The Rules of Ghosts and Spooks
While thinking over the ending of Closure, I was struck with a realization.
The late Tena Mulder appears before her son in the same spectral form Samantha also later visits with... which should be impossible, as she and her daughter died from different causes. But if, as the show posits, they are, that suddenly broadens out the horizon of paranormal visitations... and oddly, fits into established lore.
WHO SEES THE DEAD?
Previous to Closure, Mulder hadn't been able to see ghosts without the help of Native American rituals or varied paranormal means. It was his partner, Scully, that was constantly visited by the unnatural (posts here and here.)
But if, as Closure posits, Samantha Mulder's form was a ghost-- albeit a form of starlight-- like Tena's, that leads us to some interesting conclusions.
Mulder saw the ghost of his father on an astral plane, missed the ghost of his mother in his sleep, and saw the ghost of his sister in the forest.
Scully saw the ghost of her father and daughter, and heard the voice of her deceased sister.
The victims of various paranormal visitations or reincarnated spirits only saw their would-be attacker if they had a personal connection to that phantom or were about to join them in the afterlife.
The victims of said visitations or reincarnations who were unharmed were being warned about an impending same fate (Elegy.)
In short, The X-Files posits anyone can see a ghost... but only under very specific conditions.
The ghosts Scully and Mulder saw were both linked back to themselves-- each visitation was from their loved ones.
The MOTWs followed this schema, too: villains saw their victims (Beyond the Sea, Miracle Man); the dying saw ghosts if near them (Elegy); gray-area characters saw the ghosts of the people they've let down or betrayed (Fresh Bones, The List.)
(If that be the case... guess S9 Krycek was pretty close to Mulder.)
But what sets apart the Clyde Bruckmans or Melissa and Maggie Scullys-- and even Scully herself-- from the common man?
There seem to be select groups of the population with inherited or developed supernatural ability, be it experiencing visions from the future or sensing presences from other living entities. The maternal Scully lines canonically to fall into this category, with Maggie receiving foretellings in her dreams and Melissa communing with her sister's aura or Scully herself being pulled into unwanted visitations with the Dead: bearing witness to Luthor Lee Boggs's transformations, being visited by Mulder in her dreams and elegies in her waking nightmares, hearing her sister's voice, seeing her daughter's form, and foretelling the deaths of her father and partner.
Mulder doesn't fit into the former category (until S9-- curse you, Krycek-- then never again) because his visitations were "only" personal in nature (i.e. his family.)
CONCLUSION
Which leaves one to wonder... how many ghosts have Mulder and Scully been visited by and not seen?
Thanks for reading~
Enjoy!
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Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan thoughts:
For this post if I could simply embed the entire movie and just write the word, ‘queer’ I would. Unfortunately you are all stuck with this, happy pride month!
Spoilers for the entire movie will be featured in this post
Going forth:
- I know what the kobayashi maru is so I know they’re not in danger but that’s some good acting Bones
- “‘Physician heal thyself.’” “Is that all you’ve got to say? What about my performance?” “I’m not a drama critic.” Thinking about this pose thinking about this pose thinking about thi-
- “Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor.” He’s feeling something and projecting
- “Aren’t you dead?” That’s certainly a way to greet your husband
- They’re so cute. And sad. And cute.
- tiny guys hehe. The boots got sluttier somehow
- McCoy got him glasses cause he can’t read the book without it and bring up that post that’s saying how Spock and McCoy’s gifts go together but McCoy got the logical thing and Spock got the emotional one
- Don’t quote me on this but the things I would do to that man… I wouldn’t.. but holy shit that outfit is killing me.
- hi checkov
- Carol Marcus? Doesn’t she have Kirk’s-? okay then I won’t spoil that just yet
- Creature in a jar moving under the sand
- BOTANY BAY????? Oh wait a sec I should’ve seen that coming it’s called wrath of khan
- Did they kill Chekov?
- hello Khan. That’s a very long and dramatic reveal he’s kinda hot tho
- Thinking about genetic engineering and augmentation and how they’re illegal but star trek presents cases where people now exist and it’s not the fault of the person that they are what they are so they have to question if an entire person should be illegal because of the actions of others… anyway I don’t wanna get deep into this right now, back to the movie
- Are they going to kill Chekov? (edit: not sure why I’m so fixated on thinking they’re gonna)
- WOW THAT IS CERTAINLY A SWEAT DROP
- brain worms… this sounds recently familiar
- HES READING HIS BOOK WITH THE GLASSES THEY DIDNT NEED TO SHOW HIM DOING THAT BUT THEY DID AND ITS ADORABLE OMG
- The conversation between Savik and Spock is so precious. And it’s in Vulcan. And she says “He’s more human than I expected” and it’s like that’s her commenting on Spock’s husband
- Kirk does not want to do this inspection
- McCoy does a little bounce
- “For everything there is a first time. Wouldn’t you agree, admiral” “mmhhmm” “Would you like a tranquilizer?” *Kirk shakes his head*
- I think this one has a more solid plot. I’m enjoying so far :)
- Does McCoy serve on this ship or is he just following along?
- (Had to stop watching around here because I left for the weekend so these thoughts are potentially a bit different)
- wowah! Cool ship!
- uh oh. Chekov on the monitor with the brain worm!
- khan is kinda- yeahh
- I LOVE SAAVIK! RAHHH! Also apparently Saavik is canonically half Vulcan half Romulan according to the trivia
- I like how Bones is just there :)
- Putting Spock in black… they knew what they were doing
- They’re husbands your honour. Spock knows Kirk wants to take command and isn’t to proud to get in the way of making his wife happy
- “You are my superior officer. You are also my friend. I have been and always shall be yours.” Kissing would have been less romantic
- George Takei’s voice is majestic
- “He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him. I’ll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.” Not obsessive at all.. nope this is something completely and totally normal to say about your nemesis
- “Uhura, have Doctor McCoy join us (Kirk and Spock) in my quarters.” Hmmmmm.. gotta inform the whole polycule about the shady government experiment
- lmao BOTH Spock and McCoy know who Carol Marcus is
- oh so terraforming… NEVERMIND REALLY FAST TERRAFORMING
- “Really, Dr. McCoy, you must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing.” Flirting, gentlemen?
- How and why does Starfleet continually put Spock and McCoy together? Like this alert would be sent out 24/7
- Spock and his awesome daughter Saavik
- falling
- Kirk with the breast flap down
- such a good moment… such a great moment (sorry for shitty photos)
- Kirk has to put on his little glasses <3
- Kirk does NOT fuck around
- Poor Scotty. He’s got so much emotion about his dead crew mate and the doctor apologizing to him 🥺🥺🥺
- Saavik making up rules to make sure the admiral is safe. Love her.
- “Jim, be careful.” “We will.” MCCOY IS SO BITTER. Like ‘no wishes of luck for me, Spock? Fuck you!’
- The collar on that uniform is silly
- hehe McCoy got scared by a rat. OH HE ALSO GOT SCARED BY A DEAD BODY
- Kirk’s little disappointed “oh my god” as he finds Chekov in the cupboard
- “Suppose they went nowhere.” “Then this’ll be your big chance to get away from it all.” McCoy’s not leaving Kirk, but he still looks like he wants to strangle him sometimes
- Kirk not afraid to punch a bitch
- WAIT THATS KIRKS SON?!? Isn’t it?? I thought David was Carol’s brother. But nope!
- aww dammnit I knew they were still mind controlled :/
- Saavik saving David. Y’know it would be pretty cool if there was something about Saavik, David, and Johanna meeting and maybe serving on a ship of their own.. idk just thoughts.
- ewwww brain worm.
- OH THE ECHOING “KHANNN”
- mmmm Kirk without the jacket. The white turtleneck with sleeves… also McCoy and Saavik are slaying with their turquoise and orange turtlenecks
- “Food the first order of survival.” I bet the fanfic writers had a field day with this one (cause cause it’s a reference to Tarsus IV)
- Imagine this: you’re stuck underground with your husband, your other husbands adopted daughter, your ex, her son (who’s also your son), and your old Russian navigator who’s unconscious and tried to kill you while being mind controlled by a worm which came out of his ear
- David’s got Kirk’s curls <333
- Kirk has a thing for people who look good in blue. Change my damn mind.
- “I don’t believe in a no win scenario.” He immediately calls Spock afterwards cause he’ll never lose with his husbands around
- “You lied.” “I exaggerated.” Yep, he IS that bitch
- Saavik is learning so much from them
- They still just.. let anyone onto the bridge. Like David is just there now
- oh no Scotty! Well McCoy was miraculously there to catch him
- CHEKOV BACK ON THE BRIDGE!
- Once again. Kirk does not fuck around! He just killed those guys
- “To the last I will grapple with thee.” WOW. Okay. Well.
- Khan’s about to terraform this bitch
- McCoy stopping Spock from going into the chamber..
- “You’re not going in there!” “Perhaps you’re right. What is Mr. Scott’s condition?” SIKE BITCH SPOCK JUST FUCKING NERVE PINCHED HIM. McCoy you should’ve been tipped off by the fact he 1. Said you were right and 2. Gave up trying to self sacrifice so easily
- wait why’d Spock connect to McCoy’s psi points and say remember? Remember what?
- I like there’s just a sign that flashes the word ‘radiation’ in red letters
- McCoy and Scotty BEGGING Spock not to do this. Break my fucking heart why don’t you?
- Kirk’s little run to the engine room <3
- I know he’s dying but those boots are so slutty
- Solely watching Kirk’s face is already like watching 10 puppies get killed
- “Don’t grieve, admiral.” Has me crying already. Your closest and longest friend is watching your slow descent into death and you ask him not to grieve you. You want him to know your death meant something. It meant he’d be safe and that is nothing to grieve. I’m going to be sick
- don’t touch me I’m thinking about this
- SAAVIK IS CRYING OMG GIRL ME TOO
- Kirk’s voice breaking.. god. Shatter my fucking heart why don’t you?
- if they play bagpipes at my funeral I’m rising from the dead (violins would be nice though)
- NOO HIS CUTE LITTLE GLASSES BROKE
- “They’re just words.” “But good words. That’s where ideas begin. Maybe you should listen to them.” POP OFF DAVID ! Good line
- SON REVEAL! NOT CLICKBAIT
- There’s 8 minutes left of this. Did they leave this one with Spock dead?
- “He’s really not dead, as long as we remember him.” Good words McCoy. But perhaps maybe you might have some.. assistance remembering him?
- got distracted and drew Kirk but I love the last little Spock narration. Really brave to end a WHOLE MOVIE with one of the best most well known characters being dead
Well that movie did have its pros and… khans
…
See you next time
Masterpost
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the eleventh doctor's arc truly comes so full circle! it’s the story of a mad gods hard, angry conflict between responsibility and fantasy. from the moment he crashes into amelia’s backyard, he’s like something of a fairy tale; a phantom, a wise man, a hero. a mad man who can disappear just as quickly whence he came. and when he returns, has the ability to turn one’s entire world around— without a single thought for any damage he may have caused along the way. he didn’t just forget his part in the time war: he’s quick to forget a lot, to go too far, to never look back. to never question himself. he hurries on to the next place, becomes a legacy within a few hours on some planet, in some time, and calls it a day. until he begins again. he is the dreamer of improbable dreams, because he requires that divide from reality.
he is “the man who forgets” because he needs to seperate himself from who he was, he needs this new perspective, he needs the worship, someone relying on him, and only him. “i took you with me because i was vain. because i needed to be adored.” eleven began his life as a goofy, kind soul who would happily spend his first moments eating fish fingers and custard with a child, and promise her adventure. the fantasy. yet he’s also a man who would disappear for fifteen years and never provide a legitimate apology. the avoidance of responsibility. (until the god complex, of course.) he calls the atraxi back to earth because it allows him to fulfil the role of a hero in some fantasy, to show off in front of amy, to be that whimsical, magical figure she saw him as when she was a child. to uphold that image. he wants to be a story, he doesn’t want commitments. not to mention the fact that amy literally dreams him back into existence, that her belief in him made him whole again.
the doctor hates endings. he rips the final page out of his books because he can’t stand the thought, the concept. he doesn’t want the adventure to conclude, he doesn’t want the reality to seep through. he doesn’t want the stories to ever end, because in his mind, he is the greatest story of them all. (i’m not even going to go into his arc in season six because i need a whole separate post for that. season six is the consequences of all these actions. and hoo boy. it is brilliant.)
the day of the doctor, i believe, is really the turning point for eleven. the man who forgets arc forcing him to face the consequences of his actions, to step down from the mad man in a box pedestal he’s reigned on for this entire incarnation. he finally takes full responsibility on trenzalore, by sending the TARDIS, and clara away so he can stand and fight for the remaining centuries of his life. he wants to run, to flee, the idea of staying in one place so very terrible (but he takes responsibility, sees the reality, sees he can't just help out for a bit, then saunter back into his box) and he stays. he sends away the TARDIS because he knows he’ll take the easy way out, and step safely inside her doors.
not to mention the hard, in your face symbolism of the christmas town in trenzalore quite literally looking like it came right out of a fairy tale. visually, this is how the doctor wants to live, he wants the whimsical, to live like a storybook. he wants only the middle of the book, before the conflict, before the hero has to make a hard choice. but when he does achieve it, when he arrives in that fairy tale-esque town, it becomes the reality he’s chosen to live, with more responsibility, more bravery than this incarnation has ever shown. he’s rewarded for his nine centuries of responsibility because he’s no longer running towards the fantasy. he can separate the difference, and can find happiness in staying put. he ultimately becomes the heroic raggedy man amy idolised far too long, he’s earned the title, he’s become the doctor.
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