#classic disney villain's we miss you

[halothenthehorns]

We’ve Been Writing Twist Villains WRONG

[faelapis]

despite some concerns raised by the trailer/marketing, i am still excited for the wish movie. a lot of that has to do with king magnifico.

that being said, i approach it from a different direction than a lot of other people excited for a “classic disney villain.”

first of all, yes. i, too, love the camp and melodrama of classic disney villains. i love that they express their wishes through big bombastic musical numbers, and said musical numbers are often the best in their movies. i like how queer-coded and fun they often are. i like the sass, the drama, the energy.

where i disagree with a lot of people is with this notion that disney movies “don’t have villains” anymore. i don’t think the likes of hans (frozen) and tamatoa (moana) are less evil than "classic" villains - they’re plenty willing to kill with a smile on their face.

i think what people ACTUALLY miss is the big performance around it all. the aesthetic. someone who does these things while being a major character (so not tamatoa) and deliciously, obviously evil while having fun with it the whole time (so not hans). i think it’s that specific combination people are missing. we still have villains, they’re just either not as “fun” or not as “important.”

of course, that take is less punchy than saying disney doesn’t have villains because "steven cringeyverse destroyed western animation and now companies are too scared to make real villains >:( !1!!!"

yeah i never understood where that came from. if anything, redeeming villains is more controversial than killing them. especially in america, being punitive is the norm. forgiveness is cringe. yet so many act as if there was some big consumer and/or corporate pushback against the idea of villains…? at some point?? i guess????

someone must've forgotten to tell that to disney tv animation, where you’ll find everything from bill cipher to belos in the modern era. (also, other companies exist? dreamworks is not some indie studio, they’re fully willing to have big, campy villains.)

but yknow, people like to feel like underdogs. they like to feel like they're somehow oppressed because some animated media don't have classic villains anymore... despite there still being plenty around. you can’t just like villains, you have to make it everyone else’s problem. like disney is obliged to do the same character tropes in every movie. or villains are "dead."

what actually happened is just… some writers at disney decided they wanted to do different things. that’s it. so you now have a handful of movies where the villain is either a minor character, or nonexistent.

it’s not a conspiracy, it’s not a concerted effort to destroy villains. it’s, at most, a trend. because some writers wanted to push against the previous status quo. and now other writers who grew up with that want to have more classic villains, because that’s what they see as exciting and new. it’s just a cycle of trends and countertrends.

anyway. long tangent aside, i’m actually very excited for king magnifico. in part for a classic villain performance (he gets a song!!) - but also, it sounds like he might scratch a particular itch of mine.

which is to have a big, dramatic, irredeemable villain… who is still a human and has an understandable pov.

yes, you can combine these things. it’s not common for disney, but a lot of what we consider “great movie villains” throughout history have been this exact combination. they have to be defeated, they refuse redemption, they are 100% committed to their goals and will not budge - but they also GENUINELY BELIEVE in those goals.

what i’m really asking for here is a sincerely motivated character. someone who is a villain, but doesn’t SEE himself as a villain. someone who isn’t lying when they try to endear themselves to the hero or promise to make the world better if they join forces. it’s just that they are completely misguided about what would be good for the world, and nothing will persuade them.

whether someone is a villain, a hero, or anywhere in between, i think asking a character’s motivation - and playing those motivations straight, rather than just as a mask for plain selfishness - is key.

as i’m saying this, you might notice that it’s not actually too far off from what i like in other characters. jasper in SU is basically this in her "main arc” in season three. she refuses help, she’s a huge dick to everyone… but she also 100% believes in homeworld as an institution and is actually, genuinely selfless. even if it means her own corruption, she refuses help, because that would betray her cause. which she values above her own life. and by rebecca sugar’s own words, jasper doesn’t even believe she deserves help.

the common thread here is really tragedy. someone you can root for and against at the same time.

so how does this relate to king magnifico? well, jennifer lee (writer for this movie & also the frozen movies) just had an interview where she talked a lot about wish, and in specific, having a classic disney villain in magnifico.

she illustrates a lot of what i’ve been talking about - that there is no grand conspiracy at disney against villains. they just had different stories they wanted to tell. there was no mandate either for or against villains, not in this movie or any other. they just did what they wanted to do with those stories. (btw, that’s not me saying there isn’t pressure at disney to tell certain stories and not others. it’s just that the concept of a villain isn’t as important to the corporate side as, say, not making elsa gay.)

anyway. what makes the king magnifico portion interesting is how lee talks about exactly what i’ve been saying. they knew they wanted a classic disney villain, but it sounds like they still want him to be different from other such characters. namely, they wanted to find the benevolent side of him, how he genuinely believes what he believes and DOES want what he thinks is best for the city of rosas.

and the plot totally checks out - basically, he decides whose wishes come true. and that’s really interesting, because a wish can be anything, good or bad. it sounds like he really wants to prevent what he sees as bad wishes from coming true, and is too conservative in what he allows or not. and his way of being kind about rejection is to remove those wishes from people’s hearts if he cannot fulfill them.

that’s SUCH a great concept for a villain. it speaks to issues of control, of agency, of being in the paternalistic position of deciding what is “best” for everyone else. it gives me a little bit the wizard of oz (as in the wizard himself, who is a charlatan trying to maintain a pleasant status quo, even if it’s a lie), and a little bit white diamond (controlling the lives of others, but genuinely believing you are being selfless and heroic about it / steering people on the “right” path).

reading that interview, my excitement for this movie went from like a 2/10 to a 8/10. jennifer lee seems to have a real interest in creating characters, not just stock tropes. elsa is one of the best disney princesses (fight me) for exactly the same reason.

another great concept talked about here (which you also see in lee’s frozen, with anna and elsa as opposites) is that of duality. there’s a lot of talk about magnifico and asha being two sides of the same coin, both initially believing in this system and wanting what’s best for the city. and from there, they divert to their opposite paths in what specifically they think is right. the interview talks about them as if they were this thesis and antithesis about what’s right for the city, needing to reach a synthesis. in talking about this concept, they included this illustration:

notice the similar poses. both have their hands behind their back (commonly used to convey a character is hiding something), their feet pointed out, and give the world a pleasant smile. asha has a darker color palette in a world of light, magnifico is a ray of light in a dark space. it's interesting for its duality.

so yeah. all in all, i’m still excited for wish. i want to take alan tudyk goat out back and shoot it for a quick, humane death… but failing that, i’ll just pray his role was hammed up for the trailer. please tell me it’s not that insufferable. please.

because i do really like everything else i’ve heard about this movie!! i like that asha is described as this idealist with “dumb courage”, like maybe she’ll actually have some character flaws and need to learn?? (maybe? hopefully?) i like everything i just said about king magnifico. i like that we have this blend of 2d and 3d animation, that’s such a clever concept for a “100 years of disney” celebration.

so yeah. i will be watching. never have i ever prayed for chris pine to save a movie, but today might just be the day!

[kabishkat19]

I just had a thought regarding your Disney Next Gen series. Have you ever wondered what would happen if any of the Disney kids met their parents' respective villains?

While doing the NextGen Disney series I’ve started coming up with actual stories for majority of these characters which does include the classic villains (I miss Disney making actual villains).

So far the only NextGen character that actually gets to meet their parent’s villain is Princess Summer (Daughter of Snow White).

I like the theory that because we didn’t actually see Queen Grimhilde die that she’s still wondering around; So I continued her wicked ways upon the royal family.

For the other NextGen characters their villains will consist of new characters that might have connections to the original villains but aren’t actually; due to majority Disney villains dying at the end of the films.

[py-dreamer]

MY version of a Wish rewrite

I know this is outside my usual lmk comfort zone but I saw the concept art for Wish, fell in love, saw the movie, got bored solid 5/10 but compared to what it could've been, the hype for it as Disney's big 100 shabang? Leaves much to be desired let's just say...

And most if not all wish content online is rewrites and redesigns anyway so Ima throw another one into the pile

BUT BEFORE WE START

I know we all love the idea of the big bad villain evil for the sake of evil. And I too miss the classic villains *chefs kiss* never forget

HOWEVER I decided to look at a slightly less evil(?) Magnifico and Amaya with a more tragic reason when they commit crimes and portray them as 'reasonable' and 'not that evil' as disney tried

But without further ado, lets get down to it:

first Asha will the daughter of Magnifico, Amaya and more importantly, the princess of Rosas (now she has a bigger connection to the people other than being just a tour guide)

We keep starboi (or as tumblr has dubbed them: Aster) as a humanoid creature, not a plushie

Amaya is totally in on the shenanigans with Magnifico they are ride or die couple

FIRSTLY, lets talk about ASHA:

I saw many people complain about the 'dorky' not like other girls trope

And I saw a counter where someone said people don't like a female awkward protagonist of color

My issue is this trope has been used multiple times already and if you don't have a good reason or make her charming, then sorry the trope is just cringy

So with Asha let's keep the awkwardness that's fine; public speaking ain't her strong suit, social anxiety baby

Asha here is more reserved and shy

having been the child of two powerful rulers, she has very big shoes to fill and her parents don't make it any easier

they dismiss her when she tries to learn magic saying 'she's not ready' and almost infantilize her

she learns magic in secret by sneaking into her father's study but doesn't practice it to not expose herself and she doubts her abilities

Her parents also don't let her handle any royal duties, they want her to play and not worry but don't allow her with them during ceremonies and such saying she's not ready

the people know they have a princess just don't know what she looks like but sing of her in poems and songs even without knowing her

she is allowed outside the palace as the island is as safe as it can be

despite this, Asha is incredibly compassionate and empathetic

she'd have very high emotional intelligence (cause I miss princesses like that)

she will help out wherever she can in town as a peacemaker and the people love her but don't know she's their princess

Asha is always desperate to make her parents proud and is so selfless to the point she forgets her own wants at times

she is still 17 nearing 18 but she doesn't know her own wish

she can keep her hobby of animation, just perhaps embarrassed to show anyone since her parents mentioned it's rather 'childish'

Please can someone give her some new duds. Her current fit is cute but between the long hair without a fringe and slim purple dress, I can't help but compare her to Rapunzel

KING MAGNIFICO AND QUEEN AMAYA:

ok this will be touchy

I want to delve into the fact that Magnifico is traumatized and crank it to 11

Amaya is a sourceress who was a refugee from an old war

the two met when Magnifico was building his kingdom and fell deeply in love

Amaya taught him magic and they advanced their kingdom into a utopia

The two always dreamed of a family and to build a land where their people would never suffer again

They view the people of Rosas as their children and are known as such. Treated as benevolent and the 'the loving founding parents of Rosas'

As time passed, the two gained more and more power and were able to treat their people even more even gaining the grand ability to grant wishes

the more they did, the more love they received and the granting wishes was the cherry on top

the couple grew greedy for the praise, they were practically gods in the kingdom's eyes

More time passed, as the kind rulers they are, they used their magic to do all the manual labor so the people wouldn't have to lift a finger

Now an isolated island full of a new generation with no work to do, the people spend their days praising the royal family

The issue? Well, now especially the young people of Rosas, don't know how to work. They rely soley on Magnifico and Amaya for survival and the couple knows it. That is how they like it

Over time, they viewed the people as helpless children without them. They're doing this for the people's own good in their own twisted beliefs. The wish granting in particular keeps the praise on them almost like a cult.

Their love for the kingdom grew twisted into obsession and they'd do ANYTHING to keep their innocent citizens like this.

Basically imagine a 'there is no war in Ba Sing Se' situation but the Dai Li are running it and the people they're kissing up to is the people of Rosas

The two love Asha dearly but perhaps a little too much

They infantilize her like I said and always views her as beneath them and work so hard to 'protect' her and their people that they actually rarely spend time to bond with the very girl they protect

ASTER (AKA STARBOI) (he/them btw):

first off, he will stay in that humanoid form as usual

They will be a shapeshifter in homage to the genie but how is he different from the genie you ask?

Well firstly he's mute. Or well, just like Tinkerbell, talks in jingles, his true voice unintelligable to the human ear

"But how is he going to sing 'at all co-" shshshshshhshs hush. I have a plan for that just wait

Secondly he will be made of pixie dust which functions like sandman, basically if he is punctured, then he will regenerate like sand

They can float via pixie dust and can spread it to other things

They can see they wishes of people, as in he can see those sparks in someone and can see/sense the hole left when they're taken away

To make someone else fly, all they need is pixie dust and happy thoughts

He's meant to be the personification of joy and hope

Now I've seen many people make him precious sunshine boi who is curious and kind and must protec-

And I like that concept but upon thinking bout it, Aster resembled more like a fae than anything

As a living being of joy and other-worldly, it really reminded me of Joy from inside out

So I want their charisma to be 17/10. Just the happiest, cheerful most flamboyant dude you've ever met to the point he's kinda a showoff like a class clown

Make them sassy! I want this star to be protected (at all costs lol) and simaltaneously a menace to society

He and Asha are like that meme with Ken and Barbie's mugshots but Aster absolutely knows what they're doing

But since he's only ever watched humans from afar, he has trouble empathizing with them and understanding them so sometimes they come off as insensitive

they kinda look down on humans as requiring the help of magic beings like them

Another downside is since he's comprised of joy and hope, whenever someone close loses hope or get's sad, he starts to lose his magic and eventually fade away.

His existence on earth basically depends on the emotions of those around him

"Are they the second star to the right? Cause isn't Ray married to the-" Hushshshshshshssh I saw in a comic (I forgot the creator if you know pls tell so I can credit) the idea of Evangeline and Raymond being Aster's parents and I love that so we keep it

So what are wishing stars exactly?

Like the blue fairy, they are magic (usually) benevolant beings who help grant human's wishes when they deserve it or have worked on it.

They are more guiding beings using magic to give a push like Gepetto wished for a son, Pinnochio came alive but needed to work to be a real boy

Now I know this is a rewrite and I said I'd elaborate on some issues but its late rn and I'm going to get yelled at so I'm going to have to carry on later

[twistedtummies2]

What do you think about the "Descendants" franchise?

Well, before I go into detail, let's put it this way: one of the reasons I was unsure about "Twisted Wonderland," when I first heard of it years ago, is because the concept vaguely reminded me of Descendants. I have since occasionally described the game as "Descendants Done Right." So, yeah, not a fan. :P First of all, I should point out I really only know the franchise through the movies: I know that there are some books, and I believe a TV show, both of which follow their own continuity. MAYBE those are better, but I can't say I'm in a hurry to find out. As for the films...I feel they're all such vast missed opportunities. Regarding the main characters and the plots, I feel there are some great ideas in there, somewhere, waiting to burst from their chrysalides, but they never really get a chance to. The movies favor "silly Disney sitcom antics" over any real substance. Most of the main players feel like stock characters I've seen a million times before, most of the jokes just aren't funny, to be blunt, and the drama and romance feel so half-baked. Not to mention, it feels like every plot is kind of the same thing, but with a few bells and whistles changed, over and over again. :P I also take umbrage with the depictions of the classic Disney Villains: I know one friend of mine actually really likes the way they're depicted as "has-been villains," but a.) that simple fact is part of my problem, because I have great respect and love for the characters, and b.) more importantly, even that aspect is inconsistent. They can't seem to make up their minds on whether the old vanguard of characters, especially the villains, are meant to be treated seriously or not. You can make a character funny AND also a force to be reckoned with - that's kind of the hallmark of the Disney Villains - but these films don't seem to know HOW to DO that. Not only that, but a lot of them just do NOT feel right with the characters we know: Jafar is absolutely NOTHING like Jafar, and Kristin Chenoweth - God bless her Glinda-playing heart - is just WOEFULLY miscast as Maleficent, to give two examples. Some of the portrayals of the classic villains are okay, but most of them are just so many levels of "missing the point entirely." As for the music...ehhhhh, I'd say it's hit or miss. Mostly miss, to be honest, but there are a few songs, scattered throughout the movies, that I like. And I'll give the films this credit: I have seen and sat through every single one of them, however begrudgingly. I think it's because I have this faint hope that at some point, SOME point, MAYBE they'll finally do something WORTH seeing. I think the third film came pretty close - it's the closest I have come yet to actually liking these sorry pictures - but even that one has too many flaws for me to get fully behind it. Overall...there's some glimmers of goodness in the Descendants movies, but at the end of the day, I think the ACTUAL Maleficent said it best...

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

You’ve said before how people keep complaining about redemption arcs with villains these days but there are still a lot that aren’t redeemed. Personally I think this might be because of Disney. Disney these days often takes the no-antagonist route or redeems the antagonist. When the first trailers for Wish were out, everyone cheered because ‘yay actual villain.’ Obviously there is other animation besides Disney, but Disney is the biggest influence and literally everyone knows them and a lot of animation study and such is based on them. Do you think this complaining about redemption arcs is due to people not looking beyond Disney?

No, because Disney is not guilty of redeeming its villains either. They have more twist villains (Hans, King Candy, Bellwether, Professor Callaghan) than they do redeemed ones.

Honestly I can't name any major redeemed Disney villain.

(Andrias perhaps, but that falls into the trope of the villain giving up their spot for the even Bigger Bad).

Right now, we're in an era of Disney movies not having a primary villain (Moana, Encanto, Turning Red). Instead the focus is on familial relationships and generational bonds.

I think what people are missing is a specific type of villain: the classic Disney villain. These are your Scars, Ursulas, Gastons, Jafars, and Maleficents. They're all campy, over the top, deliciously evil, and fun to watch. They usually have the best song in the movie. You don't have to think about these characters, just enjoy them. The last truly classic Disney villain was Mother Gothel.

In 2010.

But trends change and we had an era of twist villains (Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6, Zootopia) and audiences got sick of that, too. Now we're in a period where we don't have bombastic villains but more grounded ones or the conflict doesn't revolve around the heroes trying to stop the one evil person out to ruin everyone's day.

It seems like people are nostalgic for the movies of their childhood and frustrated with what Disney has been offering these past 14 years.

[blapis-blazuli]

Now listen up

I am obsessed with this man. He's got so many weird details about him and I love (almost) all of them.

First, Slim's original concept fucks. Being an undead cattle rustler out for bull's blood due to being trampled to death is fascinating. I don't know how long it took before someone at Disney cried "too dark" at that backstory, but I'm surprised it was even in consideration given the mostly lighter tone of the final product. More than that, Disney could've had a literal ghost rider among their villains! Had that movie been any good, he might've joined Disney's popular villain lineup, or maybe we could've even gotten a boss battle with him in a Kingdom Hearts game. That's not what we ended up with due to Reasons, though, which is a bit disappointing, but not much you can do about that.

Anyway, onto what we did get.

Before Slim makes his formal appearance, he's only seen in silhouette, on a wanted poster, then in disguise, and is finally fully revealed when he rides in on a bison. He is huge, and I don't mean because he's fat, I mean he's a good deal taller than most of the other characters. He's set up to be someone threatening, to be taken seriously.

And then comes his yodeling villain song.

The moment it's revealed that Slim's yodeling can hypnotize cows, the music picks up and there's a literal rainbow of colors for the rest of his number. As I said, he's a big man, but he's also light enough on his feet to dance and jump on and off any of these cows while not missing a beat in his performance. When the men who got knocked out beforehand come running after him, he doesn't threaten them, he just throws his spurs at a precarious bit of rocky landscape with such force that it falls and blocks the pathway to him. That's more badass than if he did draw his gun on them.

Actually, I wanna talk about the music he performs. The movie's set in Wyoming during 1889, so obviously Slim's not gonna be yodeling A Cruel Angel's Thesis or whatever. They could’ve come up with something original for him to yodel to (which, I mean, they kinda do), but they chose music by composers such as Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, which aren't exactly things you'd associate with the wild west. The obvious out-of-universe answer for why those pieces were chosen is "they existed before the year this is set in, and they're recognized even today," but we've no in-universe answer for why he chose them or how he knows them. Regardless, it's kinda amazing that he knows them well enough to yodel them.

His lair in Echo Mine has an area with some nice furniture in it. How'd this shit get there? Who knows. Anyway, this is where he reveals that he disguises himself to buy up the properties owned by the people he's stolen cattle from, which includes his former employers. Why doesn't he work for any of them anymore? He never directly says. According to him, they didn't "appreciate [his] talents," which means they probably hated his yodeling. I don't blame him for being mad about that because why the hell would you tell someone that? If he's doing the job right and well without hurting anyone, then who cares? The idea that he's moved on to use a skill against the former bosses who didn't like it is kinda great though.

(Side note: a nice, small detail about this part of the lair is the faded branding on the map, which shows that Slim has been doing this for quite a while. Shame that it's not more consistent from shot to shot though. I can't take credit for noticing this myself: my partner pointed it out after I posted a screenshot as a joke on Discord. She's so cool.)

Slim doesn't like it when someone calls his yodeling "singing": he thinks singing is beneath him given the disdain in his voice when he says that's what birds, saloon gals, and children do. No, he considers what he does to be an art. He's not entirely wrong, though: it is an impressive skill, especially since he can yodel to certain classical pieces like The William Tell Overture, Ode to Joy, Ride of the Valkyries, and The 1812 Overture. (Also Yankee Doodle, because, well, American. Also maybe Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville, but I'm unsure of that one: unlike Slim, I am no classical music expert.) There's no need for him to be quite as defensive about it as he is, but his nephews calling it "singing," saying that might be why his bosses didn't like him, and calling yodeling "silly" is enough to make him get violently angry at them. Man's got issues.

Oh yeah, Slim has nephews. They're triplets named Gil, Phil, and Bill, and they're collectively known as The Willies. Unlike their uncle, they're all blond and thin, so god knows what Slim's unnamed and unmentioned sibling must look like.

Slim also has a bison named Junior. I'm not fond of the whole "he's too fat to ride anything else" angle of that, but I do like that they chose an animal that people are constantly told to not mess with because of how dangerous they are. Slim's not afraid of him: he's got this creature trained to listen when he calls for him. I can only guess that Slim is the one who named Junior, so maybe he also raised him. It would explain why Junior appears annoyed with him but still puts up with having Slim jump on his back and the like.

You know what Slim doesn't have though? Kids. Putting together the disdain in his voice when he mentions children, his seemingly low opinion of saloon girls, his big villain number turning the landscape into a rainbow of colors, the queer history of cowboys, and the prevalence of queer-coding in Disney villains... well, I think you get where I'm going with that.

Moving onto his disguise. Don't ask me why nobody figured out this was Slim sooner, given that his wanted poster shows they have the same facial hair, bushy eyebrows, and bags under the eyes. My best guess is because it's in black-and-white and he's in a different outfit, and unless someone's encountered him before they probably don't know what he sounds like. Anyway, His alias is Yancy O'del (yeah, I know), but the one sign we see him with has both "Mister" and "Esquire" in there.

Having looked this up, I learned a few things. First, having "Mister" and "Esquire" together isn't something you're supposed to do, yet nobody in-universe caught this. Second, in the United States, "Esquire" is a title only used for lawyers, so maybe that's why nobody questioned him - fear of a sudden lawsuit for something or other. Third, "Yancy" was not really a name used back then, or at least not a common one. Why'd he choose that name (besides for the pun)? I dunno.

(Also, where the hell does Junior stay whenever he goes to one of these auctions? The world may never know.)

Slim's final defeat at the hooves/wings/what-have-you of several farm animals is pretty pathetic, even by silly Disney villain standards, but I got to give him credit for not wanting to give up even after his disguise is (literally) blown and while he's stuck in a train's smokestack. I have no idea how he planned on getting out of that one, and whatever it was most likely wouldn't have worked anyway, but I admire his refusal to back down in the face of obvious defeat.

Even in his very last scene we see him struggling with the ropes they tied around him while he's carted off to jail. He does not give up.

Anyway, here he is picking up Small Black Market Dealer Steve Buscemi one-handed like it's nothing. (His name is Wesley, but Slim keeps calling him Mister Weasley. That's right, this movie used that joke before Frozen did.)

And here he is lifting three full-grown cows off the ground before tying them up faster than they can react to it. (The cows have names too, but this post ain't about them.)

He uses his left hand to write and aim his gun and seems just as adept with using it as much as his right, which is cool. (There's no frame with both his face and the gun, so you'll have to trust me on that.)

Speaking of his hands

Look at this huge-ass man and his pinkies, I can't with this dude

Look at that smile, sir, who gave you the right

If there were a whole movie about just these two, I'd watch it, I won't even lie.

I've gone on about this guy for probably too long by this point, so to sum it all up:

Babygirl

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

Wish spoilers ahead.

The start of Wish is exactly like that of Encanto but without all the heart. It is literally the meme of "Can I copy your homework?" "Yeah but change a few things so it is not too obvious."

Also Asha deserved a pretty dress in the end like wth are you going to sell to little girls Disney you are all about money and you failed miserably even at that.

And it is for real soooo unfair how the queen did get a pretty dress the whole movie and Asha only got some lazy ass sparkles added to her boring ass dress.

Asha... not bad, ok, but she is copy paste Anna, Mirabel, and Rapunzel. Youtuber ModernGurlz is right about Disney's "adorkable" problem. All their main girls since Rapunzel have the same "quirky" personality save a few details. I have liked them all but it is getting boring. Give me a princess with a monotone, sad personality, give me a shy princess who only smiles and talks around close friends, give me back the classic super girly personality Aurora and Snow White style, give me an angry girl with a brutal sense of humor like Merida. Be creative, please!!!

I love the queen's design, super gorgeous. Too bad her character added nothing. Her help was barely needed since Asha's friend had already sneaked them into the castle and it was her who deciphered the king's magic. A super villain couple would have been way more fun.

Oh, yeah, Asha's friends. There were so-damn-many of them and only like 3 were rememberable or needed for the story.

The villain is a complicated issue. I appreciated Disney's attempt at another fully evil character, I liked how he wasn't yet another badly set up "twist villain" revealed only at the end. But I didn't like the end result that much.

His backstory was super underdeveloped and to "get" his motives better, if they really wanted to make him evil-yet-complex, they should have shown us a flashback of him losing his family Encanto style (They copy pasted the start might as well do the same with the antagonist backstory.

What the hell was the missing piece of tapestry for if it wasn't going to have any significance later on? Did the writers just forget or what even?

Worst part for me: The stakes were low as fuck. Disney doesn't respect its target audience, nowadays it thinks that children can't handle anything worse than a main character getting disappointed. The worst this "super evil" villain does is make people sad temporarily, for like two minutes (Kid you not), like one character stays sad for longer but MOST people in the kingdom seem happy and normal after giving up their wishes, he legit just makes people sad a few minutes (Again, I kid you not, no one dies, the wishes he "eats" to make himself stronger come back, nothing he does has a permanent, devastating effect, he is not even revealed to have killed Asha's father in a dramatic way or something). Yeah he makes people forget their wishes which is pretty sketchy but up to that point he seemed to have complex reasons for that, reasons that seem to disappear or have never even been there the second half of the movie when he magically becomes more evil due to a forbidden green spooky magic he uses, and then suddenly he becomes Maleficent (The cool, perfect villain version, not the woobie one) style evil in a very, very rushed and over the top way. I feel like he should have started up as fully evil with no backstory (Just a simple, Gaston or original Maleficent style, self centered guy, who wants more and more power and adoration), and simply gotten worse and stronger OR given more complexity as to why he became that way, but instead we got this weird thing in between where it is clear he just wants power and love from the people for the sake of it and yet he has this half-made sob story on how his family died.

There was a great lack of originality in this movie at the climax as well. Anyone watched "The little mermaid II"? That was pretty much it. Villain gets power boner, says he will enslave everyone (Worst thing he does in whole movie and yet no one trying to defy him dies at least off screen or gets hurt in any meaningful way). Then heroine saves the day.

The funniest part of this movie is that the villain's fate is worse than anything he ever did in the movie I swear. He gets trapped in a freaking mirror and then locked up in a cell (Similar to the Little mermaid II villain's end too lol). That is straight up torture till death, it is so fucked up. And his wife who literally sees how the green spooky magic is the main thing responsible for his bad day (If we are being honest that is all it was, other than the taking wishes part he seemed to be a good king) leaves him to rot and becomes queen Catherine II style, it is hilarious. Like girl, you turned against your husband like five minutes ago because apparently through decades of seemingly loving marriage, you never knew he was evil but now somehow you are ok with him rotting in solitary confinement till the end of time? So dorky and silly. So bad, so bad.

Lastly, that goat was annoying as hell.

[katerinaaqu]

How would you feel about a book where there are several characters, many of whom are beloved by the audience, but the only Greek character has the as main characteristics being an abuser and being generally hated by the fandom? The exotic Greek whose function is to bring suffering to the protagonist, who will be consoled by an exemplary non-Greek? Because that is exactly what you're doing. It's truly an honor that you decided that the character who is hated by everyone is the one chosen to be blessed with being allowed to be Black while in Ancient Greece. Calypso being a goddess and being beautiful or some shit like that doesn't change how interesting it really is how the hated one is the only one acceptable to be Black. You'll probably argue about her location, which doesn't change shit because this isn't about the logic of her being Black. It's about the choice of her, the most hated, being the only Black person in the myth of the Odyssey in your interpretation. Odysseus being abused by the exotic and possessive Black woman and then being comforted by his loved and understanding white wife…is definitely a choice, especially since at least there are other varied white characters in the context while the only Black example is this one. At this point, it was better to simply keep Calypso white as well, it's not like it would be wrong since the ancient Greeks didn't imagine her as Black the way they did with characters like Memnon. Calypso wasn't portrayed as Black in antiquity, so this is purely a modern choice.

Anyway, I loooove reading fics and seeing fanarts about a Black woman being hateful!!!

I think you are being confused here, Anon. For starters who told you that Greeks were portrayed positively in media? Arguably there was from time to time a greek character in series or movies and they were portrayed as loud, rude, evil, greedy and violent. They didn't even do them the decency to show them as "exotic".

If they were "exotic" and smooth villains I would be ecstatic. In fact one of my favorite chacters in cartoon history is David Xanathos in Disney Gargoyles, a villain-antagonist, American of greek descend who is a manipulative bastard who plays others like the feedle. That version of his as a villain was amazing! And it was one of the few times that a greek villain was not portrayed as cartoonishly evil or rude or loud.

To give you an example at a personal favorite TV series of mine "Agatha Christie's Poirot" starring David Suchet, we have at least 3 greek token characters and all three are depicted negatively. In the episode "Hickory Dickory Docks" the main antagonist is the hostel owner Christina Nicoletis who is an alcoholic unpleasant woman who is also greedy and scared and involved in illegal diamond trades. The same unpleasant is her accomplish who is also, surprise surprse Greek. Even Miss Lemon, a character known for being reasonable and open-minded says "Oh that explains it" when her relative says that Nicoletis is Greek. Like yeah of course she is unpleasant! She is Greek!

In the episode "The Dump Witness" one of the main antagonists is a doctor named Jacob Tanios. For most part of the movie there is nothing pleasant about it. He is a bitter loner, rude, insensitive, acting violent and there was even a hint that he beats his children (which was never disputed in the movie). Despite the fact that he was proven not to be the murderer in the movie, he was still never potrayed as pleasant.

In the episode "Orient Express" the doctor who is also one of the murderers and arguably the most stupid fellow in the episode was Greek.

In the classic 1980s series Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the episode "The Greek Interpreter" even if I was ecstatic to see a greek guy playing the actual greek in the series, the sister of the victim was a cold, calculating woman who sold her own brother to the guy she wanted to marry (she claims that she didn't know he was being tortured, making her dump too).

The satyric movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is a pure satire on greeks living abroad, depicting them as loud or rude or snobbish for the sakes of the jokes. There is even a movie, which I forget, where a greek woman is seen trying to bury puppies and she is depicted almost like a witch at that point, yelling at the kid for taking the puppies. The mother of the kid even told him "do not interfere with the local customs" as if killing puppies is like something all Greeks do.

Arguably Greeks were always talked down by many parts of media books or series. There are very few examples in which Greeks when associated with others were depicted positively and even in the parts that depict them in mythological contexts they either are not portrayed according to their stories or overly exaggerated to the American ideals that had nothing to do with the actual culture. Allow me then to know exactly how it feels like.

No my dear Anon that is what you THINK I am doing.

I believe you are confusing what you wanna read with what I am writing. I am not creating my stories or characters to fill a quota or to create "representation" or anything. I am trying to portray the characters as accurately as possible to their areas of descent, their ethnicities and their stories. At the same time I look at other media portrayals and compare the possibilities and their areas of descent. I create Calypso for the sole reason I mention to my notes;

I loved her interpretation by Vanessa Williams, the area she lives in sometimes is interpreted as North Africa (most frequently Tynisia) or Malta. Looking at the geography and the area she was living I just think it fits to create the interpretation the way I did.

If I wanted to create a "token evil black" character as you now complaint I would do someone like Polyphemus. Quite frankly I could write Polyphemus as such and ancient greeks also interpreted the other antagonistic characters as the several non-greek tribes and nations they fought against during their colonies picturing them as mythical creatures who antaginize their heroes. I do not because it doesn't fit georaphically nor the interpretation fits.

Yes it is a modern interpretation to make Calypso dark-skinned (which I am actually surprised of course that all the time there is only one portion of people being constantly talked like that with it) but again it is an interpretation based on where Ogygia is. It is also a modern interpretation to make Andromeda ethnically Ethiopian compared to other figures and people are ecstatic about it and understandably so that is from that perspective

If Calypso is your most hated character then it is up to you. I am not sure if you read my stories but I do try to portray her as realistically as possible. Again if I wanted to create a token evil character I could write her like a Karen who wants nothing else but sex and abuses Odysseus. In the story she clearly has more to say than that which is what I create. She truly loves him, takes care of him and quite frankly culturally speaking she might as well asume that she is not doing something bad. Affairs men had were generally tolerated in antiquity so, culturally speaking, Odysseus sleeping with her forcefully and be ashamed of it was an exception not the rule given how many greek mythology characters had affairs. Even Menelaus produces some children with some slave women, which are mentioned in mythology. Odysseus's utter refusal seems to be one of the exceptions (thus later sources interpreting their affair as "willing")

I am not creating characters to fill a quota or to please any part of "representation". I am creating characters based on their stories and their potential ethnicities. Likewise the Lotus Eaters are also nations of Libiya or Tynisia according to interpretations. It is just that I never wrote something about them yet.

Arguably, my dear Anon, is better for you not to look at it all through the lenses of color. Just because one antagonist is dark skinned doesn't mean i see them as antagonist because they have dark skin. She just happens to be an antagonist that fits the interpretation of having dark skin that can be backed by the data and location.

I have said none of what you wrire. If you want to interpret my stories as such is up to you. I have said none of that though. Again if I wanted to create a token evil character I would have. If you want to interpret my stories through the lenses of color is up to you.

I do not create the stories to pass the message of "white vs black". You can imagine Calypso blonde with blue eyes for all I care. It is the same. Her skintone was brought up in my stories solely for interpretation purposes. Change it and you still have the story.

So I am sorry, Anon, my stories are not for the reasons you wanna read. If such thing makes you feel this way honestly I am sorry but that is not the purpose of my writing at all.

Calypso is not that much different than other goddesses like Aphrodite for instance who keeps Adonis in a box so no one will steal him from her or Eos who wants her man to remain immortal even if he was growing old by every day, or Selene who made her beloved sleep for all eternity solely so that she wouldn't say goodbye. Gods and goddesses often act selfishly in mythology because of their power and long life.

If this offends you I am sorry but my purpose is not to create token characters is to interpret the myths according to the locations they take place, the character's bloodline and their descent.

I have also loved the modern interpretation of Andromeda being depicted as ethnically Ethiopian as opposed to her classical appearance but that doesn't matter to you guys. I suspect at this point "damned if you do damned if you don't". Anyways like I said I interpret the characters. I do not randomly race-swap any character from any side. I interpret their descent or locations and see what interpretation fits and what doesn't

Quite frankly my stories with Calypso are my favorites because I think Calypso has a very complicated psyche that we need to analyze and think about. It is exactly because she is hated by a large number of people that makes me want to explore her similarly to how I am fascinated by figures like Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. What makes them tick? What drives their motivations? That is my main purpose with them.

[doamarierose-honoka]

THE BIG PICTURE

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is an animated series exploring Peter Parker's early years as a hero in a new multiverse continuity.

The show features iconic characters like Doctor Strange, Norman Osborne, Aunt May, and a gallery of villains set to challenge Spidey.

Craig of the Creek 's Jeff Trammell is behind the series, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on November 2, 2024.

Everyone's favorite web-slinger has made his way to D23 for the new animated prequel-adjacent series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Releasing later this year, it's set to portray a variant of Peter Parker's life before first donning the mask and suit in the MCU and during his uneasy first days as a hero in New York. It's been some time since fans were given their first look at the early Spider-Man comics-inspired animation, but the biennial fan expo remedied that with a massive update on the project, with a new convention-exclusive sneak peek at the project.

As reported by Collider's Aidan Kelley and Taylor Gates, the footage featured Peter Parker (Hudson Thames) at school, where his day is interrupted by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) coming through a portal along with a horned symbiote. We see Peter bitten by a spider in a sequence demonstrating how he got his powers, before the footage catches up with him a few months later, with Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) helping him strategize as his "guy in the chair."

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is being billed as a meeting between Spidey's earliest years on the page as portrayed by Stan Lee and his earliest years in the MCU. When Tom Holland's web-slinger first appeared on-screen in Captain America: Civil War, he had already obtained his powers a year prior, leaving a gap to fill in between. However, this series will still take place in a different continuity within the multiverse, exploring how Peter navigates the life of a teenager after first getting his powers. His abilities and sense of duty will be tested as he is immediately thrust into battle with formidable foes to protect the city.

One major difference between the series and the MCU is who takes young Peter under their wing. Instead of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Spidey gets some much-needed guidance from Norman Osborn, who helps Peter survive high school while he comes into his own as a hero.

Who Is Behind 'Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man'?

Marvel Studios Head of TV and Streaming Brad Winderbaum also emphasized how important the ensemble around these two will be to the series and Spider-Man's growth, with classic characters from his history that haven't yet appeared in the MCU like Lonnie Lincoln, Nico Minoru, and even Harry Osborn appearing alongside Doctor Strange, Aunt May, and a rogue's gallery of villains ranging from iconic to more obscure. He's also slated to run into Charlie Cox's Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, setting up a team-up between the web-slinger and the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.

Craig of the Creek writer and story editor Jeff Trammell was tapped to create Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for Marvel when the series was first announced in 2021 under the guise of Spider-Man: Freshman Year. His resume is full of animated hits, with credits on The Owl House, Amphibia, and the 2023 origin film Craig Before the Creek. Animation, meanwhile, is handled by Polygon Pictures, which has previously worked on episodes of Love, Death & Robots, Transformers Prime, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars among other things. This is just one such Spider-Man-related project in the works at Marvel, alongside a new film starring Holland that has been inching along in development, a Spider-Man Noir series at Prime Video starring a returning Nicolas Cage, and the trilogy capper Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is currently slated to premiere on Disney+ on November 2. Stay tuned here at Collider for more coverage from D23 throughout the rest of the weekend.

[tragicbeauty1991]

So, I’m planning to go see Disney’s new movie Wish when it comes out, and as perhaps is unsurprising, I’m most excited about the film’s villain. King Magnifico looks like he’s gonna be a fun, likable (in the sense you love to hate them) villain while also perhaps being a little more complicated. Some things I’m loving so far from the trailer clips and soundtrack:

We get a classic Disney villain again! Finally! There’s nothing wrong with the “surprise” villains or the idea of family trauma as being the real source of evil but I have desperately missed the old villains who embraced and reveled in their role. We’ve been severely lacking in those over-the-top villains with their catchy songs and big personalities for a long time now, and it’s good to see it again.

“This is the Thanks I Get,” while a lot more upbeat and lighthearted compared to many classic villain songs, is definitely a song that gets stuck in your head. Gives me Gaston vibes, for sure.

Classic evil villain lime green returns!

I really have missed how the old hand drawn characters used to be so strongly based on the voice actors performing the role. You could see the live action reference model’s facial expressions, etc., in the character if you looked closely. It made them feel more…real? Human? Wish, though not traditionally animated, seems to be returning to that to some extent. King Magnifico looks exactly like an animated Chris Pine should.

I don’t think we’ve ever had much in the way of evil kings. (Unless you count Scar, maybe, but I’m mostly talking about human characters here.) We’ve had plenty of evil queen tropes and we do have Hans, who is a prince, but this just feels different somehow. I think part of it is the fact that the king is married. Most all the classic villains are single. Magnifico has a wife who genuinely seems to love him and is concerned when he lets the power go to his head.

“At All Costs” - This song is the least advertised and yet probably the best on the soundtrack in my opinion. It’s a gorgeous villain/hero duet that sounds like (entirely out of context) it could be a love song or a father/daughter duet. Now, I’m totally aware that that is very likely NOT what is actually going on in the song, BUT it doesn’t take away from the fact that we rarely, if ever, get to hear a villain be a part of such a sweet, gentle song. It’s different and I like the “softness” of it. Chris Pine has a great voice and while “This is the Thanks I Get” is fun, “At All Costs” is the song that really showcases his talent.

I’m not expecting King Magnifico to have a change of heart in the end, but I do like how Disney has seemingly gotten just the right mix of a classic villain and a complicated character in Magnifico. I hope he lives up to the hype!

[theonlypastel]

I finally watched Disneys Wish (2024) since it came out on Disney+ and I have a thought… or two.

Disney’s Wish (2024)

Thoughts and critiques

⚠️spoilers below the cut!!⚠️

So on my initial watch I actually kinda enjoyed it. Now HEAR ME OUT I CAN EXPLAIN-

I kind of enjoyed the songs (mostly because I didn’t really listen to the lyrics) and the movie and characters weren’t even that bad.

But after I thought about it some more and watched the behind the scenes videos I realized a couple things:

WE WERE ROBBED A STAR BOY LOVE INTEREST?!?

There are a couple things that weren’t even explained

Is Asha canonically the OG fairy godmother?

I still don’t know why Magnifico wanted the wishes all to himself

WE WERE ROBBED OF A VILLAIN COUPLE!!

My biggest gripe with the movie is how much potential it had, but it just fell short.

For this movie being Disneys big 100th anniversary project, it feels half baked. It felt unfinished, like I was watched the rough draft; the version that they show to a test audience to see what they needed to change and fix.

The people that worked on it kept saying that it was supposed to reflect the OG Disney that people know and love. If I’m being honest, they kind of missed the mark on it. As a movie in general it wasn’t terrible, but there were some things that were just missing.

Magnifico

Magnifico as a “classic Disney Villain” just didn’t make sense to me. He really has no clear reason for keeping the wishes all to himself. I know most of the classic villains were just kinda evil to be evil, but there was still a reason for them to be evil. (For example Malificent was salty about not being invited to the ball [kinda extra but whatever] the Evil queen wanted to be the fairest of them all,the witch doctor from Princes and the Frog wanted money,etc etc, you get the idea). The one thing they did though was making him and unredeemable villain. Bro was rotten to the core and had me hating him by the end of the movie, no matter how fine he is(one of the most handsome villains lemme just SAY)

And don’t even get me STARTED on his villain song. It felt too much like a lead up to his actual villain song. If there was a reprise or something like that later in the movie I could have accepted that. Theo whole thing just felt too upbeat and almost childish to me. They were cooking a little bit in the middle but they lost it again.

Star

I SIMPLY WILL NOT LET GO OF THE FACT THAT WE AS A COMMUNITY WERE ROBBED!! There was so much potential for this Peter Pan type character and possible love interest?? And it’s not even because I’m a romance buff, but most female leads in Disney classics have a love interest, and if I’m to believe that this is reminiscent of said classics, we need a love interest. (Also can we just collectively agree that Star Boy would be added the Tubler sexy man list with expediency? Yes? Ok.)

The Queen

I don’t have much to nitpick about the queen but WE COULD HAVE HAD A VILLIN DUO! There was so much potential for some BANGER villain duets. And sure the classics didn’t really have villain couples per se, but they had plenty of villain groups, so it still would have made sense.

The references

I expected a lot more references and Easter eggs from other Disney movies, but I was struggling. I was looking the whole time and all I found were some hidden Mickey’s and a few throw aways lines alluding to characters and other movies. This is Disney’s big 100th anniversary! It should be full of references from all 100 years of movies! Maybe that’s just me but those references weren’t cutting it for me.

The Fandom

The Wish fandom is actually thriving more than I thought. We made a whole fandom out of nothinggg! Fan art, edits, fanfics, animatics, whole entire songs!! You name it, we have it. Honestly we should have just made the movie ourselves.

Again I say as a base movie it wasn’t that bad. There were some witty lines I liked, the friend group was cool (prob some of my fave characters tbh). The talking goat was THE funniest character(argue with the wall) and the Star is very plushy-able and I WILL be buying it when the murch drops thank YOU. Plus the storyline made sense with it being about making your dreams come true and such, perfectly falling in line with the whole Disney brand.

There were plenty of good things about it but it just wasn’t enough to call it a good anniversary movie. I finished the movie feeling horribly underwhelmed. It just felt like another Disney movie. I expected a lot more.

I mostly likely will be watching it again just to see if I find more, and who knows maybe it will be better the second time around.

Also make sure to leave a comment so I can see if I’m alone thinking that this movie wasn’t entirely a mistake haha…

<3

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Wish - True Ruler

I think Disney intentionally or unintentionally reveled a huge part of the plot.

This is King Magnifico.

This is Asha or Princess Asha.

Do you see the connection? Asha is Magnifico's daughter! Or is she? Let's speculate!

1. Option number one, Magnifico is an evil stepfather. This is very likely because it's a very common trope, especially back in the day for Disney. Wish is supposed to celebrate 100 years of Disney films and it's going to be full of easter eggs and probably similar plot points. Now instead of the evil stepmother, we have an evil stepfather.

2. The second very likely option is that Asha isn't a real princess but gets the title from the Disney Princesses brand. Mulan isn't technically a princess, but she's the main female character of a movie and is marketable.

There are legitimate princesses from Disney movies who aren't included because their movies were flops and/or are forgotten.  

3. Another popular trope Disney might draw inspiration from is ''a rightful air to the throne gets lost/kidnapped/thrown away but grows up raised by a kindhearted person''. There is a lady who wears a pretty similar outfit to Asha which hints at them being related in some way. Maybe she adopted Asha, or is a relative, she and Asha look similar enough, more than Magnifico that's for sure.

''But how did she got lost in the first place?'' you may ask. Well, in true villain fashion he killed his brother/sister and their spouse but didn't finish the job properly and the kid got away. Instead of killing Asha himself, Magnifico ordered his evil sidekicks to get rid of her but they obviously fail, because they don't go to check if their target is really dead or something. (I know there isn't an evil lackey in the trailer but it's just a teaser and if it's truly an homage to old Disney classics there has to be at least one if not more. They have a talking animal sidekick.)

Or maybe it's just a friend. Disney just run out of colors and I'm grasping at straws here.

4. And last and probably the most anticlimactic option, Asha is just your average village girl but she defeats the evil king and that makes her the ruler. It's an old trope for female characters to be called princesses even when by all logic they should be called queens. I guess it was because of the association with queens being evil and princesses being good popularized by Walt Disney himself with his first movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

This one seems the least likely to me since the stigma is gone now. Look at their most popular characters! Elsa used to be a queen and Anna is a new queen. (Even though the general public still calls them princesses for simplicity's sake.)

Also, I doubt that modern Disney company would pass up the opportunity to make their female character a queen and pat themselves on the back.

What do you think? Did I miss anything?

[denimbex1986]

'With “The Giggle” finally hitting Disney+, the three David Tennant-centric Doctor Who specials have come to a close, with surprising and spoilerific results. We’ve known for ages that Neil Patrick Harris was playing a new incarnation of a 1966 1st Doctor villain, The Celestial Toymaker, but until now, nobody knew how that was going to play out. And of course, there’s the whole question of the 14th Doctor’s surprising regeneration. With deep dives into recent lore, the return of Mel (Bonnie Langford) from the 6th and 7th Doctor eras, “The Giggle” will give fans plenty to talk about for a very long time to come.

But, squeezed into all of this was one very telling line from the 14th Doctor, a kind of revelation we’ve heard before, but that truly helps to contextualize the more contemporary Doctors as being very different from the 1st Doctor, William Hartnell, for one crucial reason. Just because the 1st Doctor appears to be a literal grandfather, that version of our eponymous Time Lord is among the youngest, and least-wise of all our Doctor Who incarnations...

As Donna and the Doctor are trying to escape the domain of the Toymaker, the Doctor vaguely recaps the events of “The Celestial Toymaker.” As the Doctor explains, he allowed the TARDIS to slip into a “hollow beneath the under-universe,” which brought him in contact with the Toymaker. Interestingly, in the context of the original serial, this wasn’t the Doctor’s first meeting with the Toymaker; and that vague origin has never been outright depicted on screen. But, the more interesting revelation here is the way the Doctor talks about the events of “The Celestial Toymaker.”

“When I was young I was so sure of myself, I made a terrible mistake,” the Doctor says. Now, if you didn’t know he was talking about a William Hartnell-centric adventure, your mind might call up a vague younger version of the Doctor, perhaps even one of those secret “Timeless Children,” versions. But that’s not at all what the Doctor means here. He means Susan’s Grandfather, the 1st Doctor, the grumpy, gruff stick-in-the-mud. And the idea that gets reinforced here is fairly simple: The elderly Doctor was, in fact, the youngest and most immature version of all the primary incarnations we’ve seen.

Meanwhile, the more conventionally youthful Doctors — including the incoming Ncuti Gatwa — are considerably older than the Hartnell Doctor, meaning, they’re infinitely wiser and less immature. Part of this comes from more experience, but it also comes from the fact that the newer Doctors are, for lack of a better term, simply more Doctor-ish. Over the years, the Doctor has become more of themselves through a variety of critical points.

In “The Giggle,” the 14th Doctor mentions that he is “a billion years old,” which is significantly older than he was back when Donna first met him in “The Runaway Bride,” at a time which the Doctor usually cited his age as somewhere in the 903 range. Is the 14th Doctor counting all the time the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) spent in the confession dial? Are we also adding in all the missing years from the time of the Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin), and other “Timeless Child” or “Brain of Morbius” Doctors who have had their pasts erased?

In a way, whether they’re a few thousand years older than the Hartnell Doctor, or a few billion, it hardly matters. The newer Doctors are simply much older and smarter than the older ones. Just because William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton might seem like senior citizens compared to Jodie Whittaker or Ncuti Gatwa, the reality is those classic Doctors are the young punks. Those are the Doctors who made the mistakes and messed up space and time, and various galaxies. In this way, the story of the new incarnations of Doctor Who isn’t about a Time Lord’s constant quest to look young. Instead, it’s all about undoing our preconceived notions of what a responsible hero should look like, and realizing the one that looks the most like a revered elder, is also the person who was likely the most reckless.'

[rachelbethhines]

60 Years of Doctor Who Anniversary Marathon - T. Baker 1st Review

Disney Time - Behind the Scenes

So for the Third Doctor we looked at trailers and promos for the show itself, well for the Fourth Doctor we’re looking at promotional material and advertisements for things that aren’t related to the show.

See Doctor Who is so popular that the series has been used to advertise various products, charities, PSAs, both for the UK and other countries, and even promote other IPs.

Which leads us to Disney Time. 

Disney Time was an annual special that ran in the UK from 1961 to 1998. And it was literally just one giant advert for Disney each and every year. It would show clips from it’s newly released or up coming movies, including recent re-releases and shorts, and promote it’s other tv shows.  

Each year the segment was hosted by a celebrity who would provide linking segments and explain the context of the clips being shown. And in 1975 that celebrity was Doctor Who.

Not just Tom Baker, who played the Doctor, but the actual character of the Doctor, running around the theater proclaiming how great Disney is, how much he loves classic Disney characters like Donald Duck, and horribly mispronouncing Mowgli’s name.

The in universe explanation being that the Doctor is on vacation. Having just dropped off Harry and Sarah Jane back home at the end of Revenge of the Cybermen, he enjoys his holiday by going to the movies. At the end of his day off he gets a message from the Brigadier which is supposed to lead directly into Terror of the Zygons. So yeah, this is meant to be canon to the show.

The segment has never officially been released due to copyright, but mega fans with home recorders have kindly posted Tom Baker’s clips to youtube.

In order to watch the show as intended, I pulled up the missing clips off of Disney Plus and kept the Doctor Who linking clips up in another tab; switching between the two when needed.

To re-create the experience yourself, this is the line up.

To start everything off, you have

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia

The Doctor’s 1st clip

The Clock-cleaners (the short was edited down for the episode, but I don’t know where the cuts were made, so I just watched the entire short) 

2nd Doctor clip

“Blackbeard drives a car and says fuck the police” from BlackBeard’s Ghost (the clip starts with Dean Jones and Blackbeard driving in the car and ends with Dean Jones getting handcuffed) 

3rd Doctor Who clip

"Trust in Me" from The Jungle Book (clip starts with Kaa singing, and ends Kaa being pushed out of the tree by Mowgli. just end when the segment fades to black) 

Back to the Doctor; 4th clip

“The hippopotamus segment” from The African Lion  

5th  intro by the Doctor

“Theodore and Amos try to rob the bank” from The Apple Dumpling Gang (the segment starts with Theodore telling Amos his plan for using a rope to haul himself to the roof, it ends at the next scene with the Sheriff finding the two thieves tied up together in front of the vault. cut the scene before the trial starts)

6th clip for the Doctor

"The Beautiful Briny" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks (start with them meeting Mr. Cod and end as soon as they accept the trophy)

Another Doctor segment, the 7th clip

“A cougar attacks a child” from  Return of the Big Cat (This TV movie is on youtube not Disney+; and clips were actually shown out of order for the episode. first clip time stamp 41:52 to 43:53, and the second clip time stamp is 37:30 to 39:27)

 7th Doctor Who clip

“The puppets dancing” from Escape to Witch Mountain (the scene starts with the kids being stuck inside while it rains. they make the puppets come to life, the villains watch them from a hidden camera, next scene the children discuss running away)

8th Doctor who clip 

“He’s a Tramp” from Lady and the Tramp (scene kicks off with Lady being brought into the pound, ends with the song ending)

Final Doctor Who clip

Of course it’s Disney and Doctor Who, two my favorite things combined so I love it. THe best bits were the songs, but even the segments from ‘lesser’ films proved to be at least interesting given their context.

The Apple Dumpling and Escape to Witch Mountain were the big theatrical releases at the time, hence their inclusion.

BlackBeard’s Ghost, The African Lion, and Jungle Book were all getting planned releases that following year, and indeed the theater where this was filmed was playing Lady and the Tramp at the time. Which is why the episode ended on that segment in particular. 

But most interesting of all was the Return of the Big Cat segment. A movie that I didn’t even knew existed until this marathon.

It’s not a theatrical release, but rather a made for tv movie that was created for Disney’s anthology show The Wonderful World of Color.

Disney made original tv movies from time to time for his anthology and they’re basically the prototype for the Disney Channel Original Movies that I grew up on. With about the same level of quality too.

With new Doctor Who coming to Disney Plus soon, this was a fun look in that I wouldn’t mind revisiting again. Especially since I know where the clips actually begin and end. It took a while to figure that part out.

[arttrampbelle]

Disney villain confessions:

Fave Disney villain and why: look it's really really hard to choose. But if i had to. Judge claude frollo. Simply because let's be honest. We will NEVER get a villain like that ever again. Dark,real,raw,and complex af. He's not enjoying being a villain let alone thinking he is one. One could argue he is a victim of the very faith he claims. Ah yes. That guilt be thicc boiz! But anyways,i feel he deserves the top spot because solely of the simplicity in the character and the fact he is ironically the most human in his downfall,his motives,his anger. And that my dears is what is terrifying.

The most closest to him in my fave list is hades but that's because he is the closest to his actual mythos counterpart. Chill,funny,just wants to do his job and everyone is making that a problem for some reason. Because some douchebag son of zuse wanted to show off and be a heroic epic. Thats it. The grand scheme of disneys Hercules is funny af if you really think about it. And meg,honey,he's cute and nice and all that but really?! But it's funny more so because greek mythos is kinda ridiculous too. But ya know.

Oh and captain hook. But more so the character in the movie hook. So damn good. R.i.p robin williams. I love you and miss you so much. He was like a childhood friend to me and i cried when i heard of his passing. Plz in all seriousness,check on your loved ones. Advocate for better mental health care. But back to disneys hook in peter pan. He was fun. Just plain fun to me. It was the feeling on playing on a playground,and that was the point. Tho it could get twisted and dark real quick. Oof. But as for overall. He's fun. I think he's neat and charming.

Scar. Oh my god,Jeremy irons. Legit blew his voice out for this character. Great villain. 10 outta 10.

All the lady Disney villains absolutely kill it but we already knew. Cept mother gothel to me. I feel she's redundant. Cool character,fun. But overall redundant in the grand scheme of things. At least compared to other villains,motives and overall vibe. *shrug* i dont hate her. I just feel she's pointless. Dont hate me plz.

But sadly as all the villains are great. Frollo is my top one.

Now onto my least favorite disney villain:

Gaston. Yeah. I mean he served his purpose. His role. But he's the least appealing of the classic villains. As for any new villains? Nah none of them are as appealing as the classics. They are golden years and renaissance for a reason. you just dont see any oomf to disney villains anymore. Hans is a close 2nd. It's legit just gaston but "pretty" and frozen and motives are weak. Gaston is at least upfront. We know what he's about. But overall I'd punt him into the sun. Hell i feel a lot of Disney villains would find this guy obnoxious and eff him up on spot. I feel it would even make frollo,the most repressed man alive,pissed off and defending belle from this douche. Frollo ffs. Just saying in hypothetical. Look it's no shade to gaston stans and enjoyer. He's a great villain. But he's the least appealing because to me,he's slightly boring but he serves his purpose so i can't hate 100% either. But hans? Nah nobody likes him. Nobody i know.

Again these are just my opinions. No shade to any Disney villain truly. But i neeeeeed oomf,that spice,that charisma,that je ne sais quoi so to speak. I need tragedy,comedy,and either a simple to follow motive or something so complex and straightforward it's believable. Which comes to my point. MAKE THE BULLSHIT BELIEVABLE!!!

Which is why we dont see many disney villains that are appealing anymore.

Now onto fave Disney villains songs.

Omg too many!

Helfire still ranks as my most fave a chilling song.

Poor unfortunate souls. Hell yeah Ursula my girl killed that! Love you sweetheart.

Be prepared. Once again. Jeremy irons rules.

I got friends on the other side. Princess and the frog. Underrated af. And that song is catchy and i love jazz. Lousiana. And this soul that is put into this song? Absolutely delicious.

Overall. I absolutely love Disney villains. And honestly. I loved them more than the princesses. Sorry. But definitely more than most disney princes. Until naveen,i didn't care for any of em really. Maybe beast but more so as beast so it doesn't count. And yes,some that aren't "official" princesses,i count as princesses. Because they are to me. And disney can suck it for that. But yeah naveen was fun,simple,cute,and he actually got character development in the movie. Pretty sweet. The only disney prince i felt earned his princess. That's the gospel truth. Hee hee.

Ok anyways im done ranting and raving about Disney villains.