#but those shows aired on my tv when i was a child

[toweroftickles]

Reimagined Tickling #5

Fairy Tail/The Legend of Korra

A lot of times when I see a tickling scene in a movie or TV show, I imagine how fun it would be to see other characters in those same situations. You know, like "Oh I wanna see X character get tickled like that." So I thought I'd try writing a few drabbles where I'll take a famous tickle scene and reinterpret it with new characters in new settings.

This one was a request from my readers! Let’s see how Avatar Korra fares, living through Lucy Heartfilia’s torment from Virgo.

This story takes place during TLOK Season One.

Late-night puddle droplets splished into the air and drenched Korra’s heavy tundra-camel boots with every thunderous step. The brickwork backstreet was too crowded for her to use her bending arts safely, but she wasn’t going to let her target escape.

“Hey! Get back here!!” she shouted.

Through the window of Narook's Noodlery where she and her Fire Ferrets celebrated, Korra had spied the girl outside...a scrawny little scarecrow, couldn't have been more than 10 or 11, all in seaweed-colored rags of ill fit, with tufts of bright orange plumage shooting out from beneath her aviator goggles. She'd been struggling to remove the hubcaps from Asami’s car. A street rat kid rummaging for auto parts? Probably part of the Badgermole Triad. Well, if Officer Lin was too busy with “important city matters” to deal with them, Korra would do it herself.

The Avatar pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, lagging behind a diminutive thief who had the ability to simply slip underneath the sea of legs. For a moment, her pursuit was blocked by a busy traffic intersection...the girl was already across the street and fleeing fast...but Korra quickly dodged and flipped between the charging vehicles. As one car pulled out into the road, milliseconds before crashing into it, she vaulted legs-first over the engine hood, a blast of air propelling her along to the sidewalk on the other side, and the squeeeaaeeaaaky slide over hot metal nearly rubbed her butt-cheek raw.

"GET OUTTA THE STREET, YA MORON!" The pedestrian driver's horn rattled her eardrums.

Yow!! Ow ow ow ow ow! Korra hissed to herself, clutching her sore behind as she ran. (Well…it was more of a limping hop.) Ugh, that’s gonna smart for a while…

The chase led down a limestone alcove, hidden beneath a dumpster behind the Cabbage Corp building, down a wrought iron ladder that bored flakes of rust into Korra’s palms, and into the cyclical catacombs of the Warrens. Why did these dumb squirts have so much energy? She was nearly out of breath and about to call off the pursuit, when she found herself in the atrium of a massive cave.

The city lights above illuminated the red-brown earth floor. All across the sprawling portal were the bodies of countless wrecked vehicles, no doubt used in the illegal racing circuit. Satomobiles and Cabbage Car chassis of all colors littered the pools of light like croutons in soup, their parts creaking and groaning against each other. And at the far end of the cavern, past the musty graveyard of wheels and springs, there stood the kid, her back to Korra, perfectly still.

Was she oblivious, or planning something? Korra wasn't gonna wait to find out. Uncaring about noise or stealth, she charged.

Now I've got you!

Without a turn, without even a sideways glance, the mysterious child stomped a bare and bandaged foot into the dirt.

The ground beneath Korra's feet instantly dropped away like a trapdoor. “WHOA!!!” Korra yelped and tried to stop herself, but her momentum slid her down the ramp-like opening on her heel and carried her right into the maw of this newly-dug pit. She barely had time to steady herself either - as soon as she wobbled to a stable position, four large rectangles of stone, thick as concrete slabs, rose up vertically around her and rushed at her from all angles. On pure instinct she threw her arms out to the sides to block them, and her wrists were greeted by a crushing weight that nearly shattered them to splinters. She winced and shouted as the walls pushed against her hands, boxing her in and forcing their way closer and closer to her, but somehow, her throbbing arms held firm. Her energy was drained from the chase, but eventually, the blocks ground to a slow stop, and the dust settled.

Korra wheezed. Whew. I was almost a pancake. She felt like she was trapped inside a chimney. Unable to clearly see her surroundings, she glanced up to find the little sticky-fingers on the ledge of the trap hole, staring furiously down at her.

"Stop following me!" the kid yipped.

“You’re an earthbender?!”

"Of course I'm an earthbender! Now leave me alone!"

It was this surprise revelation that made Korra pause…this earthen box itself was no problem. One quick push outward and the walls would crumble. Her knees swiveled inward to form a Gong Kiu stance. She furrowed her brow and felt the rock surge beneath her hands, unaware of the sedimentary serpent that approached her.

It started small at first. Tiny granules of sand and crumbled earth all teemed together like a school of krill at the Badgermole recruit’s feet. Then, smoother, rounder stones joined the fun. Soon they all coalesced into the shape of a tentacle, that grew and grew in length until it was large enough to reach over the edge of the crevice and spiral down to the Avatar’s body. It nosed around as if hunting, dancing to its master’s commands, until finally, it lunged.

A sharp blade of air stabbed Korra's throat. All the blood in her face drained into the back of her neck, and she froze, save for her widened eyes, which darted to look at her abdomen. For a split second of terror, she thought she'd been speared. But no. This was worse.

The stone whip that she saw for the first time caressed her stomach back and forth like a tongue, up and down, side to side, between every taut muscle and even around the rim of her navel. It wiggled and poked and wouldn’t stop.

What the - ?!

“Tickletickletickletickletickle!!” the urchin girl’s shrill voice called out.

No. Wait. You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Korra tried to wrestle the urge down into her stomach, but she couldn’t help herself. She simply burst out laughing.

“Wha…d-d’ah! H…Haha! Haha Ha-Ha Ha!” Only for a fraction of a second, her hands slipped downward. But that was enough. Her strength gave way and those rock slabs, commanded by another stomp of the mysterious kid’s foot, pummeled even harder against her arms. They smooshed Korra tighter and tighter ‘til her elbows buckled.

“Ahhhh-ow ow ow OWWWW!!!” Hot thorns of pain cracked her ulnae.

“Heh-Heh Heh! That’s the best trick I ever learned! Not so easy to concentrate on your bending when you’re laughing like a hyena-monkey, is it, Miss Avatar?”

“Ugh! You little brat! Fight me like a real bender!” Korra barked.

But the young thief was merely bemused by this demand. “Hmmmm…” She stroked her chin and pretended to ponder for a moment, before a cruel snaggle-toothed smile grew across her freckles. “Ok!”

The girl threw out her right arm and twisted her wrist so that her fingers faced the ceiling. While those pointed digits wiggled in the air, her left hand made fast swipes like a conductor's baton, and her feet drew concentric circles on the ground. Korra had never seen bending like this. She would’ve been more curious...if her thoughts weren’t distracted by the craggy tentacle that was now wiggling underneath her left armpit.

“D-don’t!! Haha-Ha! Ha-Ha Ha-Ha!! *gasp* Huh! Quihit it! Nooo, crahap; why don’t I cover thohohose?!” This was humiliating. Why tickling?!

With every tiny stumble of her hands, the rocks pushed in closer. A few more slip-ups and she'd be crushed. Now she was starting to panic.

“Are you ticklish here? Or here? What about there? You’re gonna beg for mercy before long!”

The pebbles in the strand climbed over one another and traced serpentine patterns along Korra’s jaw, dragging their tiny rigid edges against the underside of her chin…down her neck…deep in her collarbone…drilling into the left armpit, and then the right…down her back…scrawling between each individual rib…once it even burrowed itself into the back of her knee, twisting and wriggling against a painfully vulnerable spot of skin. Every time Korra attempted to contort her body away from the rock-and-sand tendril, it leapt with lightning speed to another one of her softest pressure points, each more weak and sensitive than the last.

“Kitchie kitchie coo! Ah-Kitchakitchakitchakitchakitchakitchakitcha!” That nasal baby-talk was really starting to grate.

“PFFHA-HA HA-HA……nnnnn!! ….GkKHaha-Ha! *hic* Ha-Ha Ha-Ha Ha-Ha!! D…Dahamn it! Haha! Huh-Huh Ha-Ha Ha!! R-HA-hocks…rocks are supposed to be sharp; they’re not s’posed to tickl-hl-hl-ha!!”

Korra’s arms trembled in their sockets. Only a single cubit’s length separated the two walls that sandwiched her…all her strength was sapped out…gravel was practically sanding down her ears…

“Had enough yet?”

All of a sudden, the tickle whip backed off. Korra bent over double in a struggle to catch her breath. Pools of achy misery swam through her ab muscles. A single bead of sweat drizzled its way down the bridge of her nose as she huffed and puffed.

“Hmmm…this isn’t working,” the pint-sized pilferer pouted with folded arms.

“Uhhh…Wha…what do you mean?” the Avatar moaned and raised her head. Particulates of sand were slithering up the side of the crevice and back to their commander. “Why’d you stop?”

“Hmf. Well I wanted to punish you for chasing after me. But you’re enjoying it.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU THIS IS TORTURE!!” Korra might not have been a direct branch on Aang and Katara’s family tree, but she sure could channel her Water Tribe forebear’s explosive frog-mouthed temper. Tenzin was rubbing off on her.

Before she could protest further, the stone walls around her dissolved back into the ground as quickly as they’d sprung up. With nothing to push her palms against, Korra was suddenly thrown off-balance and, with her arms windmilling wildly, she toppled backwards like a chopped-down tree.

CRASH!!

It was a good several seconds before she managed to push herself up off the soil again. A heavy pulse thump-thump-thumped all the way from her hips to her throat. Her arms felt like jook pudding.

“Ugh…yep. Still smarts. Landed right on it,” she groused, to no one in particular. Korra didn’t have to climb out of the quarry to realize that her quarry was long gone.*

Great. Just great. She galavanted off halfway across the city, ditched her friends, bruised her ass, got lost in the Underground, nearly broke her arms, and got tickled mercilessly, just to fail at catching a poor kid who didn’t actually steal anything from them. Brilliant, Korra. She groaned and pinched her eyebrows, her mouth in a stubborn frown.

Slowly standing and dusting herself off, Korra limped up and out of the hole. In the midst of wondering how to explain this one to the team, one more terrible realization struck her.

"Aw, crap...

…I didn't pay my check."

*Why yes, I AM very proud of that sentence, thank you. (gets hit with a shoe)

********

[oifaaa]

For some reason it is so strange to see one piece on BBC iplayer like this is not a show I expect the British public to watch

[rottenlittlefink]

Audhd kid things: Feeling subconsciously jealous seeing Shapey and Block meet & connect for the first time but u just couldn’t understand why back then 😭

[cherryredstars]

Cherry, I’ve always wanted to say this to you… You. Are. Amazing! I seriously can't get enough of your work!

How about this? Reader is a TV host that bashes on Spider-Man. However it is just a job to her and doesn’t believe in the things she rants about. Anyway, one day reader is caught in the middle of one of Spider’s Man foes and our favorite grumpy spider saves her. Though he is extremely rude to her when she tries to thank him (what else is new?). Reader has to convince him that she doesn’t hate him (the opposite in fact) and decides to show him her appreciation.

Pairing: Miguel O’Hara x fem!reader

Warnings: 18+, NSFW, Thigh Riding, A Little Electricity(??)

A/N: Thank you, lovie!! Enjoy!

Unedited

The world must hate you.

The stiffness in the air is haunting as the burly hero trails behind you, making sure you don’t make more trouble. You weren’t exactly looking for it, it just came to you. How were you supposed to know actively looking for one of the biggest criminals in the past few weeks for a story could be dangerous?

Okay, maybe he had a point.

You sigh, trying to subtly glance over your shoulder. Even through his mask, you can see the grimace he directs at you, pixels slightly distorting. You thin your lips, rubbing your arm. Great, even Spiderman is after you.

“Um,” you start, turning to face him. He crosses his arms over his chest and you try not to let your eyes linger on how it tightens his suit. “My house is just around the block, I’ll be fine from here.”

He doesn’t move, continuing to stare down at you like you’re a child. You gulp, balancing on the balls of your shoes before slowly turning around and walking forward with a dragged out whisper of okay. You lead him down the block until you stop in front of the entrance to your apartment complex.

You face him once again, putting on an awkward smile.

“Thank you for, uh, escorting me home.” The hero says nothing, looking over you for any injuries before starting to turn around.

Your hand rushes out, electricity pulsing under your fingers for just a second as you grab his arm before he shakes you off.

“I don’t mean those things.” You rush out, suddenly desperate to clear the air with your favorite hero. “I-it’s a job. Just a job.”

You can hear the small scoff he lets out from under his mask, something in you deflating slightly. You open your mouth again, but no words come to mind to reassure him. You clamp your mouth shut, a stupid idea coming to you. You reach out, grabbing his arm again and turn him to face you. You’re quick as you lean up and press a hard kiss to his mask, your lips tingling from the buzzing technology. Instinctively, Miguel grabs at your waist to steady you on your toes, a low grunt leaving him.

You pull away, clearing your throat. Embarrassment flushes your skin and you sharply turn away. You really are stupid or something. “Good night.”

You stalk towards the entrance door, body moving like a robot as you avoid the burning gaze at your back. You open the door, turning when you feel hot electricity directly behind you. Your eyes stay on his chest, too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

“I’ll walk you to your door.”

What he really meant was, I’ll follow you through the door and proceed to fuck you against it.

You let out a soft moan as he presses you against the wall, pressing a suited thigh between your legs as he guides you up and down it. Your hands clutch at his shoulders, digging in so strongly that the suit glows white under them. You can feel his lips at your skin, mouthing and sucking on the delicate curve of your neck. Your pencil skirt has folded up to your waist, leaving only your panties to protect your aching clit from the subtle buzz and zaps of his suit as he grinds you on him.

You throw your head back, a whimper leaving you from the harsh hold he has on your hips. You can tell he’s trying to get you off quickly, probably in a rush to get back on the streets and protect the rest of the city. But right now, he’s here, in your apartment with his sharp fangs teasingly dragging against your skin.

You wonder if he can feel the wetness of your parties through his suit, if he is able to smell the pure arousal wafting from you as you buck your hips against his thigh with heavy moans. You try to look down at his face, only to see the bottom half revealed so he can mouth at you. You whine in disappointment, even though the rational part of your brain understands why he won’t reveal his full identity.

He seems to smirk at the nose, flexing his thigh and making you gasp as your clothed cunt runs over the corded muscle. A small curse flutters from your lips as another pleasant flicker of electricity runs over your clit, your orgasm just over the horizon.

Miguel speeds up his movements, making you grind faster against his leg until he’s sure you’re about to glitch out his suit from how hard you grab onto him. You come with a strangled cry, cunt fluttering against his suit as his teeth give a small nip to your neck. The tiniest dose of venom hits your skin, but it’s enough to leave your post-orgasm state limp. You slump against him, twitching from the aftershocks of pleasure and his suit. He ever so gently moves you to the couch, laying you down as his mask fully obscures his face again. You’re left to drowsily stare at him as he approaches your window, opening it before disappearing into the night.

What a way to thank your heroes.

[toysrguts]

smiling friends headcanons!! :D

i have smiling friends brainrot

allan:

•wine is his de-stresser. after a long shift he likes to go home and sip on a glass of wine while watching shit TV like some kind of cool guy

•doesn't smoke cigarettes often but will bum one off of charlie sometimes during their breaks

•bites people he loves :)

•perhaps his dr. monsters appointment with dr. monster was an appointment to assess him for OCD

•very very particular about the way he likes things and hates unexpected change in his routine

•also a math god he's like a walking calculator

•always helping other people reach things that they cant

•he has to be like 6’3 or something probably

•autism be damned my boy can work a grill (he can cook really well)

•in fact hes often the one cooking meals for the other smiling friends

•he also lovessss to garden its one of his favorite hobbies

•he grows his own vegetables to cook with and flowers to decorate his home :)

•i feel like this man would get down to some queen or duran duran

•he’ll listen to pretty much anything but i feel like he would gravitate towards 80s classics

•used to own a car that he loved but it broke down and he never bought another one

•went to school for engineering and started volunteering at smiling friends after graduating as kind of a placeholder job, but loved it so much it became his full time job

•cheese is his safe food

•had to wear glasses when he was younger but felt like they deterred the ladies so he switched to wearing contacts

•probably drinks black coffee like a fucking freak

•either that or he adds oat milk

•hes pretty anxious and freaks out a lot and will also snap if he has sensory overload

•wears noise canceling headphones a lot cause too much noise drives him insane

•HATES fabric touching his skin but will still wear a tie cause “it’s classy” and will wear clothes if hes out in public

•once took a trip to france and almost didnt come back cuz it was like cheese heaven

•goes clubbing during some of his nights off and is a karaoke GOD

•also goated at chess and gets heated during a game of scrabble

charlie:

•definitely sneaks a cart into work every day

•if allan didn’t cook this dude would go into debt from ordering takeout every day

•was raised mostly by his uncle cause his parents werent always around, and they're more like really good friends now that hes older

•grew up poor and had a pretty hard childhood overall but he doesn't dwell on it too much

•relieves his stress and frustration by terrorizing people in fortnite lobbies

•the smiling friends hq is air conditioned 24/7 per his request, he's heat sensitive and sweats EXCESSIVELY

•uses axe body spray to mask the stench

•his living conditions are depressing to look at, the only furniture in his apartment is a mattress and an old camping chair he borrowed from his uncle years ago

•also probably owns a shelf dedicated to lego builds

•he spends like 90% of his time in his bed if not working

•his morning routine consists of waking up disoriented asf, throwing on some clothes laying on the floor, forgetting to brush his teeth and walking out the door

•was exposed to shock sites wayyy too young

•acted out and got in trouble a lot in his adolescence but now just likes to keep to himself for the most part

•believe it or not he was baptized as a baby

•started caring about life a little more ever since experiencing hell

•feel like he likes music his uncle showed him as a kid, maybe judas priest and whitesnake type shit

•doesn’t even have to say anything when he goes to salty’s cause hes a regular and they know his exact order

•thats a bisexual man if ive ever seen one

•the hat hides his receding hairline lul

•has a fat ass surgical scar on his nose from when james ripped it off

•wears the same beat up white adidas shoes and got in highschool

•owns one of those “dubstep, weed and jacking off” shirts

•hes an only child but pim is like a brother to him

•had a family dog growing up and is a dog person overall

pim:

•begs to play roblox when anyone else is playing video games in the office

•curls up into a ball when he sleeps

•also will freak out without a night light

•his room is definitely littered with stuffed animals

•grew up watching mlp (g1) and probably still owns some pony figures

•and says “hello everypony!!” when entering a room

•played a LOT of browser and flash games as a youngster like club penguin and moviestar planet

•genuinely finds beauty in everything i wish i was on his level of joy and whimsey

•would totally listen to vocaloid and would totally go on a super long tangent about how its so cool and holograms are so cool

•also has a collection of light sticks and miku plushies and definitely kisses his miku poster goodnight

•i feel like he ate paint chips as a child

•craves social interaction cuz his parents had a rocky marriage and were neglectful and his sister treated him like shit when they were kids

•his sister would tug on his nerve ending when she got annoyed

•having a rough upbringing and dysfunctional family is what pushed him to start working for smiling friends, hes genuinely passionate about making people smile and just wants to help people who are in bad situations like he was

•prone to panic attacks :(

•sings little songs to calm himself down

•flails his arms or jumps around when hes excited

•still uses pool floaties when swimming lmao

•also still loves to dress up and play pretend as an adult

•mmmmm loves sweets what is a nutritious meal?????

•wore glasses growing up but just kind of stopped for some reason probably cuz his eyes are fucking massive

glep:

•chronic cyberbully-er

•tells people to kts in his gibberish language when they annoy him

•has most likely caused several wars across the globe

•puts whatever he wants on the tv and then hides the remote and watches everyone fight over who took it

•small but lets out the most diabolical burps imaginable

•is fluent in every single language on earth and probably space too

•absolutely brainrotted from that ipad he wont stop watching skibidi toilet

•unties peoples shoes when theyre not paying attention

•little guy has never known sobriety in his life

•has so many random ass pictures and videos saved on his tablet

•hes like a little vlogger

•if someone says or does something he doesnt like he’ll probably hire a hitman on them

•definitely has access to the deep web

•hates gardening but will help allan out with it once in a while for something in return (like a grilled cheese or some weed or something)

•also will sit next to allan while hes cooking so he can eat all the scraps

[physalian]

Transformers Prime Appreciation Post

You know what. You know what?? This show has featured in so much of my writing advice, it deserves its own “This show is amazing and has amazing writing and shit you can learn from it to be a better writer” post. It’s streamable on Netflix at the time of this post. I own it on DVD. I have all three seasons on actual, physical discs that I bought new for my DVD collection. That’s how much I love this show.

What is TFP? TFP aired on The Hub network, the joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Channel that died after MLP ended, I think. We lost cable before that happened. TFP was probably single-handedly sustained by MLP money for a while, like the rest of HBO on GOT.

This show came out when I entered high school and I have extremely vivid memories of some of the constant previews they showed of the season 1 finale 3-parter, to the point where whenever I watch the scenes that were in those teasers, I still get a physical reaction from being bludgeoned over the head with those lines of dialogue.

I used to scroll ahead in the TV guide as far as the scheduled programming allowed, just to catch snippets of what episodes were slated to air within the next month. This show was the shit.

But it was too expensive and its budget got eaten by Friendship is Magic. The bronies ruin everything I guess.

It’s 3 seasons (technically 2.5 since 3 was only greenlit for half its episode count) of near-perfection and a tv-movie. There are a few weak episodes, sure, and one absolute dud of a clipshow episode, but there are no awful episodes. There ain’t no “Great Divide” for this show.

Why you should watch it:

1. A “kids” show that absolutely takes itself seriously

One of the Autobots dies 5 minutes into the series and it’s the inciting incident for the entire story. He gets blown up, taken prisoner, and then stabbed through his chest by a Decepticon’s fist without warning. He then gets brought back as a zombie, killed again, infects his partner with the zombie juice when she’s trying to save him, and dies for good.

Two main characters get straight-up murdered, long-running characters whose deaths have lofty consequences for the narrative. There’s betrayals, double-agents, robot torture, robots getting eaten alive by scraplets, gaslighting of an amnesiac, near-murders of POWs, near-murders of fan-favorites who get so hurt, their recovery spans 4 whole episodes, attempted child murder, terrorism, and mad science.

But there is also some heavy emotional shit. The surviving partner of the zombie is damaged by his loss for the entire show because she can’t properly manage her grief. There’s characters going on suicide missions to avenge their dead/dying friends, getting beat to shit while a child watches helplessly on the sidelines screaming at them to get up and run through tears. There’s war flashbacks to dead friends and comrades and the terror and fallout of being eons-old soldiers.

There’s quiet moments, too, about grief and loss and living with disability and disfigurement from battlefield wounds. There’s the machinations of a tragic villain, openly and explicitly abused in front of his whole team and who keeps crawling back and groveling at his master’s feet and his internal identity crisis over who he is, if he’s not with his abuser. There’s the fallout of an extremely divisive trolley problem where a normally calm and collected character loses their shit with grief over the decision that was made. There’s the quiet rumblings of dissent and rebellion in the ranks and all the backstabbing that follows.

And there’s clever moments. Rogues and rebels orchestrating complex and interwoven plots to further their agendas. A POW who no one would ever expect to be captured absolutely trouncing their captives and laughing all the while while they free themselves. Characters who always have a backup plan to force others into awful predicaments.

The first episode after the 5-episode mini-movie that opens the show features an A-plot about school science projects, and a B-plot about waking a loyal ‘Con from stasis and trying to convince him to bow down to the ‘Cons’ temp leader, Starscream, while Megatron is elsewhere. It does not end well for him. The very next episode features robots getting eaten alive by alien metal termites.

2. Depth of Character

Beyond the actual plot, the villains might be more compelling characters than the heroes across many arcs and episodes. You’ve got five main autobots for most of the show that generally fit the 5-man band:

Optimus: Leader

Ratchet: Smart Guy

Bulkhead: Tough Guy

Arcee: Lancer

Bumblebee: Heart

Also guest starring the Alien Robot Cowboy Samurai known as Wheeljack, he’s amazing.

These characters have some really rich episodes and arcs, and moments where they have to put their own values, wants, and agendas aside for the greater good or the problem at hand. They feel like real people, for lack of a better word. They laugh, they cry, they rage, they grieve, and since the show is one long storyline, what happens seemingly inconsequentially in season 1 will come back to haunt them in season 3.

But then you have the villains, an extremely dysfunctional team of “every man for himself, we’re all not here because we like each other, but because we hate the Autobots,” and I can tell from the fanfic that the ‘Cons are the much more popular characters to write about.

Megatron: The fascist narcissist warlord

Starscream: His scheming SIC both too smart and too dumb for his own good

Soundwave: The utterly badass TIC comms chief who never loses and is insanely, fiercely loyal to the cause

KnockOut: The absolutely gay-as-fuck cosmedic surgeon/chief of medical voiced by Daran Norris, who’s only design requirement was to make him a sexy sportscar, and they ended up with a cherry red Aston Martin. One of his first lines in the show is "*whistle* Sweet rims” at Optimus in truck mode.

Breakdown: KO’s himbo, canon* boyfriend with some of the best, cringey puns

Airachnid: Arcee’s arch nemesis, the only other female transformer, a “love to loathe her” type

And others down the line for both teams.

*Canon insofar as a kids show on a kids network allows a la “we’ve given you as much subtext as we can, do the rest”.

KO is technically my favorite but it’s a tossup between many and that is a feat, especially when they’re the villains. They are all extremely compelling characters.

3. The Story

With some exceptions, episodes don’t happen in isolation. Most of season 1 is a bit random with a foggy throughline, but season 2 is utterly amazing, sans that one clipshow the producers probably insisted on.

Season 2 is the show’s finest hour and without spoiling anything: The end of season 1 sees this database that had been in the ‘Cons possession suddenly now with the means to decode and decrypt whatever’s locked behind it. The database contains coordinates on Earth of a myriad of confiscated weapons, ancient relics, and the like and the entire season is one big fetch quest with both sides racing and beating the shit out of each other to decode coordinates and retrieve the relics before the other side.

The macguffins are pretty cool in their own right (alien mustard gas, a giant Final Fantasy sword, an alien nuke, a phase-shifter) but it’s the intensity of the story and the action and drama that happens around the various quests that is so amazing.

At one point, the show takes four episodes to tackle a fetch quest across four separate relics that involves the entire cast on both sides and the two rogues all gunning for their targets at the same time, ending with one character critically injured that grinds the whole plot to a stop.

The show is one long story, as I mentioned, where something that happens in episode 2 shows up again as critically important in episode 40 and that’s a heck of an achievement on the writers’ part, making it all feel like it was planned that way from the start, even though it wasn’t.

Season 3 is… lesser, mostly because it has half as many episodes because the show was canceled. However, the writers knew about the cancellation early enough to still deliver a satisfying story, and wrap up loose ends with a tv-movie that is also pretty good.

Episode-to-episode there’s definitely a mixed bag of what kind of tone you’ll get. It’s still a kids show and there are human characters so there are some lesser episodes with the humans’ lives as the focus and the Autobots running support. Then you’ll have small-screen perfection, but like I said, there’s never a single episode of story (not clipshow) that I skip upon rewatch, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. The second “clipshow” episode is far and gone above the first, told through the eyes of a character as they’re on trial, only their scenes through the story, as they await judgment that might see them executed.

4. The Production Value

The majority of the animation budget rightfully went to the transformers themselves, which left the environments and the human characters a little rough around the edges. But you came for alien robots and before I got this show on DVD, I streamed crap quality episodes online. Once I saw these characters in full HD color, for the first time since it aired on TV, I was blown away. The reflections are, bar none, the best part. Which seems like a strange hill to die on but these are shiny metal giants. There’s some shots where you can see the reactions of other characters reflected hazily in the chest plates of the speaking character, and this is kids animated TV.

Some episodes do stand out, possibly because they changed studios, but some do have some off-kilter coloring or shadows, but you wouldn’t notice if you’re not like me and have picked some scenes apart frame by frame.

The music, also, is amazing. It’s grand and epic and far and gone from the 80s synthesizers, with a few choir tracks thrown in. The foley and sound design can get a little gratuitous with the metal-on-metal squeals, but none of it ever feels out of place.

I bought the directors’ commentary without knowing it for seasons 1 and 3 and they talked about having all the digital screens in the backgrounds of both bases constantly moving and showing data, not just static, blank images, and it really ups the feel of the quality and care put into the show when there’s always something cool to look at in every frame.

There are also some money shots. At one point there’s a fight that demands Optimus and Megatron join forces and with zero dialogue between them, only choreography in the span of about 25 seconds of animation shows you that these two really were old friends, old allies, old confidants. Their moves are mirrored, back to back, showing that Megatron clearly taught Optimus how to fight and this shot, the one at the top of the post, is too good to not spoil.

5. The Writing

Beyond the overall arcs, I mentioned in my “How to make your writing less stiff” post that the dialogue in this show is stellar. Due to animation budgets, they didn’t have the means to fully render a huge variety of environments, and that includes anything on Cybertron. So, when necessary, outside of when characters actually go to Cybertron later in the show, they use some beautiful matte paintings and voiceover narration by Ratchet, absolutely dumping exposition on the audience in spectacular fashion.

I have the director’s commentary. I know Ratchet’s monologues were a thing of beauty. They also had the cast all recording their dialogue at once, standing in a big U for more natural line deliveries.

The actual writing though, from the different ways the characters speak to the lore, the backstories, how the show can be a horror trip one minute and a kids’ science fair the next, showed incredible variety and flexibility in the writers’ room.

Optimus’ lines remain my favorite because they’re just that juicy, but then you have characters like Starscream, a perpetual schemer who loves to hear himself talk, pontificating whenever he can about his plans and how much he hates Megatron and how self-important he is. Or other righteous characters who use Big Words like Optimus that don’t feel out of place against somebody like KnockOut who says stuff like “I like the way I look in steel-belted radials” or Wheeljack who clearly learned English from watching Clint Eastwood movies.

Or, a later character, Shockwave, the most “robotic” of the robots and very poncy and scientific with the way he talks and interprets the world, with most of his lines including whether or not a character’s choices were “logical”.

This show is fantastic at creating tension out of mundanity and keeping you on the edge of your seat for nail-biting action scenes. You feel the anguish and the grief with the characters. Their rage and elation and devastation.

Some faults, because I love this show and I can recognize them

The human characters are… well, teenagers. Miko is pretty divisive, you’ve got the camp of “wah she’s a girl and she’s annoying” and just people who don’t find them as compelling. Which, fair. Their animation is a bit gummy and sometimes they disappear for entire episodes and their human world arcs are kind of abandoned. They’re not the best, but this isn’t about humans, it’s about transformers.

Due to probably time constraints with the show being canceled, some transformers’ arcs also felt abandoned or not given their due time to shine (of which fanfic has made painfully clear and rectified). It’s a very tight plot, but there are some dangling loose ends.

Sometimes it is incredibly in-your-face that this is a show meant to sell toys, particularly in season 3 with the whole uh, “we must become beast hunters” and the soft rebrand.

There exists a subplot of C-list villains, human militants who want to dissect cybertronian biology and make weapons. While some of their episodes are absolute bangers, you can tell the writers were getting sick of them before they’re finally written out of the show.

And a few awkward lines here and there.

Other cool shit if nothing else has convinced you

No love triangle or romantic subplot for the two female robots and one of the female humans. You can read one of Arcee’s relationships as romantic or platonic, but she is far beyond just “the girl” of the group, she’s a badass. The other romantic subplot is between a mom who’s deadbeat ex-husband is inexplicably missing, and a pot-bellied Army vet, and it’s really sweet and healthy.

(I think) incredible representation of characters with disability, in Bumblebee’s various war scars and his mutism.

The Gays. I swear there’s a page in the art book (of which I am desperate to find a copy of) for KnockOut and the caption of his art legit says something like “we made him too sexy, oops”.

So. Many. Puns. Puns that know they’re awful and relish in it. Dad jokes, too.

Ratchet losing his mind over how human children can get “twisted limbs and metal burn” if they do a dangerous thing before realizing the latter does not apply. Ratchet losing his mind in general. Just all of the cranky medic. Jeffrey Combs can make a phone book entertaining.

One of the last times we’ll probably get Peter Cullen and Frank Welker together doing Optimus and Megatron, the OGs. And also, one tiny moment where Frank has to say “treasure” and he still flubs it just like he does for Fred in Scooby Doo.

Consistency between character injuries. If Optimus’ sword breaks in a battle, whenever he summons it before he can have time to fix it, it’s still broken in ensuing shots.

An episode of zombies infecting the Decepticons’ ship and Starscream and KnockOut accidentally admitting they love each other while cowering in terror, while also calling back to a different pair of characters they did not witness saying the exact same lines.

Optimus transforming, ramming Megatron in the chest in truck mode, booting him off a cliff, and using his tires to melt rubber in Megatron’s face once they land because he is pissed.

All of Starscream’s immensely satisfying comeuppance for situations he gets himself into.

Using the murder termites for good in a rather horrifying death of a random goon.

Megatron’s hate boner for Optimus that clearly shows how badly these two don’t actually want to kill each other, despite having a million chances to do so, because like Batman and the Joker, “you and I are destined to do this for eternity,” and killing one would leave the other alone, after eons of fighting.

The gorgeous matte paintings.

—

Somebody on here once drew KnockOut with Autobot blue eyes and I have not been able to find that post since. If anyone sees it, please send it to me, it was gorgeous.

Now go watch this show. You can do it in a weekend.

[hamletshoeratio]

"But no new content 😭!!" that means jack shit. We have several literal decades worth of content we can watch or rewatch. The writers and now the actors too are not only fighting for their livelihoods but for the futures and the soul of their industries.

Fuck new content, fuck the executives and producers and powers that be who make millions upon millions while the people, who create the content that make them rich, can barely make ends meet.

Here's some suggestions to anyone who doesn't know what to watch;

Nostalgia rewatch; watch old favourites, shows and movies you haven't seen in years but that stayed with you, the ones that mattered to you.

Watch the shows your parents didn't let you watch growing up because they thought the show was "too mature" for you.

Watch the shows and movies people have recommended to you that you never found time for before.

Watch indie films!!!

Look at different genres than what you've watched before and give them a go.

Try films and shows from other countries and/or in other languages. There's dubs and subtitles available and these shows and movies can be just as good if not better than their American and/or English speaking counterpart.

And remember when watching shows, that you do not have to binge them all at once, you can have your own personal tv schedule and watch say an episode a week like you would've done when/if they aired before streaming

Look at some older films and shows, why does it matter if it's in black and white or the camera quality is lower than 4k and hd, so long as it's good? And so many of those shows and films, while not perfect, have aged better than shows that have come out in the last decade, like the golden girls for instance has aged so much better than say glee (ok many many many shows aged better than glee but let's be real for a second, music was better when artists were terrified of the Glee cast doing a better version of their song on the show. I do still wish it was a show my mom didn't let me watch tho, lmao glee was fine but no, her twelve year old being obsessed with Les mis and rewatching it religiously was cause for concern 😂😭 I was just as obsessed with glee for seasons 1-4 especially).

It's ok to indulge your inner child and rewatch the classics tm. The shows and movies you grew up with. Rewatch the shows that got you through sick days from school, the tv movies you remember watching premiere, the cartoons that MADE your Saturday mornings, etc.

On the topic of animation, that's literally an unlimited genre you can tap into, which rarely gets the recognition and respect it deserves.

Don't be afraid to watch the one season wonders, the shows that networks and streamers cancelled after one season in spite of strong reviews and good ratings. Or the shows that ended abruptly around the season 3 or 5 mark because networks and streamers cancelled them because they didn't want to negotiate contracts and have to pay the actors and writers more. Get angry, remember what the actors and writers are fighting for.

The privilege of older shows that either concluded naturally or that writers were given a heads up on might be on it's last season is that you get closure, unlike with the above. That might not mean an ending is good but a bad ending is better than a cliffhanger. There's always fix its fics for a bad ending. And if the ending is good, it's typically GOOD in my experience. The fear of a cliffhanger and zero closure has already turned many against watching new content until the show is renewed for another season or is fully wrapped (and fans don't hate the ending).

Watch the shows that were in their day or are popular or critically acclaimed, they usually hold up to the hype.

Watch the old shows and movies your favs were on/in before they were your favs.

Try a soap or a telenovela, they can be entertaining af (holby city my love, Tuesdays have never been the same since the BBC robbed me of you).

If you liked a reboot or a revival of a show, try the original (in certain cases, the og is even better, see boy meets world v girl meets world).

If you like period dramas, try shows and films from other countries based on their history. A lot of times when people are telling their own history it goes far better than when Hollywood tries it (see the many times Hollywood has actors brought in because producers think they're good for box office and they then go on to butcher the accent their character should have, see Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and so many others who have absolutely butchered the Irish accent over the years for instance. There's also many many instances even recently of just blatant whitewashing see Matt Damon as the last samurai...).

Listen to recommendations, watch the shows and movies you know your family and friends loved but you never got around to watching.

[spatial-jump]

Spoilers for all episodes of the Umbrella Academy Season 4 and profanity below.

What the actual fuck was that finale?? Was I watching the same thing directors looked at and went, “Yeah, this is cool!”

Those last two episodes were a total shit show. An absolutely horrendous finale to a wonderful TV show.

The first thing I am so fucking pissed about is how they’ve written Five in this season. They ruined him. They tore apart the aloof apocalypse-obsessed arsehole who loves his family, destroyed it, spat on it, and then danced on the grave before crushing it under an anvil.

In no fucking timeline whatsoever would Five and Lila be a thing. I understand where some people would come from to defend it — that yes, they were both isolated for seven years and could only find company in each other, distorting their relationship as they sought comfort which mistakenly and incorrectly transpired into ‘love’. No, it’s messed up. It’s so fucking messed up and creates unnecessary drama that the writers probably wanted since they were undeniably lacking in the finale. When I first saw the camera angles and shots they were getting prior to Year Five in the subway, I was naïvely thinking, “Surely not. Please don’t tell me this is where I think it’s going.” And lo and behold, I was right. And I’ve never hated to be right so much in my entire life.

Lila (WHO HAS THREE ADORABLE CHILDREN WITH DIEGO, BY THE WAY) has known Five for absolutely ages — since he was in the body of a thirteen-year-old child. Mentally, he’s however many decades older. Regarding the actors, Aidan and Ritu, themselves, there is a fifteen-year gap between them. But my point is, Five is not a home-wrecker. Five is the type of character who would not deliberately fuck around with his brother’s wife because he absolutely adores his family. It’s not in the nature that has been presented to us, and goes completely against his values — and for what? To serve exclusively as a shitty love triangle so that Diego and Five would fight in the finale and break up the family even more at the most crucial point for them?

Five is your textbook example of a pragmatist. He knows how to prioritise, and would certainly not decide that the time to fight Diego was when two of their siblings were badly injured and another had merged to bring about the Cleanse — a.k.a. end of the world, again.

I am so, so disappointed with this, especially as Five is the character I’ve had the strongest attachment to, ever. I think I’ve managed to disconnect S4 him from the first three (that fucking greasy rat’s nest hair of his has finally been given a beneficial purpose), but I’m still sick to my stomach.

Anyway, next thing: the episodes. I know we were told in advance about how there were only going to be six episodes, and we knew they had a lot to fit in to make it work.

It didn’t. It was executed very poorly. I understand some fans didn’t like the unnecessary subplots and fillers from the previous seasons, but S4 was a bit too rushed? I mean, they found and drank the marigold within the first episode. And floundered around at the end, not even bothering to stop the Cleanse until it had been aired on TV. I get they might’ve wanted to make the show more fast-paced, but it could’ve been handled differently. They didn’t have to do a ‘Stranger ThingsTM’ and make four goddamn films for a Part One. They just needed to properly iron out everything, and that didn’t happen, which is a massive shame.

The finale itself (not the erasing their identities, but from the moment Ben is shot) deserves some YouTuber to pick it apart with a four hour video until it’s dust. It was badly structured. Normally, you see a rather pleasant — not exactly linear, but in the concept we’re progressing positively — pattern as the episodes and plots build up to the finale. We see the family find out about an apocalypse, they fight and break off individually, then they slowly pair up, eventually coming together to save the world. This was not like that.

Instead, you had one sibling fucking around in a subway with his physically much older and mentally much younger sister-in-law, another that was hopelessly obsessed with a girl he just met (but no hate for him — no one exactly told him that being closer to Jennifer was just harming them both and the world), one germaphobe who, despite not taking drugs or drinking, is off looting money wherever he can find it and deciding that was the moment to pay off his debts??, three others doing fuck knows, and then the last one who actually gives a shit, teamed up with his hideous father, and tried to prevent him from killing Ben as long as possible because he knows what it’s like to end the world, and is therefore the only one who did anything useful. God, that was a long sentence, so I’m sorry for those of you who struggle with it.

The finale was not your Umbrella Academy finale. Once everyone had (I say this in the lightest way) been ‘brought together’, they had no bloody idea what to do. In the meantime, they’d disbanded about three times within the thirty minutes of screening because of petty fights and the drama I’ve already discussed. Five leaving them at the most essential moment (due to Lila and Diego, blah, blah, blah) was an error in his character. This old man has survived through apocalypses, the one who tries to round everyone up despite everything he has seen. Even with his doubts in the S3 finale, he was still there — and his doubts were shared enough that they created a majority. In this S4 finale, there was no majority. It was just Five, and Five alone. There were gaping holes and shredded pieces of the beautifully developed characters the show had done so well in portraying. They did this with Allison during that scene in S3, where they took her villain arc too far. There are so many flaws in this, and there is definitely many people out there who can communicate it better and more concisely, but here is my two pennies anyway.

I have a lot more thoughts, but I’m currently bone-tired. I might post another rant if I remember anything else — but don’t be too surprised if it’s Five x Lila related.

I am thankful and appreciative that the Umbrella Academy was one of the lucky shows that saw its way to the very end, but I think all of us are entitled to a little disappointment at its quality and execution as it was brought to a close.

[ryttu3k]

A question, spawned by a thread on Reddit! Explanation will be beneath the cut, please have a read after replying to the poll.

This is the doll character EC, from the Australian 90s children's show, Lift Off. EC was able to move independently and served as a friend to the child cast.

For responses: 'positive emotions' includes feeling warm, affectionate, etc towards EC. 'Neutral emotions' includes feeling ambivalent, not having any particular feelings regarding EC in particular. 'Negative emotions' includes feeling fear, disgust, disconcerted, etc towards EC.

Beneath the cut, a longer explanation on EC, and why I'm asking this question.

Lift Off was an Australian kids TV show that aired from 1992 to 1995, aimed at 3-8-year-olds (I was five when it started), partially fantasy but largely educational, aimed at helping kids learn how to deal with problems and difficult emotions, learn about the world, and foster empathy for others. In the first episode, two of the main cast of kid characters find a discarded doll, who, much to their surprise, starts to move independently. The kids befriend the doll, named EC, who becomes a main cast member.

In this clip, Poss and Kim find EC.

EC, short for 'Every Child', was designed to be an audience stand-in, allowing the entire young audience to project upon them, to be a vehicle for imagination. This... may have backfired for a lot of people, because thirty years later, what most people remember of Lift Off is of being completely terrified of EC, the faceless, non-speaking doll.

This article on the ABC, with Luke Carroll, one of the child cast members, opens by mentioning kids being terrified of EC. This article on Buzzfeed is entirely on how scary EC is. This post on r/AustralianNostalgia also goes into it, and this recent post on the same (which prompted me to make this post!) shows a positive response from OP, but with a lot of comments to the contrary!

(There were EC dolls available for sale - albeit with a plastic head, not a cloth one. I desperately wanted one.)

So, I'm extremely curious about how people initially respond to EC, particularly those who didn't watch Lift Off as a kid. There's a thread on the first subreddit post that has me thinking:

"We had an EC toy and I never once found it creepy. I loved playing with EC and played in a similar vein to the kids on the show. I've since found out that I'm quite neurodivergent so maybe that says something? I loved this show so much and have since shown it to my kids."

"I loved EC too… and I’m ASD, maybe that’s the secret"

"Exactly me! Was my fave toy ever. I remember all the scenes where he made cool magic happen"

Another comment:

"I adored Lift Off. Had my own EC doll because he just had the loveliest vibes (still have him somewhere), had the Purple Backpack as my very first school bag, got the magazines every month... it had me transfixed. Diagnosed with ASD in my 30s, which might explain it. But that show was just pure, undiluted joy for me."

I adored EC, wanted an EC of my own, and I'm autistic. I'm wondering if a positive response to EC is linked to that - with clearly projected body language and a lack of facial expression (or facial features!) and spoken word, EC definitely communicates in a non-'normative' way, which I found extremely comforting. I vastly preferred EC and Lotis (the sapient artificial intelligence controlling the building's elevator) to the human kids, honestly!

So, how do you feel about EC?

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Rhys Darby has ‘not an ounce of scaredness’ about son’s band dreams

NZ actor Rhys Darby and his musician son Finn interview each other. VIDEO CREDIT: David White/Stuff

Rhys Darby is proudly listing career moments - but they’re not his own.

He’s recalling watching his son Finn’s band, Great Big Cow, “absolutely rock” iconic LA venue Troubadour to sold-out crowds.

As a parent, “you worry about a bit of nepotism,” he admits.

“Are we just ‘yay, our boys!’ when really they’re dreadful?”

But, he says, the band’s indie folk rock is “brilliant”, and keeps getting better. And, he insists, people are paying attention.

“We’re shocked as parents a little bit,” he jokes.

The band, Rhys and I are nestled between a Street Fighter arcade game and a pinball machine, in a dark corner of Auckland’s Whammy Bar. The US-based teen band has been sound-checking for their first international show.

Rhys has donned weathered jeans and a plaid jacket - approved by Finn. His son is wearing Dad’s socks for the night. While Rhys talks, Finn pulls faces and shares quiet in-jokes with his band mates. There are plenty of laughs.

Finn, Paolo Pesce, Will Angarola and Wyatt Nash originally played together in a school jazz combo, and went on to form Great Big Cow in 2022.

Rhys Darby, left, watches his son Finn’s band dreams without “an ounce of scaredness”. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

Now, Rhys insists, they have a growing fanbase. Some of whom “[do] that thing where you dance really closely … Moshing”. He points to my notebook.

“Put down there that I did know what moshing is.”

Sure, Rhys Darby - one of New Zealand’s most well-known comedy exports - helped the band get bums on seats and lock in bigger venues, but they were also recently featured on LA public radio station KCRW’s Young Creators Project, can be found on Spotify and their mainstay is house parties.

“I think because I'm a bigger deal [in NZ], it might have been a little different. In LA, no-one really gives a shit about who I am,” he laughs, looking over at Finn who’s patiently had his hand raised while Dad spoke.

There are people and groups in LA that have helped the band too, says Finn, and he’s not sure those opportunities would have happened back in NZ.

“I would have got you on bFM for sure,” Rhys quips back.

He looks on at Finn’s creative path with, “not an ounce of scaredness”.

“Obviously as a child I had many different dreams, but at the base of everything was art and performance,” he says, describing his younger self as a “dreamer” who wanted to entertain.

Rhys Darby with son Finn before Great Big Cow played Auckland’s Whammy Bar. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

“When it comes to [my kids], I see different ambitions, but they have the artistic talent - I’m completely open to whatever they want to do. I’ll always be there for them.”

Where New Zealand has a bit of a reputation for tall poppy syndrome and an air of negativity, LA is hugely positive, says Rhys - especially for fostering young talent.

And it was in LA, at a house party, that Finn recalls being caught up in the “electric energy” of playing live.

“The whole audience was moving. And I think two people got lifted up above the crowd and surfed around above the crowd,” he says.

Finn’s not the only Darby putting in some work while in Aotearoa. Following Rhys’s joint 50th celebration with wife Rosie, he’ll be returning to the local stage, performing his Rhys Darby 25 Years stand-up show at Waiheke Island’s Wild Estate on April 3.

It encompasses the best bits from his previous shows, but performing it at Waiheke is “just another excuse to put on a show, really”, and to show his US mates another part of Auckland.

Rhys Darby, following a stint in the army and then university, kicked off his career with stand-up, before becoming a household name with an impressive TV and film CV, including Flight of the Conchords, Yes Man, The Boat that Rocked and Our Flag Means Death.

As for whether he still loves stand-up, “love is a strong word”, he laughs.

“I still enjoy it. But it's it's less of a thrill than it used to be.”

What he’s really loving is throwing himself into acting, and challenging himself with more dramatic roles - different to the very physical, crazy “shenanigans on stage”, requiring more focus for the comedian and “not just being a silly bugger”.

Plus, he’s 50 now.

“It’s much easier to do the stuff where I'm just sitting down,” he laughs.

Still, there’s no denying he’s been part of a movement that threw New Zealand comedy into the wider world, and he speaks proudly about his own work, but also that of other Kiwis such as filmmaker Taika Waititi and actor Rose Matafeo.

It’s a type of comedy, he says, that “has a signature” and can’t be copied.

Rhys Darby and son Finn at Auckland’s Whammy Bar. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

“I think it’s that positivity thing, which is ironic coming from a place with tall poppy syndrome. We don’t like each other but you guys love us, eh?”

It’s one of the reasons Darby is still living in LA, “still waving the flag [and] not changing my accent”.

And while Darby’s big break may have been the role of band manager Murray, when it comes to Great Big Cow he and Rosie “don’t want to be helicopter parents too much”.

“We're there when they have a question.”

And while Rhys says he can’t talk about any of his own projects, Finn interrupts with a quiet word about vague plans for a comedy musical theatre show featuring Rhys and the band.

Looking back at his own career, the highlight was breaking into the US market - name-dropping X Files and Our Flag Means Death as highlights.

“What's next? It's all peaks and troughs,” he says - mentioning Hollywood is turning to AI, but “thankfully, there's no one that can do a better robot impression than me”.

Still, the changing industry is worrying.

“People are losing their jobs, and AI is having a lot to do with it,” he says - dropping the quips and gags for a moment.

“After the strikes, I know, it's taken a while to get the industry back on its feet, but I'm hoping that it will get there,” he says.

“But it is worrying. It's really worrying the moment.”

Source: Stuff NZ

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: Magic & Chemistry

The MAGIC & CHEMISTRY Eddie said he was looking for in 6x17, he already has it with Buck, therefore his current relationship status with M is UNDETERMINED!

In 6x17, Eddie spent a lot of time trying to find someone to date and all he ended up with was a dog bite on his hand.  He told the team he wants what he had when he met Shannon which was “magic”, according to him and when Chimney questioned his belief in it, Eddie said he believes in “chemistry”. 

Well, he already has both of those things with Buck.  Buck said Eddie sucks at dating but the truth is, he doesn’t when he dates Buck since he had a successful poker date with him in 6x13 (related post linked here).

Their conversation inside of the fire engine continued with Buck questioning Eddie about the age he was when him and Shannon started dating.  He asked, "Weren’t you guys like in the 12th grade when you met?" and Eddie explained they met when they were in 8th grade but they lost touch then reconnected in the 12th.  Everything they said pointed to the fact that Eddie’s looking for something he had in high school but no one, not even Bobby explained he won’t be able to recreate something he had when he was a child especially since the things he once liked may have changed.  Even though his found family didn’t explain it to him, the suit he wore in 6x13 and the shirt he wore in 6x18 explained it perfectly and they also alluded to the way his current relationship status with “M” is UNDETERMINED.  Before 7x1 aired, RG (the actor who plays Eddie) said in an interview “Eddie’s trying to find out who M is” but based on Eddie’s actions with Buck in the episode, it seems like he already knows👀.

Full disclosure: While live watching 6x18 last season, I literally changed the channel before the episode ended when I saw how the show was once again shoehorning more one-dimensional love interests in for both Buck and Eddie.  I didn’t rewatch the episode and I won’t because 6x13 was the finale for me but I had to access it so I could make GIFs for some other posts during the hiatus and when I did, I noticed Eddie’s shirt was navy-blue (this is the Buckley-Diaz Family color related post linked here) while he was talking on the phone to M and I got even more pissed off since it seemed like the show was trying to force the narrative by having Eddie build a family with her.  However, after reading RG’s interviews before 7x1 aired, then watching the episode and seeing how everything happened with Chris and his 3 parents, i.e., Eddie, Shannon and Buck (post linked here) and carefully listening to Buck and Eddie’s locker room conversation and M’s ONE LINE, I believe I’ve been able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.  Doing so helped me to notice that TM (showrunner) included all the necessary pieces to show that Eddie’s relationship status with M, at the moment, is UNDETERMINED.

Also, to illustrate how I came to this conclusion, I have to give credit where it’s due because I didn’t learn about how plaid clothing works in TV and movie wardrobes until I watched an analysis video for the movie “Clueless” (not only is it one of my favorite movies, it’s also one of the most fashionable movies in history).  I watched it during the hiatus because there was nothing on TV and I listened as the creator explained how plaid is a pattern wardrobe stylists use to depict “High School” because it usually reminds people of Catholic school uniforms.

Why is the fact that Eddie wore a plaid suit jacket in 6x13 and a plaid shirt in 6x17 important?

It's important because it explains how he was feeling about dating at those specific points in time. Both his jacket in 6x13 and his shirt in 6x18 were plaid but there’s a major difference between them. 

In 6x13, his jacket was part of a full suit and it represented how he’s an adult man with mature tastes.  Reminder, he wasn’t nervous at all while he was with Buck and he was the one who had to tell Buck to “Relax”.  They were on a DATE which further proves he’s already found the MAGIC & CHEMISTRY he so desperately wants and craves and has been trying to recreate with all those excursions he took when he went to play golf and hike.  After 6x14 – 6x18 aired, I wondered why 6x13 aired when it did and I believe it has something to do with the way Eddie views what he’s looking for since he already has it.

But in 6x17, he wore a plaid shirt because it represented the “high school” mentality he had when he was 14 and 18 years old when he dated Shannon.  While it appears they were trying to show Eddie doing something for himself with him asking M out on a date, I think someone (*cough* Bobby *cough*) should have explained to Eddie that he was looking for something he had when he was young and it might not exist anymore in the way he remembers it.  He could have told him that when they were at the hardware store so Eddie would have REALIZED how he might want something different now that he’s in his 30s and he has a son.  Let’s be real here because sometimes things a person wanted when they were in middle and high school are no longer relevant.

To be clear, I didn’t like the way that scene played out and I also didn’t like how they had Eddie acting when he called M.  I’ve posted many times about how much I despised the way he was being portrayed as a “giggly teenager” in 6x18 and I still roll my eyes at it because it was not quintessentially Eddie.

Eddie’s always been sexy, suave, debonaire and cool under pressure especially when he’s with Buck.  He was also very suave while he was on the blind date with Vanessa in 6x14, so IMO, the show was contradicting itself when it showed Eddie be self-assured on his date with Buck in 6x13 and confident enough to tell Vanessa he wasn’t ready in 6x14 (even though he didn’t get the chance) only to show Eddie acting OOC in 6x18 when he asked M out on a date.

Even though, during their phone call, Eddie was acting like an awkward teenager, after watching 7x1, I realized M was and is doing the same thing Eddie did in 6x18 except hers was cringey and difficult to watch.  It’s kind of like before Eddie asked her out, she hadn’t been on a date before which is why she doesn’t know how to act.

In 7x1, she only had 5 or 6 seconds of on-screen time and she had only one line (more on this below) but she was acting just as “giggly” as Eddie had been when he asked her on a date in 6x18 and that shot of them standing together made them look like they were friends who were trying to see if there could be something more.

(Side note: M WASN'T SHOWN SITTING ON EDDIE’S COUCH but Chris’ date Penny was while they were playing video games.)

It appears the show was trying to illustrate how Eddie was trying to recreate the magic and chemistry he had when he was 14 years old again but we should all remember Eddie never had the chance to date in high school.  Reminder, his father told him to be the man of the house when he was 10 years old, he got yelled at when he was 12 for setting off the smoke alarm while he was trying to make eggs for the girls, he met Shannon at 14 and they lost touch but reconnected at 18 which was his senior year in high school.

Also, he admitted in 6x16 that after she found out she was pregnant, he suggested they get married and in 7x1, Buck reminded him that she was the first woman he ever had sex with.

In addition to the shirt Eddie was wearing in 6x18, M’s shirt was GRAY (related post linked here) and that’s important because she’s unsure of her role in Eddie’s life which is GREAT because they only agreed to go on a date. Reminder, in 6x14, Eddie told Pepa he couldn't get married which he automatically equated to dating so that speaks volumes too.  But also, the shirt she wore in 7x1 was hot pink and the color screamed young, immature and high school.  Reminder, in 6x5 when Eddie first saw her and when he saw her again in 6x17, her hair was curly and she wore it in a ponytail.  She looked young but it’s evident they straightened her hair in 7x1 and now she just looks like a more matured version of a teenager but still a high schooler, nonetheless.

Back to the regularly scheduled program…

Eddie wants to find what he had with Shannon again but he’s obviously looking through a pair of rose-colored glasses since their relationship was TOXIC AF.  All they did was argue and have sex but they didn’t know how to communicate and that could probably be contributed to how young they were when they were together.  Also, it appears neither of them had the best example of how a relationship was supposed to work since Ramon was hardly ever home and Eddie spent most of his time with controlling and overbearing Helena 🙄 (I’ll be so glad when he realizes his mother was a huge problem because I’ll never forget her comment, “Don’t drag him down with you Eddie”.  I mean who says that to their child?).  Also, IIRC, only Shannon’s mother was shown in Eddie’s flashbacks while he was in the well that showed Chris being born in 3x15.

Furthermore, Eddie’s reaction to Ana in 4x6 when he saw her again was like some kind of fairy tale with a princess (Cinderella or Snow White) being pursued by a prince charming while he was on bended knee which could mean that’s the way he thought it was supposed to happen.  Buck did the same thing with Natalia in 6x15 and even though he didn’t get down on one knee, he did treat her injured hand the same way Eddie treated Ana’s so there’s that.

Before proceeding, please remember 9-1-1 is very intentional with the words they include in their scripts so everything that's said by the characters likely means something.

Is Eddie doing it for Christopher or for himself?

Let’s find out shall we…

Both Shannon and Ana were focused on the fact that Eddie’s a good and great dad (Shannon’s words) and/or an amazing father (Ana’s words) and so far, M’s comment in 7x1 was focused solely on Chris and not Eddie but I believe it was done on purpose.

In 2x17, Shannon said, “You’re a good dad… you’re a great dad” after Eddie suggested they reconcile so they could be a family again.  But she announced she wasn’t pregnant and that it changed things for her even though he said it didn’t for him.  She went on to say that she wouldn’t do it again before she was ready because she was still learning how to be “someone’s mother” (not Chris’ mother but someone’s) and maybe someday she would learn how to be “someone’s wife” (not Eddie’s wife but someone’s) then she suggested they get a divorce.  Did she love Chris?  Yes!  And she wrote him a letter but she also included that she would love him from a distance because she didn’t think she was one of the things he needed in his life.

During their conversation, Eddie pointed to Chris and he used him as a shield for his heart the same way he always has.  He said, “Being his father taught me more about being a man than war ever did” and reminder, he was looking for a sign to be with her again and he thought her being pregnant was it but she wasn’t.

In 5x3, during their breakup, Ana said, “You’re an amazing father” but here’s another quick reminder, Eddie pointed to Chris instead of himself when he said, “Chris loves you so much”. 

He never said he loved her and his response was reminiscent of the conversation he had with Shannon especially since Eddie was looking for someone for Chris instead of for himself.  Before the blackout, the audience didn’t see how Ana ended up taking care of Chris but Eddie told Buck that she was a Godsend for taking care of him while he was working.  So the question is, did she volunteer to do it like M offered to chaperone Chris’ date in 7x1?  Reminder, Carla was back and she helped Buck take care of Chris after Eddie was shot in 4x14 so why was Ana there during the blackout instead of Chris’ home healthcare aide?  It’s obvious she still had her apartment and we know this because when Eddie went home, he told her “Maybe you should go home first!”

When Buck told Eddie to breakup with Ana, before he suggested it, Eddie was planning to “stick it out” but when Buck questioned him about it, he responded, “My kid loves her” and Buck asked, “Is that enough?”  (I always thought Buck was asking for himself and I think I might have been right.)  It was a valid question because earlier in the day, Eddie told the team that Buck takes Chris to the zoo all the time and that he had the whole place memorized.  Therefore, it appears the GA was the target for their comments then too since Ana was staying with Chris but no one ever said she did anything other than take care of him during the blackout.  Eddie never mentioned her taking Chris to the zoo and she used to be his school teacher so there’s that.

In 7x1, M said, “Your son has game” 🧐 and that was it.  That was her one line in the entire 5.689 seconds she was on screen and her comment pointed directly at Chris.  IMO, she said it to remind the audience how Eddie has to be with someone who wants to be there for both him and Chris and there’s only one person who fits that description and it’s Buck.  Also, she didn’t address Chris by his name and Eddie’s response to her was “Yeah, he has video game”.

Reminder, who exactly has Eddie played video games with and there was sexual tension beforehand?  BUCK!  And don’t forget, he asked Eddie, “You want to go for the title?”

Also, Buck has ALWAYS focused on Eddie and Chris.  Eddie and Buck discussed Chris’s skateboarding in 3x12, his two weeks at summer camp in 3x18, him running away to Buck’s loft in 4x8, Chris’ nightmares in 5x10 along with Chris’ homework in 5x14 and 6x13.  These are just a handful of the conversations they’ve had about their son.

Also, in 2x4, Buck told Maddie, “He’s a really great dad” but it’s important to note that Buck’s attention was on helping both Eddie and Chris.  He was trying to figure out how to help Eddie so Eddie could get the care he needed for Chris.

Buck’s different from the women Eddie was married to, dated or he’s currently trying to determine what they are because it’s not just Eddie since he has a son which means whoever he dates has to be aware of that fact and they have to be there for both Eddie and Chris.  The truth is Chris has viewed Buck to be one of his parents for years (related post linked here).

In 5x17, Ramon asked Eddie if he was working to be better “For Christopher?” but Eddie responded with a head shake of no, then replied, “For myself!” (related post linked here).  It appears Eddie’s finally trying to do something for himself but whatever he ends up doing it also has to include Chris.  Please don’t misunderstand me because I understand Eddie already knows this but the magic and chemistry he’s trying to recreate is obsolete since he was a literal teenager when he experienced it.  He’s a grown man now and the things he wants for himself are different.  He was the one who said he was 14 when he met Shannon and 18 when they reconnected but it appears the realization hasn’t registered for him yet.  He’s looking for a feeling he had when he was a child but it’s not the same thing as looking for something as an adult.

Shannon’s own admission in 2x17 illustrated how she didn’t want to be there for them since she wanted to leave.  Ana’s own admission illustrated how she was waiting for Eddie to love her too but she was willing to be a stepmom to Chris while she waited.  It’s still too early to tell what M is going to admit (if anything at all and hopefully she’ll be gone soon so it won’t matter) but based on the way Eddie responded to seeing the picture of Chris and Shannon being face down on his desk and then seeing it face up again after Chris read Shannon’s letter in 7x1, it appears he’ll be making a decision about M really soon because he’s not going to get involved with anyone else he’s not planning to have a future with because if he does and they leave, it will prove Chris’ ideology about women always leaving.  Reminder, in 4x8, Buck told Chris “I’m not going anywhere” and he hasn’t.

Buck

Make no mistake, Eddie already has MAGIC, CHEMISTRY, SEXUAL TENSION and everything else with Buck.  But the question is, does he know it?  I think he does especially since he nodded his head during the kitchen scene like he was down for whatever Buck was offering and I think they may have done more than play video games that night (related post linked here).

In 7x1, Eddie’s face after Buck said he broke up with Natalia was priceless.  It kind of looked like he’d been waiting for it to happen and his facial expression was one of pure unadulterated smugness filled with both joy and glee.  It looked like he wanted to say, “Ahh $hit, finally I can get my boyfriend back.”

Reminder, EDDIE NEVER SAID HE’S DATING M!  Therefore, I don’t believe Eddie and M are dating and if they are, I don’t think it’s serious.  During their conversation in the locker room, Buck assumed he was and he was the one who said it but Eddie didn’t respond except for to suggest Buck take Natalia with him for go karting.

Here’s their conversation in text.

Buck: “Uh hey so do you have any plans for the weekend?  I was thinking about go karting, there’s a place out in the desert… supposed to be a blast.”

Eddie: “Can’t this weekend.  I got a big date.  First date.”

Buck: “Uh, I thought everything was going great with Marisol.”

Eddie:  “It’s not my date, it’s Christopher’s.”

Buck:  “Oh no.”

Eddie:  “He invited this girl from his math class, Penny over on Saturday and Marisol agreed to help me chaperone.”

Buck:  “I see so it’s actually your date.”

Eddie: 👀 (no response to Buck’s comment and he didn’t say they were dating)  “Why don’t you invite Natalia go karting, I’m sure she’d love it.”

Buck: “We uh… we broke up.”

Eddie: 🤪😜🙃😁😊💕

Eddie did not respond to Buck’s comment about it actually being Eddie’s date and Eddie was so slick with his non response that Buck fell right into it and revealed they broke up.  Reminder, Eddie didn’t ask Buck to talk to Chris until AFTER Buck admitted he was single.  Additionally, Eddie called Buck a “reformed player” which means Buck’s told him he’s no longer Buck 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever upgrade of himself he’s up to now.  Furthermore, Eddie said M agreed to chaperone Chris’ first date, therefore he didn’t ask her to do it.  Buck also said he thought things were going great with M and it was very reminiscent of the way he said he thought things were going great with Ana in 5x2.

The look on Eddie’s face illustrated how he was waiting for Buck to end his relationship with Natalia and now that he has, Eddie might remember the words he told Chimney in 3x13, “Tomorrow is not promised” and he may finally tell Buck that he loves him.  But also, don’t forget, Eddie was hurt by that “SHE SEES ME” 🙄 raggedy @ss comment Buck made in 6x15 and I still hope it’ll resurface before they confess their love because that cut him deep, especially since Eddie’s always SEEN him and he still does.

The point of this post is that it's evident Eddie’s been hanging out with M but based on the words he used during his conversation with Buck and RG’s comments during his interviews about Eddie, it appears they’re in an undetermined status of a friendship, relationship or whatever.  After reading RG’s interviews, based solely on the things he said in them, I reexamined Eddie’s idea of M and I posted that he didn’t believe things would get too serious with her (related post linked here) and it appears I may have been correct.  Since Buck was being SEEN by someone he had just met, it seems Eddie went looking for a friend to hang out and have fun with and Pepa’s response to him in 6x14 about him spending time on Saturdays having a Cafecito along with going antiquing (not too sure about that one but ok) adds further credence to whatever he has with M because he’s supposed to be having fun and I think that’s what they’re doing.  RG said Eddie’s instincts have always been to enter a monogamous relationship but right now he’s taking calculated steps.  Also, he questioned if Chris is happy for Eddie to be dating M or if he’s actually ok with it.  So apparently, the audience will have to wait and see where it goes.

IMO, M is there to point the GA towards Buck’s importance in Eddie’s and Chris’ lives.  How will she do that?  When the GA sees her, they should ask themselves, why Eddie goes to Buck for coparenting help instead of to the woman he’s dating/hanging out with.  It should also cause them to take a closer look at his friendship with her and figure out, "Oh, it’s not serious because if it was, he would ask her for assistance".

Will Eddie end whatever he’s doing with M before 7x5 airs?  HOPEFULLY, he will because he already has magic and chemistry with Buck but only the showrunner, writers and producers know the answer to that question.

[alanaartdream]

Funny thing happened on one of my TikTok videos where I was drawing and talking about fairly odd parents; my fairy Timmy au; and Nicktoons unite

And I had a comment on one of them

Asking

*Danny PHANTOM has a FANDOM 😭*

With that crying emoji with it and I responded that yeah it does like I was surprised someone would ask like that being as Danny phantom was one of nicktoons most popular cartoons along with fairly odd parents invader zim; Jimmy neutron and SpongeBob for quite awhile until well Nickelodeon made SpongeBob their golden child out of its cartoons and devoted all it’s attention to it ignoring it’s other cartoons series (it kinda reflects in the nicktoons unite games because when those games started you could see they tried to include all the most popular cartoons main characters as it’s focused but as the game started to hit the end of their run the games got more and more focused on making SpongeBob the main focus witch is kinda sad they went that way)

Like I live in Australia 🇦🇺 and grew up in Australia 🇦🇺 so not all the nicktoons shows or games made it to here or were not advertised much other here ( also like most Australian families didn’t have foxtel networks like Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon; like in mine it was enithr have internet cable or tv cable and we went with having internet cable so would end up watching Danny phantom on YouTube as well as watching others game play of nicktoons unite games on there as well; think I enjoyed watching the cut scenes most)

So my guess that commenter didn’t really get to see Danny phantom cartoons ever being as here in Australia most of us got to watch Nickelodeon cartoons through abc kids channel here a lot of fairly odd parents cartoons made it on there and I think jimmy Timmy power hour made it onto there

(I was obsessed with cartoons as a kid and became obsessed with anime as a teenager; those both became a hyperfixtion for my adhd brain and I can tell you kid and teenager me REALLY hated those reality TV shows that got into way of cartoons/ anime I wanted to watch

I hated those sidcoms that were not cartoons because they stated to replace cartoons I enjoyed on other free to air channels here in Australia

Think I wasn’t the only kid who hated those I remember abc kids network asking it’s kid fans what they wanted on the network and a lot were asking for anime content so not many wanted those sitcoms)

So my guess is they only knew a handful of the nicktoons because probably only got to see only a handful of the cartoons from where they were from (what I do know Australia got SpongeBob on channel 10 network in the mornings I believe; not sure wasn’t as into SpongeBob as many others were I was more into fairly odd parents; invader zim; a very beavers cat dog Rugrats and Aaaahhh! Real monsters!

Ok now that I think about it it was abc kids and channel ten that would air Nickelodeon cartoons/shows to Australian audiences one would do mornings or Saturday mornings while the other would do afternoons after school

You had to get the times just right to watch your favourite shows

And I know jimmy neutron did well here because his movie did make it here as did fairly odd parents because that ended up showing until like seasons 6-7 on abc kids in afternoons then just stopped so kids knew about those cartoons heck avatar last air bender ended up on that network as well for a time but the thing was invader Zim and Danny phantom didn’t end up on either of those free to air tv; you had to watch on YouTube or a friend would have dvd box set of the show and you could watch it from them (that’s how as a teenager I got to see invader zim and Danny phantom I had to go to YouTube for that)

So maybe that’s why half don’t understand Danny’s family/ friends got his back while many misunderstood how Timmy’s life truly sucked for him or why he needed Wanda & Cosmo

They may not of gotten many episodes to go off on and maybe what other fans have told them or maybe I’m overthinking things

[20kmemesunderthesea]

AMC's Nautilus

Action, political intrigue, plot twists and a healthy amount of sea monster skirmishes:

These are just some of the many reason why even those unfamiliar with the works of Jules Verne will find "Nautilus" to be an engaging SciFi adventure series.

Here are my (spoiler-free) thoughts on the show.

Note: as I write this, "Nautilus" is airing only on SVT: This is How I Watched it Living Outside of Sweden

When I heard that there was going to be a TV series about Captain Nemo's backstory, I was mightily aprehensive. The main reason for this apprehension was the mere fact that Captain Nemo's past is so dark and tragic. Thankfully, the series begins after the horrific events of the 1857 rebellion and just as the Nautilus is launched. What happened to Nemo's family is shown in flashbacks which explain the events without being graphic.

When I began the show, I honestly had very low expectations. I didn't really expect to like it. To my delighted asonishment, it turned out to be one of the best film tributes to Jules Verne I've ever seen - no hyperbole.

Throughout the series, there are fight scenes, periodic depictions of people bleeding and a couple "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" innuendo jokes, so I wouldn't watch it with a small child, but I think it would be appropriate to watch with most young teenagers (13+).

I believe both well-read Jules Verne fans and those who've hardly heard the name "Captain Nemo" will enjoy the intriguing storyline, likable characters and aesthetic scenery. There are many other factors which made me fall in love with "Nautilus" as well:

The Man of the Seas

The character of Captain Nemo has always facinated me. I was blown away by how perfectly and accurately Captain Nemo was portrayed in this series. Shazad Latif, in my opinion, is an immaculate Captain Nemo and he really brought the character to life with all his complexities. Out of all the film portrayals of Captain Nemo I've seen, I'd have to say his has been by far my favorite.

Tributes to Indian History and Culture

I'm American an my husband is Indian. He and I were both very impressed with the way in which Indian culture and history were presented. I want to see more shows like this to teach our son about his heritage. 

Many of the action scenes reminded me of South Indian cinema. In one episode there is a scene where the Nautilus crew is playing cricket against some Englishmen, which may seem a little disconnected from the rest of the story, but Bollywood fans may recognize it as a delightful tribute to "Lagaan."

The Writers Were Well-Verse in Vernian Lore

Although the story wasn't 100% accurate to the book, the writers obviously had read Verne's books and knew the nuances of Nemo's story and background quite throughly.

There were certain details which made me excited, such as when Nemo has an enigmatic exchange with an Englishman in which they greet each other warmly and seem to be thanking each other for...something. Nemo ends the conversation by saying, "Give my regards to Phileas!"

In Verne's other classic, "Around the World in 80 Days," Princess Aouda is the widow of the Raj of Bundelkhand. Since Jules Verne often dropped little hints that his books existed in the same universe, I always wondered if Aouda and Nemo were distantly related, since Bundelkhand is Nemo's kingdom of origin.

A question is posed: in this conversation, was Nemo thanking the Foggs for saving someone he cared about? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone address the detail that Aouda and Nemo might be relatives.

Tributes to the artwork of Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou

I noticed several shots which were obvious tributes to the first-edition illustrations of Jules Verne's classics, such as Captain Nemo standing on the submarine deck with his spyglass, and the map of Lincoln Island on a cave wall. Those details absolutely thrilled me! 

Everything I've Ever Wanted in a Verne-Inspired TV Series - Except for That Cliffhanger!

Everything about this show absolutely floored me. It was everything I could have hoped for in a Captain Nemo TV series...and then it ended.

Such a well-done series ending with fairly significant loose ends felt like a punch in the gut more forceful than the maelstrom itself. I've been trying not to let it overshadow the rest of the show. I wish with all my heart that there could be a season two!

If anyone's curiosity gets the better of them, I compiled a list HERE of questions I desperately want to know the answers to. I hope someone may be able to answer my questions one day!

I want NEED more!

While I'm still coping with my post-series let down, I find myself pining away for more shows like this; shows based off of classic adventure novels which honor the spirit of the origional author.

I want shows which are imaginative, exciting and engaging, but have snippets of real-life science, culture and history woven in. Incidentally, I daresay these are the same elements which make the stories of Jules Verne himself so timeless.

[thislovintime]

Remembering David Jones, and sending thoughts to his family and friends.

(Footage in this edit from the Blu-ray set, Getty Images, Australian TV, Extra, the 1990s documentary; audio 1 from Peter's 1999 interview with GOLD 104.5.)

“Genuine, reliable and huggable, Peter is a natural person — really gets off on talent — loves other musicians and can jam along with the best of ‘em. I saw him holding his own with Hendrix, Stills, Young. He encouraged me no end. Bought me my first guitar and my first drum kit. […] He used to walk with a swagger, shining his arms with a confident air. He calmed hysteria, and lifted depression. ‘Dried banana, anybody? Piece of orange?’ — smiling, waving, running his hands through his hair. He knew all the crew by their first names. Kids crying at his feet he lifted and hugged like a father calming a child. […] He’s the most musically talented of us all by a mile. His songs are real. ‘For Pete’s Sake’ — which replaced the Monkees Theme at the end of some of the shows of the second season — is one of my all-time favorite songs by anybody. I’ve joked a lot about Peter giving everything away. But it was true. He was always giving his spare room to someone who needed it for the night — anyone. And he always seemed far away somewhere — in a different space. But I’m glad I know him. Of all the things he gave me, he gave me lots of laughs — and food for thought.” - Davy Jones, They Made A Monkee Out Of Me (1988) “I enjoyed [Micky] the most, respected Mike the most, and loved Davy the most.” - Peter Tork, Hartford Courant, February 26, 1982 “Davy adored performing, and adored meeting and greeting his fans. He was tireless in making himself available to sing a song, do a dance, shake a hand; whatever was asked. I had heart-to-heart moments with him that were among the best in my life. I was blessed to know and work closely with him. He was one in about 6 billion, give or take. We won’t see his like again. He left much too soon. I share your sadness. Thank you again for this chance to contribute. God bless and keep you all.” - Peter Tork in a note for a Pennsylvania memorial event for Davy, also shared via Peter’s official Facebook page, 2012 Peter Tork: “He was a master of many aspects of this kind of thing [entertaining], and, you know, and we had some very wonderful personal connections, and I’m really sad to see all that gone.” Q: “He just seemed to be a fun guy. I know he loved horses.” PT: “Sure did.” Q: “And obviously loved Peter.” PT: “Sure did. Loved him.” - 94.5 FM (Phoenix), 2013 “[Micky] and Mike and I have a very cordial relationship and share a lot of common topics. We go to lunch together when we’re all in town and have a good time. I love and respect each of these guys in their own way, although the real joys that I shared with Davy were special. At one point we had some good hard connections but as the years rolled on, those things faded away. But I am sorry to see Davy go. He was the one member in the group that I had the strongest human connection with. I still have two guys that I love and respect left from the band, but we share a different dynamic.” - Peter Tork, Review Mag, May 27, 2016

[noahsartt]

My reservations with the 2022 Interview with the Vampire tv series:

My thoughts on amc’s Interview with the Vampire (2022) tv series compared to the 1976 source material and what I liked about the 1994 movie.

Some reflections before the second season airs. I watched the series as it was coming out in 2022, so these thoughts have been sitting for over a year.

This is a subjective critique of the show, not me hating on it. I liked the show a lot & watched it twice. Many of the key changes were extremely creative ways of exploring those characters from new perspectives, instead of just pointlessly remaking something that's been done before. Distinct creative change should be the basis of every remake, no point is making something 'new' if there's nothing new about it. This show knew that, and the changes for the most part were written beautifully. ...But the movie is still my favourite despite its many flaws. Camp classic right there.

Issues with the show:

Making it take place 100 years later, it ruins the specific aesthetic of the book for me. (But I understand they had to in order to re-write Louis & Claudia as black).

Aging up Claudia. The way Bailey Bass played Claudia was amazing, no notes at all for her. I just wish they kept her younger because that was a very symbolic part of what made Claudia’s original character so tragic. She suffers in an entirely different way to Louis because of her age. New Claudia is supposed to be in the body of a 14 year old, but the actress was 18/19 so she looks much older already,  and no matter how well she played it, the age factor can’t be helped. Being stuck eternally in the body of a 5 year old (book) is so different to a 14 year old, who looks much older (tv show). Kirsten Dunst who was 10 in the movie, was able to play the little child - adult vampire progression a lot better. People say Claudia's original age is too 'disturbing' to see on screen... but that's the character...

Daniel being old… WHY?? Just so they could tie together the storyline or him meeting Armand multiple decades before ???? I only read IWTV and some of the TVL so I don't know everything that happens down the line for him, or what amc plans for the character in the show... but I don't understand the aging up except for 'diversity' reasons. Which, ok, but just to check a box? Louis and Claudia's race change make sense as a creative decision. But the Daniel in the book and film is a 20-something year old which is why he's so fascinated by Louis' 'gift', and doesn't understand the message Louis is sending, instead wanting to become a vampire too. Why would old Daniel want those same things? Changing Daniel's age is such an inherent thing... it's like if they didn't make Lestat blond. Eric Bogosian plays him funny though, I will say that. Christian Slater kind of just sat there.

Louis having no money and needing Lestat's financial support for his business ventures????? When it’s supposed to be Lestat leeching off Louis' estate … WHY. Why did they change something so fundamental about their dynamic. Lestat moves in because he needs wealth and Louis has it. And then he starts acting like it's both of theirs and Louis just lets him. Funniest thing ever. But in the show Louis moves in with him instead. That's just wrong.

Louis asking (basically begging) Lestat to make Claudia when Lestat is supposed to be the one to do it in order to ensure Louis doesn't leave him. Another fundamental part of their relationship that just got flipped around completely... and for what? Why did it change the things it didn't need to?

Antoinette... girl why are you there... we don't need more characters. Go away.

The guy that Louis gets with to make Lestat jealous …. why is he there either? In the book they don't need to bring other people in to irritate each other.

One of the most perfect scenes from the film was when Lestat was tormenting that girl and trying to get Louis to kill her. The show’s version with the opera singer wasn’t the same. The original scene is such a good depiction of their dynamic with each other: Lestat's eccentric killing methods and Louis’ shame and guilt. The show’s version didn’t live up to it. That scene was so excellent in what it set out to do. It captured their back and forth in such a simple way. That dynamic follows them forever, even as Louis begins to accept his nature, that spark of annoyance towards Lestat is ready to become a full fire at any moment. That scene is enough to be a full character study. The show has little bits here and there which capture something similar. But they should have recreated that scene at least.

Claudia and Lestat's relationship evolving from enjoying each others company and similarities, to detesting each other and competing for Louis’ affection. They didn’t spend enough time on Lestat and Claudia’s relationship in the show to fully demonstrate that, only a few scenes of them driving together and hunting together at the beginning. Even the two hour movie found a way to intergrade that better. Their relationship and the way Claudia is so starkly similar to Lestat when they move to Paris, is one of the my favourite parts of the book to analyse. Louis leaving Lestat and moving all the way across the ocean, only to be reminded of him in everything Claudia did. The show did have some purposeful parallels between Lestat and Claudia in the dialogue which I appreciate, I hope that continues in season 2.

Louis being in on Claudia's plan to kill Lestat and even being the one to finish off Lestat when it’s supposed to be Claudia’s idea on her own...?? Lestat's death is supposed to be an "ok, I guess that was necessary, time to move on with our lives now," moment for Louis. But he wasn't supposed to have the courage or the want to be the one to do it himself. He was hesitant and regretful in the show, but he still slit his throat... it was supposed to be Claudia alone. Credit where credit is due, the scene was beautifully filmed, the red blood on white cloth looked incredible and the entire scene captured the tone of devastation that the movie didn't. It was all very quick and emotionless in the movie.

Even though I hate Br*d Pitt's acting, his Louis was way more accurate to the book Louis. He basically was the embodiment of book Louis. Just sad and whiny the entire time. New Louis had more to him, I think Jacob Anderson even said in an interview that it was a purposeful decision to give Louis more grit. It's not a change I appreciated because it alters the original character too much. You can't change something that fundamental. Just ugh. In the show, Louis is more angry than pathetically sad, it’s very different to how the character was originally written. 

Sam Reid’s Lestat is pretty on the nose but still more serious than the original Lestat & Tom Cruise’s portrayal which was the perfect level of camp and eccentric. Tom cruise was playing Lestat from just IWTV but Sam Reid is playing him with the baggage of his entire life as written in the other books, maybe that's why he is different. Maybe his performance is even better because of it. I haven't read the other books so I can't really say.

I won't say anything about Armand (yet) because he hasn’t had his time to shine. We’ll see after season 2. I loved Antonio Banderas as Armand, and even though he was very different from how book Armand was, it was a change I liked. New Armand is going to be more accurate to the books I believe, but i didn’t like how Armand was there the entire time Louis was being interviewed… why...

Maybe I am one of the few that doesn't overtly appreciate the 'fresh' take of this story. Many of the things that draw me to the book and the movie have been taken away in this adaptation.

---

I recommend this fan fiction that explores the idea of Louis being a person of colour in the context of the original book's 1700s timeline. It explores the intersectionality of Louis' struggle with vampirism, queerness & race while still being authentic to the book. Go read it.

In the Author's words: This is NOT a rewrite of the AMC TV show, nor does it intend to be. This is us making one (subtextually plausible) change to canon in order to 1) explore underlying issues with the source material and 2) see how it affects the way the events of IWTV played out.

Ok that's it. Will maybe add to this when the second season airs. For months, this was just for me in my notes app but what is tumblr for if not to air out my locked away ideas.

[thenightling]

What's going on in regard to Neil Gaiman. What we know thus far? Early this morning several online news sources posted stories that Neil Gaiman had been accused of "sexual assault." I put that in quotations because roughly one year ago I saw similar headlines in regard to Danny Elfman, which, when you actually read the articles he was mostly being accused of being creepy and perhaps some sexual harassment, i.e. walking around naked in front two accusers, and telling at least one of them that he liked to watch them sleep. The headlines in regard to Danny Elfman were so distorted that the Internet seemed convinced he had r8ped someone and was even arrested. (He was never arrested). Danny Elfman denied the accusations and things quieted down. Now back to Neil Gaiman. The articles seemed dubious at best. I'm NOT doubting any potential victim. I am doubting the writers of the articles. I noticed very careful wording so that the articles could infer and suggest that Neil Gaiman may have assaulted the women but the only thing actually confirmed in the article was that these two women (in their twenties) had been in a consensual relationship with Neil Gaiman. The intimacy, apparently, was "rough." and "painful." Supposedly Neil even told one of them "You need to be punished." and he used his belt on her. This sounds like badly handled BDSM. Even the cartoon Family Guy will tell you that you need a proper "safe word." Anyway, if you read the articles carefully, at no point do they say the women said the encounter was non-consensual. Just that it hurt. And it was unpleasant. They even go out of their way to say that it was consensual but that part seems buried under the sensationalism and flashy headlines. I understand that the human brain is still developing until age twenty-five. And that makes any relationship with someone under the age of twenty-five (even if legal) questionable and uncomfortable. But based on my math it seems the youngest of the women was twenty-six and she, herself, has said the relationship was consensual.

No, it is NOT a good idea to get sexually involved with your child's nanny (as one of them was). No, it is not a good idea to get involved with anyone under the age of twenty-five if you are older. However, I will NOT condemn anyone over the age of twenty-five in a consenting relationship, no matter the age gap. That is agism. And I will not diminish a woman's agency and infantilize her because "Eww, old men are icky!" Cher is a happy relationship with a man forty-years her Jr. And Michael Sheen's wife is younger than him but she does not feel "groomed" because of the age gap.

Yes, there's an uneven power dynamic but as uncomfortable as that might be, it is also not illegal. And it's kind of unfair. Neil Gaiman is pretty much a rock star among authors right now. Eight TV shows based on his characters in less than ten years is rare for a writer. Who could possibly have an even power dynamic with him? Stephen King? Sorry, he's married. Now we come to later in the day. The Internet has heavily condemned Neil Gaiman as a creep, a groomer, a perv, etc... One of Neil Gaiman's "Victims" attempts to clear the air over on X (formerly Twitter) by stating that her words were taken out of context by a conservative podcast. Conservatives have had it in for Neil Gaiman for his very liberal and vocal political views, including being pro-trans rights. But this wasn't good enough.

“It's Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” – Mark Twain.

The woman, who is one of the two supposed-accusers, is insisting that her words are being taken out of context, that her relationship with Neil Gaiman was consensual. And she is sorry all of this is happening. Those who wanted to believe Neil Gaiman to be a villain in this story couldn't accept her statements and started to over-analyze her wording, calling out things like the wording "It became consensual" which, I admit, is a very weird choice of words, but I think it was in regard to so many people telling her that at her age (Mid-twenties) she didn't really have agency, and he took advantage of her idolizing him. I think she was trying to tiptoe around those who would go "Oh, honey, it was an uneven power dynamic and your brain wasn't fully developed even if you were legally an adult." But alas it didn't work. So it shifted from "Believe all women" to "Believe all women except if they recant or say their words were twisted out of context." I, myself, was scolded for not "Listening to the victim" so I had to point out to the person that at no point did any of the articles actually quote the supposed victims in regard to what Neil Gaiman supposedly did to them. There are no direct quotes. Things are just implied. So one "victim" is recanting. And I can't tell you how accurate it is but apparently one of the two (possibly the one recanting) is prone to "false memories" because of a psychological condition. Too many people are poopooing this but I have actually known someone formerly very close to me who was the victim of her own false memories. It was because of a personality disorder. Disorders like bipolar disorder, histrionic personality disorder, Dissociation, certain forms of maladaptive day dreaming, and even taking the wrong or mis-prescribed medications (anti-psychotics in someone who doesn't need them can cause an adverse reaction). This is ALL that we know so far. "You wouldn't defend him if he wasn't your favorite author." Actually, he's not. I went through a several year Sandman obsession but I'm also obsessed with Dracula, Faust, Frankenstein's monster (literary version), and most Gothic literature. It cycles. It's hard for me to have a favorite author. It varies based on my mood. Right now it might be the late Ray Bradbury. I defended David Bowie when the Internet condemned him as a ped0phile, even though the supposed victim even tried to tell everyone that they got the story all wrong. It's true she was an underage groupie but she had a list of rockstars she wanted to sleep with and she bragged (and still brags) about tricking Bowie by waiting until he was high and convincing him that she was an adult.

I defended Danny Elfman when headlines spread online that said things like "Second victim of sexual assault accuses Danny Elfman" but when you click the article it was actually sexual harrassement and Danny Elfman, of course, denied it happened. And those accusations quietly died down and were very obviously exaggerated by certain dubious "news" sources. Some people were so quick to want to condemn him that they used his song "Little girls" as proof that Danny Elfman was a pervert even though that song, ironically, was meant to call out and shame sexual abuse in Hollywood. The character who narrates the song is caught in the end. And in the case of Neil Gaiman I will wait and see because right now it looks like the accusations and articles are actually contradicting the own supposed accusers. I don't like this "believe all women except if they say that they're being misquoted" nonsense.