#Witchfinder Private

[performing-personhood]

Next time you feel like you aren't good at anything, I need you to remember that Newton Pulsifer broke every machine he ever touched and didn't know why until the very moment he saved the entire world from a nuclear apocalypse.

Maybe you just aren't at the "why" part of your story yet.

[hjbirthdaywishes]

July 7, 2023

Happy 35 Birthday to Jack Whitehall. 

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Good Omens filming locations masterpost! ❤ 🐍😊 Part 2

(here to part 1 :))

(here to part 3 :))

Here to the map :)

Others in England (cont):

Tadfield Manor (S01E01, S01E02) - Bulstrode, Gerrards Cross

Scene: The Tadfield Manor where the satanic nuns run the hospital in the first episode and Aziraphale and Crowley visit in the second episode

Availability (as of 2024): The manor has been in private hands since 2016 - in 2023 sold again, I didn't find on the internet that it would be available to visit in any form, the manor is not visitble from the public road.

Link on the map

Four Horsemen meeting (S01E05) – Old School Cafe, Longcross Road B386

Scene: The cafe where Four Horsemen meet

Availability (as of 2024): street all day, the cafe Mon-Fri 7:30-15:00, Sat-Sun 8:30-15:00

Link on the map

Heaven middle floors (S01E01, S01E03, S01E04, S01E05) - Weybridge Business Park, Addlestone

Scene: The Heaven middle floors scenes in season 1 were filmed here

Availability (as of 2024): The places can be sort of seen from the street but I don't think that visiting is possible

Link on the map

Pollution by the river (S01E04) – River Wey Navigation, Guildford

Scene: The International Express Man delivers the package to Pollution

(fun fact: this one was the harderst one to pin down the exact location, I only knew bc of an article that the schooting took place by "Wey Navigation" which is a river long 32km (miles), I tried to find a better mention or through google maps comparing place for a long time but couldn't, finally I wrote to the River Way Navigation organization on facebook but they had no record of the shooting. Finally, in one of the photos I noticed that in the background there is a footbridge that I saw a photo of a similar footbridge while searching on a history of Wey Navigation river on the UK National Trust page and fortunately the previous mentioned facebook page knew where it was, WAHOO! :))

Availability (as of 2024): all day

Link on the map

Hogback Wood (S01E01, S01E02, S01E04, S01E05) - Painshill Park, Cobham

Scene: The Hogback Wood where The Them play, seen in several episodes.

Availability (as of 2024): The entrance to the park is paid (£11 with prebooking online on https://painshill.co.uk/visit-us/ticket-prices-booking/) They open at 10 and close at 16-18 depending on the season. The World Word II crater they shot the main scene at should be in the west-south tip of the park. The whole path there and back is 4km (2,5 miles).

Link on the map

International Express Man's house (S01E04) - Shetland Close, Guildford

Scene: The International Express Man leaves the house to make deliveries

Availability (as of 2024): street all day

Link on the map

Agnes Nutter's village (S01E02) - Weald & Downland Living Museum, Chichester

Scene: The Agnes Nutter's village in episode two. In the map I highlighted which part we see the villagers and Witchfinder Major Pulsifer to through in the show.

Availability (as of 2024): The entrance fee is paid (£15.50 for an adult ticket prebooked online https://www.wealddown.co.uk/), it opens at 10 and closes at 16-17 depending on the month.

Link on the map

Tadfield Air Base (S01E05, S01E06) - RAF Upper Heyford, Bicester

Scene: For the shooting of the Tadfield Air Base the former RAF Upper Heyford was used, by the examining the google maps and screenshots from the series I think that the area labeled as 'Shelter 9' was used.

Availability (as of 2024): The place is no longer used by RAF purposes, there are several companies that use certain areas it but it is not available for public. The Upper Heyford Heritage though organizes (paid - £25.00) tours through the airbase: http://www.upperheyfordheritage.co.uk/home-page/tour-booking/

Link on the map

Soho (S1) – Bovingdon Airfield Studios

Scene: The Aziraphale's bookshop and Soho in season one were built at Bovingdon Airfield Studios

Availability (as of 2024): The studios can be rented but I don't think they are publicly available – the Soho is not there anymore though, it is now build in studios in Scotland.

Link on the map

The motorway on fire (S01E05) - M96 Training Motorway at Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh

Scene: The motorway on fire when Crowley is heading for Tadfield was filmed at M95 Training Motorway at Fire Service College that is usually used for training emergency service professionals

Availability (as of 2024): Not publicly available.

Link on the map

South Africa:

The 1941 church (S01E03) - St. Saviour's Church, Claremont, Cape Town

Scene: The scene in Season 1 where Aziraphale is outsmarted by the Nazis and is saved by Crowley

Availability (as of 2024): Their facebook says Always open

Link on the map

Famine at a fancy restaurant (S01E03) - Mutual Heights building, Cape Town

Scene: The restaurant where we meet Famine for the first time

Availability (as of 2024): It is a building with flats, offices and a reception, not available to public.

Link on the map

Crowley in a cinema (S01E04) - Joseph Stone Auditorium, Cape Town

Scene: Crowley in a cinema (with Neil Gaiman cameo) watching animated rabbits when Hastur interrupts

Availability (as of 2024): Not publicly available as such but they there are presentations and and such happening there https://www.facebook.com/josephstone1968/

Link on the map

Aziraphale dancing gavotte (S01E04) - Casa Labia, Cape Town

Scene: Aziraphale dancing gavotte in a discreet gentlemen's club in Portland Place in the late 1880s was filmed at Casa Labia in Cape Town

Availability (as of 2024): Casa labia is hotel and a restaurant so it can be visited in that way https://www.casalabia.com/

Link on the map

Anathema's child home (S01E02) - Llandudno Rock Villa, Cape Town

Scene: The home which we see Anathema as a child with The Book (in the show it's Malibu, California)

Availability (as of 2024): street all day, the villa itself seems that it can be rented

Link on the map

Eden desert and ep6 time bubble desert (S01E01,S01E06) – Atlantis Dunes, Cape Town

Scene: The Eden desert scenes and the time bubble with Adam and AC were filmed in the Atlantis Dunes at the outskirts of Cape Town

Availability (as of 2024): The Atlantis Dunes – or Witzands Aquifer Conservation Area – is a protected natural area. Biking adventures can be booked through https://atlantisdunes.com/ or also other activities through https://www.capetown.gov.za/Family%20and%20home/see-all-city-facilities/our-recreational-facilities/Nature%20reserves/Witzands%20Aquifer%20Nature%20Reserve

Link on the map

The apple tree in the Garden of Eden (S01E01) - Waterfall Valley (formerly Cascade Country Manor), Paarl

Scene: The Eden apple tree with the waterfall in the background was filmed at the retreat Waterfall Valley (then Cascade Country Manor) (the tree was added by the film crew for the scene)

Availability (as of 2024): I am not sure if you can visit the waterfall like that or you have to be a guest in the restreat. The retreat is available for booking: https://www.waterfallvalley.online/

Link on the map

There were other scenes also filmed at South Africa (thought not specified exactly where): Hell was filmed in Cape Town in a former abattoir. The Noah’s Ark scene and the Crucifixion scene were filmed on a windswept plain just outside Cape Town. Also the Meggido scenes. The entire village used for the scene with War causing mayhem in an african village is in fact a set, built on scrubland over a sand mine just outside Cape Town. The French Revolution scene wa shot on a set that had been used twenty-four hours earlier for the scene in Ancient Rome. Famine visiting a burger place with Elvis was shot on a set in Cape Town. Also some scene's in Anathema's cottage with Anathema and Newt.

SEASON 2

Most of season 2 has been shot inside the film studio in Bathgate (f.e. the whole Soho has been built there), the driving throught the Blitz London in the Glasgow’s Wardpark Studios, the inside of the 1827 mausoleum in the River City studios in Dumbarton, the Hell in S2 has been shot in an old disused factory (not specififed which one). The shots of the Edinburgh castle have been shot from the top of the The Caledonian hotel.

Edinburgh:

Crowley and Shax in St James's Park (S02E01) – Inverleith Park, Edinburgh

Scene: Crowley and Shax meet to discuss the news in St James's Park – the scene though was actually filmed in Scotland.

Availability (as of 2024): All day

Link on the map

The place where Crowley parks the Bentley (S02E01, S02E02) – Circus Lane, Edinburgh

Scene: The place Crowley goes to to park the Bentley and sleep there

Availability (as of 2024): street all day

Link on the map

AC and Elspeth in Edinburgh (S02E03) - Moray Place, Edinburgh

Scene: Aziraphale, Crowley and Elspeth are taking the first "pickled herring" to be sold, Aziraphale and Crowley are debating good and evil

Availability (as of 2024): street all day

Link on the map

Detective Aziraphale parks the Bentley (S02E03) – Victoria Street, Edinburgh

Scene: Aziraphale arrives in the Bentley and happily goes to investigate

Availability (as of 2024): street all day

Link on the map

The Resurrectionist (S02E03, S02E06) - Cask and Barrel, Edinburgh

Scene: Aziraphale goes to investigate to The Resurrectionist bar (also in Gabriel's memories with Beelzebub) – filmed in the Cask and Barrel bar

Availability (as of 2024): outside all day, inside 12-24, Fri-Sat 12-1

Link on the map

Stirling:

Edinburgh cementery (S02E03) - Old Town Cemetery, Stirling

Scene: The cemetery in episode 3 was filmed at the Stirling cemetery (grave, some gravestones, Gabriel's statue and the crypt has been added by the crew for the shooting)

Availability (as of 2024): all day

Link on the map

AC and Elspeth going through Edinburgh (S02E03) – Broad Street, Stirling

Scene: Aziraphale, Crowley and Elspeth going through Edinburgh while Aziraphale is trying to persuade her that she could do something else

Availability (as of 2024): street all day

Link on the map

Meeting Wee Morag (S02E03) - Mar's Wark, Stirling

Scene: The small corridor behind the gate where Wee Morag is staying

Availability (as of 2024): The front all day, the corridor if not through the gate then hopefully from the other side

Link on the map

Others in Scotland:

AC drinking whiskey with Mr Darlymple and the corridor to Mr Darlymple (S02E03) – Hopetoun House, Queensferry

Scene: Aziraphale and Crowley drinking whisky with Mr Darlymple while he explains why he needs fresh dead bodies also at the house has been filmed the corridor reading to Mr Darlymple

Availability (as of 2024): Hopetoun is visitable, Friday 29 March 2024 to Sunday 29 September 2024 Open 5 days per week (Thursday – Monday) from 11am to 5pm, £13.50 for an adult ticket for House and Grounds (to see both), or £13.50 for Grounds (to see the corridor)

Link on the map

The Windmill Theatre in 1941 (S02E04) - Hippodrome Cinema, Bo'ness

Scene: The theatre that Crowley delivered the broken alcohol to and Aziraphale performed the bullet catch

Availability (as of 2024): You can visit the cinema for a movie or an event https://www.hippodromecinema.co.uk/whats-on/

Link on the map

Aziraphale's trip to Edinburgh (S02E03) and Shax hitchhiking (S02E04) - Forrestburn Hillclimb, Shotts

Scene: The scene from Aziraphale's view when he travels to Edinburgh and Crowley calls him was filmed here.

Availability (as of 2024): Not available to public. The track is used by the members of the Monklands Sporting Car Club for special events. Outside of these the track is closed and no access is available except for hiring for special events/filming.

Link on the map

Soho and more (S2) - The Pyramids Studio, Bathgate

Scene: The S2 Soho has been built in the Bathgate studio, also there were built and shot many other scenes

Availability (as of 2024): It is not available to visit for public

Link on the map

London:

Possibly only streets were filmed and the Bentley was added with VFX.

C on the way to A after A calls him (S02E01) - Wardour Street, London

Scene: Crowley on the way to Aziraphale after Aziraphale calls him (to tell him about Gabriel)

Availability (as of 2024): street all day

Link on the map

(continue to Part 3 :))

[kateis-cakeis]

If Arthur was born with magic, what do you think he would have done? kept it secret? do you think he would have a very different relationship with Merlin? just wanna know your thoughts :D

Hi Anon! Sorry it's taken me a while to get to this!!! (Im so sorry truly)

I think an Arthur born with magic could go in many directions. Perhaps an Arthur born with it and showing it early would be scared into keeping it a secret. Or perhaps he would tell his father while crying, because he's confused.

Maybe it would be like Merlin, where he could move objects before he could talk - would then a nursemaid see and keep it a secret, or would she panic and run to the guards?

There's just so many ways it could go down. I think truthfully, if we combine how Arthur is in the show, especially in earlier seasons, with him having magic at an early age - and knowing of it, he would keep it a secret out of fear and disgust with himself.

He would definitely think himself a monster, and would largely act the same in public, while tearing himself apart in private. At least in the sense of lying to his father and the feeling of betraying his own people.

There's a point in the show where Arthur says "not a man, a sorcerer" (S1Ep12), so it's possible that he too wouldn't see himself as a man, but more a sorcerer, a monster - evil.

I think he would still listen to his father's lies, and that he would still think them to be the truth, even if he himself is evidence against that. He's just too close to Uther, and too close to his words, so he'd get a load of internalised prejudices.

I think in some ways he would have a different relationship with Merlin. Since Arthur would also be keeping a secret, and would know secret keeping well, I think he'd be at least more attune to the fact that Merlin is keeping a secret.

Whether or not he'd push him on it is something I'm not sure on, but I'd say no... simply because he wouldn't want to let it slip that he's hiding his own secret.

But at the very least, Arthur would be pretty much the same on the surface but like hiding a lot underneath.

Where it would step into obvious canon divergence AU territory is what he does with that in the long term.

Because it could go in so many directions. Like Arthur could boil over one day and tell Uther in defiance. He could be devasted after a raid, or an execution, let's say, and find comfort in Merlin's friendship - maybe even letting slip that Uther could kill him too (and Merlin would be like haha wtf).

Incorporating certain episodes into AUs like this is a lot of fun too. Like god imagine The Sins of the Father with sorcerer!Arthur like aaaaaaaaaah (and I have already included this in a fic before but I need moreee).

But episodes like the Beginning of the End, The Nightmare Begins, the Witchfinder, and so on. There's a lot there. As well as inventing scenarios that aren't in the show.

So, to conclude, I think an Arthur who knows he has magic from a young age would probably keep it a secret, if that's even possible for him, and would have a slightly different relationship with Merlin, but not by much.

There's a lot you can do with this concept and I'm obsessed with it because it really shakes things up!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

Tonight (September 12) at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. On September 14, I'm hosting the EFF Awards in San Francisco.

#15yrsago Mom accused of stealing daughter’s identity to attend highschool and become a cheerleader https://web.archive.org/web/20080916071716/http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ipppcZU-H4xC9lQiAOQFSF-cfrdAD935H3G80

#15yrsago DHS: HOWTO stop (other governments’) creepy spooks from reading your hard drive and email https://web.archive.org/web/20080913005403/http://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/US_DHS:_Foreign_Travel_Threat_Assessment:_Electronic_Communications_Vulnerabilities_2008

#10yrsago Feynman lectures as HTML https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html

#10yrsago David Cameron appoints a Witchfinder General for copyright https://torrentfreak.com/uk-prime-minister-appoints-new-anti-piracy-enforcement-advisor-130913/

#10yrsago Google’s lobbyists go big on climate change denial, raise money for Inhofe & Competitive Enterprise Insitute https://memex.craphound.com/2013/09/13/googles-lobbyists-go-big-on-climate-change-denial-raise-money-for-inhofe-competitive-enterprise-insitute/

#10yrsago Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel apologizes for decades of police torture https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2013/0912/Chicago-Mayor-Rahm-Emanuel-apologizes-for-two-decades-of-police-torture

#10yrsago Why fingerprints make lousy authentication tokens https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/iphone-5s-thieves-may-mutilate-owners-in-bid-to-gain-access-to-fingerprintreading-handsets-expert-warns-8808577.html

#5yrsago Sony: OK, OK, we don’t own Bach https://www.eff.org/takedowns/sony-finally-admits-it-doesnt-own-bach-and-it-only-took-public-pressure

#5yrsago Machine learning scientist quits Google over plan to launch censored Chinese search tool https://theintercept.com/2018/09/13/google-china-search-engine-employee-resigns/

#5yrsago Charter, ordered out of New York State, begs for its life https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/09/charter-negotiating-with-ny-to-avoid-being-kicked-out-of-the-state/

#5yrsago 20% of New York retail space is sitting vacant https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/06/nyregion/nyc-storefront-vacancy.html

#5yrsago Viral road-rage video sparks mob violence in Beijing, revealing deep regional rifts https://www.whatsonweibo.com/fury-and-loathing-in-fengtai-how-one-incident-sparked-chaos-in-beijing-neighbourhood/

#5yrsago Six years ago, North Carolina Republicans passed a law decreeing that the seas weren’t rising https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/12/north-carolina-didnt-like-science-on-sea-levels-so-passed-a-law-against-it

#5yrsago How anarchist organizers in rural Puerto Rico rebooted their power grid after the privatized power company abandoned them https://www.newsweek.com/puerto-ricans-restore-power-after-hurricane-maria-1114070

#5yrsago “Spread Pricing” transparency reveals the millions CVS rakes in by gouging Medicare and prisons on prescription markups https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-drug-spread-pricing/

#5yrsago Trade negotiators are increasingly unwilling to entertain “corporate sovereignty” clauses https://www.techdirt.com/2018/09/13/corporate-sovereignty-wane-as-governments-realize-more-trouble-than-worth/

#1yrago Survival of the Richest: Douglas Rushkoff on the eschatology of libertarian exit https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/13/collapse-porn/#collapse-porn

[ngkiscool]

After the girls - this week is all about the boys (and men) of Good Omens. Please mind the tags, rating and CW.

My inbox is open for suggestions, ideas and recs for stories that focus on supporting characters (as in, Aziraphale and Crowley are not the main ones). Self recs are encouraged!  

Planned Obsolescence by HopeCoppice - 484 words, rated G, focusing on Newt and Pollution. Summary: Newt is already having a bad day. This might as well happen.

Sandalphon Meets His Match by Quannon - 4.2K, rated G, focusing on Sandalphon, R. P. Tyler, Aziraphale and Crowley. cw - vaguely implied violence. Summary: Sandalphon takes punishing Aziraphale and Crowley into his own hands with unexpected results.

Dog by EmaZuro - 466 words, rated G, focusing on Adam Young, Dog and god. Summary: Basicaly short story based on prompt from Good Omens Inktober. Dog and his master go for a walk and God gives you an advice.

Dick Turpin by @supergeek21  - 445 words, rated G, focusing on Newt, Anathema and Dick Turpin. Summary: An ode to the love between an awkward boy and his three-wheeled car.

A modern milkbottle by nightbloomingcereus - 497 words, rated G, focusing on Witchfinder Major Milkbottle and Sergeant Shadwell. Summary: Witchfinder Major Milkbottle has finally returned.  But there have been some changes in the Witchfinder Army since he was last on active duty.

Run And Tell All Of The Angels. by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels) - 2.3K, rated G, focusing on Adam Young, Greasy Johnson and Warlock Dowling. cw - surprise pregnancy. Summary: The bitter blood feud between the Youngs and Johnsons of Lower Tadfield ended with the arranged marriage of their children. In which there is a pregnancy, a dashing rich American, and Greasy Johnson wishes someone would pay him to go away.

Sleep So Sweet my Darling Boy, You Will Rule When Earths Destoryed by notebooksandlaptops - 1.6K, rated G, focusing on Warlock Dowling and Adam Young. Summary:  Perks of being The Destroyer of Worlds, Angel of Darkness, Master of the Pit, Spawn of Satan on High, the Anti-Christ: the ability to control the weather, always getting exactly what you want for Christmas, your favourite couples on TV mysteriously ending up together and a man in your bed who had the weirdest upbringing because two dumbass celestial beings thought that he was you. Draw backs of being The Destroyer of Worlds, Angel of Darkness, Master of the Pit, Spawn of Satan on High, the Anti-Christ: Occasional Nightmares about who you could have been. Good job that Warlock is there and if Adam needs a lullaby, well, Warlock's got his childhood Lullaby Nanny taught him to hand...

Home For the Holidays by WaldosAkimbo - 1.3K, rated T, focusing on Lesley the International Express Man and Maud. Summary: A slice of Lesley and Maud and what they do for Christmas.

What We Do in the Dowling Estate by doomed_spectacles - 2K, rated T, focusing on Mr Harrison, Mr Cortese and Adam Young. Summary: A film crew follows Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cortese, private tutors hired to educate Warlock Dowling, the son of an American Ambassador.

His Master's Voice by @fenrislorsrai​  - 498 words, rated T, focusing on Dog and Adam Young. cw - unspecified traumatic things happen to people. Summary: Dog lives a long and happy life.Bodies are optional. He's not going back to Hell just because he's dead. His place is by his Master's side and always will be.

Bonus - master list with all past recommendations!    

Authors - if you wish that your Tumblr account will be tagged, instead of the AO3, please comment or DM me the handle. Thanks :)

Thanks for reading, and remember - sharing is caring!

[a-typical]

IN SHADWELL’S DREAM, he is floating high above a village green. In the center of the green is a huge pile of kindling wood and dry branches. In the center of the pile is a wooden stake. Men and women and children stand around on the grass, eyes bright, cheeks pink, expectant, excited.

A sudden commotion: ten men walk across the green, leading a handsome, middle-aged woman; she must have been quite striking in her youth, and the word “vivacious” creeps into Shadwell’s dreaming mind. In front of her walks Witchfinder Private Newton Pulsifer. No, it isn’t Newt.

The man is older, and dressed in black leather. Shadwell recognizes approvingly the ancient uniform of a Witchfinder Major.

The woman climbs onto the pyre, thrusts her hands behind her, and is tied to the stake. The pyre is lit. She speaks to the crowd, says something, but Shadwell is too high to hear what it is. The crowd gathers around her.

A witch, thinks Shadwell. They’re burning a witch. It gives him a warm feeling. That was the right and proper way of things. That’s how things were meant to be.

Only …

She looks directly up at him now, and says “That goes for yowe as welle, yowe daft old foole.”

Only she is going to die. She is going to burn to death. And, Shadwell realizes in his dream, it is a horrible way to die.

The flames lick higher.

And the woman looks up. She is staring straight at him, invisible though he is. And she is smiling.

Good Omens — Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

[scumbag-monthly]

The Young Ones - Flood 💧

Original air date: 14.12.82

Reviewed by: @neil-neil-orange-peel

It’s too difficult a task for me to pick my favourite episode of The Young Ones. I honestly think it depends on my mood. As things stand, I think I’m able to break the twelve episodes into four quarters, ranking wise, and Flood is definitely in my top quarter.

As the finale to series one, we might have expected an episode more like the previous one – Interesting – to take Flood’s spot. That is, an episode with a massive cast to take the show out on a high in case a second series was never commissioned. By contrast, Flood is a far more intimate affair – with the main cast closed off from the rest of the world and any other characters they might have encountered by rapidly rising water. This forces the focus on to each of them and their interplay with one another even more so than usual, showing us how they react to being trapped in a life or death situation. So, maybe not the high of a party, but a high stakes plot… y’know, if we squint past the silliness, which of course we’re not supposed to do.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. When Flood starts, it’s only raining. I’ll just mention here that I’m in agreement with Zoe about the first series’ opening credits being superior to the second series’. I know both look dated now, but the first series’ ones give more insight into the characters’ personalities and the flavour of the show. But anyway: Flood!

The episode opens outside on a rotten, dreary, drizzly kind of day. To add to the mood, we have a cast of medieval peasants, monks, and soldiers chanting “Dominus ad nauseam”. The posh knobs who’ve had a private education and can speak Latin (plus anyone else who’s bothered to check the Wikipedia article for Flood) will know that this means: “Discussing the Lord to the point of nausea.” There’s the first joke, concealed though it may be, and I think anyone non-religious who’s been forced to sit through a church service will see the funny side.

This first scene doesn’t involve the main characters – it’s a cutaway segment. Though it’s raining hard, and their faces are partially covered, you can spot Mark Arden and Stephen Frost as the peasants. Frost’s character gets the honour of being the first this episode to be hit over the head. Leading this group is “His Holiness” – a character credited on IMDB as the Witchfinder, played by Peter Wear. I think his attire and credited name point to him being a parody of the 17th century Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, which makes the collection of historical figures gathered here a bit anachronistic. That said, it doesn’t matter a jot. This is The Young Ones, after all.

The group are gathered in a graveyard to carry out an execution. They’ve dug a pit – “The finest pit we have dug this morrow, for it is in truth the only one.” – to cast the prisoner down into. Thanks to the weather, it’s more of a muddy bath now. The soldiers prove themselves to be a few vegetables short of an allotment when they misunderstand the Witchfinder’s instructions by casting themselves into the pit. Exasperated, the Witchfinder asks the prisoner if he knows the crime he has been found guilty of… and then, exasperation breaking into irritation, prompts him to tell us what it is. It is now, as the camera zooms in and he pulls out a microphone, that we can see clearly that the prisoner is Arnold Brown! From The Comic Strip! And his crime?

“Being Scottish and Jewish – two racial stereotypes for the price of one. Perhaps the best value in the graveyard this morning.”

After Brown gets his catchphrase in (“And why not?”), Neil (Nigel Planer) appears and hits himself in the face with a frying pan. Typical bloody hippie behaviour, tsk tsk. We discover this graveyard doubles as the lads’ back garden and that Rick (Rik Mayall) has seemingly been watching the cutaway segment from the window. Or has he? No, no, he’s just been watching Neil.

Inside the house – where the set lighting in the kitchen is stark, adding to the gloom of the day – Mike (Christopher Ryan) tells us Rick has been looking out of the window for three hours. As we TYO nerds already know the truth behind this, I’ll just point out now that Rick voluntarily standing with his face pressed against a window for three hours is kind of impressive, if also extraordinarily pointless. He’s so desperate for attention that he’d put himself through that uncomfortable tedium just in the hope of being able to crack a criminally unfunny joke. Long live the People’s Poet. Mike’s casually callous comment about making sure Rick doesn’t break the window when he tears his face off it is indicative of the house hierarchy and also demonstrates that Mike is a funny character actually. The standout line from this exchange is of course, however, Rick’s line about the superglue being a joke he made up that the others fell for like the fascists they are. His face is just so wonderfully animated as he says it.

Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson) starts this episode sat on the sofa reading "SS Death Camp Criminal Battalion go to Monte Cassino for the Massacre", a comic of high cultural and intellectual value, I’m sure. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not but his hair looks a little messy in Flood, as if it’s been dampened by the rain. Rick and Vyvyan soon start their fighting – largely, though Rick would never admit it, to placate his own boredom. Yet more attention seeking behaviour from Rick sees him spouting some awful freeform poetry: “Marrow! Meringue! Boomerang!” The writers putting as many words with the “R” sound as they can into Rick’s lines is always amusing. That is what triggers their fighting.

This is one of my favourite scenes between Rick and Vyvyan. Not only is their conversation about the standards the youth should be expecting from their comics and what constitutes “being poofy” hilariously immature, it’s one of the longer periods the two have in the show where they speak without actively trying to kill one another. Vyvyan doesn’t even turn to violence when Rick shoves his bottom in his face – and he’s got a pretty big knife! The clash of personalities is where most of the comedy in the sitcom – in fact, most of the comedy in lots of sitcoms – comes from, so I usually think of this scene when it comes to a concentrated, verbal example of that for Rick and Vyvyan. Their positioning on the sofa makes for some good shots too.

There are a couple rule of three jokes at play in this first section of the show. The first of these we see when Neil enters the house and hits himself in the face with the frying pan (again), the second is started here when Vyvyan decides to check how hard it’s raining. When Vyvyan turns back from the window to break the fourth wall, TYO does what is does best and presents us with a glass of disgusting yellow gob. The studio audience audibly reacts to this.

“It’s only spitting,” Vyvyan says. Clever stuff.

Despite his protestations about how “reactionary” the comic is, Rick still tries to read it after Vyvyan rips it up. This leads into the next cutaway section. All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers playing signifies we’re taking a trip into the delusional world of Rick’s mind, where a comic strip featuring the racist policeman from Boring (Jim Barclay) plays out with Rick as the hero. Notably, Rick is wearing his Demolition getup again here, which suggests maybe this section was originally intended to be part of the pilot. Arden and Frost’s appearances would corroborate this, as we’ve already seen them this episode while they were absent from Demolition. This is also the last time Rick will treat us to some of his poetic verse, as interestingly enough series two features none.

“You gay, black bastards! We’re going to victimise you!” is such a funny line within the context.

The fantasy ends when Neil returns to the house once more and pours a pan of rainwater on Rick’s lap, before hitting himself for a final time. This startles Rick, who can’t figure out where the water came from – a similar joke to this will occur in Bambi. Neil’s near invisibility to the other three is fitting, particularly as we never do find out why he was hitting himself over the head with the frying pan. It’s another discarded plotline to add to the show’s fickle nature. So, while no one is in the slightest bit interested in Neil’s latest take on self-harm, they do want food. Of course. Neil moans that he can’t go to the shop because his hair will lose its shape, but we know this is just an excuse as he’s spent the opening of the episode outside without any kind of hood. The reoccurring question of money comes up and the reason Vyvyan has a knife suddenly becomes apparent. Cat lovers, avert your eyes!

A “kitty”, for those who don’t know, is a slang term for the money gathered by a group of people to be spent on collective amenities – such as in a student house. TYO interprets the name literally, managing to create surrealism from this new concept of a real-life cat containing money… or a, uh, working man’s club comedian puppet cat. I know the rule of comedy is not to explain it! Don’t dissect the frog! But it’s pretty obvious that incongruity in bits like this is what helps create TYO’s oddball humour.

The cat escapes – and for some reason I find it sweet that they’ve got a cat flap for it – but not before shitting out some dosh. Neil begrudgingly agrees to go to the shops and they set about making a list. Vyvyan amps up his taunting of a now blazered Rick by faux apologising for eating his sticky-labelled food. There’s a gifset somewhere on Tumblr for Rick’s rather animalistic reaction. Neil takes another opportunity to try to guilt trip everyone about how he does all the chores around here, guilt tripping which would work a whole lot better if his housemates were capable of being guilted. Upon opening the fridge, he pulls out Rick’s green globule on a saucer – “And I’ve spat on that, Vyvyan, so I wouldn’t advice you eat it!” – and the can of Coca Cola disguising Vyvyan’s utterly brilliant potion.

Let’s talk about Vyvyan and his potions for a moment. Presently, the only other example I can recall of one is from Interesting – the one that makes all his hair fall out. Vyvyan is a medical student and, if the first series’ opening credits are anything to go by, “mad scientist” was on his list of possible career paths when he picked his course. I love whacky coloured drinks in TV shows. In TYO, it’s usually Vyvyan who drinks them – see: the aforementioned blue example from Interesting, plus the bright green tea with bits floating in it from Demolition. We don’t actually see what colour this potion is, but if I had to wager I’d say a bright, hot colour like red. What else is going to turn you into an axe-wielding, homicidal maniac?

Foreshadowing is a device used in storytelling of all mediums, so naturally this show pokes a bit of fun at their employment of the trope: “You know, I just bet a bit later on somebody does drink that and turns into an axe-wielding, homicidal maniac.” Neil gets this line and Nigel delivers it so well, it really amuses me. Gee shucks, I guess it’s just inevitable. Oh well! Neil gets to wind Rick up in this scene too, though much more subtly than Vyvyan, by beginning to list mundane items like “wallpaper” when Rick snaps at him that they need “everything” from the shops.

As Neil leaves the house wearing his old lady’s waterproof bonnet, The Day the Rains Came by Jane Morgan begins to play. This is the second ‘50s tune in Flood – the episode that has no live music. We get our first shot of Codrington Road this episode now, which is used as a segue way for the next cutaway sequence. This time, we’re in a house across the road where two bespeckled men all in black are spying on the lads, who they seem to think are aliens. Understandable conclusion, to be fair. They’re played by Rik and Ade and remind me of the Dangerous Brothers in a much tamer way. I think it’s just that Rik’s character is the dominant one – refusing to let Ade’s character take the lens cap off because they’re not real “binocoliers” – and Ade’s character asks that most stupid of stupid questions: “Lip nip nip nip bip?”

In a mix-up, Rik’s character ends up lobbing the not real “binocoliers” at someone who isn’t the milkman and they end up in Vyvyan’s glass. He’s once again gone over to the window to test the rain and has returned with a pint of piss. There’s the second variant in this running joke. We saw with Neil hitting himself with the frying pan three times how they heightened the third one by having him spill water on Rick first – as we’re about to see with this rule of three, they decide to subvert our expectations of something more disgusting than spit and piss being next with something quite the opposite instead. First, though, Rick is shouting again.

RICK: Okay! That’s just about the bloody limit! I mean, I only put it in there on Wednesday – it’s not as if they grow on trees or anything like that!

MIKE: Rick, what have you lost?

RICK: I had half an apple in there!

The studio audience gives this line a big laugh, and so they should. As Rick and Vyvyan start up their squabbling again, we can see that Mike has begun pampering himself with an old-fashioned beauty mask and hand fan. When Rick asks if he stole his apple, Mike responds with one of his better-known lines: “Well, if you’re gonna sin you might as well be original.” I love this little quip and I love the fact that even Mike has no idea what he’s on about.

A vengeful Rick takes off to Mike’s bedroom to search for pips, only to be met by Bobby the lion tamer and his several angry, man-eating lions. Because why not. The lion tamer was the cabaret replacement for the live music in Flood and reminds us of how old this show is. The dodgy greenscreen effect reminds us of this too, but that kind of adds to TYO’s charm. Naturally Rick screams and runs off, and In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle by The Tokens plays over footage of the lion tamer at work. I’ll be honest, with a 21st century perspective it’s not the show’s finest moment – those lions look pissed – but the last shot of the male lion roaring does function as a good transition for the next scene, where that rule of three about the rain finally pays off as Neil arrives home with a collection of adorable kittens in his coat. I think it’s fair to say cats of all kinds are a recurring theme in Flood.

It turns out Neil’s forgotten what he went out for in the first place, much to the chagrin of Mike and Vyvyan. In a surprising twist, Rick defends Neil and tells Vyvyan he should go to the shops himself if he’s so hungry, to which we get Vyvyan’s great line about not wanting his forehead to rust. This is the point at which the episode’s title starts to bear fruit: the rain has gotten so bad that Vyvyan’s Ford Anglia is floating about outside. Poor Rick is on his last nerves after the shock of the lions in the loft and is close to tears as he berates everyone for their immaturity… and suggests a game of hide and seek to pass the time.

Talking heads have said before that they found the lads playing hide and seek sweet – not like those awful kids these days, with their phones and trendy laptop pads! Grr! The truth is that actually Rick, Mike, Vyvyan, and Neil are all just overgrown kids. That’s part of why, despite their horribleness, you like them anyway. There’s a warped innocence to their sadistic violence. Rick is the seeker in this game – presumably because he insisted on it after coming up with the idea – and while he’s (allegedly) counting to 2,500 Neil has his encounter with the lions. We see Vyvyan hastily exiting Rick’s bedroom, which we know will have consequences later on.

Mike is the first of them to be uncovered when Rick opens the kitchen cupboard. If there’s footage somewhere of Chris climbing into there, I’m sure it’s hilarious. Mike’s insecure ego won’t let him be the first caught, so he tells Rick to go away and find the others first. This is one of Rick and Mike’s funniest interactions in the show. Once again, the household dynamic is highlighted when Rick shuts the cupboard door before knocking and complimenting Mike’s hiding skills. When he turns away to find the others it’s obvious that he’s really very cross, but he won’t show that to Mike. Oh no, not to Mike. Brilliant.

Vyvyan’s found smoking at the bottom of the stairs which I’d never endorse but can’t deny he makes look very, uh, appealing. Rick never has any issues showing Vyvyan his temper but gives him an extra five seconds to hide himself anyway. There’s another good shot of the two of them glaring and yelling in each other’s faces here, with Vyvyan on the stairs and Rick on the floor. Once the five seconds are up, Vyvyan’s vanished into the wardrobe they have in their hallway. Rick screeches one of his best renditions of “BASTARD!” – topped maybe only by “THE SELFISH BASTARDS!” from Summer Holiday – and storms up the stairs. Meanwhile, the reason for the presence of lions and so many other cats in this episode becomes clear: Vyvyan is going to Narnia.

I think it’s one of TYO’s most memorable parodies, alongside The Good Life in Sick. David Rappaport returns as Shirley, joined by Justine Lord as the White Witch. The White Witch calls Vyvyan a “manchild”, which is about right. The first thing he does in this new world appears to be taking a slash in the trees. The White Witch invites Vyvyan over for some Turkish delights, mirroring her literary counterpart, but an argument soon breaks out over who’s responsible for a fart smell. Shirley takes off his beard and pipe – a funny little joke suggesting that the characters are aware they’re in a sitcom – and confronts Vyvyan.

“That’s revolting. People like you should be put in little boxes tied up with string and left in small, dark rooms without any electricity… for a month.” Very… specific…

Obviously, Vyvyan is having none of this crap and manages to intimidate Shirley into backing down. Once he finds out he’s called Shirley, he’s got even more ammo. This could be called hypocritical coming from a man named Vyvyan, but we all love it when Vyvyan’s got the upper hand, don’t we? Don’t lie to yourself!

After finding himself thoroughly unimpressed by the White Witch’s lack of kebabs, Vyvyan helpfully moves the plot along for us by getting back to the game of hide and seek. He asks the two fantasy characters not to tell Rick where he is and hurries off to hide in a tree – the tree that doubles as some sort of slide portal to the house’s cellar. It’s the unacknowledged surreal nature of the house that makes TYO that bit more exciting than it already is, for me. The rules change and no one is ever even that surprised. When Vyvyan lands in the cellar, he finds an angry Rick riled up at his inability to find anyone and the two of them finally have a physical fight.

All things considered, Flood hasn’t been an incredibly violent episode thus far. We never saw the Witchfinder’s prisoner die, Neil only targeted himself with that frying pan, and the lions haven’t killed anyone (yet). This isn’t the most violent fight Rick and Vyvyan will ever have either – that honour is probably reserved for the Virgin Fight in Time – but Rick does manage to ram his biro into Vyvyan’s skull and, if not for Neil arriving, Rick might have found himself chopped up into several pieces. Neil’s come to warn them that Rick’s bedroom is on fire – Vyvyan’s hasty retreat from there earlier did indeed have meaning. Trust this lot to start a fire in an episode entitled Flood!

Now it’s Alexei Sayle’s turn to show up. He enters the house to the sound of wailing sirens as Jerzei Balowski. Perhaps some more foreshadowing? At this point, we haven’t seen Mr Balowski in person since he hassled the lads for rent at their old house in Demolition. He says he has come for a party but he can’t find anyone. What he does find is the coke can – “Coca Cola, symbol of free West.” – containing Vyvyan’s potion. At the time, one of Alexei’s comedic signatures was random, insane noises. We could have a whole essay dedicated to ranking each of his appearances as members of the Balowski Family, but I think his scenes in Flood might just be my favourite. The blending of his calm searching for the lads and his screeches and yelps as the potion takes hold of him are just really funny. He wanders off into the wardrobe, inadvertently retracing Vyvyan’s steps.

Up on the landing, Neil tells Vyvyan it was selfish of him to set fire to Rick’s sociology file when he was hiding in Rick’s bedroom – he could have given him away! A panicking Rick rushes into his room – and we get some more quality greenscreen effects – and yanks open the window, immediately letting in a tide of water to drench the place. It doesn’t even put out all the fires. He sits next to his bed with a fish waggling in his blazer, ranting at a gleeful Vyvyan about the havoc he’s caused. Ade is sat quite close to the fire on Rick’s bed, but then we know he’s got massive balls.

Mike returns and lights up a cigarette. He’s got a suitcase with him and is here to point out the obvious: “I don’t want to be a wet blanket or anything but, if this house is a bottle, I’m the one with the message.” Rick, Neil, and Vyvyan don’t really get metaphors. “Simple: London has flooded.”

This was obvious to anyone with half a brain the moment we entered Rick’s bedroom, but then we have to remember which characters we’re dealing with here. The logic of London flooding and the entire house being buried underwater… but somehow not flooding itself, not even when Rick opens a window, is a great example of the kind of suspension of disbelief this show requires of you and is perhaps why some people think it’s too daft. I like how the physical laws of TYO’s world are slightly different to our own. It adds to the cartoonish, slapstick feel.

The lads react in different ways to the news that London has flooded and they’re trapped. There’s a note of finality in Mike’s voice and he seems to be preparing to go. Where or how, I’m not at all sure. Neil, the depressed hippie that he is, accepts the news with the degree of casualness you might of a much less dire, less life-threatening turn of events. Vyvyan doesn’t seem too bothered – but when is he? He called the “flying shark” outside the window “the most completely brilliant thing [he’s] ever seen”. His own potential demise doesn’t phase him. Rick, however? Well, stress of any kind is where the real Rick comes out to play – the right on anarchist persona is dropped in sheer terror, replaced by the little boy who wants the authorities to jump in and fix everything, no matter the cost.

RICK:  Phone the police!

NEIL:  But they’re fascists.

RICK:  Well, never mind about that now! Telephone, Vyvyan!

When the telephone is no use – pulling it off the wall will do that – the group try the radio, hoping for a public information bulletin. Instead, a music show is on, and this is where we get our last cutaway segment with real people. Featuring Ben Elton as a very punchable DJ and Cindy Shelley as a musical artist who’s been in the biz since lunchtime and has amputated her arms to fit the aesthetic of “urban alienation” chosen for her by the men with money, this is a scene that honestly feels just as relevant today as it must have done in 1982. The artist’s interview is cut short when the studio starts to flood, with the DJ shoving her aside and complaining about not being warned about this on the radio.

Back in the house, Rick turns off their radio to stop it flooding – magical logic, I love it – and projects his fear of drowning on to Vyvyan by telling him off for building a submarine. He seems to realise after he’s said it that this is actually quite sensible behaviour for Vyvyan and switches to enquiring terribly unsubtly about whether there’s any room in it for him. There isn’t, Vyvyan tells him bluntly. Vyvyan wants to see him drown. I know Vyvyan’s submarine is tiny and made of cardboard but, hey, in the TYO universe, who’s to say that wouldn’t have done the trick and saved them? Unfortunately for Vyvyan, SPG sabotages him when he realises there’s no room for him either. After a quick beating, Vyvyan opens the front door – again, the house doesn’t flood – and sends his beloved pet out to “play with the sharks”. The shark from Jaws is out there, so SPG asks for his autograph.

A couple of tiny things to note about this drawing room scene include the last appearance of the mysterious fifth housemate – we see them swimming outside the front window. Do they drown? Do they swim off to student houses anew? We shall never know. The other thing is something I only noticed myself when analysing this episode and is something that just goes to show how much more attention I should pay to Mike. Though he has no lines, he spends the scene sat in the middle of the room on the sofa, packing up his blow-up doll. The fact he’s doing this in the open, in front of the others, would suggest he thinks this is curtains. It’s the last episode of the series and they’re all going to die. Heh. That, or they knew we and the other characters wouldn’t pay enough attention to Mike to spot this. For the eagle eyed? Or the people who can just bloody see what’s in front of their faces, more like! Sorry, Mike!

Mr Balowski fully succumbs to the potion after drifting through Narnia and into the cellar. Now an axe-wielding, homicidal maniac, he finds the axe Vyvyan was going to use on Rick earlier and Flood starts its second major parody: The Shining. The violence metre is about to crank up a notch.

Neil is blowing up water wings, employing the same standard of life preservation technique we saw with his fallout shelter in Bomb. He sows the seeds (HA) for his own almost-demise by pointing out how terrible it would be if they ended up having to eat each other. Rick, just for a change, is panicking – he’s smoking like a chimney – and doesn’t appreciate the thought. He isn’t actually doing anything to ease the situation, unlike Vyvyan and Neil’s ultimately pointless efforts, but that’s Rick all over. Mike steps up to take charge: they’re going to eat Neil.

As if they’ve been cannibals all their lives, Vyvyan, Rick, and Mike pin Neil to his bed. Rick makes fun of Neil’s terror because he’s a bastard and there’s another rule of three where things keep temporarily preventing Vyvyan from slicing Neil up with a chainsaw. The noise of the chainsaw nearly obscures it, but there’s a line where Rick points at Neil’s crotch and tells Mike he’s got bagsies there. The pervy! Then, well, then Mr Balowski arrives.

“HERE’S JERZEI!”

Things have become quite chaotic, as things in TYO often do. Most of us probably already know the story about Alexei almost catching Rik on the head with the axe when he got a little too close to the door. Mike makes an attempt to hide under a bedsheet, like a ghost. The shot switches to the landing to reveal a chair and a sign for the Half-Time Report. Alexei momentarily chills the fuck out: “Well, we’re half-way through the show and it’s time for Half-Time Report.” Considering we’re in fact nearing the end of the show now makes this comment ironic as well as funny. In an episode full of parodies, this is another quick one about football commentators at half-time. The way this lets the actors break the fourth wall and take the piss out of themselves has always cemented this scene as gold in my mind. Alexei delivers it excellently.

Soon enough, the highly serious acting has resumed. The lads give Neil over to Mr Balowski as a distraction while Vyvyan cuts through the remarkably paper like bedroom wall. The four of them escape up into the loft and hide, pursued by their rabid landlord. They trap Mr Balowski in Mike’s bedroom with the man-eating lions as soon as he enters the room. There’s a scream and a roar. And thus, the young ones have killed together – a truly bonding experience if there ever was one. It’s the only way to deal with bastard landlords, right? Mr Balowski meeting the lions was also the third time someone had this episode, so there’s another running rule of three at play.

In the last scene, as they descend from the loft, Vyvyan remarks that it was lucky Bobby was here with his man-eating lions and Mike offers Rick Bobby’s hand when he says he’d like to shake it. RIP Bobby. The lads look out of the window and discover – thank Cliff – that the waters have subsided. They peer out at something on the water: it’s SPG, who swims towards the camera as the credits roll, a rainbow in the background. A cheerful end. The closing credits are still the usual theme, but with the music played faster and lighter. At the climax, they swell to a crescendo. That was The Young Ones! Did you ruddy enjoy it or what?

Personally, I think Flood is a fantastic end to this crazy show’s first series. If it had ended here it would have been a shame, knowing what we know about the brilliance to come in series two, but I think it would still have felt complete and whole. Going through the episode in detail has made me appreciate the absolute comic genius behind it even more and has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Happy 40th to the lads!

I know my review has really lingered on a bit too long, so I hope I haven’t put you to sleep. I’m done now. Fin. Thanks for reading!

[voluptuarian]

An expansion for my 365(ish) Days watch list featuring 100+ more movies from 100+ years of film, offering increasingly obscure titles and focus on world cinema.

The link above goes to the Letterboxd list, while the text list can be found below the cut. Happy viewing!

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)

Un Chiene Andalou (1929)

Bambi (1942)

Ivan the Terrible pt. I and II (1944, 1958)

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

The White Reindeer (1952)

House of Wax (1953)

Carmen Jones (1954)

Night of the Hunter (1955)

Sayonara (1957)

Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

The Innocents (1961)

Carnival of Souls (1962)

The Leopard (1963)

The Great Escape (1963)

The Ipcress File (1965)

Persona (1966)

Le Samouraï (1967)

Witchfinder General (1968)

The Lion in Winter (1968)

La Piscine (1969)

The Color of Pomegranates (1969)

Satyricon (1969)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Donkey Skin (1970)

Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971)

Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

Immoral Tales (1973)

Penda's Fen (1974)

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Salo (1975)

Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)

The Mirror (1975)

Marie Poupee (1976)

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

The Black Stallion (1979)

The Blue Lagoon (1980)

Heavy Metal (1981)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Son of the White Mare (1981)

The Nine-Colored Deer (1981)

Evil Dead trilogy (1981- )

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981)

Possession (1981)

The Return of Martin Guerre (1982)

The Living Dead Girl/La Morte Vivante (1982)

Top Gun (1986)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (1986- )

Maurice (1987)

Hellraiser (1987)

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Jan Švankmajer's Alice (1988)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Heathers (1988)

Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer (1989, 1992)

The Juniper Tree (1990)

Daughters of the Dust (1991)

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

The Lover (1992)

Like Water for Chocolate (1992)

The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)

Sankofa (1993)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

La Reine Margot (1994)

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Empire Records (1995)

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

Hackers (1995)

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Event Horizon (1997)

Starship Troopers (1997)

Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998)

The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Chocolat (2000)

Pitch Black (2000)

American Psycho (2000)

Memento (2000)

Ghost World (2001)

Irreversible (2002)

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)

Russian Ark (2002)

Hero (2002)

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Blood Tea and Red String (2006)

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Mongol (2007)

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Thirst (2009)

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Kick-Ass (2010)

American Mary (2012)

Skyfall (2012)

The Lobster (2015)

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Loving Vincent (2017)

Annihilation (2018)

Mandy (2018)

Mad God (2021)

Hatching (2022)

[lucifer-kane]

Okay time to go through my To Read tag on Libby and see what I wanna pick up next. Under a cut bc I'm adding descriptions and some are long

Death by Silver by Amy Griswold, Melissa Scott (this one is high on the list just because I enjoy Melissa Scotts writing bc she was doing the Aestrient series I adore but am taking a break from before I read the last one)

His practice newly established, metaphysician Ned Mathey can’t afford to turn away any clients. But the latest Londoner to seek Ned’s magical aid gives him pause: Mr Edgar Nevett, an arrogant banker, is the father of the bully who made Ned’s life hell at boarding school. Nevertheless, Ned accepts the commission to ensure the Nevett family silver bears no ancient or modern curses, and then prepares to banish the Nevett family to unpleasant memory again. Until Edgar Nevett is killed by an enchanted silver candlestick—one of the pieces Ned declared magically harmless.

Calling on his old school friend Julian Lynes—private detective and another victim of the younger Nevett—Ned races to solve the murder, clear the stain on his professional reputation, and lay to rest the ghosts of his past.

Assisted by Ned’s able secretary Miss Frost, who has unexpected metaphysical skills of her own, Ned and Julian explore London’s criminal underworld and sodomitical demimonde, uncover secrets and scandals, confront the unexpected murderer and the mysteries of their own relationship.

City of Strife by Claudie Arseneault

sandor, City of Spires.

A hundred and thirty years have passed since Arathiel last set foot in his home city. Isandor hasn’t changed—bickering merchant families still vie for power through eccentric shows of wealth—but he has. His family is long dead, a magical trap has dulled his senses, and he returns seeking a sense of belonging now long lost.

Arathiel hides in the Lower City, piecing together a new life among in a shelter dedicated to the homeless and the poor, befriending an uncommon trio: the Shelter’s rageful owner, Larryn, his dark elven friend Hasryan, and Cal the cheese-loving halfling. When Hasryan is accused of Isandor's most infamous assassination of the last decade, what little peace Arathiel has managed to find for himself is shattered. Hasryan is innocent… he thinks. In order to save him, Arathiel may have to shatter the shreds of home he’d managed to build for himself.

Arathiel could appeal to the Dathirii—a noble elven family who knew him before he disappeared—but he would have to stop hiding, and they have battles of their own to fight. The idealistic Lord Dathirii is waging a battle of honour and justice against the cruel Myrian Empire, objecting to their slavery, their magics, and inhumane treatment of their apprentices. One he could win, if only he could convince Isandor’s rulers to stop courting Myrian’s favours for profit.

In the ripples that follow Diel’s opposition, friendships shatter and alliances crumble. Arathiel, the Dathirii, and everyone in Isandor fights to preserve their homes, even if the struggle changes them irrevocably.

City of Strife is the first installment of the City of Spires trilogy, a multi-layered political fantasy led by an all LGBTQIAP+ cast. Fans of complex storylines criss-crossing one another, elves and magic, and strong friendships and found families will find everything they need within these pages.

Gentleman Wolf by Joanna Chambers

An elegant werewolf in Edinburgh... 1788. When Lindsay Somerville, the most elegant werewolf in Paris, learns that the man who held him in abject captivity for decades is on his way to France, intent on recapturing him, he knows he must leave the Continent for his own safety. Lindsay cannot take the risk of being recaptured—he may have been free for a century but he can still feel the ghost of his old chains under his fine clothes. … on a mission... While he’s in Edinburgh, Lindsay has been tasked with acquiring the “Naismith Papers”, the writings of a long-dead witchfinder. It should be a straightforward mission—all Lindsay has to do is charm an elderly book collector, Hector Cruikshank. But Cruikshank may not be all he seems, and there are others who want the papers. … meets his match As if that were not enough, while tracking down the Naismith Papers, Lindsay meets stubborn architect Drew Nicol. Although the attraction between them is intense, Nicol seems frustratingly determined to resist Lindsay’s advances. Somehow though, Lindsay can’t seem to accept Nicol’s rejection. Is he just moonstruck, or is Nicol bonded to him in ways he doesn’t yet understand?

Note: This is the first book of a duology – the story continues and will complete in the second book, Master Wolf.

Greenwode by J. Tullos Hennig

Daring the old gods. Defying the new. The making of a legend—and a truly innovative re-imagining of Robin Hood. Rob of Loxley and his older sister Marion have been groomed from birth to take their parents’ places within the Old Religion. Despite this, when Rob finds an injured nobleman’s son in the forest, neither he nor Marion understand what befriending young Gamelyn could mean for the future of their beliefs. Already the ancient spirits are fading beneath the iron of nobleman’s politics and the stones of Church subjugation. More, the druid elders warn that Rob and Gamelyn are cast as sworn adversaries, locked in timeless and symbolic struggle for the greenwood’s Maiden. Instead, in a theological twist only a stroppy dissident could envision, Rob swears he’ll defend the sacred woodland of the Horned God and Lady Huntress to his last breath—if his god will let him be lover, not rival, to the one fated as his enemy. But in the eyes of Gamelyn’s Church, sodomy is unthinkable... and the old pagan magics are an evil that must be vanquished. ------

With a truly original take on the Robin Hood legends, this historical fantasy series sets Robin the outlaw archer as a queer, chaotic-neutral druid; Marion as pagan queen who is sister but not wife, and their consort a Christian--and thusly conflicted--nobleman.

[malorisaurus]

I would also posit that the network is repeatedly stated as being designed and built by Nedry, and so I would consider it likely (and intentionally presented as such) that he designed something that looked impressive to someone that knew nothing about computers (like Hammond) while not necessarily being the most functional. Even the line about having to sift through 2 million lines of code is telling, imo.

It is also set up that both Alan Grant and Ellie Satler would not know much about computers because they have specialists for that work in their field (plus, for some reason, Alan literally cannot touch a computer like he is Witchfinder Private Pulsifer up in the dino hizzie).

I think my only beef with the imagery used is that it is just called a "Unix system" generically by Lex, the person who clearly understands what is going on. Since Unix was a family of systems derived from the original AT&T Unix, it feels oddly generic in that moment. But it would probably be a bit much to say that it is a Silicon Graphics workstation (using IRIX, the SGI System V based Unix) running the three dimensional file system browser fsn ("File System Navigator", pronounced "fusion"). XD

The foreshadowing in the first act of Jurassic Park is nuts, considering it's an adaption of a story everyone watching it knew.

Most famously, this is a movie that foreshadows the entire plot with a seatbelt, with Grant having two "female" connectors but managing to tie them together anyway, or the fact that the plot is kicked off by Hammond treating a liability tour conducted bc dinosaurs ate someone as a exciting grand opening, but like

"Dr. Wu is introduced writing lab data down in pencil, and erasing it." Sure

"In the DNA lab some of the dinosaur's names are misspelled." Huh (and likely intentional, since it's two misspellings of two popular dinosaurs shown in close-up)

"When Hammond is pouring champagne for Grant and Sattler, he accidentally grabs much cheaper glasses without noticing, and we can see the right glasses sitting in the background" What?

I think this ties into the "UNIX system" scene too. Set aside that that was a real, if obscure, file manager program, everyone mocking how it was an example of Hollywood "not getting computers" is wrong on those grounds too. "Yeah, it looks cool, but it wouldn't be very efficient or functional". Yeah, and that's why it makes perfect sense for John Hammond to have it on the computers at Jurassic Park. After all, a boring, functional folder doesn't scream "spared no expense". It's not an great example of the filmmakers not getting computers, it's a great example of a character not getting computers

[hjbirthdaywishes]

July 7, 2024

Happy 36 Birthday to Jack Whitehall.

[jonathanpongratz]

#BadMoonRising Johnny Lycan and the Last Witchfinder by Wayne Turmel #paranormal #urbanfantasy

I know there are some werewolf fans out there – but how about fans of werewolf private investigators? Today’s author is here with the third novel in his series. He created a spin-off series featuring a side character ready to go for Netflix – just in case they ever call. Welcome Wayne Turmel! Based on […]#BadMoonRising Johnny Lycan and the Last Witchfinder by Wayne Turmel #paranormal #urbanfantasy

[hantologie]

By the 1630s a number of activities about which people had been made to feel guilty since the Reformation were being actively inverted and perverted in testi-monies. Traditional merry-making had involved feasting, drinking, dancing and courtship (including pre-marital sex) - community events that kept the very poorest going. Then they began to be frowned upon by the godly, and the piety and restraint these men attempted to enforce explain why tales of public devil-worship included harmless recreations made heinous, and why so many private encounters with Satan were said to involve sexual intercourse.

Malcom Gaskill, Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy

[kingscythe]

Witchfinder Private Newton Pulsifer

"Don't worry, I come from a long, proud line of up-fuckers. I'd know how to fuck this up so bad you couldn't undo it even if I wasn't trying."

"Up-fuckers? You don't mean fuck-uppers, do you?"

"Fuck-uppers? My grandfather's grandfather's grandfather wrote 'up-fucker' as his profession in the population census in the 1800s, and that's what we've been ever since."

"I'm... Pretty sure that the standardised title is fuck-upper."

"Ah man. He managed to fuck that up, too, didn't he?"

"Well if it's any comfort, that is indeed nothing but quite a professional fuck-up. I doubt any layman would manage to fuck that up. You come from a family of experts."

"Ah, thank you. Well, here goes nothing."

[SOUND OF MASSIVE EXPLOSION]

[agnes-nutter-witch]