#Television World Channels Written Episode

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION PILOT EPISODE CAST/CREW - PART ONE

REBECCA ROOT - MADDIE TOWNSEND/MINA HARKER

Rebecca trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time for the National Theatre (UK and Ireland tour); Rathmines Road for Fishamble at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Trans Scripts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts; The Bear / The Proposal at the Young Vic; and Hamlet at the Gielgud Theatre and Athens International Festival. TV, Film and Video Game credits include Monsieur Spade, This Is Christmas, Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Heartstopper, Annika, The Rising, Sex Education, The Gallery, The Queen’s Gambit, Finding Alice, Creation Stories, Last Christmas, The Sisters Brothers, Colette, The Danish Girl, Flack, The Romanoffs, Moominvalley, Hank Zipzer, Boy Meets Girl, Doctors, Casualty, The Detectives, and Keeping Up Appearances.  Radio credits include Clare In The Community, Life Lines, The Hotel, and 1977 for BBC Radio 4. Guest appearances include Woman’s Hour, Front Row, Loose Ends, Saturday Live, and A Good Read.  She plays Tania Bell in the award-winning Doctor Who: Stranded audio dramas. Rebecca has also recorded numerous documentary narrations, audiobooks, and voice-overs. Rebecca is also a voice and speech coach, holding the MA in Voice Studies from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

SEAN CARLSEN - JEREMY LARKIN/ JONATHAN HARKER

Born in South Wales, Seán trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He has worked extensively in audio drama, television, theatre and film.  Seán is perhaps best known to Doctor Who fans as Narvin in the Doctor Who audio series Gallifrey and has appeared on TV in Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion and Torchwood. Recent TV credits include Mudtown (BBCiplayer/S4C), Dal y Mellt (Netflix), His Dark Materials (BBC1), All Creatures Great and Small (Channel 5), A Mother's Love (Channel 4) and Series 5 of Stella (Sky1).  Films include supporting leads in Boudica - Rise of the Warrior Queen, cult horror The Cleansing,  the lead in Forgotten Journeys and John Sheedy’s forthcoming film ‘Never Never Never’

SAM CLEMENS - ARTHUR JONES

Samuel Clemens trained at the Drama Centre London and is an award-winning director with over twenty years’ experience. Samuel has recently written and directed his debut feature film ‘The Waterhouse’ with Take The Shot Films & Featuristic Films and represented by Raven Banner Entertainment, which is due for release this coming year.  In addition, he has directed fourteen short films, winning awards all over the world including shorts ‘Surgery (multi-award winning), A Bad Day To Propose (Straight 8 winner 2021), Say No & Dress Rehearsal’. Samuel also directs critically acclaimed number one UK stage tours and fringe shows (Rose Theatre Kingston, Swansea Grand, Eastbourne, Yvonne Arnaud, Waterloo East Theatre) and commercials include clients JD Sports, Shell and Space NK. Samuel is also a regular producer and director for Big Finish Productions & Anderson Entertainment. He has cast, directed, produced and post supervised numerous productions of ‘Doctor Who – (BBC), The Avengers (Studio Canal), Thunderbirds, Stingray (Anderson Entertainment), Callan, Missy, Gallifrey’& Shilling & Sixpence Investigate’ and many more. Samuel has directed world class talent such as, Sir Roger Moore, Ben Miles, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Alex Kingston, Frank Skinner, Rita Ora, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley, Rufus Hound, David Warner, Celia Imrie, Samuel West, Youssef Kerkour, Sophie Aldred, Ian McNiece, Colin Baker, Olivia Poulet, Stephen Wight, Jade Anouka, Mimi Ndwendi, Michelle Gomez, Peter Davidson, Paul O’Grady and many more. Samuel is one of the founding members and directors at Take The Shot Films Ltd and is Head of Artistic Creation and Direction. Lastly, Samuel is a regular tutor at The London Film Academy, The Giles Foreman Centre for Acting & The Rose Youth Theatre and is a member of The Directors Guild UK. As for upcoming projects, Sam is currently in pre-production on his next feature film “On The Edge of Darkness”, which is based on his dad’s stage play “Strictly Murder”.

ATTILA PUSKAS - DRACULA

Attila Puskás is a native Hungarian Voice Actor born in Transylvania – Romania, so Romanian is in his bag of tricks too, but most of his work is done in English, in a Transatlantic Eastern European Accent, but is quite capable of Hungarian, Romanian and International Eastern European accents, plus Standard American. His voice range is Adult to Middle Aged (30-40+) due to his deep voice. Vocal styles can range from authoritive, brooding to calming and reassuring and much more. He’s most experienced in character work, like Animations and Games, but his skills encompass Commercials to Narration as well. He’s received training through classes and workshops, pushing him to the next level to achieve higher standards. Now on a journey to perfect these skills and put them to good use!

PART TWO: HERE

PART THREE: HERE

[vintagetvstars]

Nichelle Nichols Vs. Yvonne Craig

Propaganda

Nichelle Nichols - (Star Trek) - She speaks for herself. Legendary, iconic, at the forefront of feminism and civil rights in the 60s, she is a triple threat who did so much more. She volunteered from 1977 to promote recruitment diversity within NASA, including some of the first female and ethnic minority astronauts. Martin Luther King Jr. compared her work on Star Trek as a 'vital role model' to the civil rights marches. She refused to be dismissed, fought for visibility and shone whilst doing so. As a woman in stem, and simply a woman she means the world and stars above to me.

Yvonne Craig - (Batman, Star Trek) - 7 year old me didn't know she was a lesbian but she sure knew she liked batgirl

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Nichelle Nichols:

She is the original badass babe. She was a black woman in a leading role on TV in the 60s, a trailblazer for black actresses for years to come. She is so beautiful and so awesome.

she's fantastic. have you seen her? paved the way for black actresses on TV even while her lines and scenes were being cut and improvised the most iconic uhura line in the series. (sulu: "I'll save you, fair maiden!" uhura, pushing him away: "sorry, neither!") she's incredibly talented and it's a crime the show didn't give her more screen time (or make her sing more often because she also has a beautiful voice!)

“Sorry, neither” in response to “fair maiden” was ad libbed by her. There’s a lot more I could say but what else do you need??

A sci-fi icon!

She was such a trailblazer, and Uhura was such an important character for so many people to be able to see on TV. Apparently Mae Jemison (the first African American woman to go into space) cited her as a reason she wanted to become an astronaut. She was just an absolute legend!

The story of Martin Luther King telling her not to quit Star Trek gives me chills. Representation matters. “Thank you so much, Dr. King. I’m really going to miss my co-stars.” Dr. King's smile, Nichols recalled, vanished from his face. "He said, 'What are you talking about?'" the actress explained. "I told him. He said, 'You cannot,' and so help me, this man practically repeated verbatim what Gene said. He said, 'Don’t you see what this man is doing, who has written this? This is the future. He has established us as we should be seen. 300 years from now, we are here. We are marching. And this is the first step. When we see you, we see ourselves, and we see ourselves as intelligent and beautiful and proud.' He goes on and I’m looking at him and my knees are buckling. I said, 'I…, I…' And he said, 'You turn on your television and the news comes on and you see us marching and peaceful, you see the peaceful civil disobedience, and you see the dogs and see the fire hoses, and we all know they cannot destroy us because we are there in the 23rd Century.'"

She shared the first interracial kiss on Star Trek, helped propel real life African American women into space-related careers, and looks divine in a mini skirt.

HOW DID UHURA WALK BACKWARDS SO FAR??? WOW!

[qinluofu]

Misunderstandings between me & you. – shidou ryusei x gn!sibling reader  

Angst + reader death

a/n : the parents aren't mentioned, i like to think they're dead but ur free to imagine anything else to fill in the holes

At 6:33pm, the message wasn't sent which made Ryusei groan in frustration, he could only hope you were safe while he was stuck in blue lock facilities. He wished – that you would’ve at least subscribed to the channel to tune in all his winnings from PXG and cheered for him but lately you haven’t been responding to his texts at all.

Shrugging away the weird feeling in his guts, he goes back to sleep with a silent prayer you would reply tomorrow. 

Except, you never did reply. Days fly by and he only gets more worried, telling you to stop this stupid prank at once and write back to him. 

And when he was finally able to reach home just to see what on earth you were doing, it was a shitshow because you weren’t home either. Contrary to the bright lights he last saw he was faced with dusty furniture with rooms that seemed abandoned. 

Ryusei filed a police report on impulse – hundreds of possibilities running into his head, confused and dazed he sat back, texting you again asking you where you were. No reply.

The conclusions were drawn, you were in a hospital. He rushed to see you immediately, not caring about the looks on the faces of reporters and fans he knelt beside the bed crying his eyes out. Subconsciously, you also wished to have bidded your brother a proper and final goodbye.

A year ago, you were obviously concerned when ryusei received the notice to join blue lock. He would be gone for months or even years and if he was eliminated he could never ever play for japan. This seemed like a risky bet in your eyes but he was determined to be a better player. 

Maybe that’s when the biggest misunderstanding between you and him formed. 

He wanted to be a better player, for you. So you can enjoy the luxuries and never need to lift a finger. 

You thought he wanted to be a better player so he could enjoy the luxuries for himself. 

You thought he was being greedy. 

Staying at the hospital made you paranoid, as ryusei started to text you less, you started to overthink more. 

Was he finally abandoning you for his football dreams? 

And during your final moments you wished your brother had never joined blue lock and stayed by your side – but that wasn’t happening. 

You missed him. As the world started to give up on you, the television played the bittersweet episodes of blue lock, showing you the wonderful smile of shidou ryusei posing after he scored a goal. 

Ryusei started to read back every text you sent him. You never told him about your sickness, which left him even more confused about the situation. 

Did you perhaps not care about ryusei anymore? 

Unknowingly, his eyes started to wet and he couldn’t control it. 

a/n : ok another note this has to be wprst thing ive written in awhile but i needed to write smth ab shidou. so i guess this is the official end of my hiatus :3

[sociavoidance]

The Evolution of Slam Dunk: From Anime to Personal Passion Project

As a child, after finishing school for the day, I would switch on MBC3, a television channel that aired anime. I'd gather with my cousins and we'd watch anime during our pastime together. Among the popular shows like Dragon Ball Z, Beyblade, Sailor Moon, and Yu-Gi-Oh, one that stands out in my memory is Slam Dunk.

The anime adaptation of Slam Dunk ran for 101 episodes, which were based on the manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue from 1990 to 1996. The story's narratives revolves around Hanamichi Sakuragi, who develops feelings for a girl named Haruko Akagi. Sakuragi decides to join the Shohuku High School Basket Team in an attempt to win her affections.

Slam Dunk first volume manga cover, featuring Hanamichi Sakuragi (redesigned)

The First Slam Dunk (2022): An Overview

Takehiko Inoue took on the roles of both screenwriter and director for the First Slam Dunk movie, making it a personal passion project. The film picks up where the anime left off, after the climactic match between Shohoku and the Shoyo and Ryonan teams combined. However, rather than focusing on Hanamichi Sakuragi, the protagonist of the original story, the movie shifts its focus to Ryota Miyagi. It follows Miyagi's journey as he navigates the world of basketball, his relationships within the team, and his own personal growth.

The Establishing Shot

The movie opens with a scene of Ryota engaged in a one-on-one basketball match with his older brother, Shota Miyagi, on a court. The opening scene effectively sets the tone for the film by showcasing the close bond between Ryota and his brother, and illustrates their deep connection to basketball. Despite the scene's initial brightness and joy, it carries a sense of foreboding, hinting at the tragedy to come: Shota's unexpected death.

Following this loss, the movie delves into Ryota's journey of grief and his determination to honor his brother's memory by pursuing basketball.

Throughout the film, we see present-day or specifically courtside scenes intercut with flashbacks to Ryota's childhood, which is heavy with the weight of processing grief. This storytelling technique slows the pace of the film, allowing the emotional impact to unfold and resonate with viewers.

The Film's Animation

Inoue wanted the movie to capture the essence of the manga, so he chose a light and muted color palette. The film combined 3D CG imagery for basketball scenes mixed with traditional hand-drawn 2D animation for everyday life scenes. Personally, I believe Inoue achieved his goals because as I watched the movie, it felt like the manga illustrations were coming alive. I particularly enjoyed the "watercolor" effect created by the sharp outlines around the characters, and the soft, layered colors.

Lessons Learnt from Shota Miyagi

"I’m always like this too, my heart pounds like crazy. That’s why… I have to pretend that I’m fine."

In the opening scene, at the basketball court, Shota is not only teaching Ryota how to play basketball but also valuable life lessons about strength and resilience. In the scenes leading up to this, we witness Shota processing with the loss of his father while also being a support for his mother. Despite his own grief, Shota bravely declares to his mother that he will take on the responsibility of being the head of the household. This display of strength and determination resonates deeply, almost as if Shota is speaking directly to the audience (breaking the fourth wall), urging them to remain steadfast in the face of adversity. His courage serves as an inspiring reminder to stay strong during trying times, no matter how challenging they may seem.

Final Thoughts

"The First Slam Dunk" stands out from other sports and action anime or movies by taking viewers on a journey from pain and trauma to resilience and strength. It blends fast-paced basketball scenes with slow flashbacks, creating tension and anticipation that keeps viewers engaged. When I watched the film in the cinema, I felt inspired and motivated—it made me want to start drawing in my sketchbook right then and there. The movie left a strong impression on me and remains my biggest inspiration for improving my artwork.

It was incredible to see how the narrative shifted from focusing solely on sports and romance in the anime adaptation I watched as a child to a more personal and meaningful message in the movie years later. As the title suggests, Inoue intended for both familiar and unfamiliar audiences to experience it as though it were their first time watching, establishing a different perspective and impact.

[mikethemovieguy]

NICKELODEON INTRODUCES ROCK PAPER SCISSORS, DEBUTING FEBRUARY 12, 2024

All-New Animated Series Stars Ron Funches as Rock, Thomas Lennon as Paper and Carlos Alazraqui as Scissors

Exclusive Look at Original Animated Short to Air Christmas Day on Nickelodeon

BURBANK, Calif. – December 19, 2023 – Inspired by the age-old tradition of settling things with your best friends, the game comes to life through the shenanigans of pals Rock, Paper and Scissors in Nickelodeon’s new animated series Rock Paper Scissors, premiering Monday, February 12, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. As the first short picked up for series from Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts Program, new episodes will continue to air weekdays at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) and internationally later in the month.

In Rock Paper Scissors, titular characters, Rock, Paper and Scissors, are a trio of best friends and roommates who lovingly compete over everything in hilarious but mostly wildly absurd ways. Throughout season one, the trio will go to extremes playing hide-and-seek around the world, running from the birthday police, defending the world from an alien invasion, going head-to-head with the Rat Bros and more.

Nickelodeon’s brand-new animated comedy stars Ron Funches (Trolls, Trolls Band Together) as Rock, the member of the trio with the biggest heart and moral compass; Thomas Lennon (Zoey 102, 17 Again, Reno 911!) as Paper, the wannabe intellectual who dreams of being a famous inventor; and Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko’s Modern Life, Reno 911!) as Scissors, who acts overly confident and always wants to be cool. The series also stars Melissa Villaseñor (Saturday Night Live) as Pencil, the trio’s incredibly smart neighbor down the hall and Eddie Pepitone (The Muppets, Old School) as Lou, the angry landlord, who is also a garbage can.

Ahead of the series launch, viewers can catch an exclusive look at the Rock Paper Scissors Intergalactic Short, “TV Time,” during the Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game on Monday, December 25 at 1:00 p.m. PT / 4:00 p.m. ET on Nickelodeon, where the trio go from fighting over what to watch on TV to being the stars of a successful Broadway musical.

Originally launched in 2019 as a short, Rock Paper Scissors was greenlit for series from Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts Program. Produced by Nickelodeon Animation, the original Rock Paper Scissors short and series are created, written and executive produced by Kyle Stegina (Robot Chicken) and Josh Lehrman (Robot Chicken), with Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Bob Boyle (The Fairly OddParents) serving as executive producers on the series. Development is overseen by Nickelodeon Animation’s Kari Kim, Vice President of Animation Development and Daniel Wineman, Vice President of Original Animation Development. The series is overseen by Executive in Charge, Jason Oliveri.

For more Rock Paper Scissors, follow the trio on the Nicktoons YouTube channel. In addition to hysterical shorts and clips, full episodes are available to watch now, including “The Birthday Police” and “Paper’s Big Lie.”

About Nickelodeon Nickelodeon, now in its 44th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location-based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon is a part of Paramount’s (Nasdaq: PARA, PARAA) global portfolio of multimedia entertainment brands.

###

[dropoff99]

Wheel of Time S2 Episode 5 - “Damane” is an achievement in adaptation that should be recognized

I’m not an active reviewer of this show or any other. It’s not something I am very interested in. However I think it’s important to note when a piece of art begins to transform into something greater than the sum of its parts, especially with an adaptation of this magnitude which has so many things to juggle it can make your head spin.

This series has been a part of my life for over 25 years. It’s as difficult for me to remove my bias as it is for anyone, especially when beloved moments from the series are changed. Any fantasy fan who has spent time around the genre has experienced this. However I feel that the fandom really needs to recognize what is happening currently on Amazon Prime’s Wheel of Time.

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of time is possibly the most ambitious fantasy series ever created. A magic system with as much depth as you will find in fantasy, hundreds of named characters, 14 large books, a prequel novella, a couple encyclopedic volumes, and now a major streaming series on Amazon Prime.

Up until this point half-way through the second season the show has been admirable in some of its attempts at adapting Jordan’s beloved series but I don’t think any fan (of either the show or the books) could really say it is has been a total success in terms of quality. S2 E5 on the other hand is simultaneously a great adaptation of the series and a great episode of television that could be the turning point from a capable fantasy show to an excellent one. Before we get into that let’s revisit where we’ve been.

Season 1

S1 had 2 really good episodes, a couple outright bad ones (finale), but mostly could be described as average storytelling hidden by some great performances by Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney and set in a beautiful and interesting universe. For all intents and purposes it was a success in terms of attracting viewers, introducing new audiences to RJ’s series and being a decent show.

There have been some great casting choices and the majority of the cast has worked with a couple exceptions (recasting of Mat). The characters are firmly recognizable from Jordan’s work with of course some big changes as well that vary in terms of popularity with the fandom. However, the challenge of making the wheel of time universe really sing (ie the fantasy/lore concepts) was hit or miss for me in S1 (in many ways a miss). I’m not speaking of book accuracy, simply how interesting and cool they were.

Emonds Field 5 - not perfect but definitely a success

Myrddraal and Trollocs - success

Channeling - 50/50

White Tower - success

Thom/gleeman - failure

Ta’veren - TBD

Loial/Ogier - meh (admittedly high degree of difficulty)

Eye of the World - failure and was not interesting at all

Aes Sedai and Warders - biggest achievement of S1, huge success

Fal Dara - meh

Traveling people - meh

The ways - decent

Two Rivers - 50/50

Logain/male channelers - success

Darkfriends - success

Whitecloaks - decent

Shadar Logoth - decent

Overall an admirable effort, especially considering how much they adapted but IMO they had some big misses that brought down the season.

Season 2

So far the second season has seen a huge jump over the first season in terms of production quality, visual style, performances, and dialogue. Many of the actors on the show have found their footing, particularly Josha Stradowski who plays Rand. Every new major character they have introduced has not only been written well but their performances have been off the charts which I will touch on more when I discuss E5.

However the first 4 episodes were much like the first season. The pacing was hit or miss, some of the changes have landed (Nynaeve in the arches) and a few have not (namely Lan’s arc). Mat is still MIA but we will see how they land things with him later. Either way season 1 caliber storytelling combined with the other upgrades in acting, visual style, and overall polish makes for a pretty damn good product.

Episode 5 - “Damane” (full spoilers)

It’s difficult for me to fully explain why E5 was so satisfying. It is less about any one individual factor and more about how smoothly it weaved (no pun intended) many well executed components together.

The first thing I will start with is visual style. S2 has been an upgrade in general from S1 in many of its choices but Episode 5 is on a different level.

The initial location (near falme) Liandrin takes the girls is absolutely stunning. I took my own little photo above to demonstrate just how sumptuous this looked in 4K in my living room. The show has always been pretty but I will admit the variety of locales in S2 as well as the cinematography has been a significant upgrade. What I especially liked about this scene is that it did not lean on a slick establishing shot of a CG city or even a giant fortress/village made specifically for the show, two things WoT is very good at. Instead this is a simple scene in terms of CG. It’s just a waygate and the effects used for channeling all look great and are not too over the top. As far as set design it’s just the stone pillars for the waygate and the large throne that Suroth rides around on (and Seanchan costumes). Otherwise it’s a beautiful natural location that grounds the action and fantasy elements organically while pulling in the viewer to this world.

But that’s just a taste.

Story locations in this episode: Falme, Cairhien, Toman Head, The White Tower, Tel’aranrhiod, The Ways. And that’s not counting different areas within those places.

Each of the above have a strong visual language to communicate the various cultures and landscapes of Jordan’s universe and I don’t think it skips a single beat going back and forth between them. Forests, deserts, marshland, night scenes, day scenes, cities, villages, fortresses, and fantasy creations like the ways and the dream world. The show was in its bag in terms of something interesting to draw the eye the entire episode.

The performances were no different in terms of their variety and quality. Fares Fares (Ishamael) and Natasha O’Keefe (Lanfear) were probably the best on screen fantasy villains I’ve seen since vintage Game of Thrones seasons. They were engaging, scary, and villainous in a relatable but unapologetic manner, delivering line after line that could easily be viewed as cheesy if not for perfect execution in direction and tone. And frankly what I liked most is that the show didn’t fall in to the modern temptation to make them less evil. Sure they have their justifications/motivations but they are also unambiguous baddies from the viewer’s perspective which is true to Jordan.

Moving on to Rosamund Pike who we’re really running out of things to say in terms of her acting which has never dipped for a second for the entirety of the show. What was more impressive is how the show’s writers have demonstrated their commitment to showing a ruthlessly efficient character who will do whatever it takes to save the world. This episode highlighted her commitment to her cause as well as her intelligence in dealing with a character who is immensely powerful.

Ayoola Smart as Aviendha provided the best action sequence and an excellent dialogue scene with Perrin that efficiently introduced ji’e’toh and Aiel culture. I am really looking forward to seeing more from her as Aviendha is one of my favorite characters. On a similar note Meera Syal really got to flex her abilities as Verin in a much more recognizable manner to book readers than what we saw earlier in the show. It was thrilling to watch her pick apart Liandrin’s plot.

The last thing that I was really impressed by and primarily why I wrote this post to begin with is how committed the show seems to be to genuinely introducing some of the most difficult elements of the Wheel of Time universe which is honestly not what I expected given the first 4 episodes. Let’s take some inventory of what we got from E5 as well as S2 so far straight from the books/universe.

Aviendha/Aiel/ji’e’toh - success

Falme - as a location it’s a success

Seanchan - success (with a very high degree of difficulty)

Collaring - success

Lanfear/Selene - huge success

Ishamael - huge success

Novice training /arches - success

Cairhien - success

Horn - TBD

Elyas - success

Wolfbrother abilities - controversial but a success IMO

Tel’aranrhiod - success

Verin/Browns - success

Channeling - success

Mat’s abilities - TBD but this might be a big L

Min’s Visions - TBD but so far an L for me

Elayne - success

Do I think this show is going to be this good every episode from now on? Probably not. And yes there is still plenty to dislike from S2. Mat/Min are borderline non existent so far, the Lan/Moiraine arc was miserable until they separated, and Siuan hasn’t even shown up yet (despite having some badass scenes in the second book that are very memorable).

However I will say this is the first time where I’ve felt real confidence in where the story is headed both short and long term. If they do this for the remaining three episodes then Wheel of Time will hold the belt for best fantasy show currently running.

[theaddictedwatcher]

Hello everyone!

Today I am delighted to present you the first of the series you were able to choose thanks to the survey done on my Instagram (@theaddictedwatcherreviews): Sandman! Series composed of 11 episodes released in August 2022, adapted for Netflix from Neil Gaiman’s eponymous comics, the series was a great success and I’m going to tell you why.

A short synopsis to introduce you to the series: Morpheus, the King of Dreams, is one of the seven Endless. While he finds himself captured by a British occultist for nearly 106 years, the Awakened world - that of Men - sinks into an epidemic of « sleep disease ». Indeed, since the Sand Merchant is no longer there to rule the world of Dreams, Men on Earth are sinking. However, he manages to escape and undertakes a journey through the two worlds to find what was stolen from him in order to rebuild his Kingdom, which finds itself in ruins following his long absence.

And a small technical presentation:

- Created by : Allan Heinberg

Based on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novels, Sandman, published between 1989 and 1996 by DC Comics

- Music by : David Buckley

- Main casting : Tom Sturridge, Vanesu Samunyai, Eddie Karanja, Boyd Holbrook, Vivienne Acheampong, Patton Oswalt, Mason Alexander Park, Razane Jammal, Sandra James-Young, David Thewlis.

When announcing the serial adaptation of the Sandman comics, Neil Gaiman said that he would be more involved than he was in the television adaptation of his novel American Gods (released in 2001 and adapted by the Starz channel in 2017), but less than in the adaptation of Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett, published in 1990 and adapted by Prime Video and the BBC in 2019 to meet a posthumous request from Terry Pratchett). He was therefore part of the creative team, the executive production of the series and made important narrative changes with the team of authors compared to comics.

Indeed, the story begins in 2021 instead of 1989 in comics, and Morpheus/Dream -played by Tom Sturridge- was imprisoned for 106 years instead of 75. Other characters have also been adapted to correspond to current questions such as Doctor Destiny, who is embodied in the form of his alter ego John Dee -played by David Thewlis- or John Constantine who has been reinvented as a female character, Johanna Constantine - played by Jenna Coleman. The role of Matthew the Raven -played by Patton Oswalt- has also been expanded in the series so that Morpheus has someone to communicate his thoughts with, which was represented by bubbles in comics but is impractical to do in live-action. Allan Heinberg, the creator of the series, explains that for him « Sandman comics were ahead of everyone in the late 1980s in terms of the representation of women, race, sexuality and gender ». Neil Gaiman explained that he chose to remove various references to the DC universe - such as the presence of Martian Manhunter and Mister Miracle - because the Sandman series was moving away from the initial links with the DC universe. This will also avoid the potential implications that the series could have with other adaptations of DC Comics in the future.

One of the first remarks I will make would be about the quality of the casting choices to embody absolutely all of the characters -the heroes of the story as well as the antagonists. In the cast, I only knew the characters least present, which does not mean that they are characters of lesser importance. Indeed, you may recognize in the names of Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who), Stephen Fry (V for Vendetta), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones, Wednesday), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who), Derek Jacobi (Gladiator, Doctor Who, The Borgias), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve), James McAvoy (X-MEN, Split), Neil Gaiman himself or David Tennant and Michael Sheen (Good Omens). As for the most central characters in the story, like Morpheus -embodied by Tom Sturridge-, the Corinthian -played by Boyd Holbrook- or Lucienne -played by Vivienne Acheampong, it has been brought to my attention after having seen the series that I had previously seen them in various other productions but they hadn’t made a strong enough impression on me in these respective roles and I had all the pleasure to rediscover their talent fully in this series. Each and every actor and actress -whether they are main characters, secondary or even special guest- have been able to bring their own mark on their role, something that identifies their character with their signature. This is partly what makes this production very qualitative in the sense that not only is it very well interpreted but also unique enough to stand out from the thousands of other fantastic series that are released every year.

In addition, I would like to take a moment to talk about the artistic direction of the series. Sandra Phillips and Luc Whitelock, the two artistic directors of the series, did a phenomenal job. Whether on the special effects themselves or even simply on the light games, the camera angles, the different atmospheres from one episode to the next, contribute to creating a very characteristic atmosphere and aesthetic which reinforce its fantastic-horrific aspect. Because, make no mistake about the atmosphere, although the series is tinged with onism through the various worlds of the Endless, it is also imbued with a dose of horror and macabre in the world of the Awakened. Through this aesthetic dichotomy, the series shows the best and worst of humanity, how humans could -if we were to let ourselves be governed by our animal instincts- sink into self-destruction, chaos, violence and let all our worst flaws dominate us. I will not develop more but if you are sensitive -or curious- to what I am talking about, I am particularly refering to episode 5 of season 1 entitled 24/7…

During the creation of the series, David S. Goyer, Allan Heinberg and Neil Gaiman explained that they often discussed the following question: « Why is it essential to tell Sandman’s story now? » To which Allan Heinberg answered every time « Sandman is an exploration of what it means to be human. To be mortal and therefore vulnerable. Able to be hurt, but also able to love and be loved. Sandman is the story of an honorable and arrogant king who learns slowly, very slowly, to love. » David S. Goyer adds that the series is summarized as « the story of a god who, in the course of history, loses his divinity, becomes mortal and learns what it means to be mortal. This is the story of a really crapy dysfunctional family. The Endless, even if they are divine beings, all have their little quarrels. Some of them hate each other. Some love each other. It’s just that when they fight, it’s whole worlds and universes that suffer from it » and called it a melodrama. Morpheus is sometimes simultaneously a protagonist and a catalyst for the events of the series, he is a character who « cares about humanity in the abstract, but not in the concrete ».

I also would like to acknowledge the work on costumes done by Sarah Arthur who managed to give a strong visual signature to the characters and managed to make them stand out from each other while giving clues about the links between certain characters through small details slipped here and there into the costumes of the main characters.

Finally, as always, I will finish by telling you a little about the soundtrack of the series built by David Buckley. Not only do the different themes of the series make it possible to accentuate the different main characters as well as their intentions, but the music also makes it possible for the viewer to travel between the different worlds explored alongside Morpheus.

If there is one thing I must admit to the series distributed and produced by Netflix, it is that not a single one of the ones I have seen could be qualified to have a bad soundtrack. Although obviously I have not seen their entire catalog, I think I have seen enough to make this remark, which remains a subjective and personal opinion. Obviously you are free to disagree and please let me know if you do, I will discuss it with pleasure! But, at least at the moment I write these lines, none comes to mind.

I think I’ve talked enough to leave you here for this article on the Sandman series! I hope I made you want to at least take a look at this masterpiece!

Don’t forget to keep an eye every Saturday on my Instagram account (@theaddictedwatcherreviews) if you want to be able to choose the subject of the next article!

In the meantime, I wish you good viewings and I’ll see you very soon with new adventures!

Eli.

[consanguinitatum]

Did He or Didn't He? - David Tennant and 'One-Eyed Jacques'

Today my David Tennant exploration thread goes a new direction - instead of his theatre or audio work, today I've chosen to feature one of his oddest performances on film. It's an odd duck, because you can barely see him in it (and only if you REALLY LOOK) because he isn't credited!

This eccentric short film is called "One Eyed Jacques." It's mentioned a number of places on the Net and has been attributed to David, but his name's never mentioned in the credits.

So did he do it? I think so, yes. We'll get to that. But let's first take a look at the film in a lot more detail.

"One-Eyed Jacques" was written by Jonathan Romney, and directed by Romney and Richard Clark, the director of the Doctor Who episodes 'The Lazarus Experiment' and 'Gridlock.' It was produced by Lisa-Marie Russo of Jump Monk Films. Made in 2001, it was one of seven short films which aired on 26 Sep 2002, as a part of Channel 4’s six-part series called “Shooting Gallery.” Hosted by Mark Kermode, the show focused on works of talented new UK filmmakers. 'One-Eyed Jacques' was featured in the episode “World Stories” alongside six other short films: 'Bullet in the Brain', 'Copyshop', 'Bus 44', 'Pourquoi...Pass Keu?', 'Palindrome', & 'Shifting Units'. 'One-Eyed Jacques' was also screened at two film festivals in 2001: the Uppsala International Short Film Festival in Sweden on 24 Oct 2001, and at the Brief Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol on 14 Nov 2001. It was also screened in 2002 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). As far as I know, it has never been screened or shown anywhere else. The short is about Veronique and Jacques, a couple seated in a fancy restaurant enjoying dinner. When Jacques gets food splashed in his eye, we see his eye is made of glass. When he removes it to clean it, it rolls onto the floor! As it rolls around, we see the world from its perspective. That's...odd, right? It really is. The short used to be on You Tube, but it's been gone for years. I grabbed it when it was still available, so I'm happy to say I've got a copy! Here are some screenshots to prep us for our chat about whether we think DT was ever in this at all:

So: the argument against?

He's NOT CREDITED.

Here are all of the film's credits. The short is subtitled and has a runtime of 3:04. As you see, the listed cast is Nathalie Paris as Veronique, Alain Bourgouin as Jacques, and James Olivier as the Voice.

No David listed.

The argument for?

He IS credited, just not in the film!

In an industry publication by Thomas Riggs called Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television, 'One-Eyed Jacques' IS listed among David's credits. It's noted (red arrow) in the Jan 2007 edition in Vol 75, p. 319.

Now in case you're wondering why there would be confusion about whether he was or was not in the film because you could surely just see his face and there you have it. Well, that's the whole problem. You never SEE his face! So we need to put on our detective hats. You call yourself a DT fan? Let's test that, shall we?

At the very beginning of the short, Veronique is served by a waiter in black pants and a black shirt who's wearing what appears to be a white waiter's apron. Only the waiter’s hands and fingers are visible to Veronique’s right as she hands the waiter her menu. Here are a few screen shots from that moment.

Study the waiter's hand and thumb carefully. At the risk of sounding nutty, we DT fans are familiar with his hands and fingers and the ways they're distinctly shaped from other works he's been in. What I mean is, his thumb...bends...a certain way. Right? And so does this particular thumb! So it's MY belief this is his hand, and he is indeed the uncredited waiter. But what say you?

Really, I think the ONLY WAY we'll ever know for sure is if we go to the source. And that source, my friends, is Richard Clark himself. He could tell us if David Tennant is the uncredited waiter in the short film 'One-Eyed Jacques'. I've tagged him in the Twitter thread this post originally came from, just in case he felt like answering. I'd love it if he would!

[fancoloredglasses]

Zorro (Get your swashes buckled, folks!)

[All images are owned by New World Television and Zorro Productions, Inc (really!) Please don’t sue me or ruin my clothing with Zs]

(Thanks to megafan_12)

For those who are unaware, Zorro (“The Fox” in Spanish) is a masked swordsman who fights a corrupt government in the same vein as Robin Hood or the Scarlet Pimpernel, but in the town of Los Angeles during the time California was under Spanish/Mexican rule. Much like the aforementioned literary heroes, Zorro is a member of the local aristocracy (Don Diego de la Vega, son of one of the largest landowners in the region) who acts like a dandy and a coward to hide his masked activities.

He has been in literature since 1919 and has been in several movies and television shows (usually by a white man) In fact, it wasn’t until the 70s that a Latino (or Spanish) actor was cast in the role! Talk about injustice!

Most people know the Zorro films that starred Antonio Banderas as the title character (who inherited the mantle from Anthony Hopkins, yet ANOTHER white guy!) Many have seen Guy Ritchie as Zorro in the 50s (who didn’t need to worry about being white since the series was filmed in black & white and no one could tell his skin tone) The film I was first introduced to the character was Zorro, the Gay Blade (no, it wasn’t porn!) which starred Goerge Hamilton (yep, another while guy) as Don Diego and his twin brother Ramon (AKA “Bunny Wigglesworth” who was, shall we say, a bit flamboyant) The less said about that film, the better.

But the subject for this review was a forgotten gem from the 90s that aired on the cable network known as The Family Channel (I swear I saw it in the USA Network, but I couldn’t find any record in my research to prove this)

The series, naturally, follows Don Diego (played by Duncan Regehr yet ANOTHER white guy!)

…and his masked alter ego. (NOTE: Regehr was more muscular and fit than most previous actors in the role, meaning he could be a bit more physical. The character was also written as being a bit of a science buff)

Don Diego lives with his father Don Alejandro (played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr (yep, also white), who voiced Alfred in Batman: the Animated Series, in season 1…

…and Henry Darrow (FINALLY! A Latino actor, and one who actually played Zorro a few years earlier!) for the rest of the series)

…as well as his family’s mute servant Felipe (played by Juan Diego Botto), who also pretends to be deaf and is the only one who knows Don Diego’s secret (it’s not like he can tell anyone)

Don Diego’s love interest is Victoria Escalante (played by Patrice Martinez, who also played the love interest in The Three Amigos)

Zorro fights the corrupt Alcalde (governor) of the territory around Los Angeles Luis Ramone (played by Michael Tylo...yep, another one)

…but was replaced in season 3 by Ignacio de Soto (played by J.G. Hertzler (Seriously?!))

The Alcalde’s chief aide (and leader of the garrison) is Sgt. Mendoza (played by James Victor, the ONE Latino on the bad guys' side), who is the comic relief (of course...) for the series (which explains why they can never stop Zorro)

The plots generally revolve around the Alcalde’s latest plot to stop Zorro by trapping him while performing some form of injustice against the people of Los Angeles, only to be foiled. Note that while the series is very by-the-numbers, the action sequences are well done and there are a number of well-known (or soon-to-be-well-known) actors (as well as, for some reason, a handful of World Wrestling Federation wrestlers) who have guest starred.

As always, if you would like to see an episode reviewed, please let me know!

[onenettvchannel]

FLASH REPORT OVERNIGHT: France Télévisions cancelled airing the Final 4th Season Premiere of 'Wakfu', shifting to Internet TV and the Online Streaming Services thru both 'Okoo' & 'Ankama Launcher' [#K5NewsFMExclusive]

(Written by Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Freelanced News Writer, Reporter and Presenter of OneNETnews)

(1st UPDATE) ROUBAIX, FRANCE -- France 4, the popular French public broadcasting channel, decided not to broadcast both new episodes of the 4th and final season of 'Wakfu' last Friday night (February 9th, 2024). This was quite unexpected as these episodes were supposed to be legally aired on national television at 7:30pm (France local time).

DWFH-FM 97.7mhz's K5 News FM: Dumaguete and OneNETnews have both got the inside scoop, in a new trailer and episode synopsis listings of the upcoming episode disclosed that the final season will be available for streaming exclusively on the 'Okoo' app, and internationally in certain countries worldwide through the Ankama Launcher.

French entertainment & gaming developer company 'Ankama' introduces the 'Ankama Launcher', is a digital all-in-one multimedia and gaming platform that acts as a central hub for accessing a range of services. With this aforementioned multimedia launcher, players and users can easily download & play your favorite Ankama's games, connect with their online communities and even stream their beloved animated French cartoon series. One of the great advantages of the said multimedia launcher adds the first video-on-demand feature (VoD), allowing fans to watch the latest new episodes of Wakfu whenever they want, giving them the freedom to enjoy at their own convenience.

While 'Okoo' (a programming block for kids & teens aired on France Télévisions), a public television broadcaster. It was introduced after 'Ludo' in December 2019 with the goal of providing a vast selection of entertaining and educational shows specifically designed for children aged 3 to 12. Okoo features a mix of animated series, live-action programs and digital content from both France and other countries. With its diverse range of children's programming, Okoo has become a beloved choice for young and teenage viewers in France.

(Episode Synopsis Provided by the Ankama Servers and compiled thru Public Communications of OneNETtv Channel)

This season with a context, starts off with the Brotherhood of the Tofu going on a mysterious adventure, meeting new friends and discovering surprising truths. As they travel through a devastated land and meet old acquaintances, they become caught up in a fight against the 'Necros', powerful creatures that pose a threat to the 'World of 12'. The scene is set for an incredible battle as 'Yugo the Eliatrope' and their friends prepare themselves for the ultimate final showdown to defend their world and restore peace.

Apart from Season 4, few of the online netizens on 'The X Network' (previously known as Twitter) have raised queries regarding the possibility of a Season 5. Additionally, there are plans for the French webtoon comics to make their debut in the early to mid-year of 2024. Anthony Roux, the show creator of Wakfu expressed his thoughts in the French dialect stating in the replied X Network social media post: "Je comprends bien mais quand l’histoire est trop noire, ça devient impossible à vendre". (When the story becomes too dark, it becomes impossible to sell.)

Because of the intense darker scenes after this said final 4th season, France Televisions (both are all owned with 'France 3' and 'France 4' on Wakfu) and the kids & teens programming block 'Okoo' are no longer covering to animate new episodes, which is way over the target demographic limit, and turning into a potential mature audience for 'Ankama Studios', as per sources told exclusively to K5 News FM: Dumaguete.

(CONTRIBUTED SCREENGRAB COURTESY via Reddit and Research Team of OneNETnews)

The English dubbed for the last season is set to begin in May 2024. However, because of this extremely insisted public demand, our internet TV station 'OneNETtv Channel', will now be officially broadcasted on Philippine TV and streamed worldwide through LIVE streaming channels. The Negrosanon's Entertainment and News Leader is here to provide you with fresh new episodes straight from the source with 'Okoo'.

(PHOTO COURTESY: Ankama PR)

We are about to get ready to have your minds blown next week on Friday night in France! France 4's Okoo programming block is about to bring us the most exciting and highly anticipated final episodes of Wakfu, and it's all up to us within the coming weeks between this month of February and in the mid-March of 2024.

"Since France 4 is not being able to broadcast on national French television, the 4th and a last season of Wakfu will be distributed through different platforms. The media partners 'France Television' and 'Animation Digital Network', have made the decision to release it on the 'Okoo' app for local French viewers, and through the 'Ankama Launcher' for international online viewers who have paid for access. As the station manager here in Bailley City, Texas… I am excited to announce that we will be airing the new episodes of Wakfu, as part of our own syndicated blocktime programme", Ms. Miko Kubota, station manager and president of OneNETtv Channel & fictional protagonist female character of Glitch Techs spoke exclusively in an overnight emergency meeting to OneNETnews.

Prepare for the anticipated conclusion as the upcoming 4th and final season of 'Wakfu' delivers heart-stopping action, thrilling adventures and unexpected twists that will keep you on the edge of your cinema-like furniture seat until the very last moment. The last 3 new episodes of its 4th Season Finale of 'Wakfu' airs on March 15th, 2024.

(From left to right: Nora [a newly supported female protagonist character], Yugo the Eliatrope and Prncs. Amalia Sheran Sharm)

Don't miss out on the exciting new episodes of 'Wakfu' with 2 new back-to-back episodes. Every Friday nights at 7:30pm (France local time) / 1:30pm EST / 12:30pm CST (in the U.S.) / 2:30am in Manila (Saturday early morning). LIVE and EXCLUSIVE, only on OneNETtv Channel - DYDZ-DTV: Channel 8. Dumaguete and Negrosanon's News Leader! If you can't watch it LIVE at your own time, new episodes will also be available for streaming in France on the 'Okoo' app, and on the 'Ankama Launcher' within the same day.

WALLPAPER PHOTO COURTESY: Ankama Animations

SOURCE: *https://twitter.com/animetv_fr/status/1756283781009297420 [Referenced X Network Captioned Post via AnimeTVFrance] *https://twitter.com/francetvslash/status/1756030206228254777 [Referenced X Network VIDEO via FranceTVSlash] *https://twitter.com/Totankama/status/1756032229082280054 [Referenced X Network Reply Post via Totankama] *https://old.reddit.com/r/wakfu/comments/1ancxn1/tot_admits_season_5_will_be_in_mangawebtoon_only/ *https://old.reddit.com/r/wakfu/comments/1ams0es/season_4_broadcast_schedule_revealed_with_season/ and *https://www.ankama.com/en/launcher [Referenced Homepage Microsite via Ankama website]

-- OneNETnews Team

CORRECTION NOTES (as of February 17th, 2024): As I didn't noticed on both sides of paragraphs, we deleted one paragraph on the spot. We sincerely apologize for the confusion.

[whileiamdying]

Barry Humphries (Dame Edna to You, Possums) Is Dead at 89

Bewigged, bejeweled and bejowled, Mr. Humphries’s creation was one of the longest-lived characters ever channeled by a single performer.

Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage in the one-person show “Dame Edna: Back With a Vengeance” at the Music Box Theater on Broadway in 2004. Credit... Sara Krulwich

by Margalit Fox April 22, 2023Updated 12:35 p.m. ET

Oh, Possums, Dame Edna is no more.

To be unflinchingly precise, Barry Humphries, the Australian-born actor and comic who for almost seven decades brought that divine doyenne of divadom, Dame Edna Everage, to delirious, dotty, disdainful Dadaist life, died on Saturday in Sydney. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by the hospital where he had spent several days after undergoing hip surgery. In a tribute message posted on Twitter, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia praised Mr. Humphries as “a great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind.”

A stiletto-heeled, stiletto-tongued persona who might well have been the spawn of a ménage à quatre involving Oscar Wilde, Salvador Dalí, Auntie Mame and Miss Piggy, Dame Edna was not so much a character as a cultural phenomenon, a force of nature trafficking in wicked, sequined commentary on the nature of fame.

For generations after the day she first sprang to life on the Melbourne stage, Dame Edna reigned, bewigged, bejeweled and bejowled, one of the longest-lived characters to be channeled by a single performer. She toured worldwide in a series of solo stage shows and was ubiquitous on television in the United States, Britain, Australia and elsewhere.

A master improviser (many of Dame Edna’s most stinging barbs were ad-libbed) with a face like taffy, Mr. Humphries was widely esteemed as one of the world’s foremost theatrical clowns.

“I’ve only seen one man have power over an audience like that,” the theater critic John Lahr told him, after watching Dame Edna night after night in London. “My father.” Mr. Lahr’s father was the great stage and cinematic clown Bert Lahr.

Mr. Humphries conceived Edna in 1955 as Mrs. Norm Everage, typical Australian housewife. “Everage,” after all, is Australian for “average.”

Housewife, Superstar, National Treasure

But Edna soon became a case study in exorbitant amour propre, lampooning suburban pretensions, political correctness and the cult of celebrity, and acquiring a damehood along the way. A “housewife-superstar,” she called herself, upgrading the title in later years to “megastar” and, still later, to “gigastar.”

Mr. Humphries as Dame Edna, wearing a hat in the shape of the Sydney Opera House, in 1976. Credit... Wesley/Getty Images

In Britain, where Mr. Humphries had long made his home, Dame Edna was considered a national treasure, a paragon of performance art long before the term was coined.

In the United States, she starred in a three-episode series, “Dame Edna’s Hollywood,” a mock celebrity talk show broadcast on NBC in the early 1990s, and was a frequent guest on actual talk shows.

She performed several times on Broadway, winning Mr. Humphries a special Tony Award, as well as Drama Desk and Theater World Awards, for “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour,” his 1999 one-person show.

In her stage and TV shows, written largely by Mr. Humphries, Dame Edna typically made her entrance tottering down a grand staircase (Mr. Humphries was more than six feet tall) in a tsunami of sequins, her hair a bouffant violet cloud (she was “a natural wisteria,” she liked to say), her evening gown slit to the thigh to reveal Mr. Humphries’s surprisingly good legs, her body awash in jewels, her eyes agape behind sprawling rhinestone glasses (“face furniture,” she called them).

Addressing the audience, she delivered her signature greeting, “Hellooooo, Possums!”

By turns tender and astringent, Dame Edna called audience members “possums” often. She also called them other things, as when, leaning across the footlights, she would address a woman in the front row in a confiding, carrying voice: “I know, dear. I used to make my own clothes, too.”

Mr. Humphries with the English actress Joan Plowright at the Lyric Theater in London. Credit... Evening Standard/Getty Images

Performances concluded with Dame Edna flinging hundreds of gladioli into the crowd, no mean feat aerodynamically. “Wave your gladdies, Possums!” she exhorted audience members who caught them, and the evening would end, to music, with a mass valedictory swaying.

Between the “Hellooooo” and the gladdies, Dame Edna’s audiences were treated to a confessional monologue deliciously akin to finding oneself stranded in a hall of vanity mirrors.

There was commentary on her husband and children (“I made a decision: I put my family last”); her beauty regimen (“Good self-esteem is very important. I look in the mirror and say, ‘Edna, you are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous’”); and the constellation of luminaries who routinely sought her counsel, among them Queen Elizabeth II and her family. (“I’ve had to change my telephone number several times to stop them ringing me.”)

Dame Edna’s TV shows were often graced by actual celebrity guests, including Zsa Zsa Gabor, Charlton Heston, Sean Connery, Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall.

They came in for no less of a drubbing than the audience did, starting with the inaugural affront, the affixing of immense name tags to their lapels — for eclipsed by the light of gigastardom so close at hand, who among us would not be reduced to anonymity?

“Chuck,” Mr. Heston’s name tag read. Ms. Gabor received two: a “Zsa” for the right shoulder and a “Zsa” for the left.

A few pleasantries were exchanged before Dame Edna moved in for the kill.

“You’ve had nine hits this year,” she purred fawningly at the singer-songwriter Michael Bolton on one of her British TV shows. “On your website.”

Turning to the audience after delivering a particularly poisonous insult, she would ooze, “I mean that in the most caring way.”

Those guests who emerged relatively unscathed had the savvy to take Dame Edna at face value and interact with her as though she were real. The moment he donned those rhinestone glasses, Mr. Humphries often said, Dame Edna became real to him too, an entirely separate law unto herself.

‘I Wish I’d Thought of That’

“I’m, as it were, in the wings, and she’s onstage,” he explained in a 2015 interview with Australian television. “And every now and then she says something extremely funny, and I stand there and think, ‘I wish I’d thought of that.’”

But the truly funny thing, Possums, is that when Mr. Humphries first brought Dame Edna to life, he intended her to last only a week or so. What was more, she was meant to have been played by the distinguished actress Zoe Caldwell.

Mr. Humphries created a string of other characters over the years, notably the boorish, bibulous Australian cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson. But it was Dame Edna, the outlandish aunt who engenders adoration and mortification in equal measure, who captivated the public utterly — despite the fact that in later years, her mortification-inducing lines sometimes landed her, and her creator, in trouble.

So fully did Mr. Humphries animate Edna that he was at continued pains to point out that he was neither a female impersonator in the conventional sense nor a cross-dresser in any sense.

“Mr. Humphries, do you ever have to take your children aside and explain to them why you like to wear women’s clothes?” an American interviewer once asked him.

“If I were an actor playing Hamlet,” he replied, “would I have to take my children aside and say I wasn’t really Danish?’”

By all accounts far more erudite than Dame Edna — he was an accomplished painter, bibliophile and art collector — Mr. Humphries, in a sustained act of self-protection, always spoke of her in the third person.

She did likewise. “My manager,” she disdainfully called him. (She also called Mr. Humphries “a money-grubbing little slug” and accused him of embezzling her fortune. He did, it must be said, cash a great many of her checks.)

But as dismissive of her creator as Dame Edna was, she rallied to his aid when he very likely needed her most: after years of alcoholism culminated in stays in psychiatric hospitals and at least one brush with the law.

Mr. Humphries at the Booth Theater on Broadway in 1999 in “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour,” for which he won a special Tony Award, as well as Drama Desk and Theater World Awards. Credit... Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

‘I Hated Her’

John Barry Humphries was born in Kew, a Melbourne suburb, on Feb. 17, 1934. His father, Eric, was a prosperous builder; his mother, Louisa, was a homemaker.

From his earliest childhood in Camberwell, a more exclusive suburb, he felt oppressed by the bourgeois conformism that enveloped his parents and their circle, and depressed by his mother’s cold suburban propriety.

Dame Edna was a response to those forces.

“I invented Edna because I hated her,” Mr. Humphries was quoted as saying in Mr. Lahr’s book “Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilization: Backstage With Barry Humphries” (1992). “I poured out my hatred of the standards of the little people of their generation.”

Dame Edna emerged when the young Mr. Humphries, under the sway of Dadaism, was performing with a repertory company based at the University of Melbourne; he had dropped out of the university two years before.

On long bus tours, he entertained his colleagues with the character of Mrs. Norm Everage — born Edna May Beazley in Wagga Wagga, Australia, sometime in the 1930s — an ordinary housewife who had found sudden acclaim after winning a nationwide competition, the Lovely Mother Quest.

Unthinkable as it seems, Edna was dowdy then, given to mousy brown hair and pillbox hats. But she was already in full command of the arsenal of bourgeois bigotries that would be a hallmark of her later self.

For a revue by the company in December 1955, Mr. Humphries wrote a part for Edna, earmarked for Ms. Caldwell, an Australian contemporary. But when she proved too busy to oblige, he donned a dress and played it himself. After Edna proved a hit with Melbourne audiences, he performed the character elsewhere in the country.

By the end of the 1950s, hoping to make a career as a serious actor, Mr. Humphries had moved to London, where Edna met with little enthusiasm and was largely shelved. (She blamed Mr. Humphries ever after for her lack of early success there.)

Mr. Humphries played Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker, in the original West End production of the musical “Oliver!” in 1960, and reprised the role when the show came to Broadway in 1963.

But though he worked steadily during the ’60s, he was also in the fierce grip of alcoholism. Stays in psychiatric hospitals, he later said, were of no avail.

His nadir came in 1970, when he awoke in a Melbourne gutter to find himself under arrest.

With a doctor’s help, Mr. Humphries became sober soon afterward; he did not take a drink for the rest of his life. He dusted off Dame Edna and, little by little, de-dowdified her. By the late ’70s, with celebrity culture in full throttle, she had given him international renown and unremitting employment.

Edna did not seduce every critic. Reviewing her first New York stage show, the Off Broadway production “Housewife! Superstar!!,” in The New York Times in 1977, Richard Eder called it “abysmal.”

Nor did Edna’s resolute lack of political correctness always stand her, or Mr. Humphries, in good stead. In February 2003, writing an advice column as Dame Edna in Vanity Fair, he replied to a reader’s query about whether to learn Spanish.

“Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to?” Dame Edna’s characteristically caustic response read. “The help? Your leaf blower? Study French or German, where there are at least a few books worth reading, or, if you’re American, try English.”

A public furor ensued, led by the Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek, who appeared on the magazine’s cover that month. Vanity Fair discontinued Dame Edna’s column not long afterward.

In an interview with The Times in 2004, Mr. Humphries was unrepentant.

“The people I offended were minorities with no sense of humor, I fear,” he said. “When you have to explain the nature of satire to somebody, you’re fighting a losing battle.”

Mr. Humphries drew further ire after a 2016 interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph in which he denounced political correctness as a “new puritanism.” In the same interview, he described people who transition from male to female as “mutilated” men, and Caitlyn Jenner in particular as “a publicity-seeking ratbag.”

Sailing Above the Fray

Dame Edna, for her part, appeared to sail imperviously through. She returned to Broadway in 2004 for the well-received show “Dame Edna: Back With a Vengeance” and in 2010 with “All About Me,” a revue that also starred the singer and pianist Michael Feinstein.

Mr. Humphries was back on Broadway as Dame Edna in 2010 with “All About Me,” a revue that also starred the singer and pianist Michael Feinstein.Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

As herself — it was she, and not Mr. Humphries, who was credited — Dame Edna played the recurring character Claire Otoms (the name is an anagram for “a sitcom role”), an outré lawyer, on the Fox TV series “Ally McBeal.”

Under his own name, Mr. Humphries appeared as the Great Goblin in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (2012); as the voice of Bruce, the great white shark, in “Finding Nemo” (2003); and in other pictures.

Mr. Humphries’s books include the memoirs “More Please” (1992) and “My Life as Me” (2002) and the novel “Women in the Background” (1995). He was named a Commander of the British Empire in 2007.

Dame Edna also wrote several books, among them “Dame Edna’s Bedside Companion” (1983) and the memoir “My Gorgeous Life” (1989).

Mr. Humphries’s first marriage, to Brenda Wright, ended in divorce, as did his second, to Rosalind Tong, and his third, to Diane Millstead. He had two daughters, Tessa and Emily, from his marriage to Ms. Tong, and two sons, Oscar and Rupert, from his marriage to Ms. Millstead.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that his survivors include his wife of 30 years, Lizzie Spender, the daughter of the British poet Stephen Spender, as well as his children and 10 grandchildren.

Mr. Humphries continued to perform until last year, when he toured Britain (as himself) with a one-man show, “The Man Behind the Mask.” He returned to Australia in December for Christmas.

Dame Edna’s husband, Norm, a chronic invalid “whose prostate,” she often lamented, “has been hanging over me for years,” died long ago. Her survivors include an adored son, Kenny, who designed all her gowns; a less adored son, Bruce; and a despised daughter, the wayward Valmai. (“She steals things. Puts them in her pantyhose. Particularly frozen chickens when she’s in a supermarket.”)

Another daughter, Lois, was abducted as an infant by a “rogue koala,” a subject Dame Edna could bring herself to discuss with interviewers only rarely.

Though the child was never seen again, to the end of her life Dame Edna never gave up hope she would be found.

“I’m looking,” she told NPR in 2015. “Every time I pass a eucalyptus tree I look up.”

Constant Meheut contributed reporting.

Margalit Fox is a former senior writer on the obituaries desk at The Times. She was previously an editor at the Book Review. She has written the send-offs of some of the best-known cultural figures of our era, including Betty Friedan, Maya Angelou and Seamus Heaney. More about Margalit Fox

[vintagetvstars]

Nichelle Nichols Vs. Carolyn Jones

Propaganda

Nichelle Nichols - (Star Trek) - She speaks for herself. Legendary, iconic, at the forefront of feminism and civil rights in the 60s, she is a triple threat who did so much more. She volunteered from 1977 to promote recruitment diversity within NASA, including some of the first female and ethnic minority astronauts. Martin Luther King Jr. compared her work on Star Trek as a 'vital role model' to the civil rights marches. She refused to be dismissed, fought for visibility and shone whilst doing so. As a woman in stem, and simply a woman she means the world and stars above to me.

Carolyn Jones - (The Addams Family) - The OG goth queen! Admit it, you're still not sure if you're in love with Morticia Addams, or if you want her to adopt you? Maybe both?

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Nichelle Nichols:

She is the original badass babe. She was a black woman in a leading role on TV in the 60s, a trailblazer for black actresses for years to come. She is so beautiful and so awesome.

she's fantastic. have you seen her? paved the way for black actresses on TV even while her lines and scenes were being cut and improvised the most iconic uhura line in the series. (sulu: "I'll save you, fair maiden!" uhura, pushing him away: "sorry, neither!") she's incredibly talented and it's a crime the show didn't give her more screen time (or make her sing more often because she also has a beautiful voice!)

“Sorry, neither” in response to “fair maiden” was ad libbed by her. There’s a lot more I could say but what else do you need??

A sci-fi icon!

She was such a trailblazer, and Uhura was such an important character for so many people to be able to see on TV. Apparently Mae Jemison (the first African American woman to go into space) cited her as a reason she wanted to become an astronaut. She was just an absolute legend!

The story of Martin Luther King telling her not to quit Star Trek gives me chills. Representation matters. “Thank you so much, Dr. King. I’m really going to miss my co-stars.” Dr. King's smile, Nichols recalled, vanished from his face. "He said, 'What are you talking about?'" the actress explained. "I told him. He said, 'You cannot,' and so help me, this man practically repeated verbatim what Gene said. He said, 'Don’t you see what this man is doing, who has written this? This is the future. He has established us as we should be seen. 300 years from now, we are here. We are marching. And this is the first step. When we see you, we see ourselves, and we see ourselves as intelligent and beautiful and proud.' He goes on and I’m looking at him and my knees are buckling. I said, 'I…, I…' And he said, 'You turn on your television and the news comes on and you see us marching and peaceful, you see the peaceful civil disobedience, and you see the dogs and see the fire hoses, and we all know they cannot destroy us because we are there in the 23rd Century.'"

She shared the first interracial kiss on Star Trek, helped propel real life African American women into space-related careers, and looks divine in a mini skirt.

HOW DID UHURA WALK BACKWARDS SO FAR??? WOW!

Carolyn Jones:

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To A Very Talented Actor Who Rose To Top Fame Since His Days As A Child Actor as Most Prominent Young Future Stars started out in the Earlier, 70's, 80's,  & 90's Back In The Day.

He made his film debut with a small part in Back to the Future Part II (1989). He went on to achieve recognition as a child actor with roles in Avalon (1990), Paradise (1991), Radio Flyer (1992), Forever Young (1992), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), and The Good Son (1993). As a teenager, he starred in films such as North (1994), The War (1994), Flipper (1996), The Ice Storm (1997), Deep Impact (1998), and The Faculty (1998). 

Then in 1999 He was selected from the Chosen Few to play a Highly Well Regarded Role That Would Change His Career Forever.

In December 2001

Based On The Famous Classic Fantasy Novel written by JR. Tolkein

A World Of Fantastic Medival Adventures Arrived On The Big Screen and Became A 1# Sensational Film 🎥 For Years To Come.

In The Role That Would Put Him Back On The Map

As The Titular Character, Frodo Baggins

In

Peter Jackson's

THE LORD OF THE RINGS 💍  THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 💍

& He continued to play this character until the very end of the Lord Of The Rings Original Trilogy.

&

Besides Other Movies 🎥 He Starred In Later In His Career

He also got into Television Roles 📺 mostly Animated Cartoon Series including 1 of the Original Disney XD's Channel Original Animated Series Based on the Iconic Disney Scifi Movie 🎥

TRON

He Played The Titular Character Named Beck

IN

DISNEY'S

TRON UPRISING

Which aired its last episode of the Iconic Animated Series on January 28th 2013 on his Birthday 🎂

Please Wish This Esteemed Young Actor 🙏 Who has been doing this Job since Childhood a Very Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

The 1

&

The Only

MR. ELIJAH JORDAN WOOD 

[lapinlobotomy]

My Lesbian Epiphany

below the cut is a personal narrative about my experience realizing i'm a nonbinary lesbian, written for my college English credit course. from my instructor's positive feedback, i thought i would share it with the world somehow.

An average day of second grade was passing by quickly. I came home from school, zipped through my homework, and planted myself in front of the television. Remote in hand, I cycled through my channels of choice. Nothing new on Nickelodeon, nor anything interesting on Cartoon Network. In a last-ditch effort, I switched to the Disney Channel.

That’s when I saw her. Nested in a typical episode of Wizards of Waverly Place, a teen girl with beautiful, shoulder-length hair blazed with a blonde streak in her side-swept fringe tendrils. Her outfit, her accessories, her “cool rebel girl” attitude! I couldn’t help but lean in closer, entranced. With this character, named Stevie, I could not question it: I was attracted to other girls.

There were various other signs to come, for example, in middle school. On a day I was sporting a tank top that didn’t quite fit me, I walked the regular route to my next class with a classmate. She took notice of what I was wearing, with my bra exposed, and decided to comment.

“Luring in the boys, huh,  ◼◼◼◼◼?”

I neglected a response, mainly out of sheer confusion and discomfort in this attention drawn to my body. The conversation faded awkwardly by the time I arrived at my awaiting classroom. Before entering, I peered around the hall of students, routinely seeking any sign of the cute girl that dominated my school day thoughts.

Inevitably, high school rolled around. Ninth grade began how my eighth grade ended, mute, panicked, and constantly overwhelmed. However, something was on the horizon. That fall, I was introduced to an artist online who became enamored with me shortly after becoming friends. A month later, we were officially dating. He was a transgender man named Noel; his name chosen himself based on a character of a game we bonded over. Noel spoke with kindness and gentleness between his staple jokes. He confided in me his own journey of healing from his traumatic childhood experiences and even told me, “You can heal, too. I’ll be by your side for this process.”

 Is this…how it feels to be cared about? To actually feel loved by another person?  

A warm sensation fluttered in my chest. A feeling of safety amidst the boiling storm that was my first day at my new Youth Therapy Day Program. In awe of this tender young man, I felt a spark. A lit match to pass the flame to my Rube-Goldberg machine of candles. I don’t have to be what’s been pushed on me. I don’t have to be that girl, nor a girl at all!

I trekked through my first three years of high school under my new identity as a transmasculine nonbinary bisexual. It was a backpack of textbooks taken off my aching shoulders. However, by junior year, something started to worm back into my mind and fester. Suddenly, walking through the halls of my high school became a warzone for my soft, girl-adoring self. The sway of bobbed hair on one girl, fluttering eyelashes bordering crystalline eyes of another. Every girl I would see was gorgeous, my poor heart was skipping beats every day for a week.

Skeptical, I posed myself a question. Well, what about that boy over there, with the short hair? My mindscape would pause, before lighting up and melting over the idea of a girl with that exact haircut. Blushing at the thought of this made-up person, I was in dire need of what I call, a lesbian epiphany. Between assignments, I couldn’t help but think, what’s wrong with me? Girls are so pretty, I can’t stop staring but…I can’t be a lesbian, I get angry when people call me my birthname. Being called “she” makes my skin crawl.

Do… any lesbians feel like this, too?

I labored over these thoughts until I dashed straight to Tumblr, seeking validation for my identity and pure curiosity. Clicking past the artwork of the sapphic couples I longed to be, I typed “nonbinary lesbian” into the search bar and pressed the return key. Sure enough, there were numerous lesbians sharing experiences, just like mine. Lesbians using “he,” “they,” and even new, custom pronouns. Lesbians with chosen names. Lesbians who experience gender dysphoria and even transition.

“Oh… Oh my god.”

Something deep within me clicked. It’s possible. It’s allowed.

“Oh god, this is it! I’m a lesbian!” I could only whisper it, but had I been home alone and uninhibited, I would’ve screamed it out. I would’ve yelled it as loud as my vocal cords would permit me. Truly, that’s the essence of a lesbian epiphany.

It’s been three years now since I realized I was a lesbian. Despite new struggles, I never knew how comforting that single label could be. I would’ve never accepted this part of me, had I stayed within the scope of what representation lesbians got in common media. Even Stevie, my awakening, was written to be in a relationship with her media’s female protagonist, yet only allowed in subtext and disclosed after the fact.

Even Noel, the assured, clement transgender man, had his epiphany, just like me. In fact, he experienced the same fascinations and realization that I did, within a year of each other. I know two other gender diverse lesbians who reached the same destination, now flourishing with their queer partners in the paradise of lesbianism. That’s a joke, of course. Truly, there’s no one true way to be a lesbian. Every person under this label is different, and there’s no reason to change that. The disclosure of raw, personal stories is the key to my own journey, my lesbian epiphany.

[ear-worthy]

Big Picture Science Podcast: Making Hard Science "Easy"

Podcasting has hundreds of thousands of podcasts, but, even with that large number, it still has weaknesses in certain genres, including minority, LGBTQ+, and women's issues.

However, podcasting is strong in science. Science Vs, Taboo Science, Unexplainable, and numerous other excellent science podcasts.

There's one especially successful science podcast that has more than 578 episodes under its production belt.

That's Big Picture Science. It's a terrific podcast that exposes junk science, highlights new scientific discoveries, and finds the science in everyday life.

Case in point: The May 6, 2024, episode titled, "Nuts & Bolts." Here's the episode show notes: "How frequently do you think about fasteners like screws and bolts? Probably not very often. But some of them a storied history, dating back to Egypt in the 3rd century BC. They aren’t just ancient history. They help hold up our bridges and homes today. Join us as we dissect a handful of engineering inventions that keep our world spinning and intact."

With guests Roma Agrawal, a structural engineer and author of "Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way)," and Ron Gordon - watchmaker, New York City, the show made these inconsequential fasteners, well, fascinating.

Big Picture Science is produced at the SETI Institute’s radio studio in Mountain View, California. The program began with the title Are We Alone? In 2002 as a commercially-supported call-in show distributed to a handful of stations on Radio America by Bill Oxley and Seth Shostak, who actually broadcast from their respective living rooms in San Diego and Mountain View.

In 2004, Molly Bentley joined AWA as an editor and executive producer. At that time, support from the NASA Astrobiology Institute allowed us to build our own radio studio and move away from single-interview call-ins to a thematic multi-interview-produced show.

After a short stint on the Discovery Channel’s outlet on Sirius Satellite Radio, SETI began distributing Are We Alone? On the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). The name of the program was changed from Are We Alone? to Big Picture Science in July 2011.

Big Picture Science is supported in part by Sami David, Rena Shulsky David, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Skeptic Check is presented thanks to a donation from the Trimberger Family Foundation.

The opening theme, "Kinematics" is composed arranged, programmed and produced by Jun Miyake and adds to the mystique of the show.

The show's co-hosts are Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley. Shostak and Bentley have been doing for years, so they are comfortable as hosts, interviewers, and with each other. The co-hosts can geek out on hard science and still laugh at science nerdiness, and they can get tough with junk science theories and claims. In essence, they make an enjoyable combo, like vanilla ice cream on apple pie.

Seth Shostak is the Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California. He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a doctorate in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. For much of his career, Shostak conducted radio astronomy research on galaxies, and has published approximately fifty papers in professional journals. He also founded and ran a company producing computer animation for TV.

Seth Shostak has written several hundred popular magazine and Web articles on various topics in astronomy, technology, film and television. He has edited and contributed to a half dozen books. His first popular tome, “Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life” appeared in 1998. He has also authored “Life in the Universe” (2006, 2nd edition, textbook, with Jeff Bennett) and “Cosmic Company” (2003, with Alex Barnett). His most recent book is “Confessions of an Alien Hunter” (2009).

Molly Bentley oversees the production of Big Picture Science. She has worked as a science journalist for the BBC, including World Service, Radio 4 and Science/Nature Online. She has also written for New Scientist. Furthermore, she teaches a course on radio writing and podcast production at the University of California, Santa Cruz Science Writing Program.

She’s been an invited participant to a number of workshops about helping scientists communicate more effectively with reporters, including the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program, Switzer Environmental Fellowship workshop, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Science Communication Workshop, sponsored by the Metcalf Institute and funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

She attended M.I.T.’s Knight Science Journalism workshops in 2007 and 2010. Her radio career began when she wandered into Wisconsin Public Radio and landed a job answering the phones for the early-morning call-in show, then graduated on to less insane hours as assistant producer of the national radio magazine, To the Best of Our Knowledge.

So, of my favorite episodes features a show with the fabulous, witty, and often wacky science writer Mary Roach. In "Animals Being Jerks," the subtitle says it all -- "They’re cute and cuddly. But they can also be obnoxious."

Then, we listen, amazed and amused, when Roach spin bizarre tales about how our animal friends don’t always bow to their human overlords and behave the way we’d want. The resulting encounters, such as when gulls disrupt the Vatican’s Easter mass, make for amusing stories. But others, such as wolves threatening farmers’ livestock, can be tragic.

On the April 15, 2024, episode, "For The Birds" we hear about migratory birds that travel thousands of miles in a display of endurance that would make an Olympic athlete gasp. More importantly, we discover what can we do to save disappearing species? Plus, we learn how 19th century bird-lovers, appalled by feathered hats, started the modern conservation movement.

Finally, on the recent July 11, 2024, show -- "Aliens Now" -- the co-hosts talk to astrophysicist Adam Frank about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets. Don't worry. There are no discussion of anal probes, or aliens bursting out of your chest. Instead, Frank explains the Drake Equation and Fermi Paradox, which are the yin and yang of the "are there intelligent aliens" question. Frank explains that NASA is planning a telescope after the James Webb Telescope called the "Habitable Worlds Observatory," which focuses on finding other life in the universe.

Check out Big Picture Science. It is one of the best science podcasts out there. After all, as Fox Mulder of The X Files once intoned, "Scully, the truth is out there."

[qnewsau]

Author Holden Sheppard's third novel will be very different

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/author-holden-sheppards-third-novel-will-be-very-different/

Author Holden Sheppard's third novel will be very different

Out WA author Holden Sheppard has become a major local name in Aussie publishing, and he’s announced the first details of his next book.

Holden has shared that his third book will be his first adult fiction novel, titled Two Kings. The new book will be published by Pantera Press in June 2025.

The out author said this week that Two Kings is a “gritty and heartfelt” gay tale. It’s set in the world of FIFO workers and tradies in Western Australia.

Holden said it was the most “vulnerable” story he’s written. The story is told from the viewpoint of a closeted labourer named Giacomo Brolo, or “Jack”.

“Giacomo Broko, aka Jack, is a mess, consumed by a self-loathing all too common for closeted men who have grown up in a world of hate and shame, and content to drown his sorrows in booze, drugs and a flashy car,” the synopsis reads.

“Everything changes when Jack returns to his regional hometown Geraldton. Forced to confront his traumatic past and deeply conservative Italian family, he finds himself yearning for something than the dead-end, single life he’d resigned himself to.

“Whatever happened to Xavier, the former schoolmate who Jack was in love with and whose rejection spurred him to leave Geraldton in the first place?

“Can Jack open himself up to the possibility of love, found family and connection? Could he and Xavier once again be Two Kings together?”

Holden Sheppard said, “Two Kings is the most vulnerable book I’ve ever written.

“Instead of splitting myself into three narrators, as with my previous novels, in Two Kings I’ve channelled everything into one narrator.”

“Like me, Jack Brolo is a misfit of a bloke trying to find his place in the world.”

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  A post shared by Holden Sheppard (@holdensheppard)

Holden Sheppard’s debut novel adapted for TV

Holden Sheppard published his debut novel Invisible Boys in 2019. The brilliant gay coming-of-age read scored numerous accolades.

He published his second book, The Brink, in 2022.

Last year, Stan picked up Invisible Boys for a television adaptation. The series then filmed around WA earlier this year.

The 10-episode TV series will screen in Australia on streaming service Stan.

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.