#best st film character

[best-star-trek-character]

Official Star Trek Film Bracket!

And here’s the final bracket! Round One will go live tomorrow, 5/8 at 10 am EST!

Full List:

Round One:

Left Side:

Kruge vs. Zephram Cochrane: poll here

Dr. Gillian Taylor vs. Dr. David Marcus: poll here

Saavik vs. Valeris: poll here

Chang vs. Lieutenant Ilia: poll here

Right Side:

B-4 vs. Sybok: poll here

Lily Sloane vs. Dr. Carol Marcus: poll here

Soran vs. Anij: poll here

Shinzon vs. George & Gracie: poll here

Round Two:

Left Side:

Zephram Cochrane vs. Dr. Gillian Taylor: poll here

Saavik vs. Lt. Ilia: poll here

Right Side:

B-4 vs. Lily Sloane: poll here

Anij vs. George & Gracie: poll here

Semi-Finals:

Dr. Gillian Taylor vs. Saavik: poll here

Lily Sloane vs. George & Gracie: poll here

Finals:

Saavik vs. George & Gracie: poll here

[hickeygender]

of all the star wars movies, which of them do y'all 1) enjoy the most 2) consider the best quality and 3) think you've rewatched the most. add your answers in the reblogs or replies, i'm genuinely curious how much of an overlap there is within everyone's three answers. mine don't overlap at all! they're revenge of the sith, empire strikes back, and the force awakens :^)

[dymagamwedd]

psa. ok. i think i am gonna start using icons. i do feel weird having a non-actor's face attached to anything remotely nsfw (and frankly i feel weird about using 80s molly ringwald attached to anything nsfw) so i'll leave those threads iconless. if anyone is uncomfortable with me using damiano as ferry's fc, i'll drop the icons for those threads as well.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Gnarls Barkley - Crazy 2006

"Crazy" is the debut single of American soul duo Gnarls Barkley, taken from their 2006 debut album, St. Elsewhere. It became the first single to top the UK Singles Chart on download sales alone. The song remained at the top of the British charts for nine weeks, the longest number-one spell for more than ten years. The band and their record company then decided to remove the single from music stores in the country (while keeping the download available) so people would "remember the song fondly and not get sick of it". "Crazy" dropped to number five, before disappearing completely from the chart, as under chart rules a physically deleted single could not remain on the chart longer than two weeks after deletion date. Thus, "Crazy" made history at both ends of its chart run. It marked the most rapid exit from the British chart ever for a former number one, and number five was the highest position at which a single has ever spent its final week on the chart at that point.

In spite of this deletion, the song was the best-selling single of 2006 in the UK. In December 2006, it was nominated for the United Kingdom's Record of the Year but lost to "Patience" by Take That. "Crazy" won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2007 and was also nominated for Record of the Year, and it won a 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. The music video was nominated for three 2006 MTV Video Music Awards: Best Group Video, Best Direction, and Best Editing, and won the latter two. It was also nominated for a 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video. "Crazy" was named the best song of 2006 by Rolling Stone and by The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. "Crazy" was performed at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, with Danger Mouse and Green dressed as various Star Wars characters.

The single entered multiple other single charts throughout Europe, including the German, the Swedish, the Austrian and the Irish Singles Charts, and the Dutch Top 40, resulting in a number one position on the European Hot 100 Singles. "Crazy" also performed strongly outside Europe, with top-five positions on the New Zealand and Australian Single Charts, and was also certified gold in both countries. In the US, the song "Crazy" spent seven consecutive weeks in the number-two spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Musically, "Crazy" was inspired by film scores of Spaghetti Westerns, in particular by the works of Ennio Morricone, and the song "Last Men Standing" by Gian Piero Reverberi and Gian Franco Reverberi from the 1968 Spaghetti Western Django, Prepare a Coffin, an unofficial prequel to Django. "Crazy" samples the song, and also utilizes parts of the main melody and chord structure. Because of this, the Reverberis are credited as songwriters along with CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse. "Crazy" was used in several films and TV shows including Kick-Ass, I Think I Love My Wife, Religulous, The Big Short, Cold Case, How to Rock, Grey's Anatomy, Medium, Boyhood, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

"Crazy" received a total of 86,8% yes votes!

[tossawary]

Recent "Star Trek" reboot universes have really tried to sell me on three different romances for Spock with other TOS characters whom he did not have romantic relationships (at least not positive ones) with in TOS, which makes it particularly annoying when some fans try to squirm away from the idea of ST ever doing a future reboot or remake in which Spock/Kirk are explicitly queer.

Like, "But it's not in the original! They want to be faithful to the original!" really, REALLY does not pass the "I think you might just be discomforted by queerness and you should work on that, rather than making appeals to the authority of textual accuracy to avoid being called a homophobe or transphobe" check here. Because it's not as though these reboots care about perfect faithfulness on pretty much any other front. We'll accept that the costumes and special effects get updated to move with the times, we'll accept wildly different characterization choices that essentially give these characters new personalities, we'll accept new timelines that change the entire political map of the galaxy, but you as a fan draw the line at "What if this character was bisexual this time?" Really???

To be clear, I am not trying to dunk on Spock/Uhura, Spock/Chapel, or Spock/T'Pring here, I am merely trying to illustrate a frustrating double-standard. TOS Uhura does notably flirt with Spock several times! I see it! I remember TOS Chapel's feelings for Spock being one-sided, but I also don't think it's a bad thing to try to update TOS's more misogynistic writing choices regarding female characters. TOS T'Pring did... kind of try to kill Spock because she didn't want to marry him, but again, I don't necessarily think it's immediately a bad thing to try to explore her as a character and her betrothal to Spock. It's fine! It's fine by me to explore new takes in new AUs.

It's just that none of that evidence from TOS for those relationships holds much of a candle to whatever the fuck Kirk and Spock had going on to inspire The Premise. "Amok Time" is an Experience. There's only so many times that Kirk can say something like, "The cost [of abandoning Spock] would have been my soul," before you want to put your face in your hands. They are taking shiny pebbles from TOS and trying their very best to sell them to me as the basis for romantic relationships in reboots, sure, while they are standing in the shadow of Spirk Evidence Mountain (TOS).

(Yes, I have seen the recent "Unification" short film. Yes, I enjoyed it. No, I will not consider Spirk "officially canon" until all plausible deniability for the squirmy folks has been completely, explicitly destroyed by a HUMAN kiss onscreen.)

And okay, I must admit, at the moment, I don't actually want Spirk to eventually happen in "Strange New Worlds" now that they've finally met. I'm mostly indifferent to their Spock and Kirk actors, personally, and the writing for every canonical romantic relationship in both SNW and "Discovery" so far has gotten a solid "well, they certainly are standing next to each other" from me. (Yes, even the gay marriage in "Discovery". I just haven't been into it so far.) I think the writers would fumble Spirk if they tried it in this specific show and then annoying fans would use the fumble as "evidence" never to try to do Spirk or queer retakes on other TOS characters ever again, or as "proof" against other queer ST in other shows characters generally.

I'm mostly just mildly annoyed that I have to keep watching Spock specifically, famously read by many people as a queer man, be straight and messy about it, especially when there has not really been a significant queer relationship onscreen in SNW yet, unless you count M'Benga's daughter Rukiya and her glow cloud friend named Debra, which I personally don't, honestly. I'd like an onscreen relationship with a main character with zero plausible deniability. There's definitely nothing yet that comes remotely close to the screentime that Spock/Chapel, Spock/T'Pring, and Kirk/La'an have all been given so far, unfortunately. (Sulu is not here yet. Scotty has just shown up. If Scotty gets to make out with a guy next season, or Uhura or Ortegas gets to make out with a lady, without it being part of some god-like-being's fantasy world, then I may be satisfied.) (Also, yes, I am aware of queer characters and relationships in other "Star Trek" shows, thanks. I very much enjoyed Mariner having her incredibly silly breakup with her girlfriend in "Lower Decks".)

"Star Trek" is one of those properties where some people's double-standards regarding romantic interpretations of the original series really jump out. "They can't do Kirk/Spock because they want to be faithful to the original!" Get real.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Judy Garland (Meet Me In St. Louis, A Star is Born, Summer Stock)— Judy is the GOAT when it comes to classic movie musicals. The voice of an angel who deserved so much better than she got. She can sing she can dance she can act she's a triple threat. Though she had a turbulent personal life (her treatment as a child star by the studio system makes me mad as hell like Louis b Mayer fight me ((she was made to believe that she was physically unattractive by the constant criticism of film executives who made her feel ugly and who manipulated her onscreen appearance by capping her teeth and using discs in her nose to change its shape and Mayer called her "my little hunchback" like imagine hearing that as a child and not having damage)) she always goddamn delivered on screen and in any performance she gave. She began in vaudeville performing with her sisters and was signed to MGM at 13. Starting out in supporting parts especially paired with mickey Rooney in a bunch of films (she's the best part tbh) she eventually transferred to the lead role. She is best known for her starring role in movie musicals like the iconic Wizard of Oz (somewhere over the rainbow still hits hard and is ranked the top film song of all time), meet me in St. Louis (Judy singing have your self a merry little Christmas brings tears to the eyes she is that powerful), the Harvey girls (she looks like a technicolor dream and sings a catchy af song about trains), Easter parade ( dancing and singing with Fred Astaire), for me and my gal, the pirate, and summer stock ( with pal Gene Kelly who she helped when he was starting out and he helped her when she was struggling). But she also does non- singing just as well like the clock ( her first movie where she sings no songs and is an underrated ww2 era romance), her Oscar nominated a star is born ( like the man that got away she put her whole soul in that and I have beef with the fact she lost to grace kelly ((whom I love but like still not even her best work)), and judgement at Nuremberg (a courtroom drama about the nazi war criminal trials). Outside of film she made concert appearances to record-breaking audiences, released 8 studio albums, and had her own Emmy-nominated tv series. She was the youngest (39) and first female recipient of the Cecil B DeMille award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. Girl was a lifelong democrat and was a financial and moral supporter of many causes including the civil rights movement (she was at the March on Washington and held a press conference to protest the 16th street Baptist church bombings). She was a friend of the Kennedy family and would call jfk weekly often ending the calls by singing the first few lines of somewhere over the rainbow (she thought of them as Gemini twins).She was a member of the committee for the first amendment which was formed in response to the HUAC investigations. Though she died far too young and tragically she remains an icon for her work and her life. As a girl who didn't feel like i was as pretty as everyone else I have always felt a connection to Judy and I just really love her.

Patsy Kelly (The Countess of Monte Cristo, Merrily We Live, Topper Returns)—patsy kelly was a character actress best known for her brash wisecracking best friend roles, first appearing in a series of comedy shorts with thelma todd and then in a number of feature films. she was openly gay (lovers included tallulah bankhead), even candidly referring to herself as a dyke to the press on occasion and declaring she didn't intend to marry.

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Patsy Kelly:

Oh, that wry little smile! She could sing. She could dance. She could do comedy and drama. Her mother enrolled her in dancing school to distract her from playing baseball and trying to become a firefighter. At the height of her career, she burned the whole thing down (heh) by answering a reporter's softball question about why she never married with "Because I'm a dyke." She became Tallulah Bankhead's "private secretary" and by the 1960s, she was once again a prominent character actress. Remember Laura-Louise in "Rosemary's Baby"?

Judy Garland:

Judy's voice alone qualifies her for at least top ten hottest HOT VINTAGE MOVIE WOMEN. She was a truly incredible swing singer, with a stunning voice on top of her technique. Her short dark hair looked incredible in just about any style. Have I mentioned her swagger? I can’t do it justice with words. She had swagger. She was funny as hell, and clever too. Incredibly charming and cool. I adore her.

Her eyes, her voice have bewitched me

I mean how can you beat the one and only Judy? She's beautiful, her smile is contagious, the way she sings with her whole body. You can't help but love her.

Beautiful woman, love her singing voice. And she can do everything between happy or silly and angry or heartbroken

[faelorelia]

If Byler isn't endgame, then why…

1. Why do they consistently emphasize the unique nature of Will and Mike's friendship within the party? Why highlight their deep bond and illustrate their special connection?

2. Why does Mike gaze at Will with expressions of fondness, affection, admiration, and longing? Not to mention the times he seemingly focuses on Will's lips…

3. Why do they exhibit strange behavior around each other in s4? If they're merely friends, why the nervousness and awkwardness? Their dynamic sharply contrasts with the rest of the party.

4. Why does Mike feel compelled to insist that "they're just friends" to Will if it's an obvious fact? Could it be that Mike senses something more in their relationship?

5. Why are some of their scenes so romantically coded? If you consider it typical best-friend behavior, try swapping Mike with, say, Dustin or Lucas. Byler's scenes, particularly in seasons 2 & 4, are remarkably moving and heart-felt.

6. Why do they share intimate moments they wouldn't with other friends? And say things that sound rather romantic, like "Crazy together," "Hawkins hasn't been the same without you," "I felt like I lost you," "You're the heart"…

7. Why are some of their scenes so intimate that when interrupted by other characters, Will and Mike look as if they were caught doing something "inappropriate"?

8. Why do many of their scenes include "tender, emotional music playing," reminiscent of scenes with other ST couples?

9. Why are Will and Mike consistently paired up and paralleled with other canon couples? And sometimes with gay characters from other films/shows? I recommend checking out this thread as well.

10. Why do Netflix and the ST cast & crew talk about Byler so extensively? Here's a great thread with all their mentions.

11. Why are there numerous queer references surrounding Mike and his relationship with Will? If unclear, you can check out this channel.

12. Why does it seem like Mike and El's romantic relationship is reaching its logical end? If they were intended to be endgame, why did Mike struggle to say he loved her until he felt forced to? And why didn't we get a passionate Mileven scene after his "love confession"?

13. Why was Will present in almost all Mileven scenes in s4? And why was he the one attempting to piece together the broken elements of Mike and El's relationship?

14. Why make Will fall in love with Mike (canonically!) and illustrate the depth of his love for Mike, only to reveal that Will's feelings are unrequited? This character has already endured so much. In the context of a fictional story, it makes sense for such a good character to have a well-deserved happy ending (including being with Mike).

15. And finally: why invest so much in the beginning, highlighting the unique bond between Will and Mike, creating tension with romantic undertones, only to leave it unresolved and without the exploration it seemed to promise?

I want to clarify that I'm not claiming Byler is a definite endgame. I'm fully aware of the unpredictability of ST. However, it seems like a narrative gap if Will and Mike's relationship doesn't find its logical conclusion, which, in my view, is them being romantically together.

[theholmwoodfoundation]

THE HOLMWOOD FOUNDATION SEASON ONE SUPPORTING CAST

BASIL WAITE - THOMAS VAN HELSING

Basil is a puppeteer and puppet builder, who currently lives by the sea in rainy South Wales. He is well-versed in performing without being seen, as he’s usually under a table or behind a desk, so this project will be a lot more comfortable…! When he’s not making creatures from fleece or doing silly voices, he’s usually listening to an audio book or podcast, so he’s thrilled to be involved with this amazing project!”

MICHELLE KELLY - HENRI MARTIN

Michelle Kelly is an actor, voice actor and TTRPG performer based in Yorkshire, UK. You can hear her as Niyathi in The Secret of St Kilda, as Alexandria in Tales From the Fringes of Reality, and as multiple characters in The Silt Verses, Folxlore and Shadows at the Door. Find out more about her work at https://michellekellyperformance.carrd.co

JACKIE CALISTAHHH - ELENA

Jackie Calistahhh is an actress and seductress. She works in SFW and NSFW productions alike: Commercials, videogames, erotica. She loves immersing herself in different characters and worlds.

ROBYN HOLDAWAY - CAM

Robyn is a non-binary actor best known for their work as Layla in Netflix's 'Sex Education'. Their credits also include: AMC's 'Moonhaven', BBC's 'Strike: Lethal White', and various other stage and screen roles. Their audiobook work includes the award winning 'Our Wives Under the Sea', as well as critically acclaimed 'Sistersong', 'How To Understand Your Gender', and 'Skin'. Robyn can be heard in the audiodrama 'Camlann' and in the upcoming video game 'Eternal Strands'. They are an active member of the LGBTQ community, and they are passionate about bringing this diversity into the mainstream both as an artist and as an activist

DAVID AULT - DR TIMOTHY LAKE

David has played major roles for many productions, including his 'Best Actor' award-winning portrayal of Byron in The Byron Chronicles. He can also be heard at the No Sleep Podcast, Shadows at the Door and Colonial Radio Theatre, amongst others.

KARIM KRONFLI - DAVE

Karim has been a professional performer for over 30 years originally working as a juggler and firebreather. Trained as a Director and Voice Actor at City Lit in London he started doing voice work in 2010. Specialising in audio drama he has appeared in over 100 productions including Re: Dracula, The Magnus Archives, London After Midnight, SCP Archives, Dr Who: Redacted and many more.

CANDACE MCAFEE - MAGDALENA SWIFT

Candace the Magnificent (they/she) is an actor, TTRPG performer, and writer based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They love bringing their unique voice to a wide variety of projects, from commercials and animation to improv and audiodramas. You can hear more of their work in the upcoming video game Monaco 2, the cosmic horror audio drama Partial Veil, the actual play podcasts 3 Black Halflings and Frequencies, and many more. Learn more about her here: https://candacemcafee.carrd.co.

ANDREW BISS - JONATHAN HARKER 3RD

Andrew is an actor, voice actor and playwright, with an extensive background in theatre and film. Recent credits include the audio dramas ‘Station 151,’ ‘Vampire: The Masquerade Port Saga’ and the newly released ‘Clawmoor Heights’ as well as narrating the documentary series ‘Building Icons’ for Warner Bros. Discovery. He is the author of the best-selling book ‘Monologues They’ll Remember You By’ and is a graduate of the University of the Arts London and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. More at: andrewbiss.com and adbvoiceover.com.

As always, you can listen to our pilot episode now for free at the link below. And please donate to our Kickstarter for Season One, if you're able!

[hawkinshistoricalsociety]

ST5 teaser/promo PSA

I don't think it's actually possible to get this fandom to calm down about anything, but I thought I would post anyways for general information sharing and the hope of convincing at least myself to try to just log off on the "WHERE IS THE ST5 PROMO" question until spring at the earliest. :)

Netflix typical promo timelines

Netflix usually announces release dates 3-5 months ahead of time. The earlier New Year's announcement of ST3 dropping July 4th was an outlier. There are other outlier examples among other Netflix shows so it's not out of the question we could get a release date sooner, just less likely. In the past, release date announcements have come with poster reveals and teasers.

Promo usually begins in earnest two-ish months out from release, with first look stills and/or a full-length trailer. After this point, regular content will be released by Netflix (character posters, more BTS content, the final trailer), the cast and crew will do interviews that may come with additional clips, and there will be a couple to a few bigger press features with new info/images.

Anything they release before the above points will be variable. You can make arguments for some patterns based on past ST season promo cycles, but ST5 has already been a fairly big departure (the usual "teaser" we get during filming being a BTS featurette, lots more BTS content posted to socials, no character descriptions or even names with new cast announcements, etc). Unfortunately for us, whatever was motivating the more extensive "pre-release date announcement period" teaser content we got for ST4 does not seem to be informing what they're up to this time around. So it's probably better to temper your expectations and expect that we'll be getting less instead of more.

The "end of January Netflix event"

The "Netflix event at the end of January that will feature Stranger Things" is probably Netflix's big 2025 promo event for their entire slate of movie and TV releases. Last year, it was called "Next on Netflix" and took place on February 1st. Sandman fan twitter accounts are saying that this year's version will take place on January 29. I don't know where that claim is coming from but it's in line with last year's timing so it makes sense. The "Next on Netflix" branding also seems to be carrying over.

you can see the compilation "sizzle trailer" from last year plus the other images & info released at Netflix's website here. basically: I don't recommend getting particularly excited for this, I think it's most likely that ST5 will occupy the "Squid Game" position at the end (probably shared with Wednesday S2 and Squid Game S3) with a 5-15 second clip that will feature a shot or two and a couple lines of dialogue.

At best, we'll get that plus another still or two and the season "logline" but I wouldn't hold my breath (peep The Umbrella Academy and Arcane's 2024 loglines which are basically "this show has existed and been a hit! now the next season is coming out and people are excited" and, even worse, "details coming soon" lmao)

A Super Bowl teaser?

The other big claim people have been throwing around is that we'll get a teaser during the Super Bowl (which this year is Sunday Feb 9). That happened exactly once, for ST2, so I don't know why there is so much confidence that it is inevitable this time around. Netflix doesn't have a super consistent history wrt running Super Bowl ads if you look at the past few years.

If anything, a bigger Netflix ad like the one they did with Will Ferrell & GM in 2023 seems like the most likely scenario for me if they're trying to make efficient use of expensive ad time. Based on the Christmas/New Year's "Netflix 2025" teaser we got, I wouldn't be surprised if, in the early part of the year, Netflix keeps emphasizing that Squid Game, Wednesday, AND ST5 are coming in 2025. I don't know if that messaging comes with new footage or not.

All that to say, the show is huge, the ST5 teaser will get a zillion views and a ton of attention regardless, so it seems most likely they'll just release it online as opposed to shell out millions of dollar to advertise something probably months and months out from release. obviously I would love to be wrong. :)

A few other FYIs

Unless it is part of a larger event (Netflix stuff like Tudum, Geeked Week, etc, or other big advertising opportunities like the Super Bowl or the Olympics), Netflix rarely releases promo stuff on the weekends.

When Netflix does drop something, it will probably be posted between 9am-12:30pm Eastern. that is true for like 90% of the promo content posted to the ST socials according to my nonscientific survey.

It doesn't happen 100% of the time, but for trailers and sometimes teasers, Netflix socials will post a little "the teaser/trailer is coming!" announcement the day before. (ST example 1, example 2, Squid Game example from last year)

TL;DR no one outside of the Netflix corporate offices actually knows anything and and no one can really even guess when we'll get anything promo-wise until we know the release date (which probably won't happen until the spring or summer, depending on if ST5 ends up being a summer or fall release).

[unexpectedreylo]

So, It Wasn't Planned After All

https://x.com/RichEisenShow/status/1734703529552699725?s=20

While Adam Driver is making the rounds to promote "Ferrari," he drops by the Rich Eisen Show and when asked about Ben Solo during the True or False segment, Adam spills the tea.

He doesn't get asked much about Star Wars so this is the first time I think he's talked about his character arc since TROS was unleashed upon us 4 years ago. And he drops the bomb that the Ben Solo thing wasn't planned from the beginning. That's right, Bendemption happened late in the game. He says that JJ Abrams told him the idea was Vader In Reverse (starts out vulnerable, ends entrenched in the dark side) and he kept that concept in mind throughout the time he filmed the ST, until they changed it with the last film. Adam has alluded to the concept of Vader In Reverse before but this is the first time he's gone into greater detail about it, including the revelation that the decision to turn Kylo from the dark side came during the third film.

This shouldn't be surprising to anyone who read the Duel of the Fates script and it explains why Ben hardly says a word during his scenes on Exegol. Abrams and Co. conceived of Kylo Ren as an evil bastard whose destiny was to get eviller; killing Han Solo was meant to be what sent him down the path of no return. Then two things happened: TLJ and Driver's commitment to humanizing Kylo Ren. People loved Kylo and Rey together (hence Reylo exploding in popularity) and they fell in love with Adam. They empathized with Kylo. So they changed course with TROS, a little. Kylo returns to the light as Ben but he is quickly dispatched once the big battle is over. I believe Ben's death was for two reasons: one, they were less invested and focused in Ben's part of the story than we were and two, there was always the intent to end the Skywalker line so Star Wars could focus on new characters. Remember, Rey essentially turned Skywalker into a title that could be transferred to anyone.

That the story changed over the course of the trilogy isn't that big a deal. There was no Chosen One prophecy until the prequels. Leia wasn't Luke's sister until Lucas wrote ROTJ. Han wasn't guaranteed to get out of carbonite because nobody was sure if Harrison Ford was going to come back. Instead of a tyrannical, ruthless bastard like Lee Pace's emperor in Apple TV's Foundation show, Kylo Ren gave us quivering lips, teary eyes, and mooning over the heroine who is supposed to be his enemy. When Rian Johnson introduced the bond between Rey and Kylo, Abrams and Terrio explained it as a dyad and made it prominent in the film. The kiss got put in because Reylo was so popular. Okay, fine.

The problem was they never should have made the Jedi Killer from early drafts Han and Leia's only child. As an old Star Wars fan who saw every film since 1977 and followed the Skywalker clan for over 40 years, I didn't want to see Anakin Skywalker's grandson end up even more evil than he was. What a huge bummer that would've been, even worse than if Rey was killed off. (For the record, I hated the whole Darth Jacen thing so much in the legends books I stopped reading them.) Abrams and Terrio probably realized it was going to be a problem returning to the idea that Ben was too evil to save; TROS already comes off as a tragic ending rather than a happy, triumphant one. And it goes against the whole message of Star Wars. So it ends up being Vader 2.0 and fans hoping Ben would survive were disappointed. I wasn't fond of the idea of exile or something as Ben's fate prior to TROS, but now I think that probably would've been the best outcome. It would've left a lot of possibilities to explore in future SW stories without having to come up with a convoluted explanation for bringing him back.

As much as they fumbled the ball, I'm glad they at least spared us Evil Kylo 4 Ever and Adam's turn as Ben was great even without anything to say besides "Ow." Adam sounded a little disappointed to me but maybe I'm just reading into it too much. In any case he has also stated in recent interviews he would be open to returning to Star Wars, so I guess we can still be hopeful even if he doesn't appear in the upcoming film. (Just don't wait 30 years, okay?)

[best-star-trek-character]

FILM FINALS!

[curiositydoorunlocked]

The Recent News

Spoilers ahead for Stranger Things 5, including photos of actors on set.

Look, something about all this (the leak + the photo situation) feels… fishy, and I can see people in various tags are getting various levels of upset by it. So as someone who has been around the block a couple of times, I want to say something. 

First of all: hi, everyone! I’m glad to be here. I’ve been a fan of ST since early-mid 2020 and involved in the fandom since mid-late 2020 (on other accounts, which have since been deleted), so I feel at least marginally qualified to say what I’m going to say. That being said, I drifted away from the fandom before S5 filming began and haven't watched the show in a while; if I get anything wrong please feel free to correct me.

First I want to talk about Bridgerton S3. I closely followed that production in 2022 and 2023. Like Stranger Things, Bridgerton is a high-budget Netflix original show with a large cast, lots of public interest, an active fandom, and what I would call "special considerations" for filming. (In Bridgerton's case it's the historical element; in ST it's the sci-fi/fantasy element plus the historical element, albeit to a lesser degree.) They filmed for a shorter period of time than ST5 is expected to film for, yes, but many of the circumstances are/were similar. That brings me to my point: when Bridgerton S3 was filming, the best we got from the main cast was a handful of photos a) taken from relatively far away that b) did not spoil anything major. Luckily for us, the photos were clear, but in the end they didn't really amount to anything more than eye candy, something to get excited over.

In contrast, these photos from the ST5 set are clear, close, and most importantly reveal seemingly significant story beats/results. (Okay, the Mike and Hopper one isn't super close or clear, I'll give ya that. But it's still pretty damn close for a set that's supposedly locked down! Especially if they're filming a scene possibly related to a major character's death/disappearance!) Kinda odd, right? I'm not necessarily saying they were leaked on purpose to misdirect fans, because I'm not that confident in myself. I don’t have any insider/industry knowledge; I can only claim a healthy (perhaps too healthy?) level of skepticism. But I do want to put that possibility out there, because I think it’s an important one to consider.

“But wait,” you might say, “many parts of S4 were leaked, and leaked accurately at that. What’s to say these aren’t real too?”

That’s a fair point! Maybe production hasn’t learned their lesson from S4; maybe they’re truly terrible at preventing leaks and that’s the end of the story. Yes, they’ve spoken a little about security measures in the lead-up to S5 but that doesn’t mean those security measures were implemented well, or even at all.

Even keeping that in mind, I nonetheless implore everyone to chill the hell out. I say this again, with so much love: CHILL THE HELL OUT. This has happened before: even with the accurate leaks and clear photos we got during S4 filming, we lacked so much context. Mike and El’s “I love you” scene is a great example of this. There was quite the brouhaha over that leak in certain corners of the fandom… and yet the actual scene turned out nothing like the phrase “Mike finally says ‘I love you’ to El” implies. Another example are these photos (see above; my apologies for the poor quality!) of the Hawkins group in the parking lot of The War Zone. When those photos were leaked, I recall speculation that the scene would appear at the very end of the finale, that it related to an apocalypse situation, and so on, but not so! In the show it appeared before the final battle with Vecna: the town was in a panic, yeah, but no apocalypse.

That’s what I mean about chilling the hell out. We can’t assume the photos/leaks are genuine—and even if we did indulge that assumption (which is fair given production’s history!) we can’t assume we have the whole story.

Hang in there, folks. We survived S4 production and we’ll survive S5 production too :)

TL;DR: Hi, I’m new and also not new here. I made this account just to talk about this photo/leak situation because that’s how passionate I am about this godforsaken show. This is a little weird, but whether the leaks/photos are real or planted, stay calm. We know so little right now. Don’t waste your energy on blind panic, not when we still have another year(ish) to go.

[pinnesasong]

OOC INTRODUCTORY POST !

— ad astra per aspera ! (latin quote)

hi everyone my name is mon, and please allow me to introduce a new roleplay blog on the block, exclusively made for the character 'stick', portrayed by richard stites, who appears in the peter weir film, dead poets society (1989) !

for continuity purposes, the universally acknowledged setting of the film is at welton academy, delaware during 1959. however, due to the lack of social media, and the internet as a whole, at the time, some creative liberties will have to be at play.

stick's character is very much an underutilized one, background at best, but that's actually the reason why i like him so much, apart from his handsomely good looks! just like a blank canvas waiting to be painted upon, he has so much potential for future characterization and fleshing out; nothing is stone in stone. his full name on here will be sterling h. spick ! (tentative) (see what i did there? st & ick = stick)

i've made a separate dossier/biography page for him here, but it is still a work in progress, which i will add to, over the course of my journey with him.

i've yet to connect with the other people around here, but i've been pulled to create a blog after coming across @cosmicbobatea's wonderful rendition of neil perry ! (@deadpoetperry); i've also come across @mrradmccoolman's todd anderson (@sweaty-toothedpoet) ! stick is, at the very least, acquainted with them, according to canon. please do message me, ask, or interact; i am always down for relationship building and socialization !

— rules (will make a page for this sometime !)

no rude, racist, or bigoted, or other super bad behavior no super explicit NSFW. innuendos are as far as i can go for ooc interactions, my inbox(fellow mods)/ask(followers) is always open submissions are fine, but please keep it mild! no gore, pedophilla etc. have you no shame ?

— blog specific tags list (will make a page for this sometime !)

sticksays (for ic posts, interactions, and reblogs) stickynotes (for asks) stickindle (for musings, quotes, and literary ic posts) stickinterest (for photos, aesthetics, and collage ic posts) more to be added ! psa (for ooc and important blog annoucements)

[anghraine]

Best friend update:

While waiting for a movie to start, he and I made some kind of murder joke for some reason I no longer recall. A younger friend of ours was having a long day and went O_O, so I just added, "I mean, murdering me might cause problems, my corpse wouldn't fit in the trunk…" and J (my bff) immediately got it and replied, "Not with that attitude!" She broke down laughing, and J and I were like, "our 25-year friendship is founded on being totally cool and normal people."

On a different occasion, while reassuring her that identifying with angry marginalized villains rather than Good Representation(TM) is entirely common and normal and in fact an ancient venerable tradition, J used himself as an example: the most relatable Shakespeare character for him is Shylock and as a former theatre kid, there's no one he would rather perform on the stage. She didn't know who Shylock is, which was kind of great because J got to breathlessly explain how Shylock did nothing wrong and dramatically perform the "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" speech in the middle of a crowded diner.

(Note: J follows in the other ancient and venerable tradition of Jewish atheism.)

Speaking of J's atheism, he often jokes that his strongest religious devotion is to Star Trek (he basically relates to it the same way I do to P&P). We've been watching TOS together, which I had virtually no memory of outside the films, and mostly having a huge blast with it. We were recently discussing the romantic inclinations of all the captains we care about, and my fandom osmosis understanding of Janeway/Chakotay (Janeway was his hero as a child), and he admitted that he liked it a lot as a kid, but the Star Trek ship he really truly loves the most is .......... Sisko/Jadzia Dax. As he was very earnestly explaining the greatness of his ship, I was charmed anew, lol—the first time I went over to his house when we were 13, I was deeply impressed by his geek creds via the Enterprise blueprints he had on his wall, and some things don't much change.

(He's not in online fandom at all because he hates social media, but if he wrote fanfic for anything, it would be ST.)

But he's also the person who properly introduced me to Star Wars when we were in high school and got me into it back then, and we've happily spent hours dissecting things we both love and/or are frustrated by. Though I prefer SW and he prefers ST, ours is a household of Star Peace <3

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

The problem with so much of modern media isnt meta humor(although it is overused) or over reliance on quips(although that can be an issue). Its that so much of it is just...mean spirited.

Look at something like Galaxy Quest. The film is basically nothing but meta-jokes making fun of some of the sillier aspects of Star Trek, and even the fandom to an extent. But its not doing it to say 'Star Trek sucks' but as more of a 'yea some of this stuff is silly, but we still love it, and also theres some great stuff about ST too.' The result is that Galaxy Quest is embraced by nearly the entire Trek fandom, even being haled as 'one of the best Star Trek movies.'

Whereas 90% of modern meta-humor can be boiled down to 'this is stupid and sucks, and we know it sucks,' usually followed by them doing The Thing anyway. She-hulk went so far as to have the title character literally just tell the audience that. And its like..if you are spending your precious time and money to watch a show/film, you dont want to be told its trash, not by people around you, and certainly not by the show itself. Its a literal buzzkill.

I think this is why, despite the dwindling reputation(and sales) of the mcu, Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy were still well-received and made money. Because, say what you will about Ryan Renalds or James Gunn, at least they dont hate super hero movies.

[chthonic-cassandra]

what vampire musicals are there? asking bc of the tag meme you posted a few days(?) ago where you said it was pretty accurate aside from no vampire musicals... i know wildhorn dracula, but what else? (and which are good?)

Thank you for asking a question which allows me to indulge myself by recounting all this. The question of "good," however, is rather fraught, and I ask everyone to remember that these opinions are just my own.

The (probably) first, and the only one to achieve significant success, was Jim Steinman's Tanz der Vampire/Dance of the Vampires, first stage in 1997. Tanz was an adaptation of Roman Polanski's comedic vampire movie The Fearless Vampire Killers, and features "Total Eclipse of the Heart," a song Steinman always intended to be about vampires. Tonally, the musical veers wildly between the broad comedy of the source film and something approaching sincerity and the comedy sections have never really worked for me, but it's certainly the most musically sophisticated of the vampire musicals and at its best, like in the major ballad sung by the lead vampire character about the loves he has killed (here sung by original cast Steve Barton, and here by Drew Sarich, who is in all the major vampire musicals and who we shall have more to say about anon) it's spectacular gothy camp glory.

Tanz was incredibly popular in Austria, where it was first staged, and then throughout Europe and in Japan. However, when it was brought to Broadway it was drastically rewritten, partly at the behest of Michael Crawford, starring in the show and anxious about changes in his body and being compared to his career-making performance in Phantom of the Opera. The comedy was foregrounded and the show was constantly being rewritten, to the point that the actors didn't know how their parts might change performance to performance. I didn't see the Broadway production, but it is accounted by all to be a colossal failure. The show remains popular worldwide to this day, but has not received another major staging in North America.

Next comes the Frank Wildhorn Dracula the Muiscal, which I know you know about, but as it is vital to this narrative I must give some explanation. Wildhorn is a sort of mid-tier musical theater composer, known for melodrama and period pieces. After the popular (though not critical) success of his Jekyll & Hyde musical (1997 on Broadway) he co-wrote Dracula with lyricist Don Black, premiering on Broadway on 2004.

While I maintain that Dracula the Musical has been unjustly maligned by comparison with some other works of musical theater, it is admittedly a mess, and the Broadway production, which was, despite highly publicized special effects, shockingly static, did it no favors. It tries to do far too many things, combining sections of relatively close novel adaptation (Christopher Hampton's book is often quietly strong) with a messily shoehorned Dracula/Mina romance. The score is variable, ranging, even just in Dracula's material, from the rousing "Life After Life" as Dracula welcomes the transformed Lucy, to his cringe-inducing "The Longer I Live". (I still think almost all of the music and lyrics are better than those of Les Miserables but then again I think most things are better than the Les Miserables musical.) The Broadway production had a reasonably strong cast, including Melissa Errico as Mina and Kelli O'Hara as Lucy, but it failed nearly as badly as the American version of Tanz had, if not quite so dramatically.

Wildhorn subsequently brought DtM to Europe, where it enjoyed significantly more success, first in a stripped down modern production in St. Gallen starring Drew Sarich and then in Vienna where the role of Van Helsing was expanded for popular star Uwe Kröger. It's continued to be performed in Europe and Asia, and in some USA community theaters.

Next up was Elton John's Lestat in 2007. One would expect that this musical would have been wonderfully over-the-top glam rock, but somehow Lestat ended up being one of the most staid things I have ever seen. Filled with forgettable music (even if we all do want to see Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson doing "Embrace It". It was further brought down by a lackluster performance of the title character by Hugh Panaro, previously known for his mediocre (sorry Panaro fans!) turn in Phantom. It was enlivened slightly by Carolee Carmello as Gabrielle earning one of the show's only Tony nominations and Drew Sarich (there he is again!) playing a decidedly not book accurate but very entertaining Armand. It also involved a Buddhist monk Marius de Romanus, but I constantly question whether this was a fever dream of mine. Lestat was yet another failure on Broadway and, as far as I can tell, has had no real subsequent afterlife, though I've been wondering if that might change with the IwtV show (and Sam Reid's evident enjoyment of the musical!).

Those are the major vampire musicals, for what they are! But there are also some others which never got even this level of attention, including:

Two dueling French-language Dracula musicals with almost the exact same name, Dracula - L'amour plus fort que la mort and Dracula - Entre l'amour et la mort

A Nosferatu musical which is a strong contender for the worst lyrics I have ever heard but also entertains me

another mysterious Dracula musical made in the UK with songs of wildly varying qualities, but containing the only Mina hero ballad with which I am familiar

There are also edge cases like Bat Boy and Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I would not call vampire musicals but someone else might.

Anyway! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share some of the truly disproportionate amount of information I have about this topic in my head. I hope this brought some entertainment.