#definitely true for the first arc of this doctor who series

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

was in the shower and had the literal thought "fix-it fic is literally playing with barbies until you shape the narrative into something coherent" and tbh, that's kinda true for just fic writing and even original writing in general.

play with those barbies. make them kiss. make them kill each other. hurt them. comfort them.

smash those barbies together until you have a story you think is worth telling.

[awkward-tension-art]

Viral Vector Chp.1 (Echo X Reader)

Another addition to Caduceus. We've hit The Bad Batch now! This may be a bit of a brief series, but we'll see!

Enjoy!

Chapter 2.

Galactic Empire

TW: Order 66, death, shooting, Jedi genocide, mention of blood and gore, reader insert, Reader is gender neutral, Reader a medical scientist, Echo x Reader, a bit of a slow-burn though

Minimally proofread and edited LOL

Minors DNI

DNA.

Deoxyribonucleic acid

Definition: a self-replicating material that is present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information.

Living organisms. Humans. Pantorans. Twi’leks. Togrutas. Many more species in the wide Galaxy.

And clones.

Clones of Jango Fett. a Mandalorian bounty hunter with a strong paternal instinct and superior fighting skills. 

Handsome too, but you try not to let anyone know. 

Kamino, your home and workplace as a medical scientist, did not see clones as living beings. Most of your colleagues viewed them as property. A notion that went against everything you knew with ethics and morals. 

Even if you weren’t technically a part of the cloning experiments, you still interacted with many of them daily. Afterall, along with your lab and research, Shaak Ti had put you and several others incharge of running a clinic for the clones. 

Your place was taken from a lower level Hospital on Coruscant and put all the way to Kamino at the Jedi’s request. Once the war had begun, they wanted several non-Kaminoan doctors overseeing the clones' health as they grew and trained. You, along with a few others, had volunteered to stay on the stormy planet. To you, this was an escape away from the dark, crime filled low levels of the Republic planet. 

Apparently the Jedi tried to stress ethics to the Kaminoans, only for their words to fall on deaf ears. So, the compromise was the clinic.

You mostly saw cadets with bruises from tussling with batchmates, training accidents and occasional sicknesses their rapidly developing immune systems couldn't handle. Rarely did you receive any true emergencies, but it was fine. Less emergencies meant more time for you to research. 

It was medicine. Created specifically to slow a clones ' accelerated aging.

It was a secret. One that you were careful not to tell anyone. 

Well…Except for Omega. 

The little girl was a helpful assistant. Nala Se didn’t like her going out of the lab, so you meeting her was entirely an accident. She hid in your office months ago during a surprise lockdown. Apparently a clone had triggered a false alarm, but no one knew that at the time. 

Ever since then, when Nala Se didn’t have her, she wanted to spend time with you.

Right now, she was with you and Rig Nema, a Jedi healer. The older woman had come to visit Kamino at the request of Shaak Ti. You weren’t entirely sure why, but she seemed interested in your clinic.

“How many patients do you see in a day?” The Jedi asked as she helped you tend to Rein, a Kamino guard who, unfortunately, was hit by the shrapnel of an exploded training droid. 

“It can vary,” You informed her with a smile, “depending on when specific batches train. Some are more prone to injuries than others.”

“Like Clone Force 99?” Omega chimed in from where she was organizing some medicine for you.

Rig tilted her head, silently asking you to explain. 

“Genetically different clones.” You explained quickly, “They had genetic mutations that gave them…advantageous traits.” They were your friends. Having developed a rather close relationship with them since they were often at Kamino. 

Especially Echo. The ARC trooper had always been polite and kind to you. He’d visit your clinic first whenever Force 99 had returned from a mission. You were already friendly with the other members of the squad when he officially joined them.  His addition was welcome, and you treated him with the same amount of respect as you did the rest of them. It helped him feel welcome, even normal after everything he went through on Skako Minor.

She nodded in understanding. The Jedi was about to speak before an alarm blared. The lights overhead turned red, bathing everywhere with crimson. In between the high pitched beeps, a gravelly, unfamiliar voice announced.

Execute Order 66. 

You looked around confused, stepping away from the clone on the medical bed. What the hell was Order 66? The beeping stopped just as quickly as it started, but the lights were still a deep red.

Beside you, Rig stumbled back, gripping her head. You were at her side, hands holding her arm firmly. She was weak all of a sudden, and worry washed over you.

“Ms. Rig?” Omega approached, looking concerned. She had abandoned her task, and approached the two of you. 

“I got her.” You informed the blonde child, “Omega, go to the back of the room and hide behind the scanner. Can you do that?”

She nodded and rushed back, getting out of sight quickly.

You weren’t sure what was happening, but you’d be damned if anything happened to Omega.

“The Force…” The woman in your arms was trembling, “It's…It's weeping.” 

Your hands squeezed her arm, “Stay with me, Jedi.” You lead her to the bed across from Rein, who was already standing. He seemed ready, tense and prepared to fight if needed.

It was a relief, having a trained guard. Once he was up, you turned to see him holding a laser scalpel. Your brow furrowed and you spoke, “Rein…What are you-”

“Good soldiers follow orders.” He mumbled coldly, twirling the medical instrument in his hand, “The Jedi have committed treason against the Republic. Step aside or you will be executed.” His steps were slow and deliberate.

“Rein, what…?” Your confusion was palpable. You tried to get between him and the Jedi healer behind you, “Slow down, whats-”

The clone guard grabbed your shoulder and shoved you out of the way. He used enough force to cause you to stumble, hands and knees hitting the sterile white tiles. You looked up as soon as you heard the Rig and Rein scuffle.

“Get back!” Rig shouted. She raised a hand, lifting him with the Force. Her free hand activated her bright green lightsaber, “Why are you doing this!?”

“Good soldiers follow orders.” Rein repeated, raising a shaky hand to make a weak attempt at a stab. She, however, raised him higher before throwing him into the wall.

You heard a crack and Omega yelp from her hiding spot.

Before you could speak, the healer panicked. She ran out of your clinic, lightsaber ready. However before the door fully closed, you saw Kamino guards with their blasters aimed, as if waiting for her.

The sound of multiple rifles firing pierced your ears through the door. After the barrage of noise, there was the thump of a body hitting the metal floor of the hall. Then silence.

“What…” You scrambled to your feet and shot to the door. It slid open and you nearly tripped over Rig’s smoking corpse. She had been riddled with blaster bolt holes. Her eyes were still wide with terror, and her lightsaber was tight in her palm. Blood began to surround her, staining the once white floors.

All around you were clones. Those you recognized. Those you treated. But they looked…empty. Their helmets were on. Their blasters were steady. 

“Doctor,” Captain Silvo lowered his gun, “Did this traitor harm you?” 

“What…What is going on?” Even the Captain sounded unlike himself. It seemed like every clone had their personality stripped away, leaving only husks. 

What the fuck was going on!?

“The Jedi have committed treason against the Republic.” He answered, repeating Rein’s words. He motioned for the others to lower their own weapons, “We were given orders to execute them.” 

“The Jedi…as in…All of them?” 

“Yes, Doctor.”

It felt like the floor beneath you collapsed. The Jedi. Peacekeepers. Were ordered to be executed?

Omega had crawled from her hiding spot, and you turned, raising a hand to her, “Stay back. Close your eyes and stay right there.” You didn’t want her to see…Rig.

Kamino suddenly felt…cold. Empty. Everyone around you, your former friends, were now strangers. 

“I..I see Captain.” You swallowed. Your instincts were screaming at you to run. But Omega was behind you. She could be in danger if you acted out, “Well…I…I’m glad none of you were…hurt by the…traitor.” 

The word barely managed to leave your mouth. You swallowed thickly.

“There is still more out there. But they will be brought to justice.” He answered your statement with coldness. 

Your nod was stiff, “Thank you, Captain.” 

“Return to your duties, Doctor.” He turned swiftly before commanding his men, “Spread out, there are more Jedi on Kamino. Find them and execute on sight. You three, get this body covered and out of the way.” 

You were shaking when you turned back into your clinic. the door closed behind you, and there was silence. The light switched back and you blinked, adjusting your eyes to the sudden lack of crimson.

Omega stared at you, wringing her hands and looking so small. Wordlessly, you knelt and she ran into your arms for a hug.

You waited as you held her. Until you didn’t hear the plastoid boots outside. Until you didn’t hear the shuffling of Rig’s body being taken. Until you were certain the chaos had passed.

You waited until Nala Se walked into the clinic, “There you are.” She sounded as steady and emotionless as ever, “Come. There is still work to do.” 

Behind her were two clones, both wearing the identifiable Coruscant red. 

Shock troopers.

“Nala Se…?” You looked at the Kaminoan, “What…happened?” 

“The Jedi have betrayed the Republic.” She stated, repeating things you already knew, “They are being hunted and executed.” 

None of this made sense…

You squeezed Omega before letting her go to follow your boss. She gave you a sad look but remained silent as she stepped behind Nala Se. Wordlessly, you watched as the two of them walked out of your clinic. Once they were gone, you grabbed your holo, attempting to get a hold of your other colleagues. 

Silence. The others, those you came to Kamino with, didn’t answer. 

Assuming the worst, you tried to seek them out. Your assumptions were half-correct. Some of them were killed, either by interfering or cut down by panicked Jedi. Others you managed to catch in the hangar before they left to go back home. 

“The war is over, we’re leaving before Nala Se fires us officially.” Doctor Ulluk stated, stepping on the transport. You debated on going with them. Leaving the cloning facility behind, but before you could move, another ship touched down. 

The Marauder. Clone Force 99. 

You stepped back, watching your colleagues and friends leave Kamino.

The troopers, Guard, Shiny and Shock, shuffled and moved around. They resembled droids, emotionless and empty as they walked in line. Announcements rang out from the intercom system, directing them. No one bid you any mind.

Level five lockdown remains in effect. Security teams report to the command center.

You walked towards the ship slowly, waiting until the clone force stepped off. Once they did, you approached.

Hunter stepped down first, brown eyes scanning the area. He was alert, guarded yet calm. He gave a questioning look to you when he was on the Kaminoan floors. Wrecker was the same, but more curious than tense, he gave a friendly wave. Tech was beside him, unsurprisingly tapping a datapad. Crosshair looked uninterested, bored even, at the state of Kamino.

Once Echo Stepped down, he saw you and got to your side first, “You look spooked.” He was concerned, looking your form over for any injuries, “What happened?”

“Doctor, do you know what's going on?” Hunter got beside the ARC trooper, “This…isn't a drill.”

“Oh, man. What did we miss now?” Wrecker huffed, crossing his arms. 

A shock trooper, one with a datapad, stopped and answered, “The end of the war.”

The sergeant turned to him, “Say again, trooper?”

He answered, voice flat and emotionless, “General Grievous was defeated on Utapau. The Separatist leadership has collapsed. The war is over.” Behind him, two other clones were pushing a wheeled autopsy table. Draped over it was a white sheet, covering the body underneath.

Your eyes widened, watching as it passed. You were frozen, hyper focused on who was on the table.

“Just like I said.” Tech barely looked up from his datapad. His eyes roamed the screen, uninterested in the world around him.

Wrecker gasped, “It is like you said!”

Crosshair and Tech both rolled their eyes.

A lightsaber rolled from the autopsy table and hit the floor with a clatter. A hand, Rig’s hand, slipped out, confirming it was her under the sheet. 

Your throat tightened as the Shock trooper knelt and picked up the Jedi weapon, “Is there a problem?”

Hunter answered first, “No problem.” He looked to his squad before continuing, “We'll just head to our barracks then.”

The trooper nodded, continuing to walk, “Best hurry. There's a mandatory general assembly at 1500.”

Echo put a gloved hand to your shoulder, “Doc?” 

“That was Rig,” You whispered, “I watched them…they just…”

“Stay calm.” Hunter’s harsh, hushed tone snapped you out of your state, “Explain everything once we have some privacy.”

With a nod, you followed them to their barracks. Echo was at your right, and Crosshair was at your left. Occasionally Hunter would cast a glance back to you, as if making sure you were still present. Wrecker and Tech were behind you. The squad encircled you, as if intending to protect you. 

“Are you ok?” The ARC trooper leaned closer to whisper, “did anyone hurt you?” He was protective. Ever since you met him he’s always tried to keep you safe. 

Really all the clones had the drive to protect. To fight and defend. But after….after order 66….

That instinct was gone now. From all of them.

You shook your head and were about to speak when a shock trooper snapped, “Where do you think you're going, doctor?” He wore the standard painted red armor. There was a rifle in his hands as he spoke to you. 

You froze and damn near jumped out of your skin when he demanded an answer. Echo stopped beside you, as did the others of his squad. 

“I…They..” Your voice was lost, and after a quick clearing of your throat, you gave a proper answer, “Examining Clone Force 99. They’ve just returned from their mission and…”

“There is a Level Five Lockdown in effect.” The trooper stepped towards you, “All nonessential personnel are to go to their quarters and remain until the all clear is given.” 

You hated pulling rank, but in the hierarchy of Kamino, you stood above most clones, “Excuse me,” your tone became stern, hiding your shock from earlier. With a quick movement, you had your I.D out and nearly shoved in the clone's helmet, “I head the clinic in medical wing B. I am essential personnel. If it's such an issue for me to be out, you can take it directly to Nala Se.”

After a second, the Coruscant Guard stepped back, “My apologies Doctor. Continue on your way.”

Echo shared a look with you, “Are…you allowed to be with us?”

“No.” you admitted once the guard was out of earshot, “But I…I’m scared. I don’t want to be alone.” It felt like you were in the ocean, surrounded by predators. All they needed was a single drop of blood before they attacked.

Would they gun you down like they did the Jedi? Or would they opt to throw you in a cell? Would they try to mind-wipe you the same way many of their brothers had been? 

Your pace was hurried once you got to their barracks. The door slid open, and Crosshair damn near shoved you inside. Hunter caught you and gave the sniper a harsh look. 

Their barracks were messy but homey. There were posters and used targets on the walls. There were scribbles and doodles carved into the once shiny metal. Tables had droid pieces, tools and other projects that Tech most likely worked on. 

It was…personalized. Very Un-Kaminoan.

Hunter was about to speak when his comrade cut him off.

Wrecker walked past you, letting out a small cheer, “Ah! Good to be back!” He stretched his large arms above his head, entirely missing your state, “Well, I'll get the board. Eleven more successful missions.”

“Kaller wasn’t a win,” Hunter softly chastised his brother. He wanted to hear what you had to say, but Wrecker chimed in again to argue.

“Says who?” The larger clone turned, facing the team leader, “We completed our objective.”

“Not every objective.” It was Crosshair that spoke, not allowing you to talk, “Hunter let that Jedi kid escape.” His arms were crossed, glaring at the long haired sergeant, “Or do you want to keep lying to us?”

“E-even the padawans?” Your throat tightened. Horror washed over you all over again. Nausea slammed into your stomach, and you nearly dry heaved. You slapped your hand over your mouth and bent slightly. 

Children were executed too?

Echo’s arms were around you, “Everyone, shut up!” He snapped, “None of this makes sense!” His angry gaze was trained on the sniper, clearly not happy he wanted a padawan dead, “Those clones served alongside General Billaba for years. How could they have turned on her like that?”

“Because of the regs programming,” Tech finally spoke up, hands tinkering with a small robotic project.

Programming…

You looked up at the intellectual clone, realization dawning on you. 

Months before this, Kamino was put on lockdown. A clone and a Coruscant doctor had infiltrated the labs and went through genetic files searching for something. To your knowledge they were trying to cure another clone from a disease of some type. 

The trooper had died anyway. And according to the news from Coruscant, once the ARC trooper and doctor left, the clone had gone insane and killed the doctor before trying to assassinate the Chancellor. 

It was shared with the medical team that every clone had a bio-mechanical chip in their brains. You were told that the chip was planted to help the clones deal with the stresses of war. What caused the ARC trooper to go insane was a breakdown of said chip. In his insanity, he killed the doctor.

But now it was clear, you had been lied to. 

“It's been well documented that the Kaminoans inhibited the cognitive functions of clones to engineer them to follow orders without question,” Tech continued, “The good doctor here can confirm.” His eyes were on the small trinket he was working on.

You nodded, “I…I think…Yes. But I’d need to confirm. Check some records…” You straightened, still feeling sick to a degree, “All the clones were programmed to kill Jedi after being given an order.”

Wrecker furrowed his brow, “If that's the case, why weren’t we affected?” 

“Obviously, we are different,” The intellectual clone picked up a small screwdriver and continued to tighten something in his project, “They manipulated preexisting aberrations in our DNA, resulting in your brute strength, Crosshair's sharpshooting skills, Hunter's enhanced senses and my exceptional mind.”

“Those differences make you immune.” You looked at Echo. He still kept a hand on your shoulder, something you appreciated, “And Echo, most likely what happened to you on Skako Minor…it might have affected the chip. So the order didn’t affect you either.” 

He sighed and looked down, “Lucky me…” However, his eyes met yours again, “All the Jedi executed, even…”

“Most likely General Skywalker too. I’m sorry, Echo.” You raised a hand to squeeze his shoulder before pulling him into a comforting hug. 

He told you stories of Skywalker. How he was a good, if adventurous general. How he cared for his men deeply enough to risk everything for them. 

And now…the Jedi general was most likely dead too. Shot in the back by the very troopers he fought alongside.

You hoped, for Echo’s sake, he was alive and in hiding. 

The former ARC trooper accepted the embrace before he pulled away, turning to look out the window. You could see the storm of emotions in his soft brown eyes. Hunter was about to speak, most likely offer words of sympathy, but he had been cut off by an announcement over the PA system.

All personnel report to the staging area for a briefing on the state of the Republic.

You shared a confused look with Wrecker. That was sudden…

“This is one meeting I don't want to miss,” Hunter shrugged and began to walk out of the barracks. 

“First time for everything.” Crosshair snarked, following the sergeant. 

You followed the others before bidding farewell and going to your designated place. Your thoughts overwhelmed your mind and you nearly walked right into Nala Se’s back when you met up with her and Omega.

The young girl greeted you happily and grabbed your hand. She smiled up at you, “Good to see you, doctor!” 

Your smile was small but you were relieved to know that she seemed to handle the rapid change well enough, “Glad to see you, Omega. Are you alright?” 

She nodded, but remained silent when Lama Su joined you three.

You were behind the heads Kamino. The scientists and leaders you reported to walked steadily to the observation deck. None of them seem bothered from the chaos just hours before. No one seemed to care that Shaak Ti was gone…

Was she dead? Did Commander Colt shoot her down? Or did she escape and survive? 

You were so deep in thought you missed the entirety of the beginning of the briefing. In fact, you didn’t even register that it was Chancellor Palpetine announcing the news. By the time you snapped into focus, he was already giving a speech. 

“and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated.” The holo echoed around the large staging area. “The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed. But I assure you. My resolve has never been stronger!”

Troopers stood in line. You could easily spot clone force 99. Their black and red armor was stark against the white plastoid of the other soldiers. 

“In order to ensure the security and continuing stability the Republic will be reorganized,” Palpetine continued, and you perked up. 

“into the first Galactic Empire!”

Immediately troopers began to cheer. Many raised their fists in celebration, however, some of them looked around as if confused, entirely shocked by the news.

Your head spun, no longer hearing the speech. 

Galactic…Empire…?

[doctornolonger]

Did you know the BBC wanted a young Doctor spin-off, but the Doctor Who production office shut it down, so all the ideas for it became the CBBC show Leonardo?

or,

You want a Deca spinoff? We’ve had one all along!!

It’s well-known that CBBC had planned a young Doctor spin-off before they commissioned The Sarah Jane Adventures. As RTD put it in The Inside Story (2006), “Children’s BBC approached us. They wanted to do a drama based around the idea of a young Doctor Who, but I said no to that. Somehow the idea of a fourteen-year-old Doctor, on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers, takes away from the mystery and intrigue of who he is and where he came from. So instead I suggested doing a series with Sarah Jane Smith, because she'd been so popular in School Reunion.”

But is it possible that CBBC didn’t throw out the idea, and “a fourteen-year-old Doctor on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers” became “a fourteen-year-old Leondardo da Vinci in 15th century Florence inventing new futuristic technologies”? Many thanks to my friend Poseidome for pointing me to this connection, which came from the same rumorhound who told me about the Dalek rights situation and abortive BritBox reshoot plans:

Leonardo is what the young Doctor spin off was going to be. “Fantastico!” as his catchphrase. The series would follow the Doctor, Master, Rani, and friends uncovering a conspiracy within the Academy and Time Lord society. The Doctor and the eventual renegades at the heart of it all. The Doctor’s ideas being stolen, his future has been foreseen, Time Lords trying to stop it, etc. All that kind of stuff. There’s even a Borusa stand-in played by Alistair McGowan!

(More under the cut…)

The cast I believe would have been the same, along with the budget, filming locations and costumes. Just adapted to be more sci-fi. CGI shots of Gallifrey, actual futuristic technology, classic monster cameos, that kind of thing.

Most if not all the ideas for the young Doctor series are in the Leonardo trailer still, as they kept 99% of the concept. The independent company tasked with adapting it had already done all the development before the idea got canned. Storylines, scripts, characters, costume ideas, locations, sets. If you watch the first series, the story arc and scripts should still be clear what they originally were, so it sort of still is, in a weird way, a bit of Doctor Who media.

I think it would have been really popular. I believe it would have broadcast in a gap year, or between split seasons. Similar to what they later did with Class, but instead of late teens, it was for the Sarah Jane Adventures demographic.

I’ve not seen the second series, but my understanding is its a lot more it’s own thing, as by then they’d had time to redevelop it outside of being a reworked young Doctor show. Hence why series 1 is the way it is, and series 2 tonally different.

I’ve done some digging to try to verify this rumour, including reaching out to one of the series 1 writers, but I haven’t found anything definitive yet. I rather doubt that development had gone as far as costumes, sets, etc., given how early in the process RTD seems to have shot it down, but it’s certainly true that the cast list matches perfectly. Plagiarising freely from the Leonardo Wiki:

Jonathan Bailey (Psi from “Time Heist”!) as Leonardo da Vinci, a young apprentice who loves painting, inventing, and creating new things. As the BBC Press Office put it, “He’s not just a genius; he’s an unstoppable, free-thinking creative force who’s always ten steps ahead of the rest.” Obviously the Doctor.

Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Tomaso/Lisa (of “Mona” fame), a girl who lives disguised as a male apprentice at Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence. According to the rumorhound, this would have been the Rani – although she also sounds a bit like Alanir …

Akemnji Ndifornyen as Niccolò Machiavelli or “Mac”, the number one man when it come to fraud or theft. He has a network of urchin spies and cut-purses throughout the city, and he likes money-making schemes and mingling with the rich and famous. Leo sometimes has to get him out of trouble. Obviously the Master.

Colin Ryan as Lorenzo de’ Medici, a wealthy boy largely bored of his life of luxury who enjoys sneaking away to join his friends. He is anxious to please his father, whom he greatly admires. The Monk, perhaps?

Alistair McGowan as Piero de’ Medici, an ambitious man and cousin to the Duke of Florence. He keeps a close eye on all happenings in Florence, and he heads a mysterious secret society. Borusa.

James Cunningham as Andrea del Verrocchio, Leo and Tom’s strict maestro. Leonardo is very loyal to him. The Doctor’s mentor Azmael, or an original character?

In light of this, I could totally believe that the blueprint of the young Doctor series was reused for Leonardo. If true, the transposition of the characters from Gallifrey to late 15th century Florence was frankly inspired. TIL Machiavelli and da Vinci were actually contemporaries!

(Incidentally, one of the script editors of Leonardo, Nina Métivier, also played a role in some of my favorite stories from the Chibnall era: she edited “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” and “It Takes You Away” in Doctor Who series 11, and of course she wrote “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” in series 12.)

This wouldn’t be the first time that planned Doctor Who stories have been repurposed for other series: Wizards vs. Aliens (2012–2014) was made by the same creative team and played in the same timeslot as The Sarah Jane Adventures, and at least one episode was based on a SJA script that had gone unproduced after Elisabeth Sladen’s untimely death; some Dirk Gently and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy stories had their roots in Douglas Adams’ rejected or unproduced Fourth Doctor pitches; and quite a few rejected Wilderness Era book and audio proposals eventually found homes outside Who, such as the Sixth Doctor pitch Smoking Mirror, which ultimately became into the Faction Paradox novel Against Nature.

But unlike those cases, where we know the character dynamics of the Doctor and their companion or Sarah Jane’s friends so we can spot their analogues in the new contexts, this young Doctor series is an attempt to do something new. Maybe we can spot the young Doctor and Master [edit: or can we?!], but we’ve never seen their friendship anything like this before – and as for the Monk being an impressionable kid trying to impress his father? It’s completely new.

We don’t have anything to compare Leonardo against: its existence is literally the only surviving hint of CBBC’s vision for the young Doctor and friends. And what a compelling hint it is!

[tulipsinthedas]

Just finished binging the Fallout tv show and 🤯 I've got so many thoughts running through this little brain of mine. So here's a very long rant no one asked for. Maybe I'll make a more digestible version later. Obviously SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Be warned!

First off - the lore. So many interesting things were added into the lore by this show that I find so fascinating, as well as theories I've had that were touched upon. All of which makes this very exciting but also leaves me DESPERATE for season two. The main thing that has really stuck with me is the confirmation that Vault-Tec were the ones to drop the bombs like hello??? I've always had an inkling ever since I started delving into fallout lore a good year or two ago that they were behind everything, but finally having it confirmed is so fun. Of course, some people out there are going to be irritated (L take) but this imo will make replays so much more interesting. Same with the addition of ghouls needing medication to keep from becoming feral. Although this begs some questions; what is the medicine? Is it just radaway, or something else entirely? Maybe it's connected to whatever Hancock used to ghoulify himself? Or maybe it's connected to Doctor Barrows' research into ghouls fom Fallout 3? Idk! But I hope it's answered in season 2.

Cooper being the inspiration behind the iconic vault boy mascot absolutely gagged me. It was kinda hinted at even in the beginning at the kids birthday party but I was still surprised. Pleasantly, of course. Other smaller things, like the BOS branding and helmets opening up, among other things, were also fun touches that develop the lore in ways that the games probably never would have. It's small things like this that despite livening up the wasteland, would be unnecessary uses of resources from a game-development standpoint. So I think if season 2 ends up being a banger like season 1, we could see a lot more tiny additions to the lore like this!

Secondly - the characters. I don't even know where to start. They were written so well which is such a critical part of a good series. Lucy, despite everything she goes through, stays true to her morals and by doing so, probably unknowingly, is changing those around her. Despite being stubborn, she's willing to listen and understand other viewpoints and adapt herself. It's so refreshing to see a main female lead who isn't written as either weak and naive or strong and boneheaded; she'd a perfect mix of both. I also appreciate them not making her a total push over, even in the beginning before she is given any reason to change. She grows, but never fails to stay true to herself. Plus the whole sex positive thing is an amazing touch to add as well, especially for a woman.

And while on this topic, Maximus is such a cutie pie. Writing characters that are selflessly aligned can definitely be a hit or miss, and without properly being fleshed out, can be one-dimensional, but I never felt that way with him. Despite trying to help others and be a good person, he still has flaws and does feels selfish things. They took the trope of the knight in shining armor, literally, and gave him actual human characteristics that made him feel real. Underneath his heroic demeanor, he's just a little guy who likes slippers and vault popcorn. Who just wants to be somewhere safe away from war and danger, to be where he can just relax and not have to worry. And his romance arc with Lucy is just way too cute. From the moment they met in Filly I knew something was going to happen and I was so excited when they finally kissed lmao. The sweet, innocent love at first sight thing they have going on is the perfect dichotomy to all the bloodshed and heavy themes going on in the rest of the show.

And finally, Cooper is reviving the inner ghoul lover in me and I cannot complain at all. As a certified Hancock lover, I feel seen ✋ also Walton Goggins is just incredibly fine. But that's besides the point. His character is arguably the best written because despite being an undeniably evil person, he is still likeable. 200 years have turned him into a man who had to lose his humanity to survive, and the pre-war flashbacks being shown through his eyes give him, and the story, so much depth. Despite his ways, you can't help but still feel for him, to still root for him and hope that he still has a little bit of that humanity left within him. Which imo was shown multiple times; for example him not killing Maximus in episode two even though he easily could have done so. And the fact that he's still searching for his family all these years later? When he was asked what has been keeping him going so long, I think they are his reason. Whether he is searching to reunite or to exact revenge on Barb for dropping the bombs while him and Janey were outside idk. But it makes his story all the more heartbreaking. I also love the writing for Norm, Moldaver, Dane, and so many others, but this is already too long ass it is.

Overall, this series was so good and I'll be impatiently awaiting season 2! Some things I'm hoping to see next seasons are super mutants for sure, as well as synths and more of the enclave. I think they went easy this season to test the waters and see just how interested people are. And now that they know people are very interested, I think they'll be more willing to invest a larger budget, and add more. Rant over!

[thenightling]

Review of the last few episodes of Agatha All along / whole series opinion (With Spoilers)

To address a few things first. Someone has been mistaking my Facebook posts as plagiarism. My guess is they googled parts of my post and found my TheNightling Tumblr blog. Yeah... That's me. I post on more than one site. That's not plagiarism. All my words are my own except if in quotation marks and sourced. Second thing to address. Some people mistakenly think Agatha All Along is for kids because it's a Disney+ show under the Marvel banner. Let me just say that is NOT the case! Though it isn't gory like American Horror Story I would say this show was the equivalent of American Horror Story: Coven. There's death, including the literal Death incarnate / Grim Reaper. There's even the death of a child. It's not gory but it's definitely not "kiddie."

As I predicted we got a few more versions of The Witches Road song. We got the slow evolution of the song as sung by Nicolas Scratch (Agatha's Son) and a new montage version where we see Agatha luring witches to be victims of her power-draining / feeding, something Mordo was apparently originally supposed to be doing in the Doctor Strange sequel but it was dropped to make the story Wanda-centric. (No one remembers that Doctor Strange bonus scene of Mordo stealing magick?) So for those keeping score we now have nine (sort of ten or eleven) versions of The Witches Road song. 1. The Winding Road (True Crime version) 2. The Witches Road (Sacred chant version) 3. The Ballad of The Witches' Road (Lorna Wu 70s Glam version) 4. The Ballad of the Witches Road coven version (episode cut) 5. The Balled of the Witches Road coven (full album version) 6. The Witches Road instrumental version. 7. The Windy (Winding) Road / Witches Road (Nicolas Scratch version. Might count as two versions.) 8. Agatha's montage version as she tricks other witches through the centuries.

9. The Balled of The Witches' Road (Japanese Breakfast pop version). Anyway... Here we learn Agatha's backstory, or rather a fragment of it. We see her after it's been established that she preys on other witches like a vampire to feast on their power. She takes advantage of their kindness and hospitality to prey on them and teaches her young son to act as bait for kind witches. The show strategically hides from us who Nicky's father is. It is easy to say "We don't need to know, he's not important." but is something to be curious about. Apparently his father's identity is still a secret in the comics too. (I just checked. I had thought his father might be Mephisto, the demon from the Faust legend who is running around in Marvel.)

Agatha does under-go a redemption arc but it's not as big of one as I'd hoped. It takes a reminder of her son for her to sacrifice herself for Billy (Wiccan). I wonder what Billy told "his" (actually William's) parents when he showed up a day late and bloodied. Survived an attempted mugging? Jumped by bullies? How do you explain that without freaking them out? You know he can never tell them he's not their original son, that William died in the car accident and he jumped into the empty body. They'd disown him if they believed him. (At least most people would but you'd wish they wouldn't.) Now we come to the one thing I did not like about the show. I do NOT like that The Witches Road was manifested entirely from Billy's mind based on things in his bedroom ala Sarah in Jim Henson's Labyrinth. I saw the clues but was sort of hoping that The Witches' Road was real and just using Billy's mind to shape itself according to this particular coven and that it was Billy's power that opened the way. The idea that Billy created it entirely out of a con is very disappointing to me. We didn't need a second WandaVision "twist." I'd have been much happier if The Witches' Road was something ancient and primal and Billy just opened the way and so it tapped into his mind and manifested from his mind.

My second big complaint about Agatha All along was the notion that Agatha didn't realize she was the one who bound Jen. I know. I know, she could be playing dumb, but it was Agatha giving a reaction indicating that she just realized it- that lead to Jen figuring it out. But here's the thing. How do you cast a binding spell (for pay) roughly around the time a well-known witch is mysteriously bound and you already know roughly when she was bound, and you never consider you might have been the one to do it?!?? This version of Agatha Harkness is, in my opinion, very Dracula-esque. Not the archetype or literary Dracula but Marvel's Dracula. If you've read Tomb of Dracula you may know what I mean. A morally very grey character who is still capable of love and grief. And feeds on innocent victims... Since Agatha obviously isn't strictly lesbian... I'd ship it. Agatha and Dracula. (See the song Rapping with The Witch. It's a song about a wicked Witch's affair with Dracula.) I do like that Agatha returned as a ghost though. She died and came back as a sassy advisor ghost in the 90s (I think) comics. It reminds me a bit of Bob in The Dresden Files (TV show version, not the novels. I know, I know, it's not the same). I'm glad that this show at least established that Death incarnate is real in Marvel, witches are real, (though I hated the term "Analog magick.") and I do like Agatha back as a ghost buuuut I'm nervous about how they'll handle her ghostliness here on out. And this version of Death is no Death of The Endless from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Like Death of The Endless she is just fulfilling her function in the natural order of things but she's a bit of a b-tch about it. Will Marvel chicken out about Agatha being a ghost and say her consciousness is being fed into the mushrooms and manifesting a corporeal form for her still active brain? Will Marvel claim she's just an extension of Billy's subconscious / dark side? Will they reveal she's something else or someone else entirely? I'm nervous and don't trust Marvel to let a ghost be a ghost. Also it's funny that they say Agatha named him Nicolas Scratch because he's not made from magick, he was made "from scratch" when I thought he was named after "Old Scratch" or "Mr. Scratch" which is an old nickname for The Devil.

I do love that Agatha now has the silver hair of her comic book counter part's original incarnation though. And I am glad this seems to tease the story will continue with Billy and Agatha. I'm curious to know what will come next. I do miss her recently deceased coven though, I liked them. So in general I loved the show but I am disappointed that The Witches' Road isn't some primal entity manifesting a location based on their minds and thoughts but instead is just from Billy's subconscious... period. They could have had so much fun with the mystery of who or what really created the road centuries upon centuries ago. And I'm nervous about how the show will handle Agatha The Ghost or if they'll let her BE a ghost.

[princeescaluswords]

Scott's Burden of Faith in

The Maid of Gévaudan

A close-reading analysis of the library scene in Episode 5x18 in honor of @momentofmemory's birthday.

There is an argument to be made that the climax of Scott's story arc in Season 5 does not come in Apotheosis (5x20) but in this scene two episodes earlier, an episode mostly focused on a guest star and a story set two-and-a-half centuries before the present time. Yet it's very possible to see that the crisis in Scott's life manifests in all its complexity and is resolve this particular night.

It is a crisis of faith. Not religious faith, but a crisis of Scott's faith in what he has come to believe is the right way to act; in other words, his faith in his own identity: the True Alpha. One of the things I love about Teen Wolf is the idea that Scott doesn't start out the series with any other vision for himself aside from the idea that if he works hard he might make first line. No one else expects greatness out of him either: his mother, Stiles, and especially not his own father. Deaton has an intuition, but he doesn't press the issue. They're not doing this to be mean; he's a teenager after all. He has to forge his own vision.

By the time of La Bête's rampage at the lacrosse game, Scott has been the alpha for 41 episodes, and while he may have faced dire straits, suffered incredible losses, and even endured temptation, his choices have, for the most part, been good choices. Every character says so. But Season 5? Not so much. I would argue that for the first time, the tragedies befalling his pack are a result of his decisions. It's not that these are malicious decisions, they are just wrong. When before all the setbacks had always been because of the power of the enemy, this time Scott has been responsible for some of them.

Scott starts 5B in doubt. "Why would they come back?" he asks his mother in Status Asthmaticus (5x10). This isn't someone who's blaming anyone else -- even Theo -- for what has happened. He's questioning his own credentials, his own right to possess the identity of True Alpha. He's not even sure he can pass AP Biology, he's not even sure he deserves to heal like a werewolf can, let alone that he can defeat the Doctors and their creations.

It's not that he doubts the value of saving people or even the value of his pack. He doesn't waver about whether he should try; he wavers about whether he has the ability to do these things. When he staggers into the library, he's tired, he's bloody, and he's realized one more thing he definitely cannot do -- defeat the Beast in a physical match up. He leans against the table, and it's not hard to imagine him wondering why he ever thought he could stop any villain.

The plan to get the game cancelled failed. The plan to sabotage the television broadcast vans failed. Kira's fox spirit has gone completely off the rails. Liam has been reduced to a walking pile of hamburger. He doesn't know that he's won Hayden to his side, but he also doesn't know that Corinne has been threatening Malia. He's as lost as Marie-Jean was when she went into the woods looking for a wolf instead of a werewolf.

Melissa: You know what you're doing when you say should too often? You're should-ing all over yourself.

We don't know what he was planning to do but then he looks around and sees that he's not in the library alone. To the audience, other than Sydney, they're strangers, but he knows them. That's what Scott does -- he knows people. He's the only character to use Boyd's first name. He knows that Kyle is a senior; he knows that Josh is a junior; he remembers Kira's name. He might be in doubt about his own identity, but he knows who these people are. He knows something else.

Gerard: A monster whose only purpose was to kill. Not for sustenance, not for revenge, not for any rational impulse other than the drive to end life wherever it's found.

They are all going to die. They cannot escape the Beast. They cannot fight it. He can't fight it. All he's been able to do is survive. And he hesitates. He looks around. Because what the heck is he supposed to do?

Theo: We gotta protect him, right? Scott, come on. Scott? Scott, this is what you do.

Scott looks around the library. He has died here. He has felt his heart stop lying on those steps right behind him. He can't win, and even if by some twist of fate he survives, everyone here will have seen his face. The students in the library will see who he is and there will be consequences for that. (Hello, Nolan.) It's not fair, but things have never been fair.

Scott: So, somebody has to do something. Somebody has to save everyone. So somebody's got to be the bait!

The crisis has arrived. He doesn't have any allies with him right now. He doesn't have a plan. He doesn't have an advantage. He's hurt. He's inadequate (Professional mercenary Braeden will point this out in a few minutes). These students are terrified. They know it too. They can see the blood.

Melissa: So all you really need is to ask yourself, "What am I going to do?"

He has to reveal himself. He has to protect them. He has to give the hope. He has to lead them. He has to have faith that he can do these things, no matter how badly he's screwed up or how much it has cost him, or how much it will cost him in the future. It is what an alpha does. It is what a True Alpha does, and whether he wants to be or not, that is what he is.

"Go upstairs."

That's not a plan to beat the Beast; it's not guaranteed to save anyone. it's a statement of faith in his own ability. Win or lose, survive or die, it doesn't really matter what happens next. It doesn't matter that the Beast will be revealed as Mason and that his mistake with Corey will cause the pack to lose a chance to stop all this. It doesn't matter that this will set the stage for Monroe when Nolan talks to her over the summer. At this moment, Scott grabs onto the faith that it is, in the end, a good thing his eyes are red and that he has healed and that he is standing right there in this library.

He roars.

[variousqueerthings]

Hello again!

Anon here, who asked for advice how to avoid River Song episodes.

First of all, thank you so much for your extremely detailed reply and all the work you put into it.😘

Wow… these upcoming storylines are wild, and reading about it made me cringe a few times. Also reading the summary of the events makes it look like the show’s focus shifted somewhat (more towards the personal/ romantic life of the Doctor???). But I’m sure that won’t be true for the story when I finally watch it, and it just seems like it now, because I read the summarized version.

I’m not sure if I already asked this in my original message… But, as you mentioned in your reply, season 9 is the last time River Song actually appears in DW, which seems kinda odd, given that they are married and she was foretold to be the most important person to the Doctor. Did they drop the character or the storyline??? Or is it still too early for their main story, and most of their time together is still a part of the future (of future seasons) ? Plus after reading your answer, I was wondering if the Doctor had time to get to know her as a person and fall in love with her at all? Maybe I’m thinking way to logical about a TV series “love story”. It all sounds just somewhat icky. Obsession turning into love etc.😕

(In the end I probably should stop guessing and start watching, with the help of your guide.)

And another question...

As implied, I haven’t started with s5 yet. So I was wondering if it would be advisable to watch the 60th DW anniversary episodes with David and Catherine now, given I just finished the Donna & Tenth Doctor arc? Or would it be too confusing without the s5 -s13 knowledge?

Thanks again for your detailed reply!

hello hello again!

I hope the guide is useful (I can fall into the trap of over-explaining that lead to a confusion for others, but hey, it's not for lack of enthusiasm that's for sure!)

I can tell you that there's a whole bunch of storyline that isn't related to the doctor and romance. there's some neat stuff with the doctor and the master (played by michelle gomez) in s8-s10 and I like about that narrative how much it throws itself into the un-nameability and complexity of their arc, but people can and do read it as romantic, which is totally fine. but point is it's far more open + the master and the doctor obvs have that... history

outside of river song, the arc of s5-7 isn't romance-based either (well, the ponds are romancing each other, but the doctor is kind of weirded out and/or curiously fascinated like a kid looking at bugs by the Rituals of the whole thing)

I think river song's narrative is over on the tv-show, because of how that final story in s9 ties it all together. there's this odd thing about the timeline of river song in her seasons where she talks about her and the doctor as if they're meeting backwards in chronological order (so for example at one point she kisses the doctor who's like "oh ok... first time for everything," and she answer sadly when he can't hear her that there's also a last), but this is definitely not actually the case, meaning theoretically she could come back, but if they nominally want to keep this idea of them meeting backwards, it's finished. it's doctor who though, and some characters come back after over 50 years off the show sometimes, so who can say

(I uh... personally don't think the doctor was ever written properly as falling in love with river song and that it's very creepy in its whole construction and that river song never seems to have agency in her narrative, right up until she gets trapped in the library for apparently all eternity to "save" her, but then m*ffat has had the doctor seemingly "falling" for a woman who's been into him since childhood twice now (girl in the fireplace), not to mention that amy pond -- while he does not reciprocate thank goodness -- also meets the doctor as a kid first and as an adult wants to have sex with them, so... that's just a weird thing m*ffat does a few times)

but you don't really get that narrative with the watchlist I gave you, because river song barely exists outside of narratives that are actually about the doctor (no really, she's almost always doing things because of the doctor, for the doctor, so the doctor will notice her, or talking about the doctor)/in which she's a plot-point, it's one of the reasons I actually quite like her final episode -- the doctor falls into her adventure, rather than her assisting his narrative (and it turns out the doctor knows next to nothing about her life, which is frankly another embarrassing anti-endorsement to this fuckn "romance") and that format... actually works for me, it's frustrating how it gives a tidbit of a story that might have been quite fun -- still not the romance though, go away

as for the last question: I know some people who watched the Specials before watching m*ffat or chibnall eras (I actually watched the Specials before I watched most of thirteen, just because I couldn't wait, but I had spoiled myself for the major stuff of that era beforehand). there is character development and plot and lore that gives the Specials extra Spice for sure -- I think the main thing that is Very Good in terms of going the long way around is that one of the core themes of the Specials, the doctor's sheer exhaustion and loss, is really felt a whole lot more, buuuut tbh, I think there's a lot of fun in having seen the Specials first and then going back and building to it, with the second time around being "ohhh so that's why- yeah, yeah this Creechur needs a holiday or something!!!" sometimes knowing where things end actually adds to the fun, youknow

but hold on, I'll ask from a direct source: @aq2003 you watched the Specials first and then went back to catch up, do you feel solid about that decision-making in hindsight?

(in the end though, seriously, watch the specials if you're impatient -- I don't subscribe to delayed gratification. get gratified in any order you want, that's more my personal speed, it'll be fun either way)

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #46: Kamen Rider Zi-O Part 4 - King’s Dominion

“The powers of the Kamen Riders have finally been inherited. Now, the curtain rises on the final battle to decide the true king of time. Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies!”

The finale arc of the original Zi-O was something I definitely wanted to improve on. Despite the series being about time, the finale arc changed focus to it being about Rider worlds, cementing its status of being Decade 2.0. With all plots and footage available from the entire series used up, the plots for the final arc of the series are adapted from the final episodes of Kamen Rider Zero-One, which still worked to my benefit despite the pandemic affecting production of that series.

Let’s dive into the final arc of the series and see how my adaptation skills fared.

Episode 31: Scaredy Boys and Fearless Girls ~ Between Quartzer 2019 ~

Adapted from the Hyper Battle DVD Kamen Rider BiBiBi no BibillGeiz and Decade episodes 24 and 25. This was originally going to be separate DVD extras/specials until I realised that I needed a filler episode and the specials were short enough that I could combine them into one.

The boys and girls get their own focus in this episode. In the first half, Sougo, Kazuto and Mark set up a haunted school for Geiz after he got scared the night before watching classic Doctor Who. As everyone realises that the school could be actually haunted, Geiz obtains the Bibill Ridewatch.

Meanwhile in the second half, Luna has breakfast with Akari, Narutaki and Veronica. They were originally waiting on Kayley, but she was being held up by a Makamou named Chinomanako who steals her Diend Gunmorpher (non-X). The Makamou uses it to transform into Chinomanako Diend aka Gedou Diend, a hybrid Another Rider who can summon monsters through the Gunmorpher.

Kensuke breaks his partnership with Swartz as he sets the Quartzer Riders on him. The girls manage to defeat Gedou Diend, but Swartz uses the non-X Gunmorpher’s power to create the Diend Anotherwatch. Despite this setback, the girls head for an overnight hot springs trip before Luna comes home to the boys who are still spooked over what happened at the haunted school.

In other scenes, the other Sougo becomes Ohma Zi-O; Changyue recalls how he paid two Soulbound villains to create a distraction so he can steal the technology for the Ridewatches, Ziku Drivers and Time Mazines; and Swartz meets with Heure and Ora and gives them the Diend and Gold Drive Anotherwatches…

Episode 32: An Eternal Party ~ Another World 2019 ~

Adapted from Zi-O episodes 44, 45 and 46, namely the Another Worlds arc but without Another Drive because that’s already been done. Sougo’s birthday is rejoiced in this episode.

Previously, we had Woz servants for Sougo and Geiz, namely Kazuto (Black Woz) and Kensuke (White Woz), but this episode features a new Woz named Akihito Hayasaka (Red Woz), who serves the queen of time Tsukuyomi ABC and transforms into Kamen Rider Woz The Next, taking the place of Kamen Rider Aqua in the adaptation of this arc. However, Luna makes it clear to Akihito that even if were to become the queen of time, she won’t rule unless Sougo and Geiz are with her.

Heure and Ora make their appearance as Another Diend and Another Gold Drive as they fight Tsukuyomi and Woz The Next followed by Proto Woz and the Quartzer Riders. This is just after Swartz sent them into another world to fight G4, Fuma, Dark Ghost and Rey.

Tetsuya Iwanaga reprises his role as Yūni Yamishima, aka Kamen Rider Eternal, and to be honest, I didn’t picture him hitting as hard compared to Mitsuru Matsuoka as Katsumi Daidou. Oh well, Iwanaga’s the only guy we could get who can fluently speak English.

E-Zen Tiforp returns from episode 2 and new OCs Rainbow Lightspeed and Alchemic Flower are introduced. Replacing Yukihiro from the Den-O tribute in the original is Another Fourze/Faiz from episode 3, whose Another World has him seeing his girlfriend alive and well. Proto Woz’s summoned Rider is Mad Rogue, who engages Tsukuyomi as Proto Woz fights Woz Ginga Finally as part of their plan to send the two of them into Geiz’s Another World. As part of this plan, Kensuke also steals his Future Note back from Narutaki.

Episode 33: The Power of ABC ~ [REDACTED] Would Bang 2014 ~

Adapted from the Over Quartzer movie.

The title of this episode is a reference to Akari Ichigo and her real name, which has been redacted for privacy reasons. Basically in Year 9, people continued to learn about my crush on Akari and one of the boys managed to rhyme a shortened version of her name with “would bang”. The year 2014 in the title is a reference to Akari Ichigo being the main villain of the two Doctor Who series I produced and broadcast in that year.

In the last episode, Kensuke went back in time and recruited two villains relating to Hiroki’s past in different timelines (as parallel isotopes); in 2014, he recruits Akari Ichigo, who had just killed her husband in their final battle, then in 2013, he recruits the main villain of The Name of Hiroki Ichigo, who had spread himself all over Hiroki’s timestream inside his grave on Trenzalore - let’s call him Hisahide Matsunaga. In case I haven’t mentioned him before, Hisahide was one of my fans at high school in Year 7 and 8 who started teasing me when he got put in my class in Year 9. Together, Hiryuu Kakogawa, Hisahide Matsunaga and Evil Akari Ichigo are Kamen Riders Barlckxs (pronounced “Barukus” but not like “Baracus”), Zonjis and Zamonas. The three Riders can use the power of the Ancient Kamen Rider Ridewatches to utilise powers associated with them. Hiryuu’s goal with Quartzer is to restart the Heisei era from scratch, not his Superboy-Prime attitude of “things were better in the Showa era!” which was what he said in the final stage show.

Later, Swartz has Heure and Ora recreate the remaining Another Riders that hadn’t been recreated previously by forcibly contracting people; if an Another Rider is created and destroyed twice, the Time Jackers can summon them as they please without requiring contracts. As the Time Jackers come into conflict with Barlckxs’ group, Kensuke confronts Sougo’s group and sends duplicates of the Sisterhood of Karn to fight them. The defeat of Sougo’s group in that battle leads Luna to agree to Akihito’s offer for a new power and he uses the power of Geiz Revive and Woz Ginga Finally to create the Tsukuyomi ABC Ridewatch, which combines with the power of Ohma Zi-O to allow her to assume her upgrade/super form, Tsukuyomi ABC.

At the end of the episode, Akihito gives Sougo the Woz Ridewatch. It is also revealed that Akihito is working with Kensuke and Quartzer as he is sent to go undercover with the Time Jackers…

Episode 34: Assorted Spirits of the Past ~ Villain of the Chaos 2013 ~

Adapted from Zi-O’s final stage show.

In a similar vein to the last episode, the year 2013 in the title is a reference to The Name of Hiroki Ichigo being produced and broadcast in that year. The tagline is a reference to how Hisahide Matsunaga prided himself as a villain in Samurai Warriors 4.

Akihito obtains two blank Ridewatches from Swartz, then uses one of them to turn the Dark Ninja into Another Ninja in 2022. Once Another Ninja is destroyed by Ninja, Okachi and Mizuna, Akihito uses the other blank Ridewatch to create another Ninja Anotherwatch, which he uses on Iroha Kagura in 2019. Kensuke makes contact with the three Riders and offers to help them stop Another Ninja as he brings them to 2019.

Back in 2019, the Time Jackers recreate Another Shinobi, Another Quiz and Another Kikai as well and set them on the Ninja Riders as they fight Another Ninja. Sougo and his friends arrive at the scene only for Kensuke to send the Dorks out at them. As Zi-O’s side manages to gain the upper hand, Kensuke demoralises Zi-O by revealing that in 2013 of the actual (Hiroki’s) timeline, he would murder the Dorks’ leader. Upon returning home, Mirror World Sougo berates Sougo for getting scared over killing one person in the future when he would end up killing many more people as Ohma Zi-O. Hearing his friends talking about his past, Sougo heads downstairs to explain himself, which is received by reassurance from the others that it isn’t his fault that people see him differently.

Elsewhere, Hiroki and Kayley are upgrading their K-Touches to be compatible with their X equipment, creating the K-Touch 21 for Hiroki and the Ultimate Complete Form upgrade for Kayley with the help of Firerose, Narutaki and Akari contributing their powers and assistance to streamline the Rider powers more efficiently.

Later, Akihito brings Lugiel, Copper Plume and Rally Flag to fight Hiryuu’s group while the Time Jackers and Another Riders attack the city, where they are met by Kensuke and the Ninja Riders, who in turn are met by Sougo and his friends. Sougo and Geiz use Zi-O Woz Armor and Geiz Bibill Armor in the ensuing fight alongside Woz Ginga Finally and Tsukuyomi ABC, though they end up having to upgrade to Grand Zi-O and Geiz Revive. Hiroki and his friends also arrive, with Hiroki and Kayley debuting their new extra final forms, Decade Complete Form 21 and Diend Ultimate Complete Form. The other Sougo sees this battle happening and summons Rentarou, Isamichi, Reimondo and Handles to help defeat their Another Rider counterparts.

At the end of the battle, Rentarou and Isamichi see that Another Ninja was actually Iroha and they encourage her to enrol in the Leapfrog Ninja Academy so she can protect herself. Akari Ichigo reveals to her husband that because the Future Riders didn’t originally exist in this timeline, they are contributing to the worsening distortions in time and space, which leads Hiroki to finally decide that this world will be destroyed. With this battle, the Time Jackers have their full Another Rider Army.

Episode 35: Sonika Unleashed ~ Second Coming 2020 ~

So, you know how I initially cancelled my plans for Crestor Calandia as Another OOO after Chris-chan’s arrest in late-July 2021? Nearly a year later, it was revealed that Chris was attempting to get his mother placed in an aged care home in order to be able to return to 14BC. I think you can see what inspired me to write this original filler episode.

Sougo and his friends are walking on the waterfront when they notice an island in the distance that was never there before. Sougo and Geiz go to investigate and they discover that Swartz and Kensuke are investigating as well. Agreeing to a truce for the time being, the four of them discover that they are in this project’s version of Cwcville, namely Hayasaka. As the four are attacked by the Sonikas and Rosekas within Hayasaka, their comrades are being attacked back on Minato-Sugaru Island and are forced to retreat after being overwhelmed. This scene’s battle features the main Sougo using Decade Armor Origin (because Decade’s power was given back to Hiroki though he still had a remnant of it for Grand Zi-O) and the return of Geiz Genm Armor. Yeah, I’m one to highlight lesser-used forms to get more value for money out of them.

Later, Hiroki and his group head to the mysterious island to investigate while Crestor Calandia goes to 9TO5 to get Mark to clean three medallions. From Hiroki requesting Shinbu Serizawa to do some research in the Reading Room and Crestor talking to Mark, we get the backstory of this situation; Megumi Sonozaki snitched on Crestor’s “soul bonding” with his mother Beatrice and was forced out of his home by police, at which point he also “borrowed” some money from his mother’s account. Crestor was arrested for this, but during the trial, his previous crimes and transgressions were taken into account because his universe is one that has no sympathy for eccentrics like Crestor. As a result, Crestor was imprisoned in Stormcage, the most secure prison in his universe.

Even though Crestor remained largely compliant and resigned to his fate, he managed to manifest psychic powers over time and escape with the help of Sonika and his comrades, eventually managing to commandeer a spaceship and escape to Sougo’s universe. The authorities in Crestor’s universe have authorised a shoot-to-kill order on sight because they have been unable to contain his power.

After meeting back up with Sougo, Hiroki overhears Mark’s call with him and upon hearing medallions being mentioned, they and their friends quickly rush to 9TO5, but they are unable to stop him charging up his medallions and prevent the second coming of Crestor. Following this, Sougo and Hiroki’s groups team up with the Time Jackers and Quartzer to fight Crestor and his forces. During the battle, Zi-O briefly notices Another Decade defending Another Diend and Another Gold Drive from being ambushed.

Crestor and his forces are all defeated, but the island where Hayasaka stands flies out of the ocean and to the location of the battle as it shoots at everyone. It is revealed that the Crestor they fought was just an avatar; the real Crestor is inside the mayor’s office, which is the cockpit for his spaceship that was disguised as an island. Barlckxs, Zonjis and Zamonas sabotage the ship with their Ancient Rider powers before the Riders destroy it with their Rider Kicks.

Episode 36: A Girl Named [Akari] ~ Showdown 2019 ~

Adapted from Zero-One episodes 34, 35, 37 and 41.

This episode was named after Akari Ichigo’s real-life inspiration like I didn’t do just that 3 episodes ago. During this final week of episodes, Kazuto begins counting down the pages until the end of the world.

After Sougo and his friends defeat some of Sougo’s old enemies that were summoned by Kensuke, Swartz confronts them as Another Decade, proclaiming that he will subjugate humanity and create a paradise for the oppressed. It is then that Button Mash comes from nowhere and attacks Another Decade; Another Decade shoves him off, but his father, Janbit, stands between them, not wanting to let his son be hurt. Later, Swartz recalls how he protected his family on separate occasions in the last few episodes. Sougo also realises this and decides to help Swartz remember who he really is.

Meanwhile, Kensuke goes to the 2012 of Hiroki’s timeline and creates another parallel isotope; namely that of Akari Ichigo around the time when the Hiroki of that time became Sougo. Using his Future Note, Kensuke manages to send 2012 Akari through an Aurora Curtain into 2019. As Sougo fights Swartz in an attempt to convince the latter that he was a father before he became a Time Jacker, Heure joining in the battle before Swartz ends up defending him, 2012 Akari suddenly appears. The sight of her causes Sougo to regain the rest of his memories (which he had been slowly regaining since episode 30) and he quickly takes 2012 Akari away, only managing to escape the pursuit of the Quartzer Riders thanks to Woz Ginga Taiyo.

As Parker and his army decide to make camp on the island following heated tensions on the mainland, Sougo introduces 2012 Akari to his friends at 9TO5. The reason why Sougo hasn’t fully regained his memories despite meeting Akari previously is because 2012 Akari is from the same time period as Sougo and thus is in sync with him. Kensuke tells Hiryuu’s group that 2012 Akari is Sougo’s lynchpin to becoming Ohma Zi-O.

2021 Akari tells her younger self about what will happen to her in the future despite Hiroki warning what would happen if she did that. Sure enough, 2012 Akari becomes horrified by this and runs off. Hiroki receives a report from his comrades back home, who inform him that paradoxes are forming in his world and having two parallel isotopes of Akari are causing them to expand faster. Meanwhile, Kensuke reveals Quartzer to the world in a press conference and announces their intention to eradicate the Time Jackers. As the two groups meet up with their forces and begin fighting each other, Sougo goes to help Swartz while the others help find 2012 Akari. This might go against Sougo’s character, but even if he decided to go find Akari, chances are she’d continue running.

Zi-O manages to defend Another Decade from Proto Woz’s Time Explosion to show Another Decade that despite his goals, he still cares for his family. The two of them agree to a truce and they work together to defeat Proto Woz, who angrily retreats. Though Swartz admits that he underestimated Sougo, he makes it clear that his stance on humanity still hasn’t changed.

Meanwhile, the others find 2012 Akari, who says that she doesn’t want to see Sougo again if it means he will become a monster (not the vilest and evilest demonic overlord, though). They convince 2012 Akari that 2019 is the best place for her to be right now because of all the paradoxes and she eventually agrees to stay at 9TO5 as their new tenant.

Episode 37: The All Riders All-Out Attack ~ Ohma Time 2068 ~

Adapted from Zi-O episode 49 and Zero-One episode 42.

2012 Akari dreams about being saved from Ohma Zi-O by Sougo, only to be shoved aside as Swartz transforms into Another Decade Complete and rushes at Ohma Zi-O. Akari wakes up after this and heads downstairs to find Sougo, who had woken up a bit too early. The two decide to go on an early morning walk when they are attacked by Hiryuu, Hisahide and Evil Akari, who defeat Sougo and steal the Zi-O II and Grand Zi-O Ridewatches.

As Queen Fifi, Angelina and Karen Brewer meet with Parker, Kensuke combines the power of the Grand Zi-O Ridewatch into the Zi-O II Ridewatch, which is the key to Sougo becoming Ohma Zi-O. He also adds in battle data from Sougo’s friends and the Quartzer Riders, which will allow the power of each and every Rider to be drawn to Ohma Zi-O like a magnet.

Sougo is brought back to 9TO5 as he is returned the Grand Zi-O Ridewatch in a package. Meanwhile, the first of the enemy fleets arrive on the island as Parker readies his army to defend it, with the Legend Riders assisting in the defence as well. Seeing the chaos happening, Swartz hijacks a news crew’s cameras and announces that the Time Jackers’ subjugation of humanity begins now.

Swartz summons half of his Another Rider Army, but 2012 Akari goes to him and tries to convince him to stop the fighting, telling him to look into his heart and believe in humanity. Swartz, however, says to 2012 Akari that he doesn’t need a heart because he never had one, before proceeding to kill her with an energy blast. Swartz was originally an AI program; an avatar created by Hiroki and placed in a supercomputer with the purpose of looking after his former wife and even his creator when the time came for it, only to go rogue and break out with his family to enact his revenge against humanity.

As Zi-O is fighting the Another Rider Army with his friends, he hears an explosion and goes to find the dying 2012 Akari, who tells him that if he loves her, then he should help Swartz find his heart. Suddenly, all the Riders who hadn’t given their powers away or had their powers stolen, save for Sougo’s friends, Decade, Diend, Kuuga and Shugo, suddenly find themselves detransformed as their powers are stolen; the only reason why it doesn’t happen to the latter four is because they voluntarily channeled a portion of their power into Ridewatches.

As the Time Jackers confront Geiz, Woz and Tsukuyomi, the battle is suddenly intruded by Ohma Zi-O; Sougo’s voice menacingly ordering Kazuto to rejoice is what reveals him to have become the ultimate king of time; the true Ohma’s Day has arrived. Another Decade tries to take Ohma Zi-O’s power for himself but the power overloads him as Ohma Zi-O easily shrugs him off. Ohma Zi-O launches an attack that detransforms everyone before being detransformed himself due to being overwhelmed by his new power. It is revealed that Evil Akari absorbed 2012 Akari’s body into the Zi-O II Ridewatch and gave it back to Sougo, who uses it in his Ziku Driver to turn it into the Ohma Zi-O Driver and thus transform into Ohma Zi-O. The end of the episode has Sougo breaking down into tears as Evil Akari tells him that she will be by his side, addressing him as her God Almighty…

Episode 38: Overlords and Gods ~ Judgement Dawn 2003 ~

Adapted from Zero-One episode 43.

Ohma Zi-O goes to the mainland and passes judgement on Sougo’s past-life enemies by using his powers to brutally kill them. Heure asks Swartz why he killed 2012 Akari, to which a guilt-ridden Swartz says that all he did was execute justice. Quartzer reveals to Sougo’s friends that Sougo has not only become the vilest and evilest demonic overlord, but he has also become the purest and dearest god and judge of humanity (最浄最愛の神様), much to Kazuto’s disdain of his overlord being addressed in such a manner. Akihito also reveals to Sougo’s friends that he was working for Quartzer all along.

Back at 9TO5, Geiz and Luna are hesitant to tell Mark the truth but Kazuto does it for them, saying that they can’t lie to him when the fate of two timelines is at stake. As such, the three promise that they will bring Sougo back to normal. Hiroki and his friends come in and they are filled in on what is happening.

Sougo later heads back to Minato-Sugaru Island where he is confronted by Hiryuu, who mocks Sougo for saying that he wouldn’t become the vilest and evilest demonic overlord before becoming one anyway. The two of them fight, but Ohma Zi-O manages to defeat him. Sougo’s friends try to stop him, but he brushes them off. The other Sougo calls him out for losing his way; the two Ohma Zi-Os fight and the other Ohma Zi-O is beaten; he notes that he could feel an even deeper sorrow in the main Zi-O’s attacks and offers his help, only to be met by silence.

Sougo then uses his powers to see into different timelines of himself and manipulate Hiroki’s timeline. This would be seen by Hiroki, who transforms into Decade Complete Form 21 to fight him, knowing the truth about who continually manipulated his timeline. Sougo responds in kind by transforming into Ohma Zi-O and projecting the memories around him into Decade’s brain. However, Decade retaliates by projecting memories of himself and his friends in his own timeline like how the Thirteenth Doctor escaped the Matrix (with the instrumental chorus to Journey Through the Decade playing in the background). The two of them defeat each other and Hiroki manages to escape.

Swartz assembles the other half of his Another Rider Army as Sougo confronts him in battle…

Episode 39: Find Your Heart ~ Twilight Dusk 2018 ~

Adapted from the Geiz Majesty special and Zero-One episodes 43 and 44.

Ohma Zi-O fights Another Decade. After making quick work of the Another Rider Army, Ohma Zi-O prepares to finish off Another Decade only for Heure as Another Diend to leap in and take the attack, which kills him. As Zi-O leaves, Hisahide arrives and uses a blank Ridewatch to absorb Heure’s body and create the Decade Complete Anotherwatch.

Swartz announces that Sougo has become Ohma Zi-O and because he killed Heure, there will be no place for him in his paradise of the oppressed, making his crusade against humanity personal. As Sougo runs away out of fear and guilt at Parker and his friends constantly asking him questions upon seeing him, Swartz goes to the mainland and does the same thing Sougo did when he became Zi-O, which is to initiate his powers by killing Sougo’s past-life enemies. Later, Ora meets with Swartz and tries to tell him that he has a heart, but his mind is too clouded by the desire for revenge to even realise it.

The Kamen Riders have split into two camps; with the exception of those affiliated with Sougo, Hiroki, Kayley, the Kougami Foundation, Torchwood North or Quartzer, the Riders are marching around the island to demand answers from Sougo regarding his actions and the loss of their powers. Among one of the protesting groups, Marcello pushes through the barricade and charges towards Yūki Tachibana, leading him to be held down as a result. Yūki orders Birth to fire at Marcello’s head; as Birth hesitates, Luna and Kazuto arrive and tell them not to shoot. At the town centre, Parker and his comrades also plead with another group of protesters to believe that Sougo will find the true way of becoming a hero.

Elsewhere, Geiz finds Sougo with the intent to carry out his promise of killing him when he became the vilest and evilest demonic overlord; Kayley arrives as well to ask Sougo if he is betraying his own dreams and the hearts of the Kamen Riders who entrusted their powers to him. Kayley throws a spare K-Touch to Geiz, which becomes the Geiz Majesty Ridewatch that Geiz uses to fight Ohma Zi-O, only to end up failing.

Later that night, Sougo recalls Geiz and Kayley’s words as he is lost in his own thoughts. It is then that he hears the vaguely familiar sound of a materialising TARDIS, with the Doctor coming out to talk to Sougo…

The next day, the Riders have agreed to stop protesting as Geiz and Hiroki’s groups meet with Yūki Tachibana. Ora is revealed to be present as well, giving them the Diend Anotherwatch in the hope that they can restore Heure’s consciousness because like Swartz, he was an avatar as well.

Meanwhile, Sougo and Swartz finally meet as they transform into Ohma Zi-O and Another Decade Complete to duke it out once and for all…

Episode 40: Parting in the Daybreak Hour ~ Apocalypse Over Quartzer 2019 ~

Adapted from Zero-One episode 45, Zi-O episode 49, the Over Quartzer movie, the final stage show, Reiwa The First Generation and the Geiz Majesty special along with Ryuki episode 50.

Fun fact: The Japanese translation of this title would be 彼は誰時に別れ (Kawataredoki ni wakare). Just as Ōmagatoki 逢魔時 refers to the witching hour, or the sunset, Kawataredoki 彼は誰時 refers to the daybreak hour, a time when you can’t tell someone’s presence in the dark, or the sunrise (I’ve seen it refer to the sunset as well, but Wikipedia seems to make reference to the the sunrise so it was a good complement).

Ohma Zi-O and Another Decade Complete fight to determine the true king of time, this battle being a reflection of their adapted roles as Aruto Hiden as Ark-One and Horobi as Ark Scorpion. During this battle, there are Legend Rider weapons scattered around which are picked up and used by both opponents.

Meanwhile, Geiz and the others manage to resurrect Heure, who tells Kensuke, Akihito and the Quartzer trio that they don’t understand the real reason behind this battle as they have lost their righteous hearts. Another Decade Complete manages to defeat Ohma Zi-O as the latter puts his life at stake to show the former that he has a heart like anyone else. This was inspired by the Doctor’s words to Sougo, that true strength isn’t about how much power one has, but about what is in one’s heart. Swartz finally realises the impact of all the people he killed and admits that it was his fault that Heure sacrified himself, that he was scared of all the human feelings getting in the way, because despite what he may say, he does have a heart. Ohma Zi-O’s power leaves the Ohma Zi-O Driver and creates the Zi-O Over Quartzer Ridewatch, allowing Sougo to transform into Zi-O Quartzer, appearing identical to his default form. Zi-O manages to defeat Another Decade Complete with the Quartzer Time Break, but refraining from killing him as there isn’t a need for it anymore.

Heure and Ora meet with Swartz as Andrew, Hiroki and their friends meet with Sougo; they were able to restore Heure’s body after the Decade Complete Anotherwatch was destroyed, plus the Riders have regained their powers as well. The Zi-O Riders, Decade Riders and Time Jackers are confronted by Quartzer, who have brought an army of Kachinebots from the future. The enemy armies from the mainland begin invading the island, but they are held off by Parker and his allies. As the group transforms, Sougo transforms into Zi-O Quartzer while Geiz transforms into Il Salvatore Geiz thanks to some of the former’s power going to his Ridewatch (again appearing identical to his default form).

Most of the Quartzer Riders are defeated, but Proto Woz, Woz The Next and the Quartzer trio manage to defeat the Decade Riders and Time Jackers, before defeating Zi-O and Geiz as well. The Quartzer trio summon seven Dai Mazines from the future (instead of bring them back up from episode 8) to launch into space and link up in the sky, opening a portal into the Time Vortex that begins to suck up everything and everyone born in the Heisei era. Sougo is thrown into the Time Vortex as well and after a quick speech from Ohma Zi-O, transforms the Zi-O Quartzer Ridewatch into the Ohma Zi-O Ridewatch, which he uses to transform into Zi-O Ohma Form, officially inheriting the demonic overlord’s power.

The Kamen Riders, Time Jackers and Parker’s army work together to destroy the enemy armies and Kachinebots. Kensuke still remains undefeated, however; the Quartzer trio combine their personal Ridewatches together with the Ancient Rider Ridewatches and the Zi-O and Zi-O II Ridewatches to merge into Another Ohma Zi-O, while Kensuke and Akihito combine with the Woz Ridewatch and Ohma Zi-O’s power to merge into Another Ichigou.

As the other Riders are defeated, leaving only the primary Riders (in their final forms) and Geiz, the other Sougo arrives as Ohma Zi-O and assists the main Zi-O in fighting Another Ohma Zi-O. Hiryuu, through Another Ohma Zi-O, tells the main Zi-O that it is his fault the Heisei era is such as mess and asks him how much more he wants to mock him before he is satisfied, to which Zi-O tells him that he will lose because anyone who doesn’t look forward is only doomed to be left behind in the past.

Another Ohma Zi-O is defeated by Zi-O Ohma Form and Ohma Zi-O; as a weakened Another Ichigou sees this, he absorbs Another Ohma Zi-O into him to evolve into Another New Ichigou, acting as the giant Barlckxs from the Over Quartzer movie. Zi-O, Geiz and the primary Riders finish them off with the Heisei Rider Kick, kicking through a shield that Another New Ichigou conjures to form the kanji characters for Heisei (平成) before each Riders’ series logos fly out from the explosion. Another New Ichigou is destroyed along with the Quartzer commanders.

The other Sougo farewells the main Sougo as he leaves on his own journey to the future. The main Sougo meets with his friends, including Hiroki, Parker, Swartz and Mark. Although they have saved the world and can rule over it together into glorious perpetuity, Sougo refuses as he decides to destroy this timeline and restore everything back to normal. Although he may never have a chance to be king again, he also wants to create a future where he can fight together with Geiz, Luna and Kazuto. Sougo farewells his future self and his friends as the timeline is destroyed. The Time Jackers are returned to the supercomputer with a new mission to watch over humanity and walk the path of kindness instead of revenge. The Kamen Riders (and any allies who originally came into the Ohma War) float away from this timeline as it disappears.

Time goes back to normal in July 2012 of the main timeline, but with some minute changes. The original Kazuto ends up back in the cell he was in when Ohma Zi-O rescued him, but it has now become a storage room after the war ended and Kazuto is a free man. The Hiroki of that time (who never became Sougo) makes an impromptu stop at 9TO5 where he gives something to Mark to repair, but just as he goes in, he encounters Geiz, who was just leaving, and the two look at each other with vague feelings of familiarity, like Shinji Kido and Ren Akiyama did at the end of Kamen Rider Ryuki.

The parallel isotope Kazuto witnesses Hiroki and Akari sharing their first kiss before farewelling the audience. He meets with Ohma Zi-O in a white void as his timeline is disappearing; the demonic overlord thanks Kazuto for his service and releases him to live his own life, but Kazuto says that his original self is doing just that and that he wants to follow his overlord to the end. Hearing this, Ohma Zi-O gives Kazuto his final order, which is to find the new timeline that Sougo created and look over the Sougo in it, for there may come a time when the demonic overlord must rise again. Kazuto thanks Ohma Zi-O and takes his leave as the demonic overlord disappears, finally free of his pains and burdens.

Although the series’ endgame was adapted from Zero-One, I thought it was paced better than the original Zi-O’s endgame. I strived to improve on the failings of the original series and in my opinion, did a good job despite 80% of the series being a carbon copy of the original and the rest being a walking ego-fest. If you think I could have done a better job adapting the series, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions.

While the main series of Zi-O is done, there is still more to cover, namely the Before Quartzer mini-series, the After Quartzer specials, the background to the series and some clarification on character details. See you for the last few instalments of this run of Kisekae Insights.

[true-blue-sonic]

Silver went through opposite character arcs in the 06 and the Rivals series. In 06 Silver learned to be independent while in the Rivals series he learns to accept help from others and not do everything himself. His arc in the Rivals series is actually similar to Blaze's in the Rush series now that I think about it.

That's an interesting point! In Sonic '06, Silver is quite heavily reliant on Blaze: she's the one keeping him calm when he loses his temper about the endless battle with Iblis, and the moment he arrives in the past and she is not there Silver gets quite stressed for a moment. He continues with the task assigned to him all the same, but Amy easily ropes him into helping her look for Sonic without him getting a word inbetween. He's also left quite shocked when Amy confronts him after his first fight with Sonic, unable to calmly discuss with her what is going on and Amy all but steamrolling over him with her own perspective. Furthermore, I would describe this Silver as more polite and soft-spoken than the Silver from Rivals. He's blunt towards Sonic when trying to kill him and even after making up, and he clearly thinks Amy is kooky at first, but he also gladly offers her his help when seeing the beauty of the past. While he rapidly jumps into things without Blaze to help out, it doesn't get accompanied much by his characteristic rudeness from Rivals.

Meanwhile, in the Rivals series it's indeed quite opposite: Silver is tackling this journey alone, and everyone who gets in his way gets snapped at and attacked. But still, in this instalment, Silver also has a sweeter side to him! His interactions with the Chao convince Espio that he cannot be a bad guy, after all. And while in Rivals 1 he does try to tackle most things alone, he's not above teaming up with Shadow and Knuckles at the end (even thanking them both!), and it gets taken a step further in Rivals 2 where he and Espio form an alliance and a true friendship. And though he can definitely be sassy in later games, like Colours DS and some quotes from TSR, I think it's noteworthy that he's never again shown with a similar level of aggression as he had in the Rivals instalments.

As for the similarities between Blaze's story in Rush and Silver's development in the Rivals instalments, I can see matching aspects between them, though I think it's important to realise that Blaze seemed to have been shunned/isolated herself even further because of her 'curse'. For Silver, we do not know if that was the case, but both of them carry heavy responsibilities: Blaze as princess and Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, and Silver as protector of the future (perhaps self-imposed, since he was the only one going after Eggman Nega when the mad doctor travelled to the past). In this case, I think Blaze's journey was a bit more anvilicious than Silver's, but they did indeed lead to the same developments: Silver and Blaze both built friendships and learned to trust others. It's interesting to me that in '06 they seemed to have found that with each other!

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 075 - Saving the Earth

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 3 Episode 24 - Zero Hour

Time to wrap up Season 3, and the chase to reach the weapon, before it reaches earth is on!

Seeing Hoshi in this state of self guilt and not sure who she's talking to hurts, I don't like that archer is pushing her like this. She needs time to recover, especially in regards to him wanting to bring her onto the sphere with the strike team.

After that discussion, Archer gets time jumped into the future by Daniels, again. This time 7 years into Archer's personal future, to the founding of the Federation that Daniels keeps drip feeding us about. However, Daniels is unable to convince archer to change his mind about anything.

Hoshi, even in her current state, has made good progress, but unfortunately the reptilian ship has drifted from the Weapon. The reptilian ship attacks and destroys one of Earth's research satellites, with around 40 civilian targets on board. I get that that's tragic and all, but Archer literally did something similar to a Xindi research station less than 5 ago, he has very little room to be sad about this.

The reptilians prepare to open fire on Degra's ship, but thankfully the Andorians arrive in the nick of time to take care of things. My man, Shran is the MVP, Archer owes him indeed. Shran's appearance gives the crew a chance to get onto the weapon and start disabling it. The final fistfight between Archer and Dolim was also amazingly brutal. Archer, however doesn't make it out.

Meanwhile, Enterprise is going down into a spacial anomaly to attack one of the key spheres and knock out the Sphere network. The anomoly is wrecking the same cellular decay on the crew that the test subject was undergoing. Then, the Sphere builders board Enterprise and start tearing it apart. Luckily they take down the sphere and all the others with it.

After the fighting, while Enterprise awaits to rendezvous with the other team, we get just a little bit of flirting between T'Pol and Trip, which was nice to see.

We only really get to see T'Pol and Phlox's reactions to loosing archer, not even the team who he was with on Degra's ship. Everyone's reactions to seeing Earth again was beautiful, however everything is short lived, because no broadcasts have been coming from Earth or the Moon. Something is wrong. When a shuttle touches down, weapons start opening fire, and they're not from Enterprise's era. We've gone back in time to World War Two, Archer has been left in Nazi hands, and there's an alien commanding these Nazis, and that's the cliffhanger we're left on. Bit of a bombshell to end the season on.

The action in this episode was excellent, both the battle on the weapon and the battle on Enterprise. This Season finale was really good, but I'm happy we're finished with this whole Xindi arc. As much as I've loved the side episodes here, this seasons arc has not been it for me. I'm really interested to see where the series goes now that Archer and Enterprise are Stranded in World War 2. Also seeing Shran again was a highlight.

Comparing my Enjoyment of this Episode with a Doctor Who Universe Story of the Same Title

Torchwood: Aliens Among Us - Episode 7 - Zero Hour

Yep, Spin Off of a Spin Off. In 2017 Big Finish used it's licence to make Doctor Who Universe Radio Drama to start Torchwood: Aliens Among Us, a continuation. They had already done a few audio dramas set after Torchwood: Miracle Day, but Aliens Among Us was marketed as a true Season 5 of Torchwood, despite the change of Media and replacing the various members of the cast that died throughout the show.

On the whole, I do like the Torchwood Continued saga, it does fall into a lot of the same pitfalls as the actual Torchwood series does, but that's definitely by design in recapturing the show's vibes, and the series is genuinely well written. Aliens Among Us is wonderful. It's cast is in some ways even better than the Original Torchwood team.

But this segment is about it's 7th Episode, Zero Hour. Zero Hour is focus story for Tyler Steele, one of the new additions to the cast that Aliens Among Us throws in. The episode also takes on a sort of allegory for how companies such as Deliveroo and Uber exploit their workers, and does it wonderfully. The Suspense behind exactly what Deliverables is, is built wonderfully. Hasan as a guest character is so well written, and the budding relationship between him and Tyler was really good. It's a shame the faceless corporate entity incinerated, fired in the most literal sense, him the moment he "qualified for basic workers rights".

I enjoyed both Zero Hours, but Torchwood's Zero Hour won out for me. As good as the Action in Enterprise's Zero Hour was, Torchwood's felt like it actually had something to say. Sci-Fi always works best when it's allegorical for real world issues, and Torchwood Zero Hour was an amazing example for that.

[6-and-7]

Top 10s Meme

I was tagged by @lurking-latinist, or at least they said that anyone who was interested could do it, which is much of a muchness. Thanks!

Rules: List your "top 10" (or up to 10 if you haven't written that many) fics ranked by kudos on AO3. Are you surprised by what's most popular to your readers? Then, under a cut, provide your ranking of your personal top 10 fics (with explanations if you want!), and then tag a few fellow writers! 

My top 10 fics by kudos:

Five Times the Doctor's Fam Suspected She Had Tentacles, and One Time They Were Proven Right (Dr. Nyarlathotep fluff and silliness with 13 and the Fam)

Scuffle of the Titans (Dr. Nyarlathotep fluff and silliness with 3, the Master, Jo, and the Brig)

TARDIS Moving, Inc. (12 and Bill, immediately post- "Knock Knock")

The Sunset Archives vol. 1 (Equestria Girls and Magnus Archives crossover fic, part 1 of planned 3) (The Sunset Archives vol. 2 is technically #9 on this list, but I count them all as the same story.)

The Music of the Fears (Basira and Jon, feghoot)

Dr Cthulwho (Dr. Nyarlathotep oneshots)

Call of Cthulestia, and Other Strange Tales (Eldritch My Little Pony oneshots, fluff and silliness, side-order of Dr. Nyarlathotep)

Deaths of the Doctor (Emotional H/C. 13 has a breakdown about immortality, Yaz tries to make it better)

Allons-y! (Start of my Doctor Whooves series)

Piece of Cake (6, Evelyn, and River Song. Crossover with The Mouse that Roared.)

Thoughts and my personal top 10 under the cut

This one is a bit hit-or-miss for me. I think most of these are pretty good, but I definitely have better ones. A lot of these are just goofy ideas that I came up with and banged out all in the same afternoon -- good and fun, but not a lot of effort or editing put into them. This is especially true of Scuffle of the Titans, Music of the Fears, and most of Dr. Cthulwho. Similarly, TARDIS Moving, Inc. and Piece of Cake were both done for exchanges and therefore got a bit of a boost from that traffic.

I'm not entirely surprised that so many of them are Dr Nyarlathotep or similarly eldritch -- it's a pretty small category of fics with a ravenous fanbase, so most of them are going to jump on any new works in the category.

Allons-y! is the only one that really surprised me. It's not bad, per se, but it's one of my earliest works and you can kinda tell. On the other hand, it's the start of a long series of connected fics, so presumably a lot of people are going to start there and potentially fall off before they can kudos some of the later, better entries in the series.

Five Times and The Sunset Archives are the only ones that I think truly deserve top 10 status (though Five Times probably doesn't quite deserve the top spot).

My list:

The Sunset Archives (Still a work in progress, but I've got Plans)

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, and Me 317: Hello, Humans! (Barely failed to make the top 10 kudos'd fics. The McElroys talk about horses so much, now it's their turn to be horses. Well. Ponies.)

The Unexpected Adventures of Trixie and Sunset (Doctor Whooves without the Doctor. Sunset Shimmer and the Great and Powerful Trixie have accidentally stolen the TARDIS. Hijinks, time shenanigans, and romance ensue)

Black and Blue and Bloodied (Doctor Whooves -- 9th Doctor and a very reluctant Prince Blueblood)

Ruler of Everything (My longest fic by far. Culmination of the first arc of my Doctor Whooves series. Broke the knob off the angst machine with this. I do encourage you to read the preceding stories first, or at least skip around a bit for ones that look interesting)

Five Times the Doctor's Fam Suspected She Had Tentacles, and One Time They Were Proven Right

Breakthrough (Dr Nyarlathotep + Game of Rassilon)

Growing Pains (Spike/Rarity, comedy of errors, best described as 'Wodehousian')

Played on Strings (On extended hiatus while I work on The Sunset Archives. Doctor Whooves, again without the Doctor. Featuring Romana, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Faction Paradox, the Beatles, and H.P. Lovecraft)

The Rising Night (Yet another Doctor Whooves one. I got a lot of 'em. 7th Doctor, young Celestia and Luna.)

But hey, don't just take my word for it -- check them out for yourself!

Can't think of anyone to tag, but if you're interested, go for it!

[shcmook]

Doctor Who has made a lot of exciting announcements recently but a lot of the specifics of what these projects will look like has been left open to speculation. So here is my

LIST OF RTD2 PREDICTIONS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

My source for all of this is that I made it the fuck up. Read at your own risk.

Who is this for?

First things first. Usually a new showrunner’s first job would be to introduce old fans to the new face of the show while also simultaneously introducing new fans to the show for the first time. My prediction here is that those two jobs will be split between the 60th Trilogy and the 8 episodes of Series 14 proper. As in, the 60th anniversary exists to reintroduce old fans to the show, whether they’ve kept up with it or not. Meanwhile, series 14 will serve as a mostly standalone experience that can be enjoyed both buy new and old fans alike.  zooming in on the 60th specifically I think that it is being designed in a way to attract older fans who stopped watching sometime after RTDs initial run, by making it look like a superficial return to the glory days of series 4. But as Ill also explain more below I think in a lot of ways the 60th anniversary specials will serve to catch those fans up on how this doctor has emotionally changed and grown over the 12 years since we last saw David Tennant as the Doctor.

Is Neil Patrick Harris The Toymaker?

Yea I think so but also that’s not really the point. I think whether he is the Toymaker or not, we can safely assume that he’s the one behind the doctors regeneration being weird, that he is the true big bad of the trilogy, and that he has some kind of sinister reason for wanting to return the doctor to this famous face. Moreover even if he’s not the Toymaker I’m predicting he’ll have some weird reality warping powers like the Toymaker does. He’s not the Master. Neither is Gwilliam. We won’t see the master til 2025 at least.

“I don’t know who I am anymore.”

Since the finale of Series 12, the Doctor has been struggling with accepting their own identity and her own understanding of their past . 13 seemed to make peace with these things at the end of Flux, but being forced to wear this face from their past and strange clothes, I think will dredge up those thoughts of not being in control of their own identity.

And if the Toymaker is deliberately attacking The Doctor well… that would have been par for the course for the Tenth Doctor, but the 11th Doctor spent a lot of time trying to erase the Legend of the Doctor from record. Specifically so that he and his friends wouldn’t be targets like this. Will this evoke the righteous fury of a timelord we know Tennant for or the frustration of a man who believes he’s part of the problem?

And of course. The companion being targeted is the one he harmed. The one he made forget him. The one that could die just from him warning her about this new danger. The 12th doctor faced dilemmas and repeatedly had to learn to respect his companions’ wishes and learn to let them go. And I think seeing so many of the Fam thriving in POTD only hammered that point home. The Doctor would not have erased Donna’s memory while she pleaded with him not to if he’s faced with that again. I don’t think he could.

My point being that the 60th seems perfectly designed to highlight how the character of The Doctor has changed since RTD and Tennant were last the ones telling this story. I think a lot of people are expecting RTD to kind of�� clean up chibnall’s mess but I disagree. I think he’s gonna take the most compelling emotional beats for the character, highlight how what they’ve been through has changed him, and then use the momentum of that angst and inner conflict to launch the Doctor forward into the next arc.

The 60th’s Plot and Pacing

The 60th is gonna be a trilogy, right?

PART ONE: So the Doctor’s trying to track down who or what interfered with his regeneration, but he’ll quickly be sidetracked by the other stuff going on before he can learn anything definitive. Yasmin Finney’s character finds Beep the Meep’s ship and is trying to figure out what he’s up to. And ofc Wilf and Sylvia are trying to make sure Donna stays out of weirdness and doesn’t remember anything. I think the alien wraith soldier dudes from the trailers will be closing in on the Nobles, but slowed down by UNIT, through the episode too. By the end of the first special, it’ll be clear that Beep the Meep is a bad guy, the other aliens that we just stopped (or only pissed off) weren’t bad guys, and something will happen that’ll trigger Donna’s memory.

So then special #2, Donna is Donna again, but of course she’s dying. But she’s in a state of grace, only occasionally glitching out and collapsing from pain in her head. The Doctor, Wilf and her are trying to find a solution while also dealing with Beep, who’s building the big ticket from the trailer for some nefarious reason. The Doctor is also bring haunted by the Toymaker and more things from his past are showing up, out of place, which the Doctor does not have time to figure out. Things will come down to the wire. And either Beep will be defeated OR Donna is saved but not both. And something happens to break The Toymaker’s control over what’s going on.

The third episode will be trippy and weird and fun. I think we’ll be fully in the Toymaker’s realm. But his connection with the Doctor will be broken. Whatever he did to force the Doctor into this face and this fun little outfit will be coming undone. His own face will be shifting between the regenerations of the past and the future alike, as he battles the ghosts of his past through the Toymaker’s realm. Eventually he wins, of course, via the combined best traits of all his faces and all his friends. But I do think Donna will die. No way around that, I don’t think. And a lonely 15th Doctor will return to the TARDIS. But with a bit more hope than I’m describing here.

Fun and Familiar Faces

I don’t think Tennant, Tate, and Cribbins (RIP) are the only returning cast members in the 60th.

I’m gonna go ahead and say that RTD pulled some kind of miracle and convinced all the living doctor actors to return for the third part of the trilogy. Do I think that’s true? No but this is a post of wild predictions I’m making all this up. I’m saying we’ll see ALL of them. Yes all of them.

Amy, Rory, Clara, Rose, Nardole and/or Bill will all show up specifically because it doesn’t make sense. The Toymaker is using his reality warping abilities to bring them here. Like Donna, when the Toymaker is defeated they will fade from the Doctor again. But they’ll be able to give him something that makes the parting easier.

Beep and the Toymaker won’t be the only weird niche characters either but if I knew who specifically to name they wouldn’t be weird and obscure now would they? These would be more like cameos or have a weirdly specific story purpose I couldn’t possibly predict though.

I think Kate Stewart will be in it along with Martha Jones. I don’t think every member of the Companion support group will return but they’ll AT LEAST be namedropped as how Kate met Martha. I think the torchwood team will get referenced as well. Though here’s the thing… this last group is a thing I’m not predicting for the 60th but rather for …

Series 14

Which won’t be called that. It’ll be called Series 1 of the 15th Doctor. But here’s what I think for this season. I think it’ll be very structurally similar to what RTD did before, but with the fat trimmed and a STRONG focus on a serialized character arcs that continue from one episode to the next. Going episode by episode I think it’ll look something like this.

The Christmas Special- this’ll be Doctor Who at its biggest and most festive and fun BUT more importantly this is the episode more than anything else that’ll be trying to draw in completely new fans. It’ll be Ruby Sunday’s story more than the Doctor’s. Think Rose and Christmas invasion rolled into one story and on Disney budget.

Future- I think the near future political episode we’ve seen set photos from will be early in the series and will largely focus on some scary realities of the present and offering a possibly hopeful vision for how they’ll eventually be conquered.

Historical- I think the obligatory trip to the past will focus on social issues in some way rather than “ooh what if a historical figure met an alien but thought it was a creature from folklore instead!” Like a lot of the historicals were in RTD’s first run.

CLASSIC ENEMY- real UNIT introducing invasion hours. Ruby Sunday will really be tested in her role as companion of the Doctor while the Doctor themself is in their element, facing the devil they know. Extra drama? UNIT being allied with Graham’s support group means that Ruby will become aware she’s not the first earth girl to travel with the Doctor.

Real character building hours- think “Fathers Day” or “Amy’s choice”. This one will be a little slower and really develop why Ruby’s relationship with the Doctor is different from past companions. It’ll also further whatever the Series Arc mystery is and. Big prediction here. The Doctor will start to suspect that there’s answers to the big mystery in the Fob Watch from Flux. The context of this will be explained to Ruby and new viewers.

Experimental Episode- think “Blink” or “Sleep No More”. Good seasons of doctor who need at least one episode that really fucks with your idea of how a doctor who story should be structured. And if RTD doesn’t stay true to that I’ll be annoyed. Though, that said, I don’t think it should come in the form of a Doctor-lite story because we’re getting spin-offs soon and those will more than fill that void.

And then of course. The two part finale….

Finale Cliffhanger

Similar to the centenary and the 60th I think the finale will have multiple villains all pop up at once. One will be a classic monster, another will be original to this season. One or both will have been established in a previous episode. The newer villain will be like. Giving UNIT trouble on the ground. The older ones will take Ruby Sunday. The Doctor will be forced to run and fully convinced that they must open the Fob Watch and absorb old memories to solve this mess.

And that’s it. That’s not how I expect part one of that finale to end that’s how I expect the season to end. 3 way cliffhanger leading into

The Spin-offs

RUBY SUNDAY VS THE DALEKS… or whatever the Classic Villain is. There’s a rumor that doctor who monsters are getting their own spin-offs. But like? Doctor who needs a hero to give hope and charm to the story. So. I think Ruby Sunday is gonna get a whole show where she’s gotta face down the Dalek Empire. That’s what I think. But she’ll also get a new companion of her own so this can be viewed as a stand alone story, separate from Ruby’s adventures with the Doctor.

U.N.I.T. - spiritual successor to Torchwood but now under Kate Stewart’s management. Instead of being more adult in a oversexualized way it’s gonna be darker in a more “superheroes aren’t real. The Doctor and jack always leave eventually. Your greatest defenders are an underfunded group of adults who don’t know what the hell they’re doing.” Kinda vibe. The season starts with a new recruit helping secure a partial victory against the villains introduced in the main show and by the end of the season the new recruit, Martha, Gwen, Kate Stewart etc are facing Cybermen or Sontarans or some major threat that they definitely can’t handle cleanly without the Doctor.

THE SECRET DOCTOR - Jo Martin Doctor series where she fights gods and monsters at the behest of Division, eventually culminating in her attempting to leave and uncovering a secret that helps the 15th doctor in the present day. She also gets her own companion so this can be viewed as THAT character’s story, separate from the LORE.

Series 15 and Beyond

We return to the 15th doctor in the 2024 Christmas special and it leaves a lot unresolved. The Doctor gets a new companion in series 15. New spin-offs about old companions and new heroes facing classic enemies, maybe even the Master gets a show, all pop up and intersect with the Doctor, Ruby, the UNIT crew, etc in small ways. eventually we build up to an Avengers level crossover that puts Journeys End to SHAME.

That’s all goodnight.

[willidleaway]

ah so I'm going through a major life transition and a lot of my daily schedule right now is cleaning and packing rather than indulging my Kirby hyperfixation, but I did catch the new eps of Disney!Who and my overall takeaway so far is it's fine? not 2023 Specials-tier brilliant? maybe not written to please the people that grew up with old new!Who? but definitely better than where the show was going before?? [extremely mild spoilers below break]

I think compared to the 2023 Specials there's definitely a lot more Series 1/2 energy in the sense that there's a lot of uneven fluctuation between character building, unsubtle social commentary, and toilet humour, and obviously how it fluctuates really depends on the episode (shockingly not every episode of Series 1 was like Aliens of London/World War Three). I almost wonder if he wrote the episodes in the season proper before writing the Specials, because the Specials felt a lot more refined. or maybe he figured that it was more important to get the Specials right (which is true).

still not sure if Space Babies should have been the first episode after the nominal series premiere—which a lot of people are going to skip because they'll have watched it at Christmas—as it definitely has that Aliens of London-type 'we need an episode to scare but also gross out the kiddies' energy. I don't think it's an episode where Internet reactions are going to predominantly come from the target audience for it.

I liked The Devil's Chord a lot more—if RTD wants to have an episode of Disney!Who be a fourth-wall-eviscerating music battle drag show I am honestly all for it. I can see people reacting badly to the drag or the fourth wall evisceration or both but I hope nobody thinks this is anything new (especially breaking the fourth wall, a proud tradition dating all the way back to the First Doctor's tenure).

and that's the great thing about Who that I think the post-RTD showrunners forgot at some point—it has often been an anthology of not just stories and themes but even genre—you don't have to just oscillate between grim/acerbic sci-fi and grim/acerbic historical stories. and in that sense I think making streaming a big thing for Who is a great boon—unveiling multiple episodes at once means you present a better overall expectation for how the rest of the season is going to go. and in this case even if the individual episodes didn't blow me out of the water, I'm not unhappy about the overall direction.

also, I guess RTD's writing has evolved from arc words to arc weather. amazing.

[ear-worthy]

Dear Felicity Podcast Debuts & Podcast About Travel Writer Who Was A Spy

What is it about a TV series that makes it a strong candidate to become a re-watch podcast? Length? TV ratings? Genre? All viable options. Perhaps, it is the loyalty and enthusiasm of the fan base that determines whether a canceled TV series warrants a re-watch podcast.

In the case of WB TV series Felicity, it definitely could be the loyalty and passion of the show's fan base.

Felicity revolves around the college experiences of the title character, Felicity Porter (portrayed by Keri Russell), as she attends the "University of New York" (based on New York University), which lies across the country from her home in Palo Alto, California. Like NYU, UNY is located in Greenwich Village near Washington Square Park, and the school is an important part of the show. The show ran for four seasons from September 29, 1998, to May 22, 2002, with each season corresponding to the traditional American university divisions of freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. Last week, Spotify’s The Ringer and Bad Robot Audio announced Dear Felicity, an all-new, star-studded podcast revisiting the beloved series Felicity, 25 years after it premiered. Rather than the familiar episode-by-episode approach, Dear Felicity will have an innovative structure, with episodes covering themes and story arcs to facilitate broader conversations about Felicity, The WB, the careers of those involved, and how the television business functioned. Dear Felicity launched on Wednesday, March 13. New episodes will drop every Wednesday on Spotify and everywhere podcasts are available. Said Abrams, Co-CEO, Bad Robot, “The experience of Felicity was formative for so many involved. It is such a joy to relive that time, re-examine the episodes, and hear from so many of the wonderful and creative people who helped bring the show to life.”

Hosted by Felicity stars Amanda Foreman and Greg Grunberg alongside The Ringer’s Juliet Litman, Dear Felicity will bring together cast, crew, executives, and fans of the iconic series to discuss its cultural longevity and unique place in television history. Special guests will include Keri Russell, series creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves, Scott Speedman, Scott Foley, Tangi Miller, Amy Jo Johnson, Jennifer Garner, Brian Grazer, Keiko Agena, Andrew Jarecki, and more. Bad Robot was formed by filmmaker J.J. Abrams in 2001. The company has produced television series including Alias, Lost, Fringe, Person of Interest, Westworld, Castle Rock, Lovecraft Country, and Lisey’s Story, as well as feature films including SUPER 8, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, and the STAR TREK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, and CLOVERFIELD franchises.

Check out Dear Felicity, if for no other reason to listen to Greg Grunberg (a former cast member) who is always eminently ear worthy.

********************************************** 

It's taken me years to get over the revelation (if it's actually true) that creator / host of The Gong Show, and creator of The Newlywed Game and The Dating Game Chuck Barris was a CIA operative.

After all, the U.S. was either desperate for spies, or so ingenuously clever that even Doctor Evil from Austin Powers would be flabbergasted.

Now, iHeartPodcasts and producer Lars Jacobson have debuted Fodor’s Guide to Espionage, with the first episode released on March 13.  

Based on the true story of Eugene Fodor, the podcast Fodor's Guide to Espionage will explore the greatest travel writer in the world, who secretly used his profession as a cover to spy for the CIA. Taking place in the 1960s, it is a globetrotting, jet-setting spy series centered around the biggest events of the Cold War that will take listeners on an exotic vacation and high stakes spy mission every week. 

 Established in 1949, Fodor's has published more than 440 guides on over 300 destinations, and currently has more than 700 permanently placed researchers all over the world. In addition to having sold hundreds of millions of guide books over the last century, Fodor’s remains one of the most popular travel guide publishers and internet tourist information sites to this day. 

Ethan Corn (“Criminal Minds,” “The Resident”), Lelia Symington (“Brut Force,” “The Marksman”), and Jacqueline Emerson (“The Hunger Games,” “FBI”) will take listeners through thrilling history, fine dining and navigating the world through travel. 

Creator and writer Lars Jacobson will be producing the series alongside Sabrina Jaglom (“Jane,” “Listening In”) and Noel Brown for iHeartPodcasts. “Fodor's Guide to Espionage'' marks the first podcast out of Teleforce’s first-look deal with iHeart. 

 Check out Fodor’s Guide to Espionage for its plot twists, narrative roundabouts, and weird blend of travel and international spycraft.

What's next? The Food Network's Pioneer Woman is a double agent.

[jasper-rolls]

Media Roundup (February 2024)

a few days late because my job is kicking my ass lately, but i've got another batch of little reviews of stuff i've been checking out. take a look!

Doctor Who: The Fifth Doctor (Seasons 19-21)

it only took 20 years but this show is truly getting good i think. you can start to see where the DNA of the reboot comes from, especially how davison's performance would influence tennant's - and what a sendoff he got in the end, some really wild shit happening there. not much more to go now

Faraway Downs

a lot more digestible than the movie it was edited from, and makes me ponder if it shouldn't have just been this way from the start. the changed ending feels more in line with the rest of baz's ouvre, given his penchant for tragic deaths - but i'm not sure it's a better ending for this in particular. otherwise, everything from the movie applies, good and bad

Checkmate - Malorie Blackman

a strong conclusion to this first trilogy, about healing from the scars of your past and focusing on the ones who are here now. some elements feel all too real to this day, and it's heartbreaking. believe in something better

Puella Magi Oriko☆Magica: Extra Story - Magica Quartet, Mura Kuroe

boy i just…do not care about this spinoff

Iron Man 3

james bond by way of marvel while grappling with tony's actual damage instead of just libertarian-ing all over the place. disappointing that they did "What If Iron Man But Evil" yet a fucking gain but once i get past my annoyance at that, they do make it kind of work, and tony getting down in the dirt and getting to know actual regular people was really fun. good start, phase 2. try and keep it up please

Ben 10 Versus the Universe: The Movie

this was distinctly pretty okay, definitely far more enjoyable than the nonsense that the live action movies are, and there was some poignancy to it all - gwen and max thinking ben might be dead, ben having similar worries on his end, azmuth's test pushing him to be better than he can be. it may be a bit rote hero's journey stuff, but ben 10 has always been extremely by the numbers - it's no different here. my main gripe is that for being a movie, they really don't push the animation much. this genuinely looks like it could've been split into a 5-6 parter to cap off the last season of the show and there would be no obvious difference, and for all i know it probably is aired this way when the show is in syndication.

The Wolverine

watched the extended edition. man i just zoned the fuck out of this one. some nicely shot action at least but i just didn't have the mental energy to follow the plot and the silver samurai stuff was dummmbbb. very unmemorable

The Mandalorian (Season 3)

the narrative arc must sacrifice all for The Lore. all subservient, all reverent of The Lore. mandalore is back. don't you feel proud? don't you feel serviced? don't you feel clever, for knowing all these things about our brand? we took the narrative arc of our main characters and shot it behind the shed so they could stand around while bo katan, our hidden true protagonist of this season, does all of the actually important stuff, but that's okay, right? you feel good, because you know who bo katan is, and why she's important, and why the darksaber is important, and why its so so sad that moff gideon destroyed this trinket from another series made 15 years ago. look, here's jack black, and lizzo, and christopher lloyd. isn't it fun that they're now part of the Star Wars brand? isn't it great? din and grogu have a house now, all to themselves. that works as an ending, right? this is what you want, right? this is what makes you happy. this is what you crave, fans. The Story is dead. long live The Lore.

Puella Magi Madoka☆Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion

what if hope doesn't spring eternal?

what if the energy you got from knowing the one you love is looking down and smiling on you wasn't enough? what if you really couldn't live without them? what if you said yes when in your heart of hearts you wanted to scream no, wanted to damn us all and destroy everything because if you have to suffer then the whole world should suffer too?

what if persephone and hades, but make it yuri?

Ben 10 (2016)

honestly really not that bad if you take it for what it is rather than being mad that it's not alien force Like Some People. fun redesigns, some decent comedic writing and mixed additions to the rogue's gallery (extreme pass on breaker 1-9 and nanny nightmare, but xingo, the bugg brothers and tim buktu are fun). don't go in demanding deepness or tight canon or worldbuilding (factors ben 10 as a franchise has never actually been all that good at if we're really being honest) and you can have a fun time

Thor: The Dark World

it should be a crime to misuse christopher eccleston this badly

Mario Kart 7

this must have seemed like a shock to the devs of mkwii but it turns out when you don't entirely fucking explode the player for the crime of existing near first place, the game is actually fun and enjoyable, and i want to play more of it

Star Wars: Visions (Season 2)

not as good as the first season IMO, but still some fantastic and beautiful animation from around the world. the aardman short got me good. i saw you grand day out robot

Nichijou: Original Run (Vol. 1-10)

works just as good in manga format as the anime did, although it doesn't have quite as good an ending. keiichi arawi has an impeccable sense of timing that shines even in manga format, and their ability to take comedy to great extremes in their art is hilarious

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - The Fate of Atlantis

well that was a load of nonsense. AC's take on greek mythology was admittedly pretty cool to see but it was just a lot of meandering in the end. a surface level tour with some juno teasing at the end which i'm pretty sick of tbh

AD:PIANO VIVACE 2 - Diverse System

pretty good but not stellar. little really stuck out to me as truly awesome, even BlackY's track was kind of a let down. still, nothing actively bad here.

best track: "Flows With Errors"

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

it feels wild that thus far captain america consistently outdoes every other MCU movie. i didn't think i'd be this on board with him when i decided to start catching up. a great spy thriller that managed to contain a ton of engaging plot threads without feeling overstuffed and overlong, and genuinely left me pretty excited for more

Disney Gallery / The Mandalorian (Season 3)

where is any of this for andor. i don't care. i hate this show now

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

there's like, almost a movie here. it starts off pretty good! there's bits and pieces that shine, it feels like it should be better than it is, there's stuff throughout that could absolutely go somewhere exciting and then it just completely fumbles everything. what the fuck

got a longer review on my letterboxd

---

anyway kind of a pingpong month in terms of quality, but the show goes on...

[88y53]

Marvel Learned the Wrong Lesson from Endgame

I've been a fan of the MCU for many years. I wouldn't say I was totally enamored with it until about Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before that, I actually hated the series; The Avengers was pretty much the exact opposite of what I wanted it to be–there was no real story to it, no real character growth, no serious threat that kept me engaged. It was wall-to-wall quips, self-referential humor, and self-congratulatory writing. It wasn't a movie so much as Marvel fellating themselves for reaching such a pivotal moment in the series.

I HATED it because of how insular it was. It wasn't interested in pushing anything forward or daring to be anything other than what it was: a movie made to make a billion dollars. [I also hated that Iron Man was presented as the true hero of the story instead of Captain America.]

Then The Winter Soldier came out and played with Captain America's status as the Ideal Hero of the MCU, and had interesting themes and critiques about surveillance culture and government overreach. Never once mocked Cap and instead played him completely straight as the kind of moral and ethical authority who definitively says "No, this is not how we do things. We're better than this!"

And this is when I think Marvel started to find the formula that worked:

Take an intriguing character

Have them go through an arc (for Cap it would be a Flat Character arc)

And use the trademark Marvel quippiness for characterization

And then we entered what I consider Marvel's either Golden or Silver Age–Guardians of the Galaxy, Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Civil War, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, etc. etc.

All culminating in the one-two punch of Infinity War and Endgame.

It was at this point, Marvel was the undisputed King of Hollywood. Years of back-to-back movies that ranged from "Not Bad" to "Amazing" but never "Objectively Terrible." You can't buy that kind of hot streak.

After that, we transitioned into the mysterious Phase 4, which promised to be more experimental and risk-taking, which was absolutely the right way to go because think about it–Marvel was no longer in a position to play to the crowds anymore. They had the money and–more importantly–the reputation to release whatever they wanted.

This was when I thought Marvel would become more... socialist, I guess. Anyone could go to Marvel with the right drive and promise and be given blank checks to do whatever cool project they wanted to do with the treasure chest of characters they had at their disposal.

Unfortunately, that dream of creator-driven superhero projects seems to have lived and died with Eternals (which I will defend to my last breath as an amazing movie, and the last officially "good" Marvel movie).

I don't know exactly what happened by then–maybe it was a combination of COVID, stretching themselves too thin, or the weight of their own hype exceeding their abilities. Who knows? But the Marvel I was hoping for has not materialized.

I only defended these movies because I thought they were going to get better, but they haven't, and I don't know if they ever will. Sure, Wakanda Forever, GotG3, Werewolf by Night, What If, Loki, She-Hulk, and No Way Home were good, but they are more exceptions to the rule now.

And, let's be honest, No Way Home was only good through the strength of the fanservice it used. It used it expertly, and it earned its reception, but Multiverse of Madness was a similar cameo-athon, and even that couldn't salvage it.

The Marvels was probably the last straw for me. The very first MCU movie with a trio of multi-ethnic leading ladies directed by a promising female director. . . and it was bad. The entire story was in service to the action set-pieces; characters are introduced and then disappear; the actors are clearly performing in a vacuum of how the scenes fit together into the greater narrative; and its only real use is to set up Secret Wars, Deadpool, and The Kang Dynasty (which might not even come out anymore).

This cameo-reliant, CGI-focused, "fix it in Post" mentality has worn out its welcome. At least for me.

I'll still drop in from time to time just to see if Marvel's gotten out of the funk they find themselves in, but I've lost my excitement.

Marvel will have to do something really bold and risky to get me back into their corner, but they seem content to play it safe for now to get their reputation back, which is only giving their "they're rollercoasters, not art"-critics ammo to label them as soulless capitalist consumer corporate-mandated neo-liberal capeshit.

As someone who loves the superhero genre, it's hard for me to write this, but maybe it's time for the MCU to just end?