#donald lydecker

[loisfreakinglane]

[wench-and-jezebel]

Dark Angel Reaction: Prodigy

Jezebel (@typicalopposite) reacts [with occasional asides by Wench (@scripted-downfall)]

[I’m sorry, but immediate first thought… The mirror is so filthy sdfhkg]

“I can’t imagine a time where you could just walk into a store, shelves were full, and you could buy whatever you needed.”  Neither can I lady

[“Except it’s pronounced poly-mer-aze.”  NO IT’S NOT?!!??!  The “z as in ‘enzyme’” part is accurate, but it’s pronounced pah-lim-er-aze, what do you mean?!?!?!]

Mood, Kendra, soon as she went off, my brain shut down

Oh no, Not broccoli

Ma’am that’s not why you’re there ☠️☠️

How he’s sitting  [I'm sure she won't notice anything… poor buddy] 

["You have that “Logan, I need a favor” look on your face.” “Isn't that the only reason I come over?" This is accurate.  At least she knows she's rude]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

[Jesus, she’s so manipulative with this “he can help you walk again” idea.  She doesn’t give a shit about that, not really; she just wants a way into the conference.]

Oh.  Oh sass.  YASSSS LOGAN!

How long before he feels guilty tho *sigh* 😂

Spinning fetus

So like. What’s the purpose of manticore. I probably just over looked this but…. Why are they making them  [... ma’am.  You know what-  I’ll tell you later.  Problematic one.]

Not her lickity boo!

I love it.

LICKITY CHICKS 

[I love OC.  And Herbal.]

TYPICAL MAN

Ma’am ☠️☠️ [She's a dumbass.  Normal doesn't like her enough for her to get off work for a minor cough.  Meanwhile, Alec could probably get off because he was tired, and definitely if he has a headache.]  He could say he wasn’t working and Normal would be like yes my love…  [Fhdjskks accurate]

Logan being guilty, as predicted  [Alas]

Bitchhhhhh (re. Max)

[NOT NORMAL USING THE SPRAY TO CLEAN OFF THE PHONE AFTER SHE USED IT ALKDSJF]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

[Max is so rude for interrupting their conversation, just saying.  Also, I'm sure this isn't suspicious to Kendra at all]

Bebeeee  [Baby!]

[Poor baby]  🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺  This is so common around here. My sisters a nurse. It’s so sad

[Genetically-engineered boy playing piano is giving other genetically-engineered boy playing piano]

Ahhhhhhh that’s borderline triggering ☠️😂😂  [Now you know why she can hold her breath so long]  I’m terrified of drowning

W…LINTLICKERRRRR  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️  Ruuuun bitch  [Fjdhjs ikr.  She's so not subtle though]

Donald Lintlicker, what a name  [If you said it right, it might be better]

Bitch jump out a window like you always do

Max.  Just.  Tell.  Kendra.  [She doesn’t.]  BRUHHHHH

……  ALLL THEM SEATS.  ALL THEM SEATSSSS.  WHY.  DO.  YOU.  SIT.  NEXT.  TO.  LINTLICKER!?!?

Sir, you created them 

Ma’am  [She's so not subtle.  See?!?!?]

I want to shake them both  [Exactly.]  He’s just a straight bag of bullshit. And she’s an idiot.

[Also, it does bear mentioning.  I'm not trying to downplay the stuff that happened as kids.  But she missed out on soooooo long.  She doesn't know how things go now.  So keep that in mind.]  Very true

That kid does not look happy 🥺

Needing glasses is called getting old

Oh no Kendra look away from Lintlicker.

He is over here swooning over this speaker dude

[Oop, a gun]  Some shit is happening.  And Lintlicker is here.  Yep.  Makes sense.

[All of these random coincidences though fhdjjsjsks.  Max just happens to sit by Lydecker.  Tanaka just happens to call on Lydecker.  Lydecker just happens to give Kendra his gun.  Etc.]  ☠️☠️☠️

What is HAPPENING

[IS THAT THE FIRST "BIP-BIP-BIP" OF THE SERIES?!?!  NORMAL HAS STARTED HIS TRADEMARK]  😂😂  [Wait, nope, I just went and looked… he said it in the pilot episode.  *haunted voice*  It’s always been there.]

Le gasp, my woman

– – –

Midpoint Reaction: This one is definitely the most anxiety inducing.  Because like what are the chances she goes to this place and he is there. Then a 3rd party group comes in and now they are trapped there together.  Also sassy Logan is life. Put her in her place friend!

– – –

WELL SHIT.  holy shit that was violent af.  [So much for Kendra’s “they’re not gonna kill him, right?”]  Like *sigh*

[Herbal and OC are my beloveds]  😂😂😂  Agreed tho

I’m still shook.  They really threw his ass off the roof

“Overstand”  [Wot]  😂😂😂

[Logan being tetchy again.  He is so very not Tony, btw.  I can't even confuse them anymore.]  Gotta give it to Weatherl-  I was literally about to say that.  He’s reminding me of Ackles with having two characters be so vastly different  [Unfortunately, yeah.  From what I've heard, though, his personality is *badddddd* though --- standard disclaimer: idk if that's changed or what, but it's all I know about him --- so I kinda regret the comparison.  But, again, idk if he's gotten better or something.]  Yeah the actor himself is apparently kinda shitty. ☹️

Look at him working with the military

[Poor Kendra regretting her life choices]

Logan is basically saying: release the Max

“He’s a good little soldier”  Shut up Lintlicker

[hides from the fact that this is how I deal with shit: adversity = strengthening  This show is attacking me]  ☠️☠️

Ye, her childhood actually did protect her

Bruh.  This man. Is an ass.

[Max defeating the purpose of Logan's sacrifice right here.  Or trying to.]  Right!? But I mean tbf I wouldn’t want to leave the kid either  [Accurate]

[Max is such a bad actress btw]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️  [“Ooopssss, I twisted my ankle” with the tone of a whiny kid]

She not a lady because she a man!  [That poor dude was trying to be nice alksdjf]  

[If Max shows off at all, Lydecker's gonna figure it out.  Just btw.]  Ooooooooof, true

[Logan boutta die EXCEPT.]

And landed right in a bed  [This.  Scene.  This scene.  Is so.  alksdjflkadsjf.  Yeah.]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️  [Okay, ngl, this is the one scene where I actually deeply like their dynamic]

She really just gonna leave him there  ☠️☠️☠️☠️

OH SHIT.  SHE SAVED LINTLICKER. But why?  [EXACTLY.]  Like.  Actually WHYYYYY  [SHE COULD HAVE SOLVED ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS.  IN ONE GO.]

ITS THE RUNNNNING

💔💔💔💔  Nooooo that’s so sad.  Does Lintlicker get the kid?  [idk for sure, but I don't think so… Yeah, Max just took him out the door.  Seems to suggest he doesn’t get taken by Manticore]

Well shit.  They’re kicking him.  That’s not how you do interrogations lol

OH.  SHIT.  THIS EPISODE.  WAS CRAZY AF.

[Kid be safe]  “MY BOY” ma’am  😂😂😂  [Just goes to show that Max does have a nurturing side; she just.  Never shows it.  And is bitchy instead.  It’s a personality downgrade.]  *sigh*  [This episode proves that she can be caring and a badass.  But, instead, she's just.  bitchy.  And rude.  (To Alec, and Joshua, and...)]

[WHY DIDN'T YOU LET HIM DIE, MY DEAR (NOT SO DEAR) WOMAN]  It’s your flaw: you’re dumb.  [WAIT.  WAITTTTTTT.  They're phrasing this as all moral and shit, but she legit prioritized herself over her siblings?!!?  "I couldn't let him die with [the] secret [of what's going on in my biology]"  SO YOU LET HIM LIVE TO HUNT DOWN BROTHER ZACK AND SISTER TINGA AND BROTHER BEN AND JONDY AND SO ON????  That’s.  Damn, I’m actually pissed rn.  I hadn’t processed that last time I watched.]  *sigh*  Well damn!

Max bitchy but 💕 damn.  [tbh, this shot is pretty in general.  I’m sticking a screenshot into the final draft of the post]

It is done (said in Herbals accent cause *sigh* I love it)

– – –

Ok ending thoughts… This one was ridiculously tense.  Like. It was like too much! But in a good way.  Like the fact Lintlicker was there, and sat next to her, and then it was taken over.  Like… what are the odds?  The window scene was really soft looking at first but then end result was awesome… Until she just left him😂☠️

[btw, in answer to your question… Manticore is a branch of the military.  It's producing supersoldiers to run ultra-successful, top-secret missions.  So, for example, I'm pretty sure a transgenic later refers to "taking out Saddam".]  Oooooh  [Yeah, I just looked up the quote: "When we took out Saddam, we did fifty clicks across the desert in one day."  (That's Mole and I love him).  And they're also making soldiers that adapt to conditions.  So, Mole is a desert warrior, whereas that conversation is about him talking to an "Arctic Division" transgenic.  And then there are the subjects of the episode called "Gill Girl,” who, as you might guess from the title, are aquatic.  Essentially, mermaids.]  Oh, wow!  [Meanwhile, they also genetically engineered "PsyOps" people --- working in heuristics (predicting things based off probability), coercion, or memory alteration --- to keep Manticore running.  And the X5 series (e.g. Max, Alec, et al) were designed to fit in amongst normal humans without being noticed.  If I recall correctly, Alec is listed --- at least in the fandom wiki --- as an assassin/soldier manufactured to weaponize attraction/flirting.]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️  IT WORKS  [I mean, you’re not wrong — *cough cough* Normal *cough cough* — but also HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET]  It’s Ackles it works by default.  [True.  Max doesn't, iirc, have a "special skill"  She has... something else, for one thing.  But she doesn't have anything particular that I've seen to parallel Alec's thing.] Ahh!

So we’re on seven next right? [Yup] And when does Ben come on [17] So I got 10 eps to prepare [Yup!]

*Thus ends the reaction*

[tinderbox210]

Dark Angel (2000)  - reboot AU

"Not that I don’t enjoy a good urban legend now and then, but what does any of this have to do with me?” "The barcode on your neck, Max. I know who you are and I know who you’re running from. There were a couple dozen of these transgenic kids, and in ’09--a few months before the Pulse--twelve of them escaped.”

[sensitivehandsomeactionman]

Space Needle scene | Dark Angel: Pollo Loco

[oveliagirlhaditright]

A remake of something I made on my old blog:)

Max is being way too hard on herself here. She is that high-minded. But it says a lot here that she doesn’t think she is, but thinks Logan is (it hints at how much she does respect him, and surely partly why she falls in love with him, I think).

[holylulusworld]

More than a little girl Masterlist

Request: Alec McDowell reader as many parts &smut as u want were a group of trans genetics escape from manticore including alec, max & reader but the reader is like the runt of the group like small but curvy & everyone underestimates her but wat they don’t no is that she’s diff she can transition her face like they do off tvd as the group escapes they r surrounded by soldiers and can’t do anything then the reader takes them out and everyone’s amazed u can write however u want the reader and alec to be 2gether

Summary: After helping Max escaping Manticore once again you must find a way to live a free life. You find yourself thrown into a world you don’t know. It’s not very helpful that Alec insists on staying by your side. The least guy you want close by.

Pairing: Alec x Reader, Max x Logan Cale

Warnings: angst, language, violence, transgenic stuff (don’t sue me for mistakes), arguments, health issues, fluff, comforting, blood, fighting, kidnapping, cage fights, possible smut in future chapters

Prologue

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Divider by @firefly-graphics

[shiegra]

@loisfreakinglane god just. thinking about how zack and ben both feel like two different super fucked up branches of lydecker’s teachings.

zack has his rigidity, ben his fanaticism. but zack can’t sustain his rigidity effectively: he ultimately yearns for the more that max successfully (more or less) seeks, but is too afraid (for good reason, tbf, bcs ultimately the goal of keeping them all perfectly safe from harm is straight up impossible) and so in the face of exacerbated trauma and mounting losses (brin, tinga, both of which he blames on either the risks he abhors or simply on his own shoulders) he becomes more and more adamant but, key, cannot actually bring himself to cut loose or cut ties, even if he won’t give max the phone number. whereas lydecker has both utterly justified his own ruthlessness/twisted version of sentimentality and has 110% dedicated himself to an ideological goal, not a messy human one that depends on the compliance of other people, allies and enemies

ben can’t channel or control his fanaticism. he lacks the checks and balances that lydecker’s life before manticore (and position of power in manticore) gave him. instead he turns to his zealotry to try to make the world understandable and find a way ‘out of’ his trauma: if they’re suffering, it’s because they haven’t been good enough. and as an adult: somewhere out there is someone Worthy (even if it’s not me.) his fanaticism is ultimately fruitless because it’s in service of seeking an answer that will never, ever come from the questions he’s asking. because the kids who suffered and died in manticore didn’t do it because they failed and were forsaken by the lady, they died senselessly because of the cruelty of the system and the people that controlled it. whereas lydecker deep down has a concrete goal, albeit a monstrous one with equally monstrous methods.

[buzzdixonwriter]

The Purple Monster Strikes

Recently in an online discussion of 1950s sci-fi films, the old Republic serial The Purple Monster Strikes came up.

Why is came up I’ll mention later, but first let’s note it: 

was made in 1945 

was the last 15 chapter Republic serial

is awful

Not eyeball gouging / brain melting / soul scorching awful the way The Lost City or Gene Autry And The Phantom Empire or Captain Video are awful, but awful enough…

…yet at the same time, worthy of comment (as we’ll soon note).

1945 is a crucial year.  Despite the Nazis last ditch Battle of the Bulge, WWII is clearly winding down to an Allied victory in both Europe and the Pacific. 

American audiences feel tired of the war wand want something else in their entertainment, even low brow / low rent entertainment like movie serials.

Republic produced three serials that year:  Federal Operator 99 proved surprisingly good, Manhunt Of Mystery Island (their next to last 15 chapter serial) tried some new ideas that while interesting didn’t prove interesting enough to be tried again, and The Purple Monster Strikes brought interplanetary thrills back to the theaters, only this time instead of visiting Mars, Mars (at least two of ‘em) came to Earth.

As noted in my overview of Federal Operator 99, Republic serials of that year looked…inexpensive.* 

This is especially true of The Purple Monster Strikes which really needed a bigger budget, a better script, and adequate production time for the type of story it was trying to tell.

That story?

In a nutshell:   The Purple Monster is a one-Martian invasion come to steal the secret of the “jet plane” (the script uses the term interchangeably with “rocketship”) from Earth and take it to Mars where it can be mass produced and used to attack our world (Why?  WTF knows or cares?).  To achieve this The Purple Monster bumps off the scientist in charge of the project, physically possesses his corpse by turning into a ghost-like entity, and tries to kill a nosy investigator and the late scientist’s niece.  In the end The Purple Monster tries to escape Earth only to get blowed up real good (Did I mention this is silly, stooped, and trite?  I did?  Good).

So why am I interested in The Purple Monster Strikes?  Well, for two reasons, the second and more important one we’ll save for the end, the first is that when watched with fully informed eyes, it’s a testament to the single greatest contribution the serials made to filmmaking:  The production board.

Lemme ‘splain what that is.

In the old days of movie making it was a folder with slots for narrow strips of colored cardboard to be slid in.  The strips were color coded for interior or exterior scenes, night or day, specific locations, second unit or special effects, etc.

These strips were grouped together on the production board so all the exterior day shots at one location could be filmed back-to-back, followed by all the night shots there before moving on to a new location.

The colored carboard strips were further broken down to match production numbers in the shooting script (“Scene 37:  The bandits take the town”), key props and costumes, stunt work, but most importantly actors / characters in the scene.

You want all your most important / expensive / difficult stuff grouped together…but you also need to figure out what you didn’t need so you could pare down your budget.

For example, if you need someone to play a policeman in Scene 1 and in Scene 12 but those scenes are shot two seeks apart, maybe it’s cheaper to have two different actors playing two different policemen for one day each than keep one actor on call for two weeks.

Likewise, if you’ve got an actor in a key supporting role, put all his scenes together.

This necessitates shooting out of sequence, but shooting out of sequence is now pretty much the industry norm for any filmed or taped production.

The serials invented the production board and the rest of the industry speedily glommed onto it.

Once you know what to look for in The Purple Monster Strikes, you can pretty much break down which scenes were shot when.

Case in point: Masked heroes and villains aside, serial characters rarely change costume except to match stock footage from earlier productions.  It’s not especially notable for male characters but females typically wear The Same Damn Dress in Every Damn Scene.

So when heroine Linda Sterling gets dunked in a water tank midway through The Purple Monster Strikes, you can bet that was her last day of filming since they were no longer worried about ruining her costume.

Likewise when a female reinforcement from Mars arrives, the exact same location right down to the same car parked in the same spot are used even though the female Martian doesn’t arrive until 2/3rds of the way into the story.

You wouldn’t notice this week to week in a movie theater, but they’re painfully obvious when bingewatching.

Case in point: There are never more than four characters onscreen at any time; this was all the production could afford on any given day.  If a fifth character showed up, one of the others needed to be knocked unconscious (if they were lucky) shot and fall off camera (if they were unlucky), or disintegrated (if they were really unlucky).

For example, the hero and heroine could be talking to a scientist (day 1 / shot 1) when three baddies show up at the door (day 2 / shot 1).  The first baddie shoots the scientist, who falls off camera then enters the frame and knocks out the heroine, who conveniently falls behind a counter (day 1 / shot 2).  The other two baddies enter and a huge brawl erupts (day 2 / shot 2).  The heroine revives (day 1 / shot 3) and shouts a warning at the hero.  The hero blasts a minor baddie who falls off camera as the other two baddies flee the scene (day 2 / shot 3), then the heroine rejoins the hero (day 1 / shot 4).

Binge watching also reveals a lot of sets and props reused again and again.  The same footstool is used as a weapon more than once, a prop valve in one chapter serves an entirely different function in another, and while serials frequently reused stock special effects shots, The Purple Monster Strikes doesn’t just use the same exploding car shot twice in the same serial, not just twice in the same chapter, but twice in the same car chase!

(Speaking of which, whenever they get in Linda Sterling’s car you know the odds are 50-50 it’s going off a cliff in a big flaming fireball.  The Purple Monster Strikes has her going through so many identical make automobiles you’d think she owned stock in a car dealership.)

Anybody familiar with Republic serials is going to find a lot of reused sets and props here.  Having seen Manhunt Of Mystery Island recently, I immediately recognized their ubiquitous warehouse set, the Republic Studios loading dock doubles as two different factory exteriors, and having lived in Chatsworth several years I can practically name each and every rock in the exterior scenes.**

On the plus side, bonus points for some impressive looking props, including a rocket test engine that provides the explosive cliffhanger for the first chapter, a double-barrel disintegrator that looks like a giant set of binoculars (I wonder if it was originally a military surplus training aid), and a spaceship seen under construction for most of the serial that proves to be the most striking design the redoubtable Lydecker brothers ever created (a pity it’s glimpsed only briefly before being blown up in the last chapter; Republic should have reused it for their later sci-fi serials instead of the dull unimaginative designs they went with).

Fun factoid: Mi amigo Donald F. Glut, filmmaker / NYTimes bestselling author / film historian, knew The Purple Monster hizzownsef, Roy Barcroft, and reports Barcroft had the wardrobe department sew a secret pocket in his costume for his cigarettes! 

Speaking of Barcroft, he’s the best thing in this serial and he ain’t that good.  A perennial bad guy in serials and B-Westerns, he normally turned in a satisfying performance, but the script for The Purple Monster Strikes gives him nothing to work with.

I mentioned previously how Federal Operator 99’s script works more often than not and gives its characters something the actors can work with, but The Purple Monster Strikes?  Nada.

Every line is a clunky flat declarative sentence exposition dump of the “I’ll take this strange medallion we discovered to Harvey the metallurgist to analyze” variety.

Even Linda Sterling can’t do anything with this though she tries to find an appropriate facial expression for whatever scene she’s thrown in.

As for nominal star Dennis Moore, I won’t say he’s wooden but in one of the innumerable fight scenes Barcroft hurls a coatrack at him and for that brief moment the coatrack delivers a far more memorable performance.

Sidebar on the fight scenes: They are choreographed expertly, among some of the best Republic ever staged, but directors Spencer Gordon Bennet and Fred C. Brannon -- both serial veterans who could do much, much better -- really dropped the ball in shooting them.  They’re shot almost entirely in wide angle longshots using slightly sped up photography instead of intercutting to keep the pacing fast.

The rest of the cast consists mostly of stuntmen carefully enunciating their one line before the fists start flying, or older male actors who deliver surprisingly good performances compared to everyone else.

But that script -- oh, lordie, that script!  This was made in 1945 and they’ve got a damn organ grinder in it!  Organ grinders vanished from the public sphere with the damn of movies; by the 1940s they were found only in comic books and animated cartoons; in other words, kid stuff.***

It’s clear the writers on The Purple Monster Strikes (Royal Cole, Albert DeMond, Basil Dickey, Lynn Perkins, Joseph Poland, and Barney Sarecky) considered this mere juvenile pablum, not worthy of even the smattering of sophistication they sprinkled on Federal Operator 99.

An adult can watch Federal Operator 99 and at least feel the story makes some kind of sense and the characters, however imperfectly enacted, at least offer adult motives and behaviors, but The Purple Monster Strikes is just insulting to the intelligence (I mean, they call the female Martian invader Marsha.  Seriously?).

Okay, so why do I think this is worth writing about?

Because The Purple Monster Strikes is the bridge between WWII and the Cold War.

Most of the major tropes of 1950s sci-fi are reactions to Cold War anxieties, and those anxieties are transplanted WWII anxieties.

Before WWII, American moneyed interests waged a relentless PR campaign against communism, socialism, and labor unions (sound familiar?).

Forced to make peace with the Soviets during WWII, these moneyed interests -- now heavily invested in what Dwight D. Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex -- bit their lips as US pop culture portrayed the Russians as gallant allies against fascism (and they were; credit where credit is due).

As soon as the war ended, however, and in fact, even a little before the end (see The Best Years Of Our Lives; great movie), they were already recasting the Russians as treacherous authoritarian atheists out to conquer the world.

As noted earlier, American audiences felt weary of a relentless diet of war related entertainment and in the waning days of the war turned eagerly to non-war related stories. 

Likewise studios, not wanting to get caught with rapidly dating WWII related material nobody wanted to see began actively developing different kinds of stories.

After four years of intense anxiety, the country needed to come down but couldn’t go cold turkey.  Science fiction (and hardboiled mysteries and spy thrillers) provided safe decompression.

1945 marks a significant sea change in Republic serial production.  Sci-fi would become a more predominant theme, infiltrating other genres such as the ever popular masked mastermind (viz. The Crimson Ghost).

Federal Operator 99 would be the last highwater mark for more plausible serial stories, but crime and undercover espionage remained serial staples to the bitter end.

Only Manhunt Of Mystery Island seemed a misfire and even in that case it only meant the masked mastermind returned to more traditional origins instead of the inventive backstory created for Captain Mephisto.  

What The Purple Monster Strikes did was take a very familiar set of WWII cliches and stereotypes then recast them in a (relatively) safe science fictional context.

The closest prototype to The Purple Monster Strikes is Republic’s G-Men Vs. The Black Dragon, as racially offensive as you could hope to imagine, and turn the inscrutable “yellow” villains into malevolent purple ones (later green when colorization was added).

By making the literally other worldly alien the “other”, 1950s sci-fi sidestepped the worst implications of their own themes:  

Invasion 

Subversion 

Fifth columns 

Loss of soul / identity / individuality (personified in bodily possession by alien intellects)

Paranoia

The Purple Monster Strikes lacks the wit and wherewithal to fully exploit these ideas, but it sure could hold them up for everyone to get a quick glimpse.

As childish and as inane as the plot may be, by the end when hero and heroine realize there is literally no one they can trust, The Purple Monster Strikes dropped a depth charge into preteen psyches fated to go off six years later with the arrival of The Thing From Another World and countless other sci-fi films and TV episodes afterwards.

Did The Purple Monster Strikes create this trend?  No, of course not – but as Stephen King pointed out in Danse Macabre regarding the incredibly inane The Horror Of Party Beach’s selection of nuclear waste dumping as their raison d'être for their monsters:

“I’m sure it was one of the least important points in their preproduction discussions and for that reason it becomes very important.”

King’s point is by not giving the matter much thought, The Horror Of Party Beach’s producers simply tapped into a subconscious gestalt already running through the culture and said, “Yeah, nuclear waste, wuddup widdat?”

Likewise, The Purple Monster Strikes’ producers / directors / writers didn’t sit themselves down to analyze Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four but rather picked up on the forever war current already moving through the American body politic.

War without end, war without ceasing.

And if we can’t define an enemy by name or place, so much the better!  The war on crime, the war on poverty, the war on drugs…

The war on terror.

The forever war thrives on the faceless unknowable enemy with the unknown but clearly malevolent anti-American agenda.

“Them”…against…U.S.

As an artistic achievement, The Purple Monster Strikes is sadly lacking in nearly all aspects, but as a cultural artifact, it’s still a clear warning.

Only not about “them” but about…us.

  © Buzz Dixon 

  *  read “cheap”

** Republic’s low budget backed them into an overlapping series of sci-fi serials, loosely referred to as the Rocket Man / Martian invasion serials by fans.  The Purple Monster Strikes’ costume was reused for Flying Disc Man From Mars (which featured a semi-circular flying wing already featured in Spy Smasher and King Of The Mounties) and again for Zombies Of The Stratosphere, but between those two serials the wholly unrelated King Of The Rocket Men was released.  Zombies… is a sequel to both Flying Disc Man… and King Of The Rocket Men but Radar Men From The Moon introduces a new character -- Commando Cody -- who wears the same rocket pack as the heroes of King… and Zombies… but faces a lunar, not Martian menace then he spins off to become Commando Cody:  Sky Marshall Of The Universe in a quasi-serial (i.e., no cliff-hangers, each chapter a complete adventure) fighting a third alien invasion!

***  Or the works of Bertolt Brecht, but that ain’t what Republic’s going for here.

[samisadeangirl]

We’ll Do That Together Too

AO3 link here

Series: Part 5 of The Monster That You Know

Chapters: 7/10

Words: 31344

Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer/Jody Mills

Other Characters: Alec/X5-494, Ben/X5-493, Castiel, Crowley, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Rufus Turner, Meg Masters, Donald Lydecker, Original Characters

Rating: Explicit

Summary:   Sam and Dean are getting used to raising Alec and soon have another addition to the family. But they still have to deal with the threat of Project Manticore, which will do whatever it takes to get the escaped children (and possibly Dean too) back. So the boys will have gather together some unusual allies to face this dangerous opponent …  (This is a crossover with Dark Angel.)

[loisfreakinglane]

Would you like that?

Bonus:

[ao3feed-wincest-archive]

We’ll Do That Together Too

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WSvomx

by genevra1676

Sam and Dean are getting used to raising Alec and soon have another addition to the family. But they still have to deal with the threat of Project Manticore, which will do whatever it takes to get the escaped children (and possibly Dean too) back. So the boys will have gather together some unusual allies to face this dangerous opponent . . .

Words: 4407, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of The Monster That You Know

Fandoms: Supernatural, Dark Angel (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Alec McDowell | X5-494, Bobby Singer, Castiel (Supernatural), Ben | X5-493, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Jody Mills, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Rufus Turner, Crowley (Supernatural), Donald Lydecker

Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Jody Mills/Bobby Singer

Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 05, POV First Person, POV Sam Winchester, Shapeshifter Dean Winchester, Creature Dean Winchester, Not Canon Compliant, Crossover, Manticore (Dark Angel), Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Psychic Sam Winchester, Psychic Dean Winchester, BAMF Sam Winchester, BAMF Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Established Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Explicit Sexual Content, Bottom Dean Winchester/Top Sam Winchester, Wincest - Freeform, Oral Sex, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Shower Sex, Frottage

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WSvomx

[geneticyborg]

STATISTICS.EXE

BASICS

DESIGNATION: X5-599 PREFERRED NAME: Zack D.O.B | D.O.D: August 28th | N/A SEX | PRONOUNS: Cis Male | He, His, Him ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Virgo. Precise, exact and critical, Zack understands that the devil is in the details and he pays attention to them. He is hardworking, efficient and methodical and can usually work or reason his way out of any challenge. ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good. He follows his conscience with little regard for what others expect of him, making his own way but has a good heart. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations and struggles to keep his belief in the face of trauma and terrible experiences. He hates when people try to intimidate others and follows his own moral compass. MYERS BRIGGS TEST: ISTJ, the Logistician. Enjoys taking responsibility for his actions and takes pride in the work that he does when working towards a goal. Defined by his integrity, practicality, logic and tireless dedication to duty makes him a vital core to any family or organization that upholds traditions, rules and standards.

PERSONALITY

POSITIVE TRAITS: Analytical, practical, observant, honest and direct. Dutiful, committed, responsible, level headed and reliable. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Stubborn, blunt, insensitive, rigid and judgmental. Self-loathing, guilty, self-depricating, jealous and aggressive. SURFACE TEMPERMENT: Zack will often present himself as “the boy next door”, using his generic white male appearance to portray an act of being polite, well-mannered and friendly as a means of lulling those around him into a sense of safety and familiarity that allows him to pass as memorable but nonthreatening. TRUE TEMPERMENT: However, those whom are given the benefit to see beneath the surface act will soon realize that Zack is far angrier and violent that first impressions would imply. Zack can become incredibly aggressive to those that he perceives as a threat to his safety or the safety of those that he cares about and responds accordingly. He’s merciless, cold and efficient when it comes to achieving his goals and can compartmentalize his emotions and uses this tactic to keep everyone at arms length save for a handful of his proclaimed brothers and sisters.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTORS

EYES | HAIR: Blue | Blond HEIGHT | WEIGHT: 5'11 | 98 kgs TATTOOS: Black, patented barcode on the base of the back of his neck. Often laser removed but inevitably resurfaces after a handful of days. PIERCINGS: None BODY MODIFICATIONS: As a genetically engineered X series, Zack’s DNA has been spliced with various forms of animal DNA that enhances and heightens his physical capabilities. After shooting himself in the head in order to donate his heart to X5-452, Zack is harvested by Manticore for several other organs, kept alive to undergo heavy cybernetic modifactions in which the damaged tissue and missing organs were replaced with synthetic tissue.

CURRENT LOCATION

Zack has returned to the city of Seattle after six months working on a Ranch with no memory of his past or his real identity. His memories however have been clawing back to the surface, triggered by numbers, posters and phrases that has driven him to seek out the woman that he knows only as Max. Abandoning the Ranch and returning to the city, Zack is slowly but surely piecing together his past while working as a Construction Worker in sector 9.

HISTORY

X5-599 was created by a covert genetics and military agency that went by the codename Manticore. Hand crafted, designed and spliced with numerous animal DNA and DNA found of extraordinary men and women, 599 was genetically engineered to be the perfect human weapon. Placed within a surrogate mother to be carried to term, 599 was born into servitude and trained from infancy to be an obedient soldier of Manticore alongside fifty others of his kind. As an X5, 599 was trained to be a Commanding Officer, attuned to make his own independent decisions and tactical strategies without the need for human oversight and co-led with X5-492 and X5-452 of a twenty man unit all ranging from the ages of six and ten years old.

Among their unit, 599 and the others chose names for themselves, 599 being given the name Zack by his siblings, and slowly pieced together their own identities whilst living under the oppressive training regime of Colonel Donald Lydecker. They were regoriously trained in physical skills, hand-to-hand combat, weapons training and assembly and military strategy and tactics as well as Intelligence training and conditioning.

Zack was closest with 492 and 452, Ben and Max, as they led their unit in different fractions of their objectives, assignments and missions but it was with Max that Zack felt the most for. Unlike the others in his unit, his feelings for Max were romantic – though he didn’t understand this until he was older. When Max’s life was threatened, Zack responded, attacking their trainer and spearheading an escape attempt in order to get Max and the others out of the facility before any more of them could be killed or hurt again.

Zack led the escape, separating his siblings and urging them to scatter and go underground once they escaped the perimeter fence. Zack was captured temporarily by Manticore security helping his siblings and Max escape the base but eventually escaped from transit before he could be returned to the facility and fled from Manticore’s Wyoming facility. Zack would spend the next ten years searching for, finding and protecting the twelve others of his unit that managed to escape that night. When finally reunited with Max, he was twenty years old.

Zack sacrificed every chance he had at making a life for himself in order to keep his siblings and Max safe and protected from Manticore whom were still searching for them in the hopes of returning them to Manticore for experimentation and reindoctrination.

Zack would give up his own freedom to save Max from Manticore’s clutches and would be tortured for four months by Colonel Donald Lydecker in the effort to find out the locations of the rest of the escaped members of his unit and would be rescued from the island during an escape attempt by Max.

During an assault on Manticore, Max would be shot through the heart. Her death and Manticore’s inability to repair the damaged tissue caused Zack to take his own life so that the Manticore scientists could use his own heart as a transplant to resuscitate Max before her brain was without blood and oxygen for too long. He saved Max’s life but Manticore refused to let him die.

Manticore kept Zack alive to be used as an organ doner, harvesting his lungs and other internal organs for other injured X5’s in Manticore’s service. He was eventually transferred to another facility where he was subjected to further violations by having his missing organs and body parts replaced by cybernetic implants and synthetic tissue. The damage that he sustained to his brain caused him to develop amnesia, unable to piece together his own memory on his own he had no sense of identity or of his past and was sold on the Black Market by an IT tech when Manticore was eventually destroyed.

Zack found himself the property of a gang of Body-Moders known as Steelheads who used him as extra muscle and an obedient tool until Zack once again reunited with Max. At first he was unable to remember her until she presented her barcode and Zack was able to make the connections with his own memory. He left the Steelheads and returned with Max in order to try and get his memory back. He succeeded. Recalling everything and feeling responsible for every perceived failure and mistaking his relationship with Max as romantic he eventually triggered his Manticore programming.

While in Manticore’s custody, PSY-OPs planted the belief that Eyes Only, or Logan Cale and Max’s soulmate, as a traitor. Zack attempted to kill Logan, believing that he was avenging himself and Max for the perceived terrors that they underwent while in Manticore which forced Max to electrocute Zack until he lost consciousness and wiped his memory once more.

Max made the choice to give Zack a new identity as Adam Thompson, making him believe that he had been working on a ranch when during a resource pick up had a car accident which resulted in his injuries and his memory loss. As Adam, Zack returned to work on the Ranch out of Seattle but slowly began to regain his memory.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

...So the fact that I somewhat agree with Lydecker here probably means that I’m autistic, huh? Conversations aren’t my favorite thing in the world, just because no matter how hard I try I feel I never really get across what I’m trying to. Which is why I prefer where I have the time to just type all my thoughts out.

But on topic: this is a cool little exchange between Max and Lydecker. Someday, I might screenshot this whole scene and some of their interactions with each other. Max and Lydecker had such an interesting relationship--and Lydecker was interesting in general (and the best villain on the show, for sure!)--so it saddens me that the fandom doesn’t do more with them. And I love how these five seconds tell you so much about both characters, and their relationship to each other.

[geneticasseta]

LIST  OF  NPC’S :  3 / ?

SINQUA  WALLS  as  x5 -  623 :   during  early  child  development  and  young  adolescent  conditioning,  623  constantly  scored  the  highest  in  aptitude  tests  across  all  boards  assigned  by  donald  lydecker  and  showed  promising  potential  in  being  one  of  manticores  most  promising  operatives  however  in  PSY-OPS  interviews  and  interrogation  sessions,  623  displayed  a  high  risk  of  empathy,  compassion  and  trust  in  others  and   a  low  consideration  of  self - preservation  and  obedience.  despite  several  requests  to  terminate  623  due  to  these  findings,  lydecker  rejected  each  request  and  committed  to  transforming  623  into  a  valuable  asset.

lydecker  would  succeed  in  training  623  to  appear  cold,  callous  and  loyal  as  he  grew  older  but  what  the  records  didn’t  mention  was  that  it  was  623′s  empathy  that  aided  him  in  many  of  his  findings  and  success  in  mission  perimeters.  capable  of  relating  to  target  findings  and  put  himself  within  the  shoes  of  others  allowed  him  to  manipulate  and  deceive  those  around  him  to  an  almost  disturbing  degree.  capable  of  turning  even  the  most  uncontrollable,  unpredictable  and  dangerous  hostiles  into  assets  for  manticore.  623  is  capable  of  creating  the  illusion  of  connection  and  dependability  with  almost  anyone  and  has  used  this  ability  to  manipulate  PSY-OPS  findings  on  more  than  one  occassion.

623  is  one  of  the  few  X5′s  whom  has  managed  to  resist  the  reindoctrination  process  following  the ‘09  escape,  retaining  much  of  his  independent  thought  and  charismatic  behavior  traits  whilst  operating  within  manticore’s  walls.

936  would  encounter  623  for  the  first  time  when  they  were  assigned  as  breeding  partners.  623  made  a  disturbingly  uncomfortable  and  highly  traumatic  experience  bearable  and  while  they  did  not  establish  a  close  connection  to  one  another  whilst  they  were  assigned  to  one  another,  they  did  each  develop  a  kindred  respect  for  the  other.  623  allowed  936  to  dictate  each  and  every  single  one  of  their  encounters  without  much  argument  and  the  only  time  that  they  ever  exchanged  words  outside  of  the  assignment  was  once  after  936  returned  from  the  clinic  nine  months  later.

while  623  didn’t  experience  the  same  trauma  as  936,  he  did  find  himself  mourning  the  loss  of  a  child  he  would  never  meet  or  know.  whilst  fatherhood  had  never  been  something  at  623  considered  for  himself,  the  knowledge  that  they  had  a  son  somewhere  out  in  the  world  filled  him  with  grief  and  loss. 

following  the  destruction  of  manticore,  623  adopted  the  name  bo  and  founded  a  small  underground  resistance  of  X2′s  and  X8′s  whom  were  considered  the  rejects  of  manticore.  most  having  been  locked  away  deep  underground  for  visible  genetic  mutations  that  made  it  almost  impossible  for  them  to  blend  in  with  everyday  society.  bo  created  a  four  man  leadership  base  in  which  they  worked  together  for  the  betterment  of  their  group  and  eventually  joined  forces  with  terminal  city.

936  and  623  would  eventually  reunite  when  they  each  begin  their  search  for  their  son.

[ao3feed-castiel]

We’ll Do That Together Too

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WSvomx

by genevra1676

Sam and Dean are getting used to raising Alec and soon have another addition to the family. But they still have to deal with the threat of Project Manticore, which will do whatever it takes to get the escaped children (and possibly Dean too) back. So the boys will have gather together some unusual allies to face this dangerous opponent . . .

Words: 4407, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of The Monster That You Know

Fandoms: Supernatural, Dark Angel (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Alec McDowell | X5-494, Bobby Singer, Castiel (Supernatural), Ben | X5-493, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Jody Mills, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Rufus Turner, Crowley (Supernatural), Donald Lydecker

Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Jody Mills/Bobby Singer

Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 05, POV First Person, POV Sam Winchester, Shapeshifter Dean Winchester, Creature Dean Winchester, Not Canon Compliant, Crossover, Manticore (Dark Angel), Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Psychic Sam Winchester, Psychic Dean Winchester, BAMF Sam Winchester, BAMF Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Established Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Explicit Sexual Content, Bottom Dean Winchester/Top Sam Winchester, Wincest - Freeform, Oral Sex, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Shower Sex, Frottage

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WSvomx

[ao3feed-crowley]

We’ll Do That Together Too

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WSvomx

by genevra1676

Sam and Dean are getting used to raising Alec and soon have another addition to the family. But they still have to deal with the threat of Project Manticore, which will do whatever it takes to get the escaped children (and possibly Dean too) back. So the boys will have gather together some unusual allies to face this dangerous opponent . . .

Words: 4407, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Series: Part 5 of The Monster That You Know

Fandoms: Supernatural, Dark Angel (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Alec McDowell | X5-494, Bobby Singer, Castiel (Supernatural), Ben | X5-493, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Jody Mills, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Rufus Turner, Crowley (Supernatural), Donald Lydecker

Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Jody Mills/Bobby Singer

Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 05, POV First Person, POV Sam Winchester, Shapeshifter Dean Winchester, Creature Dean Winchester, Not Canon Compliant, Crossover, Manticore (Dark Angel), Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Psychic Sam Winchester, Psychic Dean Winchester, BAMF Sam Winchester, BAMF Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Established Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Explicit Sexual Content, Bottom Dean Winchester/Top Sam Winchester, Wincest - Freeform, Oral Sex, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Shower Sex, Frottage

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2WSvomx