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franki-lew-yo · 7 months ago

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James and the Giant Peach is still (mostly) for young children

Despite a single pre-metoo joke and it's uncanny-ish artstyle that's a serious make-or-break-you factor on if you like it, James and the Giant Peach is aggressively a movie for young children. I personally like it as I never find it a patronizing sit for little kids, like Don Bluth's movies from the 90s so often were, but that really is what I think alienates people; the intended audience may be a bit too scared of the visuals (NOT like how they are with TNBC, which kids go in expecting to be scary) where the adult audience who is here for the 'creepy stop-motion' feel like the movie is lacking for not being Nightmare or Coraline, which is unfair. It absolutely scared me as a little little kid but upon finally facing it at, like ten or whenever it was on Cartoon Network's movie show, I realized there was nothing to fear. And that, in turn, was exhilarating. It's such good symmetry that the film is about facing your fears and standing up for yourself because that's exactly what my relationship with it was. It's such a comfort film for me. My og Bluey. JatGP, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Ernest and Celestine = perfect comfort after I watch something serious and/or disturbing.

Half my reason for trying to pied-piper everyone else towards it as it's own merit is I think James and the Giant Peach would hit hard for lovers of weirdcore and dreamcore ala Jack Stauber or @samsketchbook's 'Welcome to Our Dimensional Party'.

That "looks unsettling/potentially disturbing but actually cute or gentle" vibe pairs perfectly with dreamcore aesthetic. We're coming up on it's 30 year anniversary I hope to see a genuine resurgence. If I had it my way and I was Dan Olson I'd make an hour-long look at the movie, the original book and Henry Selick's filmography as a surrealist the way Dan made an hour-lookback at Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. But I'm not. Cause I'm not Dan Olson and I can't build up the nerve to either show my face or figure out how to make videos in two years.

But anyway, about the title of this post (content warning: downer nsfl stuff; mentioning of real life child ab*se cases):

James' life with his aunts hits VERY different when you're an adult and you've watched too much true crime.

It's not intentional on the part of Dahl or Henry Selick. Selick had Mariam and Joanna ham up the screen and they clearly loved every minute of it and Dahl I think was just trying to tell an 'authentic' type fairytale story where the main character has to escape their evil family. Point being- Spiker and Sponge are supposed to be 'evil for the sake of evil' villains who could only exist as hammy caricatures in an already weird story. They aren't supposed to be like the parents in Matilda or the Twits who I'd argue are a little more 'realistic' depiction of awful people...except for the fact that legal guardians like Spiker and Sponge DO actually exist.

There's a heavy implication in the film that no one else in their county even knows James lives with Spiker and Sponge (literally the only people around to recognize James' existence are the bugs when they first meet him!). His aunts seem to make James work out of frustration for having to take him in, like he's a burden and they're making him pay for being one by being their slave. They actively don't feed him except for rotting fish and then shame him for not eating it. The Lane Smith picture book implies that James' parents weren't killed by a rhino but rather it's Spiker and Sponge who put that idea in James' head and use it to control him. And all that BEFORE the beatings which you know are happening off screen.

After the horrifying cases of Ruby Franke, Sylvia Likens and the Turpins, the "every child deserves a parent but not every parent deserves children" reality of it all makes you realize that James probably would have died if he lived with his aunts. Considering how they flip out on him in New York- that boy REALLY needed to escape, giant peach or no.

This is absolutely another reason for why JatGP is a comfort movie for grownups. You have this horrific childhood rescued by loving in-human parents who will kill everyone in the room and then themselves if you touch their human boy. It's like Opal but if Claire found a happier family. Of bugs. None of that was intentional, ftr, but it's what sticks out to me.

#james and the giant peach #franki's features #dreamcore #oddcore #dereality #cw: child abuse #true crime #henry selick #um yeah #also this fandom needs to be bigger so I don't have to be bombarded with only TNBC or pr0nz posts

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3liza · 5 months ago

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Fired on Mars is alright, I especially appreciate any that it's (so far) non-space opera sci fi on a major network, an extreme rarity, especially since the Expanse turned into another ghost alien fuckaround because American audiences are too stupid to deal with realistic science fiction and think "Star Wars" qualifies. but it's really struggling as an "adult animation" production. I'm not sure if this was pitched as a live action or not but it doesn't have any reason to be animated except budget. not sure what else Max network has going on these days but you can't help but see a real show with proper production sort of superimposed on top of the simplistic and frankly boring animated backdrop. that's a real shame. they tried to split the difference by styling the drawings very buttoned-down, but it has none of the design sense of even Rick and Morty and it isn't funny enough for the writing to stand on its own, so theres just not a lot to hold onto.

the serious plot that kicks in at episode 5 reminds me a hell of a lot of the recent walking simulator, The Invincible, an adaptation of Stanislav Lem's story by the same name, with a really good surface of Mars sequence and excellent soundtrack, so I hope that's the direction the show is taking now.

it makes me think about the actual logistics and expense of filming something like this with practicals and some CGI. one of the benefits of doing something like realistic space station or mars colony stories is that you can build an incredibly cramped set and film everything on it, Cube-style, because these colonies would be modular and extremely cramped, just like NASA infrastructure is now. you could really go crazy styling a very beautiful set or soundstage that was only a few connected rooms and corridors and then just recycle them intelligently. outdoor shots in the local desert, composite out any plant life, roads, or gas stations, grey out the sky. Fired on Mars has blue sky and big cumulus clouds and initially I wasnt sure if that's referencing some sort of atmospheric control by the colony or if they screwed up or if it was focus group/producer meddling, but I looked it up and the actual Martian sky is more complicated than I assumed:

Since Mars is roughly 1.5 astronomical units from the Sun, the amount of light on the surface is about half that on our planet. Under low illumination conditions, our eyes shift sensitivity towards blue because we change from using color-sensitive “cone” cells to color-blind “rod” cells. This is known as the Purkinje effect. Hence, the first astronaut to land on Mars would probably describe its sky as even bluer than one might expect.

so anyway I think the show is ok. I stopped after watching episode 5 to write this, since this episode has taken the show in a much more interesting direction than I saw in the previous four. maybe it'll pleasantly surprise me

#fired on mars #blog #mars

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copperpipes · 9 months ago

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What’s going on in your after dark AU

I think of it more as a post-movie fic in comic form with a bunch of worldbuilding headcanons but anyways

After Dark is the name of the comic, I've planned two parts, two arcs.

We are just entering the first arc of the comic! Backyard fairies!

Its the farmhouse arc that was present in both the 2003 and 2012 iterations (I've watched both) in which the turtles (try to) heal after a big event, be it a failure or a victory. The surroundings of the farmhouse hold many mysteries, because the hamatos will never catch a break :/ poor guys

The parts of the arc will be more just like little one shots with a thin plot connecting them like in the show instead of the plot being the main focus, it thickens towards the end but overall I'm more exploring the world and the characters and what they've been through.

The main characters in this arc would be Mikey, April, Donnie and Casey because Raph and Leo got the film. Splinter and Draxum won't appear in this arc to deal with the aftermath in the hidden city because they believed the boys would be safe away from it (of course they were wrong). Cassandra has a clan of middle-schoolers to run in new york which was put on lock down, so she too in the end won't be able to visit :[

The episodes would be like this:

Mikey in wonderland- the focus is Mikey, he goes to explore the woods a bit because his arms ache and he needs a distraction.

Target practice- the focus is April, the exploration of her role in the predicament the hamatos are stuck along with a small theme of feminism and her being a part of the clan.

Five easy steps to build a tree house- the focus is Casey, he lost his home, and he realizes the turtles he grew up with are gone with it too, also a glimpse of his past and birth.

Its the IRS! but they're not after Donnie?- amateur timestress tries to impress her mentor, and draggs Mikey with her into the mess.

Germophobia- Mikey drags Donnie into the woods to meet someone he met there. Donnie isn't a fan.

Thats it for the first arc I think. There will be smaller stuff in between that'll show the details, how Raph and Leo are doing, what is up in NY and the HC (hidden city).

The second arc is the infamous tmnt space arrrrc

It'll be called star sailor ✨ the main focus in it will be Donnie :D it'll include the triceratons, fugitoid, many aliens and a lot of existential crisis :'] i think it'll be much more angsty and philosophical then the first arc and ooh can't forget the amount of body horror I've planned >:D

Man I should really make a masterpost

#rottmnt #ask #rottmnt after dark

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the-osborn-way · 3 months ago

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Ghostface ranking please n thank you

OH MY GOD YES YES YES I LOVE RANKING ALL THE GHOSTIES

My ranking of all 15 Ghostfaces so far (yes.... I'm including Jason and Greg because if I don't, SOMEBODY'S gonna bitch about it I know--)

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL 6 SCREAM FILMS

Rankings under the cut

Stu Macher (Scream)

The BEST Ghostface to ever Ghostface. A BIT underrated just because people will sometimes give Billy more credit. But like- hot man. Has no actual motive for killing, Billy was like "Hey, dude, let's kill people" and he literally needed nothing more. Thought up of some of the key parts of their plan, definitely gutted Casey and Steve, probably put Kenny on the van by himself (Billy wasn't around, so-) . Definitely top 3 or 4 strongest Ghosties to date. And the humor-- okay, I could go ON AND ON about Stu, but I'll stop here. Matthew Lillard really took the character from boring in the script to one of the only parts of the original film me and my mother (who's TERRIFIED of horror films and would rather forget them) remembered from our first watch when I was 13. (She said she'll never forget his laugh and that she hates him. ... She then got me a t-shirt of him not 3 weeks later for Christmas. Sorry, Mom-) Great job, man! Stu stole my heart, LOTS of my money, and a large part of my brain, so it's safe to say he'll always be my fave and an icon in my eyes. (Literally wearing my Stu shirt as I type this, what a fun coincidence LOL-)

2. Charlie Walker (Scream 4)

I said what I said. People either adore Charlie or despise him, and I love him DEARLY. Yes, he's very attractive, but on top of that, he racks up one of the highest kill counts by a single Ghostface alone in the entire franchise, beaten only by Roman, I believe. From Olivia Morris, which was obviously his kill, to tossing Rebecca Walters off a building, to Jenny and Marnie... definitely Robbie... Kirby... Kate Roberts... man just went crazy with the kills, and I respect it. He had loyalty, some great lines, a HILARIOUS deleted scene ( ), and he kept cool under pressure, never revealing himself until absolutely necessary. Do I relate to him? Yep. Is that bad? Probably, but I love him anyways.

3. Jill Roberts (Scream 4)

Another maybe controversial ranking, but I love Jill! I think her motive is fantastic, the way that she uses Charlie to get what she wants, and as someone who has acted innocent in situations where I'm definitely not, her acting is spot on. I never thought about it being her until her reveal, and it's still one of my favorites of all time. She is also, I believe, the Ghostface who got closest to the goal of killing Sidney and getting away with it, so congrats, girl! You had the whole world fooled till the hospital! She's a great take on what I think is the modern version of Billy Loomis, and she nailed the innocent act, truly. Did she kill anyone? Probably, but I can't think of anyone who I know is 100% a Jill Kill. Either way, good for her for not getting her hands dirty, or FOR getting her hands dirty! Impressive no matter what in my mind.

4. Billy Loomis (Scream)

Dont worry, Billy fans, he's still in my top 5! The only reason he's not my third is because I think he's just a BIT overrated. If the movies weren't constantly making him seem like he was the only killer and completely alienating Stu (I think there's a reason for that, but I won't explain that here), then I'd put him above Jill. I know that's a weird reason, but it's my reason. Billy is a fantastic manipulator who knew how to get exactly what he wanted from Sid, and also was a repressed drama queen, which I relate to a lot. While Stu was openly crazy, Billy hid behind the stone cold semi-facade. I don't think Billy would ever have gotten as crazy as Stu did, but he definitely showed the drama in several ways that make me smile and laugh every time. Falling down a flight of stairs? Fucking up Stu's couch cushions? Comedy gold every time. I give Billy credit for stabbing Casey, killing Himbry, and killing Tatum. I think the rest were Stu's because of the gutting and where Billy was at the time. I also think he killed Maureen, so a nice 4ish kills for him! Anyways, top tier Ghostie, another one I'll always respect respect and love.

5. Amber Freeman (Scream 5)

I'm gonna be honest, I hated her when I first watched Scream 5. Hated Richie too, but he's still terrible. Fuck him. I thought Amber was a trashy, third rate version of Stu that was extremely fake and her turn from cold to goofy seemed extremely forced. Then I took a deep dive and figured out why. (If you want a full explanation, let me know, I'm trying to stay short here.) So I believe that Richie is this movie's Stu and Amber is the movie's Billy. From her plans, her using the house, just her very cold, calm demeanor in the beginning, she just gives Billie energy, while Richie is just... well, he's the Netflix guy. He makes jokes left and right. But Amber, I think she was trying to be the Stu while Richie was trying to be the Billy. Everyone forgets that Stu was a boyfriend too, (Billy's) Tatum's boyfriend. Amber was supposed to be Tara's girlfriend in the original script. So now, I see her third act as more of her desperate attempt to look like her idol instead of sticking with the persona that served her well for the rest of the film. That really made me appreciate her more, and made her feel even underutilized, as did the Macher house. (I LOVE THAT HOUSE. I LOVE IT. Well, the actual actual house, not the Scream 5 version.) So yeah. Amber was a cold blooded killer trying to be just like the Macher before her, even if that wasn't the part she was meant to play in her movie. Taking credit for Dewey's kill? Absolutely. She was in the cult and she just wanted to piss Gale off by saying she did it. Fantastic lines, wonderful creep factor! Her death- *chef's kiss* Lovely homage to Sidney shooting Billy. And that's my top 5!

6. Quinn Bailey (Scream 6)

The only member of that damn family who did a good job killing. Richie included. Funny? Check. Didn't see her coming? Check. Ruthless? Double check. I don't think she did Gale's attack either, I think that just like Amber, she took the blame for someone else's work just to keep them hidden. Besides that, she was a good character, someone you thought was long gone until she wasn't. Bonus points for her saying Stu was her fave and definitely being the one to stab Mindy on the subway. Maybe not the greatest Ghostie ever, certainly low on kills, but I enjoy watching her a lot.

7. Nancy Loomis, aka "Debbie Salt" (Scream 2)

Another hidden killer who deserved more screen time after her reveal, and more backstory. I love her motive of "good, old-fashioned revenge", and I can see her killing Randy out of rage. Killing Mickey? Nice way to keep things in her favor! Debbie Salt was eh. Don't remember her much tbh- I would've liked to see Nancy more as herself, she just had great potential. Did she take some kills? Absolutely. Got her hands dirty to honor her son. But that's what I don't like. She leaves Hank, then suddenly after Billy dies, she's like the best mother ever?? Killing for the son SHE left?? Her leaving is the reason Scream happened, paired with Maureen and Hank's infidelity-- that's why she's a solid 7 in my book, and the best of the worst. Only goes downhill from here, folks.

8. Mickey Altieri (Scream 2)

GREAT in the Act 3. Other than that? Um... he was okay, I guess? He had some funny lines, but where I really like him is in the possibility possibility of what he's done. He definitely killed for Nancy, he was insane and just wanted people to see him that way. He DID talk to Matthew Lillard in the background of the sorority party... Mickey and Stu working together?? His Act 3 was good, he showed he could be a good Ghostface, scared Sidney, killed Derek... but that's where this ranking and my positive comments about him stop.

9. Wayne Bailey (Scream 6)

Classic parent who wants revenge, angry, pulls it off decently. He has some good moments, funny, a definite suspect, and nowhere near as good a cop as Dewey. Points for trapping the Core 4 (minus Mindy) and Kirby in the second coolest location in the franchise, but that's where my positivity stops. Sam killed him easy, he was a shit parent until Richie died I bet. Did he get his kids to murder? Oh yeah, I think he's the one who made this whole plan up with Quinn and Ethan's help. He doesn't really stand out. Did he kill?? Even wear the fucking mask?? I honestly don't think so. I would put him lower, but compared to the next three... yeah, he's fine at 9.

10. Richie Kirsch (Scream 5)

WHYYYY. WHY. The only goof thing I can say is that like 5 of his lines made me laugh, and he also hates Stab 8. Me too, dude, that looks BAD. Motive? Pretty good, solid movie motive, getting with Sam to get the job done. Ruthless? Yeah. But he's sloppy. He's a Stu without the magic, just trying to make a movie. Him dating Amber?? *vomits* KILL ME NOW. He was 100% manipulated by her, I know he was. A sad attempt of Billy Loomis that leaned more towards Stu, and his cheesy shit throughout the film made his "true colors" seem kinda dull and not very scary. I don't like him. I don't.

11. Ethan Landry [Bailey] (Scream 6)

Like father, like sons!- all in my least favorite 5 of legitimate Ghostfaces. How much screen time did he have?? Not enough. Innocent guy, "I was in Econ!" to "HAHAHA I'M INSANE NOW!!"? I hate it. His transition was too forced, he was bland and stupid, his attempts at faking his knowledge about everything were embarrassing and made him look worse as a character. The easiest Ghostface to spot. I don't know, I mean I get people like him because he's insane and attractive, but I don't. Sorry to all of you who love this guy and his family. His best scene? When Tara stabbed him in the mouth. You go, queen!!

13. Roman Bridger (Scream 3)

Fuck. FUCK. I hate him, I hate this movie, I hate it all. His motive is pretty solid, I actually like it a lot... but he was stuck up, whiney, and underutilized. Like Ethan, low screen time, unbelievable shift from loser to villain- did he even share a scene with Sid?? Talk to her?? And this makes Billy and Stu look like lackeys. I HATE IT. I would've much rather had the Stu leading a Ghostface cult film, but I know why they went this route instead, and I respect that. Like Ethan, the best part about him, and of this movie, is his death. Dewey missing his head like 5ish times before finally hearing Sid and going for the head Thor in Endgame style?? Comedy. GOLD. I love Dewey Riley. But yeah, I just don't like Roman at all. His strengths are his motive, his INSANE kill count (I think he had an accomplice.), and his physical strength. Besides those? Useless. Sorry, Roman die-hards.

14. Jason Carvey (Scream 6)

Not bad for a Ghostface killed in the first 15 minutes. He had the makings of a good killer, definitely in the cult, but his time was just extremely short. Nothing much to say about him, but his only kill was a fantastic start to the film. I would put him higher, because I think he WAS a good Ghostface, but... 10 minutes or less of screen time? Sorry dude, don't know you well enough.

15. Greg (Scream 6)

Who?? Saw him a fridge. That's it. What's his last name, I don't remember- No screen time, not even alive on screen. Nothing more to say. He was probably pretty good though, if he was anything like Jason.

And there's my ranking of all 15 Ghostfaces!! If you want to add your own, feel free to below! If you wanna comment on mine, please be respectful, but I'd like to know why you don't like characters I do, or like ones I don't. If your faves are my faves, share!! I love finding new Scream buddies!! And thanks for listening if you made it this far, that was LONG.

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cellarspider · 10 months ago

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12/30 Things come to a head

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We return to that shambling mass of a film, Prometheus.

Content warnings for body horror, contagion-y stuff, something that could loosely be described as medical horror, It’s Been 0 Days Since Our Last Incident, and me, going on a ramble about movie gore to distract myself from The Madness.

There's a lady in this scene who's had a number of speaking lines so far–the maybe-chemist. She has a name, but it doesn’t matter.

But I'm going to call her Doctor Frankenstein.

They have just got the helmet off the head, revealing that it’s truly, unmistakably humanoid. They have noted that there are “new cells” on the head. In the business, we call that “decomposition”, but Doctor Frankenstein is not concerned with this. In fact, she immediately proposes a new plan.

Doctor Frankenstein has had the brilliant idea to plug a big cable into the head like it’s a guitar amp, and zap it with electricity to wake it up.

Yes. This is what the movie goes with.

You know, Alien included a similarly shambolic first examination of an alien subject, but it was performed because said alien was attached to a man’s face, and all they had to try and fix that was the contents of a cargo ship’s medbay, with the only qualified personnel being the corporate android who had been ordered to consider the crew expendable. The crew of the Prometheus has no such excuse.

Well, except for David, he has precisely the same excuse, but he’s not trying to poke wires in anybody’s ears.

Doctor Frankenstein calls for enough amperage to run three electric kettles (cite 3), then all the way up to two Titan RTX graphics cards before the head starts to get what appears to be a massive migraine.

I know this expression well, migraines can feel very much like someone is subjecting me to unnatural horrors.

This is getting a little extreme, though. Yes, when the head starts pulsing, they realize they may have made a mistake.

I’d say this was inexplicable behavior on their part, unbelievably hasty and foolish–and I will say it, actually, it deserves to be said. But in context, this is the team that did so little prep for entering the alien structure that they didn’t notice the giant fuckoff skull carved into the outside of it.

Knowing how much Shaw and Holloway read into the intentions of the Engineers from the depictions they found on Earth, they probably would’ve interpreted this as a good sign, somehow.

Anyway, they put a sneezeguard down over the head before it explodes.

Good job everyone. This is like what would’ve happened if Napoleon’s savants took one look at the Rosetta Stone and decided “maybe we should try hitting it with hammers. Surely that’ll make the knowledge fall out.”

From a horror perspective, this scene only works in two contexts: First, gross-out. Generally found in schlock, exploitation, and outsider art flicks, the tone of gross-out content can be highly variable, but there are two general trends I'd mention, which are of relevance to this movie.

First, gross-out tends to exist in that weird alternate space where lots of comedy movies do: characters will behave in unreasonable ways for no apparent reason. Within the film, this is treated as the universal norm, besides maybe a straight man character who highlights the absurdity. Gross-out is often like that, but pushes different boundaries of acceptable behavior than a traditional comedy.

This is, bafflingly, what Prometheus increasingly feels like. It feels like it's transitioning into gross-out schlock, and yet it never goes all the way.

Second: the audience for gross-out is largely self-selecting. If you're watching John Waters' Pink Flamingos, you expect things to get messy. You are looking forward to things getting messy. A head exploding is perfectly par for the course in gross-out horror. One might even be disappointed if there wasn't an exploding head.

But again, this movie was not marketed on gross-out. It was marketed as a tense, Alien-esque horror movie. If you followed that premise like I did, you're not in the theater to view a debauched spectacle, you're there for the movie to put a well-paced squeeze on the characters and your nerves, where half the horror comes from having the room to really think about how frightening the core concepts of the series are.

Does Alien involve some shocking gore? Sure does! But in Alien, Kane's fate is not there to make you laugh and exclaim "ewww!" at how far the film's gone, the film tries to make you very aware of how horrifying his demise is.

So, there's an alternate way this scene works, if you're coming in from that perspective. I don't think the movie intended this as much as the gross-out, but it's what I drew from it at the time: the scene works if you decide not to focus your sympathies on the human characters at all, or even David, and think about it from the perspective of the head.

It’s patently impossible that what they did actually “woke up” the brain inside that skull. But if we sink to the movie’s level and entertain the idea for a moment, what in the hell have they just done to this Engineer? The last thing the head would’ve remembered was running, falling, decapitation, and then this. They just tortured this poor bastard for no adequately explained reason. There’s none! “I think we can trick the nervous system into thinking it's still alive” is the entirety of the explanation. It makes about as much sense and seems as thoughtlessly violent as anything in Mad God (2021, content warning for body horror).

I already spent all my anger about desecrating bodies in the name of shambolic pseudoscience, I have no more rage to give for now. And similarly in the theater, I hit my limit. I’d already hit a different limit back when they landed the Prometheus on top of some archaeology, but now I’d fully given up on this movie being what I’d hoped it would be.

The maddening thing that keeps me obsessed with it is that it keeps throwing random scraps of that hypothetical movie into the mix anyway, bouncing me like a yo-yo between scenes.

But for right now, the yo-yo is still on the descent. Having exploded the first sample of alien biology ever touched by science, they apparently stuck some of it in a generic, science-y DNA machine. What does the DNA machine tell them?

“DNA match”.

The movie does not actually explain what this means. It thinks it does, but in a very vague and handwave-y way that ends up being even more hilarious than if they’d just been out-and-out wrong. Because this is what I do for a living, I want to science at this for a bit.

But I’ve written enough about it for an entire post on its own, so that will wait until next time.

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Citations for alt-text rambles, as well as some text-text rambles:

1. https://www.behance.net/gallery/78297841/Semiotic-Standard (contains a high-quality download for the symbols, should ye wish them for yourselves)

2. https://www.sculpturedepot.net/clay-wax-tools/product.asp?Steel_Tools

3. Doctor Frankenstein calls for 30 amps first, then 40, then 50 in the space of several seconds. According to wikipedia, an electric kettle is about 16.6A, and a 288W high-performance graphics card would require 24A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(current) That graphics card isn’t mentioned by name, but it matches up with the wattage reported by Tom’s Hardware for a Titan RTX (cite 4). Running with two of these things, you might be able to run 4k Ultra settings on some games without tanking your framerate. They could’ve been playing video games and seen way more exploding heads.

4. https://www.tomshardware.com/features/graphics-card-power-consumption-tested

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)#Design

6. https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/f4rf63/for_the_chestburster_scene_in_alien_1979_the/

7. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8e/2f/9b/8e2f9b0716746aac7ce5b2f369bf4082--aliens--scene.jpg

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyotype#Human_karyogram

9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centromere

10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centromere#Telocentric

11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_banding

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteinogenic_amino_acid

13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hula_language

#Prometheus 2012 #Prometheus (2012)#This movie is a study in so much tonal dissonance #It was so pretty and yet so broken #insert Benoit Blanc “compels me though” meme here

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susandsnell · 3 months ago

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You watched Joker 2: How the Joker got his Groove Back? Do tell, because I’m not watching it lmaooooo

hi maggie i love u. so i was having a progressive mental breakdown trying to write this the last few days and today, I slipped forwards and fell backwards walking to the restroom from my own kitchen and fell onto my back and smacked my head on the floor really loudly (i'm okay for now dw), and i think the slapstick is a sign to answer this question, while subsequent looney tunes esque possible injuries an appropriate tone for this shitshow. I also think the fall damaged my brain less than this movie did, but I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment when it comes to viewing experiences. let's go.

as a consummate disliker of the first film, my expectations were low, but holy fuck. i was pleased in the schadenfreude sense when we first got the announcement that the premise for the sequel was a musical with Lady Gaga as Harley with how alienating to the fanbase of the first this was, and when trailers emerged I was prematurely annoyed but cautiously optimistic for at least some good musical numbers and maybe some creative imagery.

well. this movie rips off The Room.

spoilers below the cut, trigger warning for mentioned but not graphically discussed police brutality/prison violence (physical + sexual), ableism, misogyny.

gott im himmel, what is there even to say.

so the opening is - actually good. having the rights to warner brothers, they open with the merrie melodies theme with Joker's face popping into frame and an old-school animated recap of the talkshow sequence from the first flick, which was actually a great idea...until the whole premise of the cartoon, and later, the legal defense, ends up being that either the Joker takes on a life of his own outside of Arthur or, as the defense will later posit, the Joker is a DID alter. This is not handled well, at all.

the movie is basically an ugly, dingy, confused, feverish bottle episode that makes me retroactively appreciate the first more for its pretty exciting third act and grounded Gotham City; our locations are a very very boring Arkham , and the courtroom drama as Arthur Fleck is brought to justice for his actions in the first movie. While incarcerated, he has both haters and fans in the prison population, including a young fanboy who is dared by the guards to kiss him, and who he kisses tenderly on the mouth early on, because quoth Todd Phillips, "the Joker is bisexual and stuff." diversity win!!!! this will matter later.

after several unhappy renditions of When The Saints Go Marching In, Arthur meets Harleen Quinzel, mercifully nicknamed 'Lee' in this version so we can easily dissociate her from our favourite harlequin. He finds her at Arkham Asylum glee club rehearsal, which is apparently a thing, and immediately put me in mind of Bialystock and Bloom putting on Prisoners of Love in Sing Sing, and she eagerly tells him she's a huge fan of the Joker as an abused child of poverty herself, and that she avidly watched the TV movie made about his exploits, which was fantastic. (This TV movie will come back later. It's possibly further self-flagellation on the part of Todd Phillips, which is amusing.)

anyway, the choir practice meet cute is important because it flimsily sets up the rest of the film being a musical. because he loves Lee, and she sings music, and therefore if Lee = an escape for Arthur, music is an escape for Arthur too! much thoughts! society. they also watch some old hollywood musicals together on their arkham dates. I don't know.

so regarding the musical numbers. the worst part is that they didn't let gaga sing properly in the movie??? like they made her and phoenix sing badly on purpose as ~character choices~ because it ~fits the characters~ and half the fantastic-looking performances from the leaks a few months ago were cut because musical movies are cockshy now about committing to the medium. instead we get bored white woman dancing from everyone, except for two good numbers, and breathy, off-key and off-rhythm jukebox renditions of everything from Sweet Charity to The Carpenters. a good 40% of the songs are arthur being questioned or something and just bursting into it while everyone looks bewildered, with only a handful of fantasy sequences, when the easiest thing to do given the courtroom drama setup would've been to just rip off Chicago and call it a day, would've been unoriginal but cogent, but instead we're treated to endless tedium and talented singers performing poorly. is there a way to blame this all on tom hooper? because i feel like this is all somehow tom hooper's fault.

this one will really piss you off - Harvey Dent is there and they did him filthy! he's prosecuting the case against Arthur Fleck, and they made him a smirky little twink and did fuck all with him except 'punchable on purpose' because he's The Man and The Man is keeping poor trod-upon Arthur Fleck down. but The Man pales in comparison to the true villain of this movie - women!!!!!

despite trying to deconstruct the incel following and give a middle finger to a lot of the nerdbros who wrongfully worshipped the first one, this movie is somehow a lot more overtly sexist than the first? every woman in this movie is Wronging arthur. his lawyer is an older woman who's going for the insanity defense with completely misrepresented DID (i'll cut her slack in that it's set in the 80s) but is apparently framed as condescending/exploiting his tragedy publicly when like, literally what is she supposed to do to try and get him acquitted for his crimes in the first movie, and it's not like she's trying to get famous for it (or is she? didn't come off from what I saw). she's genuinely being as empathetic as possible and still presented as condescending, and arthur fires her to self-represent in court -- dressed as the joker. more details about penny fleck being much more abusive than shown from the first movie are revisited to...i guess justify her murder more? zazie beetz is back as sophie to prove he didn't kill her but she's framed as deeply unsympathetic for believing arthur's abuser, penny, over him bc apparently she talked shit to the neighbours, when sophie has like, every reason to be afraid of this guy who was talking to her young child and broke into her apartment under the delusion they were together and then later that night going on a killing spree. and then her role in the story got added to the tv movie (which she reveals, to arthur's heartbreak, sucks) but the movie frames her as this judgmental ableist heartless meanie because she's not empathetic to the man who traumatized her and endangered her daughter.

this is juxtaposed to gary, arthur's clown temp agency coworker from the first film who he spared because of his kindness, who gets another one of the only good scenes in the film as he recounts how deeply witnessing arthur's murders broke him -- a sympathy not afforded to that stuck-up witch sophie. shoutout to leigh gill, it's the film's best and powerful performance....undercut by joaquin making the Choice that the joker, self-representing and cross-examining a witness, would spend a solid 20 minutes doing a Humble Southern Lawyer I do Declare bit that had me cringing out of my skin.

and then, of course, there's Lee. so basically they went the telltale batman route where it's subverted of the classic mad love dynamic -- she's the one playing him, but they did it worse because todd phillips doesn't really grasp like, character beyond Bad Things Happening Make People Do Bad Things and also Women Aren't People, so her sob story is false, her parents are rich and alive and she's a psychiatry Ph.D who voluntarily committed to arkham out of parasocial obsession with The Joker. this would be cool in the women's wrongs way if and i mean IF she had any coherent reason beyond "crazy bitches" and being a groupie of who he became on the talkshow.

and then for some reason the movie decides to wholesale lift plot points from The Room. Lee is allowed to see Arthur after one of his many drawn-out gratuitous beating scenes at the hands of Brendon Gleeson's Arkham guard Jackie Sullivan (kind of a Lyle Bolton type), whereupon she puts his clown makeup on and fucks him as the Joker, as you do. when she's 'released' (really, she leaves), she sees him in visitation to tell him she's pregnant with a little baby clown, which motivates him through the rest of the trial. it's of course clear and later revealed that she lied about the pregnancy. since the film is not interested in giving Lee any real motives beyond Crazy Flaky Bitches Am I Right (her transformation into Harley is never named and consists of clown cosplays worn to court), it's never really clear why she faked the pregnancy, which made me immediately think less of Roxie Hart and more Lisa from The Room saying "To make things interesting". like she already had him on the hook from what it seems, there didn't need to be a fake clown baby!!!!

if you've made it this far, here's where it goes from bad to "oh fuck off". please mind the trigger warnings I listed above.

after going on society rant part 2582342572473423995324324932592394293, Arthur shittalks the Arkham guards on TV. this results in Jackie et al not only beating him but -- non-graphically, but it is completely clear before and after the scene this was the intent -- SA'ing him. After which they murder an inmate sympathetic to Arthur for singing to him. none of this is engaged with meaningfully, none of this is textually addressed, none of this has any real narrative weight beyond Arthur being "broken" during his trial and flubbing the case, renouncing being the Joker. I don't have to say how unbelievably offensive just throwing this shit in is and handling it with about as much care as can be expected from the director of Hangover 2.

so Arthur flubs the case and Lee, along with the rest of his fanbase, storm out of the courthouse, disappointed, much in the way audiences are doing in theatres. but the stans camped outside the courthouse pull a Matt Reeves Riddler and plant carbombs around the perimeter, killing everyone in the jury, burning Harvey Dent's face (DO YOU GET IT???) and two cosplayer juggalos rescue Arthur and they drive off echoing the cop car scene in the first movie. but Arthur doesn't want to be the Joker anymore! he escapes the car and returns to the Joker steps, which the film has already returned to in fantasy lke 10 times. He finds Harley - Lee there, and she tells him coolly that she’s really disappointed he’s not the joker because she loves the joker and not Arthur. She does half a musical number while he begs her to stop singing which made me LOL because shrek and then the cops show up and arrest him and not her.

when we next see Arthur, he's in Arkham awaiting the electric chair. He gets called to go see a visitor and walks alone down a hall, somehow unsupervised on the way to visitation. That young, twinky inmate that kissed Arthur earlier in the movie and senpais him runs up and begs Arthur to let him tell him a joke. And it’s this longwinded bit of incoherence about a “psychopath and a killer clown who let him down walk in the bar, and the psychopath says what can I get you” but the punchline is, of course, “you get what you fucking deserve” and the fanboy shivs him in the gut repeatedly. It cuts to a dying fantasy of a parody sonny and Cher show with joker and Harley singing and finishing their act, then back to a lingering closeup on Arthur bleeding out alone in the Arkham corridor while the twink laughs hysterically, implying the next Joker riseth. Roll credits.

to quote my friend Peter, "having the new Joker play gay chicken with the old joker is cinema".

but all seriousness, save for a few goofy moments here or there or "oh my god, they're really doing this", the movie is boring as sin. which is quite the feat given it's a musical with Lady Gaga as Harley, but when it wasn't boring it was a shockingly offensive mishandling of serious issues that was also a pointless rehash of the events of the first film, not just as a middle finger to those who liked it, but a middle finger to people who like musicals, Batman, DC, and maybe even film as a whole.

just please, please, do yourself a favour and stream Harlequin (Lady Gaga's tie-in album) instead. Mother Monster ate.

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devilsskettle · 8 months ago

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the 2011 fright night remake is actually such a good adaptation in the ways that it re-contextualizes the style, themes, and character archetypes of the original movie from 1985 to fit the time in which it was made. obviously the biggest differences are the way that the vampire and the “vampire killer”/actor are characterized, but there are major differences in the characterizations of the main character’s girlfriend, his weird friend, and his mom that reflect high school drama tropes that were dominant in pop culture in the 2010s as well as some ways that the audience stand-in teenage male main character is framed that reflects ideas about the fraught nature of coming of age, especially wrt gender and sexuality. and both movies are responding to the prevalent types of horror movies being made at the same time (never let them tell you that horror wasn’t “self aware” until 1996 lol). all things considered, i think the original is a more fun, more memorable movie, and i think the adaptation has a hard time finding its audience because it alienates fans of the original by virtue of having such different sensibilities but also idk if it competes that well with similar movies that came out around the same time wrt reception by more contemporary audiences who aren’t necessarily familiar with the original movie. and like many movies from the 2010s, it hasn’t aged super well in terms of style and special effects (although, to be fair, i’d argue the same for the original film, which just feels and looks so quintessentially 80s, just the new one feels and looks so quintessentially 2010s). i like it a lot though, it’s fun, it’s funny, it’s suspenseful, it’s entertaining, and the acting is genuinely good. it was kind of formative for me as a teenager discovering the horror genre for the first time, it will always remind me of staying up until 3 am watching whatever was interesting on late night tv. and chris sarandon does have a cameo in it which is iconic. anyway i started to write a full breakdown of how each character is adapted for the 2010s and why the setting works so well and why i think it’s been kind of lost in the static of remake reboot sequel prequel everything even though it’s honestly a pretty interesting remake that imo justifies its own existence as a remake. but that seemed like a lot of work for something that nobody is going to read lol

#anyway if you’re interested in fright night at all……. i have thoughts

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hazelcephalopod · 1 month ago

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I’ll admit I am extremely biased. Anyway here’s my longer review. I give Venom 3: The Last Dance “Til Death do us Part” 8.75/10 stars and 13/10 fun stars. This movie is adapting so much from the comics with its own spin appropriate for what is imho, simply an au movie run of the comics.

I do not go to Venom movies for the plot. I go to them to watch sweaty depressed Eddie Brock go thru situations with his situationship partner who happens to be a large alien shadow puppy who loves violence and has extremely low impulse control. This ADHD couple is here to bring me 2 hours of chaos with a three stings attaching the scenes together. I am here to see as many comic Easter eggs as they can cram in and keep plenty of room form Venom/Eddie antics.

That the there is a coherent plot is a bonus. And it’s coherent. Eddie and Venom have to go on the run from the cops -for murder carnage did- and Venoms evil father, Knull, who wants to destroy them and use the magic power of their love to release himself -it was cemented when Venom brought Eddie back to life in the last film. Knull sends his evil creature daughters, whose design invokes various giant insectoid aliens (btw 10/10 on that design) who eat symbiotes -called xenophoges btw. The government is also hunting them for the crimes but more bc they want to control symbiotes and have Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mr military man named Rex, and his lesbian scientist coworkers. One loves Christmas pins her mom makes her and the other has a lightening scare that immobilized her left arm and killed her genius brother. They love symbiotes probably more than people, this annoys Rex. Eddie has decided he doesn’t want to stay in Mexico Bc fuck that, instead he makes the terrible decision -as he is extremely self destructive with his own side of very impulsive- to go to NY. Where he has been banned, but he’s got dirt on a judge he plans to blackmail to solve his problems. On the way he meets a family of hippies and has the most heartwarming scene with their young son. I won’t tell you more that’s the first half of set up, go watch and finish reading this post. I loved every second. I keep saying this movie is actually relishing being a comic book movie and doing it well. This one is for comic fans as well as fans of the franchise. I can’t help anyone whose not into that. Bye!

Strange hippy ufo enthusiast family is an “absofuckingly yes” from me. Lesbian science partners was a hit, I hope the one lady gets a new symbiote soon and they can become anti-hero polycule wives or something. Ghost symbiote was another hit, that’s rad! Do it again! I don’t need to know anything else. Knull and his evil daughters who eat symbiotes in that monster fucker heaven beautifully rendered dark realm was an unexpected and fantastic treat. For me! Mrs. Chen remains on top.

Parting and Tragedy only makes love stronger. The reason they are saying they have to end it here is bc they need ten years to convince Sony to let Eddie and Venom make out and declare their love. And then to convince them to let them get married and give birth to symbiotes. Bc that’s all it’s missing and I am not surprised I know how these studios work. They’re cowards who think they can appeal to more demographic but that’s lame! You can’t make everything for everyone. Appeal to the demographic you’ve got and they’ve got monster hunters and others into Venom for a variety of reasons too long to list. Appeal to the freaks we want this plz.

Anyway. I had a great time. I’ve written the resurrections and reunions in my heart already.

#venom spoilers #venom #long post

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thecurioustale · 1 month ago

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I Watched Videos of Star Trek Films that Don't Exist, and They're Surreal AF

If I were ever going to make a Star Trek film, I know what the premise would be. I've thought about it a lot over the years. I have the whole beginning of it completely storyboarded and blocked out in my mind. This opening sequence is a set piece with mystery, action, and adventure, and really it's an entire, self-contained story unto itself.

I'm going to talk about all of that, and show you a video that is screwing with my mind, and more besides, under the fold!

CAPTION: J.M. Colt stands with her hands behind her back in the Roddenberry Archive video "765874."

The Inspirational, Infatuational J.M. Colt

My Star Trek film would feature the original Star Trek character of J.M. Colt in the starring role.

(Tangent: If you're not a hardcore Trekkie, you may have never heard of Colt. She only appeared in the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage" (the one featuring Captain Pike), and was basically the most peripheral member of the Enterprise crew to still get her name in the credits. She was the captain's new yeoman (a secretarial personal assistant), the previous one having recently been killed on a landing mission. Pike was feeling guilt over his last yeoman's death, and for protective patriarchal reasons he didn't like it that his new yeoman was female. Meanwhile, Colt herself was head-over-heels crushing on Pike, which led to some deep awkwardness between the two of them. Although Colt had very little to do in the story, she was one of the officers to get kidnapped by the Talosians and held prisoner alongside Pike, in the Talosians' misguided hope that Pike would pick one of his female shipmates to mate with and create a self-sustaining line of humans for the Talosians' zoo. This is all a bit chauvinistic and patronizing of course, but the dynamics between them are a natural enough thing in human behavior, and in any case—and more importantly—Colt behaved with professionalism and bravery throughout the entire episode, including choosing to stand her ground in the face of death when Number One set the phaser to overload to deprive the Talosians of human zoo animals.)

We never saw Colt again after "The Cage," except in a few beta-canonical comics and novels. In the original Star Trek series she was replaced by Yeoman Janice Rand, who gave off very different vibes. Colt is also not present as a character in the present-day Star Trek: Strange New Worlds show (notwithstanding the easter egg of an unrelated alien extra named "Colt" on the background of the Enterprise bridge in one scene of Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery) , so most Star Trek fans today don't even know Colt exists.

But she certainly made an impression on me! Some of it was actor Laurel Goodwin's beauty, I guess. Other than her being skinny and not especially tall, Colt is basically my ideal of a beautiful partner, and she was one of many visual influences on my creation of Silence Terlais.

But it's not just beauty: There is something tantalizing about a character whom we are introduced to, and whom come to like, but never get to truly "know" because they aren't developed very far, or aren't the center of attention, or the media they're in ends. I feel this way about Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation as well. She died in the first season, so there's a huge "What if?" hanging over her. That's what Colt is for me: "What if?"

Because Colt had so little time with us and was then cast away and forgotten, my imagination is free to run wild about who she might have become and what she might have achieved. And maybe it's for the best this way. I don't like how they treated Yeoman Rand in the series, and I'm sure they would have done much the same to Colt. And for all that disrespect she wouldn't have gotten much screentime anyway. So, if anything, maybe it's better that Colt only ever appeared once and was left an immaculate mystery ever after, unsullied by '60s misogyny and 2010s cynicism alike.

More so than beauty, then, this tantalizing sense of mysterious incompleteness is the biggest reason why I actually based not one but two characters in The Curious Tale off of J.M. Colt: There's Jayem Colt (not so subtle, eh?), who keeps the red hair but is much older (about 55 – 60 in our years) and is the captain of one of Silence's sandships. This Colt later goes on to join the Handsel Band as one of its leaders. And then there is Ravel Vraske, who has brown hair but otherwise looks reminiscent of the original Colt and is about the same age as her. Ravel is one of the last survivors of deceased Guard of Galavar Zirin Aloryane's doomed-before-the-story-begins project to bring the Galance Ideal to Relance and therein sway the nations of the world to join Gala without using force or violence. Ravel proves indispensable in the Handsel Band and over time becomes its best "swayer."

But the original J.M. Colt remained a tantalizing figure for me too, all through the years. I like to imagine that she built a great career in Starfleet and rose to become the captain of her own starship one day.

Star Trek: J '79

It's no secret that I think Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the greatest Star Trek film ever made by an order of magnitude, and one of the best science fiction films of all time.

At the end of that film, as you may recall, the lost NASA probe Voyager 6—elevated by an alien machine civilization into this massive, conscious entity—has returned to Earth to complete its centuries-old mission of learning all that is learnable and returning that information to its "creator."

In the film, we never actually learn whether this happens. Decker inputs the final command personally, and he and Probe-Ilia physically join with "Vejur" (or "V'Ger" if you like) and transcend the Universe. Presumably, Vejur would have transmitted its information before it went, since that was its purpose after all, but we're never told either way. (And while some fans speculate that it didn't happen, due to Vejur destroying its own antenna lead and fixing on Decker as the one to deliver its report to, neither of these speculations necessarily precludes the possibility that Vejur still transmitted its report.)

I like to imagine that it did happen, that Earth was inundated with hundreds of years worth of learning from a Galaxy-spanning scientific demigod of its own creation, and that this was a major reason as to why and how the Federation became so much more advanced and prosperous over the next hundred years by the time Star Trek: The Next Generation came around. I like to imagine that it would have taken the Federation's best minds many decades to delve into all the information that Vejur sent, all its secrets and mysteries (still not fully comprehending everything), and I expect that the ensuing discoveries would have caused great upheaval and transformation as the Federation assimilated all that knowledge. And I like to imagine that Vejur's treasure trove of information led to a great many starship expeditions to investigate curious things that Vejur documented across the Galaxy.

My Star Trek film concept would take this premise and run with it. The movie I envision making mostly draws from the aesthetic and tonal palette of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (hence the working title of "J '79"), right down to those groovy Starfleet uniforms and those luscious '70s décor styles. And it would keep the film's sense of wonder and optimism, humanism and discovery, mystery and exploration—which has often been lacking in Star Trek media. But my movie would also draw somewhat from the underappreciated horror vibes from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which is probably the scariest and most gruesome of the thirteen Star Trek films to date, even though most people remember it as an action film.

But, basically, I would pitch my Star Trek film as a direct sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture—except with a different ship and crew.

The Opening Set Piece of Star Trek J '79

In the darkness of space, a Constitution Class Refit starship appears without any fanfare. It's not the Enterprise; it's another ship; but it looks just like the Enterprise we know from the original movies.

There is no star nearby. In the distance there is a modestly glowing, magenta nebula which provides a pale, wan light that just barely describes the contours of a rogue planet that's dark purple, black, and brown. There's no captain's log, no speaking of any kind.

We cut to the planet's surface, as a sizable landing party beams down in the foreboding style of the middle TOS Star Trek films. The planet is silent, all except for the tiniest rustle of a breeze. The atmosphere is completely minimal and unbreathable, but neither is it noxious, so instead of wearing full-helmet suits the landing party only has nasal breathers—plus jackets since it's very cold.

There is no life. But there are spectacular, ancient ruins, in stone so black and glassy that it's like looking into the void. Domes and pyramids and viaducts, all standing or lying in ruin amid countless years of sand and rock.

The landing party members perform their initial scans and report to the Captain, who sends them off in various directions to explore different points of interest. He remains behind to check out some smaller ruins in the immediate vicinity, and one of the other officers stays with him—a redheaded female officer whose name you can probably guess. He asks her advice, and what she gives him is sound and wise, but also rather limited, as a good advisor arguably should be: not packaging instructions so as to be the de facto leader themselves, but identifying relevant information and leaving it to the actual leader to make the decisions.

Vejur had learned of a magnificent, vast civilization, unspeakably ancient and now long gone, but remembered by a number of present-day civilizations through their monumental ruins. A bit like the Iconians or the Tkon Empire, for example, if you know your Star Trek lore—but not actually either of those civilizations. Older than both! None survives today who knows what these ancients called themselves, so they are referred to only by the descriptions left in text and tablature: the Feathered Builders. (A bit Chozolike, if you will, but also clearly not the Chozo.)

This starship, it turns out—I've toyed with calling it the Constitution but have never settled on a name that completely satisfied me—has been on a mission for nine months trying to track down one of the Feathered Builders' major planets. The most important planets were all "lost" countless ages ago, making it difficult to gather information about the Feathered Builders' civilization or learn the secrets of their technology. The Federation had never even heard of the "Feathered Builders" until Vejur came along and did its thing, but once they did learn they put Starfleet on the case, and the Constitution has managed to finally track down one of the lost capital planets.

This all comes out in expository dialogue as the Captain and Colt explore some of the ruins.

As the investigation ensues, we begin to see the Captain making some questionable leadership decisions. Colt advises him where she can, but he's in command and he has the final say.

I'm going to spare you some spoilers (I'll explain why later), and instead I'll just say that, eventually, the landing party is able to activate an ancient device in the ruins that causes a massive tumult and brings to life an image of one of these Feathered Builders, somewhat similar to the Tkon guardian portal from the TNG episode "The Last Outpost." This custodial being speaks with the Captain, explaining that the Feathered Builders evolved and department from three-dimensional space-time. But the Captain doesn't acquit himself to the custodian's liking and the conversation gradually deteriorates until reaching the breaking point, where the Feathered Builder custodian decides not to provide the Starfleet officers with the information they are seeking. Instead, it commences to sweep up all of the ruins on the planet, violently spiriting them away to some other plane of existence so that the humans can never do anything with them.

At the last moment, Colt intervenes and takes over, trying to salvage the situation by revealing to the custodian and to us in the audience that she is the real captain of the Constitution and that this had been a field training exercise for the person we had thought was the Captain, who turns out to actually be her first officer. Colt pleads with the custodian to reconsider its decision, but the custodian is unmoved and soon every trace of artifice on the planet is completely gone, leaving the landing party alone with nothing but sand and rock: another dead end in nine long months full of them. Though at least they didn't lose their skins!

And from there the opening set piece moves forward into the movie proper, with Colt back on the ship explaining to her first officer that she plans not to recommend him for promotion, etc., and setting the main events of the movie into motion. It turns out that Colt is actually one of Starfleet's training captains, known for taking marginal command candidates under her wing and discerning which ones can be forged into captains and which ones just aren't fit for it despite being close. And this poor fellow is one of the ones who isn't quite there. He's not a villain, not evil, not stupid. He's just not quite good enough. We're always told that it's hard to be a starship captain and that very few people can pull it off, but we're rarely actually shown this reality in Star Trek. I thought this would make for a powerful thematic statement befitting of the opening scene of my movie, given the overall story of said movie.

Making Do with Reality

Of course, they're never going to approach me to direct Star Trek. And I succeeded a long time ago in divorcing my creative ambitions for science fiction out of Star Trek and putting them into my own science fiction series, Galaxy Federal.

So what I've done, in dribs and drabs over the past few years, is adapt my Star Trek movie concept for use in a future Galaxy Federal novel. Not the "Inaugural Novel" that I've been actively working on, but another novel that is very much on the way-back burner. And that's why I didn't want to share some of the spoilers with you, just in case that book ever actually does get written.

Cherry Ilyapa is a good replacement for Captain J.M. Colt. I had already, independently written Cherry as a "training captain" in the aforementioned sense: The Admiralty frequently sends her marginal first officers and entrusts Cherry to develop a nonbinding but influential assessment as to whether these officers should be entrusted with their own command or not. In fact, I think that's where I originally got the idea for the Star Trek movie to open with a fake-out that somebody else is the Captain instead of Colt.

It's quite gratifying how much of this set piece adapts with no difficulty at all into the Galaxy Federal world. The only things I really miss from Star Trek are the transporters, which Galaxy Federal doesn't have, and of course Colt herself. Though, I must say, Cherry is an excellent substitute for Colt if a substitute must be had. Also, and no spoilers, but the good thing about my plans for the Galaxy Federal franchise is that different novels aren't necessarily going to be published in chronological order. My Star Trek movie idea book can be set either before or after the events of the Galaxy Federal Inaugural Novel, as needed.

In many ways, the Galaxy Federal world is a better fit for my story idea than the Star Trek world is. That probably shouldn't come as a surprise; it's only natural that "the kind of story I would want to tell" would fit more easily into "a fictional world that I created myself." Star Trek has some tropes and tonalities that don't really agree with me, whereas Galaxy Federal has things exactly the way I want them. I'm not really into the pulpy, action-oriented side of Star Trek. I'm not very impressed by Star Trek's usual lack of visual ambition (The Motion Picture being a major exception). And I don't like how incestuous the Star Trek universe has become, with a small number of fan-popular characters (e.g. Data), polities (e.g. the Borg), places (e.g. the Mirror Universe), organizations (e.g. Section 31), and events (e.g. the Battle of Wolf 359) becoming entangled more and more messily and gracelessly with subsequent canonical (and fanonical) productions as the years roll on. In Galaxy Federal I can have my preference of never doing this, and instead let new stories spread out into their own space freely rather than make constant callbacks and plot tie-ins to previous canon. A little callback is necessary for franchise coherence and desirable for aesthetic or narrative purposes, but Star Trek has gone way overboard ever since Star Trek: Voyager.

Anyway! My Star Trek movie / Galaxy Federal book would be another grand epic adventure in the vein of the Inaugural Novel, as opposed to some of the lower-spec concepts I have for other Galaxy Federal novels, and it's nice to have something big like that on the horizon, even if I'm not actively working on it.

The Roddenberry Archive and the Memory Wall

The whole reason I am writing this post in the first place is that yesterday I saw an amazing video.

Two years ago, I read an article that threw my brain for a major loop: I saw behind-the-scenes photos of J.M. Colt on the set of "The Cage," in uniform and all that...except that these photos were from the 2020s.

This really screwed with my grip on reality, in both a good and a bad way. "The Cage" was produced in the 1960s. What was this sorcery? Well, upon closer inspection here's what had happened:

For many years now, an organization called The Roddenberry Archive has existed to collect and preserve relics of the lifetime of work of Gene Roddenberry. The Archive is a project of some of the biggest creative names in Star Trek, including Michael and Denise Okuda, Doug Drexler, and others. You can read more about them on their About page.

As a part of their preservation efforts, they have sought to bring Roddenberry's work to life in various ways, including in the form of audiovisual "experiences" that, essentially, are like movie trailers that recreate the vibes of prior incarnations of Star Trek. That's what led, for example, to the recreation of J.M. Colt standing on the 1960s bridge of the Enterprise in the 2020s. They were recreating that environment, and they had just so happened to pick the character of Colt—of all people!—to use as their filming model. Partly this was because one of the people closely involved with bringing the project together is the actor and producer Mahé Thaissa, who bears a passable resemblance to J.M. Colt, especially with a wig and the uniform. It was convincing enough that I genuinely read her as Laurel Goodwin's J.M. Colt!

Recently, they've been at it again with an initiative called 765874. And again they are using Colt as their central character, now with added Spock. Yesterday, YouTube showed me this:

youtube

This is mind-blowing! That thumbnail you see above isn't from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It's modern work; it's what the Roddenberry Archive is trying to do.

The video scans like a wordless movie trailer. It's very surreal, with the only live characters being Colt and Spock, interspersed with a variety of alien landscapes and a bunch of images connecting various events from Star Trek's history. Even the title of the experience, "765874 - Memory Wall" is deep lore. The Wall of Memories was a sequence planned for Star Trek: The Motion Picture that was cut in development and replaced with the famous "Spock Walk" scene (where Spock rides a thruster suit into the heart of Vejur and witnesses a visual record of Vejur's entire journey). It's a fitting title!

These little trailers—these "experiences"—are wonderful. Like I said before, they are extremely surreal to me. I cannot overstate this. They mess with my brain powerfully, in both good ways and bad. This kind of experience is magical for me. They're a little bit like eating faerie crack I guess, lol. The videos are unsettling, compelling, and thoroughly engrossing. And I prize this, because this experience is very hard to come by for me. Not much can make me question my grip on reality, let alone in an area that I'm passionate about like Star Trek (I don't even dare to hazard a guess as to how many hard disk sectors of my brain are dedicated to Star Trek lore).

These Roddenberry Archive experiences depict past Star Trek media that never existed and will never exist, with incredibly lifelike representations. And they feature as their starring character, of all the characters they could have possibly picked, the profoundly obscure character of J.M. Colt, who I just so happen to have a lifelong fixation with. But this Colt never speaks in these experiences, and never appears on screen in any given shot for more than a moment, and we never really know what she's doing. And all the individual shots are so short that you can never fully get your grip on them...sort of as if you can't look directly at them. It's all a mystery!

You can perhaps see why this is so incredibly trippy for me. My brain parses this stuff as real pieces of past Star Trek media that I somehow missed, giving them the quality of dreams. Yes, that's it. These things are like dreams to me! Except they're real. Except not quite.

It's kind of a delight that, after all these years, J.M. Colt is just randomly appearing in the real world in glimpses of period-accurate Star Trek productions, just like I had always imagined. Giving Star Trek: The Motion Picture new life in this way, when the actual franchise completely ignores it, and making J.M. Colt the face of that...just wow! It's a little slice of "What if?" brought to life in the best way! And, albeit obliquely, if I squint hard enough it's almost like I can see my own Star Trek movie concept brought to life.

I wish the people doing this work would talk to the suits and buy a license to make an actual Star Trek movie or a Netflix miniseries or something!

There are several more of these audiovisual experiences, including a very recent video celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Generations (which was just a couple days ago) by showing Spock visiting Kirk's grave. You can find them on the Roddenberry Archive website or in this YouTube playlist. (There's a wonderful interview with William Shatner in the playlist that I also watched yesterday, where he talked about some things that I'd never heard him talk about before, and I've seen a lot of Shat interviews.) And here's a wonderful feature article on the website of their technical partners, OTOY, with a lot more information about the project.

But, in closing...what a strange treat! What a surreal delight. And what a cool opportunity to share my own Star Trek movie idea (or at least a small piece of it) for the first time.

#JM Colt #Star Trek #The Roddenberry Archive #OTOY #Mahé Thaissa #Star Trek: The Motion Picture #Galaxy Federal #Silence Terlais #Surrealism #The Curious Tale #Star Trek fanfiction #Youtube #Unification #Star Trek Unification #765874 #The human adventure is just beginning.

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marvelmaniac715 · 2 months ago

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Here’s what I remember about Modern Doctor Who episodes which I have never rewatched (it’s been quite a while since I watched all the episodes back to back at the end of last year and throughout this year) but there’s a character limit so I’m cut off:

The Unquiet Dead - Ghosts and Charles Dickens and Rose’s first trip to the past with Nine

Aliens of London/World War Three - Farting Slitheen family aliens, politics and Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North then Prime Minister (yes, I know who she is)

Dalek - I screamed when I saw a Dalek levitate up the stairs, Rose imprints on a museum Dalek, the Doctor tells a Dalek to die and we meet Adam

School Reunion - K9, Sarah Jane, brain boosting chips and kids who do coding

The Girl in the Fireplace - Reinette, “I’m the Doctor and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour”, banana daiquiri, ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’, fake drunk Doctor insulting Mickey with the adjective “thick” , a horse that the Doctor can’t keep and a spaceship (I’ve seen so many TikTok edits so I know more about this one despite only watching it once)

Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel - Rich Jackie in alternate world, living Pete, alternate Mickey, Rose the Yorkshire Terrier, Doctor and Rose as waiters, and the Cybermen

The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit - Satan himself, a possessed guy with pen on his face and introduction to the Ood

Love and Monsters - Absorvaloff, “wrong bucket”, LINDA, ‘Mr Blue Sky’, Jackie flirting with the protagonist and Elton John

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - Cybermen, our first glimpse of modern day Torchwood, “I did my duty” and the devastating loss of Rose

Smith and Jones - Introduction to the BAMF Martha Jones, a platoon of Judoon on the moon and an old lady with a straw

Gridlock - Bad traffic, mood patches, Face of Boe says “You Are Not Alone” and a woman has a basket of cats with a cat man

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks - Andrew Garfield, pig man, human Dalek, Empire State Building, Tallulah and the Great Depression (I distinctly remember sarcastically asking “is the Doctor going to stop the Great Depression?”)

42 - “Burn with me”, the sun and a quiz, aside from that I really don’t remember (hated this episode)

Blink - The Weeping Angels who give me the creeps, peeling off wallpaper to reveal a message from the Doctor, the Doctor’s dvd messages and Sally Sparrow (I physically cannot rewatch this because I instinctively stop blinking whenever I see the Angels and I don’t want my eyes to dry out so I’ll give this one a skip even though it is great)

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End - Missing planets, Shadow Proclamation, insane vortex Dalek, Davros himself, a major epic team up with everyone from all over the Whoniverse and the devastating loss of Donna Noble’s memories

Planet of the Dead - “Hello, I’m the Doctor, happy Easter”, a bus, “He will knock four times” and Lady Christina (I think that’s her name anyway) being a thief and turned down flat when she tries to be a companion

The Beast Below - Happy and sad robot things and a very young looking Queen in space

Victory of the Daleks - Human Dalek guy, “Would you care for some tea?” and Winston Churchill being involved in a fight against Daleks

The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone - Return of River Song my QUEEN, Weeping Angels again, “That which holds the image of an angel becomes an angel” and the church army

The Vampires of Venice - Fish vampires, Venice, “then we will take your world” and the Doctor jumping out of a stag-do cake

Amy’s Choice - Dream pollen, Peruvian folk band with ponchos, pregnancy and sinister old people

The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood - Silurians, Amy being dressed for a much warmer country and a young boy who I affectionately dubbed ‘Exposition Child’ and promptly forgot the actual name of

The Lodger - Fake upstairs apartment, my city being the setting (not filmed there btw) and James Corden being�� himself

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang - Big villain team up, River becomes the sun, a fez is yeeted into the distance never to be seen again, plastic Roman Rory, Cleopatra River and the Doctor gives an epic speech

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon - Child River, the Doctor dies and it’s very creepy

Night Terrors - Creepy dolls singing nursery rhymes, an old lady eaten by a bin, a man swallowed by his floor and an alien child overreacting to an extreme level

The Girl Who Waited - Old Amy and the Doctor lying to Rory to kill a version of Amy (not a cool thing to do)

Closing Time - Cybermen, Stormageddon, the Doctor working in a shop and James Corden 2: The Cordening

The Wedding of River Song - The Doctor doesn’t time so time goes weird, the Doctor gets hitched and I really can’t remember much else

The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - Narnia ripoff with trees and Matt Smith falls out of a hammock then attempts to play it off like it was part of the scene in the script

Asylum of the Daleks - Dalek eye stalk on humans, Amy hallucinates whilst becoming a Dalek, a pointless divorce and Clara Oswin the soufflé making Dalek

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Dinosaurs and Rory’s amazing dad who has a trowel (also the Doctor has a Christmas list)

A Town Called Mercy - A horse called Susan who wants their owner to respect their life choices, the Doctor in a brand new hat and general Western vibes

The Angels Take Manhattan - Weeping Angel Statue of Liberty, more River and we lose Amy and Rory forever but there’s a nice mystery book with a foreword from Amy so it’s all okay

Cold War - Submarine and an Ice Warrior

Hide - 1970s ghost plot (didn’t like it)

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS - FINALLY we see much more of the TARDIS!

Nightmare in Silver - Cybermen, ungrateful kids and Warwick Davis

Into the Dalek - Rusty says “You are a good Dalek”, Clara meets Danny Pink and cares so the Doctor doesn’t have to

Listen - Orson Pink, Dan the Soldier Man, the Doctor whips out his dad skills and fear is a superpower

Time Heist - Big bank heist and people with flat heads

Kill the Moon - Courtney from Coal Hill (glad she didn’t come back) and an uncomfortable allegory involving the moon being an egg

Mummy on the Orient Express - A train with a killing Mummy and Clara in a great outfit and bob haircut

Flatline - Rigsy, graffiti, tiny TARDIS with the Doctor trapped inside and scary vibes

In the Forest of the Night - Danny leads a school trip, there’s trees, one of the kids is played by the girl that used to voice Peppa Pig and I think at one point it tells kids not to take their medication? I got a bit confused with this one

Last Christmas - Santa and murdering dream worms

Under the Lake/Before the Flood - Bootstrap paradox monologue straight to camera (“Google it”), and the Doctor’s apology cards

Sleep No More - ‘Mr Sandman’ and eye crust

Oxygen - Capitalist space suits, a blue guy and the Doctor goes blind

The Pyramid at the End of the World/The Lie of the Land - The scary Monks rewrite history, Bill’s mum inadvertently changes things, Missy is iconic as always and Bill makes a bad deal

Empress of Mars - Ice Warriors and “God save the Queen” written on Mars

The Eaters of Light - Crows can talk, and Missy CRIES

The Woman Who Fell To Earth - We meet Thirteen and there’s a guy with teeth in his face

The Ghost Monument - Race and sunglasses

Arachnids in the UK - Spiders and Trump

The Tsuranga Conundrum - Pregnant man

Demons of the Punjab - Yaz’s grandmother and racism to aliens

It Takes You Away - Norway, Wooly Rebellion and talking frog

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos - Teeth Guy

Resolution - Human woman possessed by a Dalek

Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror - Boredom

Fugitive of the Judoon - Fugitive Doctor and Judoon

Praxeus - Boring mould

Can You Hear Me? - Nightmares

Ascension of the Cybermen - Irish boy is the Doctor

Revolution of the Daleks - Captain Jack!

The Flux - Boring aside from Dan

The three specials - Timeloop, Sea Devils and regeneration

#doctor who #modern doctor who #new doctor who #new who #nuwho #doctor who fandom #doctor who spoilers #my thoughts #memories #long post

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takerfoxx · 9 months ago

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Okay, about halfway through my Evangelion rewatch, and I swear to God this show has taken over my life. Like, even though I've seen it before and recently watched the Rebuild films, it's just clicked with me in a way that hasn't happened in a very long time, and I am loving it.

Anyway.

One thing that I noticed is that while the show gets off on a very depressing note that shines a spotlight on Shinji's problems, from the agony he experiences while piloting the Eva to his crippling depression and everything, once he makes the decision to stay, the tone shifts. Like, all those issues don't really go away fully, but for a little bit, the show gets a lot more lighthearted, becoming almost a traditional giant robots fighting aliens-type show. Shinji's mental health improves exponentially, he forms several healthy relationships, he actually does rather well as a pilot, and things seem to be on the upswing for him.

And then Asuka shows up and...actually, things sort of get better?

Okay, let me explain. The first time I watched this show like fifteen years ago, I couldn't stand Asuka. I thought that she was an entitled, insecure brat, and her treatment of Shinji and Rei was totally uncalled for. However, now that I've experienced this story in both of its entireties, processed all the characters and the complexities of their portrayals, and experienced various interpretations of them through various fanfics, doujins, spin-offs, etc., revisiting the original Asuka that spawned all of these reactions is...honestly, it's not nearly as bad as I remember. Yeah, she's still an insecure brat, but I get it now. And her beef with Shinji and Rei comes from her literally being groomed to be the best Eva pilot imaginable while being traumatized by her mother's suicide, leading her to see the other two pilots as both a threat to her position as well as disappointments for not living up to her standards, hence her hostile treatment of them. Even still, we see that facade crack and she does display moments of genuine kindness and comradery with them.

Also, later events have caused people to view Shinji as something of the most extreme of doormats, but for now, he actually isn't? Like, okay, he's still kind of a pushover, but he does get frustrated, he does push back against Asuka, he does snap and start arguing. At the same time, you can also seem them trying to connect in their highly damaged, kind of awkward ways. It's not working, but you see the attempt, and overall, their dynamic does get played more for laughs and slapstick, at least in the early stages.

Of course, all of that goes out the window later on when everyone gets SOOOO much worse, but for now, it's nice to see these kids' relationship in it's healthiest stage. That scene where they all sit on the hill watching the stars together was honestly adorable, as well as Asuka deliberately eschewing a fancy steak dinner in favor of a trip to a ramen shack so Rei could participate.

As for me being ride or die for a poly ending for this trio, was it at all changed by revisiting the source material? Haha, NOPE! If anything, it was strengthened, given that all three have their unique dynamics with each other instead of the tired cliche of two people fighting over a third and it's all like, "Oh, who will they choose?" Y'ALL HAVE TWO HANDS APIECE!

Though on a more deeply personal side, I think that's why I've had Evangelion infest my mind like it has as of late. I just sort of relate to Shinji, Rei, and Asuka a whole bunch and see aspects of myself in all three, and I just kind of want them to be happy together, but, in this timeline at least, I know that that's not meant to be.

Speaking of complicated characters, Touji and Kensuke certainly are that, because on the one hand, they are kind of best boys in how ride or die they are for Shinji, basically becoming the close friends that he definitely needed and going out of their way to check in on him and support him and stick up for him.

On the other hand, they are also selling creep shots of Asuka and their other female classmates. Like, okay, 90's Japan culture and how that gets played for laughs back then, I get it. Still, not cool, guys. But I guess it just goes with the theme of how these are all messy individuals kind of stumbling their way through their messy lives, and everyone has their good and bad qualities.

Another observations. The virus takeover episode was one of the series' finest, as the whole bottle episode thing where the adults have to solve a unique problem while the pilots were otherwise out of the picture made for a great change of pace and was tense as hell. The dancing episode is a fan favorite for a reason and must've made the AsuShin ship explode early on.

Also, I know that we're supposed to hate the JSSDF because their rep was kind of a jerk to Misato and put down NERV and all (plus the later massacre in the movie), but to be honest, now knowing what we know about NERV and the Evangelions, he was kind of right in everything he was criticizing them about? And the fact that Jet Alone was deliberately sabotaged by NERV in a sort of petty dick-waving contest only puts them in a worse light. Honestly, if the two organizations had actually behaved like adults and cooperated, things might've gone so much better.

But then again, Gendo's got to Gendo, what with SEELE and their whole agenda and everything.

And on a more critical side!

Okay, I've said my piece about all of the weird creep shots in the Rebuild movies and how distracting and, well, uncomfortable they were. Like, okay, I know this whole series is low-key horny, and using Misato for some cheesecake shots, that's fine. But, like I said about Toji and Kensuke's creepy photo business...yeah. It's not as bad as it was in the Rebuild movies, which really took things way over the top, but it's still there.

And honestly, some of it you can get away with. Like, I don't have an issue with the scene between Shinji and Rei in the apartment, or Shinji ogling the girls in their swimsuits, or overhearing Asuka and Misato in the hotspring and having a reaction, because he's a repressed kid full of hormones in a very stressful situation. It makes sense that he would be like that. Same with Asuka's flirty side and how she hangs off of Kaji in a very inappropriate manner. Or Rei's lack of inhibitions. All of these make sense for their characters. I don't even have a problem with how Misato teases Shinji, because she's portrayed as somewhat of an emotionally stunted womanchild.

But when it's not from his or anyone else's point of view and you're just showing fanservice shots of your explicitly underaged characters, it gets kind of, well...

Okay, the point I'm making is...was there like a specific reason for the nude sync test? At all? Did it serve the plot in any way? Yeah, you need them in the plugs to get them out of the way so that the grown-ups could have an episode, but c'mon. Was it really necessary other than to get shots of them naked in their cockpits? Even from a character standpoint, I think Asuka at the very least would have protested more!

I dunno, I know it's a rampant problem in anime and always has been and you kind of need some level of tolerance, but that scene in particular did stand out as a great big, "Why is this happening?" Maybe if it had actually led to something it'd be better, but it didn't.

But Evangelion has always been messy and complicated, and that little bug aside, it's easy to see why it captured so many people's attention when it first came out and still does to this day. Hell, it's definitely consumed my every waking moment as of late.

However, Rei's little existential crisis is any indication, I'm approaching the part where things get really weird, so, that'll be...interesting.

#neon genesis evangelion #shinji ikari #asuka langley soryu #rei ayanami #misato katsuragi #analysis #eva spoilers

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madokasfanficstories · 3 months ago

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Movie Night

Madoka and Sayaka are having a movie night during their sleep over. One movie might had gone too far because Madoka is traumatized and she's afraid of the dark. Can Sayaka help her to face her nightmares? This summary may actually be weak, but expect some comfort.

Madoka was just finishing cleaning up the living room, she wants to make sure it looks great for her girlfriend to show up. Madoka is super excited, not because they are having a sleep over (they've been doing this since they were children), but because it's their first one since they started dating. Madoka can still remember how Sayaka asked her out, and it surprised her. Even though Sayaka painted herself as brave and confident, she was a nervous wreck on the day she proposed to Madoka. Nevertheless, Madoka said yes, so today is extra special to her. Once everything was cleaned up, the doorbell ringed, which made Madoka jumped with excitement. She heads to the door and opened it and sees Sayaka standing there wearing casual clothing.

"I have a special delivery to miss Madoka Kaname," said Sayaka.

"And what is the special delivery that I am receiving today?" Madoka said playing along.

"Me of course," said Sayaka and she step forward and placed a kiss onto Madoka's lips. Madoka smiled for the brief role-play they did.

They then hug for about a few minutes, they love to do this. After that, they let go and just looked at each other.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Sayaka said.

"You bet. I set everything up and awaited for your arrival," Madoka said.

"Perfect! And guess what? I rented some movies over at the video store."

"That's great! Are there any romantic ones?"

"Actually, I thought of something even better," Sayaka had a grin on her face. Madoka doesn't like this grin. "While I was there, I figure we could have some fun. So, I rented some horror films."

"What?" Madoka was now afraid. "But Sayaka-chan, I hate scary movies." Madoka has always hated the horror genre ever since she was little, she couldn't sleep with the lights off because she was too traumatize.

"Don't worry, I'll be beside you as always. Anyway, I need to use your bathroom to change out of these clothes," Sayaka said.

"But I-" Madoka couldn't finish as Sayaka gave her the bag full of movies and headed straight for the restroom.

Madoka began to mope, knowing that tonight will be dreadful. But the nicest thing is Sayaka will be there to hold her hand. She then sat down on the living room floor, awaiting for the doom. Soon enough, Sayaka reappeared in the room, wearing her blue pajamas, which Madoka likes a lot. Sayaka then sat down next to Madoka and began to cuddle her girlfriend very warmly. Madoka cherishes this moment.

"Hey, where's the popcorn?" Sayaka questioned.

"Oops, I forgot the snacks," Madoka realized her error.

They went to the kitchen and grabbed their snacks and made it back to the living room. Once everything is settled, Sayaka rummaged her bag and picked out the first horror movie they're about to watch.

"I still don't like this," Madoka was worried.

"Don't worry, this is a kaju film, it'll be fun. Trust me," Sayaka reassured.

Sayaka placed the DVD on the DVD player and pressed play.

Two movies later

It was now nine o'clock at night and they sat down to watch two horror movies which weren't scary at all.

"Well, we should probably turn ourselves in," Madoka really just wanted to avoid the inevitable.

"Ha, nice try. There's still one movie left," Sayaka took out the last movie from her bag, and it looks like a alien movie.

"That... doesn't look safe to watch," Madoka was now extremely worried.

"Don't worry, the first movie was so boring, so the sequel won't be as scary. Come on," Sayaka said and swap out the DVDs and pressed play.

One movie later

When the movie was over, Sayaka slowly turned the tv off, shaking.

"Okay... that was a little scary..." Sayaka couldn't stop shaking. She didn't expected to be absolutely terrifying. She tried to hold Madoka, but she couldn't feel her.

"Madoka?" Sayaka looked to her side and sees that Madoka was inside her sleeping bag, shaking uncontrollably.

"Madoka?" Sayaka touched Madoka's sleeping bag, which causes Madoka to jumped in fear.

"It's me," Madoka looked out of her bag and sees her girlfriend with concerned eyes.

"Sa-Sayaka-chan... I-I'm scared..." Madoka said.

"I know, and I'm sorry," Sayaka got into the sleeping bag and tried to comfort her. Soon enough, Madoka relaxed and hugged her girlfriend very tightly.

"Don't let go," Madoka said.

"I won't," Sayaka said as she kissed her on the forehead. They soon fell asleep.

***

It was one in the morning and it was dark outside. Madoka suddenly woke up as soon as she felt some pressure from her abdomen.

"Sayaka-chan, I need to go to the bathroom," Madoka said.

Sayaka didn't wake up, she's still sleeping.

"Sayaka-chan, I can't go alone."

Still, Sayaka didn't stirred. Madoka continue to shimmer back and forth until she couldn't hold it in. She got up and began walking to the bathroom. As she was walking towards the hall, the darkness felt creepy and strange sounds can be heard. Madoka was scared, because she believes that aliens are coming inside the house and abduct her. But soon enough, the creepy sounds stopped, but Madoka was still in a paralyzing state. Once she was calmed, she proceeded to the bathroom. She made it to the door and started turning the knob open. She flicked the lights on, it illuminated the room, which caused Madoka to shut her eyes from the brightness. As she was heading for the toilet, the lights suddenly shut off. Madoka stood frozen, fearing for the worst.

What's happening? Am I going to be abducted?

Then, the bathroom window began to make tapping noises, which made Madoka to yip and ran straight to the corner in fetal position. Fear was overwhelming in her mind.

This isn't real, it was just a movie. There is no such thing as aliens. There is no such thing as aliens!

Then, she heard foot steps, the absolute worst nightmare was coming towards her. The foot steps were coming inside the bathroom, and was heading straight to Madoka. Meanwhile, Madoka covered her head, too afraid to look up at the invaders. Finally, she felt something or someone grabbing her shoulder.

"NOOOOO!"

"MADOKA, IT'S ME!"

Madoka looked up and sees Sayaka right in front of her in the dark.

"Sayaka-chan..." Madoka then burst into tears as the nightmare was finally over. Sayaka began to hug her girlfriend, hoping to calm her down.

"It's okay, I'm here now."

After a few minutes, Madoka finally calmed down and looked at Sayaka with a scared look.

"What's wrong?" Sayaka said.

"Th-there's something in-in the window-" Madoka was shivering in fear.

Sayaka looked at the window and noticed that tapping sounds can be heard.

"Don't worry, I'll go check it out. Stay here," Sayaka got up and headed to the window slowly. To be honest, she was scared as well, but doesn't want to be a coward in front of her girlfriend. As she got closer and check the window, she was fully relieved to see the problem (only to quickly tense up before breaking her bladder).

"It's okay, it's just a tree branch," Sayaka said.

Madoka then got up, checked it and, sure enough, it was a tree branch tapping on the window repeatedly due to strong winds.

"Oh, thank goodness. Thank you, Sayaka-chan, you're very brave."

"Hey, an Ally of Justice must protect her lover."

After the girls finished their business in the bathroom (holding hands the whole time), they returned to their sleeping bag while also holding each other from the darkness. They got inside and began to cuddled.

"Thank you again, Sayaka-chan, you're not afraid of anything," Madoka complemented her girlfriend.

Sayaka was a little sad after hearing that, she has to tell the truth. "Actually, I was afraid as well," Sayaka shamelessly admitted.

"Really?"

"Yes. When I woke up, I didn't feel you next to me. I thought the aliens got you. I was so afraid that I lost you, I'm nothing but a coward to yo-" she didn't finished that sentence because she was being kissed by Madoka.

"It doesn't matter, you were still concern for me. That doesn't make you a coward at all. Being scared doesn't make you weak, it makes you more brave that you faced them. You will always be brave to me. I love, Sayaka-chan."

Sayaka was now happy that her girlfriend doesn't think less of her now. "Thank you so much, Madoka, you made me so happy. I love you."

And soon enough, they both fell asleep in each other's arms. Their love had prevented them from letting go of each other... well except for Madoka's parents finding out that the girls left a huge mess in the living room.

The End

#fan fiction #fanfic #movie night #puella magi madoka magica #madoka magica #madoka kaname #sayaka miki #madosaya

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