#also i am going wildly insane over the post credit scene

[chrrywvea]

idc what anyone says the marvels was SO GOOD and i am so violently gay

[ if anyone wants to chat about it feel free to! i love to hyperanalyze stuff haha♡ ]

[seeksstaronmewni]

The Bear Roots of Burbank Cartoons: A Lookback at Boo Boo Runs Wild

5 years ago, [adult swim] aired the greatest of all Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episodes, “Boo Boo Runs Wild” (1999), on August 13th, 2016 A.D. at 4 AM.

Look and see, kids, how America’s not-so-average bear connects in the wide world of animation that produces many of the cartoons that you love in Burbank, Canada and more!

As and after I saw it, I knew that I found the greatest band of cartoonists out there, and that greatest band of cartoonists out there was none other than...

Spümcø, whose many creatives would end up working at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Cartoon Network Studios, and many other popular Burbank and Canadian studios that made the cartoons I grew up and beyond watching.

Obviously, the character design is rather different, but they still look like the right characters, even with the slight color changes...

and with their items of human attire out. Ranger Smith, on the other hand...

Ranger Smith is wildly off model, and probably on purpose, throughout the picture.

Only in one scene appears he with a more familiar face.

Now, I didn’t have to watch Wild Kratts (which, by the way, features 6 Spümcø Canada creatives) to learn that “there’s only one thing a bear likes more than raiding a pic-a-nic basket.”

As the title suggests, Boo Boo loses his temper when Ranger Smith restricts him from tearing bark and decides to go primal in returning to his bear roots: “From this day forth, I’ll not dress in the man’s attire, and I’ll not speak in the man’s tongue. From now on, it’s going on all fours and grunting for me!”

Boo Boo wreaks havoc for the trees with his natural bear roots.

Unlike past episodes, however, the artists went far wilder than the usual Hanna-Barbera cartoon, making the trees alive and screaming in pain! OH, WHAT TOURTUE! Not to mention how I love Boo Boo’s goofy/manical laugh, a beautiful product of John Kricfalusi’s voice (Yes; I know that he was a formerly abusive megalomaniac who still has ADHD, but God knows what cartoons would be like today—at least those produced in Burbank and Canada—if it wasn’t for the many layout artists that he led).

Also unnatural to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon is the extreme levels of slapstick, wackiness and graphic nature of cartoons since such shows as Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Beany and Cecil’s DiC reboot, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Boo Boo and now Cindy Bear are licking away at all of the honey... and bees... with insanely long tongues (may be that they’re sloth bears?). This left Yogi Bear practically speechless.

The mere sequence of dialogue between Yogi and Ranger Smith, discussing what to do about Boo Boo, involved HEAVY work in the storyboards by Vincent Waller. So many expressions that they couldn’t fit in each of Spümcø’s 3-panel storyboard pages!

As you see, in addition to Vincent Waller’s storyboards, John K. added extra poses (storyboard revisions more or less, but definitely layout poses) under the respective scenes. That way, Vincent could focus on telling and writing the story in rough pictures. (source of storyboards)

I also love the sound design. While it’s definitely true to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, John K. and the late Henry Porch were very creative with some weird, dated and out-of-context sound effects, similar to what they and Horta Editorial did on The Ren & Stimpy Show in the first two seasons. The production music (probably APM and Capitol Records) also gave it a vintage, nostalgic feel.

Ultimately, with the aforementioned abusive megalomaniac aside, Spümcø undoubtedly harbored some of the finest animators and artists ever. Such names as Bob Jaques (Spongebob Squarepants, Buy One, Get One Free*, The Baby Huey Show), Ben Jones (DC Super Hero Girls, Cats Don’t Dance, Teen Titans GO!), Vincent Waller (Spongebob Squarepants, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog), Albert Lozano (Inside Out, A Kitty Bobo Show), Todd White (Spongebob Squarepants), Eric Koenig (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Madagascar, Cats Don’t Dance, The Simpsons, and The Tigger Movie), and Erik Wiese (Samurai Jack, The Mighty B!) are among the hundreds of creatives who ended up almost everywhere working in Burbank and Canadian animation.

Other names on the Spümcø team that one might recognize include Gabe Swarr (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Buzz on Maggie, Foe Paws, El Tigre), and even background artists such as Richard Daskas ( @rdaskas​ - Samurai Jack, Time Squad, Sym-Bionic Titan, Batman Beyond), Richard Ziehler-Martin (Tiny Toon Adventures, The Wacky World of Tex Avery), Hector Martinez (Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, Timone and Pumba, Captain N, Evil Con Carne, Dora the Explorer), and Tony Mora (MAD, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, Pickle and Peanut). I mean: in short, these artists worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Feature Animation, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network Studios!

Spümcø’s production assistants on Boo Boo Runs Wild feature Matt Danner —a fantastic character designer, storyboard artists, director and producer, whose credits range from (Johnny Test and The Legend of the Three Caballeros to Team Hot Wheels and The Looney Tunes Show—and Cartoon Brew editor Amid Amidi. Brian A. Miller was an executive in charge of production, not for but probably in association with Cartoon Network.

Spümcø’s creatives, as I said, are all over the place in Burbank animation. Other shows that still air on @adultswim​ have ex-Spümcø creatives. For example: today’s re-run of Samurai Jack EPISODE XVI features Chris Reccardi (The Powerpuff Girls, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)...

Scott Wills (Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat)...

Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, Wander Over Yonder) and Jim Smith (YooHoo and Friends, Tom and Jerry Tales, McGee and Me)...

and Leticia Lacy (TRON: Uprising, Sym-Bionic Titan, Wander Over Yonder, Korgoth of Barbaria).

Even outside of Cartoon Network Studios, where most ex-Spümcø artists end up, @cartoonnetwork​’s The Amazing World of Gumball, from Cartoon Network Studios Europe (AKA Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe), features ex-Spümcø artist Charlie Bean (The Powerpuff Girls, Robotboy, Batman: The Animated Series, Timone and Pumba, Creature Crunch) on The Cartoon Network Europe Development Team.

One of Cartoon Network’s biggest and craziest hits, Teen Titans GO!, also features such ex-Spümcø artists as storyboard artist, director and producer Luke Cormican (The Buzz on Maggie, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Brickleberry, The Replacements, El Tigre)...

Gerald de Jesus (The Book of Life, The Ricky Gervais Show, TMNT)...

and Eric J. Pringle (Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, The Problem Solverz). What wacky cartoon filled with live-action images, unpredictable visual gags and extreme slapstick humor wouldn’t?

Relatively, you could even tune in to Nickelodeon, the original home of Spümcø’s ground-breaking hit, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and see names of creatives associated with Spümcø and Ren & Stimpy, such as Zeus Cervas (Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Spongebob Squarepants, Clarence) on today’s episode of The Patrick Star Show...

or even Gabe Del Valle (Mighty Magiswords, Spongebob Squarepants) on today’s episode of Middlemost Post!

Overall, Boo Boo Runs Wild introduced me to the cartoon studio whose works I took for granted and on which I was missing out all of my life, and I strongly encourage this generation to support this Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode, which you can watch RIGHT NOW on [adult swim]’s site. It was officially on their YouTube channel, but it was removed for unknown reasons. This short never even got a DVD or VHS release!

The last televised airing of Boo Boo Runs Wild on [adult swim] so far was January 6th, 2019 A.D., but Spümcø also produced “A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith” and “Boo Boo and the Man” (based on true events in the life of John Kricfalsui) for Cartoon Network.

As I come to a close, it’s worth noting that layout Ed Benedict, an animator and artist whose credits go all of the way back to the 1930s with Disney and continued with MGM and Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios, originally worked on Yogi Bear episode “Yogi’s Birthday Party” as a layout artist, and reprised that very role for “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. What a legacy the animators and artists of this episode leave!

Always will I remember how Spümcø, whose legacy connects to my Cartoon Network-infused childhood, blessed me and graced me that fateful day, August 13th, 2016 A.D., with the ultimate example of the fine art of cartooning that is the Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. I was living in the moment, and I thank God for it.

“For years they have [been] asking me to make new Yogi cartoons, but I can’t even get a half a million [dollars] to make one, probably because I actually like the characters, but 60-70 million $ to make walking corpses is economical.” - John Kricfalsui on Yogi Bear (2010)

Another Ranger Smith, Boo Boo or Yogi Bear cartoon from the people behind The Ren & Stimpy Show is highly unlikely today, due to the abuse and harassment of John K. angering the world to the point of hating and condemning the man who helped to shape not only Cartoon Network but also television animation—and animation as a whole—with an undeniable legacy of artists and animators who deserve way more credit and respect than we perhaps thought of giving as kids.

Tweet version of this post here.

[vbartilucci]

What sort of world is it at the end of Endgame?

This is a wildly spoilery article, that much should be obvious. It’s hopefully not a surprise that Endgame has a mostly happy ending, but I’m pretty sure that it needs to be way happier than it appeared to be on the surface.

More under the O.G.

OK, now that it’s just us people that have seen the film, we can speak freely.

On the surface, the film ends happily. Everyone’s restored, the world returns to normal, and off we go into the next Phase of Marvel movies.

Except that’s almost impossible.

Let’s take a look at what the world at the end of Endgame is actually like.

First off…it’s 2024. The film makes clear that five years has passed. They make it clear that the world was in utter chaos after only three weeks.

Let’s consider the timeline after the Snap. We’re only going to discuss Earth, but you have to remember that the exact same thing is happening on every planet in the universe. And those other planets have no idea why it happened, which probably makes it even worse.

Seconds after the Snap, half the people in the world vanish. A fair number of them were driving or piloting conveyances of some kind – cars, trains, boats, planes, what have you. Unless they have co-pilots that are still there, those become out of control conveyances. They crash, killing or maiming anyone else in said vehicles, as well as anyone directly in their way.  We saw cars crash, and at least one helicopter fly into a building in the post credits sequence of Infinity War – multiply that by thousands, possibly millions.

So immediately, the death toll is staggering.

A statistically inordinate number of people need medical help. But approximately half the doctors and nurses are gone. So a lot of them don’t make it. More deaths.

Days after the snap – People have lost family members, with absolutely no explanation. Some people won’t be able to handle it, and will either go insane, or take their lives. Others will get PTSD, Survivor’s Guilt, or any other number of conditions that will render them wildly incapable of getting through their day.

Approx. Two weeks later – many of the people who were snapped were the breadwinners of their households. Maybe, MAYBE some of the have life insurance, but I’ll lay odds that the insurance companies are either trying to find ways not to pay out, or just going bankrupt or out of business. A whole lot of people are only one paycheck from the streets, Homelessness and foreclosures skyrocket. MAYBE the government tries to do something, but as we were told, most government are in ruins, and this issue might be in the top ten on their to-do list, but not the top five.

A staggering amount of human knowledge is lost. Things from new scientific discoveries that one person was working on, down to soup recipes that only one person at a restaurant knew, are lost. We lose people who know how to run vital equipment. We’re not exactly thrown back into the stone age, but things get VERY difficult until people can train up on those skills.

(and yet somehow Audi is still able to keep making new cars…)

This is all just weeks after the Snap. And all along, more and more people are dying from the collateral effects I’ve listed, and who knows what else.

Now let’s jump to that Five Years Later.

People move on. We’re good at that. Survivors get new jobs, meet and marry new people. It’s hard as hell, but people are muddling through. People are totally still dying like crazycakes.

And then, with as little explanation as when they left, half the population of the world pop back into existence.

Take a look at the world that Scott Lang pops back into. His home is empty, in the middle of a ghost town. This model, similar to modern day Detroit, is probably followed across the world – cities shrink, and massive square miles of property are forsaken. He has no idea what happened to him, or to anyone else.

Now half the population of the world is experiencing the same thing.

It’s chaos all over again. What should be good news is a nightmare in reverse for a lot of those returnees. Some of the families of these people are dead, through any of the ways I discussed. Babies pop back into existence, but their parents are no longer standing where they were five years ago. Some people’s families are still alive, but living in public housing, or moved on to other spouses, or any other number of scenarios that leave them out in the cold.

Some of those people are not going to be able to cope with what happened to them, and we’ll see a repeat of the stress-related reaction we saw the first time.

Like Scott’s, their homes are boarded up, and no longer theirs. If they had any money, it’s gone – the banks seize accounts left untouched for several years.

The bastard insurance companies will probably try to get their money back.

The process to re-orient these people into the world is a logistical nightmare, on the order of the one where they left it.

To summarize, the world of the MCU is a nightmare times two. People are broken and insane, half the world feel like they just woke up from a coma into a crazy future (at least Cap had people caring for him)

So the scene with Peter Parker and those joyous kids happily piling back into high school is virtually impossible. That high school was probably shut down and left in disrepair, at the very least. Not to mention that half of the people he knows are now five years older than Peter is.

This is not exactly the kind of world I’m looking forward to watching new movies about.

But no worries, I am convinced they have a solution in place. I can think of two or three possible solutions:

Banner’s snap was more sweeping than suggested. More than simply bringing everybody back, he also massaged reality so that little to none of the collateral effect remain. It’s probably still going to be messy for the people who remarried and had kids in those five years – I’m sure they’d be as upset about their new families being erased as Tony was against it for his.

Tony handled the cleanup – taking a page from Thanos’ book, he made it so people forgot that the Snap had happened somehow. A great deal of wrinkles to fill in, but he was pretty good at seeing all the angles.

They’re just going to ignore it. This is of course the most obvious scenario. I’m not interested in seeing films that take place in such a potentially sad world, and I’m sure they aren’t keen on making them. So they’re probably go with a “He rode off into the West and everything was okay” hand-wave, and it will not be mentioned again. Which is probably just fine.

[petty-crush]

"Okja"

-shout out to New Beverley for showing this on the big screen in 35 mm; what a experience

-this film is a tone-a-sauras. It's like eight films in one, each changing with the language. But all of them are great, Bong Joon Ho lets loose a streak of genuine eccentricity, and this is one of the best films I have ever seen.

-the pre credits showcase Tilda Swinton's character ramping up we the audience with a cutesy graphic about ending world hunger via super pigs;

+notably popping his head in is her associate repeating her words with a movement like a puppet master; suggesting he is pulling the strings behind her image

-off to Korean as the film introduces Ann-Seo Hyun as Mija, and her relationship with Okja, forming a bond with far more resonance than I was expecting

-I am somewhat in awe of Bong introducing Okja so soon in the running time and so casually. Like in "The Host" the creature is introduced concurrently with the humans, suggesting they are a character like the rest, a natural part of the world

-this section of Mija and Okja hunting for food in the forest really really brings to mind "My Neighbor Totoro". Except I actually think this is better

-the part of Okja running valiantly to hook Mija to a tree and seemingly sacrifice herself dropped my jaw

-I literally never expected such a scene let alone so suddenly in the film

-one aspect of this film I am really enjoying is how Bong doesn't introduce Mija as being a "normal" element or or stand in; he simply shows what she wants, so that we empathize with her, and we never lose track of who she is or what she desires in life (mostly happiness and frolic with Okja)

-Okja swimming like a goof and flinging her shit like a hippo is so positively sublime in its patience to show a character be content with itself

- I have to pause here and say I have no idea how to describe Jake Gyllenhaal's character Dr. Johnny Wilcox.

+What tone or planet Jake is going for is completely lost on me, and yet I was never once less than thrilled to see him.

-Dr. Wilcox is a character I got the gist most of the audience couldn't stand, and some will be quick to label a failure, but I (in addition to imagining him a double shotgun parody of the male character from "Her") found him so bizarro and different that I wouldn't have taken a second away from him

-Mija's sheer enthusiasm at seeing him is doubly sad considering his sinister intentions

-I love how baffled Dr. Wilcox is at seeing Okja being so super by being (essentially) given a free range life; to wander and enjoy her environment

+that it never was considered anywhere else is troubling and so very pathetic

-Mija's grandfather is utterly awful, he seemingly never gets her, and attempts to woo her with money (I say all grandparents real love is food until you are a human boulder and then money as a cherry on top)

-the fact that he does so while at the graves of her parents is the ultimate low

-there is something of cultural significance to this golden pig I am not getting right now, but suspect my intuition will reveals later (I don't mean in terms of the story, but how it relates to Korean culture)

-no attempt is made to humanize Okja, and her shyness is beguiling

-beautiful touch as Mija is ready to jump at this glass office door with her full force, looks at it from a long hallway, and carefully adjusts use backpack at the last moment

-I never get tired of moments where it seems the target is standing then collapses two seconds later

-this girl can't stop, not stop

-Mija's athletic attempts to get on the truck that is carrying Okja away is so Spielbergian in its utter mastery and disdain for realism in geography that I simply must say that anyone who doesn't think Joon Ho is a master can go eat shit

-the jumpcuts and angles as we follow this tiny 14 year old as she; attempts to jump on moving truck, doubles speed and actually jumps on truck, ducks and narrowly avoids being hit by low bridge, seeing even lower bridge and runs back to grab back of door is spellbinding

-the red herring truck driver/really pissed off blue collar worker is just killing me. Especially his disgruntlement at "I got vehicle insurance, but no workman's comp; so, fuck you"

-Okja running through a Seoul mall is so vintage 70's American cinema; I'm emotionally standing up and clapping

-odd but delightful detail with the masked rescuers using umbrellas to block the tranquilizer darts

-the most jarring tonal shift happens as the masks come off and they are revealed as the animal liberation front, with Paul Dano as Jay, and he fills Mija in via a lengthy monologue

-it somewhat reminds me of the council scene in "North by Northwest" where the action and events are so fast and piled so high, there needs to be a "what the fuck is going in" scene before it shift gears

-of course Bong being Bong, this is intercut with moments of a animal lover almost fainting because of his hungry, trying to "leave the tiniest carbon footprint" before being conviced to eat a tiny cherry tomato

-I suspect Bong's real feelings are coming out in Mija's cry to just leave her and Okja alone, he being one to put personal decisions and values above those put group identity and politics above all, but translations are mislead and the journey continues

-I cannot help but feel the character of K saying "learn English, it will open doors" and the later "translations are sacred" is not only Bong commentating on entering the American film industry but his dust up with the weinsteins over "Snowpiercer"

+at least in my head

-Tilda Swinton deepens her character's insanity as we find out she is obsessed with clearing her company's name and making it gold

+also that she personally designed all the uniforms for the security, seemingly inferring that she can see the trees, but not the forest

-in an extremely long and up close take the same associate from the beginning(Gicarlo Espisito) slides the chair away (as loud as possible) then casually walks over to the coffee machine, equally as loud as the chair, to the dismay and fright of the other underling is in the room

+he definitely walks along a tightrope as only he can

-Shirley Henderson (as the personal assistant) is doing this voice in a way only Betty Boop world approve of

-here's the interesting thing; pretty much every major character in this corporation (excepting Expisito's) from Swinton's to Gyllenhaal is utterly fucking demented or emotionally unstable; conversely Dano's character, while forlorn and moody, comes across as thoughtful and sincere in his convictions (for animal rights)

+ it would certainly be much different potentially if made by Americans; as animals activities tend to be painted with a bucket of antisocial paranoia

-nonetheless Mija is conned back into coming to America and agrees only out of desperation ; meanwhile the animal activists see more disturbing shit from their video feed

-in a moment I am entirely unsure of the reason for, Okja is forced to mate with another super pig; this is more inferred than seen but is certainly vividly disturbing

-Dr. Wilcox is entering the height of his carpet eating hysterics, as he drunkenly punctures Okja for her meat

-the taste test of the tiny sausage (with the second judge being a kid who says "fuck yeah!") is something out of "Robocop"

-the tone is varying wildly, as I literally have no idea what to expect

- Paul dano communicating with Mija via cue cards (including one that says "Don't look back) is a beautiful, freewheeling touch

-I note these similar cinema colors and hues to again point out Bong Joon Ho knows how to mix and match and meld with the best of them; he steals like a artist

-Paul Dano shedding his bellhop uniform just makes me happy

-another thing I like about Ho is how he treats each new scene, particularly in a new location, as way to add visual textures and patterns, keeping my eyes stimulated

-Pink Floyd pigs; I just have it in my mind

-Lucy is scared of her sister Nancy, and Espitsio's character is very subtle in revealing who his real alliance is to

-it's very impressive how much heavy emotional lifting Hyun is doing as Mija through her eyes and her movements

-despite all the attacks and chaos, the most disturbing thing in this section is how militarized and corporate controlled the police are.

+They beat the shit out anything that they are pointed to

-the part with Mija and Jay barely missing Okja is so very heartbreaking

-Nancy (also Tilda Swinton) is fully in control

And in her detached way the most demented of them all

-my stomach turned several times when they track Okja down to the slaughterhouse

-I will be truthful; I'm not entirely sure why nancy agrees to sell Okja for the golden pig; perhaps I had missed something, but the pure cinematic force of dread just wants that poor animal to be free

-in a wholly disturbing moment a momma and poppa superpig throw their young for Okja to save

-the part with all the pigs moaning and screaming into the night seems like a "Animal Farm" moment

-at last there is a moment of happiness, of light at the end of darkness, of new beginnings of Mija and Okja together.

+They certainly deserve it

-a wholly hilarious post credits sequence where Dano gets everyone in his bus to put in a mask to attacking the corporate stock holders, including a surprised granny

-a most unusual film that won me over several times, and had me upset at bacon. Bong Joon Ho certainly unleashes more pure cinema and human heart than anyone else I have seen in a long time. I grow ever more excited to see this man and his work. He is one of the greatest, and this quizzical film is his most audacious yet. I cannot wait to see it again

[captainignatiuspigheart]

I’m now three days into a mostly well-earned week off and have no real knowledge of what came before… We’ve been trying to do more things, or at least more things that involve the outside world. It’s been a fortnight of new firsts. I’ve finally been into Nottingham city centre for the first time since mid-March. It was very strange to wheel back in – I only visited for an eye test – and see what seemed like millions of people. In retrospect it was probably the equivalent of a disappointing Tuesday morning. I went back in a week later to pick up my new glasses  and it was certainly a lot busier. I cycled around for a bit, and there’s just nothing there I need any more. My desire to wander round a shop is at a new low (unless it’s a charity shop, bookshop, or LEGO shop. And there were none of those available), and I find it hard to imagine that changing much. I guess I’m not gonna be the shot in the arm our economy needs… We’ve also finally been to a pub, for a spot of birthday lunch with my mum. It was great to see her, because it has been ages, but the weirdness of being back in the Victoria was overwhelming. Not just having to wait to be seated, and leaving my name and phone number, but its gaping emptiness. We were the only people dining inside on a Saturday lunchtime, except for the group that briefly ate directly behind us (there was so much other space!) and perhaps fifteen people in the beer garden. I didn’t feel unsafe, just a little weirded out with thinking “what’s the point of this place?” I imagine some of this feeling will fade as these places become normal again with more activities being arranged in them. 

Oh yeah, and I’ve been swimming! My beloved Lenton Centre is open again, and I am delighted. I’m not a huge fan of evening swims, since I’m normally well into wind-down and the sleeping drugs are kicking in, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity. They’ve done what they can for safety: super-wide swimming lanes, restricted numbers, widely spaced changing rooms, and (alas) no showers. Mind you, can you be safer than when immersed in a giant tank of coronavirus-murdering chlorinated water? I did the full hour, taxing muscles which have been utterly forgotten for four months. The next day I felt like I’d been crudely hewn from wood. It was a joy to be in water again. So much so that I’m getting up before midday on my birthday to do it again! Plus, we’re going to the cinema this week – The Empire Strikes Back is available on my birthday, and that’s the kind of normal I can’t resist. I’m even contemplating a trip to a real live LEGO store this week, though I may not if I don’t have my AFOL flag added to my card for the VIP day next Saturday. Who knows! It’s not like I’m short of LEGO at home…

LEGO: Merging Hidden Side Sets

I’ve been really happy with LEGO’s Hidden Side line, even though I’ve little interest in its augmented reality play features – the sets are just really cool! I was very taken with the Shrimp Shack Attack and Wrecked Shrimp Boat, which were both a delight to build with nifty techniques and great colour scheme. They seemed to have that same nice subdued sand-green/blue vibe as the stunning LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store, so why not combine them… Originally, I wasn’t going to change very much at all. I wanted to retain the fantastic shrimp shack sign and the generally grungy vibe of the shrimp shack, plus the whole shrimp boat. As you can see, it did get a little more complicated. I ended up curving the shack round so it could fit in a corner of the baseplate and leave room for the boat, but it didn’t leave enough room, so… the boat became part of the shack, and into a nice little cafe. Making a floor I could tile around the three sections of the restaurant was challenging, but I like how it turned out. Inevitably, including the boat meant taking it apart and rebuilding the underside with different elements. There’s an awful lot of junk under the pier which was a nice chance to use my many crates and lobsters. I had a little fun making an ice-cream stand too, with a rather nice LEGO Friends sticker. I’ve hidden many things in the build and intensely enjoyed its construction. I reckon it looks pretty sweet next to the Old Fishing Store too. Hurray.

Watching: Snowpiercer

I expected to have a lot to say about this TV show, but I… don’t. It’s a good, more detailed, and fuller version of the movie that came out a few years ago, but it doesn’t really add anything. It’s equally bonkers – the conceit being that a super-train 1001 cars long that continuously circles the ice-choked globe – but has more detail, like seeing more of the engineering and a slightly better sense of this ten mile-long train as an environment. The story is much the same too (I guess that’s not surprising), it’s one of social revolution as the tailies (the “freeloaders” who jumped on the train without a billion-dollar ticket) seek to escape their appalling conditions and democratise the train by uniting with third class (who keep the train going – wait, that might be second class… doesn’t really matter) against the total wanker rich class who live in luxury in first. It’s fun, violent, fast-paced, and has many things to make you shake your head at the excesses of the wealthy. Jennifer Connelly is excellent, as is Daveed Diggs in the two (mostly) opposing leads, and the rest of the cast is well chosen. It works! I assume we’ll watch season two, even though we got confused about whether we’d actually finished season one.

Reading: Djinn City by Saad Z Hossain

I’ve continued to struggle with reading, and I think this was a change in pace that really worked for me. Djinn City has a familiar setup: Indelbed is a sad lonely kid living with his alcoholic father, who discovers that his dad’s actually a magician deeply involved with the djinn we’ve shared our world with for millennia. He only finds this out when his dad ends up in a coma and he’s kidnapped by bad guys and dumped in a magical oubliette filled with horrifying flesh-eating dragons and an utterly sociopathic djinn who kinda befriends him… This is profoundly weird reading, both funny and very grim at the same time. There are lovely splashes of Bangladeshi society alongside the wildly arrogant and powerful djinn cultures, against the really awful things that happen to Indelbed (experimented on and then burned alive…), and the fantastical worlds and creations of the djinn themselves. Super-dark, full of intrigue and deep dark conspiracies, there is a huge amount to love and get into here. I am… perplexed that this isn’t book one of a series (or isn’t yet) as the ending feels an awful lot like it needs to continue. Read it, even if there isn’t a book two!

We Are What We Overcome

We met up again for our last fortnightly webchat. Much sadface for me as this has been one my anchoring events through lockdown. However, it’s quite a time commitment for those of us with exciting new jobs, so we talked about how we feel about the future. Not just our post-COVID future, but how we look forward in general. It turns out we somewhat suck at it. I’ve always been bad at imagining the future – I just can’t see myself in it. Still, interesting to ponder on, and I found it both thought-provoking and reassuring to hear the others’ attitudes. We’re planning to meet up in person late in August and get back on track with the regular podcast. Speaking of which, I keep forgetting to mention that new episodes are going quite regularly. Check ’em all out here: https://anchor.fm/we-are-what-we-overcome. 

Workstuff

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, especially running up to a week off (to continue being at home, without work to do…). Much finalising of cover art, preparing books for print, for very soon our first books will be published! September sees the first two – Wrath of N’kai and Tales from the Crucible: A KeyForge Anthology, but we sorted those out months ago, before the whole pandemic thing flipped the world upside down. It’s October I’ve been working on, and will hit November’s books the second I return! In the last week we’ve finally been able to show off the first two Marvel novel covers we’ve been working on: Domino: Strays and The Head of Mimir – check ’em out at Marvel.com. Full credit to the wonderful Joey Hi-Fi and Grant Griffin for the two covers. 

We followed that up with a little chat about how they came together on Facebook Live:

Watching: Preacher, season three

I’m not sure I know how to summarise Preacher. Ex-man of the cloth / career criminal Jesse has the voice of God (the power to command anyone to do anything) but dark super-Catholic religious corporation, Grail, wants that power so they can invest it in the actual descendent of Jesus – a heavily inbred idiot. In this exciting season of insane and hilariously grim adventures, Jesse and his best friend, the vampire Cassidy, bring the recently killed Tulip to Angelville, the hell hole where he grew up because his grandmother can save people’s lives, by eating their souls… It’s a very over the top show, with great fight scenes, lots of swearing, blasphemy and gore. All the good stuff. I’ve given up trying to understand what’s really going on and am just here for the ride. The return to Angelville explains a great deal of why Jesse is such a mess, while Cassidy’s adventures in New Orleans both delightfully mock The Vampire Letsat etc and subvert it. A lot of what I like is the largely British cast having an absolute whale of a time. Also, Hitler working at Subway and using that to restart the third reich is kinda special…

MissImp: Making Monologues Work for You with Jon Nguyen

We still can’t do proper in-person drop-ins and it looks like there won’t be much in the way of live shows this year, so we’re continuing with our video series inviting great improv humans to share their brilliance with us. These are now fortnightly so we can do a live online Gorilla Burger on alternate weeks! Jon is splendid.

  Last Week: Preacher, Snowpiercer, Djinn City, LEGO Hidden Side, Aconyte Books, “leaving the house”, LEGO building, more MissImp improv and y’know the usual ramblings. #TV #books #LEGO #podcast @aconytebooks @missimp_notts https://wp.me/pbprdx-8HZ I’m now three days into a mostly well-earned week off and have no real knowledge of what came before… We’ve been trying to 

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Interview: Adam-Michael James Writes the Definitive Finale for the TV Series ‘Bewitched’

A few years ago, I spoke to author and Bewitched expert Adam-Michael James about his deliciously comprehensive book, The Bewitched Continuum, an encyclopedic tome packed with everything you ever wanted to know about the classic TV series including synopses of every episode and a brief description of James’ wonderful wished-for series finale. Now, 45 years after the show went off the air, Adam-Michael James is back with an insanely fun and perfect wrap-up to television’s most beloved supernatural sitcom

Cover art by Dan Parent

In the show’s original 1964-1972 run, the tale of witch Samantha Stephens and her mortal husband Darrin ended on what might be called a “regular” episode, since series finales were not commonplace back then and they likely didn’t know yet that they wouldn’t be coming back the following year. With his new book I, Samantha, Take This Mortal, Darrin, Adam-Michael James gives Bewitched fans of all ages the closure they’ve always wanted. This two-part “episode,” presented in novel form, takes place a week after the show’s final first-run installment in 1972, bringing back all our favorite characters, creating backstories for Samantha and Darrin, and building on the show’s always strong message of equality and acceptance.

In the story, McMann & Tate advertising executive Darrin gets a long-awaited promotion to full partner. But things get a little crazy during a party that Samantha throws for her husband when she is forced to out herself as a witch to her mortal guests to explain a magical mishap involving one of her children. This leads Samantha into a full-on battle with the almighty Witches Council in a high-stakes fight for her marriage and her family. Both wildly entertaining and surprisingly moving, I, Samantha, Take This Mortal, Darrin brings the series full circle and brings the characters, so wonderfully played by Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, Dick Sargent, Maurice Evans, Alice Ghostley, Paul Lynde, and many others back to life in an almost startling realistic way. James is so well-versed in the nuances of the show that after reading the novel, I felt as if I’d actually seen the imagined final episodes. The book, available on Amazon, is a must for fans of the show. I talked to Adam-Michael James about why he chose to put this out there now.

Danny Miller: It’s pretty astounding how you were able to perfectly recreate the speech patterns, syntax, and style of dialogue for every single character on the show. from Samantha and Endora all the way down to Gladys Kravitz and Louise Tate. Was that just because of your insane encyclopedic knowledge of this world, or did you go back and study how each character talked?

Adam-Michael James: I didn’t really have to go back and study them. As you say, I’ve lived with the show for 40 years and you know, it was weird — I felt like I could almost hear them in my head as I was writing. It’s almost as if they were telling me what to write!

I loved the synopsis you included of this hoped-for finale in your last book, but there are so many other details here that are so fun. How did you go about fleshing it out?

I followed the basic storyline that I had already written, but as I started going I found myself adding many other connections that I hadn’t even thought of. To be honest, it all started one night about a year ago when I was taking a bath! I started thinking about Darrin looking out of the window from his office down on Madison Avenue and all of a sudden, all these details about his history popped into my head. It was all I could do to jump out of the tub and start writing it all down before I forgot! And it went on from there. I felt like something was guiding me along.

We talked last time about the eternal debate regarding the two Darrins — played by Dick York and then by Dick Sargent who took over the role after Dick York left the show because of illness. Did you ever consider restoring Dick York to the role of Darrin in your book?

I didn’t. With no offense to the legion of Dick York fans (and I am one of them!), I never thought of that simply because Dick Sargent was part of the last season and if you were gong to continue on with an episode the following week in 1972, you just couldn’t switch Darrins. But, of course, you do see a few little references in my book of characters talking about how Darrin seemed to look different than he used to.

I loved that stuff — you even had his daughter Tabitha making such a reference. But you did make a few exceptions to what would have been possible to do in 1972. I’m thinking of the wonderful material about Aunt Clara.

Yes. I was always frustrated by the show never addressing what had happened to Aunt Clara. She was an important character who suddenly disappeared, obviously because actress Marion Lorne had died. I thought it was weird that the show never mentioned her again and just brought in Esmerelda to take over her babysitting duties. I’m sure they had their reasons for not addressing it — I mean, they couldn’t really say that Aunt Clara had died.

Although some shows of that era did, like when Will Geer who played Grandpa on The Waltons died, they dealt with it head-on and had his character die.

Sure, but rarely on sitcoms, especially a show about witches who were supposed to live for thousands of years! So I was happy to get the opportunity to explain where Aunt Clara had been.

Love it. I was also glad to see Serena, Samantha’s “identical cousin,” pop back in towards the end of the book. I was always so impressed how well Elizabeth Montgomery pulled that off. I’m not sure I even realized as a kid  that she was playing both parts.

I know! Especially with the fake credit at the end: “Pandora Sparks as Serena!”

And your writing for her was perfect, you totally captured her hippie persona that I’m sure Montgomery had a blast playing. It’s crazy how many references you were able to layer in to past episodes without it ever seeming heavy-handed.

That was really fun. You saw the gazillion endnotes I included in the book. I wanted people to be able to go back and reference an episode and say, “Oh yeah, that’s where that came from!” And, of course, I wanted to give full credit to what I came up with and what was created by the writers of the show back in the 60s and 70s.

The scenes at the Witches’ Council where Samantha is defending her marriage were beautifully written. As a fan, I expected to enjoy this book which I did, and I laughed a lot, but a few scenes were so moving they made me burst into tears which I never anticipated.

Oh wow, I’m happy to hear that!

We talked last time about how the show grappled with some very real issues of the day — issues that are all-too-important in our current climate — despite the fact that some people viewed Bewitched as just a frivolous magic show.

It was only a frivolous magic show on the surface. From the very first episode, the show was about overcoming prejudice and living in a way to be true to yourself even when people didn’t understand it. And, of course, being in the middle of the civil rights movement, it was pretty bold for Elizabeth Montgomery and her then-husband and producer Bill Asher to layer these messages into the show. A lot of times they were very subtle, but then there were times when it was very direct like the Thanksgiving episode where Darrin is put on trial in old Salem for being a witch and Samantha talks about how the hope for this world lies in our acceptance of all our differences and a recognition of our common humanity.

Which was an important message of the entire series.

Right. And then the Christmas episode where Tabitha has an African American friend, Lisa, and uses witchcraft to make them both polka-dotted. I always thought it was a shame that they didn’t bring Lisa back which is why she shows up in my finale. These were all very important messages back then, and, as you well know, we’re in a place right now, spurred on by a particular person and certain groups, where we’re being dragged back to a time where there was more intolerance and inequality and the idea that some groups are superior to others.

Is that why you wanted this book to come out now?

Yes. I wasn’t going to do anything with that synopsis of my imagined finale that I wrote for The Bewitched Continuum, but when all of this started going on, I felt the need to speak out since those messages were such an important part of the show.

Even the whole notion of Darrin’s lack of acceptance of Samantha’s powers, I thought you resolved that so beautifully. And the scenes were Tabitha is upset because she hears about how worried Darrin was that she’d be a witch, I can see that resonating with every family who has ever grappled with having an LGBTQ kid, for example, or families were are dealing with any differences. Speaking of which, I thought the brief reference to Uncle Arthur’s preference was a lot of fun. Did you ever think of going further with that?

For the most part, I decided to write the book as if the dialogue were being spoken on a TV show in 1972 with the social mores and the network limitations in place, but there were a few times when I pushed it just a hair. (Laughs.) I think mentioning Uncle Arthur in that way was pushing it just a bit!

I’m glad you did, I’m sure Paul Lynde would have loved it! I’m sorry most of the actors are no longer with us, I’m sure they would have so enjoyed this book, especially Elizabeth Montgomery.

I think if Elizabeth Montgomery were here now and if Bewitched were back on the air, you would see Samantha once again talking about these same things that our country is still grappling with. I don’t want to be presumptuous about it but I hope Elizabeth Montgomery would be proud of the book.

Oh, I’m sure she was part of your writing in some way. You perfectly captured everything she was about on and off the screen. I think you’ve honored her memory very well.

Click here to order Adam-Michael James’ book, I, Samantha, Take This Mortal, Darrin. You can visit his Bewitched Facebook page here.