’s a nice establishing scene for both. 

Guy is presenting his invention for Snerzco, your standard megacorp given a delightful Seuss twist with LITERAL pencil pushers and beancounters, to present his invention, with other inventors presenting, witht he hopes of presenting to Snerzz himself, having such delightfully bonkers and seussian inventions as a reverse umbrella (it rains on you) and an automatic fingercrosser. It’s touches like this that really tell me the series really loves Dr. Seuss. 

Sadly things don’t go well for guy as he’s hoping his invention dosen’t explode, his invention being a backpack made of hands to help people fly. Most people are imprestted apart from Michelle a bean counter who.. randomly snarks she wouldn’t let her daughter fly on it.

Yeah it’s not a great introduction for one of your major characters to have her randomly mock something that hadn’t exploded yet, and to for no reason bring up what a paranoid and unfun parent she is. We’ll get to her more in a bit. But yes it does explode and Guy’s dreams are ruined. 

And this whole picture.. shows who guy is. He’s someone whose kept trying agian, and again and again only for it not to work, and to get laughed at by the public and spat on by god themslef. It’s easy to see WHY he’s such a bitter curmudgeon: life hates him, so why shouldn’t he hate it back. That’s a self defeating prophecy of course but this is episode one and tha’ts probably the point of the series: to explore this. That being said I could see this coming from a mile away and felt it to be the most unupsired bit of the episode. 

Guy enters a diner to get some Oatmush “The Sadmans Special” after the bus leaves before he can get to it because again, God hates him personally.  No the sadman’s special is a famous bowl from KFC. I should know as a professional sadman. Regardless Guy is miserable.. and in enters sam, whose fascenated their “Breifcase Buddies” because thier briefcases match.. and unlike the above I like how they call attention to them being identical. We know wha’ts going to happen there but the lampshading helps it go down easier and makes us wonder if they will swap. Sam is a regular, being friends with Donna the waitress and ordering his usual green eggs and ham.

So we get the expected bit: Sam asks Guy to try them, he says no, but the show makes a good choice. Instead of just.. stalking guy for the next 11 episodes to get him to try it.. he simply asks if he’s actually tried it, Guy says no and makes a great poop joke, and Sam leaves it. He apparently asks once an episode, but it’s made more into a character thing; Guy refuses because he hates to try new things outside of his inventing and that’s hit a wall. It’s also a nice suprise that Devine and Douglas just play perfectly off one another. The two are from vastly diffrent generations and backgrounds acting wise, but they just work perfectly together and it’s what makes their interactions work. 

Sam does leave it and the other inventors having ALL got the golden ticket, arrive and Sam treats them.. only to notice Guy’s paper and the fact guy failed, and asks donna politely to get guy his mush as he ordered first. It’s good setup for Sam. We saw him be nice and free and what not, but we also see that while he can be insietive (He asked guy what broken dream he had earlier in the scene) he does geniunely care and it isn’t just surface level. He loves people and helping them and getting to know them. 

Of course while Guy is greatful, showing that beneath his own exterior he’s not a bad guy just one made miserable by life, he’s not going to be best friends or anything.. that’s a lot to ask they just met and takes his case after gulping down his oatmush. 

That night Sam prepares to leave, having given Donna his adress.. multiple times. in the hopes someone comes over and hangs out. Can relate even if i’d never go that far. He does however reveal himself as the ninja and prepare to take the chikaraffe with him for whatever reason. 

Guy goes to his hotel room to sulk, not helped by the other inventors partying outside, and full of misery and self loathing throws his suitcase in the fire.. until it makes a noise. He quickly pulls it out to find the Chickaraffe. Will he surivive? I mean probably. We have 12 episodes left. And a full second season. God this is going to take a few years.. regardless, let’s move onto the subplots. 

MIchellee and E.B.

We meet Michelle’s daughter EB who just wants to live but her mom dosen’t let her have toys or shenaniagnas.. and comes off untetionally as really abusive. She’s SUPPOSED to be overprotective, but saying “I detect a hint of whimsy.. i’ll allow it” really just paints you as an overcontrolling psycho. Their headed on a trip and while EB wants to catch the chickaraffe for herself dosen’t have the time and her mom gives her a magnetic friendship bracelet.. that shackes her to her. Just... yeah Michelle has made me  hate her in one episode and she’s played by Diane Keaton. How do you do that? Hopefully she’ll get better but hearing about these two characters was part of the reason I procastinated so long. The other is my brain being kind of a forgetful swamp. 

Snerz: We meet Snerz himself who has someone bringing him the chickaraffe. Snerz is a cold, mean man with trump hair.. that in this case is a literal being he’s forcing to be his hair, has everything gold plated and keeps animals in a wall forcing them to stand on the other side and put their heads through like he mounted them because he’s a sociopath. And this is the refrence I meant. Snerz has many comparisons to trump, the hair, the gold platings, but it dosen’t really date the thing as Trump has been around since long before this and will sadly probably be around till his inetivitible jail sentence. But it’s not so overt or over the top that it takes you out of it it works. Okay one more. 

BAD GUYS:

Two mysterious agents, one old and one on her first mission, go to the zoo and interogate the guy running it holding him over a slapping turtle exhbit. Their after the chickaraffe and depart.. with the yougner agent accidently dropping him. Whoops. At least he gets to get hit into space by a turtle. Some of us never will “Sigh”

Final Thoughts:

This was an excellent first episode. It fleshes out the characters well, sets up the story without feeling too slow, and the show strkes the right ballance of being it’s own thing while still feeling Seuss. It’s a wubusoully wonderful good time and I recommend checking it out. I look forward to the rest of the series over the next year. 

Next on this blog: Sleepover time as Shadow into Light, my Lena Saberwing retrospective resumes.