#Michael has a very set number of skills

[chloesimaginationthings]

Michael can survive (almost) anything in FNAF

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss on Bringing Robot Love to Broadway With ‘Maybe Happy Ending’

Chances are the multi-talented Darren Criss is as cross-eyed as the rest of us are with the twists and turns his career has taken over the past 13 years. In 2009, he began in television with six years of Glee, playing the lead singer of the Warblers, and helping power a Warblers focused soundtrack album to Number 2 on the Billboard album chart. Then in 2018 he switched fromsinging to spree killing, giving a stunning, steel-plated performance as Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. That got him a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy and set people to thinking there might be a serious actor lurking inside that singer.

Before that could be settled, the singer reemerged, as a replacement in a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, raking in $4 million during his three weeks. That was followed with an Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theater and a stint in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theater.

Two years ago, the actor was back when producer Jeffrey Richards hired him for some deep-dish David Mamet drama, American Buffalo. Now Richardshas returned Criss to the Belasco, and singing, for an original Broadway musical, Maybe Happy Ending—a very original musical, in that it’s about the love life of robots in Seoul circa 2064.

You’ll not find much of that Glee guy you know and love in the character Criss plays in Maybe Happy Ending, a lonely Helperbot robot who putters aimlessly about his tiny apartment, listens to jazz and devotes all his TLC to a favorite pot plant. That changes swiftly when a female form of Helperbot, Claire (Helen J Shen), drops by to borrow his charger. Sparks fly, then conversation, and inevitably a kind of amorous connection.

Despite the nuts and bolts, what we have here is basically a rom-com, with a charming book and score by a couple of NYU classmates.

Actually, there are two books and two scores, one in English, one in Korean. Will Aronson, 43, of New Haven, composed the music, and Hue Park, 41 of South Korea wrote the lyrics. Once they did that, they put their heads together and wrote “connecting tissue”—a play in praise of love’s rejuvenating effects. Even robots at the end of their warranty are susceptible.

Evidently, Hue won the toss because the Korean version premiered first—in Seoul, where the story is set—and proved to be such a success that stateside productions were put together. The English edition made its first U.S. appearance two years ago at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater, where The New York Times’ Jesse Green deemed it “Broadway-ready.” Thus, we now have a live-action robot show going strong on West 44th.

The terror of doing this kind of production, Criss confesses, is that actors are afraid they’ll look like cartoons of their character, taking big, blocky robot steps around the stage. “The show has no listed choreographer,” he tells Observer. But he feels he has that situation well in hand. He and director Michael Arden “have taken a particular interest in making sure the physicality is distinct,” he says. “And I’d be remiss not to mention  a teacher at Juilliard, Moni Yakim, who had some Zoom discussion with us about this.

“It’s kind of a cocktail of those three things: Moni’s suggestions, Michael’s pursuit of perfection and my own interest in physical theater. It’s a skill set that I’ve never been able to utilize—at least to this level. When I was in college, I took a semester off so that I could study physical theater at the Accademia dell’Arte, the performing arts school in Arezzo, Italy.”

A cast of four inhabit the show: Dez Duron, Marcus Choi, Criss, and Shen. You may detect a little kinetic energy between Criss and Shen. That’s because they both attended the University of Michigan—albeit, not at the same time. “She graduated about two seconds ago, and I may have graduated a little longer ago than that,” concedes Criss.

“She graduated two years ago, and 10 years ago my name was up on the marquee at the Belasco Theater. And to be able to come back to the Belasco—but this time to share that billing with a fellow Michigan grad—is a very special moment for me. I’m now the upper-class man to the freshman of Helen J Shen. This is her Broadway debut. It’s a big moment for her, and getting to see her through that on stage—to call that a job is really a special thing for me.”

The enthusiasm Criss brings to the stage is practically palpable—and he still remembers where it came from: encountering Robin Williams at an impressionably early age in the 1992 animated Disney flick, Aladdin, in which his outrageous Genie-jiving was almost heart-stoppingly hilarious.

“I was probably six or seven—and I noticed how this audience connected with each other and with this Genie on the screen. I was very taken with that idea, and I wanted to give people what this Genie was giving them. Then, I found out the voice of that Genie was Robin Williams, who was such a prominent figure out in San Francisco, where I grew up. That made it an accessible concept: ’Oh, Mr. Williams is an actor. I’d like to be an actor, too.’ So I hopped right on it.”

[invisibleicewands]

Actor Michael Sheen has unveiled his ambitions to "buck the trend" in Wales with the launch of his recently announced Welsh National Theatre, revealing plans to commission original work and "galvanise" the sector.

He said that ideas were already "bubbling away" for the new company, announced last week, which he added would be "lean" and not subservient to external funding. 

Sheen said that his new organisation was set to unleash "a canon of great Welsh plays just waiting to be discovered" on "the grandest stages around the world" following the closure of the National Theatre Wales in its current form. 

Speaking to The Stage on the day of his company’s launch, Sheen said that although behind-the-scenes planning long pre-dated the announcement in December that NTW had ceased operations, the precarious state of the Welsh performing arts industry had compelled him to take action. 

Sustained squeezes to funding has left remaining Welsh theatres hampered by "eye-watering" building costs, staff burnout and a skills drain, research by Creu Cymru revealed last week.

Asked if the jeopardy facing Welsh theatre made him nervous for his venture, the actor said: "I’d be very foolish to not take on board what the climate is like, but I’m using that as a springboard to go in the other direction.

"It’s because of the situation, because of the circumstances and how difficult and bleak they’re looking – that is my incentive."

Recalling hearing the news that National Theatre Wales’ funding had been scrapped while rehearsing for his role as NHS founding father and Welshman Aneurin Bevan in Nye, Sheen said the company’s closure a year later "didn’t come as a massive surprise, but it was still incredibly upsetting that we’ve been left without a national theatre in Wales". 

Now Sheen is to finance certain elements of a new Welsh National Theatre as well as running it as artistic director. 

"I’m a unique position in some ways," he told The Stage, "I have my own resources. And I don’t just mean financially, although that is part of it. I can buck the trend, or at least try to change the current a bit. I don’t have to go cap in hand to people right now.

"There are enough people who want to work with me as an individual that I can say: ‘Okay, how about working with us as a company?’ I can convene people, I can get doors opened, I can commission playwrights and hopefully I can galvanise and catalyse things in a way that maybe other people are not in a position to do. I want to make the most of that while it’s still the case."

Despite ongoing discussions with public sector organisations, there is, as yet, no confirmed external funding stream for the Welsh National Theatre. However, Sheen has said that this tighter way of operating suited him. 

"In my experience of things I’ve done outside the acting world around activism, supporting community development projects, I’ve found that keeping things very, very simple and lean allows you to focus on your actual incentive and ideals," he told The Stage. 

"I’m hoping that what we can do is create work of quality and that is popular enough for people to come in high enough numbers to be sustainable so that we’re not relying too much on outside funding and, if we are, that it’s diversified so that we don’t leave ourselves vulnerable by being too dependent on any one source of funding."

Details are still to come about the Welsh National Theatre’s first production, which is tipped to be staged at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre and to feature Sheen himself.

The artistic director, who has received four Olivier nominations during his career, said he currently planned to produce one large-scale show per year, and hoped that the company’s annual output would increase in future. 

"I could, potentially, announce a three-year programme right now, but it’s still being organised," he said. "But even though we’ve essentially only launched today, there’s so much exciting stuff already bubbling away. I commissioned a new play today. There are already writers who are commissioned to do new stuff. 

"But I want to start simple. So what we’re aiming for right now, with no funding, is one big production a year, but when circumstances allow it, we’ll expand. I don’t want to run before we can walk. I want to do the simple things really, really well – fantastic things on great stages for audiences that it’ll be meaningful for."

Wales-focused storytelling, Sheen continued, was the company’s key focus, something that he said had been under-programmed and under-nurtured in recent years.

"There are a lot of writers out there who are itching to write the big plays and just don’t feel that there’s the support for that," he said. "[Their plays] are not going to get a production – they’re going to get put on, if at all, for two nights in a studio. And, obviously, people write for what they’re going to get put on. 

"So I want to create an environment for writers to be able to take a big swing, and feel supported in that – both new writing and looking at classic plays through a Welsh lens, picking out things that really resonate with Welsh culture and identity. I want to build up that canon." 

Sheen also called for the government to commit to the importance of culture, contending that without an understanding that it was not simply an indulgence, negotiations about funding were "pointless". 

"Before you get into any conversation about funding, which is of course extremely important, first and foremost I think there needs to be a conversation about why we need art, culture and theatre," he told The Stage. 

"If the people who have the levers of power and who hold the purse strings don’t actually believe in it, or understand what it represents, then it’s pointless getting into arguments about funding. 

"The arts are not a luxury add-on. They are fundamental to how we function as a culture and as a society, how we understand ourselves and each other, how we process where we’ve been and what’s happening to us so that we can understand what the possibilities are for moving forward. Unless that conversation is had, then there’s no point talking about funding." 

[thatscarletflycatcher]

I rewatched Agent Carter 2x04, and it was worse than I remembered!

No matter how high up Michael is, it is very difficult to believe that the SOE would recruit within Bletchley, because codebreaking work is a very specialized kind of work that requires a particular set of skills and interests that... do not seem to overlap at all with those of a field agent-spy. Besides that, it would duplicate the costs, as it would require covering the costs of SOE training for Peggy AND for her replacement at Bletchley. It's nonsense. Even if Peggy had been asked for for ciphering (which is clearly not the case because the series is trying to explain why and how she ended in the SSR), it doesn't fit because ciphering depended on its own special branch of the army and was, for obvious reasons, different to the one used by the Germans that Bletchley was trying to decipher.

Michael, Peggy, and her fiancé are freely chatting in a public place about government secrets. MICHAEL, PEGGY AND HER FIANCÉ ARE FREELY CHATTING IN A PUBLIC PLACE ABOUT GOVERNMENT SECRETS.

Last and least but still bothers me, unless they were lucky in the "recycling an old bridal dress" department, Peggy's wedding dress is nonsense. Yes, clothes weren't rationed until 1941, but that doesn't mean fabrics weren't much more scarce and expensive before that, because of... you know... sea warfare and Britain getting so much of its resources from overseas. Besides that, she's engaged to a soldier, meaning she is to get married whenever he gets leave. Ain't no time for making much of an elaborate dress, or leisurely try ons. Because besides that... SHE'S A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE IN ONE OF THE MOST INTENSIVE BRANCHES OF THE WAR EFFORT.

In a more realistic setting, Peggy would have probably been recruited directly into the SOE -where did Peggy ever show a knack for words and numbers and puzzle solving in the way codebreaking is?- and if you want to preserve more of what was written for s2, you can make it so that her recruitment has to do with something her mom thought was unfeminine in her, have Michael support her, and her breakup with her soldier fiancé being about... well, her joining the SOE, which would have been incompatible at that point with marriage.

[mickstart]

I’m wary of a Lewis/Charles rivalry because I don’t think they would go into it on equal footing, maybe I’m underrating Lewis but I think having been in the team for years would inherently give Charles an advantage. You’re right that ferrari have never given him the number 1 treatment but it never seemed to me like the performance gap was that big with Carlos to warrant that. In regards to Charles not being able to take charge of the team, are you referring to the nr 1 status or something else? And do you think that has changed now?

If the gap wasn't that big with Carlos to warrant preferential treatment then I really doubt it'll be big enough with Lewis. No offence to Carlos but he is NOT as good as Lewis Hamilton. Charles is probably the only driver on the grid I would rank anywhere in Lewis' league in terms of skill and speed. Also Ferrari's behaviour in a non championship competing car would be very different to their behaviour in a wdc capable car I think.

Also yeah I can see the angle for Charles having an advantage but you'd think being in the team for years would have given Seb an advantage over Charles but Ferrari internal politics are insane and can't be easily predicted with things like loyalty. Just having Lewis there will have changed the dynamic of the team + he's bringing Angela and probably other minor behind the scenes staff with him. Also this hinges on there being a psychological warfare element and I just... do not think Lewis will be affected by that considering he's dealt with teammates like Nico and Fernando. Charles is a fair teammate who won't do mind games shit, he'll leave it on the track.

(and this is more controversial but I think jean todt retiring from the FIA has shifted the power dynamics within Ferrari more than we can know.)

When I say leading the team I don't mean so much number one driver as like... Having some degree of control over the team. Someone like Lewis was to Mercedes before Toto lost his mind - rallying them, organising them, managing the team to a certain degree. A driver that sort of sets the values and the direction, and the team follows.

This is rare tbh and depends on the team being willing to let the driver do that, but I think Charles' awe and emotion towards Ferrari has sort of kept him from grabbing them by the neck until the last two years. Again that's not his fault Ferrari have been extremely uncooperative with him and it's generally older experienced drivers who do this. Like, Seb didn't really do this with Red Bull in his youth despite his wins because he lacked the experience to do it. Hence the team constantly having drama and team orders fallout. Whereas in Ferrari when Michael said jump *everybody* jumped Rubens, Jean, Ross, all of them.

Basically I really don't think Charles or Lewis has a CONCRETE advantage over the other and that's why everyone is so nervous for any rivalry between them BC there's no way of knowing how it's going to go. That's my biggest fear tbh I genuinely think if Lewis and Charles have the right car the only thing standing in their way will be each other. They're by FAR the strongest driver duo the grid has seen since... Sweats... Nico and Lewis...

[darkmaga-returns]

And these are the more polite rationalizations. If I wanted to start documenting the number of people that want to disingenously absolve Kamala Harris’ failure due to racism and/or misogyny, I’d have to hire a team of archivists.

But I think you get the point. Instead of humility in defeat, the Democrat industrial complex has reached North Korean levels of sycophancy, only it’s worse than North Korea where people at least praise their Dear Leader constantly only because they’re physically threatened if they don’t. And it’s incomprehensible when you consider that “sycophant” has been the preferred insult for Trump supporters for closing in on a decade.

Now I don’t believe in sucking up to politicians ever, for any reason, but if that’s your thing at least have the dignity to reserve fealty to politicians who are successful. And Trump has now won two presidential elections — very nearly three, losing in one of the craziest years in American history, where the election rules were all discarded and rewritten on the fly — emerging with an utterly decisive electoral victory and a popular mandate.

However, Kamala isn’t a failure solely because she gave it the old college try and didn’t win. In terms of political skill, she was a spectacularly awful candidate that made Michael Dukakis look like Pericles. Let’s just start with the bare minimum of what one expects: She couldn’t string a sentence together. Her optimal performance was when the algorithm was set to “refrigerator poetry,” as opposed to “forgot to prepare for the oral presentation,” and neither was acceptable. It turns out the candidate whose supposed signature move was interrupting mansplainers by announcing “I’m speaking,” couldn’t actually speak.

[carthing]

Cars 3 Experiments AU

So this AU is based on Cars 3 around the next gen racers and racing centers, basically the racing centers looked like scientific labs to me split the information into different parts enjoy

Part 1 (the theory)

So i noticed alot how rusteze racing center looked crazily like a laboratory and the workers looked kinda like scientists, then i noticed on the sides of the trainees they have numbers and obviously they're colored, yes they have names but we dont acknowledge that yet! These facts kinda made me think "hmm what if they were lab experiments"

Part 2 (the AU scene setting)

The racing centers: So as we know Sterling is very focused on the money hes a very money focused guy, he already had an idea of who he wanted the next rscer to be for rusteze, and the Training center is called a training center thats all canon and it stays

But in this AU the training center is its name as a coverup, the center is a laboratory for experimenting on possible racers to improve, modify and alter them to make them better faster and stronger. Alot of these are pretty bad experiments and of course theyre out through alot of training where cruz used to work, the part lighting was shown was the nicest part of the facility its where the racers would prefer because its the easiest part of their day, the simulator, treadmills, hanging with the nicest worker there (cruz).

There are dorms for the experiments they generally share everything think of it like a backpackers hostel

It can be tough for them and 90% of them didnt even know thats what was gonna happen leading to the next part

Part 3 (The experiments)

Theres mainly 2 types of cars at the racing center the ones who were tricked and the ones who were sold

The tricked

Those who were tricked were the ones who wanted to become racers, they saw advertisements etc inviting inspiring racers to come and train to be taken on by either Rusteze or another company

Some cars who were tricked are

George New-Win

J.D mcpillar

Chase Racelott

Harvey road cap

ronald

Michael rotor

The sold

Some racers were sold, either those who were found on the streets and sold for a bit of cash mainly black market type scrap. Others by their parents it all depends on their situations. Some companies will pay more than others just for more racers to experiment on.

Some Sold racer in this are (all from different companies)

Gabriel

Kurt

Aiden

Flip Dover

Ryan laney

Jackson Storm

Just to name a few

Part 4 (Companies)

So each company of course has their own lab/"training center" except for some one main being Dinoco, Dinoco is a much kinder company, they prefer training properly using skill and not modifying csrs to the extreme other companies like

IGNTR

Rusteze (under sterling)

View Zeen

Vitoline

and many many more

Alot of these companies **Cough** IGNTR & Rusteze **Cough** Will go to the extreme and buy cars from whoever is willing to send them off mainly looking for youngsters from 5-18 as they are much more easier to modify snd experiment with

Alot of the cars have been there most of their life specially those Sold to the companies, these racers were often isolated at young ages or only stuck to specific groups such as their room mates while others only interacted with 1 car besides the scientists one prime example is Jackson Storm

Part 5 (extra info)

Those who were there since theyvwere verg young barely know anything other than the lab, they have very little friends and were often isolated until about 13 to ensure they are properly trained, an example of this is Kurt, Ronald, Gabriel and Aiden, we mainly see them together they all share a room and are often trained together although Aiden is often taken for more experimentation, Kurt and gabriel not so much and ronald more so than the other 2 aswell.

In some instances Trainers and Racers are assigned as a duo and are isolated from other experiments my key example being

Jackson storm and Ray reverham

As Jackson was sold to his company at a young age he was pretty much automatically assigned to Ray

Jackson grew up only knowing Ray he never really developed the proper social skills he needed for the real world leading to his inability to properly make friends at races.

End

Asks are open for questions about the AU! Art to come soon hopefully!!!!

[apricotbuncakes]

I have a huge gripe with the film industry. I am tired of plays/musicals being turned into movies and remakes in general.

That doesn't mean the movies aren't good. Plenty of the movies are fine and show a great deal of skill and talent. Some of the earliest remakes were used to broaden the idea, and character study the established IP, to bring new meaning into it. It offered a fresh look to the series to get people thinking critically about the story in new ways. As much as recycling IP annoys me now, it used to be so good to see things through a new perspective, or with added perspective. But now, the remakes are more of a sloppily written fan creation, like if someone completely missed the point and themes in a story, but still wanted to 'remaster' it. And things getting lost in the remake can dull the initial meaning of the story down.

Like, I severely dislike the live action beauty and the beast remake because although it added backstory to Belle and her family, it was just a carbon copy of the original, with an added scene to 'add new content'. And the live action lion king is just... Ew.

The Cats movie loses the original charm of the musical, the charm of the on stage dance numbers and audience participation that you get during live performances. (I have seen it live and it's so good, but even just watching it on VHS was wondrous).

Be More Chill is a great example of this actually, though it's a book that's musical adaptation was vastly different, but my point of remakes is still easily explained through it! It was initially a book, then it was adapted into a graphic novel, a play, and finally a musical! And certain things changed between each version. The graphic novel and play adaptations of the book were very true to the original story, keeping the characters and their quirks consistent, even if we lost some of the context without the original text. As someone who found the book backwards (musical -> play -> book) I feel uniquely qualified to explain the differences and how they hindered the original story's message.

In the book:

Michael has fetishistic views of Asian women, is a stoner, and isn't exactly a super nice guy. He, from my perspective, seems totally fine to ditch Jeremy for a chance with a 'hot Asian girl' but gets upset when Jeremy ditches him for something. We don't feel much sympathy for him when Jeremy distances himself from him other than 'Oh, they used to be close and now they aren't... oof'. And that's fine! We weren't really supposed to like or dislike Michael. He was a teenager with flaws and a skewed perception of the world. He was human and imperfect.

The book gives more clarity to Rich, the main bully, and his situation. He has a disruptive home life that keeps him on edge and explains why he lashes out so easily (that and his SQUIP). s

Since Rich has social status, it's best for Jeremy to make peace and keep him as an ally. Because of this, Rich briefly becomes vulnerable with Jeremy. The reader learns that although Rich isn't doing good things he isn't wholly bad either. We get a brief nugget about his home life, even if it isn't gone into detail. That information makes the reader more sympathetic to Rich when he sets a house on fire and ends up hospitalized after Rich's SQUIP takes a turn for the worst.

Christine is the main crush. In the book and stage play we see her brimming with confidence and not taking shit from anyone. She's not cold, but she isn't the most pleasant to be around. In truth, I only liked her in the book because I had a soft spot for her in the musical. But she's not someone I would normally like had I met her through the book first.

The ending of the book has the SQUIP realize that he's hurting Jeremy, and tells Jeremy to kill him. The SQUIP becomes actively suicidal and makes the reader feel almost sympathetic and sad for him. As a final act of goodwill, and as an apology, the SQUIP takes control of Jeremy one last time to write a book for him to explain to Christine what happened, a book that we find out is the very book we've been reading. (This ending changes to Jeremy writing a graphic novel or a play in the other adaptations). It's important that we feel sad for the SQUIP, even a little (I'll explain why that's important later).

But the musical (as amazing as it is, I love it) completely changed the characters and purpose of the initial ending.

Michael is more laid back and kind, a better friend and person overall. It takes away from him being a teenage dirtbag, and makes it much more obvious to the viewer that something is going wrong very early on. The point of the initial story is for us to be cautious of the SQUIP, but in the musical it's very obvious it's bad because no one rationally cuts off a friend like Michael for not being 'cool enough'. Jeremy has no reason to distance himself from Michael, even if he wants to be cooler, because Michael is a good friend who's there to hype him up and make him a better version of himself. The SQUIP would have done better to make Michael an ally than to push him away. It makes the progression of the story weird by following the same events as the book with the dynamics of the musical versions of Jeremy and Michael.

Rich's backstory from what I remember is completely omitted. I remember being very surprised by his backstory in the book because it just... Didn't happen in the musical. He's just a bully who 'played nice' once to progress the story, and then disappeared until the ending scene.

Christine is much more likeable in the musical. She's nicer and more bubbly. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She's actually someone worth pursuing in terms of personality. It makes her seem almost gullible, and takes away from the tough persona she had in the book. Genuinely, I think Jeremy was attracted to her rough confidence in the book, and it was weird to see the stark contrast between their relationship in each version.

The musical's ending is for the SQUIP to try and dominate the entire world, by SQUIPing the entire school.

In the book (and play and graphic novel) Jeremy Heere's SQUIP is doing it's genuine best to provide the service it was intended to, even if the methods were unorthodox and downright cruel in some points. (Makes sense given that it's an analogy for addiction). But the original story has the SQUIP admit that it's broken, that it deserves to be removed and killed. This was intentional and important for the reader, to feel sympathy for the SQUIP. It shows the juxtaposition of knowing that the addiction is harmful, and still relying on it and continuing with it. Jeremy breaks away from the SQUIP (addiction), but the emotions show that it was difficult.

Meanwhile in the musical, the SQUIP is pure evil, looking to dominate the world. The story's dynamics completely changed when it was adapted to the musical (and the character's personalities and stories were changed or not shown at all, which changes how you perceive them). The musical, while using the same characters and basic building blocks, is like a rewritten version.

By remaking the story, the purpose and intelligent storytelling of the original source material is lost. And we see changes like this a lot with movies remakes, where remaking the story and changing things here and there can drastically change the original message.

Hamilton, for all its faults in and out of fandom, was an incredible look at what we could have if people satisfied themselves with the limitations of a stage production being recorded and accepted as a valid medium. There aren't a bunch of CGI effects, just practical. There was technique and art in the music, the dance, and the way the story was told. It was clever and fun, and although not fully historically accurate, was entertaining.

Which is not to say that film isn't an art. It is! With it's own rules and guidelines and formats. But some stories are made for a book, some are some are made for musicals, and some are made for film. Transferring one medium to the other creates a translation issue. You lose and gain things across each version. My biggest problem is when the adaptations and remakes aren't well thought out, where the original ends up better by default because there wasn't enough consideration taken when transferring the data to a new format.

You can shift from the original source material's flow if it allows for added context that is imperative to the story. You don't have to treat the OG as gospel. Changing things in a remake is to be expected, and improving upon flaws is fine. But you need to do it with intention.

Changing Michael to be less of a teenage dirtbag is fine, but he should have lasted longer in the story since he was no longer ditching Jeremy for 'hot chicks'. Their bond should have been harder for Jeremy to break since Jeremy wasn't just hanging with him for the weed or the 'we're losers' companionship. (And I'm aware that the SQUIP influenced Jeremy's ability to perceive Michael, but Jeremy was too easily swayed to turn back on the feature to make Michael invisible to him).

Rich was more than a druggie who burned down a house later. He had a reason to try and make himself tougher. He wanted to have control over one aspect of his life, and he didn't have the luxury of doing that at home. But we don't see that in the musical adaptation.

When the remakes are using big names not for their talent but for the money they bring in, and when the story is only changed enough to technically make it 'a new look' at the story, you aren't giving it life. You're making a soulless rendition of a once beautiful narrative.

Remakes aren't inherently bad. But they need to be done with purpose, not as a careless cash grab.

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Dorothy Gale Through the Ages:

This is post number 5 for The Cross Roads, where I finish off the girls! The Cross Roads is the tentative title for my crossover AU project which includes The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and Milo and the Phantom Tollbooth! The story focuses on the main kids from each story all going to the same school and having whacky adventures!

More info about the AU, additional notes, and non-formatted drawings under the cut. Posts for Alice, Wendy, John, Michael, and Milo.

Chicken Scratch Translation (in the order the boxes should be read):

[Land of Oz Era. Age: 13. Source: Gale family photo album]

[Notes: perhaps the epitome of FDR's saying: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something esle is more important than fear." Her desire to help others and protect those she is close with will always outweigh the fact that she's easily frightened.]

[Farm Girl Era. Age: 18. Source: Henry Gale's photos, retouched by Alice Lidell]

[Notes: A cheerful and strong young woman who spends a lot of time helping her aunt and uncle with their farm. Dorothy is a very service-oriented person who distracts herself from her own uncertainty about life by solving her loved ones' problems instead.]

[Survey Pilot Era. Age: 30. Source: Hangar Security Cameras]

[Notes: After getting her pilot's license to cropdust, Dorothy found a passion for flight. She uses her skills to do weather tracking and mapping at Gale Farms and values her crew and coworkers like a second family.]

AU Info:

I am using a mix of canons, mostly for familiarity reasons, but also a couple others that I may or may not eventually specify. I am using the Warner Bros movie for the Wizard of Oz; the book for Milo and the Phantom Tollbooth; both books for Alice in Wonderland; and a mix of the book, the stageplay, and the Disney movie for Peter Pan, but primarily the Disney movie.

This is a modern!AU that takes place sometime between the 90s and the 2010s.

The story will be equally split between a highschool!AU that focuses on their mundane adventures and a fantastical plot that will take them to all the Magical Otherworlds in the original stories.

Their school is 7-12. At the time of the story, Alice and Michael are 8th graders, Milo and John are sophomores, and Dorothy and Wendy are seniors.

While the canon events of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland still took place in England, both families moved to Kansas sometime after. That's right folks, we've finally specified a setting! The way I wrote Dorothy made her home and her family very important to her, and I don't think I can easily justify her family leaving their farm. So, while the town will have undergone some massive expansion, Dorothy is the only one who has never moved! Milo will also be a transplant, having lived in the indeterminate American suburbia of another state, most likely in the south east.

There will be ships: Dorothy x Wendy, who are both some kind of sapphic but unsure of their more specific labels; and John x Milo. John is gay and Milo is aspec, and they will be shipped in an aspec way. Alice and Michael will be single, but Alice is pan and Michael is the token straight.

These information files exist in universe! Who could be making them? Questions for you to find out another day!

Additional Notes:

Dorothy provided a couple of unique art challenges for me that I wanted to state in the main post instead of the tags:

As anyone who has seen the previous posts will have noticed, I am aggressively rainbow color coding these fuckers. Unfortunately for me, the obvious blue was already taken by Alice, so I had to pick another color for Dorothy! Ruby slippers + auburn hair=red color coding, but her blue dress is so iconic that I felt I had to keep it for my stylized version of her canon design, so it's her elementary school uniform.

Also related to my color coding issues, the shift in the Warner Bros movie from sepia-toned Kansas to technicolor Oz is also very iconic, and I wanted to include a homage to that somehow, so I decided your local hick Uncle Henry probably has an old-ass camera that takes non-color photos, and the kids offered to retouch it for him with a computer so he could have a color keepsake of his little girl. This is also why Dorothy's file has a lot more drawings than everybody else (technically there are more unique drawings of Alice but shh).

Survey pilot may seem a little out of left field for the profession, but these were chosen with care. I feel like Dorothy has been hyper aware of and fascinated by weather patterns since the Tornado Incident, and definitely would have become a storm chaser if she wasn't so attached to her home and family. (Also, when I say chosen with care: I mean that I had an epiphany that Alice would be a good lawyer and asked my dad with 0 other context what he thought the other kids' professions would be in the future. He spent like 3 days coming up with a well thought out answer for me, so I'm sticking to them!)

Unformatted Drawings:

[sillyname30]

Darren Criss on Bringing Robot Love to Broadway With ‘Maybe Happy Ending’

The star of the new musical on learning to move like a machine and how he first caught the acting bug.

Chances are the multi-talented Darren Criss is as cross-eyed as the rest of us are with the twists and turns his career has taken over the past 13 years. In 2009, he began in television with six years of Glee, playing the lead singer of the Warblers, and helping power a Warblers focused soundtrack album to Number 2 on the Billboard album chart. Then in 2018 he switched fromsinging to spree killing, giving a stunning, steel-plated performance as Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. That got him a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy and set people to thinking there might be a serious actor lurking inside that singer.

Before that could be settled, the singer reemerged, as a replacement in a Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, raking in $4 million during his three weeks. That was followed with an Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theater and a stint in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Belasco Theater.

Two years ago, the actor was back when producer Jeffrey Richards hired him for some deep-dish David Mamet drama, American Buffalo. Now Richardshas returned Criss to the Belasco, and singing, for an original Broadway musical, Maybe Happy Ending—a very original musical, in that it’s about the love life of robots in Seoul circa 2064.

You’ll not find much of that Glee guy you know and love in the character Criss plays in Maybe Happy Ending, a lonely Helperbot robot who putters aimlessly about his tiny apartment, listens to jazz and devotes all his TLC to a favorite pot plant. That changes swiftly when a female form of Helperbot, Claire (Helen J Shen), drops by to borrow his charger. Sparks fly, then conversation, and inevitably a kind of amorous connection.

Despite the nuts and bolts, what we have here is basically a rom-com, with a charming book and score by a couple of NYU classmates.

Actually, there are two books and two scores, one in English, one in Korean. Will Aronson, 43, of New Haven, composed the music, and Hue Park, 41 of South Korea wrote the lyrics. Once they did that, they put their heads together and wrote “connecting tissue”—a play in praise of love’s rejuvenating effects. Even robots at the end of their warranty are susceptible.

Evidently, Hue won the toss because the Korean version premiered first—in Seoul, where the story is set—and proved to be such a success that stateside productions were put together. The English edition made its first U.S. appearance two years ago at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater, where The New York Times’ Jesse Green deemed it “Broadway-ready.” Thus, we now have a live-action robot show going strong on West 44th.

The terror of doing this kind of production, Criss confesses, is that actors are afraid they’ll look like cartoons of their character, taking big, blocky robot steps around the stage. “The show has no listed choreographer,” he tells Observer. But he feels he has that situation well in hand. He and director Michael Arden “have taken a particular interest in making sure the physicality is distinct,” he says. “And I’d be remiss not to mention  a teacher at Juilliard, Moni Yakim, who had some Zoom discussion with us about this.

“It’s kind of a cocktail of those three things: Moni’s suggestions, Michael’s pursuit of perfection and my own interest in physical theater. It’s a skill set that I’ve never been able to utilize—at least to this level. When I was in college, I took a semester off so that I could study physical theater at the Accademia dell’Arte, the performing arts school in Arezzo, Italy.”

A cast of four inhabit the show: Dez Duron, Marcus Choi, Criss, and Shen. You may detect a little kinetic energy between Criss and Shen. That’s because they both attended the University of Michigan—albeit, not at the same time. “She graduated about two seconds ago, and I may have graduated a little longer ago than that,” concedes Criss.

“She graduated two years ago, and 10 years ago my name was up on the marquee at the Belasco Theater. And to be able to come back to the Belasco—but this time to share that billing with a fellow Michigan grad—is a very special moment for me. I’m now the upper-class man to the freshman of Helen J Shen. This is her Broadway debut. It’s a big moment for her, and getting to see her through that on stage—to call that a job is really a special thing for me.”

The enthusiasm Criss brings to the stage is practically palpable—and he still remembers where it came from: encountering Robin Williams at an impressionably early age in the 1992 animated Disney flick, Aladdin, in which his outrageous Genie-jiving was almost heart-stoppingly hilarious.

“I was probably six or seven—and I noticed how this audience connected with each other and with this Genie on the screen. I was very taken with that idea, and I wanted to give people what this Genie was giving them. Then, I found out the voice of that Genie was Robin Williams, who was such a prominent figure out in San Francisco, where I grew up. That made it an accessible concept: ’Oh, Mr. Williams is an actor. I’d like to be an actor, too.’ So I hopped right on it.”

[set-phasers-to-whump]

Day 7: Post a link to your favorite whump fic of all time (or reblog it and/or make a list of them!)

ok i decided to limit myself to just 10 of my all time favorite whump fics. these are ones that i return to all the time, that i reread whenever i'm having a bad day, you know the vibe. all of them are very dear to me and i hope someone else will enjoy them too!!! i'll put them under a readmore since this got a bit long :)

Caged by Cargo - 911. Cargo is one of my absolute favorite writers and i've been in love with this fic for a longass time. the emotions and caretaking are absolutely top tier, and there's a lovely blend of emotional and physical whump. summary: "As Eddie stands in his kitchen after returning home from tonight's fight, he finally cracks. He starts falling apart and he knows there's only one person in the entire world he trusts to pick up the pieces. It's why he's dialling Buck's number before he even knows he has his phone in his hands."

Bloodshot Soul by OrionLady - bourne series. this one straight up has made me cry i can't even lie. it's a beautiful and very genuine exploration of the characters and the emotional whump is wonderfully painful. summary: "He cannot fathom why a crusty old skipper would care so much about a strange John Doe he fished out of the water, why he would smile and touch his shoulder and feed him pie. Then again, there are many things he doesn’t understand yet. The closer he and Giancarlo get, the less he wants to remember. An exploration into Jason and Giancarlo’s friendship during his two weeks aboard the fishing trawler."

In The Shadows of The Night by MissCrazyWriter321 - grimm. this fic is thee one that i turn to whenever i'm feeling sad. i love nick and rosalee's dynamic and this fic lets nick break down while keeping both of them perfectly in character. i'm absolutely obsessed with it. summary: "A board creeks beneath her foot, and he startles, but calms quickly when he sees her. “Sorry,” she murmurs. “I hope I didn’t wake you.” Obviously she didn’t, but she needs to be careful how she handles this. If she pushes too hard, he’ll just end up shutting down."

Eggs Two Ways by leslielol - law and order svu. something about the writing style in this one absolutely captivates me. like, there was a period of time where i straight up read this fic once a week and i'm not kidding. they're both super in character and it's a delightful read! summary: "It’s not often Barba has a reason to exercise a set of skills separate from those as a prosecutor. While sat in a holding cell nursing a broken nose, Carisi learns he’s as sharp as ever. (A missing-scene fic from 16x15 “Undercover Mother.”)"

Breaking all the things I'd wish to keep and Can't erase, can't rewind by Elisexyz - the man from uncle. ok yeah this is technically two. sue me. ely is like, my favorite fic author ever and i love all of her tmfu stuff, but these two hold a special place in my heart and make me go absolutely crazy every time (they go together btw). if you're into tmfu and for some reason haven't read her fics then uhh. get on that right now bc she's amazing. summary: "Napoleon maintains that attempted murder cannot be classified as an "accident"."// "“I didn’t think it was him.”"

the moon points to the sun by haloud - roswell new mexico. this fic has been making me insane for literal years. it's emotional whump and has a somewhat different vibe to the other fics on this list, but i absolutely adore it. this writer understands the characters so well and their style is absolutely incredible. top tier fic right here. summary: "They don't do apologies, Max and Michael. If they started, they'd never stop."

No Rules, No Winners by April_Valentine - person of interest. this is one of those times where you watch something and you're like 'man i wish they'd addressed this pain in the show' and then you find the absolute perfect fic that does address it. it's so tender and lovely and exactly what the episode was missing. summary: "Set just before the tag of "Baby Blue." After leaving Moretti's safe house, Reese goes back to the library."

The Car Accident by Tipper - sneaky pete. another one i've been obsessed with for literal years. it's on the longer side but it's so good, wonderful family dynamics and a really excellent storyline. summary: "After Julia found out who he was, all Marius wanted was one more Sunday night dinner with the family. It was a mistake. The trusting way they looked at him, the uncertain way she looked at him.... He left early, afraid to sink any deeper. The black truck came out of nowhere as he drove away..."

Too Hot (Hot Damn) by WasteTimeandType - the man from uncle. i loveee some heat exhaustion fics and this one is so good! i reread it recently when i was sick and miserable and seeing illya much more sick and miserable than i was really made me feel better lol. summary: "'Out of all the UNCLE missions, this was by far the worst. He’d been shot, stabbed, tortured with water and forced to run miles in a forest in the middle of Canada. All of that was preferable to this. The damn heat.' Illya suffers from heat exhaustion and Gaby and Napoleon take care of him. Kink Meme fill."

A Little Tender Care by ArgylePirateWD - person of interest. this one's a sickfic, i read it before i actually started watching the show and absolutely adored it, and i still adore it now. true to the title, it's super tender and soft and it's a really sweet read. summary: "The Man in the Suit doesn't usually take sick days. Usually."

and that's 10!! this is far from a complete list of all the fics i adore, but these are the first 10 (or 11) that i knew i needed to rec. if anyone wants more recs, lmk, i've got tons :)

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P5T: We start the DLC at last, jet-set into a twister of nonsense, find mice instead of squids, and I freak out a bit over Satanael~

If you want to skip me ranting about the Velvet Room, scroll down to the big bold text. XD

Look at him. He’s beautiful. And he knows megidolaon!

But my Quest for Satanael, I feel, has exposed another flaw in this game. It’s not a problem if you’re just playing straight through, but if you’re my dumb ass and you want to finish the compendium/obtain Satanael/forge the best weapons, it starts to become an issue.

Fusion is expensive if you’re pulling things out of the compendium. You need personas of specific levels to fuse the weapons, and obviously the best weapons are very high level personas, which won’t drop during battle. Special fusions like Lucifer, Chi You, and Satanael have five or six components each. The cost can be mitigated some by using personas obtained during fights, but in that case, you lose skill options if you’re trying to pass on a specific one via fusion chain. (I can’t imagine trying to get a specific skill on a high-level persona in this game. Ugh. At least megidolaon was a base skill on one of Satanael’s ingredients.)

Which brings us to the actual issue: there’s… no good way to get money in this game.

Money is purely obtained from winning battles. There are no bits and bobs to sell, no money from releasing unneeded personas, nothing. Which means that if you are trying to raise enough money to pay for your multitude of weapons and high-level persons, you are going to be replaying prior battles.

A Lot.

The battles in the final kingdom give around 10K yen, from what I can tell. That can be boosted to around 18K if all three party members have a sub-persona with the “Easy Money” skill. In comparison, personas like Michael and Lucifer (components of Satanael), cost somewhere in the 20-25K range to call from the compendium. You need Michael to make Lucifer in the first place, so you’re going to have to summon him from the compendium at least once.

I don’t know if I did something wrong or inefficiently or what, but I spent the whole game feeling like I barely had enough money for the things I wanted. New weapons often broke the bank, and I wasn’t always using Easy Money because I wanted to actually take specific skills or personas into battle. By the time I was trying to get Satanael, I was basically grinding the same mission multiple times in a row because I knew I could finish it in the least number of turns. It's a little disheartening after unlocking all the endgame bonuses and tricks in Royal and racking up hundreds of thousands of yen in one go to spend on fusion.

That’s not even counting the fusion accidents. The first time I went to fuse Satan (also a component of Satanael), the forge exploded. That probably should have been my cue to start save-scumming, but I didn’t. I assumed that special fusions were immune to fusion accidents. They are not. I placed all of Satanael’s components in the forge and it exploded, wasting least 30K yen.

In hindsight, I probably could have loaded the autosave. But I honestly forgot that the autosave was happening. I always saved manually when I stopped and didn’t worry about anything else. But that’s not the point.

The point is that Satanael should not have been able to explode. X’D

(Side note: fusing Lucifer got a special animation. It’s the only one so far. Why just him???)

But yeah. My compendium still isn’t done, and I’m not even close to the best weapons. I kind of want to take them into merciless mode for NG+, so that means going back and grinding more. But not right now. Right now, we’re off to Spray Paint Land.

It’s time for DLC!

We begin this chilly November late afternoon/evening/whatever with more Quality Morgana Faces.

It has to be November, because Goro’s on the team at this point. Plain and simple. There’s literally only like a 3-week period this can take place in. Akira receives a text from Sumi that says she wants him to meet her in a nearby alley. I guess she was on her way to the cafe. But Morgana says that he knows when to mind his own business, and to call if Akira needs anything.

Call what phone, Mona? Are you gonna answer the cafe phone? Just admit you wanna nap.

Wait. Wait. Morgana. Wake up. The plot is happening. Wake up!

Well, I suppose that means Goro isn’t the artist. He wouldn't have had time while all the Okumura stuff was happening. All these sad mice, tho. Very strange. And isn’t Guernica the artist from Ib? I went on a classic RPGMaker horror kick a few weeks back. I’d watched Angels of Death a while ago and really liked it, and so I watched playthroughs of Ib and Mad Father for the first time. Ib was good, Mad Father was… mediocre, I think.

...oh. That’s Guertena. Neeeeeeevermind.

So, Sumi wants to show you a mural of Arsène being eaten by a giant rat. Which is… not what I was expecting the mural of Akira’s persona to look like. As they puzzle over how the hell a picture of Arsène ended up in a random alley in Yongen, Goro also shows up, ready to investigate.

…...I swear to god, Atlus, why is he the only one who you won’t call by his first name? Also, how is he here to investigate? How did he know about a random mural in the backstreets when everyone is busy paying attention to the giant one on the security building?

He asks if Sumi and Akira had anything to do with this mural, then laughs at Sumi when she gets all flustered by the question. They speculate on the artist’s motives for a bit, since Guernica’s identity is unknown, and then Akira hears a voice calling for the Phantom Thieves from inside the wall.

This made me laugh very hard for inside joke reasons, but Goro assures Sumi that there is no way that there is a person trapped in that wall.

But the mural starts to glow, Arsène disappears, and everything and all of us start getting sucked into the rat’s mouth. And I love and appreciate Sumi dearly, but… none of us are safe here, and you have had your persona for like a month. I should be protecting you.

Joker arrives in a spray-paint covered cityscape, and I already love this place. Holy shit the colors. We’re immediately thrown into a battle, and shooting the little dudes throws paint all over the ground around them. Hehehe. It’s like we’re in Splatoon or something.

...oh. I was joking. But we ARE in Splatoon!

When you’re standing on the enemy’s color, you can’t do anything. No attacks or skills. So there’s definitely an element of strategizing here. I really like it, even if I did die on my first attempt because I was figuring out how it all worked.

……Lavenza, I appreciate the classic literature, but you’re scaring me just a little. XDDDD

Anyway, Joker gets surrounded, the other two jump in to save him, and we get a minor pointing Spiderman meme of “wait, you have powers?” It’s also a little silly because Sumi’s idle stance is a constant pose. Your arms are gonna hurt.

Sumi clarifies to Goro what happened in the Palace when she awakened, and he’s just glad she can fight, even if she’s not formally a Phantom Thief. He clarifies that he is only sort of kind of a Phantom Thief for reasons that would take too long to go into.

...my dear, that is every situation involving these two.

But no, this is completely unrealistic. Goro would have at least a question or two about a random Palace that just spawned somewhere. If this game doesn’t imply that he asked something before January…….

They hear screaming, and a have their first encounter with a non-hostile denizen of this world, who collapses in Sumi’s arms, begs for help, and explodes into paint, leaving Sumi concerned and traumatized. X’D

Goro reminds her that these are cognitions, not even bothering to hide how confident he is in his knowledge about the metaverse, and the trio follows the continuing screams to a mouse massacre.

A crazed woman with a parrot is just gunning down vast amounts of cute mouse people. Paint is going everywhere. It’s insane. Even Goro is put off by the sight.

Meanwhile, Sumi refuses to stand for this and just goes right up to confront the problem.

The bird’s name is Jerri, and I had to message Po in the middle of this, because I was having a crisis.

I can’t unsee it. Help.

Anyway, this is Guernica, and she wants to paint the walls with our blood!

Fortunately, everyone is rescued by a mysterious hole opening up under us, and we meet our savior.

Well… one of us is.

This is Luca, and she’s so happy to see us, because she wants us to help Guernica. Apparently, she was different before Jerri showed up. She felt a kinship with the Phantom Thieves and their quest against corruption. Now, she has strange powers to "peer into people's hearts", and her art can… basically cause a variation of a psychotic breakdown.

Apparently her mental state is fucked because someone stole her Treasure (the first piece of art she ever made) and broke it into pieces. The memo section says, "She was driven to carnage by the theft of her heart's core, prompting her to go on killing sprees in the Metaverse." Which has some WILD implications that I doubt the game is gonna touch on. X’’’’D

Luka also takes us to see this world’s version of the Arsène mural, which is… gruesome? Like, there’s bones sticking out.

Apparently this art was Guernica’s last cry for help before she snapped completely. And she knows what Akira’s persona looked like because of that power to “peek into people’s hearts”. It’s a bit wobbly, but we’ll go with that for now.

Guernica’s “first statement” is in three pieces, so we’re off to retrieve the first one. And I love Luca already.

Jerri wants us to hand over Luca. I might have considered it if she didn’t call me a mop. She claims she’ll send us right home, but that sounds like bullshit.

Also, shoutout to Goro for using his “real” voice here. Time to get dangerous~

It’s nice to hear, because I actually find myself missing abrasive, snarky third-sem Goro compared to the Detective Prince.

This whole thing is such a wild vibe of Splatoon, TWEWY, and Jet Set Radio. The music is fun, the aesthetics are top-notch, and so far the levels have had that extra level of challenge of working with the paint mechanics. It’s really great.

Luka’s ability is creating “manholes” to warp from place to place, and Goro is quickly getting tired of having to jump down them. XD

Our hideout is basically down in the sewers. Luca fished new weapons out of the trash for us, and there’s no Velvet Room, so I guess we’re stuck with whatever sub-personas drop during the battle stages.

We get to have a fun conversation about bouldering, and I caught Goro blinking in the picture, but he actually looks genuinely surprised that you’d want to come try his hobby.

I love the mental image of the three of them going rock-climbing together.

And then, tragically, the Switch ran out of battery. But I’m loving it so far! This is a fun side-story, even if I am a little skeptical of how they’re going to justify everything when they get back to the real world. I’d need to go watch the beginning of January again, but I’d swear there was explicit dialogue that neither of them knew the other had powers beforehand.

Oh well. A thought for another day. Right now, we wonder what kind of disguised god named itself “Jerri”. XDDD

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE NAME IS FAMILIAR... BUT I CAN'T PLACE THE FACE!

Same Character / Different Actor

Sometimes circumstances require the recasting of a role on a long-running television show. Unlike soap operas - which often use a voice over to announce that a role has been recast - the change is hardly ever acknowledged on sitcoms. Did recasting happen in the Lucyverse? Yes - but not quite as prominently as on, say, "Bewitched". But more on that later.

Let's start with radio, where it was far easier to replace actors, often without the listener even noticing. On the pilot episode of Lucille Ball's radio sitcom "My Favorite Husband" (1948-1951) her spouse George was played by Lee Bowman. When the show was picked up as a weekly series, Bowman was not available, so the role went to Richard Denning.

George's boss Mr. Atterbury was famously played by Gale Gordon, but before the boss became a regular character, the recurring role was played by Hans Conried and Joseph Kearns. All three actors would later be seen on "I Love Lucy."

Liz's mother-in-law Mrs. Cooper was first played by Bea Benadaret, but when she assumed the regular role of Iris Atterbury, Mrs. Cooper was voiced by Eleanor Audley. Both women were featured on "I Love Lucy."

Minor characters Corey Cartwright and Marge Van Tassel were first played by Hal March and Frances Chaney. March was replaced by John Heistand, but the role was quickly written out. Elvia Allman turned up as Marge when the character re-surfaced in a second appearance. March and Allman were both seen on "I Love Lucy."

Viewers probably didn't realize it, but many different actors actually played the role of Ricky Ricardo Jr. aka Little Ricky. Even more surprising, considering that his birth date coincided with that of the Arnaz's real-life son, none of them were Desi Arnaz Jr. The practical and legal matters of having a child on a film set necessitated that the role be played by twins. There were also two 'dream' Little Rickys, bumping the total number of actors to eight!

JAMES JOHN GANZER (newborn) ~ insert shots of the baby were used in "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" (1953) and the flashback opening of “The Club Election” likely taken from this same shoot. He was five days old at the time.  The above closeup was shot before the episode was filmed and pictures were projected for the studio audience to see. 

THE SIMMONS TWINS (infants) ~ Richard and Ronald Lee Simmons played the role in just two episodes: "No Children Allowed" and "The Indian Show", both in 1953.

THE MAYER TWINS (toddlers) ~ Michael and Joseph Mayer alternated in 11 episodes from November 1953 to April 1956. Although they looked nearly identical, the pair reportedly had very different personalities.

DREAM LITTLE RICKYS ~ Two uncredited actors (one young and small, the other older and large) were featured during Lucy's dream about "Ricky's Old Girlfriend" (1953). Although the younger performer looks a great deal like Jerry Mathers ("Leave it to Beaver"), Mathers denies ever appearing on "I Love Lucy." Since the dream has no dialogue, a bunny-themed outfit is used to indicate to viewers that the three actors are the same character.

KEITH THIBODEAUX aka RICHARD KEITH (adolescent) ~ The character was quickly aged during season six, necessitating an actor capable of handling dialogue and with some musical ability. Louisiana-born Keith Thibodeaux was favored by Desi for his drum skills, but Lucy needed some convincing. Desi simplified Keith's professional name, although it was never seen on screen. He played the role for 15 episodes as well as in 12 out of 13 "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours" (1957-1960).

For what it's worth - two more actors provided the off-screen crying of Little Ricky: Pepito Perez and Jerry Hausner, both of whom also appeared on screen as other characters. Which brings us to our first adult cast switch...

The role of Jerry, Ricky's agent, was the only character outside of Lucy and Ricky to be carried over from the unaired pilot. Jerry was played by Jerry Hausner (hence the name), who had been heard on "My Favorite Husband." He was intended to be a series regular on "I Love Lucy", but when landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz were added to the series, his role was scaled back. Jerry the Agent would appear in 8 episodes, all during the first 3 seasons of the series.

Inexplicably (perhaps due to illness) in “The Handcuffs” (1952), Jerry the Agent is not played by Hausner but by Paul Dubov. Two months later, Hausner returned to the role that he originated.  During the filming of “Fan Magazine Interview” (1954), Hausner and Desi Arnaz got into a heated argument on the set. Hausner claimed that he was not able to hear his cues during a telephone scene where he was located across the soundstage from Desi. He quit the show and never appeared on the series again. But things were eventually patched up and he did appear on "The Lucy Show."

Charlie Appleby was originally played by Hy Averback (inset) in "Baby Pictures" (1953). The next time viewers saw him - in "Lucy and Superman" (1956) - he was played by George O'Hanlon. Averback returned to the show to play another Charlie, Charlie Pomerantz, in “The Hedda Hopper Story” (1955). Confused?  Not half as much as poor Caroline (Doris Singleton)!  Whichever actor played him, they were both proud of their son, Little Stevie.  But which Stevie?

The first time we see Little Stevie (a name suspiciously sounding like Little Ricky) he is played by an uncredited infant in "Baby Pictures" (1953), the same episode where his dad is played by Hy Averback. The infant had just gotten over the measles. Ricky and Stevie are both said to be 13 months old.

The next time we see Stevie he is played by Steven Kay in "Lucy and Superman" (1956), the same episode that switched his dad to George O'Hanlon. Although Kaye’s first name was also Stevie (in a show where Lucy played Lucy), the character was created three years earlier. The question is - if Little Ricky has a father named Ricky - why does Little Stevie have a father named Charlie? The previous year Kaye had played Jordan Benedict III (age 4) in the film Giant.  In the above screen shot with his screen mom Doris Singleton he is caught breaking the cardinal rule - looking into the camera!  Didn’t he learn anything working with James Dean? 

Marion Strong was one of Lucy and Ethel's friends and a member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League. The character's name is the same as one of Lucille Ball's Jamestown friends. We meet Marion during "The Club Election" (1953) in the person of Margie Liszt. Liszt may also have been playing Marion in "No Children Allowed" (1952), although none of the bridge players are called by name. In her first appearance on the series ("Redecorating" in 1952), she played Agnes, a gossipy woman on a telephone party line.

The next time we see Marion she is played by Shirley Mitchell in 3 episodes from season three. Mitchell became friends with Lucille Ball in the late 1940s when she was featured in 4 episodes of “My Favorite Husband.”

In the same episode that we got Strong, we also got Grace! Grace Munson was yet another character that was named after one of Lucille Ball's hometown friends. In "The Club Election" Grace is embodied by Hazel Pierce, who was also Lucille Ball's camera and lighting stand-in. She was first pick when small roles and background assignments were doled out.

The next time we see Grace, she has moved to Westport with her husband Harry (Tristam Coffin), inspiring Lucy and Ricky to do the same. This time, nearly five years later, Grace is played by Ruth Brady. The Munsons have a son named Billy (who stays off-screen) and a cousin named Diana Jordan played by a pre-Jeannie Barbara Eden. Brady was featured as Laura in Lucy and Desi's 1956 film Forever, Darling and likely made such a positive impression that she was rewarded with Grace. Literally. At the Westport Country Club things get surreal when Hazel Pierce, who originated the role of Grace, also shows up!

On "The Lucy Show" there were far fewer examples of recasting. The role of Arnold Mooney, Mr. Mooney's youngest son, was first played by Barry Livingston in “Lucy Gets Locked in the Vault” (1963), the same episode that also introduced Gale Gordon as banker Theodore J. Mooney. Livingston returned to the role in “Lucy and the Scout Trip” (1964).  Not even a year later, Arnold is being played by Ted Eccles in "Lucy's Contact Lenses." Apparently, Livingston's schedule playing Chip on "My Three Sons" (also filmed on the Desilu lot) became too much for him to do double duty. When the series location moved from Danfield to Los Angeles, Eccles appeared as two other characters, one of them in a scene with Gale Gordon, who formerly played his father! More surreal still, the new character's name was Barry.

Another early recast was the role of Dorothy Boyer, Danfield volunteer firefighter. The part was originally given to Ruth Crews. The character is never called by name, but she is one of the few firefighters to speak distinct dialogue.

The next time we hear about Dorothy she is played by Dorothy Konrad, probably because the character now needed to be able to sing four part harmony in "Lucy's Barbershop Quartet". Both performers were sturdily built women. Crews, meanwhile, turned up as an unnamed patron at Wilbur's Ice Cream Parlor when "Lucy is a Soda Jerk" (1963). Like Little Stevie, it is odd that Konrad's first name matches her character's, despite them being originated by other performers!

I SAW THAT FACE ON...

Probably the most famous example of recasting on a sitcom is the role of Darrin Stevens on ABC's long-running "Bewitched" (1964-1972). The part was originated by Dick York, but he became ill and was replaced by similar-looking Dick Sargent for the rest of the series.

On New Year’s Eve 1973, Dick Sargent was seen as a policeman on “Here’s Lucy”, his only time acting opposite Lucille Ball. 

On the same series, Darrin's nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz was originated by Alice Pearce. When she died in 1966, Sandra Gould took over the role. On "I Love Lucy" Gould played Texan Nancy Johnson in “Oil Wells (1957) and made a brief appearance as a subway strap-hanger in “Lucy and the Loving Cup” (1953). In 1962 she appeared on “The Lucy Show” as a bank secretary.

As if that wasn't confusing enough, Darrin's boss's wife Louise Tate was played by Irene Vernon, then Kasey Rogers. In 1967 Rogers was seen in a two-part airline-themed "Lucy Show" starring Carol Burnett. She also played a music publisher's secretary (above) in "Lucy and Phil Harris" (1968).

The character of Aunt Hagatha was only seen in eight episodes of "Bewitched," yet it was played by five different actors:

Nancy Andrews (1967)

Diana Chesney (1965)

Doreen McLean (1969)

Kay Elliot (1970)

Ysabel MacCloskey (1971)

and Reta Shaw (1966 & 1971)

Shaw is probably the most recognizable Hagatha as she originated the role and was the last to play it. She was a popular character actress from film (Mary Poppins), stage (The Pajama Game), and television ("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir"). Shaw was seen as 3 different characters on "The Lucy Show" and 3 more on "Here's Lucy."

When "The Munsters" premiered in 1964, the role of Marilyn Munster was played by Beverly Owen. After one season, Owen decided not to return to the series, and was replaced by Pat Priest. Few viewers could tell the difference as they both were intentionally made to look like Marilyn Monroe. In October 1966, Priest played a flight attendant on "The Lucy Show."

On Desi Arnaz's sitcom "The Mothers-in-Law" (1967-1969), Roger C. Carmel played Roger Buell during season one. But during a contract dispute Desi was dared to recast - and he did! Carmel was replaced with Richard Deacon for the show's second (and last) season. Deacon was no stranger to Desi, having played Tallulah Bankhead's chauffeur in "The Celebrity Next Door" (1957), an episode of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour", as well as many other Desilu shows. Deacon later went on to do two episodes of "Here's Lucy."

On CBS's "Petticoat Junction" (1963-1970) the recurring character of Selma Plout was originated by Susan Walther (aka Susan Johann). She played the role for 5 episodes until she was mysteriously replaced by Elvia Allman, who played Selma for the rest of the series. Allman started acting with Lucille Ball on radio, and was famously seen as the barking candy factory foreperson on "I Love Lucy." She returned to play Minnie Finch’s neighbor in “Fan Magazine Interview” and magazine reporter Nancy Graham in “The Homecoming.” She made 2 appearances on “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour“ and 2 more on “The Lucy Show."

Doris Ziffel (mother of Arnold the Piggy) was a character that was seen on both "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres." The part was originated by Lucille Ball's friend Barbara Pepper. After doing films together at RKO, Pepper was on the short list to play Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy." When she didn't get the part, Lucy cast her in a variety of small roles on the series. When Pepper died in 1969, Fran Ryan assumed the role. Ryan had already been seen on the series as Minnie Holcombe in March 1969, just a few months earlier, so viewers could be excused for doing a double-take.

On Eve Arden's "Our Miss Brooks" (1952-1956), filmed at Desilu, the role of Mrs. Martha Conklin was first played by Virginia Gordon, Gale Gordon's real-life wife. She had originated the role on radio. Starting in season two, Paula Winslowe took over playing the part. In 1964, Winslowe appeared briefly on "The Lucy Show" as a hospital patient.

In Mayberry, "The Andy Griffith Show" (filmed on the Desilu backlot) had several casting swaps. Miser Ben Weaver was first played by Will Wright (top), but then by Tol Avery (bottom) and later Jason Johnson. Wright played two roles on "I Love Lucy" and Avery played characters on "The Lucy Show and "Here's Lucy".

Mayberry gas pumper Wally was first played by Norman Leavitt (left), then by Trevor Bardette and Cliff Norton (right). Coincidentally, Leavitt also played a filling station attendant in "Lucy Hunts Uranium" (1959), as well as being seen in several other Desilu projects. On "Here's Lucy" Cliff Norton played Sam the plumber when "Lucy Meets the Burtons" and also played "Mary Jane's Boyfriend" Walter. Speaking of which...

The TV pilot of "Gilligan's Island" featured John Gabriel as The Professor. When the sitcom went to series, he was replaced by Russell Johnson. Gabriel (above) later played Jack Thomas in "Mary Jane's Boyfriend" (1974).

On "Happy Days" (1974-1984), Ralph's father Dr. Mickey Malph was first played by Allen Oppenheimer, but after an extended absence, returned as Jack Dodson. Oppenheimer had a couple of roles on "Here's Lucy," most notably as Kim's Uncle Herb in an episode that was a back-door pilot for a spin-off that would have starred Lucie Arnaz.

Other noteworthy re-castings that did not touch the Lucyverse include the roles of Catwoman, the Riddler, and Mr. Freeze on "Batman", Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo Bradley on "Petticoat Junction", Lionel on "The Jeffersons", Becky Conner on "Roseann", Carol on "Friends", Chris on "The Partridge Family", Morty on "Seinfeld", and Chuck Cunningham on "Happy Days."

Recasting can also happen when a show changes form. For example the various iterations of "The Honeymooners" and "The Brady Bunch" both caused recasting.

By now you are probably wondering about the photo that began this blog entry. No, that is not Desi Arnaz, and the scene is not from "I Love Lucy," although Lucille Ball is playing Lucy Ricardo. It is from "The Bob Hope Chevy Show" of October 21, 1956.

The sketch featured the entire cast of "I Love Lucy" and was performed in what appeared to be the Ricardo living room. The premise: Hope wondered what "I Love Lucy" would have been like had he married Lucille instead of Desi. With Bob as Ricky, Desi is recast as Fred Mertz. Naturally, this case of multiple recasting is as hilarious as it is fascinating.

[lokiina]

What does your heart look like?

was tagged by: @pinkyjulien, @chevvy-yates, and @imaginarycyberpunk2023 <3 So I'll give you all three boys and it's a bit of a doozy lmao

-> RULES: Take this uQuiz for your V/OC

ZAYN MACKENNA: Iced over, out of the sun

Your heart is very lonely, isn’t it? Is your fortress of ice self-made? Are others afraid of you, or are you afraid of them? Are you afraid of hurting them, or of being hurt? Vulnerability and connection can be frightening, but that’s no reason to shy away from their light, to tuck yourself small into corners, to build up frigid walls to keep yourself from feeling. You will heal when you allow yourself to draw closer to the flames and thaw.

Zayn had a rough rough start to his life. He was a biotechnica experiment trying to perfect the perfect balance of genetics to create inhuman soldiers. Werewolves, controllable killing machines. It set him up late for basic communication skills as he had very little trust for anyone from the start. It took one particular woman on the team to recognize the level of intelligence he had at a younger age (that he wasn't just a little mindless terror) to grow a conscience and help break him out. She became a mother figure in his life and helped to raise him with a band of nomads, supporting him through everything she could.

Though he was accepted into the clan, members were still afraid of the things he could do. He did accidentally hurt people along the way of learning to control himself. A small number of which didn't seem to ever quite let go. Ultimately in the end there was a level of betrayal, his 'mother' got killed in the process and the clan ultimately broke apart leaving Zayn to branch off and find his own way. Which eventually landed him in Night City. Trust issues, and hiding as much of himself as he can to not be found. He has a big heart but has been hurt so many times.

Connecting with Dino became a complete accident as he hadn't planned to stay in Night City for any extended amount of time. Even then opening up to Dino about certain aspects came with a distinct fear that would land him back into trouble once again. Unexpectedly, Dino has become the fire to his ice.

WILLIAM ERIKSSON: A guiding, golden light

Just because you cannot see your own heart doesn’t mean that others can’t. Your heart is blinding, captivating, a fire so bright that others can’t bring themselves to look away. It illuminates the path they follow and cements you as a guiding star for their own wayward hearts. Every experience you’ve lived through has built your lighthouse heart up just a little higher. You are inspirational, a light that doesn’t go out.

Will always tries to be kind, he's grown up on the groud level of night city, he's been through it. Lost his family at a young age to circumstances out of his control and adapted the best that he could. He was able to build a life for himself and did pretty well until he nearly lost his own life in the process. Things were shaky for a bit but he got himself back on his feet with the help of V, whom he developed a very close friendship to more with as a result.

His silliness, though annoying and a bit much to some, has definitely helped to keep darker times lighter. He always wants to help where he can and will do just about anything to help pull a loved one or close friend out of trouble. Though he's been known to also get himself into unexpected trouble and occasionally accidentally ends up the one that needs the help.

MICHAEL BLEEKER: A tangled ball of red strings

Who are you without the company of others? You aren’t sure, but you know that you aren’t fond of whoever it is. You are an actor, a pretty face and a pleasant song. Many idolize you, or love you, but you can never be sure of how sincere it is. Your heart is buried under the letters they leave you, sealed with a kiss. It can’t be untangled from the red strings they’ve attached to you. You deserve to find something, someone, true and faithful to hold your heart in place. You don’t have to be everything to everyone.

Michael aka Midas, is a complicated product of a corporate heavy, distant and unpleasant family dynamic. He craves attention he never received and through being tossed into the corporate world became determined to rise to the top in certain skills. Ultimately receiving a toxic level of attention built on competition rather than healthy growth. It formed him into something ruthless, cold and calculating. Determined to win by any means necessary.

What is he without his carefully built and constructed reputation? He has no idea. He's also modded his body to fairly extreme levels in order to further skills and craft an image for himself that is instantly recognizable. He lost himself along the way. It all became a near permanent mask that he's never taken off for anyone. At this point he wouldn't know where to start. Deep down he does crave a more intimate level of connection but has no experience with an actual caring relationship and has no idea what that looks like. Perhaps a tangled ball of red flags is more accurate a description.

-------

Oh my LORD. This got long I'm so sorry, I tried to make the text small so it's less to scroll through. kjghdkfjgh I dunno what I was expecting when I clicked the quiz but it wasn't that. OOF.

Okay cuz I'm late to this lil party I thiiiink most peeps I know have been tagged already? dkfjgdkjfg if anyone wants to do this for their characters please please feel free.

[greensparty]

2025 BUFF - Dispatch #4

Green’s Party is proud to be covering the 2025 Boston Underground Film Festival, which kicked off last night at the Brattle Theatre (Cambridge, MA).  I’ve been lucky enough to cover the festival since 2016. Here is my 2025 BUFF coverage so far.

Saturday featured some daytime screenings in addition to evening screenings. They had their annual Sound + Vision program of music videos. This year they had some good ones including one from Brooklyn band The Dream Eaters, who played at the Friday night BUFF party!

Ethan Embry and Li Jun Li in Alma and the Wolf

The film I was most excited about at this year's BUFF was the World Premiere of Alma & The Wolf. Director Michael Patrick Jann and his son / actor Lukas were there for an intro and Q&A. MJP got his start as a cast member of one of the all-time great sketch comedy groups The State, but he actually directed every episode of their MTV show. In 2023, he and his fellow State members reunited for some shows and I was lucky enough to cover their show in Medford, MA. Comedy Gold! MPJ has since directed a number of TV shows and films, most notably the criminally underrated mockumentary Drop Dead Gorgeous. But he has recently shown his skills as a psychological horror director. Never underestimate sketch comedy directors who transition to horror films, i.e. Edgar Wright and/or Jordan Peele. But I digress. I briefly got to say hello to MPJ and Lukas before the screening and he was super cool! The movie is a supernatural psychological horror film set in coastal Oregon where Ren (Ethan Embry) is a sheriff searching for a wolf that may be responsible for some crimes in the area. It's hard for me to get into much more than that without getting into spoilers, but it reminded me a lot of the works of Stephen King, where the horror elements are metaphors for the dangers of alcoholism on parenting, and Shutter Island, another coastal thriller with loads of mind games. There were a lot of twists and surprises, but what made this perfect for a BUFF screening was the complete and utter moments of pure WTFery! Embry is best known for his work in the 90s (i.e. Empire Records, That Thing You Do, and Can't Hardly Wait), but he's still got the dramatic chops and it's exciting to see him grown up and doing roles like this. Also very cool to see fellow State member Kevin Allison as the police chief. Watch for this when it comes to Paramount+!

Today: last day of the 2025 fest including Ragdoll Dance animated shorts package, Fucktoys, closing night film Escape from the 21st Century and the closing night awards party!

For info on 2025 BUFF

[metamoonshots]

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